Kazuya Hatanaka's birthday dinner went well enough. Kokoda seemed a little confused as to what was going on with his future older stepsister, since he was only thirteen, but he did tell the entire table, with great excitement, that he now had a girlfriend, and he accredited it to Kurama suggesting that he give the girl a rose with his name on it.

After dinner, Kurama changed back into his pajamas, and Hiei just took off his shirt and got into bed. He fell asleep quickly, but woke up a few hours later due to what sounded like…crying?

Hiei silently turned to look at Kurama's bed. Could it be? Kurama didn't cry a lot. But the more Hiei listened, the more he was sure: Kurama wascrying softly, his head under the sheets, his form shaking slightly. Hiei felt his heart drop at the sight. Somehow, he knew this wasn't just some hormonal thing. Kurama was upset for real. At first, he thought he should let Kurama cry it out, because maybe he wanted privacy, but what if Kurama wanted comfort?

After some deliberation, Hiei decided to just sort of shift around in bed, so that if Kurama wanted to talk, he could, but he could ignore Hiei, too. Sure enough, the crying stopped, and Hiei heard a sniff, then Kurama's voice coming through the darkness: "Hiei?"

"Yeah," said Hiei.

"I'm sorry," Kurama was heard saying. It sounded like he had a bad cold. "Did I wake you up?"

"Never mind that," Hiei told him. "What's the matter?"

"I…I suppose I just had a bad dream," Kurama said finally. "Dreams don't normally make me cry, but you know that phase where you're awake, but not quite, and you're not completely sure if the dream was real or not…?"

"Kurama, I'm used to nightmares," said Hiei. "Of course I know what you're talking about."

"What do you have nightmares about?" Kurama asked, finally poking his head out from underneath the comforter.

"We're talking about you, not me," said Hiei. "Look, Kurama. You haven't been right since Monday. This has been rough on all of us…but I can just tell something's wrong with you. Didn't any of the others mention it before?"

"Yusuke did," Kurama admitted. "But I didn't think he'd get it. Besides…it's just very difficult to talk about."

"What's 'it'? You mean your nightmare?"

"N-No…but I feel sometimes like I'm making a big deal out of nothing." Kurama's voice was shaky, like he was about to cry again, and Hiei knew that whatever the problem was, Kurama wasn't going to benefit at all from keeping it inside. So as his partner-in-crime, Hiei figured it was his job to get it out of him. "I mean, nothing really bad happened."

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," Hiei said sharply. "So tell me. I won't laugh or anything."

"Fine," said Kurama. "Do you remember Karasu, from the Dark Tournament?"

"You mean the one who literally tortured you for his own amusement?" said Hiei. "I don't think anyone has forgotten about that." He paused then, realizing what Kurama must mean. "Do you…do you have nightmares about fighting him?"

"Not so much that…it's something he did the previous day…"

Kurama's words trailed off into nothing, and suddenly all sorts of alarms went off in Hiei's head. He could feel his heart rate speeding up as he scrambled off of his rose-vine hammock and went to sit on the edge of Kurama's bed. Before he spoke, he tried to sound calm, even though on the inside, he felt anything but. No telling what Karasu had been capable of.

"Do you…" Hiei cleared his throat and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. "Do you want to tell me what he did, Kurama?"

For a few moments, Hiei thought his friend wasn't going to say a word. As awful as that was, Hiei knew he would have to accept it. But then Kurama started talking, and Hiei was so incredibly relieved.

"Well, I don't know if you could tell, but I'm quite sure he…liked me," Kurama began, and Hiei felt sick. All he could do was listen in horror as Kurama told him everything Karasu had said during their fight. Some of it was unbelievable—things that made Hiei feel both heartbroken and full of rage. Halfway through the story, Kurama was in tears again.

"The intimacy between murderer and victim?!" said Hiei incredulously. Kurama nodded, still crying, and Hiei rubbed his foot. "And I thought I was messed up…At least I've never said sick shit like that."

"But…but even before our fight…" Now it seemed like Kurama couldn't stop talking. "That was when he…he came up from behind and put his hands around my neck. I…sometimes I can still feel each one of his clammy fingers on my skin…and my hair. He touched my hair. He said…he said that he knew I was afraid of his touch…but maybe I also wanted it. And how when he likes something, he wants to take it away…"

Hiei shut his eyes, one hand still rubbing Kurama's foot, the other clenched in a fist.

"And the worst part of it is," Kurama continued, "I knew immediately that if Team Toguro won the tournament, and Karasu survived, his wish would be to have me as his own. That's actually what a lot of my nightmares are about."

"Even if he survived, Kurama, and they won, you know I never would have let him have you." Hiei was honestly surprised Karasu hadn't completely forced himself upon Kurama, but of course he wasn't going to say that. "I would have killed him long before you were anyone's pet. And the important thing is, you killed him, so he can never hurt you or anyone else ever again." Trying to lighten the mood, he added, "So you stole my kill. At least he's dead."

"But it's like he's not, that's the problem," Kurama explained. "Every time one of those men stares at me, touches me, anything…I feel like it's happening all over again. It's like something is crawling on my skin…this creepy feeling. Like he's still there. That's why I wore all those clothes today. Finally, nobody looked at me twice."

"Oh," said Hiei, feeling horrible. It sure would have been nice to know that earlier. "Sorry…sorry I teased you about it. I didn't know."

"How could you have known?" Kurama swallowed. "I didn't tell anyone. I kept it inside. And that was a mistake."

"Yeah, it was," said Hiei. "You know, when I watched you two in the ring, I thought Karasu couldn't possibly get any worse, but apparently I was wrong."

"I mean, I know it could have been worse," Kurama said. "Sometimes I wonder why I feel so awful about it, when I could easily have been…well, you know."

"It doesn't matter, Kurama," said Hiei firmly. "It's not about him or even much what he did. It's about how he made you feel. If he made you feel uncomfortable, then it doesn't matter if it could have been worse, because it was bad enough. It's as simple as that."

"I suppose that makes sense." Kurama's voice was soft, almost inaudible. "Thank you, Hiei."

There was a moment of silence, a living silence, both of them lost in their thoughts. Hiei was shocked at both Kurama and himself.

"Is this what girls do?" he asked finally. "Sit around and talk about their feelings?"

"Some of them," Kurama replied. "Aratani and Chizuko do. Why do you ask?"

"This is going to sound stupid," said Hiei hesitantly.

"I'm sure it won't."

"Okay, well…" Hiei shrugged. "We've been a pair for over two years now, but…I just feel like you're more of my friend than ever now. Not because of what that bastard did to you, but because you felt like you could tell me about it."

"That's what a heart-to-heart does, Hiei," said Kurama, and Hiei was relieved to see that he was smiling again. "It makes you feel closer to your friends. Remember how you told me how you felt after we had that fight? That made our friendship grow, too. We're not really girls, but there's nothing to stop us from having open and honest discussions now and then. Even if one of us cries. You're a very good listener, Hiei."

"Only because I'm so bad at the sharing part."

"You don't have to share all of your feelings," said Kurama. "But if you need to share something, you can. And our friendship will be stronger for it."

"I guess even the strongest fighter needs to share every so often," Hiei admitted.

"Especially the strongest fighter, Hiei," Kurama replied, closing his eyes. Hiei sat there on the edge of Kurama's bed, thinking about it, keeping watch until his best friend was asleep once more.