A LITTLE DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters appearing in this fic are the property of Yoshihiro 
                     Togashi, Studio Pierrot, Fuji TV, and Shonen Jump Weekly. 

	He is a most delectable young thing, with eyes to die for. He walks almost casually, 
his hands in his pockets, looking neither to the left nor the right; but anyone who is more 
than a little observant can see his tension.  He is prepared for anything, is ready for an 
attack from any quarter -- seems to be expecting one, in fact.

	I smile.

	Since Kurama's disappearance, I have not had an interesting challenge, and this 
little dark-haired boy fascinates me. I will steal him away for a while, find out what 
pleasures he can offer me, and send him on his sullen way once I have finished with him.

	I suppress a shiver of delighted anticipation.

	He blinks, and I move in front of him; he halts, stares at me a moment, moves to one 
side to walk around me, and continues on his way.

	I am not sure which of us is the more startled; I have never been so easily dismissed. 
I look down at myself, at the outfit I have chosen; selected bits of cleavage and thigh are 
showing, as planned. And my cleavage and thighs are renowned, among my peers, for their allure. 
I frown, turn to the boy, who does not react.

	"Oi," I call. "Are you blind?" No response.

	I appear in front of him again. A second time, he halts, moves to one side.  I move 
with him, blocking his way. If it is a game he wants, I will play with him a while. He moves 
again; I move with him. His fine eyebrows draw together in annoyance. I flash him my most 
seductive smile.

	And suddenly he is gone. I whirl; he has sped past me and continued on his way, too 
swiftly for me to see.

	This one is beyond interesting; and I take a deep breath, planning his punishment. For
no one denies me even a quick tumble; I refuse to be denied.

	I move to trip him up; he dodges, without looking, without taking his hands out of his 
pockets, and I hear sudden wicked laughter, a voice I will never forget.

	"Kurama," I breathe, disbelieving. He appears before me, smirking, hands on his 
slender hips, his silver hair and tail ruffled by a sudden breeze. I glance toward the boy, 
half-expecting him to vanish, to have been one of Kurama's conjurings; but he continues to 
walk, not hesitating even a moment.

	Kurama looks after the boy as well, tilting his ears in that direction, and his eyes 
narrow. "Don't bother," I roll my eyes. "He's frigid."
	
	"I assure you," Kurama says slowly, turning to me, "he is not frigid." I try my best 
to feign disinterest.
	"And how do you know that?" I ask evenly. Kurama laughs.
	"Hiei," he calls softly, and the boy pauses, turning his head to glance over his 
shoulder. "I'd like you to meet someone." Hiei turns; his eyes flicker over me; when he 
speaks, his voice is so low as to be nearly inaudible.
	"I've met her," he says, looking back at Kurama.
	"Come be introduced," Kurama coaxes him, in his most sultry tones; and I swallow a 
bitter taste of jealousy. Once it was I whom Kurama would coax into doing what he wished.

	Hiei does not obey immediately; but he finally sighs, and returns to where we stand, 
as though it causes him great inconvenience. Kurama smiles sweetly at him, and introduces us 
properly; Hiei refuses to take my offered hand, and only nods politely at me.

	I turn pointedly to Kurama. "Where the hell have you been?" I demand. "No one's seen 
you in -- decades." He tears his gaze away from Hiei, and smiles down at me.

	"I was -- detained," he tells me. "In the Human world."
	"Meaning?"
 	"I was injured by a Hunter," he explains. "Got too caught up in what I was doing, and 
wasn't paying attention. I managed to escape to the Human world and lodge myself in a Human 
woman's womb, and was born as her son. I stayed in that body a little too long, and so I was 
obliged to remain there until he died." He acts as though it was an intriguing experience, 
instead of the torture it must have been, to be trapped inside a perpetually dying, mortal
body. I stare at him, horrified.
	"How long did it take?" I ask.
	"As long as I've been gone," he tells me. "My life infused the Human's life with a bit
of longevity, and so he lasted considerably longer than Humans normally do." I shake my head.
	"Couldn't you have killed it, or something?" I wonder. He laughs softly.
	"Why?" he replies. "I earned two tails in a relatively short period of time." My eyes 
widen; a new tail is not easily gained. His eyes slide to Hiei, and he smiles again. Hiei 
hunches his shoulders slightly, rolls his eyes to the sky, as though something there fascinates
him.
	"Where did you find him?" I ask. Kurama's smile broadens slightly.
	"Found him wandering, one day," he tells me. "He let me follow him home."

	I stare at my one-time lover a moment, assessing him. He has grown more powerful; and 
I can 'see' the new tails. He has changed, more subtly than that, however, and it has to do 
with this dark-haired boy who looks as though he would rather be anywhere than talking with me.

	"And you say he's not frigid," I muse, looking over Hiei's slender form.  "He's a 
pretty little thing." Hiei looks down, stares at me, his eyes an intense shade of red. I smirk
at him, look back at Kurama. "Let me have him for a few hours."

	Kurama laughs at me. At me! I taught him everything he knows, and he has the nerve to 
laugh at me. I maintain my cool; I have not lived these long centuries without learning to hide
my feelings.

	"Hiei," Kurama says softly, reaching for him, "doesn't like to play with the other 
children." Hiei submits to Kurama's condescension, lets Kurama wrap his arms around his slender
waist and pull him back against his own body. Kurama smirks at me over Hiei's tousled hair, his
furry ears tilted forward, his eyes narrowed in amusement.
	"Looks to me," I say, calmly, "as though you just don't want to share." He laughs at 
that, a low, wicked chuckle.
	"Do you blame me?" he wonders, swaying slightly, holding Hiei in a sort of slow dance. 
He drops his head and presses his face against Hiei's neck, breathing deeply. "It took me a 
great deal of time and effort to get him to tumble in the first place," he continues. "I'm not 
about to risk wasting all that energy." He kisses Hiei's neck, releases him. Hiei moves to 
stand exactly as he had been, hands in his pockets, staring into middle distance, seemingly 
unaffected by Kurama's actions.
	"I never said I wanted to take him for myself," I inform him haughtily, folding my 
arms over my breasts. "I just wanted to rumple his hair a little." Kurama smiles tolerantly at
me.
	"Even if he were willing -- which he is not, I assure you," he adds with a smirk, "I've
seen what your 'rumpling' has done to your other little playmates." I have to smile; Kurama 
once was one of my little playmates, until he turned the tables one day and then left me 
wanting. "I like Hiei the way he is," he continues. "You can look but not touch." His voice has
suddenly dropped its playful tone, and his eyes are steel.
	"What," I ask, "is so special about him? He's a little slip of nothing, and paler than 
you. I'd be afraid of losing him in bed, if he wasn't between my legs." Kurama throws back his 
head and laughs. A pit of anger grows in my belly; I swallow to calm it. Hiei jams his hands 
deeper into his pockets, keeps his face expressionless.
	"I assure you," Kurama replies, looking slyly at Hiei, "I take pains to keep him there
as often as possible."

	I despise his mockery but cannot easily pull away from Kurama -- nor this cold little 
red-eyed creature, who seems so unaffected by my warmth. "Then," I suggest, purring, moving 
close to Kurama, sliding my fingers under the fabric of his clothing, "why don't the two of us
tumble him together? You could make sure I don't damage your little doll, while you and I get 
to know one another again." Kurama's smile is ice, and his ears flatten slightly.
	"Tempting though the prospect might be," he says quietly, not moving away from me, "I 
told you that Hiei doesn't like to play with the other children."

	Hiei snorts and turns to walk away. Kurama looks up sharply, watches him a moment, then
looks down at me. He reaches up and takes my wrists and pushes me gently away from him, with 
some reluctance.

	I stamp my foot, finally giving in to my annoyance. "What is it about him," I snap, 
pointing at Hiei's back, "that can make you turn to monogamy?" Kurama straightens, looks after 
Hiei, watches the untidy black hair disappear in the distance. His voice grows soft, nearly 
inaudible.

	"He's a vital part of me," he tells me. "I need him to be complete. I knew the second 
I looked into his eyes that I quite literally could not live without him." He turns his head 
to look at me again. "Hiei has shared his pain with me, only me. I refuse to break his trust; 
if I were to lose him I would never be able to truly experience life again."
	"Since when are you so dependent on one person?" I scoff at his sentimental words. 
"You're Kurama. You don't need, you want, and you take what you want." One side of his mouth 
lifts slightly.
	"I need him. I want him."
	"And he forces you to live in a manner not your own," I point out. "Is he worth it, to 
give up everything you had before?" Kurama looks once more where Hiei has gone.
	"Yes," he says.

	In a flash, he assumes his fox-form and races away on four feet to catch up to his 
lover, light glinting off the fur on each of his tails.



~~The End~~