Yukina had bandaged up her brother’s arms and whatever else the salve had touched, doing her best to heal the wounds, but gave Kurama a cross-eyed glare, informing him icily that he would just have to tough it out for the salve’s effects to wear off.

"Kurama-chan!" Hiei announced, planting himself squarely in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Yes?" Kurama replied warily. He’d learned during the course of the day to suspect any outright requests.

Hiei blinked up at him. "I’m hungry."

"No you’re not," he frowned down at the Koorime. "We just ate with Yukina at Genkai’s temple." Real food, he added sourly to himself, perhaps impressed upon Hiei by Yukina’s good example.

"Yes I am," Hiei contradicted him, raising his eyebrows, then lowering them in a rush as he scowled every bit as darkly as his normal self.

"You can’t be!"

"I AM!" Hiei stamped a foot to emphasize his sincerity.

Kurama heaved a sigh. "All right, what do you want?"

"Ramen," Hiei scowled.

"You’d better make this quick," he informed the fire demon as they headed for a nearby ramen restaurant. "’Kaasan will be expecting me home in bed by the time she gets back from work."

"Hn," Hiei sniffed, sounding almost like his normal self.

Kurama was hoping desperately that of all people, they wouldn’t encounter Yuusuke and Kuwabara. He knew that this area was their typical hangout when they were ditching school. Which was quite frequently.

"Yoohoo!"

They had barely set foot into the restaurant when a familiar voice hailed them. Kurama restrained a groan, recognizing the voice of Kuwabara Kazuma. Weakly he waved. Kuwabara and Yuusuke were in a booth against the far wall.

Beside him, Hiei’s slender dark-garbed body stiffened.

"Uh-oh. . ." So far all of Hiei’s behavior seemed to stem from his deep-seated desires, unrestrained by normal conscious control as the warning label had. . .well, warned.

Kurama paused, snatching at a stray thought. Wouldn’t that mean he had some sort of desire for. . .

"Omae wa korosu!"

Kurama threw himself desperately after the violent little Koorime who was launching himself across the restaurant; his arms closed around Hiei’s calves and he fell flat on his face, clinging grimly and refusing to relinquish his hold. Hiei went down, too, howling.

"Lemme go! I’m gonna kick his ass! He’s the Fool who always calls me shrimp and he messes around with Yukina and mmph mrrgh—"

Kurama finally achieved a firm hold on Hiei, clamping a hand on his mouth and throwing an arm around his chest and arms. Hiei squirmed, red eyes flaring at the sight of Kuwabara.

"Sorry guys!" Kurama apologized, backing out of the restaurant hastily with a double armful of Hiei.

He hurried down half a block before Yuusuke caught up with him.

"Kurama, what the hell is going on?" Yuusuke demanded.

Kurama stopped, turned to face him with a wide-eyed innocent stare, and managed a straight-faced, "What?"

Silently Yuusuke pointed to the struggling Hiei in his arms.

Kurama sweatdropped. "Oh, this?" he hedged.

Yuusuke nodded, brown eyes gleaming.

"Um, it’s Hiei. Hiei, are you done yet?" he demanded, still not taking his hand off the Koorime’s mouth. Sullenly the youkai nodded.

"And I can put you down and you won’t try to run and kill Kuwabara?"

There was a longer pause, then Hiei nodded again, reluctantly. Slowly, Kurama set him down. Yuusuke had his hand over his own mouth, sides heaving as he tried to contain his laughter.

"What’s going on?" he managed to ask.

Hiei had started his restless jiggling again, eyeing Yuusuke rather indifferently.

"Well," he began uneasily, "there’s something wrong with Hiei."

"Kurama-chan!" Hiei wailed, pouting. Yuusuke goggled, using his hands to manually reconnect his jaw. Then he gave up and let it drop as Hiei glomped onto Kurama.

Kurama sweatdropped again, giving Yuusuke an uneasy smile. Then he patted Hiei tentatively as the fire demon snuggled against him, clinging like a burr.

"How can you say that!" Hiei continued, his voice fast pushing on whining. "Nothing wrong with ME."

Kurama sighed and gave up, holding Hiei against him, secretly cherishing the feel of Hiei’s body cuddled up against him even as Yuusuke blinked, face-vaulting, the sweatdrop threatening to eclipse his head.

"Well. . .Hiei was hurt, and I helped him out yesterday. . .only it turns out Koorimes have an unusual allergic reaction to the salve that I used. . ."

Yuusuke nodded, eyes brimming with mirth. "What does it do, make him act his age—er, height?"

Hiei growled faintly against his chest but Kurama merely tightened his arms. "Ah. . .actually, it just kind of. . .um, dissolves his conscious control."

Yuusuke eyed them for a long moment, then cracked up. "Hah hah. . .hoo. . .always knew Hiei liked you, Kurama. . ."

"Shut up," Kurama muttered, flushing darkly.

"Is he going to be like this forever?" Yuusuke managed around wheezing chuckles, as Hiei began to start up his hunger chant again, rumbling against Kurama’s chest.

"No, thank Inari," Kurama replied gratefully. "Yukina said it should wear off by tomorrow. Hopefully."

"Ah, good. Hope you survive until then!" Yuusuke said flippantly, giving him a jaunty wave before moving off. "I’m glad he went to you and not me!"

"So am I," Kurama murmured once Yuusuke was out of earshot, green eyes darkening a little as he regarded Hiei, who, having exhausted his amazing store of hyperactive energy, had fallen asleep in his arms.

Would Hiei remember his behavior when he snapped out of it? If he did. . . would he be embarrassed and flit away, avoiding him the way he did everything else he might possibly ever care about?

Holding Hiei tightly, knowing the youkai would normally never let him get this close, Kurama carried him all the way home.

"Shuu-chan?" she called out softly, moving through the apartment. Maybe she should cook up some chicken soup for him. She had heard, somewhere, that westerners considered chicken soup to be good for colds.

She peered into Shuuichi’s room. He was curled up on his side, clutching what looked to be a pillow, sleeping peacefully. His lax face looked so sweet. Smiling, Shiori withdrew, closing the door behind her.

The "pillow" squirmed.

"Can I come out now?" Hiei inquired, peeking out from under the covers with one bright red eye.

"Yep," Kurama replied, repressing a snigger. Hiei crawled out from his cramped position and flopped on his stomach next to Kurama, sighing with contentment.

Kurama regarded him with a mixture of amusement and longing. Then he put a tentative arm around the fire demon, who cuddled closer. Kurama sighed as he relaxed, and eventually fell asleep for real.

"Shuu-chan? Ne, Shuuichi, are you awake?"

Kurama blinked and sat up amidst the rumpled sheets of his futon. He could’ve sworn he remembered falling asleep with. . . He rubbed at his eyes. Nope, no little fire demon here.

"Feeling better?" Shiori peered into the room.

"Ah—hai, ’Kaasan," Kurama replied, offering his mother a smile. She came in and felt at his forehead.

"You might as well go to school today. It must have been a twenty-four hour bug," Shiori decided, patting his cheek before she left the room.

"Yeah, but it wasn’t mine," Kurama murmured to the rumpled sheets. For a moment he wondered if it hadn’t all been some absurd dream, and he really *had* been sick. But there was an indentation in the pillow next to his, indicating Hiei had at least stayed long enough to sleep awhile.

The fact that Hiei wasn’t still in his room and bouncing up and down on his lap calling him ‘Kurama-chan’ was a pretty good clue that the Koorime had recovered. He wondered briefly if Hiei had been horrified when he woke up next to Kurama in bed. And if Hiei remembered anything at all.

"Damn you, Hiei," he cursed the fire demon softly, wrapping his arms around the knees he drew up tightly to his chest. For a sharp instant he regretted feeling *anything* for the Koorime, if it could make him feel this bad. Then he dismissed his self-pity with a shake of the head, and got up to get ready for school.

Outside it was a normal, if exceedingly beautiful day. Instead of dreaming about stealing he’d dreamt of. . .well. He rubbed at his head, cheeks flaming a little as he recalled little snatches of what he *had* dreamt about.

He wondered where Hiei was.

Firmly he put those thoughts away from him. Useless to pine for what he probably couldn’t have, especially with a day of missed schoolwork to catch up to. He had a reputation to maintain, after all. He was Minamino Shuuichi, the model student. He repressed a wistful sigh and hurried to class.

School was even more wretched than usual, after a day’s break spent with Hiei. The class hours dragged on interminably as he struggled to pay attention to the droning sensei’s voice, fielded the hopelessly lovelorn notes and drooling and fixated stares of the girls in his class, and most of all tried not to daydream about a pair of deep, rose-red eyes.

Today was a beautiful day for a mission, he found himself thinking, for the second time in two days. Anything to see Hiei.

Of course, the god of foxes enjoyed toying with Kurama. He had to endure a day that lengthened with each class period, suffering silently from the closed, stuffy atmosphere of the classrooms and the simpering smiles offered to him by the female half of his class. As usual, Kuwabara and Yuusuke were probably snickering somewhere in an air-conditioned hangout, cutting school again.

It was on the way home that it happened.

Kurama evaded the hordes of girls with his usual skill, ducking out the back route and sighing happily as he wandered past the park. After a long day like this one, the greenery and fresh scent of turned earth and flowers was refreshing, soothing to his senses.

He had just rounded a corner when there was a rustle in the tree he was approaching. He frowned, then. . .a flicker of youki. . .

*Not again,* Kurama moaned mentally, hoping that Hiei hadn’t gotten his butt kicked AGAIN, for the second time in two days.

A slight dark shape appeared next to him as he walked past the tree, almost like a shadow as it walked beside him.

Kurama kept his head down and his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Hn," Hiei made his presence known.

"Hello, Hiei," Kurama acknowledged him, tipping his head slightly. On a whim, he broke from the sidewalk to enter the park, seeing if perhaps Hiei would follow him as he wandered through to one of his favorite hideouts.

Hiei did.

Kurama suppressed a little shiver of happiness. He pushed his way through a little thicket, emerging in the very heart of the secluded spot. Hiei followed him, standing to face him and folding his arms with a trademark scowl.

"You took care of me when I was acting. . .stupid," Hiei conceded with a glare. "Thank you." The last part was muttered so quietly, Kurama barely heard it.

"I didn’t think you were stupid," Kurama responded softly, then sweatdropped as he remembered the little pyromaniac burning his clothes, his skin. . . "Well, not *all* the time," he amended.

"Hn," Hiei said. His face shut down, and it looked as though he was thinking about something.

"So you remember. . .everything?" Kurama gulped, recalling Hiei’s warmth snuggled up against him. He’d been shocked nearly out of his mind when, before he’d fallen asleep, Hiei had begun to purr very gently.

"You look embarrassed," Hiei observed, voice as emotionless as his face.

"I’m not," Kurama protested. "I just wondered. . ."

"Wondered what, fox?"

Kurama’s face flamed. "You never did answer me when I asked why you kissed me," he muttered, avoiding the question.

Hiei was abruptly in front of him, without Kurama even seeing him close the gap. He tilted his head up, face solemn. "I did."

"You. . .?" Kurama trailed off, remembering the muffled noises Hiei had made around his ice cream. A thoughtful look crossed his face. "You did. . . oohh. . ."

Hiei watched his face light up incredulously.

"Did you mean it?" Kurama whispered.

Hiei snorted and folded his arms, looking as if he would turn away.

Impulsively Kurama put his arms around the stoic Koorime. Hiei stiffened a little, but didn’t pull away. After a moment he actually leaned back against him slightly, like a cat arching into a caress.

"Hiei. . .mmph mmv oo, too," Kurama chuckled. Hiei’s mouth twitched, but the expression was quickly hid by Kurama’s lips descending on his own.

The kiss this time was even sweeter than the taste of the ice cream that had covered Hiei’s lips. Kurama kissed him almost anxiously, as if he thought Hiei would vanish at any instant. And knowing him, he might.

Eventually Hiei pushed him away. "But if you ever tell Yuusuke or Kuwabara, I’ll—"

Kurama smiled. "It’s okay. You don’t have to threaten me," he murmured, brushing light fingertips over Hiei’s cheek. "For some reason I don’t think they’d understand."

"I don’t think *I* understand," Hiei muttered.

"Understand what?" Kurama blinked.

"You," Hiei jabbed a finger at him. "Why you care about me."

Kurama eyed him consideringly. He knew his next words would weigh rather heavily with Hiei, so he had to be careful. "For everything you are," he finally responded, softly. "And everything I see inside of you. . .the little things that go past Yuusuke and Kuwabara, that somehow you always let slip when you’re around me."

He blinked as once again Hiei moved too quickly for him to see, and strong arms were wrapped around him. "I thought. . .when I woke up this morning, alone, that you’d come to your senses and. . ." Kurama trailed off, his throat closing up with the ache of remembered sadness.

Hiei snorted again. "Hn. Stupid fox," he informed him, but his tone was gentler than Kurama had ever heard before. "I had a score to settle."

Kurama blinked again. "That's right. . .who DID manage to get to you that badly, Hiei?"

Hiei snorted. Just as Kurama was about to press the issue, the fire demon reached up very firmly and grabbed the convenient red sidelocks of Kurama’s hair, pulling his face down for another kiss.