The sun’s rays are warm today, I discover as I walk solemnly through the park. However, not many people are out. It’s just as well, I suppose. Today is an important day for me, and the less people around to disturb me, the better.

Kurama was awakened abruptly by the sound of a loud tapping on his windowpane. With an irritated grunt, he rolled to the side and pulled the covers over his head.

The tapping started again, more insistently.

"Hiei, go away…" Kurama muttered angrily.

This time, the tapping became pounding.

"That’s it," Kurama growled, ripping the covers off and stalking toward the window, fully intent on giving the youkai a piece of his mind. He yanked the window open and glared. "Don’t you have anything better to then…" He trailed off when he saw his friend.

Hiei stared at him for a few moments before realizing that his cloak had opened slightly. He wrapped it tighter around himself with a furious scowl. "Are you going to let me in? Or do I have to stand here all night?"

Kurama moved to the side to give his friend space to enter, fighting the urge to smile. "What happened?"

"None of your business," Hiei snapped, making his way to Kurama’s dresser.

Kurama moved to block the path. "It is if you want to use my clothes."

"…I was taking a bath."

"And?"

"………I left my clothes on the rocks."

"And?"

Hiei mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, I think some kind of animal ran off with them!"

Kurama hid a smile behind his hand. "Oh, is that all?" He turned to open his drawers and find some clothes for his friend. "Here, then. I’ll let you borrow some until you find yours, okay?"

"Stupid fox," Hiei muttered.

I turn off the trail and start pushing my way through the bush. There are no paths this way, nor do I need them. I know where I’m going.

Kurama plucked a rose from the bush and twirled it between his fingers. "We were lucky to find this place," he remarked as a crack of thunder sounded overhead. "Imagine what would have happened if we’d been stuck in that storm?" Hiei didn’t answer. With a small sigh, Kurama went on, just for the sake of avoiding silence in the clearing. "We’d have gotten drenched. It’s a good thing the canopy here is thick— I hate being wet." Still nothing. Frowning, he turned his head to look at Hiei. The youkai was cleaning his sword. Kurama rolled his eyes and leaned his back against the tree, sliding down to a sitting position. He started twirling the rose between his fingers again.

"You spend too much time with those damn flowers," Hiei remarked, sitting down beside him.

"Oh?" Kurama mused, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe that’s because I like them."

"Hn," Hiei grunted, shifting his position so that he was sitting cross-legged. "I think they make you smell like a girl."

"So roses are girly, hm?"

"Hn."

"Well, that’s a shame," he went on with a small grin, "because roses remind me of you."

Hiei shot him a sidelong look of annoyance. "Stupid fox."

Kurama felt his lips curl into a smile. "I’m not kidding, Hiei." He held up the blossom and stared at it. "Especially when they’re in full bloom, and the stems are strong, giving the rose a look of great strength and pride… The petals are very soft, making the flower look as though it’s safe to touch, but the thorns are there to remind whoever reaches for it that it can be dangerous to enemies…" He trailed off when he realized he’d been babbling without thinking, and noticed Hiei was giving him a funny look. "What?"

Hiei shook his head and went back to cleaning his blade. "You’re an odd one, fox."

That was it? That was all he was going to say? Kurama sighed aloud this time and let the rose fall from his fingers to the ground.

I weave through the thick bushes and wildlife until I reach my destination. Hard to believe no one but us have ever been here, isn’t it? The clearing is absent of any evidence of campfires or trash left by people; the bark of the trees void of all telltale marks of foolish teenagers. There is only one item here, in the very center of the clearing, which offers any proof that someone has ever been here.

"Hiei, what do you think of roses?"

Hiei looked over his shoulder at me from his perch on the branch. "I told you once already, didn’t I?"

Kurama shrugged and rested his head on his folded arms. "I know. I’m just trying to make conversation."

"With me?" Hiei asked wryly. He turned around so he was facing Kurama. "Fine. I think roses make everything they come in contact with smell like a girl."

"And that’s it?" Kurama countered, his fingers gripping his windowsill. "That’s all you think about roses?"

"No."

Kurama blinked. That was an answer he hadn’t expected. "No?"

"You have a problem with your ears, fox? I said, no." Hiei looked up at the moon. "Roses remind me of you, too." Kurama felt his jaw drop, but Hiei didn’t see his reaction. "The red roses…remind me of your hair— though I haven’t felt it to know if it’s as soft as the petals. The stems… they’re very green — like your eyes. The thorns… remind me of how deadly you can be."

Kurama blinked in stunned silence. I didn’t know Hiei had a poetic side to him… "Hiei…"

Before the word was barely out of his mouth, Hiei flitted off into the night.

"Hiei, wait a minute! Hey! Come back!"

Knowing it was too late, Kurama’s shoulders slumped. "Damn it."

The stone marker is adorned in thorny vines and blood-red roses, giving it an almost ethereal beauty in the low sunlight. In the soil before the marker, a sword is buried to the hilt. The sight of the smooth gray stone garlanded with green and red flora is nearly enough to make me overlook its morbid meaning.

Kurama smiled as he prepared the healing salve. The low, muttered cursing gave the sign that Hiei had regained consciousness. "Welcome back."

"Hn."

"How do you feel?"

"Well enough," his friend growled as he attempted sitting up.

Kurama finished mixing the salve and knelt down next to the futon, absently shoving Hiei back down. "Don’t. I have to make sure that doesn’t get infected." He dipped his hand in the salve and started rubbing the ointment on the gashes that decorated his friend’s chest and stomach. "You didn’t have to rush in like that, Hiei," he continued softly.

"He made fun of my height."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "So does Kuwabara, and you don’t slice him to pieces."

"Yukina likes him."

"I see… Being short’s not so bad, Hiei."

"Of course it isn’t. Adversaries underestimate you when you’re smaller than they are."

Silence fell over the room as Kurama finished bandaging Hiei’s wounds. When he was done, Hiei offered him a tiny smile. "Thank you."

Kurama returned the hint of a smile with one of his own. "Anytime, Hiei. Anytime."

I genuflect before the marker. On my knee, I am barely an inch or two taller than the stone. I reach forward and tenderly brush aside the leaves of the vines that have fallen out of place to hide the characters on the stone slab.

Kurama fought tooth and nail for consciousness, battling through the wave of darkness to the light of awareness. Every injury he’d acquired was a blazing star of agony. He groaned as he attempted opening his eyes. "Please kill me…"

A low chuckle answered him. "Stupid fox and your stupid stunts."

"Hiei?"

"Who else would waste their free time patching you up again, fox?"

He blinked and looked down. His wounds had been cleaned and bandaged. "Hiei… thank you…"

"Forget it," Hiei replied with a shrug. He stood and walked toward the window. "Just be more careful next time, fox. I have better things to do than sew you back together." With that, Hiei disappeared out into the night.

Why does he always leave when I finally get a chance to start talking with him? Life just wasn’t fair.

My fingers trace the cursive writing drawn on the stone. At one time, the writing was the purest white, but a year spent out in the air has given the once pallid letters a worn look. I suppose I should go over them again… but I can’t bring myself to do so. I don’t want to disturb the marker in any way. It’s at peace now…

"Fox, what are we doing back here?"

Kurama chuckled and gestured to the calmness of the clearing. "I just can’t believe that no one else has ever been here! It’s so beautiful."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "How did I let you talk me into this?"

"Look!" Kurama went on, plucking some roses from the bush. "The roses here are always so alive!"

"And they make you smell like a girl," Hiei huffed. "Shouldn’t we be at Genkai’s temple waiting for Yuusuke?"

"They do not make me smell like a girl."

"Yes, they do."

"No, they don’t."

"Yes, they do."

"No, they don’t."

"They do so."

"Do not."

"Do SO."

"Do NOT."

"DO SO!"

"DO NOT!"

Hiei threw up his hands and turned away. "This is ridiculous."

Kurama grinned and pounced the unsuspecting youkai, pinning him to the ground. "Roses are still girly, huh?"

"Kurama," Hiei growled through clenched teeth, "what are you doing?"

With a little laugh, Kurama plucked the blossom of the rose from the stem, shoved it down Hiei’s shirt. Ignoring the angered red-flecked amber gaze, Kurama rubbed the fabric of the shirt, in effect rubbing the petals against Hiei’s skin. "Ha! Now you smell like a girl, too!"

He slid down to straddle Hiei’s hips as the annoyed youkai divested his shirt of rose petals. "You can get off now, fox."

Kurama cocked his head and stared at Hiei. "Maybe I don’t want to."

Hiei blinked. "Come again?"

Kurama smiled and leaned down until he and Hiei were almost nose-to-nose. "I said, maybe I don’t want to."

"What are you--?"

Kurama closed the gap between them and brushed his lips against Hiei’s in a soft, hesitant kiss, and followed that up with another, more determined one, this time positive what it was he was after. His tongue traced the line between Hiei’s lips, asking for entrance. Shockingly enough, Hiei’s mouth eased open, granting Kurama access to the inner recesses of his mouth. Their tongues entwined together and Kurama cupped Hiei’s face with his hands.

When they broke for air, Kurama stared solemnly down at the youkai. "Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that?"

Hiei blinked several times before letting his lips — the same ones Kurama had just been kissing — curl into a smile. "Stupid fox."

My eyes burn as I gaze at the writing. But I hold the tears back. I promised both of us that I wouldn’t cry. I don’t want to disappoint him. My throat constricts as I read the epitaph over and over. It’s just not fair. Not fair at all.

"Why do we always come here, fox?"

Kurama simply smiled and hugged Hiei closer in his lap. "Because it’s nice and quiet here…and private, too," he added with a grin.

Hiei snorted softly and snuggled closer. "Stupid fox," he chided before beginning to play with Kurama’s ear, rubbing it with his lips and nipping gently with his teeth. "You’re hopelessly romantic."

"One of us has to be," Kurama replied wryly, rubbing Hiei’s back. "And you aren’t, so that leaves me."

"Hn." Hiei paused in his ministrations to pull something out from his pocket. "I almost forgot… this is for you."

Kurama smiled. "You brought me a gift?" He accepted the item Hiei was holding out to him, and grinned when he saw what it was. "A tear gem?" He plastered his mouth to Hiei’s. "Hiei, thank you."

Hiei took the gem and fastened the cord around Kurama’s neck. "Stupid fox… always making me do silly things…"

"Hiei…" Kurama uttered, gazing at the clearing. "Could this be… you know… ’our’ place?"

Hiei blinked. "What brought that on?"

Kurama shrugged. "I don’t know. I guess because all lovers have something that’s ‘theirs’."

Hiei considered it for a few minutes. "Well," he said at last, resting his head against Kurama’s shoulder, "seeing as how we’re the only ones who ever come here… I guess it’s already ours."

Kurama grinned and tugged playfully on Hiei’s scarf. "So… now that I’ve claimed the clearing… can I claim you, too?" Without waiting for an answer, Kurama laughed lightly and shoved Hiei to the ground.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Fox, you don’t have to do that each time, you know. All you have to do is ask."

"I know…but this is more fun."

If he’d left me alone because he was bored of me… that, I could understand. He was never the type for sticking around if he was bored. Or if he’d abandoned me because he hated the Ningenkai or my mother… I could understand that, too. Maybe I’d even understand if he’d left me for another lover… it would hurt, but I would understand.

But… that’s not how it happened at all. I finger the tear gem around my neck and continue to stare at the marker. He didn’t leave me out of boredom… he didn’t leave out of hatred… and he didn’t leave for someone else…

"Stupid fox."

"You’re hopelessly romantic."

"Who else would waste their free time patching you up again, fox?"

"Why do we always come here?"

"Roses remind me of you, too…"

I fall forward, face nearly touching the dirt, arms folded across my chest, my body hunched over. I choke back sobs that threaten to emerge from my throat. Damn him. Damn him to Hell.

"Have I ever told you that I loved you?"

"Not in the last five minutes, fox."

"Well, I love you."

"Stupid fox… I love you, too… but don’t tell anyone."

"…I’ll love you… for the rest of my life."

"I’ll love you longer than that, fox. Trust me."

I’m losing the battle against the rising tide of tears. I look up at the writing on the marker again, one hand moving to clutch the tear gem… the only thing I have left of him. That, and the words on the stone.

"Here."

"Hiei, what’s this?"

"Just take it. It’s important. But don’t read it yet."

"Why not?"

"Because. Open it only if you have reason to believe I won’t ever see you again."

"Hiei, what—"

"Just promise."

"…I promise. But only if you promise me you won’t leave me alone."

"…I promise."

The tears begin to fall — I can’t stop them. It’s been a year. A year of loneliness… a year of torment… a year of pain… a year of heartache… a year without him…

"Fox, if you’ve opened this letter, it means that I am no longer with you. It means I have been forced from your side unwillingly, for I would never leave you for any other reason. More probably, it means my death has come before yours.

In the event that my life should end before yours, I prepared this message so that nothing would go unsaid. You may do what you wish with the words on this paper.

Kurama, you were the only one in the three worlds whom I was able to love. You taught me many things, and for that I thank you. You were also the first and only person to associate me with something as beautiful as a rose.

What I wish to say is… I’ve loved you for a long time, and will continue to love you in the afterlife. And when your time comes to leave the mortal coil, I will be waiting for you.

All my love,

Hiei"

As though echoing my sadness and despair, the sun clouds over and rain begins to fall. The water does not touch me, but I can hear it splashing down upon the treetops. I’m sorry, Hiei. I can’t be strong for you anymore.

I begin to cry harder, my sobs those of one who has lost everything. Because I have lost everything. And all I have left is a precious tear gem… a sword… a letter… and an epitaph.

My keening wails echo through the bushes as I cry along with the rain.