Yuu Yuu Haukusho and its characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Jump Comics, and any others who have legal rights, and unfortunately that's not me, but I do borrow them a bit... ^.~ We should all be so lucky, ne? Please don't sue me because I don't have any money anyway!

He could hardly believe he was really here. True, he'd dreamt of this moment on more than one occasion, hell, he'd been having these dreams for over a year now, but it was finally coming true. He squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered as a wet track slid down his cheek.

He was crying? Why? After all this time spent dreaming of nothing else, and no one else, why was he crying? He opened his eyes again.

His tear gem glinted from the pillow of red strands. A black sphere of the hopes and dreams he once thought lost forever, twinkled up at him. He glanced ever so slightly to the left and saw the bright face that was the center of his world.

Those brilliant green eyes were shut tight. The sensuous lips parted in a soft 'oh'. His breath came in wave upon wave of ragged gasps and pants. Ever so quietly, interspersed, he could hear a word escape those perfect lips. He leaned in closer, pressing himself against that expanse of gloriously naked chest.

A word.

He pressed even closer, laying himself flat against the hard muscle. A moan escaped him as this movement pressed him even farther into the body beneath him, bringing him that much closer to the release he desired. No, needed. Needed, *now*.

A name.

He bent his lips to kiss that perfect neck, pale silken skin covered by a slight sheen of sweat. He breathed in deep, reveling in the scent of roses washed in dew, and beneath that, the musky scent of earth and something deliciously male.

There, there it was again.

His nose brushed against a petal-soft earlobe and he took it into his mouth, sucking with his lips and rolling it between his slight fangs. The body beneath him shuddered at the touch, pressing up against him and clasping his legs around his waist. That word rode on the breath that gusted past his ear.

"Hiei."

The fire demon jolted at the sound of his name uttered by that soft, smooth voice. He could control himself no longer. He thrust with abandon, pushing himself deeper and deeper into the hot, tight, pressure that surrounded him. The world around him contracted to one point, one spectacularly radiating point between his legs, buried deep inside his best friend. For a few glowing moments that eclipsed all else, the entire universe was here, in his arms, writhing beneath his body, pressed to his flesh, and surrounding him in a blanket of desire, lust, and primal fantasies.

He exploded.

He shuddered as he pulsed his seed into that creature so intimately joined with him. Suddenly, his arms could support him no longer and he collapsed, panting and sweating with exhaustion and no little amount of joy.

Strong arms enveloped him and crushed him close. He couldn't breathe, but he didn't care. Breathing was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment anyway. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night, the rest of his life, held within the protective circle of those loving arms.

Filled with a need to look into those eyes again, the fire demon pushed himself up on one elbow, the muscles quivering in protest beneath his skin. Those eyes were closed, and for a brief instant, Hiei was overcome with fear and dread. He never wanted to see those eyes close, never wanted to see the light gone from those extraordinary green depths, never wanted be without their gentleness, love, and quiet understanding.

He rubbed a callused thumb over the smooth marble cheek, appreciating the texture and the way his hand looked against that body. He let his eyes roam worshipfully over the boy beneath him: long, supple body languorously stretched out over the sheets, strong arms wound around his middle, fiery hair spread in a halo over the light sheets. He gasped in awe; he had Perfection incarnate in his arms.

The boy smiled lazily without opening his eyes, and Hiei could take it no longer.

"Open your eyes." He was surprised at the husky sound of his voice, the reverence in his tone unmistakable. His companion complied.

Dark red lashes fluttered slightly against the pale cheek, and as Hiei waited with baited breath, those glowing green eyes were revealed to him. Moonlight conspired to make him drunk on emotion as the soft light pooled in those green depths. Hiei found himself unable to breathe, snared like a deer in headlights. He'd never understood that decidedly ningen phrase, until now.

Those eyes blinked and he was released, his entire body trembling as he leaned in close for another taste of ambrosia from those soft lips. Gods, I just can't help myself.

The name on his lips was a prayer.

"Kurama."

He was catapulted to wakefulness as his lips met the redhead's. Hiei growled in frustration as he sat on the tree branch outside Kurama's bedroom. By the looks of things it was still a few hours before dawn… he'd been here all night with nothing to show for it except a raging hard on.

Hiei gritted his teeth and tried to turn his thoughts away from the pounding ache between his legs. He found his gaze unerringly drawn to the window, and his breath caught in his throat, his heart leaping up to meet it there. His strong hands clenched into fists within his coat pockets.

Kurama lay in a graceful sprawl atop his covers, it being too hot to crawl under the sheets that night, clad in nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts. Black silk boxer shorts. Black silk boxer shorts which clung to his skin and left little to the imagination, and Hiei had a *very* good imagination. His flame-red hair spread out beneath his cheek and splayed out over the pillow like a living thing as it caressed his face and neck. Hiei wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through those crimson strands, to see if they were as silky as he dreamed they were, to feel that pale skin, to wrap himself around that body, claim it, claim the heart which pounded beneath that perfect flesh.

The fire demon zipped to the edge of the branch and rested his palms on the windowsill. His ruby eyes studied the room intently, waiting for any sign that the fox might awaken should he enter. Deeming it safe, the shorter demon lifted the pane and slid into the room, going rock-still as the boy on the bed mumbled something and shifted in his sleep.

Hiei crammed his fist into his mouth as he watched that supple body twist and move against the sheets. The skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, serving only to drive the little fire demon crazy as he recalled the way Kurama had writhed beneath him in his dream. It had only been the latest in a long series of terribly erotic and wonderfully vivid dreams about his youko teammate which always left him maddeningly and painfully frustrated when he woke.

It was unbelievable, what this crazy youko made him feel. He didn't have words for it, nor did he need them, all it took was one look and the stirring in his groin began, growing until it blocked out all other thought. He wondered if the fox had any idea how he made him feel. Probably not.

While Youko Kurama was, by nature, a creature of sensuality, and one who used it to his advantage, the human, Minamino Shuuichi was far less aware of his sexuality. Oh, he knew that he was attractive, after all, every girl, and a number of the boys, at his school practically hung on his every movement, but he never took advantage of his appeal for his own gain, that was the difference.

Even if he were aware, would he do anything about it? Hiei quelled that thought before it served to anger him. It only made him vulnerable; his feelings for Kurama, and it made that youko vulnerable, as well. He knew that. It only made that crazy fox a perfect target, not that he wouldn't already step into the path of the death meant for Hiei.

The redhead's loyalty frightened him sometimes, yet it was returned. Hiei would die for Kurama, whether he ever revealed his feelings or not, but he couldn't stomach the idea of being the cause of the youko's suffering. If his enemies ever discovered the depths of his feelings for the reincarnated youko, they wouldn't hesitate to exploit it.

The fire demon sighed as he watched over Kurama's peacefully sleeping form. The redhead mumbled something softly and rubbed his face over the pillow before flinging his arm around it, a few feathers escaping with a whoof.

Hiei made his way to the bed and fingered the sheets that had twisted under the youko, wishing he could climb into the bed with him, sidle up close, wrap his arms around the young human body, and stay until morning broke through the curtains.

Kurama curled on his side, as if feeling the wistful presence, tugging the pillow closer and mumbled again. Hiei watched the soft, plump lips and the pink tongue that darted out from between them to wet the lower lip, making it glisten in the moonlight. Hiei shivered, feeling that telltale warmth spreading through him again, and nearly groaned aloud with pleasure as Kurama's hand slid over the pillowcase and rested on his own.

The fire demon slowly turned his hand palm up and curled his warm fingers around Kurama's longer, cooler ones. The redhead shifted and smiled in his sleep. Hiei cold not tear his gaze away from those lips, and as he watched them curl in a relaxed smile he felt his body moving forward, closer to that gentle face.

He stopped, his nose nearly touching Kurama's and shuddered violently at the sensation of the youko's soft exhalation gusting over his lips. The little youkai swallowed hard, screwed his courage to the sticking place, and closing the distance he pressed his lips ever so gently against Kurama's, nearly falling to his knees at the feel of the soft, moist, silky skin on his own.

It was a chaste kiss; Hiei fearing rejection should the sleeping youko awaken to find him here, eyes filled with desire and a want of more than the friendship he had grown to covet. He broke off the kiss with a stab of regret that made him cry out softly and convulsively tighten his grip on Kurama's hand.

He stayed there until the sun began to paint the Ningenkai with its heralding shades of pinks and yellows, watching over his heart and soul lying in peaceful slumber, fingers laced together. Before the slumbering youko awakened, Hiei alighted on the branch outside his window, swearing to himself that he would always watch over the fox, whether he knew it or not.

*OWARI*