He wanted to know what was going on and could only think of one source he
could ask to explain it to him who would not go into fits of laughter at
his ignorance. At least he'd better not...

* * *



	Kurama knew that Hiei was following him. He put his head down to
hide his smile as the slight flicker went from branch to branch at the edge
of his vision, barely disturbing the thick new coat of spring leaves. To
any other, it would have been the nothing more than the errant whisper of a
breeze. Well, Hiei could follow all he wanted. He lifted his head and
breathed in the heady smell of awakening plants that hung on the heavy air.
The clouds were brooding and threatened rain soon. He didn't care. In fact,
that sky had kept most of the visitors to the gardens away and he hadn't
passed another human soul in the last fifteen minutes.

	It was bliss. He had really needed to get away. Sometimes being
Minamino Shuichi was more than he could stand. But after an afternoon in
the Tokyo Botanical Gardens the Youko and Human parts of him would once
again reach a truce. He often wondered what was going to happen to that
human part of him when this body died and he went back to his Youko form
full time. Would it stay with him, like a habit? Or would he wake the cold,
selfish creature he had been?

	*Carefree! And happy!* the Youko part of him snarled.

	He soothed it as he took another deep breath. His steps hesitated a
little as he sorted the scents, identifying each one. What was that? He
lifted his eyebrows as a breeze sprang up and blew more of that sweet smell
into his face. Foxbane? The human part of him commanded turn and run as far
and fast as possible. The youko part of him wanted to find the source of
that mouth-watering scent as quickly as possible.

	*No! No!* he screamed at his youko self as his body turned of it's
own volition and headed off the path.

	The youko part laughed at him and the human was lost in the
overwhelming desire to find those flowers. He was going to lick the pollen
out of each one of them, then he was going to just wallow in them for a
while. A long while.


	Hiei wondered a little at Kurama's goofy grin as his friend turned
off the path and slid into the wilder underbrush without so much as a
whisper of disturbed vegetation. That bothered him a little. Normally when
Kurama went into 'sneak mode' there was a good reason for it. Normally a
very dangerous good reason. But that expression was not at all threatened.
Hiei changed course to follow and within ten meters felt his skin prickle.
There was something with a lot of Power here, close. He hung back a little,
every sense alert as Kurama continued to weave his way through the forest
below him like a ghost. A glade opened before them carpeted with small,
amethyst colored flowers. Kurama gathered himself and leapt. Somewhere in
that arc, he changed and a silver fox landed in the middle of the flowers
leaving a trail of discarded clothing to flutter down.

	Hiei perched and watched with a scowl as Kurama bounced in a
chaotic pattern from one part of the glade and one flower to another,
pausing only long enough to poke his nose into each lily-shaped blossom.
Then with a huge sigh, the fox tucked his front paws and flopped half onto
his side and scooted himself along with his back feet, crushing some of the
delicate plants and releasing a sickenly sweet smell. What in hell was he
doing? Kurama swapped sides and squashed another swathe, then rolled onto
his back and wiggled. There was a prismed flare of light, an invisibility
spell being released, and Hiei got his first look at the author of the
power in the area.

	It was a female Youko, her long hair and the fur of her tail and
ears a golden blonde. She looked young, but then again, Kurama in his Youko
form looked young and he was ancient. She slammed a smallish, bottomless
bamboo trap over the prone silver Youko with a, "Hah! Gotcha'!"

	Hiei waited for Kurama to escape and couldn't believe it when the
fox form of his friend just kept wallowing, totally unconcerned that he'd
been captured. And the possessive smile on the female Youko's face as she
leaned forward to watch Kurama through the bamboo bars raised his hackles.
He dropped noiselessly out of the tree to land with his boot tips just shy
of the cage. The female Youko let out a startled yip and leapt backwards a
good fifteen meters. Hiei reached down and picked up the cage by one
corner. He narrowed his eyes but didn't wince as the wards scalded his
hand, adding the smell of burned flesh to the nauseating aroma of the
flowers. He tossed it away as the female Youko narrowed topaz colored eyes
at him and put her hands on her hips. Hiei felt a chill run through him,
one that a creature such as she should not rate. Hiei kept all three of his
eyes on her as he prodded Kurama gently in the side with the toe of one
boot.

	"Kurama, get the hell out of here!" he hissed.

	"What are you doing here!" she demanded.

	Kurama seemed to focus, finally, and managed to get up onto his
paws. Hiei just fixed her with his best 'don't screw with me' stare as
Kurama staggered away. It didn't seem to intimidate her in the slightest.
Well, he could fix that. She glanced beyond him and giggled. He risked a
fast glance and growled in disbelief. Kurama was busy running in a tight
circle, trying to catch one of his tails. He blinked in reaction to
Kurama's high and pain-filled yelp as he finally managed to latch onto one.
Kurama let go of that tail and started a dizzying spin in the opposite
direction, going after a different one. He drew his sword as the female
tried to flank him and moved to put himself in front of Kurama.

	"Come on," Hiei bid with a venom filled smile.

	She backed off and pouted prettily at him. There was a boom of
thunder that vibrated his teeth and a hard wind whipped whipped through the
glade, tangling her hair. One ear flicked, then she shrugged and the wind
was gone. She gave Hiei a small, secret smile.

	"I'll get him eventually, you know. But for now, he's all yours."

	She blew him a kiss as she swirled out of existence in a sparkle of
golden twinkles and he twitched as the whisper of cold lips brushed against
his cheek.

	*He's mine? What the hell does that mean?*

	He kept his sword up and at the ready as he scanned the area, but
the power was fading fast. The flowers around him dissipated, taking most
of that horrid smell with them, leaving only grass. Only when the last
taint of it was gone did he sheath his sword and dared look at the damage
to underside of his throbbing hand.

	*Shit. Why do I do these things?* he wondered at himself as he
glared down past the blackened and charred skin of his fingers and at the
Youko who was now curled up between his feet with his nose buried under his
second tail, sound asleep and reeking of those flowers.

	He nudged Kurama with his toe again and his glare turned into a
full fledged scowl as the body moved limply against his prodding. He
squatted down and almost gagged at the smell of the flowers that clung to
the Youko's fur. He stood up rapidly and retreated a step. An evil gleam
came into his eyes as he focused on the burble of water. He picked Kurama
up by the scruff of his neck and held him down-wind and at arms length as
he stalked for the stream. He had to follow it a slight distance to find
what he was looking for. The shallow stream ran into and out of a small
pool which had been created by human hands and held six fat carp. Yes, this
would do nicely. He dunked the fox and swished him around under the surface
for a moment then brought him back up. Kurama sputtered and thrashed
weakly, then went limp again.

	Hiei wrinkled his nose and clamped down on his stomach as he
brought the Youko's face up to his own. He still stank.

	"Kurama! WAKE UP!" he bellowed into the fox's face.

	That earned him the barest crack of one eyelid and a glimpse of the
honey-colored iris under it.

	::yummmm...:: whispered in his head and the Youko's red tongue
darted out to lick him on the end of the nose.

	Then that eye slid shut and the mental touch was gone.

	"Kurama!"

	Hiei gave him a few firm shakes, but could not rouse the Youko
again. He moved Kurama back out of nose range as he debated what to do.
Well, Kurama had taken care of him enough times after he'd released the
Kokuryuuha, he could return the favor, just this once. But first off he had
to get that smell off of him. He changed hands, his damaged fingers were up
to keeping a firm grip on the scruff of Kurama's neck but not much else.
Then he dunked the Youko back in, careful to keep his head above the water,
and scrubbed his fingers through the soft fur. He lifted a very sodden and
bedraggled Kurama out and brought him near and took a tentative sniff.
Kurama went back into the pond and Hiei went over him again. This time he
was tolerable. The smell still lingered, but it wasn't overpowering. He
headed back for the glade still holding Kurama by the scruff of the neck
and at arms length because now he was dripping wet.

	A stiff, chill wind had come up as he'd washed Kurama, the Spring
storm that was hovering getting ready to release it's fury soon. Hiei put
Kurama down in the grass, then went to collect the Youko's cast off
clothing. Well, most of them. He was not going to chase after the socks
that the wind was playing with. He wadded them up and cursed as he had to
use his bad hand to tie the shirt around them to get them into a carryable
bundle. He took it back to were the Youko lay and frowned.

	Because of what he was, Hiei had never been cold. If anybody had
been there to explain to him that you if you dunked a warm blooded creature
repeatedly into a stream fed by snow melt-off and then left it exposed to a
cold wind it's core temperature would plummet, he would have stared at them
in incomprehension. But he did know that shivering meant that someone felt
cold. And he had watched his humans enough that he had figured out that the
harder and faster the shudders, the colder they felt. Kurama was feeling
very, very cold. He put the bundle of clothes down and unbuttoned the top
half of his coat, then gathered Kurama up and stuffed him down the front of
his shirt, tails first and buttoned his coat back up. That also solved the
problem of how he was going to carry the Youko and have his good hand free
just in case something or someone decided to take a whack at him. He tucked
the bundle under the arm with the damaged hand and flicked off into the
branches, on the way to take Kurama home.

to be continued...