O.K. Had to back up a tad and make a fix for it to continue. Nothing major,
but somewhat significant...

Enjoy.

Windlily

******************************************************************************

	If Hiei hadn't been concentrating so hard on muting the
reconstruction going on inside his head caused by the horde of tiny demons
in grungy socks which had run over his tongue en-route to his brain, he
would have picked up on the longing note under Kurama's voice. As it was,
he only had a muddled impression of what had happened last night. He eyes
opened wide and he swallowed square and coughed, panic flicking through him
as he thought he remembered being kissed and kissing...

	"What happened last night?" he asked hesitantly.

	Kurama watched as Hiei picked at the rumpled blanket anxiously with
his free hand as he debated how to answer. Hiei hadn't been himself last
night and the whole truth might drive him away forever.

	"You were very drunk. You asked me to explain about 'kissing', then
you passed out," Kurama answered with a shrug.

	 The relief that he saw in Hiei's eyes told him he had guessed
right. A soft knock against his door was followed by his mothers voice.

	"Shuichi?"

	"I'm up, Mother."

	"I'll be back in a minute," he told Hiei as he rose and headed for
the door.

	"Kurama...thank you," Hiei said softly as Kurama started to open
the door.

	There was so many things hidden in the tone of those three words.

	"Anytime, Hiei," he answered back on as many levels.

	When he came back from cleaning up for the morning, the room was
empty and the window open as he expected. He went and closed it, then
rested his forehead against the cold glass and smiled out at the single
footprint on the snow that mantled the thick branch outside. Hiei must be
feeling terrible to leave any clue that he had passed this way. He sighed.
Passed and gone. But he would be back. The line of a poem he'd had to
memorize for class last year came into his head.

	'Like a woman wailing for her demon lover...'

	Well, maybe he was. But unlike that lost soul, his demon would be back.

* * *

	Hiei was dozing in the middle branches of one of the ancient trees
that shadowed the back garden of Genkai's Temple. This was his favorite
perch in the whole area because he could sit and watch Yukina unobserved.
His sister had taken over tending the garden and seemed to love messing
around with the plants as much as Kurama. And she would sing when she
thought no one was around. Simple little tunes that wove the bird songs
together or just a random series of notes that made her smile. It was
lovely. He was fascinated by his twin and could not imagine how she could
have tolerated sharing the close quarters of their mother's womb with him.
She was such an amazing creature. She took the world in with wide and
wondering eyes, still believing the best of everyone and everything even
after her horrible abuse. She was everything he was not and for that one
thing and that thing only, he thanked the Gods.

	He had dozed off just after sunset when Yukina had gone in and now
the hushed whisper of voices snapped him awake. He relaxed a little. The
tones were unthreatening and familiar. Yuusuke and Keiko heading for the
little hidden nook between the trunk of his tree and the wall. They had
been coming here more and more often and it was starting to become
annoying. He had almost fallen out of the tree the first time they had
discovered the little hideaway. He had leaned forwards trying to figure out
why they were mashing their faces together like that and overbalanced a bit
and had to make himself very small in the shadows as Yuusuke glared up at
the rustle of leaves. Much to his relief, Keiko had distracted him with
what he now knew was called a 'kiss'. He didn't remember what Kurama had
said he'd told him THAT night but he had listened carefully when Yuusuke
and Kuwabara had exchanged what he was sure were very exaggerated tales.

	Hiei closed his eyes, determined to ignore them. It was his tree
after all, he had been here first and damned if he was going to vacate it
just because two humans had decided they were going to kiss and drool all
over each other under it. He now considered Yuusuke's attentions to Keiko
an absolute waste of time. The purpose of this exercise was to procreate.
Yuusuke and Keiko had going at it for months now and she still wasn't
pregnant. Maybe she was barren. He frowned as a blur of memory flashed
through his mind, chaotic impressions of heat and pleasure...and Kurama. He
shook his head a little to dispel them. That had to have been a dream
spawned by those damned drinks. It had to be! Nothing could feel that good.
And besides, why would Kurama wish to attempt to procreate with him? That
made no sense at all.

	Something...a tension in the air caused him to glance down. He
blinked, surprised. The embrace was familiar, that they were both naked was
not. They moved apart and Hiei blinked again and his Jagon opened as he
studied the scene below him. The thing that marked Yuusuke as male was so
swollen that it was enormous and stiff. It looked very painful and Hiei
winced inwardly as Keiko reached to touch it. Instead of the flinch of pain
he was expecting, Yuusuke actually seemed to enjoy it. A lot, if the colors
of his aura were to be believed. Then...if anybody had been there to see
him they would have told him he had done an excellent impression of his
sister's wide-eyed astonishment. He had never, ever had the inkling that
two bodies could fit together like that.  And at the end, Yuusuke's aura
had gone berserk.

	He scowled as he reached up to rub the throb behind his scrunched
shut third eye. The couple was long gone but the headache promised to
linger for a while. The Jagon was still dazzled by Yuusuke's reaction to
whatever he had done to Keiko. Or what Keiko had done to him. He still
wasn't sure what had happened. It certainly hadn't looked very comfortable
but they both had seemed to enjoy it. Though Yuusuke much more that Keiko.
He grumbled and hissed at an owl who mistook him for a shadow and landed on
his branch. It launched with silent wings and a startled 'hoo-hoo'. He
wanted to know what was going on and could only think of one source he
could ask to explain it to him.

to be continued...