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Standard disclaimers as seen in part one of this fic, apply here also. As do the warnings. Those of you reading this version, I feel I need to appologize ... I don't condone this type of behavior! So don't murder me in my sleep!
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YOMATSU HIRA-SAKAI, THE BOUNDS OF NIGHT: PART 6


      (quick little re-cap)

     Kuwabara tugged on Yusuke's arm, leaning down. "Have you noticed that these yosei are all female!" he whispered harshly.
      "So? What's the big deal," he shrugged, leading him down a separate hall, void of the giggling women.
     "I don't know ... kinda makes me nervous."
     "YOU?" the other laughed. "I figured you'd be in seventh heaven here. 'Fraid of a bunch of girls?"
     "NO!!" Kuwabara countered quickly. "It's just that ... "
     Yusuke reached a hand out to the door knob of Kurama's room.

      Kurama sighed quietly, smoothing the stiff, black hair from Hiei's almost angelic face. Hiei's little fingers were intertwined in a loose lock of Kurama's hair, his other hand, coiled around his waist. Smiling, Kurama ran a finger down Hiei's neck, following the muscular curves down to where his shoulder started. He slid his hand down over the small shoulder and laid it to rest on Hiei's chest, feeling it rise and fall as the youkai breathed.
     Across from him, the door flew open and Yusuke and Kuwabara walked in, ending a conversation. In a matter of seconds, the two froze stiff in place, Kurama and Yusuke met eyes first, Kurama's face holding a look of surprise. They glanced down to Hiei curled in Kurama's lap, an arm wrapped around his waist, another tangled throughout his hair.
     Yusuke and Kurama blinked back and forth a few times as Kuwabara snorted, threatening to begin a laugh, amused. Yusuke planted an elbow in his friends's stomach and grabbed him by the shirt. "We'll just be outside," and he literally drug Kuwabara out of the room and back down the hall.
      Kurama sat dazed ... this was NOT how he wanted to break this to everyone. It seemed an explanation would have to come about before Hiei woke up and realized what happened. And when he did, Hiei would define a new level of anger.
      Slowly, Kurama picked the boy up and placed him on the bed, unwinding his hair from Hiei's fingers. He smoothed back the black hair from his little face, making sure he was still asleep and slipped out of the room.

      Kuwabara was turning a brilliant shade of red as Yusuke emphasized that he was to keep quiet. "I'm sure it's not what it looked like," he said between clenched teeth as he pulled the hysterical man along the corridors.
      "I know what it looked like to me!!!" Kuwabara burst at the seams, his maniacle laughter rolling through the halls. They broke out of the marble building and into a garden full of vibrant flowers and a lot of fairies.
      "Look, Kuwabara ... I'm sure there's an explanation for all that. If you go off spoutin' stuff, not only will Hiei rip you limb from limb ... but then you'll have to deal with Kurama!"
      Kuwabara nodded, still red in the face. He broke from Yusuke's side, disappearing off into the garden followed only by his laugh.
      Yusuke watched after the laughing head of orange hair a few minutes before he finally sighed and shielded his face from a cloudy sun, watching the yosei point and stare at him.
      "Yusuke?"
      He turned around slowly to find Kurama standing tall and well before him. For the first time since he'd met Kurama, Yusuke noticed the beauty the man really possessed ... the vaguely feminine features of his face, his tall, slender body ... "Konnichi wa," he said sheepishly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Look, Kurama .. I didn't mean to barge in. I had no idea ... I mean, I never thought you and Hiei ... well, I suspected ... "
      "It's okay, Yusuke," he reassured, joining him as they began through the garden. "You would all find out sooner or later, it's just ... I would have liked to have HOLD you all first." He hesitated as he walked.
      "Are you two involved? Uh!! I mean ... what's the relationship?"
      Kurama looked around the garden, watching the fairies slink back into the garden as they walked on. He took a deep breath to begin explaining.

      Kuwabara blew one of the curls of his red hair from his face as he walked along side Koenma and Botan. Sworn to keep quiet by Yusuke, Kuwabara's mind was busting at the seams. "Ya know, Koenma. I'm beginning to get the feeling these fairies have more on their mind than just hospitality." He smiled like a fool.
      Koenma threw him a dirty look. "What are you trying to say?"
      "Look around! They're all women ... and what would a large group of lonely women do when they came across a group of men."
      "You've got your mind in the gutter again, haven't you?" Botan put in from atop her oar. She glared down at Kuwabara .. the deadliest look she could muster, but only succeeded in looking like a fool. She grunted and turned quickly on her oar, flying off before anyone could put two sensible words together.
      Kuwabara yelped. "OI!! I ain't no hentaii, if that's what your getting at!!" he yelled after her, drawing odd looks from the yosei around them
      Koenma stifled a laugh gaining a glare from Kuwabara. "Thanks for sticking up for the male gender," Kuwabara snorted.
      "Suit yourself," and Koenma turned off a trail in the garden and wandered off, laughing to himself. "I guess it's just wishful thinking on his part," he chuckled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.
      He seemed to walk for some time ... letting his feet carry him where they wanted to go. The sun beat down on his over head, heating his body through the dark blue clothes he wore.
      The section of the garden Koenma finally found himself in was almost like a labyrinth of tall hedges. They wound through the garden beyond. "The last thing I need to do is get lost in here." He turned on his heals to head back into the main courtyard only to find one of the young fairies coming into the labyrinth. "Oh, excuse me," he said, bowing slightly. He gathered himself, stepping forward to push past her.
      She reached out and laid a firm hand on his chest, pushing him back into the labyrinth. Koenma shuffled back, hands still in his pockets and eyed her strangely, Kuwabara's words floating in a ghostly warning to him. 'And what would a large group of all women do ... '
      "I really have to go," he said, once again, cutting off his thoughts and trying to push past her again.
      Again, the fairy pushed him back, more forcefully this time, almost sending him tumbling into a hedge sculpture. He threw his arms out, catching his balance and quickly regaining his footing, glaring back at the woman. "What's with you? What do you want?"
      She stepped forward, closing the distance between them with a sadistic smile. "You," she answered lowly, curling a finger in his direction.
      Koenma's blood ran cold, Kuwabara's words once again rising to his ears. For once in his life he wished that the premonition and foresight Kuwabara sometimes displayed would have been false. He knew all too well about violences that ningen men and women had about intimacy ...
      "Um ... I'm very flattered, but ... "
      Something hit Koenma in the chest ... like a concentrated blast of air. He stumbled back, holding his aching chest, watching as a branch of the hedge slid back into place, sparking the entire hedge to wriggle alive. He looked down to find a large cut on his chest running horizontally across the folds of the shirt.
      He panicked, turning to leap out of the labyrinth ... only to have a vine wrap around his ankle and haul him back into the labyrinth, smashing him down back first onto the garden floor.

      Kuwabara picked up a stray branch and swung it through the air a few times, slashing at tall grass and hanging tree leaves, thinking about the encounter with Kurama and Hiei in the bedroom. 'Wait until I tell Yukina that her little hero's nothing but a ... ' He brought the stick back to strike again when a hand caught his firmly.
      On instinct, he ripped his hand out of the grip and spun around, ready to attack. Instead, a yosei smiled sweetly back at him. "Sorry to have startled you," she giggled, bowing slightly with a flourish.
      Kuwabara smiled like a fool, scratching his head nervously. "Ah, s'ok. I do that all the time." As he laughed like a complete fool he felt something tugging at his pant leg ... then beginning to tickle his ankle. He stopped laughing and looked down, watching a vine creeping up and wrapping around his leg. He stepped back and pulled his leg out, eyeing the fairy.
      She shrugged with an overly playful smile as a tree branch reached down to him, attempting to capture his tall frame.
      "I was right," he whispered, and called on the spirit sword, dashing from the lunatic plant's grasp.

      Koenma hit the ground back first, the wind in his lungs leaving him painfully as the vines wrapped around his legs, spreading them and securing them to the ground.
      He inhaled deeply as the fairy came down on top of him, trying desperately to force air back into his lungs. He struggled, only to find his hands being pulled up over his head and securely anchored, millions of tiny plant roots winding around his wrists with a strength like steal. The adrenaline began to rush through his system as the fairy bent down and bit a button off his ripped shirt, spitting it into the hedge. She eyed him demonically, kissing his exposed neck gently.
      She moved around to the side of his neck, feeling his skin become cold and clammy, shuttering under her. She opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into his neck roughly, drawing blood. Koenma screamed out, muffled as she reached up to kiss him deeply.
      "Oh, god no," he breathed, tasting his own blood in the yosei's mouth. He tossed his head to the side, feeling the wound rip open further. The yosei atop him laughed keenly, bending down to his chest as she ripped the shirt open, sending the rest of the buttons shooting off into the garden, her hands following the lines of his stomach down to the buckle of his pants.
      He struggled against the binding plants, feeling them tightening around his wrists and ankles, making his struggles more and more painful. "Get off me!!" he screamed, feeling the cool air rush in onto his naked chest. His blood ran cold through his system as the fairy smiled evil down to him, leaning over his body, her own cloths dissolving into mist.
      For a few minutes, she just sat on his stomach, watching him with a grin as he tried to escape. He had his eyes forced shut, teeth clenched as he struggled. She waited patiently as he began to realize escape was a futile attempt. He relaxed completely, lying here in the sunlight, breathing heavily.
      He simply laid there helpless as she ran her hands up and down his stomach, feeling his muscles stiffen and convulse under her touch. He cursed silently to himself, trying to think of how he cold get out of this. She tickled the sides of his chest, making him convulse to the point that he arched his back off the ground, stifling a groan. "You still have to get my pants of somehow, idiot."
      She reached up and dug sharp nails into his stomach, ordering him into silence, leaving length red marks running down his chest and stomach. "Someone get this psychotic bitch off me!!" he yelled, panic-stricken.

      Yusuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather coat, keeping close stride with Kurama. The fairies had converged on their area of the garden, keeping close watch on the two. One stepped forward and bowed to Kurama. "Please, you should remain in your bed. You're not fully healed, ma'dam."
      Kurama blushed slightly at being once again mistaken for a woman. "Really, I'm fine," he smiled.
      The fairy reached out and gently took his arm. "Please come."
      "I said I was fine!" he said forcefully.
      The yosei all leapt back at his words, heightening his suspicion. Hiei was right ... they were planning something.
      "What do you want?" Yusuke demanded.
      "Leave the woman's side. We must talk with you."
      He wrinkled his forehead and looked up to Kurama. "They're afraid of you."
      "Yeah, I gathered that much. I wonder why."
      "Maybe because they think you're a woman." Kurama rolled the idea around in his head, noticing for the first time that the yosei were, in fact, all women.
      A section of the garden behind them blew up in a spray of dirt and plant parts, Kuwabara's battle cries soon following. "YEAH!! Let's just see you try that again, pixy!"

© 1998 Jiminy Cricket Presses

On to part 7