Kurama could have wept in relief when he heard that familiar voice call out "Dragon of the Darkness Flame". He sprang wearily out of the way, as did Yusuke and Kuwabara as the familiar black of the dragon sprang forth from the diminutive figure that had just arrived. Within moments the demon was brought to his knees, not completely destroyed by the dragon, and Yusuke quickly finished the demon off with a well placed Spirit Gun blast.
The team turned from the rapidly vanishing demon to their late arriving teammate. Hiei was kneeling on the ground, looking as if he were to pass out at any moment.
"Hey Shorty, took you long enough. Although I was just about to beat that demon all by myself with my spirit sword."
Hiei looked up with a pointed glare at Kuwabara, ignoring Kurama and Yusuke. "I must be losing my touch, that dragon was aimed at you. I missed." With that he fell face first into the dirt, out like a light. Yusuke began to laugh and taunt his friend as Kuwabara rained insults on the unconscience fire demon. Kurama simply chuckled and knelt at his friend's side and redid the wards on Hiei's black dragon. The first splatterings of rain was starting to fall in the darkened park as Kurama sat back.
Kuwabara, still grumbling under his breathe leaned down and picked up the fire demon, tossing him over his shoulder. "Who is taking him home tonight? We can't leave him out here in the rain, although it would serve him right, punk!" Yusuke raised his hands "Don't look at me, I don't want him."
Kurama sighed, thinking that they were making Hiei sound like a puppy and spoke up "We'll take him to my house, he can sleep on the spare futon in my room." The group nodded and quickly made their way to Kurama's house. The redhead was very glad his family was gone for the night and after Kuwabara deposited Hiei on Kurama's spare futon, the group split for the night.
An hour later, Kurama climbed wearily into bed, after giving his friend a quick check to make sure he was alright. Green eyes closed wearily and the redhead snuggled into bed, hoping to have a dreamless, restful night. At the same time, Yusuke and Kuwabara were also falling asleep, all worn out from the fight. As they drifted off, Hiei's jagan opened and unseen tendrils of green energy spread out and latched themselves onto Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara.
Kurama blinked as he found himself in a lush, well lit forest. He paused and turned around in awe and confusion at his surroundings. "Oi, Kurama, what are you doing in my dream?"
The fox turned to the sound of Yusuke's voice as Kuwabara's voice boomed into the clearing. "Your dream, Urameshi. This is my dream. And even in my dream, I can still kick your ass." Kurama turned from his now brawling teammates with a sigh and looked around again. "I wonder where we are."
Hiei's head raised from the map he was looking at and his eyes narrowed. The cute, redheaded girl beside him glanced up and blinked at him. "Hiei?"
He shook his head and glanced at her "Stay here, there are intruders in the forest." A round of soft gasps were heard from the many children in the room and Hiei disappeared out of the door. A soft southern accented voice rang out quietly. "Oh, I do so hope the intruders are berry nice people." The other children nodded and the first child moved towards the door, staring out into the forest that sat at the edge of their small town. "Even if they aren't, Hiei will keep them berry much away from us."
Hiei darted into the forest and then into the trees. He frowned slightly as he came upon the clearing and he growled slightly. 'What are they doing here?'
All three in the clearing turned toward him and he noticed with satisfaction as the baka and detective powered up. However, he was even more satisfied to see Kurama smirking in his direction, totally at ease. He tensed ever so slightly and lept, instantly on the ground.
"Shit, Hiei, don't scare us like that."
"Hn" Red eyes turned to Yusuke and Hiei growled again. "Don't cuss here, Detective."
The three newcomers fell silent at Hiei's words, wondering as one 'since when does Hiei care about our cussing?'
"What are you doing here?"
"Not quite sure, I fell asleep and woke up to find Kurama and this bozo here."
"Hey, Urameshi, you're the bozo."
Kurama just chuckled and then sighed as the two detectives once again began to brawl. Green eyes swung to red when he felt Hiei's gaze on him and nodded. "I also just fell asleep and woke up here. I do have a feeling that we might all be sharing the same dream." He glanced around "But the question is, whose dream is it?"
Hiei's eyes narrowed and he glared at the fox's tone, seeing the laughter in those green eyes. "It's because of the sugar."
The two stopped fighting and one of Kurama's eyebrows raised. "Sugar?"
"Hn." Kurama could tell that Hiei was embarrassed, even if Kuwabara and Yusuke could not. "Where are we Hiei?"
The fire demon seemed to almost sigh, small shoulders dropping and he muttered something.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that, can you say it again?"
Hiei growled at the laughter in Kurama's voice and he knew the fox had heard him, but not the detectives, who still looked confused. "We're in a forest surrounding Strawberry Land."