Title: Desperate Darkness

By: Aina Song

Fandom(s): Yu Yu Hakusho/ Wolf's Rain/ Yu-Gi-Oh!

Genre: Yaoi

Rating: PG-15

Warning(s): Language; Blood; Sexual Tension; bit of AU toward the end.

Pairing(s): Hiei/Kurama; Yusuke + Toboe

Reviews: Yes, please.

Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. Italics = wolf telepathy and demon telepathy. Enjoy!

Teaser: Every coin has two sides. On the one side, purity in a wild soul will tempt even the steeliest of hearts… And on the other side, a powerful love will reach through the veil, unwittingly endangering the young soul it only hopes to touch again…

Chapter One - Still Alive?

He awoke to a soft yet insistent tapping upon the window glass. Slitting his eyes open, Kurama let a slow smile cross his mouth as he found a familiar shadow outside his window. Briefly closing his eyes with a sudden yawn, he lazily stretched his limbs as far as they would go before sitting up and swinging his legs over the edge of his bed. But then he gave a curious frown, lifting his eyes again to his window.

It seemed tonight his guest had brought something with him. Mingling with his mate's scent wafted in another, most distinctive scent that drew upon his every caution. Never minding his own nudity, he approached the window, placing his hands under its wooden frame and tugging upward. The window opened further at his urging, and twin garnet eyes silently watched him from the other side.

Now that he was closer, the second scent had grown thicker and less deniable. Kurama met his mate's gaze. "Were you the hunter, or the hunted?"

Those fiery eyes narrowed, "You know the blood is not mine, fox. I was not involved in this."

"What happened, Hiei?"

"You'll have all the time to solve that riddle later." The koorime grabbed Kurama's wrist and tugged, "Come with me."

"Wait a minute," he frowned, freeing his arm and turning away. "Allow me a moment to dress."

Hiei growled impatiently, swinging one leg over the ledge of the open window to better anchor himself. "We have no time for this," he groused, watching as Kurama swiftly pulled on a pair of pants. "Can you not smell the kind of blood on me?"

"Yes," Kurama answered, finding a relatively clean shirt and tugging it on. "But I see no reason to rush into this."

"Damn it, fox," the fire demon growled. "Recognize whose blood this is!"

Hearing the hint of desperation in his mate's tone, Kurama left off searching for his shoes and finally returned to the window. Swiping his fingers along the front of Hiei's cloak, he brought his hand up to his nose and inhaled deeply. He frowned, something untold causing his heart to jump at the familiarity of the scent in his hand.

"Hiei…?"

The fire demon did not answer, those hard red eyes never relinquishing their stare.

Ignoring a sudden clenching of his stomach, Kurama fisted his blood-stained hand and took a careful breath to reclaim his calm. Hiei rejoined his leg with its twin and caught his own hand to the window's open frame as he swung back away from the window itself. Wordlessly, he offered his other hand to his red-haired mate. Swallowing, Kurama nodded and clasped those fingers in his own, ducking his head as he at last climbed out through his own window.

"Take me to him."

~o~

Kurama's eyebrows came together with great alarm as he sank to his knee in the slowly spreading pool of blood. Hesitantly, he reached with his hand and lightly brushed his fingers over a blood-and-dirt matted mass of otherwise beautiful russet-colored fur. A thickness lodged itself in his throat. "Hiei," he cloaked. "He's…"

"No," the fire demon shook his head. "The blood is still warm. Still flowing." He grabbed his red-haired mate's hand and gently pressed Kurama's palm deeper into the matted fur. "Feel for yourself."

Kurama cringed as the wetness pooled slowly about his fingers. But then his eyes widened as he realized what that meant, and sudden and unbidden tears burned down his cheek. "His heart is still beating…?"

"Yes."

Kurama quickly looked up, "Can we help him?"

"Take him to Urameshi," the fiery-eyed demon gave a brief nod, feigning calm for his mate's sake. "His home is closest. Clean him up as best you can. I'll go to Yukina and ask her aid."

Nodding, Kurama grimly ignored the blood as he slipped his hands under the bundle of fur and lifted it up against his chest. Several minutes later, he was using the heel of his foot to knock upon the balcony door of a familiar apartment. He waited out the excruciatingly long few seconds for his entreaty to be answered, and the balcony door slid open.

Yusuke Urameshi stared as his eyes took in a bare-footed Kurama in blood-coated clothes and cradling in his arms a gaunt-looking animal that appeared to have seen better days. "Kurama, what the hell-?"

"Let me in, Yusuke; please. Time is running short."

The dark youth swiftly stepped aside. Kurama came into the apartment, turning as Yusuke closed the balcony door behind him. "May I borrow your bathroom? I need to clean him if I'm to find the wound, and I doubt you wish his blood on your carpet or the kitchen floor."

"Y-yeah, go ahead."

Minutes later, he looked up as Yusuke joined him in the bathroom with an armful of towels and old rags. Kurama offered a shaky smile in gratitude as the dark youth dampened two rags under the sink faucet and passed one over.

Yusuke knelt beside the redhead before the bottom of his own shower's stall, allowing himself a moment to take in what lay in front of him before joining his friend in cleaning the blood away. "Don't think I've ever seen a dog this bad…"

"He's not a dog," Kurama softly corrected, most of his focus on the task at hand. "He's a wolf."

"A wolf?" Yusuke studied the animal's paws and muzzle, "Where the hell did it come from?"

"He," the redhead automatically corrected. "And I'm not certain where he's been most recently, but I dare to guess that his first home was Demon World."

"What? A demon wolf?"

"Yes." Kurama lifted one foreleg away from the body, carefully cleansing the beast's chest and stomach. Yet it seemed even unconsciousness could not halt the flinch of pain that jarred the wolf's entire body. Frowning, the redhead lifted his rag away, but he very quickly replaced it to halt a fresh spill of blood. "I believe I've found the wound…"

"You sure?" Yusuke asked, leaning up on his knees to carefully examine a discovery of his own. "Looks like a lot of the blood clotted around the back of his shoulder, here, too."

"Another one?"

"Wait." The dark youth frowned, eyeing the wound he had found. Very carefully, he set his fingers to the area around Kurama's rag, lightly feeling about and detecting tenderized skin under all that fur. It was not all that difficult for him to make a connection. "Ah, hell…"

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry," he immediately apologized, every sincerity in his gaze as he looked up again. "It's a puncture wound."

Kurama's eyebrows came together. "Stabbed?"

"No," Yusuke shook his head, lifting away the smallest corner of Kurama's rag to show the shape and form of the first wound. Then he demonstrated with his first two fingers how that wound lined up with the other. "He was shot. From pretty close range, too. The bullet went clean through him."

"Oh, my!"

They both turned, finding both Hiei and his sister Yukina in the open doorway. Yukina's delicate hands had clasped together before her heart, and her wine-red eyes were round with concern. She quickly offered a polite bow in greeting, "Forgive us for not knocking. But Hiei insisted this to be an emergency."

"It is," Kurama assured, while Yusuke stood away from the shower's stall to allow her room. "Please, can you heal him?"

"I think so," she replied, coming to her own knees in the spot Yusuke had vacated. "Might you know his exact breed?"

"How will that help?" Yusuke wondered.

"Demons come in hundreds of breeds, and thousands of breed-combinations," Yukina patiently reminded. "That makes for an infinite number of body chemistry possibilities, and just as many risks a healer must strive to avoid. What works miracles for one demon could just as easily prove fatal for another." She returned her attention to the redhead, "Kurama?"

Sighing, the redhead pushed to his feet. "He was born to a female hybrid - half wolf, half nymph. His father… is a pure-bred silver youko." Then, without another word, he turned and left the bathroom.

"Fox," Hiei gruffly called, swiftly following.

Yusuke stared after his two best friends, unknowing as to what could have upset the both of them this way. Glancing down to see that Yukina was already cautiously working a rag free of the wound on the wolf's chest, the dark youth clenched his jaw and left in search of the other two.

He found them in his living room. Kurama was standing by the tall glass doors that led to the apartment's balcony, staring out toward a starless night sky. Hiei had come up behind his mate and had circled his arms around Kurama's waist from behind, his cheek pressed against Kurama's back. They both looked so somber and silent, that Yusuke knew immediately that he had walked in on what had obviously been a private moment. He turned to leave.

"Yusuke," Kurama softly spoke, stalling him. The dark youth turned back, but Kurama's eyes continued to gaze up toward the darkened skies outside as he drew in another breath. "Thank you. If you had not discovered that the wounds were from the same bullet, Yukina may have had to lose precious seconds determining that for herself. If he survives, it will be due to your insight."

Hiei's growl was oddly gentle. "Don't, fox. He will not die."

His red-haired mate gave a single nod, though in his eyes there still lingered an uncertainty.

"Stop me if it isn't my place to ask," Yusuke hesitantly began. "But… Here I am, watching my two closest friends try to comfort each other, and I can't help but wonder what I'm missing."

Hiei pulled his mate closer, "The pain is his, more than it is mine."

"Yeah," he shrugged uneasily. "But even I know when you're hiding more than you're lettin' on."

"Yusuke," Kurama finally spoke again. "The young wolf in the other room… He is my son."

"What?"

The redhead at last turned his gaze away from the world outside, stepping out of Hiei's embrace and choosing instead to sit upon the sofa. The fire demon was there in an instant, straddling Kurama's lap and resting his brow against his mate's chest. Kurama's absently held him close, fingers sweeping back and forth across the back of Hiei's neck. He looked up again as Yusuke stepped curiously further into the room. "You know that I was a thief," the redhead sighed. "Notorious in nearly every region of Demon World. You could also say that I was somewhat of a rogue, even among my own kind. For though the youko clans loved frequently and freely, I myself had very little opportunity for such impulses. Hiei is my mate, of course, but before him I had only ever taken two lovers."(1)

"You? But your reputation…?"

"Able even to break the heart of a stone," Hiei could be heard to say, with something that sounded dangerously close to a dark snicker.

Kurama's mouth tilted in an equally somber smirk. "Rumors, I'm afraid. One glimpse of your silver silhouette flitting about in the night, and they can't stop talking about you." He waved that turn of the conversation away, returning to the subject at hand. "As a thief, I guarded my feelings carefully, and did not share them lightly. In fact, my first lover was my long-ago partner, Kuronue."

"Kuronue?" Yusuke interrupted, the hint of a challenge edging his slow smirk. "Not Yomi?"

The redhead did not suppress a shudder. "Gods, no. That man was too reckless, even then. No, Kuronue was before Yomi, and our trysts ended as suddenly as his life. Witnessing his death had been enough to make me want to swear off thoughts of love and romance forever. I'm afraid such a decision made me a cold companion for Yomi - though I can't bring myself to regret that. It were many centuries before I had met someone that finally managed to change my mind."

"Vi," Hiei murmured.

Kurama's mouth tugged in a truer smile this time, though the sadness lingered in his eyes. "Yes. So beautiful. That was the nymph in her. Yet it was the timidity of her wolf's blood that intrigued me. It was not long before I understood that I had fallen for her, and I knew no joy like the day she revealed to me that she was carrying my child." He sighed, "You can imagine how it tore at me when she died bringing our cub into the world. She had not even the strength to name the boy, before the life fled from her eyes forever."

He grew very quiet, making the silence in the room all the more potent. After a long moment, Kurama drew in a slow breath. "I entrusted my cub to a human friend, an old human woman who was returning to her own home, and bade her watch over him until I could return. Vi's nymph-sisters had a right to her body, more than I did, and I couldn't not return her to them." He sighed again, "I had meant to come back for my cub as swiftly as possible. But a man can never run from his past for long, before it catches up to him and hunts him down like a common stray-"

"Wait," Yusuke cut in, fierce brown eyes wide and staring. "You told me this part of the story before. This is how you were forced to hide in the human world."

"Yes," the redhead nodded. "And, while biding my time and renewing my strengths, I'd eventually convinced myself that it would be safer for my cub if I did not return and bring my enemies to his door."

"OH!"

The timing of the sudden interruption was like breaking glass, and quickly the three rushed down the hall. Yet when they reached the bathroom doorway, a sight they did not expect caused them all to freeze.

Yukina was unharmed, sitting back on her knees and smiling. The young wolf had been cleansed, his wounds dressed and smelling strongly of some healing sealant. His head rested across Yukina's lap, and she was lightly smoothing her hand along the top of his head between the ears. "I'm sorry," she managed to utter sincerely around a small giggle. "I didn't mean to worry all of you."

"What happened," Hiei asked.

She lifted her other hand to her mouth, trying to stifle another giggle. "I seem to have taken him by surprise. He nearly attempted to bite me, until he realized that I was trying to help him."

Kurama came forward. "He's awake?"

In answer to his question, the wolf stirred and stared warily up at them all with eyes of golden amber mixed in with hints of orange. He did not growl, did not bare his teeth or even back away upon finding so many strange faces staring back at him. He simply remained unnaturally still, as though waiting to see their first move, before determining his own.

Kurama slowly sank to his knees upon the floor, letting his movements and his expression show that he meant no harm. He took a slow breath, striving for calm. "What's your name, young one?"

The wolf made no response but to narrow his eyes.

"I know you can understand me," the red-haired fox patiently revealed. "There is no need to pretend ignorance here. Tell us your name."

Those eyes shifted about to the others in the room, and back again. And then, softly but clearly, Toboe…

"Toboe," Kurama echoed, offering a small smile though his heart twisted within his chest. The name was uttered by a voice that still sounded so very young. "My name is Kurama. The one who healed you is Yukina, and the two behind me are Yusuke and Hiei."

What happened? The other quickly demanded, Where am I? Where's Pops?

"Pops?"

A human. An old man. Toboe finally lifted his head, meeting Kurama's stare directly. I promised to protect him. But we were attacked, and then… Where is he?

Guilt and sympathy filled Kurama's heart. "You were alone when we found you. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to your friend."

Those eyes grew wide, seconds before Toboe tore his gaze sharply away. He let his head sink once again to Yukina's lap, and tears spilled as he closed his eyes to the world around him. Yukina bit her lip, looking upon the young wolf with much compassion as she stroked her hand over his head like before. Toboe rolled his head a bit, just enough to let her massage behind his ear. There were even tears in his voice as he whispered, I don't get it. We were dying. What happened? Where is he? And why am I still alive?

1) Lovers vs. Mate - Virtually the same, but for one very important detail. An unmated demon can take on as many lovers as he desires, but will invariably only mark one as his mate.