Part III
By Windlily
****
He got Kurama lowered onto his bed and noticed as he was lifting his legs to get him all on it that the 'erection' had gone away. He had the very mischievous thought of seeing if he couldn't make it come back, then scowled at himself. Kurama wasn't a toy and this sex thing was serious business. And a distracting one. If he had been intent on Yuusuke's life when he had been busy with Keiko, Yuusuke would have been dead and never even known what had hit him. That made it a business he had no need to be dabbling in. And besides, Kurama had hordes of females of all species drooling after him. And he was...well, nothing that Kurama would want anyway even if he had the right configuration, which he didn't...Hiei blinked and gave himself a firm mental shake. What the hell was he even doing thinking such absurd thoughts?
He distracted himself by going to the closet and rummaged around in Kurama's bag until he found the ointment that his friend always used on ward burns and a roll of bandages and set to work doctoring his hand. The storm spit the last bit of it's violence against the panes of the window as he was wrapping his little finger. By the time he had put the ointment and the much smaller roll of bandage back the sky was clean and blue, the storm clouds gone as only Spring storm clouds could.
He gathered his still soaked clothes and draped them over one arm...he'd need to hang them in some high branches close to the sun...and stepped into his boots, then went to check on Kurama. His friend was still deeply asleep and Hiei wondered what he was dreaming. That smile was sly and secret. Probably of stealing something. The unbandaged hand went out shyly to stroke that blood colored hair that was spread like a halo around his friends head once more.
*So soft.*
Then with a whisper of displaced air, Hiei was gone.
The chir of the cicadas was an unbroken drone in the early evening heat. Kurama was slick with sweat and wished fervently for a breeze to stir the heavy summer air that hung in the room as he ground the flowers and soap root into a paste. He doubted Hiei was going to be pleased with the aroma he woke up with, but floral was a million times better than the smell of a Makai cess pool. Genkai had gotten one whiff of Hiei from where she stood in the door to the temple when he and Kuwabara had straggled back with their unconscious burdens and sent them to the old bath house that was tucked away in a corner of the temple grounds as Keiko and Yukina rushed out to fuss over Yuusuke and Kuwabara.
He stood slowly and a little shakily, tired and aching all over and feeling every one of the years this human frame hadn't known. There was a delicate cough and he glanced over to see the diminutive old Master standing in the doorway, a pile of towels in her arms.
"Are you all right?" Eyes undimmed by age raked over him, calculating and concerned.
"I've been better," he answered with a small smile and a shrug.
"Need help?" she offered as she brought the pile in and placed it on the stone bench that ran the circuit of the room, then turned those hard, bright eyes on the young demon that lay on the floor.
"No. Thank-you anyway, Genkai Shihan."
He gave her a small bow which she accepted with a smile and a shrug, then turned and left.
He headed for the larger of the two baths in the building. The smaller one was empty, but this one was always filled with cold spring water that bubbled up from the bottom. It overflowed on the far side into a spillway which fed the ornamental brook which ran through the Temple grounds. He squatted and filled the shallow bowl with water and stirred the contents into a thick lather as he went back to Hiei. He knelt next to him and a soft smile touched his mouth as he debated whether to start from the top and work his way down, or start at the bottom and work his way up.
All three of Hiei's eyes snapped open and he tensed and thrashed weakly as Kurama was working on scrubbing his shoulders.
"Easy, easy..." Kurama soothed.
Hiei focused on him and scowled, but relaxed under Kurama's hands. His friend looked terrible. One whole side of his face was a bruise and Hiei could see others on his chest and shoulders around gashes covered with a clear film of healing sap. He told him so.
"You look like shit!"
"At least I don't smell like it," Kurama answered with a gleam in his eye.
Hiei growled, half in anger, half in pleasure. What was Kurama doing to him? It felt...good.
"I can't believe that asshole though he could drown me in a cess pool. When I die, it isn't going to be in demon shit. What are you doing?"
"Washing you. You're filthy."
Hiei started to try to sit up and growled as his body slowly and shakily attempted to obey. Kurama pushed him back down with one firm forefinger planted in the center of his chest.
"Don't. You were poisoned, remember? It'll be a while before it clears your system."
"Yuusuke?" Hiei asked with gruff concern.
Both he and Yuusuke had been in the path of those tiny poisoned needles.
"He's all right. Now, just hold still and let me get this done."
Hiei didn't have much of a choice, so he did. He closed his eyes and wondered why it was that having someone else wash his body felt so...good? It never felt like this when he washed himself. And when Kurama did his hair! That felt wonderful! Arms slipped under his knees and shoulders.
"Hiei, help a little, would you?"
Hiei put his arms around a Kurama's neck with a growl and a scowl. He despised being this helpless! Though he wouldn't have gotten washed otherwise, but that wasn't enough to outweigh the danger this weakness put him in...thoughts of his own self vanished as he realized how much effort it took for Kurama to lift him.
"Are you all right?" he questioned as his friend reached the side of the sunken basin with shaky steps.
"Hn."
Hiei frowned up as Kurama stepped down. Kurama grinned at him though he could see the effort and weariness behind it. Then they were in the water, Kurama letting out an appreciative sigh as he settled onto the floor, Hiei half sitting, half floating on his lap.
"Lean back, Hiei."
"Why?" Hiei responded suspiciously.
"So I can get the soap out of your hair. Just float, I won't let you go under."
Hiei sat tense and still on his lap and gave him a baleful stare. Kurama lifted his eyebrows and smiled.
"You do know how to float, don't you?"
Hiei added an unhappy frown to the stare. Kurama gave a small huff of amusement and Hiei suddenly found himself prone in the water. He thrashed in surprise as Kurama's laughed, "Hiei, just relax!" echoed off the tiles. He stopped when he discovered he was supported by one of Kurama's knees in the small of his back, one between his shoulder blades and one of Kurama's arms behind his neck. The rest of him was heavy under the water.
"Hiei, the key to floating is to relax. Try it. You might just like it," Kurama suggested as he shook the splash droplets off of his hair.
Hiei knew that Kurama wasn't going to drop him and he wasn't going to almost drown...again. But still, he didn't like being in the water. He never had. The one time he had gone into the hot springs with his friends had not been fun. The water had pressed against him, making him acutely aware of his body, had sucked at him, tried to pull him under, hungry to put out the fire that was his essence. It was doing so agains words. "Stubborn. Both of you. Guard him well, Hiei."
Then he had followed Kurama into unconsiousness.