Hiei pressed his face against the youko's well-built chest, nibbling an imaginary way towards one erect nipple. The youko responded with a deep moaning sound. Then he wrapped Hiei's hips with his thighs, caressing him and bringing him closer so the youkai could feel the eager volume growing between his legs.

The youkai started to purr, very gently, when Kurama stroked his neck, making the touch of his warm, big hands massage his shoulders, sensing the sensual curves of their muscled outlines. The sweet balm of love and happiness raised from their naked, caressing bodies, starting to form the special fragrance of sex and ecstasy they appreciated so deeply.

"Youko..." Hiei called, closing his eyes to enjoy better the closeness to his big, warm, perfumed youko.

"Baby...", Kurama responded, in a murmur filled with so much delight that was almost like a soft groan of pure elation.

The youko kissed his youkai partner then. They groaned their love while they deepened their tongues one into the other, and their mouths hungrily celebrated their passion in the way of a long, wet kiss. The youko's bigger hands grabbed Hiei by his deliciously thin waist, bringing him closer and up. His fingers reached down to rub the round forms of his buttocks, drawing a kind line along his warm skin till they wormed into the inviting depression at the beginning of his crevice.

"I want it in..."

"'You do, sweetie?"

Hiei just gave out a hissed, long yes as he sighed out the pleasure which started to dominate him, taking control over his body, his mind, his feelings...

Kurama rolled to his side, bringing Hiei with him. He made Hiei turn over and  embraced him from behind, accommodating his smaller body to fit his large figure with a perfection and softness like only long time lovers could. With a slow, expert move, he brought his knee up to find a way in between Hiei's thighs.

"I'm gonna give you all I've got, my Hiei..." The youko murmured right into Hiei's ear, in such a low, sensual voice that the small Fire Demon was entirely shaken by a spasm of the purest delight.

The youko's hands caressed Hiei's belly and fondled his chest, eliciting a deep sound of pleasure from the youkai's lips. He brought his pretty lover closer then, cuddling him, fitting him against his lap.

Hiei's body arched in a tense, aroused response when he noticed the hard member pressing against his rear.

"Ahnnn... Youko, you're so big..."

Kurama licked Hiei's ear, filling it with the loud, wet smack of a kiss.

"And you're so tight, baby..."

Hiei's breathing was deep, heavy, and he kept his eyes closed, his fists clenched as he grasped handfuls of leaves and petals which formed their bed. His whole body was taut, and his lips quivered...

He could not stand it longer... He wanted it.... He needed it...

He moaned so deeply, in such a beautiful, abandoned manner that Kurama could not hold any more. He brought Hiei up, accommodating him on his lap, and with a small swing of his hips, he made his erection slide along his lover's crevice, aiming right at the cute, snug entrance.

The youko closed his eyes and held his breath, holding his lover dearly in place, forcing himself a bit against him to penetrate into his delicious...

"Tou-chan! Ji-chan! It's a beautiful day, let's swim in the river!"

Kurama was paralyzed. His golden eyes became very wide with that shocking surprise, and he sat up very tense, while Hiei quickly put his hands to conceal his nude sex, blushing intensely.

They looked at the fair figure which stood midway the cave's entrance. The golden youko was all wet and... Naked?

Hiei puffed when he felt the youko's fingers close tighter around his waist. Kurama was so angry he literally lifted Hiei from his lap to place him aside.

"Get Outta Here, Kinno!" Hiei ordered. It just took him a quick glance over his shoulder towards the youko to attest to how furious the silver fox was.

"Ah, sorry, I..."

It was when the youko stood up, very slowly. He seemed to be totally in control. His movements were still elegant and calm. Yet, Hiei could see his fury in the angry way Kurama clenched his fists. Also his golden eyes and the tense outline of his muscles spoke of his wrath. He was very taut, and the youkai even imagined to have heard the sound of his grinding teeth.

But all that fury made him very beautiful. Hiei had eyes to his silvery youko, only, delighted before the alluring grace of his naked, slender body.

"Daddy, I didn't intend to disturb you, I just..."

The golden youko tried to smile, and his eyes sought for Hiei, asking for intervention. Hiei just breathed, very deeply to ease the cutting pain in his groin. His erection was vanishing into a palpitating discomfort.

He fidgeted, and snorted, loudly.

"But you disturbed us! You've been disturbing us every half  hour for the past three days!"

"But I thought  you had already finished it..."

"We don't do these things in a hurry!"

Kurama looked at his lover. He held a finger up in the air, and hushed for silence. Hiei just nodded, showing a vague half-smile when he looked up at the imposing beauty of his silvery partner. The youko showed his fangs, and he let the tip of  his tongue test sensually the sharpness of  his teeth, sliding it on them, once, twice, and then licking his lips...

And Hiei could see the youko had that peculiar wicked look in his eyes he reserved for enemies only...

Kurama walked towards Kinno, who still stood in the narrow passage, abashed, and yet trying to excuse himself, whimpering before Kurama, holding his hands out in prayer.

"Daddy, Don't be mad at me..."

Kurama said nothing. He just walked a slow step forward. And as he did it, the golden youko stepped backwards another.

"I told you not to walk around naked, stupid piece of golden shit!"

"But it's hot outside, and I was swimming, and I just had to..."

The youko started to open and close his hands, as if practicing his grasping, showing very long, sharp nails. He advanced one more step, and Kinno pulled himself back another, in total fright.

"I told you not to enter this cave, damned youko trash!"

"But I was so alone, you stayed here all morning, and I..."

Hiei pretended to be looking at the other side. He and Kurama had been going through the worse days he could ever expect. Kinno was like a baby,  always demanding attention. The kid needed to be taught they needed some time alone, and who better to teach him that than the youko? Maybe he really should let Kurama and Kinno try to get along that time. He always could flit outside and help, in case the kid really needed to be rescued from what was most likely to be a near-death experience...

"I told you not to try my patience, walking wig from Hell!

"But I wanted to be company to you, Daddy!"

The youko walked towards Kinno again, and this time his whole body arched, as if he was on the verge of attacking. His tail was waggled furiously on his trail, and he growled...

"I told you not to call me Daddy!"

Kinno just groaned, and his eyes became wide when the youko shouted, jumping on him showing lots of teeth and nails...

"I'm gonna kill you this time!"

"Ahhhhhhh!" Kinno just had the chance to scream as he huffed out of the cave, with a furious, maddened youko on his heels, crying out in wrath all the bad words he knew.

The youkai followed them with his eyes, staying back very calmly. In a way it was funny to see those crazy youko running one after the other like two lunatics. They really looked like father and son...

Hiei blinked. He was feeling better now. It was terrible for him and Kurama to be interrupted in such a manner. After a disruption such as that, it took them a long time to get into the atmosphere of love again...

He was trying to bring the youko and his golden son closer, but it had been in vain up to then.

And as Kurama was stressed because of Kinno's presence, Hiei was strained because of Kurama's reaction to the kid. He had supposed it would be easy for them to be together, but he was wrong. And Kinno didn't make it any easier. He needed to have a long, serious talk with the kid.

The youkai stood up, reaching out for his trousers, thrown aside. He dressed them up very calmly, as he heard the commotion outside. Kinno was still excusing himself, in frightened screams, begging Kurama to forgive him. And Kurama's only answer was to call the kid with the weirdest collection of names Hiei had ever heard.

He was almost thinking about taking a nap and let both youko solve their matters alone, when he heard Kinno's voice sound more desperate.

He had trusted his silver youko; he imagined Kurama would never be actually mean and harm the kid, but his lover seemed enraged enough to loose any sense.

Kinno called him desperately, begging Hiei to save him...

He fastened his belts in a hurry and darted in a quick sprint outwards.

The day was too bright and hot. An uncommon day in Gandara. He didn't even hear the thunder rumbling in the horizons. He stopped for a while, only to check the direction, and as he did it, he rubbed his eyes, unable to avoid a long, lazy yawn. It was so amenable inside the cave...

He could see Kurama. He stood down the grassy slope, with both hands on his hips and a boastful expression. And from where he was, he could not see Kinno.

Hiei moved along, barefoot on the grass, checking his belts again, He hated to be caught with his pants down. Kurama was still naked, too busy with his punishement of Kinno to care about his clothes.  Hiei walked, and as he approached Kurama, he noticed not only he was too calm, but he had a wicked smile across his lips. The youko must have been really naughty to the kid then..

The short youkai stopped right before Kurama, following his vulpine golden eyes to try to meet Kinno.

That's why he had not seen the boy!

Kurama had made a tall tree grow, and its branches and lots of lianas and long ivy stems surrounding him in a way that he could not move in the slightest. Vines and lianas crept all along the kids limbs and around his body, circling his neck and even gagging him.

Kinno wiggled and twisted, trying to set himself free, showing a pair of wide, truly scared eyes both to Hiei and Kurama, flipping eyes from one to the other, groaning muffled cries of despair.

Poor thing...

Hiei looked up at Kurama then. The youko seemed very  pleased with his work.

Kurama Youko looked at his partner, winking one eye to him. He waved his tail in the air in a quick, contented manner, bending over to be at eye level with his shorter companion.

"Now that I took the garbage out we can share some quality time..."

Hiei took a straight line with his eyes, from Kurama to Kinno. The boy was frightened. He fought earnestly against the plant's clinch, but it was totally useless. Hiei could not even see his body; he was all covered up by those intermingling, tight vines...

He sighed. That was not the proper way parents should behave, no matter how tempting it was.

"Release the kid, youko."

Kurama's face grew pale, and he glared at Hiei.

"Nani?"

"He's very weak. Your plants can harm him."

"That's the plan..."

The Fire youkai looked at him with a more serious expression, arching his eyebrows in anger, and making his voice sound even deeper and stronger.

"I can't believe you want to deliberately hurt the poor kid. It's cowardice; he can't even fight you."

Kurama sat on the ground, sinking in the grass, very annoyed with that whole situation. He crossed his legs and looked very gravely at his partner.

"But he's a walking Doomsday! I can't let him turn our life into sheer hell!" Kurama sighed then. It looked like he was getting calmer now.

"He's like a child, we gotta be patient."

"A retarded child! I was very clever when I was his age!"

Hiei just nodded. There was no way he could rebuke Kurama's words. He looked askance towards Kinno once more. He felt pity for the kid...

"Set him free, Kurama. We need to talk it all over again."

Kurama shook his head in a firm negative.

"Let's keep him tied up just for a day, Hiei... It won't hurt him, and we'll have the whole day free to..."

"No, Kurama! Let the kid go!" Hiei exclaimed, cutting Kurama off  rudely.

The Silver Youko mumbled something in between his grinding teeth. It had been so low Hiei didn't even had a chance to hear it.

"You're not a coward, Kurama. You don't need to use your strength against such a weak creature. You've got brains; you can try to find a solution..."

"Hmnn... I don't know..."

The youko looked at Hiei then; the youkai smiled at his partner, in a very caring manner. And on looking at Hiei's eyes, the youko relented.

He could let it pass, for one last time...

Kurama didn't even care to take a glimpse towards Kinno. In fact, he didn't even make any gesture, or said anything. He quietly called on his you-ki, mentally commanding the plants to loose their grasp around the kid.

The plants disappeared in a burst of ki, shrinking back till they turned into normal herbs down on the forest's floor.

Kinno held tight to himself, panting, trembling...

He tried to say something, but for a while he needed to keep silence, taking his breath, and calming down. He finally breathed in very deeply, letting out a strong, huffed sigh, visibly relieved with his liberty.

"Daddy, I promise it won't happen again!"

Kinno came walking towards then, keeping his eyes low, very timidly.

Hiei looked at the naked kid, and then looked at his youko. It was something he could not avoid noticing.

"Like father, like son, Kurama..."

The youko made an ugly frown, glaring at Hiei.

"He's not my son, Hiei! Don't start with that!" Then he cried at Kinno, furiously. "Stupid Slut! Cover yourself!"

Kinno blushed, halting. He pulled his fox's brush forward, to cover his sex with the bushy end of his tail, holding it in place, right between his thighs.

"Sorry... I'm used to being naked all the time..."

Kurama snorted, anthipathetically. He unconsciously pulled a blade of grass off, playing with it between his fingers, ready to turn it into a weapon any time...

"Hn! I know why you're used to it."

Kinno walked closer, carefully covering himself with his tail, till he sat in the grass, right opposite to Kurama. He was so ashamed he didn't even try to excuse himself longer, too affected by Kurama's harsh words. He just sat down, also cross-legged, just like his father.

Hiei took one step toward his foxes then.

"We gotta try our best to live together, but you two are making my life very hard. Kurama, whether you consider the boy your son or not, you have to stop swearing at him."

Kurama's eyes glinted in disapproval, but he acquiesced to Hiei. He would did all he could to avoid clashing with his partner again.

"Kinno... You're experienced enough to know what your father and I do  when we're inside our den."

"Yeah, Ji-chan, I know..."

"Why do you bother us then?"

The kid faced his Ji-chan, very embarrassed. He fidgeted nervously with one of the long tresses formed by his beaded hair. He brought the tress' end to his own mouth, sucking his own hair, feeling very uncomfortable. His uncle's red eyes and his daddy's golden eyes were right upon him, intense, accusing, angry...

"Forgive me, please. I just wanted to be with you..." His eyes glistened with tears. He brushed them off with the back of his hand, sniffling loudly. "I love you and Ji-chan Hiei so much, but daddy won't give me any attention... "

Kurama sighed and looked up at the sky, and Hiei walked to Kinno, patting his head. But he also looked at him with a very deep, serious look.

"You have to leave us alone sometimes, Kinno. It took Kurama and I a great deal and a lot of time till we could be here, together and in peace. We need our own space."

Kinno looked down, mortified.

"Ji-chan... "

Hiei continued, with his deep voice sounding very low, however with a sweetness he had ever reserved for Kurama's ears only.

"If you don't behave properly, we will be forced to send you away, kid."

Hiei immediately regretted having said such when he saw a long tear trickling down Kinno's face.

"I just wanted to talk to someone... I wanted to be with you... I'm sorry..."

He sobbed convulsively, and hid his face with his hands, cuddling to himself.

Hiei faced Kurama, looking for help with that. He hadn't counted on the fact the kid was too sensitive, too needy of attention...

"Don't look at me; I hate those scenes..." The youko declared, dryly, closing his arms across his chest in a peremptory way. "They're feigned tears, he's just acting..."

Hiei hushed Kurama in a harsh manner, and the youko snorted, imitating Hiei's grumpy ways.

Hiei sat down then, close to Kurama. Both lovers remained there, looking at the crying youko. Hiei feeling guilty, and Kurama displaying an angry sarcasm in his slanted eyes.

Kinno sobbed a little more, and when he realized both Hiei and Kurama were quiet, very attentive to him, he decided to say it all.

He started a whiny, whimpering prolonged complaint.

"I am so alone... Daddy doesn't like me and I don't like to live here in the wild! I'm a domesticated youko, I'm used to live in luxury! I don't like it in here! There's nothing here! I have to sleep outside, in the cold, and daddy forces me to turn into fox! I don't even have a toilet, I don't have a mirror, I don't have my own bed, I have to sleep in the bushes, and there are lots of bugs, fleas, mosquitoes, snakes..." Kinno inspired deeper then, just to have the breath to keep on. "Daddy, I heard you are such a famous thief. Where's your treasure? Why don't you have a castle? Why do you live like animals here in the bushes? Are you and Hiei Ji-chan poor? I can help... I can work and..."

Kurama hid his face with his hands. He was hardly tolerating that high-pitched childish voice in his ears.

"Go away! No one is forcing you to stay!"

"Kurama! Shut up!"

The silver youko tossed his flowing hair to the side with a sexy, angry flip of his head.

"I don't give a damn whether he stays or goes..."

"Yeah, I know that..."

Kinno sniffled a bit more.

"It's very hard to stay here alone, with no one to talk to, and nothing to do..."

Kurama stood up very tense when he heard that. He pointed an angry, accusing finger at the golden kid then, seeming very affronted after his complaints.

"Nothing to do? Is it the problem? Nothing to do? Then I'll give you lots to do!"

Hiei blinked. Oh-oh... Now it seemed the kid was really into double trouble...

"Kurama, I think you..."

"Hiei! I know what to do! You two, don't come nagging me! Stay here till I call you, or I'll have to teach you both a lesson!"

The youkai and the golden youko stayed there, watching, baffled, as Kurama left them behind, storming off  at an infuriated pace, grumbling and swearing in a terrible, very bossy mood...

"Hiei Ji-chan?"

"Hn?"

"Daddy Kurama is really pissed, isn't he?"

Hiei looked at the youko from the corner of his almond-shaped, expressive eyes, arching an eyebrow.

"Kinno, even I am very pissed with you. This time you cut us off in a very crucial moment."

The golden youko couldn't do more than to offer an embarrassed smile in reply.

"Forgive me, Ji-chan..."

Hiei hid his face with one arm, unable to hold back his smile. The kid was a pest, an extra-large spoiled baby, but he liked him. Somehow, Kinno reminded him of Kurama's ways. As days passed, Hiei piled up similarities, and after three days together he hardly had doubts Kurama had actually sired that youko.

He could not say the same about Kurama; as days passed, the silver youko seemed to get more and more annoyed...

"Right..."

"At least I can count on you. Daddy is never gonna love me; I know that now."
 
"Give him time. It sometimes takes a long time for us to understand our own feelings."

Kinno smiled beautifully.

"Was it what happened between you and daddy?"

Hiei took in one long, deep respiration, lovingly recalling some scattered images of their past, and of the red-haired Ningen who seduced him so cleverly.

"Yeah..."

"I wanted to have someone steady too, and be happy like you and daddy. I have never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend; I had only customers or masters."

Hiei furrowed his brow at that.

"I thought you and Hikaru..."

Kinno chuckled.

"No, Ji-chan! We're just friends. I'm not Hikaru's kind of guy!"

The youko and the youkai sat up, looking at one another when they heard the distant, but insistent call. Kurama seemed to have finished whatever he was doing.

"I'm so happy! Daddy did something for me! He did it to help me!"

Hiei just observed the youko's enthusiasm, a bit suspicious about Kurama's plans. Anyway, he followed Kinno, who had already stood up, running up the small hill in a joyful, childish pace, calling for his daddy, already crying out how much he had loved the surprise...

Poor naive kid... He'd love anything Kurama did for him. That was really an unconditional admiration, and the silver youko didn't value the kid's feelings as he should.

Maybe Kurama would come to regret it one day...

Hiei moved fast, cutting through the air like a quick trace of  black, also looking forward to knowing what Kurama had cooked that time.

It took him less than instants to reach his youko. He was already wearing his usual white outfit, and seemed to be much more calm than before. Hiei reached the top of the hill far before Kinno, halting before his lover, inquisitively. The silver fox had a witty smile brightening his face, and Hiei had not yet realized why.
 
The youko was admiring a group of  tall trees growing together down the meadow. It was a  very compact formation, and  the branches of each tree interlaced their neighbor's ones, forming one single, wide crown, in which pretty, small white flowers had started to bloom.

Hiei leaped closer in a quick motion, examining Kurama's newest invention. The trees had grown together, and their trunks stood in a very precise row. The rare, narrow spaces or cracks in between one tree or other were filled with ivies and thick shrubs, making it a perfect, unbroken wall. The large trees' crown extended  like a roof, offering a perfumed, fresh shade all around.
 
Hiei walked a bit around the construction, till he found a narrow passage, a space from one tree to the next.  He looked in; the room formed within that tree's palisade was very cosy.

"What's the catch, youko?" Hiei asked, pointing at those trees.

"It's a log cabin. I didn't want to kill trees to build it, so I made the trees grow forming the contour of a house. Do you like it?"

"Are we moving in?"

"This is for that stupid youko to sleep in."

"I like it; it's better than the cave."

Kurama grinned to his lover, blowing him a smacky kiss.

"I'm gonna build us one then, love... What about Cherry Trees?"

Hiei nodded, smiling back to his sweet lover.

Then Kinno arrived, in time to listen to all that. He immediately showed a large smile, and taking the chance Kurama was distracted, talking to Hiei, he threw himself to his father's arms, for a warm embrace.

Kurama pushed the other youko away, jostling him to the side. He looked at him down his nose them, with an arrogant, annoyed expression.

"Hey! Stand back!", Kurama exclaimed then.

Kinno didn't even care. He only had eyes to the trees, marveled at the uncommon beauty of that pretty, flourishing house.

"Only you could do something so pretty, daddy! I LOVE it!"

"You loved it? Then you gotta take care of it. You know, the house comes with a garden..."

Hiei leaned on the wall the trees formed, and he crossed his arms on his chest; he knew the worst part of it would come up now. He could recognize it coming in that impish smile Kurama kept on his lips as he stared in a wicked way at Kinno.

"Hn..." He snorted.

Kinno was overjoyed, and he jumped, clapped and giggled with so much happiness. His eyes were bright as stars, and his face displayed such a pure delight that made him much more beautiful than anyone could have ever imagined.

"Oh daddy! You made a house and a garden? For me?"

Kurama had to cover his mouth with his hand to avoid a laugh and Hiei had noticed that; the youkai was sure now, the golden youko soon would be in deep shit...

"Well, of course you will be responsible for it."

"Yeah, daddy, I will. I love your present!"

"You'll have to clean, sweep, wash, and arrange everything, everyday."

It was only at this moment that Hiei saw the broom Kurama kept hid in the grass. The Silver youko brought it up, handing it to a startled Kinno.

"Here it is. You can start by sweeping all the falling leaves. I don't want a single one on the floor."

Kinno looked around, and his enthusiasm faded away quickly. The woods Kurama kept for territory was a large area. He could not believe his father actually meant it...

"But daddy, it is a forest..."

"What's the problem? Who says a forest can't be swept clean?"

Kinno looked down, very disappointed...

"But I..."

"Ah... I almost forgot about the Garden..."

The golden youko displayed a smile again, sure that he would enjoy that part.

"Yeah, daddy, I love flowers!"

Youko Kurama showed a contented expression, very proud of the way things were doing till then. Hiei knew the youko was truly enjoying ridiculing the kid with all that.

"There is your garden. You'll have to take very good care of it."

The youko pointed at a green area a few steps from the tree-house. Hiei looked up at it; he saw no flowers at all.

Kinno ran to the area, looking all around, staring at the plants which grew vigorously all over the area.

"Daddy, what type of flowers are these? I'm not good at growing plants, but I can try..."

The younger youko gave a half  smile then, looking at Kurama and Hiei. The Fire youkai watched that and added another point to the score he had been putting on about the similarities on both youko. Kinno had that same kind of mischievous, ironic smile he had seen so often in his silver counterpart.

"There's only one thing I know how to grow well..."  Kinno concluded, with a spicy wink of an eye.

Hiei laughed; the kid was a perfect copy the silver youko. Nevertheless, Hiei had to hold his chuckling back and look in the opposite direction, pretending not to have heard any of it. Kurama had eyed him with a very bad look for daring to laugh at  Kinno's words.

"Well, no one here is interested in your sexual skills." The youko smiled perversely again as he continued. "This is a vegetable garden."

Hiei almost interrupted Kurama; now he really could not reach what that deranged youko wanted to get with such a talk.

Kurama smiled softly, and he started to walk around, with his hands on his back and his tail being waggled in a slow serpent-like move.

"I've noticed you have a knack for selling things; you sell yourself so well..." The youko stopped in a dramatic way, looking around and opening his arms, showing Kinno the large area atop that hill. "This is all yours, so you can provide for yourself and buy all the luxury items you like. Everyday you're gonna wake up early to collect the vegetables and take them to the Market Place in Gandara, to sell."

Hiei managed to keep his usual stern expression because he was a master in hiding his emotions; but he was dying to laugh aloud...

"You're gonna stay there in Gandara, working till the sunset. And when you come back you are gonna clean the place up and cook us dinner."

Kinno tried to protest, but Kurama raised a finger in the air, ordering him to shut up. He reached for something from the shrubbery, picking it up to show Kinno.

"This is what you're gonna sell." The youko announced, presenting a large, thick, long, well-grown cucumber to the golden youko.

Hiei held his hand tight against his mouth. It was the only way he could prevent from laughing at that ridiculous scene...

Kinno grabbed the remarkable green, huge vegetable in his hand. Then he examined it, looking at it up, down and around...

"Daddy, do you think it's appropriate? This fruit is so... so.."

"So what?"

"So suggestive..."

"Well, you've spent so many years selling your own fruit, that I thought it better for you to remain in the same field of expertise."

"Can't I sell some pretty, tasty strawberries? What about apples? They're so round and sweet..."

"Cucumber; that's what you're gonna sell." The youko left Kinno there, standing up in his garden, baffled, holding a cucumber in his hand, and a broom in the other. He walked towards his pretty youkai then, and winked at him.

Hiei's cheeks blushed intensely as he held his urge to laugh.

"Crazy scheme, youko, but I think it's gonna work..." Hiei whispered to Kurama, as he was tenderly enveloped by a caressing arm which encircled his shoulder.

Kurama smiled softly to his partner, but he soon turned his attention to Kinno once more. The Golden youko was still standing in the middle of the garden, in the same position, holding the two objects, with a very confused expression.

"But I..."

Kurama interrupted him, as he walked past the younger youkai, bringing Hiei with him.

"You're gonna start tomorrow. For today, you can sweep the forest. And don't you dare to interrupt us till the whole forest is clean, or  I swear to Inari I'm really gonna kill you!"

Kurama and Hiei walked calmly up the hill to reach their den, with their arms affectionately closed around one another.

Kinno stood there, looking around him, to the trees and the woods.

He'd have a hard day's work; the leaves didn't stop falling...
 
 

To be Continued...