Hikaru remained in silence for a long time, beholding the King's face. His blue eyes followed the line of Yomi's lips, observing every little detail. The wrinkles on his lower lip, the sensual curve of his upper lip, the pale, dry tone of his his mouth...

For a moment, he wished he could kiss those lips and find what they tasted like.

"Anything wrong?"

He had noticed it. Hikaru knew then Yomi had noticed his warm disposition towards him. They were too close, and his emotions altered his aura, making him vulnerable to the King's sharp perception.

He could hide nothing from that horned youkai, it seemed.

Hikaru lowered his eyes then, drowning his sudden desire for cuddling tighter and kissing Yomi by drinking some more sake.

He sighed in also, very painfully. He offered the King a bittersweet little smile.

"It was the same instinct to care for and to protect that attracted me to Kinno. He was also an orphan, a fugitive that had suffered in the hands of cruel oppressors. Like Hayashi, Kinno is also naive and good-intentioned, and he would never harm anyone. They were both weak and vulnerable..."

"The affinity is clear. I understand now why you are so dearly attached. You do have a kind soul, Hikaru."

The grey fox acquiesced in silence. It was then that Yomi reached out, in a slow and gentle attempt to caress Hikaru.

"May I touch your face?"

Hikaru did not even glance back at Yomi. But he assented to his husky request, leaning forward into the reach of his large, but tender hands.

Yomi had to chew his lips not to make his contentment too obvious. The silk of their robes rustled softly as they shifted closer, and Yomi raised his fingers to Hikaru's face with a slow, almost dreamy adoration.

He touched his brow, sensing every little relief and deppression, reading his personality traits from the almost imperceptible design of his brow and temples. He softly rubbed his fingers, one at a time, along his long and expressive eyebrows, and while doing it he could not help but smile, knowingly.  They indicated a refined personality, but a temper which could change from the purest sweetness to a deadly savagery in the blink of an eye...

Yomi held his breath for a moment while his fingers delicately followed the line of Hikaru's eyes, caressing his long eyelashes. He felt his eyes flutter sofly while he sensed how exquisite and oblique they were, following his high cheekbones.

"You have beautiful eyes. They indicate much of your temper; they show determination and precise attention to detail... Not to mention a sharp intelligence."

"You're a flatterer, Yomi-sama..."

Hikaru winced, and he indeed felt a shiver along his spine when Yomi's warm hands cupped his cheeks. A sudden heat met the palms of Yomi's hands, and he knew then Hikaru blushed. A long, and slow caress accompanied the soft fingers which Yomi ran down along his nose, sensing its dainty shape, and then tracing an invisible line to his chin.

The King made the fingers of his right hand touch and caress Hikaru's lips. Lips which were tender and warm, and that parted receptively as Hikaru needed to sigh in, under the arousing influence of Yomi's contact.

Gandara's sovereign smiled while he dared to push one finger into those velvet-like lips, to touch the youko's perfect teeth, and stroke one of his long and sharp fangs. Motivated by Hikaru's acceptance, Yomi slipped his fingers a little more into his mouth, rubbing very gently the wet tip of his tongue...

Warm... Wet... And to the King's surprise, he felt the sensitive tip of his finger be licked and kissed. Hikaru gently pressed his mouth around Yomi's finger and sucked at it...

Yomi moaned, almost abandoning himself to that delicate but refined feel. He inclined himself forward, and his free hand reached out to circle Hikaru's shoulders and bring him on to a kiss...

The youko shuddered and pulled himself back. He wanted to disguise it, but Yomi perceived he was surprised and breatheless, but also delighted with what he had experienced.

The King allowed Hikaru to steal himself from his kiss. But his smile was widened when he realized also that the attraction was strong and mutual between them.

"I am sorry, King Yomi... I lost control..."

The King acquiesced, but he could not help thinking how good it would be when that reserved fox finally let go of such a strict control over his emotions... Hikaru reminded him of the shy, virginal young demons he used to have as apprentices and lovers before he had met Youko Kurama.

He had been happy then...

"You are beautiful when you lose control." Yomi paused to hold Hikaru's chin up and make the youko look at him.

Hikaru smiled back shyly, and the two demons held their hands together, in a sweet and tight clasp.
 

His absence was detected by his servants before daybreak. A quick search soon indicated he had ran away from the City. The fact the barbarian was missing too caused Patrols to be sent out to track him right away.

The Patrols followed his tracks diligently, and whenever they lost his trail, they kept up harder till they found his trace again. These patrols were formed by experienced hunters and trackers, and even though Hikaru had tried his best, he was not able to mislead them enough to avoid being spotted.

He was found abandoned on a platteau, half-dead. Somehow it had been good Hayashi was not in his company when the trackers arrived, or he would have been murdered ruthlessly.

Hikaru was brought back to the Crystal City and locked in his quarters. When he finally surfaced his unconsciousness, he found himself still paralyzed from his waist down, victim of an intense pain that enveloped his whole body, and so weak he could barely open his eyes and raise his head from the pillows. The fever and the disease undermined his strenght and his reason. He felt like a piece of rotten, grinded meat, suffocating in his own vomit, smothered by the disgusting smell of his own blood, sweat and waste.

His state was desperate. All his internal organs were in decay. He could not be touched. Even a mere finger laid on his body caused him the most excruciating pain.
He shuddered in bed, struck by a sudden chill. His abdomen seemed to be carved by claws, deeper and deeper, becoming one giant hollow filled with pain while a profused bleeding oozed from his every orifice. Hour after hour his suffering increased, and when his fever was so high that he started to sweat blood, staining his clear clothes and the bedsheets, some of his servants hurried out, scared they could be contaminated somehow.

Just two of the oldest, most faithful palace servants still remained by his side, taking turns not to leave him alone not even for a second.

Even disrupted by the intense pain, he overheard these servants's whispers. They had thought about giving Hikaru poison enough to allow him a merciful death, but it had been forbidden by the King. He had been declared a traitor, undeserving of any act of mercy on the part of the King, even though he was His rightful Heir.

King Yousai had always been unmoving in his decisions, even if it affected his family. The sovereign had declared Hikaru was to be treated accordingly to his condition of potential traitor. No solace, no mercy, no pardon was to be given to him till he had confessed his own error and guilt.
 
Meanwhile the whole Kingdom was in suspense, waiting for his death, and at the same time expecting a miracle to happen that might save him, or at least offer the prince they had been led to admire and respect an acceptable and less painful solution.

Hikaru had never imagine he would find so much cruelty back in his homeland, but then, he had been accused of betrayal. All mercy, all privileges he could be given had been disconsidered.

His situation was at a stalemate. He deserved punishment, but none of his clan would shed family's blood by executing him. The usual practice in such case was life-imprisonment. If he were not already under the torture that painful disease offered him, he would have been taken underground, locked in an iron casket, and forgotten, to die slowly of thirst, hunger and depletion somewhere in the catacombs at the mountain's foundations.

But never was a Heir, a first Son, the future prince of the city been accused of such grievous crime. He was to be used as example, and probably his corpse would be petrified and exposed to public curiosity after his death had occurred.

At least in respect to his extremely ill state, Hikaru was dismissed of any questioning. Nevertheless, had an interrogation occurred, it would prove useless. His mouth could only give out long, excrutiating moans and groans, and in between them he pleaded Inari for Hayashi, murmuring feverish prayers his lover could still be alive and well.

His servants, like some of the Citadel's people, believed the prince to be a mere victim, who was seduced by the foreigner and then betrayed and left to die. These few individuals remained faithful to him, and even showed him mercy, trying to intercede on his behalf at the Elder's Council.

However, it was not the true version of what had happened. Hikaru had been seducted, yes - but it was a mutual seduction.

Most of the Crystal City's inhabitants, including his family, imagined him to have been led by his own twisted ideas. He was considered a mean traitor who searched immoral satisfaction with the Barbarian. He was thought to have betrayed his people in enchange for the prospective of an easy and wanton new life in the company of the golden-eyed youko.

Hikaru must admit such version was closer to the truth. But he could not consider himself a traitor. He had not given away any of the city's secrets and he had never made any type of pact with the enemy.

All that had happened was only love, and if he had been given a chance to defend himself, no one would understand his motives.
 
In the end, Hikaru had resigned himself to die.

Sometimes in his delirium he even imagined to have already died. All windows and doors were closed around him, and heavy curtains blocked the light from the balconies. His bedroom became dark as a tomb. Locked, restrained into immobility he felt as if he were thrown to the bottom of a vault and buried alive.

It was then, while awakening into the despairing reality of his gloomy quarters, that Hikaru heard the potent voice that had filled his childhood and youth with sober words of affection and constant admonitions and demands of every kind.

"Is he dead?"

The soft glow of some oil lamps was brought closer to the bed while Hikaru cried. He cried and sobbed, moaning and trying to shift in bed and unlock himself off that painful paralysis. But his efforts were in vain. He could not even turn his head or move his hands. He remained rigid, like a bad-taste imitation of himself, moulded from a block of concrete terror and pain.

His tears were stained with blood. In total desolation, he barely had the strenght to take a deeper breath in.

"Father..." Hikaru begged, with a voice that was feebler than a sigh.

His emotion grew so high he thought he could pass away at that very moment. His sight blackened, and he needed to use the few remains of his energy not to faint.

He wanted to beg his father forgiveness. He wanted to explain himself, but the pain and the agony increased as the emotion filled him. A convulsive coughing arrested him, making him twist in bed, and expel blood from his panting mouth, staining the pillowcases. He felt suffocated with the smell of his own rottening body. He could feel the taste of that bloody plague filling his mouth. He could feel the dirt that oozed from his anus whenever he tried to shift position in bed.

His servants hurried to clean him up, and one of them sat by his side, offering him a drink to relieve his pain. But the beverage dribbled in between his lips and all over his chin. He could not drink or eat anything. His throat was shut, clenched in a persistent spasm of pain.

He looked up, trying to devise the shadows which stood before his bed in the dim light. There were more people there, but he could not distinguish who. His sight was failing him, and it was so hard to keep his eyes open...

"Hikaru! You disappointed all my expectations! You ruined the faith I had on you! I must disavow you. I wish you were never born to be my son!"

His voice had always been like a thunder... His father had meant like a God to him, someone he could confide, someone he could trust, and who would always protect and teach him... And as he heard the wrath instilled in his father's voice and his words, his suffering grew even more intense.

Hikaru moaned in an attempt to assent, knowing he deserved such harsh treatment. He admitted - He was nothing but a betrayer who should be repudiated by everyone. He should be cursed, exiled, punished... He deserved it all, and yet he had been so happy... They could punish him, yet he would not repent for his act. He would never deny the love he felt for Hayashi, who made him experience the happiest moments of his short life.

One of the servants helped him by piling another pillow under his head. Hikaru struggled to keep his eyes open. His eyes were discolored, altered by a sick tint taht depleted them of his beauty. His face was emaciated and pale like if he were alreadty dead. He tried to make a gesture to reach out his father, calling him closer, but his hand did not obbey his command. His fingers twitched, in a weak and hopeless pantomime of a real gesture.

His lips hissed out something.

"Forgive...me..." He made a painful pause to breathe more air in."...father..."

King Yousai just shook his head decisively.

Hikaru sobbed more painfully yet when he noticed the slender, shorter sillhouette step closer slowly, hesitantly yet, into the soft light of the lamp. It was his mother.

He moaned a desperate request for his mother to approach him, but no sound came from his mouth. The effort seemed to trigger an explosion of pain in his chest, and he felt more bloody tears fall from his eyes.

The Queen Tama took a careful step closer, painfully observing the painful blood-stained tears his son shed. The vixen walked around the bed, impressed by the stench and the moribund appearance of his son. It must have been a very powerful warlock to have cursed Hikaru with such an ugly, creeping death.

"I wanted to bring healers and doctors to treat you, but your father forbade me."

Hikaru's breathing became a hoarse and agonizing gasp. He writhed more, groaning and jerking.
 
It was then that King Youkai gently pushed the queen aside to speak to his son. At this moment Hikaru heard the severest reproach he could ever have imagined. His father spoke out all that tortured his mind and his soul in a very severe fashion. Hikaru had never been addressed harsher and crueller words. And while his whole body drowned in pain, and he burned with fever, he could barely keep his eyes open to watch the imposing figure of his father before him, bombarding him with enraged accusations.
 
Traitor. Coward. An infidel who gave his back to his family and his people to follow a Barbarian. He had let down all confidence his clan and his people had placed on him. He was just a wanton demon who had placed his lewd needs before King and people. He had left his restraint and modesty behind to equal himself to the Barbarians whom they consired mere beasts, searching for adventure and filthy satisfaction. He had acted in a whorish manner, after all he had been taught and told, unconsidered of the high esteem the whole Kingdom felt for him...

He was to be disinherited. There would be no appeal, no mercy he could claim for. Announcements were about to be made, and from there on he should be just a prisoner, disavowed as a member of his Clan, and a legal heir to the Crystal City's Throne. He was not worth of bearing the Family's name. He was not worth of anything but  punishment for his shameful act. His execution would not happen in respect for the Queen's feelings, and not to make a martyr out of him before the eyes of the people. However, he should remain locked, kept in quarters till that disease claimed its final price upon his life. His younger brother was to be announced the only Heir immediately.

While he heard such crude reprehension, Hikaru could not help but cry. He cried for the pain and for the misery he was sinking into. His dreams had turned into nightmare overnight...
 

 
Kurama led the questioning himself. He would not let anyone stand between him and his interests. He needed to make perfect sure things would run smootly, and according to his ideas.

Somehow he was the best choice. Kurama and Hayashi remained alone for a long while, talking, and the silver youko managed to deceive the brown one into believing he wanted to help. The point is in order to help he must be told all the details about the city, and about its inhabitants' daily routine.

The strong beverage Shizuke had prepared with a powerful misture of plants and roots, had distorted the tattoed youko's sense so much, he was led easily into taking Kurama's sudden kindness as genuine.

Kurama told Hayashi he had changed his mind about being his protector. He was ready to help him getting rid of his psycho twin brother. The silver youko made up a story that a grey youko was seen being taken into the city by a patrol. The conclusion is that it must be have been his earth-weaving lover, rescued still alive and well. Kurama made up some other details, and his tale was very unreasonable, but Hayashi was in such an altered stare he accepted the canard without trace of doubt.

Kurama promised Hayashi vehemently his love-story had touched him deeply, and that he was ready to help re-joining he and his blue-eyed lover. But first of all, he must be told how to enter the city safely.

The happiness Hayashi felt, together with the frantic euphoria provided by the cocktail of drugs he had been given, made the tattooed youko speak out everything he knew. He spoke it all freely, laughing and making jokes as if he were at a casual and festive conversation with Kurama, when in fact the youko was leading him very cleverly, making him disclose the facts he wanted to know about.

Invariably, Hayashi talked warmly about his lover, whom he tenderly called *Blue Eyes*, narrating Kurama the way they had met, the love they felt, the need they had to escape the city... And whenever he trailled off into such uninteresting topic, Kurama gently cut Hayashi, making him return to the most concrete subject of guard shifts, passages, numbers, locations and security. Kurama had much he wanted to be told about instead of silly love-stories. He wanted to be informed of the passages into the treasure vaults, the houses of the richest nobles, the relics kept inside the Temples and Shrines of Inari that abounded the city, the way to reach the King's quarters...

While talking, Hayashi could not stop laughing, happy someone was inclined to help him and his lover at last. The disorientation caused by the drugs made Hayashi feel free, relieved and disembarrassed from any fear or doubt. He felt like confiding to a best friend, and Kurama helped him share such illusion, being very kind and courteous to the brown youko, always assuring him he would do everything to rescue his blue-eyed lover and set both of them free from Hiroshi's madness.

Hayashi felt so at easy, Kurama even forgot one in a while he was truly questioning the other fox. It was at one of these moments that Hayashi let slip a detail which made Kurama's ears prickle up. His eyes grew wide with surprise and he could not avoid a wolfish smile. Hayashi was detailing some of the blue-eyed-youko idiotically proper and righteous uses and traditions, when he let out a very crucial piece of information amidst the silly and useless blabber.

Fuck the fact they were Inari's Guardians. Fuck the pact they held with the Reikai. Fuck their moral beliefs and their monogamonous practices and their sectarian viepoints. All that mattered to Kurama was the Treasure, and with that simple, but at the same time vital information, he knew he would win the war against that whole earth-weaving race of youko bastards.

They could not be suspended from the ground. If they were prevented from contact with the soil, they lost all power and ability to use their you-ki to affect the earth and rocks.

Bingo!

Kurama laughed. He burst out in an enthusiastic laugher, and Hayashi was so spaced out he laughed along, and circled Kurama's shoulders with a friendly embrace, as if in a mutual celebration.

Kurama patted the brown youko's head, happy that all that pretense worked out fine in the end. Hayashi had given him the best weapon there could be against the blue-eyed- youko. And it was the most undeniable truth - having his fears, doubts, and inibitions vanquished by the effect of the dope, there was no way Hayashi could lie or pretend.

Now he must set definitive plans for the invasion. He was tired of all those weeks spent around that disgraced fortified city, in that harsh semi-desertic plains, in company of those youko - Kurama never enjoyed the company of  his own race - But now they werer reaching the end. And end which would prove the best for him, and most satisfactory for his band.

Now, after hearing that decisive detail about the enemies' weakness Kurama's mind was so full of plans and machinations that he dismissed Hayashi at once. The tattooed bonehead did not want to leave. Kurama laughed a lot when he saw the stupid insistence he showed. Hayashi wanted to talk more, to tell more of his inter-racial love and his sexual adventures at the palace. He wanted Kurama to promise him they would rescue his blue-eyed lover as soon as possible, and he even offered to help...

He had already helped enough, it is what Kurama told him, giving him a dubious sideways smile.

It was even comic to see how completely disoriented that tattooed fox was... Poor devil... He would hate to know how miserably he had been fooled when the effect of Shizuke's dope vanished.

It was sad and unfair, he knew it. But then, hey, strenght and cunning made the Makai go round... Kurama could not help - He had never been a good Samaritan.

Having no more to do in the brown youko's company, Kurama left, insisting that Hayashi stayed back at the cave. It was time to leave that loser behind and organize a real attack.

As Kurama showed outside, Hiroshi hurried into the cave to make company to his brother, and Kurama did not oppose it. In fact, he preferred discussing his tactics at a safe distance form that disgusting freak. Kurama intended to keep Hiroshi away from him as much as possible. And he had already decided he would use Hiroshi in the front line of their raid. Afterwards the silver youko would execute him and his useless brother it was less expected...

But manwhile he could allow the psycho twins to spent time together. Funny is that Hayashi was so out of his normality because of the drugs that when he did not protest when his brother joined him in the cave. In fact, from the outside, Kurama could even hear chuckling sounds and the sounds of some passionate moans. Hayashi's artificial euphoria made his brother's sexual harassment not only bearable, but even pleasurable.

Well... The twins were not free to fuck each other silly from dusk till dawn like they might. The drugs's effect would soon fade away. Also, Kurama just needed to inform the band of his plans, and then the whole band must be on their way to the Crystal City.

Kurama promptly gathered his small gang, and they sat together in a tight circle a little way away from the cave's mouth. The afternoon would soon end, and Kurama expected to break the following morning already inside the Crystal City's walls. The opportunity was clearly at their reach. With alll Hayashi had confided him, destroying that crystal stronghold would be as easy as stealing candy from a kit.

Everyone was surprised at the contented expression Kurama showed in his face. Only Shizuke and Amatsubu, who were tenderly holding each other's arms, kept a grave and focused disposition as always. Maigo was chewing some sweet roots, sharing them with Minato. Kireihana payed full attention to Kurama; his gaze and the slight smile he carried were not mere admiration. Kurama could distinguish very well the seduction within that handsome youko's expression...

But his mind was not on sex. He must concentrate all his energy on their raid to the Crystal City.

"We're going to invade their city this morning. We still have time to find us something to eat and prepare our arsenal of seeds and scions before leaving. We must be installed on the city's near surroundings at least 4 hours before daybreak." The silver youko declared, brushing the palm of his hand on the sandy soil, levelling it to start drawing a rough sketch of the city's walls to help the others visualized his plans. "I have a whole new idea for our attack. We are going to disband like I had told you before, but even apart, we will need to act together, making our attack be like one, in order to seize the whole city."

All of them leaned forward, and in the twilight of the the fading day, their golden eyes seemed to twinkle like real jewels, as they eagerly followed the drafts Kurama scribbled on the dusty, arid floor.

"The Noble families live together in large houses, and in each and every of these families there all the younger males are fully armored and trained warriors or hunters. Their large houses stay around the main Palace area, and their youngsters form an elite army that  protects the King and the Temple of Inari. But our initial problem will be to disrupt the army of guards and foot soldiers that work and inhabit the walls and the constructions built alongside the walls, gates and the main avenue. We must defeat them, pass the suburbs where common-class cirtizens dwell and pass the stone gardens into the central area, where the noble and the rich merchants live." Kurama started, accompanying every sentence with quick drafts on the earth.

"Do you intend to take advantage of the night to cross the way into the palace, Kurama?"

The silver youko shook his head in response to Amatsubu's question.

"There is no need to risk when we can use Hiroshi to open the way to our raid."

His statement caused surprise. Kireihana tried to protest, but Kurama just made a quietening gesture, and started to clarify is plans.

"We are sending him first, in the late of the night. He is going to attack the guards and sentinels on the walls, always in silence and stealth. He is to kill as many as he can without attracting attention. This will weaken and disorganize their guardian troops.   It will take them a while to find out, and then the sudden deaths are going to cause such panic and chaos, it wil be easy for us to break in."

"How do you expect to control that sociopath?"

"He really wants to kill those blue-eyed bastards, and he knows he needs us to do part of the job. That coward won't risk his neck if he put ours on the line. But what he doesn't know is that I am using him also. We're gonna keep Hayashi with us. It will ensure us Hiroshi will do everything we tell him too."

They agreed in unison. Shizuke acquiesced vigorously.

"But what happens after the pillage is done, Kurama? Hiroshi is not a youko we can trust. He might try to finish all of us and take the whole booty to himself like Hayashi had said..."

Minato's eyes grew wider.

"I don't want that creep on my heels! Hiroshi is like a death sentence hanging over our necks!"

The silver youko gave his soon ex-partner to be a contemptuous little smile. He was fed up of that affected red youko; not to mention he hated cowards.

"After the raid, I am gonna kill the Psycho Twins. Both of them." Maigo exchanged a fearful glance with Minato, and before any of them asked, Kurama completed it. "I will do it on my own. Don't worry. I have everything planned."

They looked one at the other, and Maigo whispered something in Minato's ear. Amatsubu just agreed in silence, and Kireihana murmured something to himself, as if thinking aloud. But no one added further protests.

"Affter Hiroshi's plague is spread in the city and and many of them are already dead, we break in. Amatsubu and Shizuke invade the rear, Maigo climbs the walls and enter by the west wing, and Minato takes the east wing. I break down through the Main Gates and follow the main avenue straight to the Palace and the Temple. We must attack simultaneously, and using exactly the same kind of tatics. We have to summon a fast growing forest of climbing plants to take the entire city. And we have to program every stem, every leaf, every flower, and every vine and tendril to seize and lift those blue-eyed bastards from the ground."

Maigo raised one eyebrow, in awe at such uncommon request.

"Lift them from the ground? Why does it have to be so specific, Kurama?"

The youko offered them a smiled before starting his explanation...
 
 

To be Continued...