Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Firefly in Pink ❯ Chapter Three: In the Now ( Chapter 3 )

 

Chapter Three: In the Now

 

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Just for one night.

 

As his smirk faded away to be replaced by something more searching, more intense, he told himself that's all it had to be. It didn't have to be more. It didn't mean that he'd made peace with his unwanted emotions. It didn't have to mean any kind of commitment.

 

It didn't mean that this was a proof of his love.

 

Later, if he needed to, he could blame it on the punch, an impulse brought about by a temporary alcoholic loosening of control. He'd seen Chu standing by the punch bowl earlier and the cup that he'd drunk had definitely tasted of more than just fruit. And judging from the taste of her from their shared kiss, he had not been the only one indulging in that particular beverage.

 

One night, two people with too much to drink.

 

It wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened.

 

Perhaps she was drunk. Certainly she was not acting like herself and he had to wonder just how well she could hold her alcohol. And if it did turn out that much of her actions towards him this night were largely due to how much she'd imbibed then…

 

Perhaps this night really was all he could have.

 

He ignored the odd ache that thought brought. A sixth sense told him it would be bad if he examined it too closely so he pushed it away. But it was as if something else had loosened inside him and, at that moment, there was no turning back. Perhaps she would regret it in the morning when her full senses returned to her. Perhaps he would. But whether one or both came to regret it later -

 

There would at least be the memory of that night to hold onto, even if everything after fell into ashes.

 

“Hiei?”

 

The soft whisper of his name tugged on his senses just as her arms tightened and tried to tug on the rest of him. But he resisted and, as her ordinary human strength was of no match to his, she did not succeed in her endeavor.

 

If this one night was all he could have, they would do things his way.

 

“Hiei?” Keiko whispered again as concern began to niggle at her with his stillness.

 

Then he moved and her whisper turned into a gasp as she suddenly found the arms she'd wound around him pulled away and forced to the mattress, her wrists pinned together above her head and held in a strong steely grip. Alarm prickled up her spine as she looked at him while red eyes set in a harsh cast of features seemed to almost glow in the dark.

 

He looked…angry.

 

Wondering if she'd done something, somehow gone too far perhaps, a tinge of fear skittered within her as she gave an experimental tug at the flesh-bound manacles on her wrists, even though common sense told her that she'd have little hope of breaking free no matter how much she might want to. But, at the motion, his grip on her only tightened as his voice rasped at her in the encroaching darkness.

 

“You began this.” Red eyes glinted down at her ferally. “You can be sure that we will finish this.”

 

Damn him.

 

His words, his tone, even the expression were full of threat. But some perverse streak in her, instead of screaming for help at full volume in fear for her life, opened up and stretched languidly as if wanting more of that abrasiveness that only seemed to make her burn in a way that she couldn't call completely unpleasant. Even as she enjoyed the sensations, like tongues of flames licking at her and sending molten feelings flowing through her, she wasn't completely pleased at her lack of control over her hedonistic reactions.

 

Part of her wanted to snarl and snap at him for being an overbearing arrogant ass, no matter how much he made her hormones stand at attention, and she opened her mouth to hiss at him when, suddenly, he forcefully pulled her tighter against him. She gasped when she felt his erection brushing against her stomach and he took immediate advantage of the opportunity to slide his tongue into her mouth.

 

Oh, wow, she had enough time to think just before her mind fizzled again.

 

Hiei growled low in his throat as the taste of her, the wet velvety feel of her, slid over his tongue. He'd had no release, his erection had never died, and the knowing that this time they would continue until the end only made the fire within him flare brighter as he felt the front material of his pants stretch taut over his straining flesh. His skin felt too hot, too tight, and he was so aroused that he could feel himself leaking with a wetness of his own, dampening his clothes.

 

Who would have ever thought that a simple human woman could cause such a potent reaction in him?

 

And she wasn't done yet.

 

Her eyes opened when he drew back. Those brown orbs flickered with something he could not quite name - Determination? Challenge? Mischief? - and then she craned her neck upwards just that little bit of distance and caught his bottom lip between her teeth. She nipped it almost playfully and then soothed the bite with a slow languid sweep of her tongue. Her voice when she spoke, held a husky tone that he almost couldn't believe belonged to her were it not for the breath that wafted across his skin with her every word.

 

“And are you still so against any kind of association with humans? Even now?”

 

The playful tone in her words amazed and baffled her even as they escaped unbidden from her lips, as if some wicked and underused coquettish part of her she had buried somewhere deep inside had temporarily taken over. She might die from the embarrassment of her actions later once the heat of desire had faded, but she couldn't control it, no more than she had any of the other events that had led up to this point.

 

Honestly, she had initially only intended to apologize to him!

 

She thought it would have been her last chance to do it before he'd left for Makai. But she never would have dreamed that her seeking him out would lead to anything like this!

 

Even so, she wouldn't complain. She was not blind to his faults, his aversion to receiving and accepting the emotions of others and even his own. She wanted to blurt out her feelings, tell him that she loved him and fill up that emotional need she sensed howling inside of him, but she ruthlessly choked off the impulse knowing that it was too soon and that he would run. And there was just as good as a chance that he would do it anyway, even if they followed through with this. Once the night was burned away, he would try to back away, to try and avoid her and facing what was rising up around them. Under no illusion, she knew if anything more were to develop between them after this it would be a very slow going uphill battle all the way. And, even then, there was no guarantee of a happy end at the top of the hill.

 

One step forward, a dozen steps back.

 

If this one night were all she could have, she would take it.

 

And him as well.

 

Just when the silence had dragged on too long, just when she thought that he wouldn't answer, he did. His words were dark and harsh, like so much of the rest of him, and they were unexpected and because of that she would treasure them and bury the words deep within her like a guilty secret for they would probably never come again.

 

"You're the exception,” was what he said. “No one else.”

 

The admission was as much of one as he could ever make. He pushed away his uneasiness over what he might have revealed with that little alone as he planted small wet kisses along her neck, his free hand going behind her to grab the rounded flesh of her buttocks. She mewled when he gave those cheeks a hard squeeze, the sound shivering over him as he drew her up to wedge her body more firmly against his.

 

Her legs rose, thighs clamping on either side of his hips and the motion pushed her lower half against his, rubbing against him in a way that fell just short of painfully excruciating in his sensitized state. He couldn't quite hold back the strangled moan that issued from his throat as he pushed back even harder, prolonging the pleasure-pain sensations, just wanting to be buried in that tight heat of hers barred to him by a mere few scraps of cloth.

 

Unable to help himself, he leaned down towards her chest, capturing a nipple in his mouth and lightly bit at the little nubbin that grew hard between his lips despite the dampening pink fabric separating flesh. Her low moan filled the room at his touch, only to turn into a choked gasp as his hand shifted, slicking over the roundness of her hip and around, searching for his goal and found to cup and clamp a possessive grip between her legs.

 

“Hiei!”

 

The helpless gasp, her involuntary arch against him, fueled him on, made him impatient. The heat of her in his hand was wet, soaking through pink fabric to slick his flesh and the pungent scent of her rose through the air, to him and into him until all he wanted was to be in.

 

In her.

 

Ruby eyes flared. Irritated by the obstruction in his path, heeding only the demands of his body, he released his grip on her to free both hands. He had a vague thought that it would be best if she didn't have much attachment to her dress for, before she had time to voice any protest, he ripped it away. Seams popped and tore as he stripped her until she was lying nude, bits of pink scattered around them. If she minded his rough treatment of her clothes, she made no objection, merely gazed at him with wide-eyed shock. Whether wrong or not, he didn't care as he took in her form displayed before him.

 

Pink didn't suit her anyway. He much preferred seeing her bared.

 

But he wanted to feel it too.

 

Intolerant of his own clothes that kept him from feeling her flesh flush against his, he made quick work of stripping, dark material blending amongst the shadows when landing where he did not care. He had other things preoccupying his mind and throughout it all, though his speed allowed for little time to elapse, she made not a sound.

 

She couldn't.

 

Speechless with want, flooded with a mix of embarrassment and desire at being displayed in such a fashion and over her arousal at his domineering methods, she felt her skin flush with color that only deepened as more and more of him was revealed to her voracious gaze until he kneeled between her legs just as bare as she. Her mouth went dry at the sight while her hormones went into overdrive at seeing him in a way that she had been starting to think would only ever remain in her deepest fantasies.

 

Reality was so much better.

 

Then he was done, apparently all stripped to his satisfaction, and with one task finished he immediately seemed to reorient himself to another. Almost before she could blink, his fingers instantly dove back between her legs, squeezing and pushing, burrowing inside her wet and throbbing flesh. She moaned, hands flying up to clutch at his shoulders while her hips arched involuntarily against the unexpected piercing pleasure that caught her off guard and slammed into her with all the force of nothing she'd ever experienced before.

 

"Like that, do you?"

 

The words were a dark humorless purr, another stroke against her senses that had her tightening around his fingers against her will, sending more sparks flaring over sensitive nerve endings and another low mewling moan issuing from her throat. Distantly grateful for an irregular period and the need for birth control pills, she shivered at the thought of having him inside of her the same way with no barriers to impede the contact of their flesh. Dazedly she looked up at him through a hazy red mist of lust clouding her vision, but not enough to obscure the tiny arrogant smirk that tugged those firm lips as he regarded her with an overbearing satisfaction.

 

For all that that expression had always managed to raise her hackles no matter how well she tried to hide it, now it only served to make her hotter. Even as it simultaneously irritated her, she was already too far-gone, too wanting, too needy to lie.

 

"Yessssss," was her groaning affirmation.

 

Evil triumph wedged within him. She'd driven him near to insanity these past few months, a feat that almost none could lay claim to, and now she was at his mercy. He liked seeing her spread before him, wanting him, needing him, helpless before him and craving what he could give her. As a reward, he granted that little protruding bundle of nerves crowing her entrance a light, teasing graze of his thumb before withdrawing his hand completely.

 

Satisfaction flared in red eyes gone so dark they were almost violet when she gave him a look of pleading incredulity at his withdrawal, her mouth parted and lips bruised from his kisses, her skin glistening with a sheen of sweat and her full breasts bouncing slightly with every breath she took. She was a sight to behold and he laughed, a dark chuckle that was low and soft and still harsh and had sent more than one enemy fleeing for his hapless life more than once at the mere sound alone. But instead of running, his current victim only shuddered and gasped, doe-eyes darkening to a shade that was almost black in the dimming light of the encroaching night.

 

Pleased at her responsiveness on all aspects, he reached up, running his drenched fingers across her lips. Her eyes dazed, her pink tongue seemed to slither out in reflex to lick her lips and, in consequence, his fingers. Staring down at her, watch her and feeling her lap at his flesh and her own juices, he couldn't at that moment ever recall seeing a more erotic act. Part of him wanted to keep feeding her, watching more of that pink little tongue do its work, but his erection was fast becoming painful and he knew he couldn't stand the visual torture for much longer.

 

His condition was slightly improved, or worsened depending on one's point of view, when one of her little hands slid down and grasped only to bestow the protruding length of him with long furious, hard strokes that was unexpected coming from the normally proper human. The sight, the feel, even the mere idea of it had him arching into her hand with a muffled groan as he enjoyed the sensation of that warm vise around his rigid flesh.

 

"You surprise me,” he said roughly, trying to sneer it but failing badly as her thumb rubbed over the tip of him, spreading the leaking wetness over the head until it was glistening. He shuddered and barely managed to get out, “You are not as proper as I thought you were.”

 

Her eyes narrowed, flashing with a determined light as if he'd issued a challenge and she was honor-bound to take it up. Taking advantage of his preoccupation with the flooding heat raging through his body, his mind, she shifted until he was settled on the bed with her the one leaning over him, legs straddling his body. An odd combination of wariness and eager curiosity overtook him when she sent him a smile filled with a mix of innocence and wickedness, all the more arousing for its blend as she announced her proclamation.

 

"You haven't seen anything yet."

 

Then she moved downwards and he had just a few seconds to anticipate her actions before he felt the heated slide of her tongue trail a long lick over his aching flesh, lapping at the wetness that she'd drawn from him as he had drawn from her. Unable to help himself, he couldn't prevent his loud groan as he arched his hips, wordlessly begging for her to take him into her mouth. Mercifully heeding the unspoken plea, she obliged and took him as deep as she could as she wrapped her lips around him, drawing him into the wet cavern of her mouth. Then her hands joined in the play, reaching down and massaging the twin sacs beneath his legs with a firm gentleness while she alternated between sucking the head of him hard into her mouth and teasing him cruelly with tiny light licks.

 

I was wrong.

 

The thought was vague in his mind as he shuddered at her ministrations and reached over to move the long curtain of auburn hair to the side in order to better see his flesh sliding in and out of her eager little mouth. Burning crimson eyes took in the sight of her head bobbing up and down his rigid length as he amended his previous opinion.

 

This is much more erotic than her hand.

 

Who knew she had such hidden talents?

 

But…were they really so hidden?

 

His eyes darkened with more than lust and he stiffened with more than just desire as the insidious idea formed within him. Certainly, she was good at this. A little too good. It seemed she knew what she was doing and really was not as proper as he had thought her to be, after all.

 

He was not happy at being proven wrong.

 

"Enough," he barked sharply.

 

He pulled out of her mouth roughly, ignoring the flaring heat that swept over him at the feel of her teeth scraping across sensitive flesh and jaws clenching hard as he fought to not spill himself then and there. He gained back the upper hand that he had temporarily relinquished and, with a fluid motion that had her gasping, he rolled them over until she was pinned beneath him once again as his red-eyed gazed speared down into hers. His body was between her thighs and his hands gripped her shoulders; she stared back with the beginnings of concern and worry flecking across her features but there would be no use struggling, trying to escape from him.

 

He had questions.

 

She would answer him.

 

“I will be the one on top,” he growled harshly. “And you will give me what I want.”

 

“And what is it you want?”

 

The wariness in her tone, her expression, said that she had an inkling that the double edged meaning behind his words was more than just about sex, though she wasn't quite sure what that other was. And, with the unpleasant mood that had seized him with his unpalatable thoughts, he was more than happy to inform her with a bluntness that could never be mistaken for delicacy.

 

“You are not a virgin.”

 

It was a statement, not a question. At it, understanding flashed in wide brown pools, as did another heated emotion he was more than familiar with. However, she was mute, merely glaring back at him with narrowed eyes and a stubborn defiance that, on another day, he might have let her get away with.

 

But was angry and he wanted answers.

 

“Are you?”

 

“Are you?” she shot back.

 

“Answer me!”

 

“Why should I? It's none of your business.”

 

“Yes. It is.” He leaned nearer until his intense crimson stare bored directly into hers, noses bumping as close as they were. “If I'm about to fuck you, then it is my business.”

 

She gasped at his crude words while a dark flush bloomed across her cheeks. She wasn't used to it, not in a situation like this, and amazingly enough her insides tightened with an increased heat even while other parts of her were wholly unappreciative of his use of profanity…and her uncharacteristic shameful reaction to it.

 

It did not put her in a good mood.

 

“Then are you a virgin?” she snapped at him angrily once she regained her voice. “Because if you can cast me aside on my possession or lack of it, then I think I have just as much right to do the same to you.”

 

“That is different.”

 

“Do tell.”

 

Furious red clashed with glittering brown as their gazes locked and held, each refusing to back down. This was war of a different kind than their previous skirmishes, only this time the stakes were so much higher.

 

And both were fully aware of it.

 

Damn him, Keiko thought viciously. He's screwing this up! Again.

 

Pun intended. Some kind of humor was certainly needed, because she was definitely wholly unamused with his asinine behavior that was causing no end of hurt and disappointment welling within her at having her goal so close only to be snatched cruelly away when she was almost there.

 

Was he going to do everything he could to avoid sex with her?

 

The effect on her feminine self-esteem was not a good one.

 

“If you're afraid to go through with this,” she said unhappily, “then just say that you don't want this anymore and please leave.”

 

“I am not afraid. And I never said any such thing.”

 

“Really? Well, then. You're putting up a hell of an act.”

 

Temper flashed as his control frayed and he gripped her shoulders hard enough to leave bruises come the morrow. But he didn't care, not at that moment. His body, his head, was too filled with the heat of anger, of lust, of frustration, as he snarled harsh words at her that could leave no room for doubt about just what it was he wanted.

 

“You little fool. You truly are an idiot if you think I don't want you after all this.” He settled harder against her so there was no mistake about the state of his erection or his desire. “But I want the names of your other lovers as well,” red eyes glittered with rage, a bloody slash in the darkness, “so that I can kill them all.”

 

Oh.

 

She should have been frightened, most normal women would be to have such a vicious psychotic statement snarled by a violent potential boyfriend. Maybe that spiked punch was more potent than she'd originally thought, maybe she'd just been hanging around too many youkai, maybe she really was crazy after all. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

 

What did any of it matter anyway? It didn't change the effect his words had on her. A dawning realization that made her insides melt and go mushy, an effect that she doubted many would believe he could have outside of a fighting arena in less pleasurable ways. Nevertheless, there it was; her anger faded and her flickering hope that things would end the way she wanted after all returned to her at his reluctant proof of his feelings.

 

He was jealous.

 

She liked that.

 

Perhaps it was primitive of her, but she couldn't help feeling a bit smug and utterly feminine all at once. Despite his anti-social ways and violent tendencies, he was still prime male specimen and he wanted her and was willing to bloodily dispose of any possible threat from past lovers.

 

What woman's heart wouldn't have been warmed by that?

 

Huh. Maybe it was the punch after all.

 

Whatever the case, it made her more amiable to answering his question, despite the invasiveness of it. And with her hormones still clamoring at her, the quicker they could reassure whatever devils were plaguing him, the faster they could get back to the sex.

 

Who would have thought it could be so addicting?

 

Keiko sighed. “It really is none of your business. It's all in the past and, for your information, it's not lovers. Just the singular version.”

 

“The detective?”

 

“No.”

 

“The kitsune?”

 

“No!”

 

“Surely not the idiot.”

 

Insulted, she really had to glare at that one, her expression proclaiming him a dozen different kinds of idiots.

 

“Then who?”

 

“No one you know.”

 

Red eyes narrowed. “What is his name?”

 

“Yeah, right. Like I'm really going to tell you so you can slice and dice him? Get real.”

 

“I want to know.”

 

“Well, too bad.” When she found them glaring at each other again, she was the first to break it off and rolled her eyes. Talk about an uphill battle! “Listen up, okay? I'm not going to voluntarily help you commit homicide, especially not against a helpless human. It's taboo for you and a sure way to get you sent back to Makai - or worse.”

 

“I can handle myself.”

 

“Not the point.”

 

She shifted uneasily under his iron grip. Though he seemed perfectly comfortable with it all, being nude while carrying on a conversation was not something she had much experience with - and it was weird. Feeling an embarrassed flush crawling over her again - why did this always happen around him anyway? - she wished she could just disappear anywhere that wasn't here. But she doubted he'd let her get away so easily and she resigned herself to plowing through this uncomfortable situation somehow, preferably without releasing any names that would result in the death of an unfortunate fool she'd shared one night of mistaken intimacy with.

 

“Besides,” she grumbled, “it's nothing you need to trouble yourself over. It was just the one time. It was - There was - I just - Well, never mind that because I don't really want to talk about it.”

 

He scowled down at her.

 

“And don't try to intimidate me because I'm not going to talk about it anymore. It was just the once, and that's all you need to know, though I really don't think you need to know even that much either.”

 

“I do not believe you.”

 

Anger sparked in her glare. “Why not? It's the truth!”

 

“It can't be. Your actions are not those of a novice.”

 

“You really think so?” She allowed herself a brief moment of smug pleasure before resuming her narrow-eyed regard. “I'm not a liar, Hiei. And who says you have to have actual experience with something to be knowledgeable about it? Ever hear of reading?”

 

“You read of such things?”

 

“Yes,” she retorted defensively, reddening even more as she fought the urge to squirm with her discomfort. “Something wrong with that?”

 

It was unexpected, but she wasn't lying.

 

Despite his inner turmoil, his senses were still keen and he could detect no change in her scent that often came with telling a falsehood. Though he was still displeased over knowing another had taken her first, and that she had allowed it, knowing that she was still close to being almost wholly untouched satisfied that dark possessiveness welling within him that he'd reluctantly had to accept in the past months. With one of his recent concerns dealt with, awareness of their current intimate position came back to him full force and he was eager to pick up where they had left off, desiring flaring within him at the thought of finally culminating what had been slowly building between them for so long.

 

And it intrigued him to wonder what else she might have learned from her books.

 

But that was for another time, perhaps. He would not last much longer; his body told him it had already been too long as it was. With a growl, he swooped down, capturing her lips and pulling her into another mating of mouths as his hands shifted from her shoulders and swept down to seize her breasts. He kneaded them almost roughly, rolling the soft flesh in his palms, pinching puckered nipples in his fingers and swallowed every ensuing mewl and moan he drew from her. He pressed against her, his lower torso arching into hers and forcing her legs wider apart as he dug himself deeper into the cradle of her body, her heat sliding down to coat his hardness with the slick wetness of her desire, molten lava flowing over solid rock.

 

Shuddering at the sensations licking over him, he drew back, panting harshly as he stared down at her with narrowed eyes. He towered above her prone form and had full view of her spread out before him - breasts heaving, sweat shimmering over flushed damp skin, her legs splayed wide, the heart of her swollen and glistening wet. As her dazed eyes stared up at him, something dark and primitive swept through him in a flood of raging emotion that he couldn't deny even if he had the presence of mind to do so.

 

She was wet for him. Not for the detective, not for the kitsune, not for that distant one-time lover in her past -

 

Only for him.

 

He would make sure it stayed that way.

 

Red eyes glittering dangerously, he growled with barely leashed wildness that held no room for reason and was gripped with a determination to drive thoughts of any other man out of her, make her unable to think of anyone but him in the present or the future. His hands swept towards her legs, hooking the flexible limbs over his arms and leaning over her once again, the action opening her even more to his oncoming invasion.

 

She was so hot, so wet, licking across his flesh with her heat, and he knew she was more than ready if not from that alone, then from her pleading gasps and gyrations of her body as she tried to encourage him even closer. Intense crimson gaze bored down at her, capturing every minute expression of pleasure that flashed over her features as, with a feral snarl, he thrust into her with a long hard plunging penetration, driving himself in to the hilt.

 

“Hiei!”

 

Her shriek burned in his ears as the rest of her burned his body and he battled brutally with his control to keep from immediately coming at the feel of her wrapped tight all around him like a wet velvet fist. Then she moaned, shifting her legs higher, her flesh grasping at him and sucking him even deeper just when he thought it wasn't possible.

 

She shivered, her inner muscles contracting around him in massaging spasms that tore at what little remained of his restraint. With a sound ripped from him that was more animalistic than anything else, he pulled out of her only to thrust back in again and then again, a continuous slip and slide of flesh as he pounded into her, her loud groans and pants spurring him further, faster, harder.

 

Then her fingers dug into him, nails raking over the expanse of his back, felt the sting of pain and smelt the coppery scent of blood - his blood - filling the air and he lost it. With a low snarl, he struck, biting down on the sweet flesh at the base of her neck and growled her name while she screamed his in a loud long wail as his hips drove into her with a vicious thrust and her body clamped down on his just as ferociously as she pulsed around him with the force of her climax. At the feel of her pumping him with milking spasms, he couldn't hold back any longer, didn't want to, and he emptied himself inside of her, spewing inside of her with a hot wash of his seed that she seemed to enjoy seizing every drop of.

 

When there was no more of himself to give, out of breath and worn out, his frame shuddering still with the after shocks, he prevented himself from collapsing directly on top of her and shifted to rest most of his weight at her side. And as the ashes of the desire that had consumed him died into embers, full awareness returned to him and he wasn't sure whether he was pleased at that or not. Body that had relaxed with satiated desire stiffened as he drew his shields back around him, distancing himself automatically in mind and spirit as self-preservation screamed at him to do so physically as well.

 

Silently, he pulled away, regretting the loss even as his flesh slipped out of the warm cradling haven of hers. He shifted until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling her presence behind him like a quiet echo and carefully refused to look back. Though whether it was because he was afraid of the regret he might see in her gaze or succumbing to his own need for more, he couldn't say and avoided examining it closely for fear of the answer. As it was, a darkness as deep as the night stole over him and settled around him as cloying as the claustrophobic something that seemed to be clawing at him from the inside out as well.

 

He needed to leave, had to leave, had to -

 

“Stay, please.”

 

Her voice whispered through the dark and he hesitated, slowly turning to look back at her with a wary gaze. She was sprawled on the bed, the display she presented as warm and inviting as the expression in her eyes that wordlessly plead her hopes and fears. Something in him clenched tight and went taut at the danger he felt, balanced on the edge of the unknown above a deep abyss and he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to fall, or was ready to if he did.

 

“Even if it's just for tonight,” her words washed over him, “the night isn't over yet.”

 

Just for one night.

 

The words echoed within him, resounding off dark empty caverns inside him as something reached out to grasp at it like a drowning man at a lifeline. He wasn't sure he could accept more, wasn't wholly sure if he could even have more. But, as he slipped back into the warmth of the bed and the warmth of her, he thought that he could at least have that night if nothing else.

 

For now, it was enough.

 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I like this as the end. Much as I love happy waffy Hiei endings, realistically I really can't see him easily accepting the offer of it after one night of sex, even if it is with the woman he admits he loves - if only to himself. Maybe I'll add a happier epilogue somewhere down the line if the inspiration hits me, but for now, this is it.

 

Look out for other YYH works from me. I have ideas for a very long multi-chaptered series featuring either Hiei/Keiko/Kurama or Kuronue/Keiko/Youko (yes, Youko and not Kurama) that I'm eager to do. Er, just as soon as I finish Draw in the Rain and then figure out which one I want to do more. Preference, anyone?

 

Anyway, thank you all for reading and - hopefully - enjoying this little mini-series sprouted from an intended one-shot. And big, big thanks to Asako for motivating me and beta-reading, and to those of you who took the time to leave a review. Words just aren't adequate to express how much I appreciate them.

 

My sincerest thanks to you all.