The Fox and the Phoenix

"How long have you been training with your weapon?"

"Long enough to be able to defend myself in battle."

Hiei smirked slightly at the deliberate answer. He was well aware of the distrust that the young human held for both him and Kurama. But boredom and Tasuki's fiery temperament were making him consider an option that he would have ordinarily dismissed as unlikely. Maybe the bandit would be interested in fighting with him. "Have you ever tried sparring with an opponent to improve your technique?"

"With my tessen?" the redhead asked incredulously. At Hiei's nod, Tasuki frowned thoughtfully, trying to understand why the small demon would have asked him such a question. "Well, whoever practiced with me would have to be very fast, or he'd end up extra crispy."

The fiendish delight flickering in the youkai's eyes was the only indication of his amusement at the bandit's reply. "Hn. I think I'm fast enough." And then there's the minor detail that I'm a fire demon...but the human doesn't need to know that, Hiei thought slyly. "We have to wait until your teammate's healed anyway, so why don't we do something useful?"

After a searching look at the demon, Tasuki accepted the suggestion with a grin. "Better than sitting around trying to scratch under my bandages."

The two warriors faced each other, each waiting to see who would make the first move. Never being one blessed with a lot of patience to begin with, Tasuki soon grew tired of waiting and swung his tessen in a brilliant, flaming arc. It was a splendid attack, and if it had been turned on anyone other than his supernaturally fast opponent, the practice session would have been over barely after its start. Hiei, carefully watching Tasuki's body language, had been able to anticipate the bandit's move and dart away before the flames could touch him.

"Not bad," Hiei commented from behind the other man, "but perhaps you're too used to enemies with human limitations." Tasuki whirled to face the demon, sweeping his iron fan and filling the abruptly empty space in front of him with hot flames.

Their skirmish was suddenly interrupted by a flash of silver fur streaking past, followed by a swiftly pursuing Nuriko. The lady Seishi was after what became obvious as Kurama in his full fox, and extremely playful, form. The peace and quiet was interrupted by excited yipping and Nuriko's warm laughter.

"You can run, Kitsune-san, but you can't hide!" Nuriko called after the retreating fox. She paused a moment to wink at the two startled men, and then she was off, pursuing the fox with a determined air.

"Were those ribbons she had in her hand?" Tasuki asked dazedly. Hiei snorted and rolled his eyes at the pair's antics. "Think she'll catch him?" The bandit's question was full of amusement and he seemed eager to hear what the youko's companion had to say.

"Ch, she'll catch him. But only because he wants her to," came the laconic reply. Curiosity had caught them both, now, and they waited to see what would happen next. Five minutes later, a triumphant Nuriko came strolling back through the courtyard with a wriggling fox under her arm, tails flailing. She picked a nice, grassy area and plopped down on it, keeping a careful hold on her prize. Then she pulled a hairbrush out of a mysteriously hidden pocket and proceeded to run it through Kurama's extremely lush silver fur.

While Tasuki cracked up in disbelieving laughter, Hiei deliberately wiped all expression from his face to hide the fierce emotions that overwhelmed him. He was stunned by the extreme possessiveness that he was feeling. He didn't know why, but the sight of Nuriko casually running her hands over Kurama's soft fur was infuriating him. He knew that the stupid fox was just indulging himself and playing with the lovely Seishi, but it was still taking all of his willpower to keep from running over and scooping Kurama from her lap. He wanted to yell at them both, tell them to quit acting like human children, but he realized that his friend would be understandably hurt and angered by his behavior. There was nothing else to do while they waited for Mitsukake to recover from his wounds, and their play *was* innocent after all.

Yet, when Nuriko paused in her brushing to ask Kurama if foxes purr, the fire demon decided to tune out the rest of the conversation before he said or did something that he would later regret. He didn't want Kurama to know that he was beginning to question the boundaries of their friendship.