This is an idea that I have had for some time and decided to start in order to take my mind off of "Eyewash" for a while. For those of you reading this who are fans of my other story "Eyewash," I apologies for the infrequent updates to that story. To put it simply, I have been experiencing a bit of writer's block and am hoping that focusing on a new project for a while might help.

For those of you who have read my other story "9 Months" I would briefly direct your attention to chapter twenty "First Kiss" in which Kurama thinks about a Game of emotions he has played with partners and potential partners for many years. This story is an expansion of the concept of the Game and a different twist from "9 Months" on the outcome of playing this Game with Hiei.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters or anything else that is protected under copyright in relation to the series.

Warnings: Shonen ai, a Kurama and Hiei relationship to be exact. That's about it I guess, so let us begin.

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The Game, Youko Kurama's Game, was a tool so integrated into the thief's nature that even he could not remember the first time he had used it. It was a tool like any other at his disposal, designed to eliminate the threat of betrayal and thus offer him safety, or as much safety as one could expect in the wilds of Makai. Youko had delved deep into many souls with the use of the Game. Some had become what might almost pass for friends while others were utterly destroyed by it.

Yomi had been one of the latter. The Game had revealed that the young demon's rashness and recklessness were traits that ran deep into his very soul, so deep that Youko was forced to reevaluate his then lover as an unnecessary risk worthy only of disposal. Many others of the type came before and after Yomi, though the future Makai lord was the only one Youko ever allowed to live.

The Game continued for centuries. It was simple enough to play and the youko rather enjoyed gaining such intimate information so easily. Throughout the Game he would remain stoic, his own emotions unnecessary in the gauging of another's. And so it went, the bored youko playing his Game with all who crossed his path and never once opening his own cold heart to any living demon he met.

When he met a young bat demon named Kuronue, Youko initiated the Game as he would with anyone else. He was surprised, however, and not entirely prepaired for the outcome he received. The Game was designed to create trust, or at least a semblance of trust, and make any demons intent to plot against him plain to Youko's piercing golden gaze. Kuronue took the trust offered him and returned it tenfold. He accepted the simple bond the legendary thief gave him and gave back one that was a hundred times stronger. Kuronue did something no one else had ever done; he was playing the Game using love as his bargaining chip.

Youko had been offered love before, on a monthly basis in fact, but not the kind of love Kuronue offered. The bat felt a kind of love that was more or less nonexistent in Makai, a kind that was warm and comforting and unconditional. Having never experienced such an emotion before, Youko treated it as nothing but another part of the Game and continued his play, stretching and testing his partner's love. He wanted to know how much "unconditional" really meant to Kuronue. He wanted to find the breaking point. It's hard to say whether Kuronue was aware that the emotions returned to him from Youko were hollowed by the Game. Then again, perhaps he was aware and that too was counterbalanced by the bat's unconditional feelings.

As the Game requires a living specimen to function, Kuronue's death ended it. A dark depression overcame Youko and horrible emptiness dominated his being. He retreated from public view, cutting all ties with any other living being, and spent hours contemplating his pain. Inevitably he came to realize what had happened. Kuronue had given him love and Youko's buried heart had warmed to the feeling and eagerly returned it. For the purposes of the Game, however, he had made himself ignorant to his own feelings and only became aware of them when they were crushed by the death of the one he loved.

Youko vowed never to play the Game again after that. While his legend still remained strong throughout Makai, its fame was based on past adventures as Youko remained in the alone shadows. The jobs he accepted from then on were few and far between and he completed every one of them alone and promptly disappeared again once it was done. It was on one such job that his troubled heart blinded him to the obvious warning signs and he was shot by a bounty hunter.

The following years in Ningenkai were spent much as the final years as Youko had been spent, cold and unfeeling as pain ate away at his heart with him refusing to let anyone else in for fear of increasing that pain. That is, until Shiori, an ordinary human, broke through and offered much the same unconditional feeling as Kuronue had so many years before. Though still wary of being hurt, Kurama would not waste the precious gift again.

Time went on and Kurama felt the dark pain within himself receding more and more with every passing day. That slow healing process was sped up considerably as he found himself forming friendships with two human boys and one surly demon, as well as a few others besides. These were not the questionable and often temporary partnerships between demons either, these were true trusting friends. More often than not Kurama found his smiles to be genuine and he was happy and comfortable in a way that he didn't think Youko had ever been.

Subtly, without his even noticing, the Game began to come out in his personality again. He didn't play it as he used to, with everyone he met, but focused it instead on only one of his new found friends. The grumpy half-Koorime: Hiei. Truly the fox didn't even fully realize what he was doing. He only knew that he wanted to know more about the little demon. Hiei had lived such a hard and, quite frankly, traumatizing life that Kurama wanted to know how far the fire demon would let a relationship with someone else grow. The bond they had could barely be called friendship. It was more of a general understanding and tolerance of each other than anything else. Was that as far as Hiei was willing to let it go? Kurama didn't know.

He had not seen Hiei for nearly a year. He remembered their parting in the forest after the Makai Tournament. Hiei had bristled when Kurama implied that he was not interested in finding a lover in the little demon, but Hiei was such an incredible master of his emotions that it was hard to take that clue on way or the other. One thing he did know, however, was that despite popular rumor Hiei had not taken to Mukuro's bed either and that was something else to digest. Perhaps he truly was unwilling to let anyone past his barriers, or, and Kurama thought this much more probable, maybe the half-Koorime was simply unable to. After all he had endured in his harsh life, it was certainly understandable.

In any case, Kurama wished he had been allowed some more time with the fire demon to find out. He was contemplating all this late one sleepless night and was so lost in his thoughts that the being at the window had to clear its throat before the fox took notice of it. And there was Hiei! Dressed in his familiar black ensemble he regarded his old friend with the barest hint of amusement.

"You're slipping, Fox," he commented dryly.

"Hiei!" Kurama sat up from where he had been reclined on his bed to face the demon. "What brings you here?"

"Actually," the shorter demon replied, settling into a comfortable position on the window sill, "I am somewhat in need of your assistance."

"Really?" Kurama asked, interested. He had not expected Hiei to show up out of the blue in the middle of the night and certainly not with a mission proposition.

"A thief broke into Mukuro's vaults and stole several intelligence documents," Hiei explained, "most of them concerning a sparsely inhabited mountainous area on her northern boarders. As far as Mukuro can tell he has taken refuge within that very area and effectively left us with no knowledge of what may be there."

"Ahh," Kurama broke in, "and so you were hoping to use a thief to catch a thief then, is that it?"

"Something like that," Hiei smirked. Kurama felt himself smile in return, a true smile as opposed to Hiei's smirk. This was his chance, his chance to finish the Game and discover the true depth of Hiei's emotions. He would soon discover the extent of what the secretive little demon was willing to give to another.

(xxx)

The Makain sun filtered through the topmost branches of the forest they traveled through as they reached the foothills of the mountains. Conversation had been minimal, as was always the case with Hiei, but even so Kurama was contented with the fact that the fire demon was walking beside him and not leaving him behind to flit through the trees.

The sun fell lower and they made camp on the last stretch of level ground before the start of the gentle incline. There was silence between them, as there had been all day. Hiei's unnatural black flames served as their fire and Kurama quietly prepaired their meal. He stole several glances at Hiei throughout the process, always looking away again before the half-Koorime could catch his eye.

He had yet to initiate a new step in the Game and was hoping to begin to do so by tomorrow. The problem was that his influence on the demon had wavered with their separation and though their relationship was the same on the surface Kurama was well aware of the new barriers Hiei had built since they had last spoken. What Kurama couldn't tell, however, was whether these barriers were always in place and had perhaps grown out of dealings with Mukuro or if these obstacles were against Kurama alone.

They ate their meals in silence and as soon as he was done Hiei vanished without a word. Kurama had been expecting this and settled himself down to sleep by the fire Hiei had left burning. If Kurama's assumptions were correct concerning Hiei's new barriers then it appeared that he and the fire demon had taken a step backwards. Deciding that tomorrow would be dedicated to regaining lost ground, Kurama feel into an easy sleep.

(xxx)

Hiei sat high in a tree above the campsite, watching Kurama sleep. He had not been ignorant to the glances Kurama had been giving him throughout the day. Indeed, he could feel those emerald eyes burning into him from a mile away, let alone a few feet. He sighed, tilting his head back to stare at the dark Makain sky.

"Kurama, what do you want?" he whispered, the words lost to the wind almost before they reached his ears. Games, the fox was always playing games, and it wouldn't have worried Hiei so much if he only knew what the former thief was after. Kurama was forever leading him along, or attempting to do so anyway. Setting verbal traps, trying to get something from Hiei but the fire demon was never sure what. He had watched for years as Kurama tried to worm his way through Hiei's defenses, and in all that time Hiei had never been able to discern a reason why.

When the games without reason had finally begun to truly unnerve the fire demon he had tried to use separation in the hopes that Kurama would give up, but the fox never did. Whenever he could help it Hiei kept his distance. He stayed away from the fox after Koenma forced them into the Maze Castle conflict and only reunited with Kurama when he was once again forced to do so during the Dark Tournament. He kept his distance afterwards as well, ignoring the effects of Sensui's psychic hole for as long as he could.

Mukuro's summons had finally given him a real chance to isolate himself from the fox. There was only so far he could go while contained in Ningenkai, but in Makai he finally felt free of the fox's scrutinizing. Even at Yusuke's tournament he hardly talked to Kurama and had only offered him a parting conversation because it felt somehow wrong to forgo it.

And yet, to Hiei's amazement and confusion, he found himself thinking about Kurama whenever he was away from the fox. He simply could not understand Kurama's motives behind his actions and brooded what they might be for hours. Kurama did not want to use Hiei as far as the half-Koorime could tell, and Hiei could usually tell fairly easily if that was what someone was after. But if not that then what was the fox after? Hiei had even tried accommodated Kurama's advances, offering him friendship in the hope that letting down his outer barriers in such a way would satisfy the fox. But Kurama wanted more than that.

Hiei had been driving himself mad with his musings over Kurama's reasons when finally Mukuro asked him what was bothering him. Without reason to, Hiei found himself giving her a summary, albeit a brief on, of Kurama's confusing games and Hiei's inability to understand the purpose behind them. Mukuro had only smiled and then instructed Hiei to resolve things under the pretense of a mission. There was no thief and no stolen documents to recover. There was only Hiei and Kurama and time.

Hiei sighed again, opening his eyes to gaze again at the sleeping redhead. Though he hadn't been sure what to do with Mukuro's answer to the problem when she had given it, he had since decided on the only course of action he could see that would finally bring an end to this. He would have to know directly from Kurama what he wanted. He would have to read the kitsune's very soul to find his answer.

Hiei had not attempted a soul reading in a few decades at least. It was a horrible drain on both him and the one he read. Though the Jagan was used mostly for matters of the mind and telekinesis, it was also a key tool in performing a successful soul reading. However, the Jagan was not a gentle tool and an enormous amount of energy must be consumed to gear it precisely towards finding the absolute truth within the soul and not merely tearing the soul to shreds in search of it.

Hiei closed his eyes to get at least a few hours sleep. Tomorrow he would finally know what the fox was after and he could deal with the answer then.

(xxx)

Kurama awoke to a bright, warm day. Yawning, he stretched and then proceeded to cook breakfast from their supplies. He was resolved to do everything he could to regain what trust had been lost between himself and Hiei and then to resume his strategic burrowing through the fire demon's tight defenses. Just as he finished Hiei reappeared from wherever he had spent the night. Kurama smiled at him in greeting before passing him his half of the food.

Hiei didn't feel particularly hungry in light of what he was about to do, but he ate anyway. He needed to conserve any and all strength he could gather. The meal was eaten in silence, but Hiei felt Kurama keep looking at him as he had done all yesterday as well. He stubbornly kept his eyes on his plate, letting Kurama think his looks sly enough to go unnoticed.

When they had finished, Kurama prepaired to leave. Hiei stood and watched the fox repack his gear. The redhead was kneeling on the ground and so only slightly shorter than Hiei was standing, ideal for the soul reading since they would have to be at eyelevel with one another to complete it. Removing the ward over the Jagan, Hiei used as minimal an amount of energy as he could to ward the area against intruding demons. Mukuro had assured him the mountains were unpopulated, but the soul reading would leave both himself and Kurama vulnerable to attack and Hiei wasn't taking any chances.

Hiei approached Kurama in the midst of his packing. The kitsune saw the black boots stop just in front of him and looked up. He froze when he saw the Jagan glowing brightly in the middle of Hiei's forehead. A feeling of uncertainty and foreboding stole over him. Before Kurama could react, Hiei took the fox's chin firmly in his grasp and knelt until they were exactly at eyelevel.

"No more games, Kurama," Hiei said icily, no emotion in his voice, "tell me why." Pain exploded in Kurama's head and he tried to cry out, but his voice was lost as everything became blackness and nothingness swallowed him.