Kurama frowned as he heard the door slam. "Hiei?" The redhead forgot about his homework and went to the foyer to see what was wrong. Hiei was nowhere to be seen, but his coat was rolled in a ball against the wall, where it had obviously been thrown. His boots were on opposite sides of the foyer. Kurama's frown deepened and he walked through the apartment, checking each room for his lover. Hiei was usually somewhat more careful with his things.

He nearly missed Hiei when he looked in the bedroom, as the fire demon was scrunched in a corner of the window seat, glaring out the window. Kurama sat next to him. Hiei didn't acknowledge him. The fox gently touched his lover's cheek. "Koi, what's wrong?" Hiei flinched and didn't answer. Kurama sighed and pulled Hiei into his lap, hugging him. "Yuusuke and Kuwabara again?"

Hiei set his head against Kurama's chest and nodded. "Why do they do this to me?" His lover's arms tightened around him. "What did I do wrong . . . ?" Hiei's voice trembled slightly, and he hid his face in Kurama's chest.

Kurama gently rocked him back and forth. "What did they do now?"

Hiei didn't answer for a while. "They grabbed me and tried to put this . . . thing on me." He flushed. "Some female undergarment. They said that I should just become one if . . ." Hiei trailed off. Kurama frowned angrily. The boys' pranks and harassment had been getting progressively worse. "Fox . . . I swear, if they touch me again, I'll kill them. I don't care about Koenma anymore. I asked them to stop; I yelled at them . . . I even burned them once. I can't deal with this anymore." The Jaganshi sniffled suddenly and hid his face against Kurama again. Kurama held him for a long time as he trembled. Yuusuke and Kuwabara had definitely gone too far, and it had to stop.

Kurama gently kissed the fire demon's forehead as his trembling lessened. "I'm going to talk to them, koi." He gently picked Hiei up and set him on the bed. "Take a nap, love. You've had a lot to deal with today." Not only that, but Hiei hadn't been sleeping well lately. Kurama would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to see Hiei wide awake. There were dark circles under the fire demon's eyes, showing how much sleep he'd lost.

Hiei hugged him tightly. "Fox . . . Thank you . . ."

"Anytime, koi. I'm here for you." The redhead kissed his lover deeply then tucked him into bed. "I'll wake you up when I get back. Just relax and get some sleep."

Kurama found Yuusuke and Kuwabara at a pachinko parlor. "We need to talk. Now." The boys followed him to a nearby park.

"What's up, Kurama?" Yuusuke frowned. Kurama's voice had been cold. He was obviously mad about something.

"You two need to stop harassing Hiei. He's tried asking you to stop and he's at the end of his patience. The bra thing today was it. No more."

Kuwabara frowned. "We're just teasing-"

Kurama cut him off angrily. "Teasing is one thing! You aren't 'just teasing' him! You're harassing him, and it's going to stop or I'll get Koenma involved." Yuusuke snorted, and Kurama whirled on him. "Or how about I tell Keiko about your antics?" He glared at Kuwabara. "Or tell Yukina just how 'sweet' and 'manly' you are?" Kurama crossed his arms. "It stops now. It's upsetting Hiei, and he's already uncertain enough as it is. I love him. What affects him affects me. If you don't stop for his sake, then at least do it for mine." The fox looked away. "To let you know how upset he is . . . He cried today. Because of what you said and did to him. I haven't ever seen him cry until now!"

Both of the boys stared at him in shock. Yuusuke frowned. "I'm sorry, Kurama. I didn't know it was affecting him like that."

Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah. I'll stop."

Kurama sighed. "Don't tell me. Tell him. If he even comes near you two anymore." They nodded, shame-faced. "I'll see you two around." The fox left, not looking back, and hurried to his apartment.

Hiei was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. "Koi . . . didn't you sleep?" Hiei shook his head. "What would you like for dinner?"

"Not hungry."

Kurama changed into his pajamas, frowning. "Hiei . . . They promised they'd stop."

"Only because you asked them to, Fox. They don't care about me."

Kurama helped Hiei change into his pajamas and crawled into bed with him. "They do, koi. They just weren't thinking."

"Hn."

The fox hugged Hiei, cuddling him close. "It's okay, love. They want to apologize."

"I don't want to talk to them. I don't want to be around them," Hiei whispered, cuddling closer to Kurama. "I don't even want to go on missions with them at this point." The fire demon yawned. "I'm going to avoid them . . . so they won't have the chance to-" he yawned again "-do it again."

"Whatever you want, little one."

"Don' call me that, K'rma . . ."

Kurama chuckled softly and closed his eyes, glad that the one he loved wouldn't have to put up with any more harassment. He reveled in the fact that Hiei was finally sleeping. Just the knowledge that the harassment would stop had made the fire demon feel better enough to defeat the insomnia that had been plaguing him. Hiei's soft, even breathing lulled the fox to sleep.

This is the whole story behind the "Hiei doesn't trust Yuusuke and Kuwabara anymore" thing in Ushinatta. I actually know somebody who was harassed like that. It's kinda sad that the world is so unkind to sexual minorities. Seriously . . . it's just love. Harassment of anyone is horribly wrong.

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