Kurama was flat on his back, not for the first time in his life. This time, however, it was a little different - the Reikai Tantei had decided it was about time they got a little paid vacation time, so Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Botan had all negotiated with Koenma (threatened him with Hiei) until he'd agreed. The little fire demon hadn't been entirely impressed with the strategy, but he was always happy to remind Koenma of how dangerous he could be, and so things had gone off without a hitch.

Now he lay on a delightfully tacky beach towel in Okinawa, hair carefully pinned into a high pony tail so that it wouldn't get in the way while he tried to get his reluctant skin to tan. Hiei sat three feet away in the shade of the umbrella, arms and legs crossed and a rather sullen expression on his face. Yukina had persuaded him to come, but try as she might even the Koorime couldn't entice her brother into the water, nor even to step out of his customary black attire. Kurama couldn't understand how the little demon wasn't overheating, but if Yukina couldn't do anything, he certainly couldn't - not without resorting to powers of persuasion that Yusuke and Kuwabara wouldn't have been happy getting an eyeful of. Kurama grinned at the thought.

"What are you so happy about, kitsune?" Hiei demanded. It was the first conversation he had offered without prompting all day. Kurama rolled over lazily onto his stomach and eyed the other speculatively.

"The sun. The sand. All this relaxes me in the very worst of ways." Hiei's expression darkened. Kurama had known he wouldn't like that. The kitsune's green eyes crinkled in amusement. "That's precisely why we had to have you here, little one, since you seem so dead set against relaxing an inch."

"Shut up." Hiei ground out furiously. "What the hell are you trusting me for?"

Kurama's lips stretched slowly into a smile he knew the other would hate him for and remained silent. True to his prediction, Hiei's eyes narrowed and he refused to look any more at the redheaded kitsune.

Kurama soon changed this by extending an arm for the bottle of sunscreen, feeling a telltale burn begin across his shoulders. he lobbed the bottle carefully at Hiei, and the fire demon caught it one-handed without so much as blinking. "Hiei..." Kurama breathed, smirking ever so slightly as Hiei flinched. Just a little.

"Come over here and rub some of that onto my back, would you? I can't reach it, and I'll get burnt otherwise."

Dangerous territory, to insult a youko's appearance, but Hiei didn't seem to care. "You're baking yourself too brown; it would serve you right if you burned." He snapped. Kurama issued a pout.

"Hiei, the kitsune will be even browner, and redder, if you don't rub the sunscreen on his back." He purred. "He'll buy you a snowcone if you do..."

Hiei's expression changed very slightly, enough to let Kurama know he was considering it. The kitsune refrained from letting the smile pour over his lips and merely eyed the fire demon knowingly. Finally, Hiei stood in one swift movement and stalked to Kurama's side, resettling himself on his knees. Kurama's expression became one of satisfaction.

"Just squeeze a little of the liquid into your hand, and rub it all over my back... my shoulders in particular."

Hiei's crimson eyes were still narrowed - he knew he was being manipulated, shamelessly, but hell, he could stand a little of this if it meant he got a snowcone. They were sweet and cold, and they took away some of the dehydration that the heat and the sand caused. He upended the bottle over Kurama's back and squeezed lightly. The fox shuddered, letting out the softest of hisses, as a viscous white substance splattered all over his back.

"Cold..." he murmured, giving Hiei a reproachful sort of look.

The fire demon ignored him and placed his hands impersonally upon the kitsune's back - Kurama let out another small noise - and began to rub the 'sunscreen' into his skin. It smelled like skin and sand and roses, or perhaps that was the kitsune himself...

Kurama's eyes fluttered closed. Hiei's hands were sinfully hot, a product of his fire demon heritage, and the contrast between the cool stripes of lotion on his back and the warm, warm hands gave him goosebumps. Kurama grinned foolishly into the crook of his arm. This had been a bad idea. He'd have to stay on his stomach for a while; he was only wearing board shorts.

Hiei's hands made warm, sweeping circles on Kurama's skin. He was losing some of his irritation now; this was sort of relaxing, though it was too hot and he'd much rather be sleeping in the sultry breezes that drifted through the tree outside Kurama's open window.

When Yusuke, Kuwabara and the girls returned from an impromptu water fight, Kurama was asleep and Hiei was sitting in the sun next to him, a red-eyed guardian for the slumbering kistune. By the time they woke Kurama from his relaxed swoon, Hiei was kicking him lightly and demanding his snow cone.

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