I've loved this fandom for over a decade, but this is my first time writing for it and I shamelessly love what I've written. It's shorter than it probably should be and it's a little disjointed and it could really use more time to establish everything. That said, for being a short drabble, I'm ecstatic. So when reading, just imagine a bit more fleshing out and you'll be good. :)
What on earth was that?
Holding up his hand, he examined the little string looped around his finger. Thin and soft, something probably from the human world considering the Makkai didn't hold anything so soft. A neat bow sat at the base of his pinkie and one end flowed out down the trunk of the tree and through the grass.
Urameshi must be playing some type of trick. Or the idiot, though Hiei was certain he'd hear the fumbling oaf before he even neared the tree.
He flicked at the string. It didn't move. Pulling it, yanking it, tugging at the bow did nothing and it seemed the more he messed with it, the brighter the red appeared.
Unacceptable.
With a glare, he called fire to light up the entirety of his hand and watched as the string burned, charred, and finally fell away.
Much better.
...
It reappeared that night.
A little thicker, a little darker, and instead of a bow, he recognized the knot keeping the string on his finger. A small, square knot, though it wouldn't matter. Bow or knot, a string was a string and string gave way to fire. And if it didn't, he could always turn it to ice and then watch it shatter.
Fire was easier. Besides, watching the thing curl in on itself before leaving his hand gave him a small satisfaction.
...
Two days later, Hiei hunted the streets for the damned punk who kept doing this to him.
It always appeared after a nap. Whether he slept in the trees, in the open field, or crashed in Youko's apartment when he wasn't home, the string returned. Over and over until now, the string glowed red in the shadows, was as thick as rope, hard as wire, and wouldn't leave his hand. Burning it stopped working after the third time and freezing only twice after that.
If this continued, Hiei would have to resort to cutting the thing off.
He refused to utilize his sword for such a trivial mess.
So he stalked through the trees, following the trail Urameshi left with that pulsing spirit energy of his. He must have been on his way to Keiko's, judging from the directness of his path and the quickness in his step. Urameshi never booked it anywhere unless she was alone.
Hiei found him on Keiko's balcony. It was a nice apartment, he guessed. The complex quiet and the trees well tended. A place humans took pride in living in and it seemed Keiko did as well. Though how she could possibly deal with the loud mouth, he didn't know. Seemed pride only went so far.
Landing next to the man, he watched in wry amusement as said man jumped. Then the yelling started. He could have done without this, but it was the best way to get the damned thing off his hand and keep it off.
"Quiet," he finally snapped, cutting Urameshi off mid-sentence. Not that Hiei cared. Nothing he was saying was of any use. "Now tell me why you continue to waste my time with this nonsense."
Yusuke said nothing. His brown eyes narrowed and the fight built behind his expression and Hiei braced himself for a good brawl that had been brewing for days, but then Yusuke's gaze caught on the rope trailing over the railing and up the complex. Hiei watched in silence as that gaze went up and then back down, following the trail looped at his feet until he finally saw the bane of Hiei's current existence.
When Urameshi's jaw slackened in shock, Hiei felt a sudden unease that his reasonable suspicion had been wrong.
"Hiei…" Miracles really do happen — the idiot was speechless. "You…you—"
"What are you yelling about out here—" Keiko appeared behind the sliding glass door and stopped at the sight before her. "Oh, hello Hiei."
He tilted his chin in acknowledgement and then turned back to the detective, waiting for that peanut of a brain to finally kick in and the never ceasing litany of words to return to their constant deluge of sludge.
"Are you staying— oh."
When she went quiet with a sudden hitch of breath, Hiei wondered if his idea of seeking out Urameshi had been the wrong one.
"Hiei, do you know what that is?" she asked quietly.
"No and I don't care. I want it gone."
The idiot finally closed his mouth, but the look on his face wasn't one Hiei wanted to deal with. He didn't come here for some wretched conversation, he came here to get the red shackle off his hand and be done with this prank once and for all.
"When did it appear?" Keiko asked, drawing his attention back to her.
Hiei didn't understand why she was so curious about the thing or what the soft tone in her voice meant. And he definitely didn't want to be answering her probing questions, but he knew if he were rude, Urameshi would take offense and they would fight. Not that Hiei didn't want the fight, but he wanted to be free of the string more.
Though if he answered, she might offer him some answers as well.
"Two days ago."
"Late morning?" she pressed. "Just before noon?"
With narrowed eyes, he turned away from the detective and focused his whole attention on the girlfriend. How on earth would she know when this thing arrived?
"What do you know?"
Urameshi stepped in between, using his height to block Keiko from Hiei's sight.
"Stand aside, detective. It's only a few questions."
"Yeah, and I don't quite trust what you're going to do when those questions are answered."
"What," Hiei repeated in a deadly quiet voice, "do you know?"
"We think," came Keiko's hesitant response from behind the wall of muscle, "we might know who that string is connected to."
"Why would this string be connected to anyone but the person who dared put it on me?"
Something flickered on Urameshi's face and Hiei tensed.
"Hiei," he said without preamble, "that's a red string of fate. It's connected to your soulmate."
His soulmate?
Impossible.
Him? Have a soulmate? One would have to have a soul first. And then, one would have to be worthy of a mate for that soul. Picking at the rope in disgust, Hiei looked out over the horizon.
It didn't take him long to flee the apartment. With the gears churning in Keiko's mind and Urameshi's delighted gleam, Hiei booked it as fast as he could. No way was he getting stuck with something he did not want and judging from their claim of knowing who the string led to? That's what they were about to do.
Soulmate. Bah. Utterly ridiculous. What a horrible prank for the gods to play. But if what they said was true, it explained why the nuisance kept returning no matter what he did to get rid of it. Didn't explain why it appeared on him or why some being with too much time on their hands decided to play with his fate.
Hiei with a soulmate? The entire idea was laughable. What soul could possibly be a good match for him? Always wandering, always roaming, flitting between the two worlds and not belonging in either, never belonging anywhere except for that small stint in an army. But even commanding under Mukuro's rule had been stifling. He needed freedom under his feet to go where he wanted and lay his head where he pleased.
What soul on earth was cursed to be stuck with him?
His mind conjured up the flash of blue paired with a delicate floral scent, but he shoved it aside. No use focusing on ridiculous notions.
A flicker of energy from the southeast pulled him from his thoughts and Hiei shifted. He wanted to run. No way did he want to look at that face as those eyes saw the string because surely, he would know what it meant. And he would ask. He would ask and he would talk and he would attempt to give the sage advice he so loved and Hiei wanted absolutely none of it.
But running would only bring a chase and if the fox flared his energy, then he was approaching with a purpose.
Settling back against the trunk, Hiei wondered what he could do to get this meeting over with.
Silence stretched between them long after Kurama stopped at the base of the tree. If he wasn't going to initiate the conversation he wanted to have, then they would continue to sit in silence for all Hiei cared. He didn't want the damned string to exist, let alone talk about it.
"Aren't you even curious?" came that soft voice.
Hiei said nothing.
"I would be." Something shifted on the grass and Hiei felt a vibration up the trunk. Kurama was apparently making himself comfortable. "These things don't happen to everyone and they're never wrong. I'd want to know immediately who the fates saw to be a perfect match for me."
"Then take it and find them." His gut clenched at the thought of that blue mixing with red.
"Ah, if only it were that simple."
If only it weren't him.
"Don't you think they deserve to know who they're tied to?"
"Nothing's stopping them," he bit out. "Anyone who can't follow this string is far too stupid for my patience."
The fox fell silent and Hiei resumed his glaring contemplation of the mistake on his finger.
"Have you considered that it could be a good match?" Kurama asked quietly, almost too low to hear. "That this soulmate of yours could offer peace in ways we haven't known?"
Something in Hiei lurched at those words, something deep and strong and hidden. Something bright. His hands twisted and he shoved that back down. Hope was a dangerous emotion, deadly to all who fell for it. Allowing something to foolish to grow was a mistake he refused to make.
"Don't be stupid," he snapped, gathering his feet under him in preparation to run. "If they know what's good for them, they'd stay away."
He didn't stick around long enough to hear Kurama's reply.
...
The rope began twitching.
It started the next morning after Kurama's inane words bounced around his head all night and refused to allow him to sleep. Hiei studied the knot on his finger, not wanting to believe what his gut was telling him. It was tightening up. The range of motion was a little stiffer, a little more resilient.
As the day went on, the rope had less and less give. Less extra coiling trailing after him, more resistance as he moved quickly, a little pull here and there when whatever was on the other end decided to be just as stubborn as he.
He hated this. Literally shackled, bound, and trapped, this was not the life Hiei could live. But the rope had learned and nothing — not his fire nor his ice and not even his sword — would cut the damn thing off.
So he ran. He trained. He pulled and tugged and refused to allow this addition to his life keep him from his normal habits. And by the time the sun started to set, he ignored the taut tension as the rope rose into the sky. It traveled through the forest, not a single give lowering to the ground as far as he could see. It was probably caught on a tree and he should go free it up to give him more room, but his feet stayed where they were.
If the rope wanted him to meet someone, it was going to have to do the work itself.
...
"Hiei?"
He knew that voice. His brows twitched, debating the idea of returning to sleep. The training had been an exhausting one and the air cooled as night fell. He was comfortable, he was content, and he didn't want to shatter the peace as the sun rose. Which he would. Every semblance of normalcy would go out the window if he opened his eyes and turned onto the being of color that so often showed up at inopportune times.
Even if it would be nice to see the blue of her hair lit by the slowly brightening sky.
"Hiei."
Her voice changed. Softened. It was a breathy statement lacking the conviction and confidence she wore on her sleeve. Hiei couldn't remember the last time she spoke to him in an uncertain tone and that alone made him want to shake off the rest of his sleep.
Something tugged his finger and he tossed aside that notion with a frown. If she saw the string — rope, chain, shackle — she certainly wouldn't let him get any rest.
"Hiei, I know you're awake." Her tone gained back a little of its power. "Hiei, don't ignore me. I won't stand for you to be so rude, especially when you've been pulling me along all day."
Breath stopped in his lungs. Surely... Surely not. There was no way she meant what she said.
"It's been getting tighter and I finally decided to follow it, only for it to start pulling me this way and that!" She was getting angry. He always enjoyed the fire in her eyes when she got angry. "I had work to do yesterday! People to help, souls to assist, and I couldn't do anything with you running and running and running!"
Tension lined his shoulders and down the length of his spine. That prickle of hope shifted again. It sounded like— No, it couldn't be. Her? Shackled to him? Forever?
He'd ruin her.
"Hiei, if you don't get up right this instance, I'm going to pull you out of that tree!"
He dropped in silence, startling the woman back a step. The shadows were receding and the birds were singing in the trees and for the first time in four days since he woke up attached to a chain, his finger felt light. Looking down, he watched in silent awe as the rope dwindled, pulling his arm and her arm up until with a flash of light, it disappeared.
Her palm was soft despite the callouses. She must have taken care of her skin, or her broom wasn't hard to hold, or maybe anything felt soft when compared to the scarred tissue on his.
Her fingers twitched, then fit with his and laced their fingers together. "Hiei?"
He couldn't keep his eyes away. Looking up, seeing her bright blue hair haloed by the rising sun and her lavender eyes soft and hesitant and shining with hope, he almost staggered under the weight of his heart as it thud in his chest.
"Fool," he whispered and shock crossed her face. "You're a fool for accepting me."
The shock disappeared and something softer took its place. Something he had only seen when Kurama was lost in memories.
"You're a fool for thinking I wouldn't."