Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho and the characters belong to Togashi-sensei.
Summary: It's hard being angry with a stubborn, naughty, and lovable koorime. At least that's what Kurama found out.
A Random Night
by Bluefish
I heard his footsteps sneaking behind my back, but I did not turn because I was struggling with the splattering frying oil and the starch-coated chicken wings. And because I didn't want to talk to him, yet.
Without a warning he put his arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. I stopped frying the chicken and looked down. His arms, one bandaged and one didn't, held me as if he wouldn't ever let me go again.
"Hiei," I mumbled, confused now, "Are you alright?"
"Shut up, fox. Just shut up," was his answer to my concern.
And I did. I knew Hiei didn't want any words between us, whatever he was feeling at that moment merited no speech, and inexplicable by spoken words alone. I let him have his silence, because I needed mine to think.
How long had I waited for him?
I was sure that the answer would be as long as he had waited for me. We had waited our whole lives to find each other. This was not a one-sided, sappy love story.
At the beginning, I wouldn't even call his feelings for me 'love' as I had doubts for mine. He had not loved me first, nor had I loved him blindly and stupidly as some people would have liked to think. We were independent creatures, sentient beings without anchors who drifted in the course of time. In one rare moment, we had touched and the connection was made. Suddenly I had stopped being wild and he had stopped being lost.
We were bound to us.
I peeled his bandaged arm carefully from my waist, as his embraced started to wreak pain on my ribs. For a demon of his size, Hiei was certainly a very strong one. He seemed to know that he was hurting me, so he loosened a bit, and for that I showed my gratitude by kissing the back of his hand.
"Don't do that, fox," he grumbled.
"Why not, koibito?"
"Don't call me that, either."
"Hiei, you don't like my touches?" I asked, playfully, knowing damn well what the answer was.
"I told you to shut up."
Sighing, I kissed his palm. Ah, love. My sweet, bitter, naughty love who sometimes tempted me to stop loving him. He was angry at me. And I was disappointed at him.
I now caressed his hands with mine, completely abandoning the cackling frying pan on the stove. Let the chicken burn. I had my lover snuggling behind me, and call me crazy, but I wanted to snuggle him back instead of taking care of some wings. Oh Kami-sama, he was angry at me.
And how I was disappointed at him for being angry.
"Are you still mad at me?" I asked.
"Hn."
"I am not going to apologize," I said, my hands still caressing his.
"Hn. It doesn't matter," he answered back, now burying his head deeper against my back.
"So, you will hold me like this until you're no longer mad at me?" I entwined my fingers with his smaller ones.
"Do you want me to?"
"I don't know, Hiei."
"Then yes, I'll hold you,"came his answer, with a tone of certainty some people mistook as vanity. I knew better, this was his way of saying that he needed me. My poor love was as confused as I was.
Do we really need each other?
How do you answer if you're asked whether you really need your senses or not?
It was like that for me.
Rob me of him and I would survive. Granted, living a life I did not want nor care. He was my oasis. He was the light, the sound, the touch, the smell and the taste I needed to live. All of him.
"I am disappointed, Hiei."
"I know, but I cannot help it," he said.
"Why?"
"Because I'm a selfish demon."
"You are, koorime," I retorted, "You are. But you did not hurt me that much."
"I have not finished being angry with you, fox. Don't speak."
I took one of his fingers and softly massaged them. He purred into my back and I stifled a laugh. Ah, love. How I knew you, how every inch of you I had touched and loved.
I hummed a song, and felt him relax. Fingers still entwining, we stood there in front of the smoking stove for a long time. It looked like dinner was going to be another take-out. The house started smelling like oil.
"Are you finished now?"
"Almost," he mumbled sleepily.
"You have gained back my favor, just to let you know," I said to his hands.
"I do, you're easy to read," he snorted.
"And you have to move soon," I added, raising and kissing one of his hands.
"Why?"
"Because I need to get us dinner," I said, while playing with his fingers.
"Then stop doing that!" Hiei ordered.
"Can't stop now."
"Hn. Stupid fox," he muttered.
"Who loves you, Hiei."
"He better be," the koorime answered back, making me laugh.
Finally he let me go. I managed to turn off the stove and opened the windows to let the thick oil-scent out. Then I called the Chinese take-out/delivery three blocks away from the house, and ordered enough for two, before he hugged me back. This time I looked down at his black hair, because Hiei had buried his face on my chest.
"Miss me?" I asked, grinning.
"I'm not done being angry," Hiei muffled against my shirt.
"Somehow I got the feeling that you're not telling the truth," I teased him.
"Not the whole truth, I'm not."
My love here had a weird sense of humor, and I adored him for that. In the midst of our little banter, I had forgotten why I was disappointed with him, or why he was angry with me. Such things were insignificant at this point. His presence was like a drug, which beckoned me to forget and just enjoy. His simple words were aimed to appease me, and many times they had succeeded.
Like now.
"You're spoiling me, fox," he said after a period of silence.
"Aren't you asking for it?" I said, while brushing my fingers through his mane of hair.
"Hn. You got me there." I felt his smile and ran my finger down his spine.
He shuddered. I knew he liked being cared like this, so I continued kneading the knots on the back of his neck. He slouched forward and my body held him steady. I derived joy from knowing that he trusted me completely to touch him. With me, he was safe.
And with him, I was happy.
"When the delivery guy comes, try not to stare at him, koorime," I warned Hiei.
"Why? He likes to stare at you."
"And I bet you feel murderous."
"Jealous like hell," Hiei said, though I could not decipher whether he was joking or dead serious.
"If he's harmed, we cannot have another delivery from Li-san's place. So, no more of those delicious walnut prawns you like," I reminded him.
"Hn."
"Okay, Hiei?"
"There's another Chinese take-out four blocks from here," he answered.
I was speechless for a moment, and burst into laughter after I saw his grin. I bent forward until his nose almost touched mine, "You deserve a kiss, koorime."
"Only one?" He raised his eyebrow.
Then the doorbell rang once.
"For now," I answered.
The doorbell rang again.
I gave him a quick smooch and he let me go. Before opening the door, I looked at him and said again, "Don't stare."
"We'll see," he answered.
I shook my head and gave him a look.
Hiei smirked.
...
Ah, love.