Author's Ramble: I have risen! My first drabble! Got the idea while staring at the ceiling while waiting for the rice to cook. Just a quick fic sneaked into my schedule despite busy and tiring times as a highschooler. Please enjoy and, as every writer prays, review!
Summary: Hiei is not a patient man. What happens when the flames defy their master.
Disclaimer: Not mine no matter how much I wish it was so.
The smallest displacement of air was the only indication of the additional presence in the Minamino household.
And it was all he needed to know he was no longer alone.
"Please close the window too, Hiei."
A smirk and a grunt was the only response.
"Koenma sent me and the Detective to fetch you and the Oaf."
"Cleaning up another of Reikai's messes I see."
"As per usual."
The redhead ex-bandit gave his cohort a small grin in response.
"And what are you doing?" With curiosity the jaganshi would deny later on, he asked as his fellow partner-in-crime stirred his hand in a small silver cauldron.
"Washing the rice, Hiei." Kurama answered as if it was the norm to do so when the whole world could fall into pieces in a bat of his perfect long lashes.
It still irked the sword wielder when Kurama ever spoke of his human chores. Somehow it was both insulting and demeaning that such a powerful being should be committed to performing such menial labor.
The kitsune, however, found teenage responsibilities relaxing and fulfilling.
"They are small labors, Hiei, not slavery." Kurama would chide at him, as he would glare at the vacuum in the fox's hand, or rag, or sponge or sheet, depending on what task occupied the tactician's time at that moment.
"Besides, it's no trouble, considering how much more Kaa-san would do in a day." Kurama would add as he dried or put away or folded.
Hiei thought the chores where as much as atonement as they were "labors of love", as Kurama put once while he was arranging his bookshelf.
And now he was washing rice.
"Cannot that wait until after we play at being Koenma's lackeys?" Hiei's snide, sarcasm lacing every syllable.
"This will only take a while, Hiei." Kurama wiped his hands on a towel that mysteriously appeared out of thin air, proceeding to lift the silver cauldron out of the sink.
He whipped towards the stove, red hair billowing behind him, placing the container on the stove and turning it on with a flick of a wrist, all with a dancer's grace.
"I doubt the world can end in the thirty minutes it'll take to cook the rice." Kurama spun to meet his eyes, a grin on his pretty boy face.
Ichi... Ni... San... Shi... Go... Roku... Nana...
Hiei remembered Kurama told him once that one minute is equivalent to 60 seconds whilst 60 minutes comprised one hour. And 30 minutes is half an hour.
In the world Hiei was born into, it seemed pointless to count time when yours could end anytime.
Ju nana... Ju hachi... Ju kyu...
"I can't take this anymore."
"Tired of staring at the pot Hiei?" Kurama asked from his perch on the couch, reading the lesson for tomorrow.
"No, I'm tired of staring at the fire."
Bandages fell to the ground and a tattoo of a dark dragon was unfurled.
"Your defiance will be dealt with severely." The fire demon spat with vehemence as he stared at the small blues flames beneath the simmering pot.
"Hiei, don't-"
But before the redhead could get his perfect hind off the blue couch.
"I was tired of waiting anyway."
"DRAGON... OF THE DARKNESS... FLAME!"
"Kurama, I-"
"Not a word, Hiei."
A low, rough bellow broke the tension between the two demons.
"Yo, Kurama! We're- Woah, what the heck happened here?!"
Kuwabara and Yuusuke slipped through the new, crude door in the wall of the Minamino household.
"Hiei unleashed his dragon. May I ask the same of you?" Kurama inquired at the sight of his two friends whom he didn't want to strangle.
Ragged and sooty, the two spirit detectives looked as if they had been sweeping the chimneys of Hell.
"My sister told me to cook some rice before going off on this case since she'll be late after her date tonight." Kuwabara began, a look of brotherly protectiveness and fear of meddling on his oafish yet kind face. A look of anger immediately replaced it at the memory of what happened next. "But Urameshi here couldn't wait on the count that it was life-or-death and Koenma was about to blow his pacifier off! SO URAMESHI HERE USED HIS REI-GUN ON THE POT!"
"And the worst part! His stupid aim was off and instead of cooking the rice, he instead tipped the pot over!"
"Now the kitchen's a wreck, the rice's on the floor and burnt and my sister's gonna blow a gasket! ALL. THANKS. TO. YOU!" Kuwabara ended with a fist up the slicked-haired punk's face.
"Well, at least Hiei cooked the rice through." Kurama smiled.
All was forgiven.
Author's Ramble: Thanks for seeing this bit of insanity through to the end madla! I swear that a more serious and less crazy-inducing story will be in the works and on the way soon. Until next time! Ja! Adorable redheads come to those who review!