Premis, all demons have cat ears when they're born, and you're an adult when you loose them. Idea quirked by Loveless, but only the idea of it, not the show/manga itself. Pictures of Yusuke with cat ears helped this idea spark.
Takes place after the Sensui arc.
Kurama hummed a light tune as he pulled a comb through Yusuke's long demon hair, which was as wild and unruly as Yusuke's personality. He had a pair of sharp scissors in his dominate hand and he was gathering Yusuke's long mane into a pony tail before he clipped off the bulk of the work he had ahead of him.
"This isn't going to happen every time I happen to turn into a demon, is it?" Yusuke asked as he saw Kurama toss the mass of hair into a plastic bag Kurama had set beside him in Yusuke's kitchen. Yusuke sat on a stool, feet pulled up on the highest pegs so he could rest his arms on his knees. He was shirtless, and kept making sure all of his tattoos were gone. They had been when he woke up that morning. He hadn't even changed since coming back since the first thing he did was sleep for 14 hours straight.
"Perhaps it was because of the 'possession' incident." Kurama suggested and started combing out the tangles so he could get in clean, even cuts, working from the back of the neck up. "If your body had too much energy that it could handle, the rest of it had to go somewhere. I think you're quite lucky that you only grew a few feet of hair." Yusuke grunted and reached back, itching the seat of his pants.
"Kurama, I think you missed a bunch," Yusuke commented, finding it awkward to sit, as he had since he woke up, like some of the hair was still caught in the pants. Kurama inspected his back briefly but saw no strands of hair past Yusuke's shoulders.
"I believe I got it all in one snip." Kurama said, "Now hold still, I don't want to end up cutting off an ear." Yusuke rolled his eyes but stayed as still as possible, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of something fuzzy next to his ass and thigh.
"Make it quick, I'm tired of feeling like I have a pillow on my head." Yusuke huffed and Kurama chuckled softly, combing the top of Yusuke's head now.
"All in good time, Yusuke." Kurama said with his endless patience and Yusuke winced as he felt the comb dug into something fleshy.
"Ow, watch it, my ear." Yusuke complained and Kurama paused, because he was no where near Yusuke's ear.
"I didn't touch your ear." Kurama said and Yusuke frowned.
"Bullshit, you combed right over it." Yusuke said loudly.
"I didn't, I combed right here." Kurama's fingers rested on Yusuke's head, slightly to the left and he blinked, feeling something fleshy, but not Yusuke's regular human ear. It was soft and warm and... not human.
"Oh my god..." Kurama whispered, then got closer, inspecting between Yusuke's still long hair, making sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
"What? What is it?" Yusuke asked, feeling weird as Kurama was touching something he wasn't used to be there being on his head.
"It's... this is..." Kurama stepped back, "what ever you do, don't move Yusuke." Kurama said quickly and stepped towards the living room, towards the front door. Yusuke looked around, not sure what was happening, but it was scarring him the way Kurama was acting.
"Kurama, what the fuck." Yusuke reached up to touch but Kurama shook his finger at him from the kitchen archway.
"Don't move, I'm going to get Hiei." He ordered and Yusuke froze, not knowing if something was wrong or what, so he stayed put, a little scared. It didn't take long for Kurama to get Hiei and soon the fire demon had joined them in the kitchen and he stood on the table to get a good look at Yusuke's situation. Hiei couldn't help but chuckle, which pissed Yusuke off because he STILL didn't know what the fuck was going on.
"Looks like someone still has their ears." Hiei commented dryly, but with a smirk on his face.
"Well yeah, I'd hope so," Yusuke snapped, "I like to hear stuff." Hiei abruptly grabbed what was in Yusuke's hair and Yusuke jerked, punching Hiei in the face, or at least he tried to, Hiei had dodged the moment before impact.
"That fucking hurt!" He said and blinked away tears that had formed from the sudden pulling pain, but it wasn't the sensation of hair, "The fuck..." His hands reached up and he gingerly touched something soft and sore. He checked for symmetry with the other hand and found the same thing on the other side of his head. It was soft, and flesh-like but furry... He jumped up and ran to the bathroom.
Once inside he looked into the mirror. He ignored the half finished hair cut and inspected thoroughly, pulling away hair to find something with a little less hair length to it. It was black and triangular and folded against his head. He stood for a moment, staring. Then, in a daze, he lifted it from his head with a finger and it felt real. It felt attached. He flicked the new appendage back and forth with a finger, his face slowly reddening with panic and his whole face followed, slowly starting to freak out. Those were... cat ears.
And then the thing in his pants twitched again and Yusuke jumped and then unzipped his pants, reaching in to pull out what he thought before to be the most annoying strand of loose hair in the world but no, what came out was a 3 foot long tail and Yusuke broke at that point, yelling loudly, "I'm turning into a cat!"
"Kurama!" He yelled and ran back into the kitchen, still having a death grip on the furry tail, which was attached at his spine, "I have a fucking tail!" He looked to the fox demon for answered, "Why do I have a fucking tail! And EARS!" He released his grip on his tail to tug at his new cat ears, which he regretted immediately, "Ow! Those aren't supposed to fucking be there!" Kurama winced a little at the yelling and Hiei still was smirking because he thought this was priceless.
"Well..." Kurama tried to think of the best way to put it, "All demons are born with ears because they are children. Ah, when you become an adult is when you loose your ears." Kurama couldn't contain an awkward chuckle, not in jest, but trying to relieve some of the tension that was in his friend.
"And how do I get rid of these things?" Yusuke demanded, his ears showing his irate mood by folding back on his head, his tail poofed up. Kurama covered his mouth with his fingers to show at least a little decency, but Hiei didn't, chuckling loudly. "Spill it!"
"It means you're still a virgin." Hiei said simply and Yusuke stared at them both blankly for a moment.
"I... Wait..." Yusuke was so confused, anger diminished mostly and instead there was a distinct annoyance. Kurama cleared his throat.
"Let me finish your hair cut and I'll explain." he said and patted the stool seat, "Just don't jerk around or I really may cut your ear off." Yusuke was tempted to say fuck the hair cut but the long hair REALLY bothered the fuck out of him so he sat down and folded his arms, tail flicking back and forth. Yusuke felt more hair fall and he tried to stop his ears from flicking, but they kept flicking at all the movement around them. He heard Hiei snicker once or twice and Yusuke wanted to kick his ass, but he didn't want Kurama to miss with the blades.
Once his hair was cut back to it's original length, Kurama started speaking, "Demons only have those ears when they have yet to be intimate with another."
"Seriously?" Yusuke asked, "What the hell? I've seen demons with ears and tails before."
"Yes, but they have their adult ears and tails." Kurama explained, grabbing the broom to sweep up the fallen hair, "Your current set are for children. They're soft and, well... cute." Kurama was met with a glare and the ears showed that they were in attack mode.
"I'm not cute." He said warningly and Kurama held up a defensive dust pan and broom.
"You're not cute." Kurama agreed, wanting to ease the angry Mazoku's temper, "If it helps, Yoko had them too." Yusuke paused, thinking a moment.
"Did you ever have them?" He asked and Kurama shook his head.
"Well no." He said, "This is a human body, no demon extremities to speak of."
"That's not true." Hiei told him, looking at Kurama with a frown, "When you drank that formula from the clown you had the ears." Kurama blinked and flushed lightly, not wanting to mention that moment because demon energy had started flooding his life again, overriding the human vessel.
"I... I forgot about that." He said and Hiei's frown deepened.
"I find it hard that you could forget your first time." Hiei said and Yusuke witnessed Kurama's face was an interesting red.
"I didn't exactly want to tell him that, Hiei." Kurama said and Hiei blinked, not sure why Kurama didn't want to tell Yusuke about it.
"So... Hiei, you had ears?" Yusuke asked, Changing the subject. Hiei shrugged.
"I lost them somewhere long before I met you." Hiei said aloofly then smirked again, "So you've never done anything with that human girl." Yusuke's face flushed.
"No!" He shouted, "I'm not with friggen Keiko, and I've never done anything with her. We're just friends! God!"
"Then you're still a child in demon terms." Hiei said.
"Seriously!" Yusuke asked, "That's stupid!"
"It's nothing to really worry about." Kurama said, "You're almost 15, so it is normal for you to still be a virgin."
"Oh right, that's why you got rid of yours." Yusuke glared at him, very bitter at the moment, "What. Did you sleep with some random demon to get rid of them?" Kurama frowned, because Yusuke was now getting insulting.
"I didn't do it because of anything vain like my looks." Kurama said, "I couldn't have the ears if I was going to fight Karasu. I knew he would use it against me in the fight." Yusuke still frowned deeply, thinking for a moment before his ears lifted inquiringly.
"Who'd you bone?" He asked and Kurama held his head in his hand.
"Yusuke, that is very inappro-"
"Me." Hiei spoke up, though he didn't look all that smug or humorous anymore and he was frowning at Kurama. "So you said all those things just to get rid of your ears." Kurama paused.
"I... Hiei, it wasn't just about the ears." Kurama said quietly.
"I'm sure it wasn't," Hiei huffed, "I'm sure it was just a strategy to beat Karasu." Hiei made a swift exit and Kurama looked strained.
"Hiei, I meant what I said!" Kurama yelled after him and started to follow Hiei out the door at a run, not wanting there to be miss-communication.
"Wait, Kurama!" Yusuke yelled but Kurama couldn't stop, or he'd lose track of the fire demon.
"I'm sorry, Yusuke. Good luck!" He said and shut the door behind him. Yusuke blinked and his tail drifted side to side curiously.
"Good luck with what?" He asked and sighed, deciding he may as well take a shower to get off all the loose hair. And with luck maybe the ears and tail would wash away too.
Nyaa... Almost done writing this fic. Perhaps posting the first few chapters will wrap it up.