Reluctant
By: Demon Usagi
Standard Disclaimers Apply
Author's note: Let me say that I am honored to make this Gift Fic for the one, the only, Ryukotsusei, who is my fellow YxH shipper/author. We decided we're sick of Yusuke getting the short end of the stick in fanfiction. Kurama's gotten the long end too damn long. So this fic is for the Yusuke fans.
Warnings: Some spoilers for the end of the manga, which is indeed different from the anime.
- - - - - -
"What is this?" Hiei asked, pulling the brown material out of a cardboard box that had been shoved in the farthest, darkest corner of the closet. He'd never seen anything like it. Well, he'd seen texture like it. But only on people's heads, never in a cardboard box in the corner of a closet.
The Toushin blushed and grabbed the material out of the fire demon's hands, tossing it back into the box. After that, he kicked the box back into that dark end of the closet again.
"How am I supposed to help you clean this shit hole if you keep throwing things around? It's not my problem; I'll just leave, you know."
Yusuke growled at that, and threw another box in Hiei's direction. "Unpack that one."
"But now you've got me curious about the other box," Hiei prodded, reaching for the box again.
"Ah, stop it!" the exDetective protested, wrestling with his long time comrade. The two pulled on the fragile box until the aged cardboard tore and the box fell apart. The contents spilled out onto the floor, reveling a turquoise-green skirt and top as well as that brown material again.
"Is this... a skirt?" Hiei asked, pulling the article up off the floor as if to examen it. The question wasn't asked out of naivety, however. He knew what a skirt was. He also knew it was human females who wore them. "Why do you have this?"
"It's nothing!" Yusuke growled, angry at the situation. It had to be Hiei to discover this box, didn't it? Reaching over, he ripped the skirt out of the shorter man's hands. "Really!"
"You are a kinky guy, Yusuke," Hiei smirked as he held up the brown material, now knowing what it was. "I had no idea you were into this kind of shit."
"I-I'm not! It's not what it looks like!" Yusuke defended as he folded the skirt with great haste, throwing it on the remains of the box. Looking up, he almost had a heart attack when he saw Hiei figuring out the workings of the brunette wig.
"I knew you were good at a lot of things, Detective, but I would have never guessed cross dressing was one of them."
"I don't cross dress!" Yusuke defended, the blush now staining his cheeks ruby red.
"Well, what with this little secret kit you keep trying to hide," Hiei started, walking over to the crouching detective so he could hover over the man and plant the brunette wig over the short, ungelled raven hair, "I'm finding it difficult to believe. It looks good on you, though."
"You're an ass!" Yusuke shouted, standing up and ripping the wig off immediately before the image of him in it could soak into his friend's head.
"Well, I'm hearing a lot of denial but not a lot of explanation. Can you see the dilemma here?"
"Will you hear me out and believe me, or ignore my explanation and continue to assume that I dress in drag?" Yusuke growled, leveling a glare at the fire demon who was now sitting on the edge of the Toushin's bed.
"I'm listening."
Yusuke sighed before starting, "Okay. There was this 'mystery' at Keiko's school not too long ago, and she wanted me to... uh, investigate. Long story short, I couldn't get passed the front gates of an All Girls' School looking like a teenage boy. So this," Yusuke pointed to the uniform in the box, "was Keiko's solution."
"Really?" Hiei contemplated.
"Really! It's the truth!"
"So you're telling me that you dressed in this little get-up to get into an All Girls' School?" Hiei repeated, both fine eyebrows raised as he questioned the man in front of him.
"Yes!"
"Sound like cross dressing to me."
"Ugh! It wasn't for fun or anything! It was for the greater good!" Yusuke continued to protest. Why him? Why did he always get the short end of the stick?
"It's just funny 'cause it's you," Hiei replied to ease Yusuke's fears. "I mean, if I saw this in Kurama's closet, it'd wouldn't have surprised me at all."
Yusuke looked up to meet his friend's gaze. "Dude, that's cold."
"Do I look like an especially friendly guy?"
"Obviously not! If you were, you would have dropped this conversation a long damn time ago!"
"But I'm not, so the conversation continues." was the curt retort, and the exDetective bit his lip to stop from swearing.
"Geez, I wish Kuwabara wasn't busy today so he could help me get my stuff unpacked," Yusuke pouted, trying to take a stab at getting the hiyoukai back. No such luck.
"Please, if you think I'm giving you a hard time, then you obviously have no idea the mocking you'd suffer through if Kuwabara found this box," Hiei almost snorted, now standing up and grabbing the box Yusuke had shoved at him earlier to unpack. "Besides, you should be thanking me for my generosity. I didn't have to help you take your Ningenkai things to your Makai palace."
"Well, it would have been the nice thing to do. You were in Ningenkai anyway to visit Yukina. It was on the way and everything!" Yusuke growled, throwing the uniform into a new empty box.
"If you really never planned on wearing that again, why are you letting it take up box space? ...actually, why did you bring it here at all?" Hiei prodded, enjoying the obvious torment he was causing his rival. It was Yusuke's own fault for owning the outfit anyway. After all, you'd never see anything remotely like that in his closet. Leave it to the demon with the three eyes to be the normal one of the group.
"It cost money!" Yusuke defended, wondering himself why he was keeping the school uniform. It did seem kinky, and kind of creepy, to still hold onto the thing. "And who knows, maybe I can convince some hot demoness to prance around in it. Talk about hot."
"I'm sure your human female would enjoy hearing that remark." Hiei rolled his eyes as he threw some random items he found in one of the almost-empty boxes into a drawer in the Toushin's room. Hiei had to admit, Yusuke had it pretty good in Demon World. His chambers were huge in Raizen's former palace. The place didn't look the same as it did when the white haired demon ruled, though. Hokushin and the other monks of Raizen's territory had cleaned the place up quite a bit the seven or so years Yusuke had lived in the Human World. The economy was doing pretty good in that general area, too. It was overall a pretty great place to live, and Yusuke had seemed enthusiastic to move back.
"Oh, what would she care?" Yusuke asked, snorting a bit. "She broke up with me two years ago. I doubt any relationship I have now will mean much to her."
"You terminated your ties with her for good?" Hiei couldn't believe it. If he had heard that back when they were on a team, he would have eaten his ward. The two's relationship seemed to have held up pretty good even after Yusuke had left for the Makai dispute for two, almost three, years. 'Not that I kept tabs or anything...' Hiei mentally added.
"Well, what can I say? We dated solidly for five years with no marriage in sight. When it hit her that she wouldn't get any kids that way, she decided to break it off."
"And you let her?" Hiei asked, his interest peaked.
"Nosy today, aren't you?" Yusuke stuck out his tongue, wondering if he wanted to spoil his good mood by talking about Keiko.
"If you don't talk, you'll be unpacking your female clothes by yourself." Hiei added dully, a small smirk on his features.
"I don't have any more girl clothes! Drop it!"
"So you'll continue then?" Hiei asked with an almost innocent look. Almost.
"Fine!" Yusuke grumbled, that former good mood dissipating. "She wanted to settle down and have a family, but... I kinda liked not being tied down by that kind of traditional, boring life... I didn't want to have kids. I liked doing what I want, when I want. So when she threatened that I should get serious or get out, I got out. And that was that."
"But you fought so hard to get back to her." Hiei added, looking at some of Yusuke's other clothes that he had packed. The shirt he was currently holding was short sleeved and torn, obviously meant for sparring. He decided he might throw it in the Detective's face later and make him give him a work out after making him do chores all day.
"Well, it was cool for a while. But c'mon. When you have demon blood in ya, human days go by so slow. Even you can understand that, can't you? I mean, even Keiko had to admit that I seemed more myself, more alive when I was fighting. It's just me, you know?"
"I suppose." Hiei dodged, even though he knew quite well.
"Let's drop this. I don't feel like thinking about Keiko right now." Yusuke sighed, throwing some junk he found into the top dresser drawer by his bed. "I mean, it's like talking about Kurama in front of you, I assume."
"About Kurama?" Hiei cocked an eyebrow and turned towards the exDetective. "Hardly. Yusuke, we've fucked... maybe four times. Ever. That hardly counts as a relationship."
"Are you serious?" Yusuke asked, genuinely curious. "You two always seemed to get along so well, though! Why didn't you ever... you know... get serious?"
"I didn't like his face enough to get serious with him." Hiei stated bluntly, tossing Yusuke a mocking look.
"No, seriously! Why not?" Yusuke asked. Hell, if Hiei could prod him, then he could prod Hiei.
"I was being honest. I didn't like him or his sex enough to get serious with him. It happens."
"You didn't like his sex?" Yusuke's mouth nearly dropped open. "But he's Kurama! The dude's been alive hundreds of years, and he's handsome! There's no way a guy like that doesn't have experience under his belt."
"Well, if you like him that much, then you date him." Hiei nearly groaned, done unpacking his fifth box for the evening. It looked like there were two more to go and then they were done. Hiei supposed deep down he was thankful the Detective didn't have much crap.
"Ew, no way. Come on, Kurama's pretty and all, but he's not my type." Yusuke evaded, sitting on his bed. "Ugh, I need a smoke."
"Unpack the last two boxes and you might find some," Hiei none-too-nicely urged.
"Ass, I'm getting to it." Yusuke growled. "But it's break time."
"The hell it is." Hiei grouched, jumping on the bed and pushing Yusuke off. "As soon as this is done, I am out of here. So move."
"Well, if I have to work then I don't want to be bored doing it," Yusuke added as he unpacked the last two boxes singlehandedly, his friend not really in the mood to get up from his spot on the bed. "So tell me, why wasn't the sex good again?"
"You're pretty fascinated with this, aren't you?" Hiei dodged, leveling an unamused look at his partner.
"Yes I am. So answer the damn question," Yusuke retorted, grabbing the smaller of the two boxes and dumping the whole thing onto the floor in front of him. He sat Indian-style on the ground as he sorted this from that into little piles, deciding where each thing should go as he did so.
"It was just annoying. What more is there to say? Every time he wanted to do it, he'd just tackle me somewhere and would be like, "let's do it" or something creepy like that. Like, I let him get away with it once so he decided he could jump me whenever he pleased. I hated it. He just figured if he was horny, he was getting some. So, that's when I was like fuck you and ditched. Knocked that cocky bastard off his high horse..."
"Geez, I know where he went wrong." Yusuke stated, as if all was clear now.
"Oh, do you?" was the sarcastic reply.
"Yes. It seems our foxy friend was missing one very important element to proper love making," Yusuke continued in a surprisingly serious manner.
"Really? And what, pray tell, was that?" Hiei asked, rolling his eyes as he did so. Yusuke just shrugged as he stood up, handful of pens and other small objects in his hands. Casually, he walked to the dresser and threw the items into the middle drawer, then closed it. Turning around, he gave no warning as he pushed the hiyoukai onto his back on the bed, then fiercely claimed the hybrid's lips.
"!!" Hiei had thoughts of shoving the man off him and onto his ass, but decided against it as a tongue made it's way into his mouth. Clutching the sheets below him with tight fists, the dark haired demon managed to creak open his eyes when he felt the kiss break and Yusuke stare down at him, half serious half amused.
"The art of surprise."
"What?"
"Surprise. It's a great tactic for getting some action without killing the mood."
Hiei's eyes just widened at that; he was right. He was an idiot, but he was right. It was certainly something Kurama should have tried. Maybe if the fox hadn't been so pushy, things could have been different. But unfortunately for the redhead, he didn't. For that, the apparition was partially glad because it seemed there were some other possibilities being presented to him. Better possibilities.
"I should cut off your tongue for that one. So you're a cross dresser and a pervert? Wow." Hiei growled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
"I may be a pervert, but if you call me a cross dresser one more time I swear I will cut out your tongue."
Hiei then decided to sit up, struggling only slightly to push the Toushin off him a little bit. The human hearted demon had other plans, however, and pushed the shorter demon back down. Hiei blinked at him with slight, barely acknowledgeable surprise at being man-handled.
"You said you didn't like Kurama enough to get serious with him..." Yusuke mumbled, grabbing both of Hiei's wrists with one hand and pushing them above his head. The apparition really made no move to protest the action, so the Toushin continued, "...but what about me?"
"What would you do if I told you 'no' right now?" Hiei asked with a small smirk, the scent of the man on top of him's arousal becoming more and more apparent.
"I dunno really. Probably cry, or something." was the humorous response, Yusuke cracking a grin at his own answer.
"Hmm, the heir of Raizen crying. I don't think I've ever seen that before." Hiei retorted, freeing one of his wrists so he could pretend to tap at his chin like he was contemplating the idea.
"Heh, all right." Yusuke returned, letting go of the remaining wrist he held as he straightened up to get off of his long time partner. Hiei sat up as the dark haired man got off him and returned to unpacking the last box. The hybrid just stared in amazement. Had it been Kurama, he wouldn't have stopped just like that if he saw Hiei's slight hesitation. This was a new turn of events. It appeared, when it came to fucking, Yusuke actually respected him. After the not-relationship he had with Kurama, this was almost a turn on.
"Get back here. I didn't say no." Hiei shouted. Yusuke whipped his head around at that so he could make eye contact with the crimson orbs of his partner.
"What?"
"You heard me. Get back here, we aren't done yet."
"B-but you..." Yusuke mumbled out, wide eyed.
"It was a joke, ass. But whatever. If you like having pent up sexual tension, who am I to help you relieve it?"
"Eh?" Yusuke couldn't believe he was actually hearing this. Hiei, the evil, mind-game playing Hiei, was letting him screw him? Wow. He didn't plan on getting that far.
"Don't 'eh' me." Hiei snorted as the Toushin got back on top of him.
"Are you sure it's...okay?" Yusuke asked, wanting to go for it but feeling a little awkward after the conversation that just transpired. I mean, if he didn't like Kurama, how was he supposed to believe that he'd like him?
"Wasn't it you who said that asking ruins the mood? Just shut up, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." Hiei replied bluntly.
"But... do you want to?"
'Asking my permission, too? Wow, cross that off the list of things Yusuke does that Kurama doesn't. I like this respect in bed thing.' Hiei mentally added as he wrapped his arms around Yusuke's neck. He hoped Yusuke's feeble mind would register that as his answer.
- - - - - - -
"Hiei!" the redhead said with slight surprise as he saw the aloof apparition lounging in a tree in the park that was near Kurama's apartment. The dark haired demon opened his eyes and looked down at the fox demon turned (basically) human as if he was just waking, though really he had sensed Kurama's energy approaching long before the fox's body made a physical appearance.
"Hn," the apparition mumbled in response, closing his eyes once more.
"I've haven't sensed your ki around in a long time," Kurama commented to his counterpart. "I guess it's safe to assume you've resorted to Makai full time then?"
"I check on Yukina every once in awhile, but since she married the oaf she seems fairly content and safe. I think I'm running out of reasons to come back here."
"Reasons or excuses?" Kurama pried, a small smirk forming on his handsome features. "Because we could always make an excuse."
"No, I think I'll pass," was the easy retort from the serene demon as one of his black-clad legs dangled over the tree branch.
"Mm?" Kurama blinked, his slight surprise evident. He thought the hiyoukai would jump at the chance for a little action since they hadn't done so in a long while. Not that the fox was hurting for partners or anything, considering how social he was in the Ningenkai. But still, Hiei was a pretty awesome lover to say the least. Sleeping with him wasn't a privilege everyone got.
"I'm pretty satisfied back home. Besides, I like not having to come back here so much."
Kurama just gave one of his small smiles, now realizing his offer had been dismissed. The shorter demon always did make it clear that the Human World was bland and wretched to stay in for more than a few days. "Are you leaving soon then?"
"Now, actually," replied his comrade as the fire youkai jumped down from the tree. Hiei took a few steps in the opposite direction; Kurama remembered that down that way there was a convenient and concealed portal to the Makai most humans wouldn't recognize even if they did manage to find it.
"I shall see you on your next trip down here then," Kurama said with a polite grin. "If you see Yusuke there, give him my regards."
"I'll bring Yusuke with me next time," Hiei added, slowing his pace a little.
"Oh? You see him often then?" Kurama asked. Raizen and Mukuro's territory were so far apart after all.
"Every night."
"...pardon?"
Hiei turned around and gave the emerald eyed fox some final eye contact. "You know, when we fuck."
Kurama's eye size tripled, to say the least. "..."
"Yeah, I know. Intense stuff. Anyways, I'll tell him you say hi."
As the demon disappeared in a blur of black, his usual exit, Kurama shook his head with a small laugh. It figured as much. Yusuke was good at everything he did, and Hiei always did have a soft spot for the man. 'Of course, before he was always reluctant to admit it... Ah, well.'
With that final, not-so-much comforting thought, Kurama headed back towards his apartment.
- - - - - - -
End
Author's note: I am so awesome when it comes to writing things that have no plot whatsoever. XD I had no idea where this was going to go when I started typing. I just typed and this was the result. I have to say, it's been a long time since Kurama has even been in any of my fanfiction. He's very much unloved in this fic. XD That doesn't happen to the redhead a lot in fandom, but allow me to take up any slack. This is for Yusuke always losing in the KurxHixYu love triangles! AGH! What do you think of that? Hm? Yes. -cough- Maybe if I feel up to it, I'll make a more ...plot-filled fic regarding the three, but for now this is just a little revenge for the Yusuke fans. Mwa ha ha.