Author's Notes: Ahaha… my first slash fanfic! xD So please be kind to me. This is rated a T for language and make-out, and is by far and away the most hardcore romance I've written to date. Not that it's got much competition. xD;; I love the Hiei/Kurama pairing and I've read enough of it by now to write my own which hopefully won't be too bad.
This is the first in a series of ficlets – one, two or possibly three-part short stories – with the Hiei/Kurama pairing. Each will be a different genre, and I couldn't help but start with my native genre, fantasy. The idea came easily enough, but the words… not so much. At times it felt like I was forcing it out, so I apologise if it shows in the writing. It's also adverb central – I need to get out of that habit! Anyway, please let me know how I did and what I can do to improve.
I wouldn't say Kurama is OOC in this, so much as he is his human self in appearance but more Youko-like in personality. You'll see what I mean. Yes, he is the 'dominant' one in this story, but it'll be Hiei's turn next. Overall they will both have an equal shot at being dominant and at being submissive, so if you have a particular preference, do not despair! Personally, I think either is awesome ;3
I owe a lot of my inspiration for this fic to CrimsonFox's excellent (and HOT) one-shot 'Captured' over on the adult version of this site. It's part of a series of short fics, like this, entitled 'Writer's Block'. If you look it up (and I highly recommend it) that's the title you need to look out for.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho; if I did, you can guarantee that Hiei and Kurama would be a canon couple, and moreover the rating of the show would be a lot higher due to all the time they spent doing dirty things to one another. ;D Alas, this is not so, and so I resort to fanfiction. By the way, if anyone knows any good Hiei/Kurama doujinshi (fan comics) that are in English, please refer me!
Genres, a Hiei/Kurama fic series
Genre 1: Fantasy
"YUKINA!" Hiei shouted at the top of his voice. Even so, he had the distinct impression he was wasting his breath as the sound was immediately swallowed up by the dense forest surrounding him. It didn't stop him from calling again. "YUKIN-A!"
Still no response from his twin sister; nor had there been for the entire time he'd been searching in this god-forsaken enchanted forest. Hiei swore that once he got them both out of here, he would kill the stupid crone that sent his sister in here to gather magical herbs. Yukina had entered the forest at the first light of dawn, laughing off her brother's concerns and telling him to go and help Seiku, the swordsmith Hiei was apprenticed to, just as Yukina was apprenticed to the village healer, Kimiko. As the sun began to set and Yukina didn't return for supper, Hiei began to panic and went to look for her, cursing himself for not having accompanied her in the first place.
Hiei only went to work under Seiku every day to please his sister. She considered it important that they curry favour with the villagers who very grudgingly bore their presence, and learn a marketable trade. As far as Hiei was concerned, they owed nothing to the gossiping morons who shunned them for being the bastard offspring of a woman who'd died in childbirth, a double bad omen; and his fighting skills were marketable enough to earn a living from. Together with a bit of thieving, Hiei was convinced he would be able to support them, but Yukina wouldn't hear of it. It was easier for her, as the sweet-tempered and beautiful girl child, to be accepted in the village, and Hiei couldn't bring himself to ruin that for her any more than he already had with his reputation for stubbornness and getting into fights. Now he vowed that if he didn't get his sister out of here unharmed, he would burn down every single stupid hut as payback, starting with Kimiko's.
"YUKINA!" Hiei fought his way through a few more feet of vegetation and called a third time. He also had a reputation for silence in the village, speaking rarely to anyone apart from his sister. But here it was much more important that he find Yukina; besides, there was no one around to hear him.
The guardian of the forest looked down in amusement at the latest human who had dared to enter his domain in spite of all the stories. He'd ensnared a pretty one this time. He coaxed the branch of the tree he was standing on to grow further, permitting him to follow his prey deeper into the forest whilst its leaves obscured him from view.
Not much later, Hiei growled in frustration as he found himself thoroughly entangled in a veritable wall of vines and creepers. He tried to reach his sword, but his arms were bound up tightly. What were these doing here, anyway? They didn't look like they belonged in a forest. And why had they – made – it – their – mission – to – trap – him… right, that was it. Hiei stopped attempting to punch his way out of the vegetation and instead fell very still. He hadn't wanted to do to this, but the damn plants had given him no choice.
A pair of eyes the exact colour of the vines Hiei was struggling against watched him in amusement. Didn't the human realise that the harder he fought, the tighter the plants would grip him? It would require patience and a clear head to work his way out of this. As the human fell still, it seemed that he'd come to the same conclusion – until the guardian caught sight of a flame flickering at his fingertips. The guardian's eyes widened and he almost fell out of the tree in shock. A fire adept! Those were rare indeed. It had been at least a century since one had wandered into his forest, and that one had met with a very nasty end. He had to squash the urge to do the same to this one, quickly, before the human burned down his entire domain. It would be a perfectly reasonable act of self-preservation, given that any damage to the forest would be felt as pain by himself, and if the forest were to burn down, he would of course die as well. Still, he resisted. There were other ways to deal with a potential threat besides killing it. He felt a strong pull towards this little fire adept, an attraction of opposites… or maybe he just had a masochistic streak.
No sooner had Hiei focused his energy into a flame which floated at the tips of his fingers than the vines abruptly let him go. In surprise, if plants had been capable of feeling surprise. Hiei staggered forward a step or two before regaining his balance and whirling back around with a triumphant smirk. "About time, too. Couldn't stand the heat, could you?" he muttered to the nearest vine, holding the flame close and watching it cringe away from the heat. Half of his mind wondered at the absurdity of what he was doing, but the other half was fully convinced that these plants could somehow understand him. "Now, help me find my sister or I swear to God I'll burn you and your friends to the ground," Hiei threatened. And just like that, the plants retreated and left a clear path through their midst. Hiei smirked again and let the flame flicker out. "Good choice. Keep it up."
The deep, rough voice with which the fire adept threatened the plants blocking his way sent shivers down his pursuer's spine. He would have that voice for himself, oh yes he would. He would make it moan… With his mind the guardian coaxed the plants to part in front of Hiei, and watched in satisfaction as the fire adept walked unsuspectingly towards his lair.
In the exact centre of the forest were a dozen trees that grew naturally in a perfect circle. Well, naturally depending on how you looked at it. They were induced to grow in that way, yes, but by the guardian of the forest, who was as natural a part of the forest as the trees, and as inseparable from it. Those who labelled the forest 'unnatural' or 'supernatural' – which was almost everyone – didn't know what they were talking about. It was just a different kind of nature than their minds were used to comprehending.
Before too long the fire adept had reached the circle and stopped short, staring at it warily. Come on… the guardian coaxed from his perch just above and behind his quarry. Just step inside the circle, there's a good little adept. Your curiosity compels you to.
"Yukina?" Hiei called yet again, doubtfully. The circle of trees looked suspiciously like a cage, and gave rise to the niggling worry that something might be keeping his sister in here. He couldn't see her in there, but the undergrowth was thick, and there was every chance that she could be lying concealed in it, injured – or worse. Hiei steeled himself and stepped inside the circle. He wasn't afraid of anything in this forest. As he'd already proven, his was the superior element.
Suddenly the light inside the clearing, such as it was, grew much dimmer, and Hiei whirled around to see a thatch of creepers growing with impossible speed between the trees, linking them together, forming a wall around him. They were waiting for me to step inside, he realised, and it didn't even seem like an absurd idea any more.
"NO!" Hiei yelled and drew his sword. He ran to the nearest section of creepers and began hacking at it in desperation. But as fast as his sword cut through the plants, more grew in their place, until he wasn't sure that his attempts to break free weren't making the wall thicker. Fine. Hiei sheathed his sword and summoned a flame at the tips of his fingers, like before. But in a complete reversal of the way things had gone earlier, and to Hiei's utter shock, a vine reached out from the wall, grabbed his arm roughly and held it out to the side. Several more promptly wrapped themselves around the limb, immobilising it, and did the same to his other arm before he could even think of summoning another flame. Hiei glared at the plants which undulated tauntingly in front of him, still growing. He tried to pull his arms away, but as usual the plants only tightened their grip. Well, no matter. I have other tricks I can use to get out of this.
Hiei concentrated, focusing more energy this time, and around a larger area. After a few minutes his right hand began to smoke, although without causing him any pain, and then abruptly burst into flame. Predictably, the plants shrank away from the fireball on the end of his arm, and soon Hiei was able to free his other arm as well. He staggered backwards into the middle of the clearing, extinguishing the fireball, which took a lot of energy to sustain for a low-level adept like him who'd never had a formal teacher. Before he could try to mount another attack on the living cage, roots – belonging to one of the trees? – grew up from the undergrowth and wrapped around his ankles.
"No!" he shouted again. He took a step backwards, and was surprised that his restraints allowed him to do so. The roots simply grew the extra distance. He took another cautious step back, and then another – then suddenly the roots snapped taut and Hiei fell backwards onto his rear. Another root instantly grew out of the ground, snaking its way across his waist and preventing him from rising. They were expecting that, too. How can I be so fucking predictable? Hiei seethed. He was pissed off enough by now to blow up the entire fucking forest, if only he were powerful enough.
At the edge of his peripheral vision Hiei saw someone drop lightly down onto the forest floor, as if they had been watching him from somewhere above this whole time. He'd been too busy fighting the plants to notice whether or not he was alone in the clearing. Wait, the plants – is this who's been controlling them? Hiei tensed as the figure walked in front of him. From his semi-reclined position on the ground, Hiei stared up at a tall, slim redhead with wide, grass-green eyes. He looked beautiful and delicate, but Hiei could tell that the feminine exterior hid considerable strength.
"What have we here?" he purred. "A little fire adept for me to play with." He moved, quickly and fluidly, so that he was positioned over Hiei with his arms either side of the fire adept's head. Hiei couldn't help but be impressed by the grace with which he moved. He couldn't let that distract him, though; this guy had probably imprisoned his sister in the same way that he had Hiei.
"Who are you?" Hiei spat. "What have you done with my sister?"
The redhead tilted his head to one side, rose-coloured strands trailing over his shoulder. "Is this the Yukina you keep shouting for?" he inquired. "I can honestly say that I don't know where she is. And I usually know everything that goes on in my forest." He frowned faintly.
"Liar-" began Hiei, before the other man's words registered in his brain. "Your forest?"
"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself," said the redhead. "How rude of me. My name is Youko Kurama."
For a second, Hiei stared, and then threw back his head so that it hit the forest floor and laughed loudly. "Nice try," he said, once he'd sobered. "Now who are you really?"
His captor seemed amused. He smiled wryly and lowered his body closer to Hiei, their faces inches apart. "You don't believe me?"
A shiver, no, a shudder ran down Hiei's spine. Of course he was shuddering. This guy was creepy and he was obviously delusional. "You're telling me that you're the guy this forest is named after, the one from all the old wives' tales? Pull the other one. I didn't believe those even when I was a little kid."
"You must have seen what I can do with my plants." To emphasise his point, one green tendril raised itself from the undergrowth and trailed down Hiei's cheek. Hiei shiver-shuddered again.
"So you're some kind of adept. An earth adept, clearly. That doesn't make you ruler of the forest."
"Earth adepts can't control plants," the redhead pointed out, and Hiei knew he was right. He just didn't want to believe that the legends he'd scoffed at all these years were actually true.
"Fine," he said. "If you really are him, you'll know where my sister is. She came into the forest this morning and I haven't seen her since."
"Oh, this morning," said Kurama. "Why didn't you say so?" Hiei ground his teeth together. "Yes, I may know where she is – but the information will cost you." He smirked down at his captured prey.
"Cost me what?" Hiei demanded.
"Well, that depends… What would you be willing to do in exchange for it?" Before Hiei could answer, a pair of warm, soft lips was pressed against his. Kurama's hair fell like a curtain around them, and Hiei was enveloped in the scent of… roses? But there are no roses in the forest, he thought, dazedly. Suddenly he realised that he should be doing something about this, stopping it, so he arched his body up to try and throw Kurama off him. His arms had been pinned to the ground without him even noticing it.
But far from getting rid of Kurama, Hiei's movement only encouraged him further. He pressed his body against Hiei's, practically grinding their hips together, and his tongue swept across the entrance to Hiei's mouth. Hiei meant to keep his mouth firmly shut, he really did, but the sudden hip-contact took him by surprise and his lips parted slightly – enough for Kurama to slide his tongue between them. Hiei tried to fight him off somehow with his own tongue – he had no idea, really, what he was doing – but Kurama only tangled their tongues together in a way that made Hiei groan aloud and arch up against him without even meaning to. The new sensations were making his head spin. As an outsider in his own village, he'd never… done things with the village girls like the other boys of his age. There had been girls who'd sought after him, the silent and mysterious 'bad' boy that their parents always warned them away from, but Hiei had been too busy looking after his sister – and keeping the village boys away from her – to pay them any attention. Now here he was, doing these things with a man… well, Hiei supposed he wasn't quite human anyway. Besides, he was hardly concerned with what other people would think of him by now: his reputation couldn't get much worse. Hiei quite fancied doing something that would outrage his fellow villagers, if they ever found out. And if he did what this guy wanted, he would tell him where Yukina went.
With those excuses, Hiei gave up fighting and kissed back as well as he knew how.
Had his mouth been free, Kurama would have smirked in triumph. The little fire adept had put up a good enough fight, but now he was ready to play. And he hadn't even thought to use his powers against Kurama. It was a pity that Kurama's hands were occupied in pinning him down… carefully, he took one hand away from Hiei's wrist, ready to catch it again if Hiei tried to fight him off. Hiei didn't even seem to notice his newfound freedom. Kurama removed his other hand; this also went unnoticed. Pleased, Kurama wasted no time in sliding the hand beneath Hiei's threadbare shirt and exploring the contours of his muscled chest. Hiei moaned into the kiss and raised his freed hands only to fist them in Kurama's hair. Now Hiei was the one imprisoning him. Kurama chuckled at the irony as he broke away from the kiss.
"What is your name, little fire adept?" he asked. He didn't have any worries that reminding the adept of his powers would prompt him to use them; one look at his glazed expression showed that his mind was occupied with other things.
"Hi- Hiei," Hiei managed, his voice sounding somehow even lower than before, as if the kiss had done something to his vocal chords. He gasped in air that he hadn't even realised he was lacking. Fires… need oxygen… to burn… I'm burning… Hiei's thoughts were disjointed and random, but one thing that Kurama had said managed to penetrate the fog of lust that had settled over his senses. "And I'm not… little." He did his best to glare up at Kurama.
"Hiei…" Kurama murmured. "No, I have no doubt that you are not… little." He trailed his hand lower, down over Hiei's stomach, then hooked his fingertips just under the waistband of Hiei's trousers. Hiei's breath caught as a thrill of fear accompanied by a wave of lust swept through him. Kurama grinned wickedly and tugged the waistband down a little, exposing the sharp angles of Hiei's hipbones. "You look underfed," he muttered with a note of concern in his voice that was completely lost to Hiei. "You must be hungry," he continued seductively, dipping his head and kissing the bare flesh. Hiei gave a full-body shiver and moaned his approval. Kurama pulled the waistband still lower…
"Hiei!"
The shout was like a dash of cold water to the face. Hiei jerked upright with so much force that he snapped the vines holding him in place. Kurama only barely avoided being hit by rolling to one side with all his speed and agility. He was very, very angry indeed.
"Yuk- Yukina," gasped Hiei, rapidly returning to his senses and remembering why he'd been doing what he was doing in the first place. "Yukina!" He stumbled to his feet, but was restrained by a hand on his arm. Hiei looked down to see Kurama crouching next to him, tense and angry, his face shadowed by messy strands of red hair which concealed everything except his eyes, glowing green and catlike with the promise of… a minute ago, Hiei would have said pleasure, but now pain seemed more likely.
"Let go of me," Hiei ordered him. "I have to go to my sister." As if to prove his point, he heard her call his name again; closer this time. "You have no more leverage over me."
"I believe we have some unfinished business," Kurama replied, his voice low and deadly.
Hiei paused for a long moment. He couldn't deny that he'd been enjoying what they'd been doing, and part of him was annoyed at Yukina for interrupting it… but he couldn't admit it to himself either.
"Let go," he repeated finally, and concentrated his energy around his arm in the same way that he'd done to create the fireball. His arm glowed red-hot, and Kurama drew his hand back instantly with a hiss of pain, cradling his blistering skin. Hiei stared at him for two more seconds before darting away across the clearing; the creepers retreated to let him through.
"Yukina!" Hiei spotted her immediately, her bright blue-green hair like a beacon in the shadowy forest. He ran over.
"Hiei, oh thank goodness!" exclaimed Yukina. "Brother, I'm so sorry… I was gathering herbs, but then I found a rabbit which was hurt and so I walked to the next village to find a doctor for it, and got talking to the people there – they are so friendly! I ate supper with them and then a kind young man gave me a ride back on his horse, and that's when I found out from swordsmith Seiku that you'd gone looking for me…" She took his hands in hers, and noticed the red marks around his wrists where Kurama had been gripping them. "What's this? Brother, are you hurt? Your hair is a mess… have you been fighting?"
Hiei silently thanked the gods for his sister's naïveté. "Just some vines," he replied shortly. "Who is this young man who gave you a lift?" He tugged on her arm and they began to walk in the direction of the village, or so Hiei hoped.
"His name is Kazuma, and he's ever so strong and kind. He says the silliest things! He called me the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. He says our hearts are bound together." Yukina giggled and blushed. "He wanted to come in here with me but as soon as he set foot in the forest he got these horrible tingles and was ever so scared. I think he's a spiritual adept. So he's waiting for me at the edge of the forest."
This Kazuma sounded like a class A moron, thought Hiei irritably. If he'd been around the man wouldn't have dared to come within ten feet of his sister. But he was here now, and he could protect her.
Kurama quickly healed his skin after Hiei left and straightened up, sweeping his hair back behind his ears. He was still displeased… but he had a feeling that the fire adept's curiosity would get the better of him before too long. He would most certainly be back, and next time Kurama would not let him get away again so easily.
Author's Notes: Dun dun duuuun… scary Kurama! xD Sorry for the crappy ending… for the crappy everything in fact. I'm finishing this at ten to one in the morning the night before I leave for a week-long camping holiday with my best friend, and I wanted to post this in order to hopefully come back to some reviews. ^^ (Hint, hint!) I've already started writing the next story in the series (cyberpunk) which will be a lot longer and have a lot more plot. 8D Hopefully I can finish at least the first part while I'm away at camp, then come back and post it. So expect an update in… one or two weeks?
