Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Yu Yu Hakusho, nor any related characters or merchandise, and I make no profit from the writing or distribution of this work of fiction.
"Birthdays may come and go, but friends are forever."
Hiei – barely – refrains from snorting in disgust as Kurama reads the greeting card aloud, smiling good-naturedly as the others tease the fox-demon about his many admirers, giving loud and raucous guesses about just which one this particular piece of drivel has come from. This sentimental nature regarding birthdays is just another expression of human naïveté, and yet here he is – dragged to Kurama's birthday party at the hands of one overenthusiastic ferry girl.
Birthdays in the Makai are a very different affair – days to celebrate another year without being trapped, maimed, captured, murdered. Gifts are rarely given – friendship is yet another distinctly human value – and on the rare occasions a demon does receive a gift (and does not simply go out and steal several for themselves), it is generally discarded unopened. For birthdays, as days to celebrate survival, are also very common days for attempted assassinations - it's a little known fact that most demons like irony. Gifts are not to be trusted, because no one in the Makai is to be trusted.
So Hiei watches the proceedings with narrowed eyes, denying the confusion he feels. He watches as Kurama accepts the small, brightly-wrapped packages without hesitation, opens them without a second thought, all with a gentle smile on his face and a laugh in his eyes. And when the cake – frosted white, topped with fresh fruit and burning candles – appears and the fox-demon amiably takes the first bite with no regard whatsoever to the countless hideous poisons that might be contained within, Hiei can stand no more. This whole situation is just wrong, and he turns abruptly on one heel and makes his exit.
Or, he tries, only to be pulled up short by the voice of none other than the ferrygirl responsible for his presence here.
"Hiei, you can't leave yet! What about your gift to Kurama? It is his birthday, after all."
Hiei is just trying to pick one of the innumerable scathing retorts that flash through his mind – he's not even here of his own free will, this isn't even Kurama's original birthday, on and on they go, round and round, and how is he supposed to decide? – when the fox-demon makes the choice unnecessary.
"He's already given it to me, Botan," Kurama says softly, and Hiei turns, carefully not letting his confusion show on his face. He's given Kurama nothing, and the fox-demon knows it. Unless he's just trying to get Hiei off the hook – but then, what does he want in return? Kurama rarely does anything for free…
He meets the fox-demon's gaze, then, and a brief understanding passes between them, not meant for anyone else in the room. Hiei supposes he shouldn't be surprised – Kurama's always been clever with words; double meanings often run rampant in his speech.
"Before the party, you mean?" Botan persists, and Hiei rolls his eyes, prompting a thin smile from Kurama, quickly hidden behind one delicate hand.
"Something like that," the fox-demon murmurs, and that – apparently – is enough, because no one makes any further attempts to stop Hiei from leaving.
He beats a hasty retreat, disappearing into the comfort of the trees, though he moves mostly on instinct, a greater portion of his mind occupied with that strange look from Kurama, the genuinely amused smile behind a slender hand – so different from the false appearance he presents to the rest of the world.
Friends, he thinks contemptuously. The thought is quickly followed by another:
This is all Kurama's fault.