A Modest Proposal

He needed something to do on those long, quiet nights in the human world, and it seemed like a better idea than nothing at all.

He'd quibbled on it, at first. There was the obvious deterrent of having to sneak into Kurama's room, and though he did it often enough when the fox was gone, doing it while Kurama was actually IN said room put another level of anxiety on top of the whole idea. Hiei did not often let those anxieties get to him, but the thought of proposing his idea to Kurama was enough to send him into a spiral of thought that he didn't want to travel down. What if he said no? What if he laughed? Did he know that Hiei would steal into his bedroom while he was away, sneaking around like a common burglar?

He thought on that a while. He was fairly certain that Kurama DID know, from not too long after the first urge took hold. The quiet, not-quite-questioning glances, and what he thought were mislaid words that very subtly made their way into conversations were proof enough for him. It was all very likely that Kurama was waiting for him to ask, and that he kept the window unlocked for a reason.

Time to stop thinking, and start doing.

Hiei knew the way to Kurama's home like he knew the back of his hand, in any situation he would be able to get there easily, and the place had quickly and inexplicably become his truest refuge in this deplorable world. The branches outside Kurama's window were especially sturdy and reached all the way to the windowpane, stopping right below the sill for easy accessibility. He paused midway across the branch, and thought this time it might just be better to knock.

He rapped his knuckles twice on the glass, and heard the muffled "come in" from within. He pushed open the window and slid in, resting his sword on the windowpane and kicking off his boots.

Kurama, who had been sitting at his desk, turned around and smiled at Hiei, a look of welcome and faked surprise on his face.
"This is an early night for you, Hiei. Is something wrong?" His voice was far too innocent, and Hiei knew that Kurama had guessed his intent.

"No." he answered, keeping his eyes level and his voice steady. "I came to ask a favor of you." There, get it out in the open right away. Kurama wouldn't appreciate him dragging it out, and Hiei didn't want the headache of trying to navigate a labyrinth of words.

"You have but to ask, of course." Kurama said. His smile had grown wider, and his eyebrows lifted slightly. Oh, he knew all right. And the mean bastard was making Hiei come out and ask for it.

Hiei cleared his throat, and astutely kept himself from avoiding Kurama's gaze.

"I wish to peruse your library." he said finally. "There are several books you have that I can't easily access by myself. If you require payment, you only need to say what sort and I will provide." say anything about it, you smug bastard, and I'll run you through and steal them all. He thought savagely. Kurama's smile transformed into a triumphant, but not unkind grin.

Kurama had known about Hiei's unusual -and presumably uncharacteristic- love for literature, and had gone out of his way to procure first-editions and rare copies of books he knew the little fire demon would like, and had gone as far as purchasing signed copies of inaccessible books specifically for Hiei's use. There was no true reasoning behind it, merely that Hiei's hobby was a great source of amusement for him, and Hiei would be far more fun to discuss literature with than Kaito.

"Hiei, you're the only demon I know who willingly reads Voltaire. That in itself is payment enough." He lifted the book he had been studying for Hiei to see, and tossed it to him. "As long as you don't dog-ear the pages, you can read any of my books you want."

Hiei grinned back, setting the book next to his sword and crossing his arms.
"Even the ones under your bed?" he asked airily, tilting his head. He'd carefully kept from mentioning Kurama's stash of trashy pulp detective novels earlier, because he knew that Kurama would be thoroughly embarrassed at having a collection of low-brow books when the rest of his library was so refined.

"If you mention those to anyone, I'll see to it that your prison in hell will be filled to brimming with self-help books, you nosy bastard." Kurama said, a glare painting his grin dark. "Now take what you want and get the hell out of here before I change my mind."

Hiei did, and gallantly refused to mention that Kurama had begun to blush.

Okay, yes, I'm a nerd, and I like the thought of book-geek Hiei. But really, he has to have something to keep him going insane from boredom, and Rose Thorne already did computer geek!Hiei, so I didn't want to take that idea. Plus, Hiei reading Voltaire strikes me as ironic and funny. Yes, this concept will be present in Immortal, consider it the very first Immortal side-fic.
/nerd.