Our Love is like a Rose
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho nor the characters therein. I also do not own "Lips of an Angel" by Hinder.
"Are you sure you have to go?" he asked.
"Yes, I need to train more and get stronger, Kurama; how else can I become a Makai Ruler?" Hiei said.
"We can train together, why do you have to go with her?" Kurama asked again, a hint of jealousy lying in his emerald eyes and disdain in his tone. He said the last word almost as a curse and half whining.
"Because she can provide the training I need, and you can't." Hiei responded rudely and bluntly, noting the jealousy and disdain from Kurama and replying in kind. This was hard enough as it was, and Hiei wasn't good at saying good-bye.
Kurama looked hurt as he turned away. They had been friends and teammates ever since they meant nearly one hundred years ago; as such they trained with each other (and secretly wanted to fight, just to see who would win). For Hiei to leave that partnership now seemed like a betrayal of all they were and all they had.
"Why do you want to be the Makai Ruler so badly?" Kurama asked him in a small voice after a long silence.
Hiei looked him straight in the eyes, "You know exactly why I want to—to be the most powerful demon in the Makai! You've known me long enough to understand that." He said sharply.
"And you think Koenma will let you do this?" Kurama asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't care if he won't." Hiei replied with his classic determination.
Kurama sighed. They had only one month after the Makai Tournament to be together, and now Hiei was leaving to train with Mukuro. Kurama sensed that it wasn't the only reason why he was leaving, no, there was a much deeper reason for this.
"Well then, all I have to say is good luck." The fox said as he stood up from sitting on the couch.
"Hn." was Hiei's reply, as usual. "I expect you want me to write to you." He added.
"Yes, I will give you a rose, and whenever that rose withers away, write to me. Then I'll send you another one, and so on, until you come back." Kurama told him.
"I might not come back, I might stay and rule with them, I don't know yet." Hiei answered.
"I will still give you a rose with every letter I send you, Hiei, so that you will always have me by your side." Kurama said, trying to blink back the tears. He knew what Hiei meant. This wasn't just good-bye for now, this was good-bye forever.
Hiei didn't know what else to say. No one had ever loved him like this, and he wasn't sure how to respond to that kind of affection. So he simply nodded his head, grabbed his stuff, and left.
Now the house was empty, and Kurama didn't know what to do as he watched the fire demon walk down the road and disappear.
Two weeks later…
Kurama walked down the driveway to his mailbox. 'Hopefully he's sent something by now.' he thought. He sent the rose as he promised the day Hiei left, but hasn't gotten a letter yet. He knew real roses didn't last more than one week off of their stems and out of the ground, so realized that the fire apparition should have sent a letter by now. 'Maybe he didn't get it,' he mused. 'No, I'm just being foolish thinking like that. I knew he wouldn't really write every time the rose I send dies.' He answered his own wonderings.
'It's like our love,' he said to himself bitterly. 'It's beautiful from the beginning, but it soon withers away.' A tear rolled down his cheek; there was nothing in the mailbox from Hiei, only bills. He walked slowly back to his house, looking back at the mailbox when he reached the front step. 'I should talk to Yukina.' He considered suddenly. 'Maybe she knows what's going on.'
He picked up the phone and dialed her number. No one picked up and the answering machine greeting explained that Yukina and Kuwabara were off on their honeymoon.
'Great, she probably doesn't even know. Figures, he wouldn't tell her anyway, he didn't even tell her he was her brother!' he reflected angrily. Yusuke and Keiko were on vacation with their baby, Botan and Koenma were too busy with trying to keep all of the demons in the Makai from destroying the world to listen to his sob story, much less having to worry about Hiei.
'Everyone has moved on except for me.' He mused again. Sighing, he looked at his backyard, a cold drink in his hand.
He didn't know what to do, he was a professor at the local college on Biology, and his mother had passed away a month before Hiei left him; although he was never one to mourn too much or get overwhelmed with grief—no, he was too calm and collected to be consumed with sadness.
"I'll check again tomorrow." He said out loud to himself, because he couldn't stand the silence any longer. He still couldn't accept that Hiei rejected him or would ignore him in his hunger for power; but he knew Hiei too well, he knew Hiei only cared about being strong and wouldn't waste time writing to him after waiting for a rose to die.
It stung, but it made sense; that's why he couldn't accept it. "It's not good to dwell on things you cannot change." His mother's last words to him reverberated in his mind.
He sighed again and went inside to watch television.
"Ready? Now!" Mukuro said as Hiei lunged at her. She dodged just in time and turned to him. "Very good. You're getting better at this, Hiei-kun." She told him.
"Hn."
They were training out in the woods by Mukuro's holdings. It's been two weeks since he left Kurama, and he had not dared to open the package with the rose the kitsune sent him.
He understood that Kurama must think he was cold and ruthless, always hungry for more power, but Hiei only knew this way of life because that was how he grew up. He didn't know what "love" and "affection" was or how to react to it or reciprocate it. Loyalty was the closest he ever came to those things.
"Oof!" he let out as Mukuro punched him in the gut.
"Pay attention!" she snapped at him.
He growled back and attacked her with a barrage of fire punches.
They continued working until it was dark and they were too exhausted to go on. "You did well today, Hiei, but you seem distracted. What's on your mind?" Mukuro asked him.
"Nothing." He lied.
She smirked, "Liar, I know you were thinking of Kurama, weren't you?" she asked, her eyes cold but her voice warm.
He shot her a glare and replied, "So what if I was?" daring her to make a big deal about it.
She shrugged. "I was just wondering." She responded and went into the kitchen to cook dinner. Before she went out of view she turned back to him and said, "You should write to him, that rose should be dead by now and he must be worried."
Hiei seemed surprised. 'How did she know?' he asked himself. He sighed and trudged into his room, where the box with the dead flower was, along with the letter Kurama had sent with it. Hiei hadn't even read the letter, so he decided to open it now and see what Kurama had said.
Dear Hiei,
Here's the first letter to you. How is the training going? Do you like it there, with Mukuro? I don't expect you to send me a letter right away, what with your busy schedule, but I hope you will send one before the rose dies. Well, tell me how you're doing, if you would like. I love you,
Kurama
"Hn." Hiei grunted. He took out some paper and a pen to begin writing.
Fox,
I'm supposedly doing well with Mukuro, but I'm still not strong enough to defeat her. I guess it's okay over here, and I have been busy with training. I'll send this back and wait for another letter.
Hiei
He re-read it and shrugged as he put it in an envelope. He walked to the mailbox and put it in to be sent to Kurama and threw away the dried up rose.
The next day…
Kurama walked to his mailbox and opened it to find a single letter. He smiled as he realized it was from Hiei and went inside to read it, chuckling that Hiei sounded so serious, even in writing.
He picked up his pen and started to write back.
My Dear Hiei,
It seems that things are going well, that's good. I'm glad to hear that you are getting better. I was starting to worry that you hadn't gotten the package I sent. Well, I hope that we can see each other soon.
Love,
Kurama
He smiled and chuckled as he re-read it and then stuck it in an envelope.
This day has gone well for him: the class did excellent in the work and seemed to enjoy his lecture, and then he gets the letter from Hiei. He continued smiling as he put the letter in his mailbox and flipped the flag up.
Honey why you calling me, so late?
It's kinda hard to talk right now.
Honey why you crying, is everything okay?
I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud.
Well, my girl's in the next room,
Sometimes I wish she was you,
I guess we never really moved on.
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name
It sounds so sweet!
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words it makes me weak!
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel.
It's funny that you're calling me tonight
And, yes, I've dreamt of you too.
And does he know you're talking to me?
Will it start a fight?
No I don't think she has a clue.
Well, my girl's in the next room,
Sometimes I wish she was you,
I guess we never really moved on.
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name
It sounds so sweet!
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words it makes me weak!
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel.
It's really good to hear your voice saying my name
It sounds so sweet!
Coming from the lips of an angel
Hearing those words it makes me weak!
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel.
And I never wanna say goodbye
But girl you make it hard to be faithful
With the lips of an angel.
Honey why you calling me so late?
-Author's Note: This is meant to be a one-shot. It's been sitting in my gigantic binder full of my fanfiction writings for years, it's kinda sad that I just now got it onto my computer…anyway, if you want more, it may have to wait, seeing as I'm loaded down with other stories at the moment. I wanted to get this up and added the song last minute since it came on while I was typing this up and seemed to fit. Please read and review, let me know what you think, if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to let me know. For some reason, I can't split up the song to show the verses and chorus properly, so I apologize. After all the songfics I've done, I just realized the document loader does this to songs...odd. And yes, I realize the characters are a bit OOC, and if you are not a HieixKurama yaoi fan…why did you even read this? If you weren't but now are after reading this, I'll give myself a pat on the back! Anyway, thanks for reading! Peace-