A/N So, this takes place about two and a half years after the end of the series. I was listening to Elton John's Can You Feel the Love Tonight while writing this. This story was also inspired by Alexisminamino's wonderful story Restless. I also stole one of Hiei's lines from an idea Blossomwitch had about Yusuke being Kurama and Hiei's parole officer. I thought it was funny. Hope you don't mind.
Flitting from tree to tree, he appeared to all the world a black blur across the darkening sky. He sought out his destination with a single minded determination, yet absently so, having trod the same path countless times over the years. Whenever he was in the Human Realm, his feet automatically took him there without hesitation.
Having arrived at his destination, he paused a moment on the tallest branch of the Sakura tree outside, gazing into the dark and quite empty bedroom of his ex-partner in crime. With his acute senses, he scanned the house and found it devoid of any energy signals, much less the unique violet energy that announced Kurama's presence. Puzzled, Hiei came to rest on the windowsill, wondering why this house was abandoned. That's when he saw it. A small corner of paper was sticking out of the closed window. Reaching for it, Hiei tugged it out of its hiding place and unfolded it. It was a note written in familiar handwriting and with an even more familiar energy signal enveloping it. Sighing, Hiei began to read:
Hiei,
If you're reading this then I've moved into my new apartment before I had the chance to tell you in person. Forgive the inconvenience, this is the new address…
Hiei memorized the address that followed. He was more than familiar with this human city, having been confined here several years ago after the Dark Tournament, and he knew, more or less, where this apartment complex was located. Stuffing the note in his pocket, he set off once again into the night. It only took about ten minutes to reach the fairly high class apartment building where the demon turned human currently resided. Climbing the very conspicuous tree that Hiei had no doubt had not been there until a certain fox had taken up residence, Hiei peered into the correct window, prepared to knock, but the sight inside stopped him.
Kurama's bedroom light remained on though the fox himself was sound asleep. His head rested atop an open binder, pen still clutched loosely in his limp hand. Books and papers lay scattered around him on the desk, and he still wore the business suit he must have worn to work that day. Sighing, Hiei opened the window, which he was pleased to note was unlocked as always, and stepped inside. If he hadn't seen Kurama lying there, he would still be sure that the apartment belonged to him. His slightly floral scent permeated the air, thick and heady, tasting of roses and death. The room itself was Spartan as was the style Kurama preferred. A bed was resting in the corner, plain and unassuming. A small nightstand stood forlornly beside it, almost empty save for two framed photographs atop it. Hiei was unsurprised to find that one featured a smiling Shiori with Kurama's hands on her shoulders. They both looked so happy in the time long before Kurama started hunting demons recreationally with the Spirit Detective. The other photo, Hiei was surprised to find, was a picture of both he and Kurama. Hiei sat reclining against a small dividing wall with Kurama leaning up against it beside him. They both had small smiles on their faces, relaxing in a rare moment of peace, at home in each other's company. Hiei remembered that airhead ferry girl snapping this picture, and Hiei also remembered threatening her with pain and death if she did not destroy it. Somehow, it had ended up in the hands of the fox, however. Hiei snorted, moving to take a blanket off the bed and draping it over his sleeping friend who reposed on the only other piece of furniture within the room.
Content to wait until Kurama awoke, Hiei reclined on the overly large windowsill, dimly wondering if Kurama had chosen this particular room with this particular accommodation in mind. Pulling out his katana, he began to clean it quietly, a common practice he underwent while visiting his friend.
He didn't have to wait long. Within the hour, Kurama shifted in his sleep and blearily began to blink his eyes open. Stretching his gracefully long limbs languidly, he looked curiously down at the blanket that had slipped off him. Turning toward the window, his face lit up, and he cracked a lazy smile.
"If you didn't even sense my presence, you certainly have let yourself go," Hiei muttered disdainfully, looking up from his sword into his companions jade orbs, now twinkling with a mischievous glint.
"I missed you too, Hiei," Kurama replied playfully, swiveling his office chair to study him. It had been about two years since he last saw his wayward friend. In those years, he hadn't changed much. He grew a few inches, but he remained largely the same as ever. Same crimson irises lit from behind by the same blazing fire, same spiked raven hair accented by a white starburst, and the same penchant for the color black.
"If I had been an enemy, you wouldn't be so smug right now…" Hiei retorted resentfully, returning to the task of cleaning his blade, "…because you'd be dead."
"Give me some credit, Hiei. My subconscious still recognizes you as an ally. I assure you that had you been a threat, you would have been met with a highly alert and highly deadly, if slightly drowsy demon," he placated, grinning at his prickly friend.
"Hn," came the reply as Hiei studied his reflection in the sword, pleased that it was cleaned to his liking.
"So, how are things with the border patrol?" Kurama inquired, hoping to add fuel to the conversation, all the while knowing Hiei was content to remain in a companionable silence.
"A never ending flood of foolish humans stubble into Demon World every day…" Hiei gripped, sheathing his katana with a snap.
"I trust no more mishaps with their memories have occurred. We all had a particularly good laugh at the caricature of you on the center page of that newspaper a few years ago," Kurama chuckled lightly, earning a glare from the overly sensitive demon.
"Remind me why I haven't killed you yet," Hiei demanded unamused.
"Oh, come now, Hiei. We both know your idle threats are just that. I'm only teasing; no need to take offense…" he soothed calmly, even as the laughter had not yet died from his face.
"Hn," Hiei grunted, turning to look out the window.
"I trust Mukuro is well…" Kurama asked lightly with an undertone of suggestion in his voice.
Whether Hiei hadn't heard it or simply ignored it, Kurama could not say, but he replied as if he had, "Damn woman is a hard-ass. Orders me around, mocks me, and in the next breath, tries to take my head off!" he groused, his usually cranky self through and through.
"Sounds as if you have your hands full, my friend. You have my sympathy. Love can, indeed, be an ordeal," Kurama simpered in his best wistful voice.
He whipped his head around to stare at his friend with wide eyes, indignation written all over his face.
"What. The hell. Are. You. Talking. About.?" He whispered dangerously, biting off each word.
"Hmm," Kurama mused, all doe eyed and innocent, "Are the two of you not currently involved?"
"Involved in what?" Hiei barked, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"In a relationship, of course," Kurama explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"What in the name of King Enma gave you that ridiculous idea?" he yelled.
"Am I wrong?" Kurama quipped, raising a graceful eyebrow, "You and she seem to be quite close, and you live together, correct?"
"We do not share a room, nor do we interact in anything less than a professional manner. She is my employer and I am her…" Hiei seemed to struggle for the correct word to describe what exactly he was to her.
"Lover?" Kurama whispered almost inaudibly.
"What was that?" Hiei bellowed viciously.
"Subordinate?" Kurama supplied helpfully.
"I will have you know, Kurama, that I am no one's subordinate," he spat the word as if it tasted bad in his mouth.
"My mistake. So am I to infer from your overly defensive attitude toward this subject, that you and Mukuro are not a couple?"
"Yes, you can," Hiei hissed with the air of someone explaining something very simple to someone very obtuse.
"Such a shame, " Kurama sighed, coming to sit at the edge of his bed, closer to his friend, "Everyone deserves to be loved, and the two of you made such a cute couple. If you don't mind my prying, why, pray tell, did this match made in heaven not occur?"
"And why the hell should I tell you?" Hiei asked contemptuously, obviously still irritated over the relentless hassling.
"Because, whether you choose to admit it or not, I am your closest friend, and if you can't tell me, who can you tell?"
Clearly torn between saying he didn't have to tell anyone and actually answering the question, Hiei paused for a moment to peer at his companion. What he had said was true enough. He had known Kurama longer than anyone and felt closer to him than anyone else he'd ever met, and Kurama gazed at him with honest curiosity with no hint of any ulterior motives. So, he sighed and proceeded to grudgingly answer the question.
"She and I are fit to fight one another, nothing more. I may one day come to consider her a friend, but that would be the extent of our relationship. I respect her as a warrior as she does me, and we are stunningly similar in our pasts. As it were, the both of us are too tortured to give any of ourselves to the other. We are both too damaged to be able to complete one another. Like we are both broken pieces of a different puzzle, we need someone who is whole for us to truly be happy. We're both too quick to anger and too ready to act on our impulses. We don't balance each other, don't complement each other. We're too much alike. In short, we are just not compatible," he finished with a shrug.
Kurama lied back on the bed, absorbing this information. Then his curiosity resurfaced, "What kind of person would you be compatible with?"
Hiei considered this question thoughtfully before he slowly responded, "Well, they would have to be strong and intelligent. Someone I trust enough to watch my back and not stab me in it. They'd have to be understanding and caring since I'm neither. They'd have to be comfortable in silence, and know me very well. They would have to be calm and in control, but they would also have to able to take the back seat to me if need be. I'd need someone who can test me physically and mentally and someone who can hold their own against me on the battlefield. Someone I'd strive to protect though they have to be able to protect themself. Someone I can find solace with. Someone who knows my secrets but would rather die than betray them. A person who knows about my past, but doesn't care that I'm the forbidden child of the Koorime. Someone warm and inviting…full of life and affection…"
Kurama sat up suddenly at the end of his speech after he had absorbed his words, cheeks flushed slightly and eyes wide, speaking softly, "Hiei, do you realize that you just described me perfectly?"
Hiei wouldn't meet his eyes as he continued. Obviously the thought had already occurred to him."It's pitiful, but the truth…"
"No, I don't think it is. I agree with you; we have chemistry, but I don't think it can be pursued…" he said quietly and…dejectedly?
"Is there nothing I can say or do to convince you to come home?" he asked, meeting Kurama's eyes at last, barely hiding the longing behind his own eyes, and correctly guessing the reason behind his reticence.
"You can say you're willing to wait a couple of decades…"
Hiei stared at his companion in awe. He had expected the same reaction he had gotten years ago when he had asked this question. He had expected Kurama to stand by his decision to live out a normal human life with his normal human family.
"You'd really come back?"
"After my human mother dies and I've had my fill of working with my step father, Kakoda will inherit the company, and I won't be needed anymore. There'd be no more reason for me to linger here…in fact I've been missing a sense of adventure in my life…" he said grinning impishly.
"Well, I certainly could use the distraction. Maybe we could go back to the way it was, King of Thieves. We could rob Spirit World blind," he replied, smirking evilly in a characteristic show of mischievous excitement.
"Hiei, you're a bad influence on me. We'd only get in trouble. Then Spirit World would come after us, and I doubt the next Spirit Detective will be as forgiving as Yusuke," Kurama teased.
"Feh, I don't need another parole officer," he answered, "Though to be honest, the only reason we were caught last time is because you gave yourself up and then proceeded to help take me in, too. You were never apprehended before…unless of course you've gotten rusty, or perhaps you were never as good as the legends would have us believe…" Hiei baited, waiting to see if it would prove a powerful enough lure for the wily spirit fox.
"I'll have you know in addition to being able to pick any lock and break any seal, I have never been caught unless it is what I wished, and I would be more than happy to prove that to you when the time comes," Kurama insisted haughtily. Ah, hook, line, and sinker.
"I'll hold you to that," Hiei promised, his smirk turning into a genuine smile of anticipation.
"It won't be long…and until then you always have Mukuro to keep you company," he couldn't resist the jibe and snickered silently to himself.
Deciding that a change of subject was necessary, he asked, "Are you planning on fighting in this year's tournament?"
Kurama thought for a moment. In truth, he had forgotten that the tournament date was arriving so soon. With the new merger occurring at work, he had little time to focus on anything else.
"Yes, I do think that it will prove a welcome distraction, and I would enjoy seeing everyone once again," Kurama mused, nodding.
"Well, if I were you, I'd find some time to train beforehand. You nearly die every time you enter a ring, and the competition will be particularly fierce this year. Yomi's been bragging insistently about all the progress his twerp's been making, and if Mukuro's recent punches are any indication she, too, has improved."
"Is that an offer?" Kurama asked candidly, eyebrows raised.
"If you're willing to pry yourself away from that pointless human job of yours then yes, it is."
"Let's not forget who won our last little skirmish. Now tell me, who should be training who?" Kurama taunted.
"Please, our fight was a draw. We had ceased our attacks when I collapsed. Furthermore, you were not the one to injure me, so there's no use bragging."
He laughed softly none the less, "Well, how about next week. I'll take some vacation time. Where shall we do it? Genkai's temple? Yukina is still living there, did you know?"
Ignoring the mentioning of his sister, for he had already stopped there before arriving here, he shook his head, "No, we'll train in the Demon World. That way you can get used to the surroundings. And don't even think about using that trick with the Oukuninju stalks this time. The committee decided that fighting on a giant plant gave certain combatants an unfair advantage. If memory serves, that advantage was the only reason you survived…" Hiei let his sentence trail off, certain he had made his point.
"If memory serves, I was the only one that actually won my second round match. I think I should be training you…"
"Alright, fox, here's my offer. When you arrive in Demon World in exactly one week, you will meet me in the forest outside of Mukuro's fortress. We'll fight one another, and whoever wins will submit to the training of the other. No matter what that training entails…"
"I accept your challenge."
"Good, I'll see you in a week…" Hiei concluded, sliding his sheathed sword back into his belt loop and moving to leave.
"Leaving so soon? You can stay the night, if you like," Kurama stated to Hiei the open invitation that was always left unspoken between them.
Hiei shook his head as he opened the window, "No, I shouldn't really be here at all. I don't have a leave of absence."
"Well, take care, and give Mukuro my best," was his soft reply with a wicked wink.
Turning back to look over his shoulder, one foot on the window ledge, Hiei called, "Happy Birthday."
He was rewarded with one of Kurama's rare unguarded smiles. It was dazzling and unshielded, full to the brim with genuine joy. Dashing into the night, he carried that image with him and the thought of seeing it again in a week's time.
"Thank you, Hiei," Kurama breathed into the night, "You've given me the greatest birthday present of all.