Chapter 2: Pondering and Another Day, Another Threat
When morning came, Hiei watched Kurama make a quick breakfast for both of them before leaving. This left the fire demon alone again for the day. It seemed that the days Kurama worked, he had off and vise versa. Walking into the living room, he sat down and began going over the past two weeks from the night that he'd came back, to staying in the apartment. He'd not seen the fox in two months and then the group had been called to go save him. After doing that and returning the chess piece, Kurama asked him if he wanted to come back to the apartment with him. But, when they got here, they didn't talk about much because the fox was tired and it was late. Kurama did say 'thank you' several times before going upstairs and taking a shower. He then came down with a blanket and pillow, saying 'goodnight' as he went back upstairs.
The following morning, Kurama was making a late breakfast because they had both slept in. Hiei was going to start talking, but Botan came by and interrupted, saying Kurama was being summoned to the Reikai. They agreed to meet in the park later, leaving Hiei to finish his breakfast alone.
By the time they talked in the park and Kurama told him everything Enma had said, the fire demon was confused, sad and upset. He had asked the red head. "What do you plan to do?" The replay shocked him.
"My life is not as complicated now that I am living on my own and working part time has helped a lot in giving me time for missions." Kurama said. "I still feel obligated to Yusuke for everything he has done and to Koenma for sparing me, but I will admit…my priorities have shifted and I have a partner to consider. I do not see anything changing just yet." With that, he placed a hand on Hiei's cheek, keeping eye contact. "If you know what I mean?" He smirked.
Hiei thought he knew what Kurama meant and tried to change the subject, but then needed to leave to check on Yukina. He told the fox he would meet him back at his place, giving him a quick kiss before leaving.
Now his thoughts were up to them being back in the apartment that night and the conversation they'd had. He flat out asked Kurama what he meant and the answer was as followed.
"Hiei, you know what I meant. My first priority is to be your partner, then we can start working on our friendship and maybe, after all of that, we can figure out what we mean to each other." Kurama leaned over and kissed the fire demon on the lips. "That is for the one you gave me earlier."
They talked some more about little things before it was time for bed. Kurama went upstairs leaving Hiei on the couch. Since he wasn't asked to come upstairs, he slept on the couch. And that's the way it has been off and on for the past two weeks. The only time Hiei didn't sleep on the couch was when he was sleeping outside in a tree at Genkai's temple or working the nightshift on patrol.
They would sit some evenings snuggling on the couch, watching TV, but nothing more ever happened. Kurama always seemed to be nervous and a bit scared. When asked, he would say "nothing is the matter". When pushed, he would just say that he was thinking about a deadline at work or something. Hiei sighed, 'something was still going on with the fox and he was going to find out come hell or high water.'
What Hiei didn't know was that Kurama was receiving messages from the Makai, making him very worried about the fire demon's life and the mistake, he thought, he had made.
a)a)a)a)
Kurama was just starting the walk to his car, after getting to leave early for finishing his work, and thought it would be a good day for him and Hiei to go to the park. He'd been thinking he should tell the fire demon about the messages, well, threats really. However you wanted to take them. They have been appearing almost every day he was at work for the past two weeks, starting the morning after Hiei had spent his second night. The red head knew Hiei would brush them off, saying 'Let him try', but Kurama wasn't so sure. Before anything could happen, he was willing to walk away like before. He would somehow make Hiei mad at him, get him to leave and go back to the Makai. It would break his heart, but if it saved the fire demon's life, then he was willing to do anything. Well almost anything, he was still not going to become Yomi's heir.
As Kurama got closer to the car, the familiar feeling was there again. It was the same one as before, that feeling of being watched. He could never sense their youki, but he could always smell them. A cloaked figure, not much taller than the red head, came from behind a tree and presented a 'spirit of words' sphere. This would be the sixth one in the past two weeks. The first time the red head had seen one was when he was being summoned back to the Makai to help Yomi a little over three years ago.
The sphere floated over to him and the figure disappeared, not even waiting for a reply. Kurama had tried to return a warning of his own several times, but was ignored, so he just stopped saying anything. He also thought about ignoring the spheres, but decided it would be wise to keep up on the threats, just to be ready for an attack, should one be announced.
Placing the sphere in the car, he started driving to the place where he viewed all the others. That place, under the subway bridge, where he had received the first one.
Making sure no one was following, he walked briskly to the familiar spot and broke the sphere, taking a seat on the nearby crate. The image of Yomi formed out of the mist and he began listening as the Lord spoke the same old message, again.
"Hello Kurama, I hope I'm not disturbing you too much with these things…I do wish you would just come back. We could talk about things in a more comfortable setting."
But then this message changed. "Well, I won't bore you anymore, with my hopes and wishes. I'll get to the point, for what you have done to me and the fact that you are not going to follow my wishes." He smiled. "Your little forbidden lover is going to suffer. He's been staying at your place, correct? Now I know you're thinking you have taken care of all my spies. I'll admit…I didn't think your human form had it in him to just kill without cause, but then how has that 'higher degree of discipline' been going in controlling Youko?" Yomi mused as he smirked, trying to push Youko's buttons. Thank Inari that it was a one way showing because Kurama's eyes had turned gold and his hair had silver streaks in it, not to mention his nails had become longer while gripping the crate.
"Come and see me Kurama, or even better, why don't you Youko? If you do…I promise not to hurt the fire demon bastard, well…not too much." Yomi finished with a salute before disappearing.
"Damn him to hell." Kurama and Youko muttered as one. Yomi knew that statement would push Youko to the surface. He was mad at the demon Lord, but more at himself for letting it happen. 'Okay, I need to talk to Hiei and see if I can get him to go back to the Makai.' By the time he made it back to his car, he realized it wasn't too late to go to the park.
End Chapter 2
