Title: "Loving Fear"
Author: Youko-sama
Category: angst/general
Rating: R, for language, violence, and abuse; also for shounen-ai and related innuendoes.
Notes: Pairings—Youko Kurama/Shuuichi Minamino; for any Japanese words I use, they will be in italics. Please see the bottom of the page for the definitions. Whenever "Kurama" is mentioned, it's his youkai form. Shuuichi is his human form, respectively.
Disclaimer: Youko-sama does not own any rights to Yu Yu Hakusho. All rights and related characters are copyrighted to their respective owners.
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Chapter 2: "Itterasshai"
When Shuuichi woke up, the television was still turned on, but he was alone. Groggily, he pushed himself up and sat for a minute or so, staring blankly.
His red locks of hair were a mess, tangled hopelessly. He ran a hand through a section to gauge the damage, only to have to stop halfway as pain shot throughout his head.
Suddenly, he remembered that it was still a school-day, so he glanced at his watch.
His heart sunk: he had only thirty minutes until he left for school; it usually took him an hour on a normal day.
This is not good ... coursed repeatedly inside his mind.
He practically vaulted himself off of the couch as he ran towards his room, almost tripping over his own feet from rounding a corner too sharply, and almost tipping the couch over as he used it for a balance.
Kurama was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Seeing all this happen out of his peripheral vision, the youkai glanced up, an eyebrow raised, but shrugged it off. He resumed his current task.
Once in his room, Shuuichi stripped off his clothes as fast as he possibly could, tossing them aside. He threw open his closet doors and snatched out a fresh uniform, putting it on almost instantly.
He checked his watch again: twenty-three minutes left. He groaned. Why him?
Frantically, the red-head ran back out of his room and continued down the hall to the bathroom. There, he brushed his teeth and started to try to comb his hair. Key word in this sentence? Try.
It was utterly painful, trying to comb out his hair in its present state. When Kurama called him out of the bathroom to eat, he took the comb with him, struggling with it the entire way.
"Start out at the bottom," Kurama advised as he set the table.
Shuuichi looked at Kurama strangely as he sat down, tugging the comb inch by inch through a lock of hair.
Kurama glanced up and met the gaze of a confused human.
"Your hair," he clarified. "Start out at the bottom and work your way to the top." He added silently: "That goes with anything in this world..." He cleared his throat and refocused his gaze on the plates he was serving. "It's less painful that way and would give your scalp a hell of a break." The youkai sat down.
Shuuichi pulled out the comb and looked it over before setting it aside.
"Itadakimasu," they said in unison before picking up their chopsticks and gathering their food onto their plate.
Shuuichi ate unusually fast, sparking some curiosity within Kurama, but the youkai said nothing about it.
A quick "gochisou-sama deshita" was said, while dishes were gathered and taken to the sink.
The red-head was just about to turn on the water when Kurama interrupted him:
"Shuuichi," he started, gathering his own dishes as well, "you can leave the plates there; I'll do them later."
The younger one paused, unsure, but accepted the offer with a hesitant nod. He walked back to the table to try his luck at taming his hair once more. On the way back to the table, he passed Kurama taking his own things to the sink.
However, instead of washing them himself, the youkai returned to the table and sat down, watching his human-counterpart tackle the task of effectively combing out his hair. He smiled, Shuuichi obviously not getting anywhere.
"Here," Kurama said, reaching across the table to grab Shuuichi's hand, "let me do it. You're clearly not good at this."
Feeling the youkai's touch sent a sharp chill of fear up the red-head's spine, but he ignored it.
"All right," he agreed, handing the comb to Kurama. He stood up and walked the two steps to get around the table and sat down again in front of the silver-haired youkai.
He checked his watch again. Eleven minutes; he had time.
Kurama reached a hand forward, resting it on Shuuichi's face. This action gained a shudder; the kitsune smirked. He stroked his hand back across his captive's cheek, gathering a lock of hair in the process.
The youkai turned out to be very skilled in this task, surprising Shuuichi momentarily. But that was only briefly.
After all, Shuuichi thought, he is hundreds of years old. He's had plenty of practice to brush his hair.
Kurama worked swiftly, but was very gentle. And whether he meant to or not, the fox demon had successfully managed to make the human blush furiously.
This happened for a couple of reasons: not only did it seem that the youkai purposely went out of his way to make an ordinary task feel erotic, but his sudden offer to help confused the shit out of Shuuichi's nerves.
With a few minutes to spare, Kurama had completely untangled Shuuichi's crimson hair.
Shuuichi ran a hand through his hair to test it out; it slicked through with ease. He was instantly grateful to Kurama for offering his services, and actually pulling through in the end. He wasn't comparing this to Youko's past help, but to volunteered help in general. His classmates, for example, were utter disappointments...most of them, at least.
The red-head was just about to stand up and offer his thanks to his demon counterpart, when Kurama reached forward and embraced the teen. A delicately clawed hand outstretched and traced the contour of Shuuichi's face, while the youkai pressed up against Shuuichi's back.
Wrapping an arm around the red-head's shoulders, Kurama grasped a lock of crimson hair and toyed with it in his fingers.
"What beautiful hair you have," he whispered in Shuuichi's hair, before releasing his embrace and standing up to go wash the dishes.
For the second time or so--he was starting to lose count--Kurama had completely confused Shuuichi's mind. At times, the youkai would seem so, caring, while at other times...
He shook the thought out of his head. No matter how Kurama was acting, he told himself, he still had to act with caution. He was starting to learn what and what not to do, but sometimes, Kurama would completely shatter his theories with a surprise reaction to something.
Ever since they separated, he became a completely different person whenever he was angry, but would usually revert back to the one Shuuichi knew personally soon after. It scared him. It seriously scared him.
Even getting up in the middle of the night because he was restless triggered the dark half of Kurama. If he tried, he could convince Kurama to believe him, but by then he would be in tears and entirely at the mercy of the youkai holding him back.
He checked his watch and decided it'd be best if he headed out. He picked up his messenger bag and rest his on his shoulder, checking to see if the keys were still in pocket he put them in yesterday; they were. He sighed, relieved, and put his hand on the door, while, at the same time, another hand latched onto his wrist. He turned around to see a very pissed of Kurama behind him.
"Where...the hell...do you think...you're going?" he asked slowly, which led Shuuichi to believe that he was trying to suppress his anger.
"School," he answered carefully. "You know I have to attend school during the day."
Kurama glared at the red-head. "You don't need school," he said. "Stay home with me."
The grip tightened considerably on Shuuichi's wrist, causing the teen to cry out in pain. "Kurama, please, you're hurting me. Please let me go to school."
The glare sharpened, but Kurama released his hold. He turned around and walked back towards the kitchen, not saying a word.
Following Kurama with his gaze, in case he changed his mind, Shuuichi opened the door and backed out slowly with a quiet "ittekimasu", before closing it and running to the train station.
An equally quiet "itterasshai" followed.
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Japanese terms:
Ittekimasu -- (idiomatic phrase) said when leaving the house for school, work, etc.
Itterasshai -- (idiomatic phrase) said to the person who's leaving the house for school, work, etc. I guess you can interpret it as "take care".