Meddling with Dragons
Disclaimer: Too high maintenance for me to own. Much more fun to just cause problems and then run away cackling.
The fires of the dragon are surprisingly painless. He feels almost weightless, cradled in warm shadows that press on him like a smothering pillow. Really though, the most surprising thing is that he can feel anything. This is not what I expected from oblivion.
Something almost entirely unlike wind buffets him gently and Kurama could swear that the shadows feel amused.
Unsure if this is the smartest, strangest or stupidest thing he has ever done, Kurama wraps his confusion around his thoughts and projects it out into the darkness.
What? And why?
The shadows heat almost to the point of pain, flickering purple and pressing closer as if drowning him – the what is as much a where, though it no longer looks the least like a dragon. But it is the why that pulls Kurama to his metaphorical knees.
It takes a while for the words to come, seconds and years for Kurama to pull his thoughts back from the aching fear and fury and wild longing trying to hollow out his chest. When he does, they are almost casual, but for the method of speech.
I think I would very much like to kick him.
When the shadowfire takes him again, Kurama thinks it might be the most glorious thing he has ever seen.
-o-o-o-o-
Yusuke did not realize Touya was next to him until he spoke. Even then he wasn't sure he would have cared – one of his teammates, his friends had just killed the other – but something in the tone of voice got through.
"Does that usually happen?"
Kurama dying? With impressive regularity… dammit. "What?" The flame was beginning to lose form, shrinking into a ball about the size of a body. Dammit…
"Yusuke, the previous times I have seen this attack the dragon has always vanished upon accomplishing its task. Why then is it still in the ring?"
Grief and rage aside, that was actually a damn good question.
The ball of flame shrunk and spun, glowing like a sun or an egg, and then abruptly fell away and was gone. That was no stranger than some things that had been seen in this tournament.
Kurama stood where it had been.
Shitdamn.
Hiei shook where he knelt, staring blindly at Kurama who looked remarkably good for having been eaten by the dragon of Hell. He also looked more shaken and shattered than Yusuke had ever seen him and… more whole.
Shitdamn.
Kurama walked slowly, gingerly over to Hiei and knelt in front of him, one hand going out to keep himself steady. It was a little fuzzy from here but Yusuke was pretty sure that if Hiei's eyes got any bigger they would fall out. Though I can understand the sentiment.
Shitdamn.
-o-o-o-o-
Wobbly. That was the word. His mind was a bit wobbly too. But that was okay because really Kurama was still quite surprised he was even alive. Wobbly was bearable. Even the look on Hiei's face was bearable now that he knew why. If either of us were a little more willing to be vulnerable… But they were demons, and showing weakness was a prelude to death. I still want to kick him.
Which was apparently a good thing, according to the dragon that had just fallen on his head.
Just as soon as I can wobble my way over there then.
The few yards between where the dragon had hit and Hiei were impressively hard to negotiate and Kurama sank gratefully to the ground when he got there. Hiei still had not looked away and there was a life's worth of fear and abandonment in that stare. For whatever reason, Hiei had tangled all of his sense of unworthiness and need for purpose and need for partnership, for contact, up in Kurama. It fell like a weight on his shoulders but Kurama had long since given most of his heart to Hiei and the glimmer of reciprocation made that weight as light as a feather. But first he would have to get past the fear.
"I think that may be the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me."
Wait for it… now.
Hiei's eyes narrowed and Kurama launched everything he had felt from the dragon and everything he had felt in response at Hiei's still open mind. The suspicion blew out and the fear turned to shock.
::Kurama?::
::Hiei::
All the warmth and promise of a summer garden went into his smile and something brittle dropped away from Hiei's shoulders, but he still looked half ready to run. The corner of Kurama's mouth tilted up.
"I may have promised your dragon that I would kick you for taking so long."
The laughter that answered him was more than enough.