Chapter 6
Two weeks later…
I slowly lock the apartment. I come every night to see if he's ready to speak to me again. And every night he's not here. I glance at my watch. It's only five. That's not too late to…but that's what started it all. What would Hiei do if he found out I'd talked to Keiko again? But…I need to talk to someone. Keiko's the only one who knows everything.
I walk to her parents diner. I step inside and get her attention. "Hey, Kurama. Haven't seen you in a while." She looks at me a moment. "What's wrong?"
"I need some advice. Can we take a walk?"
"Sure," she says. "Just give me ten seconds." She disappears a moment. When she comes back she says, "Sorry. I had to tell my mom I was taking my break now. What did you want to talk about?"
We walk outside. After about a block she asks again, "What's wrong, Kurama? You look sad." She hesitates before adding, "Did something happen between you and Hiei."
I sigh. "Yes."
"What happened?"
"I started renting a small apartment. We spent an entire night together for the first time. In the morning, he told me something he felt guilty about keeping from me. And I told him that I told you."
"But you're not mad at him for whatever he did?" she asks.
"No." I shake my head. "The first part I already knew about. The second part…I was hurt until he explained the situation to me. But by telling you…I betrayed him, Keiko, and now I don't know what to do."
"Just give him time to cool off," she suggests.
"I haven't seen him in two weeks."
"Oh, Kurama. I'm so sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I'm not really someone you should ask for advice. I hardly know how to handle my own relationship. I haven't the slightest clue what the dynamics between you and Hiei are. I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry," she repeats finally.
"Well, thanks for listening, I guess." I shrug and walk away. "I might see you sometime."
"Bye, Kurama." She sounds sad.
The next day…
I unlock the apartment and about have a heart attack. Hiei is waiting for me in the kitchenette.
"Hiei!" I exclaim.
"Hey." When I don's say anything, he sits down on the floor, leaning up against the wall. "I've been thinking about the things we said. And I realized that I still haven't told you the whole truth." I sit down next to him as he goes on, "I said you weren't the first, which was true." He looks at me. "But I forgot to mention the fact that you are the first I ever felt anything real for. I missed you."
"I missed you too. I came here everyday."
"I know. I saw you. But Kurama…another thing I realized…"
"What?"
"Until now, I haven't understood the importance of honesty. But…now I see that if someone has deceived you, it hurts when they tell you the truth. I can only imagine that it would hurt more if you discovered it accidentally. Perhaps telling the truth from the start is best…we've been honest with each other, Kurama, but not with the other people we care about."
"You want to tell everyone?" I ask shocked.
Hiei looks at me. "Did the two weeks without me unhinge you? You know there are only two people I care about, Kurama."
I stare at him before saying, "Me and Yukina."
He nods. "And Shiori and I are the only two you love." After a silence, he says, "You need to tell Shiori what you are, and I need…" He takes a deep breath. "I need to tell Yukina what I am."
Is he kidding? When he doesn't add anything, I nod slowly. "Okay. Let's go."
We go to Shiori's house, and on the way, Hiei says, "You do know I didn't mean you should tell Shiori you're gay? You know I meant the other thing?"
"Yes."
"And you're okay with that?" He sounds as though he's not sure if he should believe me.
"I always knew I'd have to do it someday. I've just been postponing it for as long as I can," I explain quietly. He nods as we walk through the door. "Mom," I call out.
"The kitchen, Shuichi," I hear.
We walk to the kitchen, where she is making cookies. "Hey, Mom," I say. "This is Hiei." He's been here several times, but she's never been home. For obvious reasons.
"Hello," she says. "Did you need something, Shuichi?"
"More…I need to tell you something."
It's probably because of my tone, but she looks worried. She washes her hands and faces me, giving me all of her attention. "What is it, Shuichi?"
"For the last eighteen years…" I start. I try again, "I'm not really exactly your son."
"What?" she asks. Her tone and face are totally bewildered. "How could you say something like that?"
"I was—am—was a fox demon," I say slowly, struggling for words. How much is this going to hurt her? "I was gravely wounded and fled as a soul."
She looks even more worried when I say that, as though she thinks I've gone crazy. And I suppose that's understandable the way I've been acting lately. The last two weeks, while Hiei was gone, I was a bit…depressed. Who knows what she's thinking of me right now. "Shuichi…why are you telling me such things?" She sounds as though she's going to cry.
"Because today I realized how important honesty is. As a soul, I possessed the soulless embryo that was later born as Shuichi. I don't pretend to know why it didn't yet have a soul of its own. Perhaps without my soul he would have been stillborn, perhaps he was simply late receiving a soul. At any rate, I came into possession of this body."
"Shuichi…"
"I intended to leave after ten years…but by then, I had grown to love you. Despite what I said earlier, I do think of you as my mother." It hurt to tell her that. "If you want me to, I can show you my true form. If you don't want that, I won't."
"No, just…if you were alive before you entered that body…does that mean you have a different name?"
I nod. "My name is Kurama. But I want you to keep calling me Shuichi. I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to hurt you. But…finding the truth on accident is often more painful than learning it on purpose."
"Thank you for telling me…" she whispers. She doesn't sound thankful.
I hug her. She is relatively unresponsive. "I love you, Mom. Please believe that."
"I do. I love you too, Shuichi."
After about ten minutes, we get Shiori calmed down and head over to Kuwabara's house, where Yukina is still staying.
When we get there, she is eating lunch with Kuwabara. Hiei groans. But he walks in and says, "Yukina. I'm your brother."
Kuwabara chokes on his ramen, and Yukina freezes. "What?" she asks.
"I'm your brother."
Her eyes flicker over his face, searching for a trick. Finally, "Why didn't you tell me?"
He stares at her a moment. "I got my Jagan to find you. One of the conditions for the implantation was that I not tell you. Later, though, the surgeon…changed his mind."
"Why didn't you tell me then?"
"By then I'd seen what a good, kind person you are. The kind of person I am not."
"That's not a reason, Hiei," she says quietly.
"I'm not sure…maybe I didn't want to hurt you by telling you your brother is a murderer and a thief. Maybe I didn't want to be compared to you because I could never hope to be the kind of person you are."
There is a long silence, most of which Kuwabara spends gaping at Hiei. Finally Yukina smiles. "Thank you for finally telling me."
"Hn," is Hiei's reply.
As we step out the door, we hear Kuwabara say loudly, "Your brother…shorty…no, that can't be…it's Hiei?"
The door shuts, and we stand there a moment. "What now?" I ask.
I'm not quite sure where this chapter came from...
I don't get it. Whatever. That's what you get, the next chapter will (probably) get the story back on track.
Y'all know who I own (that is, no one).
Reviews...
jennifer100: there you go. Hiei is no longer mad.
ardentes: chapter length: I have given up trying to make the chapter lengths consistent. end of story. I'm one of those authors whose first chapter will be 4,000 words, and the next chapter will be 600. I just end it wherever I feel like ending it. And you didn't sound overly negative, I promise. If you did, I wouldn't have replied. I have this tendency to ignore reviews that are negative (unless you count constructive criticism as negative). Anyway, I'm really glad you're still liking the story.
Alexisminamino: Question: who ever said Hiei was rational?
