CatalystTheme: #2 - Follow Me

It was ironic that after being partners for years and years, it was Yusuke who became an unwitting catalyst for them not killing each other painfully at the first possible opportunity.

For Kurama, Yusuke was something of a novelty. He'd never experienced an honest friendship, however nebulous and erratic, in his life; Yusuke's casual assumption of friendship caught him off-guard, all the more for its transparent sincerity. Yusuke seemed larger than life in a world that had always seemed to Kurama to be constricting and hypocritical.

For Hiei, Yusuke was an enigma. The curious juxtaposition of strength and emotion, things Hiei had regarded as mutually exclusive, and how effective it proved, made him watch Yusuke, wonder how he ever succeeded in reconciling the opposing aspects of his nature. And to be given trust, loyalty and even a backhanded sort of affection was the stuff of dreams he had not dared to have.

In the end, it was this that drew them together, over that first strained mission with the Four Saint Beasts, the months after that, and the concentrated hell that was the Dark Tournament. That common desire to watch over Yusuke, to understand him – in the end, to be worthy of him. He was the leader and friend they had sought so long, and somewhere in all that chasing after him, trying desperately to keep up with his erratic brilliance, they found that the cracks in their own relationship had been mended by common purpose.

Someday, Kurama thinks he'll have to thank Yusuke for it.