Sparks Fly: Discord
Kurama awoke the next morning the sound of his alarm. Hiei groaned next to him and unwound his arms from around the fox to slam a pillow over his head. Kurama chuckled and reached over to silence the sound.
"Don't you ever take a vacation?" came Hiei's muffled query.
The fox laughed. "If you recall, Hiei, I was away from school for a week with you."
"That was work, not a vacation."
"I don't know about that," Kurama replied. He slid out from under the covers, and got to his feet.
Hiei moved the pillow from over his face in time to watch the redhead stretch. He was gloriously nude, and that awoke hungers in the small fire demon that he hadn't known he had.
Kurama arched a brow and grinned wickedly at his partner. "Well look at who has a libido after all. Kuwabara will be traumatized, and Yusuke owes me twenty dollars."
"I hate you," Hiei snarled half heartedly.
"There's a rapidly growing part of your anatomy that seems to disagree." With that parting shot, Kurama headed into the bathroom, leaving Hiei with his thoughts and…er…other things.
The jaganshi willed his attraction to the incorrigible fox to end, or at least dissipate somewhat, but to no avail. Finally he just gave up and put the pillow back over his face.
Kurama emerged from the bathroom, still nude, but looking more ready for the day, and chuckled at Hiei's position. "I forgot to mention it, but Reiuka will be here later today."
"Why?"
"We have a project to work on for Biology, and she lives in a dorm."
"A dorm?" Hiei asked in confusion.
"It's like an apartment building filled with women in their twenties who attend the same school that I do," Kurama explained. He crossed to his closet and pulled out an outfit for the day. "I'd prefer her to come here rather than go to her. Especially since you made the no more asinine followers caveat."
"Good. I'll make sure to be gone before you get back." Kurama didn't respond to that, just pulled a shirt over his head. Hiei thought about ignoring it, but decided to be proactive for once. "Spit it out," he demanded.
"I just don't understand why you have to leave."
"Because you're having a human over."
"So? You know plenty of humans."
Hiei scowled. "I'm not ready to be shown off just yet, fox. So if it's all the same to you, I'm going to leave before you and the pretty lab partner get back."
The fox put on his pants and shoes and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Do as you please, Hiei."
Reiuka rolled her eyes as she walked out of the Bio lab. Kurama had said he would be waiting for her while she talked to the professor, and judging by the gaggle of giggling girls converged outside the door, her friend needed help.
She was just about to enact some crazy plan to get rid of the admirers when the redhead forcefully extracted himself from the crowd and walked over to Reiuka. He ignored the calls from the girls and motioned for Reiuka to follow him. She frowned and obliged.
"What was that about?" she asked once they were out of ear shot.
"What?"
"You're usually much more tolerant of your adoring fans. Actually you seemed off in class today too. What's up?"
"Nothing," Kurama replied.
"Uh huh. I'm not buying it. Talk to me, Red. Is it relationship issues?" Reiuka snickered until she realized that her scarlet haired companion hadn't denied it. "Oh my god, that's it?" she gasped. "You've been holding out on me."
Kurama shrugged elegantly. "Sometimes I do like to keep my business to myself."
"Yeah well, you can forget about that now. Is it 'your friend' who was visiting?"
Oh what the hell, Kurama thought. He nodded. "I'm not sure how long it will last, since his insecurities are more crippling than anything I've ever seen before."
"Oh, one of those guys, huh? That's frustrating. Is it a sexuality thing?"
"It's everything," Kurama responded. "I am quite certain that this is the first relationship he's ever been in, so I understand the fear, but there is really only so much of it I can tolerate."
Reiuka nodded. "That makes sense. I guess you just have to decide how worth it it is for you. If you got past all of that, would the relationship work?"
"I'd like to think so, but it's just so hard to get him to open up about anything. I know him well enough to figure things out on my own, but then he'd accuse me of being manipulative."
"Seems like you've got yourself a problem, Red. It's funny though because these are the kinds of things that normal people go through in relationships."
Kurama frowned. "What do you mean, normal people?"
"People who aren't perceptive as hell and don't have four digit IQs," Reiuka clarified.
The fox pouted. "I don't want to feel like those people."
"Too bad, toots."
They reached the apartment building then, and Kurama let his senses confirm that Hiei had indeed vacated the premises. Rather than allow the longsuffering sigh that was building take form, he straightened his back and led the young woman up to his home.
Reiuka took in the apartment and smiled. This was definitely a place she could see her friend being comfortable in. It was bright and full of plant life. "You take the whole botany thing seriously, don't you?" she asked.
"I do," Kurama answered. "It has been a love of mine for as long as I can remember."
The girl looked thoughtful. Sometimes when her lab partner spoke, she heard something behind his words. Something other that seemed to explain how someone could be as…perfect…as Shuichi Minamino.
She was also perceptive enough to realize that queries along those lines would not be tolerated, so she smiled and changed the subject. "Shall we get started?"
Kurama stopped glaring at his mostly empty refrigerator and sighed. "I suppose we should."
It was after dark when they finally finished the project to Kurama's standards. Reiuka had shaken her head at the level of precision the red haired genius had insisted on, but couldn't deny that it would do wonders for her grade in the class. She declined the fox's offer to walk her back to the dorms, and took her leave.
That left Kurama alone and fairly angry. Hiei's energy had popped back onto his radar about two hours before, but the tiny demon seemed content to remain hidden. That pissed Kurama off. He was tempted to go to his bedroom and lock the window, but decided that childishness was going to get him nowhere. Kurama sighed. It was time for another confrontation, and he was determined that it would be the last one.
Hiei wasted no time in coming back once he was sure that Reiuka was gone. He climbed in through the window in the bedroom and made his way into the kitchen. Without even acknowledging the fox in the living room, Hiei opened the fridge and began rummaging.
Kurama took a deep breath. "Tell me, Hiei, are you planning on contributing anything to this relationship?"
The jaganshi emerged from the appliance with a piece of lunch meat dangling from his mouth. "What?"
"Am I going to get anything from pursuing you? I cannot tell my mother about you, or my friends. I provide the food, the bed, the home, a fair amount of the conversation. Aside from a few kisses and the idea that we should quiz each other relentless about our lives, what have you offered up?"
Hiei swallowed. "Is my trust not enough?"
"Friends trust each other, Hiei. Do you remember when you asked what separates you from Yusuke and Kuwabara in my mind? I can ask you the same question."
"I don't sleep in the same bed with either of them," Hiei retorted.
Green eyes rolled. "You don't empty their refrigerators either. Lucky them."
"Is that what this is about?" Hiei demanded. "What happened to all that crap about you being rich enough to feed your friends?"
"Leave it to you to be obtuse to the end," Kurama muttered.
"If you want to fight, I'll fight," the jaganshi spat. "But at least have the decency to tell me what the hell we're fighting about."
"That's just it, Hiei. I don't want to fight with you. I want to love you, but Inari knows you make it hard."
"What the fuck have I done to warrant this?" Hiei wanted to know. "You told me to do as I pleased this morning, so stop being cryptic and just tell me what the issue is."
"I only said that because I knew if I pushed the issue you would run and hide again. That's all you do is hide. I can tell that you spent the day in the park hiding because I had someone over. Is that's what going to happen all the time?"
"Maybe. I don't care about your human friends."
"But I do, Hiei. Does that mean nothing to you?"
Hiei scowled. "Don't try to drag me into this provocative perverse perfection you're trying to construct. I'm not going to play house with you so you can show your little humans how normal you are."
"That has nothing to do with this!"
"That's bullshit. Everything you do in this world is a part of your elaborate plan to seem like just another human. I won't have it."
"For Inari's sake, Hiei. I'm not asking you to be my housewife. I just want you to contribute to this relationship!" Kurama shouted. He was shouting now, which meant he was very upset. "Excellent. Now we're talking in circles." Kurama took a deep breath. "Do you feel anything for me, Hiei? Anything at all?" There was nothing but silence and Kurama screamed. He threw back his head and screamed.
Hiei's eyes were wide. "That was childish," he drawled.
"What are you so afraid of, Hiei?" Kurama demanded. "Is it that you're ashamed to be with me? You can just say so and leave."
"You!" Hiei yelled finally. "I'm afraid of you! How am I just supposed to trust that you'll be faithful to me? That you'll ever be content to be with just me?"
"Not this again," Kurama groaned.
"Yes this again! You try to be appealing to everyone, to bring them into this complicated web of your life. You're so wrapped up in this façade that you can't even see what it's doing to everyone else. You've convinced yourself that you love these blasted humans and that you fit in with them."
That was the last straw, and Kurama's carefully held composure shattered. His large green eyes narrowed and sharpened to a glittering gold. Red hair blurred to silver, and that cold voice that had seen centuries hardened the fox's usually calm tones. "What," he ground out, "would you know about love? What I feel for my mother, for my friends...you have nothing of the sort. You can't even muster up the courage to tell the last remaining member of your family who you are. Do not speak of love to me, Hiei. You call my life here a façade, a fiction of perfection, but you are an actor in this world as well. You try to pretend that you don't need anyone, that you're not lonely and scared. I am not fooled, and you are trying my patience."
By this point, the jaganshi had backed up against the counter in fear. He had never seen Kurama so angry. The usually soothing aura was now writhing and snapping in fury. The plants in the living room were reacting to this spike in energy by bursting out of their normal forms and climbing up the walls. Hiei knew he had to say something to make this better. Something to make the irate fox calm down and listen to reason. He said the first thing that came into his mind.
"Teach me."
That gave Kurama pause. "What?"
"You say I know nothing of love, then teach me."
"It would probably be easier to teach Yusuke table manners," Kurama said slowly. "There would be less risk of emotional injury on my part."
"Aren't you the one who loves challenges?" Hiei replied.
"Why are you doing this, Hiei?"
"Because you're losing yourself to this, and I am not worth that kind of loss for you."
Kurama took a deep breath and let it out. "Fuck you for being so rational right now."
"Some one has to be."
"True." The fox pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "But you should only say things like this if you are serious about them. My love is not something to be thrown away. No one's is for that matter."
Hiei nodded weakly. "Okay."
And just like that, Kurama's aura calmed and quieted. He glanced around him, surprised at the explosion of plant life. Murmuring soothing words, Kurama went around coaxing the plants back into their more domestic forms, offering apologies and soft touches.
Finally he sat down on the couch and took a few deep breaths. Hiei was right; he was definitely in danger of losing himself. Reiuka's words from earlier came back to him and he wondered if it was worth it.
Hiei, sensing that some decision needed to be made, walked over to the couch slowly and tucked himself into Kurama's side. He reached up and grabbed some of the silver hair and began toying with it. "Why do I get the feeling that we just broke up?" he muttered.
"I'm fairly certain we did," Kurama responded. "Though your request served as a way for us to get back together."
"You never gave me an answer."
The red head gone platinum sighed. "I don't know, Hiei. I can't take much more of this constant combat between us. Not when it's this serious and personal."
Hiei nodded. "Valid." He made no reassurances, and that made Kurama smile.
"I suppose I do owe it you to try though," he said. "After all, my options seem to be staying with you or being alone for the next several hundred years."
The fire demon snorted. "Being alone is the obvious choice."
"For you, perhaps. For all I crave solitude at times, kitsune are social creatures. We certainly like to mix with others."
"Are we back together then?" Hiei wanted to know.
"Conditionally."
"Of course. What do you want this time?" It couldn't be anything too bad, or so the jaganshi thought.
Kurama smiled. "I want you to agree to meet either my mother or Reiuka."
Fuck.
A/N: Woah, Kurama went ape-shit. There are exciting things to come!