Chapter Eleven: Cat and Canary
Yusuke woke up when the room was still dark, to the disagreeable absence of his bedmate and the muffled sounds of someone moving around the room; but he was so disoriented from sleep that it took him several minutes to connect the two things. When he finally did he propped himself up on his elbows, squinting into the darkness.
Almost before he had finished moving Kurama was next to him, gently pressing him back down. "Shh," he whispered soothingly. "It's still early. I have to go to school, but you should go back to sleep." He kissed Yusuke's forehead and quietly repeated the admonition to sleep; Yusuke, secure in the knowledge that Kurama had a good reason for leaving him, decided this was excellent advice and was dead to the world again before Kurama had actually left the room.
The second time he woke up it was well into morning and sunlight was streaming through the window, except where it was blocked by someone's silhouette, and said someone was laughing at him. Yusuke knew that laugh very well, and he chucked a pillow in the direction it came from before even sitting up. "What're you doing here?" he grumped.
The pillow was easily deflected. "I might ask you the same."
"Sleeping, what the hell does it look like?"
"And your clothes are..."
"Somewhere else," Yusuke answered, sitting up fully and glaring at the individual he was increasingly coming to view as a rival. "Do you have a problem with that?"
Hiei only grinned, entirely too amused for Yusuke's taste, and declined to answer. Yusuke's irritation with him grew. "You didn't answer me; what are you doing hanging around here?"
"It's Kurama's home, detective, not yours," Hiei replied mildly. "He's given me to understand that I'm welcome to come and go as I please. Do you have a problem with that?"
Absolutely, Yusuke growled mentally. Out loud, he said, "Don't be stupid. You just startled me, is all." He glanced at the clock and swore softly. "Hiei, get out of here so I can find my clothes, I'm gonna be late for work."
Hiei only continued to sit in the windowsill and grin at him. Yusuke was getting an increasingly uncontrollable urge to wipe that grin off his face. Why should Hiei find it so amusing that Kurama was sleeping with someone else now? Hiei certainly was. And now Yusuke was going to have to put up with the thought that Kurama's ex-lover might pop in and out of the apartment anytime he chose to--yeah, that's be great for this little jealousy problem he was having, no sweat. "Hiei, I mean it."
With an air suggesting that he was doing a very great favor, Hiei finally turned his back. Yusuke stumbled out of the bed and into the bathroom, where he found his clothes right where he'd discarded them last night. They were still pretty caked with dirt but as he had nothing else to put on, he shrugged back into them. He briefly thought about trying to tame his hair, but he was already running late, and he was a bit hesitant to go pawing through Kurama's things, especially where that long, beautiful mane of hair was concerned.
Of course, there were complications to every decision. "You do realize that your hair is standing on end, don't you?"
"You should talk," Yusuke muttered, extremely annoyed that Hiei had followed him. Nevertheless, he ran his hands through his hair a few times, trying to get it to lie down. "Your hair has its own anti-gravity unit."
"And I don't feel the need to plaster it down with some sort of disgusting gel, either."
I should bring some of that over here, come to think of it; hopefully there's going to be more mornings like this, and I really hate having my hair go crazy. "Hiei, do you have a reason for being here or did you just come to throw insults at me?"
"I came to borrow something, detective. I didn't even know you would be here."
And it suddenly occurred to Yusuke, in that moment, that perhaps Hiei was a little jealous of him too. "Well, it's none of your business if I am. You're not Kurama's keeper, and he's allowed to sleep with anyone he wants to." There; he'd said it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really am late now."
He brushed past Hiei but didn't get very far before Hiei's voice stopped him. "Yusuke."
Noting the use of his first name, and the suddenly less combative tone, Yusuke turned around and found Hiei regarding him seriously. "Don't hurt him."
Jealousy went straight into anger. "Who the hell are you to tell me not to hurt him?"
"Someone who regrets having done so."
Yusuke's anger melted as quickly as it had built up. Hiei was in earnest. "Yeah.. you know, you haven't made this exactly easy on me. He's not in a hurry to date another friend."
Hiei shrugged. "I'm not at all certain he should. But as you said, I'm not his keeper. Just be aware that if you hurt him I will hurt you."
I am never going to understand these two and their relationship as long as I live. "Yeah. Listen, Hiei, it's been nice being threatened by you and all, but I've gotta run."
He heard Hiei's dismissive snort as he dashed off again, but the fire demon didn't follow him this time, so Yusuke guessed he felt that he'd made enough of a threat. Really, though, where Hiei got the nerve to tell him not to hurt Kurama...
Yusuke was nearly out the door when he stopped and backtracked, realizing Kurama had left something on the hallway table for him. It was a brief note asking him to lock up when he left--and a key with which to do so.
Yusuke whistled softly. A key?
For one brief moment, he had a crazy urge to go back and show Hiei that he, too, had a right to be here whenever he wanted to; but he recognized that impulse as a product of jealousy and dismissed it as such, instead just using the key to lock up as Kurama'd requested before starting to run to work.
He ran at a speed that got him looks from the passers-by, but after all the running around after crazy old monks he'd done in Makai he barely noticed he was running. Paying no attention to the stares, he allowed his mind to wander as he ran. Kurama had given him a key to his apartment... that was huge, wasn't it? It meant he trusted him, of course, but Yusuke'd already known that; what it really meant was that Kurama wanted him to be there, whenever he wanted to. That he didn't feel the need to protect his privacy from Yusuke. Hot damn.
Yusuke sailed into work with one minute to spare, triumphantly touching down like a runner who's just gotten to home base, and swung into the kitchen prepared to wish every customer a happy day, week, and rest of their lives. The Yukumuras just smiled back at his exuberance, but when Keiko briefly emerged from her room to grab something to eat she took one look at him and said, "What happened?"
"Who says anything happened?" Yusuke had every intention of telling her, of course, but he wanted to prolong the pleasure of the telling.
"Yusuke, you're practically dancing. And I know that self-satisfied look--you look like the cat who caught the canary."
Thinking about Kurama's fox form, and how he himself was the one whose emotions were continually deepening, Yusuke replied, "More like the canary who's been caught."
Keiko raised her eyebrows. "But doesn't the cat eat the canary once it's been caught? What are you so happy about?"
Grinning, Yusuke couldn't help continuing the wordplay a bit longer. "Let's just say I've been outfoxed."
Keiko caught onto his word choice immediately. "Not by any silver haired fox I know?"
"'Course not," Yusuke scoffed. "It was the redhead." Come to think of it... I wonder what it would be like to sleep with Youko? I have a pretty good hunch who would be on top...
"And what exactly did that redhead do with you?"
Keiko looked like she already knew the answer, so Yusuke only winked at her. "Awe, c'mon Keiko, you don't want details do you?"
"I'm beginning to think I don't," she said firmly. Nevertheless, she smiled at him. "Congrats. I told you persistence would pay off with him."
"Yeah, yeah, go taking credit for all my hard work." Yusuke thought about it for a minute. "But you know, I guess since you did help me it's my turn to set you up now."
Leaning close enough to him that they couldn't be overheard, Keiko said, "Given the number of blood-thirsty demons you know, Yusuke, I think I'm going to say thanks but no thanks to that offer." And smiling to show she meant no offense, she gathered her lunch together and went back upstairs to continue studying.
Yusuke continued working in a good mood until his shift was nearly over and the customers had slowed to a trickle; then he begged off early so that he could go pick Kurama up from school, and the Yukimuras agreed. He pulled into the university parking lot just in time to see another situation of the type that had started this whole thing shaping up--Kurama, standing with his back against a wall, trying and failing to politely escape the attention of several of his classmates, of both genders. But this time, Yusuke was in a position to do something about it. Smiling grimly, he stalked forward.
Kurama sensed his approach and turned to greet him, but before he could say anything Yusuke planted a big kiss on him--more for effect than for pleasure, though it certainly didn't lack in pleasure. When he drew back he did so very briefly, with one hand on Kurama's waist and the other in his hair, waiting just long enough to murmur "Hi, koi," before going in for another, longer, kiss. That ought to do it.
The five students gathered around Kurama were watching them both with a mixture of shock and bitter disappointment. Kurama, trying not to laugh at Yusuke's antics, managed to make an introduction and Yusuke had the pleasure of seeing a few sets of eyes grow wide at hearing his name--apparently he still had a pretty bad rep as a street fighter. Well, the more frightened they were of him, the better. He stood there with his arm around Kurama, staring at the others defiantly, and suddenly they all had to get to their next class or catch the bus.
"That wasn't very nice," Kurama commented as the last of the girls' ponytails faded into the crowd.
"Who ever said I was nice? I'm a mean, nasty demon, and you're a sweet wonderful demon and they can't have you. Give me a real kiss this time."
Kurama gave him a short, sweet kiss that ended entirely too soon for Yusuke's tastes, and put up a hand to keep him back when Yusuke tried for a longer one. "Yusuke, I'm not going to stand around in the middle of campus and make out with you."
"Damn. No reason to stay here, then," Yusuke concluded, turning them towards the parking lot.
"You are the definition of incorrigible," Kurama said with a sigh, but he sounded fond. "Did you get some more sleep this morning?"
"Yeah, until old three-eyes woke me up," Yusuke grumbled, feeling sour as he remembered it.
"What did he want?"
"To make fun of me, I guess. I don't know. He was just hanging around your apartment like he had every right to be there."
"Well, I do tell him to just drop by whenever he wishes."
"Why?" Before Kurama could answer, Yusuke added, "I know, I know I sound super-jealous right now; I know he's still your friend and everything. But why does he get to wander in and out of your home whenever he wants to?"
Kurama shrugged. Then, gently, he said, "Where else is he going to go?"
Yusuke was struck by his inability to answer. He himself was probably Hiei's closest friend after Kurama, and he certainly had never invited Hiei to stay at his place. He knew better, too, to think that Hiei would be comfortable at Genkai's temple, so close to his sister, and he could think of no place else in human world that Hiei might go, might rest or relax or spend the night--except to Kurama.
"Hiei started staying with me years ago, long before we were lovers," Kurama continued, seeing that Yusuke had understood his point. "I didn't feel right taking that away from him. I didn't want to."
"Yeah, okay," Yusuke muttered. "I guess it's not my business anyway. But it is gonna be awkward if we're both there all the time."
"Hiei's not a fan of awkward; I imagine he'll stay away." Kurama frowned slightly at that, as though worried.
"Hey, don't worry about him, I'm sure he can take care of himself," Yusuke said, with less concern than he felt. "Besides, it's not like I'll be living there, I do have my own place."
Yusuke had rather hoped Kurama would say something about wanting him to come over frequently, but Kurama only nodded, seeming to still be lost in thought. Ah, well; can't have everything, Yusuke told himself, and continued walking Kurama to the parking lot.