Hello

Kurama lifted a brow, but his mouth quirked up a little. He quickly bit the smirk back down, clearly dedicated to his 'detached and formal' act today, but the little gesture sent a thrill down Hiei's spine. Kurama clearly seemed to approve of his present line of thinking.

"The ones who went with me to pick you up all know your face but that little faction is loyal to no one but me. Apart from them? The guards stationed outside your door. Till now that patrol has been changed thrice. All of the guards who apprehended you in the washroom two days ago and a fair few others I'd bet. Not at all of them, though."

"And that's as concrete as it gets?"

Kurama shrugged.

"I can ask and find out."

"Do that."

Kurama tutted but said nothing, leaning back in his chair again, green eyes still steady on Hiei. Hiei encountered a weird urge to make him look away, even if he had to grasp his hair and literally force his eyes off of himself.

"All this time you spend in my room… Yomi won't notice?"

Kurama's expression tightened and strangely enough, Hiei felt weirdly tingly all over, as if he was experiencing actual guilt and bringing the goat-face up.

"Won't you be gone by the time Yomi arrives?"

"Hopefully." Hiei ventured carefully. "But I wasn't asking for me."

"I am none of your concern, Hiei. I am used to dealing with Yomi and I know how to do it best."

Hiei nodded, accepting the answer. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know more, anyway. His brain always seemed to be confused around the redhead and he didn't need to throw sympathy into the mix and make everything harder for himself.

"Either ways, my guilt has never really factored as a determiner of Yomi's behaviour towards me. He does whatever he damn well pleases."

Much as he was eager to not listen to more about Kurama's tragic life, he did have a question rolling around in his head that he would really appreciate a conclusive answer to.

"Kurama, how old are you?"

Kurama rolled his eyes.

"Nineteen."

Hiei could feel his eyes steadily bulging out of their sockets.

"And how long have you been married?"

"Two years," Kurama answered. "The second I turned eighteen actually. I turned eighteen in the registrar's office." He laughed a little and it was so clearly fake, Hiei had to lick his lips and wring his hands just to expel some of the anxious energy building inside his own chest.

"Why did he insist on marrying you? It's not like Japan will acknowledge it."

Kurama shrugged again. His shoulders seemed to be collapsing in on him now. He looked smaller than he did when he leaned back with that smug little smile of his.

"Karasu asked him to. It was more of a punishment than a marriage, marriage."

Hiei told himself he didn't want to hear this. He was still telling himself he didn't want to be hearing this but his curiosity, morbid and treacherous, forced his tongue and held his breath.

"Punishment for whom? You or Yomi?"

"Neither." Kurama was blurting his answer out before Hiei was done asking his question, as if he were the mother of a child ripping off an old bandage from a bruised limb to minimise the pain as much as it be possible. "It was punishment for Kuronue."

"Who the fuck is that now?"

"Yomi's brother. Late brother, actually."

"Had the hots for you or what?"

Kurama shrugged again, and yet again.

"I was promised to him first. He didn't want to touch me, said I was too young for him, which I was. I was twelve when I was first 'given' to him. He respected me, he wanted to help me. He decided to keep me, he fed me, bought me books, made sure I was okay. Maintained the charade in front of Karasu, too so Karasu won't call me back. He noticed though. I was happy, and he noticed. So he took me away anyway.

I was the one who broke. I was the one who confessed that Kuronue never touched me but a child's pain tolerance is only so high. Karasu decided Kuronue was wasting his precious gift. Said he won't stand for it. I was to stay with him after that. I cried so much, I begged so much. I didn't want to go back to Karasu. Kuronue fought for me, too as much as he could. I sometimes think if their father wasn't still alive, Karasu would have gotten rid of Kuronue right there and then. Nothing was to come of it, so they struck a compromise instead. Kuronue couldn't have me back but nobody else would have me till I was eighteen, either. Not even, Karasu.

So the moment I turned eighteen Karasu married me off to the next cruelest man he knew. And that was that."

Hiei nodded in acknowledgement, barely keeping himself together at this point. Morbid curiosity or whatever, if he had to stuff his fist down Kurama's throat to get him to shut up at this point, he believed he would.

"Okay. Moving on. The guards. My escape. And other non-pedophiliac things please."

Kurama laughed, immediately looking easier now that he wasn't talking about his tragic past. He gave Hiei a wink, a playful, boyish wink that wasn't so much flirty as it was conspiratory.

"That is the first time I've ever said any of that out loud, but I agree. I think I have traumatised you enough for one day, huh?"

He laughed a little again. If he was doing it solely to make Hiei feel easier, Hiei didn't spend too much time thinking about it. He took Kurama's 'mirth' at face value and forced himself to forget everything he had just heard.

He wasn't very successful, and for obvious reasons. It was way easier to remind himself of what the priority was right now, though and that allowed him to at least focus his brain on the problem at hand.

He wasn't, however, going to admit to having been traumatised by shit.

"It's not about that. I have seen worse."

Kurama only smiled.

"I am sure you have."

"I just need to figure out a plan. We only have two weeks."

"I get it."

Non-combative Kurama was somehow creepier than Yomi and Karasu combined.

Hiei couldn't help it. He dug his nails into his palm and he worried his lip till it bled but he still couldn't help it.

"I mean it. We only have two weeks."

He hoped Kurama won't make him say it.

Kurama didn't flinch, he didn't hesitate. He didn't show any signs of even considering the possibility.

"I don't think you so much as stand a chance, Hiei considering how you're still failing to grasp at the only thing that can make your escape possible."

Hiei frowned, bristling. He needed to know whatever it was that Kurama was referring to, however, so he managed to grit his teeth and swallow his vexation.

"What?"

"A distraction."

"I know that!"

"No, you don't."

"I do! Of course, I do! I am a criminal! I was a criminal!"

"Why didn't you mention it, then?"

"I thought it'd be obvious!"

"Tut-tut. See, now you just look stupid."

"I am not stupid, you are insufferable!" Hiei scoffed. "Look at you, being a riot cause you couldn't tolerate the atmosphere you, yourself created."

With the careless graces of an actual nineteen year old, Kurama lifted his hand and stroked the back of his hair, sheepishly.

"Yeah, I couldn't. Like I said, I have never before talked about this so I quite forgot to count for the fact that my listener won't be all too comfortable with my story. But, I do mean it. We need a distraction if you are going to make it out. A really, really strong one."

Hiei hummed, bringing his hand to his mouth. His fingers picked at the little gash he had just given himself, teasing the loose skin.

"Of course," Kurama continued. "That won't be everything. But I suppose if I could, for that one time period, make it so that your floor is being guarded by mostly my guards and others who don't know you by face, it'd make things a whole lot easier."

Hiei din't want to be getting too hopeful just now, he didn't. He was nowhere even remotely close to his freedom. His heart however thudded away in his chest, going crazy as if it was already within his grasp.

"You've thought about this." Hiei noted.

"Somebody had to. You can't possibly orchestrate an escape for yourself. No matter how many details I provide you with. It would be impossible for you to. If I was going to have to do it, I decided to get a headstart on things last night."

"That is, of course, if this is not a trap."

"A trap? For a fly… already inside the trap?"

"It could be one of your psychological tricks." Hiei muttered.

He didn't know why he kept on doing this, kept on ribbing Kurama when the other man was, for once, trying not to be difficult.

"I have played no psychological tricks on you."

"Oh yes." Hiei glared at Kurama's sparkling green eyes. It couldn't be denied, Kurama was always much too invested in their back and forth-s. "You've never played psychological tricks on me, only hand job in public pizzerias ones."

Kurama laughed. Hiei didn't immediately want to smack him, so he decided to count that as improvement.

"Listen Hiei, we are so far out into this now that either you've decided to trust me or not to. There's no way you're still hanging in between, so stop playing these games, okay?"

… and no matter how much Hiei tried to dress it up as desperation and needing to make the best of shitty circumstance, no matter how much he vacillated between hating Kurama and then not… at the end of the day, that was it, wasn't it?

For some weird, fucked up reason that would always escape Hiei no matter how many sleepless nights he spent searching for it, he had decided to trust Kurama. Trust that he would be helping him. Trust that he wasn't double-crossing him.

Even though he was the one who brought him here.

Hiei wondered then, if he also believed Kurama when he said he never wanted to. He didn't know the answer to that, but just then, with his head still foggy with the horrific details Kurama had just unloaded like they were nothing, it was probably yes.

No, it was most definitely yes.

Hiei shook his head. He would have all the time in the world to puzzle out Kurama once he was out of there, he reminded himself. Setting his eyes upon the still amused looking redhead, he hoped the jut of his jaw conveyed his refusal to participate in any more of Kurama's tragic recollections.

It had taken him a bit, but he was starting to realise he was always just as eager to go head to head with Kurama. It wasn't solely his fault.

"Whatever. Once I…-"

"No." Kurama closed his eyes. He rarely ever interrupted Hiei, he just didn't seem the type to interrupt anyone, brimming with the patience needed to hold back a good come back till the person in front of him had finished talking, and so, Hiei immediately found himself alert.

"No. We can't go into this if you still refuse to trust me, Hiei. I am putting my life on the line here, quite literally."

Hiei crossed his arms against his chest, reluctant to give any conclusive answer to that question. Each possibility seemed like a defeat on his part.

Plus, Kurama had betrayed him before. Easy as anything, too it seemed, despite whatever he said.

Hiei gritted his teeth.

Kurama was right. He had to make up his mind.

"I trust you, only because I have no other choice." Hiei settled on honesty, though he couldn't tell you why. But then, he supposed, if he is helping me here, the least I can do is offer him the truth, if not my trust.

"You leave me confused. Every time you talk to me, it's like I unlock an intensity of emotions that I have never experienced before. I don't know what to make of you. I try to tell myself I don't care. But I don't think that's how it is."

Hiei paused, the aftertaste of his last few words stinging like delayed realisation. He, somehow, felt like he had been played again.

"You frustrate me, Kurama. That's all I can say about you."

Kurama nodded, seemingly unfazed by Hiei's words.

Hiei wondered why that sat all wrong with him. Like, he wanted Kurama to loath not being trusted.

"I understand that. Would you believe me though if I told you I gain nothing from keeping you here, except for sleepless nights and cruel mornings when I can't stop hating myself for a single second?"

"I would. Once I am out of here, I will believe whatever you tell me."

Here, Kurama smiled and Hiei was seized by a sudden ache in his chest. It made him gulp.

"I will make it my mission to get you out, then. If someone out there, anyone, really, but I would like it best if it was you, saw me… knew me for who I am then that'd be enough for me in this lifetime I think."

The whispered confession left Hiei feeling wound up and tongue tied. He didn't have anything to say to that, except for wanting to insinuate it yet again, without explicitly having to state it… that Kurama could just go with him, too.

Clearly over the topic, Kurama flipped it again.

"Well, any thing more occur to you, yet?"

Hiei scowled.

The best part about his exchanges with Kurama was, as easily as the man could dunk him into the mire of emotions and shit, he could pull Hiei out again, given how fucking obnoxious Hiei always found him.

"Why do I feel like you're conducting this like a fucking quiz?"

Kurama started stroking his beard-less chin. Hiei thought he looked like a dumb loser.

"I am not. Are you sure it's not insecurity that's speaking to you?"

It came to Hiei like a revelation then. The ice he had managed to raise between the two of them yesterday, had thawed out. Kurama was back to teasing Hiei, trying to get a rise out of him.

Revelation 2.0 revealed, Hiei had apparently only wanted to go at Kurama again and again till he stopped acting like… whatever he was acting like earlier.

Unable to stand the atmosphere you created? He asked himself. He didn't bother too much with the answer though. It won't change anything.

"Fuck you. Tell me." Hiei muttered.

It did feel a little like an interrogation though, Hiei on his bed, Kurama on a fucking desk. For no other reason than to fuck with the redhead, Hiei went and plopped down on top of the desk.

Kurama shook his head in exasperation but he was grinning.

"Tell you what?"

"Whatever it was I was supposed to have picked up on. Spit it out."

"Oh, Hiei, you're always so charming." Kurama feigned a swoon, but when Hiei's gaze remained deadpan on him, he straightened himself.

"Your ace."

"My… biceps?"

Kurama gave Hiei a mocking glance, eyes running slowly over his comparatively shorter frame like it was supposed to prove something.

"No. Not your biceps. Mukuro."

Hiei frowned.

"My pimp."

Kurama rolled his eyes, before the words truly set in and then his face was open in its incredulity with disbelief.

"You really don't know Mukuro." Kurama said it as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if I don't. I looked away for like two years and crime overlords popped up in every corner." Hiei found himself grumbling.

Kurama laughed, more with him than at him. Hiei couldn't help but feel proud.

"Without a you to keep them in check? Was bound to happen." Kurama teased, before he continued more seriously. "No, Mukuro, Yomi, Karasu… they're all old blood here. None of them are news. I am surprised you haven't heard of them."

"I smuggled, I kidnapped. If push came to shove, I stabbed sometimes. I was a hand for hire, Kurama. Excuse me if I am not familiar with the criminal royalty."

"You know what? Fair."

"And even if Mukuro is someone worth having on my side, why do you think she'd be on my side? Do you even know the woman?"

"Oh, I know her." Kurama's eyes twinkled. "And I know she won't be on your side."

"Then?"

"You need a distraction to sneak out, Hiei. Not an army to take out my husband's with."

"And Mukuro will provide that distraction?"

Kurama nodded.

"Okay. Why?"

"Because Mukuro hates Yomi. She used to get along with Karasu, but not anymore. If there's someone who won't be afraid to take a dig at either of them, it will be her."

Hiei shook his head, wondering why Kurama kept pausing as if the rest was obvious if he wasn't deliberately trying to make Hiei feel stupid.

"Get to the point, Kurama."

"Well, what better time to show it up to Yomi than when he is away and his young and helpless husband has been left behind by himself?"

Hiei's eyes widened. He watched a grin, a huge, mouth-splitting grin, sink into Kurama's face.

"You mean to use yourself as bait?"

"We just need to leak it to her that we're here, and she'll be knocking on our doors soon enough, I can guarantee it."

"No."

Hiei didn't even stop to question his utterance, or his motivation behind it.

Kurama frowned.

"What?"

"No. No, Kurama. It's too risky. What if she gets to you?"

"Why do you care?"

"Well, I do. It's too risky. We can create another diversion. Kill a guard?"

"No other way will…-"

"No, run me through this again so I know exactly how crazy you are? If I am to believe you about Mukuro, this place will be under literal siege…-"

Kurama leaned forward.

"It doesn't matter Hiei."

Hiei scoffed, grasping on to Kurama's shoulders.

"Of course it does! You will die."

"No, I won't!" Kurama cried out. He lowered his volume when he continued, though. "I am not planning on dying so young. I will be safe."

This time, Hiei couldn't hold it in.

"Come with me."

He sounded stupid. Tactically, it would be a fucking disaster.

"Come with me." He doubled down.

Kurama stared at Hiei, green eyes wide and frenzied. Hiei couldn't even gain amusement at the state of Kurama, though, enchanted as he was by his beautiful moss green eyes.

He hadn't objectively forgotten how pretty Kurama was, but realising it like this, was an experience all over again.

Hiei wanted to kiss his open mouth and contain Kurama's present vulnerability all within himself.

As rapidly as it had been overturned, Kurama's composure returned. His expression closed in on itself again. Strikingly, Hiei felt a pull in his gut as he gazed into Kurama's eyes. He was reminded of that day, the very first day, when Kurama asked Hiei to come to the arcade with the group.

He didn't like the look in those eyes, thrilled as he was by the promise of danger a time ago.

"Okay." Kurama nodded.

…

That night, Hiei dreamt of going back home to Yukina, before he remembered Hiei could exist any more.

Even after he left.

He couldn't see Yukina, not for a really, really long while.

He wept, shamefully, embarrassedly, he wept like a child. Then, once he was done, he wiped his eyes, took a deep breath and let Kurama's promise carry him back into dreams.

At least, they'd have each other.

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