I am so sorry for the delays so far, my babies 3 but I have the rest of the story written and ready to go and I will be posting new chapters every Monday from now on!
If Hiei was left feeling hopeful after that conversation with Kurama, it was all for naught. After that morning, Kurama refused to come to visit him. He received no messages and he had no way to send them. So, he stayed put. He ate his food, went to the loo, and remained awake staring at the ceiling for hours on end before he drifted off.
He couldn't even make out the figures anymore.
In the end, Mukuro came before Kurama did.
…
Hiei had no idea when Mukuro was going to arrive, nor was he sure that he would. Kurama had told him exactly nothing after he left his room that day. He hadn't so much as shown his face around. He didn't even have the mental strength to let himself fill with doubts anymore, though because if he didn't have Kurama, he had nothing. Not to mention, it would only mean the redhead had successfully gotten him to waste however many days laying around for another one of his twisted mindgames all because he could. Hiei honestly couldn't tell what he would do if that were to be the case.
All he could really do was sit and stare at his ceiling, perking up in anticipation every time someone opened his door, and then wilt in ever growing desperation when it turned out to not be Kurama.
So, when the hushed knocking happened came through that evening, out of schedule for his meal and washroom runs, he sat up, alert. Nobody knockedaround here and it was pointless to. Hiei didn't have a lock on the inside of his room and no way of doing absolutely anything except maybe jerking off but nobody could be stupid enough to think he could be wanking in a place like this.
The door was opened seconds later and a vaguely familiar face popped in. The lights falling in from the hallway were dim, past dusk as it was but the purple hair was still way too eye-catching to really be missed.
It was the guy who had grinned at him in the washroom that day.
Hiei frowned and remained unmoving, unsure what was the right move to make in this situation. He didn't know the guy and the last time one of these guards had approached Hiei out of turn, it hadn't spelled out anything but trouble for him.
"Hurry up!" The man gestured. He was nearly three times Hiei's size though, and so, it was not all that surprising when Hiei refused to move.
"We don't have too long. The round of guards has just changed and Touya can't distract them for very long. We have to get out."
There was urgency in the man's voice, but he was far from losing his patience with Hiei. He kept his voice low and Hiei was convinced it was less for safety reasons and more because he was trying to not spook Hiei, considering his entire body language was that of someone trying their best to not frighten a caged animal.
It was humiliating but true. In a way, Hiei was a caged animal.
When the penny dropped his eyes widened and the man picked up on the change in his expression. He nodded.
"Yes. It's today. Now, move your fucking arse."
Something snapped in Hiei then and it was like a huge part of him went absolutely silent. A sort of a white noise, posing as the background of every coherent thought he had had, was suddenly turned off and Hiei was left with a whole lot of nothing.His body crashed into auto pilot and he rushed towards the hulking man, who immediately dumped a cap on his head. Hiei barely registered it though, for he was distracted by a black-haired man of his own height and build slinking into the room and taking Hiei's place on the bed, before he could so much as catch sight of his face.
"Come on." The purple-haired man nudged him.
Before Hiei had taken a single step forward, something was thrust into his hand. He glanced down at it, felt a familiar and yet intense tidal wave of sheer belonging crash against his consciousness, and flexed his fingers around the grip.
Then, he stuck the gun in his waistband.
The door to the washroom was opened and Hiei was pushed inside. Before he could gather himself a pair of hands tightened around his shoulders and turned him around. There was another man in there, with wild red hair and cattish features. He handed Hiei a bundle of clothes and pointedly turned his back.
Without stopping to question anything, Hiei changed into the white sweatshirt and pants combo and trainers. It didn't look like anything the guards around here wore and he wasn't sure how white on white was gonna help them blend in and sneak out but his upper facilities weren't so well-tuned together yet to work with his inhibitions and before he knew it, he was tapping the man on his shoulder.
The man gave him a once-over, nodded with a satisfied grin and began fishing around in his pockets.
He pulled out a tiny box and told Hiei to hold still.
What followed were quite possibly few of the most terrifying moments of Hiei's life. It was a terror of a whole another kind to let someone poke around in your eyes, which was exactly what the man did as he placed the contacts in Hiei's eyes.
"The colour stands out too much. Nobody should cross you guys but this is a necessary precaution." He told Hiei.
Then, the door was opened again and Hiei was being pushed out, again. He wished these people would just tell him when they needed him to get a move on but alas, beggars couldn't be choosers.
Back beside the purple-haired man, he was quickly nudged into action.
"Hurry. They will be here any second."
They booked it out of there, not quite running or even walking fast enough to look suspicious, but clearly in a hurry. When footsteps sounded at the end of the hallway, Hiei didn't turn around.
He couldn't help it, the emptiness of the hallway was bugging him a bit.
"I thought there were more guards placed around here."
The purple-haired man remained silent long enough for Hiei to become convinced he wasn't actually going to get an answer but then the giant sighed and muttered,
"The roll has been switched out. It's time for a change of guards but other than the two outside your door, none on this floor will say a word even if they do catch sight of you. The tricky bit is getting you off this and the next three floor. It will get easier after that."
Hiei nodded, barely even registering any of that. He focussed on keeping himself moving till they bypassed the lift and the stairwell came into view. A bunch of men were climbing up it and Hiei tensed.
"It's fine." The man muttered.
They kept moving, passing by the gaggle that barely paused to look at them. Hiei instinctively covered his face anyway.
"It's fine." The man insisted again. "They are our men."
"The guards who don't know your face have been stationed from the fifth to the ground floor because there's no way we're leaving the house without one of them seeing us. The next floor is going to be a problem Hiei. Do notopen your fucking mouth. You get that?"
"Where is Kurama?" He asked instead.
"We're going to him."
At the last stair, the man held out an arm, signalling for Hiei to stop as he peeked out into the hallway beyond. They remained still for the next five minutes and only moved once the man gestured for Hiei too.
Once out of the stairwell, Hiei immediately found himself surrounded by men, lined up against the wall on either sides of the stairwell. He kept his head down and instinctively began slinking instead of walking upright like he usually did.
"Hey Chuu," Someone Hiei didn't dare to look up at called out in English. The voice seemed foreign too. "Who is that?"
"A kid from the load downstairs." The man next to Hiei replied. They didn't stop walking. "Kurama asked."
The man who had asked the question snickered.
"Didn't know his tastes leaned that way. No wonder he always looks so loathe to be around Boss."
Hiei could taste something disgusting sitting atop his tongue and he found himself wanting to spit it out.
"He is getting too brave now that Yomi ain't here. Think he fucks the Jap up there, too. He looks like a kid if you squint." Somebody else spoke up and suddenly Hiei found it harder to remain silent.
Chuu, probably sensing the steady rise in Hiei's temper, quickened his steps, snorting out a way too fake sounding laughter in time with the rest of the men.
"Don't." He warned Hiei under his breath.
The walk was nerve-wracking and Hiei found his fingertips were quivering by the time they stopped in front of a door. Chuu knocked on it twice and Hiei watched with his heart thundering at the base of his throat. He had walked into this situation entirely blind and it was just starting to hit him that this man could've led him anywhere.
At least he had a gun.
The door opened and Hiei saw Kurama standing in the doorway. Immediately, he could feel his expression morphing into something way too expressive and Hiei lowered his head. There were two guards right outside the door, after all and Hiei couldn't give it away after they had come this far.
It hit him then, faced by the actual, physicality of facts that Kurama was truly as much a prisoner here as Hiei himself.
He was pushed into the room by Chuu and he put up some resistance, if only in pretend. The guards laughed, Kurama turned away with a bored sigh and finally, Hiei allowed himself to be pushed inside.
Once the door was shut behind him, he pulled back his hand and slapped Kurama right across his stupid, little face.
"Where the fuck have you been?" He growled.
Kurama, looking scandalised while holding his cheek, glared down at Hiei.
"Planning yourescape if it wasn't obvious!" He placed his hands on his waist. "What was that for?"
"I was worried." Hiei gritted his teeth.
"That I'd betray you?" Kurama raised a brow.
Hiei's face fell, then because… that wasn't it at all, was it? He hadn't even considered that possibility in all honesty. He had been nervous and anxious but it wasn't rooted in a distrust in Kurama.
Rather, he discovered, he had been worried forhim all this time.
Hiei crossed his arms over his chest.
"Won't be the first time." He grouched out.
Kurama merely smiled. He seemed to know Hiei didn't mean it.
That pissed him off and he stomped on the redhead's foot.
Kurama merely laughed harder.
"So, here's the plan," Kurama began explaining. "Mukuro will be arriving any second now. Or so I hope. There is a truck parked behind us right now, filled with children. The driver is taking a break here but when Mukuro arrives, the first thing they will do is send all the loose cargo away to minimise losses in a possible crossfire. They probably won't have the time to check that there's an extra 'child' and a whole adult in the back where they definitely shouldn't be."
Hiei made a face.
"We are hitching a ride in a truck of trafficked children?"
"Dire times, Hiei. It is the only way I can save them. I've sat back and watched Yomi do horrendous shit all this time but this… this I can't take."
Hiei stared at Kurama unable to look away from his vibrant green eyes, alight once again with passion and the promise of something exciting.
This, this was the man Hiei had gone to the arcade with, wild, vibrant, dangerous. Not the husk of a human that Kurama was under Yomi's thumb.
"Okay." Hiei nodded.
"Why am I in here then?"
Hiei spread his arms out to encompass the vastness of the room, taking it in for the first time. The sheets were red, the curtains were red. The walls of the room were a stark white, though and golden decorative pieces and photo frames dotted the room's walls and shelves. If he hadn't known better, Hiei would have refused to believe this was Kurama's space.
"It's ugly, isn't it?" Kurama asked immediately after the thought occurred to Hiei, as if he had read it in his mind.
Hiei simply nodded. Faced with the pleasure of an actual bed with an actual mattress, however, he couldn't resist throwing himself on to it.
"You're here because this room has an inbuilt stairway going down two floors. One is Yomi's bedroom, and below it, my library. I have made it so that most men who recognise your face well are stationed on the floor underneath this so you don't have to bump into any of them this way."
Kurama stalked closer to Hiei, hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. Despite the heightened risks of the situation they were caught in, Kurama seemed to be thrumming with life, cocksure and playful, suddenly. Hiei couldn't help but raise a brow.
"What are you upto?" He asked.
Kurama came to perch on the bed next to him. Unmindful of his own actions, Hiei lifted a hand and threaded it through his hair, drawing the strands closer to his face. Kurama smiled down at him, some of the amusement dying away to leave something way too soft for Hiei to face headon.
"Will you kiss me, Hiei?"
That had Hiei shooting up straight. He scowled at Kurama.
"What the fuck is this?" He bit out.
Kurama chuckled, it was a light, boyish sound. Hiei didn't think he had heard that from Kurama ever before.
"Please?" He tilted his head and licked his lips and with a curse Hiei pounced on him.
Kurama laughed harder but Hiei pushed him down on his back and came to straddle him. He grabbed at Kurama's jaw and held his face steady before slotting their lips together.
Kurama sighed. Hiei felt something flutter in his gut at the sound.
He pulled back to gaze at Kurama, who was grinning up at him with all the self-satisfaction in the world. It was driving Hiei insane, slowly but surely. Maybe it was the adrenaline of the situation that was to be blamed or maybe Hiei had just gone a little crazy but he cupped Kurama's face, looked him straight in the eye, and said,
"I am going to fuck the brains out of you, one day."
Kurama's face twisted, the expression in his eyes new to Hiei, who frowned. Before he could open his mouth again, though Kurama, who had so far remained docile underneath him, grabbed Hiei's waist and turned them around driving his back into the mattress.
They kissed again and this time more frantically, as if any second now, they'd tear each other's clothes off. Their hands remained firmly above fabric though, for they were both aware if they went down that lane they won't stop and now wasn't the time to be getting sexy, even if the heat of Kurama's mouth didmake Hiei bunch his fists in the bedsheets like a wanton virgin.
… and so, Hiei was not expecting the stab of the needle to the side of his neck. He stared blearily up at Kurama, who was looking down at him, face devoid of the barest hints of a smile and as the world melted off around the edges, Hiei tried to reach for his face.
"See you on the other side," he said as he closed his eyes, consciousness escaping his grasp amidst the scent of roses.
…
When Hiei woke up, he was lying on the forest floor and his head was hurting like it never had before.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes. They were stinging like a bitch. It was day outside already and from the glare and height of the sun in the sky, Hiei assumed it was somewhere around noon. He looked around himself, the event of the night before coming to him in a rush.
He wasn't in that awful, torturous, tiny, little room anymore.
That realisation brought with itself a relief so intense, Hiei felt himself tearing up. He doubled over and hugged himself for all of a second, giving his body a stern command to pull it together before he started looking around about himself.
All he could see were tress and bushes and grass and greenery. No buildings, whatever the one he was held in looked like, were anywhere to be seen.
Neither were any tall redheads with impish smiles and bubbly butts.
Hiei came to his feet, frantically looking about himself. He turned in circles, futilely but he couldn't figure out anywhere to go. His heart thundered in his chest, the relief he had felt seconds ago draining out of him through his feet. Where was Kurama? What had happened to him? Hiei's hands reached for his hair in frustration, and collided with the soft material of the knit cap. He tore it off of his head and threw it away.
"You woke up sooner than I expected."
A voice came from behind him. Hiei twisted about, a hopeful 'Kurama?' falling from him lips even though he could tell the voice wasn't his.
"Not him." Chuu shrugged. "Sorry."
"Where is he?" Hiei growled out.
"Look," Chuud looked largely unbothered by the threatening tone Hiei had taken with him and just stuck a finger in his ear. "Don't take that tone with me. I just risked my fucking life for you and I sure as fuck don't have the patience to deal with your fucking temper tantrums. Kurama is where he wants to be. He said he'd get you out. Congrats, you're out. Nobody owes you shit beyond this."
"Fuck you." Hiei stomped closer to Chuu, leaves crunching under his shoes. "He toldme he would come with me."
Chuu didn't even bother to look at Hiei when he addressed him, way too busy checking his phone for something.
"Well, obviously, he lied. Cause you were being a pain in his ass about it. What made you think it was gonna be this easy huh? Like he could just get up and walk out?!"
Hiei was starting to realise, from the clipped tone of Chuu's, that maybe he was avoiding looking at Hiei because he couldn't stand to. He definitely sounded pissed off to hell.
"He would have done that ages ago if he could. You would never be left alone if he were to have gone with you! You would be hounded to the ends of the world and both you and him would be chased right back. Right now? With Mukuro in the picture you're nothing but a minor inconvenience and that's what is keeping you alive. So take your window and disappear before you are caught and killed."
Hiei gritted his teeth because all of that made sense. He couldn't believe he had fucking missed it, couldn't believe he hadn't seen through Kurama's bullshit and lies. Of course, he won't go with him. It won't have been safe for either of them.
Except Hiei just hadn't been expecting such selflessness from Kurama. He had remained behind in his horrible cage all for Hiei. If he had left, he'd have stood a fucking chance, however slim, but he'd passed that up for the unworthy pig that Hiei was and Hiei didn't know how to deal with that.
Chuu, with his dull eyes and bored yawns, was all too sharp as it turned out. He noticed the flexing of Hiei's fist and pinned him under a pointed stare.
"That anger you're feeling right now? Take it and make something out of it. Don't you dare destroy yourself Hiei. I will personally find you and torture you to death if you let this go to waste."
Without a doubt, Hiei knew that the man meant it.
…
Chuu led and Hiei followed and for a while, that was all that was left of Hiei's world.
He didn't have much to say and Chuu didn't care for conversation anyway. Hiei remembered Kurama had talked of a little faction loyal only to him and he was sure Chuu belonged to it. He hated Hiei just enough for it.
He refused to speak of Kurama again, anyway and Hiei didn't have anything else to ask. He inquired behind the truck full of children once and was told the driver had been killed and they had been taken to a stronghold of one of Chuu's associates to the west of the manor, which was what Chuu called the place he had been held at, because there were far too many of them to be smuggled quietly away when people could be looking. Local authorities would be of no use. They'd have to get the kids back to their native countries before they could go about alerting the police.
Other than that, they communicated in grunts. Chuu had a decent supply of things to eat for the two days that they trudged through the forest on foot and he carries lots of spare contacts with him, too now that Hiei's initial pair were useless and infected after having been worn overnight.
Hiei let himself fall into the monotony of it all. The thrill, the fear had all drained away and all he had was this walk across the forest, and then the drive through it when Chuu got both of them into the back of a van that Hiei hadn't even bothered to register the colour of.
"You look dead." Chuu commented at one point. He turned away, lay his head on the window glass and went to sleep.
Usually alert and guarded Hiei seemed to have disappeared along with Kurama's touch. For the longest while, he just… couldn't be bothered to care. A lot passed him by that he didn't register and he supposed he had to thank Chuu for bearing him through all of it when Hiei had definitely been a pain to deal with.
"Just get lost." Was what Chuu told him, face curled in distaste. Hiei disgusted him and that, finally, pulled a laugh out of him.
"I didn't do it cause I wanted to." Chuu reminded him and Hiei nodded.
"Keep him safe." Hiei replied. He didn't like the desperation edging into his voice, didn't like how after the lull, after so long of feeling nothing, his first real sensations were a stab in his gut and the urge to plead with this man who despised him to keep that traitor redhead safe.
"I always do." Chuu spat back.
They didn't say a word more to each other and Hiei turned away, limbs feelings leaden as he walked aboard the ship. There were faces swimming in front of his eyes suddenly, though the day was bright outside- Yukina, Kuwabara, Keiko, Yuusuke… Kurama.
He was going to leave them all behind. It had taken him very long to finally realise it but he was never going to see his sister again. The comfort blanket that had kept him from breaking, the thought of having Kurama beside him, was gone now too and all he had left now was the ghost of their lips against each other.
No wonder Kurama had asked him to kiss him and Hiei had foolishly promised him something more, something he hadn't allowed himself to hope for all this time.
The ship sailed away, Chuu didn't look back, and Hiei, with his fake documents and aching heart had nobody to wave goodbye to. He turned around and left to go find his board.
…
It took him an embarrassingly long time to come back to his senses, for even he could see Kurama, the dumbass, had clean robbed him off of them for a while there. Hiei still found himself filled with a rage unparalleled by anything else in the world when he started thinking about what the idiot had done. So he couldn't leave with Hiei? So what? They could have figured out something else.
Hiei would have figured out something else.
His last memory of Kurama was rather sweet, the kisses and the promise to save those kids from a fate like his. They were too sweet actually, Hiei decided he hadn't had enough of Kurama yet.
Yomi wasn't invincible. Mukuro had proven that. All Hiei needed to do was exactly who could take him and Karasu down and make them do it.
He would find a way. He had always found a way.
He started researching while he was still on the ship, reactivating dead contacts he had sworn never to approach again, with the brand new phone Chuu had handed him. It took a while but names started being thrown around. Nobody could tell him exactly what had gone down at the manner but he knew both Karasu and Yomi had rushed to the States and it had caused quite the stir. He dug deeper, talked to shadier people, got into whichever lead he could find.
Slowly, he started noticing how often one name was mentioned.
Raizen.
He had apparently maintained a chokehold on the territory now divided between Yomi and Mukuro till he had died. His successor, his grandson, had no interest in this shit and had ceded power and let Yomi and Mukuro fight amongst themselves.
It was rumoured that if he wanted he could take them down in a day.
It was more difficult to find out this dude's name than it had been to dig out all of that and by the time Hiei reached Jaisalmer in India, the new homeland of his new identity as Jagan, he was no closer to the man than he had been when he didn't even know he existed.
Then, there was a stir, and what a stir it was. Out of nowhere, the opportunity arose. Hiei had never believed in Gods, but he thought if they existed, they had decided to go sweet on him and Kurama lately.
The man was making his way to New Delhi to meet his maternal grandma.
When he found out his name, Hiei couldn't temper his surprise, for who was to be the key to this mess but Yuusuke Urameshi?
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