Nightmare of Roses

Yuu Yuu Hakusho doesn't belong to me, only in my dreams.

AN: I have no clue where the inspiration for this story came out, though, I was thinking about a very good Karasu and Kurama fic so there may be a reason—but I am usually a strict HieixKurama fan. This is a one shot.

WARNING: YAOI, some spoilers for the Ankoku Bujutsukai/Dark Tournament.

Even if time knew how to fly by fast with no worry, it didn't. No matter how much Kurama wanted it to. The nightmares of him were almost too much for him to take. The battle and the blood—though was never such a bother before, but it was his mother's blood as that devil of a demon murdered his own human mother right in front of his eyes. But it never happened; just another dream caused by the Ankoku Bujutsukai and the battle that nearly cost him his life. And in the end, neither of them won, but Karasu had ended up dead, which was the only good thing.

Why though? Why was that crow haunting him, even in his dreams? It made no sense no matter how Kurama looked at it. Okay, so Karasu had something for him, but what exactly that was, he would never know. Karasu was dead, and there was no way he could come back and haunt him like he was doing. Or was there something else that went along with it?

Kurama thought back to that day, there in the hallway where Karasu wrapped his hands about his neck. Remembered the cold feeling that went through him as the crow did so. Those words, those haunting words spoken before and after, nothing would ever scare him like that, ever again. A humiliating thought, really; a demon was afraid of nothing, they couldn't afford that. Then there was a demon's weakness, but Kurama had only one, which, during that event, was already used to its limit—which was really none, though it was used once.

"Hn, never thought I would see you in such deep thought that you couldn't sense me, kitsune," muttered Hiei, sitting on the windowsill looking at Kurama with a blank stare. They just looked at each other before Kurama went back to his school work, all the assignments he had to make up from being a Rekai Tantei. It was amazing that he was still making straight A's in all his classes! None of this mattered to the fire demon; ningens were pointless with all their equally pointless ways of life.

"And why, may I ask, are you here?" Kurama said, putting his pencil down, and closing the workbook, and turning in his chair to look at his friend. Hiei was just sitting there, one leg hanging while the other was placed along the wooden ledge as the fire demon looked out the window at the sky, the wind blowing through the leaf-filled branches of the tree just out side Kurama's window. There was silence as Hiei just kept looking out into the night.

Giving a sigh, Kurama took out another workbook, calculus this time, and gave another sigh. It was all really pointless to concentrate on something like homework while his friend was visiting him. Even if it was normal for Hiei to not say anything, it was quite uncomfortable if the fire demon didn't do anything. But didn't he love Hiei for that?

Another sigh, (he was doing that too often) but he had good reasons. Yes, he did love Hiei, for so long Kurama had never doubted those feelings, if only it wasn't for those dreams. Haunting as they were, they started to brew emotions in him that Kurama thought was never possible—love for Karasu. Of all the vile ideas in the world, he had somehow started to care for the son of a bitch in a way he never dreamed possible. It was madness, pure madness!

"You look pale fox." Hiei had moved from the windowsill and came to Kurama's side, running the back of his hand against his friend's white cheek. The look in his eyes gave away nothing. But what else did you expect, thought Kurama. Karasu gave more emotion than Hiei, well, at least in the department which involved their feelings for him, but now wasn't the time. Now, if only Hiei would let Kurama break through the walls the fire demon had put up, to let himself be loved for once—truly loved by someone who really cared—all would be perfect. A perfect ending for the perfect story.

"The nightmares still come," Kurama whispered out, looking at his friend for a moment before returning to his work. Yes, they had been destroying him day after day since that battle, tearing away at him both mentally and physically.

"Then stop letting them get to you," came Hiei's reply. And then the demon was gone leaving Kurama alone with those words echoing in the air.

That night, the dream came once more, but it was different, Kurama was no longer at the arena reliving the battle, or at his house watching the dead demon come back to life and kill his family and finally take his own life. It was dark, everything was pitch black, but the fox felt no fear, just an eerie calmness that seemed to fit the place. Maybe that is what made it seem so unreal, the feeling of dread rising. This place was surreal and unnatural. A prefect place for a crow who loves to destroy.

"Is this place not of your liking?" The voice echoed through Kurama's ears, and suddenly, they were at the arena, destroyed and empty, an exact copy of they way their battle had ended. And there he was, Karasu standing on the spot where he had died, his hair that blonde color, flowing about him, his mask was no where in sight. Kurama didn't step back, nor did he gasp or look on in any sort of fear, but stood there emotionless as Karasu looked back with a feral smirk. "Really, Youko, you should learn not to be so picky. I can't go changing the whole world for you, even if it is just your dreams."

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked, trying to keep his passive face, but it fell away as he looked on.

"My death, you know, it was wonderful, but really, yours would've have been SO much better."

"Don't start with you loving logic."

"Touchy, aren't we." Suddenly, Karasu was behind him, long fingers dancing through Kurama's blood red strands of hair. Instead of feeling a cold shock like before, he felt safe and loved, as if Karasu was harmless. "Either red or silver, I will always enjoy the texture and look. So beautiful. Perfect in your own way."

There was silence; his fingers just running through his hair while Kurama looked on.

"But something I can't destroy." Those arms slipped past his hair, past his head, wrapping about his chest in a hold as the older man rested his head on Kurama's shoulder, looking out into their horizon along with the fox. "For so long I've been able to kill those whom I love, to be rid of my weakness with my own hands, so no one else would be able to take it from me other then myself."

Those words sent a shiver down Kurama's spine, Karasu's cool breath spoken across the other's ear in sensual caress. They hit something, deep with in him, but Kurama was sure it wasn't finished, that Karasu had more to say that would clear things better then any dream could ever do.

"Though, I could never—would never, is more like it—kill you. And thus, I let you do the honors."

"And you were telling me so in your dreams?" Kurama slipped himself out of the others hold, looking at Karasu with serious emerald eyes. "If so, what about the ones where it is you who kills my mother—the only one who didn't threaten her like all the rest?"

"Ah, those dreams, they were created by your own worries, your own fears," Karasu answered, tweaking the kitsune's nose with a swift, soft movement of playful intentions, one that seemed to soften the look in Kurama's eyes. It was like the crow actually cared for him. "And I never meant for you to have such dreams, but your own fear of me, and your love for your mother brought them together, taking away your intention worry. But they still hurt, and your friend could tell, how ever annoying he is."

"So you never meant for them to come, but still, you were the reason behind it all." Kurama paused, looking at Karasu's own green eyes before continuing. "And you know of my feelings, that I love someone else—and despise everything about you."

"Such harmful words, but everything is true."

"Even so, you still come for me."

"And only you."

"Which is probably why I feel something for you."

"Oh, something? Other then your distaste?" A nicely shaped eyebrow curved up, the curious look in Karasu's eyes seemed to match that of someone with no real interest, but all the more intrigued.

"You are simply to much!" Kurama cried out. "No matter what I say, you have something else to come back with, practically shoving my own words back into my mouth!"

"I think I could do that much better with a kiss." And he did just as he said. Their lips meet with no sound. Only the sound of Kurama's lashes gently brushing his skin as he closed his eyes after a moment of shock. Lost in the feeling Karasu had provoked inside of him, inside of his heart. Through all of this, Kurama could only come up with a single thought. Yes, this is much better.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Hiei's voice was the first thing Kurama heard when he woke the next morning, sunlight just coming in through his window, around the form of the fire demon as he sat on the windowsill, looking at the kitsune with his ruby eyes.

"Yes, yes, I think I did," Kurama replied, glancing at his friend, his fellow demon and companion. Someone he knew and loved, but no one could ever replace this new love in his heart, one he could never have again.

"Maybe so, but you can never know with the way the Reikai works, ne kitsune?" The red head looked at his friend in shock; it was almost as if Hiei knew exactly what he was thinking. "Hn, not that baka, but I can certainly tell what you are feeling. You may be a closed book to everyone else, but not to me."

"I believe, Hiei, that is the most I have ever heard you talk," said Kurama with a smile. Yes, Hiei was right, they could one day meet again. A fox who loves a crow. A strange couple, but one nonetheless.

"And so do I, kitsune no baka."

"But am I really such an open book? I really do try to keep my cool—breaking down isn't my thing." Kurama smiled impishly, his friend was his friend, even if he did open up more then usual.

"Ch' hell no kitsune, I had to watch you for quite a while to notice the reason why you weren't feeling well."

"Oh, and you knew I wasn't feeling well before hand?"

"Your youki, you could never hide it from me."

He let loose a laugh, his alto voice going deeper then normal as the sound rumbled out from deep in his chest. Hiei just let out a 'hn,' looking away as his friend just continued to laugh. After a while his laughter stopped, and Kurama rubbed the water from his eyes, along with sleep and put a smile on his face.

"Do you want some breakfast, Hiei? My family won't come back until some time later—went to visit some family in Hokkaido. And we have the house to ourselves." There was no reply as Kurama got out of his bed, running a hand through his red hair, tied back in a loose ponytail at the back of his neck. He looked back at his friend with a blink and then another smile. "We have sweet snow."

There were no arguments as Hiei got off from his perch and followed Kurama down to the kitchen. Yes, there would come a time, Kurama reasoned, where they would be together again, but as for now, he would live his life to the fullest, along with the old nightmare of roses.

Owari

AN: Well, that is the end of it! Hoped you all liked it and remember to please review—anything would be fine really. It is my first YYH fic I have ever written! Please? Thanks! And thank you MoMo-ChAn for helping editing this!