Hiei stood on the balcony of the hotel room, looking down on the street below. It was empty. The breeze ruffled his hair, carrying conversations from the lobby below. Conversations about how the guests looked so weak and ordinary, how could they even get past the first match in the tournament? Hiei smiled to himself. They wouldn't know what hit them when team Urameshi stepped into the ring. However...he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had in his gut...
He heard a sound behind him. Whirling around, he had the intruder pinned to the ground in seconds. It was Kurama.
He smiled at him. "Nervous?"
"Hn." Hiei released Kurama and walked back to his spot. "Don't be ridiculous."
Kurama brushed himself off and joined Hiei by the balcony. "Prepared, then."
"You could say that," muttered Hiei.
The uneasy breeze started up again, and Kurama began to shiver despite his warm clothes.
"So, you feel it too?" asked Hiei.
Kurama nodded.
"I don't like it." Hiei didn't need to explain. The whole ambiance surrounding the tournament was dark and unfriendly. Kurama decided that Hiei needed to relax. Moving behind him, he took his hand and gently ran it up Hiei's side, coming to rest on his shoulder. The only acknowledgement the demon offered was a barely perceptible sigh that escaped his lips.
"Coming to bed?" he asked.
Hiei's eyes darted from side to side, making sure that no one was watching. That no one could see that Hiei was actually enjoying what Kurama was doing to him.
Kurama could still sense his uneasiness, and decided that he must want to be left alone. He withdrew his hand.
"Well, if I don't see you tomorrow...just...be careful out there, all right?"
"Hn. You know I'm always careful—" But when he turned around, Kurama was gone. He shrugged, and turned back to the balcony. The wind had stopped, and so had the conversations below. In the empty silence, he pondered Kurama's words to him. If he didn't see him tomorrow?
His hand fell upon something sharp. When he looked down, he saw it was a rose. Had Kurama left it for him?
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind tumbled over the roof and flung the rose over the edge. Hiei desperately tried to catch it, but to no avail. He watched with dismay as it tumbled to the dark streets below.
What was he thinking? Without a second glance to the dark environment around him, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked inside to a waiting Kurama.