AN: Welcome back! I just moved into a new house and am without internet at the moment(awful, isn't it?). But as the old and extremely worn out saying goes, "The show must go on!" Or, in this case, the fic must go on. But enough clichés, onto review responses!
Shippo-chan4- That review was...short. ::in awe:: No mob? No hyperness? Hm...that's not a good sign...
Saria19-Karasu? Jealous? Naw...not him...lol. I dunno. I've no clue where I'm going with this. You're guess is as good as mine. Guess we'll all just have to wait and see...
Wakajini no Shijo-Hiei was a little bit out of character. But I would be too spending so much time around Kurama...::cough:: Sorry. And don't think Hiei and Kurama getting together will be quick. Or maybe it will be. Who knows. I don't, that's for sure...
Nanashi2-Well, here's more for ya! I'm sorry I kinda stopped it there for a while. Little lack of inspiration...::mutters about something else under her breath::Ahem. Anyway...
Kirara1-...He found it in his pocket after lunch. Okay? There. I made a mistake. Maybe a crow snuck it in his pocket! Maybe he just spaced about it and actually DID bring money! Maybe he's just gone insane! Maybe he's really an idiot!::takes a deep breath::sorry...I'm okay now. Next review.
Rubi-Wow...::sighs::I'm really not one to always finish things...But! PLEASE KEEP YELLING AT ME TO DO SO! Did everyone read that? Good! Just yell at me to finish and I'm sure I will. I uh, just need a little gentle persuasion not be lazy is all.
Bishie Lovers 'R' Us-I really, really like your pen name. Anyway, yes, Hiei is acting a little unusual, as I mentioned before. I'll try to keep him a little more in character from now on though. Oh, and thank you very much for liking my work! Means a lot, really!
Well, that wraps that up. Thanks again for your reviews! Now, onto the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: Well, no one's tried to sue me yet, but still I will restate this: I DO NOT OWN YUYU HAKUSHO! Okay? Okay!
Dark Lust
Chapter Three: Blood
Click...
I unlocked the door and stepped through, Hiei not far behind me. I shut the door behind me and turned to find him taking a seat on the couch. Recalling the last time he was here, I found it fascinating. He never seemed comfortable around anyone, but now...
I thought about what we had just been doing. Hiei and I had been walking together, hand in hand. Wait, that meant that--or did it? What did it mean, if anything at all? But maybe that was why he was acting like this, or, or..
"Kurama?"
He didn't have feelings for me, did he? No, of course not. But, maybe he was the one who brought the rose and left those vines. I mean, it didn't seem unreasonable.
"Kurama?"
It all seems to make sense though. He knows where my house is, my room, my desk--
"KURAMA!"
"N-nani?!?" Hiei sat, stared and blinked at me.
"Ningenkai to fox! I only said your name three times!" Oops...
I rubbed that back of my head. "Aheh, sorry Hiei, I uh, didn't hear you."
"So I noticed..."He muttered.
Wait, I want to know whether or not Hiei thinks something more of me than a friend. You're a bright fox, so here's the simple solution. Ask!
"Do you often have telepathic conversations with yourself?"
"Tele...pathic--I wasn't talking to myself! Just thinking..."
"Thinking about what?"
"Nothing."
"That sure sounds interesting..."
"Hiei!"
"Well..."
"Well what?!?"
"Nothing, just--hm?" Hiei stopped and stood mid-sentence. "Did you hear that?" He was obviously indicating the loud crash I had just heard upstairs.
"Yeah, I did. But what was it?"
"There's only one way to find out..." He started toward the stairway.
"Hiei, don't!" I grabbed his shoulder and he turned to look at me. "Listen, I don't think it's safe. Why don't we just stay down here?"
"Kurama, if someone's in your house that you obviously don't want here, then shouldn't you do something about it?" Okay, now I felt stupid.
"I-I suppose so. But what if it's--" I hadn't told Hiei about what had happened. Maybe now was the time. "Hiei, I didn't tell you about something." I sighed and began. "Last night someone broke into my house. Not just once, but twice or even more than that. The first things I found were black rose sitting on my bed and black feathers in the bathroom. When I was taking a shower, I saw a dark figure standing in the bathroom in front of the shower doors. When I said something, they left immediately, but stopped by my room again and left some vines with the rose." Hiei seemed to be going over all that I had just said.
"I didn't leave feathers--" He muttered and stopped as he obviously saw me staring in disbelief. "I mean, I--"
"So it was you who kept breaking into my house!" He raised his hands in his defense but then met with a shameful look.
"Look, I--" He seemed so hurt.
"Hiei..."
"Can we just talk later, we need to find out what happened upstairs."
"Oh...right." I ran up the stairway feeling more confidant with Hiei right behind me. I stopped at my bedroom and quickly opened the door. Nothing was in disarray. I shut the door and came to the next; the bathroom door. My hand flinched as I reached for the door knob.
"Want me to check?"
"No, it's okay. Like you said, my house, my responsibility to take care of it."
"That's not exactly what I meant..."
I slowly cracked the door open. Taking a deep breath, I entered the tiled room and let out a gasp. My neat white-tile bathroom was no longer the clean ivory it had been. I looked around, my mouth gaping. The shower was overrun with scarlet liquid. The floor was streaked with crimson. The sink was drenched in the same; blood. I looked up from the sink and found my reflection crossed with blood. My body suddenly went limp and my mouth dry of words as my eyes read what was written on the silvery, glass surface.
'I'm Coming back Kurama-kun...'
"H-how..." I prayed that I was mistaken, but last night's event in the bathroom came back to me vividly. Even though my sight was blurred, I could still make out a tall, slender silhouette. And before that, the feathers. It was too much of a coincidence...
"Hiei, you weren't the one in here last night, were you?" I turned to him. He looked up at me and then slowly shook his head. I turned and looked down to the floor.
"K'sou..." Then it was him. I had thought so at first, but my mind found it more comforting to convince myself that it wasn't. I should have known after I had the dream. It was a dead giveaway...
"Kurama, what are you going to do?" I looked at the broken window. Shards of jagged glass were scattered near it.
"I don't know, Hiei...I just don't know..."
"Oh, there you are Shuichi! I was beginning to get worried..." Hiei and I were kneeling down, picking up the last remains of the earlier scene. My mother's eyes drifted to Hiei, then back to me. "What are you two doing?"
"Oh, some neighborhood children were playing around and found their way into our yard, Mother. They were playing with a baseball when one of them accidentally hit the window. We hadn't heard anything until the window shattered. I'm sorry, Mother."
"It's alright, Shuichi. It wasn't your fault." She looked at Hiei again. "You must be Hiei." He nodded. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you so much for helping Shuichi out."
"You're...welcome." Courtesy towards humans was not Hiei's strong point...
"Could I get you two anything?" I looked at Hiei who immediately shook his head.
"No thank you, we're fine."
"Alright then. I'll be downstairs. I have some paper work to do." I nodded and she left. I turned to Hiei and found him staring at my hand. When I looked down I saw a cut from which a small trickle of blood was running from. Great, clean up one mess and make another...
I was surprised when Hiei placed his hand under my palm and brought it slowly up to his face. I watched as he brought it up to his mouth and licked it carefully, making sure not to miss a drop of blood. When he finished, he slowly put my hand back down, letting both of ours rest in his lap. I knew I was blushing. But so was he.
Hiei removed his hand and stood up. "Looks like were finished here then." I remembered what Hiei had said to me earlier.
"Hiei, when are we going to get a chance to talk?" He stopped under the doorway. He stood for a second not saying a word, but then turned to look back at me.
"I was hoping we could talk later tonight. But--" Hiei must have noticed me blushing again. I really had to stop doing that. But what he said, well, I suppose I had just taken it the wrong way on accident, or maybe on purpose...
Hiei must have realized exactly how I had taken it for his expression seemed to match my own. He hid it by turning and going to leave. "Hiei, wait!" I yelled as I slipped on the wet floor. And there was only one thing to grab onto...
I came crashing to the floor. I prayed my Mother had not heard as I looked down to find myself laying on top of Hiei. From what I could tell, he seemed a little frightened, a little worried, and very confused. But for some odd reason, I didn't move.
"Kurama...get off." Suddenly finding myself capable of moving again, I stood up and held out a hand to Hiei, which he took hesitantly.
"Sorry...I slipped."
"Shuichi!" My mother called from downstairs. "I just got a call from work. I have to go to a last minute convention. They already have me booked to stay over until Wednesday evening." Shiori came to the top of the steps. "Will you be alright for a few days if I leave you some money?"
"Of course." I said assuringly.
"Alright then. Hiei, you're welcome to stay at the house here with Shuichi if you want. I can leave some extra money for the both of you."
"That would be acceptable--I mean, that would be very considerate. Thank you." My Mother smiled and gave him a look that told me she thought he was just a little, well, different.
"I'll leave it on the kitchen table. If you need something, you can just give me a call on my cell phone." I nodded. "Have fun you two!" She hurried down the steps and the front door shut.
Hiei turned to me. "Well, looks like you'll be staying a while then."
"I guess so..." After a moment I looked at Hiei again.
"Shall we go talk now?" He nodded. "Then why don't we go to my room?" Hiei's face was veiled in pink. I stood nervously waiting. Nothing I said or thought seemed right tonight...But after a few seconds, Hiei followed me into my room. He blushed even more as he saw the rose sitting on my desk. I quickly sat down on my bed and Hiei eyed it uncertainly. I patted my hand next to me. "It's alright, Hiei. You can sit next to me, I don't mind." He reluctantly sat down beside me, leaving some space between us.
I took a deep breath. "So...Hiei." He didn't move. "Why...what is all this for?" I found it extremely difficult to ask him anything. He seemed to find it even harder to answer.
"I don't...know really. Maybe I just thought that..." This was it...this was where he would confess his feelings... "Well, I thought maybe you didn't think of us as friends..." I fell on my back. "Kurama?" Friends?! He was worried whether or not if we were friends?! After the lunch, the arcade, the handholding, the stalking, the falling! I sat up and rested my arms on my legs, hanging my head. "Is...something wrong?" I was astonished over what he had just said. Worried over friendship! But I was beginning to feel something else come over me. Disappointment. I wasn't really disappointed about him not saying we were something more, was I?
"No..."Somehow I couldn't find the strength to even lift my head. It seemed I had built up all of that anticipation in hopes of Hiei telling me that he felt something for me. The cold truth was that he didn't. How could I have been so foolish to think that. It was a lot that Hiei would even want to tell me he's my friend. To expect that much was just stupid. But all those times today that we had met eye to eye. I thought I had saw something hidden behind those crimson orbs, just a hint of passion. I guess I was wrong...
Hiei had been silent all the time that I sat there thinking. I jumped when I felt his hand come to rest on my back. He withdrew at my jerk, but it fell back again, more gently then before. I turned to look at him and sighed. "Hiei...of course we're friends. We'll always be friends. I just..."
"Uh, Kurama?"
"Yes Hiei?" He lifted his hand and pointed a finger.
"Your neighbor's house is on fire."
"Oh..." I froze for a second then whipped around. "That house is on fire!"
Hiei sweat dropped. "Yeah, that's what I just said..."
"Well, officer, he looked like he was fairly tall, maybe. Well, yeah, he was tall alright."
"Are you sure ma'am? It must have been awful hard to see."
"I told you! Dressed dark as night! Or maybe..."
"Alright, alright. Hey Tom! We have an eyewitness! Says she got a pretty good look at the arsonist."
Hiei stood next to me as a young cop with a sketchpad jogged over to Ms. Kamiya. She began describing the man who committed the arson to him.
"What about his facial details? Did you get a good look at his face?"
"His face? Well, no, not exactly. I'm not completely sure, but it seemed like there was something over his face."
I looked on as my neighbor began to tell about the facial details of the arson. I immediately assumed it was him she was talking about, but after hearing how she described him, I began to question whether or not it really was.
"Kurama?"
"Hai?"
"You think it was him, don't you?" I stared absently, not wanting to recall the dream. Even so, the images danced vividly in my head. "What are we going to do about this guy? I mean, if he's stalking you, shouldn't we do something?"
"Yeah, I know we should, but the question is what should we do?"
"Hm, killing might just seem like a good idea..." I turned and half glared at him.
"Not what I meant...What I meant was, how do we find him? Should we look for him, or wait until he comes to us?" I put my hand on my chin. Finally I just dropped my arms. "Why couldn't I have just killed him in the first place!"
I found three sets of eyes upon me as the two officers and Ms. Kamiya stared at me. "Aheh..." I laughed nervously, stepping back toward the house. Hiei followed me through the front door. I slumped down onto the couch and sighed. "This is just too much for one fox to handle..."
"Oh, and the fire demon counts for nothing?" Hiei said as he took a seat next to me.
"Of course you count for something, Hiei. You count a lot." He seemed to pick something unintended in my tone.
I looked over at the clock. 9:30. It wasn't that late, but I felt really tired for some reason. "Maybe we should just pick up where we left off in the morning. I think I need to get some sleep." I stretched and yawned getting up from the couch.
"And where exactly am I going to sleep?" I forgot that Hiei needed a place to sleep too. My Mother's room? I guess that would work. But I would rather have him be nearby in case he showed up. I felt flush at what I was about to ask him, but tried to word it so he wouldn't get the wrong idea...
"Hiei...would you mind sleeping me with? I mean, I just don't feel very safe being alone." The realization of my vulnerability in sleep was just beginning to set in. Hiei looked embarrassedly at me but finally sighed and said fine. "Thank you, Hiei." I gave him a kind smile. I wonder if you knew how much I appreciated this all...
The two of us headed for my room. "Need some PJ's?" Hiei stared at me. "Pajamas, nightclothes, Hiei. Stuff you where to bed."
"Oh..." He shrugged. I shook my head and got into my closet knowing nothing I had would fit him. I tossed a set of blue pajamas at him and turned to see him pull them off his head. I pulled out my favorite ones, which had roses on them, naturally. My Mother had protested, but I insisted that I simply loved roses and she gave in.
Needless to say, I wanted to avoid the bathroom as much as possible. I turned my back to Hiei and started to undue my shirt. I felt Hiei's eyes still on me and turned my head. "If you wouldn't mind..."
"Sorry." He turned around and threw off his jacket. I heard his clothes ruffles as he took them off. I tried to keep my mind off what the demon would like look minus his clothes. After a minute I heard nothing and turned around.
"I'm finished now." He turned around and I got a good look at him. His hands and feet were lost in the folds of silk. I tried all I could but couldn't suppress my laughter. He was far too cute looking for me to do that. "Aw..."
He crossed his arms and glared as best as he could. It only made him look even cuter. "Oh, come on now, Hiei. It's not that bad!" He continued glaring. I merely laughed and shook my head.
He turned to the bed and coughed. "So we're sharing the bed, I suppose..."
I nodded. "We don't have any spare blankets clean, so I guess we'll have to."
"Fine then..." Hiei crawled to the far side of the bed and I soon joined him. I laid on my side, facing away from him. Moon light filtered through my curtain and sent a shiver through my body. 'He's out there...somewhere...' I could hear a cricket chirp quietly in the dark outside. Then silence. I was so uneasy I thought that I would never be able to sleep. Then I felt an arm slip under my waist, another over. Hiei...he held onto me, unsurely, but trying to comfort me as best he could. I could feel my tension begin to melt and Hiei's grasp became more comfortable.
"Go to sleep, fox. Everything's going to be alright..."