May!!! It's my birthday this month. For the last chapter, NOT ENOUGH REVIEWS!!! Since this chapter is my birthday, give me more reviews as a gift (what kind of a reason is this). Anyway, if you don't, I will delay the next chapter as much as I want.
Seasons Summer
May
The heat was enough to scorch the air. It was a miracle that flowers still bloomed in such a weather. But perhaps it was also because of the heat and the suffocating humidity in the air that caused the fragrance of the flowers to seemed especially intoxicating. It could make you drunk.
Heat and fragrance, didn't it sound like passion? Summer is indeed a season of passion.
"Hi, Yusuke." Kurama greeted the teenager on the line, "Do we have a new mission? Huh? Going to the beach?"
The vast stretch of the beach opened up in front of the view, yellow against the slightly greenish blue colour of the sea. The place was dotted with people, making the already hot day rise a few more degrees.
The sand could almost burn you, and the water was lukewarm, which didn't provide a good cooling spot. The scorching sunlight seemed to penetrate the umbrella and say sun block lotion you had on. Even so, lots of people still refused to leave. They were sure to get a sunburn the next day.
"But it is so hot today. Ok, fine, I'll go. What? Bring Hiei along? I don't' think he'll go though," Kurama talked thoughtfully, when all of a sudden, someone patted him on the back, making him jump and almost ripping the phone cord out of the wall. He turned and glared at Hiei, but the latter only smirked.
"Sorry, Yusuke. I'm fine," he narrowed his eyes, and said, "Hiei will go too. I'll make him go, even if it means dragging him along." Hiei stated, wide eyed, with an extremely bad feeling in his gut.
People now prayed for rain. Too bad it seemed that rain only fell on colder days.
Hiei folded his arms in front of his chest, VERY unhappy, because a) he was stuck in a car, b) he was stuck in a car with Kuwabara and Yusuke, and c) Kuwabara was fawning on Yukina. He must remember to never mess around with that fox again, who was now smiling rather smugly.
They were in a van, and Shizuru was being the driver. Aside form the people mentioned above, Keiko was also there. Hiei was silently glad that Botan was not there. The noise level was already beyond him.
Finally, he could get out of hell (according to Hiei, which was the car), only to find himself in a place even more crowed, noisy and filled with those simple-minded creatures called humans. This was going to be a long day. He fell backwards, right into the arms of Kurama.
"Look what you've got me into," he moaned in desperation.
"Don't say that as if I forced you here. I don't have so much power," Hiei only glared at him, and he pretended to be innocent and continued, "it's not that bad."
Unconsciously, Kurama's arms had closed around Hiei's waist, and although they didn't think of it was unnatural, they forgot that there were still five other people around, whom they had not said anything about their relationship to. But after a while, they noticed the stares cast onto them, and quickly separated.
"Umm . . .Kurama, are you and ---
"No, we're not!" Kurama out Yusuke off, a bit too abruptly, which aroused even more suspicions.
"Oh, ok," the teenager said, obviously unconvinced, but turned to Keiko. "Hey, they two aren't even together and Kurama's already wrapping his arms around Hiei, so I suggest that we do it too. You can't be that conservative!" Keiko tuned red and you could be sure that the bump on Yusuke's head won't go down soon.
Keiko was not the only one to blush, as Kurama averted his gaze to hide his face from everyone, only to stare into the wide eyes of Botan. Just when did she arrive?! Hiei silently cursed in his heart.
"Hey, Kurama, you got a fever" she asked curiously, and with her bright voice, attracting everyone's attentions back to the duo again. "N . . . nothing! I'm totally fine!" He stuttered out.
Hiei seemed to have muttered something like "stupid fox" under his breath.
"Are you really, REALLY fine? You look kinda flushed, though." Before Kurama could reply, Kuwabara had pulled her aside and whispered something in her ear. Judging from the surprised, excited and the look on a cat's face when it just caught a mouse, things were not good.
"Come on, let's go swim!" She suddenly changed the topic and practically dragged Kuwabara across the sand, hysterically shouting, and into the sea. Somehow her kimono changed automatically to a swimsuit.
Kurama had an extremely bad feeling, and Hiei just cast him a you-should-have-known look.
Amazingly, the next few hours passed rather uneventfully, except for when Yusuke tried making Hiei swim. Kurama, of course, came to the rescue, and made up a ton of excuses as to why Hiei couldn't swim on that day. After the drowning incident in March, Kurama vowed never to let Hiei touch water again.
At around 6 p.m. more and more people flocked in onto the beach, and Hiei could bear it no more. "Fox, do you know somewhere around here that's not so noisy, and less people will go?"
"What do you want to do there?" Kurama asked, voice dripping with mischief and seduction.
"NOT THAT!" Hiei shouted, the blushed spreading to his ears. It deepened when he found all the people around him staring. "Well, at least not today, not at this place," he added to himself.
"What 'that'?" Kurama asked, smirking, "Did I suggest something by accident?"
"Forget it!" Hiei said and buried his face in his hands.
And then, Kurama pulled him up and started squeezing through the crowd while keeping a firm grip on Hiei's hand, as if Hiei as a child who could get lost. It a way, it was true.
"Where are you going?"
"Didn't you say that you wanted to go to somewhere quiet?" Kurama turned and gave him a wink, then scanned the grounds to see if any of their companions had followed them. Luckily, they were all too busy splashing water at each other, and Yukina had better manners than to ask. (She wasn't playing, so she saw them leave)
Hiei sighed. It was sometimes so hard to understand how the mind of that fox worked.
They walked along the coastline fore almost half an hour, and finally reached a rocky cliff where the coastline ended. There were still some people spread out sparingly, so Kurama made his way up the cliff. Within minutes, they were already at the top.
Looking down, the sea stretched out into the horizon, meeting the sky. Both were blue, only that the water danced with sparkles, reflecting the light of the near setting sun. People seemed like ants, and being so high up gave them an overwhelming sense of power. Kurama sat down on the edgy, enjoying the cool breeze sifting through his hair. It was much cooler up there. Hiei took off his cloak and settled down beside Kurama, inhaling deeply, he finally allowed himself to relax. It had been a tiring day, even more tiring than after completing a mission.
They just sat there in a comfortable silence, slowly watching as the sun began sinking.
Hiei looked at Kurama, who had his eyes closed and seemed to be sensing and feeling everything around him. It didn't have the innocence of sleep, but the expression was peaceful in its own way, with tiny bits of pure enjoyment which sleep lacked. Hiei reached out and laid his hand on top of Kurama's.
A smile tugged at Kurama's lips, and he gave Hiei's and a little squeeze.
The sun was halfway down the horizon, dyeing the sea orange, the clouds vermilion. It was magnificent.
"Kurama, open you eyes. The sun is setting."
"It's fine. I can feel it setting. If I open my eyes, then all my focus would go to he sight before me, and I won't feel the touch of your hand anymore. That's more important than the sunset."
Surprised, Hiei tilted his head and looked at Kurama curiously. "You do have a weird perspective for things."
"I suppose I have, since I'm in love with such a weird person like you." He opened his eyes, and met Hiei's gaze, open and sincere, and said, "I love you, Hiei." And he closed his eyes again.
Hiei sat there, struck dumb for a second or two. He always knew that Kurama loved him, but having heard it spoken out still gave him a deep impact. After the wave of shock passed, he smiled, and gently caressed the side of Kurama's face with his free hand, bring it down until their foreheads met.
He could feel a slight quickening in Kurama's breathing, and he inched even closer. When their lips were barely grazing each other, he whispered, "I love you too, fox."
And then their lips met.
The glorious sunset entranced everyone, except for those who knew that the untouchable sun would never be as precious or as real as what they already have in their arms. For those type of person, the sun still shone, but not to attract their attentions, but to give silent blessings.
A sudden noise behind them made them break apart abruptly. "Who's there?" Hiei demanded.
A sheepish giggle, and Botan popped out from behind one of the rocks, followed by Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko . . . Kurama felt like digging a hole to hide Hiei and himself in.
"Aww . . . You guys were so sweet!" Yusuke said and grinned cheekily. "Hey shrimp, count yourself lucky that someone still likes you!' Kuwabara boasted, but lost a bit of enthusiasm once he saw the look on Hiei's face.
"Don't you guys want to see how cute you were? I've got it all on video camera," Botan said as she lifted up her right hand, showing off the state-of-art technology. Hiei's eyes gleamed.
The heat of the day seemed to have gone with the sun, and although the humidity was still there, it only made people feel even cooler. The salty sea air gave an even more unique feeling.
People enjoyed the summer, especially the nights. Why was it that a summer night was so much more enjoyable than the nights of all other seasons? Because in the day, it was too hot, that people would pray for something cool. So the nights only became so unique because of its contrast with the day. Only when we have experienced something unbearable, then would we enjoy our peaceful everyday routine.
In a flash, the video camera was already in Hiei's hands, and by the looks of it, he was preparing to rip it apart. "Stop! Unless you want me to tell Koenma-sama about this!" Botan yelled in desperation.
"Andif I don't burn this thing, then you won't tell him?"
Botan hesitated. Hiei took out the film in the camera and tossed it to Kurama, then returned the camera to Botan. "Go ahead and tell. There's n o evidence, unless anyone of you," Hiei scanned the group, casing silent threats, "prepare to talk about this." Everyone shook his or her head. Botan was fuming, but took off on her oar, since she had no choice.
Hiei and Kurama waited until everyone had gone, before Kurama said, "I'll keep the film to see how cute you were, then if you have time, we'll continue from where we left off." He winked, and then walked down the cliff.
There are always good things happening on summer nights.