Ah, yes, we're finally writing in YYH!

K-sama: Shite, you're hell of slow.

Loko: SILENCE!

K-chan: nn;; Please enjoy!

Summary: Between being invincible and hating the world, Hiei takes a moment to fall. K/H strangeness.

Disclaimer: Kurama-sama is MINE! ALL MINE! is smote by random copyright enforcement agencies Okay … fine. Yours, all yours. sulks

-

Nylon

-

Hiei hated rain.

It wasn't because he was a fire demon. It was just because it was … rain. It was so pointless. It just fell. Sure, it wet the earth and made the plants grow, and made things "fresh and green!" in the mornings, but while it was going, it was ridiculous.

He couldn't walk outside, he couldn't sleep outside, and he had to keep an almost constant semi-fire going just to stay dry. (Hiei also hated being wet.)

And besides, if he wanted to see plants grow, he'd go see Kurama.

Sometimes a snide voice in his head suggested that, perhaps, rain evoked things he couldn't have, couldn't touch, couldn't accept …

He usually just burned it away.

Because Hiei hated rain, and Hiei hated watching things grow (right?).

-

I tried to be perfect, but nothing was worth it

I don't believe it makes me real

I thought it'd be easy, but no one believes me

-

Which, of course, explained why he had just accosted Kurama's window a second time, sharp rap on the glass threatening to break it. He glared at the barrier between his body and dryness, and considered using his sword to tap it the next time. Luckily for the window, it was spared this fate due to the fact that a redhead had just pulled it up and blinked out at the wet fire demon.

"Hiei?" He asked, rhetorically. "What the hell are you doing here?"

(Kurama could swear while smiling angelically. It was one of his unnerving talents.)

"Taking a bath," Hiei said sarcastically, and shoved unceremoniously past the other demon and into the dry warmth of the room.

-

I meant all the things I said.

-

Relative warmth, anyway. Some sort of plant was sitting on the glass table, amidst a large pile of ice, which was apparently leeching all the heat out of the air.

"You need to be more careful," Kurama scolded. "I sensed a presence and couldn't tell who it was. I was about to open the window and just chuck a seed outside, but then you knocked again and I realized that there was only one demon who would come banging at my ningenkai window, anyway …"

"Why the fuck is your room so cold?" Hiei demanded. "And what the hell is that?"

"Oh, that," Kurama said, shutting the window against the rain and looking almost fondly at the plant, or Hiei, or both. "I'm experimenting. It's a plant that steals heat energy."

"And you're experimenting with heat-stealing plants in sleet season why?" Hiei said, eyeing the plant with distrust.

"Well," Kurama said, as if he was explaining simple things to a small child, "I got bored."

-

If you believe it's in my soul

I'd say all the words that I know

Just to see if it would show

That I'm trying to let you know

-

Hiei rolled his eyes. "And I'm cold," He informed Kurama. "So, unless you want that plant burned, I'd remove it. Because if the heat doesn't go up in here, I'm going to start making heat rather soon."

-

That I'm better off on my own.

-

Kurama laughed. "I'll take it down to the fridge," He offered. "I'm not sure whether you or it would be most harmed if you start burning things."

Hiei glared as the door shut, then yanked Kurama's blankets off his bed and curled into them, not really caring about the dirt and mud he was spreading in various directions. And, at the moment, too tired to care much about his dignity, either, enshrouded in a blue, suspiciously flowery print.

"… Hiei?" Kurama blinked again, re-entering the room. "Are you alright?"

"Why?" Hiei challenged.

"Well, first you come to see me," Kurama gave a wry smile. "And now you're – well – apparently, sleeping in my covers."

"I'm tired," Hiei grumbled. "And I'm cold. And I'm bored. There's nothing to kill in ningenkai, and there's nothing to kill in makai. I don't feel like being thrown back into jail because I killed something while bored, so I'm here."

"I see," Kurama said. "This is logical because?"

"Because," Hiei said, and lapsed into silence.

Kurama sighed. "I'm not getting much more explanation out of you, am I?"

-

This place is so empty

My thoughts are so tempting

I don't know how it got so bad

Sometimes it's so crazy

That nothing can save me,

-

"I hate rain?" Hiei offered.

"It makes things grow," Kurama returned.

"I hate things that make things grow?" Hiei suggested.

"Do you hate me?" Kurama asked, and to illustrate his point pulled a seed from his hair and let it explode into a fragile crimson bloom in his palm.

"Yes," Hiei said, looked at Kurama's face, and "No. Yes. Maybe. Most of the time. Goddammit, you annoy me!"

"Oh, good," Kurama said. "At least I don't strike awe and terror into your soul, O Forbidden Child."

-

But it's the only thing that I have.

-

"Why are you pissed?" Hiei asked.

"I'm not allowed to be angry, now?" Kurama said, but his lip twitched at the corner to prove that he was somewhat amused at the fact that Hiei could tell. "I'm a demon, after all."

"A sorry excuse for one," Hiei said. "Youko was never polite."

"Yes," Kurama said, an almost wicked glint in his impossibly green eyes, "And yet Youko still got laid."

Hiei flushed. "Ningen hormones catching up to you, kitsune?" He managed to sneer, hoping the blankets and shadows of the room covered his cheeks.

"What would you do if they were?" Kurama asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. Hiei's mouth fell open, and he belatedly remembered that he was Jaganshi Hiei and not allowed to be surprised (except Kurama broke the rules all-too-often). Kurama shook his head. "Never mind," He said suddenly, and sat in his chair, reaching for something that appeared to have been abandoned on the desk.

-

If you believe it's in my soul

I'd say all the words that I know

Just to see if it would show

That I'm trying to let you know

-

"What is that?" Hiei asked, trying to change the subject.

"Stockings," Kurama said, and held up the flimsy cloth tubes to prove it. Hiei stared.

"What?" He said, after a while of making sure Kurama wasn't pulling off some sort of strange, new, twisted joke. "Wait, no, more importantly, why?"

"I was bored," Kurama said.

"You need to go to school more often," Hiei said flatly. "Unless that's where they're teaching you to buy women's clothing and cross-dress."

(Not that Hiei thought about Kurama doing any of these things. Besides, Kurama was way, way, off-limits. Co-worker and shit like that. Not that Hiei ever considered what might happen if Kurama weren't so way, way, off-limits.)

-

That I'm better off on my own.

On my own …

Ahh …

-

"I do go to school," Kurama said. "I live a perfectly normal, ningen life, except those few times I run off to go kill things in makai with you and Yusuke and Kuwabara. I also watch a bit too much TV."

Hiei's mouth twitched in a way hinting at the fact that he couldn't decide whether to laugh or gape.

"Robbers on TV," Kurama said conversationally, "Wear stockings over their heads. So no one can tell who they are."

Hiei stared again. "And Koenma thinks you've reformed," He said wonderingly. "Am I the only one not stupid enough to fall for that act?"

-

I tried to be perfect it just wasn't worth it

Nothing could ever be so wrong

It's hard to believe me

-

"You're the only one with a Jagan," Kurama reminded him. "And you're the only one who's known me long enough, or well enough."

Hiei pinked for no reason and stared fixedly at the stockings. "So you're experimenting with pantyhose?"

"Maybe," Kurama said. "Who knows? Unsophisticated ningen techniques may yet come in useful in makai. I've gotten itchy fingers a bit, recently," He added pensively. "Either hormones, or boredom, or both. Damned ningen body. I see pretty things, and I want them."

Hiei tried not to choke. "Are you looking to go back to jail?" He demanded. "Or maybe you want to be permanently sealed this time?"

"Oh, no," Kurama smiled. "But thoughts are entertaining."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Don't get yourself screwed over, kitsune," He warned. "I need someone else with half a shred of common sense in this insane bunch of – Spirit Detectives, I think they're calling it."

"Somewhat cliché, isn't it?" Kurama said agreeably. "Are you worrying about me, Hiei?"

"No," Hiei said shortly. "You know better."

"I'm glad you place such trust in me," Kurama said, but he sounded less than delighted.

The slowly warming room was awkwardly quiet for a long moment, lit quickly by a flash of lightening and replaced by darkness.

"Why haven't you got the light on?" Hiei asked suddenly.

"The plant steals light, too," Kurama said. "Do you want it on?"

"Sure," said Hiei. A vine reached past him, toward the light switch, and suddenly he changed his mind. "No, leave it off."

"Decisive, aren't we?" Kurama said, and Hiei heard rather than saw the vine retract.

"How does the stocking-thing work?" Hiei asked, out of pure curiosity.

"Just put it over your head," Kurama said, and illustrated, looking absolutely ridiculous. His features were masked, and Hiei paused in his general world-hating to note that Kurama and stockings and lighting and sleet made a strangely Gothic, dangerous picture. "And voila, no one knows who you are."

"Except your hair is the colour of blood," Hiei pointed out. Kurama absently pulled a seed out of said hair and, moments later, the hair was neatly bound out of the way.

"And now?" He asked.

"Better," Hiei said grudgingly. "Do you just let your plants do all your work for you?"

"Only when I'm too lazy to do it myself," Kurama said. Everything but his mouth was covered, and it was smiling with a curious smirkish tinge.

"Can you see?" Hiei inquired.

"Yes," Kurama said, and pointedly made his way across the room to where Hiei was bundled in the blankets. "Now, Hiei, pretend I'm not Kurama."

"Why?"

-

It never gets easy

I guess I knew that all along.

-

"Because there is a reason you came here, now, and I want to know it."

"Who are you, then?" Hiei asked, staring at where he thought Kurama's eyes were.

"Anyone," Kurama said softly. "Anyone you want me to be."

Hiei sighed. "Under normal circumstances, I'd never humour you like this," He informed Kurama. "Just so you know to never try this again."

"Certainly," Kurama graciously agreed. "I'll make a note."

"I'm tired," Hiei finally admitted grouchily. "We've had some ridiculously easy assignments recently, most of which managed to become full-blown messes because Yusuke and Kuwabara insist on showing each other up when we all know they're just showing off, and as a result I haven't been sleeping much."

"Why not?"

"Adrenalin lasts me an abnormally long time," Hiei explained. "It kicks up for a mission, easy or not, and then it lingers until I've exhausted it. So I've been training to kill the fucking drug."

"Smart idea."

"But it takes way too long to train it out of my system. And then today, it rained," Hiei said, narrative not making particularly much sense. "And then it turned to sleet, and I hate rain, because a little voice in my head tells me it's everything I'll never have."

"A little voice?" A bit of laughter, carefully held in check.

"And so I thought it'd be warm here, and it's better than cowering in some shelter like a hobo and it's much, much better than going anywhere else," Hiei twitched a bit more blanket around his shoulders, "Including makai. Damned demons stare at me as if I'm contaminated."

"Do they?" A touch dangerous.

"And that's it," Hiei said. "Damned if I can figure it out myself."

"What did you want to find?"

"You," Hiei said truthfully.

-

If you believe it's in my soul

I'd say all the words that I know

Just to see if it would show

That I'm trying to let you know

-

A silence. Then, "What do you want me to be?"

"I don't know," Hiei said. "What do you want to be?"

The mouth quirked again. "Let's pretend I'm still not me," He said, and leaned in.

He tasted like rain, and things that grow, but he was warm. And Hiei thought, well, shit, I can fall for this, and had the distinct impression of falling up

Hiei blinked when Kurama pulled back, lips pinkish and quite thoroughly kissed.

"You're not half bad," Not-yet-Kurama said, sounding surprised.

"What were you expecting?" Hiei grumbled.

"Virginal inexperience?" Not-Kurama said, and laughed as Hiei glared.

"Ningen hormones?" Hiei asked, not because he wanted to taunt, but because he really wanted to know.

"Maybe," Not-Kurama said. "Are you you?"

"Maybe," Hiei said. "What about you?"

Kurama laughed, again. "I don't know why," He admitted in response to the earlier question. "I just wanted to. You know – I see something pretty, I want it. Are you blushing?"

"No," Hiei lied. "That's it?"

"No," Kurama said thoughtfully. "It's different. Usually I take things for the sake of taking them – you know, what the hell would I do with a fucking huge pile of treasure, anyway?"

"Sit on it," Hiei suggested. Kurama's mouth quirked again.

"Maybe," He said. "But it's different with you. With you, I'm seeing something pretty, and I want it for myself, to keep. If you understand me."

"Hn," Hiei said coherently. "Maybe."

Silence, and a flash of lightening.

"This," Kurama suddenly announced to the world at large, grabbing hold of the stocking, "Is stifling."

"It would be," Hiei said, rolling his eyes. "Take it off, then."

"My idea exactly," Kurama said, and yanked it off, eyes luminous in the dark. Hiei thought, extraordinarily green. And not so much growing plants as living emeralds. Jewels for a fox-thief.

Hiei sighed. "Still think it's for keeps?"

"Don't see why not," Kurama said.

"You?" Hiei wondered.

"Always been me," Kurama said. "I suppose you could say I tricked you."

"Reformed, my ass," Hiei told Kurama flatly.

"But it's a nice ass," Kurama said cheerfully. "Even though you hide it under all those layers. You are blushing."

"No I'm not," Hiei maintained. "Hormones?"

"No, me," Said Kurama, and kissed him again, because Hiei let him.

And Kurama still tasted like rain and growing things, but this time Hiei fell faster and farther than ever, and even before Kurama pulled back for air (damned ningen bodies, Hiei thought hazily) Hiei thought he'd gone beyond the point of return.

"And you?" Kurama asked.

"I'm me," Hiei said. "I've never stopped being me."

"No," Kurama agreed. "You're probably too solidly Hiei to be anything else."

"I am going to take that as a compliment," Hiei decided. "And where did you get those things?" He gestured towards the discarded, now-floppy stockings.

"The store," Kurama said, sounding surprised. "Where else?"

"You just walked up and asked for women's pantyhose?" Hiei asked, amazed. Kurama blinked in the affirmative. "You don't have any pride, do you?"

"Not for such little things," Kurama said. "If they were worth anything, I would have stolen them."

Hiei blinked this time.

"Reformed," He began.

"The pot calling the kettle black," Kurama interrupted.

"The what?" Hiei stared. "Are you calling me a pot?"

"No," Kurama sighed. "Well, maybe. What are you going to do about it?"

"… Nothing."

Kurama raised an eyebrow.

"Because I think you called yourself a kettle, which is girlier."

Kurama's eyebrow moved further up.

"I like pretty things too," Hiei said. "But unlike you, I'm not a sadist. I don't play with them until they break."

"I can keep them longer that way," Kurama said softly. "Are you breaking?"

-

That I'm better off on my own.

-

"Not yet," Hiei said. Kurama kissed him again.

"Now?"

"No," Hiei said dazedly. "But I'm falling."

"Good or bad?"

"Both," Hiei said. Kurama kissed him again, this time with teeth and fangs.

"Now?"

"Fall with me," Hiei said suddenly from between swollen lips, and when he grabbed Kurama's hand, they burned together.

"You're going to go back to hating the world tomorrow," Kurama accused. "And things that make things grow."

"No," Hiei said, and this time he was the one that kissed Kurama, and he bit. "Because I think I can have it now."

"Possession," Kurama said, lip torn slightly. "Obsession. You're walking a fine line, Jaganshi Hiei."

"Let's fall," Hiei suggested.

"At least we're not alone this time," Kurama remarked, and the blanket covered them both.

Hiei hates rain.

But, for some things, and demons, and red-haired fox demons in particular, Hiei can deal with it.

-owari-

words: 2795

paragraphs: 210

sentences: 318

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Song: Pieces, Sum 41

A/N:

Ahhhg, the fluff.

It's a pretty song. It's also a pretty fox-demon, and it's also a pretty fire-demon, and it's also a very pretty picture of said fox-demon and fire-demon making out in a dark room, replete with tongue, teeth, and fangs.

Please REVIEW! Virtual Kurama-sama plushies will be handed out, although Hiei may come after you … which is probably a bad thing, but also a good thing …

REVIEW!

lokogato enterprises ltd.

8:23 PM

30-03-05