Alright, since I couldn't think of a way to write this so that Hiei gave his heart to Kurama without the plot being completely stupid and cheesy, I'm just going to continue with what I already have. I'm so glad you all seem to like this one so much. I just read over the first two chapters myself and wondered 'Did I really write this?' Even I was disappointed there wasn't another chapter, so here it is. Enjoy. (Gotta love my catch phrase here) ON WITH THE FIC!
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"Any sign of him?" Koenma asked as Botan entered the office, here hair windswept from hours of long travel on her oar and bags under her eyes from the shear exhaustion caused by it.
"No sir," she sighed, brushing a strand of sapphire hair away from her eyes. "Mukuro hasn't seen Hiei for almost three months." She was silent for a moment before she looked up again at her boss, tears in her lavender eyes. "You…you don't really think Hiei is the one responsible do you?"
"I don't know, Botan," Koenma answered truthfully. "Hiei was blocking my surveillance the night it happened so I have no proof that he didn't do it. And the fact that he's hiding now and didn't even show up for Kurama's funeral doesn't exactly clear his name either."
"But…but we still haven't recovered Kurama's soul…" Botan muttered, not quite sure what significance that had to proving Hiei's innocence.
"All I know are the facts we have," Koenma sighed, sounding just as tired as Botan looked, "and the facts we have say that when Hiei entered Kurama's house Kurama was alive and when Hiei left he was dead."
"I…I know…but…but….Hiei wouldn't…" tears were starting to slide down the blue haired deity's cheeks. Koenma sighed again, messaging his temples with the forefinger and thumb of one hand. The last thing he need was for Botan to break down in his office, again.
"Botan, go get some sleep. Hiei will stay hidden as long as he wants to be hidden; you know that as well as I do. When he wants to be found, we'll find him."
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Hiei sat on a branch high above the ground, cloaking his ki so thoroughly that he even he could barely feel it. He stared at the blood red gem in his hands. The thing he had thrown at Mukuro hadn't been Kurama's real heart. He had found a large, cheep ruby and thrown that instead. He would never break the fox's heart, not physically anyway. No, his love's crystallized feelings were far too precious to waste on Mukuro.
To be fair, Mukuro wasn't to blame. She was a strong leader and a good friend, one of the few friends he let get close to him. He had expressed his feelings for her, or the feelings he had thought he had anyway, and she, being just as emotionally challenged as he was, could not simply reject him. So instead, she had given him what she thought to be an impossible task and hoped he would either eventually give up or spend the rest of his life searching and in any case never bring up the uncomfortable situation again. In all honesty she wasn't any more to blame than anyone else. The real blame rested with him, he just wasn't ready to accept it.
He continued to stare at the gem, watching the light of the setting sun shine from the gem's many surfaces. It had been three human months now. His fox was probably buried by now. For some reason that thought angered him, but he couldn't understand why. What else did he expect them to do with a dead body?
Dead.
Kurama truly was dead, wasn't he?
Hiei still stank of his blood. It didn't matter how many baths he took or what clothes he wore, all he could smell was the fox's blood. It made him want to retch every time he inhaled, so he had taken to breathing through is mouth and avoiding doing so through his nose whenever possible. He'd even tried a variety of demon perfumes, none of which smelled like much of anything too far from rotting meat. But these only covered up the smell, they didn't get rid of it, nothing would ever get rid of it.
He hadn't slept in a week. Every time he closed his eyes he watched Kurama burry his hand in his chest and pull out his own heart again. And those words! Those horrible haunting hideous words that tormented him constantly, always drifting through his mind in that gentle alto that he would never hear again.
"Your happiness is all I ever wanted."
His hand clenched tighter around the crystal heart in his hand. His body shook with the effort it took to hold back the oncoming tidal wave of tears. Never in all his life had any of the unspeakable horrors he had experienced ever brought him to tears…until now. Growling, he stood up on the branch, glaring down that the heart in his hand as blood began to drip from the skin that the gem had pierced in his overly tight grip.
"I will find a way to bring you back, Kurama!" Hiei snarled. Then his gaze softened and he brought the heart in his hand forward to rest against his chest, against his own heart. "I promise I will," he whispered, allowing one teargem to fall to the forest floor below.
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Gomen it's so short. I'll update my other fics soon too, I promise! In the meantime, review please! Arigato in advance.