This is part of 100themes at LJ. I have a pairing (actually a triangle) and I use each theme to write a story. Has to have romance and the story has to center around the pair. This is my first on a long road of these things. My triangle? HieixKoenmaxYukina. Do I own them? Not a chance. Please enjoy...

Words Shouldn't Hurt

056: Chain

It was insanity, really, just some stupid telephone line from adolescence. "I heard she said this to him about someone else and that's how I know." He really shouldn't even know about those things, being a demon. And he certainly wouldn't know about that, skipping from awfully young to handsomely grown-up at whim and will. But that's just what it was. Absolute insanity.

Yusuke was the one to start it, to prod Hiei into starting it. Yusuke, the perceptive bastard, could see right through his demon friend, as though he were the one with the third eye and not Hiei. He could tell how Hiei felt about the immortal, Koenma, especially when he stood tall and beautiful in his adult form. Yusuke could not help but understand where Hiei's attraction came from, even though his heart belonged to Keiko. So, because this was his friend, whether Hiei admitted it or not, the detective tried to help. And Hiei, like the fool-in-love he was, listened to his idiotic wisdom. Something about feelings and acting on them. About showing emotion and sharing emotion. So Hiei zoned out a little, so what? He got the message whether he caught all the words.

And Hiei followed the advice. He went to the Spirit World, charged his way past the ogres and into the young prince's office and confessed all. It would have been less awkward if the immortal had been in adult form. Hiei, eyes closed, hadn't noticed, but for Koenma the toddler it sure was strange to hear the demon proclaim everlasting love and devotion to him. He might have been a kinder recipient if he hadn't been caught so off-guard.

And then there was the matter of her. She knew Koenma well enough; he was always sending her to the human world to find her brother. Hiei sometimes wondered if it was done just to spite him. He already told the fox he would never tell her who he was, what he was to her. Surely Kurama told him as well? So she could stop coming. But then…maybe it wasn't so much to find him anymore.

Kuwabara didn't mean to complete it, the stupid chain of words and betrayals. He was just being himself; an idiot, when he told Hiei what he heard.

"Yusuke told me Botan saw something in the Spirit World today." It wasn't secret sharing; Kuwabara didn't do it to spite him. He didn't even know whom he was talking to really. He was blubbering too much at the time. "He said she walked into the office just as Koenma k-kissed…" he could barely get the words out. "Y-Yukina."

It hurt, the words, what Kuwabara said, though Hiei didn't show it. What could he do, cry about it? He knew Koenma did not reciprocate his feelings; he tried to accept that anyway. Crying like Kuwabara wouldn't get him the immortal's love. Close enough if he should center his affections on his half-sister at least, no matter how much it hurt. For both of them, but especially Kuwabara. He was disillusioned the entire time; Hiei, on the other hand, always lived in reality.

What a stupid chain, really. For all he knew, Botan could have saw wrong; Yusuke got his stories mixed up. Happened all the time. Didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Hiei walked through the city to find a tree to sleep in. Nothing else to do. Just take each day one at a time.

End

Short…ne? Well, I hope I got the chain in there; I think I did, though not in a literal way. Yay! Finished my first theme! Please tell me how I did.