Okay, well here I am trying to keep my promise to keep the updates going
while I'm on break. Let's see, I already put in my warnings about the
things I'm planning on doing. I have to say that I'm a little surprised no
one yelled about poor Kurama-chan. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviews,
I really appreciate the support. Oh, and I've been meaning to say this for
some time. If anyone is looking for some good fics to read, check out my
favorites. I'm very picky about what I put up there, and there's a nice
variety of things, so check it out when you have time. Thanks for all the
spelling corrections, gee I feel stupid. And the stuff about Kurama's past.
I'm just going to keep things the way I have them, because I like them my
way, but it won't be too bad. I decided I'm going to do the side story,
because I think it will explain some things better than our dear Hiei will
deem to. The only problem I might have is that I'm not very far in writing
it. Maybe I'll just post how they met and leave their eventual hook up to
the imagination. I dunno, it'll all depend on you wonderful people called
reviewers.
WARNINGS: I own nothing, and this is yaoi
~
"Don't eat so fast, there's no telling how long these supplies will have to last us." Hiei snapped, glaring as Yusuke rolled his eyes and took a large bite of food. The small demon wasn't about to rely on whatever they could buy in whatever villages they passed for sustenance.
"What does me eating fast have to do with anything?" Yusuke asked sourly, not bothering to finish chewing before he spoke.
Hiei let loose an irritated sigh. "You will not feel as full when the meal is gone and will want more." He spat.
Yusuke snorted and continued to eat.
"You don't get any more when it's gone."
The human boy shrugged, slowly and deliberately licking his spoon before taking yet another too-large bite of the travel stew they had been supplied with.
The truth was, Hiei didn't really care about provisions. He knew how to hunt in Makai, knew what was good and what was bad, but after nearly four days of silent travel he was desperate for any reason to speak to the human.
"The nights will be getting colder the further north we go." He informed him coldly. "We'll be passing through ice demon land, if that's any indication of what to expect. Mere blankets will not be sufficient to keep a simple human warm and alive throughout the night."
Yusuke began to cough, choking on his food. "What are you saying?" He demanded.
Hiei smiled coldly. "Just something for you to think about." He answered smoothly, rising to his feet. He pulled his bedroll out of his pack and shook it out onto the ground. The nights were already chilly, but such things as heat or cold didn't affect a hybrid fire and ice demon.
Feeling Yusuke's eyes on him, he slowly stripped down to his boxers and climbed into his bedroll, leaving it unzipped. "Be sure to clean up after yourself, human." He ordered, letting his voice drip with contempt, as he turned his back on the boy. He smiled to himself as he heard him begin to grumble and the pots and pans began to crash together. It was going to be a good night.
~
"Spiky haired punk."
"Ignorant human."
"Three eyed freak."
"Incompetent fool."
"You're stupid."
"Your stench makes me nauseous."
Yusuke stopped walking abruptly. "Hey now, that's not fair! It's not my fault Botan forgot to bring me deodorant!" He protested touchily. "I'm doin' the best I can, y'know."
Hiei smirked to himself and continued to walk. "Don't fall back or I may begin to believe you're too weak to carry your own pack. I usually kill weaklings, you know. I could make good money selling human meat at market. Even if it did stink."
"You wouldn't dare." Yusuke protested seethingly, hurrying to catch up. He didn't notice Hiei's smirk. "What about Kurama? He wouldn't like it if he found out you murdered me just because I ran out of deodorant."
"I would comfort our dear Kurama. He would thank me for it eventually, after all, you're only human. You would die much sooner than either of us anyway. Besides, Kurama detests little boys who can't control their own bodily odors."
Yusuke raised his arm and sniffed. "It isn't that bad, is it?"
"Enough to make him forget his infatuation for you, yet not enough to make me retch. Yet."
"Ha ha, Hiei, very funny." Yusuke grouched wryly. "Kurama wouldn't stop loving me because I smelt bad."
"Are you sure? Do you know he even loves you in the first place? Think about how beautiful he is. Do you honestly think there is a place in his heart for a dirty, stinking human? Look at me, detective, and tell me if you are arrogant enough to actually believe it is possible for you to meet the standards Kurama has set by me?"
"I. ."
"You haven't even asked to stop and wash, and we've been traveling for nearly two weeks. Kurama would be horrified at the very idea. You can be sure that is he was with us right now; he certainly wouldn't want to touch you. I myself am completely disgusted." Hiei stopped and turned around, realizing that Yusuke had stopped and cursing himself for taking his insults too far. He had meant to be cruel, yes, but if he took out all his anger over failure to get the human into his bed on the very object of his near-obsession, he would never get the boy into his arms. He had realized while they walked that Yusuke was not just Kurama's plaything. He was a person, a very opinioned person, and if Hiei wanted him, he'd have to do the work himself.
Yusuke stood, stance dejected, staring down into hands that weren't nearly so grubby as Hiei made them out to be. "Would he really turn me away for something so small?" He asked quietly.
Hiei went back, grabbed Yusuke by the arm, and began pulling him along behind himself. "Don't be such a complete fool, detective. If you don't know him better than that by now, then you truly don't deserve him." They had reached a suitable spot and Hiei stopped, snatching Yusuke's packs away from him. "Here. We'll stop early tonight, if it will make you stop sniveling."
"Huh?"
"You need to bathe." With one mighty heave, Hiei pushed the human boy into the small lake he had brought them to, laughing mockingly as the dark head bobbed above the water, brown glare satisfyingly indignant. The small demon squatted at the edge with his elbows on his knees. "There now, perhaps a good dip has finally served to bring you to your senses. Or do you want to cry some more, fool? I could make the water much colder; will that serve to wake you up?"
"What the hell, Hiei?" The human screamed. "What the hell is wrong with you? Sick freak!"
"There now, that sounds more like you." Hiei produced a bar of soap from his small bag of hygiene products and set it beside himself on the bank. "Now, swim around like a good boy until you get clean. And take off your clothes."
"What? First you push me and now you want me t' strip?"
"I don't give a damn about seeing you naked, fool, but if you don't take them off, they won't get dry by nightfall, and then they may freeze. It's your decision, of course. Nudity. or sleeping in saggy, cold, freezing underwear." Hiei kept his eyes and voice carefully neutral, watching Yusuke as a predator watched his prey.
With a glare, Yusuke climbed out of the water and began to undress. "D'ya have'ta watch?" He demanded.
"Can it, you sissy. I have every right to watch; maybe it will finally explain why my fox is so interested in you. It certainly isn't your winning personality, and we both know I'm prettier, so let's see what you have to offer."
Yusuke turned away. "Bastard." He grumbled under his breath.
Hiei smirked to himself and set to enjoying the view, very pleased with himself as he watched the human climb back into the water. The last thing he was expecting was for Yusuke to swim to him, grab his ankle, and pull him into the water. Had he expected it, it wouldn't have happened.
"Fool!" He roared as he broke the surface of the water. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Your choice, Hiei." Yusuke smirked. "Nudity or soggy undies." He laughed in the face of Hiei's indignant stare. "Don't be such a wuss; turn about is fair play."
Meeting his gaze defiantly, Hiei undressed right there in the water, tossing the garments up onto the bank as Yusuke stared in disappointment.
"Unlike you, I have no wish to parade myself around like some damn exhibitionist."
"Why?" Yusuke smirked. "You got something to be ashamed of?"
"You can see for yourself that I don't." He snapped, snatching up the soap from the bank. He smirked as he turned away, thinking of the way the human boy's eyes had widened. He washed completely before handing the soap to his companion.
"Y'know, this water doesn't look very clean."
"What are you, a woman? This is the bet you'll find in this area of Makai, so be thankful." Hiei leaned back against some rocks, closing his eyes and heating the water with his powers, visions of a naked Yusuke dancing in his head.
"It's like a hot spring." Yusuke sighed, leaning against the bank after he finished a hasty, yet very careful washing. A suspicious look crossed his face. "Unless. ."
"Don't be disgusting."
"I didn't know you could do things like heat water."
Hiei snorted. "My powers are best suited to fighting, however I have other skills." He gasped as his head was suddenly forced under the water, coming up spluttering and glaring furiously.
"You always gotta' act like you got a stick up your ass?" Yusuke demanded, splashing him and glaring. "You know, you don't make travellin' with you easy. The least you could do is lighten up once in a while."
Hiei lunged for him with a wordless growl, forcing his head under the water.
~
Yusuke heaved himself up onto the bank next to Hiei, still laughing, and flipped himself onto his back, tucking his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. Hiei had to fight to keep a smile from his own face. Nothing had happened, and yet something had. He had had. fun. playing in the water with Yusuke. Hiei didn't play. He didn't. Yet he had.
He watched the clouds drift over the sky, a sky that grew a more "natural" color the farther they traveled. The land was growing more and more familiar to him, and that was a bad thing. All lasting mirth disappeared at this sobering thought, however his warm feelings toward the human at his side stayed with him.
"Hiei? How did you meet Kurama?" Yusuke asked suddenly, voice quiet.
He frowned, but Kurama had told him, privately, that he was planning on telling the boy anyway. So he decided to answer. "It was five hundred years ago. In Dai'shaal."
"So he did live there! I thought I remembered him sayin' something about. oh, sorry. I won't interrupt again, I promise."
Hiei frowned, mind in the past. Kurama had been so frightened, fighting so hard to keep up the walls he had built to protect himself. "He worked in a brothel, I'm afraid. It was the only way he knew how to survive. I never visited those places, however I passed him in the street one day as I was passing through the town. ." Those eyes had been so sorrowful, devoid of hope. Kurama had been so utterly ashamed of himself, hating his own beauty, despising what he was. "Something about him drew me to him, and so I decided to take him with me. To have him by my side always."
Blood had run in rivers the night he had stolen Kurama out of Dai'shaal. He had slaughtered every patron of the despised house in the beds they had paid for, burning the place down with its owner inside. Anyone who got in his way was killed as Kurama allowed himself to be pulled along, silent and ashamed.
"He was a different person then than the man you know now, different than the powerful being that is so famous now among demon kind, as well." He continued, a muscle working in his jaw. "I tried to erase the pain he endured, and I succeeded, in a way. But he became dangerous, wrathful. He wanted the world to pay for the humiliation he had been forced to endure." Nothing and no one had been safe from Kurama's thirst for blood. No one but Hiei. "He ravished entire villages, challenged warlords. He became what he is known for; one of the most powerful and feared demons in this world."
Power hadn't been enough to make his fox happy though. How many nights had he sobbed quietly in Hiei's arms? How many times had he begged him to take his life? How often had be begged him not to leave him, no matter how much of a monster he became? Hiei was, for some reason, thankful Yusuke would never see Kurama's weak side. How could anyone but Hiei himself understand it?
Yusuke had sat up and was staring down at him, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to notice.
"Finally, Kurama couldn't take what he had become any longer." There were other reasons, but that was the primary cause for Kurama's carelessness that had led to his death. He wasn't as careful as he should have been because a part of him had wanted the consequence he earned. "I was there at the last. It was because of me that he permitted himself to be born in that human body he uses now, and I watched over him, waiting for him until he grew up again." Kurama was his life. He had no meaning without him.
Yusuke reached down carefully and touched Hiei's face, wiping away a fast crystilizing tear Hiei hadn't known was there.
"I miss him, too." The human boy said quietly.
Hiei's voice was a rasp. "We must find him soon."
"We will." Yusuke was suddenly in his arms, hugging him tightly. "We will." He repeated.
~
To Be Continued
Okay, there we go, just a little insight into Hiei's thoughts and the Kurama/Hiei that no one else usually gets to see. Let me know if you want the side story. It's basically Hiei's story in more detail, and maybe I'll include how they fell in love and grew to depend on each other so much. They've done a lot of growing, I hope I'm showing that okay.
WARNINGS: I own nothing, and this is yaoi
~
"Don't eat so fast, there's no telling how long these supplies will have to last us." Hiei snapped, glaring as Yusuke rolled his eyes and took a large bite of food. The small demon wasn't about to rely on whatever they could buy in whatever villages they passed for sustenance.
"What does me eating fast have to do with anything?" Yusuke asked sourly, not bothering to finish chewing before he spoke.
Hiei let loose an irritated sigh. "You will not feel as full when the meal is gone and will want more." He spat.
Yusuke snorted and continued to eat.
"You don't get any more when it's gone."
The human boy shrugged, slowly and deliberately licking his spoon before taking yet another too-large bite of the travel stew they had been supplied with.
The truth was, Hiei didn't really care about provisions. He knew how to hunt in Makai, knew what was good and what was bad, but after nearly four days of silent travel he was desperate for any reason to speak to the human.
"The nights will be getting colder the further north we go." He informed him coldly. "We'll be passing through ice demon land, if that's any indication of what to expect. Mere blankets will not be sufficient to keep a simple human warm and alive throughout the night."
Yusuke began to cough, choking on his food. "What are you saying?" He demanded.
Hiei smiled coldly. "Just something for you to think about." He answered smoothly, rising to his feet. He pulled his bedroll out of his pack and shook it out onto the ground. The nights were already chilly, but such things as heat or cold didn't affect a hybrid fire and ice demon.
Feeling Yusuke's eyes on him, he slowly stripped down to his boxers and climbed into his bedroll, leaving it unzipped. "Be sure to clean up after yourself, human." He ordered, letting his voice drip with contempt, as he turned his back on the boy. He smiled to himself as he heard him begin to grumble and the pots and pans began to crash together. It was going to be a good night.
~
"Spiky haired punk."
"Ignorant human."
"Three eyed freak."
"Incompetent fool."
"You're stupid."
"Your stench makes me nauseous."
Yusuke stopped walking abruptly. "Hey now, that's not fair! It's not my fault Botan forgot to bring me deodorant!" He protested touchily. "I'm doin' the best I can, y'know."
Hiei smirked to himself and continued to walk. "Don't fall back or I may begin to believe you're too weak to carry your own pack. I usually kill weaklings, you know. I could make good money selling human meat at market. Even if it did stink."
"You wouldn't dare." Yusuke protested seethingly, hurrying to catch up. He didn't notice Hiei's smirk. "What about Kurama? He wouldn't like it if he found out you murdered me just because I ran out of deodorant."
"I would comfort our dear Kurama. He would thank me for it eventually, after all, you're only human. You would die much sooner than either of us anyway. Besides, Kurama detests little boys who can't control their own bodily odors."
Yusuke raised his arm and sniffed. "It isn't that bad, is it?"
"Enough to make him forget his infatuation for you, yet not enough to make me retch. Yet."
"Ha ha, Hiei, very funny." Yusuke grouched wryly. "Kurama wouldn't stop loving me because I smelt bad."
"Are you sure? Do you know he even loves you in the first place? Think about how beautiful he is. Do you honestly think there is a place in his heart for a dirty, stinking human? Look at me, detective, and tell me if you are arrogant enough to actually believe it is possible for you to meet the standards Kurama has set by me?"
"I. ."
"You haven't even asked to stop and wash, and we've been traveling for nearly two weeks. Kurama would be horrified at the very idea. You can be sure that is he was with us right now; he certainly wouldn't want to touch you. I myself am completely disgusted." Hiei stopped and turned around, realizing that Yusuke had stopped and cursing himself for taking his insults too far. He had meant to be cruel, yes, but if he took out all his anger over failure to get the human into his bed on the very object of his near-obsession, he would never get the boy into his arms. He had realized while they walked that Yusuke was not just Kurama's plaything. He was a person, a very opinioned person, and if Hiei wanted him, he'd have to do the work himself.
Yusuke stood, stance dejected, staring down into hands that weren't nearly so grubby as Hiei made them out to be. "Would he really turn me away for something so small?" He asked quietly.
Hiei went back, grabbed Yusuke by the arm, and began pulling him along behind himself. "Don't be such a complete fool, detective. If you don't know him better than that by now, then you truly don't deserve him." They had reached a suitable spot and Hiei stopped, snatching Yusuke's packs away from him. "Here. We'll stop early tonight, if it will make you stop sniveling."
"Huh?"
"You need to bathe." With one mighty heave, Hiei pushed the human boy into the small lake he had brought them to, laughing mockingly as the dark head bobbed above the water, brown glare satisfyingly indignant. The small demon squatted at the edge with his elbows on his knees. "There now, perhaps a good dip has finally served to bring you to your senses. Or do you want to cry some more, fool? I could make the water much colder; will that serve to wake you up?"
"What the hell, Hiei?" The human screamed. "What the hell is wrong with you? Sick freak!"
"There now, that sounds more like you." Hiei produced a bar of soap from his small bag of hygiene products and set it beside himself on the bank. "Now, swim around like a good boy until you get clean. And take off your clothes."
"What? First you push me and now you want me t' strip?"
"I don't give a damn about seeing you naked, fool, but if you don't take them off, they won't get dry by nightfall, and then they may freeze. It's your decision, of course. Nudity. or sleeping in saggy, cold, freezing underwear." Hiei kept his eyes and voice carefully neutral, watching Yusuke as a predator watched his prey.
With a glare, Yusuke climbed out of the water and began to undress. "D'ya have'ta watch?" He demanded.
"Can it, you sissy. I have every right to watch; maybe it will finally explain why my fox is so interested in you. It certainly isn't your winning personality, and we both know I'm prettier, so let's see what you have to offer."
Yusuke turned away. "Bastard." He grumbled under his breath.
Hiei smirked to himself and set to enjoying the view, very pleased with himself as he watched the human climb back into the water. The last thing he was expecting was for Yusuke to swim to him, grab his ankle, and pull him into the water. Had he expected it, it wouldn't have happened.
"Fool!" He roared as he broke the surface of the water. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Your choice, Hiei." Yusuke smirked. "Nudity or soggy undies." He laughed in the face of Hiei's indignant stare. "Don't be such a wuss; turn about is fair play."
Meeting his gaze defiantly, Hiei undressed right there in the water, tossing the garments up onto the bank as Yusuke stared in disappointment.
"Unlike you, I have no wish to parade myself around like some damn exhibitionist."
"Why?" Yusuke smirked. "You got something to be ashamed of?"
"You can see for yourself that I don't." He snapped, snatching up the soap from the bank. He smirked as he turned away, thinking of the way the human boy's eyes had widened. He washed completely before handing the soap to his companion.
"Y'know, this water doesn't look very clean."
"What are you, a woman? This is the bet you'll find in this area of Makai, so be thankful." Hiei leaned back against some rocks, closing his eyes and heating the water with his powers, visions of a naked Yusuke dancing in his head.
"It's like a hot spring." Yusuke sighed, leaning against the bank after he finished a hasty, yet very careful washing. A suspicious look crossed his face. "Unless. ."
"Don't be disgusting."
"I didn't know you could do things like heat water."
Hiei snorted. "My powers are best suited to fighting, however I have other skills." He gasped as his head was suddenly forced under the water, coming up spluttering and glaring furiously.
"You always gotta' act like you got a stick up your ass?" Yusuke demanded, splashing him and glaring. "You know, you don't make travellin' with you easy. The least you could do is lighten up once in a while."
Hiei lunged for him with a wordless growl, forcing his head under the water.
~
Yusuke heaved himself up onto the bank next to Hiei, still laughing, and flipped himself onto his back, tucking his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. Hiei had to fight to keep a smile from his own face. Nothing had happened, and yet something had. He had had. fun. playing in the water with Yusuke. Hiei didn't play. He didn't. Yet he had.
He watched the clouds drift over the sky, a sky that grew a more "natural" color the farther they traveled. The land was growing more and more familiar to him, and that was a bad thing. All lasting mirth disappeared at this sobering thought, however his warm feelings toward the human at his side stayed with him.
"Hiei? How did you meet Kurama?" Yusuke asked suddenly, voice quiet.
He frowned, but Kurama had told him, privately, that he was planning on telling the boy anyway. So he decided to answer. "It was five hundred years ago. In Dai'shaal."
"So he did live there! I thought I remembered him sayin' something about. oh, sorry. I won't interrupt again, I promise."
Hiei frowned, mind in the past. Kurama had been so frightened, fighting so hard to keep up the walls he had built to protect himself. "He worked in a brothel, I'm afraid. It was the only way he knew how to survive. I never visited those places, however I passed him in the street one day as I was passing through the town. ." Those eyes had been so sorrowful, devoid of hope. Kurama had been so utterly ashamed of himself, hating his own beauty, despising what he was. "Something about him drew me to him, and so I decided to take him with me. To have him by my side always."
Blood had run in rivers the night he had stolen Kurama out of Dai'shaal. He had slaughtered every patron of the despised house in the beds they had paid for, burning the place down with its owner inside. Anyone who got in his way was killed as Kurama allowed himself to be pulled along, silent and ashamed.
"He was a different person then than the man you know now, different than the powerful being that is so famous now among demon kind, as well." He continued, a muscle working in his jaw. "I tried to erase the pain he endured, and I succeeded, in a way. But he became dangerous, wrathful. He wanted the world to pay for the humiliation he had been forced to endure." Nothing and no one had been safe from Kurama's thirst for blood. No one but Hiei. "He ravished entire villages, challenged warlords. He became what he is known for; one of the most powerful and feared demons in this world."
Power hadn't been enough to make his fox happy though. How many nights had he sobbed quietly in Hiei's arms? How many times had he begged him to take his life? How often had be begged him not to leave him, no matter how much of a monster he became? Hiei was, for some reason, thankful Yusuke would never see Kurama's weak side. How could anyone but Hiei himself understand it?
Yusuke had sat up and was staring down at him, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to notice.
"Finally, Kurama couldn't take what he had become any longer." There were other reasons, but that was the primary cause for Kurama's carelessness that had led to his death. He wasn't as careful as he should have been because a part of him had wanted the consequence he earned. "I was there at the last. It was because of me that he permitted himself to be born in that human body he uses now, and I watched over him, waiting for him until he grew up again." Kurama was his life. He had no meaning without him.
Yusuke reached down carefully and touched Hiei's face, wiping away a fast crystilizing tear Hiei hadn't known was there.
"I miss him, too." The human boy said quietly.
Hiei's voice was a rasp. "We must find him soon."
"We will." Yusuke was suddenly in his arms, hugging him tightly. "We will." He repeated.
~
To Be Continued
Okay, there we go, just a little insight into Hiei's thoughts and the Kurama/Hiei that no one else usually gets to see. Let me know if you want the side story. It's basically Hiei's story in more detail, and maybe I'll include how they fell in love and grew to depend on each other so much. They've done a lot of growing, I hope I'm showing that okay.