Another thanks goes out to Keaira, for all her wonderful help. Um, this is
nearing the end of the actual plot for this section of the story, but I was
thinking originally to make it into a huge multi-crossover (those are fun)
so let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for worlds
for them to visit.
Warnings: This is Yaoi. I own nothing.
~
Yusuke opened his eyes slowly, squinting in the sudden, unexpected light. Cool water trickled down the sides of his face and into his hair. It took him a moment to realize that the water came from a cool, wet washcloth being gently smoothed across his forehead.
"Welcome back, detective." A familiar, yet strangely gentle voice said quietly near his ear.
"Hiei?" He rasped, throat raw and dry.
"Don't try to sit up yet; you've been asleep for a long time." He cautioned, dipping the washcloth in a small bowl of water and laying it carefully back on Yusuke's forehead. "How do you feel?" He asked as if he cared.
Yusuke blinked in surprise - Hiei simply didn't ask questions like that, not with that tone of voice anyway. Nevertheless, the question brought him to take inventory of himself, and he was quite surprised. "I'm fine. I. . . .I feel better than ever."
"Good." Hiei smiled.
Yusuke yelped loudly and somehow managed to scramble out of bed and away from the dark haired demon. "You ain't Hiei!" He accused.
He scowled, just as Hiei might have, and dropped the washcloth back into the small bowl. "Come now, detective, don't be such a fool." He spat, disgusted.
"Hiei don't smile. Not ever. Uh-uh, no sir."
"Am I not permitted to feel relief that you are not dead?"
"Not if you're gonna act like that, you're not!"
Hiei's scowl grew, and it was oddly comforting to see it. "You have been unconscious for nearly eight days, Yusuke, and if you do not get back into this bed this instant, I will ensure that you spend the rest of your life regretting it."
"Now that's more like you." Yusuke sighed, relieved, as he climbed back underneath the covers, slightly dizzy.
Hiei touched the back of his hand to his forehead as he lay back down and his face softened somewhat. "Good. You no longer have a fever, at least."
"What the hell happened to me, Hiei?"
"Why the hell did you jump in the way, fool?" He countered a touch harshly.
Yusuke dropped his eyes and refused to look up. "Look, don't start with me, okay? I know you don't like me because I'm human, but I. . . . .when I heard what those guys were planning to do to you. . . .I couldn't just stand there and let it happen, you know? Not to you. I. . . .I like you, Hiei. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel, and besides, Kurama. . . ."
"Good. You should be fond of me." He smirked as Yusuke's head shot up and he stared at him through wide eyes. Hiei leaned closer. "As soon as we are both completely healed, detective, I will expect a great many things to change between us." He confided quietly.
"Wh." Yusuke swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean."
And suddenly, Hiei's lips were on Yusuke's, hungry and demanding, gentle and firm, all at once.
Yusuke stared stupidly as he pulled away, a very satisfied expression on the small demon's face. For the first time he realized the state his traveling companion was in: there were bandages wrapped around Hiei's stomach and over one shoulder. He wore only a pair of black silk boxers, and so the matching bandages encircling one thigh were plainly visible as well.
"You're hurt." Was all he could say.
"Just a fractured collar bone and a few stab wounds; nothing of any importance." Hiei said dismissively, leaning in for another kiss.
Yusuke drew back. "What happened while I was out?" He demanded, hearing his own voice rise in panic.
Hiei turned away. "Don't ask me to answer that."
"Where are we? Can you answer that, at least?" Yusuke demanded, annoyed.
"We're on the island of the ice demons. My. . . .my mother snuck us in." Plainly, he didn't like revealing that fact. "We will need to leave as soon as it is possible. If they catch us here. . . . .well, it won't be pretty."
"How did she get us here so quickly? It took us weeks to get out of that forest."
It wasn't Hiei who answered.
"My manner of travel is an ice demon secret, not to be shared with anyone - especially not the likes of you." A feminine voice answered sharply. Entering the room was the pretty demoness who had let them leave the forest weeks ago.
"You're Hiei's momma?" He blurted.
She shot him a small frown, setting the tray she was carrying on a table. Yusuke no longer had any trouble seeing the family resemblance anymore as she rounded on him, fists planted on hips and expression stern. "Well, you could at least thank me for taking you in, considering all the risk I'm taking. Well, do you want a bath, or would you rather wallow in your own filth for a while longer?"
"Can't I eat first?" He scowled, hating being bossed around.
"It won't get cold. Come on now, up with you. Let's see if you can stand."
Giving her his most stubborn look, Yusuke flipped back the covers and got to his feet - only to stumble and fall into Hiei, who deemed to catch him. Thankfully, it was his uninjured side.
"I stood earlier." Yusuke muttered.
Hiei's arm went around his waist to steady him before he released him, keeping a hand on his shoulder ready to more should he begin to sway. Yusuke took deep breaths, legs trembling. He would not fall twice in front of Hiei's mother. He extended his tail for extra balance, and -
Tail?
Yusuke twisted, staring down at his backside. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!" He screamed.
Hiei actually flinched. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that yet."
"You were hoping that I wouldn't notice a freakin' tail growin' outta my freakin' ass?" He demanded, somewhat shrilly. "Where's a mirror? Is this it, or is there more?"
"There's more." Hiei admitted, voice quiet. He cast a cold glance at his mother and she decided to take the hint, slipping out of the room silently. Hiei sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the former human down with him. He actually looked. . . .hesitant. "You must understand, I thought you were gone, Yusuke. I tried to bring you back with my spirit energy but. . . .there was no response."
"What happened?"
Hiei reached up and touched Yusuke's ears, oddly enough. Ears that were much to far up on his head. "I'm not sure exactly how, detective, but. . . .you've become a cat demon."
~
She watched as he exited the room, making no sound. The way he moved broke her heart. It attested to a fighter, a warrior. Someone used to being careful because one slip up could mean his very life. It was her fault, because she was too weak to fight for him, and so he had grown up fighting for himself, instead.
"Why hide in the shadows, mother?" He asked with a sigh, tone biting and bitter. "Afraid?"
"Why won't you talk to me?" She implored, ignoring the question. Yes, she was afraid. He had every right to want vengeance from her by any means necessary, and she was sure he had the skills. "If I could only explain to you why it had to happen - ."
"Words are empty and useless. You're only making me hate you more. Funny, I didn't know that was possible."
"How's your friend?" She asked, rather than respond to the rather nasty comment.
". . . . .asleep."
"Why must you have that tone with me, Hiei?" She demanded finally, her temper getting the better of her. The desire to reclaim her son was strong, but as it is with all emotions, when their strong enough they spur one into acts one regrets later. "I died the day they took you from me." She said in anguish. "My soul died, my hope. They wouldn't let me follow you into oblivion, Hiei, otherwise I wouldn't be here now. They said I didn't deserve the quiet of the grave; that I needed to live with the result of my actions forever on my conscious. That's when I became Yameruki; that's when I became a warrior. We're survivors, you and I, my darling boy. We adapt, but we don't forget, do we? Don't you see?"
"Enough!" He snarled, turning his back on her.
"Do you think I wanted them to take you? I didn't care about the prophecy; I didn't care that it said you would destroy us one day. You were mine. I tried, Hiei. I did."
"The detective and I will be leaving as soon as I am convinced he has recovered well enough to travel. As for my own injuries, I don't give a damn. But if you follow us again don't think for a moment that I won't kill you, even if you are helping us. I don't claim to understand your twisted reasoning. The thought of going into your mind nauseates me, and I will not be at peace until I am far from you. The detective and I. . . .we're going after our fox. Nothing will stand in our way. Nothing will stop us."
"Your fox?" She asked, startled.
"Medu will soon suffer a painful and humiliating death for daring to touch -"
"Hiei, no!" He turned a cold eye on her and she continued on in a rush. "You want to take the fox demon she's recently acquired?" She asked. She didn't need his cold nod for clarification; she knew with an odd certainty that that was in deed the case. She had heard the rumors. The legendary youko Kurama captured and obedient to the every whim of Medu. "You can't mean him, can you? How would you even know someone so dangerous? What are you doing with a monster like that? Let her have him; fiends such as they deserve each other, and he deserves everything he gets, if even half of the rumors about him are true." She stopped as Hiei turned furiously on her, backing up until she hit the wall.
"You truly understand nothing, do you?" He snarled. "Pray that once my kitten and I leave this place you never see any of us again. If you do, we will surely be the last things you ever see."
~
Yusuke glared hatefully into the mirror, despising what he saw. Delicately pointed black cat ears were flattened in agitation against his head, and his long, luxuriously furred tail flicked back and forth as another testament to his intense irritation. The other changes in him were more subtle - he was more graceful, body more lithe. His eyes were slimmer and slightly more tilted, his regular shade of velvety brown unless he felt an emotion strongly, then they became golden and the pupils became elongated and cat-slit.
He had claws, too, when he wanted them. And his spirit energy was through the roof.
He was, in a word, miserable.
It wasn't that he particularly hated the transformation that had come over him; he didn't really care if he was human anymore or not - after all, his life as a human had pretty much sucked up until he had come to live with Kurama - and the extended amount of time a demon body could live when compared to a human's was good, too, but. . . .
But it was the entire reason, he knew, that Hiei was suddenly so very willing to have a relationship with him.
Through the mirror he watched as Hiei's mother entered and began gathering up his breakfast plates. In order to ensure that they weren't found out, she had to bring and take all his meals (who knew what Hiei did when he wanted to eat; he came and left as if he didn't care that it was dangerous.) At first Yusuke had felt guilty about letting the demoness act as a servant, but he no longer cared anymore. After what she had done to Hiei, and how much he apparently hated her, he couldn't really summon up nay guilt.
"Yusuke," Yameruki said suddenly, glancing at the bathroom door - Hiei was in there bathing - before stepping closer, lowering her voice and producing a small draw string bag from up her sleeve. "I have something for you. . . ."
Why did she sound so hesitant?
Yusuke took the offered bag warily and emptied a portion of its contents into his hand. "What's this supposed to be?" He asked as he shifted through the handful of small, dark jewels.
She didn't answer. "He cares for you; you need to know that." She said instead.
"Yeah." He snorted. "He cares a whole lot now that I'm not human."
She took another step closer. "Those are the tears he cried for you," She whispered, closing his fingers around the gems. "When he thought you were dead. I thought you should have them. Hiei. . . . .Hiei doesn't know that I took them from where he left them in the snow." She tilted her head as if listening to something, then, smiling slightly, she quickly left.
Yusuke barely noticed as he stared at the tear gems, mouth slightly agape.
"What do you have there, detective?"
Yusuke glanced up. Hiei stood in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist, water droplets shining on his chest. Yusuke smiled slightly, letting the small jewels fall back inside the bag with their fellows and placing them on the dresser.
"Nothing." He answered. "Hiei, I was thinking about something."
"Oh? Am I supposed to be impressed?"
The former human took a deep breath before forcing himself to cross the room to stand before the smaller demon. "Are your wounds almost healed?"
"Yes. Are you anxious to continue on our journey, then? I told you, my 'mother' has agreed to take us as close to Medu's fortress as she can; it's the least she owes me. We'll have him back soon."
"Good. But. . . .that's not exactly why I was asking."
Hiei crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, expression unreadable. "Oh?"
"Yeah."
Before he could give himself time to change his mind, Yusuke stepped forward and caught Hiei's face in his hands, kissing him as deeply as he dared, putting into it everything he felt, everything he had. His relief was immense as he felt Hiei smirk, his arms closing tightly around him.
~
To Be Continued
Warnings: This is Yaoi. I own nothing.
~
Yusuke opened his eyes slowly, squinting in the sudden, unexpected light. Cool water trickled down the sides of his face and into his hair. It took him a moment to realize that the water came from a cool, wet washcloth being gently smoothed across his forehead.
"Welcome back, detective." A familiar, yet strangely gentle voice said quietly near his ear.
"Hiei?" He rasped, throat raw and dry.
"Don't try to sit up yet; you've been asleep for a long time." He cautioned, dipping the washcloth in a small bowl of water and laying it carefully back on Yusuke's forehead. "How do you feel?" He asked as if he cared.
Yusuke blinked in surprise - Hiei simply didn't ask questions like that, not with that tone of voice anyway. Nevertheless, the question brought him to take inventory of himself, and he was quite surprised. "I'm fine. I. . . .I feel better than ever."
"Good." Hiei smiled.
Yusuke yelped loudly and somehow managed to scramble out of bed and away from the dark haired demon. "You ain't Hiei!" He accused.
He scowled, just as Hiei might have, and dropped the washcloth back into the small bowl. "Come now, detective, don't be such a fool." He spat, disgusted.
"Hiei don't smile. Not ever. Uh-uh, no sir."
"Am I not permitted to feel relief that you are not dead?"
"Not if you're gonna act like that, you're not!"
Hiei's scowl grew, and it was oddly comforting to see it. "You have been unconscious for nearly eight days, Yusuke, and if you do not get back into this bed this instant, I will ensure that you spend the rest of your life regretting it."
"Now that's more like you." Yusuke sighed, relieved, as he climbed back underneath the covers, slightly dizzy.
Hiei touched the back of his hand to his forehead as he lay back down and his face softened somewhat. "Good. You no longer have a fever, at least."
"What the hell happened to me, Hiei?"
"Why the hell did you jump in the way, fool?" He countered a touch harshly.
Yusuke dropped his eyes and refused to look up. "Look, don't start with me, okay? I know you don't like me because I'm human, but I. . . . .when I heard what those guys were planning to do to you. . . .I couldn't just stand there and let it happen, you know? Not to you. I. . . .I like you, Hiei. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel, and besides, Kurama. . . ."
"Good. You should be fond of me." He smirked as Yusuke's head shot up and he stared at him through wide eyes. Hiei leaned closer. "As soon as we are both completely healed, detective, I will expect a great many things to change between us." He confided quietly.
"Wh." Yusuke swallowed hard. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean."
And suddenly, Hiei's lips were on Yusuke's, hungry and demanding, gentle and firm, all at once.
Yusuke stared stupidly as he pulled away, a very satisfied expression on the small demon's face. For the first time he realized the state his traveling companion was in: there were bandages wrapped around Hiei's stomach and over one shoulder. He wore only a pair of black silk boxers, and so the matching bandages encircling one thigh were plainly visible as well.
"You're hurt." Was all he could say.
"Just a fractured collar bone and a few stab wounds; nothing of any importance." Hiei said dismissively, leaning in for another kiss.
Yusuke drew back. "What happened while I was out?" He demanded, hearing his own voice rise in panic.
Hiei turned away. "Don't ask me to answer that."
"Where are we? Can you answer that, at least?" Yusuke demanded, annoyed.
"We're on the island of the ice demons. My. . . .my mother snuck us in." Plainly, he didn't like revealing that fact. "We will need to leave as soon as it is possible. If they catch us here. . . . .well, it won't be pretty."
"How did she get us here so quickly? It took us weeks to get out of that forest."
It wasn't Hiei who answered.
"My manner of travel is an ice demon secret, not to be shared with anyone - especially not the likes of you." A feminine voice answered sharply. Entering the room was the pretty demoness who had let them leave the forest weeks ago.
"You're Hiei's momma?" He blurted.
She shot him a small frown, setting the tray she was carrying on a table. Yusuke no longer had any trouble seeing the family resemblance anymore as she rounded on him, fists planted on hips and expression stern. "Well, you could at least thank me for taking you in, considering all the risk I'm taking. Well, do you want a bath, or would you rather wallow in your own filth for a while longer?"
"Can't I eat first?" He scowled, hating being bossed around.
"It won't get cold. Come on now, up with you. Let's see if you can stand."
Giving her his most stubborn look, Yusuke flipped back the covers and got to his feet - only to stumble and fall into Hiei, who deemed to catch him. Thankfully, it was his uninjured side.
"I stood earlier." Yusuke muttered.
Hiei's arm went around his waist to steady him before he released him, keeping a hand on his shoulder ready to more should he begin to sway. Yusuke took deep breaths, legs trembling. He would not fall twice in front of Hiei's mother. He extended his tail for extra balance, and -
Tail?
Yusuke twisted, staring down at his backside. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!" He screamed.
Hiei actually flinched. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that yet."
"You were hoping that I wouldn't notice a freakin' tail growin' outta my freakin' ass?" He demanded, somewhat shrilly. "Where's a mirror? Is this it, or is there more?"
"There's more." Hiei admitted, voice quiet. He cast a cold glance at his mother and she decided to take the hint, slipping out of the room silently. Hiei sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the former human down with him. He actually looked. . . .hesitant. "You must understand, I thought you were gone, Yusuke. I tried to bring you back with my spirit energy but. . . .there was no response."
"What happened?"
Hiei reached up and touched Yusuke's ears, oddly enough. Ears that were much to far up on his head. "I'm not sure exactly how, detective, but. . . .you've become a cat demon."
~
She watched as he exited the room, making no sound. The way he moved broke her heart. It attested to a fighter, a warrior. Someone used to being careful because one slip up could mean his very life. It was her fault, because she was too weak to fight for him, and so he had grown up fighting for himself, instead.
"Why hide in the shadows, mother?" He asked with a sigh, tone biting and bitter. "Afraid?"
"Why won't you talk to me?" She implored, ignoring the question. Yes, she was afraid. He had every right to want vengeance from her by any means necessary, and she was sure he had the skills. "If I could only explain to you why it had to happen - ."
"Words are empty and useless. You're only making me hate you more. Funny, I didn't know that was possible."
"How's your friend?" She asked, rather than respond to the rather nasty comment.
". . . . .asleep."
"Why must you have that tone with me, Hiei?" She demanded finally, her temper getting the better of her. The desire to reclaim her son was strong, but as it is with all emotions, when their strong enough they spur one into acts one regrets later. "I died the day they took you from me." She said in anguish. "My soul died, my hope. They wouldn't let me follow you into oblivion, Hiei, otherwise I wouldn't be here now. They said I didn't deserve the quiet of the grave; that I needed to live with the result of my actions forever on my conscious. That's when I became Yameruki; that's when I became a warrior. We're survivors, you and I, my darling boy. We adapt, but we don't forget, do we? Don't you see?"
"Enough!" He snarled, turning his back on her.
"Do you think I wanted them to take you? I didn't care about the prophecy; I didn't care that it said you would destroy us one day. You were mine. I tried, Hiei. I did."
"The detective and I will be leaving as soon as I am convinced he has recovered well enough to travel. As for my own injuries, I don't give a damn. But if you follow us again don't think for a moment that I won't kill you, even if you are helping us. I don't claim to understand your twisted reasoning. The thought of going into your mind nauseates me, and I will not be at peace until I am far from you. The detective and I. . . .we're going after our fox. Nothing will stand in our way. Nothing will stop us."
"Your fox?" She asked, startled.
"Medu will soon suffer a painful and humiliating death for daring to touch -"
"Hiei, no!" He turned a cold eye on her and she continued on in a rush. "You want to take the fox demon she's recently acquired?" She asked. She didn't need his cold nod for clarification; she knew with an odd certainty that that was in deed the case. She had heard the rumors. The legendary youko Kurama captured and obedient to the every whim of Medu. "You can't mean him, can you? How would you even know someone so dangerous? What are you doing with a monster like that? Let her have him; fiends such as they deserve each other, and he deserves everything he gets, if even half of the rumors about him are true." She stopped as Hiei turned furiously on her, backing up until she hit the wall.
"You truly understand nothing, do you?" He snarled. "Pray that once my kitten and I leave this place you never see any of us again. If you do, we will surely be the last things you ever see."
~
Yusuke glared hatefully into the mirror, despising what he saw. Delicately pointed black cat ears were flattened in agitation against his head, and his long, luxuriously furred tail flicked back and forth as another testament to his intense irritation. The other changes in him were more subtle - he was more graceful, body more lithe. His eyes were slimmer and slightly more tilted, his regular shade of velvety brown unless he felt an emotion strongly, then they became golden and the pupils became elongated and cat-slit.
He had claws, too, when he wanted them. And his spirit energy was through the roof.
He was, in a word, miserable.
It wasn't that he particularly hated the transformation that had come over him; he didn't really care if he was human anymore or not - after all, his life as a human had pretty much sucked up until he had come to live with Kurama - and the extended amount of time a demon body could live when compared to a human's was good, too, but. . . .
But it was the entire reason, he knew, that Hiei was suddenly so very willing to have a relationship with him.
Through the mirror he watched as Hiei's mother entered and began gathering up his breakfast plates. In order to ensure that they weren't found out, she had to bring and take all his meals (who knew what Hiei did when he wanted to eat; he came and left as if he didn't care that it was dangerous.) At first Yusuke had felt guilty about letting the demoness act as a servant, but he no longer cared anymore. After what she had done to Hiei, and how much he apparently hated her, he couldn't really summon up nay guilt.
"Yusuke," Yameruki said suddenly, glancing at the bathroom door - Hiei was in there bathing - before stepping closer, lowering her voice and producing a small draw string bag from up her sleeve. "I have something for you. . . ."
Why did she sound so hesitant?
Yusuke took the offered bag warily and emptied a portion of its contents into his hand. "What's this supposed to be?" He asked as he shifted through the handful of small, dark jewels.
She didn't answer. "He cares for you; you need to know that." She said instead.
"Yeah." He snorted. "He cares a whole lot now that I'm not human."
She took another step closer. "Those are the tears he cried for you," She whispered, closing his fingers around the gems. "When he thought you were dead. I thought you should have them. Hiei. . . . .Hiei doesn't know that I took them from where he left them in the snow." She tilted her head as if listening to something, then, smiling slightly, she quickly left.
Yusuke barely noticed as he stared at the tear gems, mouth slightly agape.
"What do you have there, detective?"
Yusuke glanced up. Hiei stood in the bathroom doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist, water droplets shining on his chest. Yusuke smiled slightly, letting the small jewels fall back inside the bag with their fellows and placing them on the dresser.
"Nothing." He answered. "Hiei, I was thinking about something."
"Oh? Am I supposed to be impressed?"
The former human took a deep breath before forcing himself to cross the room to stand before the smaller demon. "Are your wounds almost healed?"
"Yes. Are you anxious to continue on our journey, then? I told you, my 'mother' has agreed to take us as close to Medu's fortress as she can; it's the least she owes me. We'll have him back soon."
"Good. But. . . .that's not exactly why I was asking."
Hiei crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, expression unreadable. "Oh?"
"Yeah."
Before he could give himself time to change his mind, Yusuke stepped forward and caught Hiei's face in his hands, kissing him as deeply as he dared, putting into it everything he felt, everything he had. His relief was immense as he felt Hiei smirk, his arms closing tightly around him.
~
To Be Continued