Traditions

Dedicated to Mana (penname: HalfMetal Homunculus). She says to thank my writing talent and her twisted mind for this fic. i couldn't agree more.

Disclaimer: i don't own much of anything, really.

Warnings:
1) Character deaths (yay!).
2) A tad OOC-ness. Hey, it's horror, so there's gotta be.

Genre: Romance and horror. i think it's stretching it a bit on both, though...

Author's notes: i, honestly, like this pairing. i've just never cared to do it. Now, i have a reason to, so...yeah. Anway, this is a two-chapter ficlet. It's separated about by half, but the second half is a tad longer. By the way, for those that don't know, Cubist paintings and such are things like Pablo Picasso's paintings. Also, this is set after the demon realm tournament, meaning Hiei's returned to the demon world, not to return. All right. Follow closely, now.

"I'm sure Hiei would appreciate this so much more," the fox muttered quietly as he spoke with Yusuke, who was giving a mildly skeptical look to his back. Kurama was staring idly out the window, watching the raindrops clash against the streets. They were sitting in Yusuke's bedroom, the half-breed himself sitting on the bed, which had been moved across the room out of a hatred of monotony. The fox was standing about half a meter from the window, his arms folded behind his back. He was wearing a crimson tunic, the underclothing a pale gold. There was a black and white Cubist imprint of a fox that appeared to slink around on the back of the tunic. He looked rather formal compared to Yusuke's blue jeans and T-shirt combo.

After biting away at a chipping fingernail, Yusuke pulled his forefinger from between his teeth and asked, "Are you sure Kuwabara won't try to kill you for this?"

A soft snort was his reply, followed by the fox turning around and giving him a subtle grin that asked what made him think Kuwabara could succeed in such an endeavor. The human obviously didn't worry him, causing a deep frown to be born on Yusuke's face. His brow creased and he mouthed a question, but was interrupted in his silent inquiry. "It has long since been thought that humans and demons should remain separate from each other. This just feels proper, Yusuke. You must understand."

"Kuwabara's head-over-heels for Yukina. It'll kill him to find her cheating."

Shaking his head, the fox turned his gaze to the floor at Yusuke's right foot, his left hovering in the air as his left shin was balanced on his right knee. Those emerald orbs left the ground a second later to meet Yusuke's chocolate eyes with a stern gaze. "It won't be adultery or anything of the like. She lived in the demon realm and, by demon realm customs, he has no applicable claim over her until he marks her. And, as he's a human, he doesn't know how to mark her. She will never be his in such a thorough sense. He just thinks that she's his."

With a disapproving frown, Yusuke gave a defeated sigh. He shook his head, his eyes drifting shut, and rested his elbows on the elevated shin. His palms covered his face as he rested it into them, not entirely sure how he could counter the fox. Yukina was a demon, so demon realm customs applied to her, just as they applied to Kurama. And it wasn't uncommon in the demon realm for several males to be physically involved with an unclaimed female, and vice versa. After spending a few years there, he was very familiar with the ways of the demon plane.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Kurama." The fox tilted his head a little to the side, though Yusuke didn't notice with his eyes cast to the floorboards. "Why can't you leave them alone? Just because you think they shouldn't be together doesn't mean they shouldn't." His gaze returned to the fox, and a startled look crossed his face to see a deep glare resting on him, something he could have easily expected from Hiei, but not so much from the fox. He tried to speak, but the fox slowly closed most of the distance between them and kneeled down to be eye level with him.

A slender hand moved to Yusuke's face, tracing a line from the corner of his left eye to the corner of his lips. "Kuwabara would drag Yukina to the grave with him when he died, should she be allowed to care for him in such a deeper sense. I gave my promise to Hiei that I'd watch over her, and I cannot allow Kuwabara to bring her down. In the demon realm, more often than not, union leads to love. In this human world, in this culture that you've been raised in, love leads to union. Kuwabara wants her for the latter. Yukina allows it for the former, and she doesn't realize that he would die so very prematurely. She knows he is not a normal human, but doesn't comprehend that his death will be scheduled after so many years, just as any other human's. She will be left alone, and she will have nothing else for herself. I cannot allow this to happen. I gave Hiei my word."

Standing, the fox gave Yusuke a single nod in farewell and departed. He would not head home, however. He would journey to Genkai's temple and pay Yukina a visit. Kuwabara might be there, but he would leave soon since his sister had stringent holds on his curfew, as he was in his last year of high school and couldn't afford to lose study time. The fox himself held a job at his stepfather's company, a small one that would pay for college, so he could be out as late as he wished, so long as he assured his mother that he'd put in his time studying. He never did study, as he absorbed information like a sponge, but she couldn't dispute the lies based on his grades, as he was at the top of his class.

The rain continued to bat at the pavement, making the cars that darted by splash up water that would have gotten the fox soaked, if it wasn't for the tide of humans standing between the street and himself. His shoes were clacking lightly against the pavement, the sound nearly drowning in the other noises around him. But the fox could distinctly catch the sound of a familiar tread catching up to him. He glanced back and gave one of his stereotypical subtle smiles to Kuwabara, offering him shelter under the umbrella he bore.

With a broad grin, the human gave a greeting. "Hey, where ya heading?" he asked as he caught his breath, which took very little time as he was not a normal human. The fox replied that he was considering a visit to Genkai's temple and asked if Kuwabara wished to join him. "That'd be cool. I was out here with Yukina, you know, getting something to eat and visiting Eikichi with her. Then, she remembered some urgent thing that she didn't get a chance to explain and rushed off. She's faster than she looks, lemme tell ya."

Arching his eyebrows, Kurama looked to the human's face with mild surprise. Yukina was out here? He hadn't sensed her energy signature at all. He gave a somewhat interested hum and asked, "Is that so?" The human gave an affirmative, adding that she had left the store they'd been in and disappeared immediately. No matter which direction he'd looked, there'd been no sign of her. "Well, she is a demon..." the fox replied, shifting his gaze to the street ahead of them.

The crosswalk up ahead was green, so neither bothered to slow to a halt as the tide of bodies continued moving. A couple stopped suddenly and turned, giving Kurama and Kuwabara the front. The crosswalk flickered, causing them to pause right before the street. The cars blew up, causing sprays of water to hit the shins of Kurama's pants, but thankfully not get much higher. Kuwabara, having ran in the rain, was already about as saturated as he could get, so the splashes didn't bother him.

The onslaught of cars came to a brief stop, but the crosswalk remained red. The fox looked around the street, seeing cars parallel with them waiting patiently to be let go, as the thread of perpendicular cars seemed to have snapped. He tapped a single foot forward before a rough shove forced him to lose balance and fall to his knees. Rain began soaking his shirt as his umbrella had fallen. He moved to turn a glare to whoever had pushed him, but the blare of a car horn took his attention away and to a mauve Honda Civic about to collide with him. The screech of tires hit his ears next, then he jumped back, landing on his tailbone as he plummeted back onto the sidewalk, the sound of the car flattening his umbrella assaulting his ears. Metal snapped and the tarp tore violently.

With a deep breath, the fox watched as the driver got out and rushed to see if he was okay. The both of them apologized profusely for what had happened, Kurama for having fallen into the road and his umbrella probably causing damage to the undercarriage of the car, the driver for the scare he must having given Kurama and destroying his umbrella. Kuwabara heaved the fox to his feet and suggested they both go home instead of to Genkai's temple. The crosswalk was green, so he half-dragged Kurama across the street and in the direction of the nearest subway station. The abandoned umbrella would be thrown away once it was determined that the motorist's car was undeed unharmed, never another thought given to it.

"Mother will be appalled that I allowed myself to get soaked," the fox muttered half-heartedly. He heaved a heavy breath, thankful that everyone had decided that police and ambulances were unnecessary and he wouldn't have to tell his mother that he'd almost been run over by a car.

"Well, be glad you're soaked in rainwater and not blood," Kuwabara told him a little darkly. The fox's gaze rested on the human, noticing that there was something etched on his face, something like...like disappointment. Had he...? Shaking his head slowly, Kurama abandoned the thought. Kuwabara wouldn't have pushed him into a street, especially for no reason. Unless he knew the fox was courting Yukina behind his back... But was Kuwabara that intuitive? He was probably upset that he'd be going home instead of seeing Yukina. That was all, the fox figured.

First half for a two chapter dedication.

Thanks! FrozenBlueRose (Aika-chan), The Thief Kuronue, Miya, miyako14, Nyte Kit, and Mr. Shishio.

Rule alteration: A little bit of clarification... Although i love the idea of not having to think, it would be greatly appreciated if you would be brief in the plot summary. Not that i don't want to supply what everyone wants, but if you're going to give me every detail of what happens, you might as well write it yourself. Not intending to insult or reprimand anyone, but the fact remains. i cannot improve where plots are concerned if you give me each little detail in the fic. Thank you and have a nice day.

Review.

12:45 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time. U.S. Wednesday, September 07, 2005.

Owakare.

Chiisai Mu.
Little Nothing.