Greed and Irony

By Ky

Summary: Another look at Yomi's relationship with Youko Kurama.
Genre: General
Rating: PG
Warnings: Shonen-ai.

Yomi sat in front of the campfire, watching the dancing flames. Across from him sat the infamous fox spirit and thief extraordinaire, Youko Kurama. It was late, and they were the only two members of their bandit horde who were still awake. Kurama had a stick and was drawing in the dirt with it. Occasionally he would stop, grumble as if he were dissatisfied with something, rub the drawing out with his shoe, and start the whole process over again.

"You're still planning it out?" Yomi asked. "It's simple. Get in. Grab the gold. Get out. What's there to plan?"

The youko ignored him.

"You've been scribbling in the dirt since before the sun went down. Don't you ever get tired?"

"Go to sleep, Yomi," was Kurama's brusque reply.

"Look," the younger demon stood up. "Why don't we just storm the place? Take out the guards as we go." He slapped one fist into the opposite palm for emphasis. "Bam, bam, bam. We're good to go."

"And the traps?" Kurama asked, with the air of a man whose patience wore thing long ago and now had holes in it. He added another detail to the diagram in the dirt.

"You know what your problem is? You make this too complicated. A raid is easy. It's deciding what to do with the gold that's the hard part."

Kurama dropped his stick and gestured to the ground next to him. "Sit down. What do you want?"

Yomi sat, leaning his head against the fox's shoulder. "Excitement. We've been camped here for three days. When are we going to get a move-on towards that fortress?"

Kurama toyed with a strand of Yomi's hair, brushing it away from the demon's forehead. "Patience, Yomi. Can't you find another way to entertain yourself until I have a working plan?"

"No," he whined. "I need to get my hands on that gold!"

"Go to sleep," the fox spirit told him. "The sooner you leave me be to finish planning this raid, the sooner you'll be able to get your hands on all that gold."

Yomi nuzzled him. "No," he replied childishly. "I'd rather be with you."

Kurama kissed his forehead. "Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you."

"You know you love me."

Neither affirming nor denying this, the fox spirit asked, "Yomi, why did you decide to become a bandit?"

Yomi sat up straight, facing Kurama. "To get everything the world has to offer without paying for any of it," he responded, sounding as if this was the most obvious answer that existed.

"Mm. So you met me, and together we created the most infamous bandit horde in the history of Makai."

"And together, we'll rule it. We'll have all of the gold and jewels and riches in the world. And we'll be kings!" Yomi interjected eagerly.

"And when you're a king," Kurama continued, "ruling over Makai, with all the gold in the world, what are you going to do with it?"

"Well!" Yomi replied excitedly, his eyes glittering in the firelight, "I'll spend it! On food and booze and a soft bed with hundreds of pillows. I'll never have to sleep on the ground again! I'll have nice clothes and women and antique furniture and servants so I never have to lift a finger! I'll live in a mansion bigger than any we've ever robbed, and everyone'll have to do what I say…"

&&&

Yomi smiled wistfully at this memory. Isn't it ironic, he thought, how things turned out? Kurama should have been the one ruling Makai. He was a much better strategist, a more capable leader. Yet here he was, Yomi, ruler of Gandarra. He was a Makai king, just like he had dreamed of being. And somehow, none of the things he had planned on having were important anymore. When he became king, the only one of the frivolous things he'd listed that night so many years before that he had actually acquired was a comfortable bed. He lay amongst the soft, downy pillows, trying to fall asleep.

Kurama… Yomi thought. Even after hundreds of years, he still missed the fox's touch. But the Youko Kurama I knew is long-dead, he told himself. His pelt is probably in a glass case somewhere, a trophy for some bounty hunter.

Kurama, you always warned me about letting my ego control me. You always stressed the importance of planning out your actions. And yet, you were shot down during a burglary in Spirit World. Either you misjudged some critical angle…or you just got cocky. And it cost you, just like you always told me it would.

You were just as driven by greed as I was, though you didn't always show it. But your desire to take everything from the world and give nothing back didn't end with gold and jewels. If it gave you one moment of power, one moment of pleasure, one moment of control, you wanted it. No matter who it hurt, if it could help you, you'd make it yours. You never stopped acting on avarice, not even after your life as a demon had ended. You went on to steal the body of a human boy and feed off the love of his human mother. You gained the trust of a Spirit Detective and fabricated human friendships for yourself. Anything that would advantage you. Anything to further your existence.

You lied to me to satisfy your lust. And when you grew tired of me, you ordered your assassin to blind me and leave me for dead.

And, Yomi realized, I should thank you for that. Because without my eyes, I can see the world with so much more clarity. And beauty will never blind me again.