I'm Going to Get You by rebecca85
Chapter 4: Chicken Soup
"Botan?" Kurama asked quizzically, rose and walked gracefully to his window. He let it open and invited the girl in, grateful that she had waited for an invitation instead of coming right through.
"What are you doing in here?" The redhead asked curiously but tiredly. Somehow he had difficulties to keep his eyes open. How can I feel this tired in the middle of the day? I haven't even eaten yet… Although the thought of eating didn't appeal to him that much. The ferry girl looked at him suspiciously and then glanced at Hiei.
"Koenma-sama wants to see you," she said tentatively, switching her gaze between the two men. Hiei was listening but was still on the bed sitting, seemly bored.
"Both of us?" the fox inquired.
"Yes, both. Yusuke and Kuwabara are already on their way," she replied. Botan seemed to be unusually un-hyper and almost frowning at them, like she was searching something. And thinking. Obviously thinking.
"Kuwabara has come back?" Kurama asked as he moved to find more suitable clothes for the meeting. He was sure this was a new mission and a pair of khaki trousers and a collar-shirt weren't exactly what you would call a combat-suit.
"Yes, he came back a few days ago. They won." She wasn't even exited about that. But then the always bubbly girl suddenly brightened up and returned to her usual self again. It seemed like she found what she was searching for. "I'm going to head back now. You two, come as soon as you can." And with that happy sentence and a wink of an eye, she hopped on her oar and flew off. Kurama didn't even have a chance to say anything more and wondered why she had left so hastily. Maybe she needs to guide Yusuke, he thought to himself. But weren't Yusuke and Kuwabara already on their way?
In the end Kurama had been too tired to change so they had left pretty soon and Hiei had insisted on carrying him again. On the way the green-eyed beauty had almost fallen asleep in his arms. It refreshed him nicely, but he still felt fuzzy, like he was still in the dreamland and everything seemed unreal. And he felt like he was freezing.
Silence fell as the two demon walked in Koenma's office. The others seemed to be discussing a fascinating subject, all gathered around Yusuke and Botan, and were exchanging information. Koenma was in his teenager form which puzzled Kurama. They all turned to them, now suddenly silent.
"Hey you two!" Kuwabara started. "Long time no see!" He was smiling happily and the few bruises and cuts left on his face didn't even prevent his usual broadness. 'You two'? I thought he hated Hiei? The redhead mused before answering.
"Hi, Kuwabara-kun. How was the tournament?" he asked with a smile but could hear that his voice sounded awful. The room swayed slightly so he stumbled to the couch Koenma had acquired there for their meeting. Good for him. He felt exhausted. Kuwabara's smile seemed to decrease slightly but he answered nevertheless.
"It was great, Kurama. I got my wish and since I haven't heard the others complain, I guess they got theirs too. Can't you feel how I've changed?" Kazuma inquired, frowning. Kurama blinked to get his eyes clear and concentrated.
"Yes, now that you mentioned it, you do feel different." The fox-spirited man smiled vaguely. They all seemed to exchange looks and Hiei was staring at him. Before someone could start the 'you don't look so good' or 'are you all right' -crap that he had had in school, he decided to change the subject.
"So, why are we here this time?" He directed his question to the teenaged semi-god. Hiei silently came to sit beside him but Kurama ignored him. He was used to it by now.
"Well, yes." Koenma voice took on a more serious tone. Kuwabara sat down beside Hiei, who barely noticed it, and Yusuke stayed leaning on the wall beside Kurama. They all waited for the reason. Botan was happily hovering around the god.
"I have actually quite exiting news to you all," he started. "My coming-of-age party is coming soon and I wish you all to attend." He looked very proud of himself but they just continued to stare.
"What is this 'coming-of-age' thing, Koenma?" Yusuke asked, sounding almost bored. This was almost like a slap in the face for the god. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"It means," he fumed, "that dad has finally agreed that I'm old and mature enough to leave the 'Jr.' off." Koenma couldn't help but sound slightly smug. "And it happens to be my 750th birthday too. We thought it was a perfect time to do this." He gave a side-glance to Botan who giggled happily in response.
"So?" Yusuke asked again, dangerously steadily. "Let me get this straight: Your emergency call for us all to come here A.S.A.P. was to invite us to a party, Koenma?" His voice was polite. The semi-god didn't notice the danger.
"Well, I hope you can invite Keiko and Yukina too. And others if you have some in mind," Koenma replied. The young Reikai Tantei clenched his fist and lowered his head.
"You little self-righteous son of a god," he cursed silently and laughed to himself before he exploded. "Have you ever heard of an invitation card?" He yelled and almost attacked the terrified teenager. Botan came between them as Koenma hid behind his desk for cover. The ferry-girl put her hands up in front of the furious boy who was swearing to kill the hiding censored someday and tried her best to soothe him down.
"Could you please shut up, Yusuke," Kurama said tiredly but firmly. They all went speechless with surprise and could only stare at him. Kurama just said 'shut up', right? You all heard it, right?
Who the hell are you, and what have you done to our friend! were Yusuke's first thoughts.
"I have a terrible headache so could you please be quieter," the red-head continued a little more polite. The black-haired teen found himself out of anger and in a strange situation in which he was seemingly trying to hit Botan. As he now found no reason to do so, he lowered his fist and backed off a few steps, puzzled.
"Well, as I was saying before you went berserk…" Koenma started, regaining his composure behind his desk. "I do have a mission for you guys." This got their attention, but Kurama was anything but excited. All waited was for further information.
"As you might know, there has been a series of burglaries in Ningenkai in the past three weeks," Koenma started to explain and they nodded, save Hiei. The teenager god pushed a button on his desk and the lights went out and they could see a picture of a dark youkai with a pink scar on its left arm on the screen. "It has come to our acknowledgement that behind the break-ins is in fact this little youkai," he pointed the picture. "The youkai is named Pampilowo and is a low-class demon. It never hunts itself, but lives off the leftovers of others. It's not very intelligent but enough so to survive. And it likes everything that shines. I think its strength was somewhere below F."
"Below F!" Exclaimed Yusuke and Kuwabara almost at the same time and even Hiei couldn't hide the slight amazement. Kurama was in a state of daze where he really didn't care.
"Yes," Koenma continued gravely, "I know this comes as a surprise to have you called to a case like this, but it's not the demon I'm worried about. It has somehow obtained to its possession a Dimension Distorter. As it name stands, it distorts gaps in dimensions. Our little youkai uses it to get to Ningenkai to steal jewellery. Normally the Dimension Distorter isn't of any use to most demons, since the gaps don't last that long, and they are quickly caught by Reikai Tantei for obtaining such an object (Our surveillance is almost invincible.), however, Pampilowo has an ability to shift shapes. It has gone to the robbery-trips always looking different. Only this once it made a mistake of going as itself and from its former crime-record, we identified it. Tough luck." He held an amused pause.
"Why I send you is because Pampilowo is causing some disturbances that are unnecessary. And the fact that it has an artefact that belongs to us gives us more than a reason to arrest it. The problem is to track it. It jumps between dimensions more often than Kurama changes his shirt and is never twice in the same place. This meeting is actually just to get you on alert, so you can be ready to go hunting. My men - and women - are at the moment localizing it by the pattern it steals and favourite places and such. I hope you are ready for a quick take-off." Koenma ended the long speech. Kurama had almost fallen asleep in the middle but now snapped out of it as silence fell to the office and the teenager semi-god turned the lights on.
"Well, if that's all, call me when you need me. I need to go," Kurama broke the stillness and woke the others from their trance of thinking. He stood up ready to leave, but the floor wasn't agreeing with him and twisted under him. He lifted a hand to his eyes and tried to find some support somewhere. Yusuke was there in a fraction of a second.
"Are you all right there, Kurama? You don't look so good," the youth said worriedly. The redheaded beauty tried to pry him off.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Yusuke. I'm fine. I just haven't slept that well lately..." he tried to convince them. Yusuke wasn't letting to. Koenma, Botan and Kuwabara had come to him with worried looks on their faces. Hiei was standing silently beside him, but a little concerned frown could be detected. The former fox-demon couldn't handle it. There were too many people around him. He wanted to be alone. Alone... The thought swung in his head as seemed the whole room do.
"Koenma. Could you possibly tell your room to stop spinning…" he uttered stupidly before his legs gave in. He couldn't even feel the fall. The world just seemed to slowly vanish around him. The darkness was ready to accept him in its welcoming embrace, and Kurama gladly took the offer. Now he could finally rest. Like he had always wanted to. Ever since he last died...
Yusuke caught him before he hit the ground.
"He's burning hot!" the black-haired boy exclaimed in surprise. Kurama pondered that before he totally lost consciousness. Then why do I feel… so… cold...?...
Kurama was really freezing all over. He couldn't stop himself from shivering against the cold threading his body. He had hoped that the darkness would've provided warmth along comfort, but there was no such bliss. He could feel a presence near him that gave a worried aura along with more coldness and he tried his best to get away from it. It kept coming closer and soon he felt cold hands reaching out to him. He tried to fight against them and, panicking, summoned all the power he could find within him to protect himself. Instantly the hands drew away and left him be. He was relieved, but the coldness didn't leave and the new loss of energy was now freezing his whole body, heart and soul.
Then another worried presence approached him and he was ready to flee, or fight even though he probably wasn't able to. But in the midst of worry, Kurama felt warmth. Something really warm that even the coldness of worry couldn't smother. He let the presence come near, tentatively, ready to push it away, but also curiously - like an animal - as to what it was and waited warily. The aura surrounded him and he felt hot warmth, like lava, pouring into him. Finally he could relax as the uncontrollable shivering stopped and the presence felt comforting and shined even warmer to his freezing ice-glaze of unconsciousness, as the worry seemed to clear. Kurama sought the safe in the presence and instinctively curled nearer the heat. He could feel his limbs melt from the freeze slowly and soon he found himself in a deep sleep, safe from the ice.
The first time Kurama surfaced into consciousness he couldn't see. He only heard some movement from his left and recognized the familiar presence there. He realized he was lying somewhere and covered with something soft and heavy. Ah… blankets… he realized slowly. Then that someone on his left voiced some words which made absolutely no sense to him. He tried to see but his eyes refused to open properly. The figure planted a hand on his forehead and for a moment Kurama was afraid. In his state he could do absolutely nothing if the figure decided to attack. But the hand was gentle and stroked his hair a few times before retreating. A moment later it returned with a wet towel for his forehead and along with it the familiar warmth. He breathed more at ease again and drifted back to sleep.
Kurama woke up with a start. He stared at the wooden ceiling above him quietly and still, trying to get his senses in order.
This is not my room, he said to himself. Where am I?
The redhead slowly rolled to his side and propped himself up as he looked around curiously. The room he was in was small, very scarcely furnished and plain. In the floor there was a basin of water, a pillow beside his bed. A low table was further away, a window on the other side of the room and a sliding door on the opposite. After carefully surveying his surroundings he looked down and realized he was lying on a futon.
Tentatively he sat up. The cover slid down and revealed his bare torso. At the same time something dropped from his forehead. He took the cloth and examined it. He took a look between the water-basin and the cloth. Did I have a fever? He couldn't remember anything such. But clearly someone had taken care of him.
The thing puzzling him the most was the fact that it seemed that he was sick. He hadn't been sick in his life; his youki had taken care of that. He did know how a fever was treated. After all, his mother had often been bedridden because of it, in the past, before the mirror… But now… how? When? Why?
Think, Kurama. What happened? He closed his eyes and tried to remember. The test week was coming... I was studying for that... I had a headache... and still Hiei wouldn't leave me alone... His head snapped up as his eyes flashed open, only to have him close them again as the sudden movement caused pain to shoot through his head. Hiei!
Now he remembered the confession, the dinner, the staying-over, and all the other stuff he wasn't sure he wanted to remember. Something must have happened at Koenma's, since I can't remember a thing after we went in…
Suddenly he heard a voice. Kurama listened. More came from the same direction, a distance away but now they were so muffed that he could hear only murmuring. Someone must've yelled, or something. He was curious about where he was and who was out there. He rose to his feet slowly. The world swayed pretty bad for a while but then kept still. He glanced down and saw he was wearing a pair of pyjama pants. Good. I'm not totally naked. But still, someone had changed him into these pajama's…
… …
… … …
He didn't want to know.
Shaking himself, he walked gracefully and soundlessly to the door and slowly slid it open. He was in a dark hallway, but he could see a beam of light coming from a door-crack a distance away from his left. He slid the door close, but not quite all the way through and tiptoed soundlessly to the source of the light.
"How is he now?" a man's voice asked, sounding like he was tired of being mad. Yusuke? Kurama realized, arching a brow.
"Sleeping," an old woman's voice responded calmly. … Genkai? Then it hit him. He was at Genkai's temple. That explained the feudal furnishing. He felt suddenly tired and decided to sit down. Somehow he got the feeling he couldn't go in.
"What exactly happened? How did he get so sick without me noticing?" Yusuke demanded answers, seemingly from himself. He sounded furious.
"Urameshi..." It was Kuwabara. "You can't blame yourself. We hardly see him outside of our missions. It's no wonder we didn't know." He was obviously trying to calm the young detective down.
"Then his mother should've notice, someone at school, his teachers, anyone!" Yusuke was yelling now and seemed to rise to his feet.
"Yusuke-san," said a calm and quiet voice. Yukina. "You are underestimating Kurama-san here." So they were talking about me. My instinct never fails me.
"What are you talking about?" the boy questioned almost rudely. The fox-demon heard some rustling and a metal scraping slightly.
"Hiei-oniisan. It's okay," Yukina said quietly but firmly and returned to the subject. "Think about it, Yusuke-san. Kurama-san is a demon. Or at least he was. But he was a demon for over a thousand years and has been as a human a mere twenty. As a demon he must have learned to hide his feelings, at least if they were an advantage to a hostile force, an enemy. I cannot believe this instinct of self-preservation could be erased within two decades in Ningenkai. I do not even doubt that Kurama-san may have been unaware of all of this himself. Being sick is not common to a demon, Yusuke-san. Either you are sick or alive." The whole time she spoke quietly with her sweet voice, but firmly enough to make Kurama himself think about the things he had just heard.
"But Hiei was with him the whole time! How come he failed to notice?" Yusuke was obviously trying to find someone to blame.
"Yusuke," said another female tiredly. Botan. "Did you or did you not just listen to her explanation? Hiei is a demon. In the Makai prevails a law that you humans call 'the law of the jungle'. Either you are strong or you're dead. Period. I don't think Hiei knows the symptoms of a sick person, since he probably hasn't been sick himself, ever. Come on, Yusuke. You have brains. Feel free to use them," she snorted at him.
"Gee, thanks, Botan," he answered dryly. Then he sighed and dropped back to sit. "I should've noticed something. I really should've. He came to the shop, for crying out loud! So I have seen him. And I still didn't look close enough to see."
"Yusuke-san..." Yukina said quietly and sadly to the boy.
"Why did I leave him alone? We all knew he came into contact with that demon we fought little over a week ago. How come I didn't ask him if he was ok?"
"Urameshi," Kuwabara said. "None of us knew it carried a virus. It could've infected any of us. It was just a bad luck that only Kurama got it," he tried to calm the boy.
"Well..." Botan started hesitantly and they all seemed to turn to her. The redhead was all ears. "It wasn't actually like that."
"What do you mean?" Kuwabara asked puzzled, voicing aloud everyone's thoughts.
"Well... When Koenma found out about the virus, he did a little research on it and turned out that it's a very contagious disease. We believe that you all were infected by it."
"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Yusuke demanded angrily. "We could've been prepared!"
"This disease doesn't theoretically exist, Yusuke."
"Then why did—" The detective rushed to inquire but Botan cut him off.
"It was a stroke of bad luck for Kurama," she stated, but the youth seemed clueless. "Let me explain. This particular virus works only on demons. It is lured by their life energy, youki, because it feeds on it. A long time ago it was deadly to demons as it eventually drained them empty of youki. But that was a really long time ago, millenniums ago. Now demons have become immune against it and as it doesn't work on humans, it's declared to be extinct and is almost forgotten. We found this information after a long time of digging," she added, making it sound like a lot of work. Which it probably was.
"But then why...?" Yusuke spoke aloud just what Kurama was keen to know.
"He's a half," Hiei grunted.
"Bing bong! You guessed it right," Botan said happily and then there was silence. Only the sound of drinking tea could be heard.
"Okay..." Yusuke said after awhile, his voice trembling. "As I don't seem to get any information out of this ditz, would you mind explaining to the rest of us what you have discovered, Hiei?" He asked 'calmly', only interrupted by a futile "Hey!" from Botan. There was a pause.
"Exactly what I said. He's a half," there was a silence and the fire demon sighed. "His body is human, but his energy is demonic, youki. The energy drew the virus, but his body couldn't take it. He wasn't immune."
"OH! Why didn't I think of that!" Yusuke exclaimed, frustrated.
"I could tell a couple of reasons," Kuwabara muttered under his breath. But unfortunately not quiet enough.
"What did you say, punk! How dare you..." Yusuke exploded and seemed to attack the orange-top for revenge. Kurama couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping his mouth. Then the door was suddenly drawn open behind him and he fell on to the floor, backwards. He looked up baffled and found he was staring into a pair of deep red eyes that were watching him almost angrily. The moment seemed to freeze, until the fire demon broke it.
"What are you doing?" Hiei growled. Kurama was now certain he was in trouble. But he was at a loss of words and started to panic. There shouldn't be anything to explain to him, and yet he found himself trying to make a believable excuse.
"I was—"
"Why were you sitting there?" The spiky-haired boy demanded, before the green-eyed beauty could even start.
"I heard—"
"What were you thinking, sitting in a cold, drafty hallway! Get in!" Hiei was actually yelling at him. The fox-spirited man quickly scrambled up, before he could even realize what he was doing. But he was in a too foggy state to start a fight about it. The fire demon politely stepped out of the way for him, but looked like the storm himself. Actually, he looked quite normal, when you think about it.
The living room was brightly lit and had books from wall to wall. There was a low table in the middle, but they had positioned their 'circle' slightly out from it, discussing the matter. Yusuke sat at the far end but was at the moment strangling poor Kazuma; Genkai was sitting next to him, close to the door, sipping tea; Yukina sat at the other side of the door and had an empty spot next to her. Kuwabara was sitting a little way over, quite close to Yusuke, unfortunately to him. Botan was sitting at the other side of the table, drinking tea, separated from the circle. Now the party was staring at him with surprised and delighted expressions. All except Genkai, who wasn't even looking at him. Hiei guided him to a free pillow and seated him there. After that he disappeared without a word.
"Hello," Kurama greeted everyone, smiling uncertainly. They all seemed to awaken to reality. Yusuke came straight to him and gave him a big hug.
"Yusuke...?" The redhead asked uncertainly. The detective gave him one final squeeze and let go.
"I was afraid that you wouldn't make it," he said and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. "Glad to have you back, mate." He gave Kurama a supportive squeeze to the arm. At that instant Hiei wrapped Kurama in a big warm blanket. The man hadn't even realized that he was cold (or when Hiei had come back). The spiky haired boy gave a death-glare to Yusuke, and then turned his concern fully on the fox-spirited man. The fire demon planted a warm hand to the redhead's forehead, pushing his bangs aside. The red orbs in front of the redhead studied his features intensely, searching for any signs of sickness. Under the fiery stare, Kurama suddenly felt his cheeks get warm and tried to escape the look that was directed at him. What the hell am I blushing about?
"What's wrong?" Hiei asked, sounding actually a little bit worried. The green-eyed beauty glanced quickly at the other, but looked quickly somewhere else.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," he said dismissing the concern and swiped the hand from his forehead away.
"Are you sure? You still have a fever and your face is really red," the fire demon tried again. Kurama blushed even more.
"No really. I feel fine. I'm not sick anymore."
"The hell you aren't," Yusuke said suddenly. They turned to him, surprised. "Do you realize that we didn't detect your youki when you were eavesdropping, Kurama? And when you are sick, you shouldn't be able to hide your youki that well, right?" he asked from the redhead. Kurama slowly nodded, but didn't get the point.
"That means that you don't have enough youki for us to detect," Yusuke said gravely to the fox demon. He then turned to Botan and smiled. "See? I do know how to use them." The ferry-girl gave him the tongue.
"But I feel fine," Kurama said stupefied. "Well, a little tired but..."
"Kurama," Genkai spoke up, the first time since he came in. "Take a seed and see for yourself. Try to make a rose, for example," she ordered. Not believing, Kurama reached to his hair and pulled out a seed. He channelled his youki to it slowly, but nothing happened. He blinked a few times and tried again. Soon his head started to ache so badly that he had to stop. The redhead looked at the seed not believing his eyes and breathing heavily.
"So, at the moment, you are completely defenceless," Genkai stated. "That's why you are staying here until your exams start." Kurama looked up to her, not understanding. Then it hit him.
"School! Exams!" He jumped to his feet and started to panic. "I have to call to Koyanagi or Iwasaki for homework and get to home and—!" He didn't get too far as Hiei tripped him and made him sit again. Then he came up close to Kurama's face.
"You. Are not. Going. Anywhere," he said dangerously. Kurama tried to back up as far as he could, but that was just a few inches, since he was sitting right up close to one of the bookcases. Hiei was scary when he got mad, and Kurama was totally defenceless against him. Great.
"Don't worry about school," Yukina said kindly. "Everything is handled and your books have been collected. You can study here until the exams start. That way you won't be in any danger." She smiled happily. Hiei moved out of his face and sat on the floor beside him. The patient sighed and gave up.
"How long have I slept?" he asked the petit ice maiden, but Yusuke answered.
"Three days and nights," he said bluntly. Three day—! Calm down… I can't do anything about it now. Focus on what's important, Kurama!
"Okay..." The fox tried to think. "So I have this night and four days to read..."
"No," Hiei said. The redhead turned to look at him quizzically and saw a stern look on his face. "You have to rest until you're better," he stated firmly. The beauty frowned.
"Who are you to tell me what to do? My nurse?" he replied angrily. He had almost died and the fire demon was still on his case. Would he give him some slack? But instead of an angry answer, there was a silence.
"Oniisan is very dedicated," Yukina smiled. Kurama fell over.
"Hiei has been nursing me!" he whispered disbelieving to the small girl (as if the others wouldn't hear him...).
"Yes. I tried to heal you, but Kurama-san attacked me so harshly that I almost lost my arm. You accepted only Hiei-oniisan's treatment. That is why he is the only one to do so." She smiled ever so sweetly to him and spoke normally. She didn't see why they would whisper in company. The red head was in shock.
"I attacked you...?" he asked in a small voice. Yukina nodded happily. His heart sunk more. What else had he done...?
"So why don't we compromise?" the girl asked sweetly. "You can study, but if you feel even a little bit tired or get a headache, you go straight to bed, okay? And you must get a good night's sleep or we are not even discussing. Understood?" Even though she looked gentle, this left no room for arguing. Feebly, Kurama just nodded. Then he remembered. The dream. Was it possible that the cold hand that was reaching for him was Yukina's? It made sense. The girl was an ice maiden; of course she would feel cold. So the other one was Hiei, huh?
"Of course. Hiei's a fire demon..." He raised a hand to his forehead. It was crystal clear now.
"So what if I am?" came a sudden deep voice next to him.
"What?" Kurama asked waking from his thought. Hiei was looking at him with a mysterious expression. Was he angry? Hurt? What?
"You said that I'm a fire demon. So what?" he repeated.
"I said it out loud?" Kurama said, surprised. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. It was nothing. Forget about it," he dismissed it, adding a wave of a hand to the effect. "So does my mother know that I'm here?" he inquired from the others, to change the subject.
"Yeah," Yusuke replied, looking as laid-back as he always did. It seemed like now that Kurama was up and going, there was nothing to be worried about. "We told your mother that you were studying for the exams with a friend and that you wouldn't be coming home for the week. Of course, she thinks that you're going to school normally, but what she doesn't know, won't hurt her."
"Ah, right..." the green-eyed man wasn't sure if Yusuke was right or not, but it seemed that there was no other choice. They had obviously already decided that he would stay there for the rest of the week, so there was nothing he could do about it.
"But now you're going back to bed," Hiei said rising to his feet.
"What? I will not. I have slept for three..." Kurama's objections faded as he took a look at the fire demon face. "Oniisan is very dedicated." You can say that again… Kurama brooded. "Fine, fine, I'm going. And don't look at me like that."
"Hn," was the only reply. The redhead rose gracefully up, but maybe slightly too fast. The world swayed in his eyes and he fell back to sit. He blinked a few times, confused. Yusuke bust out laughing and Botan tried to hold back titters. Kuwabara, Genkai and Yukina were smiling good-willingly to him and even from Hiei's face could be detected a trifle of a smile. The fire demon shook his head and scooped the patient from the floor.
"Hey! Wait—!" Kurama protested, but the man wasn't listening. Kuwabara started laughing and Yusuke couldn't sit up-right anymore. The spiky haired boy carried him to his room, normal speed, and laid him down on his futon.
"You really didn't need to do that," the redheaded man pouted.
"You couldn't walk. And I'm taking care of you. It's part of the job," Hiei said simply and tucked him in. Then he took the cloth, watered it and placed it on the fox's forehead. After that he just sat there, glancing at him every now and then.
"Are you going to sit there the whole night through?" Kurama asked quietly. Hiei fixed his stare on him and a mischievous smile formed on his lips.
"Worried of me, Kurama? Touching."
"I am not!" The man protested and turned the other way. He felt his cheeks burning. "I just thought that you might get sick too…" he whispered, but knew the other could hear his lame excuse just fine. He didn't know why, but he felt really sad. So what if he was worried of the other? He didn't have to be so mean about it… He felt a draft of cold wind and then something warm slipped behind him and draped his arms around him.
"Then do you mind if I sleep with you?" a deep voice breathed gently to his neck. "That way I can sleep and keep an eye on you at the same time," he suggested. "Don't worry. Even I'm not that low to take advantage of you when you're sick," Hiei added. Kurama relaxed and tried to make it seem like he wasn't even worried about it, or that he actually liked being where he was at the moment.
"Suit yourself," he shrugged and took a more comfortable position to sleep. Soon he drifted off into a nice, dreamless and restful slumber.
Morning came uneventfully. Kurama squinted, his eyes adjusting to the sudden rush of bright light, and looked around. The room was the same as it had been the previous evening, but had now considerably more light. He tried to turn around when he heard a small breath behind him and felt slow, hot puffs on his back. He turned carefully in the hands that still held him possessively, trying not to wake the short fire demon. He lay like that, staring at the angelic face in front of him for who knows how long.
"Have you looked enough?" Hiei asked, opening one eye to look at the red head.
"How long have you been awake?" Kurama asked calmly.
"About two hours," came a straight answer. The fox-spirited man sighed. He should've known...
"Then would you mind letting me go? I'm hungry," he said. Hiei let go at once and stood up. Kurama sat up, and then took a look at his torso.
"Could I have some clothes?"
"Hn," was the only reply and he was back in a flash. He gave the green eyed man a pack of clothes and left. So he's learned some manners, huh… Kurama mused. Or maybe he's scared of what Yukina might think! he chuckled at himself. He dressed to the loose jeans and the white collar-shirt Hiei had brought, and was just brushing his hair with his fingers when Hiei stepped inside, without knocking. The fox sighed. Wishful thinking, Hiei and manners. The fire demon was carrying a tray with legs which had steamy hot soup and some soda on it.
"Chicken soup and Ponta," Hiei said when he noticed the curious look. "Yukina said that this is what you need when you're sick." He placed the platter on Kurama's lap and left again. Famished, the fox dug in, but at a slow pace. The soup was boiling hot.
The fire demon came back in and settled behind the beautiful man. Then he took his hair in his hands and started to untangle it with the brush he had gone to get. But Kurama extended a hand and stopped the other demon.
"Later, Hiei. I'm eating." Then he turned to smile to the frowning boy. "I want to enjoy it." He winked to the black haired man, who took Kurama by surprise by blushing, then smiling slightly. The red headed man turned his attention quickly back to the food, before he would be blushing too. Hiei moved to his old spot next to the fox. What on earth made me say that…? The red head wondered nervously. But he thought it was heart-warming to see Hiei so happy, and smiled to himself.
"Mmm... This was really good," Kurama said when he had finally finished eating. "Tell the cook my compliments."
"Thank you."
"What?" the red head said surprised. "You made this?" he confirmed. The fire demon just nodded. "I didn't know you can cook..."
"You never asked."
"So I wont be getting any information of you if I don't ask, is that it?"
"Do you want to know?" Hiei asked looking slightly surprised in turn. Kurama blushed lightly.
"That's not the point. I meant that you should tell people things on your own, not waiting for them to ask," he lectured. It seemed that Hiei had nothing to add to it, he only turned to look somewhere else.
The rest of the 'breakfast' went uneventfully. Hiei brushed the red tresses and Kurama made sure he didn't make any… sounds, during the pampering. After that he moved to the living room to study. The half-koorime sat on a windowsill and was focused on the outside life, though the fox-spirited man knew betted and felt safe, knowing who was watching over him. In a few days his fever let its hold of him and he read himself back to knowledge. When Sunday came, he was prepared to go back to school and home.
"No, you can't go yet," Genkai said firmly. "I know you feel much better, but your youki is still weak. I prefer that Hiei escorts you to school and back and you stay here a few more days."
"Yeah, the old hag is right," Yusuke said when Kurama had tried to get some support from him. "There's still a demon on the loose and we don't want you to get hurt. We're going to need you in the future," he winked at the depressed boy. They did let him to visit his mother a few times to show that he was still alive. With Hiei, of course.
Thank god, this is only for a few more days, the ex-patient sighed on Monday when packing his stuff for another exam. Now that he was back in school and Hiei had escorted him, he didn't even want to know what the rumours were like this time. When he had left from school, Hiei had picked him up, and they had walked in the opposite direction of his home.
"I hope they catch that demon soon or my powers would restore more quickly. This is ridiculous." He sighed again as he heaved the bag to his back and went outside, where Hiei was already waiting.