I'm Going to Get You by rebecca85
Chapter 6: Stolen
Kurama sighed contently and buried deeper in to the covers. It was nice and warm; someone's arms were wrapped around the redhead's torso. Kurama smiled to himself. It had been a long time since he felt this at peace with the world. He absentmindedly wondered how his wound was doing, and a sting caused by the slight movement told him that he wasn't completely healed yet.
Then the nice, warm, secure arms slid away and the comforting presence withdrew. Kurama frowned in displeasement(1) and made a little protesting voice in the back of his throat. The presence, whom which Kurama already knew was, stopped beside his bed, but didn't turn around. Then it moved again and the redhead sighed in frustration. It seemed he really had to wake up. Damn.
Kurama cracked one eye open and slid in to view the world from under the warm depth of the comforter. He winced against the light and went into hiding again, deciding that Hiei knew he was awake and that would have to do. He really didn't want to face the sun yet.
"Where are you going?" Kurama mumbled into his pillow. The presence shuffled slightly, possibly now turning around.
"Away," Hiei answered, his voice back to the characteristic indifference from the years when they had just met. The man lying in the bed frowned at this. Hiei hadn't used that voice with him even at the incident when they had stolen the three Reikai items and Kurama had turned against the other two, getting out of the deal. And that was way back in the past. Kurama was immediately awake.
He pulled the blanket out of his face and squinted at the fire demon standing in front of the window. He hadn't turned, it seemed.
"Define 'away'." Kurama said, trying to keep his voice steady and light, but going dangerously in the 'growl' -department. He did not like the sound of things.
"..." Hiei lowered his head but refused to look at the redhead. Kurama sat up in the bed, ignoring the brief pain it caused and lowered his legs to the floor. "Hiei, if you—"
"I'm sorry."
Even said in a small voice, the fox-spirited man didn't have trouble hearing, and he was thrown off guard by this sudden apology. Now he definitely didn't like the sound of things. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. He squeezed the sheets, knowing now what was coming, but refusing to believe it. He studied the covers in the bed with feign interest. He couldn't look at Hiei. He was frightened of what he might've seen.
"There's no need to be sorry," he mumbled, but felt his throat tighten. "I did it for you."
"Exactly," Hiei said gently, and if Kurama knew any better he could swear the other had a sad smile on his lips. The green eyes widened, and he finally looked up at the dark-haired man.
"I can't keep putting you in danger," Hiei continued, voice slightly stronger with resolution.
"You're not..." Kurama whispered, but was almost ignored. The half-koorime continued without a pause.
"If I being close to you mean that you are in danger, I can't..." His voice was breaking with emotion and he braced himself before continuing. "So, for your safety..."
"No..."
"...I think its best..."
"No."
"...that I –"
"No! Shut up!" Kurama yelled suddenly. He squeezed his eyes close, refusing to cry. He wouldn't! Not because of this! Not because of him...
The room was silent. You could only hear Kurama's heavy breathing as he tried to calm himself down.
"Just, shut up..." he whispered, this time almost pleadingly, his knuckles white with grabbing the sheets too tight.
"Kurama..."
"Don't 'Kurama' me!" the redhead said with a loud voice. Now he wasn't sad anymore. He was angry. No, scratch that, he was beyond angry. He was pissed off.
"How dare you do this to me?" the man seethed, then looked directly at the other and said with a voice that predicted blood. "If you go thought that window, Hiei, I promise you that I will personally hunt you down and kill you."
The man addressed turned to look at the redhead, surprise written all over his face. He looks cute when he's caught out of guard, Kurama mused, the anger slightly relenting. But as he slowly let go of the anger, he felt his throat tightening again and he closed his eyes. He quickly raised a hand to cover his eyes, as despite of the hard effort, one lonely tear leaked from under his thick lashes and rolled down his cheek and along his jaw line.
"Why are you doing this to me?" he forced himself to whisper, voice wavering slightly. There was nothing to lose anymore. He had already lost his heart. "Why do you keep hurting me so much?" Eyes kept shut, the redhead slowly draped his arms around himself to stop his body from shaking. He felt so vulnerable now, so alone, so cold. Why had he given in? He knew better than to give his heart to someone. They would only break it. They always did. So how was this going to be any different? Even though he had trusted Hiei, believed that he would be different... he was just like the rest of them.
Suddenly, gentle hands buried themselves in his hair and slowly drew him into a hug. His head rested against a strong chest and Kurama couldn't keep it in any more, and let another tear slide down. He hugged Hiei fiercely back and let a muffled cry. As he trembled in the fire demons arms, trying to rein his emotions again, Hiei stroke his hair and whispered soothingly to him. After calming down slightly, he realized that the smaller man was apologizing, over and over again.
Kurama rested his forehead against Hiei's chest and said clearly, "Stop it." Then he raised his face to look the other in the face. Hiei in response brought his hand to stroke gently Kurama's cheek and wipe away the traces of tears. Then he cupped the redheads face to lift it to a right angle and brought his lips in a gentle kiss to Kuramas'. Kurama closed his eyes and enjoyed this small show of affection, so very different from their previous'. And hopefully not their last.
As the kiss ended, they rested their foreheads against each other's. Kurama didn't immediately open his eyes but only whispered in a small voice that was layered with pain and plead, "Don't leave me." As an answer, Hiei tilted Kurama's head again and brought their lips together once more. This time is was more passionate as the fire demon nibbled slightly the redhead's lower lip to ask permission to deepen the kiss. The feeling of being cared was almost overwhelming as Kurama slowly opened his mouth. He wasn't forced, he wasn't tricked, and the kiss itself was apologizing and reassuring. And for the first time, Kurama fell in the kiss with his whole being and let himself relax in Hiei's care.
Slowly ending the kiss, Hiei drew away and looked at his redhead tenderly. Then he frowned and took a second look at his love. Sighing, he stepped away and crossed his arms.
"Kurama..."
"What?" the fox-spirited man asked confused and slightly worried. Hiei gave him a pointed look, but this time the redhead didn't understand the non-verbal message. "What?" he asked again.
"You. Bed. Now," was the commanding reply and a strong hand-gesture to the bed.
"Hiei," Kurama sighed. "I'm fine. I've been worse, you know," he pointed out.
"Doesn't matter," Hiei dismissed. "That hit came close piercing your liver or your spine, take a pick. One or the other and you'd be killed or paralyzed. Not that bright of a future if you ask me."
"Well, thank heavens then that I know how to take a hit! You know this isn't exactly the first time I've been pierced almost to death. And, oh, look at the coincidence; it was to protect a person too. I swear I'm becoming more and more of a saint these days..."
"You were paying a dept at the time; I highly doubt it qualifies in your resume when running as a saint. This time you even passed out of the shock and blood loss. You are losing your touch, even if we are talking about slightly different matters."
"Hiei, I had just come from the realm of the dead. You can't possibly expect me to be in the high health. The main reason I decided to take the hit instead of - oh, I don't know, dodging it - was that I didn't have the strength. I didn't do this kamikaze act out of pure goodness of my heart or the masochist within me." Kurama cast a sly look at Hiei. "No, I had a better reason."
"What are you smirking at?" the spiky-haired demon tried, but the redhead could see a slight blush tinting the others cheeks and smiled even wider. Disorientated, Hiei used another technique; threatening. "Don't make me use my Jagan on you," he growled. Then he realized what he just said and hid his eyes behind his hand. "I did not just say that..." he moaned, but Kurama only chucked at his sweet fire demon.
"Okay, okay. I'll go," he relented. "But on one condition." Hiei eyed the clever redhead from behind his hand in suspicion and raised an eyebrow at him. The man in question smiled tenderly and perhaps slightly shyly, at him. "I want company."
Hiei's other brow joined the one in the hairline as he regarded his lovely redhead. Kurama saw the look and swatted him in the head. "Hiei. Not like that."
Shrugging, the smaller man circled the bed and tucked in. The slender beauty carefully followed him under the covers, keeping an eye for the wound. Then they lay there together, just looking at each others and enjoying the peace.
"So..." Kurama broke the comfortable silence. "What happened after I blacked out?"
Hiei's lips drew into a knowing smirk. "Hn. Foxes," he snorted, amused. "You really want to know everything."
Kurama gave him a pointed look. "Wouldn't you?" he countered and Hiei frowned at this.
Of course, like most of the times, Kurama was right. So with some coaxing, asking details and filling the blacks with his own imagination, Kurama got the whole story out of the stoic demon.
Firstly, Yusuke had blasted the 'demon' (actually Hiei had referred to it as a rude word in Makai dialect, but Kurama refused to repeat it) with his Rei-Gun within seconds, when nothing was holding them back any more. (All orders from Koenma for bringing the felon back alive had been strangely forgotten.) Then, as Kurama had been bleeding too much to be moved and quite frankly Hiei had just panicked (although, he didn't admit it), Kuwabara had taken the ring from the demon, used his Jigen Tou to amplify the distortions range and swiftly moved them to Genkai's living room where (very conveniently) Yukina and the elder lady were having dinner, so Kurama was quickly saved from immediate danger. Though, Yukina couldn't heal that fast as it seemed that Kurama's self-protection was still very much against it. She had to hold Hiei's hand and channel through him to get even close to the redhead and even then her power wasn't enough to heal it all. As it now was similar to a hospital recovery after a surgery, the rest was left for the fox-spirited man to deal the old fashion way.
"So, how long have I been sleeping?" Kurama asked.
"Three days," Hiei answered. Kurama's eyes widened.
"Three days! Again!" he asked incredulously and the spiky-haired demon only nodded in affirmative. Kurama quickly sat up and proceeded to get out bed, "I have to go to school! I have exams! I—"
Hiei had grabbed the redhead's wrist in a tight grip and held the man down. "Kurama," he said in a low voice that made the man addressed to turn to the authoritative voice. "You don't have school," he continued. Kurama relaxed visibly.
"Oh," was the intellect reply as the green-eyed male remembered his vacation.
"Though, you missed one exam," Hiei continued.
"What!"
"...but you can redo it later."
Kurama sighed in relief and climbed under the comforter again, "Oh, good..."
"But you have to do some extra work for it."
The redhead hesitated before lying next to Hiei again. "Well... that's okay. At least I didn't blow it."
"And your mother says to get well."
"... What?"
"She left yesterday. To the trip. Left a message that you should get well and eat properly. Oh, and take a good care of your guest," Hiei smirked. Kurama looked slightly disorientated.
"Guest?"
"Me."
"Oh." A few pause of silence as Kurama hesitated slightly, then, "What did you tell mother?" There was no hostility in his voice, only pure interest.
"That you got the flu," Hiei answered simply. "She was in a hurry," he explained further as the redhead wondered why she had believed him so quickly. "And I think she likes me," Hiei added later. Kurama arched a brow and contemplated the thought.
"I think she does, too," he finally said, with a resolute, and smiled gently at the smaller-framed demon. But Hiei regarded him with unreadable eyes for a second and then reached out to him. Taking a hold of the nape of Kurama's neck, he drew the redhead closer and planted a soft kiss to his lips. Kurama closed his eyes, but raised his hands on Hiei's chest as a stopper. He really didn't think this was the proper time, or the place, to be deepening their relationship. So to speak.
Alas, Hiei wasn't sharing the thought; never leaving the soft lips of the green-eyed beauty, the spiky-haired demon took the hands, pinned them above the man's head and straddled his hips with his own, in one elegant movement. His new poison above the elusive fox gave him a better angle (as has been proved before) and he slowly deepened the kiss for one of more demand. The little resistance Kurama had, melted away, and they started playfully - and then not so playfully - to battle for dominance. Hiei slowly slid his hands by the redhead's wrists to his palms and intertwined their fingers as he gradually took control of the kiss. Kurama made a small noise of protest and frustration at the lost battle, but with a little persuasion from Hiei, submitted for the receiving end eventually.
Hiei took full enjoyment of being on top. He leisurely took his time exploring Kurama's mouth that was currently willing and able. Oh, yes… Hiei thought. Definitely able. He was just doing everything he could, not to ravish the redhead then and there. Kurama wasn't one of those people that took sex-on-the-fist-date well, and Hiei wasn't ready to run and hide. From him. He actually doubted he could. And this wasn't technically even their first date.
He could, however, get some more of those sweet sounds from the mouth he was currently upon, tease Kurama a little, and outline him for some future aspects. So Hiei proceeded to get the redhead begging for more.
The spiky-haired demon allowed the irresistible fox-spirited man to regain some oxygen as he himself moved his mouth along the slender jaw line, kissing every inch that now rightfully belonged to him. Then Hiei leaned further with two intentions. One, to get more contacting surface, and two, to have better access at the sensitive skin below the man's earlobe. As Hiei closed his lips upon the delicious skin, he could hear Kurama's breathe hitching and squeeze their joined hands - and Hiei knew something was wrong. The redhead posture was way too rigid and something told the dark man that the air had changed rapidly from pleasurable to uncomfortable.
Wary of the other's mood swings, Hiei raised his head from the crook of Kurama's neck and surveyed the man under him. Kurama had turned his head slightly away, not looking at Hiei at first. The demon noticed that his beautiful companion was biting his lip and wore a slightly pained expression, but clearly was trying to hide it as well, for he wasn't saying anything. Then it hit Hiei like a ton of bricks, and he knew. How could I be that stupid!
"Sorry," Hiei said and climbed off, releasing the other. Kurama looked better, if not a little pale, but had an ashamed look on his face. He slowly released the breath he had been holding and winced. Hiei was now mentally stabbing a thousand swords at himself.
"You don't need to look so damn depressed. It's not your fault," he said to the redhead, but it came out more aggressive than he had meant.
"But…" Kurama protested weakly and Hiei could sense the apology coming.
"Kurama," he snapped. "It's hardly your fault for being wounded." There was a slight pause before Kurama answered, amusement almost concealed.
"Hiei. I hope I'm not the only one that sees the irony of that sentence." (2)
Hiei too smirked slightly. "Hn. No, you're not." Then he sat up and got off the bed. As he was making his way out of the room, Kurama became suddenly worried.
"Where are you going?" he asked, slightly too quickly to be casual, propping himself up into a half-sitting position. Hiei turned at the door to look at the red-haired young man on the bed, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm going to get some water. You need to drink and take some medicine for that thing." This said, Hiei disappeared from the doorframe and down to the kitchen. Kurama flopped back on to the bed (and winced as his wound protested the movement) and flung an arm over his eyes, sighing. He couldn't help but to feel slightly uneasy. He was now in the exact position in life where he had vowed never to be in. And Hiei was thinking of leaving him just a little over half an hour ago.
Kurama curled carefully into a foetal position, to protect himself. He really couldn't explain the action - what was he escaping from? - but the sad feeling didn't subside. He felt a wrench in his heart and an ominous feeling settled at his stomach. His throat felt dry. Maybe the water was a good idea, but then again, he didn't really feel thirsty. Kurama curled more tightly, wrapping his arms around himself as if waiting for a bomb to explode and hid his face in his arms, shutting his eyes tightly.
Hiei... come back... Please, just... come back...
Strong arms circled his body and drew him into a tight hug. Not until Kurama breathed a shaking breath, he realized he had been tensing even his lungs, so much that air wasn't allowed in. Warm lips came to his neck, planting soft kisses, soothing his nerves. A hand went through his red mane and straightened the tangles. Then Hiei just lay there, holding his precious fox close, cradled in his arms. Kurama's eyes were still shut.
"I—" He swallowed. "I thought that— I thought that I'd be safe... if I just kept everyone away," his voice wavered, but he continued. This was important. Hiei had to understand, he had to know.
And so Hiei did. He understood and knew. He held his love in a tight embrace and gave him time to tell. Kurama's soul, open and fragile, easy to break now and lose the little faith it had, was in Hiei's hands.
"I gave up hope when Kuronue died, you know," Kurama continued quietly, a gentle smile gracing his lips. "It just hurt so much. He was... well, I don't think that makes any difference anymore, does it...? And I couldn't shed one tear for him back then... Imagine, 'Youko Kurama grieves for his lost love.' No... I couldn't let anyone see me off guard. Not even my own group..." he trailed off sadly, memories bringing him back to the past for a second. "So I just didn't want to feel that hurt again. Not even after I came here, in Ningenkai..."
"So you lied to me," it was a statement, not an accusation.
"Mmm..." Kurama agreed in thought before agreeing aloud, "Yes, I did." Then he continued with a more subdued voice, almost dreamily, "For you I would have said anything to keep you away from my heart. I knew you were already too close. I tried to make fun of it, more for my sake than for the laugh, but... You didn't give up..." The redhead gave a small, humourless laugh. "I don't know if I should be pleased or terrified..."
Hiei tightened the embrace and said, his lips gracing Kurama's neck, "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, I swear. I promise I'll never leave you. Ever." The fox-spirited man relaxed slightly and smiled dreamily again.
"You'll give your word for it?" Hiei nodded in the red mane. The man being held relaxed completely and closed his eyes. Before he drifted in to sleep in the arms of his loved one again, Kurama said his decision out loud, being truly peace with the world again, for the first time in centuries.
"... then I guess it's okay."
(1) Displeasement isn't a word, I know. But there was nothing to correctly replace it with.
(2) It actually is Kurama's fault for being injured, no matter how noble of a reason.