Six Weeks Later
"Hiei?" Kurama called cautiously as he entered his room. He peered about in confusion. The fire demon's scent was in the air, but a quick investigation revealed no actual fire demon. Kurama frowned. Since Hiei's parole had been lifted and he became able to move between Makai and Ningenkai freely, he rarely if ever used Kurama's room as a hideout or a place to sleep anymore. Why had Hiei stayed long enough to leave his scent, but not long enough to actually see Kurama?
Scanning the room again, not really expecting to find any clues, Kurama was surprised to note a few pieces of paper and a CD that he had definitely not left on his nightstand that morning. He walked over a picked up the CD first; after a cursory examination revealed it unlabelled, he set it inside in favor of the paper, which bore a note. He was only mildly familiar with the handwriting, but again the scent was unmistakable. Kurama sat back on his bed to read.
Fox,
I think this is a really stupid way to communicate. I'll admit though that I don't know a damn thing about ningen romance, and Keiko insists this is the appropriate thing to do. I want it made really clear that I think it's stupid. Then again I guess I should explain what the stupid thing I'm doing is, aside from leaving you a note when I could just be talking to you. But talking's not my strong suit, as you know. Even writing this is something like torture, but there's really nothing else I can do. So, enough dancing around, and to the point.
A few months ago Yusuke took it upon himself to make me aware of a certain behavior of mine; specifically, me being an ass whenever you date someone. You may have noticed I wasn't as much of an ass as usual while you were dating Kenrin. I was spending the time trying to figure out why I acted like that. I told you at the time that it wasn't fair for me to impose what I thought about dating humans onto you. But the real truth is that I was jealous. I've always been jealous of every stupid human boy you've ever shown interest it. I do still hold to my point that they can't understand you but I realize now that that isn't the issue. The issue is that I want to date you myself. I realize that sounds stupid given my utter lack of comprehension of human courtship, but it's true. While you were dating Kenrin I thought it out and decided it's a lot stupider to lose you to some damned ningen than it is to come out with it and tell you what I want. Only Keiko made me wait for you to "get over" Kenrin and I don't even know now if this is the right time for me to tell you this, but I'm going to go mad if I don't soon. So here it is, and if you want to see me when you've read this, I'll be in the park.
Oh, and you're probably wondering what's going on with the CD. I'm sure you've guessed by now that I asked Keiko what ningens do when they love each other, and she gave me a lot of ridiculous ideas but this one was slightly less ridiculous than the rest, especially since I know you like ningen music. If you think I'm writing a song myself, like she also suggested, you've got a hell of a long wait coming. But this one didn't seem so bad, and it might help express what I'm trying to say, since as we've already established, I'm not good at doing that and thus this whole note idea is, well, rather stupid.
Hiei
Kurama read the letter several times. The first time his expression was befuddled; the second, a small smile crept across his face; and by the third, he was grinning outright. Even if he hadn't recognized the scent or the handwriting, there wouldn't have been a moment of doubt in his mind as to who had written it. It was so very Hiei--gruff, insulting, blustering, but underneath that there was genuine tenderness. Perhaps another might not have been able to see it, but Kurama could. The fact that Hiei had actually taken pen to paper and written about his feelings was enough to prove the depth of them, no matter how many times Hiei had called the action stupid--and there was the song, too, to consider. Still grinning, Kurama popped the CD into his player and pressed play curiously.
There was only one song on the CD, and it was in English. Surprise washed over Kurama, who was unaware that Hiei knew the language--then he started listening and got caught up in the song. He played it through several times, smiling to himself, before he realized with a start that it was growing dark outside. How long ago had Hiei been here? Quickly, Kurama grabbed his jacket and headed to the park.
Hiei was nestled high in the branches of one of his favorite trees, watching the night grow around him. He knew it was late and that Kurama probably wasn't coming, but something kept him from leaving. Just in case--and it wasn't like he had been going to sleep anywhere else, he reasoned with himself. The first few hours after he had left Kurama's room had been full of more anxiety than Hiei could ever recall feeling, for no battle had ever lasted that long--but as the day lengthened and remained fox-less, Hiei had slipped into a sort of melancholy meditative state, refraining from any thought which might prove painful and just waiting for night and sleep to come.
So it was in that state that he was caught completely off guard when a voice from below him firmly spoke his name.
Hiei looked down and found Kurama standing almost directly below him, his head tilted far back to look at Hiei. When their eyes met Kurama continued in a tone that left no room for argument, "Come down here."
Hiei hopped down to the ground, not even thinking to disobey. He faced his partner warily, not sure what to expect.
Kurama simply looked at him for a minute. Then he stepped closer, and put one hand on the back of Hiei's neck--and Hiei found himself drawn close and subjected to the longest, most lingering kiss he could ever have imagined. He was too shocked to return it, but it didn't seem to deter Kurama in the slightest. Hiei offered no resistance when Kurama's arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him still closer, nor when Kurama's tongue sought entrance to his mouth. Finally, when Hiei's mind had dimly registered that he would need to breathe soon or pass out, Kurama released his lips, but not his shoulders. Hiei looked up at him in wonderment and found the kitsune's eyes full of warmth and affection, and an equally warm smile on his lips. Despite himself Hiei started to mirror the expression. When Kurama leaned forward to kiss him a second time Hiei was confident enough to kiss him back, and when Kurama purred his pleasure Hiei wrapped his arms around his partner's waist and pressed him close. "I wasn't sure you would come," he admitted when their lips parted again.
"I came as soon as I got it," Kurama said. "Hiei--did you mean what you said? You really want to date me? Or is this just going to be another layer in a weird relationship?"
"I want you to be mine," Hiei said, shocking both himself and, from Kurama's expression, his partner with his frankness. "I want you not to date anybody else. I want you to belong to me. If I have to do the ningen thing I'll do it; just so long as you stay with me."
"Hiei?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you leave me an English song?"
This wasn't any of the questions Hiei had anticipated, but Kurama seemed genuinely curious. "I couldn't find the right one in Japanese. The librarian translated it for me."
"You went to a library?"
Hiei shrugged. "The music I stole from Yusuke and the idiot was terrible."
Kurama's eyes were shining. "You really put a lot of time into this."
Hiei shrugged again. "It was important," he said simply.
Kurama wrapped his arms more securely about Hiei. "I can't believe you're actually courting me the ningen way," he said, his tone and expression making his delight obvious.
"Well, you are half ningen. I wasn't sure how you'd react to a demon courtship."
Kurama's smile turned from delighted to mischievous--and almost, if Hiei dared to think the word, seductive. "Care to find out?"
Hiei blinked at him a few times. Aside from the not killing one another part he had mentioned to Keiko, demon courtship pretty much involved... An answering expression of wicked delight stole across Hiei's face. "Definitely."
Kurama disengaged himself from Hiei just enough to walk, keeping one arm across Hiei's shoulders and turning them towards home. "Then just try to keep up with me, Hiei. I've been waiting a nearly decade for you to ask me; now that you finally have, I'm not going to let you go without a suitable answer."
finis
A/N:
Did I... finish it? I did! Thank you all for sticking with me on this
one, I know it's been a long and slightly bumpy road. For those of you
curious about the inclusion of the English song, because I know it's a
little weird, an explanation: this story started out, way back when, as
a songfic. It turned out to be an unneccessary pause in the action to
include the lyrics here, but I had to remain at least somewhat true to
the original idea. The song that inspired the piece was "Fall to
Pieces" by Avril Lavigne; to me, that is exactly how Hiei would feel
about a relationship, not wanting to fight or cry or talk about it, but
simply to exist in it. As always, I highly recommend looking up the
lyrics.
Oh, and I sort of lied... there is an epilogue coming. Just to tie up a loose end or two. But this is still technically the end...