Hiei stared at the building before him. It would be easy enough to climb to the right floor, but the windows were flat against the building, with no outer sill. Harder to break into. But not impossible.
The moon was high and casting strong light on the front of the structure. He could see that there was a light on in the window in question, and as he watched, a figure stood in front of it, illuminated from the waist up.
Hiei would have known that silhouette if it was cast on the wall 500 years from now. The familiar upsweep of hair. The strong set of shoulders and arms trimmed to muscle, but not overly so. Not lithe, but not compact. The perfect ratio of muscle to length of bone. A fighter's body.
He flitted to the closest street tree when a car started down the street, unwilling to be seen. Trees were few and far between on this street, in the heart of downtown. But the rent was cheap and so it was home to the one he watched.
This particular tree had become a familiar perch in the last few days. In the daytime it was too exposed, the canopy too thin to truly conceal him from even the densest humans. But in the night, it sufficiently enveloped him in its dark shadows and allowed him to peer through the leaves up at the ever lit window.
Every night he had come, it was lit. And it stayed lit until daybreak, when Hiei had to abandon the post for a more secluded spot. Some humans rose annoyingly early simply to jog up and down the street before they had to attend to their duties of the day. Hiei couldn't fathom what joy they gleaned from such a senseless exercise. They were neither running to or from anything in particular.
He wasn't sure why he was so content to just watch the window. But every so often, he would see the dark outline of the one inside, and there would be a warm feeling in his chest that the cool night air couldn't touch. He didn't consider himself a voyeur, but after the 3rd night of sleeping in this damned tree, even he had to admit to himself that he had some sort of fixation.
It wasn't as if he was waiting for anything. He wasn't like the fox. He wasn't eternally patient, content to wait for as long as necessary for his prey to present itself to him. He wasn't clever like the fox either. He had no scheme to lure the boy out onto the street or any plan to confront him at all.
But yet here he sat, another night spent watching. What was he doing? What did he expect to happen if he continued this habit? Surely the boy would eventually sense him. Is that what he wanted?
Why was he content to sit in this tree and simply gaze up at a window? He had never hesitated to enter Kurama's window before. He knew he was welcome at Kurama's. Their history had spelled that out clearly. Their partnership allowed for it.
But with the ex-detective…things were not as clear.
They had started with a tentative alliance, slowly cemented over time and trial. No longer forced, but voluntary now. Hiei had followed Yusuke's lead through many a battle and helped him often when things got overwhelming for the boy.
But when had he grown this desire to see him? Not seek him out to speak with him or spar with him, but simply watch him from afar? Observe him and his comings and goings through the night? He knew it was strange to humans, not an accepted custom. But he couldn't help it.
Something instinctual was drawing him to the boy. Bringing him here, night after night, He hadn't seen Kurama in a week, and though his absence wouldn't be suspect yet, he worried at what it meant that he didn't care to explain where he had been. He didn't want to tell anyone. Didn't really want to admit to himself that his interest in the ex-detective had grown so strong.
As he pondered this, his gaze drifted back to the window and he saw, for the first time, that the light in the window was flickering. He stared at it, an anomaly in the pattern of these nights.
It soon became clear that it was flickering purposefully. Either that or Yusuke was having a seizure while simultaneously holding the light switch. He could not sense a disturbance in the boys energy, so he knew he had come to no harm. Why then…?
As if a switch flipped on in his own mind, a memory flashed to the surface.
They were all sitting in the kitchen of Kurama's apartment. Kuwabara was complaining about his school finals and Kurama was making everyone tea at the stove. Yusuke was fiddling with a spoon on the table while balancing his chair on its hind legs. The picture of arrogant adolescence. Hiei was sitting opposite Kuwabara, staring at nothing in particular. He had already been here before Yusuke and the oaf had arrived.
"Hey Kurama, do you know how to use morse code?" Yusuke asked, as he continued to play with the spoon on the table He was spinning it and it was throwing flashes of light across the kitchen to the wall.
"A long time ago I knew it. I can't say I've had much of a reason to use it since my Youko days I'm afraid. " The fox admitted as he poured tea for everyone. Yusuke only nodded, concentrating. Hiei didn't feel the need to share that he was familiar with it, as he had not been asked. He was amused to see nothing but nonsensical language being flashed at the wall in the boys attempts at it. He had been taught it as a child, by the thieves who had raised him. Non verbal communication was an asset, and lower class demons without telepathic abilities had to get creative during their heists.
He watched as the lights flickered on and off for a series of irregular beats. First, four dots. Then two. Then one. Then two again. Then the four again….
Comprehension froze him where he sat. He must be wrong. There was no way he was interpreting him correctly. There was no way he was flashing those letters out of his window at quarter to midnight intentionally.
The subsequent realization that he had been caught didn't bother him nearly as much as he thought it would. For all of his surreptitious spying, there was a small bloom of relief opening in his chest. A release of the tension that had held him here, night after night, staring up at the same window for hours.
He hesitated, unsure if it was truly the invitation that it seemed to be. The light stopped flashing finally. No doubt after the boy got bored of his constant flicking of the switch. The light remained on now, as it had before.
Hiei shrugged, and couldn't help a small grin. If nothing else, this would provide the small challenge of breaking into the boys apartment. He gathered himself, and leapt nimbly off the tree branch, up and towards the light.