Been on a Yu Yu Hakusho kick lately, so this popped into my head. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Yu Yu Hakusho

"You're filthy, Hiei."

The younger demon has the decency to at least look a little sorry, whether that's because he actually is or just because of Kurama's exasperated sigh, the fox isn't sure. He's covered in mud, the thick brownish sludge caking his boots and splattered up his black cloak. His hands and face are scratched up, blood smeared around the worst of the cuts and stuck under his nails. Kurama can see broken twigs and leaves tangled in his dark hair. He even spots a bruise forming along the apple of Hiei's cheek, the dusting of purple standing out starkly against his tan skin. He certainly seems to have had one hell of a night.

"Does that mean I can't come in?" Hiei asks. His grip tightens on the window frame. He's still perched on the sill, muddy boots leaving dirty footprints on the clean white paint. Kurama's a little surprised the smaller demon is even asking. Ever since their fight with Yatsude four months ago, he's just come and gone whenever he pleases. Kurama hesitates, looking over the state of Hiei's clothes again.

"If you take your boots off first. I don't want muddy footprints on the carpet," he finally says, turning back around in his desk chair to continue working on his homework, though most of his attention is still on his sudden guest. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Hiei nod, and then the younger demon is shifting so instead of crouching in the window he's sitting on the sill. He removes his boots in an odd, careful way that Kurama only realizes a few moments later is meant to stop any mud from falling off them and onto the floor. When they're off, Hiei drops lightly into the room, turning around to quietly slide the window shut.

He's a nimble little demon. Quick, and light-footed. His steps make almost no noise as he moves across the bedroom to stand near Kurama. Hiei's silent way of moving is so at odds with his rough, blunt way of speaking. With the smaller demon's personality, it would be much more expected that he stomp and shove and slam his way through every situation. But if there's anything Kurama has learned about his new ally over these last few months, it's that Hiei never does what he's expected to do. The fire demon is an enigma. Silent, when he should be loud. Thoughtful, when he should be rude. It's almost... endearing, the way he's always surprising the fox.

Kurama continues watching as Hiei peers over his shoulder. He frowns down at Kurama's science textbook.

"Is all you ever do is schoolwork?" Hiei asks with a sneer.

"No," Kurama answers simply, ignoring the younger demon's obvious attempt at starting something. Hiei likes to poke and prod and tease at all the mundane human things the fox fills his days with- anything to get a rise out of him. It does bother Kurama when he does this, because Hiei knows they're done for Shiori's sake, but that doesn't mean he's going to give the little demon the satisfaction of knowing that. Besides, Kurama's learned plenty of things to bother him as well. It's a favorite game of theirs. Who can get under who's skin first, and how big of a reaction can they get.

"Are you going to explain why you look like you've been playing in a mud puddle?" Kurama asks, hoping to distract Hiei by bringing attention to his appearance again.

"What?" says Hiei, confused.

"Look at you."

"What about me?"

Kurama twists in his seat, eyebrows raised as he gestures in a way that's meant to direct Hiei's attention to the current state of his clothes. "As I said before, you're filthy."

Hiei gives him a strange look. One that, irritatingly, makes Kurama feel like Hiei thinks he's very stupid. The smaller demon shrugs. "So?"

"So?" and Kurama can't help but glare at him now. "Are you going to tell me why?"

"Why, are you curious?"

Hiei's purposefully being annoying. He has to be. Kurama frowns at him and Hiei just stares, crimson eyes wide and unblinking. He's obviously not embarrassed about his appearance, or else he would have snapped at the fox for even asking. And if he isn't embarrassed about being so dirty in the first place, he surely can't be ashamed of what caused it. So, why isn't he answering? Is it just another attempt to frustrate the fox? Kurama searches his face, hoping he might find a clue hidden among the dirt and dried blood.

There, just barely. Kurama sees the corner of Hiei's mouth twitch, like he's fighting a smirk. So, he was right.

Hiei is playing.

Well, two can play that game.

Kurama lets his own smile grace his face, one that is all teeth and barely concealed mischief. Hiei blinks at the change in expression, shoulders tensing just slightly as he clutches the dirty boots still in his arms closer to his chest. "Alright," the fox says lightly. "If you don't want to tell me, I can only assume that means you came out worse in a fight. Was it one of the lower level demons crawling around the city? I thought you were stronger than that, Hiei."

Hiei immediately bristles. "That is not what happened!"

"It's alright. No need to be embarrassed. Just try to be more careful, would you? I'd hate for one of them to seriously injure you."

"Shut up, fox!"

So easy to nettle. It's no wonder Hiei does show up with some kind of injury most of the time, always from a fight he's picked with a demon near a hole in the barrier, usually over nothing but a bruised ego. Kurama wonders, if Hiei didn't like him so much- which he knows the little demon does, despite all his insistence that he finds the fox irritating- would he want to hit him right now? Probably.

Kurama's curiosity starts to get the best of him, so he tests the air. Smoke and mint, and something undeniably wild reaches his nose. Hiei's usual scent. But there is something about it that is much more like the Makai today. Perhaps he'd been over there when he did whatever it was that got him so dirty.

"I'm just teasing," Kurama finally says, gently. He doesn't want to annoy Hiei to the point the younger demon runs off, and he sort of does want an answer about why the demon looks this way tonight. Hiei goes tense again at his tone, but that's nothing new. Any show of gentleness or kindness always has him suspicious.

"I hate it when you do that," Hiei grumbles.

"You started it," Kurama counters. "And you still haven't told me why you're covered in mud."

Hiei pauses, his head tilting to the side like he's considering something. Finally, he holds out the boots in his hands. "Are you going to tell me a place where I can put these that you won't yell at me about?"

Kurama frowns as Hiei avoids the subject. He lets out a sigh and then nods his head at his bedroom door. "Put them downstairs by the front door. I'll clean them for you later."

"What about your mother?"

"She's gone for the night. My aunt is sick, so she's taking care of her."

Hiei nods at this, and then moves to do as he's told. He leaves the room as silently as he entered it, the only sign of him walking through the house is the slight creak of wood as he steps down onto that one squeaky step of the stairs.

Clearly, Hiei isn't going to tell him what he's been up to any time soon. Kurama should just ignore him and get back to studying. He's had a dreadfully dull day though, and playing the part of perfect Shuichi Minamino has grated on his nerves far more than usual- and he didn't even get to spend time with his mother today to make it worth it, like he normally does. She was gone long before he got home, her note explaining about his aunt's need for her to spend the night stuck to the fridge with an old magnet, along with an envelope with money for dinner inside. If he keeps teasing Hiei, the little demon might leave, but if he ignores him too much, he might get bored and leave anyway. Kurama really doesn't want to be alone tonight. The younger demon might be odd company most of the time, but it's still nice having him around. He doesn't mind enduring whatever game Hiei seems to be playing if it means he'll stay.

Hiei is back in the room in no time at all, except he's apparently found the leftover takeout Kurama had put in the refrigerator after he'd finished eating. He's staring at the fox again, that same wide-eyed look as before. It's obvious he's waiting to either be scolded, or get permission to eat, so Kurama smiles at him and then turns back to the book on his desk. While he works, Hiei digs into the food with gusto, oddly standing instead of taking his usual seat underneath the window. After a few minutes, it finally clicks that this is most likely because Hiei is taking what Kurama said about not wanting the carpet to get dirty into consideration. Another instance of the demon's unexpected thoughtfulness. It makes Kurama smile again.

When he's had all he can take of schoolwork, Kurama turns around to face Hiei. The demon's empty dish is sitting neatly on Kurama's bedside table, and Hiei himself is busy snooping through the fox's bookshelf, pulling books out at random, flipping through the pages, and then shoving them back into the wrong spots on the shelves. Kurama watches him for a moment, and then says his name to get his attention. He motions for the smaller demon to come closer, so Hiei does. When he's standing in front of him, Kurama reaches out and carefully pulls one of the twigs free from Hiei's hair.

"Why don't you go take a bath. I'll bring you clean clothes to wear."

"What about these?" Hiei asks, pulling at the collar of his muddy cloak.

"I'll take care of them later tonight."

Hiei hesitates, and then nods. He removes his sword and places it near the window. Kurama gets up to dig around in his closet for something that might fit him, or that at least won't be so big it falls right off him.

"Do you need me to wash your hair?" he asks as he pulls a navy blue t-shirt from its hanger.

"No. I figured out your shampoo and soaps on my own last time."

And made a mess all over the bathroom, Kurama thinks, but doesn't say. Hiei leaves the room again, and then a few moments later Kurama hears the sound of running water coming from the bathroom down the hall. He finds a pair of sleep shorts that if tied tight enough should fit the little demon, and then waits a few minutes to give Hiei time to scrub himself clean. Afterwards, he heads to the bathroom to drop off the clean clothes, and grab Hiei's soiled ones.

"Wait!" Hiei shouts when Kurama tries to grab his pants. He's by Kurama's side in a flash, snatching the garment out of the fox's hands, not even caring about all the water he splashes out of the tub or the fact that he's naked and dripping onto the floor. Kurama watches, bewildered, as Hiei searches his pockets- for what he doesn't know, because as far as he can tell Hiei doesn't pull anything out. He hands the pants to Kurama when he's done, and then is suddenly back in the tub, sinking into the water without another word.

Curious and confused, Kurama throws Hiei's clothes into the washing machine to clean later that night. After that, he goes downstairs to tackle the muddy boots. The sludge caked onto the soles is definitely from the Makai- either one of the darker, more vicious forest or maybe a dangerous, fetid swamp. Kurama vaguely recognizes the scent, but can't quite place it. Once Hiei's belongings are taken care of, Kurama cleans up his bedroom. He puts his textbooks and notebooks back into his bag, takes Hiei's empty dishes down to the kitchen and washes them, fixes the books the little demon had rearranged, and finally grabs an extra blanket for Hiei to use during the night. He normally doesn't need one, being a fire demon, but it's starting to get a little colder out so Kurama figures there's no harm in offering. Hiei is so quiet in the bathroom during all of this, the fox starts to wonder if he's fallen asleep. But then his bedroom door swings open to reveal Hiei in his much-too-big borrowed clothes, his skin still pink from the hot bath he'd been soaking in.

Now that he's clean, the scratches and bruise on his face are even more noticeable. Kurama tells Hiei to sit on his bed so he can treat them- and of course the little demon argues with him about it, grumbling over and over again about how unnecessary it is. Kurama doesn't care. If Hiei wants to annoy him by refusing to say what he's been up to, then he's going to have to deal with the fox fussing over him. It's only fair.

The cuts on his hands and face he takes care of with a healing balm he makes from his own garden out back, but the bruise he has to go back downstairs to get an ice pack for. He half expects Hiei to make a run for it when he leaves the room, but the little demon stays put. Kurama presses the ice pack to Hiei's cheek, watching as the fire demon's eyes flutter shut at the sudden cold.

"Fox," Hiei says, eyes still shut. Kurama hums, letting him know he has his attention. "I have..." he hesitates, "I have something for you."

"Oh?"

Hiei fumbles to find Kurama's free hand, since for some reason the smaller demon is still refusing to open his eyes. Once he's grabbed it, he reaches into the pocket of his borrowed shorts and then presses something small and hard into Kurama's palm.

A seed.

Hiei lets go of his hand as the fox lifts the seed up towards his face to examine it. It's about the size of his pinkie nail, light brown with minuscule ridges, and definitely not from the Ningenkai.

"Hiei, what-"

"I went to the Makai to get it for you," Hiei explains, finally opening his eyes. He pushes the hand holding the ice pack away.

"But... this is-"

"A death plant seed," Hiei says with a nod.

"How did you get this?" Kurama asks, incredulous. He sets the ice pack still in his hand on the bed so he can examine the seed more closely with both hands.

"I told you. I went to the Makai to get it."

"Yes, but how? You can't trade for these. They're too rare. The only way to get one is..."

Now it makes sense. The scratches, the bruises, the muddy clothes. Hiei must have found the forest where the death plants grow and somehow wrested a seed from one of its colorful blooms. How the little demon managed to avoid the death trees that also grow there, Kurama has no clue. He stares at the seed in his hand, a number of emotions churning oddly in his gut. Why? Why would Hiei go to the trouble of getting this for him? Kurama has asked for things from the Makai before, but they were things Hiei could trade for, or steal when the demons at the markets were too greedy. Small pouches of seeds to grow the much more potent medicinal plants native to their home, the handmade bars of herbal soap he'd been fond of using before his new life as Shuichi- the younger demon has even brought him back a small tin of candies with minimal grumbling. But he's never done it without Kurama's prompting first. Kurama feels overwhelmed by the gesture, but also, oddly angry. Hiei could have been killed getting this, and where would that have left Kurama? Alone in the Ningenkai, again, with no one knowing who or what he really was.

It's the anger he lets seep into his voice. It's much easier to do that, than try and sort through the other feelings.

"What were you thinking?" he scolds, hand closing over the small seed. Hiei bristles at his tone, eyes narrowing in confusion. "That forest is no place for someone like you. It's dangerous, Hiei. You're lucky all you ended up with was a few cuts and bruises. Why would you do something so stupid and reckless?"

Hiei, shoulders hunched up defensively, looks away from him. The fox wonders for a moment if the smaller demon is going to run, despite not having his clothes or boots. He's done that before, when Kurama's pushed too far- fled out the window and into the night. It might be days or even weeks before he'd see him again.

Surprisingly, Hiei stays. He turns back around and holds Kurama's gaze with his own stubborn one as he mutters, "it's customary, isn't it?"

"What?"

"To bring a gift when you ask another demon to be your partner."

Kurama goes still. He knows he must look a little ridiculous right now, staring wide-eyed at the little fire demon in front of him, his mouth hanging open slightly. But if he could have had a hundred guesses as to why Hiei had gone to the trouble of getting this seed, he never would have guessed that. Hiei says he's a loner. He says he hates the very idea of closeness and familiarity. And yet here he is, asking for something that paltry words like close and familiar can't even begin to describe. A partner to a demon isn't just an ally or a teammate. It's the one demon you willingly give everything to- your trust, your secrets, your life, if need be. It isn't something to ask for on a whim. And yet, this doesn't seem spur of the moment. Hiei is looking at him with determination. The little enigma has truly thought about this. He wants a partner, despite all his blustering about never needing anyone. He wants Kurama.

The fox finally recovers enough to stop gaping like a fish. Instead, he uncurls his fingers so he can stare at the seed resting on his palm. It's an old tradition, bringing a gift to a prospective partner, and it's fallen out of practice over the last two centuries. Most demons don't even have partners, nowadays. It's dangerous to give that much of yourself away to another demon. Things like power and prestige are too alluring to risk them on putting your faith in someone else. And only a fool would bare their throat and not expect to have it ripped out by sharp, gnashing teeth.

The gift is supposed to show how well you know the demon you wish to partner. When Kuronue had presented him with his gift all those centuries ago, it had been treasure. A rare, exquisite trinket from the Ningenkai. Nothing Kurama couldn't have gotten on his own, but he'd appreciated the journey the bat demon must have taken to get it. He supposes he could get these seeds from the Makai on his own as well, but it would be risky. As much as he hates to admit it, he's not as strong as he once was. As he is now, he would be easy prey for some of the demons stuck behind the barrier; and not only that, if somehow it was discovered who he was, it would only be a matter of time before someone came looking for him. And most likely it would be a someone who would only delight in trying to destroy the peaceful life Kurama has built, before finally going after the fox himself.

Hiei had thought of that, hadn't he? That's why he'd chosen this- a weapon Kurama had mentioned in one of his many stories of his past- as the thing he would present to Kurama. Because the fox's choice of weapons in the Ningenkai was limited to the plant life that grew here, and no matter how much of his youki he poured into the plants, very few would ever grow to be as vicious as the ones from the Makai. But this, this seed is like giving Kurama back a little piece of himself. The plants he used to be able to call forth were incredible, deadly from the tips of their roots to the end of every velvety petal. It's like holding a tiny piece of his past in the palm of his hand.

"It's been a long time since I used the death plant," he admits quietly to the fire demon. His voice sounds odd to his ears after such a long stretch of silence. "I don't know if in my current state I'd have complete control of it."

Hiei relaxes a little, enough to give a casual shrug. "So? I have faith you'll be strong enough to soon."

Kurama smiles at the little demon, a much bigger one than he's ever given him before, much more full of the fox's emotions. Hiei looks momentarily dazed, like he's not used to such an open display of happiness. "You still shouldn't have gone looking for this on your own," he cautions, though his tone is much more gentle than it was before. "There are plenty of things in that forest that would be all too happy to eat you."

"As if they could catch me," Hiei says, giving the fox a feral grin. "I'm too quick."

Kurama chuckles at the prideful remark, nodding his head in agreement. He sets the seed carefully on the bedside table and finally reaches for the ice pack again, gently pressing it against the bruise on Hiei's cheek. Hiei allows the attention, his focus on Kurama's face.

"Kurama."

"Hiei?"

"You... haven't answered, yet," the younger demon mumbles.

Kurama meets his gaze. Crimson eyes stare back at him, in that almost endearing, unblinking way the fire demon has. Hiei looks nervous, like he's expecting Kurama to tell him no.

"Yes, I'll be your partner."

The smile Hiei gives him now reminds him of the forest Hiei took the seed from. Wild, and full of something that could devour him alive if he isn't careful. The smaller demon reaches out and grabs the wrist of the hand holding the ice pack. Not to push it away like before, but just to hold it. The touch is a little possessive, and Kurama finds he likes the idea of Hiei thinking of him as his. It's certainly how Kurama's come to feel about the fire demon.

When he finally heads to bed later that night, Hiei curled up asleep under the window as usual, Kurama can't help but stare through the darkness at the tiny seed still sitting on his table. Tonight feels momentous. And as he drifts off, lulled by the sound of the wind outside his window and Hiei's quiet, deep breaths, he wonders what might be in store for him and his new partner.