Author's Notes: Someone asked about how 'Shuuichi' Kurama is acting now that he's in a youko body. Well, his body changed the moment he was in the same room with Hiei (when Hiei stepped through the doorway) - just his body changed. His instincts won't waken that quickly, and once they do start to wake, he still won't be "Youko Kurama." He'll be the youko with a human memory and demon skills that he is in the latter part of the anime - that's why I kept him as Kurama throughout. It's not 'Shuuichi' you're seeing, it's Kurama's human self being merged with something foreign. I'd say more, but it would ruin the story.

Category: Anime, Yu Yu Hakusho, Yaoi, AU
Warnings: minor angst, dialogue
Pairings: KuramaxHiei
Author: Arigatomina

Prophecy

Part 3

Hiei woke to the sensation of being touched. His eyes snapped open with an awareness that belied any lingering weakness he might have had. He didn't move, but his gaze immediately pinpointed the hand that hovered near his face.

A soft sound caught his attention away, drawing his eyes to the white figure half curled to the side of him.

Kurama gave an amused smile as he pulled his hand away and waved toward the fire at Hiei's back. "Do you always purr when you're warm?"

It was a taunt more than anything, and a teasing one. He'd come to a decision after watching the small male sleep. If he was going to reconcile his situation, his best chance was through Hiei.

Those red eyes narrowed at his words, and Kurama gave a sly smirk. "Well," he prodded, "do you?"

"Do I...purr?"

Hiei frowned at Kurama, not sure what was expected. He was lying on his side facing the white demon, and he took note of his position with just a hint of apprehension. It took most of his attention just to keep his body from moving. This was where he'd been placed, so this was where he'd stay.

"Do you want me to purr?" asked Hiei.

"Oh no," said Kurama, "none of that."

He folded his arms over his chest, adopting a demeanor of control that he didn't feel. This was a game, clearly, and he could play any game so long as he knew the rules.

"I asked you a question," Kurama smiled, his eyes taunting. "You want to keep me happy, right? So when I ask you a question, you shouldn't answer it with a question of your own. It's disrespectful."

Red eyes widened at that, Hiei's face paling. "Forgive me."

Kurama's smile nearly cracked, but he held it in place. He didn't like this game one bit. It was ridiculous, infuriating, confusing, and he had an inexplicable notion that Hiei's submissive behavior was against his nature. But he needed answers.

"Forgiven," Kurama nodded. "So you'll answer my questions?"

Hiei gave a slow nod, looking up warily. "I don't know."

That wasn't the obedient response Kurama had expected. It threw him off, making him wonder if he'd misjudged this game.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Kurama asked, more than a little frustrated.

"I've never been warm," Hiei frowned, "so I don't know if I always purr when I'm warm. I can't answer that question because I don't know."

"Oh."

Kurama sighed, rubbing his palm over his temple. It had been a stupid question to begin with. But still...

"How can you have never been warm?" asked Kurama. "If this fire is here, your people have the ability to heat this place."

"The fire is for you," said Hiei. "They prefer the cold."

"What are they? You said your prophecy called me a demon, so what does that make you and your people?"

"I am demon-"

"Right," Kurama interrupted, rolling his eyes. "You're demon seed, or demon spawn, forbidden child - I remember. But what are you? You and the others aren't human, not if they can reproduce asexually, not if males can get pregnant."

"Hu-"

A pale green pulse flashed behind the bandage Kurama had wrapped around his forehead. Hiei's mouth snapped shut and he grimaced, glaring off to the side. Kurama jerked back in surprise.

"What was that?" asked Kurama. "Are you all right?"

He leaned a bit closer, keeping a wary eye on the place he knew that third eye to be. It had been closed when he first bandaged Hiei's forehead, but from the flash he had an idea the eye was open now.

"Hiei?"

"I don't understand," Hiei said tightly, seething as he kept his glare from focusing on Kurama. "The term human. I can't answer that."

Kurama frowned, losing his patience with this entire situation. "You can't tell me what you are? Or you can't tell me what that flash was? And is it really can't...or won't?"

Red eyes snapped up to glare at him, and Kurama glared right back. "For someone who wants my help, you're not being very helpful. What the hell are the rules here? If you were planning to use me, you'd have done it already. If you were really as obedient as you pretend to be, you wouldn't have so much trouble answering a simple question. And don't just lie there like you're vulnerable. If you were afraid of me, you wouldn't be driving me crazy like this."

"I'm not afraid of you," Hiei spat. "I fear nothing."

"Really," Kurama scoffed, "then drop the act."

Kurama leaned away, watching as Hiei rose to a seated position across from him. Those dark eyes fairly blazed, a sharp answer to his challenge. And somehow it made a wry smile twist Kurama's lips.

"This is the real you."

"Of course," Hiei growled.

"So what happens now?" Kurama pushed. "Do you really need my cooperation to break this curse of yours, or was that just another act?"

"Co-"

Hiei flinched as that pulse flashed again, and he closed his eyes with a deep growl. Kurama stared in complete confusion.

A small part of him noted that where he'd been afraid of Hiei's growl when they first met, now the sound was almost pleasant to his senses, arousing. Kurama shook the thought off as quickly as it came and scowled down at Hiei.

"What is that light?" he demanded. "That eye? What is it? Why did that woman cut you so that eye could open? Why is it so hard for you to answer my questions? Why-"

Red eyes snapped to him, and Kurama lifted his chin. He could read the absolute loathing in that gaze, and it was the last proverbial straw.

"Forget it," he spat, climbing to his feet. "You can break your own curse, or go extinct - I don't care. I'm through trying to reason with you. I want out. Now."

That tail slashed along the back of his legs, and Kurama glared darker. He stalked across the room and focused all of his anger and frustration on that white curtain.

"Old woman," Kurama warned, "If you're watching, get him out of here or let me go. I'm sick of this."

"She won't let you go..."

Kurama whipped around, glaring over at Hiei. "But she is watching," Kurama hissed, "isn't she."

"No," said Hiei. "She has no need to watch now."

"And why is that?"

Those red eyes were still radiating a loathing so thick Kurama should have been terrified, considering he was trapped here. But all he felt was anger, frustration, restlessness...and an overwhelming need to take it out on the person taunting him with that glare.

Hiei sniffed, tossing his head and flicking his eyes away. "You know why," he said. "You've tested it. The jagan is complete."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kurama said coldly. "You just keep giving me non answers, taunting me. You're doing it on purpose, aren't you. Do you really want me to attack you? Is that it?"

He glared, his hands curling at his sides as he moved a few steps toward Hiei. "I've never been a violent person," said Kurama, "but you're pushing me into it. Why? From the moment she came in here with that knife - you didn't just change the way I look. I feel like I'm losing myself, and you're the one driving me over the edge. Why?"

Kurama had closed the distance between them, but Hiei's face was still turned away. That small reasonable part of him knew that a glare right now would have tipped him into a full blown rage, but being ignored was nearly as bad. "Look at me when I talk to you! I want answers!"

The fire leapt across from him, and Kurama jerked back with wide eyes. The flame was laced with black, the color cutting through his adrenaline rush like a breath of cold air.

What was he doing? One never hurt a mate unless there was no other choice.

That alien thought doused any anger Kurama had left. Mate? Hurt?

His eyes fell and he stared in cold fury. Hiei was curled over his knees, light tremors tracing down his back. Kurama dropped, his gaze darting over the bent form. The rage simmering in him was the same as he'd felt earlier when the woman had dropped the ward on Hiei. Only this time it was directed at himself.

He'd done this. He didn't know how, but somehow he was responsible.

"Hiei...?"

Dull red eyes turned up on him, the answer a rough whisper. "Yes."

Kurama winced at the blank look Hiei gave him, the complete lack of emotion or even life in that obedient gaze. "What happened? I honestly don't know what this is - any of this."

"You gave conflicting orders," Hiei stated, his tone absolutely monotone. "You told me to stop being vulnerable and submissive, so I did. You told me to keep giving you non answers, taunting you, so I did. You told me not to ask questions of you, so I had to determine what you meant by non answers and taunting. I took it to mean no answers at all, ignoring you. Your last orders conflicted with that. I can't obey conflicting orders, no more than I can answer a question I don't understand. The jagan enforces obedience. You need to redefine the orders."

"Jagan," Kurama whispered, "you mean that eye. It makes you do whatever I say?"

"Yes."

"So...if I told you to stand, and told you to sit...you'd be punished no matter what you did?" Hiei gave a sharp nod, and Kurama stared in disbelief. "That's inhuman."

A pained expression pulled at Hiei's formerly blank face. Kurama winced in reaction. "You still don't know what human means. When I came to this place - before I saw you in that temple - I was human. A normal, redhaired, green-eyed human."

"I saw that," Hiei admitted, a tiny frown sneaking onto his face. "I thought it was your female form."

Kurama's eyes widened and he nearly choked, his face flaming red. "Thanks so much!"

"Had the elder known it was a male form, she would have sent the females out before entering herself," Hiei shrugged. "They were never supposed to see a male."

"What about you?" asked Kurama.

"The elder is the only one who has seen me."

That just didn't make rational sense. Kurama sighed. "How could you live in an isolated place like this without any of them seeing you? How old are you?"

"I have been warded since birth," said Hiei. "I didn't leave until the elder confirmed your arrival. I don't know my age because I have no judge for time. I've never been above."

"Above," Kurama said quickly, latching onto that. "What's above here? Are we underground?"

Hiei's eyebrow twitched, that tiny frown growing just a bit. "I don't know what's above. I told you, I've never been there. But we are underground and...some legends say...above ground."

"Both?" asked Kurama. "How could it be both at the same time?"

"The koorime are said to isolate themselves on a floating island. Here is under the ground of that, while the island is above the ground it floats over. A sky island, not water."

The very idea sent Kurama's scientific mind reeling away in mindnumbing impossibilities. He shook his head to clear the arguing voices and conflicting thoughts. "Okay," he said, partly to himself. "So...koorime. Is that what you call yourselves?"

"What they call themselves. I am not one of them."

"Right," Kurama nodded, "because you're male. And these koorime are all females, humanoid, but not humans or demons?"

"Demon is a forbidden youkai," Hiei said haltingly. His brows were drawn, as if he were fighting something. "I don't know how you define the word demon, or if you know the meaning of youkai. I can't answer that question. Making an assumption conflicts with your order to give straight answers without asking."

Kurama paled, his eyes narrow. "Orders again," he whispered. "How does that eye enforce orders?"

"I don't know how it works," Hiei said, his voice strained. "I can't answer that."

"It's hurting you," Kurama glared, "isn't it."

Hiei's expression darkened and he looked away. A pale green pulse flashed behind the bandages and he turned his gaze back, his face losing all expression. "Yes."

That tight response made Kurama glare even more. "You didn't want to answer that," he stated, being careful not to make it a question. "It made you answer. So it works by hurting you. Why did you say you didn't know how it worked?"

"I don't know," Hiei repeated, a hint of anger flashing to his eyes. "It has never been used before this. It does enforce obedience through pain, but that is not how it...works. That's not its purpose. The jagan is a weapon. In this role, I don't know how it works. Even the elder doesn't know anything except that it will control me better than she can."

"But it only hurts you if you disobey an order?" Kurama prodded.

Hiei's eyes narrowed, more anger slipping in to darken his gaze. "Unless the orders conflict. You said it before. If the orders conflict, it doesn't matter what I do."

"You..." Kurama let out a frustrated cry, crushing his palm over his eyes. "You stubborn idiot...!"

Silence held for a long moment, then Kurama set his shoulders and moved closer to Hiei, glaring into those dark red eyes. "How long were you going to let me sit here before you told me?"

"I don't understand what you mean," Hiei said quietly, warily. "I can't answer that."

"It's been hurting you since you told me to redefine my orders," Kurama accused. "Hasn't it."

"Yes."

"So how long were you going to wait before telling me!"

Hiei flinched back, his eyes wide and surprised. "I-I can't answer that," he said quickly. "I don't have a sense of time. I wasn't going to wait to tell you. I...don't have an answer for that."

"You mean," Kurama said tightly, "that you weren't going to tell me at all."

It wasn't a question, but Hiei responded anyway, his expression still wary and more than a little confused. "I said that you needed to redefine the orders. You understood that so long as they conflicted, it wouldn't matter what I did. I don't know what you think I would have to tell you, or why you think I would wait if I wanted to tell you something. You knew and chose not to do anything. It's not my place to question what you choose to do...or not to do."

"So you'd suffer in silence," Kurama drawled, his stomach twisting in anger and discomfort. "You were saying that before that woman cut you and gave you that eye. That it wasn't your...place...to question what I want or when. That's submissive idiocy humans outlawed over a century ago. You're not so inferior you can't question me, you aren't my servant or slave - as far as I'm concerned you're an acquaintance, a potential friend at the very least. Your people want me to have sex with you, to use me to break their curse - how does that make you the victim who has to obey every little thing I say? It doesn't make any sense, it's unreasonable and entirely...entirely..."

Kurama was shaking his head, that palm crushed to his aching temple. Hiei's voice was wary and soft when he responded to the question, "I'm not a victim and no one has made me a victim, so I can't answer that."

A frustrated groan filled the room, and Kurama lunged onto the pillow next to Hiei's. "I don't know how to deal with this," he muttered to himself. "Hiei?"

"Yes."

Not lifting his head from where he'd buried it in the soft cloth, Kurama sniffed. "I withdraw any order you think I've given you, so that eye doesn't have any right to hurt you. Do you understand?"

There was no response. After a long silence, Kurama peaked an eye up from the pillow and was surprised to find Hiei crouched next to him. "Did you hear me?" he asked.

"Drink this," Hiei said, a small but genuine smile curving his lips as he held out a warm mug. "It will help with your headache."

Kurama blinked in confusion, but rolled so he could accept the cup. "You didn't answer my question," he noted.

"No," Hiei said softly, his smile growing, just a bit. "I didn't."

There was something sweet about that smile, and Kurama found himself returning it, a wave of relief sweeping over him as he sighed. "Good. But it would still be nice if you'd cooperate the next time I ask you something - just to avoid problems."

"If I knew what cooperate meant," Hiei smirked, "I might try that."

Kurama grinned in response, raising an eyebrow. "We definitely need to work on our communication skills."

.-.
TBC