Chapter 9
Kurama was awake by the time they made it back to Mukuro's. After Hiei had his talk with her and Yusuke called Koenma, they headed to a nearby portal that would take them home.
Yusuke had insisted on escorting the fox to his door and as they cleared the tree lines, bringing the house in view, Kurama got a confused look on his face.
"I should head to the apartment." He said, realizing his moving date had come and gone and wondering how he was going to explain this to his landlord. Not to mention the hassle he was going to have, he stopped his thinking as he noticed lights on in the house.
"What apartment?" Yusuke said.
"What is going on, what have you done?" The red head asked as they made it to the porch where he saw a wooden swing hanging from the rafters.
"Surprise!" He heard as he entered the house.
Koenma, Botan, Genkai, Yukina, Shizuru, Keiko and Kuwabara were standing in his living room.
"Oh." Was all Kurama got out as he was hugged by the girls and slapped on the back by the guys.
"Welcome home." They said.
"When, how….." Kurama was dumbfounded as he saw his furniture.
Kuwabara came to stand next to him. "Well you see fox boy. Urameshi asked me to stay here and take care of Keiko, but she didn't need looking after." Turning to Keiko he added. "No offense." She just smiled. "So we, she and me, came up with the idea to get you moved. Now we just placed the big stuff in the rooms that we knew, the bed's made and the dresser's in, the couch and the trunk's here and the table and chairs there." He had been pointing the pieces out as he spoke. "Now everything else is in the back bedroom waiting for you to unpack it." Kuwabara thought for a moment. "Oh and Keiko had the cleaning crew that cleans the restaurant give your old place a once over, they said it really didn't need it, but they cleaned it and the landlord said you should get your deposit back by the end of the week and to tell you he'd miss a good tenant."
"Now it's time for the house warming gifts." Keiko said.
Hiei had backed off and went to sit in the window, he was a little mad that they wanted to do this now, the fox was still tired and he needed to rest. He was however very pleased with the oaf for moving the furniture and told himself he needed to thank him sometime.
"Sit down." Yusuke said and pushed the red head on the couch. The raven haired sat down beside him and whispered. "Sorry about this, I tried to tell her tonight was not a good time."
"That is okay Yusuke." Kurama whispered back and accepted a glass of punch from Yukina.
Everyone made themselves comfortable and waited for someone to say something.
Kurama looked around and found Hiei in the window, he knew the fire demon didn't like gatherings and was glad he stayed. He gave a nod, receiving one in return.
"Thank you for staying." He mentally said.
"Whenever you want me to clear the room, just say so." Hiei replied.
Kurama smiled. Koenma cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Well, shall we start?" He said.
"Lets." Botan clapped.
"We'll go first." Koenma said, nodding to Botan, he then reached behind him and presented a package.
Kurama smiled and nodded, taking the package and sitting it on his lap. Slipping off the red bow and the silver paper, he revealed a dark cherry wooden box, about the size of a briefcase. Looking back to Koenma, who just smiled, Kurama rotated the box so he could release the small golden claps. Green eyes went wide as he saw rich red velvet lining the box. Removing the top layer of fabric, he saw chest pieces. Picking the knight from one side, he held it up for the others to see. There were some low whistles as the piece hit the light.
"I thought you might like it." Koenma said, taking the red head's look as one of approval. "The one side is made of ivory, with emeralds for the bases and details." He continued as Kurama held up a piece from the other side. "The other side is made of ebony and has rubies for the bases and details." The red head then lifted the tray and took out 1 of the 4 solid sections that made up the board. Koenma described that as well. "The board is also ebony and ivory inlaid. It is trimmed in white gold."
The gang had managed to gather around the red head as he studied the pieces. Kurama put everything back and placed the box on the trunk. "Thank you." He said. Everyone backed off and Keiko shoved a box in his lap before he could compose himself.
"My turn." She said smiling.
Kurama unwrapped the shoe size box and opened the lid, inside was a hundred or so flower seed packets.
"I know you can grow anything you want and really don't need these, but Yusuke said you like to garden the old fashion way and I just thought these….." She tried to explain.
Kurama cut her off. "I love them, thank you. I do like to garden and these will look lovely in flower beds." He could not help but noticed on the top of the stack were packets of lavender and lilacs.
Placing the box on top of the chess set, Kurama just sat there. After a moment of silence, Yukina spoke. "My turn." She said, smiling as she stood in front of the fox. "My gift you probably already saw." She paused. "My gift is the swing on the porch. Kazuma gave me one a few weeks ago and I have enjoyed it very much. It makes me feel like a child again to sit and swing and watch the world go by. I wanted you to be able to do the same thing." She finished and bowed before taking her seat.
Kurama just looked at her and then said. "Thank you. I will enjoy swinging and watching my flowers grow." He smiled at her, receiving a giggle.
Not wanting to have another round of odd silence, Kuwabara spoke up. "My turn." He said. "I help put the swing up and helped Genkai with her gift, plus help pay for whatever sis got you." He looked at his sister.
"Oh let Genkai go first, I want to save ours for last." Shizuru said. She had been holding an unlit cigarette in her hand the whole time.
"Okay then I'll go." Genkai said. "Out back, just inside the tree line, you will find a shed. I got you all kinds of garden equipment and the shed to keep it in."
"Genkai, that is too much." Kurama said shocked, turning to face her.
She shrugged. "Let's just say I had some wealth to share." She stated.
"Thank you so much for everything, you guys are really too much. I do not know what I would do without friends like you." Kurama said looking to each and every one of them, making sure they heard him.
"Best for last." Shizuru said, shoving a shirt box with a simple red bow on it in his lap.
Kurama untied the bow and lifted the lid. Moving a piece of tissue paper, his cheeks turned pink.
"Well what is it fox boy?" Yusuke asked, moving closer. The others gathered, wondering what had made the usually, in control fox, blush to a bright pink.
"Here I'll show them." Before he could replace the lid, Shizuru grabbed the item and held it up. There was dead silence before the room busted into laughter. She was holding a pair of silk pajama bottoms, but that was not what had everyone laughing. It was what was on them. They were made of red silk and on each leg was a black appliqué Chinese dragon. One dragon started with the tail at the ankle, wrapping around the leg a couple of times before its opened mouth ended on the rear of the pants. The other dragon started on the opposite ankle, like the other, but it wrapped around with its open mouth ending at the crotch on the front.
Kurama grabbed them, shoving them back in the box and managed to look over at Hiei, who was still sitting in the window. He had been watching everything and at this his red eyes were wide, staring dead pan.
"Geez sis, I can't believe you got him that. That makes me look…" Kuwabara started rambling about how he wanted his money back and that he would get his own gift.
"Hiei deserved something." Was all she said as she walked outside to finally smoke, Kuwabara following her.
There was another round of silence until Genkai stood up. "Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to get my beauty sleep." She said and went to leave, Yukina got up to follow. They said good night and went outside. Kuwabara stepped in and said goodnight from him and Shizuru as well. Yusuke and Keiko decided it was late and needed to head out. Kurama thanked them and hugged Yusuke, whispering his thanks for everything. Koenma and Botan left with them.
The red head stayed at the door watching them leave and noticed Hiei talking to Yukina out in the yard. He saw Hiei hand her something to which she nodded and pocketed.
When the house was quiet, Hiei finally came in. "You should get some sleep." He said, noticing the dark circles under the green eyes.
Kurama only nodded and they prepared for bed. Finally getting under the covers, both fell asleep quickly.
a)a)a)a
Hiei woke to find it still dark outside, rolling over, he noted the time, 2 am and then he realized the bed was empty. 'I hope this doesn't become a habit again.' He thought, thinking of all the other times he had awaken to an empty bed and the red head nowhere around.
Getting up, Hiei headed out to the living room, the front door was open and a light breeze was coming through the screen. Going to the door he looked out to see the red head sitting on the swing, gazing at the full moon.
Kurama looked at him as he stepped out. "Sorry, I did not mean to wake you." He said as Hiei came over and sat beside him.
"No, you didn't wake me." He said, looking up at the moon. They sat in silence.
"I am sorry." Kurama finally said.
"For what?" Hiei looked to him.
"Everything." Kurama sighed.
"I don't understand." Hiei said with confusion.
"I was not careful and let myself get caught, I let something happened that…" Kurama stopped. If he told Hiei what had happened, would he be mad, would he think he was tarnished, would he want out of the relationship? It was a demon thing, thinking it as a betrayal and such.
"Whatever happened fox, it was not your fault." Hiei said having a feeling about what Kurama was going to tell him, but he was not going to push the subject. The fox would tell him when he was ready.
"I lost the necklace." Kurama whispered, his hand going to his bare chest. He was going to say Yomi took it, but he didn't want to upset the fire demon and open a can of worms that might lead to other things.
"That's okay." Hiei said. He'd noticed the necklace was gone as soon as he saw the red head laying on the hospital bed. He also saw the necklace around Yomi's neck, but didn't get the chance to get it back.
"But you shed that for me and as far as you know it has been the only one you ever shed." Kurama said, his voice starting to crack.
"It's no big deal." He said, grabbing his hand.
"But…." Kurama sighed again.
"What is bothering you fox?" Hiei whispered. "And I know it's not the necklace."
"Youko is back." Was all Kurama said, lowering his head and looking at his hands.
"Okay." Hiei said.
"What do you mean, okay?" The red head said, turning to stare at the fire demon.
"I was hoping he was." The fire demon admitted.
"What….are you wanting to continue a relationship with him?" Kurama asked.
"No, but I know that you were lonely without him and whether you realize it or not, you need him." Hiei said.
"More like… I need you." Kurama heard in his head.
"Kurama." Hiei turned and made sure he had the red head's attention. "It is true that I care for Youko, but I care for him because he is a part of you. Youko has changed and I think if you two talked, you can work out your problems. I love you and only you. I only want a sexual relationship with you. If Youko needs someone to talk to, or needs to be out, I will be there for him, but I will 'not' be his toy." He leaned forward and pulled the red head to him, placing a hard kiss on the pale lips.
"Lucky." Kurama heard.
"Now let's get back to bed. We'll have all the time in the world to talk." Hiei said, pulling the red head up so they could head back in, to the bed that only they would share from now on.
End Chapter 9