Story Title: Consumed by Hellfire
Disclaimer: Still don't own YYH.
Author's Notes: I wish to thank everyone who has read, alerted, faved, and reviewed this story. You've been kind and patient for a fic that certainly did not deserve the kindness shown toward it and been uncomplaining and thoughtful toward an author that doesn't update nearly enough to please.
But enough from me. Now onto the conclusion of Consumed by Hellfire…
(Epilogue will be posted soon!)
-o-
Chapter Thirteen: Our Lives Start Now
-o-
Kurama awoke to a pair of familiar red eyes looking down at him, but it was not Hiei. Yukina smiled and told him not to move quickly and, if he wanted her to, that she would bring Yusuke and Kuwabara to see him in a few minutes. After a once-over of his injures, Yukina rose and left his bedside. Kurama lay on a futon swathed in the familiarity of the late Genkai's temple but uncertain to how he arrived. The moments after killing the King were as hazy and elusive as smoke to Kurama, with the only certainty he could recall was holding Hiei close, feeling the fire demon's soft breaths warm his chest and his heart beating against his own.
The shoji door slid back, revealing Yusuke, Kuwabara, and to the fox's surprise, a teenage Koenma and Botan smiling back at him. Slowly, Kurama sat up in the futon, wincing as he rose, as everyone entered the room and lowered themselves to sit on the tatami mat floor.
"How you doing, Kurama?" Yusuke asked, sitting closest to Kurama's bedside, smiling but his voice was full of concern. The ex-detective still bore signs of injury and bandages here and there, but on the whole was recovering quickly from the King's assault.
Kurama smiled back, "I have been worse. I will mend soon than later and be fine."
"Glad to hear it! " Botan beamed and clasped her hands together. "We were all worried up in Spirit World. Oh we were all hoping Yusuke and Kuwabara made it in time."
Yusuke turned to Botan and Koenma and narrowed his eyes. "We would have been there earlier if you guys could have provided closer transportation…" the ex-detective growled.
Koenma pinched his brows together in frustration and leveled his gaze at Yusuke. "You wouldn't get it anyway, Yusuke, so I'm not going to start on the intricacies of opening a dimensional portal into Demon World," he said haughtily and annoyed, "but let's just say we can't drop you at the palace doors. It's a difficult process in the usual cases, much more so to send someone to a location as far as the Land of Fire. You're lucky you got as close as we got you."
"Yea, yea…" Yusuke waved a hand dismissively, "We know you're secretly trying to get the four of us killed."
"Why I never—" Botan raised her arms as if about to clobber Yusuke, but Kurama interrupted before she touched him.
"Speaking of our fourth…where is Hiei?" Kurama asked.
"Dunno, man…" Kuwabara looked down pensively. "We brought both of you back and Yukina treated you both. You've been out and recovering for a week, but Yukina said that Hiei woke up three days ago and left in the night. Didn't say a word and was still injured, but you know how the runt is…"
"Yea, I do…" Kurama turned his head and said to the bed sheets.
"It's a shame, because we have some important business matters to speak to him," Koenma said. "The Fire Country is officially not a part of Makai or under its jurisdiction, and with its former king dead and no formal declaration of his heir, Hiei is technically the new King of the Land of Fire."
"Hiei will not accept the crown, you should know that about him by now," Kurama said.
Koenma nodded, "Yes, we do. It makes it even more important that we speak with him soon. You will persuade him, if you see him?"
"If I see him," Kurama repeated. His eyes flicked down for an instant, then met Koenma's, and he tipped his head down and up in agreement. "But if Hiei does not wish to be found, there is nothing I can do."
Koenma gave a smile that read more like 'You'll always find him' than as a sign he accepted Kurama's words.
"What's with everybody findin' out they're royal and get left lands to rule?" Kuwabara grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. "First Yusuke, now Hiei…when's it your turn, Kurama? …Hell, when's it my turn?"
Yusuke narrowed his eyes and sharply jabbed his elbow into Kuwabara's wrapped ribs. "Try droppin' dead and coming back a demon, I hear it's all the rage with the kids," he said sarcastically.
"Oh how we're all glad everyone's returned and back to normal," Botan said, her speaking deflating any fighting between Yusuke and Kuwabara that brewed, and smiled, "And we have you to congratulate for killing the King, don't we, Kurama?"
Surprised, the fox raised both hands in front of his chest and waved them dismissingly, "No, no. If it was not for Yusuke, I could not have—"
"Don't be modest, Kurama," Yusuke grinned, laid a hand on Kurama's shoulder, and joked, "…We know how vain you really are."
Kurama blinked his eyes rapidly, not believing what he had just heard, "Yusuke, really, I did not—"
"If it wasn't for your quick reflexes," Yusuke said, "My punch would have done nothing but piss him off." He leaned back and smiled. "I was banking on you reacting. I didn't have enough energy left to end him myself, but I could knock him off guard and hope those smarts of yours would hold out. …Guess I got lucky again."
"Sometimes I wonder if you're not really a lucky fool but a calculated bastard, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, his arms remaining crossed, and smirked a bit.
"Perhaps, a little of both," Kurama said, and everybody, especially Yusuke, smiled.
"All right, all right, the hero needs his rest," Yusuke said. As everyone rose from the floor, Yusuke offered his hand and Kurama clasped it. "We'll bother you a little later though. Hopefully with food and booze."
"And just where are you going to get alcohol, Yusuke?" Botan said perturbed as she ushered Yusuke and Kuwabara out of the room. "You're still underage, mister!"
"Where else?" Yusuke wore a wry grin, "I invited my mom over to celebrate."
Muffled sounds of Yusuke's laughter and Botan's frustrated groans reverberated in and down the hall. Koenma, still in the room with Kurama, walked over and slid the shoji door closed. The silence that immediately sealed the room disturbed Kurama slightly.
"I must assume you have business to speak with me as well," Kurama said.
"Perceptive as always, Kurama," Koenma lowered himself back down to sitting formally. "But what I have to say to you is mostly a warning for Hiei."
Kurama raised a brow inquisitively, "Then should you not be telling Hiei this?"
"You will want to hear this," Koenma said, the seriousness in his tone was disconcerting. "…In fact, you need to."
Kurama slowly nodded, indicating he was ready to listen.
"My father and the late King of the Land of Fire were once, and still remain to this day, vehement enemies. However, these days, my father is a coward. He fears anything and anyone who proves to be a threat to him or his rule. Of what information I have, I can assume the King once challenged my father for the right to rule and control the Spirit World. The King failed, but my father has never forgotten. The King's death and presence in Spirit World has not helped. That fear and paranoia has corrupted his judgment, so much that I have taken temporary full control of Spirit World," Koenma explained.
Kurama nodded, "Yes, understood. But what about Hiei?"
"Upon learning his parentage, my father has drawn no line between the King or Hiei. At best, he regards Hiei as a King-in-waiting, and at worst, he sees them as the same. He is blinded by his hatred and consumed by his fear that Hiei will challenge him, that he will kill him. By himself, my father has no means of defense, but he does have the power of influence. Though I control all of Spirit World's operatives and resources, my father is still has a select group of followers and even now is amassing forces in the pursuit and goal of killing Hiei."
Kurama's heart sank, "….Hiei has to know this. Why have you not informed him?"
"As you have said yourself, Hiei doesn't always wish to be found, even when it's for his own best," Koenma closed his eyes and paused for a few brief moments to reorder his thoughts. "I don't have much information for you left, but I assure that I have Spirit World's best working on stopping my father and his forces. Still, I found that I owed you to warn you. It's a moot point to say this, but please, find him, tell him, watch over him. I will send you new info as I can, but for now, all I can say is watch your back and his."
Kurama slowly tipped his head forward in understanding.
"The exact history and facts behind my father's and the King's war on each other have not been given to me, but the truth I do know is that the mission I sent you on was steeped in my father's blind quest for vengeance. In other words, you suffered and were tortured because of my father's hatred of the King. He used you…" Koenma slipped a hand into his robes. "I apologize wholeheartedly for what my father has done, though I know my words mean little right now. There is nothing I can give to completely make right this situation my father created, but I can begin the reparations."
Koenma produced a pair of small red and gold scrolls from his robes. Kurama flinched at the sight of the scrolls, so similar to the very summons scroll that sent him on his mission to the Land of Fire. Tentatively, Kurama reached for them and eventually came to hold them in his lap. Kurama picked up the scarlet string binding one of the scrolls and considered opening them, but Koenma tilted forward slightly and laid his hand on his and stopped him.
"Do not open them now," Koenma said, his voice firm but still moderate. "Should I be unable to stop my father's forces and they attack you, these scrolls are your protection. Essentially, they're IOU slips, except better and more reliable. Keep them with you both at all times. These are special contracts, one for you and one for Hiei. First, they will grant you some amnesty as long as you are living in the human world, but do not consider that any defense. Second, if you or Hiei are ever surrounded by my father's forces, unbind this red string and claim 'sanctuary'. They will not be able to hurt you and will be forced to bring you to me. Third and finally, according to these scrolls, each of you is entitled one boon from me. Just present both scrolls to me, and I will grant you each full protection," Koenma sat back, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled craftily, "There's so much magic and paperwork tied up in these scrolls not even Father will be able to find a loophole."
Kurama peered down and clutched the small scrolls tightly, "Thank you."
Koenma raised a hand, "No need, Kurama. This is the least I could do, seeing how I essentially got you in this mess." Koenma rose and stood. "My foolish father may have muddied the situation, but be assured, I will get you and Hiei out of this. Father doesn't realize just who he's messing with."
Kurama watched as Koenma stepped toward the shoji door, "I mean no rudeness, but you seem stronger, more confident. I never would have expected you to have the ambition to up rise against your father."
Koenma paused at the door and turned back, "It's something I've learned from Hiei. Thank him for me, will you?"
"All right," the fox said, and both he and Koenma shared a soft smile.
"Get well, Kurama," Koenma said and slid the shoji door closed after him.
-o-
In the months following his return back to normalcy, Kurama kept telling people he was fine, but everybody continued asking he if was okay anyway. If not outright, they questioned with their eyes. His co-workers, as always, were the easiest to fool. His stepfather and mother, not so much. It took time but Kurama made his stepfather stop asking him if anything was wrong. His stepfather no longer inquired but he continued on playing the fatherly role and, when Shiori wasn't looking, he ever so slightly narrowed his eyes and tensed when he locked sights with Kurama. His stepfather was waiting for him to break with shame or guilt and finally divulge his secrets, but Kurama was too old to fall for that trick. As for Yusuke or Kuwabara, they asked once, about a week and a half after their return from the Fire Country, and Kurama refused to say anything. After that, they never pressured him to talk about what happened in the Land of Fire. Kurama supposed they had no right to need to know, but there was no mistaking that they were concerned. It was a touching sentiment, but Kurama would not tell them anything.
Getting off the phone with his mother and assuring her for the second time today that he would stay at his new apartment and that, no, moving out had nothing to do with any change in him, which by the way did not exist, and that he was fine.
Kurama wasn't fine.
Physically, no. His aches subsided and his injuries closed months ago. The burn scars, yes, had yet to all fully peel and fade but certain plant remedies took multiple applications and more time. Those scars, indeed, would fade.
Kurama was pleased to find this apartment so readily after he returned home. He needed to leave. Not only because he was mature enough and his mother no longer required him, but because he needed the solitude. Kurama needed hours to sort through himself, starting with the events in the Land of Fire. He traced backward, rearranged, broke down, and analyzed memories. He looked through Hiei's eyes and reconsidered his motives in the King's palace through every possible angle.
Kurama found the fallacies in his own lies and shattered them. The hardest part was facing his family, specifically his mother. She would never want to hurt him but unbeknownst to her, his mother had. Innocently, she had impressed on him the drive to be perfect, to never shame her, to make up for what he had done to her for and since birth and while Kurama had chosen to take that path to protect her from knowing what he was, he had not been aware how deep that drive to please her ran until now.
Kurama sat on the sofa, as he had after coming home from work, and labored on his mind. It took several months, but finally he was finished.
Once purged of every self-doubt, every expectation, every subconscious lie, Kurama rebuilt his sense of clarity and refocused his relationship with Hiei. With no outside interferences influencing his thoughts, the fox thief who once prided himself on being able to find what others could not felt foolish realizing how blind he was. Sitting on the sofa, Kurama bent forward, hung his head, and washed his hands over his face.
If he had only known then….
Kurama shook his head and squelched the thought from fully forming. No use in dwelling on the past. Kurama knew now all that he needed concerning himself and Hiei. Speculating on the changes he should have made in the past was mere toxin.
Kurama stood and stared out the window overlooking the cityscape. The sun, a sliced lemon ring in the rose and purple sky, began to set over the skyscrapers in the distance. So far Koenma had sent no news, and Kurama had been unable to find Hiei, though he had searched every day since he healed enough to walk. Kurama worried that his message could be too late. Thing was that Koenma's warning seemed to pale in comparison to what Kurama really wanted to tell Hiei.
You have been waiting on me but I have been so wrapped up projecting illusions of myself that I ran and hid and nearly lost part of who I was in the name of protecting others from it. However, now I know who I want to be and that I want you at my side from now on. Kurama closed his eyes and smiled tightly. Though you have never really not been beside me, haven't you? …Hiei, I need to see you. There is much I have to say and that you have to hear.
Knowing there was still time before the sun reached the ocean's horizon, Kurama decided a walk on the beach would do his thoughts a good rest.
-o-
Kurama stood on the sandy yellow-gold beach gazing out at rose pink horizon and reminisced. About a year ago, he had stood on a similar beach on Genkai's property with everyone and watched as Yusuke returned and reunited with Keiko. And just he had been that time, Hiei was not here now either. The fox put his hands into his pants pockets and dipped his head down. The cool, salty sea breeze wafted forward and gently fluttered his fringe. Just as Koenma advised, he had both scrolls with him and never left without them, though, fortunately, he had never needed to use them yet.
Kurama raised his head. That energy… Kurama quickly looked over his shoulder but saw nothing. Had he imagined sensing Hiei nearby? Was he becoming that desperate to imagine Hiei around when he really wasn't there? Kurama turned back to face the sea once more and, to his shock, found Hiei standing beside him.
"Your eyes are getting slow, fox," Hiei smirked briefly, then stared out blankly at the horizon.
Just as Kurama was, Hiei was mostly healed, but he wasn't the same since leaving the Land of Fire. Kurama noted without looking at Hiei the lack of binding magic on the headband concealing the socket of the dead Jagan, and to the fox's greater worry, he noted the vast drop in Hiei's energy level. Though once an upper A to reaching the borders of S-class, Hiei had fallen all the way back to a mid to upper B-class, if Kurama was sensing his energy correctly. Kurama had no idea Hiei relied on the Jagan for so much.
"What will you do now?" Kurama asked, without taking his eyes off the purple-clouded orange-rose sky. "Without the Jagan, the Dragon is lost to you. Much of your power is gone."
Hiei snorted and looked up haughtily at Kurama, "I have no need for the Jagan. I will train. I will reclaim the Dragon under my own will. Without enhancements."
And then, the fire demon stared back at the ocean, its water colored orange by the sunset, as if Kurama's mention of the Jagan insulted him. Kurama could tell with little mystery that the Jagan was still a sore point for Hiei even now. They stood in silence for such a long time, staring at the rolling white waves washing on the shoreline.
"…Sounds like you will be returning to Demon World soon, am I correct?" Kurama asked.
Kurama hoped he would say no. Koenma mentioned they would only receive some amnesty only if they remained in the human world. And of course, to protect Hiei, Kurama would have to go to Demon World as well, and though he would, he also did not wish to leave the human world.
Hiei stood in silence, thinking carefully before he answered. "…No. I can train here. With Yusuke and the oaf," and he added with some measured pause, " …With you."
"If that is the case…" Kurama matched eyes with Hiei. "Will you stay with me? At my apartment, that is…"
Hiei, with a brow quirked, looked at Kurama as if he couldn't believe the fox had asked him that question and quickly averted his gaze. Not wanting to pressure the fire demon's answer, Kurama stared at the ocean and waited. And waited. Until finally, Hiei nodded once in acceptance and the fox softly smiled.
Kurama supposed now was no better time than any other to tell Hiei about Koenma's warning, and the scrolls.
…And his feelings for him.
"Hiei…there is…" Kurama began.
Hiei raised his hand in a gesture of silence, "Kurama, let me speak."
Kurama nodded.
"You have to understand why I left to the Fire Country alone." Hiei paused and closed his eyes, "I know now the Jagan tricked me. It controlled me, but I know that in its lies were truths. It gave me visions."
"Visions I took for hallucinations because of your fever, which was no doubt also Jagan-induced," Kurama said.
Kurama recalled when he found Hiei ill in the street and how Hiei tried to explain to him he had a vision before. Kurama hadn't believed him. The fox had been too worried by the fire demon's unnatural fever to pay heed to his words, which at the time seemed mad coming from Hiei.
Hiei nodded, "I saw what would have happened. If the King's plans had succeeded…"
"I can imagine. The human world completely leveled and engulfed in flames. The biblical Apocalypse…"
"Yes, I suppose so…" Hiei did not get the reference and stared at Kurama oddly for a second, but he figured the fox was right. "He would have destroyed everything. …He would have killed you."
Kurama briefly laughed to himself, "Well, the King tried doing that anyway… Multiple times, if you recall."
Hiei was annoyed with how the fox found it necessary to comment on everything he said. He just wanted to bare himself but Kurama would not shut up long enough for him to speak.
"Kurama, just listen," Hiei said firmly and Kurama listened. "You know me, better than anyone else. You know I do not care for the human world as you do. If the King burned every building, killed every human, I wouldn't care…" What Hiei had to say next was too close to his heart. He almost could not bring himself to speak. "…But if he killed you, I…" Hiei canted his eyes and stared at the shore and the water out on the horizon sparkling like so many tear gems.
"Hiei…" Kurama breathed.
Hiei, to his own surprise, found himself still able to talk, "There are things and people you love in the human world. You would want those things and people protected. So I left. Not because I know you would have, but because I care about you and had to protect you. I left and faced the King for you. Because I…" Hiei froze, a flash of panic appeared on his face but Hiei was no coward. Biting his lower lip and closing his eyes, Hiei turned away and quickly said, "…Because I love you."
"Hiei, I—" Kurama immediately tried to respond, but Hiei interrupted him before he could.
Hiei scowled. "Don't say 'You value our friendship but you don't feel that way to me' again. If that's how you feel, fine, but I can't hear that. If that's all you can say, say nothing," he growled.
Kurama gave a short laugh. "You have not let me respond yet."
Hiei snorted and turned away.
Kurama smiled, "You are so certain I am going to reject you, Hiei. …To be honest, I would have…" If he had told Kurama all this before the Land of Fire, Kurama would have rejected him and the fox would have been living under another lie. However, that was then, and this was now.
His slender hand cupped Hiei's cheek and gently persuaded the young fire demon to face him once more. Hiei's hard red eyes met Kurama's placid green. "…But I would be untruthful."
"Quit with the puzzles, fox. Just tell me," Hiei ordered.
Honestly, Hiei couldn't take the fox's penchant for mind games. If Kurama loved him back, great and all was right in the world. But if he didn't…well, the fire demon would suppose he would figure out how to go on with Kurama as just his friend. He was not looking forward to trying though…
And so, Kurama told Hiei exactly how he felt about him.
…With a kiss.
Hiei saw a bit of green and a splash of red and then he felt the tender brush of Kurama's lips on his own as the fox embraced him. But as meek and tentative as the fox began the kiss, he did not remain that way for long. Kurama nipped a bit at Hiei's bottom lip and gently opened Hiei's mouth. Like prying a treasure chest, the fox easily gained access and slipped his tongue inside. For the longest time, though the fox would never admit this, Kurama had been curious about how kissing Hiei would be like. He had imagined Hiei and himself being a little less uncertain of the kiss in the moment, but the reality was no less warmer or no less satisfying than his fantasies had been.
And although at first caught off-guard by Kurama's kiss and gentle touches, Hiei was not for long and started kissing Kurama back in earnest. As he bruised his mouth on the fox's, Hiei softly caressed a hand up along the fox's cheek. Hiei then slid down underneath Kurama's white collar and massaged his neck.
Of everything each thought would happen coming to the beach, neither Hiei nor Kurama thought they would share their feelings for the other and share their first of many kisses.
As Hiei's fingers slipped down Kurama's neckline and found the first button on his white dress shirt, the fox stopped him and broke their kiss.
"Whatever scars we carry, let us let them be in the past where they belong," Kurama took Hiei's hand and intertwined his slender fingers in his, "Our lives start now. Agreed?"
Kurama smiled and Hiei subtly did as well, and before they left to their new home and lives in love, the two shared another short kiss in the sand and sea and under the setting sun. And the waves roared on in approval.