No going back and forth this time- all of this chapter is set prior to Hiei visiting the florist's. It's tone is a little more melancholy, I believe, but also sheds a little light on Kurama's conflict.

Black Roses
Chapter III
Revelations
August 7, 2006

Kurama smiled as he answered the door. "Why, hello Hiei. I see you chose to use the door this time."

"Hah," the Jaganshi said sarcastically. "May I come in?" he added impatiently.

"Of course. I wouldn't want another branch to fall on you."

The redhead appeared to be in the middle of lunch. Hiei raised an eyebrow when he saw what was on the menu. "More soup?"

"It's cheap and easy to prepare. I haven't felt up to the effort of more complex cuisine, nor have I had the appetite for it." Hiei watched him take a few spoonfuls, but he didn't seem to have much of an appetite for the soup, either. "I'm rather surprised by you, Hiei," Kurama said. "You've broken your pattern of infrequent visits. Are you lonely, or is something the matter?"

"Are you sick?" Hiei asked suddenly.

"You asked that last time."

"I'm asking you now."

Kurama's face lost all expression. "That … would depend," he replied, staring into his soup.

"On what?"

"What your definition of being sick is."

Hiei gave him a hard look. "You made requests to me regarding your death. Are you planning to die anytime soon?"

His companion smiled again, but this one was different from the smile he had greeted Hiei with. This one was tinged with something disheartening. "No, Hiei. I'm not doing anything that might kill me, yet."

"That's not funny."

"I know." He donned a pensive look. "… Things have changed, haven't they?"

Hiei shrugged. "I suppose."

"We've all changed," he continued. "Kuwabara's attending college this year; Yusuke's gotten in touch with his heritage; you've gone from plotting to take over the Human World to protecting its borders-"

"Patrol," Hiei growled. "I patrol the borders and keep those idiots in their place."

He smiled. "All right, patrol. But you've still come a long way."

Hiei rolled his eyes at the praise. "And what about you?"

The Fox's face fell. "… Demons don't assimilate into humanity well."

His ambiguity earned an intrigued look. "What do you mean?" Hiei asked.

"I've become a fusion of mismatched components, two opposing sides within me. I can't isolate either side, since my current self can not exist if either one no longer does." He tried to smile, but failed. "I'm trapped in a stalemate with myself, and neither I nor … well, I, can win. Does that make any sense?"

Hiei didn't answer, still digesting what Kurama had told him. "Is this the cause of all your talk of death and your black roses?" he asked.

"I suppose so," Kurama replied, his voice hollow.

The Jaganshi dreaded asking the next question. "And, your death … Are you thinking of causing that death?" Kurama didn't answer. "Kurama?" he pressed, a pleading note in his voice.

"You know my thoughts on suicide," the redhead told him, but there was something about his tone, about his expression… "Though- Though I fear I may be in danger of becoming a hypocrite."

No wonder Kurama was avoiding people, Hiei thought, feeling his stomach clench. The Fox did not want this stark contrast to the view held of him to be revealed as it grew harder for him to suppress it.

"I'm sorry, Hiei. This must bother you."

"Yes," he admitted, "it does. But I don't want you to shut up about it." He paused. "I am curious as to why you're sharing all of this with me, and directing your post-mortem requests to me, and me only."

Kurama was quiet for a while, face contemplative, before he mustered a smile and answered: "Well, perhaps it is because you're the only one to approach me and ask what was wrong." Suddenly he looked conflicted, as though he had more he wanted to say but was hesitant to open his mouth again. "Besides, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, I think that, though I love my family and friends, I…."

Hiei noticed how Kurama's hands were shaking, how his face had changed from wistful to something somehow more serious.

"… I care about you on a completely different level," he concluded, staring at nothing.

Hiei went rigid, feeling like the wind had gone out of him. "What?"

The redhead gave him an apologetic look. "You might call it love, or something close to it." He smiled sardonically. "At another point in time, I might have been wary of a violent reaction toward this from you, but now that possibility does not seem so horrible." He laughed.

"Your sense of humor has grown twisted as of late," Hiei remarked uneasily.

Kurama shrugged. "I steadied your sword the other day," he reminded him. "Are you going to turn it on me now?"

Hiei pulled out the weapon in question, staring at it thoughtfully, and then gave his friend an curious look. "Now why would I do a thing like that?" he asked, sheathing it. "Though I might wonder at your taste in crushes…."

"I don't expect anything of you," Kurama told him hastily.

He nodded slowly. "All right." Suddenly he found the back of his hand extremely fascinating. "How do you-." He ran his fingers through his hair. "How do you know that you, um, care about me on that … different level?"

The Fox took a deep breath. "I don't know," he answered. "It's something I've felt for you for a long time; by now it's as natural to me as breathing is." He gave Hiei an awkward smile. "I'm sorry if I've put you in an uncomfortable position. I just wanted you to know, in case anything happens."

"Nothing's going to happen," Hiei said quickly.

"You … don't know that," Kurama told him, putting a hand over his face.

"Don't say that," the Jaganshi spat, feeling overwhelmed by these new revelations. Everything Kurama had revealed to him, he had no idea how to deal with it. "You're not so contradictory that you would so far as to-"

He ceased his outburst though, when he heard the sound of his friend's unsteady breath, and realized that hidden behind that slender, long-fingered hand, Kurama was crying.