The Sinners
Summary: One strange relationship. Seven deadly sins.
If anyone ever thought to ask Koenma how those two began their strange relationship, he, being the efficient taskmaster that he was, could sum it up in one word: sloth.
In point of fact, that word could have summed up all of his team of detectives. Lazy bunch, the lot of them, not a one taking his work seriously—only looking at ridding Ningenkai of dangerous youkai as a kind of recreational sport, not any kind of sacred duty. Koenma went out of his way to pardon a couple criminals, grant a couple favors in exchange for their hard work, and what does he get? Complaints, tardiness, backtalk and mocking.
Yusuke was the most vocal of the group, readily—and loudly—expressing his displeasure at the thought of putting forth a day's effort, or being interrupted while on a date with Keiko—and really, couldn't that girl understand the world was at stake?
Yusuke was the most vocal, the one who constantly poked and prodded at Koenma's temper—surface temper, that is. It was Hiei who really got under his skin, who constantly undermined his authority in the most audacious ways: ignoring him, making cutting remarks, threatening him with his sword to Koenma's neck.
And then, he began to do the most audacious thing of all: he stopped showing up. Normally, this would have been no problem at all for Koenma, though it would have been quite a large problem for Botan, as his usual method of retrieving a tardy spirit detective (usually Yusuke) was to send her to badger and/or trick said spirit detective into the portal to his office. But Hiei was nowhere to be found.
If it weren't for the fact that the gatekeeping ogres—far more competent than those in his own office, as his father kept the best for himself and gave the castoffs to his son—assured him that the sneaky bastard had not passed through, he would have thought for sure he was dead.
So Hiei was not dead, but he was not in either of the living realms either, and though Koenma knew of several species of youkai that could conceal their own energy that that of others, it was impossible to hide life energy, not from Reikai. But even knowing that it was impossible for youkai to disguise their life energy from the radars of Reikai, Koenma searched—discreetly, lest his overbearing father find out—for days, trying to find reference to such a being…because that would be a far better possibility than the alternative.
It was early hours—before dawn in Ningenkai—when Koenma, fingers frustratedly tapping on his desk, piles of books and notes to his side, conceded that the matter was out of his hands.
To an outsider, it may have appeared as though King Enma and his son Koenma were gods—gods of the afterlife, or perhaps the only gods. And in truth, they had never tried to dissuade the humans and youkai that passed through otherwise; because really, in comparison to them—and in his father's mind—they were gods. But Koenma knew the truth, had known for a long time, remembered whereas his father had chosen to forget. In the hierarchy, they were only a step or two above the ogres and ferry-men and -women who served them. They were daimons, not gods.
The gods were higher beings, creators, concerned with none of the world and all of it. They were not to be bothered with the bureaucratic nonsense that he and his father dealt with daily. Above all, the gods had a plan. Above all, no matter how much power they had allowed Enma to have, there were things that he and his son were unable to control, there were places where their influence was not welcome.
It was all too obvious to Koenma that Hiei had found one of those places, and really, it wasn't all that unexpected to Koenma. These places that were guarded over by the gods were all over the world, most popping up only for a brief time before re-entering his sphere of influence. He'd never really known why these places were chosen—when he was younger, he just thought it was the gods' way of showing off their power, reminding him of his limits by whimsically taking part of the world from him. As he got older, though, a new theory came to mind, a theory about fate, and how parts of fate were cemented in time, and the gods were safeguarding fate—perhaps an even higher power than their own—by placing their protection on certain locations, where certain events were to take place, however small, however brief. And most of these locations were under their sole influence for only brief periods of time. If Hiei had found one of these places, he could have shrugged it off: they were all over Japan, all over the world, and it was only a matter of time before one of his detectives stumbled into one—Yusuke already had.
What bothered Koenma was the fact that most of these places were under the protection of the gods for a matter of days—perhaps a week or two at most. Throughout the world, there were only a few he knew of that were safeguarded for more than a couple weeks, perhaps up to a few months or years, and in Japan there was only one—the oldest one, which had protections placed on it long before the barriers had been erected.
The thought caused chills to creep up and down Koenma's spine. The Higurashi shrine. It had long been a nexus for gathering power, inhabited for centuries by the purest line of miko and houshi, guards of the coveted shikon no tama. Some said that even the land itself had incredible power. It was the kind of place that would discourage any not pure of heart from entering. It was the kind of place, with the kind of safeguards, that would not let any in without some kind of invitation, some kind of indication that they were meant to be there.
And so others might wonder how they met in the first place, might wonder why Hiei would seek out a shrine full of holy energy that surely threatened his existence. Koenma knew the answer: the gods, for whatever reason, saw fit to put those two together. But Koenma knew better than to talk about the gods plans, knew better than to give up his position that the gods had forced him into, probably all according to their plan, according to fate. So, if anyone ever thought to ask Koenma how those two began their strange relationship, he, being the meek servant of the gods that he was, would answer them in one word, the only word he could think of as an alternative to the truth: sloth.
…Of course, no one ever did ask Koenma.
If anyone were to ask Kurama how they got together, he would look at the enquirer for a moment before, with a sigh and a shrug, he answered: pride. He could have easily answered, "It's a youkai thing," but that would be far too general, to the point of being incorrect, and if there was anything Kurama enjoyed, it was being right. The correct answer would be "It's a Hiei thing," but to understand this statement, one would have to know the mysterious youkai as deeply as Kurama did, deeply enough to know that, however strange and off-putting Hiei may appear to be, the root to most all his actions was pride.
Like Koenma, he'd gotten suspicious when Hiei continued to not show up to debriefings in Reikai. Unlike Koenma, he didn't decide to wait weeks to finally get around to researching the situation: one bright, sunny afternoon, Kurama followed him. It was because of this single instance that, unlike Koenma's conclusion, Kurama had come to the realization that, although it was Hiei's desire to escape the dull meetings that fueled his successful game of hide-and-go-seek, it was pride that started the relationship.
It was that day that he first felt the miko's energy—all at once like raging flames and cool flowing waves, the sensation of it enticing and arousing and wonderful—and it was that day that he saw her string and notch her bow, assumedly to practice against the target on the shed, he thought—until he saw her turn sharply to the left, her arrow leaving the bow and hitting a branch of the large tree, the very same branch where Hiei had been resting, supposedly well hidden from all senses.
The miko, calmly as if she were simply answering a knock on the door, stared down the sword now leveled at her throat and smiled. "Hello, my name is Kagome. Sorry to dislodge you, but after a week of seeing you here without an introduction, I figured it was high time we got introductions out of the way. Knowing you stubborn youkai," she said, sighing, "I knew I would have to be the one to initiate contact. Now, put that sword away and I'll go get us some refreshments and we can talk for a while." Without waiting for him to move, she simply pushed his sword away with a finger—protected by her powers—and practically skipped back to the house, as if death threats from startled youkai were par for the course, perhaps just another way of making friends.
If only I could see his face…But really, body language was all he needed. Hiei was still there, like a statue. The happy, potentially dangerous, young woman had gotten the better of him and it had stung his pride. The sting would only go away when he had gotten the better of her. Hiei, Kurama knew, probably saw a rival in the miko—the most powerful one he'd ever encountered—but what Kurama saw was the beginnings of a beautiful relationship. He would watch how things developed, offer advice where he could, and if Hiei chose not to follow it, chose to tell him to keep his nose out of it…
Well, he would just have to take it on as his solemn duty to ensure Hiei, and the miko, did not become victims of pride.
Someone had, surprisingly, asked Yusuke.
It was after Kagome had been absorbed into their group. Or, as most of the group thought of it, after Kurama had decided to play a game of revenge on Hiei after having a secret—though how he could call it a secret when he knew all along, no one knew—kept from him by forcing the murderous youkai into sharing what he considered his.
Anyways, somewhere along the line, she had ended up at Genkai's place—a scary combination that Yusuke didn't like to think about much, and one that only got more terrifying when Keiko and Shizuru were in the mix. Genkai, a crotchety old hag to the rest of them, doted on Kagome like a long lost daughter and, long story short, Kagome now treated Genkai's shrine like a second home, meaning she would often train there, sleep there, and sometimes even cook. Which brought him to the current situation.
He'd met up with Jin—who, when bored, just loved to visit, bringing his overly cheerful attitude to bother them—just outside the old woman's grounds and the wind youkai was happy to chatter all the way through the woods and up the stairs until they got a good view of the shrine grounds, when he stopped, speechless.
Well, not quite.
"What's up with that?"
That was the sight of Kagome, bento boxes of food—it looked like sushi this time, judging by what she held in her chopsticks, offering it to the youkai across from her—about her so she couldn't possibly move anywhere but forward, facing none other than Hiei who, being offered the sushi roll by the woman leaning towards him on her remaining limbs, leaned forward to take a bite. His face barely moved as he chewed and Kagome bit her lip.
"Well," he heard, "What do you think? Which is better?"
"I will have to try the other one again to be sure." Even from this distance Yusuke caught the smirk on Hiei's face.
"Dude, you see her all the time, haven't you ever eaten her cooking?"
Yusuke had. She was a woman who loved to cook, and who loved to make sure what she cooked was absolutely perfect. And he was a man who loved to eat. For a while, he had even been her official taste tester. Then, out of the blue, he was replaced. Here today, gone tomorrow. He was just surprised that he'd been replaced by Hiei. Until he'd seen that glare leveled right at him.
Others may have thought he was stupid, and he let them believe what they wanted. He didn't want to be the smart one of the group. That was Kurama's job. Really, Yusuke was just a simple man, with simple tastes, and simple desires. Keiko understood that, and even loved him for it, and showed her love for him in simple ways every day.
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Hiei could pretend all he wanted that he was somehow above humans, above all men in general. Yusuke knew the truth. Like all men, he had to give in to gluttony.
No one ever asked Kuwabara how they got together, probably because no one ever thought of him as a perceptive love-guru, but every time he looked down to his dainty love, Yukina, he knew the answer, and he wasn't scared to shout it to the world, to the youkai himself: envy.
The pipsqueak was jealous of him—him and his relationship with his sister.
Sure, the others thought that he was oblivious, but he had ears; and more importantly, he had the strongest spiritual senses of all of them. He'd thought it was really creepy at first, how Hiei was constantly around his sweet apparition, like some crazy, obsessed stalker. Even though Kuwabara was also constantly around Yukina, it was completely different—he did it right out in the open, no need to watch from the trees. In any case, as long as he didn't try to come between them, he didn't really care since he was so far ahead in the race for Yukina's love.
Then one day, when Yukina had finally managed to get Hiei off his tree branch and share a pot of tea with her and Genkai—because Yukina was a wonderfully caring person like that, to go so far as to offer hospitality to a dangerous head case—he'd noticed something: their youki was almost exactly the same. Everything made sense then.
Hiei wasn't a rival (not that Kuwabara was worried or anything), he was just an overprotective brother—just like Kuwabara himself would have been with Shizuru if she hadn't been the one to teach him to kick ass (and could still take him).
Hiei still wasn't his favorite person, but it made him feel a bit more respect: they were both interested in protecting Yukina, in their own ways, so it would be better to work together. Not that he was about to let the little guy know it. But he would make sure that he knew his little sis was safe and happy with Kazuma Kuwabara by showering her with love and affection and vowing to one day defeat Hiei in a fair fight. And on the day he did that, he was sure to get the shrimp's permission to marry his sister.
Obviously, he saw now, his plan was working better than he thought: not only was Yukina finally seeing they were meant to be together, but somehow, after watching them for so long, their affection had somehow changed Hiei—and really, who wouldn't want the same kind of love that he and Yukina shared?
They were a little awkward with each other, but in a comfortable sort of way. It was just a weird relationship—total opposites. Sometimes they would talk—well, she would talk and Hiei would pretend he wasn't listening or "Hn" or something, but Kuwabara could see that he was absorbing every word and motion—and sometimes they would just be silent, and sometimes they would fight, and then disappear for a while and show up again together, like the fight had never happened. It was weird, but it worked for them.
Like he said many times before, Kuwabara didn't really like Hiei all that much, but even he deserved happiness, and Kagome definitely did (though he didn't really get what she saw in a guy like Hiei), and if it was envy of Yukina's relationship with him that made Hiei act, then he was happy to help.
If anyone were to ask Youko why they stayed together, he would have turned his stunning smile, his alluring eyes, on the inquirer and, if they were still focused enough to hear his voice answer in a tone designed to seduce, they would have heard him say: lust.
The two were like yin and yang: complete opposites making for an explosive combination. He'd known it from the beginning, when he'd caught his first glimpse of the pair through his host's eyes. That level of physical attraction could not escape the eyes of a kitsune as old and…sensual as Youko Kurama.
He knew about lust, the need to be near that one person, the need to touch them, the need to hear them scream his name in a fit of passion…! It was a pity his host was such a prude. If it had been up to Youko, he would have begun watching outside her window weeks ago in preparation for the inevitable night, when neither could resists the other any longer. His human side insisted that voyeurism, without the consent of all parties, could be considered a crime, or at the very least unethical. When he'd pointed out that, for a kitsune, voyeurism was simply another form of nourishment—not preferable, but acceptable—and that their power could increase phenomenally from absorbing the energy produced by such a union, the inner human had turned to the inner youkai, eyebrow raised, and pointed out quite calmly and decisively that, if Hiei were to catch them, he would kill them. Or lop off that certain favored part of their anatomy. Or both.
And, out of modesty of course, Kagome would probably purify them for good measure.
His human side really was no fun, but he had no choice.
And that's how he ended up seeing only the end results of Hiei's seduction of the miko: the tousled hair, the glow of contentment, the slight mixing of auras, and a slight scent of sex that would remain for a short time for all with youkai olfactory senses, no matter how many baths Kagome took. From all this, Youko could tell that, despite his doubts of Hiei's expertise in this area (given his general demeanor), Hiei had done quite admirably. The youkai had successfully seduced a miko, their natural enemy, and left her—figuratively, at least, as he was sitting down at the dining table waiting for her to make breakfast—wanting more.
Yes, it was obvious to Youko that it was pure pure sexual chemistry, pure lust, that kept them together. But then, for Youko everything was lust.
Usually, no one ever asked Botan anything. She outright told them without any provocation. That is, after all, how gossiping works. But unlike some of her fellow gossipers, she was one of the smart ones. She knew exactly what to say and when to say it to have the most dramatic effects to liven up their mostly humdrum lives. And she knew how to keep her mouth closed when the subject was too dangerous—or had talents in mind reading and body hiding. But that didn't mean she didn't tell herself this piece of news over and over again in her own mind: Hiei was only attracted to that powerful priestess out of his own greed.
Botan, ever since being promoted to her liaison position between Koenma and his team of spirit detectives, had gotten used to playing truant officer. This particular duty could leave her with many different emotional states depending on the situation: frustrated bemusement when Yusuke or Kuwabara overslept past the starting time of one of Koenma's meetings, to sadistic satisfaction upon retrieving one of the team when they tried in vain to hide from her, to guilt when she, all too often, had to interrupt Keiko's time with Yusuke.
This time though, the lack of this particular duty left her with what was surprisingly the greatest emotion of all: relief. It was a feeling that made its presence known not only in the lightening of her mind, but a complete renewal of her body.
It was part of her duties as liaison to fetch the detectives. She had even fetched Kurama a time or two. Never had she been told to fetch Hiei. Never did she want to. After all, Koenma may have thought that he had the youkai tamed on a short leash, but she was under no such illusions. He may have some sense of loyalty to Kurama and Yusuke, and perhaps to Kuwabara as well, but he held no love for those who dwelled in Reikai. Once he was off his leash, there was no doubt in her mind that he would return to his thieving, murdering ways.
Even with the leash firmly attached, look at what's happening.
Koenma may have despaired the fact that he, for whatever reason, could not touch the two, but he never was the sort for field work, the Dark Tournament being a surprising exception. As a gossip though, such work—spying—came naturally to her. So after Koenma had shared his findings with the ferrygirl, he had isolated himself in an anxious slump, and she had taken her oar and hidden behind a cloud bank and watched, watched for so long in fact that she was beginning to feel a bit oar sore.
Kagome Higurashi's file had said little, just that she was a notably powerful miko in this day and age and in charge of Higurashi shrine. The question was, what about her held Hiei's attention? What did she have to offer him?
It took her days to realize the answer was right in front of her, in the form of a gift store on the shrine grounds: Kagome Higurashi, of Higurashi Shrine—the shrine family that housed the legend of the shikon no tama, an all-powerful jewel capable of granting the wish of any who possessed it…The jewel whose location was lost to all…save for the Higurashi lineage.
Hiei had his eyes on a treasure, and he had just found the treasure map.
That certainly explained all she had seen—that look in Hiei's eyes whenever he saw Kagome, the sometimes-soft-sometimes-passionate kisses and caresses that made the miko smile, his willingness to help her with the chores and repairs: it was all some ploy to seduce the miko to give up the location of the jewel!
Her face contorted in disgust of the thought of the youkai corrupting one so pure for the sake of power, for the sake of wealth, for the sake of another bauble to add to his hoard of treasure he surely had in Makai. And if he managed to get a miko in the process, that would just better his status in front of all the other youkai, wouldn't it?
She turned her oar around back to Reikai, unable to watch the miko's downfall any more. Hiei's greed truly knew no bounds.
When news of their relationship reached Genkai—through none other than Kagome herself—for the longest time, all she could do was smirk. She could only imagine the thoughts going through the others' heads about how this could have happened, how that sinful youkai could have corrupted the innocent, well-meaning miko. But Genkai knew the truth, knew she and Kagome were very much alike; it was part of the reason mentor and student got on so well: they understood each other. And so while the others blamed Hiei's sins (the arguments for which she couldn't quite disagree with) for Kagome's "fall from grace", Genkai knew something they did not: Kagome was far from the innocent miko they thought of her as, but at the forefront of the list of her sins, there was one that screamed out and constantly broke free.
Wrath.
As alien an idea as it might seem to those outside their profession, it was only the strongest of miko who could exhibit such will, such anger—and accept it as part of themselves. For a miko to have great power but not the force of will to control it, to prevent herself from being controlled by others was something that Genkai could only pray never happened. That Kagome was able to accept her hatred of Kikyo and not let it control her was only one of many signs that she was destined for greatness.
However this same characteristic that indicated great power was also something that caused great isolation for the miko. It was possible for such a miko to have close friends, but near impossible for her to find love: what human could possibly withstand her wrath? What youkai could truly love the miko and not just her power?
Genkai had been one of the lucky ones, many years ago, when she had found Toguro. To find someone who could accept her wrath as an expression of love, and give as good as it got, adding to the passion…it was the happiest time of her life. And then Kairen came, and the Dark Tournament warped both of the brothers.
Kagome, she hoped, would be one of the lucky ones too; with any luck, much luckier than Genkai. Hiei, for all his roughness and faults and…past transgressions…was a good man. He sought power, but saw leaning on the power of others as weak; and yet, he was able to love, in his own way, as she'd seen with his treatment of his sister. And Kagome herself…well, nothing really need to be said about her pupil. The girl was a force of nature, with far more to her than most could see, not unless they too carried wrath around with them like a walking stick, there to support them.
Her thoughts were interrupted by raised voices—well, a raised voice—outside. They were fighting again, though fighting really wasn't the right word for it; they enjoyed their verbal sparring matches far too much: the witty back and forth, escalating into yelling, then physical motions to illustrate the point, and sometimes from there moving into a physical fight, only to vanish elsewhere to…kiss and make up.
Genkai smiled as memories flickered in her mind.
If wrath was a sin, then miko were the greatest sinners of all.
Kagome stretched languidly in bed, just on the brink of sleep. Her body was exhausted from pleasure, but her mind was slowing down from its mental race. It had been so difficult to get Hiei out of his shell, to seduce him to this point, but she had been tired of seeing all the happy couples surrounding her, and had wanted him—all of him—from the very beginning, when she first spotted him in the Goshinboku, and it was definitely worth it. Though she was a bit sore; perhaps she shouldn't have baited Hiei by suggesting he couldn't go another round. No, her mind supplied. Her eyes scanned the room, smiling at the overturned bowls of cut strawberries and homemade whipped cream—just barely lit by the small beams of moonlight that made it through the tree branches in front of her window—that were to be the topping for her freshly made angel food cake. She smiled at the irony. She couldn't quite remember what the argument had been about, but the resulting make-up sex had been perfectly sinful.
AN: This was written for The Deadliest Sin's Seven Deadly Sins fanfic competition (won third place! yay!). It'll be getting a major facelift in the future since, while I was writing it, RL got in the way and it's not yet where I want it to be. But since I have no idea when in the future I'll get around to this one, I decided to post it. As it is, I'm pretty darn pleased with it, but there's a lot I want to add. Hope you all enjoyed it!