Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Movie Rip-offs, Act I: Bite Me (The Princess Bride, Yu Yu Style) ❯ Nothing But Fluffles ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

DISCLAIMER: Don't own. Won't own. Can't own. This is depressing.

AN: I know, I know, that took forever, but hey, it was WAY shorter than six months this time and no one told me the chapter was finished! So there!

Besides, no one's reading anyway, so who am I talking to…?

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(Chapter 6)

Li: Okay, why is the entire janitorial staff dressed as clowns?

Sazuka: from nearby where he's sweeping up stray papers It makes me feel so much more at home!

Li: Well I don't care! Get them into normal clothes!

Ava: whispers to Sazuka I'd do what she says. She's terrified of clowns. walks away

Sazuka: looks deeply offended and mutters to himself What's to be scared of?

Li: walks around set, sees Hiei and Kurama kissing by one of the trailers, goes over to them and puts her arms around their shoulders Guys? dangerously calm Whatcha doin'?

Kurama: breaks kiss Er…looks nervous Being in love…

Li: Isn't that just so…sweet?

Hiei: I hope not.

Li: Hey, guys? still dangerously calm Do you know who's in the next scene? The one we're shooting in…oh…about five minutes?

Kurama: …Us?

Li: Yes! Very good, Kurama! And what are you two doing right now?

Hiei: Nothing…

Li: EXACTLY! NOW GET TO THE SET! stomps away

Kurama: Now, where were we? grins and goes back to kissing Hiei

Li: looks back at Kurama and Hiei Unbelievable. Cheese man!

Cheese Man: walks over to Li Yes, miss?

Li: See those two guys over there? The girly man and the pointy-haired midget?

Cheese Man: Uh-huh.

Li: ATTACK!

Cheese Man: begins throwing cheese cubes at Kurama and Hiei Take that! And that! Mwahahahaha!

Kurama: Evil cheese! Run!

Kurama and Hiei run toward set

Li: grins Thank you, Mr. Cheese. You can go now. PLACES, EVERYONE!

XXX

Mask walked at a quick but not rushed pace up another hill, with Kurama following at a slower, limping pace. The masked man kept looking back, as though he wanted to help the redhead, but he always ended up looking away, though he slowed slightly for Kurama's benefit.

“Sit here,” the masked man ordered gruffly. “Rest a moment.”

Kurama complied, trying not to show his relief at the chance to sit down. “So…can I ask you something, sir?”

“You can ask. I can't promise to answer.”

“Why are you doing this?”

Mask lowered himself to the ground and placed his sheathed katana on the ground next to him. “I need someone to work on my ship and you need someone to get you away from Karasu. This way, we both win.”

“So I'll be…a slave?”

Mask considered. “Of sorts, I suppose. I mean…look, I don't have slaves. I have a crew. A great one. All of us on my ship…we're in the same boat…in more ways than one. We're all misfits. Pirates. We don't…belong anywhere. And you look like you don't either. So…maybe you could…I don't know…belong with us.”

Kurama smiled and laid back to stretch out on the rock. “You…remind me so much of him. A man I used to know.”

“Hmm? Who?”

The redhead smiled, looking up at the sky. He plucked a daisy from the ground and spun it absently in his fingertips as he studied the clouds. “His name was Hiei. He was so small…he pretended to be so tough and heartless, but…he was really very sweet. And he had these…eyes. They were crimson…the color of blood. And he would look at me with those eyes and every time he did…I fell in love with him just a little more.”

Mask's eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing.

Kurama sat up slowly. The smile had not left, but his eyes glittered dangerously as he looked at the masked man. “But I daresay you know that already.”

“…Huh?”

“You said you were a pirate, yes?”

“Um…yes?”

“Well, there is only one pirate ship left anywhere in these parts. That ship is captained by the man who killed my lover. And you are that man, are you not?”

“Well…uh…”

“Do you have any idea what it's like, sir? To have to open a letter that tells you your life is over before it really began? It goes beyond physical pain. It's an agony so deep that it cuts your very soul, and those wounds never heal. Thanks to you, I got to experience that pain first hand, and you'll find that the experience has removed all the humanity that Hiei provided me in his life. So no thank you, sir. I will not be returning to your ship with you. And if things go my way, neither will you.”

The masked man's face was carefully expressionless, but the look of pure sadness in his eyes would have melted Kurama's heart, had the redhead bothered to look.

Karasu and Yomi chose exactly that moment to stop being idiots and actually find the people they were searching for. They came running up the hill, Yomi with a sword in his hand. Mask looked toward them and Kurama took advantage of his captor's distraction, lunging forward and grabbing the sword on the ground, ignoring the pain that shot through his leg. “They're coming for you. To kill you. And now you're unarmed. I told you there was no humanity left in me.” And before Mask could do anything, Kurama had jumped down the hill, rolled down it—yelling and whimpering all the way down—and landed hard, rolling under a rock overhand that hid him from anyone looking down from the hilltop. How convenient.

Mask took one look down at Karasu and Yomi, who were almost at the top of the hill. “BITE ME!” he yelled down at Kurama, and followed the redhead to the bottom of the hill. He, at least, managed to keep the whimpering to a minimum. At the bottom, he pulled off his mask and crawled under the overhand with Kurama just as Yomi and Karasu topped the hill.

Kurama was staring at Hiei, his eyes wide and shimmering with tears. He mouthed Hiei's name, but no sound came out. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. “H-Hiei?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Hiei smiled slightly. “No humanity, huh? You still look pretty human to me.”

The redhead stared at his lover, his mouth slightly open, not willing to give into hope. “I…Hiei?'

“Is that all you can say?” Hiei asked quietly.

Kurama said nothing as a single tear finally slid down his cheek.

Hiei stood slowly and came over to Kurama, lifting him gently to set him on a long, flat rock. He then knelt and examined the redhead's injured leg. Anything to avoid looking at Kurama. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “I didn't mean to put you through all that. I…is there anyway…I mean…can you forgive me?”

There was a moment of silence, before Kurama reached out and placed a hand on Hiei's chin, lifting the smaller man's head and forcing their eyes to meet. The redhead smiled slightly, more tears spilling over. “You couldn't help it. You were dead.”

Hiei smiled and reached up to lace his fingers through a lock of Kurama's hair. “Remember what I always told you? Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.” He smiled and wiped Kurama's tears away with one hand, placing the other on the back of the redhead's neck. “C'mere,” he murmured, pulling his lover's head down for a kiss.

It was a long while before the two finally broke apart. “I think they're gone. If we hurry and leave before they come back maybe we can—”

“Hiei?” Kurama said, smiling. “Stop talking.”

Hiei smiled back, reaching up to place his other arm around Kurama's neck. “Bite me.”

After several minutes, Hiei finally yanked them both back to earth. “Kurama? We need to run away now.”

“Oh…right.”

Hiei kissed Kurama again, then went back to kneeling in front of him. “Can you walk?”

“I think so. As long as we don't have to climb any more hills for a little while.”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you walk all that way.”

Kurama shook his head. “I gave you no reason to trust me. I'm sorry, Hiei. For not waiting for you.”

“Hey, you said it yourself. I was dead.” He pretended to look uncertain. “But…you are gonna dump Karasu, right?”

The redhead smacked him over the head. “I'll have to think about it. He is rich, after all. And a prince…”

Hiei laughed and stood, swinging Kurama into his arms and planting a kiss on his forehead. “I love you.”

“Good to know.” Kurama rested his head against Hiei's shoulder and Hiei held him protectively as he headed away from the little cave toward the forest nearby.

“So, I was thinking,” Hiei said as they neared the forest.

“Hmm?” Kurama's voice was sleepy.

“Hey, don't fall asleep on me. We need to get somewhere where Karasu won't follow and then you can sleep for the rest of your life. Or…three days, because by then I'll be lonely.”

Kurama chuckled. “Right. Three days of sleep and I'm all yours.” He yawned. “So what's your idea?”

“Well, we know that Karasu's obsessed with you.” Hiei scowled. “And we know that he's a lunatic. And we know that he has the power to find you as long as we stay on land. So…”

“Your ship,” Kurama finished quietly.

“…Right. I miss it. And…I think you'd fit in there. If you wanted to come.”

“Would…would you be there?”

“Are you kidding me? It's my ship!” Hiei chuckled and gave Kurama a gentle hug. “Everything would go to hell anyway, if I wasn't there—I'm terrified to find out what they did to it in my absence. But it'll be just you and me. And the crew. On a ship. In the middle of the ocean. Away from Karasu. Do I need to break it down for you anymore?”

Kurama looked around sadly. “There's nothing for me here. I just want to be away.”

“You got it.” Hiei placed a kiss atop Kurama's hair.

“So…what's the story, Hiei? Where've you been?”

“Well, that's kind of a long story.”

“I'm not going anywhere and I'd really like to know.”

Hiei sighed. “Okay.” He stopped and set Kurama on the ground at the base of a tree, sat down behind him, and pulled the redhead back to rest against his chest. He began to play absentmindedly with Kurama's hair. “Where do I start?”

“How about with `I love you, I missed you, and I'm sorry I didn't come back'?”

Hiei smiled slightly. “I love you, I missed you, and I'm sorry I didn't come back. Now what do you want to know?”

Kurama turned his head to rest it on Hiei's shoulder. “Everything?” he asked tremblingly.

Hiei's soft chuckle rumbled against Kurama's back. “All right. Everything, then.” He tightened one arm around his lover and continued playing with the red hair with his free hand. “Well, you remember the day I left, don't you?”

“All too well.”

“Well, that turned out to be the day that the pirate Roberts and his crew were near the port of Florin. And I, being the foolish, desperate moron that I was, stowed away on his ship. Out of all the ships in the harbor, I chose his! Can you imagine?”

“Knowing you and your luck as well as I do, I can't say I'm surprised.”

“Watch it, or I might go find Karasu myself,” Hiei threatened with a laugh to take the edge off his words. “Well, anyway, people weren't lying when they said Roberts was a ruthless man. He ordered my head cut off as soon as he found me, which…not very nice.”

“Why do I get the feeling there's mayhem coming?”

“You know me too well. But there were a lot of them. I mean, who knew you could fit that many people onto one ship? And I'm good, but I'm not that good. So they…well, you know. Pirates are always looking for new crew members.”

“They made you a crew member? You left me here to rot for all that time so you could be a pirate?”

“Well, I wasn't so much a pirate as a slave to a pirate, so…”

“Oh. Okay, then. Continue.”

“So anyway. I was a slave for about three years. And being a slave on a pirate ship…not fun. I'd tell you all that happened but your heart would stop and you'd die right here and rescuing you would have been pointless, so I'll keep it to myself, if you don't mind.”

Kurama shuddered and that was enough.

“Well okay then. As I said, I was a slave for about three years before I got fed up with being beaten and ordered around. So I went into Roberts' cabin one night and challenged him to a duel.”

“You always were very good with swords.”

“And I told him that, but he didn't believe me.”

“But why did you wait so long to challenge him?”

“Well, I had to learn how to sail first, didn't I? You see, that's the one good thing about being a slave. No one bothers to notice you as long as you do what you're told, when you're told, and then disappear. You can learn anything you need to know. So I listened and I watched and I waited, and by the time I was ready to challenge the captain for his ship I could sail it better than he could. So after I won the match—and it was not easy—the ship became mine, and I directed to crew to the harbor in Florin. I had a mind to go and find you immediately. By taking the ship I took everything on it—more than enough money for marriage. But while I was getting some food in a tavern at the docks, I heard someone say that the prince was to be married to a man named Kurama. I prayed it wasn't you, and asked the man what the prince's betrothed looked like. He told me he had seen you once before and gave me a description that could only have fitted one man. So I left. Recruited a new crew and left the others in the tavern completely wasted, cut my hair and died it, changed my eyes color and finally managed to grow after one of the new crew members gave me a potion, and I set sail. I told everyone I was Roberts and for two years I sailed the seas and tried to forget love. I never killed anyone, though. I knew you wouldn't like it.”

“I'd heard rumors that the dead pirate Roberts had stopped killing, but I never believed them. But why did you come back?”

“Well, you know that Roberts was always in Florin at the same time every year. This time of year. The crew was out replacing our supplies and getting new weapons and I went back to the same tavern I always go to and I heard that the prince had returned from a two-year-trip around Florin and had not yet married. Then someone said that the prince's betrothed had been kidnapped and was going to be killed, and I, being the perfect, amazing lover that I am, rushed gallantly to the rescue. And here we are.”

Kurama moved closer to Hiei. “And we'll stay like this, right?”

Hiei smiled. “Forever, my love. I swear.”

XXX

“This is your ship?” Kurama asked. Then two had just reached the harbor, with Hiei carrying Kurama as though he weighed nothing at all.

“This is she.”

“It's huge!”

“Biggest, fastest, most perfect ship in the ocean.”

“Are you gonna make out with the sails now?”

Hiei rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

“I can walk,” Kurama said quickly.

Hiei blinked. “No you can't.”

“I climbed the Cliffs of Insanity, didn't I?”

“…Okay. But as soon as we get on the ship you're going to sit down and not move until your leg heals.” And Hiei put him down.

“Captain! You're back!” a man greeted Hiei once they reached the ship. The man was sorting through a box of weapons, but had paused to look up at them with a cheerful grin. “Where've you been? And who's this?”

“Never you mind,” Hiei said firmly. “How long before we can set sail?”

“Within the hour, most certainly, sir.”

“Good. Make whatever preparations you need to and if at all possible do it without me. Now, this is Kurama. Kurama, this is Joseph Greeley.”

Greeley nodded and smiled at Kurama. “Welcome.” He then turned back to Hiei. “I'll go see to the rest of the cargo, then, sir.”

“Do that.”

“…Wow. You're…in command now. It's…wow.”

Hiei laughed. “Come on.”

On the ship, Hiei brought Kurama to his cabin. It was large and equipped with reddish-brown wooden furniture. Hiei motioned for Kurama to sit on the bed and asked one of his crew members for the supplies for a proper splint, and then re-splinted Kurama's leg carefully. His work finished, he sat down on the bed next to Kurama and looked at the redhead. “You okay?” he asked, and Kurama knew he didn't mean physically.

Kurama smiled. “Better than I've been in a long time. You?”

Instead of answering with words, Hiei kissed his lover gently, Kurama's arms resting around Hiei's neck. After a while, the kiss broke and Hiei rested his forehead against Kurama's for a moment before pulling him down onto the bed. He pulled the covers over then both and put his arms around Kurama. “Go to sleep, love,” he said softly. “You need it.”

“I…don't want to,” Kurama whispered.

“Why not? You're tired.”

“I don't want the dream to end.”

At that, Hiei's heart nearly broke. He wrapped his arms more tightly around Kurama, but didn't really know what to say, so he just began to stroke Kurama's hair with one hand.

“So…life as a pirate,” Kurama said softly. “Is it all it's cracked up to be?”

Hiei laughed and ran his free hand up and down Kurama's arm. “And more. Adventures. Fame. Great food.”

Kurama moved down to rest his head on Hiei's chest, playing one hand over his lover's heart, just wanting to feel it beat. There was silence for a while, but it was a comfortable one.

“But y'know…” Hiei said softly, breaking the silence. He still hadn't stopped the stroking motions on Kurama's hair. “Life on the ocean…it's lonely. No one to talk to. You can't talk to the people you rob, of course, and most don't dare trust the crew for fear of mutiny, though it's not so hard here. It's…it gives you a lot of time to think. About…things. The people you've loved.” He looked down at Kurama's face. “The people you've lost.” He sighed. “I hated you, you know. For letting someone else have you. Someone who wasn't me. I hated you and I cursed the day we met. But I never once stopped loving you. Every day, I'd wake up before dawn, go up into the crow's nest, and watch the sunrise, and they were all so…empty. I thought about all the times we watched the sun rise and set together, and I actually cried, sometimes. And I dreamed about you at night. There wasn't one moment when I didn't consider breaking into the palace and…oh, I don't know. Taking you away.”

“Why didn't you?”

“It's now that easy, Kurama! I thought you didn't love me anymore. I thought…”

Kurama sat up and looked down at Hiei. “You thought I was in love with Karasu.”

“Well, you were engaged to the bastard! What was I supposed to think?”

Kurama stared at him for a moment, the anger and disbelief and regret springing up and then dying in his eyes, then lay back down and moved back to his former position. “I love you. I love you, okay? And I'll keep on telling you I love you, until we're both dead and we can't talk anymore anyway. I'll never give you reason to doubt again. I promise.”

Hiei smiled and kissed Kurama's forehead, resuming his petting of Kurama's hair. “Maybe it would be better if I never left your side again. Only bad things happen when I leave you.”

Kurama grinned. “Agreed.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“I always will.”

“I know.”

“I'm sorry for everything.”

“Me, too.”

“Go to sleep.”

“Okay.”

Silence fell again, and after a long while, Kurama's breathing evened out and Hiei knew that he slept.

A sliver of moonlight fell across Kurama's face as he slept, and Hiei watched him lovingly, continuing to stroke his hair although Kurama couldn't feel it. He didn't sleep at all that night. He just lay there and stared at his lover's face until the sun came up and the redhead began to stir in his arms.

And people said life was never perfect…

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Well, as the chapter said, that chapter was nothing but fluff! But hey, it was long due. The authoresses wanted it. Deal with it. And review, please, please, please!