Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Movie Rip-offs, Act I: Bite Me (The Princess Bride, Yu Yu Style) ❯ Occurences at Sea ( Chapter 7 )

DISCLAIMER: Can't own. No cash. We'll get over it.

 

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Three months later

 

The ocean waters glinted as the first rays of sunlight touched the earth that morning. Hiei began to stir before the sun began to rise, rolling over and throwing his arm on the empty pillow next to him. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked. “K'rama?” he asked the empty room sleepily. Sighing, he rolled out of bed and searched for his clothes.

 

The gray dawn looked very gloomy, Hiei thought as he stepped onto the deck. “Have you seen Kurama?” he asked the only person nearby.

 

“Yessir, I saw him earlier. He didn't say much—he looked tired. Were you guys…uh…up late? Sir?” The guy gave a little grin.

 

“Get back to work, Mr. Straloch.”

 

“Yessir.”

 

A short search revealed Kurama in the crow's nest, leaning against its little wall and watching the eastern horizon. Hiei smiled and came up behind him, slipping his arms around Kurama's waist and placing his chin against the redhead's shoulder. “Whatcha doin'?” he asked softly.

 

Kurama smiled a little. “Waiting for the sun. I thought you were still asleep.”

 

“I was, and if I recall, so were you. Why are you up so early?”

 

“I dunno. I had a weird dream last night.”

 

“What kind of dream?”

 

Kurama shrugged. “Nothing important.”

 

“Hey,” Hiei said softly, seriously, tightening his arms around Kurama. “Are you still having nightmares?”

 

The redhead nodded slightly. “This one was especially bad. Usually they just come and take me away but this time…” His voice kept getting softer and softer. “They killed you,” he whispered. “Right in front of m. And then they tried to make me come with them and I refused so…they killed everyone else. Benji, and Mr. Straloch, and Mr. Greeley…everyone. And then they took me back to the place…and you weren't there anymore…”

 

“Hey.” Hiei forced Kurama to turn around and look him in the eye. He knew Kurama still feared Karasu's power to get what he wanted, but he hadn't known it was this bad. He searched Kurama's eyes, looking for a way to make the fear go away, but he was at a loss, so he just put his arms back around his lover's waist and laid his head against the redhead's chest. They stood like that for a long while, until the sun rose and bathed them both in its light. At last, Kurama pulled back and kissed Hiei gently. “I love you. So much.” Another kiss, then, “I'm okay. Really. I promise.”

 

Hiei smiled and kissed Kurama's forehead. “C'mon,” he said, taking Kurama's hand. “Let's go get some breakfast.”

 

He turned and started walking away, but Kurama tightened his hand on his lover's and pulled him back for yet another kiss. Hiei chuckled and placed a hand on the back of Kurama's neck, while Kurama wrapped his arms loosely around the still-smaller man's waist.

 

“Hey, lovebirds!” one of the sailors yelled, laughing loudly.

 

Hiei let out a low, annoyed growl as he pulled away from Kurama and leaned his forehead against Kurama's shoulder, sighing dramatically. Kurama laughed and dropped a last kiss on top of Hiei's head. “C'mon, breakfast sounds really good right now.”

 

“Ugh. Fine.” Hiei smiled. “But we're finishing this later.”

 

XXX

 

A few hours later, Kurama stood talking to Benji, his closest friend among the crew, and looking around for Hiei as he talked.

 

“So how are you liking life at sea?” Benji asked, hammering a nail into the wooden rail he was fixing.

 

“I love it,” Kurama replied, honestly and without hesitation. “It's so amazing. So much better than being back on land. At least here there's no Karasu.”

 

“Yeah, everyone's pretty much on equal footing here. Captain sees to that.”

 

Kurama looked at the deck and smiled, as he did every time Hiei's name was mentioned.

 

“You really like him, don't you?”

 

The redhead nodded, and began to giggle like a school girl.

 

Benji laughed. “Boy, you have got it bad.”

 

Kurama began to laugh, too, just as Hiei came by,, polishing his sword as he walked. “Hands where I can see them, Benji,” he barked. Benji immediately dropped his hammer and threw his hands in the air, which only made Kurama laugh harder as he ran after Hiei. He caught his lover's hand and pulled him into a corner, kissing him gently. Hiei's sword fell to the deck with a clatter as he forgot entirely about the rest of the world.

 

“What was that for?” Hiei asked quietly, after Kurama pulled away.

 

Kurama shrugged. “I don't think I do it nearly often enough.” Grinning, he pulled Hiei back to him. They lost track of how long they stood in the corner, just kissing and occasionally murmuring, “I love you.” Several of the crew members passed them, but they all just smiled and walked away, some of them shaking their heads and laughing softly. It had been a long time since any of them had seen Hiei happy.

 

Perfect happiness is always so short-lived…

 

The lovers' cute little moment was interrupted by a loud, resounding crack. The boat swayed alarmingly, and Hiei lost his footing. His eyes wide, he wrapped his arms in a death grip around Kurama's neck and shoulders as he scrambled for balance. “WHO CRASHED MY SHIP?!”

 

A pirate by the name of Sebastian was the first to answer. “Sir, another ship. It came out of nowhere, sir.”

 

“OUT OF NOWHERE?!” Hiei growled.

 

“Hiei, darling, I don't mean to interrupt, but breathing…it's starting to become an issue,” Kurama gasped, still in Hiei's death grip.

 

“Sorry,” Hiei yelped and released his love, then gave him a quick apologetic kiss. After he reverted back to his crew. “Ships don't come out of nowhere! Who was the lookout?!”

 

“Me, sir,” Benji said in a small voice from the crow's nest.

 

“And…why is there a hole in my ship, pray tell?” Hiei asked pleasantly, trying to be calm, being that Kurama liked Benji the best.

 

“Well…um…the ship…it…it was a merchant ship of some kind…sir…” Benji said very shyly.

 

“Benji.”

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“Fix my ship!”

 

“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” Benji nodded and quickly went to tend the ship.

 

Hiei bent his head and began muttering to himself. “I can't believe I did that.”

 

Kurama smiled. “I'm proud of you.”

 

“My…ship…” Hiei whimpered.

 

“Benji will fix her up. She'll sail again, Captain.”

 

“What did I tell you about calling me captain?”

 

“Not to…?”

 

Hiei kissed one of Kurama's hands, then walked away a few steps. “I'm going to check the damage,” he said without turning. “Afterwards, I want you to report to my cabin.”

 

Kurama grinned. “Great, because it's my cabin, too.”

 

Hiei couldn't help but smile. “Bite me.”

 

“I love you, too.”

 

XXX

 

Hiei wandered out onto the deck, Kurama following close behind. “Who'd we hit?” Hiei asked out of plain curiosity.

 

“With all due respect, sir,” said Mr. Straloch, “they crashed into us.”

 

The sailors chorused in with an ominous “ooooohhhhh…” They knew that Hiei couldn't punish his crew for being idiots—because this wasn't their fault—then the ones actually at fault…well, let's just say, this was not going to be pretty.

 

“What the hell possessed them to do that? Do they know who I am?!” Hiei yelled, his eyes glowing with rage.

 

“The better question would be, do they care?” Kurama interjected.

 

“Note the sinister pirate flag, the semi-threatening crew—no offense…”

 

“None taken,” murmured the crew members on hand.

 

“And the fierce captain with crimson eyes and bloodstained sword! To ignore those kinds of signs you'd have to be…” Hiei trailed off as he set his sights on the person steering the other ship.

 

He had sort of known it before he spoke, in retrospect, had felt it without really realizing what it meant, but now the realization hit him like a punch in the gut and for a moment he couldn't complete his sentence.

 

“…Blind. Can someone tell me why the blind guy is steering that ship?”

 

One of the opposing ship's soldiers raised his hand and then proceeded to answer. “We were under the impression he had bat sonar or something…”

 

Hiei shook his head absently. “What're the odds?”

 

Kurama, who had not said a word, came forward suddenly and clung to Hiei's free arm, the other one of which was occupied by his katana.

 

Hiei squeezed the hand in his tightly, trying to convey to Kurama that he had everything under control. “But maybe I should be asking this. If we've got the Count of Florin, and all the idiot prince's useless lackeys, where, dare I ask, is the Prince of Fools?”

 

The man in question was, in fact, nowhere to be seen.

 

Yomi began to cough in that annoying, fake way. “Eh-hem…”

 

Awkward silence.

 

“Eh-hem!”

 

The cabin door behind Yomi opened slightly, and a small voice could be heard. “Say it.”

 

Yomi sighed. “Say what, sir?”

 

“The line! Say the line!”

 

“I will not.”

 

“Say it!”

 

“No!”

 

“I order you to say it!”

 

Yomi sighed and said in a monotone, with a look of deep disgust, “Introducing for the first time in recorded history, Prince Karasu and the Men in Tights.” Once he was finished, he moved out of sight of everyone as if acutely ashamed.

 

With a burst of excitement Karasu flew out of his cabin wearing a frosty pink tunic and white tights. His head was adorned with a plastic crown, surrounded by fuzzy pink fluff, through which the word “PRINCESS” written in large golden letters was clearly visible. “We're men…men in tights…”

 

A line of soldiers wearing matching tights and similar outfits danced in, singing,
We're men! We're manly men! We're manly men in tights!”

 

The soldiers then began to pirouette across the deck of Karasu's ship.

 

“I'm embarrassed,” Hiei murmured, wide-eyed.

 

“For who?” Kurama blinked.

 

“For us,” Hiei replied, staring out into the vast, empty ocean. “I hope we don't see anyone we know…” His left eye began to twitch visibly and uncontrollably, and the next second he shouted, “EVERYBODY SHUT UP!”

 

The entire place fell deathly silent.

 

“Thank you. Now…Yomi? You are Yomi? Yes, I though so, I have a friend who is very interested in finding you, by the way…anyway, Yomi, you seem to be the most intelligent person over there. Can you tell me why all of you freaks are here? I mean, besides the fact that your ship is two inches away from mine and one of your crew members is uncomfortably close to my face, you don't seem to have anything happening here. Why are you people coming over to my ship…? Hey! Yomi! Get them off my ship! Hey! Leave that alone! No, no, no…no, that is a highly-stain-sensitive silk from Guilder! I have to sell that! Yomi! Call off the dogs, damn it!”

 

“We'll call them off when I have what I came for,” Karasu replied. Remarkable, really, how the man could go from uncomfortably gay to uncomfortably sinister in a matter of seconds.

 

Hiei sighed. “Fine. You're pathetic, man. Destroy the ship. Have a blast. We're leaving.”

 

Karasu blinked. He hadn't expected that he would actually have to work to get Kurama back. Crap. “All right. Fine.” He turned and nodded to Yomi, who barked an order at the prince's crew, and suddenly the crew was an army instead of a drama club, their swords, arrows, and daggers glinting in the sunlight as they drew various weapons.

 

“That complicates things a bit,” Hiei muttered. “WEAPONS!”

 

After so long at sea together, Hiei and his crew had become a team, a seamless whole that cut down everything in their path. They made ready to do so now. Hiei handed Kurama his spare sword. “You ready?”

 

Kurama shrugged. “Just give me something to hit.”

 

Hiei grinned. “That's my boy.” He cast a quick look at his crew—his family—and realized that he was about to lose some of them. But they all loved Kurama, in one way or another, and they wouldn't have backed down even if Hiei had ordered them to. So he just prayed to whatever higher power would listen to him, and charged with one last command: “GIVE THEM HELL!”

 

There was a loud cheer, and the next thing anyone knew Karasu's soldiers had swarmed onto the Revenge, and the battle was on.

 

The first few minutes of the fight were chaotic. Hiei's crew was hopelessly outnumbered, but half of Karasu's men fell to Hiei's within half an hour. But then Sebastian fell, Mr. Straloch right after him, and Hiei's ranks began to break apart.

 

Kurama hardly noticed any of this. He had backed himself into a corner and focused on the area in front of him. Whatever entered that area, he struck down with a mechanical, slightly frightening single-minded concentration. He nearly took Benji's head off and after that his friends steered clear and let him handle himself.

 

“He's good,” Benji commented conversationally to Hiei as the two fought side-by-side by the railing. “Really good.”

 

“I taught him everything I know,” Hiei replied, slashing at one of Karasu's men. Their blades connected solidly, and a few seconds later Hiei tossed his opponent over the rail and into the ocean. Grinning in a self-satisfied sort of way, Hiei turned back to his friend—and froze.

 

Benji was lying on the deck, blood pooling around him, with an arrow in his side and a deep slash across his chest.

 

Kurama looked up just in time to see him fall. “Benji!” he screamed, in a voice very unlike his own. With strength born out of anger, he shoved his only other attacker easily out of the way and ran to his friend's side. Dropping to his knees, he stared at Benji for a moment before gently turning him over and gathering him up in a gentle embrace.

 

Benji smiled slightly, his face ashen. “I'm…sorry…I guess I…couldn't protect you…this time…”

 

Kurama's eyes clouded with tears. “Shh…” Benji winced as the redhead placed a hand over his chest, trying to stem the blood flow. He looked up as Benji's breathing grew shallow and his pulse weakened.

 

Men from both sides were lying on deck, surrounded by their own blood, and the ones who were still alive were fighting with everything they had to stay that way. This wasn't going to stop, unless…

 

His face hardened as he gently laid Benji on the deck, wiping away a single tear. Tears were useless now. He stood mechanically, his heart full of lead. “Take care of him,” he said to Hiei, and then he spoke to the whole crew. “Stop.”

 

It wasn't spoken loudly, but everyone heard it as it cut through the noise. One by one, swords dropped to the deck, making loud clattering noises. Kurama walked slowly toward Karasu, ignoring everyone's stares and avoiding Hiei's eyes. He stopped in front of Karasu, looked the prince in the eye, and said, “Call them off. Let Hiei and the crew live, and I'll return with you to Florin.”

 

“Kurama, what…?”

 

Kurama motioned for Hiei to be quiet, not breaking eye contact with Karasu. Karasu nodded, a look of sickening satisfaction on his face, and motioned for his crew to return to their ship. They did so, and Karasu followed, muttering to Yomi as he passed, “Let the rest go, but take Hiei to the island.” Then he returned to his ship and to his cabin.

 

Yomi stepped forward and took Kurama's arm. “Come with me…my lord.”

 

Kurama nodded. “Wait,” he said quietly, as Yomi began to lead him away. “Can I…say goodbye?”

 

Yomi looked down at Kurama, and a strange feeling entered his soul. Pity? Was he actually feeling sorry for someone? He smiled, a gentle, genuine smile. “Of course.”

 

Hiei's eyes were wide as Kurama came over to him. Kurama took his lover's hand and met his eyes. “Come on, love,” he whispered. “Don't look so sad.”

 

“But…”

 

“We'll see each other again.” Kurama's voice radiated strength the redhead did not feel. “I promise.”

 

“But…no. No. We can fight them.”

 

“No, Hiei. You we can't.”

 

“But we…I…”

 

Kurama smiled softly, and kissed Hiei.

 

“Kurama…”

 

“I will find you again.”

 

“But…what if something happens? What if…what if he kills you? Or me?”

 

Kurama kissed Hiei's forehead, then his lips. “Death cannot stop true love,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “All it can do is delay it for a while.” He squeezed Hiei's hand. Remember?

 

Hiei had no reply, so he just placed his hand on the back of Kurama's neck and pulled the redhead down, touching their foreheads together. The kiss that followed was like their first and their last all rolled into one, and it would have gone on much longer if Kurama hadn't broken it off. He had to end it, before he was tempted to stay and let the feud begin again. He wiped Hiei's tears gently away, but strangely enough, his own eyes were dry. The moment he had feared for months had at last arrived, and he felt nothing. He placed one last kiss on Hiei's forehead—and turned away.

 

“I love you, Kurama,” Hiei whispered. He turned away, picked Benji up off the deck, handed him to Mr. Straloch, who was standing again, and turned back to say one more goodbye to his love, only to find that Kurama was already standing on the deck of Karasu's ship. The redhead's expression hardened to one of firm resolve, and he turned away. He did not see Yomi step forward to take Hiei's arm.

 

“Lies do not become you, Yomi,” Hiei said calmly, his eyes not moving from the figure that was slowly shrinking into the distance.

 

Yomi nodded, looking genuinely sorry. “I follow the orders of my prince,” he said, to both Hiei and the crew. “I'm sorry. I am, truly. But…you have to come with me now. And…if your crew tries to help you…I'll have to kill them. You know I can.”

 

Hiei nodded calmly, his eyes still focused on the ship. “I know you can.” He addressed the crew now. “Prepare a boat. And…if Benji lives…the ship is his. He's earned it.” And without looking back, he and Yomi climbed into one of the lifeboats, and Yomi began to row in the opposite direction of Karasu's ship.

 

They rowed for a very long time in complete silence, Hiei staring at the bottom of the boat and keeping utterly still, before they reached a small island. Yomi motioned him out onto the beach and told him to stay. Hiei did so. What was the point of fighting anymore?

 

“I really am sorry,” Yomi said softly.

 

Hiei said nothing as he turned away. Yomi stood watching him for a long time, before he got back in the boat and rowed away.

 

XXX

 

Back on the S.S. Royale, Karasu came out of his cabin just in time to find Kurama about to go into the cabin that had been set up for him. “Hello, Kurama.”

 

Kurama looked up at Karasu, but said nothing except, “Don't…say my name.”

 

“You know, I thought everyone loved me, but you seem to have a little trouble grasping that concept.

 

Kurama's eyes flashed. “It'll be a snowy day in hell before I ever fall in love with you, Your Highness.”

 

Karasu chuckled and ran his fingers through Kurama's hair. “Careful, Kurama. I've got the power here. And I'll use it. You want your beloved Hiei to stay alive, do you not?”

 

Kurama froze. He stood there for a full minute, then bowed his head. “Your Highness. You have me. From this day forward.”

 

Karasu smiled. “Good.”

 

Watching him walk away, Kurama felt something in him die. He entered his cabin, looked around dismally, and went over to the bed. He sat down, curled up beneath the blankets, clutched a pillow to his chest, and let the tears fall, crying himself to sleep.

 

He did not cry again for a very long time.

 

And on a tiny island, an unimaginable distance away from Kurama, a small man with spiky black hair curled up on the sand, clutching a rose that his lover had given him long ago with the promise that, like his love, it would never die. He stroked the vibrant red petals gently as he fell into an uneasy sleep.

 

It was all he had left to hold on to.

 

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AN: Okay, I bet I know that you're thinking: “When does it get funny again?!” Well, don't worry, the comedy has NOT left the building! But this had to happen for everything to go the way we've planned, and we didn't want to be disrespectful of the sad quality of this scene, so it was depressing rather than comical. But don't run away yet! I promise, there WILL be laughs!!! Review, please!