InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Tales of the Night ❯ Night LV: Flame in the Darkness Part II ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Title: Night LV: Flame in the Darkness, Part II
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Sengoku Otogizoushi - InuYasha or Yuu Yuu Hakusho. InuYasha belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Viz Media, ShoPro Entertainment, and Shounen; while Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Togashi Yoshihiro, Shueisha, Viz Media, and Shounen. No profit or money of any kind is made from this fan-created crossover.
Warning(s): Sickness induced delirium; Light swearing.


Perhaps this was not one of Kagome's better ideas.

That thought danced through her mind as pain raced through her body from her sudden landing. All had been fine for the first few branches until she had come across a branch that, though thick, was weak and seemed to be missing some of its bark as though it had been ripped off recently. Before she could get a foot onto another lower branch or shimmy up closer to the trunk, it snapped. Kagome took in deep, gulping breaths as she leaned against the cool trunk of Goshinboku and tried to push down a wave of vertigo. Really, she had not meant to hit the ground when she did nor had she been expecting her cold to turn into a full-fledged fever. Was this her sudden karmic retribution for disobeying the orders of her mother?

Kagome began to sway when she pulled away from the tree, her balance becoming precarious. She decided that the answer was "Yes"; this was her punishment for not staying in bed. But she could not help it. Honestly.

And if fault belonged to anyone in this situation, it fell entirely on that deliciously dark youkai's shoulders. After all, had he shown up like he did almost every night, then she would not have had to leave the comforts of her warm bed and her, likely, feverish dreams. Even though she desperately wanted to wring his neck for causing her to climb down Goshinboku and falling due to a very mangled branch, she knew exactly who would be in those aforementioned dreams.

That was exactly why she could not let him get away tonight. She needed to see him to make sure he was all right. She needed to give him a good talking-to so he would know not to make her worry. Did he not understand that she cared about him? They were friends, or so she liked to believe. They had every semblance of a friendship: they helped each other out despite not needing to, they spent time with each other willingly, they talked... And as far as youkai-human friendships went, it was definitely a friendship.

She breathed in a deep breath of cool night air as she felt the dizziness pass and her balance return. Maybe it was just the sudden fall that had caused her vertigo... She pouted at that thought; she wanted the dreams she could blame entirely on a fever. And perhaps that was the fever talking.

Kagome gnawed on her bottom lip as her thoughts, once again, settled on her lack of Hiei. She scrunched up her nose at that thought: it was not what she meant at all! What she really meant was that she was worried of his lack of presence on the shrine grounds. "That didn't even come out right either," she mumbled as she turned away from Goshinboku and the shrine.

Now began the hard part: how one found a youkai whom could not be found unless he desired to be found. That had Kagome pausing in her hastily thought-out search-and-lecture plan to mull it over. She already knew that he was adept at hiding his aura and presence. Even with the help he had been giving her in searching out auras, she knew it was no match against his ability to hide. That aggravated her more than it normally would. Just what was it about him that allowed him to remain undetected for as long as he desired?

One day, she swore to herself, she would find out his secrets that he guarded so closely. Yet, to do so, she had to find him first. He was quickly moving from "aggravating" to whatever existed beyond it purely because of his disappearing act.

"If only he wasn't himself," she said, "then we wouldn't even have this problem."

Deep inside, despite how much she might like for him to be different, she knew she did not want him to change. Hiei was Hiei. He would always be Hiei: bad socialization, checkered past, and everything else. Well, the whole checkered past bit was her imagination's creation based on how he acted. He never spoke of his past, just like he never really spoke of his present either, and she had never asked. She did not even want to know because she was not a part of it. Yet she knew that if he ever told her, she would not judge him based on it for the same reason. How could one judge another based on a past they were not a part of? Who he was then was not who he was now. That she knew without knowing.

Running her hands through her dark hair in a futile attempt to clear her mind, she set off from the shrine in a random direction. All she had was the hope that she would find him, as a moth would always find the flame even during the darkest night.

He was curious, and in no good way.

There was no way she had recovered her health so soon, and yet... He could sense her walking aimlessly down the street. He knew she was prone to bouts of stupidity, but this was beyond that. While he would never be an expert on humans, and had no desire to be, he knew most of them had enough sense to stay in bed when sick. Most of all, he wondered how she managed to get out of her house. He would bet all his ill-gotten goods and money that her family had no clue she was gone.

Knowing her, and given the way she was walking with a noticeable limp, the brash girl had climbed down the tree. And lost her balance on the way down. Given everything she had done since he had known her, he would not put it past her.

He waited until she sat down on the curb in an attempt to push back either dizziness or nausea to reveal himself.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed? Trying to save me the trouble of killing you myself?"

She started, unprepared for his appearance. Really, he thought he had trained her better. "Hiei? Don't come out of nowhere and scare me like that!"

He resisted an urge to roll his eyes, a desire that was becoming all too common the more time he spent around her. "Don't change the subject. You're an idiot for going out in your weak condition."

She huffed and narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, I wouldn't even be out if someone would've actually shown up at the shrine tonight. But no... And I thought we were friends, too!"

He glared at her in return though he knew it was childish. She was entirely too foolish to declare her so-called "friendship" with him in so public a place, and she had to be very sick to go searching for him that early in the night. Did she not take notice of the time it was? "Did you have a nice fall out of the tree? You're nothing but trouble."

"If anyone's trouble, it's you!" She shouted as she jumped to her feet to stare him in the eyes. "You're the one who just disappears and lets your friend worry about you!"

He watched as she began to sway dangerously after she jumped to her feet. Leave it to her to do something so incredibly foolish while sick. Though, he would admit, he was expecting it. The more time he spent around her, the more she revealed her foolishness. The fact that she was even out on the streets of Tokyo in the middle of the night with a fever had to top the ever-growing list of stupid things she had done in the time he had known her. And that was barely even three months. Her list was far longer than the detective's at this point.

Before she could hit the unforgiving concrete, he had her in his arms. As much as he loathed feeling her soft body close to his, he loved it just as much. It was getting to the point of where he could say that he loved it more than he hated it. Not even three months and she had broken through more of his resolve than the fox had in years. He wanted to be rid of her before he came to crave her more than he already did. No matter how fast he ran, it would never be fast enough. The feeling of her body against his always lingered for days afterward.

"It amazes me how you've managed to live for so long given your tendency for idiotic moves."

Her giggles were slow and lazy, though her mood-swing was unexpected. An unfortunate side-effect of her fever, he supposed. "As I told you before... If only you would've showed up at the shrine tonight, I wouldn't have gone looking for you."

Hiei gripped her tighter in an effort to keep from growling like some common dog. The woman, along with being idiotic, had no patience at all while ill. She had gone to find him in the cooler, dark night an hour before they normally met. Was her cold slowly killing off her brain cells and rendering her unable to tell time?

He was not going to give her stupidity a response, even though her obvious concern for him touched the feelings he was developing toward her. Despite her stupid moves and plans, despite her natural kindness and capacity for caring, despite everything that made her her: he wanted more. He wanted to know what it felt like to have and know every part of her.

And that, more than everything else, was unacceptable.


Kagome snuggled further into his body, her cheek rubbing against the rough material of his cloak, and enjoyed his warmth that lingered on her skin despite the cool air of the summer night. As she felt the tone of his muscles even more, she half-wished she was not sick so she could fully enjoy herself. And while she may have wished not to be sick, she was thankful that she was for the same reasons. She was almost sixteen and a living, breathing female, after all. It was not her fault he was so masculine, warm, and the epitome of men teenage girls like her loved to like.

Really, it was entirely his fault for being himself.

Though she was thoroughly enjoying herself, she did her best to keep it hidden from him. It was hard to do given her feverish mind-set and his too-perceptive eyes. She was sure that if he knew she was enjoying herself in any way, shape and/or form, he would drop her right on her butt, cold or no.

She smiled softly and inhaled his entirely masculine scent. "Thank you," she said, her face revealing her coyness, she was sure.

His carmine eyes held a softened annoyance when he glanced down at her. "You're becoming more trouble than you're worth."

Despite the cold edge his words held, she giggled as she tightened the hold she had around his neck. "And so are you."


A version of this chapter was posted to the livejournal community 30_Nights for their theme #003: Find me in the dark.
Word count: 1873
Edited: 3 June 2010