Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Honor Among Thieves ❯ Separation of Personal and Professional ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I own neither the works of Rumiko Takahashi, nor the works of Yoshihiro Togashi.

 

Notes: After all of the many, many hours of enjoyment I've gleaned from reading the works of Somnambulicious, and basking in the deliciousness of her stories, I just felt like I had to give something back. So this is a gift-piece to my favorite cross-over author! I hope you love it even half as much as I love reading your work!!

 

 

 

~Honor Among Thieves~

 

 

Kurama sighed in relief as the portal closed behind him, discreetly tilting his head to one side to stretch the stiff muscles in his neck. Yuusuke and Kurabara were much less reserved. Over-exaggerating groans of exertion and fatigue now that they'd been released from their latest assignment. Yet even after nearly a decade of following the same rituals, he still managed to find new ways to be amused at their dramatics. Granted, it was probably more from viewing Hiei's irritation at the antics of their other two companions more than anything. But it still injected a sense of normalcy to their often chaotic lifestyles.

“I could really use a beer,” Yuusuke rubbed a hand over his head, turning to grin back at Kurama and Hiei. “You guys game?”

Kurama smiled gently. Thinking of the least antagonistic -yet believable- way he could turn down the offer when a faint trill caught his attention. Curiously he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out the cell phone to check the displayed number.

Yuusuke frowned in confusion at the way the kitsune's eyes instantly lit up. The earlier exhaustion seemed to completely melt away. He turned his back to them with a quick, “Please excuse me.” And flipped the phone open.

“Oi… When did Kurama get a phone?” He shifted his inquiry to Hiei once it became glaringly obvious Kurama was no longer paying attention to them. Aside from the avatar himself, the hybrid would be his next best bet for the information.

Hiei returned the look blandly. “You say that as though we're under some obligation to account for all aspects of our personal lives.”

“It's called `common courtesy,' asshole.” Yuusuke scowled at the signs of subtle amusement he had come to recognize in Hiei's eyes. “As in it'd be nice to fucking know we can reach him a normal way in an emergency!”

Hiei shrugged, slanting his gaze to Kurama's profile. He watched the kitsune smirk in obvious satisfaction over his private conversation before answering. “That is what Reikai and their little minions are for.”

Kurama looked over his shoulder when Yuusuke let out a shout of frustration. Sighing at the distraction, he took another step away from his companions. Wanting to hear more clearly over the insults those two started trading back and forth. One hand absently reached out to stroke over the bark of a nearby tree, manipulating the foliage to distort just how much sound reached him.

 

His smile returned when he heard the sound of running water through the phone. Habitually, he filtered through the louder noise, identifying the light clink of porcelain and glass dishes. “You have excellent timing.”

“Blind luck. How else do you think I'm still alive?”

“We still need to work on your sense of romance.” Kurama gave an exaggerated sigh of completely feigned disappointment. Leaning his shoulder on the tree, he distractedly traced his fingers down the buttons of his shirt. “You could always tell me that you're attuned to feel of my return, and know just what I need.”

The melodic laughter was slightly distorted by the small speaker. But it was enough to send a wave of soothing warmth through his tired body. Hunger strummed low through his belly, curling up his spine. He savored the delicious sensation and waited patiently for her to speak. “Ah, I see. Would this by my cue to say `no one's home and I'd love for you to come over so I can worship you like the sexy kitsune devil you are,' hm?”

Kurama couldn't stop the wider, pleased smile that roundabout offer brought to his face. His fingers curled just over the first closed button on his shirt. Worrying it between his fingers, he imagined another hand taking over. “You are so very good at picking up these things.”

“Yes, aren't you lucky? Is Hiei coming with you?”

“Any particular reason you ask?” Kurama dropped his voice suggestively. Catching an inquiring look from hybrid, he winked to indicate who was on the line.

“You're such a pervert. I'm asking because I want to know how much to make for dinner and if there needs to be a dessert, why else?”

“It's my birthday soon, are you sure you don't want to do something special for me?” Kurama drawled out, injecting just the right amount of hope into his voice to get another peal of laughter.

“Mm, what was it Hiei said to you the last time you brought that up? Something about you inflicting your `debauched sense of fun on his unwilling person,' wasn't it?”

“Depraved was the word he used actually.” Kurama folded his free arm behind his head. Stretching out his spine, his mind took a much more pleasant turn for his evening plans.

“Maybe you shouldn't have suggested he supply his own lubricant.”

“That was rather thoughtless of me, wasn't it?” He sighed before chuckling to himself at the memory of Hiei's outrage. “Any suggestions?”

 

“You're asking me? Shame on you, Kurama, you're already forgetting where all my experience comes from. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or not.”

Kurama turned his face to hide the absolutely wicked smile behind his hair at the extremely fond memory her reminder invoked. He touched his tongue lightly to a humanly-blunted canine. Letting his hand fall away from the button, Kurama skimmed his fingers across his nipple through his shirt. “You are learning from a professional, aren't you, lover?”

“Your ego certainly doesn't need any more help from me, sweetheart.”

“If you won't praise me now, I'll just have to drag the words I want out of you later.” He slowly brushed his thumb over his bottom lip. His voice filled with promise, eyes sparking gold for an instant.

“You won't be `dragging' anything unless you tell me who I should expect and let me make you dinner.”

Kurama couldn't help but laugh again. Making a sound of acquiescence to the not-so-subtle suggestion, he looked back at Hiei. Clearing his throat to draw the hybrid's attention away from goading Yuusuke, Kurama pulled the phone away from his ear. Pointing it at the shorter youkai, he calmly informed Hiei. “Kagome's going to cook.”

“Dessert?”

Kurama brought the phone back to his ear with an openly affectionate smile. “Hiei says he'd love to join us.”

“Great! Do whatever it is you do when you finish working and come on over. I'll have everything ready in an hour or so.”

“We'll see you soon, Kagome.” Kurama chuckled richly and nodded. He pulled the phone away from his ear after her warning to be safe. Sighing and closing the phone to end the call.

Yuusuke was in front of him before his hand had even reached his pocket to put the phone away. Dark brows furrowed in an angry scowl before one arched in suggestive demand. “Kagome?”

Kurama schooled his own expression back into something benignly mild and polite. Just to further annoy the detective, he purposefully misunderstood. “Yes; that was Kagome.”

“Real fucking cute, Kurama.” Yuusuke's eyes narrowed as he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Just who in the hell is Kagome?”

“Someone I met at a function about a year ago,” he replied airily. Now that it seemed he'd no longer be able to keep his relationship private, Kurama determined to milk this confrontation for all it was worth. Tilting his head to one side, he calmly and meticulously prodded at Yuusuke. “I invited you. You remember, don't you? I told you I was interested in attending some of the national competitions for the high school sports teams. And you told me that `an entire legion of Hellhounds couldn't force you back to something associated with school.'”

“Oh.” Yuusuke blinked, thinking back until that conversation pinged in his distant memory. “Well, what the hell? No one in their right mind would be around that shit after graduation, Kurama!”

“I was curious.” Kurama shrugged it off.

 

“What made you-” he broke off as an idea occurred to him, expression blanking in surprise.

 

Taking a guess as to where Yuusuke's thoughts had just run, Kurama decided to wait and see if he'd vocalize his epiphany. “I met Kagome quite by accident after I stopped a pickpocket. She offered to buy me lunch after I had turned the boy over to the directors of the competition.”

Liar.

She did offer to buy me lunch. Kurama defended when Hiei scoffed at his depiction of their first meeting. Eventually.

“So... why did you want to go to the high school national competitions, Kurama?” Yuusuke cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowed in blatant suspicion.

“I was curious about seeing what kind of talents the classes behind us were displaying.” Kurama's smile was the very picture of innocence. “Humans are such an ingenious race, after all. It's always amazing to see what a difference a few years makes in their skills, and how seriously some of them take the games.”

Yuusuke continued to stare at him for a long moment before his lips twitched up. He stuffed his hands down in his pockets. “Fuuuck. If you'd just said you wanted to go to check out the high school girls, Kurama, I would have gone with you!”

“I assure you, Yuusuke, I have no idea what you're talking about.” Kurama pressed his hand to his heart and rejected his interpretation smoothly. “I went to the competitions with the sole intention of gauging performances and skills of the participants. Nothing more.”

Sometimes it astounds me that you aren't spontaneous struck dead with all the lies you spew out so easily. Hiei shook his head, broadcasting his amusement at Yuusuke's palpable frustration and inability to say for sure if the kitsune was lying.

Listen to you! If you learn much more human slang, you'll actually be able to blend in with them without any help from me! Kurama ducked his head to brush his bangs off his face. Using his hand to hide the taunting look he aimed at the scowling hybrid as he drawled out. Have you been reading my manga again, Hiei?

Fuck you.

“Fine, whatever,” Yuusuke growled impatiently and raked a hand through his hair. “Why didn't you tell us you had a girlfriend? Bring her around? Introduce us, you know? All that shit you're supposed to do when you're dating someone and have close friends?”

“I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you Kagome was shy?” Kurama tilted his head to one side, eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter.

Hiei snorted, ignoring the curious look that earned him from Yuusuke. She would kill herself laughing if she heard you.

The retrograde opened his mouth when his expression quite suddenly froze. After a moment he blinked, brows drawing even lower in concentration. He obviously seemed to connect the very obvious truth he'd missed. “Wait a sec… Wait just a fucking second.” Yuusuke turned and jabbed an accusing finger at Hiei. “You know her? Kurama took you to meet Kagome and not us?”

One of Hiei's eyebrows kicked up. Slowly smirking at this new way to taunt Yuusuke, he drawled out, “Kurama insisted.”

Yuusuke spun around to yell at Kurama furiously, “What the HELL?!”

“Calm down, Yuusuke.” Kurama held up both hands in a placating gesture. “All things considered, I felt it was appropriate for Hiei to meet her first.”

“Why? Goddammit all, when?!”

 

“Shortly after Kagome and I decided to move on to a physical relationship,” he replied with perfectly fabricated innocence.

You do realize you're a complete bastard, Hiei interjected into the sudden, heavy silence.

It found me a particularly sexy and wonderful miko who enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers. Kurama sighed as he went over a few of his favorite memories. A mental poke from Hiei had him shaking off the fantasies with a slight frown and shrugging off the insult with a more direct defense. Besides, she likes when we're bastards.

You have the most ridiculously unbelievable luck out of any creature I've known in any of the three worlds. To find the single miko in Tokyo who could tell what you are and not kill you for it on the spot. Hiei shook his head and turned to instinctively scan the surroundings until he located Kurabara sitting at a ramen stand down the street. Dismissing the snacking human with a shake of his head, he sighed and glanced in the direction he knew Kagome's shrine to be. Not to mention one receptive to starting such a serious physical relationship with a horny, deviant pervert like you without a care for your past or your youkai blood.

She's kinky too.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Yuusuke's shout had them both flinching from the painful volume. Once he was certain they had their undivided attention, he made an attempt to get his temper under control before speaking again. “You and this chick are serious? It's that goddamn serious and you didn't think we should hear about it?!”

“I'm a kitsune,” Kurama shrugged nonchalantly. “Just because I'm having sex with someone, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm serious.”

“Having sex with her exclusively for the past year does,” Hiei clarified with a malicious smirk.

Kurama gave a nearly imperceptible wince as his lips compressed in annoyance. Frowning pointedly at Hiei, he attempted to insert a more serene influence to the conversation before Yuusuke's temper got the best of him over the revelation. “I am merely not in need of more than one lover at the moment. I don't have the time or the inclination to-”

“Bullshit!” Yuusuke slammed his hands down on his hips. Unaware that he looked more like an angry, jealous wife than a strictly platonic male friend.

Kurama's frown deepened. “Excuse me?”

“I said bullshit!” he repeated, enunciating the curse. “What's really the problem, hm? She one of those uptight fucking honor student bitch-girls you used to shack up with? Too good to hang around a bunch of punks like us? Turn up her nose at a raised voice or a little blood?”

“Yuusuke,” Kurama's voice took on a cold edge to warn him away from the disparaging tangent. When the younger man had obediently stopped, he gave him a severe, disapproving frown. “You are being completely irrational.”

“Well you're being an asshole!” he returned sharply.

“Don't you think I would have avoided any contact between Kagome and Hiei if that was my concern?” Kurama rested one hand on his hip, not caring any longer that his exasperation showed clearly on his face. “You would probably amuse her even if you were covered in blood and actively trying to make an ass of yourself.”

“So bring her out!” Yuusuke challenged, chin kicking up at an obstinate angle. “Call her back and get her to meet us somewhere.”

Kurama reached up, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath. “Yuusuke. We have been on this mission for the past eight days. I am going to go to my apartment to shower. And then I am going to Kagome's house to have dinner. After eating as much as I'd like of her excellent cooking I fully intend to take her to the living room, the bathroom, the bedroom, and any other room of my choice to fuck her completely and utterly senseless before we go to sleep.”

Yuusuke's brows rose. Visibly taken aback by the kitsune's blunt rebuttal, he stared from one youkai to the other. His mouth opened and closed several times without managing any actual words. Sighing in irritation at the lack of response, Kurama continued on in the same stern, authoritative tone of voice.

“You are going to leave with Kurabara, get yourself a beer and a cigar. Then go home to your girlfriend to do whatever the hell you humans do behind closed doors when you're in a committed relationship.” Kurama let his hand fall to his side, glaring more intensely at the startled man. “In the morning, I will consider arranging a date, a dinner, or something for you to meet Kagome and piss her off to your heart's content.”

You don't intend to tell him she's a miko, do you?

And ruin the surprise? Kurama turned away from Yuusuke before the retrograde could recover use of his -questionably- higher analytical-functions. He ran one hand through his hair and consciously relaxed his shoulders. Slipping both hands into his pockets once he'd turned the corner. I wouldn't cheat myself out of that facial expression for all the wealth in my vaults.

Hiei was quiet for a moment before he casually reiterated, You're still an evil bastard.

Don't forget beautiful and sophisticated.

Hiei rolled his eyes. You're a suffocatingly arrogant, manipulative sadist.

Flirt.