Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Clean ❯ Closer ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: This story was written by me, mhmartini, for enjoyment purposes only. All characters taken from a show/series/book/etc. are property of their respective creators; I am only borrowing them. Original characters are mine. The storyline is mine. I am making no money from this endeavor. The only �profit� involved is the joy of writing and the reviews of my readers. No copyright infringement is intended.

Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Fantasy / Hentai | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.27.2004 | Updated On: 06.03.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed

Shiori noticed the soft smile on her son's face as she walked in. Although Hiei's expression was as neutral as always, she gathered that they had had their talk. She noticed the gem at Kurama's throat, and decided to ask him about it when they were alone.

The afternoon melted into evening in peace. Shiori and her husband were discussing a trivial matter when she looked over to her son and noticed that he had fallen asleep. She shushed her spouse and smiled at Kurama. His head was tilted to the left, resting gently on his pillows. A few strands of his red hair had slipped over his face, and moved slightly with each breath he took. A small smile played upon his lips as he slumbered. Unlike the distant, deathlike sleep of the past four days, the boy had fallen into a restful sleep.

Shiori rose, and motioned her husband to follow. The nurse had warned them that Kurama would tire easily until his body readjusted to being awake, and they left so he could rest.

As they were leaving Shiori turned to the small demon accompanying them. "Hiei, would you like to stay at our house tonight?" she asked. She didn't want to pry into the apparition's private matters, but she was dying to know what happened between him and her son, and would not pass up the opportunity to listen.

"No," Hiei replied. "I have something to do tonight." After a pause he added a tentative, "Thank you." Shiori was disappointed, but could not force the issue. She would simply have to get it out of her son when the hiyoukai wasn't around.

When the family went into the elevator to leave, Hiei climbed the stairs to the roof to sit in his nightly vigil over his wounded friend.

Hiei sat on the roof, daydreaming. The small demon was not prone to flights of fancy, but the day's events had left him whirling in a torrent of emotion. He had been trying for four days to rationally sort out the feelings in his heart. When Kurama kissed him back he realized that he didn't need to figure out the emotions, to analyze them. He was content to just experience them. So he sat unseen in the night air, thinking of his first kiss, and dreaming of what was to come.

Two cloaked, humanoid figures silently glided up the hallway of the hospital. They masked their energy so completely that they were practically invisible to human eyes. They slipped, undetected, into the room where their target slept. One figure approached the still form in the bed, as the other used his energy to send a telepathic suggestion to the nurses, distracting them from their duties, and scattering them far from the room in question. When he returned his companion spoke in a cold, cruel voice, "The boss wanted him to be awake, to experience his demise fully. So now, let's wake him."

A cold hand clamped over the mouth of the sleeping victim as a second hand balled into a fist and slammed into the bandaged right shoulder. Jerking awake, Kurama would have screamed if his mouth were not completely covered.

Hiei sat upright as he heard the slightest whisper in the back of his mind. A soft voice was calling him away. He recognized the influence of telepathy instantly, and wondered at what it could portend, when he felt a sudden rise in ki from a room below him, a room on the sixth floor, a room that housed a certain sleeping kitsune. Cursing his inattentiveness he flashed off the roof to the stairwell door, which was locked and barred.

Blows rained down on Kurama as he struggled to sit up. His inability to move or stand only made it easier for his attackers to pummel him. He tried to bite the hand over his mouth, but the grip was too tight. He could barely breathe, much less move his jaw.

The hand finally released his face, and reached up to grab his hair and lift him by it. In a swift, painful movement, the fox was hurled across the room into the wall. Unable to support himself, he crumbled to the floor, still sitting somewhat upright, his weight resting against the wall he had hit. Blood flowed from a cut over his right eyebrow, and his nose was bleeding. His shoulder and ribs hurt so badly that they were becoming numb. Unable to catch his breath enough to call for help, Kurama watched as the two figures approached him slowly.

"Intaro sends his regards, fox-boy," the first of the attackers sneered as he raised his hand in preparation for the vicious blow that would end Kurama's life. Refusing to be intimidated, the kitsune looked right into the eyes of his soon to be murderer, waiting for the lethal strike.

Instead, an almost invisible black blur streaked between the red head and his tormentor. The offending demon stood perfectly still for a few seconds before the top half of him slid to the side, off the bottom half, both falling to a pile on the floor. Kurama turned to look at the blur that had saved his life. Hiei stood, katana exposed, staring at the second demon. As the fire youkai took a step forward, the intruder stopped shielding his ki in favor of using his energy to escape.

As he fled the room, the mental spell on the nurses was broken, and those nearby looked up in alarm to find a strange, cloaked figure bolt out of one of their rooms. They rushed to check on the patient within.

"Hiei," Kurama gasped. "Hide your sword...the nurses...the body..."

Hiei just smirked. "What body?" he asked as he gathered a ball of flame in his right palm.

"No, Hiei, don't..."

But it was too late. The fireball consumed the two halves of the demon assassin's body and incinerated them instantly. Suddenly the lights dimmed and the air was filled with a buzzing noise that felt as if it would split Hiei's head open. He was about to find the source of the noise and kill it when he was drenched in cold water.

With a shocked and angry expression on his face, he turned to Kurama, who was also soaked, and yelled, "Why the HELL is it RAINING inside the DAMN NINGEN HOSPITAL?" Kurama simply slumped to the side and rested his face on the cold, wet floor, unable to respond.

The nurses raced into the room, slipping on the slick floor. Luckily the hospital had a state of the art fire alarm and sprinkler system, and only Kurama's room was being doused. The lead nurse wiped the water from her eyes and looked at the empty bed, puzzled. Her gaze traveled around the room to land on the crumpled boy on the floor. "Oh no!" she gasped as she tried to rouse him. She called to the other nurses to page the doctor and call the police, as she tried in vain to gather Kurama in her arms and remove him from the dark, flooded room.

To her surprise a small, but strong pair of arms reached in front of her, collected the boy, and lifted him effortlessly. She looked at the small form before her, recognizing it as one of the patient's close friends. Without stopping to wonder why he was inside the hospital so late at night, she led him to a new room to place Kurama on a dry bed, and assess the damage.

The doctor arrived in record time when he learned that his newly awakened patient had been brutally attacked right in his hospital room. When he began to examine the boy before him, he was relieved to note that Kurama was not entirely unconscious. His head turned slightly from side to side, and he moaned softly in his semiconscious state. His head and nose were bleeding, and there was fresh blood seeping through the heavy bandages on his shoulder wound.

The nurses shooed Hiei out of the room as they set about drying the fox off and redressing his wound in dry bandages. Once outside, Hiei was immediately detained by the police. His years as a Makai felon gave him plenty of ideas and experience to draw upon to escape arrest. He simply told the police that he had seen one of the thugs that had beaten Kurama in the street enter the hospital, and he had followed to protect his friend. He conveniently 'forgot' to mention the other thug, whose ashes had washed away in the deluge from the sprinkler system.

The police seemed to accept Hiei's story, but warned him in the future to call them instead of trying to take matters into his own hands. When they left, a nurse brought Hiei a towel and a cup of something hot to drink. He toweled off his hair, but he was more concerned about his friend's condition than about his wetness. At the nurse's insistence he tasted the drink she given him.

Surprisingly, he liked it very much. He sipped it again, relishing in the warmth it provided. Normally he would simply use his ki to stay warm and dry, but after the experience in the room with the cursed indoor rain, he decided to rely on the drink to provide him with heat. He drank what the nurse called 'hot chocolate' in silence, waiting for news of Kurama.

The doctor finally emerged from the kitsune's new room, a somber expression on his face. Hiei jumped up, but the doctor raised his hands before the little demon could ask any questions. "I can't tell you anything because you are not his family," the doctor stated, a look of apology on his face. Hiei nearly lost his temper right then and there, until the doctor stepped to the side and motioned for Hiei to enter the room.

He entered slowly. Some of the same machines he had seen hooked to Kurama the first day he was in the hospital were again being used. The nurses had arranged new tubes running into his arms to replace the ones that had been ripped out during the attack. The major difference from that first day was that his fox was awake this time. His breathing was ragged, and his eyes were pressed closed in agony. His entire body shook from exhaustion and pain. His jaw was clenched tightly.

Hiei approached him carefully. "Kurama?" he asked softly. When he received no response he reached out tentatively and took the kitsune's hand. "Kurama," he called again. "I'm here, beside you." Kurama did not open his eyes or speak, but a weak squeeze of his hand let Hiei know he had been heard.

"Keep talking to him," a nurse urged the small apparition. Like Shiori had the previous day, Hiei continued to reassure Kurama that he was there, and coaxed the fox to stay with him. After awhile a second nurse came in and injected a clear substance into one of the tubes running into Kurama's arm.

When Shiori received her second early morning phone call in as many days, she really thought she was going to have a heart attack. The nurse would only say that there had been an "incident," and that Shiori needed to come to the hospital right away. Her husband had been called to the office shortly after they had arrived home, and by the time everything there was straightened out it was so late that he had decided to stay there overnight, rather than take the train home at some ungodly hour. Shiori checked in Kurama's room, but there was no sign of the hiyoukai anywhere, and the food she had left out for him was untouched. Scared and alone she got into the car and drove quickly to the hospital.

When she arrived, the doctor ushered Shiori into a small office and closed the door. "There was an... incident tonight." he began. "One of the attackers who injured your son snuck into the hospital. Shuuichi was attacked again." The color drained from Shiori's face as this news washed over her. The doctor continued quickly, "He is alive, against the odds. He is awake. In his condition, he is not to be left alone at any time. He needs rest before his body shuts down completely. If he lapses back into a coma, there is little to no chance that he will survive. His injuries have been re-aggravated, but they will heal if given the time. What he needs right now is reassurance and support. I've given him a painkiller to relax him and make it easier for him to breathe. I want him to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Your son is very fortunate."

"Fortunate? How?" Shiori asked weakly.

"One of his friends recognized the thug as he entered the hospital and followed. He arrived in time to save Shuuichi's life." Shiori realized instantly that it must be Hiei, and felt a rush of gratitude to the small half koorime.

The doctor helped Shiori to her feet and led her to Kurama's new room. When she entered she saw the hiyoukai by Kurama's bedside, holding his hand and talking to him. A nurse approached the doctor and said softly, "I gave him the pain killer about two minutes ago, doctor. It should start taking effect soon." The doctor nodded and settled Shiori in a chair next to Hiei.

"Buzz if you need anything, the nurses will be in often," he directed. With that, he motioned for the nurse in the room to accompany him out into the hallway.

Once outside, the nurse asked the doctor in a barely audible whisper, "Is he going to make it?"

In an equally low tone the doctor replied, "I don't know; it's touch and go. The first twenty-four hours will tell. He's amazingly strong to have survived this much already. I want a nurse by his door around the clock, but don't crowd his family. There's a distinct chance that they may be saying goodbye soon, and I want them to have the time they need." The nurse nodded and continued her work sadly.

Hiei's sharp demon hearing picked up every word uttered in the hallway. His heart feeling like lead, he turned back to his fox, and continued urging him to hang on. Shiori was silent beside him. She had not heard the hushed conversation in the hallway, but she knew her son was in trouble. She had no tears left to cry, they had all been shed over the past four days. One thought kept ringing through her head, 'My son is dying. My son is dying.'

Hiei saw Shiori's state, and reached out to her. The feel of his hand on her arm jarred her out of her reverie. "He'll make it; he's strong," Hiei said to her, much more confidently than he felt. Shiori nodded her thanks and began speaking softly to Kurama as well.

Kurama's ragged breathing slowly began to relax, and his tightly clenched jaw began to loosen. The strain apparent on his face lessened as the painkiller began to take effect. After some time he was able to open his eyes.

He looked at the two forms beside him and tried to speak, but had trouble taking a deep enough breath to form words. Shiori placed her finger over his lips and said softly, "Don't try to talk, just relax. We'll stay right here."

Kurama gave up trying to speak, and focused on trying to breathe. The analgesic the doctor had prescribed for him was very strong, and he felt his thoughts becoming fuzzy. Afraid of what would happen to him if he fell asleep, Kurama fought the urge to drift off. The kitsune was not used to feeling vulnerable, and this fear gnawed at him, depriving him of any rest. His discomfort was apparent, and his breathing was still shallow and labored. He also seemed to be worse off lying on his back, but he was unable to sit up alone.

"Would you be more comfortable sitting upright, Shuuichi?" his mother asked. Kurama managed a small nod. Two sets of arms gently raised him from a flat to a semi-inclined position. Breathing became easier immediately. Shiori glanced around for a pillow or something to prop him up. "I can't find a pillow," she began.

Kurama felt a weight settle on the bed behind him, and the smaller pair of arms holding him up guided him backwards to rest against a small, strong chest. He closed his eyes, grateful for the air that was now moving into his lungs much more readily. He turned his head to the side slightly and whispered, "Thank you, Hiei." The fire demon against whom he was resting just smiled, and took Kurama's left hand in his own. The feel of the muscular chest propping him up, and the steady sound of Hiei's demonic heartbeat lulled Kurama into a sense of safety, and a peaceful slumber stole over the exhausted fox.

Shiori watched as her son finally found security enough to fall asleep in the gentle hold of the hiyoukai. The soft expression on Hiei's face told her of his feelings for her son. "Hiei?" she asked, softly enough to not disturb her son. Crimson eyes turned towards her. "You've been watching over him, haven't you? That is why you always show up in his room so late and leave so early. It's just a quick nap between standing guard." Hiei merely nodded slightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

In the silence that lasted throughout the night Shiori had plenty of time to reflect upon her son's romantic situation. When he had told her he had feelings for another male, it was immediately after he had just confessed to being a thousand year old fox demon. Needless to say, there wasn't too much else he could say after that to shock her, so she had taken the news very well. As she saw the two demons interact she caught glimpses of how deeply their affections ran for each other.

These insights made this more real. She thought of how she had pictured her son's life: a top notch education, a top paying job, a wife, children. Slowly, it was beginning to sink in that that was not to be. She had to admit that she was disappointed that she would not get to hold her grandchildren in her lap.

In the middle of her musing she looked up at her son, and saw the peaceful look on his face as he slept. It was a look of contentment and safety. She altered her gaze to note the expression on Hiei's face as he looked down at the fox leaning against him. His normally burning eyes conveyed a tenderness that Shiori had only seen a few times: in the eyes of her late husband, and in the eyes of her new husband. She realized that her son had a chance to be happy that most humans never get; a chance to spend his life with someone he loved, and someone who loved him back. She smiled as a thought came, unbidden, to her mind; it was a quote from a book she had once read. "The romantic idea that love transcends gender..."(1) That was what she was looking at now, and she would be happy that her son was granted this blessing.

The nurses came in often to check on their patient. The first nurse was about to yell at Hiei for moving the injured boy, and for hogging part of the bed. Before a word could pass her lips, she noticed how much more easily the red head was breathing, and that he had finally fallen asleep. Without a word she left the room, and told the other nurses not to disturb them on their rounds.

Around five in the morning, Shiori finally dropped off to sleep in her chair. Hiei stayed awake, watching over his kitsune. As the painkiller began to wear off, Kurama stirred and opened his eyes. His body ached to an extent he had never experienced before. He tried to shift slightly, only to feel arms gently wrap around him from behind, very careful to put no pressure on his ribs. By sitting upright, his breathing had improved greatly, and he was again able to find the air to speak.

"Hiei?" he asked softly.

"Yes, Fox?" an equally soft voice answered.

"You haven't slept."

No comment.

"You should have put me down and gotten some rest."

"You seemed so comfortable, I didn't want to disturb you," the hiyoukai whispered gently into Kurama's hair. Kurama inhaled as deeply as his freshly injured ribs allowed, and closed his eyes again, reveling in the feeling of safety he found in his friend's embrace.

(1) A slightly paraphrased quote from the book Anime Explosion by Patrick Drazen. I am still trying to find the page number.