Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Coming Clean ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 12 )

[ 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: 11.07.2004 | Updated On: 06.03.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 993 | Status: Completed

The pleasant evening gave way to a night that was dark and miserable. Thunderclouds hung low in the sky, and the occasional bolt of lightening streaked through the sky, illuminating the entire area in a frantic burst of energy. The wind howled madly as it shook the limbs of the strongest trees. Rain pelted relentlessly down upon anything unfortunate enough to be caught outside.

Shiori awoke from a particularly loud clap of thunder, and snuggled deeper into her warm blankets. Her husband also awoke. When he noticed she was awake, he curled an arm around her waist and murmured, "I'm glad I closed all of the windows this evening when I heard the weather report." Shiori snuggled into his embrace for a few moments, before his words sank in.

"Excuse me," she muttered, as she swiftly got out of bed and donned her robe. Hurriedly, she went down the hall and into her son's bedroom. The room was warm and dry, and the window was securely closed and latched against the fearsome weather outside. A bright bolt of lightening revealed a small shadow huddled on the branch of the tree directly outside the glass.

Quickly, Shiori ran to the pane, and slid it open. Within a few seconds a drenched, windblown, black figure stood before her, dripping on the carpet. "Hiei, I'm so sorry! My husband does not know you come here to sleep at night, and I had no idea that he had closed all the windows. Come in, please." She ushered him into the hallway, and to the bathroom. "I'll get you some dry clothing," she said, as she handed the sopping wet demon a towel. Before going into Kurama's room again, she went back to her own bedroom.

"Dear," she called softly to her husband. "Hiei is here. He got caught in the storm, and this was the only place close by. I told him he could stay the night and go to visit Shuuichi with us tomorrow. I hope this is alright with you."

"Of course, Honey. Do you need me to get anything?" Hatanaka answered groggily.

"No, Dear, it's fine. I'll be back to bed in just a few minutes, once he's settled in for the night." With this, Shiori gave her husband a quick peck on the lips, and gathered some of Kurama's clothing for Hiei to wear overnight.

Twenty minutes later, Hiei was dry and dressed in ningen clothing. He looked at himself in Kurama's mirror with no expression on his face. He grudgingly admitted that he felt much more comfortable in the dry, loose fitting garments than he had in his wet, constricting ones. But they were ningen clothing. Humans wore these. With a sigh, Hiei turned and went to the windowsill. "Hiei," Shiori said softly. "Aren't you going to sleep in the bed?"

"No," Hiei replied. "It is Kurama's bed."

"I'm sure he won't mind. After all, this is where you stayed when he brought you here last time, when we first met," Shiori coaxed, turning down the edge of the covers, and patting the mattress with her hand. Without further cajoling, Hiei acquiesced. As he climbed into the bed, Kurama's scent washed over him. This was why he was reluctant to stay in the kitsune's bed. The constant reminder of Kurama's absence was weighing on his mind.

Tucking the covers up over him, Shiori brushed his hair back off his face. This was unnecessary, of course, since his hair was already pretty much off his face to begin with, but it was an endearing gesture, and it brought Hiei comfort. "Good night, Hiei. I'll see you in the morning." Shiori whispered as she arose. Turning off the light she went back to her own bed.

Hiei lay in the soft bed under the warm covers for a few minutes. He had just been "tucked in" for the first time in his life. Suddenly the scent of his dear kitsune was no longer taxing to him, it was pleasant and familiar. With a large yawn, Hiei allowed his guard down enough to fall asleep, dreaming that the blankets were his fox's arms keeping him warm and safe.

Shiori was always an early riser. She would awaken before the rest of the household to prepare breakfast. She was considerably surprised to find Hiei wide-awake, sitting on the bed, when she opened the door a crack to check on her guest. She was also surprised that although he was sitting upright, he still had Kurama's blanket wrapped around his body, and seemed reluctant to leave its embrace. Once he knew she was awake, Hiei forced himself to put down the blanket that smelled like his fox, and accompany his hostess to the kitchen. Shiori began taking items out of the refrigerator, and taking pans out of the cupboards. Hiei watched as she mixed the food items in a large bowl and began to heat the pan on the stove. "Is there anything special you would like for breakfast, Hiei?" she asked cheerfully.

With a slightly suspicious look on his face, Hiei peered at the various and, to him, foreign consumables laid out on the counter. He recognized the eggs, and could smell that the red strips were meat of some sort. The items mixed in the bowl were completely unknown to him, however. Meeting Shiori's gaze, he answered, "Eggs will be fine. Thank you."

When Hatanaka and Shuuichi-kun arrived at the table, Shiori was just placing the last serving dish in the center. Gesturing her family to join their guest, she sat down. Shuuichi-kun immediately took several flat, round, bread-like items from a stack in the center of the table, and drenched them in some type of thick substance that smelled sweet, and almost foresty; like a tree, but different. Deciding that the syrup was too weird to try, Hiei took a small portion of eggs and some of the meat strips. Shiori immediately noticed this, and as soon as Hiei had put the serving fork down, she plopped more eggs onto his plate before he could object. She followed these with a few pieces of toast. Hiei chose to remain silent, and merely ate his breakfast along with the Hatanaka family.

As they were eating, Hatanaka addressed the hiyoukai. "Did you call your parents last night to let them know that you are alright, and where you are?"

"No," came the simple reply. Hatanaka stopped eating and just looked at the boy before him. He would be both terrified and furious if his son were out in such a horrible storm, alone, at night, with not even a phone call. Hiei saw the look on the man's face. He recalled some of what Kurama had told him about human parent/child relationships. He remembered the fox calling his mother at certain times to check in, or to "ask permission" for something. Quickly, Hiei added on to his previous statement. "They're dead. I live alone. There is no one to call."

If the demon thought that this statement would make the man more at ease, he was mistaken. Hatanaka's eyes opened wide, and his fork dropped to the plate. He was not sure how to respond to that. This boy, who could be no older than his stepson, lived alone? Was that legal? Since he knew, was he required to surrender the boy to social services? Shiori broke the silence. "Hiei is a special case, Dear. He has special arrangements for his situation. It's all fine." With merely a nod, the startled man resumed eating.

Finally, when breakfast was over, and the Hatanaka boys left for work and school, Shiori tried to convince Hiei to ride in the car with her to the hospital. After his ride in the ambulance, Hiei was not eager to enter another ningen vehicle. Still, Shiori insisted. Hiei asked for his clothing back, but Shiori said that the clothes were "in the wash" and he could have them back that evening. Finally, Hiei gave in and wore some of Kurama's clothing as he rode with Shiori to visit the fox. Reflecting upon his situation, Hiei shuddered to think that he was wearing ningen clothing, riding in a ningen device, bound for a ningen hospital, in the company of a female ningen. Anyone who saw him now would certainly say he was behaving "out of character." Then again, the woman responsible for his current situation was none other than the one who had tamed the infamous Youko Kurama, and taught him to love. Hiei's respect for Shiori grew, as did his need to keep his guard up against any more of her suggestions.

When they entered the room, both human and demon alike were thrilled to see Kurama sitting in his chair by the window. He had just returned from his physical therapy, and he was in great spirits. In his lap sat the small tree that Hiei had given him the day before. Kurama gently brushed his fingers over the stem and leaves, and the tiny plant already looked much healthier from his attention. When he saw his visitors approach, he smiled widely at them. "Good morning, Mother, Hiei. I'm glad to...see...you...Hiei? Are those mine?" he asked, somewhat caught off guard by the fire demon's attire.

Hiei looked at him sheepishly, and gestured towards Shiori. "She took my clothes, and won't give them back until something she calls 'the wash,'" he muttered.

In all truth, Kurama thought Hiei looked great. He was wearing an old, faded pair of Kurama's blue jeans. They were one of the tighter ones Kurama had, so they hung moderately loosely on Hiei's miniscule frame. The cuffs were rolled up slightly, so they didn't drag on the floor. For a top, Hiei had on one of the fox's white tee-shirts, tucked in, and a faded, rust red colored shirt with a collar over top of the thin shirt. The red shirt hung open in the front, and was not tucked in at all. One of Kurama's brown, braided, leather belts adorned the small waist; any non-braided belt did not have holes where Hiei would need them to fit his form. He wore his own shoes, and of course his ward bandages were still in place. Astonishingly enough, Hiei had picked the clothing out by himself. Shiori had told him to just go get something out of her son's closet while she cleaned up after breakfast. Hiei had recalled seeing his fox in an outfit like this, and remembered thinking that the kitsune looked pretty darn good in it.

As the two were getting situated, Kurama's doctor came in, and asked to speak to Shiori privately. When they had left the room, the fox and the fire demon met each other's gaze. "I hope you don't mind. She said to pick out something that would fit, and I remembered seeing you in this, and you looked.... Um, I hope you don't mind," Hiei started, with a slight blush creeping over his cheeks.

"Not at all, Hiei. You look great," Kurama replied, causing Hiei's blush to darken slightly. The two sat quietly until Shiori returned.

Kurama's mother bustled into the room with pure, unconcealed joy on her face. "Shuuichi! Why didn't you tell me you were walking on your own in therapy today? They didn't expect you to be able to do that for at least a week!"

Lowering his gaze slightly, Kurama replied modestly, "Mother, it's nothing."

"Nothing!" Shiori exclaimed. "It most certainly is something! The prerequisite for you to be released is that you must be walking on your own. As long as you can do it again tomorrow, they will let you go home tomorrow evening!" she gushed, wrapping her arms around her son. Kurama just smiled. He wanted to be out of this hospital in the worst way. Over a week was way too long to be cooped up like this! That evening, when Hatanaka and Shuu-kun arrived, Shiori shared the news with them excitedly. The whole family looked forward to the following evening.

As the Hatanakas were rejoicing in the news of Kurama's imminent release, Yusuke was ringing the doorbell to the Yukimuras' private residence. Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura had gotten a few of their waitresses to run the shop tonight, so they could have their future son-in-law and his mother over for dinner. They had assumed, and quite correctly, that Yusuke had not mentioned anything about his relationship with their daughter, or their declaration of love, to his mom.

Yusuke sweated in his slacks and blazer. He was very nervous about how this would turn out. He wanted desperately to impress Keiko's parents, and to win their blessing. Bringing his mother to dinner was not what he thought would do that. Atsuko was dressed up as well, at least, as dressed up as she ever got. For her, dressed up was clean jeans and a casual blouse, rather then a tee shirt or sweat shirt. Atsuko had insisted that it was customary to bring a gift for the hosts, and that gift was wine. Of course, she had to buy six bottles of wine, and taste each to make sure they were bringing good wine. Luckily, Yusuke had snagged one of the bottles before she had opened it, and saved it to bring along. Otherwise their gift would have been opened and half consumed.

Mrs. Yukimura greeted them at the door, and ushered them inside. Dinner itself went well, mostly because everyone was putting food into their mouths and no words were coming out of their mouths. When dessert and coffee were served, things began to go downhill.

The wine that had been opened with dinner was gone, mostly due to Atsuko. This, along with the five other varieties she had sampled, left her in a very interesting state. As for herself, Atsuko was drinking more than usual to try to hide her nervousness. She had never been good with matters relating to her son. She knew that he and Keiko were best friends, and just took it for granted that they would become more. This formal dinner/meeting of the families scared her. So she reacted the only way she was comfortable: she drank herself into giddiness. When Mr. Yukimura began the conversation about their children, Atsuko was not exactly prepared to participate.

"So, Ms. Urameshi," he began.

"Atsuko. Jus' call me Atsuko," she interjected.

"Atsuko, as you may or may not yet know, your son and our daughter have begun a relationship," Mr. Yukimura continued.

"Yeah? Atta boy, Yusuke. You picked a pretty one!" the inebriated woman replied, clapping her son on the shoulder. Yusuke just looked at the floor and turned bright red. All the school attendance in the world was never going to make up for this.

Mr. Yukimura tried once more to start the serious conversation, again failing miserably. With a sigh, he turned to his wife. Mrs. Yukimura tried a slightly different approach. "Atsuko, our children have stated that they want to share their lives with each other, and we wanted to discuss the arrangements for this."

Weaving slightly, Atsuko looked at the woman before her and replied, "Tha's great. I like that idea, Mrs....Mrs....Mrs. Keiko." Feigning a smile, Mrs. Yukimura just nodded. Keiko buried her face in her hands, and Yusuke tried very hard to just disappear, without success.

"Yusuke, bring the coffee cups into the kitchen," Mr. Yukimura directed, as he picked up the dessert tray and headed toward the other room. Yusuke followed with a sense of dread. This was it. This was when he was told how worthless both he and his mother were, and that he could never see Keiko again. He was hardly surprised when Mr. Yukimura waited for him to enter the kitchen, and then securely closed the door behind them.

"Yusuke," the older man began slowly, thoughtfully. "There are times in a young man's life when he needs some guidance from someone older, a parent, or a teacher. If you need someone like that, I want you to feel free to come to me, or to my wife." Yusuke stood, shocked, at what was said. Mr. Yukimura looked at the younger man fondly. The more each learned about the other, the more their respect for each other grew. Nodding, Yusuke muttered his thanks as they reentered the dining room.

When the fiasco known as dinner finally drew to a close, Yusuke supported his unsteady mother to the door, and thanked their hosts. As he led the woman outside, Mrs. Yukimura stopped him. "Did you need one of us to drive the two of you home, Yusuke-kun?" she asked softly.

"Nah. I've done this before; we'll be fine," he replied as he half led, half dragged his mom out onto the street, and in the direction of their apartment.

As they faded from sight, Mrs. Yukimura turned to her daughter. "Has she always been...like that?" she asked softly. Keiko just nodded, and then went to her room to finish her homework. "My word. That young man has virtually no parents. I'm amazed he isn't a lost cause altogether. Yet there he is, working, and trying to get along as best he can," she commented to her husband, who silently agreed as they went to bed.

The next morning, Kurama's performance in physical therapy was just as impressive as the day before. The doctor signed his release papers with a smile, and every nurse on his floor made it a special point to come in and wish him well. Shortly after lunch, the kitsune was walking slowly, but without assistance, through the front door of his house. With a happy sigh, Kurama settled himself on the sofa. He had missed the calm comfort of home. Shiori bustled around, getting him a pillow, covering him with a blanket, pouring him some tea, and doing anything she could think of to make her son more comfortable. When the hubbub of his homecoming had finally settled down, and his family was finally acting somewhat normal, the doorbell rang.

The opened door revealed quite a crowd waiting to welcome their friend home. Yusuke, Keiko, Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Botan all entered the living room. After a few more minutes, Yukina arrived. The ice maiden was very friendly towards Kurama, but was still intent on finding out her brother's identity. After some conversation, the doorbell rang, yet again. This time it was a classmate of Kurama's, Yuu Kaito, come with his makeup homework, and a bulging bag of what looked like multicolored papers. Unable to stay long, Kaito merely wished Kurama well, and good luck. When the fox asked why he needed good luck, Kaito simply looked at the bag and said, "You'll see," before leaving.

With much caution, Kurama pulled the bag towards him. He tried to open it slightly, but the contents were too great, and the entire lot poured out of the bag. Cards of every shape and size fluttered down to the floor at the fox's feet. Some had little hearts drawn all over them. Some had flower petals stuffed into them. Others had liberal amounts of perfume sprayed onto them. It seemed that every girl, and quite a few boys, in Kurama's school had made him a get-well card. Kurama smiled as he imagined the mob that must have descended upon Kaito when they learned that he would be delivering the homework.

For the next few hours, Kurama and his friends went through the mountain of cards, laughing and smiling, and generally having fun. Only one person was missing from the menagerie. Hiei was conspicuously absent. While Kurama smiled and joked with the others, he wondered where his fire demon was.

After the crew had gone home, Kurama discovered he was completely exhausted. Shiori came along to help him to bed. When he was tucked in for the night, she kissed his forehead, and told him to call her if he needed anything. Finally, she left him alone. Kurama slowly got out of bed. He wanted to arrange a few things before he went to sleep. He swept all the cards from his fan club back into the bag, and placed it under the desk. On top of the desk, he sat four items. The card his mother and stepfather had gotten him, the card his stepbrother had made for him, the card from Hiei, and the tiny tree. Satisfied that the tokens from the people that meant the most to him would not get lost in the shuffle, he returned to his bed, and fell asleep almost immediately.

Around ten, a black shadow crept silently into the darkened room. The shadow looked over the sleeping kitsune, noting that the red head was too deeply asleep to notice he had company. Disappointed, the shadow turned and espied the small display on the desk. As it approached, it noticed that there were myriad more cards in a bag, under the desk, but only three were kept separate, as if they were special. Noting the three cards with interest, the shadow smiled. Red eyes returned to the sleeping fox, as the shadow moved to the windowsill to settle in for the night. Before he drifted into a light sleep, the last two thoughts to go through Hiei's head were how much easier it was to guard his fox from within the same room, and how special he felt that his card was displayed over all the cards from the ningen at Kurama's school.