Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny of Loneliness ❯ You get under my skin… ( Chapter 1 )

Destiny of loneliness.

Kal Kally

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters don't belong to me.

Warning: Shounen ai. If you can't handle it, don't read.

Pairing: Kurama/Hiei

Summary: Being born a creature of loneliness didn't mean that Hiei couldn't feel love and affection. But when Fate stole Kurama away from him, he must choose between accepting his Fate and fighting against it.

Chapter 1: You get under my skin…

Hiei leapt from roof to roof, crossing the city. He moved so fast that if one looked up at the sky, they would see only a flickering shadow.

Blood was dripping from his right sleeve. Hiei pressed his hand tightly on the deep cut on his shoulder. The fabric there had been soaked with blood. He was injured badly, but not enough to put his life in danger. With his enormous youki, Hiei could stop the bleeding easily. However, he blocked his youki from coming to the wound without even being aware of doing it.

He stopped on a tree in a small yard. The window was open as usual. From inside, a sweet fragrance of roses drifted out, making a small smile form on his lips. That person was home. Hiei's eyes traveled into the room and stopped on a redhead human, who was writing something on a thick notebook.

The human placed the pen down and turned his head to the window. Hiei left the branch he had been standing on and landed on the floor of the room, knowing he had been detected. "Kurama," he acknowledged his friend.

Kurama stood up and fully turned to him. "You come early today, Hiei." He commented, then as he saw the blood that was now forming a little pool on the floor, his eyes widened. He rushed to Hiei. "Hiei! What happened?"

"Nothing." Hiei just shrugged. Unfortunately, the movement sent throbbing pain through his body from the wound on his shoulders. He winced, then realized it, and winced even more.

"Nothing?!? Your clothes have been soaked with blood. This isn't `nothing', Hiei!"

"Don't yell. This isn't the first time I get injured."

"No, it isn't. In fact, it's only the third time this week. And today is just Thursday." Kurama retorted, and then sighed. "It's always the same, you keep coming back here badly injured. Sometimes I think you get yourself hurt on purpose."

"Maybe."

"What?" Kurama asked incredulously.

"Nothing."

Kurama decided that it was futile to ask Hiei more. He gestured Hiei to sit down on the bed and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, he returned with a first-aid kit and started to take care of Hiei's wound. Outside, night was falling on leaves and branches. Inside this room, no one said a word, both settled on enjoying the sweet silence between them.

After a while, Kurama finished dressing Hiei's wound. "There. It's fine now." He said and closed the first-aid kit.

"I'm going." Hiei stood up, grabbed his black coat and headed to the open window. His wrist was caught a second after. Hiei growled in annoyance, but didn't attempt to break the hold.

"Where are you going?" Kurama asked.

"None of your business."

"Why don't you stay here tonight? It takes time for your wound to heal. Hiei, stay here, would you?"

"No."

"Hiei!" Kurama stared into Hiei's eyes and repeated the question. The fire youkai didn't replied, just stared back impassively. The eye contact lasted for several seconds. In the end, it was Hiei who gave up and turned away.

Kurama smiled, knowing he had won. "Now, stay here and rest." He ordered and released Hiei's wrist. He took out some clothes from his wardrobe and threw it on the bed. "Change. I'll take your clothes out and do the laundry."

"Why?" Hiei asked.

"Because they have been drenched with blood."

"It's just fine. I don't mind a little blood."

"Are you going to wear them to go to Yukina?" Kurama lifted his eyebrows.

"Do what you want." Hiei hastily agreed.

Kurama chuckled and turned away to give Hiei privacy. The expression on Hiei's face when he mentioned Yukina's name was priceless. If you knew where to press, it would be easy to deal with a person who was even as stubborn as Hiei was. He took the first-aid kit and Hiei's clothes, then walked out. After a while, he returned. Hiei was leaning against the wall near the window; his eyes closed.

"I'm not going to stay," Hiei announced.

"Really?" Kurama asked, glancing at the window that now had been shut and the curtain that had been drawn closed.

"Hn."

Kurama didn't pay attention to him. A strange flower appeared on his hand from thin air. He crushed it until a red liquid seeped out from his fist. Kurama let the fluid be dropped on the bloodstain on the floor. As soon as the fluid met the stain, red mixed with red and faded.

"Why bother?" asked Hiei, his eyes still closed.

"I'll get into trouble if my mother sees blood in my room," Kurama explained. He turned the light off and got on the bed. A few minutes later, a small body crawled onto the bed and got under the blanket with him.

"Good night, Hiei," he whispered.

"Hn." There was a pause, and then Hiei replied, so quietly that it was almost inaudible. "Good night, Kurama."

Hiei stayed awake for a long time, listening to Kurama's breath. He wondered what Kurama was dreaming now. Would hatred and pain, blood and tears of four hundred years living as a youko follow Kurama into dreams, like the memories of Hiei's much shorter life usually did? Or would those dreams consist of only flowers, beautiful and tender just like Kurama's present self?

It might be warm and peaceful, Hiei decided, because that peacefulness had spread to him as well. It chased away his nightmares, brought him a deep and dreamless sleep. Maybe that was the reason why no matter what happened, he always came back here, came back to Kurama.

The sweet silence and the smell of roses seemed to mix and formed a wordless lullaby, luring his mind into a thoughtless state. He snuggled closer to Kurama and fell into sleep before he knew it.

Who would believe that a fire demon like him would still yearn for the warmth of a human?

* * *

A wet touch on his lips woke Hiei up. His eyes flew open to stare straight into deep emerald ones. Growling, he sat up and pushed Kurama back. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Kurama smiled.

It wasn't very hard to realize that Kurama was using his own way of answering people to reply to him. Hiei considered getting angry, but then decided against it. After all, Kurama was still keeping his clothes; he didn't want to run around naked.

"You're always as annoying as hell." He snorted and turned away from Kurama. "I know you enough to be careful. Who knows when you will suddenly want to plant some nasty flowers on me." He complained though his voice lacked of the usual venom.

"I was asking myself." Hiei blinked at the sudden change of subject, but didn't say anything. Kurama continued. "If I disappeared, would you search for me? Would you never stop searching until you found me?"

"Asking yourself? Then let yourself answer it."

"Hiei! I'm serious. Wait!" Kurama cried. "Did you just pull a joke? Never thought you had that in you." He said and pinched Hiei's nose.

Hiei scowled and patted Kurama's hand away. "Don't do that."

"Then tell me, what would you do if I disappeared?"

"You're really annoying. Why asking that? You won't disappear."

"But what if it's something that will happen in the future?" Kurama protested. "You never know what the future holds for you, right?"

"Nonsense. Even if something must happen, I trust you to at least be able to survive any possible danger and return on your own. Knowing you, I guess you may spend some time to give whoever dares to touch you a little present first."

"I expected a different answer. That's cold, Hiei." Kurama sighed.

"What else do you want, stupid human? That's how I am." Hiei's voice was dripping with annoyance now. What was wrong with Kurama today? The youko sounded almost emotional.

"But I like you this way," Kurama said. He placed his hand on Hiei's cheek and leaned closer. The emotionless expression on Hiei's face stayed the same, but for some reasons that he didn't even understand, his heart beat faster. His eyes automatically flew shut as he felt Kurama's breath warm on his lips.

The phone chose that moment to ring. It snapped Hiei out of whatever trance he was in. The realization of what he'd been about to do finally dawned on him; he cursed and rolled away from Kurama. It would have been a swift movement to jump out of the bed if he hadn't got entangled in the blanket and fallen to the floor with a loud thud.

Kurama sweat-dropped. "Are you alright?" The youko asked as he crawled to the edge of the bed to look down at Hiei. Hiei really thought he could die right there because of embarrassment. To his horror, he felt his cheek get hotter. Thankfully, the phone rang again.

"Shut up and answered the phone." Hiei gestured Kurama to pick the phone up, trying to make it sound like an order as much as possible in an attempt to cover up his fall. "Just answered that damn thing!" He scowled when Kurama failed to move, only staring at him blankly.

"That's strange," Kurama commented. "You never cared whether I answered that damn thing or not before… And wow, you do know what a phone is, I've never thought--" The phone rang again, cutting off his sentence.

"Will you answer it or not?" Hiei shot him a glare from his position on the floor. "Or do you want to be a roasted fox?" His youki rose as he sent Kurama a silent warning. It wasn't that he really wanted to hurt Kurama, he just felt too uncomfortable with the situation.

Kurama smiled, unaffected by Hiei's unspoken threat, but he picked the phone up anyway. "Yusuke?" After a few seconds, Kurama asked, sounding surprised. "Why do you call me so early?" Yusuke at this time of the day never meant a good thing.

There was a pause, and then Kurama asked incredulously. "And you need our help because of that?" This made Hiei wince. It was not only a bad thing, but also troubles, which, predictably, would cost him a day at least.

"I mean Hiei and me," Kurama said. "He slept here last night." At the mention of his name, Hiei was startled, realizing that he was still entangled in the blanket. He shifted back to throw the blanket off him and got up.

"We didn't do anything like THAT!" Kurama's yell got his attention. Hiei turned back and frowned. Kurama was blushing.

"What is `THAT' that we didn't do, Kurama?" He asked, walking to the youko.

"No, nothing." Kurama nearly dropped the phone. This made Hiei even more suspicious. "Let me talk to Yusuke," he demanded.

"Really, Hiei, it's nothing." Kurama told him, and then quickly returned to Yusuke. "We'll come to your house right now. See you later." He put the phone down right after finishing his sentence.

Hiei looked at Kurama skeptically. "You're hiding something from me, right?"

"No, it's just that Yusuke want us to come to his house right now."

"For what?" Hiei asked, but then he waved his hand. "No, don't answer, let me guess. An unexpectedly powerful youkai tries to do something nasty to this damn human world, and therefore must be stopped by us AGAIN, right?"

Kurama looked nervous. "Err, Hiei, it's because of an A-class youkai."

"What???" Hiei nearly fell over.

"You heard it."

"That stupid human! Call us just because of an A-class youkai??? Why couldn't he take care of that youkai alone?"

"I'm sure Yusuke has his reason. He isn't the type of people who would cry for help just because of a normal threat. There's no need to be angry."

Hiei could tell that Kurama was trying to calm him down. "I'm not angry, Kurama, just astonished." He said and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall near the window. "But I don't like to be ordered around just for nothing. You go alone."

"Yusuke did ask for both of us," Kurama protested. "It won't hurt you to just listen to what he has to say. You must go with me."

"No." That was the only answer.

"Hiei! We must."

"I said no."

"Don't be so stubborn. It might be for a very important reason. You just go with me to Yusuke's house, and then you're free to do whatever you want."

"Fine," Hiei growled. "But it's just because I don't want to hear your ramblings anymore. So?"

"So what?" A puzzled look crossed Kurama's face.

"Where are my clothes?" Hiei asked patiently. "You don't expect me to run around in these human sleeping clothes, do you?"

Kurama walked to the wardrobe and started to dig in there. "Well, they're both soaked now, not to mention torn. So… here they are!" He took out a dark blue T-shirt and a short trouser. "You can borrow my clothes." He handed them to Hiei. The clothes were human-styled again. Hiei just stared at the clothes with undisguised disgust.

"It doesn't bite." Kurama smiled.

"There's no way I'm wearing those stupid human things. Just give me back my clothes, wet or not, I'll still wear them."

"No." Hiei glared at the youko, his glare was hot enough to melt even iron. But as usual, Kurama was unaffected. "They're torn and wet. I'll give them back to you once I finish mending them.

"Then what am I going to wear now??"

"This." Kurama held out the human-styled clothes to him, then added dryly. "You could always walk out in these human sleeping clothes if you really wanted to, you know."

"Fine." Hiei snatched the clothes from Kurama's hands. As he silently put them on, a thought kept whirling in his head. Why was he always so weak around Kurama? He, a cold-blooded Koorime who rarely cared for anything except his sister, suddenly found that somebody else was slowly becoming important to him. It was so disturbing, and it was intolerant. For in the world he lived, the world where the weak had no right to exist, attachment meant a weakness, and sometimes, a fatal mistake that might cost your life. What was Kurama to him?

Kurama called out for him to go and Hiei gave up trying to find the answer. Now, he had to concentrate on eliminating their next enemy, be it powerful or weak. He would return to that question later.