Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Petals Fallen, Blood on Roses ❯ The Fire of Sunset ( Chapter 1 )

Petals Fallen, Blood on Roses

An Original Yu Yu Hakusho Fanfic

by HieiNimbus3007

Disclaimer: I do not nor will ever own any rights to Yu Yu Hakusho or any characters/situations/storylines strictly featured in Yu Yu Hakusho.

A small warning: In this fic Hiei and Kurama are ~lovers~. If this sort of thing really bothers you, I suggest you stop where you are. I expect no flames regarding this aspect of my story because you have been forewarned. This is not hentai.

Thank you for your patience. :-)

Petals Fallen, Blood on Roses

Chapter I - The Fire Of Sunset

The air above the city shimmered and two figures appeared on the roof of a high-rise. So dwarfed by their surroundings that they were not to be noticed by the tiny dots of people swarming around their ordinary lives down below. The difference in the figure's heights was almost comical, but pity the fool who dared to laugh. They seemed completely opposite.

One was tall with a beautiful face and bright green eyes. His red hair flowed around him - nearly down to his waist. He wore a green suit that shone like his eyes and in his right hand he fingered a perfect rose.

The other was dramatically short but you soon forgot his stature when you looked into his face, which spoke of infinite power. His mouth was set in a meaningful line that would just as soon insult you as look at you. His eyes were red and burned with a passionate fire; the flames within leaping with their own life. His black and white hair was spiked upward and actually added about a foot to his overall appearance. A couple strands of his mischievous bangs had fallen over his white bandanna and into his eyes. He wore all black and had his hands shoved deeply in his pockets.

The red headed man turned to the other and spoke to him in a calm, cultured voice. "I think I'll be going away for awhile." The short man did not acknowledge that he heard and continued to stare out at the city. The tall man regarded him thoughtfully.

"Did you hear me, Hiei?" Hiei nodded his head once, slowly, and closed his eyes.

"I heard." He spoke as fast as he nodded, with cynical wisdom in his voice. "But I don't care. I'm not your mother. I can't control your actions." Icy cold. The tall man shifted uncomfortably.

"I only thought I'd tell you. Better to let you know then disappear to nowhere. I knew I could count on you to tell Yusuke, Botan, Koenma..."

"So you wanted me to be your messenger?" Hiei turned quickly to face the man and his eyes flashed. "Am I nothing more to you, Kurama, than a messenger?"

"You're a friend."

"Those aren't the same thing. I'm not a jack of all trades, kitsune, you must pick one."

"You always must make things difficult, don't you?"

"Actually, I'm the simple one. You're the one trying to complicate things. Piling roles on me, making me into anything you want me to be - messenger, killer, traitor, patriot, leader, follower, friend, lover . . . never mind." He turned and walked away towards the other side of the rooftop. Kurama remained where he was, but called after Hiei over his shoulder.

"You will never forgive me. I know that. I know you, Hiei. I'm only asking you to understand." Hiei turned back to face Kurama, loathing on his face.

"Understand what? That you feel you can lead me around and do what you like with me?"

"Hiei-chan . . ."

"Don't call me that!"

"You're my best friend . . ."

"Maybe at one time . . ."

"I love you." Silence fell between them and the city pulsed on and drowned out their thoughts.

"What do you know about love? What do you know except for what that slut of a human girl told you in the woods the day I first met you? Love was not made for creatures like you and me. I despise love. My mother loved me, for she loved my father, and yet she still stepped back and let them toss me from the city as the cursed, forbidden child. She killed herself for love of me, but I wanted a living mother to love me, not a dead one in an icy grave. I despise love because I can feel it gnawing at every bone in my body and I can't close my eyes without seeing Yukina, the sister I can't have. I can't close my eyes without seeing you. I think, in fact, I know I love you differently than you love me. Your love is obviously nothing like mine since you can lead me on and make life perfect for a couple of hours or a long weekend and then pretend like nothing happened, call me Hiei-chan, and speak of us being best friends. You want to give the kind of love I don't want to receive. I've lived my whole life without friends, I don't need any now."

"I never told you . . ."

"Don't!"

"I want . . ."

"I don't care!"

"I love you like you want me to, but I'm not right for you!"

"What!?"

"You need more than love! You need someone as solid and steadfast as you are to be happy! I can't make you happy!"

"Yes, you . . ."

"No, Hiei, I can't, and despite my wisdom I can't even understand you. You're like a puzzle with a piece missing. Unsolveable."

"But what about love?"

"You said you despised it."

"I lied."

"You don't lie."

"All criminals lie."

"You're reformed."

"Are you sure?" Kurama looked into Hiei's eyes from his position about 20 feet away.

"Yes."

"Then you understand me better than you think you do, but I don't really despise love. Not the love I feel for you, because it's different from the other kind that I feel. The kind of love I have for the sister that doesn't know we're related and the love I long for from the mother I never knew. Untouchable love. My love for you is very touchable because you're always there at my side, and it will kill me eventually."

"Don't talk like that."

"I can't help it. It's who I am."

"I'm going now."

"Go. I won't stop you." Hiei turned away from him again and watched as the sun made its slow descent. At that last moment of day - when the sun was just a sliver and the whole world blazed with that last moment of extreme golden fire - Hiei turned back around. There was nothing left of Kurama except a solitary bloodstained rose. Hiei fought back tears as he gently picked up the flower. He kissed its satin petals softly with trembling lips and let the dam break. The last moment of sunlight saw Hiei clutching a rose to his chest as he sobbed loudly and sank to his knees on the hard concrete of the roof of a high rise. From a building a block or so away, Kurama stood watching through the fresh tears that stung his own eyes.

He whispered ever so softly, "I'll come back."

On his own rooftop with his back towards his lover, Hiei smiled a little and whispered back, "I'll wait."

Hiei sat on the side of the roof with his feet dangling over the edge for a long time, just looking at the rose he held in his hand. "Is this my fate?" He asked himself as he twirled the stem between his fingers. "a fate so beautiful and simple, yet so horrible that it can be summed up with a single bloody rose?" He sighed. "Okay." He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was back in the spirit world.

Next:

Chapter 2 - Vigilante

In which Hiei learns of a demon bounty hunter who only likes to kill and has a passionate hatred for traitors. Two traitors, in particular, he intends to introduce to the blade of his sword very soon. Hiei visits Koenma and learns this information too late. Too late to stop Kurama from walking away, possibly right into a trap.