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~~STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!~~
"I wish I could slow down the hands of time
Keep things the way they are
If she said so, I would give her the world
If I could, I would
My love and my laughter
From here ever after
Is all that she says that she needs
Friend and companion
I can always depend on
My mother, that's who I mean..."
~My Mother, The Chipettes
Chapter 12
Yukina hugged her brother gently, then smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it. "I'm glad you forgave Kurama, 'Niisan." She hugged Kurama as well. "You are truly my brother's soul mate, Kurama. I'm glad that he has someone who cares so deeply for him."
Kurama smiled at the Koorime. "Thank you for everything, Yukina. We'll see you soon."
Kuwabara cleared his throat and looked at Kurama, conveying his feeling in his facial expression. Kurama smiled in understanding and nodded.
Kuwabara glanced at Hiei. The fire demon's face was turned in his general direction, but his eyes were frighteningly unfocused. Kuwabara avoided them and clapped Hiei on the shoulder lightly. He winced as the short youkai stumbled slightly, not having expected the move. "Gomen. Hey, get well soon. It'll get boring if I don't get to kick your ass once in a while."
The ningen grinned as Hiei retorted. "Only in your dreams, baka."
Kuwabara shouldered Yukina's bag. "Ja, Kurama, Shrimp." The door shut behind him and Yukina.
Kurama scooped Hiei into his arms and kissed him deeply. "Alone at last."
Hiei snorted good-naturedly. "Not that company's ever stopped you, fox. Remember the time your mother was here and you-" Hiei broke off as Kurama let go of him and moved away silently, leaving the fire demon alone and surrounded by an impenetrable sea of darkness. Hiei swallowed hard, not knowing where his lover was. "K-Kurama..?"
Kurama's hand touched his shoulder reassuringly. "Gomen, koibito. I just miss her so much..."
Hiei could tell that the fox was crying, though Kurama was trying to hide it. He hugged his lover gently. "You don't have to apologize, fox. I know how you feel."
Kurama flinched inwardly, hearing the bitterness in the fire demon's voice. Hiei had never even met his mother. He hugged the fire demon tightly. "At least I have you, itooshi." Kurama picked the fire demon up and carried him to the couch, laying down with the little sanjiyan.
Hiei sighed, closing his eyes and relaxing against Kurama. He mumbled something before drifting off to sleep. Kurama smiled as Hiei began to purr softly, then kissed the sanjiyan's brow lightly. "I love you too, Hiei."
Kurama jerked awake as the doorbell rang. He slid away from Hiei, who stirred slightly. "Wha-?"
Kurama caressed Hiei's face lightly. "I'll go get rid of whoever that is." Hiei nodded and settled back again. The fox smiled and brushed his lips over the fire demon's forehead, then hurried to get the door. Kurama opened the door, then recoiled slightly as he saw who was there.
Shiori smiled at him weakly. "May I come in, Shuuichi?"
Kurama stared at her for a moment, then nodded dumbly. It took him a few moments to regain his voice. "H-hai." His mother stepped in, and Kurama closed the door. He froze as he turned around to find Hiei standing in the hallway. "Hiei..."
The fire demon turned his face toward the fox's voice and frowned. "Who's here, Kurama?"
Kurama flinched and answered reluctantly. "Hiei, it's my 'Kaasan..."
A look of horror crossed over Hiei's face for a split second, before disappearing under a cold and indifferent mask. "I'll leave you alone then." Kurama flinched as Hiei turned on his heel and disappeared into the bedroom, hearing the hurt underneath his lover's monotone.
Shiori watched her son silently. When she had first seen her son's love, with his child-like appearance, she had been ready to turn around and walk out, convinced that her son was a pedophile. When the boy had spoken his voice had belayed his appearance, revealing him to be much older than he looked. "I'm sorry, Shuuichi. I wanted to speak to you, and your stepfather-"
"-Despises me for who I love," Kurama finished softly. "I know. Hiei...is upset. He was attacked when he left, and it left him blind."
Shiori gasped. "Oh, Shuuichi! That's horrible!"
Kurama looked away. "'Kaasan, I know you are disappointed in me, but I would love Hiei whether he were male or female. I'm not really gay. He's...my soul mate..."
"I'm not disappointed, Shuuichi." She sighed. "I actually came to speak to both of you. I owe you two an apology..."
Kurama smiled weakly. "I don't think he'll come out, but I'll ask him. Wait here." He went into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Hiei lay on his back on the bed, a pillow over his face. Kurama sat on the edge of the bed. The fire demon ignored his presence. The fox sighed and lifted the pillow. Hiei turned away. Kurama frowned, staring at the dark marks on the pillowcase. He gathered Hiei in his arms, holding him tightly. The Jaganshi didn't respond. "Hiei, please talk to me."
"Leave me alone, Kurama. You've done enough." Hiei swallowed hard. "I can't leave. I'm stuck here. I'm trapped here, just like you wanted in the first place." Hiei pulled away. "Make her leave, please." he whispered.
"Hiei, she wants to speak to you. She's very upset about what happened!"
"She's only upset because of me. She hates me."
Kurama's frown deepened. "That's not true!" Hiei said nothing. "Onegai, Hiei? Give her a second chance."
Hiei was silent for a long time. "Only because she's your mother, fox."
Shiori looked up as her son entered the living room with his lover. The look on the smaller man's face was enough to tell her that Shuuichi had accomplished a nearly impossible feat in convincing him to come out. Her son motioned toward the kitchen, and Shiori rose and followed him in.
The woman watched her son help his lover sit, then start making tea. Shiori sat across from Hiei. There was an uncomfortable silence while the redhead made tea. Only when he had served them and seated himself next to Hiei did Shiori speak. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hiei." She frowned as the boy gave no sign of having heard. She cleared her throat, carefully keeping her voice normal. "I wanted to apologized for what happened. Had I known...I never would have hurt you and my son like that." Hiei still made no sign that he had heard. "He loves you very much," Shiori continued, "and the fact that you came back, even after what happened, proves that you love him just as much." Shiori smiled as her son's lover shrugged slightly, proving that he had been listening. "I don't care about anything but the happiness of my son and the one he loves. Will you please accept my apology, Hiei-san?" She sighed in relief as Hiei nodded ever-so-slightly. "Arigato."
There was a short silence, less awkward than before. Finally, Shiori spoke again. "Tell me about yourself, Hiei. What are your parents like?"
Hiei narrowly avoided choking on his tea. Kurama winced as the fire demon spoke. "I wouldn't know."
Shiori frowned. "What do you mean?"
Hiei was silent for a moment. "I never met them; they abandoned me at my birth."
Shiori gasped. "Then who raised you?"
Kurama winced again as Hiei shrugged. "A band of thieves."
Shiori's frown deepened. Is he joking..? She decided that his demeanor was too serious for him to be kidding. "Why did your parents abandon you?" she asked him softly.
Hiei turned toward Kurama, and the fox sighed, knowing what he had to do and dreading it. "'Kaasan, we need to talk." He swallowed hard as she looked at him curiously. "This will be difficult, so please let me say everything before you speak." Kurama nervously ran a shaking hand through his hair, then began. "'Kaasan, I have been lying to you for a long time." The redhead sighed again. "'Kaasan...I'm not totally human. I was originally a kitsune youko in the Makai. I was killed by a hunter.
"Instead of allowing my soul to be taken to the Reikai, I escaped from my dying body and entered the Ningenkai, where I took up residence in the womb of a woman who would have miscarried, fusing with the soul of her unborn child. That woman was you, 'Kaasan." Kurama swallowed hard. "You raised me, not knowing who I truly was. At first, I planned on leaving as soon as I could, but you changed me. You gave a heart to a youko who hadn't one, and you taught me what love was." Kurama closed his eyes. "So I decided to stay in the Ningenkai until you died. Then you became ill and were dying. But I didn't want you to die. So I...I stole a Reikai artifact to save you. The Mirror of Utterdark. It would have taken my life in exchange for yours, and I would have given it up happily, but something happened, and I was allowed to live. But even if you hate me for lying, I will always love you as deeply as I always have." The fox stopped and grew a rose from a seed. He handed it to his mother, watching her anxiously.
Shiori was silent for a while. "That was the reason I recovered so suddenly?" The redhead nodded. Shiori smiled. "You were always a strange child, so this doesn't really surprise me much. A very odd truth, yes, but not surprising. And you, Hiei?"
The boy said nothing. Kurama cleared his throat. "His heritage is different. He will tell you if he chooses to." Hiei still said nothing.
Shiori smiled. "Hiei, just speak to me when you're comfortable doing so. I'm not going to push you."
Kurama smiled. "'Kaasan, would you like to stay for dinner?"
Shiori smiled back, nodding. "Your stepfather is out of town on business."
"I need to run to the store." Shiori nodded, watching as her son knelt beside his lover, hugging him gently. The two held a short, whispered conversation. Then they kissed briefly and Kurama left.
Shiori sat with Hiei for a while. Finally, the boy spoke. "I'm sorry you're disappointed. Kurama said you wanted grandchildren..."
Shiori sighed softly. "That's a little disappointing, yes, but the happiness of you and my son is much more important."
Hiei was silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed. "You asked about my parents." Shiori waited, and the boy sighed again. "Like Kurama, I'm a youkai, but a different kind." He paused, then snorted. "Now that I think about it, I'm probably the only one of my kind..." He paused again. "My birth was taboo to my mother's race. My mother was a Koorime, a race of ice demonesses that live in the Koorime Ice City that floats over a mile above the Makai. The Koorime usually reproduce asexually, but they can reproduce with a male. They usually don't because they despise men, so that form of reproduction is taboo.
"My father was a fire demon, which makes my birth even stranger. In the Makai, I'm known as the Forbidden Child. The product of a joining of a fire demon and an ice demoness, a joining which the gods abhorred. Technically, I shouldn't have been born. My birth was an embarrassment to the Koorime; a sign of weakness..."
He trailed off, then spoke again, his voice softer than before. "The Koorime didn't want me to live, so, soon after I was born, they took me to the edge of the city...and threw me off..." Shiori gasped, tears welling up for the boy's suffering. Hiei continued, his voice barely audible. "They didn't expect me to survive the fall because the city is so high up."
Shiori stared at the young man in front of her. "Why?" she whispered, sickened that any being could do something so horrible to an infant.
"I was born," Hiei answered softly. "And, until I met Kurama, I always thought that is was my fault..." A bitter look passed over his face quickly and was gone. "I still would have died of exposure if the band of thieves hadn't found me..."
Shiori spoke hesitantly. "So they raised you?"
Hiei shook his head. "To them, I was just a slave to be ordered around and beaten. I doubt they would have noticed had I died. Or if they did, they wouldn't have cared."
Shiori swallowed hard, feeling horrible. She noticed the fine trembling in Hiei's hands and decided to change the subject. "How did you meet my son?"
Hiei looked grateful. "It was a long time ago. I think his ningen body was ten..." He flushed slightly as he remembered his mistake that day so many years ago. "Somebody had tried to kill me, and I tracked the would-be assassin to the Ningenkai. I mistakened Kurama for one of his henchmen and attacked him. While we were fighting, the youkai I was really looking for attacked me from behind. I woke up in his bed with my wounds tended for. He had defeated the youkai for me and saved my life." Hiei frowned. "Most people would've killed me or left me for ningens to find." He shuddered at the thought.
Shiori noticed his reaction. "Would that have been bad? Having ningens find you?"
Hiei nodded. "We aren't human, so scientists believe that they can experiment on us 'for the good of humanity'. They've even been known to dissect youkai alive..." He shook his head. "The portal back to the Makai closed after me, and it was several years before I was able to leave the Ningenkai. Kurama helped me out and never asked to be paid, and never tried to betray me..." Hiei shrugged. "I'd never been treated kindly before, so I was always a bit suspicious. But he's the only one who's ever treated me kindly."
Shiori rose and walked around the table, kneeling beside the fire demon. He tensed as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Hiei...would you let me be your mother?"
The fire demon's mouth dropped open. "W-what? Why me?"
"You need one," she said softly. "And I don't mind having another son instead of grandchildren."
Hiei couldn't speak. He nodded instead, his heart feeling lighter than it ever had. A tear slid down his cheek and fell to the floor as a tear gem.
Shiori picked it up. "What is this?"
The fire demon flinched. "K-Koorime cry tear gems...And since I'm half Koorime..." He trailed off, unable to continue.
Shiori hugged him gently, and he returned it numbly, hardly daring to believe what had happened. After so many years of wishing, he finally had the one thing he'd always wanted. A mother.
After a few minutes, Shiori released him and poured more tea for the both of them, seating herself next to Hiei. The fire demon's hand shook slightly as he drank the tea.
The front door suddenly opened and Hiei started violently, choking on his tea and spilling it down his front as the teacup slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor. Shiori moved her chair and began to clean up the mess.
Kurama came in and set the grocery bags on the table. "What happened?"
Shiori stood and threw the broken teacup in the trash. "Just a small accident." She turned back to Hiei. "Oh! Your shirt's soaked! Why don't you go change while I clean this up?"
Hiei stood, but winced suddenly, feeling the bottom of his bare foot. The fire demon winced again as he pulled a sliver of glass out. Shiori grabbed a broom and a dustpan and quickly swept the area. "I'm sorry, Hiei. I thought I got it all." She looked at her son. "Shuuichi, dear, help Hiei get cleaned up. I'll start dinner." She smiled knowingly. "Take as long as you need."
Kurama blushed slightly and picked up Hiei, carrying him into the bedroom and locking the door behind them. He felt extremely confused; what had happened while he was at the store? He glanced at Hiei and blinked as he saw the dazed look on his face. He set his lover down on the bed and checked his foot. It was already healing, but the fox wrapped it anyway. He took off Hiei's soaked shirt and sat beside him on the bed. "What happened while I was gone?"
Hiei was silent for a moment. "I told her about the Koorime...About my past...How I met you..." He broke off suddenly and trembled. "She...she asked if she could...be my mother..." The fire demon's voice cracked and he leaned against Kurama.
Kurama hugged his lover tightly, wincing as Hiei trembled in his arms. He couldn't believe that Shiori had been so accepting of everything that had been revealed to her. He pulled away from Hiei and wiped a tear from the fire demon's cheek. "What did you say?"
Hiei flinched. "I'm not a fool," he whispered. "It's what I've always wanted; the only thing I've ever wished for...Why wouldn't I say yes?" He buried his face in Kurama's chest.
Kurama held Hiei for a while, then gently kissed him. "Hiei...I need to welcome you to the family."
Hiei pulled away and glared at him. "Your mother-"
"-Expected it. She told us to take as long as we needed, and I intend to take advantage of that. Besides, company's never stopped me, remember."
Hiei just smirked.
Okay...Nice chapter...I think Thayet's probably died of shock by now...Yes, I can be nice. Scary, ne?
On to Chapter Thirteen
Back to Chapter Eleven
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