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~~STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!~~
Chapter Five
Kurama smiled as Hiei looked around his apartment with almost child-like curiosity. "You've been here before, many times, but you wouldn't remember." He flinched as the sanjiyan looked at him with a hurt look. "Gomen..."
Hiei sighed softly, shrugging. "I know what you meant. This place is...familiar..." He sighed. "I wish I had my memories..." He sat in the chair opposite of Kurama and looked at him, his innocent crimson eyes piercing the fox. "Would I want to remember, or am I better off without my memories?"
The fox winced inwardly. How can I answer a question like that..? Hiei watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer. "I don't know, Hiei. No one likes every second of their lives. But your memories make you who you are..."
The fire demon looked away. "Then I'm nobody."
Kurama stared at him. "No! You're very important!" At least...to me... "I'm just not sure if it'd be safe for you to stay without your memories...you have a lot of people who have grudges against you. Some who would even want you dead. If you don't remember them, how can you protect yourself?"
Hiei looked at Kurama, and the fox flinched as he saw the inner pain in the boy's face. "Am I that horrible of a person to have so many enemies..?"
Kurama shook his head. "Most of them hate you for something you have no control over. Others you just crossed accidentally, in an effort to surivive. I don't know all of your past, but I know that you eventually stopped caring who you hurt. Then you changed when you came to the Ningenkai. You don't try to hurt people for the hell of it anymore. But I don't know you completely. You usually hide behind a mask."
"I don't understand..." Hiei whispered. "You're saying that I'm a bad person, but it's not my fault..?"
"Yes...no...I don't know!" The fox threw his hands up in frustration. "Hiei, you don't talk much to anybody, not even me usually, so I don't know you're whole past. Most of it I know from rumors and pieced together facts and things you've said. But I don't blame you for hiding behind a mask. I was once the same way until I came to the Ningenkai. But sometimes I wish you'd take that mask off and talk to me." Kurama looked at the clock. "Look, Hiei, it's midnight. How about we get some rest and we can start trying to get your memory back tomorrow?"
Hiei looked at him for a moment, remaining silent. Then he nodded. "Okay...But what if I don't want to get my memory back?"
Kurama froze, his smile fading. Hiei without his memory..? Then he wouldn't be Hiei...Not the Hiei I... He stopped the thought and forced himself to smile at the boy in front of him. "Why don't you sleep on it?"
The boy nodded tiredly. "Okay, Kurama."
The fox led Hiei into the bedroom and handed him a t-shirt, leaving the boy alone briefly to change. He grinned as he re-entered the room. The shirt was so long on Hiei that it reached the middle of his calves. The sleeves nearly reached his wrists. And the neckline was nearly slipping off his shoulders, revealing the fire demon's sexy, well-muscled chest. Down, youko! "I'll tuck you in." It was rather obvious that the fox couldn't sleep with Hiei. His youko half was too aroused by the sight of Hiei in that shirt. Kurama covered Hiei with a blanket gently.
He was about to turn around when Hiei called his name. "Kurama?" The fox smiled at him. The fire demon touched the bandages on his forehead and arm. "Why do I have these on? Am I hurt?"
Kurama sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Those aren't bandages, Hiei. They're wards. The one on your forehead keeps your third eye shut. You mustn't remove it right now or it will kill you. The other one holds the kokoryuha. The same goes for that one. Do you understand?" Hiei nodded, his brow furrowed worriedly. Kurama smiled. "Don't worry. Nothing can happen as long as you keep the wards on. Go to sleep." The fox rose and turned off the light. "Goodnight, Hiei. Sleep well."
"G'night K'rama." Kurama smiled as he realized that his friend was already mostly asleep. He curled up on the comfortable chair he had in the room and extended his ki to scan the area for signs of youki and alert him if any came into the area. That alarm set up, the fox fell asleep.
Hiei awoke early the next morning, before Kurama. He lay there, gazing at the ceiling, thinking. The look the redhead had given him the night before when he had commented on possibly not wanting his memory back crossed his mind. The look had been one of fear...Kurama wanted Hiei's memory to return. The only question left was...why? The boy was jerked out of his reverie as Kurama moaned in his sleep, having a nightmare.
He got up to wake the redhead, but stopped cold as Kurama whispered Hiei's name in his sleep. "Hiei, please don't leave me...Don't die...Please don't die. Ai...Ai shiteru, Hiei...No...Onegai! Wake up! Matte...onegai...Hiei..." The redhead trailed off with an agonized sob. Hiei unfroze, swallowing hard as he realized that he had his answer. He shook Kurama, waking him. "Kurama? You were having a nightmare."
The redhead slid to the floor, breathing heavily. Then he looked up sharply. "Did I say anything?"
Hiei kept his face blank. "No. You were just moving around a lot...and making weird noises..."
Kurama nodded, looking relieved. Then he smiled at Hiei. "How about some breakfast." He left the room, not waiting for Hiei's answer, and headed toward the kitchen. The fire demon stayed still for a few seconds before following him. He watched as the redhead quickly cooked a delicious meal of fish, vegetables, and ramen. When they were finished, Kurama smiled at him. "We need to go to Genkai's again. Boton may have come up with a way to get your memory back...You do want it back...ne?"
Hiei searched Kurama's face. The redhead was concealing his emotions well, but his eyes gave him away. He was afraid...no, terrified of the possibility of losing the Hiei that he knew...and loved... Did I love him too? Or was I a cold-hearted bastard..? Finally, the fire demon nodded. "I think so..." He watched as relief flooded Kurama's eyes. "Will...will Boton know what to do..?"
Hiei winced inwardly as the fearful look returned to the green eyes. "I...I don't know..." He watched as those eyes hardened with steely resolve. "But we'll find out. Let's get dressed and jet, ne?"
Kurama sighed as they walked toward Genkai's temple. Hiei had been acting strange since they had woken up, and the fox wasn't sure why. He smiled suddenly. Maybe Hiei had begun to get his memory back. He was acting semi-normal...at least for him.
"There are a lot of steps," Hiei commented after a while.
"Hai." The fox grinned, his green eyes twinkling with amusement. "But you usually don't use them."
Hiei glanced at him, his crimson eyes confused. "How else would I get up there..?"
Kurama chuckled softly. "You jump from tree to tree. You're very good at that. And very fast." Hiei frowned and nodded. They continued in silence.
They had almost reached the top of the stairs when Kurama sensed it. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he realized that there was an unknown youkai headed toward them. K'so! Why doesn't the kekkai ever work?! He shoved Hiei behind him and called his Rose Whip. Then he yelled. "Yuuuusuke!!" He had no more time to yell as the youkai he had sensed appeared.
The ten-foot, tentacled S-class leered down at him. "Give us the Forbidden One and you may live." More youkai jumped from the forest.
Kurama shoved Hiei further behind him. "Never!"
The original S-class clucked at him and attacked. Kurama dodged, pulling Hiei with him, then lashed out with his Rose Whip. The demon caught it and smirked at him, then yanked as hard as it could. Kurama, unprepared for the move, was yanked forward, leaving Hiei unprotected. "Hiei! Run!"
The fire demon looked at him, wide-eyed, then turned to run up the steps. Too late, the other demons grabbed him, laughing as they roughed him up. Hiei struggled, looking at Kurama with terror-filled eyes. "Kurama!"
Kurama stopped as the demons threatened the boy, looking into Hiei's eyes. The fire demon's eyes warned him, too late to duck as a tentacle lashed out. The redhead went crashing into a tree. The last thing he saw as his vision blurred was Hiei's terrified face, calling his name. Then everything went dark.
Kurama awoke with a start, sitting up quickly. He regretted the action immediately as he gained a splitting headache. "Kurama, what happened?" Yuusuke's voice reached him.
The fox waited for his eyes to focus. "We were attacked on our way here. By a bunch of S-classes." Kurama's eyes widened. "They have Hiei! We have to go after them!"
Yuusuke sighed, looking at Kuwabara, then at Keiko, who was holding a worried-looking Yukina. "Kurama...What are the chances that Hiei is alive?"
Kurama looked away, swallowing hard. "Very good, actually...They wanted him alive." He looked up to see Yukina staring at him in horror, knowing exactly what that meant. "And in the Makai, that isn't necessarily a good thing. In fact, it's probably worse than death..."
Yuusuke looked at the floor, rage glittering in his brown eyes, understanding Kurama's meaning immediately. Yukina sobbed, Keiko quickly joining her in the action as she realized what Kurama meant. Kuwabara's eyes widened slightly. "What exactly do you mean?" he whispered, not sure if he wanted to know.
Kurama didn't look at him. "It means that Hiei has probably been...used..."
Kuwabara stared at him for a full minute before what he meant sank in. "Nani?! But...that's..." He trailed off. After a few moments, he spoke again, his voice very quiet. "I agree with Kurama. We have to go after him."
Yuusuke got to his feet slowly, death written in his features. "You said they were S-class demons?" Kurama nodded bleakly. Raizen's heir nodded. "That means we'll have to sneak in and out quietly, if possible." The boy looked up, and the others all took involuntary steps back at the pure rage in his eyes. "Kurama, when we reach them, you're going to go youko and get him while we cause some chaos." He stalked toward the door.
"Matte...Yuusuke. There's another thing you should know..." Yuusuke stopped and looked at Kurama. "I think I know why Hiei was targeted."
Yuusuke turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. "Go on."
Kurama sighed. "He was working on something for Mukuro. Someone found a way to cloak S-class signitures to make them look like A-class signitures. That may have been the group that attacked us."
"So they took him because of a stupid investigation?!" Yuusuke's eyes flashed dangerously. "They're dead."
Keiko braved his look and touched his shoulder. "Yuusuke...be careful...Don't do anything stupid."
Yuusuke glared at her, pulling out of her grasp. He looked at Kurama. "Let's go before they hurt him." He stalked out the door, Kuwabara following closely.
We're already too late to prevent that, Kurama thought as he rose and hurried after Yuusuke and Kuwabara.. I just hope we get there before they get tired of him and decide to kill him...
I couldn't help it. I made it yaoi. And angst. ::sighs:: And to think I was going to make this one kind of nice... Oh well! Things don't always go as planned...probably 'cuz I don't plan much...
On to Chapter Six
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