The Consequences of Power

Warning: No Sex! Mwuahahahahahaha!

Disclaimer: I swear it’s because of the plot!

Beware: the boiling butter that just got spilled!


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Hiei’s body began to heal. But her mind seemed unwilling to mend.

“Hiei, please eat. Look, I even have this chocolate ganache truffle for desert. Just eat dinner and you can have it. Please eat,” Kurama whispered, holding a tray as he knelt next to the couch, trying to get Hiei to roll over. She spent her days curled up on the couch, facing the leather as though she had nothing else to look at in the world. She wouldn’t eat. When she wasn’t on the couch, she was in the bathroom, scrubbing herself in the shower. She seemed to be trying to scrub the memories off of her skin. Rashes had started to develop along her skin. She was wearing his long sleeve button up shirt and jeans again, as though trying to cover herself up, lest others see where she’d been touched. She wouldn’t let anyone touch her. Kurama brought her meals at every mealtime, working almost feverishly to make new dishes, in search of one that would make her eat. He had taken to skipping class, worried about leaving Hiei alone. She had nightmares now. She slept fitfully, twitching, tossing, and screaming in her sleep. If she woke up alone, she started to sob until Kurama came running to let her know he was there, and no one else.

He set the tray down and went to fiddle around on his computer, sighing. He’d been looking up ways to deal with rape online, and couldn’t find anything remotely helpful. Or at least not anything that would help Hiei without her having to give up a lot of background information to some group or shrink. He lay his head down on the desk. Hiei had had trouble sleeping last night, and he’d had to run in and out of the living room all night to calm her down. Now he was tired too. Most nights were like that. He yawned and wondered what to do about the computer screen being so bright against his eyes…

Hiei was sobbing quietly. Kurama’s eyes snapped open. He sat up, looking at the computer’s clock and grimacing. He’d been out for a few hours. He got up and walked into the living room, sitting next to the couch, holding Hiei’s hand until she quieted. He yawned and shifted to get more comfortable. When his head hit his chest his eyes snapped back open. He’d drifted off again. And now his back was sore. He stood, looking down at Hiei.

“Fuck this couch. And fuck this running back and forth. I’ll bet it hurts your back more than it hurts mine,” he announced, scooping Hiei up in his arms. He ignored her sounds of protest, carrying her into the back.

“I don’t care. I’m not touching you so I can hurt you. I’m taking yousleesleep in my bed. Shut up, I don’t care. I’m too tired to care what fears I invoke by doing this. The bed’s way comfier than the couch,” he explained as he placed her gently on the bed. He pulled the blanket up and over her before crawling under the blanket on the other side.

“S’a king size bed. Go sleep. Room enough for both. Slap me f’I get to close,” he mumbled, yawning again as he rolled over onto his side, losing his ability to form sentences. His eyes started to drift shut.

“s’i’m t’tired t’hurt y’anyways,” he sighed as he drifted back to sleep.


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Kurama rolled over, snuggling back into his blankets in his new position. The sun was trying to annoy him by rising, he was certain. He rubbed his face in the pillow and yawned softly before starting to drift back off. That pillow was awfully warm. And slightly firm. It was so nice…

Small, delicate fingers, wrapped around his neck. Making it awfully hard to breath. He opened his eyes, and was confronted with a rather nice pair of breasts wrapped up in a button up shirt. That was definitely his shirt. Breathing was really a necessity, he decided, looking up at his assailant. She wasn’t even awake, and defending herself. She was much tougher than she thought. He closed his eyes, giving in to the growing darkness. Not a bad way to die, laying on such nice breasts.

“Kurama!”

The fingers let go. He drew in a quiet gasp of breath, waiting for the dizzy feeling to fade. Hiei was shaking him frantically. He really did want to go back to sleep.

“Are you alive? Please don’t be dead! Kurama? You’re alive, right?” she shook him again, worried by how still he was.

“I’m considering being alive,” he said quietly, his eyes still closed. Hiei backed away quickly, biting her lip.

“I’m sorry Kurama, I didn’t realize it was you, I was just,” she started, pulling on her hair nervously. Kurama laughed and rolled back over, settling in for sleep.

“Hiei, never believe that you are not strong. Your little body just about capsized mine in your sleep. And I heard about what you did to Andy. Go back to sleep. I’ll accept your apology, by the way, in the form of you eating in the morning,” he trailed off quietly, drifting back into sleep.

Hiei stared at him for a long time. He didn’t think she was weak? Had she actually just nearly killed him in her sleep? She felt conscious for the first time since that night of herself. She was hungry. She had so many questions that she had to ask before she could settle her mind. She was burning up in those clothes.

She stripped them off and crawled back under the blanket with a yawn.

Kurama’s bed was far more comfy than the couch.


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Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam!

Kurama wiped his eyes, finding himself in front of the door. He opened it while yawning, and when he saw that it was just Evil, he walked over to the couch and threw himself down on it. Evil made himself at home, shutting the door behind him as he walked into the kitchen. Kurama scratched his chest and yawned again. He was fucking tired. He heard the shower running in the bathroom and frowned.

“Fucking Hiei’s in the shower again,” he announced unhappily. He’d thought he’d made some kind of progress last night. Too much to hope for.

“I know,” Evil replied, playing around in the kitchen. “She said to knock hard because you were still asleep and she’d be in the shower when I got here.”

Kurama shook his head, as though doing so would clear the confusion that statement had caused.

“She what?” he asked incredulously, sitting up and looking towards the kitchen. Hiei left the bathroom and entered his bedroom, shutting the door. That was different. She was usually dressed in his shirt and jeans, the same set every day, when she left the bathroom. Evil was grinning as he came out of the kitchen with a tray of plates, setting them on the coffee table.

“She called me, and told me, in English, that she was using Babel Fish, that she was hungry, you were asleep, and when I brought her some food—please, she said—to knock hard because she’d be in the shower,” he explained, waving to the plates. “For you I have a salad, you pussy, and a sprite. For myself and the lady, two one pound burgers with the works, two big boxes of fries, and two apple tarts. And a special treat for the lady, a chocolate shake!” He grinned as he set the shake on the tray, winking at Kurama. Kurama was staring at the plates in utter astonishment.

“She’s hungry?” he asked, taking in the gigantic hamburgers. Hiei appeared in the hallway, looking at him nervously. She was wearing a simple baby tee and jeans set from the department store. Those jeans were quite formfitting, he noticed. Her hair was actually brushed. She stood nervously, shifting from bare foot to bare foot. He tilted his head at her.

“Hey, Hiei… I hear tell this pile of cow is for you,” he said lightly, trying not to frown at the nervous look on her face. She stared at her feet for a moment, and then seemed to decide it was time to ask.

“Are you mad at me? About… being so weak? For… letting them… do that… to me?” she asked finally, looking at the couch rather than at him. He frowned then, getting up and walking over to her. She looked up at him with wide eyes as he towered over her, frowning down into her face. Perhaps she’d been right, and he was angry after all. Perhaps she’d just reminded him of his anger. Her eyes shimmered lightly with tears—until he took her hands in his, holding them to his chest.

“I want you to remember something. You are not weak. And that was not your fault—by any means. If we were not under oath not to kill humans… things would have been differently dealt with. As is… I at least can dream of ripping them to bits for what they have done to you. Do not bring it up again until you believe me when I say you could not have helped it. And please accept my apologies for the way I treated you, I was wrong. Terribly wrong,” he frowned, the guilt surging up again to take him. Hiei squeezed his hands, causing him to look back into her eyes. She nodded.

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking down at the ground again. She looked back up at him. “When you said… that I’d taken your heart… what did you mean?” She searched his eyes. He felt his face turn slightly red, and found it was his turn to examine his carpet. A nice carpet.

“I… I meant that I… damn, it’s hard to say… I think I lo—“ he was interrupted by Evil clearing his throat quite loudly, and realized they’d been speaking in Japanese, holding each other’s hands in a most private way for several minutes. Taking her hands back from his grasp and looking over his shoulder, Hiei smiled at Evil. She grinned a rather predatory grin as her eyes focused on the burgers. She looked back at Evil, who patted the seat next to him on the couch. Kurama sat on her other side, eyeing his salad forlornly. He may have made an exception to his dislike of hamburgers for one of those gigantic, tasty looking ones. Hiei snatched up the burger and set into it. Evil and Kurama raised their eyebrows as she growled lowly, causing her to blush all the way up to her hairline. She glared over the hamburger when they started to laugh, and deliberately continued to tear it up, as though daring them to say another word.

Kurama picked at his food, contemplating what he’d almost said to Hiei. He was fairly certain it was true. But Hiei was… a guy? Wasn’t she? He frowned at the lettuce in his salad bowl, setting it down and rubbing his temple. Evil started to braid Hiei’s hair, and was rewarded by a soft purr as he gently stroked the long black mass. Kurama stared at the ceiling. Hiei was… different, yes… but somehow still the same. Perhaps this was just a side of him he’d never seen before? He couldn’t see Hiei changing too much when he regained his body. Only… he wasn’t gay, was he? He’d never thought himself the type to like a guy. He closed his eyes and wondered if he could sneak off for another nap. Thinking about this was really more tiring than anything else he could imagine.