Nemesis

The First Step Is Admittance
By cillaxox


Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters used within this story.

Kuwabara was busy digging through the bushes in search of a hidden treasure of sorts. The previous day he came across Hiei writing a letter. When he questioned the demon about it he tossed the paper over his shoulder and walked away. So here he was looking through a multitude of bushes in hopes of finding it. After almost an hour of being hit in the face with small branches and scratched with prickly leaves he finally found the crumpled ball. He leaned up against the brick wall that surrounded the bushes and read the letter. He reread it at least five times before he finally believed the written words. He walk back to the apartment he shared with his sister and once safely locked inside his bedroom he began reading the letter again. It took him one hour to come to a decision about what to do. He removed a pen from his desk drawer and wrote underneath Hiei’s signature, 'Ditto' then signed his name. He left the apartment again and followed a faint energy signal. As he made his way into a wooded area outside of town the signal grew strongest when he approached the trunk of a large tree. Even though the tree was empty he knew when night came it would be occupied once more. He picked up a heavy rock off the ground and climbed the tree. After he reached the appropriate limb he placed the now folded letter on the branch and set the rock on top of it. He leapt out of the tree then headed in the direction of home, wondering what kind of the reaction the letter would provoke.

When Hiei returned to his tree for the night he could tell somebody had been there. He knew who it was, so he wasn’t worried only annoyed. “Presumptuous fool,” he muttered as he leapt into his temporary home.

As he landed on the rough bark of the tree he noticed the makeshift paperweight. He kicked the rock to the ground and picked up the haphazardly folded rectangle. He unfolded it and recognized the words on the paper as his own. He briefly scanned over the sentences he knew by heart. His eyes eventually fell upon the familiar handwriting underneath his own.

‘What does he mean by ditto,’ he wondered as he placed the letter in one of his pockets. He settled against the mighty tree and willed himself to rest, but his mind was too busy racing with questions. He banged his head against the bark of the tree and said aloud, “Stupid human language! Why do they have to have so many words?”

Hiei stayed awake most of the night pondering the meaning of the unfamiliar word. The only conclusion he could come to was he needed more information. When the sun broke the horizon he had come up with what he thought to be a clever plan for deciphering the meaning of the unfamiliar word.

Several hours later the determined demon made his way over to the house of Kurama. He discreetly leapt up to the bedroom window, tried to open it and was relieved to find it unlocked. He slipped inside and seeing that the room was empty he made himself comfortable while he waited for the young red head to return. The sound of the doorknob turning startled him. He instinctively put his hand on the hilt of his sword and eyed the door cautiously. He didn’t relax until he saw Kurama walk in.

His friend gave him a warm smile, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I was in the neighborhood,” he replied with a smirk.

Kurama walked over to his desk chair and sat down motioning for Hiei to take the bed. He was no fool, he knew the fire apparition was there for a reason. Until he could figure out what it was he decided to play along.

For a while they didn’t speak. The sly fox knew if he wanted to discover the truth behind the unexpected meeting he needed to get the other demon talking. Pretending to act like he believed his friend just stopped by for a visit he said, “The weather has been quite nice lately.”

Hiei nodded his head in agreement, but said nothing.

“The sun has been shining and the sky clear.” Continuing to string his friend along Kurama announced, “This weather will be good for the local flowers.”

Hiei rolled his eyes in disinterest. He could not tolerate talking about such insipid things. Suddenly it clicked in his mind the word ditto must be mean dislike or disgust. His ears perked up a little as he felt an opportunity for him use the word would come soon.

Kurama noticed the slight change in his friend’s posture. A small smile crept across his lips as he thought, ‘I’m getting closer.’ He turned around to face Hiei as he told him, “The flowers here are so beautiful. I really like them.”

The fire apparition leaned forward and seized his chance. “Ditto.”

That one word proved to be too much for the redhead. He tried to turn his back on the demon before he started laughing, he didn’t make it. He laughed long and hard. In between his laughs he would repeat ditto over and over again.

The fire demon felt his right eye twitching. He regretted saying what he did, but it was too late to take it back now. He watched as his ally dropped his head on the desktop and banged his fist against it. He reacted the only he knew how to what he perceived as flagrant disrespect, he drew his sword and pointed at the human’s fragile neck.

Even with the razor sharp blade against his throat Kurama still managed to snicker. “Put that away.”

Reluctantly sheathing his sword the apparition asked, “What is so amusing?”

Just thinking about it made the boy want to laugh again, but he resisted the urge. “Do you know what the word ditto means?”

Sitting back down on the bed the demon admitted in a low voice, “I thought I did that’s why I used it.”

Kurama went over to his bookshelf and removed a paperback book. “This is a dictionary. I suggest the next time you want to know the definition of a word you look it up in this rather than using it in a sentence.” He tossed the book over to Hiei and watched as he flipped through the well-thumbed pages. Interrupting his friend's mindless page turning the fox told him, “It’s spelled d-i-t-t-o.”

“I know how to spell,” Hiei hissed as he turned to correct page. His right eye twitched again as he read the definitions of the word ditto the one that really caught his attention was the one that read: copy; repeat; echo. “I have to go.” He quickly disappeared taking the dictionary with him.

Kurama shut the window after his friend’s hasty retreat. He returned to his desk to start on his homework, but in the back of his mind he wondered about what was going on with his friend.

A short time after Hiei left Kurama’s bedroom through the window he was attempting to enter Kuwabara’s room in the same fashion. This time the window was locked. He peered through the glass and spotted the boy napping. He tapped on the pane until the sleeping form was awake.

Kuwabara sat up on the bed blinking his eyes sleepily. He noticed a pair of intense red eyes staring at him. He crawled out of bed and walked slowly over to the window, after opening it Hiei climbed inside. Stretching and yawning loudly he asked, “What do you want?”

The apparition stepped closer and glared menacingly at the tall human. “I want to know what’s the meaning of this?” He reached into a pocket and removed the battered letter. He threw it at his companion. “How dare you steal from me?!”

The previously sleepy human was wide-awake and full of anger. “I’ve never stole anything in my entire life and I’m not about to start with a stupid letter. You threw it away on what just so happened to be public property.” The pair stared at each other, their eyes and minds locked in a match of wills. The young man was the one to break the icy silence. “If you didn’t want me to see it you shouldn’t have written it.”

For the briefest second the demon’s stony countenance faltered. “It was a mistake. It was written in a moment of weakness and it won’t happen again.” He snatched the letter away with every intention of burning it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. At least not until his questions were answered.

The tall redhead ran his hand over his hair and sat down on his bed. After a few moments Hiei hesitantly joined him. The spiky-haired demon reached into his other pocket and removed his new dictionary. Upon finding the page he was looking for he held it up in front of Kuwabara’s face. Pointing a slim finger at the definition in question he demanded to know, “Is this the meaning you had in mind when you wrote it on that letter?”

The youth stared at his feet for long time before he finally said, “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

“Why?”

Shrugging his shoulders the human answered, “I don’t know. I guess the same reason you did, I had a moment of weakness.” Silence fell over them again as each planned their next course of action. “You know I’m not mad at you for writing that, right?”

Hiei said with an angry scowl, “I don’t care if you aren’t. I’m mad at myself for doing it.”

The youth wrung his hands nervously. “I’m kinda glad you did.”

“Don’t you listen? I told you I don’t care what you think.”

“Why do you always have to act like a jerk? I’m trying to open up here and all you do is push me away. You wrote such nice things about me in that letter, but in person you treat me like I’m less than dirt. You don’t make any sense Hiei. I wish just once you’d tell me how you really felt about me.”

“Confusion fills the room,” the fire demon murmured rather cryptically.

Taking the remark as an insult the young man hollered, “I’m not confused! I know what’s going on, you’re acting like a jerk as usual!”

“Not you idiot! I’m talking about myself. Whenever I see you I get confused. Part of me wants to kill you while the other half wants not to kill you.”

“I feel the same way about you too. Except I just want to punch you in the face.”

The fire apparition crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his companion. “I don’t like being confused. I get this way only when around you. This is entirely your fault!”

“Geez, you sure do know how make a guy feel good.”

Hiei paced around the floor. He stopped in front of a black school bag then kicked it across the room.

Kuwabara rose to his feet and shouted, “Cut it out! Just because you’re pissed off it doesn’t give you the right to kick my stuff.” The black figure grunted and sat on the floor leaning on the wall. The youth regained his composure. “Where do we go from here?”

From his new seat the demon said, “We don’t do anything, because nothing happened nor will ever happen.”

The dejected human responded, “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

“Yes it does.”

“Why? We both feel the same. There’s nothing wrong with caring about some one. Why do you always have to be so cold?”

“Do you think this easy for me? Don’t you get it? It’s hard for me to be with you.”

Kuwabara looked at the demon like he was talking tongues. “That made absolutely no sense.”

Hiei gave the human his coolest look. “What do you expect from after spending so much time with you?”

The frustrated boy forced out laugh. He walked over the hunched form and sat down next him. He lightly held one the small hands. He wasn’t sure if his touch would be welcomed or not.

The sullen demon told him, “Trust me, you don’t want this.”

“Don’t waste your time telling me what I do and don’t want shrimp, cause I already I know I want you.”

The imposing figure who always spoke boldly stammered, “I…want…you too…Kazuma.” The kind-hearted boy tightened his grip on the tiny hand and felt Hiei’s skin heat up even more than it already was. “Don’t do this.”

Kuwabara felt empowered by the demon’s confession. He used his free hand to tilt Hiei’s head back. He leaned his head down and gently met the apparition’s soft lips. He pulled back for a brief moment and whispered, “Remember you started this.”

The pair gently pressed their lips together. Kuwabara kissed the fire demon with confidence while Hiei hesitantly returned the soft touches. They wrapped their arms around each other tightly and kissed one another with a fierce intensity. The three-eyed demon was hot to the touch. His body temperature reflected the passion he was feeling inside. Hiei pushed the human boy away and stood up. He wasn’t used to feeling such strong emotions and it scared him.

“Didn’t you like it?”

The black bundle nodded his head yes.

“Then why did you make me stop?”

“I don’t think I can handle this yet Kazuma. And before you ask, no it’s not because of you.” Hiei picked up the letter that started it all. He looked it over then put it in the young man’s hand. “I want you to keep this. Remember I really did mean what I wrote.”

Kuwabara put his hands on the demon’s shoulders and pulled him close. “I don’t want this to be the end.”

Hiei gently pulled away and headed towards the window. He looked over his shoulder; the corners of his lips were slightly upturned. “Ditto.” He leapt out the window leaving an overjoyed Kuwabara in his wake.