Cheat

Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuu Yuu Hakusho, or any of its characters. Those belong to Yoshihiro Togashi-sama, who made a lot more out of them than I ever could have. ^^;; I just do fanfiction for fun, and earn no monetary rewards for writing it. Reviews are, of course, worth as much as silver.

Original summary(for this chapter): Love is absolute. Absolutes corrupt absolutely. What was love, can then be hate, can then be suffering, can then be…

Title: Cheat
Chapter Two: Error
Word Count: 2,148
Anime: Yuu Yuu Hakusho
Pairing: KuramaxYuusuke, implied KuramaxHiei, implied past YuusukexKurama, implied HieixKurama
Warning: Angst, shounen ai
Author: Kita Kitsune
Date: Monday(moon-day!), September 7, 2009
Miscellaneous Notes: Over a year after I posted the first chapter, and here’s the second. Now, now, don’t get your hopes up… this isn’t a multi-chapter, by any stretch of the imagination. I think I’ll be done with this fic, here. Just felt like doing a tiny little KuramaxYuusuke—after all, it is one of my OTPs—that happened to sort-of link-up with the previous chapter(barely), so I decided to put it here instead of making it into another one-shot. :3

I guess reviews would be nice(although, with something this short, I can’t bring myself to care about it, too much… x.o;;;).

: : : : : : :

Endless, endless, endless, endless…

Existence calls to us, but do we hear?

A garden’s in harmony, with variety everywhere—

Why can’t humanity be more like plants… ?

: : :

“Yuusuke!” That cry was choked, despairing and desperate all rolled into one entreating call. Fine fingertips splayed against the wood of the door, his form collapsed against it, breath hitching against the smooth surface.

“Yuusuke! Let me in!” Silence was all that greeted him, for a bare moment—and then, suddenly, the ballast he was leaning on was wrenched away and he just managed to avoid falling into the threshold of the door before him. The kitsune did stumble, resulting in a piercingly sorrowful gaze bearing up on hard chocolate from beneath wayward, windswept scarlet. Out of habit, a smile tugged at his lips, and he parted them to speak—

“I don’t want to hear a fucking word out of your lying mouth.” The comment caused him to start, then wince, gaze falling off to the side. He deserved this…

“I…” That voice was too-soft, too-numb, to be his own… “I… apologize. It was my—“

“You fucking ran away, Kurama!” That statement was as good as bellowed, and he didn’t fight as strong fingers wrapped around his wrist, dragging him up to better view the rage simmering in those brown depths… eyes he knew so well… now lit with fury and revulsion as they landed upon him.

He didn’t deny it…

“You fucking ran away! I told you it didn’t mean anything! I told you it was an accident, and you forgave me, you bastard!”

It was all true… He turned his face, carmine strands shielding the sight of it.

He’d been a fool… a moment of weakness…

That hand gripping his own suddenly thrust him away, and he landed roughly on the sopping cement just outside the brunet’s apartment. Yuusuke’d long ago moved from his mother’s home… long ago… not so long ago, he could remember coming here—days and days, memories and memories of laughter, the group, Kuwabara-kun and the girls…

Or just the two of them…

”Damn, Kurama, wait up!” Loud laughter, brash footsteps echoing down the corridor. He graced his companion with a charming smile, having finished working the lock and easily stepped inside, avoiding the full-on tackle his teenage friend had attempted to spring on him.

“Dammit—~!” But there was laughter behind that curse, a boisterous smile as Yuusuke recovered, rubbing the mark on the bridge of his nose that marked the brunt of where he’d fallen, a grin eating up his expression as he observed the stoic fox—amusement politely hidden behind a warm pair of emerald hues, silence and a knowing smile all that greeted his comment for a mere moment before an innocent tone rang out, almost offhanded in its inflection as the fox made to turn, to enter the abode.

“Why, I haven’t the faintest idea as to what you refer, Yuusuke. I was merely opening the door for you…”

“Damn fox!” He lunged at the redhead, surprised when he actually met warmth, this time, a melodic array of light laughter following their descent until he had the fox pinned beneath him, inadvertently… and then he just stared, just watched as his friend gazed fondly up at him, crimson tresses splayed out on the rug and mirth dancing in the verdant oculars…

Anger. It pulsed in those roan depths, fed and circled like a dying jaguar. The kitsune managed another fragile smile, picking himself up from the cold stone, mind absently jutting off elsewhere…

To think, that as much as he loved him, before… Yuusuke could hate him so, now.

“I apologize.” That tone was cool, unaffected. Distant. An aloof gaze took in his friend, an unfelt smile playing at his lips.

“It is of my own blame, that it occurred. Do not blame him.” As expected, another emotional yell greeted his calm statement.

“I wasn’t fucking blaming Hiei! I was blaming you! You fucking ran, Kurama!”

“I believe you’ve stated that.” The youko tipped his head, just slightly, allowing the slightest bit of warmth to creep into his gaze. It was better, now. He could mask, better. With the initial… meeting out of the way—he had felt out precisely what Yuusuke still felt, and it was clear the other’s stance had not changed, at all. A foolish notion, on his part… to give into such a desperate urge, in the middle of the night. What had he expected? Had he expected open arms and soft comfort?

He did not deserve to be forgiven…

That curve across his countenance grew a hint brighter, optics even going so far as to half-moon, in a disarming look. He did not need to see, to know the frown that now pulled at the tantei’s expression.

“I am glad you are doing so well, Yuusuke.” Quietly, without rushing, he turned, placing his back to the other standing in the threshold of his door. It had been a mistake to come here… he knew well enough never to give into that urge, again, now. The redhead let his gaze wander, tipping up over the cloudy sky overhead. It had stopped raining, on his way over here… and it looked as though it would start again, on his way back. Heading off a comment he almost heard, the kitsune glanced over his shoulder, expression still painted in that habitual warm incarnation of itself.

“I apologize for my intrusion. Please, pay it no mind.”

Without a glance back, he began to stride away. He was aware of Yuusuke’s eyes on the back of his head—at least until the point his senses took note of the door closing—and so did not dare another glance behind him, until the apartment complex was out of sight.

How foolish of him…

: : :

“Damn…” The teen moved back into his single-room apartment, slumping down on the bed and figiting in his jeans for a smoke. Once found, the cancer stick was placed between tiers and lit. This accomplished, he closed the lighter, then tossing it onto the old metal table taking up residence in the middle of the small room. Inhaling deeply, he checked the thin cylinder between fingers, flopping back onto the mattress with a simultaneous sigh, expelling a lung-clogging cloud of soot into the air overhead.

He stared at the ceiling, for a while.

What had Kurama been thinking? They’d been over, for years now…

What had the fox been thinking, to come here?

Sure they were still ‘friends’, after all that… well, actually they were barely friends, scarcely saw or talked to each other anymore, but he’d always assumed it was rather amicable…

What the fuck.

The brunet rolled over onto his side, taking another drag of the cigarette, thick brows knitting together in thought.

It was amazing, really, how that stupid redhead could still get him all riled up, merely by showing his face. That stupid grin… that stupid smile. Did Kurama really think he fooled anyone with that crap, anymore? Did anyone actually buy that smile of his, at this point?

“Ch’…” Dumb-ass youko. What had he expected? Yuusuke’d learned, long ago, not to trust anything that damn kitsune said…

: : :

It had started raining. How… unprepared, of him…

The fox stood in the rain, gazing up through what he could see of the trees, behind the bangs plastered to his forehead. Rain was so lovely. He could feel the forest humming and singing to the beat of the raindrops, around him…

To think, they had come so far…

An idle smile snuck out onto his face, to that thought.

Yes, yes. They had come so far… only to drown, near the end. They had overcome Yuusuke’s one flaw—that cheating night, while he was overseas in China, at the martial arts tournament—… or, he had thought they’d overcome it. The kitsune’d never blamed Yuusuke for that small indiscretion, and all was the same as it had been, before…

What, then—had so prompted him to ruin his own paradise by allowing himself to become conflicted over Hiei?

Perhaps… that Hiei seemed to be around, more and more, when Yuusuke seemed either too busy with the shop…

Ah, and yes… the fights. Nearly every conversation they had had, at that time, ended up growing into an argument. He enjoyed the banter, the back-and-forth, but Yuusuke… it had been tearing him apart, inside. Of course, had the fox been aware of this, he would have tried to remedy the situation…

But then… he wasn’t really aware that he teased, was he? It was a built-in, playful, mindful trick that always seemed to draw people closer… but, perhaps—he’d been mistaken? Perhaps for Yuusuke, the teasing had been too much… perhaps the flaws that Yuusuke believed existed within himself were not strong enough to take the teasing on such a daily basis, harmlessly as it might have been meant…

A soft laugh, the sound lost amid the rushing rain, escaped him, and he found himself falling to his knees.

How foolish of him… to still believe in love, after all his years alive.

How Kuronue’s loss, how Yomi’s destruction, how Hiei’s stoniness should have taught him…

Love never lasted.

It was such a human ideal, after all—bless them.

Bless them, and their short lives, so they would never see the end of the love they shared with others of their species...

: : :

He couldn’t remember when he’d dozed off, but he was jarred to wakefulness rather suddenly by an irate presence on his bed, and a sharp shout grating on his ears.

“Detective!” The brunet grumbled, moving around and rubbing an eye, creaking it open only to find the venomous stare of his former team mate bearing down, fiercely, upon him. Red eyes were smoldering, angry and piss-off—

“Mnnnnn… Hiei? Ugh, what’re you doing, it’s…”

“Where’s Kurama.” That voice was low, hazed with precise, deadly rage.

“Huh?” He blinked, blearily, still trying to clear the fuzzed image of three sets of annoyed red eyes from his vision. Pale hands snagged in his T-shirt, dragging him up from the bed and the mattress complained, squeaking as the petite fire youkai shook him, shouting practically in his ear.

“You fool! Where’s Kurama! He came to see you, his presence, his youki is all over the door—” Yuusuke squinted, trying to remember… oh, yeah! Before—was that tonight, then?

“Oh! Yeah, he came by, earlier, but he left pretty soon after that…” The brunet mumbled, head canting off to the side, trying to fall back into the embrace of the bed. The hankoorime let him, even though he was still obviously seething with rage—and then it was gone. All, in an instant… Hiei was gone.

Already half-asleep, the teen rolled over with a deciding snore.

: : :

So beautiful… he played with the leaves, caressing them between their buds, smiling happily as they fluttered in response to his touch. Tipping his head back, resting it on the bark of the tree that had sprung up, behind him. The kitsune sighed, softly, pleasure seeping through him as the droplets scattered on his skin, only to be absorbed a moment later.

To experience rain like this was riveting…

A flash of black to his senses, and glassy green peered half-open, offering a crooked smile towards the Jaganshi standing before him. Those crimson oculars were so… rare, and exquisite, when widened as they were. His voice was cheerful, if a bit subdued, due to…

“It’s all right, Hiei. I won’t bother either of you, again… so… be happy, ne~?”

Once it was said, he’d done what he needed… and quietly slumped back against his creation, blood seeping into the roots entwined about his form, of the vampire tree.

: : :

Breathtaking.

Breathtakingly disturbing…

The youko’s slender form propped against the tree, behind him. Arms and legs sprawled with careless grace on the grass carpeting the forest floor, the grey trench-coat he’d worn lying, forgotten, a good ways away. Red hair spilled trustingly upon the purple bark the head bearing it rested against, tendrils wrapped far and around, thin roots—too numerous to count—spreading their crimson, snaking branches over every ounce of pale flesh they could find. All of the kitsune’s skin was covered in roots, the actual peach-hue barely visible beneath their entwined embrace. Hooded green eyes, glazed and all-but-devoid of consciousness, stared at him heavily as that same deceitful smile crossed too-pale lips, a madman’s whisper trailing in a happy tone to the wet air—the rain having fallen to a mere drizzle, by now.

He started forward with a cry, freed from his immobile state as those slivers of jade disappeared beneath thick lashes, a heart-rending scream echoing around the silent woods—

KURAMA!!

~*~End~*~