The Day I Fell in Love

Note: Because “Two-Shot” only appeared in the manga I am sourcing all things in this fic according to how it appeared in the manga, including the names of the three object. I’m going to ingore the anime for this fic. It’s just less confusing this way.

The Day my Love Returned by: boysluvcraft

Fifteen years ago I was Yoko Kurama, the infamous demon-fox. Then I made a mistake which I nearly paid for with my life. I saved myself, barely, by escaping to the human world and inhabiting the body of an unborn human child. Save for one incident when I was fourteen, when I had run up against a demon called Eight-hands, I lived my life anonymously as Shuichi Minamino, son of Shiori Minamino and yes, something of a mama’s boy. I’ll say it again; I loved my mother. It was a fact that had become startlingly apparent to me during those days, because my mother was sick. More than sick, she was dieing.

I felt guilty, like somehow I’d caused her sickness. That she was suffering for my sins, for having lied to her all these years about who and what I am. It completely illogical on my part, really and I knew it. Greif does that to people. Grief was putting those ideas into my head. And it didn’t help being in the throws of puberty either-- and with demonic hormones no less. At a second’s notice I could be incredibly horny and then I would feel guilty for pleasuring myself while my dear mother is out there somewhere in a hospital bed.

I shook those thoughts form my head as I tried to focus on my schoolwork. It would make mother sad if her condition caused me to allow my grades to slip. I had to keep my grades up at least as long as she’s still alive….

Before I could slide farther down into my depression again, I was startled a sudden taping at my window. My room was on the second floor of our house. I thought it may have been a tree limb that had grown too close to the house. I turned with the intention of fixing it when outside the window I saw him perched on the branch.

“Hiei!” I gasped. Hiei the little spit-fire demon, who a year ago helped me defeat Eight-hands and unwittingly stole my heart. I had only met him the once, and I never assumed to see him again… but here he was!

I opened the window and he stepped inside. He looked exactly as I remember him, under five feet tall, but built like a sex machine, with a deceptively innocent face and wild spikes of black hair. He was even wearing the same stark black pants and coat. He hadn’t changed a bit. It was funny; he couldn’t say the same for me.

“You’ve grown,” were the first words out of his mouth.

In one year, I shot up nearly fourteen inches, my hair had grown down to the middle of my back, and much to my pleasure maturity had not robbed me of my childhood cuteness, but transformed it into a type of beauty that is rare in men. And while we’re taking measurements, I’ve also doubled in size where men are particularly concerned. I wondered if Hiei approved of my metamorphous. If he did he didn’t make any indication.

“It’s been so long Hiei,” I started, “What brings you here?”

“A job,” He stated simply, “which requires your assistance, Kurama-- or would you rather me call you Yoko?”

“Kurama will be fine,” I said coldly. I knew it was only a matter of time before Hiei figured out who I was. He was a sharp one and I had given him my name. I would have expected any demon with that knowledge to try and use it to coerce me. Though I did feel a hint disappoint to find Hiei doing it. I asked, “What sort of job? A heist?”

“Not just any heist,” Hiei grinned, “but a raid on King Enma’s vaults in the spirit world.”

“That’s not possible,” I told him. The security on those vaults was the best, bar none. Even when I was Yoko, I wasn’t ballsy enough to try them.

“It’s not impossible. I’ve gotten my hands on the entire layout of the place. I know every twist, turn, trap, and pitfall,” Hiei told me.

“How could you know that?” I asked.

He tapped his right temple, “You’ll be surprised what you can find out when you know where to look.”

“I see,” I said, settling down. He must have used his Jagan to leech the information out of a guard’s mind. “And what is it you want from me?”

“Your experience,” Hiei said. “And don’t worry about getting you’re pretty hands dirty. I’ve found a big dumb lunk to do the grunt work. In fact, I was hoping you could come with me to meet him right now.”

“I don’t know,” I said, pretending to interested in my nails, “We’d become spirit world’s most wanted. Need I remind you, I have a comfortable life here in human world? I don’t see what prize could be worth jeopardizing that.”

“Try the three Artifacts of Darkness,” Hiei said with a smirk.

That got my attention, “You mean the Conjuring Sword, the Rapacious Orb--”

“And the Mirror of Darkness,” Hiei finished it for him, “which can grant any wish you can think of. You could destroy the entire world and reshape it in your image. You could lay waste to your enemies, or protect the things that you treasure… even from death.”

The next thing I knew I was in the forest, trying to intimidate a big dumb ogre, who frankly wasn’t good enough to lick my shoes. But this Goki was strong, as Hiei promised he‘d be, so he would have his uses. I agreed to help them break into spirit world vaults on the condition that my share of the treasure would be the Mirror of darkness. It wasn’t an issue, as it turned out. Goki was only interested in the Rapacious Orb to feed his appetite for human souls. Hiei said he wanted the Conjuring Sword.

Hiei walked me home after the meeting. I was glad for the company. I was thinking of asking him to stay over that night because… well, I just didn’t feel like being in an empty house with nothing but my thoughts, which were ultimately depressing. Having Hiei around would make for a pleasant distraction. My eyes drifted over to him, on their own accord, to survey him. He used only be a few inches shorter than me, now his face only reached as high as my chest. If I were to hold him close to me-- I cut my thoughts off there. Maybe he was too pleasant of a distraction. I’d do well to keep my mind from wondering too far down that path. I’d let that happen a year ago and I nearly molested the demon in his sleep.

Thinking of our last encounter prompted me to ask, “Last time, you were looking for this ice maiden, Yukina? Did you ever find her?”

Hiei hesitated as if weighing whether or not to discuss the issue with me. At last he said, “Not yet.”

“Yet? So you haven‘t given up?” I frowned.

He shook his head and looked up at me with a grin. Goodness, I wanted to kiss him. He said, “No. But if this job goes off well and we obtain the Artifacts of Darkness, we could build and control our own demon army. I’m sure with that sort of power, finding a lost girl should be child’s play.”

“It’s a little distressing that your Jagan couldn’t find her,” I noted, not really thinking much about what I was saying.

“She may be warded,” Hiei put in quickly. He didn’t voice the only other possibility, that the girl, Yukina was dead.

I didn’t push the subject. To have a loved one, who’s fate you are unsure of, it was a feeling that, I’ve recently become very acquainted with. I looked up to the murky and darkening sky.

“I think it may rain tonight. You will stay at my house.” It was not a question and it was not debatable. If it was, the small demon’s pride would have driven him to sleep in a tree that night. But I didn’t give him a choice. He slept in my house and in my bed, even though we had a perfectly good guest room and my mother’s bed was empty. All we did was sleep-- which was more then it sounds. As may be expected, I hadn’t been sleeping well in those days. But Hiei in my bed, his warmth of his skin, the smell of him, like salty rain and burnt pine, with just a touch of coppery blood; it reminded me of the demon plane. It was comforting. I found myself lulled into a deep sleep by his side.

The next couple weeks were some of the best in my as Shuichi as I enjoyed Hiei’s company while we planned our heist on the spirit world vaults. At same time they were the worst days of my life, because my mother’s condition suddenly worsened. I was surer than ever that I wanted to go through with it. We did it. We stole the three artifacts and escaped back to the human world. I wasn’t fool enough to think that spirit world would just let us get away with taking those treasures. But by the time they came after us, it wouldn’t have mattered to me. You see, I intended on using the Mirror on the night of the full moon, when it came into its power. I was going to use it to wish for my mother’s health and happiness. The thing was, using the mirror came at a price, a price that Hiei obviously hadn’t known of and I had not informed him. The price was life….my life.

After the theft, I prepared to say farewell to my cohorts in crime. That was when the unexpected happened. When I say unexpected I mean a teenage boy named Yusuke Urameshi. Three very dangerous demons with powerful weapons were standing out in the middle of nowhere, were no one can hear you scream, and he just strolled out and said, “Get this you clowns, I’m Yusuke Urameshi, the Spirit World detective, and you’re under arrest!”

I liked him immediately. Both Hiei and I left Goki to handle him. Some distance from the oncoming confrontation, Hiei caught up with me.

“What is this shit about you walking out on us?” Hiei spat.

“I’m sorry Hiei, I know you want to use the mirror to take over the world, but I had other plans,” I told him calmly.

“So, make your wish” Hiei said. “There’s a full moon every month. There’s no reason why we can’t get everything we want.”

“Hiei…” I’ll be dead after this full moon. I bit my lip.

“If it’s Goki, we can get rid of him,” Hiei placed a hand on my arm. “Hn, the spirit world‘s assassins might just do it for us. Then we‘ll have it all to ourselves, just the two of us. Imagine your experience with my ambition, we’d be great together.”

I could almost laugh. I thought those very same things, but in a whole different context. But it was too late to be thinking things like that. I had decided my fate. I shook my head, “No, Hiei. I can’t.”

“I’m giving you a chance to rule and you’re throwing it back in my face?” Hiei shouted in sudden anger, “Ha, I see how it is. You’ve gotten soft from all these years of pretending to be one of those vile humans. You think you’re one of them. Is that it? You think you’re too good for me now?”

I wanted to deny it, tell him it wasn’t true. I loved him from the day we met. But I held my tongue. In the long run, it would easier for both of us if he hated me.

“If you want the Mirror back, you’ll have to fight me for it,” I told him. I was stronger and more experienced than him, both knew that, but if he wanted to try….

“No,” Hiei snapped, turning his back on me, “I gave my word of honor to you that the mirror would be yours. Unlike some, I keep my word.”

He left in blur, left me alone to mutter to the wind, “Word of honor? Heh, more and more interesting every minute I know him.” I went home and cried.

Later, I found out that big buffoon, Goki, who’d we left to kill the unfortunate Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi had failed to finish the job. A few days later I sensed Goki’s energy go out. It was Yusuke. From the moment I saw the boy, I had a feeling about him, so I sought him out and asked him to grant me three days and then I’d return the mirror to him. Much to my joy, he said yes, and three days later I met up with him. I took him to meet my mother. I told him everything about my past as Yoko, my rebirth as Shuichi, and my plans to trade my life for my mother’s. It was an embarrassing amount of soul bearing to do in front of a near stranger. It was doubly embarrassing, considering I didn’t die.

No, I lived, because Yusuke jumped in at the last second and told the mirror to take some of his life instead. The mirror granted my wish, my mother made a miraculous recovery, and nobody died. It couldn’t have been a happier ending if birds and magical enchanted furniture started dancing in a big musical number, and then Hiei showed up on a white horse, forgiving me for bailing out on our alliance and proclaiming his undying love for me…. Well that last part would have been nice. Still, my mother was okay and I couldn’t have been happier.

Ah, but the story was not over, because Hiei was still at large with the one of the artifacts of darkness. Hiei may have been a puzzle, but one thing I knew about him for sure was how ruthless he was. He would not hesitate to kill Yusuke. Hiei would suffer as well, because the agents of Spirit World would have caught him eventually and for the crime of taking human life, he would have been eradicated. That was why I ran to that warehouse the night Hiei and Yusuke fought. That was why I interfered, to save the life of my new friend and the soul of the man I loved.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Hiei hissed at me. It had been the first words that he’d spoken since we were arrested and taken to Spirit World for sentencing. Oddly enough, the brains in spirit world thought it was a good idea to put us in the same cell together.

“What were you thinking jumping in front of my sword like that?” Hiei demanded.

“Well, I figured you owed me one,” I shrugged, “After all, I did cut you open the day we met. You know what they say about good turns.”

“Don’t fuck with me, fox,” Hiei growled, obviously not in the mood for games.

“Listen,” I signed, suddenly serious, “the mirror, it requires that you sacrifice something for your wish. Do know what that something was?”

“No,” Hiei snorted as if he didn‘t care.

“Life. In order to get your wish you have to give up your life,” I told him. “I would be dead now by had Yusuke not stopped me.”

Hiei’s eyes shot wide. “I… I didn‘t know that.” He chewed his lip as if greatly disturbed. I hadn’t expected him to react like that-- or at all. He frowned and asked, “But your mother?”
“My mother?” I wasn‘t sure what he was asking. Then it clicked, “How did you know about my mother?”

With a slight smile, he tapped his finger on his right temple.

“You’ve been spying on me,” I gapped. At first I was angry, but then I thought, well he cares. That led me to other thoughts and conclusions that made me laugh-- not because they were funny, but because they were so endearing.

“I thought all that take-over-the-world garbage was bit outside your MO. You never gave a rat’s ass about that Conjuring Sword, did you?” I should have seen it before. My mother was hopelessly ill and then, ironically, out of the blue someone asked me help them steal the very thing that could save her life. “It was only Mirror that mattered wasn’t it, for me and my mother.”

Hiei hunched over and grunted, “Hn.”

“Oh don’t worry I won’t tell anyone, how much of a softy you are,” I told him, moving to hug him from behind. I was in a prison cell, awaiting judgment, which for all I knew was eternal damnation and torture, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

As a note, neither Hiei nor I was sentenced to eternal damnation and etc. We were assigned to assist the Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi. I was allowed to continue my life with my human family. Hiei had to stay in Sarayashiki City, as part of his probation.

I told him, “It rains a lot here. If you get tired of being damp, my window will be open.”

To which he responded, “Hn.”

But on many nights when the rain is drizzling outside, I would feel a cool draft blow through my room. Then soon, in about as much time as it would take for a man to remove his clothes, a damp body would crawl under my blankets. With a sleepy, “Hello Hiei,” I’d wrap my arms around him and drift off to sleep, wishing to do more. I wouldn’t though, for the assumption that my little love was interested in someone else, this divine beauty named Yukina to whom he’d dedicated his life to finding. It was funny how I naturally assumed that was the situation. It would still be some time before I found out that I was wrong.

TBC…
A/N: Hope liked it. Don’t be shy leave a review. The story was far from over. See ya Next Time!