Beaten

Kurama woke up with the sun shining in his eyes. He slowly slid out of the bed and placed his feet on the floor. He really didn’t feel like getting out of bed, but he knew if he didn’t Genkai, Yukina, and possibly Hiei would come looking for him. He pulled on his clothes and went out to the kitchen. All three of them were sitting at the table, enjoying a cup of tea.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning, Kurama,” Yukina said.

“Hn.”

“Morning, Fox.”

“Fox, come out to the forest so we can talk,” Hiei said, standing up.

“Hiei, can’t it wait just a little bit?” Kurama pleaded.

“No. We will talk now.” Kurama sighed and followed Hiei outside and into the forest. They walked for a few miles in silence before stopping in a small clearing. He sat on a fallen log and looked at Kurama expectantly. The fox sighed and sat down a few feet from him, leaning against the broad trunk of an elm. He cupped one long fingered hand around a half-dying wild flower and coaxed it back to life with some of his ki.

“Fox, you need to tell me. What happened to make you stay at Genkai’s.” Kurama sighed again and raised his head to look Hiei in his blood-red eyes.

“Mother has a new boyfriend.”

“You don’t like him?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“That wouldn’t make you leave your house.”

“Mother is out of town for awhile. I don’t know how long she’ll be gone, because my grandfather had a heart attack. Anyway, Mother was just going to have me stay with the neighbor, but Kuroki, her boyfriend, offered to stay with me instead ‘so she wouldn’t have to worry’ and she agreed. So I came to Genkai’s. I can’t stand the man.” Kurama couldn’t bring himself to tell Hiei about the rape. He was so ashamed and he couldn’t bear to see him disgusted with him.

“That’s not the whole story. Tell me or I’ll go to Genkai.”

“It’s no big deal, Hiei. It was my fault anyway,” Kurama replied, thoroughly miserable. Tears pricked his eyes and he refused to look at the minute fire youkai.
“What was your fault, Fox?” Hiei asked softly.

“Nothing, it’s not important.” Hiei came over to him and settled onto his knees next to him before taking Kurama’s slender chin in one of his hands and making him look at him. He wiped away a tear from the pale cheek and looked deep into those gorgeous green eyes.

“Fox, please tell me.” Kurama’s lip trembled and the tears started rushing down his cheeks, and he sobbed softly. Hiei pulled him close and held him as he bawled on his shoulder.

“Hiei, I can’t tell you. You’ll hate me,” Kurama cried.

“No I won’t. I swear to you I won’t. You can tell me.” Kurama just laid in the circle of Hiei’s strong arms and let the tears run down his face. They sat there for what could have been hours or only minutes, but finally he stopped crying and just laid there, limp and exhausted.

“He raped me, Hiei,” he finally said, very softly. There was a shocked silence from Hiei.

“THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!!!” he roared. Kurama cringed a little, and when Hiei saw he was scaring him, he gently caressed his cheek.

“I’ll take care of him, Fox. You don’t have to worry about him again.”

“Genkai has already spoken to him.”

“Hn. I’m gonna do more than speak to him. I’m going to castrate the bastard.” Hiei was seething. HOW DARE HE TOUCH HIS FOX?!

“Hiei, please don’t. I don’t want to upset Mother.”

“You don’t think this will upset her?” he demanded.

“I don’t know! What if she wants him more than me? I can’t tell her!” Kurama cried.

“No, she won’t, Fox. She loves you more than anything. You have to tell her.”

“How do I tell her something like that? She’ll hate me!”

“No, Fox. She’ll be horrified that something like this happened to her baby, and she’ll probably castrate him herself. She might even kill the son of a bitch. Bottom line, Fox, you have to tell her. She needs to know. Or would you rather she keeps dating him and he does it to you again, or even does it to her?”

“No, of course not, but I don’t know what to do!”
“Just tell her. How long has this been going on anyway?”

“This was the only time he’s ever raped me.”

“Has he done anything else to you then?”

“He started beating me about a week after they started dating.”

“How long have they been dating?”

Kurama sighed softly. “Six months.”

“So, since before I left for the Makai.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me before now?” Hiei demanded. Kurama shrugged.

“I didn’t think you’d care so much. I thought you would think I was weak for not stopping him.”

“Never, Kurama. You are one of the strongest people I know. If you had told me, I would have stopped it long before now. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.”

“Why do you care so much, Hiei?” Now it was the fire demon who couldn’t look Kurama in the eye.

“You’re my friend,” he muttered.

“That’s not the whole truth, Hiei. You wouldn’t get this involved for Yusuke or Kuwabara.”

“Hn.”

“Tell me, Hiei. Is it because you think I can’t take care of myself?”

“NO, that’s not it at all.”

“Then what is it, Hiei?”

Hiei finally looked him in the eyes and took a deep breath.

“I love you, Kurama.”