Slip of the Tongue

Slip of the Tongue Part V
By cillaxox

I don’t own YYH. I wish I did, but I don’t.

If you see these, ‘…’ somebody is doing some serious thinking.

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Two days had passed since Hiei’s injury and his falling out with Kuwabara. He had every intention of going to Kuwabara and explaining how he felt, but there was something he had to do first.

“Hiei, it’s good to see you.” Kurama stood to the side and allowed the fire demon to enter through the window. He wrapped his arms around Hiei’s neck and pulled him close. Kurama tried to kiss the apparition, but he turned his head to the side and avoided the kiss. The fox was instantly worried. “Is something wrong?”

Hiei decided to be blunt; it was the only way he knew how to be. “I can’t see you anymore Kurama.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m calling off our arrangement.”

Kurama sat down on his bed and stared at his friend. “What brings about this sudden change? A few days ago you were very adamant about maintaining our relationship.”

Hiei’s voice became impatient, “We did not have a relation ship, we had an arrangement.”

Kurama raised his voice a notch, “Don’t tell me what we had Hiei!”

“Then don’t make stupid assumptions.”

The fox got off his bed and stood directly in front the fire demon. “I demand an explanation.”

“You already know why, so why bother asking…it will be less painful for you that way.”

“It’s Kuwabara isn’t? I know you desire him. If you merely want his body I see no problem with you having a fling with him.”

Hiei’s eyes narrowed and his tone became icy, “It’s more than that.”

“Is it really?”

“Yes.”

Kurama began pacing around his room. “I just don’t understand why this is happening.”

Hiei moved towards the fox and told him, “I’m sorry.”

“If you were really sorry you would forget about him and stay with me.”

The fire apparition shook his head sadly. “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t you see we’re meant to be together? I understand you in ways that Kuwabara never can.” Kurama held the fire demon’s body close; it felt stiff as a board. “You should be with me.”

Hiei broke free of the fox’s tight grip. “It’s over Kurama.”

“…But I love you.”

Hiei moved towards the window. “That may be, but I don’t love you.”

Kurama made one last plea, “Please don’t go.”

“I have to, he’s waiting for me.”

“So am I.”

“Then you’ll be waiting for a very long time, because I don’t plan on letting him go anytime soon.”

Hiei left before Kurama could say another word. He didn’t like the way things went back there, he hadn’t expected to hear the fox profess his love. However, the unexpected confession wasn’t enough to deter him. He knew who he wanted and he was determined not to let anything else come between them anymore. He just needed to figure out how to tell Kuwabara about the way he felt.


~*~ONE WEEK LATER~*~


Kuwabara sat atop the school’s roof staring at the city’s skyline with disinterest. It was lunchtime but he wasn’t eating, so Yusuke took it upon himself to eat the redhead’s lunch. Yusuke finished off the last bite of food and now that he wasn’t stuffing his face he was able to notice how silent his friend was. He waved his hand in front Kuwabara's face and said, “Hello, Earth to Kuwabara.” Yusuke tapped his friend on his shoulder, when the taller boy didn’t answer the detective punched him on the back of his red head. Kuwabara responded by slamming his fist against Yusuke's foot as hard as he could. The young detective grabbed his foot and hollered in pain. After hopping around on one foot for several seconds he sat down next to Kuwabara. “What’s wrong with you? For the past week you’ve been moping around like a girl.” He waited for his friend’s response, but it never came. “Fine don’t tell me about it, see if I care.” He eyed his friend out the corner of his. “This is the part where you break down and tell me what’s bothering you.”

“I thought I had something special with this person, but it turns out they didn’t feel the same way.”

Yusuke smiled and exclaimed, “Oh I get it, Yukina shot you down! Why didn’t you say so sooner? I already knew that wasn’t going to work out.”

Kuwabara jumped to his feet and shook his fist in front of Yusuke's face. “Thanks for the vote of confidence Urameshi! I’ll have you know I can have any girl I want!”

“Finally some sign of life, you had me thinking I was talking to a zombie. So things didn’t work out between you and Yukina, huh?”

The carrot top boy sat back down. “No they didn’t, but that’s not what’s bothering me.”

“Hold on let me get this straight, you got dumped by two girls?!”

“No, not exactly.”

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and asked, “Then what is it exactly?”

Kuwabara lowered his head and spoke in a barely audible voice, “It was Hiei.”

The detective looked confused. “Hiei what?”

“It’s Hiei that I’ve been moping about.”

Yusuke's jaw dropped. “You mean Hiei, as in the demon with the freaky third eye, Hiei?! You’ve got to be kidding me! As if the two of you would ever…you know.”

“But it’s true! We’ve kissed twice and he was having a dream about me and we were so close…but it’s all over now so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“You really mean it don’t you?” Yusuke watched in disbelief as Kuwabara nodded his head yes. “How does that even work out? I mean is it physically possible? Never mind I don’t want to know!”

“This is serious Urameshi! I’m really upset about this.”

The detective was too busy talking aloud to himself to listen to his friend. “I know him and Kurama have something going on, but you and Hiei, now that’s a surprise!”

Kuwabara quickly turned his head and looked at his friend. “What do you mean him and Kurama have something going on?”

Yusuke wished he hadn’t said that. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Would I be asking you about it if he did?! How long has it been going on?”

“I don’t know, but it’s been awhile.”

Kuwabara shook his head with disappointment. “It all makes sense now.”

“Are you gonna be okay Kuwabara?”

“I’ll be all right. I’m not going to let something like this set me back.”

“What are you going to do?”

Kuwabara resumed staring at the skyline. “The only thing I can do, move on and forget about him.”

“Not that I care, but is that the only thing you can do? Is that what you really want?”

Kuwabara's voice was eerily calm as he said, “It’s the only thing that will cause me the least amount of hurt.”


~*~MEANWHILE~*~


Across the street on a similar rooftop Hiei sat watching Kuwabara while he talked to Yusuke, he heard every word the young man said, so he knew he had to make his move soon. He waited until Yusuke had left before leaping onto the opposite building. He carefully approached Kuwabara from behind, he was about to tapped the young man on shoulder when he heard, “What do you want Hiei?”

The demon sat down next to the boy and got as close as he thought was acceptable. “ I came by to see you.”

“What part of leave me alone don’t you get?”

“I guess the part where I have to leave you alone.”

In spite of his anger Kuwabara laughed.

“You can’t be too upset with me if I made you laughed.”

Kuwabara turned his body and sat facing the demon. “That’s the thing about laughter, no matter how much someone pisses you off they can still make you laugh.”

“So you’re still mad at me.”

“Duh.” Kuwabara stared at Hiei and asked, “Why did you come here?”

“I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you.”

“You apologize?! I never thought I’d live to see the day. I wish I had a tape recorder.”

The young man’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on the demon. “I guess I deserved that.”

The faint ringing of a bell sounded in the background, Kuwabara stood up and began walking away. “I have to go now.”

“Kazuma, I still have something I need to tell you.”

Kuwabara's heart skipped a beat, there was something about the way the Hiei said his name that made the boy stop in his tracks. He was tempted to run back to the demon and tell him all was forgiven. He resisted the urge and kept walking away. “Leave me alone Hiei.”

“Is that what you really want?”

“…Yes…it is.”

Hiei moved towards Kuwabara and kept walking past the boy. “If that’s what you want then I will respect your decision.” Hiei jumped off the roof without a looking back.

Kuwabara felt terrible about what just happened. He was only trying to protect himself, but by doing so he had hurt Hiei. He leaned over the ledge of the roof and went back to watching the skyline. He tried not to think about Hiei, but everything he saw reminded him of the demon. The young man finally decided to go to class and try to distract himself with school.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Hiei walked down the twisting streets of a seedy warehouse district. He had no clear destination, only the desire to be alone. The events of the past two months weighed heavily on his mind. No matter how far his feet carried him away from the source of his troubles he still couldn’t rid himself of them. As he walked past a trashcan he kicked it hard sending its contents flying. Such a trivial act of vandalism only served to upset him even more. He continued walking down the maze of dark streets until he reached a low wall. Suddenly bored with traversing alleyways the demon leapt onto the brick wall and sat down.

Now that Hiei was sitting still he had even more time to think about his problem: Kuwabara Kazuma, his reluctant ally, quasi friend and as of lately his prospective mate.

‘Leave me alone Hiei.’

The words seemed so final. After Kuwabara spoke they echoed in Hiei’s mind. He had wanted to stay and talk to the boy, but he didn’t want to come off as a groveling worm, he had his reputation to think about.

‘Very well if that’s what you truly want, then I’ll leave you alone Kazuma.’

Hiei mused over the decision he reached; it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

‘He wants me to leave him alone, but that’s not what I want.’

He weighed his own wants and desires against Kuwabara's.

‘Is what I want more important? I had several opportunities to be with him and I blew each one of them. If I truly wanted to be with him I would have done it sooner.’

However, things weren’t as simple as that.

‘Considering our past it was only natural that I was hesitant. Also there was my sister to consider, as well as Kurama. It was a complicated situation and I made the decisions I thought were best.’

There was also the fact that a few months ago he would have never considered Kuwabara as a love interest.

‘If it hadn’t been for that dream I never would have even looked at him in that way. No, that’s not exactly true, I had taken an interest in Kazuma even before I realized it was him I was dreaming of.’

Hiei’s thoughts once again returned to giving up on Kuwabara.

‘If he really wanted to be with me he would have forgiven me, since he hasn’t done that then he must not want to be with me. Maybe he never cared for me in the first place. He probably just had a silly crush on me, because he was trying to get over Yukina.’

He knew that idea wasn’t true also.

‘It has to be more than that! I saw the way he looked at me when I was recovering from the poison. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he really cared for me. Even with out the aid of the Jagan I could tell. Kazuma’s feelings were true, just like mine are.’

He was once again at a mental impasse.

‘So what should I do? I either let him go, as he requested or I keep pursing him...’

Hiei thoughts were disturbed by a commotion that was going on behind him. He turned around and saw a kitten that was backed into a corner by a much larger dog. The kitten was hissing and putting on a good show of being tough; no matter how much the dog advanced on it, the kitten didn’t back down. When the dog came close enough the kitten scratched the dog’s nose. The canine, unfazed by the attack, continued snapping and snarling, it was about to attack again when Hiei leapt down and cut the dog off from its target. The dog took one look at the demon and began whimpering, it gave one last growl before slinking off with its tail between its legs.

Hiei knelt down before the kitten and held his hand out to it. “Come here.”

The kitten was black with a patch of white fur between its ears; it cautiously approached the demon’s outstretched hand. It sniffed the extended hand then after a few moments it bit the index finger. The apparition tried to pull his finger away, but the kitten only latched on tighter. Hiei lifted his hand up and pulled the kitten up with it. He held the dangling feline in front of his face and grumbled, “Ungrateful beast…I should have let the dog have his way with you.”

The kitten growled at Hiei and continued to bite the demon’s finger. The apparition pulled the kitten off his hand then held the animal by its nape. He sat back on his heels and stared at the feline. He spoke to the little creature, “If a stupid fur ball like you won’t give up then I sure as hell won’t. Whether he realizes it or not Kuwabara belongs with me. I won’t give up until I make him mine.”

Hiei shoved the kitten into his pocket; the animal poked his head out and looked at the demon questioningly. The apparition told the kitten, “You and I will pay a visit to Kuwabara tonight.” He stroked the white diamond on the feline’s head. “Okay, fur ball?” The cat lifted his head up and bit the demon’s finger again. “You know it’s not to late for me find that dog.”


~*~LATER THAT NIGHT~*~


It was well after midnight, the sky was cloudy and only slivers of moonlight were able to penetrate the dense clouds. The air was cool and every now and then a gentle breeze would blow by. Hiei was settled down on the fire escape outside of Kuwabara's bedroom. He had a faint smile as he watched the young man while he lay sleeping. He had been there for almost an hour when the window opened.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Shizuru demanded. “You have a lot of nerve coming here after all you’ve done.”

In his own defense Hiei said, “I haven’t done anything.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh.”

Shizuru leaned her head out the window so as not to disturb her sleeping brother. “Is that all you have to say?! You should just leave now before Kazuma wakes up and sees you.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Haven’t you hurt my brother enough?”

Hiei’s voice sounded determined as he answered Shizuru, “I know I’ve wronged Kazuma, that’s why I’m here, I want to make it up to him.”

Shizuru let out a humorless laugh. “Make it up to him, that’s hilarious. How do you plan on doing that?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Shizuru leaned even further out the window; her face was only inches away from Hiei’s face. “In case you’ve forgotten he’s my little brother. Everything that goes on in his life is my concern. Now leave before you really piss me off.”

“I’m not leaving until I talk to him.”

“Yeah well, he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Kuwabara turned on the lamp that was on the nightstand and interrupted the ongoing argument, “Yeah I do Sis.”

Shizuru turned to her brother and said, “Go back to sleep, I’ll handle this.”

Kuwabara told her, “Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

His sister sighed impatiently then threw her hands up in surrender and stomped out of the room. “Don’t come crying to me when he hurts you again.”

Kuwabara laughed nervously. “Don’t pay any attention to her, she gets kinda cranky when she’s woken up in the middle of the night.”

Hiei asked the young man, “What about you, do you get cranky too?”

“It all depends on the situation.”

“Kazuma, I’m…”

Before Hiei could finish Kuwabara said, “Come inside, I’m sure it can’t be comfortable sitting on the fire escape.”

Hiei climbed inside then sat down at the foot Kuwabara's bed. The young man gave the demon a weak smile and said, “I heard you wanted to talk to me, so talk.”

“I made a mistake. It was foolish of me to push you away like I did.”

Kuwabara acknowledged the apology with a derisive snort. “Took you long enough to admit it.”

Hiei continued saying what was on his mind, “I’ve come to a conclusion…I want to be with you.”

“What about Kurama?”

“I ended that a week ago. You’re the only one I want.”

Kuwabara told the demon, “Now that you’re finally ready for a relationship I’m supposed to drop everything and be with you. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work like that.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“You show up at my house at 1am and tell me that you want to be with me. You obviously expected me to be happy to see you. I suppose you thought I would tell you everything was okay and that all forgiven. Well you can just forget about that, it’s not gonna happen!”

Hiei stood up, he felt foolish for coming here and telling the boy how he felt. He had made himself vulnerable and the end result was rejection. “Fine if that’s the way you feel then I’ll just leave.”

The demon was halfway out the window when he heard, “Wait Hiei.”

The fire demon turned to face Kuwabara. He asked in a snide voice, “What turning me down once wasn’t enough? You’ve more than made your point, I don’t need you to repeat it.”

“I was going to make you beg me to take you back, but that wouldn’t be very nice.” Kuwabara pulled back his blanket and patted the spot next to him. “Come here shrimp.”

Hiei was wary at first, but then he saw the look in the human's eyes. The demon took off his shoes then shot into the bed and lay down next to Kuwabara. He slowly reached out towards the boy’s warm body. Kuwabara grew impatient with the demon’s slowness; he pulled the small body close and held it in a tight embrace. “I think you’re a little over dressed for bed.” The young man removed Hiei’s cloak and tossed it off the bed. When the cloak hit the floor it made a thudding sound, which was, followed by a soft mewling. “What was that?”

Hiei got out of bed and walked over to his discarded cloak. As he dug around in the pocket he said, “I forgot about this.” When he removed his hand he was holding the same black kitten he had found earlier. “I got this for you. It’s a little dirty, but you can clean it.”

Kuwabara took the feline from Hiei and examined it. “It’s a boy. He’s so cute!”

“Then you like it.”

“I do. Thank you Hiei.”

The kitten nuzzled Kuwabara's fingers and purred happily as the human petted him. Hiei looked at the creature with disdain in his eyes. “At least he likes you. It does nothing but bite me.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

The demon held a finger in front of the kitten’s face and a few seconds later it was biting the digit. “I told you so.”

Kuwabara gently plied the demon’s finger from the kitten’s mouth. “He’s just particular about who he let’s near him. Now who does that remind you of?”

“I don’t know who you could possibly compare that beast to, he’s all teeth, fight and bad…attitude….” Hiei puffed out his chest and growled, “That little monster is nothing like me!”

The human’s eyes lit up with mischief. “He acts just like you and with that white patch of fur on the top of his head he looks like you too.” Kuwabara held the kitten up to his face and rubbed their noses together. “He reminds me of you. I guess that’s why already I like him so much.”

Hiei looked away before Kuwabara could see the pleased smile on his face. He took the kitten out of the young man’s hand. He tossed it on the floor, but was careful to insure it landed on his cloak. “You should be holding me, not that mangy fur ball.”

Kuwabara pulled the demon close and placed a kiss on his forehead. “I never knew anybody who was jealous of a cat before.”

Hiei scoffed at the youth’s words then climbed back into bed. “I am not, nor will I ever be, jealous of a cat.” While the apparition took off his shirt he asked, “What are you going to name it?”

Kuwabara winked at his companion. “I can always call him Junior.”

Hiei frowned at the human’s joke. “I’m partial to Fur Ball or maybe even Jaws.”

“No, I think I’m gonna go with Yoshi.”

He shrugged his shoulders with disinterest. “I suppose that will do.”

“It looks like Eikichi has a new friend.” Kuwabara picked up his other kitten off the foot of his bed. Eikichi hadn’t once woken up in spite of all the noise. “Come here, I want you to meet someone.”

The little kitten leapt off the bed and cautiously approached the new feline. The pair of cats sniffed one another and after a couple of minutes the kittens were acting like old pals. They curled up on Hiei’s cloak and began grooming one another while they did so they purred contentedly.

Kuwabara smiled at the adorable sight. “They like each other.” He got back in bed and lay down next to Hiei. He kissed the demon deeply. When he pulled away from the apparition’s inviting mouth he asked, “You’re not going to leave me again are you?”

Hiei held Kuwabara's palm to his lips and kissed it. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Kuwabara looked into the demon’s blood red eyes. “So does this mean we’re a couple now?”

Hiei held the boy’s hand even tighter. “If you’ll have me.”

Kuwabara nodded his head and smiled brightly. “You know I will, but how about you. Do you want to be with me Hiei?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to. We’re a couple Kazuma, get used to it. ” Hiei began to kiss Kuwabara's neck and between kisses he said, “Maybe we should celebrate our coming together.” Hiei moved his hand down to the young man’s boxers.

Kuwabara put a stop to the demon’s roving hands. “I haven’t forgiven you that much yet.” He placed a kiss on the apparition’s temple. “Let’s just enjoy this moment, we’ll have plenty of time for the other stuff later.”

Hiei asked in a hopeful voice, “Maybe tomorrow?”

The young man smiled at the demon’s excitement, he was happy that it was directed at him. “We’ll see Hiei.”

Hiei fell into an easy slumber. While he slept he didn’t dream, because there wasn’t any reason for him to. His only dream was now his reality.

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cillaxox: It took five chapters, but they’re finally together, there was no way I could drag it out any longer. I was in a super sweet mood when I wrote the part about the kittens, sometimes I can be a pretty sappy. And no, I haven’t forgotten about Kurama, it’s just that I can only write so much in one chapter. Also there will definitely be a lemon in the next chapter (a long one ^_^). I just wanted to wait on it for pacing reasons and such.

For those of you who are interested Yoshi means “goodness, luck” in Japanese. I thought it would be a good name, since the kitten reminded Kuwabara of Hiei it’s only natural he would see the kitten as a good thing. Plus I’ve always liked the name Yoshi.