The Day I Fell in Love

A/N: I know, bummer. But stay with me, it will be wroth it in the end.

The Day my Love Failed by: boysluvcraft

The day arrived when we would report to the Dark Tournament. Hiei, Kuwabara, and I reunited with our estranged teammate, Yusuke, who had brought with him the fifth member of our team, the mysterious Masked Fighter. Kuwabara had already told me that Yusuke went to his teacher Genkai for training, so I suspected this person to be Genkai. I couldn’t tell for sure, having never met her personally. In any case, I sensed she was a strong fighter, so I didn’t complain.

The unpleasantness of the tournament started before we even arrived at Hangman Island, as we were forced to slaughter a literal boatload of low-level demons. No doubt it was a test for the benefit of the greedy humans who would be gambling on the odds of our survival-- which by the way, were less than promising. It continued that evening, when we met a couple of the members of The Jolly Devil Six, the first team we would be facing in the preliminaries. They snuck into our room as a demonstration of their stealth and speed. It was posturing in an attempt to psych us out before our match… I’m sorry to say it worked to a degree.

The one called Zeru had definitely gotten under Hiei’s skin. I could tell by his silence. It wasn’t his usual don’t-bug-me-you-moron irritability, but a tense silence as if he was weighing something very important in his mind.

“Would you like something to help you sleep?” I asked him as I crawled into bed with him that night. The apartments we were given had three double rooms. I took one with Hiei. Kuwabara bunked with Yusuke-- who by the way, fell asleep on the boat ride to the island had had yet to wake up. The Masked Fighter took the remaining room for herself. Each room had two beds, but for obvious reasons I still crawled into bed with Hiei.

Hiei shook his head, “I want a clear head tomorrow.”

“How clear will your head be if you sit up all night worrying?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine,” He grunted and laid down.

“That Zeru guy have you worried?” I pressed, “Hiei, talk to me.”

He was silent for a beat. Then, “No. He’s strong, but I think I have his number.”

“Alright,” I responded, leaning over to kiss him. “Good night.”

“Hn, I think we stay up just a little bit longer,” Hiei grinned as he pressed his lips once again into mine. I closed my eyes and brushed my fingers through his soft hair, while his fingers worked away the closures on my clothes. We should have been resting up for our matches in the morning, but whatever. I slipped my hand up under his shirt and felt his smooth, hot skin. I wanted to touch him like this so badly all day, but I was forced to refrain as he was also forced to refrain from touching me. It was a mutual agreement that we came to before setting off for Hangman Island, that we would keep our relationship a secret until the end of the tournament. Because although we shared great desire and pride for each other, we knew the kind of scum we would encounter in this tournament and we didn’t want to chance that our enemies would try to use our love against us.

Perhaps we should have abstained from sexual activity altogether, to conserve our energy for the fierce battles that lay head of us. But on that same token of knowing the difficulties we would face, we knew that night may very well be our last opportunity to hold each other in our arms, to feel that stared passion glowing between us. We may have lost a few hours sleep that night as we slowly and quietly made love in our room, but it was well worth it.

Morning came and we found ourselves in the arena, facing our first set of adversaries, The Jolly Devil Six. The first match was between Kuwabara and the young demon who’d annoyed us the night before, Rinku. I have to say I was pleased with the match up. Rinku was not the strongest member of his team and he seemed somewhat naïve. So, Kuwabara’s honor and naiveté wouldn’t be as much of a liability to him. You see, I’d grown very fond of the human while he was under my tutorage, and I would have hated to see harm come to him. Kuwabara lost the match, but I was still proud of him. His precise control over is aura weapon had increased as well as his creativity in using it.

The next match was mine, against a low-level named Roto-- who proved our theory about facing enemies that were pure scum.

“Kurama,” Hiei called to me before I stepped into the ring, “Don’t’ pull any punches out there. They got to think twice about fighting us again.”

“I know,” I told him. As far as I could see this one was little more than a waste of time. I was going to finish him quickly.

But then he said, “I own your mother’s life… Shuichi Minamino.”

That alone was enough to throw me off so that he could get a cut in on my face. I didn’t feel it. His words made me numb. He went on to explain that he had his demon familiars tailing my mother and all he would have to do was push a button on a little radio transmitter and her life would be squashed. One would think such a situation would blind a man in a fit of fury or paralyze him in the grips of panic. Surly this is what Roto assumed. The fool… had he not thought that I’d thought on the eventuality this very situation a hundred thousand times? Did he really think that I, the one once called Yoko Kurama, had not planed for this?

I felt nothing, not fury or panic-- well maybe some anger and irritation. But that just made it all the easier to do what I did next. I let him have his fun, inflicting negligible wounds on me. He didn’t notice when I slipped the seed of a deadly vetch into him. By the time he realized it, it was too late for him. He begged me for mercy. I gave him none and regretted nothing. The flowers that bloomed from his corpse where so beautiful; red from where they nursed on his blood…. They gave me a sense of satisfaction, which I had not enjoyed for a very long time-- not since I was called Yoko.

I snapped out of my dreamlike haze as I stepped down from the ring. Hiei was pulling his ward back down over his Jagan while he told me, “As expected the familiars took off once their master expired.”

“So you noticed…” I said, feeling a little off kilter. At times I forgot that Hiei knew of my mother-- and cared in a roundabout way.

Hiei smirked, “That idiot had no idea what he was dealing with.”

He was right, I had that match under control from start to finish, in spite of the jolt I received when he brought my mother into it. The next match, however, was very different for me. It was Zeru who stepped into the ring, and as expected Hiei stepped up to face him. Zeru’s power was immense and fiery. And from his speech, I’d say the same could be said for his ego. Hiei was the exact same way. The two of them together was a volatile mix. So much, my instincts screamed at me run and take cover. I couldn’t. My feet were glue to the spot as I nervously watched the fight commence.

Zeru flared his aura and the ring was engulfed in flame. My Hiei looked so painfully small next to his opponent, just black speck in a sea of raging flame. But he remained steady and cool. His back was straight as he challenged Zeru, “Move.”

Quicker than the human eye, Hiei was engulfed in flames. My heart sunk to the pit of my stomach.

Zeru boasted over Hiei’s burning form, “Heh, hardly worth getting out of bed for that.” He was speaking too soon.

“You’re not bad. It‘s a pity I have to kill you, however…” Hiei stood, his body still engulfed in flames. The ward on his forehead was gone and the Jagan was open.

“Y-you withstood my demonic fire,” Zeru stuttered. “That’s not possible!”

“Heh-- you know otherwise.” I felt my heart sinking even lower as Hiei spoke, “Rejoice! To you goes the honor of being the first in human world to fall to the Blazing Fist of the Overlord!”

“Blazing Fist of the Overlord!” I shouted, “A martial art forbidden in the human world. It’s meant only for the demon plane!” I heard of the technique a long time ago, in demon world. It was a technique in which a demon may call up fires from the deepest pits of demon world. It was very dangerous for both enemy and wielder. Hiei mentioned it once before, but I never imagined that he’d attempt it!

“My right arm should be enough for this. I’m afraid my control is meager,” Hiei said as black flames sprung up from his palm and swirled around his body. “See, this is real pyromancy… true evil that your match-play lacks. You scoffed at my Evil Eye and that’s something you’ll regret.”

“Wait… you can’t,” Zeru trembled as he felt Hiei’s raw power. Everyone felt it. The spectators directly behind Zeru fled the stands. The Masked Fighter and I put ourselves between the carnage and our human companions.

Even the referee ran for cover as Hiei roared, “Here it comes! Black Dragon Hell Fire!”

“It was over in a flash,” I muttered to no one particular.

The smoke cleared and the only thing left of Zeru was a cinder outline on the wall. If Hiei was trying to make a point, he made it. The two remaining members of The Jolly Devil Six on the floor, turned tail and ran. That was when their sixth member appeared. His name was Chu and there was something about him that worried us all. Yusuke would fight him-- that is after he finally woke up. He said it was the smell of booze on Chu that roused him. Funny, after all the explosions and screaming masses, a stink wakes him up.

Yusuke won his battle with Chu. It was an intense match as the two were very closely matched. I was worried for Yusuke, don’t get me wrong, the boy was dear to me. But during his match my mind was distracted. It was Hiei. When he beat Zeru, he made it look easy, but in truth, Zeru was a real threat, so much that Hiei had to use a technique he had not perfected. My right hand should be enough to do the job, he said. He may never use that arm again.

After that… it was difficult for me to speak with him. Surprisingly it was Hiei who broke the silence later that night after our human companions retired.

“If you’re pissed off, then just yell at me already,” Hiei grunted, plopping down on his bed. “I can’t stand you pouting.”

“I’m not angry,” I said. Was I? Maybe I was little angry at Hiei. I mean, I loved him. How could I not be angry for him risking himself like that? But then, “Zeru was too powerful to defeat otherwise. You did what you had to.”

“You still don’t seem happy,” he pointed out.

“I think that you should let Yusuke and I handle the stronger opponents from here on,” I told him.

“Like hell!” He snapped, “What, don’t tell me you’re going to start coddling me like you do that moron Kuwabara.”

“At this point Kuwabara is more fit to fight than you are,” I told him, “Hiei… you did your part and fought well. Just… just let me and Yusuke take the--”

“No,” Hiei said flatly.

“Hiei, this is no time to be difficult. Continuing to fight as you are would just be reckless.” I told him.

“Kurama… never mind,” Hiei shook his head and waved me over with his good hand, “Just come over here and kiss me, fox-boy.”

He was dodging the issue, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I knew once Hiei had his mind set on something, that was the end of it. I moved over to the bed and sat beside him. He leaned into me, capturing my lips. His left hand smoothed up and down my back. His other one, he held motionless at his side. I could treat burns, normal ones that is. But these were not just surface burns, there was deep tissue and nerve damage. Even my best salves couldn’t treat this. I would offer him something to ease the pain, but I already knew he would refuse it, the proud little bastard. Flustering, I could control plant life like a force of nature, but I couldn’t talk reason to Hiei.

We had the next day off from fighting and could do whatever wished. I decided it most productive to spend the day at the arena, scoping out our competition. To my surprise that next team we were to fight, Team Ichigaki, also had humans on it, though they didn’t exactly look like willing participants. None the less, I could see they would be difficult to face. They were fast and brutal. Much to my disappointment, Hiei did not accompany me to my observations. I did not see him at all, in fact, until I was one my way to the arena the day after that to fight Team Ichigaki.

I sensed Hiei not too far way. His aura was dark and clouded. He was covered in sweat. Not only that, but the sweat carried the distinct scent of pain. Had he been trying to train with that hand? The thought of it turned a knot in my stomach.

“You okay, Hiei?” I called down to him from where I perched on a tree branch.

He glanced at me out the corner of his eye and said, “Sure. Why?”

Because I‘m scared for you. I answered, “You aim to keep fighting, with only one good arm?”

“I have a choice?” He snorted, “You now a well as I do, we can’t escape.” Just then the crunching of grass and leafs came to my ears as a couple of demon snakes came out from the trees. Their baring made it clear that they intended to obstruct us. Hiei finished his statement, “It’s kill or be killed.”

The demons brought a… friend with them, a demon-cyborg killing machine with a virtually indestructible skin. The whole episode wouldn’t have been worth remembering, but for one thing. I saw the thing catch Hiei between its claw and a tree, and then I saw the black flames string up into Hiei’s good hand. He summoned them without a second thought. I cried out for him to stop, though I doubt he would have if I hadn’t caused the creature to slam its other claw into the one that held Hiei. Hiei aborted his attack as soon as he was free, thank goodness. The blow also caused a gash in the thing’s skin from where I could infiltrate its circuits with my rose whip and take control of the monstrosity. We found out all sorts of interesting things about Team Ichigaki after that.

Hiei and I didn’t show up at the arena in time to much good for our team. In fact the terms that our teammates set in our absence forbid us from fighting. Rest assured we won, and as a bonus our human opponents were freed from demon mind control and reunited with their estranged teacher. Don’t you just love happy endings. It was happy at least for the other team, our team… well, as Yusuke put it; we got jacked.

The moment the fight with Team Ichigaki was over, the committee announced that we would be fighting again without brake, and out came the team who called themselves the Shadow Channelers. On top of that they announced that Hiei and the masked fighter needed medical clearance before they could fight. All of which turned out to be a ruse designed to trap Hiei and the Masked Fighter within a force field and keep them out of the ring. I was sort of glad for it, actually. Masked Fighter had expended all her energy in the fight with Team Icigaki. And Hiei… after that episode in the woods, I wasn’t sure I trusted Hiei not to pull any high risk stunts. He’d be safe in there and I could focus on the fight. We only needed three wins to progress. Yusuke and could do that alone, if we played our cards right.

The short version; I fought and killed the master a make up, Gama, but not before he used his power to seal my energy inside of me. It was entirely my fault it happened, because I allowed my good will to overshadow my good sense, and did not realized I was walking into a trap. After that I faced off against Toya, the master of ice-- with my power still sealed. In order to defeat him, I sowed the deadly vetch into my own body and used it as a weapon. I, um, apparently had a third match after that. I passed out on my feet in the ring so the committee ruled me to be an active fighter. At which point the fighter Bakuken used me as his personal punching bag. The beating itself didn’t cause much damage, though I imagine it looked rather brutal. The worst of my injuries were from my deadly vetch. Removing it was going to cost me a substantial amount of time and energy.

After I was ejected from the ring, Yusuke beat Bakuken, fought Jin the wind master in a match that was ruled unfairly as a tie. Then by a miraculous turn about, Kuwabara scored us the win and a place in the semi-finals. You would think everyone on our team would have been happy.

“And you called me reckless,” Hiei said as he carried over a glass of water, “Would you like to drink it or should I just pour it on your feet?”

“Because I have a bush growing out of me. Funny,” I responded, “And don’t start with me, I was very limited on choices at the time.”

“And I don’t blame you,“ Hiei shrugged, “We need the wins and that’s what you had to do to get them. I would done the same thing.”

I know and that was the problem. I still hadn’t forgotten how he nearly resorted to using his dragon while we were fighting that monstrosity in the woods. At his level and with his injuries he couldn’t possibly have controlled the dragon. I would have killed him… and he knew that. He would have killed himself and for what? Victory. I couldn’t stand by and watch that.

“Hiei,” I said, “I want you to promise me you will never again attempt the Blazing Fist of the Overlord technique.”

“Come again?” Hiei pinned me with a severe look.

“It’s just too risky--”

“I’m a fire apparition. I play with fire. It’s what I do. It’s what I am,” Hiei told me plainly, “If you can’t handle that, then maybe you should keep your distance and stop underestimating me.”

Hiei turned sharply and started to walk out of the room.

“Hiei, wait-- ah!” I shot after him, but a shape pain from my injuries caused me to stumble. I think I would have fallen, had Hiei not caught me.

“Stupid fox,” he grunted as he carried me back to my bed, “You’re supposed to be resting and… weeding yourself.”

“I didn’t want you go,” I muttered with my face buried in his shirt.

Hiei grunted again as his fingers ran through my hair. “I‘ll… try not to take any unnecessary chances.” He whispered to me.

“Hiei,” my head jerked up to look him in the face, trying to read into the truth of his statement. His face softened in a smile. I doubt anyone else alive has seen him make that face. Usually it comforted me and made me feel like everything was going to be all right. But this time I couldn’t completely shake the forlorn feeling that haunted me.

“I wish we could make love right now,” I said.

Hiei smirked, “Hn, I’d get a splinter.”

“Funny.” Then after a time, “You’re lying to me aren’t you? About not taking chances.”

“I said I’d try,” Hiei corrected me, “You know as well as I do, that when the time comes I may not have much of a choice in the matter…. You know, you used to trust me with things like this. What happened Fox?”

“I don’t know,” I responded. I really didn’t. “Maybe it’s just the stress of this tournament. I know you’re strong, but… I still want to protect you. Is that so wrong?”

“Hn,” Hiei grunted and plucked a leaf off a limb that was protruding from my arm. He brushed it lightly over my nose as he said, “I wish you’d worry about yourself more.”

I was worried about a lot of things, Hiei was just the one thing I thought I could do something about… I guess I thought wrong.

I had finished ‘weeding myself’, as Hiei put it, before the evening was out. The bulk of my injuries, I was able to heal thanks to a good supply of demon herbs. Hiei‘s arm, as I later learned was on the mend due to some bizarre prosperities in the force field that held him confined in the medical tent during our fight with the Shadow Channelers. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to wrong about something. Still, in spite of whatever good fortune that came upon us, neither one of us was at 100% when we stepped into the ring for the semi-finals. And, it didn’t help that both the Masked Fighter and Yusuke failed to appear.

The matches were decided by rolling dice. Hiei had the first match. His opponent was dead before he knew what hit him. It was almost laughable and I felt myself breathing a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe I had been worried for nothing. But then his second match started. Momotaro had a trick, you see, where he could memorize his enemies attacks and then put on a beast armor, making him invulnerable to said attacks. He explained this as he cut himself with Hiei’s sword and then donned his Simian Pelt. True to his word when Hiei attacked him, his sword shattered on the demon’s hide, like it was made of spun sugar. Clearly, the only way Hiei could beat him was with his black dragon flames.

But he couldn’t do that. Danger and injury aside, summoning the dragon required a tremendous output of energy on Hiei’s part. He didn’t have enough power during his fight with Zeru and it nearly took his arm for it. Now however, Hiei was down below 60% of his total power. I realized at that moment that, Hiei couldn’t summon the dragon even if he wanted at this point.

I remembered him summoning flames while we fought Dr. Ichigaki’s mechanical monstrosity. In retrospect, those flames must have been of the human world. Would those flames have been enough to touch Ichigaki’s machine? And more importantly would they be enough to touch Momotaro?

The answerer; no. Hiei tried the moral flames and they did injure his opponent, but they did not knock him down. Again he changed forms into his Avian Pelt. He was now faster and stronger than Hiei. And Hiei’s flames would no longer had any effect on him. It was looking dire. Perhaps, given the time Hiei could find a chink in the demon’s armor. It was a shame this demon was not stupid enough to grant him such time. Momotaro upped the ante again by changing into his final form, the Canine Pelt. In this form he had giant claws and teeth, which he made clear were not just for intimidation. He had every intention of using them.

“You’ve got a powerful aura kid,” the beast told Hiei, “But that won’t protect you from these fangs.”

Cool as ever Hiei bent over and picked up the end of his broken sword, “Feh! I was hoping to avoid doing this.”

“Heh, don’t go trying to play mind games,” Momotaro warned, “You saying you have an act in the hole? I don’t think so!”

“No. No ace,” Hiei drawled, “Just a move I really don’t like to use.”

Beside me Kuwabara exclaimed, “Sshe! What could make Hiei hesitate?”

I was thinking about the same thing. Hiei, what are you up to?

All at once Momotaro rushed at Hiei. I watched Hiei, waiting to see what he would do. He didn’t do a thing. He didn’t move. He didn’t even bat an eye as the massive creature fell on him. I kept thinking he would do something right up until the point when Momotaro’s teeth closed on neck and blood sprayed across the ring.

I gasped so quietly that I‘m sure no one heard, “No!” My Hiei….

But then black flames bloomed from Momotaro’s back like a seedling pushing its way out of the earth. “Blazing Sword of the Overlord!” Hiei shouted as he slashed. And then Momotaro was nothing more than a pile of burning pieces.

I couldn‘t believe it, “ A flame sword?!” It wasn’t just any flame, it the demon flame like he had used during his fight with Zeru, but without the dragon. He integrated it with his own energy and channeled it through the sword to create a weapon that could cut through Momotaro’s beast armor! I’ve never seen such an incredible display of combat instincts! Gods I loved him! But then… I thought he was dead. I felt like I going throw up or faint-- or both!

In the midst of the confused emotions raging beneath my practiced calm exterior, it the next thing that Hiei said that put me over my limit.

“Roll ’em again. Third times the charm.”

Hiei was hurt. Most of the blood spray was Momotaro’s, but Hiei still received a deep wound on his right shoulder. He got out of that last fight alive by the skin of his teeth. I thought he was dead. When I saw that blood I felt my heart stop and my spirit break. And now he intended to fight again. He wanted to fight again. He was going to do it again. It was at that moment I thought, I can’t do this anymore.

But what were my options? We couldn’t run. We couldn’t refuse to fight. And our fates where literally being decided by the roll of the dice. I willed the dice to roll my name and not his. They did; my opponent Reverse Urashima. Like my fight with Gama, my soft heart was my undoing and I allowed myself to be lured into a trap. I cursed myself for being so stupid. How the hell did someone so gullible live for centuries and not end up a pelt on somebody’s wall! Of course, I wasn’t always so gullible.

“…The Reverse Magic Box!” Urashima presented an unassuming box, “In the story I opened a box that instantly aged me, but this box does the opposite! To anyone but me that is!”

He opened the box and a white smoke poured out of it, filling the ring. It was the oddest sensation when the smoke hit me. There really is not description adequate enough to describe it, but I will try. It was like the years where being striped away from me. Like all the things I’d experienced never happened to me. I remembered them, but they didn’t happen. I didn’t fight in the dark tournament with Yusuke Urameshi. I never met Yusuke, because I never robbed the spirit world with Hiei. I never fell in love with Hiei. I never had love confessed to me by a girl named Maya. I didn’t have a mother. I wasn’t born as Shuichi Minamino. But there was a me before I was Shuichi, and now I was once again.

I spoke, and my voice came out deep and rich, as it had been before, “I did not expect to ever again assume the form of the fox demon.”

All of the sudden everything seemed so clear. The chaos that had been weighing my mind was lifted and put in order. I suddenly knew exactly were my priorities should lie. And I knew what it was I had to do… despite how hard it would be. My new found clarity of mind stayed with me even after the smoke cleared and I reverted back to my humanized form.

That night after we won the semi-finals, I said to Hiei, “We need to talk.”

“About what?” Hiei asked as he came out of the shower. His right arm was an ugly red from the elbow down and his shoulder started to bleed again. He sat on the bed next to me and I automatically picked up a bandage to start dressing him.

“About us,” I said.

“You dumping me Kurama?” asked flatly.

I respected him enough to answer him plainly, “Yes.”

Hiei nodded his head as if he’d been expecting this.

“And also, I wanted to say I was sorry,” I continued as I wrap bandages around his arm, “for doubting you. You are excellent fighter, who’s abilities I can trust. All that worrying and over protectiveness was only making me weak. We’re going to be facing Team Toguro in the finals. We can’t afford for me to weak. So, I have to stop.”

“That’s a shame,” Hiei said quietly resigned, “But if that’s what it takes for you get your head out of your ass and fight like your life depends on it-- which it does, than I can accept it.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He shifted, a little and a drop of blood spilled from his wound. As reflex I caught it on my tongue. I tasted his spicy blood, his demon blood. I had tasted it the night I met him and had been intoxicated by it since. I still loved him, but this time and place just wasn’t right for us. Humans have a saying for it, “I just wasn’t meant to be.”

TBC…
A/N: This was a very difficult chapter write, and I don’t mean just emotionally. It took me a lot of time and pouring over the manga to piece together a something that made sense. I had to break Hiei and Kurama up, because of things later in the series, like Hiei’s decision to go work for Mukuro. It only made sense. But I didn’t think it was a messy break up, because they seemed pretty civil to each other afterwards. But it’s not over yet, find out what happens, Next Time!