CHAPTER 3
Practice
A dazed and giddy Kurama slowly made his way home, reflecting enthusiastically on what he'd just learned. True, his behind was a bit sore... but the feeling was also marvelous. So marvelous, that a deeply irresponsible (and fortunately strongly controlled) part of him wanted to shout at the top of his voice, "I'VE BEEN F***ED!!" He couldn't understand what all the fuss was about: if it felt as good as this, what could be wrong with it? Now all he wanted was for it to happen again as soon as possible, but of course only with one particular person......
When Kurama reached home, he'd completely forgotten why he went out to start with. So he nearly made a fool of himself when his mother said:
"Shuu-chan, that was quick: did the doctor give you anything?"
"Oh, er, an injection, kaasan," he said, because it was the first thing that came into his head. Well, at least it wasn't entirely untrue.....
"That's good, usually he doesn't pay much attention to colds and flu: he doesn't understand how mothers worry when their children are ill. Perhaps he's beginning to see some sense after all these years."
"Oh no, kaasan, it was a different doctor - just qualified, I think: quite young. Ours was on vacation, they said."
Shiori nodded sagely. "It's as I always thought: you're often better in the hands of a younger doctor: they know all the latest techniques. Why, I don't think that old man knows which end of you he's looking at, sometimes!"
It was a very good thing Kurama hadn't taken a mouthful of the coffee his mother had handed him, else it would have ended up all over the tablecloth. Oh, this one knew which end he was looking at, all right! he thought.
Shiori, however, interpreted his coughing fit and bright red flush as something entirely different.
"You do seem a lot better, but you're still coughing, and you're looking very peaky. Go back to bed, and I'll bring you up some hot soup. Would you like that?"
"Oh, yes, kaasan. Thank you very much!" As he wobbled his way back up the stairs, he realised how drained he was feeling. Bed sounded like a good idea.
He lay in bed reviewing what he'd learned today, and more particularly, how he'd like to make use of the knowledge with a certain fire demon. This led to him spending rather more time than usual with his legs drawn up in bed, to make a tent out of the bedclothes, while he strained to hear where his mother was in the house. It also led to a number of furtive trips to the bathroom to flush away handfuls of damp tissues that had nothing to do with his runny nose. By the end of the day his butt was no longer sore - instead another bit of his anatomy, at the front, was... He fell asleep that night feeling tired and happy.
* * * * *
However, as the months went by, he began to despair of ever getting a chance to put his ideas in practice. Hiei seemed to always have duties which kept him away, and there was no chance for the two of them to be alone together.
In the meantime, he'd bought a new hairbrush. It was a nice brush, a circular one, with an unusually thick, round handle with a smooth, domed end. Strangely enough, there was never even one of his distinctive long, red hairs to be seen in its bristles: it was always immaculately clean. This meant he had to keep his old brush, which he still used every day, just as spotless, to avoid the contrast looking strange. Still, he started to get quite fond of the new brush..... And he was starting to use quite a lot of hand lotion, too.
Shiori was pleased to see he was looking after his skin so well.
"A lot of young people don't bother, I know, but you have beautiful hands, Shuu-chan. Look after them now and they'll stay that way the rest of your life."
Kurama felt a little guilty, agreeing so easily with his mother's comments. But he did get quite a lot of the lotion on his hands when he used it: just not intentionally. By now he'd perfected the art of taking an old towel to bed with him, to avoid any embarrassing stains on the bedclothes. Besides, he did all his own washing now. Shiori was charmed by how dutiful her son had become, just at an age when most other boys were getting rebellious.
So when her husband suggested they try to get away for a weekend alone, just the two of them, she had no hesitation in agreeing. After all, Shuu-chan was a young adult now, and so responsible. His stepbrother was a little bit of a problem, though. He'd reached the age when he was mad about motorbikes, and was quite likely to run off to some speedway event goodness knows where, without any thought of how he was going to get back. It wasn't fair to ask Shuu-chan to watch him day and night for two days: he'd have no time to himself.
Inspiration struck. An old school friend of hers lived about two hours drive away, and she'd married a man who ran a motorcycle business. Now he'd branched out into running a miniature trail bike course for children. They'd been to visit last year, when young Shuuichi was just starting his motorcycle mania, and Shiori had been impressed with how careful her friend's husband was, with the safety of the children in his care. Shuuichi had even persuaded his parents to let him ride a few gentle circuits, under supervision, and had proved surprisingly capable. Since then, the couple had said he'd be very welcome to come and stay one weekend, if he wanted to learn to ride properly.
For a moment she hesitated. After all, motorcycles weren't that safe, and she didn't really want little Shuuichi getting on one at all. But she had to face it, he was likely to trick someone into letting him ride alone in a year or two, now he was starting to look older; and probably on a concrete track with no helmet or protective clothing. At least if he learned at her friends' place, he'd be properly protected, and on a grass track: hopefully the worse that would happen if he fell off would be that he'd get very muddy! Maybe if it wasn't made excitingly forbidden he'd get tired of it sooner......
A telephone call later it was fixed: they'd drive out Friday night, dropping Shuuichi at her friends' on the way, then collect him - hopefully still in one piece - on their return journey Sunday evening.
When she told Kurama what she had arranged, there was no mistaking the delight in his face: he was obviously pleased that his mother and stepfather were taking the time to be alone together, but he also seemed happy with the prospect of having the place to himself for a weekend. Poor boy, she thought, always having to mind his behaviour with his elders about. He deserved a couple of days to himself. Besides, soon enough now he'd meet someone and disappear off to a life of his own: she didn't want to drive him away any sooner by keeping him cooped up with the whole family all year.
At least she hoped he'd meet someone. It always worried her that he seemed so alone, so withdrawn despite his smiling politeness. Although he had friends, they always seemed just that: never a girl that he wanted to spend time with. Nor a boy, either, despite his delicate looks and her husband's worried insinuations. There just didn't seem to be anyone. Perhaps a little more responsibility would make him more confident.....
Kurama, meanwhile, was suddenly more than delighted: he was beside himself with delight. Happier than a dog with two tails: after all, wasn't he a fox with five? Because, wonder of wonders, Hiei had suddenly started appearing in the Ningenkai much more recently. Kurama had felt him near, watching as he went to school and returned, every day for the last week. And every evening he'd turned up at the window, not wanting to talk, just sit on the floor or the bed, and watch Kurama as he did his homework. Kurama felt guilty at first, as if he was ignoring the little fire demon, but Hiei seemed totally unconcerned about it.
"I don't need to do anything except sit here: sometimes this is the only place I can relax. Just walk round me."
When he'd gone to bed the first time, he'd hesitantly, with pounding heart, offered Hiei part of the bed if he wanted. But the fire demon had declined, preferring to sit in the corner in the dark, watching.
In anyone else it would have seemed sinister, but somehow Hiei's presence always seemed incongruously like a guardian angel: several times in the night Kurama woke, but always found the same two little points of red light fixed unwaveringly on him. He found it strangely comforting, if deeply frustrating. He just had to hope he didn't talk in his sleep, because his dreams were getting rather lurid these days, and Hiei was always the subject.
Kurama assumed that the fire demon had been sleeping during the daylight hours, but after a number of days of this routine, he began to notice increasing signs of tiredness and strain in the youkai's face. He still woke several times in the night to find those ruby eyes on him, but this time was different. Hiei had been sitting on the windowsill, arm wrapped round a drawn-up leg, chin resting on his knee. But this time Kurama was woken by a muffled thud and a curse, and for a moment felt strangely panicked. Then the moonlight flooding into the room showed his friend, dragging himself up of the floor with an attitude that suggested total exhaustion.
"Hiei, come and lay on the bed. No need to get under the covers: just lay down and rest.... please?"
Muzzily, the fire demon padded over to the bed, and hesitantly lay down on top of the bedclothes, right over the other side from Kurama.
"Okay, but I don't wanna.... don't wanna go to sleep...." Kurama was certain Hiei was asleep before he'd finished breathing the last word. It wasn't long before an explanation of the youkai's avoidance of sleep became apparent. To Kurama's surprise - because sleeping in trees must have needed balance and stillness on Hiei's part - the little fire demon began to thrash and twist jerkily on the bed. At the same time he began to mutter under his breath, a low, anguished tone that was difficult to follow. Kurama inched nearer, trying to gain some clue to the nightmare that his friend was being tormented by.
"No! Leave me alone! Give me back my soul.... I don't wanna die! Not him, too! Take me instead...." The garbled phrases made no sense, but they were whispered with an intensity that made the hairs on the back of Kurama's neck rise, and despite Hiei's legendary stoicism, the expression on his face looked like one of pure horror, which frightened Kurama more than anything else.
He could only think of one thing to do, so he slid his arms out from under the covers, and hesitantly slipped them around his friend, very gently hugging him to him. To his surprise, Hiei quieted immediately, and in a few seconds was in a deep, soundless sleep. Kurama spent the rest of the night lying half in and half out of the bedclothes, holding the little youkai tight... and trying not to get an erection from the closeness of his heart's desire.
Dawn came, and as light flooded into the room, Hiei stirred. Not wishing to be too obvious, Kurama slipped his arms away from Hiei, and pretended to wake at the same time.
"How did you sleep?"
"Hn. Really well." This was said with an air of considerable surprise. Then he glanced up at the brightening day, said "Gotta go, fox" and in a blur was off the bed and out the window, gone before Kurama could even sit up.
That night, Kurama waited, heart in mouth, to see whether the youkai would return, and what would happen. He was quite surprised when Hiei appeared on the windowsill: he had expected him to disappear for a few days after their moment of closeness. Once again he was content to sit and watch while Kurama did his homework, but when the end of the evening came and Kurama, having washed and changed into his pajamas, shyly made the same offer of a patch of the bed, sliding right over one side and patting that furthest from him, the response was a surprise.
"Hn. Alright. I slept well last night." What was more of a surprise was that the fire demon lifted the covers and slid under. Still fully dressed of course, and right over the other side from Kurama, but nevertheless in the bed.
Slightly shocked, Kurama lay still, listening to the other's breathing slowing. After a little while it seemed the nightmare began again, as his friend began to toss and turn, and mumble anguishedly again. Once again, Kurama closed the gap between them and put his arms around his friend, hugging him gently, and once again his turmoil swiftly quieted. Unlike before, Kurama was certain that Hiei moved almost imperceptibly closer into his embrace. If it wasn't such an obviously inappropriate word, Kurama would have said that he had snuggled.
Just like before, Hiei woke with the dawn, and was out of the bed and gone in a blur. Unlike last time, he paused before vaulting out of the window, and looked back to Kurama: "See ya, fox" he said, and was gone. And to Kurama it seemed that there was a hint of a tiny smile on that enigmatic face.
After ten days in which the demon stayed every night, Kurama was very confused. Something was happening, there was no doubt, but was it what he wanted? It seemed as if his beloved fire demon could only escape his nightmare by surrendering to Kurama's embrace. It also seemed that he was doing that with increasing openness, for recently he had slid into bed and over to meet Kurama directly. Last night he'd even taken the astounding step of pulling Kurama's arm around him, before his friend could even move, thereby not just acknowledging the embrace, but welcoming it.
What Kurama couldn't work out was whether he simply represented the best therapy for whatever was troubling Hiei, or something more. However, being used to reading the tiniest changes in the uncommunicative fire demon's behaviour, he was beginning to feel that his friend's attitude was a little warmer. After much heart-searching, he decided it was up to him to try and develop things further. He still had no clue what it was that had terrorized Hiei's sleep, but knew he'd only talk about it when he was ready, if ever.
Now everything just seemed to be falling into place: all he had to do was to be sufficiently persuasive to get Hiei to come over for an evening alone together. Carefully, he marshaled his temptations mentally: candy, ice-cream, popcorn; and renting a couple of the old kung-fu movies that Hiei always poured scorn on; because Kurama was sure he secretly enjoyed watching them just so he could complain about the unrealistic fights. (This occasionally worried Kurama: not only did Hiei love to complain, Kurama loved hearing him grumbling about things. "Which of the two of us is the odder?", he thought.
Oh, and a bottle or two of sake: when the team had met up socially, as they still did every month or so (although individual paths crossed more frequently), Kurama had noticed Hiei seemed to be developing a taste for the heady wine.
Strangely, he always seemed to be staring at Kurama, after two or three glasses started to get his speech a bit unsteady. Maybe, on their own, the wine would make him do more than stare?
To his surprise, Hiei was easy to spot when he came out of school: normally the fire demon was nothing more than an invisible presence. But this time he was standing by a group of trees, calmly surveying the horde of schoolchildren flooding out into the street. He never moved, but somehow Kurama knew he'd been spotted the moment he stepped out of the gates. As Kurama walked up to him, something about Hiei's eyes suggested he could have smiled, if he'd felt it appropriate behaviour - which he obviously didn't.
"Hi!"
"Hn."
"Are you going to be about on Saturday? Because my brother and parents are all going to be away through to Sunday night: I've got the house to myself...."
Hesitantly, dry-mouthed, Kurama explained his idea. To his delight, Hiei said:
"Hn. Don't see why not. I'm not doing anything else...." Although his words sounded cold, his face again suggested that there was more enthusiasm than the words conveyed. "OK. I'll see you then."
With a flicker of black,
the little youkai was gone.