Chapter Four: ‘You can run’ – but fight?

The fox slipped out from the dragon’s grip, twisting and rolling. It turned to meet the next attack. And they danced. A deadly, graceful, eerie dance. The two combatants silent. The woods silent. There was only the dance. Twisting in and out, darting, lunging, striking, twirling… The fox made a quick move and slashed the dragon’s tail. The dragon clamped its jaws around the fox’s tails, biting down…

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Kurama woke up screaming in pain, his paw reaching around to feel his tails… His hand felt his bottom. His human form didn’t have any tails. Damnit. I hate nightmares. Kurama started to settle back down… and jumped as he nearly lay on a small demon sleeping next to him. Hiei! This was the second night the little demon had snuck over to sleep with him. Kurama frowned as he looked the demon over – it was also apparently the second night the demon shared his nightmares.

"Hiei, wake up." The demon rolled into a ball.

Kurama sighed. "Hiei. Hiei! Come on, Hiei – you’re having a nightmare. Wake up." The demon just kept shivering silently.

"Hiei, wake up. It’s your turn to cook breakfast."

"Hiei, the whitefish are melting."

"Hiei – your house is on fire and your children are home."

"Hiei… wake up and see the unicorn."

The compact ball unrolled and a red eye cracked open, "Where?"

Kurama blinked. It worked?

The demon stretched and yawned, showing a mouth full of sharp pointed teeth.

Kurama watched in fascination, "So, what were you dreaming about."

Hiei’s mouth snapped shut and he glared furiously at Kurama, "None of your damn business!"

Whoa… Kurama held out his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Didn’t mean anything…"

The demon held his gaze for a long moment more and then disappeared with a blur.

Kurama rolled his eyes. Just what I need, a grumpy demon in the morning. Then a different thought came to him and he grinned, I wonder what sort of mood Hiei would have been in if I’d kissed him awake. But as amusing as the thought was, Kurama didn’t want to push it quite that far. Teasing was one thing, but he didn’t really want the demon to lose control. Or did he? Kurama thought about the well-muscled healthy body of the demon… and sighed. No. Not yet. Not just yet. With another grin, Kurama went off to wash his face and get ready for the morning.

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Hiei grumped to himself, stupid fox… But how he longed for that fox… Kurama had made him his. But wasn’t yet willing to accept all of the demon. I’ll wait. I will wait. Kurama wants me as I am, for a friend. That’s more than I’ve had in… a very long time. He spotted a familiar plant and pulled the root out, sniffing at it and then carefully nibbling a bite. He tossed it in the basket and went on. What in the human world made him bring up unicorns?

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Kurama sat by the fire and watched in amusement as Hiei stir-fried a pan of vegetables and roots, adding sauces and condiments carefully and with precision. Half of it had come out of another pack that Kurama hadn’t seen last night. More stuff from a human town, probably all bought. What a weird demon. "Are you going to put any meat in that?"

"For breakfast?" Hiei’s tones indicated astonishment. Then he gave Kurama a considering glance. After the evaluation, he rolled his eyes and stated, "I didn’t catch any."

Kurama tossed him a tree squirrel.

Hiei looked at it in disgust and tossed it back, "You caught it, you clean it."

With a laugh, Kurama complied, neatly filleting the small rodent and cutting the meat into fine chunks.

"No! Don’t toss them in there!!!" Hiei yelled, bringing his hand up to block Kurama’s attempt to toss the rodent meat in the pan. "I’ll cook you a different batch in a moment."

Kurama settled back by the fire with another grin. He was amused and enjoying this scene. He had never seen the demon like this and had never even thought Hiei could be… domestic. It was almost more astonishing than the cuddly demon Hiei had been yesterday. That… was just plan strange, and unsettling. This fussy cooking was decidedly odd; but in a way, Kurama could see it. Another facet of the preciseness of the demon’s thoughts. A demonstration of the way he laid things neatly out and planned ahead. Just another gourmet cook… Kurama laughed to himself and pulled Hiei’s list out to study it.

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After breakfast, Hiei looked at Kurama expectantly. Kurama grinned at the look in those red eyes… waiting for him to make the next move. Oh, I will make the next move, Hiei – you’re just not going to expect it! "I was thinking we could go after Syth first – sounds like an interesting demon."

Hiei nodded thoughtfully, "Close by."

"Another good reason."

They left the campsite after removing all traces they were ever there and headed to the demon’s territory. After a bit of walking, with Hiei silently chaffing by his side, Kurama compromised and started forward in an easy ground-eating lope.

"You can actually run," was Hiei’s remark.

Kurama ignored it.

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They paused on the outskirts of the territory. "Okay," Hiei looked around, his bright eyes seeking out anything that was out of the ordinary, "you can wait over—"

"Wait? What do you mean wait?" Kurama indignantly asked.

"Syth is mine," Hiei stated. "You can have Uranth, next."

Uranth… Kurama’s eyes narrowed as he pulled out the details from his memory. And compared them to Syth. Oh. Green sparks glinted dangerously as he grinned mockingly at Hiei, "That’s okay – you can have Uranth. I rather like the challenge of Syth."

Hiei frowned at the fox, "I said I’d take this one."

Kurama walked next to the demon and reached over to run his fingers through the soft fur, pulling gently at the spikes and fluffing the hair. Hiei stood perfectly still, stunned, the red eyes wide as they stared up… Kurama gently started to move his hands in, to stroke over the high cheeks and strong jaw. Surprisingly, Hiei’s skin was almost as soft as his fur. Or maybe it wasn’t much of a surprise. Eyelids drooped over the red gaze as Hiei’s mouth parted slightly and he moved his face in Kurama’s hands, tucking his skin closer to Kurama’s. Kurama could feel a low purr starting to vibrate under his hands. Softly, he said, "Hiei, I think it’s sweet of you to want to protect me, but I want the dance with Syth."

With a jerk, Hiei pulled himself out of Kurama’s hands, his gaze startled and flustered.

"You don’t think I can take Syth, do you?" Kurama grinned and darted quickly in for a kiss on those smooth lips, distracting the demon once again, not letting him get his balance. Then he pulled back and waited.

His hand at his mouth, Hiei glared furiously at Kurama, "Damn fox! What the hell do you think you’re doing? I said I would take Syth!"

Slowly, Kurama shook his head, the red mane flowing around him as he did, "Hiei, Hiei… you go to all the trouble to prepare a list of criminals we can fight together – and then leave my choice out of it? Do you have so little confidence in me? That you only want me to fight the demons of a class twice under my own? Where’s the fun in that? I like a challenge. And Syth is an interesting fighter, by your report. I think he will dance well."

"His rei power—"

"Is higher than my own," Kurama interrupted calmly. "So? That just makes the dance interesting. If fights were won and lost by rei power alone, there would never be a need for demons to fight. All they would have to do is look at each other, judge the strength, and one slinks off while the other holds high. The natural pecking order. But a fight is based also on strategy and the dance. That is why power fluctuates." Kurama regarded him steadily, "Hiei – I know what I can and can’t do… don’t you trust me? If I am to have you as a partner, that means you have to not bind me too tightly."

Hiei winced visibly under the verbal onslaught of the last couple of sentences, his own words thrown back at him and cutting deep. Grimly, he stared up at the beautiful red-haired fox, so calm and cool, so strong in will, so graceful. But not delicate. And not weak. Kurama… With another grimace, Hiei turned and found a tree that gave him a good view of the surrounding area, where the fight… dance… would probably be held.

As Hiei flitted off, Kurama watched with a grin on his face. That’s it, my demon. That’s the way… Before, Hiei had been the last one that Kurama would ever have guessed to be over-protective. Now.. Kurama chuckled. It was sweet, if misguided. Then he turned his focus on the dance, paying special attention to the audience.

Kurama, damn you… Kurama was right. Damn him, the fox was right. Why did he have to be so right? Hiei watched glumly as Kurama scouted the area carefully, hiding most traces of his rei, not that Syth has to worry about his rei, and then sneaking to the spot where Syth was busily arranging his latest set of statues. Kurama, be careful… If Kurama let Syth touch him, for simply a second of time, then Kurama too would be one of those statues. Syth was faster than Kurama. Syth was more powerful. Syth… How the hell did Kurama think he was going to win? Hiei nervously chewed on a fingernail. The fox had essentially just blackmailed Hiei into agreeing to stay out of it. How had he done that? Hiei wanted to just go down there, slice up the demon, and get out again and face Kurama’s anger later. Unfortunately, it probably wasn’t just Kurama’s anger he’d be facing. If the fox couldn’t have Hiei as a partner, the fox wouldn’t have him at all. And Hiei… didn’t want that. But he didn’t want his fox to be turned to stone either. Damnit, damnit, damnit. ‘Do you have so little confidence in me?’ "Kurama," Hiei muttered so softly only the tree heard, "I’ve never seen you fight this class of demon. What is there for me to have confidence in?" ‘I know what I can do.’ ‘Trust me.’ Oh, Kurama… be careful.

Hiei was right about one thing – the first thing that Syth did when he saw Kurama poised for battle was laugh. He could judge Kurama’s rei as well as Hiei could. And didn’t see a threat. Damnit, Kurama… Kurama waited easily where he was, for Syth to make the first move. And then Syth did, forming a ball of rei energy with which to knock Kurama down. It was one of Syth’s little hobbies – take the subject alive, and then position them exactly right for his statue garden before changing them. Unless they were a danger, then he just changed them immediately. Hiei breathed a little sigh of relief that Syth was choosing the long way – it gave Hiei an opportunity to intervene if things got too nasty.

Kurama stood his ground in front of the rei ball, then ducked down and it zoomed over his head to devastate an innocent plant behind him. Syth grinned and bowed mockingly before shooting out a volley of balls. Kurama waited and then started dodging them, gliding easily between the energy, somersaulting over them, twisting around. And always keeping his attention to the main opponent, Hiei noted approvingly.

With a frown, Syth gestured with another hand and several of the statues started moving, sluggishly, but grouping in to limit Kurama’s paths. Kurama simply grinned at them. A minute went by in which Kurama was forced back… Syth readied another rei ball. And then every moving statue halted as they were first covered in green moss, and then wrapped tightly in ivy tentacles. As the plants continued to grow, the statues started falling apart, torn by the small cracks that appeared between the moss and broken by the ivy growing into the cracks.

"Even the best statue tender in the worlds can’t completely get rid of moss and ivy," Kurama remarked lightly.

Syth roared angrily, seeing his precious garden being destroyed in front of his eyes. He abandoned the rei ball he was forming and the glow instead surrounded his body. With furious blood-shot eyes, he advanced on Kurama.

While Hiei had to admire the fox’s plant-controlling techniques, he was rather apprehensive about the results. Syth was now so mad that Kurama had been advanced to the ‘destroy right now’ category. Kurama – you damn well better know what you’re doing!

For once, instead of waiting until the last moment, Kurama backed off immediately and started dodging Syth’s attacks while he was still several feet away. Syth grinned at this show of what he saw as fear and taunted the fox as he continued to advance.

Hiei glumly chewed on a different fingernail. The first one had been worn down. Syth’s not using his full power. He’s angry, but he’s playing with the fox. He wants to see terror in Kurama’s eyes before he’ll turn him to stone. And Kurama was slowing down, his twists less elaborate, his somersaults not as high in the air, his dodges making more near-misses… Call me, Kurama. Call me and I’ll come. Please. Don’t hold me to this. I don’t want to watch you die. Hiei watched Syth’s power rise… He’s gotten tired of the game. Syth is planning to end this now. Syth blurred into motion three times faster than he been before, his hand outstretched to catch a lock of Kurama’s hair. Kurama!!!! Hiei froze on his branch, his heart in his throat.

And then both Hiei and Syth blinked as Kurama dodged an attack he could not possibly have seen coming.

Syth growled in frustration… and puzzlement. He blurred, attacking again.

And Kurama dodged again, grinning with amusement. This time, Kurama also attacked, the edge of his open hand striking as he dodged by, leaving Syth with a nerve-damaged left arm.

Huh… Hiei started breathing again and settled back on the tree branch, watching even more carefully than he had been before. He was no longer poised to rescue, instead intent on analyzing Kurama’s moves. How’d he do that? Syth was faster. Syth had more rei. Yet it was Kurama who had the upper hand in this fight.

As Kurama continued to score attack after attack, while Syth landed none, Hiei’s admiration grew. And, as the fight went on, his understanding grew as well. Kurama is directing this fight. A dance he calls it, and it is one. He is dodging every one of Syth’s moves… because he knows exactly where they’ll be. Because he is skillfully guiding them there. The way he moves… invites attack at certain times. But so subtly that Syth is not suspicious. The slow start to get them used to the pattern, so when they speed up, Syth is unknowingly still following Kurama’s lead. Kurama is planning out moves and countermoves ten steps ahead of the game. And Syth has fallen straight into Kurama’s snare.

As the fight went on, Syth’s bafflement grew. And his anger changed to fear. But on the instant that he turned to run, Kurama was there, landing a deadly blow that sent the demon down, neck twisted at an angle that his type of demon couldn’t achieve and still live.

Kurama stood, breathing lightly, looking down at the body for a long moment before turning to the tree that Hiei perched in. He grinned happily, "Fun dance."

Hiei hopped down and walked to his… partner. He glanced down at the body and then up at Kurama, "Not bad."

"Damned with faint praise," Kurama remarked, his green eyes sparkling merrily. "Was it still too long?"

Hiei glanced over at the sunset and didn’t answer directly, "Should we make camp here?"

Kurama grinned ruefully. I think that was a ‘yes.’

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After they had dinner, Kurama stretched out next to the fire and prepared for a nice long conversation with Hiei. And then sighed, "Hiei? Where are you?"

A couple of minutes went by before Hiei reappeared, "Did you want something?"

Kurama studied the demon and shook his head. Hiei frowned, an obvious ‘so why’d you call’ look on his face. He started to flit off again and then hesitated. Slowly, he sat down across the fire from Kurama. Barely had he settled before he got up again. He paced around a bit and then glanced up and hopped into a tree. After a moment, Kurama heard a rustling above him and he looked up. Hiei was stretching out along a branch not too far up, his back resting against the trunk of the tree. Kurama chuckled and rolled so he could see the demon more easily.

There was silence between them for awhile. All of Kurama’s wonderful ideas of conversation topics seemed to have dried up. And he didn’t just want to ask questions of Hiei. Hiei would answer them because it was Kurama who asked, but not because he wanted to. Of course, Hiei had said he wouldn’t answer every question, yet the implication was still there. Finally, Kurama decided on the age-old tactic of bare your throat first. It was a tactic that seemed to work fairly well with the demon. Hiei was waiting to be shown kindness, in order for him to return it.

"I decided to become a thief when I was twelve," Kurama began. And went on to relate some of his first attempts at the profession. Mixed equally with seriousness and humor, Kurama reflected that he’d learned a lot in six hundred years. And as he told the tale, he realized he’d also forgotten quite a lot. When he finished, he waited.

Up on his branch, Hiei licked his lips. He knew what the fox wanted from him. But… Much of his life was off-boundaries for one reason or another. Some too dangerous, some too nasty, others looking more like sympathy than truth… Hiei sighed. And compromised. He took a view of a planet in evolution, a snapshot of a region of time and space, balanced it with cause and effect, and painted a picture of a rose.

As he listened, Kurama found himself touched in ways he hadn’t expected. This dangerous quick-fire demon, was an artist in words and thought. He spoke so rarely, and tended to be so exact when he did… Kurama hadn’t known what depths of eloquence and passion lay underneath. Well, maybe the passion, Kurama grinned lightly, and wondered. He pulled out the rose that Hiei had given him a week ago, and set it down so he could watch it as Hiei talked. The rose hadn’t lost its bloom, still fresh and sweet. But… Kurama blinked. The colors in the rose were changing. From within the deep blue darkness, there were red petals in the middle of the rose. And the ones next to the red were partway shaded, from inside out.

"It’s yours, now," Hiei broke off the tale to explain.

Kurama looked up.

"The rose. It was mine before – that’s why it was black. But it recognizes that it is yours now, and is changing to match."

Changing to a red color? Kurama tugged on one of his forelocks and frowned at the rose.

Hiei grinned, a flash across his face, "Emotion. Inner truth. The red… is of a bright truth of soul, one that will never quit, a calming element that speaks of, and is, life itself."

Kurama blinked, "Red?"

This time, Hiei laughed, "You’ve been in the human world too long. Colors mean different things depending on where they are from. It is the truth of red of where the rose used to be."

"And blue?"

"Blue?"

Kurama glanced back at the rose, "It was blue when it was yours."

Hiei’s fist clenched as he growled, "It was black." He sounded rather defensive about it.

Kurama opened his mouth… then closed it again. Nevermind. I think I’d better back off this subject. Even though he was now intensely curious, Kurama recognized that their relationship was still too young for Hiei to easily reveal any type of weakness, and the color of the rose was obviously not an open subject. Quickly he changed to his other question, "So where did you get it?"

Hiei’s laugh was part rueful, part amused, and part… dark. "I stole it. A very long time ago." There was a brief silence, then Hiei said softly, "I’m glad you kept it."

Kurama thought briefly about saying any number of things to that, and in the end decided to stay silent and let the statement stand as it was.

After another moment, Hiei continued his talk about roses, mixing their history with their botany with the people who raised roses and the spread of the rose through the human world.

Listening to the rich deep voice, Kurama fell asleep.