Title: Human

Author: Freya

Pairing: Kurama/Hiei

Rating: T -- Mentions of sexx0r, not nearly graphic enough to garner an 'M' rating, though, unless your eyes are allergic to the F word.

A/N: I can't believe I'm writing for this fandom again. I mean, it's been so brutally infested with Sues and Badfic that it's lost its appeal, but since rereading the manga I felt like writing this fic anyway. Hope y'all like it.

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Kurama and his ridiculous insinuations often had Hiei asking himself why he'd partnered up with the guy in the first place.

Soft spot for humans my ass, thought Hiei with a sneer. He'd conceal himself within the shadows to hide himself as far away from those vile creatures as he could. He'd once desired to make an army of demons out of the lot, but Urameshi put a stop to that, and now he was stuck doing Koenma's bidding. There wasn't a speck, even a trace of goodwill toward the human world in Hiei. Hell, if some chaotic force that was beyond his control happened to swoop down right this minute and completely vanquish this realm of humans, Hiei couldn't really say he gave a damn.

He simply was not allowed to be that chaotic force in question, or else he'd get his hide tanned by King Enma, or worse, that Urameshi kid again (whom he'd quite unwillingly come to respect in time.) There were some things that couldn't be helped. There were also some things that didn't change. Hiei wasn't a human-loving guy. He certainly didn't harbor any 'soft' feelings towards them.

Kurama's just a fool who talks to hear himself speak, Hiei decided, as he took refuge in one of his favorite hiding spots after dark. He'd come to like the rooftop of Urameshi's school. It was quiet, remote, and the view wasn't too bad. If the human world had one thing going for it, the scenery wasn't too bad. It wasn't remarkable, but at least it wasn't grim. Not that grim things bothered Hiei, mind you, but having seen and lived in many a grim environment, the occasional change wasn't unwelcome. He had not felt as though he had become soft or weak because of it. Why would such a trivial thing make one weak, anyway? It was said amongst demons that getting caught up in the beauty of the Human World could render one weak, which was absolute nonsense. His own kind sure could be full of bullshit at times.

Oh sure, fighting along side those idiots Urameshi and Kuwabara all the time, yeah, one could say the aid of humans made him appear weak, if that were actually the case, which it wasn't. The aid in question was received by said humans from him. He didn't need them to get by at all, even if they were an infamous duo, quite unlike your average humans. If he had to side with any humans, it may as well be ones like that. Hiei could still kill them in the blink of an eye, though, make no mistake of that (Well, Kuwabara maybe, Urameshi would give him problems.) Hiei couldn't seem to forget his defeat at the (extremely lucky) hands of Urameshi, much to his dismay.

Anyways.

If anything, Kurama was the soft one. Fool that he was, getting forced into the human world, garnering human feelings, willing to risk his life for a human woman. Then, with that great strength had still had (even in his weaker state), he chose to be Urameshi's ally. That was where they were differed. Hiei didn't choose to be Urameshi's ally, he was forced into it. It wasn't such a bad thing, no, and being the idiot that he is, Urameshi seemed to trust him, and had this misconceived notion that they were friends, even. Yeah, friends. That was a laugh.

Hiei didn't do friends.

Kurama, however, seemed perfectly content to accept the friendship of Urameshi and Kuwabara, which couldn't confuse Hiei more if it wanted to. After all, in terms of strength and fame, he and Kurama were pretty much equals, yet Kurama willingly disgraced himself in such a manner that Hiei couldn't even begin to comprehend. To think one as old as he would fall into such a foolish web of... humanity, then dare to insinuate that Hiei himself was on his way down the same road. Utter nonsense!

"Enjoying the view?"

Speak of the devil.

Hiei barely felt Kurama's presence in time before the words came. That fox was pretty good at sneaking up on people, and showing up at times Hiei preferred to be alone, which was pretty much always. He wasn't a chatty person. He preferred to let his sword do the talking. Not that he'd take up his sword against Kurama, just to end up with hundreds of unforgiving thorns from that Rose Whip embedded into his body. That would be a fun way to die. About as fun as being beaten to death with your own disembodied limbs. That was, of course, assuming Kurama would be able to. It was certainly possible, not likely, but possible all the same.

"What do you want?" grumbled Hiei, not bothering to turn around and face his uninvited guest. Of all the new and unusual comrades he found himself surrounded by these days, Kurama's company was the most familiar, not to mention the most recurring. No other being could approach Hiei from the back without getting a face full of sword so easily. He was wary of giving the fox any trust, though. After all, Kurama had betrayed him once, and now he was stuck babysitting humans as a result. There really should be no companionship here. In fact, Hiei often wondered where his much deserved hatred for Kurama was hiding. Now would be a good time for it to show itself.

He told himself that every night Kurama decided to show up and screw up his alone time. It failed every time. Something about the human world was starting to make him stupid. There could be no other explanation.

"Well, it's a nice night, so I thought I might go out for a stroll," said Kurama, and as far as Hiei was concerned, there were plenty of other places he could 'stroll' without making his way to Sarayashiki's rooftop. Again, Hiei didn't have to turn around to know what was there; everything, from Kurama's footfalls to his facial expression, Hiei just knew. Kurama had become a very familiar companion indeed, just enough for Hiei to proceed brooding further without having to heighten his defenses. Sometimes if he was too quiet Kurama'd leave, and that was fine by him.

When Kurama didn't want anything in particular, those footfalls normally stopped at a distance of about five paces, not that Hiei was keeping track. He just knew somehow, because somehow, he tends to know a lot of useless things. However, when his eyes crept toward the ledge he stood upon, he found Kurama leaning against it.

Whatever.

Hiei hardly thought anything of it.

"This isn't the first time you've been up here," stated Kurama, as if he had some sort of odd, trivial question on his mind that Hiei didn't feel like answering. He often did.

"What of it?" Hiei ended up asking. Sometimes he wasn't in a silent mood. Sometimes he felt like humoring Kurama a little. Sometimes. This must have been one of those times.

"It's a nice view from here. Are you beginning to appreciate this world a little more?"

"Keh, hardly!"

Silence.

Hiei hazarded another glance down at his companion, noticing for the first time that evening that there was a breeze, and it was tumbling through Kurama's hair in a very... distracting way. Red was a good color for him, especially after all the blood he's shed back in the day. Thinking in past tense now, are we? Kurama and that blasted whip still had plenty of red to bathe in yet. Unlike Urameshi and Kuwabara, Hiei didn't let that current collected, soft, kind demeanor of Kurama's get to him. How stupid would he have to be to let that happen?

"It's a far cry from the Demon World, don't you think? There's more to see, much to learn."

Hiei said nothing. True as Kurama's words may be, admitting to them was like admitting that he had a soft spot for humans, which he didn't. Anyone with eyes could see that this world had their world beaten in leaps and bounds in terms of looks. Big deal. Looks weren't everything.

There was that breeze again, and Hiei lifted his hand to grasp his cloak. Not that he was cold or anything. He didn't let something as trivial as the temperature get to him, unless it threatened his life in any way, which this certainly did not. Still, he now had this unyielding chill and this feeling that he couldn't explain. It wasn't dangerous, but it took him by surprise all the same. He wasn't surprised to look down a third time to see Kurama looking right up at him. He could almost feel that intent gaze pierce right through his skull like two thorns from his whip. There were some nights where these talks went nowhere, and Kurama walked away without a word. There were others where a chill was invoked in Hiei, and he would look down, over, or forward to find his companion leering at him in that manner, as if to bind Hiei to this rooftop until Kurama got just what he wanted out of their nightly interludes.

The annoying thing was, it always worked. Hiei knew it always worked, and he stayed put anyway. Things were about to get interesting.

"What are you looking at?" Hiei started. He now had his entire body turned toward Kurama, both feet perched perfectly on the width of the ledge, balance unrelenting, of course. Kurama didn't come out for a stroll this evening, not that he ever did. He wasn't half the clever, sneaky bastard he thought he was, at least not in Hiei's presence. That's what happened when you allowed a potential future enemy to get to know you too well, not that Hiei ever had any plans of making an enemy out of Kurama. After all, Kurama must have known Hiei just as much, if not better, sharp an old tack that he was.

"You enjoy your view and I'll enjoy mine."

Yeah, definitely not just out for a stroll. Hiei rolled his eyes.

"You beat around the bush too much, Kurama. Try cutting the bullshit a bit from now on, won't you?" said Hiei, hopping down from his place on the ledge. It was nice to be able to look down at Kurama sometimes, but he liked this angle a lot more. It was easier to avoid eye contact, thus avoid those eyes that seemed to know it all. Kurama could be frustrating like that.

"Hmm, but frustrating you is half the fun."

The corner of Kurama's lip was turned up just the slightest bit, approaching a smirk he'd sometimes save for battle. That was, if he more than batted an eyelash at his enemy before they were pushing up the daisies.

"Well, I guess you got what you came for. Bye."

Kurama chuckled a bit, warm with amusement that only served to frustrate Hiei more. He loved to toy with Hiei a lot, ever the bastard that he was. They were about an arm's length apart, and the breeze had bowled over them once more. Kurama's hair was much too distracting, but the eyes were even worse. Hiei's hands snaked along his cloak once more, until the garment was over his head and tossed aside. He was glaring at the taller man, knowing exactly what he wanted and waiting for him to get it over with. Well, not that Hiei didn't enjoy a good fuck every so often, but Kurama had a name and a face he could attach that good fuck to, and it made Hiei feel things he had no business feeling, so he just preferred not to do it. Well, at least until they started doing it that was. Kurama was a hunter in all senses; he knew how to unlock hidden pleasures in one as easily as hidden treasures around every realm of being. That was another thing that made Hiei slightly uncomfortable; Kurama was too damned good. He could easily use that fact to his advantage and kill Hiei on the spot while all his senses have gone numb with pleasure.

In the end, Hiei still couldn't bring himself to trust Kurama fully. In fact, the amount of trust he felt for the guy was overwhelming enough, although it really wasn't much trust at all. Any trust was too much, actually.

"You're very quick to assume, Hiei," said Kurama. He turned his bottom toward the base of the ledge and had a seat. One sweep of his gaze drew Hiei toward him, and they sat shoulder to shoulder together, not a word exchanged between them for what felt like forever. Hiei could feel waves of warmth emanating from Kurama's shoulder, another trait in humans one would normally find frustrating. They were much too warm, and this only served to remind Hiei that Kurama was now just as much a human as he was a demon. If this was what Kurama meant when he told Hiei he'd become 'soft' toward humans, then he was an idiot. Hiei certainly didn't feel soft toward that bloody fox.

In fact, if he could he would scoot away at this very instant, but as if sensing Hiei's current thoughts, Kurama's arm braced him in a tight half hug that had Hiei pressed against his side. Okay, so if he wanted he could zip the hell out of here and to Hell with Kurama, but he really didn't feel like it. All this warmth was making him lazy.

Damn it.

"What's the meaning of this?" Hiei asked. He suddenly didn't like where this was going, and would've preferred a nice, hard fuck, rather. At least those ended quickly, and then they went their separate ways and spoke nothing of it. This night had suddenly become way too long. The air was too thick with the warmth of Kurama's body. His thought pattern had suddenly become a jumbled mess of loose ends. Now, instead of being intentionally silent, he couldn't find the words to say. Any weakness frustrated him, and this definitely counted as a weakness, whatever it was.

"Am I starting to confuse you, Hiei?"

No shit.

"Let go of me."

Instead of releasing him entirely, Kurama's hand trailed from his shoulder to his neck, behind his ear and along the right side of his jawbone, as if he were mapping out Hiei's face with his finger. All this did was frustrate Hiei further, if that was possible. Kurama chuckled again, and soon his arm came to a rest back at his own side.

Hiei barely had a second to be relieved before a very nimble pair of lips came to a halt against his own, and that stopped his blood flow for a good few seconds. Ah, kissing. It was a very human display of affection, which was why Hiei often had no desire to take part in it. This wasn't the first time Kurama had done this, but Hiei thought nothing of it when he did, since Kurama's hands and lips have been to more exciting places. Hiei couldn't be bothered to care about something as frivolous as a simple kiss.

But then Kurama's tongue took a swipe at his lips, and they parted almost instantly on contact. His companion seemed pleased with that intuitive move, because the next thing he knew Kurama's tongue was in his mouth, now mapping out an area above where his fingers had been. Speaking of which, that pesky hand had wormed itself into Hiei's hair, and was pulling his face closer to Kurama's. Without knowing much else, Hiei just kinda went along with it. He'd never allowed anyone to do this, to get this close. That audacious fox was really tap dancing on thin ice here, and Hiei soon grew tired of his jaw catering to the will of Kurama's tongue. His own hand weaved its way through Kurama's thick, red strands, pulling his head back and away from his. Hiei couldn't interpret the expression in Kurama's eyes as anything other than unfinished. The ass did want to fuck, but was biding his time for some stupid reason. Must have been a human thing.

"How do you feel right now?" asked Kurama.

Now, it wasn't in Hiei's comfortable norm to link his actions with feelings. He just did what he did. If someone died as a result, they deserved it. If someone ended up being protected as a result, rare an occasion as that was, so be it. However, something about this was different. Kurama's demeanor was way too distracting. His hair was too long, his eyes were too intent, his actions were too fluid. He wasn't on guard at all; not weary that Hiei's sword was lying impatiently in its hilt and probably wanted some action. No, Kurama was... he seemed to be enjoying himself. Funny, he didn't enjoy making everyone else's lives hell BUT Hiei's, damned know-it-all. Despite that, Hiei was foolish enough to accept the bait. He was foolish enough to sit there and be consumed by a ridiculous amount of warmth, an unopened ward of feelings he couldn't even begin to explain, and generally, Kurama's irritating presence. How did he feel? Why, how else could he feel?

"Human."

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