南野 秀一, Minamino Shūichi / 蔵くら馬ま Kurama (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sinningtree) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
genkaitemple2024-03-08 01:20 pm
sinningtree) wrote in genkaitemple2024-03-08 01:20 pm
Kurahi Catch-All: Unspoken Thing
Unspoken Thing
The hardest thing about life is
when the person who gave you the most memories
becomes a memory.
when the person who gave you the most memories
becomes a memory.
how odd it is
to be
by someone that is still alive
Date※ 01/27/24 Injured: ⋙ Dark Tournament
※ 01/29/24 Insomnia: ⋙ Dark Tournament
※ 02/11/24 Intimate Bathing: ⋙ Post Series
※ 02/25/24 Loss: ⋙ Post Series
※ 03/04/24 Unspoken Thing: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 03/19/24 Defrosting: ⋙ Post Series
※ 04/17/24 Garden: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 06/03/24 Kurama's Return: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 08/06/24 Picnic: ⋙ Post Series
※ 08/22/24 Domestic Fluff: ⋙ Post Series
※ 09/20/24 Sickness*: ⋙ Resurrection
Chronologically
※ 01/27/24 Injured: ⋙ Dark Tournament
※ 01/29/24 Insomnia: ⋙ Dark Tournament
※ 02/11/24 Intimate Bathing: ⋙ Post Series
※ 02/25/24 Loss: ⋙ Post Series
※ 08/06/24 Picnic: ⋙ Post Series
※ 03/19/24 Defrosting: ⋙ Post Series
※ 08/22/24 Domestic Fluff: ⋙ Post Series
※ 03/04/24 Unspoken Thing: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 04/17/24 Garden: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 06/03/24 Kurama's Return: ⋙ Resurrection [completed]
※ 09/20/24 Sickness*: ⋙ Resurrection
Pending
※ MM/DD/YY Kissing Scars: ⋙ Timeline
※ MM/DD/YY Eating Together: ⋙ Timeline
※ MM/DD/YY Swear To Me: ⋙ Timeline
Blank
no subject
All he could do was try better going forward, improve from here. He could not erase the past, no matter how much of it he may have that was worth changing if he could.
“What, exactly, are you implying I intend to do?” One direct answer was clearly too much to ask. Part of him couldn't blame the fire apparition, Kurama knew their history well enough to understand where he might be coming from, that the spirit fox treated everything more like an elaborate chess match to be played than offering any form of direct communication.
The rest of him was trying so hard to meet Hiei halfway with some semblance of honesty and clear intent, frustrated to be swatted at with every attempt so far and tense over this current fumble at offering him some agency in the matter. Aware that the fire demon probably knew little of the effort he was putting in now, and likely cared even less - at least, if all of his posturing could be believed.
The conversation about Kuwabara's son is forgotten as he steps fully into the room instead, a topic to revisit another time, maybe. It seemed as though what Hiei expected of him, with those words, was to leave. For one hollow moment it felt like trying to bridge the gap of understanding with a complete stranger. The sting all the more profound after what progress he'd thought they were making earlier.
If he was going to be accused of doing whatever he wanted, he would just give Hiei an idea of exactly what that was. Crossing the floor to where the fire apparition was with purpose, the fox practically growling out the rest as he closes the distance between them.
“You think you know what I want?” He'd said that before, made assumptions about Kurama's wants, especially pertaining to the rift the spirit fox had created between them by choosing to leave in the first place. A topic he'd so carefully talked around since his return, specifically to avoid influencing Hiei's decision in all of this, his wants hadn't been the point.
Kurama doesn't waste time waiting on an answer, fueled by the mix of frustration, confusion and anger tangled up in this entire exchange. Impulse overriding thought before he can second guess it, instead grabbing Hiei by the wrists and leaning in with a forceful kiss.
no subject
“Exactly what I said. You will do what you want and either bend the rest of us to accept it or simply expect it.” In this Hiei feels he is speaking from an exceptional amount of experience. After all, he hadn’t exactly been all that intent on changing their working relationship after the king’s tournament had been set and relative peace made their little ragtag team not exactly necessary. And yet Kurama had worked on him for years, upon reflection. As much as the fire demon tended to start on his back foot when it came to anything to do with emotions, he eventually caught on and caught up.
In this, though, Hiei is particularly sharp edged. After all, if he’d simply stone walled Kurama’s attempts at closeness and affection, he could have avoided this entire tumultuous situation. He is equally angry with Kurama as he is himself in these moments, still a dog with a bone on the fact that Kurama hadn’t wanted to stay before, so he certainly did not really want to now.
Who knew how long that trust would take to repair, or if it were even possible. If it is, Kurama may decide to give up before the work is done and Hiei could not necessarily blame him for making the decision.
The fire demon’s teeth bare as Kurama crosses the room at speed, unsure what is to follow but attempting to be prepared no matter what happened next. Maybe it would dispel some of the attention if Kurama finally attacked him, to put them back on some semblance of equal footing -
But attacking him isn’t what Kurama does. Not even close.
Hiei finds himself shocked as Kurama takes his wrist and pulls him in, the familiar touch of his lips equal parts sweet as painful in the moment.
His body moves with muscle memory alone, forearms bulging with tension before his hands move to meet Kurama’s arms as well, claws digging as his brows furrow. There’s an attempt at a sound, some kind of disgruntled disapproval of the fox invading his space before the more carnal parts of his hindbrain take over at the contact. He had missed this, after all. Well. Maybe not this specifically, but Kurama’s proximity, his scent that typically put him as ease.
This is different, of course. Hiei’s momentary freeze as he attempts to figure out where this is all going comes to an end all at once, a growl rising in the fire demon’s throat as he kisses back, teeth meeting skin as he decides to bite (a little, kind of gently) as his show of annoyance.
no subject
The redhead hadn't thought of it all those years ago. His little joke about not being interested in Hiei was before Yusuke - with more emotional intelligence than the two combined - had brought it up, changing the entire trajectory of their relationship for the both of them. Not that he regrets a moment of it, even if his former partner seems to regret every single one of them.
For Hiei, the obvious answer is that he's no prize and it made little sense for the spirit fox to even be interested, but by that logic he shouldn't have ever been Interested in the first place. The years of working through Hiei's barriers had to account for something, didn't they? Even if they didn't excuse his decision to leave despite it all, after so many decades. Still, it wasn't his style to give up on anything he was set after, the reward being worth the risks, whatever they may be.
He ignores the flash of teeth, attack being the farthest thing from his mind and - unaware it had even crossed the other's - certain he's gearing up to tell the redhead off more than anything. The fire apparition isn't the only one with conflicting feelings, another moment that he can file away as likely to never happen again for pushing too far too fast, ignoring what should be a clear set boundary between them. Just taking what he wanted conflicted with his typical habit of using patience to his advantage, but Hiei was - seemingly, intentionally - pushing at all the wrong buttons.
Kurama expected to strike a nerve, to piss him off so thoroughly the other demon pushed the fox away with vocal offense. In some shred of self-destructive inclination, that had been exactly what he was going for. The last thing he saw coming was reciprocation, especially considering how he'd gone about it. Kurama is not so gentle in response, teeth and claws from Hiei and he's channeling his frustration into the bite he returns for the fire demon's efforts, even if the sound that catches in his own throat isn't nearly aggressive enough to pass off as a growl, more surprise than anything.
no subject
They had known one another for so long, prior to Kurama's death, it would make sense in its own way to simply go right back to what was familiar and comfortable for most. For Hiei he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about it at all, much less wrapped up in the rest of the complicated circumstances that made up their relationship in the first place.
To him, it hadn't seemed so complicated before, but that was then, he supposes. Time changed many things once it had the time to march onward.
Hiei doesn't make a sound of pain as Kurama bites back with less reserve, instead pushing back a sound as he presses forward, a motion to refuse to give in, to fight back even in some meek way. He can't admit to himself that the bite is getting a rise out of him in the most awkward of ways, considering their current situation. Pushing back with a low growl is better, he supposes, head angling ever so slightly so that he can be so bold as to attempt to press his tongue in to Kurama's mouth. They're already here, throwing gasoline on the fire so to speak, so he could not shy away and simply allow Kurama to get away with it so easily.
This is precisely why Hiei twists his arms, trying to wheedle away from the fox's grasp and wrap his fingers in the fabric of Kurama's shirt, some tangible way to keep hold of him as well.
no subject
Either way, he wasn't in it for comfort and falling back on old habits. Pointedly not manipulating a situation to his own advantage was harder than he'd ever admit, especially when Hiei refuses to acknowledge what he truly wants, even with something as small as a conversation like this. By now, anyone less patient would have given Hiei exactly what he claimed he wanted, pouring gasoline on this fire is going to prove a bigger mistake than the smaller demon realizes when it ultimately blows up. Whatever that will entail, it certainly wasn't out of ease or comfort.
Under other circumstances, perhaps later with a clearer head, the fox would marvel that even this can turn into a fight for control between them. The kiss was an action meant to punctuate his point more than anything else, it wasn't supposed to go anywhere or last any length of time. He expected it to be brief, to be shoved away with the venom of Hiei's previous assertions that he wanted no involvement in any of this, but his former partner seems to have other plans.
The fox is prepared for the growling, even the biting is well within his reasonable expectations. Really, he shouldn't be surprised by the fire demon rising to the act as if it is a challenge to be won, but he continues to be thrown every time more than an inch of leeway is given for his efforts, especially when it turns into more than he was actually intending in the first place. He can't imagine Hiei truly believed this was what he'd been going for.
Little unintentional reveals were easy for him to read between the lines, while the fire apparition would most certainly rise to a challenge, he wasn't the type to waste his energy on one that didn't interest him, which is what makes the following so telling. His breath catches as Hiei's tongue pushes past his lips, allowing him to dominate the kiss even as this simple act was enough to remind him that they shouldn't be doing this. A nagging gut feeling more than conscious thought, the voice of reason and self-preservation in the back of his mind unheeded for the moment as his grip on Hiei's arms loosens almost immediately when the fire apparition twists to get free. He isn't expecting him to grab at his shirt instead, but it might be safe to say the spirit fox isn't thinking at all, actually, for even letting this continue.
Despite being the one that had started it, in the first place.
no subject
If there is one thing outside of sheer force of will that Hiei excels at, it is shooting himself in the foot as often as possible. When it comes to trying not to burn the bridge between them permanently, that child so wounded by betrayal, unfortunately, wins out over any sort of level-headed decision-making that Hiei may have learned over the years with Kurama and the rest of Team Urameshi. Where emotions are concerned, he is painfully inexperienced and headstrong, to put it kindly.
Refusing to shrink to what he perceives as a challenge, even revealing himself in the process, falls under the same thought. He could not shrink from the challenge of Kurama coming so close as to kiss him, immediately on guard despite not knowing what exactly he was on guard about. Even Hiei knows that he is, at this point, incredibly touch-starved after nearly a century with Kurama, who he trusted enough to allow touch whenever and wherever. While he had not necessarily been a saint while the fox had been dead.. it wasn't the same. Not even close.
Kurama's breath catching as he presses forward feels like an incredible win for all of a moment in time - at least until he tugs on his shirt again, this time meeting the resistance of something below Kurama's shirt. All at once the reminder of that necklace, his hirui left for a person he thought he'd never see again who is now here, in front of him, on his breath again hits him like a brick wall.
Suddenly Hiei goes from being voracious for Kurama's attention to pushing him away, just barely pulling back in time for the shove to be forceful but not vicious in nature. Immediately his eyes move away, using his wrist to cover his mouth and somewhat unsuccessfully hide the pink in his cheeks that is equal parts embarrassment as it is stirred up want that has sat idle for half a century now if not longer.
As much as Kurama had encouraged him to go and do as he'd needed, even before he had been truly gone, Hiei was just not that type of demon.
A moment to regain his breath and the fire demon finds it within himself to issue orders, voice uneven but now sure, thrown off kilter and very much wanting to retreat for the time being.
"Leave."
no subject
He wasn't thinking about any of that, and really this might have been his first mistake. Not thinking about how likely this was to blow up in both their faces for not sticking to the plan. The redhead hasn't touched anyone himself, in those fifty years. Not that it came even close to the same, when he'd been previously able to spend centuries on his own.
Kurama shouldn't have touched him in the first place, and he certainly shouldn't have let it go so far. He hadn't meant to. What comes next occurs before he can even register the cause. One second, Hiei is pulling at him again, as if determined to get closer, and the next shoving him away. It takes him a moment to recognize the sensation of the tug for what it is, so caught up in the present, rather than the incident earlier. The cord on his neck, which the fire apparition must have forgotten about since that reveal, or so he assumes.
Hiei covers his mouth, and the shock of having the rug pulled out from under him by the sudden 180 fades from transparent wounded surprise to the faintest smile when realization sinks in.
Of course.
The fox is already pushing himself to his feet by the time he's commanded to leave, turning to do just that without another word.