Chapter Text
Any thief worth the effort of remembering would keep in mind that blending in was an essential part of maintaining one’s freedom. Stealing and lying, killing and surviving, it required a certain type of finesse and the notoriety that came with such “unsavory” acts led one to becoming known in the most annoying of ways. Blending in with others was essential to survival. So while Hiei could commend Kurama for the effort that he put into maintaining his human guise. When it impacted Hiei’s everyday life was when he drew the line.
Admittedly, he had no desire to act upon the impulse of assisting the fox with something this mundane. However his mother was worried. And a Kurama that did not eat lunch was one that was irritable the rest of the day. That was the last thing Hiei needed when he desired peace. Once Shiori’s back was turned and he’d secured his disguise, he rang the door bell and she greeted him with joy, wondering what he was doing home early from school. He commented that Shuuichi, as the fox had been called in the Ningenkai, left his lunch and he wanted to bring it to him.
Shiori’s comments of him being a good friend and a sweetheart were met with curt nods and the faintest twitch of his lips. Holding the boxed lunch in one arm and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, the school uniform allowing him to blend in but he had to take care. If anyone saw a student leaping from one rooftop to another, they would raise questions.
And that’s the last thing Hiei needed.
The time that he and Kurama spent ensuring lesser demons wouldn’t ruin the pace they’d set in Sarayashiki was insurmountable. If maintaining it meant that he had to pretend to be something that he was not for a stint, then he could swallow his pride this time. It didn’t help that the teenagers attending Kurama’s junior high believed that he was one of them. While it made walking the halls easier, the recognition and familiarity they had with his person was annoying.
“Oi, Kurosawa!” A grinning blond haired boy yelled at him, bypassing Hiei’s leisurely pace then jogging backward to walk beside him. “Don’t space out in the hallway, man.”
Hiei thought to tell him not to run in the hallway but decided that he didn’t care enough. Let the fool fall and break his neck for all he cared. As long as Kurama got this boxed lunch then he could leave this school behind him. Though traversing it was difficult and using the Jagan Eye would have left him vulnerable, far too long for his comfort around these unknowns. Glancing aside at the blond who took to talking about the lunch period, various sports and other mundane things that Hiei couldn’t care about — he belatedly remembered that the boy was thinking he was talking to Kurosawa.
His classmate, his equal, another human.
On one hand, Hiei couldn’t stand being compared to humans but on the other hand, it would have made it easier to garner information. Especially about Kurama’s whereabouts.
“Where’s Minamino?” Hiei asked, cutting off the blond’s babbling about one of the male students that he was interested in.
The blond snorted and rubbed at the nape of his neck. “Fending off his admirers, I guess.” With a sharp turn down one of the halls, he led Hiei to another corridor with several classroom doors numbered. Stopping at one with the door left open, he peered in then gestured inside with his thumb. “Everyone wants to eat lunch with him and the girls and some of the guys usually argue about who is gonna be the one to ask.”
One eyebrow raised, Hiei looked in himself and true to the blond’s word, Kurama sat at the far corner of the room nearest one of the larger windows. A book in hand and his eyes scanning the text, he seemed unaware of the group of students eyeing him and whispering amongst themselves. Hiei knew it was a feint. Kurama was highly perceptive and with the amount of noise they were making, it would’ve been hard not to notice. There was something odd though, seeing Kurama sitting there, backlit by the sunlight streaming through the windows casting a halo over him. His features seemed softer, the clip that he wore in his hair glittering in the sunlight.
Hiei’s heart skipped a beat. Why was he so aware of how Kurama looked today? Even though he tried to tell himself that the fox looked the same as every other day, something seemed different. Lost in his thoughts, Hiei wasn’t prepared for the prodding nudge at his side and wrinkled his nose in distaste as he glanced at the blond leaning against the doorway.
“Jealous of Minamino?” The boy asked, grinning at him cheekily.
Hiei sucked his teeth and looked away pointedly. “Not even close.”
What was he even talking about? There was no reason to be jealous of Kurama. With all this wanton attention, it must have made it difficult for him to read let alone have peace in such a crowded place. If anything, Hiei almost felt pity for him but this was the path that Kurama chose, and he had no other choice. Somehow the reassurance felt empty.
“Looks like we got a winner.” The boy whispered close to Hiei’s ear. Hiei stiffened up and felt his youki begin to pool into his hand, ready to at least singe him for daring to enter his space again. Kurama looked up from his book, glancing in their direction and the flow of youki stilled with those eyes lingering on him despite one of his female classmates speaking to him in earnest. The message in Kurama’s eyes was easily deciphered between the quick glance he gave the blond then Hiei.
Don’t do it.
Hiei wasn’t sure why not. Or why Kurama’s eyes lingered on the blond for a second longer before his attention was devoted to the classmates stammering out her request to eat with him. Some of the others who were cheering on waited with bated breath and Hiei couldn’t help but feel ridiculous for doing the same. It wasn’t as if he was here everyday. Why should it matter to him who Kurama ate lunch with? Nonetheless, the fox wasn’t disturbed by the attention. Kurama smiled softly and spoke to her quietly. Melancholy swept through the waiting crowd as the girl apologized for interrupting him and shuffled toward the doorway where Hiei and the blond stood.
“How’d it go? Get turned down?” The blond asked, feigned worry in his otherwise mocking tone as he leant down to observe her face.
The girl’s hands curled into fists at her side, a slight tremble as she swung at him half-heartedly, her cheeks red. “Shut up!” She huffed and turned away, Hiei catching the faintest glimmer of tears on her eyelashes. “Minamino-kun just doesn’t want to date right now, that’s all?”
Date?
The blond’s mouth fell open and Hiei was partly surprised that something could make him stop talking. Although, he was curious. He assumed that she was simply asking Kurama to eat lunch with her. And he hadn’t bothered to listen in on the conversation assuming that the fox wanted his privacy. So, what was this about a date?
“Wait, you asked him out on a date?!” The blond shouted, drawing the attention of some of the students who weren’t listening in on the conversation. “Seriously?”
“Would you be quiet?” The girl hissed, covering his mouth with her hands, her head swiveling as she tried to ward off the looks with a smile and a well-placed phrase. Eventually, her gaze landed on Hiei and she smiled sheepishly, pulling her hands away from the boy’s mouth with a look of distaste.
Her palms were glistening with what Hiei could think was saliva from the way that the boy’s tongue stuck out of his mouth. She glared at him and they began to squabble, Hiei taking the opportunity to slip away, using the commotion of Kurama’s apparent refusal and the general chaos of a classroom to cover his tracks.
His footsteps felt slower and his movements rigid. She asked Kurama out on a date and he refused her advance but why? From what he could tell, dates were between humans who sought an interest in furthering their relationship. Often between two or more people, with gestures that included gifts and kind words, closeness in the physical and emotional sense. More than one human he’d observed on a date were close in a way that he only could describe as being the rudimentary version of demon bonding. Their energies mingled, mixed and became part of one another while they remained in separate beings. Scents carried over but most of all, they seemed happy with one another.
Standing beside Kurama’s desk, Hiei glanced around at the other students. Some of them had bits of each other’s energy, others who were closer seemed to even share a wavelength. It was a symbol of their bond. And while his own energy was often mingling and mixing with Kurama’s, their scents a mixture that was dizzying early in the morning when they awoke tangled in the same sheets, it was different. Could she have been trying to improve her relationship with Kurama in some way but not a way that he approved because there was something off about her?
Would he refuse Hiei in the same way?
Cutting that thought off, Hiei set the boxed lunch unceremoniously on Kurama’s desk and waited until he was looking up at him. He could understand the girl’s hesitation. Kurama’s eyes, while both kind and beautiful, were incredibly knowing and piercing to the point that Hiei felt the fox should have just known why he was approaching him rather than ask.
“Hiei? What are you doing here?” Kurama marked his page in the book and closed it, setting it at the far left corner of his desk.
With a slight incline of his head toward the lunch, Hiei muttered. “You forgot this.”
“Did anyone —“
“No one knows who I am, and the few that saw me will forget Kurosawa by the end of the day.”
It had been a plan that they thought up. Especially after an unruly half-demon thought it would be a good idea to pretend to be one of Kurama’s classmates for a chance to ensnare the fox. Hiei put a quick end to that but made up the identity of Kurosawa, a student that was little more than a delinquent and a blemish on Kurama’s junior high’s record. Being an outcast was something that Hiei was used to and it gave him an excuse that he wasn’t there often.
“You’re really making use of the Jagan.” Kurama points out, and the sliver of intrigue in his voice makes Hiei’s stomach feel strange, a swell of pride momentarily distracting him.
“A tool should be used.”
The corners of Kurama’s lips twitch downward and Hiei thinks to ask him why but the fox flows from one topic of conversation to the next without hesitation.
“You didn’t have to come all the way here to bring me this.”
“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t have gotten yourself anything to eat.”
Although Hiei didn’t necessarily approve of the choices that the school offered, food was energy for the body and energy was something that Kurama often neglected replenishing.
“And your mother would’ve been worried.”
Kurama hums softly, resting his chin in hand, a spark of something in those eyes pinning Hiei in place. “So you were worried about me… or my mother?”
The loaded question is a landmine and an obvious trap. There’s no right answer. However, Hiei’s not sure that either of the options were wrong either.
“Hn.”
“Both?”
He was beginning to regret actually attempting to help Kurama. He should have just let him starve. But somehow, that thought made him feel guiltier. Letting him starve would be the same as letting him take one step closer to death. And Hiei threw his lot in with Kurama, he couldn’t allow anything to happen to him. However, this habit of not eating and depriving oneself felt deeper than what they explored before. Maybe they weren’t as close as Hiei thought them to be.
Eyebrows furrowing, Hiei shoved his hands in his pocket and looked down at Kurama. “Go on a date with me.”
Behind him, a few of the conversations came to an abrupt pause and he felt the weight of the onlookers’ stares. Kurama’s eyes were the only ones that mattered. And his opinion was the only thing that could push or pull Hiei from this precipice. The fox’s eyes widened and he stops in the midst of another quip, staring up at Hiei.
“…What?”
Hiei sighed. He was already agitated enough from having to bring the fox’s lunch to him and enduring his classmates’ prodding. The least that he could do was hear him out. Though it’s not often that he gets to surprise Kurama.
“Go on a date with me.”
“…Are you aware of what you’re asking?”
Hiei’s eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. What did Kurama take him for? A fool?
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Hiei asked, tapping his temple. “I’m conscious and I haven’t been struck by any hallucinogens.” Ignoring the murmurs behind him and the eyes of others, Hiei pocketed his hands and scowled at Kurama. “So is that a yes or a no?”
He didn’t realize that his heart was beating faster until he stopped talking. The thrum of his energy beneath his skin, blood rushing to his ears and pounding. Excitement coursing through him as he waited for Kurama to answer. The fox’s gaze left him, focusing on the lunch in front of him, giving Hiei a view of the clip in his hair and the soft smile that curved his lips and warmed his eyes. Feeling the full force of the sun on him as Kurama met his gaze, nodding.
“Yes.”
The blood rush gradually calmed and his energy evened out. Hiei’s fingers twitched in his pockets and curled into fists. His nails pressing into the palms of his hands, a prick of pain and a few cries from behind him told him that this was real. He hadn’t been expecting a straightforward answer though he was grateful for it. Being subjected to Kurama’s teasing so often, he felt that this should at least be a serious conversation.
Hiei looked away, glancing between the empty desks in front of the fox, deciding on the one directly in front of him. Pulling out the chair and turning it around to face Kurama’s desk, Hiei sank down onto it and leant back to look out the window. From the corner of his eye, Kurama watched him with his chin in hand, observing but not saying a word. Under such scrutiny, Hiei wasn’t sure what to do and what to say but Kurama filled the silence.
“Did you have an idea of what you would like to do for this date?” Kurama asked, amusement lilting his words and Hiei felt a tinge of irritation but relief. At least he was trying to even this out for both of them.
It was a testament to Hiei’s ability to keep a straight face that his confusion didn’t show on the outside. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do. A few vague ideas taken from the dates that he witnessed but nothing that was conclusive. Glancing aside at the number of students, some of them gravitating away but others listening in, their presence was something that reminded him of what he wanted most. This was happening but it was meant to be between him and Kurama.
It was about their relationship after all.
“Just the two of us,” Hiei said, meeting eyes with one of the girl’s friends who glared daggers at him. “Somewhere away from everything.”
The gentle shifting of fabric as Kurama undid the handkerchief and set it aside caught Hiei’s attention. A soft click and the lunch was opened, the fox motioning for him to take what he wanted as he separated his chopsticks and took a bite of his food.
“I like the sound of that,” Kurama said after he swallowed, tilting his head to one side. “When would this be?”
Hiei looked over Kurama’s lunch and the desire to eat something welled up but he hesitated, motioning for Kurama to eat instead.
“Tonight,” he said. “After your mother falls asleep, we’ll go.”
That way, he didn’t have to entertain Shiori’s questions of them either. He still couldn’t understand why she’d think they’d be dating or why the thought was appealing but for the time being, this was between him and Kurama. No one else needed to know as far as Hiei was concerned.
Not right now at least.
Kurama hummed thoughtfully and Hiei focused on him. With his gaze not focused on Hiei, the sunlight haloing him and a smile curving his lips, Kurama looked beautiful. Another bright smile directed toward Hiei, determination in green irises that nearly stole his breath away.
“Tonight it is.” Kurama agreed, taking another bite of his food.
Hiei huffed. There was that feeling again. That light-heartedness was distracting and he almost hated it. But when Kurama smiled like that. He supposed that he didn’t hate it entirely. Glancing down at Kurama’s food, Hiei recognized a few things that Shiori often made for him and gestured to a piece of tempura.
“Feed it to me?”
He wouldn’t reach into Kurama’s lunch and there had only been one set of utensils. The blond’s warning that lunch would be over soon ringing in his ears. He didn’t want to leave and come back to everything being eaten or worse — uneaten because Kurama hadn’t bothered to finish. Kurama stared at him then glanced aside. Hiei thought to look as well but the fox lifted up the tempura that he asked for and held it to his lips.
Hiei ate it though he was curious as to why Kurama was laughing, covering his mouth with his hand. Try as he might to be irritated, he was hungry and chewed with a displeased scowl.
“Why are you laughing?” Hiei huffed, watching Kurama as the fox seemed far too pleased with himself.
“It’s nothing.” Kurama said, taking a bite of another piece of tempura immediately after Hiei.
The fire demon frowned. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but when he glanced around, many of the students were staring at them. It wasn’t unusual for them to stare at Kurama but it felt different than usual. Trying to understand the inner workings of the human mind wasn’t something that interested him though, and he turned away with disinterest.
“If you say so.”
Hiei resolved to stay for the rest of lunch at least to make sure that Kurama ate. By the time the lunch bell rang and most of the students were filing into the classroom, Hiei stood up and began to make his way to the door.
“Hiei?”
Looking over his shoulder as he paused in mid-step, Hiei looked down at Kurama curiously. The fox smiled in that soft and understanding way that made Hiei’s stomach do backflips and his heart clench.
“Thank you for bringing my lunch.” Kurama said, and Hiei felt a jolt run up his spine as Kurama’s fingers brushed against his. Transfixed on the fox’s face even after kurama looked away from him and focused on the book open in front of him.
What was he supposed to say to that? Kurama gave him so much, he didn’t need to thank him or feel indebted to him. But it didn’t feel like a debt.
“Don’t forget next time,” Hiei grumbled as he looked away, unsure if he should leave it there or continue. “…You need to eat. Take better care of yourself.”
Spurring himself to keep walking as their teacher came in, the woman’s attention diverted from Hiei’s departure until the door slid shut behind him. Walking the halls by himself gave him an opportunity to think of what to do about this date and Kurama. But his mind kept wandering back to the sensations — the way that Kurama touched him, soft and assuring, the smile that went from varying degrees of brightness to a softness that eased Hiei’s nerves — something was there and Hiei was missing it.
And it made him feel anxious yet excited.