Chapter Text
“Why are we stopping?” Yusuke asked. He placed a hand on Kuwabara’s shoulder, “What’s wrong?” Kuwabara was silent, trying to focus on the pathway ahead. The cave was dimly lit, but the two tunnels they had to choose from were clear.
“Crossroads,” Kurama answered for Kuwabara.
“So? Just go where there's more spiritual energy, right?” Yusuke ran his fingers through his gelled hair. His muscles felt antsy. He just wanted to fight already and release his pent up aggression.
“It’s weird,” Kuwabara said, finally, “There’s no way I can choose.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hiei demanded.
“I’m not!” Kuwabara insisted, “There’s no difference between the tunnels. Both have the same spiritual energy levels.”
“So that means…” Yusuke trailed off.
“Two enemies. Koenma was misinformed,” Kurama put a hand on his chin in thought.
“So we split up and continue,” Hiei said, unfazed.
“I’ll go with Yusuke,” Kurama reasoned, “I think it’s best if each group has one person with a higher spiritual awareness.” Hiei glared at Kurama who gave him a knowing smile. He knew damn well that Yusuke could have gone with Kuwabara and Hiei with Kurama, and they would’ve been just as secure. Kurama just wanted to torture Hiei specifically because of the things he had mistakenly said while drunk a few nights before.
He had unfortunately mentioned that a week ago, he had shoved Kuwabara against a wall and kissed him until he was gasping for air. Kurama had poured him another drink in order to get all the details. Not that he had to, once Hiei had reached a certain level of drunk, he was embarrassingly willing to spill all his feelings. Hiei hated that about himself.
So he did just that. The taste of Kuwabara’s neck, his scent, his breathy moan, he said everything. Even Kurama thought it was a bit much. Hiei thought it was Kurama’s own fault. He knew how much strawberry-flavored vodka Hiei had consumed that night.
When Kurama had pressed him for more recent stories, there weren’t any. Hiei had been ignoring Kuwabara for the entire week. He was bad with any emotions that weren’t anger or pride, and it was just easier. For both of them.
Kurama must have decided today was the perfect time to play matchmaker. He was never drinking with Kurama again.
“Works with me,” Yusuke cracked his knuckles and led the way to the right tunnel.
Kurama glanced at the other two and winked, “We’ll meet outside the cave.” He then followed Yusuke before he got too far ahead.
“We didn’t even get to talk about it,” Kuwabara whined.
“Whatever,” Hiei, fists clenched, walked into the left tunnel, not waiting for Kuwabara. He heard his loud footsteps behind him.
Walking into enemy territory in nearly blind with someone as silent and brooding as Hiei was not comforting. Not to mention the unspoken tension that lingered between them. After what felt like hours but must have been only five minutes, Kuwabara broke the silence.
“Should we, uh, have a plan when we get to the enemy?” He asked. He was met with silence. With Hiei stalking just slightly ahead of him at all times, it was difficult to get a read on his emotions. “Hiei?”
“You leave everything to me. That’s the plan,” Hiei asserted. He didn’t even bother to turn towards Kuwabara.
“What? No!” Kuwabara snapped, “I can do just as much as you.”
Hiei actually laughed, and Kuwabara was ready to wipe the smile he was sure was on his stupid face.
“You are fragile,” Hiei said plainly. He turned to look at Kuwabara as if to drive the point home. Kuwabara barely felt the sting as his nails dug into his palm.
“Fragile? I’ll show you ‘fragile’! I’ll beat your sorry ass into next week!” His jaw hurt with how much he was grinding his teeth.
Hiei grinned, “You wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on me.” In the near-complete darkness of the tunnel, Kuwabara could still see how the light reflected against Hiei’s sharp teeth. It sent a shiver down his spine that he knew deep down wasn’t caused by fear.
“I already did, in case you forgot. Last week,” Kuwabara muttered, “Are we going to talk about that?”
“No,” Hiei’s voice was sharp and pained. Kuwabara felt his heart drop to his stomach. He couldn’t find the words to say anything else.
The tunnel opened up and a small figure stood in the middle, hunched over a growth in the ground with a shining crystal on top of it. The demon’s attention was absorbed by the glow of the crystal, oblivious to the two enemies that entered the territory.
At the sight of the demon, Kuwabara felt his spirit energy gather in his right hand and create his spirit sword. Hiei put an arm out in front of him as if to stop him, and Kuwabara felt his anger spike. Sure, he was human. He was weaker than the others, but he wasn’t useless.
“Fuck off, Hiei,” Kuwabara whispered harshly as he stalked towards the demon, who was still, somehow, too enraptured by the crystal to notice anything.
He took a swing, but the fiery sword didn’t connect. The demon, still hunched, squealed in what Kuwabara could only assume was excitement. He was no longer over the glowing crystal, and when Kuwabara looked for him with his sword as a faint light, he heard the sound of Hiei’s sword cut through the air and scrape against the ground. How he got from Kuwabara to Hiei so fast, Kuwabara couldn’t tell, but the demon was more powerful than he assumed
“Come over here and fight me, you little creep!” He shouted at the dark shapes that he assumed were Hiei and the enemy.
There’s a whoosh of air, and Kuwabara didn’t see anything, but he swung his sword anyway. The spirit sword connected, and Kuwabara let out a little noise of victory. He managed to hit the demon, and now, with the injury he inflicted, the demon was much slower and easier to track. Kuwabara kept swinging, afraid of losing track of the enemy if he didn’t, and the demon was annoyingly good at dodging.
“You okay, Hiei?” He called out. Hiei only gave a scoff in response, but it was enough for Kuwabara.
Hiei watched from a reasonable distance away, trusting Kuwabara’s ability to keep the demon distracted as he snuck around to get the crystal, the real goal of this mission. He reached to snatch the crystal and was immediately startled by Kuwabara’s shout of pain.
He grabbed the crystal, stashed it in his pocket, and unsheathed his sword within mere seconds. Kuwabara was on the ground near the wall. It looked like he was thrown violently against it. He wasn’t moving. Hiei’s eyes flashed red. He didn’t hear himself practically roar as he charged the demon.
There was no question about it. The demon was fast, too fast for Kuwabara. Hiei was barely catching up to his speed and Hiei was the fastest one on the team. Hiei should’ve been there. He was blind with rage and guilt.
“Where...is...the... c̸̣̊̃̒͠r̴̳̟̃̈͂̃̈́̈͝y̸̡̳̪̰̬̜͑͗ͅs̴̡͔̟͍̯̹̈t̵̰͔̘̦̼͒́͆͂̚a̶̰̺͐͘l̵͚̫̽͊?” The demon growled. Hiei sneered, but the crystal in his pocket began to shake and quiver. He slowly brought it out to see what it was doing, but it flew immediately out of his grasp and into the demon’s.
“B̸̥̞͉̔͐ė̸̹͍̱̓̿͛͘ą̷̝̱̹͙͚̈́̃̽͘ụ̴̫̦̮͈͔̱̠̲͂ț̶̰̪̖̍̓̅̑̑̈̏ỉ̴̯͍̦͉͚͔͙̈́̊̌̆̎̚͘f̶̢̝̳͎̓̏ṳ̴̡̤̱͍͙̪́͛̍̑̃͊͘l̶͍̋́͑̓͝…” The demon was hunched over the floating crystal, his face illuminated by the greenish glow. Hiei watched, horrified, as the glow of the crystal enveloped the demon.
Suddenly, there was a flash of bright orange, and the crystal shattered.
"Shit," Kuwabara panted as his spirit sword disappeared into the air, “Koenma’s gonna be real pissed about that.”
“N̷̞̲̻̞̔̈́Ô̴͓̯̆͌̕!” The demon bellowed and a surge of power was released from him. The energy from his body was aimed towards Kuwabara and Hiei only made it two steps before he heard Kuwabara scream in pain as he was once again thrown into the rocky wall. He narrowed his eyes to exact his revenge on the demon, but the surge of energy had completely obliterated his body. The fight was over.
Hiei made his way to Kuwabara.
He was doing surprisingly well for someone who was just tossed like a ragdoll twice in a few minutes, but Kuwabara was quite possibly the strongest human in the world. Although, he didn’t look like it as he was curled up against the rocky walls, holding his right arm protectively and taking deep, shaky breaths.
“I told you that you were fragile,” Hiei said softly. There was none of the usual arrogant bite in his tone as he examined Kuwabara’s arm. “It’s broken.”
“I’ll get Genkai or Yukina to heal me,” Kuwabara breathed shakily. Hiei’s fingers felt so warm on his skin.
“You shouldn’t sacrifice yourself like that, idiot,” Hiei said.
“If I didn’t, he would’ve gotten you,” Kuwabara responded hoarsely, ignoring the insult. This was a side of Hiei Kuwabara hadn’t seen before, and he was determined to see it for as long as possible. Hiei huffed in frustration.
“Humans are fragile, and we can’t lose you in the heat of battle,” his eyes met Kuwabara’s, and the words poured uncontrollably out of his mouth like vomit, “I can’t lose you.” He hadn’t had a drop of alcohol, but his emotions were set to “high” as if he was completely intoxicated. Somehow, he couldn’t be bothered to care.
Kuwabara suddenly felt very grateful that it was so dark in the tunnel because he was sure the tips of his ears were a vibrant crimson. A smile spread across his face.
“Oh, really?” He smirked. Hiei refused to look Kuwabara in the eyes.
“Wipe that stupid look off your face,” he growled. Kuwabara laughed, light and knowing.
Kuwabara reached with his good arm and pushed Hiei’s hair from his eyes. Hiei flinched but allowed the contact, “I care about you too, Hiei. I’d willingly do it again if I thought you were in trouble.” His fingers didn’t leave his hair.
“That’s stupid,” Hiei mumbled.
Kuwabara laughed again, “Maybe.”
Kuwabara was quiet for a moment before he continued, “I was...sad when you left last week. When I didn’t see or hear anything from you for over a week. I thought that you thought kissing me was a mistake.”
“I-” Hiei tried to interrupt.
“Let me finish. I don’t think that anymore. I think you’re too emotionally stunted to have started a conversation to explain yourself. I think you’re probably a little scared–don’t look at me like that–and I might’ve been asking for too much to expect a mushy romantic confession from you. That’s not a Hiei thing to do,” Kuwabara said. He smiled and rested his forehead on Hiei’s. Hiei’s eyes darted between Kuwabara’s left and right, trying to read his thoughts.
“I...was wrong. I shouldn’t have ran. It wasn’t fair to you,” Hiei said and his throat felt dry, “We should go. To fix your arm.”
“In a second…” Kuwabara hummed and he closed the inches of gap between their lips. They kissed slowly, gently, nothing like the explosion of passion that they had the week before.
For that brief moment, Hiei thanked Kurama and the absurd amount of strawberry vodka they consumed those nights ago if only because it brought them to this moment.