It was a lazy Saturday night at Yusuke's apartment, just him and Kurama relaxing and spending some quiet time together after a long week of not seeing each other. Yusuke was sitting at one end of the couch with half his attention on a movie, and Kurama was reading a book at the other end, stretched out with his feet in Yusuke's lap.
"Kurama, where did you get this scar?" Yusuke asked, curiously studying a silvery scar along his ankle.
"I got my foot caught in a door when I was a child. Why?"
"I've just never noticed it before." Yusuke frowned and set Kurama's foot back in his lap. A moment later, he started sliding the redhead's pant leg up. He let his eyes and hands caress every inch of skin from ankle to knee, looking for other scars that he had missed in his explorations of Kurama's body. They hadn't been together long, and they were still learning one another's curves and angles.
Kurama put down his book, fascinated by Yusuke's intensity. He felt questioning fingertips linger over a spot just below his kneecap. "I fell off of a porch when I was nine."
Another few minutes of examination uncovered no other scars, so Yusuke switched to the other leg and repeated the process. He gently traced over a series of scars on the sole of Kurama's right foot, putting just enough pressure into his touch to keep it from tickling. "These?"
"I dropped a flowerpot during craft period when I was in preschool. I stepped on the shards before my teacher could get to me."
Yusuke nodded soberly and moved up, zeroing in on a long mark on his shin and one on his kneecap.
"Practicing with my Rose Whip when I was ten. I barely had the power to summon it."
He found no more scars there, and he hesitantly reached to unfasten Kurama's pants. He wanted to continue, but he was still uncertain when it came to intimate gestures like this.
"It's all right," Kurama said softly.
With a hint of reverence, Yusuke slipped the button through its hole and lowered the zipper, then he tugged the khaki fabric down his legs. When they were off, he draped them over the back of the couch. A fine webwork of thin scars along Kurama's right thigh drew his gaze.
"What is all this from?"
"A fight not long before you and I met. The healing was...unpleasant."
Yusuke touched the area solemnly, tracing the lines of the mark. He encountered no other scars below Kurama's waist, so he hesitantly moved above the waistband of his boxers, unbuttoning the redhead's shirt. He already knew what he would find there: a scar from Hiei's sword, another from Genbu's tail, and one from the impostor Kuronue.
The sword scar was the most frightening. He remembered with a sick terror the moment he had looked up, still alive, and seen the tip of Hiei's blade protruding from Kurama's back. His fingers ghosted across that narrow band of silvery tissue, and he felt a little awed by the idea that Kurama had done this to save his life even though they'd barely known each other then.
"This is because of me," Yusuke murmured. He ran his fingers over the thickest of the scars, then over the thin, cross-shaped scar on Kurama's cheek, and met Kurama's eyes regretfully. "So are these."
"None of them are your fault, Yusuke," Kurama said softly. He touched the thick scar from Genbu's tail. "This is because I was careless in judging an opponent." The cross on his cheek. "And this I endured for my mother's sake."
"But you wouldn't have been in either of those situations in the first place if it weren't for me. And this," he added, touching the sword scar again.
Kurama shook his head, placing his hand over Yusuke's. "Please, don't blame yourself for my actions. This, especially."
"What do you mean?" Yusuke looked confused.
"When you offered yourself up to the Forlorn Hope to stop me from dying and leaving Mother alone...I think that's when I started to fall in love with you. Saving you from Hiei was a way to repay you, but it was also to keep you alive so I could get to know you." He pressed down a bit with his hand. "I have never regretted that decision."
Yusuke moved forward so he was straddling Kurama's thighs, their hands still resting against Kurama's stomach, and he kissed him softly. "Thank you. I don't know what the hell I did to deserve you--or even if I deserve you--but I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
"We'll have to find out who gave us this chance and send them a thank you note."