Flipside Dreams
chapter 1
by Talya Firedancer
Konnichiwa! Here's a fic. ^.^ Please let me know what you think.
FLIPSIDE DREAMS
(Copyright 1998 Talya Firedancer)
Standard disclaimer: YYH belongs to the very talented Yoshihiro Togashi and Shonen Jump comics, not me; I'm just a lowly little fic writer.
WARNING!! This fic contains a shonen ai alert! This means it deals, in part, with the relationship between Hiei and Kurama. This is a continuation of the fic "Liquor Sweet" that I sent out yesterday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yuusuke cracked his eyes open warily. He croaked a feeble curse as the battering, merciless sun struck him squarely in the eyes, obeying that corollary to Murphy's law that dictated he would be in the exact right position to achieve its full brilliance the moment he awoke with an aching head four sizes too small for his brain.
Gods. What a hangover.
He'd had really weird dreams, too - one had involved an army of angry Keikos chasing him with huge mallets, determined to pummel him until he yelled "Ojisan!" Another had been Koenma twirling on top of the bar in a ruffly pink tutu, matching his bright pink pacifier, while Botan performed a bellydance. Yuusuke grimaced. One of the terrifying ones had been Kuwabara chasing after him, giggling and simpering like one of Kurama's hordes of swarming fan-girls, after having tripped and fallen into a Makai love spring. He'd been determined to -
Yuusuke made a face and tried to shut *that* image out, then twitched his nose as he noticed the gross taste in his mouth, as if a little Makai imp had crawled in there and died. That dream with Kuwabara had probably spawned the weirdest one of all -
He could've sworn he had seen Hiei and Kurama groping and making out in the hallway!
Mumbling incoherently, Yuusuke sat up. Kuwabara was starting to twitch and snort, in the throes of waking up.
Across the room, Kurama was sitting calmly on his bedroll, sipping a cup of something that steamed. He looked alert and fresh, almost luminous in the morning sunlight. He sure looked pleased about *something.* Yuusuke glared evilly at him.
"Have some of this," the redhead offered, indicating a tray on the floor. It was packed with food and a few more cups of the steaming liquid.
"Will it make the ringing stop?" Yuusuke mumbled hopefully, crawling over on his hands and knees, unwilling to get up and jar his head for such a short distance.
Kurama laughed at him.
He looked around. Hiei *was* here, after all - sitting on the windowsill of the room, one knee drawn up, wearing his usual dyspeptic expression.
Yuusuke groped for a fluttering memory of something strange that Hiei had done. He vaguely remembered that the little Koorime had been totally plastered.
"Hiei. . ." Yuusuke said slowly, and the fire demon looked up, an indifferent expression on his face. A grin spread over Yuusuke's features. "Last night, did you. . ."
Kurama's head snapped up. Hiei eyed Yuusuke with death in his gaze.
"Did you *sing!?*" he chortled, captivated by the foggy remembrance of Hiei singing loudly as he headed for the stairs, propped up by Kurama.
Hiei snorted and looked away.
"You DID! You were singing!" Yuusuke crowed, then blinked when Kurama shoved a dumpling in his mouth, shutting him up.
"We should get going," Kurama informed him calmly. "Before we lose any traces at all those thieves might have left behind."
Yuusuke shrugged, finishing off the dumpling. "I bet he'd be great at karaoke," he couldn't pass up the opportunity to needle the Koorime. He glanced over, chuckling as Hiei's shoulders stiffened.
They had been on the trail for a couple days now of some Makai thieves that Koenma had summoned them to deal with. The thieves had stolen some "proscribed artifacts," whatever THAT meant, and once again Koenma urgently needed them found before Enma returned and got upset. So far, they hadn't had much luck.
But they HAD gotten rip-roaringly drunk!
Something Keiko didn't let him do much of these days, he grumbled to himself. For some reason she frowned on it.
"We should wake up Kuwabara," Kurama said, eyeing the carrot-topped mountain of log-sawing snores.
Hiei looked up at that. "I'll bet *I* could wake him," he glowered. He fingered the hilt of his katana suggestively.
* * *
They trudged up the narrow, dirty street of the Makai village. Yuusuke and Kuwabara looked absolutely miserable, even after cleaning up and eating a decent breakfast. Hiei had not taken to the rooftops yet, and walked beside Kurama looking distantly impersonal as always.
But Kurama knew otherwise.
Kurama nearly chuckled as he recalled what Yuusuke had remembered of last night. Hiei singing! Well he HAD - and the look on Hiei's face when Yuusuke recalled that had been priceless! But at least Urameshi hadn't remembered what else he'd seen.
The red-haired young man's breath caught in his throat, at the still-recent memory of Hiei's arms wrapping around him, Hiei stretching up to kiss him, nudging his lips apart - it still seemed like a dream too precious to him, too good to come true. Hiei had practically attacked him in the hallway last night, the sweet green Makai liquor dissolving his inhibitions, and he'd kissed him again, for the second time ever.
Kurama became aware that he had a slightly foolish grin on his face, and schooled his expression along slightly more composed lines.
"We should try some of the slum informants," Yuusuke said, still a bit bleary. Kuwabara just shuffled along, occasionally clutching at his head, too miserable for once to provoke a fight with Hiei.
"Aa," Kurama replied, when it looked like no one else would.
Kurama slanted a glance at the sober little fire demon beside him. He was as stoic as ever, but Kurama remembered the look in his eyes from that morning. Another precious memory that deserved to be savored and clutched to his chest.
*Inari. . .did I really tell him I love him?* He hadn't thought his courage would EVER permit that - or that he'd ever be close enough to Hiei to be able to admit it. . .or that he'd ever be able to get it out without Hiei running away.
They turned into the slums of the village and conferred for a moment, then broke into pairs to cover more ground. Kuwabara and Urameshi shuffled off, looking half-dead, which meant they fit in with a lot of the alley and slum inhabitants. Kurama offered Hiei a slight smile as they turned to seek out a few likely targets.
They spent most of the morning shaking down alleys and tossing taverns for likely informants, offering money where necessary, and applying threats in turn, but had no luck whatsoever. All the demons they encountered professed complete ignorance.
Which, in itself, was suspicious enough.
They met up with Yuusuke and Kuwabara again towards noon.
"Dammit!" Yuusuke punched his fist into a nearby wall, then swore again, scowling. "Nothing, not a single lead! What're we going to tell Koenma!"
"That's not precisely true," Hiei corrected dryly. "You're just not looking hard enough, Urameshi."
"K'so! What do you mean?" Yuusuke glared down at the smaller fire demon.
Hiei sniffed contemptuously.
Kurama shot the Koorime a slightly exasperated glance. "What he means, Yuusuke, is didn't you notice how *no one* knew anything about the thieves we're after? Makai thieves usually offer to sell you something, whether it's true or not."
Yuusuke blinked. "Oh yeah."
"I knew it!" Kuwabara declared. "I, Kuwabara Kazuma the great, KNEW that those lowly scum were hiding something from us!"
"Ah, so the idiot chooses to speak," Hiei murmured, tilting one dark red eye to flash insultingly at the carrot-topped human.
"NANI!?" Kuwabara screeched. "I'm gonna pound you like a nail into a board, you little shrimp - " He lunged, and Yuusuke grabbed him.
"Gods, not now, Hiei," Kurama said, torn between amusement and exasperation.
Hiei slanted the eye at him. "What? Did I say something untrue?" he asked innocently.
Kurama sighed.
"We have to figure out why these locals won't talk - " Yuusuke began.
"LEMME GO! I'm gonna cut that puny little twerp in half - "
"Don't be redundant," Hiei sniffed coolly.
"-and FIND these damned bastards - "
"-it's only what he deserves, he's got it COMIN'!"
Yuusuke held on tighter, as Hiei raised an eyebrow at Kuwabara, then gave him a purely insulting grin.
That was when they hit them.
Hiei was instantly on the defensive, his katana slicing through the air, and Kurama hit the ground and rolled as the scores of black-clad, monstrous figures leapt down from above, throwing knives and wicked throwing stars. Yuusuke and Kuwabara sprang apart, then flung themselves eagerly into the fray.
Kurama pulled out his favorite weapon. "Rose Whip!" he shouted, lashing out at the nearest attacker.
"Rei ken!" Kuwabara called forth his blazing spirit sword, slicing into his enemies with practiced ease.
Their attackers were no match for the four hardened Reikai agents, who fought back with greater skill and experience. Yuusuke waded into his opponents gleefully, adrenaline pumping through his veins and dispelling the last traces of the hangover. Kuwabara split his opponents in two with his rei ken, never resting for an instant as he spun and cut. And Hiei was a blurring flash of sword and dark fire, mowing down more opponents than any of them.
It was over within moments. Kurama nudged a body with his foot. Hiei's katana had pierced the creature cleanly through the heart.
"Are any of them alive?" he asked.
"They better not be!" Yuusuke replied, cracking his knuckles.
Hiei gave him a withering glance. "Baka, that means none of them are left to question."
"Damn!" Yuusuke swore. He began to peer at the corpses and limp figures sprawled across the alley.
"Hold it!" Kuwabara suddenly exclaimed. "I sense something with my reikan. . .something bad. . .we've gotta get out of here!"
Yuusuke was bending over one of the fallen attackers, tugging at something around its neck. "Wonder what this is. . ."
There was a blinding flash, as Kuwabara dove for Yuusuke, knocking him over, away from whatever he was holding up.
Kurama stumbled, his eyes full of that white-out flare, and felt something knock him flat. Hiei. They rolled away from the flash, then came to a halt as the whiteness slowly leached out of the air, restoring normal sight.
"What the hell was that?" Yuusuke yelled. "Is everyone okay?"
"Fine!" Kurama called back, blinking up at Hiei.
Hiei blinked back down at him.
Kurama smiled a mischievous little smile, shifting slightly but suggestively beneath him.
Hiei started to turn red and 'hmmph'ed softly, getting to his feet. Kurama followed suit, brushing at his clothes. Yuusuke was eyeing the corpse suspiciously, the one that had triggered the flash.
"What WAS that?" he asked in bewilderment. They had all felt the powerful wash of youki that had accompanied the soundless burst of light, but none of them seemed hurt.
"Idiot, that was you ignoring my warning!" Kuwabara declared self-righteously, shaking a fist at Yuusuke. "I, Kuwabara Kazuma, was aware of the dangers-"
"Of trying to think too hard?" Hiei finished for him.
Kuwabara's eyes bulged. "NANI!?" he yelled, lunging.
Hiei flickered from sight, and Kuwabara rushed through where he'd been, tripped over one of the fallen bodies, and fell flat on his face.
"Stop it!" Kurama glared. "Whatever it was, we should get out of here."
A weak groan fluttered through the air, and their heads snapped around. Someone was still alive.
Instantly they had all scrambled over to him. Yuusuke grabbed the front of the youkai's shirt, hauling him up roughly, and slammed him against the opposite wall.
"Who sent you?" he demanded, shaking him a little.
The gray-skinned youkai's head lolled. One yellow eye slitted open, half-conscious.
"Who sent you?" Yuusuke repeated, shaking him harder.
"Maybe I should convince him he needs to talk," Hiei growled. His katana was suddenly drawn and set against the assassin's throat, its keen point pricking into the skin lightly. Beads of ichorous blood oozed from the ungentle contact.
"Yumenoshu. . ." the youkai wheezed, its breath bubbling from between its lips. Then it sagged in Yuusuke's grip, and died.
With an exclamation of disgust, Yuusuke dropped the corpse to the scum-crusted alley ground, and backed away.
"Yumenoshu?" he said aloud, frowning in puzzlement. Kurama shrugged, and Hiei sheathed his sword after flicking the drops of blood off.
"Perhaps the thieves that stole the artifacts were working for this Yumenoshu," Kuwabara suggested, frowning pensively.
"That makes sense," Kurama replied cautiously. "Once word got to him that there were people looking for him, he threw assassins at us, hoping to get rid of us quickly."
"Only twenty assassins?" Kuwabara frowned, striking a heroic pose. "I am insulted! I alone could have handled such a number!"
Everyone sweatdropped.
"Your skull couldn't handle that number of brain cells, let alone. . ." Hiei began, and Kurama clamped a hand over the little Koorime's mouth.
"What was that?" Kuwabara swung back in their direction, eyes glinting.
"Nothing," Kurama assured him innocently, keeping a good tight grip on the struggling fire demon.
Hiei bit him.
"Yoshi, let's find out where this Yumenoshu is, and get this case solved!" Yuusuke said with only a measure of his usual vigor. Apparently the hangover was still lingering, once the flush of battle had passed.
Still, Kurama had a nagging feeling as they left the alleyway and the bodies behind them, that it wouldn't be that easy.
~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~Talya Firedancer~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~ ~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~
Guardian of the Watchtower of the South, Fire and Feeling....Miko to many! Konnichiwa! Here's a fic. ^.^ Please let me know what you think.
chapter 2 >>
back
to From the Heart >>