Flipside Dreams
chapter 2
by Talya Firedancer
Yoshi, here's part two. Let me know if you don't hate it, ne?
FLIPSIDE DREAMS -- Part Two
(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 yaoi alert! It deals in part with the relationship of Hiei and Kurama, and there is a GRAPHIC (but not explicit) warning for part two. This means lime but no lemon.
I warned you, ne...? It's got yaoi.
Flipside Dreams, part two.
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They had traveled too far in the past few hours from any settlements, and had to make a rough camp for the night. The locals, once Hiei and Kuwabara had sufficiently terrorized them, had finally revealed the location of Yumenoshu's stronghold and they'd been traveling since after lunch.
Which, Kurama decided as his stomach began to grumble, was entirely too long ago.
He had grown a few useful, vicious plants around the wide clearing they had chosen to camp in while Yuusuke started a fire with a small rei gun spark. Hiei dragged back something from the woods, dumping it down roughly by the fire.
"This's edible," he grunted, before flitting off into the trees.
Kuwabara was busy slicing up fallen deadwood with his rei ken for the fire - something that proved to be overkill when he brought back a mountain of toothpicks and splinters to feed the fire. Kurama ostentatiously busied himself with growing a few more useful plants, some for dinner, some for defense, and grinned when Yuusuke looked resigned, pulled a knife out of his boot, and started skinning the creature.
After they had all settled down after dinner, Kurama left Yuusuke and Kuwabara dozing by the fire and walked into the more forested area. He was slightly surprised to find Hiei leaning against a tree, rather than perched high in its branches. Hiei tipped his burning red gaze upwards as Kurama approached.
"I knew you'd come out here," Hiei murmured as Kurama stopped about a foot away.
"Oh?" Kurama replied, in a teasing tone. He hesitated, eyes moving over the slightly upturned face of the fire demon. Hiei was so hard to read, despite how familiar every feature of that face was to him. He should know, he'd been looking at it a long time now. "How did you figure that?"
Hiei moved forward abruptly, closing the distance between them. "Because I know you by now, fox," he replied, stretching up to grab the forelocks of red hair that framed his face, using them conveniently to tug that face into range.
Kurama blinked at Hiei's sudden aggressive move, then closed his eyes as Hiei claimed his lips.
Strong, callused hands slid around his neck firmly, and they kissed for long breathless moments as Kurama wound his arms around Hiei's waist, pulling him closer. Finally they were forced to pull apart for a moment; it was either that or suffer hypoxia.
"Hiei?" Kurama murmured, faintly surprised.
Hiei grinned up at him from under sultry half-lidded eyes, baring his little fangs. "Just because I was a little nervous at first, doesn't mean I don't know what to do."
Kurama chuckled, darting forward to kiss the tip of his nose. "You mean I don't have to teach you everything?" he teased.
Hiei growled, tugging his head forward again, kissing him even more thoroughly. He bit Kurama's lip and the youko gasped; he took advantage of that to slip his tongue inside for a leisurely exploration. Kurama was surprised at this sudden change in Hiei, but completely delighted. It really did seem that once Hiei had gotten past the first hurdle - admitting his feelings - he was now eager to move on.
He lost track of that train of thought as Hiei pulled his shirt from his pants, sliding his hands underneath. *Wow - fast learner. . .* he thought dazedly, his tongue wrestling against Hiei's as the kiss became more rugged. Hiei's fingers sought, and found, the tender parts of his chest and began to tease.
Kurama sought to pull the youkai closer and they both froze for an instant as their bodies pressed together, eliciting an unmistakable reaction from both parties. Then Hiei's tongue came to life in his mouth and he was pushing insistently at Kurama's shirt.
Hiei broke the kiss first, both their breaths coming faster. "Get it off before I start biting buttons."
"Is that a promise, or a threat?" Kurama murmured back, his voice catching. But his fingers moved quickly to the buttons before Hiei could make good on his words. Missing buttons would be AWFULLY hard to explain to Yuusuke and Kuwabara. . .
He paused, however, after he had unbuttoned the last one, a tiny frown creasing his brows. Hiei made a noise of impatience and moved to grab his shirt, but Kurama pulled back slightly.
"Hn?"
"Hiei. . .not that I'm complaining, or anything. . .I've been wanting to do this for. . .well, a long time! But why now. . .why all of a sudden?" Kurama held his breath. After hesitating for so long, this sudden aggressiveness, while not uncharacteristic of Hiei, was at least slightly puzzling.
"Kurama." Hiei's eyes met his firmly, darkening with desire. "I've been waiting. . .watching you a long time for I didn't know what. Now I know. And now. . .you're *mine.*"
Kurama blinked at the forceful tone of his voice, as Hiei stepped into him again, strong arms winding around his neck. But he didn't go for the lips this time. Hiei's mouth sought, and found, the sensitive joining of neck and shoulder, and Kurama sighed as his tongue darted out to lap against his skin.
Then he yelped as Hiei's fangs dug in, hard.
His arms tightened around Hiei as the little Koorime bit into him, then released his hold, licking at the wound he'd made. He nuzzled him possessively. Kurama then remembered something about Koorime behavior, and realized with a slight shock that Hiei had just claimed him, and marked him, as his mate.
Kind of like an engagement ring.
"Oh. . ." His eyes fluttered as Hiei traced a fiery path down his skin with hot, moist kisses, then encountered a nipple. Hiei's hands moved from around his neck and down the bared skin of his chest and stomach, hovering low. He let his head fall back and just enjoyed the sensations as Hiei took the nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, and his hands moved around to settle in the small of Kurama's back. He gasped as Hiei pressed up against him again, harder this time.
A scream from the nearby clearing caused them both to jerk in surprise, and Kurama yelped as Hiei's teeth clamped around his nipple involuntarily. They pulled apart.
"Sorry," the Koorime muttered, wiping his lips, and Kurama pulled his shirt hastily together, buttoning it as they ran for the clearing.
Yuusuke was on his feet by the fire as they burst into the little clearing, and he whirled to confront them wide-eyed, aiming at them with shaky hands.
"Yuusuke! What's wro-" Kurama started, then Hiei knocked him over as Yuusuke fired his rei gun.
They rolled on the ground, crashing into Kuwabara, who leapt to his feet with a horrid, high-pitched scream. "Rei ken!" he yelled, instantly lashing out at whatever had disturbed him.
Once again Hiei's fast reflexes saved them as he yanked himself and Kurama out of range.
"What the hell is going on!?" Kurama sputtered, as Kuwabara lunged again with his rei ken. They scrambled to their feet and dodged, scattering. Kurama threw himself to the ground again as Yuusuke fired the rei gun, narrowly missing.
Something was very wrong here.
Yuusuke started towards him, rage and blind violence promised in his eyes as he sighted on Kurama once more, building up his ki.
Kurama narrowed his eyes, putting a hand to the ground he was lying on, feeling the life within swell to respond at his touch. The thick grass below Yuusuke's feet burst upward, wrapping around his ankles and jerking him off his feet. Yuusuke fell, screaming curses, trying to focus his ki for another attack and Kurama acted swiftly, pulling a few choice seeds out of his hair and tossing them in Urameshi's direction.
Vines exploded from the ground as Kurama coaxed them into full-fledged life, and a flower bloomed in the dead of night, unfurling its pale luminous petals and at the same time, a sweetly-scented, heavy gas. Yuusuke twitched, thrashing against the inexorable hold of the tough, flexible vines, then went limp as the gas of Kurama's blossom took effect.
Kurama levered himself up and stood over the unconscious young man, frowning. Then his head snapped up as Kuwabara's war cry shook the glade.
"Don't kill him!" Kurama called out hastily, afraid that Hiei would give in to the impulse to just slay the source of his torment once and for all.
Hiei paused even in the midst of his fight with Kuwabara to slant Kurama a scornful Look, as if to say, 'Hey, I'M not the stupid one!'
Kuwabara continued to lunge doggedly at Hiei, his rei ken flashing in vicious arcs as he howled at the fire demon with almost mindless rage. "Korosu. . .omae wa korosu!" Kuwabara raged. "You'll pay for hurting Yukina!"
Hiei flinched at the mention of his sister's name, and the rei ken narrowly missed him as he almost waited half a second too long.
"Sensui. . ." Yuusuke mumbled beside him, and Kurama turned to stare at him. Yuusuke's eyes were jerking beneath closed lids. "Sensui, I'll KILL you!" His lips peeled back in a snarl.
Kuwabara leapt again, and Kurama suddenly recognized the blank look in his eyes, the one that he and Yuusuke had shared from the moment he and Hiei had run into the clearing.
"Hiei!" Kurama yelled. "He's not attacking you!"
"The hell he isn't!" Hiei snapped viciously, leaping back from another blow and raising his katana.
"He's dreaming! He's asleep, and he thinks you're someone who hurt Yukina!"
Hiei glared up at the mountainous carrot-topped bane of his existence, but flitted back from Kuwabara's rei ken again without striking.
"I'll kill you, Yakumo!" Kuwabara screamed.
Hiei hesitated for a beat, and Kurama's heart leapt into his throat as the fire demon waited until nearly the last instant, then ducked under the blazing spirit sword and struck. The blow carried behind it the weight of constant, irritating insults, repetitive height jokes, and stupid human tricks, and Hiei wore a VERY satisfied expression as Kuwabara toppled to the ground. The rei ken guttered out.
"I hope you didn't hurt him," Kurama said calmly, walking over to the demon standing over the body of his nemesis, wearing a faint grin.
"Hn," Hiei replied.
Kurama tossed down a few more seeds to grip Kuwabara in the same tangle of greenery he'd encased Yuusuke in, and added the sleeping plant for good measure.
"I don't know what's going on here," he said to Hiei, "but I don't trust them until we do."
Hiei lifted an eyebrow, looking as if he were contemplating some form of interesting torture as he observed how helpless Kuwabara now was.
"Don't," Kurama warned him, with a faintly amused smile. Which turned up at the corners into a more impish grin. "Ne, Hiei, now that they're incapacitated. . .why don't we finish where we left off?"
Hiei glared at the suddenly playful redhead who stood next to him, moving a hand forward to brush over his cheek. "Hn," he responded. "Always in the mood, aren't you?" But he didn't swat the hand away.
Kurama's grin widened.
He pressed thoughtful fingers to the wound at his shoulder, feeling the teethmarks Hiei had left. "Ne, Hiei. . .does this mean that we're married?" He blinked wide, innocent eyes at the fire youkai, who scowled up at him.
"Baka," Hiei informed him. "It means I've claimed you for my mate."
"Oh?"
"Marriage is a stupid human custom."
"Ah, I see," Kurama murmured, moving closer. "But we haven't mated yet."
Now Hiei *did* push at him, looking irritable. "Not now," he said shortly. "First, we have to figure out who did this, and why."
"Isn't it obvious?" Kurama said dryly.
The Koorime looked irritated. "Favor me with your brilliant observations," he spat sarcastically.
"Yuusuke and Kuwabara both looked as if they were sleep-walking - you'll notice they had wide, blank stares."
"Kuwabara ALWAYS has a wide, blank stare."
Kurama suppressed chuckle. "Well, more than usual, then. They were both dreaming - experiencing some kind of vision in which they faced down an enemy who had hurt them, or someone they loved. Yuusuke was whimpering Sensui's name, and Kuwabara called out-"
"Yakumo," Hiei completed quietly. "Who hurt Yukina."
"Yes," Kurama agreed. "That's who they saw when they were fighting us."
"Then how could this happen?" Hiei whipped around, jerking the ward off of his Jagan, opening the third eye and scanning deeply into the night. He was silent for several heartbeats while Kurama waited patiently.
"I don't sense anyone nearby," he finally said, closing the third eye. "But there's some kind of disturbance on an overlying plane. . .a different wavelength, it seems."
"The dream plane, I'm willing to bet," Kurama replied grimly. Their eyes locked.
"Yumenoshu," they said in unison.
"He *must* be the one who hired those thieves to steal the artifacts," Hiei observed. "He wouldn't try to kill us so badly if he weren't."
"I agree," Kurama replied. "This means we can't fall asleep."
"Hn," Hiei responded. He jerked his thumb at the helpless occupants of Kurama's mesh vines. "What do we do about them?"
"We can't just leave them here and go attack Yumenoshu," Kurama responded, a slight frown marring his flawless brow. "They'd be killed by something else that happened along, something that wouldn't mind something tasty and helpless."
"Good luck gnawing on Kuwabara," Hiei cheered on whatever creature chose to try.
"But we can't stay here, either," Kurama continued, ignoring Hiei. "We're going to have to wake them up somehow. Yumenoshu must be controlling them through their dreams. If they aren't sleeping, they aren't dreaming."
"Just let me try," Hiei arched an eyebrow, contemplating Kuwabara's motionless form.
Kurama frowned at him, and plucked another seed from his hair, growing a plant quickly. Its acrid fumes made both of them draw back quickly.
"This should do the trick," he said with satisfaction.
He pinched his nose shut with the nostrils of one hand, reaching out with the other to tear some leaves off the plant.
He wafted the strong-smelling leaves under Yuusuke's nose and the other young man jerked abruptly, then his eyes snapped open. He stared up wildly at Kurama, then seemed to realize the position he was in.
"Kurama, what the hell-" he started, testing against the strong vines that held him captive.
Kurama sighed with relief. He was awake. Really awake, this time.
"I had the most horrible dream! Sensui-"
"I know," Kurama replied. "You tried to kill me." With a slight gesture, the vines around Urameshi's body unraveled and fell away.
"I DID!?" Yuusuke was aghast. He sat up. "Damn, man, I'm sorry! I don't know what happened."
"We have a theory," Kurama answered grimly, then, still holding his nostrils shut, took the plant over to Kuwabara.
The big man was less than repentant on hearing he'd almost killed Hiei. "Why the hell'd you stop me?" he demanded, eyeing the vines that had encased him.
"I didn't," Kurama replied calmly. "Hiei stopped you."
"He what?"
"He clocked you, man!" Yuusuke crowed with laughter.
Kuwabara's face reddened and he leapt to his feet. "Listen you-"
"No, you listen," Kurama interrupted, uncharacteristically fierce. "This Yumenoshu must be stopped, before anything else happens. Now. Tonight. None of us can sleep until he's been taken care of."
Kuwabara's face fell. "But I'm tiiiired," he whined. "I need plenty of sleep to accomplish my heroic deeds!"
"You must not ever get much sleep, then," Hiei smirked.
"NANI!?" Kuwabara yelled, whirling on him.
Kurama stepped in hurriedly to prevent another fight.
* * *
As they approached the stronghold of Yumenoshu, several things were running through Hiei's mind.
Among the uppermost thoughts was regret for allowing Kurama's human conscience to prevail over ridding himself of a pest once and for all.
Another was the boldness with which he'd claimed the kitsune for his own.
He had never expected anyone would ever get close enough to him to be a friend to him as Kurama had, let alone slipping so far inside his barriers that he would even *consider* a sexual relationship. Let alone the one most binding to his kind. But when Kurama had told him - admitted, eyes downcast - that morning that he loved him, Hiei had come to realize over the course of the day exactly how he wanted to respond to that. He didn't have to say anything in response. He wasn't good at that, anyway. But he could mark Kurama, and make him his mate.
Hiei irritably flicked aside such thoughts, so useless to their impending conflict, and focused on the task at hand.
The dream strike had been subtle. Undoubtedly the flare of white light that had struck them earlier in the day, from that talisman, had primed them for Yumenoshu's later entrance. The exercise of youki to control the sleeping minds of Yuusuke and Kuwabara had been so subtle, so skillful, he hadn't even detected it.
The stronghold appeared taut and impenetrable in the harsh moonglow, a barrier to all comers.
"There are several ways we could do this," Yuusuke said thoughtfully, then grinned. "But I've always loved going in the front gate. It always gives them such a shock!"
Hiei chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. It would be a simple matter to leap to the battlements, drop inside, and lower the portcullis as Urameshi surely envisioned. But was it advisable?
"Hiei, would you care to scout it out?" Yuusuke asked him almost politely.
"Hn," was Hiei's only response, but he moved smoothly into action, skimming away before they could even blink.
The battlements were patrolled by a few semi-alert, pig-headed youkai. Hiei dispatched them quickly but quietly, then scanned the forecourt below. Movement - two different sets of sentries. The trick would be to dispatch all four before one of the pairs could sound the alarm. Hiei grinned a little. No problem.
Moments later he was uncranking the portcullis, first making sure the damned thing wouldn't make enough racket to raise the dead - or the demons. Urameshi, Kuwabara, and Kurama sprinted from cover, joining him.
They hastily cranked it down again, to maintain a semblance of normalcy in the courtyard. Hiei had hidden the guards' bodies already. As the jaws of the portcullis slammed shut, big steel teeth biting into the ground, a white mist began to hiss from the walls, draining the strength from their limbs.
Hiei cursed steadily and lyrically, most of the invective aimed at himself for being a fool, and the questionable parentage of their captor for being so dishonorable, as he toppled and hit the ground.
~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~Talya Firedancer~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~ ~-*-~~-*-~~-*-~
Guardian of the Watchtower of the South, Fire and Feeling....Miko to many!