Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Parental Guidance ❯ Away in Tokyo ( Chapter 1 )

Well this isn't really my style, but after taking in a marathon of fanfiction I just couldn't help myself. I'm sure Hatanaka is a perfectly wonderful person in the series. Here, however, he most certainly is not.

 

Enjoy.

 

This chapter is just the setup with some happy fluff and some not so happy other stuff. ^^

 

WARNINGS: The question is: what shouldn't I warn you about?

 

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Parental Guidance

Chapter 1

 

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Tap. Tap. Tap. The pen kept tapping the desk like the infernal heartbeat of a Poe novel. A pale redheaded boy was lost in thought, scrutinizing the essay question before him. It was a historical essay asking him to compare the creation myths of five different significant cultures. Ten pages. The difficulty of the assignment wasn't the problem. It was that Kurama honestly couldn't figure out which way to answer the question. Normally this should have been a snap, a mere synaptic drive down memory lane, but this particular teacher had a few very interesting opinions about the origin of these myths…and they were wrong. Kurama finally gave up, groaning, and threw his pencil across the desk in frustration. He had other work to do. This could wait until tomorrow.

 

“Shuuichi?” a soft woman's voice called from down the hall. Kurama sighed, his full pink lips pouting.

 

`Yes mother?” he answered back. Moments later the warm face of a brown-haired, middle-aged woman appeared around the doorway.

 

“Can I get you anything, maybe something to eat? You need to take a break every once and a while or you'll wear yourself out.” Kurama smiled at her maternal thoughtfulness. Annoying at times, perhaps, but nevertheless she was an amazing woman.

 

“No thank you mother. And I'll be fine, you really don't need to worry about me so much,” he said.

 

“All right, if you say so. Don't hesitate to call for me if you need anything.” She entered the room and ruffled his hair, laughing when he cringed at having his long, very well groomed hair disturbed. “I mean it, ok? You're every mother's dream, it's the least I can do.” Kurama playfully batted her hand away.

 

“I'm fine, really. You worry about yourself.”

 

“All right, don't stay up too late.” She exited the room.

 

“I won't,” Kurama called after her, shaking his head in minor disbelief. He wasn't ten years old anymore! He turned back around in his chair to inspect the rest of his homework, sighing. This much would keep him indoors nearly all weekend… He stared wistfully out his bedroom window. It was early spring and the life around him was just beginning to wake. He could feel the grass' sluggish wonder, the trees' refreshed shiver and the stirring in the hearts of the flowers. Something in him was stirring too…

 

“She thinks you're so God damned perfect.” The invading sneer instantly jolted Kurama out of his pleasant reverie. He spun around to see his stepfather leaning against the open doorway.

 

“Hatanaka?” Kurama questioned suspiciously. The obvious, `What are you doing here?' left unsaid, as he purposefully leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs, adopting a careless and arrogant pose. The man had pretended to like Kurama, sure, but only to save face with his mother. Kurama knew better that to be fooled with smiles and false compliments. Something about the effeminate teenager rankled beneath the older man's skin. Neither had yet spoken of it. Kurama had even foolishly hoped that if he just ignored the man, this confrontation would never occur.

 

“She thinks that you're some fucking gift from God, but I know better,” his voice was sheer malice. “I see through you, oh yes I do,” he paused, gazing away as if to relish some secret thought then his focus snapped back onto Kurama. “Watch yourself. I won't let you fool her any longer. She'll see her `perfect son' exposed for what he truly is.”

 

Kurama glared daggers at the man, but otherwise remained unmoved. What did he know? When he spoke it was with a demon-laced dark humor, “Are you threatening me?” There was some level of disbelief - that a human was threatening him in his own home was absurd.

 

“I suppose I am.” Hatanaka smirked, shaking off the cold, creepy sensation of hairs rising off the back of his neck. “Good night.” Then suddenly he left, closing the door behind him.

 

Kurama immediately dropped his calm, unaffected pose, hunching wearily in his chair. Hair fell in his face and he anxiously pushed it back. What was he going to do? If Hatanaka wanted a war, Kurama would be trapped! If he quarreled, left, or anything of the sort then his mother would question, interfere. There was no doubt she would consider it betrayal. Yet neither could he put that human in his place. He couldn't touch that human without either Koenma or his mother breathing down his neck, and right now he wasn't sure which was worse. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

 

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“Hiei, must you insist on doing that?” Kurama almost whined. The two of them were hidden deep within the branches of a large tree, one of many overlooking the park filled with giggling children and watchful parents sharing PTSA gossip. The ember-eyed demon beside him was making sport with the wading pool: heating it gradually to an unbearable temperature and then suddenly cooling it before the crying children could find their parents. It was sadistic, but there was, Kurama admitted, a playful art and mastery to the game. The children enjoyed the warmth at first, not questioning. Then they would begin to squirm and then scream, running for their burning skin as fast as they could out of the near boiling water. But, by the time the parents could reach them and hear their stories, the water would be cool to the touch - nothing out of the ordinary except for a group of clever children trying to fool their parents.

 

Hiei finally acquiesced, crawling back along the branch to where Kurama rested against the trunk. “So can I play with you then?” The little demon's gaze was hungry as he prowled forward so close that their lips nearly touched. Hiei turned his head so that he was whispering right in Kurama's ear, brushing the slender neck with his tongue, “Just imagine what I can do to you.” Kurama's pupils dilated and the heaving of his chest quickened. Those fleshy lips parting ever so slightly in a small `oh.' Hiei's hand began to stroke over Kurama's clothed chest, “Only you. The only one.” Red lashes fluttered and Kurama's pale lids slid closed, letting himself be swept away by Hiei's sudden lust. Heat was flowing in him, through him, Hiei's heat - his passion.

 

His mouth formed the words, but no sound was heard, “Hiei…”

 

With uninterrupted swirls of his wrist, Hiei's hand slipped under the kitsune's shirt, gently caressing the flawless skin beneath it. “Do you remember when we first did,” his fingers ran across a hidden nipple, “this?” A quiet gasp brought a smile to Hiei's eyes and a softness to his cheeks.

 

“Of course…”

 

“Tell me. I want to relive it.”

 

Kurama smiled, his eyelids dancing with his eyes. He took a deep, steadying breath, “A clan of psychics was attempting to break into the baser levels of Hell. Koenma ordered us to put an end to them.” Another small and hot hand had found his thigh and Kurama paused distracted.

 

“How did we capture them?” Hiei purred.

 

Kurama chuckled, “We didn't, they ambushed us. We were unprepared and outnumbered three to one - by psychics! I remember wanting to kill Koenma for his stupidity; it meant there was a mole in the Spirit World.”

 

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(Several months ago)

 

“Yusuke! What the fuck are you doing? Snap out of it!” Kuwabara was standing there screaming like an idiot, his orange hair bobbing with his angry exclamations. Glowing spirit swords protruded, forgotten, from his clenched fists.

 

“Kuwabara, that isn't going to help,” Kurama yelled. “He's being controlled by them! Kill them!” He was down on his hands and knees, praying to stay conscious long enough for Hiei to kill the demon that was invading his mind. It was perverse, touch so wrong that he felt like his head would explode from the shame of it. A strong kekkai was protecting his body, but there was little he could do except concentrate on staying sane. “Hiei!”

 

The desperate plea fell not on deaf ears and Hiei pushed harder, faster, as he burned through demon after demon, jagan blazing an angry purple. These demons were simply too quick. They were reading his thoughts not his actions, managing to break through the very surface layer of his jagan eye. Claws suddenly raked his back. He hissed, but didn't stop. The psychic was within his sight, so close that Hiei could feel the steel of his sword in its transparent flesh. Then there was fire all around him, his fire, his anger and hatred. The bastard will die! All resistance gave way before his molten katana. The precognitives were distracted by the fire, and in this moment of confusion they died before the message of death had even reached their brains. Finally, the disgusting demon that dared to violate the sanctities of his Fox's mind was before him. In the next moment, it was headless and very, very dead. Milk colored blood seeped sluggishly from its neck, but Hiei didn't stay to watch. In moments he was at Kurama's side, protectively encircling the kitsune's shoulders. Kurama's breathing was ragged and his skin was deathly pale.

 

Hiei shook him forcefully, “Kurama. Kurama!”

 

Awareness rolled across Kurama's vision and a headache flared through his skull. His stomach heaved and a dry retching fit wracked his shuddering frame. Spit dripped unsympathetically from his lips and he had to wipe it away on his sleeve, leaning on Hiei to keep his body from collapsing. Within a few gasps his body had ceased shaking and only heavy breathing indicated his previous distress. Hiei pulled away, allowing him to stand up on his own.

 

“Spirit gun!”

 

Both turned suddenly to see Kuwabara clumsily fleeing Yusuke's trigger finger. Hiei hesitated, glancing quickly at Kurama.

 

“What are you waiting for, let's go!” Kurama's voice had less severity and strength than normal, but his eyes were set. He took off running without waiting for an answer.

 

“Hn.” Hiei smirked then took off after him.

 

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Hiei chuckled softly against Kurama's neck, taking in the scent of his hair, “You were so stubborn. I really thought Yusuke was going to kill you!”

 

“Me? You were the one who kept taking my hits. I couldn't do a thing without worrying about catching your little self underfoot!” Kurama's indignant huff was cut short when Hiei wickedly pinched his thigh. “Hiei!”

 

“Shut up, I saved your life. Now finish the story.”

 

“Ok, ok.”

 

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(Several months ago)

 

There remained only one psychic on the pathway to the gates of Hell. However, between the three tantei and the demon stood Yusuke, eyes blank but energy ablaze. Kurama was still slightly shaken from the mental barrage, but, physically, he was in the best condition of all three. Kuwabara looked to be sporting a couple broken ribs and a shattered kneecap. Blood dripped thickly down his face, blinding him in one eye - a sitting duck. Hiei was bleeding profusely from the deep gouges in his back; they simply refused to heal, and he was losing blood with fatal speed. Quickly taking in the situation, Kurama knew this had to end now. There were no trees with their strong and sturdy roots for him to manipulate before Hell's door; they were the only living things. And he possessed nothing strong enough to restrain the mind-controlled boy without killing him…for long. He looked at his teammates. They were counting on him. Hiei was counting on him. He had to find a way to break the link between Yusuke. As it was at that moment, kill the demon and he would kill Yusuke.

 

Almost without thought, slender fingers raked three aspidistra elatior variegated seeds from his hair and tossed one at each of his team members, Yusuke included.

 

Hiei's eyes went wide with disbelief and anger, “Don't you dare - Kurama!” Then plant's large leaves grew to three times their normal size, forming a solid pod around him and effectively muting his protest.

 

“What the fuck is - ” Kuwabara's was cut off mid-expletive.

 

Yusuke just stood there unable to respond unless instructed to do so. It was too weak to hold any of them for long; Kurama knew that. Already he could feel their swelling power pushing at his control. He yanked a fourth seed free from his hair, growing it and crushing the tiny bulbs in his hand all the while running towards the psychic. Time was not on his side. He saw the demon's eyes widen in surprise and fear, as it finally comprehended his thoughts through the haze that was Yusuke's now captured eyes and he smirked. Munesanzun kireme was a specialty plant, only a few seeds were produced every millennium, but it was worth it. The demon tried to back away and defend himself in any possible way. Kurama could feel Yusuke's energy pulsing stronger in the back of his mind, but it didn't matter anymore. With only seconds before he would reach the demon, Kurama opened his mouth and smeared the paste across his tongue. Munesanzun kireme was a strong hallucinogenic, but if consumed correctly it could make one a temporarily, complete and unbreakable wall against psychic energy.

 

Kurama jumped the distance between himself and the demon, grabbing on to its disgustingly cold neck and pressing his forehead directly against its with all the strength he possessed. Layers upon layers of slimy, flaking skin like malleable dry ice came off under his hands, but he held on. The powers of the plant tore through him to eagerly consume the psychic energy radiated by the repulsive and quivering demon. Kurama was gasping, panting; sweat had broken out over his entire body; the demon in his hands was screaming, yelping, right in his face.

 

And then…it was over. The demon was silent then still, slumping to the ground through Kurama's now loosened grip. Residue clung to the exhausted fox's hands. He stood there, breathing heavily, wiping the grime off on his pant legs. Sweat matted his hair, but all was calm…until Kurama sensed something too fast and too powerful coming at him. Dreading what he was to see and nearly too worn to care, Kurama turned reluctantly around. A huge bullet of pure Yusuke spirit gun power was hurtling towards him, overtaking him within a thought, and then there was no thought. Everything was bright blue light and then nothing.

 

“Kurama!”

 

---

 

“I don't know if I've ever moved that fast, or been so angry!” Hiei hissed. “If Yusuke could've just kept his head for a moment…that bastard's always been nothing but power.” Hiei was reclining sideways in between Kurama's legs, nibbling on one of the redhead's fingers in between words.

 

“Yes, but you saved me.” Kurama's other hand was now trailing secret paths across Hiei's pleasantly muscled but sadly still clothed chest and back. The buttons on Kurama's shirt, however, were long undone, “took care of me, protected me,” Kurama nuzzled the nape of Hiei's neck.

 

“Hn. You slept for four days!”

 

“And you were there the whole time. I could feel you by my side. I might've fled to the darkness without your strength.” Kurama grew quiet. This wasn't something he had revealed to anyone before, how close he had truly come to dying.

 

Silence stretched on.

 

It was then that Hiei noticed the absence of the children. “It's late Fox.” Kurama's green eyes twinkled. He loved when Hiei called him that.

 

“Yeah, I know…let's go.” Kurama gave a little push against Hiei's shoulder, telling him to get up. Hiei complied reluctantly. Kurama took the opportunity to button his shirt and then stood up shortly after, “Ready?” And Hiei was gone. Kurama rolled his eyes, mumbling, “Show off,” before following.

 

They flitted from tree to tree, rooftop to rooftop, silent as demons running in the night.

 

They parted ways before turning the corner to the Minamino-now-Hatanaka residence. Kurama nearly skipped up to the front door, cheerful in knowing that Hiei would be waiting for him just outside his bedroom window. What he wasn't prepared for was Hatanaka waiting for him just inside the door.

 

“Hello Shuuichi. Your mother and my Shuuichi will be in Tokyo until tomorrow evening. Shiori and I decided that we each need to take the time to get to know our new children better.”

 

Kurama was immediately suspicious. “Why didn't she tell me about this.”

 

Hatanaka shrugged, “It was a rather last minute decision of ours. You were out of the house and I told her not to worry about it. She knows how capable you are.” Hatanaka was slowly advancing forward, and Kurama was beginning to consider the open door as the most viable solution.

 

“Ah, ah, ah. I don't think so,” Hatanaka mocked him in a singsong voice, waggling his finger in a gesture of `no.' Hatanaka reached to close the door, but Kurama was faster and grabbed his wrist in a vice like grip. Without a seconds hesitation Hatanaka back-fisted Kurama with enough force to send him reeling into the coat rack behind him. He hit the wall hard, shock graying his thoughts. He had known that Hatanaka was not truly as he behaved around Shiori, but this was an entirely different person. “Don't even try that on me you bastard. You're not going anywhere. This whole thing is about getting to know each other better, right? You'd ruin the whole thing if you left.” Hatanaka's voice was childish, mocking, even playful. Kurama saw the opportunity and took it. He kicked the back of the older man's knees, sending him to the ground without actually hurting him. Then be bolted up the stairs to his bedroom, locking the door behind him. Thank the gods he healed quickly. If Hiei had seen a new bruise on his face there would be no hope of convincing him to leave.

 

The insistent rapping on the window snapped his racing mind back into focus. He hurried across the room and opened the window but did not allow Hiei to enter. With masterful control of his face and voice, he faced the one person to whom he had never before had to lie. “Hiei, I'm really sorry about this, but you can't stay here.” There were footsteps climbing the stairs. Internally Kurama was nearly panicking. Hiei would kill Hatanaka if he knew. That couldn't happen.

 

“Can't I at least come in?” Hiei was plainly irritated.

 

Kurama forced himself to be calm. Hiei had to see him calm. “No, I'm sorry Hiei, but this really isn't a good time. My stepfather…doesn't like it when we have unannounced company over, ok?” Hiei looked skeptical, listening hard and scanning the ancient fox's face with suspicion. “Hiei, please leave.” Kurama desperately hoped that his eyes didn't look as anxious as he felt.

 

“Hn. Fine, damn Fox, I'll leave,” Hiei smirked suggestively, “but I'll be back.”

 

Kurama sighed with relief, “Thank you,” but Hiei was already gone. Large, angry fists pounded at his door. Kurama jumped.

 

“Shuuichi! You open this door right now.” The voice then became hauntingly childish again like how a parent would talk to a toddler, “We need to get to know each other remember? Do you want to get to know me? I really want to get to know you…”

 

Kurama was contemplating jumping out the window when the door swung violently open. The old lock had given out.

 

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