Kamusta! :)


Here's part 16 of my sis' fanfic:
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Sixteen.

	This was what had taken place:
	Hiei and Kurama entered a battlefield especially aimed to test their
friendship.  Whole and hale, they managed to survive it, by working together
and acknowledging the fact that one needed the other – for companionship, if
not anything else.  At the very end of their travels was the Dark Room, the
final test, the utter proclamation of loneliness.  And neither was beaten
down by it.
	There was no denying that they had become closer than two youkai could
afford, if they were in a harsher world.  There were times when one felt he
could not exist without the other…but that was the extent of their friendship.
	They were friends.  That was the end of it.  Over the long span of time
they had survived together, they had come to place unto each other the
deepest trust, and little more.  Kurama wondered: if he had not staged the
tests in the first place, would they ever know?  And then he doubted it,
immensely.

	"You could have just asked me," Hiei argued.
	"You wouldn’t have been able to answer."
	"How are you so sure?"
	"Never mind.  It’s never going to happen again, anyway."
	"What do you mean?"
	"This is all Kuwabara-kun taught.  I’m not a psychic human who can explore
his own head any time he wishes.  Besides, do you want it to happen again?"
	"No…"
	"Then let’s just hope it doesn’t."
	Another grunt.  He hadn’t run out of those yet.  Hiei shook his head.
        "You mystify me, kitsune."
        "Well, koorime, I sometimes wonder about you, too.  That seems to be
all we do, isn’t it?  So let’s just mystify each other until the day we both
die."
        Hiei looked up with innocent disdain.  "What?"
        "Look at it like this: what else can we do?  Fight?"
        "Why not?"
	Kurama’s eyebrows lifted, even as Hiei realized his tongue had slipped – again.
        "I guess not fight," he mumbled apologetically.
        "Then we mystify."
        "Whatever.  Fine."
        At one point they both felt the psychic darkness completely
dispersed.  They were truly in the Ningen Kai again.  They got to their feet
at the same time. 
        "I wouldn’t fight you, Hiei.  While I know that you’re still in that
youkai shell," Kurama smiled, "I trust you."
        "Hn," Hiei grunted.  What followed was a pleading silence that
warned Kurama from saying too much.

	They were on their way out of the wood, and the sun was high.  Minamino
Shuiichi wore a thick black sweater that could not be recognized by anyone
from anywhere in town.
	"Thank you for the sweater, by the way…"
	"It wasn’t hard to steal.  Forget it and burn it when you get home, so no
one gets to notice."
	As the summoning of the Black Dragon had cost Hiei his own shirt, Kurama’s
returning the cape had become essential.  Hiei assured him, though, that he
would have no problem filching another shirt somewhere else.  He hated being
asked things like that for the sake of simple conversation.  Who in hell
cared if he went about without clothes?
	"Are you going back to Makai?"
	"Not yet.  I still have…things to take care of, here."
	Kurama lowered his eyes.  "Alright, then."  He smiled.  "Watch yourself."
	Hiei inclined his head once, and briefly, before disappearing.
	Shiori did ask about the missing vest, which, Kurama rationalized, was
soiled badly with paint while he was making the "project".  His classmate’s
mother, a kind and accommodating person, by the way, offered to wash the
vest for him, in which case his classmate felt compelled to lend him a
sweater until the vest could be returned.  Shiori accepted all this
wordlessly, with her absolute faith in the dear boy, for he smiled as no
liar could smile, so openly.  She focused, instead, on ridding herself of
the troubled murmurs in her heart, which told her that Shuiichi, who had not
changed, had just become wiser by a lifetime.
	The black sweater did get burnt, just after Kurama was able to buy himself
a new fuchsia vest outside anyone else’s knowing.
	Kurama didn’t see either Yusuke or Hiei again, for some time.  He became
too busy piecing together his perfect academic status, and wondering about
the upcoming mission his youko-senses could detect.  Though sometimes, he
thought he felt a shadow in the treetops following him as he walked, swiftly
so that if at any time he looked up, he would see nothing.  Kurama never
looked up.  It was enough for him to know that the shadow watched.
	One day, he and Hiei would have to fight beside each other again.
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Bye-bye!
BFN!
:***LYN***:
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|Ma. Aileen Arcega|Surfing from Bulacan, Philippines!|lyn@tridel.com.ph |
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|      	    Akin si Kurama/Minamino Shuichi of Yu Yu Hakusho!           |
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