Memory

Chapter Eight

By Ronin S. Oath

Hiei nursed a hot cup of tea, holding it between his palms as if trying to absorb all of the heat into his skin. At the same time, he frowned into the steaming cup, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

"C'mon, Hiei. Spill it," Yusuke entreated. Watching Hiei stare into the tea cup so hard, Yusuke was almost convinced that the damn thing held the secrets of the universe. "You know this is for your own good."

"Hiei, why don't you tell us what happened?"

Kurama's gentle voice almost made Hiei look up, but he immediately suppressed the reaction, and frowned even more, trying to understand why Kurama's voice reminded him of lush forests.

"Oi, Hiei!" Kuwabara's voice boomed out, making Hiei jump in his seat. "You gotta tell us what's going on."

Hiei could no more refuse the request of his hero than he could stop breathing. So, with a little grunt and a squaring of his shoulders, Hiei looked straight into his champion's face and announced, "I don't wanna talk about it." With a mulish frown, Hiei looked back down at his untouched tea.

With an unintelligible shout, Kuwabara threw his hands into the air and stomped out of the dining area to sulk in front of the television.

Kurama and Yusuke exchanged a look when they saw Hiei's lower lip quiver at Kuwabara's exasperated exit.

With a clearing of his throat and a loud exclamation of "Man, I'm tired. Time for some TV!", Yusuke left the other two in the dining room and gently closed the door.

Hiei looked up warily to see Kurama regarding him with a gentle smile. His heart jerked in his chest at the sight, because it was so familiar to him, yet… he… he didn't want to remember. 'I'm happy here. Something bad will happen if I remember… I don't want to be alone!'

Kurama smiled gentle into the ruby eyes which regarded him so intently. 'I want the old, gruff Hiei back… I want the wild Hiei who never let anyone near him back… I want my Hiei back.' Kurama quickly looked down, appalled at his thoughts. "Hiei…"

Hiei cut him off with, "Why do I always see a silver haired man with fox ears and a tail when I look at you?"

Kurama flinched. "N-nani?"

Hiei rolled his eyes, and repeated slowly, "A man with long, silver hair… with fox ears, a tail, and golden eyes!"

Kurama thought quickly, the announced, "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened this afternoon."

Hiei glared at the red head.

Kurama was immensely cheered at the sight of the familiar killing glare.

"That's not fair!"

Another grin tried to work its way to Kurama's mouth. "Life isn't fair. You tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell you what you want to know." Kurama leaned back, crossing his arms. He'd won and he knew it.

Hiei stewed in silence for another minute. With another glared that should have fried the pretty red hair on Kurama's head, he spoke. "I got mad."

"And?"

"The jerk was insulting Kuwabara-kun, so I hit him."

"And?" Kurama was getting exasperated. 'He's just as hard to pry open as m-… I mean, the old Hiei!'

"I hit him a lot."

Kurama threw his hands towards the ceiling. "Hiei, if you don't start talking, and I mean really talking, I'm going to… to… tell Kuwabara that you've been misbehaving!" Kurama wasn't sure if that threat would work. Hell, it sounded as weak as watery milk to his ears. So he was quite surprised at the look of panic which crossed Hiei's eyes.

"Fine, I'll tell you!" 'I much rather talk about things than have Kuwabara-kun think I've been bad.'

Kurama suppressed a smirk of victory and waited.

"I've been… seeing things. Sometimes, I get flashes in my mind… like that silver haired guy when I look at you. But other times…" Hiei trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Sometimes, I see a shadow… I don't like it! It wears black all of the time… and sometimes, I see the shadow raise its hand and a big smoke dragon comes out and destroys everything! I don't like that…" Hiei gave a small shudder. "Then when that guy called me a shrimp, and Kuwabara-kun ugly, I felt the shadow come over me… The next thing I knew, the guy was on the ground." Hiei looked into Kurama's lively eyes and whispered, "I don't want to meet that shadow! I don't like it very much… I don't think it liked Kuwabara-kun at all! Sometimes… Sometimes, I think that the shadow is calling to me to come closer, but I ignore it. It's bad and it wants to take me away from Kuwabara-kun and Yusuke-kun and you and ice-cream and parks and… I don't like it!"

Kurama sat stunned. 'What are we going to do now? Hiei has been seeing himself… His memories are calling, but he doesn't want to take them back. And…' Kurama sighed wearily to himself. 'Who are we to take away this second chance of childhood from him? He seems happy this way, and he doesn't seem to want to be what he used to be… What are we going to do?'

Hiei watched Kurama silently.

"I guess it's my turn now." Kurama told his tail-

From his Yoko life to his retreat into a human body. He carefully avoided all mention of Hiei, how they met, and how Hiei was a yokai/youkai like himself. Instead, he focused on meeting Kuwabara and Yusuke, their jobs as Spirit Detectives, and students. He carefully glossed over the relationships between all of them. Instead, Kurama twisted the truth a bit, saying that Hiei and the others had been friends for a long time, that Hiei was an orphan, and that they didn't really know anything about Hiei's background.

Kurama was immensely relieved that Hiei didn't press for details, and that the boy seemed to accept everything Kurama told him… But Kurama was disturbed. 'Does this mean that Hiei will never get his memory back?' But he pushed down those thoughts for later, and focused on trying to get his lies straight.

To Be Continued…

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