expiationlogs | [open: catch-all]

Hiei's concern about him - not in the physical life or death sense, but his mental well-being - has not gone unnoticed. If anything, it has done a great deal to shift his perspective of their dynamic in the past several weeks. The fire apparition's turbulent moods and perceived rejection that Kurama still does not fully understand - not yet, at least - make far more sense measured up against everything apparently weighing on his mind between them. Hiei sighs and moves to get more comfortable, alerting the fox that he's finally awake and the redhead releases a breath as if he's been holding it, head tipping just slightly. His tone is careful, not entirely devoid of amusement, but soft enough not to be mistaken as outright teasing him for sleeping so long, at least.

“Awake, are we?” Kurama turns onto his back, smirking faintly as green eyes land on the other demon. He's not going to push about anything he's inadvertently uncovered in the past month, there's still so much to process before even considering it, and he knows Hiei will be just as resistant to talk as he was over Christmas, anyway.

“It seemed you could use the rest.”

Hiei’s nose wrinkles as Kurama speaks, both at the fact that this presumably means less sleep and the fox already attempting to rib him. He should really be used to Kurama and his sometimes good natured joking by now but… Hiei is a grumpy little soul by default.

“I was not aiming to be for long.” The fire demon sighs, attempting to sound annoyed and only achieving the same level of sleepiness, the slight gravel in his voice sticking.

“But I imagine you are restless by now.”

He only smiles at Hiei's apparent grumpiness, rolling onto his side to face the fire apparition fully with a thoughtful hum.

“Don't let me keep you.” There's a pause, watching him curiously at the suggestion he might be restless, before he speaks again, sounding a bit reluctant.

“I'm in no rush, actually. There will be plenty to take care of once I do get up...” He has thought about that quite a bit since returning to his senses, the farm was protected and their home seemed safe when they arrived, but he had others to check in on and a backlog of tasks to get done. For now, he just wanted some time to rest and recover, hopefully without the threat of being startled awake and prone to violent outbursts. Assuming he was fully back in control and there wasn't another surprise in store for them, at least.

Of course, Hiei doesn't realize what Kurama has learned about the past month's proximity. While the fire apparition was watching over him, the fox's own protective streak was only amplified in that half-feral confusion, wanting to keep Hiei safe as much as he knew that he was being protected. It may only be temporary, a residual instinct that will fade, but the thought of separating even now leaves him a little uneasy still.

Not that he's going to mention that part.

"Mmph..." Hiei grumbles as Kurama says not to let him keep him, despite the fact that he has again closed his eyes. Somehow, he doubts that the fox will appreciate it if he falls asleep on him while he's talking at the very least. There is not a lot about manners that the fire demon has a good grasp on, despite working on it, but that he knows is generally not a good idea. Particularly if he's trying to keep them not bickering.

It has been nice to be largely on the same page despite Kurama's attempts at batting him away, something he is willing to take on for the greater good of them both.

His sigh at Kurama's mention of tasks to do is perhaps predictable, a red eye cracking open to give the fox a grumpy little stare. Hiei has voiced his opposition to Kurama's need to be so busy so many times now it feels like smacking his head against a reinforced brick wall and expecting results, but it will not stop him from expressing his dislike. Or at least looking very grumpy about it.

"As much as I am sure you already have a mental list of everything that needs to be done, you have spent a month in a different form." It seems the fire demon is not done fussing over his partner for the moment, rolling to face Kurama in turn. He could get used to being in a bed like this, despite his love for a nap high up in his favorite tree.

"If you do not fully recover who knows what shape you will be in when the next ... thing this place spits out happens."

His eyebrows lift in surprise as Hiei responds by scolding him, smiling softly despite the fire apparition's evident frustration. “I'm afraid I have... Been out of touch the last few weeks.” As if Hiei isn't fully aware of that himself, said to underline the point that Kurama can't possibly know what needs to be done until he has a chance to get updated on what else has happened in his absence.

"Truthfully, I am not certain where to even begin, you may rest assured there is no such list. For now, at least, I have no intention of going anywhere or worrying about anything outside of these walls."

“To say the least.” Not that Hiei has any intention of rubbing Kurama’s nose in it. There was nothing to be done about it, at first, and their combined instinct to retreat had not been a bad one when it all began.

The fire demon still feels as though he had failed, though, in the sense that what he had thought would help had only made it worse. Isolation, while a good theory, had only drug out Kurama’s condition when it did not have to.

For a moment Hiei’s frown drifts in to something less for show and more genuine displeasure, until Kurama draws him back with the reassurance he has no list and no plans to go anywhere just yet.

He blinks, as if remembering where they left off, before murmuring a sound of agreement.

“Good. Kuwabara and Yukina know that you need rest, yes?” Because if they don’t he will no doubt be the one to tell them.

His smile only widens slightly at Hiei's retort, seemingly unbothered by any offense implied. Kurama remains oblivious to the other's lingering guilt over failing to help in some way after their previous conversation, and his assumption it had resolved the matter. The fire apparition's frown shifts and his smile fades automatically in response, watching him cautiously as he speaks. When he puts it that way, that Kurama needs rest, the fox can't help the momentary discomfort, guilt surfacing once more - for all that Hiei has been put through in these last weeks, to hear that he's still more worried about the redhead's wellbeing leaves him uneasy in a way.

“I have not spoken to anyone. My priority was simply getting us here.” He wanted Hiei to be comfortable and finally get some sleep that didn't end in a physical altercation, he was not sparing a thought to setting any boundaries of his own or talking to anyone else.

Hiei grunts his understanding, eyes already beginning to droop. At least he knows that if someone barges in here, it is not with the full understanding that they need rest after everything that's happened. Kuwabara, actually, may have the fullest understanding between the two of what had happened while Kurama was out in the woods before, and that may work in their favor.

The fire demon would contend that some time spent sleep deprived was nothing, on the grand scale of it all. Of everything he's done and managed to muddle his way through in the relatively (by demon standards) short life he's lived. Looking out for himself has never exactly been on the priority list.

"I would have been fine sleeping in a field, you know."

Kuwabara and Yusuke had both seen him at some point, and while Yukina hadn't, Kurama did not suppose she'd be the type to barge into anyone's room regardless. They could catch the others up to speed later, after some time to recover.

The fox is, of course, more worried about the emotional exhaustion than the outright sleep deprivation. He can go quite some time without sleep, even if Hiei typically couldn't. The fire apparition's retort about the field being enough for him gives the redhead pause though, the light casual tone vanishing completely with his flat response.

"I am sure you would have, however, I have had more than enough time in that forest with the creatures that call it home.”

Hiei... laughs, lightly, at that retort. Fine, fair enough - Kurama'd had enough. Hiei, in typical form, may never have enough of the woods, and that was probably also expected. In this, they are fairly disparate in their opinions (among other things), but Hiei does not mind. Without Kurama they would not have this house, and he would more than likely be spending more time out in his favorite tree than among the rest of them than he really should.

Avoiding his thoughts on what was going on in this place by avoiding being around in it altogether seemed like an appropriate coping mechanism... right? Shutting himself away in the top boughs of a remote tree and calling time on anything that may be developing would be a lot harder with the chaos of everyone else below him, even worse as they climbed the stairs and got even louder.

"I should have known that would be your answer." Here he makes a concentrated effort to open his eyes again, doing his best to stay awake and in the conversation, for the moment.

"A bed is comfortable, I will give you that."

An eyebrow lifts as Hiei laughs at his response. Not quite what he'd expected. Since arriving, he has taken quite a few trips into the forest proper but this last one had definitely been the longest, and the added complication of not being in his right mind made it an association he would rather move on from. Which seemed straightforward enough to him, at least.

“Am I so predictable?”

The fire apparition struggles to remain awake, and if he's honest, Kurama wasn't exactly expecting him to try. He's not certain why he's bothering, all things considered. They were supposed to be recovering from the strain of the last month, after all.

"I'm glad that you agree. Though, I admit, my preference has more to do with not being disturbed than comfort.”

"Sometimes, yes." Kurama had surprises around most corners, and then surprises past them at times so far as Hiei is concerned. But in this place, the place they had ended up the most for purposes of.. dealing with or hiding.. ended up being the woods. Considering the nature of Kurama's latest extended stay, even particularly dense Hiei would have to be a special layer of silly in the head to not understand why Kurama would prefer to stay out of the woods for the time being.

Kind of a bummer for secret meals for the two of them, though. Hiei has not yet considered that, though, with all brain power focused on staying awake instead of considering advantageous meals.

"Coming here somehow does not seem like the best place for going undisturbed. You know how loud Urameshi and Kuwabara can be." Particularly when they are picking at one another, as always. Typical teenage boy things, if you aren't a demon who does not understand them and all.

"But the quietest option is where you do not want to be, so second best it is."

"I suppose that just means you've been around me too much.” Picking up on his habits and expecting certain responses in advance. Their time here had certainly created a necessity for closeness they hadn't experienced since The Dark Tournament, even if Hiei had always been the one to understand him better than the others, even well before their current imprisonment.

The redhead tilts his chin curiously at the point about how disturbing the others can be, rolling onto his back to turn green eyes to the ceiling before responding. The smile is slow as if it takes him a moment to fully digest what's being said, gaze rolling back in Hiei's direction again.

“It seems we have very different ideas of what counts as a disturbance. I would simply rather not be woken to a fight for my life, if I can help it. You are welcome to return to the monsters in the forest if that is your idea of the quietest option… No one is forcing you to stay here, you know.”

"We have been near constant companions, lately." In their own world their disparate lifestyles had limited their time spent together. Hiei had much to do in the Demon World between border patrol and keeping up his training with Mukuro, and Kurama had settled in to a distinctly more human path. Of course the fire demon would never, and could never, understand that choice, but he had resolved to visit from time to time.

He did, after all, have to see Yukina sometimes too.

Kurama goes on about being attacked mid-sleep and Hiei opts to let him get through the entire thought before he pipes up with the obvious (to him) answer to the problem of being woken up by danger:

"This is why I usually sleep far up a tree, Kurama." Clearly, sleeping on the ground or nearby the ground had purely been a choice made for Kurama's sake in their time spent in the woods together. "I know being arborial isn't exactly a thing for foxes, though."

"This world is far more limited than our own, I doubt the AI system could handle the development of separate realms when it can barely keep a single city stable long term.” As evidenced by them being the ... fourth? go at this. “Not the first time our range has been so limited, Koenma did keep quite a short leash.”

He hums, head tilting slightly. “Trees have their uses, but even a tree isn't a solid defense from everything.” Nothing is truly a flawless defense from all things, even if his own habits have given him additional experience with that particular vantage point over the years. He knew that Hiei had taken some breaks to nap properly, as he was most comfortable. Waking up alone had been stressful and disorienting, but he wasn't going to begrudge the fire apparition getting what sleep he could just because he wasn't afforded the same luxury. The best he'd gotten in the last few weeks came only when Hiei forced him, and neither of them were keen on overdoing that particular trick for the sake of rest.

“Foxes are more likely to prefer dens, given the option. I suppose you should consider yourself lucky that I didn't burrow underground while you were trying to keep watch, all things considered.”

"Don't remind me about Koenma." Hiei huffs, still sore all this time later about his jail time in the human world. Yes, he'd committed the crime, but being forced into companionship is certainly a hell of a choice for punishment, so far as the little demon is concerned. He will not elaborate on that thought, though, since Kurama will no doubt insist that it was a good thing Hiei had come to know all of them and... befriend them.

Even if he would never say the friend word. Under threat of death or otherwise.

"You would have been underground alone." Cramped spaces were... simply not Hiei's thing. Perhaps it was a leftover problem from when he had been bound up before his exile, or quite simply that his preference plainly laid in being up in the trees. Now that Kurama has moved on to his back, though... the fire demon decides to make a move, a little too used to sleeping up against one another in some form in the past few weeks.

Scooting across the space between them in the bed, the fire demon nestles himself against the redhead's side, a little sigh skating out of him as he does so, as if finally comfortable.

"I much prefer this to the possibility of a hole."

Kurama doesn't comment on Hiei's complaint about Koenma. He's just going to let him have that, it was entirely in the past anyway at this point, even if they could ever return home. He's not surprised when Hiei counters that he would have been underground alone, smirking as if it was quite amusing, actually.

“I imagined you would try to keep watch by occupying a nearby tree, in that case.” He does actually know you, Hiei.

The fire demon settles in beside him and Kurama swallows the conflicting emotions such a simple action brings to the surface, glancing upwards once more. He hadn't forgotten the glitches or time spent wondering if perhaps it was being a fox specifically that made the physical contact more comfortable for the other apparition. There's the briefest pause before he settles an arm more comfortably around him, careful to allow Hiei adequate space to retreat if he chose.

“You know... this wouldn't be possible in a tree, either. A fox den is hardly a hole, a good den includes multiple chambers and tunnels with various exit routes, much like any other home.” Not very different from a human house with multiple rooms and hallways when put that way. He opts to skip the finer details, knowing the fire demon is not all that interested in learning about the specifics of den creation. Still, anything he'd made in that monster form would have been a different beast from the average fox den regardless, and closer to the proportions used by human structures to accommodate his size if he was going to fit in there.

“For the record, I prefer this as well.”

Hiei hums a little sound of agreement as Kurama says he would have watched from a close by tree. Of course he would have - separation between ground and treetop wouldn’t be far enough for the fire demon to lose track of him.

And, well … that massive monster form wasn’t hard to keep visual track of by any means.

“In this form, with a particularly large branch, we may still be able to.” It’s a hopeful thing by all means, but Hiei is unwilling to admit that a den would be better. Even when he probably should, considering Kurama is there with his arm around him, settling the fire demon further against his side with that single motion. It is pleasant in a way that Hiei doesn’t exactly have words for, pressed against Kurama like this with his arm around him.

A warmth builds within him, and nothing to do with his fire abilities.

“Mn.” A pause, where Hiei may typically leave a point lie follows, but then the fire demon follows up.

“So I should keep sleeping here, is what you’re saying?”

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