Ningenkai: A Place Of Wonders
Ningenkai: A Place Of Wonders
A Yu Yu Hakusho #FanFiction by W. Siew Lee
A lone figure sat quietly at the windowsill. His ruby red eyes stared at the dark and empty road, waiting. Forever waiting for his fox to come back from a party. He was in Ningenkai now... He needed a break from Makai, a break from Mukuro's orders.
A door gave a soft creak, immediately alerting the small youkai. Intent eyes gazed at the door, expecting to see a lovely face peeking in. Another soft creak and a slight click, the door was closed again.
"Hiei, see what I've bought for you?" a gentle voice spoke in the semi-darkness.
Hiei acknowledged Kurama, reaching out his hand to hold the small container. He peeled back the lid and the sweet aroma of the cheese cake floated enchantingly before Hiei's nose. He took a sniff and turned to look into Kurama's emerald green eyes.
There in Kurama's eyes he saw a gleam, a mischievous glint. Hiei shot him a puzzled look, but received no direct response from Kurama.
"What's that?" asked Hiei softly, slowly relaxing despite the alien scent that permeated the room.
"It's a piece of cheese cake," smiled Kurama, grasping Hiei's hands and slowly bringing the container up to Hiei's mouth.
"What is a 'cheese cake'?" asked Hiei. His nose twitching a little as he sniffed at the strange food that Kurama gave him. The dairy scent of the cake was thick and luscious, making Hiei feel drunk.
Kurama grinned and bit a small piece off the entire chunk. He closed his eyes luxuriously, taking in the delicious taste that slid effortlessly down his throat.
Hiei, seeing Kurama eating the Ningen food, also bit a small piece off. Cautiously, he chewed the cake and a burst of different flavors raced down his body. Sweet, sour and salty, but again, it was Kurama's heart that counted. Again, he took another bite, this time a bigger mouthful. Hiei really relished the taste.
Ningenkai was good, wasn't it? Here, enjoying Ningen food with his fox, these were more than he had ever hoped for in the beginning.
"Hiei, you have crumbs sticking onto your lips," laughed Kurama, looking straight at Hiei's face.
Hiei reached up a sleeve to wipe them away but was immediately stopped by Kurama.
"Let me..." murmured Kurama, sealing his lips onto Hiei's, once again tasting the salty tang of the cake through Hiei's soft lips.
The two figures slid under the covers, relishing the comfort of each other... Belonging eternally to each other, till death did they part.
"Till death do us part..." a muffled voice echoed lowly.
---------
"Where are you going?" growled Hiei, awakened by Kurama's gentle push at his side. He blinked open an eye and found himself staring straight into Kurama's face. The green eyes looked back at him, the glint there unmistakably cheerful and joyous.
"I don't think you would want to go with me..." answered Kurama lazily, stretching languidly on the bed.
Hiei gave Kurama a strange look. "Why?" he asked curiously.
"Do you really want to go?" asked Kurama in return.
"Just don't go to Reikai, that's it. That toddler gives me the feeling to char him straight to Makai..." replied Hiei, giving Kurama a confident answer. "Besides, I want to see Ningenkai without having to hide here and there."
"Alright, let's go then," agreed Kurama as he dragged all the bedclothes off Hiei with a pull. Hiei shivered at the sudden cold air that met his naked skin. In a flash, he stood before Kurama and bent down to pick up his clothes that were scattered across the floor.
Just as Hiei was pulling up his pants, Kurama ran up and dragged them down again. "What are you doing, stupid fox?" shouted Hiei, giving Kurama a deadly glare.
"Nothing. Why don't you try some other clothes than that same old black tank top and funny trousers?" asked Kurama, grinning widely. Quickly, he walked over to his wardrobe and pulled open two drawers full of different colored and styled clothes.
"Do I really have to wear all these stupid Ningen clothes?"
"Do you want to go?"
Hiei grumbled something under his breath and began sifting through the huge mountain of shorts, T-shirts, pants and shirts. Hiei picked up a light pink tank top and stared at it. Kurama erupted into peals of laughter when Hiei actually placed it against his chest.
"Hiei, you looked so... um... kawaii!"
Hiei's face contorted into a displeased facial expression. He threw the tank top away to the side and began looking again at the clothes.
"What's this? I always see you wearing this..." muttered Hiei, holding up a piece of triangular black cloth. Alright, it was a pair of briefs but Hiei was there looking as if it were about to chop off his head or something.
"Hiei, I think you better wear one too. I don't want you to be dragged off to the nearest police station for flashing..." pointed out Kurama, persuading Hiei to get into the pair of briefs.
"I could easily blast them into ashes if they were to touch me or anything," snapped Hiei.
"Hiei..." coaxed Kurama softly. Hiei's heart softened when he saw that look on Kurama's face.
"Alright, whatever..." muttered Hiei as he got into the briefs. "It's loose, Kurama," complained Hiei, fingering the already-small waistline.
"It's better than nothing!" replied Kurama and held up a pair of navy blue Bermudas. Without much consideration, he flung it to Hiei with the youkai catching it deftly.
Putting it on, Hiei hunted around for a shirt and found one he liked. A black shirt...
Kurama sighed. "Hiei, do you want to look nice? If yes, try this." He threw Hiei a white, body fitting, round necked shirt with a little black rabbit head sewn on the pocket.
Hiei glanced at both articles but at last decided on the white shirt. *Besides Kurama said I will look presentable in this, right? And I hate rabbits...* muttered Hiei secretly. Without any more consideration, he pulled on the tight shirt that outlined his torso perfectly.
"Okay, you look perfect!" exclaimed Kurama, jumping up in excitement. "Wait, we need to do something about the bandage covering your Jagan..."
Kurama glanced around the room and saw a cute red baseball cap. "There," assured Kurama as he placed the cap onto Hiei's head. Hiei felt the cap in confusion... Stupid Ningen clothes...
"Kurama, get dressed," said Hiei curtly and jumped back onto the windowsill. Kurama blushed and went into the adjoining bathroom for a quick wash. After five minutes, he emerged from the bathroom, feeling and smelling all fresh. Quickly, he selected a forest green polo shirt with matching beige pants.
"Hiei, let's go now," said Kurama as he lifted the fire youkai by the waist and set him down on the floor.
"I *know* how to walk, kitsune," snapped Hiei and strolled out of the room imprudently and tied his katana around him.
"What are you doing? You can't bring this thing out!" yelled Kurama in shock, untying the string that bound the katana to Hiei.
"Why? We might meet a youkai on the way!"
"No, unless you want to be in the police station."
Kurama took the katana and threw it on his bed in the room. Hiei grumbled something about police stations being stupid and other incoherent things. Without looking back, Hiei walked out.
Kurama smiled and closed the door after him.
----------
"Where are we going?" asked Hiei. The two of them were walking down the street passing blocks and blocks of houses and shops.
"First, we are going to a nearby café to have breakfast," answered Kurama, walking faster and holding Hiei's hand.
"Hn," came the reply.
The pleasant ringing of the doorbell greeted them as they stepping into the pleasantly cool interior of the chic shop house. This café used to be one of Kurama's favorite hangouts with his classmates; the very place where nearly all socializing activities were held.
Kurama went straight to a remote corner of café and slid onto a wooden chair. Hiei also sat down gingerly on the opposite chair, keeping his hands down below the table surface. The fresh smell of newly baked bread filled the eatery, inducing instant growling of empty stomachs. Hiei looked at the funnily dressed people behind the counter curiously, his stomach rumbling loudly in response.
A young and sexy waitress soon came to jot down their orders. Her skirt flipped a little because of the draft created by the ceiling fan, showing bits of lace here and there.
In a throaty voice, she asked for their orders. "Hello Minamino-san... Long time no see... Any orders?" Handing Kurama a menu book, she batted her eyelashes at him, hoping for him to look at her for at least a second. Alright, even a split second would do.
"Hm..." Kurama thumbed through the menu, trying to decide on *something* to eat. "Er... I would like a cup of coffee and a swiss roll please. Hiei, what would you like to eat?" said Kurama, directing the last part of the sentence to Hiei.
Hiei shot Kurama a blurred look as he stared pointlessly at the weird looking Ningen words scribbled across the whole menu booklet. "Huh?"
"Er... I also want a glass of orange juice and um... ginger bread," ordered Kurama quickly.
The girl wrote the orders down with her pen and gazed at Kurama, a blush slowly creeping up her cheeks. "See ya..." called out the waitress in a flirty way and blew him a kiss. "By the way, cute brother you have."
Meanwhile, Hiei's eyes were growing wider and wider when he saw the girl batting her eyelashes at his koibito... *His* koibito... He was already seething when she blew *his* koibito a kiss and she even called him, Hiei - the Forbidden Child of Makai, *cute*.
"Cool down, Hiei..." whispered Kurama over the table, seeing Hiei's fuming red face. Hiei swallowed and gave the waitress one last glare before focusing his sight back on Kurama. *I want to fry her...* thought Hiei mentally.
After ten minutes, the food arrived. The whole agenda went without any glitches except when Hiei accidentally overheated Kurama's cup of coffee, but things wouldn't end that easily...
"Hello, Shuichi-san!" a few female voices shouted at once. Kurama nearly choked on his coffee when he heard the call. "Shit..." whispered Kurama silently. Three girls dressed in mini tees and miniskirts flopped down next to Kurama and Hiei, thus filling up the other three seats at the table.
"Eating with your friend here?" asked one of the girls, her hair dyed a lavender color.
"Yes... Let me introduce. Hiei, this is Riyu, Ami and Himoe. Riyu, Ami and Himoe, this is Hiei..." introduced Kurama weakly. *Please... Please Inari-sama... Please don't let them flirt with Hiei...* prayed Kurama endlessly.
But Kurama's prayers weren't answered.
"Hiei-san... You have such a nice body..." purred one of the girls, grabbing Hiei's chest with such a force that he had to stop swallowing his food. Another even kissed Hiei on the cheek with a wet smooch.
"Hiei-san... Which school are you from?"
"Hiei-san... When can we meet again?"
"Hiei-san... What a nice T-shirt you have, can you give it to me?"
The three girls endlessly asked Hiei questions and smothered him with their bodies as they tried to get closer to him. Hiei was there, quietly smoldering away inside.
"Go away," snapped Hiei, pushing one of the girls aside but his warning went unheeded.
"Go away!" snarled Hiei fiercely, this time getting really serious and irritated. Kurama shook his head slowly and looked away, not daring enough to watch what followed next.
"C'mon Hiei-san... I still have many questions to ask y..."
"Boosh!" A trail of flame burst through the coffee shop, shattering glass panes in rapid succession.
"Kami-sama..." mumbled a few pedestrians as they began to gather around the dying fire. Minutes later, a red hair boy together with a short and slim boy walked out of the shop house.
"Sorry! I think he overdid your hair!" yelled the red hair boy as both of them walked down the street.
All they could hear were three screams of rage.
--------
It was ten in the morning, the sun was shining brightly lighting up the entire town. Pedestrians scurried past them hurriedly, taking almost no notice of the duo. Kurama sat down on a bench just outside a recreational park. Hiei also sat down, but was careful by not sitting too close to Kurama. Besides he didn't want trouble, right?
For the first time in his life, Hiei was there, sitting comfortably in Ningenkai and enjoying the sweet morning air. Slowly, he went into a trance-like sleep with Kurama by his side.
Drowsing peacefully with his beloved fox...
"HIEI!" yelled two voices suddenly, shocking Hiei and Kurama out of their wits. Those voices sounded awfully familiar and one glance proved the truth. It was Yusuke and Kuwabara together with Yukina and Keiko.
"Er... hi Yusuke and Kazuma... um... Hi Keiko-san and Yukina- san," greeted Kurama, standing up in a huff. "Where are you guys going?"
"We are going to newly launched the Sega City in the Ichikun shopping complex... You wanna go?" invited Yusuke, giving Kurama a playful punch on the arm.
"What?! Is that shrimp going with you too?" snickered Kuwabara evilly, giving Hiei a smirk.
"Hiei?"
Hiei gave a grunt and stood up also.
"Let me see how am I going to torture that shrimp..." grinned Kuwabara and rubbed his hands. Yukina gave him a nudge, keeping him quiet.
"Shut up, moron," warned Yusuke thus walking further away with Keiko by his side.
Kurama and Hiei ran up to catch up with him. In a whisper, Hiei asked Kurama, "What is Sega City?"
"It's a place full of virtual reality games to play and lots of fun guaranteed," answered Kurama back in an equally low whisper.
"Hn."
***
The beeping and crashing sounds of arcade games rang throughout the whole basement where the entrance of 'Sega City' was located. An irritating electronic voice greeted them, "Welcome to Sega City. I am your tour guide, please fasten your seat belts for a virtual tour..." Kurama and the entire gang got into the small cab which was adjoined to many other cabs with a train head in front.
Suddenly, the whole room plunged into darkness. That voice boomed out again this time in a menacing tone, "Let the horror begin..."
Hiei rolled his eyes, what could be more horrifying than his Kokuryuuha? The cab started moving and they passed through a long and winding tunnel. Weird sounds started to echo in their ears and impromptu *supposedly* youkai roars were emitted into the air.
There was a ghastly silence after the sounds passed and the cab stopped moving. "Some advance tour..." grumbled Yusuke. Hiei was there, wearing a bored expression on his face. Unknowingly, a hand reached out to touch his face gently... The texture was rough and prickly...
"Stop that, stupid kitsune," growled Hiei but the touching didn't subside, instead, it started to tousle his spiky hair!
Hiei turned his head sideways, expecting to see Kurama's slender fingers caressing him... "Kuso..." cursed Hiei as he found himself staring into a badly decomposed face wrapped with bits of old bandages here and there... Soon, screams of other female voices in long train were heard and Hiei thought he heard a crunching sound of youkai eating their prey...
Calmly, he shouted, "Youkai attacks!" Yusuke and Kurama were immediately alerted but without warning, a burst of flames lit up the entire room for a split second before choked coughs were heard. A burnt smell and a human voice cursing Hiei drifted up to their five senses.
"Cool effects!" a young voice shouted at the brilliant fire display. "Sega City rules!"
"Fine, Hiei. You did it again. That was only a worker dressed up as a mummy to scare visitors," sighed Kurama, sitting down on his seat again. Hiei rolled his eyes and looked away. Stupid Ningen, why bother to scare each other? Did they really enjoy being scared?
Hiei smiled a secret smile, he had plans.
"Baka shrimp, don't you know you are supposed to be scared?" laughed Kuwabara insanely when the cab started moving again. Hiei began feeling self conscious all of a sudden when he overheard the passengers behind whispering about the 'youkai attack' shout he yelled.
*Stupid Ningen,* muttered Hiei, he didn't quite care to listen after that.
Eventually, the cab came to the final halt with a slight lurch. The whole group got down slightly shakily without the exception of Hiei. The trip was devastating enough, with the fire youkai blowing up a couple of walls and a huge amount of artificial youkai who picked the wrong target... Fine, but Kurama dragged Hiei away first with the rest... If the maintainers were ever to find out the actual source of the *strange* explosions, Kurama might as well go back to being a thief from Makai... Even if he dug out everything from his bank account, he still couldn't afford to pay for the damages Hiei created.
"What next?" asked Kuwabara, eager to get Hiei into trouble.
"Let's go for a snack!" suggested Keiko, holding Yusuke's hand and pointing with it to an ice-cream stall nearby.
The stall was decorated delightfully with red and white ribbons draped artfully over the entire counter. On the wall opposite the counter, there was a huge screen painted with pictures of delicious ice-cream of every flavor imaginable and their respective prices plastered all them.
One picture had a banana split colored on it while another had a sundae painted on it.
Kurama walked towards the counter and ordered six cones of ice-cream, chocolate flavor. The man there smiled and started rolling balls of ice-cream before balancing each on one wafer cone.
Kurama thanked the man and walked back to the group. Yusuke and Kuwabara grabbed one first without thinking while Kurama gave Keiko and Yukina one each. At last, he presented Hiei with one.
"Hiei, yours," said Kurama, handing him the cone.
"Ice-cream?" asked Hiei as he studied the cone. The top was covered by a ball of brownish looking stuff. Cautiously, Hiei stuck out his tongue like others and licked it. *Eewww...* was Hiei's first reaction when the icy draught caught him by surprise but he was reluctant to show it because Kuwabara was standing nearby... *I'll never let that stupid moron laugh at me,* thought Hiei as he braved another bite. The taste was sweet, slightly on the bitter side... A nebula of flavors exploded in his mouth...
"How is it?" asked Kuwabara teasingly, knowing Hiei hadn't tasted ice-cream before this.
Hiei looked away, refusing to answer Kuwabara's question and licked on the melting goo silently. *But hey! It is beginning to taste... nice now...* thought Hiei as he began to lick at it with more enjoyment. The word *nice* wasn't in Hiei's vocabulary but still...
"I want some more," voiced Hiei when he finished the entire cone. Kurama smiled and gave him one hundred yen. "Just go to the man behind the counter there and ask him for ice-cream. After that, give him this," advised Kurama and pressed the money into Hiei's palm. Soon, Kurama turned back and resumed talking with Yusuke and the rest.
Hiei, seeing Kurama's reaction, had no choice but to take the money and walk over to the counter.
"Ice-cream," growled Hiei at the man.
***
"Hiei... Hiei-san..." screamed Yukina weakly and pointed a trembling finger at the fire youkai.
Kurama had a bad feeling about this... Quickly the whole gang adverted their attention to the ice-cream stall... What did they see? A small youkai dressed in a white top and navy blue Bermudas crouching down on top of the counter next to the man, holding a small dagger pressed dangerously at the man's neck.
"I said I want more!" snarled Hiei menacingly at the man, his dagger precariously scraping against the man's skin.
At last, satisfied, Hiei balanced the cone with at least five balls of ice-cream stacked neatly on top of each other and jumped down from the counter. Throwing the money that Kurama give him, Hiei strode away. "Hey you! Why 100..." yelled the man after him but after receiving a fierce look from Hiei, the man shriveled and hid behind the counter machine fearing for his life.
"Hiei..." was all Kurama could say.
Hiei threw him a puzzled glance but didn't ask Kurama any questions.
"Kurama, you save money this way..." chided Keiko, laughing.
"Why don't we go over to the games?" suggested Kuwabara, eager to make Hiei humiliated... Hearing the loud blaring rock music from the amplifiers strategically placed, Kuwabara began making his way towards the game stalls.
"Try this, shrimp," said Kuwabara, handing Hiei seven darts as he paid for two persons' fare at the dart throwing booth.
"Hn," answered Hiei, looking at the mini arrows that Kuwabara pressed into his hand. Naturally, Kuwabara started first, hurling the darts towards the board pinned about ten feet away.
"Yes! Bull's eye!" shouted Kuwabara when the score appeared on the L.E.D screen above.
"Moron," muttered Hiei and in a flash, the darts whizzed past Kuwabara's head and landed on the board, splitting the seven darts that Kuwabara threw neatly into halves.
Kuwabara's eyes widened when the score screen began flashing red and yellow lights, indicating Hiei had won himself 100 points.
"Hey kid, no sweat there. I can do better!" exclaimed Kuwabara, already fuming at the baka scoreboard. *So great for a stupid koorime...*
"I think we can collect a prize from the redemption counter, right?" questioned Kurama, looking at the long strip of tokens that Hiei easily won. The whole group soon hurried to the redemption counter and Hiei showed his tokens.
"Congratulations, a pink bunny for you!" the middle age woman there said and gave Hiei a big stuffed rabbit with large shining eyes. It even had a lopsided goofy grin.
"Haha! Suits you, stupid shrimp!" laughed Kuwabara with tears already streaming down his face.
Offended, Hiei threw the pink bunny at Kurama and stomped off. "Hiei!" shouted Kurama after him while Kuwabara also stopped laughing.
"KOKURYUUHA!!!" a deep voice shouted and a huge black dragon emerged out of nowhere and ate up the dart throwing stall in a blink.
Suddenly, there was a loud applause from the onlookers around the stall and some kids were even blowing wolf whistles at the explosion. Kurama ran over to the origin of black dragon but found no one... Hiei was... gone.
Feeling upset, Kurama walked back to the group sadly... He knew that Hiei wouldn't show himself unless he wanted to... but he didn't know that he would be hurt so easily. He stared at the pink bunny aimlessly and touched its velvety nose.
"Goodbye, Hiei," whispered Kurama softly.
--------
Stressed out, Kurama staggered up the stairs of his house and walked into his room. The house was dark and quiet, for his entire family had gone out for some dinner function at a nearby hotel. Knowing that they wouldn't be back before midnight, Kurama came back without ringing the door or even calling for anybody on his way. Kurama hugged the bunny and threw it on the bed.
In the dark, he slowly undressed. The lamp switch was only an arm's reach away but Kurama was simply too tired to flick it on. He flopped onto the bed, feeling burned out before a voice growled in the dark, "Get off me, stupid fox!"
"Hiei?" mumbled Kurama, touching a warm body lying next to him.
"Shut up, I want to sleep," came the answer.
"Are you still angry with Kazuma and me?"
No answer, but Kurama took it for a no. If a 'yes', Hiei wouldn't be sleeping here anymore. Kurama decided to have a bit of fun with his fire youkai. Caressing the slender body frame beside him, he asked, "Want to have the pink bunny back?"
"Woosh!" Kurama pulled back his hand quickly and the remains of the pink bunny lay there on the floor.
"Maybe not..." said Kurama as he resumed holding the fire youkai.
"Kurama, when are you bringing back the next piece of cheese c...?"
Hiei didn't quite get to finish the sentence as the youko had since kissed him deeply on his lips, silencing him.
Things and incidents could be so strange, yet so familiar... but not to one certain fire youkai. In his mind, Ningenkai was indeed a place of wonders. A place of wonders with his fox eternally.
"For one thing, I hate rabbits," a deep voice muttered as a fitting T-shirt went flying across the room before hitting the wall...
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Copyright reserved 1998 W. Siew Lee All standard YYH disclaimers apply to this fanfic. E-mail: Siew Lee [wsiewlee@tm.net.my] URL: http://members.xoom.com/hiei UIN: #14025577
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