Days and Nights

[windfallswest]

Title: Days and Nights
Author: windfallswest
Fandom: Yu Yu Hakusho
Pairing: Yusuke/Kurama
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: <----
Notes: Sort of set in the empty spaces around the first two arcs, so some spoilers through the Dark Tournament if there's anyone to spoil.


Your desire shall be fulfilled. The words rang through Kurama's head as his eyes flickered open again, afterimages still dancing on his retinas. The detective lay prone and unmoving. All trace of life had left the mirror's surface. His heart was beating.

"I'm...I'm alive...! The mirror...did it...? Is she?"

Kurama grabbed the detective's-Yusuke's-face impulsively and kissed him. The warmth of life had not yet had a chance to fade. Then he raced to the door and back down the stairs, towards his mother's room, leaving the detective's lifeless head to fall to the concrete.

The next day, he turned himself in to Spirit World. Needless to say, he was quite surprised when they told him Yusuke was still alive. Yusuke had come round rubbing his mouth and with a twice-bruised nose. He barely had time to give Kurama an odd look when he showed up to help in the fight with Hiei, what with him having a sword sticking out his torso. Kurama had meant to leave immediately, but his wound slowed him down and Yusuke's sense of strategy was...horrifyingly compelling. He felt much more awkward than he'd expected. Yusuke gave him another curious look as he walked away.

In Maze Castle, there was no time to talk; but after, he found himself tracking Yusuke's energy as it zipped around, halfway across the city.

This is ridiculous, Kurama told himself the second day he found himself doing it instead of taking history notes. What was it about this human that intrigued him so? He was certainly out of the ordinary. He shouldn't be able to do half of what he gets away with. It was a trait Kurama recognised from some of the most talented individuals he'd encountered over the years, perhaps even one he'd exhibited himself from time to time. He usually made an effort to be more methodical, however. Yusuke's raw recklessness was hair-raising for more than one reason.

It was easy enough to find Yusuke after school. Kurama studied him for a moment, out of sight. He swaggered brazenly down the street, hands stuffed into his pockets, not really looking where he was going. The flash in his eye and the wry twist to his smirk perhaps implied a bit more experience than he intended. Kurama-who was not, after all, fifteen-found himself reacting to it.

Yusuke stopped without warning.

"Whoever you are, either fuck off or come out where I can pound your face in."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you," Kurama apologised, stepping into view.

"Oh, it's you." Yusuke relaxed, glanced around to check for listeners. "What's up? Another gig from pacifier-breath?"

"No, nothing like that. I was just...in the neighbourhood." Oh, smooth. Kurama glanced upward at the sullen, grey sky as they started walking again and refrained only with a great deal of effort from commenting on the weather.

"Uh, okay then. What's up? You actually go to school?"

Kurama resisted the impulse to glance back at his school bag. Demons don't blush, he scolded himself.

"Well, I suppose I could test into college early, but this is more convenient overall." Especially taking finances into account.

Yusuke was still giving him a sceptical look.

"I do have to make an effort to blend in, after all. For my mother's sake, if for no other reason."

"Yeah, I guess so. It just seems...weird is all." Yusuke started walking again.

Kurama fell in step beside him. "Weirder than coming back from the dead?"

"Demons in school? Next you'll tell me Hiei's a professor or something."

Kurama laughed. "Hardly. I doubt many students would survive his classes. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. To apologise."

"What for? You saved all our asses in Maze Castle, besides the whole keeping Keiko from turning into a demon thing."

"No, it's about something else. This is rather embarrassing." On reflection, it was probably not a good idea, either, his own personal discomfort notwithstanding. Well, it was too late now.

"Hey, well, just spit it out."

"It's about that night, at the hospital. I may have kissed you. When I thought you were dead." Kurama kept his senses open for any sudden movement on Yusuke's part. Like, say, a punch to the nose. I'm not doing very well at this, am I?

Surprisingly, there was no punch. Or loud shout of outrage. In fact, Yusuke was being far too quiet. Kurama glanced at him our of the corner of his eye. Was he blushing?

"Oh. Uh. That's."

"As I said, I only wished to apologise. It was...in the heat of the moment. At the time, I was under the impression you had died saving my mother's life. I thought you ought to know."

"Ah, no problem. Thanks. For telling me, I mean," Yusuke added hastily. He was walking faster, darting skittish sidelong glances at Kurama. "Ah, fuck it," he growled finally, taking a sharp turn.

They were down an alley, in some sort of dead-end nook invisible from the main street. Before Kurama had time to say anything, there were lips on his. He made a small sound of surprise, and then they were gone.

"I thought I was going nuts," Yusuke said. He was still standing a little closer than might be considered normal. "I just kept seeing-things." For a burning second, his eyes locked with Kurama's. Then he found something very interesting to stare at on the ground, no doubt so Kurama wouldn't notice him blushing.

"Like what?" Kurama asked.

"Like-and I'm hoping this isn't going to get me punched in the face here-kissing you. I-"

Glance, scowl, defensive hunch.

"-liked it?" Kurama asked, swaying fractionally closer. He wanted very much to touch Yusuke right now, but he looked about a hair's-breadth away from bolting.

"You could say." Yusuke finally met his eyes again.

"May I kiss you?" Kurama asked. "At the risk of getting punched in the face."

Was this what being fifteen felt like? Kurama's heart was pounding in his ears. Yusuke's fingers burned on the back of his neck.

Yusuke kissed him back this time. It was an inexperienced kiss, but it sang through Kurama's blood all the same. Must be hormones, he mused.

He could definitely use a stable prop at this point. Yes, that wall would do nicely.

Someone had opened his mouth, and now there were tongues involved. Kurama found himself exploring Yusuke's molars. Yusuke's hand was fisted in his jacket.

Kurama came back to himself when he found his hand drifting down from Yusuke's waist to his hip. He pulled away, panting. Yusuke's eyes were wide, pupils blown.

Fifteen, fifteen, Kurama reminded himself. Even if he did look like sex. Stupid country and its youth-centric eroticism. If Yusuke knew what he was doing, Kurama would eat his history textbook.

Kurama kissed him again, more gently. When he pulled away this time, he took a step back. Somehow, Yusuke was now the one with his back to the wall.

Yusuke swiped a hand across his mouth. "You're not half-bad at that," he said.

"Nor are you." Kurama watched him for signs of incipient panic attack.

"So what'd you say to a repeat performance?" Yusuke asked, devilish spark back in his eye.

"Later," Kurama promised. "Perhaps somewhere less exposed."

Yusuke's answering grin was not at all reassuring. "Find me when you're done with your sissy-ass homework. Leave the venue to me."

Which was how Kurama found himself engaged in a chain of snogging incidents across town: behind billboards, in deserted alleys, parks (which Yusuke otherwise had no use for), and often Yusuke's apartment whenever his mother was away doing...whatever it was that she did. Certainly there were any number of interesting smells permeating Yusuke's couch.

This was a peculiar kind of torture, Yusuke above him, rough hands pushing away his shirt, his own disposed of long since, casualty to Kurama's superior diversionary tactics. Breath on his neck, teeth on his ear, skin hot when he got his hands back on it. It was a tease of hunger, challenging his self-control. His battle skills had improved dramatically since this began, from beating the excess sexual frustration into focus.

It was an irregular thing, slotted in around cases and school, Kurama's work in Spirit World and Yusuke's need to prowl the streets hitting people. (Well, Kurama was a demon. If he loved his human mother, then did he have to get indignant over a few children's black eyes? Let youth enjoy its follies.)

Then Tugoro came back. Kurama probably couldn't have gotten Yusuke's attention even if he hadn't been focussed to the edge of panic himself. It was like two months out of time: when he saw Yusuke at the departure point, there was hardly a whisper in the back of his mind of soft lips or the smell of dark hair. There was no room to think of anything except winning. Yusuke's eyes said he knew that well enough, when they ended alone one night in the suite's common room. This was not the time for that discussion.

So if Kurama's heart beat faster watching Yusuke's fights, his mind was exactly where it ought to be: on both fighters' weaknesses and the opponent he needed to eliminate next. Yusuke's voice was a more urgent note in the background roar. There was only the fight. There could only be the fight. As soon as Karasu stepped up, Kurama's world shrank to the confines of the ring.

It takes a while for that kind of concentration to wear off. Everyone was quiet in the wake of the tournament. For himself, Kurama felt something ease when he walked through his front door into his smiling mother's arms.

Being back, things were both smaller and larger than he remembered, having spent what felt like a lifetime within the paranoid confines of Hanging Neck Island. His human interactions reeked even more of deception, acutely aware of being more than anyone saw.

He tried to give Yusuke space, but this time Yusuke found him. Kurama hadn't expected to see him until the next case from Koenma dragged him out of his well-earned funk. There he was, though, not just a nearing presence to his senses, but an actual breathing body in front of his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Kurama asked, trying to pin down the look on Yusuke's face. Koenma generally contacted him first if there was a problem, to avoid undue contact with Yusuke's winning personality. Also to pump him for information.

"Nah, calm down. You're the first demon I've caught so much as a whiff of since I got back."

"Oh. Then do you mind if I ask...?"

"Why I'm whiffing you?" Yusuke said, stepping in close so his nose was brushing Kurama's neck. "Don't tell me it's been so long you're brain's gone rusty."

"We were rather busy for a while there," Kurama remarked mildly.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed. You going somewhere?" Yusuke asked, breath puffing lightly in Kurama's hair.

"Nowhere that can't wait."

"Then what're we standing around for?"

Yusuke took the next step forward past Kurama. Their shoulders brushed and Kurama turned to follow.

No one was home at Yusuke's. Things hadn't changed much since Kurama's last visit, long ago in all the ways that counted. After a certain number of years, tracking time in hours and decades became meaningless.

"You been avoiding me?" Yusuke asked with palpable nonchalance, locking the door and kicking off his shoes. It was probably the closest he'd get to an admission of nervousness.

"I thought you might need some space. This is a pleasant surprise."

Kurama pinned Yusuke against the door for emphasis. Yusuke's lips parted immediately for him. His fists anchored themselves about Kurama's person as they kissed with all the passion of adolescent hormones.

Breaking off to tease a sensitive spot under Yusuke's jaw was a good idea. Less immobilised now, Yusuke backed Kurama toward the couch. Kurama's fingers were already busy at Yusuke's buttons, arms bent awkwardly in the space between their bodies.

They tumbled onto the couch; Yusuke landed on top. He reclaimed Kurama's mouth, hands wrapping themselves in Kurama's long, bright hair. Kurama responded enthusiastically, arousal pooling low in his belly like a lake of oil set ablaze. He bucked up unabashedly into the friction of Yusuke's thigh.

That got him a gasp as Yusuke's body responded in kind, grinding his own erection into Kurama's hip. Kurama seized the moment of distraction to eliminate the layers of cloth that stood between him and Yusuke's wonderful, addicting skin.

Then Yusuke's tongue was back, teasing maddeningly at his palate. Kurama moaned into his mouth. His hands were mapping out Yusuke's sides and shoulders, reacquainting themselves with the once-familiar terrain.

Their hips were working in rhythm now, which was more below-the-belt action than they had had before and possibly unwise; but after everything that happened at the Dark Tournament, Yusuke wasn't a kid anymore. Kurama was squeezing the ass of someone who had more than enough power to kill him. After so long in the human world, the novelty itself was enough to send a thrill racing down his spine.

Yusuke voiced a muffled curse into Kurama's mouth, but his hands kept after Kurama's uniform jacket. Wonderful ass. He wanted more skin. He wanted Yusuke naked. Naked below him, spread and waiting. Bed, oh yes, Yusuke had one in this very apartment, Kurama thought hazily as he wormed his hand down the back of Yusuke's trousers. Although there was something appropriately teenagerish about defiling the sofa.

Yusuke sat back, panting, his hands finally on the pale skin of Kurama's chest. He was straddling Kurama's hips now. Kurama could hear his breath hitch every time he squeezed. He brought one hand up to Yusuke's head, trailing his nails up Yusuke's spine, and guided Yusuke down to where he could lick one of his nipples.

Kurama was rewarded by a strangled sound and a spasmodic thrust on Yusuke's part, strong hands clutching him. Another lick; their erections rubbed through layers of thick cloth. Kurama pulled him in closer, wrapping his leg around Yusuke's. He took the hard nub in his mouth and bit gently, worrying at it. The muscles of Yusuke's ass moved under his hand and he dug in with his fingernails.

Yusuke yelled and...snapped. His entire body shuddered, then stilled. Kurama blinked, for a moment nonplussed.

Then he started to laugh.

It began as a low chuckle which worked its way up to laughter and thence quickly to a full-out guffaw. He couldn't help himself. He felt a hundred pounds lighter.

"Fuck you!" Yusuke shouted and blasted Kurama all the way across the room and out the locked door. All things considered, he was fortunate not to have been shot through the wall in the corridor and out of the building entirely.

Kurama's sides shook with a few last paroxysms of humour.

Oh, dear. That could have been more tactful.

This time, Yusuke was avoiding him. Kurama made a few attempts to seek him out, but as soon as he got within ten blocks, Yusuke's spirit energy headed rapidly in another direction. His powers of perception were at the least much improved. Kurama could, of course, mask his energy and sneak up on his quarry, but on second thought, it might be wiser to give Yusuke's wounded pride an opportunity to recover somewhat.

As it happened, Koenma sent him a message from spirit world advising him that a minor-league demonic disturber had taken advantage of the post-tournament lull to skip jail. This was followed within the quarter hour by a large disturbance in the warehouse district. That solved the problem of how to inform Yusuke; now on to the business at hand.

The two of them proved more than sufficient to dispatch the demon. Botan took him away, muttering about how some people had no consideration, and didn't he know she had better places to be on a Saturday night?

That left Kurama and Yusuke standing awkwardly in the battle-zone. Yusuke eyed him warily.

"Y'know, a little warning would've been nice."

"And break with tradition? I only just heard about it myself before the commotion started."

"Whatever," Yusuke growled. He kicked the dust, then turned to leave.

"Please, wait!" Kurama lunged and caught Yusuke by the arm.

"What is it? I got places to be," Yusuke said, shrugging off his hand.

Kurama straightened. "I want to apologise. I was somewhat...rude when last we saw each other."

"No, I think you were perfectly clear. Be sure and page me next time the world's ending. In the mean time, why don't you go skinny-dipping in a volcano?" He made as if to turn away again.

"I don't believe I was. If you would give me the opportunity to explain-"

"I'll give you the opportunity to go fuck yourself before I find something unpleasant to stick up there instead." Yusuke rounded on him "I know you're probably used to people with a little more experience, but punching things at least I can do."

"Yusuke. I don't believe you are hearing me. We were having a very nice time for a while, and I'm sorry I made a mess of things. I'd like to make it up to you," Kurama added in a low voice, moving closer.

"Would you just-"

"You really are sort of sweet." Kurama pressed his lips briefly against Yusuke's. "And very beautiful." Another kiss. He pulled back and smiled fondly at Yusuke. "And strangely charming."

Yusuke was softening under the force of Kurama's persuasions. Or, well, maybe not exactly.

"I'll try to get it right this time," Kurama murmured, very close to touching.

Yusuke swallowed. "You weren't doing so bad before."

"Not everything has to be perfect on the first try." Kurama hoped he understood. This world, here and now, was so much more forgiving. It was like waking up from a dark dream.

Yusuke was silent, but didn't drop his eyes. Kurama could smell the adrenaline and arousal: at this range, it was almost overpowering.

The sound of sirens was nearing; the police were on their way. Or at least the fire department.

"It's time we were elsewhere," Kurama suggested.

Yusuke cocked his head. "No kidding. Got someplace in mind?"

"Not really. I could pin you up against a wall somewhere," Kurama suggested huskily. "My house is rather parental at the moment."

"My place's about as unparental as it gets." Yusuke grimaced.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Yusuke's apartment was, as promised, dark and empty. Kurama barely had his shoes off before Yusuke's tongue was invading his mouth.

"Mm. Mmm," Kurama tried to say. "Bed this time, I think," he finally managed.

"Hell. Yes," Yusuke growled and dragged him down the hall. He hauled Kurama over to his bed and threw him onto it, already tearing at Kurama's clothes. Kurama twisted impatiently out of his jacket and shirt, freeing half-trapped arms.

"Here, no, let me-" he insisted, seizing Yusuke by the shoulders, and flipped him backwards wrong-way onto the bed. Kurama immediately went to work stripping Yusuke, trailing kisses across his skin as it was bared. He licked thoughtfully along the crease of Yusuke's thigh as he discarded Yusuke's underwear.

"Motherfucking tease," Yusuke swore, yanking Kurama back up to kissing-level. "Nguuuh," he added at the first scrape of Kurama's trousered leg against his naked cock.

Kurama rocked his hips again, revelling in the sweet, maddening friction. His trousers were becoming increasingly uncomfortable, but his hands were too busy with Yusuke's wonderfully strong body under him. Yusuke's mouth was intoxicating, hypnotising. It swallowed every thought Kurama tried to form. His body demanded to be touched, traced, marked.

"The things I could do to you," Kurama breathed into a pause while Yusuke panted beneath him. He had extraordinarily sensitive nipples. Kurama circled the peaked nub once more with his thumb.

Yusuke made a sound and one of his legs came up to give him leverage to arch into the touch. Kurama's hand slid up the muscular thigh as he claimed another kiss, then back down towards his ass and the sensitive areas thereabouts.

"Do you want me to? Tell me what you want," Kurama said, stroking the skin behind Yusuke's balls with one finger.

"More of whatever that is would be a start," Yusuke groaned through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yes," Kurama breathed fervently, slipping his finger back a little to tease Yusuke's hole.

"Uhng," Yusuke moaned, most decidedly not the knee-jerk objection Kurama had been half-expecting. Better and better.

"It'll last longer if I fuck you this time," he murmured, tugging Yusuke's heavy balls down gently when they tightened. Except Kurama was so hard himself he could barely think. "Maybe."

"God, stop talking, just do it," Yusuke complained.

"My pleasure," Kurama agreed somewhat inanely. He kissed Yusuke again to distract him, then sat up to search out the lotion in Yusuke's bedside table. It was inevitable that a teenage boy have lotion near his bed.

"Ha!" Success. Kurama sat back again and coated the fingers of one hand liberally. He watched with relish the expression on Yusuke's face as he worked his fingers in one by one, going as quickly as he could. He wanted Yusuke to last long enough to enjoy this.

Kurama's slippery fingers fumbled with his trousers. He had a certain amount of help after a point from Yusuke's very insistent hands. Apparently the nakedness was to be emphatically mutual. He could live with that.

The lotion was cold on Kurama's overheated skin, a welcome shock of reality to his overheated senses. He lined up between Yusuke's spread legs and slowly, slowly pushed in.

Yusuke was so tight around him he could scarcely breathe. Kurama held himself very, very still, eyes closed. He sank in another inch. Yusuke made a sound that in a higher register would have been a whine, but came out more like a grunt. He pulled Kurama in and in and in. Kurama was the one making the sounds now, he was sure.

Kurama's hips jerked spasmodically.

"Fuck, yes," Yusuke hissed. "Do it; I can take it, do it, do it."

Kurama buried a moan in Yusuke's neck, teeth sinking in like Yusuke's nails on his back as he thrust. He needed no urging to go harder, faster.

Yusuke wrapped his legs around Kurama's hips, arched into every thrust. Kurama had ears only for the small noises he made, head thrown back, neck conveniently exposed. It was a powerful feeling, Yusuke begging beneath him; but wrapped in Yusuke's limbs and buried in his body, Kurama couldn't help but also feel surrounded in the best of ways. He wanted Yusuke on top of him, taking what he wanted. He wanted Yusuke's mouth on him, his hands, wanted to taste Yusuke come.

Locked in fierce embrace, Kurama drove desperately into that tight channel, close, so close. Yusuke was swearing and making sounds like Kurama had found his prostate. They shivered down Kurama's spine to his groin so he couldn't stand it.

Kurama licked over the nascent hickey on Yusuke's neck, breath ghosting over it as his thrusts accelerated, then suddenly bit down. Yusuke shuddered and yelled and came, clenching his muscles and digging his fingers into Kurama's back, dragging him forcibly over the edge.

Still waiting for his vision to clear, Kurama slumped over to the side as much as he could on Yusuke's narrow bed.

"Mnraugh." Yusuke uttered a small, satisfied-sounding groan and went limp.

Kurama smiled faintly, idly tracing patterns in the come on Yusuke's stomach. A muscle jumped, but he was nowhere near as ticklish as Kurama himself was, although Kurama had trained himself down to the barest twitch of a tell.

"That's-" Yusuke started to say when Kurama brought a finger to his mouth and licked it clean.

Kurama licked his lips.

"-really fucking hot," Yusuke finished.

Kurama grinned wickedly.