Back to Yusuke's POV . Last Chapter!!! I'll be the first to admit that I fudged the phoenix thing a bit to fit the story.

Disclaimer: The fact that I put 'disclaimer' here should be enough of a disclaimer. I don't own but my imagination.

Part 2 Chapter eight: Don't move me so

Mostly when Hiei spoke in his sleep, it was nonsense. But the babble that night wasn't so much a babble as a plea for understanding. I was so disturbed by his words that I couldn't sleep the whole night.

It started innocuous enough. "Please…" was the only word he uttered for a few minutes. "Where to find me?" was the next phrase to come about. "Lost in the sea. Can't find… drowning." I started trembling as the vastness of his loneliness hit me. With but a few words, he managed to move me to tears. There was real turmoil in his body and soul.

After a moment, he began crying without tears. "So scared… all alone in darkness. Please, somebody find me!"

I looked down into his face. I read real terror there. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. I saw plenty with his eyes closed. His face was screwed up in pain and he was shaking. I tried to soothe him by rubbing his increasingly tense muscles but he wouldn't stop trembling.

Finally, I hugged him tighter and his sleeping form relaxed but I was so shocked by the multitude of his loneliness that sleep would not come.

I found myself staring out the window at the gentle breaking of dawn.

"My back hurts," Hiei mumbled, coming groggily out of sleep. "Must've slept funny. Yusuke, you awake?"

"Yeah, Hiei, I'm here," I said.

"You sound odd."

"Oh?"

"You sound as if you've just been delivered a severe blow to the stomach. Is something wrong?"

"You tell me."

"What?"

I held him tighter. "I had no idea how lonely you were."

"How could I be lonely if you won't leave me alone?"

"You were talking in your sleep, Hiei. Something about being alone in darkness and hoping that someone would find you."

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you."

"That's not the point, Hiei. The point is that you need to be up-front with me about your feelings."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Absolutely."

"As you said, I am lonely. Not as much as I used to be but the loneliness has always been there."

"Can I take it from you? Can I take your loneliness?"

"You already have, Phoenix. You've taken so much of my loneliness that it is almost bearable again." Hiei lifted my right arm and showed me the now-permanent tattoo. "You were right, it's a phoenix. Very fitting."

"How so?"

"In mythology, the Phoenix dies only to be reborn. The way you have done twice if memory serves. The Phoenix achieves immortality simply by being borne of the ashes to which it descends. How fitting that you should be paired with a fire demon; the very element which allows you to be reborn."

"Do you realize how significant that means you are?"

Hiei stared at me for a long time. I realized at that moment that I was holding him awfully tightly and he had yet to complain. I started to release him but he only moved closer and tightened his own grip. "I'm significant?" he muttered, breathless.

"You didn't even realize what you were saying. You were saying what I already knew was true. You are my life-blood. Without you there is nothing. Life is meaningless."

"That's an awfully large burden to place upon one person's shoulders."

"I'm not saying that I couldn't go on without you, I'm just saying it would be a lot less meaningful and I wouldn't have a sense of direction. You see, Hiei, this love for you is stronger than you seem to believe. All that which has become unknown, I see in your eyes. Oblivion doesn't seem nearly as threatening if it means that I will face it with you."

"I don't understand…"

"We're together for life, remember? It doesn't matter that I've been dead twice, I came back both times. The fact that the next time will be the last is a lot less scary when I think that you will either be there to get me through it or waiting for me on the other side."

"I suppose I never realized how desperate your love for me was." He looked up into my eyes for the first time that morning. "You're right though; Oblivion seems like nothing if I'm with you."

Do I dare even hope? Could this possibly be the 'I love you' I've been waiting for?

"Yusuke, when I think about… When I remember all that we've been through together… Words are insufficient." He moved up to eye level. "I can only express what I mean by doing this." He kissed me softly and gently. I let him take it in whatever direction he wanted it to go. Which I suppose was nowhere because he released my lips after only a moment.

"Th-th-thankss," I stammered. A little peck and I'm speechless! I wonder what would happen if he kissed me in earnest.

He looked at me strangely. "You thanked me for kissing you?"

"Eh-heh! Um… well… I'm an idiot. My brain turned to goo when you did that so I said the only thing that would come out. Anyway… I gotta get to work."

"You don't have a job. You are a Makai Lord, you live off your country's riches. Don't try to skip out on me with that bull crap."

"Actually, I'm really tired so I would love nothing more than to rest a while."

"You just woke up."

"Not really… I was up all night."

"Oh… I'll just go make breakfast for one then. You sleep." He kissed me in that innocent way again and I melted into the sheets. Then he was gone.

It was surprisingly easy to fall asleep after that.

When I woke up it was around noon and Hiei was lying in bed beside me. "Ah… Hiei?" I said.

"Yes?" he replied.

"What are you doing?"

"You wouldn't cease your shivering so I came to offer warmth."

"How long have you been there?"

"About an hour. To be honest, I'm not in the mood to do anything today. I'd rather just lie here beside you and while away the hours doing nothing. Did that sound horrifyingly romantic to you or was it just me?"

"It sounded wonderful to me."

"Good." He rested his head on my chest, apparently his favorite position, and I wrapped him in a firm but gentle embrace.

"This is what safety feels like," said Hiei. "I like it."

"I think it's more security than safety. You know, just being in the arms of someone who loves you can make a world of difference in how you feel about the world in general."

"Is that how I make you feel?"

"No, Hiei. You make me feel better than that. You make me feel like nothing is out of reach. I'm freaking you out now, right?"

"It stokes the ego to hear how much you love me."

The familiar tingle in my heart was there when he said the word 'love.' It always was. "Well, there's this weird thing in my heart that felt incomplete without you. Now that you're with me, I feel like I can do anything. You make me feel alive and happy but sad at the same time."

"Why sad?"

"Well, because you don't love me."

"You are making an awfully dangerous assumption right there."

"What? Does that mean you do love me?"

"I never said I didn't."

"You never said you did."

"I do."

"Then say it."

"I love you, Yusuke. More than can ever be expressed. Why do you think I kissed you? I wouldn't do that if I didn't love you. Be sensible."

"People kiss people they don't love all the time."

"Oh, you mean when you kissed Keiko?"

"No, I loved Keiko…. Actually, come to think of it… I've never kissed someone I didn't love. Except maybe Kuwabara but that was just me invading his dreams."

"What?"

"It's a long story. I never really kissed him. I just made him dream that he kissed me."

"Why?"

"Long story."

"Tell it to me."

So I told him the story of how I died the first time and came back to life. It was amazing how much he didn't know about me until then. At least, how much he didn't know about me as a middle school kid. For example, he had no idea that I used to beat Kuwabara senseless because I felt like it. Just random stuff like that. Also, the missing father thing was a complete mystery to him. Having never met his own father, he could relate on an intimate level on that one.

We spent the day talking until I got hungry then ate a quiet dinner together. It struck me how normal this whole thing seemed. It was as if Hiei belonged there. As if he had been there all along and I failed to notice. I guess he had been.

End

Review please!