DO NOT FEEL OBLIGED TO READ---it sucks ^___^
Title: Laughter
Series:  YuYu Hakusho
Pairing: Kurama/Hiei
Genre: General/Romance
Word Count: 407
Rating: G
Description: Drabble written to the theme of ‘tree.’
Disclamer:  I own nothing.

In this seemingly endless captivity, there’s often very little to do but to lie back, stare up into space, and watch the plump white clouds meander across the pure blue sky.

Not much in the way of distractions…  Not much to keep me from thinking of you…

It’s pleasant, really.  To recline in a powerful tree and watch the sunlight dodge around the dewy leaves, and to listen to the whisper of the wind as it asks the more slender branches for a dance.  To glance down at the gleaming grass far below and to feel that jolt within as the shade is noted to be identical to the colour of his eyes…

No.

And then the sun begins to set –

Has it really been so long?

--And the world turns a soft pink, the light dimming as the crimson sun sulks beneath the horizon.  Idleness demands the right to point out that the shade of the sun matches his hair…

NO!  How is it that even as I lie here, as far away from you as I can be in this prison, thoughts of you still creep upon me despite all of my efforts to block them out?  I am truly this weak?

…or are you truly this strong?

He’s laughing now.  He’s too far away to hear, but he must be laughing, with that mocking lilt in his perfect voice.

I wonder, sometimes, if you can read my mind.  That’s such a ridiculous thought – *I* am the Jaganshi, not you – and yet… I can feel your ki flicker over me, and suddenly its texture changes, and I can feel your amusement.  You’re laughing at ME.

I can’t think of you.  Somehow, you’ll know, and then you’ll laugh and laugh…

Just as you are now.

He’s directly below now, and he’s calling out.  His words are so littered with mirth that it’s hard to discern all of them, but the meaning is clear enough.

You love this.  You love playing this game, predicting my actions, controlling my thoughts, and, most of all, you love knowing that I’ll always, always, come back, no matter what my feelings are when I run away.

I wish that I could prove you wrong, surprise you.

But you’re always right.

The tree gives a powerful shudder, and suddenly he’s so close, so warm, his arms engulfing, his lips caressing, his eyes glowing with eternal light.

And he’s still laughing.

END