One in a hundredthousand

by Alezander James

Kurama can't get into college, so Hiei takes matters into his own hands. Yoai! Don't like, don't read!

Summery: Kurama can't get into college, so Hiei takes matters into his own hands. This is a yoai! don't like, don't read! rated T for languge.

Disclamier: I do not own Yuyu hakusho, it's characters, or the story, If I did, we'd all be in trouble.

Also, I do not own this story. I found it on and it is the work of Utopian Trunks. Sorry.

Pulling my cloak tightly around myself I jumped off my treetop perch onto a telephone pole and dashed along the wire, upsetting a huddle of pigeons. I exerted some of my ki as I went, the heat built up from running for once not enough to keep me warm. Winter had hit the Ningenkai abruptly; one day I was basking in the red-gold autumn sunlight, and the next, I was sitting in a snowdrift pulling icicles out of my bangs, wondering what happened.

I changed course and hopped onto a rooftop, nearly slipping as I landed. I paused for a moment to survey the area. The ground, the street, the houses, cars, trees... everything was coated in a thick blanket of snow. The sky was an opaque mauve color unique to the Ningenkai in this season. Despite the cold, this season fascinated me. It was the stillness that seemed to come with the snow that most amazed me. The incessant din that characterized the Ningenkai was miraculously silenced. Not the tiniest sound escaped the enchantment; I could hear the fall of each snowflake. The quiet was wonderful; the Ningenkai was actually a decent place if you removed the Ningens and all their infuriating noises. Only a very few of them were on the streets at that moment, most were intelligently holed up in their warm houses, undoubtedly drinking that delicious hot spiced cider, curled up with someone equally delectable... I smiled a little at the thought. I definitely did not plan to be one of the fools outside for long. No, my plans for the evening involved a couch, a blanket, a hot beverage and plenty of Kurama. Not necessarily in that order.

Yes, there were certainly benefits to this season, not the least of which was a good excuse to snuggle...I rarely spent much time in the Ningenkai during the winter, and kept to parts of the Makai unaffected by it. I could be convinced to tolerate it here, though...

I shivered and took off for Kurama's again, double speed. Ki and all, my cape was still a solid sheet of ice by the time I reached the branch outside the Youko's window. To my annoyance, the window was locked. Well, it did make sense, seeing as it was freezing. Still... knocking isn't my style. I brooded about it a moment, but gave up and knocked when new icicles started forming in my hair. There was no response. I knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still nothing. I frowned. The glass was frosted over so I couldn't see in. I leaned forward and blew on it, melting the thin glaze of ice.

I scanned the room. A mop of scarlet hair fanned out over the desk, Kurama's arms were sprawled over stacks of paper and piles of brightly coloured books. Alarmed, I felt for his ki--he was only sleeping. I shook my head. I'd warned him about overworking himself, but he didn't seem able to break the habit. His reputation as the 'perfect student' and all...

He wasn't going to wake up, and he'd be angry if I broke the window... not to mention the room wouldn't be so cozy if I did... I grabbed the icicle that was forming behind my ear and slipped it into the latch. It clicked just as the icicle melted and the window eased open with a crunch of frost.

I jumped in and shut it quickly before any of the frigid air could follow. Propping my frozen cloak against the wall, I went over to the kitsune's desk and grabbed the sheet of paper closest to his hand. It was in English. I glared at it, summoning my limited knowledge of that alphabet. "P...R...I... Prrriiinn... Prink..." I muttered, puzzling over the phonetics. "Prinket... Wait, a 'c' can be pronounced two ways, so its... Prrrriiinnss.... Princeton!" I declared triumphantly.

"Where?! They have an interviewer in Tokyo?!"

I looked up from the paper at Kurama, who was looking around frantically, his crimson hair disheveled and green eyes wild. He caught sight of me.

"Oh... Hiei." he said, slumping back in his chair. "You scared me."

"You're nuts, Fox." I told him. I looked at the paper again. "So who is this Princeton?" I asked, saying the word very slowly and carefully.

"Huh? Oh, it's a university in the U.S."

"America?" I asked. Kurama nodded and I handed him the page. "So why do you have information about Princeton? I thought you had decided on another... uh... university. The 'H' one."

"Harvard," Kurama said, his face falling. "I tried."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Tried? What?"

"To get in!" The kitsune replied, arranging the 'Princeton' paper in some semblance of order with a stack of others. "Didn't manage."

"You mean it was hard?" I asked incredulously. "They must have some incredible security to keep out the greatest thief of the Makai. What did they use? Wards? Guard youkai? Traps?"

"No, no, Hiei! Not physically! I mean I wasn't accepted. I told you about the applications."

I remembered all right. The fox had spent practically a month agonizing over every detail of this 'application'; a list of everything Minamino "Perfect Student" Suichi had done since birth, or so it seemed. Each question was asked about fifty different ways apiece--he'd translated a bit of it to me until I threatened to torch the whole affair. As far as I could tell from my understanding of the cockeyed Ningen world-view, these "universities" should be clawing each other's eyes out for the honor of having Suichi come to them.

"You mean they chose someone over you?"

"A lot of someones. Guess there just wasn't any space left." Kurama said with a sigh.

"No space? I repeated. "For Minamino Suichi? Star student of all Japan?"

"Ah..."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I've got the rejection letter right here," he said, offering me a slim envelope. I grabbed it angrily, but couldn't read the paper inside. That word I understood well enough, however.

"Rejection?!" I reiterated.

"Uh... yeah. Hiei...?"

"That's ridiculous!" I seethed. "They can't reject you! How dare they?!"

"Hiei, thousands of people apply there every year. Probably hundreds of thousands. Everyone in the world wants to go there."

"Why?" I asked, still grasping the offensive envelope.

Kurama sighed. "For the name, mainly. It's very valuable. It opens doors for you."

"A low level mage could give you an incantation like that."

"Ah... not those kind of doors, Hiei." I frowned in confusion. "It's a matter of reputation, Hiei. It's like... well... Imagine if you killed Mukuro."

I blinked as I absorbed the idea. A small smile lifted the corner of my mouth. "No one would mess with me then."

"That's basically it. If you study at Harvard, you can have pretty much any job you want in the Ningenkai."

I crossed my arms and frowned harder. "And they denied you this."

Kurama nodded and sighed. "I'm disappointed," he said softly. "But it's like playing the lottery. I had about a one in a hundred-thousand chance."

I scowled. "I'm... I'm not upset, Hiei." I narrowed my eyes at him. There was moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes, and his lower lip was minutely trembling. I growled. Stupid as all the pursuits of the Ningenkai were, they were important to him, and now he was upset.

"You're a lousy liar, Kurama," I said, grabbing his chin and kissing him. His arms slid around my waist and he pulled me in between his knees. I could feel the subtlest tremor in his arms. A tear splattered onto my cheek and slid down my face.

Kurama pulled back and hastily wiped it away. "I'm sorry, Hiei," he said, inclining his head so his hair fell over his face in a crimson screen. "I really didn't want to get upset over it... It's just a let-down..."

I ground my teeth together, feeling marvelously impotent in the face of the grief that now plagued my kitsune. "I know," I muttered. "No matter how small the chance, you always hope... right?"

The redhead nodded, a few more dark spots appearing on his pants before he roughly wiped his eyes. He shook his head, his silken tresses floating out around his head before settling over his shoulders. I reached forward to touch him, then snatched my hand back. That was not what he needed. I scowled in concentration. Aha!

"I'll be back tonight," I said. I darted forward to kiss him on the forehead then dashed out the window before he had a chance to look up.

"C-c-cold..." I breathed through chattering teeth. My ki was exhausted, I'd left my cloak to thaw in Kurama's room, and the snow seemed to be coming down ten times as hard as it had been when I'd left. I reached up with one shivering hand to knock at the fox's window. Luckily, I got his attention quickly this time and he hurried over to open the window.

"Hiei! You're blue!" He grabbed me and pulled me inside, shutting the window against the elements. "Why in Inari's name did you go out in this weather wearing so little?!" he cried, holding me tightly to him and rubbing my arms.

"Cloak was frozen," I muttered, nodding at the black slab that was still dripping by the window.

"Oh, Hiei..." Kurama whispered. "Why do you do this to me?" He pulled the blanket off his bed and started to wrap me in it.

"H-hey!" I protested as my arms were pinioned.

"Quiet," he commanded, then kissed me softly. I acquiesced with a sigh and let him finish bundling me up. I was too cold to resist... and he always does get what he wants when he kisses me like that...

"There!" he declared, holding me back a little to admire his handiwork.

"I feel like a cocooned insect," I said, glaring at him.

"But you're so cute like that!" he replied, pulling me close and showering my face with kisses. I sank into his arms and revelled in his heat. It was very rare for me to ever get this cold, but if I got to warm up like this...

Finally Kurama rose, picking me up and headed for the door of his room. "Oi, wait!" I said. "What about your family?"

"They're out," he replied, turning the knob. "They went for a round of holiday visiting. I pleaded too much work so I got to miss it." He made a face and I hid a smile. Good to see that not every Ningen formality was sacred to him.

"We'll go downstairs and I'll get you something hot to drink."

"That brown stuff that smells good?" I asked eagerly.

"Hot chocolate?" I nodded. "Sure, come on."

"You're carrying me, Fox."

"Oh, yeah."

Ah, there are some moments, even in my life, that are perfect. I never used to dream they existed. Before I met Kurama, a fleeting feeling of pleasure when I won a battle or stole some reputed treasure was all I knew of happiness. I hadn't really noticed the walls I'd built around myself over the years--I guess they were my reaction to the cold world I'd been thrust into. It never occurred to me to want or need another person--except for my twin, Yukina. I thought that loving someone would be a weakness, I thought it would be painful; but Kurama made it so easy... and so impossible to deny... He'd torn down my so-called defenses with little more than a word and a smile. And I've never been so happy to be defeated. If it is a weakness, it's one I can live with.

Happy. I reflected, moving deeper into Kurama's embrace and taking a sip of my 'hot chocolate'. Yes, completely. Warmth and love... a blanket and a lover's arms. Maybe it was all I was ever missing. That's why I nearly froze myself to death, I think, glancing up at Kurama. He looks almost as contented as I feel. But that 'almost' should be corrected soon...

My head snapped towards a sudden whirring sound. I narrowed my eyes at the source: a rectangular, black box with luminous blue numbers on its face, beneath the larger box Kurama had identified as a 'television'. I knew the function of the latter, but had never noticed the former. I looked to the Youko for an explanation.

"It's just the VCR, Hiei."

"What's it do?"

"It records from the television--stores the programs for later."

"That what it's doing now?" I wondered, observing it again. The blue numbers read '6:00'. Ah... a Ningen clock.

"Yeah. It's set to record the six o'clock news for my father."

The news, hm? I knew what that was. "Don't you usually watch that?" I asked, over the rim of my cup.

Kurama looked surprised. "Yes, but... well, not when you're here!"

"Go ahead," I said. "I want to be enlightened about the happenings in the Ningenkai."

The fox looked shocked, then suspicious.

"Why...?" he asked slowly.

"Can't I be interested?" I asked innocently, hiding a smile in my mug. "The Ningenkai is such a fascinating place."

Kurama's eyes narrowed. "Hiei..."

I took another drink and said nothing.

Kurama finally turned from me, and picked up a small, dark grey object covered in multicolored circles and ovals. He pressed one of them and the television flickered to life. The picture of a middle-aged Ningen in a business suit appeared with the letters 'REC' flashing near his head.

Casting another mistrustful glance at me, Kurama pressed another of the ovals and the Ningen's voice became audible. He droned on in a monotone about some garbage or other which seemed to hold the kitsune's attention.

Finishing my drink, I set the mug on the short table in front of us and wrapped my arms around Kurama's waist. He tightened his arm around my shoulders and continued watching. I kept my eyes riveted to his face, waiting.

"...And in international news..."

Finally. That was what I wanted. To my disappointment, the man started talking about some stupid war in a part of the Ningenkai I'd never heard of and who was bombing whom. I frowned. Were they going to get to the good part or not?

"In America..." I perked up. This had to be it. "Harvard University in Massachusetts was leveled!"

"What?!" Kurama cried. I grinned. He wasn't looking at me, though.

The image shifted to one of what looked like a battlefield, with bits of charred stone hurled everywhere, the soil blackened and a huge dust cloud hovering over the entire area. The man's voice continued.

"Just hours ago, the best-known university in the world was completely destroyed. We now go to our correspondent in Massachusetts, Nakayoshi Osamu."

Another Ningen appeared, standing in front of the monumental wreckage.

"I'm standing on what's left of the number one Ivy League school," the second Ningen said. "At around four o'clock this evening, a huge explosion destroyed every last building on the campus, flash-fried the soil and scared the living daylights out of the community. The local government has yet to issue an official statement--though there are rumors of the incident being blamed on terrorists. Witnesses, however, have many different explanations for it. Everyone I've talked to describes the explosion as a storm of black flame, accompanied by a horrendous screeching, which ended in an explosion of darkness. Witness accounts vary very little, but interpretations range from a government conspiracy to an act of God--"

Kurama turned to me, his green eyes wide. "Hiei, you didn't..."

I smirked.

"Hiei..." Kurama said, taking a deep breath. "The Kokuryuu ate Harvard?!"

The smirk grew. Kurama looked like he'd swallowed a live adder. "Oh, Inari..." he choked out. His eyes strayed back to the television, where pictures of the destruction from every angle were flashing across the screen.

It looks even better from the air, I mused, smiling, if possible, even more widely.

"But...Hiei..." Kurama said, turning back to me. "All the people..."

"Oh, I made sure they were out, first. Look there if you don't believe me."

"Miraculously, there was no one on the grounds when the explosion occurred." Kurama sighed in relief as the reporter continued. "The students, faculty, and various others who were there just before the incident report having been 'drawn out' by some mysterious force. One student said that he was 'called'. Whatever the case, no one was harmed, but..."

Trembling, the Youko pushed an oval and the screen went black. He stared at it a moment longer.

"Hiei." he said finally.

"Hm?" I responded, imitating his serious demeanor.

"Hiei. You. Blew. Up. Harvard." I nodded. "WHY?!"

"They rejected you."

"Hiei, they have to reject thousands... hundreds of thousands! It wasn't just me!"

I shrugged. "If you can't have this 'door-opening' power, I don't see why anyone else should."

"Hiei..."

"You're my one in a hundred-thousand, Kurama." I said, leveling a serious look at him. "No one's allowed to reject you. No one."

The kitsune stared at me. Gradually his expression changed.

"You're completely insane, aren't you?"

"I might be."

"What will Koenma do...?"

"He said no killing Ningens. I didn't."

Kurama nodded. "That was good. How the hell didn't you?"

I tapped my Jagan through the headband. "Easy."

"And then the Kokuryuuha... No wonder you were frozen solid when you got back!"

"Don't forget the journey there and back. America's farther away than I thought and it was snowing there, too."

Kurama massaged his temples slowly with one hand. "Don't tell me anymore. I don't think I can take it."

I smirked again. "That ought to make those other stupid colleges think twice about rejecting you."

Kurama groaned and wrapped both arms around me, burying his face in my hair. I waited patiently. Finally I heard his muffled voice. "Promise me you won't do it again."

I was silent.

I could feel his breath hot against my scalp as he spoke again. "Promise me, Hiei. Once is enough."

"All right," I agreed reluctantly. His arms tightened.

"Good." He sighed. I waited again.

At last, he drew back, a strange expression on his face.

"I don't believe I'm responsible for the destruction of the most famous university in the Ningenkai..." he said, a wondering half-smile curving his lips. "Unbelievable..."

I watched him as he rolled the idea around in his mind. "Great Inari..." he breathed, a full smile breaking out over his face. "Gods, Hiei, you're insane. You're insane and I love you."

He drew me up and kissed me. I smiled against his lips. When he broke the kiss his emerald eyes glistened and his moist lips gleamed. "Insane..." he repeated, kissing me again as he toppled me onto my back on the soft cushions. I reflected absently that it was a good thing I'd finished my hot chocolate before he found out.

Kurama's kisses continued with increasing heat which I soaked up like a sponge, reveling in it.

Promise or no, I thought, before coherent thought was swept away. The next college Kurama chooses had better do the smart thing and accept him... or the Kokuryuuha is going to be busy!

FIN