Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters herein, they are all the property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: As said in the summary, this is based on a very well-known novel, but I'm not going to say which one. I've decided to twist this slightly and keep an element of mystery about it.

If you're offended by yaoi and yuri, this isn't for you, because the "romance" element of this fic will touch on both of those areas and it will, like the rest of the fic, be a little bizarre. I'm writing this because I want to try to write about a pairing I often see in fanart, but I've never really understood (I've also never read any of the many fanfics about these two, so hope not be influenced by the typical methods of pairing them). I feel I might be taking some liberties with one half of the pairing in order to make it work, so this may be slightly out of character in places, but hopefully not too much so. I'm also going to completely destroy a certain piece of canon, but I think I can pull it off.

That being said, I hope this is enjoyable – though expect this to be more "League of Gentlemen" style of entertainment – ie most chapters will probably leave you confused and slightly disturbed, and will cement your belief that I need therapy.

Finally, this is just totally out of left field, an idea that just suddenly came to me from nowhere, so apologies to those hoping I would be working on my other fics next…

Chapter 1: The News

"That's the last time I ever let you talk me into that," Koenma growled, rubbing a hand at his hip.

"You said to get you here as quickly as I could!" Botan protested.

"A warning might have been nice before you banished your oar," Koenma flatly replied.

"But I did get us here very quickly, Sir."

Koenma narrowed his eyes at her and she flashed him a brilliant grin. She almost looked maniacal, because not only was her grin an awkward and forced one, but it was set against the panic and concern tugging at her brow and hazing her eyes.

"Let's just go inside," he said, smoothing out his clothing.

He had transformed into his adult form before leaving spirit world, and he wondered if that had been his mistake. It was the first time he had ever let Botan take him for a ride on her oar in that form, and he supposed she was not really accustomed to supporting a fully-grown passenger. In a way, he was almost glad of the distraction falling from her oar had provided them both with, because they were both anxious and apprehensive, and Koenma knew that entering the temple ahead of them and making the announcement he had to was only going to make matters worse. Botan was already twisting the ends of her ponytail around her fingers and chewing at her lip almost frantically, and he had to turn away from her to spare himself the added aggravation of having to see her so distraught.

Inside the temple, in the sparse living room area, Koenma found the others gathered, as he had known they would be, waiting for his arrival. He slowly looked around the faces greeting him as he entered the room, silently wondering if Botan was at fault for inviting too many people or if it was simply a matter of habit that they had all turned up: he had hoped to find just Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and hopefully Hiei awaiting him, but instead he was facing Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Yukina and even Shizuru.

"Well, I'm glad you could all make it," he said tightly.

"Get to the point," Yusuke replied. "What's really going on? And don't try to hide anything this time."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Yusuke," Koenma said tersely.

He turned to Botan, ready to dismiss her. He did intend to reveal everything he knew to Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, but he had not intended on telling anyone else: but, he supposed, if the other girls were all going to be present, it was going to be that much harder to get rid of Botan.

"Maybe you and your friends could go for a walk?" he tried.

Botan's eyes slowly moved over the faces of the others sitting before them, but she made no attempt to move.

"My brother's got exams coming up, if he has to miss them, I want to know why," Shizuru said sternly.

"That's your reason for being here?" Kuwabara asked her.

"Somebody needs to keep you in line," she answered him.

"Are you in trouble?" Keiko asked, grabbing at Yusuke's arm and looking up at him fearfully. "Has something terrible happened? Are you going to leave again?"

Koenma suppressed a sigh and turned to Botan again.

"Go and play with Puu," he said firmly.

"O-okay…" she said, eying him suspiciously.

"And take the girls with you," he added.

She started to pout defiantly, but a stern look stopped her, and she moved over to Keiko, helping her to her feet.

"Are they in trouble?" Keiko asked her. "Are we in trouble? What's happening?"

Botan palmed her off with a few soothing words of no real substance, ushering her towards the door. Shizuru reluctantly followed after them, giving Koenma an almost sympathetic look as she passed him. He wondered if she already knew what he was about to announce, but dismissed the thought as he noticed Yukina still serving tea to Kurama.

"You too, Yukina," he said.

She glanced at him briefly, but otherwise did not respond, continuing to stir the bowl of tea she had placed at Kurama's side.

"Yukina?" he said again.

"I have to finish preparing the tea," she softly replied, keeping her head down as she spoke.

"That can wait," Koenma replied. "This is urgent."

"It will get cold if I leave it now."

Koenma was momentarily stunned into silence: it was unlike Yukina to be so stubborn, and, although she was in no way acting or sounding aggressive, her words were becoming increasingly punctuated, as though she was becoming slightly irritated by his demands.

"It's fine," Kurama said to her.

He put a hand on hers to halt her stirring, and her head jerked up, her eyes meeting his curiously.

"Thank you," he continued. "But you should join Botan and the others outside. I'm sure Puu has more need of your care than I do."

She paused, staring at him until he smiled and withdrew his hand from hers, at which point she slowly stood up and turned towards the door.

"Thank you, Yukina," Koenma said to her as she passed him.

He caught her eye just before she disappeared from his line of sight, and briefly saw her giving him a look that could almost rival one of Hiei's best scowls. He quickly forgot about it again however when he turned back to the remaining three pairs of eyes watching him expectantly.

"What did you lose this time?" Yusuke asked him.

"Excuse me?" Koenma echoed.

"He's at that age where he puts everything in his mouth," Yusuke told the others. "He called me up last week because he accidentally swallowed an important jewel from the spirit world vault. He likes shiny things."

Kuwabara snorted in amusement and even Kurama cocked a smirk at Yusuke's remark.

"I wish it were that simple, Yusuke," Koenma replied.

Ordinarily he would have been angered at Yusuke reminding him of his recent embarrassment, but the news he was about to deliver was a sobering thought, and holding onto it helped him keep his emotions in check.

"Is it a problem in human world or demon world?" Kurama asked.

"Neither," Koenma replied. "The problem is in spirit world. We thought we had it under control, but it's getting worse, and we need help."

"Are you sure you didn't lose something again?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes," Koenma replied, giving him an exasperated look. "The SDF have been unable to stop what's happening, so please understand that this is serious."

"Whoa," Kuwabara muttered.

"A small group of low class demons found their way into spirit world just over three weeks ago," Koenma began. "We didn't think it was a problem because they were weak and few in number."

"Typical spirit world," Yusuke grumbled. "Ignore a problem until it turns into a disaster."

"It should have been a simple routine operation for the SDF to dispose of them," Koenma said sternly, glaring at Yusuke.

"But not so," Kurama said. "Were they concealing their true strength, and you underestimated them?"

"No, they are relatively weak," Koenma replied. "It's not their strength that's the problem, it's their resourcefulness. They've somehow managed to create a direct link between spirit world and demon world, and they've built a fort around it. They're importing weapons from demon world to keep anyone who approaches at bay, and all the while they're expanding the size of the fort."

"So a bunch of weak demons have built a playhouse in spirit world?" Yusuke asked. "I still don't see why it's such a big deal."

"We can't get close enough to stop what they're doing, and in less than three weeks, they've walled off the entire western sector of spirit world. Everyday they build deeper into the heart of spirit world, and, at the rate they're moving, we estimate that they'll have control of the orchard within a week."

"So no fresh apples for you then?" Yusuke asked.

"This isn't funny, Yusuke," Kurama said solemnly.

"Thank you Kurama," Koenma said.

"The orchard is the place where the fruit-bearing trees of spirit world grow," Kurama explained. "There are many different species there, including the Fruit of Previous Life – and you already know how powerful that particular fruit is."

"Okay, so how do we stop them taking over the fruit garden?" Yusuke asked.

"The SDF are doing what they can to slow their expansion within spirit world," Koenma replied. "But they can only do so much against the weapons those demons have. We need to cut off their weapons and ammunition supply, because, without ammunition for their long-range weapons, the SDF could move in close and destroy the walls and the demons behind them."

"So we have to go to demon world and shut it down from the other side?" Kuwabara asked.

"Exactly," Koenma replied.

"How will we find it?" Kuwabara asked.

"The first sensible approach is to find a major weapons dealer in demon world who has been selling a lot of long-range weapons and ammunition lately," Kurama replied. "Hiei would probably know who the main weapons merchants are, we should seek him out immediately."

"Don't you know where he is?" Koenma asked.

"Actually, I haven't seen him for several days," Kurama replied.

"Is that unusual?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes it is, actually," Kurama said.

"Well, not really," Yusuke said.

The others turned to him and he shrugged indifferently.

"I went to Mukuro's place to look for him before we came here," he said. "I figured something was up when Botan came here all sweaty and screaming earlier, so I thought it would be a good idea to find Hiei. At first Mukuro told me she didn't know where he was, but then eventually she admitted to me that he's in hiding."

"Why? What did he do?" Kuwabara asked.

"There's some sort of virus going around demon world right now, and Hiei caught it," Yusuke replied. "He's really sick, but he doesn't want anyone to see him like that, so he's off sulking somewhere until he gets better."

"I had heard of that," Kurama said. "Rather ironically, I believe the virus first appeared about three weeks ago, and it's believed to have come from spirit world. It's probably a result of the link those demons created between the two realms. An unstable, poorly created portal can cause havoc."

"Great, so the one time we actually need him, shorty gets the flu!" Kuwabara moaned.

"Hey, I know Hiei, he'll show up," Yusuke said confidently. "He always does. Right when we need him, he's always right there. Of course, he acts all stuck-up and moody about it, like he hates helping out, but he likes it really."

"This is the first I've heard about this virus," Koenma said. "Kurama, can you check that out for me?"

"Hey, I already told you Hiei's got it!" Yusuke pointed out.

"I need to know more, like how far it has spread, if it really is because of the breach those demons created, and how serious it is," Koenma said.

"You think it could be terminal?" Kurama asked.

"I don't know, but maybe, so we need to find out as much as we can," Koenma replied. "Yusuke, I think you should try to find the weapons dealer, and Kuwabara, I need you to check the known portals between human world and demon world, make sure there's no reports of humans falling ill around those areas. It's unlikely the virus would pass to a human, but better safe than sorry."

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara stood up, nodding their agreement.

"Let's set a time limit and agree a meeting place to discuss our findings," Kurama suggested. "Because I believe time will be critical, and it must be the driving factor in what we do next."

Meanwhile, outside of the temple, Botan was starting to get a sore neck.

"Can you hear anything?" Keiko whispered to her.

"No, it's just muffled mumbling!" Botan replied.

She had her ear pressed to the base of a drinking glass, the rim of which she had pressed against the exterior door of the temple. She had known that it would probably prove to be a fruitless attempt to listen in to the conversation Koenma was having with the others – especially as they were in another room, through a second, internal, wall from where she was standing – but she was frantic with worry.

"Whatever it is, it can't be too catastrophic," Shizuru assured them. "I'm not getting a bad feeling from anything in living world, if it was something really bad in demon world Yusuke or Kurama would know more about it by now and if the problem is in spirit world, Botan I'm pretty sure you would have noticed something was wrong."

"But something is wrong in spirit world!" Botan protested, straightening up and easing out the crick in her neck. "King Enma has deployed the SDF! He only does that in extreme cases! He sent out the entire squad to one location in spirit world!"

"I knew it was too good to be true," Keiko sighed. "It's been six months since Yusuke got involved with anything dangerous, and I thought maybe all those days of fighting crazy monsters were behind him."

"Technically speaking sweetie, Yusuke is a crazy monster himself," Botan pointed out.

"Do you ever say that to his face?" Shizuru asked.

"Oh all the time, but he thinks it's funny," Botan replied.

Shizuru smiled in amusement but Botan was still fidgeting and glancing about nervously, barely aware of what she had said herself, let alone the fact that Shizuru was trying to joke with her.

"I hate that we get left out of everything all the time!" Keiko moaned, leaning back against a pillar behind her.

"Would you want to go to demon world and fight "crazy monsters"?" Shizuru asked her.

"I think we three girls could give some of those demons a run for their money you know," Botan said, clutching her oar as though it was a staff.

"I didn't say we couldn't fight them, I said we wouldn't want to," Shizuru said.

"I don't want to fight," Keiko said. "And I don't want Yusuke to fight either! I thought all those days of risking his life were over."

"Well since there's going to be a demon world tournament every three years, he'll be fighting and risking his life every – ow!"

Botan clapped a hand onto her arm where Shizuru had pinched her, thoughts of the mysterious problems she had left behind spirit world momentarily gone from her mind.

"What was that for?" she hissed.

Shizuru nodded at Keiko, who was clearly on the point of tears.

"Oh," Botan said, her ire fading. "Oh dear…"

"Not all demons are crazy monsters."

Botan, Keiko and Shizuru all turned to Yukina, who was standing a few steps away from them, her hands clasped together in front of her and a sad, concerned look on her face.

"Well, obviously not," Botan quickly corrected herself. "Because you're a demon Yukina, and you're just adorable!"

Yukina frowned slightly, but said nothing.

"Botan, you're our lady in the know, you need to find out what those boys are up to," Shizuru said, clapping a hand onto Botan's shoulder.

"Well I'm trying!" Botan wailed, holding up the glass.

"Don't you have a better way of spying on people?" Shizuru asked, quirking a sceptical eyebrow at the glass. "You're assistant to the spirit detective team, surely you've got some decent bugging devices like other detectives?"

"Well the Psychic Spyglass would allow us to see through these walls, and I could probably lip-read what they're saying to each other," Botan replied.

Shizuru groaned and hung her head in exasperation.

"I don't think I want to know anyway," Keiko said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"You should probably wash your face before you let Yusuke see you again," Botan advised her.

Keiko looked down at her sleeve and yelped in alarm as she noticed a black smudge-mark. She began frantically rubbing at it, but the mark persistently remained.

"I think it's stained…" she said quietly. "And this was my favourite sweater, and now it's ruined…"

Yukina lifted herself up onto her tip-toes, peering at the mark on Keiko's sleeve curiously.

"Unless you know a way to remove stains, Yukina?" Keiko asked her.

Yukina slowly shook her head, her eyes never leaving the stubborn black mark that had completely obscured the pale blue of the fabric beneath it.

Botan yipped and darted off as Koenma exited the temple, and Shizuru started after her, moving at a much more controlled pace. Keiko desperately swiped her sleeve at her face several times before turning to Yukina with a hopeful smile.

"How do I look?" she asked.

Yukina pulled a hankie from her sleeve and passed it to Keiko, smiling gently. Keiko blushed slightly and quietly thanked her. Behind them Koenma was trying to tell Botan to help Kuwabara on a little mission, but she was talking over him, trying to make him tell her why. After several minutes of pointless exchanges, Koenma left in one direction and Botan stomped off in the other, rejoining Keiko and Yukina by the side of the temple.

"He won't tell me what's really going on," she complained. "And I have a right to know!"

She yelled the last part at Kuwabara, who was too busy arguing with Shizuru to notice. Botan sighed, her shoulders slouching in defeat.

"What did he ask you to do?" Keiko asked her.

"I have to go with Kuwabara," Botan grumbled.

"Well maybe Kuwabara will tell you what they're up to?" Keiko suggested.

"He probably doesn't know either…" Botan muttered, scowling over at Kuwabara.

Her expression softened a little as Yusuke and Kurama appeared in her line of sight. Yusuke immediately began amusing himself with teasing Kuwabara – who was trying to wriggle out of the choke-hold his sister had him in – and Kurama turned towards the girls, smiling slightly and starting towards them.

"Maybe you could ask Kurama?" Keiko whispered, nudging Botan with her elbow.

"He's the most secretive of them all," Botan whispered back. "He's the least likely to tell us anything!"

"But he likes you!"

Botan turned her head sharply to look directly at Keiko. She started to question her, but stopped abruptly as Kurama joined them.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi Kurama," Keiko said, nudging Botan again.

Botan glowered at her again before turning to Kurama.

"I'm sorry for your troubles, Botan," he said.

"Lord Koenma never tells me anything," she replied dejectedly. "I never get to do anything exciting like you boys do!"

"You help us in other ways," Kurama assured her. "And we need somebody to make sure Kuwabara gets things right."

Botan tried to smile, but she was still too upset and annoyed about being left in the dark again to make her gesture seem genuine.

"Would you ladies excuse me for a moment?" he added. "I need to talk to Yukina."

Botan and Keiko both looked back over their shoulders at Yukina, who looked as surprised as they felt by Kurama's words.

"I suppose I should help Kuwabara," Botan said with a sigh.

"Somebody has to…" Keiko added.

Together they moved off, leaving Yukina alone with Kurama. She clutched her hands tighter and tensed as he stepped closer to her, silently wondering why he had asked for her exclusively.

"Yukina," he began, leaning towards her.

She looked up at him, silently noting that he was standing so close to her that she could see could see the tiny flecks of gold in his green eyes.

"I know that Hiei regularly visits you here," he continued. "What I want to know is when the last time you saw him was?"

Yukina paused, monetarily at a loss for words.

"Has it been a long time?" Kurama asked.

She shook her head, her mouth moving wordlessly.

"Well that's good news," he said. "I had heard that he has been in hiding lately."

"I meant to say yes," she said quietly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you to ask that question."

He nodded.

"Why would Mister Hiei be hiding?" she asked. "He's so brave, I didn't think he hid from anything."

"It's nothing to worry about," he replied, straightening up and turning his head away from her. "I'll find him."

"Is something terrible happening?" she asked, looking up at the side of his face expectantly.

"It's nothing to worry about," he repeated. "Kuwabara would never let any harm come to you."

Yukina glanced over at Kuwabara, who was pulling faces behind his sister's back. She turned back to Kurama, but found him still looking at something in another direction, and when she followed his eyes she was not entirely surprised to see that he was looking at Botan, who was standing alone, searching through her sleeves for something she had apparently misplaced.

"She's very pretty," Yukina said.

She turned to Kurama to gauge his reaction to her comment, but he had already walked off and was apparently too far away to have heard her. She looked around the others: Botan, searching for something and frantic about whatever the current problem was; Shizuru, trying to wheedle information out of Yusuke; Yusuke, trying not to laugh at Kuwabara; Keiko, trying to check her reflection in a window as she wiped the remainder of her smeared mascara from her eyes. It was a little chaotic, and so Yukina turned away from them all and crossed the lawn to the barn Puu lived in.

Puu was as happy to see Yukina as always, calling out to her and nodding his head as she approached. She gathered up a handful of corn from his food bowl and held it out in front of him, smiling at the light, tickly feeling of his beak against her palm. She moved her free hand to his mane, combing it back with her fingers, her eyes watching as the black hair spilled over her skin. It was almost mesmerising.

Yusuke yawned openly, stretching his arms above his head. As he finished, he noticed both Kuwabara and Koenma watching him, their faces flat.

"What?" he snapped. "I'm tired! I've been running around window-shopping in demon world all day!"

"You have sweat-stains under your armpits," Koenma frankly replied.

"I said I was tired and that I've been running around demon world all day!" Yusuke retorted.

"And you stink," Kuwabara added.

"Because I've been running around demon world all day!" Yusuke yelled.

"But you found the supplier?" Koenma asked.

Yusuke's anger vanished.

"Not exactly…" he muttered.

"Well I did my part," Kuwabara told Koenma. "Nobody is sick in any of the towns I visited with Botan. That virus doesn't seem to affect humans."

"But obviously it's affected Hiei pretty badly if even Kurama can't find him," Yusuke said.

"Where is Kurama?" Koenma asked.

"I dunno," Yusuke replied with a shrug. "I guess he's late."

"Not too late, I hope."

Kuwabara yelped in shock as Kurama appeared from the shadows and sat down on the ground, completing the circle the others were sat in.

"I apologise," he said, looking around the others. "It took longer than I expected to find Hiei and to understand the extent of his illness."

"So it's pretty bad, huh?" Kuwabara asked.

"I didn't actually find him myself," Kurama replied. "I looked for a long time, and during that time I found out some have died from the illness already, and it all seems to be originating from one specific region, which must be where the breach is. As a last resort, I visited Mukuro in the hope that she might have more information for me, and she took me to see Hiei. He is in a healing chamber in her basement, and he's quite weakened. He won't be fit to help us any time soon, and there doesn't seem to be any cure for the disease other than rest, rehydration and a strong constitution."

"What if one of us catches it?" Yusuke asked.

"Well, technically speaking, you're the only one at risk, Yusuke," Koenma replied.

"That's not even funny!" Yusuke shot back.

"He's right though," Kurama said. "It seems to only affect demons, and, in the body of Shuichi Minamino, I have immunity."

"I'm in a human body too," Yusuke argued.

"Not any more you're not," Koenma scoffed. "Or did you forget already? You're human body died when Sensui killed it. You were reawakened as a full demon. Unlike Kurama, you are now a full demon, and you are at risk of catching this virus."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Yusuke demanded.

"Prevention is always the best medicine," Kurama said calmly. "You will have to be extra vigilant from now on. I will prepare an antiseptic lotion using the strongest herbs from demon world, and you will need to be sure to apply it regularly, and don't eat anything or put your hands in your mouth without washing them and using the lotion first."

"…This is like being back in kindergarten…" Yusuke grumbled.

"Well, like it or not, we have to soldier on," Koenma said. "The fort is still expanding, time is not on our side, and we need to stop it soon, or it could escalate into an even bigger disaster."

"We probably could have done more if Urameshi had found the weapons shop like he was supposed to," Kuwabara muttered.

"Oh yeah?" Yusuke snapped. "Well maybe if Hiei had remembered to wash his hands after he used the toilet, we could have done a lot more today!"

"There's definitely no chance of Hiei recovering by, I don't know, tomorrow morning?" Koenma asked Kurama.

Kurama shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, no," he replied.

"Well, it's not like he actually does anything helpful when he's here," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke arched his eyebrows and Kuwabara faltered.

"Okay, maybe it would have been helpful to have his big scary dragon and maybe he could have told us where the breach is," he conceded.

"Let's go inside," Koenma suggested, rising to his feet. "It's getting cold out here, and I don't trust Botan not to return here and eavesdrop."

"You eventually got rid of her then?" Yusuke asked as he stood up.

"I sent her back to work," Koenma replied. "I thought if I pretended it was business as usual in spirit world she might calm down and stop interrogating me."

"Yeah, Keiko was a real pain in the ass too. I sent her home though."

"Shizuru wouldn't leave me alone," Kuwabara said. "She was bullying me and nagging me to tell her what was really going on!"

"Well, at least they're safe in their ignorance," Kurama said.

They started to leave to return to the temple, but Kuwabara paused.

"Hey, Urameshi, what's up with Puu?" he asked, pointing to the spirit beast, who was inexplicably laid in an awkward position on the ground a short distance from where they had been sitting.

"I dunno, he's acting all clingy," Yusuke replied. "I guess he's just pissed off because Yukina went to stay with your sister."

"Yukina is staying at my place?" Kuwabara echoed. "I thought she went to stay with Keiko!"

Yusuke shrugged.

"Well, whatever, the point is, she's not here, and now this guy's sulking."

They walked on, but Kuwabara could not stop stealing glances over his shoulder at Puu as he went. He wondered how it was possible for a spirit beast to sulk.

The next morning Yusuke cooked breakfast for Kurama, Kuwabara and Koenma, after they had all spent the night at the temple. They had agreed to sleep there and rise early so that they could return to demon world as soon as possible and set out to find the breach. Kurama was sitting on the floor in a corner of the room preparing some antiseptic herbs, Kuwabara was designing a bandana for himself and Yusuke was busy at the stove, and so Koenma – who was sitting at the table hovering over his plate in anticipation – was the first to sight Hiei entering the dining room.

Koenma gasped and dropped his chopsticks in surprise, struggling to catch his breath again before finally finding his voice.

"Hiei!" he blurted out.

Kuwabara's head snapped up, his marker pen poised over cloth, and Kurama's head whipped around, his hair slapping the wall at his side.

"We thought you were sick!" Koenma added.

Hiei gave him the sort of look Koenma had last seen him wear when he had told the fire demon that he was only a B class demon.

"Hiei, what are you doing here?" Kurama asked.

Hiei glanced at him but said nothing.

"You look really pale," Kuwabara said before lifting the collar of his T-shirt up over his nose. "Are you sure humans can't catch it?" he muttered to Koenma.

"You do look very pale, Hiei," Kurama agreed, wiping his hands off on his clothes. "Are you quite sure that you should be up and about already?"

Hiei silently crossed the room and sat down at the dining table opposite Koenma.

"Hiei!" Yusuke shouted out cheerfully as he entered the room with a tray of steaming food. "I told them you would turn up just when we needed you! Do you want breakfast?"

Hiei sneered at him, but Yusuke's grin did not falter.

"I'll make you something, three eyes," he insisted. "You look like you've lost weight, and I don't want you embarrassing yourself when you collapse of hunger."

Hiei's sneer twisted into a menacing scowl, but Yusuke remained immune, serving up the food he had to Koenma and Kuwabara.

"Hiei, I appreciate you making this effort," Kurama said, sitting down at Hiei's side. "But I think it's unwise of you to push yourself like this."

Hiei's face neutralised, but still he said nothing.

"No nasty comebacks today, Hiei?" Yusuke asked him.

"Probably not," Kurama answered. "The virus affects the throat, there's a good chance he's lost his voice."

Kuwabara started to laugh, but stopped abruptly when Hiei finally did find his voice.

"Silence, idiot!" he snapped. "There's nothing wrong with my voice, and there's nothing wrong with my hearing, either."

"You sound a bit scratchy," Koenma pointed out.

"He's seriously ill, what do you expect?" Kurama responded.

"I'm fine," Hiei insisted. "I want to find the bastards who gave me this pathetic disease and make them suffer."

"There's the charm," Yusuke said as he crossed back over to the kitchen.

Kurama slowly ran his eyes over Hiei, silently noting that he looked even worse than he had the night before, inside the healing chamber. Apparently the liquid he had been submerged in had done a good job of distorting the truth, because Hiei looked much paler and frailer than usual. He was sweating – which Kurama had rarely seen him do – and he seemed tenser about the shoulders than he usually would be. His hands were resting on the table in front of him, and both were bound in bandages, which was not very unusual for Hiei, but the fact that he had chosen to completely enclose his fingers – all the way to the very tips – in bandages was quite bizarre. Kurama suspected that Hiei was trying to hide something – like the fact that he had lost weight during his illness, and probably some muscle bulk due to lack of exercise – but he decided to wait until they were alone before questioning Hiei on the matter.

"Kurama," Yusuke said, placing down a bowl in front of him. "And Hiei."

Hiei lowered his head, letting out a small growl at what he saw in his bowl.

"I made a little smiley face for your little smiley face, buddy!" Yusuke said, slapping him on the shoulder.

Hiei picked up a set of chopsticks from the table and stabbed them into the arrangement of fried pork and spinach Yusuke had arranged into a cartoon smiley face atop his rice.

"Remember to eat that all up, you're a growing boy," Yusuke reminded him.

"And I'll remember to repay you for your insolence later," Hiei growled back.

"Well I guess he's made a complete recovery then…" Kuwabara muttered.

"That's a good sign," Koenma said. "It means the virus isn't always fatal."

Hiei fixed him with a glare that made him choke on thin air and then quickly distract himself with his breakfast. Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma seemed contented enough that Hiei had made a miraculous recovery, but Kurama was not so sure. Something was distinctly amiss about Hiei, but he could not quite figure out what.

Next Chapter: Koenma returns to spirit world and the boys head off to demon world to find the breach, but the journey there is not a simple one, and, as his concern for Hiei grows, Kurama inadvertently confesses something to Yusuke, and things start to get awkward. Chapter 2 – Too Near