The idea for this story just hit me one day, and refused to get the hell out of my head. So here it is. This is just the prologue, so don't worry. Things will definitely be heating up. Soon. Points if you can tell me (without looking it up!) what the title means!

Title: Stockholm Syndrome

Pairing: Hiei/Kurama

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Or any of it's characters.

Read and enjoy!

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Prologue

Things had been going well lately. But things always tended to go well for billionaires. Kurama had everything: money, lovers, power, looks, connections. But even a perfect world got boring. In fact, probably more so than a normal world. As a result, Kurama had been allowing Youko more and more time in control. All he asked of life was a challenge.

"Sir, I have the information you requested on the thief Hiei." The silence was interrupted by a young—in appearance only—woman in a pink kimono.

Youko's favorite pastime had always been thievery. Kurama certainly didn't need the money, so Youko only took small things. Pretty objects that caught his eye. Souvenirs. Naturally, when hearing about the other master burglar in the business, Youko was curious. Such a thief must be excellent to survive in the modern world with his identity revealed. He wanted to test the man.

"Thank you Boton. Bring it here, will you?"

And so Kurama had his secretary pull up all the information she could find on Hiei. There wasn't much, Kurama thought as he skimmed through the report. No one had ever actually come into contact with the thief. Or, if they had, they weren't telling.

There was some useful information to be gleaned from the file however. Hiei had been suspected of robbing some of the richest people in the world, somehow getting in and out of heavily guarded mansions with ease. And all within the last decade.

So guards would be useless. And the police were out of the question, they would have far too many inquiries. Kurama could just see it now,

"So, Mr. Kurama, let me get this straight. You want me to send a squad over to your mansion tonight, because you've been able to predict the next target of the infamous thief Hiei. May I ask how?"

No, definitely not. Besides, they'd been tracking the criminal unsuccessfully for years now. Kurama chuckled; the man had even managed to acquire a private force dedicated solely to brining him in. Rumor had it there was a demonic member on the squad, but who trusted rumors?

Kurama—and, of course, Youko—were looking forward to catching this particular thief on their own.

His secretary interrupted his train of thought to add, "Sir, there was also some classified information that I did not include in the file."

He looked at her questioningly, "And why is that?"

She coughed, face turning slightly pink with embarrassment. "Well, it wasn't exactly open to the public if you catch my drift sir."

Kurama laughed quietly at that. So she hadn't acquired all her information legally. He had no problems with that. After all, her ability to hack into almost anything was one of the reasons he hired her. The girl was a genius with computers.

"What did you find?" He wondered aloud, focusing his gaze on her.

She fidgeted, then blurted out, "Hiei is a demon. A fire demon, to be exact. Twin brother to the ice apparition Yukina. It's probably why they can't catch him, and why their DNA scans come up blank. Because, in their minds, he shouldn't exist."

He cocked his head in surprise. Well that was new. A demon, and Yukina's brother to boot. That would prove useful at some point. "Continue please." He always phrased things politely. It was unquestionably one of the more intimidating things about him. He would smile and call you 'sir' as he slit your throat.

"The American intelligence agency, the CIA, have also noted a trend in his hits. I found a bit extra on him in their database, and it appears that he simply cannot refuse a challenge. That might be his only weakness. Now and then there have been random burglaries, but most of the big ones have been provoked."

"I see." Kurama took the new information in, methodically analyzing and storing it away in his brain. "You may leave now, Boton."

"Yes sir." She got up and walked to the door, but paused before passing through. "Oh, and sir, there have been several sightings of a large silver fox lately. That has yet to be officially confirmed. Good night."

She was warning him to be careful. Her knowledge of his other half was another reason he'd chosen her for his staff. She had known his identity and taken it in stride. She'd told him she'd "seen worse" after a century of working as a grim reaper for Sprit World.

He'd been a bit miffed at that, but she did not retract the statement. He smelled the nervousness on her that she didn't let show in her eyes. And so she'd been hired.

He told her many things, but this was a secret he would keep to himself, he thought as he carefully burned the file. There was no way to really explain his insane desire to catch the uncatchable, other than just saying it was in his nature. It was just how he was. And he would catch the thief, make no mistake about it.

That wasn't saying it would be easy—far from it. In fact, Kurama was rather hoping it would be difficult. So little was these days.

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So, there's the prologue. Let me know if it's worth continuing...with a review! Ideas welcome!

Hope you enjoyed it!