Atopos - Hello!!! I'm sorry I hardly updated over holidays, but I hope yours were as great as mine! This story was written because I got Team of Four for Christmas, which we all should know contains the episodes where Kurama turns into Youko against Ura Urashima and also fights Karasu. This one-shot comes from my fangirl mind when watching these shows in Japanese!

Standard disclaimer applies.

Heartbreaking

Kurama had been sleeping the afternoon away. The key word was had. The day had been too long for him and sleep was always the best cure for everything. As he attempted to stretch and roll onto his side, he came into contact with something hard at the foot of his bed. It confused him. Surely he still had more room before his feet touched the end of his large bed.

Opening a blurry eye, Kurama nearly jumped when he saw that it was Hiei who was waiting for him. The fire demon was staring back down at the fox, not even bothering with the spot Kurama had kicked him by accident.

"Hiei?" Of course, Kurama's mind wasn't fully awake just yet. He could only wish about being back asleep and pretending this was just a dream. "What on earth are you doing here?"

The fire demon raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why on earth are you sleeping at this time?"

"Is that it?" Kurama asked tiredly, his eyes blinking as he tried to get all the sleep out of them. "You only came by to ask why I'm sleeping at this time?"

Hiei gave him a look that questioned his sanity…or whether he was awake enough to talk to. He watched as Kurama slowly perked up and leaned against the headboard to talk to his company. Hiei also relaxed, his back slumping against the wall instead of looking as if he was going to be attacked.

"I was thinking," Hiei said first.

Kurama groaned painfully. He knew that calming Hiei's mind was always hard. The fire demon didn't normally say much, but always knew how to carry on complex conversations. The bed was beginning to look even more inviting.

Hiei chose to ignore his friend for the time being. "Your match with Karasu, you remember that one, right?"

"No, Hiei," Kurama sighed, making a grab for his fluffy blanket only to have it yanked out of his reach. It was justification for giving a snarky answer, he knew that, but why did Hiei have to come to him for answers. Not that it happened much, yet it always seemed to come up during the worst of times. "It's not like I randomly forget twisted perverts who find pleasure in hurting me."

"Whatever," Hiei growled. "I was just thinking about the plant you used to finish the battle. You called it a vampire-sucking…thing, right?"

Kurama gave him a blank look. Not only did he not know where the conversation was going, he was beginning to not care. He hated Karasu with every fiber of his being, so why was Hiei bringing it up after so many months. Some of the wounds he had received still hadn't healed. "It's not like I try to remember stuff like that," he answered slowly. "It was just a plant I picked up and put to use. I don't have any more if you're so concerned."

"I'm not," Hiei replied casually. "The name wasn't important anyways. All I could recall from the ending of that match was the fact that the plant attacked his heart. Did you have any plans on attacking there in the first place?"

Once again, Kuramas expression changed from a blank stare to a glare. "Why would I plan my attacks if I thought I was going to die in the end? That small fact was nothing I bothered myself with. As long as Karasu died…that was all I wanted. I didn't even care if I won the match or not, I only wanted to see him dead."

"He liked you, didn't he?" Hiei asked with…worry? Perhaps, but Kurama didn't dwell on it. He was tired and was sure he could have been imagining it.

"He said he did." Kurama was very close to ending the conversation himself. He was sure, though, that Hiei had a point in this somewhere. Why else would the fire demon come to him in the middle of a well-earned nap asking about Karasu? "It wasn't like I was going to return his feelings."

Hiei snorted. "If you did try anything on him, or vice-versa, I would have hit you upside the head to knock some sense into you. That's still not why I came, though."

It was Kurama's turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion. He gave Hiei a look to continue, so the little demon did, turning away from Kurama as he did so.

"I like to think that I understand you better than anyone, Kurama, so correct me if I'm wrong, but," Hiei locked eyes with Kurama to show that he was completely serious, "you attacked with your heart attacking plant to symbolize something, right?"

Kurama cocked his head to the side as if in thought. His mind was still a little hazy from that fight. Not from trying to forget, but from the terror and exhaustion he had felt during it. To him it had only taken a split second to make up his mind about killing Karasu with the last of his energy. He didn't care if it killed him or not.

Hiei plowed on. "If he truly liked you, and you knew that, would it be right in saying that you did it in a way that symbolized breaking his heart? It showed that you were really rejecting him in a way he'd understand."

Now that he thought about it, maybe his subconscious did it that way. Kurama simply shrugged with a quick answer, "Perhaps. Like I've said before, I don't remember too much from that fight." He chuckled lightly, "Even though I didn't take any blasts to the head."

Sighing, Hiei stared at his friend even harder. "Just get some sleep. I get the feeling you did take a few hits to the head without telling us, stupid fox."

- Atopos