Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I have yet to be given rights to Yu Yu Hakusho. It is unlikely that I ever will, considering the severity of my slash vision :p

So I haven't written anything in forever. Lately I've been feeling really nostalgic, so when we lost power for a good week thanks to Irene, this is what consumed my time (other than trips to family member's houses for hygienic purposes and Pokemon). Recently, I've been exploring the options of a relationship between characters other than HieixKurama and JinxTouya. I hope you enjoy this and I hope I've remained true to their characters.

This will probably be anywhere between 10-20 chapters of at least 2500 words each. At least, that's the plan :P And regardless of the title, there is no dance party. Sorry gaiz :(


Dancing by Firelight
chapter one

Koenma might have the appearance of a child, but he was certainly not naïve enough to know when something was amiss. He knew, when he received the missing in action report on one of his star employees, that something had gone wrong. He wasn't sure to what degree or why it had, but something was definitely off. It had been quite a while since there were any problems stemming from the Makai, but he had a feeling that it had just been the calm before the storm. His hired muscle, as it were, had their last mission over two years ago – it was only a matter of time before he would need them again.

But who could he send? Jin and Touya were busy rebuilding the shinobi ways and name, training disciples to uphold their traditions while still being able to exist in a modern and changing Makai. He was sure he could pull at least one of them from their duties, but he would only do so if it were absolutely necessary. Chuu and Rinku, while remaining loyal and devoted, were not entirely "mission material" when it came to something of the magnitude Koenma was expecting this to be. Suzuki and Shishiwakamaru were also dedicated, but Koenma found himself reluctant to call upon them because he knew they would always value themselves over any mission he gave them. He needed someone with a clear head but a passion for justice.

As for his prize four, well, they were mostly moving on with their lives as they very well should be. Kuwabara, of all people, managed to get accepted into a major college and maintain, with a great deal of fervor and hard work, some of the best grades in his school. There was absolutely no way Koenma could ask him to drop all of that to help him, not when the young adult was finally getting his life on track.

Kurama was always able to maintain a good balance between his human responsibilities and the life he held outside of being Minamino Shuichi. With his superior intellect, astounding ability to react accordingly, and his intense combat skills, Kurama was always the right man for the job – at least, under any other circumstances. Presently, his human mother has fallen gravely ill to some form of human disease. Kurama was spending every waking moment researching plants and herbs to find a way to cure her while also spending all the visiting hours he can to be with her as she deteriorates. Koenma knew exactly how much Kurama's human mother means to him and he was close enough with the kitsune to know how much pain this request would cause him. He could never ask him to leave his mother's side during something like this.

Koenma was also not foolish enough to ignore the fact that both Kuwabara and Kurama would feel torn between their current situations and dropping what they were doing, no matter how important, if it meant saving one or more of the worlds from a possible threat. No, he would not even tell them about it unless he absolutely had to. He could not allow them, as their friend rather than their boss, to put their lives on hold and miss out on their once in a lifetime chances or last human moments when he wasn't one hundred percent certain the circumstances should warrant it.

There were very few options left, but they were plenty available in comparison to the rest. Urameshi Yusuke, for instance, was a humble but happy owner of a ramen stand and an incomparable spirit detective. He had an already well established business and large, loyal clientele who would always return to him should he need to temporarily close shop. The man himself had stated on many occasions that he was always available to help.

Hiei, on the other hand, was bored out of his mind. Koenma knew that the portal site he was in charge of had seen little action over the past year, and there was nothing worse than the combination of boredom, bloodlust, and fire demon. Hiei had changed very little and was sure to finally be able to welcome a challenge, regardless of source, because of his instincts as a demon. Koenma could hardly blame him – standing guard at a gate with nothing to guard against was the equivalent of Koenma having to deal with a mountainous pile of mundane paperwork – a situation that was becoming all too frequent. Hiei would probably consider this mission as more of a "vacation" than anything else. He was sure Yusuke, with his personality, was likely to be antsy as well.

So Koenma had his initial investigation team. He summoned Botan and got started on the dull but necessary paperwork to begin such an investigation. He was confident they would not refuse.

Botan had always been prone to appearing quite suddenly out of thin air. Yusuke had grown so comfortable with it that he was entirely unfazed when she appeared this time. In the two years past, she had not changed in the slightest. She was a spirit, after all. She wore her usual smile and still had her bright blue hair, wide pink eyes, and unchanging ferry girl uniform. She floated down from the night sky to land in front of his ramen stand. Luckily, she had enough common courtesy to appear after his regular customers – largely business men who were lonely and overworked – had gone and he was closing up for the evening.

Tonight he had an irregular customer as well. The man had just lost his wife of many years to an illness, and it had left Yusuke in a bad mood, as such things were prone to doing to him. Yusuke always found himself in life or death situations but they were always somehow within his control. He would never want to feel so helpless about something – never wanted to be put into that situation. Just thinking about it left a bad taste in his mouth, but the last thing he was going to do was take his emotions out on Botan. He put on a grin for her as she sat down at his booth and set out a bowl of extra ramen for her – there was more than enough to share with her and bring home the rest. "Hey Botan!" he said happily as he wiped down his side of the counter with a rag. "Been a while since I last saw you. How've you been?"

She smiled and broke apart her chopsticks. "I've been good! I've been a little busier than usual, but I've been well other than that." Yusuke frowned slightly at that. When Botan was busy, it usually meant a lot of human deaths were occurring. Perhaps there was some accident he hadn't heard of yet. He wouldn't ask her about it – they both would rather not talk about something like that. She glanced up at him from her bowl. "And you seem to be doing well. You had quite a lot of business tonight. I thought I'd have leave and find Hiei before I'd get the chance to talk to you – but then they started leaving."

He ignored that she mentioned the fire demon – he knew that explanation would come soon enough. Botan rarely showed up for a simple friendly visit, after all. "Yeah, I've got some of the late-working business types that stop here almost every night. You know the kind. They never seem to want to go home," he said with a laugh. "How's the kid doing?"

The ferry girl knew he was referring to Lord Koenma. She finished chewing before answering, "He's healthy, but incredibly busy. With the restructuring of Makai and its modernization, he's had a lot of paperwork to deal with. Proposals, law approvals – you know, the stuff he usually tries to avoid."

Yusuke smiled to himself as he washed the ramen bowls in his small sink. "So…" he said, "me and Hiei this time? Anyone else?"

"No," she said before taking another bite of ramen, "this is really good, by the way," she added before continuing. "You two are… the least busy of everyone."

Yusuke laughed at that. He knew very well how Koenma had chosen them. They were the ones just floating around, not really working hard toward any goals. And honestly, he would probably have chosen for the same reasons. He knew very well how hard Kuwabara was working and he knew how important this was to him. He would have been unable to ask him to break away from it as well. He also knew exactly what condition Kurama's human mother was in and he would never, under any circumstances, ask him to leave her side.

"If the situation should need it, we will send you backup," she continued. "Though if I were you, I wouldn't expect Kuwabara or Kurama on this mission."

"I don't," he said, wondering who was even available to help them out. "Hiei and I are tough. Don't worry about us – we won't need any backup."

She grinned as she swallowed the last of her ramen. "I wouldn't expect any less of you."

He smiled as he finished put the dishes on the drying rack. "So when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning, if possible," she said, taking the rag and rubbing down the other side of the counter for him as he washed her bowl. "The circumstances call for immediate action."

He frowned at that. He hoped the situation wasn't too serious. He was slightly out of practice with his sparring partners otherwise occupied. "All right. I'll make preparations then." He lowered the metal security curtain and locked it up.

"Thank you, Yusuke," she said with a smile as she summoned her oar. "You'll be prepped tomorrow morning."

"Okay, go tell the runt," he said with a smile which she returned before flying away.

Hiei hadn't bothered changing into normal human clothes when he went to visit. Kurama was entirely unsurprised by this and found a little bit of amusement in the stares that the fire demon was getting as he walked down the pristine hallway of the hospital. He appreciated the feeling – he had been so stressed and exhausted that the visit was actually quite refreshing. It never ceased to amaze him how easily the two of them fell back into their normal banter. Even right now, Hiei was already in that mode. "You're being a fool," he was saying. Kurama couldn't help but smile. "You're no help to her if you can't even take of yourself. I wouldn't trust you with my life at this point."

"Thanks for worrying about me, Hiei," the kitsune said, prodding him in the side with his index finger. The fire demon swatted his hand away and sent a silent glare in his direction. Kurama knew what Hiei really meant with those insulting words – that the kitsune was stretching himself too thin and that he should rest in order to really help his mother.

And Hiei was aware that Kurama would never allow himself a break while his mother was dying. He scoffed at the man walking beside him, keeping his eyes in front of him. "I've told you before, but you are too soft."

The kitsune smiled at that. "I know someone else who is starting to get awfully pliable lately," he teased, smiling mischievously when his friend's gaze hardened slightly. "It's been pretty peaceful lately. Don't tell me you're becoming civil?"

"I'm not an animal, Shuichi," he said, hissing his friend's human name in the public area. It wasn't absolutely vital of him to do so – it was after visiting hours and the hallways were largely empty. Even if anyone overheard his true name, he didn't know them and it wouldn't have mattered. Hiei was just trying to remind him that he had assumed a human identity, therefore he was the most "soft" of the two. "Even someone like me," a demon, that is, "needs to have some degree of civility."

The kitsune smiled at this response. A few years ago, he would have been hard-pressed to have this kind of conversation with the fire demon. In the time he had known him, Hiei really had changed. He had embraced, ever so slightly, the side of him that wasn't all destruction and bloodshed. He had become someone less prone to acting violently on his anger and was able to somewhat maintain his composure. Maybe one day, though Kurama was sure it would be later rather than sooner, the demon would understand why Kurama chose a human life. The kitsune was too worn out to hold one more serious conversation for the day, however, and opted for more teasing instead. "Why Hiei," he sang, "you've grown up before my very eyes!"

The fire demon snorted in annoyance. "You make me wonder why I still even bother with you."

Kurama laughed and poked him again. "Who else could put up with you for more than five minutes?"

His friend ignored this and stepped through the motion-activated hospital doors. The sun had already set, and the wind was warm compared to the icy hospital. It was refreshing against their skin – and Kurama realized he hadn't actually stepped outside of the hospital in over two days. He had the texts he needed for research in both human and demon medicine in his mother's hospital room, and he had spent all of his time save for showering and eating, the latter being less frequent than the former, trying to find some way to cure her. She had a lowered immune system from her last bout with a devastating ailment, and she had contracted something even the doctors didn't recognize. All they could do was treat her for her symptoms and try to make her comfortable.

In those two days he had spent in her room, she hadn't stirred even once. He didn't have time to rest – who knew how long before she succumbed to her illness? Even Hiei realized how dire the situation was and had come to offer support, in his own unique way, to his trusted friend. Though it was unlikely he would admit to those reasons for visiting, Kurama appreciated it more than his friend would know. It was a dose of what they considered to be "normal" amidst the emotional and mental strain that had been dragging him down the past few weeks. He knew, however, that once his friend left the stress would be heavier on him than it had been prior to his visit.

But he had already been away from his mother for longer than he was comfortable with. They stood quietly in the night breeze, unsure of what exactly to say to each other. Hiei looked him in the eye – crimson glittering like blood rubies in the moonlight – and said, somewhat uncharacteristically, with no hint of sarcasm or insult in sight, "If anyone can find a cure, it's you."

"Thank you Hiei," the kitsune said with a solemn smile. "You don't know how much you've helped me tonight."

At that, his friend scoffed. "Like I said – soft."

I'm not the only one, the kitsune thought, but kept it to himself this time. He turned and walked through the glass doors, aware of his friend's gaze on his retreating back.

Hiei sensed her before he saw her. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. She never had good timing.

"Botan," he said to her coldly in greeting as she landed on the sidewalk before him. He didn't want to have to deal with her chattering longer than was possible, though he noted it had been a while since they had last spoken, so he got straight to the point. "And what is my assignment this time?"

"You and Yusuke are going to the Makai," she said in response. "He has already agreed to leave tomorrow morning. Is this all right with you?"

He didn't even hesitate. As much as he would hate to admit it, his life had somehow become quite dull. The Makai was developing a government of sorts, and the opposition had been largely dealt with. With the support of the Reikai and consequently the Tantei, fewer demons were likely to violently disagree with the changes. He hadn't dealt with any insurgents in quite a while – he hadn't participated in anything other than a spar in a long time. Too long of a time. With the sour taste of his visit to the hospital still freshly lingering in his mouth, he nodded his head in agreement.

Botan nodded back, in acknowledgement and in farewell, before she mounted her oar and took to the sky once again. The fire demon scowled, as he always did, before walking at a human pace back to his station.

Well, his life would become somewhat interesting again soon enough.