A Life so Changed

Welcome! This is the sequel to Poisoned by Blood. If you haven't read the first part, then leave this story and don't come back until you've read it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my mind.

Let the fun begin!

Chapter 1: A day at a time

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Three and a half years ago, at the age of fifteen, the underworld detectives fought against two villains with no bodies. They fought against two souls.

It all started when a soul of darkness possessed the fire-demon, Hiei. Once the soul had taken over the body, it began destroying the fire-demon from the inside.

Before anyone was sure of what was going on, he had poisoned Koenma, the God of the underworld, and with a spell, he had helped a soul of a cat take over Kurama's, the human-fox's, body.

Filled with anger, and the will to save their friends, the two humans, Yusuke and Kuwabara fought against the souls. It was Yusuke's spirit gun that forced the soul of darkness out from the fire-demon's body, and with that, the spell that held the soul of the cat bound in the human-fox's body, was broken. Victory was theirs.

But victory didn't come without a cost.

Yusuke's arm was hit by a curse, preventing him from moving it, as pain shot through it every time he did.

Hiei was completely broken. By mind as well as by soul.

Koenma, lost his sight. The last thing he saw was the fearful and worried faces of Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara.

But at least it was over. They had won.

Or so they thought…

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Kurama woke up feeling oddly content, as well as oddly sore. Thinking back he really couldn't remember what he had done last night before going to bed. It wasn't the first time to have happened however. There were numerous times these past three years when he had woken up with absolutely no memory of the night before. The redhead thought of it as merely an after effect from the spell that had kept Makoto's soul inside his body.

Groaning, Kurama buried his face further into his pillow.

Of course the fox had thought about seeing a healer about it, but a strong part of his mind seemed to be strictly against this.

Kurama groaned once more and pulled the blankets over his head trying to block out the invading morning light. But it was too late. He was already awake.

Muttering to himself he stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower. Now that he thought about it, he felt a bit like when he had woken up with Hiei three and a half years ago, but without the hangover.

Kurama remembered that Yusuke had thrown a party to celebrate that the souls of Makoto and Akuma were defeated. He remembered that Yusuke and Hiei had entertained everyone with their drinking contest. And then the next thing he remembered was waking up next to Hiei, in his room, in his bed, both of them naked and limbs tangled with each other. And on the bed and on their bodies, Kurama and Hiei had found the dried evidence of what had happened between them. It had been… so embarrassing.

The fox showered and dried off. He wrapped a towel around his waist, barely remembering to grab another towel for his hair before he exited the bathroom

Sometimes Kurama wished that he could remember what it was like to be with Hiei… Sometimes he wished it had never happened.

Once the redhead came back into his room, he threw the towels on his bed and pulled on his lime green bathrobe. Walking down to the kitchen to make breakfast Kurama let his thoughts wander again.

Sometimes he wondered how good Hiei could have been, and probably was… Sometimes he told himself that it didn't matter since it was just a one-night-stand… nothing more.

He liked Hiei, but he didn't love the fire-demon. The fox had long ago figured out that he was attracted to both males and females, so Hiei being male wasn't a problem.

Kurama did feel attracted to Hiei's body, who wouldn't be? But there was nothing more than that.

Grabbing some bread Kurama began making toast. He cast a glance at the wall watch, even if he knew it was Saturday, which meant neither school nor work for him.

Work… Yusuke had two jobs. The black haired teen was an underworld detective working for Koenma, and between the cases he worked together with Keiko at the ramen restaurant her parents owned.

Kuwabara was balancing with two jobs as well. Like Yusuke, he worked for Koenma as an underworld detective, and between the cases he worked as a guard at some corporation called "SECURITAS".

Kurama himself had continued to study, and earned a little extra money by helping out at a local flower shop. And then of course, he went on the cases together with the two detectives, mostly just for fun.

He hadn't heard from Hiei or Koenma in a long time. Botan came to visit him every once and awhile, but that was about it.

The toast was ready and Kurama took out some apple jam from the cooler. Then he turned towards the cupboards and took down a cup for his tea.

With breakfast ready the redhead sat down at the dinner table and began to eat, his thoughts still wandering here and there.

In the city, the ramen restaurant owned by Keiko's parents was already open.

"Could you take these to the table," Keiko asked Yusuke, handing him two bowls of ramen.

"Sure." But as Yusuke turned towards the tables he winced in pain and dropped the bowls. The crash of china hitting the floor quieted the whole restaurant for a few seconds.

"Yusuke…! Are you all right?" Keiko asked putting her hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Yeah… It's just the arm," Yusuke explained. "It's over now."

"When was the last time you went to see Genkai about it," Keiko asked kneeling down to clean up the mess on the floor.

"Mmmm… Last week, I think," Yusuke answered, also kneeling down to help Keiko.

"Maybe you should go there again…"

"And leave you alone with this many customers?" Yusuke laughed. "Naw… don' think so. I'll go see the hag at a more quiet time."

"Just… Don't over do it. Okay?"

"Yeah, I promise. Don't worry, I know my limits." While saying this Yusuke reached his left hand to pick up a piece of the broken bowls, but he didn't grab it, only frowned down at his hand.

"Are you going to lift it or not," Keiko teased.

"I'm trying to," her boyfriend answered.

"What?"

"My fingers won't bend," Yusuke told the brunette.

"That's it," Keiko exclaimed. "You're going to see Genkai as soon as possible! It's been over three years since you were injured, and it's still…"

"I'll go tomorrow," Yusuke interrupted. "We're closed tomorrow, right?"

Keiko nodded with a sigh, and yusuke continued.

"I swear, if the old hag sticks any more holes in my arm it's gonna look like Swiss cheese."

"It's called 'acupuncture'," Keiko said. "And it's supposed to make your reiki flow better and help process the healing."

"Sticking needles in my arm is supposed to make my reiki flow better…?" Yusuke joked, earning a smack on his head from Keiko. An angry shout brought them back to here and now.

"You go take the orders," Keiko ordered with a small smile. "It's not like you'll be to any help cleaning this up anyway." Yusuke gave Keiko a quick kiss before rising to his feet and heading towards the waiting customers.

"By the way, I'm driving tomorrow," he shouted over his shoulder. Keiko just smiled and shook her head.

While morning had just begun in Ningenkai, it was night in the Makai. A dark night. So dark, actually, that one barely saw one's hand in front of one's face.

Hiei sat hidden in the even darker parts of the area together with three other demons.

"This is ridiculous! I can't see a thing," one of them growled.

"Hn… Are you blind," Hiei asked. "It's almost as clear as daylight…"

"You can't be serious, Lord Hiei," another whispered. "No one could see in this darkness!"

"…I can't believe Mukuro sent whining amateurs with me…" Hiei muttered loud enough for the others to hear. The fire-demon cast a quick glance at his 'minions' before adding:

"If that glare was meant for me, Rurik, then it missed with about 50 degrees."

Rurik's eyes widened. 'How did Lord Hiei know…?'

Actually, even Hiei himself didn't understand what had happened to him. Three and a half years ago, even two years ago, he nearly broke down crying every time he was in a dark room. Now he could see in darkness almost as well as in daylight. Sometimes it even felt like the darkness was whispering to him, but he couldn't understand, or even completely hear the words.

Hiei looked around himself, waiting for his prey to come out from its hiding place.

Then he saw it. The trespasser that had caused a whole lot of problems on Mukuro's lands. The demon was feeling its way through the darkness, which meant that it couldn't see.

A quick run and a slash with his katana, and the demon fell to the ground, its head hitting the ground a bit further away.

"There… It's done," Hiei said, whipping the blood off his katana. "Let's go back to the castle."

"Uh… Right, Lord Hiei," one of the minions said trying to look around. "Eh… How do we find the castle…?"

Hiei sighed as he watched the three demons stumble around like blind Makai mice. Then he left. He had better things to do than wait for the sun to rice so that his "companions" would be able to see where they were heading.

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TBC…

The first chapter of a completely new story… Ah, what a great feeling it makes! I apologize that I couldn't squeeze Kuwabara into this chapter, but don't worry. You will meet him in the next one, I promise.

Please review and give me your opinions. Oh, and just for the record; Kurama and Hiei have no feelings towards each other at this point whatsoever. But keep reading and you will see what happens.