Disclaimer: Do Not Own Yu Yu Hakusho

Wit and Courage

Genre: Romance/General/ActionAdventure/Humor/Drama

Rated: M

Pairings: Hiei/Oc, Kurama/Botan, Keiko/Yusuke, Yukina/Kuwabara, Shizuru/Koenma

(Full) Summary: Callie has now been accepted into the life of the Reikai Tantei and now has to deal with all the trials and consequences of such. Not only is she dealing with any hardships of regular life she has to face those problems the group has to deal with. And if facing this mysterious smuggling ring that she is connected with she has to come to an understanding of what exactly her feelings are for Hiei.

"Kidnapping ploys, murder schemes, terrifying demons hell bent on destroying the balance of the three worlds…this is our life, monkey, welcome to it."

Warnings: Oc romance, Keiko's last name will be spelled: Ukimura. Sexual tension, sexual humor, sex, dark/possessive moments. And this is a sequel--you have to read Will and Determination to get where this story is starting from.

Note: This is probably better characterized and written then its prequel. I can be an incredibly sloppy writer and if a story starts off a sloppy then it will continue being sloppy. This will be better in most things.

This is semi-AU. I altered the King's Tournament--it was explained in Will and Determination in one of the author's notes. But I will try to add a detailed segment sometime here.

Request: If I can get AT LEAST fifteen reviews for each chapter I will update--the more reviews the faster the update. But I need at least fifteen so I know people are actually interested and reading it.

Updates: I try to update every other Friday.

Chapter Two

In an Upside World

"GAK!!" The small brunette quacked as she once again found herself in a choke-hold by Yusuke. "Whhhy?!"

"You stupid little worm!! What the hell were you and those freaks doing videotaping me?!" The black-haired boy snarled as he lifted the girl off of her feet and kept a tight, and very uncomfortable, hold.

"WRACK!!"

"THAT ISN'T EVEN A WORD!!" He squeezed a bit harder and then decided to ground his knuckles of his free hand into her scalp and give her a rather painful noogie. Had they been on the streets anyone would've mistaken them for an elder brother picking on his littler sister (or littler brother, considering how boyish Callie looked).

Kurama frowned a bit at the two, he was actually jealous of the relationship Yusuke and Callie had. It seemed they were more at ease with each other then he and Callie, who was his stepsister. And that just made him a bit green in the face. The fact that they and Kuwabara spent over a week together in America seemed to have strengthened their bond.

A bond he could've had but nearly destroyed.

There was a rattle and he yelped and shot up to the ceiling as the girl crumbled to the ground, once again, acting over-dramatic and like a fish out of water.

"How the hell do you expect her to answer when you are choking her like that, dimwit?" Genkai asked as she looked up at her frightened apprentice. "You really need to start using that brain of yours--if you have one that is. My doubt on that has really been growing."

"S-Shut up you old bat!!" He sputtered. Oh, how he hated that rattle.

"Hn." Hiei looked up at his great leader with a smirk. "Your dignity is leaving you, Yusuke."

The man fell down onto the floor, luckily on his feet, and groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Don't I know it." He glared at the brunette who held up her hands in a mock surrendering motion. "Don't put up your damn innocent façade with me, brat." Yusuke hissed. "You are ruining my life!!"

"Oh come on…" She tried but knew she was in trouble.

"No!" He stomped like a child. "You have embarrassing photos of me, gave the croon a rattlesnake's rattle, told stories, and you and all those other bastards even videotaped me!!"

"They did, I didn't."

"You could've stopped them!!"

"You saw how scary they were--they probably would've shanked me!" She said, trying to fight the grin growing over her face. Oh, how she couldn't wait to see the movie and all that was contained within it.

Hiei seemed to know what she was thinking--or he read her mind--and smirked, "Speaking of which," He held up the DVD. "Are we going to watch it?"

"NO!"

"Of course we are!" Botan chirped.

"I SAID NO!!" Yusuke roared; it was one thing for all these bastards to have something to make fun of him for the rest of his life, and another for his dignity to be completely pulverized. But he did not want to re-live all of those horrors and he couldn't allow his somewhat-sweet Keiko see a pig try to rape him.

"I already said there are more then likely some embarrassed things of me as well." The brunette deadpanned.

"But you don't have any dignity so it doesn't matter to you." Yusuke snapped only to get hit in the face by a tea-cup.

"Down girl." Hiei teased as he gave the girl a pat on the head.

"Shut up!!" The girl slapped his hand away. "Stop treating me like an animal!"

"You have just left open a door of possibilities for insults with that." Hiei warned, his smirk growing at her embarrassed face. "But I'll be kind and not say anything."

Of course he already belittled her intelligence by pointing out her mistake.

"I want to watch it," Hiei continued as he looked over the DVD. "If it embarrasses these fools then it should be quite entertaining."

The three 'fools' glared at him.

He returned their glare with a rather cruel smirk and a pet on the girl's head, degrading her some more. "Stop it!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I told you so and it's MY head!!"

Yusuke smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest, 'Hiei's found his pet.' He looked over at Kurama and his grin fell--he did not seem all that thrilled that Hiei was close to Callie. 'It must be his big-brother instincts.'

But that's not what it was--at least that wasn't the biggest issue.

'Hiei is too unstable. He doesn't need a mate that isn't a demon. Callie is more fragile then he is use too--she will also age and die and leave him alone. His mind wouldn't be able to handle that.' He looked at his best-friend, the two of them still haven't talked about what happened, and felt sympathy wash over him as he saw just how happy Hiei was.

Kurama knew Hiei deserved to be happy but he was just worried what would happen once the happiness was taken away from him.

He didn't want his friend to face the death of a mate. The death of a mate is the greatest pain a male-demon will ever face. They would go blind with agony and wrath and lose all sense of self and control…and that was a combination no one wanted to have concerning the controller of one of the most powerful attacks known to the demon-kind.

They would have to talk about it in the near future.

Hiei yanked her brown hair as punishment for talking back to him.

"Owwie!! Stop that!!"

He smirked, it was way to easy to get the girl riled up--he has missed the amusements she brought him. He didn't understand why but basically what ever the ditzy girl did was hilarious. It gave him a lot of enjoyment to make her steam.

"No." And then pulled her hair again.

"Ow!!"

Keiko was trying her best not to burst out laughing like a total psychopath but it was getting harder and harder to do so. 'They flirt like little kids!' It was adorable to her--Hiei was acting like a young boy. He's bullying the girl he just might be interested in and he probably just sees it as just regular teasing.

Her eyes softened, 'Come on Hiei--you have to see that this is what is right for you. Everyone can see that you two are meant for each other. You're only truly happy when you're around your monkey.' She sighed, wondering if they will ever admit it.

'Wait…we all are very confident about how Hiei feels but what about Callie?' She looked over at the girl who was ranting and screaming to Hiei. 'She's treated him the same since the beginning. Hiei at first wanted nothing to do with her, then he hated her, then he used her for entertainment, then he liked her alright, then he became friends with her, then…this. But I don't think her attitude towards him has changed at all.'

The girl blinked, 'What does that mean?'

"Hiei…stop it! OW! Come on--this has no humor in it! OW! Ok, now you're just being a sadistic assOWhole." She slapped his hands away. "I'm going to go bald if you keep that up! Stop it!"

"Hey, you're the one who brought me back such a pointless gift--the least you can do is allow me to torture you."

"If I promise to share some snacks with you while we watch will you stop?"

He raised an eyebrow at her bribe.

"I already said we aren't watching it!" Yusuke roared.

"And I've already said that there is probably embarrassing stuff of me! Maybe even that tongue thing!" Callie spat.

"Tongue thing?" Hiei repeated, very interested.

"I didn't see a camera when we were prying your face out of that door. Why did you even do a stupid thing like that?"

"You DARED me too, moron!"

Yusuke paused, "Oh yeah…" A book smacked him in the face.

Hiei gave the man a glare, "You dared this ape to do something dangerous?"

The leader pulled the book out of his face and gave off a peal of sheepish laughter at Hiei's glare, "I didn't think she would actually do it! And it wasn't that dangerous…"

"My tongue bled for four hours." Callie deadpanned.

'GAH! STUPID IDIOT!!' Yusuke wailed internally. 'Stop-stop-stop!! If Hiei and Kurama discover I am a cause of any pain of yours I'm DEAD!!'

Kurama frowned as well, "What exactly did you dare her, Yusuke?"

Beads of sweat was beginning to gather at the base of his neck and the male gulped, "W-Well…I dared her to stick her tongue in a door jam and she did it!"

Hiei glared down at the brunette, "You did what?"

She shrugged, "He dared me."

"That's no excuse. You followed something an ignoramus thought of."

"Oh yeah…" Hiei smacked her upside the head. "OW!! Stop your violent ways, heathen!"

"You should know she's a fool, Yusuke." Hiei stated with a growl. He was not pleased that someone, other then himself, caused the little monkey pain. Only he was allowed to do any harm to her. But he still found it hard to grasp that she would actually do it. 'Hn, who am I kidding? I'm not surprised in the least that she did it.'

"Yeah. I know she is one. I probably shouldn't have dared her to jump off a roof either," He then smacked his hands over his mouth. 'NOW I'M THE STUPID ONE!!'

"You did what?!" Kurama gaped. "That's dangerous! She's human Yusuke--she can't do all of the things you can!"

"Oh it's alright." Callie waved off their worry. "I jump off of them a lot. They usually have some hay that I land on…and I fall off them a lot too so my body has become rather immune to the pain." She then grinned at Yusuke. "Besides…I got him back."

Keiko looked at her with some worry, "As long as you are ok…"

The little brunette smiled, not bothered at all, "Don't worry. The roofs aren't very high and I landed on my feet, usually."

"What did you do to him?" Botan asked with a grin.

Yusuke twitched, 'Note to self; never hurt the adopted baby of the family. No one will take your side.'

"Oh there is a small pit and we dared him to jump in it."

"That's all?" Shizuru asked. "I was hoping for something better. A small hole in the ground isn't too much."

Kuwabara chuckled a bit, "They call the place Rattlesnake Pit."

Instantly smirks and grins spread across the room. Yusuke's ears burned in embarrassment--they all were going to be torturing him with his new phobia.

The bastards.

"We kept telling him how all the snakes hibernate there and if you make a noise all their rattles will begin shaking and they will slowly creep out of their dark nests, hidden beneath the earth and slither their way towards those who are disturbing their peace." Callie had a creepy look on her face as she glared at Yusuke who was covering his ears, trying his best to ignore the words.

"What's the matter, Yusuke?" Hiei mocked.

"I'm thinking of a song! I can't hear you!!"

"They're camouflaged and perfect hunters. You can't see them as they blend in with the rocks surrounding them." Callie continued her voice dark as if she was telling a ghost story. "Their tongues flickering out--tasting the air…your sweat, your fear, your flesh…they inch closer and then…"

A rattle was heard.

"GAAAH!! GET IT AWAY!!" Yusuke screeched and then promptly fainted.

"Huh," Callie blinked, "That worked out better then I expected." She gave a thumbs-up to Genkai. "Nice work."

Genkai grinned, "God, I love this girl."

"The love is returned ten-fold!"

Keiko grinned as she helped Kuwabara put Yusuke on the couch. "Poor guy. We're going to have to lay off the Rattlesnake stuff for a bit after this."

Hiei tugged on the girl's hair again, "I have to admit, that was genius."

"Thank you Hiei!" She looked very-very pleased that he complimented her.

"I really believe Hell has now frozen over."

Instantly her pleasure at being complimented diminished as he once again found a way to insult her. "Hmph! Well--according to a philosopher Hell is a frozen lake!"

He raised both eyebrows, "You've read Dante's Inferno? I'm impressed, monkey. You do have intelligence."

Now she looked at him, "You've read Dante's Inferno? Do demons read works from humans?"

Hiei shrugged, "Only the good ones. There aren't too many--I hate most of them. But the early philosophers are decent enough."

The girls shared a grin as Hiei and Callie exchanged information about each other.

"They are so…perfect for each other!" Botan whispered lowly when Callie talked--seeing that all of Hiei's attention was on the girl.

"I know what you mean. They're so opposite but…I don't know--they just mold together wonderfully." Yukina gushed.

"What about Beowulf?" The brunette asked as she crossed her legs so as she sat on the couch in an Indian-style.

Hiei smirked, "Now that I did enjoy."

She grinned; very happy they have found something in common they could talk about for a while without arguing. "I did as well. I had thought that the class would just be full of boring works but some of them were alright."

"Of course," Keiko said lowly, "In a matter of seconds Hiei is going to say something to provoke her and then the whole ordeal will begin again."

Shizuru tapped out the ash from her cigarette, "I'm not wasting this opportune time to embarrass the two…s'cuse me ladies." She said as she looked over at the two.

"Do you think you can embarrass them?" Botan asked in disbelief.

"I bet I can ruffle Hiei's feathers a bit. But only he seems to have the ability to embarrass her…Yusuke seems right in that she doesn't have dignity so if something embarrassing happens she will only blush a bit and then just be normal…and sometimes not even blush." The blonde cleared her throat. "Oye! Go make-out or mate or whatever already so we can get going along with our plans of watching the video!"

As predicted Callie didn't appeared fazed that she was caught pretty much flirting with the man--though everyone guessed she didn't know that she was--but Hiei seemed a bit embarrassed.

"When will you all drop it?!" He hissed.

"When it finally happens." Shizuru retorted as she took the final drag from her cigarette, blowing the smoke out.

The fire-demon gave off a threatening noise--he was growing a bit tired on how his so called friends were mocking him and his relationship with his monkey. The girl was only a friend and a pet to him. She provided some enjoyment and entertainment.

Around her he actually kinda-sorta liked to smile.

But Hiei did not understand how everyone here instantly jumped to the conclusion that he liked her meant that he wanted to mate with her.

The demon sighed, 'I'm still overreacting about this mess. If they want to think something is up between us let them think it…it makes no difference.'

The girl looked over at him, confusion written over her face, "What's going on?"

He smacked her over the head again. "Mind your own business, monkey."

"That's it! No snacks for you!" He promptly smacked her again. "Alright! Damn it--I'll share! Just stop with the hurting!!"

"My gods, he's abusive." Botan stated as she shook her head. 'He's never going to get her that way! Hiei, you fool, girls need to be treated gently and with kindness.' She cupped her cheeks and blushed as she pictured her and Kurama.

'As if I will ever be like your trained fox, woman.'

Botan squealed and stiffened when the dark voiced bounced in her head threateningly, her hair standing on in and freezing herself in an awkward position--much like the time she nearly spilled the beans to Kuwabara about Hiei's and Yukina's relationship. "U-uh…"

"Botan?" Keiko blinked. "What's that look for?"

"A-ha-hah-ha-ha…look!! Snow!!" She stiffly pointed out the door in hopes of moving the attention away from her and onto something else. Of course only Yukina, Kuwabara, and Callie looked.

"Oooh! Snow!" A certain brunette chirped only to once again get hit. "OW!! What did I do?!"

"You're an idiot." Hiei replied calmly as he pulled her back and made her sit back down facing away from the open door and the snow that had caught her attention.

"Even if I was an idiot that gives you no right hit me!" She whined as she held her head, a lump beginning to swell--the jerk kept hitting her in the same place!

"I have plenty of right." He answered simply. It was always too easy to get her riled up. Arguing with her was just so amusing and fun.

Kurama glared at Hiei, he obviously knew who would cause his mate to act like this.

Hiei just gave him and 'innocent blank' look.

'As if innocent can ever be used to describe you, Hiei.' He thought as he shook his head. Kurama was going to need to teach Botan and Callie how to put up a mental block so that their thoughts could be protected from the prying Hiei. Because if he wants to know something or if he is interested he will look through a persons' thoughts not caring about privacy.

"Can we just get this movie thing underway?" He asked as he grabbed Botan's hand and tried to calm her down. Really, the fire demon was just rather cruel.

"No!" The now awake Yusuke snapped.

"God damn it, dimwit--it's already been decided! We're watching the damn movie. Now sit down and shut up!" Genkai commanded, not looking pleased at all at his whinnying.

Yusuke huffed and sat down by Keiko in a pout.

"Oh come on, Yusuke. We're just having fun--it's not so terrible that you get picked on every so often." Keiko cooed.

"What do you mean every so often!? Before I was the prime target after Kuwabara--now I'm in third place!" He pointed to the brunette who was still getting bullied by Hiei. "Why not just stick to the two morons or go on to Kurama or Hiei?!"

Instantly the two demons glared at him.

"Or not…" He whimpered, shrinking back.

Finally after a few moments of arguing and struggling the homemade DVD was finally placed into the TV--Yusuke was not looking very excited about what was about to be witnessed--he knew for a fact that he was going to face some snickers and jabs in the near future. Callie and Kuwabara embarrassed themselves daily and it didn't bother them as much as it would him.

He groaned in misery and buried his face into his hands and it began.

The black screen came alive with static before a very shaky picture of a road appears. "Is it on?"

"The fuck I should know!?"

"That's Cory and Phil," Callie explained with a grin.

"Well hurry it up and figure it out already! We don't want to miss this," Cory sniggered before he snorted loudly. "I can't believe this bastard didn't notice it! Can you believe it--it's on his dick!"

Yusuke whimpered loudly--it was instantly known what was about to be shown. "Oh god…do I have to watch this?"

The camera swerved and then a cabin was in view--the sun was rising so everything still held a dark tinge of blue to it--and the two guys hurried up. The stairs creaking slightly under their feet and the rickety door giving off a screech as they hurried inside. It moved up and it came across the faces of those who had been within the room at the time.

"Ok, how the hell did I not see the camera or at least wake up?" Yusuke asked out-loud.

"It was probably the time-change and traveling on the airplane can pretty tiring." His girlfriend explained. "Who is who?"

"The girl with red-hair is Terra; she is the one who was suicidal. The other girl is Lily." Callie answered. "The guy with the scruff is John."

Yusuke hissed at the TV.

"He and Urameshi don't get along well at all." Kuwabara explained as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Trust us…its obvious." Genkai muttered before the movie continued along.

The Kuwabara on the TV was sweating and fidgeting. "G-Guys…c-can't we t-take it off?"

"And prevent ourselves from seeing his smiling face when he sees his brand new friend?" John asked with a twisted grin.

"DAMN BASTARD!!" Keiko had to hold her mate back from tackling the television set to the ground.

"Yusuke--SIT DOWN!!" She commanded as she brought him back down to the couch. She then wound up a magazine and slapped him over the head making him squeak. "No! No! No--bad!!"

"Keiko," He growled, quite insulted at how she treated him like a dog.

She slapped his head again, "Bad boy! Sit!" She glared at him when he didn't do as told. "I. Said. SIT!!"

He squeaked and did as told, "Y-Yes ma'am."

"Good boy."

He muttered under his breath in embarrassment, crossing his arms over his chest--he was so whipped. Everyone around him grinned and chuckled in amusement at his misery.

There was a rattle and Yusuke yelped.

"Whoa…" Shizuru whistled. "No wonder you're always close to pissin yer pants when you hear a rattle. That thing is HUGE!" She said as she looked at the sleeping Yusuke who was oblivious to everyone surrounding him and looking at the snake.

"John…" Callie stated. "If he moves he's gonna bite him. You know what the venom in his fangs does to a person."

"He's gonna loose some very important assets." Lily, the Goth-girl, deadpanned. "Remember that Marcus lost a finger and a half from a bite from one of these guys."

In the shrine Yusuke began to pale. He hadn't really taken into consideration just what could've happened should the creature had actually bitten him. 'Oh god…' He flopped back limply onto the couch with a whimper.

Keiko gave him a pat on the head, the poor guy looked terrified.

"Well, we need to wake him up anyway. The sun's rising and he needs to pull his weight around here." John said as he looked down at the snake, his eyes trained on the flickering tail and tongue. "Don't you guys worry--I'll grab him before he takes a chomp on the little bastard here."

Yusuke gave another hiss to the screen.

Finally the little brunette poked his forehead, "Yusuke…Yusuke…" She tugged at his hair a bit.

The boy groaned. "Hm?…What the hell?"

Botan leaned against Kurama as she looked over at Yusuke, "That's just…terrible. I can't believe that was on you."

"You don't sound sorry for me at all." The leader grumbled, looking away in embarrassment when it showed a close up of his face and he let out the girly-scream-of-doom.

Everyone either smirked or burst out laughing at the sight and Yusuke's face grew hot. "S-Shut-up! Do you see that thing!! Look at where it is at! Any of you would've screamed!" He roared making them all laugh all the more at him.

As everyone made fun of him the fire-demon decided to talk a bit privately with his pet monkey.

'How are you feeling?' Hiei asked with mild uncertainty.

Callie blinked and looked at him, a clear "huh" expression on her face.

'The last time I saw you, you had just suffered from being sick and being kidnapped.' He replied bluntly, feeling more at ease when she was stupid and oblivious.

She grinned, "Better."

It seemed she was already use to him talking with her through his telepathy.

'I'll teach you how to answer me back without speaking.' He commented as he went back to watching the homemade movie of the three morons of the family making complete and hopeless fools of themselves. Oh yes, this thing was priceless to him now.

"Without speaking?" She whispered, not wanting to disturb the others though pretty much everyone was laughing and talking and poking fun of Yusuke.

He sighed before looking at her. "For some reason your stupidity can still surprise me. I'm talking about conversing within our mind. Should anything happen you will need to know how to talk to me without speaking. I can read your thoughts but once you've been trained, and trust me you will be, I won't be able to."

"Prying bastard." She muttered and he yanked at her hair again.

'Pay attention, brat.' He sneered. "I will be teaching you how to have open conversations with me through our minds."

She then grinned brightly--her huge, trademark kiddish grin that could light up a room. "Really?! That sounds so cool!"

He stared at her and her smiling face for a heartbeat, "I know how hard this will be since you have such a little dried up mind--probably shouldn't even be considered a functioning organ but we all must work with what we have."

It was life a fifty-ton rock fell on her shoulders.

Once again--they were having a nice moment when he ruined it.

Damn it.

"You didn't have to go that far," She muttered bitterly, looking up at the screen just in time to see Yusuke screaming his head off as he was chased the Pitt-bull (Cherry), the Rottwieler (Ewok), and the Doberman (Sweetie-Pie).

"CALL THEM OFF!! CALL THEM OFF!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CALL THEM OFF!!" He was screaming as he continued to try and dodge them.

"They're just playin with ya, ya pansy!" Cory laughed from behind the camera. Yusuke gave off another squeal of fright when Ewok gave off a loud ferocious bark. "Oh fine," A whistle then sounded off and the three dogs stopped and then hurried over to the boy and the others, wagging their tails with those doggy-grins on their faces.

Callie, Terra, and Kuwabara pounced on them with hugs cooing over how cute and strong they were--the three dogs just raked in the love and attention, now ignoring Yusuke.

Shizuru chuckled, "Animals don't like you--do they?"

Yusuke growled, "No."

"Well, one sure did, Urameshi." Kuwabara stated with a grin.

"Please don't mention that…and please-PLEASE don't let them see it!" The black-haired boy begged.

"What is it?" Kurama asked, raising an eyebrow at the three.

"Uhm…" Callie gave them a sheepish grin. "We have this pig--"

"DON'T TELL THEM!"

"Yusuke. Either we're told about the incident or we watch it." Genkai deadpanned before nodding back to the girl.

"Well…this pig is pretty big and he was just trotting around when he saw Yusuke and…er…" Callie looked over at Kuwabara who was snorting to keep his laughter in check. "He…" She had to bite down her grin. But she couldn't and buried her face into her hands, trying to swallow her laughter but was only choking on it.

Kuwabara was in the same position.

"What?" Yukina asked wanting to know what was so funny. "What's wrong?"

"W-We're just…so happy." Kuwabara could only sum it up like that before he had to slam his hands over his mouth to stop himself from roaring in laughter.

"I hate you both." Yusuke growled.

'What happened?' Hiei asked. A few seconds later he covered his eyes as his shoulders shook slightly. "The monkey said the pig then fell in love with Yusuke and his love became so strong that he transformed into a rapist."

It was silent for a moment before instantly the rest began to fast forward the movie till they got to the part. And sure enough a pig was running after Yusuke hell-bent on getting some lovin.

Keiko fell off the couch she was laughing so hard. "Oh…I-I can't…b-breathe!! Oh gods…"

Everyone was trying to stifle their laughter but none succeeded as they watched Yusuke be molested by the pig.

"I feel so dirty watching this." Genkai muttered.

"I hope you mean filthy as in you're covered in dirt and nothing sexual. Because if it's the latter one I will seriously vomit." Yusuke muttered unable to watch the movie and relive the horrors of that fateful day when a pig fell in lust with him. 'Seriously; why the HELL was I the prime target!?'

"Here, look. This is one of me." Callie pointed out as they watched her run smack into a wall, loose her balance and fall into a bin of pig-slop.

"Ew…" The girl on the TV groaned.

"Smooth one runt!" One of the males chuckled.

"You haven't done that is a while!"

"BITE ME!!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know I am a sexy-stud with an oh-so sexy ass but you're like my sister and you're covered in pig vomit. Once you clean up I might take up on your offer." It was silent for a moment before a pile of the slop was thrown at the camera and there was a thud and no one could see a thing. "GAH! RUNT!! DON'T THROW SHIT AT ME!"

Hiei looked down at the girl, "So you are always this klutzy."

"Shut up!" She spat. "I'm not that klutzy! I just…er…had a mishap!"

The demon looked anything but convinced.

"U-Uhm…" Yusuke sputtered as he inched back away from a horse. "I really don't know about this, guys." Callie and the other girls were already on their horses waiting for the males to get on. Cory was still videotaping and Phil was making his way up on the large beast.

John was with Kuwabara and Yusuke trying to explain to them what to do.

"Shut up with your belly-aching." He snapped. "Now you just follow the procedure I told you to. Grab the saddle right there, insert your foot there, heave yourself up and throw your leg around then grab the reigns…the reigns are the string things." He explained, looking very impatient at how long it was taking and the fact that if he used the correct words for everything the two would get confused.

"DO YOU SEE HOW BIG THAT THING IS?!"

"Chicken." Kuwabara muttered as he walked past his friend and too anther stallion.

"What was that?!" Yusuke hissed.

Kuwabara only whistled as he came up to the majestic and beautiful creature. The horse neighed a bit and then moved its nose towards Kuwabara.

Shizuru chuckled, "Baby bro has yet to have a real embarrassing moment. All the animals just adore him." She looked at the sheepish Kuwabara.

"It was amazing!" Callie chirped. "All the animals wanted to be friends with him. Everyone now calls him Dr. Doolittle because we couldn't find one animal that hated Kuwabara."

His face grew hotter.

"Kazuma, that's amazing." Yukina chirped. He was like her in that sense--animals seemed to flock to her.

"Hehehe--it was nothin my love! I'm going to be a vet so I would think I would need to have some connection with animals!"

"Whoa," Callie stated as she grabbed the brown horse's reigns. "Maybe it isn't such a good idea for Yusuke to ride him. He's throwing his ears back and making other aggressive movements. I don't think he likes Yusuke."

"Does any animal like me?" The black-haired male grunted as he glared at the creature.

"Yusuke…come over here and pet his nose."

"Why would I want to do that!?" It then snorted at him and he jumped back.

"Just do it!" The brunette commanded.

"FINE!" He then began to slowly make his way to the horse and finally stroked his nose. "Whoa…it's soft."

She grinned, "Now keep stroking and give him some comforting noise and he may allow you to ride him."

"It's so soft…" Genkai teased.

"Shut up! It was!"

The scene changed and now Yusuke was trying his best to stay on the horse looking very-very unsure.

Kurama raised an eyebrow to his leader, "It is becoming rather difficult to keep my respect for you. You've been having such a hard time."

Yusuke's brown eyes narrowed dangerously at the red-head. "Shut up, Kurama."

"KITTIES!!" Kuwabara on the screen squealed when he discovered a box filled with kittens. He rushed over to them and picked one up, gushing over the cuteness of it. The Kuwabara of present time didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by his disregard for his manliness.

"I'll say it once and I'll say it again; you have a fetish for cute things." Yusuke grumbled--seriously how could he, a manly-macho demon, be best friends with THAT?

"Hmph!" Kuwabara huffed, "I see nothing wrong with it. If I like something why can't I enjoy it?"

"But like that?" Shizuru pointed to the screen where Kuwabara was prancing around. "Damn, even short-stop over there has more male-qualities then you."

"HEY!!" Kuwabara and Callie whined.

"Manly monkey." Hiei muttered--this time his hair was pulled.

"Shut up!" She hissed as she glared daggers at him. He growled at her, not pleased at her retaliation, and then pulled her own hair once more. "Ow! Damn it--I can pull your hair if you can pull mine! OW!!" Soon his tugging was too hard compared to hers and she had no choice but to release him, grumbling at her failure.

Hiei kept his hold on her hair, "You have no chance in fighting against me in anything--give up."

She snorted and he pulled her hair a bit, "Damn it; I will not just sit back and allow you to bully me!! I will find a way out of this!"

"Hn." He smirked. 'And that's what makes you all the more amusing.'


Kurama watched at the brunette slammed her head repeatedly against the desk. "I'm sorry--but until all your make-up work is complete you are not allowed to go to the shrine and see everyone. Now, pick yourself up and concentrate; the fewer tantrums you have the sooner it will take to finish."

"Fine," She muttered as she picked herself up and gazed down at the homework with a pout. It was the third day of doing nothing but make-up work.

"Look, you only have two more simple assignments and then you will be able to work on your homework for the cooking class." He ruffled up her hair a bit. "I think only two more hours and then you can return to our favorite hang-out place."

"Finally!" She squealed in excitement. "And this is the final math homework!! YES!"

"Hmm…Mori-sensei isn't very compassionate towards you. All your other teachers, except him and your cooking teacher Fujioka-sensei, have been lenient in the assignments given to you. And the only reason Fujioka-sensei isn't being lenient is because she knows you have skills to do it all…" He frowned as he continued to voice his thoughts. "I am very disappointed in him."

Callie looked down at her work--she had forgotten about her being blackmailed by Shizuka and her math teacher. So far only Hiei knew of this little predicament and it didn't appear as if he told anyone about it yet. She wondered if he forgot about it…

"Hey, Kurama--"

"Callie, call me Shuichi at home." He reminded her really not prepared to face his family with the truth of who he is and what he does for a living. It's not exactly something one would normally share with their parents at a school function.

"Right--sorry." She stated before she started again. "Shuichi--how exactly does one know when they have feelings for someone else?"

He looked at her suspiciously, "Why?"

"I think I like someone." She replied honestly.

"Who?"

"Answer my question and then I will answer yours."

He sighed, "It's hard to explain. How did you know you had a crush on Kuwabara?"

"Hmm…I never thought about it too much. It was just like one day I looked at him and then I was like; 'Oh! I have a crush on this person!' But it seems rather different this time around. I was never really-truely-100 percent serious about Kuwabara because I knew of the relationship that is growing between him and Yukina. But he has no one and when I picture him with a girl I don't like it--I mean its stronger then what I felt for Kuwabara but…I dunno."

"It's Hiei, isn't it?"

She blinked up at him in shock, "You knew?"

"I made a lucky guess." He replied not telling her it was rather obvious. "Callie--you know he is of a different species. He's a demon."

"Yusuke's a demon and he's with Keiko. Yukina's a demon and she's sorta with Kuwabara."

He nodded, "That is very true. And I do worry what will happen when they pass on. You see Callie," He began, seeing her confused look. "Humans age fast. We demons don't. Hiei and Yukina are actually around fifty years old," He chortled at her gaping look. "And I am well over a thousand." Her jaw hit the table. "And Yusuke will have this long life span as well. It's normal for demons and if we are powerful our life-span will add on."

"Huh?"

"The normal life-span for regular demons, C-Class and below, you remember the power system correct?" Callie nodded. "Well those lower class can usually live only five-hundred to seven-hundred years and they age once they reach six-hundred. Those above them can live to a thousand to a thousand-five-hundred…and it goes on and on. Our power can make us immortal. The more power and the stronger we are the longer we will live."

"O-oh…" She replied, flabbergasted.

"And demons will reach a certain time in their life where they will cease to appear older. We call this the Age. Hiei reached his at around twenty so his appearance is frozen in that stage of his life despite being a senior-citizen." He grinned when she burst into some giggles at the thought. "Yusuke's age is about to come up as well I believe…and then he will remain how he looks for basically the remainder of his life. Because S-Class demons never show signs of becoming old."

"Whoa…"

"Yusuke, Hiei, and myself are S-class demons. If we ever do live to see two-hundred-thousand we will remain in the form we are now…because our power makes it so." He then inhaled. "Callie…you, Kuwabara, Keiko, Shizuru, and Genkai…you guys are humans…you will show signs of age and you will grow old and weaker…and you will die. It's the fate of humans."

She bit her lip and looked down.

"Do you know how much that will pain us? We will be immortal but we will have to watch those we care about slowly die before us. That's why I am worried about you three and those you are interested in."

"And Botan?"

Kurama sighed, "Botan died many years ago and she became a deity to help take souls to Koenma. She won't age or technically die either."

"Oh…" The brunette looked crescent-fallen. "That's unfair."

He gave her a pat on the head, "I know. I've felt plenty of guilt too…I mean, I have the chance of being with my chosen mate forever with no gaps--"

"Gaps?"

"Reincarnation. If you are a special-case or such Koenma can have you reincarnated. And trust me once Keiko and Kuwabara die they will be reincarnated so as they can be with their mates."

"And me? Why can't I be with Hiei if I can do that too?" She asked, her eyes watering. It wasn't fair at all in her mind--she wanted to be a demon and live forever too! She was a bit weary of growing up and dieing…but most of all she really didn't want to leave her friend's side and she didn't want them to face any pain of watching her die.

"Hiei…" Kurama felt his throat tighten slightly. Guilt swarmed him as he realized he would be talking rather cruelly behind his best friend's back. "Hiei is very dark and mentally unstable. He also has incredible power and should he lose control of himself I don't think Yusuke nor I would stand a chance of fighting against him."

She blinked, "Huh?"

"Mates are like…an anchor to the light. It keeps demons happy, balanced, content…sane. The mate becomes a rock, a foundation, to the other…should one take away that foundation their mind and heart will fall and shatter leaving nothing behind but an empty shell and someone who does not see why anyone else deserves to live. It's almost impossible for one to fight off the darkness that it brings."

"But…what about Keiko and Yusuke an--"

"I have faith that while Yusuke would be distraught at the loss of Keiko and Yukina at the loss of Kuwabara we can still be able to control them and in such they can control themselves. They will come to realize they would be seeing their departed loved-ones again. Hiei…I don't think he would be able to handle the death of his mate."

"Oh…b-but being a couple is different then being mates…right?"

"You're right. Being mates is the equivalence of being married. Our courtship…our dating only takes about four months usually. If it's any longer they probably know they don't want to be mates and are just having fun or they are a rare breed and actually want to take some time."

"So Hiei wouldn't really know about dating."

"He knows about it. He's been in the human-world for a long time and while he doesn't understand most of the customs he at least know of them." Kurama explained. "He knows of the humans' wooing-rituals…he just doesn't get all of them."

"Oh…ok." The brunette nodded, understanding what was going on. "I don't understand many of them either…in fact I don't think I even know of a lot of them. But anyway…it's not like Hiei would return any feelings I have for them." She stated back evenly.

The red-head bit his lip, 'He might not have feelings for her romantically--he probably isn't even considering being mates with her. But I'm afraid what could come out of her confessing anything to him.' There were too many possibilities--true most all of them ended up with Hiei rejecting her but he just didn't like it when the odds weren't at 100 percent.

But he had no right to stop her from feeling something or confessing. He's learned his lesson--he will step back a bit and let it happen and play out.

"So you really think you have feelings for him? Carry the four there and then divide by the numerator…yeah there we go." He said as he pointed to what she needed to do.

"I honestly don't know." She answered as she did as told, there was only a few more she needed to do. "That's why I wanted you to answer the question…I mean you are with someone at the moment so you might know something."

"Something is pretty vague. It's almost impossible to describe…what I feel for Botan is just…amazing." He sighed almost dreamily before he shook his head to push his daydream out of his mind. "But I don't think you should really ask me about this. It's hard to say and besides only you can really decipher how you feel about him. Now, try the next one on your own."

Callie did as told and as she tried to do the problem the communicator began bleeping. The brunette looked at it for a moment, "You know if you carry that around you look gay."

He sulked slightly, "Shut up, brat."

"HIEI CORRUPTION!!" She squealed as she pointed and accusing finger at him.

Kurama snorted before he flipped open the compact, the screen cam to life and there was the love of his life. "Botan! This is a surprise. What's up?"

She smiled at him, "I wish this was more for you and more personal but Koenma-sama wanted me to tell you that he wants all of you to come to his office in an hour."

"Hm? Is there something wrong?"

"I don't think so. I think he just wants to talk to Callie for a bit." At the mention of her name the brunette peeked her head over her brother's shoulder and waved to her friend. "Hey, runt!"

"Gonna give him some kissy-faces?" Callie puckered up her lips and made some kissing noises only for Kurama to shove her away.

"Get lost!" The red-head snapped.

She burst out laughing and ran back to her room leaving a rather flustered Kurama behind. Botan was just smiling, "It seems you two are finally really getting closer as siblings--that's great."

He sighed, "Since I've been helping her with her homework she's gone back to being clingy to me."

"I wasn't really talking about her. You've gotten more…comfortable and brotherly around her."

"Hmm." He smiled at her. "You might be right…I will see you in an hour then?"

She nodded, her blue tresses bouncing. "Love you--see you then!" The communication ended and Kurama smiled.

The day just seemed to have gotten better.


Hiei raised an eyebrow at Yukina's determined and stubborn look. "What?"

"We're telling him."

It took only a few seconds for Hiei to get what she was talking about. "Now?" Had he been anyone else he would've whined--he was not looking forward in telling the buffoon that he was the sibling of Yukina.

"Yes, now. We will be meeting with Koenma a bit later to talk about Callie--I think we should talk to him about it now and then tell her once we see her again. Now, let's go." She moved the grocery-bag to one hand before she grabbed his hand and tugged on him a bit.

"Damn it, Yukina--why the hell do I have to be there?"

She gave him a 'No Duh' look and Hiei wondered just how much the monkey had corrupted his little sister. "You're my brother and you're his friend. Of course you will be there."

He sighed, 'Damn it.' "Fine. Let's get this over with."

"Thank you brother."

"You're welcome sister." He sneered back sarcastically as the two walked up the stairs and towards the shrine.

It only took a few minutes to reach the top, the time that passed had been in silence--Hiei really held doubts about their sibling-relationship being brought out into light. True all who needed to know was the orange-haired moron and the idiotic primate but telling the story was not sounding appeasing to him.

Yukina wondered when he would begin to really feel comfortable enough around her to talk to her. They already were getting on each other's nerves, which she must confess; it was pretty fun, she can understand why Callie did so.

But, she hoped that soon the two of them would become closer as brother and sister. 'Just stay strong Yukina…I know it's going to be a hard battle but you've done well so far. You can handle him.'

She just needed to try and keep a stubborn front. She faced years of torture by Tarukane--surely can she handle her big brother.

Finally the top was reached and the physic's shrine appeared. "Oh, I'm actually getting nervous. I wonder if he will be upset."

"Hn."

The young demoness mentally groaned at her brother's lack of support and comfort. Yukina had to admit before she had the inclination that Hiei was her brother she had day-dreamed over being with her big brother, helping each other out, smiling and comforting each other, hugs and laughter…all that was instantly smashed when she actually met him.

Well…she was happy with the results none the less.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara sang as he practically tripped over his feet as he ran out the door to meet her. "You should've waited to go shopping! I would've gone with ya and carried the bags!" He then pointed an accusing finger Hiei. "How dare you make a girl carry the bags?! If you were walking up with her you should've taken them!"

Hiei snorted but didn't bother to answer--really, Kuwabara wasn't worth any precious words of his.

"It's ok, Kazuma." Yukina stated happily. "But if you don't mind…can we talk? I have something important I need to discuss with you."

Kuwabara's heart began to pound against his chest--could it be? Was he going to receive a love confession from his dearly beloved? Or was it something bad? He looked over at Hiei who was staying by Yukina's side and he began to feel sick.

Was it possible that they were together?

'No. No, I can't think like that.' His fist clenched together. 'But…there is always a chance. My Yukina is gorgeous…damn it. I-I have to tell her. I need to tell her.'

"Sure." He nodded as he moved aside and allowed the two red-eyed demons to enter the large homestead. As they walked to a more comfortable area Kuwabara thought that the loud thumps of his heart was echoing against the corridors. He was a nervous wreck.

Hiei took noticed and sneered, 'What a fool.'

After making a quick stop in the kitchen to place up the little bit of food she bought the three finally settled down; Yukina facing Kuwabara on the couch with Hiei behind her leaning against the wall.

"Ok…so what is dis about if the shrimp is here?"

"Kazuma." Yukina began appearing a bit nervous. "You remember how I was searching for my brother?"

"Uh…well, yeah of course I do. It's the most important thing to ya."

She smiled at him, "I found him."

Kuwabara blinked, looking quite taken aback, "Really?…Really!? Wow! Who is it? I really want to meet him!"

"Hn," Hiei sneered again, glaring at the human. "You are a blind ignoramus."

"What was dat!?"

"If you use your brain and your eyes you would have figured it out by now." Hiei continued belittling the man.

"What are you talking about?" Kuwabara growled; Hiei seriously always got on his nerves.

"I don't see why I need to tell you if you still haven't figured it out."

"Onii-san, please!" Yukina scolded.

The room went quiet for a good minute as Kuwabara's mind began to absorb what had just been spoken, "W-Wait…what?"

Hiei rolled his eyes, "You dumb-ass. I'm her brother."

It was silent once more.

"Oh." Kuwabara stated as he looked between the two and then he wanted to bash his head against the wall. How could he have never noticed?! There were many similarities and signs. Hiei never did seem pleased with him around Yukina, whenever Yukina was mentioned the demon would stiffen, they had the same red-eyes, a similar facial-structure…they truly did appear like siblings. The man then slumped, "Everyone else knew, didn't they?"

Yukina blinked, "Yes. However no one had known that I actually knew Hiei was my brother till after you left. I cornered him and forced him to tell me."

He gave her a watery smile, "I'm really happy that you found him. Even if he is a pretty messed up half-pint." He gave her a forced grin, "He will definitely take good care of you."

The twins looked at him for a moment--this had not been the reaction they were expecting.

"Kazuma?"

"I'm sorry…I'm being selfish." He muttered. "I'm…I'm just real tired of being the last to know things in the group." He looked down, "I guess I deserve it though." The last part was a whisper, only for himself but he had forgotten to taken into account that the siblings were demons and had acute hearing.

"Fool, what the hell are you mumbling about?"

Yukina froze as Shizuru's voice bounced in her head as she remembered the conversation they had the night Callie had been rescued.

"He is still torn about choosing to be a normal human instead of helping with that tournament of kings or whatever the hell it was called. And now he is back in the business of helping to protect these worlds while he is handling the feeling as if he has betrayed them by choosing an easier life."

"No!" She stood up, startling both men. "Kazuma--you didn't betray everyone by choosing to be a human instead of a fighter! You didn't pick the easier one and forget about your friends! Y-You even joined up again…you've done so much for them…" She bit her lip to prevent herself from crying. "I-I think you're the last to know stuff usually i-is because…they're all so protective over you."

Kuwabara appeared very confused.

"Not being told about Genkai…or about the other tournament--I think they all just want to protect you."

"But how is not telling me anything protecting me? Especially with things like this?"

"I don't think…no, I know," Yukina walked over to him and placed her small hand on his cheek and made him look at her. "They have terrible communication skills."

That was quite blunt…but it was true. None of the males could level down with anyone else except with certain individuals, even if they wanted to talk about something personal with him their attitudes and stubborn pride would make it too difficult and awkward.

"I-I see…"

"They don't mean to hurt you…they care about you so much, Kazuma."

They stared at each other for a moment before Kuwabara felt the cold chill of a murderous glare hit him. He then looked over and squeaked at Hiei's expression. "W-What's your problem…" He stopped himself short to ponder a bit.

Hiei was an elder sibling and elder siblings can be extremely protective over their younger ones.

Shizuru could be extremely protective over him.

"Oh." He then inhaled and stood up, meeting Hiei's glare. "I have an announcement too." He cleared his throat and looked down at Yukina seriously. "I love you."

Hiei's glare intensified and Yukina looked rather shocked.

"I've loved you since I first saw you and I would do anything for you. That's why," Kuwabara gulped and made his way to Hiei and then he fell to his knees, his head bowed deeply. Both siblings were not expecting this from him either. "I will swallow my pride and do dis the honorable manly way. Hiei, as Yukina's elder brother I want your acceptance of my dating of her."

"Moron, what the hell are you doing? How can you just throw away your pride like this?" Hiei hissed, not understanding what the man was doing.

"You might not understand it now," Kuwabara explained, still kneeling. "But I hope you do get it one day. When you love someone with all your being you will throw away anything for them. I will do anything you want."

Hiei was growing confused--and he detested when he did not understand something. "What the hell are you getting at?"

"You are Yukina's most precious person. She's done so much to meet you…if she will do that it means she loves you a great deal. And since that is the case I will do anything to get your acceptance." He paused as he inhaled. "I bet she would want to be in a relationship that her brother approves of."

Yukina looked incredibly touched; her eyes were watering as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh…K-Kazuma!" She hurried over to his side and hugged him. Looking up at Hiei she pleaded with him through her eyes.

He gritted his teeth, "I detest you. I hardly find you worthy enough of her." His face twisted as if he tasted something foul, "But if you can make her happy and if she accepts you I have no say in the matter."

Kuwabara snapped up, "R-Really?!"

"But let me leave you with this; you ever hurt her, ever make her have a single doubt, ever do anything stupid and reckless with her and I will make sure that any pain you have ever felt is returned to your ten-fold. I will make sure to reopen all wounds you have ever received simultaneously and just watch as you bleed out on the floor."

The tall human gulped loudly, shaking a bit. But he steadied his voice and replied, "If I ever do do something I wouldn't even fight back. I would deserve it--I will never hurt Yukina."

"Hn." Hiei brushed past the two of them. "Whenever you two are done we need to go to Koenma's." And with that stormed out of the room, not pleased at just what had occurred.

"He really does like you." Yukina whispered.

"The longest thing he has ever said to me was a terrifying threat…" Kuwabara looked down. "Aww…man…how can I get the butthead to completely accept me?"

She smiled and nuzzled into his neck, "We'll figure out something. Now come on! Let's go tell Callie about this! She doesn't know anything!" She then paused. "I mean she doesn't know anything about this situation."

"You had it right the first time," Hiei called to her. "Now hurry it up. I want to get this thing done as soon as possible."

"Alright, onii-san!" She chirped.

"Er…yes onii-san!" Kuwabara mirrored.

"Call me that again and I will rip out your tongue."

Kuwabara squealed in fright--he had a long way to go in getting the Great Dragon's acceptance.

"Fool--I said hurry up! Don't lag behind and detain Yukina!"

"Y-Yes!!"

A very long way to go.


The brunette found herself swept up in a world unlike she's ever seen before. Everywhere she turned there were large muscular creatures with different colored skin and horns running around carrying papers and freaking over phone-calls.

Needless to say she had not expected THIS to be what the gate was.

"Erm…w-wow." She sputtered as she looked around.

"Quite." Kurama agreed. "It can be quite a spectacle but I wanted to take you in the way that one normally takes when they wish to enter here and they are still in the living. Koenma does have the power to snap a person into his office but I believe this is a good experience for you."

"What are they? Demons?"

"A type. They're ogres. They work for Koenma and do paperwork. This is basically like a company and Koenma is the CEO." He explained remembering how Botan told him some time ago.

"They're…so overworked!"

As usual she said something that he did not expect.

Most would go on about how they look or the power of the gate or basically something other then taking note on how overworked and stressed out they seemed.

"I guess so. Now, this way to this way to the office. Everyone else is probably already there."

"We're late aren't we? Just because you wanted to try and finish up the homework." She grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest, seeming very unfazed at the fact that ogres were running around her screaming about stats and other paperwork things.

"You need to get it done as soon as possible. Besides now that it is finished you can just have fun for the remainder of the winter break."

"Well…that is true. Now I can play with everyone again!!" She sang out, throwing her fist into the air.

'Play? What is she? Four?' Kurama thought with a sigh as he shook his head. As they drew closer to the door Kurama looked down at her for a moment, "Have you thought about Hiei?"

"Well yeah I have…but are you asking if I have thought more about my feelings for him?"

"Yes."

"Nope."

Green eyes blinked, "Why not? You will need to solve this soon, you understand."

"Nah. If I think about it, it will only make things confusing and it's just pointless. I don't think thinking about emotion is going to solve it."

Kurama stared blankly at her, "That makes no sense."

She puffed out her cheeks in aggravation, "Well it doesn't need to make sense to others! So there!" She then stormed past him.

'Immature little brat.' He thought in amusement as he walked after her. 'She doesn't see that not everyone can understand what they are feeling instantly--we need to contemplate them so as we can come to a level of understanding.'

'Tch, who needs to think about feelings? Feelings are feelings! You will understand them instantly in the right situation!' She then looked at the door and nodded to herself. Hiei was probably in there waiting rather impatiently for them, once they enter he would make some snappy comment and they would get into an argument that would continue on throughout the day. His red eyes which were normally so cold would be alit with a fire of sorts and she would be unable to help but be drawn into them.

'When I see him…I bet I will know!' Callie thought cheerfully, feeling rather excited to see the fire-demon.

"Here we are." Her stepbrother pointed out as they arrived at the doors. Opening them up he entered followed by Callie.

Everyone was there.

The office was spacious and tidy. There was a huge television, or at least it looked like a television, there was a desk and behind it a big cushiony-chair where the toddler was sitting, around the room was some other couches (couches that Koenma had added in when he realized just how often he had meetings with the Rekai Tantei) and sitting down was all her friends…though Hiei was standing up.

'Really, do you ever sit down?' She wondered.

'That's a stupid question.' He answered making her frown. 'You voice your thoughts so loudly I will be able to hear it easily.' The demon smirked as she frowned more. 'Predictable ape.'

Callie looked rather insulted, as usual, and glared at him. "Shut up Hiei."

His smirk only seemed to grow, infuriating her more.

"Well, now that we all are here," Koenma began, trying to look cool and leader-like on his chair. "We can get down to business." He then pointed to the brunette. "Strip down."

Instantly the child found one of the couches slammed on his body.

"PERVERTED ASSHOLE!!" Yusuke roared.

Botan hugged the girl, "Koenma--I'm just appalled!"

Pushing he couch off of him he shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that!! She's going to be checked over by one of the doctors here!!"

"Then she doesn't need to strip down here." Kurama stated.

"Err…"

"In fact she probably doesn't even need to strip down at all." The red-head continued, glaring daggers at the toddler.

He instantly burst out into a fit of nervous laughter, "W-What do you know? W-W-When you're right y-you're right! Silly me, I must've said the wrong thing."

Everyone glared at him.

"Uuh…"

"Don't worry, sweetie. He's like this to every girl." Botan comforted the clueless girl.

'But…when you do go to the doctors you're suppose to strip down. Why is everyone getting so upset?'

'Oblivious idiot.' Hiei snapped. 'Are you seriously this naïve? You honestly have no clue what he was aiming for?'

Her blank expression said everything.

He rubbed his forehead, 'My gods, you're dim monkey.'

"I'm not dim and I'm not a monkey!!" She screeched as she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"A-Anyway…" Koenma coughed. "She will be tested by the doctor here so we can see if her body has sustained any damage from the poison and to see how much longer till it's completely cleaned out of her system." He sat back up and intertwined his hands, trying to appear cool, again, but was failing miserably with a large baseball-size lump protruding from his head.

"So you're checking her health-status." Keiko deadpanned, "That does sound like a good idea."

"Puu."

Callie then looked over at the chirp and blinked, "W-What is that?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry Callie! We haven't yet introduced you two!" She held up the penguin. "This is Puu."

The brunette practically dove over Kuwabara's head for the creature. "PENGUIN!!"

"I think my ears are bleeding." Yusuke muttered as he rubbed them, the girl had one hell of a voice on her.

"Oh, he's so cute!!" She gushed as she looked at the creature.

Keiko grinned, as if she was showing off her child, and handed Puu to her. "He loves attention."

Callie giggled and hugged the creature too her, "What is he exactly?"

"He's a spirit-beast. He was born from Yusuke's energy to help him in fights," That was the summary Keiko was sticking too, they could go into more details about it a bit later. "But basically; that's actually Yusuke--that's his inner-self."

Yusuke blushed.

"Really? Aww. Yusuke--you have such a cute soul!" The brunette teased.

"Shut up you bitch."

"Why don't you make me you pig-banger?"

Instantly the others in the group began snickering, trying their best not to burst out laughing as they remembered the video.

A rattle then sounded off and he yelped.

"GOD DAMN IT YOU OLD HAG!!" He screeched. "Stop doing that!! You don't make fun of a traumatized person!"

Everyone continued to chuckle at the boy's misery--poor Yusuke, he was so easy to make fun of.

"Right, while its fun to put Yusuke down why don't we get the tests underway and then you all can go back and explain more stuff to her." Koenma then hoped out of his chair and walked past them, "Follow me please."


Myouga was a purple-skin ogre with green hair and a twisted unicorn-type horn came from the very top of his head. He seemed to have more age to him then the blue-skin ogre that was following Koenma around. The guy still had only a loincloth around his waist but he also had a white-doctor's coat placed over him as well and needless to say it was quite mismatched and awkward.

He was looking over a chart, he had tiny glasses on that just stayed on by pinching the bridge of his nose and were perfectly circular.

"Hmm…" He hummed as he looked over the words. "This is quite serious. I must admit even I am surprised that a girl this small in stature and has no demon-blood in her survived four months on this with only these mild side-effects."

Callie gulped.

"There are a few tests that need to be done to see what's going on with her body. First is a simple blood test." He picked up a rather big needle and grabbed her thin arm. "Now hold still." And then it pricked her skin and blood began to come into the empty needle.

"Ow!"

"Weak." Hiei deadpanned making her face color in embarrassment.

"Bite me." She hissed watching as the blood was drawn. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Just check for malformations--this thing cultivates in the blood system, grabbing on to cells and travels up to the brain where it attacks. However there may be blood cells that have remained infected with it and this will tell us where exactly you are in the healing stages."

Hiei smirked, "Too many big words there?"

"Shut up Hiei!" She growled, finding herself rather confused at what exactly the doctor was talking about.

"He means that the poison affects your blood and when the blood travels to your brain that's where it began to show the affect." The fire-demon explained.

"So it actually affects my blood but it actually hurts my brain?"

Hiei shrugged, "Yes."

"Alright," Myouga pulled the needle out and tapped at the blood. "We will have the test results by the end of this week. Now, will the males please leave the room?"

Kuwabara pursed his lips and Yukina touched his arm, "We'll stay with her."

The males left and leaving the girls alone with the doctor and patient.

"Alright then. In a minute I want you to take off your clothes but now I need other tests." He brought out cups and the girls all paled and looked very uncomfortable.

"Please don't tell me…"

"We need urine, stool, saliva, and mucus samples."

"…..GOD DAMN IT; EEEW!!"


Callie was on her bed staring at the ceiling unable to sleep. After the uncomfortable doctor's appointment where she not only had to give samples, she had to strip down and let allow her body to be looked all over, some private places checked, and one more drawing of blood.

She was so happy that the males had been booted out of the room--that was terrible. Luckily the girls were kind and comforted her and also promised to never tell of what occurred within that room to anyone.

Then they had gone back to the shrine where Callie was told of more things that have happened to the group and what exactly Puu was.

She was then given the news that Yukina and Hiei were actually twins. She had been rather surprised but not too shock because she had thought that's what they were from the beginning. She had even stood up and squealed that she was right and she kicked ass in her predictions.

Hiei had told her to sit down and shut up.

And then she was told that Kuwabara and Yukina were finally together and she found herself very happy that he finally got the girl of his dreams.

That's basically how her day had ended. It was an eventful day; going to a huge-ass gate run by a toddler filled with ogres wearing ties was not an everyday occurrence and she doubt that schools took fieldtrips to such places.

But now she was here, back in her bed, looking up at her ceiling with a blank look.

Hiei had a perfect face and physique. His voice was naturally low and husky. He had one hell of a rotten attitude and always seemed to put her down and called her a monkey. He was mean and cold but she had such a fun time with him and was always comfortable when he was around.

When she wasn't with him Callie almost felt empty--incomplete one could say. But it was weird; guys like Kuwabara were her type. Sweet, caring, gentle, an animal lover--she really got along with Kuwabara, they could easily be best friends.

But that's the most they ever would be.

'Really how does one go from someone like Kuwabara to Hiei? They're so opposite…ok, Hiei does have a caring side…I think.' She snorted. Callie had received her answer long ago now she was just curious as to how something like this happened. "Oh well. I'm not gonna lose more sleep out of pondering this anymore." She crawled under her covers and snuggled up.

"Hmmm…I wonder what exactly will happen with this. Kurama now knows and I think Kuwabara might as well. And that isn't very fair."

She then coughed and shook a bit, "Crap!" She cocooned herself more in the blankets. "Damn cold weather--I always thought I would love to be in a place where it snows like this!" She shuddered again, not feeling very wonderful. "Stupid cold…I better not get the flu or anything like that." Her head was buried under the covers and her wide eyes watched the snow fall outside her window.

A grin then went over her face as her body began to warm up, "Christmas is coming! I should get him a present! But what? I could ask mom but…why wouldn't I?" She thought for a moment and then remembered what Shiori had her do in return for her help the last time. "Oh…god damn it. The things people do for love."

"Yes, the things people do for love."

The girl shot out of her bed in fright and promptly fell on the ground. Staggering back up to her feet she glared up, "What. The. HELL!?"

Koenma waved, "Yo."

"Damn it! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Calm down--don't want to wake up the house, do you?"

She grumbled a bit under her breath before she crawled back into bed and covered herself up--she had just gotten warm damn it! "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I had forgotten to give you something when you were at my office."

"Please, Koenma--do tell." A new voice stated and they both jumped and hugged each other in fear.

"Sweet merciful Jesus, Kurama!" Callie hissed. "What is it with you bastards and sneaking up on me?!"

"I heard your cry and I thought there was trouble." He glared at Koenma. "What is going on?"

"Ahem, right," The prince cleared his throat before he, with gentle care, held out his palm towards the girl. "Minamino Callie, I present to you, the egg that holds your spirit beast."

It was silent for a moment before the siblings said, "What the HELL?!"


Author

Damn…there are a whole lot of Hiei/Callie fans in this chapter ooU Weird…ok. Screw it. I will always be an over-apologetic and worrisome person. You all will just have to come to terms with it.

I'm sorry if I laid the pairing on to thick in this chapter or that it was concentrated on too much on only the second chapter. I know technically it's like the twenty-second chapter but still…I hope it's not that bad.

And GASP! Callie can read?! Hiei sure is surprised! And while Hiei might not be as into literature as Kurama I can see him reading some novels and things like that. True not like Kurama but more then the average human.

And don't touch Hiei's pet monkey--he'll kill ya.

And does anyone know HOW one gets to Koenma's office when they are not dead? I mean in the Rescue Yukina arc Kurama appeared there. I'm guessing it's another portal that takes you to the front gate. Deities like Botan have the power to jump the portal without actually going through it. At least this is my guess and what I'm working with.

I also made up the Age thing as well. I thought it made sense and I liked the idea. (shrugs)

I hope you review!! They make me feel so happy and I love to hear opinions about the story! So please be kind enough!!

And yes, going to the doctor's office and getting a check up is gross and uncomfortable, so of course Callie would go through it.

Important: Many have been asking what is up with Kuwabara's 'accent'. In the dub that I watch (FUNimation) Kuwabara can slur his words a bit and make him sound as if he has a Brooklyn-accent (like Joey in Yu-Gi-Oh dub) when he talks, especially when he is angered/excited, the "th" at the beginning of the word will change to a "D". Some of you have found this annoying and I am really sorry for it--but I am just trying to stay in character…though I guess if it really-REALLY bothers you I won't do it anymore. But the important thing is you now know the reasoning's to my madness!

Oh, and thank you all so much for reading and reviewing it! It's really so amazing that you all would take your time to review it. It always means a bunch to have it happen and to hear from everyone. Thank you so very-very much!


Next Chapter: An egg, some startling confessions, the making of a new friend, another dinner…it's one hell of a busy winter break for Callie and her friends.

For the first time in Hiei's long demonic life of killing, pillaging, thieving, plotting world domination, and more killing he finds himself too flabbergasted and stunned to even sputter out a word of common sense.