Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the show Yuyu Hakusho.
"Does he ever smile?" Yukari asked in a whisper her lips centimeters away from a certain red heads the tint of pink on his cheeks noticeable only by the other who shared the room with them. She used her hand to cover her lips to prevent from any lip reading as if she were whispering some kind of huge life threatening secret. The red head could only smile a bit before looking over toward a certain fire demon sitting on a nearby window ceil. Hiei raised a suspicious brow at the two who were now eyeing him with moderate interest. Yukari had only been with them for a few days now, but in those few days she had managed to become close to the fox. They had bonded over something that had to do with Kurama's school work. The human girl mentioned getting a degree in 'mathematics' and since then the two had been inseparable, always talking over some big idea or tough equation. It seemed that these days if you wanted to get a hold of Yukari you only need to check three places the temple that belonged to Genkai, her school, and Kurama's house. The young woman would undoubtedly be in one of those three places. Today they seemed to be talking about something else unfortunate for Hiei who seemed to be the main topic for their discussion. "On occasion, but it's a rather rare occurrence" Kurama spoke up as Yukari slowly pulled away, putting a bit of space between herself and the fox. "Oh, that just makes me want to see it more. Is it like a creepy threatening thing or is actually rather nice and totally surprising?" she said ignoring how Hiei continued to eye the two of them with mild suspicion. Yukari and the fox had long since taken their eyes of off him, but he knew very well that they were still speaking about him. "Hm, I would say on the surprising side, but defiantly still a bit rough around the edges" Kurama answered and watched as Yukari's lips curved into the same pleasant and cheery smile she always seemed to be able to put on. "I want to see it" she said simply, determination shone brilliantly on her face. Kurama chuckled a bit at how easily determined she became over such a small, but almost impossible goal. "Then I wish you luck" he said a light smile on his lips as he watched Yukari turn her attention toward Hiei once more.
Hiei frowned at the two of them about to open his mouth and say something, but at that exact moment the other two men walked into the room. "You two again? Jeez, just move in together already" Yusuke spoke up watching with amusement as Yukari lit up bright red and Kurama kept a cool face. It was plain to Yusuke and Hiei that he was only hiding his embarrassment better than Yukari. "We're just friends" Yukari muttered turning her embarrassed gaze away from everyone in the room, the floor was very interesting at this exact moment. "You okay Yukari? You seem a bit red, catching a cold?" Yusuke spoke up only to have a cup thrown at his head. Yukari muttered a few incoherent threats ignoring the laughter of a few others in the group. "Anyways, Yusuke, what did Koenma wish to tell us?" Kurama asked, all eyes slowly fell onto Yusuke as the teenage boy sat up. "Nothing too important, some more lower ranking demons made it through a portal. They are currently targeting Yukari as far as Koenma can tell; apparently, they gave her apartment a visit" Yusuke said shrugging his shoulders a moment before his face took on a look of remembrance. "Oh yeah, almost forgot. Hiei, the toddler wants you to train Yukari…well, actually we all are but, he figured since you're both so close to fire…" Yusuke trailed off when he saw the deadly look that was currently being thrown at him by the smaller male. Yusuke chose to not finish his sentence and slowly turned toward Yukari who was currently sporting the look of a devil. A small laugh slowly began to escape from Yukari and Yusuke slowly turned away from the woman looking to Kurama with a questioning look. "Has she lost it?" he asked but, Kurama chose not to answer only gave a small knowing smirk of his own. "Woman your laughing is annoying" Hiei finally spoke, glaring at Yukari whom had yet to stop snickering about the whole predicament. Yukari slowly stood up walking half-heartedly toward the male until she stood leaning above him. "Does that mean, I love your laugh and I'm looking forward to our time alone in the language of Hiei?" she asked the cheery smile on her lips as she raised a hand to poke his nose. The hand though was quickly slapped away before it even made contact. "I refuse to teach you anything" he said sending a cold glare toward the woman, but she didn't blink away just kept smiling at him, in the next second Hiei was gone from the room. "Don't worry, he'll come around" Yukari heard a voice from behind her, she slowly turned to meet the voice that belonged to none other than Kurama. Yukari only shrugged her shoulders a bit before saying that it didn't bother her. "But man did you see how pissed he was" Kuwabara started laughing a bit loudly, from there Yukari rather enjoyed the rest of her night.
The next morning Yukari was up and getting ready for the day before the sun was even up, she had early morning classes today. "Ah, need to hurry" she muttered under her breath running from the temple, only to be reminded that Genkai had a stairway that would make the stairway to heaven jealous. She starred at the staircase for a moment before she heard a masculine voice that made her jump in surprise. "Oh jeez, please it's too early to be sneaking up on people" she said gripping a bit at her chest, her heart beat rapidly against her chest at the sudden surprise. She slowly turned her attention toward the smaller fire demon who was currently starring at the staircase with a rather scary look on his face. "Are you going to answer me or just continue to stare with that dumb look on your face?" he spoke and Yukari could only mentally laugh a bit 'was this man always so pissed off?' It was then when Hiei turned his cold gaze toward her that she realized she had no idea what he had asked her. "Um…yes?" she said in a hesitant and questioning manner. She had no idea as to what she just agreed to. She eyed him for a moment as he turned toward her and grabbed her wrist with a bit more roughness than was needed. In the next second, she was thrown over his shoulder with his arm wrapped securely around her waist before she could question him he took off toward her school. The wind ran through her hair, rushed by her ears, and the landscape around her was nothing but, a blur in her vision. In a time frame that felt less than a minute she had arrived at her school and thanks to Hiei was early. Hiei set her down on the ground in front of her school gates, the few students that were there gave a questioning look to the strange entrance Yukari had made, but she chose to ignore them. Yukari could only look around her school in a strange kind of daze as if she were seeing her school for the first time. It took a few more seconds for her to realize where she was but, after a few seconds she gave her cheery smile. "Thank you so much Hiei" she said happily, she was glad she was able to make it to school on time. Her companion didn't respond to her 'thanks', but merely turned away from her muttering about how he would be there to pick her up after her classes. "Oh no it's fine. Kurama is coming for me today" she said waving happily behind Hiei before he flitted away. The short haired girl turned back toward her school a silent prayer to do well on her exams running through her head.
In a matter of hours her school for the day was complete and she left the grounds with a smile on her lips, she felt as if she had done well on her exams, they were easy enough in her opinion. "Alright, time to go home" she said to herself looking around to make sure that no Kurama or Hiei were in sigh. 'Good' was the only thing she could think of as she turned the complete opposite direction of Genkai's temple. She had told both boys that the other was coming to get her; honestly, she was quite surprised that she was able to get away with something like that. She had to hurry though it would only be a matter of time until the two of them had realized what she did. She ran all the way home completely unaware of a man watching her rather intently. Yukari soon made it home and she could only smile triumphantly as she swung her apartment door open as she silently declared to herself 'made it'. Yukari had made the trip back to her apartment for one thing and that was her mother's ring…a gift left her by a family that had abandon her as a child, but still she couldn't bring herself to part with it. She ran into her bedroom trying, stopping in front of her dresser. She quickly opened the top drawer and rummaged through it until she found a small emerald ring. "Thank goodness" she said happily, when she had heard that a few demons had been into her apartment she couldn't help but, worry about losing her ring to one of them. She looked over the ring for a moment and then quickly shoved it into her pocket. She turned to make a speedy escape from her apartment but, before she could even exit her room she ran face first into a rather hard chest. "What do you think you're doing?" she heard the voice say, the voice though sound liked "Kurama?" she said slowly looking up. Yukari's slightly freighted orange colored orbs made contact with a pair of slightly angered green colored orbs. She sighed in relief thankful that it was only Kurama whom had found her. Back at Genkai's temple, Kurama came walking into the main room where the rest of the team always seemed to gather. Hiei looked up waiting to see Yukari stroll in behind the fox with that goofy grin and dumb look she always seemed to be sporting, but she never came. "Fox, where is the woman?" he asked watching as Kurama raised a suspicious brow at him. "She said you were coming for her today" Hiei responded while opening the window that he had just been sitting beside. "What is that idiot thinking?" Kurama heard Hiei whisper, probably a comment meant more so for himself than the others around him. In the next second Hiei was gone leaving behind a slightly confused Yusuke and Kuwabara and a very worried Kurama. "I would suggest that we follow him" Kurama said while turning away, the other two boys nodded in agreement before hurriedly following after Kurama.
"K-Kurama…?" Yukari spoke looking at the back of her red headed friend with light suspicion in her eyes. He had told her to follow him, but he didn't mention where they were going or what they were going to be doing. They were currently in the woods that were near a local park, the woods were by no means dense and it wasn't someplace she would get lost in, but it seemed odd for Kurama to lead her out here. Kurama turned around for a moment and rested his hands gently on her Yukari's shoulders. "Just a little bit further, alright?" he said, a gentle smile forming on his lips, said smile only grew when he noticed the dust of pink that spread across Yukari's cheeks. He wondered how far he could get with this, the girl before him seemed to have a liking for the form he had taken on. He leaned forward a bit until his nose gently touched her own, but to his surprise she quickly turned her head away. "Please don't" she said in a gentle tone of voice, her cheeks still stained a light pink color. Kurama raised a hand, had every intention of forcing the female to look at him but, in the next second faster than either of them could blink Yukari was being pulled back and the imposter Kurama was taking a leap back to avoid being killed by a sword. Yukari found herself seated on the grassy floor starring up at the back of a certain fire apparition who had just positioned himself between Kurama and herself. "You stupid woman, I can't believe you fell for this act. He doesn't even smell like the fox" Hiei turning to yell at Yukari instead of focus on the imposter, it was obvious he had deemed the demon weak. For a second, Yukari could only stare in shock at Hiei, this was the most he had ever said to her since they met. "Hey, that's not fair! I can't tell the difference in smell between two people!" she yelled back at him while slowly getting to her feet. "Every demon knows how to use their sense of smell" he growled out watching as she approached him. "Well excuse me if I was raised here in the human realm and know nothing on how to be a demon" she quickly retorted raising her hand and poking her index finger into his chest accusingly. Hiei was just about to make a move push Yukari away but, the demon they had been ignoring had finally gotten annoyed with the two and went in for an attack. So, instead of pushing the short haired girl away from him, he pulled her into him and skillfully dodged the attack. "Hey! We were having a conversation here!" Yukari shouted toward the demon poking her head out from where it was hidden against Hiei, her cheeks a bright pink color. The imposter could only laugh at how bright Yukari's cheeks were.
"And here I chose this form thinking you would go along with anything I wanted. Jeez, did I make the wrong choice?" the demon said shifting into a more grotesque form, the new form looked closer to what a demon normally resembled in all the old tales you heard. "Hey, any girl would blush being that close to a man" Yukari muttered turning her embarrassed face away in a terrible attempt to hide her red cheeks from both men. "I hope Hiei kicks your ass" she muttered under her breath her gaze still downcast. "Oh please, as if that pipsqu-" the demon started but, was quickly cut off when Hiei disappeared and reappeared right behind him, his sword caked with a bit of blood. Yukari watched in moderate disgust as the man head fell from his body and rolled a few feet away from her. The headless body fell to the floor and painted the green colored grass with a crimson color. The other boys soon arrived on the scene, but they quickly discovered that they were not needed. Kurama quickly began checking to make sure Yukari was alright while Yusuke and Kuwabara went to talk with Hiei about what happened. Yukari gave a glare toward Hiei when he mentioned her being stupid enough to fall for the imposter and then turned bright red when he mentioned the almost kiss with Kurama. "Hey! They don't need to know that!" she yelled at him while quickly picking up a stick and easily tossing it at the small fire demon, Hiei easily side stepped the thing. A smile pulled at his lips for a split second before his face returned to its normal cool and distant look. In that second though, the world seemed to stop for the young Yukari. It was only there for a fraction of a second and it seemed more like smirk than a smile, but Yukari was sure that it just had to be a smile. It was like an unpolished diamond a bit rough around the edges, but still a thing to marvel at.
