Disclaimer: If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho, do you really think I'd be writing FANfiction?

This chapter starts up the promised romance. Since I only got one vote, it's going the way that person said it should. Have fun, and please don't hate me!

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Raven stood in the tree, looking down on Kurama as the fox entered his home. Here eyes narrowed.

Damn it. He'd been attracted to the fox. Why hadn't she realized…?

Raven created and detonated a small bomb in front of her face, welcoming the heat on her skin. She needed to divert her attention from this distressing revelation. She needed to keep her mind on the job at hand.

She'd known her father had been attracted to the fox. But she hadn't realized he would be so… hot.

Raven could remember the first time a man's head had turned as she passed by. She remembered because her older brother Kenshi had been walking with her and had said something that had made the still-innocent Raven flush bright red. Something that he'd said meant Lust, not love.

"That's right," she told herself softly in Makaigo. "Lust, not love."

And she detonated several bombs in and around the fox's house.

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Kurama was in his room one floor above the kitchen when the fire started.

It began with the tiniest sound, like a gunshot heard from far away. He heard his mother scream downstairs. Next, his desk flew into pieces, accompanied by a larger explosion. Kurama turned just enough that a flying piece of wood from his desk missed his shoulder, but another one was aimed at his head. Without thinking, he grabbed it from the air and ran toward the door, dodging the largest pieces of desk.

Before he'd made it halfway downstairs he could feel the heat. Smoke poured out from the doorway to the kitchen. Kurama reached for his rose—then cursed as he realized it was upstairs in his desk. He never took his plants to school. With him he only had seeds, which would dry out before they could be any use if he tried to grow them.

Shiori was downstairs. She'd been cooking, so she was right in the fire. Kurama had to get down. He backed up and changed to Yoko Kurama so he could stand the heat before jumping down to the first floor.

The heat and smoke were almost unbearable. From the look of things, the attacker had detonated a bomb in the stove, which had immediately caught fire. The flames had then jumped to the cupboards and spread along the varnished wood until Shiori was trapped. The woman had dropped to the floor, away from the smoke, but the doorway was on fire.

So, Kurama jumped over the flames.

Shiori didn't scream when she saw him. Instead, the combination of heat, smoke inhalation, and shock made her pass out where she lay on the floor.

Kurama quickly knelt and lifted the woman. He stood and turned to the door—

—Where Raven stood, looking entirely unsurprised.

Before Kurama could move, the dark-haired girl reached out a hand. Kurama backed away, seeing the bomb that flew from her hand. He twisted away just as the bomb exploded. Had he not turned, his mother would have been dead. As it was, he fell to the ground in pain.

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Raven watched the fox impartially. What did it matter whether or not he was in the way? She had rid herself of whatever sympathy she had for him. She raised a hand. Kill them both, her father's teachings called to her.

She saw an opening. Shiori's hand and shoulder lay just to the fox's side, limp. Limp, but not bleeding. Still there. Raven could fix that.

A bomb detonated, set in a very precise place. Kurama was barely burned, while his mother lost her arm. Raven drank in the sight of the blood spilling from the woman's broken shoulder. If the fox didn't move soon, she would die.

Much better, her mother's philosophy crooned to Raven. Hit the heart, not the body. Make him suffer as you have.

Raven smiled and walked away. The fox wouldn't wake. He was losing too much blood, and would soon revert to human form. It was inevitable that they would both die.

Somehow the victory didn't bring as much pleasure as Raven had expected.

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A/N: Okay, so there you are. It's a little later than I would have hoped, but then, all my stories go that way. I write a chapter or two, and then it slows down. (I also have made a promise on another fic, so that always has to be kept…) There's the beginning of a romance, and it's time for reviews. Tell you what. I'll write the third chapter right away, and I'll put it up when I get five reviews for this chapter. Deal? Good. (I assumed you said yes, since I can't see you.)