OMG! I'm so fucking happy! This girl named Abby who is officially my best friend ever, hapenbed to have saved chapters one and two of my story on her computer! I present to you… chapter one! Now that I have half of what lost, I believe I can recreate everything else! A Tale of Two Demons shall live on! Screw my cousin! I dedicate this story to lovely, beautiful, wonderful, Abby! I would name a holiday after her if I had the power! WOOOOHOOOOO! BTW: If anyone else happened to have saved chapters three and four, I'd be ahppy to name a holiday after you too! I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY!

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho, I own it not. Sadly, this is true.

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Kurama resisted the urge to shield his eyes as the flashing lights inside the club nearly blinded him. Strobe lights glared in his face, mixed with smoke from a fog machine and bright colors resonating from a thousand neon signs. Take that and combine it with blaring techno music, and you've got yourself a migraine. Kurama sighed heavily as a wave of dizziness washed over him. It was going to be a long night if he couldn't learn to stomach this club.

It was just after Team Urameshi's victory at the Dark Tournament. They'd all returned to Japan ready to celebrate the return of their beloved Genkai and had chosen to go out for a night of fun. Kurama almost decided to skip the event when he found out they were going to one of the seedy clubs lining downtown Hiroshima city, but in the end, he'd been coerced into going by a rather insistent Botan (a baseball bat was involved…)

So here he was, standing in the doorway of a club that looked like something a cop was just itching to get a search warrant to. Kurama sighed and stared down at the greasy, dirty floor, wondering just how many drunks had puked on it in the last five minutes. The others; however, could not have been more excited about being there if Kurt Cobain (1) had come back to life specifically to put on a show in the portion of the bar devoted to karaoke.

Kuwabara was steadfastly pursuing Yukina in an attempt to get her to dance with him while simultaneously ducking the swings Hiei was making at his head for daring to come near his sister. Yusuke was being his usual gentlemanly self and groping Keiko discreetly, earning several blushes and savage smacks from the girl. Genkai was watching them all with a look of subtle amusement that was her trademark these days while Botan danced around with every cute boy in the vicinity.

Kurama merely stood near the club's bar, the epitome of a wallflower, watching the rest with a bored look. It wasn't that he wouldn't like to join in the fun, but Kurama had always been a rather reserved person when it came down to it. He was invited to plenty of parties by his female admirers but rarely decided to attend. If he really wanted to, Kurama could probably hang out with any number of people at their small high school, and yet, he chose to remain by himself.

Every now and then, Kurama would wonder why he always acted like such a loner when he was really a very sociable person if you got to know him. He simply did not want to let his true personality show through to anyone but his few select friends, and that was something he would never understand about himself. As if to make him feel worse about his withdrawn side, Youko Kurama was the exact opposite.

His other half was the definition of out-going. He was confident, charming, and more than a little bit sensual. Basically, he was everything that Kurama had within him but would never dare to show. More than once in the kitsune's life, he'd wished that he could bring a little more of Youko into him, but that was simply not possible. So, he resolved himself to a lifetime of watching others from a shadowy corner, talking only when it was necessary or he honestly had something to say.

His friends noticed his withdrawal, naturally, but they figured he was just a quite type rather than someone they should be trying to reach out to. The only one who really ever bothered to reach him was Hiei, and the fire demon was honestly not the best companion in the world. Not to mention that his idea of reaching out was making sure that if you died in battle, you're enemy would not get to eat your corpse afterwards. Hiei was always assuring him that his murderer would go hungry… and that was more than just a tad unsettling.

As if sensing he was being thought about, Hiei suddenly appeared at the bar carrying a nice chunk of fabric that he must have severed while chasing Kuwabara with his katana. The fire demon held the fabric as if it was a grand prize and smirked over at Kurama.

" You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself," Kurama commented wryly as he heard Kuwabara howling in the distance. It seems Hiei had gotten more from him than just a shred of his outfit.

" Indeed," Hiei answered, his smirk widening mischievously. " Unfortunately, I don't believe I can say the same for you, fox." Kurama's grin took on a hint of bitterness as he met Hiei's intensely crimson eyes.

" You know how I am about being in public, koorime. I don't suppose I'll ever be truly comfortable in crowds."

" Right. Because this is totally the kind of crowd you want to fit in with." The two of them glanced around the bar, noting several people completely passed out and drooling, as well as more than a few couples groping and slobbering over each other.

" That's a good point," Kurama laughed, " But I still feel like I shouldn't be this way. I see the people around me making friends, going to parties, going on dates, and well… a part of me wants that too." Hiei raised an eyebrow at him amusedly. " And what would you do on a date, fox?" Kurama blushed ever so slightly and replied, " I don't know. Hang out, hold hands, talk about something other than insane demonic suicide missions… that sort of thing."

Hiei smirked again and replied, " We do that every time we're alone. The only difference between us and a normal couple is we're not courting each other and neither of us is female." Kurama fought to keep his mild blush from becoming a raging glow. He hadn't realized what he was saying until it was too late. His description of a date had been alarmingly close to being a description of a day with Hiei. Kurama had never noticed before, but Hiei and him were actually pretty good friends.

He would have realized it sooner, but it's hard to imagine being friends with someone who is constantly reminding you your death is near. Hiei liked to talk about that sort of thing, especially with Kurama. He had collected centuries worth of torture techniques, special weapon uses, and horror stories about the worst ways to die. When he told all this to the other members of Team Urameshi, they politely found an excuse to slip away so they could throw up discreetly, but Kurama was so used to such things, he barely even noticed.

Because of this, Hiei had learned that if he wanted someone to discuss this with, all he need do is look for Kurama. As much time as the two spent together, because it was spent in such a chilling way, Kurama hardly ever thought of it as hanging out. Now that he was really thinking about it, rarely did a day go by where he didn't see Hiei at some point.

Kurama watched Hiei discreetly, thinking over all the time they'd spent with each other. Even with Hiei's rather gruesome obsession with death, Kurama could honestly say he had a great time with the fire demon. Despite what everyone else thought, Hiei was not as emotionless as he seemed. Sure, he had a naturally calm perspective when it came to bad situations, but he certainly wasn't fearless. And while he did have a tendency to put things in the bluntest way possible, he wasn't without discretion.

Kurama had even picked up on signs of a sense of humor on a few occasions. Hiei's uncaring, monotone way of saying things always masked his wry levity, but you could hear it easily if you only knew how to listen. As Kurama studied Hiei's face, he began to notice things about it that he'd never picked up on before, since they'd rarely been this close to each other.

Hiei actually had a very sweet face if you took the time to really look at him. His eyes, as fierce as they initially appeared, were actually much closer to resembling dazzling garnets than they were to the pools of freshly spilt blood they were often compared to. His hair was so deeply black it actually had a deep blue sheen over it that made it look shiny and impossibly healthy. Not to mention, Hiei had lovely olive skin not only on his face but covering his entire body…

Kurama stopped himself abruptly as he realized his eyes had slid down from his friend's face to sweep over his body. Kurama blushed furiously and willed himself to look away, but found it much easier said than done. Hiei's body was deceptively lithe for the demonic strength it harbored inside. His delicate musculature showed plainly through his well-fitting black clothes and gave him a menacing look that betrayed his small size. Kurama had to admit that with his fierce, powerful stance and well-toned body, Hiei did not look like someone you should mess with.

Kurama mentally slapped himself and dragged his eyes from the lovely demon next to him. It was one thing to know the face of a friend well, but when you started staring at their body… Kurama shook his head slightly to clear a few incredibly inappropriate images from his mind. What's gotten into me? He wondered. Why is my heart suddenly throbbing like this? Kurama couldn't explain why, but his heartbeat had indeed increased rapidly.

Kurama felt his cheeks burn slightly as he remembered this happening on a few occasions before. One such occasion was during one of the moments the two had together when their other friends were off at school or on a mission. They were hanging out at Kurama's house one night, since his mother was away to visit her sister for the weekend and there was no risk of her walking in and wondering who the black-haired stranger was. Kurama had left the room for a moment to go do some little chore and came back to find Hiei completely asleep on his couch.

Hard as he tried to wake the fire demon, Hiei was utterly knocked out and Kurama was left wondering what to do. He could let Hiei sleep where he was and go up to his own room to sleep, but what would happen if Hiei woke up in the middle of the night? He would look around and see nothing but an dark, unfamiliar house with no Kurama in sight anywhere. Chances are, in the panic that would surely follow, Hiei would somehow find a way to cause a small, but noteworthy, Apocalypse.

So, Kurama did the only logical thing one could do in such a situation… He curled up on the couch next to his friend. Hiei was only occupying about half of the couch, but nonetheless Kurama was practically lying on top of him. From this surprisingly comfortable position, Kurama was given a lovely view of the fire demon from no more than three inches away. This was the first occasion of many occasions that Kurama found himself looking at Hiei with emotions he couldn't explain.

When they both woke up in the morning, Kurama was expecting a barrage of very uncomfortable questions to come from Hiei, but the fire demon seemed to have not realized there was anything wrong with their position. They'd carried on from there as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, so much so that Kurama began to tell himself that there really wasn't anything wrong. He'd never addressed his feelings that night again, and, gradually, they slipped into some forgotten corner of his mind only to be dredged up again whenever he had a moment to think.

Maybe he couldn't explain his strange feelings because he simply refused to, Kurama quietly admitted to himself. It could easily be a simple case of denial. Whatever it was, Kurama had a strange feeling that it would cause him many problems before the end.

To be continued.

Yipee! First chapter is complete! Ah, I actually planned on having a bit more plot show up in this chapter, but sometimes it takes me longer to explain people's character and thoughts than I plan on. Oh well, I'll just add in everything else to the next chapter. BTW: For those of you who know my work, you are familiar with what I'm about to say. Reviews are absolutely required if you ever expect updates, and I'm super bitchy about it. Also, anyone with questions and/or comments about anything that I've written can email me if they wish and I'll be happy to answer. That's all for now!

(1) Kurt Cobain- The lead singer of the former rock band, Nirvana. The ten-year anniversary of his death was celebrated in '04 and I wore black that entire year. Anyone who doesn't worship Kurt Cobain in my presence will be shot.