Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha or Yu Yu Hakusho, so get over it!

"Well, I'm Yusuke and this is Shuichi," Yusuke introduced them. He used Kurama's human name because this was, obviously, a normal human who had no need to know his demon name. Kagome looked slightly confused.

"But didn't you call him Kurama earlier?"

"Um, I-um-uh-it's like-" Yusuke stumbled to find a suitable lie.

"It's a nickname," said Kurama smoothly. Kagome's eyes narrowed slightly but she said nothing.

"So, were you the people in the car behind me?"

"Yes, and we're both very sorry for your loss. If there's anything we and do—"

"Who's Keiko?" Kagome cut Kurama off rather abruptly, looking at Yusuke.

"My girlfriend. How did you know her name?"

"I heard you and Shuichi talking earlier."

"Oh," Yusuke answered dumbly.

"You said you were meeting her," Kagome said.

"Yah, I am, but not for a couple hours. I can wait."

"You should go see her. She'll want you to be with her," Kagome could only hope that Yusuke had a better relationship with his, 'Keiko' than she had with InuYasha.

"Are you sure that's alright? You don't want me to stay and help?"

"The best thing you can do for me now is to live a long and happy life." Kagome wondered if she was telling the truth when she said that. 'Yes,' she concluded, 'I don't want anyone to suffer like I have. I want people to be happy.' "Please go see her."

Yusuke nodded and ran out of the room. Kurama gave Kagome a questioning look.

"Is there anything I can do? I know I can't replace your grandfather, but I can pay of the debt to your car, at the very least." Kagome paled.

"How bad was it?"

"It was completely totaled. I'm sorry."

"Well, if you want to pay it back, I'm not gonna say no, but can we talk about that later. I need some time alone."

"I understand. Do you want to meet me some time?"

"Can we do it Friday of next week?"

"Yes, that will work. Do you want to meet at the park?"

"Yah, is 5:00 okay with you?"

"I'll see you then," and so saying Kurama began to head to the door.

"Wait—Shuichi! Does my mother know I'm here?" Something, an unidentified emotion, crossed over Kurama's face.

"No, your ID was destroyed in the accident. You should call her."

"I will," and Kagome shot out of the room like a bullet. She ran straight out of the hospital, past the protesting nurse who had been coming to check up on her, and all the way home. (She was familiar with the streets).

Only when she was safely locked in her room did she allow herself to cry. Curled in the fetal position on her bed, hot tears running down her face. Her arm throbbed. Her temples pulsed with a migraine. Her stomach was twisted in a knot. Kagome cried helplessly. Part of her blamed herself—if only she hadn't gone to that stupid party. Part of her blamed Yusuke and Shuichi—if only they had been more careful. But part of her, the small, desolate, unfair, immature, faithless, helpless part of her—blamed InuYasha. Hadn't he said he would protect her? Hadn't he always protected her? Why was it that now that she needed him he wasn't here? She knew she was being unfair, but wasn't this human nature, to need something to blame? Wasn't she only human too?

She was on fire. Burning with hatred for the cruel, cold world. She was burning, flaming, smoking, and bubbling with resentment, even as tears ran down her face. She was so hot that she felt cold. Like ice. Frozen solid and devoid of happiness.

It was like freezing in a fire.

'Even though I try so hard, nothing ever works out,' she thought. She was so weak. She had even asked Miroku and Kaede to help her with her spiritual energy. All she had had time to do though was learn how to mask her powers unconsciously. That was it. She was still too weak, to weak to help anyone. She remembered all those times where InuYasha had told her she was a burden. She now knew he was right.

'But I wont be a burden any longer,' she decided. 'I WILL be stronger. I wont let anyone I care about die, ever again.'

--

Hiei and Mukuro were quickly falling out of love. At first, they had been quite passionate and happy, but now things were different. With the tournament coming they both wanted to be stronger. They knew they would have to fight again. At first, it was quite casual, knowing they would fight. But deep inside they both wanted to win. Neither would yield. They would both disappear for hours at a time to train. They saw littler and littler of each other. Hiei would often go into the human world to look upon his old teammates, unseen. When he and Mukuro did see each other, they regarded one another coolly and thoughtfully. They did not look at each other with the eyes of lovers. Of course they had both been forever changed by their experience together. Mukuro was freer than ever. Hiei had learned of something worth living for. But that short time of happiness was gone now. They no longer loved their companion. The reason to live for anything but to get stronger was gone. They both felt empty. Dead.

They were on a similar level to what Hiei and Kurama had once had. Except that there was a faint sadness between the two demons. They wanted to love each other, they really did, even if they had never spoken their feelings out loud. They just couldn't love. It was part of who they were. They did not belong together.

"Mukuro," said Hiei, one night in their house.

"Yah, Hiei?"

"We should stop this nonsense. There is nothing to gain by continuing this." Mukuro knew what he was talking about and nodded. There was no need for Hiei to further explain himself.

"Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"No."

"Then I wish you a good life." Mukuro meant it sincerely, after all they had felt together, she still cared that much.

"Hn," replied Hiei, nodding. Mukuro knew that he was wishing her the same. "See you at the tournament."

"See you, Hiei." Then he left her, forever.

If you would please vote, I'm deciding other pairings. You can have, Shizuru x Kurama, Shizuru x Koenma, Botan x Koenma, Botan x Kurama, Mukuro x SesshoMaru, and if you can think of anything else, that's cool too! Voting will help me see what I want, so please don't get mad if your shipping wins and i decide to go with something else. I will probably listen to you.

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who had lovely, long, reviews. I LOVE ALL OF YOU PEOPLE! please review...