Author's Notes: Okay, I wrote this and didn't re-read it to check for any oopsies (Sorry. I know I'm horrible). I'm to dopped up in caffeine to even have the patience to sit still. Curse work and its free coffee for the employees. I should just come with a warning sign saying "Keep caffeine away from ME, will consume like it's candy."

Katzzar- I'm so glad to hear how passionate you are about writing, reading, and reviewing. It is an art that many take really serious, or at least I think so. Getting good review like yours are really helpful and I apreciate them tremendously. I only write for fun (cuz I know how crappy a writer I am), as do many if not all here. And because it's only fun for me, I don't expect any professional critiques, just a simple 'I like it' would work for me. It encourages me to keep writting not only for my amusement, but also for the reader's amusement. But your right, whinners should just get their shit together and except all types of criticism and accept it with less whinningness (if that makes sense?).

Just 2 Dream Of You- I own three. Broke two, haha. But how do hack secured wireless connections?

Chapter 4: Just an Average Day

The next morning, Kuwabara's eye flashed open. He was still tired. It seemed to him like he had just blinked his eyes once and the sky had turned from night to day in just one second. His body still hurt, his eye lids felt heavy. He wanted to sleep some more.

"What did you do to yourself?" A sturdy voice asked.

Unaware of whoever also occupied the room, Kuwabara jolted to an upright sitting position, startled by the unexpected voice. His muscles stung with pain from the sudden movement.

Hiei look at Kuwabara, a frown planted in his face. "What did you do to yourself?"

"What?" Kuwabara had heard the question but was confused about what his supposed guest was talking about. He traced down to where Hiei's eyes were focused on, Kuwabara's sleeve had been pulled up as far as it could go, and baring his arm and skin deep wounds that weren't there the last time Hiei was.

Kuwabara quickly pulled his sleeve down and stood up off this bed, avoiding any contact with the short demon. "It's just an arm, no big deal."

"And a stomach, and a chest, and back." Hiei voice said slightly higher.

Kuwabara kept quiet as he pulled out his school uniform from his drawer, it wasn't like Hiei to scold him for anything, especially in good intentions. And Hiei's whatever-intentions were what were making Kuwabara uncomfortable. He could only hope that Hiei would take the silence as a hint and drop the subject.

Kuwabara could feel Hiei's eyes on him, almost burning a hole through his being. By this time, Kuwabara had already put on his blue pants and jacket over his pajamas and was now pulling the hood of his sweater over his jacket.

"At least have the decency of cleaning up the blood that you left all over the bathroom for everyone to see." Hiei added coldly, he didn't like it when people didn't respond back.

Kuwabara looked up at the bathroom door that stood somewhat open. Memories of the previous day came running back, along with unwanted tears. He gulped trying to swallow the knot that had just formed at his throat. Without facing Hiei, he headed out the door. His head hurt and he wasn't really in the mood to deal with the little fire demon.

As soon as he got outside, he let himself fall against the brick wall of his apartment building. "Stupid baka." He whispered to himself thinking about Hiei's rude intrusion to his home and his body, like he couldn't feel anymore exposed. Without thinking, he punched the wall and hissed as the pain shot up his arm. He held his hurting limb close to his chest, and after a moment he looked at his hand and noticed it bleeding from the same wound caused by the mirror. He laughed at it, his recent anger had vanished.

His eyes where suddenly drawn to the figures standing in front of him. Two school girls, wearing the same colors as the ones that corresponded to his school, looked back at him with fear, curiosity, and sympathy in both their faces.

Kuwabara hid his hand from there sight, and both girls walked away, talking in whispers to one another while glancing back at Kuwabara.

He then felt like a kid again, looking up at his classmates, all gossiping and staring at the freak that had just been pushed into a puddle of mud by kids twice his size. No one cared or dared to associate themselves with him. That freak that could sense things from the supernatural.

Kuwabara took a deep breath, stuck his injured hand in his pants pocket, and proceeded to walk to school. He couldn't and wouldn't let those girls get to him.

His pace was slow, but after twenty minutes of walking he could see his school. He was in no hurry, he didn't mind if he was late. He turned the block, and bumped into a group of guys from the neighboring high school.

"Sorry." he whispered barely acknowledging them as he walked past them.

"Kuwabara, long time no see." One of the boys said.

Kuwabara suddenly halted at the sound of his voice, spun around; eyebrows frowned. "Do I know you?" he said all the meaning of the question translating in his expression.

The tallest of the group stood in front of the rest. A grin that was once on his face disappeared, obviously offended by Kuwabara's lack of recognition. "Let me refresh your memory." The high school kid took a swing at him; Kuwabara move to one side, causing the jerk to fall on the ground.

A small smile appeared on his lips, he didn't mind kicking some joker's ass for breakfast. "That was pathetic." Kuwabara said humor in his tone.

The high school kid's face turned red. "Get him!" he yelled at his crew. Two arms wrapped around each of Kuwabara's arms, his knees almost went weak as their contact sent waves of disgust. Memory of the demon from the cave flashed at the back of his eye.

An unexpected sharp blow to his stomach knocked him of his balance, but the arms wrapped around his arms were preventing him from hitting the ground.

Kuwabara laughed quietly, "Pathetic." the word slipped from his mouth. The red-faced high school kid rage rang through his ears, almost making Kuwabara laugh. Kuwabara surprised the leader with a kick on the chest before the bully could even say something witty back; his body soared through the air till finally landing harshly on the concrete floor.

The two guys, who were holding on to his arm, suddenly let go and ran like they had just seen a ghost. But Kuwabara knew why they suddenly decided to show their true colors.

"I don't need you to come and rescue me every single time I get in a fight, Urameshi." he said referring to the spirit detective standing behind him.

"I was just trying to make myself useful." He said cheerfully. Seeing jerks run away from him like scared cowards always put Yusuke in a good mood.

"Then make yourself useful and STOP." Kuwabara didn't even bother to look at Yusuke, he just proceeded to walk.

Yusuke scratched at the back of his head, not really knowing what provoked Kuwabara into such a bad mood. He began to walk after Kuwabara "I didn't even touch them."

"But you showed up."

"Why are you angry? Did you fall of your bed this morning, again?" He said poking fun to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Can't talk. Late." Kuwabara said waving Yusuke away.

"Late? Late for what?"

"School."

Yusuke stopped his stalking to mirth mockingly at Kuwabara. "Since when did you become mister perfect attendances?"

"Since my so called 'teammates' began ruining my mornings." he muttered to himself.

Yusuke had heard it, and left him with a blank questioning stare. He ran to his side, "Hey that's my job. Who's trying to replace me?" He asked childishly, elbowing Kuwabara's arm playfully.

Kuwabara backed away when the small hit sent unexpected pain through his arm.

Yusuke looked at him, and Kuwabara shoved him away to continue into the school campus. That's when Yusuke noticed the bloody bandage poorly wrapped around his hand.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Kuwabara."

". . ."

"Kuwabara."

". . ."

"Mr. Kuwabara!"

Kuwabara picked up his gaze lazily from the pencil he barely entertained himself with. His chin was on his desk, his arms sprawled alongside. "Here."

"Great!" The professor said sarcastically. "I almost thought it was my lucky day." Kuwabara rolled his eyes; no matter what he did he could never get on that professor's good side. But, today, he really didn't care.

He went further down the list till he got to Yusuke's name, paused and skipped over it, not even bothering to read it out loud.

"Forgetting about someone?" Everyone, except for Kuwabara, turned to look to where the voice had originated.

Yusuke was leaning back on the chair, feet propped up on the desk, hands crossed at the back of his head.

"Hi." He said giving a wave. The student whispered among themselves and the professor tightened his jaw.

"I don't even know why you bother to show up, it's not like you're gonna pass."

The students gasped and continued to gossip.

"Silence." The professor demanded.

"Yeah… Whatever." Yusuke said blowing him off. His eyes landing on Kuwabara as soon as the professor had looked away.

"Pop quiz!" The professor announced ignoring Yusuke; just looking at him was giving him a head ache. He handed a sheet of paper to each of his students, went over to his desk and started to work on his own paperwork.

As Kuwabara circled his last answer on his sheet and looked up at the clock. 'Five minutes, new record.' He thought.

"Hey." Someone whispered towards his direction. The girl sitting in front of him looked straight at him, a small smile formed on her delicate pink lips as soon as Kuwabara noticed her. Her eyes were a mesmerizing shade of aqua blue; her hair was silky, long, and dirty blond. "Can I borrow a pencil?" She said trying to keep quiet.

Kuwabara pondered the question for a while before turning his head around to look behind him. Yusuke was looking back at him; this was starting to get in his nerves. "Yeah." He said. "I'm done anyways." He got up, leaving his pencil behind, and went over to the professor's desk laying his paper in front of him, and walked out the door.

Yusuke gritted his teeth as Kuwabara left from his sight.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as Kuwabara got home, he checked to see if he could spot the short demon anywhere; noting that the apartment was clear, he walked in.

"Hey, baby bro."

Kuwabara twirled around quickly. "Ah… Hey sis'. I didn't see you there." He said nervously scratching the back of his head.

"You forgot to feed your cat, today." She said in-matter-in-fact-ly, resting her figure on the wall next to her.

Kuwabara, still nervously, laughed at his mistake as his eyes moved from her to Eikichi, who was cleaning her whiskers, and back to Shizuru. "Yeah, well, thanks for reminding me, sis. I won't forget next time."

She looked at him up and down, sensing something different, but not able to quite put her finger on it. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Kuwabara swallowed hard, thinking carefully about his answer. "Lunch break..."

"How did you do on your last test?" she crossed her arms, and lifted her chin.

"Decent..." his head went down, but kept eye contact, almost challenging her to a game of 21 questions.

"Decent?"

"A minus..."

"Hn..." She moved in closer, trying to get a better look. "How about your last mission?"

His controlled posture wavered a bit, "What about it?"

"How did it go?" She detected something; his body language was giving him away. "By the looks of it, I say you got your ass kicked."

Kuwabara looked away; his heart began to pound faster; nausea and a stomach ache formed at the pit of him. "Feeling sorry for me, sis?"

Her mind stayed focused on him, something about him was beginning to worry her. He looked paler then usual, even under all the black and blue marks on his face. She could spot the nasty scab near his hairline, but she has seen him with worse. Her attention was on his eyes. There was something in them that wasn't there before, something to be pitied, but she was unsure of what she could barely see.

"I'm late for work." She said looking at her wrist watch as she snapped back to reality, then looked back up at him. "The school year is almost over, work hard to get good marks. Then you'll have the whole summer to get better. "She planted a kiss on his cheek before turning to leave. "Love you, baby bro."

The door shut, and Kuwabara was left alone. He wanted to tell her what happened. Shizuru had always been there for him. Like a mother, always helping him to get over every little obstacle had ever come across. She was the closest thing he had; but even when his chance was just standing in front of him, his lips couldn't spill the secret he bore.

Kuwabara's body was tense; muscles tight, still trying to hold a strong posture even after Shizuru was long gone.

His legs automatically led him to his bathroom. Clammy hand turned on the tap, letting the tub fill up with water as he got undressed.

Some of the shame, fear, and humiliation, he had felt that night, still lingered like a restless soul.

He picked up the rock he had used last time and began to scrub at his skin. The smell of that demon on his skin was just a constant reminder of everything he was trying to forget.

Kuwabara's thoughts and memories of that night still haunted him. He wanted to erase it from his memory.

Every single time a memory of the demon popped in his head, he began to scrub harder, concentrating on the pain so it could help him forget.

He hated that demon; Kuwabara could still hear his laughter. The anger building up, again, was beginning to plague his thoughts with sights of violent revenge.

But the demon was dead, Hiei had killed him. And now that that ugly thing was six feet under, there was no way to make that demon pay.

His shoulder was bleeding; he had tarried there without noticing.

Strong, firm hand gripped Kuwabara from the arms, pulling him slightly upward. "STOP IT." an angry voice said.

Kuwabara was lightly panting; eyes locked with the ruby red ones of the fiery demon, but his mind was clearly somewhere else.

"Kuwabara." Hiei said shaking him a little.

Kuwabara's eyes tightly shut closed as he pulled away from the tight grip. "Don't touch me." He ordered.

But Hiei was never good at fallowing orders. He grabbed a towel and swung it over Kuwabara's shoulders, covering him; and proceeded on getting Kuwabara on his feet.

Kuwabara didn't struggle this time; he just let Hiei lead him to his bedroom. Hiei harshly assisted him to his bed and sat him down; gripping his arm he pulled him closer to get a better look at his wounds.

Kuwabara's body shuddered under Hiei's touch. Hiei's hold on Kuwabara's arm was strong, but gentle as he examined him.

"I want you to stop." Hiei's voice said sternly.

Kuwabara looked up at him, his anger was caught in his throat, tears threatened to come out. "Why?" he barely managed to get out. "I deserve everything that happened to me. I deserve everything I did, because I'm weak." He was now trying to wiggle his arm away from Hiei.

"If the shoe fits." Hiei said letting go.

"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?" Kuwabara said shoving Hiei out of the way as he stood and walked over to his drawer.

"Weak and dense." Hiei added.

"Why are you even here?" he said grouchily at Hiei's lack of sensitivity.

"I had a feeling you where going to do something stupid." His tone casual and mocking, like usual.

Kuwabara gave a small chuckle as he pulled his sweater over his head, and walked over to sit down on his bed. "Well how does it feel to be right, AGAIN?" he tried to sound confident but his voice was small. "Either way." He added, "You can leave now."

"Just as soon as you go to sleep." Hiei said suddenly.

Kuwabara's eyes darted to Hiei, shocked at what he was hearing. His mind scrambled to think of words, trying to avoid making Hiei angry. "Can't… I need to study, end-of-the-year terms are coming up and..."

"GO. TO. SLEEP." Hiei interrupted.

Hiei's attitude was starting to make Kuwabara nervous. "C'mon, shrimp. If you're worried about me, you really sh..."

"GO. TO. SLEEP or I'll make you fall asleep." Hiei looked serious; his Jagan eye glowed under his white bandanna.

Kuwabara gulped once, he wasn't expecting this. He scooted further into his bed, keeping an eye on Hiei. Arguing with the small demon was pointless, and he knew it. Besides he was feeling tired, his body would protest if he even tried to do anything else. He let his body flop down, crossed his arms over his chest putting up a show of protest, and before he knew it, he fell asleep.