Well, I'm VERY happy right now, because I just got another review, and from… Kyohana! Again, thank you oh so much! That means a lot to me!!! Also, darkdragonchild, thank you as well! I'm glad it's not too OOC.

Well… on with the chapter! (Also, we'll have a guest appearance in the next chapter in the intro, enjoy this for now!)

Disclaimer: I don't own this show or characters, Yoshihiro Togashi does though, oh how I envy him…

"Well, I'm no match for you in the category of stubbornness…"- Kurama to Hiei

Chapter III- Confessions and a new place.

"Brother… you haven't answered me yet," Yukina somewhat scolded. Hiei blushed lightly. She was right, it had been at least ten minutes and he hadn't said a word, just staring at his shoes silently. To be honest, Hiei was afraid of what she would say after he told her.

Yukina sighed after two more minutes. "Alright, you don't have to explain if you don't want. I want these two to move in here though." Hiei looked up at her, "Yukina-" She put up a finger, "No, I'll have them do some things, but they won't be outside. I can see it in them brother. They deserve to be inside the house. Yusuke," she turned to the wide eyed boy standing behind her and the other two.

"… Y-yes ma'am?"

"I want you to find a room for them, and if they brought any thing with them, to go and get their things as well." He nodded dumbly and led the two out the door, shutting it behind them.

Once they had left, Hiei finally spoke. "Yukina, we can't keep doing this. We need people outside as well. It-"

"Hiei, I told you, I saw it in them! They need to stay here with us. I know there's just… something about them that is going to help this place out… or at least help you out, brother."

Hiei huffed and sat down in a nearby chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "… Fine, if it'll make you feel better Yukina." She smiled and hugged him tightly. He stiffened, waited a moment, the hugged her back hesitantly. Letting go, Yukina skipped to the door, having a lighter step to it now.

"… I may be different, but I don't need a prep's pity about it."- Me

"My… she can be quite demanding, can't she?" After leaving the room, Kurama had been quite shocked. The young, aquamarine haired girl had turned from sweet and innocent to somewhat scolding and bossy in a matter of moments. He couldn't really grasp why the change had happened so quickly. 'Just… quick to change I suppose.'

Yusuke snorted though, "No, she just does that when Hiei gets some slaves that she sees it in. I dunno what it even is!" he threw his hands in the air to emphasize his point. "I think, from what Kuwabara and I heard one time, that it's just a… odd feeling she gets about certain people. That's what she said about me too, but I don' see anything."

"Maybe… miss Yukina just thought you were a nice person? Cause I think you are, so I can see why she would," Ayaka suggested.

"Could be… though I'd have to agree with you Yusuke. I don't see anything about me either." Kurama looked over himself, trying to figure out what she had meant. "It's on the inside, nii-san. The stuff inside you that she sees." Ayaka pointed to his chest, "Heart and soul, or your spirit."

Yusuke looked down at her, "You know a lot about this stuff, don't you?" She smiled. "Kinda. Onii-san is actually the one who told me about most of it, right?" She looked to Kurama, pulling on his sleeve so that he'd agree. "Well…"

"Hold that thought, we found an empty room."

"How do you know it's empty? There're so many rooms here."

"Kuwabara and I have a little system going on." Yusuke grabbed the brass knob and opened the door. "There're unlocked, and you can tell when they are by the position of the knob. It's actually kinda easy, you just have to remember which one's what. Here you go! Did ya have anything down with Botan and Koenma?"

"No, we didn't. Thank you Yusuke, for helping and all," Kurama said, smiling a sunny smile to the boy. Yusuke brushed it off, along with a tiny blush on his cheeks. "No prob, I'll tell them you're moving and I'll see you at supper then. There's some clothes for you in the dressers, Kurama. Ayaka, I'll ask Keiko to get you some too. She'll be here soon. Oh! And she'll show you around and all that to. Sayonara!"

"Bye Mr. Yusuke! See you!" Ayaka called after his jogging body.

"Yup!" he shouted back. Once his form was out of sight, Kurama and Ayaka went into their new room. It was lavishly decorated. King sized bed, with a canopy over the top. Red satin coverings and sheets, a pattern of roses on them and the pillow cases. The curtains were also a rose red shade, matching the bed. Cedar dressers and a pine wood desk off in the far corner. And then there was another door connecting to it, and a closet on the other side.

"Ayaka, I believe that door over there leads to your room. Wanna check it out?" Kurama said, pointing to the door. Ayaka nodded and sprinted over to the door, flinging the doors wide open. It was an exact duplicate of Kurama's room, only a queen sized bed and instead of red, it was a deep blue color.

"'Nii-san, it's beautiful! Come and see, come and see!" she giggled, hopping up and down like a smitten school girl. He laughed and walked over, giving the room a once over as well. "It is, this is just right for you, imouto."

She hugged his legs, seeing as that was all she could reach, and squeezed tightly. To tight though, for it sent the redhead to the floor, landing on his butt with a thump. She crawled up to him and hugged him on the torso instead, "This is so nice, aniki. I wish 'kassan were here too." Kurama sighed and stroked her head, laying down on the soft carpet.

"Me too, little one. Me too…"

"What do you mean the cherries are all gone?!"- Ayaka (explained later)

Keiko came in sometime later, saying she had to pry Yusuke away from Hiei's door, since he was talking to someone… Anyway, she brought Ayaka her clothes, they changed, and now Keiko was showing them around the mansion. Kurama had to admit, it was well made, and the designs in a lot of the rooms were amazing. Some of the most intricate details he'd ever seen before were most definitely in Hiei's humble abode.

"And this is… a green house, I guess. A different one than the one described earlier. This one is so far back in the home though, it's not very well taken care of." Looking into the room, they agreed with her silently. Many of the plants were dead, and some nearing it. Dust covered almost everything, and there even looked like there were some scorch marks in a few places…

"My… it really is a mess," Kurama muttered. Ayaka nodded, "How come no one takes care of it any more?"

Keiko shrugged, "I don't know… Hey, Kurama! You could do it!" Kurama pointed to his chest and tapped it. "Yes you! You said you were good with plants, right? So then you could bring it back up to snuff! I think there are more than just this one too…"

"Hold on, Keiko-chan! I couldn't do that, what if Hiei-"

Keiko waved at him, "Nonsense. Hiei wouldn't give a darn. This would probably perk him up a bit, seeing something pretty besides the one Yukina takes care of. You could be the mansion's gardener!" Ayaka entirely agreed. "Yeah, Aniki! You'd be great at this!"

Kurama sighed, defeated by determined, arguing girls and puppy dog eyes. What could he say? They were too adorable to resist. Then Kurama got a weird picture in his mind, Hiei and Yukina were doing the same thing, only younger. 'Where'd that come from?'

"Alright… I'll do it. But if I get in trouble, I'm going to come after you both." They giggled and brushed off the threat, and hugged him in a sisterly manner. He hugged them back and heard Yusuke down the hall.

"Yo! Time for supper kids!"

"You think you can predict what my next move is?! Look at this, I dare to swear you didn't expect this one coming: men's 100m swimming freestyle!!"- Yusuke to Sensui

After dinner, Kurama went to work right away on the small indoor green house. Keiko had directed him to supplies and such and went to the room. Looking in again, it seemed to have doubled in messiness while he was gone. But then, he thought he was just being paranoid.

He had gone to the others Keiko had talked about, and it seemed the rooms had a pattern of sorts. Each room was based on certain types of plants; one marigold with small apple trees, violets and tulips with ivy, and so much more. But the first one was his favorite; it was a room filled with medium sized sakura trees, and rose bushes spread about the room. There were even some ivy and vines added to the walls.

He had changed clothes too; there were some the previous gardener had left in the small tool shed out back. He sighed, rolled up his sleeves, and divested himself into cleaning the place up.

"Oh sht, I forgot to look how beautiful he is..."- Genkai after defeating Suzuka

Hiei was walking down a hallway sulking. Yukina had gotten to him again, and Karasu was coming for a meeting in a week or so… Lady Luck just hated him today.

Karasu had been very adamant on the phone(1), and wouldn't take no for an answer. Hiei had a sneaking suspicion that he only wanted to come and see the redhead, and then that brought on other thoughts. For some reason, he felt the need to keep him as far away from Karasu as possible, even though he didn't even know him. 'He… Yukina said he had it… maybe that has something to do with it," he thought.

He came to an abandoned hallway and stooped. Someone… was singing. It sounded sweet, the voice was smooth and flowed with the words coming out of the mouth of the singer. Hiei felt light, it made him feel as if he could just fly up into the clouds and never look back; all worries gone from his mind.

He tiptoed down the hall, silently listening to the words. Now that he was closer, he could see an open door, and could make out the words.

I tried to kill the pain

But only brought more

The voice was very soft, and had a hint of sadness in it. The voice didn't sound familiar to Hiei's ears at all, and so he peeked his head around the door…

… and had wide eyes and an open mouth.

I lay dying

And I'm pouring- crimson regret and betrayal

Speaking of the devil, there was the redhead. Kneeling down on the floor, tending to dead plants. Rusted tin watering can in hand, he stood and went to another bush, never ending in the song.

I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming

Am I to lost to be saved

Am I to lost?

To Hiei, the redheaded boy sounded about ready to cry. 'Why?' he asked himself, 'Why is he so sad?'

My God, my tourniquet

Return to me salvation

My God, my tourniquet

Return to me salvation

His voice started catching a little, but he kept singing, as if he didn't care that anyone could here him. Hiei was in awe, never had he heard such lovely singing; not even his mother or sister had sung so beautifully.

Do you, remember me

Lost for so long

Will you be on the other side,

Or will you forget me?

Now, though, a tear did fall. Only one, but Hiei could see it. It landed with a small splat on the floor, and Kurama waited a little before starting to sing again.

I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming

Am I to lost, to be saved

Am I to lost?

No his shoulders were shaking slightly, and a few more tears fell down the teen's cheeks. Hiei felt the need to go over and comfort him, but didn't. 'I don't know how, and he doesn't even know I'm here… I can't.'

My God, my tourniquet

Return to me salvation

My God, my tourniquet

Return to me salvation

He picked up a small potted flower, brushing the wrinkled petals slightly. More tears fell onto the leaves and soil, and it looked like he was about to drop it.

My wounds, cry for the grave

My soul cries, for deliverance

Will I be, denied?

Christ

Tourniquet

My suicide

Again, Lady Luck reared her head at Hiei. Kurama stood up and turned towards the door, and was surprised to Hiei standing there.

'Shoot! I didn't think I'd moved that much!' Hiei shouted to himself. Wide green eyes trembled along with his hands; the pot slipped from his grasp, smashing against the floor and onto his feet.

Now, Kurama liked to get as close to nature as possible, so… he had taken off his shoes. But he didn't seem to notice his feet were bleeding, or that he was staring and that his arms were still in the same position they'd been in when he had the pot in his hands. Hiei was in a similar position, but just the standing and staring part.

Blood started leaving his brain, and Kurama started to feel numb. He was so surprised and shocked, and the fact that he was loosing blood, that he fell back and fainted. Hiei, blinking back to life, ran over and caught him a few feet from hitting the ground.

Lifting him up into his arms, Hiei walked back to his room. 'Kami, I'm so going to kill you…'

"Any enemy stupid enough to tell you what his secret technique is should die shamefully, you fool!!"-Genkai to Yusuke

Wha la! All done with this chapter! Phew, sorry it took awhile, but I had a bit of a writers block. But I'm back, and here it is/was! Please tell me what you thought of it!

(1)- I don't know if they had phones then, but I say yes. For now anyway.

Uh, I'll probably have more of a writer's block again, I'm kind of stumped on how Kurama and Hiei should talk… Ideas?

The song was Tourniquet by Evanesence. Well, ja ne!