Author's Note: I got a lot of different opinions on Kurama's personality and his human name. I decided to keep my original spelling since this is based on the English dub translation of the anime, and that's the way they say it on there. (What can I say? I love it! I think it was acted and produced very well.) As for the Suichi/Youko personality situation, well, everyone's got their own version of that, myself included. Realize that mine is orchestrated in order to produce more jokes :)

Sorry this took so long- I'll spare you the long excuse list and just be grateful if I have any readers left. It basically boils down to school, work, some personal issues, Kurama being really really hard to write (even in his extremely exaggerated and comedic state), this chapter being a rather touchy and overdiscussed topic in the YYH fandom, and a recent, but extreme obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Quick disclaimer: I don't have anything against blondes. If you see a hair color joke, chances are, I'm either knocking Sues or Kurama. See if you can figure out which is which.

Chapter 4

Kurama's Love Life Is Doomed to Failure

Kurama was having girlfriend issues.

Now, this was a first for Kurama. He had never had girl issues in the past; in fact, he pretty much avoided females like the plague (voiding his mother, duh) due to the fact that certain sides of his personality did not function well under the constraints of an honest, healthy, romantic relationship. His lady classmates at school were used to it by now and gave up on ever dating him- disregarding, of course, the fan club girls, the secret admirers who left candy and flowers in his locker (the flowers, he liked), the girls who purposely failed science in order to get extra time in the lab after school and run into some "cute nerd boys", namely him, the girls who hung around outside the library with similar intentions and who hated reading, the girls who frequently bombarded him to join student council or wrestling, and the occasional New Student from America whom around which unexplained supernatural occurrences happened (more than usual).

Fortunately, he didn't run into too many of the last kind of girls. We prefer not to mention them if we can help it.

No, the girl Kurama was having trouble with was ordinary, or at least had appeared so until recently. Alicia, his prom date who had seemed so friendly and nice (and smart!) was now his girlfriend. Kurama wasn't quite sure how this had happened, or what "dating" actually meant in any context anymore, but Alicia, as most girls do, had told this to all of her friends, who had told all of their friends, who had told all of their friends, who had told all of their friends, who didn't have anyone left to tell since by that point, every female in the entire city had heard the news twice around. Kurama, meanwhile, had remained more or less inobservant as had every other guy on the planet, though he eventually came to the conclusion by using his famous logical reasoning and superior intellect. Aha! He'd suddenly realized. Alicia must be my girlfriend! It's so simple.

Being more observant than the average person, Kurama even noticed one morning that she attended his school.

He arrived at school eleven minutes early, as usual. "Hi, Suichi!" The fan club girls cooed their daily greeting as he breezed past the picnic tables outside the entrances.

"Hi girls." Suichi said back. He stopped by his locker to gather his books, which were arranged in order by first subject, then author, then publish date on the top shelf, and smiled politely at the freshmen girls who he'd become accustomed to running into outside his locker each day.

"Suichi, I really like how you arrange your books," one girl complimented politely. "I really admire how organized you are. None of the other boys have Dewey Decimal systems for the inside of their lockers."

"Thank you," Suichi answered appreciatively. He liked to take care of his academics with pride.

He walked down the hallway towards the wing which held his math class, and waved at the chemistry-nerd-wannabe girls who hung out by the science classrooms parading their cute haircuts, and bypassed them on the way to his own class.

"Hey," Alicia greeted. She had run into him in the hallway, "Can I sit by you in Advanced Placement Calculus today?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you're still in Junior High, right, Alicia?" Kurama reminded her. "Why are you at my school?"

"Oh, that. Well… See, I skipped two and a half grades of math when I was little," Alicia explained. "So I'm taking classes here in addition to my regular schedule."

"Two and a half?" Kurama pondered. "Wow. That's almost inhuman." Ha. Ha ha. Whoops, slip of the tongue. "I mean, as a figure of speech. Sort of."

"That's because I'm secretly possessed by a demon who gives me the answers in exchange for my soul. It's the reason why I'm so smart," The girl replied. "Haha! Just kidding. That would be cool, though."

"Um… yes, it would." Kurama sighed. How lucky he was to have such an understanding girlfriend! "I mean, wait, no, that wouldn't be cool! It would be most unfortunate, actually, since demons are evil plotting tricksters who would try to get you to do things you'll regret later. I'm quite serious; it isn't a good idea."

"Uh, Suichi, I was joking." Alicia gave him a weird look.

"Yes, I was just playing along," Kurama lied. He secretly wondered where Alicia got these ridiculous ideas for jokes. Maybe she was just really nerdy.

You are so unfair. Youko whined in Kurama's head.

Arrgh! Not again! Go away. Suichi ordered. You always show up at exactly the wrong time, you know that? And then you mess up my characterization, and as long as you're around, the plot turns into some kind of twisted situational comedy.

That's okay. It's funny. And if I went away, you wouldn't have cool demon powers. Youko pointed out. Or superior math skills. Which would be detrimental to you, as you have Calculus next, if I may point out.

Okay, fine, stay for calculus, just please tone it down a little, Suichi sighed. How come you only bug me when I'm hanging around with girls, anyway??

Because that's the only time your point of view takes over the rest of the storyline. Youko explained. Funny how that works, hmmmmmm?

What? How do you always know the out of character knowledge, too? Suichi wondered. This is so messed up.

I'm 1000 years old and know everything. Youko replied smugly.

Oh yeah? Then, what's the square root of negative one?

Ummmmm. Youko was temporarily rendered speechless. Score one for the human brain's social life.

"Demons," Kurama concluded, "are not beings you want trying to take over your body. Trust me."

"Wow. I never knew you were so into mythology." Alicia pondered.

"Well, I'm not really, well, it's just that… okay, yes, I really am into mythology." Kurama lied.

You just told a lie, Suichi. It starts with only one little lie. Youko commentated innocently. And then, before you know it, you become a scheming trickster with no girlfriend.

"I'll meet you in class," Kurama told Alicia hopefully. "Go ahead without me."

"Okay... Oh, wait, um, there's something else I want to talk to you about." Alicia persisted.

"Of course." Suichi stopped.

"Um, do you want have lunch with me for lunch today maybe? Or something?" Alicia asked nervously.

"Er…" Kurama didn't know how to answer. Normally during lunch he liked to sit in the school library and read textbooks for fun, try to hack into the school computer system, break into the chemistry lab to play with off-limits solutions or hang out with Kaitou on the front lawn and play manipulative mind games with the first year kids, or something along those lines. "Like what?"

"Like have a picnic with flowers," Alicia suggested.

"Um… sure I suppose," Kurama answered hesitantly, "I do like flowers". It wasn't what he expected. What kind of person arranged lunch plans this far ahead of time? A girl? It was still morning!

"Well, uh, I mean, we don't have to actually have flowers," Alicia quickly amended. "It could just be a picnic. Or we could just bring our food outside and sit under the trees, I'm really not that picky."

"It's okay," Kurama admitted. "I can even supply the flowers. That sounds great, actually.

"Okay," Alicia agreed. "But look. Before we go to class, there is one more thing I need to let you know. Let me give you a warning ahead of time: At my old school, I was the top of my class. I mean the top, in every subject, okay? Especially the math and science subjects. And I don't plan to lose that reputation despite the fact that I'm taking classes at a high school. Even to my… um, close friend."

"You realize your old school was a middle school filled with a bunch of kids who don't want to be there... but I understand. Alicia, please, realize that I'm not a competitive person at all… well, with my grades. Honestly." Kurama replied. "I just strive for my personal best." …And my own personal best just happens to be way better than everyone else's personal best. Ha.

"Well, same here." Alicia shrugged. "However, one of your friends told me that you were the top student in school. So that means we're up against each other."

"Er, which friend?" Kurama wondered idly. It certainly couldn't have been Yusuke or Kuwabara.

"The know-it-all with the dorky glasses." Alicia told him.

"Oh. His name is Kaitou." Kurama told him, "And I'm sorry you have to put up with his attitude… but he's a really smart kid. You'll probably either hate him on sight or get along famously. But most likely…. you'll hate him."

As if Kurama wasn't a know-it-all himself. (But at least he didn't wear dorky glasses.)

"He seems pretty cool." Alicia said agreeably.

"He's very competitive." Kurama enlightened her.

"Excellent," Alicia grinned. "Ha! I am so excited for calculus."

This was why Kurama sort of liked Alicia- he thought he was the only one who ever got excited for things like calculus. (At least, that's what Yusuke told him.) "Hey, me, too!"

They walked into the classroom.

"Hey, Suichi, I heard you got a girlfriend," Kaitou stated by way of greeting. "She's cute. But she looks like one of those airhead types, you know."

"Um, I'm standing right here." Alicia pointed out. "And I'm not an airhead. I skipped two and a half grades of math when I was in elementary school! My name's Alicia, by the way."

"Oh, so you're a prodigy." Kaitou admonished. "Well, that's not going to be enough for you to beat the famous all-hail-our-gracious-first-ranked-fourth-year-runing-almighty-monarch-of-the-science-department-and-honary-"

"I told you that if you keep making nasty sarcastic comments about me, then I'm not eating lunch with you anymore." Kurama interrupted him.

"How do you know I was talking about you, huh? I could have been talking about anyone, if you had let me finish my sentence. But you just assumed it was you, didn't you. You didn't even let me finish. " Kaitou brushed.

"Well, it was me all the other times," Kurama justified. "Plus, I'm the only one who was ranked first in my class for the fourth year in a row." So there.

"Whatever," Kaitou rolled his eyes. "It's not like you have anyone else to sit with at lunch."

"Yes I do. I have a girlfriend now." Kurama reminded him, suddenly glad Alicia had brought up the picnic.

"Oh, yeah. Don't remind me." Kaitou sulked.

"I didn't realize you were using 'competitive' as a euphemism," Alicia muttered to Kurama quietly.

"What are you talking about, blondie?" Kaitou snapped at her.

"Excuse me, I'm a redhead," Alicia grouched back.

"We'll see." Kaitou replied.

Just then, the teacher walked in so everyone sat down quickly in their own desks and pretended to be going over last night's homework.

"I know you all weren't really going over last night's homework, so I'm just going to start class." The teacher announced. "Did anyone have trouble with the assignment?"

Kaitou raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"I figured out the value of Pi to a hundred thousand digits this weekend." Kaitou offered. "Want to see?"

"What does that have to do with the homework?" Suichi challenged him from across the room.

"Nothing. I just thought I would tell everyone." Kaitou shrugged.

"Erm, thank you, Kaitou." The teacher sighed. She was really looking forward to next period, in which she taught Algebra I to freshmen who, though immature, were still somehow not as obnoxious as these kids. "Now, please, let's discuss the homework."

As class continued, everyone relaxed into their usual lazy routine of sketching doodles in the margins of their notes, or counting clouds out the window, depending on the student, except for the usual suspects, the nerds, who of course paid attention. Alicia now proved herself to be a part of the latter group.

Meanwhile, Kaitou passed Suichi a folded up piece of paper (whilst still somehow taking the lecture into consideration and copying notes). Kurama unfolded it at his desk; since he already was pretty familiar with today's content, he didn't have much to lose by reading it during class.

It was a puzzle, scribbled in ancient Babylonian symbols which Kurama recognized but couldn't read. Clearly, it was a coded message that was meant not to be intercepted by anyone else (several students had certainly looked at it as they passed it across the room) save someone who had the brainpower to figure it out. It was a good thing Kurama was so clever- he immediately devised an organized process that would eventually lead to learning the significance of the message. Acting fast, Kurama started writing his own notes on the paper...

Why can't you write notes like a normal person, Kaitou?? I can't read this! -Suichi

Then, he passed it back across the room to Kaitou.

A few minutes later, he received the reply:

It was a secret code for you to figure out! Obviously. Anyways, it said, "Want to hang out today at lunch?" Which you would know, if you could read Ancient Babylonian.

Kurama felt rather insulted- he wasn't that old. Although, now he kind of wanted to learn Ancient Babylonian.

I can't, he wrote back, I have plans.

Kaitou's response came quickly. Then you don't want to harass the lowerclassmen with me today?

Suichi scribbled I'm having lunch with my girlfriend. And she's a lowerclassman

Actually, technically she's a junior high student. But suit yourself.

The rest of the class went by quickly. The only eventful thing that happened was Youko finally figuring out that the square root of negative one was a number that didn't exist. He was in a sour mood for the rest of the hour and hung there in a kind of defeated silence, much to Suichi's triumphant jubilation.

At lunch, Kurama met Alicia outside and they walked out into the school courtyard with their lunches. They had a captivating discussion about polynomials, but the subject grew tired eventually. Alicia decided a thorough criticism of the school uniforms was a good subject change.

"What kind of school makes their girls wear red and their boys wear pink?" Alicia wondered.

"It's not pink," Kurama defended automatically, "It's magenta."

Alicia looked at him skeptically. "Er, okay. But still. I mean, magenta? And they don't even give the pink ones to the girls, either. I wonder who designed them."

"They were created by a controversial designer by the name of Ayame Somha." Kurama informed her, pulling a bit of trivia out of his endless bank of knowledge. "Maybe that wasn't the best decision on the part of the school board, but as far as I'm concerned, these uniforms are fairly harmless. They're functional, at least."

"Um… okay." Alicia disagreed, however. The uniforms were anything but flattering. (Somehow Suichi looked good in it anyway. Somehow the funny-looking hair managed to counteract the odd clothes- in a way that the laws of logic couldn't really explain.) She'd always saw Suichi as being sort of fashion-challenged, judging by the rest of his warderobe, so she forgave him. "Nevermind. Let's talk about you! Do you have any hobbies?" Alicia asked Suichi brightly.

Kurama had lots of hobbies. However, somehow "collecting flowers and hanging out with my mom" didn't seem very impressive when talking to a girl. And he obviously couldn't tell her about hunting demons. He tried to think of something impressive to tell her that wouldn't make him sound weird.

"I like to… hack into computer systems occasionally." Kurama finally answered lamely.

"That sounds fun," Alicia agreed, "but really. What do you do in your spare time? Like, with your friends? You'll have to bring me along to hang out with some of your friends next time! Well, besides Keiko Yukimura, I mean. She and I don't get on very well. And I don't care for her boyfriend much… he's kind of obnoxious."

"Yes, he is," Kurama admitted, "but he's also one of my friends. Although, I do know what you mean when you say obnoxious."

"That's fine," Alicia told him considerately, "as long as we don't have to hang around him too often, I'm okay with it."

"I understand that he can be hard on one's nerves sometimes." Kurama told her understandingly.

"Thanks," Alicia smiled.

They sat in silence for a few beats, taking in the soft sunlight that filtered through the rapidly darkening, foggy sky. A storm was coming on eventually, but there was no rain yet, so the air was still pleasantly cool. Kurama gazed around the garden, wondering idly what breed of hibiscus, clinging to the gates, that the school had managed to get their hands on. Wasn't the climate too cold for hibiscus here? It looked nice, in any case.

Oh, that? It was planted there by me! Youko announced cheerfully from the depths of Kurama's brain, finally resolved of his formerly sullen mood. Of course hibiscus doesn't grow in this climate. It's Demonic Hibiscus. If you pick the flowers, they'll strangle you.

Suichi was slightly annoyed that Youko had regained his chipper mood. He'd been hoping for Youko to remain quiet a bit longer. When could you have possibly had time to plant those?

For your information, I planted them there fifty years ago, when the school was built, before you were born, Youko snapped. Nobody ever figured out that it was me! I just thought they would look nice, plus, you never know when stuff you randomly plant will come back to help you later. In the middle of a battle or something. It could happen.

For god's sake, Youko, this is a school! Suichi cried, feeling frustrated at this most recent example of Youko Kurama's ridiculous tendency to plan complicated things way too far in advance, Kids could die if that plant attacked them!

Sure, and they'd need someone adequately trained to come save them in a crisis. That's why we have spirit detectives, right? Youko responded smartly. But it serves those stupid kids right. I mean honestly, picking flowers.

You are evil, Suichi accused.

Thank you, Captian Obvious, Youko barked back.

Argh! Look, I'm just going to ignore you for the rest of the day, since you won't shut up. See how you like that. Suichi threatened.

"Suichi?" Alicia asked him, staring at Kurama with curious, sympathetic eyes. "Are you all right? You were doing that thing again where you just stare off into space, like you can't hear me."

"Sorry."

"Listen. I need to ask you something," Alicia continued gently, "That thing you were going to tell me about during prom? I mean, this happened at the dance, too, the stuff with you spacing out, and you wouldn't talk about it then, it seemed to upset you when I brought it up… but is it something you want to talk about with me? I'm willing to listen. That's what friends are for. And also Love Interests."

"It's okay," Kurama said, managing a smile despite the usual ongoing battle raging in his head. "Don't worry. I'm fine now."

Alicia's expression remained serious. "I'd appreciate if you'd confide in me, even if it's just a little. I feel like we won't be able to be together for much longer if we can't be more open and honest with each other," she said, making Kurama feel extremely guilty, possibly on purpose.

"I'm sorry," Kurama apologized again. "Like I said, it's difficult for me to talk about."

Since when did having a girlfriend mean he had to confide in other people about his thoughts? This went against the most basic rule that governed Kurama's life- never, ever confide in other people. Especially not people who are possibly nearly as smart as you.

But Alicia looked really hurt. Kurama wondered if she was faking. He supposed he ought to have a talk with Keiko about this girl's powers of manipulation so he'd be better prepared to fight her next time. No, not fight her- converse with her! Have a discussion with her!

At the moment he was drawing a blank. He couldn't think of what to say. Kurama didn't have as good of people skills as everyone seemed to think. (Then again, the people who assumed this, such as Koenma, mostly just used this in comparison to Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei, so it didn't mean all that much.)

"Look, I don't know why you don't want to talk about this. You wouldn't shut up when it was polynomials or fashion we were talking about," Alicia said defensively.

Kurama sighed. He wished he had someone to teach him to talk to girls. He didn't really have anyone he could talk to about things like this. Life was hard when Hiei was the only person you usually told your troubles to. It wasn't as though he could ask his mom, either; he didn't like bothering her with his demon problems. Not like she had a clue what was going on in his life, anyways.

Should I tell her? He thought helplessly to… himself.

I thought you were ignoring me, Youko responded haughtily.

Ummm, well, I was talking to my inner morality, not you, the human voice corrected, but since my inner morality apparently doesn't have an active personality, I guess you'll have to do. Please help me?

So, we're on speaking terms now, is that it? Youko challenged in a fake hurt voice. In theory, he shouldn't have an active personality, either. See how much you like it when I'm not here to help you with love advice! God knows you need it!

Fine, I'll continue ignoring you, Suichi sighed.

Wait… what? Youko asked, once again speechless. (Twice in one day!)

"Alicia," Kurama said slowly, "I have a lot of very personal problems that are very hard for me to talk about with other people. If it's this important to you, then I'll tell you, but most people wouldn't even believe me."

"Go on," Alicia urged him.

"I think I may be possessed." He told her.

"As in, possessed by a ghost?" Alicia guessed half seriously.

"As in, possessed by a demon," Kurama corrected. "Sort of. Really, I am a demon, I guess."

"Don't be ridiculous. You aren't that nerdy." Alicia told him.

"I mean it." Kurama insisted. "I have supernatural powers. I'm more than a thousand years old. I can control plants be exerting my spirit energy through them. Look, I can turn into a fox, okay? A mythical Kitsune. A real, live one."

"You can turn into a fox?" Alicia looked skeptical. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my power to turn into a fox!" Kurama told her.

"A fox. A real, live one?"

"Yes," Kurama answered.

"Meaning you could demonstrate right now? At this very moment, you could turn yourself into a fox?" Alicia asked hopefully.

"Um, no," Kurama responded, feeling kind of stupid.

"So you can turn into a demon fox, but you can't prove it," Alicia grumbled. "I see how it is. Thank you for enlightening me."

"I'm sorry! It's just that the situation has to be right. I've only ever done it before with the help of a spell or a potion made to change my form," Kurama explained, "Or a lot of fog or smoke special effects."

"A spell. Or a potion." Alicia repeated the words skeptically. "Because it's magic. God, this is really weird."

"Um… sort of, yeah, I guess," Kurama decided. "Technically it's demon energy, among… other things."

"Demon energy," Alicia repeated.

"Yes." Kurama answered. He'd expected her to be at least a little more receptive to this information. Didn't she ever notice the crazy supernatural things that happened around town? Was it so hard to believe he was a piece of it? Then again, maybe weird supernatural things only happened at Yusuke's school…

He couldn't think of any other way to persuade her- Kurama wasn't very good at persuading people, except when he was right about a specific problem. In fact, he hadn't had much practice, none of his friends were very social either, with the possible exception of Botan, and even she had moments of speechlessness every now and then. It was really a horrible crowd to learn social graces from, considering that the rest of them were even less tactful than Kurama.

"I also… have superpowers?" Kurama offered hopelessly.

"Oh, yeah, Kaitou told me. But anyways, everyone here has superpowers. This is Japan." Alicia pointed out. "Why were you so out of it at the dance? I just don't get it," Alicia continued.

"Well, it's hard to explain, but even though I can only change form sometimes, there's still a fox demon inside of me all the time."

"Like a possession." Alicia connected.

"Yes," Kurama agreed. "More or less. So of course, it affects certain aspects of my personality."

"Like make you stare off into space for ten minutes." Alicia reminded him.

"See, there are times when I have to, er, respond to the, er, voice, if you will, inside my head that belongs to the fox. His name's Kurama." Kurama explained. "That's why Yusuke calls me that. Anyways, I have to work hard to keep the voice in my head quiet when I'm with other people, like you."

Alicia stopped looking skeptical. In fact, she looked sort of concerned. "Suichi. Listen to me for a minute. I don't want to alarm you, but I feel like this is too important for me not to say. I mean this in the most concerned, caring way: I think you should consider getting psychiatric help."

"Oh, I'm not schizophrenic," Kurama reassured her. "People just think that because I have private discussions with my alter-ego and I track down apparitions that no one else can see."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It went downhill from there. Kurama should've known the relationship was too good to last. In the end, they broke it off.

Only later did Kurama realize he'd just been dumped for the first time in his life. He was kind of offended.

Yusuke and Keiko took Kurama out for ice cream to make him feel better. They brought Hiei, too, who attempted to be sensitive to Kurama's feelings by not making as many snide comments as usual. Other than that, though, Hiei mostly just sat there and picked at his Rainbow ice cream, which was not only a horrible color, it tasted pretty disgusting. He decided not to take recommendations from Yusuke anymore and just stick with classic vanilla.

"I explained to her perfectly clearly that I was not schizophrenic. I simply possess an alternate identity, magical powers, and a second soul who influences my actions." Kurama said in an objective, flat voice.

"Kurama, think for a minute how that sounds," Yusuke offered helpfully.

"All right. I understand," Kurama admitted. "But after that. She had no right to accuse me of being noncommittal. I don't I have fear of commitment; I just give things plenty of forethought. I would never do something without thinking it through first. She's clearly mistaken there."

"Says the guy who took twenty minutes plotting out the most efficient and direct route to the ice cream shop from his house, because god forbid we take the longer one," Yusuke pointed out.

"Which, if I may point out, was neither by that point," Keiko added. "It only took us ten minutes to walk here overall."

"Actually, it was twelve minutes and forty seven seconds," Kurama grouched, starting to lose it at this statement.

"See? We could've just walked here in less time than it took to figure that out," Keiko pointed out gently.

"Yeah. I think you're obsessing about this," Yusuke added. "Relax."

"Don't be rediculous. I don't obsess."

"Um... yeah, you do."

"He's just mad because he got dumped by someone not as pretty as him," Hiei offered. "And not as smart as him."

"I'm not angry," Kurama insisted calmly. "I'm fine. Just fine. Actually, let's leave it at this. I feel much better after this outing. I'm ready to walk home now."

"Oh, don't give me that crap." Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Okay, you're fine, but I'm not letting you walk out of here saying you're fine until I have your word that you're not going to turn around and go on a unsuppressed psychotic rampage on us later."

Kurama sighed. "Don't be rediculous. I told you I'm no longer angry."

"Oh, by the way, Alicia changed her Facebook status back to Single." Keiko said slyly.

"That doesn't bother me," Kurama said stiffly.

"I heard she's going to ask Kaitou to the spring dance." Hiei offered.

"Oh gawd, not another one," Yusuke moaned. "Wait. Hiei, how do you know that?

"Because I'm mysterous. That's how."

"I don't care. She can do whatever she wishes," Kurama told Hiei.

"I heard she's transferring schools because the math program isn't competative enough for her," Yusuke added.

"Keep trying to set me off. It won't work."

"Kurama, if she doesn't appreciate you enough to work with your personality despite your issues, then she doesn't deserve you," Keiko offered, being more helpful now.

"Fine. I admit it. I'm angry. But I'm going to bury all of my feelings deep down and ignore them until the next time I... need to kill something, I supopose." Kurama said stubbornly.

"Maybe that girl was right about you maybe getting psychological help."

"It probably wouldn't help. There aren't very many demon therapists," Hiei pointed out. "And they are rather uneffective. Especially when you're forced to take therapy with them as a part of your... um, hypothetically."

"I promise not to turn around and go on an unsuppressed psychotic rampage," Kurama relented. In the near future, that is. "Now can we walk home?"

"Okay," Yusuke agreed. The four of them left the shop and walked out into the street. When they got to his house, Kurama's friends left him with parting words of comfort.

"He'll be fine. The next time we run into a batch of demons who Kurama can attack, fight, kill, and manipulate to take out all of his energy on, he'll feel tons better." Hiei told Yusuke reassuringly.

"I know. Koenma totally needs to give us another mission, stat," Yusuke agreed.

Kurama knew they both meant well, but he was still planning on spending the next few hours brooding alone in his room. He really needed to practice brooding anyways to get his skills back up to par.

Youko, on the inside, was melancholy as well, but his ego was less fragile. After all of the day's events, his self consolation was really the only one that helped.

Oh, look on the bright side! Who's still the prettiest, smartest, most popular student in the class? Not Alicia, that's for sure!

Next: Can Kurama get over his issues? Will Yusuke stop being bored? What's up with this severe lack of supernatural conflict? Will the plot progress? Will Kuwabara get more page time? Will our heroes get over themselves? Stay tuned, and the answers will be revealed!

Please expect a delay, this time, however. It'll be up, I promise, but it may take some time! Oh, and once again, I really appreciate all of you readers who have stuck around, left reviews, or given my story a read. Thanks.

-s