Ugh, not being able to log in for 2 days nearly gave me a kiniption (which may or may not be spelled right), but I finally got this up! Yay 10 chapters!

Disclaimer: Still don't own YYH; everything else is me.

Hiei, however, didn't want to be found at that moment; he was busy looking for the renegade elemental. Of course, he kept telling himself that it was because he would be the one in trouble if that hot-headed human got herself into any mischief, but he wasn't positive he believed himself--but now was not the time for that.

Using his jigan eye, he had seen the girl ducking into an alleyway, which would serve as a resting place. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure which alleyway, so he was forced to run past every alley in the downtown area until he found her. After the twentieth alley or so, he nearly tripped upon a small pair of feet, causing him to swear violently. Until he realized whose size 6 pinstripe Chucks he'd kicked.

"Finally," he groused, giving her an annoyed look. "We've got to get you home before Kurama notices--"

"I," Umi announced, panting heavily, "am not moving, mon frer." Exhasperated, she yanked out her lifeless headphones and tossed them on the ground.

"And why the hell not?"

"Look," she asserted, her eyes narrowing into a menacing glare as her head slowly rose to look at the slightly surprised fire demon. "I don't know how you demons roll, but I can't run five miles nonstop and be perfectly fine. So back the fuck off."

Her words were rather harsh, considering it was her, and he was mildly taken aback. "You are such a whiner," he commented, annoyed, as he leaned against the opposite wall. For a few moments, neither spoke, but instead stared at each other.

"Yeah, I'm still not getting up," Umi decided, flopping backward onto the ground. "No way in hell I'm moving."

Biting his tongue for once, Hiei begrudgingly offered her his hand to help her up. Since getting angry with her didn't work, he figured he could try diplomacy. Umi blinked a few times, starring between his outstretched hand and his face, looking for a hint of malice or mockery. There was none; only a steadily growing expression of irritation.

"This isn't an offer that's going to last long," Hiei growled, furrowing his brow. The show of aggravation earned him a swift kick in the shin before the girl sat up enough to take his hand. In reply to her mild violence, the fire demon yanked her up off the ground a bit too quickly, causing her to trip over her own feet and nearly fall back to the floor. She simply glared at him.

"Well, are you going to stand there and glare at me or are we going to move?"

Her glare began to falter, and she glanced at her own weak knees. "Um, Hiei..."

"Is this something I won't want to hear?"

"I can't feel my legs."

Hiei had to try very hard not to throw her back onto the ground and storm off in a huff. Instead, he growled in irritation as he maneuvered the girl so she was propped up against his shoulder. The two struggled for a few moments, trying to logistically work out how they could walk, when a strange voice hissed out from the darkness behind them.

"Need some assistance?"

Both whipped around, one really because the other had, to see who had spoken. From the way the light entered the alley, they could only see his upper body. It was thin, but not scrawny, and clothed in nothing more than a red wifebeater, which accentuated the sallow pallor off his skin. He stood at about the same height as Kuwabara, but with a much younger, boyish face, accentuated by his pumpkin-colored irises. The red rings around the irises, as well as the yellow-to-crimson gradient of his shaggy, shoulder-length hair, gave them the sneaking suspicion that all was not as it seemed.

"No, I think we've got it," Umi answered, smiling. "But thanks for the offer." The case wasn't helped, of course, when she slipped from Hiei's grip and fell to the ground.

"Are you sure?" he persisted lightly, almost laughing.

"We don't accept help from strangers," Hiei snarled, pulling Umi up to her feet again.

"Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tytus, Serpent of the Flames, and I am here to retrieve the elemental." Punctuating his introduction was a shot of something from the shadows. A long, scaly serpentine tail, shaded variant hues of scarlet with splotches of yellow-orange, swiftly slid around the elemental's midsection and ripped her from Hiei's grip, dragging her along the ground toward his serpentine body.

Umi shrieked loudly before Tytus' tail wrapped around her mouth, cutting off her air supply. In reaction, Hiei drew his sword and made a motion to run at the snake-man, who made a cautionary noise.

"Now, now, Hiei," he warned mockingly, "you wouldn't want to hurt your little friend again, would you?" Just to reiterate his insult, he waved the girl back and forth in front of him.

Rage flashed through Hiei as he glared menacingly at the snake creature. As he looked past the elemental at Tytus, though, he noticed the terrified, screaming look in the girl's eyes. Panic was setting in as she was losing air, and, for a few moments, he struggled with how to utilize it. He was fully aware that she could suffer from asphyxiation, but she needed the intense panic to be able to summon some water to defeat the creature. Seeing as how she hadn't successfully been able to summon any elements thus far, she'd need all the help she could get. Although he didn't want to have to stab her again (Kurama might actually notice this time), but if she didn't do something soon, he'd have to come up with something--and quick.

And then it happened. A large volume of water materialized around Tytus' head, forming into an amorphous blob that resembled a sphere. Tytus' hands flew to his face, but to no avail; the liquid wasn't moving anywhere. Flailing violently, the snake-man hurled the elemental a few feet away and continued clawing at the water in a fruitless attempt to get some air into his system.

Umi lay on the ground, gasping for air. As he darted over to her, he noted that the girl wasn't controlling the water in any physical way--no gripping hand or anything like that. He kneeled down next to her as she coughed and gasped; sometime between these two extremes, he asked, "Are you alright?"

Eventually, she choked out, "No thanks to you."

"Well, did you want me to stab you again?"

"Did you have to stab me?"

"Yes."

"I feel like that's a lie. But let's get out of here; I can't hold this up for much longer."

Instead of pointing out that he could take care of Tytus, Hiei decided to listen to the girl. Carefully, he picked her up and ran off in order to avoid the same argument they'd had earlier.

"Do you even know where we are?"

"Do you want me to drop you and make you walk?"

"I'm just saying that we've run by that restaurant like 3 times now; that's all."

"Look, why don't you just shut up and stop fidgeting?"

"I'm trying to get my phone--"

"Is that what that obnoxious noise is?"

Umi ignored him, as she had extracted the phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Umi?" It was Kurama. "Where are you?"

"I'm...out," Umi answered vaguely, looking around to see if she could find anywhere that she'd been before to lie to him.

"Out where?"

Umi caught sight of the nearest street sign, and recognized where it was. "Oh, I'm just at Kuwabara's."

"Um, why?"

"Because I'm hanging out with Shizuru and Keiko, duh."

"Oh." It seemed like Kurama was still trying to talk to her, but she didn't really care. As she put the phone away, she poked Hiei in the side and pointed to the right. "Down that street."

"Why?" Hiei inquired suspiciously, stopping immediately.

"Because I'm telling you how to get to Kuwabara's house."

"Must I repeat myself?"

"I'm going to see Shizuru and Keiko, of course."

Hiei gave her a look before sighing, shrugging, and taking off in the direction to which Umi was gesturing. When they arrived at the Kuwabara residence, Hiei dumped her off and took off without a word. Bothered, Umi knocked on the door, glaring in the direction Hiei'd run off in. Finally, Shizuru answered the door.

"Well, hello there," she greeted. "This is a nice surprise."

"Yeah, I kinda need some advice."

Keiko popped her head out from behind Shizuru. "Advice on what?"

"How about we let her in first?" the elder Kuwabara suggested, letting the elemental in. The three sat down in the living room, and Shizuru poured a cup of tea for each of them. Sitting back, she sipped her tea and turned to Umi. "Now, what is it you need?"

"Well, you see, I'm having some man trouble," she began pensively. "I think I like another guy--not the one I'm dating. But I don't know if I really like him, or if I'm just bored with my boyfriend."

"Who's the other guy?" Keiko inquired, leaning forward expectantly.

"It's irrelevant," Umi murmured, blushing slightly. "I just don't know what to do."

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Shizuru asked, knowing the answer already. "You've got to break up with your boyfriend."

"Break up with him?"

"Yeah." Somewhere in the midst of conversation, Keiko's phone began to ring and she was currently occupied in that conversation, so she was unable to back the elder Kuwabara up when given an inquiring glance by said girl. Ignoring the side conversation, she continued, "It's the only solution. If you break up with him, you'll know the answers to all your other questions."

Umi nodded. "I suppose so."

"So how're you going to break up with him?"

"Face to face."

"Why don't you just call him? It's faster."

"Because you should break up with someone who's physically there. Only bitches and pussies break up with someone who isn't around to react," the girl informed, flopping back and folding her arms. She imagined that she heard Yusuke shriek with laughter in the background of Keiko's phone, but she chose to ignore it. "Besides, I think it shows you whether you really want to go through with it or not."

"Makes sense to me," Shizuru concurred, nodding. "So when do you see him again?"

"I don't know, I guess--" her sentence was cut off by her phone ringing. As she picked her phone up, Keiko put hers down.

"Why was he calling?" Shizuru inquired.

"He says Shuichi made him call because he didn't believe his cousin was here."

'He's really suspicious sometimes."

"Well, she is lying most of the time."

"True that."

At that comment, Umi snapped her phone shut, looking, if anything, pleased.

"What's the good word?"

"I'm going to meet him now," Umi informed, getting up quickly. "I'll give you guys a call afterward."

"Good luck," the two wished as the door shut. As soon as the footsteps were inaudible, they exchanged glances, both looking like they didn't feel like this would end well.

And the plot thickens! New chapter will be up within the next couple of weeks.