I'm really sorry this took forever to write. I had no time, and I"m going back to school tomorrow. Was supposed to go today, but I have too much stuff not packed, so tomorrow morning. I promise you, when I am settled in my happy little room, I will work on my JinOC story, and hopefully finish it tomorrow night. Classes start Wednesday...

About this chapter...a bit more fluff, but not much happens, save relationship bonding, so it's long and...I guess slow...I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do! I'm putting action in the next chapter, maybe training or something. I like the fluff, but I need the story to go somewhere as the relationships do. Also, should I add HieiAyame in here? They're either going to end up as friends or as a couple, so it's not too big of a difference. It's not like whether or not they should hate each other or love each other, though that would be fun too...

Darn it! Help me! I'm going to need it with a new semester coming around. This is either going to be a much longer story, or I'm making a trilogy...Read and Review, please send me a vote or idea or something. And thank you for coming back to read this, though it's been so long. I'm sorry! I love you! And I still don't own anything.

Chapter 12

Hiei rolled his eyes but contentedly ate his ice cream. The fox and his girl were having a debate over who was the more skilled kitsune. It was pathetic really. Kaori would rant about all the friends she'd made, and Kurama would answer in a calm, level voice that would make Kaori insane. It was sad. Kurama would win, for Yoko was known for his seductive ways, but Kaori wanted to protest, her pride on the line.

And Ayame. She just sat and chuckled at the whole thing. At least she realized how pathetic their little game was. Yusuke must have wandered off to find Genkai, and Kuwabara was no doubt trying to woo Yukina. This left Hiei alone with Kaori, Kurama, and Ayame. This would be so fun.

"I got you to fall in love with me!" Kaori exclaimed. Kurama smirked.

"I got you to trust me, then fall in love with me," he corrected. Kaori opened her mouth, but for the moment was stumped.

"But you had to have loved her first to want her to love you," Ayame piped in. Kurama cut his eyes at her. Not dangerously, but enough to make her chuckle.

"HAA!!" Kaori cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "Take that!"

"I just thought you were a challenge. I fell in love with you later, after I caught you," Kurama said, graceful as ever.

"So I was just a prize to you?" Kaori said, arms crossed and looking him in the eye.

"You were someone who caught my attention, who I didn't want to lose to anyone else," Kurama said, matching Kaori's gaze. "A prize, no. It was not as meaningless as just being first to claim you. You were more of a treasure that I wanted because of the joy I received."

"So you wanted me," Kaori said, smirk and raised eyebrow gracing her face. "I got you then."

"If that's what you want to believe, very well." Kurama's smirk matched hers and his eyes glinted gold.

"Why don't you just call it a draw?" Ayame said.

"Or torment each other to see who can go without the other longest," Hiei chimed in. That ice cream was really good. Chocolate, huh? Almost as good as that Vanilla he was used to eating.

"Sounds like fun," Kaori said, eyes flashing for a moment. She held her hand out to Kurama, waiting for him to shake it. He took her hand and pulled her into a deep kiss. He pulled back with half lidded eyes and a smile that would've made Kaori melt if she wasn't trying to resist him.

"Just so you remember what you're giving up," he purred. He then turned and went outside.

"Where you going!?" Kaori called after him. "I can't see you writhing in agony if you're not here!"

"Training," Kurama said before shutting the door behind him. Kaori looked at the door for a minute before sighing and looking at Ayame.

"…What?" she asked.

"I miss him…" Kaori said in a tiny voice. Hiei chocked on his spoonful of ice cream, barely getting the spoon out of his mouth before it went down his throat. Kaori hit him on the back to help and to make sure he didn't fall over while Ayame took to offending spoon and threw it into the sink.

"Are you alright?" Ayame asked. Hiei nodded, coughing down the melting ice cream. His eyes then turned to Kaori.

"How did you do all that arguing and crumble so easily?" he asked. Kaori blushed and dropped her eyes to the ground.

"He means a lot to me, and I can argue with him about who needs who more, but I owe him everything," she said softly. Hiei sighed.

"Does this mean you caved?" he asked.

"NO WAY!!" Kaori shouted, doing a complete one-eighty. "But you can get him to cave!" Hiei raised an eyebrow at her. "You're his best friend. You can quiz him on how he feels and stuff, get him to miss me and feel guilty! You're Hiei! You OWN at manipulating people! You have NO IDEA how much ice cream is in store for you if you can do this for me."

Hiei raised his other eyebrow. "How much?"

"I'm so not a part of this," Ayame sighed, walking outside and exploring the grounds. She was definitely not going down the stairs, so she decided to go into the forest.

The trees were huge, many looking hundreds of years old. There was a feeling of calm serenity everywhere, that Ayame couldn't help but to keep walking. She saw a patch of light ahead, and soon came to a clearing. Sitting in the middle was Kurama, cross-legged with his back to her. Ayame paused at the edge of the clearing, curious as to what he was doing.

On either side of him, buds began sprouting and growing into large vines. The vines then seemed to turn into trees, but not like any tree she had ever seen. The leaves seemed to have…teeth?! Saliva soaked teeth! And they were just sitting around Kurama! Didn't he see them? Why was he just sitting there?! The one on the left lowered to his side and seemed to be looking him in the face. It's mouth opened and-

"KURAMA!!"

He snapped his eyes open and jumped up, spinning around. The two plants sprang up and turned towards Ayame, who was frozen with fear. "Ayame?" Kurama asked, slightly curious. The plants lunged forward, but paused before attacking her. In seconds, they returned to seeds sitting by his side on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Did you do that?" She asked in awe. Kurama nodded.

"I'm a plant master," he explained. "Those were Ojiki. I was concentrating on having them obey my command more than just sensitive to movement. I'm still curious, however, as to while you're here."

"Oh, yeah," Ayame laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Kaori and Hiei were talking, so I came out for a walk. Then I found this clearing and I thought you were going to get attacked in your sleep."

Kurama smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but I am alright. So what are Kaori and Hiei talking about, or is it just her trying to get him to make me cave?"

"Basically," Ayame said, sitting on a log and enjoying the warmth of the sun before it was hidden behind the trees. "I didn't want to be a part of it. Besides, you're not gonna cave just cause Hiei can bring up all the good times you two had together and how dear she is to you or anything, so why bother, you know?" Ayame looked over to see Kurama staring down at the grass. "Wait, wait, don't tell me you miss her already."

"What? No! I'm fine." Ayame just sent a knowing look at Kurama who sighed and sat next to her, defeated.

"Wanna talk about it?" Ayame asked with a small smile. "I promise I wasn't sent." Kurama chuckled slightly before the far off look returned to his eyes.

"Kaori means the world to me…She was special the first time I met her, and I just wanted to protect her. But we got closer, and I realized that I had fallen in love with her. When she was taken, Konajiru told us that his plan was to mate with her and to take over all three worlds with her and her offspring. I was so…angry, that he would try to take her from me just to use her, when I loved her." Kurama's eyes began to turn gold as he continued to stare off.

"But you saved her, right? So what happened for a month?"

"Koenma didn't trust that she wouldn't join him because her family was murdered. He kept her under guard to find her loyalties. It seemd that our own boss was using her to find Konajiru, and now was unsure if she would remain with us or betray us for what he planned."

"But you knew she was loyal, 'cause of how you felt for each other." Kurama smiled at Ayame and nodded.

"Then stop this senseless arguing!" Ayame yelled, jumping up. "You two are in love with each other, end of story! It doesn't matter who can go longer without the other cause neither of you can live without the other. You two need to just make up and go on in love with each other! It doesn't matter who's sexier or who loved who first. The important thing is that you love each other and that you're together now." Ayame took a deep breath, proud of herself. Kurama stared at her wide eyed, then his gaze shifted behind her.

Ayame turned around to see Kaori leaning against a tree, eyes soft and with a tear in one. "Did you mean all that?" she asked. Kurama nodded, standing with a smile. Kaori ran across the clearing and into his arms, hugging him tightly. "I love you, too."

Kurama buried his face in her hair and held her just as tightly. "I promise to always come for you," he whispered. "I won't let anyone take you away from me, not even Koenma."

"I'll never leave you," Kaori whispered back, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

Ayame smiled, and took this opportunity to sneak off and leave the two alone. She was halfway back to Genkai's when she heard a voice behind her. "I see you're proud of yourself."

She spun around to see Hiei walking behind her, silent and emotionless, as if he hadn't spoken word. "Well, yeah," Ayame said slowly. "I mean, I got them back together with little to no effort."

Hiei rolled his eyes as he walked past her towards the temple. "They both were going to cave anyway," he said coldly. "It was inevitable." Ayame glared at his back as she followed him.

"Then why are you so unhappy? I just saved all of us time!"

"Hn."

"Don't you care about how they feel?"

"Hn."

Ayame nearly screamed, then realization struck. "Aw, I'm sorry." Hiei paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I forgot, you were going to get ice cream." Hiei turned heel and continued walking towards the temple. Ayame blinked, then ran after him.

"I can go get you some! Consider it a peace offering, and I owe you it anyway!" Hiei stopped and turned around to spit back a comment, but Ayame didn't notice til it was too late. She ran smack into him, sending them to the ground with her on top. She blinked once more, staring into cold red eyes that stared right back up. Time stood still for only a second, before Hiei began to growl. Ayame jumped off of him, eyes on the ground in apology.

"Hn. Now you owe me two containers of ice cream." Hiei smirked at her shocked expression. "Unless you'd rather I slit your throat."

"NO! You definitely don't have to do that!" Ayame laughed nervously. Hiei could definitely do it, she had no doubt about that.

"Vanilla and chocolate." Ayame nodded before Hiei disappeared, probably off to some tree miles away. That wasn't so bad. She'd get him some ice cream, and their friendship would be all but repaired! Ayame walked back to the temple with a smile. She had boosted Kaori and Kurama, now she was winning over that dark kid. Today was an awesome day!

Then she remembered.

The store was down an immense set of stairs, making the temple at the top of it once she got to the bottom. Ayame let out a moan. Hiei was definitely going to pay for this.