A/N: Hi again. Thank you to everyone who read it, and the review made me very happy--thanks! I think this chapter will be longer than the last one, and it will be a little more humor-oriented. Don't get too used to it, though--there's a very angst-y chapter coming up next. Please enjoy the story and review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any other copyrighted things that I might use in this story.

Journey of the Magi

Ch.2

Yusuke walked down the street to his house, whistling "Holly Jolly Christmas." He loved this song, a), because it was one of the first songs he could ever remember learning--his mother had taught it to him in the middle of July when he'd been about two after she had consumed roughly six bottles of wine on her birthday--b), because it got stuck in your head easily and could be used as a way to express your carefree feelings, and, most importantly, c), because it highly irritated all of his friends, particularly Keiko, and, after all, that was what it was all about.

Yusuke bobbed his head to the beat as he opened the door to his house. He was thinking about spending a relaxing afternoon watching the Beavis and Butthead marathon on MTV, or maybe inviting Kuwabara over to steamroller him in a game of Mortal Kombat. However, when he entered the living room, he saw Kurama sitting on his couch, obviously waiting to speak to him.

"What's up, Fox-boy?" Yusuke asked lightly, dread filling his stomach. Usually, when Kurama came to his house to speak to him, he did not have good news. Yusuke hoped desperately that Kurama was not about to tell him about some new mission. "Come to ruin my Christmas vacation?"

"Maybe," Kurama said dryly. "I've come to invite you to a Christmas Eve all- night party at my house."

Yusuke raised his eyebrows, unsure whether or not to laugh. "You mean like a slumber party?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

"Well, gee, Kurama," Yusuke said, somewhat at a loss. "I haven't been to a slumber party since Keiko's eighth birthday. She was trying to be nice by inviting me, but I think it did more harm than good to my social life. I never got invited to slumber parties after that."

"What did you do?"

"Why do you assume that the incident was my fault?"

Kurama regarded him patiently. Yusuke glowered. "All right, all right. I set one mouse loose. One! I thought it would be funny! How was I supposed to know that Keiko's best friend was deathly afraid of mice, huh? No justice, I tell you..."

Kurama hid a smile. "So so you want to come?"

"I dunno..."

"Kaasan will feed you on Christmas morning."

"Hot dog! Why didn't you say so? Let me go pack my jammies and --"

"It's not until tonight, Yusuke."

"Oh. Well, good, cause I don't have any jammies. But I'll be there."

****

Kurama walked down the street to his house, feeling pretty pleased with himself. All of his friends had agreed relatively quickly to come to the sleepover...except, of course, for Hiei. Kurama had not yet asked him to come because he was nowhere to be found. There was no telling where he was, either; Hiei had a habit of turning up in the weirdest places. Kurama knew, however, that if he waited in his room long enough, Hiei would eventually show up there. He could get some studying done in the meantime. Kurama hummed a tune--something Yusuke had been whistling--as he entered his house.

****

Hiei stared up at the enormous structure called a "mall." It was festively decorated--practically every inch of the building was covered in evergreen boughs or reindeer statues. Hiei entered the sliding glass doors, feeling very awkward and out of place. Where was he supposed to start looking? There were dozens of brightly lit shops to choose from, and this was only the ground floor. Who knew how many levels there were?

Hiei glanced into each of the shops as he passed them. Many of the windows sported slightly creepy human-shaped statues wearing many different styles of clothing. There were entire shops that seemed to carry nothing but shoes, hundreds and hundreds of shoes. There were shops that sold little porcelain animal figurines and music boxes, stores that sold books and CDs, stores that sold movies and TV- related merchandise, toy stores, and stores with undergarment-filled display windows that made Hiei blush to look at them.

Hie sat on the side of the fountain in the crossroads of the mall and tried to get his bearings. He felt like his head was spinning. Perhaps he had bitten off more than he could chew with this idea of presents. How in the world was one expected to find anything in a place like this? The flashing lights from all the stores were starting to give him a headache, and he hadn't been in a crowd this big or loud in a long time. It was usually something he tried to avoid at all costs.

All right, he told himself firmly, trying to ignore how the sickly smell of sugar from the cookie shop was mixing with the smell of dogs and birds from the pet shop across from it, you just have to pick one and go inside. Buying presents can't be that hard if ningens can pull it off. He took a deep breath and marched resolutely into a shop labeled Cracker Barrel Old Time Country Store.

It seemed to be a shop full of pointless but cute little trinkets. At least it smells good in here, Hiei thought as he breathed in the scent of potpourri. He decided to look for Yusuke's gift first.

He didn't really have any specific gift in mind, so he browsed for a few minutes. There were some interesting things in here. An entire wall was devoted to Coca-Cola merchandise. There were Coca-Cola radios, Coca-Cola model cars, Coca-Cola salt-and-pepper shakers, and everything else under the sun. A wooden stand in the middle of the store was filled with lotion made of goat's milk. The back corner was stacked with toys. There were slide whistles and Beanie Babies and Slinkies. Hiei had a slinky back home in his tree. Kurama had given it to him at some point. It was actually one of his favorite possessions, although he would never admit that to anyone.

Let's see, Hiei thought. What would Yusuke want?

He was just beginning to get discouraged when he saw it--the perfect gift for Yusuke. It was a clay cup holder in the shape of a monkey. Instead of a drink, it was clutching a bag of Swedish chocolate. Hiei grinned. Randomness and food. Yusuke would definitely like it.

Hiei walked uncertainly up to the checkout counter. He knew how this process was supposed to work, in theory. He had some ningen money--Koenma always gave him some after missions, calling it his "paycheck." Hiei had never really been sure what to do with it, but Kurama had advised him not to throw it away. Kurama usually knew what he was talking about, so Hiei stored all the money he got in a sack in his tree. in case it ever came in useful for something. He had accumulated quite a pile of it over the time he'd spent working for Koenma. He didn't know how much he would need for the monkey, but he had brought it all along just in case. He placed the monkey on the counter and glanced at the man with the nametag on his shirt, waiting for him to do something. He was currently pushing buttons on a handheld device labeled Game Boy Advanced. After a few seconds, Hiei spoke.

"I would like to purchase this."

The man looked over at him. "Huh?"

Perhaps this ningen was slow. Hiei spoke more clearly. "I wish to exchange ningen money for this monkey."

The boy blinked. "Uh...whatever. That'll be $9.99."

There were no pieces of money labeled $9.99. Hiei hesitated.

The boy looked like he thought Hiei might be the one who was slow. "Here. I can take a ten and give you change."

Change? What did he intend to change? Hiei was baffled, but he gave the man a piece of paper with a ten in the corner. The man placed it in a metal box and handed Hiei a small copper coin. He then put the monkey, along with a slip of white paper, into a bag and held it out to him. "Have a nice day."

Thoroughly bewildered, Hiei nodded and took the bag. Well, whether he understood or not, at least he seemed to have successfully purchased the monkey. Stealing was much less trouble, he thought as he left the store.

****

Kurama hoisted himself up another branch of Hiei's tree. He still hadn't seen him all day, so he had decided to pay him a house visit and see if he was home. No luck.

Kurama looked around the tree that, were he in the form of Youko the fox spirit, would have radiated Hiei's scent to him. There wasn't much here--for a thief, Hiei was surprisingly non-materialistic. That, and the fact that he didn't know how to use money. The things Hiei owned were therefore comprised of things he'd found and things that had been given to him(by Kurama, for the most part). There was the blanket Kurama had forced him to take in case of cold nights--it looked as if it had been grudgingly used once or twice. There was the blank book he'd told Hiei he could fill with poems, stories, pictures, or anything else he wanted(Kurama resisted the temptation to open it and read what he'd written). There was Hiei's collection of things he'd found that he wanted to keep, made up of assorted feathers, flowers(Kurama had shown him how to dry them so that they would last), pretty rocks, leaves, nuts, and random litter that Hiei somehow found attractive. There was the slinky(Kurama had let him play with one belonging to his little brother to keep him occupied one night while he'd had to study, and Hiei had seemed so fascinated by it that Kurama had given him one of his own). There was a hair ribbon of Yukina's, and a necklace to which Hiei had fastened one of his tear-jewels. Kurama knew that he planned to give it to Yukina someday.

Looking around at all these things, Kurama suddenly noticed that something was missing. The sack of the money Hiei had from unused paychecks(which Kurama suspected had accumulated well into the thousands) was not in the bend of the tree limb like it usually was.

Kurama considered. Hiei must be trying to buy something. He doesn't know how. Kurama had a sudden flash of Hiei traipsing around Wal-Mart dragging his sack full of money behind him and looking around for a sign that outlined the process of buying things. He suppressed a grin. He hoped Hiei didn't hurt himself...or anyone else...

****

"Look, ningen, I don't see what's so hard about this."

The slack-jawed ningen checkout clerk crossed his arms. "You say you need a gift for the son of the devil."

Hiei exhaled through clenched teeth. "For the thousandth time, yes."

"Okay, um, well, I don't really know what to tell you, sir..."

"He's my boss," Hiei said, trying to help.

The clerk's eyes brightened. "Oh! You mean your boss is so evil that he's like the spawn of the devil!"

"No. I mean he is the spawn of the devil."

The clerk blinked. "...Aren't you a little young to be working?"

"Never. Mind." Hiei stomped out of the bookstore. He would just get Koenma a box of chocolates or something. The others hadn't been quite as hard. Kuwabara, surprisingly, had been fun to buy for. He had stolen a picture of his cat, Eikichi, and had taken it to a shop and let the people there enlarge it and put it on a T-shirt. Botam loved cats, too, so Hiei had gotten her a wooden carving of a regal-looking Egyptian one. Shizuru had gotten a CD, Keiko, a book, and Jin, an art set. Now Hiei sat once again on the fountain in the middle of the mall and thought.

Kurama.

What to do?

Kurama was...Hiei tried to collect his thoughts. Of course, he and Kurama constantly bickered, argued, and usually attempted to kill each other at least three times a week. Kurama teased him constantly about being short and often trapped him in vines and hung him from the ceiling or sneaked up behind him and pinned him to the ground for no other reason than just to prove he could. Stupid kitsune, Hiei thought grumpily.

And yet...and yet Kurama had been the one who'd taught him(pretty patiently, actually) to pick locks and fight with a whip and do that cool thing where you fade into the shadows and freak everyone out. Kurama had asved his life who knew how many times, often getting seriously injured in the process. Kurama let him stay at his house when he was lonely but would rather die than admit it to anyone...

All right, all right, Hiei thought to himself. Stop. I know he's my friend. I know, okay?

Hiei thought hard. What could he get for Kurama? He really didn't want to screw up Kurama's gift. What did Kurama like? Well...Kurama liked shiny, sparkly things. Yeah, he used to steal them all the time, Hiei thought. He glanced around till he saw a shop with a display window full of bright, shiny silver and gold chains and hoops, some with sparkling jewels on the ends.

Hiei made his way to the counter, feeling that this gift was important enough that he should ask for help from people who worked at the shiny things store.

"Yes?" The ningen lady smiled.

"I need to purchase something shiny and good for someone."

"Um...okay, what did you have in mind?"

"Something good."

The woman smiled. "Who is the gift for, young man?"

"...Someone important," Hiei muttered finally. And here he was talking about someone important to him. Important. Not long ago, he would not have considered anyone important. Now there were two people for whom Hiei knew, although he would never admit it, that he would do anything they asked. The thought made him a little uncomfortable, but on another level it was kind of nice.

The woman was still smiling. "Someone important? Aren't you sweet!"

Hiei blinked. He had never in his life been called sweet. It was a testament to how weird he felt that he did not draw his katana on the ningen.

"Here you go, sweetie." The ningen handed Hiei a small package. This is a good one."

"It's good? Really?" asked Hiei nervously.

"It will make this important person very happy," the ningen promised.

She smiled again, and Hiei found himself smiling back at her as he awkwardly took the package and exited the store.

****

Yeah, yeah, I know, poor Hiei. ^_^ But he'll be alright. Like I said before, the next chapter is a little angst-y. Please review, and I'll update as soon as I can.