AN:  As the chapter title implies, this is mostly about the boys, but like Girls, it focuses mainly on one individual, Hiei.  Text in italic is memory and when there are three dots (…) it just means that words were taken out of the sentence that was said.  I do not own the confused Yu Yu Hakusho characters (mmm...just think if I did).  Forgive me if I misuse or misspell any Japanese.  Enjoy your reading.

~Rei

"Tell me, did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there"

~ Drops of Jupiter, Train

Chapter 4:  Boys

            Just as he thought, Kurama found Hiei in the park sitting on one of the benches.  He had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes gazing into the distance.  He approached him carefully, making his presence known.  When Hiei finally deigned to look at him Kurama smiled and sat down beside him on the bench.

            They sat in companionable silence for a while until Hiei's surprisingly mature voice rumbled through the darkness like an impending storm, cold and deadly.  "What do you want?"

            "The girls will be up soon, we're going to follow them."  Kurama said.  "I just came to see if you wanted to come with."

            "I'm not a stalker."  Hiei said moodily.

            "We're not being stalkers," Kurama said with a small laugh, the thought hadn't struck him, but now that he thought of it…  "We're just following them until they find a place, then we'll go over."

            "Do as you wish, I have no desire to be a part of it."  After a few more minutes of silence,  "You better get going, Fox, before the others think your not coming and leave without you."

            Kurama sighed in exasperation.  Hiei did an awfully good job at shoving people away with his cold voice and harsh words.  He stood and looked down at the Fire Demon.  "You shouldn't hide for too long, Hiei."

            Hiei looked up angrily only too see the Youko's back walking away from him.  "Who's hiding?"  He muttered to himself, then shouted for Kurama to hear,  "I'm not hiding, you are!  Staying in the Ningenkai!"

            Kurama stopped, but didn't turn around.  "I chose to stay here, Hiei."  His hands found the pockets of his pants and he walked into the darkness and out of sight.

            Hiei spat angrily.  "Hiding.  Ha!"

            He wasn't hiding from anything.  He feared nothing and nobody.  No youkai could turn him away, no matter what class.  No creature, no matter how big, could bring fear to his icy black heart.

            "I'm not afraid of anyone…" he said to himself.  When he spoke the words, they seemed all the more convincing.

            "When I think of him I get this feeling, like I want to laugh out loud and hug him so tight. …now I think he was just afraid and unsure…"

            "…afraid and unsure…"

            "…afraid…"

            Visions that were not his own flashed through his mind and he closed his eyes tight.  It was times like this that he wished his Jagan didn't remember every damn thing he saw.  Now in his mind's eye the same things ran over and over, like a broken recording.

            Just before the link had broken, while he was still holding the grown version of Miyuki, disturbing visions had come to him.  No, he didn't think they were visions, they were memories.  The one's that Ko-Enma said would be blocked from her.

            The young prince had been right, it was better for Miyuki to forget her past lives when she reverted to her child's body.  It was almost like being reset, but she still could remember the things that were important.

            So why had he seen those memories?  It was probably just them leaving her mind, and since Hiei had been in contact with her, through both the link and physically, he had intercepted them.  Hiei shuddered as sweat trickled from his brow, the Jagan recalling the pictures with the utmost detail.

            Pictures of mutilated bodies, crying people, a dead youkai, and endless rivers of blood.  Crimson painted his mind, drenched it, saturated it.  When he closed his eyes he could see Miyuki bleeding for those that she helped.  There was nothing happy of the memories.  Nothing good or bright.  Just red.

            Maybe Miyuki had been right, maybe he was afraid of something.  Of what, he wasn't sure, but when she had first hugged him, he had felt an overpowering panic.  This child had been so eager, so willing to trust him, love him unconditionally as if he were family.

            Love.

            Even the word was alienating to him.  Nobody had ever loved him.  He was the forbidden child.  Only hate and rejection would ever be known in his world.  Only himself to care for, no one else.  He was the center of his own universe.

            Until Miyuki had come.  Like a rouge comet she had been flung into his world, crash landing against him.  As a child she had only been a small problem, he had only to wait until she worked herself out of his orbit and moved away once more.  But now…now she was like a crater in his mind, he'd never be able to remove her.

            Hiei recalled the teasing conversation the girl's had gone through.  Naming off the other boys.  He hadn't expected his name to come up.  He had expected Miyuki to say what she had even less.

            "When I think of him I get this feeling, like I want to laugh out loud and hug him so tight."

            When he thought of Miyuki he wanted to rip his heart out and stomp on it.  It did so many strange things, first fluttering weakly, then thumping so loudly that he swore every one in the three worlds could hear it.

            What was the matter?  She was still the annoying, klingy child somewhere beneath that long silvery white hair and soulful eyes.  Eyes that were as blue as the sky on a clear day.  And those pale, delicate hands that were so gentle, so afraid to hurt.

            Hiei shook his head violently.  He leaned forward with a frustrated sigh and rested his forehead in his palms.  Maybe he was afraid after all.  Maybe Kurama was right, it certainly seemed like he was hiding, sitting in the park all alone instead of being with his friends and having fun.

            He stood up and looked about.  He was startled when he realized how much time he had actually spent sitting on that cold bench thinking, for the sun was already beginning to peek over the horizon.  Maybe if he could find them fast enough, he could still go to watch the sun rise with them.

            With a soft swish of dew laden grass and a blur of displaced air he vanished into the dark.

***

            Kurama lifted his head and cast about.  The whole group sat in Keiko and Yusuke's special spot next to the river, where they could watch the sunrise perfectly.  Kuwabara and Yukina sat together near the shore while Yusuke and Keiko sat under the large tree.  He spotted Ko-Enma sitting with Boton and Miyuki in the damp grass.  He gave a small disappointed sigh.  Hiei hadn't shown up like he had hoped.

            From the corner of his eye he saw Boton stand and walk over to him.  She smiled shyly and he returned it, motioning for her to sit down next to him with a nod of his head.  "Hello, Boton."

            "Hello, Kurama."  She sat and looked at the sun as it crept slowly over the horizon line.  Slowly she moved closer to him, until he turned his emerald eyes to look at her.  "Your eyes are beautiful."  She whispered lightly.

            He gave a small smile and leaned forward, his mouth just inches from her's.  "Not as beautiful as you are."  They kissed and he folded Boton into his arms, at peace within.  He was glad he had finally been able to admit to Boton the feelings he harbored for her, and was even more grateful to know she shared them.

            He couldn't help but glance over at Miyuki every now and then.  She had moved herself away from Ko-Enma and sat next to the water's edge a little ways away from the others.  She wore her new clothes, a delicate cream peasant blouse with flower designs and blue jean shorts.  He could almost see her regretting her choice in clothing as she shivered in the cold night air, but she had refused to take a pro-offered jacket so perhaps she enjoyed being cold.

            As Boton leaned against his side he drew his attentions back to himself and the beautiful ferry-girl who sat beside him.  He couldn't change the present or alter the future.  All he could really do was sit back and watch and hope that his words had struck something within the cold youkai.

***

            There they were.  Hiei watched from the refuge of the trees as Boton stood and joined Kurama.  He gazed about at the different couples, growling slightly at the sight of Kuwabara with his sister, but he wouldn't stop her.  She really liked him, perhaps loved him.

            Love.

            There it was again.  Such a strange word for him.  He knew of it, what it meant, but he didn't know what it was like to actually feel it.  Of course, he had gone through the act of lovemaking before, but never had he actually felt something for the women he'd been with.  If anything, it had always been a mutual act.  She had wanted it, he had wanted it.  The next day he would leave and it would have been like it had never happened.

            Love seemed to be much more complicated than just sex.  Yes, sex was a part of it, but when love was involved deeper feelings were expected to be expressed.  You had to care for your "lover" and let them know that you actually cared.  Sleeping with them a night and disappearing the next day would defiantly be frowned upon and if you tried pretending that it had never happened, they would be hurt.

            Love was crazy.

            He finally spotted Miyuki sitting by herself, her legs drawn to her chest as she rested her chin on her knees.  Her eyes were fixed on the water, as if she could see secrets within their depths that no one else could view.  Traces of her memories lashed through his mined like a whip but he shook them away and silently moved with the shadows until he was standing behind her, unnoticed by everyone along the bank.

            A cold wind gusted, tugging at her pale silvery strands of hair and as the wind caressed his face he could smell her.  She smelled like dew and crushed grass … and tears and blood.  She smelled like a fresh morning mixed with the dark night.  She smelt like nothing he had ever encountered before.

            He moved closer, trying to get a better wiff of her heady natural fragrance, but she must have heard him, because she turned around.  Pale blue clashed with liquid flame as their eyes met.  For an instant, a look of surprise crossed over her face, followed quickly by one of sure delight, which was almost as quickly covered (however, poorly) by one of mild happiness.

            "Hiei, I thought you left."  She said softly, looking up at him from her position on the ground.

            His heart fluttered in his chest.  Hiei kept his irregular heartbeat in check and held the feelings back, giving a shrug of indifference.  "I decided to stay instead."

            Smooth, really smooth.  What an answer, she was sure to ask why he had decided to stay.  But she only smiled and nodded as if accepting his words.  She motioned slightly to the spot next to her, the growing light unable to hide the blush that graced her cheeks.  "Do you want to sit?"

            Hiei crossed his arms and remained standing slightly to her side.  She looked disappointed for a moment, but quickly hid it.  Instead she nodded again, as if she understood and accepted that he had reasons of his own not to, and faced the horizon once more.

            They remained like that for a long time.  Hiei standing, Miyuki sitting, both enjoying each other's silence, both watching the sun's glorious accent past the distant tree line into the sky.

To Be Continued…

AN:  The "Drops of Jupiter" lyrics are at the beginning of this chapter because I think it sort of fits Hiei and how he feels.  Wanting to know, and yet afraid of what it is he wants to know ("Did you fall for a shooting star; And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there").  Also, the sun has a little to do directly with the chapter ("Tell me, did you sail across the sun").  I don't know, perhaps an attempt at foreshadowing on my part?  Anyway, stay tuned for the fifth chapter called Lock.