Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.
Hiei and Yusuke left Kurama alone in Koenma's office. The small demigod had not been pleased with the news they had brought him, to say the least. Yusuke paused and glanced back at the door.
"What else could they possibly have to talk about? And without me, too!" Yusuke said loudly. Hiei shoot him a glare.
"The toddler knows he's likely to get more out of the kitsune if we aren't there," Hiei said dispassionately.
"What more is there to say? Kurama told him everything just now."
"Don't be naive, spirit detective. Kurama carefully plans every word out of his mouth and the only reason we got as close to the truth as we did was because he did not have enough time to prepare his answer. Trust me, there's more to it than he'll tell even Koenma." Hiei turned and walked out.
Another classic Hiei farewell, Yusuke thought as he headed home.
~*~*~*~
After a few awkward moments of slightly believable excuses as to his absence, Kurama finally escaped his mother's questions to the darkness of his room. As he shut the door, he could immediately sense another presence.
"What brings you here, Hiei?" Kurama asked as he flipped the light switch on the wall.
From his perch on the open windowsill, the small demon snorted. "I want to know what you told Koenma that you did not tell me."
"Hello, Kurama! How are you? Oh, just fine, thanks for asking, Hiei," Kurama said to himself as he pulled off his dirty shirt and slipped on loose white tee shirt.
"What's that?" Hiei said with mild confusion.
"Sorry," Kurama said sarcastically. "I was just having a normal conversation for once."
Hiei looked at Kurama with one eyebrow raised. Kurama sighed and collapsed on his bed. "Did it ever occur to you to say hello, when you invite yourself into my room?"
"The window was open," Hiei snorted. That meant he was welcome, in his mind. Besides, he thought, since when does Kurama care that I came in when he wasn't here? Normally the kitsune seems almost pleased to see me. "You're changing the subject."
Kurama tilted his head and gave Hiei a charming half smile. "When did you get so insightful, my little koorime?"
"Stop trying to make me angry, and answer the question!" Hiei growled. Kurama's smile vanished and suddenly all his masks seemed to fall away. His face looked tired and confused. His normally brilliant green eyes seemed to dull in a split second.
Kurama leaned over the edge of his bed and put his head between his knees. "Get out." Kurama's voice came in a coarse whisper.
Standing, Hiei narrowed his eyes in a dark glare at Kurama's back. "What?" he growled.
Kurama turned to him, a deep anger burned in his eyes. "Listen, Hiei. I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in three days. I just got through being interrogated by Koenma and my mother. I don't need it from you now."
Hiei was silent for a moment. "Hn," he snorted and flitted out the open window. Kurama lay back on his bed with an annoyed sigh. That outburst should never have gotten out, but he was tired. More tired than he had been in a long time.
~*~*~*~
Hiei landed with a soft pad near the center of the empty hall. It was dark in the hall. The torches that had been lit earlier were not now. With a quick wave of his hand, they jumped to life again.
Without bothering for looking for any youki, Hiei walked over to the gaping hole in the floor. He had decided that something in this tomb masked youki. That was why he had not been able to sense Kurama, and why Kurama had not sensed the fire demon as he approached.
With a quick leap down the hole, Hiei landed in the semi-darkness. It was enough light though for him to see with ease. His eyes were much better than any ningen's.
The room below the hall was just as big but with much lower ceiling. Kurama would just have to stoop slightly. Just off to his left he could see the corpse of the demon that had attacked him, thick vines wound tightly around its neck. The majority of the floor space held large casks and barrels, probably offerings to the demon whose tomb this was.
Hiei pulled the white headband from his head in a swift movement, and allowed the Jagan eye survey the area. It was much more sensitive to the traces left behind by youki than Hiei on his own. As he scanned the room, he could pick up traces of the Youko, but it was strange.
Normally, any use of youki left distinct traces. Kurama's vines, for instance, practically glowed with his familiar youki. The trace, however, was strictly limited to the vines, because that was the only thing touched by his energy.
But the Youko's traces seemed to radiate throughout the room evenly. There was only one spot where the trace was more concentrated than every where else. A large spot on the floor, about the size of a person lying flat.
Hiei frowned as he studied the spot on the floor. It smelled of Kurama. He was sure he had found something, some clue, but he'd be damned if he knew what it meant.
Heading back to the surface, Hiei mused over his last meeting with the fox. Hiei was one of the few people that realized how manipulative his friend was. Normally, when he figured out what Kurama was doing, he let it go. Hiei had never seen him lose his temper like that. It was in Kurama's nature to control every situation, and Hiei accepted that.
However, something about this particular situation made Hiei think that Kurama was in over his head. For once he wished their friendship were more open. Of course, that would be more trouble than it was worth in the end.
~*~*~*~
The moon shone evenly over the empty park. Jiro enjoyed the quiet piece of the night as he walked home from a late night at the office. He looked forward to spending the remainder evening with his wife at home.
He did not hear the footsteps following him, or the pregnant feeling of violence in the air. He did not smell the blood or feel the heat radiating from a few yards behind him. Not, that is, until it was far too late to do any thing about it.
A fury of orange eyes, purple hair, a blinding light, and all of a sudden, Jiro felt the blood drain from his face. He hit the pavement with a dull thud and just before the darkness claimed him, he heard a deep throaty laugh.
A/N: Ah, the triumphant appearance of my own character, Jiro…and the prompt killing off of Jiro. Ok, he's not dead, not quite, but we'll get to that in the next exciting installment…oh, never mind. I'll update soon. Probably. I'm actually quite proud of this chapter. I thought Kurama came off exactly as I wanted him too. Please review, it really boosts my guilt…which means I work on this more.