Well, um, here's the next chapter. Yeah. My writing is deteriorating. Once again, ARIGATO FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT BELIVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU REVIEWERS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This chapter is dedicated to all my wonderful reviewers, and the nameless COX guy who installed the fast Internet connection at my house. Although he isn't reading this fic, I felt the need to thank him. Besides, he gave me a lolly-pop. ^___^

I'm perfectly aware of the fact that I skipped Yusuke's fight with Hiei in this story, so please don't review telling me that, because I know. Maybe some chapter later in the far-off future I'll get around to a flashback. And I guess if enough people want, I'd write a chapter with that fight. I just didn't think it would benefit the non-existent plot any. *shrugs* Onward!

WARNING: Insert traditional SHOUNEN-AI and extra-special suckiness warning here.

DISCLAIMER: I own Yu Yu Hakusho. And I finally got good at writing. Doesn't that one alone tell you that I don't own this beautiful series?

Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-Dough

Silence. Hiei and I were standing in Koenma's office, waiting for the demi-god to decide what to do with us. Strangely, though, he wasn't even in sight.

Yusuke had defeated the fire demon only a few hours ago. And I had helped him, though I don't know why. Maybe I had just wanted to see Hiei again... I touched the wound on my stomach absently and flinched as pain shot through my body. At least I had had time to bandage the cut. Hopefully no one back in Ningenkai would notice.

"Hiei," I whispered, "I'm sorry."

The fire demon stared straight ahead, not sparing me a glance. He didn't even acknowledge my words.

"Hiei," I whispered again.

Koenma's head suddenly popped up from behind a mountain of paperwork. "You're here already?" He stopped to clamber onto his desk, and then jumped back down into his chair when he saw that neither of us had any wards on. "Well then, let's get this over with." The toddler looked at a few of his papers. "Hm. Youko Kurama... You are under arrest for stealing the Mirror of Utter Dark, stealing the body of a human child–" My hands tightened into fists at that accusation. "–and...uh...other such...illegal actions," Koenma continued, watching me over the top of the paper. "However, you have been a very good boy in the last 15 years." My nails dug into my flesh sharply. "The usual sentence for someone as dangerous as you would be a thousand years in the Reikai prison. But I'm putting you on parole. To be exact, you must assist Yusuke in any missions he has, henceforth." I breathed in a sigh of relief and unclenched my fists. At least I would be able to stay in the human world with my mother.

The toddler turned his gaze towards Hiei, his expression hardening into one of hatred, matching Hiei's own cold stare. I shivered. "As for you, Hiei," Koenma spat, taking pleasure in speaking the words slowly and quietly, as if they would prolong the suspense, "you are going to be serving a seven-hundred year sentence in the Reikai prison. No parole. No exceptions."

Shit. The mask of indifference I had been wearing shattered. "Is there any other way for him to carry out his sentence?" I demanded. My voice sounded so desperate. I never knew I cared about the fire demon that much.

"I don't need your help, fox," Hiei snapped at me.

He had every right to be mad, I knew. For what I had done to him, he had every right not to ever want to see me again. But that didn't bother me. My mind was just focused on finding a more lenient punishment for the half-Koorime. He wouldn't survive seven-hundred years in prison. He probably wouldn't even be able to survive fifty.

"Kurama!" Koenma spoke. "You're dismissed. Go back to Ningenkai."

I opened my mouth to protest again, but Hiei shot me a look of unmistakable loathing. Everything was my fault… As I turned to leave the room, I glanced back at Hiei one last time.

His eyes were as hateful as before.

And I knew that saving Shiori wasn't enough.

"Suuichi? Is that you?" I shut the door behind me as I entered the house and slipped off my shoes.

"Hai," I called, running over to the kitchen where my mother was cooking.

"Where have you been all day? I was worried. It's almost five o'clock." Shiori planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I was just out at the park," I lied. "I'm sorry I didn't come home earlier, Mother, but I saw one of my classmates there and stayed to talk a bit."

"Oh! I almost forgot. A friend of yours is waiting for you upstairs in your room."

Hiei...? No, it couldn't be.

"Yusuke, I think his name is," my mother finished.

Oh.

I nodded, wondering silently what Yusuke wanted to see me for. "Are you sure you are all right? I don't want you to over-exert yourself," I warned. But no harm would come to her, I knew, thanks to the Mirror of Utter Dark. I blocked the next thought before it even entered my mind.

Yusuke was sitting at my desk, scanning through the homework that I had been too agitated to put away neatly.

"Make yourself at home," I said dryly as I walked into the room.

The Spirit Detective whirled around in my swivel chair. "Oh, hey, Kurama–I mean, Suuichi– What are you, the perfect student with an evil double-life?" he asked jokingly.

"No," I replied quietly and closed the door, "just a fool."

"Uh…" Yusuke looked at me strangely for a moment, and then shrugged. "So, how'd it go?"

"What?"

"You know, Koenma and all..." he replied evasively.

I sighed and flopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. "Fine."

"Are you going to be able to stay here, with your mother?"

"Yes. I'm on parole." I paused. "And I have to help you with all of your cases as Spirit Detective. So I guess we are going to be a team." Usually, I would have smiled encouragingly. But I didn't. I couldn't.

"Great. I could use some help. Botan doesn't really do much, and that idiot Kuwabara is only good at that 'spirit awareness' thing, whatever the hell that is." Yusuke shrugged again and laughed. I didn't. The laughter was cut off abruptly, though, and he asked, "What about Hiei?"

My eyes hardened. "Seven hundred years in the Reikai prison."

"Oh... Look, Kurama, I'm sorry. Really, I am," the Spirit Detective said nervously.

"What do you care?" I snarled angrily and sat bolt upright.

"Whoa, cool it, Kurama." Yusuke held up his hands in innocence. "I just thought you cared about him, so... I'm sorry."

"No, you aren't."

He blinked. "Huh?"

"You're not sorry. Hiei almost killed Kieko. How can you be sorry?" I demanded.

"Uh..."

I breathed deeply and shook my head. "Forgive me, Yusuke. It's been a long day, and I'm tired."

Yusuke nodded. "Okay, then. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow...?"

"Yeah." I fell back down on my bed.

"Ja," Yusuke said as he left the room.

"Ja,," I replied quietly and closed my eyes. The door slammed shut.

Two crimson orbs were staring straight at me.

Hiei...?

They were aflame. And Hiei was burning. And all I could do was sit there and watch. The fire grew stronger and brighter, brighter, like the sun...

Someone was calling me back from the flames. And those eyes that burned...

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the light and the voice. I needed to know what happened to Hiei... "Suuichi, Suuichi, wake up!" Groggily, I opened my eyes.

"Mother?" I said weakly, closing my eyes again.

"What have you been doing to yourself?" Shiori scolded.

"H'm?" I murmured and turned over on my side.

"How did you get such a large wound?"

What was she talking about? Oh, the wound. From fighting Hiei. I sat up, shaking my head. There was a large stain of blood on my shirt. I winced at my own stupidity. How had I not remembered to change the bandaging? I shrugged helplessly. "Eeto..."

"I thought you were at the park yesterday. How did you get this at the park?" My mother jabbed her finger at the wound in my stomach.

Oh, that's nothing, Mother. I just stopped the demon I'm in love with from killing someone who was out to arrest him for stealing one of the Reikai artifacts. I almost laughed at the thought of saying that aloud. "Um... I–I was attacked by a mugger." Damn, I was out of practice. That lie didn't sound convincing in the least, even to my ears.

Shiori raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I'm going to schedule an appointment with the doctor. That wound might be infected." She turned to leave. "I'll bring you up some ice cream. You never had dinner last night."

I sighed in relief and slumped back against the wall once my mother had left the room, listening to my own heartbeat. How had I been so stupid? Baka!

No, not baka. Baka kitusune.

Shut up! I screamed to myself. Shut up!

"Here you go, Suuichi. Someone seems to have eaten all the chocolate ice cream, so I had to go buy some more." I looked up at my mother's smiling face and took the bowl of ice cream she offered me. "I'm going to go call the doctor now. You just rest." Her smile faded. "I can't believe some people would attack a helpless teenager," she muttered under her breath and walked out of the room.

I looked down at the ice cream. My mother trusted me so much. And I used that trust to my own advantage, for my own selfish purposes. I didn't deserve to live.

It was hot, and the ice cream was melting. Like it had been melting that night in the hospital... Chocolate-chip-cookie-dough. Did Hiei really hate strawberry ice cream, or was it just because of me? Maybe Hiei would have liked this. But I would never know, would I? I would never know unless I saw him again. And what were the chances of that? He was locked away in the Reikai prison.

...He was locked away in the Reikai prison. And I was Youko Kurama, the best thief in the Makai. And I could get him out.

No, part of me said. You're on parole. If you break into the Reikai prison, you'll never be allowed to come back to Ningenkai. Never.

But this is Hiei. I can't just let him die.

Yes, you can. What about your mother? Would you just abandon her for some fire demon you barely know?

…Yes. That's how frightening love—whatever I felt for Hiei—can be.

What?! You'd just abandon the woman who raised you and loved you for the first fifteen years of your life? You really haven't changed since your days as Youko. You're the exact same cold, heartless creature that murdered this innocent woman's baby right in her womb.

I stiffened. I didn't murder him.

Yes, you did. And you know it.

No. I merged. He's part of me. He's you. Part of my mind.

And what's the other part?

Youko.

And what are you?

I started and looked at the ice cream. …I'm in love.

Translations

Hai: yes (Japanese)

Ja: see you later (Japanese)

Eeto: um/uh/eh (Japanese)

Baka: idiot (Japanese)

Kitsune: fox/fox demon (Japanese)

Who-hoo! Pathetic attempt at something remotely similar to dramatic for an ending! Cheesy, sucky, pathetic—*stops* Nu, ran out of synonyms already. Hehe. ^^;

Koenma and Shiori were scarily OOC.

Oh, yes, and Violettegal345 wins! *throws confetti in the air* Thank you all who voted in this never-ending poll of mine. ^__^ To the end of the Dark Tournament it is. YAY!!! Just saying, at the slow rate I am going, it will take me a very, VERY, VERY long time to get that far. Oh well, I'm sure I'll do it eventually. ^______^

Again, I cannot believe how many wonderful reviews I have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *glomps all reviewers and hands out custom-made Kurama and Hiei plushies* Need I say it? I LOVE YOU GUYS, and REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!