Author's notes at the end of chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.
The next morning Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan and even Hiei went to see Koenma. The toddler greeted them smoothly, and then asked why they were there.
"Where's Kurama?" Yusuke demanded. "Where is he?"
"He's around," Koenma said. "We don't know where we're going to put him yet." He looked around and suddenly realized why the group was there. "Now, Yusuke-"
"What do you mean, where you're going to put him?" Yusuke yelled, grabbing the toddler and shaking him. "Send him back, you idiot!!" He shook Koenma harder. "Send him back to us! We. . . ." Yusuke trailed off.
"We're not ready to let him go yet," Botan finished sadly, watching Yusuke nearly throw Koenma back onto his chair.
"Do you think I'm a moron or something?" Koenma yelled, surprising the group. "Revival was the first thing I offered him! The thing is, Yusuke, he doesn't want to come back." The room went silent as the occupants took a moment to process this information.
"Baka," Hiei muttered a few seconds later.
"Liar!!" Yusuke yelled, grabbing Koenma again. "Why in hell doesn't he want to come back? You liar, Koenma, you liar!!!!"
"Yusuke, put him down, he tells the truth." The door to Koenma's office opened and Kurama-rather, Kurama's spirit-walked in. To everyone's surprise, Hiei confronted him.
"Why, fox?" he asked in a deathly quiet voice. "Why don't you want to come back?" Kurama paused a second, then sighed.
"There's no reason for me to," he said. "I have nothing left to do."
"Kurama!!" Botan squeaked. "What are you talking about?"
"What about Youko Kurama?" Hiei demanded. "Don't you want to go back-?"
"No, Hiei," Kurama said. "I swore I'd never go back to the way I was before. Don't talk like that. I'm happy here." (A/N: *sighs* cheesy and un-Kurama-ish.)
"What about us?" Yusuke demanded, stepping forward. "What about how we feel?" Kurama blinked. "I know this sounds strange, coming from me, but we need you Kurama, we care about you." Kurama laughed.
"You're right, it does sound strange coming from you, but no, Yusuke, I'm sorry," he said. "I have to stay here, I've cheated death so many times that it feels like its time to finally embrace it."
"Kurama!" Yusuke yelled, defeated.
"I'm going now," Kurama said, turning.
"What about your mother?" The room went silent once again. Kurama turned, eyeing Yusuke with a cold stare. "What about her? Don't you even care about what she's going to do when she finds out that you're gone?" Yusuke balled his hands into fists. "When you stole the Forlorn Hope, back before we were a team, you were willing to give your life to make your mother happy. Now you just have to come back to life to make her happy. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"(A/N: Dude, that makes no sense, does it?) Kurama stood speechless for several minutes, obviously contemplating what Yusuke had said.
"The offer still stands, Kurama, if you want to go back," Koenma said. After a few more moments, they began to worry.
"Kurama, please," Botan said.
"Come on," Yusuke muttered.
"Fox," Hiei said. "I don't care, it's up to you."
"You're not very much help, Shrimp!!" Kuwabara yelled, breaking the dramatic tension of the moment. Hiei shook his head.
"And you are help?" Hiei asked.
"A lot better help than you are!"
"You haven't said one intelligent thing since we got here," the fire youkai said. "Actually, you'd better make that you're whole life."
"That's it!" Kuwabara lunged for Hiei, but Hiei stepped to one side and Kuwabara fell to the ground with a thud. Kurama chuckled. "It's not that funny fox-boy!!" Kurama laughed even harder.
"I'd miss you guys fighting like this," he said. "And Yusuke's right, my mother would be that much happier if I were to go home."
"Then it's settled," Koenma said. "Now all of you get out of my office so I can get a little piece and quiet around here!"
Shoiri welcomed Kurama home, asking where in the world he had been. Kurama shrugged and gave a half-hearted explanation.
"Well, let's hope that this doesn't happen again," Yusuke said once they were in Kurama's room. "I don't think I could convince you to come back to like again."
"I don't know, Yusuke, you're a pretty moving speaker when you want to be," Kurama said, fiddling with a strand of long red hair. "So . . . Hiei killed Karasu?"
"That's what it sounds like," Yusuke said. "His actual words were, 'The sadist's dead. Now where's the fox?' Kurama, does he ever call you by your proper name?"
"Yes, every once in a while," Kurama said.
"Name three times," came a voice from the windowsill.
"Hey, Hiei," Kurama and Yusuke chorused while Kuwabara jumped and demanded to know why Hiei didn't knock.
"Baka," was Hiei's reply as he closed Kurama's window and leaned against the wall near the rest of the group. "So, feeling better, fox?"
"Fine," Kurama said while Yusuke grinned.
"He doesn't!!" Yusuke announced. Kurama sighed. Hiei shook his head. Kuwabara backtracked a minute to figure out what Yusuke was talking about.
"Hn, baka," Hiei growled. Yusuke stuck his tongue out at Hiei. Kurama sighed. Life was back to normal. At least, normal as it would ever be for him.
This is the conclusion of the non-yaoi ending. If you are a yaoi-hater, this is where the story ends for you. Be happy with it, and don't flame me because the next (alternate) ending contains yaoi. Actually, people have been really accepting about this whole thing. I was sure I was going to get flamed.
Anyway, for anyone who misunderstood, each ending is more than one chapter. The yaoi ending will probably be around two or three chapters. Note: the chapters that contain the alternate ending will be titled "Chapter __, alternate ending" Er, you'll see what I mean.
One last time, not because anyone's stupid, but for good measure; This is the conclusion of the non-yaoi ending. If you are a yaoi-hater, this is where the story ends for you.
