DMG: Uh, gomen for the long wait. I had this chapter finished, but I lost access to the file. So now I have to retype everything. *sighs* Technology hates me. And I can't remember what I wrote before, so I have to think of new things. *grrrrrr* Life isn't fair. And it's such a daunting task to rewrite what I've written already.

Chihiro: AHAHAHAHA!!! (I love caps. They describe my state of mind perfectly.) hehe. Yes, I know what you mean. Or at least I think I do. You can never really tell. Your mind might be innocent. (lol.)

Midnightdream51: Yup. *nods* Can't really think of anything remotely clever to say, so I'll just shut up. *nods*

Piper222: Here's the update. Sorry it took forever. Enjoy!

Pyro Child16: Perhaps… I'd just have to think of a decent circumstance…so far the only fighting I've planned is sparring.

asian princess 61: *bows* thanks! Hopefully, it will only get better!

YaJiRuShi: *mysterious smile* There will be lots of little hints throughout the story of H/K. Like, at the end of this chappie! But, unfortunately, nothing definite for a while yet.

Raine Jaganshi: Terribly sorry for the wait. *sad face* But my pretty red disk was mad at me… Thanks for the review!

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        "Now, it goes without saying that none of you will mention the location of my den, ne?" Kai said pleasantly as they strolled through a forest.

        "Why shouldn't we?" Yusuke asked.

        She turned around to glare at the spirit detective. "Just don't!"

        "But why not?" he persisted.

        She gave an exasperated sigh. "If you really must know, then I'll explain. I – just – don't – want – demons – knocking – on – my –front – door – 24/7."

        Yusuke looked bewildered. "Why would they be knocking on your door?"

        She rolled her eyes at him. "I used to be an assassin. Or did you forget?"

        He grinned sheepishly. "I guess I did. You just – kinda, seem like you've been around forever."

        She raised an eyebrow. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment and not as a reference to my age."

        "But why would being an assassin have anything to do with demons knocking at your front door?" Kuwabara asked, perplexed.

        "What is this, some kind of interrogation? Well, I'll spell it out for you. I used to be an assassin. That means I made shady deals with shady demons. Actually, I was very busy most of the time, with requests all over the place. When I was home, I liked to have time to myself. If demons knew where my den was, then they'd never leave me alone! And now, that still applies, because no one really knows that I've quit the business," she explained.

        "You know, it's a good thing that you're not an assassin anymore. Killing people for money isn't nice."

        She cocked her head at him. "You really believe that, don't you?" Then she said something that shocked everyone. "Keep those ideals, baka. They're good for you." Then she turned and walked again, the scythe she had erm… 'borrowed' slung over her shoulder.

        Hiei snorted. "They'll get you killed."

        Kai turned back around. "Perhaps so," she said in all seriousness. Then she cracked an easy grin, for no apparent reason.

        "So, where's your den?" Kuwabara asked, looking around.

        Kai rolled her eyes. "We're not there yet. When we get there, I will tell you."

        Kurama, who had been silent throughout this whole conversation, suddenly spoke. "The forest is quite lovely here," he said, looking around.

        "Mm-hm, it is," Kai agreed. The trees were so thick around them that they could hardly see in front. "Very old, too, but you already knew that."

        Kurama smiled. "I did."

        Kai turned to the fire demon. "Why so quiet, Hiei?" she asked, slipping a friendly arm around his shoulders.

        He didn't really try to shrug her off, which Yusuke made a mental note of. Hiei said nothing.

        Comprehension dawned on Kai. "Oh – I remember. Well, it isn't that far to my den now."

        This was greeted with the tiniest semblance of a yawn from the fire youkai. They went the rest of the way in relative silence.

        "There it is," Kai announced, pointing in the direction of a huge tree with spreading branches that drooped slightly with the weight of all the leaves. Vines hung from the branches and wrapped around the trunk, which was think enough to that if all of the team tried to wrap their arms around it, they still wouldn't cover the circumference.

        "You live in a tree?" Yusuke asked with a deadpan look. -_-;

        "I've always wanted to live in a tree," Kuwabara said dreamily.

        Everyone sweatdropped.

        "Is there anything wrong with living in a tree?" Hiei asked Yusuke.

        "No – no of course not," Yusuke said, raising his hands in an attempt to placate the fire youkai.

        "Before you all start bickering again, I will have you know that I do NOT live in a tree," Kai stated calmly.

        "Then where do you live?" asked Yusuke.

        "Have patience and I'll show you."

        Kuwabara, who seemingly was not paying attention, nodded. "Patience is a virtue. Trees are our friends."

        Kai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He was just too weird. Motioning for them to follow, she brushed aside some of the hanging vines and stepped under the branches. She didn't stop; instead, she parted the curtain of vines on the other side, revealing a stone staircase cut into the rock of what looked like a hill. "Up there."

        They climbed for a while. Yusuke and Kuwabara were gasping for breath within a few minutes.

        "How – much – longer – will – this – take?" Yusuke panted.

        "Did you forget that it becomes more difficult to breathe the higher up you go?" Kai asked. "Well, it doesn't matter. We'll be there in about 5 minutes."

        True to her word, they reached the top in about another 5 minutes, to see a sturdy oak door that was built right into the rock. Kai took a large silver key from her belt pouch and fitted it into the matching lock.

        "Welcome home."
        The spirit detectives stepped into a short, low hall. Kuwabara, being the tallest, had to duck a bit, while Hiei and Kai had no problems.

        "Shoes off," she ordered. "I'm not your mother, and I don't want to clean up after you." She slipped off her own boots and threw them into a closet-like compartment. The boys did the same. The scythe and her bags were left leaning against the wall by the door.

        Hiei was also leaning slightly against the stone wall. Kai noticed this and motioned him to follow her.

        Yusuke pointed at them and smothered a giggle, Kuwabara looked confused about what Yusuke was laughing at, and Kurama shook his head slightly.

        Kai showed Hiei into a bedroom in the very back of the hallway. "This is *cough* my *cough* room. You can, erm, sleep here if you *cough* want to. I don't *cough* have a spare." Kai turned away, hoping that Hiei didn't pick up on why she suddenly sounded as if she needed cough drops.

        Unfortunately, he did. He fought the blush that was rising in his cheeks and mysteriously found the floor to be very interesting.

        "Erm, well, I'll be going now. Have a good sleep… AHHH!" She fled.

        Hiei blinked after her, then settled for a much-needed nap.

(A/N: on the off chance that someone didn't get what they were talking about, cherish your clean mind.)

        "So," Yusuke said, smirking, when Kai came back.

        "So what?" she snapped.

        "So," he grinned.

        "I don't have time for this," Kai growled, before he could say what she knew he wanted to.

        "So… you and Hiei, who would have guessed?" Yusuke knew he was putting his life in jeopardy, but he couldn't resist.

        "ARGGHH!" She pushed past him into the room they were sitting in.

        Even Kuwabara looked slightly smug. She didn't know he even knew HOW to be smug! She felt like pulling her hair out for some reason. Thank Kami-sama that Kurama wasn't laughing at her.

        "I'm going to go get bandages," Kai said, sweeping out again.

        Kurama looked around the room they were in. It was like a living room, of sorts. Three comfortable-looking couches were arranged around a low table in front of a large fireplace. Late afternoon sunlight was streaming through a wide window. The walls were covered with shelves filled with all sorts of 'things,' for lack of a better word, from all over the Makai, and probably Ningenkai as well.

        Dominating the back wall opposite the fireplace was an impressive weapons rack. Gleaming traditional katanas and kodachis hung suspended between sharp daggers and sets of kunaii. There was even a western-style broadsword there. Kurama identified a saber, rapier, and…a holy hand grenade?

        "Hey, that one must be to blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy Lord's mercy, like the killer rabbit!" said Yusuke, pointing to the grenade.

        Kurama just looked at him. "…"

        "What? You've never seen Monty Python? Geez, fox boy, you need to get out more."    

(A/N: Don't own it.)

        They went back to looking at weapons. A wicked double-headed axe was mounted near a bunch of spears, javelins, lances, and pikes, which were located by the bows. There was an ornately carved ebony longbow, as well as several smaller bows, all with matching quivers of arrows, and the odd crossbow.

        "This is one heck of a collection," Kuwabara said.

        "No shit Sherlock," Yusuke said as he bent to touch a point on a ninja throwing star. 

        "I wouldn't touch anything if I were you," Kai said dryly, returning with bandages, "some of them are poisoned."

        Yusuke quickly withdrew his hand.

        She divided the bandages into three piles and dumped them on the spirit detectives. "Yusuke, Kuwabara, I trust you can fix each other up. I'll put fox boy here back together again."

        "I'm fine, really," Kurama protested.

        "Nope, I'm gonna patch you up whether you say so or no," she said firmly, pushing him onto one of the couches.

        Now that that's all taken care of," Kai said, dusting off her hands. "We need to eat. And I don't really eat that stuff that you humans call food."

        "Are we gonna have to eat bugs or something?" Kuwabara asked, looking disgusted.

"Now what in all 7 hells gave you the idea that I eat bugs?" Kai demanded, hands on hips.

 "…"

"That's what I thought. I'll be back in an hour or so, so try to behave yourselves and don't touch or disturb Hiei, but I don't mind if you get accustomed to the place." She left.

"Whatever." Yusuke flopped down on a couch. Kuwabara did the same.

"I think I will explore a bit," Kurama said mildly.

"You do that, fox boy."

"I'm back!" Kai called softly as she re-entered her den. "Is anybody there?"

"We're right here!" Yusuke shouted flippantly from the living room on the left.

"SH!"

"Hey, where's Kurama?" Kuwabara asked, looking around.

"I'm here," Kurama said, stepping out of shadows that mysteriously appeared just for this purpose, startling the baka.

"Good. Now that you're all here, does anyone know how to cook?"

"I do," Kurama offered.

Yusuke and Kuwabara shook their heads 'no.'

        "O-kay, then. Kurama can help me make dinner, and you two can stay here and out of trouble."

(A/N: I'm gonna skip, 'caus my own culinary skills include instant ramen and boiling water.)

        Between them, Kai and Kurama had managed to make a decent soup thing out of whatever Kai had brought back. Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't know, and they decided they probably didn't want to.

        "Kai," Kurama asked. "There are windows in almost all of your rooms. If your den is dug into a hill, then how is this possible?"

        "You noticed that all my main rooms are on the left side?"

        He nodded.

        "Well, this isn't exactly a hill. It's more like a ledge sort of thing that overlooks a valley. The left side of the hall is the side that is sheer, making it possible for me to cut windows in," Kai explained eagerly. It had been no easy task to design her home.

        Yusuke and Kuwabara, who had no interest in the layout of Kai's den, ignored the demons. Yusuke finished and stood. "Hey, thanks for the dinner. I think I'll go to bed now."

        Kai held up a hand. "I don't think so," she smirked. "You two have dishwashing duty."

        "What?"

        "Kurama and I cooked, so you two get to clean. Have fun!" She turned to leave. "Oh, and you guys can sleep on the couches. Sorry, I don't have an extra bedroom or mattresses."

        "I think this is favoritism," Yusuke muttered to Kuwabara as they trudged to the kitchen.

        "Wha?"

        "Nevermind." 'Geez, even I know that word,' Yusuke thought.  Then he turned just in time to see Kai slip into her own bedroom.

        "Hey, isn't the shrimp sleeping in there?" Kuwabara asked.

        "Yeah," Yusuke replied. He could barely suppress his glee. This would be good blackmail, if they found a camera.

        "Did you need help with those dishes?"

        "AH!"

        "Don't scare me like that!"

        Kai inched the heavy door to her room open a crack, letting a sliver of soft candlelight from the hall illuminate the interior. Biting her lip, she slipped through and inside and stood by the bed where Hiei was, careful to keep her ki very low so the sleeping demon wouldn't know she was there.

        Half-amazed at her own daring, she gently brushed the bangs away from his face. His features looked much softer while he slept, less guarded. He almost looked… kinda sweet…

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DMG: I hope you're happy! That took me FOREVER to write, especially the last part. And because my laptop kept freezing and dumping it. Stupid piece of junk. Sorry for picking on Kurama so much; I couldn't resist.

QUESTION: Do you people want this to have a plot, or just be a day-to-day episodic kind of fic? Personally I favor the day-by-day stuff, but, yeah… whatever.

Reviews make me happy. *hint, hint* ^_~

(Sorry for any OOCness. I try. And, I noticed in this chapter, Yusuke uses a bunch of western phrases. *shrugs* Oh well.)

Did anyone ever notice how in lots of fics, Hiei is really mean to Kuwabara? When, really, in the series, it's usually Kuwabara who starts it by saying 'shorty' or something. And Hiei shows really good self-control. All he says is a sarcastic comment about Kuwabaka's intelligence once in a while. I've just been thinking that Hiei's really a lot nicer than what fics usually portray him as. Just a random thought.