Sorry about the long delay! Things have just been going wrong lately, and
it's been hard for me to write anything good. Actually, that sentence
should be something like, "it's been hard for me to write something worthy
of posting, not that it's any good."
Princess Krystal01- Yeah, yeah, I know Kurama's not in character. It was bothering me a little bit, but I came to this realization-it's kinda hard to act like yourself when the person who scares the living s**t out of you is right next to you in your own home. Kinda smashes the safe, homely feeling there. But don't worry . . . Kurama's gonna get better before the end of the story (there goes the humor of the story) So . . . don't worry.
Dragon Sythe- Nah, Karasu doesn't have blond hair in this fic. Well, if there's some big fight scene he might go blond (not that there will be- don't hold me to that) but other than that, no. If you don't mind me asking; Why even care? Oh, and Karasu's not gonna have a love affair with Kurama. If you want to read something like that, let me know, and I'll get to work on my KarasuxKurama fic. (don't kill me if you're a yaoi-hater . . . you don't have to read it. That goes for everybody else, too.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.
"What is your problem?" Hiei demanded. He was currently watching Kurama, who had armed himself with a baseball bat in hand and one of his mother's pans on his head. Hiei shook his head at the kitsune. "Seriously, why are you making such a fool out of yourself?"
"He's planning something," Kurama said.
"Karasu?" Hiei asked, although he knew that was the answer.
"Karasu's planning something and I'm not about to let him get away with it," Kurama said, waving the bat around in a few practice swings. Hiei groaned.
"Come on, fox, just drop it, he's not gonna hurt you," Hiei said, eyeing the bat as if daring it to come an inch nearer. "He already said he wouldn't. And he has yet to actually break his word."
"What about last night?" Kurama demanded, noticing Hiei's look and tucking the bat under his arm. "He was moving toward me with his hand outstretched.
"He was reaching for the salt, which he had to reach across you for," Hiei said. Kurama dropped the baseball bat. "You were just too freaked out to notice."
"Really?" he asked. Hiei "hn"ed and nodded. Kurama slowly took the pot off his head. "All right then. But I swear, if he makes one obvious move to kill me. . . . "
"You're gonna kick him out, Kurama, we know, we know," Kuronue said, coming down the stairs. Kurama "eep"ed slightly, and glared at his partner, who had a smug grin on his face.
"How much of that did you see?" Kurama demanded.
"All of it, and I even got pictures of you with that pan on the . . . camera, that's what it's called, right?" Hiei snorted in amusement, and Kurama clapped his hand to his forehead.
"The camera!" he groaned. "Kuronue, you told me you didn't know how to work that thing." The chimera had a smug grin on his face.
"I lied," he said simply. "Anyway," he added hastily as Kurama frowned. "That's not the point. The point is; Hiei's right, Karasu's not gonna hurt you."
"How would you know?" Kurama asked.
"I talked to him last night, he's a nice guy," Kuronue said. "Just give him a chance." At that point, Hiei left, not wanting to hear Kurama's pathetic excuses of why he should not talk to Karasu.
"How's the bird?"
Yukina jumped at the voice coming from the shadows and whirled around. When she saw the two red eyes (So much like my own,) she thought, she calmed down.
"Hiei, you scared me," she said, smiling and motioning for Hiei to come out of the shadows. Hiei did so, grudgingly mumbling something that could be an apology. "Why'd you come out here again?" Yukina motioned to the temple that had once been Genkai's, before she had passed on. "I thought you hated to come here."
"I just wanted to know how the bird was," Hiei said, although in his own ears it rang untrue. He was simply looking for something that he could talk to Yukina about.
"The bird's fine," she said. "I had a little trouble healing his broken wing, since I'm not used to working on animals and all, but he's fine." Yukina smiled at him.
"Good," Hiei said. He offered her a quick smile, happy that she was happy. "I'm glad." Hiei turned to leave.
"Wait!" Yukina cried. "Do you want to stay for a little bit?" Her eyes shone with hopefulness, but Hiei shook his head.
"I don't think so," he said to her. "I have other things I need to do." Okay, so it wasn't *completely* a lie, well, yeah, it was a lie. Hiei paused a moment. "Why do you even care?" Yukina opened her mouth, then closed it again as if she could not believe what she was hearing.
"Well," she managed after a moment. "It's an offer a friend would make. To invite someone into one's home." There was a second of silence while Hiei considered what she was saying.
"You think of me as a friend?" he asked. Yukina frowned. "What did I say?"
"We've been through this before, Hiei," she said. When Hiei frowned, remembering, Yukina continued. "You asked, and I nodded. Then you said . . . " she trailed off.
"I said. . . . " Hiei muttered, not wanting to repeat it. (I said I was an outcast up until now,) his mind finished the thought for him.
"You said you'd been an outcast up until now," Yukina said. "Then I asked you what you meant, and you said that you were a criminal, as if you wanted me to hate you." She looked down at the wooden floor of the kitchen in Genkai's temple. "Do you want me to hate you?" It was a question out of her nature, sure, but sometimes that was the vibe she received from the other youkai.
"I don't!" Hiei said, a little too quickly. Yukina's eyes widened.
"You don't," she repeated under her breath. Then she raised her voice. "Can I ask you something, as a friend?" Hiei looked unnerved by the new title, but answered kindly.
"Nani?" Hiei said, looking at his sister. "What do you want to ask me?" Yukina paused, kicking her feet at the ground.
"I wanted to know . . . if you knew anything about . . . my brother," she said. On that train of thought, she continued. "I don't know why I'm not able to find him, it's like . . . " she broke off, tears forming in her red eyes. "It's like he hates me or something. But I don't want him to h- hate m-me." She stuttered, truly in tears by this point. Small tear gems clinked onto the floor, and Hiei gathered them up as he tried to comfort her by awkwardly patting her on the back.
"I-I'm sure he doesn't hate you," he said. Then, perhaps against his better judgment, he went on. "I'm sure that he's looking for you right now. He probably cares about you very much, Yukina, he really does." Yukina noticed the slip before Hiei did.
"You k-know that he c-cares about m-me?" She stuttered through quickly drying tears. "How?" She looked up at him hopefully.
"I . . . " Hiei trailed off, hardly able to form a coherent sentence in his mind. (Damn,) he thought as he watched her. (Why did I slip like that?)
"You know where he is?" Yukina asked hopefully.
"N-no," Hiei lied. "I . . . yes. I know. I know where he is." (What are you *doing*?) his mind screamed at him. (I don't know,) he answered it silently.
"Then . . . tell him where I am, and that I'm waiting for him, and that . . . I love him," Yukina said. "Will you please, Hiei?"
"Hai," Hiei said. Yukina smiled.
"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much." She quickly wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. Hiei blinked, something breaking inside him, and hugged her back.
"I should go now," he said. "I have something that I need to attend to."
"Thank you, and good-bye," Yukina said as Hiei vanished out of the window.
Kurama sat across the couch from Karasu, wondering how in the world Kuronue had managed to get him roped into this.
"So . . . " Kurama said uneasily. "You're . . . not evil anymore?"
"I'm not," Karasu said. "I was thinking when Koenma was wondering what he was going to do with me the second time I died, 'why am I hurting someone who I really only want to be friends with?' or 'why I am I *trying* to scare him so much' and 'don't I want him to be my friend?'"
"Hang on, hang on, hang on," Kurama said hurriedly. "You wanted me to be your *friend*?" Karasu grinned nervously as Kurama stared at him with wide green eyes.
"Yeah," he said. "I did. I was just . . . a little out of my mind."
"No kidding," Kurama snorted, leaning back on the couch and crossing his arms. Despite his better judgment, he was beginning to relax around Karasu. "So . . . you're not gonna blow me up this time?"
"Nope," Karasu said. "I'm done with all of that. And you saw what happened earlier; I couldn't even blow this couch up, even though I tried. Kurama nodded, he had felt Karasu's energy peak when he had tried to blow the couch up. Now that he thought about it, the crow's energy did seem weaker than normal. "Well, do you trust me?"
"Yeah," Kurama said after a minute. "I do." Karasu held out his hand and Kurama took it, shaking it in a sign of trust.
"Well, now that that's settled," Karasu said, getting up off the couch. "Wanna get something to eat? It feels like forever since breakfast." Not waiting for an answer, he headed off for the kitchen.
"Yeah it does," Kurama said, getting up and following him. "Hang on, I going to see if anyone else wants something." He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Kuronue! Jeroun! Wanna come on down and have lunch?" It seemed that before the words had even left his mouth Kuronue and Jeroun were tumbling down the stairs together, stopping when they reached Kurama.
"What's for lunch?" Jeroun asked. Kuronue eyed the two.
"It's all right, Kuronue, we're friends, see?" Kurama placed a hand on Karasu's shoulder, who merely shrugged it off. "Great. Glad to know I'm loved." Jeroun laughed. Kuronue shook his head.
"Let's just get lunch," he said.
Later that afternoon, Kurama heard a tapping at his window as he sat on his bed reading a book he had been meaning to get started on. Sighing, he folded the page over as a bookmark and went over to open the window. Without a word, Hiei jumped in.
"Hey Hiei," Kurama said. Hiei's eyes darted about the room as Kurama turned and closed the window again.
"I have to leave," Hiei said. Kurama jumped, clearly startled by Hiei's statement.
"Why?"
"Hn," Hiei folded his arms across his chest. "Wouldn't you love to know." Kurama paused for a moment, thinking, and then smiled to himself.
"You said too much to Yukina." Even though Hiei didn't say anything out loud, Kurama could feel the "How-the-hell-did-you-know" stare drilling into his back. "You were snapping at me, which you only do in Yukina- related cases. You were nervous-no, don't deny it, Hiei, I could smell it, another thing that only comes up in Yukina-related cases, and you only have to leave when you feel that something went wrong." Kurama had yet to face Hiei, but could imagine the open-mouthed look the fire demon had.
"Smart-ass fox," Hiei growled, shutting his mouth. Kurama only chuckled.
"I know," he said. He sat down on his bed, motioning for Hiei to sit next to him. "So, how long do you plan on staying?"
"As long as I need to," Hiei said. Kurama sighed.
(I wonder why I even try sometimes,) he thought. Hiei scowled.
"I heard that," he said.
"I know," Kurama replied. "Well then . . . there's really nothing left here to do, is there?" Kurama paused suddenly, considering his words. "Ah, crap, Hiei, I didn't mean for that to sound like I was trying to kick you out or anything. . . . " Hiei smiled at the fox's attempt to babble out an apology.
"Don't," he said. "Don't bother apologizing. I know you didn't mean it." Kurama stopped mid-babble, mouth open, and turned to Hiei.
"Are you all right?" he asked the small fire youkai. "Because you don't act like it." Hiei chuckled inwardly at Kurama. The kitsune was right, of course, but that didn't matter at the moment.
"Don't tell Yukina," Hiei said.
"I won't," Kurama promised. "You should do that yourself." Hiei scowled, and hauled himself up onto the windowsill. "Well, I guess this means, 'See ya later, Kurama, I'm leaving'?" Hiei rolled his eyes and nodded, before throwing open the window (ignoring Kurama's squeaked, "Don't! You're gonna break it!") and jumping out. Kurama ran to the window and peered into the now-dark backyard. "See ya, Hiei!"
"Who was that, Shuichi?" Shiori stood at the doorway, having caught her son leaning halfway out of it in an attempt to say good-bye. Kurama pulled himself back in and smiled at his mother.
"That was Hiei," he said. "He comes and goes by this window." Shiori's eyes widened. "You'll get used to it. Either way, he's not coming around for a bit, off to . . . work." Kurama was originally going to say, "Off to hide from his sister in the Makai," but thought better of it. Shiori'd get the wrong idea and Hiei'd kill him.
"Well . . . dinner's ready, and everyone's getting restless," Shiori said. "So . . . " She glanced out into the hallway, and her eyes widened. She quickly looked at the ground and hurried on. Kurama tilted his head to one side, confused.
"What scared her off like-" Kurama walked out into the hallway, and his eyes went wide. Karasu was attempting to run up the wall. "What are you doing?"
"Your mother said Jeroun's complaints could drive a person up the wall, so I'm just seeing if it'll drive a youkai up the wall," Karasu said.
"Karasu, it's a figure of speech," Kurama said. Karasu, who had indeed jumped halfway up the wall, suddenly fell and landed on his back.
"That hurt," he said. Kurama smacked his forehead with his hand and went down to see what was for dinner. Well, didja like it? I hope so, it took me long enough to write this chapter. Please review! I know I don't deserve it, but please! Sorry once again for the long delay! It'll never happen again without warning! I promise!
Princess Krystal01- Yeah, yeah, I know Kurama's not in character. It was bothering me a little bit, but I came to this realization-it's kinda hard to act like yourself when the person who scares the living s**t out of you is right next to you in your own home. Kinda smashes the safe, homely feeling there. But don't worry . . . Kurama's gonna get better before the end of the story (there goes the humor of the story) So . . . don't worry.
Dragon Sythe- Nah, Karasu doesn't have blond hair in this fic. Well, if there's some big fight scene he might go blond (not that there will be- don't hold me to that) but other than that, no. If you don't mind me asking; Why even care? Oh, and Karasu's not gonna have a love affair with Kurama. If you want to read something like that, let me know, and I'll get to work on my KarasuxKurama fic. (don't kill me if you're a yaoi-hater . . . you don't have to read it. That goes for everybody else, too.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.
"What is your problem?" Hiei demanded. He was currently watching Kurama, who had armed himself with a baseball bat in hand and one of his mother's pans on his head. Hiei shook his head at the kitsune. "Seriously, why are you making such a fool out of yourself?"
"He's planning something," Kurama said.
"Karasu?" Hiei asked, although he knew that was the answer.
"Karasu's planning something and I'm not about to let him get away with it," Kurama said, waving the bat around in a few practice swings. Hiei groaned.
"Come on, fox, just drop it, he's not gonna hurt you," Hiei said, eyeing the bat as if daring it to come an inch nearer. "He already said he wouldn't. And he has yet to actually break his word."
"What about last night?" Kurama demanded, noticing Hiei's look and tucking the bat under his arm. "He was moving toward me with his hand outstretched.
"He was reaching for the salt, which he had to reach across you for," Hiei said. Kurama dropped the baseball bat. "You were just too freaked out to notice."
"Really?" he asked. Hiei "hn"ed and nodded. Kurama slowly took the pot off his head. "All right then. But I swear, if he makes one obvious move to kill me. . . . "
"You're gonna kick him out, Kurama, we know, we know," Kuronue said, coming down the stairs. Kurama "eep"ed slightly, and glared at his partner, who had a smug grin on his face.
"How much of that did you see?" Kurama demanded.
"All of it, and I even got pictures of you with that pan on the . . . camera, that's what it's called, right?" Hiei snorted in amusement, and Kurama clapped his hand to his forehead.
"The camera!" he groaned. "Kuronue, you told me you didn't know how to work that thing." The chimera had a smug grin on his face.
"I lied," he said simply. "Anyway," he added hastily as Kurama frowned. "That's not the point. The point is; Hiei's right, Karasu's not gonna hurt you."
"How would you know?" Kurama asked.
"I talked to him last night, he's a nice guy," Kuronue said. "Just give him a chance." At that point, Hiei left, not wanting to hear Kurama's pathetic excuses of why he should not talk to Karasu.
"How's the bird?"
Yukina jumped at the voice coming from the shadows and whirled around. When she saw the two red eyes (So much like my own,) she thought, she calmed down.
"Hiei, you scared me," she said, smiling and motioning for Hiei to come out of the shadows. Hiei did so, grudgingly mumbling something that could be an apology. "Why'd you come out here again?" Yukina motioned to the temple that had once been Genkai's, before she had passed on. "I thought you hated to come here."
"I just wanted to know how the bird was," Hiei said, although in his own ears it rang untrue. He was simply looking for something that he could talk to Yukina about.
"The bird's fine," she said. "I had a little trouble healing his broken wing, since I'm not used to working on animals and all, but he's fine." Yukina smiled at him.
"Good," Hiei said. He offered her a quick smile, happy that she was happy. "I'm glad." Hiei turned to leave.
"Wait!" Yukina cried. "Do you want to stay for a little bit?" Her eyes shone with hopefulness, but Hiei shook his head.
"I don't think so," he said to her. "I have other things I need to do." Okay, so it wasn't *completely* a lie, well, yeah, it was a lie. Hiei paused a moment. "Why do you even care?" Yukina opened her mouth, then closed it again as if she could not believe what she was hearing.
"Well," she managed after a moment. "It's an offer a friend would make. To invite someone into one's home." There was a second of silence while Hiei considered what she was saying.
"You think of me as a friend?" he asked. Yukina frowned. "What did I say?"
"We've been through this before, Hiei," she said. When Hiei frowned, remembering, Yukina continued. "You asked, and I nodded. Then you said . . . " she trailed off.
"I said. . . . " Hiei muttered, not wanting to repeat it. (I said I was an outcast up until now,) his mind finished the thought for him.
"You said you'd been an outcast up until now," Yukina said. "Then I asked you what you meant, and you said that you were a criminal, as if you wanted me to hate you." She looked down at the wooden floor of the kitchen in Genkai's temple. "Do you want me to hate you?" It was a question out of her nature, sure, but sometimes that was the vibe she received from the other youkai.
"I don't!" Hiei said, a little too quickly. Yukina's eyes widened.
"You don't," she repeated under her breath. Then she raised her voice. "Can I ask you something, as a friend?" Hiei looked unnerved by the new title, but answered kindly.
"Nani?" Hiei said, looking at his sister. "What do you want to ask me?" Yukina paused, kicking her feet at the ground.
"I wanted to know . . . if you knew anything about . . . my brother," she said. On that train of thought, she continued. "I don't know why I'm not able to find him, it's like . . . " she broke off, tears forming in her red eyes. "It's like he hates me or something. But I don't want him to h- hate m-me." She stuttered, truly in tears by this point. Small tear gems clinked onto the floor, and Hiei gathered them up as he tried to comfort her by awkwardly patting her on the back.
"I-I'm sure he doesn't hate you," he said. Then, perhaps against his better judgment, he went on. "I'm sure that he's looking for you right now. He probably cares about you very much, Yukina, he really does." Yukina noticed the slip before Hiei did.
"You k-know that he c-cares about m-me?" She stuttered through quickly drying tears. "How?" She looked up at him hopefully.
"I . . . " Hiei trailed off, hardly able to form a coherent sentence in his mind. (Damn,) he thought as he watched her. (Why did I slip like that?)
"You know where he is?" Yukina asked hopefully.
"N-no," Hiei lied. "I . . . yes. I know. I know where he is." (What are you *doing*?) his mind screamed at him. (I don't know,) he answered it silently.
"Then . . . tell him where I am, and that I'm waiting for him, and that . . . I love him," Yukina said. "Will you please, Hiei?"
"Hai," Hiei said. Yukina smiled.
"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much." She quickly wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. Hiei blinked, something breaking inside him, and hugged her back.
"I should go now," he said. "I have something that I need to attend to."
"Thank you, and good-bye," Yukina said as Hiei vanished out of the window.
Kurama sat across the couch from Karasu, wondering how in the world Kuronue had managed to get him roped into this.
"So . . . " Kurama said uneasily. "You're . . . not evil anymore?"
"I'm not," Karasu said. "I was thinking when Koenma was wondering what he was going to do with me the second time I died, 'why am I hurting someone who I really only want to be friends with?' or 'why I am I *trying* to scare him so much' and 'don't I want him to be my friend?'"
"Hang on, hang on, hang on," Kurama said hurriedly. "You wanted me to be your *friend*?" Karasu grinned nervously as Kurama stared at him with wide green eyes.
"Yeah," he said. "I did. I was just . . . a little out of my mind."
"No kidding," Kurama snorted, leaning back on the couch and crossing his arms. Despite his better judgment, he was beginning to relax around Karasu. "So . . . you're not gonna blow me up this time?"
"Nope," Karasu said. "I'm done with all of that. And you saw what happened earlier; I couldn't even blow this couch up, even though I tried. Kurama nodded, he had felt Karasu's energy peak when he had tried to blow the couch up. Now that he thought about it, the crow's energy did seem weaker than normal. "Well, do you trust me?"
"Yeah," Kurama said after a minute. "I do." Karasu held out his hand and Kurama took it, shaking it in a sign of trust.
"Well, now that that's settled," Karasu said, getting up off the couch. "Wanna get something to eat? It feels like forever since breakfast." Not waiting for an answer, he headed off for the kitchen.
"Yeah it does," Kurama said, getting up and following him. "Hang on, I going to see if anyone else wants something." He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Kuronue! Jeroun! Wanna come on down and have lunch?" It seemed that before the words had even left his mouth Kuronue and Jeroun were tumbling down the stairs together, stopping when they reached Kurama.
"What's for lunch?" Jeroun asked. Kuronue eyed the two.
"It's all right, Kuronue, we're friends, see?" Kurama placed a hand on Karasu's shoulder, who merely shrugged it off. "Great. Glad to know I'm loved." Jeroun laughed. Kuronue shook his head.
"Let's just get lunch," he said.
Later that afternoon, Kurama heard a tapping at his window as he sat on his bed reading a book he had been meaning to get started on. Sighing, he folded the page over as a bookmark and went over to open the window. Without a word, Hiei jumped in.
"Hey Hiei," Kurama said. Hiei's eyes darted about the room as Kurama turned and closed the window again.
"I have to leave," Hiei said. Kurama jumped, clearly startled by Hiei's statement.
"Why?"
"Hn," Hiei folded his arms across his chest. "Wouldn't you love to know." Kurama paused for a moment, thinking, and then smiled to himself.
"You said too much to Yukina." Even though Hiei didn't say anything out loud, Kurama could feel the "How-the-hell-did-you-know" stare drilling into his back. "You were snapping at me, which you only do in Yukina- related cases. You were nervous-no, don't deny it, Hiei, I could smell it, another thing that only comes up in Yukina-related cases, and you only have to leave when you feel that something went wrong." Kurama had yet to face Hiei, but could imagine the open-mouthed look the fire demon had.
"Smart-ass fox," Hiei growled, shutting his mouth. Kurama only chuckled.
"I know," he said. He sat down on his bed, motioning for Hiei to sit next to him. "So, how long do you plan on staying?"
"As long as I need to," Hiei said. Kurama sighed.
(I wonder why I even try sometimes,) he thought. Hiei scowled.
"I heard that," he said.
"I know," Kurama replied. "Well then . . . there's really nothing left here to do, is there?" Kurama paused suddenly, considering his words. "Ah, crap, Hiei, I didn't mean for that to sound like I was trying to kick you out or anything. . . . " Hiei smiled at the fox's attempt to babble out an apology.
"Don't," he said. "Don't bother apologizing. I know you didn't mean it." Kurama stopped mid-babble, mouth open, and turned to Hiei.
"Are you all right?" he asked the small fire youkai. "Because you don't act like it." Hiei chuckled inwardly at Kurama. The kitsune was right, of course, but that didn't matter at the moment.
"Don't tell Yukina," Hiei said.
"I won't," Kurama promised. "You should do that yourself." Hiei scowled, and hauled himself up onto the windowsill. "Well, I guess this means, 'See ya later, Kurama, I'm leaving'?" Hiei rolled his eyes and nodded, before throwing open the window (ignoring Kurama's squeaked, "Don't! You're gonna break it!") and jumping out. Kurama ran to the window and peered into the now-dark backyard. "See ya, Hiei!"
"Who was that, Shuichi?" Shiori stood at the doorway, having caught her son leaning halfway out of it in an attempt to say good-bye. Kurama pulled himself back in and smiled at his mother.
"That was Hiei," he said. "He comes and goes by this window." Shiori's eyes widened. "You'll get used to it. Either way, he's not coming around for a bit, off to . . . work." Kurama was originally going to say, "Off to hide from his sister in the Makai," but thought better of it. Shiori'd get the wrong idea and Hiei'd kill him.
"Well . . . dinner's ready, and everyone's getting restless," Shiori said. "So . . . " She glanced out into the hallway, and her eyes widened. She quickly looked at the ground and hurried on. Kurama tilted his head to one side, confused.
"What scared her off like-" Kurama walked out into the hallway, and his eyes went wide. Karasu was attempting to run up the wall. "What are you doing?"
"Your mother said Jeroun's complaints could drive a person up the wall, so I'm just seeing if it'll drive a youkai up the wall," Karasu said.
"Karasu, it's a figure of speech," Kurama said. Karasu, who had indeed jumped halfway up the wall, suddenly fell and landed on his back.
"That hurt," he said. Kurama smacked his forehead with his hand and went down to see what was for dinner. Well, didja like it? I hope so, it took me long enough to write this chapter. Please review! I know I don't deserve it, but please! Sorry once again for the long delay! It'll never happen again without warning! I promise!
