A/N: Kurama's POV incase no one noticed. I don't own anything!
"Oh, Kurama, can you do me a favor?" Botan asked me just before I entered my home.
"Of course. What is it?" I replied.
"I have all this paperwork to do for Reikai and Koenma. Can you help me with some of it? There's something on demons I have to do but I don't know very much about some of them. Can you help?"
"Yes," I answered without stopping to think. This would be a good opportunity to be alone with her and talk to her.
"Great. Can you stop by Genkai's Temple around ten tonight? Yukina will be at the party that Yusuke's throwing for Kuwabara."
"Aren't you going?"
A barely noticeable frown appeared on her lips. She bowed her head and clasped her hands together at her waist, letting go of my arm. "I can't. I wanted to but with all this work I have to do. . ." she sighed and looked up at the sky. "Besides, I wasn't invited."
"That's absurd! Why didn't they invite you?"
"I don't know. You will be there tomorrow, right?" She looked at me with such a look in her eyes that I couldn't resist the offer if I had the desire to.
"Yes, I will."
She smiled. It was a brilliant smile that lit up her features. She squeezed my hand lightly. "Thank you. Good night."
"The same to you."
I watched her walk off. It would be pleasant to be alone with her for a night. It would be at least an hour for me to see her in her own light. There would be no one around to distract me from her.
The next day at school was tedious, as usual. I had soccer practice to go to. Practice was longer than it normally was. My teammates didn't understand the point of trying to use skill rather than force when handling the ball. I was forced to demonstrate what was to be expected.
I went to the hospital to visit my mother. It had become a habit after a week or two with her being in there.
"Suichi, I was wondering if you had gone home already." She greeted me with a smile that was growing weaker as days passed. I have a feeling that she was growing worse rather than better.
"I wouldn't go home without seeing you." I took my usual seat and rearranged the flowers in the vase at her bedside. "How are you today?"
"Fine, I guess. The doctors still aren't able to tell what I caught." She gave me a sad grin. "What is it with me catching undiscovered diseases?"
"Perhaps Kamisama has done it to improve your strengths. With each sickness you recover from, it gives you more strength against it when you next have it."
She took my hand. Once again, my eyes went to the seep scars on her arms where she had protected me from glass when I was only six.
"Suichi, dear, how do you know all these things? Sometimes I'm afraid you'll be smarter than me as you get older," she said.
I only smiled at her. How was I to tell her how I knew such things? I didn't want her vision of a good son to be marred by my true nature. I owed it to her to hide it from her.
~~=^.^=~~
"Kurama."
The low whisper awakened me before the speaker shook my shoulders. I opened my eyes and found Hiei by me. "Hiei, what is it?" I asked.
"You fell asleep in this place. Botan's upset, you know. You promised to come over and help her with her paperwork, remember? It's nearly midnight."
I groaned and slumped into my seat. Falling asleep is the perfect way to express your infatuation, I thought to myself sarcastically.
"I told her that you had a rough day and she believed me. I don't think she's too angry at you. Pity," he said with a smirk. He looked at my mother's sleeping form and his smirk grew wider. "Interesting. . .very interesting."
"What is it?" I sat up quickly. He didn't find human affairs to be 'interesting' unless killing them was involved.
"She knows." He laughed lightly. "Boy, does she know."
"What does she know?"
"About her 'too-perfect-to-be-real' Suichi. She knows you're inhuman."
For a second, I was sure my heart had stopped. Mother? This. . .human knew what so little others did? Did I not hide myself well enough?
"Everything about you was obvious and only a mother's careful eye could tell." For the first time, I noted that his Jagan eye was out in the open.
"Hiei. . ." I began. I was going to warn him of the many humans that stayed here but my curiosity was getting out of control.
"The way you walk is too graceful and perfect for a teenager who's just going through growing pains. And your eyes. . .they hide something. She can see when she looks into them that you find her below you. It hurts her to see that."
I stared at my mother.
"Hn. She's pretty smart for a human," Hiei congratulated. "Maybe that's part of the reason why you didn't become so stupid while you live as a human."
"She's a mother." I stood up. "Wait, what's that?"
Hiei looked around, his Jagan eye flashing. "That girl—Botan—something's happening to her." His hands clenched into fists. "Something's got Yukina too. Come on! We have to go! Now!"
I followed him out of the hospital, knowing that his Jagan would lead the way.