A/N: Note that this is still in Kurama's POV. Oh, and thank you for all the reviews! Flames are still accepted!
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I waited with bated breath for Hiei to complete his sentence. What could possibly make Hiei appear this uncomfortable? He took a deep breath.
"Kurama, I have something to confess."
"I understand that. What is it? You can tell me." It was obviously something of great importance to him. I was partially afraid of what it could be for it to pain Hiei this much.
"Yukina . . ." he began slowly.
"What? Is she ill?"
He frowned. "She must be for her to feel such a weak human emotion, but she's a female. I guess it's normal." He gave me a calculating look. "At least it's you and not Kuwabara. That makes me feel better."
"Tell me what it is!" I said, getting slightly carried away. He was making it sound like she was dying.
"She has something for you."
At first I didn't understand what he meant. "Didn't she already give me a gift?"
"You're not stupid, are you?! Listen to me!" He grabbed my shoulders as well as he could, considering the fact that I was a foot taller than him. "Yukina fancies you! She likes you!" He released me and glared at me.
My eyes widened. I felt my heart stop. "Why would you inform me of something like this? It's absurd!" I murmured. Why would she feel this way towards me?
"I'm serious, she likes you. I don't joke around."
He had a point . . . "How do you know?"
He crossed his arms. "I'm a telepath. And also, she blushes every time you even look at her." He scowled. "It's disgusting. Love is a human emotion! It allows for a weak point to be revealed."
"Love isn't a weakness. It shows that you have a heart. Even you are capable of loving someone. Do you not love Yukina?"
"That's different," he snapped at me. "Of course I love her, but she's related to me. She's my sister and the only link of my past I have."
"Why did you tell me all this?" I asked slowly, afraid of the outcome.
"Do something nice for her. I don't know, what do humans do?"
"You want me to take her out on a date," I said flatly. "I can't."
"Why not?!"
"I-I just can't." I couldn't tell him that it was the avid adoration for Botan that couldn't allow me to do it.
"You have to do it."
"But, Hiei, you must understand—"
"I understand what you feel, but just do the date thing once for her. For me. And for her. And mostly for you, because if you don't, I will embarrass you in front of everyone. Including her." He spoke the word 'her', accenting it in a way to tease me. He nodded towards Botan who was laughing at one of Yusuke's jokes.
"You wouldn't," I murmured.
"You know that I can and I will. I can't fight you to the death and win, but I can embarrass you. I can torture Kuwabara to help. He's an idiot, he'll do it willingly."
"Fine, I will do it."
"Good. Go tell her the good news."
"Won't she be suspicious of it?"
"It's dawn. You're birthday was yesterday. She'll be too tired to think that far. She'll be happy." He looked at Yukina with a small smile. It was a true smile—one that seemed to be reserved for only her.
I sighed deeply and walked to the house. Botan stopped and looked at Hiei and me. "Where were you?" she asked. Her voice was musical and so alluring . . .much like her eyes.
"We were speaking of memories past," I replied quickly. It pained me to lie to her as it did to lie to my mother, but telling her of what I was bullied into doing was going to leave my hopeful future with her ground into the dust without dignity.
"Oh." She smiled at me. "Have a nice day. Oh, and happy birthday . . .even if it was an ago." She hugged me briefly and flew away on her oar.
I looked after her, feeling my heart plummet to my stomach. I went into the house to find Yukina wrapping the leftover cake. "Oh, Kurama, would you like any more of this cake? I'm going to throw the rest of it away."
"No thank you. I'm still full from it."
She smiled and blushed. She threw the rest of it away.
"Yukina, may I speak to you for a moment?" I calmed my nerves. I didn't want to do this. Yukina was a wonderful person but I didn't want to give her false pretense, making her think that I deeply cared for her.
"Yes. What is it?" She wiped her hands off on a towel.
"Will you be busy this afternoon?" I asked her, putting my hands into my pockets to keep myself under control.
She blushed crimson again, obviously trying not to become too hopeful by the simple statement. "N-no. Why?"
"Would you . . .could you possibly find time to spend time with me this afternoon? We could watch a movie. Whatever you want. It can be your day to relax and have fun."
"That would be great! Of course I'll come! I'll come around three." She paused. "Is that okay?"
"I have soccer practice." I smiled sadly. "The pains of leading a human life." She giggled. "I'll get you by four. I mean, if it's okay."
"It is."
"Great. I'll see you then." I gave her an awkward hug and turned to see if I could possibly get a few hours of sleep and visit my mother before I met with Yukina. I sighed for the umpteenth time this morning. I felt like cruel for imposing upon Yukina's gentle and shyly hopeful life. It wasn't meant for me to do so. I cared for Botan. Little did I know that this was only a minor step to complicating my already complex life. It was going to be far worse and many more people were going to hurt because of Hiei's simple demand for his sister's happiness.