Chapter 12: Believe Me, I Didn't Do It On Purpose

*knock knock* Sukari's hand paused, floating over the mouse. If she clicked now, her whole website would be shut down... She sighed; couldn't do it. She got up and walked over to the door. "Who is it?"

Hiei's breath caught; he had no idea what to say! He really didn't have much of an excuse, and besides, he wasn't one to make excuses. What could he do...?

"Er... Hello? Anyone there...?" "Uh, yeah. It's... It's Hiei." Sukari blinked. His voice probably would have brought wounded tears to her eyes... but he sounded... what was the word... it couldn't be guilty; could it? "Um. *ahem* C-can I come in... Suki-chan?" Sukari sighed. "Yeah." She unlocked the door and sat down on her bed.

Hiei slowly opened the door; he keep his eyes on the ground as he walked over to Sukari. She looked at the closed windows, pretending that she didn't care at all that Hiei was there. "...Um... Suki-chan. I... I'm... sorry." Sukari blinked. She turned to look at Hiei's face, and he clearly saw the pain he had inflicted upon her shining there. "Yeah?" She whispered. "So am I."

Hiei felt his stomach squirm. "L-look. Suki-chan... I..." "What did I ever do to deserve you yelling at me like that? I mean, of course I understood when it was the first day we met; but you know me now. That wasn't fair, Hiei. It wasn't fair." "I..." But Sukari turned her head again; she seemed to be finished.

"D...Damn it all, Sukari, believe me! I wouldn't hurt you on purpose; and I'm sorry. ...I'm really sorry." Sukari's eyes widened as she snapped her head up to look at Hiei. "Hiei...?" "...Nani?" "You mean it?" "...Hai. I mean it." Sukari nodded. "Okay. I believe you." Hiei smiled. "Arigatou, Suki-chan."

Sukari grinned. "Hey, Hiei?" "Nani?" "You're smiling." "Eh? So?" "You don't smile that often." "...and...?" "...And you just smiled for me." "...Oh. That's a good thing, right...?" Sukari laughed. "Yeah. That's definitely a good thing."

She took a deep breath. "But... why did you yell at me...?" "Well, Kurama say's I'm just clostreephebcic." "...what...?" "Um, clestriphiboc. Cautrisobuc." Hiei let out a small sound of frustration. Sukari giggled. "Do you mean 'claustrophobic'?" "Yeah, that." Sukari laughed. "I didn't know there was a word you couldn't say, Hiei." "Yeah, neither did I." Sukari laughed again. Hiei smiled slightly as well; she was contagious!

* * *

"Geez Yusuke, will you stop pacing? It's driving me nuts!" Yusuke stopped mid-living room long enough to give Keiko a pained look. "I can't help it. Knowing Hiei, he'll probably say something stupid and screw everything up. And after everything I did to get them together..."

Keiko sighed as Yusuke continued to pace, randomly mumbling comments about unfairness and Hiei destroying all of his effort. Abruptly, he turned to Keiko.

"Hey, uh, Keiko?" She blinked. "...Uh huh?" "...you too. Y...you kiss good." Keiko's eyes grew wide. "W...well. Y-you mean well, not good." Yusuke grinned. "Yeah. ...That." They shared a small moment where they just looked at each other and sort of half smiled... Yusuke grinned. "Well anyway... I'm gonna go see what's going on up there." "Y-yeah. You do that." Yusuke nodded. "Kay. Be back in a minute." He smiled again, turned, and went to check on his friends.

* * *

Yusuke gingerly climbed the stairs to Sukari's bedroom, half surprised that he didn't hear screaming coming from it. 'And here I was expecting Sukari to be beating the living--' He paused his thoughts; he was at her door. Silently, he leaned over to try to hear if the conversation held any clues to help further match-making attempts.

* * *

"So... Hiei." Hiei looked up. "Nani?" "Um... I was wondering... er... th-there's this... this festival. I... saw a poster for it when I was driving here. I actually had the driver stop so I could get one. And... I was wondering... if... if you want to go." Sukari finished her sentence, a nervous blush creeping into her cheeks as she continued. "And just to let you know... I know we only met yesterday. But it feels like... like I've known you forever, you know? ...But if you don't want to go... I understand."

Keeping her eyes pinned to the ground, Sukari waited, her breathing stilled. Hiei looked at her for a moment, apparently considering... "...Yeah. Yeah, okay... I'll take you."

Sukari blinked. She lifted her head to reveal her absolutely delighted smile. "Really??" "Er... yeah. Really." "Yay!" Hiei's eyebrows traveled into his hair a bit. "Um... hey, Suki-chan? ...Do I... do I have to wear a yukuta?" Sukari's face broke into an evil grin. "Oh yeah, Hiei. You have to wear a yukuta."

* * *

Author's Note: Wow, that took forever for a short chapter to get up! Sorry! Don't worry though, chapter 13 will be up within a day of this chapter, and I have chapter 14 planned out, too! Thanks so much for reading!

-- Becca