Hiya! This is a new story o' mine (I figure I should even up the number of my stories with the number of my one-shots... ) It's slightly different than what I'm used to writing, but it's got potential, I think. Please read and review!

Summary: Things keep going downhill for Kurama, and he's struggling to keep his life together. Facing some of the hardest experiences, he realizes that in order to reverse the direction of his life, he has take matters into his own hands.

Warning: Mild shounen-ai throughout. Hiei and Kurama, namely. (Gotta stick with tradition!) This will get angst-y, and will be depressing at times, my pretties. But hang in there. Persevere the storm and you'll receive a rainbowin the end, eh?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, gar nicht!

Slipping Through My Fingers

Prologue

Wednesday, January 15th / 18:31

"Shuuichi, could you come down now? There's someone I'd like you to meet." Kurama closed the book he'd been reading, sat it on his desk and looked up at his mother.

"Your new beau?" he asked mischievously. Shiori nodded, a smile on her face. Kurama smiled as well. He was excited for his mother; she'd finally found someone she wanted to get serious with.

"He brought his son with him. I hope you two get along." Kurama stood and pushed his chair in.

"I'm sure we will," he said. He followed her down the hall to the stairs, and he descended behind her.

"Shuuichi..." she said, holding her hand out to her new object of affection. "This is Nakajima Masahiro and his son, Tetsuya." Kurama crossed the room to shake the man's hand. Masahiro remained seated on the armchair, and merely glanced up at Kurama in response. Kurama's smile faltered. It wasn't a very constructive first impression. Shiori placed a hand on Kurama's shoulder. "Masahiro..." she said encouragingly.

Masahiro continued to look up at Kurama. His eyes were inexplicably cold and distant. Kurama could see that he was tall from the way he sat. He was slightly built, with wavy dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. His hands were thick and strong, and his eyebrows were bushy. He had a thin nose, and very even features. His lips were set in a slight scowl, as if he was always serious. Kurama couldn't see what Shiori saw in him. He didn't see it at all.

"Shuuichi..." he said. His voice was businesslike. "I hear you do well in school?"

"Very well, Nakajima-san," Kurama said.

"She showed me your report for last semester. I remember seeing several B's."

"Yes..." Kurama said. "It's become harder for me to focus this year. I'm not quite sure—"

"I hear you don't have a job."

"No," Shiori said. "As long as he's still in school, I don't want him to bother with working."

"He's not working, and he's almost 18?" Masahiro asked.

"We have an understanding," Kurama explained. Why was he so critical? Perhaps he was a perfectionist. From the looks of his son, Kurama would bet any amount of money he was.

Nakajima Tetsuya sat on the left side of the couch, his back straight and his legs crossed. He had his arms folded in his lap and his expression was plain. His eyes remained fixed in one spot and he made no movements or sounds. His hair was dark brown, expensively cut. His eyes were dark blue, and his complexion was a healthy peach. His father was tanned, nearly olive skinned. Kurama could barely see a resemblance.

"Understanding?" Masahiro asked. "You call yourself an excellent student, and yet I see B's. Tetsuya, tell him what excellent students score." Tetsuya didn't move much as he spoke. His eyes remained fixed on whatever he was looking at.

"Straight A's, Masa-sama." Masa-sama? Kurama thought. "Perfect scores in each class."

"Sometimes over 100 percent," Masahiro followed up. Tetsuya gave half a nod.

"Shuuichi does well," Shiori said.

"Seems to me that if you're not working, you should be excelling in your schoolwork. What distractions do you have otherwise?"

"Shuuichi helps me out a lot," Shiori said. "He has a lot of responsibilities around the house, and he does the best he can." Masahiro was skeptical. Kurama was becoming angry. Why did they have to explain themselves to him? Why couldn't he just accept it? Masahiro didn't say anything. Kurama looked at Shiori.

"May I be excused?" he asked. "I have to finish my homework. I'm sure he'll understand." Shiori nodded.

"Yes," she said and patted his shoulder.

"I'd like to go with him, Masa-sama," Tetsuya said. "If that is alright with you." Masahiro nodded.

"Don't be too long," he told him quietly. "Don't want him to rub off on you..." Kurama was sure Shiori did not hear that, but he heard it quite clearly.

"Yes, Masa-sama." Tetsuya stood slowly and looked at Kurama. He didn't speak. Kurama turned and walked to the stairs. Tetsuya followed him almost robotically up to his room. Kurama left the door open and sat down at his desk. Tetsuya stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He let out a huge sigh and shook his shoulders as if trying to ease some type of discomfort. Kurama looked over to him.

"Your father's an ass," he said. Tetsuya nodded. Kurama wasn't surprised.

"You're preaching to the choir," he said. Tetsuya's voice lost the inhuman edge it had when he spoke in the living room. He cleared his throat and walked normally over to Kurama's bed. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"No, go ahead." Tetsuya sat down, his back arched comfortably.

"Hm," he said. "Your mom makes you make your bed, too?" he asked.

"It's habit," Kurama said. "Though, if I didn't, she'd ask me to."

"I see." Tetsuya looked around. "You have a nice room," he said. "It's better than mine. There's nothing to do in my room. It's full of books and trophies and awards. I'm sick of it, you know?"

"Yes," Kurama said. "I'm sick of it just listening to you say it." He turned to Tetsuya. "How can you live like that?"

"I don't have much of a choice," Tetsuya said. "I know it seems unbearable, and it is, but...I don't know. I hate studying. I hate stupid polo. I don't hate horses, they're my favorite animals, and I do like to ride them, but not for sport. I think it's abuse. He forces me to race them. I throw some of the races on purpose."

"Throw them?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah...like...I'll just stop riding. Sometimes, I urge her to trot instead."

"What does he do? It must anger him." Tetsuya stood and turned around. He lifted his shirt and vest, revealing bruises, fresh and old, on his back. "He hits you?" Kurama asked. Tetsuya straightened out his clothes and sat back down.

"You bet. And then he put me on this strict diet. He said all the sugar made me hyper. I'm starving half the time I do anything. You should see the stuff he eats. He'll have a heart attack before I'm twenty, I'll bet."

"How old are you?"

"I'll be sixteen this March," he said. He sighed. "She doesn't deserve him."

"My mother?" Tetsuya nodded. "I agree."

"What does she see in him?" Tetsuya asked.

"I don't know," Kurama said. "When she described him...that's not the man I pictured. And she doesn't care about money, either, so I don't think it's because he's rich."

"She's like my mom," Tetsuya said. "Too nice for her own good. I love my mom. I wanna go live with her."

"How hard would it be for you to get away?"

"I'm too afraid to do that," Tetsuya said. "She lives around here, really close to you guys. We don't though. The courts say she has me on the weekends, but she can't afford to come get me most times. Dad said she's a worthless tramp who only wanted him for his money, but I know that's not true. Mom doesn't want a dime. She's really happy where she is now except for the fact that she doesn't have me. She doesn't want all that expensive stuff." Kurama didn't know what to say. Tetsuya looked down. "You're lucky, you know?" Kurama nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I know."

"My dad will break her spirit. I tried to stop them from getting together, and my dad found out and beat me over it. He knows I hate him. He knows I can't stand his guts."

"I don't understand how mother... I...made this silent promise to her that I'll never stand in her way...in the way of her happiness. But I don't want to see her crushed by him."

"Break them up. At least your mom won't beat you."

"I'll do what I can..." Kurama said. He shook his head. He had no idea what had gotten into his mother.

Friday, May 9th / 15:57

She was younger than Kurama imagined she'd be. He took a few steps towards her and kneeled by her side. Her wheelchair looked new, it was shiny and the wheels were slick. It was motorized, but it wasn't overly complicated. Kurama had no idea why his attention was on her wheelchair. He looked up at her. She was watching him.

Her eyes were a deep green, her red hair streaked with white. Her expression was one of joy at seeing him. He took her hand in his and held it tightly. She smiled very slowly, the etched lines in her face lifting. She was aging very well as far as Kurama was concerned. She was beautiful. Kurama felt whole at seeing her. He squeezed her hand tightly and shook it, then lifted it and kissed it. She reached over and gently patted his hand.

"Obaasan..." Kurama said, and held both of her hands to his cheek.

"Shuuichi." Her voice still had strength. "My grandson." Shiori was standing to the right of her mother-in-law.

"Mother," she said. "How would you like to come live with us?" Minamino Kumiko looked up at her.

"You don't have to do this, Shiori," she told her.

"Grandmother..." Kurama said. "We'd love to have you come to stay."

"We wouldn't dream of having you anywhere else," Shiori insisted. Kumiko nodded.

"Then I will."

Tuesday, May 20th / 4:12

Kurama watched the lights float by on his wall, red, blue, red, blue, red, blue in a simultaneous, eerie rhythm. He watched anxiously; he knew what they were. He wondered who they were for. Twenty three seconds later, he got his answer.

He heard his mother's bedroom door open and her footsteps shuffle across the hall. When he heard her at the stairs, he rose and left his room. He stood discreetly at the top of the stairs, looking on as his mother opened the front door. She was clutching her robe to her chest very tightly. There was a policeman and a policewoman standing in front of her. They both looked sullen. Shiori took a step back.

"Minamino Shiori?" the woman asked. Shiori nodded very unsurely. "We have some bad news." Shiori wavered again.

"Well, what...what is it...?" she asked.

"It's about your mother, Minamino Kumiko. I'm...I'm sorry..." The policewoman looked away. Kurama's eyes narrowed angrily. The policeman took over.

"Your mother was involved in an accident, Minamino-san. I regret to inform you that...she didn't make it." Kurama felt his world shatter into thousands of infinitesimal shards. He gripped the stair banister in his fist, the wood nearly bending under the force. Sick. This was their idea of a sick joke. His grandmother...was fine. He'd just seen her alive and well. She was set to move in that weekend. How on earth...?

Kurama's thoughts were interrupted by Shiori's wails. He rushed down the stairs to her side and put his arms around her.

"We're...we're sorry..." the policewoman said. Kurama ignored her. They were lying. His grandmother was not dead. She was alive. She had to be.

"Mother..."

"Shuuichi!" Kurama held his mother tighter, holding back his tears. There was no reason to cry. Not if she was alive.

Kurama wanted it erased. He wanted the lights to go away. He wanted the police off of his porch. He wanted to be in bed, and he wanted his mother to be asleep as well. He wanted to wake up in the morning and see his baa-chan and help her pack so that she could come live with them. He wanted to end his mother's pain.

He couldn't.

His grandmother was gone.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

You're now prepared for chapter one, which I hope to get out soon, minna-san. Thanks for reading, and I do hope you review!

J3