Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho

Part One

"Minamino, please, come in." Kurama walked into the classroom and over to his teacher's desk.

"Sensei..." he said. His English teacher, Sakai Masato was a serious man who was getting on in years. His hairline was beginning to recede and he wore his glasses more often than he used to. Still, Kurama knew he was just as bright as always. He was passionate about language and wanted to instill that passion in all of his students.

He looked especially tired that afternoon, though, as he looked up at Kurama. Kurama's eyes settled on the test paper on the desk. His teacher turned it toward him and slid it over to him. Kurama looked at his teacher.

"I'm concerned, Minamino," Sakai said, "about your failing grades recently. I understand...you've recently lost someone dear to you?" Kurama felt the familiar sting of tears in his eyes and the wave of pain surge through his body. He leaned forward and clutched the edge of his desk tightly enough to pierce the wood with his nails. Sakai nodded knowingly and leaned forward also. "May I suggest you see your counselor?" he asked. Kurama's bottom lip quivered.

"I...I...can't talk about it..." he said.

"I know it's hard," Sakai said. "I've experienced many losses in my lifetime. I just hate to see it affecting you this way. I know that...your studies come easy to you. This loss is hurting you so much that you can't do your studies. This, to me, means that this is not the only part of your life that is suffering. You... Your youth is the most important time of your life, Minamino. To spend it hurting day after day..."

"I understand," Kurama said. "I will go to see her." Sakai nodded.

"I'll understand if you need to take a few days off," he said. "I recommend it." Kurama nodded and stood up straight.

"Thank you," he said silently. He walked out of the room slowly. The counselor's office was on the second floor, around the corner from the stairs Kurama took to get down there. The door was open. Kurama walked in. There was a plump woman seated at the front desk to the left of him, and to the right were yellow classroom chairs in which three people were sitting waiting to speak with their counselors. One was crying silently, and another was writing something in a notebook. The third was reading one of the many pamphlets on display: on friendship, drug abuse, alcoholism, dealing with family problems... Death in the family... Kurama averted his attention.

The counselors were all sectioned off by partitions. On the partition facing the door, a log showed which counselors were in and which weren't. Below it was a credenza, and on top, numerous papers. A clipboard was there, and it was full of log in sheets for students. Kurama flipped through to his counselor. She was free that afternoon. He wrote his name in the proper time slot and looked up among the partitions. The respective counselor's names were near each opening. He walked down the short hall, looking for his counselor's name. She was at the very end.

Nobumoto Miya was a familiar face. She often came to Kurama's homeroom to remind the students there to come see her at times, whether it be to get signatures and statements for scholarship entries or just to talk. About anything, she said. The only things Kurama remembered about her, most times, were that her hair was always up in a ponytail, and she had a large birthmark on her left cheek. Also, she wore little or no makeup. He often wondered when he looked at people who really lay inside. He felt, when he looked at her, that there was a genuinely nice person inside.

When he looked around the partition, she looked up at him. Her smile was bright and warm, and she stood up very quickly. She held out her hand to him and put a hand on his shoulder as he shook it. She nodded to him and motioned for him to have a seat. Kurama sat in the chair across from her.

"Minamino Shuuichi, isn't that right?" Kurama nodded.

"Yes, Nobumoto-san." Nobumoto smiled at him.

"Now, Minamino, what would you like me to do for you?" Kurama looked down at his hands. He was wringing them without knowing it.

"Um...I was referred to come see you..." Kurama said. Nobumoto nodded encouragingly.

"I understand you've recently lost someone very dear to you," she said. "I don't want you to feel pressured to talk to me. When you are ready, that's when you'll talk. Is that alright?" Kurama nodded.

"Yes," he said. He thought about it momentarily. A part of him felt ashamed. Why couldn't he just get over it? Sure it happened, sure it was tragic, but why dwell on it? Why was it so hard? "I don't know why I'm still grieving," Kurama said. "We weren't very close. I'd only just met her before she passed."

"How do you feel about grieving?" Nobumoto asked.

"I don't think it's necessary," Kurama said. "It's always been a step I pass. If I do grieve, it never lasts for more than a few hours. I can always get over it and move on."

"Are you afraid to grieve differently now?" Nobumoto asked. "In the past, when you've lost someone, were they a part of your family, or just friends and acquaintances."

"The latter," Kurama said.

"You only saw her right before she passed on? In your entire lifetime?"

"Yes," Kurama said. "I was told so."

"Did you get along in that short time?" Kurama nodded.

"We caught up on a lot. She's a very sweet woman. She...she was battling cancer and beat it. She'd just gotten over treatment. She'd just come back to Japan and she was supposed to live with us." Kurama felt the flash of pain again and he gripped his hands tightly. They went white. Nobumoto nodded.

"Were the circumstances surrounding her death uncertain?"

"Yes. They...don't know who did it. They say it was suicide, but that's impossible." She nodded again.

"Do you see where I'm going with this?" she asked. "Though you weren't close, and you didn't know much about her growing up, when you met her, all that changed. You felt a connection with her. Deep inside, you loved her. And then she was taken away from you. After all this time, after all of her struggling, and her absence in your life, you thought things were looking up for the both of you. You thought you'd have forever to be with her, but then someone took her away from you, and no one seems willing to find out whom."

"I'm going to find him," Kurama said, gripping his hands even tighter, his skin stretching thinly over his knuckles. "I'm going to find out who killed her." Nobumoto nodded.

"If you need help, Shuuichi, I'm always here to help." Her voice became quiet and she leaned forward. "I read the story in the paper, and even with the one-sided opinion that she did commit suicide, I know that isn't the case." Kurama nodded.

"It's not," he said. "They're ruining her name. She wouldn't do that. She had no reason to, no means. They're not even trying to clear her name. I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Nobumoto stood and went to the filing cabinet in the back corner of her work space. She opened the fourth drawer and flipped through the folder tabs until she found what she was looking for. She slid a piece of paper out and closed the drawer. She sat down and began to write on it.

"This is a temporary leave form, for students who need to be excused from school for understandable reasons, such as a young girl giving birth, or in your case, the mourning of a family member. It's ordinarily for students who have to travel between districts to attend funerals, but I think your case is just as important."

"Thank you," Kurama said. Nobumoto filled out the form and slid it over to him.

"Just sign where I have and you're free to go home. I'll contact your mother, I'm sure she'll understand. If you need me at anytime, please, don't hesitate to call me."

"I won't." Kurama quickly read the form and signed below the line where Nobumoto signed.

-Later that afternoon-

Kurama walked closer to the pond. There was one other person there, a small child with a remote control boat. The small tugboat chugged along, leaving a rippling V along the surface of the water. The kid looked as if he was concentrating hard on how he controlled the boat. Kurama sat down on the bench, crossed his legs and watched him.

Not too much later, the kid stood and pulled the boat from the water, wiping the bottom of it on his shirt when it dripped down his arm. He studied it for a while and began to walk away. He looked at Kurama and stopped, then shook his head and jogged away. Kurama looked down at the pond. A small duck waddled its way over and slid down the edge of the pond into the water. It nipped the surface tentatively, then dunked its head underneath several times, letting the water roll down its back. It made a small noise that Kurama wouldn't necessarily call a quack, and floated along in the water contentedly.

Kurama was tired. His eyes felt dry and itchy and his head hurt. But being outside, in the company of nature, he was comfortable. It was the only place where he could get comfortable. His home used to be such a place, but all that was changing. Kurama wouldn't go home just yet. He knew he was only stalling, but what was the harm in that?

It wasn't until he felt a fiery presence that he cheered up. He smiled unconsciously and looked up, seeing Hiei balanced on the branch of a tree behind him. Hiei raised his eyebrows in response. Kurama kept his smile as he stood and walked underneath the shade of the tree.

"Hi," he said.

"What's going on?" Hiei asked.

"I've missed you," Kurama told him. "I'm glad you're back now." Hiei smirked.

"You'll never get enough of me," he said, "because I'm too irresistible."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Kurama said. He climbed the tree and perched on the branch next to Hiei. Hiei leaned over and nipped at Kurama's cheek. Kurama smiled.

"How you feeling?" Hiei asked. "Better?"

"No..." Kurama said. "If anything, I feel worse." Hiei nodded.

"Wanna come back with me?"

"Not yet," Kurama said. "There's one more thing I need to do."

"Oh?" Hiei asked, interested. "What's that?"

"Find him," Kurama said. He looked down at the pond. "And kill him." Hiei looked over at Kurama and touched his hair.

"You...still trying to not go home?" he asked. Kurama nodded.

"I'd rather not go back there. At least not yet."

"I'll go with you."

"Somehow...I feel it'll only make matters worse."

"Hm..." Hiei thought about it for a moment. Kurama was going through things lately, and Hiei had hoped that by the time he came back to the ningenkai, Kurama would be over them. But he wasn't. He was still hurting on the inside.

So what was wrong with Hiei's kitsune? Question of the century: What was not? Problems at home, problems at school. Hiei didn't like it, and he wanted to take Kurama away from it. He always asked if he could bring Kurama home, to the makai, and Kurama said he would go back. But there was always something Kurama needed to do first. Hiei did mind that, but he was patient. He could wait, just as long as he could take Kurama one day.

"Then we won't go in together," Hiei said. He yawned and stretched. "Come on. It smells like rain." Kurama and Hiei hopped down from the tree, Kurama's landing steadier than Hiei's. Hiei dusted himself and began to walk away. Kurama followed by his side.

"Hiei?"

"Yeah?"

"You know what's odd?"

"You?" Kurama chuckled.

"Other than me," he said. Hiei shrugged.

"Ningens?" he suggested.

"That's partly it," Kurama said. "I feel like I've wasted my time. You know how you spend time and energy working up to a final result, and you want that result to be spectacular? That...is not happening with me, and I'm sorely disappointed that's it not."

"I don't know what to tell ya, kitsune. I told you this place isn't for you."

"But it was," Kurama said. "I was having so much fun."

"So what happened?" Hiei asked. "Things stopped going your way?"

"Yes," Kurama sighed. "I've never been so unhappy. I didn't want it to be this way."

"Well, you didn't do anything to make it go wrong," Hiei said. "So...don't worry about it."

"It's hard not to."

"I know what will cheer you up," Hiei said. Kurama gave him an interested look.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Yep. You, me, ningen music and ningen noodles." Kurama smiled and chuckled.

"Sounds perfect," he said. "You run off for a bit. I'll go to the store and pick everything up."

"Right," Hiei said. "Get the ones with the little shrimps. Those are the best."

"I will," Kurama said. Hiei nodded, jumped up into a tree and flitted away. Kurama turned and headed to the grocery store a few blocks away.

Hiei was just perfect for taking his mind off the worst of things. Kurama hummed along to music in his mind as he walked to the store. He wondered what songs he'd play. He had a few new ones in mind. Hiei liked music. He wouldn't admit it, but he liked to dance, too. Kurama found that out when he caught him one night bogeying to some CD he'd taken from Yusuke. Kurama smiled slightly thinking about it. The demon was too adorable for his own good.

Thanks for reading and please review!

J3