Chapter two is here!!!

I know that you people think I'm being mean to Shuuichi, but the thing is . . . okay, yeah I am being mean. But it makes for a really good story. And I like it. A lot. Well, I don't like being mean, but the story is good, isn't it?

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER: It's in the first chapter. If you didn't see it, then I don't know what to tell you.

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"Finally, I'm free!" yelled Youko as he ran across the open fields of the Makai. He stopped at a field of flowers and rolled around in them. It had been so long since he was able to be himself. He had almost forgotten how much fun it was to be in the Makai.

It had taken Youko almost three hours to find a rift that would send him into the Makai, but playing in the flowers like this was well worth the wait.

Youko stopped as he heard the voices of a few girls nearby. He stood up, still in the form of a fox, and trotted over to them. They were very pretty, sisters if he wasn't mistaken. On a closer inspection he found that they were twins.

Even better, he thought with a grin.

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"Kurama!" Hiei said loudly, trying to get the fox to wake up.

Slowly, too slowly for Hiei's liking, his eyes opened. "Hi . . . ei?"

"Shh, stay quiet. You'll be just fine, Kurama, just fine," Hiei said, trying to calm the fox. Hiei could see that Kurama was still afraid.

"Hiei, I'm not Kurama any more. Now I'm just Shuuichi Minamino."

"No, I will find a way to drag Youko back here. I won't let you die like this, Kurama," Hiei insisted.

"No, Hiei. It's better this way. I was holding him back. He couldn't do what he wanted. He's happier like this," Shuuichi looked up at Hiei. "I can live the rest of my life as a normal human now."

"Is that really what you want?" Hiei whispered.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation he answered, "Yes. I no longer have to lie to my mother. I don't have to risk my life on stupid missions anymore. I don't have to risk her happiness."

"You will never be able to wield your plants. You will never be able to feel the flow of a plant's energy, nor the energy of anyone else. Are you sure you want this?" Hiei tried to convince Shuuichi.

". . . no. But it's not like I have much of a choice. He was nice enough to let me live. Now I get the chance to live the life I wanted to live while can live the life he wanted to live. I'm sure I'll miss him for a while, but I'll get over it." Shuuichi was almost convincing enough to fool Hiei, but almost didn't count.

"I'll bring him back to you, Kurama. I promise."

"Hiei," Shuuichi started to protest, but Hiei was already gone.

Shuuichi sat up in his bed and looked at the small rose bush that was on his desk. He tried to send some of his energy to it, but he couldn't. He tried to sense the energy of the plant, but he couldn't.

He knew that Hiei was right. He would not be able to wield his plants ever again if he was to stay like this.

Shuuichi slowly stood up, trying to see if he could walk yet. When he found that he could, he walked over to the mirror in the bathroom and started to slowly take out the seeds that were in his hair.

Without his power, there was no need for seeds.

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"Urameshi, I think we need to check on Kurama," Kuwabara said in a worried voice. "I got a bad feeling about him."

"Kuwabara, you're just being paranoid," Yusuke said, trying to dissolve the tension.

"Well, if you're not going to come with me, then I'll just have to tell Keiko where your new hiding place is!" Kuwabara threatened.

"What?! You wouldn't."

"Come with me! I know you're worried about him too," he tried to convince.

"Fine, I'll go. But only because you threatened to tell Keiko!" Yusuke said. "Damn him for knowing my weakness," Yusuke muttered.

The two started out going to Kurama's school, but Kuwabara suddenly stopped and then started to go in the direction of his house.

"Hey, idiot, his school is over there! You know Kurama never skips school," Yusuke said.

"Yeah, but he's not there. I sense him over here. Weird."

"So you mean to say that Kurama, our Kurama, the redhead Kurama, is skipping school? Okay, that's it. I better start praying, the end of the world is near," Yusuke joked.

The two walked on to Kurama's house and when they got there, they were once again confused.

"You said Kurama was here," Yusuke accused. "But I don't sense his youki anywhere. Are you sure he's here?"

"Yeah, this is his house, and I can just barely sense him in here. It's weird, I could sense him better when we were far away, but now . . ."

"Well, one way to find out," Yusuke said as he walked to the front door and rang the bell.

A few moments passed and the two were about to go when the door opened. "Yusuke? Kuwabara? What are you doing here?" Shuuichi asked.

Yusuke and Kuwabara stared at Kurama with wide eyes. "Kurama?!" they yelled.

Shuuichi sighed and opened the door further. "Come in, I think I have some things I need to tell you."

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"So you're saying you're not Kurama anymore?" Yusuke asked after Shuuichi had finished explaining the events that had occurred earlier in the morning.

"That's right. Now I'm just Shuuichi."

"The fox is gone?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes, now I'm a normal human teenager," Shuuichi said.

"But, you're still Kurama to us," Yusuke said.

Shuuichi sighed loudly. "That's the thing!" he yelled. "No I'm not! Dammit, why won't you people understand this? Youko is gone! Gone! All of the power I once had is gone! My power was only borrowed power from him!" Shuuichi was yelling loudly, and was really scaring the two boys who were on the couch.

What really got Yusuke were the tears streaming down Shuuichi's face.

"Kur- I mean, Shuuichi, it's going to be okay," Yusuke tried to comfort the crying redhead.

"No, it's not! Hiei went after Youko, hell-bent on bringing him back. How can everything be okay?" Shuuichi was still crying, but continued anyway. "When he left, Youko said he'd let Hiei go out of respect for me, but if Hiei gets caught-"Shuuichi stopped talking, since he was crying too hard to talk.

"Hey, it's okay, Shuuichi," Yusuke had gotten up and was now hugging the boy tightly as he continued to cry. "If you want, I can go after Hiei and get him to come back. I'll try to make sure Youko doesn't kill him."

"You don't get it either," Shuuichi said quietly, his crying quieted. "Youko doesn't want to kill Hiei. He wants to make him his lover and start a huge crime spree."

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"Well, those twins were nice," Youko thought out loud. He looked to the two corpses on the ground. "Too bad they fought. I could have enjoyed them a bit more."

He transformed back into a fox and ran into the forest. Shuuichi would have been yelling at me for hours for doing something like that, Youko thought to himself. It sure is nice not to hear his constant nagging.

Youko stopped to look around. He remembered being in this area, about seventeen years ago. This is where the hunter shot him.

He looked back to where the rift he had come through was. That was the rift he had used to get to the human realm. All he had to do was go back through that rift and he would be able to go back to Shuuichi.

No! What am I thinking!? I'm finally free. I don't want to go back. Youko stubbornly turned back towards the forest, remembering that there was a town nearby. Time to get a little bit of revenge on the hunter.

But it would be easier if Hiei was here. He could track the hunter down in mere moments, Youko thought with a longing sigh. Why did I let him go again?

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"His lover?" Yusuke asked hesitantly. "I thought he was straight."

Shuuichi had calmed down so Yusuke released him. Shuuichi walked to the other couch. "No. Youko is bi. And I am too, thanks to him. While the two of us were one, I fell in love with Hiei. I never told him, of course. After all, Youko seduced many with those words. I didn't want Hiei to think I was just trying to seduce him."

Shuuichi sniffed a little. "It wasn't soon after that I got to thinking that I could escape the human realm with Hiei and pick up old habits. But I decided against that. I don't know why, but I did."

"Kurama, I mean, Shuuichi, you're really into guys? Hey, tell all your fan clubs that and they'll leave you alone!" Yusuke tried to lighten Shuuichi's mood.

"Heh, right. You're not up on the current teenage girl trend, are you?" Shuuichi asked.

"Uh, well, I'm on the latest Keiko trend. I know where she'll be and how to avoid her," Yusuke replied.

"Not for long, Urameshi," Kuwabara said, trying to join in on the conversation. "I'm going to tell Keiko everything!"

"Shut up, idiot! I'll beat you up later, right now, I'm worried about Kur- dammit, Shuuichi. You know what, Shuuichi, I don't really care what you think right now, I'm calling you Kurama."

"But I'm not-" Shuuichi started to say when Yusuke interrupted him.

"You look like him, and I can't sense a person's life energy too well, but I can tell that yours is the same as it's always been. Maybe a little less than before, but still the same. You are Kurama, and I'm going to call you Kurama."

"Fine," Shuuichi said. "I guess it'll be okay for a little while."

"You said that Hiei's going to come back here with Youko? Well, don't get too used to being a normal human. Hiei's not about to go back on his word. It may take him a while to get that fox back here, but I'm sure he'll do it." Yusuke said this with absolute confidence and Shuuichi couldn't help but believe him.

He really did miss Youko.

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"Damn that fox," Hiei quietly muttered. He had been trying to locate Youko's energy but all he found were the corpses of two girls. Hiei was sure that Youko must not have gotten the desired effect out of these two so he killed them.

Kurama wouldn't have done something like this. But then again, this isn't Kurama. This is Youko.

Hiei knew that the fox killed the girls; he could still sense Youko's energy in the vines he had used to kill them. That fox is much more violent than I ever imagined Kurama could be, Hiei thought.

Is this what would happen if I told him how I feel about him?

No. This is not what would have happened if I had told Kurama. And I know it wouldn't be like this if I told Shuuichi. But Youko . . .

I have to find him, for Shuuichi. And for myself.

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When the town came into view, Youko was extremely startled. It was a lot bigger than it used to be. A lot bigger.

Well, that's to be expected, he thought. After all, a famous thief was "killed" near here.

Pulling the cloak of one of the twins closer around himself, he walked into the town. He knew that if he walked around in plain sight, everyone would recognize him as the famous thief.

And that was not on his list of things he wanted others to know.

Youko continued further into the town, looking for the bar that had once been in the town. It took him a while, but he did find the bar he was looking for.

Still wearing his cloak, Youko walked over to a table in the back, where it was the darkest. A waitress came over and he ordered a drink.

Now all he had to do was wait. He knew that in a town like this, news about the hunter would be plentiful. But if no one asked, then he would have to do the honors himself.

He wasn't looking forward to that.

Nearly three hours had passed, and Youko had just about given up hoping that anyone would ask about his hunter. Just as he was about to ask some one, a group of what were obviously tourists walked in.

Youko's luck had just gone up.

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Shuuichi was still in bed when his mother came home. He tried to act as if his headache was still there, but mother's intuition told Shiori that the headache wasn't what was bothering her son.

She walked into the room and sat on her son's bed. "Shuuichi, what's wrong? It's not the headache anymore, is it?" Shiori asked in a tone that showed it wasn't a question.

"No, it's something else, but I can't tell you," Shuuichi said quietly. He wanted to tell his mother what the problem was, but what if Hiei really did bring Youko back? He would be so mad that I shared his secret. Shuuichi thought. I can't betray Youko, even if he did leave me.

"Shuuichi?" Shiori asked. "Why can't you tell me?"

"It's about a friend of mine," he answered cautiously, knowing that his mother would think that his friend was harmful to themselves, but he didn't know what else to say.

He didn't want to lie to his mother anymore, and even if he did, he wasn't Youko anymore. He couldn't do it.

"Is it that little guy? Hiei?" Shiori asked.

"No, Hiei's trying to help out, but I don't think he can do anything," Shuuichi whispered. "Youko's not going to want to relent."

"Youko? Who's that? You haven't introduced us yet," Shiori said politely.

Damn, she wasn't supposed to hear that, Shuuichi thought to himself. Now what am I going to do?

"It's not something I can talk about," Shuuichi tried to get his mother to understand. "Youko likes his privacy. He wouldn't be happy if I told you anything about him."

Shiori didn't know what to say to this. This Youko person was making her son sad, and there wasn't anything she could do to help. "Shuuichi, how would he know?" she said, trying to convince her son to tell her.

"He wouldn't know, not until he came back. If he comes back."

"Comes back? Did he run away from home?" Shiori asked, playing the concerned mother part perfectly. "Do you know where he went?"

Shuuichi just chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I guess you could say he ran away from home, but to be honest, almost nobody even knew he was there. And those who did know didn't pay him any attention. He didn't like that all too much."

"Oh, poor boy. You should have brought him here, I would have loved to meet him."

Tears started to gather in Shuuichi's eyes. "I wish he would come back," he said, starting to cry. "I really miss him. I was one of the few who paid him any attention."

Shiori gathered her son into a hug, letting him cry. The way he was acting about a friend being gone, he was acting as if this was his lover. Is Shuuichi gay? Shiori thought to herself. Well, if he is, that only means I can rule out grandchildren. She looked at her son who was still crying. But that's okay, as long as my Shuuichi is happy, that's all that matters.

Shiori let her boy cry for what seemed like hours. All of the tears that he had saved up his entire sixteen years of life just started flowing. Youko wasn't here to stop the tears anymore, so they just fell.

Shuuichi cried for the first time without worrying what anybody else thought of him. He cried just to prove he could, just to prove that he had feelings, too. He also cried for the loss of his plants, the loss of all his keen senses.

The loss of everything he had with Youko.

Shuuichi was lost without Youko. And he was scared. He had never lived without the fox, and he wasn't sure he really could. He knew that, technically, he could live. But the question was, would he live?

Without Youko, Shuuichi wasn't sure if life was really worth it.

Without Youko, there was no way he would be able to fight. Youko's instincts were always what took over when he fought. The first time he pulled out his rose whip as a human, it was Youko who used his energy to manipulate the plant. It was Youko who dodged all of the attacks that came at him. It was Youko . . .

It was Youko who took care of him his entire life.

Without him, Shuuichi really was just a normal human. And he really didn't want to be a normal human if it meant the loss of Youko.

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WOW. This is the second chapter. I finished the first two chapters in less than three days. Little more than a day per chapter.

Please don't hurt me. I know I'm being mean to Shuuichi, but bear with me. He just lost his Youko. Wouldn't you be sad too?