The Confession

By:  Cece Williams

((Disclaimer:  I don't own YYH and I don't intend to.))

Yusuke:  Man, I had better be in this fanfic somewhere.

Cece:  (me) (boredly) Yeah, yeah.  I know, Yusuke.

Kuwabara:  Geez!  What happened to Cece?

Kurama:  (shakes his head) No one gave her any chocolate today.  I think she's also a little mad at me.

Cece:  (looks at Kurama evilly) A little?

Kurama:  Okay, stark raving mad at me.

Hiei:  Finally, she's mad at someone other than the Detective and the buffoon.

Cece:  Watch it, Hiei!

Yusuke:  Uh, okay.  This is part two of her little thing she's got going on here.

Kurama:  R&R at the end, please.  (gives Cece an Almond Joy)

Cece:  Aww, Kurama!  (hugs him tightly, instantly happy again) Thank you!

Kurama:  (chokes) Okay, now start the chapter and let go of my neck.

Cece:  Okay!!  (lets Kurama go, making Kurama sigh in relief)

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Upon hearing his response, the tears slid down Andrea's cheeks as she grabbed the front of Kurama's outfit in two shaking and clenching hands.  "I don't think I can do that, Kurama," she said to him.

Kurama smiled and smoothed her cheek with the gentlest of touches.  "Hopefully, it won't come down to you having to do anything of the sort, Andrea," he answered her.

She squinted her blue eyes shut, uncertain of, well, everything.  "I can't do that to you," she said.  Almost suddenly, she pulled her face into his shoulder.  "I can't let that Karasu do anything to you.  I know I'm sounding crazy, but I've seen too many people die in front of me, and…" She took a shaky breath, ready to continue her speech.

But what interrupted her was when Kurama shook his head and tilted her chin up so that their eyes met.  "You don't have to worry, Andrea," he said to her.  "I have no intention of letting Karasu do anything to me."

Andrea held the bridge of her nose with her hand as she lowered her head.  "It's kind of hard to understand, you know?" she replied back to him.  "Why I'm acting this way, and why I'm literally shaking like a leaf."  She swallowed, taking a deep breath as she looked back up at him, her hands shaking.  "Every person who ever got near me died; my parents, my first set of adoptive parents, most of my friends… and now I feel like I'm putting you through all of this."

 "Andrea…" Kurama gathered her shaking hands in his own.  "You're not putting me through anything that I myself do not wish to be put through."

She looked down again, once again squinting her blue eyes shut.  Her legs felt like jelly, although she couldn't figure the reason out.  Her voice sounded like sandpaper on wood.  "Are you sure about that?" she asked him.  "Losing the first person I've trusted will hurt me."  She couldn't look up at him even if her eyes were open to begin with.

Kurama tilted his head and smiled gently at her.  "Have a little faith in me, Andrea; I won't lose," he said to her, tilting her chin up again.  "You and I have too much to look forward to."

Her voice seemed to recover a little.  "I know that, but at what cost?" she asked him.  She opened her eyes, which caused all of the held-in tears to fall down her cheeks.  Her eyes, although they were still tearing, looked confused at Kurama's last statement to her.  "Much to look forward to?" she repeated, blinking her eyes, sending another couple of tears to fall.

Kurama's cheeks tinged with an embarrassed shade of pink, but he just as soon recovered.  He turned his face away so to casually clear his throat.

Andrea dried her eyes with her hand, lightly giggling.  "Wow, you're subtle, and you're blushing," she said, her voice almost back to normal.  "Wait till I tell the rest of the team about this."  She shook her head, her face growing a little pink herself.  "Although they'll never believe me."

Kurama's cheeks, on the other hand, turned an even darker shade of pink.  It took him several minutes before the color faded and he was able to turn and face Andrea again, smiling wryly.  "Oh, I don't know about that," he said, laughing lightly.

"What do you mean, 'Oh, I don't know about that'?" she asked him, her blue eyes looking a little confused.  She looked up at him again and placed one hand on the side of his face.  "Are you sure you're not running a fever?"

Kurama caught her hand and leaned forward a little.  "Quite sure," he answered her.

Her voice got caught in her throat.  "Uh, what are you doing?" she asked.  She tried to look calm, but what was she supposed to do?  She blinked a few times to figure out what he was doing.

Kurama bowed his head and dropped his hand away from her face.  "It's nothing; I'm sorry," he answered her, stepping back with his head still lowered and turned away.  "We should get back to our room," he added, a hint of a repressed sadness in his voice.

"Yeah, uh, okay," she answered him, blinking another three times.  ~Wonder what's on his mind, ~ she thought to herself.  She lowered her head as well.  ~Maybe it was something I did or said to him. ~  As she was walking, she didn't notice the wall in front of her until she ran into it.  She rubbed the top of her head.  "Ow."

Kurama smiled faintly as he turned to help her.  "Be careful now," he said.  He helped steady her.  "You all right?"

Andrea looked like she was seeing double as she looked up at Kurama.  "Uh, Kurama?" she asked.  "Why are there two of you?"

Kurama laughed and held her tightly at his side.  "Come on, back to the room," he said, leading a knocked silly Andrea with him.

She kept a hand to her head.  "Okay, note to self:  Never walk into a wall without looking up first… wait, that didn't make sense," she said.

Kurama merely laughed to himself as he walked her back up to their conjoined hotel rooms.

~Wait a minute, Miss I Walked Into A Wall Like An Idiot, ~ she thought to herself. ~Why did you have to be that dumb enough to do that?! ~  She looked up at him, her heart literally doing somersaults.  Aloud, she asked, "Uh, Kurama?  Is something wrong?"  She blinked her eyes, wondering if her prediction was right.

Kurama's face showed no emotion whatsoever as he shook his head at her.  "Nothing you need to concern yourself over, Andrea," he answered.  He then looked away and opened the door to her room.  "Here we are."

 "Okay… thanks a lot," she answered, walking into her room and sitting down in a chair.  She held her head, causing her long reddish-brown hair to fall at its sides.  ~Okay, you might as well tell him what's on your mind, ~ she thought to herself.  Looking up at him, she said aloud, "Uh, Kurama?"

 Kurama was about to turn away from the room when he heard her voice.  He stopped and looked back at her.  "Hmm, yes, what is it, Andrea?" he asked her.

"Uh, have you ever felt like everything was in a hurricane?" Andrea asked him.  "You know, like a battle between what your mind and your heart want?"

Kurama's hold on Andrea's doorknob tightened.  He bowed his head, allowing his long red bangs to fall over his emerald eyes.  "Yes," he answered simply.

Her blue eyes looked up at him, shocked.  "Well, that's what's been wrong with me… even before our encounter with Karasu," she answered him, leaning on the arm of the chair on her elbow, sighing.  ~Well, here goes nothing, ~ she thought to herself.

Unsure of what to say or do, he remained mute and immobile.

Andrea swallowed, trying to gather her thoughts together.  "Well, I guess I should go first," she started her thoughts outwardly.  "Last night, I had a nightmare, and it was probably the worst one I've ever had. You were fighting Karasu, and when he hit you, I screamed right along with you."  She swallowed again to keep her throat from getting dry.  "I feel like we're connected… like maybe we're more than just friends, you know?"

"More than friends?  How do you mean?" Kurama inquired inquisitively.

"Well…" She bit her bottom lip a little too hard; mentally she screamed, but physically, she took it.  "Doesn't it seem kind of odd?  I mean, I wasn't even attacked, but yet I felt the same pain you did in that nightmare."

Kurama released his hold on Andrea's doorknob and stepped back into her room, but he went no further than that.  He remained thoughtful.

As she opened her mouth again, she brought her hand up to her mouth, almost forgetting about her bottom lip.  "I know it's going to sound weird, coming from me," she continued, taking a deep breath.  "But I think I'm … well, falling… uh…" Her heart started pounding all over again.  "For you."  After she finished talking, she brought her hands to her face, half embarrassed, half scared of what he was going to say.  ~Oh, man, ~ she thought to herself, her hands still on her face.  ~I just told him what I felt, and I'm going crazy…~

Kurama found it hard to respond to Andrea, seeing as how he himself barely understood the close connection between them.

Andrea felt her heart beat faster than Hiei when he fought Seiryu.  One of her hands went to her heart, revealing a more scared look on her face.  The silence between them was scaring her even more than that.

Kurama lifted his head in time to see Andrea's hand cover her heart.  She had a scared look about her.  Hating to see her in such a way, he crossed the room and hugged her.  "I'm sure what connects us, or if whether or not we're meant to be more than friends," he finally answered her.  "But you can bet that we're going to discover the answer our lives riddle soon."

She felt his arms around her; she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head on his shoulder.  Her heart was still beating wildly inside of her.  "I just hope it's not going to be a double funeral, you know," she said.

Kurama pursed his lips together and nodded.

Hearing what she had just said, she held him a little tighter, sniffling back tears.  ~Come on, kiddo; you've cried enough to make a waterfall, ~ she scolded herself.

Kurama sighed and dropped his head so that it fell forward against her shoulder.

"What I just told you, about me falling for you, I meant that," she said.  Trying to smile and joke a little, she added, "But I never thought I'd be falling against you, though."

Kurama managed a laugh, while Andrea laughed along with him, thinking all the while that she had made a bad pun.

"Cute," he finally managed to say.  He lifted his head and then rested it against hers.

"Well, now I'm finally seeing another side of you," she said, smiling, although she was now blushing a shade of red that would make his hair jealous.

Kurama pinched her nose playfully and grinned.  "Careful now, lest that blush of yours makes this red hair of mine jealous."

"I think it already has," she answered him, laughing while Kurama laughed with her.  When she smiled, her blush accidentally became a little darker.  "Are you jealous yet?" she asked him.

"A little," Kurama admitted.  "But not to worry; it'll get over it."

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((Will they finally understand these weird feelings about each other?  And what about Karasu; will he go after one or both in the tournament or before?  Find out in the next part!))

Cece:  Well, that's part two.

Yusuke:  Man, I'm not in it.

Cece:  Don't worry; you'll be in it… I promise.

Kurama:  I just hope it won't get too romantic.

Cece:  Well, love is in the air, Kurama.

(Kurama sweatdrops)

Hiei:  Just read and review.  We need some reviews.

Cece:  It'll take a while, but I'll get it finished… eventually.

Kurama:  Okay.  See all of you people later.