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The Switch

Chapter Twenty-Two: Hiei's Secret and Kurama's Form

It had been two weeks since the group had first set out to the northern territory. The wolves, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru were the most tense of the group, and it got worse as they progressed closer towards the Northern territory of Makai.

Yukina, Kagome, and Keiko were the only ones cooking dinner. Sango was helping Botan and Shizuru train while Kikyou was trying to calm down Inuyasha. "Yukina, have you asked Hiei yet?" Keiko asked, and Yukina shook her head.

"No. I can't seem to find the right opportunity. Is it really that big of a deal?" Yukina asked. Keiko started thinking while Kagome bit her lip.

"It might be." Kagome said. "If you're curious, you really should go and talk to him." Yukina looked down.

"I'm just scared that he will be angry." Keiko and Kagome looked at each other and patted the ice maiden's back.

"He won't be." Kagome smiled comfortingly. 'If he is...' Kagome continued to think violent thoughts while Keiko was saying words of comfort to Yukina. "I know, you can go talk to him now. Keiko and I can handle dinner, can't we Keiko?"

"Of course we can. Hiei's energy signature is that way..." Keiko pointed in Hiei's direction and Yukina thanked the girls and left.

"I hope she finds out why he's overprotective. Personally, I'm starting to wonder why." Keiko said.

"..." Keiko looked at Kagome, who was silent.

"You know Kagome...what's going on?" Keiko asked and Kagome winced.

"I'd say...but I'm not ready to part with any body parts just yet." Kagome laughed nervously and Keiko nodded in understanding.

With Yukina

Yukina looked up in the tree that Hiei was in. "Hiei, may I talk to you?" Yukina asked sweetly. Hiei looked down at her.

"Hn. What is it?" Yukina bit her lip.

"Why are you being overprotective of me? I know it's probably not my business, but I'm just curious." Yukina looked back up at Hiei, her crimson eyes staring into his own. 'I never thought about it before, but we have the same eyes...'

Hiei seemed like he was debating something so she waited for him to stop. Suddenly, he relaxed and was next to Yukina. "You really want to know?" Hiei asked. Yukina nodded.

"If you don't mind that is..." Hiei shook his head.

"Hn. I've been getting nagged about this for a while now. Yukina..." Hiei trailed off, not looking directly at his sister. "You know your brother that you're looking for?" Yukina nodded, signaling him to go on. Hiei sighed. "I'm him." Yukina's eyes widened. Most people wouldn't believe that, but Yukina knew Hiei wouldn't lie, and now that she thought about it...

'We're about the same height...we have the same eyes...' Yukina's eyes welled up in tears as she hugged Hiei. Hiei was caught completely off-guard. He had expected her to hate him...for being who he was.

"Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" Yukina asked, and Hiei hung his head. "You thought I wouldn't approve...did you?" Hiei nodded slowly and Yukina let go. "Why would I disapprove? You're my brother, and before I knew that you were my friend. You have saved us all in the Dark Tournament, and you've saved everyone else in your other missions. Why would I be ashamed of you?"

"Because I'm a thief and a murderer." Yukina blinked.

"You may have done a few bad things, but you're my brother, and I couldn't be more proud of you if I tried." Yukina hugged Hiei again. Hiei froze for a second but hugged her back.

With Sesshoumaru and Kurama

"You nearly got it." Sesshoumaru commented, looking at Kurama. Kurama's hair had gotten to a silvery color and his ears were more pointed. "You can revert back now." Kurama did so, and looked like the hot redheaded "human" that he was. "Now, try again, this time try and rid yourself of all emotions." Kurama did as he was told. Sesshoumaru watched as Kurama's figure flashed silver and before him stood none other than Youko Kurama himself.

"Sesshoumaru." Youko nodded his head. "Long time no see." Sesshoumaru nodded.

"I trust you will come out to fight Naraku if the going gets tough, too tough for Schuuichi." Sesshoumaru stated.

"I will do my best." Sesshoumaru smirked. "Until then, old friend..." Youko's form faded back into the redhead again and Sesshoumaru nodded in approval.

"Very good. Practice that every now and then." Sesshoumaru instructed. "I believe my old friend will come in handy."

A few days later

"The wolves are really getting tense." Yukina commented to Kagome, Yusuke, Keiko, and Kurama. They were all sitting around a fire and mostly everybody else was asleep somewhere nearby. "I take it this wolf youkai pack is that bad...even Sesshoumaru's on edge."

"Inuyasha too." Yusuke grumbled. "He nearly attacked me when I came up behind him and asked if he was ok. Maybe I should have made sure he knew I was there..."

"That might have helped..." Kagome sighed and leaned into Yusuke. "I'm starting to get a little bit nervous myself. We'll be in the Northern Territory tomorrow..."

"We should probably be on guard more. Just because the wolf youkai pack doesn't attack humans or youkai as much as wolf or Inu youkai doesn't mean they won't go after us." Keiko leaned into Kurama and sighed. Tomorrow, the real journey would begin.

"We can take them!" Yusuke tried to encourage them.

"Maybe. Even Youko has trouble fighting at least one of them. I wouldn't try and give everyone false hope." Kurama stated, looking at Yusuke. Kagome, Keiko, and Yukina looked at each other, each asking the same thing with their eyes. Kurama and Yusuke failed to notice this, however and all of them had a look of silent agreement. Kagome yawned and snuggled into Yusuke, who smiled lightly and held her close. Yukina stood up.

"I'm going to bed. Good night." Yukina bowed and everyone waved. Keiko and Kagome relaxed tremendously a few minutes later.

"Seems they fell asleep." Kurama brushed a few strands of hair off of Keiko's face and Yusuke shifted Kagome slightly before standing up, so he was carrying her.

"I'm going to put her to bed." Yusuke smiled and yawned. "Then I'm going to bed myself." Kurama smiled and waved Yusuke goodnight.

"Somebody has to put out this fire..." Kurama frowned and picked up Keiko, leaning her against a tree and put out the fire with a bucket of water that had been put there by Sango. After doing so, he picked up Keiko and put her in her sleeping bag. Stroking her face before retiring himself.

With Hiei

Hiei was still awake and was once again sitting in a tree and thinking. 'The wolves are going to have to stop getting so tense. They are going to kill one of us by accident the way they're worrying.' Hiei growled. 'They better not hurt Yukina.'

Suddenly, Hiei heard what sounded like somebody walking away from the campsite. Looking down, he saw Tessa was wide-awake and moving around. She was the most scared of all of the wolves, being the youngest of all the wolves, though she was a teenager. Tessa walked under Hiei's branch, her tail twitching and ears darting around her head, making sure no one was going to attack her.

"Onna." Hiei spoke and Tessa jumped a little bit before looking up at Hiei.

"Oh, it's you Hiei." Tessa sighed in relief but her tail was still twitching.

"If you don't calm down you're going to die of a heart attack." Hiei said, in his usual monotone voice. Tessa glared up at him.

"You wouldn't be too different from me if you were a wolf youkai." Tessa shuddered. She started walking some more.

"Onna, where are you going?"

"To that boulder over there. It has a good view of the moon." Tessa pointed out a boulder and continued towards it. Hiei stared after her.

'Wolves.' Hiei shook his head, irritated. Lately he and Tessa have been having short conversations, much like this one. After a while he looked at Tessa and noticed she had disappeared. Jumping out of the tree, he walked over to the boulder and saw Tessa lying down on the other side of it, asleep and tense. 'Must have something to do with the moon being almost gone.'

Tomorrow night was a new moon. Didn't Kagome mention something about Inuyasha turning human on the first night of the new moon? Hiei sighed and picked Tessa up, laid her against his tree, and put his cloak around her.

'Worthless wolf.' Hiei jumped into his tree and soon fell asleep.

The next day

Yusuke frowned. Kagome wasn't waking up. He shook her shoulder again, then more roughly, and still she wouldn't wake up. Looking around, he couldn't find anything that might wake her up.

"Why don't you try dumping water on her head?" Souten came up and suggested. Yusuke looked at Souten for a second before shaking his head.

"I don't have a death wish." Yusuke grumbled, then looked at Souten again. Didn't Kagome say that she thought Souten was adorable? "Although..."

In Kagome's dream

"Kagome..." Yusuke's voice came from a distance and Kagome ran to the top of a grassy hill. "Kagome..." Kagome looked over at the woods and saw Yusuke, calling her and waving her over. She started to run towards him and hugged him.

"Hey Yusuke!" She chirped and she saw Yusuke leaning in to kiss her, and just when her lips were about to touch...

Out of Kagome's Dream

"COLD!" Kagome screeched and jumped out of her sleeping bag. She heard Yusuke laughing and looked at him. "YUSUKE!" She glared at him, he only laughed harder.

"It (gasp) wasn't (gasp) me!" Yusuke was laughing and pointed to Souten, who was trying to hide an empty bucket. As cute as Souten was...she didn't like having water poured on her and having her wake up when she was just about to kiss dream Yusuke.

"Souten." Kagome growled and Souten turned around, laughing slightly.

"Oh, glad to see you're up Kagome!" Souten said, chucking the bucket and it hit a sleeping Shippo on the head. He didn't even stir. "Umm, I have to go do something so I will just be going now..." Souten took off and Kagome sighed. She couldn't hurt a kid. It wasn't in her nature.

However...

Kagome turned to Yusuke, glaring daggers at him. "Yusuke, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TOLD HER SHE COULD DO THAT!" Kagome shouted and Yusuke gulped.

'How in the hell did she figure that out?' Yusuke thought and smiled nervously. "Umm, Kagome...I have no idea what you're talking about!" Yusuke backed up as Kagome walked forward.

"Sure you don't." Inuyasha, who had been watching the whole time, snorted. Hiten came into the clearing from his sleeping spot, followed by Souten who was trying her best to hide behind Hiten's legs.

"This I have to see." Hiten smirked.

"Too bad I don't have any tickets to sell." Inuyasha grumbled.

"You would make a small fortune." Hiten agreed. They watched as Kagome walked closer to Yusuke, and he backed away. Not knowing it was there; Yusuke tripped on a log and fell backwards. Kagome then bolted for Yusuke and tackled him.

"DON'T YOU EVER HAVE SOMEONE WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Kagome screeched in Yusuke's ear, and he flinched. Damn, Kagome could get her voice high.

"ALL RIGHT!" Yusuke shouted and Kagome smirked.

"Good." She kissed him and he responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her closer.

"GET A ROOM!" Hiten and Inuyasha yelled and the two human teenagers broke apart, laughing nervously.

End of Chappie


TYN: I love having Kagome torture Yusuke.

Yusuke: Apparently.

TYN: Why are you in such a bad mood?

Yusuke: I don't think I can hear anything...


TYN: GOOD! Now say your line...

Yusuke: Read and Review...and pay for me to get my hearing checked.

TYN: YOU ARE NOT HAVING OTHER PEOPLE PAY FOR YOU TO GET YOUR HEARING CHECKED!

Yusuke: ...

TYN: That's what I thought!