Disclaimer: I do not own Hiei, Kurama, Yukina, Genkai, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko or the arsonist. I also do not own anything else from Yu Yu Hakusho.

A/N: One thing - Japanese words aren't meant to be pluralised. Therefore, we have one ningen, two ningen, and five hundred thousand ningen. 'Ningens' never enters into the equation. It looks and sounds stupid, and I hate using it, so I don't. That is all. Definitions of all Japanese words used are at the bottom of the chapter.

Chapter One

The Battle of the Bathroom

It was just one of those days. The kind of day where you can't walk around the block without a change of clothing, where you freeze hopefully in place at the slightest hint of a breeze. Kurama had shucked off his shirt and now lay spreadeagled underneath his ceiling fan, clad only in boxer shorts. Crimson hair had been half-tamed in a lame attempt at a top-knot. Hiei, just as overheated as his companion and equally shirtless, sat on Kurama's windowsill despite the fox's frequent complaints that he was blocking the breeze. There was no breeze.

Hiei sighed softly and surrendered a battle that the heat would eventually have won, anyway: he yanked off his boots and rolled his loose pants up to his knees. Then, with a heavier sigh, he leaned his head back against the window frame. All anyone could do in this weather was sigh.

Sweat dripped from the side of his face from underneath his bandanna and he wrinkled his nose. He had nothing against the heat, as such, but the humidity made him long for Makai with its dry, barren winds and steady-bake summer. Humidity, he supposed, was the price Ningenkai paid for being so fertile. Damn Ningenkai summer.

Kurama seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Damn Yusuke... off swimming in Okinawa..." He lamented. Hiei grunted in reply. Yusuke, his girlfriend and the Idiot were all on a school trip - which had, for reasons unknown to the students of Sarayashiki Junior High, been scheduled for the middle of their summer holidays. Probably in anticipation of the heatwave. Hiei was glad they were gone - no Yusuke meant no missions. Koenma had never had the nerve to send the demon Tantei off on their own.

Hiei smirked lazily. Just as well. In this heat, this close to midsummer - the peak of all things fiery - he wouldn't have the restraint to merely bring a criminal in for interrogation. Anything he hunted right now would be charcoal when he caught it.

Kurama sat up suddenly, shaking the fire demon from his thoughts. "This is ridiculous." The fox said, sliding from his bed and padding to the windowsill. He grabbed Hiei's arm. "Come with me."

Hiei slid from the sill to the floor and followed the redhead into the hall, glancing around warily. "What are we doing?"

"You'll see." Kurama yanked open a door and propelled the fire demon quickly inside. "'Kaasan, I'm having a cold shower!"

Shiori's voice drifted up from the kitchen. "Not too long, Shuichi, we're meant to be conserving water."

"Haai." Kurama declared almost boredly, closing the door behind him and locking it. Hiei cocked his head demandingly. Kurama ushered him to a curtain and pulled it back a little, gesturing to two knobs on the wall. "If you turn these, water comes out the shower head." He waved his hand vaguely at something silver protruding from the wall about two feet above Hiei's head. "Blue for cold, red for hot. It's how ningen get clean. Am I right in assuming we want cold?" He raised a teasing eyebrow at Hiei. The fire demon nodded slowly.

Satisfied, Kurama tugged the tie out of his hair. It tumbled out to its full length, brushing against the band of his boxer shorts. "Good. Take off your pants, then." As he opened a cupboard and took out towels for the two of them, Hiei gave him a very dirty look.

"I'm not an idiot, fox."

Kurama set down the towels and blinked at Hiei. Then a vague smile crossed his face. "Too hot for anything like that, Hiei, and besides that, my parents are downstairs. This is strictly in the interest of cooling down, although you're welcome to take it as you will." He fluttered his eyelashes jokingly at the fire demon, shamelessly removing his own shorts and making a beeline for the 'shower'. He turned the handle marked with blue and Hiei jumped as water began to spray from the showerhead. Kurama stepped behind the curtain, dimly visible as a silhouette, and hissed a little as the cold water hit him.

It took perhaps two sighs of relief from Kurama before Hiei shrugged, removed his own clothing and pulled back the curtain. Kurama had his eyes closed and his head tilted back slightly, wet hair dangling to a little past his hips. His mouth was open, lips gently parted to receive the water pouring from the steel nozzle. Hiei frowned at the steel waterfall for a moment as Kurama shifted out of the stream of water and opened his eyes.

The fox placed a too-warm hand on Hiei's sweaty shoulder and moved out of the way, steering the half-Koorime under the flow of the steel waterfall. Hiei gasped at the sudden cold and then tilted his head forward in relief, letting the heavy droplets penetrate his thick mane. The bandanna remained, Kurama noticed with a smile, as he poured a little of his favourite shampoo into his hand.

"This is a shower." He said as he began to massage the liquid into his hair. "A wonderful ningen invention, don't you think?"

Hiei grunted. "Damn ningen... taming waterfalls... what's next, the bloodfire?" Kurama smiled merrily at his friend's synonym for 'magma'. He squeezed out a little more shampoo, noticing as he did so that his vision was beginning to have suspiciously bright edges.

He frowned. "Hiei..." That was as far as he got.

Hiei turned at the sound of his name, opening his eyes just in time to receive a double-armful of Kurama. He stifled a yelp, tried to stop himself, and fell over with a resounding 'thud', catching his head a glancing blow on the tiles. He winced, screwing his eyes shut as Kurama's fingers, slightly sticky (with what, Hiei wasn't sure he wanted to know), brushed his nose and eyebrows.

"Stupid fox!" He hissed. "That hurt." Kurama didn't respond and his hand did not move. Hiei felt something thicker than blood ooze down the side of his nose. "...fox?" He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it as the substance, whatever it was, trickled into his eyes. A warning tingle made Hiei pause, then a fierce burning prompted him to shove Kurama roughly aside. He pawed frantically at his eyes, swearing as searing pain assaulted him. K'so! Is it acid? What the hell did the fox do?! He tore the bandanna from his forehead and his Jagan, feeling the slimy substance that had been on Kurama's fingers begin to seep through the fabric.

The Jagan opened instantaneously, thankfully unaffected by the slime and prompted by his panic. With its oddly focused vision he saw Kurama, a white-gold glow, still lying face down on the tiles.

Wasn't there water at the bottom of the curtained-off area? FUCK! Guided by the Jagan, struggling to see out of burning, stinging eyes, and still swearing miserably, Hiei jerked Kurama's body up out of the shallow water. "Fox?" He called irritably. No answer. "This is absolutely not funny, Kurama." Nothing. Hiei swore a little more violently, dragging the redhead's tall, slender frame with him out of the shower cubicle. Blearily, he saw the towels Kurama had taken down, grabbed one, and wrapped the fox rather messily in its folds. With the other, he swiped furiously at his eyes, hiruiseki scattering around him like pebbles. This was ridiculous.

He turned his attention briefly to the steel waterfall - Shiori would get suspicious if he didn't shut the damn thing off soon. He grabbed the blue knob and twisted. Luck was with him this time, and the waterfall slowed. One more turn and the flow had stopped completely. Hiei, eyes still stinging, breathed a small sigh of relief.

Kurama stirred, moaning softly. The sound raised hairs on the back of Hiei's neck. The half-Koorime said, "Wake up, fox." The redhead twitched fitfully for a few moments, almost choking once before he settled again. Hiei donned his pants, flaring his youki briefly to dry himself. When Kurama started to mutter, the fire demon knelt to shake him awake. His hands had barely touched the fox's shoulders before it became apparent that something was very wrong.

The fox's skin was unusually hot, nearly as warm as his own. It could have been the weather, but somehow Hiei didn't think so.

Kurama moaned again, eyes cracking open. "Forest... Yukina...!" He croaked, before degenerating into incoherency again. Hiei nodded at that. The forest would be a good place for Kurama to be, among things of his element. And Yukina could heal what the forest wouldn't. Satisfied, he wrapped Kurama more securely in the towel and slung him carefully across his own shoulders. He opened the bathroom door and crabbed cautiously down the hall to the fox's room, slipping out through the open window and heading for Genkai's temple over the rooftops. Trees would be too difficult to navigate, carrying Kurama like this.

He ran across rooftops, ignoring the intense heat emanating from the roof tiles. It was only when his eyes began to clear that he noticed the black plume of smoke ahead. On the mountain. Right near the temple.

"K'so!"

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A/N: Please review and let me know what you think so far. =)

ningen - human/humans

Ningenkai - the human world

Okinawa - a popular holiday spot in Japan

K'so - shortening of kuso; "Dammit!"

'Kaasan – mother

haai – yeah; informal "yes"

Youki – demon energy

hiruiseki – the tear gems that Koorime cry.