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: In which Kurama does what he does best. No, not 'look pretty'. :P In other notes, I finally got my hands on "Ryuusei no Sorichuudo". Much love to

Saving Private Yukina

Smoke and Mirrors

Yukina held the hiruiseki in her palm, staring into its depths. It was not, on the whole, impressive. It was quite a dusky gem, in fact, as though its owner had shed it tiredly, without much emotion behind it. It took a great deal of pure emotion to create the most beautiful of hiruiseki...

Her brother was a cold, detached Koorime, then, or else he'd cried from pain.

Why would he cry in pain on a mountain surrounded by fire?

Yukina's gaze was drawn from the glittering stone in her hand to the slumbering fire demon at her side. A small frown tugged at her features. Hiei-san... did he fight with you? Was he the one who set the mountain on fire? Tears welled in her own eyes at the thought. Was her brother one of the many demons whose greatest pleasure was to create havoc for the poor humans to deal with? She shook her head a little to clear it. "This just sounds worse and worse in my head..." she murmured regretfully.

"What was that?" Genkai asked as she entered, bearing a tray covered in tea and the implements required to serve it. Yukina's head snapped towards her and she clutched the hiruiseki to the neck of her kimono defensively. The old human raised an eyebrow at the Yukina's uncharacteristic highly-strung attitude and the Koorime blushed and looked down.

"I... Hiei-san had this in his hand." She held out the blackened hiruiseki for Genkai to see. For a brief moment, the old woman froze. It was almost imperceptible, but Yukina had grown adept at reading the reiki master's moods and emotions. The almost fearful pause did not escape her. This, coupled with her own worries, caused her to blurt, "It's my brother's. I'm sure Hiei-san found him up on the mountain, but... but why would he set the mountain on fire? How could he be so close and yet not notice I was here? Or... or did he want to kill us?"

Genkai hastily put down the tea tray and scuffed over the tatami to grasp Yukina's face a little less than gently in her withered hands. "Don't worry about it now." Her cinnamon brown eyes were very serious. "Hiei will tell you when he wakes up. For now, make sure he's comfortable."

Yukina stared at the woman for a time and then looked down, ashamed. "Of course, you're right..." How selfish of me... She tucked the black pearl away under the lip of her obi and turned her eyes back to Hiei, dark lashes lowered. "He might not wake for some time. He expended a great deal of energy for our sake, Genkai-san." She smiled down at the fire demon, hands resting demurely in her lap. Genkai chuckled.

"Not for me, I think."

Yukina beamed.

Kurama was the first to wake, but even that took almost two hours. Yukina had gone outside to feed a flock of birds, which had grown suspiciously larger in the last twenty-four hours as the tiny creatures escaped the forest fire - or merely came to hear of the pretty demon girl in the pale blue kimono with the bread. Genkai sat patiently near the open door of the dojo, brown eyes watching as the delicate nose twitched once, twice and Kurama's eyes cracked open. He blinked dazedly at the ceiling.

Genkai stood and walked over to stand above the redhead. He looked mildly surprised as she entered his field of vision and then smiled weakly. He opened his mouth and a dry croak emerged. Genkai raised an eyebrow and knelt to pour him a glass of water. "Is that so?" She asked. Kurama's eyes crinkled in amusement. He sat up as Genkai approached and blinked as he noticed his lack of attire. He arranged the blankets somewhat more appropriately around his hips, a light flush brushing his cheeks.

Once he'd taken several tentative sips of water, he was ready to try again. "I suppose Hiei noticed the fire?"

"Yes." Genkai smirked a little. "He's going to be very annoyed with you when he wakes up." Kurama gave her a blank look of surprise and she added, "When you fainted, you got shampoo in his eyes."

Kurama's shock remained for a second and then he shifted so that he could see the fire demon properly. "Oh... that was dreadfully silly of me..." Full lips formed a concerned pout. "It's a combination wash, to keep my seeds healthy... I hope his eyes are all right." He was far more worried than he was letting on. Genkai very nearly rolled her eyes.

"Well, he ought to be once he gets his energy back. He went running off up the mountain to stifle the fire once he heard you'd be in danger if he didn't." Kurama gave her a look that flat out told her she was lying. Genkai shrugged. Believe me, or don't. Most people chose to believe the reiki master. Kurama, however, knew the difference between trusting a friend with his life and trusting a friend to tell the truth in a potentially embarrassing situation. Genkai fell more toward the former category than the latter. So, Kurama recalled with slight annoyance, did most of his friends...

The redheaded fox demon twisted to see Hiei better. He frowned at a painful tingle and looked down at his arms. The skin was red and raw, even blistered in some places. Kurama's frown deepened. The older trees were so close to sentience it was no wonder that the humans in the area had decreed the forest cursed. And now they were all gone... "All that's left of them is this burn." He said sadly. Genkai nodded wearily.

"That burn won't be your biggest problem, soon." She promised him darkly. Kurama looked to her with raised eyebrows, prompting her to continue. "Yukina found a hiruiseki in Hiei's hand. She knows it's her brother's, but not how it got there. At the moment, she's sure her brother was the one who set the hill on fire."

Kurama stared at her. "Oh no..." he breathed. Then his eyes became abruptly cooler. "What did you say?"

Genkai pursed her lips disapprovingly. "I didn't tell her, idiot." She snapped. "I told her that Hiei would probably tell her as soon as he woke."

Kurama rested his chin on his knees as he thought about this. What connections could Yukina have made? If I were her... He tried to imagine himself in her shoes - immediately snorting at a mental image of himself in a powder blue kimono and delicate sandals - and closed his eyes stubbornly to will the image away. It was replaced by several thoughts that were not reassuring.

She knew the hiruiseki was her brother's. That left three conclusions: her brother was Hiei; her brother had been on the mountain today; her brother had been on the mountain previously. If she'd come to the first conclusion... well, he was willing to bet that Genkai wouldn't be quite so blithe about it. She'd come to the second conclusion... that meant Hiei would have to either dispel it in favour of the third conclusion, or - and he thought this was stretching coincidence a little too far - Yukina's brother had, at some stage, misplaced a tear gem.

He dismissed the thought with a frown. She knew that he would be elusive. The Koorime had been trying to kill him since his birth. He wouldn't do something so foolish as to leave a black hiruiseki lying around. Unless there had been more Forbidden Children that the black gem could be blamed on...

Kurama rolled his eyes at himself.

Realistically, Yukina would believe that Hiei had met her brother on the mountain today. Genkai had said she was certain he'd set the hill on fire, but could she be convinced that Hiei had been given the gem as a message?

A little Yukina-shaped voice in the back of his head said, But Hiei-san, why do you still have the hiruiseki of my mother?

Kurama shook a metaphorical fist at the little Yukina-shaped voice. The Youko's mind was too damn analytical for its own good. But in any case, Hiei had been half-blind up on the mountain, and probably exhausted by struggling to put out the fire. A smile crossed his lips. "I've got it."

Genkai blinked, torn away from her own thoughts. "What?"

Kurama's thoughts raced along a path that was too fast for his tongue. Yukina knows her brother is a half-breed, so perhaps she thinks he can control fire as well as ice. We all continue to tell her that he's probably closer than she thinks. So, he was there, on the mountain, to suppress the fire and safeguard Yukina - and he was this late about it because he didn't want to reveal his powers until he had to. By the time the blaze became magically charged, it would have covered his energy signature and allowed him to move undetected by Yukina, so he did. Hiei was on the same errand. They ran into each other. Hiei was weak, so he collapsed, but Yukina's brother left him with a token for his sister...

"We have to convince Yukina that her brother is watching her in secret. Today, he suppressed the blaze only when the energy of all the old, sacred trees would completely cover his youki and render him undetectable to her. He and Hiei ran into each other but because Hiei was weak, Yukina's brother left him with a hiruiseki to take to her - because he knows Hiei has been watching for him." Kurama said in one breath. Genkai thought it through and gave it a grudging nod.

"It could work. But how are you going to let Hiei know all this, when Yukina will ask him about it as soon as he wakes?"

Kurama's face became serious. "Can you convince Yukina not to ask him until... later?" He asked lamely. Genkai snorted and Kurama sighed. "No more than stop breathing..." he agreed softly. The old woman stood slowly.

"Why are you so concerned? He got himself into this. Let him solve his own problems."

Kurama gave her a remarkably icy look for a person whose skin was flushed and seared with heat. "People have been letting him solve his own problems all his life." He pronounced coldly. "And even if you want to look at it in such an uncaring way... I did get him into this. Without the shampoo, there would have been no hiruiseki."

Genkai was not cowed by his anger. "You don't think there might have been a few tears over his first true friend, possibly dying, and at being simply unable to summon enough power to stop it?"

Kurama's eyes softened a little, then. His eyes travelled out to the courtyard. "...Hiei would not cry over me, Genkai-baba." He blinked once, the faintest trace of pleasure on his lips at the idea. Then the anger returned. "And in the case that he ever did, why would I then leave him to his own devices?"

Genkai shrugged and stood up. "I'm going to make more tea. I feel Hiei's youki returning to a workable state. He'll probably wake up soon. Tell Yukina I'll need her in the kitchen." Kurama took that to mean she'd cover for him as he related his plan to the fire demon. He nodded once, decisively, and tossed his hair back over his shoulder. It fell down his blistered back, feeling much, much rougher on the sensitive skin than it usually did. He grimaced. My kingdom for a hair tie.

- - - - - - - - - -

A/N: I know it's short. Sorry. It does get longer. Please let me know what you think of this fic so far. Constructive criticism is most appreciated. (Incoherent praise is appreciated, too.)