-- This Chapter updated 9-1-2008 --

Huminshou

By Zelia Theb

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

The detective was returning home after a long day at school. Despite what his mother, his childhood friend Keiko, and various faculty at the school said, he thought that his ability to even go to school in between his save-the-world missions was amazing, if not, remarkable. Hey, at least the rest of his team understood, even though the redhead Kurama felt the need to rub in his excellent grades from time to time.

On his way home, he picked up one of his teammates, his good friend Kazuma Kuwabara, as he rounded one of the final corners on the way to his apartment building. The tall orange-haired kid rambled on about various funny instances that occurred during the day, all of which made Yusuke laugh. The boy invited Kuwabara inside, excited to show him some new videos. After listening to a long and quite drawn out speech about how he had to be faithful to Yukina, the honorable oaf hesitantly agreed to accompany the shorter boy.

Yusuke and his friend entered the apartment to find that it was rather clean and tidy. The thought of Hiei walking around his place in an apron made him laugh, but then made him oddly curious for reasons that only the detective's subconscious only knew.

"Dear Yusuke. I bought groceries, please put the rest away. Go to school tomorrow. I'm taking a trip with a friend of mine, be back in two days. Love, Mom," Kuwabara said. It was a note that was taped to the refrigerator. An idea popped into his head, and he said, "Hey, we could have a party!"

Yusuke rolled his eyes at his friend, asking, "Yeah, and who would we invite? Get serious, man." He walked over to the remaining two brown paper bags that were left on the counter and started to put the goods away. Out of instinct, Kuwabara offered to help and the groceries were put away quickly.

Yusuke snatched two somewhat cold cans of pop from the fridge and tossed one to his friend before seating himself on the couch, ready to watch more videos. After the first two minutes of the tape, Kuwabara began to feel a tickle, not brought on by the naughty actions, but his extra sensory perception.

"Man, there's something here, Urameshi," he uttered. His hand came up to his well chiseled face and rubbed the end of his chin. "It sort of feels like my dear sweet Yukina, but like, her evil sister, or something." Yusuke was astounded at Kuwabara's own detective abilities. The connection was right there in front of him, yet the kid couldn't fit the square block into the square hole. It was like he was trying to stuff the blocks into an entirely different toy.

"Don't worry about it," Yusuke said, trying to keep his attention on the two blonde girls in the program.

"No, no…there's definitely something here!" the taller one argued. "In fact…hey…I think I know this energy!" The other boy smacked his forehead as Kuwabara continued, "It's Hiei! Hiei's here, somewhere. But why the heck is shrimpy hanging around? I mean, he's got the whole city and stuff…" Yusuke sighed, and on cue, the window opened and Hiei flew into the room.

"You," the demon pointed to Yusuke, "fight me on the roof. Now."

A pair of chocolate colored eyes was on the floor at the foot of the sofa, after having popped out of the detective's head. Okay, not really, but Yusuke was pretty damn surprised. His face twitched again, and he asked, "What? Can't you see that I'm busy here? I don't have time to train with you!"

"Yeah! Busy! Buzz off!" Kuwabara chimed in. After staring angrily at his comrade, his eyebrows shifted up and he burst out laughing, just as Yusuke had done the day before. After an ensuing argument and explanation as to why Hiei was in Yusuke's building, dressed like a human, Kuwabara sank back into the couch and tried to catch up on the plotless theme of the video.

"I bet you're wishin' that it had been Kurama's building that you were confined to, huh," Kuwabara joked.

"Shut up! I wish it were no building!" Hiei spat back.

"Yeah right," the tallest teased, "it'd give you an excuse to be with your honey and…" Kuwabara finished the sentence by making a few kiss noises. He followed it up with a laugh, which was muffled due to the stranglehold that Hiei had on his large neck.

"I do not like Kurama!" Hiei shouted over and over again, in rhythm with the shaking motion he was doing to Kuwabara.

Yusuke pried them apart, not because Kuwabara was blue and about to die, but because he felt the need to hear the various moans and curse words coming from the TV. He stated, "No, you moron. He gave him to me because if he was with Kurama, they could probably plot something together." Kuwabara was too busy recovering oxygen to respond. "And as you can see, he'd have killed you and escaped if he was under your watch."

"I guess you take me for some sort of traitor, Detective," Hiei said coldly. He always wanted his allies to fear him, but now that he knew it lead to mistrust, it hurt him.

"That isn't what I meant…" Yusuke was interrupted as Hiei slammed the door to the boy's bedroom behind him.

"Wow, his pissitivity is through the roof, no pun intended," Kuwabara remarked.

Yusuke growled, balling up his fists, then yelled, "Pissitivity isn't even a word!"

"Well, he's stuck here, so we should probably be nice to him!"

"You're one to talk, idiot! You were the one to start teasing him in the first place!"

"Well, fine! Let's call Kurama and get 'im over here," Kuwabara suggested, reaching for the phone, which was placed on an end table nearby. "That should make him feel better."

"You know, I'm really starting to think that maybe Hiei doesn't like Kurama," Yusuke commented. "Well, not like that anyway. But I guess some demon company could make him feel better…" He was hushed by Kuwabara, who held his finger to his lips as a signal. He was already in conversation with the demon on the other end of the line.

"Hey," Yusuke interjected after a quick thought, "how the hell do you know Kurama's phone number?" Kuwabara waved his hand, but that made Yusuke angry. He snided, "Maybe you're the one who likes Kurama."

"Hey, shut up, Urameshi! I memorize everyone's phone numbers! And their birthdays!" He uncovered his hand from the phone, and said ,"Sorry Kurama. Urameshi was being a jackass." After intently listening to his ally's remark, he laughed back, "Haha! Yeah, I know! He is." The detective twitched an eyebrow, making a mental note to kill Kurama when he got there.

"Get more," Hiei demanded, setting the last manga he read on top of his "read" pile. He had managed to fly through all of the comics in Yusuke's possession.

"I don't have money, otherwise I would have gotten more," Yusuke informed him.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know what happens?" he yelled back at a volume that was a little too loud for the time of night.

"Well, you could turn on that dusty TV over there and find out. They did make it into a show, you know, and I think it's on right now." Yusuke pointed to a small television set sitting on top of a dresser. He rarely used it, because it was black and white, and also because he had no video cassette drive in his room. Without thinking of how it would look, Hiei actually listened to Yusuke and turned the television on.

"I'm going to bed, so keep it turned down," Yusuke announced, climbing under his covers (which weren't under the demon, because the boy had neglected to make his bed earlier that morning).

"How am I supposed to be comfortable!" Hiei snarled. After all, he wanted to lean back and rest his neck, which was hurting from leaning over and reading comics all night.

"You've slept in trees for how long?" Yusuke retorted. "Just lay down and use a pillow. It's not a big deal."

"I don't think so. I'm not falling for that again," Hiei recalled. "I have no desire to awaken in a compromising position tomorrow."

"Oh. So you admit that you want to sleep tonight," Yusuke said, turning to face his back to the screen. "That's funny. So fine, don't lay down. There is another TV in the place, ya know." He shifted uncomfortably; his jeans were cutting off circulation in his legs. He shuffled out of bed and said, "Sorry buddy, but I can't sleep in jeans for another night. So you better decide whether or not you want to sleep on the couch or on the roof." He removed his jeans, leaving him just in a white tee and blue boxer shorts, then crawled back into bed.

"The roof is stony," Hiei complained. At least the bark of trees was consistent and far flatter. Not that the detective would understand the difference; he's slept in luxury for most of his life.

"So sleep on the couch," Yusuke murmured drowsily.

"It's cold out there."

"Want some cheese with that whine?" Yusuke remarked, using the old cliché.

"Hn."

"Quit your complainin' and just lay down already, jeez!" He felt Hiei's weight move and figured that the demon must have finally given in and decided to watch the show comfortably. Soon after, both of them fell asleep, once again, at opposite edges of the bed.

It was early. Early in the afternoon, that is. Kuwabara was failing peacefully at school, while Yusuke still had his lazy butt in bed. In bed with Hiei. The TV's volume was rather low, and the various commercials for talk shows were flashing on the screen.

The boy and the demon were laying in the same fashion as the previous morning, only this time, their hands were tightly gripping onto the bare skin of the other's back, having snuck under the hem of their tee shirts. The blankets were placed snuggly over them, reaching up to the base of Hiei's neck.

In unison with a rather loud commercial (the type that the producers purposely fail to adjust the audio levels on just to grab attention or wake someone up), the two lazily opened their eyes. The laziness was overcome when they realized whose eyes they ended up staring into. This was followed by a series of hand movements, trying to understand their surroundings.

Although he could never say it, Yusuke found Hiei's skin to be unnaturally smooth. He wondered if the real reason Hiei enjoyed a good tree nap was due to how the bark exfoliated his skin. Due to Hiei's closed up and shielded nature, he could never tell Yusuke how comfortable he was, or how nice the touch of his fingers had felt. It wasn't as if either of them liked the other, they figured. Yusuke had never even known that such smooth skin could even exist on a woman, much less Hiei. Hiei had never had anyone touch him, ever, except for during battle, or after battle when he had to be carried. It was shocking for both of them.

Hiei opened his mouth to inquire for a reason, but Yusuke quickly hopped out of the bed and declared, "I'm taking a shower!"

"I've got stones all wrong," Hiei muttered in response. "Stones are wonderful. I think I'll go to the roof now." The black-haired demon blinked his red eyes in disbelief, then leapt out of bed and right out the window.

It's been three strange days and two even stranger nights since Yusuke last saw Hiei. He had even gone looking for him once, and thought that he would find him, but he didn't. He knew that it was hard on the demon to be confined to such a small area, and even worse to be so severely punished for a crime that Yusuke probably committed almost every week, if not every other day. The boy hoped that Hiei had not done something stupid that would extend his probation; he had put in a lot of effort and done things out of character just to return home. It would be a waste.

The confused human boy pondered this as he lay in bed, among other thoughts, well into the night. As his eyelids finally began to close, he heard the door to his apartment open. A moment later, small trickles of water were heard, because someone had turned the shower on. He sighed when he realized that his mother had just come home, then rested his eyelids once again. He was angry, because that little disturbance had delayed his sleep longer.

He turned over and rested on his back, listening to his mother move about the apartment. She went into her room and shuffled through her closet. Then she came over to his room, and soon Yusuke found that his door had opened and shut. He supposed that she had just decided to check and see that he was home and not out following her bad example. He flipped again, and due to the movement of his own body weight, he was unaware that another person had sat on the edge of his bed.

Yusuke was poked in the shoulder (which was bare; he was back to sleeping in just a pair of socks and boxers since no one would be with him), and the action startled him. He jumped slightly and opened his eyes to see that Hiei was planted on the edge of the sheets and staring at him.

"That was you making all that noise?" Yusuke questioned the demon.

"You were supposed to get up and find me clothes," Hiei told him. Who did the detective think that he was, anyway? His mother? Any brave human would have gotten up to check who was rummaging through their house and using their shower. He winced when he realized that a thief or any other intruder would not wash up at their victim's home.

Yusuke's eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and he saw the fine curves and outlines of Hiei's chest. He gasped when he discovered that Hiei was just wrapped in a towel, but then noticed that he had something in his hand. It was the pajamas that he had found a few days ago.

"You're…naked…" the boy stammered. "You…can wear those if you want to." He knew that Hiei wouldn't ask; he never asked for anything.

"They're from your mother," Hiei remarked. That was his way of saying, "Are you sure? Your mom gave them to you as a gift. I couldn't possibly take something that is an obvious treasure."

"You can have them," Yusuke murmured, lowering himself back into the cushion. He was extremely tired and could barely hold his conversation with Hiei. He felt a slight breeze and heard the towel fall to the ground with a small thud. The next thing he knew, Hiei was poking him in the shoulder again. Yusuke opened his eyes and asked, "What?" Hiei did not answer with words, but with a blank stare. The detective noticed how haggard the demon's eyes looked. It was a clear sign of sleep deprivation. The poke was yet another Hiei-esque query. Yusuke answered by getting up and moving to his living room couch, or so he thought. He had every intention of getting up, really, he did. He just didn't muster up the energy to do so.

Yusuke stirred the blueberries into the pancake mix. He was happy when he found the instant mix the other day; it wasn't often that he ate foreign food. The boy secretly wished that Hiei would be able to swallow it; he was going all out while he had the food. Pancakes, eggs, toast, and even bacon (again, another surprise for him due to its price).

He couldn't bring himself to admit it, but he had stayed in bed for several minutes after actually waking up, just staring at the demon. Yusuke tried to convince himself that it was a result of the comfort, but he failed. Hiei was vulnerable, a seemingly innocent and content expression was on his face, and that smooth skin seemed so soft and touchable. He stirred faster as he argued with himself, mad that he could even think for a second that he was attracted to Hiei. He stopped his furious mixing when the mix appeared to be too blue.

Hiei woke up to the pleasing smell of cooking meat, and because the warmth of Yusuke's body had finally dissipated from the bed sheets. He wasn't expecting the bed to actually be empty, though he was glad that he didn't have to face the awkward situation himself. He couldn't quite explain why, but for some reason the leisure and warmth allowed him to rest peacefully. He actually felt stronger because of it, and a lot less grumpy. Not that he was ever grumpy to begin with.

"What is that?" he inquired, emerging from Yusuke's bedroom. Hiei found himself salivating from the salty smell of the fried meat.

"That's prolly the bacon," the detective answered. Breakfast was done, aside from the toast (because he had popped the lever down a bit late), and he served it.

Much to his surprise (and delight), Yusuke noticed his demon ally had cleared his pancakes rather swiftly. They ate on, in silence of course, because Hiei had disregarded Yusuke's query on the quality of his creation. When they were just about finished, the detective wondered what had happened to the toast. Hiei was irritated by the smell of the burning bread, and walked over to the toaster to investigate.

"There is food stuck in there," the shorter one announced.

"Yes, that's pretty obvious, Hiei," Yusuke sarcastically remarked. "Now hang on…" He searched for the plug to the toaster, but Hiei had already gripped a fork from the table. Before Yusuke could protest the action, Hiei used the utensil to pry the burnt toast out from the clutches of the toaster.

"Ahh!" he yelped as he was electrocuted. His hair stood on end, which no one but he could notice anyway. Yusuke quickly ripped the plug out of the wall, and Hiei released the fork from his grip.

The boy wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. Instead he ran dangerously close and even snatched the victimized hand, asking, "Are you all right, bud?" The hand was roughly pulled away, accompanied by a blush from the demon, and a reply of his usual snort.

"I'm bored," Hiei stated monotonously. He wanted to get out and train, he wanted to fight. He was actually praying that some demon would start trouble and that Koenma would need them all for a case.

Yusuke was thinking the same thing. He picked up his communicator and within seconds, Botan's giddy face appeared. She informed him that there was nothing yet, but she would try and find something for them to do. Before ending the transmission, she flashed the photograph of he and Hiei together in bed, then winked and cut the line.

He had actually thought that they looked cute together. He let out a strange scoffing noise at his use of the word 'cute' in his head. Hiei fixated a confused look at him, which only made Yusuke more uncomfortable. The Universe had decided its next evil trick would be to make Yusuke become attracted to Hiei.

It was Hiei. Evil, 'once' psychotic and bent on world domination Hiei. Mister 'I can kill you with thirty swings of my sword in less than a second' Hiei. Strangely young looking but probably older than the oldest man in the world Hiei. The demon Hiei. The guy Hiei. Only a few days ago he had made fun of the demon for such a thing, and he wondered why. It never bothered him, really. Yusuke had always just preferred females, or had he? He did think that Kurama was pretty hot when he first saw him, but then again, he had also thought that he was a girl.

He was too confused. Maybe Kuwabara had the right idea a few days ago; party! There was no school today or tomorrow, not that it mattered much to him. Hiei stood by and watched as Yusuke went from a state of deep thought to excitement. The detective called up everyone; Kurama, Keiko, Kuwabara; he even told Kuwabara to bring his friends and sister. He was so bored that he picked up the communicator again and invited Botan, who was for some reason, more than happy to attend.

He hoped that the Grim Reaper had no intentions on revealing that picture.

"What are you up to?" Hiei inquired. His rear end was planted firmly on one of the windowsills in the room.

"A party. I'm bored, you're bored, easy solution," Yusuke answered. The boy couldn't help himself, he just had to steal a glance at Hiei. He noticed that he was still in the pajamas, and said, "You should probably change."

"Who said that I care, Detective?" Hiei glowered at him from his perch. "I don't like parties."

"Well, what the hell else are you going to do?!" Yusuke yelled, causing Hiei to jump and fall from the sill. He was insulted, it wasn't as if he wanted Hiei to be bored out of his mind.

"Fine," Hiei muttered as he stomped off to the bedroom to change. He came back out wearing the black sweatshirt and yet another pair of jeans.

"I'm thirsty," Hiei whined. He and Yusuke were sitting lazily on the couch, each battling their own personal demons.

"Still?" Yusuke asked. The black-haired demon had just finished his second can.

"…Yes."

"So go get another pop," Yusuke suggested. He wondered if, and when, Hiei would use the bathroom. He hoped that demons weren't all that different and that his toilet wouldn't be melted. That much pop though, the sugar and caffeine alone could melt the porcelain.

Hiei sat back down, cracking open his third can. Yusuke chuckled, happy that Hiei had finally learned how to do it himself. The first time, the demon thought that his sword could open it up. That's why the kitchen floor had to be cleaned an hour ago. His actual first can Yusuke opened for him. The second serving, Hiei opened it, but the metal tab fell in and he nearly choked on it. Well, they say that the technical third time's a charm.

The boy's brown eyes went wide. He absolutely knew that Hiei would be the end of his boyishly good looks and perfect skin. This entire time, Hiei had been drinking his mother's beer, not the soda. His face contorted as he thought of Hiei being drunk. He just hoped that he and Kurama would be able to fend off the Darkness Flame. He would have wet himself right there if he had as much to drink as Hiei did.

"Um, Hiei," Yusuke interjected mid-thought, "that's not pop." It was no wonder that the demon had complained of the taste when he swallowed his first sip.

"What are you blabbering about?" Hiei asked. Of course it was pop! It was in the same kind of can that Yusuke had. Or was it…?

"Um…have you ever had alcohol before?" the teen queried, hoping that Hiei did in fact have some sort of tolerance built up.

"No." Oh, wonderful. "I'll be fine." Hiei smirked wickedly then added, "Just give me pop next time."

Doors came back in style, as a series of whispers only belonging to his friends came with the knocking noise that just emanated from the door. Yusuke got up and greeted his friends; everyone had come, but Kuwabara's friends from school weren't able to make it.

"I see that you're looking well, as usual, Yusuke," Kurama said as everyone else dispersed into the room. His emerald eyes had quite a devilish glint in them, one that Yusuke could only assume was part of the fox-demon's 'charming good looks.'

"And you're looking…" He struggled to find something that didn't sound gay. Kurama was dressed out of the ordinary. A tight black sweater and tight black pants.

"I'm looking at you," Kurama smirked, finishing Yusuke's sentence.

"Uhh…" the other boy stuttered, "I was going to say bleak and artistic." He ruffled his hair nervously, not really caring if it came out of its slicked back position. He could swear that the redhead was hitting on him.

"If you think that this is artistic…" Yusuke gulped. "Then perhaps I have some things to show you later." Maybe it was mating season for foxes. Yes, that was it. So why the heck wasn't Kurama flirting with the girls?

And aren't Kurama and Hiei together?

Yusuke felt his eyes tear up in fear. If that was true, he not only had Kurama flirting with him in front of everyone, but the possibility of having a very drunk and jealous Hiei to deal with was skyrocketing (and his pissitivity was already through the roof, as Kuwabara had so geniously noted earlier that week).

"Um, yeah, later. Show me later, yeah," Yusuke struggled with his words again, tiptoeing away as he spoke. "I'm going to go…throw on a movie, or something." Keiko cast a cheerful glance his way, which scared him even more. If he thought that a mental Hiei was bad, he couldn't even fathom the idea of a jealous girl, let alone Keiko. Then again, if the girl had decided to give Yusuke some sort of physical affection at all, then maybe he wouldn't be in this sort of mess.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

First and foremost, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews. They made me try and get this chapter out as soon as I could (plus I have a ton of ideas of how this fic could go that need to get out of my head).

Second, I'm going to advertise for the author's and stories on my favorites lists. I'd have to say that there are three key authors between here and that inspired this story's style (though my writing quality pales in comparison to theirs): Lilias, Odango in Black, and Alteng.

Chapter 3 will be a continuation of the party, and possibly a mission to get it back into YYH character.

-Zelia Theb