Author's notes: As promised, I'm writing! And this is the fanfic I'm focusing most of my time on! I know not many read this, but hey I don't really mind all that much. But I am trying to type up at least one page a day. Added to that, I am working on other fanfics as well and it's taking up a lot of time. I really should rethink accepting site staff positions when I'm so busy. Oh well. What's done is done I suppose. Oh, and one thing, I'd really appreciate it if you review and give suggestions.


Recommendation:

Title:Life Debt

Author: Tsuuki

Anime: Inuyasha

Summary: I dunno what to say about this one in order NOT to give it away. The pairing is Sesshoumaru/Kagome. Kagome is taken away from her home to end up as a servant in a castle far away from her home. During her stay, she finds many things out about her master, a cold youkai with a colder heart. However, things stir up when Naraku shows up. Things turn up another notch when Kouga makes appearances.

It's very good. The author Tsuuki did a great job and it's definitely better than what I'm writing, that's for sure.


Trifled Bonds – Chapter 2

--clowangel


"What?! Smuggling drugs into Ningenkai from Makai?!" a curly-haired redhead hollered in disbelief.

"Yes, I've repeated it several times" Koenma muttered, irritated. The meeting has been going on for an hour already and still, the group had not come up with a plan on what to do. It was probably because Kurama has failed to arrive yet and neither had Hiei. The young prince wondered if Yusuke even informed the ex-thief and his best friend of this meeting.

"Yusuke, are you sure you told Kurama about this meeting?" Koenma asked for the second time.

"Yeah, pretty sure anyway" Yusuke replied with a scratch of his head. Suddenly he slammed his fist into his palm with a smack. "Wait! That was the last meeting! Whoops!"

"Whoops?! All you say is whoops?! We could've gotten this over with already if you had just used the thing you call a brain encased in that thick head of yours!" Koenma yelled furiously at his tantei. He couldn't believe the dimwit had actually forgotten to do something so important.

"Pray tell, what were you doing?" the young godling grinded out.

"I was being bitched at by Keiko, alright? Not like you don't know how violent she is!"

"BOTAN!"

Immediately the door swung opened with a bang and a blue-haired girl dressed in a pink kimono rushed through the door with a bright smile on her pretty face. "Yes, Koenma-sama?" she asked too cheerfully for such an early morning. In fact, it was only 8:00 a.m. and it was a Sunday. It was a wonder they could get Yusuke to arrive on time, but that was thanks to Keiko.

"Yes, Botan. I need you to go fetch Kurama. Obviously, Yusuke here forgot to get him." Koenma shot the teen a pointed glare at which Yusuke simply rolled his eyes with a huff.

"Right away, Koenma-sama! Anything else? Do I need to get Hiei too?" At the mention of Hiei's name, the ferry girl's eyes attained a slight look of fright.

"Nothing else, but yes, get Hiei too."

"Okay! Off I go! Be back in a jiffy!" Botan exclaimed all too cheerfully and practically skipped out of the big room.


Kurama sat on his bed reading a book for homework while Hiei sat on the ledge of the window staring into the tree. It seems to have become a habit for our little fire demon.

Kurama spoke up with his nose still in the book, "Don't you get bored staring into trees?"

"Is there anything else to do in this cursed Ningen world?" Hiei bit back, slightly irritated. After all, he was an active demon and he needed something to do.

"Alright then." Kurama placed the book down on his desk next to his bed gently after marking his page with a bookmark. Folding his hands on his lap, he faced Hiei with bright eyes.

"Alright what?" Hiei replied with a mild glare.

"Let's do some training at our place."

"Hn. Finally something to do." Before Kurama could blink, Hiei was outside beneath his window. Kurama soon followed suit after putting on some shoes.

The two raced off in a blur of red and black towards the park near the Hatanaka residence. In the park, there was a hidden clearing behind dense trees and overgrown bushes in which the two demon friends trained. It was their secret place, their place to train, somewhere no one would know of to look for. During the full moons and sickle moons, this was where Youko was released. And when Hiei felt like venting out his angers and frustrations, this was where he would be as well. To keep it hidden, they masked the surrounding area with an illusion.

Once they arrived, they immediately started their training. Racing at one another, their weapons met with clangs. Just as fast, they dispersed before going at it once again at an even faster pace. Dodging and parrying blows, the two went at each other in their own little world, their moves unseen to the human eye. Sword and whip met once again and danced their deadly dance in the tense but peaceful air. Finally exhausted and satisfied, the two ended abruptly and in unison. Hiei sheathed his sword and Kurama's whip returned to the form of a seemingly harmless rose before disappearing up his sleeve. The two took a seat at the base of a large tree, which provided shade for the sweating demons. Sitting side by side, Hiei placed his sword by him and Kurama looked up into the canopy with a content smile on his elfish features.

"Hn. It seems you have improved."

"Oh? Compliments? Why Hiei, is it a holiday?" Kurama teased lightly.

"Shut up, Kitsune." Hiei growled.

"Alright, alright. I was joking. Well, I was training alone for the week you were gone after all."

"Hn."

"Did you have urgent business that week?"

"Hn." Hiei crossed his arms and sneered. "There were some scuffles at our borders and Mukuro ordered me to return to deal with it."

"I see. I take it you took care of them?"

"Hn, of course. Who do you think I am?"

"Right, right." Kurama smirked playfully.

"No missions?"

"None." Kurama stretched his arms before laying them down beside him again. "Thank Inari for that. I have too much schoolwork to do."

"Ningen School is stupid. You don't use any of that later on."

Suddenly, a familiar, all-too-hyper voice rang out in the air, calling their names. "KURAMA!! HIEI!! Where are you two?!"

"Thanks for jinxing us, Hiei" Kurama muttered despairingly.

"I believe in no such things," Hiei replied with a sharp glare that held no sting.

The redhead resisted the urge to roll his eyes, before getting up and walking gracefully out of the clearing with Hiei following close behind, but not before muttering a few choice words.

The redhead spotted the ferry girl walking away in the opposite direction still calling their names. With his acute hearing, he heard Botan mutter, "I swear I felt them this way."

"Over here, Botan!" Kurama's alto voice called out to the frustrated blue-head. Once she saw him, a bright smile lit her face.

"There you are, Kurama! I've been looking all over for you! Do you know where Hiei is?"

"Hn."

"YAAAAAAHHH!!!" Botan jumped three feet into the air and quickly spun around to face none other than Hiei. "Don't scare me like that!"

He glared dangerously at her causing her to zip behind Kurama and peek over his shoulder. "Sorry!" she squeaked.

"Maa, maa. Hiei, be nice."

The irate fire demon turned his glare on the smiling redhead. Failing to have any effect, he faced the other way, crossing his arms across his chest. Kurama's smile brightened.

"Botan, why were you calling for us?"

"Oh! That's right, a mission." "Yusuke is already there, so hop on!" Botan materialized her oar out of thin air, sat on it, and then patted the space behind her.

Hiei eyed the oar warily. "I am NOT riding on that thing," Hiei bit out.

Botan looked fearfully at the vertically challenged demon, speechless.

"Hiei, are you scared of an oar?" Kurama teased.

"I am not scared. I simply do not trust such contraptions" Hiei retorted.

"Oh really now? If you do not get on, no more of it for a week."

Hiei's eyes widened at the threat. Glaring sharply at the oar, Botan, and Kurama, he grudgingly hopped onto the floating piece of wood behind Botan and Kurama. Once it took to the air, Hiei immediately clung onto Kurama's back as if his life depended on it, which it did considering the drop. After all, they were above the clouds now. Unknown to Hiei, the fox was enjoying every second of having Hiei's warm body so close to him.

Soon, the trio arrived at the Reikai Palace. Hopping off the oar, the trio was soon entering Koenma's office.

"Kurama! There you are. Now, this meeting can really begin" Koenma said with relief at seeing the fox show up.

"What is the situation?" Kurama asked as he took a seat in a chair. Hiei walked over to a wall, crossed his arms, and leaned against it glaring at the group.

"Makai drugs are being smuggled into Ningenkai. I'm sure you know how potentially dangerous these substances are. It's more concentrated than human drugs and can cause death in a matter of days," explained Koenma.

"Drugs you say?" Kurama shifted and turned to face Hiei with a raised brow.

Hiei returned the stare with a glare. "I know nothing of this."

"How are these youkai able to get past the barrier? Has there been another breach?"

"These youkai are low C class, so they're able to sneak through" Koenma replied.

"That should not be too hard to deal with."

"Normally, no. However, we don't have enough tantei to patrol the makai and ningenkai at once. You guys are our main team and the most powerful right now. There are two other people I can ask for help, but they'd rather beat me over the head than deal with this." Koenma sighed irritably before continuing. "And since you're the strategist of the group, I'd like to know what you think of this mission and at least figure out what to do."

"Why not split us up? I believe a pair should head to Makai and the others should head to Ningenkai. This way, we'll be able to keep watch on both areas. If possible, destroying the bases would help as well, in both worlds. It's up to you to give us the rest of the orders. Do you wish for us to terminate the problem? Or do you wish for us to bring in the perpetrators?"

"Either will be fine. However, the humans will have to be brought in alive," Koenma reminded. "You still can't kill humans."

"Understood."

"Geez, that was fast," Yusuke grumbled to himself.

"There is no damn way I'll be paired up with the shrimp though!" Kuwabara said rather loudly, giving the fire demon an annoyed glare.

"Who in their right mind would pair up with you anyway, oaf?" Hiei retorted, glaring death at the ugly redhead.

"That's enough." Koenma ordered sternly, receiving a heated and irritated glance from Hiei. Ignoring the fire demon, he continued. "Teams will be decided on your own. I want you to head out on Wednesday after reinforcing your plan and preparing for this trip."

On their way out of the office, the team found themselves arguing over who would be partners.

"I'll go with Kurama," Yusuke said.

"But I don't want to be paired with the midget!" complained Kuwabara. "I'm going with Kurama!"

"Who the hell wants to be paired with you, you idiot?" Hiei growled.

Kurama remained silent, smiling with amusement.

"Tch, you're just afraid of Hiei. Admit it, Kuwabaka!"

"I ain't afraid of no pint-sized midget!"

"Say that again and you'll find your head on the ground," Hiei threatened, placing his hand on the hilt of his katana in a threatening posture.

"Oh yeah?" Kuwabara challenged, summoning his reiken.

Before the verbal fight could turn physical, Kurama interrupted the squabbling pair. "That's enough, you two. We need to work on this mission. I want it over with as soon as possible. I have a bunch of schoolwork sitting on my desk and it isn't going to write itself."

Yusuke blinked. "But aren't you extremely smart or something? A little schoolwork should be nothing to you."

Hiei idly remembered the large pile of folders and binders of unfinished 'projects' and 'essays' that needed to be written and mentally winced. 'These fools have no idea how much work the fox is burdened with between reikai tantei work and his ningen life.'

"Yusuke, unlike you, I take college courses." Kurama smiled lightly and continued walking. "Don't worry, Kuwabara-kun," Kurama reassured the still irritated redhead. "You won't have to be grouped with Hiei. I'll work with you and Hiei can work with Yusuke."

"…" Hiei blinked. "What?" He was rather surprised Kurama didn't say he'd work with him. After all, they usually worked together. In fact, he was rather comfortable and happy with it.

"Kurama said you're working with me, Hiei. Is there a problem?" Yusuke stared down at the short fire demon, confused. Did the guy have a problem with him?

Hiei caught himself and chose to glower at Yusuke with a simple 'hn' before turning away. 'Working with Yusuke? Tch.'

"Is there a problem, Hiei?" Kurama asked, noticing Hiei's expression.

"None" was the quick reply, too quick of a reply.

"Okay. If you say so." Internally, Kurama was concerned. Why would Hiei be so irked? Unless he wanted to work with him, he concluded. But, that wasn't possible was it?

"Meh, Hiei probably doesn't want to work with me," Yusuke grumbled loudly. "He doesn't get along with me very well either, ya know."

"Ah, I see." Kurama turned to Hiei. "We'll discuss it at my house. My mother's out for the day with Otou-san."

Immediately, the small group of reikai tantei opened up a portal and found themselves in a park not too far from Kurama's house. Hiei disappeared once they landed on Ningenkai soil.

"Hmn? Where'd the shrimp go?" Kuwabara looked around as they started the short trek to the redhead's house. "We didn't lose him did we?"

"Iie, Kuwabara-kun. Hiei just doesn't want to take so long to get there. To him, we're walking at the pace of snails. He's probably there already."

Kuwabara blinked, frowning in confusion. "Eh…? The shrimp knows where you live?"

"How come we were never shown your house, Kurama?" asked Yusuke.

"Hiei has known where I was located years before I met you two."

The other two blinked and shared a look. 'They've known each other for that long?'

"Ah, we've known each other for around two years before we met you." Kurama correctly interpreted what the look meant. "But, we didn't keep in contact."

Yusuke and Kuwabara started in surprise, not expecting the emerald-eyed bishounen to answer their unvoiced question.

Kurama waved to a neighbor and continued walking while Yusuke asked another question. "So you two 'reunited' during that whole three treasure fiasco?"

"Correct."

"Wow, I'm surprised Hiei remembered where you lived after not having been in contact for so long!" Yusuke exclaimed, surprised.

Kurama chuckled. "Hiei has a very good memory. Almost photographic."

"How much longer 'til we get there, Kurama?" Kuwabara was getting tired of being on his feet all day.

"Oh, the next house is mine."

"Great! I'm tired! I really need to sit down for a bit." Kuwabara laughed.

'You're not the only one' Kurama found himself thinking. He was really in need of a good night's sleep as well.

The group quickly entered the house and went upstairs to Kurama's room. They opened the door to find Hiei glaring at a rather large pile of paperwork and binders.

'Stupid ningen 'homework' bullshit' was what Hiei's thoughts were mostly consisting of.

Hiei looked up from glaring murderously at the pile of inanimate papers to land a mild glare at the three who just came into the room.

"Feel free to make yourselves comfortable. I'll go fetch us some drinks." Kurama turned to leave before being stopped by Hiei who appeared before him in a blink of an eye. Kurama blinked in surprise before smiling. "Is there something you need Hiei?"

"Sit."

Everyone else blinked.

"I will, Hiei, after I get some soda from the kitchen." Kurama started towards the door before being stopped less than a second later, Hiei in front of him again. Frowning, he looked down at the demon. "Is something the matter?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara were now staring rather openly at the scene. After all, they weren't used to Hiei acting so strangely.

"No." Hiei glowered at the tall redhead. "Just sit," he mumbled. "I'll get the soda. I'm bored anyway."

Kurama blinked and smiled down at the demon. "Okay, Hiei. Thank you." Before anyone could blink, the fire demon was gone.

"What was that all about?" Kuwabara found himself asking aloud.

Kurama took a seat at his desk and stared at his pile of paperwork with a small frown which was quickly wiped away a second later. "I don't really know. I think Hiei might have noticed I'm a little tired. More so after our little training session."

"You're tired? You okay?" Yusuke asked the fox, voice laced with concern. "If you're tired, why didn't you say so?"

"Yeah, we would've understood and carried on the meeting without you if you just told Botan you were tired," Kuwabara added, agreeing with their default leader.

"Didn't realize I was that tired," Kurama lied. He knew very well he was exhausted and have been for about a week. His schoolwork and reikai tantei duties were pushing him to his limits.

"Liar," a voice from the door interrupted. Hiei waltzed in with a tray full of canned soda then took a seat on the windowsill. "You've been pushing yourself for a week, fox. It doesn't help that you don't take breaks."

"A week?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara shouted.

"It's not a big deal. After all, it isn't that much work." Kurama mentally grimaced at exactly how much work was not much. College courses were easy, but the amount of work they piled on top of him was too much.

"Isn't that much work my ass, kitsune." Hiei continued as he threw Yusuke and Kuwabara their own can and handed one to the fox who readily accepted it with a nod of thanks. "You've been working your ass off. You just didn't want to worry anyone. Don't think I haven't noticed."

"…" Kurama blinked. He noticed? That isn't good. That means he must've slipped in Hiei's presence.

"You should get some rest, Kurama. We'll continue the meeting tomorrow or something after school," Yusuke suggested after a pause from the shock of Hiei sounding like he actually cared.

"No, let's just start the meeting and get it over with today. After all, you're already here," Kurama insisted.

Kuwabara and Yusuke exchanged a look. "Fine, but you need to rest after this."

"I will. Stop being mother hens. I'll be fine."

"Okay." Yusuke agreed. "What's the plan? Who's pairing with whom? That's really all we need to decide on. We all have our compacts to keep in contact with one another or Hiei can just use telepathy. Oh, and where do we look?"

"I'm going to the Makai with Kurama. End of story." Hiei stated plainly. "You two can stay here and investigate any suspicious people or places." He'd be damned if he let Kurama leave his sight when he was obviously drained.

"Okay, no problem with the pair ups," the black haired tantei muttered. "Where do we look though?"

"You'll probably find clues, Yusuke." Kurama looked up from his seat, folding his hands in his lap. "Some of the least suspicious places are the most suspicious. Also keep a lookout for any humans acting weird. It could be the effect of the drugs. Watching the news might give you clues too."

"Okay, got it!" Kuwabara exclaimed enthusiastically.

"We'll head out on Wednesday as planned," Kurama said with a smile. "Anything else we should work on?"

"Nah. If we have any, we can just contact each other through our compacts. We can even switch places if we need to. We're pretty much covered, right Kuwabara?" He asked the ugly redhead with a smack to his back.

Kuwabara promptly smacked him back and replied, "Yeah, so don't worry 'bout it. So get some rest okay? We'll leave now so we don't disturb you." Kuwabara and Yusuke got up to leave. "C'mon shrimp. Let's go and let him get some rest."

Hiei glared at the oaf, not moving from his spot on the windowsill.

"Hiei, I'll get some rest. You don't have to stay. I can take care of myself." Kurama knew why he was reluctant to leave. It was because he was worried about him. 'It's sweet of him.'

"If that were true, you wouldn't be exhausted," Hiei retorted sharply.

Kurama sighed in defeat. "Kuwabara-kun, Yusuke, you two can leave. Hiei has decided I can't take care of myself. I'll show you to the door."

"Okay, Kurama." Finishing off the rest of their soda, they dropped it into the wastebasket and waited for Kurama.

He stood to follow the pair.

"You will not." Hiei got up from his seat and pushed Kurama back down in his seat by the shoulders. "You are staying in here and getting yourself into bed immediately."

"But Hiei, it's just showing them out."

"They can find their own way out."

"It's fine!" Yusuke smiled charmingly. "Like Hiei said, we can find our way out." They left.

Kurama sighed in defeat. "Hai, Hiei-okaa-san."

Hiei glared.

"I'm joking," Kurama chuckled.

"…" Hiei continued to glare.

"I get it. It's time for bed." He waved to the two who walked out and a light conversation could be heard as they descended the stairs to let themselves out.


Author's Notes: I am finally done with this chapter! The ending's kinda uhm..yeah… I'm trying to get in more Hiei and Kurama without rushing it. But I feel like I rushed it a little anyways. -- Sorry if I did!! This chapter was really tough to write. That's why it took so long. Anyways, I'm not quite satisfied with it. I think it's too short.

Any comments or suggestions, please leave in a review. Thanks for reading.