Rowan: I wrote this story for Idiom Laurels at gaiaonline for Valentine's Day and decided to upload it! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Rowan does not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters...though she does plan on making them into plushies!

Stupid Holiday

It had started out a very nice day, until Kuwabara gamboled down the street with an overly goofy look on his face. Hiei glared. It had been a nice day, he thought. Too bad no good thing lasts.

"You look more stupid than usual," the stoic, sullen fire demon remarked as Kazuma skipped past him.

The human stopped and turned, looking around for the person who addressed him so rudely. Glancing down a few moments later, he guffawed. "Oh shrimpy! Didn't see you there!"

Hiei glared darkly, then noticed Kuwabara's strange attire- a pink sweatband around his forehead with the kanji "Yukina" surrounded by little dancing red hearts and what looked to be a slightly old pink uniform- much like the one Kurama wore when he played the teen Shuichi- most likely borrowed from Kaito, one of Genkai's psychics who attended school with the kitsune. Hiei glanced coolly up at Kuwabara and said, "You transferred."

Kuwabara shook his head. "It's Valentine's Day!" Hiei's eyebrows paid a visit to his hairline, his red eyes confused. "Haven't you heard of Valentine's Day?"

Hiei folded his arms over his chest and scoffed. "I don't make it a habit to familiarize myself with stupid ningen customs."

"Hey!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "Valentine's Day isn't stupid! It's the best holiday ever!"

"Enlighten me," Hiei replied sarcastically.

Kuwabara, desperate to defend his beloved celebration- the words "Yukina! Yay!" came to mind- clasped his hands as he began to speak, his voice filled with fervent adoration. "Valentine's Day is the one day set aside specifically to celebrate the one you love most! You buy cards, and chocolates, and those little candy hearts with short, sweet messages, and you get her presents and take her on a date." Kuwabara smiled widely before he added, "Yukina's coming to visit specifically so we can celebrate today and I'm going to take her to this really fancy restaurant!"

Hiei snorted. "I was right. It is a stupid holiday," he said as he turned and walked away- leaving a rather ticked off teen as he did so, not that Hiei cared. The human's enthusiasm was tiring and irritated the already abrasive nerves of the demon. He needed to get away, so Hiei set his feet on autopilot as he allowed his mind to take a breather. Surely the ringing would stop when he decided to return to the human world.

Not surprisingly, ten minutes later, Hiei's mind returned just in time to discover the autopilot had been tampered with recently and set to traverse the streets to Kurama's apartment. Without questioning his feet and instead accepting their chosen destination with a slight shrug of his cloak-covered shoulders, Hiei stepped past the unlocked apartment door and slipped out of his shoes, placing them in their proper place by the door before venturing further. Hiei crept down the dimly lit hall, thinking it strange when he found no one. The door was unlocked; someone was home. Peering further down the apartment's only hall, he saw light coming from the kitchen. Hoping to find Kurama and not his human mother, he walked into the room.

Despite the expressionless face of the fire demon, he certainly felt surprise leap up his spine and take residence in his throat when Hiei turned the corner and found, not Kurama, but the detective sitting at the kitchen table, happily helping himself to what appeared to be ice cream from the Minamino's refrigerator. "Kurama is not here," Hiei stated, catching the attention of Urameshi.

Yusuke abandoned his bowl of melting ice cream as he looked up to find Hiei standing in the doorway. "Hey Hiei! Were you looking for Kurama?" Hiei did not respond, choosing instead to stare the human down. What a dumb thing to ask, he thought.

Yusuke, after a moment, nodded. "Yeah, we figured you'd be stopping by. You just missed Kurama, but he should be back in a couple minutes." Yusuke gestured to a chair across the table from him as he said, "You're welcome to join me and await his return. I doubt you have anything better to do and I could use the company."

Since Hiei could not think up any excuse not to sit down- as Yusuke had said, he really didn't have anything better to do- the demon pulled the chair out and sat down. Yusuke flashed a brief smile at him, before returning to his ice cream. Sitting in a not-so-uncomfortable silence, Hiei glanced about his surroundings. He didn't visit Kurama's apartment often, and when he did it was usually dark. Now, looking around the kitchen, he began to understand what appealed to Kurama, why he chose to stay with his human mother, why he chose to live as a human himself. There was a sense of warmth and belonging in the room- or maybe it was just the collage of photos hanging on the walls that gave off the sense of family. Hiei, though he wouldn't admit it, liked the feeling; he'd never had anything like that. Now he almost wished he had.

"Say Hiei," Yusuke said suddenly, drawing the demon out of his reverie. Hiei turned and looked at the detective, then nodded his head firmly. "I've been wanting to ask you something…about Kurama."

"Well, ask then," Hiei replied a little sharply when Yusuke did not.

"Do you know who Kurama's new girlfriend is?"

Hiei froze. "Girlfriend," he repeated. "I didn't know Kurama had a girlfriend."

Yusuke nodded knowingly. "Who are those for, then?" he asked, pointing to a red heart-shaped box on the table that Hiei hadn't noticed until the detective had drawn his attention to it.

"It's a box," Hiei replied.

"Yeah, a box of chocolates! Customarily people give them on Valentine's Day to their special someone," Yusuke explained. "So obviously this is for Kurama's girlfriend."

"It could be for his mother," Hiei suggested. There was just no way Kurama had a girlfriend…right?

Yusuke shook his head "He told me to guard it with my life…well, until you came anyway. I have to get Keiko her Valentine present, so I was going to ask you to watch the box for me." Hiei snorted impatiently, then sighed mentally and conceded.

"Fine, I'll watch the box," he said.

Yusuke, who had miraculously finished his ice cream in what had to be a record time, dumped his bowl in the sink and dashed out of the apartment leaving Hiei alone with the chocolates and a quick good-bye.

Hiei regarded the offensive box from the corner of his eye, then quickly looked away. A moment later though, he couldn't help look back and scrutinize the box again. So Kurama had a girlfriend…Hiei thought, inching the box towards him stealthily, glancing around quickly to make sure he wasn't being watched, then gently lifted the lid. Peering inside, he found Yusuke's words proved true; there were the perfect little squares and circles of delectable chocolate surprises. Hiei had always marveled at how the cool, sweet cream got inside the little chocolate shells. What amazed him more, however, was how good the chocolate and creams tasted.

Looking around again, and slipping the cloth around his forehead down to hang around his neck, allowing his Jagan eye to open and survey the area, Hiei reached inside the box and stole a dark circle from the side. It wouldn't hurt to try a piece, and this way, if the chocolates were somehow poisoned, it would be Hiei that would suffer and spare Kurama's mysterious girlfriend, the demon reasoned as he popped the delicacy in his mouth. Hmm, coconut, he thought, his eyes lighting up with delight.

Hiei sat for a moment, still and silent as he waited. Nothing happened. Well, that one was certainly not poisoned, he thought, but what of the others? There are at least thirty more pieces; who's to say that one of them aren't dangerous? I'll have to test another one, just to make sure.

And so gluttony- with a (rather large) side dish of envy- joined Hiei in consuming the rest of the Valentine chocolates.

A little while later…

When Kurama returned, arms laden with grocery bags, Hiei had seated himself on the living room couch, groaning softly to himself as a result of a slightly upset stomach. Upon hearing Kurama walk into the apartment, however, he guiltily sank down into the cushions and wiled himself invisible. Kurama, oblivious to this, walked straight past the gluttonous demon and right on into the kitchen. Placing his bags on the table, Kurama smiled as he picked up the red heart box, surprised to find how light it was, but shrugging, he chose to ignore it.

Kurama walked quietly down the hallway, peering into dark rooms. He knew Hiei was there, hiding from him. When Kurama reached the living room, the source of demon energy radiated from the couch- as if the patch of hair seen from above the sofa back wasn't enough of a clue. Stepping into the room, Kurama smiled softly at the little tuft of iridescent black hair peeking over the top of the couch. "Hi-ei," Kurama sang quietly. "Where are you?"

Hiei sank down lower in his seat and the little bit of hair disappeared. Kurama tiptoed towards the hidden demon, his verdant eyes twinkling merrily before jumping in front of the couch, catching Hiei in a rare moment of genuine surprise.

"I didn't do it!" Hiei yelped, his eyes wide with guilt.

"Didn't do what, Hiei?" Kurama asked.

Hiei flushed slightly and quickly turned his body away from the kitsune. "Nothing!" he replied gruffly.

Kurama sat down with a sigh on the couch and placed the heart-shaped Valentine's box, which had previously remained concealed behind his back, onto his lap. Curious, he lifted the lid and looked inside, only to find it was filled with empty wrappers. Empty yet full, Kurama thought absently as his eyes strayed from the box to Hiei's sticky chocolate-covered fingers. How strange.

"Hiei, did you eat all the chocolates in this box?" Kurama asked. Hiei nodded, his head still turned away. Kurama laughed lightly. "Why?"

Hiei turned his head and stuck his chin out defensively, though to the untrained eye Hiei appeared quite cool and calm. "I had to make sure they weren't poison," he reasoned.

"I'm sure that wasn't necessary," Kurama replied.

Hiei folded his arms across his chest. "At least your girlfriend won't die of a stomachache," Hiei grumbled.

Kurama inched closer to the fire demon and smiled. "Yes, well let's hope my boyfriend won't either."

"Excuse me!"

Kurama could measure Hiei's confusion by what he said- Hiei rarely asked questions. Kurama reached over and gently grabbed Hiei's wrist, pulling the demon closer. Smiling, he said, "Don't worry about the chocolates. They were for you anyway." Hiei blinked, speechless. "Though," Kurama added after a moment, "it would have been nice to share them, ne?"

Hiei eventually found his voice as he stammered a reply. "You mean…you don't have a girlfriend?" he asked.

Kurama shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Oh."

"Hiei?"

"Kurama."

Kurama beamed. "I always like to think ahead!" he said, pulling from his hair another heart shaped box. "What do you say to sharing?"

The box was half-empty before Kurama finished his sentence, but all he did was laugh. "Or that works too!" he said, and took the opportunity, with Hiei distracted by the chocolates, to pull him into an embrace. "Happy Valentine's Day, Hiei."

Hiei snorted. "It's a stupid holiday," he paused to remark, a strawberry cream stopped halfway to his mouth. Then, turning, Hiei brought the chocolate to Kurama's lips. Hiei smiled slightly as the kitsune consumed the candy. "But Happy Valentine's Day anyway, Kurama."


Rowan: I couldn't think of a title! If you think of anything better suited for the story, please tell me in a review! I will love you forever and mention that the title is yours if I use yours. So please review and tell me what you think about my first official YYH one-shot! Thanks!