Standard disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 4

Story… Dreams… 'Thoughts'

Dreams… fantasies created by the subconscious mind. They could be pleasurable, entertaining, frightening and even real, in the form of memories.

The dreams Hiei was having were very pleasurable memories. The problem was they weren't his memories, but those of Kurama's dead lover, Kuronue.

At first he thought the Jagon might be feeding off of Kurama's memories since he was the star in each of the dreams, so he strengthened the ward over the Jagon. The dreams still came. Then he convinced his, somewhat reluctant, fox to spend a few days visiting their family in the Ningenkai, alone. Still the dreams continued. Then last night his theory was shot down. His fox was still the star of the dream, but there was no possibility he could have any memory of it. The Chimera, not unlike his fire demon counterpart, had stalked Kurama for some time before they met. Kuronue had followed and watched him from afar and, just as Hiei had, been physically attracted to the Youko without ever having spoken to him.

Hiei now knew the dreams were not Kurama's memories. The big question was how was it possible for him to have Kuronue's memories. As he entered Reikai he hoped Koenma would have some answers.

xxxxx

Koenma worked hard to hide his amusement. Standing before him was Hiei, master swordsman, owner of a Jagon eye, and wielder of the dragon of the darkness flame, one of the most feared and respected demons in the three worlds. Hiei, fidgeting, nervous, unable to hold eye contact, looking much like an errant child standing in the principle's office.

The fire demon was asking about Kurama's old partner, Kuronue. 'Wait a minute, why does he want to know about him? I better handle this very carefully or I might get to meet his dragon up close and personal.' Koenma's fun was suddenly over.

"So you want to know what happened to Kuronue's soul? Why?" It was Koenma's turn to be nervous.

Hiei knew he was stretching the truth a little, but he wasn't ready to tell anyone about the dreams yet. "It's been two hundred years, my Fox deserves to know what happened to him. Besides, you owe him and you know it."

'It's been two hundred years already? How the hell did this happen?' Koenma was sweating now. "Well, ah, you know Hiei, information like that might not be so easy to find. It will need to be researched and cross-referenced, and then there is the backlog of paperwork. It will take time, yeah, lots of time."

Jorge, who had been sorting the papers on Koenma's desk, was trying to get his boss's attention. "Koenma sir?"

Under his breath Koenma hissed. "Shut up Ogre."

"But Koenma sir? Don't you already know…?"

Koenma jumped on his desk and hit the blue Ogre over the head. "I SAID SHUT UP JORGE!"

The junior ruler of Reiki then ushered a confused Hiei to the door. "You just can't get good help anymore. I'll have to get back to you on that request Hiei."

After Hiei left, Koenma leaned back on the closed door in relief before chasing after Jorge. "That was a close one. What were you trying to do, turn me into dragon chow?"

On the run, Jorge tried to reason with his angry boss. "But Koenma sir, you know where Kuronue is. Why didn't you just tell Hiei? He said it was for Kurama, and Kurama is always so nice to me. Not mean, like some one else I could name."

Koenma stopped, serious now. "Don't you understand you stupid Ogre? It's the two hundredth anniversary of his death and his lover wants to find him."

Jorge crossed his eyes and frowned as he thought for a moment. Then the light bulb went on over his head. "Oh, Koenma sir! This is bad, real bad! Poor Kurama, what will he do?"

Sucking madly on his pacifier, Koenma went back to his desk. "The real question is what am I going to do?"