Thank you everyone who provided Hina's name to me!

Chapter Five: Encounter

Hiei, Touya, and Jin were all standing outside the school waiting. Touya was sweaty and miserable. He even had to go move into the shade of a nearby tree. Jin was also pretty warm from the outside temperatures. The morning had been mild but ever since lunchtime the temperatures just went through the roof.

"How can you stand this heat, Hiei?" Touya asked while fanning himself.

Hiei, who was wearing all black to top it off, just shrugged.

"It can be hot as a desert or cold as the poles but nothing bothers him!" Jin commented and was also fanning himself.

Keiko ran out of the school building into the smoldering heat. "I'm sorry I took so long, Touya! We can go home now." The blue-haired freshman was overjoyed and he and Keiko went off to her very air conditioned home.

Jin sprawled out onto the grass in the shade. It was way to hot for him to be energetic at the moment so he just tried to be as still as possible. Yusuke trudged out of the school next; he had gotten hung up in detention again for something about beating someone half to death. "Let's go Jin before we melt…" With much effort, Jin sat up and started walking with Yusuke.

Hiei growled and kicked a rock. What was holding up Kurama anyway?

...

Kurama sighed; it had been a long and hot day. He realized Hiei was waiting outside the school for him but he was in no hurry. Checking to make sure he had all of his homework, Kurama noticed he had forgotten one of his books and sighed again. His locker was on the third floor where his missing book could be found. He turned on his heel to go back up the stairs. The school was almost entirely empty by now. The only students or teachers left were heading out the door to escape the hot hellhole of a school. The air conditioning wasn't working very well and everyone just wanted to go home. But how could he have forgotten his stupid book? Not to mentioned he had to do that report on what he learned about Hiei.

Okay…

He's a short, bad-tempered pyromaniac… that about summed Hiei up.

Thinking deeply about nothing, Kurama trekked to his locker and retrieved his textbook. Why was Hiei constantly so angry anyway?

Someone covered Kurama's mouth so no sound could be heard from the redhead. A leg hit the back of Kurama's knees making them buckle and he fell backwards onto the hard school tile floor. In a daze, Kurama looked up to see Karasu's face inches from his own. Karasu was snickering at catching Kurama off guard.

"Well that was easy." Karasu noted, sarcastically.

Kurama yelled something at Karasu but all that could be heard was a muffled remark. Karasu laughed at Kurama's position. "No use struggling now, Shuuichi. There is no one here to hear you. Trust me I checked." Karasu smirked. Kurama's emerald eyes widened; did Hiei get fed up and go home?! Struggling to break free, Kurama was forced back down roughly by Karasu who was using his full weight to pin down Kurama. Karasu uncovered Kurama's mouth and pinned his wrists down with both hands.

"Karasu you bastard! Get off of me!" Kurama shouted.

"Quite some fire you've got to you." Karasu smiled wickedly and pinned Kurama's thighs with his knees.

"I said get off, damn it!" Kurama struggled all the more. Gritting his teeth, he tried but couldn't overpower Karasu in strength when he was pinned down in such a manner.

Karasu leaned down and whispered into Kurama's ear seductively, "I've been waiting patiently for this…"

Someone grabbed Karasu's shoulder and dug their nails into his flesh. Karasu glanced up and a fist connected with his jaw, knocking him off of the pinned Kurama. The shocked redhead looked up at a furious Hiei. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" He hissed at Karasu.

Karasu sat up and wiped blood from his mouth. "How dare you interfere…?" Karasu hissed back.

Hiei looked down on him and glared, and then he turned and started walking back out of the school. "Shuuichi collect your books and hurry up…" Hiei complained.

Scrambling to collect the books he had dropped, Kurama hurried after Hiei into the blazing sunlight. For a minute they walked in silence. "Um… Hiei?"

"What?" Hiei growled.

"Thank you…" Kurama sighed in relief.

"Don't thank me; I was just getting him back for ditching Yukina, Shuuichi." Hiei didn't look at Kurama.

Kurama stared at the ground, feeling hated. Hiei dug his hands into his pockets and didn't speak for a while. "I thought you had left because you got tired of waiting for me…" Kurama admitted quietly.

Hiei stopped and half-glanced back at Kurama. "I wouldn't have done that." He remarked and then mumbled something so Kurama couldn't hear. "For a minute there you had me worried…"

"You don't have to call me Shuuichi, you know. You can call me Kurama like the rest of my… well Yusuke and Keiko anyway." Kurama started fanning himself because of the heat.

Hiei pretended to not hear this bit of information but merely nodded his head at a house. "We're here…"

Kurama lifted his eyes and took in the front view of Hiei's house. It was an older Japanese styled house. Weirdly enough, a cluster of bamboo blocked the house from view off of the street. Hiei led Kurama inside and a wave of cool air greeted them from multiple blowing fans. The short spiky haired boy kicked off his shoes at the doorway and Yukina greeted the duo.

"Hello Hiei and Kurama." She bowed politely.

"Aren't you supposed to be spending time with your partner?" Hiei scolded his younger twin sister.

"I explained things to mother and if the principle asks her about it then she'll lie and say we spent the needed time together." Yukina explained cheerfully.

The pyromaniac set his stuff down in the first room on the left, the redhead following suit, and a loud crash could be heard from the kitchen. "Mother?" Hiei proceeded to the kitchen with Yukina and Kurama tagging along behind him.

Hina had accidentally dropped a plate and was now picking up the mess. "Welcome home, Hiei." She bowed to Kurama. "Nice to meet you, young sir." Kurama couldn't help but notice that in her features she looked very strained and tired. "Hiei, would you please water the plants out back before you get caught up in something?"

"If we water the plants out back anymore, they'll be as tall as the bamboo out front." Hiei folded his arms behind his head.

"Please son, it would be a great help to me." Hiei nodded at his exhausted mother and headed out back. Yukina stayed to help Hina and Kurama decided to follow Hiei. The quiet boy was using a water hose to water the plants, letting the silence between them drag out. Sooner than later, Yukina also came outside.

"Yukina, you should water the plants some too." Hiei said coldly.

"Right…" Yukina watched Hiei as he walked over to stand a few feet from Kurama. While Hiei wasn't looking, his younger twin sister twisted the hose until the water stopped flowing and aimed the hose at Hiei, releasing the water again on him and Kurama.

"GAH! Damn it, Yukina!" Hiei growled.

Kurama wiped his bangs out of his eyes and looked down at his shirt. He was soaking wet and not too happy about it. But in order to dry faster, it would help if he weren't wearing his shirt. The redhead peeled off his shirt and wrung it out. Hiei glanced over at Kurama but quickly turned away. In his glimpse, Hiei saw that for someone who had such a feminine face, Kurama was quite muscular. His slightly tanned skin looked very smooth and-

Shut up! Stop thinking about him! Hiei shouted at himself, inwardly. The project needs to end soon. The farther away from Kurama I get, the better. I can't afford to drop my guard at all otherwise I will only be hurt. I won't deny it but at the same time I won't allow myself to even develop a small crush…

Hiei was clenching his teeth and fists but making sure no one else noticed.

Kurama put his shirt back on after it dried in the heat. His emerald green eyes slid to look in Hiei's direction. Hiei was glaring back at him with his crimson eyes. The redhead's gut told him something was up. Then again, Hiei probably hated Kurama's guts… but he just didn't quite know why.

TO BE CONTINUED

AHHHHHHHHHH!!! My writing has gone to hell and back… Ugh… I probably won't be updating much when school starts unless it's so boring that I just have to write fan fiction during class.