Disclaimer- mou juubun, atashi wa! Yuu Yuu Hakusho tte koto, watashi no ja nai yo! aa itta yo... kurushii ne, kurushii.

AN- Yeah… this time 'round I counted 3.5 reviews. Why? Because Kurama Stalker's reviews were dementedly defective. Ha. I rock. Not. Lord, I can't force my brain to work today… there's so much Japanese in this chapter. I don't know; I was in a mood. Tell me if it's really annoying. Or better yet, if my grammar sucks.

The quote is from Rurutia, whose music you must try if you haven't ever. There's an mp3 on my site… listen to it. She can't really sing, but somehow it all works out.

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kurushimi no saki ni shika mienai

tokubetsu na basho ga aru yo

tsukurareta shiawase no naka ja

jibun nante mitsukaranai

there is a special place

that can only be seen after you have suffered

you can't find yourself

in the midst of artificial happiness

(neo (rurutia))

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Hiei hovered in a sort of fantasy world- not quite dead, but not fully alive... he could feel the agonizing pain of his wounds almost as clearly as he could see the blood drenching the ground, leaving a stain that would never wash off.

The one comfort he had at the moment was that his father had gone, although, considering the circumstances, that wasn't precisely good. He had been saved more than once by the fact that he was an immensely qualified punching bag, who could not possibly have been so amusing dead. However, without someone to notice his condition, he was in grave danger.

He knew that he had to move, at least to stop the flow of blood, but he couldn't do it. Everything was so heavy; the air itself was choking him.

"Na…" he whispered. "shinderu ka? dame yo… kono mama ja…"

Am I dying? I can't… not like this…

That's stupid.

Of course you're dying.

Unless…

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The bell rang, and Shuuichi sat at his desk in full anticipation of revealing THE TRUTH to Yukina. His mind was temporarily boggled, though, as it dawned on him that Hiei was nowhere to be seen. This did rather put a damper on his diabolical plans…

"Yunsensei?" he ventured. "shitte imasu ka? Hi- Takahashisan no toko?" Do you know where Hi- Takahashisan is?

The teacher shook his head with a vague expression of concern. He had some suspicions about the boy's home life, although he could never be taken seriously. After all, it was plausible that he did actually get into fights on a regular basis, given his attitude in school, but all of Yunsensei's instincts went the other way.

Shuuichi pouted. Hiei was probably hiding at home in fear of enlightening Yukina. Alas, such a coward…

"Can I take his assignments to him after school? He is my partner, after all."

"Of course," he replied, a little surprised at the depths of worry Shuuichi was clearly exhibiting. "Do you know where he lives?" He had the feeling that the location would come as a shock to the boy, sheltered as he was. It was doubtful Shuuichi had ever before met someone from that part of town, let alone been there.

"Iie…"

Wordlessly, he copied down an address and handed it to him. There was no point in finding the phone number; the phone was very nearly never functional, as he knew from many failed attempts at scheduling a conference with Hiei's father.

Shuuichi nodded his thanks.

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"Umm." Shuuichi had encountered an Obstacle. Specifically, the door. The evil door, which had no doorbell, no knocker, and nobody answering. He was terrible confused, as he had been raised not to go into people's houses uninvited. It took a while, but he finally reasoned that Hiei was avoiding him, and since his actions were going to be for his own good, it was all right to break into his house. The door was unlocked anyways…

There was a pool of something on the ground next to the door when he poked his head in, and the whole apartment smelled of something he couldn't place. He stuck a finger in the sticky liquid experimentally before he realized what it was.

"No way…"

The last time he'd even seen blood was when his mother had been in the hospital and had had blood drawn.

"Hey… is anybody here?"

There was no answer, except for a brief, almost inaudible moan. Shuuichi turned and looked around curiously, wondering if he'd imagined it. No… there was a trail of blood leading to…

He muffled a scream, dropping everything.

"Mina… mi…"

"Takahashisan...?" It couldn't be. "What happened to you? Were you in a fight?"

"One… could say…" Hiei's now breathy voice, once so brash, had lost all of its insolence.

"I'd hate to see the other guy," Shuuichi joked a little too uncomfortably, laughing a little too loudly. He had no idea how to handle the situation, this teenager left alone, possibly to bleed to death.

Hiei laughed, the sound coming out as a hacking cough. "Oh, he's just fine," he spat with a great deal of vehemence, especially given his sorry condition. "Knowing him, he's drunk somewhere right now. Awfully nice of you to worry about him though." He lifted his head, wincing in pain as he did so. "Why're you here anyways?"

"I brought your stuff," Shuuichi answered hopelessly. "Umm… do you have first aid stuff here?"

"Down the hall, second door on the right, top shelf of the second cabinet."

Wordlessly, Shuuichi brought back all the things he could conceivably hold and began attempting to treat Hiei's wounds. "Ummmmm… who did this to you, anyways?"

Hiei twitched as Shuuichi pressed down on his neck. "Lemme do it; you're incompetent."

"I took first aid!" Shuuichi exclaimed indignantly. "And I passed."

Hiei just shook his head (lightly, so as not to lose any more blood), and began to do the job himself.

"You act like you do this a lot. Who did do this?"

"Mrrghfrrrhgheerrr," Hiei muttered, wiping the blood around his mouth. "Although I don't really like calling him that; it's something of a lie."

"Who?"

"My father. You deaf?"

Shuuichi sweatdropped. It seemed he had quite recovered… "But… why would your father do something like that? Isn't he your father? Parents are supposed to take care of their kids." He sounded petulant; that happened to be one of the guiding truths of his life.

"You have got to be joking."

Pulling the bandage tighter, Shuuichi frowned. "If you say so."

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Well, that's my chapter, two days late. Sorry… things happened… math competitions… computers at school being down… me getting an adorable baby hamster… (anyone wanna suggest a name for him? He's a Siberian dwarf…) Anyways, thanks for the reviews…

You can see now that Shuuichi is very sheltered. Heh… Despite all evidence to the contrary, he can't believe that a parent would be so cruel. That's why before he never realized Hiei had blood on him. The facts were staring him in the face, but it was against all "reason". Such a tragic story…

I'll be able to write more over the break, I hope…. Review review review please????? (geez, I feel like a mendicant…)