Hi again. I'm updating this story once again! But never fear! I will update my other stories... eventually... sooner or later...somewhere along the road... in the future... but not today... around the corner... up a ways...

Terry: Just. Shut. Up.

Fine! Nyua! (sticks tongue out)

Anyway... Why are you reading this? You should be on the next line, reading the name of the chapter! You're still reading this aren't you? You're not? Well, you didn't have to say it so mean!

Chapter Five...Shopping And Some Drinks

"What do you want?" the fox wasn't happy.

Hiei stared at him for a while, then said, "I wanna go with you."

"Wha-?" Kurama stumbled back a half-step, completly thrown by what just came out of Hiei's mouth. Come with me! Why the hell does he want to come with me! There's a catch. There has to be...

"What's that look for?" Hiei said, raising an eyebrow annoyed.

"What it's for? What it's for! Why would you of all people want to go shopping of all things with me!" Kurama could see it in the hiyoukai's eyes. He was teasing him.

"Who says I can't?" Hiei said, looking at him out of the corner of his eye, snearing at him. This only managed to piss the fox of even more. Perfect..., "So, can I?" he says in his usual "I-don't-give-a-flying-fuck-either-way" tone.

Kurama stood up straight, "Why do you?" he asks in the tone he would give any other person but Hiei. The demon looks at him, as if not sure what to say, or wondering if it was somehow a trick question.

Finally, he shrugged a shoulder, and grunted, "No reason really."

The fox visibly twitched. He didn't like it when people talked to him as though he was weaker than them... Okay, maybe he was, but still. He looked at the ground to his left and smirked, deciding to mess with the short one this time, "You can only go if you have a reason."

Hiei stared at him as though the fox grew another head, "Why?"

"Why should I tell you?" Kurama smiled in a way Hiei had always found annoying, "It's my reasoning, just like your wanting to go with me is yours," his smile broadened as he saw Hiei realized he couldn't argue with that.

"Fine," Hiei sighed. He looked up at the fox, "I want to go with you because you might get caught and be sent to jail again if I don't," he said this seriously, but that look was lost when he saw the fox's reaction. Kurama's eyes widened in shock; that had obviously been the very opposite of what he expected as an answer.

"Wh... what?" the redhead was very confused.

"You heard me. I gave you a reason, so let's go," Hiei walked past the fox and further down the pathway. He stopped and looked back, and saw that Kurama had not moved, "What're you waiting for, a written invitation?" Kurama finally turned around, slowly, and took a few steps toward Hiei. He looked like he wanted to say something, but not say it at the same time, "What?" Kurama shook his head and walked at a normal pace, passing Hiei, and the two walked together. Is he... actually concerned for my safety? Why? That's not possible, not after what he's done to me... Why...?

"Why?" Kurama finally said out loud. Hiei looked at him from the side.

"Why what?"

"Why do you... Why do you care if I get caught again?" he heard the steps next to him stop, so he stopped too and looked back at Hiei. The demon didn't look at him, and was thinking quietly to himself. He looked up a while later.

"I tell you after your done getting new clothes," Kurama twitched again, "And why is that?" that fox asked, "That way... you won't take so long shopping this time," Hiei answered matter-of-factly, "That's it?" the fox growled, "Yup, so are we going or not?" Kurama sighed and they continued on their way.

He still walked in the same way... His speech is still the same, intelligent, big word crap... But something seems to have changed in these past five years... He seems... More quiet, more closed off, more reserved... More like me... wonderful... Hiei thought these things as he watched Kurama go about searching for clothes to buy. The hiyoukai sat on an abandoned booth top in the outdoor marketplace in that city. He tapped his boot heel impatiently on the side of the booth. Even with bribery, he takes centuries to shop... Hn... He still didn't know where the fox got that money from...

Hiei soon got bored and decided to try to figure out what else was different about the fox. His tapping stopped as he heard Kurama politly laugh at something the clerk said. He still laughs the same way, too... But, it was different in way as well. It was more human. And more feminine... (In reference to the japanese version. I hate dubs.) He stared as Kurama stepped away, finished. Finally...! Kurama spotted Hiei's resting stop, and started walking towards him, non-chalantly. Hiei soon found himself watching just exactly how the fox walked. (that is to say, staring at his hips)

"Find something interesting?" Kurama said casually as he stood a few feet away from the demon. This knocked Hiei out of his trance, "No," he answered in his usual cold tone. He hopped off the booth and started walking away.

"Where're you going?" Kurama asked. Hiei irritably turned around, and growled, "Where do think? Back to the complex, of course," Kurama laughed in his throat, making Hiei even more irrate, "Now, now," the fox started. He's cooking something. Hiei thought. I can practically smell it, "You still have to answer my earlier question, remember?"

Hiei's shoulders slumped as he came close to doing something as comical as sweatdropping, "You're still hung up on that?"

"Hung up?" Kurama said, faking insult in his voice, "I just want you to keep up with your side of the deal. I shop in a shorter time, and you answer my question. It's really quite simple, Hiei."

Hiei rolled his eyes, "You're the one who didn't keep up their side of the deal, fox. You still took an unecessary amount of time shopping for what? Three articles of clothes?"

"Well, sorry for liking colors, Mister Black Fettish. Now come on, we're not going back to the complex. We're going to have a couple drinks, okay?"

"What?" Hiei raised an eyebrow at this.

"You heard me," Kurama answered, smiling.

Kurama sat at a table in a bar as he waited for Hiei to get the drinks (he lost in a quick game of janken (rock-paper-scissors)). He laughed as he could see Hiei still trying to figure out why he had proposed coming here. Truth be known, Kurama really did just want a drink, as he hadn't in the last four years.

"My, my, what's a little human doin' here?"

Kurama looked to his left to see three burly youkai smirking and laughing stupidly at him, "Hey, doesn't 'e look like that guy on the wanted signs down the street?" Uh-oh...

"Oh, yeah... 'e does, doesn't 'e?" the middle of the three leans close to the fox to get a better look, "'e's a pretty one for sure... Say, how's 'bout this?" the youkai put his hand on Kurama's shoulder, "We don't turn you in, in exchange for one night... if you catch my drift...," he said, spreading his putrid breath over Kurama's face.

"I think not," Kurama lifted his arm and pulled the demon's hand off his shoulder, "I've had many more partners that were both much smarter and better looking than all three of you combined."

"WHAT! Grr... 'e's askin' for it...," the other two stepped closer menacingly.

Chink!

Kurama jumped slightly as two glasses were slammed down on the table to his right. He looked to see Hiei was the one holding them. The hiyoukai stared acidly at the other three, "I suggest you leave now," Hiei started icily, "Unless you want to see what your insides would look like on the outside," the three glared, but backed off as Hiei gave them his own glare that would have scared even Raizen-sama himself if he were still alive. They scattered. Hiei sat down next to Kurama, taking a sip of his own drink. He looked to see the fox staring at him, "What?"

BWAHAHAIMEVILARENTI

Yes, another awful place to end. But I promise to update on the weekend.

(I WILL keep this promise, or my name isn't Phillip!... Which it isn't!)