Yusuke woke up in the middle of the night, as usual, but decided that staring at the ceiling was not the way he wanted to spend the night. He headed towards the kitchen, hoping to find something edible before anyone else woke up. 'I didn't see Toguro sleeping in the room, and the whole house is so dark. Where would he go this late at night?' He walked into the kitchen after bumping into various objects and found Kurama eating at the table. 'He's up too? I guess I'm not the only one who can't sleep.'
"Good morning, Yusuke."
"Good morning?"
"It's 3:00 a.m. Can't sleep?"
"No. What about you?"
"I'm not tired. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"If nothing's wrong, you'd be sleeping."
"I just...had a nightmare. That's all."
Kurama raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Yusuke was rubbing the back of his head and trying to burn a hole in the floor with his eyes. He wanted to pry until he got the truth, but he knew that pushing the matter would only scare Yusuke away. He still couldn't get the feeling that something was wrong to go away. 'He's acting so nervous...but why? We've been friends for almost a year now. Even Kuwabara is acting suspicious.'
"Alright. Do try to get some sleep, Yusuke. It's not healthy to be up this late at night."
"Look who's talking."
"You're right. I'll try to get some sleep as well."
Kurama nearly gasped as he watched Yusuke turn completely around and leave the kitchen. 'Didn't he come in here to eat something? I hope I didn't make him too uncomfortable.' He sighed. He hadn't lied to Yusuke. He wasn't tired before...but he sure was afterwards. He lifted himself from the chair to go to bed, still wondering about...well, everything.
"Well, hello there."
Kurama certainly hadn't expected to get a hello from anyone that night, especially Aniki.
"Hello."
"What is wrong? Are you worried about your leader?"
"If you did anything to him-"
"I will take that as a yes, and no, I did not do anything to the boy. I was simply...curious."
"He's been acting strange lately."
"He is not the only one."
"Excuse me?"
"Kuwabara has been acting the same way, right?"
"Well, yes. Do you know anything about this?"
"I was about to ask you the same question."
"Maybe there's nothing wrong. We may be overreacting."
"I highly doubt that. Since when is Kuwabara quiet?"
"I've never seen Kuwabara be quiet for long."
"Exactly. That boy has been pretending to sleep all night while staring at my wall. One would think that he is an insomniac."
"Yusuke and Kuwabara are actually heavy sleepers...a storm can't wake them."
"Are you sure? Perhaps you do not know your friends as well as you think you do."
"I hope that's not the case."
Aniki grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before leaving Kurama alone. 'If I had been told I would have two teenage boys and their so-called friends living in my home before Koenma told me, I would have called that person an imbecile and obliterated them on the spot.' He watched Kurama head back to Karasu's bedroom, then went towards his brother's bedroom. Just as he stepped into the room, Yusuke entered behind him. His brother sat up in bed, staring at Yusuke without his sunglasses on.
"Where were you?"
"That's none of your business."
Aniki wasn't surprised when his younger brother went across the room and grabbed Yusuke's wrist so fast that the boy didn't see him move. He was expecting it since both he and his brother hated being smart-mouthed in their own home.
"I asked you a simple question, and I expect an answer. I will not allow you to question me or my authority in this house."
Yusuke looked down at the floor, a move that Aniki knew all too well.
"You seem to like the appearance of our flooring."
Yusuke gave him an innocent look, but Aniki wasn't naive.
"I saw you do the same thing when you were talking to Kurama in the kitchen. Brother, you wanted to know where he was. I saw him walking around, so I followed him."
Toguro was staring at Yusuke like a guard on watch. Yusuke tugged slightly on his arm to get Toguro to let him go, but Toguro tightened his grip. Aniki waited for Yusuke to try again, but Toguro didn't give Yusuke a chance.
"If he was in the kitchen, he must have eaten in the kitchen as well."
"He did not eat. He spoke to Kurama and left."
Yusuke tugged at his arm again, but Toguro tightened his grip. Yusuke wimpered at how hard Toguro was squeezing his wrist.
"Stop it. You're hurting my wrist, Muscles."
"If you stop pulling, it will stop hurting. It is time you went to sleep."
Toguro let go of Yusuke's wrist. Yusuke was relieved when Aniki left the room. 'I swear that guy is so...freaky.' Toguro was still staring at him, so he turned over. Unfortunately, he ended up looking at him when Toguro got into bed.
"Are you having trouble sleeping?"
"No."
"Then why did you go to the kitchen if you did not get anything to eat?"
"I was going to, but Kurama was there and I ended up talking to him."
"Are you alright?"
"What's with all the questions?"
"You are acting strange."
"Like you would know."
"Try to get some sleep."
Yusuke huffed and turned over to face the wall. He was angry, but he felt his anger dissipate when Toguro put his hand on his shoulder.
"There are people who care for you."
"I know, Muscles."
"Good. Do not forget it."
Kuwabara rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that night. He was still worried about his best friend, and memorizing what the ceiling looked like wasn't helping. He had promised Urameshi he wouldn't tell anyone, but promises were so hard to keep sometimes. Aniki had gotten back into bed about ten minutes ago and was still staring at him. 'Sheesh. This guy's creeping me out. I bet Urameshi feels the same way about Toguro.'
"Is my ceiling that interesting to you?"
"I can't sleep with you staring at me like that!"
"You have been unusually quiet."
"Whatever."
Aniki didn't say anything more. If the boy wanted to talk, he would. Kuwabara became very quiet and withdrawn when Toguro had told Yusuke he had to listen to him because he was living in his house. 'Are they really that uncomfortable with obeying the rules? Honestly, that cannot be the problem. This is why I hate children. They are so difficult!' He was not going to put up with two hormonal teenagers with attitudes. If anything, he was going to find out why they were being so rude. The only problem was...he didn't know how to go about it. He was going to need his brother's help. The next morning, it was the third day they had been staying at Toguro's house. Yusuke tried to sneak down to the kitchen, but found that Karasu had beaten him to it.
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
Yusuke grunted and refused to answer. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, much less a member of Team Toguro. Karasu mocked him with a hurt look, but Yusuke wasn't amused. He was counting down the days until he could leave and thought they were going by too slowly. He still hadn't seen Hiei and wondered if he had shown up at all. Kuwabara was already watching T.V., and thought better against taking the remote from him after remembering what had happened the last time he did so. He started looking for cereal or some eggs, but Karasu stopped him.
"There is some oatmeal on the stove. It is still warm if you want some."
"Like I would eat anything you cook."
Yusuke rolled his eyes and took a box of cereal out of one of the cabinets. He had found some milk in the fridge and was thankful it hadn't expired. Kuwabara shouted a good morning to no one in particular as he marched into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of some of the same cereal. Yusuke decided it would be a good time to start a friendly conversation.
"Morning, Kuwabara. You look like you stayed up all night. Did Aniki scare you?"
"Shut up, Urameshi. He didn't scare me. I just couldn't sleep."
"Yeah, and I absolutely enjoyed Toguro's company. We even played Scrabble (TM)!"
Yusuke enjoyed teasing his friend, but he was beginning to believe that Kurama could be their mother. It wasn't that he liked to make fun of Kurama, it was just that Kurama scolded them more than his own mother did.
"Yusuke, sarcasm is not good in a conversation. You could easily be misunderstood and a fight could start."
"Oh, come on Kurama. Kuwabara knows I was just kidding."
"Really? It's hard for me to tell."
"Now look who's being sarcastic."
"You don't like it when it's done to you, do you?"
"Whatever. It's not like I actually care. We fight all the time, no matter what we say."
"That can be a problem at times."
"Relax. You're too uptight sometimes."
Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped talking when Toguro entered the room, his older brother on his shoulder as always. Yusuke put his bowl in the sink and stalked out into the living room, Kuwabara close behind. Kurama couldn't read Toguro's expression, but it was easy to see the annoyance on Aniki's face. Karasu was slightly surprised, but Kurama only shrugged and shook his head. 'Yusuke will probably leave in one week, but I don't think that's long enough for any of us to get to know each other. How am I going to convince Yusuke to stay longer if he doesn't tell me what's bothering him? I guess it's time I took matters into my own hands.'
TBC
Mazuiko: Yay! I promised I would make this chapter longer than the others, so here you go! I got a lot of reviews for Chapter 2. Thank you all so much! To answer Natalya's question: yes, Kuwabara will end up with Aniki! I hope you do not mind, Natalya, but Aniki is the dom in this story. This story is going to be a long one, cause I believe suspense and angst are what make a story interesting. The pairings are as follows and are in order of how much effect they will have on the story: Toguro/Yusuke, Aniki/Kuwabara, Karasu/Kurama, Bui/Hiei. The pairings will start to show once Yusuke's 'problem' is revealed. I apologize, but I cannot tell you who Kuwabara and Yusuke were talking about...that would give away too much. Whoa...this was long. Sorry! On with Chapter 4!