Enemies from the start, lovers until the end

Well, here I am again, another update all ready for you liking. Shall I say, I do not, will never, haven't ever owned Yuu Yuu Hakusho in any way, shape, or form. All credit goes to Togashi-san whose creative ability would be greatly missed if we had to live with out it. I praise his for his creation of Kurama, Hiei, and the rest of the Yuu Yuu Hakusho stuff. I also advise those who are not into the yaoi thing, or have some type of disorder that gives seizures when you read it, to run for their lives. As I said in previous chapters, you are not being forced to read it, and flames simply because you did not take your time to read the warning or the summary are not wanted. Remember people. In this story, Kurama and Hiei are a couple. Yes, they love each other and later on I must give advisory for kiss scenes, ect.

To the people who reviewed:

Evene

Hmm, I like being in the middle of nowhere, aside from the fact that there's no computer, of course. The air's fresher, it gets colder at night, and you can actually see stars(Yeah, I live by the city, so seeing stars is a luxury for me. I like that word, big bad TV, has a nice ring to it, lol. I have more planned with Hikaru in the future, so I will be giving more information every once in a while. As for Kuwabara and Yuusuke, I don't think they'll be appearing in the story much, accounting since I did kill them off. Don't kill me for it, I just have a tendency to kill of characters, even if I like them, which I do like Yuusuke and Kuwabara. Arigatou goazimasu for your review.

Lol

I like doing updates faster, so I will try and do that more often. Still stinks though, I bet that later on I'll get a bad bout of writer's block, it seems like almost everyone does at one point or another. Hey, it's happened to me before, and it's no fun! Thanks for reviewing.

Kuranga108

Yeah, Koenma knows pretty much everything in general. I supposed that I'd make him like that since he was the ruler of spirit world and he's supposed to know a lot. I do hope that I'm not making my chapters too boring, but I'm still glad that you liked it. Thank you for reviewing!

Kari Ishikawa

Yes, yes. As I have said many times before, oh poor, poor, Kurama. I still feel bad about putting him through so much torment. I bet he'd hate me in real life for that. Yeah, I'm sorry about the Yuusuke and Kuwabara thing. I swear, I don't have anything against the two. Killing characters is just a horribly bad habit of mine. Hmm, let me see that. H my god, thank you so much for correcting me, anthrohobia is NOT the correct term, I can't believe I've been spelling it wrong, it's really, anthropophobia. Well, My spell checker still spells it wrong, but I'm going to have to and correct all my chapters. THANK YOU!

Black Rose Vixen05

Well, I'm glad that you liked it. Does it really keep getting better and better? Well, thank you for your kind review.

Mouko Mizaki

Glad you liked it, now I shall write! Thank you for reviewing again!

Aya

Yes! Behold the feminine Kurama! Muhaha! I do like the feminine Kurama a lot though. No, not to the pint where he's wearing dresses, lol. I'm glad you liked it, and thank you so much for your review.

Blueeyedchibi I'm glad that you like it, and thank you for the review. I'm glad that you think I'm doing well with Hiei's personality, since I don't like to do them out of character too much.

Please read and review! It is greatly appreciated.

Note: Any information given in this chapter about the cures related to anthropophobia, rather than the name ant the basis of my knowledge of phobias, goes unchecked, rather. I merely based it off how you cure other phobias; if anyone finds a piece of information in here that they find incorrect about the phobia and/or psychology, feel free to correct me.

Chapter Seven

Hiei sat in Kurama's room yet again, choosing to remain silent. Although Kurama was not being yelled at as often by Hiei, he still cowered slightly whenever Hiei chose to enter. This had been the two week marker to when Hiei had first taken Kurama to the hospital, and much to Hiei's disgust, he'd came and visited every day since then. According to Botan, he wasn't going to be able to make friends with Kurama unless he spent a lot of time with him, and as much as Hiei detested it, that was his only way of going to jail. Either way, Hiei saw that even if he managed to earn this fox's trust, he didn't have to really like Kurama. After all, he'd never had any friends, and as he claimed, he'd never need any either. 'Loner' was a term fit only for this demon, and as he gazed out the window, he thought back to when he had spoke with Botan last; which happened to have been just a little bit before he made his regular visit to Kurama in the hospital that day.

"Hello, Hiei!" said a jovial girl with blissful pink eyes.

"How's Kurama been doing? I heard he's in the hospital." Hiei sighed at the irritating, annoyance of a ferry girl. If it wasn't Kurama, it was someone else getting on his nerves. Would he ever find peace again, or would he just be stuck as Koenma's lackey for centuries, carrying on his every will and whim? He reconsidered jail for a moment at that thought, but thought better of it and decided to finally answer Botan's question.

"He is fine, but I do believe you should help me do SOMETHING about his little fears." He growled, in an almost sarcastic tone. He knew that Botan knew well enough of Kurama's phobia, and he was beginning to anger with the constant burden of having to find a way to do the task himself. Botan backed away slightly the tone of his voice, but the happy-go-lucky smile still remained on her features.

"I can't, you need to figure a way to do it yourself." Botan replied simply. His face reddened slightly in anger and he took a menacing step toward the girl, who took it as a threat and summoned her oar, hopping onto it quickly.

"A-ano I must be getting back to the Spirit World now, you know lots of um… Spirit World things must be done. See you, Hiei." She flew away quickly Hiei glaring angrily at her from behind, just daring her to come back.

Hiei sighed. It was getting more frustrated. He swore, if this boy would talk as soon as he asked him now, he'd promise that he'd never think a bad thing about the boy again. So he pressed his temper to see if he would be rewarded with answers, hoping it wouldn't end up like his already numerously failed attempts.

"Kurama…" The voice only made the boy tremble and scoot a little farther away. Hiei suppressed the growing rage, still in the hopes of being rewarded.

"Listen, I want to know why you're so afraid. Please, I can't help until I know, fox." Kurama, who was about to open his mouth to speak, closed it suddenly with the mention of that one nickname. He glanced down at his hands and shuddered.

"There is n-nothing to talk abo-out." He said, his voice wavering as if he was on the edge of breaking down right there. With that, he stared down to his lap and moved farther away from Hiei. This only brought Hiei's anger up to a boiling point; he'd been short tempered as it was nowadays. He grabbed Kurama roughly again, forcing Kurama to look at him; Kurama struggled to avert his gaze from the furious crimson eyes.

"Listen, you! Why the hell won't you talk about it to anyone? What do you want to do, die?" Kurama looked down; slightly limp under Hiei's death grip. Vaguely, Hiei heard Kurama mummer something softly under his breath in response to Hiei's previous question.

"Maybe I do.." Hiei growled, tightening his grip and pulling him closer so Kurama might get his point better.

"Damn you, you're so pathetic. I wonder what type of parents would raise a child like that? I mean, look at you, the great Youko, the infamous the stooped down to this level, you must be insane!" Hiei had obviously touched upon another sensitive subject, for Kurama winced and turned his head away from Hiei's screams, trying his hardest to keep the tears from falling.

"I hate you." He growled. Hiei threw Kurama down hard on the bed, leaving the room once again in an angry mess. Kurama blinked sadly, rubbing his sore arm that Hiei had grabbed much too forcefully for comfort. Why did Hiei run around asking him this all the time, he surely didn't have to know. Kurama had concluded a long time ago Hiei was working for Karasu; there was nothing else to it. Why, he yelled, screamed, and had practically no regard towards Kurama in any way, he had to be a servant of Karasu. But wait; truly, all people regarded him as lowly, didn't they? Not just servants of Karasu, all people were traitors, and no matter how much they claimed to be on the side of good, they were truly just cruel on the inside. Then what was good? Was there such a thing? He thought back to his parents, of course there were, his parents were good, weren't they? Then he remembered something Karasu had said.

"Your own parents sold you out. Otherwise, how do you think I would have found you so easily?"

Kurama had protested to that so many times, it wasn't even funny. His only defense, however, was that his parents loved him, and that they would never do such things. But it slowly had slipped from his mind with numerous beatings from Karasu, whispering the thought over and over as the let his chosen weapon tear Kurama apart. Afterwards, he didn't know what was reality anymore. He sighed and gazed out the window. Why did people have to be so pitiless?

Hiei went to talk to the doctor again before he left, it had become a habit before long, and he knew if he neglected to come see the doctor that day, the doctor would come to him. He greeted him and gazed expectantly, waiting for him to speak.

"Oh, Hiei, I'm glad I caught you before you left, there's some good news I need to share with you. Kurama is well enough to go home today, you can take him right now if you want. He'll need much medicine and bed rest before he'll make a full recovery, and I advise him not to waste his energy once he gets home, a little walking for now is fine, but he's weak and it won't be wise to weaken himself even further than necessary with things suck as walking." He handed Hiei a bottle of prescription pills, guiding him into the room where Kurama dwelled. Kurama, being fearful as he was, backed away as they entered, squeezing his eyes shut in fear.

"Kurama, you're able to leave the hospital now. I've given Hiei what you need, and a nurse will be by in a minute to help you, best of luck." Kurama gazed fearfully up at the voice and backed away a little. The doctor only smiled.

"Normally, I'd see you off, but seeing as I have patients that need help now, I am unable. I just want to wish you the best of recovery." Kurama nodded quickly when he left, eyeing Hiei carefully as he sat down.

A nurse entered a few minutes later, carefully approaching Kurama as if he was some wild animal she didn't want to scare away, rather, catch the imaginary animal she was coaxing out of the shadows. Kurama only moved back slightly, remaining frozen as she slowly approached and took his left arm in hand. He flinched, and she clicked her tongue in a somewhat comforting manner, this didn't seem to help the fox at all. With one quick tug, his IV needle came free of his arm, one of the last things tying him down to this hospital bed, she allowed Kurama to go change quickly in the room's bathroom, and then bid her farewells to Hiei. "You've got a wonderful friend Hiei, take care, the both of you." She made another excuse about running off to tend to another patient, Hiei was beginning to get the idea they only wanted to be rid of Kurama. Yet he didn't mention anything, he merely picked up the protesting fox and ran as fast as he could from the hospital.

Wind whipped past them as they flew quickly through the air, Kurama was trembling horribly, and trying with his weakened might, to escape Hiei's clutches. These attempts, being pretty strong despite Kurama's weakness, caused Hiei to tighten his grip on Kurama, so as not to drop the boy. Still, he could hear the boy wince audibly and continue to tremble and squirm. Yet again, Hiei reminded himself how idiotic this boy was, and how pathetic he could be. It was hard to believe this boy, was the reincarnation of the demon thief; Youko, he'd been told this by Botan. Yes, Youko hade quite a reputation a few years back. He's been one of the most alluringly dangerous and beautiful demons in all of Makai. Even throughout the entire fox demon race, who were known for their beauty, he was- had always been, the most beautiful, no doubt about it. Yet along with that beauty came a wrath almost unsuited for a figure such as him. He was dangerous, cruel, and ruthless, not to mention, an infamous thief. It was unbelievable that he was now an anthropophobic little coward.

He released Kurama when they reached his front door, and quickly handed him the medicine the doctor had prescribed. He took the orange cylinder from Hiei and ran into his house quickly, Hiei recognized the audible click of a lock behind him, and he smirked. At least this fox had some common sense, he'd grant the boy that.

Well, on to other things now. Botan had hinted him a while back; he might find help with people who knew more about the subject. His first thought had been a psychiatrist, but knowing Kurama, he wouldn't go anywhere near one. Maybe he could find some answers in a book or something. At least books were trustworthier than humans, which he hated to ask for help unless he couldn't avoid it. Even then, he didn't think if he ended up in a situation like that, which he never had so far, he would go and ask any human for help. Ah! There was a library, right there. Odd, this town didn't have their own doctor's office and they had such a larger library. Well, at least he'd have the fraction of a chance of finding the book he was looking for, since smaller libraries often didn't have books on the broader subject of psychology.

He was glad he wasn't greeted by anyone when he first walked through the doors, it had been irritating for people to do so in the first place, but he was left undisturbed as he walked silently through the rows of books. He smirked as he found what he was looking for; it was as if by chance both were next to each other. The two book titles read "The basics of psychology, talking, diagnosing, and curing" the book next to it read

"Antropophobia: the diagnostics and cures" Well, that was certainly what he was looking for, no doubt about it. He quickly took the books over to a secluded spot where he could read without being disturbed by annoying humans. He found useful passages to read in both of them and began reading quickly, crimson orbs darting back and forth through the pages.

"Psychology is a subject that a great deal of patience and kindness…" Hiei scowled, he already didn't like the sound of it. He read on still, another passage intrigued him after thirty pages of monotonous reading.

"Getting a patient to talk isn't always as easy as you may be thinking. Some common techniques, though, are slowly easing into the subject, and bringing up interesting subjects that might interest the person you're trying to talk to. Remember, though, often, the sentence 'We need to talk' often doesn't work with depressed patients, or ones that have certain fears about what it is you want to talk to them. It always helps to ask, once into the subject you wished to talk about, to make sure said patient's still comfortable with talking about the subject. If not, let the patient go and bring it up another time." Hiei actually looked surprised, from what it said here, he had been doing everything wrong. He snorted. Well, maybe he'd try it, but his method was still much better.

Within an hour, Hiei had finished the first book and had already fully immersed himself in the second book that he had picked out. He growled at the pages as he read.

"Anthropophobia, is a particularly hard thing to help with, but is usually easy to diagnose. However, in order for this fear to be pronounced as a phobia, it must be irrational, like all other fears, and it must impede with daily life. An example would be a person avoiding a festival which they love dearly, just because there will be other people there. Anthrophobic patients will shut themselves away from family, and have no friends because of this fear." Hiei read on, and although the book blared on about the causes and effects of this phobia, never once did it talk of a cure. At the very end, it did speak of it slightly, but not as much as Hiei had hoped, leaving him just as frustrated before.

"Anthropophobia, as mentioned in the beginning, is an extremely difficult condition to treat, and often, had more of a bad ending then a good one. One of the ways most common to use, is 'flooding' or exposing that person to what they fear as much as possible, if their phobia is strong, and cannot be gotten rid of by those means, more patient measures should be taken. There is no guaranteed cure, and many methods may be used. Effectiveness of treatments given always corresponds with what the patient can handle, and what they can't. A particularly useful method for the person more timid is the use of slowly exposing the person to other people, easing them out of the fear slowly rather then at the same time like the flooding method attempts. Still, it must be noted, true antropophobia is rare; accounting the few rare cases are often traumatized severely by many, and taught not to trust, victims of torture, neglect, abuse, ect. are often involved in this category." Hiei only sighed. This was going to be such an annoying task; at least these books gave him the idea. But still, he wasn't a psychologist, this patience he was required to have didn't exist, and above all, Hiei couldn't care less about this stupid phobia Kurama had.

Well, mind as well try at least, it wasn't doing him any good just sitting here, and the sooner he could stop seeing that pathetic fox tremble like a coward, the better. He walked out of the library and glared up at the night sky. It actually surprised Hiei, it wasn't raining and it was quite… peaceful. Many stars glistened up above and a cool mountain breeze rustled through the grass. Too bad Hiei didn't have any appreciation for such beauty; otherwise, his bad mood would have surely been uplifted. He barely noticed Kurama as he walked up onto the porch. That was a mistake.

Hiei immediately tripped over the unsuspecting fox's leg and fell down with a thump in his lap. Kurama, who had been meditating, screamed and scattered off in the bushed, not noticing Hiei's head colliding rather painfully with the wood on the porch as he bolted up. Hiei was left laying on the porch, head throbbing and eyes fixed in a glare. The other boy only withdrew further and gave a soft whimper, backing farther into the bushes despite the sharp thorns tearing at his skin, painfully.

The Jaganshi got up, glowering. Why, he'd beat that stupid fox to a pulp for that! He clenched his fists tighter despite, but remembered something the book said. Yelling wouldn't make sense. God then what would? Talking wouldn't help; Kurama was much too scared to listen. This stunk. Maybe he could try what the book said. Who knows, maybe it would actually work. But then again, maybe not. Ah, hell with it. He walked to the bush and kept his voice calm and level. Although it was nowhere near kind and concerned, it sufficed as something better than the usual tone.

"Listen, Kurama, come out, I just want to talk." Kurama only blinked, but did not back away, a visible tremor still running through his body. Hiei pretended not to notice, and focused on something else as he tried to get Kurama to talk. Kurama reacted to Hiei's a minute later, by blinking and shaking his head tentatively. He backed away a little, but Hiei did not grab for him like usual. Hiei decided against this kind measure the book had mentioned, but decided to try something else.

"Fine! I'm not leaving until you come out and say something!" His voce was still distant, but not too cruel. Kurama back away a little and gave a slight cry of pain as he caught himself on a branch of long thorns that was hanging down. Hiei only sat next to the bush, ready to grab Kurama when he decided it fit to come out; he'd stay there all night if he had too.

What seemed like hours later, he stared into the bush again. Kurama lay on his side, thorns caught in his shirt and eyes half-closed. He looked almost pitiable, but Hiei thought better of it. Well, at least he had stopped trembling. Or… was that just because the trembles had given way to violent shivers. Hiei never had minded the cold, being a fire demon, but it seemed as if Kurama did. Kurama was curled up in a small ball in an attempt to get warm in the cold. Looking at what the boy was wearing, it was no wonder, it was so cold, it couldn't be very much warmer than a few degrees above freezing. Hmm, maybe Kurama would trust him more if he let Kurama use his cloak. That trust was damn hard enough to earn it already, maybe this would work. Silently, he slipped off the small cloak he was wearing and crawled into the bush, draping the black material over Kurama's body. Kurama looked up, eyes still filled with fear. Darn, if this didn't work, what would. However, the redhead did manage to speak out.

"T-thanks." Kurama whispered between a few shivers. He paused for a moment to shift away from Hiei, and then continued in a soft voice, as if he would be beaten for what he said

"Someone has you bound to me, against your will, am I right?" Damn fox was too perceptive for his own good.

"Hn. Why the hell would you think that?" Hiei was sure he saw an intelligent smile flicker for a fraction of a second, but he blinked and rubbed his eyes, deciding it had just been a figment of his imagination. From the first time Hiei had ever seen him, Kurama never had smiled before, and that was an understatement. By the way he looked, someone had just died, you'd think. It was stupid, really, and Hiei felt it was even stupider being under this bush, but with the threat of four hundred years in Rekai jail looming over, he chose to remain here. Kurama shifted farther away uncomfortably, suddenly bringing to Hiei's attention he was bleeding.

"Kurama," he said, pointing at the bleeding cuts thorns had created. A little bit of blood dripped from the side of Kurama's face onto the ground with a soft plip. He sighed and shook his head.

"It's nothing…" he said, voice trailing off. Nothing, nothing, nothing! God, Hiei was sick of the word. You could tell he was fighting back trembles. Why did Hiei remind him so much of Hikaru. He was nothing like Hikaru, and even if he was, what did Hikaru have to do with it? He choked back a sob; Hikaru was still a painful though. He immediately crawled out of the bush, away from Hiei. Hiei growled and fought with his anger as he followed Kurama to his door. Kurama opened his door, but was stopped by Hiei as he went to close the door. Hiei glared, emerald orbs widened in familiar fear, he struggled to close the door and Hiei smirked, merely holding it open with two hands against it. The fox only ran, he dropped Hiei's cloak at his feet and shot away from Hiei almost faster than the eye could follow, Hiei followed close behind and watched as he ran into the forest, concealing himself up a tree.

Hiei leapt up to Kurama's tree branch with ease and scrutinized the fox's expression, as if to try and find out some sort of secret concealed to him. Kurama backed away, eyes widening again. "Please… no closer." Kurama felt the branch buckle slightly under the two boys' weight. This branch was much to frail to be sitting on, even if both Kurama and Hiei were very lightweight. Hiei glared. How could one boy annoy him so much? Kurama had done nothing to anger him, yet Hiei still held a sort of grudge against him. Even Hiei, himself found that intriguing. Emerald eyes stared back at Hiei in fear and desperation. He had to admit those eyes were rather pretty…

WAIT! What was he thinking? Mentally, he scolded himself for thinking such things; he was caught off guard and jolted back to the real world as the branch cracked all the way, both boys fell fifteen feet to the hard ground. Hiei groaned as Kurama jolted far away, limping slightly on his right leg. "KURAMA YOU COWARD!" Hiei called after him. Kurama said nothing, but continued to run. Damn it, this wasn't good. Kurama had just gotten out of the hospital hours before; Hiei didn't want to have to make another trip there. If Kurama kept up, he'd be in the hospital for a whole month!

Meanwhile, two figures stood on the edge of a cliff, overlooking town. The first figure smirked. "Just you wait Youko Kurama, we know you're here, and when we find you, you will wish that you were never born. And once you're out of the way…" The second shadowy figure continued in a cold voice.

"We will take this town as ours, soon, the Human Realm will fall."

Me: Yes, I am done. But I am happy, although nothing happened I was able to get in a longer chapter, and plus. Now I can write more exciting chapters. Hmm, I hope that this story isn't too boring, because I don't want to be a bore to anyone. As always, you were very nice, taking the time to read. I'd appreciate you a million times more if you reviewed. I want to know if you're having fun reading of if it's just a bore. Hey, I'm always open to suggestions or constructive criticism, so feel free telling me what I can do better. Yaoi haters, that doesn't mean I want a flame on the yaoi. Hmm, seems as if Hiei's fallen for Kurama somewhat. I love to write about Hiei crushes because he's usually in an amusing state of denial over his feelings, despite the many thoughts going through his head that could prove otherwise.

Well, I suppose this will be my last chapter before I leave, I at least had to get one good one up for you guys before that. It was probably time I shouldd've spent packing, but oh well, I pack at last minute almost every year, and I swear, this year, I'm packing light! Well, I hope you gus enjoyed this chapter, seeing as I put a lot of though and time into it. Next time, Hiei might just force Kurama to go to a town festival, if he's well enough, that is.

Read and review, onegai!