disclaimer: don't own

Ok for anyone still reading this sorry it took so long for me to update. although i am thinking of just deleting this all togather but on with the story.

After Yuusuke left, Kurama walked over to the tree that Hiei had moved into when Kuwabara had gone to bed.

"Hiei, would you like to take walk with me?" Kurama asked Hiei, looking up at him.

Hiei looked at him for a few moments before he gave a slight nod of his head and jumped out of the tree. As they turned to walk out of the clearing Kuwabara opened his eyes to see where they were going. He gave a small smile as he got up to follow them. He was hoping that maybe he could pay Hiei back for making a fool out of him. Of course he ignored the fact that he had started the entire fight.

As Kurama and Hiei walked toward the small stream that they were camped near, Hiei tried to think of a way to bring up the topic that had been bugging him. As he had said in that story that he had told, Kurama was his best friend or as close to a best friend Hiei would let someone get. He knew that he wasn't wanted by his own people and he was aware that the thieves that had raised him just considered him another mouth to feed. But Kurama was probably the first that had ever treated him as someone of importance, so if something was wrong with him then he would at least like to try and help him. Finally Hiei decided just to come out and ask him what was wrong.

"Kurama, is everything alright?" Hiei asked stopping to look at him.

"Why do you ask," Kurama said stopping also.

"Well earlier you sounded, I don't know, weary, I guess is the word I'm looking for."

Kurama raised an eyebrow, but he seemed to be thinking of an answer. As he was doing this he continue walking to the stream. By the time they reached the stream Hiei was starting to think that he wasn't going to answer him, but Kurama moved to sit on a boulder near the stream and motioned for Hiei to do the same. When Hiei sat down by him Kurama seemed to make up his mind about what he was going to tell him.

"Well, I really don't want to sound like I'm whining or felling sorry for myself," Kurama started.

But Hiei interrupted, "Well will you just get on with it," he snapped starting to regret asking.

Kurama gave him a vague smile and said, "Hiei, just be patient I'm not used to putting my thought into words."

Hiei gave him a disbelieving look, "I thought you were close to your human mother?"

"I am but there are just some things that I can't talk to her about. And for a long time I thought that she did not deserve my attention, much less know how to help me with my problems. Now should I continue or do you have something else to say," Kurama said.

"Well, if your going to be a jackass about it then I could care less," Hiei snapped making as to get up.

"Wait, Hiei," Kurama said reaching out to grab Hiei's hand," Look I'm sorry I know how much it took for you to ask. I have just been under a lot of pressure at home."

Hiei snorted in anger but he sat down anyways pulling his hand away from Kurama with a slight blush on his face, but Kurama did not notice because he was still trying to find the right way to express himself. Hiei came back to himself as Kurama started talking.

"What's wrong is that my stepfather has started asking questions about all the school trips that I seem to go on and that of course is making my mom wonder also. So when I told her that I had to leave out again and that it was with some nature club that I had joined, she called the school and asked them about it. They of course told her the truth. So now I have lost the trust of the most important person in my life and I have no idea of a way to get her to trust me again, especially after I snuck out to come for this mission. I left a note telling her that I was leaving but that was probably not the way to go about it," Kurama gave a somewhat relived sigh when he finished.

Hiei could only nod after Kurama finished, because after all how could he give Kurama advice on a subject that he to was having problems with. For this whole thing sounded a little like what the situation between his sister and him would probably be like. He had not told his sister that he was the brother that she had been looking for because he did not want her to hate or even worse reject him. He felt that the present arrangement better suited the both of them. It was easier having a friend with a criminal past than it was a brother. He knew also that if he told her the truth, Kuwabara would find out and he might just hold it against her, but with his line of thinking that probably not happen. Or, as Hiei would like to think, be to scared of Hiei to go near her.

Hiei looked at Kurama as he tried to decide what to say to him, but as he opened his mouth to say something, Kurama put his index finger on his lips signaling for him to be quite. When he gave him a questioning look Kurama just shook his head as he looked toward the forest on their left.

"I think there is something or someone watching us," Kurama said in a very quite whisper.

Hiei closed his eyes and concentrated on a possible energy source. But he could not sense anything that could be a threat. Hiei looked at Kurama, who was waiting for him to get through. And he shook his head indicating that he could sense nothing of a threatening nature. But even though he could not sense anything did not mean that it wasn't just hiding it's energy. As one they got off the rock and slowly crept toward the source of disturbance.

Kuwabara stifled a gasp as he saw them get up and walk toward where he was hiding. As they got closer he slowly crept backwards doing sort of a crab walk trying to keep them in his sights. He could not believe his luck it had taking him quite a while getting past Kurama's plants and he figured that the only reason that he got by them was because they recognized him as a friend of Kurama's. Kuwabara had been training with Kurama and Hiei learning how to mask his ki, so he figured that since they had not shouted out his name then he had been successful in masking it, but now he had to get away before they found him. He nearly let out a scream as he put his hand down on something warm and wriggling. When he finally got the courage to look down he saw that is was a foot long demon worm and that it looked like it was trying to eat his fingers. Kuwabara let out a shill scream, forgetting as he did so that he was trying to keep from being seen. As he jumped up of the ground he collided with Hiei who had rushed over to where he had heard someone scream and Hiei slammed his forehead right into Kuwabara's breast bone. When this happened it caused a sharp pain to shoot through his jagan eye. Hiei let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush as he called Kuwabara every name that he had ever heard in the demon world and the human world. Kuwabara was to busy trying to get the creature off of him to pay attention to what Hiei was calling him. But it was a good thing that he hadn't been listening to Hiei because he would have been very insulted because he knew that his parents where indeed married when they had had him.

Kurama stepped forward and grabbed Kuwabara's hand to stop him from shaking it. As he looked at the demon hooked on Kuwabara's finger he saw that it was just a baby worm that was trying get some nourishment.

"Hold still, Kuwabara, it won't hurt you too much."
"What do you mean to much," Kuwabara shrieked as he started shaking his hand again.

"Kuwabara, if you don't stop moving I will be forced to knock you out," Kurama snapped as he dodged Kuwabara's hand for the fifth time. Kuwabara froze as he heard the tone of Kurama's voice. For Kurama very rarely let his emotions get the better of him, but when he did it was best to just stay out of his way. When Kurama finally disconnected the worm from Kuwabara's finger a green nasty smelling puss started ozzing from the wound. When Hiei saw the puss he got an almost intoxicated look on his face, but he tried to turn away before the others had a chance to see his face. But he had indeed been seen, though Kurama said nothing only turning to tend to the wound. Kuwabara was to busy whining to notice anything that was going on around him. Kurama stored away the thought intent on asking Hiei about it later. By the time Kurama had gotten all the puss off of Kuwabara's fingers and onto a leaf, he saw that it had only burned his flesh a little.

"What's in that puss?" Yuusuke asked leaning closer to look at the wound.
"It has a compound of acid and a neutralizer," Kurama replied.

"If it is an acid why does it have a neutralizer in it also?"

"Because the babies can't handle the full effect of the acid. So their saliva is a mixture; it has the acid, but it also has a tiny amount of the neutralizer, it may take longer to desolve the flesh and bones but it keeps them from killing themselves in the process."

"Okayy.." Yuusuke said but he still looked puzzled.

Kurama just shook his head at Yuusuke confusion, but he did not fell like explaining it farther to him. After all they all really needed to get to bed because they had a long day ahead of them.

"Let's get to bed, Yuusuke, we have a ways to go tomorrow," Kurama said turning back to check on Kuwabara's finger to make sure that there wasn't an infection.

When Kurama turned back to face Yuusuke he saw that he had already gone back to bed, and Kurama could not sense Hiei so he decided to let the matter drop for the night but he was going to find out what was wrong even if he had to tie Hiei down to get the answers from him. As Kurama was laying down, Hiei was about a mile away waiting for everyone to go to bed so he could try and get that worm or at least his saliva.