Chapter Three

"Why are you talking to me about all this?"

Hiei scowled. "Because. You understand these--relationship--things."

"I'm flattered, Hiei, but the situation is pretty complicated."

"What's so complicated about it? Look, Keiko, just tell Kurama to quit going after humans. That's all there is to it."

"Why would he listen to me if he doesn't listen to you? You are his best friend."

"Because! I don't understand relationships."

Keiko smiled triumphantly. "Exactly, Hiei. You don't understand."

Hiei scowled at her. "What's not to understand? Kurama can't be with these humans, it's as simple as that."

Keiko looked at him shrewdly. "Hiei, are you really concerned for Kurama's welfare? Or are you just jealous?"

Hiei surprised Keiko then--instead of grunting or becoming angry, he turned away, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Jealous, I guess," he said in a tone that meant to be offhand but didn't quite make it.

There was a moment of silence. "Well. I didn't expect you to admit to that."

"But you knew. You knew, and Yusuke knew. It seems like everybody knew except for me."

"Well, it can be hard to realize these things," Keiko said, trying desperately to hide a smile. She couldn't believe she was having a conversation with Hiei about his feelings.

"But what do I do?" Hiei asked impatiently. "How do I get Kurama to cut it out?"

"Well, first of all you have to decide whether you want to be with him yourself or not. Do you?"

Hiei stared at her, unblinking. She made it sound so easy. "I don't know."

"Well, you have to figure it out. It's not fair to ask Kurama to end this relationship without knowing your feelings."

"But it's not just about that," Hiei insisted. "Humans are wrong for Kurama. There's no way someone who's demon or even part demon could maintain a relationship with a human."

"Yusuke manages pretty well," Keiko said archly.

"But... but you know about everything."

"Well, maybe Kurama will eventually want to tell somebody all about it too. Humans aren't the point, Hiei. The point is whether you want Kurama or not. If you do then you've got a bit of a problem, because from what I hear he and Kenrin are really getting along. And if you don't, then you've got to let him find happiness his own way."

Hiei grunted. "And if I do?"

"Then you have to let him choose."

Kurama closed the door behind him with a sigh, his lips still tingling from his goodnight kiss. But it wasn't a pleased sigh he had given. Not that kissing Kenrin wasn't pleasing, it was just...

It was just that they had been going out for a month now and Kenrin still called him Shuichi. Kurama had known other humans, classmates and friends, who knew him only as Shuichi for years on end and it had never bothered him. But he had never liked a human as much as Kenrin. Kenrin was brilliant, artistic, kind, and most of all keenly interested in Kurama, which made it all the harder.

Tonight Kenrin had told Kurama about his parent's divorce when he was little, and how it had hurt him. The urge to respond by revealing his own emotional wounds to the boy had been so overwhelming Kurama had nearly become mute for fear of what he might say if he opened his mouth. He wanted to do something he'd never done before (unless you counted Yusuke) and tell Kenrin everything about his past. He had barely spoken for the rest of the evening, and had come home with only one thought to his mind: that one way or another, this couldn't go on much longer.

To top all his emotional turmoil off, Hiei was MIA and had been for nearly as long as Kurama had been dating Kenrin. Kurama knew the two weren't unrelated. Hiei had never looked well on Kurama's relationships with humans; Kurama didn't know whether it was jealousy or simply Hiei being Hiei. Even if there was jealousy involved, he didn't know if it was Hiei wanting Kurama's time to himself or Hiei wanting to date Kurama himself. It wasn't like Hiei ever explained himself. The only thing Kurama knew for sure was that always before the fire demon had made himself as obnoxious as possible when Kurama tried to be with someone else, and now he had vanished. Kurama had even tried calling out to him telepathically, but there was no reply.

Which was he was surprised, to say the least, to go upstairs and find Hiei in his bedroom.