A very late update on my part. Sorry guys. I guess I've been too worked up with my Harry Potter crossover to work on this. I hope you enjoy!

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Kurama woke up the next morning to the sound of the train passing by behind his house. Golden eyes peeked out from their lids reluctantly and he rolled out of bed with a thud. The skinny little boy moaned and got on his knee and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Good morning," he grumbled to himself and he stood up to stretch. He trudged over to his closet and pulled out a forest green t-shirt that was three times bigger than him and went over to his drawers to pull out a pair of jeans. He pulled off his pajamas and tossed them onto the floor and pulled his clean cloths on. Kurama was about to exit his room when an empty corner caught his eye.

Fearing the worst, he turned his head to the spot and his eyes widened. The laundry basket was gone. Kurama frantically searched his room for the outfit he wore just last night. He prayed that no one had seen it yet. He even cleaned his room to find his precious purple skirt.

"Oh no," he whispered. Maybe his mom hadn't gotten to his laundry yet? Hope filled him and he went to open the door when the knob turned and slammed open. The boy jumped back in surprise and looked up at the face of his father. The look he was giving Kurama was neither of anger or love, it was a neutral expression and it scared him more than anything in the world.

"Is this yours, boy?" The elder man tossed a bundle of wrinkled clothing onto the floor in front of him and Kurama gasped quietly.

"Well?" His father clenched his hands into fists and his eyes became cold. Kurama looked away from his father and from the secret he tried so hard to hide. His father growled angrily and swung his fit back and let it loose, right at his own sons face. Kurama stumbled backwards and reached up to his cheek with a hesitant hand and felt the heated flesh of his cheek.

"It is, isn't it? You nasty son of a bitch. I should of known you'd be a fag." The father reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches. His lips curled into a sadistic smile and he struck a match, lit the whole box on fire and dropped it onto the purple silk. The outfit caught fire and it smoked and burned right in front of the young boy. His sight became blurry with tears and he couldn't hold in a sob that escaped his lips and made his father scold him.

"Suck it up, you pussy bitch. I wont be raising no cross dressing homo." The man stepped out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving Kurama to watch the flames die down and turn into a smoldering pile of ash and burnt fabric. The tears in his eyes fell freely and he buried his face into his hands in grief.

A soft knock on the door made him stop and wipe his red face.

"Come in," he choked out hoarsely and the door opened and Ayame poked her head in. She looked at her distressed brother with big eyes and she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"Don't cry, Kurama." A small smile grew across his face and he returned the hug. The little girl looked at the pile and poked the remaining pieces of cloth.

"Why did daddy call you those names," she asked quietly, picking up a piece of skirt that was still a little purple. Kurama stood up and shook his head. He didn't have the heart to tell her what the words meant or why he called him them.

"No reason. Now, you go back and play. I'll be fine." His sister gave him an unsure look at she went back to her room next door. Kurama tired his hair back in a pony tail and swept up the mess. Tears seemed to form once again in his eyes as he watched the black ash fall into the garbage pale in his room.

"It's not fair," he whispered and laid down on his bed, burying his face in his pillow. He looked at the clock on the night stand and the bright red numbers red 10:38. He sighed and looked out the window in remorse. The sound of the door bell ringing reached his ears and he sat up and hesitantly poked his head out of the door.

"Hey, Mrs. Youko. Is Kurama up yet?" The voice of Yusuke made him frown. He didn't feel like talking to him at the moment. Actually he never did.

"He's up stairs," his mother huffed, her voice was filled with bitterness. Kurama sighed and closed the door and locked it. The sound of several feet walking up the stairs only made things worse. Kurama didn't want them seeing him all messed up like this. His eyes were still puffy from tears and his cheek was swollen and the coppery taste of blood lingered on his tongue. The boy got into bed and pulled the covers over his head and let his body fall into a fetal position. A whimper escaped his lips when they knocked on his bedroom door.

"Kurama," Shuuichi's voice said from behind the door, " Open up!" Kurama stayed quiet and hoped they realized he was still sleeping.

"Oi, come on and open up!" Yusuke pounded on the door and it gave the boy a headache. After some time of knocking and bickering from the halls, the door made a small click and it opened.

"And you said picking locks would never come in handy, Hiei." The three boys, Shuuichi, Yusuke, and Hiei entered the room and looked onto the large lump on the bed. Shuuichi tapped Yusuke on the shoulder and pointed to the large black stain by the door way. Hiei bent down and examined the mark.

"Looks like someone likes to burn things," he said to the lump on the bed and it shifted slightly. Yusuke walked over to Kurama and sat down next to him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"What's wrong?" Kurama rolled over and faced away from the others and shivered, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to escape. Shuuichi walked over and pulled the blanket down from his face and looked at his friend. Kurama immediately held his tears back and wiped his runny nose and eyes quickly. He sat up and shrugged at his friends, but they saw right through his disguise.

"Something is up. What did you do to your cheek?" Kurama thought about it in seconds and quickly came up with an excuse.

"I tripped down the stairs this morning," he stated, smiling in embarrassment. " It hurts like hell." Yusuke and Shuuichi smiled, obviously taking the bait and Hiei just shrugged either because he didn't care or he didn't care.

"Well, we wanted to go see that new movie coming out today. Wanna come?" Kurama was soon out the door quickly and down into town to see the newest horror film with his friends. Kurama wasn't into Horror movies, but he would do anything to get out of the house for that day. After that, they went to get some lunch, went to the arcade and then to the park, where they walked around the whole thing a billion times talking about this or that. Kurama stayed quiet as much as he could, his eyes barely leaving the ground. The words of his father still rang through his ears and made his heart sink.

Maybe his father was right. Kurama had known for a while he had an attraction to men, but was it that bad?

'Of course. Gays are disgusting.' Kurama hugged himself and shivered, which went unnoticed by the others who were in an argument on who had the coolest video games at home.

'What if they find out? What if they tell everyone I like guys and I get shunned from school?' He hugged himself tighter and shook his head.

'No, they wouldn't do that. They are my friends.' Kurama let his arms fall back to his side and he looked at the three ahead of him. Hiei and Yusuke had gotten them selves into a wrestling match and Shuuichi was trying to break them up.

"Now, now, children! No need to be violent!" Kurama giggled quietly and sat down on the bench to watched them drag the red head into the fight as well.

'They wouldn't. No way.'

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Yeah! I finished this in two hours. XDDD I might write some more. I was planning on leaving it on a horrible cliffy, but I think I'll save that for next chapter. So review!