Chapter 1: Hearts on Fire

Warnings: This story is yaoi and will contain some lemony content. If you are not comfortable with or do not like reading yaoi, DON'T READ THIS STORY. Ye have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakasho, and if I did Kurama and Hiei would be a couple.

A year after the fire, Yusuke had moved in with Kurama, who had generously offered to let him move in with him.

The young spirit detective had lived comfortably for a while, helping out around the house, buying his own clothes. He just hated having to do the dishes when Kuwabara came over. How much food that boy could shovel into his mouth was scary.

He still wondered where his friend had room to store all that food… on second thought, he'd rather not know.

On a mild Saturday in late July, Yusuke went out shopping with Botan, Yukina, and Keiko. He hadn't had any choice in the matter. When he'd started to object, the girls towered over him, eyes red, making him turn into a frightened chibi.

After that, he'd readily agreed.

He din't know why he was needed. Those crazy girls could carry their own bags. But he'd never voice his opinions aloud in fear for his life and possibly his manhood.

He stood in front of Kurama's house, waiting for the girls to arrive. He glanced irritably at his wristwatch, tapping his foot impatiently against the pavement.

They always used the excuse they were being "fashionably late". Heh. They were just being fashionably rude.

Honestly, ever since Yusuke had moved in with Kurama, those three girls had become inseparable. Literally, he'd had to use a crowbar to yank them apart more than once.

He smiled when he heard the familiar screech of tires coming down the street. As expected, he saw the red car speeding downhill and screeching to a halt in front of him.

Botan, Keiko, and Yukina all hopped out of the car, tackling Yusuke. This had happened many times before in the past year, but it still annoyed the hell of him. He loved them all, especially his girlfriend, Botan, but sometimes he just wanted to knock them all out.

When they let him up, just as quickly as they had tackled him, they had hauled him into the car and were headed to the mall.

"Um, Botan?"

No answer.

"Botan?"

Still no answer.

A high pitched squeal that could only be described as shrill came from his girlfriend's stall. He flung open the door, alarmed, thinking she had hurt herself somehow.

He stared at her, mouth hanging open. She squealed again. Botan stood there, in a hot pink leather top that stopped above her midriff, and tight black leather pants that revelead her curved ass and long shapely legs.

Yusuked gulped, looking her up and down. She turned to him and grinned widely.

"Do you like it?" she asked, twirling around for him, then striking a pose.

The spirit detective just stared, nodding mechanically. Two other screams rang out, scaring the crap out of the startled young man.

Botan ran to open the other stalls, and Keiko and Yukina jumped out. They were all squealing about each other's outfits. The black haired boy came out of the stall and was efficiently shocked again.

Keiko was wearing a tight jean miniskirt that was barely mid-thigh, and a see through lacy black blouse with only three buttons, revealing a toned flat stomach and a small flower tattoo around her belly button. But Yukina's was the sexiest of all of them.

She was wearing a short short red skirt that had three ruffled layers at the hem, and red heels, with a white tank top that looked more like a bandana. It revealed a lot of skin, most of her back and sides. It tapered down into a triangle, which was the only thing that covered her stomach.

He was surprised he didn't have a triple nosebleed.

Before he could compliment them, he was hauled off to about five other stores. Finally at 2:00, they sat down for lunch at the food court.

It was there they spotted Hiei and Kurama. Hiei was coming from the left side, Kurama from the right.

"Hey guys!" Yusuke called.

They both looked up simultaneously, seeing each other.

"Hey big bro!" Yukina called.

He smiled at his younger sister. When he came closer and saw what she was wearing, he stopped smiling.

"Yukina!"

"Yes?"

"What in the hell are you wearing? You look like a tramp!"

A gasp from all three girls. Tears filled the light blue haired girl's eyes.

This should have been expected. They all knew how blunt Hiei could be, and sometimes his words were very harsh.

"Brother, I just wanted to look nice! Don't you remember?"

His eyes widened. That was right. Her boyfriend Kuwabara was coming back from America later today.

He still wondered why she'd fallen in love with that block head. Oh well. He was an admirable fighter and had proved himself worthy of his sister. He hadn't won the battle, but he had managed to get in a few good hits. That Hiei respected.

He bowed his head deeply.

"My sincerest apologies, Yuki-chan. I didn't think."

She still sniffled. He sighed and embraced her in a bone crushing hug.

"There. Happy now?"

She nodded.

"Hey, Hiei! What are you doing here anyway?"

At this question from Yusuke, Hiei blanked.

"Uh…oh, um yeah! I wanted to tell you something. Something I should have told you a long time ago."

He said it in such a serious tone. Yusuke's eyes widened.

"You're not in love with me, are you?"

Hieie's eye twitched.

"No. Are you in love with my sister? Because you keep staring at her breasts."

Yusuke blushed, sinking low into his chair. Yukina looked pissed, promptly covering her chest with her arms, and Botan looking about ready to kill him.

"Yusuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Run," Yukina and Botan said simultaneously.

The frightened young man blasted out of his seat, taking off while Botan and Yukina chased after him, screaming obscenities that caused customers to cover their children's ears.

Keiko, Kurama and Hieie stared blankly after the dust cloud the trio had created.

"Right," Keiko said.

She took out a black hair tie and put her short brown hair into a ponytail. She picked up her aquamarine purse and got up.

"I've gotta go. I'm meeting Aekaki in ten. Dewa matta!"

She pranced off to meet her friend at the other mall on the other side of the street. Aekaki Himanata was Keiko's girlfriend. They didn't know when she became a lesbian, or how. They just accepted it.

Hiei sat down, as did Kurama. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed which lasted for nearly twenty minutes. Both men must have had an extreme amount of patience. Hiei broke the silence.

"So, uh… why are you here?"

Cat-like emerald green eyes pierced fiery crimson ones. He blinked.

"What's with the animosity, Kurama? Did I do something wrong?"

The kitsune's eye's narrowed.

"Yes, Hiei. You did something very wrong."

The fire demon did not understand.

"You mean that comment to Yukina? I said I was sorry, and I meant it."

Green eyes stared cold and unflinching. This was so unlike Kurama. He was usually calm and collected. He rarely got upset. Had he done something to anger him?

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I assure you I don't know what you meant."

"Let me elaborate for you. Do you remember what happened a year ago?"

His eyes widened.

"How did you know?"

"I saw you, Hiei. You purposely burned down Yusuke's house. Honestly, what possessed you to do that to our friend? You could have killed him!"

Hiei averted his eyes from the fox's. Kurama understood.

"That's what you wanted, didn't you? Why would you want to kill him?"

He told him a half truth.

"I-I didn't want to. My demon spirit took over and it forced me to do it."

The redheaded demon shook his head skeptically.

"Your demon spirit only takes control when something sets it off, like anger, hatred or jealousy. I know you don't hate him, and Yusuke hadn't even been near you that day, so he couldn't have angered you. So you were jealous of him? For what?"

Silence. Kurama arched one fine, elegant brow.

"Or whom?"

Red eyes snapped to mischievous green ones.

"Who did Yusuke date that made you envious of him?"

"He didn't date them."

"Then what did he do?"

"He kissed someone I… someone… someone I lusted after. Not loved."

"Well, that's a little low; burning someone's house down for that. Did he even know you desired them?"

Crimson eyes narrowed to slits.

"Who said anything about desire? Desire means to need someone, physically and emotionally. I just wanted sex to quench my lust. I figured my… feelings for them would disappear after that."

Kurama was sort of disappointed in Hiei.

How could he talk like that?

Did he even consider the other person's feelings?

"Who was this person you lusted after? "

Hiei was blunt, but he wasn't stupid. He wasn't afraid to fight Kurama; he was afraid of what Kurama could and would do to him if he found out he was the one Hiei had lusted after, and still lusted after.

"I've already said too much. That's all you need to know. The person's beauty, power and grace could not be matched by any other I had mated with."

"Damnit, Hiei! I don't care how beautiful, powerful or graceful the person was! You almost killed Yusuke last year in that fire! Now teel me who it was!"

Hiei inhaled, then let out the air in a sharp exhale.

"It was you."

The fire demon did not flee. He sat there, waiting for the other demon's reaction. He waited thirty seconds, holding his breath. He let it out when he sensed Kurama was going to speak.

"Do you have any idea how foolish that was?"

He didn't shout it. It was said extremely calm, which scared Hiei more than if he had shouted it at the top of his lungs. Demon hearts did not beat, or if they did they went at a staggeringly slow pace. His heartbeat, if he had one, started to speed up.

"Yusuke blamed himself for that fire. He thought it was punishment by the gods for kissing me when he was in love with Botan. He'd just wanted to make sure his feelings for her and women in general weren't false. And you screwed that up by trying to kill him. He still blames himself. I've tried to convince him it wasn't his fault. I covered for you. I never told ayone. He acts happy, but on the inside he's still secretly hiding the guilt. Have you ever noticed since that night, every time I enter the room, he averts his gaze, and won't even look at me?"

Hiei nodded. He hadn't thought anything of it. He'd just been glad the boy hadn't been looking at what was rightfully his.

One single tear gathered at the corner of the redhead's eye before it was blinked away.

"Yusuke isn't to blame. It's you… you did it because of your protective instincts, didn't you? Your instinct to claim what is rightfully yours? You didn't lust after me. The claiming instinct only takes over when you love the person. Do you love me, Hiei?"

"No. I only lust after you. As I said, your beauty, power and grace cannot be matched by any other I have mated with. That is all."

The impact of the slap left a giant pink hand print on the demon's face, and the sound could be heard for miles.

(A/N: I really am enjoying writing this story. Hopefully I'll be able to post three other chapters this week. Three and four aren't that long, and one and two are the longest. Read and review. Just for the sake of my own sanity, saying "Aw, that was so cute" is fine, but if you're gonna say that, at least add some constructive criticism along with it. Trying to improve my writing here! )