A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long. School and work keeps me quite busy, so you should probably only expect updates on the weekends. : ( Sorry about that! Anyway, this is a really short chapter, and my fancharacter/Mary-Sue girl Luna appears in here a bit. Ignore her. She's annoying. -.- Please review!

24. Youko's Problem and Operation FOX

Youko walked out of Hiei's treehouse and headed back toward Suichi's. He didn't care that he was walking around with fox ears and a tail in the middle of a crowded city. He had never seen Hiei get that angry… at him. He was kind of upset, but not really. He snorted. Love. Never thought Hiei would succumb to that… Youko kicked a pebble in the sidewalk and sighed.

He reached Suichi's house without too many strange stares from passersby, and he opened the door. Luna was sitting at the kitchen table scribbling madly on a piece of notebook paper. She had a few books open in front of her and couple notebooks spread around the table. Youko stared at the mess of notebooks and paper, but didn't say anything.

"Mom's gonna be out of town for a few days," Luna said without looking up from her paper. "Business trip."

Youko grunted in reply, heading upstairs to Suichi's room.

Luna let her writing hand rest for a while and looked up. With a small gasp of surprise she said, "Oh! It's you, Youko. What are you doing in your fox form?"

Youko sighed and told her how Hiei had given him that potion that Genkai had taken a while ago. Luna narrowed her eyebrows. "I heard about Genkai. I still don't believe she would take a potion like that. I thought she didn't care about being young as long as she could still kick ass," she said.

Youko snorted. "You don't know the old lady. I'll bet she enjoyed screwing up everyone's lives and causing all that trouble," he replied.

Luna sighed. "I guess so…" Her eyes brightened. "Hey, how long are you going to be in your Youko form?"

"I dunno… couple days…?"

Luna squealed in delight. "Oh, this is gonna be fun!" she said.

"What's going to be fun?" Youko asked, though he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

"We can't have you walking around the city like that!" Luna said. "People might say things about… about the ears, and the tail…"

"I like my ears and tail, and I'm keeping them."

"That's not what I mean!" Luna said. "Let me finish. Anyway, people might say things about how you look—you know, people around here aren't used to seeing demons everyday—and so I could disguise you so that you look like Suichi!" Luna clapped her hands together happily. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No," Youko said flatly. "I'd rather sit in quicksand trying to scratch my ass than let you play 'dress up' with me."

Luna ignored his comment and went on. "We could dress you up, and so nobody knows what we're talking about, we could call this…" She paused for suspense. "…Operation FOX."

Youko wasn't amused. "That sounds like a lot of fun, but… no."

"…the FOX stands for Freaky Obese Xylophones," Luna said, her eyes sparkling. "We could be the FOX team! Yeah! That sounds cool… and then I can make jackets and hats with our logo and everything…"

Youko sighed. There was no point in telling Suichi's sister he wasn't interested in becoming the youkai version of a barbie.

"There's a costume shop a couple miles from here," Luna said. "I'm gonna go out and grab some supplies. I'll be right back, and then we can start… Operation FOX…" She stood up from the table and exited the house the back way. Youko watched as she left and waited until she was out of eyesight when he left the house as well.

NEXT TIME: THE HARRASSED ORANGUTAN AND YUSUKE'S DRUKEN MOTHER!

Reviewer Responses!

Hieifan123: Whew, I'm glad I won't be getting any angry "UPDATE DAMN U U SUK IF U DU KNOT UPDATEE!one!7"-ness from you. n.n; I like the Hiei x Shizuru pairing. We'll all just have to see if Hiei tells her! Thanks for the review!

Princess Random: O.o; Umm… I'm sorry for making you cry:sweatdrop: Heh heh. Well, thanks for the review; glad you lurve it!

darklight4ever: I think you misread my chapter summary. It said "Ch. 23 of 33", meaning I have 33 chapters total, and I've uploaded 23 (24 with this one). Sorry if I confused you, but I checked to make sure I didn't make a typo, and it's correct. Thanks for the review!

paisley: I probably would've laughed too. I laugh at everything. Especially since my friend at school is always pointing at random stuff and just bursting out laughing… She points at this kid in my English class and starts laughing her head off, and it makes me laugh too… hee hee. Thanks for the review!

evilchik: Well now that things are coming together in the fic, it's harder to fool people. n.n Yeah, Yukina's got it tough. I don't know why, but I always seem to torture poor Yukina like that. I've written at least 4 fics where Yukina's depressed… o.O; Thanks for the review, you'll have to wait and see if your guess is right!

Takara Taji: I'm sorry, but now the updates are going to be even scarcer! T.T I'm so busy nowadays (but I like it that way). I'm glad you like the Hiei x Shizuru pairing. If Hiei has to be straight, Shizuru is the only one I can see him with. Well, okay, the disgusting side of me can't help but kinda like Yukina x Hiei incest, but… that doesn't count. The stalker girl comes back… I think chapter after next, but she'll come around, don't worry! Thanks for the review!

And I Promise.: Thank you, I'm glad you like this story! Stalking bishies be fun. n.n I know where this guy at school (just friends since he's taken T.T Too bad! He's pretty!) lives, and now I can stalk him too… XDXD Ooh, I don't know how some of you people can sit and read 20-some chapters all in a row from a fic that's already started. I like starting at the beginning, but that's just me. n.n Thanks for the review!

Kitsune of Darkness: Funny bully… that's an amusing choice of words. ;) We'll just have to wait and see what happens between Shizuru and Hiei and Yukina. O.o o.O Thanks for the understanding about my updates! It's these reviewer responses that take up so much time here for me because I already have the story all pre-written (I just edit it for spelling/grammar and a little bit of content). Thanks for the review!

Fruit is NOT a Dessert: Genkai, I think, just kinda disappeared off the face of this fic. She was just kinda thrown in there for my own amusement… / As for the guys she kissed, it was only Kurama and Hiei and Yusuke, I'm pretty sure, and they're all mentioned around, so you'll just have to see. Yes, I do have all 33 chapters written out, I just edit a bit and add reviewer responses. Thanks for the review!

RoseAngeI: Yes, Youko's a meanie. XP We'll just have to see what happens to him… Thanks for the review!

Moomoogirl1: Poor everybody in this fic. There's so much drama:le gasp: I am enjoying my job. But I'm tired when I get home… I'm on my feet the entire time, and wearing boots to that kind of job… oww… feet… hurt… badly… :cringes: And now I have this huge bruise on my hip, and I have no idea why:sweatdrop: lol well thanks for the review!

Sami Kurama's Stalker: Yeah, I don't know why Yukina has an apartment either. I guess it was just easier for me to stick her in one… :sweatdrop: Ah well. Thanks for the review! Don't hit Youko-chan too hard!

heartluv: Yeah, I really don't know how Youko conned Hiei into playing Truth or Dare. I don't know why Youko would want to play Truth or Dare either… The mental image was what that was all about, I guess… Hmm… Well anyway, thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

Red Kitsune Flames, AngelFire3691, Deus X Machina, Betabonanza, and Kurapika12, Thank you all for reviewing!

--crazykitsune17--