Disclaimer: See prologue.

Notes: Okay. Actual plot starting now. I hope people enjoy. It's supposed to be cute and kind of funny. We'll see how successful I was. Oh, and if formatting is a little odd, sorry. The site doesn't like my breaks. If anyone knows how to insert them, tell me please. I'm annoyed. For now, big spaces equal breaks. Wait. Site deletes those too. I am snarling. Quietly. Everyone else is asleep. Okaaaaaay.

(stuff)- This means there's a break. A time gap or a subject change. Pleeeeeeease someone help me fix this. I know it can be done.

Chapter 1

"Are you even listening?"

That was Kuwabara. By some twist of fate we wound up together that evening. We were, of all things, staking out a potential criminal. I was apprehensive from the start. The last time I 'staked out' for anything was when I was learning the guard shifts for a castle. It was a tedious task to say the least. No one should have to endure it outside of their own free will. I wanted the goods in that castle, so I did it. Now, none of us particularly cared about this apparently law-abiding youkai citizen, and yet here we were, watching his every waking movement. He was a very boring individual.

As a matter of fact, I was not listening to Kuwabara's prattle. I had long ago learned that much of what Kuwabara said he later repeated, and much of it involved puffing and bragging. And when he set on the topic of Yukina it became a matter of sanity. Don't get me wrong. Kuwabara's a great guy. I would lay down my life for—okay, maybe not, but it's nothing against him. I know he would lay his life down for me. That's a strictly human attribute. Yusuke is like that as well. Come to think of it, Hiei is becoming more and more like that. And he accuses me of spending too much time among humans.

"Sorry. I thought I heard something."

"Alley cat," Kuwabara said knowingly. Indeed, earlier we had heard the sharp yowl of a stray cat. So I nodded in agreement. No need to let Kuwabara know I was pacifying him. He started talking again. Back on Yukina. I promptly tuned him out.

We had been assigned night duty. There were many reasons behind the methods of this assignment. One: pairs. Koenma did not want us working alone for the obvious reason that greater numbers were safer. Two people could watch each others' backs. Although Kuwabara's observational skills were often lacking, so I was not keen on trusting my back to him. But… he often surprised me.

Two: Yusuke with Hiei, Kuwabara with me. I couldn't say I was not resentful. Usually I paired off with Hiei. We operated well together. But it was decided that we would split differently this time. (Now when I say 'it was decided' I mean that Koenma made the choice. Unfortunately, I could find no fault in his reasoning, so I never protested. In fact, no one protested. Yusuke and Hiei never really cared, and I dare say, Kuwabara fancied the notion of working with me on a case. It happened so rarely.) The purpose of pairing us in such a way was that Kuwabara paired with either Hiei or Yusuke produced a potentially volatile situation. Apparently I was the only one sedate enough to handle him.

Three: night duty. Admittedly, Kuwabara and I made a conspicuous pair. The tall, muscle-bound man with a loud mouth attracted enough attention. He simply was never intended for stealth missions. Alone I might pass unnoticed through a crowd, but with him beside me, we drew stares. Once people looked at me, they tended not to look away immediately. Chalk it up to my commanding presence—or the pretty-boy image I keep. At any rate, we did better under a cloak of darkness. The darkness did help some when it came to dampening Kuwabara's nonstop chatter. He was more aware of the need for quiet, so he lowered his voice and instead whispered continually.

Now, I've already mentioned that this youkai we were following was dull. When I say dull, I mean he was so painfully ordinary—in human terms—that had I not been youkai myself and capable of distinguishing him from the humans, I never would have pegged him for one of us. (Note that I use 'us' extremely loosely. It's long since been made clear to me that I am no longer a member of the demon society. My heritage is all that keeps me from being considered wholly human. A traitor, maybe, but not human.) Being as he was youkai, I expected at least some unusual habits. Something that might reflect his true nature. But there was nothing.

During the day, according to Hiei and Yusuke, the guy went to his day job. He was a chef at a family-run restaurant. If that was not thrilling enough, he spent his breaks courting the daughter of the owner of that very restaurant. The guy was smitten. Daddy was not so pleased. Apparently he did not want his baby girl marrying a lowly chef. I could see that. If I ever had a daughter I would certainly want better for her than Mr. Hairnet. I always say aim high. The best treasures are always hard to get, but that makes it that much more rewarding when you finally lay your hands on them. Baby girl should have been aiming for Mr. CEO. Well, according to anyone who knows anything, love chooses you, not the other way around. (I heard that from Shizuru, actually, and she seems to have a good head on her shoulders.)

At seven, we switched off. Kuwabara and I would wait until the guy got off work—at eight—and follow him. He went home. Every day, he went home. Actually, today he stopped at a vegetable vender and the fish market, and then he went home. Rice, fish, and leeks. Heaven help us all, we've got domestic mass murderer.

After he went home, he made dinner and watched the evening news. He then would go on his computer and download porn. Daddy's baby girl was flirting with a pervert. Or a normal male, however one looked at it. Kuwabara once remarked he recognized one of the pictures. What's that say about Kuwabara? When we switched with Yusuke and Hiei the next morning, Yusuke was complaining because he liked that model. I was not sure how to feel about that, but at the time Hiei made an appropriately sarcastic comment, so I never had to address it. One might attribute our ignorance to such matters as a result of being youkai, but that did not explain our criminal.

"What's he doing now?"

Kuwabara's question prompted me to hold up my binoculars and look through the window into the youkai's one-bedroom shack. Yes, the guy lived like a pauper. He was a chef for a small business, so it was not difficult to conceive. He had a kitchenette with the essentials of a refrigerator and a microwave in one corner, a computer set up on a card table (also used as a dinner table), a futon, a bathroom, and a portable television set. I was willing to bet he had never invited a girl to this place.

"He's sleeping."

"Man!" Kuwabara yawned. "I wish we could be sleeping."

"At least you don't have to go to school."

That was the only reason I did not reject this mission entirely. I could pull an all-nighter or two, but even Hiei would wear down after three days. And at the rate we were going, we would be watching this guy for another three weeks before anything happened.

"Yeah, I'm wasting away my summer!"

That was also true. Twelve hours of this left us sleeping during the day. We had our breakfasts at five, lunched at eleven, and by five AM, neither of us was in the mood for eating. I don't know what Kuwabara did, but I threw a heavy blanket over my window at home and slept until three. Shiori and Hatanaka worked, and Shuichi's got one heck of a social life, so no one ever bothered me. Neither did they seem to notice I was leading the life of a vampire, or if they did no one commented.

"Aaaaugh, this is boring!" Trust Kuwabara to state the obvious. As I already said, this youkai—by name of Kitagawa Kenichi—was duller than the dirt upon which he trod. Yusuke and Hiei got to watch him work and flirt. We got to see him eat, sleep, watch porn and masturbate. I would have given my left arm to be on the day shift. "Wanna play cards?"

Really, I should have said no. After all, the depth of the shit we would have been shoveling through had Kitagawa done something of note while we ignored our duties would not have been worth the game. But, as Kuwabara said, it was boring. I was bored. He was dozing. It made for a bad situation. So I set aside the binoculars and nodded for him to deal up the cards.

(stuff)

Well, it turned out that youkai Kitagawa Kenichi was not as innocent as he first appeared. In fact, he turned out to be quite the little criminal. Smalltime, to be sure, but nasty in his own rights. Kuwabara and I even got to witness the sudden change from friendly little pervert to flat-out evil.

But before that, odd things were happening during the daytime. Of course, I already pointed out I wasn't awake during the better portion of the day, so it took awhile to notice. It was not something that Kuwabara noticed, or even Yusuke. Hiei was never forthcoming, so if he thought anything was strange, he felt no need to tell me or anyone else. However, I did notice it.

It started one morning when Hiei and Yusuke came to switch off with us. Yusuke immediately took to pumping Kuwabara for information on the previous night's porn star. They were off and running in the world of voyeurism, so I left them to it to check up with Hiei.

"Idiots." That was an expected response, and I smiled at the familiarity of it. At least someone else around here was sane.

"Good morning, Hiei."

"Hn… good morning. Nothing happened?"

Okay, let me take a moment aside to point out the first strange thing that happened that day. Note Hiei's greeting. His typical grunt, correct? I don't think he could ever function if he did not mumble some incoherent, time-filling article at some point in a conversation. In any case, that was normal. The next thing he said should have surprised me, but it didn't. I did not consider it at all odd that he said 'good morning' to me. I should have, but I did not. It just goes to prove that a long night of doing nothing could lead to dull senses.

Back to the conversation we had:

"No… oh, he bought groceries." Yes, and this thrilled me only because it was slightly different than usual.

"Hn." There was that muttering again. He then shoved something into my hands. More accurately, he shoved a small food container at me.

"What's this?" Naturally, I was surprised. He obviously wanted me to hold this for him, but why he thought I would tolerate being his bag-carrier, I could not fathom.

"Breakfast," he said. "The detective's girl made enough for everyone. Yusuke ate Kuwabara's."

"Oh… thanks." That was not uncommon for Keiko. She always worried about Yusuke when he had a mission—however mundane—and she seemed to have extended her concern to include the rest of us. It was oddly heartwarming.

"You should go get some sleep. You look tired."

"Hm." He did have a point. I was exhausted. Despite three nights of this, my body was not yet acclimated to the alien schedule. "Yes."

"Not that you look bad. You look fine. Just tired."

That was a cross between a compliment and an insult, and I could not decide which one to choose. Curious as to why Hiei felt the need to elaborate on how tired I looked, I studied him for a few seconds. He looked the same as he always did, black cloak, spiked hair, bored expression on his face while he watched Yusuke and Kuwabara from afar. There was nothing to suggest he was feeling particularly chatty that morning.

"Right…" I turned to leave. After all, exhaustion was probably the reason I was finding Hiei's behavior so strange. He had not said or done anything particularly shocking after all. Not until his next words.

"You should wear white more often." I looked back at him. He was still staring at Yusuke and Kuwabara, but as they were too preoccupied with their argument with each other I doubted he was addressing either of them. That, and I was the only person wearing white at the moment. A white tee shirt and a pair of my white training pants to be exact. I had not been paying much attention when I pulled those out of my closet, but I was still a little groggy from waking. Naturally, I thought he was poking fun at me, so I shook my head and continued leaving. Then, he added, "It looks good on you."

I decided then and there that I was too tired to handle compliments from Hiei, of all people. Sighing, unsure whether or not he was being truthful or snide, I left. I had a bed to contemplate, and Hiei's bizarre commentary was not something I wanted to try to understand.

So it was that the oddness began. I did not spare much time for consideration. My brain was already in bed though my body was not. And not too much later, the rest of me made it to my bed.

(stuff)

The next time I encountered Hiei was the evening of the following day. He should have been there when Kuwabara and I relieved him and Yusuke, but he was not. Yusuke just muttered something about Hiei having some reading to do and ran off to do whatever he does during the summer. (Probably smoking or hitting the entertainment center, but sometimes Yusuke surprised us by being thoughtful and visiting Keiko.) And the next morning Yusuke arrived without him. This time, Yusuke had no excuse for Hiei.

Kuwabara was suitably irritated by Hiei's laxity in his Spirit World duties. According to him, Hiei was sneaking off early and coming in late to give himself more free time. That seemed unlikely since Yusuke explained that Hiei only left about fifteen minutes before we arrived, and I sensed Hiei's arrival while I was leaving. Fifteen minutes hardly counts as slacking. He probably had an errand to run. Ultimately, a few minutes made no difference.

"We got to follow him on a delivery!" Yusuke said with false enthusiasm the instant we arrived. Kuwabara groaned loudly and slouched down on the bench beside Yusuke. I empathized with them. This job had to be one of the worst Koenma had ever assigned to us.

"Why do we have to keep doing this?" Kuwabara asked of no one in particular.

"You do not have to do anything." This acerbic comment marked Hiei's entrance. He had been sitting in the tree just above the park bench. "You merely tag along to annoy the rest of us."

"Shut up, short stuff!"

"Hn."

One really had to pity Kuwabara on occasions such as these. He was not a stupid person by any means. He would never make the honor role, but he did well enough in school when he studied. However, witty he was not. When pitted against someone like Hiei, who had probably spent the better part of his life—not as long as mine, but he was definitely older than any human would ever be—dodging derisive jokes and harsh insults due to his mixed breed status, Kuwabara was at a disadvantage. The Demon World is not kind to those with impure blood. Heck, it's not kind to anyone. Youkai found any flaw reason enough to torment another. Needless to say, Hiei had picked up a few tricks when it came to diverting insults, and not all of them involved slice and dice. Kuwabara never stood a chance. Yusuke only ever succeeded in the war of words because of his inane ability to leave his conversation partner utterly befuddled. And that only worked with Hiei and me, it seemed, because it never fazed Kuwabara, and Keiko only whacked him for it.

Yusuke jabbed Kuwabara a few times to distract him from Hiei's refusal to acknowledge his weak insult. It seemed to work, so I got the opportunity to ask the question which had been bothering me.

"A delivery?"

Hiei nodded curtly.

"Busy day," he explained. He glanced at me, then looked away again. (Also typical Hiei, not being the type to hold eye contact unless he was in direct confrontation.) "Busier than usual."

"I see." In other words, it had been yet another mind-numbing day. In a poor attempt to lighten the mood, I added, "At least the scenery changed a bit."

"Hn."

It was not much of a response, but at least he sounded amused. My day was complete when Hiei was amused. Well, not really, but I did find it intriguing when he decided to smile. He was one of those stoic, never-will-laugh-because-that-might-ruin-my-cool-tough-man-image kind of guys. Trying to get a rise out of him was one of my favorite games. If he had truly been a stoic, humorless guy, it never would have been so easy. In actuality, he was just shy. At least, that was my theory. I pride myself on being pretty good at judging character, but some people are better actors than others—I have been fooled, to my embarrassment. But Hiei is not one of those people. Kuwabara was a better actor than Hiei.

"I assume your day was more interesting."

"Sure." That stupid comment deserved to be shot down. Why was he commenting on my day? Surely he knew that most of my time was devoted to this. I had maybe three hours of free time between this case, sleeping, and traveling back and forth between my home and the youkai's shack. "I slept. I showered. I came here."

It was not a particularly malicious reply, but Hiei looked a little surprised. He blinked and adopted the half irritated, half panicked expression he always had when he found himself at a loss for words to explain himself.

"H-hn…" I had made him uncomfortable it seemed. Oh well. He would get over it. Sure enough, he proceeded to inform me about Kitagawa's activities that day. Aside from the afternoon delivery, nothing much had changed. Kitagawa was still wearing hairnets and flirting with Daddy's daughter. Life was one big roller coaster ride for the porn-loving youkai. Thinking of which, I reminded myself to give Kuwabara the binoculars when we arrived at Kitagawa's house. I'd rather watch the guy sleep than see him vent his sexual frustration.

"Come on, Hiei!" Yusuke's shout cut our conversation short. Hiei looked rather disgusted, probably because of the volume of Yusuke's cry. When it came to stealth, Yusuke was not much better than Kuwabara. "We did our time! Let's go! Keiko's dragging me to a movie tonight. Come with! I could use some company!"

What was that saying? Misery loves company? No doubt that was Yusuke's line of thought. Hiei was not of the same opinion.

"Hn," Hiei grunted. "As if I don't get enough of you during the day."

Kuwabara found it funny. He laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders and announced, "While you're off watching sappy movies with Keiko, Kurama 'n' I'll be having a great time!"

If he believed that, then my praise of his level of intelligence was unfounded. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get under Yusuke's skin. It worked. Yusuke flipped him off and stomped away.

"Kurama."

"Hm?" Oh. Hiei had not yet left. That was unusual. "Hiei?"

"…See you tomorrow."

"I look forward to it." Believe me, I did. Seeing Hiei and Yusuke again meant my shift was over and I could go home. Sometimes the moment was worthy of singing. I'm not much of a singer, or I might have actually done that a few times.

"Hn," Hiei smirked a little. Something about my response must have amused him. Granted, I found it funny… in a vague, not-worth-a-laugh kind of way. "Have a good night."

Bemused, I watched him go. I would have blamed it on Yusuke, but Yusuke was not so well-mannered as to wish someone well when he took his leave. It might have been Yukina's influence. Or Keiko. From the sound of it, he had been spending enough time around Yusuke that he actually encountered Keiko in non life-threatening situations. Either way, Hiei was being exceedingly polite lately.

Beside me Kuwabara was making curious little choking noises. That could only bode ill, so I checked to be sure he was not going to pass out on me. Although if I had to take him to a hospital, that would get me out of spying on Kitagawa for awhile. Maybe even long enough to miss all his pre-bedtime activities.

"Kuwabara? You okay?"

He stopped gagging immediately. Dragging the back of his hand over his mouth, he looked at me as if surprised by my concern. As if I had never shown worry for his well-being.

"You mean you didn't—" Even as he stopped talking he pointed. I looked and saw Yusuke's retreating back. Yusuke needed to wash that jacket. There was dirt all down the back, as though he had been sleeping on the ground. But I doubted that was what had Kuwabara in such a frenzy.

"Didn't what?"

His hand dropped, and he squinted at me suspiciously. He leaned in closer, prompting me to edge back.

"What?" I demanded. This was bordering on ridiculous. First Hiei was acting oddly, and then Kuwabara had gotten jumpier than usual. "Did I miss something?"

"…No," he said after a moment of apparently deep contemplation. "It's… it's nothing."

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah! I mean, I'm sure! I'm fine!" That came far too quickly. I had the distinct impression that I was the butt of one of his and Yusuke's childish jokes. Kuwabara looked almost green with poorly hidden anxiety, so he was obviously hiding something. But if it was a prank, I was fairly well certain I wanted no part of it.

I let it drop.

"Okay. Kitagawa will be leaving soon." Kuwabara's relief at the change in subject was almost tangible. He grinned and leapt into a gung-ho pose.

"Tonight's the night, Kurama!" he declared confidently. "I can feel it! We'll get him tonight!"

I nodded, not believing a word of it, and followed him to the comic book shop. (I kept watch from there since Kuwabara was too busy scoping out the latest manga.)

(more stuff)

Kuwabara was either mistaken or lying. Nothing happened that night. In fact, the day must have exhausted our supposed criminal because he did not even make dinner that night. He went home and ate cold leftover chicken while watching the news. He nodded off several times, only to jerk awake a few seconds later, readjust himself, and let his head droop again. Apparently deciding his routine to be too strenuous that night, he took a shower earlier than usual and went to bed at around nine-thirty.

Watching a person was dull enough. Watching a person sleep was about as exciting as watching paint dry. Or mold form on bread. Okay, well that could be interesting, but only when accelerated or with a mutated form of mold—and keep in mind mold is a form of plant and as such would interest me so don't think I'm completely neurotic. I don't spend afternoons sitting around waiting for my bread to grow mold. Either way, the point is made. It's Boring. With a capital B. Thank Shiori for the foresight to pick up a book for me at the store while she was out yesterday. It was a study of Norse mythology and unlike anything I had read. Let me just say: humans had a startlingly violent history.

"Man, you and Hiei are exactly alike!"

Yusuke's voice greeted us the next morning, and from his tone, that comment was not intended to be complimentary. I marked my page—near the end—and looked up at him. Fists on hips, grin set firmly in place, he looked as he always did. Cocky.

"How is that, Yusuke?" I inquired, polite yet not really wanting to hear it if he was planning to insult me. One never knew with Yusuke.

"Always got your nose in a book," he announced.

There were too many things wrong with that observation to even mention. As a matter worth mentioning, I did not often read outside of school. I had always appreciated knowledge for the sake of knowing things, but I got more of it from a day of school than I did from a year in the Demon World. There was no need to immerse myself in it completely. And Hiei… since when did Hiei read anything outside of what was absolutely necessary?

Of course, there was no use in getting into an argument over it. Not with Yusuke. I could prove him wrong a hundred ways and he would still find a way to have the last word. He excelled at that. Besides, his comment raised an interesting question, though I had doubts of finding its answer in Yusuke.

"Is that so?"

"Like we're not here for a little conversation!" Yusuke gestured to himself and Kuwabara. I heard Hiei's derisive snort from somewhere in the tree above me and agreed wholeheartedly.

"I'm not a very good conversationalist," I said finally. "And twelve hours is a long day."

"Or night," Kuwabara added. "He slept. A lot!"

"No shit! He's got a day job. He can't stay up every night!"

And so it digressed. I packed away my book and quietly retreated. After five nights of this, I was almost accustomed to it, but I was still tired. More than likely it was from inactivity rather than lack of sleep.

"Your night was uneventful?"

"Hiei," I greeted him with a nod. "Yes. He even spared us Sexcapades." No, that was not the name of the show, but that was what Kuwabara called it, and I used it simply because Hiei would know what I meant.

"Better night than usual," he retorted with a smirk. I had to laugh. It was true, after all.

"I can't say I'm ungrateful," I admitted. "Shouldn't you be helping Yusuke?"

"He can handle Kuwabara without my help."

"Agreed." I looked at him uncertainly. Hiei was more astute than that. He should have known that was not what I meant. "I meant helping him watch Kitagawa."

"Hn!" He was embarrassed by that little slip. "Yes, well…"

"Or is there something you think I should know?" I was fishing for ways to get him out of this awkward hole he seemed to have fallen into the past few days. Of course, I could only throw him the rope. He had to take it upon himself to grab the rope and climb out.

"…No." He stopped. Had he left immediately, I would have let it be. Instead, he was quiet and remained in place, watching me. It was very uncomfortable and left me more than a little worried.

So, I stopped as well. Setting a hand on his shoulder (he tensed considerably), I looked into his face. He did not look to be at his peak, that much was certain. There were dark circles under his eyes and stress lines set into his forehead and around his mouth.

"Hiei." He looked at me, though it was obvious he was reluctant to do so. I smiled in hopes of making him relax. "After you're done tonight, I think you should get some rest. You look terrible."

He grimaced and looked away. Sighing to myself, I patted his shoulder once and let my hand fall. I gave advice. Whether or not he took it was his prerogative.

"Be careful today, Hiei," I suggested, and left.

Behind me, I heard him mutter under his breath, then louder he said:

"Sleep well yourself, Kurama."

I nodded, but he was probably already gone.

TBC...

Notes: And it starts. Hiei is acting oddly. Kurama is confused. And he's just bound to get even more befuddled with Hiei involved...