I noticed a few things I could have improved on in that chapter. Ah, but live and learn, eh?

Thank you for your review! A review a day, keeps the typo demon at bay!

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, sillies!

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Kurama was sitting beside Yusuke outside drinking a cup of cocoa. Yusuke looked over to the other quietly, still unsure of the emotional battle that had occurred. They both looked so happy together…why had it ended just because he had said something silly? It wasn't Kurama's fault. The kitsune choked down more liquid continuing to transform his fury at Yusuke's interruption to personal despair, down-right confusing the spirit detective. A hand touched Kurama's shoulder, immediately getting jolted away. Yusuke stepped back, seeing through his friend's mask. Well…the only thing left to do was make things right between them again. It was just a joke. Hiei would understand. Yusuke chuckled at that thought, completely wrong. Of the two of them, Hiei would have been the one to take it personally and Kurama more likely to shrug it off.

Yusuke got up and went to find the fire demon, proving to be harder than he had first thought. After hours of searching, nearly giving up, sometimes feeling that the search might be enough to prove he was sorry, he finally found Hiei watching him look for the koorime on Genkai's roof, looking thoroughly amused. That seemed kind of odd…he didn't look angrier than usual, or embarrassed at all… Yusuke shrugged and joined him with a quick jump.

Hiei narrowed his eyes at Yusuke's closing in on him and leaned back very slightly, bristled. Yusuke laughed and sat beside him, wondering how the heck he was going to bring the subject up. He wasn't one for relationship advice, and though he thought he was one of the first to suspect the both being a couple, he didn't know how to go about it. It wasn't open yet… It was like taboo.

"Hey Hiei!" Yusuke greeted cheerfully, clearly oblivious to what had happened earlier according to Hiei's evaluation of his friend's carefree smile.

"Hello detective. What do you want?" Hiei asked indifferently, also seeming to shrug off the previous incident.

Yusuke smiled widely. "I didn't know that you and Kurama were a couple…what's-"

Hiei cut him off by simply getting up.

Yusuke gaped, "Hey wait! Well, what happened?"

"You happened, Yusuke." Hiei muttered before darting away.

The spirit detective's eye twitched, frustrated. It had taken him that long to track Hiei down, and then the demon up and left. Maybe he shouldn't have been so blunt, but why beat around the bush when Hiei had been caught red handed? Yusuke just didn't understand.

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Hiei sighed sitting in a tree…for once able to reflect in silence. What the hell had just happened?...He sighed, replaying it in his mind.

"Hiei.." a certain kitsune whimpered.

"Yes, Kurama?" He answered patiently.

"What are you thinking about?" the fox stalled.

Hiei was trying to think. How could he think with that whimpering? "That's irrelevant."

"You don't know why I'm bringing it up, Hiei. It may not be. Don't be so quick to assume.." Kurama rambled.

"Then what is it?" he asked, growing weary of his friend's running in circles in words.

"I wanted to know if….you thought it would rain long," the fox lied horribly.

"Yes… I think that," Hiei said, giving up on listening.

"Thanks," came the tender response, Hiei knowing he would try again sooner rather than later.

"Hiei…" that oh so familiar voice called once more.

Hiei turned again to Kurama trying to be civil. "Yes?"

"Could you help me clean up? I'll be more than happy to return the favor later," he asked, more than happy to chat life away with his best friend.

"…"

Another voice broke in before Hiei could think of an appropriate excuse. This one was Yusuke's, a little sympathetic. The voice of a great chatterbox…It wasn't what Kurama wanted, but rather what he deserved.

From there…what did he do wrong? Hiei sighed, a little annoyed. Alright, he admitted he liked the fox boy; they had always been very close, but something made Hiei a little apathetic about it. It was uninteresting. Maybe it was interesting for the fox, but certainly not for him. Whining…and whimpering, like a lost puppy, it just got on Hiei's last nerve. It didn't come across as cute, and maybe a little bit for caring, but ever since this week started, the deep talking had stopped, and the trailing drawing out words he loathed had begun. And then there was the cornering. Hiei wrinkled his nose thinking about it. Alright, he was attracted to the fox. Who wouldn't be? He had no way to explain his emotions. They were just and true, but not what the fox wanted. This was a sign of their playfulness getting serious. He had just been in it for the warmth and fun. It was fun to be with Kurama, but would he live his life with him? Kurama always talked about the future, always resolving that Hiei would be his mate.

But what if Hiei didn't want that? He had never said that because he did care for Kurama. He felt so young…so pushed into it. But to break Kurama's heart in two (yes, he broke Kurama's heart many times before) would make him lose his best friend forever. Forever. The thought made Hiei sick to his stomach. He closed his eyes and buried his head in his knees as he sat. A hand patted him on the back, catching the deeply reflective koorime off-guard. Hiei shot a fist almost instantly, a little off, missing Yusuke's grinning face. Did he live to rub everything in his face?

"A swing and a miss!" Yusuke laughed, getting hit in the shoulder that time.

Yusuke rubbed his arm a little, the hit kind of playful, but still stinging. Hiei faced him quietly. His eyes were piercing into Yusuke's flaring at the boy.

"What do you want?" Hiei growled lowly.

Yusuke smirked sitting next to Hiei, "I want you to hear me out is all. I want to make things right between you and Kurama- And if you run off again, I'll tackle you and see if you're ticklish!"

Yusuke felt brilliant with that thread, though Hiei looked a little confused at the last part. Hiei figured it wasn't good with that devious smirk on Yusuke's face, but he had already decided he wasn't going to argue with ignorance. Even if it had consequences.

"Shoot," the smaller demon beckoned darkly.

Yusuke's mischeivious grin faded into a serious expression. "You weren't really upset at what I said were you?"

The fire demon frowned, "I didn't want Kurama to get the wrong idea."

Yusuke looked blankly at Hiei, "The wrong idea that you care about him? You left him pretty shell shocked, bud."

Hiei glanced elsewhere, "It's better in the long run. Detective, I've got my reasons, why don't you just sit back and trust me?"

Yusuke frowned, "You're running in circles with Kurama because of your pride!"

Every part of that sentence hit Hiei hard. Running in circles! That was just what he had accused the fox of doing… His pride was nothing to be ashamed of, however, and it was spoken as if it was.

"It's not my pride, Yusuke," came the final quiet response.

"Then you're a coward.." Yusuke said seriously.

Hiei shot a piercing look directly in Yusuke's brown eyes. "I don't want to hurt him, but there's no other way."

That last sentence confused the spirit detective. Did Hiei just mean to say he didn't like Kurama that way? But what about all the kissing? He seemed to enjoy himself then. Yusuke was very confused, and decided to get to the bottom of it.

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Hee hee, so how do you like it so far? I'm updating this as frequently as I can. And I'm excited about how this is turning out. It's still going to have Yusuke/Hiei, but it's a little slow (though steadily gaining ground, making me very anxious) I decided to start out with Kurama/Hiei because they are already very close and obvious in the series. Eventually it'll get really interesting. And I put "angst" in for a reason. That's going to take even longer, but…eh. It'll get here sooner than you think.

Reviews love. I'm so serious. I read one review and just finished this chapter at lightning speed.