Chapter 4

Authors Notes: I managed to get this chapter wrote much faster due to the fact I am currently not working due to this viral outbreak. Thanks to those who read the last chapter, as always please review. It's hard to know if anyone wants me to continue without them. Let me know what you think, any feedback or criticism is welcomed. If you'd rather PM that's fine with me. Special thanks to reven228 for being my most active commentator. This is the first chapter that has no relation to the events of The manga and focuses mainly on romance, if this is a welcome or unwelcome change, let me know.

"What the hell just happened?" Hiei finally spoke, as they reached their classroom. "Am I in the middle of some nightmare?"

"Hey its not so bad, she's got a nice rack if nothing else, besides you're about the right height to bury your face in them." Yusuke nudged Hiei as he spoke, a wicked grin on his face, Hiei crossed his arms, huffing in indignation.

"Yurameshi get your mind out of the gutter, what the hell am I supposed to do with a teenage girl?"

Kurama could not help but quip to his shorter friend. "Well you see when a boy and a girl, become close; sometimes they retire to a quiet place and then they.."

"Shut the hell up, Kurama! I'm not a child, and you know that was not what I meant."

"Hehe Hiei's blushing, our little friend is becoming a man." Kuwabara could not contain his amusement, at Hiei who could not hide a faint blush colouring his cheeks, in all his years he had never had a close relationship with a woman, a perky succubus wanting to get closer to him, that was a foreign concept to the battle hardened demon, and to his shame it unnerved him. As they made their way to their desks, Hiei groaned as he massaged his temples. "I only came to this blasted school because that damn toddler blackmailed me, I never expected this." Mizore who sat adjacent to the boys looked over at Kurama quizzically raising an eyebrow, the perceptive reheat, noticed her confusion.

"It seems our dear Hiei, has attracted a suitor, and has a date after school; and he would rather face an army than be forced to deal with a girl who thinks he has, and I quote."A cute butt." This elicited a fresh round of laughter from Yusuke and Kuwabara, while Hiei stewed in his seat, his demonic energy leaking out with enough malice to frighten the other students, even the teacher shifted uncomfortably, Miss Nekonome barely managed to squeak out her words.

"Class will be starting soon, I just need to step outside for a few minutes." The energetic blonde was grateful to leave the room, she had never felt such an oppressive aura, especially from a student. Mizore who was caught in the full force of Hiei's energy, began to lose consciousness, her body slumped onto her desk, her limbs began to shake uncontrollably, then all of a sudden the horrible weight that felt like it could crush her at any moment suddenly faded away. Sluggishly she lifted herself from the desk, Hiei had a strange look on his face, while she did not know the boy well she had never seen such a flustered expression on his usually stoic face.

"I did not intend for my power to have such an adverse effect on those around me, I keep forgetting the difference in strength between myself and these yokai. Perhaps Koenma was right, I do need to learn greater control, my apologies, girl."

Kurama rose from his seat and gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder.

"Please forgive my friend, he was not trying to hurt you, we are used to him so a small amount of aura from him is not sufficient to harm us, but in our teasing we forgot to account for others. This is as much our fault as his, forgive us."

Hiei turned to face the class, those of them fit enough to glare, stared at him with a mixture of fear and hostility.

"If anyone has a problem, please step forward; we can settle this before the faculty comes back. Any takers?" His challenge was met with silence.

Across the classroom Tskune like many of the students was overpowered by the demonic energy leaking from Hiei, moments after the teacher left Tskune crashed facedown into his desk, blood pooling from his ears. Moka was one of the few students who was not adversely affected by the energy permeating the room, seeing Tskune collapse she panicked. Rocking him back and forth, whispering his name, she managed to rouse the human boy after the energy suddenly faded.

"What just happened?" Tskune managed these words ad he pushed himself upright, blood still dripping from his nose and his ears. Normally the smell of Tskune's blood would have been irresistible for the young vampire, her baser instincts however were no match for her concern towards her friend.

"It was that boy at the back of the classroom, he unleashed his yokai. His power felt strange somehow, it was different than the energy I've felt from any monster before, it was harsher. More violent." She paused for several moments staring at her friend, before finally continuing. "Maybe it's best I take you to the nurse, you need to rest." Rising from her seat, she escorted Tskune out, the boy leaning heavily on her shoulder.

Yusuke watched the couple leave together, he felt a pang of guilt seeing how badly the boy was handling exposure to Hiei's demonic energy.

"Jeez Hiei you need to be more careful you nearly killed that boy, hell half the class can barely move and the teacher ran away."

"I didn't even release a fraction of my strength, it was merely what leaked out from my irritation towards you gaggle of fools."

Surprisingly Kuwabara was the first to speak in defence of Hiei. "Y'know Yurameshi, he's right. I barely felt that, I don't even think that was as much energy as we used during The Dark Tournament. These monsters must be really weak, or maybe we're all just really strong?" Kuwabara wondered aloud, a question none of them could answer, not even Kurama. Mizore quietly nudged Kurama.

"What are you talking about, dark tournament? And how can you say that wasn't a lot? I've never felt so much power before." Kurama looked at his friends, who all returned his expression, they had disclosed more than they already should have already.

"I suppose we are all what you would call S-class, though our power wasn't a matter of birth as it is with most of these students. None of us originally were as strong as we are now." He intentionally left out just what they were or the events of The Dark Tournament, hoping what he had said would be enough to sate her curiosity without being forced to divulge more information. Mizore asked them a question, none of them would ever have expected.

"If you all got so strong, can I get powerful the way you did too? I'm already classified as A-class." She hoped that by revealing what power level her kind was classed as would help sway their decision, she had always felt so weak, she had seen that there was strength hidden beneath Kurama's gentle exterior, however now she had some idea to what extent that strength may be. Yusuke turned to her, a wide smile on his face, she had not talked to any of them other than Kurama apart from a few short sentences in class before, she had not yet built up the courage to treat them as a friend, so when the dark haired boy began speaking it took her by surprise.

"Yeah I don't see why not, me and Kuwabara started off weaker than Hiei or Kurama. Mainly Kuwabara, he still can't take a punch." Yusuke waited for Kuwabara to react as he sat there scratching his cheek.

"Shut up Yurameshi, I'll kick your ass after class then." Rather than respond Yusuke chose to ignore his orange haired friend, who's face twisted into a series of outraged expressions.

"I'm sure we can all show you a few things, although I have one condition to this."

Timidly Mizore replied, feelings of fear and hope battling inside of her. "What's your condition?" She felt a surge of panic as Yusuke grinned mischievously.

"Teach Hiei how to deal with girls for his big date tonight." She merely stared at him blankly, not believing what she had just heard, both Kurama and Hiei were equally shocked if for very different reasons.

Lunchtime came and Mizore sat with her new friends, wondering just how she had ended up in such an embarrassing situation.

"So...have you ever been out with a girl before?" She was turning ever more scarlet with each passing word, while the boy sitting across from her shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed.

"No." His tone matched his body language in terms of defensiveness. "Why would I? I've had more pressing concerns than fraternising with the opposite sex." She could not help but sigh, this was a herculean task, it wasn't like she had much experience with relationships herself, she had never kissed a boy, she had never even held hands. Although the more she thought about doing such things, one person invaded her thoughts, a tall kind-hearted redhead, she blushed as her mind conjured fantasies of her becoming more intimate with Kurama. Shaking her head to rid it of those thoughts, she finally spoke, unsure of her own words.

"Well I don't really know much about this to be honest...but if it was me I guess I'd like someone just to listen to me. I mean she must already like you, so just be nice, tell her she's pretty. If she likes you, I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever, just don't scare her." She didn't know what else to say, so she stopped and looked at Hiei, who took several seconds to process what she had said before finally commenting to no one in particular.

"Maybe I can just kill her, burn the body to ashes and pretend this never happened."

As Hiei and Mizore sat talking, Yusuke wandered away from the group as Kurama watched both Hiei and Mizore talking as well as Yusuke walking away from them. Yusuke approached a table at which sat the blue haired girl whom Hiei was being forced to court after school, as well as the boy who had collapsed in class earlier as well as the girl who had helped him out.

"Hey fancy seeing you here, Hiei's rather nervous about your date later." Turning from the blue haired succubus to the other two, he tried his best to smile non threateningly. "Hey you two, sorry about earlier that was kind of my fault, well a little my fault. We were kinda teasing Hiei about his date later and he got a little annoyed with us, he didn't mean to nearly cripple half the class. I guess he forgets his strength sometimes. I'm sure he's sorry, but he's not the friendliest, so I doubt he'd ever apologise to the class." Kurumu smiled at Yusuke's greeting.

"Tell my little cutie, I'm looking forward to seeing him later." Moka stared at the boy, she couldn't feel much power from him, but he had defeated Saizou with the same ease as her true form, he also was one of the only ones unaffected by what had happened in class earlier, she had no idea what kind of monster he could be; Tskune however was quick to accept the apology.

"It's okay, I mean if it was an accident I guess I can't really stay mad, you and me actually happened to get the same bus here. I remember seeing you and your friends sitting at the back, I was just a bit too scared to talk to you."

"Oh yeah I remember there being someone else on the bus, that was you? And we're in the same class, weird. Well if you want you can come sit with us, I'm sure you'll get on well with the guys..." He paused midsentence, a look of concentration on his face, before finally continuing. "You'll like Kurama at least." He finally concluded, Moka finally spoke up, having been silent for the duration.

"We'd be happy to sit with you, it's always good to make new friends." She smiled widely, she genuinely wanted to make new friends, but a part of her wanted to learn as much as she could about these strange new students. Kurumu jumped to her feet, causing many students to stop what they were doing and stare, as she pumped her arms.

"Yahoo, I'll get to see Hiei. I'll make him fall at my feet, after all I'm the cutest girl in school." She winked at Yusuke who nervously shifted, choosing to ignore everything she said.

"Great, come with me; one of the girl's from class is sitting with us too already, she's a friend of Kurama. I'm sure you'll get on well with her"

"As long as she keeps her paws off of Hiei, I don't mind her." Kurumu spoke excitedly as she, Tskune and Moka followed Yusuke to their cafeteria table. Hiei was the first to notice Yusuke's return, upon seeing the trio accompanying the spirit detective, he buried his face in his hands. "I'm going to kill Yusuke, why did he have to bring that woman with him?" He wondered aloud, as Kuwabara chuckled, nudging his friend with his elbow.

"Hehe you can get all kissy, don't worry we won't watch hehe." Before Hiei had time to respond, or to kill Kuwabara, Kurumu Kurono made her way to the table, despite her earlier bluster, she felt rather nervous coming eye to eye with the shorter boy.

"Hi." She gave a small wave, feeling rather awkward, unsure of what she should be doing in this situation. Hiei was no more confident in this situation.

"Hello." An awkward silence manifested between the two before Hiei, finally spoke. "You may as well sit." Gingerly she accepted his invitation, while the others watched in interest, Moka whispered to Mizore, her being the only other girl.

"It's so cute, look how shy they are."

Mizore merely nodded, remembering the ordeal she had earlier giving him relationship advice, as Hiei and Kurumu sat in silence, Moka again whispered to the other girl.

"I take it you like one of the boys here." Mizore blushed, despite the pink haired girl's bubbly nature, she was rather astute.

"Yeah I suppose I do." Moka barely contained an excited shriek, causing the boys to turn to her, each ones face twisted into confusion. Moka had the good grace to look a little embarrassed.

"You and me, we'll talk about this later, okay?" Mizore feeling overwhelmed could only nod, as Kurumu finally gathered the courage to speak to Hiei.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you later. I hope you know how to treat a beautiful lady such as myself."

"A conceited girl with more boobs than brains, I think you mean." Kurumu's eyes furrowed, gritting her teeth in frustration; slamming her hands on to the table she pushed herself upright, towering over Hiei.

"My boobs are a national treasure, shortie. Most men would kill to even get near my girls. You should be thanking your lucky stars, I even agreed to go out with you." Hiei rose staring into her eyes.

"You're the one who asked me out, I never even agreed to go out with you."

"Are you trying to back out on me now, you mean spirited little man?"

"I'm not running away from a silly girl like you. I'll see you tonight, you can bet your life on that." As the others watched the two shouting at one another, Moka not wanting to look away for even a moment, asked the nearest person who happened to be Yusuke.

"Do you think we should intervene? It looks like they're gonna kill each other."

"Nah, I think they like one another. If Hiei wanted to he'd blow up the cafeteria. Maybe this is how he flirts?" Mizore turned to Kurama, who watched his old friend with a smile on his face, any time she looked at the boy she felt an unfamiliar feeling in her stomach, gently she tugged on his sleeve, until he turned to face her.

"Kurama, do you maybe, if you're not doing anything better...do you maybe want to spend some time together tonight?" Mizore asked, though every word was forced out, she was terrified he would reject her, thankfully no such thing happened.

"I'd be happy to spend some time with you." A smile made it's way to her face as her cheeks coloured, and her heart thumped with excitement.

"I can't wait."

After classes finished Hiei left to meet up with Kurumu, despite his frequent complaints regarding his situation, Kurama doubted the validity of his complaints. After having watched the two of them argue earlier today, he could sense a bond forming between the two, they shared a similar fiery personality. Kurama bid his farewells to Yusuke and Kuwabara, as he went to meet Mizore; he was unsure of whether or not Mizore had anything planned for their meeting. They had agreed to meet by the water where they had first got to know one another. Kurama let his mind wander, his thoughts dwelling on the girl he was going to meet, she was certainly attractive and he rather enjoyed her company, though he did wonder if she had intentions greater than friendship. In the distance he could see her silhouetted against the setting sun, as he neared her she lifted her hand in greeting. Quickening his pace he closed the distance in a few seconds.

"Hello. I trust you are well."

"You're always so polite."

"I suppose I am, my mother always taught me to be respectful, especially towards young ladies such as yourself." She did not know why but the way he adressed her sent a flutter down her spine.

"There's something I need to tell you. Well first of all...I...I think I like you." Before Kurama had a chance to speak, she had already cut him off. "I'm a Yuki-Onna a snow woman. While we retain our youth far beyond the lifespan of humans and most monster species, we have a very limited period of fertility. Between the ages of seventeen and at most our mid twenties, that is the only time we can bear young and as such every girl has a duty, if by our seventeenth birthday we have not found a mate, one will be chosen for us by the village priestess. So while I do like you...I'm scared." Tears began streaming down her cheeks, the lollipop she never went without going slack and falling from her mouth; wordlessly Kurama cradled her head against his chest. They stayed this way for several minutes as Mizore's tears stained his blazer, as her tears began to subside, Kurama gently stroked her hair, before finally speaking.

"I shouldn't really tell you this, however you shared your secrets with me, it is only fair I do the same." He disengaged from the embrace, creating some small space between them. "I am not a Yokai, not like you are. Indeed my soul is far older than my body; long ago I was known as Yoko Kurama, The Great Demon Fox. My true form is that of a demon. I can show you but understand, that while I will do my best to shield you from it, the energy released will dwarf what you felt from Hiei earlier; I cannot guarantee your safety." She slowly nodded, unsure of what to say, she had heard stories of demons before, all yokai had, most viewed them as simple stories; it was hard to imagine the existence of beings with such power. Kurama closed his eyes for a brief second, he felt unusually hesitant, he did not want to risk harming her, however she deserved to know the truth. Slowly increasing his demonic energy, he allowed it to alter his form, his eyes narrowing, irises turning golden, fox ears began to grow from within his long hair, his features while staying mostly the same, hardened, losing their soft feminine touches. Kurama was thankful that he had greater control of his power than Hiei at that moment, for despite his efforts to contain the tremendous energy that leaked from his body, he could see Mizore was still being affected by it. Her legs shook, her pale skin turned ashen, veins protruded from her skin, blood dripped from her nostrils; she struggled every second to stay upright, to stay conscious. Much to Kurama's surprise she began to take hesitant steps towards him, every one of which threatened to topple her, still she struggled on. Her hair turned to living ice, her hands becoming frozen talons, the very air around her cracking with the sudden shift in temperature.

"So this is her true form." She could hear that even his voice had changed becoming deeper, more confident, even through her great discomfort it sent a chill down her spine. "It's beautiful." He finished his thoughts off, little louder than a whisper. She stood face to face with him, their eyes met for the briefest of moments before she repeated his sentiment.

"You're beautiful."

With these words, she pressed her lips hard against his, her cold skin pressed tight against his warm body, as her body finally went limp, she collapsed with a smile on her face.

As Hiei made his way to the school gates, he could see Kurumu already waiting for him, cursing under his breath, he made his way towards her.

"Might as well get this over and done with." He muttered under his breath. Kurumu gave him a small smile as he made his way to where she stood, in her hands she held a woven basket, which ignited Hiei's curiosity.

"What do you have in that basket?"

"It's a picnic basket, dummy." She raised it to eye level, her expression was one Hiei had never seen before; it was as if she was a totally different person from the girl he was arguing with earlier in the cafeteria.

"Do not insult me, girl." He snapped at her playful insult, however upon seeing the hurt on her face, he was struck by an emotion he had little experience with, guilt. He did not understand why he felt this way, buy each second he spent watching the pained expression on Kurumu's face, twisted his gut in new and uncomfortable ways. "I didn't know you cooked, so I assume you're taking me on a picnic. I'll trust you know somewhere we can get some peace." He watched her expression shift into a small smile, he was confused, he did not understand this strange woman.

"Yeah I love cooking, and baking. I'm much better at baking though, I can't wait for you to taste my cookies, you'll never have eaten anything so good. Don't worry I know somewhere where you and me can be alone together." Hiei gave a small nod in acknowledgment and began walking without a word, Kurumu raced to catch up with him, and the two began walking side by side. They walked in silence deeper into the wooded area outside of the school, heart fluttering in her chest, Kurumu looked down seeing that for a change Hiei's hands were not in his pocket, nervously she reached her free hand out towards him, Hiei almost jumped when he felt soft skin against his calloused hand, he turned to look at her, wondering why she would even dare to touch him, to his surprise she was bright red, it seemed most of the blood in her body was running to her face.

"Is something wrong? Are you ill?" She could only smile, at his innocent question, as she locked her fingers in between his.

"I'm okay, promise." Not knowing how to approach this situation, he chose to ignore it, besides it wasn't unpleasant her holding his hand in hers. Hand in hand, they made their way into a small clearing, where a picnic blanket had already been laid out, turning to Hiei, Kurumu spoke.

"Sit down, I'll get everything ready; I didn't know what kind of stuff you liked, so I just made a wide variety." As Hiei sat down on the blanket, she began to deposit the contents of her basket out onto the blanket. She pulled out bento boxes with an assortment of different fillings, baked good such as: cookies, pastries, brownies and even some small cakes. Hiei was rather surprised, he had not expected such sumptuous fare.

"Did you really make all this?"

"Are you really so surprised? I'm more than just a pretty face or a fantastic chest." She flirtatiously quipped, one hand lightly brushing against her ample bosom, Hiei sighed in frustration, it seemed that whenever she displayed another side of herself, she had to ruin it.

"You really are a frustrating woman. Any time I think that there may be more to you than vanity, you dash my expectations." She flushed red before standing up, towering over the sitting boy, she spoke her words tinged with anger and hurt.

"You're an idiot, why are you so mean to me?" She asked her voice starting to crack. "I'm trying to get you to like me. I embarrassed myself by asking you out, you should have asked me out, y'know." Raising his voice as he rose from his seated position, Hiei retorted.

"And why the hell should I ask you out?"

"Because I like you, I don't even know why. You're short, you're mean and you don't appreciate the fact I'm trying. I can't get you out of my mind. I'm a succubus it's our life's mission to find our destined one, our other half. I've had dozens of boys grovel at my feet for a kind word or a smile and none of them even piqued my interest and then you come along. You scare me, but you excite me; you're the only boy I can't manipulate with my powers, that's unheard of. That makes you special."

"I never asked for you to think anything of me, I never even asked to come to this damn school. I'm only here to look for someone, I didn't come here to form bonds with others." She grabbed onto his blazer, trying to push him away from herself, he didn't budge. Irritated Hiei pushed her back, trying to disengage her grasp, Kurumu tripped backwards, landing hard on the ground, her hands stayed put and she dragged Hiei down with her. Seconds passed silently as they were both conscious of the compromising position they found themselves in, Hiei straddled her his hands at her sides, propping himself up, his knee between her legs, pushing the edge of her skirt up, exposing smooth skin. Kurumu blushed, rather enjoying the situation, Hiei was rather more uncomfortable with the situation, though he did find his eyes wandering down to her exposed legs. Kurumu noticing his wandering eyes, smiled.

"If I knew we were gonna end up like this I wouldn't have worn any panties." The normally stoic Hiei could not hide the colour that rushed to his cheeks, nor could he fight the images making their way into his mind. As he made his way to stand, he felt her hands gripping his blazer once again.

"I know you like this. I like it too, you don't need to get off me; I can tell you like the way I look, and I'm sure I can get you to like me too, so just give me a chance."

Hiei sighed, if nothing else she was persistent. "Okay fine, I'll let you try."

She smiled up at him, thus time without her usual flirtatious smirk. "Thank you." She lifted her head towards him and planted a small kiss on his lips, lingering for less than a second. "I know I'll make you feel the way I feel, Hiei. I promise." He was taken aback, that was his first kiss, climbing off of her, he raised a hand to his lips, he could still feel the sensation of her full lips against his. Almost wordlessly he spoke.

"I think believe you."