Well, I'm trying my hand at writing another One-Shot for Yu-Yu Hakusho. This one is going to be centered on Kurama. I had to try this one because of the way Kurama's attitude is. Kurama never gets angry (except for when it deals with his friends or Kuronue and family and a few other exceptions) and always seems to keep his cool. Let's test that theory! This story's purpose is to see how much he can deal with! Let's go! I already feel bad for him since I know what's going to happen to him. Sorry Kurama!

I do not own Yu-Yu Hakusho and if I did……Kurama would've gotten a little angrier with some of his enemies. He was a great fighter, but I think he could've had a few more temper issues. A calm guy was just asking for all the trouble he got.

-------------

Everyone, no matter how nice or kind they are, has that unbearably bad day. What happens when it's a certain red-haired kitsune's turn? Poor, poor Kurama.

-------------

Kurama's Bad Day

The night was black as pitch and the pale moonlight danced elegantly on the silent Ningenkai. The figure, that was trying to make its way through the shadows, was silent and effortlessly hid within the deafening silence of the night. The wound on his stomach was a rushing flow of crimson and his already heavy limbs were weighed down more by the soaked fabric of his uniform. Scratches decorated his entire upper body and various tears could be found on his magenta uniform. His piercing hazel eyes flashed in annoyance and he grit his teeth in a mixture of pain and annoyance. Why did every enemy Kurama fought always aim their attacks at his stomach? Was there a target on his stomach that he didn't know about or was it every demon's aim to piss him off?

Kurama stopped at the rim of the trees he was hiding in and glanced towards his home. His flaming hair fell into his weary face and Kurama began to sneak towards his mother's house. Kurama looked up into the sky and thought, 'It's well past midnight. Mother must have surely gone to bed by now. Sneaking back into the house should be fairly easy.'

After the self-assurance, the kitsune moved to the window and moments later found himself safely within the house. He quickly went to his room, retrieved some bandages along with a change of clothes, cleaned himself up in the bathroom, and slipped back into the hallway without making a single sound. The kitsune was quite pleased and was sure that the night's misadventure would never be found out by his human mother. He shifted the bloody clothes in his arms and began sneaking back to his room in triumph.

That is, until………

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Completely startled, Kurama dropped the crimson stained bundle to the floor and watched the small communicator, which Botan had given him earlier, roll around on the ground at his feet. Its obnoxious wail shattered the silence and Kurama dropped to his knees to silence it. It managed to shriek out once more before Kurama successfully curled his fingers around its smooth glossy surface and flick it open.

"HELLO?! Anyone there?! Botan speaking!" a bubbly, chipper voice almost screamed through the entire hallway.

"Lower your voice, Botan," Kurama pleaded in a hushed tone as he looked around the hallway he was crouching in, "I'd rather not wake my mother this early in the morning."

"Oops. Sorry," Botan apologized in a quieter voice. She looked at him seriously through the mini-screen and continued, "Hiei reported in about his mission and hour or so ago and I was wondering how yours went. You usually call in first so I thought something may have happened to you."

"I managed to finish my mission. I just had a few lose ends to tie up," Kurama answered as he strained his ears trying to hear if his mother had awakened. He was only met with an absolutely silent house. That was a comfort to him and he returned his attention back to Botan saying, "Everything's been taken care of."

"Alright!" Botan suddenly exploded in her bubbly manner causing Kurama to give a slight jump. She quickly quieted and continued in a more careful tone, "Thank you, Kurama. Meet us all at Genkai's tomorrow after school and we'll finish this whole thing up. See you then!"

With that, the ferry girl disconnected and left Kurama frozen in the middle of the hallway. The hazel-eyed kitsune shook his head in exasperation and gathered up the bundle stained in his own blood. He stood and began to make his way back towards his room until a delicately soft voice broke the silence around him.

"Shuichi? What are you doing up at this hour, dear?"

Kurama could hear his mother reaching for the light switch and his mind instantly whirling into action. Instinct completely took over and Kurama's hands tossed aside the bloody evidence of the night's adventure. Kurama spun on his heel and began wracking his mind for any possible excuses he could think up. A few seconds later, his eyes met with the bright hallway light and found himself temporarily blinded. He blinked for a moment and quickly said, "I'm sorry, mother. Did I wake you?"

Shiori was puzzled to say the least. Why was her son walking around the house that late into the night? Why was he covered in scratches? Why did he look a little pale? Mrs. Minamino wasn't one to probe her son for information, but she had to admit that she was curious to what had happened to him. She stayed silent for a moment before carefully asking, "I thought I heard this strange wailing noise. Did it wake you as well? And why are you covered in scratches?"

Kurama could feel the sweat beading across his forehead and he began wracking his brain for a way out of the mess he was in. Suddenly, as if acting on its own accord, Kurama's mouth opened and began to tell her his excuse, "I heard something as well, and I went out to see what it was. When I went outside, something streaked out from the bushes and caused me to fall. That's why I'm covered in scratches."

"Oh, I see," Shiori's gaze softened as she looked over her son, "Did you see what it was?"

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to see it before I fell. It was gone by the time I got up. I had the impression it might've been a stray animal," Kurama lied through his teeth.

"Alright. Go back to bed now, Shuichi. Goodnight, dear," she smiled and allowed Kurama to slip back to his room; picking up his bloody bundle as he went. Once he was in the safety of his own room, the kitsune tossed his bloody clothes aside and collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion. Kurama yawned and burrowed himself deep beneath the warm layer of blankets he had on his bed. He pressed the side of his tired face into the pillow and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

It seemed that he had only been asleep a few minutes when his alarm clock began blaring in his ears.

Kurama released an annoyed moan and slammed his hand down on the alarm clock. The device obediently became silent and Kurama released a yawn into the pillow. He thought about it for a moment before pulling the blankets closer to him and whispered, "A few more minutes of sleep won't hurt anything."

The next time his green eyes opened he stole a quick glance at the clock and found that he only had twenty minutes to get to school. Kurama became a blur as he shot out of the bed and ran around the house trying to get himself ready for school.

But, even a fox demon can only move so fast and Kurama heard the late bell ring just as his foot stepped through the front doors.

-------------

"Minamino, Shuichi?" the teacher glanced up from her roll and looked to see her pupil's seat completely empty. She tapped her pen against the clipboard in confusion and asked, "Has anyone seen Mr. Minamino?"

Before anyone could answer, the classroom door was thrust open and Kurama entered the room with a slightly red face. The green-eyed student leaned against the doorway inconspicuously holding his stomach wounds and gasped, "I apologize for being late, Sensei."

"Uh…um…It's not alright for you to come into class this late, Mr. Minamino," the teacher stammered shaking her head. She formed a mask of seriousness and continued, "So, won't you be so kind as to present your project first?"

Kurama instantly felt the color drain from his face. 'That project was today?!' Kurama thought in desperation. He closed his eyes and moved into the classroom, closing the door behind him. He went to his seat and sat saying, "I'm sorry, Sensei…I wasn't aware that the project was due today. I don't have it with me."

"YOU aren't prepared for class?!" the teacher nearly choked on the air she was breathing. Kurama stared at the top of his desk and instantly became aware of all his classmates burning holes into his skin with their eyes.

"No, Sensei," Kurama sighed as the air thickened around him. The day didn't seem like it could get any worse. First he slept in, making himself late and then he walked into the class not prepared for a project that he had known about weeks in advance. Kurama moved in his seat and the bandages tugged uncomfortably against his wound. It was bad enough that he was injured, but now Kurama could hear his classmates gossiping in hushed whispers about the scars all over his face and hands. 'I guess this is bad karma or something. I better just get through the day and hope it gets better,' Kurama sighed and began falling into his regular school schedule. Soon his classmates returned their attention back to their work and Kurama's day went on normally.

That is…until lunch rolled around.

"Hey Minamino!"

Kurama glanced up and saw the infamous class jackass glaring down at him. The red head let out a sigh and looked up saying, "May I help you?"

"You're acting strange. What's with the scratches and shit? Do you think you're gonna start goin' bad on us or somethin'?"

"Just an off day I suppose," Kurama said in his controlled tone. He stood and slowly began to make his way away from his classmates. Unfortunately, his movements startled the new girl and caused her to accidentally dump all of her lunch on him.

Oh yeah. The day could not possibly get any worse……Or so he thought.

"I'm SO SORRY, Shuichi! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" the new girl then proceeded to hyperventilate. This only caused more of a scene and more of Kurama's classmates looked over at him in surprise. What had the nice Shuichi Minamino done to make the poor new girl act up in such a way? It was the second time in one day that Kurama could feel holes being burned into his back.

Kurama managed to get everything calmed down in relatively quick order and then excused himself to the nurse's office. There he changed into his spare uniform that he had gotten into the habit of carrying because of random demon attacks and asked the nurse to send him home. Being the well known student he was, Kurama was immediately released and quickly made his way home.

"What a rather exciting day," Kurama sighed as every word he said dripped with thick, heavy sarcasm. He looked at the street and saw that, that entire part of town was absolutely silent. It didn't have anyone walking down its sidewalks or cars moving down its streets. It was so silent that you could hear the light breeze as it moved through the tops of the trees. Kurama liked the silence. It was calming to him. Kurama wasn't one to lose his cool, but he was becoming very agitated with the day and how it seemed to be going against him.

He sighed. All he would have to do now was explain to his mother that he felt ill and go up to his room to get some much needed sleep. Hopefully everything would be better when he woke to go to Genkai's temple.

"DIE FOX DEMON!" a voice suddenly screeched from behind him causing a shiver to race through his spine. Kurama instantly spun on his heel and met with the very tip of his opponent's blade. A loud shredding sound erupted around them and Kurama's latest shirt now was split in half leaving a shallow wound across his chest.

'Why didn't I sense him?!' Kurama thought in surprise as he back flipped away from his opponent. The demon seemed to know the kitsune's plan and lunged forward knocking him straight to the ground. Kurama struggled to force the demon off him, but its long claws came even closer to Kurama's neck. The wound on his stomach seared and instantly began to bleed once again. The bandages were quickly stained crimson and the demon noticed the weak point with ease. He slammed his foot onto Kurama's wound and Kurama gave a noise of pain in the back of his throat. Knowing the demon would take full advantage of this; Kurama slammed his foot into the demon's own stomach and sent him flying backwards. It took a moment for Kurama to fully stand himself, but once he had, he jumped away to a safer spot.

Once the kitsune landed safely away from the new demon, he reached back into his hair and produced a small demonic seed. He quickly glanced around to make sure no humans were around and launched a full assault against the demon. In a matter of milliseconds the demon was slaughtered to pieces and Kurama instantly hid away the bloody corpse. He then resumed his walk home as if nothing happened and looked over his uniform.

"This will be rather difficult to explain," Kurama muttered fingering the slashed fabric. Blood was seeping through his shirt and there was no way he could possibly get away with this one if his mother saw him. He began hoping that he would be able to sneak in and get himself cleaned up before his mother could see him.

Kurama had no such luck.

As soon as the kitsune walked into the house he met his mother and her panicked face. She instantly went into a fit and risked giving herself a heart attack. Kurama did everything in his power to calm her down and tell her the story he rehearsed, but every four words she would burst out into another fit that would take seven long agonizing minutes to stop. But, the kitsune was cunning and managed to calm his mother down in record time. Then he moved up the stairs and went into his room. After he had bandaged himself up and fixed everything to his liking, the green-eyed kitsune collapsed on top of his bed. He threw the covered over him and buried his head deep beneath the pillow. He was out in a matter of seconds.

Seven hours had passed, but when Kurama heard the annoying tapping slamming on the window he felt like he'd only been asleep for seven minutes. He groaned beneath the pillow and sat up thinking, 'Am I ever going to have some time to myself?!'

It took a few moments for his eyes to focus, but once they did he found himself staring at the form of his close friend sitting on the windowsill. Kurama shot like a bullet and threw open the window the second he reached it. Moments later, Hiei slid into the room and cast Kurama a slightly annoyed glance.

"You're late, fox," Hiei sniffed as he sat himself calmly down on the floor by the window. Kurama slowly closed the window and sat back on the bed looking over at the fire apparition. Hiei slowly looked over his comrade for a few moments before continuing, "We were told that you would meet us at the temple to give your report. That was supposed to be hours ago. They sent me to find you."

"I apologize for not showing up. I……" Kurama trailed off and sighed. Hiei remained silent and waited patiently for Kurama to continue. He could sense that Kurama had something on his mind and if it kept him from dealing with the other detectives he'd stay and listen. Of course, Hiei was genuinely concerned and didn't even move until Kurama forced a smile and continued, "I just haven't been myself."

"Hn," Hiei continued seeing that Kurama wasn't going to give anymore. He glanced over to the window and said, "Whatever. Come to the temple if you want. Just don't expect me to explain your absence." Hiei stood and crossed to the window. He opened it and placed his foot on the windowsill saying, "If you do choose to come you may wish to re-bandage your wounds. I can smell the blood."

With that he was gone.

The red-head sighed, "I might as well go."

-------------

A Short While Later

-------------

Kurama barely managed to stifle a yawn as he made his way through the temple hallways to get to the room where he would deliver his report. He could sense them all becoming restless and he lightly picked up his pace to appear at the door. He let one last yawn escape his lips and then opened the door to be assaulted by various looks of annoyance. Botan, Genkai, Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Koenma were highly irritated while Keiko, Yukina, and Hiei were calm and perfectly at ease.

"Kurama! You were supposed to be here hours ago!" Botan said in a stern voice as she looked at him in annoyance, "Honestly, this is something I would expect from Yusuke!"

"It's highly unlike you to be late," Koenma shook his head.

"My apologies," Kurama said bowing his head respectively. Kurama couldn't understand it, but the brim of his ears suddenly began to burn and pound with rushing blood. He dug his nails into the palms of his hands and unconsciously began grinding his teeth.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's get to talking about the little demon issues," Botan said clapping her hands. Kurama then quickly delivered his report and sat down while they soaked in the information. Soon they began chattering excitedly about what they were going to do. Kurama was sure that he'd be allowed to rest and recover from his wounds. He was nearly done with his job and even the calm, tolerating fox was nearing the very end of his unnaturally long rope of patience.

Koenma, on the other hand, had a different idea.

"Now, Kurama, what you have to do is go deep into the Makai and infiltrate the highly guarded building in which the documents are kept. This is highly guarded place and the security will be so tight that there's a very small chance you'll get through without being seen. Considering you've been a thief for a long time this should be reasonably easy for you. Just watch out for the large security system they've set up right at-"

"No."

His voice was quiet but had a sense of finality that stopped everyone in their tracks. Kurama raised his blazing green eyes to his comrades as he struggled to keep his grinding teeth quiet. He placed his hands on the table and pressed his palms into it as he continued, "I am NOT going to go to the Makai and I am NOT going to retrieve those documents for you. I AM going home to get some rest and then I AM going to going on a three week vacation."

His sudden firm voice caught his comrades off guard, but they managed to quickly recover. Koenma looked at him and sternly said, "Now, Kurama. You're the only one who has actually been around this area and we need you to go in and-"

"I've just come back from the Makai!" Kurama snapped with his voice rising slightly in anger. The kitsune rose from the table and looked at his comrades in the eyes before turning back to the Prince of the Reikai, "You've been taking advantage of my patience and I'm about finished. I got back from the Makai injured and haven't even had the time to heal. Not to mention I was attacked on my way home today. I've been patient and tolerant for a while now, but I honestly don't see any relief in the nearby future."

"Oh come on Kurama. You're acting as if we're asking you to fight the world. All we're asking is-" Botan starts but Kurama finally cracks and what he does next catches all of them off guard.

"I said NO! You're asking for too much this time! I've been through the day from hell and all I'm asking is to go home and get some rest. I'm not asking for any damn sympathy, nor am I asking you to understand what I'm feeling. I just want to be able to walk home and not worry about getting attacked because of some demon you pissed off. I want to be able to spend time with my mother not worrying about if a wound reopens or if you decided to get your lazy ass off that damned throne and decide to give me a mission. I've been patient, tolerant, and understanding for a long time now, Koenma, and I'm about through with it. It wouldn't be so much if this happened every once in a while, but it happens more than four times a week. I can't remember the last time I went to school without a single injury or even spent time with my human family without being interrupted by one of your trivial matters. I'm not the only person you have at your disposal when you need a mission done!" Kurama's eyes flashed and everyone clearly saw the yellow tint that temporarily entered his eyes. It was gone in seconds, but Kurama's temper was far from done. The fox demon returned his stone gaze to his superior and continued in a voice strained for calm, "I understand that your job demands a great deal and that you are constantly plagued with people wanting something from you every moment. But for once think about the people below you and how stretched thin they actually are. I've been patient long enough and I'm about near the end of my rope! So consider this. I'm taking my vacation. Starting now."

Absolute silence answered Kurama's speech and the kitsune looked around the room. Kuwabara, Koenma, Yusuke, and Botan sat in silence with their jaws wide open in surprise. Keiko, Yukina, and Genkai sat with surprised looks on their faces, but otherwise were composed. Hiei sat against the wall with a slightly amused smirk threatening to curl the corners of his lips. Kurama locked eyes with his friend of fire and slowly felt himself calm down. After a moment or so Kurama managed to completely calm himself and look the Prince of the Reikai in the eyes. The teenage ruler looked at him in surprise and said, "You've made a valid point, Kurama. I was unaware of your standing on this matter and I apologize. You can have your vacation and we'll send someone else."

"Thank you. Now I'm going back home. Excuse me," Kurama turned and quickly removed himself from the room.

He only just managed to close the door behind him when he heard Yusuke say, "Did anyone else here think of the song 'Bad Day' just then?"

Kurama sweatdropped and slightly shook his head. He began making his way down the hallway muttering, "You have NO idea Yusuke. No idea whatsoever."

-------------

Well, that's poor Kurama's bad day. We all knew it was coming and no matter how calm, cool, and collected he may be there was no way he could deal with so much and not crack. Now I feel bad though…I can't believe I did that to poor Kurama…haha…I guess I'll have to find some way to apologize to him…although I liked writing this. Maybe I'll make it up to him in my other story. Well, that's the story. So tell me what you thought in a review! Please!