Arg. Ness. I don't really want this to be long. Like. One more chapter. Maybe two. I just hate it.

I hate testing. lol

Something was bothering Kuwabara. He could have sworn that while he was peeping (quite innocently of course) at the beach, that his surroundings had been completely balanced. But after Hiei had fled, they had changed. Dramatically. But for that, the shrimp would have had to be standing five feet from the orange-top the entire time he was there. But what would Hiei gain from spying on the girls?

"Yukina, are you alright?"

The ice maiden blinked her eyes open. For a second, everything was blurry. But then Botan's worried face came into focus, her cotton candy pink eyes furrowed with concern. Yukina frowned, then sat up. Her desk light was on. It had to be past midnight.

"Botan? What is it?"

The girl sat back a little, though she didn't look relieved. "You were shouting.. in your sleep. I think you were having a nightmare."

Yukina looked surprised. She couldn't remember anything like that. But that's how dreams were, right? It could have been something horrible, but the instant you open your eyes you realize it'd been nothing more than a dream. She'd been feeling like that a lot lately. Something would happen, or someone would say something, and that odd sense of déjà vu would come over her and everything would just... pause for a moment.

"I'm fine," Yukina lied, though she'd started to shiver.

Botan forced a smile, but it was obvious she didn't believe the other girl. "Alright. I guess I should get back to sleep then. Night." She stood up, and walked over to her side of the room, turning off the lamp on her way.

Yukina remained sitting up in the pitch dark for a second, thinking. She had the feeling she was being watched. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she stared out the window that was in between her's and Botan's beds. But she could see nothing but trees.

"Kurama! Long time no see, eh?" The dark-haired teen walked over to Kurama, smiling congenially. It'd been awhile since he'd seen the fox demon, and was eager for a five-seconds worth of catching up. Five seconds which ended.. now.

"Hello, Yusuke," the redhead replied, waving slightly from the desk.

"Do you know where Kuwabara is?" Yusuke asked, as though the question were a tangent. "I haven't seen him since I got here an hour or two back."

Kurama shook his head, and looked down, returning to his notebook. "I'm surprised at you, Yusuke. Lying to me?" He smiled jokingly.

Yusuke rubbed the back of his head. He should have known. Kurama would have recognized Yusuke's aura for miles, meaning that he had known about Yusuke traversing the woods all night last night. "Right. Sorry. About Kuwabara...?"

"The steps outside the shrine," Kurama indicated with a pen, chuckling. "He's thinking."
A thin stream of smoke appeared in the air in front of her face, as she exhaled, dangling the cigarette from the fingers in her left hand. Shizuru was standing in the spot where Yusuke and Keiko had been, not more than an hour before now. She didn't know had happened between them, but the place was warm, despite the brisk air of the night.

"Those can you kill you, you know."

Shizuru turned. "Since when do you care?"

Hiei stepped forward, basking under the light of the single street lamp that dotted the street as far as the eye could see. "I don't."

She smirked, then took another long drag, blowing fog from her lips.

He didn't move.

Shizuru paused. What was different about him? She wasn't facing him, so she had no problem narrowing her eyes in thought. Something about him had changed.

She turned to look at him. "Who is she?"

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" His voice had become malicious.

"You heard me. Your spirit's pink."

"I hope those things are as homicidal as the rumors say," Hiei said spitefully, disappearing.

Shizuru crossed her arms. What had brought upon that out-of-character comment?
"Urameshi? You made it!" Kuwabara stood up, went over to high-five the other teen.

"Yeah," Yusuke didn't bother explaining anything to Kuwabara. Unlike Kurama, Kuwabara would not have sensed Yusuke yesterday. "I heard you were thinking?" he joked.

Kuwabara sobred. "Something's up with Hiei."

"Hiei?" Yusuke shook his head. "Can't be. He's got a stick up his ass. I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon."

"I'm serious! He's being all quiet and shady."

Yusuke laughed. "That's how he is! Don't tell me it took you this long to get that, Kuwabara."

He shook his head. "Today he was watching the girls at the beach. Is that normal?"

"Kazuma's right." Both of the boys turned, surprised, to see Shizuru. "He's got himself a first class crush."

"What?" They said in unison, wearing identical expressions of disgust.

Yusuke recovered first. "What the hell are you talking about? Hiei doesn't even have a heart!"

"There's a girl. I just don't know who," she said, still rather calm. "And Kazuma said he was watching us today at the beach?"

Kuwabara nodded, then turned to Yusuke. "Botan, Shizuru, Yukina, and Keiko went down there today. It has to be one of them!"

"Not me," Shizuru pointed out. "He just gave me a personal deathwish."

"And I don't think it's Botan," Kuwabara thought aloud. "I don't think he could last five minutes alone with her without killing her, you know?"

Yusuke nodded. "And we can rule out Yukina."

"Why?"

Shizuru shot Yusuke a look. Now you've done it.

"Well.. I guess we can't. That leaves Yukina and Keiko, then, right?"

Shizuru thought for a moment, but didn't say anything else. How weirder could life get?

Ugh. I hate it.