"You agreed to this date rather quickly." Hiei asked raising an eyebrow to his companion.
"Man, anyone with half a brain can tell you lost a bet or something, it's easier to not make a huge deal over it like Urameshi. That just draws more attention to yourself and you still don't get to get out of it." He snickered at the memory of Kurama asking Yusuke out.
"Ha, at least you're not wearing a dress." He continued to laugh.
~flashback~
When Kuwabara was finally released from the hospital and back at home the three other members of the Reikei Tantei had decided to have a little get together in order to celebrate. They weren't going to do anything truly exciting, just go to the arcade, but a return to some normalcy was what was truly desired at that time anyway. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and strangely enough, Hiei were already there waiting on Kurama's arrival who was already six minutes late.
When Kurama had finally shown up Hiei's eagerness was explained.
Kurama arrived sullenly dressed in what looked to be one of his mother's dresses.
At his arrival Yusuke and Kuwabara instantly burst out laughing. Yusuke joking while cracking up of course. Even Hiei was as close to smiling as Hiei ever got at the situation. Only his eyes truly giving away his enjoyment of the situation.
Kurama just looked resigned to put up with it.
Eventually the two boys calmed down, though the occasional snicker still made its way through.
They were making their way to the arcade, Yusuke and Kurama in the lead talking, most likely about the source of Kurama's discomfort and Yusuke's mirth, with Kuwabara and Hiei following keeping their thoughts to themselves.
Kuwabara was not paying attention to his comrades instead thinking over all the changes his life had gone though in the past few weeks. It truly was a lot to take in, and the worst part was that he had to keep it all to himself. Kuwabara was actually pretty good at keeping things to himself, but he hated being told that he had to. He often preferred to talk about his problems just to vent. Now, he had no one to really vent to. The only one's who would have any idea what he was going through was Hiei and Kurama. He didn't believe that there was any way that Hiei would listen and would likely just get annoyed at his 'human whining' or some such thing. Kurama was just as aloof, though he hid it far better than Hiei did.
Kuwabara sighed. This was really depressing.
He was called back to attention by Yusuke freaking out.
"WHAT!? NO WAY! Are you crazy Kurama? I like girls!"
Looking over he saw two very embarrassed boys. Kurama was trying to calm Yusuke down while also trying to convince him to go on a date with him.
Yusuke however was anything but calm, yelling, pointing and stuttering out reasons why not to go out with Kurama. It was obvious to Kuwabara that Kurama was either doing a dare or had lost a bet or something as Kurama, though by far the most feminine member of their group, never showed any interest in cross-dressing or making himself even more feminine then he already naturally was. He also seemed to be as embarrassed as Yusuke himself was, simply more restrained.
It was still funny though so Kuwabara still watched the scene laughing at Yusuke's misfortune.
After a minute though a fuming and embarrassed Yusuke stalked off Kurama following after.
"Heh" Kuwabara turned his attention on the lightly chuckling demon beside him, slightly astounded to hear the stoic demon laughing.
He stared then caught himself and tried to look away as though he didn't notice so maybe Hiei would continue and not get pissed at him. 'HA! Bet I'm one of only a handful who's ever heard HIEI laugh. HA!'
Suddenly Hiei stopped chuckling, startling Kuwabara. He seemed to be trying to steel himself for something. Deciding to get it over with he addressed his companion, "lunch…with me?" he asked raising an eyebrow in question.
Kuwabara paused taking in the situation and his options, then decided to go along with it.
~end flashback~
"So, where are we going anyway? Cuz you know I'm really not in the mood for hunting?"
"There's a noodle shop a few streets down."
"Noodles sound good."
'Guess I never thought about what Hiei does when not being ordered around on a mission or something. I figured he'd want to avoid human establishments as much as possible though. Thinks he's too good for us stupid humans. Arrogant jerk. Hua? Guess it's not 'us' anymore though is it? I was born human, but now I'm not. What am I? Will Reikei actually grant that girl's wish? I hope so. I liked being human whatever Hiei may say bad about them.'
His thoughts turned sour and soon his earlier care free attitude was forgotten in his depression. He sighed.
'Come on Kuwabara, snap out of it. It's not the end of the world. I'm still alive. Shizuru's still alive. I may be a slave but I will change that. Koenma is going down!'
"HAHAHA YEAH! I'M STILL THE GREAT KAZUMA KUWABARA THE GREATEST HERO OF ALL TIME!" He said rather loudly trying to fully bring his spirits back up. The small demon at his side just ignored him and sped up leaving the tall man behind.
"Hiei you punk get back here!" Kuwabara yelled as he realized that his companion and date had left him behind and started to chase after him.
He caught up with him just outside the restaurant. It was a hole in the wall shop that if Hiei hadn't been stopped outside of Kuwabara would have likely missed it.
"Why'd you run of like that you little punk?" Kuwabara asked irritated.
Hiei narrowed his eyes "you were being annoying." With that he turned and entered the restaurant.
It was obvious he knew the place well. He headed straight for a table in the furthest corner, facing the door, Kuwabara in tow.
It was a quiet restaurant; just the sounds of cooking, eating and quiet chatter could be heard. "I can see why you like this place Shorty. It suits you…and the food smells really good." He said drooling, his stomach growling in agreement. Just then a nervous looking waitress came up she seemed to go back and forth between looking at Hiei and at a still bruised Kuwabara. "Good afternoon, what can I get for you?" "Beef Ramen" "Tempura Udon" "Ok, it'll be just a few minutes" With that she quickly walked away leaving the two boys alone again.
"Heh, I see the staff recognize you. What did you do to get her so nervous around you anyway?" Hiei simply raised an eyebrow in response as though it should be obvious, on second thought Kuwabara realized that it probably was.
"Okaaay then not important I guess. So, what was the bet about anyway?" This question got the same response.
"C'mon don't give me that look. I already know there was a bet involved. What exactly was it about
"Hiei sighed giving in knowing that Kuwabara was not going to give up until he got his answers. "You and Yusuke, which one of you would catch on to Reikei's manipulation and the farce around you first. Kurama lost."
"That explains the dress but it doesn't explain this" he gestured wildly with his arms. "Or why he asked Yusuke out."
"It was timed. By this time we figured we had both lost. It didn't take much to convince you of the truth though so you obviously had already suspected and broke the compulsion charm. But there was no way to know when you broke it and if it was within the time range so we both lost that part and had to ask you both out."
"Compulsion charm?" He asked, disregarding Hiei's grumbling about the time limit.
"You and Yusuke had compulsion charms on you that were supposed to make you trust and be loyal to the Reikei. After a few months they are supposed to become permanent. If that girl told Yusuke what she told you he likely wouldn't have believed her and just gotten angry."
There was silence at the table after that while Kuwabara tried to take it all in. During this silence the food arrived and they started their meal. A few bites in Kuwabara's eyes got a glint.
"So," he started. "You bet on me?" He looked smugly at Hiei.
"You knew that I, the great Kazuma Kuwabara am better than Urameshi in every way. Ha!"
"Fool, it doesn't take much to surpass Urameshi's intelligence."
"Still you can't deny that you bet on me to better than him!"
He boasted loudly turning a few heads in their direction and ignoring the glare Hiei was giving him.
He sobered up pretty quickly with more questions. "Why me though, I thought you said I was an "idiot'?"
"Hn, you are. But you're also more observant that you let on. I saw the questioning look you got in your eyes when no one else was around. When did you start to suspect?"
Kuwabara sighed in remembrance, taking a minute to pin down when exactly the small questions became suspicions.
"With Yukina," he started softly and slowly, "I think. I mean I had noticed a few things that didn't add up before the Yukina case but it wasn't until the Yukina mission that I began to really wonder. I think that's when the compulsion broke anyway. That's when I didn't forget the questions immediately or have some rationalization for the quiet suspicions I had noticed. I didn't know what was going on. But I knew something was, and whatever it was wasn't something good."
"Why then?"
"A few reasons really. First, why keep it from you? The brother's rage explanation didn't make sense to me. You don't fly off into rages loosing your head. It didn't make sense. Second, why did they care about her anyway? Reikei obviously doesn't like demons so why go through all the trouble to get her back. Why did they care so much about that one specific demon? There had to be some other reason. Third how did they catch her anyway? Normal humans wouldn't stand a chance in the Makai, so we know she couldn't have been taken from the Makai. But Yukina also wouldn't have been in the human world either. Even if she was able to cross the barrier into the human world she would have no reason to. She was searching for her brother, her demon brother. Why search the human world for a demon, it's not likely to be a very fruitful search. And say all that somehow made sense. Then after we found her why give her a free pass to stay in the human world? I'm not complaining about having to save her, but none of it made sense. After that I started to notice more things that didn't add up, both before the Yukina case and afterwards. All I really knew for sure until I met that girl at the tournament was that I didn't trust Reikei and that they were keeping things from us."
"Hn, how very astute of you."
"Ass-what?"
"Idiot"
"What did you call me you little punk"
"Well first I called you astute, or observant, then I called you an idiot." He said snidely.
Before the arguement could become too heated Hiei intervened.
"Calm down we're supposed to be on a date. I do not want Kurama to make us do this again because you walked out half way through it."
Kuwabara calmed down at the thought of having to have a second date.
"So, what does this date have to include?" He questioned hoping it didn't have to include anything too embarrassing.
"Either dinner and a movie or lunch and ice cream in the park."
"Heh yeah I can see how lunch and ice cream would be the lesser of two evils. Heh, how long does Kurama have to wear the dress?"
Hiei smirked. "Until the date with Yusuke has been completed." There was a pause. "That includes while he goes to school."
Kuwabara tried to hold his laughter and failed resulting in a loud burst of laughter.
"HA, that could take awhile Urameshi's too thickheaded and stubborn to agree anytime soon!"
"Kurama will be disappointed that you agreed so quickly and easily. I believe that he was expecting you to react much like the detective did."
"Yeah well, that's what he gets for betting against me. I ain't giving the man the satisfaction." He paused for a moment thinking. "That was one of the other things that really bothered me too though. Kurama. His story for stealing the forlorn hope. It didn't make sense."
Hiei looked up from his udon. "How so?"
"It just doesn't fit with what we know about him. He was once Yoko Kurama demon thief. When he was killed he was so desperate to stay alive that he decided to run and be born a human, although he hated humans. He was so desperate to live that he decided it was worth it to become something he hated. I cannot see a person willing to go that far to stay alive being willing to sacrifice their life to keep another human alive. I mean it's not like he's a completely different person. He's still Yoko Kurama in spirit, just in a different body really. So his excuse of stealing the forlorn hope to save his mother doesn't make sense."
Hiei paused to consider this. "That makes a remarkable amount of sense." He paused. "Until we know more we should keep this between ourselves." He seemed a bit shocked that such a well thought out argument came from the idiot and somewhat mortified to have to agree with him.
"Yeah. I understand." After a few moments of silence Kuwabara realized that both he and Hiei were finished with their meals and suggested that they continue on to get their ice cream.
The two walked along the park ice cream in hand. Each kept to their own thoughts. Kuwabara noticed that Hiei looked more calm and natural in the park, farther from the human city, than he did in the noodle shop, even if he was getting a lot of strange looks due to his cloak.
Eventually their companionable silence was broken by Hiei."You could be better you know."
"Hua?" Kuwabara asked completely lost about what Hiei was talking about. Not sure how to react he reacted defensively.
"What exactly are you trying to say shrimp?"
Hiei narrowed his eyes. "I'm saying that with training you could be great. You have great potential but you need to train it."
Kuwabara considered this for a moment. Expression going from defensive to contemplating and finishing in aggression irritated at his final conclusions.
"Yeah, well, who's going to train me hua? Genkai's under spirit world's control, I ain't goin to her. Urameshi's an idiot and under Koenma's command. Kurama's style is too different from my own. You hate me. And I can't leave to find another instructor! So yeah, where do you expect me to get this training!"
He was almost yelling by the end due to his exasperation and irritation. He growled, torn between stomping away in a huff and standing his ground.
Fortunately the choice was made for him when Hiei replied.
"You really want training don't you?"
"Yeah" he grunted. "I'm sick of being the weak link on the team, the only untrained one. I need the training even more now. It's just…"
Hiei seemed to sigh a little bit. Closing his eyes he continued. "We'll start tomorrow." I took a second but Kuwabara understood. He was shocked. He never imagined that Hiei would offer to train him.
"Really?"
Hiei glared "First lesson, tracking and speed. Meet me at the edge of the forest on the East side of the city at dawn. You'd better make it worth my time or I'll take back my offer."
"Don't worry Hiei! I won't let you down! A Kuwabara never gives up! Thank you so much!"
"We shall see."
The rest of their date was spent in silence both boys wondering how tomorrow will go.