It wasn't often that Kazuma Kuwabara visited his sister's apartment. He thought the people in her building were weird. That and he wasn't invited very often to begin with. Despite these things, he now stood outside Shizuru's peeling door with a bag of her favorite fresh onion bagels. He doubted she would be awake at this time, but he had made a copy of her key incase a situation like this ever occurred. When Kuwabara walked into the small apartment he frowned. It was obvious from the blanket wrapped lump that his sister had fallen asleep on the couch again. Even though he had tried to warn her that the beat up furniture was awful for her posture, she never seemed to listen to him, something about him being a "know-it-all med student". Kuwabara quietly approached his sleeping sister, reaching a hand out to lightly rest on her shoulder (which felt unusually firm) and began to gently shake her.

"Uh Shi. Wake up. Shi! I brought bagels they're-"

He didn't manage to mention they were onion before she rolled away from his grasp and the movement allowed a few strands of red hair to poke out from beneath the blanket. Kurama.

The action was quick, but there was no doubt that Kuwabara had meant his fist to connect with the face of the sleeping red head and not sink into the squishiness of his sister's couch. In fact Kurama had only narrowly escaped Kuwabara's wrath by use of his heightened sense of awareness. The fuming boy loomed over him, huffing and puffing with the righteous fury of brotherly love. The mere idea of a man sleeping a few feet away from where his sister slept was already maddening. Having that man be a friend of his who also happened to be the flame of desire for every girl aged 18-25 within a 10 mile radius was even worse, much worse. From what Kuwabara could tell the fox demon was a prolific womanizer. It was a rare time that there wasn't a flock of girls following him around, hanging on his every word, and now it seemed that his poor sister had fallen for him as well. It was up to Kuwabara to protect her dignity and her heart like any good brother would, by beating Kurama's face in. Unfortunately Kurama didn't see it that way and kept dodging his fist. It was more than a little frustrating.

"KUUUURAAAAMAAAAA! Hold still so I can kill you!"

Kurama jumped away from the couch and Kuwabara's speeding fist in one fluid movement. He'd barely anytime to flinch inwardly over the image of Shizuru's destroyed couch before being forced to flit off out of harm's way again. This was getting out of hand and he knew that Shizuru would be a force to be reckoned with whenever she emerged from her room. He had readied himself to catch Kuwabara's fist, but paused when he felt her enter the room. Kuwabara, however, seemed to be completely unaware and pulled back his fist to launch another attack. Though Kurama had braced himself to dodge once more Kuwabara's fist never came. Instead a loud 'thwack' rang through the room.

"Anyone care to explain to me what exactly is going on here?"

Shizuru's less than pleased tone emphasized her annoyance over the situation and Kurama turned around to find Kuwabara rubbing soothingly at the spot that had taken Shizuru's sisterly brand of punishment. Kuwabara's face donned an appeasing smile and he help a large brown paper bag out in front of him.

"H-hey sis, good to see you. I, uh... Brought you bagels..."

Shizuru took the bag from his shaking hand and gave a few approving sniffs before raising an eyebrow at her brother. He had obviously been doing something she would disapprove of and judging by the atmosphere of the room that something involved violence towards Kurama.

"Now want to tell me why you found it necessary to scream death threats at Kurama at eight in the morning Kazuma, or will I have to beat it out of you."

Truthfully she had become accustomed to being awoken at a much earlier hour and had been laying awake for quite sometime. Not like he needed to know that though. Guilt was the best tactic when it came to getting information out of Kazuma.

"Well you see Shi, I was kinda just popping in to say hi, when I found Kurama sleeping on your couch. Guess I sort of overreacted a little, huh?"

Shizuru looked over at her couch. She hadn't thought notice it before, but if she had Kuwabara would be sporting a lot more lumps that the one she had given him to start with. There were three large holes in old leather of the cushions and at least two pairs of foot indentations in the armrest. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she pointed a long finger towards the door.

"Go"

The command was relayed in a none too gentle tone and Kuwabara crossed his arms, his face cracking a victorious smile.

"You heard her Kurama. You should get going."

Shizuru's eyes snapped open and she looked incredulously to her brother.

"Not him you moron. You. You're the one who put a bunch of holes in my favorite couch!"

"B-but I brought-"

"Out!"

Kuwabara sheepishly dragged his feet towards the door. Jealously looking at the man who'd put him in his sister's bad graces. 'I need to find Hiei'.

Once the door closed Shizuru's gaze turned to Kurama. She looked him over silently, before deciding to speak.

"We need to talk."

Kuwabara slumped unenthusiastically into the forest. The place gave him the creeps, but he knew that it was Hiei's favorite hangout. Hiei was more of a grouchy little pain in the butt than a real friend and he probably wouldn't welcome Kuwabara very warmly. Although, that seemed to be the way his friendships were these days. Sure enough a small black foot hung down from a dense canopy of leaves and as Kuwabara approached he could see the small demon was perched casually on a long thick branch.

"Hey Hiei! Get down here I gotta talk to you."

Hiei cast a bored look down at Kuwabara, but made no move to leave his branch.

"Why would I want to subject myself to any of the useless drivel you call speech?

As usual Hiei knew exactly what buttons to push. Below him on the ground a fuming Kuwabara glowered up at him.

"Well fine then! I guess you don't want to hear about Kurama's little crush. See if I care."

Before Kuwabara could make a full turn and stalk away, Hiei left his branch and blocked his path. Kuwabara did not appear to be leading him on and he doubted that Kuwabara even had the mental capabilities to concoct such a story. That meant that it had to be true. It also meant that the female was likely human,which could prove to be a more tiresome complication than Hiei felt like dealing with.

"What do you mean that Kurama has a crush? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. What woman could possibly distract him in such a way?"

Kuwabara stood up to his full height and smirked. The smug look on his face was enough to tempt the fire demon with smacking him, but he also wanted information. If Kuwabara had such a stupid look on his face it must mean that Kurama's crush was something Hiei would find at least fairly interesting.

"Well don't just stand there with that idiotic look on your face, tell me who she is."

Kuwabara paused another moment, drinking in Hiei's obvious frustrations. He wasn't pleased with the situation, but he was glad that he could at least annoy the crap out of Hiei. Which almost made him feel better about Kurama and Shizuru.

"My sister."

A look of indifference adorned Hiei's face.

"What about you sister?"

"Kurama's in love with her. I found him asleep on her couch and they were looking at each other kind of funny."

For a moment Hiei was silent. He was waiting for Kuwabara to announce his childish joke and tell him who the girl really was, but the seconds ticked by and Kuwabara said nothing. Obviously he believed what he was saying, but Hiei highly doubted that he could believe the information he was being told.

"You can't possibly be serious."

"And why can't I?"

It was Hiei's turn to smirk.

"Well let's just say that Kurama has more, elegant, taste than - your sister."

Kawabara grabbed the demon by his collar and pulled him to his face, eyeing him angrily.

"What are you trying to say? That Kurama couldn't be interested in my sister because she's not classy enough?"

At this Hiei pushed away Kuwabara's hand and adjusted himself. Neither moved from their close proximity and the two continued to stare each other down. Hiei fixed the red head with an almost bored look before answering.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

An audible clash rang through the trees as sword met sword. Both pushing the other with such equivalent force that they became interlocked, neither willing to budge so much as an inch. It made Kuwabara wonder briefly why he had the kind of friends that were always ready for a fight. It was kind of masochistic when he thought about it. Letting out a sigh he deactivated his spirit sword.

"Fine don't believe me. Ask Kurama about it yourself."

As Kuwabara turned to leave Hiei silently cursed Kurama's soft human emotions.

Across the city Kurama lay on his back staring up at the smooth white ceiling of his condo. Thoughts of his conversation with Shizuru raced through his mind. It seemed as if whatever had taken place the night before had left her very worried, about him no less. Then again he had entered her room without her permission in his Yoko Kurama form. It was natural for her to be worried. It made him worry too. If he couldn't even recall where he went or what he did when in his Yoko form there was no telling what he could do without his knowledge. That scared him more than anything. He also had the inkling that she was keeping something from him. Just before he left her apartment she had lightly grabbed his arm and asked him to be careful. Actually, with the look she was giving him at the time it was more like she was pleading with him. He didn't like that either. It wasn't her job to look out for his safety. It was his job and his responsibility and the way that she was worrying herself over him made him feel guilty. He should never have taken to seeing her. It had been selfish of him to get her involved. Now he doubted she would let him pry her away from the situation. She didn't seem to be the type he could tell what to do, not that he didn't appreciate that about her. Slowly the weight of his eyelids became too much for him to carry and his eyes began to close. His hand came to rest on the spot where she had touched his arm and his thoughts began to drift to places where she might smile at him while she did it. His thoughts were disrupted and his eyes snapped open to find Hiei standing beside him. In his state of thought he hadn't noticed his friend enter the room.

"Having sweet dreams are we, Kurama? Of a certain psychic perhaps?"

Kurama's eyes narrowed at Hiei's implication. Hiei was perceptive, but he couldn't read minds, at least not if Kurama didn't want his to be read.

"What do you know Hiei?"

"Oh just that the oaf, Kuwabara, caught you asleep on his sister's couch. He said you two seemed to be behaving in a rather intimate way."

Kurama cursed himself. It had never occurred to him that the reason Kuwabara had attacked him that morning was because he assumed... That. Leave it to Kuwabara to get it wrong, but get it right at the same time.

"We did not sleep together, if that's what you think."

"Oh I didn't think you two had been doing much sleeping. I'm surprised she put you on the couch though. I thought human females liked to cuddle."

"I'm serious Hiei. We did nothing of the sort."

At that point Hiei examined his friends face. He scoffed.

"You've got to be kidding me Kurama. You actually like this girl? Not only is she a human, she's Kuwabara's sister. Surely you've thought about the consequences."

Red hair slipped over Kurama's shoulders as he turned his face to the floor.

"I have. More than you know. You needn't worry too much though. Nothing will happen between us as long as I am in control."

"And if you aren't in control?"

Kurama turned an incredulous gaze to the fire demon who's own face gave away nothing.

"You know?"

Hiei shrugged.

"I've suspected. You shouldn't get too close to her."

"I know."

Though they came from his mouth the fox demon had difficulties convincing himself of his words.