"That's it! I hate this new female form!" Kurama groused, stomping over to the table where Yusuke and Kuwabara sat and plunking himself down. "I hate it!"

"What's wrong with you?" Yusuke asked, pausing with a dripping taco halfway up to his mouth.

"Someone over by the Chinese stand wouldn't stop staring at my ass," Kurama told him, his face red as he glared down at the table. "Nothing about this situation is good. Nothing!"

"There were those guys on the bus who gave up their seats for us," Kuwabara reminded him.

"So what?" said Kurama. "That was just four more men seeing us as sex objects."

"What do you mean, more men?" Yusuke asked. For a minute, he'd forgotten about his taco, until he realized it was dripping all over the table. He pulled it out of the way before it could drip all over his new jeans. "I haven't had any men hitting on me."

"Well, you're lucky, then," said Kurama, ripping off his green sweatshirt. "It's been happening to me all day long, and I'm sick of it. Hiei told the man at the Chinese stand that I was underage, so luckily he backed off. But why do men feel so entitled to tell me which part of my body they like best? My face, my hair, my eyes, my ass…What is it going to be next?"

"Your boobs?" Yusuke suggested. Now that Kurama's loose-fitting sweatshirt was off, the royal-blue fitted T-shirt he was wearing underneath made his newfound breasts look even bigger.

"What did you say?" Kurama snapped, jerking his head up to glare at him.

"I mean, I guess he could have been an ass man," said Yusuke matter-of-factly, "but those things are huge."

One look at Kurama's face, and Yusuke wished he hadn't said that. Truthfully, it had sounded much better in his head, and he couldn't imagine why he'd said it aloud to begin with. Luckily, that was when Hiei showed up with Chinese food for him and Kurama.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Kurama was telling us about how some guy at the Chinese stand was hitting on him," Kuwabara said.

"That human was an idiot," Hiei said sharply. "Kurama? I got you the egg rolls and a side of rice, like you wanted."

"Thanks," said Kurama restlessly, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and starting in on his rice.

Yusuke felt bad about what he'd said to Kurama. He'd never seen his friend like this before; it almost looked like he was going to cry. What was he supposed to do?

"Want some of my taco, Kurama?" he said finally. "It's really good."

"No, thank you, I've got my own food," Kurama replied. At least he was eating. "How did everybody else's day go?"

"Much better than yesterday," said Hiei. "I raided Kurama's fridge, spent the morning napping in a tree, and got a lot of training done."

"And you still look like a guy," Yusuke told him enviously. "My day sucked. I felt sick, all my classes were boring, and we were doing gymnastics in the girls' gym class. I skipped gym, though, so at least I didn't have to do gymnastics."

"I don't blame you, not if you're sick." Kurama shrugged. "My gym class is beginning a coed dodgeball unit tomorrow."

"What's dodgeball?" Hiei asked.

"You probably wouldn't like it," said Kurama. "We just kind of throw balls at each other, and if you get hit with one, you're out."

"Why wouldn't I like that?" said Hiei wickedly. "It sounds delightfully violent. And if they let me play, I bet I'll be the best at dodging."

"Oh, no," Kurama warned. "You can't use your speed if you're playing with humans, Hiei. Besides, you don't go my school."

"Whatever," said Hiei. "How did your day go, then?"

"Let's see," Kurama replied. "I got into a fight, I reformed an evil cheerleader, I have the suspicion that my former academic rival is attracted to me, I found out my future stepbrother is in love, and I almost got sexually assaulted by a construction worker on the way home from school." Kurama paused to rub his cheeks and forehead thoughtfully. "Oh, and I think I'm breaking out. It's probably just stress or something, but my skin is looking worse than—"

"Hold on," said Hiei. "You almost got sexually assaulted? What do you mean, almost?"

"Yeah, and how did you get into a fight?" Yusuke added. For some reason, he couldn't picture Kurama using his fighting skills at school, quite unlike himself.

"Well, the construction worker didn't really end up doing anything," said Kurama with a sigh. "But the school fight was much worse. This thug at my school, Tadayo, snuck up on me and put his hands around my neck, and when I threw him off, his cronies cornered me and my friend Aratani. When they tried to pin my arms behind my back, I didn't have much of a choice. Aratani tried to tell the principal it was self-defense, but he didn't care."

"Is that why you were so upset about the guy at the Chinese stand?" Yusuke asked tentatively.

"I don't know," Kurama answered. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. But I probably should tell you that Aratani was terrified of Tadayo and his gang, so I offered her self-defense lessons after school."

"You what?!" Hiei shouted.

"Oh, come on, Hiei," said Kurama. "She doesn't need to become an expert. I just want to make sure she's safe."

"Kurama's right, you guys," Kuwabara put in. "Real men protect women from perverts. If we don't call other guys out on stuff like that, we're part of the problem."

"Right," Kurama agreed. "And what better way is there to protect her than showing her how to protect herself?"

"I've never really taught someone to fight before," said Yusuke. "I'll do it, sure."

"Hiei?" said Kurama.

"I don't care if you teach her, I guess," he grumbled. "Just don't expect me to help."

"Very well, Hiei," Kurama replied, rolling his eyes.

They finished their meal fairly quickly in order to catch the bus home on time, talking about everyday things, but Yusuke was worried about Kurama. He didn't like how he was acting. So when Kurama got up to dump the contents of his tray in the trash can, Yusuke followed.

"I-I just wanted to say I'm sorry about being a jerk earlier," he said, looking down at the floor. "It's bad enough that a bunch of guys are hitting on you, but hearing one of your friends do it must be even worse."

"Don't worry about it," Kurama told him. "I'm fine."

"No, I don't think you are." Yusuke grabbed Kurama's arm before he could leave. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," said Kurama. "Besides the obvious, that is."

It's VERY obvious, was the thought that popped into Yusuke's head, but he knew Kurama didn't want to hear that. So he just said, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Kurama smiled a little. "Besides, do you really want to be burdened with my problems?"

"It's not a burden to tell your friends about your problems," said Yusuke. "I don't know what to say to you about your situation, and I'm not sure I even really understand it, but I do know that it's pretty dumb of you to hold it inside."

"You mean, like you do?" Kurama joked.

"Hey, I told you guys about the most embarrassing thing I could possibly imagine," Yusuke argued. "So you could at least tell me what's going on with you. You're not acting normal. Why are you letting those perverts get to you?"

"It's complicated, Yusuke," said Kurama. "And I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready to talk about it right now. The best thing you could do for me as a friend right now is to respect that."

"Well, that makes sense, I guess," Yusuke said finally. "C'mon. We have a bus to catch."

…

Kurama didn't say much on the way home, but he was thinking plenty. Discussing feelings was not exactly Yusuke's strong point, so Kurama appreciated the lengths he'd gone to in order to tell Kurama he would always be there, no matter what. But he just couldn't bring himself to tell Yusuke everything, especially not right there in the mall. How could he say that the creepy feeling he got from Karasu had never really left? It sometimes felt like muck on his body that he couldn't wash off. Every so often, he still had nightmares about what might have happened if Team Toguro had won and he'd become Karasu's pet, like Karasu had clearly wanted.

After he killed Karasu, Kurama thought those interactions were in the past, but now he was reliving it, again and again. And each time it happened, it felt like he was unraveling just a little bit more. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. His friends didn't know what Karasu had done to him in that hallway, they hadn't heard the entirety of what he said during their battle, and they would never know. The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk about it.

Once they had finished the walk to Kurama's house, it was around five o'clock. Because it was spring, the sun was still high in the sky, so he knew they could have Aratani's lessons outdoors. Hiei announced that he wasn't interested in teaching a human how to fight and left for the woods.

"So…when is this girl showing up?" Yusuke asked, sitting down on the backyard lawn, where the wooded area began.

"It should be soon," said Kurama, checking his watch. "I'll wait for her near the woods."

Kurama kept on waiting for Aratani by the edge of the woods, until finally he saw her coming around the side of the house to the backyard, the afternoon sunlight reflecting on her glasses and long black hair.

"Good evening, Sakura," she greeted him, setting her book bag down on the back deck and walking over to him. "I didn't see you in the front yard, so I came around b-AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Aratani let out an earsplitting shriek. Kurama pulled her out of the way just in time to avoid Hiei, who had just launched a silent sneak attack from up in a tree. Kurama could tell that if he had pulled her away just a split second later, Aratani would have been sliced in two.

"Hiei!" Kurama shouted. "What the hell was that?"

"That," said Hiei, looking straight at Aratani, "was your first lesson."

Aratani was still gasping in shock and fear, one hand over her heaving chest.

"I have to say, you failed miserably," Hiei continued. "I've seen corpses with better reflexes than yours. Besides, you can't always rely on someone else to save you, and the only thing a scream like that will do is anger your enemy."

Plainly terrified, Aratani finally found her voice. "W-When h-have you s-seen a c-c-corpse?"

Yusuke burst out laughing, but Kurama ignored him.

"That wasn't funny, Hiei," Kurama scolded. "What if I hadn't been here?"

"If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have attempted it."

"Well, I don't know if that's your idea of a compliment, but I'm sensei here," Kurama declared. "And I say you're not allowed to do things like that."

"Sensei Sakura, huh?" Aratani managed to grin; Kurama was relieved to see her calming down. "By the way, is that a fox on your sweatshirt?"

"Indeed it is," Kurama replied. "Do you like it?"

"Oh, yes, I love it!" said Aratani passionately. "I love foxes. They're my favorite animal! I love their cute bushy tails and adorable pointy ears!"

All right, this is getting weird, Kurama thought, but he didn't interrupt her.

"I wish I had a fox of my very own," she continued. "I would cuddle up with it every night and give it kisses and hugs…But, you know, it's a fox, so it would always get a little bit wild."

There it was, that feeling Yusuke had been talking about. It wasn't as if Kurama had never felt it since yesterday morning, but this was the strongest it had ever been so far. Aratani had been talking about a literal fox, but Kurama's mind jumped to something different, especially when she mentioned her fox getting wild. Obviously, this sensation was a lot more discreet than it would have been if Kurama still had his male body, but he had never wanted this girl more—

"Ouch!" Kurama hissed, turning around. Yusuke had just slugged him from behind, breaking him out of his spell.

"You can thank me later, fox-boy," Yusuke muttered so nobody else could hear.

"Okay, enough fooling around, everyone," Kurama told everyone, trying to ignore the blush in his cheeks and the unsavory sensation of being a little wet down there. "Let's get down to business."

"Sounds good to me," said Aratani, who didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. "I suppose you'll be teaching me martial arts?"

"Not to mention good old street fighting," said Yusuke. "Pretend I'm that Tadayo asshole and hit me."

"I-I don't know." Aratani folded her arms behind her back. "I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"It won't hurt me," Yusuke told her. "Come on, right in the abs."

"I'm sorry, but I can't hit you," Aratani insisted. "It just doesn't feel right."

"If you're not willing to hit someone, these self-defense lessons are going to be a waste of time," Hiei said sharply. Kurama gave him a warning look, but he knew his friend had a point.

"Well…okay," said Aratani, and she threw a punch at Yusuke. "OW!"

"Are you all right?" Kurama asked, rushing over to her.

"That hurt!" Aratani was saying, rubbing her fist in her other hand, tears of pain in her eyes.

"I guess my abs are harder than I thought," said Yusuke. "Sorry about that."

"No, she's just weak." Hiei sounded disgusted. "Who hurts their hand from punching someone else?"

"Hiei, if you can't stop being rude, I'm going to have to ask you to leave my dojo," said Kurama.

"We can't just go easy on a student," Hiei argued. "Her enemies certainly won't."

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" Kurama said sweetly. Then he grabbed Hiei and marched him over to the side of the house.

"What's your problem?" Hiei demanded, scowling.

"I want to know what your problem is!" Kurama hissed. "Why are you being such a jerk?"

"I'm not being a jerk," Hiei snapped. "Sometimes you have to be tough on students."

"Now's not the time. I told you, I'm sensei here."

"Well, you're not being a very good one, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you."

"Obviously not, because all you care about now is that stupid human."

"Is that it? You're jealous now?!" said Kurama. "I'm allowed to have other friends, you know!"

"What?!" Hiei shouted. "I am so not jealous!"

"You could have fooled me!" Kurama shot back. "If you were my real friend, you'd be supportive of me and her!"

"If you were my real friend, you wouldn't promise to teach her to fight without asking me first!"

"So I have to check with you every time I want to do something?"

"When it concerns your obsession with entertaining the ridiculous needs of the inferior human race…YES, YOU DO!" Hiei hollered at the top of his lungs.

Kurama felt rage rising up inside him, but he leaned back and crossed his arms, drawing himself up to his full, current five-foot-seven.

"Well, then," he said sternly, "I guess this is where we part ways for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Hiei.

"I mean," said Kurama, pointing towards the woods as his voice rose to a scream, "GET OFF MY PROPERTY!"

And like a whisper, Hiei was gone.