Hiei must have been flustered, because he blurted out, "Kurama!"

"Huh?" said Chizuko, separating herself from him. "Who's Kurama?"

"Um—nobody," said Hiei, the red color on his face deepening. "I mean…it's not a name. It's…it's a saying. It means 'hi.'"

Kurama didn't know if he should have been angry or disappointed or what, but Hiei looked so incredibly nervous, and his "save" was so ridiculous, that he found himself laughing. It was actually kind of cute.

"Sorry to intrude, Hiei," he said, walking over and setting one arm on his friend's shoulder. "It looks like the two of you were having a fine time."

"Aratani, I hope you're not mad," said Chizuko, "but—"

"Why would we be mad?!" Aratani shrieked, and she threw her arms around Chizuko. "I'm happy for you! Is Hiei your boyfriend now?!"

"Well, what do you think, Hiei?" Kurama teased. "Are you her boyfriend?"

"Fuck you," said Hiei in reply. This time it was Chizuko they heard laughing.

"I think we're just going to see where it goes," she said, but Kurama saw that she was grinning. "By the way, Sakura, I asked Hiei if he wants to go to that party, and he said yes. He'll even extend invitations to those other friends of yours."

"That's so nice of you, Hiei," Aratani giggled. Kurama was fully aware by then that she was right: there was nothing he could do about the apparent blossoming romance between Hiei and Chizuko, so he might as well be happy for the two of them.

"Maybe you two should do something after school," Kurama suggested.

"I thought you wanted me to come to your stepfather's birthday party," said Hiei.

"That's not till late," said Kurama. "We're going about an hour after I get back from cheer practice."

"Ichika is going to work you guys to the bone," said Chizuko, her tone almost wistful. "She's a real drill sergeant."

"Do you think Hanako will make Captain next year?" Aratani asked, sounding worried.

"Nah," said Chizuko. "Ichika's not easily impressed, you see, so Hanako's plan was to wow her at the competition. But Sakura, you'll be stealing Hanako's spotlight. So even though you aren't planning on staying a cheerleader, you'll be the one to propel our school to victory, and keep the focus off Hanako long enough for my ankle to heal. Then I'll do something to impress Ichika, and I'll have Captain in the bag. Simple."

"Well, you've already impressed me," Hiei told her. "I like the way you think."

Chizuko smiled then—but it was a different kind of smile than she gave most people.

"You know," she said, "I've never, ever had a boy say that to me before. They always comment on the way I look."

"There are more important things than that," said Hiei.

It was at that moment that Kurama wondered if maybe he'd judged Chizuko a bit too quickly. Maybe Aratani was right and this time was going to be different. If that was the case, Kurama was going to do everything he could to help them get together.

"Remember how Yuki mentioned that horror movie debut, Hiei?" said Kurama. "It's today. You two should see that."

"Ooh, I love horror movies!" said Chizuko. "Sound good, Hiei?"

Hiei nodded. "Horror is the best."

"You two really are made for each other!" Aratani shrieked, clasping her hands together. Hiei blushed, and Chizuko put her arm around his waist, pulling him closer. That was when they heard a deep voice behind them.

"Sakura? Sakura Minamino?"

All four of them turned to see a handsome boy strolling towards them. At five-ten, he would have been a little shorter than Kurama's normal self, but he was taller than "Sakura." Kurama recognized him from his math class. Unfortunately, he was also known as a bit of a womanizer.

"Yes," said Kurama warily.

"I lost the homework assignment from yesterday," he said. "I was wondering if I could borrow yours."

"Sakura, that's the oldest trick in the book!" said Chizuko. "Don't fall for that."

"I need it!" said the boy, but he hadn't looked at Kurama's face even once. Kurama sighed. The feeling of his breasts being stared at felt like feelers up his back, but what was he supposed to—

"Hey! Where are you looking?!" Hiei demanded.

"Huh?" said the boy, but he made the mistake of not moving his eyes away from Kurama's breasts. Like lightning, Hiei had yanked him down and forcibly turned his head upwards, so that his eyes were staring into Kurama's.

"I bet you couldn't have even told me the color of her eyes, you pervert," said Hiei. "This is where you look. And if you move your eyes downwards, I'm going to make sure your neck stays in this position permanently."

"O-Okay, okay!" said the boy, attempting to wrest his jaw out of Hiei's grip.

"Good," said Hiei, and he let the boy go. "Ask someone else for your stupid homework."

The boy was gone in an instant. Kurama felt incredibly thankful, Aratani looked a little afraid, and Chizuko was laughing.

"Man, that was awesome!" she said. "You're okay, Hiei, you know that?"

"Thank you, Hiei," Kurama added. Hiei gave a little grunt of recognition, but Kurama noticed that his face had gone pink at Chizuko's words. Kurama and Aratani smiled at each other. This could be the start of something special.

"I'm going to go alert our friends," Hiei mumbled, and he was gone.

"Wow, he should try out for the track team or something," Aratani observed, her eyes unable to follow Hiei's barely-concealed speed. "He's pretty fast."

"You have no idea," said Kurama.

…

Hiei was still thinking about Kurama as he sped to Yusuke and Kuwabara's school. They must have had lunch at an earlier time than Kurama, because Hiei could see that they were both in class. There were only a few hours left to go in the school day at this point. Once the bell rang and everyone surged out into the hallway, Hiei tracked Yusuke down.

"What're you doing here?" Yusuke asked when he saw his friend.

"You and the fool are invited to a party," Hiei said simply.

"Do you mean the birthday party for Kurama's future stepfather?" said Yusuke. "I already told him I can't come to that."

"Yeah, and I know you were lying." Hiei crossed his arms across his chest. "But no. You two are invited to a college party this Saturday night, after Kurama's cheerleading competition."

"Why would we be invited to a college party?"

"Well, technically, a friend of Kurama's is planning on crashing it," Hiei explained. "But she says you and Kuwabara are welcome to come along."

"I'm pretty sure they'll clock us as middle-schoolers, but whatever," said Yusuke. "I'll let Kuwabara know. See you there."