~Once Burned~

Hello my faithful readers! (And my not-so-faithful ones too, I won't forget you.) I present you with chapter two, and I wish you much reading enjoyment.
No lemon yet, so just hang in there.
Also, the reason for the title should become clear in the next chapter or so.
On with the fic! :)


Confusion was something that Hiei, as a general rule, did not indulge in often. To allow oneself to become confused gave one’s enemies an advantage, and made a person hesitate, possibly just long enough to end up dead. On rare occasions, though, confusion could be the heart’s way of saying you needed to sit down somewhere quiet and calm and think very hard about something.

He was doing that now, as a matter of fact.

There was no better place that Hiei had found in this city to find peace and quiet than on Genkai’s mountain home. He was quite literally *on* her home at the moment, or rather, the roof of it. She would likely sense him in a moment or two, and depending on her mood would either A) chase him off with an insult about his social skills, or B) ignore him. He was hoping for the latter, because he truly needed some time to think.

Kurama’s actions of the day before had admittedly confused him. He was never quite certain what went through the kitsune’s mind at any given point in time, even after all these years of knowing him. Kurama was impossible to predict more than a step ahead, and the only times Hiei had been able to discern the redhead’s thought process were usually *after* Kurama had made his move. For example: during the battle with Sensui, Kurama had done many things that Hiei had not understood until after the fact. He had in no way predicted how the fox would defeat the elder Toguro. He had begun to just barely form a guess when Kurama had brought out his smokescreen, but in the end he had been completely off.

It was always like that, and this time was no different. Until Kurama explained himself, Hiei reasoned he would just have to wonder what was going on. Stubborn demon that he was, he detested the idea of passively waiting for the kitsune to act, but what could he do? Going to Kurama and demanding answers was the first thing that popped into his head, but his confusion held him in place. Did he even want to know what had happened yesterday, or why?

/No,/ he thought, /I *know* what happened. He kissed me. What I want to know is why!/

With a frustrated growl, he jumped off the roof of the temple and raced down the mountainside. He could not go to Kurama yet; that bewilderment was still inside him and he couldn’t face it up front just yet. No, he wouldn’t go see the fox. If there had ever been a time to willingly seek out a certain spirit detective, that time was now. After all, who in the world would know more about strange behavior than Yusuke Urameshi?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (for those who haven’t guessed; this is a page break, which indicates a change of scene or an unaccounted-for passing of time between scenes. Thank you for your patience. This has been a test of the Emergency Idiot Broadcast System.)

School, Yusuke had officially decided, was a complete pain. Having missed a great deal more of it than Kurama, he had a great deal more to make up if he ever wanted to get into a college of any sort. And with no bad guys to bust, no kingdom to rule until he was strong enough (which he intended to be by the next Makai Tournament), and nothing to do with himself now that he was no longer a spirit detective, going to college and getting a career of some kind seemed like his only option.

After the incident with his youkai powers awakening and his being sub-sequentially fired, Koenma had advised him to lay low for a while, at least until Enma was through being a hard-case about having a demon for a tantei. So here he was, bored out of his mind in front of the desk in his room, wondering how he was ever going to finish all of this crap before the next college term began. Hell, he had pretty much missed his entire high school term, what with being gone for three years. He really had no choice but to finish it in that light, and if anyone could cram three years of school into one summer, he reasoned it had to be him. He had fought Yomi and almost beat him, damn it, he could very well handle high school work!

/Besides,/ he thought, a sheepish grin coming to his face, /Keiko will murder me if I fail the entrance exam after I promised her I’d pass. Don’t make promises I can’t keep, right?/

He sighed. His head hurt from all that studying. What he wouldn’t give for a distraction of some kind....

“Detective.”

The curt, sudden greeting startled him more than he cared to admit, and he nearly fell out of his chair. He swore mentally; Kuwabara would never have let Hiei sneak up on him like that these days. The carrot-top had developed his awareness beyond anything Yusuke could have hoped for.

He composed himself, at least as much as he could be composed. “Hiei! You have an angel’s own timing, little guy. I was just about to die of boredom when you showed up.”

The fire demon grimaced at the phrase “little guy,” but he was used to such terms in reference to himself. At least the detective hadn’t called him “shrimp.” That would have been too much on a day like this.

“I have a question for you,” Hiei said, getting straight to the point, “Kurama is behaving strangely, and since he is partially human and so are you, I thought you might be able to explain it to me.”

Yusuke raised a sable eyebrow. “Why can’t you just ask Kurama what’s up?”

Dark-red eyes glared uncompromisingly into his, and the former tantei got the distinct impression that he had better just drop that line of questioning, and do it now. Yusuke cleared his throat and tried again. “Okay…he’s acting strange. Strange how, exactly?”

Hiei didn’t even bat an eyelash. “He kissed me.”

This time the half-human *did* fall out of his chair. “He what!?” he squawked from the floor. The Koorime boy’s glare dropped several degrees in temperature at his reaction, and Yusuke ground his impending freak-out to a halt. It wouldn’t do to chase his short friend away.

“All right, all right, quit looking at me like that,” he told the fire demon, “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting that. So, he kissed you. On the lips?”

He could have sworn he saw a hint of red on Hiei’s face for a moment. “No. Here.” The short demon pointed at his forehead.

“Oh,” Yusuke said, sitting back in his chair, backwards this time so he was completely facing Hiei, “That’s not really a big deal, Hiei. It’s no big secret that he likes you more than he likes the rest of us; he’s always seemed closer to you than to me or Kuwabara. Maybe that’s just his way of showing you friendly affection. He’s always doing stuff like that, now that I think about it. Remember when we were taking pictures, and he did that thing where he tweaked you on the ear? And you got all annoyed? It might be like that.”

The way the tension seemed to ooze out of Hiei’s shoulders at that would not have been noticeable to any who hadn’t known him for a long time, but Yusuke noticed, and he wondered about it.

“Hiei,” he queried, “Were you thinking it meant something else?”

There the fire demon went, stiffening up again just like that. “Don’t be stupid. Although, I suppose that will be a difficult request for a fool like you.”

/A blatant denial, and a quick insult to curb my attention away from the question. Yup, he thought it meant something else./ Yusuke thought.

“Well,” he said, his tone as innocent as he could make it, “If you think that’s all it was, Hiei, then you won’t mind if he does it again sometime, ne?”

The look on the fire demon’s face was priceless. “Why the hell would I want him to do it again, baka!?”

Yusuke smirked at him. “I never said anything about you *wanting* him to do it again.” He schooled his face into an expression of sudden-realization. “Do you?”

“That’s absurd.” Hiei snapped, his eyes darting away.

Yusuke’s grin widened. “Sure, whatever you say. But you know, if I were you I’d learn to look people in the eyes when I lie. You stink at it.”

Hiei gritted his teeth and shot mental daggers at his teammate, but he had nothing to reply with. So instead of answering he simply took off, disappearing with a crack of displaced air.

The former spirit detective stretched his arms above his head and yawned, readying himself for another session of hard studying. He’d had an interesting break from his work, and now he needed to get back to it.

/Kurama,/ he thought as he picked up his pencil, /I really hope you know what you’re doing./

From Metranome to the readers: thank you for the reviews, they made me that much happier to write more of my story. Here's a shout out to everyone who reviewed so far.

To mhmartini: I wholly agree with you; Hiei is adorable. What I'm trying to convey in my story is that by demon standards, he would not be terribly cute, especially not when he's cracking skulls with the Kokuryuuha. Also, you're right about the OOC thing. I've written stories where the characters vary from their series personalities just a little based on their experiences. I will never, however, make Hiei a hippie sex therapist. *n_n*

To KitsuneBaby2004: Thank you for your kind words! Your praise boosts my ego and keeps my fingers typing.

To CWolf: I'm surprised and pleased to receive such a high opinion. I will continue to do my best to keep you reading, and I hope you will not be disappointed.

To C: Your wait has ended! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as much as the last one.

And to December Wind: I have never seen Kurama cry in the series and he certainly won't do it in my fic. He'll be himself, so help me, or I'll commit seppuku with my writing pencil from shame!

That said, I hope you all enjoyed the fic. Keep reviewing, and I'll keep writing!