Model and the Bass

I appologize for the title... I'm not good with them, but they're usually passable...

To bob, thank you for making me feel better, I was seriously, seriously freaked about this fic's OOCness.

To Heero, this think is nowhere near finished in either posting or writing, unfortunately, so I still have a long way to go with this thing, but I think I've written myself into a corner and need to go back a couple (unposted) chapters and rewrite a few things.

To everyone; Thank you so much for reading! If you have any questions or possible ideas for this thing to go, I'm willing to listen. Yay! On to the chapter.

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Chapter 5: The Maid is Revealed

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The group spent the first hour on the bus to New York talking about the concert in two days, and their schedule until then.

“We’ll have an autograph session by the MTV building tomorrow afternoon, and then we’ll have about a two hour break until we go for the concert set up,” Koenma explained, going down his check list.

“Who is the girl?” Keiko whispered to her husband, nodding to the redhead kneeling next to Hiei, her head resting on Hiei’s thigh.

“I think her name is Minamino or something. Hiei said that she lost a bet and that she’s his slave for the week.”

“Minamino? That’s rumored to be Kurama's real name…” Keiko pondered aloud

“So, you think that’s Kurama?” Yusuke stared blatantly at the scantily dressed redhead.

“It looks like him, or it’s a very big coincidence. I mean how many redheads with green eyes do you know that are that gorgeous, and Hiei just happens to have recently met?”

“Good point.”

“Hey, are you two listening?” Koenma demanded.

“Yes, teacher,” Yusuke sat up straight.

Koenma rolled his eyes before continuing with his ‘lecture’.

After that the gang settled into their usual roles; Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko, Yukina, and Botan all playing poker. Yusuke was cheating as obviously as possible, and
Keiko was hitting him every time he looked at her hand.

“So, why is Kurama dressed as a girl?” Yusuke asked right after getting hit for the third time.

“I’m not sure, Hiei told me something about a bet, but I think there’s something else behind the whole thing…” Yukina said softly. She wasn't one for gossip, but she was also very confused about her brother's actions thus far.

Hiei sat in the back of the bus with his guitar and Kurama watching him intently, kneeling on the floor.

“Are you just going to stare at me the whole time?”

“If you want,” Kurama smiled seductively, “I’m willing to do more.”

“You’re nothing but a pervert.”

Kurama pouted adorably, slowly crawling up into Hiei’s lap. He just rolled his eyes and pushed the man in drag off his legs.

“Oof,” Kurama landed with an undignified plop.

“Just sit down and be quiet, I have to practice.”

“Do you do anything besides practice your guitar?”

“I can practice my swordsmanship on you,” he nearly snarled.

Kurama pouted even harder than before.

“Hn,” Hiei smirked at the boy on the floor.

“What is it that you want me to do, Master?”

“I told you; be quite while I practice.”

“But you’re so good,” he smiled, kneeling right in front of Hiei, “you don’t need to practice.”

“So I should skip straight to my swordsmanship?”

Kurama pouted again, “You’re mean.”

“No one ever said I was nice.”

“It’s written all over the magazines I read.”

“Those things lie. You shouldn’t believe everything you read.”

“But they were right about you and your sister.”

“What the hell did those things get right?”

“That you’re a sweet and caring brother, but you’re a little over protective.”

“Hn, that’s the first thing that they’ve gotten right besides my height,” he huffed, going back to tuning his guitar.

“Hey, Minamino,” Botan intruded, “You want to come play cards with us?”

“It depends on what master thinks.”

“Go!” Hiei growled as he kept his eyes on the bass he was currently tuning.

“Yes, Master.”

The second Kurama sat down, he knew he had walked right into a trap. Everyone at the table, excluding Yukina, stared at him blatantly.

“Why are you wearing that French maid’s outfit?” Yusuke blurted out.

“I… I, um, lost a bet…”

“What kind of bet?”

“The kind where I have to put on a maid’s outfit if I lose.”

“How did you lose?”

“Rather easily,” he admitted.

“So… how do you like modeling?”

“It’s okay, a little boring--- I mean… darn it!”

“Ha, so you are Kurama!” Yusuke jumped and pointed at the redhead excitedly.

Kurama sighed heavily, that was the stupidest trick to fall for… "It really isn't that hard to tell it's me, is it?" he easily turned the tables of stupidity right back at the dark haired boy.

“So why are you degrading yourself like this?” Keiko asked.

“Because…” Kurama chewed on his bottom lip as he let his bright red cheeks speak for themselves.

“Oh,” the girls cooed.

“What?” the boys on the other hand seemed to take a little while longer to figure things out, “Oh… ewww…”

Kurama turned bright red, “You guys don’t have to worry about anything… I don’t think Hiei likes me very much anyway.”

“I’m sure he does,” Botan jumped.

“Really? How can you tell?” he chewed on his lower lip, wanting to hear every reason as to how Hiei showed interest in him.

“Well… he… uh…”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have had you stay with him for a week if he didn’t really like you,” Yukina finished.

“Right!”

“So… you really like him, huh?” Yusuke reasoned out slowly.

“Y-yeah.”

“That’s so cute,” Botan continued to coo.

“Ugh…” Kuwabara continued to look a little green around the gills.

“Are you sure you’re a guy?” Yusuke tried to make heads or tails of this new bit of info.

“I have proof, if you want to see,” Kurama slightly gestured to his crotch.

“Yes,” Keiko squealed, but was pulled back by her husband.

“No!”

“Oh, darn,” she pouted cutely.

“You stay away from my..." he started with the redheaded beauty, but gave an odd expression of consideration before turning to his wife, "You stay away from Kurama,” Yusuke scolded.

She giggled at her husband’s jealous features. Kurama just smiled, biting his bottom lip nervously with sweet innocence as the couple fought over him.

Hiei came out of the back looking a little tired, “I’m going to bed,” he announced.

“We’re going to stop to eat soon.”

“Just get me my usual and I’ll eat it later,” and crawled into his bed.

“Ooh,” Kurama gave a fake yawn and stretch, “I’m tired, too,” and then followed Hiei into his bottom bunk, closing the curtain behind him.

“Hey!” Hiei shouted, and there was a small scuffle behind the closed off area, followed a break of heavy breathing when both men needed air, and then Hiei finally winning out and getting Kurama out of his bed.

The redhead landed with a plop outside of the curtain, and just pouted at the bed with a sweet face.

Keiko couldn’t help but giggle, and neither could her husband as they watch the beautiful male model try to woo their seemingly sexless friend.

“I recommend that you take it slow with him,” Yusuke pointed out, “In the entire time that I’ve known him he has never had any kind of relationship with neither women nor men.”

“He’s very shy,” Yukina interjected softly so Hiei couldn’t hear.

“Fine,” Kurama grinned up at them toothily, “but I’m having so much fun seeing him blush.”

“He blushed!” Yusuke shouted, wide eyed.

“I can hear you, you know!” Hiei shouted from behind his curtain.

“Oops!” the group jumped and went into the back room, which was totally cramped with Kurama, Yusuke, Keiko, Botan, and Yukina (Hiei stayed in his ‘bed’, Kuwabara was still a little confused at the dinning table, and Koenma sat with the driver in the front).

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Botan asked in her usually nosy way.

“What can I do?”

“Woo him,” Keiko put in cheerfully.

“How? I’ve never had to woo anybody before… they usually beg me to date them,” Kurama sounded slightly disgusted.

“Why not a letter that explains your truest and deepest feeling?” Botan offered.

“He wouldn’t like that,” Yukina shook her head.

“How about a stuffed animal? Yusuke used to win them for me at those carnivals all the time.”

“Have you ever seen Hiei with a stuffed animal?” Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

“Well, maybe no one has ever given him one.”

“No, Hiei’s harder to understand than that,” Yukina bit her lip in thought. “I think you’d be better off with trying to show him with small gestures until he gets it, but go slow or you might scare him off. You know… just be yourself.”

“I can do that,” Kurama nodded, "as soon as I figure out who I am."

“Then you might want to change your clothes,” Yusuke pointed out.

“Don’t look at me, this really was Hiei’s idea.”

“Wow, he’s more of a pervert than I thought,” the lead guitarist raised an eyebrow, looking over Kurama's outfit.

“Hey, stop that,” both Keiko and Kurama shouted.

“It’s not like I’m checking him out,” Yusuke said exacerbated.

“Uh-huh, yeah, sure,” everyone responded.

“Fine, then maybe I should leave all you girls to your girl talk,” and the next thing he knew everyone, even Kurama, was pushing him out.

“So, why do you like Hiei so much?” Botan continued to be her nosy self.

“Well, I doubt that he remembers this, but we did actually meet before…”

“Really? When?”

“Was it love at first sight?”

“No, not for him at least… it was when Red Carnage had just started, but before I had started modeling… I was really poor, and I desperately needed money, I recognized him from TV, and was hoping to get some money by pick pocketing him. Unfortunately, Hiei was smarter than that, and when my hand was an inch from his pocket he grabbed my wrist and forced me into a nearby alley throwing me against the wall. I was afraid. I had been pick pocketing since I was ten, and no one had ever actually stopped me before.”

“Whoa, sounds scary…” Yukina whimpered.

“Sounds hot,” both Keiko and Botan noted.

“I fell to the ground in front of him, kneeling pathetically. He just glared at me before taking out his wallet and tossing it in front of me, ‘Aren’t you a little too pretty to be doing this kind of work?’ he asked before walking away without another word. In his wallet I not only found a hundred dollars, I found a card with an agent’s name on it. Taking the chance, I used the money to get cleaned up and went to see the agency. I was given a great contract on the spot.”

“So, Hiei’s the whole reason that you became a model?” Keiko asked.

“Yeah, it’s all thanks to him. I guess that’s why I’ve been such a big fan, and that’s a big reason I fell in love with him.”

“Oh, you love my brother?”

A deep blush settled on Kurama's fair cheeks, “...Yes… I do…”

*****

~TBC~