Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Naruto, but I do own Shio and Scott. I've been kinda lax on the writing lately. I have no inspiration, not to mention I don't write well when I'm grimy. I haven't had a shower in a few days because tree roots have grown into the plumbing so everything is backing up into the basement. And I mean everything. It's very smelly, disgusting, and we can't use the dishwasher or take a shower. I feel so grimy. I almost thought Scott died the other day because her little ramp fell down in her cage, but she was okay. She also got out and I had to catch her before she wandered off. Lack of inspiration and contempt for my writing has slowed my progress a little bit. sigh Please enjoy this chapter. And thanks to my reviewers who have waited so patiently. Please review more!!! I love reviews! Flame me and I flame you. (clicks lighter menacingly)

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"K.O. Player 2 wins!"

"AAAARRGGGHHHH!!!!" Hiei threw down his controller and glared at the screen. Player 2's fighter was happily swinging her twin daggers around and laughing at his fallen samurai.

"Rematch! Now!" He hit replay and snatched up his controller. He was not going to lose again.

"K.O. Player 2 wins!"

"You suck!" Hiei glared at his companion, who stared at him silently.

"You're supposed to be helping me find a way to make that moron fall in love with me!"

"..."

"If I suddenly start following him around, he'll be suspicious." Hiei set down his controller and picked up his notebook. He crossed out that idea. Never mind the fact that Kurama had gone from trying to kill him to trying to molest him. Hiei wanted to be original with his scheme.

"I could try subtle changes over a period of a few months!" It took one look from his companion for him to skip that idea.

"You're right. I can't wait that long." Hiei sighed. "Why can't I just sprinkle some damn pixie dust on him?! Then this whole plan would take about five minutes!"

"..."

"You're a big help," Hiei muttered as he picked up his controller again.

"K.O. Player 2 wins!"

"You're cheating! I know you are!" He recieved no reply and he flopped back on his pillow. He had to do something about Kurama. Anything would suffice, as long as it got the redhead off his back. And his mind. Over the two months that he'd known the redhead, he had had lost interest in almost every hobby he possessed. Well, not so much lost interest so much as he was forced out of them. He usually spent a lot of his time drawing, in fact he had an incompleted mural in the hallway that he really should do something about. Shio kept complaining about how creepy that headless dragon was. Big deal. So what if he hadn't painted on a head yet? Never mind that fact that every time he even considered it, the head would sprout long red hair and green eyes. Because that wouldn't look creepy at all.

"He's driving me mad." Hiei admitted to his stoic companion. He looked over at the many covered canvases that leaned up against his wall. There were at least twenty of them, and each on was covered in white cloth. Some of them were almost finished, others were were sketches. The one he had been working on before school started had been a scene he had sketched on a rainy night in June. Shio and Yukina were seated in front of the large kitchen window with the scrabble board between them. The three of them played scrabble at least once a week in order to help them with their english. Shio had insisted that they learn his maiden language .

"I learned Japanese. You learn english." He had said as he plopped the game in front of them. "Because we've got some really creative cuss words that just don't translate into Japanese!"

Hiei smiled as he pulled the cloth off the painting. Yukina was fully colored, one hand poised to place a piece on the board. Hiei had even kept track of what words they had used. Shio was only partially colored. Hiei had spent a long time on his guardian's face, carefully painting every detail to his expression. His lips had tightened ever so slightly when Yukina had placed her word and his eyes had had focused sharply on the board. One hand was propping his chin up while the other was tangled in his hair next to his knee. That was the main reason that Hiei had hurried to grab a canvas when the two had started their game. Instead of the usual braid, Shio had let his hair hang loose and it slid over his shoulders and pooled around him in a silver curtain. It was a rare moment and Hiei had snatched the opportunity.

Hiei tilted his head to the side and frowned. Shio's hair was still a blank spot on the canvas. No amount of mixing paint was giving him the color he needed for Shio's hair.

"No wonder I didn't finish it."

"K.O. Player 2 wins!"

"Damnit! You weren't supposed to start yet!" Hiei stalked over and plopped onto his bean bag chair. He snatched up his controller again. He was going to win if it killed him.

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"Shuuichi? Are you feeling alright?" Kurama looked up from his homework as his mother pushed his bedroom door open.

"I'm fine, mother." He said as he closed his notebook. Her dark eyes were worried and her mouth was set in a firm line.

"Shuuichi. I am your mother and I know that something is wrong." Kurama put on his best innocent face.

"What do you mean?" She took a few steps forward and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You've been different since school started. You've never gotten into a fight before, and you were two hours late a few weeks ago. I've spoken to your teachers, Shuuichi. They all tell me that you've have been at odds with a freshman boy." She fell silent for a moment before she continued. "Are you having any problems?"

"Mother..." Kurama sighed. He should have known that she would find out sooner or later.

"There's nothing wrong, mother. I've just found someone who I don't get along with. That's all." He smiled when she didn't look convinced. "We've been working out our differences. You have nothing to worry about."

Her face softened, although he could tell that she was not going to let it go. Perhaps for now, but she would be keeping a closer eye on him.

"Alright," She smiled softly and rose, brushing imaginary wrinkles out of her skirt.

"Dinner is almost ready." She said before she slipped out.

Kurama waited until the sound of her footsteps receded before he opened his notebook again. Looking at them now, his notes very incomplete. He would have to cross out that part about Hiei's girlfriend. He was fairly certain that Yukina was dating Kuwabara, and there was also that part about being Hiei's sister. Although Hiei was a strange guy, so perhaps the sibling part didn't matter. Kurama took a moment to ponder that image and he shuddered. Imagining Hiei with Yukina like that was just...creepy. Come to think of it...who would Hiei go with? He was pretty sure that the little brat was gay, the only question would be who he would go for. Kuwabara was out of the question, and Yuusuke and Hiei would most likely kill each other before they got anywhere near a bed. Who else? If Shio wasn't Hiei's foster father, he would have been the obvious choice. What about Gaara? No. He was too...well, he was just too much like Hiei, except without the hair trigger temper.

"Who the hell would that little bastard go for?" Kurama sighed. He didn't want to get too deep into it, because that would imply that he was serious about it. But in order to properly get revenge, you have to be serious, even if that means seriously flirting with a short, hot-tempered, in-no-way-cute boy. A boy.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about my reputation as a normal straight guy," He muttered. "As Hiei said, that was ruined a long time ago."

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Sunlight streamed in through the blinds in Gaara's room and he cracked an eye open. He really hated sunlight. There was no point to having it rise at seven in the morning. Why couldn't it come up later?

On a normal day, Gaara wouldn't even be thinking about the sunlight. On a normal day, he wouldn't even be in bed. He would be in the kitchen finishing a pot of coffee after another sleepless night. Come to think of it...had he actually opened his eyes? That would mean that his eyes had been closed, and he was feeling oddly refreshed...

And extremely warm... Hair was tickling Gaara's chin and he pulled away to look at the person currently sleeping on his chest. He took in the delicate features, the pale skin, and the mass of silver hair that was strewn all over his bed.

Oh yeah. How had he forgotten that? That's how he had slept. It's hard to have nightmares when you pass out after several rounds of rough, not to mention enjoyable, sex. The hand on his chest had a ring of bruises around the wrist and Gaara ran a finger gently over the discolored skin. Perhaps he should have been a little more gentle. Shio hadn't protested at the time, in fact the pain of Gaara's grip around his wrists had seemed to excite him, but Gaara was still feeling a twinge of guilt. Bite marks were scattered over Shio's neck and shoulders, and Gaara knew that they went down way farther than that. He had put them there, after all.

The sunlight was hitting Shio's face and his lashes fluttered before dark eyes opened. That's why Gaara hated sunlight. Shio's eyes focused on Gaara's face and the two stared at each other for a moment before Shio gasped and sat up.

"Holy fuck!" Only moments ago there had been little movement, and now the person next to him was in a flurry of motion as he untangled his legs from the blankets.

"Where the hell are my pants?!" Gaara stretched his sore muscles and laid back against the pillows, content to watch Shio stumble around in search of his clothing. Suddenly, Shio came to a stop and looked around in bewilderment.

"Where the hell am I?"

"My room."

"Oh...Okay..." Shio looked around the messy room one more time before he sighed. "Where are my clothes?"

"Living room."

"You left my clothes in the living room?!" Shio had a momentary bout of panic before he took a deep breath. This was not the worst thing that had ever happened. He could deal with this.

"Gaara?" Shio froze as someone knocked on the door.

"What?" Gaara snapped. It was Kankuro, of course. He was the only one in the damn house who knocked.

"Is there someone in there with you?"

"Television." There was a moment of silence before Kankuro spoke.

"...You don't have a television." Gaara was content to watch the naked Shio run around his room in search of clothing, but his brother just had to keep talking.

"Radio."

"You don't have a radio." Gaara frowned. Damn. He didn't have a radio. Why not? He deserved a radio, damnit!

"Talking to myself. Go away."

"Whatever. Breakfast is ready." Kankuro turned and stumbled back to the stairs. It was too early in the morning to be interrogating Gaara. The brat was just too damn annoying.

------------------

Kankuro Sabaku firmly believed that he was the sanest of the three Sand siblings. Firmly believed. And he had good reason to, mind you. Let's start with the root of the problem.

Gaara.

Yes, Gaara was the bane of his existence, the thorn in his side, the creature that hid under his bed until he thought it was safe and then launched out and bit his ankles. Well, Gaara stopped doing that when he was ten, but the fear never left. The red headed brat had damn sharp teeth.

However, when one problem dissolves, another has to manifest. Gaara left the cute-in-a-sad-creepy-way phase of his life and went straight to an angsty, self-centered, brat with people issues. Serious people issues.

Despite everything, Gaara was Kankuro's little brother, and that meant that he had a certain amount or protectiveness buried in the back of his mind.

Which was why Kankuro was currently staring at the extremely attractive blond man who was sitting across from him. Not only was the man gorgeous, but he was clad in Gaara's clothes and he had a suspicious mottling of bruises on his neck that looked like they were made by a certain pair of oddly sharp teeth. Was Kankuro going to ignore this? Absolutely not!

"This is Shio." Gaara said as he pushed Shio into his chair. "Make him breakfast."

"Whatever." Temari didn't even look up from the skillet. Kankuro made a face. The second reason why he considered himself the sanest of the sand siblings.

Temari.

The oldest of the three, and the only girl, although Kankuro sometimes wondered about the latter fact. It wasn't the fact that Temari never dated, besides the fact that she could have any man she wanted. Seriously, any man she wanted. Because if she didn't beat the crap out of him and drag him home, Gaara would go out, find him, threaten to shred his innards with a spork, and the man would show up on their doorstep with roses and candy. Yet, Temari almost never dated. Which was good news for the male population because it cut down on the number of hospital visits for them.

Why didn't Temari date? She always muttered something about men being stupid and overly ambitious. Kankuro said it was because she was ugly, which usually earned him a solid kick in the stomach.

That wasn't the main reason for her insanity, though. No. The main reason was her strange belief that Gaara could take care of himself. Physically, sure he could. But mentally?...

When Gaara turned three, Temari convinced their father to buy a sandbox for the backyard. The second Gaara was placed in it, he wouldn't leave. He started carrying sand around in a tiny gourd that appeared out of nowhere. That wasn't the worst. Whenever left alone, Gaara would steal of a few of Temari's dolls, cover them in sand, and pretend they were ninjas that he was crushing with the sand. He even stole the ketchup out of the fridge to use as blood. Yeah, the kid was messed up. And emotionally stunted.

So why was Temari not joining him in glaring at the new arrival who was probably taking advantage of Gaara's naive mind? Because the woman lacked the older sibling instinct!!! Their little brother had probably lost his virginity to this conniving man who only saw a pretty face and a nice ass! Not that Kankuro had ever taken an assessive look at his brother's rear, but the point was...pancakes!

Kankuro abandoned his suspicious train of thought in favor of the steaming pile of pancakes in front of him. He speared three with his fork and plopped them on his plate. Yes, pancakes. Pancakes were the reason they had butterknives and forks in the house. Because chopsticks and pancakes just didn't go together. Not at all.

Temari had finally turned around to look at Gaara's guest and her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Shio's face remained blank, although he took a quick look around the room to make sure that there were no exits unaccounted for.

"...So you're the one!" Temari exclaimed as she slid into her seat. Shio eyed her with a politely puzzled expression.

"Pardon?" Temari's grin was positively evil.

"You're the one Gaara ordered those cookies for!" Shio's face reddened.

"Cookies...yeah...that's me..." Shio squeaked when Temari suddenly hauled him out of the chair by his collar and engulfed him in a hug. A very tight hug.

"I'm so grateful!" Temari sobbed into the top of his head. She was tall, alright!?

"Can't...breathe..."

"We thought Gaara was going to die a cranky, lonely, virgin old man with his sand and six cats!" Shio squirmed as much as he could in her tight grip. Damn, she was strong. The top of his head was now wet, not to mention his lungs were screaming for air.

"Temari..." Gaara glared at her over the rim of his mug. She let go of Shio, who took a large breath. Temari's cheeks were wet with happy tears and Gaara leaned away from her.

"My little brother finally got laid! I'm so proud!" She clasped her hands together and beamed at him.

"Are you crazy?!" Kankuro had finished his pancakes and was now glaring at Temari. She turned around to look at him.

"What?"

"Our baby brother is getting taken advantage of by Mr. Playboy over there and you're just standing there?!"

"I'm not a playboy." Shio muttered.

"Gaara's a big boy." Temari replied.

"Not big enough! Who knows what depraved fantasies this guy is gonna try?!" Shio huffed indignantly in response to Kankuro's question.

"You're one to talk! You play with dolls!"

"Puppets! They're puppets!" Temari snorted.

"Riiiigghhht...And I suppose that purple makeup is normal, too?" She sneered. Kankuro's face was rapidly turning a lovely shade of red.

"It's Kabuki paint!"

"And here I was worried they'd think me weird." Shio muttered under his breath.

There bickering was halted by Gaara slamming his mug down on the counter.

"Shio. We're leaving."

"Wha-?" Gaara grabbed Shio's arm and pulled him out of the kitchen. On the way out he grabbed Shio's shoes and shoved them into his arms. Temari and Kankuro's voices started up again as Gaara pulled shio out the front door.

"My puppets could kick your stupid fan's ass!"

-------------------

"So, Yuusuke, how are things?" Kurama asked as he took Yuusuke's bishop. Yuusuke shrugged and stared at the chess board.

"Same old." He muttered as he moved his pawn. Kurama opened his mouth to tell him that pawns couldn't move sideways, but he held back.

"How are things with Keiko." Yuusuke sighed and moved his rook. Kurama frowned. should he tell Yuusuke that it wasn't his turn?

"Things were great for a few hours yesterday." He moved again and Kurama's right hand twitched.

"She was all 'Oh Yuusuke! I missed you!' And shit like that." Yuusuke looked so miserable. Kurama didn't have the heart to tell him that he had skipped his turn three times.

"So that's good?" He asked. Yuusuke glared at the innocent pawn.

"It was. And she was hinting about making our relationship a little more serious. You know, announce that we're actually dating, maybe tell her parents. Instead of hiding me in the back of her closet."

"Sounds rough. Have you even kissed her, yet?"

"Tried once, got slapped."

"That happens a lot, doesn't it?" Kurama mused as he put Yuusuke into check.

"What does that mean?!"

"Shio smacked you, Keiko smacked you."

"Shio didn't smack me, he punched me. There is a difference."

"My mistake." Kurama moved his bishop. "Checkmate."

Yuusuke glared at the board and slumped back in his chair. "You suck."

"No, you suck." Kurama began picking up the pieces and placing them neatly in the box and Yuusuke sighed a looked around.

"Why are we here?" Kurama blinked.

"You're rather philosophical today, Yuusuke."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"Well, you're asking why we're here and-."

"No! What the hell does that long word mean?" Kurama sighed. He should really hang out with smarter people.

"You're seeking enlightenment. You want to know why we exist." Yuusuke stared at him blankly for a moment before he shook his head.

"Nah, I just wanna know why we're hanging out in the park playing chess like old geezers." Kurama sat back, affronted.

"We are not old geezers." He said indignantly.

"We're only hanging out in a park with pidgeons with old people." Kurama opened his mouth to protest, but closed it. Okay, so there were a few pidgeons, and they were the only people there under fifty, but that didn't make them old, right?

"Are you calling me old?" Yuusuke shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back with a cocky smirk.

"You play chess for fun."

"And?"

"Well..." Yuusuke leaned forward and lowered his voice. "You do even...do it?"

A red eyebrow rose. "Pardon?"

"You know...it."

"Being vague does not make you sound any more intelligent, Yuusuke." Yuusuke looked around and lowered his voice even more.

"You know...masturbating." Green eyes instantly hardened and Yuusuke scooted his chair back enough to be out of reach.

"I'm a teenage guy, Yuusuke. Think about it." Yuusuke raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm just saying. Ya seem kinda wound up. Like you're not getting any."

"And you are?" Yuusuke flushed.

"I was closer than you." He mumbled. Kurama scoffed, because snorting was way too undignified for him, and pushed his chair back.

"Please, Shio went after you with a skillet." He said as he stood. Yuusuke grinned and hopped to his feet.

"But I still got to grab his ass!" Kurama grabbed Yuusuke's arm and pulled him away from the rather scandalized group of senior citizens who stared after them.

"Don't make me laugh." He snapped.

"Yeah? I bet you haven't grabbed shorty's ass, yet!" Yuusuke had to duck to avoid the fist aimed for his head.

"Why on earth would I want to do that?! Yuusuke!!!" Kurama took off after the other boy, who was running down the street and laughing madly.

"Kurama and shorty! Sittin' in a tree! F-U-C-K-I-N-G!!!" Yuusuke sang gleefully as he rounded the corner.

"I will kill you!!!" Kurama's enraged shriek made Yuusuke run a little faster. He really didn't want to be caught.

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Hiei was having a nice dream. A very nice dream. A wonderful dream filled with sugar plums, daisies, and most importantly...pastries.

"All hail Emperor Hiei! The King of the land of Pastries and Ice Cream!" Hiei raised a hand and directed a regal wave in their direction. His subjects cheered and sang his praises as he surveyed his new land. Yes, many great things would come from this land. Many things...but first...

"I need a sacrifice!" Silence swept over the crowd in a wave and they gazed at him with baited breath and adoring eyes.

"A sacrifice for Emperor Hiei! Bring forth the strawberry danish!!!" Cries of 'strawberry danish' rose from the crowd and slowly the sea of pastries parted for the red danish as he...it...whatever gender it was, made its way to the edge of Hiei's grand stage thing. He was considering renaming it. Stage sounded fruity.

"Eat the danish! Eat the danish!" Hiei raised a hand to silence the chant as the strawberry danish sank into a bow, its red hair spilling over its flaky shoulders. Wait...hair? Why the hell would a danish have hair? Hiei shrugged it off as a strange dream thing and raised the giant fork above his head. Oh yes, this danish would sacrifice its strawberry filling to start off his magnificant rule!

Hiei gasped and froze when the danish lifted its head a pair of green eyes looked up at him. The wonderful flaky crust was quickly smoothing into a familiar face and body. A body that was covered in strategically placed vanilla icing...

"What the fuck?!" Hiei dropped the fork and stumbled back away from the evil, disturbing, and oddly appealing sight. A smile curved Kurama's lips and he rose to his feet.

"Don't you want to lick the icing off?" He purred as he took a step towards Hiei.

"Wait!...No!" Hiei tried to scramble away from the advancing redhead, but found that he couldn't move. His limbs were stuck in chocolate syrup that was slowly inching its way up to his chest! No!

"Please! Wait! Not like this!!!"

"Don't worry, Emperor. You'll like my icing."

"Noooo!!!! I...I...I DON'T LIKE VANILLA!!!"

With a terrified gasp, Hiei shot up off the bean bag chair and looked around the room wildly. No Kurama. No syrup...no pastry land...Just a certain miffed tarantula who had crawled halfway up his wall and was staring at him in annoyance.

"Holy fuck!!! SHHHIIIIIOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

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Gaara had decided that he disliked pants. And buttons. And meddling hands. Especially meddling hands...

"Get your damn hands outta my fucking pants, you whore!!!" Gaara's non-existent eyebrow twitched.

"I should wash your mouth out with soap." He threatened as Shio tried in vain to yank Gaara's hand out of the front of his jeans.

"Go ahead! After what's been in it, I'd like a little soap!" Gaara mentally crowed in delight as he finally undid the top button of Shio's pants. He ignored the indignant squawk as he slid his hands along smooth skin. So what if it had been only six hours? He wanted sex and he wanted it right then and there. Screw their customers.

However, fate was not smiling apon Gaara today. First he had to fulfill his promise to Temari about running the shop, then Shio decided to play hard to get, and now he heard a familiar ringtone in his back pocket.

"Hey Mr. Wonderful! Oh, you're so incredible! Hey, Mr. Wonderful!" Shio was momentarily perplexed when he heard his cell phone ringing.

"My cell phone?" How could he be hearing his cell phone? The thing had disappeared a few days ago... Wait... He turned around in Gaara's arms so he could see the redhead's face.

"Is my cell phone in your pocket?" When Gaara gave him a flat stare, he glared at him and slid his hand into Gaara's back pocket. How the hell had he missed that?

"You took my cell phone!" He put his free hand on Gaara's chest and shoved. The redhead stumbled back only slightly and scowled as Shio put the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"SHIOISTHATYOU?IHADTHEMOSTHORRIBLENIGHTMAREHELPMEPLEASE-" Shio jerked the phone away from his ear. Gaara could easily hear Hiei's frantic screaming. He couldn't tell what he was saying, of course, but could certainly hear him.

"Hiei! What the hell are you saying? Slow down and be quiet!!!" Hiei fell silent at the other end of the line, before he started up again in a slightly more agreeable tone.

Gaara sighed and leaned against the counter. The only customer, Mrs. Yukio, was still gazing forlonly at the cakes, as she did every time she came in. Although she usually left by nine. The old bat was probably hoping for another show, she had been watching the entire time. Gaara shuddered and vowed to find a more secluded spot to molest Shio next time. Getting watched by creepy old ladies was not a turn-on.

"You what? Icing? All over him?" The sentence floated past his ears and Gaara looked at Shio, who had a shocked look on his face.

Icing? Okay, Gaara had to know what Hiei was saying. It sounded too good to resist. He ignored Shio's wanring look and pushed away from the counter. It only took a few steps to close the distance and he placed a hand on each side of Shio's body and leaned in to put his ear next to the phone. Not only could he hear what Hiei was saying, but he was making Shio extremely uncomfortable. Two birds with one stone.

-----------------

Hiei gripped the phone with a trembling hand as he told Shio about his dream. Luckily, he had caught Shio in a listening mood, so he had yet to make a perverted comment. Maybe he couldn't think of any perverted ones? How much perversion can you get out of vanilla icing?

"...And now I'm hungry and all we have is a jar of olives!!!" Hiei wailed and he glared at said jar of olives. Not only were they olives, but they were olives that were six months past their expiration date.

"Okay, you just stay there. Don't do anything stupid, don't eat the olives, and could you feed Scott for me?" Hiei looked over his shoulder at the tarantula who had somehow followed him all the way to the kitchen.

"He ate a cricket earlier. You know the really irritating one that we couldn't catch?"

"He caught the little bastard! Awesome! Give him a pat on the head for me!"

"Er..." Hiei eyed the tarantula for a moment and tried to figure out exactly where his head was. All he saw was huge fangs. Yeah...He could live without the pat.

"And I'm at the bakery, what do you want?" Hiei thought about it for a second before he answered.

"A lot of stawberry danishes, and where's that giant fork?"

"The giant fork of doom?"

"Yeah."

"I hid in my closet after the incident with the neighbor's dog. You remember that, don't you?" Hiei winced as Shio's tone turned dark. Oh yeah. That incident.

"That dog was really annoying..." He muttered weakly.

"Well, it's in my closet. Leave the black box alone." Hiei rolled his eyes. As if he wanted to look through Shio's porn stash. He had stumbled apon it a few years ago and had no desire to look through it again. Too tramatizing.

"Is Yukina home?"

"Yeah."

"Tell her I'll get a few eclaires for her, okay?"

"I'll tell her."

"Right...and Hiei?"

"Was Kurama wearing only vanilla icing?" Hiei flushed and slammed the phone down onto the reciever. Trust Shio to somehow get some kind of suggestive comment in there.

--------------------

"Honey! I'm home!" Shio pushed the front door open and kicked his shoes off. He was carrying a large white box and Yukina smiled and held out her arms to take it. Gaara shut the door with his foot and followed Yukina to the kitchen with his own box.

"Where's Hiei?" Shio looked around for the boy who should have already been digging through the boxes, but he had yet to appear. Yukina poked her head out of the kitchen.

"He's in his room. I think he's playing a video game."

"Ah. Okay, I'll get him." He took the stairs two at a time and paused by the hallway mirror to make sure that the bite marks on his neck were properly covered. Wouldn't it be wonderful to explain that to his already traumatized ward?

"K.O.! Player two wins!"

"Damn you!" Shio pushed open the door to Hiei's frustrated yell. One of the Soul Caliber characters laughed and twirled her twin swords.

"Hey Hiei, I got the..." Shio trailed off when he saw exactly who Hiei had lost to. Scott was sprawled across the second controller and held an undeniable aura of smugness. A glance at the score only further mystified him.

"You're losing to a tarantula?" Hiei broke out of his angry tantrum and squeaked when he saw Shio in the doorway.

"I-It's not what it looks like!!! I-I was just playing and he-Really!" A silver eyebrow rose when Hiei's frantic sputtering continued and Scott crawled off the controller and started up Shio's pant leg.

"Poor, poor Hiei. Losing to Scott. This dream really did rattle you!" Scott stopped on Shio's shoulder and stared down at Hiei with a superior look.

"We have your strawberry danishes." Hiei's face instantly lit up and he leapt to his feet and snatched up the two foot long giant fork from beside his pillow. Shio wisely stepped out of the way as Hiei barrelled past him.

"Why the hell does he need that?" He wondered.

----------------

Gaara had just settled down to enjoy his cranberry scone and Yukina was delicately eating an eclair. They were only waiting for Hiei's appearance and Shio's return. Gaara especially wanted to watch Shio eat. The man had a way of licking his lips that Gaara thoroughly enjoyed.

"Oh! Hiei! What-?!" Yukina's greeting was cut off when Hiei snatched a danish out of the box, placed it on the counter, and lifted an extremely large fork over his head.

"I will have my sacrifice, damnit!" He then proceeded to stab the poor danish with the fork. This was repeated several times, during which Yukina rushed out of the room, probably to get Shio. Gaara was content to watch Hiei take out his anger on the pastry. He wasn't exactly sure why Hiei was attacking a strawberry danish, but as long as he didn't go after his cranberry scone, Gaara couldn't care less.

"What the hell are you doing, brat?!" Hiei growled as his fork was wrenched out of his hands. The danish was almost dead!!!

"Give that back!" He shrieked as he tried to get the fork. Unfortunately for him, Shio had at least a few inches more and was able to hold it out of his reach.

"Why?!"

"I must kill him! Kurama must die! He will pay for covering his naked body in vanilla icing and asking me to lick it off!!! He will pay!!!"

There was a stunned silence in the room. Yukina was busy choking on her own blush, Shio was trying to get the image out of his head, and Gaara? Well, Gaara was chewing. You don't talk with your mouth full. It's rude.

---------------

Somewhere far away, Kurama sneezed.

"Someone's talking about you!" Yuusuke said. Kurama glared at him and reached across the table to poke a bruise.

"Ow! Damnit! Stop that!" The redhead smirked and went back to studying his side of the board. Yuusuke sighed as he looked down at the chess pieces. He was playing chess. Again. With a sadistic redhead who threatened to add more bruises if he complained.

Life was so not fair.

TBC...

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Finally, after over a month I have updated! I am without spellcheck at the moment, so please forgive any mistakes. I know there is a lot of Shio in here, but I'm trying to make Gaara a little more of a main character in this, and Shio just happens to be with him. Besides, it's for plot development. I have been without inspiration for a while, and then I went on a 3 day writing spree. And then the computer threatened with hardrive failure and I was terrified at the prospect of losing all my work. But I have put all my stuff on my jump drive and everything is safe! And the computer works! Life is good! I am also obsessed with an anime at the moment. Tokyo Mew Mew!!! I love it so much! Kisshu is the most awesome character!!! Don't watch the english dub, they mangled the anime. A few years ago I would have been too ashamed to admit that I watched this, but not anymore!!! I play Resident Evil and watch cutesy anime!!!

TBC...

Please review, and no flames. In case anyone gets any ideas, I am fairly certain that tarantulas would not do well on Soul Caliber 3. Scott has never expressed an interest in video games. She usually hangs out on my shoulder while I play. And if a tarantula is expressing ill will towards a guest, it's best to put the tarantula back in its tank.