The Waiting Time

By: Keph

Author's Note: This takes place between when Hiei is arrested and Kurama and Hiei turn up again as a "helping hand" at Maze Castle.

Author's Note 2: THIS STORY HAS SHOUNEN-AI!!! IF YOU ARE OFFENDED DO NOT READ!

Author's Note 3: I call Koenma's place of business/work "Bureau of the Dead" or just the "Castle". What is it really?

Author's Note 4: Nope, don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Good show, though. :)

Author's Note 5: Review Onegai Shimasu! :) with sugar on top!

Kurama was waiting.

He sat at a bus stop and watched as bus after bus pulled up and away. The third time the same bus pulled up, the driver

opened the door, gave him a meaningful stare, then asked, "Hey, what're you waiting for, anyway?"

Kurama just smiled.

What would he tell the human? He was waiting for a portal to the Spirit World. Correction-a late portal to the Spirit World. He

sighed and winced.

The wound on his belly ached and itched. He could feel the slow healing, the looping of the skin, the reworking of the little blood vessels. His true form would have been healed by now-Shuiichi Minamino, on the other hand, required more patience.

Kurama rubbed a hand across his wound and gazed down the road. People passed. The buildings cast long shadows in the late hours. The watch on his hand ticked away.

Where was that portal?

It had been easy enough to make an excuse to his mother. "Study group." he had said, "Don't worry. I'll call if it runs late. I might even just spend the night."

"Yes, Shuiichi." his mother had said and smiled.

She was much better now. 'A miracle', the doctors exclaimed. Kurama smiled. Miracle indeed. If Yusuke hadn't....well, it didn't matter. No regrets now. He would have gladly given the Orb of Baast his life, his soul, fed it with all the pieces of himself if he could save his mother.

"What's the point?" Yusuke had asked. "If you're dead, you're mother will spend the rest of her life mourning the death of her son."

But....

Would she have?

Kurama sighed again. Another bus pulled up. The door opened, the door closed. The bus pulled away.

Where was that portal?

How this Human World had changed him. Youko Kurama. Kurama. Shuiichi. He had so many names. Was it possible after all this time, he was just tired?

"Perhaps..." he said outloud, then caught himself.

"Perhaps what?" a voice said.

Kurama started and looked up with his bright, green eyes.

"Hiei?" he said, suprised, quickly standing and gasping as the move tugged on the slash in his gut.

"Hn." Hiei said at the look of pain that crossed his face.

"What," Kurama said, "What are you doing here, Hiei?" He peered into the red eyes of the Jiganshi and saw them narrow dangerously as though he had just said some stinging remark. At the moment he hurt too much for such retorts so steady, calm voice it was.

"Hn." Hiei said again and for the first time Kurama noticed the bandana around his head had changed. It was no longer the clean, white piece of cloth he was so used to seeing. Instead it was red and pulsing with ancient words of power.

"Hiei..." Kurama said, "What is going on?"

"Hn." Hiei said and Kurama was about to speak again when the Jiganshi actually went on. "What do you think, Fox? The Spirit World has sent me to bring you before Koenma."

"You?" Kurama's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Hiei's eyes looked away, his voice terse, "I don't know."

Kurama studied the smaller demon for a long moment. A bus pulled up, the doors opened, but even as the driver started to say, "Hey, you sure you didn't need a ride?" something shimmered for the briefest of moments, the barest of seconds, and Shuiichi Minamino was gone.

....to be continued....