Disclaimer- Why do you insist on rubbing it in?

AN- I cannot claim responsibility for trying to abuse Hiei any further. That came from the fanfic Dark Skies, Bright Heavens. If you have not read that, and know a thing about Sailor Moon, you must read away. I don't care if Sailor Moon is the most juvenile series since Detective Conan. It's still good.

About the pairing type thing, it very much begs to be written into this story. Kurama and Hiei are adorable together, and I will not tolerate them with anyone else (besides me, of course. .). However, there lies one obstacle in the path of their eternal happiness, and that is the fact that I am incapable of writing romance. We'll see if I can fix that before the end of the story…

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yami ni matataku hoshi

omae mo kitto hagurete

tooi ashita o sagasu no

niteru ne watashitachi

star that twinkles in the dark

surely you too are lost,

seeking a distant tomorrow

we're a lot alike, aren't we?

I wish (Fushigi Yuugi Yui character song)

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There are those people who say that all parents love their children. Somewhere inside, they argue, all of them care. Takahashi Hiei knew this to be the biggest load of crap he had ever heard in his fifteen years of existence, and he had the scars to prove it. Down his back, across his chest, at the nape of his neck, on his right arm… all souvenirs of a father's adoration for his son.

Hiei had been born a twin, but he had never spoken to his sister. She had been taken by her mother when they were born, leaving their father to take care of his son, a small, sullen baby. That was perhaps where the abuse had begun: in his father's mind, one mental assault after another. Then had come that one fateful day, his seventh birthday, when everything had fallen apart. One of his classmates had teased him for being short, and the next thing he knew, the girl was on the ground and he was daring her to repeat her statement. The incident had not made the older Takahashi happy, and coupled with his demotion at work, he had had only the cruelest of words for his young son.

From then on, it was never praise the dark-haired child received. Despite his need to be accepted, to be loved, he was never good enough to deserve it. He still remembered the day in fifth grade when he finally became worthy of something more- being slapped. That was the last time he looked his father in the eye, and the last time he reacted to any pain he inflicted. Two words as evidence that he was truly inferior. Stop… please.

Amidst all this suffering, there are also those people who believe that all parents love their children. Among this number we can safely count Minamino Shuuichi. He lived what we like to call a charmed life, the sort of thing that would have gotten him beaten up if that wasn't precisely how charmed he was. People recoiled at the idea of hitting him, because to strike such a beautiful, intelligent, kind, generous person was equivalent to murder.

There was an ease with which he achieved everything from being top of his class to fending off crowds of admirers, an ease which endeared him even further to all who knew him. At sixteen, he had the whole world as his domain.

A Möbius strip is a very curious thing. When you first lay eyes on it, it is convoluted, but with two distinct, opposite sides. Upon closer inspection, though, it becomes clear that these two sides were but one side all along.

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The sun rained light onto Shuuichi, turning his hair into red flame as he took the final step into Meiou High School. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no girls in the hallway: he had chosen his entrance well.

"Minamino!"

Turning, Shuuichi saw his math sensei walking up with a broad smile.

"Your score on the competition we did last week was the highest in the nation. Omedetou!"

"Arigatou gozaimashita," he replied graciously, trying to remember exactly to what he was referring. Oh yes: he had done the ten problems under the impression that they were merely for "enrichment". Yunsensei alone understood that pressure was murderous, especially to someone of his caliber, one of the traits that made him Shuuichi's favorite teacher.

The bell rang behind them, prompting teacher and student to walk amiably to class.

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"Now, it has come to my attention that some of you find the homework I assign to be too difficult," Yunsensei began, open expression inviting comments from the class.

They stirred immediately, with murmurs of assent filling the room. It was obvious who the mediocre students were from their remarks, as those at the very top and very bottom of the class remained indifferent, albeit for opposite reasons.

"I assure you that all- most," he amended with a barely perceptible glance at Shuuichi, "of you need this much extra work to succeed. However, I am not entirely without heart."

A few giggles could be heard, mostly from those girls who divided their hyperactive and very unwanted attentions between Shuuichi and their teacher.

"I will be assigning each of you a partner with whom to complete homework. Of course you will not be penalized if your partner does not do his or her assignment, but the goal is for you to help each other."

Shuuichi cowered almost instantly under the weight of the stares and hopeful looks from a good ninety percent of the class, boys and girls. Shaking his head in amusement, Yunsensei pulled out a neatly arranged list from a drawer.

"I have chosen these pairs with some regard to your class ranking and gender. There is no purpose in two people who can both do the work finishing it together. First group, Minamino Shuuichi and Takahashi Hiei. Next, Kaitou Yuu and Satou Okuna. Third, Itetsu Yukina and Konomi Suzuna…"

The rest of the list was lost on Shuuichi, staring in shock at the small teenager in the corner whose face dared him to speak. This was going to be a painfully long year…

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THE END. Of the chapter, that is. Umm… thanks for reading all this way…I know it was pretty lame how I dumped the two of them together but I was sleepy and I couldn't think of anything better. You'll see; the thing gets really weird. Shuuichi looks like he has a great life, but you start to realize just how bitter he is after a while. I have great sympathy for people who are "perfect" because nobody can understand what it means. It really is a Mobius strip between the best and the worst.

Updates, if there are any, will be infrequent at best. I used to say reviews sped the whole process up, but that's a lie and I know it. This time, I've started the next chapter and I actually know where I want the fic to go, though, so we'll see. Reviews are good for me!! (Please? Don't patronize me, but do leave a comment…)