Disclaimer: All YYH characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi and so does the original story-line which I plan to just continue off of.

A/N: Mushy scenes have COOTIES! So there won't be any in this story... hopefully. -.-;;

There will also be minimal cussing. Hopefully that'll be managed without anybody seeming too out of character.

One last thing: If this storyline sounds very similar to a particular author named foxyandredpandy's work, I am she so don't worry, it isn't plagiarism. Any other plagiarism will be/is purely accidental.

Chapter 1

A black-clad boyishly short figure moved slowly through the alley, quite unlike his usual speedy self. His irate mutterings were barely discernable over the crinkle of the plastic shopping bags he held.

"Hiei, please do this, please do that. Hn, does that stupid fox think that saying 'please' will make me want to do it? Next time, he's doing the grocery shopping. Documents job deadline, my-"

Hiei stopped his rant and looked around. "Come out and face me head on. Sneak attacks won't work."

Immediately, he was surrounded by five members of the local street-gang. Without warning, they attacked.

They were all knocked flat on the ground in less than a second.

'0.4 seconds.' Hiei frowned at a silver sports watch Yukina had given him on some human holiday. 'That's too much time against these goons. I need to train more.'

Resignedly, he started walking through the dank alley once more.

He would have continued doing so if someone running the other way hadn't crashed straight into him. Caught by surprise, he was knocked to the ground, shopping bags and all.

"Sorry! O gosh, sorry! They'll kill me if I don't get to 'em on time!" A heavily-accented feminine voice called back to him. Hiei got up from the ground and phased in front of the girl as she turned to face the front.

The girl looked back ahead of herself, and came to a halt. A confused expression came onto her face as she looked back and forth, clearly puzzling over his seemingly instant transportation. Hiei stepped forward and held her by the front of her shirt.

"I'll kill you if you don't give back that wallet you stole." he voiced calmly and seriously. At the same time, Hiei hoped that she wouldn't be smart enough to see through his bluff, since he couldn't harm any humans due to the rule Enki had made after becoming the ultimate Makai ruler.

"What wallet 'tcha talkin' 'bout, mister?" she looked up at him with an almost too-puzzled face. It seemed that she had accepted the bluff for what it seemed and was now calling it with a bluff of her own. Inwardly, Hiei sighed. What was it with him and meeting headstrong females? Her gaze grew defiant. She was obviously not going to give up.

The girl unexpectedly stiffened in fear, her eyes widening to the size of frying pans, and her pupils becoming two dark pinpoints in the center of each. He could sense an aura of fear washing off of her and sighed out loud. 'Now that's like the typical pathetic human. Do they really value their lives so...' his thoughts were interrupted.

"S-sp-spid-d-der." she stuttered in a weak voice before slumping forward in a dead faint. Hiei, bewildered, acted subconsciously and caught her. Almost as immediately, he remembered that she could be faking the faint and dropped her. 'What kind of human in their right mind wouldn't bat an eye at a death threat, while fainting at the sight of a harmless insect?' he reasoned to himself, unconsciously excusing himself for dropping her coldly. He stared at her limp form on the ground and,deciding she wasn't in her right mind, began searching for Kurama's wallet in her numerous pockets. After a while, he gave up and pulled the girl onto his back. He figured that if he took the thief to Kurama, there was nothing Kurama could complain about. Picking up his shopping bags, he decided to get his walk home over with before more stupid humans came. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop over the crowded city, Hiei disappeared from the human eye.

A/N: Sorry for any mistakes I make about the situation in the Makai at the end of YYH. I'm just going by what I remember from reading the books.

After much teasing from Kurama at having brought a girl home, the usual glare accompanied by a short explanation from Hiei, and a quick search of the girl, the mysterious bug-phobic pickpocket was put to Kurama's bed. To prevent any attempts at escaping, Hiei was put in a futon next to the bed. Kurama, having to stay awake anyway, sat at the dining table, coffee cup held in one hand while the other showed off amazing one-hand typing abilities on a laptop. His boss, normally an easy-going and affable man, absolutely lost it when deadlines were ignored.

Kurama chuckled at the memory of the obvious disbelief that had been on Hiei's face when he had said that. He really hadn't meant for it to sound like an excuse for not being able to train, but that was how Hiei had taken it. In exchange, he had agreed to let Hiei live with him to train together for as much as the fire demon desired. This had mollified the said fire demon. At least half-way. Not even ten minutes had passed after making the deal, when Hiei had started pacing around the room, occasionally glancing over Kurama's shoulder. Thirty minutes afterwards, the ever-impatient demon had managed to ask "Are you done?" at least a hundred times. Before he managed to say it for what Kurama was sure was the two hundredth time, Kurama threw out the shorter demon with a shopping list and his wallet, refusing to let him back in without the groceries.

Kurama smiled and typed the last adjustment to his work. He saved it all and printed it out. Setting his coffee cup on the table, he pulled out a manila folder and neatly stuffed the printed papers in. He had been lucky to find such a lazy, but still good-paying job that still allowed for him to train for the next upcoming Makai tournament. His red hair swishing in a neat ponytail behind him, he went over to the bookshelf, selected a book, and sat down to read until dawn.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Hiei kept thinking about the scene when Mukuro had given him a vacation.

"There's a faint human ki coming from the west of Guillotine Hill, and another from the south of this castle." Mukuro stated in a monotone. "Get the humans back to their own realm."

10 minutes later, Hiei returned to the castle for further instructions. Mukuro looked at him, her face expressionless. He shifted around, wondering at her unusual silence.

"It seems that this realm has become as peaceful as it ever will be. The only missions that are coming in these days are human retrievals, with the rare uprisings of weak demons. When Enki assigned us to 'clean-up' duty, he also assigned me to be the over seer of such affairs, a sort of boss, in human terms." Mukuro paused and in her usual abrupt style said, "In the human realm, bosses give their hardest workers a break once in a while, called a vacation." She continued somewhat reluctantly. "Go. Take a vacation. It's unfair for you to be stuck here doing such menial tasks. You would be better off elsewhere training for the next tournament."

Hiei looked momentarily stunned. He blinked then gave a half-smile. "Heh, read my mind, didn't you? But what about you? Are you sure you want to rot here while I go off and get stronger?"

"No, of course I don't want to stay here 'and rot' as you so delicately put it." A shadow crossed her face then, disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. "Train hard. I hope to face you at the next tournament." she smirked at him, all traces of the shadow gone.

There was just something about the conversation that seemed shady. Something he couldn't put his finger on, no matter how many times he replayed the scene over and over again inside his mind. Maybe Kurama could help. As far as he knew, the human-turned-fox demon was the best at figuring these kinds of things out.

Practice-sparring with Kurama had been his 2nd reason for coming to Kurama's apartment. When Kurama had proved too busy with his job, he had agreed to wait until Kurama was finished with this deadline. His grocery trip had been the result of managing to annoy even the most patient Kurama. 'At least he doesn't live with his mother anymore.' Hiei thought. The last thing he wanted was to live with a female human while he was on vacation.

A/N: Foreshadowing? What's that? (way-too-innocent look)

Constructive criticism will be much loved.