Last Chapter...

"Oh, I have to stop somewhere first." What Touya didn't mention was that he wanted to go to the playground to see what happened with Shizuru and Kurama. There was no need to waste time explaining trivial things to Rinku and Jin when they would find out eventually.

Love Me, Hate Me, Just Don't Let Me Fall

Chapter 15: Research

"So what do you think we should do?" Shizuru asked Kurama. Botan was in her arms, and Hiei in Kurama's.

"I'm not sure. Obviously Koenma must have given them 'Joyful Pills' and it turned them into chibis. But how do they turn back? Is it permanent? What does this even have to do with anything? Turning chibi doesn't prove love."

"Unless he's testing if their love lasts through this change from normal to chibi."

"But how would he know that it did? This can't prove that they love or hate each other. When someone is chibified, not only does their body become younger, but their mind as well. They will act and think like children! There's no way to tell how a childish Hiei would act towards Botan."

"Maybe the test is whether or not they can find the cure."

"How would that prove their love though?"

"I don't know!"

"Neither do I. We'll have to discover it later. Look, Touya and the others are here." Kurama nodded his head in the direction Touya and company were coming from.

As soon as Touya had walked the remainder of the distance between them, he asked, "Is that... Hiei and Botan?" He looked at the chibis oddly.

Kurama nodded in response, but offered no further explanation.

"What happened?"

"We don't really know. Hiei came running with Botan in his arms, unconscious already, and both were already chibi."

"All we heard from Hiei before he passed out was something about Koenma and Joyful Pills."

"Joyful Pills? I've never heard of that."

"Neither have we."

"But enough about that! We'll discuss it later. Guess what? Shizuru agreed to go on the date."

"Only if you and Yukina go too, and Kurama with his date."

Touya blinked in surprise. Him and Yukina? What a wonderful idea! And with Hiei chibified, then he couldn't do anything about it! What a wonderful, terrific turn of events!

Jin and Rinku had been listening, unnoticed. "Oh, you guys are all going on a group date? I wanna go!" announced Jin.

"What do you mean, you want to go? You don't even have a date!"

"Well I'll take Rinku then!" Jin answered.

"SHOUNEN AI!!! HE'S HITTING ON ME!!!" screamed Rinku in a panicked tone.

"I would take you as a friend, you dope!"

"SHOUNEN AI! JIN IS IN LOVE WITH ME! NOOOOOO! I DON'T SWING THAT WAY!"

Glowering and baring his fangs, Jin growled, "I don't like anyone that way! Baka!"

"Yes you do!" Rinku grinned knowingly. "You just admitted it: you like Touya!!!"

"HOW DID I JUST 'ADMIT' THAT?! You baka! He's my friend! MY FRIEND, DANG IT! Haven't any of you idiots heard of a platonic relationship?!"

"Friend as in boyfriend!"

Shizuru and Kurama sweat dropped. "What's Rinku's problem?"

"Sugar high," was Touya's answer.

"Ah. And where are the other three?"

Touya told them of Jin and company's antics at the mall and where the other three had gone.

Suddenly, there was a BONK!

And then a THUMP!

Jin had finally become tired of Rinku's accusations of shounen ai, and hit him on the head. The younger demon fell to the ground, unconscious. The others stared at the sight, not sure whether to be shocked at Jin or relieved Rinku was finally quieted.

"What?! You can't tell me he wasn't annoying you too!"

"Great... Just what we needed! Another unconscious chibi!"

"I think we should go somewhere and take care of them. We look kind of odd standing here at a children's playground with three unconscious chibis. People might think we kidnapped them..."

"How about my house?" Kurama offered. "I know today my family was going to go out, so it should be empty."

Everyone agreed at once and so the group set out for Kurama's house. On the way, Jin asked, "Are you going to tell me what's really going on? All of this isn't part of some training program of Koenma's, is it? That's what he told us earlier, but there's something strange going on here and you three are keeping secrets from me!"

Kurama looked at Touya questioningly, as if to ask whether or not Jin can be trusted. When Touya nodded his consent, Kurama began.

"It all started yesterday, when Koenma told us that Botan was missing..."

Several minutes later, Jin had been told the full story. When it was completed, Jin grinned mischievously and asked, "One more thing. Before you mentioned Shizuru would only go on the date if Touya went with Yukina...? You like Hiei's sister, ne?"

"So? What of it?!" the ice demon snapped defensively.

Grinning, Jin slapped Touya on the back in a friendly manner, as if to congratulate him. "It's about time you found a girlfriend! Maybe she'll get you to lighten up and have some fun!"

"I do have fun sometimes!"

"Reading boring books doesn't count as having fun!"

"Then what do you expect me to do? Act like an idiot like you?"

"Ah, now you're catching on!"

Glaring, Touya replied, "I'm not going to prance about on the roof in my boxers singing out of tune!"

"Hey, I only did that once! Besides, it was fun! You even laughed!"

"I laughed at you because you forgot to fly when you jumped and fell off the roof."

"So what if I fell off? At least I got Mr. Popsicle to laugh!"

"Hmph! Baka!"

"Hmph yourself, Mr. Stick-Up-His-Butt!"

Kurama and Shizuru walked beside the arguing demons unnoticed, smiling slightly at their friendly banter. Things were never boring when they were around.

Minutes later the group arrived at Kurama's house. They walked in through the front door, and Kurama led them upstairs to his room. The chibis were placed on Kurama's bed.

"What do you think we should do with them?" Shizuru asked, referring to the three chibis.

"Jin, make sure you didn't injure Rinku. You're responsible for him until he wakes up."

"Oh, he'll be okay! Chuu's hit him worse than that!"

"Fine, whatever. If we have to cart him off to a ningen hospital, you're paying for it," Touya told him. Jin made a face at him, showing he disagreed.

Before Jin and Touya became wrapped up in another argument, Kurama took several books off of his bookshelf. They had information about things from Makai and Reikai, and the fox hoped to find something about Joyful Pills in them. He set a stack of them on the floor in the middle of the room and motioned for everyone to sit down.

"Help me look for information about Joyful Pills. If we're lucky, we'll find a cure."

Everyone grabbed a book and began the search. Nothing was heard except the occasional turning of a page.

Almost an hour passed and nobody found anything. Kurama was beginning to get discouraged. If there were anything in these books, they should have found it by now!

Looking at the clock, he noticed it was almost time for dinner. Although he wanted to continue searching, he didn't want to be a bad host and let his guests go hungry. Standing up, he announced, "I'm going downstairs to cook dinner. If you need anything, please tell me."

As soon as Kurama was out the door, Jin slammed his book down noisily. "This is so BORING! These stupid books don't have anything about those stupid Joyful Pills!"

"This isn't supposed to be for your entertainment. We have to find a cure before they become permanently chibi!" Touya replied.

"How do you know this chibifying effect is permanent? How do you know that they're even actually chibi? This could be an illusion! A trick! A scam! Koenma could be fooling us into thinking that Hiei and Botan are chibi when it's only our perspective of them that has changed! How do you know that's not a possibility?"

"I don't know, but we can't take a chance! We have to look while there is still a possibility of finding something! We must assume we have a deadline before it becomes permanent in case there really is one."

"When's this deadline of yours, then?"

"I don't know!

"Then how am I supposed to assume there is one if we don't know when it is?!"

"Just shut up, Jin, and keep looking!"

"You shut up and keep looking!"

"You!"

"You first!"

"I told you first!"

"Feh!"

"Hmph!"

Giving one another fierce glares, Touya and Jin turned back to their research as Shizuru tried her best to ignore them. It was amazing how similar they were to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

Meanwhile, Kurama was rummaging through the kitchen cabinets for something they could all eat when the doorbell suddenly rang. Kurama paused in his searching, wondering whom it might be. Shishi, Chuu, and Suzuka? Koenma? Yusuke and friends? Or, perhaps, rabid stalker fangirls? A random ferry girl coming to take someone's soul?

...Okay, so maybe that one wasn't very likely, since ferry girls didn't ring doorbells to collect their souls, but it was a possibility! Kurama never ruled out the unlikely, lest he be shocked to death and then have the ferry girl come take his soul, thus proving the unlikely chance quite possible. See how that worked out? Never doubt a fox's reasoning!

Kurama walked silently to the front door and looked into the peephole, in case it was fangirls... or worse, fanboys. Kurama didn't need another Karasu in his life! But, to his relief, it was only Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina, and Keiko.

They were, no doubt, looking for Touya so they could get revenge for Hiei, since Botan supposedly cheated on him with Touya. A noble cause, yet it was unneeded. Touya had done nothing wrong, and even if he had, he was already punished enough since Yukina knew about his 'date'.

The fox thought about what to do. Would they cause more trouble inside or outside? While it would be fun to see them react to the three unconscious chibis, it would be unfair to unleash a vengeful Keiko on innocent Touya.

The doorbell rang again, and Keiko yelled, "Open up Kurama! We know you're there! Kuwabara can sense your ki, kitsune no baka!"

Sighing, Kurama figured that, what the heck, he might as well let them in. If not, they would most likely break down the front door. He opened the front door a few inches, stopping it from opening further with his body, and asked, "Hello, what can I do for you?"

After they had left the mall, Yusuke and Keiko had gone straight to the park to find Kuwabara and Yukina. Once they met up with them, Keiko and Yusuke quickly updated the other two on the recent events.

Kuwabara's reaction to Botan cheating on Hiei was similar to Keiko's, but what Yukina felt about the matter was a mystery. The quiet apparition offered no opinion on the matter other than a softly uttered, "Oh my, poor oniisan..." But Keiko was sure Yukina felt just as strongly as the others, just too timid to act angry. After all, it was her brother that was being double-crossed, so she had every right to be angry.

After a quick discussion, the four decided to find Touya and get revenge. Of course, Keiko would have preferred to go after Botan, but Yusuke reminded her that Hiei had probably taken care of that, and Kuwabara refused to do anything to a girl. They had gone to the mall, but found that the 'amusing circus', as the ningen spectators called the demons, had left. With nowhere else to go, they decided to head to Kurama's house.

Of course, they had no idea where everyone was. Keiko and Yusuke had seen Hiei and Botan walk away somewhere, and they had last seen Kurama, Shizuru, Touya, and Touya's companions at the mall. In fact, the four were pretty clueless as to what was really going on. They still thought that Botan had cheated on Hiei with Touya after dating Hiei for only a day!

So there the four were, walking towards Kurama's house- Keiko still angry that she didn't have the chance to yell at Botan, Yusuke and Kuwabara ready to fight with Touya to defend Hiei's honor, and Yukina just walking along, seemingly clueless as she smiled sweetly at the thought of her brother dating anyone.

But she was anything but clueless. After all, she had figured out that Hiei was her brother all by herself, and nobody related to Hiei could be very idiotic!

Like Shizuru, she also knew there was something strange going on involving Koenma, Botan, Hiei, and now Touya too. Her brother wouldn't just decide he loved Botan all of a sudden, and Botan wouldn't just go off on a date with Touya. But, being her sweet natured self, Yukina kept quiet because she didn't want to meddle in her brother's affairs.

So when they arrived and Keiko rang the doorbell impatiently, Yukina did nothing to interfere. It was pointless to try to change the other three's minds since they were all so stubborn, and Yukina felt that there was no need unless things turned violent. Then, Yukina would do everything she could to stop others from getting hurt. She was a healer, and hated to see any living things being hurt purposely.

Nobody answered the door for a while, and Keiko looked at Kuwabara expectantly. "Well? Are they there or not?"

Kuwabara nodded. "Yup, I can sense Kurama's ki, and Touya, Jin, Rinku, and my sister too. And... two others, but I dunno what they are. They sort of feel like Botan and Hiei, but kinda different... I dunno, it's strange guys."

Satisfied with his answer, Keiko rang the doorbell and yelled, "Open up Kurama! We know you're there! Kuwabara can sense your ki, kitsune no baka!"

The door opened a few inches, and Kurama peeked out. "Hello, what can I do for you?"

"We want to see Touya!"

"I'm sorry, but Touya is busy at the moment."

"Too bad! This is urgent!"

"Yeah, we have to get revenge for Hiei!" Kuwabara blurted.

"Baka! Don't tell him that! Then we'll never get to Touya!" Yusuke said.

"I highly doubt Hiei needs anybody to get revenge for him, much less three humans that, in my opinion, should mind their own business," Kurama replied in a cold tone, pleasantries done with. Despite his politeness, he was telling the four to get lost.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Kurama. I thought you would be honorable enough to try and get revenge for Hiei's betrayal. Botan cheated on him, you know! With Touya, of all people!"

"Yeah, and Touya's an ICE demon! Any respectable fire demon would consider that a huge insult!"

Kurama resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Bakas! They still believed that Botan cheated on Hiei! "And why do you assume that Touya and Botan were even on a date? What evidence do you have?"

"Yusuke saw them! Together! At the mall ON A DATE!"

"Seeing is believing!"

"If that's so, then I must believe that you three are fools," Kurama replied, tired of their meaningless chatter. He stepped back into his house and slammed the door shut, locking it into place.

Kurama walked swiftly upstairs to his bedroom and told the others, "We're going to have to eat dinner later. Keiko and the other three were at the door just now, demanding to see Touya. Apparently they wanted to revenge Hiei."

Touya paled slightly at the mention of Keiko wanting vengeance, remembering how hard she slapped him earlier. "Did they leave?"

"Probably not, which is why we should escape while we have to chance. Jin, do you think you can fly us safely out of here with your power?"

Standing up and stretching, Jin grinned and nodded. "Of course I can! I am the Wind Master!"

Shizuru could feel Jin's ki rise dramatically, and his ears began transforming into pointy elf-like ears. She smiled slightly at how easily the idea of flying out of a two-story building excited the demon.

"Where are we going to go?"

"How about the hotel Jin and I are staying at?" suggested Touya.

"Do Keiko and the others know where it is?" asked Kurama.

"No, they shouldn't be able to find it."

"Okay then, let's go there."

Everyone helped put away Kurama's books they had been searching through. When that task was completed, everyone except the Wind Master grabbed a chibi and proceeded to the bedroom window. Jin opened it for them and began flying them out one by one with his wind power.

Before it was his turn to go, Kurama left a seed in his bedroom and quickly fed his ki to it, willing it to grow. When it had already become a small plant, ready to guard against intruders, Kurama continued following the others.

To anybody concerned about Keiko's behavior: You may be wondering why she is so concerned about revenge for Hiei and why she doesn't realize the truth about Touya and Botan's 'date'. Mainly it's because in chapter 8, after Yusuke told Keiko and the others that Hiei and Botan were supposedly in love, Keiko accused Hiei of tricking Botan. At one point, she said to Hiei, "What did you do to Botan?! You stupid jerk! You hypnotized her, or seduced her, or... or something! You're blackmailing her aren't you? TELL ME!!!"

Afterward, because Keiko believes Botan cheated on Hiei, she felt guilty for accusing him when Botan was the one who was unfaithful. Keiko's guilt is blinding her from the logical view of things. Phew! I hope that made sense to everyone. This ficcy can get kind of confusing because so many characters have so many different point of views on what really happened between Hiei and Botan and whoever else.