Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ YYH DS 5: Of Mice and Men and Demons ❯ One-Shot

HieiWannabe: At last! The joke that started them all! This was the very first 'deleted scene' I thought up, and from this silly little thing came all my other ideas. I thought of this after watching the part where the gang's in Maze Castle, and Kuwa-chan almost fainted at the sight of a mouse. I just kept on adding jokes to that, and, well, eventually I came up with this. It also explains why, if you remember that short scene of the Tantei on Suzaku's crystal ball, Kuwabara was walking behind Hiei.

After that, I started thinking some more about other parts, and eventually I came up with a loose timeline, my Deleted Scenes. Enjoy!

Wynne: And, in case you hadn't already guessed, HW doesn't own YYH.

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YYH Deleted Scenes Part 5

Of Mice and Men and Demons

Yusuke peered through the doorway down the dim corridor, brown eyes scanning it for signs of danger. He could only see a few meters along the passage, but it was enough to allay most of his fears. The heroic delinquent could make out broken tiles, dirt, and cobwebs, but no signs of imminent danger.

"Well, I don't see any bodies lying around, so I guess Kuwabara's right." He said after examining the corridor. Looking back over his shoulder, he asked, "Everybody ready?"

Yusuke was surprised to see only two people in the room behind him -- Hiei and Kurama. His classmate was nowhere to be seen. "Huh?" Confused, Yusuke looked back and forth between Hiei and Kurama, his expression mutely asking for an explanation of his friend's disappearance.

Kurama did not answer; Yusuke could see the redhead was rolling his eyes and trying not to smirk. It was taciturn Hiei who answered the team leader's question.

"We will be," he began in answer to Yuusuke's first question, then paused, right eyebrow twitching as his coat was ruffled by an unseen force. Looking closer, Yusuke could see that the black fabric was bunched up on either side of Hiei's knees, and the bottom half of the coat was trembling slightly. After relaxing his face back into its normal, neutral, expression, the fire demon continued, "As soon as Kuwabara stops cowering."

Hiei turned slightly, exposing part of his back and left side to Yusuke, whose jaw dropped at the sight that was being presented to him. Looking down over his shoulder at the figure crouched behind him Hiei asked, "Why are you hiding behind me, human? I don't like you."

Kuwabara lifted his face from the folds of Hiei's cloak, where it had been buried. Without releasing his grip on the fabric, he gazed up at his reluctant protector and replied, "I don't like you, either! It's just that I thought this dress thing you wear would hide me from the mice better than Yusuke or Kurama's pants." Kuwabara grinned and pulled Hiei's cloak out to the sides a couple of times in order to demonstrate that it did, indeed, cover him well.

Unfortunately for Kuwabara, being accused of wearing a dress was too much for the han-koorime. After all, as everyone knows, one cannot fight in a floor-length dress. That comment was the equivalent of accusing Hiei of being unprepared for battle -- a terrible insult.

Yanking his coat from the human's hands, he glared down at the startled boy and tried to ignore Yusuke's mocking guffaws and Kurama's quiet snickering. Hiei snarled, "It's not a dress, it's a coat, you simian!" Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and relieve his embarrassed blush, the youkai continued, "Don't worry, Kuwabara. If the mouse comes back I'll protect you."

This promise was met with dead silence and three surprised expressions. Into this silence Hiei's next pronouncement fell like bowling ball onto a glass table.

"I love mice. They taste just like humans." Meeting the startled gasps from the room's other occupants with a completely bland expression, Hiei turned and proceeded to walk down the hall.

Kuwabara, deprived of both the support of Hiei's cloak and his mental equilibrium, landed on his backside on the filthy floor. With a nauseated look on his face as he watched the koorime boy's retreating figure, Kuwabara muttered, "Why do you always have to be so creepy?"

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HieiWannabe: I hope everyone had as much fun reading this as I had thinking it up! ^____^

Thanks to my wonderful beta, Tikia Thundaren.

Recently, I was asked about the spelling of Yusuke's name. I could have responded over e-mail, but, since my reason ties into other reasons for why I write the way I do, I'll answer it here so other people can see it. I know that Yusuke's name is supposed to be spelled 'Yuusuke'. The extra 'u' is there to emphasize that this 'u' is heard, while the third 'u' is silent. I just spell it this way because I see it spelled like that by other authors all the time. I'm just more familiar with it. For the most part, I do try to be faithful to the Japanese language - one reason why I don't use much of it; I don't know much Japanese, so if I try for much more I'll mess it up - and to the Japanese language version of YYH. But I can't fight my instincts, so I just go with them. I do recognize a common spelling, though, so you don't have to worry about me ever writing something like 'Yskue', or 'youki' when I mean 'youkai', or any of the other alternate spellings some authors use.