DISCLAIMER!: Don't own 'em, don't want to... please don't sue!

Title: Protecting your happiness: Chapter 3
Author: Akari (¨È¥[§Q)
Translation from Chinese into English by: bread@bread.freeservers.com

RK Manga spoiler 18 and above.

	"That's enough, the tea is overflowing." Yuusuke said. "Oei! Kurama!
I said, the tea is overflowing, you hear me?"
	"Yikes! Sorry." Kurama snapped out of his delusion quickly, only to
find his whole table wet with spilt tea. He whipped out a cloth and got busy
cleaning.
	"Kurama, just what is the matter with you? You haven't been paying
attention these two weeks. Is there something wrong?" Kuwabara asked, full of
concern.
	"No, I'm fine. Really, you don't have to worry about me." Kurama
slightly smiled. It was, though, pretty obvious that his smile was very
fake.

	That night, when Yuusuke and company had left, Kurama cleared up his
place and prepared to sleep...
	... but... all of a sudden, a black shadow appeared, and from the
opened window hopped into the dark recesses of the room!

	Kurama carefully examined who had broken in, then sighed. "And I
thought which dark soul had come to attack me. So it's you, Hiei! You gave
me a fright!" After lamenting for a while, Kurama snapped, and turned
slightly irritated. "If you're going to keep popping out of nowhere all of
a sudden, I'm going to be frightened to death one of these days!"
	"Tell me frankly, why are you so abnormal lately?" Hiei ignored
Kurama's rebuke and stated his question straightforwardly.
	"Ah?"
	"Ah? What ah? Spill it! What kind of trouble now?" Hiei pressed on
with his merciless interrogation.
	"Boo hoo hoo~~~ Hiei, you're so fierce! I'll be scared!" Kurama
crystallized his eyes and moulded his face into that of a typical pure-
hearted bishoujo, coupled with his highly nauseating attempt to sound
pitiful, he looked really no better than a lost puppy on the streets.
	"You... you..." Hiei clenched his fists and tried to curb his rage
from blowing up, cursing from within. *Darn! I've been tricked by the old
pervert fox again! Just my luck for showing a rare trace of concern. He
doesn't even care! Forget it, I'm not going to care from now either.*
	"Hn! Well you can go on brooding alone!" Hiei retorted, and having
finished his duty here, prepared to exit the room. Before he did, Kurama
stopped him.
	"I'm sorry, Hiei. I know I've carried this joke too far out. I'm
really sorry." Kurama lowered his head and guitily aplogized. He long knew
that Hiei's concern wasn't something to fool around with.
	Hiei stopped at Kurama's sincerity, and suddenly felt as if he
couldn't be angry with Kurama at all, therefore he stayed and lent his ears
for Kurama's entire story.

	"Since two weeks ago, I've been dreaming about this young lady
every night. Whether it's a dream or nightmare, she'll always be there. She
wears a light violet kimono, and has a head of dark, black hair covered with
a violet coloured mantle. Her dark red eyes... always shimmering with a lost
look, her light existence giving peope a soft but beautiful feeling. Every
time I hear crying in my dreams, I would follow the direction of those sobs
and see her crying her broken heart out, enshrouded with the mist under the
willow tree. One's heart aches when one sees her bitterness. This I would
never forget. I guess she could be some lost soul with an unfulfilled
desire, and wants to entrust her wish to someone through dreams. However,
every time I reach out to comfort her, she would flee like a terrified bird.
I want to help her, but she keeps avoiding me. Until now, I don't even know
what her name is, I can't even offer up a single solution, and I think I've
failed terribly in this aspect." Kurama finished his discourse with a little
hurt dwelling in his voice.
	"I never thought you would be someone to behave topsy turvy for a
girl you don't even know. Can you have fallen in love with her?" Hiei shot
his first question and hit Kurama's heart at straight notch. Boy, you should
see how deeply he blushed.
	"No... of course not! That's pure rubbish!" Kurama shouted in a
fluster.
	"Hn. Would you be so nervous if it wasn't the truth?"
	"..." Kurama kept his silence.
	"You are one emotional fox, and getting trapped in it will make you
clumsier in thought. You know both of you won't be able to come together,
and you still fell in love with her?"
	"Love isn't calculative, for so long as the one you love is happy,
you would be satisfied. Be it only once. I long so much to see a smile on
her crestfallen face."
	Whether it was because of Kurama's candor that moved Hiei, it would
still be Mulder's X-file, but Hiei, he who is stone, he who hates nosing
around other's businesses actually decided to help Kurama.
	"I'll enter your dreams with my Jagan after you sleep."
	"Hiei?"
	"And settle that problem of yours quickly. If we're going to need to
mobilize, and you're still in that zombie stage we'll all be seriously
afflicted. I don't want you to be my stumbling stone." Hiei replied blandly.
	"Hiei, thank you so much!" Kurama spoke, outrageously touched. Yet
deep within, he knew... *You're just concerned about me aren't you? You're
just too thick-skinned to admit it. But still, thank you very much, my best
friend in the world...*

To be continued...

------------------------------

Up next: Kurama and Tomoe opens up the lifestyle of 'cohabiliation'!?
Next episode: Part III... "Tomoe's smile"

END TRANSLATION

31/10/98