A.N.: Ah, yes. Another pathetic attempt of mine at writing. This time, it’s one of those alternate universe stories where our favorite detective team are all in high school, dealing with the normal troubles of adolescent life. It just hit me one day, and I can’t stay with an idea without writing it down. It just so happens I decided to put this on Hope you enjoy it, or tolerate it at least.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, or Konami.

Warnings: AU; chance of slight OOC-ness; very slight angst; slight humor, but more later since this story is in the humor genre; very short chapter, sort of like a teaser trailer, others will be longer if I’m encouraged to continue.

Pairings: None.

By: Gogo-chan

Algebra Homework’s A Pain

A disgruntled teen fervently tapped his pencil repeatedly at the blank
paper on his desk.

Tap, tap, tap.

Muttering a choice curse, the red-eyed boy threw the pencil on the desk, and glared darkly at it as it rolled across the wooden desk, and chose that moment to fall off the edge, behind the writing table. His almond eyes narrowed in hate at the sound of the writing utensil hitting the floor; the angered glint in his wine-colored orbs increased tenfold once his sight landed on the thick textbook near his blank papers. He read the title at the top-right corner of the page, out of pure boredom:

Introduction to Advanced Mathematics: Algebra 2, third edition.

Lips curling into an undeniable frown, he slammed the book closed. Standing up, he pushed his chair in, and walked to his bed, throwing himself to lie on the smooth sheets. He let out an exasperated sigh. The boy turned onto his stomach; he buried his face into his soft pillow, and closed his eyes, ready for some rest.

“Hiei! Did you finish your math homework, brother?”

The now identified teen glared once more at the school text from beneath his jet-black bangs, which were streaked with some white strands. His eyebrows knitted together, as he though upon his reply.

“Yeah, it was just a few pages today, Yukina,” he lightly lied. Yeah, forty problems of hateful Algebra homework were just a few pages.... Aren’t I lucky the school has advanced placement, he thought wryly.

“Ah, can you help me with dinner, Hiei? If you don’t have any more homework...”

Hiei quickly got up from his bed, already heading towards the door as he replied to his kin, “No, not much assignments today, Yukina. The teachers must be going soft.... Or maybe they were just sick and not right in the head today.”

He heard soft laughter; a small, contented smile automatically lit his face at hearing such an expression of joy from his sibling. He walked into the kitchen, eyes falling upon his slightly shorted sister, bustling about. He frowned a bit, “Let me take care of the rest. I should be cooking anyway.”

Yukina blinked; her eyes were just as richly-colored ruby as her brother, yet softer in expression. She gave her brother a small smile. “No, no. It’s quite all right; besides you know how I love to cook. I was just making something new tonight, and you know how I like for you to be my test subject,” she finished amusingly, tapping her kin’s nose gently.

Hiei let another minute warm smile grace his lips, “All right... I’ll go set the table.” He reached to the cupboards above the sink, grabbing two plates; he glanced at Yukina from the corner of his eye, “I’m guessing that’s what you called me for.”

His sister nodded, “We know each other too well, brother.”

“Yeah...” Hiei replied, taking out some glasses, making sure to grab some coasters from the drawer of the counter, taking some forks and knives while he was at it. “Be right back,” he called, as he headed to the small, but cozy living room.

He carefully set the plates on one side of the table, a little far from each other. Placing the glasses and eating utensils in their respective places near each plate, he went back to the kitchen. As he entered, he spotted his sister lifting a small casserole out of the oven with much effort.

“Let me get that!” he called, as he quickly went over and took the food from Yukina’s hands. She wiped her brow, which was made sweaty by the heat that hit her full on when she reached inside the oven. “Thank you, Hiei,” she spoke, very grateful. Her brother only nodded, and took the food, putting it on a rather large coaster to prevent the pan from burning their wood table.

Yukina walked in a while later with a small pitcher of juice, and poured it in each of their glasses. Hiei hurried out, and returned quickly with napkins, handing a few to his sister, and laying the others next to his plate. As Yukina sat, he began to serve her some of the food she had just made.

“It smells very good, Yukina,” he spoke, watching the small puffs of smoke come from the food he served on her plate, a delicious aroma filling the small room. Yukina blushed lightly, “Thank you... I really wanted to try something new. It’s sort of like lasagna, but I added a lot more cheese to it, and eggplant. I hope you like it...”

“I’m sure it'll be fine, Yukina,” he replied, making his kin blush more, as she begun to eat, blowing gently on the food before she placed it into her mouth. Hiei served himself, and sat next to his sister; he speared a bit of casserole, and mimicked his sister, blowing on the food, and ate it. He savored the taste; he had always loved anything his sister cooked. She seemed to have a knack to make anything delicious, and her new dish was apparently no exception from her talent.

“How were your classes today, Hiei?” Yukina asked, reaching for her glass and taking a sip, ruby eyes glancing at her brother. Hiei swallowed hard, trying to block out today’s memories. He had never really been popular at school, unless you counted all the people who picked fights with him, but quickly lost. However, these victorious brawls became tiresome hours of detention and disciplinary reports.

“...School was all right...”

“How come you came out after me today, brother? You weren’t in trouble again, were you..?”

“No...Just had... a make-up test from Friday to do...”

Truth be told, Hiei had made a small white lie. Once more, the one student who seemed to always have something wrong with Hiei 24/7, Kuwabara Kazuma, had once more challenged him. Hiei had really tried to avoid fighting, but when Kuwabara struck him in the stomach, he had no choice. Of course, one of the popular, tattling students, Konami Botan, had to be watching then. The blue-haired girl quickly alerted a teacher as to what was going on.

Of course, the story quickly turned from Kuwabara instigating Hiei by hitting him, into Hiei insulting a friend of Kuwabara’s, who in turn claimed that Hiei had stolen his homework. Never mind that Kuwabara’s posse weren’t any where near to being put into accelerated studies.

Hiei’s reward from that fight: an hour and a half of detention after school, copying the age old phrase, “I will not start fights,” a total of three hundred and sixty-seven times.

Yukina smiled, “That’s my brother. Never miss a test Hiei, that way your average won’t go down.”

Hiei nodded, a bit of guilt looming over him, “Yeah...”

“Ah, how’s Yusuke, Hiei?”

“Same old class clown.”

Urameshi Yusuke; the close family friend of the Jaganshi twins. Hiei and Yukina had met the high-spirited boy when the two had just moved to the neighborhood. He looked out for the two a lot, almost like a brother, and at first glance of the three together, you’d think them cousins.

Yukina covered her mouth, stifling a giggle, “That was rather funny Thursday...”

Hiei smirked, “He made a mess with the clay...” Yukina nodded, another laugh escaping her, “Ms. Mukuro was so mad! If Mom had—”

The girl grew silent quickly, and she looked down with cheerless eyes, as did her brother. Hiei turned to Yukina, his eyes glistening a bit. “...Do you... miss her..?” he inquired softly. His sister nodded slowly, turning to her brother, eyes welled with tears, “...Yes... It feels like she was just with us yesterday....”

Hiei clenched his fists, “Why...?!”

Yukina jumped a bit, “H-Hiei...” Hiei closed his eyes, face taken with both anger and sorrow, “I asked her to stay home... Both of them... I had such a bad feeling... Why didn’t they listen?!” He bit his lip, and then took a deep, shaky breath, trying to suppress the surge of emotion he felt insidefrom overflowing.

Yukina hesitated, then placed her gently hand on top of her brother’s clenched fist. His hand automatically opened, and took Yukina’s into it, holding it. The two were quiet, reminiscing in their minds of past memories.

Hiei stood, and gathered the dirty plates, “I’ll wash the dishes. You can go up to sleep; I’ll turn in a little later.” Yukina acquiesced, “All right. Good night, Hiei.” She stood and walked over to her brother, and placed a light kiss on his forehead. The teen blushed, “Good night, Yukina.”

The boy headed to the kitchen, and began to wash the dishes. As he reached for the soap, he heard the sound of a door closing, asserting his sister going to bed. He quickly cleaned the dishes, and placed them in the rack.

Stretching out, he gave out a yawn, and glanced at the microwave’s clock; 9:48. Better go to sleep, he mused, History test tomorrow; ugh...

He walked slowly, nearly dragging his feet, and then made his way drowsily up the stairs. He walked into his bedroom, quickly turning off the desk lamp. He yawned again, and proceeded to walk over to his bed, and collapse on top of it. Minutes passed; suddenly, he shot up in bed.

“I didn’t do my Algebra!”