Disclaimer: I only own my OC Kiyoshi. YYH and its characters belong to its creator who, by the way, is not me.
There was a lot of talk around the village; another ice maiden had given birth to a boy. Rui was again given the task of ending the child's life, but this time she knew there would be a different outcome. After begging the elders to allow her to end the boy's life in private and getting approval, she raced off to find the one whose life she ruined so many years before.
"So now that the Demon World Tournament is over and there's a new ruler, what are you guys going to do?" Kuwabara asked as the group of friends (mostly) was actually having a "normal" conversation at a restaurant.
"Well, I do have some school work that I need to catch up on and I'm also working at my step-father's flower shop," Kurama said, sipping his soda.
"That is totally you," Yusuke said, kicking back into his seat. "I'm still not sure what I'm going to do other than be with Keiko. I did propose to her before the tournament and said we'd get married after."
"So I guess that means we'll all be seeing each other at the wedding," Kuwabara said.
"Aside from hanging out like we usually do," Kurama smirked. "But I wouldn't miss that wedding for the world." The three guys laughed while Hiei finally piped in.
"Hn. A 'wedding' is a pointless human custom."
"It's not pointless!" Kuwabara said, getting in Hiei's face (never a smart thing to do). "It's where two people who love each other pledge that love. They're bound together forever and nothing can tear them apart. I'm planning on asking Yukina to marry me someday."
Hiei's eyes narrowed and he glared at Kuwabara. "You will do no such thing," he said venomously.
"What's it to you, huh, shorty?" Kuwabara yelled, again getting in Hiei's face.
"Yes, Hiei, why does it matter to you?" Kurama asked, he and Yusuke grinning at each other and then at Hiei who looked like he wanted to kill them.
"Hn. I'm leaving," he said, walking out of the restaurant.
"Hmph. What's his problem?" Kuwabara muttered as Yusuke and Kurama were trying to refrain from laughing at Hiei's reaction to Kuwabara's announcement.
Hiei wandered the streets, not really knowing where he was going. He was contemplating many things at this point, three things to be exact: killing Kuwabara, killing Kurama, and killing Yusuke. Contemplating, yes, but he distracted himself from the truth that he knew: he could never do it. If he killed Kuwabara, whom he hated, Yukina would be devastated. Kurama and Yusuke were the only people Hiei would even dare to call "friends," but only on a good day.
He also contemplated one other thing, love. The word made him feel sick and yet he couldn't escape the concept. Kurama loved his human mother and family to the point where he would give up everything just to protect them; the fool loved his sister, Shizuru, and also Yukina; Yusuke loved his mother and Keiko. Hiei just snorted and shook his head at the ridiculousness of the concept. What was love exactly? He had never felt it or anything that seemed like it…that he knew of. He was pretty sure he cared for his sister, but that was about it. And of course he had to deal with everyone else's opinion of how he should handle things with Yukina. No one knew what he was so worried about if she ever found out the truth. Hiei would never admit it to himself, but the only thing keeping him from telling her the truth was the fear of rejection.
As Hiei was finishing up his deep, slightly emotional, mental tirade, he felt the area around him drop in temperature; he stopped walking as the feeling of winter air surrounded him. He refused to turn around, but he moved his eyes to slightly glance behind and saw nothing. Hiei then moved his hand to his katana since the feeling that someone was stalking him was somewhat strong. The scent of cold air started to dissipate and he sheathed his katana. He was about to continue walking as his eyes turned to a woman in front of him. Trying to control that animosity he felt towards this woman, he narrowed his eyes and just stared her down. He noticed she was carrying something in her arms covered by a blanket.
"What do you want?" he asked, devoid of all feeling.
"I didn't want to make the same mistake twice," Rui responded, looking down at the bundle she was carrying.
He narrowed his eyes, looking at the bundle. "What does that mean?" he spat.
Her eyes saddened when she heard the defiance in his tone. She knew this wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done to prevent any other innocent child from becoming as cold as the Forbidden Child standing in front of her. Rui took in a deep breath and felt it was better to just get straight to the point as she revealed to Hiei the baby boy she was carrying. He was small and looked very fragile, in Hiei's eyes, and he had a hiruiseki stone hanging around his neck. Hiei then looked up at Rui, this time waiting for what she had to say.
"He too was born to an ice maiden, and I was again handed the task of ending his life…" she paused as tears started to form in her eyes, "…but after what happened to you and your family, the pain it caused all of you…I just, I couldn't do it again. I decided to bring the child somewhere where I knew he would be safe. I brought him to you."
Hiei just stood there showing no emotion on his face. Part of him wanted desperately to send her away and have nothing more to do with her, but then his eyes found the child's face, full of innocence, and he felt he couldn't just turn away another one like him. Rui held out the child to Hiei and Hiei hesitantly took him in his arms. Before he could ask any questions, Rui disappeared. Hiei realized what he had taken upon himself after she disappeared and was now trying to figure out what to do. He didn't know the first thing about children…except how he enjoyed killing and blood when he was one. For now, he decided to shrug it off, find Kurama, and hopefully figure out what to do with this child.
Hiei entered the restaurant he had left earlier to find that his teammates were still there chatting. Kuwabara saw him first and started freaking out.
"Oh my God, Hiei!" he screamed while pointing at him. Yusuke and Kurama looked over and just gave him a quizzical look. "You don't go around Human World stealing children!"
"Could you be any less discrete?" Hiei muttered as he sat down at the table holding the baby boy.
Kurama and Yusuke noticed the stone hanging around the baby's neck and realized that this child was from the Glacial Lands from which Hiei was cast out. Their eyes widened at the realization while Kuwabara was going on and on about having to report a kidnapping. Hiei took one of his hands and massaged his temples. Kuwabara's ranting was giving him a headache and he was still trying to figure out what to do with a kid.
Yusuke finally got Kuwabara to shut up (another loss on Kuwabara's part) and the two boys left the fire demon and fox demon alone with Hiei still trying to figure out what to do with the child.
"Well first you'll have to give him a name," Kurama said.
"What the hell am I supposed to name him?" Hiei grumbled.
"Come on, let's go," Kurama said signaling Hiei to follow him.
They stopped in front of Kurama's human home. Kurama went to open the door and looked at Hiei who was standing at the bottom of the porch stairs. Kurama motioned for him to come into the house and Hiei reluctantly agreed. Kurama's family was not home yet, so Kurama brought Hiei up to the guest bedroom.
"First things first," Kurama started, "I will make up something to tell my parents and you will play along." It was an order, not a request. "You will be staying here from now on."
Hiei was about to protest when Kurama interrupted. "You can't possibly be thinking you can take care of a baby by living in a tree now can you?"
Hiei looked down; he really hadn't thought this through. Before he could say anything, the baby stirred and Hiei looked down at him. The boy's blue eyes were opened and he had a small, faint smile on his face, but he didn't make a sound.
"Kiyoshi," Hiei said as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"I'm sorry?" Kurama questioned.
"His name is Kiyoshi."