The secret's out

"Hey Serenity! You in here?!" Kuwabara shouted as he entered Serenity's bedroom. He looked around and spotted a piece of computer paper on the ground. It wasn't that hard to spot since Serenity normally tried to keep her room "more organized than back home" as she put it and it was the only thing lying on the spotless floor. Kuwabara blinked at the paper and picked it up to place on the desk it fell off of.

"What's this?" Kuwabara asked himself aloud upon seeing something on the other side. He turned it over and his eyes go wide at the drawing he sees on the other side. It was a picture that Serenity had drawn and signed of Yukina. In the top left corner was a drawing of the short-tempered fire demon, Hiei, and around Yukina was something written in Serenity's handwriting to represent Yukina's thoughts. As Kuwabara read the writing he dropped the paper in shock while his eyes widen even more, allowing the paper to fall gently from his hand and onto the floor while the words processed in his thoughts. Kuwabara's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as those words played over and over in his mind while he left the room stiffly.

'Brother…Please be safe…' Kuwabara heard over and over in his mind with Yukina's sweet and innocent voice, the picture burned into his memory. As he continued to make his was to the living room stiffly, his thoughts sped around in his head and things he hadn't noticed before fit together and into place to show him the facts that had always been there. They were complete opposites but…

Hiei is Yukina's twin brother…

This revelation made Kuwabara stop dead in his tracks on the stairs. Images and thoughts whirred in his head, making more and more sense as they spotted all the clues he hadn't noticed before.

"I can't believe…I didn't see it before…" Kuwabara muttered. He could see it now. The two were roughly the same height, had the same eye color, facial structure, and even about the same skin tone. How everything seemed to get tense and awkward whenever he brought up Yukina or her search for her brother. How Hiei was almost always up his butt or seemed aggravated whenever he proclaimed his love to her or how no trace about the location of Yukina's brother had ever been found. After a few moments of these thoughts and realizations flowing through his head, life finally seemed to return to his body as he

continued downstairs. When he reached the bottom step, he held the railing with one hand while the others cupped his head and he clenched his eyes shut.

"I have to tell her this," Kuwabara decides with himself. He then gets a determined look in his eyes as his strength comes back and he heads into the living room, only to nearly collide with Yusuke.

"Hey Kuwabara! I was just about to come get you! We found Serenity so we can get started," Yusuke informs his best friend with a grin and points over his shoulder and into the room he just left with his thumb.

"Everyone's in there?" Kuwabara asks.

"Yeah. We're all here now," Yusuke confirms and leads the way into the living room.

"Great. I've got something I want to tell everyone, especially Yukina," Kuwabara tells Yusuke seriously. Yusuke looks back with his mouth open to respond and ask Kuwabara what it was, only to see his tall friend gone and hear him shout out from somewhere else.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara exclaims upon the sight of his love as he darts over to her.

"Hello Kazuma. It's nice to see you again," Yukina greets Kuwabara kindly as he takes her small hand in his much larger ones.

"It's nice to see you as well my sweet!" Kuwabara informs her and, now more aware of the facts, notices how Hiei was stiff and glaring over at Kuwabara from his position on the windowsill, hand itching to grab his sword while Serenity sat nearby him and watched with a hand covering her mouth as she watched the trio amusedly. This sends a reminder of what Kuwabara wanted to tell Yukina and ceases his antics, clearing his throat as he stands up straight.

"Yukina. I think I may have found who your brother is," Kuwabara announces, directing everyone's attention to him, most everyone stiff and holding their breath.

"Have you really Kazuma?" Yukina asks him as her face brightens up, causing Kuwabara to turn red in the face at the happy and anticipated look in her eyes. 'I hope I'm right about this. I really don't want to see her hopes get broken because of me,' Kuwabara thinks nervously, nodding stiffly.

"Who is it Kazuma?" Yukina asks, clasping her hand together in front of her chest as she stared up at the warrior of love.

"It's…It's, uh…H-Hiei, Yukina. Hiei's your brother," Kuwabara stutters out, spitting out his findings before his strength and mind set left him. This statement alone left the room in silence as they waited stiffly with held breathes for what happened next.

"Mr. Hiei. Is it true? Are you my brother?" Yukina asked, turning to the stone stiff fire demon hopefully. Hiei doesn't reply for several seconds, not wanting her to know, but also not wanting to break her heart and kill the innocent and pure hope that was in her eyes. The silence could have gone on for hours if Serenity hadn't nudged Hiei in the side from her position in her seat.

"I, He…" Hiei stutters out uncharacteristically as the jab knock him out of his mental battle and into his current stupor. Seems he's never thought of this happening. After a little bit more of his stuttering, he finally growls out and jerks his head towards the window.

"Yes…" he finally manages to get out, not meeting Yukina's face as shame, sadness, and even fear enters his eyes somewhat. Serenity looks between the siblings and a smile comes over her face as her eyes slow and stop on Hiei's prone and slightly sullen form. The poor fire demon never expected what happened next as Yukina suddenly raced over to him and hugged him, burying her face into his cloak as she held him tightly.

"I knew I'd find you brother! I knew you'd survived and were ok. I had a feeling but I wasn't sure. Why didn't you tell me before?" Yukina admitted as she calmed down and pulled away and looked up at the wide-eyed and speechless demon. Hiei couldn't even answer her but it seemed he didn't need to. All she had to do was look into her twin's eyes and she could see the exact reason why he never told her as a look of understanding and a smile crossed her face. She then walked away from the still stunned demon and walked over to the team's tallest member.

"Kazuma. Thank you so much for helping me find my brother, but…How did you find out?" Yukina thanked him with curiosity laced in her gentle voice.

"I believe we all would like to hear the answer to that," Kurama adds in as everyone begins to relax and nods in agreement with him.

"It's funny you should mention that. I guess in a way I've always subconsciously known with all the hints I noticed, but I guess I just never actually put it all together until I saw something when I went to look for Serenity a couple minutes ago," Kuwabara informs sheepishly, shocking everyone of the news.

"What did you see that made you come to this conclusion?" Serenity asks and tries to hide her growing nervousness. She had a feeling that somehow, this was brought upon by her.

"It was a picture I saw. It looked like it was a drawing, and it had Yukina and the shrimp on it. What was written on it was how I figured it out," Kuwabara elaborates.

"I see. I'd like to see this picture. Do you think you could show us?" Kurama inquires as Serenity feels herself go colder and colder while this exchange occurs.

"Sorry…I was looking through the room for Serenity when I saw it…I, don't remember where I dropped it. I guess I was too shocked to notice what room it was in," Kuwabara declines Kurama's request sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as he notices Serenity's tense form. Serenity looks at him confusedly but relaxes nonetheless.

"Great. Well, if you guys are done, I'm ready to watch this movie already. It's supposed to be really good," Yusuke states impatiently as he plops down on the couch by Keiko, remote in his hand.

"Oh, what movie are we watching?" Serenity asks Yusuke curiously.

"I think its called 'Thirteen Ghosts'" Yusuke replies as everyone takes up their seats and prepares for the movie.

"I've seen this with my dad! I love this movie!" Serenity exclaims excitedly and claps her hands together. She races over to the switch and turns off the lights before taking her seat back up and watching the TV screen fixedly.

"Is this a horror movie Yusuke?" Keiko asks Yusuke and Botan looks over at Yusuke with Keiko suspiciously.

"It's not so much scary as it is…gory and suspenseful," Serenity informs them, averting the genre. Yusuke agrees with her hurriedly and hits play as you all enjoy the rest of the evening gathering.

END

OMG! I can't believe I actually made a story this short! I'm actually happy! And to think I thought of this when I was drawing the exact picture that was described. The one that Kuwabara found…I mean, I did make a rant that was even shorter, but that can't count as a story. It's a rant. (You're an idiot shojo) NO I'M NOT MARIK! STOP RUINING MY MOMENT OF SHORT ACCOMPLISHMENT (-.-')…Anyways, I'll be trying to add more things the month of May, but…I'm grounded until the end of school, and if I pass everything for the year, then I'll be allowed back on the computer. So until then, I've put up this and chapter four of Eight initials…Unfortunately, I've been on major writer's block for Crimson blood and hardly even have a paragraph on chapter 10 of that. Sorry crimson blood fans! Also, I'd like to thank i-eat-midgets for giving my first few reviews for Eight initials and putting it on her favorites list. You get a Reeces' blast from Sonic! (y?) Because I feel like it, ok?! (whatever… -leaves-) Bye! See ya later!