A/N: This piece was requested by sweetcakes101 at my LJ communty. It has been posted there as well. This is merely a repost of my work from there to gain maximum viewng.

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho and it's characters are property of Yoshihiro Togashi. I own nothing. This is for entertainment purposes only and I am making no money off of it.

Sleep
by Kitera

It was getting late but Shizuru still couldn't find it in herself to rest her head against a pillow and fall asleep. She knew she should, she had to face the fact that she was beyond exhausted. Not that it did much to change anything. Her baby brother still wasn't home, logically meaning that none of them had returned yet. She just hoped it was soon as she sipped at her tea, feet drawn up under her and book resting atop of a throw pillow.

Shizuru wondered how many hours it had been since she'd last accidentally dozed off. To the other girls she was outwardly okay with them still being gone. It was one of those things that she felt she had to do. She was the oldest; sort of, and they looked to her for emotional guidance and support. She let her brown eyes wander the living room at the sleeping forms of the other girls. They were all worried.

She lit a cigarette without thinking about it and took a long drag on it. They'd been gone a week already. Normally she worried about her brother but her worries had doubled in recent weeks. And seven days was enough to make her want to curse him for making her that little extra bit of stressed. She eyed the package of cigarettes warily. It was empty. She would need to get another carton in the morning if she could make it that long.

She flicked ash into the ash tray and fought the urge to grind the tobacco stick into the growing heap of ashes. "Dammit Kurama." She muttered under her breath. She was cursing him silently when a shadow flashed across the window of her apartment. She raised an eyebrow, feeling with her senses for anything abnormal.

The door knob jiggled then a sound of stumbling as four forms crossed the threshold haphazardly. Each of them looking equally tired. Well that wasn't a sight one saw very often. They usually had the presence of mind to get themselves healed up before coming back. Shizuru stopped her train of thought and glanced at the sleeping Botan across the room. Well that would be why they hadn't gotten healed up before coming home.

Stubbing out the cigarette in the ash tray she woke Yukina and Botan with a couple of shakes and watched them blink away the sleep in their eyes before noticing the boys. All four of them were a mess and it annoyed her that Koenma had had the nerve to send them off on quite possibly another suicide mission.

"How'd it go?" She asked modulating her voice so that it was calm rather than boiling with annoyance and anger.

"You know, same old, same old. Ow, watch it Botan you'll wake up Keiko." Yusuke responded first. One look at the puffy beat up faces and crappily bound wounds and she knew that was an understatement. Rolling her eyes she left the room and got a first aid kit from the bathroom. She might not be any good with spiritual healing abilities but she knew her way around a first aid kit.

–

Kurama brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Shizuru's face. He didn't want to wake her even to tell her that they'd made it back. She'd see soon enough anyway. He touched her hand and she seemed to relax almost as if she were dreaming of something a little less appealing than the current situation. He shook his head and chuckled. Strong as she was she still had her moments of weakness, although they mostly happened while she slept.

"Sleep well, Shizuru." He murmured and left a single red rose on the table beside the couch as he was leavng.