Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that I choose to use in this fan fiction…

Hey everyone! This story is set in the universe of my fic "What you Saiyan?", so if you have not read that story, I strongly suggest you do as you won't understand why Hiei is living with Vegeta and Bulma. Now, on with the show!

"Merry Christmas!"

Hiei rolled over in his bed at the sound of the loud voices outside, and shoved the pillow he had been laying on over his ears. For weeks people had been talking nonstop about this 'Christmas', and to be perfectly honest, he couldn't quite understand why. From what he had surmised, it had to be a human holiday, but for what purpose, he had absolutely no clue, and he intended to keep it that way.

A knock on the door caused the small fire demon to scrunch down further into his covers to escape the inevitable, his face firmly planted underneath his pillow. It was Saturday, and the one good thing about this ningen holiday, was this weekend he was allowed to sleep in, and not get up at the crack of dawn to meet his uncle in the gravity room for back breaking training. Hiei was intent on enjoying his short vacation from being slammed to the floor by a sadistic Saiyan.

A creak alerted Hiei to the fact that apparently someone was attempting to sneak into his room without him knowing. A sly smile stretched across Hiei's face as he deduced who it was.

"Trunks…" the fire demon thought "No doubt wanting to get me back for humiliating him in the gravity room yesterday."

The floor creaked as the person crept across the room, and then just as Hiei heard them jump, he flung the blankets across the room, but the demon was not being ambushed by his adopted brother. All thoughts of fighting fled his mind as the fire apparition was tackled by a blue haired little girl.

"Big Brother Hiei!" the girl squealed.

"Bra…" The young man groaned as he peeked through one eye at his attacker "what did Bulma tell you about knocking? In fact what did she tell you about tackling people?"

"She said that I should knock when I want in a room, and that tackling people is something only muscle heads do." Bra replied dutifully, her eyes crossed in deep thought as she quoted verbatim what she had heard her mother say in the past.

"But…" Bra continued, as she did a good impression of her mother by pointing a scolding finger at Hiei "her name is NOT Bulma, its Mom silly!"

Hiei felt his breath catch in his throat at the correction. "That's right…" he thought, his face turning serious as he gazed at the little girl currently sitting on top of him "Bulma and Vegeta adopted me… I guess I need to get used to calling them Mom and Dad."

Heaving a sigh, the boy sat up and dumped the giggling girl onto his bed. Giving her his best glare (which wasn't very scary considering who it was he was glaring at), he asked curtly;

"And just why are you tackling me again?"

"Oh!" Bra's eyes went wide as she remembered why she had snuck up on her new brother in the first place "I forgot I wanted to tell you something important!"

"Oh yeah," Hiei asked, an amused smile lighting his face "and what is that?"

"It SNOWED!" Bra screamed as she bounced up and down on the mattress "And Daddy said that we are going to have a big snowball fight today!"

Hiei felt his heart clench as his face went deathly pale. Snow? And worst of all, he had to go out in it for training? "Oh…" Hiei replied as he tried to paste a semi believable smile on his face "It snowed huh? Sounds… great."

"I can't wait!" Bra giggled, squirming in excitement before launching herself once again at Hiei. Squeezing him in a tight hug, Bra planted a small kiss on his cheek before bouncing off the bed and running out of his room.

Hiei slowly stood up, two fingers gently tracing the place where his little sister had smooched him, but his attention was drawn to his bedroom door when Bra once again poked her head through the portal

"Oh yeah…" she giggled "Mommy told me to tell you that breakfast is ready."

The fire demon sighed. This was a battle he had been fighting since he first arrived. At first Bulma didn't say anything about his eating habits, but the peace and quiet went down the drain just a few weeks after his first night.

(flash back)

"Alright Hiei," Vegeta said softly, his keen gaze on the fire demon currently meditating on the lawn " now I want you to focus your energy, and try to go super."

Slowly standing up, the fire demon gave a nod, and reached down within himself to touch the energy dwelling within him. He remembered how it felt to go Super Saiyan that first time, but for some strange reason, he couldn't duplicate the process. No matter how hard he tried, time after time he would hit a brick wall just before transforming.

'This time is going to be different…" Hiei thought, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration.

Suddenly, the familiar rush of energy began to envelop the fire apparition's body, and Hiei began to feel excited as he realized that something felt different this time. Maybe he really would transform! Gritting his teeth, the demon pushed himself even harder, and allowed a cry to rip from his throat as he forced his energy into going super.

Suddenly an explosion burst around him, and Hiei felt the transformation prickle across his skin. But any feeling of elation for his accomplishment was quickly squashed when a terrible pain ripped through his stomach. Doubling over, the small demon gave an anguished groan as he clutched his abdomen. Falling to his knees, Hiei gasped and writhed as horrible agony twisted his intestines.

"Hiei!" Vegeta cried, rushing over to his adopted son.

Rolling the boy into a sitting position, the older man picked him up and ran inside. "Bulma!"

The blue haired woman turned around to see her husband holding their nephew delicately in his arms, a worried look etched across his face. Examining the small boy, Bulma saw that his brow was furrowed in pain as he ground his teeth, trying to block out the screams that wanted to burst from his lips. Her eyes widened as she ran forward and grabbed the boy from her husband's arms. Sprinting towards her lab, she screamed for her father. Dr. Briefs came running at the sound of her voice, his face full of panic.

"What is the matter darling?"

"It's Hiei!" Bulma cried, her voice high pitched with worry "Something is wrong with him!"

The next few hours passed in a blur, all Hiei remembered was the moments when he would come out of his drugged stupor long enough to register the glum faces of his aunt and uncle before once again surrendering to sleep. When he finally did wake up, Bulma was pacing the room, her face set in a look of supreme determination. The fire demon felt a shiver of fear run down his spine at the gleam in her eyes, before clearing his throat to alert her of his waking up.

"Oh thank God!" Bulma breathed as she rushed to his side.

Gathering the boy into her arms, she snuggled him close into her chest and allowed a few relieved tears to leak from beneath her lashes and drop onto the raven head resting under her chin. Softly kissing his black hair, Bulma rubbed his back in an effort to dispel his tense body. She knew he was still unused to physical touch due to his raising, but she was determined to break down that wall, at least when it came to her.

"Um…" a small voice spoke hesitantly in her arms "Are you ok?"

"Am I ok?" Bulma asked, pushing the boy back so that she could give him a full view of her shock "I think that's my line, you're the one that we had to rush in here and keep in a medicated sleep while we re-balanced the chemicals in your body!"

"Re-balanced…" Hiei murmured, his brow furrowed in confusion "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that your anorexic butt is the reason you almost died today!"

Once again the blue haired woman was met with a blank stare, and she almost fell over from sheer frustration. Taking a deep breath, Bulma began to explain just what had happened that afternoon.

"Look" she said with patient tolerance "The simple fact of the matter is you don't eat enough. Without the extra calories to burn into ki energy, every time you use your power, it will backfire on you. You can get away with basic ki techniques such as flying or even energy blasts, but if you want to use your Saiyan abilities, then you need to make sure your tank is full at all times. I understand that because of your past, you are used to surviving on minimal food, but now that your Saiyan blood has awakened, you can't afford that luxury anymore. You have to eat, and when I say eat, I mean at least as much as Trunks eats."

"Per day?" Hiei asked incredulously.

"Per MEAL!"

(End flash back)

Since that day, Hiei has been nagged by Bulma to eat everything she puts on his plate, which is more than usually a mountain of food taller than his hair. Following his new little sister down the stairs, the fire demon sighed as he slid into his usual seat at the dinner table. Just as he expected, soon an enormous plate of food was set in front of him, which caused Hiei to give a small groan.

"This is going to take me forever."

"Well yeah if you pick at it and growl at me between bites like you normally do, then it will take forever." Bulma retorted as she glared playfully at her newest child.

"I don't think I need this much food" Hiei whined "I have survived this long on my own, so I think I know what is best for my body."

Bulma stopped stirring a pot of hot chocolate she was making long enough to smirk at the boy "Have you ever considered that maybe the reason why you are so short is because you don't ingest enough nutrients essential for your body's health."

Hiei's jaw dropped as Trunks burst into wild laughter.

"Good one mom!" the purple haired teen chortled.

Bulma merely gave a curtsy and waved like a princess, her face bright with mirth as she tried to keep the laughter inside. But she soon failed when another thought came into her head, and inevitably out her mouth.

"Or…" she giggled uncontrollably "He is just short because he gets that from his Dad."

"Yeah," Trunks agreed his face red from laughing so hard "Dad is pretty short."

Suddenly Vegeta came stomping into the house, half of his body covered in snow, the culprit responsible for his state being the blue haired girl currently squealing in delighted glee held under his arm. With a face full of indignant petulance, both Vegeta and Hiei accidentally found themselves shouting at the exact same moment;

"I'm NOT short!"

The whole kitchen went quiet while everyone processed just what had transpired, until finally laughter once again rang throughout the house. Even Hiei found himself laughing at the absurdity that was this strange yet common morning in the Briefs household.

….

"OK!" Vegeta bellowed out across the yard "These are the rules of-"

Suddenly the Saiyan's speech was disrupted when a wet splat hit his lower back. Turning around, Vegeta raised one eyebrow at his giggling daughter, and gave her an amused smirk before returning to his run down of the rules.

"As I was saying," the older Saiyan continued "these are the rules for the snowball fight. Powers are against the rules this is a test of strength, skill, and endurance-"

Another snowball to the back caused Vegeta to pause, turn to glare at Trunks, and then take a breath and continue "There will be no physical contact, only the use of snowballs is permitted as a weapon, and Bulma," the man said gruffly, turning a stern glare towards his wife "no packing ice in snow and throwing it like a snowball. Remember last year? It bounced off me, and hit Bra, I don't want a repeat."

Bulma stuck her tongue out as she bashfully scratched the back of her head. Hiei stood on the other side of the yard watching the exchange, fidgeting uncomfortably in his new clothes. A couple months ago when it started getting colder, Bulma insisted on taking Hiei shopping for clothes other than the few rags he had brought with him, and Hiei was not given room to argue; a situation that the small demon felt really uncomfortable in. Yeah, he may have been adopted by them, but it didn't mean that he felt comfortable just acting like a part of the family. Hiei still didn't really know the meaning of that word yet, or how one is supposed to be in a family, but he wanted to try. At the very least he wanted to experience what it felt like to have people who loved you and supported you.

But right now he wasn't worried so much about being a part of the family, as he was about the snow currently up to his knees. Looking around, the demon saw that Vegeta and Bra had already gone through the trouble of building various forts, and areas where someone could hide long enough to make a snowball. Hiei didn't like water, and to him snow was just frozen water. Prolonged exposure to it made him weak and dizzy, and he did not appreciate the memories attached to the icy world around him. The fire apparition gave a small shudder at the cold seeping into his bones, and eventually his soul.

Vegeta glanced over at his adopted son, his brow furrowed in worry for the boy's well being. Something felt off about him, and the older Saiyan knew that the weather had something to do with it considering his past. He had hoped that a fun training session outside would help him work out his stress, but judging from his expression of almost panic made the man's heart clench. Quickly walking over to the boy, Vegeta looked him square in the eye, his face serious and calculating.

Hiei felt his breath catch in his throat at his new father's gaze. Quickly, he looked away, and gave an uneasy swallow as he felt a bead of sweat drip from his temple down his cheek. A shuddering breath shook his frame, as he tried to gain composure, but Hiei knew that Vegeta could see right through him and it was pointless to hide the fact that something was wrong.

"Is everything ok?" Vegeta asked softly.

Hiei gazed at the snow in shame, clenching his jaw as he maintained his silence refusing to admit the weakness he was currently experiencing.

Vegeta sighed, then placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, and leaned in close "Look, I understand that you can't handle water too well, even if it is frozen. If you don't want to be here, then you don't have to be."

Hiei felt his face flush in humiliation. He didn't want to be out here, but neither did he want to go inside like he was some weakling.

Finally the demon heaved a sigh, and then nodded his head. Turning around, he began his lonely trek up to the house, but was stopped when a snowball hit him in the back of the head. Turning around, Hiei turned to see Trunks tossing a snowball up in the air and catching it with a cocky grin on his face.

"Hey" Vegeta said firmly "Hiei doesn't want to be in the snowball fight for his own reasons. You should respect that."

"Aw come on!" Trunks whined "I just want to have a rematch, besides, Hiei is dire need of getting what he deserves!"

With a smile, the purple haired teen began to pelt Hiei with snowballs, while Vegeta called for him to stop. The fire demon blocked every icy sphere, the voice of the ice maidens ringing in his ears.

Monster… Filth… Deserves to die… Kill him!

"STOP IT!"

Everyone froze, the entire yard still as Hiei's anguished shout cut through the air and echoed off the walls of the mansion. Whirling around, the small demon ran inside, chest heaving as he began to hyperventilate and sought refuge inside his room. Trunks dropped the snowball currently in his hands and ran forward, but were stopped by the hand of his father. Looking up, the young man gave a guilty grimace, his eyes full of sorrow at the unintentional hurt he had caused his brother. Vegeta merely sighed, and patted his son on the back.

"Let him be." The older man advised quietly "You can talk to him later after he has had time to cool down."

Nodding his head, Trunks turned around, and once again joined his family in their annual snowball fight.

…

Back in his room, Hiei sat on the bed, face firmly planted in his knees.

He hated the fact that he lost his composure in front of Trunks. In all honesty, the guy was a great brother, and a fantastic sparring partner. But when the purple haired teen started throwing snow balls, all rational thought had flown from the demon's head. His shoulders hunched further in the shame that overwhelmed him. He wanted to be a part of this family, but how could he be if he ruined his chances by letting his control over his emotions slip from just a little snow?

A squeal caused him to look up in time to see little Bra throw a snowball into Vegeta's face. A small smile quirked one side of Hiei's face as he watched the older man wipe the snow from his eyes, and then lunge forward, gathering his daughter up in his arms. Bra screamed in delighted giggles as he began to tickle her relentlessly until he had extracted an apology from her. Eventually though, he set her down, and began to head inside the house. Hiei sighed, and then began to head downstairs. It was time he faced his uncle… his father, and explain his behavior. But when he reached halfway down the stairs, the boy stopped at the quiet conversation taking place in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.

"Do you think Hiei will be alright?" Bulma asked her voice soft with worry.

"I think so" Vegeta nodded, shaking his head of the snow that was still stubbornly clinging to his hair.

"Do you think it is the snow?" Bulma replied "I know that he has problems because of the ice maidens, I would hate for Christmas to be ruined for him because of painful memories."

"Christmas won't be ruined." Vegeta growled playfully as he wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her close against him "He knows that he has us, and we know that we just need to be patient while he processes what it means to be a family. Hiei will come to us when he is ready, and we can't force him to go faster than what is comfortable for him."

"I know" Bulma sighed forlornly, resting her cheek on her husband's chest "I just worry about whether he is really happy with us."

Vegeta grunted his agreement before a wicked smile twisted his face "You know what would make me happy?"

"What?" the woman asked, angling her face so she could look into her lover's eyes.

"I think it would be a good idea to make sure that the mistletoe we picked out is a good one. We can't have Christmas without mistletoe that does its job."

Bulma gave a seductive laugh, and then wrapped her arms around the Saiyan prince's neck. Leaning forward, she placed a small kiss on her husband's waiting lips, but then after leaning back and looking deeply into his eyes, they joined once again in a deep passionate kiss that could only be held by those who were married and truly in love. Vegeta placed one hand under her jaw, and pulled her ever closer, rubbing his nose against hers as he reveled in his wife's soft embrace.

Hiei slunk upstairs, his heart aching as he processed the scene that had just played in front of him. In the makai, he had never experienced, much less witnessed such gentleness. He had no idea that two people, one of them being an extremely powerful warrior, could show such vulnerability and somehow make that weakness look… beautiful.

Hiei's thoughts were quickly interrupted by his adopted brother, whom he had just literally bumped into.

"Oh Hiei," Trunks exclaimed, surprise written across his features "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you!"

"Its fine" Hiei sighed as he turned and walked inside his room.

Trunks followed him, and stood in the middle of the floor, scuffing his foot along the wood in an uncomfortable silence. Hiei sat on his bed, and waited, knowing that his brother had something on his mind. Finally the purple haired teen slapped his thighs helplessly as he untied his tongue.

"Look…" Trunks said softly "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a jerk today, and it was uncalled for to throw the snowballs at you when you didn't even want to play."

"It isn't your fault." The fire demon said in a grieved tone "It's mine for not being able to keep control of my temper."

"Why?" Trunks burst out before suddenly looking very bashful "I mean, if you don't mind me asking, why do you hate the snow?"

Hiei bit back the sharp retort that wanted to snap at Trunks to mind his own business, but instead took a deep breath. Turning towards his bedroom window, the boy braced his arms on the windowsill and rested his chin on them.

"If you really want to know" he growled "then you better sit down, because it's a long story."

"Ok" Trunks replied as he scurried to a seat on the bed next to his antisocial brother.

For the next hour and a half, Hiei detailed his life, and how he was thrown off a cliff by his mother's people as an infant. How he was raised by bandits, and eventually became a demon thief respected in the makai and feared for his abilities. He spoke of breaking into the spirit world royal vault, and met the spirit detective. Finally, he came to the end of his tale, and cast sorrowful eyes to his adopted brother.

"So you see" Hiei said slowly "I hate the snow because I can't stand the thought of how I am connected to it."

"No you're not" Trunks stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Wait…What?" the fire apparition sputtered.

"You may be connected to demon snow," the purple haired teen said as he crossed his arms and gave a firm nod "but you aren't connected with this snow. Here, you have the chance to create new and better memories with new and better snow. There is nothing in this world that ties you to the ice maidens except you, and now that you have been adopted, that has been changed to. You aren't the emiko, the forbidden child, right now and forever you are Hiei Briefs. End of story."

Hiei stared at his brother, a warm feeling bursting inside his chest as he processed the information given to him. He was no longer the emiko? An immense weight that Hiei never really knew had weighed him down was suddenly lifted from his shoulders, and Hiei felt a relieved sob catch in his throat. He wasn't the emiko; he wasn't Hiei Jaganshi any longer; his name was Hiei Briefs. His past was melted away with last winter's snow, and now he had the ability to carve out new memories for himself without being shackled to his past. Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, and little Bra had accepted him into their hearts, it was time he accepted them into his.

Giving a smile at his brother, the small demon nodded his understanding, and watched as Trunks got up to leave the room. But before the purple haired teen could leave, Hiei's eyes widened as he remembered something, and he leapt to his feet calling out for his brother.

"Trunks!"

Trunks poked his head back through the door "What?"

"Don't go downstairs!" Hiei found himself chuckling "Vegeta and Bulma…I mean, Dad and Mom are kissing under the mistletoe, and I don't think they were going to let up any time soon."

Trunks pulled his most comical 'ick' face at his younger brother "Thanks for the warning, because heaven knows when they get started, you might as well just avoid them for the rest of the night."

"No kidding" Hiei smirked "If they aren't making out, then they are making eyes at each other, and that is almost as bad as if they were playing tonsil hockey in front of you."

Trunks cracked up laughing, then walked away, his voice carrying down the hall as he grumbled about parents acting like newlyweds, and how they needed to act their age. The fire apparition stood next to his bed, his mind racing with the day's events. Maybe it was about time to go downstairs and interrogate Bulma… Mom about what exactly this thing called 'Christmas' was. Running from the room, he went to search out his adopted mother and ask her about the Holiday. Tomorrow was the big day, and Hiei had just the plan for how to start out the morning with his family.

…..

The next morning, Vegeta and Trunks met down in the front yard to begin shoveling the snow. The older Saiyan knew that they could have the bots do it, but he knew that shoveling was good training for his sun, and it built endurance and strength. But as the prince looked around, he couldn't help but notice that Hiei was missing. Turning to his son, Vegeta queried;

"Where's Hiei?"

"I don't know" Trunks shrugged as he bent over to scoop a pile of snow with his shovel "I knocked on his door."

"He knows that I want the both of you shoveling snow as your morning training…" Vegeta grumbled, but his sour mood was quickly changed by a voice calling to them from the roof of a tree house that had been built for Bra just that past summer.

"Training on Christmas?" Hiei yelled sarcastically "What happened to good will to men?"

Vegeta smirked, and then barked out a laugh "Yes, good will to MEN, but all I see are a couple of BOYS who need to listen to their father and do their training."

Hiei made a big show of pondering Vegeta's words before giving a theatrical shrug "Nah… REVOLT!"

Stooping down, Hiei began to throw a flurry of snowballs at his father, each one being blocked by the Saiyan prince's speedy fists.

"Trunks, I need backup!" Hiei yelled, a large grin spreading across his face as he jumped from his spot and ducked behind a large snow fort.

Vegeta spun around to see that both his sons had disappeared, and were apparently hunting him. The elder Saiyan laughed. Shoveling could be left to the bots, this practice was much more fun. Sneaking across the large yard, the man let a dark chuckle to slip past his lips as he felt out the energies of his children.

"You can't hide for long" he snarled playfully "I will find you, and then you will have a real fight on your hands."

Suddenly a crash in the trees caused Vegeta to spin around only to see a flying black shadow hurtling towards him, a snow ball firmly in its grasp.

"GET HIM!" The fire apparition yelled.

Soon the Saiyan prince was bombarded on both sides by snowballs, and energy blasts. He ducked, dodged, and blocked most, but one lucky shot got him right in the nose. Blinded by the snow, Hiei and Trunks took advantage of the opportunity and tackled their father to the ground, their voices screaming in exultant glee as they claimed their victory. Vegeta found himself unable to move due the laughter bubbling up from deep in his gut. The two boys finally lay down on the snow, all three laughing at their fun, and as Hiei gazed up at the blue sky, he finally understood why humans put so much stock in family. There was nothing like it, and to be perfectly honest, he never wanted to leave this new home. He was happy, and that was an emotion he knew he would never take for granted.

"Boys, stop playing in the snow and get inside, it's time for breakfast, and Hiei that definitely means you!" Bulma yelled out the door.

"Aw Mom!" Hiei whined "I just ate!"

The blue haired woman looked shocked at the name Hiei had addressed her as, but her shock was quickly replaced by a large thousand watt smile. "Oh?" she said, trying her best to give a stern look at her adopted son, but failing miserably "and just when did you eat this alleged meal?

"Last night!"

"That doesn't count and you know it!"

Laughter rung throughout the yard as Hiei scrambled to his feet, and brushed the snow off his pants. Vegeta came up behind him and gave him a one armed hug around the neck before giving him a gentle shove.

"Come on squirt" he said fondly "We better get inside, because if we don't eat breakfast quickly, Bra might go into hysterics over not being able to open her presents."

Hiei gave a nod, and then joined his father inside the house. It looked like Christmas just might end up his favorite holiday, just as long as it was a white one.