So, I wrote "Uh, Oh!" and tons of people liked it. At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to write a sequel - I just put that as the end because I needed a way to end the story - but then I thought it over and people wanted a sequel. So, here it is, you guys! Enjoy it!:P And a special big thanks to my Beta Reader, My blue rose - you're amazingly awesome, girl!:P
The old tan Honda Accord pulled into the parking lot of the school, rumbling softly. Rain pitter-pattered on the roof of the car as Shizuru turned the car off and looked back at the twins sitting in the backseat. She smiled at their expressions; Sumi's nervous and scared and Haru's bored and uninterested as he looked out the window.
"Okay, sweethearts, we're here."
"I don't want to go, mommy." Sumi said, fiddling with the hem of her pink dress. "I really don't want to go."
"Neither do I." Haru said, sighing as he turned his head to Shizuru. "Mom, do we really have to go?"
"Yes, you do." Shizuru answered, moving her hair out of her face. "Relax, it'll be fine. It's kindergarten! You guys are going to make new friends, you guys are going to have so much fun."
"Hn." Hiei and Haru said in unison.
Shizuru rolled her eyes at her son and boyfriend, smiling at her daughter who smiled back nervously. Sumi was such a sweet quiet shy little girl who was slightly afraid of new situations like this.
Reluctantly the twins unbuckled, zipped up their slick raincoats and put on their hoods then opened their car doors, stepping out into the rain. Shizuru looked at Hiei, who sat next to her in the passenger seat. He looked out the windshield and watched the wipers flip occasionally, clearing the rain from the window for only a split second.
"You wanna go in with me and say good bye?" She asked.
Hiei shrugged, not taking his eyes off the window. They turned to the passenger side door, hearing something tap against it. Hiei opened the door to see the sleek black raincoat clad little boy he called his son smiling at him.
"You're coming in with us, right dad?" Haru asked, his crimson eyes wide and innocent.
Hiei looked at his son for a moment before unbuckling and getting out of the car with a huff. Haru had a way of making Hiei do anything for him, just as Sumi had a way of making their uncle Kazuma doing anything for her.
Haru smiled up at Hiei, his eyes suddenly hidden by the hood of his raincoat. He reached up and grabbed Hiei's hand, following after Shizuru and Sumi.
Sumi lifted her white galoshes covered feet and stamped on puddles, giggling as she and Shizuru made their way into the school. Shizuru stopped in front of the door of the kindergarten classroom, looking back at Hiei and Haru as they waited for them. Hiei looked around the inside of the school, his eyebrows quirked and lips pursed. Haru looked up at his dad, his hood falling off of his head and revealing his auburn flame-shaped hair.
Shizuru stifled a giggle as she watched Haru ask Hiei questions that he had asked his father already a thousand times before. Hiei would just answered with two words or less, his voice flat and uninterested as always.
As the two flame-shaped haired father and son approached the mother and daughter, Sumi put her hand on the doorknob of the classroom and turned it, opening it cautiously.
The room was bright and colorful; raincoats hung on hooks in the corner of the room by the door with bright cartoon lunchboxes underneath. Children ran around, laughing and playing. Nametags decorated the little tables with tiny navy blue chairs tucked in neatly.
Sumi smiled upon seeing all the other children; the only other child she knew and played with was Haru. Shizuru crouched down and helped Sumi take her white raincoat and matching galoshes off.
"Now, don't cling to your brother today." Shizuru warned with a smile. "Make tons of new friends, honey."
"I will, mommy."
Haru kicked his black galoshes off and pulled his raincoat off over his head then hung it up by Sumi's. He looked up at Hiei and reached his arms up to him, opening and closing his hands. Hiei picked his son up and hugged him.
"Have a good day, son." Hiei gave his son a small smile as he put him back down. "Be good."
Haru giggled then ran to Shizuru to give her a hug, crossing Sumi as she ran to Hiei with her arms up in the same way Haru's were just a moment ago. Hiei scooped his daughter up and kissed her on the cheek, causing her to giggle. Hiei repeated what he had told Haru then set her down, patting her on the head.
A young woman strode over to the small family, giving them a wide friendly smile.
"Hi, I'm Miss Ito." She said cheerfully, holding her hand out to Shizuru.
"It's very nice to meet you." Shizuru said, shaking Miss Ito's hand. "I'm Shizuru and this is Hiei."
Hiei looked Miss Ito up and down quickly before giving her a civil half smile. Miss Ito kept her friendly smile on her face when she looked down at the twins, who were looking up at her.
"And who are these two?"
"This is Haru and this is Sumi." Shizuru answered, putting a hand atop of the child's head when she said their names. "They're a little nervous about starting school."
"I'm not nervous!" Haru said, looking up at his mother. "I just don't want to be here."
Hiei smirked and stifled a laugh while Shizuru and Miss Ito chuckled lightly. Miss Ito crouched down to get a better look at the twins.
"There are a lot of children who are nervous on their first day of school." She said, smiling. "C'mon, I'll show you guys around."
Haru grabbed a handful of the fabric of Hiei's pants and looked up at him with a pleading look on his face.
"Dad, do I have to stay here?"
"It's only for a few hours, sweetie." Miss Ito said, standing up. She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh, goodness! I should start class. If you two want to stay for a few minutes until your kids get comfortable, you can."
"Oh, I have to go to work." Shizuru glanced at Hiei. "You have anything planned for today? Think you could stay with the twins for a bit?"
Hiei opened his mouth to protest when Haru and Sumi grabbed his hands, hopping up and down.
"Stay with us, daddy!" Sumi pleaded, a wide smile on her face.
"Yeah, stay for a while, dad!"
Hiei looked from his children to Shizuru, who just smiled and gave him a half shrug.
"You're on your own, babe." She said, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder.
"Stay, dad, stay!" Haru chanted.
"Yeah, just for a few minutes, daddy!"
Hiei opened his mouth again then closed it again. He did this a few times which made him resemble a goldfish. He made a sound between a growl and an audible sigh; his children took that as a sound of defeat and cheered. Shizuru kissed Hiei on the temple then said her goodbyes to her little family before leaving the classroom. Hiei let the twins drag him to a table where Miss Ito said their nametags were.
Miss Ito pulled a tiny navy blue chair over to the table and put it in between Haru and Sumi's for Hiei. Hiei grumbled and sat down in between his children, who smiled at him happily.
Hiei tuned the teacher out as she spoke about who she was and what they would be learning that year. He picked at his fingernails while children went around, saying their names, their age and their favorite color.
"I'm Sumi Kuwabara!" Sumi chirped. "I'm five and my favorite colors are pink and white."
"I'm Haru Kuwabara." Haru said, fiddling with a pencil on the table as he sunk into his chair. "I'm five and my favorite colors are black and red."
"And who is this man sitting in between you two?" Miss Ito said, smiling at Hiei and his children.
"That's one big five year old!" Some chubby boy said from the table next to Haru and Sumi's.
Hiei's eye twitched when children started laughing. Haru sighed and rolled his eyes at the laughing children and sat up.
"This is our daddy!" Sumi said, patting Hiei on the shoulder.
"Tell us your name, age and favorite color." Miss Ito said, her cheery smile on her face.
"I'm . . . Hiei . . ." He felt like he was in an AA meeting. "And my favorite color is black."
"And how old are you, Mr. Kuwabara?"
Hiei's eye twitched again when he heard Miss Ito call him 'Mr. Kuwabara'. He would have killed himself if he were actually a Kuwabara. And what was he supposed to say about his age? He was almost a hundred years old! Should he be honest or lie and say he was Shizuru's age? That was a good plan, except he didn't know how old Shizuru was. He knew that that was bad. He decided to tell the truth and gulped.
"I'm almost a hundred."
He was shocked and yet a little relieved when all the children started laughing, even Miss Ito had a hand over her mouth to cover a smile. Haru and Sumi looked at Hiei then looked at each other and Hiei swore he saw a look of slight embarrassment on their faces.
Ten minutes later after all the students were introduced, Miss Ito put out blank white sheets of paper and a pack of crayons in front of each student.
"Draw something that makes you happy!" Miss Ito chirped, walking around the room. "Like a pet or your family or something like Disneyland!"
Hiei sat in between his children, watching the little children around them hunched over their papers and scribbling furiously with crayons. He looked from Haru to Sumi, wondering what they were coloring. He straightened up, realizing that they were distracted, and scooted his tiny chair back. He watched them for a moment to see if they would move and wonder what he was doing. They sat quietly, scribbling away and not paying any attention to their father.
Hiei stood and glanced at Miss Ito sitting at her desk. She smiled at him and nodded politely, telling him to have a good day in a soft voice. He replied with his usual "Hn" before leaving the classroom. He flitted from the school, making his way back to the apartment.
He opened the door to see Kuwabara and Yusuke sitting on the couch, playing some video game. They paid no attention to him, not even acknowledging his presence, just went on playing their game.
"Shouldn't you two be at work?" Hiei sneered, folding his arms over his chest as he watched the green car pass the pink car on the screen.
"Day off." They muttered in unison.
"Hn."
"Sit down, Hiei." Yusuke said, not taking his eyes off the television. "Join us, yo."
"I'm not playing."
"Good, we don't want you to." Kuwabara retorted, elbowing Yusuke in the side.
Hiei flopped down on the recliner by the couch, leaning back into the plush upholstery. He watched the game for a moment before slapping the armrests of the recliner and standing up.
"Life is just too damn short." He mumbled as he left the apartment.
Shizuru spun the chair around to face the mirror; smiling at the hairstyle she had given the young man. The young man gasped, looking at the frosted spiked blonde hair he now had in the mirror.
"So?" Shizuru bit her lip. "What do you think?"
"Oh, my god! Shizuru, you're amazing!" He said, standing and hugging her. "From now on, I am only coming to you when I have hair emergencies."
She laughed and let the young man hug her. A phone rang in the backroom and a fellow hairstylist of Shizuru's ran to answer it. Shizuru spoke to the young man for a moment before the hairstylist interrupted her.
"Uhm, Shizuru?" She said softly, holding her hand over the phone. "There's a woman on the phone named Miss Ito, she says it's important."
Shizuru rushed to the hairstylist, taking the phone from her and putting it to her own ear.
"Hello?" She said in a worried voice. She gasped. "Oh, my God. I am so sorry, I will be right there."
Shizuru ran from the salon then jumped into her car, her hands fumbling with her key. Finally, she got the key into the ignition and started her car.
Hiei slumped in the green recliner again, watching Yusuke and Kuwabara play some new game. It had been a few hours since he had left the twins and he wondered how they were. He knew that their class would be getting out soon and that made a small smile cross his face. He missed them, actually; the apartment seemed too quiet without them bouncing around and playing. He thought about surprising them after their school got out and take them to the park. He really missed them.
The door opened and Shizuru stood there, breathing heavily through her nose, which was what she did when she was incredibly angry. Haru came in after her, hanging his head. Sumi followed in after her brother, her head cocked to the side with a confused look on her face. She smiled at Yusuke and Kuwabara and plopped down in between them on the couch.
"Do you know what your son did today?" Shizuru asked, addressing Hiei with her hands on her hips.
"Colored?" Hiei answered, letting his head fall back into the plush fabric of the recliner.
Shizuru made a face at her lover then looked down at Haru, who stood next to her with his head still hanging.
"Tell him what you did, Haru." Shizuru said. "Tell your father what you did in school today."
Haru lifted his head up and looked at Hiei with a sad pleading look on his face.
"I hit a kid."
Yusuke and Kuwabara paused their game and turned their attention to Haru.
"No kiddin'?" Yusuke said, smirking. "What did he do, take your crayons?"
"Knock it off, Yusuke. That's not just what you did, Haru. Tell your father what you did."
"I punched him in the nose but only 'cause he was being mean to me! He was making fun of me and I –"
"You made his nose bleed." Shizuru looked from Haru to Hiei. "You'll never guess what he did."
"Damn it, what happened?" Hiei snapped, sitting up.
"I set my teacher's desk on fire." Haru said, looking down at his feet.
The room was silent as Hiei, Yusuke and Kuwabara stared wide-eyed at Haru. Yusuke and Kuwabara started snickering.
"How did you do that, son?" Hiei asked, resting his arms on his knees.
"I dunno." Haru mumbled sadly, picking at his fingers. "It just happened. Miss Ito put me in time-out while the other kids got to play outside."
"He had to sit on a stool in a corner of a room with no toys or anything for five whole minutes!" Sumi piped up as she looked from Kuwabara to Yusuke.
"I was just sitting there, just looking at her desk and thinking about unfair she was being and then all of a sudden, her desk was in flames." Haru continued. "I think Miss Ito hates me now."
"I don't think so!" Sumi chirped, bouncing a little. "She didn't know if Haru really did it or not."
Shizuru seemed to calm down a bit, her breathing going back to normal. She pointed down the hall, looking down at Haru.
"Go to your room." She stated. "You are in time out –"
"Again? But mommy!" Haru pleaded, snapping his head up to look at her with wide eyes. He only called her 'mommy' when he wanted to get out of something.
"You need to think about what you did. Tomorrow, you will apologize to your teacher and to that boy you punched. Your father will come in and talk to you in a few minutes then I'll come in and talk to you. After that, we'll see if you can come out of your room."
"But mommy!" Haru whined, throwing his arms up in the air.
"No 'buts', Haru. Go to your room." Shizuru pointed her finger at Haru, warning him. "And don't even think about setting anything on fire."
Haru opened and closed his mouth for a moment before turning to Hiei. Hiei seemed to be lost in thought, not even noticing that his son was looking at him. Haru let out a frustrated whine then ran to his room, pouting. Shizuru let out a deep sigh then went to the door.
"Where're you going?" Kuwabara asked.
"I need a cigarette." She said flatly before leaving the apartment.
Haru sat between the small spot between the headboard of his bed and the wall. This is was his hiding place. He sniffled and wiped his face with the back of his shirtsleeve. He hadn't meant to set the desk on fire. It really was an accident. He didn't understand why his mother had gotten so upset at him; he had apologized to her profusely.
He tensed as his bedroom door opened, trying to squish himself into the corner of the wall. He pulled his knees up to his chest and hid his face, hearing the door close then footsteps coming towards him.
Hiei squatted by the empty space between the headboard of his son's bed and the wall, looking at tiny auburn haired clone.
"Haru." Hiei said, softly yet sternly.
Haru scuttled as best as he could to turn his back on his father. Hiei half smiled to himself then reached out to touch his son's shoulder. Haru tensed again, letting Hiei turn him around. Haru wrapped his arms around his knees tightly, burying his face in his knees. Hiei grabbed Haru by his foot and pulled him out of the space.
"Haru, stop it." Hiei said firmly.
"I didn't do anything!" Haru whined, lifting his head up.
"Yes, you did." Hiei answered, flopping down and sitting cross-legged. "Somehow, what you did was wrong. I really don't see why, but your mother . . ."
Hiei trailed off, he didn't want to make Shizuru out to be the bad guy. He sighed and pulled Haru closer to him. Haru let go of his legs and climbed into Hiei's lap, resting his head against his father's chest.
"They don't like me, dad." Haru said softly, playing with the fabric of Hiei's shirt between his fingers. "I don't wanna go back."
"You have to." Hiei said, picking lint from his son's hair. "You have twelve more years of this school crap, sixteen if you go to college after high school."
"But what about Uncle Yusuke?"
"He dropped out in Junior High, he had more important things to do." Hiei was silent a moment then gave Haru a light thump on the head. "Don't get any ideas."
"But what if I have more important things to do, too?"
"Like what?" Hiei chuckled at Haru's silence. "I thought so."
"Dad . . . why are Sumi and me so different?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're not like the other kids . . ." Haru trailed off, curling up into a ball as he cuddled up against Hiei. "We're really different."
Hiei closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He opened his eyes to see Haru looking up at him with big innocent worried ruby eyes that he shared with Hiei.
"Dad, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Hiei sighed again and pulled his son closer. "I have to tell you something."
Hiei proceeded to tell Haru his life story, leaving out the extra violent parts that he knew would give his son nightmares. Haru stared up at Hiei, absorbing all of his father's words and nodding every so often.
When Hiei finished talking, he sighed deeply through his nose and looked at Haru, who was looking up at him with a look of wonder, amazement and adoration on his face.
"Are you like a superhero, dad?" Haru asked after a moment.
Hiei half-smiled and ruffled Haru's hair then hugged him.
"Something like that." He muttered.
"Dad, is my timeout over?"
Hiei blinked and thought it over. Shizuru never said how long his timeout was supposed to be. He shrugged and stood with the little boy in arms.
"I guess so."