A/N: Just some fluffy goodness. This is a one shot that goes along with my Concrete Angel universe. It's not a spoiler for that story and you don't have to read it to understand this one. Just know that Rori is my Oc and she and Hiei are a pair. Emiko is mine to, so no touchy with out my permission.
Yami: What did I tell you about staying up till 1 am to listen to your muse?!
Hikari: # Ummm… Crim made me do it?
Yami: (glares weapons of mass destruction at little brother) I loath you!
Crim: Oh sure, blame it on the little guy!
Hikari: OKAY!!!
Yami & Crim: VV,
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To say that Hiei was less than enthusiastic when he learned that Kuwabara had finally proposed to Yukina was an understatement. To say that he was happy when he also learned that his sister had accepted the baka Ningen's hand in marriage, was also an understatement. But, to say that he was even remotely emotionally tickled when he heard that they were expecting a little addition to their young family last June was THE SINGLE BIGGEST UNDER-STATMENT OF THE CENTURY!!!
Rori had been sympathetic to the apparition's plight at first, bowing to the efforts of an older brother clinging to the thought of his younger sister still being the child that he'd watched over and protected all those years, but now she just found it amusing. Yukina, on the other hand, found it quite concerning.
"Why does Nii-san never wish to be around us?" The small ice maiden asked one evening as she sat with the angel on the back porch of Genkai's temple, watching the sun go down behind the forest. The crimson eyed woman bounced a tiny infant with identical eyes and ringlets of strawberry blonde hair on one knee. Rori smiled knowingly as she watched the mother and daughter interact.
"He does want to be around you Yukina-chan. He's just not sure how to react to situations like this. They make him… uncomfortable." Again with the understating.
"It's because he hates Kazuma isn't it? He doesn't like the idea of Emiko being of blood relation to a human…" Rori cut the kooriem woman off quickly.
"No, that's not it at all." Yukina looked up at the other woman with stormy garnet eyes and Rori laughed softly. "Hiei loves you Yukina, so much. And no, he doesn't care for Kuwabara…" Understatement! "Well, actually most days he can't stand him at all," Rori went off on a tangent with out meaning to, "But the point is, he respects Kuwabara as a fighter, and even as a man sometimes," Rori tried hard to keep a straight face, "And definitely as your husband. And he adores Emiko!" Rori traced a little curl over the infant's ear and she giggled, reaching out tiny little hands to grasp her aunt's fingers.
"But he never wishes to hold her or be near her, or even look at me when I speak about her…" Yukina protested, her voice softening with despair as she listed said evidence.
Rori let out a peal of laughter, but tried hard to stifle it at the confusion in the poor apparition woman's face. "Yukina, you worry too much! He's barely used to the fact that he has a sister; a real sister who knows he exists and acknowledges his presence and cares for him. Now all of a sudden he has a sister and a brother-in-law and a niece. Give the guy some credit here; he's not Mr. Sunshine the socialist. He's…" Rori smiled quaintly, her gaze drifting into space. "He's still feeling his way around this whole family thing. Give him some time."
Yukina smiled sadly still not looking quite convinced. Rori scowled for a moment trying to find fool proof words of conviction for the kooriem. She heard the trees around the complex rustle in the dusk breeze, filling her ears with the imaginary sound of a clapping audience, and a wickedly wry smile crept up her face, curving her pink lips and setting her silver eyes ablaze with mischief.
"If it makes you feel better I'll tell you a secret." Yukina looked up with intrigue from Emiko whose eyes were drooping with sleep as the last rays of sunlight retreated behind the horizon. "It'll be our secret though, just between you and me." Yukina nodded eagerly, her face bright like a child hearing an epic tail for the first time.
"Some times, late at night when he thinks everyone is asleep, he goes to Emiko's crib and just… watches her." Rori assumed the most wistful, far off look as she recalled those late night vigils, the angel secretly watching her mate as he "secretly" watched over his niece. "I've even heard him speak to her once or twice, though I can never tell what he's saying." Rori jerked out of her reverie at the sharp sound of sniffing.
She blinked, realizing that the kooriem woman holding her now sleeping daughter was crying. Rori placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, relieved that she had finally gotten through to her. They stayed silent that way for a moment longer before the telephone rang somewhere inside the temple. Yukina chocked back more happy tears with a laugh and sniffled a few more times before shifting.
Without a sound Rori lifted Emiko from her mother's arms, allowing the blue haired apparition to answer the phone while she slipped up the stares and down the hall to the child's Nursery. Rori laid the tiny girl in the wooden bassinette lined with white lace and covered her with a soft pink blanket. She smiled almost sadly as she hovered over her niece a while longer stroking her soft, round cheeks lovingly. Then she gave the child a gentle kiss on the nose and quietly crept to the door, turning the lights out as she grabbed for the brass handle.
"Must you give away all my secrets onna?" She heard a low tenor grumble from the room behind her and turned to see her mate enter the room through the window, slightly ajar now. She watched as he paid no mind to her and ghosted over the wood floorboards until he stood over his infant niece's crib.
"She needed to know Hiei," Rori explained, though she already knew that the kajihenge was not angry with her. Her smile grew as she watched him stretch a tentative hand out and lightly brush the child's hair from her face. Emiko cooed quietly in her sleep and Rori caught the corner of the youkai's mouth she could see turn upward, ever so slightly.
Rori gently shut the door and walked back toward the porch to rejoin her sister-in-law. She felt the familiar pang of resigned acceptance at the fact that the two of them would never have their own children. She had a feeling that Hiei would have made a pretty good father. But then again, this night had been overrun with understatements, hadn't it?
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A/N: Simple and sweet… at least I tried for that. Hope ye enjoyed it; it was quick, thrown together at the last minute, but it's what I wanted it to be so… no complaints here. Wha'cha think?
REVIEW!!!
HIKARi