Disclaimer: I don't own YYH...I'm just a fan.

The official story was that Hiei was a longtime friend of Shuichi's, but they hadn't seen each other in a while because Hiei had left the country (no joke…he left the dimension). When he returned to Japan, he found a child abandoned somewhere and didn't want to leave him. Hiei didn't know what to do with the child since he didn't know what would happen if he brought the child to the authorities. To make sure the baby boy had a good home, Hiei decided to take him in, but Hiei himself also didn't have any place to go or the resources to take care of a child and came to Shuichi for help.

The thought of Hiei being some type of Good Samaritan made him sick, but Hiei knew that to keep Kiyoshi protected he would have to go along with Kurama's story. Kurama's family bought the story instantly and offered him the guest room to be his own. Shiori said that she and the two boys would go shopping for the baby supplies later. However, she knew the kid needed food and diapers so she sent her husband to get some while she took out Shuichi's old baby clothes and gave them to Hiei. Hiei forced himself to thank her and took the clothes to his new room.

When he got into the room, he set Kiyoshi down on the bed and put the clothes in a dresser except for one red and black onesie. He held it up and looked at it with a puzzled face. Kurama chuckled causing Hiei to turn to look at him. He was leaning against the door just watching his friend attempt to figure out how to take care of a child. Walking into the room and taking the onesie from Hiei, Kurama showed him how the piece of clothing could be put on the baby. Kurama picked up Kiyoshi and felt how cold he was so he wrapped him in his old, green baby blanket and handed him back to Hiei.

Eventually they went shopping for him and Shiori didn't mind helping her son's friend out. Her son wasn't kidding when he said that Hiei didn't have the proper resources to care for a child. He didn't have money or a job leaving Shiori to wonder how the two met. She decided that since she barely knew him not to press the issue at least for the week. She would have Shuichi discuss the possibilities of his friend getting a job later.

A week had gone by and Kurama talked to Hiei about the possibilities of him getting a job. Hiei narrowed his eyes at Kurama, and Kurama could tell that Hiei would attack at any moment.

"You can't expect my parents to take care of all of your finances when they are trying to care for me and my step-brother. Besides, you could work at the flower shop with me. My step-father owns the company and would be willing to give you a job."

Hiei looked down and nodded. He hated the idea of working in the Human World, but he understood what Kurama meant. Taking care of a baby was a lot of work (as he was finding out); however, Kiyoshi usually stayed pretty quiet, even when he was awake.

A couple years went by and Kiyoshi was growing up fast. Hiei took him to Genkai's once a week to start training him. When Kiyoshi turned one, Hiei realized what type of demon he was. After accidently burning Hiei one day, Hiei realized that Kiyoshi was a fire demon just like him and that his powers could be dangerous if not controlled.

In addition to the training, Hiei had other things to take care of during the week like his job at the flower shop. It paid well enough and the job wasn't difficult since they didn't have tons of customers at certain times during the day and, when they did have a customer, they would be quick in purchasing or ordering what they needed. It was during the Christmas season and Valentine's Day where Hiei just wanted to burn the shop down. Crowds of people would swarm in almost every day around those seasons buying and ordering plants for the people they loved and cared about. Hiei was still sickened when he heard the term love. As he had contemplated it years before, he still did now. What exactly was it?

Anyway, one Saturday, Hiei and Kiyoshi were walking up the stairs to Genkai's temple. Hiei stood close behind Kiyoshi and watched as he happily ran up the stairs occasionally looking back to make sure Hiei was still there. Hiei couldn't help but smile when he saw Kiyoshi's smiling face looking back at him. When they made it to the top, no one was there so Hiei took the opportunity to train Kiyoshi some more on focusing his spirit energy. Kurama interrupted the lesson.

"Hello Hiei, Kiyoshi," he greeted. The greeting went ignored by Hiei, but not Kiyoshi.

"Hi, Uncle Kurama, good morning," Kiyoshi said smiling and running over to hug his uncle.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your lesson, but the others have arrived," Kurama said, looking at Hiei who only glanced back.

"Yay!" Kiyoshi cheered as he ran to go see his other uncles and aunts, as he called them.

"Uncle Yusuke, Aunt Keiko! Hi!" Kiyoshi said running over to them. He hadn't seen them in a few weeks.

"Hey, kiddo," Yusuke said, messing with his light brown hair. "How've you been?"

Kiyoshi smiled. "I've been good. Daddy's been training me a little every week and I start going to school in the fall."

"Hey, that's great," Yusuke said. "It looks like we'll have another fighter on our hands."

"Just don't get into fights at school like your uncle over here," Keiko said.

"Oh come on, Keiko. The kid has to have a little fun." Keiko shot him a warning look and he shut up.

"Where's Uncle Bara and Auntie Yukina?" he asked innocently as Hiei and Kurama were entering the room. Hiei flinched when he heard Kiyoshi ask about his "uncle," whom he hated, and when he heard him call Yukina his "aunt" (which she really was, more than any of the others at least).

"They're coming up right behind us," Yusuke said pointing behind him. "Kuwabara had to get a few things to bring up."

Hiei let out a quiet "hn." Kiyoshi heard and then turned around and charged at Hiei. Hiei was taken by surprise and knocked down.

"Daddy!" Kiyoshi exclaimed as he hugged philophobic fire demon. Hiei quickly returned the hug and then moved away from Kiyoshi who was now running around his aunt and uncle. He was in a very good mood which caused Hiei to display another faint smile.

"Okay, guys, we made it up here," Kuwabara said, carrying a ton of stuff. "Thanks for the help, Urameshi."

Before Yusuke could retort, Kiyoshi jumped over to Kuwabara knocking him over. "Uncle Bara!" he exclaimed. Before Kuwabara knew it, both he and Kiyoshi were on the floor covered by bags and some party decorations. Yukina appeared in the doorway and Kiyoshi ran over to her to give her a hug too. Yukina smiled and she was followed by Botan and Shizuru.

"Hey, kid, how's it going?" Shizuru said, standing in the doorway finishing up her cigarette.

"Good. I start school in the fall Auntie Shizuru," he said smiling, looking at her from where he stood hugging Yukina.

"That's good," Botan said. "Just make sure you stay out of trouble." She looked at Yusuke when she said that.

"Why does everyone always look at me like that? I'm not that bad am I?"

"Yes, you are," Kurama said and everyone started laughing. Kiyoshi looked down at the ground where the bags Kuwabara dropped were.

"What's with all the party favors?" he asked, tilting his head at his family.

"Come on, kid," Shizuru said walking into the temple. "You didn't forget your own birthday, did you?"

Kiyoshi thought for a second about what day it was and it hit him…it was already June twenty-second, his "birthday" (more like the day Rui gave him to Hiei).

"I forgot today was the twenty-second," he said dazed. He looked over to his father, smiled, and then ran over to hug him.

Hiei had his eyes closed and didn't realized Kiyoshi was coming at him so he, again, was knocked down to the floor. "Thank you, daddy," Kiyoshi said in a whisper while hugging Hiei. A smile appeared on Hiei's face, not a faint one, but a real smile as he saw how happy Kiyoshi was.

Genkai finally came out from where she was hiding and everyone worked together to decorate in the yard outside the back of the temple. Kiyoshi was in awe by all of the decorations and balloons and just kept running around to watch his aunts, uncles, and father preparing for the party. Hiei was lifting something up to Kurama when he felt someone tug on his cloak. He looked down to see Kiyoshi smiling at him.

"Do you need something?" Hiei asked gently.

Kiyoshi grabbed onto his leg and hugged him tightly. "I love you, daddy," he replied. Hiei's eyes softened as he sat down and picked Kiyoshi up onto his lap as he hugged him back. Hiei never called Kiyoshi his son, nor did he ever say he loved the kid, but hearing Kiyoshi say those words touched Hiei deeply and even though he couldn't say it, Hiei knew that he loved Kiyoshi too.

Everyone started heading home after the sun started to set. Hiei and Kiyoshi sat outside in a tree together to watch the sky change colors until Kiyoshi fell asleep. Hiei brought him into the temple and put out two mats, one for him and for Kiyoshi, to sleep on. After laying Kiyoshi down on one mat, Hiei put the other one down next to him and nestled close to the little fire demon who melted his frozen heart. Kurama walked in on the pair sleeping comfortably and smiled, going out into the yard again to start cleaning a little from the party when he heard something.

He froze briefly and then relaxed as the feeling that someone was watching him had passed. The sound of a snapping twig forced him to turn around. He saw a young, brown-haired girl whose energy was clearly demonic staring at him with sad, green eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked the girl, trying not to sound cold as she was clearly upset about something.

"I-I came her looking for someone," she said with a hesitant voice. "I was hoping I would be able to find him here."

Kurama's eyes narrowed slightly at this demon girl to analyze her expression. He didn't detect a lie in anything she said, but he still didn't let his guard down.

"Who are you looking for?" he asked forcefully.

"A man who knew my mother," she said, choking back on a few tears.

He relaxed again, seeing as this girl was being honest and he deemed her as not a threat. "Who is you mother?" he asked softly.

"Julia," she said, falling to the ground and sobbing. "Her name was Julia."

Kurama's eyes widened as he realized who this girl was looking for. He thought back to a time long ago when he was Youko, the legendary King of Thieves. Thinking back to one of the villages where he had laid low after a raid, he thought back to the demon he had fallen in love with. Of course with his career, he couldn't be with her and he eventually had to leave the village. Then something else hit him. The girl said "was" and was clearly upset meaning that something probably happened to her mother.

Kurama walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder as he knelt down beside her. "What happened to her?" he asked quietly.

"W-we were, we were travelling; we were trying to find the person I'm looking for now, but we heard he was no longer in Demon World. Rumors had it that he escaped to Human World so we found a dimensional hole and were about to enter it when we were attacked by a group of demons. They were bandits from the town where we were asking about her friend and they jumped us after we left. My mother told me to go through the portal and that she would follow, but if she didn't come in five minutes, to carry on with…without her," she explained while still crying. "I felt her energy disappear after a few minutes so I knew that they had…" She couldn't bring herself to say the words. Kurama brought her in for a hug in attempts to comfort this girl her didn't know. He couldn't imagine the thought of losing his own mother so he couldn't even imagine how this girl was feeling.

"What about your father?" he asked. "Surely he would not have let both of you travel the Makai alone."

Her tears kept falling, but she could finally speak normally. "That's who we were looking for," she whispered as Kurama's eyes widened again. He looked back down at the girl he was holding with the realization that she was his daughter.