Behold, I am incredibly cruel and unusual to Hiei. I admit it, I am. Even I think I'm mean.


Small stars and planets slowly rotated in the air, suspended by plastic and strings. As they rotated, a song played. Small hands reached for them, tried to grab them. A star dangled several inches out of reach. The song slowed, the rotation stopped, and Hiei was an unhappy baby.

It wasn't that he liked the mobile, it was just that given the choice between counting cracks he couldn't see in the ceiling and watching the mobile, he'd rather watch the mobile. At least that's what he told himself.

Hiei took a deep breath and screamed. He still couldn't talk in this body, because somewhere between his brain and his mouth the words became babbles and wails, but screaming seemed to work just as well. He could feel the crib he'd been placed in vibrating slightly with someone's footfalls. He quieted and waited to see who it would be this time.

'Just my luck,' Hiei thought seeing blue and red. Kuwabara. It looked like he was serious about taking good care of him until he was big. 'Tuh-riffic.'

"Hey Hiei, how ya doin'?" Kuwabara cooed at him. Hiei felt a strong urge to toss himself out a window. Anything would be better then this. Hiei began fussing as Kuwabara picked him up out of the crib.

'No! No! Turn the mobile on and then go away!' Hiei tried yelling, but instead he just fussed louder. He really hated this body.

Kuwabara just settled Hiei close to his shoulder and then began to walk out of the room to where he hoped the kitchen was. Genkai's place was still hard for him to figure out, even after walking through the place everyday for the past week. He just couldn't remember anything.

'Put me down NOW!' Hiei's fussing turned into new screams, his small face red with anger. Kuwabara started walking faster.

"Don't worry! I'll feed you as soon as I can figure out where the kitchen is!" He said, opening doors and looking inside as he went.

'Why do you always think a bottle will solve everything?!'

"Kazuma?" Yukina stepped out of a room, watching Kuwabara and Hiei curiously. Hiei pushed himself up slightly and then hit his head once on Kuwabara shoulder. It was not an accident really, he had been trying to knock himself out before Kuwabara could start up about Yukina.

"Yukina my love!"

'Here we go.'

"What are you looking for Kazuma? Does Hiei need a bottle?" She asked, walking over and taking the red faced baby from Kuwabara's arms. Hiei squirmed a little and then settled down. He would much rather be held by his sister then by the big idiot.

"Yeah, he started crying in his crib so I thought he might be hungry," Kuwabara answered, looking into Hiei's small face. Hiei tried to glare back, but he found glaring wasn't that effective as an infant. In fact, he was beginning to think it may just give him a constipated look.

"Oh, well, the kitchen is this way," Yukina said, leading Kuwabara to another room. Hiei sighed heavily and craned his head to look at his feet. The sleeper he'd been put in was a one piece with footies, and lately staring at his feet had become extremely entertaining. That and trying to chew on them, but he couldn't get his feet that close to his mouth yet.

"There are some bottle in the fridge, just heat them up and they should be okay," Yukina said, sitting down in a chair with Hiei still in her arms. Hiei looked up and saw Yukina's hair dangling just inches away from him. After a few seconds of transfixed staring, he forced himself to look at his feet again. He hadn't actually pulled anyone's hair yet (Well, Kuwabara's, but he didn't count) but he didn't think it would be long until he did.

He watched Kuwabara grab a bottle from the fridge, his favorite one he could see since it was the only one that wasn't clear, and place it in the microwave. Hiei refocused on his feet, kicking one foot and then the other. As he did so he felt an odd sort of emptiness in his mind. For a few seconds he lost the sense of who he was. Then Kuwabara took the bottle out of the microwave and yelped.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" He yelled dropping the bottle and shaking his hands. Hiei started and looked over at Kuwabara. He was still shaking his hands and yelling 'Hot.' Hiei turned his head away and looked at him feet. What had he been doing? He couldn't quite remember. He remembered looking at his feet and then...

"Hey Kuwabara, what are you doing?" Yukina looked up and smiled.

"Hello Yusuke, what are you doing here?" She asked, standing up to retrieve the bottle Kuwabara had dropped. Hiei felt a strong sense of vertigo and she bent over with him in her arms, and he grabbed onto her shirt as tightly as he could until she stood back up.

"I figured the big dummy would be here, so I decided to stop by. How's Hiei doing?" Yusuke asked, checking through the fridge for something to eat. Kuwabara glared at Yusuke for a second while he ran his hands under water.

"Well, I think he should be able to start walking soon and just yesterday he called Genkai Ma Ma," She answered, stroking Hiei hair as she spoke. Hiei felt his eyes drawing themselves shut and instantly arched his back to wake up.

'I called Genkai Ma Ma? When'd that happen?' He thought, waving his arms around to ward Yukina's hands away from his head. He didn't remember it at all, but at the same time he knew it was perfectly possible. After all, hadn't he lost a few moments of time just a while ago? And a few days before that hadn't he lost several hours? He was beginning to get the feeling that he was slowly beginning to fade away. He didn't like the feeling.

"Genkai? A Ma Ma?" Yusuke wheezed through rib breaking laughter. "Maybe a Grandma, but Ma Ma?" Hiei felt himself going red while Kuwabara and Yusuke cracked up over this bit of news. Yukina tested the bottle on her wrist, and then gently brushed it against Hiei's mouth. He opened his mouth without thinking and began to drink, eyes now focused on Yukina's face.

'What if I forget about my sister?' He wondered, staring at the eyes that were the same shade and color as his. It was a frightening thought, even more frightening then the idea of losing his sense of self. After a few second he spit out the bottle and refused to take it again. Yukina lifted him up to her shoulder and patted his back gently, humming softly. Hiei settled there, feeling no need to burp. Instead he focused on the problem at hand. How was he going to make sure he remembered her?

"Are you all in here?" Hiei looked over and saw the door opening. It sounded like Kurama, and the colors and shadows seemed to confirm it.

"Yeah, come on in Kurama," Yusuke said, sitting down with a can of soda he'd found. Kurama headed in and sat down with the rest of them. Hiei noted that his usual spot was still empty, unclaimed. He wished he could sit down like a normal person, instead of being fed and burped like he had been for the past few days. This was getting old fast.

"Hello Hiei, how are you?" Hiei jerked his head around and looked at Kurama who was smiling at him.

'Not you too,' Hiei thought quietly, giving Kurama what he hoped was a very stern look. Kurama smiled, looking somewhat reassured.

"How big is he now?" Kurama asked Yukina as she resettled Hiei in her arms. Yukina turned her head towards Kurama and Hiei's eyes were again transfixed by the strands of hair that hung just inches above him. If he just reached up a few inches he could grab hold of that hair...

"He's grown several more inches since last time we checked, but he's been waking up more and more at night. He's also been extremely hungry lately," she answered, absently stroking Hiei's hair. "He still seems very aware of what's around him, but lately he seems to be... well, he seems much more child-like lately."

"I see," Kurama said, looking at Hiei's face. He did look more child-like, the glare he'd gotten out of him a second ago was gone and replaced by a look of delight as he watched Yukina's hair dangle in front of him. Wait.

"Yukina, you might want to-" Kurama's warning was cut of my Yukina small cry of pain. Hiei's little fist was wrapped around a thick strand of Yukina's hair, his eyes sparkling with delight. Yukina pried Hiei's hand off of her hair.

"No, no, Hiei, that's a bad thing to do," She said waving one finger in front of his face. Hiei's eyes followed it with anticipation, as though expecting something nice to happen.

'It's as though there are times when he's himself and then times when he's just a normal child,' Kurama thought, watching Hiei wave his arms around as he tried to catch the finger. 'But those times when he's Hiei keep getting shorter and shorter, and the times when he's just a child are getting longer and longer. It's only been five days since he ingested that seed, so could this just be a temporary thing or will it be permanent?'

He didn't know, and as far as he knew no one in Spirit World did either. Botan was still searching high and low for a solution to this problem, but she was doubtful that she'd find anything.

"I'm sorry Kurama, but as far as we know no one has ever eaten a seed from the Fruit of Past Life. No ones been desperate or stupid enough to try it," Botan had explained on her last visit.

"I'll go back to Spirit World to recheck, but I really don't think I'll find anything."

Kurama sighed and watched Hiei try to chew on Yukina's fingers, something Yukina was trying to convince him was a bad idea. He hated to admit it, but Hiei looked a lot happier as a child. As he watched brother and sister play, he tried to ward off the disappointment that this change may be very temporary. It was possible that by the end of the year he may be regrown.

Kurama suspected this may be a very good thing for Hiei, in it's own way.