Kurama could feel Hiei's presence. He sighed softly. "Please, Hiei, don't make this complicated." He whispered, knowing the fire demon couldn't hear him.

The train Kurama had boarded slowly started chugging forward.

"Am I even doing what's best?" Kurama asked himself, settling in a vacant seat.

The falling rain and screeching wheels was the only noise for the silent passengers.

The train was slow to fill. At the fourth stop Kurama witnessed, nobody got off.

However, more than 30 passengers boarded. Judging by the looks of the crowd, the area was more slums than majestic.

A woman with a baby cradled in her arms glanced around desperately for a seat. She boarded with no one, save the baby, and her dress made it clear that she was not from the area.

As she stepped closer, Kurama witnessed the tell-tale bump of her stomach. She was pregnant. Anyone could take one look at the screaming infant and know it wasn't hers. For Kurama, all he had to do was listen. He could easily pick out the double beating of two hearts in the tiny body.

Kurama stood, gently guiding the young woman to his seat. "May I hold the child?" He whispered, waving a hand to the crowded train car. "Obviously, I can run no where with him. No need to worry." He spoke soothingly, as though his voice alone could convince the woman to release her grasp on the child.

The woman stared at him for a few seconds, and then relinquished the child to his waiting arms.

Kurama held the child for a moment, and it soon fell silent. He watched the small pale hands stretch for his hair, the baby's black curls poking out from the blanket. She stared at him with large red eyes, a wide smile leaking drool onto his finger she'd managed to drag into her mouth. He was careful to keep the thoughts of her resemblance to Hiei from his mind, concentrating, instead, on the gentle breathing of the tiny creature.

"How…How'd you do that?" The woman stared up at him, wonder in her large blue eyes.

"The baby is a demon. It needs the sound of a calm heart to calm itself. When you panic, she panics. I only guess the mother was killed at birth?" He paused long enough to receive the nod from her, and then continued. "The baby is no more human than I. I can hear its two hearts, struggling for dominance in the tiny body. Whose baby is it?"

"My…A friend." The woman still stared at him with shock etched in her features. "She was killed during birth. The doctors…They wanted to kill the baby…They knew of its 'deformity'…" She spat the word angrily. "I took the baby and ran. I hoped to find someone to care for her. To raise her. I cannot. They are watching all my friends, all my family. They know someone will try to help me. I cannot put anyone in danger, but they are waiting for me. I will surely be caught, should I keep her. I have one option left."

Kurama nodded gently. He didn't bother asking who 'they' were, or for information on the last option. The gears were already spinning in his mind. "Watch over her, she will do many great things, I'm sure."

"Yes. Of course." The woman was watching the passengers stepping onto the train. "Thank you." She nodded her head quickly, as though trying to dislodge a thought.

Kurama smiled. "I must say goodbye, this is my stop." He held the sleeping infant out to the woman.

Exiting the train, Kurama ran quickly and steadily, trying to outrun the thoughts that haunted him.

His mind turned back to the baby. He wasn't really sure what to do with a baby. He had never really planned for kids. He hadn't planned for much of life, really. Given that everyone went to him for advice, and he was supposed to be the smart one, the one in control, he really had lost it. He just didn't know where to go next in life. He was looking for the next step, but he was confused as to how to get anywhere, when he knew not where to go. It was as though he were climbing an oddly curving staircase in the dark. He knew he had to keep moving, but he knew not where, or even how to get there.

Regardless, the decision had been made. It was too late to turn back now. Kurama stepped up the temple stairs and knocked on the door that held all of his old memories.