A/N: Again, thanks to those of you who reviewed! Hopefully I'll get a few more chapters up this week………
Chapter 9- Hiei's Ruse
Early the next morning Yusuke again went into the woods. He was met on the way by Jhald. "I bring sad news, little human." Jhald looked devastated. "What is it?" Yusuke was worried. "There was another attack by a black dragon, the largest so far. I'm sorry, but Hiei was killed this time, with the children." Jhald bowed his head, shaking off some small tears that had formed. "I heard a weird howl last night, real sad. What was it?" Jhald looked up at him. "It was a cry of mourning. It is customary for our clan to give a mourning howl whenever we lose a member of the clan. I did not realize that we had gotten that loud. Normally you cannot hear the howl outside of the forest. I guess because we had lost three of our most beloved members we were too distraught to keep ourselves in check. I apologize for disturbing you." Yusuke shrugged. "It's ok. It was faint from the village, anyway. Where are the remains?" Jhald turned. "I will show you. We have not yet had a chance to cremate them yet. It is normally the last part of our mourning process. We cannot lay the remains to rest until we have laid our own sorrows to rest. That is why Hiei carried Shoyra's ashes with him in an amulet. They were not with him during the battle. I believe that he may have left them behind in their cave, but he was moving again and had not yet told me where." Yusuke nodded and followed Jhald. They came upon the scene within a few minutes. Jhald refused to look, he simply told Yusuke where they could be found.
Yusuke found the clearing, with many flowers laid around it by the dragons. The flowers' aroma kept the flies away from the bodies, but Yusuke noticed that there were more than normal outside of the flower-strewn clearing. Hiei's body lay off to one side, with the two children close to his side. The black dragon, dead on the other side, was obviously very powerful, with huge jaws and powerful talons. Yusuke slowly entered. He noticed that the strong scent of the flowers covered over any odor from the bodies. It tore at his heart to see Hiei and the children. Looking at the marks, he could guess at what happened. Yusuke took one of the flowers from the edge of the clearing. "I'll go back to Spirit headquarters and let them know what happened. You know, I never thought I'd ever see Hiei dead. It's just…he was always so strong, and he always seemed to be so sure of himself." Jhald walked with him for a few moments. "With the children there, I think that Hiei may have been distracted. The black dragon would have gone for them first, considering them easy prey. Hiei would do anything to protect the children." Jhald sighed and left Yusuke there. Yusuke went back with the flower.
"He's dead?" Kurama was shocked. "Yeah. It was hard to believe for me, too. This flower's from where he died. The dragons left a ton of them there." Kurama took the flower. "Fitting flower. It's called Dragon's Tear. I've heard that these only grow where a dragon's tear has fallen on the ground. They're quite rare, really. They only grow deep in this forest. Near some old caves, I think." Yusuke remembered the clearing. "There were quite a few there. The dragons must live near where they grow. Anyway, let's go. We'll let Koenma know what happened and then I need to get back to school or Keiko and my mom are going to kill me."
Hiei smiled as he set his things down on the bed. He had bought a small apartment by selling some of the jewels Jhald had given him. The clan had a small stash of gold hidden in the caves, mostly from traveling warriors who had picked the wrong cave to go hunting in. They had enough money now that Hiei could live for a couple of months before he needed to get a job to pay the bills. Before coming to Earth, Hiei had stopped by a demon that excelled in helping demons that came to Earth make lives for themselves. He provided birth certificates, id cards, and other necessary documents. Hiei knew that if he went by "Hiei" everyone would know within days that he was alive. He took the name Vincent VanSol, and even enrolled the children in school. Hiei had taught them up to a fifth grade level of schooling so that they would be able to blend in better. He could hardly believe that they were already four months old. It was at this age that their growth began to slow to that of a human. They appeared to be ten years old in human form, and were at about that level mentally. While the children were in school, Hiei got a part time job at a small store as a cashier. To make himself less recognizable, he wore a bandana over the entire top of his head, covering not only his Jagan, but also most of his hair. A small bit of his hair poked out in the back. It was a black bandana with a large flame pattern on it. The shop owner was an elderly man who treated Hiei well and didn't question the bandana. The man sold antiques and little oddities, which fascinated Hiei and drew in a moderate amount of customers. Hiei sometimes saw Kuwabara on the streets, mainly walking to or from the grocery store. Hiei always noticed Kuwabara, but the big oaf never saw Hiei. It was mainly because Hiei had figured out how to hide his spirit energy and taught the children to do the same. After school every day the children would stop by the shop on their way home to check in with Hiei. The elderly man, whom they called Mr. Pippin, loved to see them. Most of the time he would give them each a small candy if they told him that they were good in school. Mr. Pippin knew that Hiei wasn't their father, but accepted that Hiei was raising them like a father would. He thought highly of Hiei and paid him as well as he could.
