-Jan. 17-

"Sister Evet," Hiei said notably, "Is missing." Putting his crayons down, he gave me a stern look. Blinking at him, I opened my mouth.

"That's right…I haven't seen her around much either. Maybe she's sick?"

Hiei gave me a look, one of doubt, before going back to his crude coloring pages.

"…I don't think she's sick."He murmured, still concentrating on his picture…whatever it was. It just looked like a bunch of scribbled lines to me.

"She hasn't been here for a while. What else could be wrong with her?"

"Maybe," came Hiei's response, "She was kicked out by Sister Diane."

And he went back to coloring, not that he ever stopped. In fact, he looked completely absorbed in making orange and red circles with his dwindled down crayons. It was as if he hadn't even said Sister Evet was fired. In the silence I sat—trying to wrap my head around his theory. It's not that it wasn't possible—it was just unbelievable. Especially because Sister Diane was in charge of hiring and firing. I opened my mouth to say something—anything really in Sister Evet's defense, but nothing escaped me.

"I heard Sister Constance say it to Maya. She said, 'Sister Evet isn't going to save you this time', and Maya got spanked."

I let that fact sink in…but even so, I couldn't digest it. I couldn't digest Sister Evet being gone. Without her, there was no balance. That meant the most sensitive of all the Sisters had left. Left us orphans at Sister Diane and Sister Constance's mercy.

Hiei looked up from his coloring to see why I was so silent. And then his eyes drooped slightly. After a moment of staring at me, he came and sat by my side and showed me his drawing.

"It's twilight in the sky. I saw all these colors, Shuichi. Look?"

Even when I looked up at the colors they blurred into a warped rainbow.

Hiei kept talking about how it was strange that the evening colors were so warm looking…the most he had even talked about scenery was when he was looking through an 'I Spy' book. When he noticed that I wasn't listening, he looked at me with red crescents.

"Why are you crying, Shuichi?"

My silent tears became hard sobs then. My nose running. My mouth drooling. My face felt like it was crumbling to pieces.

We were trapped.

Never had I wanted to escape so far away in my life.

Then I heard the crumpling of paper. Then something was pressed into my stomach with two fingers. Hiei gave me a firm nod.

"I'm gonna be the strongest guy in the world, Shuichi. Sister Diane and Sister Constance will have to serve me one day."

With that, he got up and left—presumably for more printer paper. Looking down at my lap, I saw Hiei's twilight drawing folded into a very neat dragon. Grabbing hold of it, I sniffed up my sorrow.

If Hiei was here I wouldn't have to suffer alone.

Author's Note:

Okay! One more chapter to go before I take a hiatus for Finals week. After chapter 12, an update will be posted in the middle of December. This fanfiction is practically halfway done!

I'm glad people like this-I wasn't even expecting reviews-mainly because this is a hurt/comfort/friendship with Child!Hiei and Child!Kurama...in an Alternate Universe no less. So thanks for sticking around :]

-Rockleerox93-