Disclaimer- I don't own any YYH characters or concepts. Enjoy!

Kurama hadn't noticed Hiei as he darted across the ice, but he had noticed the sudden disappearance of the girl. He saw them land in the snowbanks on the other side. Hiei must have lost his footing on the ice. But why did he suddenly take her away? Kurama felt out the seedlings he had planted her earlier in the day, as a precaution. There was no danger that he could feel, and the others were laughing at snake firework that had been announced was forthcoming about five minutes prior.

Hiei's face whipped up, covered in white, and watched the snake as it slithered a delicate arch into the sky.

Maybe Hiei had seen the illusion headed for the girl and panicked? Did he miss the announcement about the snake? It wasn't like him to miss things.

Wanting to spare him embarrassment for a mistake, Kurama averted his eyes, until he heard it.

Unfamiliar Laughter…

The girl?

Kurama smiled as he realized she was indeed laughing, and at Hiei no less! Hiei had killed strangers for far less, but Kurama sensed no bloodlust. He was pretty confident at this point that the fire apparition wasn't going to kill the strange girl for small slights. However, as he could still be unpredictable, Kurama had a nearby seedling ready to intervene just in case.

Her laughter was sweet, carried by the cold wind. The others had also noticed her laughter and grinned or laughed along. They didn't seem to get the context, but everyone seemed joyous at the sound. Kurama couldn't remember seeing her smile in the time since they found her.

Perhaps this was another gift she had, Kurama wondered, to make others joyful with her own happiness. She was a tad erratic but undeniably kind- She was also bright, in more ways than one.

Her laughter faded, and Kurama turned his attention back to the entertaining display. He considered moving a little closer to Shizuru.

Earlier, he hadn't been able to say no when she had asked him to allow the others to use his vine whip in their strange game. He had to admit, it had been slightly enjoyable but made him feel very childish. The girl had been the first to fall, her legs tired. It was no wonder, as she had been comatose for a few days, then walking around for several hours.

She had seemed to enjoy watching the game though, wearing that ghost of a smile that until now, Kurama had thought might be her only expression of joy.

"HIEI!" The girl's scream tore him from his musings. Something was wrong.

He whipped around and saw Hiei was down in the bank, creating a small black mound. He used his vines to propel him along the ice quickly, not having time for the slipping and sliding the other two men were currently doing.

"Hiei?!" He reached the snow pile quickly.

The fire apparition was facedown in the snow, his body across the girls. His energy was going haywire, and he wasn't moving. His breathing seemed to be labored, too. The girl wasn't strong enough to lift him off her. Though he was rather short and light on his feet, Hiei was very sturdy, and high muscle mass made him heavier than one might first think.

What the hell?

Kurama carefully lifted Hiei off the girl, who scrambled away, face horrified. He gently placed him faceup on the ice.

"Did I… Did I hurt him again?" She asked with a panicked voice.

"No, this seems to be something going on with Hiei." Though this might have been an aftereffect of girl's flames, Kurama decided that was better left unsaid.

Kurama noticed his flushed face and pulled his glove off to press his hand against Hiei's skin. He was burning up! Crap, it really might be the girl's power. Kurama stepped into the snow as Yusuke and Kuwabara arrived, Atsuko and Yukina right behind. The other girls were struggling.

"Kuwabara, make sure everyone gets back safely," Kurama commanded. He leaned down and lifted Hiei over his shoulder.

"Yusuke…" Kurama made eye contact with the sprit detective, then looked meaningfully at the girl. Yusuke seemed to understand what he was asking as he nodded slightly. She looked traumatized… Kurama wished he could reassure her.

Instead, he took off through the snow, headed back to his room.

Yusuke felt so bad for the kid. She was shivering next to him as Kuwabara led the girls away. Yukina blew away some of the snow, creating a cleared path for them.

"Hey come on, let's sit over here." He pointed to a bench about a hundred yards away, hopefully out of range of the others if her power exploded again. She followed his point but didn't seem to see anything, her mind elsewhere. Feeling strange for doing so, now knowing her age, Yusuke took her hand and led her to the isolated space. She followed like a child.

In some ways, she really is like a kid… Yusuke thought, looking at her in sympathy. He tried not to think too hard about what he might have to do if she did indeed explode.

They sat, though he noticed she scooted away from him. The wind was picking up, and the temperature dropped. Both she and Yusuke started shivering. The silence hung heavy in the air.

"Hey…" Yusuke began, not quite sure what to say. This was Kurama's territory, or even Kuwabara's, if he was feeling particularly empathetic. Yusuke was worried he would just muck it up, but he had to say something!

"Hiei's a tough bastard, he'll be fine."

Tears slipped from her eyes, blown across her cheeks by the wind. Oops, wrong thing?

An awkward silence ensued, with the occasional sniffle from the girl.

"Look, Kurama is really good at all the medical stuff, and Yukina is a natural healer. I just know they will have him all fixed up in no time."

Nothing but sniffles…

Ugh, he really sucked at this.

He scooted closer, causing her to flinch. Her nose was red, and a little snot was dribbling down. Yusuke wasn't sure why, but he thought of a whimpering puppy at that moment. She might have been close to his age, but he couldn't help but think that she was pretty adorable most of the time.

Yusuke patted his pockets, looking for- ah! There it was. He pulled out the handkerchief Keiko had given him earlier. Briefly, he wondered if she would be angry with him, but then he dispelled it. Keiko was very kind, and surely wouldn't mind Yusuke offering it to a crying girl.

Yusuke held out the handkerchief to her, which she took with a quiet thank you. She blew her nose, but the tears flowed faster, and she once again shivered in the cold.

Yusuke scooted closer, trying to block the worst of the wind with his body. It was a fruitless effort, as the wind just changed directions. Giving up on that method, Yusuke sighed.

The hankie was already damp. It couldn't have been comfortable using it to wipe the still flowing tears, with the biting wind and all.

Yusuke watched her sadly, still feeling uncomfortable with the comforting role. Sighing again at his misfortune, he reached out a hand and patted her head gently. She froze, and he worried that he had messed up again, but then she leaned into his hand. The puppy image came back to his mind.

He resisted the urge to saw aww out loud. To begin with, he was supposed to be a tough guy here! For another, he doubted she would appreciate it in her current state.

"Trust me, kid, everything is going to be ok. Hiei will be ok."

She gave me a look that he knew meant that she wished he could believe him, though her tears seemed to have paused.

Just then, his phone rang with Botan's ringtone. He nearly dropped it in the snow, with his clumsy gloved hands.

Finally, he was able to answer her. To his relief, she told him that Hiei had been stabilized. Even better, she said the girl wasn't the cause- Kurama had found the issue, and everything was fine. Yusuke sighed for the third time, but this time in relief. He was glad Hiei was ok but even more pleased that the kid wasn't the cause- he hadn't been joking when he said that Hiei was a tough bastard. At this point, he doubted much could kill the fire apparition. Plus, Hiei was just too plain stubborn to die.

He patted the girl's head again. Here was another stubborn one. She was mischievous, and she was no wilting flower, but there was an innocence to her he appreciated. Though he was an only child as far as he imagined that this is what it felt like to have a younger sibling.

"Come on, kid. We've got a grumpy-ass fire demon to visit."

The girl let out a breath. "So he's ok?" Yusuke nodded. It was her turn to sigh in relief.

"Can we see him? … Can-can, I see him?" Yusuke knew what wasn't said.

"Yeah, you can see him." His own response was just as enigmatic. She knew what he meant. Her eyes lit up with hope, though tears still leaked out.

"Let's go." Yusuke held out his hand to the girl. She took it, and he once again led her like a child. He found himself thinking that he wished she actually was his little sister. He definitely felt like a big brother to the kid already.

They reached the inn, shivering the whole way, and Yusuke released her hand. To their surprise, Kurama was waiting for them outside of his suite. He looked… angry. Yusuke felt a shiver down his spine. Botan had said that it wasn't the fault of the girl, so why did Kurama look so murderous?

"I noticed that Botan forgot to tell you that we've set up in Hiei's room for now." Kurama started to lead the way.

"Oh yeah, he's been spending so much time with the kid that I kind of forgot he had a room of his own." Yusuke turned to the girl with a mischievous grin. He had been trying to make her smile. Didn't seem to work, but he still thought he was funny.

The girl was silent, her face still marred with concern and guilt.

Everyone was waiting for them in the lounge area of Hiei's suite, except for Hiei himself. The girl seemed nervous, glancing down the hall to where Hiei's room must be.

"Come, sit," Kurama said to Yusuke and the girl. They obeyed, taking a seat at the table.

"Um... Where is he?"

"Resting." Yukina assured her, "down the hall."

"So what's the deal? What's wrong with him?" Yusuke, as ever, went straight to the point.

Kurama, instead of answering, plopped some sort of machine down on the table. It was a small gray square, with a glass tube screwed in on one side a long hose on the other.

"This is a vaporizing machine. I found it in the vent of my room, and one in the living area vent that appears to have malfunctioned slightly."

Botan gasped. "Poison?!"

"Not quite," Kurama said, closing his eyes, his face still thunderous.

"More like… a virus."

"Virus?" Kuwabara asked. "So what, demons can get the sniffles too?"

Kurama chuckled, though it was without humor.

"Not quite. See, this particular virus is not only very rare but it also only infects apparitions. If an apparition is sleep deprived or hasn't been eating properly, then it is more potent. It doesn't just affect the body but the spirit as well. It causes energy to scramble. If not caught in time, it almost certainly means death."

The girl gasped, but Kurama quickly held up his hands.

"Hiei is going to be fine, we caught it early enough. What upsets me is that someone had to have access to our rooms to set this trap up. Now either they are very talented at stealth work or someone at the resort helped them. I hope for the staff that it was the former, rather than the latter."

Eek… Yusuke hadn't seen that look in Kurama's eyes since that asshole Roto threatened his human mother back at the beginning of the dark tournament.

"In the malfunctioning machine, I found traces of my mother's blood…"

Oh no, did that mean…

"Luckily, my mother is fine, but she was injured two nights ago, which must have been when they were able to get her blood. Apparently, she was mugged and didn't bother to call me…" His face darkened, hiding his eyes, and Yusuke was terrified.

Oh shit, no wonder Kurama was pissed. His human mother was probably the person he cared most about in this world.

"Demons have mothers?" The girl asked. Yusuke had to hide a smile. He had asked that same question of Kurama when he first met him.

"Yes, although in my case, it's a bit more… complicated. However, that is a story for another day…"

Kurama breathed deeply, and Yusuke knew it was to control his rage.

"I don't know their reasoning for procuring my mother's blood. It might be a provocation or part of an experiment to make the virus affect me more quickly. Either way, the virus didn't react well to human blood and destroyed itself."

"So now the question is, is it an attack on the girl, or an attack on you four?" Botan said, holding up a finger. At the mention of her, the girl perked up, mouth open and brows furrowed in dismay.

"But you know, the guys have made a lot of enemies, so it was probably someone after them!" Botan said quickly, waving her hands in front of her after catching the girl's expression.

"No…" Kurama's quiet denial caused Botan to pause with an "urk," "I think it's more likely they were trying to get to the girl, or perhaps at Hiei…"

"Why do you say that?" Yusuke asked, his heart aching at the girl's devastation.

"Because they only set up this contraption in my room… If these unknown enemies were targeting all of us, they also would have set one up in Hiei's and Yukina's room… and had a human virus ready for the rest of you."

Yikes. Yusuke had never thought about it before, but Kurama had a point. They all were strong, very strong- but you couldn't punch a germ. Yusuke shivered. He felt very creeped out at the realization that he would be powerless to stop a biological weapon of any sort.

"Well, what if they were just targeting you, Kurama?" Kuwabara asked.

"I thought about that too, but then I found this." Kurama pulled a small lens out of his pocket, placing it next to the vaporizing machine.

"I found it in my bedroom, behind the lamp. There was another one in the living area.

The girl cringed and shivered, bristling up her arms to her shoulders

"Ew, has someone been watching me change?" She gasped, hands going to her face in classic scream style.

"Not exactly," Kurama said, "I had Botan check this out for me. It's actually a thermal reader. I was able to manipulate it a bit to show past data, though some of the information was corrupted. It was set to release more in the bedroom when Hiei was present, using his temperature readings. They either were trying to infect Hiei quickly enough to kill him, or else trying to just incapacitate both of us. The reasoning for incapacitation should be obvious…"

Kurama looked at the girl, who flinched.

"Because you two have been protecting me…"

Kurama nodded solemnly.

"Well, hey, we'll just found out who's behind this and kick their ass like always, right?" Yusuke said, trying to lighten the mood.

It did seem to improve Kurama's attitude, as he smiled with a glint in his eye that gave Yusuke Goosebumps.

"We most definitely will…"

Kurama opened the door to Hiei's bedroom early the next morning, carrying a tray of breakfast pastries. The room's window faced the west, so it was still quite dark inside. The closet was open, just a small black bag with Hiei's clothing, and his Katana inside. His black cloak was draped across the chair next to the small writing desk. The girl was sitting on the ground, her legs tucked to her right. Her upper body was on the bed where Hiei lay, both of them still asleep. The girl's cheek rested on Hiei's hand, with one of her arms supporting her head. Her other hand was laid on Hiei's forearm.

She had hardly left his side since last night. Kurama had offered her the sofa to sleep on, but she had just shaken her head in a polite refusal. It was her turn to keep vigil for the fire apparition as he recovered.

Kurama had draped a blanket over her in the wee hours of the morning after she had passed out. Her eyes were still puffy from her crying, and the white lines of tear tracks traced her cheeks.

Hiei was breathing normally, and his fever had lessened. Once Kurama had recognized the symptoms, it was somewhat easy to create the antiviral. Hiei's energy was still frighteningly low, However. Even worse, after both taking care of the girl and this debacle, Kurama's usually plentiful store of herbs and medicines was running low. He would need to make a trip to the larger city about an hour away.

He was torn though- as soon as Koenma had heard the news about Kurama's findings, he had dispatched a protection squad for Kurama's mother. The other vulnerable humans were all with them, or in the case of Shizuru and Kuwabara's parents, currently out of the country.

Kurama didn't want to leave the girls unprotected, but he didn't like the idea of going without backup. Perhaps it would be best if they all went together? He wasn't afraid, but cautious. Even more so with the strange appearance of the mysterious girl.

Kurama studied the girl. He really didn't know what to make of her- Her sweet face belied an incredible power. If he hadn't felt it himself, he wouldn't have believed it.

They were at a loss. Spirit World had no idea of her identity, and she was unable to remember her past. Kurama scratched his head in slight frustration. All they could do now was wait.

Hiei twitched under the blankets, getting Kurama's attention. Kurama let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding as his old friend began to wake.