***Hey all! This Chapter is dedicated to all you Hiei fans who say I'm giving him a bad rap- I went easy on him this chapter, so be happy. This is also dedicated to Archangel Rhapsody, who gave me the idea! Muchas Gracisis Chicata!***

I was sleeping soundly, my right arm draped over Mimi, who was sleeping as well, when Yusuke came into my room. He put his hand on my forehead for a brief second, before quickly jerking it away. He had never felt something that hot before in his life, at least not a person's forehead- Yusuke thought that he might have ice his hand.

"How is she doing?" Yusuke turned around to see Kurama leaning up against the door jam, a worried expression on his face. Yusuke shook his head.

"I never thought two weeks of doing nothing would harm a person," he replied. "But she's getting worse- her forehead is on fire, the cuts haven't healed and she's been asleep for who knows how long!" It had been two weeks since I had returned home and I'd probably been sleeping for two-thirds of it (Thank God it's summer vacation, right?). What can I say? I felt like my life had been sucked out of me and sleep was the only thing I could do. Wait- now that I think about it, my life was sucked out of me, wasn't it? But it was put back, so what the devil is going on?

"Well," Kurama said suddenly. "When I think fire, I also think ice... more accurately an Ice Apparition." Yusuke looked up at him and smiled.

"You're talkin' about Yukina," he stated, prompting a nod from Kurama. "But we'll have to go get her, and that would mean leaving Kay by herself..."

"Kuwabara could stay with her." Yusuke shook his head.

"Kuwabara actually stay here while we go visit Yukina?"

"Yukina?" yelled Kuwabara, rushing into the room. "We're gonna go see her?!" Kurama sighed.

"I suppose you're right," he said. "But, what can we do? You're mother and Kayko are gone for the weekend, Botan has something going on in Spirit World... Kuwabara, could your sister look after Kaira while we're gone?" Kuwabara shook his head.

"Shizuru's at work," he replied. "She won't be home until about one." Yusuke looked at the clock- that was three hours from now and he didn't want to risk leaving me alone for that long. He and the others would be gone for a couple of days at least, and since it was the weekend, today being Friday, Shizuru could stay with me.

"Call her," Yusuke said. "Explain what's going on and ask if she'd come over and stay when she gets off work." Kuwabara nodded, then called his sister. A few moments later, he got the okay.

"But what are we gonna do until then?" asked Kuwabara. "Wait for her to get off?" Yusuke shook his head. He then let out an aggravated sigh and went into the living room. Hiei was there, watching TV like he was bored. Why he was sticking around, Yusuke didn't know, but was semi-glad he was there at the moment.

"I need your help," Yusuke said matter-of-factly, in a tone that was three-fourths threatening, one-fourth pleading. "Kurama, Kuwabara and I are going to see Yukina. We think she might be able to help Kaira and I need you to look after her until Shizuru can get here." Hiei looked at Yusuke, giving him his normal expressionless glare.

"You want me to baby-sit."

"I want you to make sure nothing else happens to her! She'll probably sleep most of the time, so all you have to do is sit here and watch TV. If you can't handle that, you can go with Kurama and Kuwabara to get Yukina and I'll stay here." Hiei examined his possibilities: go see Yukina, the half-sibling who barely knew he existed (She knew she had a brother, but she didn't know it was him) or stay here with me.

"I'll stay."

Yusuke had a feeling that Hiei would see things his way- Hiei was scared of very few things, but telling his sister who he really was ranked number one. Yusuke nodded his thanks and walked off, leaving Hiei alone.

Hiei had been sitting in the same spot since Yusuke and company left twenty minutes ago and had managed to doze off... until a quiet but urgent voice woke him from his slumber.

"Mimi." Hiei's eyes slowly opened and he saw the Firebear, as Botan called her, sitting on his stomach. Mimi looked fatigued as she stared directly into Hiei's eyes. The fire demon knew that a Spirit Beast's condition reflected that of their human partner. "Mimi!" she insisted again, this time digging her claws into Hiei's skin. Hiei slightly winced before getting up off the bed.

"All right," he said. "I'm going." He followed Mimi down the hall and noticed that she didn't stop at my bedroom. Confused, Hiei peeked his head in the door- I wasn't there. "Damn it! Where is she?"

Suddenly, he heard a crash in the kitchen and rushed down the hall to see what had happened. I was on the floor next to the sink, a broken glass in front of me, breathing very deeply. To Hiei, it looked like I was trying to pick myself up off the ground without using my left arm. Mimi came over to me and let out a soft whimper, then licked my cheek. Hiei shook his head.

"Baka Baita," he muttered as he walked over to me and tried helped me up, but I shrugged him away.

"Leave me alone," I said softly, but angrily. "I'm all right." Hiei rolled his eyes.

"No you're not," he told me before picking me up and starting to carry me back to my room, Mimi trailing along behind.

"Let me go to the living room," I requested. "At least grant me that courtesy." Hiei didn't reply, but he did take me to the living room and sat me down on the couch. "Thank you." Still no reply- instead, Hiei went back to the kitchen. I could hear him cleaning up the glass and had to giggle. Seconds later, he returned with a glass of water and handed it to me. I smiled as I took the glass. "Thanks." He nodded and sat down in a chair next to the couch. A moment later, Hiei grabbed the TV remote and began to surf through the channels. After a minute of this, I saw a show I liked and asked him to stop there.

"What is this?" he asked after a moment of watching the show. People were yelling at each other about something and then they started fighting about nothing... it was intriguing. I glanced over at him and smiled.

"It's Jerry Springer," I replied. "It's a talk show."

"What's the point?" I shrugged.

"People come on here to confess stuff- screwing around, secret fantasies, etcetera. I watch it for the fights that break out: pro wrestling in the day time." He laughed- I couldn't believe it, he really laughed. And his laughter made me laugh as well, though it made my chest hurt and caused me to cough.

"You gonna make it?" he asked me. I didn't respond I was coughing so hard. Moments later, I removed my hand from my mouth- it was covered with blood. I cracked a slight smile.

"If I don't cough up a lung I will." Hiei rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything I got up off the couch and walked towards the kitchen, wobbling every step of the way.

"What are you doing?!" he cried. I steadied myself by placing my clean left hand on a nearby wall. I then pushed against the wall, turning myself to face him.

"I'm going to wash my hand and try to eat something," I replied. "If I fall again, you'll be the first to know." I flipped back around and headed into the kitchen. "I'll take it slow, I promise." I called back. And slow I did- twenty minutes to be exact. I took twenty minutes to go to the kitchen, wash my hands, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and walk back to the living room. And I'm proud to say that I made it in one piece. Not that I stayed awake long after that- I conked out as soon as I hit the couch. Hiei looked at me and shook his head. My arm was dangling over the side of the couch, with Mimi eating the sandwich in my hand and my jaw was hanging open.

"Silly girl," he thought. "But maybe if she stays asleep, I won't have to worry about her anymore." With that, Hiei turned the television to something he wanted to watch- kickboxing.

My eyes slowly opened and I let a gasp upon realizing where I was: The Span of Bereavement. How could I be back in here? Back on the table where I had 'died,' my arms chained above my head and my legs chained to the end of the table. I then heard a door open and footsteps come towards me. Seconds later, he was there- Hitukeri Batosei. He said nothing as he stood over me for a moment before leaping on top of me and leaning towards my face.

"Tsuki," he whispered into my ear. "Tsuki, my beloved." As he licked my neck (yes, I said licked!) my neck, I struggled to get him off of me.

"No!" I cried between horrified screams. "I'm not Tsuki! Get of off me, now! BATOSEI!" He started to laugh and looked into my eyes. I never remembered his being so frightening before- they were now gold with small red pupils. I became frozen staring into them.

"I know you aren't Tsuki," he said, bearing his fangs and leaning towards my neck once again. "But you soon will be." I felt something puncture my neck and let out another scream.

"BATOSEI! NO!"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WOMAN WAKE UP!" Hiei had fallen asleep as well, but quickly awakened when he heard me scream. He had expected to find someone trying to kill me- vampires, demons, sumo wrestlers- anything along those lines. When he realized I was only having a nightmare, he relaxed and went back to watching TV... until he heard me scream about Batosei. "Come on, Kaira," he said, angrily. "Wake up, damn it!"

He finally decided to use a last resort- my screams were giving him a headache and he couldn't take it anymore. He walked into the kitchen and filled a glass with water. Then he walked back into the living room, and calmly splashed the water in my face. I woke up with a start, gasping for air. I looked around and my eyes landed on Hiei and the water glass in his hand.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" I cried. "Drown me!" Hiei rolled his eyes and ignored my comment.

"Are you all right?" I nodded slightly, but said nothing. Hiei could tell by the look in my eyes that I was still tired but frightened of going back to sleep. And the fact I was shaking like a leaf kinda confirmed it for him. He let out an angered sigh as he sat down on the couch next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. He expected me to flinch, pull away or something like that. But I didn't. I leaned on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Hiei stiffened up- he wasn't normally this caring, especially not towards someone he didn't even like. If this ever got around, not only would his reputation be ruined, but Kurama would most likely kill him.

About an hour later, Shizuru showed up. I was still sleeping on Hiei's shoulder and he still looked uncomfortable. When he saw Shizuru, he carefully removed my head from his shoulder and began to walk towards the door. He was almost out of the apartment when he heard my quiet voice calling after him.

"Thanks Hiei." He grunted a reply and walked the rest of the way out the door. When he was about five blocks away from my house he let out another sigh.

"You're welcome, Baita."