The Forgotten Child
Chapter 14
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Hiei let his mind wander as he floated in a
place that was between consciousness and sleep.
He could sense that somewhere close by Kyuukai was
also shifting between being awake and asleep,
dreaming whatever kind of dreams an infant had.
Kyuukai would be wanting to eat again in ten
minutes, twenty seconds, and Hiei told himself
that Kurama could handle it. Kurama could handle
anything, unlike himself who had royally screwed
up with Kurama's first child and had almost done
the same thing again to Kyuukai.
What had possessed him to want to have
another child in the first place? It wasn't like
it was something he spent a lot of time thinking
about on a regular basis. The only catalyst Hiei
could think of was Keiko's recent pregnancy and
the stir it caused. Kurama and Shiori had spent
an inordinate amount of time in the last few weeks
discussing the unborn infant. Shiori always said
how nice it would have been for 'Shuuichi' to have
a son that looked just like him. Hiei gave a half
grunt, half sigh. He'd even screwed that up.
Hiei buried himself deeper in the covers and
decided to go back to sleep. This last nap had
almost made him feel normal again and with a few
more hours rest he'd be completely recovered from
Kyuukai's birth. Hiei felt his consciousness slip
lower and deeper into sleep and dreaming when the
first vision entered his mind.
He was running faster than he'd ever run
before through the woods feeling the wind on his
face and smelling the cool of the trees. He
jumped and twisted in the air to snap at a leaf
that was falling from the trees overhead. He
heard a rabbit he startled scamper away and
wondered if he should give chase. Hiei thought
that it was strange that he was so close to the
ground and snapping at leaves, but the image
melted before he could find out why.
He squirmed on the filthy straw that served
as his bed, finding it almost impossible to breath
in the hot, suffocating tightness of the tiny
room. There were no windows, and no light to
illuminate the cramped area and the rats that he
could hear squeaking. Someone opened a door and
instantly his hands and feet were anchored to the
floor by an unseen force. A human in priests
robes leered at him as he showed Hiei a knife and
then used it to cut through the ultra sensitive
ears at the top of his head. He wanted to cradle
his bleeding head as the priest moved away, but he
was unable to move. Suddenly agony exploded up his
spine. Hiei could see a human triumphantly hold
up his bloody hatchet in one hand and a delicate
ice blue tail in the other out of the corner of
his eye.
Hiei was grateful when the dream shifted
again to show him a bright green and purple fire
burning in a cave. He reached his hand out to
touch the fire, but instead of his fingers coming
into view, a silver blue paw touched the flames.
Hiei continued to be puzzled until he turned and
saw himself laying on the cave floor writhing in
misery.
Hiei tried to focus on what was happening
around him, tried to slow down and stop the flood
of images hoping to find a clue as to who's
memories he was sharing. It was useless. All he
could do was watch.
The next few images went by so fast that he
barely had time to recognize the things around him
before they shifted into something else. He saw
Maryoku take a swing at him with a glowing fist.
He saw Koori sleeping next to a crimson fire. He
saw Kurama give his son to Keiko to hold. He saw
Koori's startled face as she looked at the
twinkling gems in her hands. Then it all stopped
and his mind vision was blank.
He waited in the void of his own subconscious
for something to happen. It seemed like an
eternity before something did. A pin-point of
light appeared somewhere in the immeasurable
distance ahead of him and drew him hypnotically
closer. Soon he was standing at an opening
chiseled into the stone wall he had placed around
his own memories. Memories that he had long ago
locked away, memories that he wanted to forget.
He struggled uselessly against the force of his
soul as it dragged him forwards, making him look
inside.
He saw a figure of himself watching a dying
fire of the same purple and green flames that had
been in the other vision. The flames finally went
out and in the blackened pit it had created was a
tiny, blue-silver fox kit curled tightly into a
fluffy ball. It's little ears were laid almost
flat against it's head and it's short stubby
muzzle made the baby fox look more like a puppy.
Hiei watched himself crawl toward the kit and then
stop, confusion and uncertainty etched into his
features about where to go. The memory Hiei
stumbled to his feet and shakily walked to the
entrance of the cave. The kit made a sharp yipe
and whined pitifully for the man at the cave
entrance to come back, but he didn't. Without
looking back he left the newborn kit to the fates.
Hiei wanted to wake up, to get away from what
he was seeing, but he was stuck and unable to even
look away. The fox kit continued to whimper and
tried to move it's body around, but like Kyuukai,
it was too young and too awkward to get anywhere.
Hiei found himself reaching out towards the infant
but his hands hit a surface as clear as glass but
much stronger. As he banged his fist against the
barrier the kit lifted it's head and turned
towards him. Tiny eyes opened for the first time
and looked at him with a clarity that shouldn't
have been possible for something so young. Warm,
red eyes, his eyes, stared at him without censure
or hate, only with longing and forgiveness, and it
was more than he could take.
Hiei turned from the opening in his memories
and tried desperately to awaken, but all he could
see were those red eyes forgiving him. The eyes
that tried to release him from the guilt and
self-loathing that he had held onto for so long.
Those feeling were so much a part of him now that
Hiei didn't know if he knew how to feel anything
else when he thought about his first born child.
An image of Kyuukai swept across his vision,
and he wanted to turn away. He wanted to distance
himself from the boy and the sorrow Kurama's son
would feel when he realized what his other father
was. It wasn't fair to subject Kyuukai's innocent
soul to the blackness of his own. The image of
Kyuukai melted away and he saw the youkai female
leaning over him helping him when he was in the
throws of pain, her red eyes filled with worry.
That scene vanished and was replaced with the
girl forcibly handing him Kyuukai, laughter in her
red eyes. Kurama's laughter in replicas of his
eyes he realized, and then he knew what his
subconscious had been trying to tell him. That
girl wasn't just some youkai that had come to the
Makai on a whim, but his own daughter. She was
the child he had thought was dead and lost to him
forever.
Hiei would have described the feeling that
entered his heart as 'giddy with elation', but
fire demons didn't have emotions like that, so he
was happy instead. His subconscious mind finally
let go now that its message had been received, and
Hiei slowly started to wake. He tried to reach
out and sense for his firstborn before he was
fully awake and was stuck by a force that sent
pain though every part of his body.
Hiei was familiar with the feeling of
breaking bones and splitting flesh, but it had
been a while since he'd felt them. Since he'd
became S-class he was one that was doing most of
the breaking, not the one being broken. He felt
his chest constrict with pain and found it almost
impossible to breath. There was an ache in his
left arm, but it was secondary to the intense
agony of his left leg.
He looked down at his body, but there were no
marks on his skin. He could feel blood flowing out
of his body and smell it in the air, but he could
see none of it. That's when he realized the
mistake he had made. He had used his Jagan when
he was not fully awake to control it and it had
found someone else's pain.
Hiei tried to remember who the last person
was that he had been thinking about when he had
started to wake, but the pain was making it
impossible. He stumbled out of bed, holding his
left arm and limping heavily on his leg. He had
been thinking about the baby, he realized, and
fear chilled his blood. He quickly made his way
to the dojo, ignoring the rain that seemed to
frame every disaster in his life.
His world narrowed to focus on Kyuukai as he
searched his son out. Hiei took him from the
person holding him, not caring who it was and
started to look the infant over. He couldn't find
anything wrong with Kyuukai, not in his arm or his
leg, but he kept looking. Hiei felt strong hands
try and hold him still and he became angry at the
intrusion until he realized it was Kurama. He
turned his attention to his lover, now convinced
that it must be Kurama that was injured, but still
he found nothing.
Hiei sat on the cool dojo floor trying to
shake the pain from his body. He tried to
remember what he had been thinking about when the
pain had started. He sat there dazed and barely
recognized Koori when she handed him the strange
bracelet. He started to stroke the silken stands
that surrounded the tear gem with the pad of his
thumb as his Jagan released the control it had
attained over his body.
Hiei began to think clearer and he realized
that he had been thinking about a child, but not
Kyuukai. He had been thinking about his first
born, the one that he never named. He looked at
the red-black stands of her hair in his hand and
remembered the name Koori had given him.
Kitsuryuu, a strange combination of fox and
dragon. An appropriate name for their not so
little girl.
Suddenly Kyuukai cried his displeasure at not
being fed on time, and it seemed to trigger an
explosion of chaos. Everybody started talking at
once. The kids were asking Koori when Kitsuryuu
left, Kuwabara wanted to know exactly where his
youngest daughter had been and Yuusuke still
wanted information on how strong Kitsuryuu was now
that she was more of a threat than before.
Hiei was still trying to take in all the
extraneous information that was being thrown
around as he watched Kurama sit there in a worst
state of confusion than himself. His lover looked
as though his whole world had been turned upside
down and inside out. Hiei felt some sympathy for
Kurama and wondered how he'd react when he told
him he had become a father again in less than 24
hours.
The group of squabbling individuals that
thought that all they had to do was scream louder
than the person next to them to be heard were
abruptly silenced by the sound of a crashing gong.
All eyes turned to Keiko and the huge gong she
held in her hand, a gong that Hiei didn't even
know the Kuwabara's had. The only sound in the
room was Kyuukai's crying.
"I think that it would be wise if we took
turns asking questions," Keiko suggested.
The group started their arguing again, and
the gong sounded louder than the first time Keiko
stuck it.
"Taking turns means, ONE AT A TIME!" she
clarified.
"Wouldn't it be best if we went to the house?
Kyuukai isn't going to stop crying until he's fed
and none of us have had dinner yet," Yukina
suggested.
"We have a possibly dangerous youko running
around, and she wants us to eat dinner," Yuusuke
grumbled low under his breath, but not low enough.
Keiko grabbed a hold of Yuusuke's ear and
gave it a vicious pull that made her husband bend
closer to her to relieve the pain.
"*I* think that's a wonderful idea, Yuusuke,"
Keiko hissed in his ear, "Don't *you* think it's a
wonderful idea, Yuusuke?"
"Ow, yes, YES! Wonderful idea! Best thing
I've heard all week!," he agreed wholeheartedly.
"Can I have my ear back now?" Yuusuke pleaded.
Keiko released her husband with a smile and
then linked her arm with his. Kuwabara's chuckle
was silenced by Yuusuke's glare and everybody
followed the arm-in-arm couple to the house.
======
"Father!" Mechiko whined next to Yuusuke,
"It's not like Kitsuryuu is going to head straight
for a city and start stomping on it!"
"Mechiko, I know she's your friend, but if
she's in the Ningenkai then we need to know
exactly where all the time."
Kurama listened to the rehashed argument as
he tried unsuccessfully to comfort his son. Five
minutes ago, after Kyuukai had been fed and had
gone back to sleep, the infant started to whine
and then woke up screaming. Despite all their
efforts, including Hiei's, Kyuukai could not be
comforted.
Dinner had been simple and quickly finished
so that the discussion that had started in the
dojo could be continued. Kurama watched Hiei sit
in the window watching the sheets of rain come
down. He wished that he could get his lover alone
so that he could tell him about their daughter,
but so far the opportunity had not presented
itself.
The telephone rang shrilly in the hallway and
it made Kyuukai cry even louder. Maryoku offered
to go answer it and Kurama walked down hall to his
temporary room so that Kyuukai's crying wouldn't
disturb the boy. Kurama paced in the room holding
his son close, hoping that whatever was wrong with
him would pass as he thought about Kitsuryuu.
Kurama had found out during the much quieter
discussion over dinner that his daughter had been
living on this mountain for many years before
Koori found her. He had no doubt that the
combination of the wards and Kitsuryuu staying in
kitsune form, which was lower in power, were the
reasons they never knew that she was so close.
Kurama walked to the window and looked out at
the forest that surrounded the house. His
daughter had been out there all this time and no
one knew. How many times had they crossed paths
and never knew she was there? How many picnics
and outings had he taken the kids on that
Kitsuryuu was close enough to see them, for him to
see her, if he had only looked?
Kurama tried not to think of what might have
been, and focused on today and the future. The
past was gone and no matter how much he might wish
for it to be different, he couldn't change what
had happened. He looked down at his son that
continued to scream in distress and knew that he
could never comfort Kitsuryuu like this. She was
a grown woman now and didn't need a father to take
care of her and raise her.
For the next few minutes Kurama just walked
with his son, talking to him, trying to calm him.
He continued to pace until Kyuukai went still and
silent in his arms. The infant didn't move,
didn't hic-up, didn't make a noise. He just laid
there in his soft blanket like a stone. A very
HOT stone Kurama realized as he fought the urge to
drop him as he placed Kyuukai on the bed and
looked at his burned hands.
The fuzzy white baby's blanket burned away in
a dark green swirl of flames to reveal Kurama's
changed son. Kyuukai was tucked in the fetal
position with his arms wrapped around his bent
knees and his face cradled in his bent arms.
Kurama looked at his son's blood red ears that
were tipped in black, then all the way down his
small spine to his bright red tail that was tuck
between his crossed legs. Kurama could see the
black tip of Kyuukai's tail where it reappeared
over his son's shoulder.
"HIEI!" Kurama yelled, hoping his lover would
get there before Kyuukai set the bedding on fire.
The deep green flames had disappeared but the
sheets under Kurama's son were smoldering and
threatening to combust any minute. Hiei skidded
into the room and for the first time in the years
Kurama had know this fire demon he saw real fear
in Hiei's eyes. Kurama didn't have to say
anything to his lover, because Hiei had already
assessed the situation and picked Kyuukai up from
the bed.
"I thought he wouldn't change anymore,
Kurama," Hiei stated as he looked his son over in
the same way he had done in the dojo earlier.
"He will shift shapes as long as Kitsuryuu
keeps shifting her own," Kurama said calmly as
his heart leapt in his throat waiting for Hiei's
response.
The kids had told him the Kitsuryuu only took
on youko form when she was mad or very scared.
Kurama wondered which emotion his daughter was
feeling right now. He knew that in either case it
wasn't good. He looked over at Hiei and caught
the hint of a grin on his lover's face.
"He knew about his sister as soon as he was
born, didn't he, Kurama?" Hiei asked rhetorically
and his slight grin turned into a frown.
"Why don't you answer that damn noise maker
before it starts Kyuukai crying again?"
Kurama was standing there stunned that Hiei
apparently knew that Kitsuryuu was their daughter
and suddenly realized that his cellular phone was
ringing faintly under his coat in the corner of
the room. He pulled his jacket aside and placed
the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Shuuichi! Where have you been?! I've been
trying to call you forever," Shiori exclaimed over
the line with more that just a hint of panic in
her voice.
Kurama was instantly alarmed at his mother's
tone. His normally quiet and calm mother sounded
frantic, scared and worried all at the same time.
"Mother, calm down and tell me what's wrong.
Are you all right?" he asked as Hiei looked
intently over at him.
"I'm fine, Shuuichi. It's your brother that
I'm worried about. Oh, Shuuichi, I'm so scared
something has happened to him. Have you been
watching the news?" Shiori asked.
Kurama walked over to Hiei who now had
Kyuukai held tightly to his bare chest. He had to
remove his shirt so that the heat their son was
generating wouldn't burn the material. Kurama
indicated to Hiei that he was to follow him as he
walked out into the hall.
"Mother, what is going on? What happened to
Shuuichi?"
"He called me saying that you need to go to
the hospital as soon as you can, but Shuuichi, I
called your apartment, I called your work, I
called your cellular, and I called Yukina's. I
finally got Yuusuke's son , but he just dropped
the phone when I told him," Shiori told Kurama,
becoming more frantic with each breath.
Kurama stopped at the phone in the hall and
glanced at the receiver that was hanging from its
cord. He picked it up and placed it back on the
cradle before continuing on to the living room,
Hiei close behind.
"Mother, you need to calm down and tell me
exactly what is going on," he told Shiori as he
stopped in front of the television.
Kurama ignored the questioning looks of the
rest of the household as he changed the channel
from the anime everyone was watching to the news
station. The scene on the screen was of the
hospital Kurama knew his brother sent all his
patients to for surgery halfway crumbled to the
ground and smoldering.
"Earlier this evening an apparent gas
explosion rocked this hospital to its knees," the
newscaster said as the camera paned over all of
the ruined building. "There is no word as of yet
if there are any fatalities, but at last count
there were twenty patients and five hospital staff
unaccounted for. The authorities are uncertain as
to how the explosion may have occurred, but
sources say that a witness has come forward
claiming that a girl seen fleeing the scene just
after the disaster was the one to start the fire
that caused the explosion. The police are looking
for her."
"Shuuichi, your brother said that one of your
old friends had come to visit the hospital, a
young lady. I think he means a youkai and now the
hospital has almost been destroyed and I can't
contact him and the police won't give out any
information. What's going on, Shuuichi?"
Kurama reached over and turned the sound all
the way down on the television. Yuusuke, Kuwabara
and Hiei looked to him to confirm the suspicions
they already had. The kids started looking at
each other, they were also worried that they knew
what was going on.
"I don't know for sure what's going on yet,
Mother, but as soon as I get some answers I'll let
you know, all right?" Kurama asked Shiori and got
a mumbled agreement before he disconnected the
line.
"It's Kitsuryuu, isn't it?" Yuusuke asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Shuuichi called my mother
and told her that a girl came to the hospital, and
that he wanted me to get there. She hasn't heard
any more from him since," Kurama told him as he
watched the silent TV scene and the rescue effort
being made of pull people from the rubble.
"She said that Maryoku answered the phone and
then just left her hanging. I found the phone off
the hook in the hall. Where is Maryoku?" Kurama
asked.
"He asked me for the keys to the car a few
minutes ago so that he could move it out of the
way. Why?" Keiko asked as she entered the room
from the kitchen, her hands still wet from washing
dishes.
Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama exchanged
glances and then were scurrying out the door
grabbing coats and a set of keys as they went.
Hiei stopped briefly to hand Kyuukai to Keiko with
the quick warning of, 'He's hot', before he left.
Keiko had to quickly juggle the infant from hand
to hand as she left the room to place the baby
somewhere where he wouldn't catch the house on
fire.
"He's going after Kitsuryuu, Arashi. Pay up,"
Mechiko said with her hand out-stretched and a
smirk on her face as Arashi dug into his pocket.
"I thought that he'd at least wait until
tonight to look for the Fox," Arashi grumbled
while Mechiko counted her ill gotten gains.
"Never underestimate the power of true love,
my friend," the girl said just as her mother stuck
up behind her and grabbed the money out of her
hand.
"Hey!"
"Don't 'hey' me, young lady. How many times
have I told you not to make bets?" Keiko asked.
"Slightly fewer times than you've told me to
stop fighting," Mechiko responded with a deep
sigh.
"I'll just put this away in your savings,"
Keiko said as she placed the money in her apron.
"Now, tell me about this 'true love'..."
======
end
Chapter 14
written by Kat Aubuchon
edited by Windlily
Hiei let his mind wander as he floated in a
place that was between consciousness and sleep.
He could sense that somewhere close by Kyuukai was
also shifting between being awake and asleep,
dreaming whatever kind of dreams an infant had.
Kyuukai would be wanting to eat again in ten
minutes, twenty seconds, and Hiei told himself
that Kurama could handle it. Kurama could handle
anything, unlike himself who had royally screwed
up with Kurama's first child and had almost done
the same thing again to Kyuukai.
What had possessed him to want to have
another child in the first place? It wasn't like
it was something he spent a lot of time thinking
about on a regular basis. The only catalyst Hiei
could think of was Keiko's recent pregnancy and
the stir it caused. Kurama and Shiori had spent
an inordinate amount of time in the last few weeks
discussing the unborn infant. Shiori always said
how nice it would have been for 'Shuuichi' to have
a son that looked just like him. Hiei gave a half
grunt, half sigh. He'd even screwed that up.
Hiei buried himself deeper in the covers and
decided to go back to sleep. This last nap had
almost made him feel normal again and with a few
more hours rest he'd be completely recovered from
Kyuukai's birth. Hiei felt his consciousness slip
lower and deeper into sleep and dreaming when the
first vision entered his mind.
He was running faster than he'd ever run
before through the woods feeling the wind on his
face and smelling the cool of the trees. He
jumped and twisted in the air to snap at a leaf
that was falling from the trees overhead. He
heard a rabbit he startled scamper away and
wondered if he should give chase. Hiei thought
that it was strange that he was so close to the
ground and snapping at leaves, but the image
melted before he could find out why.
He squirmed on the filthy straw that served
as his bed, finding it almost impossible to breath
in the hot, suffocating tightness of the tiny
room. There were no windows, and no light to
illuminate the cramped area and the rats that he
could hear squeaking. Someone opened a door and
instantly his hands and feet were anchored to the
floor by an unseen force. A human in priests
robes leered at him as he showed Hiei a knife and
then used it to cut through the ultra sensitive
ears at the top of his head. He wanted to cradle
his bleeding head as the priest moved away, but he
was unable to move. Suddenly agony exploded up his
spine. Hiei could see a human triumphantly hold
up his bloody hatchet in one hand and a delicate
ice blue tail in the other out of the corner of
his eye.
Hiei was grateful when the dream shifted
again to show him a bright green and purple fire
burning in a cave. He reached his hand out to
touch the fire, but instead of his fingers coming
into view, a silver blue paw touched the flames.
Hiei continued to be puzzled until he turned and
saw himself laying on the cave floor writhing in
misery.
Hiei tried to focus on what was happening
around him, tried to slow down and stop the flood
of images hoping to find a clue as to who's
memories he was sharing. It was useless. All he
could do was watch.
The next few images went by so fast that he
barely had time to recognize the things around him
before they shifted into something else. He saw
Maryoku take a swing at him with a glowing fist.
He saw Koori sleeping next to a crimson fire. He
saw Kurama give his son to Keiko to hold. He saw
Koori's startled face as she looked at the
twinkling gems in her hands. Then it all stopped
and his mind vision was blank.
He waited in the void of his own subconscious
for something to happen. It seemed like an
eternity before something did. A pin-point of
light appeared somewhere in the immeasurable
distance ahead of him and drew him hypnotically
closer. Soon he was standing at an opening
chiseled into the stone wall he had placed around
his own memories. Memories that he had long ago
locked away, memories that he wanted to forget.
He struggled uselessly against the force of his
soul as it dragged him forwards, making him look
inside.
He saw a figure of himself watching a dying
fire of the same purple and green flames that had
been in the other vision. The flames finally went
out and in the blackened pit it had created was a
tiny, blue-silver fox kit curled tightly into a
fluffy ball. It's little ears were laid almost
flat against it's head and it's short stubby
muzzle made the baby fox look more like a puppy.
Hiei watched himself crawl toward the kit and then
stop, confusion and uncertainty etched into his
features about where to go. The memory Hiei
stumbled to his feet and shakily walked to the
entrance of the cave. The kit made a sharp yipe
and whined pitifully for the man at the cave
entrance to come back, but he didn't. Without
looking back he left the newborn kit to the fates.
Hiei wanted to wake up, to get away from what
he was seeing, but he was stuck and unable to even
look away. The fox kit continued to whimper and
tried to move it's body around, but like Kyuukai,
it was too young and too awkward to get anywhere.
Hiei found himself reaching out towards the infant
but his hands hit a surface as clear as glass but
much stronger. As he banged his fist against the
barrier the kit lifted it's head and turned
towards him. Tiny eyes opened for the first time
and looked at him with a clarity that shouldn't
have been possible for something so young. Warm,
red eyes, his eyes, stared at him without censure
or hate, only with longing and forgiveness, and it
was more than he could take.
Hiei turned from the opening in his memories
and tried desperately to awaken, but all he could
see were those red eyes forgiving him. The eyes
that tried to release him from the guilt and
self-loathing that he had held onto for so long.
Those feeling were so much a part of him now that
Hiei didn't know if he knew how to feel anything
else when he thought about his first born child.
An image of Kyuukai swept across his vision,
and he wanted to turn away. He wanted to distance
himself from the boy and the sorrow Kurama's son
would feel when he realized what his other father
was. It wasn't fair to subject Kyuukai's innocent
soul to the blackness of his own. The image of
Kyuukai melted away and he saw the youkai female
leaning over him helping him when he was in the
throws of pain, her red eyes filled with worry.
That scene vanished and was replaced with the
girl forcibly handing him Kyuukai, laughter in her
red eyes. Kurama's laughter in replicas of his
eyes he realized, and then he knew what his
subconscious had been trying to tell him. That
girl wasn't just some youkai that had come to the
Makai on a whim, but his own daughter. She was
the child he had thought was dead and lost to him
forever.
Hiei would have described the feeling that
entered his heart as 'giddy with elation', but
fire demons didn't have emotions like that, so he
was happy instead. His subconscious mind finally
let go now that its message had been received, and
Hiei slowly started to wake. He tried to reach
out and sense for his firstborn before he was
fully awake and was stuck by a force that sent
pain though every part of his body.
Hiei was familiar with the feeling of
breaking bones and splitting flesh, but it had
been a while since he'd felt them. Since he'd
became S-class he was one that was doing most of
the breaking, not the one being broken. He felt
his chest constrict with pain and found it almost
impossible to breath. There was an ache in his
left arm, but it was secondary to the intense
agony of his left leg.
He looked down at his body, but there were no
marks on his skin. He could feel blood flowing out
of his body and smell it in the air, but he could
see none of it. That's when he realized the
mistake he had made. He had used his Jagan when
he was not fully awake to control it and it had
found someone else's pain.
Hiei tried to remember who the last person
was that he had been thinking about when he had
started to wake, but the pain was making it
impossible. He stumbled out of bed, holding his
left arm and limping heavily on his leg. He had
been thinking about the baby, he realized, and
fear chilled his blood. He quickly made his way
to the dojo, ignoring the rain that seemed to
frame every disaster in his life.
His world narrowed to focus on Kyuukai as he
searched his son out. Hiei took him from the
person holding him, not caring who it was and
started to look the infant over. He couldn't find
anything wrong with Kyuukai, not in his arm or his
leg, but he kept looking. Hiei felt strong hands
try and hold him still and he became angry at the
intrusion until he realized it was Kurama. He
turned his attention to his lover, now convinced
that it must be Kurama that was injured, but still
he found nothing.
Hiei sat on the cool dojo floor trying to
shake the pain from his body. He tried to
remember what he had been thinking about when the
pain had started. He sat there dazed and barely
recognized Koori when she handed him the strange
bracelet. He started to stroke the silken stands
that surrounded the tear gem with the pad of his
thumb as his Jagan released the control it had
attained over his body.
Hiei began to think clearer and he realized
that he had been thinking about a child, but not
Kyuukai. He had been thinking about his first
born, the one that he never named. He looked at
the red-black stands of her hair in his hand and
remembered the name Koori had given him.
Kitsuryuu, a strange combination of fox and
dragon. An appropriate name for their not so
little girl.
Suddenly Kyuukai cried his displeasure at not
being fed on time, and it seemed to trigger an
explosion of chaos. Everybody started talking at
once. The kids were asking Koori when Kitsuryuu
left, Kuwabara wanted to know exactly where his
youngest daughter had been and Yuusuke still
wanted information on how strong Kitsuryuu was now
that she was more of a threat than before.
Hiei was still trying to take in all the
extraneous information that was being thrown
around as he watched Kurama sit there in a worst
state of confusion than himself. His lover looked
as though his whole world had been turned upside
down and inside out. Hiei felt some sympathy for
Kurama and wondered how he'd react when he told
him he had become a father again in less than 24
hours.
The group of squabbling individuals that
thought that all they had to do was scream louder
than the person next to them to be heard were
abruptly silenced by the sound of a crashing gong.
All eyes turned to Keiko and the huge gong she
held in her hand, a gong that Hiei didn't even
know the Kuwabara's had. The only sound in the
room was Kyuukai's crying.
"I think that it would be wise if we took
turns asking questions," Keiko suggested.
The group started their arguing again, and
the gong sounded louder than the first time Keiko
stuck it.
"Taking turns means, ONE AT A TIME!" she
clarified.
"Wouldn't it be best if we went to the house?
Kyuukai isn't going to stop crying until he's fed
and none of us have had dinner yet," Yukina
suggested.
"We have a possibly dangerous youko running
around, and she wants us to eat dinner," Yuusuke
grumbled low under his breath, but not low enough.
Keiko grabbed a hold of Yuusuke's ear and
gave it a vicious pull that made her husband bend
closer to her to relieve the pain.
"*I* think that's a wonderful idea, Yuusuke,"
Keiko hissed in his ear, "Don't *you* think it's a
wonderful idea, Yuusuke?"
"Ow, yes, YES! Wonderful idea! Best thing
I've heard all week!," he agreed wholeheartedly.
"Can I have my ear back now?" Yuusuke pleaded.
Keiko released her husband with a smile and
then linked her arm with his. Kuwabara's chuckle
was silenced by Yuusuke's glare and everybody
followed the arm-in-arm couple to the house.
======
"Father!" Mechiko whined next to Yuusuke,
"It's not like Kitsuryuu is going to head straight
for a city and start stomping on it!"
"Mechiko, I know she's your friend, but if
she's in the Ningenkai then we need to know
exactly where all the time."
Kurama listened to the rehashed argument as
he tried unsuccessfully to comfort his son. Five
minutes ago, after Kyuukai had been fed and had
gone back to sleep, the infant started to whine
and then woke up screaming. Despite all their
efforts, including Hiei's, Kyuukai could not be
comforted.
Dinner had been simple and quickly finished
so that the discussion that had started in the
dojo could be continued. Kurama watched Hiei sit
in the window watching the sheets of rain come
down. He wished that he could get his lover alone
so that he could tell him about their daughter,
but so far the opportunity had not presented
itself.
The telephone rang shrilly in the hallway and
it made Kyuukai cry even louder. Maryoku offered
to go answer it and Kurama walked down hall to his
temporary room so that Kyuukai's crying wouldn't
disturb the boy. Kurama paced in the room holding
his son close, hoping that whatever was wrong with
him would pass as he thought about Kitsuryuu.
Kurama had found out during the much quieter
discussion over dinner that his daughter had been
living on this mountain for many years before
Koori found her. He had no doubt that the
combination of the wards and Kitsuryuu staying in
kitsune form, which was lower in power, were the
reasons they never knew that she was so close.
Kurama walked to the window and looked out at
the forest that surrounded the house. His
daughter had been out there all this time and no
one knew. How many times had they crossed paths
and never knew she was there? How many picnics
and outings had he taken the kids on that
Kitsuryuu was close enough to see them, for him to
see her, if he had only looked?
Kurama tried not to think of what might have
been, and focused on today and the future. The
past was gone and no matter how much he might wish
for it to be different, he couldn't change what
had happened. He looked down at his son that
continued to scream in distress and knew that he
could never comfort Kitsuryuu like this. She was
a grown woman now and didn't need a father to take
care of her and raise her.
For the next few minutes Kurama just walked
with his son, talking to him, trying to calm him.
He continued to pace until Kyuukai went still and
silent in his arms. The infant didn't move,
didn't hic-up, didn't make a noise. He just laid
there in his soft blanket like a stone. A very
HOT stone Kurama realized as he fought the urge to
drop him as he placed Kyuukai on the bed and
looked at his burned hands.
The fuzzy white baby's blanket burned away in
a dark green swirl of flames to reveal Kurama's
changed son. Kyuukai was tucked in the fetal
position with his arms wrapped around his bent
knees and his face cradled in his bent arms.
Kurama looked at his son's blood red ears that
were tipped in black, then all the way down his
small spine to his bright red tail that was tuck
between his crossed legs. Kurama could see the
black tip of Kyuukai's tail where it reappeared
over his son's shoulder.
"HIEI!" Kurama yelled, hoping his lover would
get there before Kyuukai set the bedding on fire.
The deep green flames had disappeared but the
sheets under Kurama's son were smoldering and
threatening to combust any minute. Hiei skidded
into the room and for the first time in the years
Kurama had know this fire demon he saw real fear
in Hiei's eyes. Kurama didn't have to say
anything to his lover, because Hiei had already
assessed the situation and picked Kyuukai up from
the bed.
"I thought he wouldn't change anymore,
Kurama," Hiei stated as he looked his son over in
the same way he had done in the dojo earlier.
"He will shift shapes as long as Kitsuryuu
keeps shifting her own," Kurama said calmly as
his heart leapt in his throat waiting for Hiei's
response.
The kids had told him the Kitsuryuu only took
on youko form when she was mad or very scared.
Kurama wondered which emotion his daughter was
feeling right now. He knew that in either case it
wasn't good. He looked over at Hiei and caught
the hint of a grin on his lover's face.
"He knew about his sister as soon as he was
born, didn't he, Kurama?" Hiei asked rhetorically
and his slight grin turned into a frown.
"Why don't you answer that damn noise maker
before it starts Kyuukai crying again?"
Kurama was standing there stunned that Hiei
apparently knew that Kitsuryuu was their daughter
and suddenly realized that his cellular phone was
ringing faintly under his coat in the corner of
the room. He pulled his jacket aside and placed
the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Shuuichi! Where have you been?! I've been
trying to call you forever," Shiori exclaimed over
the line with more that just a hint of panic in
her voice.
Kurama was instantly alarmed at his mother's
tone. His normally quiet and calm mother sounded
frantic, scared and worried all at the same time.
"Mother, calm down and tell me what's wrong.
Are you all right?" he asked as Hiei looked
intently over at him.
"I'm fine, Shuuichi. It's your brother that
I'm worried about. Oh, Shuuichi, I'm so scared
something has happened to him. Have you been
watching the news?" Shiori asked.
Kurama walked over to Hiei who now had
Kyuukai held tightly to his bare chest. He had to
remove his shirt so that the heat their son was
generating wouldn't burn the material. Kurama
indicated to Hiei that he was to follow him as he
walked out into the hall.
"Mother, what is going on? What happened to
Shuuichi?"
"He called me saying that you need to go to
the hospital as soon as you can, but Shuuichi, I
called your apartment, I called your work, I
called your cellular, and I called Yukina's. I
finally got Yuusuke's son , but he just dropped
the phone when I told him," Shiori told Kurama,
becoming more frantic with each breath.
Kurama stopped at the phone in the hall and
glanced at the receiver that was hanging from its
cord. He picked it up and placed it back on the
cradle before continuing on to the living room,
Hiei close behind.
"Mother, you need to calm down and tell me
exactly what is going on," he told Shiori as he
stopped in front of the television.
Kurama ignored the questioning looks of the
rest of the household as he changed the channel
from the anime everyone was watching to the news
station. The scene on the screen was of the
hospital Kurama knew his brother sent all his
patients to for surgery halfway crumbled to the
ground and smoldering.
"Earlier this evening an apparent gas
explosion rocked this hospital to its knees," the
newscaster said as the camera paned over all of
the ruined building. "There is no word as of yet
if there are any fatalities, but at last count
there were twenty patients and five hospital staff
unaccounted for. The authorities are uncertain as
to how the explosion may have occurred, but
sources say that a witness has come forward
claiming that a girl seen fleeing the scene just
after the disaster was the one to start the fire
that caused the explosion. The police are looking
for her."
"Shuuichi, your brother said that one of your
old friends had come to visit the hospital, a
young lady. I think he means a youkai and now the
hospital has almost been destroyed and I can't
contact him and the police won't give out any
information. What's going on, Shuuichi?"
Kurama reached over and turned the sound all
the way down on the television. Yuusuke, Kuwabara
and Hiei looked to him to confirm the suspicions
they already had. The kids started looking at
each other, they were also worried that they knew
what was going on.
"I don't know for sure what's going on yet,
Mother, but as soon as I get some answers I'll let
you know, all right?" Kurama asked Shiori and got
a mumbled agreement before he disconnected the
line.
"It's Kitsuryuu, isn't it?" Yuusuke asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Shuuichi called my mother
and told her that a girl came to the hospital, and
that he wanted me to get there. She hasn't heard
any more from him since," Kurama told him as he
watched the silent TV scene and the rescue effort
being made of pull people from the rubble.
"She said that Maryoku answered the phone and
then just left her hanging. I found the phone off
the hook in the hall. Where is Maryoku?" Kurama
asked.
"He asked me for the keys to the car a few
minutes ago so that he could move it out of the
way. Why?" Keiko asked as she entered the room
from the kitchen, her hands still wet from washing
dishes.
Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama exchanged
glances and then were scurrying out the door
grabbing coats and a set of keys as they went.
Hiei stopped briefly to hand Kyuukai to Keiko with
the quick warning of, 'He's hot', before he left.
Keiko had to quickly juggle the infant from hand
to hand as she left the room to place the baby
somewhere where he wouldn't catch the house on
fire.
"He's going after Kitsuryuu, Arashi. Pay up,"
Mechiko said with her hand out-stretched and a
smirk on her face as Arashi dug into his pocket.
"I thought that he'd at least wait until
tonight to look for the Fox," Arashi grumbled
while Mechiko counted her ill gotten gains.
"Never underestimate the power of true love,
my friend," the girl said just as her mother stuck
up behind her and grabbed the money out of her
hand.
"Hey!"
"Don't 'hey' me, young lady. How many times
have I told you not to make bets?" Keiko asked.
"Slightly fewer times than you've told me to
stop fighting," Mechiko responded with a deep
sigh.
"I'll just put this away in your savings,"
Keiko said as she placed the money in her apron.
"Now, tell me about this 'true love'..."
======
end