~Chapter 7~
~Shuichi and Parents~

The next morning, Kurama showed up to martial arts class in human form seeing as that form hadn't had its hair burned off.

"Who are you?" The boy Hikina had sent sprawling the first day of class asked.

"I'm Kurama." He replied calmly.

"No you're not. You're a human." The boy sneered.

"Baka." Hikina rolled her eyes. "Do you have no awareness of spirit energy?"

"Hikina. That's enough." Kurama reprimanded. Hikina blushed and bit her lip.

"Ok. Fine. You're Kurama. Why do you look like that?" The boy crossed his arms over his chest.

"To prove that you're opponent may not always be what he or she appears." Kurama continued easily. "Just because they look human does not mean they are weak. Have all of you heard of Yusuke Urimeshi?" The class mostly nodded. "Well he looks human and is one of the strongest fighters I've ever come across."

The class continued on as normal, although some students chose to ignore Kurama's instructions until they were discreetly buffeted by Kage, Lair, or Kina.

Kina started out with Kuron as usual and he chose to test her on her dagger skills so it was an enjoyable first hour. Then Kina had to face Kurama for hand-to-hand combat training.

"Good cover story." She tried not to smirk too much.

"It has some truth to it." Kurama replied.

"I had no idea you were so vain." She returned as they took fighting positions.

"You can't look like me and not be a little vain." He admitted.

Hikina thought about that a moment. "You're probably right." She allowed. "Not something I would know about, being an ugly midget." She grinned as she dodged his first attack. He was slower in this form. Not much, but it was noticeable.

Kurama chuckled.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day. The rest of the week passed uneventfully, and Hikina thanked her stars for that. As the weekend came up, they were all assigned chores and then had the rest of the two days off to train or relax as it may be.

"YAY!" Lair grinned as she ripped open a letter that had found its way onto her bed. "Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow!" She grinned.

Hikina smiled at her friend wondering if either of her parents would bother to ever visit her.

The weekend finally came and Lair dragged Hikina down to the castle entrance to meet her parents. "Mom. Dad. This is Hikina. She's Jin's niece." She bubbled.

"Your uncle speaks highly of you. It's nice to finally meet you." Touya smiled.

"I'm afraid he may be entirely mistaken." Hikina blushed.

"Why would that be?" Arianna asked mildly.

"Let it just suffice to say it's been a long week." Kina replied, somewhat chagrinned.

"She set Kurama's hair on fire." Lair elaborated.

"Well YOU froze it." Hikina grumbled back at her friend.

"So that's why he's walking around in his human form." Touya nodded. "It was nice to meet you anyway Hikina." The three moved off, leaving her alone. All her friends were off doing chores or with their families, so Hikina found a dark corner and leaned comfortably against the wall to brood, until she heard a not so familiar voice...

"Damn! She even acts like Hiei!" She turned to meet the chocolate eyes of a medium height ningen with slicked back graying hair and enormous spirit energy. The way he acted around Kurama made her think this was Yusuke Urimeshi.

Hikina pushed herself off the wall. "Hn. I wouldn't know." She said calmly.

"And just as descriptive." Yusuke laughed.

"And you are?" she asked blankly.

"Yusuke Urimeshi." He replied proudly.

"Kurama says you're a lousy fighter." Hikina smirked. He seemed a bit too full of himself for her liking.

"It's not polite to lie." Kurama reprimanded.

"It's not polite to enter a girl's room without first knocking." She countered with a smirk.

"Wait! You barged in her room?" Yusuke asked, suddenly interested. "What'd ya see?" He grinned.

"Nothing." Hikina replied. "He did however manage to startle me enough that I set his hair on fire." Thinking of that event never failed to amuse her.

Yusuke peered at Kurama's hair. "It looks all right to me."

"I was in my Youko form." Kurama elaborated. "My hair looks ridiculous now, so I have to stay in my human form."

"URIMESHI!!!" a tall orange-haired guy came running over. Hikina instantly felt an aversion to the tall ningen. "Hey what's Hiei doing here? Did you come to visit Kurama too?"

"Baka." Hikina rolled her eyes. "Do I seriously look that much like a guy?"

"Well, I thought you were dressed funny." Kuwabara conceded. "Hey! You just called me stupid! You should show respect to your elders!" He turned to Yusuke. "I am older than her right?" and felt better at Yusuke's nod.

"She doesn't have to show respect to people younger than her mentally you oversized oaf." Hiei muttered from behind. Hikina's whole face brightened at the sound of Hiei's voice.

"Shrimp! I'm gonna show you one day!" Kuwabara sputtered.

"And when that day comes I'll jump out of my wheel chair and kick your ass." Hiei retorted. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hikina snickered. "Kurama...why do you look like a ningen?" Hiei asked.

"Your lovely daughter set fire to my hair." Kurama replied dryly.

Hiei smirked. "It'll do your vanity good."

"She didn't apologize." Kurama was feeling the tinges of anger again.

"You didn't apologize for barging into my room. You startled me." Hikina returned.

Hiei growled at his friend. "Did he see anything?"

"Only me showing the Darkness Flame to my roommate." Hikina replied. "It kinda leapt out of my hand and onto his head when he came in."

"Show me what you've learned so far." Hiei commanded.

Hikina went through the healing stuff she'd learned. Then the Icicle of Darkness Flame, her mortal flame techniques and darkness flame techniques and went through her magic attacks until Hiei drew his katana. Kuron was nearby and came with one for Hikina and the two sparred for a short while, though they could all see Hiei was going easy on his daughter.

"Hn. Not bad. I have to go talk to Neko about your Jagan." Hiei told her and walked away. Hikina had a distinct feeling her father would leave after that.

"He's a busy man." Kurama said from behind her.

Hikina plastered a smile on her face. "I'm surprised he even showed up." She replied and with a burst of wind, took flight.

"Hey kiddo!" Her mother yelled over the wind, she was flying next to Hikina.

"Mom!" Hikina landed and hugged her mom.

"Is it true you set Kurama's hair on fire?" Her mom asked, blue eyes eager. Hikina nodded sheepishly. "That's so funny!!!" Corana laughed, delighted. "You don't know how many times I wish I could have done that back in his thief days! He's just so vain!" Hikina chuckled at her mom, glad she wasn't angry. An angry Corana was something to be avoided. "I saw you showing off down there." She grinned. "You're not doing too badly here then."

"Not too bad." Hikina agreed.

"D'you have any friends?"

"Three...well four kind of. Alairia, Touya and Arianna's daughter."

"Touya's daughter is here?!" Corana was incredulous. "She must be nice. Her father's a great guy and her mother's fun to be around too."

"And an orphan by the name of Ametsuchi. I'm teaching him how to fly. Then there's Kage. And Corvor's kinda a friend of mine. He's Darktydes' son and he's pretty much a loner. Like he's angry at the world or something." Hikina scratched her head. "But he's good at teaching Healing techniques."

"Well that's good. Can I meet any of them?" Corana asked.

Hikina grinned and led the way to where Kage and Ametsuchi were working in the gardens. "Kage! Suchi! My mom wants to meet you!"

They both stood and made their way over to the two women. Kage smiled charmingly at Corana. "Well it's easy to see where your daughter gets her good looks from."

Corana laughed. "Kina. I do believe this boy is a flatterer."

"You learn to ignore it really quickly. It took me all of a day." Kina grinned.

"Nice to meet you ma'am." Suchi nodded at her.

"You must be Suchi. Well any friend of my daughter's is a friend of mine." She smiled at him. "How's the flying coming along?"

Suchi blushed. "Not that well."

"Wanna work with me for a little bit?" Corana offered and the two of them walked towards the training grounds.

"Kina." Kage grinned. "Your mom is totally hot." Kina punched him in the face and he fell to the ground. (A/N: Think anime swirly eyes.)

"That was just wrong Kage." She smirked and went to watch Suchi's progress under more experienced tutelage.

A/N: Well there ya have the chapter! Now for some shout outs!

Eyoko: Thanks for the reviews! It's about time you read my stories bitch! Lol *gives you Jin* Issa: Thanks again for tossing ideas with me. The fire scene still makes me laugh just thinking about it. *gives you Touya* Kade: Thanks again for all the reviews. *Gives you Kenshin* Flame Fox: Always ready to spit out some characters! Thanks! *Gives you Youko* Gerudo: Thanks for the reviews! Glad to know you still like it! *gives you bishie of your choice (not Hiei)* *keeps Hiei for herself*