Fugen: Ohayo, minna-san! (deep announcer's voice) R u readyyyyy? I can't hear u! R U READYYYY? Oh. You are. Okay! First reviewer thank yous, and then the fic!
To Kumori Sakusha formerly Saelbu: Thank you for the love and the support! Please continue to review! Oh, and Hiei and Kurama appreciate the love too!
To KitsuneAkai13: Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so glad that you'll live long enough for me to finish my fic.
To What2callmyself: That's okay. I have my own share of stupid computer/virus problems. I'm just glad that you're back!
To Bar-Ohki: Love is long lasting, and can start at anytime. I'm just glad that it began when these two were chibi!
To Jessica: No, no. Thank YOU for your continued support. I deserve no thanks. I'm just a humble, Hiei-obsessed, every-now-and-then-a-total-lunatic fic writer.
To Silothiel: Thanks! Hopefully you will never have to wait long for updates. I'll do the best I can!
To Jaymes: Relax, dude. I was just being sarcastic. Why would I say something like that when I'm a girl myself? Thanks for reviewing!
To Touya4me: Ha ha! Thanks! Glad to hear it. I'm a sucker for flattery. I just lap it up every time.
Hiei: Which explains her overflowing ego...
Chapter 5: Story Time
Everyone was gathered in the living room for story time. Hiei sat in Yukina's lap, Kurama held in his arms and enthusiastically licking Hiei's face. Keiko, Yusuke, and Botan took up the sofa. Shizuru and Kuwabara (yes, he's back) took the two remaining armchairs.
Kuwabara held the large book before him, using it simultaneously as a sort of shield between him and Hiei. Clearing his throat, a sound that made Hiei bristle and Kurama sink his claws into Hiei's clothes in recoil, Kuwabara began reading.
"Once a upon a time, there was a little boy who had a dog..."
The story droned on and on. Everyone quickly became half-asleep, with the exception of Yukina, who placed the two chibi demons on the floor. She had remembered that no one had cleaned up the bathroom, and being the good person she was, decided to clean it herself, leaving her two charges with the others. As a result, no one noticed Hiei toddle off into the hallway, Kurama at his heels and the red whistle in his mouth.
At the bottom of the stairs, Hiei leaned against the bottom step, looking up at the rest. He blinked once, twice, then toddled back to the doorway of the living room.
"But the poor little boy fell to the bottom of the well. It was dark and cold and damp, and the little boy was hungry..."
Hungry. Hiei turned around and half-waddled to the kitchen. Excitedly Kurama ran under the table and the chairs, then pawed at the bottom drawers. Curious to see what was inside, Hiei took hold of the handle and pulled. The drawer open, but Hiei fell backwards onto the tiled floor. Hiei sat up, his eyes on the verge of pouring out like Niagara Falls. Quickly Kurama bounced over to him, licking Hiei's face and rubbing cheeks in a comforting way. Soon forgetting of the brief moment of pain, Hiei struggled back to his feet and looked into the drawer, which was full of bags of various chips.
Taking one out, Hiei plopped himself onto the floor and attempted to open the plastic bag, with no avail. Finally Kurama took one end into his mouth and, growling playfully, pulled in the opposite direction.
BLAM!
Surprisingly, no one in the living room (or in Yukina's case, the bathroom) heard the small explosion. But then, when you were listening to a children's story with Kuwabara doing the reading, who would, much less could?
Now Hiei and Kurama sat in the middle of a sea of chips. Unperturbed, Hiei simply picked up the chips nearest him, eating it, while Kurama jumped around like a jack-in-the-box, snatching up a chip in his mouth every time he descended. The two ate until they were satisfied.
His whistle in one hand, Hiei licked the fingers of his other hand while Kurama licked at the area around his mouth. Too full to get back onto his feet, Hiei put his whistle into his mouth and crawled on all fours back into the hallway. Spotting a closet beneath the stairs, Hiei crawled up to it and pushed the unclosed door open with one hand. The door opened slowly with a long creaking sound that made Kurama flatten his ears against his head and growl softly. Hiei crawled into the space beneath the stairs, and almost promptly bumped into a dusty old cardboard box.
Hurt and surprised, Hiei looked up at a tower of old dusty cardboard boxes that shrunk in size the higher it went. Angry, Hiei smacked his hand as hard as he could against the highest box he could reach. To his own amazement, the boxes staggered, then toppled over.
Most of the boxes were empty, so not much of a noise was made when the tower was knocked over. One, however, was full of old things, including the colored blocks, ball, and rattle from before. Hiei went over these things with little interest. Crawling into the box, he felt around and found some more interesting things. Curious, Kurama followed.
"Where is Hiei-chan and Kurama-chan?" Yukina cried out.
Everyone jerked awake and Kuwabara looked up from the book. Sure enough, the two babies were gone.
"Where the hell did those two go?"
"They must still be in the house."
"Oh, poor Hiei-chan and Kurama-chan! They're just babies!"
"Don't worry, Yukina-san, the great Kuwabara will save the day!" Head held high, Kuwabara strode toward the hallway. The instant he set his foot into the hallway, Kuwabara felt something cold and hard, like metal, beneath his feet.
"EEEYAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Kuwabara's feet flew out before him and a old-fashioned roller skate went flying into the stair rail, crashing against it. Kuwabara himself landed with a heavy crash.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
A series of colored blocks, piled up in staggering towers at the very edge of the stairs, came showering down on Kuwabara.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"NOOOOOOOO!!"
The silver ball came bouncing from further down the hall, one bounce landing right in the center of Kuwabara's stomach.
"YEOW!"
The rattle had come flying out of nowhere, hitting Kuwabara straight in the eye.
BLAM!
"AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
A bag of chips exploded in Kuwabara's face, pelting him like tiny bits of hail.
"YOWCH!"
As a sort of finale, the book Kuwabara had been reading out loud came flying. It hit him in the face.
Frozen on the spot, nobody dared to move.
A clapping sound came from the stairs. Everyone (but Kuwabara, of course) ventured forward enough to see what, or who, was causing it.
Hiei was sitting on one of the steps, clapping his hands in glee. Kurama cuddled against Hiei in pure bliss. They were surrounded by a few blocks, a smaller rubber bouncing ball, and a unharmed old-fashioned roller skate.
"Well, I guess they didn't like the book..."
Owari (until next time)
Fugen: MWA HA HA HA HA HA! BWA HA HA HA HA HA! WHA HA HA HA!
Hiei: Something bad is going to happen...
Kurama: Or it already has, just not to us.