A.N. and Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. Bite me.

Review Reply time!

lostruroni- I am sorry, but you are far too young to be in my story, Saa-chan. :P soo sorry. thanks for the review, and keep reading!

HieiFan666- thanks for the review... and I don't really remember my lovely kiddy years... but I think that now, if I was 5, I would have a gang. :D I'm glad you like Claire's moment of bishounen confusion. She thought it was funny too.

Duffuss- Why thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please continue reading!

heliophobe- Thank you for the congratulation. It made me feel quite nice. I don't know if you've read this before, but I'm glad that you're reading it now.

Demonic Effervescence... TWICE (cpts 20-21). Thank you for the great reviews! I know that it wasn't quite in character for Shuurin to stand up to Chris at that time, but just wait. She was quite nervous as school has been a rather traumatic experience for her so far.

Tucker2- Evening, boys. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you continue reading all the way through this chapter. I'm sure you do like pretty girls. Most moronic guys do. Oh, and about that question concerning Claire... Why don't you ask her face-to-face? I'm sure that she'd love to answer you. Whether it be with words or with a fist in your face... I have no idea. Good luck with that! Thanks for the review.

Drowned in Smiling Faces- Interesting penname. Thanks for the review! Even if it was for chapter 10.

baaaka- Thanks for reviewing!

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Chapter 22

Lani woke up again around noon, feeling much better than she had earlier. She slowly sat up on the couch and looked around. Hiei was nowhere to be seen. The white haired demon stretched carefully, and shakily stood. She stumbled over to the kitchen. An odd scent, smelling of something burning, was protruding from the room. Warily, Lani poked her head into the kitchen to see Hiei, quickly trying to cool a smoldering substance in a metal frying pan.

"What in the Makai are you doing, Hiei?" The spiky haired demon spun around quickly, some of the contents of the pan flying out onto the floor. Hiei let out a rather embarrassed "heh" and his face was wearing a slight blush and his mouth was curled into a rather ashamed half-smirk that clearly stated "I didn't mean to...".

"I..." Hiei trailed off until Lani gave him a look, plainly telling him to continue. "I was... trying... to cook."

Lani arched a thin eyebrow at whatever was in the pan Hiei was holding. "And... what exactly were you attempting to cook, Hiei?"

The demon blushed again. "... I was trying to cook eggs."

"Eggs?"

"... eggs."

"And that blackened mass littering my floor is..."

"... eggs?"

"..."

"..."

"Do you want me to cook something?"

"Yes."

"Excuse me?"

"... please."

"Alright. You clean up whatever this mess is... roasted egg or whatever, and I'll cook something. Deal?"

"Deal."

"And Hiei?"

"Hn?"

"You might want to watch. I'd hate to see my new house set on fire because you decided to make toast."

"Hn."

Hiei turned around, thoroughly embarrassed. He quickly began to clean up the bits of blackened egg that had splattered on the floor. Then that was finished, he tossed the soiled rag into the sink along with the pan. Meanwhile, Lani had gathered milk, more eggs, some orange juice, bread, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and butter. She had two frying pans ready on the burners of the stove, and was waiting for Hiei to be finished.

"Well, Hiei, ready for your cooking lesson? Breakfast has to be the easiest meal of the day, so we'll start here, even though it's noon."

"I'm not a child, Lani. You know that..." He leaned towards her, only for her to press two fingers to his lips. She leaned in and nuzzled his nose with hers teasingly. Then she used her fingers to push him away from her, making him bump into the counter.

"Have a seat, demon-boy. The demonstration's beginning." Hiei rolled his eyes, slightly put off at being deprived from his fun. He slid up to sit on the counter and watch Lani cook. First of all, she mixed eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat it with a whisk. When it was thoroughly mixed, she soaked slices of the bread in it. She placed the slices into a buttered pan, where they sputtered and hissed as they cooked. While the french toast was cooking, she took more eggs and milk, and beat them with the whisk as well. She turned back to the toast and grabbed the handle of the pan and, with a flick of her tiny wrist, every piece of toast flipped over, revealing a perfectly browned side. She then poured the egg/milk mix into another buttered pan and whisked it constantly.

She turned to Hiei. "If you would, please, grab two plates and some silverware and place them on the table. Oh, and take the orange juice and two glasses too, if you would."

"Hn." None-the-less, Hiei found the fore-mentioned items and placed them on the table, also discovering a wonderful confectionary treat known as powdered sugar, bringing it to the table as well. A moment later, Lani carried two plates, one with french toast piled on it, and another with scrambled eggs. She set them on the table and sat across from Hiei.

He immediately snatched several pieces of toast, and a rather large scoop of the scrambled eggs. Lani shook her head, with a slight smirk on her face as she helped herself to a smaller portion of eggs, but three pieces of french toast. She spread a bit of butter around on the toast and then poured on a mountain of powdered sugar.

Throughout the duration of breakfast/lunch (hereby known as "brunch"), the couple was relatively quiet. Both demons consumed plenty of sugar, toast, and eggs, and were therefore quite full. Lani decided to take the opportunity to speak when she was cleaning the table.

"So, Hiei. What have you learned today?" she said with a small smirk. Hiei grimaced and rolled his red eyes.

"... don't try to cook ningenkai eggs with mortal flame..." he mumbled.

"Oooh, so that's what happened... I didn't think anyone could burn eggs that badly, but I guess that explains it... No, Hiei. One should not attempt to cook ningen food using magic of any demonic nature."

"Whatever. You cook then. I'm not touching that moronic ningen 'stove'."

"Fine," Lani snapped. "I don't think that I'd want to touch your cooking, much less eat it. Burning eggs is even worse than burning pizza rolls." (yeah, I don't own pizza rolls, just several bags of them. yummy. -)

"Are you saying that Urameshi cooks better than I do?" Hiei shot a glare in Lani's direction.

"Of course not, Hiei. I'm just saying that no one can cook worse than you. It's certainly not limited only to Yusuke." A killing glare was sent in her direction once again, and she burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding, Hiei! At least Yusuke had directions to follow... although... I'm not too sure that he has the ability to read, so the instruction may have been wasted on him."

"I don't think that I liked that joke."

"I'm sure you didn't, but oh well. Not like I can take it back, right?"

"Hn."

"Anyways, I'm feeling quite a bit better now, Hiei, thanks to you... and I was thinking... How would you like to accompany me to pick up Shuu from her school? To see how her first day was and if she's made any friends. Well?"

"... Are you sure you're up to that?"

"Would I suggest it if I wasn't? Of course I am. I just need some fresh air. We can walk if you want. Kurama said that it wasn't too far away." Hiei contemplated the idea.

"Sure, I've got time to kill."

Shuurin walked out of her classroom door, grinning like mad. Everything had gone right for her today. Her teacher, Miss Jennifer, introduced her to the class, and she got to sit with Amanda, Claire, both Heathers, and Kristina. They each used finger paints to make pictures, and Shuurin made one with Touya, Jin, Hiei, Lani and herself all standing together... well... sort of. Jin was floating, of course. Her teacher had commented that they were very nice elves that she was painting, and Shuurin immediately set her straight with a simple "They are not elves, Miss Jennifer. Elves are cruel and tricky. These are demons." The young teacher flinched and quickly walked away from the new child in order to attend to Chris, who had decided to begin flinging red paint at several girls on the other side of the room.

Later in the day, Shuurin had eaten her lunch with her newfound friends. Amanda and Claire seemed quite interested in her adventures in demon world, but Shuurin remembered not to mention Lani, Hiei, or Kurama. When she had returned to the classroom, Shuurin found a picture book from the bookshelf and immediately replaced it, attempting to discover a book that fit her intellect. When Miss Jennifer asked her what was wrong with the books, and if she knew how to read, Shuurin simply waved a book in the woman's face.

"What is this?" Shuurin demanded.

"That's a picture book, dear. Do you want me to read it to you?"

"No, Miss Jennifer. I know how to read. Where are the better books?"

"Better books? Wait, you know how to read?"

"Of course, Miss Jennifer. Doesn't everyone?"

"No, Shuurin, dear... Most of the children here are learning to read. Who taught you?"

"My onee-tan Lani taught me how to read. Now, where are the better books?"

"Well... chapter books are back in that corner." She pointed to a corner occupied by a large pink beanbag and an old, blue couch. "I think... some of your friends are already reading those books also. Heather S, that's the girl with the green dress, and Claire, I think. Oh, Amanda's back there also. Feel free to join them, dear."

Shuurin nodded once and walked back to the previously indicated corner. She picked up a few of the books and found a one entitled "Fairy Tales". It had several pictures, but many more words. Although Shuurin thought that the stories contained in the pages were rather primitive and pointless, she did enjoy one particular tale entitled "Little Red Riding Hood". A rampaging wolf was much more interesting than a poisoned apple.

After reading time, the class gathered up the remainder of their things and began to get ready to leave (They dismiss at, say... 1:30 p.m., it's just kindergarten...). Shuurin grabbed her pink backpack and stuffed her now dry painting inside. Her green eyes bright and happy at the idea of telling her Onee-tan what she'd done today, Shuurin skipped out of the school and waved goodbye to her new friends, who were marching out of the school and heading to the exit gate. Both Amanda and the other Heather, the one dressed in red (hereby known as Heather Y.), were detained in the principal's office along with several boys from Chris's gang for fighting. One of the boys had a rather angry looking bite mark on his right arm.

Shuurin glanced about for Kurama's bright red car, and, not seeing it, seated herself on a bright green bench and awaited his arrival, her long black hair swaying in the slight breeze. Lost in her own little world, Shuurin swung her short legs back and forth. That dreamworld was shattered by a rock thrown in her direction. She sensed it just in time and ducked forward, snapping her head in the direction that the stone had come from. Lo and behold, there stood a young boy dressed in camouflage shorts and a white shirt.

Chris was tossing another rock up and down in his hand, glaring at Shuurin. The girl stood up and faced the boy. She sent a bright green glare right back at him. "What do you want, Christopher?" He kicked dirt in her direction and walked up to her in an attempt at intimidation.

"Shuddup, Shuurin." He turned his head only slightly and spat to the side, as if her very name left a bad taste in his mouth. "One of my friends got hurt today, kid."

"So? How's that my problem, Christopher?"

He spat again, this time closer to her face. "One of your friends bit him."

"Again, how's that my problem? I didn't bite him. Humans don't taste very good."

"I don't care if you bit 'im or not. One of your dumb, girly friends did. So I'm gonna make sure you tell them not to. Ever again. Got it, kid?"

"You ain't gonna tell me to do anything, stupid. Now back off and go 'way. I'm busy waiting for my friend Kurama to come and take me home. People like me don't have any time to talk with stupid, mean, rude boys like you."

Chris took the opportunity to attack the slightly smaller girl. He punched her in the arm and tackled her. She sunk her fangs into his ear and pulled, hard. It was a trick she had learned in the Makai from Jin. Chris pulled back for a second, but that was all the little hanyou needed. She pushed her little shoes straight into his middle and pushed him off her. She then got up and threw her pink backpack in his face, blinding him, and she kicked him in the shin (anywhere else would be too cruel for the moment). Chris then threw the backpack back at her and prepared to punch her in the mouth (what violent children, neh?). Shuurin braced herself for the blow...

But it never came. She opened her eyes to see the boy looking behind her towards the gate to the area, his eyes wide and his hands trembling. Shuurin turned around to face the object of Chris's terror. Well, objects.

Hiei and Lani were standing in the middle of the gate and walking quickly towards the two kindergartners. Hiei zipped over to Chris and stood right in front of him, towering over the child, even at Hiei's somewhat diminutive stature. Glaring straight in the boy's quivering eyes, the fire koorime bit out the words "Touch this girl again, ningen brat, and you will regret it for the rest of your afterlife. I promise. You got it? Brat?" Chris nodded franticly. Hiei jerked his head to the left and glared at the trembling boy some more. "Good. Now get lost, and hope that I never see you again."

Chris nodded again and ran off in the gestured direction, not looking back and with one hand over his bleeding ear. Lani was looking over Shuurin in a calm manner that belied her fury at the human brat. After making sure that the little girl had no serious damage, Lani took her right hand and Hiei grasped her tiny left hand and they walked home together, Shuurin chatting the entire way about her new friends and her first day in a "normal life". They were so absolutely oblivious.

Meanwhile...

"Christopher! What happened to your ear? Have you been fighting again?"

"N-n-n-no, Mom. Nn-n-n-n-nothing happened, I j-j-j-just... I just... I... I ... I... I just tripped. That... t-t-that's all, mom..." He slammed his door and shuddered at the memory of those evil red eyes.

In the Meantime...

"You mean you have noooo idea how Bradley got that bite mark on his arm?" The principal questioned. "Did it appear there by magic? Girls?"

"I dunno, Mrs. Tanaka. Maybe it did just show up." Heather nodded her head with her reply.

"Maybe he got hungry and bit himself, Ma'am." Amanda added.

"Well, how does that apply to Brian here? Did those bruises get there by magic too?"

"... We don't know, ma'am." Both girls chimed in. Obviously, the principal was getting nowhere fast.

Somewhere else, soon afterwards.

Claire walked down the street with her gang of friends. Kevin and Keith were arguing over which one was taller and who was born first. Tommy was walking and playing with his DS at the same time, skillfully dodging trashcans, lightpoles, and walls without even looking. Claire's large one-eyed teddy bear was beginning to drag along the ground and she was smirking to herself as she picked it up higher. She turned her head to look at the three boys behind her.

"We sure taught those dummies from Chris's gang who not to mess with, didn' we? Good thing Mandy and Heather helped too and wanted to cover for me. Bro gets mad when I'm late, ya know?"

The two twins nodded furiously and then quickly asked her opinion on who was taller. Tommy only looked up from his game and gave a tiny smile at the insanity of it all. He reached back and pulled a pair of large headphones out of his backpack and placed them over his small ears, reentering his game-oriented trance once again.

...Chapter End...

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