Some time later, Kurama had Hiei at his house. The team had agreed that Kurama would take the apparition home, while Yusuke and Kuwabara stayed to search for whatever it was that had attacked him.
It was now sundown, and Kurama was doing his homework. He was trying to think of what to write about for his essay. It was due by the end of his senior year in two years. Supposedly it was supposed to make them think about the topic thoroughly, but whatever the reason, they neded the paper to graduate. The topic was 'what is love?'. The fox knew from personal experience that he had no answer to the question. As Youko he had had many lovers, but they were merely one time us only. Spend a night, and then toss them away. The closest thing he had ever come to love was Kuronue, but even then, it didn't quite feel right.
As the suns last rays faded from the room, and he moved to turn on the light, a loud moaning filled the air. He turned to see Hiei tossing and turning in hi sleep, moaning as if in pain. As he watched, he saw his friend's hair lengthen, and turn to a silvery green. His body shifted from that of a hard muscled fighter, to that of a hardly muscled female. His eyes fluttered open and Kurama saw that they had changed from blood red to dark amethyst. His whole face became very feminine. No scratch that. Hiei shoved the covers off and Kurama saw that his whole body had become distinctly feminine. The ripped shirt and pants had become loose, and seemed in danger of coming off.
Still asleep he tried to yank ff his top, moaning. "Hot." He muttered, pulling futilely at his shirt. "Too hot."
With a jolt Kurama realized that Hiei had shifted to the other half of his heritage, ice apparition. With a glance at his calendar, Kurama noted that it was the full moon. That was odd, if the full moon was Hiei's reversion date, then why hadn't it happened the other times they had been together on the full moon? He also noted the way Hiei was pulling at his clothes and sweating profusely. He was too hot. Heat was bad for ice apparitions. Too much heat could kill them. Ice. He needed to get the other demon colder, much colder.
Picking Hiei up, he carried him over to the bathroom that was adjacent to his room. Flicking on the light, he set the demon in the tub, fully clothed. Turning on the tap as cold as it would go, he let the water run as he ran down the stair to the fridge. Opening the freezer he pulled out some of the bags of ice his mother had just bought recently. Running back up to the bathroom, he turned off the tap and dumped the ice into the water.
When Hiei had stopped sweating and seemed to be relaxing in the freezing water, he used the phone to call Genkai's temple. The old woman picked up on the second ring.
"What?"
He grinned, what a charming old woman. "Genkai, I need some help with a little problem."
"What's the problem?" she asked, slurping something, probably tea.
"The thing is we have to keep this very low to the ground." He said glancing in the tub. Hiei had fallen asleep.
"Fine. Now what the hell do you want?"
"I need you to get Koenma to send Yusuke and Kuwabara over to my house. Mother is away for a few days so she won't bother us. Tell them to bring ice with them. Lots of ice."
"Ice? Why do you need ice?"
"Better yet, see if Yukina can come down. Just for the night, but she could be very helpful."
"That it? If so get the hell of the phone so I can tell the baby to send the dimwits over there." The phone clicked and the line went dead.
He returned to the bathroom to see that Hiei was awake. "What is going on?" he demanded. "What happened to me? And why is it so hot in here?"
"Sorry about the heat." Kurama said coming to sit on the floor by the tub, "But apparently you change into an ice apparition on the night of the full moon."
Hiei snorted. "Seeing as you know already, it won't hurt. I don't transform on the night of thee full moon, I transform on the nights of the sickle moon. That's why I want to know what the hell is going on."
"Well, as far as I have been able to tell, you were attacked while we were investigating the demons that Koenma's sensors picked up. You had passed out and I brought you here. That was several hours ago. Then just now you transformed. You were sweating, and moaning about the heat so I dumped you into a tub of ice water. It was the best I could do on short notice. But Yusuke and Kuwabara should be here soon with more ice. If you don't want them to know that you are you, then we'll fake our way through it."
"Oh? And how do you propose to do that?" Hiei asked sarcastically.
"Well, first thing would be to get you into some different clothes, and then have you use an pseudonym for a while."
"And how do you propose we do this?"
"Well, my mother has some of her old clothes in the attic, and we can just call you Ruri. Its short and easy to remember."
For the next few minutes, Kurama was sorting through some old boxes in the attic until he came across an old kimono of his mothers. It was from when she was a child, so it seemed to be about Hiei's size. It was light blue, with a pink obi, but it would work. Some more searching and he came up with the socks, and sandals that went with it. Closing up the boxes, he turned off the lights and locked up. Some rummaging in his drawers and he came up with a hair tie and ornament. The ornament was an ugly old thing, at least in his opinion. It was light pink and had small gold bells hanging from it. One of those giggling fan girls had given it to him for Valentines Day attached to a card. Or maybe it was a boy who gave it to him as a gag? Oh well, it would finally serve a purpose in the greater cause.
Laying the out fit out on his bed, he took a hairbrush and some shampoo and gave it to Hiei who was still sitting in the now melted ice water. "Here," he said, "While your in there you had might as well wash your hair and comb it out. It won't do to smell like yourself. I'm going to see if there's anymore ice downstairs for you."
"Hn." But when the fox had gone, Hiei got out, stripped, and climbed back in the tub, washing his now long hair. He had some problems combing it out, but started to get the hang of it after the third knot. When he was done. He just sat with the hair covering himself like a curtain. How embarrassing. He thought to himself. To change like this. And this is not normal for me. I've never done a full shift like this before. Only a sex change and loss of my powers. I didn't think that ice apparitions were this sensitive to the heat.
Kurama had finally returned with three large bags of ice, and some trays of the stuff balanced on top. "Ah, I see you did wash your hair." He tore open the bags and dumped the contents into the tub. Cracking the ice out of the trays he added that as well. "I hope that Yusuke gets here soon with the ice. Oh, and Genkai said she would send Yukina over as well so we could freeze the guestroom for you."
"Yukina is coming?" Hiei demanded, standing up. Kurama looked up at the ceiling, "Well? Was that what you just said?"
"Did I stutter Hiei? And by the way, you had best sit back down. It's not like you are a male any more."
The blushing fire apparition sat, and pulled his knees to his chest. "I can't have her see me!" he said, "That would be too humiliating."
"Why? Because you are a girl? Or because you are her brother who turned into a girl?"
"The last one."
"You know it wouldn't be so bad if you would only tell her." Kurama said smiling. "Besides, I pretty sure that she knows already."
"What do you mean?"
"She's not stupid Hiei, not by a long shot and cleverness appears to run in your family. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell that you two are related. That same height, the same eye color. The two of you even sound alike. My guess is that she's jut waiting for you to say something about it. And now would probably be the best time to do so. Seeing as how you'll be needing her help to get used to this heat."
For a while, Hiei just sat in the water, watching as the ice melted, and thinking about what the fox had said. Finally he answered, "I'll tell her. Maybe that way. She will truly be happy."
"Oh?" Kurama smiled, "Why do you think she wouldn't already be happy?"
"she's sad inside I could tell." Hiei replied, popping a soap bubble as it floated on the water's surface. "I thought she would be happier not knowing, if she might be able to just forget about having a brother. I was wrong. She was always looking. She asked me to try to find him, and I watched her search her heart to see if she felt that I was dead. Maybe that's when she really found out. Like you said."
"You know Hiei, it's nice to hear you open up like this, but I have a feeling that it isn't going to be very good for your reputation here in the Human World."
"Hn. I don't really care about that much. If anything, those bastards might actually leave me alone for a while."
Kurama laughed, but his ears perked as he heard voices coming from downstairs. "I'll go send Yukina up then?" at his friends nod he left, but not before telling him where the clothes he had laid out were. Hiei was tempted to go change, but when he stood up and opened the door, the heat rolled in, and he jumped back in the ice water. Screw modesty he never cared much before and it wouldn't matter if he didn't now.
There was alight tapping on the door, and he said, "Come in." it opened and Yukina was there, carrying another bag f ice. She handed it to him, and he dumped it into the water along with the other five.
"So, Kurama said there was something you wanted to tell me." She said, taking a seat on the toilet lid.
"Yes, Yukina, you remember how you asked me to find your brother?"
She nodded, then her eyes went wide, "Hiei? Is that you?" he nodded, blushing. "What happened?"
"Well, that's part of what I'm trying to tell you. You see, I'm, I'm…YukinaI'myourbrother." He blurted it out very fast before trying to pull into himself.
"I know." She said simply. "But I had no idea that you turned into an ice apparition."
"I don't usually. At least, not like this. Normally I lose my powers and I change from male to female but that's it. I've never turned full ice apparition."
She smiled kindly. "Don't worry about it. Kazuma turned on the air conditioning as high as it would go. It was funny, Yusuke and Kazuma were both shivering." She giggled at the memory. Then bending down, she gave her brother a hug. Resting her head on his now green hair she said, "When you're ready we'll go downstairs. I have a feeling that you've never tied a kimono before so you'll need some help. Obi's are hard to do the first time."
It was a few more minutes, he was reluctant to leave the nice cold water, but when he was greeted by cold air when he stepped out, a fluffy towel around his waist, he relaxed.
The relaxation ended when he pulled on the kimono. The robe itself was easy to get on, if not a bit too long. But the tie was going to give him nightmares for a month, he knew it. Yukina had taken pity on him, and tied it. The socks and sandals bugged him, the between the toe thingy was not comfortable. But at least he did not have to wear the shoes in the house. Yukina had also offered to brush and tie back out his hair, but he declined. When it was fully brushed and hanging, it reached his knees, like a cloak it covered him completely.
"Well, we don't look anything like siblings now." Yukina said smiling.
"Give yourself a few years." Hiei told her, as they walked down the stairs, Hiei clutching to the rail for dear life.
She giggled, "That right, you are older then me. It makes sense."
When they reached the bottom, Kurama looked over Hiei's outfit with approval, while Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at him with slack jawed awe.
"Oohh Yukina who's your friend?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yeah, and like is she available?" Yusuke chorused.
"Shut up Detective." Hiei snarled, "Before you make me do something that you will regret."
"Whoo and she's feisty!" Yusuke reached out a hand to hug his now female teammate. Hiei responded, by grabbing Yusuke's arm and twisting it behind his back.
"Do not touch me Yusuke." He hissed. His demon reflexes had clearly not diminished at all.
Kurama couldn't contain his mirth, he chuckled, hiding his smile behind his hand. Watching the tiny ice apparition Hiei threaten the spirit detective was just too funny. He wished he had a camera. This was priceless.
Yukina came forward and touched Hiei's arm. The look in her eyes made him drop Yusuke's arm instantly. The leader rotated his shoulder, wincing slightly. "Man payback is a bitch." He muttered.
"payback for what?" Hiei asked.
"Hmm, dunno but I'll tell you when I think of something." The whole room sweatdropped at these words.