Sitting beside the hospital bed, his eyes blank and red from crying, Yusuke stared at the floor, numb and forlorn, barely noticing the other people in the room. All he could think about was Keiko lying on the hospital bed next to him—dead, that wasn't supposed to be the way things turned out. Today was supposed to be special, Yusuke had planned to present Keiko with an engagement ring today at the welcome home party, but now…now he had no chance to either show or tell her how he felt. It just wasn't fair.

"Yusuke, will you be all right? They're going to move her body soon." A voice to his left spoke softly, Genkai's, but Yusuke refused to either look at her or respond, preferring, like Hiei had been with Kurama's death, to be alone in his mourning. "Yusuke, if there's anything you need…."

"The only thing I need is the identity of that driver so I can kill him." Yusuke seethed through clenched teeth, still refusing to look up.

"Her. The driver of the car that hit Keiko was a female. But she is unconscious now, she's sustained damage from the accident herself and…."

"I don't care; I'll still kill her for what she did to Keiko."

"But Yusuke…."

"She ran the fucking red lights, four of them! She obviously didn't care who got hurt, and she hurt more than Keiko when she crashed into that bus. She needs to pay." Yusuke steamed, finally looking at Genkai, hatred in his eyes, along with pain, intense pain that dug into his heart and soul.

"I'm not saying the driver shouldn't face the consequences of her actions, but Yusuke, she's pregnant. Going into her third month by what the doctors say. It's a miracle she didn't lose the baby in the crash." Genkai replied staring Yusuke in the eye, knowing that his anger wouldn't be great enough to hurt an innocent life, but she still held back on telling him the identity of the driver. That bit of information had shocked Genkai herself, and she paled when she first heard the name of the young woman: it was Akiko Kamigawa, the girl Kurama had broken up with before he met Hinansho.

"But Genkai…what is it? You're hiding something about the girl; I can see it in your eyes. Tell me, whatever it is." Yusuke demanded studying Genkai with narrowed eyes, his sadness giving way to anger for not being told everything. "Who…what's the driver's name?"

"Ah…." Genkai stared at Yusuke surprised that he had figured out she knew the driver's identity. "Um…."

"I know you know, so tell me!"

"…." Genkai stared at Yusuke thinking silently and then answered. "Akiko Kamigawa."

"Huh? A…kiko…? Wasn't that the name of Kurama's ex?"

"Yes…it's the same Akiko, and she's going on her third month of pregnancy, Yusuke…." However Yusuke stood up ignoring Genkai's words, anger printed on his face and in his heart.

"That bitch…I'll…."

"Yusuke! Listen to what I'm saying. Akiko is going on her ninth week of pregnancy."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?" Yusuke demanded, but soon realized it was significant somehow by how much emphasis Genkai put on that information.

"Akiko and Kurama broke up seven weeks ago." Genkai replied waiting for Yusuke to figure out what that bit of information meant, nodding when she saw the realization dawn on Yusuke's face.

"Seven…? That…the child…it's Kurama's?" Yusuke gasped his hate and anger giving way to shock, which in turn gave way to suspicion. "But she cheated on him…it might not be his…."

"That may be true, but unlikely since the child is without a doubt part demon." Koenma spoke walking into the room and standing between Yusuke and Genkai while both of them stared surprised at him.

"How do you know if the child's…?"

"The child's own energy is sustaining Akiko—and it is demonic energy." Koenma replied studying Yusuke's and Genkai's reactions.

"So the child is Kurama's." Yusuke muttered sitting back down, sighing unable to decide whether to be angry or ecstatic about the news. "I guess that is good news."

Meanwhile, in the mountain forest surrounding Genkai's temple, sitting against a tree, wanting to sleep but trembling for fear of what sort of dreams would result, Hiei stared up at the trees blotting out the sky, causing shadows to fall upon him, the fox cub nuzzling against his chest. Reassured by the warm bundle on his lap, the fire-demon finally fell asleep, fretting silently as horrid dreams flashed through his mind as soon as his eyes closed.

No longer nuzzling against Hiei, the fox cub stared into the fire-demon's face, an odd gleam in his eyes as he watched the demon struggle with his nightmares; this gleam was hard to describe, no words could explain what emotion they held—a mixture of feelings glowed in its eyes, dimmed by the constant struggles by the fox cub to keep them in check.

Whatever emotion gleamed from the fox cub's eyes disappeared a second later when something from behind the trees stirred from the shadows glowing an oddly dim, white light, its form distorted like a T.V without good reception, stepping close enough for Ku-chan to see, but far enough so Hiei wouldn't notice.

"Quit deceiving everybody." The glowing figure spoke, harsh but cool, a yellowish gleam coming from where its eyes would be, great dislike vibrating in its voice. "Especially Hiei."

Listening intently to the glowing figure, its eyes growing dark and stoic as it glared its anger at the figure, bristling as the figure stepped closer. Continuing to stare silently at the slowly approaching being, the fox cub climbed up to the sleeping Hiei's shoulders, placing his forelegs on Hiei's shoulders to balance himself as he stood on his back legs, nuzzling his nose against the fire-demon's neck, as Hiei continued to shudder from nightmares in his sleep.

Seeing this, the approaching figure stopped, anger and fear seeming to radiate from its entire structure, though it appeared powerless to express its emotion any other way. Calming down after a few moments the glowing figure continued to glare at the fox cub, betraying no thought or emotion on his countenance. Silence ticked by for a few seconds, with movement from neither the cub nor the figure, both holding their stances, keeping their attentions on the other.

Suddenly, to the right of the fox cub, a vine shot out from the grass aimed for the cub, quick as lightning and as silent. However, seeing the movement out of the corner of his eye, Ku-chan dodged the strike and snarled, rushing toward the glowing figure angrily. This snarl along with the sudden movement of the cub awoke Hiei, putting him on guard even before the surprise wore off—he quickly saw where the fox cub stared at and turned his attention to that direction bracing for an attack.

Before any of the three could make a move, Karai appeared and lunged at the glowing being, chasing him away and then he turned to look at a surprised Hiei.

Unable to think of what to say, the fire-demon turned away, picking up the fox cub and cradling it in his arms, trying to calm down his racing heart.( Oh, he couldn't wait for his heart to turn back into a demon one—he hated feeling the strangeness of a heartbeat, it shocked him the first time he felt his heart pounding wildly, he thought something was terribly wrong until Genkai explained to him how human hearts beat faster after any strenuous activity or when they were worked up emotionally. Hiei figured his being shocked counted as being 'worked up.')

"Are you okay?" Karai asked, breaking the silence, trying to catch the fire-demon's eye, hoping that Hiei wouldn't yell at him to go away. "Are you both all right?"

"We're fine. I'm just trying to stop this stupid human heart from racing, but your annoying questioning riles it back up." Hiei seethed silencing the concerned Karai who remained still until Hiei looked at him. "What are you waiting around for? A thank you?"

"No, just making sure whatever attacked you doesn't return." Karai lied coolly—he hadn't necessarily hoped for a thank you, all he wanted was for Hiei to forgive him for his stupidity, but he guessed a miracle took more than one day to work.

"Hn. I can take care of myself; I have my Dragon of the Darkness Flame technique restored."

"Hm, do you know how much stress using an attack like that would put on your human heart? A human's heart is basically their lifeline, as soon as the heart goes the human goes."

"I'm not human."

"But you still have human organs; that makes you susceptible to the same limitations. I overheard Genkai yelling at you the other day for using your demonic speed with that body of yours—you almost killed yourself from hypertension, from what I overheard."

"Hn. Go away." Hiei replied, turning red from anger and embarrassment from having his demon abilities, but being unable to use them, turning even redder after realizing how easily his skin did so. 'Why is blushing for humans so hard to control! Hiei seethed in his mind, finding even more things wrong with having the faults of a human body.

"Besides, all anyone needs to do to sneak up on you is to lower their energy to near the bare minimum—your Jagan hasn't returned so…."

"Just shut the fuck up and go away!" Hiei yelled, his heart racing again from anger and frustration at being unable to do more to get Karai away from him. The fire-demon was having enough trouble dealing with his limitations, and struggling against the temptation to use his powers even though they'd be fatal in his current form, without having that idiot Karai rubbing it in.

Though, of course Karai only made a deal about it to protect him, unlike that complete idiot Kuwabara—that stupid human got on Hiei's nerves the last time he saw him by noticing and bringing up every single weakness the fire-demon had, thinking it amusing to do so (Yusuke and Genkai then tried explaining to Hiei that Kuwabara meant what he said only as a jest—but Hiei refused to see anything funny about what Kuwabara did—it was all idiotic and cruel. He especially wouldn't forget the time when Kuwabara slipped and made an ill timed joke about Kurama and the fire-demon liking each other—nor would he forgive, as soon as he regained his human body fully Hiei was going to kill Kuwabara.) Narrowing his eyes, Hiei flinched in surprise noticing that Karai was still standing there, staring at him curious, but patient.

"What are you still doing here?"

"I'm going to stay with you until you get to Genkai's, even if you don't get attacked again, you might make yourself sick from lack of sleep—these ten minutes naps of yours are just not healthy for your human organs."

"Five. They're five minute naps." Hiei corrected, smirking at Karai's surprised reaction from his smartass remark, holding back a yawn and trying to keep his eyes open, to no avail.

With Hiei asleep Karai was able to carry him to Genkai's and place him on a futon in an empty bedroom in the silent house, keeping the fox cub in his arms even though it struggled to get to the sleeping fire-demon.

"No, Ku-chan, Hiei desperately needs rest, and any movement from you might wake him up." Karai cooed, sitting down on the porch of the temple, holding the struggling fox cub in his arms. After a few silent minutes enduring the bites and struggles of Ku-chan, Karai growled at the fox cub. "What's wrong with you? I'm here to protect Hiei, so why the fuss?" wincing with sudden pain from the fox cub biting his side, Karai let go of the cub who ran inside the temple just as Koenma and Genkai showed up.

"What are you doing here, Karai?" Koenma asked puzzled that the demon would keep returning to where he was unwanted.

"Something attempted to attack Hiei in the forest—I stopped it and brought the fire-demon back here to rest." Karai replied, still wincing from the throbbing on his side. "In case you haven't realized it, Hiei hasn't been sleeping well, and I thought I'd entertain Ku-chan a while so Hiei could get an uninterrupted rest. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"…."