Somewhere on Autumn Woods Drive

By Rikku Minouke

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Some people would buy a Mustang, a house, or a pay for a maid with millions of dollars. I'd buy the rights to YYH. But sadly I don't have moneys to do that. Probably never will.

AN: I don't have writers block, I'm just not sure how I want to go about the next few chapters. Sorry if I don't update the next stuff every day. I'm just taking a bit longer to process what is going to happen. Plus work has kept me annoyingly busy.

Chapter forty two

Sometimes I look back at our younger days and am amazed at everything we went through as a group. Part of me says 'Geeze, I really hope my child never has to go through the things I did.' While a part of me says 'I want my child to be wise enough to understand what it's like to be there though.'

"Botan, why am I here?"

"I haven't seen you a while and thought we should catch up." I gave my best sincere smile, but caught my fingers fidgeting and knew that he didn't miss it.

"Stop lying to me. Tell me before I just get up and leave," his voice was low and I could tell this wasn't an empty threat.

"Please don't leave!" I almost reached out for his hand, but I knew that would only piss him off. "I'm curious about some things and I figured you would have the answers I'm looking for."

"Why not ask one of your female friends?" he rolled his eyes but stayed seated. "I don't know anything about pregnancy."

I forced myself not to laugh. "It's about Kurama."

He grunted but didn't say anything. Folding his arms over his chest, I watched him lean back into the padded back of our booth. Pressing his lips together, he leveled me with a serious gaze. The red in his eyes darkening and I knew that he was raising his guard a bit.

"Hiei," I said, biting my lip momentarily. "You've known Kurama since before he moved here, right?"

"Yes," he nodded. "We went to college in Duluth together." I shouldn't have expected him to give me detailed answers.

"Why did Kurama pick Carver County to move to?" I asked wrapping my hands around the cool glass in front of me. Feeling the moisture from the sides of the cup seemed to distract me and calm my nerves.

"Are you seriously trying to get a peek into Kurama's past through his best friend?" Hiei raised one eyebrow. How does he do that? Just one eyebrow? Did he practice that or something…

I took a slow deep breath trying to find the perfect words. "Kurama doesn't like to talk about his past, ever."

"So you go around him to get your answers?"

"Maybe?" the smile I gave him felt like it was unintentionally apologetic.

"You know, this is pathetic, right?" he huffed slightly.

"I know," my words floated on a sigh as I gazed at the ice chunks in my water. "But for some reason, I can't seem to stop thinking about it."

"She's not in the picture anymore," Hiei told me. "He sees her at the grocery store and completely ignores her. She sees him at the post office and drives right on by. It's almost like they were never together."

"But she's still in town?" I asked and could feel my pulse quicken. My eyes raised to look at him only to see the tail end of an eye roll.

"Yes," he nodded. "But she works here. I wouldn't expect her to leave town because of a guy."

"That's what I did," I said softly. "I left St Cloud because of a guy."

"No," Hiei shook his head and leveled me with a serious stare. "You left Cloud because of a boy who was trying to see how far he could throw his new toy. There's a difference there. I'm just not sure you can see it."

I didn't know what to say in response so I didn't respond.

"If you insist on comparing your relationships, than it would be like your ex leaving town instead of you," Hiei explained. "She was the one with the issues and Kurama was the one who was taken advantage of. However the two situations are very different and shouldn't be compared in the way your puny brain is doing."

"How do you know I'm comparing them?" I tried ignoring his last comment.

"Because it's written all over your face," Hiei scoffed. "You make it so obvious. This baby has made you easier to read than before you left for college."

"Why did you come back here, Hiei, after college?" I asked. "You didn't have the best time in the town growing up?" He was silent for a moment and I took in his stiffened posture. "Was it your sister? You knew Kuwabara would look after her."

"As dumb as he is, yes," Hiei shut his eyes and made a face as if he couldn't believe what he was saying. "I knew the idiot would look after her. And I knew the old woman that the foster home gave her to was much better than the last. But after the previous man that had taken us in…"

"You mean the Tarukane family?" I nodded as I watched the anger flash through his eyes.

"I should have killed that man," he shook his head in anger. "I can't believe the foster system let him have us." I remember when they took Hiei away in a squad car, leaving Yukina on the curb watching. Keiko, Kuwabara, Yusuke, and myself were there within minutes of each other trying to comfort the poor girl. Her clothes had been dirty and torn. Tears had still been pouring down her face, glistening blues and reds from the flashing police lights. It was a while after that before Hiei had been allowed to return to town. He'd been sent to juvie for a while until they deemed it self-defense. By that time, she'd been put in a new home and Hiei was sent back into the local foster care.

"Your situation is partially why I'd never give my child up for adoption," I admitted to him. "I feel like the system is so flawed. And I couldn't bare it if my child were to go through something like that."

"It's not all as bad as that one," he told me.

"Wait a moment, is Hiei saying something positive?" I laughed as he narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, please continue."

"I'm happy that Yukina ended up with that old woman," Hiei loosened up a bit now that we'd moved passed the bad home.

"Genkia has been great to her," I smiled at him reassuringly. "But you knew that and yet you still came back. Yukina doesn't need her big brother to always protect her."

"Old habits are hard to break," he shrugged.

"Believe me, I know that very well," I gave a soft smile. "I'm glad you decided to come back."

"This is getting too sentimental for my taste," the look on his face made me laugh.

"But I have so many questions still," I protested as he scooted from the booth.

"Ask Keiko," he said. "Or better yet. Grow some balls and ask Kurama, like you should be. Stop bugging me about this shit."

Letting my face fall into a pout, I watched him turn and leave.

"Good talk Hiei," I sighed but deep down I knew that this was actually one of our better days. Progress. I'll take this as a win.