AN: Re-writing has been going well, but please let me know if you notice mistakes or inconsistencies. Hope you enjoy the story!

Sagaku had trouble falling asleep that night. She was used to living here now, so it wasn't the alien sounds of night that kept her up, like the settling of the house. And it oftentimes seemed too cold with only four of them in the bed instead of their whole family, so it couldn't be that either. Maybe it was the weird dreams she'd had the night before. When she woke up, she was desperately missing...something. She wasn't exactly sure what that was.

Her tossing and turning woke Ririshii, who needed to be soothed back to sleep with rubs along her hair and soft, meaningless whispers. By the time Ririshii snored softly again, Sagaku was even colder than before. Her toes were nearly numb. She snuck quietly out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen. It was by far her favorite room - there was always something new so she never got tired of poking and prodding at things. She didn't dare turn the lights on, lest she wake anyone else up, but she managed to get there without knocking into any walls.

"What are you doing in here?" a quiet voice asked her. Sagaku turned, startled, to see Hiei's silhouette at the window. He sat with one leg dangling down, his face turned to the glass panes.

"I couldn't sleep," Sagaku told him. She inched a little bit closer, hoping he wouldn't notice. Although he normally didn't put up with her company, she hated being in rooms alone. She was glad for company, even Hiei's.

Hiei caught the gist of her thoughts and threw up his mental shields. He didn't need any insight into the breeder, and she broadcast her thoughts so loudly she might as well be talking out loud. She snuck forward another few inches, craving something she could only get from another's presence. Hiei growled under his breath, trying to stop his muscles from tensing. She was only a few inches from him now.

"Come." He stood abruptly, forcing her to step back. "I'll show you how to climb a tree."

At least it would keep her busy, and keep her hands off him. He was sure that her next step would have been to try to cling to him, the way the breeders always clung to any body that stood still long enough. Their grasping at the nearest living things almost constantly was disconcerting, at best. He certainly didn't want her hands wrapped around his arm.

Outside, the air was chilly and crisp. Sagaku was too excited to mind the temperature now. It was daunting, to think of trying to climb a tree alone, and she'd really wanted to know how. Cold dew chilled her bare feet as they pressed grass blades down. Hiei still had his boots on and didn't seem to notice, so she ignored it as well. He wouldn't be cold in this weather, anyway, she realized-not with a temperature that ran so high she could feel it from half a foot away.

Hiei paused beneath the branches of a suitably tall tree. Under normal circumstances, he would just race to the top of the tree using his own momentum. Instead, he turned to glance at Sagaku, trying to judge how best to get her into the tree (and away from him).

"Here," he grunted finally. "Grab onto this branch." His hand closed onto the branch in demonstration, and he pulled himself up fluidly until his feet could find purchase. Sagaku watched him stand on the branch, his face hidden in shadows from the canopy.

The branch was just low enough that Sagaku could get her hands on it without jumping. She struggled to pull herself up the same way Hiei had, not realizing at first that she lacked the upper body strength. She finally figured it out, and lifted herself just enough to swing her legs back and forth once, just enough momentum to swing herself onto the branch. It was not nearly as graceful as Hiei's ascent had been. She studied him as he reached for the next branch, watched the exposed skin on his forearms pull tight against his muscle as he lifted himself once again. This time she had the swing of it, and once again used her legs to propel herself up.

When Hiei would have reached up to demonstrate again, she was already ahead of him. It was a surprise, that she would be so eager and able, but he allowed that it seemed in character for the girl.

"I did it!" Sagaku squealed some time later. She smiled up at Hiei who had passed her a while ago. Now, she hugged the trunk of the tree, lifting her face to the naked sky with closed eyes to feel the wind. Hiei, slightly above her, looked at the sky. Sagaku watched him, and then turned her eyes. Her gasp drew his attention down. "They're so pretty!" she said. "Those don't look like the stars back home. And the moon is so...bright. It's like a second sun." She sighed contently, wrapping her arms tighter around the trunk of the tree.

They stayed up there in silence. It wasn't long by Hiei's estimation, but after the girl yawned the third time, she admitted defeat.

"You can stay out here," she mumbled through her next yawn when Hiei made a move to clamber down with her. "I think I have the hang of it."

It wasn't just pride speaking-she did have the hang of it. She swung herself down the branches as easily as she had swung herself up the last few. And then, with a shiver that could have been content excitement or chill, she headed back to the house. She would have made made it in, too, if she hadn't been tackled.

"You're the smell," someone hissed excitedly into her ear. Blue hair hung in front of her eyes, though half her face was pressed into the grass. She opened her mouth, hoping to scream or call for help-a wheeze escaped instead. The air was pressed from her body, the heavy weight of the stranger pressed along her entire length. He leaned down, his long hair falling over her again, and breathed in deeply. When she tried to press herself up, he jerked her arms back.

"Let go of the onna," a voice commanded the demon sharply. The blue-haired man looked up, helped along by the sharp point of a katana. Sagaku renewed her struggled, trying to look up to see past Hiei's boots and the curtain of hair. The demon on her back thrust her down into the ground again.

"But her smell," he whined, sounding confused. "I can't let her go." Hiei's red eyes flashed dangerously, his katana sliding against the flesh of the demon; the demon yelped, but didn't relinquish his grip. Sagaku growled, deep in her throat, and then jerked her head around so fast she strained her neck. One of his hands was on her shoulder. She bit it, as hard as she could, crushing bone beneath her teeth.

The demon yelped, hitting at Sagaku's face to break her grip. Before Hiei could react, the demon jerked up, Sagaku still pressed against him, and bounded twice to reach the trees. Hiei dashed forward, his katana ahead of him, but was thwarted by the onna who was squirming and kicking desperately. Blood stained the side of her face-the demon's blood, mostly.

"Hiei?" Kurama called from the house. There was stirring behind Hiei, the sounds of others waking up on the other side of the walls, and Kurama opening the door. Kurama paused there, wary and sly as was his wont. You've got this? Kurama targeted his thought, sending it to Hiei.

You'd just be in the way, Hiei thought back, grimly. He let his weight shift to the side, feinting towards the left. The demon jerked Sagaku that way, desperately. Sagaku twisted in his grip as his hand fell closer to her waist, smacking and scratching at his face with all the rage of a cornered kitten.

Now, with two male demons facing him down, and the girl putting up more of a fight he could handle without back-up, the demon snarled angrily. "Bitch!" he growled, trying to wipe the blood from his face while keeping his grip. Hiei didn't need any more of an invitation than that-for a brief second, the demon's core was exposed. He slid forward, faster than lightning, and stabbed clean through the chest cavity. The demon gasped. Blood bubbled from his mouth. When he coughed, the bloody bubbles splattered Sagaku. She winced and tried to pull away again. The grip around her did not falter, even as the blue-haired demon sank slowly down to the ground, pulling her with him.

He died quietly, after that, no breath left to expel. Hiei jerked his katana free. Sagaku visibly winced as more gore slid along her body. She finally freed herself from the dead grip, spinning backwards to face the demon. Her feet slid in blood as she stumbled back, bumping into Hiei. He pushed her roughly towards the house.

"Get inside, onna," he growled at her. She acquiesced, scuttling towards the red-haired kitsune who pulled her into his arms, checking for injury.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked from behind Kurama.

Hiei scanned the area, tense for more trouble. There didn't seem to be any. With one last look around, he entered the house and closed the door behind him. Kurama locked it. The house was as secure as it could be right now.

"I'm fine," Sagaku murmured into Kurama's shirt. She buried herself deeper under his arm, hiding her face from the lot of them.

"How did he get you outside?" Kuwabara asked. He stood in the hall, outside the girls' bedroom, clearly guarding the younger girls.

"We-" Sagaku peeked out from Kurama's arm and gulped nervously. She glanced at Hiei. "I couldn't sleep. I was already outside-I just wanted fresh air and was walking back to the house when he tackled me. Hiei must have heard."

Why had she lied? Hiei eyed her, wondering why she hid the truth. He didn't contradict her though-Yusuke and Kuwabara would tease him. He wouldn't have lied in an official report. Still, the curiosity drove him to relax his mental barriers. She was afraid, he realized, because her behavior had been entirely improper. It was inexcusable for her to be alone with a male, especially at night. If her father found out, he would never find a suitable mate for her. She would be unburdened onto anyone, a ghastly fate.

"Hn," Hiei grunted. He left them, escaping to the room he'd claimed as his. He didn't want to know that much about the onna, didn't want to know that the prospect of her future scared her more than the attack she'd just survived.

"Thank you, Hiei," Sagaku called after him. She disentangled herself from Kurama. "I should go to my sisters," she said. Then her lips quivered, not quite crying, as she looked at Kurama's shirt. "I got blood on you," she said in her littlest voice. Kurama glanced down.

"It'll wash out," he told her kindly. "Go, sleep. Next time, please get one of us if you want to go outside."

She did manage to fall asleep this time, putting herself nearest the window so she'd be between her sisters and anyone else who dared attack.

Sunlight streaming through the nearest trees and window woke Sagaku, much later than she'd normally get up. Stiffness cramped her body. Out in the main house, she could hear her sisters playing. When she shot up, realizing her sisters weren't in the room with her but she could hear breathing, it was to see Hiei sitting quietly on the window sill. She whirled around, facing the wall and clamping her arms around her body so he couldn't see her. Shock and embarrassment replaced the pain, momentarily.

"Yusuke made a report to Koenma," Hiei told her. "We're not telling your sisters, though."

Sagaku nodded meekly, and wrapped the blanket firmly around her to escape to the bathroom. She spent longer than usual in there, gingerly touching the bruises along her ribs and on her face. She had gotten the occasional scrape and bruise when she was younger, but never to this extent. Had she really gone to bed with the blood dried to her face? Thickened under her nails? Had her sisters really not noticed?

When she returned to the bedroom after showering, Hiei was nowhere to be found. The skirt and shirt she'd worn the night before were on the floor where she'd stripped them off. Both were torn and more than a little dirty. With little choice left, she struggled into the hated jeans. She even considered the bra, with a disgruntled look, but in the end it strained her ribs too much so she let it be. The tank top, at least, was soft and gentle against her skin. If there was a thread and needle in the house, she'd need to confiscate it to repair her more forgiving clothes.

"Saga, you slept late!" Ririshii giggled and bounced to her sister when Sagaku stepped into the kitchen. Her short, chubby arms reached around Sagaku, squeezing her in a hug. Being so short, at least, the arms were inches below Sagaku's injuries.

"Saga?" Sagaku asked curiously.

"Like Sagaku, but shorter! Kuwa taught me how!" Ririshi giggled again, pointing to the giant man. "Kuwa" grinned awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head under Sagaku's gaze.

"She's already shortened everyone's name," Tarento informed Sagaku good-naturedly. "She even started calling Hiei 'He'." The demon in question didn't look particularly thrilled by this, and glared around the room lest anyone else dare use the nickname. "She keeps calling me Taren," Tarento leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "she thinks it's cute."

Sagaku burst into laughter, regretting it immediately when her ribs protested. She masked her pain, though, in favor of drawing her sisters into a hug.

"Well, she can call me Saga if it makes her happy," Sagaku said and pat Ririshii's head. "But what are we calling you, Riri?" Ririshii blushed under her sister's light teasing. The men, however, were not so distracted. Each of them conducted their own survey over Sagaku, watching for any wince or sign of pain.

Their nights having lacked the excitement, dubious though it was, of Sagaku's, the other girls began complaining by early afternoon of being bored. They weren't the only ones.

"I'm going stir-crazy," Yusuke complained loudly. He leaned back in his chair, flopping his feet on to the table. Kurama pushed them off. "All we ever do is sit in this kitchen!"

"Sometimes we sit in the living room," Iwaku said.

"Exactly!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Let's go to a party or something tonight," Kuwabara suggested. "It's Friday." Then he looked down at Ririshii, who blinked up at him with her pink eyes. "On second thought," he said hastily, "that's probably a bad idea."

It was too late, though. "What's a party?" Ririshii asked. Since Kuwabara was standing, she chose instead to climb into Yusuke's lap, making herself comfortable without his say-so.

"It's when friends get togehter," Kurama told the little girl. He got a drink from the fridge, eying Yusuke and Kuwabara with disappointment. He was just as bored as them, and you didn't hear him complaining. Still, it did feel like they were just waiting for trouble to come to them...essentially, it was exactly what they were doing.

"I thought that girlfriends were the ones to 'get together', though." Iwaku scrunched up her face in confusion. Yusuke sputtered.

"You know what," Kuwabara said loudly, "let's just find something else to do!"

If it was an attempt to save Yusuke some face, it probably worked, because now everyone stared at him.

Sagaku miserably thought she was probably the minority right now-she didn't want to go anywhere. Her fingers and toes were so cold she just wanted to curl up under a blanket and hibernate.

"How about those big things we saw the people go to last night! On the TV box!" Iwaku turned excitedly to Tarento. "Remember? Those big places with all those dens-I mean rooms. With the stuff in them!"

"I remember!" Tarento bounced against Sagaku, looking her older sister in the face. "What's it called? A mack?" Sagaku shrugged helplessly. The TV didn't hold her interest-she usually read instead.

"The mall?" Kuwabara sked, screwing up his face while he tried to remember what show they'd watched the night before. Belatedly, he realized he shouldn't have said that, either.

Two hours later, seven of them wandered the mall aimlessly. Hiei had elected to wait outside somewhere, and Sagaku was beginning to think he'd made the wisest decision. It was crowded in the mall, and smelly, and loud, and men were staring at her. A lot of them. Not just the men, either-some girls were giving her nasty looks, purposefully cutting her off or bumping into her.

The mall lost its charm faster than the team could have hoped for. Even the girls had lost their interest after they realized it was nothing like the mall on TV, where everyone had money to waste and there weren't kiosks crowding the floor with people shoving products into your face.

"This isn't fun," Tarento finally declared. She tugged on Kuwabara's hand. "Let's do something else. Please?"

"Yes," Kurama breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's."

Kurama lead them back towards the main entrance, through the food court. Another girl bumped into Sagaku, hitting her with the sharp edge of a paper bag. Sagaku glared, stepping back to allow the sneering girl to pass her.

Someone else stepped into her space. He was a tall man, with short hair. He towered over Sagaku, much like everyone else.

"Come on, princess, why don't you come chill with me?" he invited her. Sagaku looked around blindly, wondering who the princess was. A few steps past the man, Yusuke paused, just noticing they were missing one of their flock.

"Don't play dumb, little doll," the man said and chucked his thumb lightly against Sagaku's chin, ignoring the light bruises that spread across her face. "We should get to know each other, don't you think?"

Sagaku unconsciously leaned into the soft heat spreading from the man's touch. Before either of them could react to her instinctual move, Kuwabara cut the man off, pushing his hand away roughly.

"That's not how you treat a lady!" he exclaimed dramatically, and shepherded Sagaku back with the rest of them. Kurama ushered the rest of them out to the parking lot. Hiei met them at the van, sparing a glance for the human fool who had followed them at a distance. Kuwabara turned to follow his gaze, and upon seeing the fool human, he sputtered and began shouting at him. Hiei renewed his interest in the human. No danger. And yet, Kuwabara did not let up, threatening to teach that human a lesson. Hiei tuned in to the fox's thoughts just in time to hear him wondering why Sagaku was acting so funny. Hiei brushed it off, happy to be back on the way to the safe house. Who knew why the stupid rabbit would act any way?

Before Hiei could escape the confines of the van when it started slowing in the driveway, Yusuke decided that they could still kill an hour or two if they went out for pizza. The van sped past the driveway before Hiei could run for it. A touch on Hiei's hip startled him. His hand flew to his katana's hilt. It wasn't a threat, though-just Ririshii looking up at him with a gap-toothed smile. With no idea what else to do, Hiei ignored her and stared stonily out the window.

Sagaku watched with a frown, hoping Hiei wasn't annoyed by the little girl. After all, they were Hanshoku-it's not like Ririshii meant anything by it. It was just the way they were. With glazed over eyes, she stared over the heads of her sisters in the row in front of her. Sagaku wondered how it would be when they were all reunited.

In the past, Papa had explained to her that she wouldn't be a good breeder. She didn't have the right look. It was true, compared to her sisters. Mazui and Usagi, and even some of her younger sisters, had developed large hips and breasts, signs of being maternal. They also had very soft, very feminine features. Tarento, who shared a mother with Sagaku, had the same dark hair and eyes, but otherwise their similarities were minimal. Sagaku hoped so, anyway-it was no good being a Hanshoku with a flat chest and no hips to write to suitors about. Not that she was boyish, mind you. She could say that with certainty now, having spent time around real men. She was just less curvy than average, an unusual trait for the Hanshoku breeders.

Papa was still going to try for her, of course. Over and over, when the drink was in him, he told her that just because she didn't look like a normal breeder didn't mean that she couldn't be a good one. He just had to find someone willing to overlook her deficiencies. Sagaku shuddered briefly. It was scary, thinking she might be alone for the rest of her life. Scarier still was the thought that she would be sold to someone who would use her only to breed.