Here we go with Chapter 2! Hope ya'll enjoy!

Once again, I don't own anything.

"GENKAI!" Yusuke screamed as he burst through the front door of the temple.

The old woman looked up irritably at her wayward student and let out a huff of annoyance "Shut up dimwit, you don't have to yell. I already know that Hiei was hurt, and Botan is preparing to take care of his injuries, so sit down and stop freaking out."

Yusuke grit his teeth, one fist rising as he fought the urge to punch the old woman, but held himself back from doing so "Where's Botan?" he finally snarled.

"In Hiei's room down the hall," Genkai replied calmly sipping her tea "take half pint there."

Kuwabara, already having entered the temple and heard Genkai's answer, merely nodded and quickly walked their injured friend to the room he sometimes used when he stayed at the shrine. The former detective felt his heart clench as he watched a blood trail follow the lumbering teen, and lowered his fist, the scowl quickly replaced by a wince of concern. His Adams apple bobbed up and down as he gave a heavy swallow, and then turned to his teacher.

"I'm…" the dark haired teen spoke softly in a hoarse voice "gonna go check on Hiei."

Genkai nodded, standing up so that she could go assist with patching the fire demon as well, but was stopped by a certain green eyed red head "Yes Kurama?"

"Genkai," Kurama began his emerald orbs serious "what hurt Hiei tonight, was an exorcist."

The old woman sighed and nodded "I recognized the arrow as the idiot walked by, extracting it will not be easy."

Kurama opened his mouth, and then paused; wringing his delicate hands in front of him in an uncharacteristic gesture of helplessness "Few demons survive the extraction of an exorcist's weapon." He finally muttered in a fearful whisper.

Genkai's features softened at the amount of terror infecting the group, and softly placed her hand on top of Kurama's, causing the teen to look up with slightly wet eyes "I know," the woman replied gently "but you can bet that we are going to do everything we can to ensure Hiei does."

Kurama nodded, one hand quickly swiping at his eyes as he regained his composure and started towards the room where Hiei was, Genkai followed knowing full well that saving Hiei's life would be much easier said than done.

"Oh Genkai, I'm so glad you're here," Botan gasped as the duo entered the room "we need to get the arrow out of Hiei immediately, he's developed a high fever, and he's barely able to breathe!"

"Calm down," Genkai scolded as she took a seat beside the bleeding fire demon.

With tender hands, the teacher took a pair of scissors and cut Hiei's shirt away from his body, and probed the injury. A small whine of pain slipped from the unconscious Jaganshi, his body curling away from Genkai, and hazy ruby red eyes fluttered open. "…H-Hurts…" he murmured.

"I know buddy," Yusuke said, a callused hand reaching down to grip one of Hiei's "we're going to get that thing out of you."

Botan reached forward, fingertips trailing Hiei's face only to recoil back at the heat "Genkai, we need to do this now, his fever is increasing by the minute!"

"W-wait," Kuwabara stammered, his face taut with the fear he was sensing from the group "I don't understand, I mean, it's just an arrow. We've seen Hiei take worse damage than this, and he just walked it off like it was nothing, why is everyone freaking out?"

"Because Kuwabara," Kurama spoke softly one hand gripping the carrot top's shoulder "an exorcist's weapon is so much more devastating than any normal attack we have come across. Just being cut by one would render even the strongest demon helpless for days, making them violently ill, and Hiei was hit by an exorcist's arrow. His continued exposure to the energies within the arrow, not to mention the materials used to create the thing, will make it difficult for him to survive the extraction…much less recovery."

The carrot top bit his bottom lip, his heart clenched with fear "Is…Is Hiei going to die?"

Kurama cast sorrowful green eyes to the floor, unable to look at his friend while speaking the dreaded words "There is a strong possibility…that he will not survive."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Yusuke growled from the side his hand still gripping Hiei's "The only way to save him is to get it out of him, right? So let's stop the yakking and get with the healing."

Genkai smirked before turning back to the rest of the group "Come on, you heard the man, let's get this over with."

Kurama nodded, before growing a stout branch and placing it between Hiei's teeth "Bite down on this if the pain become too much," he said firmly "I can't give you any anesthetic, so you'll just have to bare the pain."

Hiei merely nodded, casting red eyes up to the ceiling. His body felt so hot, so unbearably hot, he was tired and his side throbbed painfully "Just get the arrow out," he gasped around the piece of wood.

"Right," Genkai reached down and grabbed the arrow her eyes narrow and serious as she turned to the three boys "Kurama, you and Yusuke hold Hiei's arms, and Kuwabara you brace his legs, this is going to get messy."

The boys nodded, but Botan cast a concerned look at Genkai "But…" she murmured "Getting the arrow out won't be enough, the more demon energy he use then the more violent the poison will be. The poison is designed to destroy high levels of demon energy, which is why the stronger the demon is, the more vulnerable they are to attack against an exorcist. Hiei is strong, and has an enormous amount of demon energy at his disposal, how will he survive recovery?"

"Because I have a plan," Genkai smirked "there is a way to help him survive the poison, though I admit it's a tad radical."

"What do you mean radical?" Yusuke queried.

"Enough yap!" the older woman snapped "Let's get Hiei taken care of, and then you'll see what I mean!"

The boys positioned themselves, each guarding a limb; as Genkai reached down to grasp the arrow. With a deep breath, the teacher slowly exhaled before giving a violent yank. Hiei's back arched as he released an agonized shriek, his eyes clenched shut as his chest heaved for air. Botan reached down, her hands covering the wound as blood poured through her fingers and onto the floor, and she grit her teeth as she focused her energies into knitting the hole. Kuwabara shut his eyes against the fire Jaganshi's agonized cries, and held onto the thrashing legs, hoping that it would be over soon. Kurama and Yusuke did not fare much better, both were struggling to hold each arm, each grieving for their friend as they watched with sorrowful eyes the hot tears well up in the corners of Hiei's vision.

Botan bit her lip, pouring all her energy into healing Hiei's wound, until finally the blood stopped gushing, and Hiei's writhing ceased. The fire demon lay gasping on the floor, choked sobs stifled by a clenched throat and the piece of wood between his teeth. His arms and legs trembled feebly, and the small demon felt dizzy as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Now!" Genkai rasped as she began to chant.

Botan assisted, running around Hiei placing various talismans around him, her lavender eyes narrow with concentrated determination to see her friend survive this ordeal "All's ready to go."

Energy gathered around Genkai like a miniature tornado, until the woman shouted the last incantation, causing the power to explode around her and envelop the barely conscious fire apparition. Hiei's body slowly began to float up into the air, his skin glowing a phosphorescent blue, until his frame became steadily smaller. It shrunk while the group watched in shock, their eyes growing ever wider as the show came to an end, and Hiei floated back down to the floor. In the place of the fire demon, was a small child of five, spiky black hair topped a pale face framing large ruby eyes.

Sitting up, the boy rubbed his eyes, and focused his fevered gaze on the people surrounding him "So," the child began "the bandits sold me as a slave again."

Yusuke felt his brain reel in shock. This was Genkai's plan?! Kuwabara also sat in confused shock, his jaw hanging agape at the transformation that had taken place in the warrior. Kurama was the first to recover however, as he quickly gathered his wits enough to pose an answer.

"No," he smiled gently, fishing for an explanation "you are not our slave Hiei, we have taken you in as…our younger…brother."

"Heh," the five year old scoffed "so I'm to believe that you rescued me out of the goodness of your heart human?"

"You don't have to believe it," Yusuke shrugged reaching forward to ruffle Hiei's head "but that doesn't make it any less true."

Confused ruby eyes assessed Yusuke, before his attention was drawn away from the strange human and towards Botan as she felt his forehead to check his temperature "He still feels feverish."

"Don't touch me!" the child cried out, his eyes wide with fear and hurt.

Hiei gazed on the woman, his five year old brain reeling as her blue hair caused painful memories to spring up in his heart "Leave me alone!" he shouted scrambling behind Yusuke as his breath began to come in short the gasps of hyperventilation.

"Hey," Botan said soothingly as she knelt in front of him and reached out a slim hand "I'm not going to hurt you."

Hiei slapped her hand away, running towards the door, his fever making his steps unsteady as he swayed from a dizzy spell "NO!"

The small boy tripped, falling onto the floor, just as the door slid open revealing an ice maiden "I heard shouting and screaming," Yukina quavered "is everything alright?"

Hiei's chest heaved as he processed the girl standing before him, before suddenly running over to hide behind Kuwabara and bursting into uncontrollable screaming sobs "NO! NOnononono! Leave me ALONE! I don't wanna go! Keep her away!"

"Whoa," Kuwabara wrapped his arms around the crying child and holding him close "it's ok little guy."

Yusuke looked at Kurama, giving him a questioning glance over why Hiei was acting that way, and the fox merely shrugged in response while the carrot top stood up and carried the boy over to Yukina "See," Kuwabara said one hand softly stroking Hiei's head "she isn't scary."

Hiei shook his head biting Kuwabara's hand making the teen drop him with a yelp "No, I don't wanna go with her, leave me ALONE!"

"Hiei, it's ok," Botan said walking towards the boy, which resulted in him going even further into hysterics.

Finally Yusuke ran over, scooping Hiei up into his arms just as the group was converging on the child "Will all of you just leave the kid alone?!" he yelled "Just in case you forgot, Hiei's sick, and now he's freaking out, and all of you ganging up on him isn't helping him any!"

Kurama smiled gently at the blatant paternal instincts in Yusuke, while the others backed away. Yusuke huffed in irritation, holding Hiei close to his chest "I'm going to take little guy with me, and he'll stay in my room tonight, if I need anything or if his fever gets worse I'll call for Genkai but until then no one bug him, ok?"

Silent nods were his reply, and Yusuke left the room with his precious armful "Don't worry little man," the former detective smiled at his young charge "like Kurama said, I'm your big brother, and I won't let anything hurt you."

"Are…" Hiei paused, unsure of whether to continue.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked turning a corner down the hall and heading to his room.

"Are you," the boy asked softly "are you a daddy?"

Yusuke stopped, his eyes bugged out before bursting into laughter "What, me? No! Why would you ask that?"

"It's just," the little fire baby looked down before cuddling into Yusuke's chest and whispering "I think you would be a good one."

Finishing the walk to his room, Yusuke squeezed the child in a tender hug "Thanks Hiei."

Everybody go "AWWW"

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