AAAAND We're back! I'm SOSOSOSO sorry that I have disappeared for so long, but I recently started a new job as a full time teacher at a Christian academy and I have been working non stop 10 hour days.

I've been more than a little exhausted and I'm sorry I took so long. However, I hope you enjoy this latest installment!

So last time we saw little Hiei, he was playing with Yukina and excited about his new presents. So let's get back to it.

Yusuke and the other two young men threw their heads back in happy chuckles as they dropped the bags and prepared to sift through them "Here little man," Kuwabara smiled "we got you some pretty cool clothes."

"Oh," Hiei's face fell as he tried to look content "clothes…they're…nice."

Yusuke snorted, smothering his laughter with one hand "Told you it was dumb to start with the clothes, with kids you always start with the fun stuff first."

"Fun stuff?" Hiei's eyes brightened once again as he looked around hopefully.

"Check this out," Yusuke grinned "we got you a bunch of toys!"

"TOYS!" Hiei squealed as he dove into the bag the detective had been trying to hide behind his back "Lemme see!"

A toy sword was pulled out of the bag alongside a bright red plastic ball, and numerous water guns. Each item was met with ecstatic shrieks of glee as even more items were dug out, crayons and coloring books, little swordsman figurines as well as several puzzles even a nerf baseball bat accompanied by balls and a hat. Within minutes the child was hugging every single person his face alight with a beautiful grin.

"Thank you!"

Yusuke and the boys sat on the floor, their eyes wide in shock at the sudden uncharacteristic affection as the boy embraced them "Y-You're welcome," the detective stammered as he hugged the child in return "I mean it's not much…"

"I've never had toys before," Hiei replied the smile never leaving his face.

"Well, every single one of these are yours to keep," Kurama said tenderly as he ruffled the spiky black head "we're happy you enjoy them."

"Can I play with them now?" the small jaganshi asked eagerly.

"Of course you may," even Genkai's usual smirk was softer and her gaze gentle as she spoke to the child "the grown-ups are going to put the groceries away while you play."

"OK!"

With bright airy laughter filling the house, from a source that just a couple days ago no one would have guessed, the group trudged into the kitchen to begin the tedious chore of putting away their acquired merchandise. Considering Yusuke as well as Hiei had been living in the shrine along with Genkai and Yukina, the young man was already adept at dancing around the elderly shrine maiden as he focused on the items that required a higher home, and she in turn put away the things closer to the ground. Kurama and Kuwabara assisted with various oddball items but they watched the two go through their routine with amused smiles, both listening to the giggles filtering through the kitchen door.

"Hey," Yusuke suddenly broke the comforting silence "where's Botan?"

"OH!" Yukina suddenly gasped "Botan had to leave! She said there had been an explosion in Spirit World!"

The kitchen came to a screeching halt as all eyes turned to the ice maiden "What kind of explosion?" Kurama demanded his voice low but deadly serious.

"I don't know," Yukina shook her head "all I do know is that she was forced to leave in quite a hurry, and she seemed rather frantic."

The fox nodded as Genkai released a sigh "I'm sure we'll find out what all the fuss is about when she returns, hopefully it is just another foolish problem caused by the ogres and their ridiculous filing system."

Kuwabara nodded, the only reply given was a muttered "You and me both,"

In the living room where Hiei currently lay on the floor coloring in a Power Rangers coloring book, the ferry girl herself rushed in, her features wreathed in concern before pausing to gaze at the tiny Jaganshi "Hiei," she gushed a smile at the adorable scene replacing her earlier frown "what are you up to?"

"Yusuke and everybody got me toys," Hiei replied simply glancing up at the blue haired girl to give her a sweet smile "I'm coloring right now, though."

"I see," the grim reaper stepped closer to the child her lavender eyes peeking at his work of art "well it looks wonderful," she said finally with a nod "you're a very talented artist."

Hiei blushed as he turned back to his picture "I don't know who these guys are," he shrugged "but they look really cool."

Botan nodded before she perked up with an idea "How about I look into asking Genkai to get some of the show for you?"

"Show?" The little demon paused again wide ruby eyes assessing the girl "what is a show?"

The ferry girl busted up laughing forgetting that Hiei probably had a very sheltered raising away from popular media, much less TV, and felt a distinct thrill run down her spine that they would be able to corrupt Hiei with something he would probably sneer at when older "I'll take that as a yes."

Hiei merely gave a confused blink before turning back to coloring his picture and Botan chose that moment to walk out of the room into the kitchen "I'm back Yukina!"

The ice maiden whirled around at the other female's voice, her red eyes brightening with joy "Botan!" She exclaimed "I was so worried!"

"You and me both," the ferry girl huffed "and unfortunately I have bad news."

Yusuke stopped, his head falling back as a petulant whine slipped between pouting lips "No," he moaned "no more bad news, I don't want bad news, I want good news!"

Botan smiled weakly in his direction, wishing for all she was worth that she could console the young man by playing it off as a joke but could only sigh "I'm sorry Yusuke,"

The former detective heaved a long breath before straightening up and gave a bittersweet smile to his longtime friend "Go ahead Botan, don't mind me."

"Ok," the ferry girl nodded "I'm sure Yukina told you that I had been called away due to an explosion in the filing room."

"Yes," Kurama nodded "we had hoped that it was yet another case of the ogres filing system backfiring."

"That was what I thought too," Botan shrugged "but it turned out to be wrong and much worse than what we initially thought."

"What was it?" Kuwabara practically whispered.

"The explosion was nothing more than a distraction," the bluenette murmured softly "we went through the files and found that during the hysteria caused by the explosion, whoever had set the charge had enough time to escape with four files."

"They stole spirit world documents?!" Genkai snapped.

"Yes," Botan nodded.

Genkai shook her head, disgust written on her face "How idiotic can you get, tell me, does the Spirit World delight in having its security defeated?"

"Genkai please," Kurama raised his hand soothingly before turning back to Botan "what files were stolen?"

The ferry girl paused, taking a steadying breath effectively raising the tension in the room before answering "The files on you guys. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei's files…they're gone."

Hiei paused from his masterpiece, leaning back so he could take a good look at it with one eye squinted shut and his tongue poking out. He just couldn't decide what hue to color the giant mechanical T-Rex and he wanted it to be perfect.

Turning the book over to gaze on the cover, Hiei studied the figures with a critical eye, noting that the leader was all in red (a color he thoroughly approved). With a happy shrug, the boy once again picked up his crayons and finished the paper by making the mecha monster a bright steam engine red, hoping that his choice of color would be appropriate. After the last stroke and a bright grin, the little boy signed his name.

Carefully ripping the page out, Hiei jumped up and ran to the Kitchen, his features eager as he held the paper between little fists "Yusuke!"

The group of grown-ups looked up, and suddenly the atmosphere shifted making the small Jaganshi inexplicably nervous. The looks on their faces were grim, and worry danced in the corners of their eyes, Hiei shuffled nervously over to his chosen protector his red gaze bouncing from person to person as a pout full of fearful anxiety poked his bottom lip out.

Yusuke stooped down to Hiei's level and gave the little one an inquisitive look "Hey, are you ok?"

Hiei blushed at the sudden attention and hid his face behind the coloring book page while shaking his head.

The detective felt supreme amusement bubble up in his chest at the endearing picture but refrained from laughing so not to scare their skittish friend away "What's wrong?"

A shrug was his only answer, and Yusuke almost lost his composure when the shrine maiden gave a small cough meant to hide her own mirth from the boy.

Scooping the kid up into his arms, Yusuke stood up and snuggled him close, careful not to wrinkle the page he held onto so dearly "Come on," the teen growled playfully, his fingertips giving tickling prods to Hiei's ribs and were delighted to watch him squirm in what was an obvious sign of being ticklish "you can tell me what's wrong."

Hiei stifled a giggle at the questing fingers before finally lowering the page "Am I in trouble?" he asked simply.

"What?!" Botan burst out in indignant shock "No! What could possibly make you think that?"

"You all looked like you were mad," Hiei mumbled fidgeting with his paper as ruby eyes cast down to the floor.

"We're not mad at you," Kuwabara huffed before cracking what he hoped was a soothing grin "you don't have to worry about that, now why don't you tell what it is you've got?"

Hiei returned the grin with a tentative smile of his own before whirling around to face Yusuke "I made this for you," he answered proudly handing over the product of his labors.

The Spirit Detective took the paper and scanned it, mildly impressed at the child's artistic skill at such a young age "Wow Hiei," he said with a low whistle "this is really good, I bet if we taught you how to draw you would be amazing."

"Really?" Red eyes went wide even as chubby cheeks flushed a happy pink at the praise.

"Oh yes," Botan nodded vigorously "I think I'll even help you get started by getting you your own art set."

"For now though," Kurama cut in gently taking the paper from Yusuke's grasp and walking it over to the refrigerator "we'll hang it up here so everyone can see it."

Hiei giggled as he wiggled happily in Yusuke's arms, his spiky black head falling to lay on the teen's shoulder "Okay,"

"Come on Short stuff, I think it's time we introduce you to the Power Rangers," Yusuke declared walking out of the kitchen and towards the living room.

"This is bound to be interesting," Kurama murmured a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"You're telling me," Kuwabara snickered "and I'm not missing Yusuke corrupting Hiei with Saturday morning cartoons, no matter how much you pay me."

With that said, Kuwabara made his way following after his friends, eagerness urging his steps faster and happiness to be spoiling their currently transformed Jaganshi making his feet lighter. Kurama watched with his usual soft smile, his thoughts racing one hundred miles per hour as he processed the past few days.

The rogue exorcist stalking them like prey, Hiei getting injured and turned into a child and following this an explosion at the spirit world headquarters where four distinctive files go missing. The way the dots were lining up, Kurama could not deny that he felt that each circumstance were far too suspicious to be considered coincidence.

The exorcist did not finish them off that night despite their teammate's vulnerable position, and then surely he must have felt the surge of power that took place just to heal the Jaganshi and turn him into a child. What with the missing files and the strange absence of their new resident foe, Kurama couldn't help but feel his heart give a small flip of fear. There was something more happening beneath the surface, and the fox knew that they would need to be ready. Not only for their sakes, but to protect Hiei as well.

The thought of the Jaganshi turned five-year-old brought Kurama back to startling clarity, and the fox shook his head to clear it of the depressing cobwebs he had been stringing up with his suspicions "What am I doing," he muttered incredulously "Yusuke is about to introduce Hiei to popular television and I'm standing here worrying by myself. I must be getting old."

With a yell to his friends to wait until he arrived, Kurama bounded after the group noting that the elderly shrine maiden and ferry girl were already gone, and hurriedly sat himself down just as the electric guitars began the iconic opening theme.

"I may not have all the answers," Kurama thought to himself as he watched Hiei's reaction to the show with smiling green eyes "and I may even have more worries than comforts, but at the very least I will take whatever moment I can to enjoy giving Hiei a childhood worth remembering."