Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

Shiori left for work a few hours before Kurama had come home. He went straight to his room to see that his guests had stayed there and hadn't made any trouble. His presence scared the girl, and part of him felt bad for that. He would have to get information out of them eventually because he couldn't just allow strange demons he didn't know into his home with his human mother who couldn't defend herself.

Yukina walked up to him and bowed excusing herself. The tension in the room was just too thick for her. Kurama looked over to the window to see Hiei staring outside of it deep in thought.

"What's your story?" Kurama asked snapping Hiei out of his trance.

Hiei turned to face him and said, "I do not like talking about my past." Then he realized it was a different situation from his past and that in this world, he never met Kurama. He sighed and continued on with the story that led them here. "We are from a race of ice maidens. My mother committed a crime in their eyes and had sexual relations with a man. Yukina and I were born as twins and my mother kept me hidden for many years in fear they would kill me. Today, we were coming to Ningenkai to get away from them and start a life as a real family, but as we were leaving, the village elders saw her and she told us to go on without her. Her friend sent us here and I knew…I mean I heard rumors…that you lived here. I just needed to find a safe place for Yukina."

Kurama's guarded eyes softened. "Alright then," he said causing Hiei to look over to him. "You two can stay on the conditions that you help out around the house, you two join me at school, and you swear that you won't dare lay a finger on my mother. Deal?"

Hiei smirked. "Deal."

A few weeks had gone by and Hiei and Yukina somehow managed to get enrolled in school with Kurama. Hiei thought it was boring, but that wasn't anything new. Yukina enjoyed it, though, and was getting along better with Kurama. Now that he had understood their situation, he was more inclined to be nice to them both. They hadn't done anything wrong and were just trying to be a family in the safety of a more accepting world.

Shiori enjoyed the company of her new house guests. They kept her son busy, but he was hanging out with children his own age. She was concerned about them, though. They said their mother would be joining them, but that was about a month ago. And the two of them were acting more like refugees than those on a journey. Could it be possible that their mother was held up somewhere and they just didn't want to admit it to themselves yet or was she just being paranoid? When Hiei entered the kitchen, she decided to ask.

"So, Hiei, when will your mother be joining you?"

Hiei visibly flinched and Shiori could tell that she might not be far off from the truth. As a social worker, she was trained in these things.

Hiei looked down and solemnly said, "I'm beginning to think never."

Shiori frowned at his defeated expression. He had definitely been holding on to the impossible hope that his mother would follow after them. Little did she know, he knew that would never happen. His defeated expression was a result of the guilt he felt for being born. In both worlds, because of him, his mother had died and that was unforgivable. It should have never happened. He should have never happened.

"Hiei, where is your mother?" Shiori asked making him flinch again.

"I don't know," he lied. He couldn't tell Shiori anything about Demon World of the ice world and he didn't want to. Kurama had explained that his mother was a social worker and would pick up on things like abuse or depression and to be careful. If she thought that they were orphans, then he and Yukina could be separated. Hiei would never let that happen, even if it was some sort of fake world. No, he had to play it safe.

Shiori could see his apprehension and mistrust. She knew what he was thinking and she would never do it. Not only were they friends of her son, but she was beginning to see them as her own children. Plus, she would never risk twins being separated. That was just cruel and unusual punishment and would hurt them more than help.

"Hiei, I'm not going to ever put you or Yukina in the system," she explained to the boy who still refused to look at her. "I would never risk you two being separated. You don't need that. You both are welcomed to stay here. I see you as my own family. But I need to know, was your mother ever coming?"

Hiei looked at her and could feel the honestly in her words rolling off in waves. "No," he finally told her. "She was never coming."

A/N: This was a re-edited chapter. I was going through it and found a random mistake and I hate random mistakes so I went back and fixed it. So just to let you all know, if you ever see a mistake, let me know. I'm too much of a perfectionist to let that go :3 Thanks.