Only own Moriko and her children. :) R&R. Oh, BTW, there is a small section in here creating a reason why the bounty hunter was able to injure Kurama; I only read the manga and if a different reason was included somewhere in the series, in a part I haven't gotten to yet, I apologize ahead of time.

Although Hiei didn't betray even a single hint of his shock, Kurama, Yusuke, and Moriko all knew him well enough that they could sense his surprise. And the only reason he was surprised was that, because of Yusuke's talismans, he couldn't feel any energy—demonic or otherwise—emanating from within the group that now sat in Kurama's room. He took one look at Moriko, spun around on his heel, and walked out. They all heard the front door being slammed shut.

Moriko wasn't as good at hiding her emotions as Hiei was. Her jaw dropped open. Yusuke pretended to recover from Hiei's sudden appearance and disappearance first, saying, "What in the world made him leave like that?"

Kurama just shrugged, acting as if he didn't know.

At this point, Moriko was still incapable of speech. Her eyes were wide and she continually extended and retracted her claws, in a fashion that seemed to be her way of relieving stress. Finally, she shut her mouth. A few moments later, she opened it again, this time to speak, "H-h-h- W-w-why did h-he leave?" Her stuttering was so bad, however, that neither Kurama nor Yusuke could understand what she was saying. She closed her eyes, and breathed; in, out, in, out, in, out. Then she spoke, much more calmly this time, "Was that your friend?"

Kurama nodded, "His name is Hiei."

"I-I-I know."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Long story."

"We have time." Kurama pointed out.

Moriko's temper flared up in order to defend herself in her emotionally broken state, "In case you have not figured this one out, Brother, when someone says 'long story' it generally means it is a story that they do not want to tell."

"Okay, okay." Kurama backed off.

By now it was late, so Kurama made up beds for his sister and his nephews. Shiori didn't pay much attention; her son was always people like this.

Moriko's children fell asleep fairly quickly, probably due to some plant of Kurama's.

Moriko herself, however, stayed wide awake staring at a blank wall, unbelieving that something—someone—so significant from her past could wind its way back into her present.

Meanwhile in Kurama's room, Kurama and Yusuke sat talking. "I just don't understand," Kurama said, exasperated. "I mean, I know why Hiei reacted the way he did, but I just cannot make sense of Moriko's response."

Somehow, what Yusuke had figured out had still manage to evade Kurama's mental grasp, so Yusuke said, "Haruto, Isamu, Eiji, Isao, Amaya, Izuki."

"Her children?"

"Look at the first letters of the guys' names, then the girls'."

After a moment, "Hiei. Ai. Hiei. Ai. Hiei." Kurama lowered his head into hands, "How could I have missed it?"

They walked down the stairs to see if Moriko was still awake. She was. "Moriko." Kurama said quietly. She looked up; she hadn't heard them approach.

"You have never called me that before."

"You mean your name?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, you have, but never like that. Normally, I am just 'Little Sister' or, when you decide that you want to be particularly condescending, my actual name in a rather cruel voice. You have never once said my actual name like you actually care."

"I do care. Too much, in fact. This house, Shiori. I don't stay here because I want to; of course, that's not to say I particularly dislike this realm, but I'm trapped in this body. A bounty hunter gravely wounded me, so I escaped here. Kind Enma had found out that I did, in fact, have a hidden weakness, an Achilles' heel, if you will. And they threatened to kill her if I didn't give myself up. So I did, to protect you." He was avoiding Moriko's eyes, embarrassed to be revealing such a great weakness to another demon, even if that demon was his weakness.

"Oh." Was all she said.

"Are you okay, though? You seemed pretty… broken when Yusuke and I went upstairs." Kurama had completely regained his composure in the few seconds between his confession and his question.

"I am fine."

"I have a question about your old boyfriend, the father of your children. Do you still love him?"

"I told you I would not let my boys leave because I did not want them to die. That is a lie. I mean, I do not want them to die, but I would be okay with letting them leave, except…" by now she looked near tears.

"Except?" Kurama prompted gently.

"Except for what I did not tell you before. What I did not tell you was that I cannot let them leave. My children are my last and only remaining link to the one I will love until the day I die. The one that I left, years ago." And with that she burst into tears at long last, for the first time since she had realized what a mistake she made in leaving Hiei. Kurama instinctually leaned over to hug her as he would have had it been Shiori crying, and, as much to her surprise as Kurama's and Yusuke's, Moriko accepted the embrace, curling up next to her older brother and crying into his shoulder until her eyes were dry and she fell asleep.

Hiei had yet to return.