Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

Sorry for the long wait, everyone! RL became hectic once again and I didn't have much inspiration to get me to work on this one. Now I have some :) I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Hiei growled as his sleep was disturbed. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling with a sneer as the loud banging that had woken him up continued. Even his host whom he shared a bed with was not too pleased by the disruption. "What in the world?" she asked, her voice revealing her exhaustion. "It's too damn early for this."

"Hey, Shizuru!" they heard a familiar voice shout. "Open up! Don't tell me you're still sleeping! It's eight thirty!"

Shizuru shook her head. Her brother was always an early riser, unlike her. She looked over to Hiei and placed her hand on his arm. "Wait here," she requested. "Just let me tell him before he goes jumping to conclusions."

Hiei's eyes widened as Shizuru left the room. He quickly searched for a way out. There was no way he was going to be discovered by the fool of all people. The last thing he needed was for the red-haired swordsman to harass him about living with his sister. He already irritated him enough at team get-togethers.

The fire demon settled for leaving through the window and hopping across a pretty far distance into a tree in the yard next to the apartment building. He heard Kuwabara's voice getting closer and closer as he rambled on about various things. Shizuru kept trying to interject when she thought he was done talking, but he wouldn't shut up. Hiei shook his head, frustrated by his antics, but he continued on with his plan to leave. He would only return when either the teenager left or was in bed. He did not want to cross paths with him.

"Seriously, Shizuru," Kuwabara griped, "why do you always sleep in so late?"

Shizuru rolled her eyes. "Kazuma, what day is it?"

Kuwabara looked at his older sister strangely. "Saturday, why?"

"Exactly," Shizuru responded. "Normal people sleep in on Saturdays."

Kuwabara smiled at his sister's words. "Well, I'm not normal," he remarked jokingly, "and neither are you, so that's not an excuse."

When he had become so perceptive, Shizuru didn't know, but it reminded her that her brother was a bright boy. It made her proud that he was in school, though why he was home now she didn't get. "What are you doing here, Kazuma?" she asked wryly.

"Can't a guy check up on…I mean visit his older sister on his three day weekend?"

Three day weekend? Shizuru questioned in her mind. She didn't think his next three day weekend was coming for another month. Well, that thought caused her to go look at her calendar in her room. That's when she noticed the open window and that Hiei was nowhere to be found. Mentally sighing, she went about her task and realized that the month had passed by quickly. It made the human woman realize that Hiei had been living with her for almost two months now.

"Don't tell me you forgot," Kuwabara muttered when he saw his sister staring blankly at her calendar.

"I've been busy, Kazuma," Shizuru said nonchalantly. "Besides, it's not like you called me to remind me or anything."

Kuwabara chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess I could call more. Sorry."

"It's whatever," Shizuru replied before closing the book on the table. "Anyways, why don't you let me get up and dressed and then I'll make us some breakfast."

"Sounds good!"

Kuwabara left his sister's room and went to his own room. At that time, Hiei found it appropriate to return to her room. "What was that?" she questioned him, giving him a slight glare.

Hiei scoffed at the question and moved over to the bed. "What was what? I didn't want to interact with your foolish brother."

"Hey, watch it," Shizuru retorted. "My brother might not always think things through, but he's definitely a lot smarter than I am."

Hiei looked at her strangely, his eyes not believing what he heard. "You have got to be kidding me," he replied. "He lacks common sense."

"He makes up for it with book smarts," she stated. "How else would he be able to get into a good school?"

"Hn…you humans place weight on the strangest things," Hiei remarked. "You need common sense if you ever hope to survive the world."

"What does common sense look like?" Shizuru scoffed. "Using a technique that paralyzes your own arm or saying some word and getting your soul taken." Hiei narrowed his eyes when she mentioned the scene from the mansion. "My brother talks, but tell me what was going through your mind."

"I don't need to answer to you," Hiei growled. "So, how long is the oaf…I mean your brother…here for?"

Shizuru shrugged. "Three days. Are you going to hide out in here and outside the entire time?"

"Hn," Hiei answered before turning over on the bed.

The human sighed not understanding why Hiei was acting this way. It had been months and the fire demon had come to see the apartment as his own home, but now he was acting like he needed to hide. What was his deal?

"Onna," Hiei called out as she got up from the bed. "I'm only doing this so I can avoid your brother's interrogation."

Shizuru nodded in understanding once she got her answer. She knew how her brother could be. Still, she wanted to tell him to avoid his habit of jumping to conclusions. Hiei was just a friend who needed a home. There were no conclusions to jump to. If she told her brother that, he should leave well enough alone. She was an adult and there was no reason for her brother to worry about some nonexistent relationship.

He heard her rummage through her drawers to grab a change of clothes before the sound of her bathroom door closing. The fire demon felt relief as his host dropped the subject and left him to his own thoughts. If she had lingered on the subject longer then secrets he would have rather kept secret would have bubbled to the surface. He was not ready to reveal traits of his that she hadn't already picked up on.

There was more than one reason he didn't want anyone finding out about this arrangement.

One reason was that he did not wish to be bothered with questions, which Shizuru could easily see. The second was that he did not feel like he deserved his hospitality, though he would never tell her that as it was related to his hidden past. The last reason was something not many picked up on about Hiei. He was always very honest when it was called for. He did not lie except when he had something to hide. Telling Yukina her brother was dead was one example of that. When he had told Yusuke he and Yukina had different mothers, he was hiding his past. Hiei knew that if he had no interest in Kuwabara's sister he would have no problem revealing himself. The truth was Hiei was starting to feel something for the woman, and it was something he had never felt before. He didn't know what to make of it, but he knew one thing.

If Kuwabara found out and asked him if he would try to make a play for his sister, Hiei didn't know if he could say "no."

Shizuru spent the day with her brother and then returned to her room after he went to bed. As she entered, she found Hiei softly snoring in the same position she had left him in. She had been carrying a tray of food. It had been a full day for him without food and she knew he would be hungry. Before returning to her side of the bed, she left the tray next to him.

The day had been tiresome. Kuwabara had not given her a moment's peace, questioning her on everything. He even questioned her on why her window was opened when he had been in her room earlier. He then went on and on about how dangerous it was in the city. What worried him even more were the demons.

Both he and Shizuru knew that not all of the demons had changed. Where some may have agreed with Enki's rulings, others did not agree and were more aggressive in their anger and irritation. Shizuru, though, had nothing to worry about with a temperamental fire demon, a near S class demon, taking up residence in her apartment. Hiei did not want her brother to know, so unfortunately she couldn't tell him to leave her be and not worry. Kuwabara would always worry about her like she did for him.

"It smells good," Hiei spoke in a whisper. Shizuru smiled realizing he was awake. He was a light sleeper, Shizuru had come to learn. Despite her attempts to remain silent, his heightened senses had picked up on everything.

"I would hope so," Shizuru remarked. "You always say that about my cooking. I would hope it wouldn't change."

"It wouldn't matter if it did," Hiei told her. "The one thing I have come close to liking is the food. It's better than what I've eaten in Demon World."

These moments were rare, Hiei opening up to her about his past. She had never put much thought into his daily life in Demon World other than him being a survivor. Whenever he did speak up about these things, she tried her best to take advantage of it. "I'm almost afraid to ask what constitutes food there," she said. "Didn't demons eat humans until the tournament?"

"Not all," Hiei murmured as he started to get up and stretch. He took some of the chicken and rice Shizuru had made and ate. After swallowing, he continued. "Only those who had access to humans. There was trafficking and then there were the weak demons who could actually sneak into Human World. Then there were those that ate human souls. Some demons were fully dependent on humans for their diet."

"Were you?"

Hiei looked over to her, expecting to see fear. Instead, Shizuru appeared indifferent. He knew the answer she was expecting, and he worried about how she would have reacted if that was his answer. Luckily for him, he would never have to find out. He knew that even with her mask of indifference, she was going to weigh his answer.

"No."

Shizuru seemed surprised, but then realized that he had said one needed access to humans to feed on them. Being a survivor anywhere made getting certain foods a challenge. "You ate whatever you could find."

"Yes."

Shizuru let out a small chuckle before looking at his nearly empty food bowl. "You don't have to worry about that as much here," she told him. "And you probably don't have to worry about it in Demon World anymore. Eventually with the barrier down, I would imagine there would be some kind of trade."

Hiei shrugged. "I don't handle the politics, onna. It doesn't matter to me what they do."

"So," Shizuru said questioningly, "when did you plan on going back? I mean, I don't mind you staying here, but when you came you had been pretty worn out. I suspected you would have unfinished business there."

Hiei drank the cup of tea she had brought with his meal. He always loved drinking the hot drinks she made for him. They made him feel warmer than he already was. "There is no unfinished business," he admitted. "My attackers died the day they came after me."

"Multiple," Shizuru muttered. "Morons."

"Hn."

The two of them sat in silence as Hiei finished eating. He looked over to Shizuru who seemed to be lost in thought. Hiei snuck a peek and found that she had been thinking about the day he arrived. "Let it go, onna. It wasn't as bad as you think."

"It forced you here, though," she stated. "It doesn't bother you."

Hiei shook his head. "No one forced me here," he told her. "I came because I wanted to. I stay because I want to. No one forces me to do anything I don't want."

Shizuru scoffed but then smiled. "Yeah, I've seen that."

Hiei watched her as she lied down on the bed. He, too, slid back into his lying position. The two of them watched each other quietly before Shizuru closed her eyes. She was exhausted having cooked and been bombarded with questions and lectures all day. Hiei remained awake until she fell asleep. Watching her always made him feel at peace. He realized that the feelings, whatever they were, he had for her were dangerous. He was even aware that she might not feel the same. He didn't care. As long as he could stay there and feel the warmth she always seemed to cause in him, he was content. That was a feeling he had come to know and cherish since the psychic had welcomed him into her home.