Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

Hey, everyone! Um, so yeah…there will still be two more chapters. Of course, this went way beyond when I had hoped to finish the story, but I haven't had as much time as I hoped to write…or play video games…or even sleep :/ Graduate school has been hell, so I hope that I haven't disappointed too many people. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I can't even remember if I replied to the reviews I could or not…yeah, my mind is gone. Most of the time I can't find words. I graduate soon, though, in about a month. I would like to have this story completed before then, but well…you know. It's all going to depend on how much I'm able to do. Sleep, right now, is my main desire… So, without further ado, story time :D

No one said anything for a couple hours. No one really knew how to start up a conversation after secrets came out. Hiei still looked catatonic, and he didn't even utter a complaint when Shizuru lit a cigarette. Eventually she sighed, breaking the silence, and her brother's eyes shot to her.

"You had to have known," he stated calmly, though Shizuru could tell he felt betrayed by her. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Yukina placed her hand on Kuwabara's arm. "It's not her fault," Yukina tried to convince him.

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Shizuru corrected. Her little brother needed to grow up and realize that it would have been neither of their places to tell the ice maiden. "I wasn't going to get involved."

Kuwabara's eyes lit up as he narrowed them and looked over to him. "You got involved with him," he accused. "Why would you even want to, anyway? He doesn't care about anyone!"

"That's not true!" Yukina objected, growing alarmed. She didn't want her future husband to hold such hatred towards her brother. It was bad enough Hiei was hated by his own people. "Please, don't say that."

Hiei, by this point, was still as unresponsive as he had been since Yukina had revealed she had known. He didn't know why it stunned him to hear her say the words. Shizuru had warned him; she suspected that his twin knew the truth. He had been in denial, and now he didn't know how to react, what to do or say. As his sister's fiancé continued to fling insults and accusations towards him, he had nothing to say in response. It honestly didn't matter to him what the oaf thought of him. The only two opinions that mattered belonged to the women in the room, and he didn't know what to say that wouldn't kill their opinions of him.

Kuwabara looked over to Hiei and glared. "He's not even trying to deny it, Yukina," he pointed out. "It's obvious he doesn't care."

"Shut up," Shizuru muttered a sigh, her hand pushing some strands out of her face. When her brother looked at her dumbly, she just stared back and confidently said, "Hiei does care. You don't know all the facts, and obviously Yukina and I do. You can stop the temper tantrum now."

"How long?" her brother asked again. "How long have you known? How long have you been with that…that…"

"It's none of your business how long we've been together," Shizuru berated, "nor do I plan on telling you anything about our relationship so don't bother asking. I'm a grown woman and can make my own choices. You can stop with the over-protective brother attitude.

"As for how long I knew, you would have known too had you not run out of your room the day Koenma gave Yusuke the mission. He said it on the tape. At the time, it wasn't important to say anything. The guys were keeping it a secret, so it wasn't my place to say anything."

"Guys?" Kuwabara asked. "So Yusuke AND Kurama knew and still didn't say anything."

"They wanted to," Yukina assured Kuwabara. "The situation, though, is complicated. You can't fault Hiei for not telling me. I already knew because Rui told me."

"She did?"

Hiei had finally spoken and all attention was draw to him. Kuwabara looked perplexed at Hiei asking the question, most likely because he didn't know who Rui was. Yukina only smiled sadly at her brother and nodded. "She did. She told me that my brother had shown up and left once she told him about me. She told me what you looked like when I returned after…being captured." She dared not voice the name of her captor around her easily angered brother and fiancé. "Since I had already met you, I knew. You had felt so familiar that there was no doubt in my mind that it was you."

"You never said anything."

She shook her head. "You didn't want me to," she countered. "I wasn't going to bring attention to it before you were ready."

"What the heck are the two of you talking about?" Kuwabara cut in. "Bring attention to what?"

Hiei refused to look at Kuwabara. It pained both Shizuru and Yukina to see his impassive expression when his eyes were pleading with them not to say anything. "It doesn't matter," Shizuru interjected. "Kazuma, drop it. Neither of them are ready to talk about it. You shouldn't force them."

"So we can go years with more secrets being kept from us?" Kuwabara scoffed. "I deserve to know what's going on." He looked over to Hiei. "I'm marrying your sister, and that means that we'll be family, so whatever it is, I have a right to know."

Hiei had to admit Kuwabara had a point, but he would not be the one to tell him. Instead, he flashed towards the window and lounged on the sill like he normally did, staring out into the night sky.

Shizuru understood his silent surrender and took his place on the couch. She patted the seat beside her motioning for her brother to sit. When the teenager complied, Shizuru began to recount what Hiei had told her. "You won't like this," she warned her brother. "Truthfully, with your heart, I don't even think you'll be able to handle what happened to them."

"Are you kidding?" Kuwabara questioned in irritation. "After everything I've been through and seen, watching Yukina get hurt, all those fights at the Dark Tournament, watching my best friend die for the second time…this I won't be able to handle?"

"Heh," Shizuru chuckled. "Well, you were warned like I was." Her eyes met Hiei's for a moment, the fire demon still in some sort of shocked state, like he was only half paying attention to her presence, but focused solely on his sister's admittance. "Well, it's like this…"

"Wait!" Yukina called out abruptly to everyone's astonishment. She realized how out of character that had been for her and sheepishly looked at the others. "Um, I mean…I think it should come from me," she directly to Shizuru before chancing a glance at her brother, who seemed to have regained himself and his impassive expression. "May I?"

Hiei let out a grunt while staring at the wall of the sill in front of him, an affirmation to her. "Might as well," he said deadpanned. "Everything else has come out, apparently."

This reminded Kuwabara that Hiei was fooling around with his sister, not even serious about her as evident to his questionable attitude towards the word "dating." Shizuru noticed her little brother glaring at her lover and finally spoke up.

"Fine, Kazuma," she said dragging his attention to her. "I get that you're pissed at Hiei about the secrets and about me, but let the thing about me go. He doesn't get the concept of dating, and I never talked to him about it or required that. That's on me, not him."

Kuwabara didn't look convinced. "How can anyone not know what dating is?" he asked in disbelief.

"I didn't," Yukina reminded him. "You remember. I never understood until you explained it to me."

Kuwabara remembered that, definitely. It had come off as strange to him, but he just assumed it had to do with Yukina's innocence. He never expected to come across anyone else who didn't understand, especially Hiei of all people. He had been in Human World longer than his sister, reluctantly, yes, but longer. Surely he had picked up on it.

The human psychic looked over to his former teammate who still appear as if he was ignoring everyone in the room. He didn't speak up in his own defense, nor did he try to reject their claims. Now Kuwabara was curious. "I still don't understand how neither of you two know of dating," he stated. "It's just hard to believe."

Yukina frowned, and her fiancé could see that sadness in her eyes. "Our people didn't believe in relationships," she explained, "and they punished those who tried to find love. Our mother…she had found someone, and was then seen as a criminal."

"What?" the human whispered, not understanding what he was hearing.

"She…" Yukina began again, this time feeling a little awkward. "Ice maidens normally only give birth to a single, female child every one-hundred years. The only time a male child could be birthed is if the woman had an intimate relationship with a man. Our people were against it, and Hiei was taken away from our mother. They…sentenced him to death. Our mother killed herself shortly after, and her friend Rui raised me telling me of everything that had happened."

Kuwabara was dumbfounded as he looked over to the fire demon. He finally saw it, emotion behind the expressionless façade. Hiei's fists were clenched, his eyes hardened just a trace as he continued to stare at the wall. "How could anyone…? When…? How…?"

Hiei's head turned slightly as he glowered at the human before his eyes met Shizuru's. She knew that he had no intention of answering her brother, but he was taking a huge step and granting her his silent permission to tell her brother something he had been hiding his entire life. He was finally accepting reality and indirectly confessing his secrets.

"To answer your questions in order," Shizuru began bitterly, "those women were horrid and vile. The when was shortly after Hiei was born. The how…apparently the Glacial Village is a floating island."

"No," Kuwabara breathed out, not accepting what his sister was alluding to. "There's no way, horrid or not, that anyone would try to kill a baby…or even throw…" Kuwabara couldn't even say the words he was sick to his stomach.

"They did," Hiei confirmed, finally admitting it to himself and his former teammate/future brother-in-law. "They considered me the imiko and thought it best to do away with me."

"Imee-what?"

Hiei rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Forbidden Child," he translated. "A curse."

Kuwabara shook his head. "Look, I get you're a jerk at times, but isn't that a little harsh? I mean, you were a baby."

"I'm very well aware of what I was," the fire demon snapped. "Enough of this now. You have your answers. You see your sister is not alone. You can go now."

Shizuru smiled slightly at the fact that Hiei was acting like himself despite all of his secrets being outed in one night, and she could feel a shift in the air. It felt as if a big weight was lifted off everyone's shoulders. But it also felt like there was some confusion as well.

"It's been a long day," Yukina said softly to Kuwabara. "We should go now." She looked over to her brother hopefully. "I'll see you soon?"

Hiei was uncertain. He felt that way about a lot of things now. In just one night, his reality was gone, turned upside-down, and he needed to sort through it. Alone.

The answer he gave was a shrugged which, all things considered, was an improvement. It made Yukina smile slightly. "Goodbye, brother."

He glanced at her, their eyes meeting, and she knew that he was saying goodbye in his own way. She nodded to him, a grin gracing his sister's face. He had never seen her as happy as she seemed in that moment, even when she and the oaf had announced their impending nuptials.

Yukina took her fiancé's hand and led him out of the apartment. Kuwabara was about to object, but Shizuru had already agreed with Yukina. "You two be careful getting home," she stated monotonously. "See you around."

And then she shut the door behind them.

When she turned around, Hiei was gone.

It didn't surprise her that he had left as soon as he could, to process everything he was feeling. Tonight had been more difficult for him than her own brother could have understood. Even Yukina didn't know the extent of his self-loathing.

But it would be okay. He would stay away for a little while, collect his thoughts, and everything would sink in. Then he would return, and life for the two of them could return to its abnormal normalcy.

And then three months passed…and Hiei still hadn't returned.