Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

Thank you to all of my reviewers as always. To the one guest who asked if I was studying in the Phillipines…no, but that would be interesting to say the least. Lol!

Family Secrets is officially done…next chapter. Lol! I actually have it all completely written, so it actually is officially finished. I'm posting this chapter now, and then the last chapter I'll post this weekend as I study for finals :D I hope you enjoy!

It had been a quiet month at Shizuru's place. Sure, she would still watch television, be in and out because of work, and she and Hiei wouldn't really talk that much. Still, since the fire demon had abruptly left, her place seemed dreary. She still acted normally, but everyone who knew her knew she was far from normal.

Shizuru continued to help her brother and Yukina with the wedding. She would not speak of Hiei, and neither Kuwabara nor the ice maiden would mention him. When her back was turned, the couple would exchange concerned glances. They could feel that Shizuru's heart was broken.

Kuwabara was beyond angry. He knew he would never forgive the fire demon for hurting his sister. At the same time, he was curious as to why he left. He had made it clear to Kuwabara that Shizuru wasn't alone. If that was the case, why did he leave her alone?

At first, his sister assured him that Hiei would return when he was ready, that his past wasn't a topic he had liked to discuss and he just needed time to process everything. Kuwabara had trusted that until a month had gone by. Shizuru still hadn't seemed upset. It wasn't until the second month ended and third month started that he noticed a shift in her mood. His anger from that night had started to return.

One day, though, he though he sensed Hiei near the apartment, though he did not make his presence known. It made Kuwabara question his old teammate a bit more. Something about his energy had been off. The human psychic wondered if the demon was feeling as lousy as his sister was. If he was, he had to hear him out. Kuwabara cared more about his sister's happiness than his future brother-in-law's, but he guessed Hiei deserved to be happy to.

Kuwabara asked Kurama for help to track the fire demon down. Kurama seemed to know many of the places Hiei used to habituate during his time trapped in the human realm. It brought him to a hidden location in the park. Kuwabara went at night when Hiei was sure to be out, when no other humans would see them. He found Hiei training, cutting down dead trees in the middle of the park.

Hiei froze when he heard footsteps, especially because he knew who it was. He didn't need this right now. Knowing his old teammate, he expected a lecture right away. It would only serve to annoy him. He couldn't go back right now so it was a moot point. He didn't even want to go back, or so he told himself.

He actually did want to go back.

"Leave," he ordered without turning to face the human. He gripped his sword tighter in case he had need to defend himself. He would never be injured by the man, but he knew being attacked like the night at the apartment was possible.

"I can't," Kuwabara replied looking Hiei up and down. The fire demon did not look all that great. He was thinner than he had been, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion. His breathing was fairly rapid, and his clothes were slightly torn. His body held a few cuts. "What the heck have you been doing to yourself?"

"Training."

His answers were just as curt as they used to be. That was the first thing Kuwabara noticed. At first, he assumed Hiei just wanted him to leave, but now he wasn't sure. "You should go back," he suggested. As he expected, Hiei did not try to converse with him.

"Hn."

Kuwabara shook his head. Hiei hadn't spoken much that night, but he at least said complete sentences. Clearly something was bothering him. He didn't know what. Shizuru would have probably been a better judge. Was it the fact that his past came out that had Hiei so closed off, or was it because he wasn't Shizuru? Was Hiei missing her just as much as she missed him?

The psychic sat down on a rock and watched Hiei to see him grow even more rigid. He definitely did not want him there. "What. Do. You. Want?" he growled out, enunciating every word with even more bitterness than the one before it.

Well, that was promising, and an opening to try to coax Hiei to talk. "I want to know why you left my sister," he stated firmly. "She's been…not the same."

Hiei's shoulders slumped, most likely from guilt, which surprised the psychic. The fire demon had done a lot in his lifetime, and he never seemed to feel guilt over anything. He still said nothing, and that bothered Kuwabara. "Look, I know you don't owe me anything, and if it wasn't for the fact that my sister was hurting I wouldn't be here. The least you can do is tell me if you ever plan on going back. If not, I can at least give her closure."

He watched Hiei grip his sword again and felt his energy rise. "You're as foolish as you've always been," he spat, back still turned to the human. "I need to be left alone."

Kuwabara was now getting angry. "So what? So you can abandon my sister without a word? Take off back to Demon World?"

Hiei finally faced him and that's when Kuwabara saw it. It was such a faint flicker of emotion that normal people would have missed it. In Hiei's eyes before they hardened, he saw the smallest glimmer of confusion mixed with regret, anger, and hatred. "I have no intention of returning to Demon World," Hiei remarked.

"And what about my sister?" Kuwabara nudged. Hiei looked down to the ground, his mouth opening to speak before he closed it and shook his head. "That's what you're trying to figure out, isn't it?"

"What are you blathering about?" Hiei snapped before he saw the expression of understanding directed towards him.

"Hiei," Kuwabara nearly whispered. "Just…sit down for a moment."

The fire demon narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the redheaded teen. "Why?"

Kuwabara flashed him a rueful smile. "We're going to be family soon," he reminded him. "The least I can do is help you figure out a few things."

"I am perfectly capable of-"

Kuwabara interrupted him. "No, you really aren't, and that's not your fault." Hiei glared at him, but said nothing. "I kind of made it a rule not to talk to you about me and your sister, mainly because at the time I thought you were interested in her because I didn't know you were her brother." The glare did not fade and Kuwabara sighed. "Okay, for the longest time, I liked her. I made a connection with her on the day we went to rescue her. After that, I always brought it up to her, telling her I loved her, and I only found out a couple years ago that she thought I was joking.

"She admitted to me that she didn't know what love was when I asked her if she'd ever love me back, and admitted to not knowing what I was saying back then," he explained. "She told me that the people where she came from were very cold and unfeeling, that she didn't even know what most emotions were. She knew stuff like happy and sad and fear, but she didn't know what love was until she actually started to see it and feel it.

"For a while, she actually did ask for some space like you are now, but a week later she had come to a realization that she loved me too, and I was honestly the happiest man in the world when I heard that. I can honestly tell you this…I know my sister loves you. She wouldn't be this down if she didn't."

Hiei's glare had softened when Kuwabara began to talk about his sister, and he could have never imagined that his sister had the same problem he did. Though his issues went deeper. Sure, Yukina may not have known what love was, but she cared deeply for others, including him. That was the closest to love he had ever received until Shizuru entered his life. It had terrified him, but he still couldn't place the emotion. The truth of his past coming out only increased is unease.

He had never known happiness. He had never known sadness. He had never known fear. He had never known what it was like to care or be cared for. All he truly knew was wrath and hatred. Those two emotions consumed him and burned his soul leaving no glimmer of light. And then a human woman, two things he had always despised, released some of that light. Made him feel content. Made him feel longing. Made him feel like he was worth more than he thought of himself. Made him feel like he belonged.

Was that love? Hiei was unsure. He had spent the last couple of months trying to figure that out. If it was, Hiei needed to figure out what he felt. But feeling was not something that came easily to him. He needed to see if that was what he felt, and he needed to do that alone. If Shizuru was with him, certain feelings would be evoked and he wouldn't have been certain what was real and what was not.

He was still no closer to figuring it out, even with Kuwabara there explaining this to him. He wanted to ask, but at the same time he was embarrassed about asking the teammate he used to hate and torment.

Kuwabara had been hopeful when he saw Hiei reacting to his story, but then it disappeared when Hiei turned away and started to leave looking defeated. He had no idea what was holding him back. He figured it would be time to take his leave seeing as Hiei wanted to be left alone. Finally relenting, Kuwabara began to leave the park, though he wouldn't let Hiei off easily. What he said next would only add to his guilt, but Kuwabara didn't mind so much. "Just a warning if you do decide to go back…she's been smoking a lot more lately. Almost as bad as when she picked it up when our parents died."

The fire demon didn't visibly react, but Kuwabara knew he had gotten to him. He took a few more steps before he heard a weak, "Wait…" The human looked back to the demon who did not turn to face him again. "You said she 'loves' me," he repeated. "What exactly does that mean?"

Kuwabara smiled slightly, relief flooding him. He had been uncertain for a moment if his prediction was true, but it seemed like Hiei was just as confused about love as Yukina had been. He had tried to explain it to Yukina, but had told her from the start it was easier to feel the emotion than it was to explain. She had learned through experience. Now, Kuwabara even understood what his sister had been trying to do. When he didn't answer right away, Hiei turned to face him, their eyes meeting. The smile didn't leave Kuwabara's face.

"You're going to have to go back to her to find out."

Shizuru was sitting in bed her knees bent holding the magazine she was looking at for styling ideas. She flicked her cigarette into the ashtray before going for another one. Pausing momentarily to look at the lighter given to her by Sakyo, she glared at the reminder of the men that always seemed to leave her. She used it to light her cigarette before slamming the object down on her nightstand. She was about to put her lips to the tip before the stick disappeared from her fingers.

"Disgusting habit," she heard a familiar voice stated before she turned her head to see Hiei standing at her bedside, incinerating the cigarette.

She blinked a few times, not sure whether to believe her eyes or not. After months of not returning, she was certain Hiei had left, headed back to Demon World. She hadn't expected to see him again for a long time, if not forever. But here he was, standing there with his arms crossed almost as if nothing had happened. Well, except for him getting some new injuries.

She sighed. "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

Hiei's lips twitched upward slightly. Kuwabara had asked him basically the same thing, but Shizuru's cruder language amused him. It wasn't until he noticed that her eyes and form seemed guarded that the amusement left him.

He took this time to take in all of her features and noticed that she looked exhausted and worn. Had she even been sleeping? He knew he hadn't been sleeping as he was constantly thinking. First he had to sort through the fact that everyone knew about his past at this point. He really had no intention of telling them all, so it was something to which he needed to mentally adjust. He also worked on moving past self-loathing which was a bit more difficult. As Kuwabara was telling him of Shizuru's condition, he only felt worse about himself. He returned for the reason his future brother-in-law suggested, to find out what this emotion was, but also to ease his guilt. He returned for her.

She refused to meet his gaze, but she did get up and enter her bathroom and returned with a first aid kit. "Shirt off," she ordered quietly, not as forcefully as she had any time before he left.

Hiei didn't do as she asked, causing her to finally look him in the eye. "What are you waiting for?" she asked.

He didn't answer, only walked over to her and placed his hands on hers that were holding the first aid kit. Effortlessly, he slide the kit out of her hands and placed it on the bed. When he looked back at the woman, she was gaping at him, her hands still outstretched. Hiei wanted to grin having stumped the human in a way he never had before, but his expression remained serious, for he had something serious to convey to her.

He stood across from her appearing confident though he was shaking inside. It was as if he was standing across from an opponent, though he could admit the opponent wasn't her. His emotions were still all over the place, and he still didn't understand them, but he truthfully didn't care anymore. Before he lost his nerve he quickly flashed in front of her, swiftly but gently pulling her towards him as he kissed her.

It was the first time he was initiating contact with her. All other times, she had kissed him first or took his hand. This change was not lost on Shizuru and she instantly wrapped her arms around him, returning the kiss. When Hiei felt her kissing back he felt his heart skip a beat, though he didn't stop. He felt strongly for her, and he still didn't understand. For the first time, though, he could admit his former teammate was right. He needed to experience this, to figure out what this all meant.

He pulled away to see Shizuru staring back at him, her eyes glossy. He could see that something was gnawing at her as they both worked on catching their breaths. "What is it?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Does this mean you're staying?" she finally voiced. "Or will you be leaving again?"

Hiei's hands moved into her hair, him moving closer to her and whispering against her lip, "I won't be leaving again. At least, not for long. I can promise you that."

She smiled at him and it nearly took his breath away. "Good."

The two of them kissed again, passion overtaking them. Never before had anything felt so right to the fire demon, even his past interactions with the woman. Maybe this was the effect of that "love" thing Kuwabara kept talking about, and maybe it wasn't. All Hiei knew was that it felt right to be with this woman right now.

And for that, he would stick around to find out.