[A/N: Hiatus is over! I stopped working at my life consuming job, but went back to school full-time, however my schedule is excellent and leaves lots of time for me to have a life (which will mostly involve me reading books and writing fanfic). Anywho, sorry this chapter is so short. I'll make it up for it next chapter! Also, I'm posting a new chapter in Eizou Hakusho so be sure to go check that out as well!]

Chapter Thirteen: Will I Wake Tomorrow From This Nightmare

When we finally got to Kisuke's we were pleased to see that we weren't the only ones there—as we could be seen carrying Keiko's body with us.

Trunks was outside when we showed up outside. He'd clearly been through some sort of ordeal similar to us.

"Shit. . ." he said upon seeing Keiko.

"Shit indeed," I said.

"What happened?" Trunks asked.

"Fucking Saibamen and Frieza's a hybrid and I want to know what the fuck is going on," I said.

"Goten and I got cornered by a bunch of hybrids. Almost didn't make it out until Soifon and Yoruichi showed up," Trunks said. "Goten's pretty banged up, but Orihime's in there with him now. You look like you could use some help too."

"I'm fine," I said.

Bulma stepped outside, obviously looking for her son. She let out a deep sigh and reached into her pocket.

"I was hoping we wouldn't need these," she said. She held a DynoCaps in her hand. I already knew what it was before she expanded them.

A coffin popped up on the ground. I watched silently as Keiko was placed inside of it.

"Where's Kurama?" Trunks asked. I looked up and stared at him for a moment.

"He didn't make it," Hiei said.

"Are my parents here?" I asked changing the subject. I don't want him to ask how or to ask if I was okay. I needed to move past it for the moment, because I still had something very difficult to do.

"Goku went to round everyone up with Byakuya, but your mom is here. So is Kurama's," he said.

I walked inside, wandering around for a while before I found my mother in a sitting room with Videl, Pan, Bulla, and Vegeta.

"Kairi, thank goodness you're here," Mom said getting to her feet and pulling me into a hug. "Look what's happened to you. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," I said. "Where's Shiori?"

"She's in the restroom. What's wrong?" Mom asked.

"It's Kurama. . ." I trailed off. None of this was going to be easy. This was my mom's only nephew after all.

But my mom had been in this game long enough to understand what was going on. She pulled me back into a hug.

"Don't worry. I'll tell her," she said. I could hear her voice straining as the words came out. I didn't fully understand how my dad was able to do this all the time. He'd become a professional at giving out bad news. Now I was giving in and my mom was going to have to do it.

"Did Gohan come back yet?" I asked.

"No. He must still be at the Lookout. Though I'm betting he's on his way back because he's probably heard what's happened by now," Videl said.

"And your father should be back with the others soon," Mom said. "Do me a favor and go check on your little brother."

Mom pointed down the hall and I did as she instructed, following the corridor until I found Goten sitting with Orihime, pulling his shirt back on.

"Hey," I said.

"Glad you're finally here. We got back and they said that Karakura High School was a mess. We were afraid you might've gotten hurt," Goten said. "And we were right."

"I'll be fine. But Yukina-."

"I'm not going to pass out from blood loss any time soon," Yukina said walking into the room. "Hiei said not to let you leave the room until Orihime helped you."

"No problem," Orihime said pulling me to sit down next to her. "Is everything else okay?"

"Yeah. You look like you're about to tell me something I don't want to hear," Goten said.

I nodded. ". . . Keiko and Kurama. . . They're both dead."

Orihime let out a gasp as her hands flew up over her mouth. Goten just stared at me like he didn't even believe what I said.

"But. . . How?" Goten asked.

"Frieza. And Saibamen," I said.

"But that's. . . Not possible," Goten said.

"A lot of impossible shit has been happening recently if you haven't noticed," I said. "I just want to get to the bottom of it and stop it."

888

Byakuya and my dad hadn't returned yet. They were supposed to be coming back with Renji, Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, Kuwabara, Shizuru and Rukia. Everyone else was present and accounted for. Bulma had managed to get in touch with everyone back at Kame House, along with Tien and alert them to the situation. After I told everyone about Frieza and about what he'd told us, it was decided that once my dad got back here, the safest place we could probably get to was the Lookout. If Frieza was running around there was no telling who else was going to pop up.

Bardock had been unnervingly quiet since we'd arrived. It was obvious now that he knew Kurama and Keiko were going to die at the hands of Frieza. There was no telling what else he knew.

In the meantime, after Orihime finished healing me, I was sitting outside on the small stoop outside of the door, drawing circles in the dirt. One of Kisuke's assistants, a small girl called Ururu had stopped outside once to give me something to drink, but that was the most contact I'd had with anyone since I'd come outside. Yusuke was inside, crying. Yukina was crying. My mom and Shiori were crying. And I was the only one who wasn't. As per usual. Mostly, I didn't want to upset my mother who was obviously already in an emotionally unstable way. She didn't really need to see how upset I was.

The door behind me slid open and Hiei came to sit next to me.

"Sulking alone again?" he asked.

"That's what I do best," I said. "How are Yukina and Yusuke?"

"Yukina is fine. Urameshi is pretending to be fine," he replied.

"I don't blame him. He was in love with Keiko, you know? She was the only girl really strong enough to handle him I think. And she made him better. She always gave him a reason to give 110%," I said. "They've always been like that, since we were little kids. She always wanted us to be better. Go to class and be nicer to people and start actually caring about what were going to do beyond high school. It's too bad you didn't know her better."

"I knew her well enough," Hiei said.

"Have you ever even had a conversation with Keiko?" I asked.

"One or two," he replied.

"When was this? No, never mind that, what on Earth could you two possibly have had to talk about?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"Now I'm very curious. Not only did you talk but you're keeping it a secret," I said. "But I guess there's a lot I talked to Keiko about that I wouldn't tell anyone else. Not even Yusuke."

"Like what?" Hiei asked.

". . . I told her about you. After you left. She's the only one I told, but she tells Yusuke everything which is how he knows, which is why it's shocking that Kurama and Kuwabara don't know, though I'm incredibly thankful for that," I said. ". . . Kurama would've strangled you if he knew."

"It's not like we-."

"I know, but Kurama was like an older brother to me. He didn't really want me fooling around with anyone. Especially you," I said. "He used to like that I liked you, because he trusted you and stuff. But after you left you kind of fell out of his favor. Like, he'd still trust you with his life, just not with me. If he knew what happened that night he'd be very upset. More than very upset. He'd probably punch you."

"I'm sure he'd get over it," Hiei said.

"You only think that because, number one, you don't understand that you were Kurama's best friend. Even if you didn't consider him a friend he trusted you more than anybody. And number two, you're underestimating how upset I was when you never came back," I said.

". . . How upset were you?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" I asked.

"Curiosity," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Pretty upset. I didn't even want to go out with Ichigo. As angry as I was at you, I still liked you. . . I missed you. I missed you a lot actually."

"You obviously got over it," he said.

"I think that the reason I was so angry when you showed back up was because I still missed you. And it's funny, because even though you're back I still feel like I miss you sometimes," I said.

"That makes no sense," he said.

"I think I missed you the way that I miss everyone when they're gone. And now that you're here, I think I just miss how I used to feel about you," I said.

"Unless you still feel that way about me and you're confusing the two," he said.

"Even if that was the case, Hiei, you say never liked me. And even though I know that's not true, I'm with Ichigo now and I like not feeling like I'm wasting my time on someone," I said. "Kurama liked Ichigo better than you anyway. Because he knew Ichigo would never just leave like you."

I rested my head on Hiei's shoulder, starting to feel the weight of my cousin's death hitting me.

"I think the thing I liked most about you was that no matter how much you disappear or leave, you always show up when I really need you. . . I'll probably always like that about you," I said. "I think that's why Kurama trusted you so much. Because you're dependable."

I sat there quietly with my head on Hiei's shoulder for a few moments, when I recalled an odd memory of Kurama. I sat up.

"Oh, my Kai," I said.

"What?" Hiei asked.

"When I was like seven, Kurama was over our house once, visiting and I was arguing with Goten and Goten kept telling me that I looked like a donkey and I was like 'well at least if I'm a donkey everyone wants to ride me' and Kurama started laughing and I never understood why until just now," I said burying my face in my hands.

"You can have any revelation about your cousin you want right now and you pick that one?" Hiei asked.

"But think about it. Kurama was actually old as balls. Imagine having to hang out with seven-year-old me all the time," I said.

"I bet he wasn't thrilled with 15-year-old you," he said.

"Fuck you, I am a delight," I said.

"Sometimes you are," he said.

"Psh. You're just saying that to be nice," I said.

"Yes, because I'm so in the habit of catering to your emotional needs," he said.

"You are actually," I said.

"Well, that'll have to stop," he said.

"Just don't stop right now, okay," I said resting my head back on his shoulder. "I really don't want to sit out here by myself anymore."

Hiei let out a defeated sigh. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you," I said.

He started to run his fingers through my hair again and I let out a sigh.

"Do you think things are going to work out okay?" I asked.

"You're the fortune teller, not me," he said.

"Well if I predict anything then it's bound to turn out bad," I said. "That's what happened with Keiko and Kurama and I didn't even really see anything. I just felt it."

"It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault," he said.

"I just hate feeling like there's nothing I can do," I said. "No matter how hard I try, when I know something bad is going to happen, it never works out well."

"They might, in the long run," Hiei said.

He twisted my hair through his fingers until we heard the ground in front of us shift. We looked up to see my dad had finally arrived with the others. I sat up from Hiei's shoulder and got to my feet.

"What happened? We've been waiting for you guys forever," I said.

"Your school got attacked by Cell. It wasn't really an easy situation to get out of," Ichigo said.

"I wish I was surprised to hear that, but, Dad, you won't believe who we found creeping Karakura Town," I said. "Frieza. And he wasn't just back from the dead. He was a hybrid, like those others hollows that Captain Hitsugaya and I ran into."

"Are you guys all right?" Dad asked.

I looked over to Hiei who was looking down at his feet. I looked over to Kuwabara.

"What happened?" he asked, stepping over to me. "Kairi tell me."

". . . Yukina was at the school with Keiko and Kurama when Frieza attacked. She got hurt but. . . Keiko and Kurama didn't make it," I said.

"You mean they. . . They're. . ."

I nodded. "Yeah. Kurama got ganged up on by a bunch of these little Saibamen. Keiko got it right through the chest by Frieza." I wiped a few stray tears from my eyes. "I'm guessing no one here is going to be able to tell us why two of our best friends are dead."

"We haven't gotten any more information from the Soul Society since yesterday," Rukia said.

"And Gohan hasn't come back from the Lookout?" Dad asked. I shook my head. "Well it looks like we're going to have to go there anyway."