Hiei watched sullenly from the couch as the scene in front of him unfolded. All three of the others looked shocked, and Kurama grinned in relief.

"Shizuru," he said, standing up and approaching her. "You…you notice something's different?"

"Well, it's not every day that I walk in on my baby brother and his friends somehow morphed into the opposite sex," she said dryly, and laughed. "You sure make one hot girl, Kurama."

"Be that as it may," said Kurama, "I'd still rather be back in my own body, and I'm sure the same goes for my friends."

"Do you know how this happened?" Shizuru asked.

"Considering my mother didn't seem to notice anything different, and my closet was full of girls' clothing, I ruled out the possibility that we've been turned into girls overnight," Kurama told her. "Koenma told us that either this was some sort of cosmic joke, or someone did it to us intentionally. He thinks the former is far more likely."

"Even if this is an alternate reality, I'm not surprised I saw through it," Shizuru commented. "My brother and I have always been able to see things most people can't. So this might as well happen." She lit another cigarette and looked at him sideways. "Is there any way to reverse it? Or do I just have to get used to having a little sister?"

"Both, I think," said Kurama. "Apparently we'll go back to normal soon enough, but until then, we just have to…deal with it. Koenma is looking into ways to expedite the process."

"Well, I can't help you turn back into guys," said Shizuru. "But maybe in the meantime, I can help you get used to being girls—even if it's only temporary. There's probably a lot you don't understand."

"You're telling me," said Yusuke, digging in his overnight bag and pulling out a bra. "Now all of a sudden I have to wear this?"

"I feel like it will just make things worse," Kuwabara added.

"And while I could probably figure out how to put on the ones I've got, I would prefer not to have to wear lingerie that's so…suggestive," Kurama finished matter-of-factly. Hiei saw the slight blush in his friend's cheeks when he said the last word, but he didn't think anyone else did. Yusuke, however, was blushing much more overtly, and Hiei couldn't help but suspect that he was picturing what sort of undergarments might be in Kurama's drawers right now. In fact…Yusuke hadn't been looking right at Kurama the entire time they had been here. Could it be that he was attracted to Kurama's new female form? It seemed weird to Hiei, so he tried not to think too hard about it.

Instead, he couldn't help but think that he definitely had worse problems than the other three. Sure, maybe he didn't have to wear a bra, but the tea Kurama's mother gave him didn't seem to be helping. He still had abdominal cramps, there was some additional soreness in his back, and he was starting to get a headache. But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that he was both physically and emotionally vulnerable, not only because he was in a new body, but because that new body was doing something he had never experienced before, something that made him feel weak and in pain. And even though Shizuru probably knew how he was feeling, he still couldn't bring himself to tell her about it. He didn't want everyone else to think he was weak and vulnerable, too.

"Hiei is the lucky one," said Kuwabara, gesturing to Hiei. It was almost as if he was on cue. "Except his hair, nothing's really changed for him at all."

"HEY, DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Hiei screamed at him, springing up on the couch, just as another wave of menstrual pain coursed through his stomach.

"What's going on here?" Shizuru demanded, stepping in between them.

"Your brother is the most insufferable idiot it has ever been my misfortune to know!" Hiei declared, trying to fight back tears that suddenly sprung to his eyes. What the hell?

"Hiei, he doesn't know, remember?" Kurama said softly, setting one hand on Hiei's shoulder, but Hiei shook it off.

"Doesn't know what?" said Shizuru. "I mean, I'm used to Kazuma not knowing things, but…"

"Why do you have to be so mean, sis?" Kuwabara said back, sounding hurt.

"You must be even softer than I thought," Hiei told him, "because I think your sister was putting it nicely."

"Hey, is it just me, or is Hiei's attitude even worse than usual?" said Yusuke to no one in particular.

"Look." Kurama stood up and looked around the room. "None of us are enjoying this. It doesn't matter what's changed and what hasn't. Let's just all stop fighting and listen to what Shizuru has to say."

"Whatever," said Hiei, and he buried his head in his arms. He was trying to hide how he felt, but he was sure he was failing miserably at it.

"Kurama's right that being a girl will take some getting used to, even if you don't need to wear a bra," said Shizuru. "But if you want, I can go and pick up some sports bras for you guys. They're less girly, easier to put on, and they'll keep you from bouncing all over the place."

Yusuke blushed again, and despite his discomfort, Hiei couldn't help but smirk. Kurama's bathrobe wasn't really doing the best job of covering him up on top. Everyone else still looked glum, though. Shizuru sighed and ran her hand through her long hair.

"Tell you what," she said. "I'm kind of an aspiring hairdresser, and I can give you all haircuts. Would that make you feel a little better?"

"Yes, please," Kuwabara answered, tugging at his hair. "These curls are everywhere."

Yusuke's hair wasn't much different, just shoulder-length now, and with bangs that fell in his face. But Kuwabara's hair was a gigantic mess of ginger curls, and Hiei was not a fan of his own long hair.

"Good," said Shizuru. "Now, I'll need your sizes before I can get anything that will fit."

"You really don't need to do this, Shizuru," Kurama began.

"Yes, I do," she said. "It's for my brother and his friends. You can pay me back whenever you want. But like I said, I'll need your sizes."

"I probably have bras in my room, if my stuff changed, too," said Kuwabara. "Urameshi has his here."

"Hiei?" said Kurama. "Would you be willing to run home for me and get one of my bras? I left some forgetfulness pollen around my room, so my mom won't come in. But if you go in through the window, the way we left, you should be all right."

At first, Hiei was going to say no, but Kurama looked so hopeful, and besides, they were partners. Kurama definitely would have done the same for him. How could he say no?

"Yeah, I will," he grumbled. "But I might be a little slower than usual."

"Of course," said Kurama, and Hiei left.

…

"Why would he be any slower than usual?" Yusuke asked Kurama. "I mean, yeah, nobody loves this, like you said. But it kind of seemed like he overreacted to what Kuwabara said."

"You know how Hiei is," said Kurama dismissively. "If you really want to know, ask him."

"Yeah, like that will work." Yusuke leaned back against the couch and turned on the TV. "Thanks for helping us, though, Shizuru."

"Well, I've always wanted sisters," she joked.

Kurama wondered if maybe he shouldn't have left the tea-making up to his mother. She was good at making tea, but come to think of it, he didn't think he'd specified that she should make raspberry tea. There were others that might do the trick, like chamomile, but…no, Kurama knew he should have made it himself.

"Shizuru," he said. "Do you happen to have any raspberry tea leaves?"

"Raspberry tea leaves?" Yusuke repeated, turning his head around so fast Kurama was afraid he'd get whiplash. "Isn't that what you give Keiko when she…" Kurama watched as Yusuke's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, my God. Maybe I don't have it so bad after all."

"But I guess that explains it," said Shizuru, who had apparently been listening. "We don't have any tea leaves, but I can totally pick some up when I'm out."

"No, that's all right, you've done enough," Kurama told her, standing up. "I'll head back to my house and bring the tea over when I'm done brewing."

"Does Hiei need anything else?"

"No, my mother helped him out," Kurama replied. "So the bras will be enough. Again, thank you so much for all of this."

"Oh, my God," Yusuke said again.

"Yusuke, please don't talk to him about it," Kurama pleaded. "It's been very rough on him, and we don't need to irritate him any more than we already have."

"Oh, believe me, I'm not going to mention it," said Yusuke, turning towards the TV again. "I kind of want to live."

"I'm not going to be talking to him at all," Kuwabara added. "But I don't think he had to take it out on me."

"Again, find something else to talk about," Kurama repeated, just in time for Hiei to walk through the doorway with one of Kurama's lacy bras dangling from his hand. Kurama saw Yusuke's face go so red all of a sudden that it looked like he had a fever. Maybe he'd never seen that kind of bra in person before, but still…Kurama shut his eyes and sighed. You couldn't blame a straight fourteen-year-old boy for being at least a little interested in that sort of thing, he supposed, but Kurama had made it clear that he didn't want to be wearing something that…feminine.

"The tag says 34DD," Hiei announced. "Whatever the hell that means."

"It's pretty simple," Shizuru told him. "The number is the circumference of your torso, and the letter indicates the cup size—you know, how big your boobs are, with A being the smallest."

"Mine says 32A," Yusuke observed.

"I've got 38B," Kuwabara added.

"And apparently Kurama is a double-D," Shizuru finished. "All right. If nobody needs anything else, I'll be off."

"I will too," said Kurama, as she headed out the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Hiei asked him.

"Oh, I just forgot something at home," Kurama replied, since he didn't want to bring up the topic of the tea. "See you in a bit."

…

Hiei skulked back to the couch, barely caring what either Shizuru or Kurama were doing, when he noticed that Yusuke and Kuwabara both seemed to be unusually quiet—and they wouldn't even look at him. Normally, he wouldn't have minded that at all, but their behavior had changed so much that he couldn't help but be curious.

"What's the matter with you two?" he demanded.

"Um, nothing," said Yusuke, and he pointed at the TV. Upon closer examination, Hiei could see that it was showing an allergy medicine commercial, for people who were allergic to pets, featuring a woman rolling around in the grass, surrounded by puppies and kittens. "Isn't that adorable?"

"I'm not Kuwabara," Hiei told him harshly. "What are you watching, anyway?"

"It's a crime drama, dubbed from an English-speaking country," Yusuke answered, looking excited all of a sudden. "This one is really getting good. Some guy got killed, and his baby got kidnapped, and the police are trying to find out who did it."

Now Hiei was a little interested, too. "How did they kill him?"

"They beat him to death with a frying pan, which apparently belongs to his wife, the baby's mother."

"So she did it, then?"

"Do you want me to spoil it for you?" Yusuke grinned. "You'd think, but these shows always have some kind of twist. Usually they introduce a new character that changes everyth—ooh, it's back on! This is the interrogation part."

The police were interviewing a very seedy-looking man in an interrogation room.

"So, did Mrs. Sherman's dead husband know that the two of you were having an affair, Mr. Collins?" one of the police officers, a handsome young man, asked.

"No," said Mr. Collins, who seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

"And were you the one who kidnapped the three-month-old baby?"

"I-I didn't kidnap him." Mr. Collins had tears in his eyes. "You can't kidnap your own kid!"

Hiei gasped, but Yusuke said, "Duh."

"Yes, that's right!" Mr. Collins declared, tears now streaming down his face. "That baby is my son! The lovechild of our affair!"

"You might as well come clean, then," said the female officer.

"We planned it together," Mr. Collins sobbed. "Helen always knew John wasn't the father, but for many months she told him it was his and pretended she cared about him…but I was the one she truly wanted…so we decided we would just kill John and live together forever! So I beat him to death with the frying pan John got Helen for her birthday, while Helen held him down!"

"Hmm," said Hiei, impressed. "I didn't know humans could be so…brutal."

"I guess some of us can," Yusuke told him. "Why?"

"Let's just say they did it the demon way," Hiei told him in a satisfied sort of voice. "Killing John would get him out of the way, leaving Helen and Mr. Collins to raise their child. Simple."

"It's not simple! What about John?"

"In Makai, the strongest man wins," Hiei told him darkly. "That's all that really matters. John obviously wasn't very strong, if he could be killed by a mere frying pan. Mr. Collins just has to be the strongest one now, that's all."

"I imagine demon crime dramas can't be very nice," said Yusuke, turning back to watch the TV again. The scene cut to a room containing a woman, who Hiei figured must be Helen, because she was holding a very small human infant. Mr. Collins and the police officers stepped in.

"The jig's up, Helen," said the female cop. "Mr. Collins confessed."

"Bill!" Helen shouted, and the baby stirred. "How could you!"

"Forgive me, darling!" Mr. Collins cried. "But you don't know these cops! They'll get anything out of anyone!"

"But what will become of little Henry?" Helen suddenly burst into tears. "Who will raise him? How will he remember his mother?"

"You should have thought about that before you killed your husband, Helen," said the female officer. "Turn around and put your hands behind your back…"

Hiei blinked. "They're going to take Henry away from her?"

"Well…what else are they supposed to do?" said Yusuke. "Babies can't go to jail."

"So why is it wrong to kill John, but not wrong to take Henry away from his mom?" Hiei demanded. Sometimes the human world didn't make any sense to him at all. "Who says they can do that?"

"The law says they can do that, Hiei."

"Who cares about the law?!" Hiei was feeling irritated again. Of course, he was familiar with how cases like these worked in Makai, and he didn't think he liked the way they handled things in Ningenkai. But Yusuke suddenly looked really pale.

"Uh…okay, Hiei, you're right," he said, holding his hands up, as if in surrender. "They should have killed John, and Helen should get to keep Henry. Happy?"

But Hiei couldn't answer. All he could do was watch Helen cry. The truth was, she reminded him for all the world of his mother, when he had been taken away. Normally he would have been able to handle something like that, because he would just stuff his feelings down. But today they were already so close to the surface, and he felt tears in his eyes no matter how hard he tried to fight them. And since he didn't want to have a mood swing, he was angry that he was having one, so it was anger on top of sadness, and for crying out loud, there was only so much one demon could take.

"You…you okay, man?" said Yusuke faintly.

"You're an idiot," Hiei accused, pointing at him, and headed for the kitchen, which he left through the backdoor, and then he stalked through the grass outside, going nowhere, anywhere. Then he bumped into something very solid; there was a yelp, a crash, and both of them ended up on the ground.

"Hiei?" said Kurama in surprise.

"What is this?" Hiei stood up and looked around him. Kurama had fallen onto the ground. Near his right hand, Hiei could see a broken teacup, its former contents pooling onto the grass; a few cookies; and one smashed little plate, which matched the teacup.

"It's raspberry tea," said Kurama, getting to his feet and brushing himself off. "I don't think my mother made you the right one, so I made this myself. My mom had some cookies in the fridge, too. I know it's spilled, so I can make more, if you want."

"No…no, don't do that." Hiei was horrified to feel tears in his eyes yet again, but this time he couldn't feel angry about it. He couldn't believe Kurama had done something so nice for him. But Hiei had messed it all up, as usual, and he knew that however much the tea would have helped, he couldn't possibly ask Kurama to go home and start all over. "Don't make any more."

"I'm sorry, Hiei," said Kurama. "Did I just make it worse?"

"No," Hiei said again, frustrated. Sometimes it seemed like nobody ever understood what he was trying to say. "I just…I don't want to talk, okay?"

"Okay," said Kurama, giving Hiei a smile, and Hiei was relieved that he wasn't angry. "But please just let me make more tea. You deserve to feel better."

"Fine," Hiei mumbled, and he headed back to Kuwabara's living room.