Yukina smiled as the little squirrel paused for a moment on its travel up the tree to prattle a quick greeting to her. It then
scampered up the remaining height of the trunk and disappeared into the leaves.

A slight breeze stirred her hair, giving her a slight relief from the unusually hot spring day. She turned her attention towards the
temple, her eyes falling on the group gathered at the base of the steps.

There was Yuusuke-san, being as boisterous as ever; Kazuma-san, always trying to best Yuusuke at everything, even if the
question was who was noisier; Kurama-san, talking to Keiko-san, who was fanning herself with a folded piece of paper;
Shizuru-san, smoking a cigarette and ignoring her brother and Yuusuke; Botan-san, trying to keep Koenma-sama, who was in
baby form, entertained; and Puu, sleeping off to the side and not having a care in the world.

Atsuko-san, Yuusuke's mother, wasn't there, but she didn't usually join them when they went out. But there was one other
person missing as well…

"Hiei-san?" Yukina asked as she turned around. She hadn't heard his approach, but sensed him coming closer.

Hiei, still dressed in black, though he was wearing a sleeveless black top instead of his dark cloak, jumped down from the trees
and landed soundlessly in front of her.

Hiei couldn't help but feel a little panicked at the fact that Yukina knew he was there, even though he made sure she wouldn't
hear him. Most likely there was some kind of connection between them that gave her that ability; they were twins, after all. That
fact disturbed him; what if Yukina eventually were to find out Hiei was the brother she had been looking for? And that he had
been lying to her about his identity? Would she forgive him?

"Hiei-san," Yukina began hesitantly. Hiei knew what she was going to ask; it was the same question she asked whenever she
had the chance to speak to him privately.

At the last minute Yukina changed her mind. "Are you coming with us to our picnic?" she asked instead.

Hiei blinked, taken slightly off-guard by her unexpected query. "I suppose so," he answered in a tone that implied he was going
out of his way to spend time with Yuusuke and his friends. Yukina smiled, not believing he felt that way at all.

"That's good," she murmured. She looked down for a few seconds, then raised her head again. "Have you found my brother?"

Hiei glanced away from the group and from Yukina. He couldn't bear to see her disappointment as he lied to her yet again.
"No." He began to walk towards the group.

Yukina felt her heart drop, like it always did when Hiei lied to her. She knew for a fact that Hiei had some kind of information
about her twin, but for some reason wouldn't give it to her.

Summoning up all her courage, she stammered out, "I think you're lying."

Hiei froze in midstep, a strangled squeak coming out of him. He turned his head slowly.

Yukina stepped back, expecting Hiei to be furious. She had seen what he could do with his powers, that black dragon of his,
and she hoped desperately he wasn't about to use it on her.

"Gomen ne, Hiei-san," she apologized profusely, bowing her head. "I didn't mean it…"

Raising her eyes timidly, she saw with some relief that he wasn't angry at all. In fact, his eyes held surprise, which she expected.
What she didn't expect was the pain she saw as well.

"Hiei-san," Yukina breathed, stepping towards him. This time it was Hiei who stepped back.

"Why do you think that?" he asked quietly. He frowned slightly. "That I would lie to you about your brother?"

Yukina took a deep breath. He was just asking her questions, that was all. No black dragons anywhere. Yet.

"I see it. In your eyes," she replied, giving Hiei a stare that he thought would open him up and expose all his secrets to her in a
second. "I think you're trying to protect me. From what?"

Hiei shook his head, trying to regain control of himself. "It's not like that at all," he muttered in his deep voice. "You're insane."

"Am I?" Hiei's twin challenged. Her voice trembled and broke on the last word, revealing how difficult it was for her to stand up
to him.

Hiei turned his head, trying not to show the pain he was feeling. Pain was weakness, after all. How could he even think of telling
Yukina who he really was, when it was obvious he scared the hell out of her? She could never love him if she was frightened of
him.

"Is my brother in trouble?" Yukina persisted, her excitement increasing. "Does he not want you to tell me where he is, so that I
won't be in danger?"

Hiei clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. Yukina knew she had done it. She had made him unbelievably angry and he was
going to hit her or release his black dragon. But why would her questions make him so mad? It was her brother they were
talking about, after all. If anything, she should have been angry that Hiei hadn't found him yet!

But she knew that would never happen. Whether he was lying to her or not, he was on her side. She would always remember
that and never have the ability to be angry at him. More than that, she didn't believe she had the right to be angry.

"Are you mad at me, Hiei-san?" she whispered, all her courage diminished.

Hiei raised his head and looked at her. He had a crooked smile on his face, so slight Yukina had to look for it in order to see it,
telling her that he was amused by her question. He approached her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. He wasn't
even a full head taller than her, she noticed.

"Yukina," he said, his voice and his eyes directed at her with all the tenderness he could possibly muster, "I could never be mad
at you."

If anything, Hiei was mad at himself. Maybe, if he had never existed, he could have saved a lot of suffering for a lot of people.
There was his mother, who was forced to abandon one of her children. There was Yukina, incessantly searching but never able
to find the twin brother she wanted so badly to meet. There was Kuwabara, frustrated that the only barrier between him and
Yukina was Hiei himself. There was Keiko, whom he had kidnapped, and Yuusuke, who had to come rescue her. Hell, there
was even Kurama--Hiei saw how Kurama looked at him when he thought no one was looking!

And then there was himself. He wouldn't have suffered the hard childhood he had. He wouldn't have to lie to the sweet,
innocent girl standing right in front of him.

Yukina reached up and brushed his cheek with her fingertips. She noticed a bruise on the cheekbone, probably received from a
fight he had gotten into at some time or another in the past week.

"Hiei-san, you drifted off. Are you all right?" she inquired.

Hiei's eyes finally focused again, and he turned their gaze to Yukina. Her eyes were so big and so trusting, and they were
looking at him.

His mouth opened involuntarily, ready to tell her everything. Yukina broke into a hopeful smile.

"I'm right?" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "You've found my brother?"

Hiei couldn't tell her the truth. Not the entire one, anyway. He didn't want to disappoint her. And he knew he would be a huge
disappointment to her. He wouldn't be good enough to be called her brother.

"…Yes," he finally managed to say.

Yukina hopped away from him, clapping her hands together. "Is he here? Is he all right?"

"He's…" Hiei hesitated. "I can't take you to him."

Yukina visibly deflated. "But… why not?"

"He's in trouble."

"Then I can help him!" she argued. "I have to see him, Hiei-san! Please, I've missed knowing him for so long…"

"No." Hiei was more emphatic this time. "It's not possible."

"Why not?" Yukina demanded.

"Because."

"Hiei-san, please." Yukina grabbed two fistfuls of his sleeveless black shirt. "You don't understand how important this is to me.
You don't know how it feels to know there's another half of you somewhere out there, but you can't reach that person, and the
pain tears you apart. Hiei-san, you don't understand what I'm going through."

He understood all too well. "I can't do it," he said, as much to her as to himself, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest
with anxiety.

"Hiei-san, why not?" Yukina's voice had risen to as close to a yell as she could, which wasn't very loud or harsh.

"Because it's not so easy!" Hiei burst out. Yukina halted, startled. Hiei had never yelled at her before!

"Hiei-san…" Why did she have the feeling that he was more personally involved in this than he was letting on?

"Don't you understand?" he shouted. He cursed himself silently. He was going to lie to her again. "Your brother doesn't want
you! That's why I'm not taking you to him! He doesn't want you!"

In his heated passion he struck a nearby tree, all his pain and frustration behind the blow. Yukina screamed.

The group near Genkai's temple stopped talking immediately. Kurama and Kuwabara jumped to their feet.

"Hiei!" Kurama yelled questioningly. What had happened to make him blow up at Yukina like that? Had he finally told her? Did
she not want him for a brother?

"Yukina-san!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "What the hell did you do to her, Hiei?"

Hiei yanked his fist out from the center of the trunk. It was badly cut and bleeding profusely.

"It's none of your damn business," Hiei retorted. He glared at Kurama too, to show him that the remark was directed to not just
Kuwabara.

"Hiei-san, you're hurt." Yukina stepped up to examine his hand.

Hiei roughly jerked it away from her. "It's fine," he snapped. "It looks worse than it is."

Kurama had returned to the group and gotten a water bottle and cloth napkin from the picnic basket. He saturated the napkin
and began cleaning the blood from Hiei's hand.

"Hiei's right," Kurama told Yukina gently. "The cuts have almost stopped bleeding." He used his power to pull up the splinters
from below the skin, which caused the wounds to bleed a little heavier, but that was better than having wood in the skin.

Hiei had his head turned away from Yukina and towards Kurama the entire time, not wanting to see Yukina's face. He had tried
to tell her the truth, and look what he had done. He had caused her more grief.

Why couldn't he do anything right?

Kurama took this opportunity to examine Hiei's face and tried to figure out what had happened. Hiei finally met his eyes, albeit
reluctantly, and Kurama locked his gaze with him.

Hiei looked almost like a lost child. His eyes were swimming with anguish and he looked like he was going to cry at any
moment.

What happened? Kurama wanted to ask Hiei, but couldn't, not with Yukina and Kuwabara still there.

Hiei grew uncomfortable under Kurama's piercing yet concerned green eyes. Didn't Kurama know he didn't deserve that kind
of attention? That kind of concern? That kind of--

"Kuwabara-kun," Kurama called, interrupting Hiei's train of thought. "Could you maybe take Yukina-chan back to the others?"

Kuwabara, who had been comforting Yukina and calming her down, was ready to obey.

"That's all right, Kazuma-san," Yukina said. "I need to--"

"I have to--" Hiei began at the same time.

Kurama stared back and forth between the two of them, then nodded. He signaled for Kuwabara to follow him as he headed
back to the waiting group.

Kuwabara resisted at first, not wanting to leave Yukina alone with Hiei again, but Hiei's glare and Yukina's pleading look
convinced him to go with Kurama.

When they were alone, Hiei lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Yukina," he mumbled.

"That's all right, Hiei-san."

"No, it's not." Hiei sighed angrily at himself. "I had no right to yell at you like that. You miss your brother. That's all.

"And I shouldn't have lied to you," he went on. "The truth is, your brother does want to see you. Very badly."

"But?" Yukina prodded gently.

Hiei hesitated for a moment. "I think…" he began slowly. "I think he doesn't think he's good enough for you."

Yukina blinked. "I don't care if he has three heads and lives on another planet!" she cried softly. Hiei managed to break into a
genuine, full smile. "He's my brother. I'll love him no matter what."

Hiei wondered if she would say the same things if she knew who she was talking about.

"Unless it turned out to be Kazuma-san," she continued after a thoughtful pause. Hiei started, eyes wide. "It would be very
awkward if he were my brother." She laughed.

Hiei studied her, his eyes softening. Looking at his sister, he saw how she really felt about that overbearing oaf. Maybe
Kuwabara wasn't so bad after all, if Yukina really liked him.

"It's not Kuwabara," he told her, his full smile gone but a crooked half-one in its place.

"Thank goodness." Yukina smiled knowingly at him, as if they now shared a big secret. "You're still staying for lunch, aren't
you?"

Hiei shook his head, looking over at Kurama and the others. "I thought I'd talk to your brother… Try to convince him he's not
as bad as he thinks."

"I hope you do," Yukina said.

Hiei took one last look at her and shot away.