"...and if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you!!"
With that sudden display of reasoning spat in her collective brothers' faces, Rami stormed out of the tree house in a veil of tears. She shoved past the shorter of her two fathers, practically knocking Hiei over as he came inside the dwelling (she was almost as tall as he was).
"What the...what did you guys say to Rami-chan this time to get her so upset?" the ruby-eyed Koorime asked angrily, noting that this wasn't the first time this had happened. He placed his katana against the door frame and removed his cloak. Yoji and Ryu shrugged their shoulders, truly being at a loss for a clear explanation.
"We just asked her what was bothering her today, that's all," Ryu said honestly, scratching his head at his imouto's recent spell of strange behavior. "We were being nice and everything, and then she just...exPLOded." Yoji looked up from the mat where they had been playing and stared at Hiei.
"It's like, everything you say she argues and says the opposite. If I'm warm, she's cold. Yesterday she liked boys, today we're scum." Hiei smirked, sitting down to join his sons in a game of Makai dice.
"Girls sure are weird," Ryu observed.
"Yeah," Yoji muttered under his breath with a nod.
"Well, just give her a little space. She'll figure out what's going on," Hiei explained as if he had a clue. Kurama returned at that moment with Hi in tow. They had been to the Makai market to barter for some dinner. Normally Rami went with Kurama - she liked the silk vendor's son - but today she said she 'wasn't in the mood.'
"Oi, what's with Rami-chan?" the youko asked, putting the fresh vegetables in a steamer over the fire. Hi joined the males on the floor, leaning against Hiei, who was winning this round. "Why was she crying?" Kurama brushed his hands on his trouser legs. "Were you guys teasing her again?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips.
"Iie. Not this time," Ryu said defensively. "We were just talking about that ugly guy Rami-chan likes in the market and how we saw him kissing the brass vendor's daughter, and she started to cry." He tossed the dice, then made a face when a losing set of numbers rolled up. "Yoji and I asked her what was the matter, and she said 'if you don't know...'"
"'...then I'm not going to tell you,'" Kurama chorused in with Ryu.
"Yeah, that's what she said."
Yoji looked over at his kitsune touchan. "What's the matter with her anyway? Why is she acting so strange?" Hiei rolled the dice. Double fives. The little fire demon snickered as he handed the dice to Yoji with a smirk. "I'm still ahead," Hiei gloated softly. Yoji rolled the dice around in his hands absent-mindedly.
"How come she's always brushing her mane and her tail?" Ryu asked.
"And how come every few weeks all she wants to do is eat that yucky, salty sea-grass? It's, like, totally gross." Kurama sat down to join the boys and pulled Rami's twin into his lap. Hi half-heartedly protested, but then settled on the comfortable seat. He felt he was too old to sit in his touchan's lap anymore but it was better than the hard floor.
Yoji agreed. "Yeah, how come?"
Kurama squinted at his life-partner, who had rolled a double six after Yoji had rolled a 'lousy' nine. Hiei frowned with a tilt of his head. Then the youko slowly began to smile. He bit his lip with a slight blush.
"You don't think..." he began softly, studying Hiei's confused expression. "You don't think she's coming into heat, do you?"
"Heat? What's heat?" Ryu asked, totally confused. Hiei raised a thin black eyebrow.
"Oh, Gods," he mumbled.
"Heat, stupid," Yoji exclaimed, somewhat incorrectly. "You know, like when you get hot."
"I think Rami-chan and I should visit Aunt Yukina tomorrow, ne?" Kurama chuckled, moving Hi off his legs, rising to stir the vegetables. "I think it's time we spoke to another female about this."
"About what?" Ryu asked, suddenly much more interested in the conversation about his sister than in the dice game he was losing.
"Oh, just about the changes that Rami-chan is going through," the youko replied, giving the vegetables a touch, checking for doneness. "Kitsune girls go through some kinds of changes that boys don't, that's all. She'll be fine."
"I hope so!" Hi chimed in. "Last night she bopped me on the head while I was sleeping." He got up and helped Kurama set out dinner bowls.
"Why'd she do that, Hi-kun?" Kurama asked with a frown, putting some vegetables into a bowl.
"She said I was breathing too loud."
Hiei snorted, trying to hide a chuckle, and shook his head. "Good thing it was just Wuzzy and not touchan's katana!" Hi observed, rubbing the spot where his sister had bopped him.
"Do you think Aunt Yukina can fix her?" Hi asked sincerely. Kurama smiled and patted his youngest son on the top of his head.
"I have a feeling Aunt Yukina will know just what the problem is," Kurama assured him. "I'll go get Rami-chan. I think I know where she hides. Now c'mon, you guys go ahead and start without us."
The next day, Rami and Kurama returned from their Ningenkai excursion. Rami was beaming as she carried a huge bouquet in one hand and held her silver-haired touchan's hand in the other. The blossoming female youkai seemed to glow as she stood on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Arigatou, touchan!" she said sweetly, and went to put the flowers in water. The brothers all looked at Kurama, then at Hiei.
"Why'd you give her flowers, touchan?" Yoji asked, his eyes following his humming sister as she happily left to find a container for the lovely gift from her touchan.
"You'll find out soon enough that girls love to get flowers," Kurama said with a wink. He leaned against the entrance staircase and folded his arm across his chest with a sigh. Yoji scrunched up his face, very doubtful. Though he did remember that the apple vendor's daughter did like flowers...
"So is she gonna' get hot anymore?" Ryu asked.
"Nani?" Kurama asked, eyebrows suddenly rising.
"Hot. You know. You said she was gonna' get hot."
"Heat, Ryu. It's called 'heat.' And yes, this will happen once in awhile so we just have to be patient and understanding when Rami-chan gets...well, gets 'moody.'"
"Yeah," Hiei agreed, "and we'll have to hide all the daggers and katana, too." Kurama glared a golden eye at his husband.
"Now, Hiei. Try to be understanding. She is our only girl."
"Will *I* ever go into heat, touchan?" Hi asked, tugging at Kurama's tail.
"If you're anything like your touchan, you'll be in heat all the time," Hiei mumbled. Kurama snorted a surprised chuckle.
"Hey," he remarked, "I haven't heard any complaints about that, y'know," he smiled seductively at his favorite youkai. "Actually, Hi, boys go through changes of their own. I'm sure Hiei-touchan will be more than happy to explain that to you." Then Kurama clapped his hands. "Okay, everyone outside for target practice." The boys cheered at the opportunity to go kill something and scrambled out of the dwelling in a blur. The youko grinned at the Koorime.
"Ah, koibito, they're growing up, ne?"
"What the hell am I supposed to teach them, fox? I still don't know what @#$%-ing changes boys go through." Kurama led Hiei to the door, rubbing the back of his neck affectionately.
"Well, I tell you what, koibito," the kitsune rested his arms on Hiei's shoulders. "I'll teach you and then you'll teach them." He kissed Hiei lightly on the nose.
"I don't know," Hiei squinted up at his mate. "Do you think that's safe?"
Kurama rubbed his nose against Hiei's, causing the Koorime to cross his eyes. "Hai, perfectly. And then their mates will be the happiest creatures in all the worlds."
"Baka," Hiei muttered with half a smile. He then turned to go help his sons find targets.
Kurama sighed as he watched Rami happily hum while she arranged her flowers in a beautiful vase that he had stolen a few months ago. Yes, the kits were growing up quickly.
The End
Copyright 2/3/99 Julie Farel
Yuu Yuu Hakusho is the property of Togashi Yoshihiro, Jump Comics, and Studio Pierrot. The characters Yoji, Ryu, Rami and Hi were created by Julie, who feels if they had chocolate-covered potato chips in the Makai then Rami-chan would be just fine.