Disclaimer: (insert disclaimer here….I especially like the ones that make use of a quote!)

A/N: I could not resist. Well, Technically I could, but I didn't. So there.

On a Short Note

My Dear Sister… That ruined the point of the letter. Dear Yukina… No, that sounded silly, coming from him. Hiei crumpled up the tenth draft of his letter and threw it into the overflowing trashbin halfway across the small hotel room. Who knew that disclosing long-lost sibling-hood could be so hard?

It had all started out a month ago with the invitation. Yusuke's blue whatever had brought it to him, announcing a get-together at a fancy hotel in Tokyo… in other words, a reunion. After due consideration, he had tossed the note into the air and cut it up into twenty-seven equal pieces. Then, he had sent the spirit beast away, figuring that that would discourage more letters. It hadn't.

About a week later, the spirit beast had returned, burdened with another invitation, this one sporting a sloppy threat at the bottom, courtesy of Yusuke. He had considered this one a great deal longer as he ripped it into a hundred pieces of confetti and then proceeded to incinerate each piece. After that, he had expected them to just leave him alone.

But, of course, they hadn't. They never did. A little more than a week after he had …disposed of the invitation, he heard the single sound he had hoped never again to hear in his lifetime. The whistle. It shrieked and wailed and, after about thirty seconds of truly Herculean effort to ignore the damn thing, he decided that it might just be better to go and see what they wanted. Or kill them all. Either way worked.

It was predictable. It was a reunion and, as Yusuke had so predictably pointed out, the prominent part of the word 'reunion' was 'union', meaning that everyone had to be there and everyone included him.

In fact, the entire reunion was predictable. After checking into the hotel (which was rather small for a fancy hotel…but, then again, it was Tokyo), Yusuke and Kurama had insisted on a big dinner with a big table…with everyone. Hiei didn't know which idiot had done the seating arrangements, but somehow he'd ended up sandwiched between Kuwabara and Yusuke. It was quite annoying, what with them both throwing short jokes over his head. With ordinary people, he would have killed them, but with Yusuke and Kuwabara, not to mention the others in the room, there was a distinct chance he wouldn't come out on top in a fight. Not a very big chance, he had corrected himself, but big enough to make him think twice about a confrontation. But, the worst was still yet to come.

Half-way through dinner, Kuwabara stood up and Yusuke attempted to bang his knife on his glass to call for silence. 'Attempted' would be the only proper word as the glass exploded on the first hit. It got the appropriate response: a hush swept over the room as Kuwabara began to speak:

"Well…uh…guys, you're probably wondering why we're all here," he blushed a bit, "Well, uh…uh…"

"Get on with it!" shouted Yusuke.

Kuwabara stuttered for a bit before blurting out, "Well, I asked Yukina and she said yes and so Yukina an' me are gettin' married!"

The resulting applause was cut short as Hiei, infuriated, stood up sharply and left the room. The only sound as he left was Yukina's plaintive "Why is Mr. Hiei so angry?"

Now he sat locked in his room, avoiding the scheduled beach visit, trying to write this stupid letter. Hell, he hadn't even gotten past the introduction. Dearest Yukina? Too phony. To whom it may concern? Too impersonal. Hiei was suddenly reminded why he hadn't tried this before.

Then, inspiration struck. He'd just leave off the beginning. Humans did it all the time. He began to write again.

Yukina,

I am your brother.

For a second, Hiei toyed with the idea of writing a short explanation, but discarded it as unnecessary. Quickly, he signed his name, reread it to check for spelling errors (there weren't any), and scribbled out his name. She'd know who it was from. Probably.

Then, there was a knock on his door. He stuffed the letter into the cheap hotel binder, snatched up his katana, unlocked the door, and quickly sat on his bed where he pretended to be in the middle of polishing his weapon.

"Come in," he said impatiently.

It was Kuwabaka.

"What do you want?" Hiei asked coldly. He was not in the mood for this.

Kuwabara looked puzzled for a moment before blurting out, "What do you have against me and Yukina?"

"Hn," Hiei snorted. He'd forgotten that the half-wit still didn't know.

"And why are you polishing your sword with a pen?"

Hiei looked down. He was indeed sliding a pen up and down his priceless katana. This was not like him. He threw the pen across the room, where it stuck, quivering, in the wall, and then proceeded to push Kuwabara out of the room: a difficult task given his size and reluctance to be pushed anywhere. Finally, through sheer force of will, Hiei completed the task, locking the door on the still-protesting Kuwabara. Then there was an unnatural silence. It didn't take Hiei long to figure out why.

The binder had been pushed off the table during the struggle. After sifting through the scattered restaurant lists and hotel service pages that usually populate such binders, one thing became clear. The letter wasn't there.

At that moment, another, more timid knock sounded at the door. Hiei already knew what he'd find. He opened the door.

Kuwabara stood, looking sheepish, the letter clutched in his hands.

"Uh…Hiei…"

Hiei snatched the letter from him and, glaring at Kuwabara, ripped it up into little pieces. Both human and demon watched in silence as they fluttered to the ground.

"Get out."

But Kuwabara wouldn't leave.

"You're really Yukina's brother?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hn."

"Then, Hiei," Kuwabara started, "Can I marry Yukina?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because at midnight every night, she turns into a giant man-eating asparagusthat, when eaten, turns your neighbor's dog into an elephant." he replied.

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"I don't know, actually, it sounds kind of fun…"

This is what would have happened if Hiei were a joker and Kuwabara liked asparagus in a sick, slightly disturbing way. As it was, Hiei said nothing about the asparagus and Kuwabara did not open our eyes to a disturbing interior that would cause us to doubt his sanity. Or sexual orientation. Heading back to the story:

"Then, Hiei," Kuwabara started, "Can I marry Yukina?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I have a strong objection to my relatives marrying idiots."

Kuwabara glared at Hiei, "Maybe I oughtta…"

Hiei glared back.

"Maybe I don't have to ask permission from a little pipsqueak like you. Maybe I should just ask Yukina what she thinks…"

"No!" Hiei cursed the little urgency that had crept, unnoticed, into his voice. He really wasn't himself today.

Kuwabara made the connection a lot faster than Hiei expected him to. "You haven't told her?" he asked.

Hiei didn't answer.

"You know," he started, "you really aren't going the right way about this."

Hiei shot him a look. Kuwabara continued, apparently oblivious to the mental death threats he was receiving.

"Girls prefer to be told important things like this in person. Letters and phone calls are just too impersonal."

"And I suppose you've gathered this from your wide range of experience," Hiei cut in sarcastically.

"Hey, I have a sister… I know what girls like," replied Kuwabara, "If you're going to tell her, you should talk to her."

Hiei stayed silent. He'd almost reconciled himself to sending an unsigned letter and quietly disappearing afterwards as a means of explanation. Maybe in a few thousand years, he'd be ready for the face-to-face confrontation.

He gathered up his cloak and katana and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Kuwabara.

"Back to Makai."

"But you can't," Kuwabara half-pleaded, "You should tell Yukina. You owe it to her for everything you've done so far… Besides," Kuwabara poked Hiei teasingly on the shoulder, "you don't want to be a chicken."

Hiei put on his cloak. Then after a moment's hesitation, he tossed his katana on the bed and walked out of the room. Kuwabara quickly caught up. On the short trip to Yukina's room, Kuwabara was as talkative as ever, giving Hiei tips and advice on small talk, posture, and other such behavior. Hiei ignored him quietly and tried to steel himself for what he was about to do. Hell, he'd killed all sorts of monsters, gone up against supposedly impossible odds and helped save the world multiple times, but he was shaking at the thought of a five minute conversation with his sister. He fervently wished for an invincible being to appear. None did.

What did appear was the door to Yukina's room. Kuwabara knocked on the door and called out, "Hey, Yukina! It's me! And I've got someone who wants to see you!"

Then, he whispered to Hiei, "Smile!"

Hiei attempted a smile. He hoped it looked alright—he hadn't thought to practice smiling.

After a moment, the door opened and Yukina looked momentarily confused

"Mr. Hiei?"

She glanced quizzically at Kuwabara, who, in turn, pretended to look at his watch.

"Oh…uh…gotta go!" he said theatrically slapping his forehead, "I have a ….a haircut! ….that I ….need to go to! Bye!"

He walked-half-ran down the corridor, leaving Hiei with the distinct sense that he had just been set up.

"Mr. Hiei?"

Hiei found himself at a loss for words for once. He felt a strange warmth in his cheeks and realized, after momentary confusion, that he was blushing. After a few stuttering attempts he finally blurted out, "YukinaIamyourbrother."

"Excuse me? Sorry, I didn't catch that," said Yukina, confused.

"Uh…um…" Hiei couldn't say it again. "Could I have a glass of water?"

Yukina looked even more confused as to why Hiei would make the trek to her room for a glass of water. Meanwhile, Hiei was collecting his nerve for a second attempt. Staring resolutely at one side of the door he said, "Yukina, I am your brother."

He turned to gauge her reaction. She wasn't there. He was confused for a moment before he remembered. The water. She came back momentarily with the glass of ice water, holding it out to him. He stared at it.

"Your water?" she said, confused yet again.

He took the water and started for what he hoped would be the last time.

"Yukina," he started.

"Yes."

"About your brother…he's…" he trailed off. He'd almost told her that her brother was dead.

"Yes?"

"…not dead," he finished.

She looked up at him with her large red eyes and with a slight tremble asked, "Who is he?"

Involuntarily, his treacherous mouth spoke for him, "Me."

Strangely she didn't look surprised. Just a little sad. This wasn't what he had been expecting at all. Tears, yes, anger or resentment perhaps, maybe even a bit of happiness. He didn't know what to do. Feeling slightly awkward, he asked lamely, "You knew?"

Yukina nodded and then burst into tears, little crystals falling from her eyes to the floor, where they bounced and rolled around on the floor, scattering every which way. Even though this was in conjugation with Hiei's expectations, he still felt unsure of what to do. Slowly he began to pick up the tiny spheres—he had to do something.

Yukina kept crying, her sobs interspersed with difficult questions like "Why did you wait so long?" and "You told the others, why not me?"

Hiei didn't respond, but privately resolved to kill Kuwabara the first chance he got. He also kept picking up the crystal orbs… the cunning way that they bounced kept him occupied. Then, the laughing started.

And it could only belong to one person.

Yusuke.

"Hahahaha!...hee…Hiei… you should see your face! Hahaha!" he begain to laugh uncontrollably again.

Hiei glared at him and threw all the jewels he had collected back to the ground with one savage gesture and stalked away. It was time to go.

Yukina, still sobbing, ran in the direction that Kuwabara had taken for his "haircut".

Yusuke stopped laughing, apparently aware for the first time of what he had just interrupted.

"Hey, Hiei, what's the matter? Is something wrong?"

Hiei stormed down the hall as Yusuke called after him, "IT WAS JUST A JOKE! HIEI! COME BACK HERE!"

When Hiei reached the corner, he ran. He was back in his room with the door locked in a fraction of the time he had taken to get to Yukina's in the first place.

He snatched up his katana and was about to go out the door when he heard voices. Yusuke and Kuwabara had arrived faster than he would have thought possible. Hiei made for the window. Then, he remembered that he didn't have a window. Quickly, he ducked into the wardrobe that the hotel had supplied and which he, up until this point, had not used. Yusuke had reached his door.

"Hiei!" he shouted, "Listen, I'm sorry about all this, but you can't leave yet!"

Hiei closed his eyes. He would just stay in the wardrobe.

"Hiei! Yukina's upset!" Kuwabara had caught up, "She needs you, Hiei!"

Hiei didn't respond.

After a few moments, there was a little muttering outside. Then his door exploded.

Not just the door to the room, but the door to the wardrobe too, as well as part of the opposite wall. Well, he thought, now I have a window.

"I think I hit it a little too hard," said Yusuke

"No kidding," joked Kuwabara.

Hiei stalked out of the wardrobe, trying to be as dignified as he could, a difficult task. Nobody seemed to notice, however.

"Listen, Hiei," said Kuwabara, "Yukina's really upset. You should go to her, say something comforting, and then you can leave."

Before, Hiei would have just left but, now it was as if the full responsibility of siblinghood had hit him. Before, it had been merely physical protection. Now he felt obligated to protect her emotionally. He wondered if most siblings felt this way. Hiei walked out the door, Yusuke and Kuwabara following a safe distance behind.

It wasn't difficult to find Yukina. She was only a few hallways down, standing in the middle of a corridor. The sight of Hiei served only to bring on a fresh onslaught of tears, sprinkling the floor with bouncing, rolling crystals. Hiei stopped a short distance away and, after collecting his thoughts said, "I'm sorry."

He would have preferred to do it without an audience.

Yukina turned with a watery half-smile and flung herself on Hiei. Hiei jerked involuntarily, looking over to Kuwabara for help. Kuwabara started to mouth something, gave up, and pantomimed hugging back, using Yusuke as an example. Yusuke, then proceeded to brain Kuwabara. Hiei fervently hoped that wasn't part of hugging as he half-hugged Yukina, causing her to cling to him even tighter. Her sobs lessened and Hiei chanced a look up for more advice.

A third audience member had shown up, standing in the back, smiling in an all-too-knowing way. Apparently, Kurama had decided that waiting for Hiei to be ready meant waiting several thousand years too long. Hiei glared at him, carefully maneuvering Yukina so that he could make a rude hand gesture at the fox. He discovered all too quickly that he had chosen the wrong one when Kurama looked more intrigued than offended. Hiei glared at him again, thinking that the fox was all too suggestible, before turning back to the matter at hand.

He had a sister.

A/N: Awwww. Wasn't that cute? For the longest one-shot I've ever written? (which doesn't count for much seeing as this is the third one.) Tell me what you think.