A/N: Hi! Don't kill me for making yall wait since 9/26/05. -whimpers- Well...here's my second version of my idea of Hiei and Botan's son, Vincent. The first you can find in my oneshot "No Reason Left". Enjoy and don't hurt me!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Yu Hakusho. I only own Vincent -huggles-

---

Chapter 5: Nightmare

"Hiei! I'm home!" Botan called, balancing a large brown sack full of groceries on her hip. She closed the door behind her with a soft push of her foot and trotted to the kitchen. There she unloaded the bag, humming. By the time everything was put up, she was wearing a hard frown and her eyes were oozing with worry. "Hiei?"

She wandered throughout their large estate, calling Hiei's name. As she turned a corner, she could faintly hear the quiet mewling of a crying baby. Her heart going into overdrive, she ran down the hallway, following the cries of her baby. As she neared the master bathroom, the cries became horribly louder and the terror in the sound was nearly tangible.

Her face paled considerably, her fingers grazing the doorknob. She heard a squish when she placed her foot down on the carpet. Shuddering, she mechanically looked down, and her scream caught in her throat.

The plush, white carpet was soaking up a large amount of blood, but not absorbent enough to take it all.

Vincent wailed again.

Botan yanked open the door, and screamed so loud it rivaled her son's. The black haired child stood there, his tiny arms raised up, stubby fingers grabbing, tears thundering down his chubby cheeks and blood splattered all over him. She scooped him up immediately, and pushed his face into her shoulder. As she turned to run back down the hall, she stared in unadulterated horror and despair at the body in her bathroom. She ran, ran and ran and ran. She ran to the phone, dialed three digits, and in a berserk mass of blubbering and crying, took half an hour to get her distress through:

"My husband's dead!"

---

I woke up screaming.

Sweat was dripping down my face; my heart was trying to escape my chest. I was still screaming when Kurama came running in. He grabbed my shoulders and was saying something, but I couldn't hear him. My screams eventually quieted, but Botan's still rang in my ears, torturing me. After I calmed down enough to start gasping for breath, I realized I was sitting up and that my sweat had eased past the bandages on my body, gradually soaking into the bed sheets.

Kurama stared at me. The word worry had might as well have been carved into his eyes. I grasped onto him. I could feel that my eyes were wide.

"Where is she? Kurama, where's Botan?" I cried.

"She's okay, Hiei. She had some paperwork to do in the Reikai. Hiei, what's wrong?"

I panted, still staring up at him. I could tell he was telling the truth. My hold on his shoulders loosened, and I could feel the creaks that my tensed fingers made in doing so. My head fell so I was staring at my lap.

Good…she's okay…

"Hiei, what did you dream about?" Kurama asked, moving his hands to my neck to comfort me. I was still trying to find my air.

"Nightmare…"

"Yes, I can tell. What happened?"

I removed my hands from him, and he removed his from me. As I continued to collect my bearings, he pulled up a chair to sit in, eagerly leaning towards me. I swallowed and gasped. I hated panicking…it did such frightening things to a person.

"I…Botan…she…she came home and…and I didn't answer…she…she heard him crying…crying…screaming…" I choked out. Kurama looked confused.

"Him?"

"Vin…Vincent…baby boy…two years old…no…one and a half…he was…screaming, crying…Botan…she got worried…she looked for him…bathroom…squish…carpet…blood…terror…"

I swallowed a lump in my throat again. I couldn't put together a sentence anywhere near right.

"She opened the door…she screamed…bloody murder…Vincent…he was crying…he held his arms up to her…she picked him up…she was crying…horrified…put his face in her neck...shoulder…she ran…ran so damn fast…picked up the phone…called…dialed…"

I could feel my eyes tearing up. Kurama wouldn't care if I cried, right?

"She…thirty minutes…no…thirty-one minutes and twenty-five seconds…cried…couldn't…talk right…"

A cold gem fell against my hand.

"She…screamed…husband…dead…dead…blood…blood everywhere…Vincent…covered in it…husband…dead…"

Kurama awkwardly patted my back as I cried. I cried so hard that night. I let it all out. My pain. Her pain. Our son's pain. Everyone's pain. I just shed all the pain away as the gems clinked together, one falling after the other.

---

I may have gotten my bandages changed, my head on straight, my tear gems safely hidden, but I don't think I was ever happier than when Botan came in that morning, bouncing and smiling so innocently and joyfully.

"Good morning, Hiei! I brought you some breakfast! Hope you like hospital food!" she said, chipper as ever. I stared at her, and I think she could sense the longing and neediness I felt for her right then, for she set down the tray of food and walked past Kurama, whom she still didn't notice, and touched my cheek. "Hiei?"

I moved so fast I was shocked that I didn't open any wounds. I reached up, grasped her head, pulled her down and kissed her with everything I had. I let her go when my energy began to deplete. She was blushing crazily, and she was breathless. I gently kissed her lips and ran my hands through her hair.

"I missed you." I whispered. She smiled and giggled.

"That much?"

I kissed her again. "You have no idea."

She giggled, pecked my cheek, and retrieved the food tray. She did a half-curtsy when she saw Kurama, greeting him cheerfully. He smiled at her and bowed a little. Such polite people.

"Did you get your paperwork done?" Kurama asked, helping Botan set up the table that could be rolled over to my bed so I could eat from a surface. She laughed nervously.

"Most of it…I was so worried about Hiei, though, so I took off early to sleep and get up in time to beat the morning rush at the cafeteria." she explained, smiling. My insides just dropped. That was really too sweet…

"You shouldn't risk your job for me, Botan." I told her softly. She waved her hand, grinning.

"Oh, nonsense! I won't get fired for paperwork! Besides, I'm sure Koenma understands." she said. I sighed. She was right.

"If you say so…"

"I do."

I grinned. "So what is this?" I asked poking the odd food with a fork. Kurama chuckled.

"Bacon." he said, noticing that Botan was trying to hide her giggles. I noticed, too. If it were anyone else, I'd be pissed. But it was her, so it was amusing.

"And these?"

"Scrambled eggs."

"This?"

"Sausage."

"These?"

"Hash browns."

I cocked an eyebrow. Hash browns? "The hell?"

Kurama and Botan both laughed. I didn't mind.

"They're shredded potatoes, Hiei." Botan said, smiling. I blinked.

"Never had a potato before…" I muttered.

Botan gasped. "Really?"

I looked up at her with my eyes. My neck hurt too much to use my head. "Yes."

Kurama chuckled still while Botan stood with her mouth open.

"…You're weird, Hiei."

I chuckled and stuck my fork in the hash browns. "And?" I inquired, cutting up the mass of shreds. Botan huffed and bent down to my ear.

"And I love you anyway." she said softly and sweetly, kissing my cheek. I smirked, taking a bite of these 'shredded potatoes'.

"Good?" Kurama asked. I chewed for a moment, rolling them in my mouth. Not too bad…

"A bit bitter…but good." I agreed. Botan gasped her revelation gasp. I looked at her. "Hm?"

"Salt! I'll be right back, Hiei!" she said, winking. Then she was out the door. Kurama and I were both smiling after her.

"Can you still believe it, Hiei?"

"No, not really."

"Are you going to tell her about…?"

"…No. It'd be better if she didn't know."

Kurama smiled. I speared some egg and ate it, chewing quietly.

"I don't want to spoil the information on our child."

Kurama nodded. "I understand."

He always did.

"…What's salt?"

"You'll see."

---

Around noon, Urameshi and the oaf came to visit. Kurama had left due to a lunchtime appointment he had made with his mother. Do I need to insert a 'human' comment here?

Botan greeted them warmly, like always. She was sitting at the desk, scribbling away at her paperwork. Yusuke and Kuwabara greeted her back and proceeded to talk to me. Or, rather, annoy the living hell out of me.

"So when will you be back on your feet?" Yusuke asked, opening his fifth soda. I thought for a moment.

"Not too much longer. Just in time for you to start school, I think." I said, grinning. I knew how much school irked him. I got the reaction I wanted. A smile and then a realization yell, followed by a colorful rant. Kuwabara sighed and picked at his half-eaten sandwich. I noticed how…un-Kuwabara-like he was. I would point it out if I actually liked him in the least bit.

Botan noticed, too. She was taking a break from work. "Kuwabara, what's wrong? You look so down." she questioned worriedly. I wasn't jealous at her worry. It was different from the kind she had towards me. Mine was more special, personal.

Kuwabara sighed again. "That's also the time Yukina's going to live in the Makai for a while." he said. Inwardly, I was grinning like a child who just got exactly what he wanted. Outwardly, I was eating my lunch in a contemplating manner.

Botan gasped. "Really? Why?"

Kuwabara shrugged. "I don't know. I told her if it was 'er brother I'd help her, but she insisted that I stay in school." he said, sighing. I blinked at my food.

"What if you did find him? What do expect him to be like?"

All three of their heads turned towards me. Botan and Yusuke with shock and some hint of questioning, Kuwabara with confusion. I just continued to eat silently.

Kuwabara, thought for a minute. "Umm…well…I guess protective. Maybe secretive and mysterious, since he's so hard to find…uhh…nice and friendly, I'd hope. Geez, this is hard…" he said, muttering the last bit. Yusuke looked at me. I couldn't see his expression, but I knew he was looking.

"What about his looks, eh?" he asked, playing along. He nudged Kuwabara's shoulder. Kuwabara protested with a 'hey!'.

"Well…red eyes. Like Yukina's. Blue-ish hair, medium height, little taller than Yukina…umm…"

I was grinning. Really now? That much and only one or two of his guesses were wrong…

Kuwabara was really thinking about this. It was quite amusing. Yusuke started getting into it, too. I had to glare at him to keep him in line. He always just grinned at me and gave me a thumb-up. I shook my head, smirking. So immature…

Botan eventually settled into bed right next to me, legs folded and ankles crossed. She leant against my shoulder, rubbing her cheek against the bandages. When the idiots weren't looking I'd kiss her head or feed her some of my food. It was a fun game to play; I'd move the fork around so that she had to reach up to get to it. It was quite cute.

---

"Well, I gotta go guys. Keiko wants to see this new chick-flick that's out in theaters." Yusuke said, saluting us as a joke. We bid him farewell, and Botan and Kuwabara started talking soon after.

"How long does Yukina plan on staying the Makai?" Botan at one point asked.

Kuwabara shrugged. "I dunno. Longer than first semester, she said."

Botan pouted. "I wonder why…" she muttered.

I was still picking at the little green balls Botan called peas from lunch when Kurama returned bearing Ningenkai fast food. And sweet snow. Plenty of sweet snow.

---

"Hiei, I've got a few souls tonight, so I'm not sure when I'll be back."

"Just please come back."

"You know I will, silly."

We shared a long kiss.

"Goodbye."

---

Vincent looked up at the stars. He blinked at how bright they were, shining down from the heavens above. His mother used to have a job up there, he was told. She was the Grim Reaper who gathered dead souls and ferried them over to the Spirit Realm on her oar. He always tried to remember the times when he was a baby when his mother would take him for rides on her oar, but he never could.

That night...when he was around two years old...

It haunted his memories. He was emotionally scarred by it, and was now queasy around blood and knives. He was a skilled fighter, but every time he'd land a punch, the images would flash in his mind, screams and cries would flood his ears.

He wished his father had at least waited a few more years...Vincent had close to no memories of him when he was alive.

He remembered once when the three of them went to a festival in Kyoto, and his father let him perch on his shoulders, staring at all the lamps and masks and people. He got his first spinning top there. His father got it for him.

But now...there was no father. There were no wide smirks and small smiles and deep chuckles. There was no more hard chest, no more strong arms to hold him and keep him safe from all the closet monsters.

If Yusuke Urameshi was one of your parent's best friends, you would have such nightmares when you were one and/or two years old, too.

Kurama always told him stories. He'd sit Vincent on his lap, comb through his black tresses with his fingers, and tell him stories of his father. Vincent quite enjoyed the stories, and often retold them to his mother. His mother would smile and laugh or comment, but no amount of her all-natural bubbly and cheery personality would, or could, ever hide the despair in her amethyst eyes.

Kurama told him that his father loved his mother's eyes. He understood why.

Vincent was convinced that his father was murdered. He did not commit suicide. Someone had taken control of his father's body and made him stab himself, cut his fingers off, drive a knife deep into himself, and stab his Jagan eye. Vincent strongly believed his hypothesis. So, when he turned seventeen, he kissed his mother goodbye, left flowers and a bowl of ice-cream on his father's grave, and left.

And no one could stop him. He would find his father's killer. He already had a lead from someone named Toguro.

---

I woke in a sweat again. No screaming this time. That was good. But I was close. I felt terrible, as if my guilt was eating me away from the inside like a parasite. Fuck…

"Vincent…I'm so sorry…"

I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest. Tear gems escaped.

"I'm so sorry…"

---

No, I'm not gonna ressurect Toguro XD;;