Asagi sat scribbling away at a frustrating drawing, she could not get the leg right. It wouldn't turn out right. She sighed and let her pencil drop, she'd have to find a reference. She glanced up at her computer screen, no updates. She was going to be there for a few minutes.

That was when she heard a loud conversation down the hall and she stretched to push the door open just a little more. It was Shuichi and his mother, bickering back and forth about some kind of nonsense about sleep. She chuckled and went back to her drawing. She heard Shiori scolding her son as she walked him out with a firm, "You are going home."

It was kind of necessary to kick the man out too, he was devoted to his work, which was probably how he managed to take time off all the time, but when he did work he was efficient and kind about how he went about things. Everything had a neat system in order, and if it didn't, it went to Shuichi. He'd fix it.

He'd been her boss for seven years now and she wasn't ready to go away anytime soon. He was kind, and pretty to look at, but she'd picked up early on that he didn't enjoy it when women flirted with him, maybe he was gay. Wouldn't surprise her, now that she thought about it.

Her computer blipped and she turned her attention to it, clearing away the update and fixing everything. Man, this coworker would not get off her back, he just loved sending her every little thing for approval, or to see if it was good enough. Still, maybe she was helping him in some way. She fixed it and reread it a few times. She was curious what exactly had gotten Shuichi kicked out, but for now she had to focus.

With things squared away in a few minutes, she signed off and gathered her purse, checking her desk twice to ensure she had everything, and turned off her office light, closing the door. She'd heard Shiori say something about Shuichi staying at work too long, so she made her way down the hall and peeked into his office, curious. She jumped when she saw him sitting there. What the hell?! She'd seen him walk out, how did he get back in there? Where was Shiori?

Shuichi glanced up when she jumped, and came quickly to the door, opening it. "Sh, I'm not here." He held his index finger to his lips.

"Oh, I just," She glanced down the hall, and murmured, "How'd you do that?"

"I didn't do anything. Just, please, don't tell Mother I came back." He worriedly glanced down the hall towards his mother's desk. She was still gone for the day.

"I didn't see you walk back."

"Mm, well you were busy," he suggested.

"Uh huh." She nodded, skeptical.

Shuichi folded his arms over his chest in a relaxed fashion and leaned against the door, his long red hair flipping over his shoulder, "What are you still doing here anyway? Is Giribe still giving you trouble?"

"Somewhat." She sighed.

"If you keep babying him he's never going to learn to do it himself, and trust himself."

"I know, I know." She shook her head, she knew it too, it was just trying to wean the man off.

"Tomorrow, don't actually correct it for him, make him do the corrections himself. Then next week, just tell him how many mistakes he's made, not what they are. On the third week, just tell him if there are mistakes or not."

"Alright Shuichi." She smiled and nodded, "That'll save me from staying late."

"You're salary Asagi, your time is your time." he told her firmly.

"I know." She sighed. She glanced down at her phone. She huffed a little seeing the time, "What're you doing here still?"

He sighed and invited her into the office by walking inside. He came around his desk and turned a folder towards her.

She examined it, "Huh."

"I've been working on determining whether he has been fraudulent or not with his former employment with us. I wanted to get done with this today so I could speak to Mr. Weiker tomorrow, but," he shrugged. "So far, everything looks fine."

"Mm. Do you really need more sleep?" She teased. She knew she was on good terms teasing him too, they'd had teasing games in the past.

He chuckled. "Hush you, my sleep habits are none of her business. I don't live with her any more." He picked the file up and thumbed through it again. He shook his head. "The thing is that all of these e-mails seem to have information he shouldn't have had available, and yet, I can't find how he got the information. Clearly he has it."

"Can I see it?" She held out her hand for the folder.

He passed her the file. It was a massive thing, with paper that had correspondence to and from a former employee, including his current work situation, and his previous work. He'd gone so far as to print out logs of his computer activity and time-in sheets during his employment.

Maybe he was a demon, was her first thought. She examined it and looked up at Shuichi, "Hey, what if he made this all up?"

"Made it up?"

"Yeah, you know, faked it."

Shuichi sighed, "Well, I mean, he's trying to use it to leverage us into maintaining our relationship with his new company. Would he lie for them?"

"Also," she looked through a few pages, "Maybe, depends on his character. You see all this info? It might be worth seeing if there's any kind of correlation, look for patterns, someone faking something will want some consistency, but also random output. I know because I've made fake spreadsheets to test out formulas."

"But he's accurate about our projections."

"He's accurate, huh." Now she was even more suspicious.

"I'm more inclined to think that he is still in communications with one of the employees here. Remember we had that briefing on our projections last week? Well this bloomed up this week. It could be that someone who used to be friends with him here answered questions, and now he's leveraging to get more of a payout for his new company based on our projections because he knows what they are."

"Well, he's got good communication then," She chuckled.

Shuichi just sighed heavier. "But that means someone's breaking our policy of nondisclosure."

"Hm, well." She rolled her neck a little and went through a few more, "Find out who summarizes like this, and if maybe he had any, relations with anyone in the company."

Shuichi got on the computer and began pulling up e-mails. He asked for the folder back with an open hand as he read over the emails.

She chuckled a little to herself and handed it back, setting her purse on his desk. They'd always had this relationship, she'd point out something he hadn't thought of and he'd go through with it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it was a valiant effort.

Shuichi was quick to go over the emails and compare it to the document, and in the end, shook his head. "This is frustrating. Unless," he went into a back-end program she saw him in frequently enough she nearly had his password. He typed in the email of the ex-employee and sat back hard in his chair, blinking at the results.

"Well, Mr. Minamino?"

"He still has access to his email address from here."

She laughed and shook her head, "Sometimes I really do love you Mr. Minamino."

Shuichi sighed heavily and amended the situation. "That's our fault. It sucks, and we're going to lose money from it, and he's a scheming man for continuing to access the e-mail, but," Shuichi shrugged.

"He's a smart man." She shook her finger at him, chuckling.

"Termination in our contract dictates that you will not keep in touch with private firm information including but not limited to email, and employees. To access that email violates that contract. There's just, nothing we can really do about it."

"Well, we messed up, but we fixed it before it could get worse. Go home Shuichi."

He sighed. "I need to go over other past employees and make sure this is secure, then re-write the termination guidelines."

"Do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I have end-of-months and those interviews," he waved his hand at her like she knew who he was talking about.

"That's right. Want me to do it?"

"Do what?" he asked, curious.

"Write," she pointed at his computer.

He shook his head. "No, I'll get it. I'm not very tired anyway."

"Sure." She dug in her purse and threw a snack bar onto his desk, "I'll see you tomorrow Shuichi."

Shuichi watched her leave in a little shock, then picked up the bar and started eating, waving to her as she left the office.

Asagi made her way down the hall to her office, tapping her fingers on Shuichi's doorframe to let him know she was in. She heard him grunt as she passed and opened up her office, sliding into her chair, setting her purse aside.

She sighed and glanced up at her art book. It'd been moved. She opened it and frowned when she spotted a handwritten note tucked in it. She took it out and leaned back.

It was mostly critiques on her work, anatomy with some sketches to give her an idea of what they were talking about. She glanced through her book, but that was the only one.

She set it aside and hummed, she wasn't sure who'd do that. She couldn't think of anyone who would do that. She got up and went back down the hall, leaning against Shuichi's doorframe, "Morning."

"Morning."

"Anything special I need to do today?"

"No, nothing in particular." He stood and came over to her, leaning against the wall by the door to speak quietly to her. "Just keep it out of Mother's knowledge that I was here after she sent me home. All of the rest of the situation was handled appropriately, it was just him."

"Mm. Alright. Hey, someone left a note in my artbook, did you do it?"

"How could I? You would recognize my handwriting. What did it say?" he asked curiously.

"It was talking about the anatomy and how to fix it."

"Do you want me to figure out who did it and scold them for looking at your personal belongings?"

"No, I'm curious is all."

"Well, If you don't want someone scolded," he shrugged.

She chuckled and shook her head, "No, I don't want anyone scolded."

"Off to work with you then." He smiled and turned back to his task on the desk.

"Alright." She chuckled and headed back off to her office, settling in.

She worked for a good hour before she popped up to go to the bathroom and ran into a co worker. She smiled and paused, "Hey, quick question."

He paused and gave her his full attention, "Yes?"

"Did you go into my artbook?"

"Your what? Art book? No. Do you do art?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "Often."

"Oh! I didn't know that! I'd love to see it some time."

"Yeah, I'll show you later. You know who would comment on art?"

"Um, the only people I can think of would be, maybe Rizu or Chishiko."

"Alright, I'll ask them, thanks." She smiled. She headed off down the hall and made her way to Rizu's desk, "Hey."

"Hello Miss Furi, how may I help you?"

"Did you comment in my artbook?"

She looked abashed, "Oh no! Of course not! I wouldn't dare invade your private sketchbook."

"Oh, alright." Asagi nodded, "Thanks." She headed to Chishiko's office and knocked on the door.

Chishiko called for her to enter, looking through paperwork when she did.

"Did you comment in my artbook?"

"No." Chishiko answered bluntly and looked up. "Anything else?"

"No, alright. Nope, just that."

"We have that meeting at noon with the lawyer, make sure that all of Shuichi's concerns are well-defined and all the facts a part of the packet you make for him."

"Alright, will do. Thanks Chishiko."

She smiled and nodded.

She left and headed to the bathroom. She still couldn't think of anyone who'd do it, or would be interested in it. Maybe Shiori did it. As she washed her hands, she realized that very few people actually had time to do it either. Chishiko got to the office early as the general coordinator, but most of the other staff like Rizu, didn't come in until after her, or just before her. They didn't have time.

She made her way back to her office and sat down. She had two hours before the meeting. She glanced at the note again and sighed, picking it up. Whoever it was, she'd love to have a word with them to get more advice. She started working on her task with that lingering in the back of her head.

When the meeting was over, Asagi was the last one out with Shuichi holding the door. When she walked past him, she felt the familiar pressure of demonic energy and took a few quick steps forward, turning to look at him, startled, but it was gone. She stood, waiting, to see if more energy would come off of him.

He stepped out with her and smiled, "That was very well done Asagi. Did you grasp everything you need for your project?"

"I think so." She nodded, still a little wide eyed.

They walked side by side back towards her desk, almost brushing shoulders, but she didn't feel a thing. "When will the minutes be ready for review?"

"Um," She rubbed her head, her focus was sidetracked now, she was going to be thinking about that all day. Maybe her energy had bounced off of something, but she kept it well under control. She glanced at him, "Should be ready soon."

"Thank you. Can you have the interviews come join me in my office when they get here?" He tapped the folders of resumes she had given him.

"Yeah," She nodded, "Shuichi…" She tipped her head at him, but didn't comment.

"Yes?"

"Have you been feeling weird at all lately?"

He frowned. "Just a little fatigue, I'm fine. It's probably just allergies," he laughed, but all the time she had known him, he had never gotten allergies.

"You feel like yourself?" Maybe some kind of demon was trying to posses him, or not. She would be cautious about it, she cared about him.

He frowned and studied her, standing beside her desk. "Yes, why?"

"No reason, just, curious." She smiled.

"You sure are full of odd questions today."

"I must've woken up on the curious side of bed."

"Well, I have to finish the end-of-month stuff before the interviews get here, so I'd best get to it." he patted her desk and left her alone.

She nodded and let out a belated, "Yeah." She sighed and rubbed her forehead, that was weird. She was probably overthinking it, maybe a stray demon bug was flying around, but she'd only felt it for a second.

The next day launched a new large project with her over-seeing it completely, and she had no more time to worry about that, or the person reviewing her art. Each Friday, she got a new couple of tips, and as she had been set to the project of renewing their marketing, including designing the advertisements, and using all of their resources to set up filming a commercial and everything, she had started a list of who was in the office when she wasn't around.

Today, when she came in, her art book was not the only book there, but there was also a book of cheetah pictures, with a simple note attached to it encouraging her to use it as references. She took a moment to look through it and grin, whoever did this, was making her day. She loved drawing cheetahs, and here, she had all the references she needed.

After her hard week trying to mitigate some damage done by the marketing team who had been promising things they couldn't deliver a little too freely, it was a nice reminder that relaxing was okay. She hadn't even had any free time to draw that week. She devoted a few more minutes to looking at the pictures, musing over them.

Shiori stepped by her desk before she finished. "Oh, that's a pretty book," Shiori commented softly.

"It is, isn't it? Someone left it here with a little note attached."

"Oh?" she held out her hand, "Can I see the note?"

Asagi handed it to her.

Shiori smiled warmly, "Well, now isn't that nice of them? It's a gift."

"I wish I knew who it was so I could thank them."

"I'm sure they know." Shiori handed her back the note.

She took it and smiled, "What can I do for you Mrs. Minamino-Hatanaka?"

"There are some messages from overnight meant for you," she held out a stack of sticky-notes. "It sounds like everything is squaring itself away with the new advertisements. You're doing a very good job. I dare say it's putting me in a hard spot though, I'm going to have to find a new assistant for Shuichi at this rate."

"Oh," She chuckled, "I do enjoy working for Shuichi to tell you the truth."

"Yes, well, I'm sure he enjoys not having to break someone new in too, but we need you working with the marketing department and their interns. They trust you already and the projects have been going much smoother with you in charge."

Asagi really did not want to do that. God, if this was smooth, she feared rough, it was hell trying to make things go smooth. She didn't want to deal with that, "If I ask to stay his assistant, you wouldn't deny me that, would you?"

"No, of course not, but I really do think you're suited for much larger things than just being his assistant."

"Maybe." She could do it but she'd never have free time.

"All of us do, actually, including Chishiko." Chishiko had been Shuichi's first assistant. She outgrew him after about a month and began to organize and manage the communications department of their business, keeping the emails to customers down to nothing at the end of each day, and working with customer service to improve all the time. Considering they were selling tableware, it shouldn't be that big of a thing, but Chishiko's hard line attitude was incredibly beneficial to customer service and made the job run much smoother.

Asagi knew from rumor that the next five assistants had been fired after about a month each because they just didn't match up to his standards. If she was moved like Chishiko, Shuichi would be through the search again.

"Mm, well, I'm really happy here for the moment."

"You might be getting out of purchasing, but you would be furthering your career, and as we tried to find Shuichi a good assistant, you would be training them for the task and helping us decide who fits, and who doesn't."

Asagi looked down at the book, "Mm." She didn't want to tell Shiori she'd be tripling her workload and would probably have to stay later than Shuichi did to get things done.

"You're already doing a fantastic job with them, what is your concern?" Shiori asked, holding out a hand to gesture for Asagi to go to Hatanaka's office so they could talk in private.

She stood and made her way to the office. She was trying to find a way to say it without sounding ungrateful and lazy, but she, really, really, really did not want to do that much work, or have all that stress. She was comfortable.

"What is it?" Shiori asked softly. Hatanaka, her husband, wasn't in yet.

"I'm going to be tripling my workload."

"You'd also be getting an assistant of your own, or cutting one from the team you're already working with."

"I know things are going smoothly with me working on it, but it was, hell getting it there."

Shiori sighed and nodded. "Yes, I suppose I understand. How about this, we'll give the management of marketing to Shuichi, and you can step in as purchaser? He can continue doing the accounting stuff he needs to, and you two can work together on everything. We need a strong hand with the marketing team or they're going to spend all of our profits and run us into the ground in production."

"I'd like to talk about that with Shuichi."

"Well, what Hatanaka and I want to avoid is hiring from the outside. Hatanaka thinks that if we do, it will be bringing in more chances of overspending. We can't pull Chishiko from her position for the job on customer service considering that has been her roll for a very long time, and we took the management position from her as we began to see dramatic overspending due to her lack of time. As it stands, Shuichi is so caught up in purchasing and the factories, he's mostly unavailable to take on new responsibilities. You, are the best fit, and we know that you will need assistance, but it won't be this hard continually. They will learn to come under hand faster and stay that way the longer we have a consistant manager for them."

"Maybe."

Shiori nodded. "Speak with Shuichi about it. This campaign is almost through, and then we will let it lull with just minor promotionals until after the holidays considering our volume is always at capacity then anyways. That will give you time to think on it and get in the flow of their routines."

"Alright, but I have a feeling I'm going to decline."

"Speak with Shuichi, please."

She was declining. She already knew it. She sighed, "Alright."

Asagi left Hatanaka's office to see Hatanaka coming in, he nodded to her warmly and paused to talk as well. "How are you today Ms. Furi?"

"Well, you Mr. Hatanaka?"

"Doing very well, thank you." He approved, and passed into his office to talk to Shiori.

Asagi made her way to Shuichi's office and stepped in with a knock on the doorframe, sighing.

He called for her to enter.

"How are you?"

He smiled, "Fine. How is the project going?"

"It's, smooth, but hell." She chuckled.

"Want to go to lunch today? We can talk about it then."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Alright, I'll come get you around eleven."

"Alright, see you then." She left for her office.

After a long talk with him at lunch, and deciding to just keep moving forward, and seeing where it went, with more help from him on her project, they were heading back to the office and Asagi noticed a demon energy hanging out near the building. The closer they got, the better she could feel whomever it was. They were hanging out in one of the trees in the courtyard behind the building, and their energy was relaxed, not ready to attack. Despite being odd, especially with how strong it was, it wasn't a threat, and she stopped worrying about it almost as soon as she identified where they were.

That was, until they were in the main area of desks for customer service heading back to their posts, when Shuichi suddenly turned pale, and rushed away. She followed him to his office but paused outside to hear him throwing up. Apparently the bathroom was too far. It was right down the hall from his office.

She waited for a minute before stepping in, "Shuichi? Are you alright?"

He groaned and sat down on his butt, a hand still clasped on the edge of the trash can. "Give me a minute."

Shiori came hurrying up and paused behind Asagi's back, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Shuichi? What's wrong?" she came through the door as he grabbed a tissue off his desk and wiped his mouth.

"Maybe lunch didn't settle well with you."

"That's, that must be it." He grabbed the edge of his desk and pulled himself up. He groaned as the demonic energy surged and examined him, then searched out the bucket again.

She frowned but didn't comment.

Shuichi vomited again before the energy jerked back like it had touched something hot.

By that time, Shiori was escorting him to the bathroom, rubbing his back.

Asagi made her way to wait outside of the bathroom. Maybe something was trying to possess him, or maybe it was some kind of demon parasite. She rubbed her forehead, she had no idea, but something was wrong.

When they came out, Shiori had absconded with the trash can and Shuichi was alone in the bathroom. "Asagi, would you be so kind as to take him home?"

"Of course. Is he, um, still sick?"

"It seems to have passed for now, but I can hardly be sure how long he'll be ill. We just, can't have him clogging up our bathroom all day."

"No, I understand." She nodded and stepped into the bathroom quietly.

Kurama was near the energy again. Whomever it was, had gotten curious again, and they were sneaking their energy closer to check him out. He was groaning and breathing heavily again, resting against the bathroom wall, his eyes closed.

Something was either tracking him, or he was the demon. She knelt beside him, she couldn't image he was the demon though, he was smart, demon smart maybe, but he seemed human. She licked her lips and swallowed, "Shuichi? Do you want some water?" She asked softly. He looked like he was ready to collapse, well, he sort of was, but collapse more. She wasn't sure if pushing away the energy would help, so she'd just do what she could for him.

"No," He groaned out, shaking his head. "Mother said she'd send someone to help me home, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

He nodded and pushed himself up with the help of the toilet. "I need my briefcase from my office." he leaned on the wall. "Can you go get it for me?"

"Yes, take your time." She stood, wiped off her legs, and hurried down the hall, grabbing his briefcase and returning, "Alright."

He'd made his way slowly over to the door, his lips wet with water. Apparently he'd cleaned out his mouth. He didn't bother to wipe the droplets off, but started out of the room, his pace gradual but consistent.

She walked beside him, offering her arm as leverage and support if he needed it.

He dismissed that rather than accepting, and they made their way slowly out of the building. Once the demon lost interest in their direction, and it's energy pulled completely away from Shuichi and herself, he started to settle into a faster pace.

She led him to her car and helped him in. Most of the time she didn't actually drive to work, she walked, or ran, but today, somehow, she'd been convinced to drive to work. Funny how that worked. She settled into her seat and glanced at him, "If you feel sick, tell me and I'll pull over."

"Alright," he agreed, his head against the window, and his eyes closed.

She'd been to his house one time to drop off some paperwork, and she'd only seen the livingroom. She remembered where it was, clearly. It was a nice little house tucked into the woods. She drove as slowly and smoothly as she could.

"Thank you for this Asagi." Shuichi murmured.

"No problem, I know you'd probably do the same for me." She glanced over at him. She noticed that his shoulders were trembling, and he looked pale. He looked cold. "You cold?"

"It's just the sweat," he whispered back.

"Alright, if you say so." She made a slow turn, wincing. She glanced at him when they made it out of it, nervous.

He was still in the same spot, head against the window, and arms wrapped around himself and the belt meant to hold him in place. He groaned a little as they came closer to an energy signature, but it was a strong human. He sat up more and grit his teeth.

"You alright?" Energy was doing something to him. Maybe he was spiritually aware.

He nodded, "Just keep going. I'll be okay," he sounded convinced, but he didn't look it.

He didn't look okay. She nodded and continued onward, debating if she should ask if he could sense energy or not. She tipped her head side to side and offered a comment, "Don't get me sick or you'll have to drive me around," she teased with a chuckle.

He gave off a brief laugh, but rested his head back down once they were past the energy. The signature had been weaker than the demon from earlier.

Maybe she needed to take a look at this, help him. This wasn't normal for humans, spiritually aware humans? She had no idea. Or maybe it was a coincidence, but that was hard to imagine.

When they got to his house, she felt a demon lingering nearby. It was the same one that had been at the office.

She hesitated unlocking the door, focusing on her dash like something was wrong. Maybe she'd stay a little while, make sure he wasn't being tracked.

Where she hesitated, he didn't. He pushed the little lock button, and escaped the vehicle, using the door to get to his feet.

She sighed and hurriedly got out of the car, coming to his side, "Take it easy."

"I just want to get inside." He shut her door gently, a little too gently to actually get it to close. He didn't notice.

She pressed a hand against it and sighed, "I kind of have one of those weird, bad idea instincts in my gut." She offered.

"Mm. Can you grab my briefcase?" he was going for the front door.

"Oh, of course." She opened the door and grabbed it, hurrying after him.

He pulled keys out of the side-pocket, and unlocked the front door, taking the case from her and setting it on a table by the entryway, toeing off his shoes.

She followed his example and stepped inside, "I want to make sure you get settled alright."

"Thanks," he replied, his voice breathy, and darted for the bathroom again when the demon's energy came over him, and examined her. It was gone before Shuichi got to the bathroom, but whomever it was outside was curious to know who was with him.

She didn't feel right leaving him with a curious demon outside. She made her way to where he'd gone and leaned against the wall, waiting. He had his eyes closed as he leaned against the toilet, forehead pressed against it, and legs uselessly sprawled to the side.

There was a knock at the door which roused him from his repast.

"I'll get it, it's alright." She touched his shoulder.

"I think I know who it is," He struggled to his feet, spitting a few more times into the toilet, flushing it again.

"Take it easy." She kept a hand on his arm.

Shuichi sighed and went to the sink, rinsing out his mouth. He spat it away, and followed her to the door. When he opened it, she felt the unmistakable demon energy protruding from the man on the other side. He was a short man, with spiky black hair, and ruby red eyes.

Shuichi sighed, "Hiei, come on in." he offered, stepping back.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked abruptly.

"Bad food we think. Hiei, this is Asagi, my assistant at work. Asagi, this is Hiei. He's a friend of mine."

Hiei, the demon, held out his hand to shake with Asagi.

She was nervous about taking it, but took it. They shook as Shuichi wandered back to the hallway with the bathroom.

"You're…?" Hiei asked softly of her when Shuichi collapsed on a bed, pressing his face into the pillow.

"Hm?"

"Nothing." If she was what she projected herself to be, she wouldn't be able to see his eyes were red. She wouldn't be able to see any of his demon attributes, and yet, she couldn't help but be nervous about leaving them alone. "I'll take care of him."

"It's alright, I can stay." She smiled, but she knew it was bordering a sneer.

He watched her critically.

"It's alright Asagi, I've known Hiei for years. I couldn't be in better hands." Shuichi was pushing him up to sit, and pulling off his suit coat.

She wanted to say something about this demon's energy harming him, but she'd give herself away. She came to Human World to live with humans, and being near any demon made her nervous, and a demon that hurt her boss? She wasn't okay with that.

When Shuichi slung the suit coat over a dresser, Hiei picked it up and opened the closet. "Girl, I don't think you want to see him naked, I'm putting him to bed." Shuichi was lazily pulling off his socks, letting his leg's weight do the work for him.

"I'd have to argue with that actually," She chuckled, "Shuichi, any work you want me to do for you?"

"Yes," he curled up on the bed in a heap rather than finishing with his socks. One was off, but the other was only halfway there when he'd given up. She came over and plucked it off his foot, setting it with the other one.

Hiei took them and stuck them in the dirty hamper before making his way back to Shuichi's side, pushing him onto his back. With practiced skill, he unbuttoned Shuichi's top and stripped it off the grumbling man who grabbed for a blanket as Hiei set about putting the shirt away.

She averted her eyes, "What's priority?"

"Stencils. Check inventory. Miguru is playing hardball." That was their design-maker.

"Alright. Anything else?"

"Missing blank cups, two hundred." He yawned as Hiei fished beneath the covers and yanked off his pants in a swoop. Shuichi opened his eyes to stare at the man, then groaned and curled around his stomach, holding a pillow as he hid beneath the covers folded over on him.

She glanced at Hiei, who was folding the pants over a hanger with the coat and shirt already put away.

"I'll be going then, anything you need?"

He didn't respond.

"He's asleep." Hiei commented. He ushered her out of the room and shut the door firmly.

Now she was nervous. If there was any doubt earlier, she was nervous now. She felt her hairs stand on end.

"Say Hi to Shiori for me," Hiei commented, walking with her to the front door. "Tell her I'll be in town for a week."

"Where are you from?"

"I'm..." he frowned. "Just give Shiori the message."

"Of course. Care to answer my question?"

He shook his head. "If you don't know, then you don't need to."

She slowed down making her way to the door and examined her socks for a moment, "Huh." She was still nervous, and she knew he could probably smell it coming off of her. He smelled like home, and that made her stomach do a flip, she hadn't been there in decades.

Hiei opened the front door. "Goodbye Asagi."

Asagi took her time putting on her shoes, "Don't hurt him." It came out rougher than she intended, but it got her point across.

"I have no intention of hurting my best friend."

"No, not intentionally, never." She agreed, "Unintentionally, could happen."

"I assure you, he'll be in the best of care I can offer."

Part of her was tempted to ask how home was, who the leader was, what Raizen was doing. She'd kept out of demon politics for so long, it made her chest ache. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, gathering up her strength, and nodded, "Alright. Tell Shuichi to give me a call if he needs anything."

Hiei just nodded.

She was still nervous about leaving him, but he trusted Hiei enough. She stepped out, "Have a nice day Hiei."

"Heh. Be sure you give Shiori the message."

"I will."