"What do you mean...Hiei's staying in the Demon Realm...?"

It was like everything had skidded to a sudden halt. Roxy Benn's world had come crashing down. One minute they were all fooling around on the beach after Yusuke's return and then Kurama told her that. She had been out for a few months because of an injury she had obtained; she still couldn't really remember where from. But she did remember Hiei saving her. And she did remember her heart trying to beat out of her chest when he was looking after her.

"I don't think he's coming back, Roxy. And if he does, I'm not sure for how long..."

Roxy could feel all of their eyes on her as the group lounged on the sand. They all knew that she was in love with the demon, but she never really had the chance to say anything to him. She could feel her face heating up, her eyes stinging.

She was human. And it's no place for humans in the Demon Realm.

He didn't even come to say goodbye...

She slowly got to her feet, glaring at the grains of gold below her, willing herself to not let her emotions get the better of her. "Th-that..." Her voice felt weak at first, and she looked up, her eyes blazing with a fire that her friends were all too familiar with. "THAT ASSHOLE!"

And then she was off, sprinting along the beach. The rest of the gang was left in the dust she kicked up, not as startled as they would have been months ago.

Yusuke looked pointedly at Kurama, and the red-head grinned, "Don't worry, Koenma understands her feelings. He convinced his father to open the barrier at the cave for a short while."

"But what do we do when she has to come back?" Yusuke asked.

"Roxy is not coming back without a fight." Keiko said calmly. Everyone found themselves agreeing.

The cave was as cold and dank as she remembered it, but Roxy proceeded forward swiftly, the anger almost spiralling off her in dangerous waves.

The transition between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm wouldn't have been noticeable at all until she realised that the sky was red, graced by splodges of purple clouds. Not deterred by the change and the horrible feeling of the foreign grass beneath her bare feet, Roxy charged on.

I can't believe him! The nerve of that short-stop!

Not that she could talk, she wasn't even taller than him.

Ahead she saw the familiar frame of the demon she was directing her aggressive thoughts to, and her heart almost froze up. His back was to her, and he was walking away from her, but at the speed she was walking she would catch up in no time.

Low level demons leaped out of her path. The emotions she was letting off even terrified them.
A slightly higher level one dared to get in her way, and made to speak.

"I don't have time for you!" Roxy barked, batting the demon away with her hand. It retreated, squealing into the darkness. A few more steps and she was close enough to Hiei to lunge at him.
Then, he was gone. In her anger, she had forgotten to remain stealthy, and had forgotten Hiei's speed. The wind was knocked out of her as she was tackled struggling to the ground with a weight on top of her.

"Your surprise attacks are lacki-...Roxy?" Hiei seemed mildly shocked at her appearance and instantly relaxed the grip he had on her throat. She winced, but smiled mischievously up at him.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." She layered on the sass in her response, in order to make up for the embarrassment she felt at their position. He was straddling her, one knee either side of her hips and a hand either side of her head. His crimson eyes bored into hers, and she averted her gaze.

"What are you doing here?"

Roxy flinched at the sudden hostility in his voice, her face turning back to his, "I..." She was suddenly at a loss for words.

"It's dangerous here, Roxy. A high level demon could have killed you any second! You're lucky your anger intimidated the lower level ones or they would have realised that you were human!" His eyes burned with his irritable mood, and he had apparently still not noticed the position they were in, "Why did you have so much anger anyway?"

She looked right into his eyes, "Kurama told me that you were going to stay here."

He just stared, like he was waiting for the actual reason.

She furrowed her eyebrows at his cluelessness, biting her lip slightly whilst thinking of a way to tell him what she really wanted to say. She didn't notice his eyes fall to her lips as she bit down lightly, and she didn't see him realise their compromising position, or the ghost of a contented smirk on his face.

"And you weren't coming back to even say goodbye." She continued. He still stared at her with that look after he managed to cover up his expression, but there was something in his eyes now that wasn't there last time, the intensity of which forced her to look away. She really wished he would move off her. Wait, no she didn't. "I wasn't going to let you do that to me. Not with the way I feel about you." Her eyes made contact with his again quickly, "There! I said it, okay? I like you."

She crushed her eyes closed and waited for the laughter, the degrading comment about her being human.

"Finally." Was all she received.

Her eyes flew open "Huh? Wha-mmph!"

As his lips aggressively met with hers.