Disclaimer: not mine. XD only Quay belongs to me.

Inspired, just a little bit, by Keith Urban's song, "Day's Go By."

~*~

Cars Go By

"I spy with my little eyes something... green."

"Grass."

"I mean blue."

"Sky."

"Orange!"

"The buffoon's hair."

"Shut up, Shrimp!"

Quay huffed. "You're not cheatin' are ya? Readin' my mind with that third eye of yours?"

Oh, he was so ready to char-broil the little brat. Three hours on the road was already too long to be stuck in a van with all the others. "You don't need a Jagan to read your simple mind! You're just pathetically predictable."

"Fine," Quay huffed. "Your turn then."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please? Come on, Hiei-san I'm so bored! Unless you want me to sing camp songs again."

"NO!" Hiei glared at Kurama who was riding shotgun, Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Shizuru, who was driving. He would have glared at the other girls, Botan and Keiko, as well (not Yukina of course), but they were asleep in the seat in front of him.

"Hn," he grumbled. "I spy something spotted." He smirked inwardly. There's no way she would get it but at least searching would keep her quiet for a little while.

"Umm... I don' see anythin' spotted."

Or not. "It's there. Keep looking."

"The... dirt?"

Hiei sighed. Definitely not quiet. It didn't help that both of them were sandwiched between Kuwabara and Yusuke. The excuse had been they were the smallest, so they could share the hump. Hn. "No."

"...Keiko's jacket?"

"That's not spotted. Don't just guess."

Quay sat silently for a few minutes, trying to look further out the window in her restricted position, only managing to elbow Kuwabara in the stomach. "Ow! Quay, stop moving around! Damn, Hiei, just tell her!"

"Aw, but that's no fun! I'm not givin' up yet." All those who were still awake sighed. "Is it... umm... Kurama's shoelaces?"

"You can't even see his shoelaces."

"Yeah but you can- Hey!" she suddenly exclaimed, causing the other's to shush her. Pouting and looking properly abashed, she looked to Hiei to see the Jagan glowing beneath the headband and a smirk on his face. "That's cheatin', Hiei-san! Ya can't pick somethin' only you can see!"

"You should have been more specific."

"Ugh!" Crossing her arms in a huff, Quay stared angrily out the window as Hiei smirked in triumph and closed his eyes. But within a couple minutes Quay had recovered and found herself beyond bored again. "...So what was it?"

"What?"

"The spotted thing. What was it?"

Hiei grumbled. "A cow. We'll probably pass it in a few hours."

Quay shrugged in acceptance and stayed silent for about two minutes before smiling and winking at him. "I have a differen' game."

They all groaned. "The alphabet game," she announced to the uncaring Hiei. "I say somethin' that start's with 'A' in a certain category and then you say somethin' in the same category that starts with 'B' and then it keeps goin'."

Maybe if he pretended to be asleep she would let the stupid game die.

"Pick a category, Hiei-san." He remained silent. "Hiei-san." He refused to acknowledge her. "Hiiiieeeeiiiii-saaaaan..."

Damn it. "Fine! Weapons."

"I don' know anythin' about those!"

"Game over then, you lose. Now shut up."

"Hiei-san!"

"Shut up or you'll wake everyone!"

"Then play with me! Please?" She added with wide eyes.

He sighed. The things he did for them. Or more specifically, his slumbering twin. "Fine. Body parts."

Quay smiled and looked up thoughtfully. "Okay. Adam's apple."

"Boobs," Yusuke broke in with a bored tone. Hiei glared.

"Canines," The fire demon grumbled.

"...I don' wanna say it."

Hiei rolled his eyes as Yusuke snickered. "What are you talking about?"

A blushed darkened Quay's already tan face. "You know," she muttered, gesturing to something in the vicinity of his crotch- oh.

"EYES," he ground out before the game got out of hand.

"Fingers."

"Groin."

"Yusuke!"

"What?"

Hiei growled and did his best in his cramped position to point at the girl on his other side. "Don't encourage her!"

Quay coughed. "Hands."

"Iris."

"That's a flower."

"It's part of your eye, you little idiot."

"It's a flower," Quay insisted, "Right, Kurama-san? An iris is a flower?"

Kurama groaned. Apparently, being in the front seat didn't spare him from their tormenting games. "It's both, Quay." He could tell she was eyeing him suspiciously.

"For real, or are ya jus' sayin' that?"

"I wouldn't lie to you."

"Okay then... your turn, Hiei-san."

"It's your turn, dumb girl."

"Oh, um... 'J' right? Jugular."

Hiei cringed at the memory of Kuromomotaro's three inch fangs digging into his shoulder. "Kneecap."

"Love-handles."

This time Kurama sighed. "Yusuke really. Don't encourage her."

"What are love-handles?"

"You see?" The tired redhead replied. "Quay, enough games for now."

"But-"

"Enough. Let everyone have some peace for a little while. Besides, you're getting too loud. You're going to wake up the girls."

Sighing, Quay looked down at her feet before leaning back as much as she could in her seat. In a sense, Kurama felt sorry for her. Asking someone with as much energy as Quay to sit still during a six hour car ride was a little cruel, but she had promised to behave herself, and waking up the others just so she could have fun was would be incredibly rude.

Hiei's smirk at Quay's silence slowly dropped off his face as he watched her brows furrow and her eyes dart from side to side. She reminded him of a caged animal, and oh boy did he know what it felt like to be trapped. In fact, he felt the same way at the exact moment, especially with his arms practically pinned by his side. To his right, Yusuke was playing some sort of game on a handheld, and to his left, Quay was fidgeting uncomfortably. On her other side, Kuwabara was staring out the window.

He didn't know where they were going to begin with; Kurama had said something about a beach house but that was it. He assumed that meant they'd be by the shore. Why the beach at Genkai's compound couldn't fulfill their stupid human needs was beyond him. But then again, who was the bigger fool? The humans who wanted to play in the water or the fire demon who decided to go along? Alright so Kurama had played the Yukina card, but he still felt like an idiot, especially at the moment.

He was infuriatingly squished. His arms were cramping and his back was starting to hurt. Looking towards both his sides and ignoring Quay's quick but meaningful glance at him, he found he had two options. Well, three, but the third was remaining the way he was and that was definitely not happening. Either he put his aching arm behind Yusuke to make more space, or he could wrap it around Quay's small shoulders and scooch closer to her and further from the former spirit detective.

...On second thought, maybe he should just stay put.

Immediately a sharp pang went down his right arm and bit at his lower back. Cursing himself for training with Mukuro right before he met up with them, Hiei sighed and glared at Quay. She looked back at him with a confused frown before sighing and looking away.

The girl it was then.

Grudgingly, he peeled his left arm from his side, slung it across Quay's shoulders, and pulled her roughly towards him. Thankfully, everyone else was either sleeping, close to sleeping, or too preoccupied to notice. He would kill them if they gave him any grief.

Brown eyes widening, Quay looked up at him and gasped. "Hiei-san what-"

"Shh," Hiei replied quietly. "I'm tired of my arms being pinned like I'm some sort of damn mummy. Either deal with it or jump onto Kuwabara's lap and give me some space."

Blushing slightly, Quay shook her head and let it fall on Hiei's shoulder. "Can I put my head here?" She asked, suddenly shy and unusually polite. "It'll get stiff if I try to keep it up while we're this close."

"It's fine," he dead-panned.

Quay couldn't help but smile. She liked Hiei. He was a little grumpy but he was always fun to be around. To her, he was like a puzzle. But at the same time, he was there when she needed advice, showed up for the majority of her soccer games, and even walked her home from school from time to time when Kurama couldn't pick her up. She never had a dad, but she liked to think Hiei came pretty close.

...How old was he anyway? Would older brother be more age appropriate? As her mind began to wander, her eyelids began to get heavy. Before she knew it, the only thing she could think about was the warmth and comfort her cheek was leaning against and the faint smell of smoke and wood... and then she was asleep.

Hiei sighed as he felt Quay's breathing even out. Briefly, he looked down at the top of the girl's head and felt his heart warm against his wishes. He hated the fact that he enjoyed the crazy little child's company. He didn't want to be so attached. But just like with everything else in his life, fate apparently had other plans.

Sometimes he wondered, if Quay -a mere child and still very innocent- could look at him without cringing, could know all about his past and still accept him and could still look at him with those heartbreakingly warm eyes, then maybe Yukina would be able to as well. But deep down, he was more afraid of Yukina's rejection than Quay's. As much as he liked the girl, Yukina was still far more important and valuable to him. He knew this. She knew this. And yet Quay took it in stride and continued to treat him the same.

A softness brushed against his left hand, bringing him back to himself. Absently twirling a lock of Quay's hair around his finger, he wondered if the young girl ever resented her recently deceased older sister for any reason. He had heard Quay talk about her. They all had. The young girl had held her sister in the highest regard and looked up to her.

Hiei shook his head. He was not an upright citizen as Quay's sister had been. He was a rogue and a former felon. Yukina had no reason to look up to a brother with such a record.

And yet Quay did. He let go of the lock of hair and gently laid his head on top of the girl's despite himself. Quay looked up to him, he knew she did. He didn't know why but she did. She herself had told him so one particularly calm afternoon at Kurama's.

Eyes closing, Hiei snorted softly and shifted, causing Quay's face to rest against his neck. He didn't bother to move his head from the top of hers. It was certainly a mystery, why he tolerated the girl who both irritated and amused him at the exact same time. It was an even greater mystery that he looked forward to it. Mind beginning to run in circles, the fire demon sighed once more before letting his confused thoughts rest. And soon all he knew was that there was a comforting warmth against his side and gentle breaths on his neck.

~*~

Shizuru shook her head and smiled as she quickly glanced at the rearview mirror. "Hey, Fox Boy, take a look at the backseat."

Kurama raised a brow but complied, pulling his seatbelt a bit so he could move. Immediately he smiled and had to suppress a laugh. "Yusuke," called quietly, "Yusuke!" When the younger boy looked up from his game and locked questioning eyes with the youko, Kurama gestured to the pair sitting between Yusuke and Kuwabara who was also trying not to laugh. "Give me the camera," the redhead whispered jovially.

"Aww," Botan, who had just woken up, whispered as she turned around to see what all the fuss was about, "How sweet!"

Yusuke snickered and pulled the camera from his pocket and passed it up to Kurama. By that time, the girls were awake and giggling at the sight of the normally surly Hiei sleeping peacefully with his arm slung around an also conked out Quay. Black hair met black hair as Hiei's head leaned against the top of the young girl's. Smiling, Kurama raised the camera and counted silently to three. Hiei would be angry later and would quite possibly wake up right after the flash went off, but a picture was worth a thousand words, after all.

Click.

~*~

Thanks for reading! Review plz. You know you want to. :3