Chapter 2 – Her Alibi

Kuwabara marched up the steep stone steps to Genkai's temple with unwavering determination, the sensation of Yukina's feeble demon energy signal reaching him only acting as a catalyst to drive him ever onwards. He had never doubted his feelings for Yukina, he had always loved her, and he had always known – on a spiritual level – that she was his soul mate. They were bound together by a force greater than both of them, and that, he knew, was what true love was.

Although Kuwabara's true love was the sort of love that saw him abandoning his studies just to see Yukina's sweet smile and hear her say his name, whereas Yukina's true love was the sort of love that was very subtle: so subtle, Kuwabara sometimes worried that maybe it did not exist at all, and that rather he was just projecting the emotion on to her.

It was not something he had ever consciously thought about at first. Whilst he had still been in high school, still living in Sarayashiki city, he had been able to visit her almost daily, and he had always felt content just to be in her company. But, after he moved away to attend university, when he found himself only able to see her every other weekend, Kuwabara found himself missing Yukina painfully. He counted the days between their visits and was always ecstatic to see her, but Yukina seemed to feel no differently. She lived alone, in Genkai's temple – which she had taken ownership of following Genkai's passing – and when he did visit her, no matter how long they had been apart, she would greet him with a pleasant smile and nothing more. It was the same way she greeted Shizuru, or Botan, or Keikio, or Kurama, or even the wart-faced old man at the ramen stall they sometimes ate at.

It seemed as though she was not as enthusiastic about Kuwabara as he was about her. It seemed as though she perhaps did not feel as deeply for him as he did for her.

It seemed as though she thought he was as significant as the wart-faced man at the ramen stall.

Kuwabara drew in a deep breath as he reached the top step and Yukina came into his line of sight. She was standing on a small, decorative bridge, the sleeves of her yukata rolled up high above her elbows, her hair clumsily piled into a messy bun at the back of her head, and she was using a pool leaf net to skim the top layers of algae from the koi pond.

"Yukina!" he called out to her as he found himself jogging towards her. "Hey, baby!"

Yukina's head snapped up and she almost dropped the net, looking a little flustered for a moment before melting into one of the sweet smiles she always gave to anyone greeting her.

"Kazuma!" she said, discarding the net on the lawn a little awkwardly. "How nice to see you!"

She started towards him, very smoothly unfurling her hair from its ties and letting down her sleeves.

"I wasn't expecting you today, what a lovely surprise to see you!" she said, stopping three steps in front of him.

Kuwabara pushed down memories of Keiko running at Yusuke and throwing herself into his arms every time they met and grinned back at her.

"I just thought I would drop by," he said instead.

Yukina covered her mouth with one hand and let out a small giggle before her mirth gave way to confusion.

"But Kazuma, don't you have classes to go to today?" she asked.

Kuwabara hesitated before answering her, noticing something in her face that he had only really come to notice recently, despite it having always been there: even when she was frowning at him, there was not a single line or crease in her skin. He supposed it was just a part of being a demon, and the fact that she was a demon had never bothered him before, but just lately he had seen some of her more demon qualities as something that put a bit of distance between them.

"Uh, yeah, I kinda do," he awkwardly answered her.

"Well then why did you come here instead?" she asked, sounding no less curious, and almost frowning harder, and yet still not showing any expression lines on her flawless, porcelain, demon, skin.

"I just… Wanted to say hi, and see how you're doing."

Yukina blinked in a slow and deliberate manner before purposefully looking about herself.

"Everything here is fine," she concluded. "I hope you didn't come here because you were worried about me. I'm doing just fine. You should concentrate on your studies."

Kuwabara numbly nodded: she was being reasonable, but somehow he was not satisfied with her response.

"It's really nice to see you though Yukina," he mumbled.

"It's really nice to see you too, Kazuma," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"I miss you when I'm away," he added.

Yukina gave another small, short chuckle, her smile widening.

"Do you… Do you miss me, Yukina?" Kuwabara asked her. "When I'm not around, do you miss me?"

"You have responsibilities away from here, and I have plenty to do here, you shouldn't worry about me," she answered, only deepening his uncertainties.

"Uh right, yeah. But… Do you wanna get some tea or something before I go back?"

"No thank you."

Kuwabara sank – physically, emotionally and mentally – as Yukina smiled up at him, seemingly oblivious to how hurt he was by her immediate and definite rejection. The thought occurred to him then that he had literally walked in on Yukina siphoning heavy, wet gunge out of a pond, and now she was standing before him stating that she preferred getting back to that task over having tea with him.

It was not exactly how he pictured their romance in his head.

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, untying his hurriedly made bandana. "I guess I should head back. But, you know, if you ever need anything, or even if you just wanna go get some tea sometime you can just… Heh, you don't need to do anything actually, I'll know, and I'll come back here for you."

"Oh, you're giving this to me?" Yukina asked as Kuwabara found himself handing his bandana to her. "That's nice."

She hardly sounded convinced, but she gave him another of her sweet smiles, and, despite the fact that he increasingly longed for more from her than just one of her sweet smiles, Kuwabara found himself smiling back, his adoration of the ice maiden overwhelming the feelings of insecurity and need for reciprocation that often reared up within him.

"Study hard and eat well!" Yukina said, waving a hand in goodbye despite the fact that he had made no movement to leave just yet.

"Uh, yeah, I will. Thanks, Yukina," he replied, awkwardly waving back and starting to back away from her.

"Goodbye, Kazuma!"

"Goodbye, Yukina. I…"

Kuwabara stopped, several steps back from Yukina. She was still standing on spot, his bandana draped over one of her upturned hands, the other hand waving to him as she continued to smile so sweetly at him.

"I love you, Yukina."

Still she did not move. Her hand continued to wave, her smile remained in place, and it was almost as though he had said nothing at all. Kuwabara swallowed hard and nodded before turning around and walking off.

Usually, when he reached the temple gate at the top of the stone steps down into the forest, he would turn around and wave his hand high in the air and call out one last goodbye to his love: but that day he did not even hesitate, instead continuing through the gate and down the steps, maintaining a brisk pace without any thought to even look back or slow down.

Until he heard the soft sound of sobbing, echoing through the misty forest.

Kuwabara stopped short, turned around, and began to run in the direction of the forlorn sobbing.

Hiei swiped the back of his hand across his lips. It was a quick gesture, one it was clear he gave no thought to, but for Botan, it was an insult. It was as though he had to wipe away her kiss. She stopped where she was, balanced on one hip, ripening barley brushing against her bare back. Hiei continued to fasten his pants and readjust his shirt before grabbing up his cloak and sword. He then turned his back on her and made to walk away.

"Hiei!" she yelped, launching herself at him and awkwardly catching the leg of his pants with one hand.

"Hn?" he grunted, halting to glower over one shoulder at her.

"Where are you going?" she asked, peering up at him from her awkward position, sprawled over the ground and clinging to his pants.

"Away," he stiffly replied, turning his head in the direction he had been moving in. "Let go of me."

Botan paused just long enough to consider that letting go of Hiei was exactly what Shizuru had been telling her to do for the last several months – basically ever since she had confided in her friend that she had become involved with Hiei – but no part of her was prepared to do that. She could not let go of his pants, and she could not let go of him.

"Don't you want to stay a little longer?" she asked.

"No," he frankly replied. "Why would I?"

"Well, I just…" Botan began, feeling her face grow hot in a mounting blend of humiliation and devastation. "I wanted to…"

"Do you need me to finish you off?"

Botan's mouth opened but words failed her. Hiei was once more looking down over his shoulder at her, but he looked almost bored and irritated by the question he had just asked her.

"I warned you before about pretending to be satisfied," he added. "I don't have time for games."

"I…" Botan began, shaking her head, her half-loosened hair shimmying over her bare shoulders. "I wasn't pretending."

Her voice sounded about as small and pathetic as she felt, sprawled awkwardly in the middle of a barley field, naked bar her socks, clinging (literally) onto someone who had shown no inclination to want anything from her other than satisfying his own carnal desires.

"Then let go of me," he said, turning away and squaring his shoulders, his cloak ruffling around him to settle more smoothly down his back.

"I wanted to cuddle."

Botan chewed on her lip as she watched her fingers tighten, pulling the loose fabric by Hiei's calf into her fist.

"It-it's what normal couples do after… After sex."

She dared to look up at him, but was not surprised to find herself looking at the back of his head.

"Let go of me," he simply said again. "I won't ask you again."

"Oh well," she said, releasing her hold. "Maybe next time."

She splayed out her fingers behind his leg and watched them blur until she could no longer count how many fingers she had.

"Don't bother with that nonsense, you know I don't like it."

Botan blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and sighed indignantly before drawing breath to argue back: but Hiei had taken off before she could speak, leaving her choking on the cloud of dust he kicked up in his wake. Her eyes blurred again and she told herself it was particles of dirt getting into her eyes, it was because she was choking.

But, as her breathing settled, and as the air cleared, Botan found herself kneeling alone in the middle of a field of barley, her kimono flattening the crops to one side of her where it had been discarded, her sandals and oar thrown clear of her line of sight, and, other than a warm, comforting feeling deep in her loins, no clue that she had ever been anything other than alone where she knelt.

She was almost glad when she heard her communication mirror softly blipping somewhere several feet away: returning to spirit world would take her away from the living world, which had become the place where Hiei met her for their little trysts, and the place where Shizuru would give her that disappointed, pitying look that bordered on the infuriating at times. At least in spirit world nobody knew that she was in love with a demon, nobody knew that she was breaking her heart falling deeper and deeper in love with a creature that, for the most part, seemed both unwilling and incapable of ever returning her feelings.

Even just a little bit of affection would have been nice, she thought bitterly, just a hug, or a kiss on the forehead.

But Hiei had come from a difficult upbringing, a difficult life, a loveless existence: he just needed time to adjust, time to learn to trust her, time to open up to her, time to learn that it was okay to express feelings of love in simpler, more romantic ways.

She had to tell herself that. The alternative – the idea that what she had with Hiei was as much as she could ever have with him – was simply too much to bear.

"Hey kid, what are you doing all the way out here on your own? Are you lost?"

The little girl gasped, scrambling to her feet from her previous position slumped at the base of a tree. She shuffled back several steps before screaming as her heel hit a gnarled root, almost taking her from her feet.

"Hey, whoa, it's okay!" Kuwabara assured her, holding up his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you! But you're a long way from anywhere out here. Where are you parents? How did you get here?"

She little girl sniffed, frowning up at him through large, tearful eyes.

"I was looking for my kitty," she moaned pitifully.

"Your kitty?" Kuwabara echoed.

She nodded.

"My kitty didn't come home last night," she continued. "So I came out here to find him. He's so small, I'm scared something ate him!"

She began to sob and Kuwabara yelped.

"No, no!" he hurriedly responded. "Don't cry! We'll find your kitty, I promise! I'm an expert when it comes to cats!"

The little girl tilted her head to one side, one more tear sliding down her face before her eyes finally began to dry.

"What does your little kitty cat look like?" Kuwabara asked her.

"He's orange," she replied. "And his name is Kazuma."

Kuwabara grinned.

"My name's Kazuma too!" he told her cheerfully. "Kazuma Kuwabara, protector of cats! Let's find your kitty, then let's get you both back home!"

The little girl nodded and held out a hand towards Kuwabara. As she was just a little girl – probably no more than six years old – and out in a part of the forest a considerable distance from any roads or houses, Kuwabara thought nothing about taking hold of her hand. She started to walk surprisingly briskly, her hand wrapping around his with a surprising strength for a forlorn little girl, and Kuwabara shortly found himself jogging awkwardly to keep pace with her, slightly bent over in order to keep hold of her tiny hand, which was so much lower down than his own.

"I see him!" she declared suddenly, coming to an abrupt stop.

Kuwabara stumbled to avoid running right into her, his eyes following her free hand, which she had pointed up ahead of her. He scanned the trees but saw nothing – and even felt nothing – to show where the missing kitten might be.

"Lift me up!" she insisted, spinning around to face him and tugging at his hand. "Lift me up onto your shoulders, I can reach Kazuma that way!"

"Um, okay, I guess," Kuwabara agreed.

He stepped forwards and picked up her. He continued lifting and placed her on his shoulders despite the fact that he could feel his blood turning cold in his veins, the sickening sensation of having just stepped into a demon's territory washing over him.

"Uh, which tree did you say your kitty was in?" he asked. "And what did you say your name was?"

"Her name is Setsuna."

Kuwabara frowned at the girl's reply, a strange sensation crawling down his neck and spine as she placed her tiny hands on the top of his head.

"I thought you said your kitty was called Kazuma?" he asked quietly.

"The little girl is named Setsuna."

Kuwabara swallowed hard.

"So… There's no kitty up in that tree, right?" he asked, a cold sweat bursting from the pores of his forehead as he felt her tiny fingertips press against his skull.

"Kazuma is orange," the little girl replied. "But he won't be that way for long."

Hiei would have gladly kept his head down and continued on his way, offering probably little more than a nod of acknowledgement: but when he noticed the small device in Yusuke's hand, bearing the emblem of the palace of spirit world, he sneered and instead moved himself directly into the mazoku's path.

"Hey Hiei, what's up?" Yusuke greeted him.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked, his eyes on the device in Yusuke's hand.

It was the same device Botan carried on her, a communicator that allowed Koenma to page her at the most inappropriate of times with the most ridiculous of demands.

"Spirit world," Yusuke replied, waggling the device in the air between them as he came to a stop just a few steps away from Hiei. "Koenma called. Some crap about a low-class demon that's been causing mischief in the living world. Probably just another rat demon stealing food and screwing wild rats. I doubt you'd be interested. Though if you wanna go instead of me…"

Yusuke grinned and raised his eyebrows, extending him arm towards Hiei, offering him the communicator.

"Hardly," Hiei spat venomously. "Spirit world's petty problems are their own and hold no interest for me. And you ought not to be bothering yourself with them either."

"Well, y'know, I could argue that a demon escaping into the living world is kinda the problem of the Border Patrol…" Yusuke replied, pretending to look pensive.

"Hardly," Hiei scoffed.

Yusuke grinned and grabbed one of Hiei's shoulders and shaking him with excessive force.

"Relax short-stuff, I'm just busting your balls!" he said.

Hiei had always found that particular expression to be an odd one, but said nothing, instead waiting for Yusuke to let go of him before moving on again. From the corner of his eye he saw Yusuke turn around to watch him leave.

"So, uh…" Yusuke called after him. "Does this mean you don't wanna come with me and find out what's going on?"

"I already told you, I don't concern myself with spirit world's petty problems," Hiei harshly replied, keeping his head forward and without breaking pace, keen to increase the distance between them as quickly as possible.

"So should I just let Koenma tell Mukuro you let your guard down, you slacked off, you let a piss-ass E Class demon get by you and start screwing rats?"

Hiei growled but still did not break pace. It was not the first time recently that Koenma had called on Yusuke with some pathetic, transparent excuse about a minor demon somehow passing into the living world: and every time Yusuke was called, the reports were false, and every time the call coincided with Hiei having one of his meetings with Botan. He was well aware that the communication device she carried was basically a tracking device spirit world used to follow her every move, and despite the fact that he always threw it away from her, despite the fact that he always warned her not to bring it when meeting him, somehow Koenma had still been able to track it, still been able to register that one of his ferry girls was going off-radar and was still having the childish, unsubtle response of summoning Yusuke under the ruse of needing his help.

The only part Hiei had yet to figure out was whether Yusuke had realised yet that Koenma was consistently calling him for no reason, or whether Koenma had actually just taken Yusuke in under his wing, and shared his reasoning with the masoku.

Hiei grunted and squared his shoulders. He was almost certain Yusuke did not know what was really going on. He doubted Yusuke could keep silent if he did. The idiot barely kept silent about his knowledge regarding Hiei's relation to Yukina: if he knew Hiei was regularly meeting up with Botan for sex he would surely be making crude, supposedly subtle jokes about it around the others. The last thing Hiei needed was anyone else finding out about what he was doing with Botan. He was amazed (and secretly impressed) that she had not told anyone about it herself, but he knew that there was always a danger it would one day come to light.

He snarled and angrily swiped a hand at his cloak as he noticed a single, slightly wavy, strand of blue hair, looking remarkably colourful next to the black of his garment. That was exactly the sort of thing he feared the most: something trivial revealing his secret. But it was not like he could just stop, even if someone else did find out what he was doing.

Hiei sighed and quickened his pace, clearing his head and continuing back to start his next patrol duty.

Yusuke knocked, for a second time, on the door he was standing unreasonably close to, his patience started to wear thin when he still did not hear any sound from within the room. He sighed and focused his attention again at the door, but again he sensed nothing within.

It was like Kuwabara was not in his dorm room.

Yusuke still kept a communication mirror on him, and he usually only used it to communicate with Koenma, but, out of desperation, he took it out and tried to contact Kuwabara. When the mirror did not fully respond, he concluded that Kuwabara maybe did not have a communicator after all, and so he would have to find his friend the old-fashioned way. With a sigh of irritation, he turned and jogged down the hallway, back to the communal entrance to the student dorm.

"Whoa!" he blurted out, stumbling to an awkward halt as he found a small cluster of girls crouching over shards of wood and piles of mail strewn across the floor. "What happened here? Did someone go postal?"

One of the girls looked up at him sharply, clearly anything but amused by his remark.

"I bet it was you who did this!" she spat, pointing a brightly painted fingernail at him.

"Calm down girl, I just got here!" Yusuke replied.

"It wasn't him, it was one of the girls from the track team," another of the girls explained.

Yusuke paused for a moment longer before deciding he was safe to skirt around them and move on. He ran at a human pace until he was clear of the university campus and had taken himself off of major roads and out of sight before breaking into his full speed, taking himself back to Sarayashiki city. If Kuwabara was not at school, the only other two places he could logically be would be either back at his dad's house or up at Genkai's temple checking on Yukina. He decided to start with the Kuwabara family home, mostly because he was hungry and Shizuru usually offered him food more readily than Yukina did.

Before long the house was in his sights and he slowed to a human pace until he was almost at his destination, stopping abruptly short when he suddenly spotted Kuwabara at the other end of the street, walking towards him.

"Hey, I was looking for you, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called out, waving a hand above his head.

Kuwabara did not respond to his greeting, but did continue walking towards him at a steady pace. Yusuke slowly walked forwards, bringing himself to the garden gate to wait, his thick, dark eyebrows slowly lowering and drawing together as he found it increasingly odd that Kuwabara was still making no effort to move any faster nor acknowledge his presence. He looked a little irritated, and from the direction he was approaching, it appeared as though he was returning home from a visit with Yukina. It was unlike him to be irritated by anything involving the ice maiden he was so besotted with, though it was not unlike him to be a little down at the thought of leaving her, so Yusuke assumed that was the case, and offered his friend a smile as he joined at the gate.

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" Kuwabara responded, his voice low and unusually gruff.

"It's nice to see you too, buddy," Yusuke dryly replied. "And I'm here because Koenma called me–"

"I'm not interested," Kuwabara cut him off.

Yusuke was so taken aback by Kuwabara's response, his friend had brushed past him, travelled the length of the garden path and entered the house before he thought to respond.

"Hey!" he protested. "Just because you can't carry Yukina around in your rucksack like one of your dumb schoolbooks doesn't mean you should get out of doing crap for spirit world!"

Kuwabara turned to the doorway, looking back out at Yusuke with an expression Hiei would have been proud of for its indifference.

"Did Koenma ask for me?" he asked.

"Well no, but–"

"Then deal with it yourself, Urameshi."

Yusuke's jaw dropped as Kuwabara stepped back inside the house and slammed the door shut.

"Gees, what's eating you?" Yusuke yelled.

When he received no answer, he angrily pulled out his communication mirror once more, reaching out to Kurama. He did not have to wait long for an answer, Kurama's calm demeanour almost infuriating under the circumstances.

"Yusuke, you're in the living world?" Kurama asked him.

"What the hell's eating Kuwabara?" Yusuke demanded, ignoring Kurama's greeting entirely.

"Oh, you've encountered him today?" Kurama replied.

"He just slammed the door in my face!" Yusuke returned, his anger overcoming common sense and justifying the exaggeration.

"He's been growing increasingly restless, and today he left class – he left halfway through an actual lecture – to visit with Yukina. He fears she does not return his affections."

"So?"

Kurama frowned.

"Yukina's just…" Yusuke began, waving his free hand in the air as he tried to find the right words to say. "She's not exactly… I mean she doesn't really… I don't know! He's stupidly in love with her, and she just wants to pick flowers and speak to birds and shit!"

Kurama smiled, but looked vaguely pained at the same time.

"Yes, well, I think after all these years, Kuwabara is starting to realise that Yukina does not feel for him the same way he feels for her," he said. "That as much as he loves – and indeed has loved – her, she really is only interested in "picking flowers and speaking to birds"."

Yusuke sighed.

"Well that's hardly my fault," Yusuke sobered.

"Perhaps it's best just to give him some space, and some time," Kurama suggested.

"Yeah, I guess," Yusuke groaned. "Let him go through puberty while I've gotta go to spirit world and deal with Koenma all on my own…"

Kurama sighed and again gave a pained smile.

"I'll meet you there, shall I?" he offered.

"Yeah, sure."

Yusuke snapped the communicator shut before Kurama could change his mind: if he was really lucky, he might even be able to offload whatever stupid mission Koenma had onto the fox demon. Yusuke cast one last glower at the door Kuwabara had slammed shut, before turning to leave.

But, halfway around, Yusuke stopped short, his eyes landing on a figure walking down the street towards him.

Although he had no reason to wait, Yusuke decided to. He could have just waved a greeting to Shizuru, but instead he waited, by the gate, and watched her walking towards him at a steady, confident, unhurried pace. One arm was draped at her side, weighed down by two rounded bags of groceries, her other arm bent up, her fingers elegantly curled around a cigarette. She was wearing skin-tight jeans and a shirt with a large collar, partially covered by a neat-fitting, dark-coloured waistcoat. Her height, her even pacing, her flawless long hair and her slim and toned figure made her look like a catwalk model.

Or one of those really hot girls from Megallica's music videos.

"Hey," Yusuke greeted her as she drew nearer.

"Hey," she replied. "What is it this time? Did my baby brother do something dumb, or does spirit world need him for something dumb?"

Yusuke grinned.

"Come on in, I'll make you something," Shizuru offered.

Yusuke nodded and gladly followed her up the garden path, all thoughts of Kuwabara's unusually surly behaviour long gone from his mind.

Next Chapter: Still bothered by the idea of a stray demon in the human realm, Hiei goes to check on his sister. Botan visits Keiko to discuss the meaning of true love, and although it doesn't go as Botan had hoped, she soon forgets all about it when, on her way back from visiting Keiko, she stumbles across an opportunity to help a little girl in need. Chapter 3 – Flying Shadow