Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

And of course, Hiei stood corrected. After telling himself that he could actually adjust to Botan, he became irritated with her again. She began to take a step back when it came to him. She wouldn't try to force him into conversation or anything, and Hiei knew she was just trying to lure him into a false sense of security where she would once again become a perky chatterbox.

He hated when people tried to fool him.

How did he come to this conclusion about her? Well, it all started when Yukina started talking the blue-haired teenager up to him. Obviously, Botan had talked to his sister about him. Yukina had probably given her the advice of stepping back. He could never be mad at Yukina for talking about him, especially when the girl was trying find people to bring him out of his shell. His sister wanted him to be happy. Botan…he didn't know what she wanted, other than to freely be her annoying self.

He glanced over at her when he was finished jotting down the answers for their quiz and saw the girl diligently working. His eyes narrowed, knowing that this girl was trying to play him for a fool. It surprised him, though, when he saw her usually bubbly demeanor replaced with a look of firm concentration. Her pencil was pressed against her cheek and her eyes seemed to be burning holes into the paper. Eventually she wrote something down, glaring at the quiz. Whatever question it was, she was stuck on it and she didn't seem to be taking it well.

So what if she got a question wrong? Hiei asked himself. It wasn't the end of the world, yet this girl looked so angry. He didn't know this girl could even feel an emotion besides cheerfulness.

Eventually Botan finished, a soft smile appearing on her face as she turned the paper over. She stared straight ahead, but Hiei could see her fingers itching to turn the quiz back over and recheck her answers. He stared at her curiously with a quirked brow and wondered what her issue was. One might think he was starting to care, but in his mind he was only wondering because Botan was now a girl Yukina was hanging out with. It was his responsibility to make sure Yukina was friends with good people…sort of.

The class began to hand their quizzes in and the lesson went on. At the end, Botan finally came up to him. Mentally scoffing at how predictable she was being, he shot her his stoic expression and waited for her to prove him wrong.

She proved him wrong.

"Hey," she greeted almost quietly wearing an apologetic grin. "Our materials came in for our project today, but I have a school activity after classes today, so could we maybe stay after tomorrow to plant everything?"

"What activity?" Hiei voiced before he could stop himself.

Botan's apologetic smile became one of happiness. "I tutor biology and math after school on Wednesdays."

The admission was surprising to Hiei, and he was once again reminded of the conversation he had accidentally heard. Again, against his better judgment, he said, "You really like helping children, don't you?"

Botan seemed shocked by the statement, but she smiled as she blushed at Hiei noticing something personal about her. "Well, everyone really," she corrected. "The tutoring is for all age groups. Anyone can sign up if they need the help."

"Good to know," Hiei replied, considering that he had his issues with biology.

"Anyways, I am free tomorrow," Botan reiterated. "Will you be?"

Hiei thought about it for a moment and then frowned. "I have to be home before five o'clock," he stated darkly, and Botan's cheerful expression grew serious.

"Hiei," she called out bringing his attention to her, his eyes shifting in her direction. "Is everything okay?"

His eyes narrowed at her. "Don't ask," he ordered. Botan was about to protest, but he interrupted her. "Trust me; you don't need to know. It's fine."

Botan still didn't returned to her usually chipper self. Instead, she just looked sad and concerned. She boldly placed her hand on his shoulder. "If you ever need to talk…well, you know." Then she removed her hand and smiled. "Oh, what am I saying? You probably go to Kurama with this stuff. You don't need me."

Somehow, the girl found that funny, smiling sadly and shaking her head as she left the classroom. Hiei just stared at her blinking his wide eyes a few times. He broke out of his stupor to pack his books up when he overheard the three teenagers who had bothered Botan before talking about her.

"I can't stand little-miss-perfect," Ruka complained. "She thinks she's so cool. She's just moments away from crumbling."

"I don't know," one of the guys said. "She seems confident to me."

"Oh, believe me," Ruka laughed. "It's all an act. She thinks if she stays off the radar that she can avoid another fiasco like in middle school."

The second guy laughed. "Yeah, I bet you're really proud of yourself for all that."

"Quite," the girl chimed with a smirk.

Hiei was disgusted by the implications his classmates were making. He was starting to see Botan in a new light, even though he was still annoyed at her going behind his back. From what these students were saying, though, her peppiness was just an act, a cover. That blasted, cheery demeanor he hated was just an act. He wondered what else was part of her act of self-preservation.

Sure, he didn't think he could tolerate her as a close friend, but he had just seen that they could have an actual conversation and at least be acquaintances. The spiky-haired teen looked over to his classmates and glared as he walked up to them.

"Oh, hey," Ruka greeted him, her voice becoming a bit flirtier than before. She waved her posse off, and the boys left quickly. "You're the new kid. Hiei, right?"

Hiei did not confirm or deny. "Ah, the silent type. I guess there's not much to say, hm? Want to meet up later?"

"Why would I have anything to do with a spiteful bitch who cowers away with her brownnosers badmouthing an unsuspecting girl?" he scoffed watching Ruka's face fall. "Get a life."

He crossed his arms, snatching up his books as he left the room. He hadn't realized that he ignited that part of Ruka that made her that "spiteful bitch."

The next day at school was uneventful until lunchtime. Hiei had actually seemed to adjust to the school well, not as well as Yukina but well. He was a little more vocal with the members of Kurama's group than he had been when he started, though he still couldn't stand Kuwabara. After what had happened regarding his sister, Botan, and the concert, Hiei hated him. The feeling was mutual, though, because of what Hiei had said about Botan. Kuwabara couldn't forgive him, especially when he still seemed to ignore his friend.

"Come on, Botan!" they heard Yusuke whine as he and Botan were coming back with their lunches. "Just tell me who the guy is."

"Yusuke, enough," Botan nearly hissed knowing the member of their group probably already heard. "I already told you I wasn't going to talk about it."

"What's going on?" Kurama asked as he put the book he was reading while eating aside.

Yusuke plopped down next to Keiko pointing his fork accusingly at Botan. Botan just sighed and sat down in between Yukina and Hiei, shaking her head. "Yusuke was picking at me because I wasn't showing interest in this guy he was pointing out," Botan explained. She stopped there.

"Yeah, so I asked little Miss Princess what her deal was," Yusuke piled on, "and she told me she's already interested in someone."

"Really?" Keiko asked in excitement. "Oh, Botan, you have to tell us who it is!"

"No," Botan sighed, "I don't. Besides, you wouldn't know him. He doesn't go to this school."

Kuwabara instantly knew what she was talking about and looked horrified. "Him? Really Botan? You haven't met the guy!"

Everyone looked between Kuwabara and Botan and Hiei finally became interested in the conversation, eyeing the girl. She looked insanely pissed as she glared at her redhead friend. "Why did you say that?" she questioned bitterly. "You swore you wouldn't."

"What's going on?" Yusuke asked, his earlier amusement gone.

"N-Nothing, Urameshi," Kuwabara answered, flashing Botan an apologetic look.

Botan just went to eating her food, remaining tense as she ate. Everyone just decided to give the girl her space, and Hiei saw once again a side of Botan he hadn't seen before. She got angry, just like everyone else. She felt other emotions other than cheerfulness and joy. She was an actual person, not just some annoying girl.

At least, with that admission, working together on projects would be more bearable.

After school, they met up in the biology room in the connecting room where they would set up their plants. Hiei had expected to be doing all the planning, but Botan instantly began to work getting herself dirty in the process. He had never met a girl without the aversion to dirt, but was thankful he didn't have to plant everything alone.

They set plants up with different music, classical, techno, soft and hard rock, and rap. The hypothesis was that the louder, crasser music like hard rock, techno, and rap would yield less growth, and that classical and soft rock would have better growth. Results from this basic experiment usually concluded that classical caused the most growth, but Botan was sure that soft rock would yield the same amount of growth. She hadn't explained her reasoning yet, but Hiei didn't feel like questioning her.

"I guess we should go to my house now and work on the materials and methods section before we forget what we did," she suggested with a small smile.

Hiei shrugged a response, not caring. It was only three in the afternoon, so he had time before Tarukane got home and bothered his sister. Yukina already knew to call him if the freak came home earlier. It was then, as he thought this, that he noticed dirt on Botan's face and started to chuckle.

Botan frowned slightly. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing," Hiei remarked, his voice light with humor. He used his hand to wipe the dirt off of her face. "Just had something there."

Botan stopped him, reaching her own hand up to her face and feeling the dirt. She looked surprised for a moment before she too started laughing. "Of course I did," she murmured. "Always seems to happen when I do stuff like this."

Hiei just shook his head. "Unbelievable," he responded.

To get back to the task at hand, Botan stood up and dusted herself off. "I guess we better get out of here so that you can get home on time."

All humor left Hiei's eyes and his expression darkened. It didn't go unnoticed by Botan, and she was growing increasingly concerned about her friend's wellbeing. Still, she knew he wouldn't talk about it with her, so she just gathered her things and the two of them left the school in silence.

Botan checked the mail when they reached her place and was surprised that they had gotten nothing. She shrugged the strange occurrence off and headed to her front door, Hiei in tow. After unlocking the door and getting inside, Botan was surprised to hear the television set and went into the living room. "Mom? You're home?"

Botan's mother looked over to her and smile, getting up off the couch to hug her daughter tightly. "Yeah," she replied quietly. "They sent me home early today."

Her daughter instantly panicked at her words. "Oh, mom, please don't tell me it's your heart again."

The older woman chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that. Botan, I've already told you that my heart is fine. It's been working at normal capacity for years." She noticed the boy behind her daughter gaping at the two and smiled. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Botan blushed slightly, remembering Hiei was there. For a moment she had completely forgotten him. "Mom, this is Hiei," she replied. "He's Kuram-er…Shuichi's friend from his old hometown. We're biology partners."

The woman smiled to the boy. "Well, nice to meet you, Hiei," the woman said warmly. "My name is Sakura. Now, by the looks of you two, I'd say you worked up an appetite. Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Hiei's eyes widened and he nearly shouted, "No!" When both women blinked at him, he composed himself and said, "My mother is expecting me home. I need to be back by five."

The mother accepted the answer and started heading to the kitchen. "I'll just make you both a snack then. You head upstairs and I'll bring it up."

"Thanks, mom," Botan chimed. She turned to Hiei and grinned. "Let's go. I have something you can change into."

Hiei was once again in Botan's room, and once again thought of how stereotypical it looked for a teenage girl. When the girl started rummaging through her drawers, though, he learned something new. He had seen her closet last time filled with skirts, dresses, things any typical girl would buy. But in her dresser, she only had shorts, sweats, and t-shirts. He looked at her, trying to picture her in anything but the preppy outfits he'd see her in at school. He couldn't do it.

"Let's see," Botan said after she took out a light green t-shirt and black sweats. "What do I have for you? Oh, I know!"

Surprisingly, she took out a light blue t-shirt and handed it to him. He observed the clothing and saw that size. It was, in fact, a guy's shirt. He scoffed. "Your boyfriend won't mind me borrowing this?"

Botan frowned and then said, "Um, I don't have a boyfriend, Hiei. That's actually mine. There are some clothes that I see that just look or feel so comfortable. Especially some guy shirts and sweat jackets. They're so warm and I'm always freezing, so… I usually just wear them lounging around the house. Please, please don't tell anyone."

This caught Hiei's attention. "Why would I tell anyone? It's not a big deal."

"It honestly is," Botan replied. "I…never mind. I'll go change in the bathroom. Um…yeah…"

Botan left him alone in her room, so he quickly discarded his dirtied shirt and put on the one she offered him. Her behavior had been strange to him, and he caught himself wondering what the big deal was. Obviously, she didn't want to tell him. They weren't close friends or anything like that. Kurama probably knew, and her other friends. Maybe she'd eventually tell Yukina. He couldn't really go around asking for it would give the impression that he cared.

But, since he was sitting there wondering, didn't that mean he cared?

Ack, I don't, Hiei told himself. If he cared at all it was only because his sister did.

Botan came out and saw Hiei looking very intensely at her bed. She wondered what he was thinking about, but she knew he probably wouldn't tell her. They weren't friends yet. Well, at least he probably didn't think of her as a friend yet. Still, they had made strides in the right direction. Talking to Yukina that day had definitely been a good idea.

"So," she spoke up making Hiei jump slightly. "We shouldn't be too long with this, and then you can go home."

"Fine," Hiei responded as he joined her at her desk, both of them looking at her laptop and saying what they thought needed to be added. It was definitely a group effort, and Botan was thankful that Hiei had finally given her a chance.

Hiei had left pretty much right after they finished. He had about ten minutes before he needed to be home, so Botan didn't mind his hasty retreat. All things considered, they had had a very good couple of days. Hiei had asked her questions about herself and hadn't even batted an eye when she shared her likes in clothing. Honestly, she was relieved. When Yusuke had found one of her shirts a few years back, he asked her if she had lost her virginity and if some guy left it there. She had responded by hitting him with a plastic wiffle ball bat. He hadn't asked her about the shirt again as the years passed on.

Cheerfully humming, Botan entered the kitchen to get a drink of water. Her mother was close behind her and looked very serious when Botan turned to face her. "Is something wrong, mom?" she asked sounding concerned.

"Sort of," Sakura replied, her voice soft. She motioned to the table. "Let's sit."

Botan's heart was racing with how her mother was acting. She was expecting the worst. Her mind was racing with the possibilities. Was it really her heart again? Was she sick? Cancer? Why was her mom acting so serious?

"So, things have been rough at the hospital lately," she began to explain, Botan's heart continuing to hammer in her chest. "The other nurses aren't fond of me, and neither are some of the doctors."

"Why not?" Botan questioned. Everyone usually loved her mother, Botan's friends especially, dubbing her "the cool mom."

"Many patients were asking me questions that only the supervisors usually know since I've been there for a while," the woman told her. "They felt threatened. I only found out today how bad it was. A friend had warned me to tone it down, so I did a bit, but I still wasn't going to leave patients and their families to guess. They were just minor questions, sometimes my opinion on treatments. They wanted an outsider's opinion, and I contradicted what the doctor wanted them to choose."

"But if there's more than one option they gave, they should expect either, whatever is best for the family," Botan stated.

Her mother flashed her a rueful smile. "In a perfect world, sweetie. The problem is, it's not what the doctors wanted, and any complaints that patients had for the nursing staff, I brought to the attention of our supervisor, so a bunch of the nurses and doctors went to the higher ups in the hospital and told them that they needed to let a few nurses go because of finances and they wanted me gone or some of the nurses who had been there for over a decade would quit."

"They fired you?" Botan nearly screeched. "But…what…that's not fair!"

"No, it's not," her mother agreed, still keeping calm. She smiled and took her daughter's hand. "But don't worry. I've already been applying for jobs online. Maybe I'll even be able to get a full-time job instead of these part-time ones. One closer than the colleges."

Well, at least she still had the colleges. Botan knew, though, that things were about to get increasingly more difficult for them, despite the child support that would be coming in. "Mom, should I try looking for work again?"

Sakura shook her head. "You know I always say that you're most important job is being a student. You barely get time to sleep as it is. I don't want you to have to deal with a job on top of that and all of your activities. You need to focus on getting into college. After that, we can talk again, but your schoolwork comes first. Besides, even if you got a job, it wouldn't be as much as what we're losing. Until I hear back, I'm going to ask my friend for more shifts at the school. She had told me of a position setting up labs for students. Things will be tight for a while, but we'll get through it like last time."

Botan nodded, though she was starting to feel fear. Last time, she had been let go from a company during a buyout because her supervisors were angry that the woman who brought her mother on quit. Her mother had been working from home at nights, the shift her friend held. Her friend had suffered health problems from her wild hours. She was also a mother who had a bunch of kids she needed to get ready for school in the morning. Her body had started shutting down on her.

After she quit, Botan's mother stayed on, and her supervisors complained to her about her friend quitting. They demanded she convince her to return to the company. Knowing the reasons her friend quit, she told them "no" and, when the company was being bought out, they let her go making it look like it was the other company that didn't want her there. Her mother began working her crazy, part-time jobs again.

Before she had gotten those three jobs, they were struggling. She was on unemployment for a while, significantly less than what she was making, and grocery shopping was a struggle, especially when the prices of everything started going up. Botan knew they could get through it again, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. She still needed to ask her mom about her college application fee, seventy-five dollars. She knew her mother would give it to her, but now…she just didn't know if she should ask.

Hiei got home with three minutes to spare. He tossed his dirty shirt in the laundry room downstairs and began to ascend the staircase to his room. "Eh hem," he heard a throat being cleared. He froze on the bottom step when he heard Tarukane's disgusting voice. "I thought you were grounded. What were you doing out?"

The teenager contemplated ignoring him. After all, it really wasn't any of his business anyway. However, Yukina was home, and they were alone. He didn't want to give her any cause for concern. If he played nice, Tarukane would let him pass. Hiei walked away from the stairs and stood in front of the alleged gangster. "I was stuck at the school," he told him. "I was working on a biology project with my partner. If you don't believe me, ask the teacher. We done?"

Tarukane looked at the teenager skeptically, then smirked as he began to circle the teen. Hiei refused to leave his back turned to his enemy and spun around with the man. His eyes narrowed as Tarukane chuckled. "You're not wearing the same thing you were this morning."

Hiei was taken aback, completely at a loss for words. He knows what I was wearing? Hiei screamed in his head. Why does he always pay attention to everything I do?

"Part of our project involved some gardening," Hiei scoffed, crossing his arms in attempt to save face from his momentary freak-out moment. "The kid I'm working with lent me the shirt." Mentally he sighed, knowing that he kept Botan safe. Last thing Tarukane needed to know was that he went over to some girl's house.

Hiei began to go around Tarukane to head up to his room, but felt a jolt as he was knocked to the ground hard. The boy cringed opening one eye. As he moved his hand to the back of his head, he felt a warm liquid, his own blood. He must have hit his head on something as he fell.

"Your mother may tolerate that attitude," Tarukane sneered, "but I do not. Be careful; that defiant temper of yours will get you into trouble one day."

As the gangster laughed, Hiei grimaced and forced himself off of the ground while keeping his hand on his wound. He figured Yukina would be willing to patch him up again. It wasn't often Hiei got really hurt by Tarukane, mostly accidental, like hitting his head on a shelf, or in this care the banister most likely. He only hoped she could be discrete with it. He didn't need anyone asking questions the next day at school.

A/N: So…more drama! And lots of time to keep writing. I already have the next couple of chapters waiting to be posted so that I can work on writing new chapters and still give an update. I've finally graduated so I have a lot more time now :D Hopefully, I'll be able to get to the crux of the story very soon. Thanks for reading!