Standing at the end of the alley they turned at the same time to watch the pair go, startled temporarily into silence and inactivity.

"So… is this one of those things you guys just never bothered to tell me?" Kuwabara asked finally, the first to recover from the surprise enough to chance a glare at the other two.

"Yeah Kurama… fill him in…" Yusuke muttered, still busy staring after the other two and trying to keep his mouth shut at the same time.

"I can honestly say I know nothing about her." He wished he was insulted by the fact that they believed him capable of keeping this sort of secret, but then he didn't always share everything with them, what was more concerning was the fact that Hiei had been able to hide such a thing so well from all of them. He'd called her Kotori, a name Kurama had never heard come up in association with the other demon at all. That was somewhat remarkable considering Hiei's lack of discretion when it came to the identities of his cohorts, he'd never been overly discreet about who he might have been working with, even on a temporary basis. And the sort of familiarity the girl had been showing did not scream passing acquaintance. But there was something more troubling than that. Hiei being secretive wasn't entirely uncommon, nor was it for Koenma to be, however no one had ever referred to the missing investigator by any name other than Hiroko… until Hiei had.

If Koenma had truly wanted them to find her, and feared for the girl's safety, he would have shared everything. And if he did not know her second identity there could potentially be several less than innocent reasons. After all, innocent people didn't have a price on their head. There could be more at play than they were aware of, and that had ever possibility of becoming a serious problem.

"Alright Botan, have you guys been holding out on us? Did you know Hiei and this girl were… whatever they're doing?"

The new arrival had stopped short of where they were standing and turned as they had to stare at the retreating duo. Seemingly startled by the voice she turned back, "What?"

"You saw them," Yusuke took a few steps forward, bringing himself up even with her, "with the goo-goo eyes and the handholding. You had to know something's up."

"Yeah Botan, she works for you guys you had to know what she's been up to… so why didn't you tell the rest of us?" Kuwabara joined in, bending over to be face to face with the woman.

Surprise fading to simple offense Botan straightened up a bit, "Excuse me? How should I know any of what's going on? I've never even met Hiroko before, and it isn't as if I'm Hiei's close personal confidant!"

"The only way we're going to find anything out is if we catch up." Kurama slipped past them, diffusing the situation before it could escalate into something resembling an actual argument as he passed, and trying very hard not to melt into a fit of laughter at Yusuke's accusation of Hiei making "goo-goo" eyes at someone, a notion as ridiculous as the demon walking down a street hand in hand with someone. "Including where they happen to be going…" He added, once the topics of their discussion had disappeared around a corner. Even so, he was nearly to the end of the alley when he heard the others break into a run to follow.

X

"We shouldn't be here…" Her eyes swept the open space three times as they turned into it, taking in the long expanse of grass stretching away from the winding path with its lightly glowing lamp posts. A few trees dotted the landscape, but they were fairly small and widespread and would provide no cover. She hesitated at the gate, not wanting to walk completely into the open where being spotted was almost a guarantee.

"You shouldn't be here at all." He wasn't talking about the park as he yanked her forward through the brick faced gate. To his knowledge all this time Kotori had been on the other side of the barrier, that was where he'd always thought of her being, the same place the same way she'd always been. And he had thought of her, at least in passing now and then. You didn't have someone at your side as long as she had stuck by his without doing so, didn't lose a piece of the sky without wondering what might have befallen it. Somehow the thought of her turning up again, that she might not have been where he'd left her had never crossed his mind.

He felt her stop again a second before he saw the flicker of movement on the edge of his vision. Her eyes had always been barely a fraction of a second faster than his, another of those things that hadn't changed. Releasing her he stepped to one side, drawing his sword and turning just so. The first demon that reached them was impaled on the blade before he'd realized it was there. Pulling the weapon free Hiei glanced quickly to where she stood. Meeting his eyes Kotori nodded once and with a burst of speed moved out of the way as the next group of attackers approached.

X

The faintest trace of a shout Sounded over the steady thuds of their feet and again the seemingly endless cycle of running to catch up continued .Coming around the corner of the tall wall surrounding the park Botan was the only one to stop. The other three, used to scenes like the one they found in the park quickly waded into the mob, leaving the blue haired woman alone a few steps past the gate and wondering what had happened for things to have escalated this quickly. They had been only seconds behind, how a group so large could have formed so quickly was beyond her. There were so many milling bodies in the clump that she lost track of the boys almost right away.

The high arc of a flying knife, cast off from one demon or another, caught and pulled her eyes away from the task of finding her friends a moment too late. The heavy, sharply glinting blade was only a few feet from her head when she looked up, far too close for her to throw herself out of the way before the plummeting weapon would hit her.

A thin blue film passed in front of her eyes and Botan cringed, waiting for the pain of the knife slicing into her. When it didn't come she opened her eyes just a little, then wider as the violet tint of color faded from the air in front and above her. Blinking she looked down at the now far less dangerous looking knife where it rested benignly on the grass inches from her feet. "That was close…"

"I think it would be best if you stood close to me." It wasn't until she spoke that Botan realized the shorter woman was standing beside her.

"Hiroko… then you…?" She glanced back at the slowly fading color of the stricken barrier, "Thanks." Botan's smile wasn't returned, probably because the young woman who only reached about to her shoulder didn't see it. She'd tipped her head down away from the fight with her eyes squeezed closed. "Are… are you alright?" The almost pained look on the girl's face vanished so quickly Botan almost wondered if she'd been imagining the whole thing, but there was something almost haunting about her eyes when she glanced up that nearly stole her breath at the intensity of the brief glance and the things in it that she didn't have a chance to name before they swept away.

"I was hoping to avoid this…" She whispered, watching as bodies began falling into the grass, her sharp vision making it possible for her to trace each one, to see the arcs and drops of blood soaring into the air, to match the torn edges of flesh for those that suffered some type of dismemberment. Reflexively every muscle in her body tightened, her fingers curled into fists at her sides to keep her hands from trembling as she habitually and unwillingly began picking out the different shades of red the different demons' blood shimmered in the yellow light.

"Hi…Hiroko…?" Watching the demon tremble for a second in her too large sweatshirt Botan reached out toward her habitually to offer comfort, but stopped short of making contact. She saw the girl's shoulders lift slightly as she inhaled, but the motion itself wasn't what stopped her. It wasn't that she could see the investigator's breathing, or hear it; it was more as if she felt the breath, as if she had taken it herself. All the tension that had gathered in her stomach since seeing those oddly intense eyes built for an instant, then like the whooshing of air she imagined the exhale to be the pressure left and the small shape beside her stilled entirely. Her hand dropped back to her side as she turned away to check on the fight she'd temporarily lost track of.

A sea of lifeless demons greeted her, and she quickly double checked that the faces of the standing figures were familiar ones. The only stranger among the five backed away from the other's quickly, particularly a shorter dark figure that had moved toward him with murderous eyes. In his hurry the demon slipped and landed hard on the ground, struggling to lift himself and continue scurrying backward before a glinting sword point could reach him.

The faintest gust of air tore Botan's eyes away and to the vacant spot next to her. Turning in search of the missing demon her eyes landed on several folded pieces of paper scattered on the ground between the motionless lumps. Curious she inched forward to begin collecting them.

X

A whisper of a touch was all it took. He didn't have to look at the hand to know whose it was, he knew the warmth of the touch, the delicate barely there pressure of it. And he also knew the meaning behind it, without her having to say, knew the request for mercy that would come. She would plead with him to spare this one, the last one at least. He would reprimand her for leniency, demand to know why sparing one mattered when the others had been wiped out; call her soft. She would remind him that by his standards she always had been, say something about that life meaning something to its owner. And while he considered his options and silently mocked her answers she would ask again.

He lowered the blade slowly, the entire encounter so familiar that it passed without needing to be vocalized. He watched the demon scurry backwards what he deemed to be a safe distance before he climbed to his feet and bolted. Hiei waited until he was sure the demon was gone before he looked at her, not bothering with the usual admonishments, she'd heard them all, knew what a mistake letting that demon go might turn out to be, there would be no point in repeating it.

She stepped closer without any haste or hesitance and gingerly caught him around the middle, holding on firmly but without squeezing and remained there against him for a long moment before withdrawing, brushing her lips briefly against the very corner of his as she withdrew. A show of affection he knew to interpret as her silent way of thanking him for humoring her against his better judgment, something she knew he wouldn't have accepted verbal appreciation for. As ever the only way he acknowledged her show of gratitude was to allow it. He didn't answer with any action of his own, didn't say a word, but he also didn't pull away, and that was more than he would do for nearly anyone else.

He considered the others fortunate that he saw fit to ignore their uncalled for snickering.