A/N: Regarding this next chapter, you just know that any scene I write in the ice village is going to involve large quantities of socially awkward conversations and happenings.

Chapter 11 – Back to the Start

Hiei could not decide if the fact that Botan was still sleeping at midday was impressive, if it was an indication of laziness or if she was near-comatose from her injuries; whatever the case, he was glad that she was asleep as he trudged along the final stretch of their journey. He had run for as long as he could before it became impractical to do so, slowly his pace gradually as the need to do so arose. He was close to being able to give her the help that she needed, but he was still dreading what he would need to do before that could happen.

As he lifted a knee to his chest and took a step forwards, pressing his foot down into the snow, Hiei bitterly considered that the last thing he had ever expected to do in his life was to return to the ice village, and for his opening conversation with whoever met him there to be a plea for help. The ice maidens were highly skilled in healing – which Hiei had always thought was hypocritical of the cold-hearted bitches, as healing was a selfless art – and he knew that if they turned their powers on the ferry girl, she would be back to her bouncing, bubbly self in a matter of hours. But getting to that point did mean asking the women who hated him, the women who had cast him out and never welcomed his return, for help; which was something Hiei would not normally have done, especially when he could have just taken the ferry girl back to the campsite, tied up her shoulder and left her to rest and heal herself.

But Hiei was feeling something he never had before – something he suspected was dangerously close to guilt – that the ferry girl, the one person willing to stand by him without question when Inukasai had appeared, had become badly injured trying to help him. He owed it to her to ensure that she was healed quickly. That was why he was taking her to the ice maidens for help.

The fact that getting her back on her feet quickly meant it would be easier to keep her at his side was merely a consequence of his obligation.

It was strange travelling without the sound of her voice.

Hiei lumbered onwards through increasingly deep snow, keeping his head down against the swirling snow on the wind and straining to see through the near whiteout conditions. Being a fire demon and having a naturally high body temperature, the cold usually did little to bother him, but he was starting to feel the cold a little as he was forced to move so slowly through the snow and because he had, some time back on his journey, removed his cloak and scarf and wrapped the ferry girl up in them: because he doubted she would share his tolerance for extreme conditions. As he had hauled her limp body onto his back again he had noticed that the worst of her wounds – the gouge in her left shoulder – had at least stopped bleeding, but as time had passed, bruises had started to appear over her body, an especially large one visible through her pale tights by her left hip and thigh.

It was not just that she had hurt herself travelling with him that bothered Hiei's conscience, it was also the fact that he had been happy when she had crashed. After all, if she had not crashed when she did, he would have awoken to find himself in the prone position he had apparently ended up in during his slumber, and if he had awoken to find himself snuggling into the lap of a ferry girl, his gut reaction would have been to force her to crash land, just so that he would not have to face the awkwardness of admitting to her (or himself) that he had been sleeping in such a way. When he had woken up, only three things had gone through his mind: he was humiliated that he had cuddled into the girl in his sleep; he was relieved that they were crashing and he would not have to explain himself or endure her teasing on the matter; and he needed to catch the bag of money before it burst and spilled all over the hillside.

It never once occurred to him that a creature as fragile as the ferry girl would suffer badly from such a fall and that he really ought to have caught her rather than the money.

He still found it odd that she was even with him. If someone had told him that an imposter was going to turn up and steal his life and that Botan would be the only person who would fight in his corner to defend his honour, he would have thought he was listening to another of Yusuke's misaimed attempts at humour. Her initial reaction to the whole situation had been surprising enough, but the way she had vehemently argued with the dog demons in Inugoya was something Hiei could not have believed if he had not witnessed it with his own eyes. She had clearly been terrified the entire time, but she had never once faltered. Every time Inukasai – or any member of his enormous family – had said something slighting against Hiei, she had leapt to his defensive without hesitation, the passion of vengeful wrath illuminating her eyes and flushing her cheeks in a way that could not be denied as genuine. Hiei had never really thought of Botan as a fiercely loyal ally before, and although she was more of a hindrance than a help on the physical side (her strength was so pitiful, even one of the dog demon pups could have bested her with a single blow) she was quite a welcome aid on the psychological side. It was easier to stay focused on not killing Inukasai and on finding answers when there was someone else around to agree with him that what he was doing was right and what had been done unto him was wrong.

Her loyalty, combined with her surprisingly strong resolve, her obsession with romance and her slightly kinky taste in underwear left Hiei at something of a loss to understand why she thought nobody found her attractive.

Talking to Botan about her insecurities regarding her own attractiveness was really a sore, awkward subject for Hiei – in ways that she would never understand and he could never let her know about – and he hoped that she would let the matter go. She had probably just ended a relationship with some limp-wristed bureaucrat from spirit world with soft hair and delicate fingers and she was probably just indulging in self-pity. If he ignored her long enough she was sure to let the matter drop eventually.

It was a little odd that he had never seen her with a man or heard her mention any particular man, and her earlier comment about being obsessed with romance in other people's lives stemming from the fact that she had none in her own seemed to imply she might have been telling the truth about her lack of suitors, but Hiei tried not to dwell on his curiosity regarding any holes in his logic, as he ran the distinct risk of voicing his questions, and if he showed any interest in the subject, she would surely never let it go.

And if she carried on, she would start asking Hiei about the romantic endeavours in his life, and that was, by far, the part of the inevitable conversation he wanted to avoid the most.

The absolute last thing he needed was Botan thinking that she had just stumbled upon another subject they both strangely agreed and understood each other upon.

Hiei stopped walking as he saw two shadows moving through the haze of snow ahead of him. Focusing his attention a little harder, he could just about make out the final stretch of his journey: the precariously narrow, jagged path that led up to the ice village. The path was covered in snow that lay on top of slippery ice, and the winds crossing the path were violent and blasted from several different directions. The path itself was barely three feet wide and the drop on either side was enough to kill most creatures: hence why the ice maidens chose the cliff at the apex of the path to throw their emiko children from. Crossing the path alone was a treacherous gamble at best, but crossing it with an unconscious patient made the task all the more critical; and so Hiei was unsure if he was relieved or apprehensive to see two ice maidens moving along the path to meet him.

He held his position as they drew nearer, watching as their forms started to become discernible through the snow: and he could not help the look of surprise on his face when he saw that they were both quite young. He had expected one of the elders to come to greet him – if anyone had come at all – as they would surely have sensed his approach and wanted to vanquish him before he reached the edges of their precious home. Instead, two ice maidens who were younger than Hiei himself were moving towards him, their solemn eyes looking directly at him without a hint of either fear or interest. He waited until they were close enough to hear him before addressing them, only mildly surprised to see that the sound of his voice made them stop in their tracks.

"I need passage into your village," he told them. "I need assistance for my companion."

The two ice maidens looked at each other before edging closer to Hiei, leaving the narrow path altogether and peering over his shoulders at the still unconscious ferry girl draped over his back.

"What sort of creature is your companion?" one of the ice maidens asked.

Hiei thought about lying. He thought about telling them that she was some kind of demon or even perhaps a human; but he did not want to risk incurring their distrust and them refusing him help, and so pushed aside his own concerns and pride, and told the truth.

"She's a ferry girl," he admitted. "From spirit world."

"We weren't expecting a visit from spirit world today," the other ice maiden commented.

Hiei thought her answer strange, but when he gave the matter a little thought, he remembered then that Botan had mentioned spirit world maintaining good relations with the ice village, and perhaps being honest about her identity could prove to his advantage.

"She's here on a special mission from Koenma," he tried. "She fell and injured herself on the approach here, Koenma sent me to collect her. She has wounds that require attention. As she was on her way here, you really should consider assisting her."

One of the ice maidens nodded, and although the other did not respond, she did follow when the first ice maiden walked around Hiei's back.

"It's very dangerous to cross this path," one of them said. "It's not so dangerous for us because we are better able to walk in the snow and on the ice. You should let us carry her on from here."

Hiei looked back over his shoulder, reluctantly releasing the ferry girl as the two ice maidens manoeuvred her onto the back of the tallest one.

"You of course must remain here," the shorter one said. "Men are not allowed entry to our village."

"Not to mention you would not survive the crossing from here," the taller one added as she reaffirmed her hold of Botan.

"We will return her here once we have healed her and she has delivered her message from spirit world."

Hiei tried to think of a good reason to argue that point, but decided against it, lest he damage the offer of help for Botan. Instead he nodded his head and pretended not to care as they started back along the path with Botan, the shorter ice maiden walking behind the taller one to help protect the ferry girl from the elements.

He would just watch them with his jagan eye, and as soon as the ferry girl was on her feet, he would charge into the village and start demanding answers.

Botan moaned in a way that made her hope nobody had heard her. She blinked to focus her eyes, looking about herself and finding that she appeared to be in a cave of some sort. The last thing she could remember was falling asleep on Hiei's back, so she supposed he had taken her into a cave to camp for the night before reaching the ice village in the morning.

Though she was sure she had fallen asleep in the early hours of Sunday morning, which left her wondering if she had somehow slept all the way through to Monday morning if that were the case.

She made to lift herself up onto her elbows, moaning again in a way she was not proud of when her left shoulder locked painfully after only the slightest movement and her head thumped back down against the pillow. As she lay trying to ignore the dull and persistent pain in her shoulder, Botan wondered when Hiei had found a pillow for her. Peering down at herself, she then wondered when he had found a fleece blanket and a waterproof quilt, painstakingly embroidered with blue flowers and snowflakes. She wondered what she was lying on, as she seemed to be elevated from the ground as though she were lying on an actual bed. The cave she was in was remarkably clean too. And white. There were two sources of light, both emitting from mounted ornate oil lamps, the likes of which Botan had never seen before in demon world. There was even a rug on the floor and a glass shelf adorned with pretty little ornaments carved from wood or else compiled of pebbles and shells.

Botan gulped, a sweat breaking out across her forehead, despite the oppressive cold in the air around her: she was in the ice village.

Somehow, despite the ice village having seemed far away before she had fallen asleep, Botan had awoken to find herself not only arrived at her destination but also in a bed, in what seemed to be the igloo snow-house of an ice maiden. She wondered whose house it was. Was it Hiei's mother's house? Was it Inukasai's mother's house? It seemed too comfortable and homely to be a prison – though it was not beyond the realm of Botan's panicked pessimism to assume that she had been arrested by the ice maidens. She wondered how Hiei had managed to get there so quickly, through freezing fog and with her sleeping on his back. She wondered where Hiei was.

Botan made a renewed effort to get up. Without Hiei, she was in a very dangerous situation. She knew that Yukina was not a typical representation of the average ice maiden, and that most of the residents of the glacial village were at best indifferent and at worst vicious, and without Hiei to protect and advise her, she could not remain lying in a bed waiting for trouble to come and find her. She grabbed the duvet with her right hand, gripping it as firmly as she could, and hauled herself up into a sitting position, all the while trying to keep her left arm and shoulder as still as possible. Once she was up she took a few deep breaths to calm herself and wait for the pain to subside enough that she could continue, before using her good hand to desperately claw aside the bedding. Once she had uncovered her legs she swung them over the edge of the bed, aiming her feet for the rug. At a stretch she reached her goal, and she managed to stand up, on the rug.

When she stood upright, Botan realised a series of things, each more horrifying than the last. First of all, she could not stand fully upright because she was taller than the highest point of the room, and with her sore shoulder hindering the mobility of her neck, she was forced to bend her knees to compensate and keep her head straight. Secondly, she was wearing a very exquisitely made – if very plain of design – silk kimono, over a soft fleece body wrap; she even had woollen socks on. Whilst she was happy to have a change of clothes, she wondered where the clothes had come from, and, far more pressing an issue, Botan wondered who had undressed her and dressed her into the clothes she was suddenly wearing. And the third and final thing Botan noticed caused her to at first hold her breath in disbelief. Touching her good hand to her head – a self-conscious action she had inadvertently carried out at first – she noticed that her hair felt different. After grabbing at the back of her head a few times and remembering how to breathe again – only to commence hyperventilating – Botan began looking desperately about the room, shortly locating what she sought: a mirror mounted on the wall. She crept to the edge of the rug and squatted down lower to look at her reflection, the visual confirmation of what she had felt eliciting a scream of dismay that she could not contain the volume or the length of.

When an ice maiden burst into the room, staring up at her with wide, fearful eyes, rather than sensibly remember her situation and ask the questions she knew, deep down, that she really ought to, Botan yelled out the one question that was running rampant around her mind.

"What happened to my hair?"

"We had no choice," the ice maiden replied, holding up a small, delicate hand as though she thought the gesture might calm Botan somehow.

"Where is it?" Botan cried.

"Your hair?" the ice maiden asked.

"No, the great city of Atlantis!" Botan snapped back.

"It sounds like that would be the home of the water demons."

"I was being sarcastic! Where is my hair?"

"We had to cut it off."

"I can see that! Where is it?"

"…We can't reattach it. It will regrow though."

Botan sighed, looking at her reflection again. As she had been sleeping on her hair, it was hard for her to tell if it had been cut into a flattering style or not: all she could clearly make out was that the majority of it had been cut off, leaving it even shorter than Keiko's had been after she had rescued Yusuke from the fire.

"Was your hair the source of your power?"

Botan shifted her eyes to the ice maiden at her side, giving her what she hoped was a disapproving look that Hiei would have been proud of.

"There was a lot of blood in your hair, it was badly knotted and some sections were frozen from the journey up," the ice maiden added. "There really isn't much we can do for blood frozen into hair other than to cut it out."

"I could have soaked it out in one of the hot springs I was supposed to be getting use of before I came here…" Botan grumbled.

"Are you feeling better now?"

Botan ran her eyes over the ice maiden addressing her, and in doing so she started to think that maybe she understood a little better the confusion there might have been regarding the identities of Hiei's and Inukasai's mothers: the girl before her was the same height and build as Yukina, with the same high and broad cheekbones, the same small, slightly upturned nose, the same heart-shaped lips that almost gave the impression of a permanent pout, and her hair was that same ultra-fine texture. Her colouring was only marginally different from Yukina's: her hair was, Botan noticed with a hint of bitterness, a powder blue colour and her eyes were a light violet. But, had the girl introduced herself as Yukina's sister, Botan would have struggled to find a good reason to question her on the matter.

"Are all the ice maidens as short as you?"

Botan wondered if she had been spending too much time around Hiei: usually she had more tact than to be so blunt and direct.

"With a few exceptions, yes."

Botan was equally as surprised that the ice maiden answered her without batting an eyelid, as though being blunt and direct was an accepted social custom in her village.

"My name is Nanako," she offered. "My friend and I met you on your approach here: your double-agent servant was carrying you here. He said Koenma had sent you here on business."

"My double-agent servant?" Botan echoed.

Botan momentarily forgot about her shoulder and even her hair as she tried to figure out what Nanako was talking about.

"Oh, you mean Hiei!" she blurted out as the realisation occurred to her.

"He didn't give his name," Nanako replied.

"Hiei isn't a double-agent or a servant!" Botan quickly corrected her.

"He said Koenma asked him to assist you, as part of your mission."

Botan paused, realising then that Nanako had twice mentioned a mission from Koenma: had Hiei somehow found out about the mission Koenma had sent her on? Perhaps he had, and when he had – without her conscious to explain it to him in context – he had assumed the worst and abandoned her at the ice village to confront Inukasai alone with the truth about his mother.

"Where is Hiei now?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, we cannot grant men access to our village," Nanako replied. "He said he would wait for you at the end of the access path."

Botan wondered what that meant.

"He said you're a ferry girl, is that right?" Nanako asked.

Botan found Nanako's mannerisms to be really disconcerting: she looked her straight in the eye as she spoke but there was no hint of emotion in her expression or tone.

"Yes, I am a ferry girl," Botan slowly replied. "My name is Botan."

"It's nice to meet you, Botan," Nanako replied, bowing her head but otherwise looking as though she could not care any less whether she had just met someone nice or not. "Welcome to our village."

"Where's Hiei?" Botan asked again.

"He's waiting for you at the end of the access path," Nanako said again. "I told him once you were well enough to complete your mission, you would return for him, but that he could not come any further into our village."

Botan narrowed her eyes, semblances of her deductive skills returning to her as she repeated the ice maiden's words inside her head.

"My mission in this village?" she asked.

"Yes," Nanako replied. "That's why you're here, isn't it? Koenma sent you to us on a special mission? That was what Hiei told us."

"Yes, that's right," Botan said. "I'm here in a special mission. I need to ask some questions about the emikos born in your village."

Nanako gasped and, for the first time since she had entered the room, a hint of emotion appeared in her eyes.

"I need you to let Hiei enter the village," Botan added.

She was almost sure that Hiei did not know the truth about her mission from Koenma, that he had instead merely told a lie to Nanako in order to allow a ferry girl passage into the ice village: and so she therefore felt safe to request that Hiei join her.

"Men aren't allowed," Nanako replied, her eyes still tinged with fear following Botan's use of the word "emiko".

"But Hiei's different," Botan said. "He's a perfectly decent guy, I promise you."

"Even if he is your servant, or a double-agent for spirit world, the elders would never allow it," Nanako said.

"He's my husband."

Botan pulled a face at her own reflection. She suddenly understood why Hiei had lied about her being his wife: it was a surprisingly easy and convenient argument to make when in a pressing situation.

"Your husband?"

Botan slowly moved her eyes back to Nanako, feeling mostly afraid to see the dark interest suddenly giving depth to Nanako's face.

"You married a man?" she asked.

"Yes, I did," Botan lied mechanically.

"What's that like?"

Botan wanted to smile at the hint of scandalous fascination animating Nanako's features; and she decided that since she had gone as far as she had anyway, there was no real harm in continuing.

"Why it's lovely," she said. "Hiei is a wonderful husband. He's very romantic and he thinks I'm pretty and he never thinks that I say and do things without thinking."

That was quite a stretch of the truth, Botan thought to herself, but Nanako did not know her well enough to see that, and so she made no attempt to qualify her words.

"Do you… Do you have carnal relations with him?"

"Yes…?"

"What's that like?"

"It's, uh… It's lovely?"

"So have you… Have you seen it?"

Botan regained some of her confidence then, her face twisting.

"Seen what?" she asked.

Nanako checked over her shoulder before stepping more fully into the room and quietly closing the door behind herself. She then crept closer to Botan, leaning towards her in a way that made Botan bend her knees further, bringing her ear level with Nanako's mouth, allowing the ice maiden to whisper her next question; and even though she whispered her words so close to Botan's ear that Botan could feel the warmth of her breath on her skin, the ice maiden spoke so quietly, Botan barely made her words out.

"Well-well he is my husband," she replied, hoping she did not look as embarrassed as she felt.

"What does it look like?" Nanako asked, her interest turning almost into a look of fevered hunger. "Is it ugly? The elders say it's ugly, but what would they know? They've never seen one. What does it feel like? Have you touched it with your hands?"

Botan chewed hard on her lip and tried not to picture herself putting her hands on any part of Hiei's anatomy, far less the one part of his body that Nanako was focusing far too much attention on. It was not just that she was talking about it that was making Botan uncomfortable, it was that she looked far too much like Yukina, and it was like listening to Yukina talk about it.

"I really need Hiei to be here," she said, hoping to bring the conversation back onto the subject of getting Hiei into the ice village.

"Why?" Nanako asked. "Do you need to fornicate with him?"

Botan's jaw dropped, but Nanako appeared not to notice just how blunt and tactless she was being. When someone knocked softly on the door Botan was relieved, as Nanako looked panicked, as though she had been caught discussing something taboo, and the presence of someone else might finally stop her, Botan thought. Nanako cautiously opened the door and peered out of the room before taking a step back. Another ice maiden entered the room, bowing her head at Botan as Nanako closed the door behind her.

"I came to see how you are feeling," she said.

Botan started to tell her that she was feeling much better, but stopped short in abject horror as Nanako spoke over her.

"Botan is married to that man who was carrying her," she said. "And she's seen his penis!"

Botan grinned nervously when the other ice maiden turned to her with the same look of shocked curiosity that Nanako had been wearing earlier.

"You know," she began slowly. "If you let Hiei into the village, maybe I could tell you more about… Him…"

"Really?" the second ice maiden asked.

"Could you get him to show us his penis?" Nanako asked.

"Absolutely no way!" Botan yelped.

"Why not?" Nanako asked.

Botan was not sure which horrified her more: the fact that Nanako would ask for Hiei to expose himself to her or the fact that she failed to understand why asking such a question was immoral.

"Because he's my husband, that's why!" Botan snapped. "And any intimate part of his body is for my eyes only!"

"That doesn't seem very fair," Nanako said, rather matter-of-factly. "You've already seen his penis. We've never seen a penis before."

"Well that's not my problem!" Botan argued.

"I think she's touched his penis too," Nanako said to her friend.

Botan gasped.

"Well that's really not fair," Nanako's friend said. "She's from spirit world, they have men there. She's probably seen thousands of penises."

"Hey!" Botan yelped.

"She doesn't think it's a big deal because she looks at penises all the time," Nanako said.

"You're making me sound bad!" Botan protested.

"If your husband married you, he must not mind women seeing his penis," Nanako said.

"Exactly," her friend said with a nod of her head. "So he should let us have a look at his penis."

"You girls use that p-word far too freely!" Botan yelled. "It's vulgar and you should be ashamed of yourselves! Do your mother's know you speak this way?"

"Our mother's don't even know we let you in here," Nanako said.

"If they did, they wouldn't have let us take you this far," Nanako's friend added.

"We did you a favour," Nanako said. "Why won't you do us a favour in return and let us see your husband's penis?"

"I already told you why!" Botan snapped. "Now stop asking about it!"

"Have you had his penis inside you?"

Botan squawked out a noise of horrified, embarrassed disbelief: which drew three more young ice maidens into the room. Nanako and her friend looked suddenly guilty and Botan felt relieved: even if the new arrivals had come to oust her from the village, that was surely a better fate than listening to two girls talking about Hiei's manhood. One of the newly arrived ice maidens – who was the tallest and looked to be the oldest of the group – turned stern blue-green eyes to Botan.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked harshly.

"We were talking about penises," Nanako plainly answered her.

"That's what I thought!" the older ice maiden said, giving Botan an even sterner look. "Why didn't anyone tell me? I want to know about penises just as much as the next girl!"

Botan groaned and wilted, the pain in her shoulder suddenly seeming insignificant and her trip to Inugoya suddenly seeming easy and uneventful.

In his boredom – and because, without his cloak or scarf, the cold had become quite invasive – Hiei had melted himself a hole through the snow and ice to sit in. He told himself he had melted the hole because he wanted to sit on the ground rather than the snow, and not that he had melted the hole because it gave him a place to huddle over for warmth out of sight of anyone who might think him pathetic for huddling over for warmth. With the rotten weather that surrounded the ice village and darkened out the sky, it was almost impossible to tell what time of day it was: though by his own best estimation, he guessed it to be early evening. He could use his jagan eye to check, but he did not want to waste energy, as he suspected he might need it to keep warm if he had to wait much longer for the ice maidens to finish healing the ferry girl.

He supposed that he could use his jagan to check on the progress of Botan's recovery: but for some reason – other than his desire to conserve energy – he could not quite bring himself to do so. He could not quite shake the idea that she might be more badly hurt than he had suspected, that her recovery might be longer and more complicated than he had assumed, even with the assistance of the ice maidens, and, as she had ended up in that situation because of him, he could not help but think that maybe he was to blame for her suffering.

No, Hiei thought to himself, he was not to blame for what had happened to either Botan or himself: it was all Inukasai's fault. The sooner he could safely and comprehensively expose the faker as a fake, Hiei would delight in ensuring Inukasai's demise: either by a slow and painful death or by handing him to Mukuro. Just as Hiei was starting to enjoy that thought however, he sensed movement on the village path. He stood up and looked out through the snowstorm, seeing then that there were a series of shadows moving along the path towards him.

Why were there so many of them?

Hiei stepped up out of the hole he had created, readying himself for a confrontation: surely the young ice maidens who had taken Botan had reported to the elders that there was an emiko on the edges of their village and they were coming to see him off. He tensed – without letting his energy rise – in preparation for a battle of some kind, as he expected things to get ugly verbally if not also physically.

Hiei grunted out a noise of surprise and lost all focus when the group reached the point where he could see their faces, and he saw that the tallest of the group, leading the way towards him, was Botan.

She was inexplicably dressed the same as the other ice maidens – in one of the high quality but highly simplistic kimonos the ice maidens were so proud of making, that looked beautiful without looking flashy – and she was accompanied by five ice maidens, all younger than Yukina and including the two who had initially approached him on the passageway and taken Botan to the village. She looked slightly shifty, but despite that and in spite of the howling gales, snow and ice underfoot and the relentless snowfall, she was walking steadily and without any great effort, which at least meant that she was in better physical condition than she had been when they had first arrived at the ice village.

However, any relief Hiei had allowed himself to feel at seeing that the ferry girl would not suffer long term for what she had been through was short-lived as she suddenly broke into a run – or as close to a run as she could manage in deep snow and wearing a kimono – the look on her face suggesting to him that she was about to do something idiotic.

"Oh Hiei, my darling husband, I'm so relieved that you are alright."

Her tone sounded sarcastic, but her satire was the least of Hiei's concerns as she threw her arms around his shoulders and then groaned into his ear in a most unpleasant way.

"My shoulder still hurts, I shouldn't have done that," she mumbled into his hair.

Hiei peered over her shoulder as she continued to cling onto him, watching as the five ice maidens edged closer, looking back at him with a level of curiosity not normally displayed by such a detached race of demons.

"I had to tell them you were my husband," Botan whispered, her voice still aimed into his hair. "I didn't think you'd mind, because you told the dog demons I was your wife. Also, they kept asking about your penis."

Hiei stiffened, the curious way the ice maidens were regarding him suddenly seeming sinister.

"It's alright Hiei, I've told them you won't show it to them," the ferry girl added.

"Hn?" Hiei grunted angrily.

"It's none of their business, you're my husband, and I'm not the sharing type. Also it's humiliating for you – oh, not that I think you're ashamed of your body in any way – because you don't have any reason to be – not that I know – well, there was that one time during the dark tournament, but that was all Shizuru's idea, and I only caught the briefest glimpse and I thought it wrong at the time but sometimes I can't say no to peer pressure – I just meant that you're not some chunk of meat for them to ogle – not that I mean that your private parts are like a chunk of meat, I mean that you are like a chunk of meat – not like a chunk of meat, I mean – no, wait, I–"

"Botan?"

"Yes."

"Stop talking now."

"Okay."

Botan held onto Hiei for a little longer before gradually leaning back and sliding her arms from him. She gave him a wary, nervous look before turning to the ice maidens.

"Follow us," one of them said. "Try to stay close, the path can be dangerous to newcomers."

Hiei felt Botan take a tight hold of one of his hands and he vaguely wondered why: after all, she had managed the walk down the path unaided, and it was harder to descend the path than it was to ascend it. However, he was a little concerned about what she had said about the ice maidens wanting to see him naked, a concern backed up by the way the girls were still watching him, and so he kept a hold of her hand in the hope that they would leave him alone if they thought he was married.

Next Chapter: Hiei and Botan spend an awkward night in the ice village sharing a bed and pretending to be the married couple they proclaimed to be, followed by breakfast with Rui, who starts to tell them some conflicting information about Inukasai and Yukina. However, just when things start to seem hopeless for Hiei, Botan uses her meddling ways to save the day. Chapter 12 – Freckle, Freckle