Hey guys!

FFnet is being glitchy – as per usual – so make sure you've read Chapter 12 before moving onto this one!

Hiei sat atop one of the thickest branches in the tallest trees on the outskirts of the old woman's property. Keeping with Kurama's advice, he had been checking in on the ferry-girl all day, searching for something that would deter him from this ridiculous gravitation towards her.

His first attempt afforded him a glimpse of her in the middle of a hallway, comforting the blubbering blue ogre as he lamented over Koenma's latest mistreatment of him. While Hiei would have been far too callous to even offer the ogre a sympathetic look, Botan remained with him for the entirety of his outburst and gave him a few encouraging and consoling words. Hiei knew her well enough by now to know that her actions were not for show, nor were they for the sake of getting rid of the ogre; she meant every word she said and afforded others with far more compassion than they deserved. He briefly wondered why she even bothered to care to such an extent, but he supposed that it wasn't his business. The woman never did anything halfheartedly and he could admit that there was honor in that.

Sometime later, he saw her in the front of a small classroom, where she instructed and trained a set of apprentice ferry-girls. She seemed to favor the youngest one - a redhead whose skills were subpar at best - but she treated all of the trainees with patience and respect. More surprising, though, was the degree of knowledge she seemed to possess. She knew the rules and regulations in and out and had a mastery over the abilities that were required of her. He had never noticed it before, but somewhere beneath that ditzy countenance and happy-go-lucky personality laid an impressive mind and a strong worth ethic.

Later on, he found her doing something that was not so surprising and was typically inline with her character: she was gossiping with a group of ferry-girls, laughing and joking around with them in the same manner that she often did with the detective and the other humans. He was not sure how long she had been there for, but she suddenly stood up abruptly, having remembered something important. She bid the women farewell and proceed to race down the halls to the opposite side of the temple, apologizing profusely as she forced her way through the sea of madness that was the Spirit World. He watched as she holed herself up in a dimly lit room and began filling out reports frantically, all the while muttering about some deadline.

And now, hours later as the sun was setting, he was about to look in on her again - because even after a day of invasive watching, he hadn't found anything incriminating enough to dispel her from his mind. He removed his bandana and opened the jagan. Focusing on the ferry-girl's distinct energy, he located her on the roof of a temple with the same women she had been gossiping with earlier. A few of the administrative ogres had joined them as well and Hiei ended the connection.

Although he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary, he did realize one thing: the ferry-girl had a life entirely separate from the human world and the spirit detective team. She had many people and things to occupy her time with, so he could only wonder why she chose to waste her time with him.

He couldn't fathom why she would extend her care to him, why she would bother to spare him her soft smiles and kind words or why she would choose to share her light with him. It was all so baffling. She wasn't supposed to concern herself over a demon like him.

But she did.

And it did something strange to him.

Hiei landed on the roof where Botan and the others were. No one had spotted him yet, but he was unsurprised. Spirits were far too lax and unguarded to notice anything other than what was right in front of them. They were all too busy marveling over the sunset to sense his presence and Hiei's eyes landed on Botan in the center of it all. A sense of calm washed over him in that moment, the tension releasing from his body as he did nothing but what Kurama had told him to: observer her.

She had a contented smile on her face, features relaxed and smooth. Her bright eyes and pink lips and powder blue hair were cast in a golden light and the woman was nearly glowing. He found himself unable to look away as he watched her in a way that he never had before. He was considering turning around and leaving her be, when he was spotted by one of the ogres seated on the outskirts of the small group.

"I-it's the fire-demon!" he exclaimed fearfully, backing away on his hands and feet and bumping into another spirit in his haste to get away.

Hiei snapped out of his trance and masked his expression, fixing the ogre with an impassive look.

"Hiei?" Botan asked, ponytail whipping around as she turned to find him. Unlike the others, who had suddenly gone pale and stiff, she smiled brightly and waved him over.

"W-what are you doing, Botan? Don't you know who that is?" one of the women whispered behind a trembling hand.

"It's alright, you don't have to be afraid," Botan soothed, standing up and turning to the others. "He's not going to hurt anybody."

"But isn't he the same demon who broke in and slaughtered a bunch of our kind?" an ogre reminded her.

"He is!" another peon shrieked. "And he probably came back to finish what he started!"

Botan's expression fell while Hiei remained indifferent to the entire scene. He was well aware of his past actions and he had no intentions of justifying them or apologizing for them. He didn't care about what a bunch of weaklings thought of him, but when a red ogre leaned towards Botan and uttered his next statement, Hiei found himself losing what little patience he had left.

"You should leave, too, Botan," the ogre warned. "There's no telling what a demon like him will do to a defenseless girl like you."

"That isn't a very nice thing to say!" she began to admonish.

"The ogre is right," Hiei interrupted with a sinister smirk twisting his lips. "It's been a long and stressful day and there's no telling what I'll do. Harming a helpless ferry-girl brings me no satisfaction, but spilling a few pints of ogre blood might just be the therapeutic remedy I need."

"Hiei!" Botan berated in exasperation.

The fire-demon said nothing as he watched the citizens of spirit world scramble to pick up their belongings and make a hasty getaway. They all scattered off in different directions, despite the woman's attempts to calm them down and make them stay. She soon gave up her futile efforts of calming the others and, soon enough, he and the ferry-girl were the only figures remaining on the roof.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"It's not my fault if your fellow spirits are spineless cowards," he argued.

"Maybe they wouldn't be afraid if you showed them that you're no longer the same merciless criminal you were when we first met!"

"That is all I am and it would do you well to remember that," he growled out, taking a step towards her.

"That's not true!" she replied, standing her ground.

"What would you know?" he snarled.

"A lot more than you or anyone else gives me credit for, apparently!" she exclaimed.

They stood at a standstill for a few tense moments, faces inches apart and eyes narrowed at each other, before Botan turned away from him. He crossed his arms over his chest angrily and scowled. There she went again, defending him and presuming to know him. He had hoped that he would come here and find reasons to detest her, reasons to detach her from his mind, but she continued to accept him. She continued to make him feel as though he could belong.

He glanced over at her and something loosened in his chest as the coils of anger unraveled from his expression. Her mouth was drawn in a tight line, shoulders stiff and arms folded under her chest. She had turned away from him so that her body was angled towards the left and turned her nose up in the air for good measure. He felt none of the satisfaction he expected to experience upon wiping that damn near immovable smile off of her face and instead he only felt confused.

"I just don't understand why you have to be so mean," Botan said finally, lifting her gaze up to meet his searchingly.

He would have scoffed, if the air didn't get caught in his throat. He was blunt, uncaring, temperamental and rash; he always had been. He wouldn't change or live up to her standards just because she was deluded into thinking that he was someone he was not.

"And I know what you're thinking," she stated, the ire fading from her expression as the darkness of night began to wash over them. "You think that it's just the way that you are, but it isn't. Not always…"

"When am I ever not-"

"When you're with Yukina, for starters," she interrupted, listing out each instance on her fingers. "When you showed Bui mercy in the finals, when you didn't kill me for crossing the line with you…" She paused to meet his eyes again. "And when you stand there and try to understand me and the things I say or do."

Hiei's expression fell, not at all expecting those words to come out of her mouth.

"When I try to understand you, it isn't because I'm being kind or considerate," he explained. "I do it because you confuse me, woman."

"I do?"

"You're loud, over-emotional and exasperating, but there are moments when you aren't."

"What do you mean?" she asked softly.

"When you aren't opening that loudmouth of yours, it's easy to forget about all of the things that make you annoying," he clarified.

"Why, Hiei, that almost sounded like a compliment!" she gasped in mock wonder.

"Hn. It was a thinly veiled insult."

"I don't know... I think your niceness must be showing again," she taunted with an impish grin.

"This is exactly what I mean, woman. Much like right now, you're an infuriating menace and it's only very rarely that you aren't."

"I simply like to think I'm well-rounded, is all!" she replied doggedly.

"You're a nuisance."

"And you're being a big meanie right now. Can't nice Hiei come out and play instead?"

"Only if mute Botan makes an appearance."

She began to laugh and, if he was being honest with himself, he was becoming amused by their immature exchange as well. Despite the confusion and turmoil that had been raging on in his mind, his chest felt lighter somehow, like a weight had been lifted.

Botan turned to him with bright eyes and a warm smile.

"If it's any consolation, Hiei, you confuse me, too."

He arched a dark brow.

"I thought you claimed to know me."

"I know that you're a good person, but there's still so much that I don't know," she explained. "You can be so unpredictable at times that it's hard to wrap my mind around the mere thought of you."

He paused to consider the irony of their current predicament. A fire-demon who was shunned by his own people and cast out from his village and an eccentric ferry-girl who was a contradiction to the morals of her own world, attempting to understand each other despite their vast differences and the centuries of prejudices built up against them. By all logic and rationale, they were never meant to understand each other, but they both were stubborn enough and determined enough to try anyway.

The corner of his mouth tilted upwards as he took a seat and looked out into the distance.

"Hn, I suppose we're even, then," he decided.

Botan's expression softened and she nodded as she followed suit.

"Yes, I suppose we are…" she agreed.

He didn't know how long he stayed up there, watching the night pass by with the ferry-girl at his side, but for the first time in a long time, he felt completely at ease and at peace with himself.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know I had fun writing it!

Next time: the team heads out on a mission and a certain blue-haired ferry-girl joins in on the action.