Recap: Hiei discovered that Monzan likes Koto (which is actually strangely significant later on in the story), and he travelled with Monzan to "the lodge" to join the others for a weekend break. When he got there he realised it was the wooden house on legs he had encountered in other realities, but it looked different because in paradise it was designed by Kuwabara, who got the job after building Hiei's tree-house – which is why he is now rich. Yukina commented that Kuwabara and Hiei's fates were tied together (also significant!)

Chapter 25: Among the Lucky Few

Hiei sat outside alone for a long time, well into the night, looking at the house on legs. He was still overwhelmed by it – because of the differences in realities that it represented and because it truly was quite spectacular, and it was difficult to fathom that something so great could have come from a porcine lummox like Kuwabara.

And yet it had, and that meant that what Yukina had said was, in a very disturbing way, true: Hiei's fate was linked to Kuwabara's. In the norm reality, where they were long distanced from each other, they were both miserable and in the paradise reality, where they lived as neighbours, they were both perfectly happy, with every other reality putting them somewhere in between those two extremes.

Hiei tried to make himself feel better by telling himself that this proved that Shuichi's theories were wrong. Shuichi had said that Kuwabara was the least affected by Hiei's decisions, when in fact he had been the most affected. And Shuichi's idea that the norm reality could have been fixed seemed now even more ludicrous, since the norm Kuwabara could not even remember Hiei and Botan and, since the house on legs had already been built, he was too late to become the famous "architect of the stars" that he was now in the paradise reality.

Hiei was unsure if knowing what he now did about Kuwabara and, frankly, how indebted he was to him, tainted paradise or not. He supposed that Kuwabara did not feel that Hiei owed him anything since he had been the reason behind his creation of the tree-house and had given his approval to Yukina, both of which had led Kuwabara to the comfortable life he now led: but in Hiei's eyes the balance of debt was still tipped heavily in Kuwabara's favour, as he had both provided Hiei with a home to live in and continued to financially support Botan and Monzan to allow them to enjoy a comfortable life in the living world. Hiei had to wonder at the mentality of that other Hiei to have accepted such charity from a human – especially from Kuwabara, a human that Hiei had always despised as a representation of everything that was wrong with the human race. That other Hiei had, until the incident with the rock monster, been the same person as Hiei himself and so he tried to figure out how he could ever have come to be someone that relied so heavily on Kuwabara and thought enough of him to grant Yukina permission to be his lover. He could only think that the change of heart had been gradual and circumstantial: he could understand ordering Kuwabara to build the tree-house, and that making Kuwabara wealthy and successful had been a mere accidental side-effect of Hiei's demand. After that, that other Hiei had apparently spent most of his time in demon world and he had probably never really considered that providing Botan with a house was not enough to sustain her in the living world and that Kuwabara was supporting her financially.

It was understandable and even justifiable, but it would never be totally acceptable in Hiei's mind. Being so indebted to Kuwabara, having had to rely on him so heavily to bring about paradise was a very high cost to have paid, a huge gamble to have taken and Hiei was sure that it was only by luck that the end result had been so prosperous for all concerned. That other Hiei was apparently just a lucky bastard, unlike Hiei.

Hiei was so lost in his own ponderings and inner-conflict that he was almost surprised by someone sitting down next to him to look back at the house.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Hiei turned to Yukina, who was looking towards the house. He was unsure if she was referring to the countryside around them, the house itself or what was inside the house – all of those were beautiful things, and all of them surprising to Hiei.

"Yes," he eventually answered, turning his head back towards the house. "It's hard to imagine that it was born from the mind of something so ugly."

"Hiei, don't talk like that!" Yukina wailed. "Kazuma isn't ugly!"

Hiei was tempted to ask his sister if growing up in the haze of the freezing fog in the ice village had permanently impaired her eyesight, but he contained his sarcasm in case it upset her.

"He's a beautiful man with a beautiful heart and soul, and his work is beautiful because it's a reflection of everything that he is," she added.

Hiei clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, finding it nearly impossible not to correct her.

"And he makes me very happy," Yukina said.

That was a good thing, Hiei reasoned. And his sister certainly was substantially happier with Kuwabara in the paradise reality than she was anywhere else, especially in the norm reality where she had been taken from him and he could not even remember who she was or what she had ever meant to him.

"He's kind and noble and polite," she continued. "He's maybe a little old-fashioned in his morals, but I like that, because I'm a little bit old-fashioned myself. He treats me like a lady and I'm happy to take care of him and support him."

"He always did fawn over you," Hiei said.

"His attentions were sometimes a little overwhelming," Yukina admitted. "But his love is true, pure and loyal, and that's the most beautiful thing in all three worlds."

"…Yes…"

"And everyday I feel thankful that I have such a loving and honourable family around me: Kazuma, you brother, Botan and little Monzan."

"It's a better life than living in the ice village."

Hiei wondered if he had said something amiss when Yukina did not respond. She had, in the past, expressed that she resented the oppressive way of the life in the ice village and in the norm reality she was as miserable as she could be living there again: but as he stole a glance at her from the corner of his eye, Hiei saw her looking suddenly sad and slightly remorseful, which made no sense whatsoever.

"I think about the ice village sometimes," she said quietly. "I had friends there, not all the women there were as cold and cruel as the elders who enforced their rules and ways of life on the rest of us. Our mother and her friend Miss Rui wanted something better for the ice village. They understood the need for separation from the rest of demon world, but they wanted more freedom to leave the village if they wanted to and even if they never did leave the village, they wanted to live with love in their hearts. But those elders never let them have that freedom. I hate those elders. Sometimes I wish I had told them that before I left. I wish I had told them how wrong they were and let the others know that it was okay to love and to want something better, to stand up and defend your own beliefs… But I guess I wasn't strong enough for that. Sometimes I feel as though I failed all my friends there though. I found a happier life for myself, but they probably never will."

"Hn, you shouldn't hold onto regret like that," Hiei told her. "You know that your life only improved because you defied those elders, anyone else up there who feels unhappy needs to find the strength to follow in your footsteps. If they can't do it for themselves, they don't deserve to reap the rewards."

"But maybe they don't even know that they're capable of making a better life for themselves," Yukina said. "They've never known any other way and so they don't expect to find love or happiness. Maybe they just need someone to help show them a better way. I didn't really understand, it was only with the help and support of others like our mother, Miss Rui, Kazuma, Yusuke, Botan, Keiko and Shizuru that I learned that love and happiness were such wonderful things, things worth fighting for."

"…Worth dying for…"

"Exactly."

Hiei paused to consider the exchange that had just passed between himself and Yukina: by his own logic, the Yukina in the norm reality was to blame for her own unhappiness and needed to save herself from the ice village, not wait for someone else to do it for her. But by Yukina's logic, it was only through the support of friends and those caring enough to show love that anyone would ever find happiness. And by Yukina's logic, Hiei thought dryly, his own life in the norm reality had become meaningless because he had closed himself off to his friends, and by his own logic he was completely at fault for everything bad about his own existence in his own reality and he did not deserve to reap the benefits of living that other Hiei's life because he had not had the strength to do the frankly numerous and incredible things that other Hiei had to in order to reach paradise.

"I think I'm lucky to have the things that I do and to live the way that I do now," Yukina said, breaking the silence that had formed between them. "But I suppose I shouldn't say that to you brother, since you don't believe in luck."

Hiei perked up slightly at her words. He, of course, did not believe in luck nor had he ever thought of himself as a lucky man, but he had thought that other Hiei was lucky, and yet, according to Yukina, that other Hiei did not believe in luck either.

"You always tell me that luck comes to those who make it for themselves," she continued. "And I think you're right. It seems lucky that we have such wonderful friends, family and homes now, but that only came to be because we made it that way ourselves, right?"

Hiei wondered if, on any level at all, Yukina knew what a profound affect her words were having on him. He had been trying to forget about the norm reality and all the bad decisions he had made there and the bad luck he had endured, but it was getting harder not to think that maybe he should not have been so arrogant to blindly make snap, selfish decisions and then claim to live without regret and without mistakes when clearly he had made plenty of mistakes and regretted them all.

Hiei hated feeling stupid.

"Let's go back inside," Yukina said, standing up. "It's getting late, and I noticed Botan looked really tired – I think she wore herself out fretting over you and Monzan going missing today – and she is pregnant, she should be relaxing."

Hiei nodded numbly and got to his feet at Yukina's side. Together they started back towards the house, the only sounds around them being their footsteps and the faint and infrequent tinkling sound of the glass lanterns swaying in the light wind and occasionally tapping against the walls. The atmosphere was quite homely and calming, but Hiei did not think that it was quite so striking as the atmosphere around his tree-house home, which had a much more relaxing effect on him: there he had felt at home surprisingly quickly, and that sense that he belonged there had never lessened any. Clearly the feeling he had about his home in the living world (a place he had always despised) was an indication that he belonged in paradise and returning there had been the right and best thing for him to do.

As they neared the house again Hiei started to feel tired himself. He had not slept much in the days leading up to Mukuro's return from setting up her trap in his own reality and he had barely slept at all since arriving in paradise. He made a mental note to find some coffee and sugar when he got inside and also to check on his wound. He thought that it would probably not fully heal for at least another day even if he left it as it was, but he did not want to take any chances – just like that other Hiei, he did not rely on luck to get anything out of life, rather he would get the results he wanted by making them happen himself.

Back inside the house he found things quieter and more sedate than they had been earlier. Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and his sister were sitting quietly around a table playing what looked like a slightly too serious game of cards, Maya was doing something to Keiko's hair in a corner of the room and both of them were in their pyjamas and Botan was laid on a couch by the far wall, fast asleep with Monzan squashed between her belly and the back of the sofa, also asleep and looking quite comfortable and contented despite his awkward position.

"Isn't that so cute?" Yukina whispered to Hiei, pointing over at Botan and Monzan.

Hiei smiled in spite of himself, feeling that strange sense of peace when he looked at his wife and son asleep.

"I'll put Monzan to bed," Yukina offered. "You take Botan."

Hiei nodded and together they approached the couch and began carefully prying the two apart.

"Oh my, Monzan is getting so big!" Yukina whispered as she finally managed to gather him into her arms.

He flopped against her, his arms hanging over each of her shoulders and his head nuzzling against her shoulder but he did not stir from his slumber. He looked strangely bigger and heavier in Yukina's arms, but Hiei supposed that was just because Yukina was so petite herself.

"I'll show you to your room," she said to him as he eased Botan from the couch, trying to avoid lifting her too suddenly and waking her.

He followed Yukina from the room again, finding himself strangely not disgusted as he noticed that Monzan was dribbling slightly into Yukina's hair. Botan was clearly just as deeply asleep in his arms as her body was quite limp, but even in that state Hiei could see a difference in her face and demeanour from the Botan of the norm reality, her generally happier and more contented life still somehow obvious. Hiei also found something quite comforting about knowing that her improved life was because of him, but equally he felt a little envious of that other Hiei for having been the one to have initiated it all.

And for the first time ever, Hiei seriously wondered what that other Hiei had felt and experienced during those two weeks in the cave after he had saved Botan's life, and how that had grown and progressed to what it was now.

"You're in here," Yukina said softly, walking into a moderately large bedroom with a double bed and the bag Hiei had carried there already deposited there by someone.

Hiei nodded and started towards the bed.

"I'll put Monzan in the nursery," Yukina said. "Though I think he might have outgrown the cot in there by now."

Hiei stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her.

"Take him over here," he said.

Yukina gave him a funny look but he turned away from her to avoid seeing it and considering what it probably meant.

"Put him in the bed with Botan," he said, pulling back the bed-sheets.

"…H-Hiei?" Yukina asked, sounding as confused and surprised as she had looked.

"I don't want him put away in a…"

Hiei placed Botan down, pausing there with his arms still around her as he considered what he had been about to say. It had been a genuine expression of how he felt, but he had to wonder when he had started feeling that way and why he felt it so strongly.

"Just put him here," he said, carefully sliding his arms out from under Botan.

Yukina came over to his side, and from the corner of his eye he could see her still staring at him with that look of confused disbelief as though she was sure that she had misheard him or else he had gone mad.

"I'm not really tired," he lied. "So Monzan might as well sleep here tonight, since I probably won't."

"Oh… Okay…"

Yukina laid Monzan down beside Botan and she arranged the sheets over them both, smiling as she finished her task.

"They look so peaceful," she whispered.

"That's how they're meant to be," Hiei replied without thinking.

Yukina nodded and together they left the room again, Hiei hesitated at the door, looking back as he saw movement, momentarily worried that he had inadvertently awoken one or both of them. He saw Botan wind an arm around Monzan and cuddle him close to her chest, but neither stirred from their sleep and so he turned out the light and closed the door, letting them rest. He needed to stay awake that night, but he planned to sneak back into the room before Botan or Monzan woke and to pretend that he had been there with them all night.

"That was a very nice thing that you did, brother," Yukina said to him as they returned to the living room. "It's such a big house, Monzan used to cry a lot when he was in the nursery all on his own."

Hiei supposed that Yukina had meant to make him feel better with her words but instead he felt worse: though it was not really his fault that Monzan had been left to cry alone, rather it was the fault of that other Hiei. He may have made a lot of good decisions and done a lot of good and noble things, but Hiei was starting to see that not every decision that other Hiei had made or thing that he had done had been for the best. There was perhaps room for improvement even in paradise.

"Hiei, will you join us?" Kurama asked him as he passed the table. "We were just about to start a new game."

"Hiei doesn't play games, remember?" Kuwabara said.

"Maybe he'll change his mind this once," Yusuke said.

Hiei stiffened.

"What do you say, Hiei?" Yusuke asked him. "Do you want to play a game just this once?"

"No!" Hiei snapped, more forcefully than he had meant to.

"…It's just a game, Hiei," Kuwabara muttered.

"No, it starts as just a game, but then it turns into something horrible and irreversible, you idiot!" Hiei growled.

"You don't need to be so uptight Hiei," Kurama said smoothly. "Sit down and join us."

"Do you know what happens the day I decide to "play"?" Hiei asked.

"…You lighten up a bit?" Kuwabara suggested.

"No, I end up acting like a human and living with Keiko and she turns into a slut and Botan turns into Yusuke's mindless slave!"

The room fell silent and the others all looked around each other questioningly. Hiei started to realise what he had said, started to think that maybe mentioning his experiences of another reality had been a bad decision, but before he could give it any serious consideration, Yukina spoke up and covered his mistake.

"Oh, that's right!" she said, smiling brightly. "Hiei was playing a game in the kitchen earlier!"

"…I was?" Hiei echoed, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, do you remember Kazuma?" she responded, walking over to stand by Kuwabara. "We were playing the "what if" game."

"I love that game!" Keiko called over.

"Me too!" Maya added.

"…Right…" Yusuke said slowly, his eyes moving to Hiei. "So why does you playing a game of cards with us end up with you living with Keiko?"

Hiei hesitated, unsure how to talk his way out of the mess he still seemed to be in, but again he was saved the bother by Yukina.

"But that's the way the game works, Yusuke," she said earnestly. "You pretend that something unlikely happened and then you imagine what the consequences would be."

"You mean like what if I'd never been revived after I was hit by that car?" Yusuke asked.

"That's a depressing one," Keiko complained. "Pick something nice."

"How about what if I'd been spirit detective instead of Yusuke?" Kuwabara's sister suggested.

"Never would have happened," Kuwabara instantly responded.

"Oh no?" she asked, her smile vanishing. "I didn't see spirit world offering the job to you, either!"

"I guess the game is about picking unlikely things," Kuwabara said with a shrug.

"What if the Fruit of Previous Life had permanently transformed me into Youko?" Kurama suggested.

"Yeah, that's more like it!" Keiko said. "Or what if Yusuke had finished high school?"

"Hey!" Yusuke protested.

Hiei was relieved that his blunder had not caused undue suspicion, but he was starting to think that maybe being forced to explain himself would have been easier than listening to everyone else pass his concerns off as a game.

"Hiei's good at this game," Kuwabara said suddenly. "He can really imagine stuff going bad."

"That's because he a pessimist," Yusuke replied. "Here, watch this: Hiei, what if you'd never married Botan?"

Hiei tensed, wanting to stop himself but somehow not able to.

"She would have become fat and bitter and Kuwabara would have a stupid beard and live in a horrible part of the city," he blurted out.

"See?" Yusuke said. "I didn't even ask him about Kuwabara, he just threw that one in for free."

"He just likes insulting me any chance he gets…" Kuwabara grumbled.

"That is interesting," Kurama said, turning in his chair and fixing Hiei with a look that immediately made him feel uncomfortable. "But I have a question I think Hiei could answer more succinctly: Hiei, what if you had never saved Botan from that rock beast?"

Hiei felt something inside of him grow cold. The intensity in Kurama's eyes was almost debilitating to look at, and he could only conclude that, despite his hopes that he would be able to conceal his true identity for some time yet, Kurama had already figured out that he was the wrong Hiei, back again by the same methods as before.

"That's a terrible question, Kurama," Yukina said quietly, looking as though she actually might cry. "Why would you ask that? Hiei would never have left Botan to die like that. That would have been a cruel and vicious thing to do to someone so kind, selfless and defenceless as Botan. My brother would never even think of doing something so dishonourable and cold."

"Perhaps not," Kurama said, his eyes still fixed unblinkingly on Hiei's. "But don't we all have moments of indecision and hesitation where fate could lead us down two completely different paths?"

"It's just a game, Kurama," Kuwabara pointed out. "You're taking it more seriously than Hiei is."

"Yeah, but still, let's hear Hiei's depressive answer," Yusuke said. "Come on Hiei, what if you'd never gone back for Botan? What then?"

"Yusuke, stop it," Keiko said. "It's not nice."

Yusuke shrugged.

"I thought it was a stupid game anyway," he said. "So are you joining us for the next round or not Hiei?"

Hiei looked down at the table and then at Kurama, who was still glaring at him with no less intensity.

"Where's the coffee?" he asked, turning to Yukina.

"In the kitchen," she replied. "Would you like me to make you some?"

Hiei nodded and followed her through to the kitchen, feeling slightly relieved when the other started talking again behind him. He told himself that such questions should not have bothered him because they no longer mattered now and they were nothing more than the game the others – apart from Kurama – thought that they were.

But for some reason he found it quite hard to forget about the norm reality and all the bad things he had seen in the other realities he had visited that had not been paradise.

Staying awake the first night at the house on legs proved easier than Hiei had thought it might. The others, most especially Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and his sister, had stayed up most of the night anyway and Hiei had been able to disguise his deliberate insomnia as him merely joining in on their activities – not that he did actually join in on their activities, rather he sat outside of the floor-length windows and alternated between enjoying the silence and secretly marvelling at the house that had apparently been born from the brain of Kuwabara. Once the house had grown quiet and everyone else had eventually gone to bed Hiei checked on his wound, ripping the edges slightly to endure it stayed open and then redressed it in the same bandages – again making a mental note to find clean and fresh bandages soon or else take more from his room in Mukuro's fortress in demon world. He then crept back into the house and through to the room he had deposited Botan in several hours before, easing himself into one side of the bed and pretending to sleep until daybreak.

It was only when Hiei heard noises on either side of his head that he realised he had somehow actually fallen asleep. Shafts of golden sunlight were splayed across the floor and bed from gaps in the curtains and Hiei realised that he must have been asleep for at least two hours. He could still feel his wound and so he felt reasonably secure that it was not close to healing, but he was unable to check for sure because Botan was lying on top of his right arm and cuddled into his shoulder, pinning that arm down, and Monzan had somehow crossed the bed and both Botan and Hiei and wound himself up in Hiei's left arm, pitting that arm down too.

Hiei sighed. It was a little frustrating to be stuck where he was and even a little uncomfortable, but equally it was quite calming and relieving to be lying in such a safe and peaceful place. He could hear movement in various other parts of the house, presumably as the others got up for the day, and after a few minutes the smell of food cooking started to reach him.

And Hiei almost jumped out of his skin when Monzan rose up onto his knees, his eyes barely open and his nose sniffing at the air. Hiei gave the boy a withering look, but he did not notice as he was too busy rubbing at his eyes. Hiei then held in a groan of pain as Monzan clumsily crawled over his wounded abdomen and Botan's legs, dropping to the ground at the other side of the bed and hurrying to the door. He fumbled about for a bit before managing to slide it open far enough to slip out, not wasting time closing it behind him, instead scurrying away in the direction of the kitchen, where Hiei heard Yukina greeting him and offering him food.

Hiei groaned in despair, the noise making Botan moan and start to awaken. He had not intended to wake her, but seeing the way she smiled and her eyes changed when they focused on him he was glad that he had woken her up.

"Well good morning," she said huskily, reaching one hand up to his face and stroking her fingers down his cheek. "This is a nice surprise. It's so nice to wake up and find you here… Lying next to me… In bed…"

Hiei smiled himself then as she hooked a leg over his hips and pressed herself against his side. She started to kiss him on the cheek but stopped abruptly as Yusuke walked past the door, calling out a greeting to them both as he went. She looked back over her shoulder at the partially open door for a long time before slowly turning to look at Hiei again.

"I don't remember going to bed last night," she said slowly. "And – oh dear! I don't remember putting Monzan to bed, either!"

"He's fine," Hiei assured her. "He just went for breakfast and he left the door open on his way out."

Botan pulled a face at him.

"He slept in here with us last night," Hiei said, omitting to add that he himself had not been there for most of the night

"…He slept with us?" she asked. "I mean I sometimes let him sleep with me, but I never thought that you would… Did he sneak in here during the night?"

"No, I had Yukina take him here after he fell asleep on the couch with you," Hiei replied.

"You did?" Botan asked. "But… That's so… Sweet…"

"Hn."

"Oh, Hiei!"

Hiei grunted as Botan grabbed an arm around his middle and squeezed him. He knew that she had not meant to and was not trying to, but her actions had and did hurt. He contained himself as best he could, trying to enjoy her embrace, but struggling to feel the pleasure over the pain.

"We should get dressed," she said, lifting her head and slackening her hold. "…Oh, I'm still dressed from last night, I fell asleep in my clothes… And so did you… Well we should go and get breakfast with the others."

Botan started to move and Hiei tried to grab at her to stop her. Between wrapping her leg around him, pushing herself against him and just by touching him she had started stirring a need for more within him, a need he had intended to satisfy there and then: but she managed to slip from the bed before he could catch her. He sat up and watched her move towards the door, where she stuck her head out into the hallway, looking in both directions before sliding the door shut and turning around again.

"I'm going for a shower first," she said, her tone changed.

"Hn," Hiei responded, turning his head from her.

He had hoped that he was going to get what he wanted when she had closed the door and remained in the room, but apparently not, he thought angrily.

"Aren't you coming with me, Hiei?"

Hiei turned back in time to see Botan move into a secondary doorway off of the bedroom, her back to him, and she was discarding her bra. He paused, so taken aback that he was unsure what to do: but as she slowly bent over and began pulling down her panties affording him a quite explicit view of exactly what he had been after he flung aside the bed-sheets and scrambled off the bed, hurriedly pulling off his clothes as he followed her into the little bathroom. As he fought with his pants she closed and locked the door behind him before slowly walking over to the shower cubicle and stepping inside. Hiei cursed several times as he kicked off the remainder of his clothes and staggered over to the screen Botan was obscured behind, the sight of her standing under the falling water and smiling at him seductively proving to be more than he could handle. With a growl of appreciation and desire he pounced at her, pushing her against the tiled wall and burying his face into her shoulder.

Sliding his hands over her skin was an even more enjoyable experience when it was wet, as was feeling her delicate fingers trailing over his shoulders and down his back. She paused – but only momentarily – when her hands reached the bandages around his middle, but Hiei barely noticed. He was finding himself increasingly attracted to Botan, and he was unsure if it was because he knew that she could satisfy his needs in a way that no-one else ever had before, if it was because of the things he had learned about her from Mukuro or if it was a combination of the two. He pushed his fingers into her skin, pulling downwards and nipping at her shoulder. He started to curl his arms around her thighs and was a little surprised when she seemed to predict his actions and jumped into his hold, wrapping her legs around his waist. She seemed to instinctively understand his intentions and his needs, but he supposed that was because she had been married to that other Hiei for eight years, and she freely admitted to them having a quite active and full sex life.

Hiei reaffirmed his hold of Botan and she put her arms around his shoulders to hold herself up as he eased into her, his being overtaken by a strange combination of calm at being in a position he sought and urgency to find his release within her. He leaned forwards to let her rest her back against the tiles and he began grinding his hips against her, at first simply enjoying the feeling and the sound of her whimpering moans – that she presumably felt safe to make with the sound of the running water obscuring her voice from carrying beyond the cubicle – but as he pushed harder and deeper into her she cried out and suddenly squeezed his sides between her thighs. Ordinarily it would have been a pleasant enough experience and Hiei would simply have taken it as his cue to pick up the pace, but instead he stopped altogether and tried to focus on breathing and keeping his balance as the wound on his abdomen began throbbing, and he realised that the damp warmth he felt there was not from the shower or Botan, but rather from the blood that had started to soak into his dressing.

"Hiei?" Botan said, stroking a hand over his hair. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Hiei tried to answer her but found that he could not, for risk of yelling out in pain.

"Hiei?" she said, taking his face in her hands. "What is it?"

He groaned quietly, and Botan seemed to notice what was happening as she started to become distraught and somehow managed to slide off of him and set herself onto her feet again.

"Oh goodness, this wound looks worse!" she gasped.

Hiei, who had closed his eyes as she arranged herself on the ground again, opened his eyes and looked down, mildly horrified to see that Botan had somehow managed to pull loose his bandages, exposing the damage underneath to her view.

"You have to let me heal this Hiei, it isn't getting any better!" she said, looking up at him with a look of such hurt concern it almost made him forget about the pain he was in.

He shook his head.

"I just need time," he said.

He was not even sure himself what he had meant by that remark: time for what? The wound was never going to heal as long as he was in paradise because he would never let it heal, and no amount of time was going to change that. In his eagerness to return to paradise, he had only ever thought of the permanent injury as something he would have to deal with himself: he had never once considered how he would explain it to anyone else there, least of all Botan, who was, understandably, confused by its persistence.

"Just give me time," he said. "I just need time and I'll get better."

Botan tilted her head slightly as though confused by his words and Hiei could understand why, as he was a little confused by them himself: but between the pain he was suffering and his still lingering desire to finish what he had started with Botan, his brain was no longer functioning logically – if it was even functioning at all – to process the thought.

"Maybe you need to keep it dry," she suggested.

"No," he said, catching her wrist as she reached for the control valve on the shower. "Let's just…Stay here for a little while."

She eyed him over and Hiei thought she intended to argue the point but she ended with a nod.

"I'll be gentle," she said. "I'll wash around it."

Hiei nodded and let her lather up his hair and body with more of that stuff that smelled like she did. He did not especially want to smell so flowery, but it was quite nice to smell her on himself, and it was especially nice to have her hands messaging every part of his body and so he let it happen before watching with a smirk as she soaped herself up. As she rinsed herself under the shower he saw her eyes fall below his wound, and he looked down at himself to see why – though he did then promptly wonder why he had bothered, since his eyes only confirmed what he could already feel: he was still sporting a very prominent and almost painful erection.

"Really Hiei?" Botan asked, lifting her eyes to his with an almost admonishing look.

He felt slightly ashamed of himself then for being unable to control his urges, but the moment was brief as he saw a sly smile slowly spread over his wife's face.

"I never run out of good ideas, and I think I have another one right now," she said, placing her hands on his shoulders.

Hiei let her gently turn him around and push his back against the wall, his interest in what she was doing only heightening his arousal. She turned her back to him and grabbed at the top of the shower door, and for a moment he thought that she was about to leave the shower cubicle altogether: but as she stretched up on her toes and looked back over her shoulder at him he finally understood her intentions and he gladly grabbed her hips and guided them back, thrusting himself into her fully. She groaned out a sigh and her grip of the doorframe faltered, her hands sliding down the glass. Hiei grinned as he realised that, with her bent over in front of him and in their current position, he could have his way with her with only a minimal amount of pain in his wound. In fact, he thought, his grin widening, the pain was becoming negligible as he began pumping into her harder and faster, his confidence growing.

Botan began moaning and crying out his name – which was a delight to listen to – and she bent over further, her arms pressed against the glass door of the cubicle. Hiei was not really sure if she had intended it to or not, but her altered angle allowed him closer access to her and let him push in deeper. He could feel her reaching her own release and he put one arm around her to hold her in place and reached his other hand around between her legs, massaging her tender flesh with his fingers. Her cries became incoherent and ragged as she climaxed, her body shaking from the strain as Hiei continued driving into her without breaking the pace or intensity of his thrusts. Her weight began to pull on his arm as her legs failed to support her and he gave a last, few, several sharp jerks of his hips before groaning out as he finally came himself.

Hiei held on for a few seconds, leaving himself sheathed within Botan as both their bodies twitched and shivered from the after-effects of their love-making, before he slowly eased back, letting himself slide out of her. He had to straighten her up and turn her around with his hands as she seemed to have lost all control of her body, and she simply fell against himself, barely managing to throw her arms loosely around his neck as he braced his arms around her waist to support her. They stood holding each other for some time, both breathing heavily and neither saying or doing anything. After several minutes like that Hiei start to notice that he could feel Botan's legs trembling against his own, and her knees were still bent at different angles, most of her weight slouched against his hold.

"Your legs are shaking," he told her.

"Oh Hiei," she gasped into his ear. "That's just what you do to me… Every single time…"

Hiei smirked smugly to himself and held her tighter, remembering then that she had said something similar the last time he had been in paradise about how every time they made love it felt as good as the first time. Apparently that was true for her, and Hiei was looking forward to finding out if it was true for himself too: and for such a delicious reward, he was more than willing to work out an excuse for his unending wound.

Next Chapter: Hiei finds yet more reasons to enjoy living in paradise, including learning more about why that other Hiei loves Botan so much and the camaraderie of having his friends and family around him all the time. And he learns a little more about Botan's defiance of spirit world, including why she was brave enough to take that challenge. Chapter 26 – One Defining Moment

A/N: I'm still explaining the love Botan feels for Hiei and getting to the point where he actually realises he is in love with her and not just the paradise lifestyle – way more Disney-esque fluff to come (and more smut). Probably needless to say though, I'm not done with the angst yet. This is angst/romance, angst first because that's what it mostly is, I promise!