Recap: Hiei and Botan talked and slept together (platonically!), the gang made it to the departure lounge of Haneda Airport, where Botan suggested to Hiei that they should catch a plane and just elope like forbidden lovers…

Oh come on, you just KNOW Hiei is going to feth this up!

Lo-ong chapter warning (seriously)
Major angst warning…
…Oh, who am I kidding?! Major cheese warning!


Chapter 45: A Rare Opportunity

"You want us to elope like forbidden lovers?" Hiei asked, his eyes still on the screen above his head.

Subconsciously he was looking for names he recognised on the list of destinations. He had a vague awareness of some names of places in the living world that did not fall under King Enma's control, and he was almost certain that he could see a few that read "now boarding".

"I don't know that it will work out, but I think maybe we should try," Botan said.

Hiei smiled. He liked that idea. And the answer he gave her surprised them both.

"No," he said.

"Wh-what?" she echoed.

"No," he repeated, turning to face her. "We can't run away like that."

"…I thought that you wanted… I thought you wanted to be with me?"

"Some things are just meant to be. Your friend, the guardian of fate, taught me that. You have to stay here and I have to return to demon world and finish something I started a long time ago."

"Oh… You'll come back and see me once you've finished your business in demon world though, right?"

"Probably not."

Hiei was not really sure what he was saying – it was not what he wanted to say, but at the same time, he felt like he was giving the appropriate response to Botan's request. He could not run away with her, he had a duty to return to demon world and carry out Mukuro's plan, but he did not want to tell her the details of that plan, and it seemed like the only other way to explain himself was to pretend that the thought of staying in the living world with her did not appeal to him in the slightest.

"I hate this world," he added. "Demon world is my home, it always has been. Once I return to the darkness, I won't ever come back here again, I have no need to."

Hiei avoided looking at Botan, though he was aware that she was rapidly becoming upset. He tried turning away from her, his eyes first landing on Yukina, who looked even more upset by his words than Botan had. He supposed she had probably interpreted his last remark to mean that he did not care about visiting her again in the living world, which was something else that was not true, but he did not want to tell Yukina the truth about his fate either. He turned his head again and found Kuwabara giving him a hard stare that was somewhere between disappointment and admonishment, neither of which he wanted to consider, so he turned again, and found himself looking at Shuichi, who was slowly shaking his head.

"You don't want me because I'm not her," Botan said quietly. "I'm not that other Botan you met… I'm the broken one, the one who didn't turn out perfectly, the one who messed up becoming human…"

"I never said any of that," Hiei pointed out.

"You didn't have to," she said, standing abruptly. "Your flight's boarding, Kuwabara, Yukina."

Kuwabara hesitated, but as Botan pointed at his still open suitcase he began frantically trying to secure it shut and Yukina started saying her goodbyes to Shuichi and Botan. Hiei stayed sat where he was, his eyes on the screen displaying the details of the departing flights. It was not that Botan's suggestion had not been tempting – because it had been extremely tempting and almost like another shot at a paradise to just run away from the misery that was his own life and start anew with Botan, returning eventually to live in the tree-house with Yukina nearby and happy – it was more that Hiei was feeling increasingly obliged to return to demon world. He still disagreed with Mukuro's plan, but countless visits to countless alternate realities had taught him that the war in demon world had only come about because Hitoshi had died, and that had only happened because Hiei had killed him, and so he knew that he was largely to blame for the mess his own world was in, and so it was up to him to take responsibility for that mess and do what he could to fix it.

Hiei almost wanted to smile at the irony of his dilemma when he realised that he was now strong enough to face what fate had planned for him, but he was still too cowardly to tell the others around him that his fate was to kill two dearly missed friends of theirs, both of whom were becoming conspicuous by their absence as old friends reunited and worked together once more. It was easier to make Botan think that he had grown tired of her and the living world, Hiei decided. She expected that of him. She knew that he was unreliable, hurtful and not to be trusted. And there was no point in making her fall in love with him in this reality, since it would only cause her more pain and suffering when she found out that he had died killing two of her best friends. There was not even the glimmer of hope that they could be together in another life, because Botan was destined to become a spirit and Koenma had sworn – the day Hiei let the rock monster kill Botan – that he would sentence Hiei to limbo upon his death.

Which, Hiei then realised, meant that he had barely a minute left to say an eternal farewell to his sister, and he had the train ride back to Sarayashki to bid his final farewell to Botan.

"Brother?"

Hiei turned to Yukina, who was standing in front of him, watching his worriedly. He stood up and let her put her arms around him, loosely returning her gesture. He was slightly surprised that she still wanted to hug him after what he had said about having no reason to return to the living world, but he supposed that was merely a reflection of her forgiving nature. He knew that she would be safe and well looked after with Kuwabara, and even after Kuwabara passed on – because, as a human, he would not live nearly as long as Yukina would – life in the ice village had changed so drastically Yukina would probably be able to return to her friends there and live out the rest of her days happily enough with them.

Reluctantly, Hiei inwardly admitted that Shuichi had been right again: this reality was better for Yukina than the paradise reality had been.

"I wish I could have had more time with you," Yukina said as she pulled back from Hiei. "I only just found my brother and now we have to go our separate ways again."

Hiei did not answer her and he was relieved to see that she did not seem to be expecting him to.

"Good luck with the remainder of your quest," she said.

Hiei moved his eyes to Shuichi, who was feigning innocence, which was a sure sign of his guilt: apparently he had opened his big mouth again and told Yukina that Hiei was on a "quest" to turn his own reality into paradise.

"Goodbye, Hiei," Yukina said.

Hiei nodded at her and she gave him one last smile before turning away and starting to leave.

"Good luck with your quest, Hiei," Kuwabara said, nodding at Hiei.

Hiei gave Shuichi another glare and again the redhead tried to look blameless.

"Make sure you get Urameshi and Kurama back here in one piece, okay?" Kuwabara added.

Hiei tried to stop his face from twisting, but he could feel the corners of his mouth twitching downwards despite his attempts to hold them straight. Botan and Shuichi wished Kuwabara good luck and he hurried off after Yukina. Hiei watched them until they reached a set of doors where they paused to wave one last time. Botan and Shuichi eagerly waved back and Hiei raised a hand in acknowledgement of their gesture.

"I'm going to miss those two."

Hiei turned to Shuichi, who was clutching a tissue by his face.

"Idiot," he growled at him.

All three then moved over to the windows, watching the plane until it had backed out of the terminal, sped the length of the runway and taken to the skies, Hiei only then feeling satisfied that Yukina was safe enough that he could return to demon world without the fear of her being caught; though even if she was caught and returned to the ice village, he imagined that the ice maidens would probably just take her straight back to the living world anyway.

"We should get going too," Botan said as the plane ascended into the clouds. "There's a train heading back to Sarayashki in about ten minutes, we should board it."

"I'll run," Hiei said.

"That would be unwise," Shuichi warned him.

"I can't believe I'm asking this, but why?" Hiei responded.

"I have the cell phone and Botan has the communicator," Shuichi replied. "Only we will know when the SDF have caught the girls. If you separate from us, we won't be able to warn you if the SDF return to the breach before you do. You should stay with us so that we can distract them if that happens and let you return to demon world unhindered."

"…Fine," Hiei reluctantly agreed.

"I think I'll probably sleep on the return journey, I'm still so tired," Botan said.

Hiei took that to be her diplomatic way of saying that she intended to pass the journey inside the passenger area of the train, and he would be stuck with Shuichi: so he decided that he would copy Botan's approach and sleep the journey back too.


Hiei hated rude awakenings, especially ones that involved spirit world, so when he was awoken abruptly during the train ride home by Shuichi frantically shaking him and repeating over and over "the SDF have caught Maya, Hiei, wake up" he did not awaken in a particularly good mood.

"What happened?" he groaned, sitting up. "And where are we? Are we close to Sarayashki?"

"No!" Shuichi replied. "We're still two hours away from Sarayashki! I was having lunch with Botan in the catering suite when the alarm sounded on her communicator! I called Keiko and she said Maya had been caught in a traffic jam and tried to flee on foot, but after that she heard no more, and then Maya pressed the alarm on her communicator!"

"Did they take her to spirit world?" Hiei asked. "And are they going to close the breach?"

"I don't know!"

Hiei contemplated slapping Shuichi to try to get some sense out of him, but he instead grabbed the wrist of his hand that was still clutching his cell phone.

"Call Keiko," Hiei said firmly. "Ask her what's happening. Ask her if the idiots that were chasing Maya are now chasing her and Shizuru or if they have disappeared."

"Right!" Shuichi said, hurriedly keying something into the phone.

Hiei released Shuichi's wrist, but Shuichi kept his hand in the air between them, leaving the phone on loudspeaker as it rang Keiko's number.

"Shuichi?" Keiko's voice eventually answered.

"Keiko, are you alright?" Shuichi asked her.

"Never mind about that!" Hiei snapped irritably. "Keiko, what happened to the soldiers that were chasing Maya?"

"I don't know!" Keiko replied. "I'm kinda… I'm a little bit busy right now."

"What are you doing?" Shuichi asked.

"Well, there are four SDF soldiers on this train with me," Keiko replied. "So I escaped them the only way I knew how: I climbed out a window and I'm on the roof of the carriage."

"What?" Shuichi yelped. "Keiko, that's very, very dangerous! You could get seriously hurt! Please be careful!"

"Yeah, the train went through a tunnel just before you called, and it was close," Keiko said.

Hiei's eyes doubled in size. It was clear from Keiko's voice that she was actually in a state of shock and denial about just how much danger she was actually in. She had always seemed like a sort of boring, straight-laced, ancillary character to him, so why she was suddenly risking her fragile human life to ensure his safety – after he had recently attempted to kill her in her own home, and previously tried to turn her into his mindless demon slave – was a mystery.

A mystery he had to know the answer to.

"We're returning to the breach now," he said. "We only need another two hours, why are you putting yourself at such great risk?"

"Because I trust you, Hiei."

That was the last answer he had been expecting from her. And it reminded him of Yusuke at the Gate of Betrayal in Maze Castle: he had put himself at risk because he had decided to trust Hiei despite them having been on opposing sides before that day.

"I trust you to fix this," Keiko continued. "Yusuke said he could always trust you in a difficult situation. He said that when things got really bad, you were the one who always saved the day. He said you weren't reliable for minor problems, but when a major problem arose, you would show up just in the nick of time to save everyone. He always said that about you Hiei."

"…Always?" Hiei muttered.

Even after the rock monster incident?

"And so I trust you now," Keiko said. "I trust you to get back to demon world and save Yusuke and Kurama from that war and bring them back home."

"I can't do that!" Hiei warned her.

"I know you can," she replied. "I trust you. You fixed Kuwabara and Yukina, you can fix Yusuke and Kurama too."

"No, I can't!"

Hiei waited for Keiko to say something but the phone remained infuriatingly silent.

"Keiko!" he yelled at it.

"Oh, I think I lost the signal…" Shuichi said, peering down at the phone. "We must be going through a tunnel ourselves."

"Fuck!"

Hiei stood up and pushed a hand through his hair angrily, all thoughts of lost sleep long gone from his mind. How could he possibly sleep now that he knew Maya had been captured, the Special Defence Force might be resealing the breach Kuwabara had made and Keiko was dicing with death on the understanding that he would repay her by "saving" Yusuke and Kurama?

"Call Keiko back," he said, turning back to Shuichi. "That last call might have made her lose her balance and die. I need to know that she's still alive."

"This next call might make her lose her balance and die," Shuichi pointed out.

"Fuck!"

Hiei knew that Shuichi was right, but that did not help his mounting anger any. The last thing he wanted or needed was to die feeling indebted to a human.

"Call Shizuru," he said.

"I can't," Shuichi replied.

"Can't or won't?" Hiei snapped.

"Well I can," Shuichi said. "But she's on her motorbike and she won't be able to answer if she's riding it, only if she's stopped somewhere. And if she's stopped, it's probably for a purpose like getting food, sleep or fuel, and my calling her will distract and stall her. If Keiko is stuck on the roof of a train with four SDF officers pursuing her, she will be caught within the hour, Shizuru is our last hope of keeping them off our backs, we can't slow her down with a pointless phone call."

Hiei wanted to argue, but again he knew that Shuichi was right, and arguing with him would be pointless.

"She raises an interesting point though, Hiei," Shuichi began. "What she said about trusting you to save Kurama and Yusuke–"

"You know I can't do that, and I'm not going to have this conversation with you!" Hiei cut him off.

"Kurama was with me for seven years after you were banned from this realm," Shuichi reminded him. "I know how he felt during that time. I know he was angry and felt betrayed when you let Botan die, but I also know that he came to forgive you for it. You were the first ally he trusted after Yomi, and you never betrayed him as badly as Yomi did. He forgave Yomi, and he forgave you too, Hiei. He wanted to make amends with you, but by then the political situation in demon world was out of control and it was too dangerous for someone in his position to approach Mukuro's headquarters, it would have been seen as espionage by the paranoid among Mukuro's ranks."

"You don't…" Hiei began. "You can't… You're not Kurama!"

"Not now, but I was once."

"It's not the same thing!"

"Kurama and Yusuke grew to miss you as a friend in the years you were apart. When their lives became troubled by the threat of war in demon world they wanted to reach out to you and make a pact with you not to kill each other. They never got that far, but I know that was their mentality when they returned to demon world. They never wanted to fight, Hiei, it was thrust upon them by fate. Maybe the war has changed them, but neither of them were ever mindless killers and neither of them would want to die on the battlefield of a war they did not start, want or even agree with. They deserve to survive this, and only you can make that happen."

"You don't know what you're talking about! It's not nearly that simple! You said yourself that Kurama couldn't approach me before the war and I can't approach him now that the war is on! The war has to end and this is the only way to make that happen!"

"It doesn't have to be!"

Hiei intended to start yelling at Shuichi for his idiocy, but when he shot to his feet looking enraged and almost vicious, Hiei was temporarily shocked into silence.

"You're a selfish bastard, Hiei," he said quietly. "Can't you see the power that you possess? You say that you don't believe in luck, but luck has befallen you lately, because you have been granted with knowledge, and knowledge is the most powerful weapon to be had. You don't need to end this war with violence Hiei, you have the power to end it more peacefully."

"You don't understand," Hiei growled back.

"No, my good friend, it is you who does not understand," Shuichi insisted. "The river of life only flows in one direction–"

"Not this again!"

"–for most of us, anyway. Most souls sail downstream their entire lives, following the natural flow fate has predetermined for them, blinded to any other direction but the one they are travelling in, knowing only the confines of that one little boat fate places them upon. But now you my good friend, on the other hand, were gifted the rare opportunity of turning that boat around and sailing in another direction entirely, for just a short time, to see life from an entirely new perspective. You were granted a gift only a very select few ever receive and how you choose to use what you have learned from that experience, Hiei, will shape the future of not only your own life, but everyone else's around you."

"I don't want to "sail on the river of life" any more. I hate sailing. I hate rivers. I hate water."

"…It's a metaphorical river."

"I know that!"

"Please don't rush into this blindly, Hiei. Please consider what you have learned lately and the power you had to make good things happen in this world. You can do so much more and I, like Keiko, believe that you have the power to save Kurama and Yusuke. Unlike Keiko, I don't trust you to do it, because you're quite abrupt and irrational, and saving them will require patience and rational thinking."

"You're a cheeky bastard."

"Perhaps I am, but I have your best interests at heart, my good friend."

"Hn."

Hiei turned around and hopped up onto a nearby crate. He was starting to leave, intending to find Botan in case she knew any more about Keiko's current predicament, but he stopped just short of the door as Shuichi suddenly landed on a box beside him and grabbed at his arm.

"Hiei, please," he said.

Hiei turned to look at him and saw only desperation in his eyes.

"Just think about it," he pleaded. "You're not the only one who would rather be living in "paradise", but you are the only one who can make "paradise" a reality for the rest of us."

Hiei vaguely remembered Shuichi saying the same thing to him once before, back when he was still in the hospital, but it had not seemed so pitiful or desperate as it did now. And it had barely registered with him before, this time it was causing that strange tugging pain in his chest that he had suffered a few times over the last few weeks when people had said or done something strange around him.

"I'm going to find Botan," he said, pulling his arm from Shuichi's grasp. "Come with me or don't: I don't care."

Hiei hurried on then without bothering to wait and see if Shuichi did intend to follow him. He quickly made his way up the length of the train to the first class carriages and there he began barging into every booth he passed, ignoring the complaints from the humans inside them and continuing his invasion until he located the one Botan was sat in.

"Hiei!" she gasped as he stumbled into the booth.

She was alone, which he was glad of, and she looked as though she had been crying.

"Keiko's in trouble," Hiei told her.

"We all are," she quietly replied.

Hiei slowly sat down opposite her, his eyes falling to the spirit world communication mirror she was cradling in her trembling hands.

"At least Yukina and Kuwabara are safe," she added. "I'm not so sure the rest of us will be that lucky. The SDF have caught Maya."

"I know," Hiei replied.

"Were you watching with your jagan eye?"

Hiei paused for long enough to silently berate himself for not thinking to use his third eye to check on Keiko before then.

"Hopefully the SDF will redirect themselves and still pursue the other two signals," Botan continued. "And then we can–"

She stopped short as the communicator in her hand let out a series of short beeps, causing her to jerk in her seat in surprise.

"They've caught Keiko," Hiei said.

Botan frowned down at the device before shaking her head.

"They've caught Shizuru," she said.

"Fuck!" Hiei snarled.

That was worse. Of the three girls playing decoy, Shizuru was the smartest and, onboard her motorbike, the one who could more easily evade capture. Keiko had said that she had four officers pursuing her, it would only be a matter of time before they caught her, and as soon as that happened, the entire mission would be a bust: the Special Defence Force would regroup and reseal the breach in the Kakai Barrier, they would hunt down Hiei and they would probably arrest Botan for deceiving them.

"How long until this train gets us to where we need to be?" Hiei asked Botan.

"About an hour and fifty minutes, I think," she replied. "Do you think Keiko can hold off the SDF for that long on her own?"

Hiei closed his eyes and focused his jagan eye on finding Keiko. Although he did not want her to be captured, he was actually a little bit concerned that she had not yet been caught, as it was possibly a sign that she had fallen from the roof of the train and died – and Keiko's death was the last thing he wanted to have on his conscience. However he soon located her, dressed entirely in black, with a black cloak pulled up over her head in what he supposed was her attempt to make herself look like him from a distance. She was back inside the train, picking her way through a carriage and looking about herself nervously. He searched around a little and found one Special Defence Force soldier on the roof of the train, one searching between the outside of the carriages and two searching the inside of the train. The officer on the roof of the train had a demon compass and he was slowly moving in the same direction as Keiko.

She was alive, but it was doubtful that she would evade capture for longer than five minutes, which meant chaos for Hiei when he got back to the breach in the barrier.

Hiei was about to end his viewing but stopped short, maintaining the link as Keiko clambered out the back of the last carriage of the train. She looked a little bit surprised to be at the end of the train, but she only paused there long enough to look upwards. The soldier on the roof of the carriage was not within her line of sight but she seemed to know that he was there as she looked slightly panicked before doing something that made Hiei curse in surprise: she leapt from the still-moving train.

Keiko hit the ground and rolled over a few times before scrambling to her feet and running off, barely avoiding being blasted by a shot from the soldier on the roof of the train. He leapt down after her as she reached a high wire fence containing the railway lines from the town beyond, which she began trying to climb over. By the time she had managed to scale the fence, pick her way over the spiked top which snared her clothing and tore at the skin on her legs and then jump down at the other side, the Special Defence Force soldier was upon her. She grabbed up a nearby bag of garbage and threw it at him, taking advantage of his confusion to kick over bicycles and an advertising stand to block his path and then she raced off, trying to take the most complicated path she possibly could to stay ahead of him.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Hiei raged, terminating his link to her actions and opening his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Shuichi asked, stepping into the booth with Hiei and Botan.

"Keiko!" Hiei replied. "She's… She's putting herself in great danger and acting like an idiot… Now that they know the other two signals were false alarms, those SDF bastards are trying to shoot her down because they think she's me! She should just surrender! They could kill her!"

"Oh dear, this is all may fault!" Botan wailed. "It was my idea that she should do what she's doing, if she dies it will be my fault!"

"Keiko agreed to be a part of this," Shuichi assured her. "She knew the dangers before she got into the situation she is now in."

"But I made her do it!" Botan cried. "I convinced her that we should help Hiei, I insisted that she lure the SDF away from us… Each member of the SDF is stronger than most A class demons, can you imagine what they might do to her?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," Shuichi said. "If they are that powerful, one blast from them will kill Keiko instantly. She won't suffer."

"It's time for you to stop talking again," Hiei growled, glaring threateningly at Shuichi.

"Keiko wanted to do this," he replied. "She knows exactly how much danger she is in. She knows that she's risking her life and she knows that she could end up in spirit world prison. But she's not giving up on us. We shouldn't give up on her. Or each other. Or ourselves. Hiei."

Shuichi arched his eyebrows and Hiei realised that he was not really talking about Keiko's courage to reassure Botan so much as he was using Keiko's courage to make Hiei feel guilty about killing Kurama and Yusuke. Hiei could not argue with him, since doing so would mean admitting to Botan what his true intentions were when he returned to demon world, and so he kept quiet.

"What are we going to do?" Botan asked, looking up at Shuichi.

"Hn, why are you asking that idiot?" Hiei snorted.

"We have to pray for Keiko," Shuichi answered Botan. "And we have to prepare ourselves for a battle when we get back to Sarayashki."

"A battle?" Botan echoed.

"Yes, a battle," Shuichi confirmed. "It's likely that some of the SDF officers are already trying to seal the breach in the barrier, and we will have to face that obstacle when we get there."

Hiei turned away before Botan could look him in the eye. Things had not exactly gone according to their plans in the ice village, but no amount of Shuichi's idiocy was going to get them out of this mess. Hiei just hoped that Koenma was lenient towards Botan and the girls when they were brought before him for setencing.


Hiei, Botan and Shuichi had to take a very long and stalled route from the train station back to the breach, as there had been a single Special Defence Force officer waiting on the platform when their train had arrived at its destination. They had avoided being seen so far, but everywhere they went they saw at least one solider clad in grey and blue, their coverage of the city so complete that Hiei could not even risk breaking away from the group to run ahead to the breach alone.

Keiko had been caught barely ten minutes before the train had arrived back in Sarayashki. Hiei had been watching her at the time and had seen what had happened: she had fought and struggled and kicked and slapped her way out their grasp a few times, even after they had already realised that she was not Hiei, her determination never fading. Eventually however, they had managed to restrain her and she had been taken away. An hour after sneakily disembarking the train, Hiei, Botan and Shuichi were within sight of the cave they had been aiming for, and Hiei performed a quick check of the inside with his trusty third eye, finding two Special Defence Force soldiers already in there inspecting the breach Kuwabara had created in the Kakai Barrier the day before, and the captain of the Special Defence Force himself was there, pacing about and looking even more menacing than usual.

Hiei started to move but stopped as Shuichi grabbed at his arm.

"What?" he hissed, turning to look back over his shoulder at him.

"Listen to me very carefully, Hiei," Shuichi sternly replied. "No matter what happens in there, you have to get back to demon world."

"I know that, idiot!" Hiei snapped, yanking his arm from Shuichi's hold.

"I-I think I understand," Botan said. "Shuichi means that you have to let us deal with the SDF, Hiei."

Hiei pulled a face at her before turning to Shuichi, who was nodding solemnly.

"Don't worry about us, my good friend," he said. "We will hold them back as best we can, but you have to get back to demon world and save Kurama and Yusuke."

Hiei growled and bared his teeth in frustration: did that idiot never listen? There was no possible way to "save Kurama and Yusuke"!

"Yukina bravely stood up to the elders in the ice village, Keiko bravely held back the SDF for as long as she could, and now it's our turn to do our part," Botan said.

"You should know better than anyone how foolish that is!" Hiei scolded her. "They will kill you if you try to hinder them!"

"A gamble we will gladly take," Shuichi calmly replied.

Hiei balked as he saw Botan nod in agreement. She looked terrified and bewildered, but she was clearly trying to look and act as brave as Keiko had been that day.

"The girls were running from the SDF for a full day," Botan added. "Keiko must have been on the go for more than 30 hours without stopping. If she can make that kind of sacrifice, I can certainly do my best to appease the SDF now."

"To "appease" the SDF?" Hiei asked.

"Yes," she replied. "Words, just like weapons, are powerful when wielded correctly in battle."

Hiei screwed up his face.

"That means we're going to use our brains and talk our way out of trouble," Shuichi explained. "Instead of waving a sword around and swearing a lot like you do."

Hiei gave Shuichi a flat look, but the human appeared not to be bothered by it.

"We should keep moving," Botan suggested. "Before the other officers figure out that we're here and they regroup."

Hiei nodded and together the trio dashed to the cave entrance and into the darkness beyond. The light around them quickly become swallowed up, and it became harder to walk without tripping on the rocky, uneven cave floor. Hiei was, surprisingly, the first to stub his toe, at which he hissed out a curse. As he regained his balance he felt a hand take hold of one of his hands, and at first he smiled, the feeling of soft fingers against his telling him that Botan had decided to become friendly with him again: but when he closed his own fingers around the hand in his, he realised that it was far too big to be Botan's and he turned his head sharply, barely seeing Shuichi at his side.

"We should hold hands in case one of us trips over," Shuichi said.

"I don't want to hold hands with you!" Hiei spat.

He peered past Shuichi and saw that his other hand was being held by Botan – the sneaky bastard had put himself between Hiei and Botan.

"It's safer this way," Botan whispered.

Hiei sighed and tugged his hand from Shuichi's, walking on alone for a few steps before tripping and stumbling a little.

"See?" Shuichi said.

Hiei grumbled out a few choice insults against the fool as they continued on. Hiei still refused to hold Shuichi's hand, but he did walk with more care from then on to avoid any more mishaps. It was difficult for him to concentrate on the ground because his thoughts were consumed by just three things: what lay ahead of them by the portal to demon world, what lay ahead of him in demon world itself and how long he had left before he would be brought before Koenma for final judgement in the afterlife. He had decided that, since Koenma was going to sentence him to 10,000 years of suffering in limbo anyway, he was going to punch the smarmy little bastard in the face while he could.

And that thought reminded Hiei of what Botan had said before they had entered the cave: "words, just like weapons, are powerful when wielded correctly in battle". It was the sort of thing that ugly bastard Hitoshi would have said. It was the sort of thing that whiny toddler Koenma would have said. They were the words of a true diplomat, someone who actually believed that talking could solve problems better than violence could.

It was strange how Yukina and that ice maiden Rui had overthrown the elders with only two casualties. They had spoken a lot and achieved more with their words than with their actions, because every time they had said something provocative, more of the ice maidens had joined their cause and agreed to finding a better way of life.

"A better way of life is easily within our grasp with a little application and a lot of teamwork and cooperation. We have the raw materials, we have the skills and we have the resources: and so let us build the foundations of paradise, and let us start with a simple act of goodwill."

Hiei hesitated slightly as he heard the end part of Hitoshi's ridiculously grandiose anti-war speech echo around his mind, and he wondered why it was recurring to him now – how inappropriate.

Hiei moved on, rejoining Botan and Shuichi as they ducked down behind a rock overlooking the end of the cave and the glowing portal to demon world. Just as Hiei had already seen, there were two soldiers studying the breach and their leader was pacing about behind them. Hiei thought that his best option was to launch himself at the portal at top speed and leap through it before they could even register that he was in the cave with them, but he did not like the idea of just abandoning Botan and Shuichi. He thought that he should probably dismiss them and hope that they would make it back outside and into hiding without being spotted by any more pesky Special Defence Force soldiers, and so he beckoned for them to come closer, intending to tell them as much.

"I'm going to go over there and distract them," Botan said.

"What?" Hiei hissed.

"Shuichi, you're coming with me," she said to him. "They know what you are – they know that Kurama's soul once resided in your body and that since he left you, you have… Lost some of your… They know that you were diagnosed with severe schizophrenia, and I'm going to tell them that I found you hanging about here and I was worried it was a sign of something terrible. I need you to act crazy and say lots of stupid things. Maybe dance about a bit. Between us we'll confuse and disorient them until Hiei has managed to sneak through the portal. Do you think you can do it?"

"Hn, stupid question," Hiei answered before Shuichi could even open his mouth. "He doesn't need to act crazy, he is crazy. And saying lots of stupid things and dancing about are his two favourite hobbies."

"I'll miss you too, my good friend," Shuichi said, patting him on the shoulder. "But I know you'll be back to see us again soon."

"Hiei isn't coming back," Botan corrected him. "He said he hates it here. And… Well I suppose that's fine."

Hiei stared into Botan's eyes, and for a long time he thought about just grabbing her into his arms and running away with her as she had suggested. The temptation was almost too much to bear, but the sight of Shuichi sobered him by reminding him of Kurama and his duties to demon world and Mukuro.

"Be careful," he advised her instead.

She nodded and then ushered Shuichi to go out ahead of her. She gave Hiei one last solemn nod before creeping out from behind the rock. Hiei watched from his concealed position, waiting for his chance to dash through the portal. Shuichi stumbled into the middle of the open cavern and all three officers immediately stopped what they had been doing and turned their attention to him. Shuichi started to say something about the uniforms the soldiers were wearing, but before he could finish the captain stomped up to him and punched him hard in the face, causing him to stagger back several steps.

"Isn't that Kurama?" one of the other soldiers asked.

"No, wait!" Botan cried, hurrying over to Shuichi's side. "This is Shuichi Minamino, not Kurama! He's just a human from this world! He's a little confused – Kurama's soul used to reside in his body, and since Kurama left him, he's been a little… Unstable…"

"Miss Botan," the captain said, bowing to Botan. "There is a tear in the Kakai Barrier by this portal, it's not safe for you to be here. If that man really is innocent, please take him far from this place."

"Oh, I've been trying to take him home," Botan said. "But he can be quite troublesome. He's an innocent, please don't hurt him, but can you help me escort him back home?"

"We're quite busy here, Miss Botan," the captain replied. "We've been led on wild goose chase since this breach was opened."

Hiei started to panic at the captain's words: the "wild goose chase" he was referring to had started with the compass Botan had given him, after all. Botan was either not in the least put out or else she was keeping the concern from her face with the practised ease of a skilled dissembler: and if the latter was the case, Hiei had just found another reason to respect her.

"We caught three human girls pretending to be that stunted fire demon Hiei," the captain continued.

Hiei growled quietly, vowing to kill the bastard some day for that insult – before remembering that he would not live to fulfil that promise.

"Oh dear," Botan said casually. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Keiko Yukimura, Shizuru Kuwabara and Maya Kitajima," one of the soldiers mechanically replied. "Yukimura and Kuwabara were once friends of yours, weren't they?"

"Yes," Botan replied, almost too calmly for Hiei's liking. "Are you sure they were pretending to be Hiei? That doesn't seem like something that they would do."

"Yes, absolutely," the captain said. "We took this from Kitajima."

He removed a communication mirror from his shirt pocket and Botan nodded, giving it a cursory glance as though it was insignificant.

"She had it set up on a closed communication link with only three other communicators," the captain continued. "Kuwabara had one and Yukimura had another but we don't know where the third one is."

He pushed a button on the communicator and a frantic beeping sound started radiating from the pocket of Botan's dress. The captain slowly replaced the communication mirror to his pocket.

"Step away from the human please, Miss Botan," he said calmly.

The other two officers stepped forwards and for the first time since the start of their ruse, Hiei saw both Botan and Shuichi start to look worried. After getting so close to his goal – and before the rest of the spirit world Special Defence Force arrived and really complicated the situation – Hiei decided to intervene. He had nothing to lose and he could not let Botan suffer to allow him to make another cowardly getaway.

"Touch either of them and I'll kill you all," he announced, drawing out his sword and stepping out from his hiding place.

All three soldiers turned to Hiei and he saw Botan frantically shaking her head beyond them.

"I thought we agreed that I wasn't going to see you in the living world again, Hiei," the captain said.

"Wait!" Shuichi said, stumbling forwards and placing himself between Hiei and the soldiers. "There is an opening to demon world right behind you, why not just let Hiei pass through it and close it behind him. There is no need for this confrontation to turn into a violent one or–"

Shuichi yelped out in pain and shock as the captain punched him in the gut with a glowing fist. It was clearly a power shot, and it left Shuichi on the ground struggling for air, a small spattering of red around his mouth from where he had coughed up blood. Shuichi, without Kurama's soul in his body, was not physically able to withstand an attack from a being as powerful as the captain of the Special Defence Force, and Hiei was sure that the bastards from spirit world knew as much, making their heavy-handed tactics all the more detestable.

"Restrain the girl," the captain said.

The one female officer of the trio marched over to Botan and grabbed one of her arms, twisting it up her back until she cried out in pain.

"Let her go!" Hiei yelled.

"That's Lord Koenma's decision to make," the captain answered him.

"Just go, Hiei!" Botan cried. "Please! Just go back to demon world! Send Yusuke and Kurama back, they'll be able to patch things over with Koenma! He will forgive me if they back me up!"

Hiei gulped awkwardly: was Botan going to be sentenced to something horrible now in the absence of her friends to plea her case?

"Get… Get out of here!" Shuichi wheezed, dragging himself up onto his elbows. "Go, Hiei! Fix things in demon world and… I'll fix things here!"

Shuichi barely looked fit to stand on his own two feet let alone fix the rapidly worsening situation they were suddenly submerged in.

"Please Hiei," Botan said faintly. "Please… Just go and… Get Yusuke and Kurama back…"

Hiei returned his sword to its sheath and the soldiers in front of him relaxed slightly, apparently assuming that he was about to surrender.

"You'd better look after her," he warned Shuichi. "If you don't, I'll haunt you until the day you die!"

Shuichi nodded his understanding and Hiei took one last look at Botan, squirming in the hold of the soldier behind her. She was clearly in pain, but there was still a determination in her eyes that said she believed in him. It was unfortunate that he was going to have to disappoint her, but he drew some small consolation from the fact that he would not live to see that disappointment in her beautiful eyes. He had intended to leave with the hope that she would hate him and blame him for what he was about to do, but as he looked at her his mind began to wander from its primary objectives, and his thoughts shortly began to form words.

"I have to say goodbye to you," he said, keeping his eyes on hers. "But just because we won't ever meet again, in this life or the next, don't think it doesn't mean that I never cared about you. Sometimes saying goodbye is… Just another way of saying I love you."

Botan gasped softly and even the Special Defence Force soldiers seemed to forget their ire momentarily. Hiei sighed and looked down at the ground for a moment as that odd tugging sensation in his chest became almost overwhelming. He took a few deep breaths and lifted his head again, fighting against it as best he could, determined to finish speaking the words that were swimming around his mind.

"I never really had you," he said as his eyes once more met Botan's. "Not in that other reality or this one, it was always an illusion, and I can see that now. But even though I never actually had you, I don't want to lose you. Sometimes… Sometimes holding you close took my breath away, and I'm sorry I could never find the right words to say to you. It's so easy for the pathetic fools in this world to talk about love, but it's so hard to recognise love, even when you hold it in your hands, it can slip through your fingers like water before you've truly had the chance to appreciate it for all that it is… I never knew what love was, and if I do know now, it's because of you."

Hiei paused again, thumping a fist softly against the point of pain in his chest, but unfortunately doing nothing to ease it.

"There's a place inside of me where your fingertips still rest, you kisses still linger and your sweet whispers still softly echo," he continued. "And in that place, you will forever be a part of me. I don't expect to face a pleasant fate – the evils and wrongs I've done ensured my place in the afterlife long ago – but it doesn't matter, because I can't imagine nirvana being any greater than being loved by you. And I'm happy to trade the rest of eternity for the brief glimpse I got of that wonder…"

Hiei looked down at the ground for a moment, realising then that his mind had gone blank and he had satisfied whatever strange urge it was that had driven him to say what he had.

"I have to walk the road of atonement to its conclusion," he said, lifting his head again. "Goodbye."

And without further ado, Hiei dodged past the soldiers blocking his path and leapt up through the portal, passing through the tear in the Kakai Barrier and landing back in the darkness of demon world.

He was standing in a jungle of weeds on what had once been the well-worn border patrol road, facing Mukuro's fortress, which had been severely damaged since his last visit, and the front yard was littered with dead and rotting corpses.

The situation there was even worse than he had expected it to be.


Next Chapter: The situation in demon world is dire indeed, and Hiei promptly sets about enacting Mukuro's plan to end the war and salvage what little is left of her kingdom. And just when Hiei thinks things can't possibly get any worse, he learns that a key figure in demon world has recently been killed in the war, and this news, along with an unexpected hitch in his plans, take him to the last place he ever expected to find himself – doing the last thing he ever expected himself to do. Chapter 46: Denizens of Demon World