Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters

Hello, everyone, it's been a while! I hope everyone is taking care of themselves with this crazy pandemic. Stay well!

Now, here's the next entry for the Dream Big Sequence (5).

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." – Leonardo da Vinci

It was a nice day out which led Botan to make the suggestion to head to the park. Not surprisingly, Hiei shrugged, not at all caring what they did. The two headed to their destination together and found a nice and cozy spot deep in the forested area where hardly any humans ventured.

Once there, Hiei immediately started to train. Botan was actually surprised. It wasn't the first time she had seen Hiei train, but she had actually thought that maybe they could just spend some time sitting together and enjoying each other's company. She even packed them a lunch. Hiei watched her do it. Didn't he realize that she wanted to spend time with him?

Hiei spent a couple hours performing a series of fluid movements, slashed his sword vigorously but with purpose. He had been feeling a bit stir crazy, so much stress followed him from the Makai. The ferry girl didn't seemed to notice, and Hiei knew her offer to go out had little to do with his well-hidden agitation.

After expending the majority of his energy, Hiei made his way over to the picnic blanket the woman brought and threw himself down on his back, arms stretched out on either side of him as he breathed heavily. The fire demon could feel her eyes on him, but he didn't point it out. Most likely the overly curious ferry girl was studying him, and Hiei didn't have the will to stop her.

"I don't understand why you always train yourself to this point," Botan murmured, her voice full of concern. Hiei opened his eyes to see the ferry girl's face right above him, the woman knelt behind his head. Her proximity was so surprising, Hiei practically jumped out of his skin. He quickly sat up, avoided collision with the ferry girl, and sat across from her with crossed arms. "You're already incredibly strong. I don't see why you'd train until you were this exhausted."

"There's always someone stronger," Hiei pointed out, his voice neutral as he stated the simple fact. "And no one will wait for anyone to catch up. I train this way to get stronger, to overcome plateaus. I'm not foolish enough to believe that there won't come a stronger foe one day, even though most of the opponents I battle now are nothing but weaklings."

"But still…" Botan mused, "Don't you ever want to take a break? There's only so much strength you can achieve at one time."

"True," Hiei agreed with a nod, "but I'm not just training to get physically stronger. I also train to build upon what I already know. I've seen enough fights, studied enough fighting styles, and I've even been trained in different scopes of swordsmanship. But knowing those styles is not enough. One must apply what they learn and see to perfect those styles. Having the strength and the will to win is not enough. One must do."

"Hm," Botan pondered, her pointer finger touched her chin. She knew Hiei was talking about his ambitions, but at the same time the words resonated with Botan in a way she didn't expect. For a while, there had been something she wanted to do, but her fear of a certain reaction prevented her from acting upon that desire. "So, you desire to get stronger."

"I do," Hiei replied. He didn't understand why the woman stated the obvious, but she always said the strangest things to begin with so it really made no difference.

"And when you desire something, knowing how to do it isn't enough," Botan repeated. "You have to apply what you know."

Hiei gave a nod. "That is correct."

"And if you have the will to do something, that doesn't mean anything unless you do it," Botan stated, her eyes full of understanding and determination.

"Right."

After Hiei assumed he settled her curiosity, he leaned back and closed his eyes. He never expected to feel Botan's soft lips against his seconds later. His body froze in place, but his eyes snapped open wide as he watched the woman completely startled.

Her eyes were closed, but she kissed him with such an urgency that Hiei never knew she possessed. When she pulled away, awareness flooded her eyes. Botan realized what she'd done and appeared a bit fearful, perhaps fearing repercussions.

Timidly, she uttered, "S-Sorry. I-I don't know what came over me."

Botan attempted to get up and run away from this, but Hiei didn't let her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him, closing the distance between them once more.