Summary: Finding himself with an unwanted (?) wife and assuming Yarika does not want him anymore, Hiei runs away to the bowels of Demon World. Yarika goes missing after an accident, the gang rallies to find her. Can Hiei find her before she succumbs to her injuries and can they repair their relationship?

Notes: Warning: implied sexual content, contains depictions of depression and marital strife.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

"What have you done to me!?" growled Hiei.

Mukuro's smile grew and Yarika looked confused, proving that Mukuro had somehow tricked her into marking him deep within his core. The mark was deep, so deep it would never go away unless the person who had placed it died, deep where it was taboo for all but one's life mate to touch unless it was a killing blow. Doing this without consent of both was also taboo, so Mukuro's trick was more disgusting than any human could understand.

"To be fair, this was one of the few ways to revive you," said Mukuro airily. "Bakura's power is hard to drive out once it sets in."

"You could have tried anything else first, I wasn't dead!" yelled Hiei. "And now Yarika is bound to me, I am disgusted with you!"

"Bound?" Yarika was having trouble grasping this.

"The method you used to save him was like a marriage vow," said Mukuro. "One that cannot be revoked. To complete the ritual and make it a true bond, he would have to do the same to you."

Yarika finally got it. Her eyes widened with horror. "What have I done?"

She was not sorry she had saved Hiei, but she would have used it as a last resort had she known because this was a very serious thing. She wasn't against marriage either, but had wanted to not push him, waiting until they were both in full agreement that it was the right time. She wanted him to consent to every aspect of their relationship possible after having an unplanned child. Now he was disgusted with her for forcing him into this, she didn't know what to say to make it right. He surely blamed her, going by his anger.

A sinking feeling gripped Hiei at the horror on her face. The other shoe had dropped. She obviously didn't want him for more than the short term while their daughter was still a child, yet she was now bound to him. This was even worse than simply breaking up, since now she was bound to someone she never intended to spend her life with. It was unbearable. "How dare you do this to me!? Leave me immediately!" he growled, his aura flaming in his rage. The bedding started to singe, and Mukuro grabbed Yarika to get her out of the way while Hiei destroyed the vicinity in his rage. He was taking it better than she thought. When he calmed down, she would goad him into taking responsibility, and that would be that.

Unfortunately, it didn't work that way. Mukuro had not factored in that Hiei would misunderstand Yarika's horror at accidentally marking him and take it as rejection. She was sure that the couple had strong enough feelings to justify her trickery, she was sure she knew what was best for them. But if Hiei had one trigger, it was rejection. When he had finished leveling the area, he had taken off. He had not resurfaced by the closing ceremony, leaving everyone to wonder just what had happened. Unknown to Mukuro, Hiei had gone straight back to the fortress and grabbed his few valuables and disappeared to parts unknown. Mukuro's twisted attempt to ensure his happiness had caused Yarika to reject him in revulsion, not that he could blame her. He was the last person she should be with. He would need a long time to recover from it, until then he didn't want to see anyone he knew.

All Yona knew was that her parents had had some sort of fight. Yarika had assured Yona that Hiei still loved her, that he would come back for her when he had calmed down. Even Hiei would not abandon Yona now, but he needed time to sort out whatever was going on.

Yarika hid her pain as much as she could and tried to keep on going. She had waited weeks for Hiei to appear so she could explain that while she had been tricked into marking him, she had true feelings for him and would have been devastated if Bakura's attack had killed him or put him in a permanent dream. The price she paid was steep but she was willing to own it like she did everything she did.

As the weeks stretched to months, she lost hope that he would return. In her soul, she felt that Hiei would never forgive her for what she had done, even if Mukuro had tricked her into it. The guilt started to eat at her, and her appetite failed as her depression grew. The others noted that while she acted like everything was fine, there was a hollowness behind her smiles and somehow Hiei had caused it.

Yukina finally got out of her exactly what had happened, immediately understanding that somehow there had been a miscommunication between them. Her brother had deep feelings for Yarika, she could sense it in her very bones through the bond of blood they shared. Something had deeply upset him to cause him to disappear, she could sense his pain the way he had sensed hers while she endured literal torture for her tears. The cruelty ice maiden society had inflicted on him had left a permanent mark, and it colored every relationship he had, even the sibling relationship with her.

"Hiei doesn't hate you," said Yukina. "He's just upset."

Yarika stared at the dregs in her teacup, barely comprehending her friend's words. Cold weather made her a bit sluggish at the best of times, but the weight loss from her reduced appetite had given her brain fog that was hard to deal with. She looked like a magnificent houseplant that was wilting under improper care. She was planning on going to a resort to recuperate on the advice of her manager, who could tell that she was unwell.

"I can't even tell him that I still have feelings for him and would take responsibility for it," she mumbled to her cup, a tear falling into the cup. Yarika rarely cried in view of anyone unless a camera was rolling. The tears that fell into her cup were proof of her pain.

Yukina's cup made a plopping noise as she too shed a tear. Her friend's pain and her brother's pain was hard to bear as it could not be resolved while Hiei was still missing. "I hope you feel better when you come back from your trip," said Yukina.

Hiei had almost learned to live with his pain, as he camped deep in the bowels of Demon World; he was living in a well hidden shelter he had carved out of a hill, reinforcing it with lumber he had cut himself. Only strong demons and those without capacity for fear ever came to that part of Demon World, so it was extremely isolated. Yarika's energy deep inside him was hard to ignore, so it came as a surprise when one day he could no longer feel it.

Hiei frowned, wondering what had happened. Had the bond broken? He didn't know of any way to break it but death, unless he had inadvertently stumbled upon it or Yarika's revulsion of him was so strong it had broken of its own accord. Fear welled up inside him, as death was a likely cause. As upset as he was, her death was something that he did not want. Besides, Yona needed her mother. It would be best to check on her. With great apprehension, he took off his headband and opened his Jagan, which could see what was going on in the human world to some degree. He had used it to check on Yona, mainly while she was at school as he didn't want to see Yarika.

Much to his horror, he couldn't locate Yarika at all. If she had died, he would have at least been able to locate her corpse. He packed up, intending to go to the human world to search for traces and find out what had happened.

Yona clung to Kenji when the policeman came to inform them that the car Yarika had driven had been totaled and that she was missing. Her cellphone was found in the car so that was of no help. This was as horrifying as the day Kenji had come home to his wife's corpse laying on the floor and Yarika crying over it. He had never in his wildest dreams thought Yarika would vanish without a trace.

Kenji swallowed, running to the phone. Within the hour, all of Yarika's friends knew she was missing. Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara showed up to the Fujimiya house.

Yusuke called Koenma, who checked his records.

"There is no record of her death, even by accident, so I don't know what's up," Koenma told him. "It's possible she is just hidden somehow, you'll have to go look where she was last known to be. I'll send Botan to help."

Kenji was at least relieved to hear that Yarika was not dead. "But where could she be?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Mr. F and Yona. They don't call me Spirit Detective for nothing," said Yusuke. "The toddler is sending Botan to help, we'll get going as soon as she gets here."

Botan arrived in due time, with her case full of updated detective tools. The upgraded demon compass gave vague directions, likely going off the traces, both where she had crashed and the car's current location after it had been towed.

"It's possible that Yarika was injured in the crash and wandered off in a daze," said Kurama. "But what puzzles me is why we can't get a lock on where she is." She didn't cross over to Demon World, as there are no known portals in that area.

Yona cried out mentally, hoping Hiei could somehow pick it up via telepathy. Luckily, he had just crossed into the human realm and picked up her distress call.

"Where is your mother?" asked Hiei via telepathy. "I can't sense her anywhere."

"I don't know, she went missing on the road. She was in an accident and no one can find her. Koenma said she's not dead, and they don't think she's in Demon World," Yona thought.

"She's not there. Tell me where she was last. I'll go start to look."

Yona looked up. "Daddy just contacted me. He said he sensed she was missing and will help us look."

Kuwabara was livid. "He hasn't even been around in months, NOW he cares?" He could tell that Yarika was in distress and Yukina had told him some of what went on, warning him not to meddle as it was a misunderstanding Hiei and Yarika had to work out between them. Yukina herself would talk to Hiei about how he had treated Yarika.

The gang found Hiei wandering the forest near where Yarika had had her accident, searching for traces of her. The most he had found was spots of blood here and there in the snow.

Botan checked her compass again. "It's still giving me similar readings. It's like Yarika was here but simply vanished."

"Let's split up in twos," suggested Kurama. "I'll go with Hiei. Botan, go with Yusuke. Kuwabara, you go with Yona." The others went off, leaving him alone with Hiei. "I'm not seeing traces of any other demons or humans aside from the troopers that went through here," he told Hiei.

"What happened to her?" asked Hiei. "There's blood all over, demon blood."

"Car accident. She wanted to be alone, so she took Kenji's car and not the bus to the resort she was going to stay at, she never arrived. They found the car totaled a few kilometers down the road. The accident likely would not kill a demon of her strength, but she was probably injured and wandered off in a daze."

Hiei swallowed. As a plant demon, Yarika was weak to the cold and it was possible that wandering around injured would kill her. "She has difficulty in the cold if she's not well dressed for it," he said.

"She's a plant demon, if I'm not mistaken," said Kurama. "They tend to be weak to cold."

Hiei nodded. As Kurama had guessed her secret, he may as well come clean. "She's a hanabito."

"That explains a lot," said Kurama. "They're distant relatives to alraune, and have a lot of the same traits, including weakness to cold. It also explains what might have happened to her."

Hiei's eyes widened. "Tell me."

"Certain breeds of plant demons go dormant in the cold and hibernate. Hanabito are able to freely move even in winter, if they've been eating enough. Yarika has lost a lot of weight lately, she's been depressed since the tournament. She doesn't have enough nutrients stored to endure the cold forest, especially after an injury like this. She's likely taken root and gone into hibernation in an attempt to survive."

A weight fell on Hiei's chest and it was hard to breathe. "But why can't I find her?"

"If she's hibernating, she would be curled up under leaves which would hide her from predators, much like how Yukina was hidden from us by talismans. Hanabito are good at protecting themselves."

"I want to make sure she's still alive with my own eyes," said Hiei.

Kurama nodded and described the sort of leaves that would indicate a nest, and the two set off after alerting the other two search parties what to look for. So she hadn't been eating and was now dead to the world under the snow and leaves, Hiei thought. He felt like this was his fault, even though it had been Mukuro's doing in the first place.

Even with his Jagan, it was hard for Hiei to find the nest of leaves as all the vegetation was brown and crispy looking and covered with snow. He and Kurama poked every likely spot carefully. Just as he was ready to give up in despair, the stick he was using sunk into a nest, hitting something soft.

"Over here," he called to Kurama.

With utmost care Kurama peeled back large leaves. A dull greenish-brown humanoid hand poked out from under them. "I think we found her," he said.

Hiei helped Kurama push back the leaves to reveal Yarika curled up fetal style in the middle of the nest of leaves. Her lower legs were obscured by thick vines rooted firmly to the ground, she now looked like a true plant demon. Only her vivid hair held its usual color. Dried blood was evident on her head and her torso, her injuries were still visible and she was very thin. She didn't respond at all when Hiei pulled her to his chest.

"She's cold and not breathing," said Hiei in a tone that Kurama had never heard him use before. Hiei sounded frightened.

"She is probably not dead, she might just be so deep in hibernation that she appears so," said Kurama. "We could take her to someone who's an expert on higher order plant demons. Go find the others and tell them to get a tarp out of the van and some shovels. If nothing else, we can transplant her where we can keep an eye on her." Kurama had commandeered a van belonging to his stepfather's company to aid in their search and stocked it with things that could help.

Hiei did as he was told, the others soon joined them with the requested materials.

"Mommy!" cried Yona in dismay.

"That's Yarika?" gasped Kuwabara. "She's green!"

"Not her color," said Yusuke. His relief had brought back his witty comments.

"It is her. She's a plant demon," said Kurama. "More specifically, a flower apparition. We have to dig her up very carefully and get her in the van without damaging her root system."

"Flower apparition?" asked Kuwabara. "She doesn't look like one. Wait, is that why she always smells nice?"

Yona nodded. "I'm one too, but I'm not old enough to have a scent yet."

"She must save a bundle on perfume," said Yusuke.

"Is she dead?" asked Botan. "I don't sense her soul or any of her power."

"She is likely alive and hibernating, but her injuries worry me," said Kurama. "Without proper care she may succumb, she was weakened by starvation before the accident." Hiei cringed at the looks he got, looks that blamed him for Yarika's poor self-care.

The six of them carefully dug, finally freeing the roots without damaging them. They put the whole mass of leaves and roots containing Yarika at the center on the tarp along with a frozen clump of dirt. It took all six to carefully load her into the van.

Yarika didn't move at all on the way. Yona held her cold hand the entire way home. "Please don't die, Mommy," she cried, tears dripping down her chin.

Please don't die, thought Hiei. If you die, you'll take part of me with you.

The others at home were relieved at the news that Yarika had been found, but dismayed to hear that she was comatose.

Kurama had them carefully bury her in the generous yard of the Fujimiya's house. Their yard was larger than average for suburban Japan, revealing the well-to-do status of the family more than the house itself. They buried her under a plum tree where no one would disturb her until Kurama could locate a demon who could care for an injured hanabito and safely revive her. Hiei would stay at the house and make sure she was safe from predators.

Yukina came to call as soon as he got settled in, finding him in Yarika's bedroom. He had moved the belongings he'd taken from Mukuro's into her room in preparation for a lengthy stay. Mercifully Kenji hadn't laid into him yet. Kenji never said anything about what Hiei had done to her, and when asked about it all he said was that he could tell that Hiei felt bad enough about it and would not kick him while he was down.

As it turned out, Yukina was the one who laid into him.

"You really hurt Yarika, brother," said Yukina. Her eyes held contempt. "She sacrificed a lot to save you, she did not want you to die. She felt so bad that she had marked you without your consent but the way you yelled at her and refused to speak with her caused her to go into a depression like she did when she was pregnant and alone. We had to coax her to eat anything at all. She probably had the accident because she was weak from hunger."

Hiei cringed, another of his fears realized. Yukina held him in contempt and rightly so. In his assumption that Yarika had rejected him, he had ended up hurting her instead. He looked down in shame. "It's my fault," he finally admitted.

"You must make amends when she wakes up," said Yukina.

Hiei promised that he would.

Yarika slept under the snow and leaves for weeks while Kurama did his research and contacted all the plant demon experts he could. Koenma did his part and searched in the archives of Spirit World for information on hanabito and sent any material he could find along with Botan. Hiei, lacking much to occupy his mind as he was guarding the plum tree like a faithful guard dog, read all the books after Kurama was done with them in between helping Yona look after the house in Yarika's absence. Yona did her school homework at the kitchen table with him while he read.

He had finally called Mukuro and given her a piece of his mind. Mukuro was uncharacteristically remorseful, as she had indirectly almost gotten Yarika killed. The road to Hiei's personal hell had been paved with her good intentions. She told him to take care of Yarika and let her know if she woke up.

Kurama finally showed up one afternoon with a scholarly looking demon with animal ears hidden under a cap, he'd searched far and wide for an expert and found one.

"Greetings," said the strange demon. "I'm Riku. Kurama says that you have an injured hanabito that needs treatment. It just so happens that I specialize in the study and care of rare plant demons."

Hiei nodded. "She's buried under the plum tree in the backyard." He took Riku to where Yarika was buried.

Riku carefully peeled the leaves away to examine her. "You were right to call me. She's not only injured, she's malnourished. She is in a very fragile state and will likely succumb without proper care before spring."

"Can you help her?" asked Kurama.

"I think so," said Riku. "She will need careful tending, but if you follow my instructions to the letter, she should revive by the time that tree blooms."

For the first time since Yarika went missing, Hiei allowed himself to hope she would be all right. He watched as Riku went to work treating Yarika's injuries with a foul smelling paste and inserting an IV line into her and getting it started.

"I'll get her started with an infusion of nutrients, but you'll have to come out here to give her additional infusions intravenously," said Riku. "When her injuries are healed, you can try covering her with a heated blanket or something similar and feed her broth, gruel, and other easily digestible foods by mouth. When she's healed, warmed and fed, she will likely revive and uproot herself."

Hiei nodded. "I'll tend to her."

Hiei kept his word. Over the following weeks, Hiei checked her wounds daily, reapplying the medicinal paste as necessary. He frequently hooked up an IV bag to the port Riku had left in Yarika, taking care that the nutrient solution did not freeze. As soon as her wounds were sufficiently healed, Hiei used his own body heat to warm her gradually. As he did, he felt faint movement in his arms, and deep within himself, her demon energy made itself known. Hiei smiled for the first time since the tournament.

Yona brought him the rice porridge that had she had made. She and Hiei had taken over of all of Yarika's chores, giving Hiei a new appreciation as to how hard Yarika worked to keep the family and household running smoothly. Kenji was an abominable cook and housekeeper, so he let the two demons handle everything but the accounting.

"Here goes," said Hiei, taking a mouthful of the porridge and carefully feeding it to Yarika. When the porridge had been transferred to her mouth, he rubbed her throat until she swallowed it. He repeated this until the entire bowl had gone down her gullet. Hiei watched to see if Riku was right and this would revive her.

After what seemed like hours, Yarika's eyelids fluttered. Her color was going back to normal, and the roots that held her fast to the earth were receding. Her eyes opened.

"Hiei?" she said in a small voice.

"Yes, it's me," he said, taking her and holding her tight.

Yarika blinked, wondering how she had gone from that deserted road to her own backyard. She looked up, noting the first plum blossom on the tree had opened. Her shoulder felt wet. She couldn't see Hiei's face, but he was crying tears of relief that she had revived. When he had composed himself, he pulled back and said the two words he'd never before said in his life.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"I forgive you," said Yarika. "I still love you, even though you can be a total jackass."

She still loved him. His insecurity and poor self worth had lied to him and almost cost him her very life. The gods of fate had granted him another chance, and he would be a complete fool not to take it. He wouldn't leave her again. As stupid as it made him feel, he whispered other words to her that his ego and pride had never let him say.

Her answer was a kiss.

Even though Yarika had successfully been revived, Hiei, Kenji, and Yona looked after her and had her rest frequently as Riku had advised that they look after her until she was strong and steady on her feet again and make sure she was warm and well fed. He had come by and examined her after revival, checking her progress and giving advice. As she had been very well tended and the healing ointment applied religiously her scarring was minimal, those she had would fade.

Hiei disliked domestic duties, but he completed them faithfully with only occasional complaints. Yarika was served very simple but filling meals unless Yukina brought by something fancier. Hiei could cook when he had to, but as his personal meals were always cooked over an open fire without regard for presentation, the food he produced looked far worse than it tasted. It was a skill he'd picked up living alone outdoors for so long, his thievery supplying whatever couldn't be found in the wild. Even in a domestic setting he sometimes went out and poached some hapless creature, preferring that to supermarket meat. Kenji was growing used to seeing parts of deer, rabbit or boar in the fridge when he went to fish out a beer. He was a very poor cook, so when it was his turn to take care of supper, he just got them all takeout.

Either Hiei or Yona helped her in the bath as she could possibly slip and fall, as she'd had a head injury; she had been unsteady and had bouts of dizziness after revival, but that was rapidly getting better. The first time Hiei had seen her nude after her revival, he cringed at seeing how thin she still was. He was glad to see that she was now gaining flesh and her muscles were regaining their tone.

Yarika's spirits returned with her health, and soon she was ready to talk to him about their relationship.

"You know, Hiei…" she started. "You're not half bad at this house husband thing."

He turned to blink owlishly at her, as this was the first time she'd brought up anything related to marriage. "I'm not a house husband, I'm a warrior repaying a debt."

"About that… I'm basically your wife now, aren't I?"

Hiei frowned. By demon standards, she was his wife, although not by choice. "It wasn't something you knew you were doing, I won't hold you to it."

"What if I decided that's what I wanted to be?" She now had his full attention.

"You'd be making a mistake. I'd be a lousy husband," he said bitterly, fully believing it. "It's better that you're not shackled to me."

"I disagree. I told you before, you past does not matter to me. You've proved that you're more than capable of taking care of a wife and a family. If it wasn't for you, I might have never woken up, and you've been taking care of things while I recovered."

"Because of me you were in that state to begin with."

"You learn from your mistakes, Hiei. That's more than I can say about many people. You have the potential to be a much better person than you think you are, it just takes time and effort. You are a better person now, in fact."

"You could have someone who's already good. They don't have to know that you've marked me."

"I don't want someone who is 'good.' I want you. I happen to like bad boys with a hidden sweet side."

"I'm not sweet. I'm evil."

"I've never heard of an evil person going to his daughter's parent-teacher conference."

Hiei scoffed, a faint blush on his cheeks. "It was duty. You were hibernating and Kenji was out of town." Hiei had hated doing it, but he did, threatening Yona's teacher with unspeakable horror if she ever revealed him to the media. With the promise of privacy granted, he'd otherwise behaved himself.

Yarika rolled her eyes. "Right, duty."

"Hn..." She was starting to wear him down.

She grinned at him wickedly. "You know… if you did your duty and made sure this relationship we have isn't one sided, I could keep that sweet side a secret."

"Why you…!"

"I could shout it from the rooftops, that the legendary bandit Hiei is a total softy that not only cooks for his mate and washes her hair, he goes to his daughter's school functions and likes to snuggle at night."

Hiei's mouth fell open, imagining how his foes, and worse, his friends, would react if they knew he went so far as to do that.

"You wouldn't."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to take that risk?"

Hiei growled. "No, I don't. You're the most calculating, infuriating woman I have ever met."

"And you love me." He didn't deny it. "You'd do anything for me."

"And that's why you'll be the death of me."

"Not for at least the next thousand years, I'm not going to let you off that easy."

"I should pull out your tongue."

"That would be more to your detriment than your benefit," she said in a suggestive tone. That got his attention. "There is another way you could keep my tongue quiet..." she purred.

Hiei flushed a bit, knowing she was right about that. "Fine, you win, but you will regret it."

She grinned wickedly. Yarika Fujimiya always got what she wanted.

"You're supposed to cut the first slice together," nagged Kurama, a sly grin on his face.

"Shut up, or I will remove your voice box like I've been threatening to do all these years," growled Hiei. He still hated weddings and refused to have a ceremony as it was superfluous, it was enough that he and Yarika were irrevocably bound. He had finally given in and made the bond mutual, even though he was sure Yarika would come to regret it someday. When the others found out, they had browbeat him into at least having an informal party to celebrate with just close friends and family.

As a concession he'd put on the suit Yarika had bought him. He did as he was told, helping Yarika cut the stupid cake to appease Kurama. Yarika, wearing a simple white dress and a flower crown, shared it with him. The crowd clapped as they shared the piece of cake.

"My son-in-law is so bloodthirsty," chuckled Kenji as the remaining cake was cut and passed around. He was happy that Hiei had finally become an official member of the family. Hiei complained far less about being a human's son-in-law than anticipated, as he was actually very fond of Kenji and considered him a father. Yona was beaming too, as this meant her parents would never split up again. The whole gang plus Mukuro was there, it had been the first time since the barrier had been erected that she had come to the human realm. Since there were human attendees, it was necessary. She wasn't eating cake, but she partook of some champagne and was on her very best behavior.

Koenma had set up a portable fence around his table to keep the little cake snatchers at bay. It had thwarted Keisuke already.

"Hiei is the last person I expected to end up married," said Botan. "But the proof is right in front of our eyes." Jorge nodded in agreement.

"Yarika is the one person capable of putting up with him for the next thousand years or so," said Yusuke.

"She's tough," said Keiko.

Shizuru chimed in. "She's got him under control."

"No one else could stand him," said Kuwabara.

Yukina set cake in front of the twins. "Don't talk about my brother and sister like that," she rebuked in a gentle tone. Rui nodded, feeding Rukia cake to prevent her from spoiling her dress. Angela was doing the same at another table with Lihua, while Rin snapped pictures.

Hiei felt uncomfortable, but he endured this. It was his way of making amends, taking responsibility for hurting Yarika. He would take care of her as long as they were both still alive, and now he had a place to do it. A penitent Mukuro had secured prime real estate in Demon World for the day that all their human friends and family were gone and they were ready to make a home together on it. It was the least she could do for them.

After cake came the fireworks show, as Hiei would not make a fool of himself in front of the guests by dancing or any other unseemly displays. He may be a newlywed, but he was still Hiei. The others of Team Urameshi had acquired fireworks to light for them, with plenty of sparklers for the kids. Yusuke had livened things up by pretending to blow off his own hand and Keiko had chased him in indignation. Even Hiei had to crack a smile at the terror on Yusuke's face in the face of his wife's wrath.

He and Yarika held hands as they watched the fireworks display. Whatever happened after this, they would deal with it together. Hiei had promised her, and he always kept his word.

Notes: Hanabito hibernation suppresses life functions so deeply that they do not emit any demon energy and it suppressed the bit Yarika left in Hiei to a near undetectable level. Her injuries left her near to death so the traces were so slight her blood confused Botan's compass. (Said compass upgraded to find traces of demon energy) Basically she became the living dead.

The root system is like life support, but as she is starving and it's winter she can't draw enough nutrients to heal her own wounds fully (if she'd been injured in warm weather she might have been able to heal) she also needed food in her stomach to uproot.

In-universe 20 years have passed since the day Hiei met Yarika. They are demons so waiting 20 years to get married is quite common. In universe this chapter takes place around 2012.

This is the concluding chapter! Stay tuned for bonus content!

As FFN does NOT allow non-story content or racy stories some content is AO3 exclusive. Find some side stories, character bios and image gallery on the AO3 version (under KohakuHoshi)