The next day, Hiei had sent the girl on a scavenger hunt of sorts in the woods. Told her to go hunt down seven different plants that could be used as herbal medicines. She knew a little about that, but not what all of them likely looked like. Hiei figured it would take her the better part of the day light to finish her quest.

Which gave him plenty of time to talk to her uncle. He sought out the uncle in his smithy. He was banging away at some horse shoes. He stopped and set the hammer down beside his anvil. He looked over at Hiei, moving his jaw around like he was trying to figure out what to say.

"What do you want?" the uncle mumble growled out.

Hiei studied him before saying, "when Nanashi turns seventeen, you need to let her become the town's protector."

The uncle gritted his teeth and scowled. "Says who?" He rose up to his full height, pushing his barrow chest out.

Hiei stared at him blankly, showing him he was not intimidated by the gesture. "Your town needs a protector. You'll be to blame if she's not here to do it."

"You're here," he said with nod over to Hiei.

"Not for long," Hiei responded, stepping a few steps closer to the uncle. The bull of the man stood up straighter, but flared his nostrils. "The town will need protected. She's passingly capable."

"Where you going?" the uncle asked with a nod of his bull head.

"I'm only here in passing," Hiei commented vaguely.

"You ought to just stay here," the uncle said back.

"I come and go where I please," he responded vaguely. He moved in for the request the keeper wanted him to make. "If you don't want her as protector, I could take her with me."

The uncle cocked his head diagonally, confused by that statement. "As your whore?"

Hiei grunted. "She's worth more than that." He tried not to let his mind wander the way it wanted to. "I could take her on as a wife." He kept any sign of hope out of his voice.

"She's already spoken for," the uncle said. He took a dusty cloth out of his pocket and wiped his brow.

Hiei raised his brow. "Really? Who? The sheppard from the outskirts of town? She can do better than that."

The uncle hissed through his teeth. "How do you know about that?"

Hiei smirked up at the uncle, enjoying how uncomfortable it made him feel. "You said no to him for a dowry of a simple chipped cup," he stated.

"And what are you offering?" the uncle countered weakly.

"How about the promise I won't sell her into essentially slavery?" Hiei offered, knowing that's what the procurer would do if he got his hands on her. Yet that was not what her father, the keeper, wanted. "You haven't had any other offers, have you? Ones for something like?"

The uncle growled like he was the one who demon. "Get out of my forge."

"I'll take her, free of charge. No dowry. The cost of her life," Hiei laid his offer on the table. "That can't way against your conscience, can't it? Unlike another offer you might have had."

The uncle's face resembled a bull's. "He told me a thing or two about you," he blurted out. "Killing and then robbing the man who bought you out of debt. You're on the run."

Hiei forced himself to smirk, when he felt a stronger desire to panic. If the uncle knew, who else in the town would find out soon enough? "Do you believe everything you're told? Or just the things you want to believe?"

"Get out of my forge!" the uncle roared.

Hiei narrowed his eyes up at the uncle. "What did Sakyo ask you for her hand in marriage? It's only customary for him to take something from you as her dowry. If he offers you anything, then it voids out the marriage agreement. You do know that, right? He can use that as an excuse to drive into his debt and make her work her way out of it."

The uncle had picked up his hammer, snarling over at Hiei, who had yet to flinch. Hiei shook his head, and flitted his way out of the forge.