Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters


"Why did you do it?"

Hiei sneered when a soft, questioning voice regarded him. The demon had been placed in a cell in the Spirit World prison while unconscious. When he woke up, he was all alone. It seemed like he was the only one on that level, but when the door opened, he could hear other demons gripe in cells on the floor above. He rolled his eyes before he closed them once more. Solitary confinement, he figured. A smirk appeared on his face at the fact that Spirit World thought him too dangerous to even be among their other prisoners.

When he heard the door open and shut, he expected to see Prince Koenma. He figured he would be given his sentence, and he was prepared to accept it…to an extent. The moment they had someone move him, he'd strike.

He wasn't expecting to see the obnoxiously dressed ferry girl.

Hiei glared at the spirit in that disturbingly bright pink kimono. Her blue hair contrasted with her outfit, and the fire demon silently wondered who dressed this woman. "Hello," she greeted sullenly.

"Hn," the demon scoffed and attempted to ignore this woman. If memory served him, she was the one with the human spirit detective that defeated him. His lip curled in disgust. What was she doing down there? It was highly improper for ferry girls to frequent the prison cells. Truthfully, he didn't care anyway, so he decided to pretend the woman wasn't there in hopes that she'd leave.

That was when her quiet voice reached him, she asked her simple yet invasive question, and his mood soured. He sat up abruptly and moved to the cell door. "Leave," he warned her. "You wouldn't be able to handle the answer."

The ferry girl's eyes narrowed, but she seemed more neutral than angry. "Try me," she countered. The demon's expression never changed as the woman sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense. I read your file. You had no criminal record before now, so why did you do this?"

Hiei turned away and walked back to the uncomfortable cot that was still more comfortable than what he was used to. "Delusions of grandeur," he joked with a laugh before he glowered at the floor. "What do you think, woman? I did it because I could."

"But why?" Botan tried again. She wasn't angry or upset, only curious, and the demon kept dodging her question. To be honest, she took it upon herself to read through Hiei's and Kurama's files while Koenma explained what happened to the artifacts to his father. No doubt their ruler was being punished at that very moment.

Kurama's case was cut and dry. He only wanted to use the mirror to save his human mother. He was willing to give up his life, and then he actually came to help Yusuke against Hiei. All of that was why Kurama was released on good behavior. Besides, it would have been hard to explain to his mother who knew nothing about the supernatural that he was going to a faraway prison.

Hiei's case was a bit more complicated. There was no motive, no explanation to why he gathered Gouki and Kurama to join his plan. If he wanted power, he wouldn't have gotten others involved, unless he intended to kill them. However, from Kurama's testimony, he met Hiei before as a human child and doubted that Hiei would want to kill him. In fact, Kurama alluded to the possibility that Hiei brought him on to avoid fighting him at all. He played it off as a joke, but the idea chilled the ferry girl, and she decided never to get on the fox's bad side.

There had to be a reason why Hiei went through so much trouble to not only get into Human World, but break into Spirit World and steal valuable treasures. If she asked Kurama, all she would learn was that Hiei was planning to create an army of demons, get control of them with the Forlorn Hope, and then feed them using the Orb of Baast.

But again, she didn't know why.

Did it really matter? Hiei murdered ogres to get the artifacts, and he kidnapped Keiko and attempted to turn her and Yusuke into demons. Botan tried to prevent it using her own white magic, but she had still been wounded. She had bandages around her hands to prove it. The only thought on her mind at the time was protecting Keiko. Yusuke would have never forgiven Spirit World if anything happened to the girl.

For all intents and purposes, Hiei should have been seen as unsalvageable. He was in solitary confinement, and it was decided he would have no visitors. Yet, Botan went against protocol to get an answer to her question, and she refused to leave without one.

Hiei realized this woman was not leaving, and her presence started to anger him. Why couldn't she just take his crass answer and leave? She couldn't honestly think he'd confide his mind's inner workings to her. Hiei did, in fact, have a reason. To be honest, he was in search of his sister. He tracked her down to Human World years ago, found her, but left, and now he couldn't find her. With an army of soldiers, he would have had more success in locating the girl, and if any wretched humans got in the way, the army would destroy them. Of course, the ferry girl did not need to know that.

"Nothing I say will help, so just leave it be," he demanded. "I don't care what my sentence is."

Botan was surprised that the tone of his voice softened. She wondered if he even noticed it. Either way, he was right. Most likely, he'd be imprisoned for a long time, and nothing he said would act as a defense.

There was a commotion on the upper level of the prison that distracted Botan from her interrogation. Botan could have sworn that she heard an ogre yell out, "Prison break!" She paled at the implication, for no one knew she was down visiting a prisoner. They'd seal the outer door until the demons exhausted themselves and went back to their cells.

"Uh," she murmured warily as she looked over to the fire demon in terror.

Hiei appeared bored as he nonchalantly said, "Heh, well, you're in for it now, woman. What are you going to do?"

Botan honestly didn't know, but then an idea hit her. It would be a risky gamble, but for some reason she fully trusted it would work out.

She looked back at the prisoner and said, "Can you help me get out of here?"

Hiei could not believe the audacity of the question. "What do you think? Of course I can't. I'm locked up."

"If I let you out, could you help me?"

"I could," Hiei admitted, "but I won't."

Botan frowned and then sighed. "If you help me, I can help you."

"What can a weak ferry girl like you do for me?"

"I can ask Lord Koenma to sentence you to…community service. Yes, that's it. You can help us in exchange for your freedom."

"And why would I do that when I can kill you?"

"Why didn't you kill Keiko?"

Hiei remained straight-faced and didn't answer her before he released an aggravated sigh. "Fine. I'll help you get out of here, but I need assurances. How do I know that Koenma won't just send me back down here?"

"Just leave it to me," she said sincerely. "I can be very persuasive."

The demon just rolled his eyes and nodded his agreement. He watched as the woman hesitantly moved to type in some code that would release him, but her hand froze over the control panel. "What is it?" he huffed irately.

Her pink eyes met his red orbs. "How… Can you give me assurances, too? If I let you out, you won't just leave me here, will you?"

It was a legitimate concern. Hiei was actually impressed that the ferry girl stopped him to ask before naively opening the cell. His expression remained hard and impassive as he assured her, "Once I enter an agreement, I honor it, whether I want to or not. I expect you to do the same."

For some reason, his words resulted in her smiling at him before she entered the code. The cell door opened instantly, and Hiei took off. Botan heard the agonized moans of the demons above them and some even scurried back into their cells. Standing at the top of the stairs with his arms crossed was Hiei. He looked back at Botan and motioned with his head for her to join him. Because of the simple gesture, she knew she'd be safe, and Hiei really was a man of his word.

Now, she just needed to convince Koenma of that…