I do not own YU yu Hakusho.

The spirit detective and his team had come through the portal into Makai. (Hiei had left the group shortly after arriving , but his absence was overlooked. Indeed it wasw to be expected.) over an hour ago and had not yet seen even the merest sign of life in the frozen wastelands they had come to. Botan had kept up her cheeryness for awhile bit biy now even she was silent.

Man, I want to fight."

"Kuwabara, I know that." Yusuke muttered, although he felt the same way. "Don't make me beat you before we reach our destination.
"You couldn't."

The boys started fighting and Botan slipped away, leaving Kurama to be the peace keeper. No one had thought Hiei's absence out of the ordinary but she went to find him anyway...

"It's the lack of life here that has gotten you." Kurama cut in, as the humans brushed themselves off. "We are the only living things in this area. Well at least we packed for the cold, or this place would be even less enjoyable."

The fox demon was playing Botan's role as the optimist, for allthough he wasn't that way he'd seen how effective it could be.
Kurama was right about the winter gear. The group was comfortable now but they had all felt the bitter cold upon emerging from the portal.

Kuwabara still wanted to fight.

"Hey, Botan where did the crooks hide the artifact? Is it close?"

He didn't get an answer, but Kurama and Yusuke both heard him.

"She must have left us when you two were fighting."

"worried about her shorty, How sweet." Kuawbara remarked. Both of the other boys shushed their friend.

================ ========================== ==================== =====

Botan found Hiei after twenty minutes on her oar. He was staring into a river with a fierce expression, not nuch unlike What she had worn as Jenna after the fisrt time she had been blamed for a death. "What's wrong?"
"Hn"
Botan was unfazed although her cheeriness had left her. "What's wrong?"
Hiei pointed to a ramshackle garden that was as lifeless as everything else. "This was a nice place. The rest of the area was always frozen but the stream and the garden never did. I was friends with the girl who tended the garden; she was killed for associating with a forbidden child."
Hiei suddenly realized how different he was sounding and immediately put his tough façade on.

"So that's why you seem to hate us, you're afraid that caring for you hurts people." Hiei didn't answer anymore than to move away, confirming that Botan had hit the nail on its head.

"It's a pretty foolish notion to think that way" Botan had forgotten how often she felt like she caused her friends suffering, and that she never thought her self foolish then.