Hello everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I enjoyed my trip to California but I'm extremely happy to be back in Ohio. California's just too much for my country grown soul. As the song says, America is beautiful. We drove through almost 15 states there and back. Wyoming and Utah are lovely states by the way. The Grand Canyon can't be described with mere words. That's something you'll have to see for yourselves. Well enough about me, I'm sure you all wanna just read this chapter, right? Well, read on!

Chapter 16: Napkins

Cold: mind-numbing, bone-chilling cold. That was all Jin could feel as he maneuvered blindly through Seriyu's forest. He'd been leading Nomino's men for almost a day now and it was beginning to show. The wind master had long since stopped running and was now jogging lightly. The men following him had also slowed their own ravenous pace as the forest slowly drained them.

Snow had been falling heavily ever since he'd stepped into the tree line and it refused to let up. The forest really was trying to get rid of them and it was doing a great job. Jin was a little more then confused by the fact that he was able to move at all. He'd spent almost a month being beaten, starved and tortured on a daily basis. Whatever was giving him this energy burst was great and he wasn't ready for it to fade anytime soon.
With little effort he leapt over a large fallen log and savoring it further by gliding a little. With his spirits picking up and his heart set on protecting his only family to the end he continued running, praying all the way.

"Dude, I don't think I can read one more line of this stuff!" whined Osina. She was laid out on a red plush rug, a multitude of books and journals surrounding her.

"You'll read it and like it", came Hiei's curt reply from behind a large brown book.

Osina made a loud grunting noise in response. "Make me."

The sound of footsteps was followed by the sound of a book being shut dramatically.

Osina lay on the floor her eyes widening in fear as he came closer. "Oh crap."

Hiei stopped at her feet knocking the books out of his way. He slowly drew his sword and let the tip rest lightly on her jugular. "You will read the books."

Smiling weakly Osina stared up at the weapon then looked back at Hiei. "It's just a book. You wouldn't really kill me over it, would you?" she replied meekly.

Hiei applied a little pressure to the sword and narrowed his dark eyes at her. "Read or Die."

Osina gulped loudly and tried her hardest not to breathe too heavily. "Ok."

"Good." Hiei then dragged the blunt side of his sword across her neck lest she forget their agreement. "You will stay here and continue searching. I have another matter that needs my attention." With that being said he sheathed his blade and proceeded to leave the library.

"H-hey! You can't just turn me into some kind of reading slave!" fumed Osina. She jumped to her feet and pointed accusingly at Hiei's retreating form.

Hearing her yelling Hiei stopped abruptly and turned on his heel to face her. "I believe we already discussed this, read and you live."

"But, it's not fair. I have other things I wanna do too! Besides, I'm hungry." Osina retorted as she turned her back to him. He wasn't really going to lock her in here, was he?

The sound of a door being locked caught Osina's attention. She wheeled around to find Hiei gone and herself now prisoner inside of a prison. "Oh this is just great." She said aloud to no one. With a heavy sigh she placed herself back on the rug she'd been sitting on earlier. "Guess I might as well keep searching."

Hiei emerged from the library passage almost ten minutes later to find Yusuke pretty much cleaning the floor with Kuwabara's face. He stared at the strange scene for a moment before becoming bored and headed off towards the kitchen.

Yusuke released Kuwabara so they could both watch for Ashley when she came out. Five minutes passed and there was still no sign of her.

"Hey Urameshi, you don't think he… you know, do you?" asked Kuwabara as he scrubbed some of the dirt from his face.

"I don't know, there wasn't any noise going on inside after we left. Maybe she's just sleep, or something."

The teens made there way to the kitchen door and peeked inside. They still found it a little weird that Hiei had begun eating around them so often. Speaking in hushed tones they watched Hiei dump the entire contents of a cookie jar into a bowl, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face when the last cookie fell out.

"What the heck is he planning on doing with all those cookies?" said Yusuke.

"My guess would be to eat them." Yusuke and Kuwabara turned their heads at the unannounced voice.

"Kurama? How long have you been standing here? Yusuke glared at the demon who held his hands up in surrender.

"I just arrived to see him obtain the last cookie I assure you. Though I've never seen him gather so many at once." Kurama looked over at Hiei as he grabbed a small stack of napkins.

"Uh… did he just grab napkins?" said Kuwabara as he stared mystified at him. Hiei never used napkins. In fact he hardly ever ate anything that needed napkins

They all stared on in wonder and confusion until he suddenly turned his head in their direction.

The heads disappeared almost instantly when he looked their way. Deciding to ignore them completely he headed back to the library, cookies and napkins in hand.

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara looked at one another for answers and realized that neither of them knew what was going on.

A loud yawn escaped Osina as she continued to pour over the books piled all around her. Hiei had been gone for almost half an hour and she found she missed his company, even if it was mostly silence and random harsh words given out when she wasn't reading. It would be great if he was a little nicer or even talked to her but if he did he wouldn't be the man she'd come to…

She placed an unsteady hand over her mouth; she'd almost said love. Lowering her head in silence she tried her best to shut out the emotions that had been about to escape. She had to do her best to rein in her feelings; he wouldn't reciprocate them, ever.

Hiei chose to enter the library at that moment and noticed she gave him no form of a greeting or even acknowledged his presence. He was slightly put off by it but shoved the feeling aside. Returning his attention to the cookies he placed a few on a napkin and laid it down in front of her.

Osina eyed the cookies hungrily but kept her distance from them. Hiei grunted and went back to his chair. If she wanted to starve then so be it. She wasn't eating anything outside this room till they found what they were looking for.

After a few minutes Osina slowly turned her head so she could see Hiei. He was absorbed in one of the historic documents. Looking back at the cookies she tried her best to not eat them She wasn't accustomed to being fed by people especially him. What if he'd drugged it or something like that? She wasn't about to find out herself. She turned her head back around to see if he was eating his and looked away again. He was staring right at her. Her eye twitched violently as she shivered.

"Why are you not eating?" he asked finally, growing irritated by her suspicious stares.

"Not hungry." Osina said, refusing to look back at him.

"You will eat the cookies" he commanded.

"I said, I'm not hungry." she replied curtly.

Hiei narrowed his eyes at her and gripped the arms of the chair, doing his best to calm himself. "I don't care if you're hungry or not. Now eat the damn cookies."

Osina wheeled around and sent him a look of pure disgust. "Don't you use that kind of language on me!"

Hiei stood up and towered over her, his eyes trying to burn holes through her head. "I'll use whatever the hell I want. Now eat before you pass out and I have to haul your carcass out of here."

A low growl came from Osina as she too came up on her feet. "Oh, so I'm a carcass now am I? I'm not eating your cookies and that's that."

A long staring match ensued as neither one would back down. Time went on leaving the two stuck in a frozen moment where all they did was stare. The only sound was their breathing.

A loud gurgling sound interrupted the glaring match. Osina blinked a couple times in shock as she slowly covered her mid section. She'd been hungrier than she'd thought.

"Hn, not hungry are you?" said Hiei with a smirk.

Osina only grunted in reply.

Hiei watched her for a moment before sitting back down in his chair. "Eat."

With a few mumbled insults under her breath Osina grabbed a cookie and began to eat it. After she had her fill she glanced over at Hiei. "I… uh… thank you," she said at last.

"Hn"

Osina sighed and shook her head. "Is that all you can say?"

Releasing a sigh of his one Hiei ignored her question.

Cocking her head slightly Osina continued to stare at him. "One minute you're telling me to eat and the next you can't say more then one word to me? Why can't you just make up your mind?"

Hiei stared straight-ahead continuing to ignore her.

A small smile found its way to her face as she watched him. "It's ok, I don't really mind it so much anymore." She gazed wistfully out the window noticing that the annoying birds weren't gathered around it gawking in at her. She turned her uplifting smile towards him. "You keep on being who you are cause I can't see you being anyone else."

"Hn"