Chapter ten

Healing time

It was a long time before Seiko woke up. When she did, Hiei informed her of what had transpired while she was asleep. He told her of Toguru's return and his challenge to Yusuke for the Dark Tournament. She had just one month to heal from her injuries. Although deamons heal faster than humans, she would still be partially incapacitated by that time. "You'll train with me," he told her, "Everyone else has decided how to train already and besides," he said, looking down, "I want to… to be with you."

"Alright," Seiko replied, "But I'll be training with one arm, this arm's out of commission," she said, placing her hand on her injured arm.

"Hn," was all the reply he gave.

"Hey Hiei…" Seiko said as they walked to the training spot she'd found yesterday, "You think Spirit World knows I'm here?"

"I don't know," He replied, "why ask?"

"Because yesterday, when I tried to go back home, there wasn't a hole in the barrier anymore. But of course… this is my home now, isn't it?" Seiko said with a gentle smile.

"Hn."

"You sure say that a lot," She laughed, and let go of his hand to run ahead to the clearing.

"This is the spot," she said, waving him down, "might as well get started." Seiko had bandaged her arm, and had managed to set the bone after having to re-break it when it started to heal wrong, Hiei helped with that. She never thought she'd be this close to someone again, but here she was, laughing with the friend of her brother's… no… Yusuke was her friend too now. And she was proud to call him friend.

"Let's get going," she said, taking a fighting stance.

"Come at me."

About ten minutes later, she sat on the ground, scratched and scraped, while Hiei had no signs of battle. "You're really strong," she huffed.

"Hn."

"Is that all you ever say," she said as she flopped on the ground, "I mean really."

"You're slow."

"Huh?" She said as she propped herself up on her good elbow.

"You're too slow, Kuwabara could block those punches."

"Hmph, well fine then Mr. speedy; remember, I've only got one arm I can use."

"An injury is no excuse," he said, turning his back, "We fight with scars from the past, weather internal or external, we all fight with scars. There is no one who does not carry scars on his heart. If there was someone in the world like that, he would be a shallow soul."

Seiko walked up behind him and put her good arm around hes shoulders. "You say that like… you know from experience," she told him.

"I do."

The rest of the month went the same, training was hard, but it was well worth it. They had both grown stronger, as had their bonds. By the time of the tournament, they were ready… mostly. Seiko had taken the bandage off her arm to give the enemy no cause to believe that she was injured. It was mostly healed, but it wasn't back to full power yet. She thought that she hadn't completely recovered from the damage that the barrier had done, being a deamon she should have healed much faster than this. That, however, was just a theory, and only Koenma knew the real reason.