J.J. - >. Sorry this update took so long... (-likeamonth-cough-) Thanks for sticking around, I guess. I've been watching serious movies all Thanksgiving break-- it was a fun relief to be able to write this more or less pointless and funny story. Anyway-- on to the update!

Chapter Two

Bittersweet Freedom

"Will you go already?"

Hiei shook his head, the barest tilt of his chin, his body tensed. All of his life, he had been taught that to step outside of a binding charm meant certain death. One more step and he was going to die, he was sure of it.

"You'll be fine, I promise," the blunette assured from behind him, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"What do you know?" He snapped. He edged a toe a bit further, dragging it the few inches across the dusty, stone step. He grumbled, "You're just a stupid human–" He gasped as an abrupt force landed on his lower back, shoving him forward. He tried to catch his balance, save himself from inevitable doom, but it was too late. He was tripping, head first, right into the dirt, and across the charm's boundaries. He landed with an unceremonious 'oof!', his body sliding awkwardly against the hard ground.

Once he'd stopped, he lay waiting, eyes closed, for hell to swallow him up. He waited for a good minute or two, but when no searing hot flames engulfed him, he dared open his eyes. Blinking slightly, he quickly sat up and turned to look behind him. His eyes widened. He was beyond the gate... and nothing had happened.

An indescribable feeling of freedom slowly spread through him. He felt unleashed, untamed, and completely unstoppable. He was free. Of course, there was the annoying setback that he was in his smaller, less desirable form, but he was still free. Free to cause havoc and hell wherever he saw fit. He was no longer restricted to tormenting the simple fools that came seeking the treasure. The entire mortal world was his playing field now.

"I told you nothing would happen."

He froze. That light, bubbly, and definitely annoying voice shattered his hopeful vision like glass. Now that he was looking for it, he could feel it: the tangible pull on his soul that meant his own was bound to a mortal's. He turned to look, or rather glare, at the young, blue-haired woman. His stomach churned unpleasantly. He wasn't bound to just any mortal, oh no, he had the pleasure of being laden down with happy-go-lucky, smarty-pants over there.

She obviously noticed his sour look, because she suddenly smiled encouragingly. "Hey now, don't look so glum," she chirped. "Would you rather be stuck down in that dark, boring dungeon?"

Hiei paused. The elated feeling of freedom was still present, although severely dampened, and he could remember life before. Every twenty to thirty years, some treasure-seeking block of a man would come with a little group, waltzing foolishly into his territory. He played. They burned. Life went on. The time between got pathetically boring. He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes as he observed the girl. She was nicely shaped, for a human, and she had pleasant eyes. Far out of his league, of course, but he wouldn't have to gag every time he looked at her. As long as she kept her mouth shut, it wouldn't be that unbearable. Maybe she'd contract a disease and die– then he'd really be free. He smirked a little at the thought. "No."

"Good." She smiled. She lugged her bag at him, calling over her shoulder as it hit him square in the chest. "Be a love and carry my bag for me alright?"

An order. His arms barely wrapped around it before it hit the floor. He easily swung the large and bulky bag over his shoulder, but it wasn't exactly light luggage. It wasn't in the least bit heavy for him, but he had to commend her for packing it all the way down here herself.

"I have to look for markings," she continued breezily, holding her torch up high.

Hiei followed behind her, exaggerating a yawn. "What do you need markings for?"

"So we don't get lost, of course. They marked the paths I used in the labyrinth."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Oh, clever, clever you."

She ignored his sarcasm, disappearing behind one of the corners. Hiei nearly ran into her coming around the corner himself. He glowered, prepared to offer her some type of irritated curse, but the outburst got lost in his throat. He glanced around uneasily, taking in their surroundings. She had used the term labyrinth rather loosely, to say the least. What surrounded them was nothing short of the most complicated infrastructure he'd ever seen. Stairs, corridors, twists, turns, all in crumbling tan stone, surrounded them on every side. There were a few lit torches here and there, casting the setting in an dusky, orange light.

"There, see?" The girl pointed. Hiei's eyes followed her extended finger. Sure enough, there to the side of one of the staircases was a crude arrow scratched into the wall. He didn't know whether to be impressed, or disappointed. He had rather hoped they would get lost and he could wait until she starved to death.

Hiei followed her to the intended staircase, bag in tow. They both began the trek upwards, pausing every ten or so minutes to follow a different arrow, switching directions, or breaking off into another corridor. Botan seemed particularly glad when they could walk on even ground, instead of hiking up stairs. They remained completely in silence the entire way, which suited Hiei just fine. He was stifling a bored yawn when Botan abruptly stopped. He nearly crashed into her, cursing irritably as he sidestepped out of the way to avoid any sort of physical contact. (Mortal germs, ew...)

"Baka– give a warning next time you decide to suddenly stop."

She gave him a sideways glance. "Sorry, I just..." She broke off, biting her lower lip as she looked worriedly around them. She took a few steps forward, examining the walls carefully. She exhaled nervously. "There should be a marking around here somewhere..."

Figured. She had gotten them lost. Hiei leaned against one of the stone walls languidly, crossing his arms. There was no telling how long they would be there. He watched her running a hand against the walls, searching, before he became bored and his eyes drifted away.

"I'm sure it's here," Botan said.

"Of course," he replied, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. He shifted his position, propping his arm up to balance himself. He glanced towards the dusty, crumbling stone he was leaning against, lids heavy. Nearly two inches from his head, scratched messily into the wall, was an arrow. His eyes widened.

For one brief moment, he considered sharing his discovery. But the moment soon passed, replaced with a more favorable option. Slowly, a notorious smirk curled across his lips, his eyes gleaming evilly. He stole a quick glance towards the girl to make sure she wasn't looking before, looking as nonchalant as possible, he brought his demonic claws up and scratched out the arrow.

He admired his handy work proudly, just as Botan came walking back towards him. "Have you seen any markings?" she asked tiredly.

He stretched a little more to cover the former marking, eyes wandering innocently towards the ceiling. "Nope."

She gave an annoyed sigh. "Well, I guess I'll just have to use my notes and the map then."

Hiei blanched. "Notes?"

"Yes," she replied, holding out her hand. "Good thing, eh?" His lip curled with a slight twitch, but the blue-haired scholar didn't notice. "My bag, if you please." He grudgingly handed it over.

Whenever he thought she couldn't find a way to be any more obnoxious, she would somehow managed to find a way through. He growled, watching her rummage through her bag. She wasn't like any mortal he'd ever met before. She seemed so clueless and naive, but yet she still managed to elude every obstacle, including any he'd thrown at her. It drove him crazy.

There had to be something he was overlooking. Something different about her... he narrowed his eyes decisively... and he planned on finding out what it was.

"Found it!" she declared triumphantly. She held up a haggard piece of paper that looked like it had been folded one too many times. Her eyes scanned it contemplatively for a few moments before she looked up and pointed down the path the arrow Hiei had scratched had pointed. "That way."

She folded her map and placed it back into her bag. She glanced behind her before tossing it at Hiei again. Ignoring his glare as he caught it, she began up the stairs. They were steep, the steepest they'd tackled so far. Her legs began to ache after only twenty steps.

"Maps, notes... what other tricks have you got in here?" she heard Hiei's voice behind her, sounding not very tired at all. She turned to find him digging shamelessly through her bag.

She felt too tired to argue with him. She turned back around and continued to hike upward. "That bag..." She paused breathlessly, "contains all my food and water... and other provisions..."

Deciding she needed a break, she practically collapsed against the next stone step, panting slightly. She glanced down at Hiei, who was looking at her in studious amusement, one dark eyebrow arched. He looked perfectly fine, his breathing was normal... Geez, he wasn't even breaking a sweat!

"I believe it took me eight days to find my way down to your hall, and it will probably take another four to get back up, following my markings," she said, trying to explain the provisions thing better to him. "I've rationed it out accordingly. Us mortals need food and water to survive..."

She took a deep breath as her lung capacity slowly returned to normal, leaning back on both elbows, eyes drifting close. "So don't lose that bag or any of it's contents, okay?"

She heard a harsh movement and an explicit curse. She opened one eye curiously. Hiei was looking particularly sullen about something, cursing under his breath as he propped the bag atop his shoulder. She had the very uncomfortable suspicion that he had been about to drop her bag off the steep side of the stairs.

His scarlet gaze fell to her own again. "So, why are we sitting here?"

Reminding herself that she was still in no way on friendly terms with the demon, she heaved herself to her feet. "Just taking a little break– let's go."

This time she was tired again after only ten steps. Giving a mental whimper, she forced herself to keep going, step after step. By forcing her mind off of the pain in her legs, and the ache in her side, she was able to move forward at a fairly steady pace.

She paused for a moment, teetering on the edge of a step. Fearing she would fall, she allowed herself to step backwards. She gasped as she collided with a solid chest. Hiei gave a soft grunt, two hands wrapping around her upper arms. She was close to him, close enough to feel his breathing through her back, and it felt nice. She felt the imperceptible movement of his lips against her ear when he spoke, "You're already moving so slow... now you're moving backwards?"

She pushed forward, wrenching out of his grasp. She suddenly found it imperative that he not be touching her if she wanted to form coherent sentences. She could feel his questioning gaze on her back, but she started up again without looking at him. She was trembling slightly, and it wasn't entirely because she was tired.

"You're still moving slow," he drawled idly, but he was at least a few steps behind her now.

"Yes, well," she huffed, "excuse me for not having immortal abilities..." She gasped in delight as she looked ahead. "Look! The stairway ends up there." Thank god.

"So it does," Hiei said. "Only fifty something steps to go too..."

She felt a good portion of her good spirit drop. He was right. She could see the end, but that didn't mean it was close. She set her jaw determinedly and kept forcing herself to continue upward. After only a dozen or so steps, she was already panting for breath, her leg muscles throbbing.

She didn't realize how slow she was going until she glanced to her side, watching Hiei pass her casually. He was going slow –just plodding along– and he was passing her.

She was never going to make it.

"This was ... sure a lot ... easier," she huffed, "on the way ... down..."

Hiei gave her a sideways look, before continuing up without her. Jerk, some gentlemen he was. She grudged along, certain the steps kept getting steeper as she went. After several, long, grueling minutes that felt like an eternity, she looked up and gave a small noise of delight as she found she only had ten more steps to go.

Right. Only ten. She was crawling up the steep steps now, her bare knees and hands getting the brunt of the force. Seven more. Where had Hiei gone anyway? He couldn't have left too far, he was still bound to her after all. Okay, now she wasn't imagining it. The steps were getting steeper. Five more. She slipped, her knee crashing particularly hard against the stone. She let out a soft whimper of pain, biting her lip. Four more.

She was struggling onto the third step until her salvation, when a pair of strong hands gripped her waist. She squeaked in surprise, but before she could protest anything, the hands lifted her clean of the ground... And promptly tossed her over the top of the stairs.

She screamed and crashed clumsily onto the stone floor (not exactly soft). When she had tumbled to a stop, she closed her eyes, allowing her heart to calm it's racing pace. She kept her eyes closed, separately moving each of her body parts to make sure nothing was broken. Relieved to find she was still in one piece, she opened her eyes.

Hiei was breaching the stairs, dusting off his hands as if he'd just thrown out the trash. He grinned devilishly at her.

"What the hell was that for!" she raged at him, propping herself upright.

He gave her a surprised look. "What? I was just giving you a friendly push up."

"Friendly push! You picked me up and threw me!"

He seemed honestly surprised, or simply amused, that she would argue against him. "Hn. The throw obviously knocked some backbone into you," he said.

She scoffed angrily, opening her mouth to retort, but a soft growling noise stopped her. She glanced down, placing a hand over her stomach. It growled demandingly again. She sighed. "I'm too hungry to argue with you right now. " She ignored his disappointed look. "Hand me my bag?"

He stretched it out towards her, not moving forward. Seeing that she would have to go to him to get her bag, she hoisted herself to her feet, taking her bag wordlessly from him. She found a nice, relatively smooth rock, and sat down next to it. She opened her bag and took out the appropriate amount of rations. She leaned tiredly against the cool stone, chewing the salted meat slowly, wishing she didn't feel so tired already.

She felt more than saw Hiei sit next to her. "So," he said, leaning towards her, "Your stomach makes that noise when you're hungry?"

"Mm-hm..." she nodded. She giggled when he brought a finger up to poke it.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she smiled a little. "That tickles..."

"Tickle," he repeated in unbelief. He gave her one of his humans-are-so-weird looks.

She shrugged, beginning to pack her food away. "I'm still hungry, but I can only eat a little to make sure the food will last me to the surface. That's why it's called rations." She pushed her bag to the side, slumping against the stone wall.

They stayed in cozy silence for a few minutes, and Botan's eyes started to feel heavy. But before she could let herself get too comfortable, Hiei grabbed her chin between his fingers. Her eyes widened in shock as he pushed his hand forward, cupping her cheek. He turned her towards him and she could feel her cheeks growing warm. What was he doing?

He brought his face mere inches from her own, eyes scrutinizing her face carefully. She swallowed, trying desperately to get her vocal chords to work. But before she could summon enough sense to say anything, he spoke, "Were you attractive in the mortal world?"

"Was I w-what?" she stammered.

"Were you attractive," he repeated calmly, as if it were not at all odd to randomly ask someone if they thought themselves attractive.

"I . . . I don't know," she said helplessly, finding it even harder to speak because he had just decided to run his thumb across her cheek.

"Either you are, or you aren't," he said.

"Well," she began, wishing he would stop touching her. "I've been told I'm pretty, so . . . I guess I am. I mean, I'm not ugly..." She paused. "Why?"

"I was just wondering," he shrugged one shoulder amiably. "I certainly don't think you are, so I wanted to know if others of your kind at least did."

She felt her face go tomato red. She shoved him harshly off of her, glaring angrily. "You jerk!"

"What?" He gave her a perplexed glare of his own.

She rolled her eyes, turning away from him in embarrassment. "Just keep your observations to yourself, got it?"

He grumbled slightly. "Mortals are so sensitive..."

J.J. - Review please.

--Next chapter currently undetermined--