Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Ladies and gents it's good to be back. Sorry for the delay, again. Finals week came and now I'm on vacation, thank goodness. Might be able to get two chapters out, but I'm not promising anything. And as to my comment at the end of the last chapter, I can now respond to reviews with the new feature.

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As the puzzle forms...

She sat alone, reclined in a chair, one knee bent, one stretched in front of her. Her body slumped in sleep, alone by the window at Kurama's bedside. If the kitsune had been awake, he would have seen the moon, only half-waxed, streaming into the room, casting stark shadows on Asha's scarred and time worn features. He would have wondered just how old she really was, as he looked at the lines, as if etched by a chisel into her stone face. He would have seen the ironic beauty, as he gazed at the figure, dressed no longer in black, but in loose dark gray pants and a silver blue tunic, that clung to her curves...and he would have shaken his head at his thoughts, wondering why on earth he had bothered to think those things of the person who had almost killed him.

As it was, Asha sat alone, always alone, dreaming no pleasant dream in the light of her protector, but dreaming no nightmare. Only dreaming of how to get her revenge on Toushi Koi, always searching, always alone in her venture.

At the opposite end of the room, the door opened quietly. Koenma stood framed by torchlight coming from the walls behind him. He watched the pair, confused at why the shinobi woman would so diligently monitor someone who would wake, and probably want to kill her. For three weeks she had sat, never leaving Kurama's side. She ate sparingly, and slept little. This was a rare time; Koenma was priveleged to see Asha's look of peace as she slept. Always when she was awake, one could see the determination in her eyes, her pain, her battle with emotions she tried to hide behind a mask of nonchalance and jokes. Koenma shook his head at the oddity of the two, sleeping in each others company. Slowly, silently, he closed the door and walked away.

In the hall outside, lit by a golden light from the torches, Koenma passed Yusuke. They nodded to each other, Koenma going on his way. Yusuke paused, as if to ask a question, but in mid-turn thought better of it, and continued on.

Just as Koenma had, he opened the doors without a sound. And stared at the man in his bed, and the woman in her chair. His thoughts roamed.

Asha was not a stable person. Unstable in the way that her emotions made her spiral out of control at the oddest of moments. Unstable in the way that she had been going crazy from the thought of revenge for years. He didn't understand that kind of pain. Sure he understood pain in general; his mum an alcoholic, a father he'd never see, all the beatings he got on missions, not to mention the stinging slaps from Keiko, but he didn't understand this pain. The kind where it'll drive someone insane unless they did something about it.

He could tell that was the pain Asha was going through. She had ever slowly but surely been going insane for years. 'She probably knows it too,' he thought. To know that one was becoming crazy, and know that the only way to stop it was to kill a demon.

And what about Kurama? Waiting for his powers, then realizing that his human mother would do anything for her son...to have a passion awoken in you...to be trapped in a body that couldn't handle the power it once had, but being in debt to, and loving someone...the choice...Yusuke's thoughts were becoming incoherent. The pain, the stories behind it...Yusuke saw as he watched the two at the end of the room, bathed in a silver glow, how little he actually understood pain. 'Those two could help each other, if they don't fight it out first.'

Yusuke made to close the door, but before it was closed all the way, he saw a dark shadow slip through the window. He smiled grimly. 'And if Hiei doesn't kill her either.'

The fire demon stood, leaning against the window sill with his arms crossed, looking down at the woman that almost killed Kurama.

"Hey Sparky!"

She had dared call him a—what is it called?—a nickname. He had been displeased. He had thought, then, that she was either stupid, or very brave. Now, he pondered whether she was something else entirely. Life had not been pleasant for her. Was she making it as pleasant as she could? Through her jokes and foolish words, could she be fighting a battle that she knew she could not win? To find a place for herself in the world after she finished her mission—If she finishes her mission.'

Kurama had been frustrated with her, but she had shown herself to him the most. Granted, it wasn't much more, not that she had been big on disclosure in the first place. But it was obvious, in a strange way, that she enjoyed conversing with him. The scarce months that she had been in the tantei's presence, it had been obvious that she liked Kurama's company best.

"Dude, Kuwabara. What is in that sandwich? It looks vile."

"No way, it's awesome. My own invention."

"That doesn't much answer the question."

"It's a mustard-and-mayonnaise-and-jelly sandwich."

Silence.

"Ew. Hey, Kurama, mind analyzing that stuff under a microscrope? I think it might be alive."

"No, I assure you it isn't. The combination of chemicals from the foods have created a reaction that has killed all potential life."

"Kurama, we must avenge that potential life."

He nodded. "We must."

"For the bacteria!" Asha managed before she collapsed in laughter. Kurama was right with her, leaving Kuwabara to blink in surprise.

'He trusted you, I think, Shinobi. I do not know if that means he will not kill you when he wakes up.'

Suddenly, Asha lashed out from a nightmare. "Shika!" she cried, calling out in a dialect little known in Maikai anymore. It is said, that the demons in that region could grant gifts...and then it dawned on Hiei. 'Her abilities are from a civilization that died out fifty years ago.'

So, that was it. Asha has been stalking this world looking for revenge for half a century. That was the missing time for the shinobi to gain prowess. Little by little, the mystery was coming undone. 'She's been driven insane by revenge for nearly seventy years. Looking out for herself for seventy years.' And Hiei realized, that it had not been her fault that day in the cave. Habit had made her jump. She probably even forgot Kurama was standing behind her in that moment of flight. Somewhere in his heart, small and frozen and twisted though it was, Hiei forgave Asha. But he would never let her know that, of course.

Finally, he was seeing not a shinobi warrior vying for her version of justice, but a young girl, who threw her childhood away to train for a day that she knew might never come, might still never come. Hiei saw how tired she was. He saw the same cold beauty that Kurama would have seen was he not asleep. He would have reached out to trace the scar, that went from her left eye into her shirt—he could see more of it due to the low neck of her tunic—had he not known the contact would wake her.

Her scar...what a strange thing. It ran from her inner eyebrow—not delicate, but slender—slanting across her left eyelid (he wondered how she still had the use of that eye) down her neck, bent in sleep. It made as if to run across her prominent collarbone, almost reached it, but turned, and probably ran down her side. Hiei itched to know that story. He thought about using his Eye to search Asha's memories, but decided that for this night, she could have her privacy.

"Asha," he murmured. She shifted to bring her hand under her chin. Hiei smirked ruefully. Those nails had given Yusuke a lot of trouble. They glinted in the moonlight, causing the fire demon to raise a brow.

No matter how many secrets they had unraveled about Asha, there were still plenty more. 'One day, she might let us learn them all. Or she'll tell a special someone...' His gaze flitted to Kurama.

The red-head looked better. He wasn't perspiring as much, and his eyebrows weren't knit in pain anymore. Color had also started to return to Kurama's face. The fever had broken a few days ago, the worst of the poison out of his system. If he had been human, most likely he would have died. 'Thank Kami that you have Youko, kitsune.'

Even though Hiei had come to terms with Asha's actions—forgiveness was too kind a word—it remained to be seen whether Kurama would forgive the shinobi for his almost death. Perhaps the knowledge that she sat by his bedside unfailingly would soften his heart. Perhaps the knowledge that she fed him, watched him, sang lullabies to sooth him, would show him that she was only following habit when she had left him to die.

'To live so long without companions...she must have forgotten many things. Her humor clearly not one of them.'

Hiei looked one last time at each, one his friend, the other, one day might become a friend. He shook his head and climbed out the window.

Once he was gone, Asha lifted her head, and gazed around the room, eyes clouded with sleep for only a moment.

'Was someone...?' Years of experience told her to be on guard, but the was no evidence that anyone had been in the room. She turned her head towards the moon.

She spoke quietly, "Hullo Luna. Your waxing. Does that mean my mate here has a chance?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shooting star. "Ah, I see. I'll make a wish then." She closed her eyes, and wished. As she turned to Kurama once more, the sent of smoke reached her nose. Faint, and not quite there. The shinobi smiled to herself, and watched Kurama as he slept, her heart softening at the sight.

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A/N:

Well, that was certainly a change of heart. Don't worry, Hiei's thoughts are Hiei's thoughts, no one else'll know