Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters, just my OCs

Filler chapter with only some plot progression, but there's that smidgen of plot progression, so yay! Happy Belated Birthday to my friend dragonscilvio. Without you, this story wouldn't exist. I hope you had a lovely birthday!

Cleaning through the shed took days, but eventually, the group found what they were looking for. The documents containing details about Tsukiko's powers consisted of only two pages written in an entirely different language that looked like some weird form of pictographs. Needless to say, no one could make sense of it at first glance. It would take a little while for Genkai and Kurama to translate the documents, the girls were told. Obviously, they started right away since they were nowhere to be seen.

It didn't mean that training didn't continue.

The girls were practicing even more training exercises than before. Tsukiko was starting to learn the basic defense moves with Yusuke and Kuwabara. Ironically, they were good teachers and surprisingly patient with her. The psychic still couldn't manipulate her spirit energy in a way to attack, but she believe it was more because she didn't want to rather than the fact that it existed somewhere beneath the surface.

In any case, she was able to guard with her energy, and that suited her just fine. After a quick spar, Tsukiko was ready to break. It was a nice and breezy day, perfect weather to cool her down. She loved the cold. Honestly, she was feeling too hot.

The guys had decided to let her have this break, and Eiko soon joined her. Of course, Eiko wasn't as big a fan of the cold weather. She was practically freezing.

"You know," Tsukiko pondered. "I think I know how to solve our problem."

"What do you mean?" Eiko murmured.

"You're cold; I'm hot," Tsukiko pointed out. Eiko seemed to follow her train of thought as Tsukiko saw her friend's eyes widen. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Eiko laughed weakly, but she nodded. "If we get killed, I'm blaming you."

Hiei was in the process of shining his sword, caring for it after his sparring session with the human. Eiko had certainly come a long way in swordsmanship, surprising the demon, but he would never admit it out loud. Of course, she was fighting to protect her friend, and that drove her. Hiei could relate to that, and therefore held a small ounce of respect for the woman.

"Mr. Hiei?"

Case and point, Yukina appeared beside him. Hiei forced himself not to visibly flinch, but the ice maiden had taken him by surprise. He kept his voice even as he asked, "What do you need?"

It hadn't been that long since Hiei had shown up at Genkai's with Yukina's stone in hand. He had lied to her about their connection, telling her that her phantom brother was dead. When he had tried to give her the hiruiseki stone back, she gifted it to him, and secretly two hung around his neck. They had hardly talked since. Yukina coming to him out of the blue…something was definitely in the air.

"Hey, guys," Tsukiko greeted, cutting the tension with a knife. Hiei was irritatingly content with the interruption, still choosing to narrow his eyes at the two approaching humans. "Just the demons we wanted to see."

Yukina seemed as baffled as Hiei was by the declaration. What could those two possibly want with him and his sister?

He got his answer when Eiko snuck up on him, wrapping her arms around him. The action startled him, but he figured out what this favor was the instant Eiko's ice-cold hands touched his neck. "Warmth," the girl murmured against him.

"Get the hell off me!" Hiei shouted, trying to pry the human off, but her grip was like a vice grip. "And why are you so cold?"

Eiko shrugged, not really noticing the fire demon's discomfort as she started to drift off. Hiei still tried to get the woman to let go, but then he was distracted by Tsukiko.

"Eiko always gets cold, even when it's not too terribly bad out, like today," she explained, "and I'm always hot…so we thought maybe this would be a good idea."

Hiei was about to shout at her that it was the furthest from a good idea and that he would show her how hot things could get, but Yukina dispelled his anger by actually finding humor in the girl's words. "I see," she said after giggling.

"So, would it be okay if I…?" Tsukiko started before trailing off.

Yukina, bewildering Hiei further to a seat, and patted the spot next to her with a warm and inviting smile that completely contradicted the fact that she was about to offer herself to cool the psychic.

Tsukiko smiled and took a seat, moving close to the ice maiden. She sighed in relief, drifting off as she murmured, "Cold…"

Yukina flashed Hiei an amused smile, probably finding the humans' bizarre behavior delightful. He couldn't share her sentiments, but sighed in surrender, leaving Eiko to cling to him. He looked down at her for the moment before shaking his head at the ridiculousness.

Here he was, Hiei, master of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and the Jagan, acting like a space heater for a mortal alongside his twin sister. Irritation fluttered through his mind at the thought that these girls were using him and his twin to regulate their body temperature.

Of course, it wasn't completely a waste. He looked over to Yukina who seemed to be lost in thought, but now she was quiet and wearing a smile on her face. It seemed like whatever she wanted to speak with him about before was lying in a void between them, and that was at least a small price to pay at being humiliated by the girls.

Humans… Hiei mentally scoffed. He would never understand them, not one bit.

Once Genkai and Kurama were done translating the page, they called everyone for a meeting. Of course, they didn't learn much from the parchment about Tsukiko's ability. They pretty much translated what they already knew.

Her ability would only grow with time to the point where she'd be able to control an entire army.

Tsukiko sighed and shook her head. She had hoped to learn more, like a way to stop this Yomi menace from taking it. The thought of being able to control so many…it was really frightening. She was the type who liked to lead by example. Now someone wanted her to lead by force.

It was just a mess.

The only way to stop her powers from being used the wrong way was to continue training. She needed to keep these demons from getting her. After all, only she had the right to choose how she would use her power. She didn't want to go from playing vigilante to slave driver.

A strong hand clamped down on her shoulder, and she looked up from her seat to see Yusuke smiling down at her. "Don't worry," he told her kindly. "We won't let them get you."

It was the first time the members of the group were collectively offering comfort, Hiei not making any babysitting comments, and the others grinning and nodding in agreement. It seemed like the group as a whole no longer saw her as a mission, but instead as a friend.

Tsukiko felt completely reassured that everything was going to me okay.