I was really dissapointed by the amount of reviews received for my previous chapter. I was worried, too – I mean, is it that bad? I didn't even get half as many hits as I normally do, and in fact, if it wasn't for the three (or should I say four?) reviews from some of the most talented group of Hiei/Botan writers ever imaginable, I probably wouldn't have continued at all.

Anyways, I'm hoping this next chapter won't be as bad. Don't forget to drop me a review before you click, "back".

Read, enjoy, REVIEW!! Nyeh:)

This chapter goes to orphan mia, Cafinatedangel13 and Third Leo – three of the most, in my opinion, awesome Hiei/Botan writers in fanfiction history. Your review means the world to me.

Against All Odds

Chapter Two

21 years before the Makai domination...

'Cheers!' exclaimed a group of six voices at once as they each rose their glasses in the air.

There were currently seven people in the room – Kurama, Keiko, Shizuru, Kuwabara, Yukina, Hiei and Yusuke – and they were all celebrating their 9th year aniversary as the ex-Rekai Tantei. Yusuke Urameshi stood in the very middle; in the limelight of the festivities; as he happily scanned the room.

Everyone was there. The old team – except for Botan and Koenma, of course, but they currently had to deal with their own affairs. A lot had changed since Yusuke Urameshi first found himself dead at the age of 14. Now 23-years-old, and soon-to-be father to a son his wife, Keiko, was now bearing, Yusuke realized that his death had most probably been the greatest key to his entire life – so to speak, of course. Why, if he hadn't died then, who knows what would have become of him? He would probably be wandering the streets as a lowly thief, forever shunned by the rest of the world. In fact, if Yusuke Urameshi hadn't died that day, nine years ago, he never would have met the greatest bunch of friends a guy could ever dream of having...

Kurama was still the infamous fox thief, Youko Kurama, when they had first met. He was a strong warrior and brilliant tactician, both then and now. Currently settling into his mortal, adult life, Kurama was now a well-noted doctor in the whole of Japan. He lived a quaint, tasteful life with his wife, Shizuru Kuwabara.

Kazuma Kuwabara. When they had first met, even before he had died, Kuwabara had been his greatest rival. Though still competing in small matters, the two had put their misunderstandings aside and had become the best of friends. The bond they shared was inseperable, it was though both Yusuke and Kuwabara were brothers of a sort. Kuwabara had now been married to Yukina for over 3 years or so.

And who could ever forget the koorime thief, Hiei Jaganshi? He was one of Yusuke's toughest foes. Quiet and reserved, the koorime was still young for his species, and continued to live on in solitude. He had no home, as he prefered to sleep on trees instead of beds, and would once in a while visit his sister at the Kuwabara residence. Yukina still didn't know that they were related.

Yusuke finished his glass of sake in one quick chug, and placed it to the side with a grin. He licked his lips, tasting alchohol. It was time for the traditional speech.

'Can you believe it?' asked Yusuke, breaking the small chat with a smile. 'Nine years – nine! And you guys still don't look a day old!' At this, Yusuke was answered by laughter and grins of happiness. He continued; 'You know, meeting you guys and kickin' demon ass had been the best years of my life... In all honestly, I actually rather miss that brat Koenma shouting at me to do his dirty work... This has been the best nine years of my life.' Yusuke raised his glass, now half-filled with sake, in the air once more. 'A toast!' he cried. 'To a ten next year!'

Little did Yusuke Urameshi know that the next year of his detective aniversary would never come... for the very next day, they were each called upon on an urgent mission. A final mission that would cost them their lives...

16 years later, 8 months before present time...

A cough. A splutter. Blood.

Hiei watched as the blue-haired onna slowly stirred from unconsciousness. Her bubble-gum pink eyes, usually so vivid and full of mirth, were dull when she blinked them open. Her cream-coloured skin was almost three shades paler than usual. She was, to put it simple, a mess. Even her clothes were torn.

'H-Hiei?'

Hiei grunted. 'Hn,' he said, not bothering to face her as he lazily polished his blood-stained katana. 'You should know. You called me over here, onna.'

Botan blinked. Once. Twice. 'Oh, yeah!' she exclaimed, trying to sit up to look at the koorime properly. Her attempt failed as she was gently pushed back into her previous position by a pair of rough hands. Botan coughed.

'Just tell me how this happened, onna,' said Hiei, gesturing at her current state.

Botan smiled sheepishly, catching Hiei by surprise. 'Oh, this...?' she said, turning down to inspect herself. 'Koenma had me fly down here to contact you. I wanted to make in an easy mission, but I met up with some demons on the way over here.'

'Demons?' repeated Hiei, raising a brow at her curiously.

Botan nodded. 'A few. Around... four, I think,' she stated, trying to recall the event. 'They caught me by surprise while I was still on my oar. They pulled me down from the air and... tried to hurt me...'

The upsetting frown on the ferry woman's face had led Hiei to believe that there was more to the story then she brought it out to be, but the demon merely shrugged it off as he continued to question her. 'What did Koenma want you down here for?'

'Oh!' exclaimed Botan some more, looking back up at him. 'He wanted me to send you a message – He says he wants you to help infiltrate the Makai emperass, as it seems they have been mistreating humans.'

'I thought the Spirit World wasn't supposed to be involved,' stated Hiei bluntly.

Botan shook her head no. 'They aren't involved. But YOU, however, are in no means under Rekai authority. You may have been part of the Tantei, but you are still a demon, and as such are restricted only by Makai laws,' said Botan, proffesionally. 'Makai laws clearly state that if a demon were to kill the ruler in charge, the demon would immediately take their place on the throne.'

'What makes you think I would want to do that?' Hiei shot back, giving her a venomous look.

The ferry girl merely smiled lightly, as though unfazed by the glower she was currently given. 'You're a nicer guy than you think, Hiei,' she replied naturally, still sparing the guts to look Hiei straight in the eye as she spoke. She placed a gentle hand against Hiei's cheeks, as he was currently looming over her. The demon bristled at her warm touch. 'You might not want to be, but I believe you have one of the biggest hearts I know.'

At this, the demon said nothing. He merely moved away from her bed, picked his katana off the floor and gave her a grunt of aknowledgement. His face was devoid of expression, even as he left her, but a sudden urge had somehow overtaken him, and the koorime was now faced with the strong desire to rage war against the Makai Emperass.

Hiei stared up at the dancing shadows on his makeshif-bedroom ceiling. His crimson eyes were halfway closed as his mind reeled back to an event that made him tighten his grip on his katana in anger.

'Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara!' shouted the voice of Yusuke Urameshi through the claps of thunder and the clashes of blade against blade. 'Get the girls and run, now!'

Negative replies were driven his way by his fellow comrades.

'Just GO!' cried Yusuke, looking desperate as he dodged an attack by a horde of sinister-faced demons. 'We'll all die if we stay here any longer! Take the girls – run! I can... stall them...'

'I'll never leave your side, Urameshi!' exclaimed Kuwabara proudly as he sliced his Spirit Sword through the chest of one of the demons. At the same time, Kurama had defiantly stated that he would not retreat, and Hiei had ignored him completely.

'Just GO!' screamed Yusuke one final time. 'At least if you make it, there would still be hope for the world! LEAVE! Save my son, save your wives – Hiei, save your sister!'

The mere mention of his sister caused fear to creep into the nerves of the Fire Apparation.

'He's right!' said Kurama. 'We should go where we could at least plan our next battle!'

Hiei nodded and watched as Kurama, now in the form of Youko, took flight beside his own running feet. 'Don't look back, Hiei!' ordered Kurama right next to him. 'It'll only make it worse! We've got to keep running – no matter what. This is the only way!'

And so, he ran.

A clash, then followed by a scream that sounded like it had come from the Spirit Detective himself.

...and ran.

'URAMESHI!'

...and ran.

A desperate war cry. Another scream. A fall. Blood.

...and ran.

Hiei peeked over his shoulder, unable to contain the suspense and curiousity that rose inside of him. There, lying a few miles away from him and the fox, were Yusuke and Kuwabara. They were both sprawled on the ground, crimson liquid leaking out of them. Their swords were still tightly gripped in their fists, even in death. The two comrades had died in battle; a feat much larger than he could say for himself.

He was still running.

Blood started forming in the palm of his hands due to the unnaturally tight grip he was locking onto the hilt of his sword. He didn't notice it however, and continued to bleed. The memory of Yusuke and Kuwabara's death was still fresh in his mind, even now, 6 years since the event. What hurt him most was not the various bruises and scars he had endured, but his own huge pride.

When Isamu had asked him, a few hours back about why he was still fighting, the first thought that came to Hiei's mind was the death of Yusuke, and his own fear of losing his sister and fleeing the battle. It was pointless to continue fighting on, however, for the event had all ready happened, and no matter how many times he bled, history could never be changed.

Perhaps, if he had stayed there, Yusuke would still be alive right now.

'No,' thought Hiei, shaking his head in denial. 'Nothing I could've done would have changed the inevetable.'

That thought alone made him groan in annoyance. He tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep, but unable to. With a heavy sigh, Hiei swung his legs out of bed and prepared to creep out of the room. 'Maybe a snack will help,' he thought, making his way towards the kitchen.

Hiei had hoped for some alone time to just eat and think. What he received, however, was the opposite. He was met instead with the sight of the blue-haired onna, leaning against one of the counters with a glass of warm milk and a cookie.

'I should leave,' thought Hiei, but just as he was about to turn and motion towards the other direction, he was spotted.

'Hey, Hiei,' greeted Botan's soft voice, falling closely to a whisper. She smiled at him. 'Wanna come sit?'

'No,' thought Hiei, but grudgingly took the stool next to her nonetheless.

Botan passed him a tray of cookies and a jug of milk. Hiei took them from her gratefully, and thanked her with an impolite grunt. He quickly dug in to the food offered, too hungry to bother with etiqutte. It was only when he stuffed himself did he realized how he had gone without food for three days.

'Its been a while, hmm?' said Botan, looking wistful as she prodded her half-eaten cookie with a fork.

'Hn,' grunted Hiei, still focused mainly on his food. He drank a glass of milk in one swing and proceded to fill his stomach in with more cookies.

'Time flies,' muttered Botan, self-consciously.

Hiei didn't bother replying. Not knowing where this conversation was leading to, the koorime continued his meal in half-broken silence.

'A lot has happened...' muttered Botan some more, her voice dangerously close to being non-existant. Hiei, however, caught it with his hieghtened demon senses. '...Maybe this time, it'll all finally end.'

Hiei slowly placed the cookie back on his plate to turn his attention toward her. What seemed at first like senseless rambling, actually happened to mean a lot to the ferry girl, as now, tears were sliding down her pale cheeks. Hiei decided not to test her patience any further, as she looked dangerously close to breaking down. He kept quiet and allowed her to carry on.

'So many... have died...' said Botan with a sniff, the tears still staining her pale cheeks. She wiped them away hastily before carrying on. 'I've... been there... with each one of them...'

'Who?' Hiei so desperately wanted to ask her, but remained silent inspite of the nagging question inside of his head.

'All the dead souls... they were tormented...' whispered Botan, unable to surpress the emotion any longer. Tears ran down her cheeks like waterfalls, unable even to stop. They sparkled beneath the light coming from the lone bulb dangling precauriously from the ceiling up above. 'And I saw them... saw them... all of them... die... right before my eyes.' She was sounding desperate now, as she continued forth with a more pleading tone of voice, a harsh fierceness to her tongue. 'I couldn't save them... not all... coz... I'm too... weak,' Botan spat the last word out as if it had been poison.

Hiei watched helplessly as she continued to sob. He found himself unable to do anything helpful about the situation – he wasn't very good with dealing with emotions. Usually keeping them so boiled up in himself, watching another being breaking forth and allowing tears to spill was almost the most uncomfortable thing in the world to him.

Hiei looked down at his plate. There was only one cookie left.

'Here,' said Hiei, not allowing any emotion to rise in his voice as he handed her his last cookie. He could still feel his stomach growl in resentment to his actions, but Hiei ignored it and proceded to wave the cookie in her face. 'Eating will make you feel better.'

Botan stared at the cookie as though it had somehow dropped from the sky. Trying to comprehend the meaning of his actions, she finally reached out to retrieve the cookie from his fingers. She chewed thoughtfully, and gradually found herself slowly starting to feel better. By the time she had finished her cookie, a small smile had formed on her face, contrasting drastically with her upsetting tears. Botan suddenly felt foolish for crying in front of someone who had endured so much more in his life than she had.

'I'm sorry,' muttered Botan, her eyes downcast. 'I...I guess I'm just upset that I couldn't save them.'

Hiei shrugged slightly. 'You can't save them all,' he replied, rising to his feet and ready to leave the room. 'I know I didn't,' he added silently to himself as he started for the exit.

'Hiei, wait!' cried Botan, ceasing the koorime in his tracks. Hiei turned slightly. 'Thank you...' she whispered, rising to her feet to stand before him. She gave him a quick hug before giggling at his shocked expression.

Hiei quickly brought himself together, and nodded at her briskly.

'Oh, and Hiei?'

Hiei turned.

'You've grown taller.'

He left, a faint blush staining his otherwise pale cheeks. Botan smiled at his retreating figure, feeling a whole lot better than she had in years.

That was a quick update. I actually had this done in a matter of two hours, and I'm actually quite pleased with the outcome. You tell me what you think, though, coz its really your opinion that matters in the end. I, again, have no idea what will happen next. Though I'll probably add some more action into the story, and a little bit more fluff too.

Please drop me a review before you leave the page. TQ.