A/N: Hallooo. This one has a bit of dialogue in it, and some nice plot bits. At the same time, there are some nice n' fluffy HB bits. Yes shoot me plz. Um. Next chapter, things really start getting nasty. We're at the halfway mark, and almost at the climax or whatever you want to call it.

By the way, thank you all for your lovely reviews. I feel so inspired/flattered. :D

(1) The spider thing is an actual historical tidbit, one I learned from reading The Tale of Gengi, one of the first novels in existance in the world, written by Lady Murasaki, a lady-in-waiting for the Royal Family. The book was completed in the 11th century. The spider superstition was essentially the belief that omens could be and were drawn from the behavior of spiders, resulting in a line from an old and famous poem of the time. The line of the poem reads: "I know that tonight my lover will come to me/The spider's antics prove it clearly"

I thought this was cute and tried to work it into "Ianii's Make Believe History of Makai" in a way that makes sense.

Chapter 5- Spider Writhing in Lady Fate's Palm

Hiei walked in front of her, several yards ahead, and always at a pace Botan wasn't quite in shape for. She soon found herself out of breath. Almost immediately, her body called for reparation, and she brought herself around to a slow and leisurely speed she was comfortable with.

Normally Botan would have agonized over what exactly her companion would think, but this time around she did not have half so many qualms. She was surprised, and just as much pleased, when she discovered that every time she lost sight of her guide, she would turn the next corner or tree and there he would be. And every time she caught up, he would hurry on, as quick footed as before. And she would lose sight of him. And find him. And lose sight of him…

Needless to say, both were quite peeved about the situation, but neither voiced opinions on the subject.

"Hiei?" Botan skipped a few feet to get within his earshot. "Hiei, I didn't know this island had a forest this big. How old is it?"

"Hn." Hiei shrugged his shoulders. "You were running around half of it last night."

"Hey! I was running away! I can't be held accountable for noticing the scenery of gigantic woods if I'm trying to save my life!"

Hiei stated as if quoting scripture: "'Never over-estimated the human species' poor eyesight.'"

"Hurrumph." Botan crossed her arms over her chest. "These conversations with you are getting predictable."

"I'm not the one who makes them predictable."

"Is that so?"

"I don't have any reason to lie."

"Oooh!" She inhaled deeply and pointed an accusing finger at him. "I swear, some day someone's going to-"

"Eight million years."

The Finger of Justice drooped. "What?"

"The island," Hiei said in an impatient tone, "is eight million years old."

Botan blinked. "What?"

Hiei looked back to the front of him. "I won't repeat it. If your ears couldn't pick that up, I refuse to say it one more time."

Botan, having fallen behind Hiei's determined march, hopped back up next to him. "Wait, wait, how do you know it's eight million years old?"

"If you did not believe I would know the answer, why did you ask?"

"That's not the point!" She threw her hands up in exclamation. "How do you know?"

"How do I know?" Hiei repeated the question in an unsurprisingly arrogant tone. "It is common knowledge."

Botan pursed her lips, refusing to respond until she got her answer.

But that's just as well, Hiei thought. A silent girl is better than a dead one.

"The trees," Hiei said anyway, after a few moments' consideration.

"The trees? Are they really that old?"

"Most of them? No. Most of these are only about seven hundred."

"'Only', you say?"

"Most Demon World islands have been created in the past five millennia. This island, as it happens, is one of those from the classical period, before the last five millennia. Most likely the whole thing has some sort of historical value."

"So how did seven hundred year old trees tell you about this?" Botan skipped ahead a couple more feet.

"Not these trees; I found the oldest one in the heart of the forest."

"When?"

Hiei had faint traces of a cruel smile. "While you were asleep."

"Whaaat?! You left me alone? Sleeping? Completely defenseless-"

Hiei cut her short by shoving one of his arms in front of her path. "Not now. Be silent."

Botan froze. Irritated as she was, she knew she was in no position to argue. And adding the fact that if Hiei was alerted to something, it was probably dangerous and therefore in her best interest to shut the hell up by all means.

Ten seconds passed. Thirty. A minute. Two. Hiei finally broke the marathon by speaking at a whopping two minutes thirty seconds.

"Kurama, you'll have to do better than that."

"Kurama?" Botan relaxed. "Where is he?"

Hiei turned to face her, and, with a frustratingly amused face, pointed over her shoulder. Botan stared at his finger for a moment, and one could see the gears turning in her head. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder, and yelped when she saw Kurama's face.

"That wasn't very nice, Hiei," Kurama scolded after Botan turned a shade close to but not quite the shade of her hair.

Hiei showed no sign of caring. "You were the one hanging over her shoulder."

"Hmm, I guess that's true."

"So where is this interesting thing you've found, fox?" Hiei stuffed his hands in his pockets. It couldn't be eight o'clock, but the wind was already picking up. The 'snowing' he had predicted would be a full-blown blizzard.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed. "It's just over the hill there. I assume you're acquainted with the geography of the island."

"No," Botan perked up. "But Hiei was just explaining how old it was to me."

"Was he?" Kurama raised a brow and eyed them both. "And what did he say?"

"Eight million," Said the spoken-of apparition. "And what were your calculations?"

Kurama smiled. It looked kindly enough, but both Hiei and Botan had seen enough of those to know it was not the case, that there was, of course, a secret malicious intent. "I got seven million."

Hiei frowned.

Botan spoke up, interrupting certain competition. "What about the geography, Kurama?"

"Oh." Kurama shifted gears. "Yes. While examining a map of Hilali Island, I have come across some interesting aspects of it. The island itself is a volcanic one, meaning the whole of it should mostly be a mountain. Not only that, but very few plants and trees should be able to survive the vast amounts of sulfur in the earth."

"Are you saying that they are?" Botan still sat on the floor. She was starting not to care if her outfit got messed up or dirty. She was exhausted.

"Well, two things are contradicting these general rules. Yes, most of the island is a mountain, but there are, curiously enough, several plots of flatland, and there is even a lake. One of these flat lands," Kurama pointed over the hill he spoke of earlier. "Is over there."

"And what of the plants?" This time Hiei posed the question.

"That brings me to my next point. Botan?"

"Yes?" She responded, but seemed preoccupied by something else entirely.

"Does the relic buried here on the island have a fertility charm placed on it?"

"Yeah."

Kurama smiled that Malicious-Intent smile again. "That's why you got eight million, Hiei. The fertility charm caused the trees to grow at twice the normal rate."

Botan didn't leave Hiei enough room to speak. "Hey, Guys? This spider is freaking out."

Hiei was almost-paralyzed. "What… Did you say?"

Botan looked at Hiei with mild surprise. "The spider. It's freaking out." She was somewhat sure Hiei knew what 'freaking out' meant. She held it up in her hand, and there it was: A dark black spider that looked like it was having something similar to a seizure.

Hiei's eyes grew big and round. "…Put it down."

"Uh. Why?" Botan was perplexed. Really, anyone would be.

"Just do it right now."

She bent to place it carefully on a rock. "Okay, okay, just calm down. I'm doing it." She stepped back and Hiei immediately took her place.

"Uh, Kurama?" She sought an explanation.

The redhead took the stage as was necessary for him. "You know that for around one thousand to two thousand years the Demon World has been massively influenced by human Japanese culture, right?"

"Yeah, ever since they figured out how to get there."

"Well, during around the turn of the second millennia, there was a superstition aroused among the Japanese people that the behavior of a spider sent omens and predicted the future. It seems that that superstition, or belief, rather, has been carried on well into Hiei's generation." (1)

Botan 'ahhh'ed understandingly. Then, "Hiei, I would never have thought you were superstitious!"

"I'm not," he replied. "I merely don't question those signals sent us."

The sides of Botan's mouth threatened to curve upwards.

"Is there something humorous, woman?"

"No, no, of course not." Giggle snort.

Hiei tore his eyes off the strangely-behaving spider to glare at her.

She continued to giggle. "Sorry, sorry. Truly, I am."

"Er, shall we go?" Kurama immediately recognized the aura of a pissed off Hiei.

"Yeah, okay."

"Hiei, are you coming?"

He spared one more glance at his fortune teller, then started to follow.

"So what was the verdict, Hiei?" Botan said civilly.

Hiei didn't know what a verdict was and therefore did not pay attention.

"What did the spider tell you, I mean."

"Nothing," he snapped, "That you would care to hear."

"How do you tell? Is there some sort of method?"

"No. Go speak of nonsense to Kurama. I'm sure he would completely understand."

"You are in a sour mood, Hiei," Kurama observed. "I can't imagine it's my fault?"

"You need to get a better imagination."

"You certainly let me down, Hiei. I thought you would have done a better job taking care of Botan if you were put to the challenge, but you're just brushing her off."

Botan watched the exchange with interest. This was how the moody demon interacted with his best friend. But he was far too defensive, wasn't he? Kurama needed to be less accusatory. Hiei needed to go more on the offense, like he had up till now.

Sergeant Inner Botan was ready for action.

"Kurama," She said seriously. "I'll have you know Hiei did an excellent job protecting me, even if he did leave me alone in the woods completely unaware of what was going on…" Here she realized that her argument was going to hell. "But he did well nevertheless, as well as can be expected, and he deserves to be awarded with the proper respect."

The expression on Kurama's face was clearly one which said Are you controlling her mind, Hiei? Did you perhaps drug her?

Botan's face turned five shades of red when the end of her speech was met with awkward and stunned silence.

"Don't be foolish," Hiei said stiffly after some time. "I was only doing what was asked of me."

He stalked off in the direction they had been walking, in a very bad, very angry, never embarrassed mood.

Kurama looked at Botan.

Botan looked at her feet. "Well I thought it was a very enlightening experience," She mumbled to the dirt and leaves.

"Any amount of time is sure to be enlightening when spent with Hiei," Kurama said in an attempt to be comforting. "He has a very… interesting outlook on life." He guided her shoulder to the path Hiei was making. "But we should be going now, and we should probably try not to lose him."

"Right!"

They trudged through the fall leaves. Kurama with leisure, Botan with fervor, and Hiei with newfound purpose: to leave these idiots behind him.

"I think the forest is ending," Botan said after about fifteen minutes, because the dark and brooding entity leading the way had pulled to a halt. She squinted past him into the light. "Is that a building?"

"Almost."

"Almost? Is it being built?"

Kurama shook his head and stepped next to his short friend. "It's being destroyed."

In front of them stood a vast field of ruins, ancient sunbathed buildings that were host to a variety of species of plants. Pottery, statues, and other articles of interest lay shattered and broken on the floor and in empty window spaces, reminders of a lost society long ago conquered by some unknown foe, and then by the vines that grew there. Broken walls and bricks littered the area, a suggestion of violence among the otherwise beautiful architecture that was unsalvageable.

"This is the place that they are aiming to gain?" Hiei surveyed the destruction while at the same time being acutely aware of the silence the girl next to him was displaying. How uncharacteristic.

"Yes. This is most likely the same area the relic with the fertility charm was buried." Kurama gestured towards the vines. "The vegetation is destroying the city that once lay here. However, I believe it originally fell as the result of a siege. It used to be a center of both commerce and art."

"The souls," Botan whispered quietly.

Hiei looked at her curiously out of the corner of his eye.

"They are restless. They are still here, and they are crying out." Her eyes were blank, staring at things on she could see. "A brutal massacre. They wish to be avenged."

Solemn silence reigned and a spider crawled out of Botan's sleeve, creeping up her kimono to rest on her shoulder.