CHAPTER 11

The next morning Hiei and Botan headed outside to the lodge's skating pond. When they got there Botan sat down to put on her skates and Hiei lased up a pair they had rented from the lodge. When they were done Botan was the first to begin.

"Okay," Botan said, skating onto the ice and turning to the fire demon. "First lesson. Try skating to me."

Hiei stood rooted to his spot on the ice, not wanting to move and feeling foolish. He could barely keep his baalnce, let alone skate to her.

"C'mon," she urged. "It's not that hard. It's just like walking. Only faster."

Hiei glared at her but did what she daid. Right away he went flying. "AHHH!" he screamed, flailing his arms as he flew toward her.

"Whoa! Stop!" Botan ordered, putting out her hands.

Too late for that. The fire demon slammed into her and miraculously she kept her balance. She grabbed Hiei by the arms before he fell over. "Well that was pretty good for a first try," she said, nervously. He looked up at her, his heart pounding a mile a minute. She smiled down at him as if the whole thing didn't really bother her. "Wanna try again?" she asked.

No, he didn't but he wasn't going to tell her that. If he did she'd call him a quiter and he was not a quiter. "I want to try again," he said as she helped him regain his balance. "That try was pathetic. I will not be laughed at."

Who laughed at you? Either way. It'sa good thing I'm nice and no one is watching us, Botan thought as Hiei tried again.

Little did either of them know was Kuwabara and Yusuke were crouched down on the top of the same hill Hiei had been on the day before, watching the two skate. They were getting a real kick out of how badly Hiei was doing. "Did you see the way Hiei skated onto the ice?" Kuwabara asked, snickering. "One minute he's all calm and the next. FOOOM!"

"Yeah," Yusuke replied with a snort of laughter. "Boy does he suck. Why's he skating out there with Botan anyway?"

"I bet it has something to do with whatever happened between them the other day," Kurabara suggested.

"Maybe," was all Yusuke said. He looked thoughtfull.

Yusuke and Kuwabara still didn't know their friends' secret but that was good. If they had known it they wouldn't leave Hiei and Botan alone out it, especially Hiei. Besides; it wasn't like Kurama was going to tell them. The fox wasn't that stupid!

"It still doesn't explain why they're skating though," Yusuke finally said, stifleing a yawn. "or should I say why Botan's skating and Hiei's trying to." he snickered. "Seems like there is something Hiei can't do. Not very well anyway..."

Botan was getting impatient. She was trying to teach Hiei how to skate right but he just seemed to be doing worse. Was it because he hated winter or did it have something to do with her? Was he nervous about being around her now? Either way; this wasn't working and Hiei was getting angry and frustrated. She half expected him to somehow melt the pond so no one else could use it ever again or stomp off the ice, never to return again and burn his skates to ashes. She'd already heard him blame them for how bad he was doing but... so far neither idea was coming to mind.

"Hiei," she said after a few more minutes. let's take a break."

He glanced at her, looking relieved at the suggestion. The two skated off the ice, hand in hand but not by choice, since Hiei still had trouble keeping his balance, then sat down on the ice. "You know, Hiei, you're not very good at this," she said, proceeding with caution. He looked at her like she was stupid. She knew he wanted to say something back but she plowed ahead before he could. "Maybe if you loosened up you'd do better."

"Hn," he looked away from her. "How do you plan on accomplishing that, onna?"

"How about music?" she suggested.

He looked at her, a weird expression on his face. "What?" he demanded.

"Let's try using music," she replied, carefully. "Maybe that'll help you loosen up."

Hiei didn't look convinced.

Botan wanted to try it anyway. "Wait here," Botan ordered, pulling off her skates and dashing back to the lodge in her bare feet.

Hiei watched her go, amused by her stupidity. He figured she didn't realize she didn't have any shoes on. Knowing her, she probably did but didn't care. A short time later she came back out with her ipod and a speeker from the lodge ballroom.

"Okay," she said, setting the items down and putting her skates back on. "maybe this will help you skate better."

He doubted it but didn't voice his thoughts. She'd probably just ignore them anyway.

When she finished with her skates she stood up and scrolled though her playlists. "Okay, here are the songs I have chosen for us to work with. My december, Once Upon A December, and Enternal Snow. How does that sound?"

It doesn't. Hiei frowned. He didn't really appreciate the song choices or the fact that they all had some reference to December in them. Being born in December didn't help. He wanted to tell her he didn't like the choices at all but didn't bother to. If he did she'd probably start crying and he hated to see girls cry. Instead of saying anything along those lines he just shrugged. "It's fine, I guess," he muttered.

"Good," she said smiling as she pressed the 'play' button. "Let's get started." she grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the ice. "Okay. Here's what you can try. Just close your eyes and feel the music. It'll help you relax."

Hiei frowned. Feel the music? "This is stupid," he said and turned away from her to skate back to the shore. "Just forget it."

"Hiei, wait," Botan said, grabbing his arms and making him face her. "Just give it a try. Please."

He stared up at her face and into her pleading eyes and broke. He sighed and look away from her. "Hn. Fine."

"Goody," she said, smiling. "Now close your eyes and feel the music."

Relunctantly he did so but felt nothing but foolish. He listened to the song but didn't get anything out of it. The words made no sence to him. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It won't work," he told her.

Botan sighed. "Just try again and this time don't listen to the music listen to the music."

He sighed and relunctantly tried again, keeping in mind what she'd said. This time things were different. He felt something strange and he gasped. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before but then this sorta of thing was new to him. He opened his eyes and looked up at her again, his mouth open but not saying a word.

She smiled. "Want to try this again?" she asked.

He just nodded.

"Okay then," she said taking his hand.

Yusuke had dozed off when Hiei and Botna left the ice the first time but Kuwabara waited for them to return. He had a feeling they would and wasn't disappointed. "Look they're doing it again!" he exclaimed, shaking Yusuke as he pointed at the ice.

Yusuke woke from his nap and looked down at the pond. He saw that Hiei and Botan were indeed working on their skating again, this time Yusuke noticed Hiei wasn't as clumsy as before. He seemed different somehow.

"I think Hiei got better," Urameshi said, pointing at the fire demon as he glided over the ice, holding Botan's hand. "See? He's not losing his balance as much as before."

Kuwabara snickered. "He looks like a sissy," he commented. "Why's he even bothering to learn to ice skate anyway? What's he going to use it for? I thought that kind of stuff got on his nerves."

"It does," Yusuke told him. "But maybe Botan convinced him to be her parner in the skating competition." the raven haired half demon shuddered. "Like I let Keiko convince me.."

"Keiko got you to enter the competition with her?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke nodded.

Kuwabara almost laughed then an idea came to him. "Maybe I can convince Yukina to pair up with me!"

Yusuke stared at him. "Uh...Kuw-" he began.

But Kuwabara was too far off in dreamland to pay any attention to his friend. "We could win the contest then she'll realize how great I am!" the carrot top stood up. "Oh Yukina!" he shouted, runninmg all the way back to the lodge.

Yusuke watch him go then shook his head sadly. That guy was hopeless.

The music was coming to an end and Hiei finished their practice up by throwing Botan into the air. She's told him it would be okay when he'd hesitated at the suggestion, afraid he might hurt her, and told him she wouldn't get hurt when she landed. He's finally chosen to trust her and just follow orders. Botan spun three times in the air and landed gracefully on her right foot. She skated in a small circle around him then grabbed his hand as they struck the final pose. The music ended and they loosed up, panting at all the wok they'd just done.

Botan was impressed. "Hey, that was great!" she exclaimed, smiling at him with new respect. "I never knew you were so talented! Are you sure you've never skated before?"

"Positive," Hiei said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I don't have time for such a pathetic sport." But even he'd been surprised at how well he'd done.

"Pathetic or not you were great," she told him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Who knew you could skate so well?"

Hiei felt a blush coming on as her compliment sank in. Yes, he'd had done pretty well. He looked away, being modest and not wanting her to see him blush. "Hn."

Botan frowned and smiled agian as she got an idea. "C'mon!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and skating him off the ice. "Let's go inside and get warmed up. How about some hot chocolate?"

Hiewi tried to free himself from her grasp but she wouldn't let go so he gave up. He gave her suggestion some thought. A little hot chocolate wouldn't hurt him. He sighed and allowed her to drag him into the lodge.

A/N

Surprise surrprise! Hehehe. Well you people got both questions right. He didn't know how to skate but when he'd got something to skate too he improves greatly. Heheheh. Please don't ask me how he gets better or why Yusuke and Kuwabara were watching them. Questions like that kill all the fun. Yes I do think Hiei was born in December. It wasn't secified anyway.