Yukina takes her time warming the water and cleaning Botan's face. After Yukina explains the situation, Botan wastes no more time in flying off to perform surveillance, promising to use her full bag of tricks. Yukina watches her go, a dab of cotton candy against a smoky sky, until she dissolves into it.

She expects to report to Mukuro, but she appears at Yukina's door just as she's finished making the bed. Mukuro's shoulders fill the frame when she leans, not responding to Yukina's invitation.

"You miss them," Mukuro says. Yukina doesn't even nod, waiting to see where this is going. "I don't know what that's like. Before Hiei, I wasn't attached to anybody. You're both younger than me, so unless you get yourself killed, I'll never have to mourn."

She shakes hair from over her eye as she straightens. "Just because you're not a fighter doesn't mean you can slack in your training," she concludes. "I've prepared an isolated room. Regaining full control over your powers will be your first task." She leaves before Yukina can do more than bow.

The remnants of ice and char in the kitchen prove Mukuro right. Yukina hates to seclude herself now, but this is all she can do for her part.

Only lanterns light the chamber, emptied of all but plain mats that hold the scent of its usual contents: blood, bones, metal. Mirrors line the walls, presumably to correct fighters' forms. Yukina kneels, closing her eyes to shut out the sight of herself reflected from all sides. Emptying her mind proves more difficult now that Botan has appeared; she envisions bubblegum being wrapped up and tucked away for later.

Once she's focused, she coats the room in a thin sheet of ice, then warms it. One of the sheets separates from the wall and crashes to the ground, spraying shards across the floor. The rest melts, dousing the lanterns and leaving Yukina sitting in the center of a ring of water.

This part requires her to dig deeper. Genkai taught her to take it a step further and evaporate the water, saying that having full control over the moisture around her was key to wielding her powers. But once she's made herself a vessel for ice, generating heat takes all the more work.

Several attempts later, she's created only fizzles of steam, and the floor around the mats is still damp. She sighs and begins again.

Long after her belly aches enough to disrupt her focus, she exits on stiff legs. No part of Mukuro's building is lit brightly enough to wash out color, but Yukina squints in what feels like blinding sunshine until she adjusts. She finds Mukuro and Botan in the entryway, a few muttering employees around the outskirts.

"Ah, you're finished," Mukuro says. "If you'd stayed another week, I was going to check that you hadn't passed out."

"Week?" Yukina places a hand over her stomach, and Mukuro tosses her a bar made from some dried root that tastes like dirt. Yukina is glad that the toughness gives her an excuse to tear her fangs into it.

"You're just in time to celebrate the victory of yours truly," Botan says. Mukuro shakes her head.

"She made quite a scene, bursting in here yelling, 'bingo.' But if she worked here, I suppose I'd owe her a raise." The grumbles from the outskirts intensify.

"You're not paying me for this in the first place!"

"Of course I am. Thanks to your efforts, I don't get to learn what ferry girls taste like." Mukuro pokes at her teeth as if picking out someone's remains, and Yukina steps forward so that they're both within reach.

"Mukuro, you don't need to tease her like that. What did you find, Botan?"

"The culprit, of course. I thought the way the monitors went out was rather odd, you know. It seemed like some sort of interference made them burst. I've seen items overload like that before, when Yusuke—"

Mukuro coughs. "I'm getting to the point!" Botan says. "Anyway, it turns out a trader was using their cover to travel around with devices that interfere with technology. I discovered it while flying around. My camera gave off sparks, so I zoomed lower and found the rascal readying an attack. Thankfully I made a quick get away, though they singed the bottom of my hair—please don't eat me, I'm done and ferry girls taste like ash."

"Wait, was this the trader that sold you the book you gave me?" Yukina asks Mukuro.

"Yes, though at the time I was only purchasing it as a collectible. They needed to hawk something impressive enough to hang around here. I can't believe I didn't notice."

The demons take another step back. Yukina can imagine how something from the Glacial Village would pique Mukuro's interest enough to distract her.

From there, Mukuro says, she brought the trader in and gave him the choice of surrendering his knowledge to her or a torture chamber. She didn't get far before the trader dropped dead—nobody gives Yukina the details, which this time she doesn't mind, as having only the root bar in her stomach makes her queasy enough. However, Mukuro got confirmation of their theory about the attackers' goal and enough direction for Hiei's Jagan to locate the rest.

"Wait," Yukina says. "So we'll know where the humans are being kept soon?"

"Yes, it shouldn't take him long. Of course, we need a little more preparation than that before we can set out, but that's being taken care of as we speak."

As pressing as it all is, there isn't anything for Yukina to do yet, so she has a proper meal and a restless sleep before returning to her training. This time she wields better control over the room's temperature. While evaporating the water she thinks about the captive humans, and she feels as if her fingertips are scorched. However, when she opens her eyes they look as smooth as ever, with only a wisp of steam drifting away.

For now she acknowledges it as her limit and moves on to practicing other techniques. It strikes her how much of it is focused on defending herself, on boxing herself in. Like her people, huddled to keep any threat away, never reaching out to lend others the same.

When she emerges this time, she prepares herself a quick meal, then enters the entryway to find it a buzz of activity. She steps to the side, pressing against a wall as a demon passes carrying a rack of weapons. Scanning the room reveals only vaguely familiar faces. She's about to brave the crowd when someone runs up the tongue-ramp and yells, "Raizen's son is outside!"

The hissing, grumbling, and clicking quiet as if a blanket muffles them. A dry wind carries in a call: "Hiei, get your ass out here, I need to kick it."

Urameshi's voice jolts Yukina, as if she's been dreaming and woke suddenly to her life in Human World. But her back rests against the centipede's flesh, and Mukuro appears, arms folded. If she weren't nodding at the blur passing through, Yukina might not have noticed; she didn't even realized he'd returned. The demons file outside to watch. Mukuro stands beside Yukina.

"I don't think they've fought in decades. It will be interesting to see who wins," Mukuro says. Yukina gets the sense she wants to watch, but is opting to stay by her, who Mukuro must know doesn't.

Soon enough the workers run back in, Hiei not far behind, his headband ripped off and his bare torso covered in bruises. Mukuro studies him. "He kicked your ass," she says.

"Shut up."

Despite her nausea, Yukina can't help but think Hiei looks more satisfied than she can remember seeing him. The sound of blood dripping onto the floor renders the thought irrelevant. She runs to him before she remembers his warnings, though before she can do anything, Urameshi enters with a groan.

"Man, I didn't know I had that muscle to pull," he says, rolling his shoulder, which pops in a way Yukina doesn't think it's supposed to. Seeming unconcerned, he slings an arm around Hiei, who neither reciprocates nor pulls away. Urameshi's hair has grown to swish about his neck, but his grin is the same as ever. It drops in surprise when he sees her. "Yukina! I didn't know you were here."

Though this time she remembers courtesy, she's joyous. The stench sobering her, she ushers him and Hiei into a private room to examine their wounds, though Hiei insists his are nothing and Urameshi claims that healing so soon will kill his 'post-battle high.'

"It's like getting your teeth numbed at the dentist. And that vibratey thing they use," he says. "And then somehow it hurts more in the end."

Yukina's patience unravels. "If you decide you'd like to keep the rest of your blood, you know who to come to."

"Hanging around here has taught you how to sass back, huh?" He grins at Hiei, who looks away.

"I have work to be doing. We'll finish this later, Yusuke." Hiei disappears, and Urameshi rolls his eyes, muttering about sore losers.

"So, uh, Yukina, I haven't seen you since…" He scratches his neck where the ends of his hair must tickle. "How've you been?"

It's not a question Yukina's prepared to answer. She talks instead in non-committal terms about what she's been doing, how Mukuro was kind enough to take her in. "What about you?"

"Training, mostly."

Yukina envies him in that moment, despite how she hates violence. Something feels simple about the life of a fighter, like being displaced wouldn't matter if you were just going to challenge your body to do the same things.

A cry of Yusuke! interrupts her brooding as Botan flies in and spins Urameshi around so many times that Yukina gets dizzy.

"Botan! What are you doing here—Botan, I can't breathe—"

"What are you doing here? Where have you been, you never send word—"

"Excuse me for not knowing Spirit World's mailing address!"

"At least it means you haven't died in a while. Oh good heavens, Yusuke."

Yukina watches silently, wondering if this was what it looked like when she first saw Botan but finding it hard to believe.

A quiet voice somehow overtakes their chatter. "It seems I'm just in time for the reunion…?"

Roses perfume the room before Yukina can turn her head. Kurama stands in the doorway, unmistakable though not quite recognizable. Strands of the red and silver from his past swirl together into an otherwise orange ponytail that falls just between his shoulder blades. His new skin appears as smooth as a baby's, though he has a young adolescent's height.

As friendly as he is, Kurama is not the type to feed outbursts, so their exclamations quickly calm. Urameshi claps his shoulder, sweeping his gaze over him. "Looking good, Gramps."

"I'll have you know this form is not even a year old, and you are therefore regrettably an adult by comparison."

"You're rather mature for a baby," Botan teases, poking his cheek. Kurama twitches.

"Lord Koenma's assistant would know, I suppose." His attention turns to Yukina, gold-green eyes softening. "You've grown," he murmurs.

A lump like a snowball lodges in her throat. Only vibrations tell her that she's exchanging pleasantries with him—she's so full of love for her friends that she melts of it, like Mukuro's monitors short-circuiting, and she can't tell whether happiness or grief leads her to cry against Kurama, only that hands that are halfway to claws stroke her hair and back. She almost expects to be back in the forest near Kuwabara's wake, as if this was supposed to happen back then. But Kurama passes her over to Botan, and Urameshi still smells of blood, though with three healers now in the room he can't escape having his injuries tended to.

Once they've all settled down and Yukina is collecting the remaining evidence of her tears with a shame she can't shake, Botan asks Kurama what brought him there.

"Mukuro called upon me for help with a mission. She said it was short-sighted to rely on only one sense for tracking."

"Glad to have you on board, then, Mr. Fox," Urameshi says. "So, uh, what's our mission?"

Botan throws up a hand. "He signs up before he knows what's going on. Wait, you don't know what's going on? Why are you here now, then?"

"I just wanted to kick Hiei's ass."

"In other words, you only showed up at a useful time by accident," Kurama says.

Now that she's released some of her built-up emotion, Yukina would like to stay and soak in the banter, the things that haven't changed. But Urameshi's bandages remind her there's still one set of injuries unaccounted for, and while she's wary of poking at raw wounds, she knows that once they all set out she'll miss her chance.

She finds Hiei with Mukuro and hovers in the doorway. Cutting off a sentence about Urameshi, Mukuro cocks her head at Yukina, who brings a hand to her chest.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to speak with Hiei…"

She hates how timid she feels after spending so much time beside Mukuro. But it's not her, of course—Hiei is staring at some point on the wall, not acknowledging her request. Mukuro turns away from him, and he appears beside Yukina, who knows better than to seek verbal confirmation before exiting.

It's difficult to find any privacy among the bustle, so she ends up leading Hiei to the isolated training chamber. Thanks to her the room smells of mildew along with its buried scents. The muggy air makes her clothes cling to her skin. She hadn't considered that it would be pitch black, but now that he's willingly trapped himself in with her she doesn't want to waste the opportunity. All she sees is the thin outline of his aura, tracing the shape of a flame around his hair.

"I heard what you did," she starts.

"Botan blabbed."

"Not exactly. Please don't give her trouble. She was going to keep quiet, but I wanted someone to tell me what was going on."

Muffled sounds tell her that he's shifting a torn bandage to lick a wound. "What is there to tell? I failed. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I lost our little bet?"

Her fingers clench. She hadn't realized how angry she was, but it hits her as she answers, her voice going lower and lower. "If you lost, it's only because you have yet to try."

"I faced death."

"You ran away. I had no idea where you were. Mukuro only stayed calm because I was with her. You had to have known that it wouldn't work, that they're—they're too…"

For the second time that day, tears sting her eyes. She squeezes them shut. It's something she hasn't wanted to admit either, that even if she keeps that suitcase unpacked she still won't be able to travel back home.

"What else was I supposed to do?" His voice is lower than hers until it's not, a sudden bark. "You're not the only one who…"

She can imagine him snapping his mouth shut, but it's already out there. It softens her anger enough for her to smooth her tone, knowing she's the only one who might. "I know. I'm sorry. I'd have done anything to get them back, too."

There's a period of almost-silence, the wet noise of his lapping. "You know, it's one thing to take revenge for fallen teammates, but humans don't even have the decency to go out fighting. Yusuke wasn't the same until just now, either, and I thought he'd never change." He spits.

"Then isn't that all the more reason for us to stay together?"

"It won't work," he says. "I can't be what you want."

"How do you know what I want?"

"You chose to live with kind-hearted humans, and you sought your brother because you thought he'd kill your people for you."

With guilt she remembers admitting the latter, back before she considered that the child abandoned by their people might pity them more than she did. Was that why he wouldn't acknowledge her?

No—he had ample chance before that. The time for excuses is gone.

"I'm not asking you to change," she says. "Just…just be with me, sometimes, please? Sit with me while I eat again, or go on walks with me—is that really so bad?"

The Jagan glows in a slow blink, telling her he's studying her. "Why do you want me to do this? You have your friends back."

"For now. And I'm grateful, but I know better than to think it will last."

"And you think I will?"

"You're my twin."

"And?"

Yukina is so taken aback that she steps away from him. She's voiced what they were too scared to for decades, and that's all he can say?

His energy flickers, bouncing light off of the mirrors surrounding them and giving her a brief look at his wide eyes. Even without it, the disruption in his energy and the smell of sweat would have given him away. He can't use the dark to hide from her, his reflection.

When she steps forward, her foot slips on ice. Confused, she steadies herself. She would know if she'd created it, not that she could now; she can feel something pulsating in her, expanding.

Hiei has pulled his energy in. It disappears entirely for a moment, then blinks turquoise. Water soaks through to Yukina's toe—the ice melting at her feet.

The air around Hiei seizes up. Yukina spreads it, forces gaps between the particles, spins them into a frenzy.

"Stay away," he warns in a low growl. The part of her that's unchanged doesn't want to corner and threaten him, but another part glows orange.

"I will if you'll answer me properly."

"This is pointless."

The orange turns a deep red, flaring from her hands and arms. It pools at her fingertips, burning them. She grits her teeth through the pain, wondering if this is what it's always like for him before remembering this is a candle compared to his dragon.

"Being with people you care about isn't pointless. Or did you protect me all those times for no reason?"

"That's not—I can do protection," he says.

Fighting trained killers is easier than spending time with her. It's a wonder she doesn't melt.

She isn't sure which is the final log that feeds the fire. Maybe it's the fact that he promised to try, yet he disregards her simplest request. Maybe it's her shame that her only family can't stand to be near her (yet she's here, pushing him). Maybe it's still that she was never given the tools for war, and he was never given the tools for love, and their differences should make up the gaps but instead leave them both floundering.

Whatever it is, the heat at her fingertips feeds off of it, calling on outside help to do what she cannot. A screech like a hawk fills her ears. She claps her free hand over one to no avail. Red flickers at her fingertips and orange coils in from the ceiling, meeting in a blaze that flares up. Behind it, Hiei's pupils are barely dots.

When she realizes what she's done, Yukina panics. "How…how do I turn it off?"

The answer is that she doesn't: it falls from her fingertips, swooping across the room to crash into a mirror, half-melting the glass before falling into little more than a collection of embers on the ground.

Yukina stares at it before turning back to Hiei, swallowing. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me—I said I didn't want to change you, and then I started pressuring you, and…"

A howling laugh interrupts her. "You summoned the mortal flame," he says. "From Demon World. That's brilliant. Wait until I tell Mukuro."

The icy air around him has retreated. In her relief she clasps her hands, then pulls them apart with a gasp. The swollen tips of her left fingers don't hurt as much as the torture she once endured, but the pain still makes her bite down on her tongue.

Sobering, he holds out his own hand. "Let me see."

She offers herself for inspection, and he cradles her fingers, making her bite harder. Her fingers lay stiffly across his; she can't bend her top knuckles.

"You're lucky that it was only your fingers," he says once he lets go. "You don't want to lose your arm, trust me." Despite his torn bandages, the dragon lies still; her mortal flames don't seem to have impressed it. "At least we've finally found something I can do for you. Do you want to learn how to control that?"

"Yes." Despite the pain, she answers without hesitation. This is what she's been yearning for—a way to push forward and protect others.

"It won't be easy." He holds up his right arm, clenching his fist, and the dragon slithers around his muscles as if hoarding them.

"I've been through hardship before. Besides, I've asked you to do things that aren't easy."

"If you're serious about this, we're not leaving this room until you've grasped at least one attack."

"That sounds—wait! The humans. Everyone is—"

"A group of capable fighters is assembling to rescue them. You won't count among their ranks until we do this."

She can't disagree. She thinks instead about what Hiei is offering her, how he's suffered, what she still plans to ask him for, and what she can possibly do in return if he won't let her near his wounds. Again she feels her wet socks.

"You could learn to harness that ice, you know," she says. "I've heard it's a dangerous element when its wielders aren't isolating themselves."

"I'll think about it," he says.