Hiei and I walked back up to the apartment, where I carefully checked inside to see if either Atsuko or Yusuke was still up. Luckily, the place was quiet and dark. I tiptoed through to my room, and Hiei followed with his natural grace. I closed the door behind us when I got to the room.

Trying not to act embarrassed, I closed the window, as it was too cold a night to keep it open. I pulled out some blankets to make a mattress on the floor for myself.

"What are you doing?" Hiei asked sardonically.

"Making a bed for me to sleep on," I replied coldly. "Why do you ask?

Hiei came up to me and took the blankets from my arms. "I'll sleep on the floor. Believe me, I've slept on worse." He turned away from me and literally flopped down on the floor.

I didn't move. "Thank you," I said quietly, before getting into bed.

"Hn," Hiei responded. I smiled to myself.

**************

Hiei was gone by the time I woke up the next morning. But the blankets were folded up neatly in my closet. The sight of that made me smile. Then I noticed something that didn't belong on top of the stack of blankets. Perplexed, I walked over and picked it up. A snow daisy, with pure white petals and a bright yellow center. I held it up to my nose and sniffed. It was still fresh, not picked too long ago. Smiling, I wove it into my black hair, right above my ear. I admired the effect in a mirror, the stark contrast of my dark hair with the startlingly-white petals. Cheerfully, I pranced out the room to greet Yusuke and Atsuko.

"You sure look happy," Yusuke commented. "Where'd you get the flower?"

I almost said Hiei's name, before remembering my promise not to tell anyone. I smiled mysteriously. "It must've been blown into my room by the wind last night."

"The wind wasn't blowing," Atsuko said suspiciously. I didn't answer.

I hummed to myself as I shook cereal out of the box. Yusuke and Atsuko were still giving me strange looks, but I ignored them. I lost myself happily in my thoughts.

"Do you go to school, Tera?" Atsuko asked curiously. I frowned.

"No, I was home schooled my whole life, until my parents died. I don't even know what grade I should be in."

"Well, how old are you?" Yusuke asked. I shrugged. He stared at me in shock. "You mean you don't know how old you are?!"

I sighed sadly. "No, I don't. I think I must be eighteen or nineteen, although I don't know for sure. We never kept track of our birthdays."

"Shame. Then you can never get birthday presents!" Atsuko joked. I laughed along with her. To be honest, the daisy Hiei had given me was the first present I had ever gotten. Even though the flower was going to die soon, I would treasure the memory of it forever.

**************

My arm was healed by the time I saw Hiei again. There was still an awful, red raised scar that stretched down almost my whole arm. I was a little self-conscious of it. It was just another thing that people would think bizarre about me…So glad I wasn't in school, where I would surely get teased.

I had taken the snow daisy and gotten it dried and pressed. I kept it as a good luck charm, just like the length of cloth from Hiei I also had. The flower was used as a bookmark, and the cloth a quirky accessory, wrapped around my scarred arm.

Yusuke told me quite a bit about this Spirit Detective thing he had going on. I wasn't allowed to go on any missions or anything, but I didn't mind. Yusuke did seem to think it funny that I kept asking about Hiei every time, though. I prayed that he wouldn't give anything away.

Finally, Hiei did visit me. At the time, I was laying on my bed, reading a book about Egyptian myths, when I heard a soft step behind me.

I spun around in shock, only to see Hiei standing there, watching me. He had apparently come through my window, which I usually kept open in hopes he would come to see me. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest, and Hiei smirked at me when I pressed my hand to the spot above my heart. He sauntered over to me, and sat beside me on the bed.

"Haven't seen you in a while," he remarked.

"Whose fault is that?" I retorted. "I don't know how to find you, but you know exactly where I am."

"Don't be rude," Hiei replied calmly. "Actually, I need your help."

Huh. Nice to know that the only reason he'd visit me would be because he needed me for something. "What is it?"

Hiei sighed heavily. "Yukina's gotten sick, and neither Genkai nor Kurama can heal her. We think it's some sort of remnant from back when she got kidnapped by humans."

I felt truly sorry for Yukina. "But…What do you expect me to do?"

Hiei closed his violently red eyes. "There's some sort of government building, where there might be a cure. But we can't get in. It's guarded by human locks and magical ones. I believe you can open both?"

"I should be able to." Although it'd probably either kill me, or come awfully close. I wasn't about to let Hiei know that.

Hiei stood, holding out his hand to me. "Come with me," he whispered.

My breath caught in my throat. Not the most romantic of moments, I know. But still. "Please tell me you aren't going to carry me again. You gave me a headache last time."

Hiei chuckled.

So...I'll be on vacation for a couple of weeks, and then, the weekend I get back, I will be going back to college. So I don't know when I will be able to update again. My apologies!!

On a side note, I wrote this a long time ago, and only decided to post it a few months ago. I forgot what I wrote. It's a lot more romantic and sweet than I remember! I think I used to be a better writer than I am now...*sigh*