Recap: The boys went to demon world and found the weapons dealer, putting him out of business. Hiei's behaviour continued to get weirder, Kurama was overcome by the smell of ice village flowers in the area, Yusuke was losing patience and Kuwabara was just plain awkward. Kurama confessed to Yusuke that his kin hunted stray ice maidens for licentious purposes.

Chapter 3: Tough Night

"I guess that's why you guys are so close. That's why you're always looking out for him, right? So… Does that make him like a firefox?"

"Yusuke… I'm not Hiei's father. I never caught an ice maiden. I saw one of them get caught, but I never caught one myself. It's more a sense of frustration and the thrill of the chase that still needles me."

Yusuke sighed, his shoulders sinking in relief.

"Okay," he said.

"And I assure you, I definitely do not have the virus," Kurama said. "As we move away from this town and away from this smell, my self-control will return to me."

Yusuke nodded. He then watched Kurama carefully, a smirk slowly growing on his face, until Kurama met his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"You never caught one?" Yusuke asked slyly.

"No, never," Kurama replied.

"Why not? Were you too slow?"

"Not exactly."

"What's wrong? You can't run as fast as a girl?"

Kurama smiled himself then, rolling his eyes.

"Speed and athleticism weren't the issues," he said. "The ice maidens are deceptively effective fighters."

"Oh! So it's even worse: you got beat up by a girl!"

Kurama raked his eyes over Yusuke.

"Isn't that a little hypocritical, coming from a man who learned everything he knows about combat from an elderly woman?" he asked.

"Yeah, but Genkai was tough," Yusuke retaliated. "Those ice maidens are just a bunch of girls. I mean, look at Yukina: I don't even think she's got enough strength or the balls to swat a fly!"

"It's difficult to explain," Kurama replied. "But you're wrong. The ice maidens maybe don't leave their home very often or enter martial arts tournaments, but that doesn't mean they can't battle."

"Seriously Kurama, Yukina is like the weakest demon I've ever met. She's the weakest girl I've ever met. She's even weaker than human girls are."

"The ice maidens don't fight the way you or I do. Hiei, as an emiko, is opposite to the ice maidens in every way, including how he fights."

"Hiei just runs right in and punches people and stabs them with his sword and then uses his dragon to obliterate them."

"Yes, and the ice maidens do the opposite."

Yusuke looked up in thought for a moment before answering Kurama.

"So… They hold back, kick people, shot them with guns and then use a giant butterfly?"

Kurama gave Yusuke a pained look.

"What?" Yusuke asked, shrugging.

"Well, it is nice to have a distraction from my pains," Kurama replied.

"What?" Yusuke asked, feeling suddenly confused.

"Hiei is an excellent offensive fighter. He rarely plans ahead, he typically just uses brute force and strength, and his arsenal is comprised entirely of offensive manoeuvres. Because of this, he takes a lot of damage in a fight – look at what using his Dragon of the Darkness Flame does to him – but he doesn't mind, because that's his style. The ice maidens, on the other hand, are excellent defensive fighters. They do plan ahead, they are physically weak and slow-moving, and they never strike unless out of desperation. There is an old saying that the best offense is a good defence, and that's certainly true for the ice maidens, because they fought me off without ever attacking me."

"I don't understand how that's even possible."

"They have other ways of using their powers. They're not interested in conflict. Hiei fights proactively – he seeks out battles – but the ice maidens fight reactively – only when their safety and solitude is threatened. You remember Touya?"

"Sure."

"The ice maidens use a lot of the same strategies that he does. The only difference is that they don't use ice blades or razors."

"I guess that makes sense."

Kurama nodded. Yusuke looked down at the mess of glass and lotion at his side.

"Can you make more?" he asked.

"Of course," Kurama replied. "I have more with me. I only gave you the amount I expected you to need."

"Great," Yusuke said. "So should we wait up for Hiei, or can we just go to sleep too?"

Kurama's nose twitched and a fresh layer of sweat burst out across his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked him.

"No…" Kurama replied, standing up a little clumsily. "The smell is getting stronger…"

Yusuke stood up at his side, sniffing at the air around them.

"Oh yeah, I can smell that too!" he said.

He started to turn to Kurama to ask him why he thought the smell was getting stronger, but Kurama had already started to walk away from the fire.

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted, wakening Kuwabara with a jolt. "Kurama! Where are you going?"

He ran around the fire, barely missing kicking Kuwabara in the head as he went. Kuwabara sat up and yelled after him in complaint, but Yusuke did not look back, instead continuing after Kurama. He caught Kurama a short way from the fire, grabbing his arm to stop him.

"I'm going to move further away," Kurama said, stopping reluctantly.

"You don't have to do that!" Yusuke said. "It's cold out here, stay by the fire!"

"I can't, I… Hiei?"

Yusuke turned to see what had caught Kurama's eye, finding Hiei approaching the fire, a towel over one shoulder and his hair damp and limp about his face.

"I thought you would all be asleep by now," he said casually.

"You took a bath in that freezing cold water?" Kuwabara asked him.

"Just because we are sleeping outdoors like animals, doesn't mean we have to smell like animals too," Hiei replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kuwabara yelled. "You sleep outdoors all the time!"

"You don't know that about me. You don't know anything about me."

Hiei lifted the towel from his shoulder up over his head and rubbed it through his hair before producing a length of rope from the folds of his cloak. The others watched in varying degrees of interest as he gathered two sticks, stabbed them into the ground close to the fire and tied the ends of the rope to the tops of the sticks. He then hung his towel over the rope and placed a scrubbing brush and bar of soap on a rock near the fireside.

"You've been carrying a towel, a bath-brush and soap with you all this time?" Kuwabara asked.

"Of course," Hiei flatly replied. "I'm not a barbarian."

"But where?" Kuwabara asked, his tone becoming almost squeaky in his disbelief.

"In my satchel," Hiei plainly answered.

A bag fell from under Hiei's cloak and he pointed at it to illustrate his point.

"Why the hell do you have a bag?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Forget that," Kurama said firmly, pushing Yusuke's hand from his arm. "Where did you get that from?"

Kuwabara shuffled back when he saw the look in Kurama's eyes as he pointed an accusing finger at the bar of blue and green soap Hiei had laid out on the rock. Kuwabara could not tell if it was the firelight or not, but Kurama's eyes looked a shade lighter than usual, and he was not entirely sure that it was not that start of Kurama transforming into his full demon form.

"It's just soap," Hiei replied indifferently.

"No it's not," Kurama growled. "It's soap made with a very specific type of plant: where did you get it? It makes no sense that you would be using it."

Hiei's eyes widened slightly, flicking back and forth between the soap and Kurama.

"It was a gift," he eventually answered.

"From who?" Kurama asked.

"Yukina," Hiei said.

"That's not…" Kurama began. "Possible. I was sure that I…"

"She made it herself," Hiei added.

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Kuwabara said brightly. "Yukina grew some weird blue flowers in the gardens of Genkai's temple, and she used them to make soaps."

Kurama let out a low growl and turned his back on Hiei.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked him quietly.

"That must be the last bar of soap she had," Kuwabara said, blissfully unaware of the situation around him. "Somebody dug up the second patch of flowers she tried to grow and they all died before they blossomed."

Yusuke arched his eyebrows at Kurama.

"It was me," Kurama whispered to him. "I saw them growing, and I didn't want to have to smell them. I didn't think I could trust myself if I… I can't stay here…"

Kuwabara stood up, watching as Kurama walked off stiffly into the darkness.

"What's going on?" he asked, turning to Yusuke once Kurama had faded from sight.

"We have to split camp," Yusuke replied. "You stay here with Hiei, I'm going with Kurama."

Kuwabara leapt forwards, grabbing Yusuke before he could depart.

"What the hell?" he hissed. "You can't leave me alone with Hiei again! Not for an entire night! He was watching me pee earlier!"

"Get over it, Kuwabara," Yusuke replied. "Either you stay with Hiei, or you stay with Kurama."

"Why can't I stay with you and Kurama can stay here with Hiei?"

"Because Hiei and Kurama both need someone to look after them. Either you go with Kurama, or you stay here with Hiei."

"I chose Kurama."

"Are you sure? He's pissed off because he's horny."

Kuwabara froze and Yusuke slowly nodded.

"You stay here with Hiei," he said. "He's too sick to kill you, so maybe you could like, you know, use this chance to bond with him or something."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara wailed.

"Deal with it, Kuwabara!" Yusuke called back over his shoulder as he started off after Kurama.

"Damn it…" Kuwabara muttered.

He stomped back over towards the fire, almost falling into the flames at what he saw when he got there: Hiei was removing his cloak and folding it up to make himself a pillow, and Kuwabara could not stop himself from staring unashamedly at Hiei's upper body, only moving his eyes when he felt Hiei's eyes glaring at him threateningly.

"Is there a problem, Kuwabara?" Hiei asked as their eyes met.

"You look really, really bad!" Kuwabara bluntly replied. "You're so skinny!"

"I've always looked this way," Hiei said.

Kuwabara shook his head, but Hiei ignored him, lying down onto the ground and resting his head on his bundled up cloak. As he closed his eyes, Kuwabara leaned over the fire to get a closer look at him: apparently the virus circulating demon world was some sort of muscle-wasting disease, because even his baggy vest and the bandages covering his arms could not hide the fact that Hiei was a lot thinner than he used to be, and his bare shoulders were bony and smaller than Kuwabara had ever seen them look.

"Please stop staring at me," Hiei said without opening his eyes. "I can't sleep with you leering at me like that."

Kuwabara sat back abruptly. He was starting to think that maybe spending the night with a horny Kurama was a better option than sleeping so close to a half-crazed Hiei, but when Hiei remained still and said no more, Kuwabara eventually settled back down and shortly fell asleep again.

Yusuke awoke to the smell of cooking food. He wanted to ask when and how Kurama had managed to catch or acquire a rabbit and two fish, but when he saw the intense look on Kurama's face and the distinct dark circles under his eyes as he watched the meat cook, Yusuke decided against questioning him and instead got up and headed back over to their original campsite to awaken Kuwabara and Hiei. Yusuke got halfway to his destination before stumbling to a halt, his entire body freezing on point and his eyes staring unblinkingly and disbelievingly at the sight ahead of him.

After several seconds of nothingness, Yusuke started to think that he was hallucinating, or else watching the scene from an unusual angle that made it look like something other than it was. He forced himself to keep going, concentrating on keeping his feet moving, but it became increasingly difficult as the scene before him remained unchanged. He managed to bring himself to within a few feet of the burnt-out campfire before his feet stopped and his body froze over again, his brain running out of excuses for what his eyes were seeing.

"Oh… Damn!" he whimpered as Kuwabara groaned and snuggled his face further into Hiei's hair.

It seemed that his worst fears had been realised: Kuwabara had now caught the virus. Obviously Kuwabara had caught the virus, because there was no other logical explanation for why he was spooning Hiei. And obviously Hiei was still desperately sick, because, although he was not cuddling Kuwabara back, he was lying there and allowing Kuwabara to hold onto him very tightly.

"Hey, uh… Sorry to interrupt whatever the hell the two of you are doing, but uh…" Yusuke began awkwardly. "Breakfast is nearly ready, and we need to get going soon, so…"

Hiei moaned and twitched before slowly opening heavy eyelids. Large red eyes looked up at Yusuke, slowly focusing on his face.

"We need to get going," Yusuke said again. "And then you need to take some serious medication, or something."

Hiei tried to sit up but fell to the ground again under the weight of Kuwabara's arm over his shoulder. He turned his head sharply at the intrusion, his face quickly looking as shocked as it ought to be to see Kuwabara behind him.

"Hey, get off of me!" he shrieked, pushing off Kuwabara's arm.

"Yukina…?" Kuwabara muttered, opening his eyes to a bleary squint.

"Do I look like Yukina to you, idiot?" Hiei snapped, jumping to his feet.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes and then focused them onto Hiei, sleepiness quickly giving way to horror and disgust.

"Oh God, why were you sleeping with me, you little freak?" he wailed.

"You were sleeping with me!" Hiei snapped. "You crossed the fire to my side, and you were holding me down! You had no right to do that to me!"

"It was a mistake!" Kuwabara argued. "It was that damn soap, it made you smell like Yukina! I got confused!"

Yusuke turned to the bar of soap still sitting on a nearby rock.

"You know what?" he said, bending down to retrieve it. "This is way more bother than it's worth."

He hurled the soap away from the direction of the secondary camp Kurama was cooking at, ignoring the glare his action earned him from Hiei.

"It was a mistake," Kuwabara insisted.

"It was awful!" Hiei snapped. "You had no right to touch me like that! You can't just lie down with me without my consent!"

"Hey, I already said it was a mistake, you little mouse!" Kuwabara yelled. "I didn't want to sleep with you any more than you wanted to sleep with me!"

"When you say "sleep with you", what exactly do you mean?" Yusuke asked.

"Ew, not like that!" Kuwabara wailed. "I meant sleeping close together, not anything else!"

"I would never lay down with him like that," Hiei said to Yusuke. "Never."

"Okay," Yusuke said, nodding his head. "Good, because that would be really weird."

"Never," Hiei said again.

"I wouldn't ever want to do that with you either, Hiei!" Kuwabara pointed out.

"Why, you think you could get a better looking guy than Hiei?" Yusuke asked, smirking as the comedic value of the situation dawned on him.

"I don't need a better looking guy than Hiei, because I already have the most beautiful girl in the world: Yukina!" Kuwabara replied.

"Of course you do," Yusuke said, smirking in amusement. "Tell me again – because I've forgotten – how many dates have you been on with Yukina?"

"Plenty!"

"Right. And how many times have you made out with her?"

"…That's not the point, I'm playing it slow."

"You're playing it ridiculously slow."

"I'm being a gentleman!"

"You're playing it so slow, even if we were timing your relationship in ice ages it would be–"

"Shut-up, Urameshi!"

"Stop it!" Hiei shouted, whipping out his sword. "Both of you! You," he said, pointing his sword at Yusuke, "stop turning everything into an inappropriate joke and you," he continued, aiming his sword at Kuwabara, "don't ever talk about Yukina like that again!"

"I didn't say anything bad about Yukina!" Kuwabara protested.

"You spoke about dating her…" Yusuke muttered. "But maybe you just said that to change the subject from the fact that you slept with Hiei last night–"

"We did not sleep together!" Hiei snapped, turning his sword on Yusuke again. "I would never lay down with Kuwabara!"

"But you already di–"

"Never!"

"You looked pretty cosy there with–"

"Never!"

Yusuke froze as Hiei lunged forwards, the tip of his blade stopping uncomfortably close to his throat.

"You know, ordinarily, I would kick your ass right now," Yusuke said quietly. "But you're still all white and sweaty and skinny, so I'm gonna let it go this time."

"Do what you will," Hiei replied, retracting his weapon.

Yusuke waited until Hiei had replaced his sword to its sheath before continuing.

"Kurama's making breakfast," he said. "So Kuwabara, put some clothes on and eat and Hiei, wait until everyone else has eaten and you can have what's left – because we don't want your germs on our food."

"Where are you going?" Kuwabara asked as Yusuke continued past him.

"I need to take a dump," Yusuke bluntly replied.

"You'd better move far away from this place first," Hiei warned him. "And wash your hands before you return, or you'll be the one spreading germs!"

"Hey, you're the only one here who caught the virus so far, so don't go lecturing me on good hygiene!" Yusuke called back over his shoulder.

Hiei growled and stomped over to his makeshift washing line, where he began retrieving his towel. Kuwabara slowly shook his head and then set about getting dressed, finishing his task at about the same time Hiei finished packing his bag and had once more concealed it beneath his cloak. Together they walked over to Kurama's campfire, Kuwabara sitting down beside Kurama and Hiei sitting down opposite him. As they sat down, Kurama inhaled deeply and noisily through his nose before lifting his eyes to Hiei.

"It's that soap," Kuwabara whispered to Kurama.

Kurama slowly sighed out the air he had inhaled, a small, low growl accompanying his action. Hiei's eyes widened slightly, but otherwise he remained unfazed.

"So, uh, what's for breakfast?" Kuwabara asked, sensing that something slightly sinister was going on between Kurama and Hiei – something he was not keen to learn any more about.

"Meat," Kurama flatly replied, pointing at the cooked meat he had piled up by one side of the fire.

"Right, yum!" Kuwabara said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

Kurama handed him a small stick with a sharpened end, which Kuwabara accepted slowly.

"What's this for?" he asked. "Killing vampires?"

Hiei groaned, stabbing a similar stick into a piece of cooked fish and sitting back from the flames.

"Oh right, yeah!" Kuwabara said, smiling awkwardly. "I guess I'm still tired."

"Please try to stay focused, Kuwabara," Kurama said firmly, skewering a piece of cooked rabbit meat onto his own stick. "By Koenma's estimations – which, in past experience, have never proved particularly accurate – we have five days left before the invasion forces in spirit world take ownership of the orchard. Let's not dally."

"It's Hiei's fault I can't think straight," Kuwabara complained. "He's acting so creepy, I can't focus on anything."

"I'm not acting any differently," Hiei replied. "And neither are you…"

"You're just being a jerk, you little r–"

"Stop."

Kuwabara paused, his eyes moving slowly to Kurama.

"Stop arguing and wasting time," Kurama said, his voice quiet and flat, and yet laced with tones of understated menace.

Kuwabara and Hiei continued eating in silence, eventually being joined by Yusuke, who looked awkwardly around them all before sitting down and reaching his hands out towards some of the cooked meat at the side of the fire.

"Hands!" Hiei yelped.

Yusuke flinched, retracting his fingers and fixing Hiei with an impatient look.

"Use a stick, you'll burn your fingers," Kuwabara advised.

"Oh, right," Yusuke said, looking about for a stick.

"Did you wash your hands?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke glared over the flames at Hiei again.

"As soon as this mission is over, you're going into intensive care, Hiei," he said in a low voice.

"I agree," Kurama said. "You should never have left your healing chamber Hiei, you are clearly not well enough to be on this mission."

"I wasn't talking about him being sick…" Yusuke muttered.

Kuwabara looked around the others, finding them all looking edgy and tense, and so he decided to lighten the mood the best way he knew how.

"I wonder what Yukina's doing right now?" he said.

"Nobody cares," Yusuke grumbled.

"I can find out," Kuwabara offered.

"How?" Hiei asked.

"We're connected by the red thread of fate," Kuwabara replied, holding up one little finger as though to illustrate his point. "Also I can talk to her telepathically. Anybody want to send her a message?"

"Tell her I said she needs to do a better job of washing your feet," Yusuke muttered.

"Yukina does not wash your feet!" Hiei snapped at Kuwabara.

"I didn't say that she did!" Kuwabara argued back.

"Well I guess that explains the smell," Yusuke casually commented.

"Shut-up, Urameshi! Yukina loves my feet, so I don't care what you think."

"I bet she doesn't love them."

"She does too! You don't know what you're talking about! You're just trying to be a tough guy and make stupid jokes!"

"It's not just me who doesn't like your feet Kuwabara. Keiko and Botan notice the smell too."

"They do not!"

"They do too."

"They never said anything to me! And Yukina's been around my bare feet lots of times, and she's never said a thing either!"

Hiei stood abruptly, his eyes almost willing Kuwabara to spontaneously combust. Kurama stood up, gave Yusuke and Kuwabara a warning glare, and then grabbed a handful of Hiei's cloak, dragging him away from the campfire. Hiei stumbled after him a little reluctantly, his eyes still on Kuwabara as he went.

"We don't have time for this," Kurama said once he was confident that they were out of earshot of the others.

"I agree," Hiei said, turning to look up at him.

"Don't get dragged into what they're doing," Kurama added.

Hiei looked down at Kurama's hand, which was still gripped into his cloak. Seeing his action, Kurama opened out his fist, releasing the fabric.

"Yusuke's just trying to torment you," Kurama said as he withdrew his hand. "Ordinarily I would let it go, but this is not the time for jokes."

Hiei smoothed out the folds of his cloak, his eyes slowly lifting up to Kurama's again.

"Torment me?" he asked quietly.

"Many of the things Kuwabara says about his "relationship" with your sister are untrue," Kurama replied.

Hiei froze, a look of mild horror playing across his eyes.

"You and I both know Yukina doesn't return his feelings," Kurama continued, leaning over Hiei and speaking in a whisper. "I know you are unwell, but I need you to keep your emotions in check."

Hiei's mouth opened as though he was going to answer, but he paused for several seconds before finding his voice.

"Of course," he said. "I can do that. For you, I can do that."

"Good," Kurama replied.

He started to move away, but as a light breeze passed by, he was once more slapped in the face with the scent of the soap Hiei had washed himself with the night before, and his mind wandered.

"Can you do another thing for me?" he asked, turning back to Hiei.

"Of course," Hiei replied. "For you, I can do anything."

"Don't ever use that soap again."

Hiei's eyebrows shot up out of sight beneath his bandana.

"I don't care how you acquire it, don't ever use it again," Kurama added.

"Does it offend you?" Hiei asked tightly.

"Very much so," Kurama replied.

Hiei's expression softened a little.

"I had no idea," he said. "But I promise I won't ever use it again."

"Thank you," Kurama replied.

Kurama moved back over to the others, kicking dirt onto the campfire to extinguish it as Yusuke and Kuwabara continued arguing. Hiei remained where Kurama had left him until the others had finished eating and were ready to leave, at which point he rejoined them, loitering behind them as they started to follow the tyre tracks through the crowded vegetation.

"What… The hell are you wearing?"

Shizuru folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow, shifting her weight onto one foot and fixing Botan with a look she hoped would convey her scepticism.

"Do you like it?" Botan asked, smiling proudly, seemingly oblivious to how ridiculous she looked. "It's an SDF uniform. I borrowed it from one of the SDF officers. Lucky for me, she's about the same size as me!"

"Why would you want to dress like an SDF officer?" Keiko asked. "Or… Am I missing something?"

She glanced back and forth between Botan and Shizuru questioningly, and Shizuru slowly shook her head.

"I'm going undercover!" Botan replied.

"Stupid idea," Shizuru immediately responded. "Your worst idea ever."

Botan gasped, planting her hands on her hips indignantly.

"You're not a soldier, Botan," Shizuru added, stubbing out her cigarette.

"Well of course I'm not really a soldier!" Botan snapped back impatiently. "The costume is just an illusion! I'm wearing it to create the illusion of power!"

"I still don't really understand what you're trying to do…" Keiko said slowly.

"I'm going to join the fight," Botan replied.

"You're not a fighter, either," Shizuru pointed out.

"But I think I can be," Botan said. "And this costume gives me the confidence to believe in myself."

"Really? I thought the costume made you delusional. Oh wait, it does make you delusional, because wearing it makes you think you can fight on a level with Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei."

Botan pouted and thinned her eyes at Shizuru, who simply shrugged in reply.

"It's probably really dangerous," Keiko began. "If Koenma won't even tell you what's really going on, maybe you should stay out of it, Botan. You can still–"

"I have other ideas for how I could join the mission," Botan interrupted her.

"Other ideas?" Shizuru asked flatly.

"Other better ideas," Botan replied.

"Better ideas? Better ideas than thinking that what you wear defines who you are and what you're capable of?"

"I don't understand what you just said, but I have a whole suitcase full of ideas."

Keiko and Shizuru both recoiled in shock and mild dread as Botan threw a suitcase onto Shizuru's bed, where it bounced against the mattress. Shizuru started to tell Botan not to bother telling them about any more of her ideas, but Botan ignored her, throwing open the suitcase with a delighted "ta-da!" Shizuru and Keiko slowly cast their eyes over the array of colourful, excessively conspicuous outfits Botan had packed before turning to each other to exchange withering looks.

"Maybe you could just call Yusuke on your communicator," Keiko suggested, turning back to Botan.

"Ooh!" Botan yelped, her tone so loud and sudden that Keiko jerked back in alarm. "I was supposed to call Yusuke this morning to ask him how he was getting on with his mission!"

"And what did you do instead of calling him?" Shizuru asked.

"I found this outfit, and all of these, packed my case and came here!" Botan replied, oblivious to Shizuru's sarcasm.

"Botan!" Keiko wailed. "Call Yusuke! Right now!"

"Oh, right, yes, of course!" Botan agreed, fumbling in the pockets of her ill-fitting borrowed uniform in search of her communication mirror.

After a prolonged search that Keiko and Shizuru found almost painful to watch, Botan recovered her communicator and flipped it open.

"Yusuke?" she said. "Yusuke, come in!"

Her features thinned as she was answered with muffled cursing before the screen in front of her flickered to life and Yusuke's face appeared.

"What is it, Botan?" he asked.

"And a good morning to you too, mister sunshine!" she sarcastically replied.

"Just get on with it Botan, we're kinda busy here!" Yusuke drawled, rolling his eyes.

"I was just checking in," Botan said. "I just wanted to know if you'd made any progress."

"We found the weapons dealer and we shut him down. We found some tracks, and we're following them now, we think they'll lead us to where we need to be. But it's a really difficult path, we've had to stop to cut down plants and we keep running into giant bugs. But hey, you calling me to chat really helps."

"Well excuse me for caring about the future of humanity!"

Botan sighed, readying herself to lecture Yusuke on the importance of what he was doing – even though she was still not really that sure what he was doing – but she lost her momentum when Kuwabara took the communicator from Yusuke.

"Hey Botan?" he said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is Koenma there with you?"

"No."

"Oh. Could you ask him about the chances of humans catching the–"

Botan froze, staring at the communicator with wide eyes.

"What was that last bit?" Shizuru asked.

"Did Kuwabara just say something about humans?" Keiko asked.

Botan did not answer them, her eyes still staring at the communicator, which was currently showing a shaky view of Yusuke's bare chest, and in the background she could just make out Yusuke having a hushed argument with Hiei. After several, indecipherable exchanges, Hiei appeared on the communicator screen, looking distinctly odd to Botan's eyes.

"Botan, we're very busy," he greeted her. "You can tell Koenma that we are making progress with our mission, and if we need his interference, we will be sure to contact him directly."

"Wait!" Botan yelped. "Don't go! Please! Hiei, please, just tell me what's going on! What are you four doing? Where are you going? What are you looking for? Please Hiei, if spirit world is in danger, I have a right to know!"

"It's not my place to tell you what your own superior will not," Hiei plainly answered her.

"Hiei, Keiko and Shizuru are here with me, and we are all very worried! Don't you care about how worried we all are?"

"Why should I? You are idle, shallow things, and I am not of your element."

"Hiei!"

"Also your clothing is quite deplorable: why are you dressed as a man?"

"I'm not dressed as a man! It's called "power dressing"!"

"Even dressed as a man you can't hide how weak you are. Leave those of us with a constitution for such tasks to continue unhindered."

"But Hiei–"

Botan growled in frustration as the link was terminated from Hiei's end.

"As charming and helpful as usual, I assume?" Shizuru asked Botan as she lifted her head again.

"No actually, he was terribly rude and unhelpful," she said, once again oblivious to Shizuru's cynicism. "It was rather difficult to be too cross with him though. You should have seen how he looked."

Keiko and Shizuru exchanged bemused looks before both turning to Botan questioningly.

"He looked just adorable," Botan explained.

"Hiei?" Keiko asked. "Hiei looked adorable?"

"Are we speaking about the same guy here?" Shizuru asked.

Botan nodded slowly, snapping shut her communicator and giving herself a fright.

"It's hard to explain…" she said softly. "He just looked so… Gentle…"

"Wasn't he telling you that you weren't worthy of his time?" Keiko asked.

Botan nodded again.

"Okay, you know what? I have to get to work, so I don't have time to get into how weird you're being today Botan," Shizuru said, closing over Botan's suitcase. "Come on girls, let's get out of here."

"I thought I looked quite dashing in this uniform…" Botan muttered as she helped Shizuru fasten the suitcase shut.

"Yeah, you're a regular knight in shining armour," Shizuru replied, winking at Keiko. "I'd be real happy if you showed up to rescue me from a tower."

"Now you're just being facetious, Shizuru!" Botan grumbled.

She hoisted up her suitcase and pouted moodily at Shizuru, who simply smiled back unsympathetically.

"I could keep up with those boys…" Botan muttered as she left the room.

"Not even if she tied rockets to her oar!" Shizuru whispered loudly to Keiko.

Botan growled out a moderate curse and stomped down the stairs. Shizuru and Keiko followed her at a distance through the house to the front door.

"Well then, if you girls won't support me, I bid you good day," she said dramatically, yanking open the door and starting to cross the threshold. "I shall just have to return to spirit world, bereft of friends and love and–ah!"

Botan squealed, her eyes crossing over as one of her ears suddenly felt as though someone had rammed a cupful of cotton into it. As her head buzzed and her eyes blurred in and out of focus, she turned to the source of the horrendous noise that had sounded so close to her ear that she had became temporarily deaf.

"Puu?" she yelled.

She had to yell just to hear herself.

"Puu!" Puu screamed at her again.

Botan closed here eyes and leaned back, and Keiko and Shizuru clamped their hands over their ears.

"What is wrong with that bird?" Shizuru asked once he had fallen silent again.

"Oh no!" Keiko whimpered. "Something terrible must have happened to Yusuke!"

Botan tilted her head as she studied Yusuke's spirit beast: he certainly did look distressed about something, but Yusuke had seemed fine when she had spoken to him on the communicator only moments earlier.

"He really shouldn't be out here making all this noise…" Shizuru pointed out as one of her neighbours almost fell out of an upstairs window upon sighting the giant blue bird on the doorstep.

"I'll take him back to the temple," Botan offered.

Keiko and Shizuru nodded their agreement and Botan summoned her oar, hanging her suitcase onto the handle and sitting on behind it.

"This way, Puu," she said, taking up into the air.

She watched over her shoulder to be sure that he was following her, and once he had lifted from the ground, she shot off towards the clouds, deciding that it was best to get him out of sight as quickly as possible before someone noticed him. Puu diligently followed her, crying out occasionally as they went. He seemed a little more at ease, and so Botan assumed that he was probably just hungry. With Yukina not at the temple to tend to him, he was probably just feeling neglected – though Botan was not really sure how it was possible for a spirit beast to feel neglected.

Back at the temple, Botan started to lower herself towards the lawns, only to have to veer off to one side as Puu dived towards her, looking almost irate.

"Puu!" she yelped, swerving around in a swooping arc to avoid his second attempt to spear her midair. "What are you doing?"

Puu screeched, almost deafening Botan again, and tried to again fly straight at her. Not wishing to become bird food, Botan shot straight up into the sky, flattening herself to her oar to maximise her speed. She kept going until she had crossed into spirit world, and even then she did not slow down: something was very, very wrong.

Next Chapter: The boys have encountered a problem on their journey and Hiei looks like he's fading fast: but when the gang come under attack, Hiei's saves the day – though no-one is quite sure how he did it. Chapter 4 – Tricky Nymph