"Hiei," Yukina said, "Genkai and I are going into town for the day." She looked at him sitting at the base of a tree outside, still wrapped in the grey blanket from before. He sure does hate being inside, she thought to herself.

He replied, "Do whatever you want."

"You're coming with us," she said, "we can't just leave you here. I know the snow melted already from yesterday but it's still cold and we have to put the fires out before we can leave. How will you stay warm?"

Hiei looked at her, knowing she spoke the truth. Even if he did stay in the temple, what if more intruders came? He knew he wouldn't be able to take them, not in his condition. He stood up, threw the blanket at the house and said, "Hn, guess I don't have a choice."

Genkai, Hiei, and Yukina started walking down the stairs. Yukina asked, "Have you spent much time in the city, Hiei?"

"No," he replied, "I only went to parks and slept in trees whenever I was in the city. Too much noise and too many humans for my taste." He noticed he got more tired after walking down so many stairs.

Genkai said, "We're taking the train, hope that won't be too much for you handle, being around so many humans and all."

After walking down several flights of stairs Hiei was already out of breath. He stopped and took a seat on the stairs. "Is this what it's like to be human?" he asked criptically, "Getting tired from stairs?!"

"Regular humans get tired easily," Genkai replied, "this is why I left so early in the morning, so we could take breaks like this just in case. We still have time." She looked over at the sun coming off the horizon.

"So this is what's it's like, riding in a train," Hiei said coldly, "it stinks in here."

Yukina sat next to him and said, "That's just how so many humans standing together smell. It does take some getting used to."

Theres no airflow in here, he thought to himself, no wonder the air is so stale and reeks of humans.

Genkai whispered, "Would you two be quiet? We're all human here." Hiei's eyes twitched at her. If he still had his energy he'd be able to run into the human city in an instant. Instead he'd have to ride it out in this hellhole for hours.

"This is going to be long ride," Hiei complained.

"If you'd lighten up Hiei maybe it won't feel so bad," Yukina said, smiling at him.

Genkai said, "I can manage the errands on my own, you two can do whatever you want. Stay in populated areas so certain supernatural-beings don't fight you." She started walking away.

"Was that her plan all along?" Hiei asked. He looked at his sister. They hadn't actually ever spent time together, mostly because she didn't know the truth.

"No," Yukina replied, "it was mine. Staying alone in that temple can get boring. Kazuma's been too busy to come and visit me since he's in school so much now. Having some company will be fun. Are you okay?"

"Stiff," he said, "from sitting still. That's never happened before. Human bodies are so fragil." It hurt while he walked but he sure as hell wasn't going to sit down again, that hurt worse.

"Come on!" Yukina said, walking up the ramp out of the train station. "My favorite ice cream vendor is around the corner here. Ever had that before?"

He replied, "I've heard of it." Human food didn't usually appeal to him.

Yukina bought them both vanilla ice cream cones with money she got from Genkai and motioned to a table. "Want to sit?" she asked as she handed him his cone.

"I can't," he replied, "this noise is making me sick." He didn't want to confess that he was still sore from sitting for all that time on the train. He walked through the door away from her. Yukina followed him and they started walking down the street again. Hiei took a bite of vanilla ice cream.

She asked, "It's good, right? Like sweet snow."

He asked, "This isn't going to lower my body temperature is it? I'm barely warm enough as it is?" Even if it does, he thought to himself, this tastes way too good to throw it away. He took another bite.

She replied, "No. You should be fine. Do you want to visit Kazuma? His house is around here."

"No."

"Right," she said, "you two don't like each other very much. You know he's said terrible things about you to me."

Hiei looked at her and asked, "Like what?"

She said, "He said you were evil and you'd bite off my head. You don't seem so evil to me."

"Ha," he replied, "I only kill those who are worthy or deserve to die. You nor him are either of those things." He took another bite of ice cream.

Yukina asked, "Why don't we go visit Kurama, see what he's up to?"

"His house is only two miles from here," Hiei replied, "why not?"

By the time they got there Hiei was exhausted. He couldn't believe it. Just a two mile walk made his legs hurt. Thankfully they had reached Kurama's house, which meant he could rest again.

"Is he getting any better?" Yusuke asked, "Do you even know?"

"I haven't been able to go over to Genkai's," Kurama replied, "he's no doubt irritated that he has to stay at her temple."

Kuwabara asked, "What do you mean he has to stay there? He can still leave whenever he wants, right? It's just a base for him."

Yusuke said, "Stupid, he's weaker than a regular human right now. Even I have trouble with all of those stairs and I have demon energy in my blood." He took a sip of water.

"Oh," Kuwabara said, "I guess I didn't think about that. Hope he's not giving Yukina too much trouble. I know Genkai can handle herself if he goes off on her or something." Kurama and Yusuke looked at each other but didn't say anything.

Yusuke asked, "You hear something?"

The front door opened and Yukina was on the otherside with Hiei. "Hey baby!" Kuwabara said to her.

"What are all of you doing here?" Hiei asked. He walked over to a chair and sat in it.

"We thought we'd get together when Yukina took you out of the mountains," Kurama replied. He looked over to the chair and saw the fire demon having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Yukina said, "It's great getting out of the mountains every once in a while. Right Hiei?" She looked at him and saw him fast asleep sitting in the chair.

"He's out cold," Kuwabara said.

"Already?" Yusuke said, "it is a bit of a walk from the train station I guess."

Yukina sat on the ground and said, "The walk over here really tired him out. I'm surprised he even made it. When I thought of bringing him here I was sure I'd have to carry him." She looked over at him again.

Kurama asked, "Is he doing any better?"

"It's hard for me to tell," she confessed, "he's still angry that his flame is gone. He can still barely swing his sword. It's already been several days since he came to the temple."

Yusuke said, "Damn, that poison stuff must have been bad. I still remember watching his drop after that guy impaled him."

Kuwabara asked, "Is he still throwing up all the time?" Yukina nodded. "He's not giving you a hard time is he?"

"No," she replied, "he's a lot kinder than you give him credit for, Kazuma."

"He's only truely antagonistic to Kuwabara," Kurama said, "I assure you. He knows his weaknesses and that if he were to leave the temple before he fully recovers he'd be done for."

"Any new visitors?" Yusuke asked, "I mean the uninvited kind."

Yukina replied, "Not since that first group. It bothers Hiei that he couldn't cut them down as easily as he could before. He's also having trouble keeping himself warm now that winter is around the corner."

"What are you talking about?" Kuwabara asked, "He's a fire demon."

"He can't use his energy, stupid," Yusuke replied.

"Isn't he just warm naturally or something?" he asked.

Kurama explained, "He maintains his body temperature naturally with his demon energy, without it he could freeze to death." He looked over at Hiei sleeping peacefully upright in the chair was he was sitting in.