Me: *sigh* Three. I only got three reviews for last chapter. I admit it, I was stalling updating to wait for more, but I got too annoyed.

Yusuke: *low whistle* Three? Damn, that does suck.

Me: Hence the long drawn out sigh. Thank you to No Name, Wistful Sin and Neko-Fire Demon Tempest. for reviewing. Go read Sin's stuff, it's amazing! I also have a warning. Hiei is OOC in the beginning part. I wanted a fluffy moment between him and Naomi.

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. Wish I did, but I don't. So, as the song from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron goes: GET OFF OF MY BACK!

Chapter 12: I've got blisters on my blisters!

Naomi's senses trickled back to her slowly, like the way a tiny trickle of droplets comes together to form a stream. The first sense to come was hearing. She twitched her ears in a full circle, taking in all of the sounds. The loudest was the rumbling snores of Gato, right next to her. No doubt the fool cat demon had been on guard and then fallen asleep.

She nearly smiled at the thought. She almost sounded like Hiei for a second. Concentrating, she pushed her hearing beyond her second-in-command to the ruffling and shuffling of her sleeping wards. Tsuki's soft breathing sounded near Minnow's rattled breathing. Naomi made a mental note to tell Miyoma to give her some herbs. Pushing her ears beyond even that, she found the spirit detectives huddled by themselves, separated from the group. Only Hiei's breathing was missing. 'But that's to be expected. He never did like to be around others.' she thought.

The next sense to come was smell. Earthy scents surrounded her, telling her she hadn't been moved during her sleep. Gato's scent of sweat and fur nearly blocked out everything else. Naomi scrunched up her nose in an effort to drive it out, but it was no good. He must have been closer than she realized. She growled, not even realizing that her sense of speech had come, and sniffed in vain to pick out Hiei's unique smell of musk and smoke. Still, Gato drove out the other smells.

She pried open her eyes to try and find where her friend was. Her vision swam for a bit, but she forced it to straighten with a few blinks. A soft squeak escaped her. Gato's face was barely a foot away from her. Naomi scrambled away from him, tensing when he snorted loudly and sighing in relief when he didn't wake. She raised her head to survey the rest of the people. Her sight first landed on Tsuki and the elders. The older demons were all huddled together, seeking warmth from the others' frail bodies. Tsuki was on the outer edge, between Minnow and the fire.

The wolf leader was hit by an unexpected wave of love and affection for her daughter. Yes she could be difficult, but she was still her child, the one being that bonded herself and Hiei for as long as she may live. Naomi fervently hoped that that would be for a very long time. Tsuki shivered a bit and cuddled closer to Minnow, who unconsciously shifted to accomadate the tiny body. Naomi almost giggled at the sight. Minnow would never have any idea how grateful she was that the old demoness looked after the young one. Tsuki looked to Minnow like she would a grandmother, someone to talk to about her problems and hear stories from.

She looked away from them and attempted to find Koenma's detectives. They were huddled together on the opposite side of the clearing, separated from the villagers. She almost smirked at the positions they were in. Yusuke and Kuwabara were sprawled out side by side, both snoring so loud that she could hear them from where she sat. Kurama was curled up into a ball near their heads with his knees pulled up to his chest. She almost laughed out loud. It was likely a habit left over from his previous life.

Only Hiei was missing, but she didn't think it was odd. She knew there were times when he suffered from insomnia. A pang of concern caught her by surprise, and she rubbed at the spot her heart would be. She thought she'd gotten over him. She wasn't one of those foolish women that didn't know what the warmth in her chest and belly meant. She'd already felt them, before Hiei left the village. What she didn't know was why she was still in love with him, after he abandoned her.

A rustle from behind the detectives made Naomi tense and narrow her eyes. She sighed a breath of relief when Hiei walked into view. It would have been difficult to explain to Miyoma why she had fresh injuries if it had been an enemy. Then curiosity made her ears twitch toward him. What was he doing alone this late at night? A midnight patrol? He looked at her with those red eyes, and Naomi could have sworn a tingle went down her spine. She felt the familiar prodding at her mental barrier, and dropped her shields. "Hey Hiei. What's up?"

He nodded his own greeting before replying. "I've just been on patrol." She hid a grin, knowing her earlier guess had been correct. Hiei narrowed his eyes at her, but otherwise didn't mention it. "No activity, which is surprising. From what I know of snake demons, they're disgustingly fond of sneaking up on sleeping travelers, injecting them with venom, and watching them slowly die."

She winced at the visual before replying. "Ugh, that's a disgusting mental image. It's too bad we don't have a snake demon among us. Then Miyoma could make antidotes and anti-venom for whenever this happens again." She gestured to all of her, and saw his expression darken in a way that made her heart beat erratically. Pretending not to notice both of their reactions, she patted the ground next to her in invitation.

To her surprise, the fire demon actually took it. He weaved silently in and out of the sleeping bodies, not even stopping when one of them snorted loudly when he passed. He stopped next to her and gracefully sat down, taking his sword from his belt and propping it on his shoulder. He caught Naomi eyeing it, and smirked at her. "Yes, wolf, it's the same sword I used on you when you were stealing from my river."

He watched in amusement as she puffed out her cheeks indignantly. "It wasn't your river, dammit! It was a fluke, a chance of fate, that I just happened to be fishing in the part of the river that was in your territory. And you didn't have to scare the crap out of me!"

"I didn't have to pull you out either." he shot back. "I could have just left you to drown and feed the fish that you were trying to eat. I didn't, though. I saved your life, and this is the thanks I get?" He sniffed dramatically, sticking his nose up in the air.

Naomi silenced a giggle, rather liking their playful banter. It reminded her of simpler times, before the village even came into being. "I wouldn't have even been in danger if you'd use the brain you have beneath the funky hair!" Hiei glared at her, affronted, and Naomi stifled laughter behind her hand. "Aw, you know I'm just playin'. I love your hair!" On a whim, she reached over and ran her fingers through his hair. She smiled when he practically purred and bent his head to give her better access. It was softer than she'd thought it would be. Neither of them realized they were moving until Hiei's head was in her lap and she was cradling him like she would a precious gift. She paused with her fingers still in his hair. "Huh... When did we get like this?"

Hiei, looking far more adorable than he had in ages, blinked up at her in confusion before he realized their position as well. "I have no idea." Neither gave any sign that they were uncomfortable or awkward at all, so both just shrugged it off and Naomi continued, for lack of a better word, petting him. They stayed like that well into the night, eventually falling asleep together.

Tsuki was roughly woken up by the man she believed she hated most in the world. She rubbed her red eyes tiredly, glaring up at her father when she removed them. "What do you want, asshole?" she growled. Hiei pointed, stiff-limbed, to a patch of grass on fire not even three yards from where she'd previously been asleep. She narrowed her eyes, attempting to figure out what the hell he was getting at without damaging her pride. It was about that time when she realized her energy was churning without her knowledge. With an accidental yelp, Tsuki quelled the storm inside of her. The fire lessened and eventually spluttered out without her energy to feed it.

She glared up at Hiei, who now stood with arms crossed sternly over his chest. "You need to control your energy before you end up burning everyone alive." he snapped harshly. "And as much as I'm certain we both loathe the concept, I'm the only one who's able to teach you. I understand that we don't like one another, but we can at least be civil towards each other until you know how to control yourself in your sleep. Is that understood, brat?" Tsuki growled at the insult, but nodded anyway. "Good."

She blinked once, and he disappeared. She blinked again in surprise, and he reappeared right in front of her. This time, he held a stick in his hand. It was as long as his forearm with the width of his finger. He flicked his wrist once, and the tip was set on fire. The half-wolf, half-fire girl said grudgingly, "Neat trick."

He smirked and put the flame out before tossing it to her. She caught it out of reflex. "First lesson. Energy manipulation. I assume your mother has taught you at least something useful." When Tsuki nodded, Hiei continued. "Forget it."

She gaped at him, and snapped, "The hell is that supposed to mean, old man? I can't just forget the first lesson she freaking ingrained into my system!" They glared at each other for a minute before Tsuki added, "No, literally, that was the very first thing she taught me. As soon as I could understand basic speech, she taught me how to defend myself with the shadows."

Hiei snorted and rolled his eyes. "Figures she'd teach you how to be a vicious little sneak." he grumbled, and could have almost sworn he saw Tsuki grin for a second before her face fell back into the scowl. "I didn't mean forget your shadow-training, brat. As you showed yesterday, you inherited both types of energies from us: her dark powers and my fire powers. The way she taught you won't be helpful in training your fire energy."

Tsuki looked confused, and he sighed and said, "How to put this without sounding like a pansy like Kurama..." The insult to his friend came naturally, and this time he was certain she grinned. He decided there wasn't anyway to not sound like a pansy, and just ground out, "Controlling your fire means controlling your inner fire. Your shadow powers entail, for lack of a better expression, emptying yourself of your emotions and feelings and focusing on the darkness both outside and in.

"Fire, on the other hand, is focused solely on the inside. We concentrate on our emotions instead of emptying them. Some of the bigger fire-pansies concentrate on the pathetic emotions, like," and here his features contorted into a part-ways disgusted and part-ways anger, "love and good-will and all the other complete bullshit that makes a demon weak. As for others, including myself," he held out a hand and a purple fireball appeared in his palm, "we focus on anger, and hatred, and all of the things that make demon world what it really is... a place of darkness where only the strongest survive."

Tsuki looked almost scared, and Hiei was caught off-guard by a twinge of guilt. Then he scowled at himself, because guilt was for the weak. He clenched his fist, extinguishing the fireball, and nodded toward the stick still held in her hand. "Focus hard on your hatred. It makes us strong." He left her staring after his back as he went to wake up his team, kicking Kuwabara in the side. "Wake up, fool. It's time we were moving."

Kuwabara cried out at the unexpected contact and flailed his arms, screaming about an ambush. His yelling caused others nearby to jolt up in shock and fear, and Hiei quickly put the human back under with a well-aimed punch to the back of the head. "Dumb-ass..." he growled, turning to his other two teammates. Kurama had been one of the ones to come awake, but he was smiling politely. "Glad to see you're up, fox." Hiei grumbled, looking dangerously close to sulking.

Kurama chuckled and nodded to his friend. "Good morning to you as well, Hiei." They watched the rest of the villagers rouse themselves in lazy interest. To Hiei's concealed amusement, Gato was giving himself a morning bath, running his tongue along the fur on his arm and glaring at anyone that looks like they would say something. Kurama watched his friend from the corner of his eye and finally said, "You seem, dare I say it, distracted this morning, Hiei."

Hiei gave a 'hn' and tilted his head in Tsuki's direction, who was glaring at her 'exercise' while grumbling. "I think I may have just doomed us all by telling the brat to act like me." Kurama masked a snicker by coughing into his fist while Hiei gave a tiny smirk. "God help us all if she takes that to heart, though. Makai could barely handle one of me when I was a child. Imagine what would happen if there was a female version and she went PMS on everyone."

Kurama's coughing was now indicative of hacking up a lung. When he settled back down, though, he smiled. Something was changing within his friend. Hiei barely ever joked so freely, and even then only ever gave off amusement when someone, namely Kuwabara, was insulted. "Would you like me to go scouting and see if there's a water source near by? I imagine there would be at least one demon among the villagers who would like some morning refreshment."

The black-haired demon was actually rather surprised by the offer. He didn't expect his teammates to treat him any differently after the truth about him was revealed, Kurama least of all. Then again, the fox demon was too damned formal for his own good. "Say that again, but like the regular Kurama." he growled. Kurama looked surprised at his response. Then Hiei sighed and shook his head. "And besides, I already scouted out earlier. There's a river a bit to the south of here we can stop at on our way."

After receiving his nod, Hiei walked away to where the elders were just stirring themselves. Minnow was already up and watching him approach. "Hello Hiei." the old demoness croaked. "My mouth is parched this morning. Would you happen to know if there's a stream or a river nearby where I can quench my thirst?" She coughed a few times to clear her throat, but Hiei frowned at her raspy breathing after she was done. "Excuse me." she said, grinning weakly.

Hiei snorted and crossed his arms, glaring down at the kneeling elder. "You know damn well you aren't well enough to travel all that way on your own." he snapped. Minnow glared right back and was about to snap back when another coughing fit caused her to hunch herself. In a rare gesture of care, Hiei knelt down on one knee and rubbed her back, trying to help her breathing a little. When the fit subsided, she bowed her head in defeat. In a decidedly much gentler voice, Hiei said, "I'll ask Miyoma to give you something for your breathing." But they both knew her body was weakening. They both knew just how old she was. Both knew that Minnow would never see her home again.

Minnow nodded, obviously deciding not to say anything, and settled back down. The other elders were just beginning to stir. Kiyoko, the elder who'd insulted Kurama the day before, was staring hatefully at him. Hiei ignored the elder in favor of checking on Naomi and Miyoma, and snorted when he discovered that they were still arguing. By listening briefly, he discerned that Naomi didn't want to be carried. He sighed at her stubbornness and internally winced when she caught sight of him. "Hiei, please tell Miyoma that I don't need to be carried."

Before answering, he looked at the healer for confirmation. She sighed and nodded. "Alright then. Miyoma, Naomi doesn't need to be carried." Naomi sent a triumphant look to the other woman only to deflate when Hiei continued. "But I want a guard on her at all times." When she looked ready to argue, Hiei rapped his knuckles quickly on her head. "As difficult as this may be for you, wolf, use your brain. Whoever attacked us was trying to kill you, not me. The arrow that hit you was the one poisoned. My guess is that the attack on me was just to get your attention."

Naomi blinked and narrowed her eyes, frowning. "That's a bad sign, then... Whoever the attacker was knew us well enough to know that I'd take the hit if it saved your life..." Neither one liked the implications of what that meant. Either someone was watching them or it was an inside job, and both Naomi and Hiei disliked either option. "Fine then. If I must have a guard, then I won't argue." she relented with a sigh. It was an unspoken agreement between the two that they'd discuss it later.

Hiei nodded and turned to go when Gato looked up from his bath. "I'll take first shift and find two other demons to rotate with. Sound good to you?" When he nodded, the cat demon stretched his arms in the air. "Got it. I'm ready to move out when you give the signal Hiei." His eyes drifted to something over Hiei's shoulder and he bent closer, whispering so that only Hiei, Naomi, and Miyoma could hear, "Are you sure we can trust the fox, Hiei? He's looking over here, and I'm not sure I like the look in his eye."

The fire demon looked over his shoulder to see Kurama watching with a golden glint in his eyes. Hiei looked back and met Gato's eyes steadily. "I know I can trust him just like I know I can trust you. To question Kurama is to question yourself. If you don't trust him, then at least trust my judgement." They measured each other up before Gato nodded and went to stand by Naomi. Hiei nodded back and stalked over to Kurama who was indeed smirking in amusement. "If you have something to say, fox, then say it." he snapped, scowling.

Kurama chuckled, and Hiei decided that it was a chuckle that he didn't like. "Of course not, Hiei-sama. Whatever made you think that?" He expertly dodged Hiei's blow to the head and gave a delicate laugh. "Come now, Hiei, you know I'm only teasing you."

Hiei scowled at the demon he reluctantly called his best friend and crossed his arms stubbornly, glaring at Kurama in annoyance. "Mocking me is more like it." he said, his scowl becoming more pronounced. "Don't think I don't know you well enough to know the difference, fox."

At first, the former fox thief blinked and looked at the sky, seemingly deep in thought. Then he smiled at Hiei and nodded slightly, all serious and sage-like in his expression. "Okay, yes, there might have been some mockery in there." Steam literally rose from Hiei's shoulders while his fists trembled at his sides. "But really, Hiei, who besides you can fault me for it? For as long as I've known you, and please keep in mind I have known you for a while, you have never given the slightest hint that you care about those you deem weaker than yourself. And yet here you are, seemingly content to care for an entire village. Please, tell me what happened between then and now to cause that miraculous change."

The words seemed to catch the attention of every living creature in the clearing. Hiei felt the heated gazes from everyone, human, demon, or other wise, pounding from all directions. He ignored them in favor of weighing his options. If he answered truthfully, that would not only make him seem weak but also open more doors for questions. If he lied, he had no doubt that Kurama would notice and call him out on it. If he just walked away, he knew that everyone would hound him for answers, and that was something that Hiei just wouldn't accept. Picking his words carefully, he said, "I was a different demon back then. You of all people should understand that, Kurama."

The answer did its purpose and made Kurama shut up. It was a slightly low blow for their 'don't ask, don't tell' relationship, but Hiei wasn't comfortable enough yet with the situation to tell even his friend. A sudden laugh from Gato made both demons refrain from jumping, and the cat demon sauntered from Naomi's side to give Kurama a friendly clap on the back. "Ha, been a while since I've seen him think that hard. You must give the little prick more trouble than I do!"

He laughed while Kurama just gave a polite smile, and Hiei resisted the urge to groan and mouth 'Why me?' to the sky like the Gods would answer him. Instead, he rubbed his temple with his fingers and said, "I swear to God, I'm killing myself if you two team up against me." He tactfully ignored Tsuki's should of "DO IT!" and proceeded to raise his voice so everyone could hear him, "Is everyone ready?" The collective reply was positive. "We're traveling south by south-east. There's a river there that we can use to get drinks and stock up supplies. Now let's go home!" Silence was all he got, and Hiei suddenly became aware of exactly what he'd said. "Oh, you know what I mean." he growled out. His team were the only ones to laugh.

About an hour later, Hiei was about ready to make good on his word. Yusuke and Kuwabara had grown bored and decided to thoroughly taunt, tease, mock, and embarrass their pint-sized teammate by exaggerating his new-found position. The two would take turns running up to him and ask if he would like them to feed him grapes from a vine, or other stupid things that made a twitch develop in one of Hiei's eyes. Kuwabara had even found a large leaf that he tried using to fan Hiei and block the sun's rays from him. Hiei promptly burned the leaf and sent the human fleeing for his life.

And of course, Naomi found all of this hilarious. "It's not funny!" he snapped at her when she was leaning on his arm, doubled over from laughter.

Naomi gasped for breath and managed to splutter, "Yes it is! Oh dear Gods, yes it is!" He had to look away when she looked up at him with shining eyes. Since they hadn't met anyone so far, Hiei had lifted the guard from her. The difference between her attitudes was tremendous.

Now he was sending out frequent scouting parties. Hiei wondered if he should worry that being the leader had come back so easily. Each scouting party has four types of demons in them: animal, psychic, elemental, and ones with basic healing powers. Since he was both psychic and elemental, Hiei found himself doing quite a few of the patrols, especially since there were so few psychics among the villagers.

He was on one now, a good mile and a half in front of his villagers. He and two other demons, Maya and Taka, were squatting in a tree, overseeing a huge meadow could easily accommodate everyone. The two he was with were unknown to him. Probably joined after he left. So Hiei did his best to keep his distance from them. They were sitting in a branch above him, arguing quietly. "It's too open. Naomi-sama will be in too much danger of an attack." Maya hissed.

Taka gave a loud snort, giving no sign that he cared at all about Hiei's sharp and slightly reproachful glare. "The entirely village will be too open, but we wouldn't do very well as demons if we couldn't fight back. Besides, like Hiei said at the big-ass tree back there," he gestured with a furry paw, for Taka was a lion demon, "if we can see where our opponent is coming from, we've already won half of the battle. These trees may feel home to you, Maya, but not to me."

Maya was a bird-like demon. Her brown plumage and white head gave her the appearance of a bald eagle. She ruffled her feathers in annoyance and fixed one amber eye on her companion. "This isn't about comfort, you fool! It's about the safety and protection of our village as a whole. Don't act like distance attacks have never happened before. Our leader herself can use our very own shadows against us!"

They went on in the same fashion. Hiei did his best to ignore their bickering, much like he did with Yusuke and Kuwabara. Motion at the other end of the field caught his attention, and he held up his hand for the other two to fall silent. They did instinctively, and all three tensed when two people came into view. Neither of them had any special markings to identify their type or rank, but the leader one walked with a heavy limp while the other held their arm at an awkward angle.

Hiei dispatched Taka with a flicker of his Jagan with instructions to halt the village until he summoned them again. The air next to him stirred and the lion demon was gone. Taka had only been gone for a moment before the lead female spoke between clenched teeth. Hiei couldn't tell if it was from pain or annoyance. "You had to antagonize that boar demon, didn't you? You had to rile him, had to challenge him, and then had to get your freaking ass handed to you!"

The second one snorted and said, "I didn't ask you to come save the day, you know. I had the situation under control."

The first girl turned around with some difficult and pinned the other with a steely gaze. "You were hanging in thin airby the arm, with nothing holding you up." She made a gesture to her companion's wounded appendage with a scowl. "If you honestly think that I'd believe you were handling it, then you obviously don't know me as well as we both thought you did."

Hiei studied the two while their argument continued. They were about the same height, taller than himself but shorter than Yusuke. From far away, they looked like they'd come up to about the detective's chin. The one with the injured arm stood with her arms crossed, despite the pain it must have caused, with her chin jutted out defiantly. She had short black hair that curled around her ears, but there was a slight reddish tinge to the tips. She wore a battered old red tunic with one sleeve ripped off and black shorts that fell to just above her knees.

The other woman looked very different. Her hair fell down to almost her lower back in matted tangles. It looked like a bright lavender color, but Hiei saw some streaks of dark purple thrown in there. She wore a one piece fighting tunic, much like what Kurama had worn in the Dark Tournament, except this one was dark purple lined with gold. Instead of pants, she wore a black skirt that ended mid-shin. There was a high slit in it, but the jagged edges in it said it wasn't a fashion statement.

Maya nudged him with a feathered arm. Hiei hadn't even felt her settle next to him. She gestured above where the two women stood with her head. About five snake demons were watching the new arrivals, waiting to ambush them. Hiei didn't think twice; he didn't even think once. When they leaped from their trees, so did he. The difference was that he was fasted. By the time the two women looked up, two of the snake demons were already dead. Maya flew from where she'd been perched and landed behind him, next to the other females.

One of the ambushers gave a loud hiss. Even more snake demons came from the forest, circling the four demons until they were surrounded by hissing, scaly black waves. Something stirred in the back of Hiei's mind. It wasn't the feeling of a telepath trying to gain entrance into his brain. It was more like his subconscious was attempting to tell him something. He impatiently shook the nagging thought off. Now was not the time for solving his mind's cryptic puzzles.

The two women had fallen into defensive positions, the bright haired one letting out a threatening growl. From the corner of his mouth, Hiei murmured to them, "How effectively can you fight with your injuries?"

The two-toned female answered for them both. "We're always fit to fight whenever we have to."

He snorted impatiently, idly wondering why the enemies hadn't already struck. "That's not what I asked, woman. I want to know how effective you'd be in the fight." Neither answered, and he directed his next question to Maya. "Can you heal them if I buy you enough time?" The bird demon nodded tensely. "Then get to work." With a sweep of his arm, a ring of fire sprang to life around them all.

Through the sheet of flames, he saw the nearest wave back away nervously. Hiei mentally ran through what he knew of snake demons. Their hard scales gave them a natural resistance to heat. That gave him a disadvantage. They have venom in their fangs. One bite could be enough to kill him in a matter of hours. Well then, he'll just have to cut their heads off before they could have that chance.

The first row shuffled closer to his barrier. Hiei made the flames jump higher, if only to just intimidate them a little more, but they just jumped right through and charged. Hiei readied himself to defend the females behind him and withdrew his sword. Half of the enemies were dead before they could even blink. He heard the crack of bones being reset and would have at least thought about being sympathetic if he wasn't trying to control his blood lust. He kept his breathing even and narrowed his eyes, for once refusing to give in to his instincts.

The half that he hadn't killed had backed away when they saw him kill their comrades, but didn't run. They ignored the heat that no doubt lapped at them and stared at Hiei with beady little eyes that were filled with malice. Any lesser demon would have been unnerved, but he just stare evenly right back at them. One or two of them shifted nervously, but made no other motion to escape. 'Their funerals.' Hiei thought uncaringly.

The center demon made the first attack. Hiei did the most minimal dodge needed and ran his sword through it's chest. The pitiful weakling gurgled a bit, choking on a mixture of blood and saliva, before it slumped over in death. The far left demon jumped forward immediately after. Hiei swung his sword in it's direction, the carcass being flung in it's direction to knock the bastard down.

Pure instinct was the only reason Hiei didn't lose his head. The moment he felt the air stir behind him, he ducked. A few hairs were taken off the top of his head, that was it. His attack gave a strangled hiss before he even turned. When he did, he saw the short-haired woman had broken the lizard's neck. She gave him a sadistic grin. "Don't step on a crack or I'll come up and break your back!" she chirped.

Hie snorted, turning to acknowledge the second wave of enemies as they took their fallen comrades places. "There aren't any cracks and you broke his neck. Don't tell me you're too incompetent to know the difference."

Her face immediately fell into a horrified expression. "Oh dear Gods in the sky, not another one!" She looked behind them to where Maya and the other demon was. "Violet, he sounds just like you! He's insulting me with sarcasm right before we start kicking ass!"

A crack and a pained hiss followed her exclamation, and the woman called Violet growled out sarcastically, "I'll be sure to lament the loss of your dignity later." She stepped up beside Hiei opposite her friend. "What now? Are we just going to wait here until they come for our heads?"

He didn't answer her, choosing instead to address Maya. "Fly back to camp. Tell Naomi not to freak before telling her what's going on. I discovered the reason why we weren't all killed last night." The soft stirring of feathers and the flap of wings was the only answer he got. To the two at his sides, he said, "Keep their attention. Make sure their eyes are on us. If Maya can make it back, we may have reinforcements."

The still unnamed demoness said casually, "Might not be necessary. They're retreating." Hiei narrowed his eyes at the army of snakes. He hadn't realized it at first, but the ones in the back were slowly backing away, the ones in the front following. Those closest to them were hissing and spitting like they didn't want to leave, but they withdrew nonetheless.

When the last of the enemies were gone, Hiei extinguished the fire he'd conjured and turned to the women. They eyed him warily, as if they were unsure what to make of his interference. He mentally shrugged. It wasn't his problem if they didn't like him or trust him. So with a faint nod of his head, he started to leave. "Wait." Violet said. She seemed to be struggling with herself before saying, "You have saved our lives, swordsman. And for that, we owe you a debt and gratitude."

Hiei snorted and stayed turned away. "You can keep both. I don't care what you do or where you go. I only saved you because there is no honor in ambushing an already injured demon."

The short-haired woman scoffed and said, "Whatever you say, short-stack. You saved our skins, we owe you, deal with it. My name is Phire. That's the only time I'm gonna say it, so remember it!" Despite himself, he had to suppress a snort of amusement. "Until we save your ass, you're stuck with us. Love it, hate it, I don't give a damn. You just have to deal with it."

Me: AND THAT IS IT! What do you guys think? Two new characters that I thought would be fun. Also, I have a poll in my profile concerning this story. If you'd all vote in it, I would much appreciate it.