Hiei slowly started to wake up as I finished wrapping his bandages. He was clearly in pain but hid it to the best of his abilities. It had not been long since he had been hit, under a half hour, but it seemed as though it had happened years ago with how the seconds had stretched into hours. Clearly the spirit energy that Yusuke had given him was helping some. I gave him some of mine to supplement what he had and used more of it to grow a plant. I gave the plant just a little of Hiei's blood from a bandage. It began to clone it and fill a bud with it. I used it just as doctors used a blood transfusion which was basically what it was.

The use of that much energy tired me quickly but I would not stop, not when Hiei's life was on the line. To prevent myself from using too much energy, I put the plant on one of Hiei's wounds. Instead of creating blood, it soaked up what it could from the bandages on top and squirted it into Hiei's arm. If there were any bacteria on the bandages then Hiei would become very sick. I knew this but did it anyway, a sick Hiei was better, if not more annoying, than a dead one.

Just as I finished that the phone rang, it was Kuwabara. I told him everything that had happened and he came rushing over. Tears streamed down his face as he thought of what it would be like to lose a member of the team. There was nothing left that I could do. I was too exhausted to stay awake and too drained to help Hiei. I told Kuwabara to keep an eye on him and tell me when Yusuke got here. I then laid down on the floor and feel fast asleep.

I had slept for an hour when I was shook awake. Yusuke was standing over me. Behind him I could see Yukina and Genki standing over Hiei, healing him as much as they could. Yukina suddenly cried out in pain and collapsed into Kuwabara's arms. She had used up more energy than she should have. Genki continued for as long as she could before stopping.

"I stopped the bleeding" she explained. "And healed as much internal damage as I could but he has lost a lot of blood and had been injured before the car even touched him. Frankly, I don't know if he is going to make it. If he does, it will be because Kurama used that plant. I will stay here for the night and heal him more in the morning. Yukina will do the same."

"I'm staying too" Yusuke said as he stood up.

"I'm not going to let the shrimp die!" Kuwabara confirmed.

I led them downstairs. Genki and Yukina both slept on couches and Kuwabara and Yusuke took the floor. I stayed awake with Hiei, watching him for the slightest change. It was only now that I realized how much I cared about him, how much I cared about all of them. Long ago they had stopped being my partners, they were even more than friends. Every last one of them was family to me. Nothing could break that bond other than death.

I nearly screamed in fear as I saw Botan enter the room. I quickly put two and two together, Hiei had died. I ran over to his bed and lifted his hand. He still had a pulse. Did Botan being here just mean that he was going to die? I looked up at her pleadingly for an answer.

"don't worry," she sounded calm even though Hiei laid dieing. "I am only here to visit him because I am his friend. Koenma will also be here soon.

I must have breathed I sigh of relief but I don't remember it. I smoothed back Hiei's hair and looked at his face once. It was twisted in pain even though he slept. I felt a rush of sympathy for him as I reached into a bag that I had gotten from under my bed. I pulled out two seeds and held them in my palm. When I grew them I would take the sap out of them to make a powerful pain killer.

I put some energy into them and suddenly the room began to spin. It sounded like I was underwater as edges began to blur and darken. The last thing that I remember was hitting the floor and hearing Botan shriek.

When I woke up it was daylight out. I realized what had happened, I had used up too much spirit energy just like Yukina. I was laid out on the floor of my room with a pillow beneath me and a quilt on top. The room stank of day old blood and other less comforting odors of filth that was bound to accumulate when someone was forced to say in bed.

I stood up and the room spun again. Once it righted its self I stumbled over to my bed. Hiei was still in it and was still asleep. Kuwabara was watching him as Yukina tried to help him. They seemed surprised that I was awake.

"Kurama!" Kuwabara exclaimed as he quickly stood up. "We didn't think that you would ever wake up! You have been asleep for over a day!"

"What!" I could not believe it! I had been asleep when I knew that Hiei needed me the most. Although I hated myself for it I knew that I had deeply needed the sleep.

"I did not wake up until an hour ago" Yukina tried to comfort me and it worked.

Hiei began to stir. He moaned in agony as he tried to movie his injured leg. Suddenly I remembered the pain killer that I had been working on. I asked Kuwabara about it and he had said that Botan had used the plants just as I would have. A vile of thick syrup was on my desk as proof. I wanted to thank her but Kuwabara explained that she had had to leave but she had told him that she would come back. I hoped that she was only going to come back for another friendly visit.

"Kurama?" Hiei questioned. Clearly his vision was blurry or he was not entirely awake.

"Save your strength" I told him even though I wanted him to keep talking. Thinking better of it, I asked him a question. "Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere" he moaned. "My leg hurts the worst. I don't even want to know what it looks like. Everything feels weak and my stomach feels terrible."

"From the wound?" I asked hoping that that was the only reason that it hurt.

"No" he moaned again and clutched it.

"Kuwabara, help me move him. These sheets are filthy, its I wonder that he hasn't died of infection yet!"

Kuwabara lifted him up carefully as I instructed. I pulled the sheets off of the bed and quickly changed them. The accumulative filth gave off one last stench as a parting gift. Instead of throwing them in the wash I pitched them into the trash. Yusuke saw what I was doing and rushed to help. I told him where the sheets were and told him to do it quickly. I called for Kuwabara to take Hiei into the bathroom.

I was there when he came. I had a bucket of hot water knowing that Hiei would prefer it to be boiling if I could have managed to put my hands in it long enough to wet a wash cloth. With a towel as a pillow, Hiei laid in the tub. I carefully removed each of his bandages and washed his wounds thoroughly. Kuwabara got pale and I ordered him out at once. I heard a knock at the door and told them to come in. Yukina was standing there, waiting to be put to good use. Remembering what had happened to Kuwabara I told her that she might not want to stay here. She reassured me that this was where she wanted to be and came to my side.

I put her in charge of holding Hiei's head up because I wanted to be the one who risked reopening the wounds so that I would have no one to blame other than myself. Hiei was still awake through this and eventually released a scream. The sound brought Yusuke running into the small bathroom. I explained to him that it hurt when I was cleaning the wound but it was necessary. He agreed and whet back to caring for Kuwabara who had apparently feinted after he left the bathroom.

I gave Hiei a little more of the pain killer and finished my work. The plant make him a little drowsy but it was better than being awake and feeling the pain. I ran back into my room, leaving Yukina in charge of doing some healing though I did not want her to overwork herself again. I grew another plant that also had some pain killing qualities. When it came in contact with blood it released just a little pain killer. Although it worked well, Hiei would still be in some pain. I also grew some bamboo to make a splint out of. Genki had informed me that she had healed some of his leg, just enough to keep the bone in place, before she moved on to his internal wounds which were very extensive.

When I re-bandaged Hiei's leg and abdomen I wrapped it in leaves from the plant first. He would be more awake but in less pain, something that I knew he would appreciate. I had avoided it the first time because I had been reluctant to remove the bandages.

When we moved Hiei back to my bed he was sleeping again. I watched him for some time, counting my blessings that Hiei was alive and that his mother was out on a trip. I would have to explain the blood in my room but I could take care of that later. I reassured Yusuke and Kuwabara that Yukina and I could handle it from here and they left with Genki. Just incase we needed her quickly, Genki was staying with Yusuke.

Yukina was asleep on the floor when Hiei woke up again. As I had promised, I woke her up the moment that he opened his eyes. The pain killer that I had fed him had warn off but the leaves wrapped around his wounds prevented him from being in too much pain. Now that he was awake and not drugged, we started telling him everything that had happened. He was thankful even though he did not say so. I could see it in his eyes.

He complained about everything that he had before, not remembering anything that had happened after the crash. That was to be expected I suppose. I figured that this time he was up for good.

I asked Yukina to leave the room for a moment which she did without questioning why. I wanted, no needed, to talk to Hiei alone. After this incident he had to tell her or else I would and that was final. After persistent bugging, I got him to agree. This time I left the room and let them talk.

Yukina ran out of the room with tears in her eyes. She hugged me and smiled. She screamed a few times about how she had found her brother before she calmed back down again. One of the conditions that I had set with Hiei was that he could be the one to tell Kuwabara so I had to prevent Yukina from doing so without telling her about the agreement. To make a long story short, I did. I don't remember how but I somehow managed it.

Hiei got my attention again. He needed help of some sort. I went in to see a blushing demon, a very rare site. He explained that he really needed to be able to walk but could not because of his leg. I understood quickly and helped him into the bathroom. I was never more grateful that Hiei was a demon and not a human. A human would have been embarrassed about going in front of someone, a demon was only embarrassed about asking for help.

Genki came by that afternoon with antibiotics to ward off the infection which was certainly coming. About that time I looked back at Hiei. This was going to be a difficult journey for everyone involved but maybe it was one worth taking. I can unerstand just how mortal everyone of us now. I learned that Hiei is strong but no one is indestructible.