Disclaimer: I only own the characters that aren't in the anime or manga. Flames are encouraged, but please give me the reason for your flame so things may be fixed in the future if needed.

"We can't live in the wilderness," Botan said one day. "Maybe you forgot, but I'm a human. I need things like a soft place to sleep and an actual roof over my head."

Hiei looked up from skinning a Makai deer. "When did you decide this?" he asked.

"I've been thinking about it for maybe over a month. I thought it'd be fun to live outside at first…and you were there to protect me of course, but I wasn't raised like you were."

The fire demon gazed thoughtfully at her. They had been living in the wild for several months now. He had quickly taken a liking to her and he had decided that she would be his mate. He had never stopped to wonder if Botan was happy living the way he was used to. As her words entered his mind, he realized that he would have to keep her happy if he were to live in peace. When Botan was angry, she could stay this way for a week. But what could he do? Was he a carpenter?

"What do you want me to do about it?" he demanded. "Maybe you didn't notice, but I wasn't raised to build a house. If you need me to kill something or someone, I can definitely do that." He returned to the skinning and began to scrape the fat from the pelt.

"Well that can be arranged…" Botan replied after a moment. "I can have a house and you can kill someone."

At the mention of killing, Hiei looked up in eagerness. "Really? What's your plan?"

"There are houses about a mile or so away. Kill the people that live there and we can take their house." Her amethyst eyes lit up. "I've always wanted to have a nice house. I was raised in a thatch shed…"

"That's better than what I had. I was raised outside."

"You demons are such pigs…"

"Hn. Pigs you say? Can a pig provide food for you? Can it catch the prey, kill it and cook it? Can a pig clothe you?" He stood up and came menacingly towards her. His ruby eyes were narrowed.

Botan flinched. "I didn't mean it like that," she sputtered. She had never been on the bad end of a demon's temper, but she had seen what it could do. She found herself backing against a tree. "Hiei," she began helplessly. "I really didn't mean it like that!"

Hiei ignored her words, his eyes still glittering strangely. He quickly closed the distance between them and grabbed her shoulders. "A pig, am I?" His harsh look faded into a smirk.

"No." She sighed in relief at finding Hiei was only teasing her. "You aren't a pig."

"Good. Because a pig can't do everything I can." He lessened his hold on her and ran his fingers down her cheek. His smirk left him. Now his emotions were unclear on his face. He looked at Botan, his eyes studying her features. "You…you make me feel strange," he began, attempting to explain why he felt a need to be so close to her.

"Strange? Strange like how?"

"I feel less…exposed. I've been noticing that every time I was alone when I lived with Murasaki that I felt weak and unprotected. You make me feel strong because you count on me to protect you. But at the same time I feel weak when I'm around you. It's too difficult to explain."

Botan flushed. "I understand what you mean. I love you too."

"Love? What's love?" He stared at her. To him, love was another word for obsession. "You're obsessed with me?" he asked slowly.

"No, not like that. Love is something you feel. It makes you feel a lot of things at once when you think about a person." She wrapped her arms around the fire demon's neck and closed her eyes.

Hiei patted her awkwardly. "I can't tell if I love you or not. I don't really know what the word is," he murmured with embarrassment.

They stood arm in arm in silence for a while. Finally, it was Hiei who broke the silent moment. "Let's find you that house you wanted. As soon as I get done with the animal, we'll get you that house."

The two of them had been walking for quite a while now. The sun had been up when they had left. Now that they were getting close to the village, the sun was lowering in the distance. The fire demon looked at his side. Botan was breathing heavily. Obviously she wasn't used to walking long distances without a break. But still, she wasn't complaining, and Hiei could only smile with pride.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit for a while?" he asked for the tenth time.

"We're almost there," Botan argued. "If I die, I'll just expect you to drag me to a burial ground and give me a decent funeral." She squinted her eyes to see how much further it was. "Is it much further?" she asked.

"No." He calculated the distance and concentrated on how he felt. He felt fine—he wasn't tired or anything. Once again he glanced to his side to study Botan. She wouldn't be able to walk much further unless she stopped. In one swift motion, he picked Botan up and used his demon speed to reach the village.

He put her down and looked at all the houses. "Choose one and I'll do the rest." He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. Botan pointed at a house and Hiei marked its position in his mind. "We can't do it now," he explained. "We have to wait until dark so no one will see us."

Night came almost too quickly. Once all the lights in every house went out, Hiei went to the house Botan chose and killed the people who lived in it. Actually, there was only a young man that lived there. Botan chewed nervously on her lower lip. What if the other villagers found out? She chose this house for a reason. It was further away from the village…it almost wasn't part of the village. But what stopped people from questioning the sudden disappearance of the young man?

"Are you sure this is safe?" Botan asked nervously. She curled up on the futon Hiei laid out for her.

"It doesn't matter. I'm here with you. That's all that counts. Not go to sleep and I'll keep you safe."

Life went smoothly for the pair. The villagers weren't nosy people. They had only assumed that the young man had moved out and sold the house to the young couple.

Botan smiled warmly at Hiei who lay before the fire. He nudged a pot over it to help the deity with the stew she was experimenting with. "Comfortable?" she asked him.

"I suppose. I don't have to listen to you nag when it starts raining anymore." He ran his fingers lethargically through his spiky raven hair. "Are you comfortable here?"

"Yes. I'm with you and we have a nice house. That's all that's important to me."

"Hn. And to think, it only cost a single human life. How wonderful life is," Hiei remarked with sarcasm.

Botan stuck out her tongue and continued to repair the rip in her skirt.

"Demons! Demons!" a shrill scream echoed throughout the small village.

"Demons?" Botan exclaimed. "Did they find out about you?"

"There's no way in hell they could have done that. Some demons must be on a raid here." He scowled. "That's why humans should stay in Ningenkai. There's no way that a village of humans could survive more than a few years with all these thieves."

"But what will we do?"

Hiei rolled over on his back and crossed his arms as he stared up at the ceiling. His brow was furrowed in thought. "I don't know. Just stay with me and you should be fine."

Botan clasped her hands together. She trusted the fire demon but she still couldn't help but feel worried. What if the demons attacking were more powerful than Hiei? And if there were more than just one, there was no way Hiei could handle all of them and protect her at the same time.

"Don't stress," Hiei commanded. He had a basic understanding of how Botan must be feeling. He was worried about the same thing, but he didn't want her to worry over it. He would do the worrying for both of them. "We'll wait for them to come to us. If we leave this place to hide in the woods, they can easily single us out. Here, we either kill them all or die trying."

"It's dying that I'm worried about."

"Well don't worry. It'll distract me from keeping your neck safe."

They waited nervously in the house, listening to the villager's frightened screams. Hiei inched closer to Botan. It made him feel better knowing that he was in touch with the girl. As expected, their door crashed open. A tall, broad shouldered demon walked in.

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Murasaki…" he growled.

Murasaki smiled with pleasure. "You recognize me. I'm surprised that you know my face after you've been associating with human scum." He winked lecherously at Botan before returning his gaze to the fire demon. "Aren't you interested to know how we found you?"

"Not really." The fire demon slowly reached for his sword. "Get out and leave me alone."

"I want my sword back. And I also want you to apologize you for maiming my leg."

"You can kiss my ass!"

Botan touched Hiei's shoulders. "He isn't asking for much! Just do what he asks and he'll leave us alone," she begged.

"He's lying," Hiei said in determination.

"Am I? You should take the chance of doing as I ask. There'll be a smaller possibility for your beloved concubine to be destroyed."

"She isn't a concubine! Get out of my house!"

Botan looked from Hiei to Murasaki. She didn't understand that, to Hiei, pride was more important than facing death. Hiei would rather die than bow before Murasaki.

"You won't obey me? Fine." Murasaki snapped his fingers. Immediately, the house was flooded with ants. They were nearly ten times the size of normal ants. "Look familiar? Makai ants are much more fun than the ones from Ningenkai."

"Why's that?" Botan asked.

"These can rip flesh from your bones when they bite you. If you somehow survive, you'll be left paralyzed where you were bitten."

Hiei stood up and drew his sword. He lunged forward and plunged the sword through Murasaki's heart. He drew the sword out slowly, savoring the look of angry surprise on the demon's face. Murasaki's corpse landed amidst the Makai ants. They immediately began to rip at the corpse.

Botan gasped and stood up behind the fire demon. "How are we going to get away from these?!"

"Move around. These things usually eat dead bodies. If you stay still, they'll sense the lack of movement." Hiei swung his sword around, clearing the ants away from him.

"I hate bugs!" Botan hopped up and down, grimacing at the countless bugs.

The fire demon continued to swing the sword. He inched forward as the ants cleared away. When the swarm returned, he swung his sword again. He continued with this until he made it to the door with Botan at his side. "Come on!" he insisted. "We need to find a river or creek of some kind to cross."

Hiei took Botan by the hand and led her blindly through the woods. Every so often, he glanced behind him. The ants were right behind him. He paused when he heard the sound of gushing water. He shoved Botan towards it, forcing her to cross the river. He went behind her, ensuring that she didn't get swept away by the current. He kept his eyes glued to the river. The ants hit the water. The ones behind those followed. Soon the water was choked with dead ants. There were so many ants that the current slowed to a stop.

"Damn it!" Hiei hissed. "Run! I'll see if I can slow them down!" He watched as more ants crawled over the dead ants and crossed over to fire demon.

"Hiei!" Botan cried out.

The fire demon turned sharply. He gasped, seeing Yoichi with his arms wrapped tightly around Botan. The wolf demon quickly tied the girl's arms and legs together.

"Untie her!" Hiei turned the sword on the wolf demon.

"Nope! Murasaki warned me of this and I came prepared! You ran away from us…you deserve this." He sneered. "Come back to the group so I can kick your ass."

Hiei looked from Yoichi to Botan. He didn't want her to get hurt on his behalf but he also didn't want to come back to Murasaki. He lowered his weapon reluctantly.

"Good…now I want you to take that sword and slit this girl's throat."

"No."

"Have you forgotten how wonderful it is to watch a person die? Don't you remember how exciting it is to see your victim's final breath as they beg for mercy?"

The fire demon didn't say anything. He watched as Yoichi ran his fingers through Botan's azure hair. "Let her go—now."

Yoichi shrugged. "All right. If you want that." He shoved the deity's head into the crook of his elbow and twisted. It was enough to break her neck, but not enough to kill her. It did leave her paralyzed, however, and the wolf demon laid her in a mound of Makai ants.

Hiei ran to her, trying desperately to brush the ants away.

Yoichi smirked and kicked the fire apparition away. In an instant, the wolf demon drew out a scimitar and sliced at Hiei. Hiei was forced to defend himself rather than help Botan. He dodged a rain of blows and finally managed to kill Yoichi. He turned to Botan and realized that he was too late. Her body was gone and the tide of ants had slowly ebbed away.

His ruby eyes blinked several times as he struggled to accept the fact that the only girl he loved was gone forever. He fell to his knees and beat his fists against the ground. "Damn it!" he cursed. He pressed his forehead against the grass. He could still smell Botan's scent where she had lain. He continued to berate himself for being so weak. If only he was stronger…he could have killed Murasaki far sooner than he had. Now it was too late…far too late to save the one girl he could ever have feelings for. Now that she was gone, there was nothing to live for… The bad thing was that she died without knowing that he loved her… He did love her! But it was too late for that too.

"I'm so damn stupid!" he screamed at himself.

==Ten Years Later==

Hiei yawned to show his lethargy for the stupid game the humans were playing. Botan had come up with the idea of playing truth or dare. The fire demon wanted no part of this. Kurama had been bullied into playing even though he insisted he had far too much homework to attend to.

"Okay, Yusuke. Truth or dare?" Botan asked. The bottle she spun had landed on the Spirit Detective.

The chocolate-eyed teen answered 'truth'. He was afraid of what kind of 'dare' Botan would make him accomplish—all he knew was that it was sure to be something embarrassing.

"How many girlfriends have you had so far?"

"God damn it, Botan! Why the hell do you need to know that?"

Kurama smiled into his AP Physics book. As he had suspected, Botan wanted to play this game as an excuse to nose into everyone's social life. He cast an amused gaze at Hiei, wondering if the fire apparition had caught this fact as well. His smile faded as he noted his friend's distant look. 'I wonder what he's thinking about? He seems to have been day dreaming since the day Botan introduced herself.' He turned his emerald eyes on the bubbly ferry girl. 'Perhaps Hiei is infatuated with her…how strange that would be…' Personally, he found the ferry girl to be attractive. Her bubbly attitude was amusing and it was always interesting to see what sort of ditsy remark she would make to lighten a tense moment.

But what was Hiei thinking? Maybe he was glaring at her because she was annoying. No…that wasn't the case. The fire apparition was gazing thoughtfully at the ferry girl. His thoughts were floating back ten years ago. The image of the only girl he had ever loved came to his mind vividly. The girl's name was Botan and she had azure hair and amethyst eyes. She was similar to ferry girl that sat before him. They could easily be the same person. The present day Botan was certainly attractive and her vivacious attitude was the same as the one from the past. The only problem was that the Botan he had fallen in love with was dead. She had died in the mass of Makai ants. He had watched her get attacked by them with his own two eyes.

He scowled, causing his handsome features to harden into a harsh look his friends knew too well. He was ashamed to find that he found the ferry girl before him to be attractive. It made him feel like he was being disloyal to the image of the deity he cherished long ago. He had carefully nursed the wound Botan (from the past) created when she had died. He was still hurting over this loss. True, it didn't hurt as much as it did on those first few days. The pain was down to a dull throbbing. He was slowly beginning to forget about her when the ferry girl popped up. She was the perfect image of the girl he tried so hard to forget. The wound that had slowly healed had now been harshly reopened, bringing back fresh waves of memories and emotions. He hid all this behind a carefully built façade that kept only anger and hatred visible at first glance.

Because of what the ferry girl did to him, he could only hate this 'new' Botan. He constantly berated himself, both physically and emotionally, when he caught himself gazing too long at the deity or thinking about her. He hated her with a passion…yet at the same time, he softened under her gaze.

He was unable to sort out this inner torment. It was a hurricane that he was unable to tame. He sighed inwardly. This, he realized, was a battle that he would be unable to win without help. He glanced quickly at his throng of friends. No one among them could possibly help him. Perhaps Kurama would be the best to go to…but what did he know about his problems?

No…obviously, he was alone in his quest to sort out his clashing problems.

Here are the people that reviewed the last chapter! I didn't expect to get so many reviews! Thanks a lot!

Fair Undomiel: So you WOULD read a KarasuxBotan fic if I put one up? That would be great. But right now, I'll need to come up with a plot to go with that. I'm not as good of a writer as you say I am. JDfeilding and Volpone are much better than me… but even so, I appreciate the flattery.

Robin Autumn: I think a HieixBotan pairing is more difficult. It's hard to keep him in character you know? All we know is that he's sort of an asshole, but you still got to love him! Thanks for your review.

Volpone: Blood and gore? Oh…I slipped a little on that. I COULD have put in more, but I wanted to keep it at a minimum on this. So, enjoying the twist? I'm so evil! I LOVED the way you portrayed Youko in your latest chapter to Foxgloves, but you shouldn't have left it at a cliffie! But the epilogue up soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HieilovesBotan: You thought the ending to last chapter was cute? That's good to hear! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

DarkShadowWriter: Yes, it is a hard pairing. I'm having some difficulty with it, but I'm doing my best! I gotta start somewhere, right? I'm glad you like it so far! Thankee!

miyako14: Thanks! But I'm not that good of a writer. Thanks for your review.

Candycandy: Which fic with Kurama and Botan? I have more than one. But thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Distant Voice: Maybe it is an AU. I don't know if it is. The curse is that something bad will happen whenever Hiei falls in love with someone. As you can see, Botan got killed. But that was the past. Now the confusing part is, who is the 'new' Botan? Is she the same Botan from the past? But she's dead…right? Whoo confusing! Glad you enjoy!

Tyedye/Rin: Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter too…even thought it was darker so to speak. Thanks for the review!

Dragonbabe: Don't hurt the guy! I need him for my fic!

Kittykat: You like it? Thanks!

Keep up the lovely reviews!!!!!!!!!