“Why not, Hiei, it’ll speed up the process quicker!” Hiei glared at me from the bed, one arm rested on a bent knee, back rested on a wall. He was obviously tired of me and my words. It was a cloudy day, a chance of rain as the television predicted. The view outside was dull and grey, colorless and gloomy. It was now a week since the day they came back, and I had spent five of those days trying to persuade Hiei to let me help him. I’d forgotten that Hiei likes to work alone, even if he’s handicapped.

“I don’t need help from you, onna. Just do your job and nothing else,” was his cold reply. He continued his scowl, knowing I would argue with his words. We had been fighting like this for over thirty minutes, surprisingly still not to the point where we would begin screaming bloody murder. From the looks of it, Hiei really didn’t plan for this conversation to go so long anyways.

“My job is to look over you until you’re ready to return to Reikai, and I think helping you train goes with looking over.” I crossed my arms, frowning from across the room to my short patient.

“I don’t need a babysitter, so go.”

“I can’t, and it’s not babysitting. It’s healing and nursing.”

“It’s babying me, and stop doing so, onna, before I fulfill your death wish.”

Before I could stop myself, the words were out of my mouth, something I had avoided saying for quite a long time. “I wouldn’t have to baby you if you didn’t get yourself half crucified to a tree!” I covered my big talkative mouth immediately, my gaze lowering to the floor as Hiei growled and looked away to the window, stung by my words of truth. Both of us had been dancing around it, trying not to address it with every argument we had.

We stayed like that for a while, silent and oblivious to each other’s presence, the room heavy and uncomfortable to be in. “I’ll go get lunch,” I murmured, heading for the door as Hiei grunted, the silence was too uncomfortable for me to be around especially since I started it. I grabbed at the doorknob, throwing the door open, and was just about ready to escape to the living room if it had not been for Yusuke. He was calmly walking towards me, waving, oblivious to the fight that took place a moment ago.

“Yo, Botan, is Hiei there?” He asked, looking inside the room. I could hear Hiei move into a more comfortable position on his bed, his eyes on us. I opened my mouth to reply, but the crash of thunder drowned my voice, and the sudden blanket of rain began to pour outside. We all looked outside the rain washed window, to where the black sky roared with anger, before he entered and I shut the door behind him.

“Again,” I ordered calmly, ignoring Hiei’s small grunts. We sat in his room, the afternoon sun hidden through the treetops, the light shifting with the common wind. Hiei sat on the head of his bed, and me the other half as we trained. We sat like this every time we trained for the past two weeks. It was near a month that Hiei had been here, and we’d already made great progress. Hiei was now able to flex each finger on his right hand, his left only one.

Hiei glared at me from the other end of the bed, his hands laid between us. I ignored that as well, since I knew what that meant all to well now. Hiei had refused my help in the beginning, only working his fingers when I wasn’t in the room, stopping once I entered again. I was mad, but I left him be. It was only when Yusuke paid him a visit two weeks ago did he began to work with me.

Yusuke had come on behalf of the rest of the Reikai Tanteis, who were ready to head back to Maikai without Hiei. They would be taking Genkai in his place instead, which sparked a larger fire inside of Hiei. There was no doubt he was mad, it made the room stuffy with silent anger. Although Yusuke left quickly right after he said what he had to say, we both knew the anger wasn’t directed towards him. It was towards Hiei himself. I suppose he believed if he had been just a bit stronger, faster, and responsive, he wouldn’t have placed himself in such a mess. But Hiei was just Hiei. His goals were not possible that day.

We were working with his left hand today, on his thumb which was required for fast sword play. He was barely moving it, a sign it would need the most work due to its damaged muscles and nerves. “Try again,” I said, saying nothing more when I noticed his shoulders tense. It meant he was getting tired of both his thumb and me.

“I will, onna, shut up,” he snapped, staring at his thumb murderously. I nodded silently and watched as his thumb moved forward and back with some effort, each movement adding on more flexibility. It was only when I heard Hiei take a deep breath that he was straining himself, his thumb shaking as it attempted to move back further. I laid a hand on it, afraid perhaps he still didn’t need my voice. He understood, stopping and sighing, muttering something of no importance.

“Do you want to stop for today?” I asked, reaching over and grabbing a towel, using it to wipe his face from perspiration. He pushed my hand away with his right hand after a moment, shaking his head. So I put the towel back down and watched some more. This was how it was every day since the visit. I watched his improvement; he showed me he was making an effort, something I had forgotten. Hiei determination, that is. I suppose I’d forgotten because of his once droopy nature, sulking of the injury inflicted on him and teamwork. I was almost jealous that I, the woman who stood by his side in such a time, wasn’t the person to get him to push that aside to get better. I suppose it was a guy thing, something a girl like me wouldn’t be able to accomplish.

“Hn,” said Hiei, waking me to his achievements. I could hear it in his voice, he had done it. I looked down now, a smile coming to my face when I saw the moving digit. I looked at him now, who looked rather pleased, already starting on his next finger. I once again rested my hand on his, making him look at me.

“I think that’s enough for today,” I said firmly, reaching over to pull a tray bearing bento over, moving closer to him, tray place in-between us. “Besides, Yukina has made bento.”

“Fine,” I used a pair of chopsticks to pick at the rice, leaning towards Hiei. He leaned forward slightly, still moving his thumb around, capturing the end of the chopsticks with his mouth. He frowned, chewing thoughtfully before swallowing. “You’re poking me with those damn things.”

“Sorry,” I said quickly, taking more rice. Hiei was perfectly capable of feeding himself now, I’m sure of it. After all, he only needs one hand to hold a pair of chopsticks. Still, I was continuing to feed him, and he wasn’t complaining. It was a routine we were use to now, since I’d been doing it for around a month now. We thought nothing of it, just that I was the nurse feeding her patient. Or that’s what I had really thought of in the beginning.

Although I didn’t understand why, he was now the person I’d rather spend time with. At first I had to, but now that he was more then capable of being left alone to fend for himself I still stayed. Perhaps it was because Yukina left with Keiko, leaving time alone very…well, lonely. I now knew what Yukina felt like when we’re all busy. Still, while I continued to stay with him, we had longer talks, although they were still rare, and I had no more thoughts of Hiei’s ability to scare me. He didn’t scare me anymore, actually. He just worried me.

We continued like this until Hiei pushed me away, waking me up from my thoughts again. He looked a bit tired, and muttered, “I’m not hungry.” I raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. “I’m tired.”

“Oh, okay…” I placed the tray somewhere else, making sure to have a good view of his hands. As I thought, they were the problem, as they often were. I set the tray down quickly, grabbing his right wrist. “You’re bleeding again! What did you do?”

“What?” He looked as well, recognizing the red stains for the first time. “Why in my right hand?”

“I don’t know,” I said hastily, my hands glowing as I began to unwrap the bandages. I glanced at Hiei’s face, which looked pale. I abandoned my work for a moment, touching his face gingerly. He seemed surprised at the touch, his face clammy. How much blood did he loose in such a short time? “What happened, Hiei?” I repeated, trying my best to keep the situation calm, working fast to unwrap the bandages without hurting him.

“I never used my right hand, onna,” he said, watching. I finished removing the bandages on his right hand, carefully looking over the wound, which had been scabbing over, now open. Confusion took over me, as I tried to heal it with my own powers. “It’s not working,” Hiei said as I bit my lip.

“Poison,” I said suddenly, looking up at Hiei with what I could only say was a stupid look. He raised an eyebrow, taking a deep breath. I grabbed the towel from before and placed it below our hands, reaching over and pulling out a drawer filled with herbal medicine. I grabbed the nearest one, explaining to him hastily as I attempted to unseal it with one hand. “You were poisoned, it must have not left and just stopped for the while…”

Before I could understand how badly I was overreacting, Hiei’s left hand curled around the jar, shaking slowly. I sat and stared, dumbfounded. He gasped in pain, his fingers adjusting to such an unfamiliar position slowly. “Hiei,” I said slowly. “Let it go.” He ignored me, something I should have remembered was coming. “Let it go, Hiei, your hands! Are you crazy?”

“Shut up,” He murmured. I attacked, then, snatching the jar back and tucking it under my other arm, opening it quickly. He watched in silence as I cleaned the wound and dabbed the oddly purple mixture on the wound before bandaging it again. He didn’t try to flex his other hand anymore. Instead, he snatched his hand back, throwing the covers around him. “I’m going to sleep,” he declared, elbowing his pillow into a comfortable position. I sat there, bewildered, staring at his back, a little lost. It took me only a few minutes to understand what he was trying to say. I crossed the line, and injured his pride more then his hands harmed his body. After all, men need to nurse their pride more then their injuries.

I cleaned up the mess around the room, closing the drawer and throwing away the bandages. I worked slowly, musing of what I would down all alone downstairs and if Hiei would let me help him anymore. With Hiei, it was always one strike before you’re out. It was amazing that I made it so far without seriously ticking him off, almost like a game. I sighed, lingering around a bit more, adjusting the little things. I really didn’t want to leave…

I gave up after a while, still unsure of what I was to do, when I heard him moan fitfully. He was tossing around like a fish, muttering of something I couldn’t understand. I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that I hardly heard him moving around. “Hiei, wake up!” He didn’t hear me, thrashing around, the covers went flying and I ran to his side. Was it the poison fighting back? Maybe I placed the wrong mixture on his hands?

“Hiei, stop moving,” I said loudly, unsure of what actions I should take. My words were still being ignored, as if he could hear me, so I climbed on the bed, wrapping my arms around his neck, pushing my whole weight on him to attempt to bring him down. I’d forgotten that I was rather light, that the guys could probably lift me up with one hand. My attempts to pin him down failed miserably, and I was pushed to the side. Hiei may be small, but he was strong, something I often forgot when it came to healing him. I growled in frustration, moving out of the way of his flying arms.

Hiei was an absolutely stubborn guy. My patience with him was gone, and the constant snarling and growling I got from him were ticking me off. I tried helping him, he rejected it. I wanted to stop the bleeding; he gave me the silent treatment. Enough was enough. I threw myself on him again, using plenty of my strength to grab his wrists, pinning them to the bed. I used my legs to keep his legs together, sitting on his thighs. His hands grabbed hold of whatever it could, causing me to turn my concern to them once more, and loosing the strength I once had. He was trying to throw me off of him again, like I was the problem.

“Stop!” I cried, franticly searching for something to calm him without getting pummeled. His face was screwed up in frustration and struggles, his lips dried and cracked, breathing deeply, mouth slightly ajar, chest rising up and down-I was still on top, probably not for long-He was really really strong! For a sick man he was getting harder and harder to keep down…I could get him water, but that would cause me to have to restrain him again-There was another solution…Would it even help? I don't care...

If there was anything I could remember it’s the relationship I had with Hiei. He was Hiei, nothing more. I was Botan, nothing less. We barely talked to each other; he never wanted to help me anyways. We never stayed near each other for too long. We were just friends, and I would never forget that.

I quickly released his hands, which grabbed my shoulders, and closed my eyes, catching Hiei’s bottom lip. His shoulders relaxed and he stopped thrashing about. His hands never left my shoulders. My lips never left his.

I suppose some things are meant to be forgotten.