Hiei glanced at the two of them but didn't actually say anything. He just picked a spot in the back where he could watch without being pulled into any pesky conversations.

"Well that's unexpected," Peggy muttered.

Winter blinked when he sat down, and did a bit of a double-take when she saw him and Yukina near each other.

"Look at them," she murmured to Peggy. "What kind of idiot can't see it?"

Hiei shifted enough to shoot her a warning glare.

"True," Peggy admitted. "But perhaps a discussion for another time?"

"Eep." Winter shut up real quick, even though her mind was running through a litany of things.

Shit he couldn't have possibly heard me from way over there he had to be in my head, but shit how does nobody notice how alike they look, and does she know, she must know at this point, it's been like ten years, and he's got a thing around his neck, it's got to be the other hiruiseki, and oh god look at Yukina at the stove, exactly how much fire does she have in her wow--

The thoughts raced through Winter's head, and she abruptly stopped herself when she glanced over and sat Hiei looking at her.

Oh god I forgot he can read minds.

Hiei glowered at her rather impressively because yes he could read minds and hers was practically shouting at him right then.

"What did you do?" Peggy hissed at her, shifting a bit. "He looks pissed."

"I might have just babbled," Winter murmured, turning a bit so she was looking elsewhere. "A lot." She wasn't too worried about Hiei being angry, because they were out in public and Yukina was there, but the glares were still rather impressive.

"Ah hah." Peggy was quiet for a moment, glancing back at Hiei. Yup, still glaring. "Right, well, time to move on to food. I don't know about you but I'm hungry."

"Yep, yep, food, sounds good," Winter said, carefully not looking at Hiei again. She could still feel the glare on the side of her head.

Peggy kept her carefully distracted for a bit. She was still only mostly sure that Hiei wouldn't skewer someone, after all.

That thought earned her a passing glare, too.

Winter was reasonably certain of that fact, as well, though she did make a quiet mental note to stick close to Yukina for a little while, just in case.

Once she had her noodles, she busied herself with eating them, carefully stealing a glance at Hiei as she did so.

Hiei had returned his attention to his own food and Yukina, keeping half of his attention on her. He was, however, calmer and more relaxed in the midst of a human establishment, and didn't seem overly perturbed or scornful.

It took Winter a couple of seconds to look away again. She couldn't help but think that it wasn't often Hiei looked so calm, regardless of the situation.

The rest of the day passed without incident, fortunately, and no one was skewered. Hiei wasn't even seriously tempted to. But he did keep trailing them for the rest of the day.

Winter was quiet until they got outside again. Finally, though, she couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"Alright," she said, glancing at Keiko and Yukina. "I'm gonna level with you, because I'm sure you're curious anyways. But where we're from, all of Yusuke's early cases as a spirit detective are a TV show from like ten or twelve years ago, and we've seen it several times."

Keiko and Yukina both blinked, looking a little startled. "Really?" Keiko asked, her eyebrows raised. "That's unexpected."

"Yeah," Winter said, nodding. "So, like, I've known all day that Hiei's been following us, just because I know that's something he would do. And our working knowledge of things is out of date, but we know most of the important things."

"So you know about everything that's happened." Keiko looked at her for confirmation, raising one eyebrow.

"To a point," Winter said. "I mean, the show first aired something like ten or twelve years ago. I watched it for the first time when I was thirteen."

Keiko blinked a few times, taking a couple seconds to process that bit of information. "Okay," she agreed. "So why tell us in particular? I'm guessing the others know, since you specified telling us."

"Because I have no idea what the others will tell you, and I'd rather not be blindsided by it later," Winter said. She hesitated. "And I just can't not say anything. I mean, it's not exactly fun pretending we have no idea who anyone is when we know very damn well."

Keiko nodded. "I can imagine," she murmured. "Well, one more oddity in a life of them." She smiled a little at the girls, clearly not upset.

Several weeks later, Winter and Peggy had more or less settled in at the temple. Winter had, for the most part, gotten a handle on her teleporting, and she was constantly practicing in order to increase her range and control. And, to be honest, it was really kind of fun to teleport, anyways.

Peggy, on the other hand, had just started training of another kind. With spirit energy. She'd proven that she had it and, after a few minorly explosive tests, Genkai declared that she needed training. She was a little terrified.

One afternoon, Shizuru decided to go visit the temple and the new guests there. It had been a while since she'd seen Yukina, too. So she grabbed her significant moron and headed out.

Winter was the first one to see Shizuru approaching, since she was practicing teleporting around the immediate temple grounds. She had to stop and stare for a second, though, when she saw who was with Shizuru, though.

Sakiyo raised an eyebrow at the look but didn't comment. He knew better by now.

"You must be one of the new kids, huh?" Shizuru asked with a little smile.