"I don't think you need to be to worried about her, with him," Winter said, glancing at him. "Even without that devious streak she has, she's a healer. You don't piss off healers, they can mess people up. I have zero doubt that she's capable of taking someone apart and leaving the frozen pieces somewhere that not even the Jagan could find them again."

"I know that," Hiei said, glancing at her. "She's quite dangerous, which people don't see." He rolled his eyes. Clearly his opinion of those people was quite low.

"She's just so sweet most of the time," Winter said. She grinned a bit. "That, I did remember."

Hiei nodded. "She's stronger than people expect, and more devious," he murmured. "But sometimes so naïve." He frowned a little.

"Which is why you're so protective," Winter murmured. That made sense, at least. She loooed at him. "Have you talked to her? I mean, to see if she knows or not?"

Hiei shook his head a little. "No. She doesn't need to know."

"There's a decent chance she already does," Winter pointed out. "I know you're not usually one to tolerate wasted effort, so it might be worthwhile to find out if she does or not."

Hiei shrugged after a moment. "I'll consider it," he conceded. It had been a long time, after all, and while it was still a touchy subject at least he knew he didn't have to warn her off, or anything.

Winter knew that was as good a concession as she was likely to get.

"Just something to think about," she said.

Hiei nodded and let the subject rest again. He had plenty to think about now, after all.

Winter stretched a little with a sigh. Hopefully, they were getting closer to the sword, rather than just being on a wild goose chase.

Elsewhere, Kurama had taken to hanging around the temple in his spare time, observing Peggy's training from a bit of a distance.

Peggy's training was going pretty well. It had taken Genkai a few days to figure out that Peggy did better with a weapon, and then a good period of trial and error to settle on a nice recurve bow. Peggy found herself rather enjoying training after that.

Kurama lingered around the temple under the guise of tending the plant life. It was true that he'd planted a few 'guard plants' around the immediate property, and they did need care, but he also knew himself enough to know that he was also hanging around to get a better sense of Peggy.

So he found himself outside at the edge of the courtyard, working with a few fragile new plants, while Genkai and Peggy worked in the courtyard proper.

Peggy had so far managed not to hit everything on the far side of the courtyard. Her aim was definitely improving.

"Better," Genkai said, looking at the neat little scorch mark on the actual target. "Now do it again."

Peggy sighed a little but pulled back the string again, an arrow of energy forming until she released it. This one thwacked into the edge of the target, and her shoulders drooped a little.

"Again." While Genkai wasn't training her quite as hard as she'd trained Yusuke, she still wasn't going easy on Peg, either.

Kurama watched with interest. He hadn't seen someone's spirit energy take the form of an arrow for quite some time, and he briefly wondered if she'd eventually be able to manage the bow, as well.

Peggy huffed a little but kept at training, forming arrows and loosing them. At least her aim was slowly improving; she hit the target almost every time now.

Genkai only called a stop once it was obvious Peg needed a break. She nodded once, taking in the scorched target.

"Take five," she said.

Peggy let her arms drop thankfully, though she did put the bow on its stand with the necessary care before she retreated to find somewhere to go flop over for a few minutes. She paused when she spotted Kurama before she detoured towards him.

"Taking a break for a moment?" Kurama asked when she got closer. "I imagine Master Genkai is still a rather harsh taskmistress."

"She is," Peggy agreed with a bit of a groan. "I suppose it's good for me, but even still."

"You'll benefit, in the long run," Kurama agreed. He paused for a moment. "Arrows are an unusual choice of spirit weapon."

Peggy nodded a bit. "Yeah, I gathered. But they just feel... Right. In a way that nothing else we tried did." She shrugged a little.

Kurama nodded. He understood that.

"Ranged weapons do have their advantages," he said. "I'm sure you know Yusuke also favors ranged attacks, when it comes to spirit weapons."

"Right," Peggy agreed. "But gun versus bow." She grinned a bit. "It'd be fun to compare the differences."

"I'm sure Yusuke could be convinced," Kurama said, with a slight grin. It really didn't take a lot to pique Yusuke's interest recently. Kurama suspected Yusuke was getting very bored.