“I wasn’t really planning to do anything,” Winter admitted. “Being able to tag along like this was more than I could have hoped for, honestly.”

Yukina smiled a little. "And you currently have no plans to return home?"

"Not at the moment," Winter said, shaking her head a bit. She grinned. "At least, not until after this whole thing with the sword."

Yukina nodded. "Have you thought of just... staying?" she asked, raising her eyebrows a little. It didn't hurt to put the idea into her head, after all.

"Like... forever?" Winter asked, blinking. The thought had never crossed her mind. It hadn't even struck her as a possibility. "I... never thought about it."

Yukina nodded. "Nothing says you have to go back to your original world," she said quietly. "Just something to think about." She smiled.

"I hadn't really considered it before," Winter admitted. "I always sort of just... assumed we'd go back eventually."

"Hmm." Yukina nodded. "Well, now there's something else to consider." She smiled a little and sat back, content to give Winter time to just mull things over.

"Yeah, no kidding," Winter said. She lapsed into silence again, now just turning it over in her head. "Do you think I should stay?"

"I think you should do what makes you happiest," Yukina deferred with a smile. "After all, it's not my life. Just think about it for a while."

"That's not helpful," Winter said as she settled back in. She had a lot to think about now.

Yukina just smiled and left her to her thoughts. They still had a ways to go, after all.

Winter wasn't quite sure how much time passed after that, but they eventually tracked down the soul-cutting sword. She was a little surprised to find that the sword was nearly as long as Hiei was tall, and was less of a katana and more of a claymore, with graceful stylized waves etched down the center of the blade. It seemed to cut through everything in its path like a hot knife through butter when it was wielded without so much as a tug.

Hiei spent a few moments admiring the sword before he nodded to himself. It took a little maneuvering, but he strapped the sword to his back.

"There," he murmured, pleased. That had turned out better than he'd expected. "Can you get us back to the temple from here?" He looked at Winter, waiting patiently for her answer. She'd proven useful, after all, and that afforded her some respect. The general lack of screaming at demons had helped, too.

"Yeah, I should be able to," Winter said, nodding. Taking a couple steps back, she carefully reached out with both her hand and her power and tugged aside the fabric of space. It strained against her hold, rippling and pulling. "Hurry, go through."

Hiei wasted no time, stepping through lightly and then turning to make sure she made it through alright. It had only taken him a moment to place where they were, on the temple grounds but not in direct sight of the buildings.

Winter stepped through after him, letting the portal close behind her with a crack. She glanced around. Okay, yeah, she knew where they'd ended up. The temple was right on the other side of the trees.

"You did very well," Hiei told her, while they still had a chance to talk privately. "Not many humans would have been able to stand that much time in the demon realm, let alone travel between the two realms."

"You think so?" Winter asked, surprised. She had been under the impression he very rarely gave out much praise, and she couldn't help but turn faintly pink at it.

"I do." Hiei nodded, watching her. "I admit, I'm impressed." He smirked faintly. "And you have an idea of how rare that is."

Winter turned more pink at that.

"I do," she agreed. "You're almost never impressed."

Hiei smirked at that. It was true, after all, and all the better that she knew it.

"We should go, before Genkai decides to come investigate for herself." And she would, she couldn't have possibly missed their entrance.

"Please, she probably already knows," Winter said, grinning a bit. "You are kind of distinctive, after all."

"And you ripping a hole in space isn't?" Hiei shot back, though he was still smirking. "Come on." He started back towards the temple.

"I'm just a squishy human," Winter replied, still grinning. She walked with him back towards the temple.