Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Misunderstanding ( Chapter 3 )

Recap: Hiei fell ill and the others took him in, but Kuwabara couldn't resist making a few jokes first. In her desperation to hide Hiei's hiruiseki from Yukina, Botan put them on herself.

 

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Chapter 3: The Misunderstanding

 

Botan hummed merrily to herself as she dabbed a cold cloth against Hiei's forehead, carefully avoiding his jagan eye. He had been lying in the bed for several hours, during which time Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama had set off to do a little investigating by the known local portals to demon world and Yukina had, with Kurama's assistance, diagnosed Hiei as having an infection that he must have contracted from another demon. Although he had dropped in on them - quite literally, Botan thought with a smile - in quite a poor state, Hiei did seem to be improving, as his chest was rising and falling more steadily and his jagan eye had drooped to a squint, making him look more at ease. His temperature, however, was still very high, so Botan had decided to tend to it with the wet cloth.

 

She turned to her side and dipped the cloth into the bowl of cool water again, squeezing it out and folding it neatly before turning back to Hiei. She started to reach for his forehead but stopped as she saw that his jagan eye was suddenly closed tightly.

 

“Hiei?” she said gently.

 

“Hn,” he grunted, his nose twitching slightly.

 

“Hiei?” she said in an increasingly louder voice. “Hiei, can you hear me? How do you feel?”

 

“Half the world can hear you,” he grumbled, opening his eyes to thin slits to glare up at her. “And I feel like you should shut-up and get away from me.”

 

“Excellent!” Botan said brightly. “You're almost back to your old self again!”

 

Hiei glared at her for a long, drawn out moment before opening his eyes a little wider and flicking them about himself.

 

“Where am I?” he asked, moving his eyes back to hers.

 

“Genkai's temple,” she replied. “We found you in the forest. You took a bit of a fall so we took you back here.”

 

On her last words Hiei gave Botan another look that she believed could probably kill. They both remained silent and neither so much as blinked as they stared at each other, the moment only ending when the door slid open and Yukina entered the room.

 

“Botan, I brought some flowers from the garden,” she said as she walked in. “I thought maybe-oh! Mister Hiei, you're awake!”

 

Hiei's eyes moved to Yukina, his expression softening slightly from a vile death-glare to an emotionless void.

 

“How do you feel?” Yukina asked him.

 

“Fine,” he growled, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

 

Despite his response, neither Botan nor Yukina failed to notice the tensing of his features as he lifted himself up and the sweat that broke out across his brow. Once he was up he looked down at himself, his head jerking to one side as he saw something that apparently displeased him.

 

“Where is my sword?” he demanded, looking at the place on his hip where it usually hung.

 

“In the corner of the room,” Botan replied, pointing to where she had stood the weapon.

 

Hiei then looked at his hands, his lip curling slightly as he spotted the bow Botan had made in the dressing over his right hand. He did not mention it, instead looking down at his chest.

 

“Where are my clothes?” he asked. “And where's my-”

 

He slapped a hand against the point on his chest where the hiruiseki usually rested, his head lifting sharply and his eyes landing on Yukina.

 

“You have a fever, so we took off your coat and your scarf,” she told him.

 

“Yes, that's right, you do have a fever and you should be relaxing, Hiei,” Botan added.

 

Hiei turned sharply to her, glaring at her intently. She twitched slightly as his voice again blared through her mind in a telepathic message, demanding to know where the hirui stones were and warning her not to lie to him. She cleared her throat awkwardly and turned her head to one side, pulling her collar back and pointing to the two chains that rested there.

 

“How dare you?” he growled aloud.

 

She turned to him, meeting his eyes and grinning nervously.

 

“Yukina?” she said, glancing at Yukina briefly before returning her attention to Hiei. “Why don't you bring Hiei some of that lovely soup you made?”

 

Hiei's features tightened but he said nothing until Yukina had left the room.

 

“Give me back my things and get out of my way,” he said in a low voice.

 

“Ah-ah!” Botan replied, shaking a finger at him. “You're in no condition to go anywhere right now!”

 

“Just…”

 

Hiei's face twitched slightly as though he was too disgusted with Botan to even bother finishing his sentence. He then shuffled about a little before rising to his feet, where he staggered slightly, one hand grabbing at his head.

 

“I told you to stay in bed!” Botan scolded him. “Now back you go!”

 

She reached her hands out towards him but with his typical, preternatural speed, Hiei managed to catch her wrists in his hands, holding back her offers of help. She pouted at him and tried to slip from his grasp, but he stubbornly held on, glaring back at her with as much menace as he could muster in his current state.

 

“You should at least let yourself rest today,” Botan insisted.

 

“Give me back what's mine, or I will take it back by force,” Hiei warned her.

 

An image of Hiei grabbing the chains and yanking on them with all his strength, severing her head in the process, passed through Botan's mind and she gulped audibly, trying once more to wriggle out of his grip. To her surprise, he suddenly released her, his anger fading from his face as his eyes moved to something over her shoulder. Turning her head she saw Yukina returning with a tray of food and water, and again she was silently thankful for the little ice demon's presence.

 

“Ah look at this, isn't this lovely!” Botan said, hurrying over to Yukina's side.

 

She leaned over the tray in balancing on Yukina's arms, inhaling the warm scent of the food with a smile.

 

“It smells wonderful,” she said, picking up the bowl of soup in both hands and bringing it over to Hiei. “Here, have a smell.”

 

Hiei stared at her blankly for a moment before glancing at Yukina and finally complying with Botan's suggestion. He leaned forwards and inhaled slightly, his face contorting. Yukina made a small noise of disappointment and Botan was surprised that Hiei was responding so unfavourably to the meal his sister had so lovingly prepared for him: but she quickly realised that Hiei was not screwing up his face in disgust, but rather tensing for what was to follow.

 

With barely any forewarning, Hiei sneezed hard into the bowl, spraying most of the contents over Botan.

 

“Oh no!” Yukina cried.

 

Hiei grunted out an animalistic noise that Botan thought sounded like his best attempt at an apology to Yukina, before dropping to his knees and wiping his nose along his bandaged arm.

 

“Oh Hiei, don't do that!” Botan said. “That's very unhygienic!”

 

“Botan, are you alright?” Yukina asked, dabbing at Botan's cheek with a napkin.

 

“Oh I'm fine!” Botan replied. “The soup did burn a little at first, but I'm fine now.”

 

“Oh no, did I make it too hot?” Yukina asked. “Or too spicy if it made Mister Hiei sneeze…?”

 

“Mister Hiei is sneezing because he has an infection,” Botan assured her.

 

Hiei lifted his head, glowering up at Botan.

 

“That's right, you have an infection,” Yukina confirmed. “You must have caught it off of another demon. Kurama said it's usually passed on through blood.”

 

“So licking another demon's blood off or your sword might cause you to become infected?” Botan asked Yukina.

 

“Absolutely!” Yukina innocently agreed.

 

“Interesting…” Botan said, tapping a finger against her chin and smirking at Hiei.

 

“I'll clean this mess up,” Yukina said, missing the exchange of snide looks between Botan and Hiei.

 

“No worries,” Botan said, putting the bowl back onto the tray and then taking the tray from Yukina. “You make sure Hiei gets back into bed and I will clean up.”

 

“Okay,” Yukina agreed.

 

Botan quickly moved to the doorway, where she paused to sneak a look back into the room. Yukina was arranging pillows behind Hiei, who was watching her with an almost fearful look on his face. Botan smiled to herself and continued towards the kitchen, silently musing that Hiei was not afraid of Yukina, but rather afraid of himself around her. As she felt a stray noodle slide down the front of her shirt, Botan wondered if Hiei would ever tell Yukina who he was; but she did not let the thought linger in her mind in case Hiei appeared in her thoughts - uninvited - again and began berating her for thinking such things.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Kuwabara was the first of the group to return to Genkai's temple that evening. He was a little surprised, as he had probably travelled the furthest of the three in search of anything suspicious by the known entrances to demon world. When he entered the temple, he could smell that Yukina had been cooking and that she had picked fresh flowers to decorate the rooms with: she was so adorable!

 

Kuwabara grinned, checking his reflection as he passed a mirror, smoothing back his hair with one hand and licking off something that had become lodged between his teeth. He then started towards the kitchen, only breaking his confident stroll when something dull thumped against the other side of a wall he was passing. He stopped short, frowning at the wall curiously, wondering what could have caused the sound.

 

“I thought I told you to stop doing that to me, woman!” he heard Hiei yell from the other side of the wall.

 

“Huh?” he grunted, stepping closer to the wall.

 

“Hiei, don't you understand?” Botan screamed back at him. “I have to do it: you're just so incredibly hot!”

 

“What?” Kuwabara squeaked, moving closer still to the wall.

 

“Hot?” Hiei snarled. “Of course I'm hot! Look at me, I'm a fire demon, you idiot!”

 

There was a brief silence, and in his increasing curiosity, Kuwabara stepped up to press his ear against the wall. At a strain, he could just about make out the sounds of two people panting heavily: which only made him all the more suspicious about what Botan and Hiei were doing.

 

“It's very sensitive!” Hiei said, his voice quieter. “You should know that!”

 

“I didn't mean to be so rough with you Hiei!” Botan replied, in an apologetic tone. “But you kept wriggling away from me and my hand just slipped!”

 

“Maybe you should keep your hands to yourself from now on,” Hiei grumbled.

 

“Well maybe if it wasn't so big and you hadn't got so excited I wouldn't have splashed all over it like that,” Botan muttered.

 

“Hey Kuwabara!”

 

Kuwabara screamed, leaping back from the wall and dropping into a defensive stance on instinct. Yusuke tilted his head to one side, frowning curiously at his friend.

 

“Gees, all I said was “hey Kuwabara”,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “You're a bit jumpy. What's wrong this time?”

 

Kuwabara felt his face grow hot as he glanced back and forth between Yusuke and the wall.

 

“What's eating you?” Yusuke asked.

 

“It's Botan and Hiei,” Kuwabara whispered, pointing a thumb at the wall.

 

“Botan and Hiei?” Yusuke repeated, squinting at the wall. “What are you talking about, you idiot?”

 

“Botan and Hiei are in there,” Kuwabara whispered. “And I think they're having-Yukina!”

 

“They're having Yukina?” Yusuke echoed. “What the hell does that mean?”

 

Yusuke turned around to see that Kuwabara had left him and was prancing down the hallway after Yukina, rushing to help her carry a basket of clean linen. Yusuke shook his head and started to walk on, but stopped again as he heard a sudden crashing sound from the other side of the wall Kuwabara had been pointing at.

 

“Enough!” he heard Hiei yell.

 

Yusuke leapt out of the way an instant before the wall exploded across the hall floor and Hiei staggered out, clutching one hand over his forehead and grabbing at the rubble to steady himself.

 

“Hey Hiei,” he said. “Nice bit of renovating. I always thought that room would look better if it was part of the hallway.”

 

“Shut-up,” Hiei muttered, picking his way carefully through the mess he had created.

 

“Hiei, you are being ridiculously stubborn!” Botan called after him.

 

A moment later she slid open the door and stepped out into the hall.

 

“You see?” she said. “It's much simpler when you just use the door like everybody else!”

 

“Everything okay here?” Yusuke asked, smirking amusedly.

 

“No,” Hiei growled. “That woman is trying to kill me. And if she does not succeed, I will kill her!”

 

“Everything's just the same as always, apparently,” Yusuke said, stifling laughter as he spoke.

 

“Oh don't mind mister grouchy boots!” Botan said cheerfully. “He's just upset because I accidentally hurt him when I was trying to help him.”

 

“You poured acid into my jagan eye, you bitch!” Hiei snarled, baring his teeth at her.

 

Yusuke pulled a face at Botan but she merely rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively at Hiei.

 

“I was trying to cool his fever by placing a cold cloth over his forehead,” she explained. “But he pushed my hand away and I squeezed the cloth too hard, dripping the water into his eye.”

 

“You poisoned that water!” Hiei argued.

 

“I added some lavender and menthol to it,” Botan replied, shrugging innocently. “Which may have made your eye sting just a little bit-”

 

“Sting?” Hiei roared, pulling his hand from his forehead. “You almost blinded me!”

 

Yusuke recoiled at the sight of Hiei's puffy and reddened third eye, but Botan seemed unaffected.

 

“I was trying to help you,” she reminded him. “And you are supposed to be resting, not punching down walls.”

 

“I'm leaving,” he coldly replied. “Just as soon as I… Get…”

 

He blinked heavily and staggered a little before slouching forwards. On instinct Botan leapt towards him, hooking her arms under his to catch his weight before he slumped to the ground.

 

“Let go…” he slurred, bunching his fists into the material of her sleeves.

 

Botan frowned down at the top of his head, unsure of what he was trying to do. He was pushing his fists into her arms as though he was trying to push her away but he was also gripping onto her sleeves so hard to hold himself up that the seams at her shoulders were starting to open.

 

“Yusuke?” she said, turning to him with a pleading look.

 

“Come on little guy, let's get you back to bed,” Yusuke said, walking over and taking one of Hiei's arms.

 

Together Yusuke and Botan took one of Hiei's arms around their shoulders each and supported him back over the crumbled remains of the wall he had destroyed, laying him down onto the bed he had been occupying earlier.

 

“My eye…” he muttered as his head touched the pillow.

 

“I'll rinse it with water for you,” Botan offered.

 

“Touch me even one more time and I will slaughter you,” Hiei replied, his voice unusually soft for the threat his words contained.

 

“He'll be fine,” Yusuke told Botan with a smile. “He's still a nasty little prick, so he can't be too ill.”

 

Hiei slurred out something complete incoherent before closing all three of his eyes and relaxing into the bedding.

 

“He looks so cute when he sleeps,” Botan whispered.

 

“I'm still awake!” Hiei rasped, opening one eye to glare at her.

 

“Ugh…” Botan muttered, leaning back from him.

 

“Is everything alright in here?” Kurama asked, stepping over the rubble with a hint of a curious frown.

 

“Pretty much,” Yusuke casually replied.

 

Kurama continued into the room, looking back over his shoulder at the mess Hiei had created.

 

“Hiei decided that he didn't like the wall,” Yusuke added.

 

Kurama turned to him and nodded his understanding, his face straightening.

 

“Are you relaxing like you're supposed to be, Hiei?” he asked, peering down at Hiei.

 

Hiei muttered out a curse in reply, at which Kurama calmly stepped forwards, easing his way between Yusuke and Botan, who were watching him with curious interest. He then smoothly lowered himself to one knee by Hiei's bedside and reached a hand down, grabbing a handful of Hiei's hair and lifting his head sharply before smacking it back against the floor. Hiei barely had time to grunt out a noise of complaint before he lost consciousness.

 

“Oh my!” Botan gasped. “Are you sure you should have done that, Kurama?”

 

“This way we know he'll get some rest,” Kurama replied, rising to his feet again.

 

Botan wanted to question Kurama's logic further, but the serenely confident look on his face made her stop herself. Instead she chewed at her lip and looked down at Hiei worriedly, silently hoping that he had not been hurt. Although he was unpleasant and sometimes just downright vicious, she did not wish him any harm. After all, she thought to herself, he had never hurt her and she was confident that he never would. And she was sure that the reason he had appeared at Genkai's was simply because he was going to help the others, because although he often acted aloof and uncaring, he had always supported his friends when they had needed him the most.

 

Botan smiled slightly as she looked at Hiei's unconscious features, which she did still think looked surprisingly calm and youthfully cute despite his character. Perhaps he looked so different in sleep because he was unable to scowl like he usually did when he was awake, she mused. She then wondered if he ever smiled out of happiness, or if he had only ever grinned out of maliciousness, a look she had seen on his face all too often.

 

A muffled snort cut into Botan's thoughts and she turned to the source, finding Yusuke and Kuwabara watching her, their faces fighting off grins as she looked their way.

 

“What are you two scheming?” she asked, folding her arms and frowning at them.

 

They both shook their heads, but looked no less amused. Botan suspected that they were laughing at her for some reason or another, though she could not figure out why. After trying to nurse Hiei she was exhausted and did not have the energy to try to wrangle the truth out of them so she left the room, using the door unlike everyone else, and set off in search of Yukina, the one person she knew that she could rely on not be rude or cheeky towards her.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The next day, despite Botan, Yukina and even Kurama disagreeing, Hiei left the temple and set out with the others to check the known gateways between living world and demon world. The group agreed that they would be back at Genkai's before sundown again, but would return sooner if they found anything unusual or suspicious. For Botan and Yukina back at Genkai's, the time passed quite quickly, and before they had finished cooking a meal for the boys, Kuwabara and Yusuke had already returned. Kuwabara set about fussing over Yukina as soon as he arrived, who remained as confused and wary of his attentions as ever, whilst Yusuke stole various items of half-cooked food before sitting up onto the kitchen counter next to Botan.

 

“Did you find anything at all?” she asked him.

 

He shook his head.

 

“I think we're looking in the wrong places,” he replied. “Or maybe from the wrong side.”

 

“The wrong side?” Botan repeated.

 

“Yeah,” Yusuke said. “The wrong side of the portals. I think we need to be in demon world.”

 

“But if anyone there finds out what we're doing, finds out that there might be some sort of rebellion, it could cause chaos this close to the next tournament.”

 

Yusuke nodded, his face stern. He then eyed Botan over, a smirk slowly creeping onto his face, bringing a sparkle to his dark eyes.

 

“So Botan,” he said. “What did you do to Hiei yesterday?”

 

“What?” Botan echoed, looking up at him questioningly. “Oh you mean when I was trying to help him and he lost his temper with me?”

 

“He seemed a bit… Flustered today,” Yusuke slowly replied.

 

“I doubt that,” Botan said, failing to notice the devious look on Yusuke's face. “Although maybe he still has a bit of a temperature, he really should have spent more time recovering - not that he doesn't have fantastic recovery abilities, but I do think some more bed-rest would have done him a world of good. But at least he's helping us now. I always knew that he would do eventually!”

 

Botan crossed the room and Yusuke slipped off of the counter, following her with his smirk still in place.

 

“Kuwabara said that you were going at it pretty hard with Hiei yesterday,” he said bluntly as Botan opened the fridge door.

 

“Oh well I had to!” Botan replied, still failing to understand Yusuke's implied meaning. “He was behaving like such a wretched little bugger, if he had just held still it would have been swift and painless for us both!”

 

Yusuke snorted into his hand, fighting back the urge to laugh out loud.

 

“Did you want it to be swift and painless?” he asked.

 

“Well of course I did!” Botan replied, closing the fridge door again. “I didn't want to prolong the moment, but, well you know Hiei!”

 

Yusuke began laughing, no longer able to hide his merriment in his hands as Botan's face slowly dropped.

 

“What are you chortling about over there?” she demanded.

 

Before Yusuke could compose himself enough to answer Kuwabara and Kurama entered the kitchen, both frowning at Yusuke as they watched him laugh at a joke apparently only he understood.

 

“Well today has been another unsuccessful day,” Kurama said to Botan, after shaking his head at Yusuke. “We haven't found anything and we've lost Hiei.”

 

“You've lost Hiei?” Botan echoed, touching a hand to her throat. “But he can't have left us, I've still got his-”

 

Botan stopped abruptly, her eyes doubling in size and her face turning pale.

 

“Oh yeah?” Yusuke said, grinning at her wildly. “You've still got his what, Botan?”

 

Kuwabara whispered a lewd suggestion to Yusuke, who proceeded to howl with laughter.

 

“What are you talking about?” Yukina asked. “I don't understand. What does that word mean?”

 

Kurama glared warningly at Yusuke and Kuwabara who held up their hands in defeat and left the kitchen, giggling as they went.

 

“Botan?” Kurama asked once they had gone. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yes, but…” she said, glancing over his shoulder at Yukina. “Yukina!” she called to her. “I think I need some more sakura leaves, could you pick me some please?”

 

“A-alright,” Yukina replied, still looking a little lost and confused.

 

Botan waited until Yukina was out of sight before starting to unbutton her shirt.

 

“Botan!” Kurama said, holding up his hands and stepping back from her. “Please, I really only think of you as a friend, I don't-”

 

“No, silly!” Botan scolded him. “Look!”

 

She pulled her shirt collar open, revealing the two hiruiseki that still hung around her neck. Kurama's eyebrows lifted until they disappeared beneath his hair, the whites of his eyes showing all around his green irises.

 

“Hiei gave you his hirui stone?” he whispered. “And he gave you Yukina's stone too?”

 

“I didn't think he would leave without them,” Botan replied.

 

“My goodness, I always knew that he found you very pleasing to look at, but I never thought that he would fall in love with you!”

 

“Well you see I just… Wait, what?”

 

Kurama and Botan exchanged surprised looks before both slowly switching to looks of suspicious confusion.

 

“Hiei gave you those as a sign of his affection, yes?” Kurama asked.

 

Botan shook her head, her face pale.

 

“Then how…?” he asked.

 

“I took them from him,” she replied. “Yukina was tending to him when we first found him unconscious, and I was afraid that she would see them and realise who he was. I thought it was only fair that he tell her when is ready to tell her himself. I didn't think it would be right for either of them to find out like that. I didn't have time to hide them anywhere, so I just… Put them on. I forgot to give them back before you all left this morning, but I assumed that Hiei was coming back here tonight!”

 

“Oh… Right, yes, of course. Well played.”

 

Botan narrowed her eyes at Kurama, who gave a small, nervous smile. She then felt her face grow hot as she began to blush.

 

“Oh my!” she gasped. “Did you say Hiei has… Hiei is… What did you say earlier about affections?”

 

“Nothing,” Kurama flatly replied.

 

“You did!” Botan argued. “I distinctly heard you say that Hiei has… Hiei… Oh my goodness, Hiei?”

 

Botan touched one hand to her mouth, lowering her eyes in thought, her mind replaying the highlights of every conversation and confrontation she had ever shared with Hiei. After several seconds of cursing, death threats, condescension and general disgust she lifted her eyes to Kurama's again.

 

“Hiei hates me!” she concluded. “He thinks I'm an insufferable hindrance!”

 

“Yes, I'm sure he does,” Kurama replied.

 

Botan opened her mouth to argue with Kurama for agreeing with her so readily, but as she considered the alternative - the idea that, as Kurama had suggested, Hiei had feelings for her - she decided that she preferred the idea of Kurama confirming that Hiei saw her only as an irksome pest.

 

“Well alright then,” she said, buttoning her shirt up to the neck to conceal the treasures still hanging around her neck.

 

“And you are right of course,” Kurama added. “Hiei ought to return for those stones.”

 

Botan nodded her agreement.

 

“And if he doesn't, I have a way of bringing him back here,” she said.

 

Kurama's face twitched slightly and Botan began to blush again.

 

“I didn't mean anything like that!” she cried. “I wasn't talking about anything…”

 

She sighed, shoving her hands into her jean pockets and fumbling around until she found what she sought.

 

“Ta-da!” she said, holding out the object she had retrieved towards Kurama.

 

“Oh dear…” Kurama muttered. “The mystic whistle. My favourite item from spirit world…”

 

Kurama started to reach for the whistle in Botan's hand but she quickly closed her fist around it and drew it back out of his reach.

 

“We can use it to call for Hiei!” she suggested. “It worked the last time I used it!”

 

Kurama remained silent, but even Botan suspected that he was suppressing displeasure beneath his neutral expression.

 

“Cover your ears, Kurama!” she said cheerfully.

 

Kurama groaned quietly but moved his hands to his ears regardless.

 

“Ooh, you too Yukina!” Botan added as Yukina returned with a basket of sakura leaves. “Cover your ears. And maybe warn…”

 

Botan had been about to tell Yukina to warn Yusuke to cover his ears too, but as she remembered him mocking her, she decided that this would be her revenge.

 

“Cover your ears, Yukina!” she said again, before dashing towards the back door.

 

Once she was outside, Botan took a few long strides away from the building before drawing in a deep breath and lifting the whistle towards her lips. She closed her eyes and closed her mouth, her lips crashing together. She opened her eyes again in surprise, crossing her eyes to look down at her hand, seeing an empty space where the whistle had been perched between her fingers moments earlier.

 

“What…?” she muttered.

 

“Looking for something?”

 

Botan turned towards the source of the voice, whimpering as she saw Hiei standing a short distance from her, leaning one shoulder against a tree, his fingers on one hand tangled around the string of the mystic whistle, which he was casually spinning around in the air.

 

“Hiei!” she said, smiling awkwardly. “How lucky! I was just about to look for you!”

 

“You were just about to use this thing to call for me like I'm some sort of pet,” he said, his eyes thinning as he spoke.

 

“Not a pet…” Botan said, scratching at the back of her head and avoiding looking directly at him.

 

“Hn,” he grunted.

 

He suddenly grabbed out his hand, catching the whistle in his fist.

 

“I'm tired of your silly games,” he said.

 

Botan held up a finger to correct Hiei, but the look on his face stopped her, and so she watched silently as he squeezed his fist tightly in an attempt to crush the whistle. He tried several times, his knuckles turning so white that Botan began to think the bones of his fingers might burst through the skin from the strain. When he realised that he could not crush the whistle with his hand he brought it to his mouth, chewing on it to no avail, making himself look just like the pet he had claimed that he was not.

 

“Hiei…?” Botan began.

 

“Shut-up!” Hiei snapped, dropping the whistle to the ground and stamping on it.

 

“But Hiei-”

 

“I said shut-up!”

 

“Okay dokay…”

 

Botan waited patiently as Hiei stamped on and then jumped on the whistle repeatedly. When this failed he dropped to his knees and put his hands over it, roasting the ground in a blaze of fire that threatened to spread to the temple and trees around them. He eventually stopped, glaring at the crater of blackened ash he had created, turning very pale when he spotted the mystic whistle lying in the centre of it all, completely unscathed.

 

“Damn it!” he yelled.

 

“Oh Hiei, don't do that!” Botan yelped as he began unravelling the bandages around his right arm.

 

Hiei paused, perhaps considering the lunacy of unleashing the dragon for the sake of a mere whistle, the break long enough for Botan to reach him.

 

“The mystic whistle can't be destroyed by demonic powers or even by brute force!” she explained, dropping to her knees in front of the whistle and cautiously picking it up from the ashes. “I tried to warn you.”

 

She stood up, lifting the whistle between her thumb and forefinger. She shook it a little to loosen the ash and dirt that came with it, silently noting that whilst the whistle itself was still in tact, the string that had once been attached to it had been incinerated.

 

“I don't think so,” Hiei said, snatching a hand at her.

 

Boten drew a breath to yelp in surprise but the whistle was already in Hiei's possession again.

 

“If I can't destroy it, I can at least keep it away from your meddlesome mouth,” he said.

 

“Hiei please, you must give it back to me,” Botan said, reaching for the whistle.

 

He scowled at her and stuffed his hand - and the whistle - into his pocket.

 

“You don't understand!” she pleaded. “Lord Koenma holds me responsible for that whistle, if I tell him I've lost it, he will punish me!”

 

“Hn, I don't care about that,” Hiei responded.

 

“Hiei, please!” Botan begged.

 

“I don't think so.”

 

Botan sighed and dropped her head in defeat.

 

“And you can give me back the hiruiseki you stole from me too,” he added.

 

Botan lifted her head again, revealing a sly grin that was enough to make even Hiei look a little taken aback - though only a little.

 

“Let's make a trade,” she suggested. “I will give you these stones in return for the mystic whistle.”

 

“Or let's not,” Hiei flatly replied.

 

“I won't hand them over until you return the whistle,” she insisted.

 

“You forget: I took the whistle by force, I can take the stones by force too!”

 

“I'd like to see you try!”

 

“You think you can defend yourself against me? Hn, you really are just as stupid as you look!”

 

Botan shrugged and folded her arms across her chest, tilting her chin upwards to make the height difference between them seem more exaggerated as she looked down at him.

 

“Fool,” he muttered.

 

He reached a hand out towards her, his fingers stopping just short of touching the collar of her shirt. His fingers drooped a little and he hesitated for a moment in that position before growling and straightening out his fingers again. He inched his hand forwards, the tips of his fingers touching against the collar of her shirt, and again he stopped.

 

Botan gulped, a sweat breaking out all over her body: she had taken a gamble challenging Hiei to take the stones by force, but this was definitely not the response she had expected from him. She had expected him to either run away in a sulk or push her down to get what he sought; and she had been hoping that if he chose the latter option she might be able to get the whistle out of his pocket when he came at her.

 

But what was actually happening was both unexpected and uncomfortable.

 

Hiei slowly moved his hand forwards and Botan gasped quietly as his fingers touched the base of her neck by her shoulder. His touch was light and uncertain, and looking at his face she saw that he was staring at his own hand, looking almost mesmerised as he watched his fingers dancing over the surface of her skin. His tongue darted out to briefly lick at his lips before he slid his hand a little further forwards, his fingers slipping beneath her shirt and the heel of his hand pushing into her collarbone. She let out a small noise of surprise and his eyes snapped up to hers.

 

As their eyes met, Botan felt as though Hiei had caught her under the glare of his jagan eye rather than his own eyes, as she became completely immobile. He held her gaze for a few seconds before snarling and baring his teeth at her, and in the blink of an eye he leapt away from her, scaling a tree and disappearing into the forest.

 

As Hiei vanished from sight Botan drew in a shuddering breath and fell hard onto her rear-end, barely noticing the pain of her actions. Her hand fluttered up to her neck, moving into the position Hiei's hand had been in only moments before, moulded to base of her neck and over her shoulder.

 

“Oh my…” she whispered weakly.

 

As she retracted her hand, Botan's fingers caught in the two chains still around her neck. Hiei's departure had been so abrupt she had not even noticed that he had failed to recover his stones: though unfortunately for her, he did still have the mystic whistle in his possession.

 

She slowly got to her feet and turned towards the temple, walking back towards it whilst wondering why her legs felt wobbly and did not seem to want to take her in a straight line. As she returned to the kitchen she passed Yukina and Kurama, who were both still clamping their hands over their ears. As they sighted her passing them they slowly removed their hands, giving her questioning looks which she did not even notice in her dazed state.

 

Botan continued walking awkwardly through the halls of Genkai's temple, eventually encountering Yusuke and Kuwabara, who moved into her path, halting her progress.

 

“Hey Botan!” Yusuke greeted her. “I heard Hiei ran away earlier today. I don't suppose you would know where he went to, would you?”

 

Botan lifted her head, studying Yusuke's mocking expression before turning to take in Kuwabara's smirking visage. She then numbly lifted one hand, her baseball bat slipping into it, and with one swipe she clobbered them both over the head with it. They staggered apart, clutching their heads and complaining, but Botan walked on through the gap they created, continuing until she reached the bedroom she and Yukina had been sharing, which she gladly shut herself into.

 

She let out a soft moan and knelt down onto her bed, her head spinning as she tried to figure out what had just happened to her. And, moreover, what had happened to Hiei? It was not like him to hesitate for anything, nor was it like him to be gentle with anyone; but his touch had been very tender.

 

“Oh my…” Botan said, thoughts of her conversation with Kurama returning to her.

 

Was it possible that Hiei had feelings for her?

 

As soon as the question rose to the surface of her mind Botan shook it off with a hollow laugh. Hiei was indeed a strange character, but to think that an S-Class demon like him would have any interest in a run-of-the-mill ferry girl like her was nothing short of ridiculous.

 

Botan slowly hung her head: as ridiculous as it was, it oddly made her feel sad to think that Hiei hated her.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Next Chapter: As the gang continue their search, Botan somehow finds herself alone with Hiei, though neither of them wanted it that way, and Botan's big mouth utters something that has the most unusual effect on Hiei. Chapter 4: The Surprise.