Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Surprise ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters herein, they are all the property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

 

Recap: Hiei was feeling better and tried to take his hirui stones back from Botan, but something stopped him. Botan didn't understand, but was also worried because he took her mystic whistle.

 

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Chapter 4: The Surprise

 

The next morning Botan and Yukina arrived in the kitchen for breakfast to find the others in the middle of a four-way argument.

 

“Damn it, Kurama!” Yusuke yelled. “It's your turn!”

 

“This isn't a matter of taking turns, Yusuke,” Kurama replied, his usually calm voice tight and slightly irritated. “It's a matter of common sense.”

 

“Oh, so now I'm stupid?” Yusuke echoed.

 

“Hey, don't I get a say in this?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“No!” the other three all yelled in unison.

 

Kuwabara folded his arms and muttered complaints under his breath, turning his face away from them all.

 

“You were born a human, you were the spirit world's special agent, this is your area of expertise,” Hiei spat at Yusuke. “Think about it.”

 

“First of all, I'm tired of being stuck with Kuwabara all the time!” Yusuke argued. “And second of all, I have just as much right to go to demon world as any of you do!”

 

“Yusuke, it makes more sense this way,” Kurama insisted. “You and Kuwabara should stay here, and I will go to the demon realm with Hiei. Nobody will suspect Hiei or myself, we know our way around, and we will be able to cover more ground.”

 

“I know my way around demon world and nobody would suspect me there either!” Yusuke pointed out.

 

“So go then!” Kuwabara cut in. “All three of you, go to demon world! I'll stay here by myself - again - and I'll defend this world on my own - again!”

 

“You've never defended this world on your own,” Yusuke corrected him.

 

“What about that whole year the three of you were training in demon world?” Kuwabara shot back.

 

“I wasn't gone for a whole year,” Kurama pointed out. “I only stayed in demon world for one month.”

 

“I was on my own here all that time,” Kuwabara continued, ignoring Kurama completely. “I had to defend the innocent all on my own. Yukina and Botan know exactly what I'm talking about, right ladies?”

 

“Um…” Yukina began, frowning in thought.

 

“I don't know about that Kuwabara, but what is going on in here?” Botan asked.

 

“Hiei and Kurama are going to demon world and they want me to stay here with Kuwabara,” Yusuke answered her. “Again!”

 

“Is that a problem?” Botan asked.

 

“I want to go to demon world,” Yusuke replied. “If three of us go we can cover a lot more ground. And besides, it gives me a good chance to check out some of the competition for the upcoming tournament!”

 

“That's a stupid reason,” Hiei scoffed. “You should stay here and protect your world. Do you really trust the clown to do it by himself?”

 

“This is getting us nowhere,” Kurama sighed. “I didn't want to have to do this, but for the sake of not wasting any more time I suggest all six of us pair off and start work as soon as possible. Yusuke, you go with Hiei to demon world.”

 

“Alright!” Yusuke said, punching a fist into the air.

 

“Kuwabara and Botan you can search the areas where people have gone missing to the south, and Yukina and I will check the areas in the north,” Kurama finished.

 

“Wait…” Hiei said, glaring at Kurama. “Do you really think that is wise?”

 

“I'm not expecting trouble, but Yukina will be safe with me, and I'm sure Kuwabara and Botan can handle anything they might encounter,” Kurama smoothly replied.

 

Hiei still looked less than convinced, but said no more.

 

“Is everyone happy now?” Kurama asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

 

“Hell yeah!” Yusuke said.

 

“Almost,” Kuwabara said. “Hey Kurama, swap partners with me.”

 

“No!” Hiei barked.

 

Kuwabara arched his eyebrows at Hiei in confusion and Yukina tilted her head slightly with a lost expression: but Kurama, Yusuke and Botan knew only too well why Hiei was angry.

 

“No,” Kurama said to Kuwabara. “We don't have time to argue about this any more.”

 

“Alrighty, let's have breakfast and get to it!” Botan said cheerfully.

 

“No,” Hiei said quietly.

 

“What now, shorty?” Kuwabara moaned.

 

“I am well known in demon world as one of the guards of the border patrol,” Hiei explained. “If I go there and start searching the borders independent of the patrol, it might arouse suspicion.”

 

“That's a good point,” Kurama muttered thoughtfully.

 

“Kurama, you should go in my place,” Hiei said. “You go with Yusuke, I'll stay here and baby-sit the clown.”

 

“Hey!” Kuwabara protested.

 

“That might be for the best,” Kurama slowly agreed. “I'll go with Yusuke, Kuwabara will still go with Botan and Hiei you can take Yukina.”

 

“No,” Hiei said, drawing a groan out of Kuwabara. “You go with Yusuke, I will search the north alone and the idiot can check the south by himself. I think Yukina and the witch should stay here.”

 

“Witch?” Botan shrieked, brandishing a fist in the air angrily.

 

“Yeah Botan, you should probably stay here and look after Yukina and the temple,” Yusuke suggested.

 

“Why do I always get left behind?” she moaned. “This is just like when you fought Sensui! I had to wait outside that cave all on my own, and now you're all leaving me here to miss out on all the action again!”

 

“You're not a fighter, Botan,” Yusuke reminded her.

 

Botan sighed in defeat and Yusuke nodded to Kurama.

 

“Let's go,” he said.

 

“Good luck everyone,” Kurama said with a wave of his hand before following Yusuke out of the room.

 

“Come on Yukina, let's have breakfast,” Botan said, turning to her friend.

 

“I've got maps of the areas we need to check,” Kuwabara said. “Can you read maps, short-stack?”

 

“Can you read, oaf?” Hiei smoothly replied.

 

Botan smirked to herself as she set about preparing breakfast for herself and Yukina. Kuwabara and Hiei was a terrible combination for any situation, and how they were going to manage to agree on their plans for the day was beyond her.

 

“I don't like you,” Kuwabara said, slapping a map down onto the counter.

 

“I don't care,” Hiei said.

 

“Kazuma, don't be mean to Mister Hiei!” Yukina interrupted them.

 

Botan's smirk widened and she was careful to keep her back turned to the others. The situation was growing increasingly awkward for Hiei, and she began to wonder why he had even volunteered to stay in the living world.

 

“He's really sneaky, Yukina,” Kuwabara said. “And he's rude, and violent, too.”

 

“Hn,” Hiei responded.

 

“He gets us in trouble when we fight together and then he runs off and does his own thing,” Kuwabara continued. “And I especially don't like it when he stands like that.”

 

Botan turned around, too curious to know what Kuwabara was talking about. Hiei was standing a short distance in front of Kuwabara, looking no different to how he usually did.

 

“Like what?” she asked.

 

“Like that,” Kuwabara replied, pointing at Hiei's nose. “Take your grubby, bandaged, stumpy little mitts out of your pockets so we can see them.”

 

“What?” Hiei barked, his face darkening dangerously.

 

“You heard me,” Kuwabara said.

 

Botan sighed, the sound somehow attracting Hiei's attention as he turned towards her sharply.

 

“You!” he said suddenly, pointing at her. “You know your way around this world quite well don't you?”

 

“Well yes, I do actually,” Botan replied.

 

“Then you will tell me what this means,” he said, grabbing up the map Kuwabara had put down and flinging it across the room at Botan.

 

Botan yelped, catching it awkwardly at her chest, narrowly avoiding getting the corner in one of her eyes.

 

“I knew you couldn't read maps!” Kuwabara laughed.

 

“I am finished talking to and listening to you for today,” Hiei snapped at him before crossing the room towards Botan.

 

“Oh yeah?” Kuwabara said. “Well I'm finished talking to and listening to you, tiny!”

 

Botan glanced back and forth between Hiei - who had stopped in front of her - and Kuwabara, waiting anxiously for one of them to say something else.

 

“Explain it to me quickly, I don't intend to waste the day clowning around this place,” Hiei warned her.

 

“Clowning around?” Kuwabara echoed. “Hey are you talking about me? Ah, you can just go to hell you moody little c-”

 

Kuwabara stopped his insult short as he caught Botan glaring at him warningly and Yukina staring at him fearfully.

 

“I'm going,” he grumbled.

 

“I made you a lunch,” Yukina called after him, grabbing up a snack box and hurrying after him.

 

Botan watched them leave before turning back to Hiei, who was still staring at her a little too intensely.

 

“It's quite simple,” she said, opening out the map. “You see this map is like a picture of the land taken from the sky-”

 

“Come with me.”

 

“-so just try to imagine that you are… What?”

 

Botan almost dropped the map as she realised what Hiei had asked of her.

 

“Come with me,” he said again.

 

“Wh… What?” she said again.

 

He sighed in frustration.

 

“Come to the sites with me,” he ground out impatiently.

 

“But… Why?” she asked. “Wasn't it your idea that I should stay behind?”

 

Hiei paused, his eyes moving to the doorway. Botan followed the direction of his gaze, and shortly saw Yukina reappearing.

 

“I see,” Botan said quietly. “You just didn't want Kuwabara to be alone with-”

 

Botan stopped short as Hiei's eyes snapped back to hers.

 

“Oopsie!” she said, grinning nervously.

 

He stared at her silently until her grin faded before talking again.

 

“Meet me outside and be quick about it.”

 

Hiei then turned on his heels and marched out, only breaking his stance to wave a hand at Yukina as she wished him luck. Botan turned to the kitchen counter, seeing that two slices of toast had popped up from the toaster. Not wishing to leave Hiei waiting for her she hurriedly grabbed them up, spread them, sandwiched them together and then stuffed them into her mouth.

 

“Yukina,” she said, her voice muffled by her breakfast. “Did you make a lunch for Hiei?”

 

Yukina shook her head.

 

“Probably best,” Botan said. “I don't think he ever eats, and even when he does, I don't think he's ever satisfied.”

 

Yukina adopted a confused look but Botan ignored it.

 

“I have to help Hiei with this,” she explained, waving the map around.

 

Yukina stepped forwards and pulled the toast from Botan's mouth.

 

“Right, sorry,” Botan said, grinning. “Silly me! I was trying to say that I have to help Hiei find these sites. Will you be alright here on your own?”

 

“I'm not on my own,” Yukina replied. “I have Puu!”

 

“Yes, of course you do!”

 

“Would you like me to make you a lunch box?”

 

“I don't have time, but thank you for the offer. If you need anything, send Puu.”

 

Botan retrieved her breakfast from Yukina and started towards the door.

 

“I wonder why Mister Hiei didn't go back to demon world,” Yukina said, stopping Botan in her tracks.

 

“Well, he…”

 

Botan found that she could not answer Yukina, mainly because she had been wondering exactly the same thing herself. She could not even remember how or why the argument between the four boys had resulted in Hiei staying in the living world with Kuwabara of all people.

 

“Goodbye!” she said instead, breaking into a run.

 

She felt a little bad about leaving Yukina alone and without answering her query, but she was more afraid of the consequences of leaving Hiei waiting for her. Once she was outside she quickly located Hiei standing by the edge of the forest, his hands in his pockets and his head turned away from the temple. She hurried over to join him, stopping at his side and taking a bite out of her toast. He turned to face her, rolling his eyes at the sight of her swollen cheeks as she tried to hurriedly chew through her meal.

 

“Take me to the first site, I won't need you after that,” he said.

 

Botan nodded, summoning her oar and leaping up onto it.

 

“Do you want to ride with me?”

 

Hiei's face twitched slightly and Botan froze, mid-chew, the realisation of what she had just suggested - through a mouthful of food, no less - dawning on her.

 

“So if you want to just follow me then…” she said slowly, rising up into the air a little as she spoke.

 

“Hn.”

 

Botan was unsure what Hiei's response meant, but took it to be a sound of agreement, and so she rose up above the trees, opening out the map to check her destination. Once she had ascertained the direction she was heading she looked down at Hiei, waving at him to indicate that she was ready to go. He stared up at her blankly and made no attempt to acknowledge her signal, so she eventually gave up and took off as fast as she could, deciding that she could at least make him work hard to keep up with her if nothing else.

 

The first site they sought was a considerable distance away, and by the time she had neared her destination and started to descend towards the ground, more than two hours had passed and Botan had long ago lost sight of Hiei. She had not been concerned at first, but as she reached the ground by the portal, which was in fact halfway up a rocky hillside, she began to think that it had not been such a good idea to race ahead without him; especially since she had known the way and he had been the one so lost that he had asked her to guide him there.

 

As Botan stowed her oar, the thought occurred to her Hiei could very well be running around in a circle, hundreds of miles in the wrong direction.

 

“Hn, idiot.”

 

Botan yelped as she spotted Hiei lying a short distance from her, his hands behind his head, one leg crossed over the other and his eyes closed as though he had been relaxing there for hours waiting for her.

 

“Hiei!” she breathed, clutching a hand to her chest. “My, you are fast! But… How did you know this was the right place?”

 

“I work the border patrol in demon world,” he replied, his eyes still closed. “I know every access point, from demon world and from this world. I wouldn't be very good at my job if I didn't.”

 

Botan eyed him over suspiciously, the distinct sense that something was amiss rising within her.

 

“If you knew that this was where you needed to be then why did you ask me to guide you here?” she asked.

 

“Insurance.”

 

Hiei propped himself up on one elbow, turning to look directly at her.

 

“I-I don't understand…” she said cautiously, sliding back a step from him.

 

“You still haven't returned the hiruiseki to me,” he said.

 

“Right…”

 

Botan frowned, looking about herself as though she expected to find a more sensible explanation for her predicament lying about the hillside.

 

“You could have just asked me for them back at Genkai's temple,” she pointed out. “When we were alone outside. Yukina would not have heard or seen anything.”

 

Hiei got to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets. Botan gasped at his actions as she suddenly realised why they were so significant.

 

“You still haven't returned my mystic whistle!” she said, pointing at his pockets accusingly.

 

“Hn, and I never will,” he said, smirking slightly.

 

“Well then I'm keeping these stones!” Botan replied.

 

“I'll just take them by force. Or did you forget that I could do that?”

 

“You couldn't do it last night!”

 

Botan and Hiei both looked surprised at Botan's last words, and hearing herself say them, Botan found herself reliving the unusual events of the night before when Hiei had made an attempt to take the hiruiseki from her but had somehow not been able to make himself follow through with it.

 

“This is your last chance to hand them over!” Hiei eventually recovered.

 

“Not unless you give me back my whistle!” Botan retaliated.

 

“Fine, have it your way!”

 

Hiei tore the bandana from his head, fixing her with his jagan eye.

 

“Look into my eye,” he said.

 

“That doesn't work on me, Hiei,” she reminded him.

 

He stared at her with his third eye for several moments longer before eventually giving up and tying his bandana around his forehead again.

 

“Then make yourself useful here,” he grumbled. “Look around for anything unusual.”

 

“What are you going to do?” Botan asked as Hiei turned his back on her and walked away from her.

 

“Sleep,” he frankly replied.

 

“Well that's a bit rude!” Botan snapped.

 

She planted her hands on her hips and glared at the back of his head, but he continued walking away from her at an unhurried pace, eventually finding himself a wide flat rock to lie down on, soon adopting the position he had been in earlier. Botan sighed loudly, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of him, but to no avail.

 

“Well really…” she muttered to herself.

 

She turned her back on Hiei, partly to block out the image of him mocking her with his unhelpfulness and partly to hide herself from him as she checked that his hirui stones were still securely around her neck. As long as she had them, she decided, she had a degree of control over Hiei, and as long as she had some amount of control over him, he could not refuse to help with the mission Koenma had set for them.

 

As she wandered down the hill, Botan began to realise that what she had just been thinking about was actually just common blackmail: surely that sort of behaviour was not befitting of a ferry girl of spirit world? Botan wondered what Koenma would think of her if he knew that she was having such thoughts. But then she remembered that he had shut her out of the room when he had been explaining the situation to Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama, something she was still a little angry about, and so she decided that she could think as many dark thoughts about blackmailing a demon as she wanted to.

 

Botan became so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not notice that she had wandered into a forest until it began to grow darker around her, the trees growing taller and denser as she walked lower down the hill. She slowed her pace as her visibility began to become restricted, her baseball bat sliding into her hand on instinct as she felt a chill in the air. In a matter of moments she was suddenly focussed and alert, stopped on the spot, tightening her grip on her trusted weapon. She was not alone in the trees, but whatever else was lurking there was nothing she could not easily fight off: provided it did not manage to sneak up on her.

 

Botan heard a swish of movement and she turned towards it, crying out alarm as something rushed past her from behind, the force of the displaced air causing her to stumble and almost fall over. She managed to regain her balance in time to duck down as something swept over her head. Looking up she saw the silhouette of a giant bat flying against the sky.

 

“A demon bat,” she concluded. “Well mister demon bat, say hello to my anti-demon bat!”

 

Botan listened carefully to the sounds of the bats around her, waiting for the sound of the larger, heavier creature. There was probably only one demon bat, the others would all be normal bats under its control. All she had to do was take out the demon bat and the others would lose interest and disperse without attacking. She wished that Hiei had not kept her mystic whistle, as it would have been very useful right then for debilitating the demon bat; but she did not have long to dwell on the thought as she heard the sound of something diving at her.

 

Botan tensed and swung her bat, smiling as it collided with something. Her hit had been a glancing one but it was enough to disorientate her attacker, who fell to the ground, taking the form of the demon bat she had suspected it was. She lifted her bat to take another shot at it, but in the blink of an eye it turned on her and caught her blow in its hands. She whimpered as it hissed at her angrily, and from the corner of her eyes she could see a swarm of bats gathering in the air above them.

 

“I'm going to drink your blood and then I'm going to eat you up!” the demon bat said, tightening his grip on her bat. “The blood of a human girl is always the sweetest!”

 

Botan yanked at her bat to try to loosen it from the bat's hold but she was no match for his strength. In desperation she tried to kick at it but her foot fell short of her intended target.

 

“It's hopeless, you might as well give in to me!” the bat sneered.

 

Botan tried again to wrestle free her bat, panic starting to set in when she realised that she had no hope of recovering it and the demon bat in front of her was starting to drool as it eyed her over. Realising that she had few other options left she abruptly released her hold of her baseball bat, using the demon bat's temporary confusion to summon her oar and whack it towards the bat's stomach. She was almost as surprised as the demon bat when her oar made a direct and resounding hit, but she did not hesitate on her advantage, hitting it again, causing it to stumble over to the ground, where she whacked it one last time over the head, knocking it out cold.

 

“Phew!” she said, wiping her sleeve across her brow. “Well that ought to teach you not to be so rude to a lady!”

 

She stowed her oar and crouched down, recovering her baseball bat from the demon bat's hands. As she stood up again Botan realised that she was being watched, yelping in surprise at the pair of red eyes staring at her in an almost alarmed fashion.

 

“Hiei!” she gasped, clasping a hand to her chest. “What are you doing here? I thought you were sleeping.”

 

“It's hard to sleep when there's a fool screaming at bats nearby,” he flatly replied.

 

“Oopsie!” Botan said, shrugging her shoulders. “Well anyway, I don't think he'll be giving us any more trouble for now.”

 

Hiei looked down at the unconscious demon bat sprawled across the forest floor between them.

 

“Hn, interesting,” he muttered.

 

“What's that?” Botan asked, stowing her baseball bat.

 

“I thought you were only capable of defensive manoeuvres,” he replied, lifting his eyes to hers. “I thought that thing would have devoured you.”

 

“So you came here to save me from being eaten alive?”

 

“Hn, no, I came to watch. I was bored.”

 

Botan started to laugh, but when Hiei's face remained stern she soon realised that he had not been joking.

 

“Now that's not very nice, Hiei,” she said solemnly.

 

He narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing.

 

“Well I think this creature is the most powerful one here,” she continued with a sigh. “If there were any more powerful demons passing through the portal here they probably would have destroyed a weaker demon like this one. And this is a very remote location, not very accessible, and the ground doesn't look disturbed, so I don't think many humans come this way. I'm going to check the next site.”

 

Botan stepped away from the demon bat before looking over expectantly at Hiei.

 

“Are you coming with me?” she asked.

 

“What a stupid question,” he replied.

 

“Alrighty then,” she said, summoning her oar again and hopping onto it. “Goodbye, Hiei.”

 

Botan took off, steering her oar towards the north before consulting the map again to check the next location she was heading for. The next portal was almost as far away again as the first one was from Genkai's temple, meaning she was facing another journey of around two hours. The next location was near a small town though, so Botan decided that after she had checked it - provided there were no problems - she would be able to stop in the town for lunch.

 

With that thought she focussed her attention on flying onwards, humming cheerfully to herself as she went.

 

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

 

Botan checked the next site alone, all the while wondering when it was that she had ended up taking responsibility for the task. She had travelled quite far north and the weather was distinctly colder, so once she had confirmed that there was nothing suspicious at the site she walked to the nearby town and bought a scarf, hat and pair of gloves before finding a pleasant little café to buy lunch from. She ordered two meals for takeaway, carrying them out of the café and along the street to an adjoining residential street that was lined with trees.

 

“Knock, knock!” she said brightly, rapping her knuckles against the trunk of the nearest tree. “Miso soup or pork noodles?”

 

She held up her bags with her other hand, looking up into the foliage expectantly. A couple passing her on the street cast her wary looks as though they thought that she had gone mad, seemingly offering meals to a tree.

 

“I'll unpack them here and you can come down when you're ready,” she said when she received no reply.

 

Humming to herself she sat down at the base of the tree and began unpacking the boxes of food from her carrier bag, placing them in a neat row in front of herself. The scents of her purchases began to permeate the air, and as she finished her task she felt the tree vibrate behind her, and a second later something landed on the ground beside her, snatching up the box of pork noodles in a blur of black and white.

 

Botan smiled, turning to watch as Hiei sat down at the foot of somebody's garden, scowling at her like a scorned cat.

 

“Good choice,” she said, ignoring his expression.

 

“Hn,” he responded.

 

Botan shrugged and picked up the cup of soup. From the corner of her eye she saw Hiei open the box a little roughly, almost spilling the contents in the process. Once he had steadied the box in one hand and the chopsticks in his other hand he began eagerly eating, which, she thought, finally answered her question about whether or not he did actually eat.

 

“So…” she said, tapping a finger against the plastic lid of her cup. “You've been following me since I left the last site.”

 

She peeled back the lid and took a sip before chancing a brief glance at Hiei, who had paused, his cheeks bulging and one hand plunged into the box of noodles.

 

“I knew you would help us out, you always do!” she said cheerfully.

 

Botan sipped at her soup again and on the edge of her vision she saw Hiei start to chew. It then occurred to her that he was unable to answer her because his mouth was crammed full of noodles: it was like she was free to say anything to him without the risk of a vicious verbal retort.

 

“You certainly do like those noodles, don't you?” she commented, avoiding looking directly at him so that he would not see her smirking amusedly. “I suppose you're hungry after recovering from that infection. But hopefully now you've learnt your lesson about licking up blood.”

 

Hiei growled, but the sound was muffled by food.

 

“Isn't this nice?” Botan said. “You and me, sitting here together, having a meal and just talking. It's like being on a date!”

 

Botan turned to smile at Hiei with her last remark, but as his eyebrows twisted and his mouth twitched downwards she started to realise what she had just said: and to Hiei of all people.

 

“Not that we are on a date of course,” she quickly added. “Because that would never happen.”

 

Botan gulped down some of her soup, burning the roof of her mouth but glad for the distraction the pain brought her. As she sucked in air through her teeth to cool the burn, she found her mind drifting to the idea of going on a date with Hiei, and exactly what it would entail. Keiko had spoken to her many times about dates she had with Yusuke, and usually they involved going to see a movie, having dinner at a nice restaurant or just going for a walk in a park or on a beach. But, as far as she was aware, Hiei did not care for films, he had just proved that he had no etiquette when it came to eating a meal, and he had proved many times that he preferred running to walking.

 

Botan wondered then what sort of date a guy like Hiei would take a girl on. Dates were different according to the individual, after all, and surely there was somewhere and something that Hiei considered a suitable venue and activity for a date. Botan almost choked on her soup as an involuntary image of Hiei in a tuxedo ballroom dancing on his own under a spotlight appeared unbidden in her mind. She tried to dismiss it, but he kept spinning around, his arm raised around the space where a partner ought to be, his eyes closed, his nose turned up into the air, looking almost regal but for his wild, spiky hair.

 

Botan snorted into her hand and only just managed to swallow the contents of her mouth before giggling to herself.

 

“This is a waste of time, and I'm bored now,” Hiei said suddenly, rising to his feet.

 

Botan cleared her throat and calmed herself before looking up at him. He had discarded the box of noodles in the garden he had been sitting in and he looked determined and a little annoyed: which was the way he usually looked, she thought to herself.

 

“Would you like some lemonade to wash that down with?” Botan asked, cracking open a can and holding it up towards him.

 

He glared at her offering as though it was poison, but, having already expected such a response from him, Botan smiled amiably and kept her hand steady.

 

“It won't bite you, it's just something to drink,” she insisted.

 

“Hn.”

 

He snatched the can from her hand and lifted it towards his mouth.

 

“But be careful, it is fizzy,” she warned him.

 

Hiei tilted back his head, the can touching his lips and lifting up. In an instant he had dropped his head again and thrown the can at the tree behind Botan. She ducked as it bounced off the bark and landed I the middle of the road, spilling out in a puddle of angry, fizzing white froth. Hiei muttered a curse, wiping his mouth on the back of his bandaged hand before stomping off, leaving Botan sat under the tree, watching him go.

 

“Oh dear,” she sighed.

 

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

 

“Okay dokay, we'll meet you back at Genkai's!” Botan said into her communicator.

 

“Hey Botan?” Kuwabara said, the image of him in front of her leaning to one side. “What did you do to Hiei? He doesn't look too happy.”

 

Botan looked over her shoulder, spotting Hiei a short way behind her, his hands stuffed into pockets, his shoulders hunched up to the point that he did not appear to have a neck and his eyes thinned.

 

“I don't think the weather here agrees with him,” she whispered as she turned back to the communicator. “I offered him my gloves, but he refused.”

 

Botan held up her free hand and Kuwabara began laughing so loudly Botan was sure Hiei would be able to hear him.

 

“I don't think he liked the idea of wearing white gloves with a pink feather trim,” Botan added. “Though I think his hands are about the same size as mine, he could easily have worn them. I didn't dare offer him my hat. It's a Hello Kitty head.”

 

Kuwabara began to laugh even louder and Botan sighed in frustration.

 

“Goodbye, Kuwabara!” she said abruptly, snapping the communicator shut to terminate the link.

 

She slid the communicator back into her pocket and turned to Hiei, forcing a smile for his benefit. Despite them having separated during lunch, they had somehow ended up together again at the site of the next portal, which was in the far north of Japan, and in the throes of winter, there was a blustery wind that occasionally brought hail with it: and apparently Hiei had a severe disliking for such frigid conditions.

 

“I have an idea!” Botan said suddenly, smacking a fist into her open palm. “We could make you a little hoodie!”

 

“What?” Hiei echoed, taking a wary step back from her.

 

“It's easy! Come here and I'll show you,” she offered, holding out her arms towards him.

 

He eyed her over but did not move. She shook her head and walked boldly up to him, grabbing her hands into his scarf and loosening it about his neck.

 

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

 

“Making you a little hoodie!” she said as she adjusted his scarf about his head. “Didn't you know that you lose most of your body heat through your head?”

 

Botan arranged Hiei's scarf up over the top of his head like a hood before winding the ends around his neck firmly to stop the wind getting in. She then began tucking the ends back into his coat, her hands slowing to a halt and her smile fading.

 

“…Hiei…?” she muttered.

 

“What?” he mumbled.

 

“…You're not wearing a shirt under this coat…”

 

Botan and Hiei stood for a prolonged and awkward moment, each staring into each other's eyes as if they had been frozen into that position by the bitter wind. Botan was silently thankful that she still had her gloves on, but even with a layer of material between her skin and his, she could still feel the warmth of his body and the intimate topography of his muscular chest against her palms and fingers.

 

“Well then,” she said, her voice a little higher pitched than usual. “That should… Keep you nice and cosy.”

 

She slid her hands out of his coat and grinned nervously.

 

“And you look just adorable like that!”

 

“What?” Hiei grunted, frowning at her sternly.

 

“You look adorable!” she said again. “You look so cute I could… Just…”

 

Botan's words faded, her mouth hanging open in the form of the next word she had been about to say, the sight of Hiei's widened eyes suddenly reminding her of just who she was talking to. Maybe he did look unbelievably cute with his scarf wrapped around his head and his bandana around his forehead, only his eyes, mouth, reddened nose and cheeks and a few rogue strands of his jet-black hair visible, but he was still Hiei.

 

“Kuwabara found a shoe,” she said mechanically. “He suspects foul play, so we should get going now.”

 

Botan summoned her oar, her mind still reeling at the idea of what she had almost said. She clambered onto her ride with far less finesse than she normally possessed, turning her head from Hiei and willing her oar upwards. She started to move forwards and upwards, only to let out a cry and grab desperately at the handle as she was almost thrown over it. She looked back to see what the problem was, whimpering as she saw a bandaged hand gripping the handle just above the blade of the oar.

 

“Hiei?” she whispered, frowning at him.

 

He slowly ran his eyes over her, one corner of his mouth curling upwards as his eyes completed their journey, a self-satisfied smirk firmly in place on his face by the time his eyes met hers again. She tried to ask him why he had stopped her, but she could not make her voice work. With an amused “hn” Hiei yanked her oar back, the sudden force sending her flying off the end of it. She landed on the ground in a crumpled heap, pushing herself up onto all fours and looking about in confusion.

 

“Oopsie,” she muttered as she spotted her hat on the ground a short way ahead of her.

 

Botan started to crawl towards where her hat had landed, gasping as something suddenly clamped onto one of her shoulders. She cried out in alarm as her shoulder was tugged back forcefully, her entire body following the direction it took. She flipped over in the air and landed on her back with a grunt, her body almost immediately trying to sit up from that position on instinct. She yelped as both her shoulders were pushed roughly back down to the ground, her eyes widening as she saw Hiei crawling over her, his smirk wider than before and his eyes positively feral.

 

“Silly girl,” he said in a low voice. “I can read your thoughts. Or did you forget?”

 

She shook her head urgently, though her mind was unusually blank at that moment.

 

“I know what you were about to say,” he added.

 

“Oh…” she whimpered, her lips quivering and her throat constricting, preventing her from answering him properly.

 

“Say it,” he said, his tone almost gentle.

 

Botan pressed her head against the hard, cold ground, trying in vain to put some distance between herself and Hiei, who seemed to be lowering himself onto her slowly but surely, bringing his face closer and closer to hers with every passing second.

 

“Say it,” he growled through tightly clenched teeth.

 

“I… I can't!” she wailed. “It doesn't mean anything! It's just… Just a saying! Like, “curiosity killed the cat” or “reap what you sow” or-wait…”

 

Botan frowned, her eyes wandering away from Hiei, she began chewing on her lip as she considered how ironic her choice of words seemed, since she liked to pull cat faces and she was a reaper herself.

 

“Say it,” Hiei insisted.

 

“But I didn't mean it, Hiei!” she wailed, meeting his eyes again. “It's just a turn of phrase, I would never actually expect to…”

 

“Say it!” he barked.

 

“You look so cute I could just kiss you!” she blurted out, hoping to end the moment as quickly as possible.

 

Hiei broke into a grin that looked far more fearsome than any of the scowls he had worn in any of the battles Botan had seen him fight in; but she only saw it for a brief moment before he swooped down on her, pressing his lips hard against hers. She moaned and tried to move, but he was pushing down on her so hard she could do little more than lie still and glare at him, all the while wondering if what was happening could even be considered a kiss, since there was nothing romantic or tender about it: he was literally pressing his lips against hers with enough force that she could feel the shape of his teeth through his lips. But just as she beginning to find his actions painful, Hiei lifted his head abruptly, grinning down at her.

 

“Hn, pathetic,” he said.

 

And in a flash his weight was lifted from her and he was gone from her sight.

 

Botan slowly eased herself up onto her elbows, a chunk of her powder-blue hair falling loose from its ties and falling over one side of her face.

 

“…What?” she muttered weakly.

 

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

 

Next Chapter: Botan is called back to spirit world but can't return without the mystic whistle. When she tries to get it back from Hiei both get more than they bargained for. Chapter 5: The Facts.