Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Snake ( Chapter 6 )

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 took back his hiruiseki from Botan by distracting her with a kiss, but took off before she could get her whistle back.

 

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

 

Chapter 6: The Snake

 

“Botan!”

 

Botan was furious. She had chased Hiei until Yusuke had sent Puu up into the air to bring her down by force, since her circling the temple and yelling out angrily had been keeping the others awake. She had come back begrudgingly, offered no explanation to anyone for her foul mood or actions, instead taking herself straight to bed, where she had fallen asleep remarkably quickly, only to sink into a series of nightmares about an arrogant little fire demon who was mocking her relentlessly.

 

“Botan!”

 

In her current nightmare, she was standing in front of Koenma's desk, trying to explain to him that she had lost the mystic whistle, and all the while Hiei was standing behind Koenma's chair laughing at her.

 

“Botan!”

 

“Get off of me!” she yelled, hitting out an arm blindly.

 

Botan heard a cry and a thud and suddenly she was very awake. Sitting up in her bed she saw Yukina lying on the floor at her side, staring up at her with wide, terrified eyes.

 

“Yukina!” she gasped. “Oh my goodness Yukina, I am so sorry!”

 

Botan nimbly leapt out of her bed and helped Yukina to her feet, hurriedly checking her over.

 

“Are you hurt?” she asked.

 

“No, I'm fine,” Yukina assured her. “But I was so worried about you, Botan! You were having the most terrible nightmares!”

 

“Yes, well…” Botan sighed.

 

“You always talk in your sleep, but you sounded like you were in pain, and I couldn't bear it!”

 

Botan opened her mouth to tell Yukina that her cries had been justified given the nature of her nightmares, but the sound of something tapping against the ground brought her attention sharply downwards and she saw a small glittering hiruiseki by her foot.

 

“Yukina…” she said, lifting her eyes back to Yukina's face, which was twisted with worry, her eyes glistening with the threat of more tears. “Oh please don't cry!”

 

Botan hurriedly pulled her into a hug, suddenly so overcome with guilt that she forgot all about her anger.

 

“I don't like to see you suffering like that,” Yukina said, her voice muffled in Botan's vest.

 

“It was just a dream,” Botan said firmly. “I'm fine. Really I am.”

 

“I like it when you talk in your sleep, but this time it was horrible.”

 

Botan gently took Yukina's shoulders in her hands and pushed her back far enough to look her in the eye.

 

“Did you say I always talk in my sleep?” she asked.

 

Yukina sniffed and nodded.

 

“Every night,” she confirmed. “You always have.”

 

“Really?” Botan echoed. “That is strange, because I hardly ever remember the things I dream about. I am aware that I dream, but I forget by the time I wake up in the morning. What sort of things do I speak about?”

 

“Oh, you only ever speak about one thing,” Yukina replied.

 

“And what's that?”

 

“You don't know?”

 

“No. I don't remember my dreams.”

 

“Well, I thought maybe you dreamt the same thing all the time because you think the same thing all the time. Dreams are just a part of our subconscious, right?”

 

Botan nodded, feeling almost afraid to learn just what it was that she apparently dreamt about night after night.

 

“You always speak about Mister Hiei,” Yukina said.

 

“No I don't!” Botan immediately snapped back at her.

 

“Yes you do,” Yukina weakly replied.

 

“No!”

 

The two stood exchanging wary and confused looks before Botan eventually began to soften.

 

“I-I do?” she asked quietly.

 

Yukina nodded.

 

“And… And what sort of things do I say about Mister Hiei?” she asked.

 

Inside her head Botan had already decided that her dreams about Hiei could only be bad. She could remember dreaming about him two or three times in the past, and each time it had been him chasing after her with a dangerous glint in his eye. She had always been afraid of him, she only hoped that she had not passed that fear onto Yukina.

 

“Well sometimes you just say his name,” Yukina eventually answered. “But other times you seem really worried that he's hurt.”

 

Botan frowned, at first surprised by what Yukina had said. But, as she gave the matter more thought, she realised that Hiei had been on her mind a lot since the group had gathered to fight Sensui. He had first starting consuming her thoughts when she had been forced to lift the restrictions spirit world had placed on him for his crimes. She had not then - and even now did not have - the authority to release prisoners, least of all those guilty of theft of the some of the most powerful treasures of spirit world and the murder of several spirit world ogres. She had been furious that he had driven her to taking such an extreme measure just for the sake of getting his help to free Yusuke, only for him to then abandon them in a sulk because Koenma had announced that he was only a lower B-Class demon.

 

But despite the circumstances, that was when Botan had begun thinking about Hiei, and, as she thought about it now, she had not really stopped thinking about him since. When he had disappeared in that famous sulk she had constantly wondered where he was and what he was doing, when he had returned she had been relieved and started to see him as Yusuke did: the aloof and moody one who liked to talk about hating them all but would always ultimately be their best ally. Her thoughts had only deepened when she had seen him fight Mukuro during the demon world tournament. She had never been so captivated by anything before or since: just as Koenma had said, it was like the two were communicating through their violence. It was both terrible and beautiful in equal measures, like poetry in motion.

 

“Well, you know Hiei!” she said, forcing a smile. “He fights differently to the others. He uses his entire body like a weapon, and he doesn't care how badly he gets hurt. The others are more strategic and defensive than Hiei in battle. Hiei just fights to win, even if victory will cost him his life, he doesn't care.”

 

“Mister Hiei is very brave,” Yukina replied.

 

Botan nodded, though she was starting to feel conflicted, and soon the only thing her mind could focus on was the look on Kurama's face when he had assumed that Hiei had given her the hiruiseki as a sign of his love.

 

“We should go back to bed now,” she said numbly. “I'll try not to have any more nightmares!”

 

Yukina nodded and made her way over to her own bed. Botan crawled back into her bed and settled down, smiling at Yukina as she bid her goodnight before closing her eyes. Botan kept her eyes open a little longer, looking down at the single hiruiseki stone lying on the floor between them, all the while wondering if Hiei had just kissed her to get the stones back from her earlier that night. After all, there were plenty of other ways he could have taken them, and if the kiss was just a ruse, why had he not taken them the first time he had kissed her? And why did he always hesitate when he touched her?

 

Botan briefly wondered if she ought to approach recovering the mystic whistle with the same attitude Hiei had adopted: maybe if she thrust herself upon him and kissed him in an almost brutal fashion she could slip her hand into his pocket and recover the whistle without him stopping her.

 

Botan paused, a voice screaming inside her head, asking her if she had gone insane. She could not imagine anything more terrifying than thrusting herself onto Hiei and kissing him forcefully. The best thing that could come out of such a rash action would be that he would kill her, she decided. The worst thing was not even worth thinking about, as it was certain to only lead to even more vivid nightmares than she had already suffered that night.

 

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

 

The next morning Keiko agreed that she would wait at Genkai's temple with Yukina whilst the others set out. Yusuke and Kurama left first, followed shortly by Kuwabara and Botan. Kuwabara strode through the temple confidently, but Botan's face was creased with concern as she hurried after him, trying to keep pace with his long legs.

 

“Kuwabara,” she said as they neared the front door. “We need to find Hiei. I haven't seen him since last night. Did he even come back to the temple?”

 

“Nah,” Kuwabara casually replied. “He's probably up a tree somewhere.”

 

“But…”

 

Botan sighed in defeat, hurrying on after Kuwabara. Together they left the temple, finding that it was cooler outside than it had been the day before, and a strong wind was howling around the grounds, with evidence that it had been far stronger during the night before.

 

Kuwabara cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled “Hey pipsqueak!”

 

“I don't think that's a good idea, Kuwabara,” Botan quietly warned him.

 

“Come on, ya little shrimp!” Kuwabara called, ignoring Botan entirely. “Don't go leaving us short-handed again!”

 

He laughed to himself and jabbed an elbow at Botan, who slapped it away.

 

“Hey Botan, I must have got the short straw today, I have to work with Hiei!” he said loudly.

 

“Kuwabara, stop that at once!” Botan hissed, waving a fist at him threateningly.

 

“Hey Hiei! What was your favourite dessert as a kid? Shortcake?”

 

“Kuwabara!” Botan snarled, punching his arm. “That's no way to talk to a friend!”

 

“He's not my friend,” Kuwabara replied with a shrug. “And besides, he never comes when we ask nicely, but the minute you insult him he's right there, ready to kick your ass.”

 

Botan opened her mouth to argue, but she found herself unable to fault Kuwabara's logic.

 

“Hey Hiei!” Kuwabara yelled. “Are you sure you're big enough to be out on your own?”

 

Kuwabara grunted as he was knocked forwards onto his knees. Botan turned sharply, seeing Hiei land at her side a little harder than he usually did, his eyes wide and glaring at Kuwabara.

 

“You're too noisy,” he spat. “Your verbal ejaculations bore me.”

 

“…What?” Kuwabara muttered, getting to his feet and turning to Hiei.

 

“I don't want to be stuck with you any more than you wanted to be stuck with me,” Hiei replied. “Let's just get this over and done with.”

 

“Right, the next bus is in about an hour,” Kuwabara said.

 

“Bus?” Hiei snapped.

 

“You can ride with me, Kuwabara,” Botan quickly interrupted.

 

Hiei turned to her and looked her over critically.

 

“On my oar,” she added, summoning her oar and pointing at it to indicate her point.

 

She climbed on and beckoned Kuwabara to join her.

 

“Hop on,” she said.

 

“Um, okay,” Kuwabara responded.

 

The oar dipped a little as his weight caught on it behind Botan and she had to adjust her energy to compensate for the additional burden. Hiei muttered something, but he turned his head as he spoke and so Botan did not clearly hear what he said.

 

“Ah shut up, half-pint!” Kuwabara snapped at him. “You're just jealous.”

 

Hiei's head snapped around and he glared at Kuwabara. Botan glanced back and forth between the two, unsure which was glaring more menacingly, the demon or the human.

 

“Alrighty then, let's get going!” she said, hoping to break the tension.

 

“Fine by me,” Kuwabara agreed.

 

“Hn,” Hiei grunted, before launching himself off at his unusual, incomprehensible speed.

 

“What a cheerful soul he is,” Botan muttered as she rose into the air.

 

“I think he's angry because I get to ride with you, Botan,” Kuwabara said to her.

 

“Really?” she asked, only semi-interested in Kuwabara's words. “I can't imagine why.”

 

“Maybe because you're his girlfriend and he's the jealous sort.”

 

A few seconds of screaming and cracking tree branches later, Botan pulled herself up from the ground, turning to find Kuwabara lying in a tangled heap of limbs by the base of a tree. She plucked a stray twig from her hair and cleared her throat awkwardly before summoning her oar again.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Kuwabara wailed as she held out a hand towards him.

 

“You fell off,” she lied. “You need to concentrate to keep your balance!”

 

He put his hand into hers and she pulled him to his feet, ignoring the way he was glaring at her.

 

“And just so that you know, Mister Kuwabara, I am not Hiei's “girlfriend”,” she added. “What a ridiculous thing to say! If you ever said something like that around Hiei, he might kill you!”

 

“But I thought you two were-”

 

“Absolutely not, Kuwabara!”

 

“Okay! Calm down!”

 

“Well, really! You could spoil a lady's good reputation saying such things! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

 

“I-I'm sorry.”

 

“Well alrighty then. Hop on. And this time, hold on tight.”

 

Botan climbed onto her oar and Kuwabara climbed on behind her, grabbing the handle of the oar tightly in both hands.

 

“Here we go!” she said, before zooming up into the air again.

 

As they flew towards their destination, Kuwabara remained uncharacteristically silent, apparently concentrating his efforts on holding onto the oar, seemingly having accepted Botan's excuse that it had been his fault that they had fallen and not hers: she had been so shocked to hear herself described as Hiei's girlfriend she had been unable to concentrate on breathing much less keeping her oar in existence and in the air. If somebody had said as much to her only a week earlier she would have laughed it off; but in light of the events of the past week, Botan found it almost painful to even begin thinking about.

 

She allowed herself to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, she had feelings for Hiei.

 

After several seconds of her mind going silent, Botan was suddenly aware that she was sinking. Looking about herself in alarm she realised that the very idea of having feelings for Hiei had apparently had such a profound effect on her that she had forgotten how to keep her oar airborne. Again. She hurriedly pulled up again, hoping that Kuwabara had not noticed her lapse in concentration: though she suspected that he had actually fallen asleep behind her, despite his position being arguably too uncomfortable for any human to manage to sleep.

 

Once she had righted herself in the air Botan reminded herself of the conversation she had shared with Hiei the night before: he thought that love was just a word invented by humans, and he claimed to live only to fight and get stronger. Though that did raise some questions about why he went to such great lengths to look after a sister who did not even know his relation to her and why he still carried around the tear his mother had shed when she had given birth to him.

 

There was, Botan decided, probably a lot of things she did not know or understand about Hiei, and yet he probably knew and understood all that he needed to about her. She wore her heart on her sleeve and always tried her very best to be happy and to make her friends happy, but Hiei was guarded and secretive, he never smiled out of happiness and he did not seem to care about keeping in touch with Kurama or Yusuke any more. It would be pointless to feel anything for him because he would undoubtedly reject any feelings anyone tried to project onto him. He hated pity, he hated love, he hated kindness and he hated Botan.

 

But, Botan thought, what if Hiei did actually have feelings for her? Kurama had seemed to think that he might, and given that Hiei did not express himself the same way most others did, how would she ever be able to tell if he did like her?

 

“Hm, I don't suppose he would threaten to kill me if he liked me…” she mused aloud.

 

“What?” Kuwabara yelled into her ear.

 

“Eh?” she yelped, turning to him in surprise. “Oh, nothing!”

 

“I thought you said something about killing,” Kuwabara said.

 

Botan shook her head.

 

“Nope!” she said cheerfully. “Must have just been the wind whistling past your ears!”

 

Kuwabara eyed her over before frowning at her.

 

“You're really weird, Botan,” he said in a low voice.

 

“Okay dokay,” she said.

 

Kuwabara pulled a face at her but she turned from him, looking out across the horizon. It looked as though they were about halfway towards their destination already: she wondered if Hiei was already there, cursing their lateness.

 

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

 

Once Botan had reluctantly booked four rooms in the hotel by the edge of town she met up with Kuwabara by the lake the portal lay beyond, finding him looking as confused as he had when she had left him.

 

“No sign of Hiei?” she asked as she joined him.

 

He shook his head.

 

“Do we have to find him?” he asked. “Maybe the little guy went back to demon world.”

 

“Maybe he did,” Botan agreed. “But we should at least try to find him. I have to go back to spirit world today and Lord Koenma won't be happy with me if I go back with the news that we lost Hiei. Again.”

 

Kuwabara nodded slowly.

 

“I don't like the little guy,” he said.

 

“Oh come on now, Kuwabara!” Botan said, putting on her best smile. “Just think about all the wonderful things he's done for you!”

 

“Like what?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“Well what about the time he…”

 

Botan rolled her eyes towards the sky, but ideas of how to finish her sentence failed her.

 

“Exactly,” Kuwabara grumbled. “I'll check the trees up the hill, you check around the other side of the lake.”

 

“Alrighty!” Botan said cheerfully.

 

They took off in separate directions, Kuwabara heading into the trees that lined the slope of the hill beyond the lake and Botan moved along the bank of the water, following the curve of the water's edge away from the road in search of any signs of Hiei. She once more wished that she still had her mystic whistle to call on him, for as much as he disliked it, it certainly had always been effective. Without the whistle she was left walking through the long, boggy grass by the lake, looking about herself, concentrating on any trees she passed, desperately hoping to spot Hiei sitting waiting for them somewhere nearby.

 

After several minutes of walking around the lake, her feet sinking into the marshy land and ruining her shoes, Botan stopped at the sound of her communicator ringing. She smiled optimistically, hoping that it would be Kuwabara calling to tell her that he had found the elusive fire demon they sought: but her smiled faltered slightly as she saw that it was in fact Koenma.

 

“Lord Koenma, Sir,” she greeted him.

 

“Botan, you're not back yet,” he said bluntly. “What's keeping you?”

 

“Well Sir, we've… We've lost Hiei,” she confessed.

 

“Again?” Koenma echoed.

 

“I'm rather afraid so, Sir,” Botan replied.

 

Koenma sighed and muttered something to George, who briefly appeared in the image as he leaned in to listen to what Koenma was telling him.

 

“Okay Botan, but do hurry back,” Koenma said once George had vanished again. “And remember to bring the mystic whistle, we need it here.”

 

“What do you need it for?” Botan asked, hoping to find an excuse not to bring the whistle back.

 

“A small incident involving a racoon demon,” Koenma replied. “It's causing pandemonium down here, and if my father finds out, well you know what he'll do to me. And if that happens, I'll have him do exactly the same to you, so hurry up and bring back the whistle, Botan!”

 

“Yes Sir!” Botan agreed.

 

Koenma terminated the link, and in her state of panic at the idea of invoking the wrath of King Enma, the communicator slipped from Botan's delicate fingers.

 

“Oopsie!” she gasped, fumbling after it but failing to catch it before it plopped into the lake. “Oh dear…”

 

She edged up to the water, her feet sinking further into the wet ground until water began to pool around her ankles. She crouched down and reached a hand into the water, but she could not reach to the bottom, forcing her to wade into the lake itself until she was up to her knees in water, whereupon she crouched down again and fished out her communicator, shaking the excess water from it. Botan stood up and flipped open the communicator, amazed to see that it still worked despite having been completely submerged for several seconds. She sighed in relief that she had one less excuse to make to Koenma when she got back to spirit world and started to turn to wade her way back to the shore, pausing as a glint of light caught her eye by the water's surface.

 

“Huh?” she muttered as the surface of the water rippled past her right side.

 

She felt her blood run cold as she saw the flick of a slimy tail, her shock so severe she did not immediately feel the sharp pain of something biting into her leg. As she started to feeling the sting of four fangs embedded into her inner thigh she dropped her head, breathing in sharply as she saw a known poisonous snake penetrating the material of her jeans to pierce her skin. In a blind panic she screamed and started trying to run for the shore, tripping over a rock and stumbling over, her entire body going under the water.

 

Botan quickly resurfaced from the shallow water and grabbed at the grass, pulling her body out of water and back onto almost solid ground. She looked down, relieved to see that the snake had let go and disappeared, but distraught to see the small tears in her jeans, the ribbons of red in the water and the dark stains that were spreading around the holes in her clothing. She tried to tell herself that she was not really bleeding too badly, that it just looked worse because she was wet and the water had diluted her blood, making it seem as though there was far more than their actually was; but really, how much the wound was or was not bleeding was the least of her worries, because she could already feel the area around the bite going numb from the venom.

 

Can I die in this body, she wondered?

 

No sooner had the idea entered her mind than she began to panic. She really only had two choices: get back to spirit world or get an antivenom treatment. A quick look about her told Botan that the snake had long gone, and in her panic she could barely remember what it looked like, which ruled out the possibility of her getting treated correctly. Her only option left was spirit world, and the hope that going there would cancel out what had happened.

 

Botan successfully summoned her oar, but when she tried to stand up only one of her legs obeyed the orders of her mind. Her right leg felt heavy and she was still shaking from shock, making it impossible to stand in the boggy ground. She tried stabbing her oar into the ground and using it to hoist herself up, but all she managed was to drag her leg up a short way before sliding back down to the ground. She groaned, resting her back against her oar, which was still embedded in the ground, and retrieved her communicator. Maybe if she called Koenma he could send Ayame to collect her and take her back to spirit world, she thought.

 

Botan flipped open the communicator and pushed a button to call Koenma, frowning slightly when nothing happened. She pushed it again, but still nothing happened. She gave a communicator a little shake, and more water sprayed out of it. She closed her eyes, inwardly cursing the stupidity of spirit world technology: if the measly little mystic whistle could withstand all manners of demonic magic, why could the communicator not at least be waterproof?

 

Botan opened her eyes again in time to see something drop down in front of her. She stared at it curiously before glancing about herself and the open piece of land she was sitting in, silently wondering where exactly it had fallen down from.

 

“Well,” she began. “I never expected-ah!”

 

She cried out in pain as her wound suddenly throbbed, and looking down she saw a hand gripping her leg around the bloody mark.

 

“What are you doing?” she wailed.

 

Hiei met her eyes but said nothing.

 

“That hurts!” she added.

 

He looked downwards and she followed the direction of his gaze, whimpering as she saw her own blood slowly trickling along the length of his fingers.

 

“I was bitten by a snake,” she said. “I have to get out of here!”

 

“Hn, you're probably poisoned,” he replied, looking into her eyes again.

 

“Yes, and I might die!” she snapped irritably. “I can't even apply a tourniquet, it's too high up my leg!”

 

“We could drain the venom.”

 

Botan cried out and clawed her fingers into the damp ground as Hiei squeezed her wound painfully.

 

“It will probably hurt, you'll need to stay still,” he added.

 

“Well thank you for the warning, mister chivalry!” she snapped, tears forming in her eyes and blurring the image of him crouched before her.

 

“Either we drain it or you die,” he flatly replied. “I don't really care either way.”

 

“You're very mean, Hiei!” Botan sobbed. “Sometimes I just simply dislike you!”

 

Hiei smirked at her response, rising to his feet.

 

“Well then suffer,” he said. “I won't be the one to explain to Koenma why you killed that body though.”

 

Botan watched in horrified disbelief as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and started to walk away from her.

 

“Hiei?” she called after him. “Hiei! Don't leave me here like this!”

 

“Hn, make up your mind, woman,” he said, stopping to look over his shoulder at her.

 

“Please, Hiei!” she pleaded. “Don't leave me like this! Please?”

 

“Fine.”

 

He turned around to face her, and something about the wideness of his eyes and the sharpness of the smirk on his face made her instantly regret asking for his help.

 

“Take off your clothes, lie still and stay quiet,” he said.

 

Botan's jaw dropped and she momentarily forgot all about her wound.

 

“Ew!” she heard another voice say. “Do you say that to all the girls, trial size?”

 

Hiei's face dropped and his eyes shifted to one side. Botan followed the direction he was looking and found Kuwabara standing staring at Hiei, his face red and his lip curled in disgust.

 

“Shut-up,” Hiei said.

 

“No really, do you actually say that to girls?” Kuwabara asked. “Because I want to know, does it work?”

 

Hiei groaned and rolled his eyes.

 

“Make yourself useful,” he said. “Go into town and buy a bottle of the most lethal brand of alcohol you can lay your hands on.”

 

“What?” Kuwabara echoed. “But I'm not old enough to buy alcohol yet.”

 

“Then get on your knees and hold her down for me,” Hiei said, pointing at Botan.

 

Kuwabara glanced back and forth between Botan and Hiei before nodding his head.

 

“I think I saw a liquor store near the town centre,” he said quietly. “I'll go and uh, get some stuff, and you guys can just go back to whatever the hell it was that you were doing.”

 

Kuwabara turned away and walked off, muttering quietly to himself as he went. Botan watched him go, only looking away when she felt Hiei kneeling down in front of her again. She turned to him abruptly, crying out and slapping at his hands as he suddenly ripped the leg of her jeans open.

 

“Stop that!” she cried. “I can't walk around like that!”

 

“You're so noisy…” he muttered, catching her wrists in his hands. “Stay still.”

 

“No!” she protested. “You've ruined my clothes!”

 

Hiei pointedly looked down at the lower half of her legs, which were still drenched and muddied from her wade into the lake.

 

“Maybe you should just take these off,” he said.

 

Botan screamed out alarm as he released her wrists only to grab her legs and pull her towards him, her back sliding down the shaft of her oar, leaving her in a slouched position. She quickly caught his hands as they reached for the fastening of her jeans, gripping her fingers around his and staring up at him. She saw a flicker of emotion pass over his eyes and his throat move as he swallowed hard, but he shortly covered it with a shrug and look of indifference.

 

“This is why I don't bother helping people,” he said.

 

“Wait!” Botan said sternly. “I'll take my jeans off, but you need to give me your coat.”

 

“What?” he echoed.

 

“Give me your coat,” she repeated. “I'm not about to lie here in my… Underwear. Give me your coat so that I can at least… Retain some of my dignity!”

 

Hiei groaned but obliged her request, removing his coat, his scarf falling to the ground upon his actions. He held the coat out to her but she hesitated to accept his offer.

 

“But-but now you're naked on top,” she said.

 

“Do you want to die?” he responded.

 

“Not especially,” she grumbled. “I don't know how I would explain to Lord Koenma that the soul I was ferrying today was my own…”

 

She took Hiei's coat and pulled it on over her head, slipping her arms into it and shuffling around to pull it down her legs before stuffing her hands up the coat to unfasten her jeans. She managed to push her jeans to her ankles before the sting in her leg stopped her. She then pressed her hands against Hiei's coat, covering herself as best she could with it whilst leaving the bite-mark exposed.

 

“Alright, fine,” she said.

 

“Hn.”

 

Hiei knelt down in front of her again and she gripped her hands into the moss around her, closing her eyes and tensing for the pain that she was sure was to follow. But what did follow shocked her so much she barely noticed the pain at all. Slowly she opened one eye, peering down to confirm her suspicions, gasping quietly when she saw proof of what she was feeling. She opened her other eye, watching in quiet fascination as Hiei literally sucked the poison out of her wound. He had one arm wrapped around her leg to hold it against his mouth, the other pushed down against her other leg to keep her legs spread apart. The suction was, frankly, painful, but there was something oddly soothing about it. Botan told herself that it was probably because the poison was being drawn out, but as Hiei lifted his head to spit over the other side of her thigh, the sight of her blood and his saliva on his lips sent an unusual rush through her chest.

 

Botan closed her eyes again as he moved to begin sucking again, turning her head away and tensing until he had finished completely, only then daring to open her eyes again and look at him. As she looked at him he sat up onto his knees, his arms sliding from her legs. He lifted his bandaged hand to his mouth, dragging it across his lips, the action sending another rush through Botan's chest. Hiei then stared at her blankly and unblinkingly, and she began to feel her face growing hot.

 

She gasped as he suddenly grabbed a hand at her wound, and she looked down to watch as he wiped away the excess blood. She could not watch his actions for long, soon turning her head away, the awkwardness of the whole situation overwhelming her. Turned away from Hiei, Botan looked back at the town behind them, at first feeling nothing more than relief when she saw Kuwabara running towards them, a plastic carrier bag in one hand.

 

Then she realised exactly what was about to happen.

 

“Hiei!” she yelped, turning to him abruptly.

 

“What?” he snapped, scowling at her unpleasantly.

 

“You…” she began, pointing at his bare chest.

 

“What?” he asked again.

 

“If Kuwabara sees the…”

 

Botan glanced back at Kuwabara, alarmed at how fast he was closing in on them, then back at Hiei's angry face, then at the glittering pair of stones hanging around his neck before finally looking him in the eye again.

 

“Get down!” she ground out, grabbing his hair in both her hands and pulling his head down to the ground between her legs.

 

Hiei muffled out a complaint but surprisingly did not struggle as she held him down. Botan turned to Kuwabara, who was slowing as he approached them, his eyes flicking nervously between Botan and Hiei.

 

“Hey you guys…” he said warily.

 

“Oh, hello again, Kuwabara!” Botan greeted him.

 

“I got your stuff,” he said, his voice breaking slightly as he spoke.

 

“Oh goody!” she replied. “Could you be a dear and just leave it here, and go away for just a little bit longer?”

 

Kuwabara carefully placed the bag down on the ground and backed away from it.

 

“Thanks Kuwabara!” Botan called after him.

 

He turned around and started muttering to himself about Yusuke and Kurama owing him substantial amounts of money relating to some sort of bet they had going, but his words soon faded altogether as he moved further away. Once she was confident that he was too far away to make out the hiruiseki hanging around Hiei's neck Botan lifted her hands from his head, whereupon he rapidly rocked back onto his knees, glaring at her, his eyes positively glowing.

 

“Oopsie!” she said nervously. “That was close, wasn't it?”

 

“You pushed my face into your crotch, woman,” he flatly replied.

 

“No, I pushed you down so that Kuwabara would not see those stones around your neck,” she corrected him. “You know Kuwabara is so fond of Yukina, he surely would have noticed and told Yukina.”

 

Hiei did not so much as blink, instead remaining perfectly still and silent for several seconds before holding one hand out towards Botan.

 

“Give me back my coat,” he said.

 

“Oh, right…” she muttered.

 

Botan tried to stand up but found that she was still incapacitated by the wound on her leg.

 

“Just a moment,” she said, before moving her hands over the wound to heal it.

 

Hiei muttered something illegible before snatching up his scarf and winding it around his neck, stuffing the stones up into it out of sight. He then moved over to the bag Kuwabara had left, crouching over it and pulling it apart to reveal a bottle of whisky. He picked it up, eying over the label as he unscrewed the lid. Botan finished healing her wound in time to see Hiei take a sniff of the contents of the bottle, his face twitching in distaste.

 

“What's that for, anyway?” she called over to him, grabbing at her oar and pulling herself to her feet.

 

“To ease the pain,” he replied.

 

“Oh I see…”

 

The two stood staring at each other, the moment only broken when Kuwabara rejoined them.

 

“Hey, I just got a call from Koenma,” he said to them. “He said he's sending Ayame to help us find Hiei.”

 

“But we've already found Hiei,” Botan pointed out.

 

“Yeah, I know, but I was kinda…” Kuwabara began, glancing nervously between Botan and Hiei. “I was confused. Is he back to help us, or did he just come back to… You know…”

 

Botan slowly shook her head but Hiei made a noise of disgust.

 

“Fool,” he snarled at Kuwabara. “Don't stand there and preach to me about trust!”

 

“Well you're not exactly the most reliable, trustworthy kinda guy, are you, Hiei?” Kuwabara argued back.

 

“I couldn't care any less what an idiot like you thinks about anything,” Hiei smoothly replied.

 

“You've got short man complex.”

 

Hiei's face changed and Botan cringed in anticipation of what was to come next. At first Hiei just looked taken aback, but his face slowly darkened over and he fixed Kuwabara with a death-glare.

 

“That's rich, coming from a cumbersome oaf like you!” he sneered.

 

“I'm not an oaf, I'm just a little bit taller than the average guy,” Kuwabara replied. “Which is like about two feet taller than you, short stack! And you do have short man complex, you've got all the symptoms: you're bad tempered, you're grumpy, you want power, you want people to respect you-”

 

“Shut-up or I will kill you by the slowest, most painful method I can think of: and I was raised in demon world, so you better know that I know a lot of slow and painful ways of killing people!”

 

“See, there you go with the bad temper…”

 

Hiei growled before lifting the bottle of whisky to his lips and throwing his head back. Botan and Kuwabara watched in awe as he downed a third of it before stopping for air.

 

“And another thing,” he said. “I know that you poked my jagan eye when I was ill.”

 

Kuwabara turned pale, he turned bright red and then he turned deathly pale, all in less than ten seconds.

 

“Urameshi made me do it,” he eventually recovered.

 

“And you put my finger up my nose,” Hiei added.

 

“It was a joke!” Kuwabara defended himself.

 

“I'm not laughing,” Hiei spat.

 

“I've only ever seen you laugh once, Hiei, and what you laughed at wasn't even funny.”

 

“Hn, I don't care for foolishness like you do.”

 

Hiei took another swig from the bottle and Kuwabara scowled at him.

 

“Did I just buy that so that you could get drunk?” he asked.

 

“This is for pain relief!” Hiei corrected him.

 

Botan held up one finger but did not bother voicing her protest when Hiei began drinking again.

 

“You don't look like you're in pain to me, shrimpy,” Kuwabara muttered.

 

“I'm going back to demon world,” Hiei announced, walking over to Botan. “I've had enough of this ridiculous charade! I'm not getting dragged into any more of your human problems. You should drink this, it will numb the pain.”

 

Botan looked down at the bottle Hiei was offering her, her eyebrow quirking as she saw that there was barely a mouthful left in the bottom of the bottle.

 

“Well, thanks for that, Hiei,” she said sarcastically, taking the bottle from him.

 

“Hey if you leave now, it kinda makes you look guilty, Hiei!” Kuwabara yelled after Hiei. “Like maybe you only helped us at first to distract us from the real problem in demon world! You're a snake!”

 

Hiei ignored him, turning on his heel and marching off.

 

“Hiei, your coat!” Botan called after him.

 

He muttered out something that failed to reach her ears and she sighed in defeat. She slouched her shoulders forward and slumped her weight against her oar, feeling decidedly disappointed that Hiei had given up on them.

 

“Oh, wait!” she brightened.

 

She put down the bottle she held and dug her hands into both pockets of Hiei's coat, grinning insatiably. He kept the mystic whistle in one of the coat pockets, and now that she had his coat, she must also have the whistle back in her possession. The thought of going back to Koenma no longer filled her with dread. If she had the whistle, all would be well.

 

“Guess again,” Hiei called back to her.

 

She turned her head sharply to him, finding him some distance away and still walking on, his head still facing the direction he was going. His bandaged hand was raised at his side, and he appeared to be sending an inverse V-sign to her; but squinting a little she saw that he was balancing the mystic whistle between his fingers.

 

“Oh, darn!” she moaned, grabbing up the bottle of whisky again. “Oh well, fair heart never won fair… Wait… Oh who cares?”

 

Botan lifted the bottle to her lips and took a small mouthful, coughing it back out before she came anywhere close to swallowing it.

 

“Oh my goodness!” she cried. “That is terrible! It burns!”

 

She turned to Kuwabara, who was staring at her as though she was some sort of terrifying demon.

 

“What?” she asked innocently.

 

“You're really weird, Botan,” he replied.

 

She nodded, pouring the remains of the bottle out by the water's edge.

 

“Well, no sense in wasting any more time,” she said decisively. “You carry on with your search, I'm going to get some fresh clothes and I'll meet you back here in about an hour.”

 

Botan waited for Kuwabara to reply, but his attention had wandered from her. She turned her head to see what had captivated him so, mildly alarmed to see Ayame floating down towards them on her oar.

 

“Oh dear…” she muttered.

 

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

 

Next Chapter: Yusuke and Kurama aren't having much luck with their efforts in demon world and Botan is under pressure to recover the mystic whistle, leaving her to concoct a desperate plan. Chapter 7: The Problem.