Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Guilty ( Chapter 9 )

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

 

More updates because I've written 16 chapters of this already. Read, review and (hopefully) enjoy!

 

Recap: Botan kissed Hiei to get the mystic whistle back and then consulted Shizuru for advice on her situation with Hiei. Meanwhile in demon world, the team went off to spy on Yomi.

 

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

 

Chapter 9: The Guilty

 

Botan sat alone at a table for four in the small restaurant in the hotel the team were staying at. She had been waiting for the others for almost an hour, and she was beginning to think that the waiter was losing his patience with her; he had mentioned to her five times already that one person holding a four-seat table was unreasonable and a potential loss of money for the restaurant. He had also suggested to her that she might not have been stood up if she did not have such greasy hair: and despite her attempts to explain that it was residual hair gel that she had already tried to wash out, he continued to glower at her every time he passed her table.

 

She sighed and began drumming her fingers against the table, but soon stopped again as she heard the waiter make an agitated noise at her. She contemplated calling Yusuke on her communicator, but she was worried that the waiter might insist she leave the table - he had already suggested she should go outside and call her friends, but she had refused as she suspected that this was just a thinly-veiled ruse to get her to vacate the table. For the very same reason, she had only drunk half the glass of water she had ordered.

 

Just as Botan was about to give up and walk out, she finally spotted Kuwabara's curly red hair above the partition between the restaurant and the bar and she found her smile again. The waiter brought the others over to join her, looking even more annoyed with her than before.

 

“I'm so sorry my friends were late,” she said to him as he reached her table.

 

“And I'm so sorry you can't count,” he tightly replied.

 

“What do you mean?” she asked.

 

Botan turned her attention to the team, watching as Kuwabara and Yusuke gladly sat down at the table. Kurama moved to another table and began dragging over a chair, apparently not noticing the death glare he received from the waiter for his actions. He then arranged the chair by a corner of the table and sat into it, leaving the chair opposite Botan vacant. She started to ask Kurama why he had done what he had but stopped herself as Hiei suddenly dropped himself into the chair across from her, glaring over at her with his usual air of unpleasantness.

 

Yusuke began ordering drinks for everyone, but neither Botan nor Hiei moved or spoke as he asked the others what they wanted. Once the waiter had left again Kuwabara cleared his throat and leaned over towards Yusuke and Kurama.

 

“Awkward…” he said quietly.

 

Yusuke shot him a warning glare before turning to Botan and trying to look casual.

 

“So Botan, everything okay here and in spirit world today?” he asked.

 

Botan wanted to answer him, but she found that she could not move her eyes from Hiei's, and as long as she was looking at Hiei, she was unable to speak.

 

“We had a busy day in demon world,” Yusuke continued. “Really busy…”

 

“Hey Botan,” Kuwabara said. “I hear you had a busy night in demon world last night.”

 

Botan turned from Hiei towards Kuwabara, as both the implication of his words and the fact that Hiei had turned from her made her look his way. Kuwabara let out a groan and slouched forwards slightly before scowling at Yusuke.

 

“Urameshi!” he growled. “What did you do that for?”

 

“Let's just eat, I'm starved,” Yusuke said, picking up a menu. “And then let's all just call it a night, because I'm tired, too.”

 

“An early night?” Kuwabara echoed. “Hey, how are five people getting into four rooms?”

 

Yusuke muttered a death threat in Kuwabara's direction that Hiei himself would have been proud of before glancing at Kurama as though expecting him to provide an answer to Kuwabara's query. An awkward silence followed, during which nobody looked directly at anybody else.

 

“I don't need to sleep in this place,” Hiei said, breaking the silence.

 

“Hey, that's right!” Kuwabara said cheerfully. “The little chipmunk likes to sleep in trees, huh?”

 

Hiei glared at Kuwabara until Kuwabara eventually slunk down behind a menu. The rest of the meal passed in relative silence. Botan wanted to ask Yusuke exactly how he was progressing with the mission, if for no other reason than to be able to report back to Koenma; but any time she lifted her head from her food the first thing she noticed was Hiei, who kept his eyes on her throughout the meal.

 

When they had all eventually finished, Yusuke made lots of unsubtle stretches and yawning motions before suggesting that everybody go to their respective rooms for the remainder of the day. Botan was beginning to become irritated with his dismissive manner and decided she would tell him as much as soon as she got the chance: but as they all stood from the table, Yusuke's phone began to ring.

 

“Hey, it's Keiko!” he said before answering the call.

 

Yusuke was smiling when he greeted his girlfriend, but his face quickly changed, and without a word to Keiko or those around him he ran from the restaurant.

 

“What the hell was that all about?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“Perhaps it's something private between Yusuke and Keiko,” Kurama suggested.

 

“Yeah, I know,” Kuwabara agreed. “That's why I want to know what's going on.”

 

“Maybe she found out where he spends most of his time when he's in demon world,” Hiei muttered.

 

“Huh?” Kuwabara asked, rounding on him.

 

Hiei smirked up at Kuwabara but said no more, apparently enjoying the moment as Kuwabara gradually became angry that he had apparently been excluded from another secret the others all shared.

 

“Hey, Kurama!” Yusuke yelled, leaning in through the doorway of the restaurant. “Get over here!”

 

“The gentleman, as always,” Kurama said dryly. “Excuse me.”

 

He left the others to join Yusuke, offering a short apology to the irate waiter who was berating Yusuke for yelling across other people's tables.

 

“Now I'm really curious,” Kuwabara muttered.

 

“I hear that curiosity killed the cat,” Hiei said, glancing at Botan briefly. “Imagine what it might do to a simple-minded oaf like you.”

 

“I don't expect you to understand, short stack,” Kuwabara answered him. “You don't care because Yusuke and Keiko aren't your friends.”

 

“I have no need for such sentimentality,” Hiei said.

 

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Kuwabara snorted. “Mister tough guy doesn't need friends.”

 

Kuwabara and Hiei turned away from each other, leaving Botan silently wishing that she had moved a bit quicker to get away from the table: she could have been up in her room away from the awkwardness by now. However the moment was short-lived, as Kurama soon returned, looking as calm as always.

 

“Botan, Yusuke said that Keiko would like to talk to you,” he said.

 

“Oh, of course!” Botan said cheerfully, hurrying out of the restaurant before anyone could say anything else on the matter.

 

Outside she found Yusuke standing in the reception area of the hotel, pacing back and forth nervously.

 

“Yusuke?” she said, walking into his path to halt his pacing. “Is everything alright?”

 

“No,” Yusuke replied. “Something really… Weird has happened. I need you to do something, and you can't ask any questions, you just have to do it.”

 

Botan narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion, but the look on Yusuke's face stopped her from questioning him: he looked genuinely shaken by whatever Keiko had told him.

 

“I need you to take Kuwabara back to Genkai's on your oar,” he said. “Go as fast as you can, and don't stop no matter what. When you get there, I need you to plant this at the top of the steps to the temple. Kurama said with your spirit energy it should grow to full size by tomorrow morning.”

 

Botan glanced back and forth between Yusuke's determined eyes and the oval mauve-coloured seed he was holding between his thumb and forefinger.

 

“Right now?” she asked.

 

“Yes right now,” he replied. “I'm sorry Botan, but for your own safety, I can't tell you why.”

 

“That's a little bit scary, Yusuke,” she said meekly.

 

“Yes, but I trust you to do this. Oh, I almost forgot: the plant that will grow from this seed is called the vine of the guilty. Kurama said it reacts to impure thoughts, and if it catches you, it can kill you. You should be okay because you're an idiot who only ever thinks good things-”

 

“Hey!”

 

“-and Yukina and Puu should be safe too. But keep Kuwabara and Keiko away from it, okay?”

 

“Yusuke, that's a terrible thing to say about your girlfriend and your best friend!”

 

“I mean it Botan, this is really important.”

 

“Okay dokay, well you can count on me!”

 

Botan took the seed from him and nodded her head.

 

“Good, I'll get Kuwabara out here, and then you leave, immediately, got it?” he said.

 

“I left some personal things in my room, and what about Kuwabara, won't he need to pack before we leave?” she asked.

 

“I wouldn't worry about that too much,” Yusuke said. “I think we were robbed at some point. I lost a shirt and all of my hair gel.”

 

Botan paled, but Yusuke did not notice, his eyes still on the restaurant doors.

 

“I'm going in, get ready to grab Kuwabara and get the hell out of here,” he said.

 

“Alrighty!” she agreed.

 

Botan smiled at Yusuke, but as he hurried back into the restaurant she could not help but grow nervous: what could possibly have happened back at Genkai's temple to cause him to panic like that? Less than a minute later Yusuke came bustling out of the restaurant again, pushing Kuwabara ahead of him.

 

“What are you doing, Urameshi?” Kuwabara demanded, trying to dig his heels in as he went.

 

“Just shut-up and go with Botan,” Yusuke insisted.

 

Botan staggered back out of their way as Yusuke pushed Kuwabara out of the hotel altogether. She then hurried after them, meeting them out on the street.

 

“What's going on?” Kuwabara demanded.

 

“No time to explain,” Yusuke replied. “Botan?”

 

Botan nodded, summoning her oar and hopping onto it. Yusuke pushed Kuwabara towards it, and after a few more complaints from both boys, Kuwabara climbed on behind Botan.

 

“You'd better have a good reason for this, Urameshi!” Kuwabara yelled, waving a fist at Yusuke as Botan launched into the air.

 

“Yes, I hope you do,” Botan muttered, frowning back down at Yusuke.

 

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

 

Once they arrived back at Genaki's temple, Botan ordered Kuwabara to go indoors before moving to the top of the steps that connected the temple grounds to the outside world, quickly finding a piece of soil as near to the gate as possible and poking the seed Yusuke had given her into the ground. She covered it over and placed her hands over it, transferring some of her spirit energy into it, wincing in anticipation of something vile sprouting from the ground to devour her as she did so.

 

To her surprise, nothing happened.

 

Botan slowly withdrew her hands, the yellow glow of her energy fading. She dared to lean forwards, peering at the disturbed earth she had buried the seed into. When it remained completely still and lifeless, Botan concluded that she had failed to bring the plant to life. Of course, she thought to herself, she lacked the incredible power of Kurama, who probably could have grown a whole forest of the plants in the time it had taken her to fail at raising a single one.

 

“Botan?”

 

Botan screamed and leapt into the air, looking about herself fearfully.

 

“Hey, it's okay, it's only me!”

 

Botan turned around again and sighed, dragging the back of one muddy hand across her forehead.

 

“Oh Keiko!” she said breathlessly. “You startled me!”

 

“I'm sorry Botan,” Keiko replied.

 

“Oh no, that's alright!” Botan assured her. “It's just silly old me, frightened of a seed!”

 

“A seed?” Keiko asked.

 

“Yes, Kurama asked Yusuke to ask me to plant it, but it doesn't seem to be working. I don't think I have the strength to make it grow.”

 

“A demon plant? Why would Kurama ask you to plant something like that here?”

 

“Well, funny you should ask… I was hoping that you would know the answer to that very question.”

 

The two girls exchanged confused looks for several seconds before Keiko shrugged.

 

“Doesn't make any sense to me,” she concluded. “What sort of plant is it, anyway?”

 

“I think Yusuke said it was called the vine of the guilty,” Botan replied. “He said it reacts to impure thoughts.”

 

“Really?” Keiko asked. “So why did you take Kuwabara here too?”

 

Botan frowned but then laughed.

 

“Ah I see!” she said. “You were joking!”

 

Keiko shook her head but Botan appeared not to notice.

 

“Before we go inside, maybe you can tell me how Yusuke's getting on,” Keiko said.

 

“Oh just splendidly,” Botan assured her. “Although I have heard the boys talking about somewhere in demon world that Yusuke likes to go… Some sort of club, I think…?”

 

Keiko began to growl, though Botan still looked confused.

 

“He's got some nerve!” she ground out. “He never changes, you know that? When I get my hands on him, I'll…”

 

Keiko slowly fell quiet, her eyes lowering to her feet. Botan copied her actions, seeing a long, thick, dark green vine sliding around one of Keiko's ankles.

 

“What's happening?” Keiko muttered.

 

Botan followed the vine back to the point she had planted the seed, watching curiously as a second vine sprouted and slithered across the ground, expertly avoiding Botan's feet to reach Keiko. As the first vine wound around Keiko's ankle a third time, the second began curling over the top of her foot.

 

“Botan?” Keiko said warily. “I don't like this!”

 

“Yes, well, I'm not really sure what's happening, to be honest,” Botan replied. “I thought the plant only attacked people with impure thoughts.”

 

“Attacked?” Keiko repeated.

 

“Yes. I think it can kill.”

 

Keiko cried out in alarm at Botan's words, dropping to a crouch and grabbing at the vine with both hands on either side of her ankle. As soon as she began tugging at the vine more vines sprouted from the original plant and wrapped themselves around her wrists, bringing another cry of alarm from her.

 

“Don't move!” Botan warned her. “I think it might only get worse if you do.”

 

“This plant has both of my hands and one of my legs,” Keiko cried. “How much worse can it possibly get?”

 

Botan ran her eyes along the vines to their source, which seemed to be pumping them out of the ground, each vine becoming thicker as it grew longer. When she noticed small barbs starting to decorate the length of the vines Botan hurriedly snatched her communicator out of her pocket.

 

“Yusuke!” she cried, fumbling with the communicator. “Come in, Yusuke!”

 

The small screen flickered to life and a sleepy Yusuke appeared in front of her, his hair tousled and falling into his eyes after an entire day without any gel.

 

“What is it, Botan?” he groaned.

 

“It's about that plant you gave me,” she replied. “What should we do if it catches someone?”

 

Yusuke suddenly looked very awake.

 

“Where's Kuwabara?” he asked.

 

“It's not Kuwabara,” Botan replied. “It's Keiko. The plant has just sort of got a hold of her, and it won't let go.”

 

Yusuke's face slowly relaxed, and he began to laugh.

 

“Yusuke, this isn't funny!” Keiko yelled at him.

 

She then yelped as more vines shot out, faster than before, and caught her arms above her elbows.

 

“Um, I think Kurama said you have to have good intentions, or else the plant won't stop,” Yusuke said.

 

“Good intentions?” Keiko echoed.

 

“You need to stop thinking violent thoughts towards Yusuke,” Botan advised.

 

“But I'm not thinking violent thoughts!” Keiko wailed.

 

“You must be,” Yusuke flatly replied.

 

“Yusuke!” Keiko screamed.

 

More vines grabbed at her ankles.

 

“Yusuke, can you get Kurama?” Botan asked.

 

“I'm already in my bed,” Yusuke moaned.

 

Keiko snarled out a string of unladylike curses that surprised even Yusuke.

 

“I'm on it,” he said.

 

“Don't worry, Keiko!” Botan said over her shoulder. “We'll have you free in just a jiffy!”

 

“I sure hope so, Botan,” Keiko said tightly. “These things are starting to bite.”

 

“Bite?”

 

Botan turned and crouched down by Keiko, her eyes widening a little as she saw that the small thorns were starting to hook into Keiko's skin. Looking down to the origin of the plant again, she saw that thicker vines with bigger thorns were approaching, and she had to fight to keep the horror from her face, forcing a reassuring smile for Keiko's benefit.

 

Through her communicator she heard Yusuke talking to Kurama, and she quickly turned her attention back to them, smiling a little as Kurama squinted against the lights at the communicator, his long red hair still surprisingly smooth despite his face suggesting that he had just woken up.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked as he took the communicator from Yusuke.

 

“No,” Botan replied, turning her communicator to show him Keiko's predicament.

 

“Yes, I see,” Kurama said. “Well it should be simple enough to resolve. Keiko needs to relax and clear her mind, and Botan you will need to unwind the vines. They will loosen their hold if Keiko relaxes, but they won't let go entirely. If Keiko does not relax, they will keep attacking and keep tightening their hold.”

 

“Alrighty,” Botan agreed. “But the plants seem to be attacking Keiko no matter what she does or says.”

 

“The vines are very sensitive to malicious intent of any kind,” Kurama explained. “The plant will not attack you Botan, and it will not harm Yukina, but it will attack anyone else who goes near with even the slightest hint of wickedness on their conscience.”

 

“I'm not wicked!” Keiko protested.

 

“If you let your anger get the better of you than you might as well be,” Kurama smoothly replied. “You must all be careful to stay well away from the plant, and if there are any more mishaps I believe Botan is best qualified to deal with them.”

 

“But why me, Kurama?” Botan asked. “I have bad thoughts too, sometimes!”

 

“I don't believe you are capable of malice, Botan,” Kurama replied.

 

“You haven't seen her with her baseball bat!” Yusuke called over.

 

“Even so, Botan's intentions are always good and her thoughts are pure,” Kurama insisted. “Now I think you should help Keiko, Botan. Those vines will eventually sprout thorns that can cause significant harm.”

 

“Alrighty, I'm on the case!” Botan said cheerfully.

 

Botan snapped the communicator shut and knelt down by Keiko, tentatively reaching for the tapered end of the vine wound around one of her upper arms.

 

“This is sort of like doing a puzzle, isn't it?” she said as she took a hold of the vine.

 

“Let's just hope Kurama was right about your brain,” Keiko said with a wry smile. “If you think a bad thought, this thing might tie you up, too!”

 

“Oh my, imagine that!” Botan said. “Both of us caught out here! How silly would we look?”

 

Keiko smiled gently.

 

“Yeah, I think I'm in safe hands,” she said quietly.

 

Botan began unwinding the vine, surprised to find that, despite its tight hold on Keiko, it became limp as she touched it, loosening further and almost withering away from Keiko altogether. She soon had Keiko's arms and wrists free, relieved to see that the thorns had not broken her skin there.

 

“I wonder why Kurama thought we needed this thing anyway?” Keiko mused as Botan began freeing one of her ankles.

 

Botan shrugged.

 

“It seems a bit severe,” Keiko muttered.

 

“Kurama always knows the right thing to do in times of trouble,” Botan replied.

 

“But this isn't a time of trouble,” Keiko said, scratching at her head. “It doesn't make any sense! I don't even understand why Yusuke got so upset when I called him earlier or why he sent you and Kuwabara here.”

 

“He said it was important that I took Kuwabara here and planted that seed,” Botan said.

 

“But why? I asked to talk to Kuwabara on the phone, but he wouldn't let me!”

 

“That is a bit odd, I suppose.”

 

Botan began unwinding the thickest of the vines, the one that had first caught Keiko, chewing at her lip as she saw a few small red stains on Keiko's socks.

 

“I am sorry I didn't do this sooner,” she said. “I didn't know I could stop it.”

 

“That's alright,” Keiko assured her. “I suppose it's my own fault for getting so mad.”

 

“There we are!”

 

Botan rose to her feet and held out her hands to Keiko. Keiko accepted her offer, allowing her to pull her to her feet.

 

“I think we should get away from the plant before we do or say anything else,” Botan advised.

 

“Right!” Keiko agreed.

 

Together they ran back towards the temple, only slowing when they reached the entrance. They both stopped by the door to look back at the vines, most of which had shrivelled and withered back into the ground, a few of the bigger ones still remaining, lying in coils around the base of the plant like dormant snakes, biding their time to strike their next victim.

 

“How is your ankle?” Botan asked Keiko.

 

“The thorns didn't get in too deep,” Keiko replied, stepping through the doorway. “Unless they're poisonous, I should be alright.”

 

“Hm, perhaps we should have asked Kurama about that…” Botan mused, following after her.

 

“I was joking, Botan!” Keiko said, sliding the door closed.

 

“Oh yes, of course!” Botan said, finding her smile again.

 

“Come on, Yukina will want to see you.”

 

Botan followed Keiko to the lounge area, where they found Yukina and Kuwabara waiting for them. Yukina smiled as she spotted Botan, but Kuwabara looked angry, reminding Botan of the plant outside and what it might do to him if he went near it with such thoughts.

 

“Hurry up, Botan!” he moaned. “Yukina has something to tell us and she won't say anything until you get in here.”

 

Botan hurried along the last few steps to join them in the centre of the room, smiling encouragingly at Yukina.

 

“I have wonderful news,” Yukina said.

 

“Really?” Botan echoed in disbelief.

 

The blissfully happy look on Yukina's face, combined with her opening statement, seemed to be in direct contradiction to Yusuke's attitude a few hours earlier back at the hotel.

 

“I'm pregnant,” Yukina finished.

 

Botan froze, her entire body and mind going numb.

 

“What?” Kuwabara yelped. “B-but how?”

 

Yukina gave him a small frown and he began to turn red.

 

“But we were so careful!” he whined. “We took all the necessary precautions!”

 

“What “necessary precautions”?” Keiko echoed, frowning up at him. “You've never even slept with her!”

 

“That's what I'm talking about!” Kuwabara replied. “All the necessary precautions!”

 

“You really are a new kind of stupid, Kuwabara,” Keiko groaned. “She's an ice maiden: it's an immaculate conception.”

 

“I knew that!” Kuwabara said. “But uh… Just so that I know that you understand, tell me what you think that means.”

 

Keiko sighed and shook her head.

 

“I see,” Botan said, nodding her head slowly. “Yukina must be almost 100 years old.”

 

“What?” Kuwabara echoed. “How dare you say that about my lovely Yukina?”

 

“It's not an insult, Kuwabara,” Botan explained. “You must remember: demons live for many hundreds of years.”

 

“Oh, well that kinda makes things a bit weird when I start to get old and she doesn't…” Kuwabara muttered.

 

“Welcome to my world,” Keiko said flatly.

 

“Urameshi too?” he asked.

 

“Well I assume so,” she replied.

 

“Oh…”

 

“This is unusual though, I didn't think Yukina would still conceive after leaving the ice village,” Botan said.

 

“I wasn't sure either at first,” Yukina agreed. “But I'm sure now.”

 

“Yes, and probably when you tell the others, they will jump to the same ignorant conclusions that Kuwabara did…”

 

“Hey, watch it, Botan!” Kuwabara protested.

 

“Yes, I see the need for the plant now,” Botan continued, ignoring him entirely.

 

“You do?” Keiko echoed. “Then would you care to fill us in? I thought this would have been a nice, happy thing. Is someone going to come and try to take the baby away?”

 

“No, but someone will over-react to this in a sort of hot-headed, short-tempered, irrational manner, and no doubt come here with murderous intent seeking Kuwabara's head on a stick.”

 

Kuwabara recoiled from Botan with a noise of alarm.

 

“You're not making any sense, Botan,” Keiko said.

 

Botan slowly looked around the three faces watching her with mixed levels of confusion. Keiko, Yukina and Kuwabara: none of them knew the one small detail that Botan did.

 

“Ah,” she said with a small nod of her head. “Well this just keeps getting more complicated, doesn't it?”

 

Botan turned her back on the others to hide the look of worry that warped her face. In her mind she could see Hiei standing on the top of a tree, his jagan eye glowing in the night as he searched out his sister to check on her welfare. The moment he discovered her condition, he was almost guaranteed to assume that Kuwabara was the cause and come for him. Hiei had already proven his impetuous nature many times over, and this was going to be another example of it.

 

Botan hoped that the vine of the guilty was in the right place to catch him before he reached Kuwabara.

 

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

 

Botan awoke with a start, a blood-curdling cry setting her nerves on edge. She threw off her sheets and stood up, grabbing at the window above her and pulling it open.

 

“Someone's in terrible pain, Botan!” Yukina said behind her.

 

“I know,” Botan replied, sticking her head out over the edge of the slanted window to look outside.

 

Botan had returned to the room she had previously shared with Yukina, and she was glad of her decision now, as the window was mounted in the roof and high enough to see most of the land immediately around the temple, and also it faced towards the gate by the top of the steps. She squinted down at the gate, at first seeing nothing. It was only just starting to get light outside, the sun still below the horizon, and against the trees that lined the steps, it was impossible to make out the vines and if they had caught anything.

 

“Oh no!” Yukina whimpered behind her. “Botan, it's awful!”

 

“What?” Botan echoed, looking back over her shoulder at Yukina. “What is it?”

 

“No…” Yukina whispered, backing away from the window.

 

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, a few falling to the ground and solidifying into colourful pearls. Botan frowned at her, but she soon saw what was making her sob, as a disfigured shadow rose across the wall behind her. Botan's jaw dropped as she watched the dark mass pass over Yukina, the shape of it becoming sickeningly clearer as it went.

 

“Oh my…” she said in a low voice.

 

She quickly summoned her oar in one hand and touched the other hand to Yukina's shoulder.

 

“Listen to me very carefully, Yukina,” she said firmly. “You must stay indoors, no matter what. I need you to go and tell Keiko and Kuwabara to stay inside too, can you do that for me?”

 

Yukina nodded mechanically.

 

“Don't worry about anything that happens outside, I'll take care of it,” Botan added. “But it's extremely important that nobody else leaves the temple, understand?”

 

Yukina nodded and Botan climbed onto her oar.

 

“Go and warn the others!” she insisted.

 

Yukina nodded again and ran from the room. Botan did not hesitate then, pressing her body low to her oar and launching herself out of the open window at break-neck speed. She stayed low to keep herself as aerodynamic as possible, rocketing herself forwards and upwards. She was forced to sway a few times on her way as vines as thick as her arms shoot past her, each one only serving to increase her determination to reach the point they were heading for.

 

Another cry sounded above her head, and this time she could not decipher what it meant. It sounded like an angered war-cry, but it was laced with hurt - whether physical or emotional she could not be sure. She slowed her speed as she neared her target, surprised to find that it was quite windy outside: in her rush upwards she had not noticed it, but as she slowed she was buffered slightly by gusts that caught the blade of her oar or her loose pyjamas, tugging at her and threatening to set her off course.

 

When she did eventually reach her target Botan's first thought was that the vine of the guilty had grown to a ridiculous height, the window in the roof of Genkai's temple that she had left from looking like an insignificant speck. Her second thought was that she was going to have to work very quickly, as the plant seemed to be set on killing its victim.

 

“Get out of my way,” a hoarse voice growled.

 

Botan lifted her head, surprised to see that Hiei was addressing her.

 

“You're not going anywhere in a hurry,” she pointed out.

 

“Is this your doing?” he asked, his voice still unusually rough. “Or do I owe my thanks to the fox?”

 

“Hiei, you've misunderstood the situation entirely,” Botan said, pushing her hair back as a gust of wind whipped it across her face. “Yukina is an ice maiden, and for an ice-”

 

“Don't you dare lecture me on my own people like I'm some sort of fool,” he cut her off. “I know exactly what's going on here.”

 

“No, I don't think that you do,” Botan replied.

 

“That filthy, mentally-defective, physically deformed wretch put his big, dirty hands somewhere that he shouldn't have,” Hiei growled.

 

“Hiei, I-”

 

Botan stopped abruptly, dodging to one side as Hiei's sword slipped from his hand. He cursed angrily and tried to grab at it, but the vines expertly bound up his entire hand. Botan took a moment to study where he had been ensnared, noticing a distinct pattern. The vines had caught his ankles and both wrists, but they had mostly concentrated around his right arm, covering it entirely from his shoulder to his fingertips.

 

The vines were binding up the parts of his body he would use in a fight: apparently they could not only sense bad intentions, but also where on the body they emanated from.

 

“This thing won't stop me, and neither will you,” he snarled out, his hands glowing red.

 

Botan yelped, scooting back as flames erupted from Hiei's hands, burning through the vines. For a brief moment he seemed to be succeeding, the vines turning to ash against his attack. But within seconds of his flames attacking the vines, more vines began flying up towards them to ensnare him once more. He cried out in rage and Botan cried out in panic as innumerable vines collided with Hiei from every side, winding around his arms and legs and pulling them out at his sides. He growled and strained against the plant, but more vines wound around his neck and chest and even around his forehead, covering his jagan eye.

 

Botan then remembered that Kurama had warned her that the person ensnared had to relax, or else the vines would only get tighter: and since Hiei was incapable of relaxing, he looked to be in serious trouble. She saw a slight flicker of concern pass over his eyes as the vines squeezed at his chest and neck, but he countered it by powering up and trying to burn off the vines again. The vines responded by tightening and Hiei let out another cry of frustration.

 

As he fell silent again, Botan noticed a small trickle of blood by the corner of Hiei's mouth. She trailed her eyes over his vine-wrapped form, slowly turning paler as she saw drips of blood escaping from between the vines. The thorns had reached his body, and some were half as long and almost as thick as Botan's little finger.

 

“Hiei!” she wailed, soaring towards him again. “Hiei, please, you've got to calm down! You'll get yourself killed if you don't!”

 

“Stupid…” he muttered out, his voice even more hoarse than before.

 

“Hiei!”

 

Botan moved as close to him as she could, grabbing an end of a vine by his throat and pulling it back.

 

“What are you doing?” he demanded, his voice faint but somehow still terrifying. “The plant will catch you too, and it's bad enough being strung up here on my own, I don't want to be strung up next to you!”

 

“Stop talking,” Botan advised him. “Save your breath and concentrate on relaxing.”

 

Botan continued unwinding the vine, keeping one hand on either side of his head, passing the vine back and forth between each hand as she went. She soon had his neck free, but he was still caught around his head and from the shoulders down. She could see several scratches in his skin from the thorns, but she did not have long to concentrate on them as the vine she had just removed began twitching and reaching for Hiei again.

 

“Hiei, calm down!” she yelled.

 

He growled at her and the vine shot towards him again. Botan caught it and pulled it back before grabbing at the vine around his forehead. She managed to get it half unwound before another gust of wind caught her off-guard and she dropped a few feet through the air and to one side. As she righted herself she heard Hiei muttering out something and the vine in her hand tugged back, trying to curl around his head again.

 

“This is hopeless…” she groaned. “I'll be stuck here trying to fix this until Lord Koenma is drawing a pension…”

 

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Hiei sneered. “I don't like jokes.”

 

“No, I don't suppose you do,” Botan replied with a sigh. “But if you will only listen to one thing I say, let it be this: Kurama said that the only way to get free of this plant is to relax until I have unwound it. So if you still want to kill Kuwabara fine, but please don't think about it until I have got you free.”

 

“Hn.”

 

Botan took Hiei's response as an agreement to behave as she had asked him to, and she set about unwinding the vines as quickly as possible. She concentrated first on freeing his head and chest to allow him to breathe before moving to his arms, choosing his left arm first, since the right was covered with more vines than all of the rest of his body put together and would take her much longer to free.

 

“Why did you do that?” he asked quietly.

 

Botan pushed her hair out of her face as the wind blew it into her eyes, giving him a questioning look.

 

“You should have freed my arms first,” he added. “That way I could be removing the vines too.”

 

“The vines won't release for your hands,” she plainly replied. “And I released your neck first because you were being strangled, I released your head secondly to stop the vines piercing your jagan and then I released your chest so that you could breathe more easily.”

 

“Hn.”

 

Botan paused, a vine draped in her hands, feeling even more confused when she saw that Hiei was smirking at her, his eyes wide, the expression looking almost psychotic.

 

“Or maybe you prefer me this way,” he said.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

His smirk widened but he said no more, so she went back to her task of freeing his arm. As there were several vines around his arm, they had become tangled amongst each other, their thorns holding them in knots, making Botan's task all the harder.

 

“You do realise how this must look?” she asked as she concentrated on unhooking the thorns of one vine from another.

 

“Of course,” he snorted.

 

“Well then why did you do it?” she asked. “It was very silly of you, really. Seeing you over-react like this is only going to make everyone suspicious of your true motives. Nobody back at that temple knows about your relation to Yukina and right now they will all be wondering why Yukina's condition concerns you.”

 

“I don't understand you.”

 

“It's quite simple: you just came charging in here looking for blood without any apparent motivation. How will you explain this to Yukina?”

 

“That's not what I meant.”

 

“And surely you realise this is not Kuwabara's doing?”

 

“Hn, I wouldn't know about that. Yukina was raised by those frigid bitches in the ice village, she knows as much about physical intimacy as they did.”

 

Botan paused again, turning to look at Hiei.

 

“A society comprised entirely of women, who reproduce automatically without the need for men,” he said. “They have no knowledge of what physical intimacy is and what it means, much less what it can lead to.”

 

“A-are you saying that Yukina might have already…” Botan began. “And she doesn't realise because she doesn't understand what it is?”

 

“Why would she understand what it is? Her people have no need for it.”

 

“Oh, well, I never thought about it like that before, but I suppose you do have a point…”

 

“Hn, you're so simple-minded.”

 

“I don't have to free you, Hiei, I could just leave you hanging here.”

 

“I don't care what you do.”

 

Botan sighed and turned back to her task, soon freeing the lower half of his left arm. He flexed his fingers, the sinews of his arms twitching, opening small cuts the thorns had made over his skin. He was not wearing his coat, his upper body covered only in a vest, leaving his arms bare and exposed. Botan gave a small shudder as she thought about his other arm: even though it was probably bandaged, it was covered with multiple vines, and a quick glance at it showed that it was still slowly dripping blood. As she turned her head back she caught Hiei giving her a curious look, and it occurred to her that he had probably seen her shivering.

 

“It's cold up here, in this wind,” she lied. “You should have come later in the day, at least then I would have had time to get dressed for this sort of work.”

 

“I don't need your pity,” he said, his words reminding her that lying to him was always pointless since he could read her mind - maybe she should have left his jagan eye wrapped up.

 

“Well good, because I don't think that you deserve it,” she said, trying her best to sound admonishing. “I wasn't pitying you anyway, I was pitying myself for having to see all that blood.”

 

Hiei rolled his eyes and turned his head away. Despite his words being no less cruel, Botan had to admit that he had managed to relax his body and calm himself enough for her to successfully remove the vines without them attacking him again. She was unsure if this was progress, if this was him learning some self-control, or if he was just biding his time to try something irrational again once he was completely freed.

 

“There we are,” she said, moving directly in front of him as she finished freeing his left arm. “Doesn't that feel better?”

 

He took his arm around in front of himself, twirling his wrist and bending his elbow, opening more cuts. Botan watched as small droplets of scarlet blood gathered around the curves of his biceps and slipped down to drip from his elbow. On instinct she pulled one sleeve over her hand and reached over, wiping the blood from his skin, ignoring the horrified look he gave her upon her actions.

 

“Well at least the thorns didn't cut in too deeply,” she said as she finished her task.

 

She sat back, reaching up both hands to smooth back her hair as the wind caught at it again, billowing it about her head and tugging at her pyjamas. She gave another shiver, this time genuinely because of the cold, lowering her arms and tugging her pyjama top down to stop the wind sneaking up it.

 

“I am cold!” she insisted when she caught Hiei glaring at her with an unreadable look.

 

“Yes,” he said, his eyes lowering from hers slightly. “I can see that.”

 

Botan yelped and jerked back slightly as more vines rocketed up towards them. At first she was confused: Hiei had not done or said anything violent, and she was sure that he could not have been thinking anything sinister either. The vines first attacked both of his hands, both his freed hand and his bound hand. Then the vines began slithering around the tops of his legs and around his waist. In a matter of seconds both of his hands were covered in balls of green vines and his midsection was almost as thickly wrapped as his right arm.

 

“That's odd,” Botan said, tilting her head to one side curiously. “Why would the vines attack you there?”

 

She pointed at the concentration of vines around his middle.

 

“I can understand the vines attacking your hands to stop you punching or launching an attack,” she said slowly. “But what sort of harm could you possibly do to me with that part of your body?”

 

“Untie me and I'll show you,” Hiei quietly replied.

 

Botan lifted her head, frowning at him, the smirk on his face and the gleam in his eyes only serving to confuse her further.

 

And as she looked at him, two vines appeared from nowhere and slapped him across the mouth, winding their way around his face like a gag.

 

“You have to stop thinking about biting me, Hiei,” she said.

 

Despite having two vines wrapped over his lips, Botan was sure she saw him smirking again.

 

Several more vines wound their way around his middle, obscuring his body between his thighs and his hips in a mass of green.

 

“How strange…” she muttered, scratching at her head. “I wonder what it means?”

 

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

 

Next Chapter: Botan continues her efforts to free Hiei, Keiko tries to explain the term “immaculate conception” to Kuwabara (without much luck) and Keiko offers Botan a second opinion on how to handle Hiei, which Botan enacts with unexpected consequences. Chapter 10: The Confession.