Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Confession ( Chapter 10 )

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

 

Recap: Yukina announced that she is pregnant and Hiei over-reacted, ending up caught in one of Kurama's plants placed to stop him from killing Kuwabara.

 

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

 

Chapter 10: The Confession

 

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

 

Despite having two vines wrapped over his lips, Botan was sure she saw Hiei 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?”

 

Hiei rolled his eyes and Botan shrugged.

 

“Well let's start again,” she said with a smile. “And this time Mister Hiei, try not to think such nasty thoughts.”

 

She took one vine in each hand and carefully freed his mouth, finding that his smirk had vanished.

 

“You're not making it any easier on me,” he snapped.

 

“Being grouchy won't help either,” she warned, taking his left hand and starting her work there over again. “You should think about nice things. Things that make you feel good.”

 

“I was thinking about things that feel good,” he muttered.

 

Botan gasped as another vine slithered past her elbow and snaked its way between Hiei's legs, winding itself up and around his thigh before crossing over in a figure-of-eight to his other leg and then finally snaking up over his hip.

 

“How very odd indeed!” she said, shaking her head. “I must ask Kurama what that means!”

 

“If you don't know what that means, you are even more ignorant than those reclusive ice witches,” Hiei spat at her.

 

“I don't know what that means either, Hiei!” she shot back.

 

“It means you know as much about the facts of life as they do!”

 

Botan looked about herself before frowning up at Hiei.

 

“Why are none of the vines attacking you now?” she asked. “You're saying horrible things about the ice maidens! If you have malicious intentions towards them, the vines should be attacking.”

 

“Hn, I wouldn't waste the energy thinking such thoughts about those hags,” Hiei said with a smirk. “I don't need to murder them, they've already done that to themselves by choosing that way of life.”

 

“And what way of life is that?”

 

“A life devoid of feeling.”

 

“Well, I imagine that would be terrible. Of course, you're not at all like that yourself, are you Mister Hiei?”

 

Hiei narrowed his eyes at Botan and let out a growl, but much to her surprise, no vines came after him. She freed his left hand and began unravelling the vines around his left foot, surprised to find that he was missing a boot. As she worked her way up his leg she soon came to the ball around his mid-section, and she moved away from it again, freeing the lower half of his right leg. She was reluctant to free his right arm and had already decided to leave it until last: though that did raise the question of how he would stay in the air while she unwound the remaining vines. It would be cruel to let him hang by one arm for such a length of time, and she doubted he would want to sit on her oar with her. Maybe she could find a way to get him closer to the ground, she thought.

 

Botan ducked back a little, studying Hiei carefully as she tried to find which vine she needed to start with to free his mid-section. She swooped forwards again, her hands hovering over his abdomen, absent-mindedly chewing at her lip as she tried to decide between two different vines. She heard Hiei let out a small noise above her, but when she looked up he had turned his head away from her, looking back over one of his shoulders.

 

It looked like he was sweating, despite the cold.

 

Botan shrugged and grabbed the thickest vine in both hands, pulling it forwards experimentally. Hiei made a strained groaning sound, the lower half of his body jerking slightly. Botan's initial thought was that she had hurt him somehow and she quickly snatched her hands back, tearing a small gash along the underside of one index finger as she did so. She looked at Hiei, finding him watching her with an almost disbelieving look, his hair sticking to his forehead a little, confirming that he was sweating.

 

“Are you alright?” she asked.

 

“Never better,” he bit out sarcastically.

 

“Alrighty,” she said, looking down at her finger. “Those thorns certainly are sharp, aren't they?”

 

Botan stuck her finger in her mouth, closing her lips around it and sucking gently on it. As she pulled her finger out again her eyebrows lowered into a frown: Hiei appeared to be shocked at something, his face was actually showing his emotions! He held the expression for a few seconds after her finger left her mouth before shutting his eyes tightly and baring his teeth. Botan's eyes widened as she heard the vines creaking in front of her. They were squeezing into him as though he had just had another bad thought, as improbable as that seemed.

 

“Hiei, you really must learn to control yourself,” she said flatly.

 

“You stupid…” he croaked, his voice slightly higher in pitch than usual. “Do you even think that… Do you even think about it at all?”

 

“Think about what?” she asked, wiping her finger on her sleeve.

 

Hiei's jagan opened and fixed onto her. She stared into it, a slight swirling in the back of her head telling her that he was delving into her deepest thoughts in search of something. Maybe he was trying to learn how to stop bad thoughts coming into his head, she decided.

 

“Damn you, you're insufferable and I hate you!” he snapped, his jagan closing and his own eyes opening.

 

No vines responded, despite his ragged, angered tone.

 

“Look at this situation!” he continued, his voice still uneven. “I'm suffering, and you're right there, and when I look into your mind what do I see?”

 

“It's very rude to just look into my mind without my permission, Hiei,” she snootily replied.

 

“Your head is full of kittens and rainbows and flowers and moonshine and all manners of inconsequential crap!” he roared.

 

“Well maybe it is,” she replied, placing her hands on her hips. “But the vines don't attack me, so maybe you should try thinking about nice things like that for once!”

 

“Nice things…”

 

Hiei dipped his head, muttering something indecipherable into his chest before raising it up again to look Botan in the eye.

 

“This is taking too long,” he grumbled.

 

“And whose fault is that…?” she asked.

 

“Yours,” he snapped. “Coming out here like that and doing things you shouldn't be.”

 

“What?”

 

“Just… Since you're so “cold”, why don't you go and put on a coat or something that at least doesn't make you look quite so… Pert.”

 

“Pert?”

 

“Just… Get out of my sight!”

 

Hiei swung his free arm at her as if aiming to backhand her, but to her surprise, the vines did not react.

 

“It's a very strange plant,” she mused aloud. “Maybe I planted it wrong. Or maybe it's defective because it was grown with my spirit energy instead of Kurama's… Well anyway, I can't leave you hanging here, you're bleeding, I have to get you free.”

 

“Just leave me, I'm fine.”

 

Botan watched Hiei patiently, but he purposely avoided looking directly at her.

 

“Well maybe I will leave you here,” she said. “Maybe it will teach you a lesson in patience.”

 

He grunted out a curse, but Botan ignored it, turning her back on him and dipping her oar down towards the ground. She felt a little disappointed that he was refusing her help after she had gone to such great lengths to get to him and effectively save his life before the plant strangled it out of him: but she supposed that she ought not to be surprised, since he was still Hiei, and he had never been grateful for anything any of the others had done for him either.

 

Once she reached the ground Botan slid off of her oar and it vanished behind her. She paused to look up the length of the vines to Hiei's prone form far above her. The sun was coming up in the sky by then, making him more easily visible. As much as she disliked his lack of gratitude, the guilt she felt for leaving him in such a way was far worse, and so she grabbed the main vine in both hands and began tugging downwards.

 

The vine lost some of its firmness in her grip, but it would not lower, no matter how hard she tried: and the thorns on it were like butcher's knives, forcing her to give up. She sighed in frustration, looking up at Hiei again, smiling in amazement as she saw him slowly lowering towards the ground. She looked down at the base of the plant again and soon saw the reason why.

 

“Kurama!” she cried. “Yusuke!”

 

“Hey Botan,” Yusuke greeted her. “We got here as soon as we could. We didn't know he was leaving until he had already gone. Is Kuwabara safe?”

 

“Oh I think so,” Botan replied. “I was asleep when Hiei arrived, and I told Yukina to keep Kuwabara and Keiko indoors.”

 

Yusuke nodded, turning to Hiei as he gently landed on the ground in front of them. Yusuke's face twitched and his eyes slowly widened.

 

“Hey, what the hell?” he said, pointing at Hiei. “Why are the vines only wrapped around right his arm and his crotch?”

 

Hiei turned his head sharply to one side, where he found Kurama smiling at him knowingly. He turned again, finding himself looking directly at Botan, who was surprised to see that he looked a little bewildered.

 

“The vines only attack the parts of the body likely to do harm,” Kurama said.

 

“Huh?” Yusuke echoed. “I understand that his arm with the dragon in it is dangerous, but his… Hey, wait a minute…”

 

Yusuke turned to Botan, slowly grinning.

 

“I get it!” he said.

 

“Well I don't,” Botan replied. “Not at all. I was hoping Kurama could explain why the vines did that.”

 

“On you go, Kurama,” Yusuke said.

 

“I'm sure Hiei could explain it far more eloquently than I possibly could,” Kurama replied.

 

Hiei tilted his head downwards, hiding his face from them all.

 

“Oh well, never mind,” Botan said with a sigh. “I'm going inside to check on the others.”

 

Botan started back towards the temple, silently contemplating what Hiei had told her about the level of Yukina's naivety: was it possible that her pregnancy was not just a natural occurrence? If not, Hiei really would kill Kuwabara, and then get arrested by spirit world and probably be sentenced to death himself. It was a terrible situation, one she could not bring herself to think about for too long. She was glad when Yusuke joined her by the doors and began joking with her about the vines attacking Keiko, as his light-hearted talk came as a very welcome distraction from her darker thoughts.

 

Meanwhile, Kurama was still smiling at Hiei, who was still doing his best to hide his face.

 

“You could make this thing release me,” Hiei muttered into his chest.

 

“Yes, I could,” Kurama confirmed. “But I first need to be sure that you will not do something irrational if I do release you.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“And before you ask, I do consider killing Kuwabara to be an irrational action.”

 

Hiei said nothing, standing so still Kurama began to wonder if he was even still breathing. Deciding that this was probably a good indication that Hiei had calmed down, Kurama snapped his fingers at the vines, which loosened and fell from Hiei, receding back into the ground until only a single, thin vine remained, curled around the original source of the seed.

 

“That was a dirty trick, fox,” Hiei said as he looked at his right arm.

 

His arm had been cut in so many places the black dragon was barely discernible against his skin. His cuts were mercifully shallow though and Kurama knew that Hiei would heal the wounds quickly enough.

 

“I knew you would overreact,” he said. “This was a necessary precaution. No amount of talking would have calmed you when you learned the truth. You respond to everything with your actions. More specifically, you respond with extreme, violent or passionate actions. This seemed like the only way to make you stop and think.”

 

“Like you would have done?” Hiei sneered, peering up at Kurama. “Hn, don't make me laugh. You over-think everything, it is your biggest folly.”

 

“Perhaps we could learn from each other,” Kurama replied. “Surely somewhere in the middle is the best approach.”

 

“I'm still going to kill that fool. You know that, don't you?”

 

“Perhaps you will. But perhaps you should wait just a little longer until you understand all of the facts before you act.”

 

“If he has interfered, the child will be a monster.”

 

“Like you?”

 

“Exactly like me. So you see, I have thought about this. I want to save Yukina the pain of bearing a child as vicious as I am. She is too gentle for that fate.”

 

“How very altruistic of you.”

 

“Don't patronise me.”

 

Hiei turned away from Kurama and walked over to the top of the steps that led away from the temple grounds. He dropped himself down onto the top step, resting his feet on the step below. He crossed his arms over his knees and looked out across the horizon. Kurama soon took a seat next to him, smiling at him.

 

“Do you want to talk about why the vines attacked you the way they did?” he asked.

 

“I don't talk about such things,” Hiei grumbled. “You said yourself, I am the sort of person who prefers actions to words. Talking about something like that is a human failing. Maybe you have been in that body for too long.”

 

“Maybe I have,” Kurama replied. “Or maybe I haven't. If you won't talk about it, perhaps you'll listen instead.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“I'll take that as a yes. You know, it's okay to care about something, or even about someone. I know you care about Yukina, and you should know that it's not unusual or a great weakness to care about others, in any context.”

 

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

 

“I'm trying to tell you that I don't think that anyone would think any less of you if you decided to make a new friend. I know I certainly wouldn't.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“But maybe, as you say, I've been in this body for too long.”

 

Kurama stood up again and turned back towards the temple.

 

“I think I'll join the others for breakfast,” he said. “And I'm sure everyone would be glad to see you there too.”

 

Hiei grunted and sunk his head lower. Kurama shrugged and walked back to the temple without him, wondering as he went if Hiei would make it past the vine of the guilty this time around.

 

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

 

“It's parthenogenesis,” Keiko said.

 

“It's parthy-what?” Kuwabara echoed.

 

“It's like how some types of snails and lizards reproduce,” Keiko said. “Like in that film, Jurassic Park.”

 

“Now you're comparing my lovely Yukina to a snail and a lizard?” Kuwabara growled at her.

 

“Not literally,” she replied. “Well yes literally, but not in the way you think.”

 

“You're making this even more confusing,” he muttered.

 

“I'm trying to help you!” she protested.

 

“Well you're failing.”

 

Keiko took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying her best to keep calm.

 

“You're an idiot,” she concluded. “I give up.”

 

She turned to find Yusuke watching her with an amused grin.

 

“Don't say it,” she said flatly. “I know you already told me that I was wasting my time. I just thought that maybe he would understand if I explained it in a way he could relate to. He gets quite good grades nowadays and some of the professors have a really high opinion of him. I had hoped that maybe he was a bit smarter.”

 

“Nope,” Yusuke said, shaking his head. “He's still an idiot.”

 

Kuwabara started arguing his intelligence, but Yusuke quickly cut him off.

 

“We need to get moving,” he said. “I know we're all tired but we can't waste time trying to explain obvious things to you over and over.”

 

Kuwabara scowled at him but said nothing.

 

“Do you have to go right now?” Keiko asked.

 

“Yeah,” Yusuke replied. “I think we should travel back to the hotel and go to demon world from there… Which is where we have a bit of a problem. I don't have enough money for the fare back. I spent most of what I had coming here after Hiei. Unless Botan can fit three passengers on her oar with her, we're gonna need to get some more money.”

 

“Why are you looking at me, Yusuke?” Keiko asked, folding her arms.

 

“Looks like Bank of Yukimura is closed,” Yusuke said, turning back to Kuwabara. “How about you? Anyone you can tap for extra funds?”

 

“I guess I could try calling my sister,” he said. “What about Kurama, doesn't he have lots of money?”

 

“No more than we do,” Yusuke replied.

 

“But I thought he was a thief,” Kuwabara said. “Can't he just steal us some money?”

 

“He's not a thief,” Yusuke said sternly. “Not any more, anyway.”

 

“But he still likes shiny things.”

 

“So do you, but that doesn't make you a thief, does it?”

 

“I guess not.”

 

Yusuke turned away from Keiko and Kuwabara, looking out over the treetops of the forest beyond the temple. From where he stood, the land sloped downwards away from them, the only sign of human intervention being a raised railway line that ran through the lower part of the forest.

 

“Hey, I've got an idea!” Yusuke said, pointing at the railway. “We could jump on a train!”

 

“Hey, yeah!” Kuwabara agreed. “No, wait, that won't work. We don't have enough money for a train ticket, and the conductor would just kick us off for not paying our fare.”

 

“No, I mean why don't we jump on a train?” Yusuke said, hopping his hands in the air.

 

“Because the conductor would throw us off for not paying our fare!” Kuwabara said again.

 

“No, I mean why don't we jump onto the roof of a train?” Yusuke said.

 

“You idiot! You don't get conductors on the roof of a train!”

 

“Exactly! That's what makes the plan so flawless!”

 

“Oh yeah!”

 

Keiko glanced back and forth between the two boys before sighing quietly to herself.

 

“And to think: the lord of the underworld chose you two to form half of his team of elite spirit detectives, watching over the fate of humanity,” she muttered sarcastically.

 

Neither Kuwabara nor Yusuke noticed her comment, both too busy congratulating each other on masterminding such a brilliant plan. Keiko rolled her eyes and left them to their idiocy, returning indoors where she found Kurama ending a phone call to his mother.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked her as she drew near him.

 

“Fine,” she lied. “Kuwabara and Yusuke have decided to take the train, I guess you should all get going.”

 

“That's strange, I was under the impression they lacked the funds to buy a ticket,” Kurama replied.

 

“They have a better idea,” Keiko dryly replied. “One that doesn't need tickets.”

 

Kurama nodded and made his way outside once more, less than surprised to find that Hiei was still sitting by the top of the temple steps, exactly where he had left him before going inside for breakfast.

 

“Hiei!” he called to him. “We're leaving now.”

 

“Go ahead,” Hiei quietly replied, without moving. “I'm sure I can catch you up.”

 

Kurama shrugged and headed back indoors; though he was a little curious to know why Hiei was not eager to be the first to return to demon world.

 

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

 

“Try not to worry Keiko!” Botan said in her usual, cheerful manner. “I'm sure the boys will be just fine! They'll be back before you even notice them gone!”

 

“I guess so,” Keiko said, still sounding less than convinced. “But I still worry. Distract me.”

 

“Alrighty!” Botan chirped. “How about we play a game?”

 

“What sort of game?”

 

“Well Genkai did leave an entire arcade in her basement…”

 

Keiko rolled her eyes.

 

“No,” she said. “I get enough of those stupid games when I'm with Yusuke. Tell me a story or something.”

 

“Okay dokay, what sort of story would you like?”

 

“Tell me about ferrying souls. But make sure it's a happy and interesting story.”

 

“Happy and interesting, let's see…”

 

Botan looked thoughtful for a moment as Keiko paced about the room restlessly. As she passed the window Keiko glanced outside, barely able to make out a dark shape by the top of the temple steps in the middle distance.

 

“Isn't that Hiei?” she asked, stopping to point out the window.

 

“What?” Botan echoed. “No, it can't be, the others left half an hour ago!”

 

Botan moved over to the window, peering out for herself.

 

“It looks like it could be him,” she agreed. “I wonder why he's still here?”

 

Keiko smiled, suddenly finding the distraction she had been looking for.

 

“Maybe he's waiting for you, Botan,” she said.

 

“Oh no, I don't think so,” Botan innocently replied. “He knows I won't be going to demon world today.”

 

“Maybe he's waiting for his goodbye kiss?”

 

Botan turned pale and then flushed red, her head slowly turning to face Keiko, who's smile had turned into a dark grin that was worthy of Yusuke Urameshi himself.

 

“Don't be silly!” Botan laughed nervously. “Hiei doesn't… And I don't… Have you been speaking to Shizuru?”

 

“Shizuru?” Keiko echoed, her grin vanishing. “When did you see her?”

 

“I went to see her the night before last,” Botan replied. “I needed advice.”

 

“Advice? On Hiei? Again? What's happened now? Has he tried to kiss you again?”

 

“Yes. He kissed me once more after the first time I told you about, and then the night before last, I went to demon world and sort of kissed him.”

 

Keiko's jaw dropped. This distraction was so good, she barely remembered what it was that she had wanted a distraction from to begin with.

 

“You kissed him?” she asked carefully.

 

“Yes, but I had to do it,” Botan replied awkwardly. “He had me cornered.”

 

“Cornered?” Keiko yelped.

 

“Oh no, not literally!” Botan hurriedly assured her. “He had my whistle, and it was the only way I could get it back. He said he had put it in his stomach, but I found it in his hair.”

 

Keiko started to frown.

 

“And then I went to see Shizuru,” Botan continued. “She said that I should try the “damsel in distress” technique to find out what Hiei really thinks about me. I think I messed that up a little bit though, because this morning he was the one in distress and I was the one who had to rescue him… Oh dear, I wonder what I should do now?”

 

Keiko pushed aside the confusing parts of Botan's speech and picked out the one part that had been worryingly clear.

 

“Why did Shizuru tell you to “try the damsel in distress technique”?” she asked. “Isn't that a bit… Redundant, considering what the guys do all the time?”

 

Botan shrugged.

 

“She said it would make him show his feelings,” she said.

 

“You're trying to make Hiei show his feelings?” Keiko asked.

 

“Yes,” Botan replied.

 

“Hiei?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“The same guy who turned an opponent into a shadow during the dark tournament?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“The same guy who stole from spirit world and had a reputation as a brutal murderer?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“The same guy who once said that he expresses his feelings through violence.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Right…”

 

Keiko watched Botan warily for any sign of fear or apprehension, but the pink-eyed open face merely stared back at her as innocently as always.

 

“You don't think that might be dangerous at all?” she asked slowly.

 

“Dangerous?” Botan repeated.

 

“Yes,” Keiko said. “Trying to make Hiei express himself when he likes to express himself with anger. Didn't you say that he tried to obliterate Mukuro, the lady he works for?”

 

“Yes, they fought in the third round of the last demon world tournament,” Botan replied. “Hiei unleashed the dragon of the darkness flame, but Mukuro was able to fight it off. It was very close though.”

 

“And even knowing that, you're still not afraid of pushing him to show his feelings?”

 

“No.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Keiko nodded slowly, trying her best to hide her true feelings: apparently Botan was out of her mind.

 

“Well personally, I wouldn't have suggested the “damsel in distress” approach,” she said, looking out the window at Hiei's silhouette by the gate. “Mainly because I wouldn't rely on a guy like that to rescue me in time,” she added under her breath.

 

“What?” Botan echoed.

 

“I was just thinking aloud,” Keiko assured her. “And I was just thinking that with a guy like that, the best approach is probably a direct one. Most guys don't understand subtle advances, so I would say that a guy as blunt as Hiei definitely won't.”

 

“A direct approach, of course!” Botan said, smacking her fist into her open palm. “A splendid idea, Keiko! But… What exactly would a direct approach be?”

 

“Make a move. You said you kissed him already, and you obviously got some sort of reaction out of him before you went to Shizuru for advice, so do it again and see what happens.”

 

“Kiss him?”

 

“Yeah, sure, why not?”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“So I should just… Go up to him and kiss him?”

 

“And then run like hell…”

 

“What was that?”

 

“Nothing!”

 

Keiko forced a smile to cover her lie and apparently it was enough because Botan smiled back at her.

 

“Alrighty then!” she said. “I'll go and try that right now!”

 

Keiko was momentarily stunned into silence as she watched Botan march confidently from the room. She stood watching the open doorway in awestruck disbelief, only finding the ability to move and talk again as she heard Botan leaving out the front door. She spun around to look out the window, gasping as she saw Botan jogging towards Hiei, her blue ponytail flicking about in the air behind her.

 

“She's dead,” Keiko whispered. “He's going to kill her. And it's all my fault!”

 

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

 

Botan hummed to herself as she hurried down the garden path towards Hiei. She wondered if he had chosen to stay where he was for fear of awakening the vine of the guilty again: though he probably thought that he could outwit it the next time around, she thought to herself. On her approach to him she noticed something in the grass beyond the demon plant, smiling as the object came into focus.

 

“Hiei!” she called to Hiei. “I've found something of yours!”

 

She altered her path to collect the object, but in the few seconds it took her to pick it up and turn around again, Hiei had vanished.

 

“Hiei!” she yelled.

 

She saw a nearby tree branch swaying independently of the others and saw a few birds rising into the air a little way beyond it: apparently Hiei was indulging in his hobby of tree-surfing again.

 

“So sneaky,” Botan said with a sigh, summoning her oar. “Though he really should have waited to get this back.”

 

Botan frowned down at the boot in her hand, wondering if it had come off Hiei's foot when the vines had lifted him from the ground or if he had removed it himself in an attempt to shake the plant's attacks. She turned her oar in the direction she thought he was heading and sped off over the treetops, looking down through the branches for any sign of movement to indicate his exact position. He moved so quickly, she thought, it was possible that he was already beyond her reach.

 

She started to slow down, two thoughts occurring to her: first of all, what exactly was she going to do when she caught up to him? Hand him back the boot, she told herself. But then what? Was she really just going to kiss him as Keiko had suggested? And how was he going to react? Was this really wise?

 

Botan had almost slowed to a complete halt, losing some of her altitude in her lack on concentration. She was lost in her own thoughts, the overwhelming one being that she could not even understand why she was following after Hiei of all people, expecting that he would actually have any feelings for her.

 

Suddenly the boot was tugged from her hand. Botan yelped and almost flipped over in the air in her distraction, her heart racing as she righted herself. Once she had achieved a stable hover she looked about herself, eventually spotting Hiei a short way behind her, sitting on a tree branch and pulling on the boot he had just taken from her.

 

“Hiei, you frightened me!” she shouted over to him.

 

“Well, that's never a difficult thing to do,” he muttered moodily.

 

Unperturbed by his words or his tone, Botan drifted over to his side, smiling sweetly as him as he secured his boot in place.

 

“Hiei, would you like me to heal your wounds before you go back to demon world?” she offered, noticing that his arms were still littered with scabs and his clothing tattered, presumably hiding more injuries from the thorns of the vine of the guilty.

 

“I'm not wounded,” he flatly replied. “But you might be if you don't get out of my way.”

 

“I want to ask you a question,” Botan hurriedly said. “And I promise I will leave you alone after that. It's very important, and I won't leave you alone until you answer me.”

 

“If answering a question will stop you following me to demon world again then fine,” he agreed.

 

“It's about some of the things that seem to have been happening lately between you and me. I have noticed that there seems to be a sort of-”

 

“Woman, ask this question. Do it without hesitation, repetition or deviation, understand?”

 

“Right, sorry Hiei. I guess Keiko was right, you are the sort of guy who likes a direct approach-”

 

“Woman!”

 

Hiei leapt up to his feet, finding his balance on the branch effortlessly, his eyes glaring at Botan threateningly.

 

“Why do we keep kissing each other?”

 

His face dropped visibly. She shrugged.

 

“I've never kissed any of the others,” she said. “Not even Kuwabara, and he used to have the cutest little crush on me you know. That was before he met Yukina of course, because everybody knows that now he… Oopsie!”

 

“You kissed me, as I recall,” Hiei said quietly.

 

“Not before you kissed me,” Botan pointed out. “Twice, in fact. You kissed me at the portal in the far north, and then you kissed me on the beach.”

 

“You wanted to kiss me!”

 

“No I didn't! You made me do it!”

 

Hiei growled and snapped at the air as though threatening her with a bite; but she did not so much as flinch, which only made him all the more irate.

 

“I can't stand to be around you,” he growled through tightly clenched teeth. “I don't understand anything about your inane way of doing things. You don't serve any purpose in anything spirit world asks of us and you contribute nothing when we encounter trouble. You are nothing but Koenma's silly little honey trap.”

 

“His what?” Botan echoed.

 

“Hn, of course, the silly little ferry girl won't know what that means, will she?”

 

Botan thought for a moment before smiling brightly.

 

“I know exactly what you mean!” she said.

 

“No you don't,” Hiei groaned.

 

“Yes I do!” she insisted. “You're talking about those little glass jars you hang on a string, with a little bit of honey on the bottom to catch flies to stop them ruining your picnic!”

 

Hiei growled, clenching his fists at his sides.

 

“It's statements like that that make me hate you so much!” he snarled.

 

“Oh Hiei, you're being very rude!”

 

“Rude?”

 

Hiei growled again, tightening his fists until his fingernails bit into his palms and drew blood.

 

“Is there a reason you are delaying me?” he demanded. “And I mean a legitimate reason.”

 

“I really just wanted to know why you kissed me,” she replied with a small shrug. “I was worried that maybe you liked me.”

 

“I don't like you,” he replied. “I never have.”

 

“Well alrighty then. Is it alright if I still like you? As a friend, I mean?”

 

Hiei laughed a little, though the sound was strained and false and nothing about his face suggested that he was actually amused.

 

“You are unbelievable,” he said.

 

“I aim to please!” she said, smiling brilliantly at him.

 

“If only you did,” he muttered.

 

“And I'm really glad that we had this talk Hiei,” she added. “I was worried that you might try to kiss me again after I kissed you. I didn't want anything to be awkward between us, since we do have to work together. After all, it's not like either of us really feel that way about the other, and even if we did, what would we do? You're a demon who lives in demon world and I'm a ferry girl who works for spirit world. How silly is that?”

 

Botan giggled, wondering why Hiei did not appreciate the irony of what she had just said. Instead he stared at her with a slightly innocent look, one that she was not quite accustomed to seeing on his face.

 

“You determine to be my downfall,” he whispered.

 

Botan tilted her head to one side in confusion at his words. He held her gaze for a moment before groaning deeply and leaping off the tree branch. Botan screamed out as he collided with her, the shock causing her to not only fall off of her oar, but for the oar itself to disappear. Her voice continued crying out, the sound stuttering a little as she collided with a few tree branches before landing amongst the undergrowth of the forest floor, her head spinning and her body struggling to recover the air that had been taken from it on the force of impact.

 

Before Botan could regain her senses she heard a sound akin to a wolf moving in for an attack, followed by a pair of strong arms grabbing around her waist. She tried to turn her head to see what had caught her but her chin collided with a mass of spiky black hair, her body going stiff as she felt something warm and wet sliding up the side of her throat. She clawed at the weight pinning her to the ground, her fists closing around handfuls of Hiei's shirt. Her mouth moved wordlessly and noiselessly, her legs squirming against the ground as she found herself caught between the need to get out of the situation she was in and the debilitating prickling feeling in her chest.

 

Was this feeling what Keiko had once called butterflies, Botan wondered? It felt more likes bubbles to her, millions of tiny bubbles rushing up and bursting inside of her. As she felt Hiei lodging his knees under hers and pushing her legs apart the feeling magnified and a small noise came from her mouth. He grunted and nipped at her neck with his teeth, his hands grabbing into her clothes, the sound of ripping material reaching her ears. Her body lurched against her will, momentarily pressing every part of her hard against him. At the movement he lifted his head, looking down at her, and she almost wished that he had stayed where he was, since the look on his face was far worse than anything he was doing to her.

 

“No!” she cried out, barely managing to clap a hand over his mouth before his lips reached hers.

 

His glowing eyes lost none of their intensity as he slowly reached up one hand, closing it around her wrist to pull her hand out of his way.

 

“Don't, Hiei, please!” she wailed. “It's cruel! You kiss like a monster!”

 

“And you kiss like an angel, which is hardly fair for a demon like me,” he growled back, pulling her hand from his lips as he spoke.

 

“Hi-”

 

Botan barely got the first syllable of his name out before he closed the distance between them, pressing his lips to hers. At first it felt as uncomfortable as it had the previous two times he had tried to kiss her, but after the initial shock of contact she felt a slight lessening of pressure, and for some reason she could not fathom, her lips behaved contrary to her thoughts, pushing back up against his. She was sure that she felt his lips smiling slightly as they kissed, but she was far more concerned by what her hand was doing: Hiei was restraining her left hand against the ground, his hand still gripped around her wrist, but her right hand had somehow snaked its way up the narrow space between their bodies and was bunching a fist around his shirt, pulling him closer to her.

 

Something was very, very wrong.

 

Botan wondered if Hiei was somehow manipulating her actions with his jagan: but his bandana was firmly in place and with the array of new and unusual sensations racking her body her mind was barely thinking about anything much less guiding her actions with any sort of pre-determined purpose.

 

Their shared kiss was brief as Hiei dragged his lips from hers, working them along her jaw and down her neck, causing her to do something else that she had not planned or expected to do.

 

“Oh, Hiei!” she groaned, her voice low and barely sounding like her own.

 

Hiei's lips lifted from her neck long enough for him to answer her.

 

“Mhu, Botan,” he growled into her shoulder.

 

Hiei's lips brushed against her skin briefly before both froze on the spot.

 

“Wh-what did you just say?” Botan asked, her eyes so wide she was afraid they might pop out of her head.

 

Hiei grumbled out something that sounded like an insult, his hands grabbing at the ground on either side of her shoulders. He straightened his arms, raising the top half of his body from her, frowning down at her, his face suddenly changed. Botan wanted to ask him if he had actually said her name, if only because she was almost sure that she must have misheard him. She had thought that he did not even know what it was, since he had always claimed that he only bothered making the effort to learn the names of people who proved themselves worthy of his attention, and to Botan it seemed that Hiei only knew of four names: Kurama, Yukina, Yusuke and Mukuro.

 

“Did you…” she tried, still unable to say the words under the intensity of his glare.

 

His face twitched, and Hiei said only one more word to Botan before he vanished in a streak of black and white.

 

“Shit.”

 

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

 

Kurama felt as awkward as Kuwabara looked as both tried to relax and look natural. They had already survived the day before sneaking around the outskirts of Yomi's territory - or rather, Yomi's former territory - and today found them in the heart of what was formerly Raizen's territory. Kuwabara had called it “Yusuke's inheritance”, but that term seemed inappropriate to Kurama. Even if Yusuke had somehow inherited full control over the area, it apparently still had not made his friends above suspicion: whilst Yusuke had ascended the tower in the heart of the land, Kurama and Kuwabara had been forced to wait part way up, under the watchful eyes of several extremely powerful demons who had once been Raizen's top warriors.

 

Kuwabara had been unable to sit still while they waited for Yusuke to return, and had taken to pacing about, the amount of sweat he was producing enough to draw attention to him alone, the apprehension on his face only adding to his conspicuousness. But despite Kuwabara looking and acting like a guilty fool, the majority of the guards were watching Kurama, who had not moved from the spot Yusuke had left him at other than to sit down, allowing his legs to dangle over the ledge in front of him. Apparently his fight against Shigure was still fresh in the memories of those present, as on more that one occasion Kurama heard voices muttering comparisons between Youko and the seemingly human boy before them.

 

Kurama sighed quietly before hearing a thud at his side. It was unexpected, but neither startled nor surprised him when he saw what had landed there.

 

“So your stupid plant was right. I want to do unthinkable things to that woman. The more I see her, the more I want to ravish her.”

 

Kurama nodded.

 

“Good afternoon, Hiei,” he said smoothly.

 

“It doesn't mean anything,” Hiei continued. “It's just circumstantial.”

 

“I'm glad you could join us,” Kurama said.

 

“If she was a demon, this would have been over long ago. Even if she was just a normal human, I could have resolved this by now. But she's part of the spirit world squad, I can't so much as look at her without risking imprisonment.”

 

“We've had a very busy morning so far.”

 

“I don't even like her. She irritates me. She's pretty, but in a very annoying, silly, girly sort of way. It all started from a stupid idea, and it has escalated to this heightened level of madness.”

 

“Yusuke has gone to the top of the tower, to the private areas of what was Raizen's home.”

 

“I was in prison, after they arrested me for taking that damned shadow sword, and one of the other prisoners said something stupid.”

 

Kurama paused, frowning slightly. He was unsure if Hiei wanted his honest opinion on anything he was saying, but hearing Hiei mention his arrest had captured his interest.

 

“Hn, he said those ferry girls were like presents, waiting to be opened, dressed in those kimonos. Covered in several layers of unnecessary wrappings and tied together with a big bow, and what lies beneath is a treasure. Foolish words from a foolish weakling, but it amused me to imagine it. Now I can't stop imagining it. And her complete ignorance to it just makes it all the worse. I thought that she would want it too. Living that self-righteous, overly moral lifestyle, she ought to be ripe for a little corruption.”

 

“But she's not.”

 

“I only need one shot. I could forget about it and move on then. Just one night, and I would see sense again. One night and she would just be another stupidly naïve ferry girl, another one of Koenma's little wastrels.”

 

“You're playing a very dangerous game, Hiei.”

 

“The danger is why I enjoy it so much.”

 

“I don't believe that you truly understand what the danger is.”

 

“I understand it well enough. I'd be back in spirit world prison and they would probably find an excuse to execute me.”

 

“You think that is the only danger you face?”

 

Hiei turned to look at Kurama for the first time since his arrival. Kurama kept his head forwards, smiling and closing his eyes.

 

“The problem with denying yourself something is that when you do finally acquire it, you lose all self-control and go to extremes,” he said.

 

“I know that!” Hiei snapped.

 

“No you don't,” Kurama said, opening his eyes again. “I am not talking about the physical aspect of what you are chasing after, that's not something you've ever denied yourself.”

 

“What would you know about that?” Hiei muttered.

 

“I'm talking about the emotional aspect,” Kurama continued, ignoring Hiei's question. “Could you trust yourself not to fall in love?”

 

Hiei stood up abruptly and glared down at Kurama.

 

“How dare you?” he snarled. “Don't ever mention that ridiculous human word around me again, understand?”

 

“You came to me for my opinion,” Kurama calmly replied, without looking up at Hiei. “And now you have it.”

 

“Hn, well clearly I've wasted my time.”

 

Kurama got to his feet, ignoring the look he got from Hiei and instead turning his attention to the figure that had been creeping towards them during their last exchange.

 

“Hey,” Kuwabara greeted him. “What's up?”

 

“Why are you here?” Hiei spat at him.

 

“At least I got here at the start, you little punk!” Kuwabara snapped back.

 

Hiei grunted out a noise of disgust and shot off out of sight.

 

“How much of our conversation did you hear?” Kurama asked Kuwabara once he was confident that Hiei was out of earshot.

 

“Not much,” Kuwabara said with a shrug. “I guess you were talking about Hiei and Botan though, right?”

 

Kurama kept the emotion from his face with the ease of a practised dissembler.

 

“Wasn't there a song about that?” Kuwabara continued. “Something like “the soultender and the thief were lovers”?”

 

Kurama relaxed a little. Thankfully the situation was not as bad as he had feared, since Kuwabara was still somewhat of an idiot.

 

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

 

Next Chapter: Hiei is in a terrible mood, but despite this the gang find a clue for the case they are working on, one that leaves Hiei with a difficult decision to make. Chapter 11: The Discovery.

 

A/N: Kuwabara is thinking of “The Bartender and the Thief” (were lovers) by Stereophonics, for anyone wondering. Apologies that this is turning into such a long story, but, well, I don't think Hiei and Botan would get together overnight, and what's YYH without a little mystery and action?