Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Downfall ❯ The Discovery ( Chapter 11 )

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

 

Recap: Botan freed Hiei from the vine of the guilty and then took Keiko's advice on how to make Hiei show his feelings, which led to Hiei kissing her (again!). Afterwards, Hiei confessed to Kurama that he is really only obsessed with Botan because of what she is - and Kuwabara overhead everything.

 

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

 

Chapter 11: The Discovery

 

It was raining. It was winter and it was raining. Each droplet of water was fat and cold and drenched whatever it hit. The ground was changing shape as grasses and smaller plants became burdened by the weight of countless droplets of water, some keeling over altogether. It was as though the rain was melting everything into one; but Botan did not care.

 

The ferry girl lay silent against the forest floor, her eyelids drooped to protect her eyes from the falling rain, her body still splayed against the undergrowth exactly where Hiei had left her. She felt as though the rain was washing her into the ground, but she did not have the physical energy or even the desire to get up and find shelter. The trees around her offered little protection as they were all bare for the winter, save a few evergreens, which were kindly gathering the water and the dumping it in loads onto her, as though someone was standing over her, spraying her with a showerhead and infrequently throwing a glass of water at her.

 

“Well it rains when it rains,” she muttered, before closing her eyes completely.

 

It was cold but her skin was still burning in every place Hiei had touched her. His passion - if it could even be described as that, since she was still unsure just what his intentions were - was just like his demonic powers: a blazing inferno that threatened to set her aflame and burn her to ashes. She was not ignorant, but she still did not consider his actions to be in any way romantic. He still hated her as much as he always had, it was just that now it had apparently become acceptable for them to kiss each other.

 

It made no sense, and Botan wondered how far their heated exchange would have gone if Hiei had not accidentally said her name.

 

Before that moment she had been angry that he had been so rough and unromantic with his actions, but as she lay on the ground in the pouring rain, she was no longer sure that those feelings even mattered to her any more. As a courier of souls, she had never expected to find love, so what did it matter if she never did? She rarely spent long with the souls she collected, not unless they were issued with an ordeal to get their lives back, and that was a rare thing indeed. In her long life as a ferry girl she could count on her fingers - using her hand three times - the number of people she had shared more than ten minutes of her time with, and some of that number included people she would never see again for one reason or another: Genkai, Shinobu Sensui, and Kuroko Sanada (or Kuroko Sato, as she was now known). Some of the names on her list could not really be considered friends at all, but those that she was close to she loved dearly: but in a strictly platonic sense.

 

Her entire life had been about platonic love, and although she did often entertain ideas of romance, she realised now that she had never honestly believed or expected to find it. These little trysts she had shared with Hiei were the closest Botan had ever come to experiencing a romantic kind of love, and clearly romance had not been on Hiei's mind during any of them. She doubted he was capable of feeling or acting romantic, but she did not feel that way about him, so why did she care?

 

Still, she thought, something was different. Everything around her was carrying on as normal: the spirit detectives were investigating another case, Koenma was frantic and George was bearing the brunt of his frustration as always, Ayame was typically stoic and lifeless and Yukina and Keiko were supporting them all from behind the scenes as they always had done. And yet despite everything being normal for everyone else, everything was as far from normal as possible for Botan.

 

She wondered what Hiei was thinking, what he was feeling about their predicament.

 

She wondered if Hiei did think or feel anything at all about their predicament. Or about her. Ever.

 

Something in Botan's heart felt different, like a shadow had passed over it. It was not a sadness, just a darkness, mostly borne from confusion. She found herself smiling then: a shadow, just like Hiei. That was what his name meant, after all, “flying shadow”. And apparently this shadow was currently flying across her heart.

 

Botan's smile widened further as she thought of how appropriate it was that Hiei's name meant flying shadow, since that was literally what he was. He was a little piece of darkness that flitted about faster than the average human eye could follow. His clothes were black as shadows, his hair was as black as the night sky and even his character was dark and shrouded from scrutiny. He often claimed to prefer his home of demon world because of the darkness there, whereas she loved the living world for its sunshine and brightness.

 

A bleeping noise cut into her thoughts, and with a small degree of surprise, Botan opened her eyes and brought one hand around to fumble in her pocket for her communicator. Her clothing was so drenched she expected it to have been destroyed like the one she had ruined in the lake, but surprisingly it was still chirping for attention. Before she opened it Botan suspected that she already knew who was calling her, and she was not entirely sure that she wanted him to see her looking the way she currently did; so she did the only thing that she could think of under the circumstances and opened the communicator against the ground.

 

“Botan?” a voice called out to her. “Botan, do you read me?”

 

“Yes Sir,” she said groggily. “Loud and clear.”

 

“Botan, where are you? And what's happening? Why can't I see you?”

 

Botan reached up her free hand to wipe some of the excess rainwater from her eyes before continuing.

 

“Sorry Lord Koenma, the communicator is malfunctioning,” she lied.

 

She had never lied to her boss before, but that last statement had rolled off of her tongue with almost sickening ease.

 

“Well, maybe if you hadn't ruined your own communicator you wouldn't be using that second rate spare!” he yelled back at her.

 

“Yes, I'm sorry Sir,” she replied, not even bothering to make her apology sound convincing.

 

“I need you to get back here Botan, there are a few things I need to talk to you about. Confidential stuff Botan, so get here quickly and come alone!”

 

“Understood Sir. Running all the way.”

 

Botan snapped the communicator shut and stuffed it back into her pocket. She then closed her eyes and relaxed back into the river of mud, moss and fungi around her, once more sinking into the ground and sinking into her thoughts.

 

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

 

“I got a really bad feeling in my stomach,” Kuwabara said, touching a hand to his gut to illustrate his point.

 

“It's called indigestion,” Yusuke told him. “That's what happens when you forget to chew before you swallow.”

 

“Quit it Urameshi, this is serious,” Kuwabara replied. “I got a really bad premonition about going in there.”

 

“In there?” Yusuke echoed, pointing at the low level building ahead of them.

 

“Yeah,” Kuwabara confirmed. “It's like there's something deeply dark and evil in there. I don't like it at all. I think we need to be careful.”

 

Yusuke started to reprimand Kuwabara again, but Kurama held up a hand to silence him.

 

“I think we should consider what Kuwabara is saying, Yusuke,” he said.

 

“I don't,” Hiei said sharply.

 

“You're just disagreeing with me because you hate me!” Kuwabara said to him.

 

“Think what you will,” Hiei replied.

 

“Okay, let's not start fighting between ourselves,” Yusuke said. “Again!”

 

“It's not my fault the little guy's in a bad mood today!” Kuwabara defended himself. “And I mean he's in a really bad mood, you know, like worse than he usually is.”

 

Yusuke turned to look at Hiei, quietly swallowing as Hiei's red eyes locked onto his. There was something slightly different about Hiei's mood that day, Yusuke thought to himself. It was like he was a coiled spring of vicious intent, ready to shoot into action at any moment, with inevitably disastrous consequences. He was probably still annoyed about the plant Kurama had set to trap him, and the thought that his sister was pregnant, Yusuke concluded. Hiei had not even seen or spoken to Yukina since she had announced her condition, which Yusuke thought was really quite selfish.

 

“We shall proceed with caution for now,” Kurama suggested.

 

“You do this your way, I will do it mine,” Hiei said, whipping out his sword.

 

“Hi-” Yusuke began, pausing as Hiei dashed off. “-ei. Oh well. I suppose we better go after him.”

 

Kurama nodded and Kuwabara groaned, and then all three hurried towards the seemingly insignificant building by the outskirts of Mukuro's territory, which Hiei had just stormed without a second thought. Despite having broken down the door and created a small pile of still smouldering rubble in his wake, there was no sight or sound of Hiei, and the lack of movement only made the others even more cautious than before.

 

“Do you think somebody ate him?” Kuwabara whispered to Yusuke, the glimmer of hope obvious in his tone despite his attempts to sound concerned.

 

“No, look,” Kurama said, his acute sense of hearing having also easily picked up Kuwabara's question.

 

They all watched as Hiei re-emerged from the building, picking his way gracefully over the mess he had created, his sword in one hand and an old, yellow and tattered piece of parchment in the other.

 

“What is it, Hiei?” Yusuke called over to him.

 

“A picture,” Hiei plainly replied.

 

“I don't like this, you guys,” Kuwabara muttered.

 

“It looks like a candle,” Hiei said.

 

Kurama moved over to join him, peering over his shoulder curiously at the faded image sketched onto the parchment.

 

“Such detail,” he muttered. “But clearly this is an ancient document.”

 

“Lemme see,” Yusuke said, hurrying over to look over Hiei's other shoulder. “Hey, that's not a candle! It's a firecracker!”

 

Hiei lifted his eyes to Yusuke, giving him a flat look.

 

“I guess you don't get those here in demon world,” Yusuke said. “It's a type of firework.”

 

Hiei's face remained unchanged.

 

“It's like a candle, Hiei,” Kurama said gently. “But it's explosive. The wick at the top is actually a fuse, and when it burns out, the whole object explodes.”

 

“So if you don't get firecrackers here in demon world, why is there an ancient picture of one here?” Yusuke asked. “That picture looks older than Kuwabara's mother, I don't even think firecrackers had been invented when that was drawn.”

 

“Shut-up, Urameshi!” Kuwabara yelled.

 

“I didn't know Kuwabara had a mother,” Kurama whispered to Yusuke.

 

Yusuke shrugged.

 

“He always falls for those sort of jokes, so I guess he must do,” he replied.

 

“It seems a little distasteful to make such jibes if she has passed on,” Kurama added.

 

Yusuke shrugged again.

 

“Hey, I really don't think you guys should be touching that thing anyway,” Kuwabara called over.

 

“What, this?” Yusuke asked, poking a finger at the parchment in Hiei's hand. “It's just a page out of somebody's sketchbook from two thousand years ago!”

 

“I think it might be something more than that,” Kurama said. “Look at the writing near the bottom there.”

 

“I can't make it out,” Yusuke said, leaning further forwards and squinting. “Move your thumb, Hiei.”

 

Hiei growled, tossing the parchment up into the air and stomped away from them. Yusuke hurriedly grabbed it, crushing a fist around it and turning pale in fear that he had just destroyed it.

 

“Interesting,” Kurama muttered as Yusuke opened his hand out and the parchment took shape once more, completely unharmed. “Although time has had an effect on this item, brute force cannot harm it.”

 

“Hey, I wasn't trying to destroy it!” Yusuke moaned.

 

“No matter, the writing is quite illegible,” Kurama said, taking the parchment from Yusuke. “But it would appear that it is meant to be a list of instructions.”

 

“Instructions?” Yusuke snorted. “What idiot doesn't know how to use a firecracker?”

 

Hiei glared at Yusuke and he grinned nervously in response.

 

“Kuwabara, I think you should take a look at this,” Kurama insisted, approaching the apprehensive redhead. “I would appreciate your input.”

 

Kuwabara peered cautiously at the image, his face slowly relaxing as he took it in.

 

“I dunno,” he concluded. “I just get this feeling that it doesn't belong here. Like it's a really bad thing if whatever that is in the picture is in this place.”

 

Kurama nodded.

 

“Lot of help you are…” Yusuke muttered.

 

“Actually this has been helpful,” Kurama corrected him. “Although the writing on this parchment is almost faded into obscurity, I can make out a reference to King Enma.”

 

Yusuke's face dropped and even Hiei turned towards him in interest.

 

“I think we might be one step closer to what we've been looking for,” Kurama continued. “And unfortunately that puts us in a rather difficult position in terms of our loyalties.”

 

Kurama shot Hiei a pointed look and Yusuke paled.

 

“You mean Mukuro's the one behind all the disappearances?” Yusuke blurted out.

 

“I am not implying that at all,” Kurama quickly corrected him. “But it would appear that whoever is behind the disappearing humans and the alleged rebellion can be found in this region.”

 

“Oh…” Yusuke said, turning to Hiei expectantly.

 

Hiei glanced back and forth between Kurama and Yusuke, growing increasingly agitated as he took in their concerned expressions.

 

“I understand this must be difficult for you Hiei, but before we become more embroiled in this investigation, you have to make a choice,” Kurama told him.

 

“It's not even question,” Hiei haughtily replied. “It's not even a matter of choice, as far as I am concerned.”

 

“That doesn't really tell us whose side you're on…” Yusuke muttered.

 

“Hey you guys?” Kuwabara asked, scratching at his head. “Who's Mukuro?”

 

Yusuke and Hiei groaned but Kurama smiled patiently.

 

“She's Hiei partner, Kuwabara,” he explained.

 

“Oh!” Kuwabara said in realisation.

 

He looked around the three pensive faces and his face soon became as darkened as theirs were.

 

“Oh…” he said in a low voice, the corners of his mouth drooping.

 

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

 

Botan sniffed slightly, smiling as she caught an orange-haired ferry girl glaring at her. The halls of Koenma's temple were oddly quiet: the usual bustle of bodies was present, but as she moved through it ferry girls and ogres alike were drawing to a halt and falling silent. Loose pieces of paper frittered to the ground. An ogre cleared his throat awkwardly. A ferry girl dropped her oar with a clatter.

 

“Botan?” George said, falling into step with her.

 

“Hello George!” she greeted him, flashing him a brilliant smile.

 

He forced a short, quivering smile back before continuing.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked cautiously.

 

“Everything's super George, thanks for asking,” she replied.

 

He swallowed slowly and nodded a little.

 

“Be careful you don't slip,” he said.

 

Botan glanced at him curiously.

 

“You're a little wet,” he added, waving a hand out behind her to indicate the trail of water she had left in her wake.

 

“It's raining in the living world,” she calmly replied without looking back.

 

“Maybe you should dry off before you go into Lord Koen-”

 

George stopped short as Botan pushed open the doors to Koenma's office and continued through them. He hesitated outside the doorway, unsure whether he wanted to see Koenma's reaction to Botan's condition or not.

 

“Lord Koenma Sir, you called me,” she said, approaching his desk.

 

“Botan,” Koenma began, lifting his head from his latest piles of papers in need of stamping. “Botan! What happened to you?”

 

She sniffed and pushed back a dripping section of cyan hair that had fallen over one side of her face.

 

“It was raining, Sir,” she replied.

 

“Botan, you look like you've been swimming in the puddles fully-clothed!” Koenma pointed out.

 

She shrugged.

 

“This is the third time you've come into my office looking a mess!” he continued. “First you came in wet and sticky in that black witch's cloak, the second time, when you brought back the mystic whistle, you came in all greasy and looking like you hadn't slept, and now this!”

 

“Sorry Sir,” she said.

 

Koenma frowned at her, less than convinced by her act. Something was amiss but he did not have the time to try to pry it out of her.

 

“Well next time take an umbrella,” he said sternly. “Ogre! Fetch Botan an umbrella!”

 

George gladly scooted away from the doorway to respond to the order.

 

“Botan, Ayame has been looking through some records for me, and I've discovered something a little unusual,” Koenma continued, trying to ignore the fact that Botan was dripping on his desk. “It's nothing to worry about, but what with this ongoing trouble in demon world, I'd like it sorted as soon as possible. I have a mission for you. I need you to find me a new spirit detective.”

 

Botan's eyebrows rose slightly but she said nothing.

 

“It's not permanent, I don't expect us to need another full-time detective,” Koenma added. “And the last three didn't exactly go as planned, so let's not make this too complicated. I just need a human with heightened spiritual awareness to do a little search and retrieve mission for me.”

 

“Well Sir, we could ask Kuwabara or even Shizuru,” Botan suggested.

 

Koenma tensed as she splashed more water onto his desk as she talked.

 

“Here we are, Sir!” George said, racing into the office with an umbrella.

 

“Perfect timing, ogre,” Koenma said, taking the umbrella from him.

 

He opened out the umbrella and perched it on his desk, smiling to himself as the next drip from Botan landed on the soft white canvass canopy.

 

“No,” he said, lifting his eyes to Botan.

 

“Sir?” she responded.

 

“This isn't a task for Kuwabara or his sister,” he explained. “We need fresh blood. Someone… Someone with no prior knowledge of the cases we've worked on in the past.”

 

Botan nodded.

 

“I understand Sir,” she said. “Can I ask exactly what has prompted this?”

 

“I can't tell you,” Koenma said, cutting her off before she pushed any further. “Now go clean yourself up and get to it. And don't worry about Yusuke and the team, I'm sending out someone else to help them.”

 

“Not Ayame?”

 

Koenma hesitated, frowning slightly.

 

“What's wrong with sending Ayame?” he asked.

 

“Well…”

 

“Just get on with it Botan. And on your way out, tell that ogre to hurry up with my lunch!”

 

“Yes Sir.”

 

Botan slowly left his office again, squelching as she went. The first time Koenma had told her he was taking her off of the ongoing mission she had been distraught: but this time she barely cared at all. The thought of flying around on her oar alone in the living world sounded like a very welcome opportunity to relax to her, and she intended to make the most of it.

 

Though she did distinctly feel that something was wrong.

 

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

 

Hiei stopped short, glaring at the black object floating about the kitchen. Yusuke had disappeared somewhere with his woman, Kuwabara had kept going to the dining area but Kurama had stopped by Hiei's side, looking almost as surprised as Hiei felt.

 

“You're all back,” a monotonous voice greeted them.

 

Hiei glanced at Kurama, who gave a small shrug to show that he was just as confused.

 

“Lord Koenma asked me to take over as your guide,” the ferry girl said.

 

“I see,” Kurama said, with a small nod.

 

“Oh, hi Ayame!” Kuwabara called through to her.

 

Hiei growled quietly, but before he could voice his opinion on the matter Yusuke joined them, stumbling to a halt as he spotted Ayame.

 

“Ayame?” he yelped. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I'm your assistant now,” Ayame plainly replied.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” Hiei demanded.

 

“I don't know!” Yusuke replied. “Don't ask me! Ask that little brat Koenma!”

 

Hiei eyed Ayame over before turning back to Yusuke.

 

“I don't like it,” he said. “I want the other one back.”

 

Yusuke's eyebrows flew up and a hint of a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

 

“This is no laughing matter!” Hiei warned him. “Take it back and swap it for the other one!”

 

“I dunno Hiei,” Yusuke said, his face surrendering slightly to his amusement. “I think I prefer Ayame. She's not a nag like Botan. And I bet she would never use that stupid whistle on you.”

 

Hiei scowled at him before spinning on his heel and marching through the kitchen to the dining area, where Kuwabara was sitting at the table apparently waiting to be served a meal.

 

“You!” Hiei barked, thumping his bandaged fist onto the table.

 

Kuwabara cried out in alarm, shirking away from Hiei.

 

“Give me that device that you use to call the ferry girl,” Hiei demanded, holding out his hand towards Kuwabara.

 

“My communicator?” Kuwabara asked.

 

“Hand it over,” Hiei ground out.

 

“Okay, keep your shirt on, hamster legs,” Kuwabara grumbled, producing the round device from his pocket.

 

Hiei snatched it from him and raced back out of the temple, not stopping until he had descended the temple steps and left the boundaries of the temple grounds completely. He then prised open the communicator, holding it the way he had seen the others do. He stared down at the series of buttons and the blank screen for several seconds before coming to reluctant realisation that he had no idea how to work the damn thing.

 

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

 

Once dinner was over and everyone had settled down for the evening, Botan went upstairs to check on Yukina, who had gone to bed after eating as she was feeling tired. She was concerned about Yukina's welfare, but Botan was also going upstairs to get away from Yusuke and Kuwabara, who had started laughing when she had appeared for dinner and not stopped throughout the entire meal: they had even volunteered to help her clear away the dishes, and apparently only so that they could laugh at her some more.

 

She really wished that they would tell her what the big joke was.

 

Upstairs Botan found Yukina in the room they had shared previously. She was sitting across the width of her bed looking up out of the slanted window at the darkening sky outside, smiling softly to herself.

 

“Yukina?” Botan whispered, creeping into the room. “Are you alright?”

 

“Hello Botan,” Yukina greeted her. “I was just watching the sky. I like to watch the stars coming out at night. Back in the ice village, we were surrounded by clouds and I never saw the sky. It's one of my favourite things about this world.”

 

Botan carefully sat down next to her, resting her head back against the wall.

 

“Yes, I think the skies here are the most beautiful of all three worlds,” she agreed.

 

“I've been thinking about the ice village a lot lately,” Yukina continued, looking a little saddened then.

 

“Do you want to go back there?” Botan asked her.

 

“I'm not sure if I should, for the birth,” Yukina replied. “I don't know what it will be like, but all the ice maidens wear their mother's tear around their necks, so I think it might be painful. I thought I might be better to be around the women who understand that. But I don't want to go back there. Since I've come here I've learnt what it means to have real friends, people who aren't ashamed of their feelings, and I would miss that. And I'm a little bit afraid that if I went back, the elders would take my child away from me. They threw my brother off a cliff the day he was born, I don't know that they would show me any kindness for choosing to leave them to find him.”

 

Botan nodded her understanding.

 

“Well maybe we could bring one of the ice maidens here to stay with you until you have your child,” she suggested. “Did you have a special friend there? Or your mother perhaps?”

 

“My mother died a long time ago,” Yukina sadly replied.

 

“Oh I'm so sorry, Yukina!” Botan hurriedly apologised.

 

“It's alright Botan,” Yukina assured her. “I was mostly raised by my mother's best friend Rui.”

 

“Rui? Maybe we could find Rui and ask her to come here?”

 

“I don't think she would leave the village. The others might not let her go back if she did. It's probably just silly, I have so many people who are so kind to me here. But this has really made me think more about my family.”

 

Botan's lip curled slightly as an image of Hiei at his most vile and bloody passed through her mind.

 

“I have an idea!” Botan said suddenly. “What if one of us spoke to Rui for you? Not to ask her to come here, just to ask her for some advice perhaps.”

 

Yukina looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling at Botan.

 

“Maybe I could write a letter to Rui,” she said. “And Rui can write back to me. It would make me so happy to tell her my good news and to hear from her again.”

 

“What a smashing idea!” Botan said.

 

“I can ask Mister Hiei to deliver it for me.”

 

“Yes, of course you can, that would be - awful! What?”

 

Botan glared at Yukina in disbelief, but Yukina merely smiled back at her with unwavering gentility.

 

“You shouldn't be so harsh on Mister Hiei, Botan,” she said. “He's a very strong fighter, but he has a very kind heart.”

 

Botan bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from asking Yukina what planet she had just beamed down from: Hiei had a very kind heart? Were they speaking about the same temperamental little fire demon?

 

Then again, Hiei was different around Yukina. He was gentler around her. His face opened up around Yukina, he looked less aggressive and almost peaceful when he was looking at or talking to her. Botan supposed that Hiei was so different around Yukina because he loved her, and he hated or else just tolerated everyone else.

 

As she pictured the almost gentle looks Hiei gave Yukina, Botan felt the strange prickling feeling in her chest from before.

 

“Botan?” Yukina asked, a hint of concern in her voice. “Are you alright?”

 

Botan turned to her, at first a still a little taken aback at that odd feeling returning to her at such a time; but she quickly covered it with a smile.

 

“I'm great!” she said. “Why don't you get some sleep, I have to… Report back to Lord Koenma.”

 

“Alright,” Yukina agreed. “I'll write my letter tomorrow.”

 

“Okay dokay,” Botan said, rising to her feet. “Sleep well!”

 

“Goodnight Botan.”

 

Botan waved and left the room, softly closing the door behind her. As soon as she had secured the door in place she turned and ran along the hallway and down the stairs, heading for the nearest exit, barely managing to grab the white umbrella Koenma had given her before she left the temple entirely. As soon as she found her way outside she mounted her oar and took off into the evening sky, forcing herself to fly high and to fly fast.

 

Once she had reached the point where the air was starting to sting her skin, both from the cold and the speed of it whipping past her, Botan allowed herself a sigh. She was supposed to be looking for a new spirit detective, and that alone ought to be enough of a distraction for her brain, but somehow, even though she was not consciously concentrating on the subject, the recesses of her mind kept reliving the moment Hiei had pushed her off her oar and what he had done to her on the forest floor. She allowed the memory to rise up and consume her thoughts for a few seconds, but the rushing, bubbling feeling flooded her chest and she found herself doing something that she had not done since her days as a trainee ferry girl: her oar went into a tail spin that almost sent her crashing into a tall tree.

 

Botan quickly shook off the thought and firmly grasped her oar, one hand either side of her, keeping her back straight and her chin level: basic training. She focussed her attention on direction and altitude, factoring in wind speed and direction: intermediate training. As she neared a mountain she circum-navigated it, leaning slightly to one side to follow the landscape around, passing over the space in the shortest possible distance: advanced training.

 

Ferry girl training had taught Botan everything she knew.

 

Ferry girl training had taught Botan all she knew.

 

Botan could vaguely remember a more experienced ferry girl once laughing at her when she began her job, telling her that her training would never be enough, because there was one vital aspect of the job that spirit world never bothered to prepare its ferry girls for. Botan concentrated harder, trying to remember exactly what it was that the girl had said to her. It had been something about how ferrying souls was always going to be difficult, but finding a kindred soul made the job so much harder because it was difficult not to become attached to that soul. She had not described it as love - Ayame had asked if she was referring to love and she had laughed at that too, saying that this was something much more complex.

 

“Sympathy for the devil,” Botan said aloud as the words came to her.

 

Botan paused, completely failing to notice that she was slowly sinking through the air.

 

“I have sympathy for the devil syndrome!” she muttered to herself. “It all makes sense now!”

 

Her feelings for Hiei - her feelings that seemed to be growing from nowhere - they were exactly what that cocky ferry girl had been talking about.

 

“Bingo!” Botan said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. “Now I just have to find her and ask her what the cure is!”

 

Botan screamed out in shock as she slid from her oar, the realisation finally hitting her that she had been forgetting about her training so much that she had forgotten the useful things it had taught her: like how to stay airborne. She grasped at the blade of the oar, pulling herself back up the length of it and concentrating her energy once more on flying.

 

Botan flew on for a little longer before coming to the conclusion that it was late (the sun had set long go) and she needed to decide where she was going to go. She could either go back to Genkai's temple for the night or she could go to spirit world and find that ferry girl.

 

Botan paused, hovering by a large sakura tree over-hanging a shallow river. She eyed the tree over carefully, considering that perhaps she had a third option, and perhaps it was the most appealing of all.

 

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

 

Hiei stopped, mid-step, and lifted his eyes. It was a peaceful morning - or rather, it had been a peaceful morning until that point - the sun still low on the horizon, the shadows stretching long across the sweeping countryside around him. He had been enjoying the relative silence, the only sounds being the water running along at his side and the occasional bird passing overhead.

 

And now there was a grunting and moaning sound permeating the air in the most unpleasant manner, and the source of the disturbance was even more offending to Hiei's eyes than it was to his ears.

 

There was a body slouched and sprawled over the lowest branch of the large sakura tree ahead of him. Legs hung down either side of the branch, one arm dangled down, a strange white object hanging from the fingers, and the body was moulded to the branch itself, the head barely propped up against the trunk of the tree. The head turned slightly towards Hiei and another nasal rattling filled the air: apparently it was asleep.

 

Hiei decided that whatever its reason for being there was, it was not his concern, and so he carried on, keeping his head tilted down to block out the pathetic image hanging above him as he passed under the branch it was resting on. He tensed as more grunting sounded above him and stopped abruptly as the fingers hanging down lost their grip on the strange object they had been supporting, causing it to drop to the ground in front of him. Hiei edged towards the strange item, deciding that it must be some sort of weapon: it had a sort of blunt spear at one end and a grooved handle at the other, with a strange gathering of white material around the middle.

 

Hiei glanced up at the body slouched above him and then back at the object it had dropped. He told himself that he did not care for any sort of weapon made by the hand of a human or originating from spirit world, but it was probably worth finding out what this one did: just to prepare himself in case he ever encountered an enemy wielding such a bizarre contraption. So he crouched down and grabbed the handle, lifting the object a little too abruptly: it was surprisingly lightweight and flimsy. He stepped out from under the shade of the tree, giving the weapon two test swings before lunging forwards with it as though it were a sword. It lacked the balance of a sword and the folds of material around it flapped about noisily with every movement, making it drag in the air and slowing its movements.

 

Hiei made a small noise of curiosity, bringing the weapon closer to his face, holding it upright in the air. He slowly studied its length, tugging at one of the folds of material experimentally. Apparently the material was held onto the body of the weapon by the means of several spindly metallic arms. He followed one to its conclusion, lifting it upwards and peering under the material at what lay beneath. The entire innards of the weapon were visible to him, and they looked infinitely complex. As he pulled the arm up higher, Hiei noticed that all the arms were attached to a cylindrical device on the shaft of the weapon, and as he pulled at an arm, the device moved upwards.

 

Hiei glanced over his shoulder to confirm that the unsightly disgrace behind him was still sound asleep before pushing the device up, his eyes narrowing and his shoulders tensing as the metallic arms began to open out, unfolding the material between them. The arms began to take an unusual shape as he slid the device upwards, the material opening out into a circle, making the weapon look more like a shield. He heard a click by his fingers and withdrew them on instinct, surprised to find that the weapon held its shape: apparently it was a shield.

 

Hiei gripped the shaped handle in one hand and tilted the shaft upwards to get a better view of the material shield he had created. A poke at the material told him that it was pulled taut, but it still felt quite frail. The shape of the shield did raise a few questions though: it was distinctly curved, and whilst it was not unusual for a shield to be curved, this one formed a distinct dome, the blunt spear poking out of the peak. Lowering it again and holding it out in front of himself, pointing the spear forwards, Hiei concluded that this was a spirit world device, a clever shielding device with curved edges, designed specifically for protection against energy blasts. The spear obviously caught the energy of an attack and distributed it down through the many metallic arms, dissipating the force of the attack, and the material stretched between those arms must be made of some special protective element. A very clever device indeed: it had a spear that could be used as a weapon, and it was also a powerful shield.

 

Hiei slowly pulled the device closer to himself again, glancing at the overall shape of it and the river at his side. He slowly moved over to the water's edge and turned the device upside-down, dipping it into the water, spear first. He released it, watching with curious interest as it bobbed around a little before finding its balance and gently floating away downstream. An extremely clever device: it was a spear, a shield and a boat!

 

Hiei trotted along stream to collect the device, shaking the water from it and fiddling around with it a little before managing to close it flat again. He was curious to know the full extent of its power, so he decided to keep it. He lodged it into the belt of his coat and then turned to check on the person he had taken it from.

 

He crept back a little, bringing himself closer, feeling safe enough to do so because that awful snoring had temporarily stopped. She looked incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, and Hiei wondered what had possessed her to choose such a place to sleep. He himself had spent the night in a tree, but that was because he hated sleeping amongst the others on his team as though they were all a pack of the same animal. She ought to have been sleeping in Genkai's temple with the others, he thought, that was where she had been staying before. If not there, then she ought to be back in spirit world: in fact, Hiei thought, his face darkening angrily, why was she not back in spirit world? She had already been replaced, another mindless ferry girl had taken up residence back at the temple, and the one he was looking at now was meant to have gone back to her own realm.

 

Not that Hiei cared, he was just angry that she had lied to them all. She was probably on some secret mission for that brat Koenma. Yes, that was it, he decided. She was on a secret mission, and that was why she had that special three-way weapon-shield-boat with her. How treacherous.

 

Hiei turned his back on her to set off again, aiming himself for the portal to demon world. He readied himself to take off with a burst of speed but somehow lost his focus, stumbling forward a few steps and almost falling flat on his face. He quickly regained his footing and turned around sharply, glaring back at the idiot ferry girl slouched in the tree. She was moaning and twitching about on the branch, some of her jerkier movements threatening to offset her balance altogether and throw her to the ground.

 

Maybe he would stay long enough to watch that happen. It might be amusing.

 

“Yes…”

 

The word was mumbled but forceful, and as it left her lips they curled slightly into a weak smile.

 

“Yes, now… Do it…”

 

Hiei crept a little closer. Her eyes were still closed, and by the small movements of her eyelids, he could see that she was dreaming. He had not thought that she used her brain when she was awake, so it was a little surprising to learn that it was active when she slept. He smirked to himself as he imagined what sort of dreams a simple-minded fool like her could possibly have.

 

“Yes, Hiei!”

 

Hiei's face dropped.

 

She moaned and wriggled around, her back arching a little and her hands gripping into fists.

 

Hiei touched a hand to his bandana, torn between sprinting off to leave her like he knew he ought to be doing and removing his bandana to have a damn good look into her mind to find out why she was dreaming about him.

 

To find out what she was dreaming about him.

 

Hiei swallowed, surprised to find that his throat disobeyed him, as though something hard and dry had become lodged there.

 

With a muttered curse he tore off his bandana and turned fully towards the ferry girl, closing his eyes and opening his jagan.

 

Hiei was not really sure what he had expected to find - his initial thoughts had been either kittens and cupcakes or else some sort of romantic disillusion involving the woman forcing him to do something ridiculously sappy and wholly pointless - but what he did actually see was shocking to say the least. First of all, he was in demon world. Secondly, he was at a tournament. The ferry girl was sitting in the stands with Yukina, Yusuke's woman and that oaf's sister. The other three women were simply watching the action, but the ferry girl was on her feet, one hand cupped around her mouth, yelling out cheers of appreciation, the other waving a fist above her head. And the action she was watching was him - Hiei - fighting Enki. In her dream, Hiei looked like he had been battered about pretty badly: he was covered in lacerations and contusions, his shirt was absent and he had a slight look of desperation in his eyes. The dream was not especially detailed outside of the blur of other audience members, but Hiei could sense that she thought that this was the final of the next demon world tournament, and apparently she was rooting for him to defeat Enki and take over demon world as supreme ruler.

 

She was not dreaming of Yusuke beating Enki, she was not dreaming of Kurama beating Enki, she was dreaming of Hiei beating Enki.

 

Hiei closed his jagan and opened his own eyes again, deciding that he had seen enough. He replaced his bandana, scowling angrily at the ferry girl as she moaned and writhed about a bit more. It was quite a sight. He was sure that, on some subconscious level, she was doing this to him on purpose. Lying there all slovenly, dreaming about him with that scrunched up look on her face, making those repulsive noises and dressed in those clothes that covered every damned inch of her skin. She was such a tease.

 

“Bitch,” he snarled.

 

“Huh?” she moaned, her eyes flickering open.

 

Before her eyelids had opened fully, Hiei had already vanished.

 

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Next Chapter: Hiei learns what an umbrella is, Botan contemplates her feelings for Hiei (more than she already has!) and she learns the real reason behind why Koenma has gathered the old gang together again. Meanwhile in demon world, Hiei's loyalties are put to the test… Chapter 12: The Complications.