Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wandering Souls ❯ Silent Cries ( Chapter 11 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Katzztar 
After taking a few of the souls of the rivals gang-members, Botan is having trouble dealing with this 'new' side of Kuwabara. They end up talking about his aggression. Botan come to realize that she is attracted to Kuwabara and struggles with the fact that once he liked her but she 'blew him off' and now he's with Yukina.
The chapter many have waited for, Silent Cries is here. The chapter that makes it official that there will be a Yukina-Kuwa-Botan triangle.
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.24.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 189 | Status: Work In Progress
After taking a few of the souls of the rivals gang-members, Botan is having trouble dealing with this 'new' side of Kuwabara. They end up talking about his aggression. Botan come to realize that she is attracted to Kuwabara and struggles with the fact that once he liked her but she 'blew him off' and now he's with Yukina.
The chapter many have waited for, Silent Cries is here. The chapter that makes it official that there will be a Yukina-Kuwa-Botan triangle.
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Mystery / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.24.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 189 | Status: Work In Progress
Ch. summary=
After taking a few of the souls of the rivals gang-members, Botan is having trouble dealing with this 'new' side of Kuwabara. They end up talking about his aggression. Botan come to realize that she is attracted to Kuwabara and struggles with the fact that once he liked her but she 'blew him off' and now he's with Yukina.
The chapter many have waited for, Silent Cries is here. The chapter that makes it official that there will be a Yukina-Kuwa-Botan triangle.
WARNING= Despite author's attempts to have a serious fic, some humor has snuck in at points in this chapter. Okay okay -__- I did fail to keep the humor out of this chapter. Although there is serious talk in majority in the ch, there are a few scattered scenes of humor. I couldn't help myself! I've noticed that I've had Kuwabara a tad too OOC, far too serious for too long. In my defense I say (to any who really cares, I think I'm the only one to say that he 's OOC ;p) In the Dark Tournament by the finals Kuwabara was serious. Even Shizuru noticed that. So yea he's going to be serious with his three close friends brutally murdered and a gang war happening. But still even in the D.T. Kuwa-kun would at times act up so to ease my own conscience I've sprinkled some humor in this chapter.
Besides if I want to keep Botan & Kuwa-kun in character, I HAVE to add some funny moments some some point!
Wandering Souls ch 9 Silent Cries
The rosy light of the sunrise bathed the lonely figure as she floated above the city. She did not pay attention to her surroundings as darkness gave way to early light. She willed the oar to drift downwards only to stop at a second story window. Almost fearfully, she peeked into the bedroom that belongs to the household's only male member. 'He looks so innocent in sleep.' Botan mused as she watched Kuwabara Kazuma sleep. She had waited for three hours until the ghosts of his gang left the house to approach it. The other ghosts were easy to scare off - for a little while. Last time she was nearly caught spying by Okubo, of all ghosts, as she watched over him. 'It's rare for Kuwa-kun to be able to sleep so soundly. Rescuing the others must have relieved some tension for him. But still...' Botan shook her head vigorously to get rid of those images . 'I don't want to think of Kuwa-kun like that! He's not a blood-thirsty killer! He's not!'
Sending another glance towards him, she nervously chewed on her lips while playing with the hem of her modernly short skirt. 'It was karma, all of those gang members had it coming.' Slowly her oar drifted upwards as she debated with herself. 'Kuwa-kun's not like the demons that he fights. He has a conscience. He's not a butcher. He's a warrior, he's...'
"Botan?"
"He's awake!" Botan was so startled that she fell off her oar backwards.
"IIEEEE!!!"
"Botan! Go limp, I've got you!" Kuwabara leaned out of the window to catch her.
"Oomph!" They both gasped at the impact and the first few moments were punctuated by an embarrassed silence.
Botan opened her eyes to see that Kuwabara indeed had caught her. She sweatdropped as she realized how he managed to do so without falling out of the window. He was leaning out of the window from the hips and the only thing keeping him from sliding out was that he was doing an amazing side-ways splits, his legs firmly holding still. She blinked as she realized that he was attempting keep his back as straight as possible as he held on to her. She watched the muscles of the said bare back ripple as he moved, only to blush as she realized that he had asked something.
'Uh, Botan? Can you summon you oar down here?" Kuwabara gave a silent sigh as her oar lowered. "Now bring it right under you so I can sit you on it." Once he placed her back on her oar, he grabbed on to the oar on both sides of Botan. "Ah Botan, can you go a little higher? So I can get back in the window?"
Fearing that if she moved too fast he could loose his grip, Botan slowly began to inch upwards. However fate conspired against them as three of the most embarrassing events happened.
One was that Botan froze as she glanced into Kuwabara's room and saw their reflection in the mirror.
Second, at that very minute, Shizuru opened the door. "Kazuma? I heard some yelling."
And third, Yusuke and Kurama had followed her upstairs. "We heard Botan scream..." Yusuke was going to say "screaming" but it died on his tongue as he comprehended what they were seeing. Snickering, Yusuke turned to his friend. "You're seeing this too, right? Kuwabara's hanging out of the window doing the side-splits while hanging on to Botan's oar?"
Kurama hid a small smile behind a hand as he responded. "It's not your imagination,Yusuke."
"Nice position,Kuwabara! I didn't think you were that kinky!"
"Shut up, Urameshi! It's not what you think!"
"Yeah? You're in a comprising position , your face is right between Botan's knees. And Botan's got the biggest blush going on, while you got a ..."
*FLASH*
The first camera shot distracted Yusuke from finishing his dirty comment.
*FLASH*
The second shot caught Botan and Kuwabara looking startled as they looked towards the guilty party.
*FLASH*
Yusuke and Kurama saw spots after Shizuru finished taking the incriminating pictures.
Botan gulped as Shizuru smirked and jerked her thumb at the mirror. She knew what Botan had saw in the reflection. That's why Shizuru grabbed the Polaroid camera to capture the moment of her brother's embarrassment. Now bearing a beet-red blush, Botan sent her oar skywards.
"Botan!" She gave Kuwabara no time to get back inside as she rocketed up. He had no choice but to hold on.
"Botan, bring my little brother back!" Now Shizuru was hanging halfway out the window as she shook a fist in the air.
As they streaked away, one could hear the cry of "I'm sorry Shizuru-chan!"
A short time later, Botan floated high above the city with Kuwabara sitting next to her sideways on her oar.
"I'm sorry Kuwa-kun. I'm sorry about the embarrassing situation and about accidental kidnapping." She was still blushing from earlier. She'll never be able to look at a mirror and not remember what she saw. Although a part of her didn't think that was actually a bad thing. "Don't worry about that Botan." Kuwabara was actually embarrassed himself but didn't want to cause more distress for his friend. "I'm more worried about what was bothering you before you fell. That's what woke me up, I could feel that you were troubled."
"I'm fine, really!" She replied, waving a hand as if to dismiss the question.
Kuwabara wasn't fooled. "Botan, you do realize that you're lying to an empath slash telepath right? Please tell me, what's wrong?"
"I-I don't know! I'm all confused right now!" Turning her head quickly, Botan tried to hide the one tear that appeared.
It was to no avail though. Kuwabara gently wiped the stray teardrop away with a single finger. "Is over me?" The slightest tensing gave him the answer. "It's this gang war, isn't it? You thought you had me figured out and this comes up and you don't know what to think. Am I right?"
"Yes" She answered quietly, still unable to make sense of the new events. "I-" She had to pause as her throat suddenly be came dry. "I had to take some of the gang members you've killed to the afterlife."
"I was wondering if that's what was bothering you. It makes sense since it's the only thing that's changed lately. So tell me, what's on your mind." Kuwabara tried to get Botan to talk.
"I--I don't know what to think! I know you're not like the demons you've fought. I know you are no blood thirsty serial killer, a murderer." Botan knew she was rushing her words but she didn't care about it.
"A murderer."
Botan flinched as he repeated softly her last words. "I know that you're not one! I shouldn't be so touchy about it but..... it's so.... so different than what I know about you. I'm scared that you'll slip somehow and the others would have to arrest you!"
"Different?" He questioned as he watched her face intently. "Botan, you're wrong, this is not new to me. I have been in a street gang all my life, I became a gang leader very early. I have been in many gang fights, I have killed fellow humans before this. Maybe it's only new to you and the others because all of you have ignored who and what I am." As Botan opened her mouth to reply, Kuwabara gently placed a finger over her lips for silence. "Now Botan, you know that everyone doesn't pay too much attention to me outside the missions. How much do you know of me? What do you know of me? Do you know my birthday, my favorite color, my favorite hobbies or books? Even Urameshi, who's suppose to be my so-called 'best friend', doesn't know the answers to any of those."
With a smug smile Botan met Kuwabara's challenge. "Your birthday is May 15, you were born during the biggest electrical storm ever to hit Japan, the epicenter was over your house in fact. Koenma looked into your files and saw that King Enma stated the storm was a result of your latent reiki awareness! Your favorite color is violet. You like to sing at Karaoke bars, read and work out. Your favorite books are 'The Art of War' and the Ka---" Botan's face went beet red as she stuttered the other title, " --Ka-- Kama Sutra and other books on sex magic..."
Kuwabara could only blink, there were only two ways that Botan could actually know that information. "Botan, to know all the answers you either used the Reikai files to read up on me or you're an A-class stalker!" He smiled to let her know he was joking with her and that he wasn't offended.
Botan could actually see the wonder in his eyes, wonder that someone actually wanted to know such simple questions about him. "To feel appreciation that someone is acting like a stalker ... do you really feel that alone, Kuwa-kun?"
"Yes, I do for the simple fact that I am alone. Botan you've been in my room when I played some of my Heavy Metal music. Do you remember the one song from Iron Maiden, Rime of the Ancient Mariner? One of the verses is 'water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink'. It referring to the mariner being surrounded by the sea, a vast body of water but since it's salty he can't quench his thirst. That's how I feel, I'm surrounded by people but no one is really close to me. " Kuwabara spent a few moments in silence as he watched the city activity from on high. " Think about this Botan; demons have Makai to belong to, You, Koenma, Jorge and other reikai beings have the Reikai--"
"As a human, you have Ningenkai, Kuwa-kun." Botan cut him of to point out.
"Do I?" Leveling a steady gaze at her, he questioned the supposedly sound logic. "Define humans, Botan. When someone thinks of the generic human they think that humans are weak in physical form and in spirit powers, that's why so few humans are aware of ghosts. Humans are slow to heal and fast to age." Taking a deep breath, he noticed that Botan was willing to be quiet and listen to his reasoning. "I am not physically weak, I killed Majari, a demon god, with my bare hands after tricking him into using his entire store of spiritual energies. Sure there are a few exceptions of strong spirit strength, such as Genkai and me but it's not even a 5% of the human population that has even moderate energies such as those that went to Genkai's tournament. I am very fast to heal. It's literally true, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I started out on this demon-fighting stuff with my healing at a moderate level and look how far it reached by the Tournament's final round. That Elder Toguro freak sent all ten of his fingers all the way though my chest. In one side and out the other, but a short time later, the open wounds were gone. Think about this; some people say that aging is a natural course from the build up of toxins or from the wear and tear on the body. If I heal instinctively, then there is a reasonably good chance that said power would stop the aging process after I reach adulthood."
"Cities, towns and the like- that's one thing that demons have that we do not." Kuwabara held up a hand begging for silence as Botan pointed to the city below. "In the Ningenkai there is not one city that is for psychics. Every city for the average ningen. Psychics are forced to live on the fringes of society or become hermits like Genkai."
"Oh!" Botan gasped as realization set in. "That's why you feel so alone. Yusuke is now a demon along with the others, so you can't really relate to them. While your street gang are human and while they know about your sixth sense but none of them actually knows what it's like and none of them know that you fight against supernatural threats." Botan stared at him with new found understanding. "Kuwa-kun, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me."
~~~Later~~
Shortly after Botan dropped Kuwabara off at his home, she floated around thinking about the conversation when Koenma appeared. "So, Botan, tell me. How did it go?"
"Koenma-sama! Ah, I shouldn't be surprised that you were watching should I?" She sweatdropped as he only grinned. "Then you already know the answer sir."
Koenma merely looked at his aide."There are somethings that words cannot convey Botan. You know what I mean, after all you've worked for me for centuries even though you only recently became a reikai tantai assistant. I also want to know if you really resolved your inner conflict about Kuwabara's gang activity. You are their assistant, I need to know about anything that would interfere with their performances or your own in dealing them."
"I am no longer conflicted over this violent side of Kuwa-kun's, he helped me realize that it's not a new side to him but a long controlled aspect he had all this time. It felt good to talk to him. I did tell him that if needed to talk to anyone, he can come to me." Botan reminded him as they returned to the Reikai Palace.
"Yes, about that Botan---" Koenma purposely trailed off as he reached into his desk. "I think it is a great idea for you to allow Kuwabara to talk to you. After the mess with Sensui, I think it's a good idea to take care of our agents before they reach a crisis point. If they have a person they can confide to then hopefully we can help them keep sane. Therefor, I am giving you a new item." With that said he produced to small objects that look like the small versions of a cell phone. "These are private line spirit world video phones, they are a higher version of the communicator. One with spirit awareness can see and use the communicator but it's trickier for the phone. Since its a higher version , someone with high awareness can 'change the channels' by focusing their awareness. so someone with lesser awareness will not be able to over hear on the other end. If the user has telepathy, then they can use that to communicate, and that way access the 'private line' aspect. One is for you and the second is for Kuwabara. That way he can contact you if need be. Now is there anything else I need to be aware of?" He asked after hand over the miniature video phones.
Botan chewed on her lip as debated on if she should say anything else. With a sigh she decided to confess. "Koenma-sama-- I think I've fallen in love with him. I was an idiot before when he had a crush on me. I thought it was a silly teenage boy thing and such. When he first started to fawn over Yukina I thought that proved that he was just a typical teen going after the pretty girls. Then the Tournament happened and I saw he was still crazy about her, even though she was gone for over three months." pausing for a moment Botan was surprised to find she was crying. " Now I find myself falling for him but it's too late, he has Yukina."
"Does he?" Koenma mused in his often secretive ways that hinted that he either knew more than he was letting on or that he was planning something. "Nothing is certain yet."
Botan wailed, "But Koenma-sama! Kazuma has already acknowledged the red string of destiny!"
"And Yukina has not. It's true that they cannot break the string of destiny that links them together but is possible for another to join them at this point. Until Yukina acknowledges the link, they would never be lovers, only close friends. Since she is of the Koorime there is a good chance that she would never recognize it since she cannot understand or accept his love for her. As Koorime, they know about passions between two females but not of love between male and female. Actually that is how you can solve your problems." Koenma gave his lecherous grin that truly made Botan nervous.
"Dare I ask?" She mumbled to herself.
"As a Koorime, Yukina isn't appalled by two women having a relationship. Perhaps you can ---join in and the two of you share Kuwabara? You can make it a three-some." What really disturbed Botan was the lecherous grin had grown larger than before.
The entire castle echoes with her indignant cry of "Koenma-sama!"
~~~~~~TBC~~~~~ About Kuwabara' birthday.... I made it up. In the graphic novels they give Kieko's birthday (January 31) and blood type (type A). It showed Botan's birthday, age, and blood-type as unknown but not give anything on Kuwabara.
If you can't figure it out about the picture and the mirror, when Kuwabara was hanging out of the window with Botan in his arms, he got an erection ( he's a 16. old boy, it happens esp. if they find their face in the bust of a very pretty girl lol) that poked out from the boxers. After she got on the oar, Botan got an eyeful at the mirror and Shizuru used a Polaroid to snap pictures to embarrass him. (*blush* I originally had his age as 14 but looking at my timeline, it's only a week or so from his 16th birthday. so I fixed that.)
Wandering Souls... now you know one reason why I first came up with this title. The first draft of this story was to deal with that topic, how the others have a place to belong to, but as a human psychic Kuwabara doesn't. He doesn't feel as if he belongs to any place, he's a wandering soul. The other tantai, Yusuke, Hiei & Kurama are cruel to him. From there I got the idea of what may happen to Kuwabara if he lost the three friends that have accepted him. From that thought it changed the prior beginning into the current form of the story. Yusuke and co. are not as vicious as I first intended for them to be and they are learning more about Kuwabara and seem to be leaning to accept him finally... in the first draft that I abandoned they never do. In the current version the Wandering Souls also include the ghosts of his friends. The plot of the story is that they are trying to find peace and stop wandering in a manner of speaking.
The chapter many have waited for, Silent Cries is here. The chapter that makes it official that there will be a Yukina-Kuwa-Botan triangle.
WARNING= Despite author's attempts to have a serious fic, some humor has snuck in at points in this chapter. Okay okay -__- I did fail to keep the humor out of this chapter. Although there is serious talk in majority in the ch, there are a few scattered scenes of humor. I couldn't help myself! I've noticed that I've had Kuwabara a tad too OOC, far too serious for too long. In my defense I say (to any who really cares, I think I'm the only one to say that he 's OOC ;p) In the Dark Tournament by the finals Kuwabara was serious. Even Shizuru noticed that. So yea he's going to be serious with his three close friends brutally murdered and a gang war happening. But still even in the D.T. Kuwa-kun would at times act up so to ease my own conscience I've sprinkled some humor in this chapter.
Besides if I want to keep Botan & Kuwa-kun in character, I HAVE to add some funny moments some some point!
Wandering Souls ch 9 Silent Cries
The rosy light of the sunrise bathed the lonely figure as she floated above the city. She did not pay attention to her surroundings as darkness gave way to early light. She willed the oar to drift downwards only to stop at a second story window. Almost fearfully, she peeked into the bedroom that belongs to the household's only male member. 'He looks so innocent in sleep.' Botan mused as she watched Kuwabara Kazuma sleep. She had waited for three hours until the ghosts of his gang left the house to approach it. The other ghosts were easy to scare off - for a little while. Last time she was nearly caught spying by Okubo, of all ghosts, as she watched over him. 'It's rare for Kuwa-kun to be able to sleep so soundly. Rescuing the others must have relieved some tension for him. But still...' Botan shook her head vigorously to get rid of those images . 'I don't want to think of Kuwa-kun like that! He's not a blood-thirsty killer! He's not!'
Sending another glance towards him, she nervously chewed on her lips while playing with the hem of her modernly short skirt. 'It was karma, all of those gang members had it coming.' Slowly her oar drifted upwards as she debated with herself. 'Kuwa-kun's not like the demons that he fights. He has a conscience. He's not a butcher. He's a warrior, he's...'
"Botan?"
"He's awake!" Botan was so startled that she fell off her oar backwards.
"IIEEEE!!!"
"Botan! Go limp, I've got you!" Kuwabara leaned out of the window to catch her.
"Oomph!" They both gasped at the impact and the first few moments were punctuated by an embarrassed silence.
Botan opened her eyes to see that Kuwabara indeed had caught her. She sweatdropped as she realized how he managed to do so without falling out of the window. He was leaning out of the window from the hips and the only thing keeping him from sliding out was that he was doing an amazing side-ways splits, his legs firmly holding still. She blinked as she realized that he was attempting keep his back as straight as possible as he held on to her. She watched the muscles of the said bare back ripple as he moved, only to blush as she realized that he had asked something.
'Uh, Botan? Can you summon you oar down here?" Kuwabara gave a silent sigh as her oar lowered. "Now bring it right under you so I can sit you on it." Once he placed her back on her oar, he grabbed on to the oar on both sides of Botan. "Ah Botan, can you go a little higher? So I can get back in the window?"
Fearing that if she moved too fast he could loose his grip, Botan slowly began to inch upwards. However fate conspired against them as three of the most embarrassing events happened.
One was that Botan froze as she glanced into Kuwabara's room and saw their reflection in the mirror.
Second, at that very minute, Shizuru opened the door. "Kazuma? I heard some yelling."
And third, Yusuke and Kurama had followed her upstairs. "We heard Botan scream..." Yusuke was going to say "screaming" but it died on his tongue as he comprehended what they were seeing. Snickering, Yusuke turned to his friend. "You're seeing this too, right? Kuwabara's hanging out of the window doing the side-splits while hanging on to Botan's oar?"
Kurama hid a small smile behind a hand as he responded. "It's not your imagination,Yusuke."
"Nice position,Kuwabara! I didn't think you were that kinky!"
"Shut up, Urameshi! It's not what you think!"
"Yeah? You're in a comprising position , your face is right between Botan's knees. And Botan's got the biggest blush going on, while you got a ..."
*FLASH*
The first camera shot distracted Yusuke from finishing his dirty comment.
*FLASH*
The second shot caught Botan and Kuwabara looking startled as they looked towards the guilty party.
*FLASH*
Yusuke and Kurama saw spots after Shizuru finished taking the incriminating pictures.
Botan gulped as Shizuru smirked and jerked her thumb at the mirror. She knew what Botan had saw in the reflection. That's why Shizuru grabbed the Polaroid camera to capture the moment of her brother's embarrassment. Now bearing a beet-red blush, Botan sent her oar skywards.
"Botan!" She gave Kuwabara no time to get back inside as she rocketed up. He had no choice but to hold on.
"Botan, bring my little brother back!" Now Shizuru was hanging halfway out the window as she shook a fist in the air.
As they streaked away, one could hear the cry of "I'm sorry Shizuru-chan!"
A short time later, Botan floated high above the city with Kuwabara sitting next to her sideways on her oar.
"I'm sorry Kuwa-kun. I'm sorry about the embarrassing situation and about accidental kidnapping." She was still blushing from earlier. She'll never be able to look at a mirror and not remember what she saw. Although a part of her didn't think that was actually a bad thing. "Don't worry about that Botan." Kuwabara was actually embarrassed himself but didn't want to cause more distress for his friend. "I'm more worried about what was bothering you before you fell. That's what woke me up, I could feel that you were troubled."
"I'm fine, really!" She replied, waving a hand as if to dismiss the question.
Kuwabara wasn't fooled. "Botan, you do realize that you're lying to an empath slash telepath right? Please tell me, what's wrong?"
"I-I don't know! I'm all confused right now!" Turning her head quickly, Botan tried to hide the one tear that appeared.
It was to no avail though. Kuwabara gently wiped the stray teardrop away with a single finger. "Is over me?" The slightest tensing gave him the answer. "It's this gang war, isn't it? You thought you had me figured out and this comes up and you don't know what to think. Am I right?"
"Yes" She answered quietly, still unable to make sense of the new events. "I-" She had to pause as her throat suddenly be came dry. "I had to take some of the gang members you've killed to the afterlife."
"I was wondering if that's what was bothering you. It makes sense since it's the only thing that's changed lately. So tell me, what's on your mind." Kuwabara tried to get Botan to talk.
"I--I don't know what to think! I know you're not like the demons you've fought. I know you are no blood thirsty serial killer, a murderer." Botan knew she was rushing her words but she didn't care about it.
"A murderer."
Botan flinched as he repeated softly her last words. "I know that you're not one! I shouldn't be so touchy about it but..... it's so.... so different than what I know about you. I'm scared that you'll slip somehow and the others would have to arrest you!"
"Different?" He questioned as he watched her face intently. "Botan, you're wrong, this is not new to me. I have been in a street gang all my life, I became a gang leader very early. I have been in many gang fights, I have killed fellow humans before this. Maybe it's only new to you and the others because all of you have ignored who and what I am." As Botan opened her mouth to reply, Kuwabara gently placed a finger over her lips for silence. "Now Botan, you know that everyone doesn't pay too much attention to me outside the missions. How much do you know of me? What do you know of me? Do you know my birthday, my favorite color, my favorite hobbies or books? Even Urameshi, who's suppose to be my so-called 'best friend', doesn't know the answers to any of those."
With a smug smile Botan met Kuwabara's challenge. "Your birthday is May 15, you were born during the biggest electrical storm ever to hit Japan, the epicenter was over your house in fact. Koenma looked into your files and saw that King Enma stated the storm was a result of your latent reiki awareness! Your favorite color is violet. You like to sing at Karaoke bars, read and work out. Your favorite books are 'The Art of War' and the Ka---" Botan's face went beet red as she stuttered the other title, " --Ka-- Kama Sutra and other books on sex magic..."
Kuwabara could only blink, there were only two ways that Botan could actually know that information. "Botan, to know all the answers you either used the Reikai files to read up on me or you're an A-class stalker!" He smiled to let her know he was joking with her and that he wasn't offended.
Botan could actually see the wonder in his eyes, wonder that someone actually wanted to know such simple questions about him. "To feel appreciation that someone is acting like a stalker ... do you really feel that alone, Kuwa-kun?"
"Yes, I do for the simple fact that I am alone. Botan you've been in my room when I played some of my Heavy Metal music. Do you remember the one song from Iron Maiden, Rime of the Ancient Mariner? One of the verses is 'water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink'. It referring to the mariner being surrounded by the sea, a vast body of water but since it's salty he can't quench his thirst. That's how I feel, I'm surrounded by people but no one is really close to me. " Kuwabara spent a few moments in silence as he watched the city activity from on high. " Think about this Botan; demons have Makai to belong to, You, Koenma, Jorge and other reikai beings have the Reikai--"
"As a human, you have Ningenkai, Kuwa-kun." Botan cut him of to point out.
"Do I?" Leveling a steady gaze at her, he questioned the supposedly sound logic. "Define humans, Botan. When someone thinks of the generic human they think that humans are weak in physical form and in spirit powers, that's why so few humans are aware of ghosts. Humans are slow to heal and fast to age." Taking a deep breath, he noticed that Botan was willing to be quiet and listen to his reasoning. "I am not physically weak, I killed Majari, a demon god, with my bare hands after tricking him into using his entire store of spiritual energies. Sure there are a few exceptions of strong spirit strength, such as Genkai and me but it's not even a 5% of the human population that has even moderate energies such as those that went to Genkai's tournament. I am very fast to heal. It's literally true, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. I started out on this demon-fighting stuff with my healing at a moderate level and look how far it reached by the Tournament's final round. That Elder Toguro freak sent all ten of his fingers all the way though my chest. In one side and out the other, but a short time later, the open wounds were gone. Think about this; some people say that aging is a natural course from the build up of toxins or from the wear and tear on the body. If I heal instinctively, then there is a reasonably good chance that said power would stop the aging process after I reach adulthood."
"Cities, towns and the like- that's one thing that demons have that we do not." Kuwabara held up a hand begging for silence as Botan pointed to the city below. "In the Ningenkai there is not one city that is for psychics. Every city for the average ningen. Psychics are forced to live on the fringes of society or become hermits like Genkai."
"Oh!" Botan gasped as realization set in. "That's why you feel so alone. Yusuke is now a demon along with the others, so you can't really relate to them. While your street gang are human and while they know about your sixth sense but none of them actually knows what it's like and none of them know that you fight against supernatural threats." Botan stared at him with new found understanding. "Kuwa-kun, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me."
~~~Later~~
Shortly after Botan dropped Kuwabara off at his home, she floated around thinking about the conversation when Koenma appeared. "So, Botan, tell me. How did it go?"
"Koenma-sama! Ah, I shouldn't be surprised that you were watching should I?" She sweatdropped as he only grinned. "Then you already know the answer sir."
Koenma merely looked at his aide."There are somethings that words cannot convey Botan. You know what I mean, after all you've worked for me for centuries even though you only recently became a reikai tantai assistant. I also want to know if you really resolved your inner conflict about Kuwabara's gang activity. You are their assistant, I need to know about anything that would interfere with their performances or your own in dealing them."
"I am no longer conflicted over this violent side of Kuwa-kun's, he helped me realize that it's not a new side to him but a long controlled aspect he had all this time. It felt good to talk to him. I did tell him that if needed to talk to anyone, he can come to me." Botan reminded him as they returned to the Reikai Palace.
"Yes, about that Botan---" Koenma purposely trailed off as he reached into his desk. "I think it is a great idea for you to allow Kuwabara to talk to you. After the mess with Sensui, I think it's a good idea to take care of our agents before they reach a crisis point. If they have a person they can confide to then hopefully we can help them keep sane. Therefor, I am giving you a new item." With that said he produced to small objects that look like the small versions of a cell phone. "These are private line spirit world video phones, they are a higher version of the communicator. One with spirit awareness can see and use the communicator but it's trickier for the phone. Since its a higher version , someone with high awareness can 'change the channels' by focusing their awareness. so someone with lesser awareness will not be able to over hear on the other end. If the user has telepathy, then they can use that to communicate, and that way access the 'private line' aspect. One is for you and the second is for Kuwabara. That way he can contact you if need be. Now is there anything else I need to be aware of?" He asked after hand over the miniature video phones.
Botan chewed on her lip as debated on if she should say anything else. With a sigh she decided to confess. "Koenma-sama-- I think I've fallen in love with him. I was an idiot before when he had a crush on me. I thought it was a silly teenage boy thing and such. When he first started to fawn over Yukina I thought that proved that he was just a typical teen going after the pretty girls. Then the Tournament happened and I saw he was still crazy about her, even though she was gone for over three months." pausing for a moment Botan was surprised to find she was crying. " Now I find myself falling for him but it's too late, he has Yukina."
"Does he?" Koenma mused in his often secretive ways that hinted that he either knew more than he was letting on or that he was planning something. "Nothing is certain yet."
Botan wailed, "But Koenma-sama! Kazuma has already acknowledged the red string of destiny!"
"And Yukina has not. It's true that they cannot break the string of destiny that links them together but is possible for another to join them at this point. Until Yukina acknowledges the link, they would never be lovers, only close friends. Since she is of the Koorime there is a good chance that she would never recognize it since she cannot understand or accept his love for her. As Koorime, they know about passions between two females but not of love between male and female. Actually that is how you can solve your problems." Koenma gave his lecherous grin that truly made Botan nervous.
"Dare I ask?" She mumbled to herself.
"As a Koorime, Yukina isn't appalled by two women having a relationship. Perhaps you can ---join in and the two of you share Kuwabara? You can make it a three-some." What really disturbed Botan was the lecherous grin had grown larger than before.
The entire castle echoes with her indignant cry of "Koenma-sama!"
~~~~~~TBC~~~~~ About Kuwabara' birthday.... I made it up. In the graphic novels they give Kieko's birthday (January 31) and blood type (type A). It showed Botan's birthday, age, and blood-type as unknown but not give anything on Kuwabara.
If you can't figure it out about the picture and the mirror, when Kuwabara was hanging out of the window with Botan in his arms, he got an erection ( he's a 16. old boy, it happens esp. if they find their face in the bust of a very pretty girl lol) that poked out from the boxers. After she got on the oar, Botan got an eyeful at the mirror and Shizuru used a Polaroid to snap pictures to embarrass him. (*blush* I originally had his age as 14 but looking at my timeline, it's only a week or so from his 16th birthday. so I fixed that.)
Wandering Souls... now you know one reason why I first came up with this title. The first draft of this story was to deal with that topic, how the others have a place to belong to, but as a human psychic Kuwabara doesn't. He doesn't feel as if he belongs to any place, he's a wandering soul. The other tantai, Yusuke, Hiei & Kurama are cruel to him. From there I got the idea of what may happen to Kuwabara if he lost the three friends that have accepted him. From that thought it changed the prior beginning into the current form of the story. Yusuke and co. are not as vicious as I first intended for them to be and they are learning more about Kuwabara and seem to be leaning to accept him finally... in the first draft that I abandoned they never do. In the current version the Wandering Souls also include the ghosts of his friends. The plot of the story is that they are trying to find peace and stop wandering in a manner of speaking.