OKAY!! At least I can do this, instead of those damnable pictures.

This is a Christmas fic for my buddy Valentine J Wolf on Gaia Online. I said I would write this bugger forever ago, and now I have!! Success!! Now… I don't remember the exact words, but I believe it was 'doesn't have to be a pairing', which is good, because I'm not used to writing Botan, and certainly not in this situation! So forgive any… oddities.

Do enjoy it, though! Happy Holidays!!

ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!!

If It Were You

Written by Anna Jaganshi

Dedicated and Gift for Valentine J Wolf

When there was an insistent rapping on his small, apartment bedroom window, Kurama fully expected it to be Hiei. After all, who else in the small group he considered friends came through his window? No one he could think of off hand, minus Hiei, of course.

So when he turned, and the first thing he saw was pink, the image of Hiei in pink crossed his mind, and he had to restrain himself from bursting out laughing. But then he saw blue hair, and instantly Botan came to mind.

And it was, in fact, the ferry girl, flying on her oar sidesaddle, as always.

He got up swiftly and opened the window. "Hello Botan, this is a pleasant surprise."

She nodded jerkily, her eyes shifting everywhere. "Hello. Uhm, do you mind if I come in? Or are you busy?"

"Not at all," he replied politely, stepping aside. "Come in."

She flew in swiftly, dropping to the ground and making her oar nonexistent once again. Kurama shut the window behind her.

He led her out of the bedroom and to the small living/dining room area. "Would you like anything?"

"No, thank you. Not to be rude, but I would like to be in and out ASAP, if that's all right." She looked very uncomfortable, and her eyes were still glancing every which way.

"Of course." He sat down in an armchair while Botan took the small loveseat. "Now, how may I help you?"

"W-well, uh… I have a little dilemma," she began nervously, a blush coming to her cheeks. She fiddled with the hem of her sleeve and continued, "And please, Kurama, take no offense from anything I say, I just thought, well, that you would be more familiar with this topic than anyone else I knew, so, uhm…"

"Hold on, Botan," he interrupted her, stopping her babbling. He could tell she was uncomfortable, so he decided to get this over with, too. "Just spit it out."

She cleared her throat. "Well… er, I want to…" she paused again, but when she continued it was in a rush. "I want to seduce Lord Koenma."

Kurama blinked at her, his eyes wide. Botan was looking at her lap, he face, ears, and now neck beet red.

Coughing, trying to cover up a smile, Kurama broke the silence. "Hm… I can see why you came to me, but… it depends on what you wish to know."

Now that she had gotten past the, to her, most difficult part, she relaxed slightly. "Well, let's just say, hypothetically, if it were you… what would you do?"

"If I wanted to seduce Koenma, what would I do…" he murmured, covering up another smile at the look on the normally bubbly girl's face. "Huh, I guess it would depend on if I was demon, human, or a ferry, like yourself."

"Let's stick with ferry," she suggested, sweat dropping.

The youko laughed. "What does Koenma like, or, what do you think he would like?"

She blanched, "Uh… how-how would I know…? I mean…"

"Aside from stamping and paper pushing," Kurama helped her, "What does he get into?"

"I suppose he's a bit of a romantic. He's always watching his soaps when he thinks no one's looking…" She stopped, "Oh, but don't tell him I said that, please!" she fretted, waving her arms around.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Ha, wait till Yusuke and Hiei hear this. Can anyone say blackmail material? "What else?"

"Mm… maybe it's just me, but he seems to get into the whole 'innocent' act. He stares at the screen hard enough when a girl like that comes on…"

"Hm, maybe go with dinner, and try acting like those girls do. This is meant as a compliment; to me, you seem like one of the more 'innocent' women out there."

"Really? So, you think that would work?" she asked eagerly, leaning forward on the edge of her seat.

"Make sure to set the mood, though. And probably go with something you both like; mood and food," he went on. Kurama was never bothered about talking of things like this. In fact, Yusuke had just been in a couple weeks ago… "Botan?"

"Yes?" she asked, snapping from daydreams of dinner over-looking the river Styx.

"Yusuke mentioned something to you, didn't he?"

She blushed again, giggling slightly. "Whoops, you caught me. I thought I waited long enough that you wouldn't notice. He told me about how you gave him advice for Keiko, so… you know."

"Ah," he muttered, chuckling. "So, is that all?"

"Yes! Thank you so much, Kurama! If I run into a speed bump, I'll think of something. But thank you!" She hopped up and gave him a quick hug.

"Not a problem," he replied, patting her back. "However, I would like to ask a favor of you…"

"Sure!" she chirped, back to her normal self.

"Please don't advertise my… advice giving skills to anyone else, if that's not too much trouble."

She laughed, "I can handle that!"

Kurama smiled, "Good, because I don't think I could handle it if Kuwabara came in asking advice for Yukina. Hiei would skin me alive…"

Fin

I know it was abrupt; sorry! I hope you enjoyed, and please review! That's all I ask for, for Christmas!