Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Summary: Kurama wondered how he got into this mess… Well, not like he was complaining.

"Hey, Kurama?" The redhead in question turned to look at the Reikai prince. "Can you take Botan back to her apartment? I don't want her to do anything reckless."

Kurama flicked his gaze from Koenma to the slurring blue-haired ferry girl with her arms tightly embracing the top of Hiei's head, blissfully unaware of the death glare from the fire demon who seemed more than likely to rip her throat out. There was a moment of hesitation, but the fox nodded.

"Good." Koenma threw him a spare key and he effortlessly caught it in his hand. "I assume you know where the ferry girls' headquarters is?"

"I've been there before," Kurama stated simply, trying to fight back the grin that threatened to spread on his face. A few times back in my thieving days.

Koenma shot him a look, made to sound off a retort, but then decided to let it go. He sighed and massaged his temples, before casting a glance at Botan. "She has such a low tolerance with alcohol, it makes no sense at all."

"Maybe you shouldn't have allowed her to drink," Kurama said as he pulled Botan away from Hiei before the latter could do anything potentially dangerous.

"Yeah, well, I barely noticed she had a sip," Koenma murmured, his mouth in a thin line then he shrugged. "Anyway, wouldn't want her to ruin the wedding, now would we?"

Kurama smiled. "Of course not."

"Good that. Thanks again for helping and sorry for all the trouble. I could do it myself but…"

"It's fine, Koenma," the redhead cut him short as he wrapped Botan's arm around his shoulders and he gave the Reikai prince a reassuring smile. "It's your wedding. Enjoy it."

"Botan." Kurama heaved a sigh as the girl threw her arms around him for the umpteenth time that night. "As much as I love the hug, it is considerably difficult to walk with you holding me like this," he said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

The girl looked up from his chest and blinked at his deadpanned stare, eyes half-lidded and cheeks flushed bright pink. "But, I like hugging you." Her mouth formed a cute pout and Kurama gave her a crooked grin.

"And you have made that very clear tonight," he responded, before shaking his head and taking her by the shoulders to gently pull her off of him. Botan made to sound off a protest, but it was quickly reduced to a bunch of unintelligeble sentences as Kurama grabbed the back of her knees and started to carry her bridal-style up the stairs.

"This feels like we're getting married," she suddenly remarked, earning an arched eyebrow in return.

"What?"

"You carrying me like this," she started, pointing a finger at him and then at herself, "It feels like this one romance movie I saw where the groom carries the bride like this."

"Oh? Is that so?"

She nodded and laid her head on his chest, studying him intently. "They made love soon after," she added, so abruptly, so promptly, and without any shame in her voice or on her features, that Kurama stopped that in his tracks.

He stared at her, face unreadable, though there was undeniably a light pink hue spreading on his cheeks. But he said nothing, unsure if he should and fearing of what direction the conversation what was heading.

"Are we going to do that, too?" she asked when he was unresponsive, gazing at him with wide, innocent eyes despite her not so innocent inquiry. Kurama suspected that he was as red as his hair then.

He parted his lips, but couldn't form out any words. He clamped them shut again, and clearing his throat, he shook his head.

"Oh." She grinned and let out a giggle. "What a shame. I would have loved to."

Kurama cursed savagely as he nearly tripped on a pebble.

"Ku-ra-maaaaa…" Botan called out cheerfully, her voice still a little slurry, though clearer now as she rolled around on the bed.

The fox spirit nearly popped a vein, but he collected himself and put a hand on his head, feeling as if a headache was coming. "What is it?" he finally responded after a while and turned to face the girl, expression screaming of exhaustion. It had been considerably hard to get to her apartment, and harder to open the door when she was busy pulling at roots of his hair earlier and he understandably looked miserable with his messy red mane sticking out in all directions. A loud, wholehearted laugh poured out Botan's lips.

"You look like a ghost," she commented with a finger pointed at him, rolling on the bed and clutching her stomach as her laugh rose a notch. The redhead gave her a weak but slightly sardonic smile.

"Thank you for the compliment," he said sarcastically and Botan's laughter died down in the air as she lifted her gaze to eye him curiously.

"Hey, Kurama?"

Kurama, pulling out her swivelling chair and sitting on it, massaged his temples but didn't peer at her. Absentmindedly, he responded with a, "Hm?"

"Why do you look like a girl?"

He stopped massaging his temples then. Visage tight and fierce, the fox turned to look at her with emerald irises slightly narrowed. One of his eyebrows twitched. "Come again?"

Botan blinked, and then repeated her question, "Are you a girl?"

His eyebrow twitched again. Great, first he was tasked with the troublesome job of escorting a drunk woman home and forced to put up with all her silly, embarrassing shenanigans, and now he was having his masculinity questioned? Oh, for the love of god…

He fought back a growl as he answered, "No, Botan." His voice, stiff and dry, expressed his now noticeable irritation. "For your information, I am quite sure I am not female, despite most people's doubts over my gender."

"How would I know?"

"What?"

Kurama seemed exasperated, but all Botan looked like was an embodiment of child-like curiosity.

"How would I know?" she said again and there was now a deep frown etched on his forehead.

"Do I not look like a man? Does my figure not give away the fact that I am a man?" he stated more than asked, sounding tart.

A look of understanding finally dawned on the ferry girl's face, before a thoughtful expression soon took its place. She blinked at him, looked at his face, then looked down and repeated the process over and over again. His frown deepened.

"Is there something the matter?" he inquired.

She bit her lip and he was unsure if she was trying to fight back a grin or appearing nervous. "Can I see?" she asked and it took him longer than usual to comprehend her words. She peered down again and the fox suddenly felt self-conscious. Shit, was she studying his…? Did she mean…

Kurama got up and excused himself to the bathroom.

During his time in the bathroom, Kurama stood in front the mirror, contemplating his horrible fate and wondering how he got into this mess. Was Botan always this shameless and flirty when tipsy? He couldn't tell, but one thing he knew for sure was that if this kept going, she would surely drive him crazy. Seriously, what was the girl thinking asking to see his… ahem, private parts, and not to mention, with a face that seemed as if she was merely inquiring about the weather? Okay, sure, she wasn't thinking straight, what's with the alcohol in her system… but good lord, he was a man, for god's sake. Being alone with her in her apartment at night was already inappropriate enough, and now Kurama was fearing that Botan would jump on him any second now. What made it worse was that for a brief moment there, he thought he would actually let her.

He must be going insane.

Kurama expelled a soft sigh as he sauntered his way back to Botan's room. Oh, lord, help him survive through the night, he prayed inwardly before knocking on the door. Blinking when no answer came, the fox frowned and waited for a few more moments before realizing she was probably too drunk to get the door. He sighed again, and reaching for the doorknob, he turned it and pushed the door open.

"Botan. I think I should go now. It is late and I…" Kurama trailed off as he looked up and caught an unexpected sight, blood rushing to his face and turning it red as he staggered back out through the door and into the hallway, falling flat on his butt. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, before he gulped down a lump and finally found his voice. "Botan…" He briefly sounded another gulp, "… why are you half-naked?"

True enough, Botan stood before him, wearing only a lacy white bra and a pair of matching panties. He licked his lips nervously and kept his eyes glued to her face, inwardly swearing he would faint from all the blood rushing through his head.

"It was hot," she answered merely, with an adorable, childing pout on her lips. He studied her a moment, before shaking his head and making to stand up from the floor. Wait, were his legs shaking or was that just his imagination? Must be his imagination.

"You could have told me," he murmured, but went for the door. He made to leave it at that, shut the door and leave and never come back. But, he halted half-way in his movements as her voice echoed in the air and reverberated in his ears,

"Can you do me a favor, Kurama?"

She hiccupped then and he momentarily thought she seemed cute as she did before quickly shaking his head furiously. A favor? He wasn't sure if he wanted to do her any more favors, considering her state of mind at the time. But, she was a friend…

"What is it?" he asked after a long pause, watching as Botan turned around and pointed a finger at her back.

"Can you unclasp my bra for me? I can't reach…"

Kurama shut the door close with a speed that could have rivalled lightning itself.

"Ow, Botan!" Kurama winced as the girl tugged at his hair again. "That hurts, stop doing that."

"Aw." She pouted once more. "But, it's so fun and your hair is so long."

Kurama sighed, but said nothing and continued to help her pull her pajama pants up. After some time of waiting for her to get dressed up, Kurama had gotten worried that something might have happened to her as she took that long to put on clothes. In the end, it was only her having problems trying to wear her pants. She had unabashedly asked him to help her and despite his initial embarrassment, he had quickly gotten over it as annoyance took over when she began to tug at his hair.

She took hold of his head then, clutching tightly and giggling uncontrollably. Botan should be thankful he had a lot of self-control, or else he would have long since snapped at her, or worse, actually bedded her. Seriously, with what was going on now, it was a wonder he hadn't.

Moments passed, and after a battle with Botan's constant kicking her legs up in the air during his struggle to put on her pants – put on her pants for her, for god's sake! – Kurama heaved a sigh of relief as he finally succeeded, just in time for Botan to get bored and stop pulling at his hair.

"I'm too soft…" he sighed softly as he took a seat at the side of the bed. Botan lied on the bed, arms splayed around her. A yawn gained his attention and he turned to look at the ferry girl. Her eyelids heavy, and her features sleepy, it was obvious she needed some rest. The fox got up to leave to allow her some sleep, but he only managed half-way to the door before she called his name.

He whirled around to face her and Botan rubbed a fist at her eyes. "Can you stay for the night?" she asked and when she saw him hesitate, went on, "I'm really scared to be alone tonight. Please?" and pulled the cutest puppy face she could manage.

Kurama contemplated for a moment if he should. Was it safe? He didn't want her pulling her "stunts" again… He sighed. But, then again, she helped him out a lot before. And she seemed a little somber – still tipsy, but a little better now – and it wasn't as if anything was going to happen. Hopefully.

He nodded and could have sworn the happiness literally radiated off of her as a smile brightened up her features. She scooted to allow him some space on the bed as he walked and climbed on it, before pulling the covers up and lying his head on her puffy blue pillow. He closed his eyes, hearing the girl shuffle around in the bed before opening them again as she laid her head on his chest. He looked at her in half surprise and half wonder.

"Botan?"

"Kurama." She gazed up at him, her smile broadening ever so slightly. "I like you."

The fox spirit blinked once, before letting a small smile graze his lips. He reached a hand to push her bangs out of her eyes and nodded. "I like you, too."

For some reason, Botan paused, before shaking her head. "No," she whispered. "I mean, I like you… in that way," she admitted, voice timid, catching him off guard. He stared wide-eyed at her, wondering if she really meant what he thought she meant. Although, the blush on her cheeks was testimony enough. He smiled.

"Really now?" A chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Well, that's good then." He looked straight into her eyes and laid his forehead against hers. "Because I like you, too… in that way."

"Really?" she asked, to make sure, grinning widely as he nodded. "I'm… glad…" she whispered, voice trailing off as her eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

Kurama eyed the sleeping girl, wondering if it was only the alcohol or if she really meant her confession, but knowing he had time to ask her that later.

Heaving a contented sigh, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, making a mental note not to let anyone but himself escort her home the next time she had a little too much to drink.