Blind Date - Part I
By Ryoma
Silence.
That's all she could hear. Total, utter, lonesome silence.
And it was in this silence that she was softly crying to herself, her heart
breaking into millions of pieces.
But it was her own fault. She tried to remember why through her haze, and
the memory wasn't long in coming.
She wiped her tears softly away with her kimono and wondered why she had lied
in the first place as the images started to play out slowly in her mind,
much too real, too genuine, like they were here again, now, in this moment,
for her to even like.
But they were there. They were there and they weren't going to go away, and
so she silently let them come.
*** *** ***
They were sneaking carefully along one of the bushes at the school, making
sure that NO one could hear, or see, them.
Yusuke had told her that it was impairitive that they be quiet, that if they
made a lot of noise and called attention to themselves they could be in
trouble.
Botan had absolutely no idea why he said that though. As far as she could
tell, they were just crawling behind a bush.
Finally, there came a sound. Botan blinked as she heard it. It was a bunch
of girls laughing, and shouting. She heard a line or two and it sounded like
they were playing sports.
Yusuke stopped as they got to the point that the shouts could be accurately
deciphered, without any breakup, and Botan knocked into him, then fell over,
holding her nose.
"Oww, Urameshi-san..." She started, but he put a finger to her lips, and she
sighed, getting up, silently. She whispered. "Why are we here? It's just
a bunch of girls playing volleyball."
She saw this latter part as she parted the bushes in front of her just a
little to see through.
"Right." Yusuke had an annoying grin to his face.
"Nani, Yusuke? Why are we here?" She looked at him quizically.
"Her." Yusuke pointed, and Botan looked through the bush.
"Who? Which one?" She said. There must have been at least 14 girls if not
more.
Yusuke sighed. "See the brown haired girl with the blue bow? She's facing
us right now." Yusuke looked at Botan and saw her nod. "Well, I was
wondering what you thought of her, appearance wise."
Botan blinked and looked at Yusuke. "Why? Are you thinking of dumping
Keiko?"
Yusuke fell over, and then sat up, a big sweat drop forming on his head. "No.
I'd never do that."
"Then what?" Botan was confused.
Yusuke sighed again. "Just tell me."
Botan looked back through the bushes and watched the girl. She was a pretty
good looker, had quite a bit of shape for a Japanese girl, and her eyes
seemed quite alive while she was playing. She was smiling, and Botan could
hear her shouting encouragement out to her team as she played.
Botan smiled a bit. "She's pretty, Urameshi-san. And she seems nice."
Yusuke grinned and slapped his fist to his palm. Botan gave him a
questioning look. "Good. That's one question for you out of the way."
"One? How many do you have?" Botan asked, worriedly, she was already away
from the Reikai too long. She was anxious to get back to help Koenma-sama
with things.
"Just two more." He smiled. "It okay?"
Botan nodded, still confused.
"Well, now that we got the looks out of the way, I was wondering if, one,
Koenma might like her, two, if he'd be willing to go..."
"Hey!" The girl they had been looking at was now at the bush and wacked
Yusuke over the head. "What are you doing you little pervert? Staring at
us through the..." She then noticed Botan, and blushed. "Oh...But, Urameshi
I thought..."
Yusuke stood up hurridely. "It's not what you think Atsuko." He was waving
his hands furiously, and she looked at him, confused. "I was asking her
what she thought of you is all."
"Why?" She frowned, apparently not in the mood for games (other than
volleyball, of course).
"Well," He smiled. Botan and Atsuko sweat dropped. That smile was plain
scary. "I have a friend who I'd like you to meet, maybe a blind..."
"No way in HELL Urameshi am I going on a date with one of your friends,
unless it's that Kurama guy."
Botan was wide-eyed now, thoughts running in her head.
"It's not, but this friend is..." Yusuke stammered.
"Then I'm not going!" She turned and started back to the volleyball courts.
Yusuke was following, blurting out qualities about Koenma, the older half,
that might get Atsuko's attention.
Botan, however, was still sitting behind the bush, hand to her heart, and
feeling quite nauteous.
She never thought Yusuke was trying to set Koenma-sama up on a blind date.
She never really even thought he would. He didn't seem a match-maker type,
but, that wasn't why she was feeling ill.
She stood, well aware of why she didn't feel well, and ran away from the
courts, and pulled her oar. She was going to go somewhere, but she didn't
know where. She thought she'd just let her oar take her there.
*** *** ***
Botan was sitting above the city, and staring down.
After thinking about it many times, she didn't know where to go, and up
seemed as good as any. She refused to return to the Reikai, at least at this
point, in this shape.
She knew she looked bad, looked sick, and she didn't need George, or anyone
else worrying about her right now. She was fine...
Or was she?
She was asking herself the same question, and getting mad at herself over it.
She couldn't give herself a clear answer, and when she tried to reason why
she felt so bad, she just screamed at herself to shutup until she started to
cry lightly.
She didn't want to, no, refused, to admit that Yusuke wanting to send
Koenma-sama on a blind date had got her down. She didn't want to admit that
she loved Koenma herself.
She was at a stage where she really wanted to tell him, almost had several
times, but something always kept her from it. She knew what, that was easy
to tell.
She was afraid. Afraid that he'd laugh, and the biggest one, she was afraid
of the lines 'Well, I like you as a friend, but...'
She couldn't stand that. But, at the same time she had been worried, if she
hadn't said anything, hadn't asked, something would happen, and if he really
did like her, Botan would never know.
THIS, the blind date, was that fear become real.
Slowly, she stopped thinking and felt exhausted. It was her fault for not
admitting it. Her fault for not asking or saying anything, and so, she'd
accept this...She'd have to. IF Atsuko agreed, and Botan, deep down, knew
she would.
*** *** ***
"Alright, alright already." Atsuko clicked her tounge and swung around to
face Yusuke who had been following her since that afternoon. "I'll go on ONE
date with him. That's it! Okay?"
Yusuke grinned. "It'll be more when I'm done."
Atsuko threw her bag, but Yusuke was already running by the time she did, and
it hit the ground with a light thud. Atsuko mumbled some choice words and
picked up her bag.
Then she blinked. "Dammit!! He forgot to tell me when!"
She grumbled and turned to start on her way home again.
*** *** ***
Koenma sighed and picked up another piece of paper, ready to do what he
needed to it.
He looked quizically at it, wondering why it was folded, and shrugged,
carefully unfolding it to read it. When he did, however, his eyes almost
bulged out of his head, and he let out a small whine.
'What the heck does he think he's doing?!' Koenma thought, rereading the
letter in his hands.
The letter was written to him by Yusuke, asking him to come to the Ningenkai
Saturday for a blind date with a girl at his school he thought Koenma would
like.
Koenma, however, hated the idea, but knew Yusuke would keep at him until he
agreed to go. But he didn't want to, he already liked someone quite a bit,
and, even if she didn't know, and he didn't know what she felt, he really
felt dating anyone would be a form of sin.
He groaned, then looked up as someone asked if he was alright.
Botan was standing in the doorway, smiling at him, and he blinked a moment.
'Wow, as if summoned...' He thought, before clearing his throat to stop the
thoughts in his head. "I'm sorry, Botan, I was distracted. What did you
say?"
Botan's eyes held a worried look, but her smile didn't falter. "I asked what
was wrong, Koenma-sama. You don't look so well."
"Oh," He said, not realizing that his face had probably changed to an
introspective, aggravated, and depressed look after he had read the letter.
"Just...Yusuke's asked me to do something extremely weird."
"Oh?" Botan cocked her head to one side, smiling. Deep inside she knew, but
she didn't want to give away the fact she did. Not to Koenma, who might get
mad at her over being even lightly involved, or, worse yet, look at her and
realize her eyes were telling a different story from her face.
"He wants me to go on a blind date with one of his human school companions,
in my adult form, of course." Koenma frowned, and then looked startled as
Botan's face went to something of shock. "What is it, Botan?" He asked.
Inside, she felt completely broken down. She had had the feeling Atsuko
would accept and Yusuke would ask Koenma, but she had hoped against
everything that it wouldn't happen. She managed a light smile. "Oh, nothing
much. It just suprises me, is all. Yusuke never seemed the romantic
match-maker type."
"Ah." Koenma nodded, fighting back an urge to let out a little cry. He was
hoping Botan would say something else, something about, well, he didn't know
what, just something to imply she liked him in some way.
He liked her a lot. But, apparently, the fates didn't much like them. After
all, neither would admit to something that would have easily made their lives
much easier, or at least in one way. But, that is the way of the world.
"Should I go?" Koenma asked, hoping maybe this would get more the result he
wanted.
"If you want." Botan replied. She wasn't going to say 'no' and then have to
explain herself.
Koenma's face turned dark for a moment, as a rush of intense sadness went
through him, but as quickly recovered to its usual look. He looked at the
letter again, and shrugged lightly. "Well, why not? As is, it's not like
he'll leave me alone, right?"
Botan bit her lip for a second, before throwing out a radiant smile, though a
false one, and nodding. "Yeah. Yusuke can be very good about not letting up
sometimes."
They laughed a little, but it was strained. In their tension, neither
noticed that the other had the same laugh.
TO BE CONTINUED...
By Ryoma
Silence.
That's all she could hear. Total, utter, lonesome silence.
And it was in this silence that she was softly crying to herself, her heart
breaking into millions of pieces.
But it was her own fault. She tried to remember why through her haze, and
the memory wasn't long in coming.
She wiped her tears softly away with her kimono and wondered why she had lied
in the first place as the images started to play out slowly in her mind,
much too real, too genuine, like they were here again, now, in this moment,
for her to even like.
But they were there. They were there and they weren't going to go away, and
so she silently let them come.
*** *** ***
They were sneaking carefully along one of the bushes at the school, making
sure that NO one could hear, or see, them.
Yusuke had told her that it was impairitive that they be quiet, that if they
made a lot of noise and called attention to themselves they could be in
trouble.
Botan had absolutely no idea why he said that though. As far as she could
tell, they were just crawling behind a bush.
Finally, there came a sound. Botan blinked as she heard it. It was a bunch
of girls laughing, and shouting. She heard a line or two and it sounded like
they were playing sports.
Yusuke stopped as they got to the point that the shouts could be accurately
deciphered, without any breakup, and Botan knocked into him, then fell over,
holding her nose.
"Oww, Urameshi-san..." She started, but he put a finger to her lips, and she
sighed, getting up, silently. She whispered. "Why are we here? It's just
a bunch of girls playing volleyball."
She saw this latter part as she parted the bushes in front of her just a
little to see through.
"Right." Yusuke had an annoying grin to his face.
"Nani, Yusuke? Why are we here?" She looked at him quizically.
"Her." Yusuke pointed, and Botan looked through the bush.
"Who? Which one?" She said. There must have been at least 14 girls if not
more.
Yusuke sighed. "See the brown haired girl with the blue bow? She's facing
us right now." Yusuke looked at Botan and saw her nod. "Well, I was
wondering what you thought of her, appearance wise."
Botan blinked and looked at Yusuke. "Why? Are you thinking of dumping
Keiko?"
Yusuke fell over, and then sat up, a big sweat drop forming on his head. "No.
I'd never do that."
"Then what?" Botan was confused.
Yusuke sighed again. "Just tell me."
Botan looked back through the bushes and watched the girl. She was a pretty
good looker, had quite a bit of shape for a Japanese girl, and her eyes
seemed quite alive while she was playing. She was smiling, and Botan could
hear her shouting encouragement out to her team as she played.
Botan smiled a bit. "She's pretty, Urameshi-san. And she seems nice."
Yusuke grinned and slapped his fist to his palm. Botan gave him a
questioning look. "Good. That's one question for you out of the way."
"One? How many do you have?" Botan asked, worriedly, she was already away
from the Reikai too long. She was anxious to get back to help Koenma-sama
with things.
"Just two more." He smiled. "It okay?"
Botan nodded, still confused.
"Well, now that we got the looks out of the way, I was wondering if, one,
Koenma might like her, two, if he'd be willing to go..."
"Hey!" The girl they had been looking at was now at the bush and wacked
Yusuke over the head. "What are you doing you little pervert? Staring at
us through the..." She then noticed Botan, and blushed. "Oh...But, Urameshi
I thought..."
Yusuke stood up hurridely. "It's not what you think Atsuko." He was waving
his hands furiously, and she looked at him, confused. "I was asking her
what she thought of you is all."
"Why?" She frowned, apparently not in the mood for games (other than
volleyball, of course).
"Well," He smiled. Botan and Atsuko sweat dropped. That smile was plain
scary. "I have a friend who I'd like you to meet, maybe a blind..."
"No way in HELL Urameshi am I going on a date with one of your friends,
unless it's that Kurama guy."
Botan was wide-eyed now, thoughts running in her head.
"It's not, but this friend is..." Yusuke stammered.
"Then I'm not going!" She turned and started back to the volleyball courts.
Yusuke was following, blurting out qualities about Koenma, the older half,
that might get Atsuko's attention.
Botan, however, was still sitting behind the bush, hand to her heart, and
feeling quite nauteous.
She never thought Yusuke was trying to set Koenma-sama up on a blind date.
She never really even thought he would. He didn't seem a match-maker type,
but, that wasn't why she was feeling ill.
She stood, well aware of why she didn't feel well, and ran away from the
courts, and pulled her oar. She was going to go somewhere, but she didn't
know where. She thought she'd just let her oar take her there.
*** *** ***
Botan was sitting above the city, and staring down.
After thinking about it many times, she didn't know where to go, and up
seemed as good as any. She refused to return to the Reikai, at least at this
point, in this shape.
She knew she looked bad, looked sick, and she didn't need George, or anyone
else worrying about her right now. She was fine...
Or was she?
She was asking herself the same question, and getting mad at herself over it.
She couldn't give herself a clear answer, and when she tried to reason why
she felt so bad, she just screamed at herself to shutup until she started to
cry lightly.
She didn't want to, no, refused, to admit that Yusuke wanting to send
Koenma-sama on a blind date had got her down. She didn't want to admit that
she loved Koenma herself.
She was at a stage where she really wanted to tell him, almost had several
times, but something always kept her from it. She knew what, that was easy
to tell.
She was afraid. Afraid that he'd laugh, and the biggest one, she was afraid
of the lines 'Well, I like you as a friend, but...'
She couldn't stand that. But, at the same time she had been worried, if she
hadn't said anything, hadn't asked, something would happen, and if he really
did like her, Botan would never know.
THIS, the blind date, was that fear become real.
Slowly, she stopped thinking and felt exhausted. It was her fault for not
admitting it. Her fault for not asking or saying anything, and so, she'd
accept this...She'd have to. IF Atsuko agreed, and Botan, deep down, knew
she would.
*** *** ***
"Alright, alright already." Atsuko clicked her tounge and swung around to
face Yusuke who had been following her since that afternoon. "I'll go on ONE
date with him. That's it! Okay?"
Yusuke grinned. "It'll be more when I'm done."
Atsuko threw her bag, but Yusuke was already running by the time she did, and
it hit the ground with a light thud. Atsuko mumbled some choice words and
picked up her bag.
Then she blinked. "Dammit!! He forgot to tell me when!"
She grumbled and turned to start on her way home again.
*** *** ***
Koenma sighed and picked up another piece of paper, ready to do what he
needed to it.
He looked quizically at it, wondering why it was folded, and shrugged,
carefully unfolding it to read it. When he did, however, his eyes almost
bulged out of his head, and he let out a small whine.
'What the heck does he think he's doing?!' Koenma thought, rereading the
letter in his hands.
The letter was written to him by Yusuke, asking him to come to the Ningenkai
Saturday for a blind date with a girl at his school he thought Koenma would
like.
Koenma, however, hated the idea, but knew Yusuke would keep at him until he
agreed to go. But he didn't want to, he already liked someone quite a bit,
and, even if she didn't know, and he didn't know what she felt, he really
felt dating anyone would be a form of sin.
He groaned, then looked up as someone asked if he was alright.
Botan was standing in the doorway, smiling at him, and he blinked a moment.
'Wow, as if summoned...' He thought, before clearing his throat to stop the
thoughts in his head. "I'm sorry, Botan, I was distracted. What did you
say?"
Botan's eyes held a worried look, but her smile didn't falter. "I asked what
was wrong, Koenma-sama. You don't look so well."
"Oh," He said, not realizing that his face had probably changed to an
introspective, aggravated, and depressed look after he had read the letter.
"Just...Yusuke's asked me to do something extremely weird."
"Oh?" Botan cocked her head to one side, smiling. Deep inside she knew, but
she didn't want to give away the fact she did. Not to Koenma, who might get
mad at her over being even lightly involved, or, worse yet, look at her and
realize her eyes were telling a different story from her face.
"He wants me to go on a blind date with one of his human school companions,
in my adult form, of course." Koenma frowned, and then looked startled as
Botan's face went to something of shock. "What is it, Botan?" He asked.
Inside, she felt completely broken down. She had had the feeling Atsuko
would accept and Yusuke would ask Koenma, but she had hoped against
everything that it wouldn't happen. She managed a light smile. "Oh, nothing
much. It just suprises me, is all. Yusuke never seemed the romantic
match-maker type."
"Ah." Koenma nodded, fighting back an urge to let out a little cry. He was
hoping Botan would say something else, something about, well, he didn't know
what, just something to imply she liked him in some way.
He liked her a lot. But, apparently, the fates didn't much like them. After
all, neither would admit to something that would have easily made their lives
much easier, or at least in one way. But, that is the way of the world.
"Should I go?" Koenma asked, hoping maybe this would get more the result he
wanted.
"If you want." Botan replied. She wasn't going to say 'no' and then have to
explain herself.
Koenma's face turned dark for a moment, as a rush of intense sadness went
through him, but as quickly recovered to its usual look. He looked at the
letter again, and shrugged lightly. "Well, why not? As is, it's not like
he'll leave me alone, right?"
Botan bit her lip for a second, before throwing out a radiant smile, though a
false one, and nodding. "Yeah. Yusuke can be very good about not letting up
sometimes."
They laughed a little, but it was strained. In their tension, neither
noticed that the other had the same laugh.
TO BE CONTINUED...