A smooth, gentle hand ghosted away from their starting point on her neck, over her bare shoulder, down her arm to rest on her own hand. His fingers slowed weaved in between hers as he lay behind her, cradling her petite form. The rhythm of his breath against her neck gave her ghost bumps, as she leaned into his arms. Long, red locks brushed against her arm as he turned and raised his head to see her smile. Leaning down slowly, his lips graced her own. She parted her lips ever so slightly, and he took the invitation gladly.
Pink eyes shot open, almost instantaneously, and began darting around her room as she sat up. She was alone. No redheaded fox lying beside her, calling her back into his arms to sleep. He had only been a dream. 'No, not a dream' she reminded herself; he was very real. But her imagination had gotten the best of her. Kurama had never shown even the slightest hint of desire for her; he was too polite and reserved to dare. Before she could help it a small sigh escaped her lips.
Botan shook her head, her long, flowing blue hair scattered through the air as she did so. What was she doing? She couldn't be thinking of Kurama like this. What would Koenma say? The fox was a felon, a reformed one, but a felon all the same. He was also a member of the team, the team she worked with. What if this became a conflict of interest? If Koenma found out, she could be removed as an assistant from Yusuke's team. Reassigned to work with the ogres doing paper work if Koenma was in a particularly bad mood. She would never see the fox again. Her mood soured at the thought, but before she could stop herself her hands reached her lips, feeling for a hint of reality in them. But there was no warmth left from his kiss there.
As she lay back down to sleep again, she couldn't help but wonder where the fox was. Or how he felt about her. Was he fighting feelings like she was, or was she invisible to him? These thoughts haunted her as she drifted back to sleep, where the redheaded boy waited for her.
The next morning, after securing her hair tightly in its usual ponytail, Botan headed for Koenma's office, to see what her assignment for the day was. She waved to a few familiar ogres as she passed them, they waved back distractedly as they gathered the paperwork they needed Koenma to sign. Botan was used to this and was not upset by their distractedness. Knocking on the doors, she waited until she heard Koenma's preoccupied grunt as a sign to enter the room. His stamp was flying over paper after paper as he looked up to see who had entered.
"Ahh yes, Botan," Koenma greeted her. "I have an assignment for Yusuke and I need you to collect him. Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei should be gathered as well if you can find them." Botan noticed her heart beating faster as Kurama's name was mentioned. Glancing at Koenma, she realized her hadn't noticed as he continued on with his speech. "... This is of the utmost importance so do gather them as quickly as possible. I'm sure Yusuke is looking for any excuse to avoid school and will be grateful for the case." Koenma began stamping his papers again, seeing this Botan bowed quickly and left the room.
'Oh, why today?' Botan couldn't help wonder as she summoned her oar. She soon took to the air and soared towards the human world. 'They haven't had a case in ages, and as soon as I can't stop thinking about Kurama I have to go see him. How am I going to act? Will he notice anything? Oh, of course he will! He's Youko Kurama for God's sake!' These thoughts raced through her mind as she approached Yusuke's school. Descending onto the rooftop she found the boy easily enough.
Yusuke was leaning against the chain-link fence that surrounded the rooftop, his hands behind his head, his legs crossed and his eyes closed. It was possible that he was asleep. As Botan landed in front of him, his right eye crept open. "Oh, Botan, it's you. What does pacifier breath want now?"
"Yusuke, you really shouldn't speak of Koenma so, he was the one who gave you a second chance at life."
"Yeah, yeah, and he won't let me forget it either." Yusuke closed his eye again, stretched his arms out and brought them to rest in his lap. "So, another tournament? A second Sensui? My mother was actually a demon too?"
"I'm not sure exactly Yusuke, I was only given instructions to gather up you, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei and bring you all to Spirit World. Koenma is the one with the specific details on your mission." Yusuke sighed and stood up.
"I'll go find Kuwabara, he's got to be somewhere in this blasted building…"
"Wonderful! I'll collect Kurama and Hiei, meet me at the park entrance in an hour." With that her oar reappeared and Botan flew off to Mieou High School, where she knew the redhead who haunted her dreams would be. Landing on the roof of the school, she conjured herself a set of school robes matching those of the girls who actually attended the school. The thought, 'Red is not my color,' raced through her mind as she opened the door and set off down the stairs to find the fox.
Wandering through the halls, peering into classrooms, Botan found the boy quicker then she'd expected. Kurama was wandering the halls, himself. As he saw her, a small smile spread across his lips. "Hello Botan, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
Botan's heart fluttered momentarily. 'Pleasure? Oh cut it out Botan, he's just being polite.' She took a calming breath before starting, "Koenma sent me to gather you and Hiei to take you to Spirit World, he has a new mission for the group he wants to share." 'There, that wasn't so bad.'
"My, this is our first case in quite some time, I was beginning to think Koenma had forgotten about us." Botan let out a small chuckle. "Hiei should be in the park down the street, he's taken to storing his things there, and he doesn't move far from them for long. Let's go collect him."
Botan nodded in agreement and the pair was off to the park. Botan glanced at her watch, they had thirty minutes to reach the park and find Hiei before Yusuke and Kuwabara should be meeting them there. 'Perfect timing.'
The pair was soon out of the building and approaching the park entrance. "So, Botan, what is this mission you'll be sending us on?" Kurama asked, breaking the silence that had hung between them since they left the school building, several blocks behind them.
"Oh, I'm not exactly sure, you see, Koenma only told me to find the four of you, Yusuke and Kuwabara should be meeting us here soon, and bring you to Spirit World, I'm not sure where he will be sending you after that." Kurama nodded in understanding and began looking around the trees, searching for his small, taciturn companion.
As Botan searched through the trees a thought occurred to her. 'How dangerous was this mission going to be?' She thought back on all the times she had seen the team, Kurama specifically, injured. She didn't know how much more of that she could bear to see. Exhaustion, depletion of spirit energy, strikes to the abdomen, and demons stronger then ever were all common components of their past missions. Memories of the Dark Tournament raced through her mind, seeing each member of the team hurt and mismatched. She was quickly becoming concerned.
Kurama turned ahead of her and she followed distractedly, the boy noticed her distraction but did not think much of it, the girl had often seemed to be in her own world. "Hiei, I know you're here!" He called out, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth was the little fire demon standing next to him.
Seeing Hiei snapped Botan out of her trance. "Wonderful, I'm glad you're here Hiei. Koenma has a new mission for you all and we're going to Spirit World for you to receive his instructions."
"Hn. I'm not going anywhere, you can tell that toddler to stop interrupting my training for his little 'missions,' they aren't worth my time."
"But, Hiei…" Botan began.
"Foolish girl." With this Hiei began to turn until he felt Kurama's hand on his shoulder.
"Now Hiei," Kurama began, "Botan and I came all this way to find you, you can at least give us the courtesy of your presence for this meeting." The fire demon watched Kurama's face for a moment before silently shrugging the boy's hand off his shoulder. Botan smiled brightly at the pair and led the way back to the entrance of the park, where Yusuke and Kuwabara stood waiting for the trio.
The blue haired girl led the group of four through a cluster of bushes and small trees, to a secluded area of the forest. Glancing around she found the group of branches she was looking for, pulled them back, and revealed a portal to Spirit World. After all four boys had filed in, she went through it herself.
The four boys stood in front of Koenma, lined up by height, 'how funny,' Botan mused. She was distracted from Koenma's explanation of the mission because she began studying Kurama's details from behind. His flowing red locks, strong shoulders, lean frame. She couldn't help but remember her dream. A slight blush crept onto her cheeks, which she tried to cover up. But she soon noticed a certain fire demon's eyes looking back towards her, in a way that only she could tell.
Botan's smile faltered. Hiei was a telepath. He could read her thoughts, and see her dream. She sent him a pleading look, asking him silently to keep the dream a secret between them. He let out a barely audible "Hn." Then returned his attention to Koenma. Kurama heard Hiei; he glanced at his small companion, who in return ignored his gaze.
Botan held her breath watching the two boys interact, though she didn't know why. Would it be so terrible if Kurama knew how she felt? Well, yes, it would be. Potentially disastrous. Oh, what had she gotten herself into? Now that Hiei knew, there's no telling what he would or would not do with the information.
"And Botan," Koenma's voiced broke her train of thought as he said her name, she snapped her eyes to him, "I'm expecting you to accompany the boys on this mission. We can never be too careful, and an extra set of eyes will do them good this time."
"Oh, Koenma sir, I'm not so sure I'm the one for the job…" Botan began, Hiei was watching her speak, and smirking at what he knew to be her futile attempts to avoid Kurama and her feelings for him.
"Nonsense Botan, you are perfect for the job and I won't hear another word about it." Botan sighed before quietly answering, "yes, Koenma sir." Hiei watched the girl as her shoulders caved in, defeated.
Then, Hiei turned his blood red eyes towards Kurama. His mind's eye flashing through the images he saw from Botan's memories, he tried to discern the truth from her desires. Hiei would never search Kurama's mind, for fear of how the fox would react. But he could watch the fox and his interactions with the girl. Actions speak louder then words, after all.
The group of five soon found themselves wandering through a forest, towards a mass of spirit energy somewhere to the west of their position. Koenma had sent them to spy on a possible new attempt to create a hole in the barrier between Demon World and the Human World. Koenma was not sure who was creating this hole, which was why he sent this group out. Botan was to return to Spirit World and report their findings before Koenma would allow them to attack.
After several hours of walking, the sun began to sink over the forest canopy. Yusuke gathered some wood, as Kuwabara and Kurama set up a campsite. Botan began sifting through the food she had available, and Hiei lit the fire. The group settled down and after an hour or so they each got into their respective camping bags, simmering down for a nights sleep.
Botan hadn't thought much of sleeping around the boys that night, particularly so close to Kurama. Until she began to dream.