Marriage by Law : Angry Brides and Grooms
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I had no idea that the story said that it was complete. It's not... obviously. Anyway, I was wondering, since all of you guys like this story so much, just give Three Families a chance. It's good, I swear it. Please? Read and Review!
I
Botan ran back inside, shutting off the oven and slipping on a jacket over her pajamas. She didn't even stop in the mirror to get a look at herself. She knew that her hair was down, frizzy and tossed. The ferry girl didn't care.
Summoning her oar, Botan soared through the skies. The autumn air was crisp and cool against her fair skin, but she only went faster. Koenma is out of his mind! Me must be... possessed... poisoned... something!
Her knuckles were white, that's how tightly she was holding her oar. Her pink eyes narrowed as she cleared the clouds and saw the Gates to Rekai. Taking a swift turn, Botan flew straight up, almost sliding right off of her oar.
Botan knew that her cheeks were starting to turn scarlet with disbelief and embarrassment. Me... married... to Hiei of all people! The ferry girl didn't know many demons... and even though she couldn't fathom herself with Hiei... she couldn't picture herself with Kurama either.
Don't get me wrong, I think Kurama is a great person... but... it's just... I just... it would be awkward. He's one of my best friends. And Hiei... well Hiei just hates me.
Botan entered a window and flew down the halls of Rekai. Papers flew up. Ogres jumped out of the way. The ferry girl stopped right outside of Koenma's office, her oar disappearing and her limbs shaking from sudden half of speed.
However, when Botan opened the door, she was astonished to see that someone had beaten her to her boss's office
There, holding the kicking and screaming toddler in mid air, was Hiei Jaganshi.
"Hiei! Put me down right now!"
The toddler was trying to land a good kick to the Koorime's face. Hiei was holding Koenma up by his collar, and Botan was speechless as Hiei brought him down close, their noses touching.
"Change that Law... leave me out of Rekai's hysteria!"
Finally, Botan found her voice.
"H-Hiei?"
The two men turned, seeing the ferry girl for the first time. Koenma's face was turning red due to the lack of oxygen. He used Hiei's distraction to swat himself out of his grip, falling to the ground with a red face.
"Hn."
Hiei turned away from her, his shoulders almost touching his ears. His arms were shaking. Koenma was taking long, deep breaths, regaining his normal color.
"Botan... what are you doing here? You still have two weeks left for her vacation."
The ferry girl let her eyes leave Hiei, though it was very reluctantly.
"Koenma... what in the Three Worlds were you thinking?" She took a deep breath. "I mean... Hiei and I getting married? It's ludicrous, sir."
She was on her knees, helping him up.
"It was the best I could do... it was... all I could do."
Hiei turned, snarling. Various papers began to catch on fire.
"Don't you give me that. You didn't have to make this idiotic law in the first place!"
Botan glared over her shoulder at the fire demon.
"Hiei, stop it. Koenma isn't going to give us any answers if his office turns to ash."
Pink met dark red and finally the fires in the room stopped. The ferry girl sighed, and she suddenly relaxed greatly.
"T-thank you, Botan." The Prince shot a sour look at the demon. "At least someone here is being civilized about this whole situation."
II
Kurama was panting as he arrived at the cozy café at the corner of the street. His red hair was sticking to his forehead when he opened the door.
He saw Shizuru smoking in the corner. Her eyes were staring at her cup of coffee. Kurama walked smoothly over to her and sat in the booth. She looked into his eyes, smiling with her cigarette hanging from her lips.
"How was your morning?"
The fox sighed and brought the tea that she had ordered him to his lips.
"Interesting, to say the least."
Shizuru reached inside her purse and pulled out the marriage notice. She slid it across the table to him, her smile gone.
"A girl who was dressed in the same type of robes like Botan... she came through my mirror this morning."
The kitsune felt his ears prickle.
"Your mirror?"
The young woman nodded.
"Yes... I went to brush my teeth, and she was there... just looking at me like she was my reflection." The woman finally let out one of her well known low chuckles. "It was a shock, to say the least." She put out her cigarette and drank her coffee. "She gave me this."
Kurama turned the paper over, knowing that it would read: Due to the newly enacted Marriage Law of the Three Worlds, your marriage to Kurama Shuiichi falls on November 15th of 2007. May your life together be a happy and prosperous one.
And it did.
Shizuru spoke again after Kurama was silent.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
Kurama put down his tea, his green eyes piercing as he stared into Shizuru's brown hooded eyes.
"I don't think so... here, come with me. We'll find out."
Kurama stood and offered his hand. She took it and they walked out of the café, some money on the table, and went off to Rekai.
Hand in hand.
III
Hiei had to turn away when the baka ferry onna entered the room. He was just... so... angry that he didn't want her to see him in such an emotional state. How could Koenma... put him... with the onna? Of all women, why did it have to be her?
His lost control again, his fire actually leaving his brain and leaping to things on Koenma's desk.
"Koenma... just tell me, what was going through your mind when you made this law?"
The Prince leaned his back against the desk, his short and stubby legs stretched out on the cool tile.
"Incest. Incest, Botan. You have no idea how bad it's getting. With spirits and nigens... it's just irreversible now. Dad told me about it a few centuries ago... but I thought that when technology became advanced enough to link all the world together... that it would be over."
Hiei finally snorted.
"Hn. Leave it to nigens to screw up their mating process."
Koenma ignored Hiei's comment and continued.
"So I made a law... that nigens and spirits would be paired with people that they were not related to in even the smallest amounts. Demons had to used, since they rarely mate with nigens as it is."
Hiei now walked so he was next to Botan, refusing to sit next to her, so he remained standing.
"How are you going to get normal nigens, who don't know about Makai, agree to marrying a demon?"
Hiei had to give it to the onna, it was a good question. He was going to ask it if she didn't.
"We are going to make their souls pull at the demons, and when they meet, it will be love at first sight, for the nigens. The demons... well... they will just have to get used to the idea of marrying with a nigen."
There was a silence. Botan slumped over, and Hiei got a look at her eyes. They were lost. Now she knew... there was no going back. The law was set. And Koenma wasn't going to abolish it. Since the onna was unusually silent, the Forbidden Child decided to speak up, his dark tenor voice sending chills down the spine of the Prince of Hell.
"And why did you pair me with the baka ferry onna?"
Hiei felt his Koorime blood set in, his voice ice cold without a hint of fire. Botan now moved away from the Prince, closer to Hiei. The fire demon had never seen her eyes so stony before. The forced couple was waiting. Waiting for Koenma to own up to his actions.
"Because... because I didn't want her to be paired with just any demon!" Botan's blue eyebrows pressed themselves together, making a crease on her forehead. "All of the Rekai Tentei... my friends... I didn't want them to be paired with someone that could possibly make their lives miserable..."
Botan's hand was over her lips, her eyes misty.
"Miserable?"
Koenma's head hung low.
"Domestic abuse. A life devoid of love... of even friendship." His brown eyes caught Hiei's for a short flash. "I didn't want Botan... my best friend... to be tossed to chance. There was only one person left, and I chose Hiei."
IV
"Marriage?"
Keiko was sitting on the bed, clad in only a large tee shirt. Yusuke tossed the notice at her.
"Koenma's made a law... a Marriage Law... and we're getting married on November 15th."
The nigen's eyes scanned over the document. She sighed dramatically and put down the paper, pulling a pillow to hold in her arms.
"Well... what do you make of all this?"
The Son of Raizen sat down, the mattress sagging a bit.
"It's overwhelming. To say the least."
A smoky silence settled over the now engaged couple.
"I love you. I just... I just want to let you know."
The girl, who was still in her last year of college, was blushing as she said it. She had said it before, screamed it on some nights, but never like this. So soft... gentle... and now... truly honest.
"I know." Yusuke leaned over to her and kissed her lightly. "Me too, babe."
Her hand jerked and slapped Yusuke's cheek lightly when his hand circled around her waist and groped her bottom.
"What are we going to do?"
The ex Spirit Detective shrugged.
"I dunno. Give Koenma hell?"
All Keiko had to do was laugh and they were halfway to Rekai.
V
Kurama pulled Shizuru down alleyway after alleyway.
"Kurama, where are we going?"
The fox stopped when they met a dead end. He pulled out the spirit compact and pressed a button that was labeled portal.
"We had to get out of sight." A bright rip opened up and made Shizuru squint. "Just... just come with me." She grabbed his arm tightly. The kitsune smirked inwardly. "It might tingle a little, since it's your first time."
Before Shizuru could voice her doubts, they were in the portal and soaring towards Rekai. In a sudden jerk and loss of the bright light, the two companions stumbled forward in the busy halls of Rekai.
"Whoa..."
It was like the stock market. Ogres and ferry girls running everywhere, papers flying and shouts echoing and bouncing off the walls. He pulled her down the halls, smiling at her open mouth and wide eyes.
They stopped in front of a door. The nigen took her arm out of Kurama's hold and reached for the knob, twisting it and pushing the door open.
There, on the ground, was Koenma and Botan. Standing next to the top ferry girl of all Rekai. The Prince of Hell looked up and then rolled his eyes, as if he knew that today was going to be one of the longest days of his life.
"Koenma... care to explain this?"
Kurama held up the notice. That was when the door was opened again for the room to see Yusuke Urameshi and his girlfriend Keiko standing in the doorway in what looked like their pajamas.
"Okay, brat, I know that cocaine is really addictive, but don't let it interfere with your work!"
The door clicked shut and Kurama could tell that Koenma had a headache.
"Come on! You should be thankful! At least I selected your fiances for you and didn't put it through random selection!"
Yusuke looked at Keiko and smiled, giving her a half shrug. Kurama frowned. Koenma thought Shizuru was a good match for me? He thought about it. Oh... so that was why Ayame just left after I said I was going to breakfast with her. She thought I was on a date with Shizuru!
That was when the fox realized that there were a total of six people there besides Koenma. Shizuru and I are a pair... and so are Yusuke and Keiko. And that left only two others.
"You paired Hiei with Botan?"
Shizuru pointed it out, actually pointing with her mouth open. Botan turned scarlet and murmured something under her breath. Hiei crossed his arms and glared at the Prince, baring his teeth.
"Yes. I am."
The words were strained, stinging, and cold as marble. Kurama opened his mind.
I can't imagine what you did when you got your certificate.
Hiei narrowed his eyes.
I burned it. He blinked as he looked away, running his hands through his black hair. It was nervous reflex that only Kurama knew about. It was hard not to kill the ferry onna that gave it to me...
Kurama let out a humorless chuckle.
I could only imagine. He sighed. Did Koenma tell you why he put Botan with you
The fox swore that he saw color rise to the Koorime's cheeks, but it could have been a trick of the light.
Hn. It was around the lines that he didn't want Botan to be paired with some random demon. He said that she didn't deserve a possible life devoid of love... and possible violence and misery.
Kurama was silent.
He wasn't sure that Koenma had been all that wise. It wasn't that Hiei would beat Botan. Never. But... love? It was... farfetched. If Kurama had traveled back in time and told his past self that in the future, Botan and Hiei would be getting married, Kurama would have laughed in his own face.
What do you think of his reasoning?
Hiei didn't answer for a long while. Koenma was repeating everything he said, and halfway through, Botan got up.
"Koenma, sir?" The Prince looked up. "I'm gonna go. I... I just need... I just need to leave."
Kurama had never heard Botan talk like she was. Her voice was shaking and her eyes were red. Her hands were trembling like dead leaves on a tree. She walked out, not looking anyone in the eyes, making sure to not even come within six inches of her future husband.
When she closed the door, everyone heard a deep sigh. Like she let out a breath that held her entire being inside of it. No doubt, she was crying.
"Well, that couldn't have gone any worse."
Koenma had his head in his hands. Yusuke bit his lip.
"Do you think someone should go after her?"
Keiko touched his arm, shaking her head quietly.
"No. She just needs to be alone."
Another painful silence. Everyone was trying to look at Hiei without getting his attention. It wasn't working.
"Hn." He turned away. "Baka onna gets too emotional."
He turned and walked out, his jacket billowing behind him. As the door closed, Kurama got one final message from his best friend.
The brat should have thought things through. A long pause. I can not give the onna what Koenma wants me to give her.
And Hiei faded away, disappearing with the wind.
VI
Botan flew half heartedly though the air. She had deluded herself. She thought that Koenma would have been able to change the law. She thought... she thought...
I thought I would have a chance at a normal... happy life.
She sniffed and hiccuped. The ferry girl was flying slowly back to England. She felt sick. She knew that she made a fool of herself... in front of all of her friends and Hiei... of all people!
There was no real way to explain what had happened. She felt like the room was shrinking, the walls just getting tighter and tighter until...
She just had to get out of there. She couldn't breathe, and even though she was in the endless sky, it was still hard.
Botan began to sob, her tears falling into the clouds below.
VII
Genkai woke up at five o'clock. She stretched and walked outside to check up on everything, like what kind of plants that the deer ate. That was when something caught her eye. The old woman walked towards her front door.
Her eyes narrowed.
NOTICE
What the...?
She took the paper off of the door and turned it over.
Due to the newly enacted Marriage Law of the Three Worlds, your marriage Kazuma Kuwabara will fall on November 15th of 2007. May your life together be a happy and prosperous one.
No doubt it was for Yukina. The old woman stared at the document and walked slowly back into the temple. She sat down, placing the document on the table and just thought for a good minute.
If... no... when Hiei finds out... Kuwabara is a dead man.
Genkai started to make tea, waiting with slightly anxious nerves for Yukina to wake up.
VIII
A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Please keep on leaving them. Oh, and if you read Three Families, please... PLEASE review! I mean... I just really, really like the story and don't want to see it dry up. Thank you. So if you liked this story, leave a note!
P.s. Points to whoever finds the innuendo in this chapter!
-mia