Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters.
Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing this story. I'm really happy with the feedback I've been getting. :D
The first week of classes was fairly uneventful at the small-town high school. Botan still continued to try and become friends with Hiei while Hiei kept his distance. They continued to talk to one another as "Pyro" and "Rocker Girl," but still had no idea they knew each other in real life.
It had already been one week into the new year, and now projects were being assigned in most classes. Botan was one of the few who didn't mind. She enjoyed doing biology projects more than simply taking down basic definitions and copying and answering study guide questions. She could live without essay writing in English, though.
She was prepared to work on her own for projects. She was prepared to drown herself in schoolwork. What she wasn't prepared for was the teacher assigning lab/project partners, and she definitely didn't expect to be paired up with Hiei. Even better, the partners the teacher assigned couldn't be changed for the whole year. A grin appeared on Botan's face. She wouldn't have minded doing the work alone, but she was given an even better opportunity. It meant she and Hiei would have to meet outside of school a lot. It was the perfect way to get to know Hiei, and maybe he would feel more open and at ease outside of school.
Oh great, Hiei thought bitterly. It was just his luck that the teacher expected him to work with Miss Delusional Optimist for the entire year. He knew he couldn't avoid her at school, but now he would have to endure her bubbliness during what he assumed was his only reprieve.
"So, by the end of the week, I want project ideas analyzed summary regarding the topic, three pages."
Many groans chorused through the class save from Hiei and Botan. He rolled his eyes at his classmates. At least they hadn't been paired with Botan. The paper would be cake compared to that.
As the bell rang dismissing class, Botan chattered on about the assignment. "Since the paper is due next Wednesday and I have plans tomorrow after school, I figured we could meet tonight at one of our places. Yours, maybe?"
Hiei wasn't offended by the offer. She sounded genuinely concerned about making him feel comfortable. Still, he froze when she asked about meeting at his place. He may have hated her, but he would never expose anyone he liked or hated to Tarukane and his situation. Being on the man's radar sometimes seemed like a fate worse than death. He only hoped his mother would see reason. Until then he needed to keep everyone away from that house.
"Your place," he grumbled out. When he saw her questioning gaze, he glared. "What? Do you have a problem with that?"
A soft and understanding smile appeared on Botan's face as she put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes flashed to the hand before he narrowed them and half-looked at her. "Not at all, Hiei," she cooed before he pulled himself from her grasp and walked away.
He had never been so uncomfortable in his life.
"Hey," he heard someone call out. It made him look back into the room. Botan was gathering her books and was surrounded by a few students, a heavyset girl and two muscular guys.
"Can I help you?" Botan questioned, her voice unwavering.
"Yeah," the girl replied. Hiei recognized her now. That girl sat behind him, diagonal from Botan. "You can 'help' me and my partner with our project. Make it great. We expect an A from you."
"Hiei and I have our own project to work on," Botan countered. "You and your partner will have to work on it together. I can't help you."
Hiei didn't care about her drama dealings with other classmates that also didn't matter to him. He left before he could hear any more than what he had. He figured that dealing with ordinary bullies would give the girl a taste of the real world and some backbone. He never heard the girl tell Botan that she was "stupid anyway" and that "this was why no one liked or cared about her." But he wouldn't have responded to that, anyway, even though it left Botan feeling down on herself.
"I can't believe you're meeting a stranger you met online at a concert," Kuwabara criticized as he and Botan were jogging together at gym. "It's a good thing I've got a ticket too. You seriously should have told the others."
Botan frowned. "I told my mom," she said, "and I told her you were going too so she was okay with it. I don't want the others to know I like rock music or dressing 'like a boy.'"
"Oh come on, Botan," Kuwabara grumbled. "That was seventh grade. I bet Ruka feels really bad about it now."
Botan shook her head. Ruka had been a friend of hers in middle school. She was a troubled child, but Botan had seen a quality in her that she liked. Ruka was easy to talk to and gave Botan a slightly rebellious edge. Though she was more of an acquaintance, Botan had seen her as a friend and trusted her with more information about her likes than other people who didn't know her. She was one of the few people with whom Botan had shared her favorite music, shows, and wardrobe. The girl had even told her how cool she looked in her grungy wardrobe. Botan had felt so proud of herself to gain her friend's approval.
Then, one day, at middle grades music practice, she had brought attention to everyone that she was a tom-boy. It wouldn't have been as bad if the guys hadn't started to push her around more or girls hadn't called her a boy and tormented her when they had to change in the locker room. They all looked down on her, and even Botan's friends couldn't figure out why.
Keiko hadn't been in the same gym class that year, and Botan never told her what happened during her time in the locker room. Yusuke had seen some of the guys getting rough with her and had stepped in. After the guys eased up, the girls did as well, but they still snickered every time they all changed for gym and continued to say things behind her back, even in high school. It was starting to make her feel even more self-conscience.
Kuwabara was the only friend she had that had known the likes she kept hidden. He had actually found out by accident when the two of them ran into each other at a Megallica concert freshman year. Since then, he remained the only friend who knew about stuff she liked. Still, he tried to convince her to be herself, especially around the others in their group. She knew her real friends would stick by her, but there was only one more year of needing to hide who she was. It was easier that way.
"Please spare me," Botan sighed. "Ruka isn't sorry. Just because she's a little heavier doesn't mean she's more humble. She was just demanding I do her and her partner's biology project." She looked away from the redhead. "Besides, it's just better fitting in. I don't want any trouble."
"If you say so..."
Meanwhile, Hiei and Kurama were jogging further ahead of Kuwabara and Botan. "So, you'll be meeting that girl tomorrow night," Kurama mused. "You must be pretty serious about her, then."
Hiei growled slightly. "Knock it off, Kurama. Stop that bad habit of yours while you're at it."
"Bad habit?" his friend questioned innocently. "Whatever do you mean?"
"Making something out of nothing. It's not becoming. Yes, I'm meeting this girl, but that's it."
"Meeting," Kurama said with a nod before smiling, "and also buying her ticket."
He ignored the heated glare his friend gave him and continued to run. "Sometimes I really hate you, Kurama."
"Why buy her ticket if you just hope to be friends with her? Why not just plan to meet at a mutual place like a library or park?"
Hiei would never hear the end of it from his friend if he told him that Rocker Girl loved 80's music and he wanted to meet her doing something she enjoyed. He knew that technically this was a date, but he didn't care. He just wanted to meet her. Instead of responding to Kurama's musings, he ran faster, quickly pulling away from the redhead.
Kurama wore the faintest smile as he chuckled. Yes, he thought to himself, I think he likes her.
After school, Hiei reluctantly waited for Botan at the building entrance. He still couldn't believe he was paired with the vibrant girl. Now he would have to suffer through meeting at her house. "Oh, you waited," she said, stating the obvious as she exited. "Good. So let's head to my house, shall we?" It's not far at all." The brooding teen didn't say anything as they walked side by side.
Surprisingly Botan remained fairly quiet aside from showing him roads that led to popular hangouts for the people of their school. He was learning the lay of the land, and that was something for which he was thankful. He only hoped he wouldn't have to stay at her house long.
"That's Keiko's house next door." Botan pointed to the plain, white house that looked similar to her own. Hiei couldn't help but wonder how none of these people ever got lost if all the homes looked the same. He didn't respond as he watched her open her own door, and he didn't know what to expect when he entered. When he got inside, he was definitely shocked.
He had somewhat been expecting perfection, everything being in a set place that looked immaculate and clean and white. With the way she carried herself at school, it was hard to imagine her living in anything remotely close to what he was seeing. The house was neat and clean, but there were subtle hints that she and her family lived in slight disarray. There was a tall pile of mail on the coffee table with opened envelops and lose papers strewn in random spots on the loveseat. An empty ice cream bowl sat on the table near the remote while the couch was covered by an unfolded, wrinkled blanket.
"Sorry about the mess," Botan stated. "Yesterday I was out of it and fell asleep on the couch. Mom's usually here when I get home on Wednesdays, so I thought it'd be taken care of since I didn't get the chance this morning. I guess she got called into one of her other jobs. Explains why the mail is everywhere. Could I offer you a snack or something to drink?"
Her guest was reluctant to answer her, but he managed to grunt out, "I'm fine. Let's just get this over with."
Hiei just caught the slight frown that appeared on her face before she covered it up with her cheerfulness. "Right. I'm looking forward to hearing your ideas for our first project. Let's head up to my room."
The two of them ascended the stairs and entered her room. It faced the front of the house. She had a platform windowsill she could sit on and see the outside world pass by. Beside the window was a white desk covered in books, folders, and different writing utensils. Hiei was expecting a bright-colored room with frilly stuffed animals, but the room mostly had blue, black, and white colors and few stuffed animals. The walls were bare save for a few music posters and decorations. She also had a stereo sound system and a small guitar-shaped CD rack on her nightstand. Hiei didn't linger on that since he really didn't care about her taste in music.
She's probably the type to sing those preppy, radio songs in the shower, he inwardly mused. Truthfully, it didn't matter to him. It amazed him how much he needed to remind himself he didn't care about this girl. He was more curious. He just didn't understand how any one person could be so happy all the time.
Botan took out a folding chair and put it beside hers at her desk. She patted the surface to silently invite Hiei to join her. This is going to be a long afternoon.
"So," Botan started to say, "we pretty much have free reign with this project, so I say we pick a topic we both like. I'm up for anything regarding music and animals. What about you?"
Hiei was trying to ignore her, so she continued to chatter on. "Come on, Hiei," she sighed. "You can at least try to participate. I don't want you to have to work on something you don't enjoy."
Why she cared about his enjoyment, he had no clue. It was just a stupid project, the first project. Hiei didn't even really like biology. His forte was English composition, not any type of science. That was more of his sister's thing. Whatever topic this girl was going to pick, he was positive he'd hated it. His opinion didn't matter.
He answered her with a shrug before taking out his lighter. The lighter belonged to his father. He hated the man for leaving his mother in a shitty situation, but the lighter was the only link he had to the man. As he was about to do, Hiei would sometimes take it out and ignite it watching the small flame for a moment before he allowed it to fizzle out. He would repeat that action multiple times. It served him as some kind of strange calming mechanism.
Botan was writing ideas down trying to ignore her partner who continued to treat her like she didn't exist. Silently, she fumed. She couldn't understand why he was not only ignoring her but also refusing to help her come up with ideas. The clicking of his lighter was also starting to wear on her nerves. "Do you mind?" he asked as calmly and lightly as possible. "I really just want to come up with a project idea and then we'll be done for the day."
Hiei stopped playing with the lighter letting the flame disappear for a final time as he answered her. "I don't give a crap on our project. Choose whatever the hell you want and leave me be. Most likely, no matter what you choose, I won't be of much help anyway."
The way that sounded to Botan made her stomach drop. "Are you saying you're expecting me to do the whole project?" She sounded so shocked and hurt. It sounded strange coming from her.
Hiei didn't answer her at all. He hadn't meant for it to sound like he was being as lazy as the girl who demanded Botan's time. Getting nervous, he simply went back to messing with the lighter. "If that's what you want," Botan said sadly, "then you may as well leave. I'll figure out something for the project and text you the idea later. Just leave me your number and go."
Hiei didn't need to be told twice as he quickly scratched his number on a notepad she had and then stormed out of her room. She could hear him slam the front door to her house and watched him walk down the street alone. The blue-haired teen shook her head and fought back her tears as she circled one of the ideas she had. She then grabbed a pair of pajamas, which for her was sweats and a t-shirt, before she headed to the bathroom. She was in need of a nice, long, hot shower to clear her head.
As she returned to her room, towel-drying her hair, Botan plopped back into her desk chair. The warm shower had done her some good. She left the towel around her neck as she sat at her desk. She decided to sign onto the chat account and instantly received a message from Pyro.
How good are you at biology and do you have any ideas for a project?
Botan smiled slightly before frowning, remembering Hiei's abrupt exit. Actually yeah. I've been thinking of project ideas all day for my own project. What's up?
I've been partnered with that girl I told you about, he replied. We had to come up with a topic and I'm no good with science. My sister was always good with that crap.
Ah, the writer of the family, Botan mused with a smile on her face. I almost forgot about that. Anyways, it's good that you're asking for help and trying to do your share.
I just don't want her bitching at me for it or giving me that hurt puppy look like she did tonight, Pyro countered. It was so annoying. And it's not like I wanted to bring attention to the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing to a complete stranger.
Aren't I a complete stranger?
Hiei contemplated how to respond. Not for long, Rocker Girl. Tomorrow will change that.
True...Anyways, it's nice that you want to help your partner. My teacher assigned me to be partners with that boy. I think he expects that I'm going to do this project alone.
Hiei frowned. He remembered how Botan had reacted when she accused him of doing the same thing. Normally, he wasn't one to feel guilt, but he had felt something close to it. After seeing how their other classmates demanded her to do their work, Hiei didn't want to do the same. Though he hadn't implied it to Rocker Girl, she had picked up on it.
Unlike you're partner, he started to type, I believe in pulling my own weight. I just don't want people I don't know or want to know to know more about my struggles, even in a stupid school subject.
I understand, Rocker Girl replied. I barely tell my friends anything. Like, they know my father is kind of MIA, but they don't know about how I deal with it on a daily basis. I never even want to bother them with my problems, let alone strangers.
Hiei grimaced as he read the screen. Please tell me there's someone you talk to other than me about this stuff.
My mom. Sometimes my grandmother. Other than you, that's about it.
Hiei felt relieved that Rocker Girl at least talked to someone. He had his sister and, for what he couldn't confide in her, he had Kurama. Plus there was Shiori, but as his therapist, it was kind of different. The reason he told her anything was because she couldn't tell anyone, not even his mother, unless what he had to say implied danger to himself or others. That meant he could never call him a gangster around her. No, only Kurama knew if his suspicions.
I'm glad you have someone, at least, he replied. And I'm always here too.
Thanks.
After a few minutes of not knowing what to say, Rocker Girl added, I need to get to work on this project. Anyway, what I would suggest for a biology project is something low key, especially for a first project. Maybe do something with plants. A project I was thinking of was the effects of rock music on plant growth. Control would be classical.
Why am I not surprised that you incorporated rock music into project? Hiei asked while smirking.
Well, seeing as I'm not that open about my love for rock music at school, I need to get it during the day somehow, his friend joked.
You still never told me why you hide it, Hiei remarked.
That's a story for another day, Rocker Girl returned. For now, I have some work to do. I need to start writing up this report.
If I were you, I'd throw this guy under the bus.
Nah, I'll give him another chance. He could still be adjusting.
You might be giving him too much credit.
Maybe...anyways, night Pyro. I can't wait to meet you tomorrow!
Hiei smirked. Same Rocker Girl. I look forward to it.
Botan grinned as she shut down the computer. She really couldn't wait for the concert or to meet her friend. It was amazing that they seemingly lived pretty close to each other. She would finally have a friend who knew pretty much everything she was trying to hide.
She decided to get back to work on the project so that she and Hiei wouldn't fall behind. It reminded her to text him about the project ideas.
Hey, I figured out the idea for our project, she texted.
She got almost an immediate reply. Don't bother, he responded. I have an idea too. We can exchange tomorrow.
Botan smiled when he said he had an idea. So he really hadn't expected her to do all the work on her own. "Hiei, you are one tough nut to crack," she joked to herself, letting out a small laugh. "I think we'll be great friends."
