Chapter 7
The knock on the door was almost lost in the thunder.
"What is it, sweetie?" his mother asked. Frowning, Kurama hurried to the front door and opened it to see Botan standing on their porch, soaked to the bone and crying.
"I'm having a bad day," she said. He pulled her inside and shut the door.
"Mother!"
"What's wrong, Shu-Oh! Botan, sweetheart, what happened?"
Before Botan could answer, his mother was rushing up the stairs. She appeared a moment later with an armful of towels. Kurama grabbed one and quickly wrapped it around her shoulders, rubbing her arms to get her warm.
"Come sit down," he said. She let him lead her without any effort at all, as if her body was on auto-pilot. That coupled with her dazed eyes reminded him unnervingly of a trauma victim succumbing to shock.
"Mother, could you make some tea?"
"Of course, dear. Get her settled in the living room. I'll get her some clean clothes."
"Thank you."
It truly was amazing how fast humans could move when they felt the need. Within minutes, Botan was in a pair of dry pajamas from his mother, wrapped in three blankets, and sipping a mug of jasmine tea. Once again, Kurama felt a surge of adoration that his mother could do such a thing for a woman she'd only met once.
"Botan." His arm had never left its place around her shoulders. "Do you need anything?"
Botan shook her head.
"It was kids," she said, eyes welling again. "All week. Gangs."
He tightened his grip. Another downside of working for the Fenris Wolf: many violent deaths were intentional and, because of that, one of Narvi or Vali's girls often worked with them. Botan knew more people in the Children and Young Adult Units than any other unit combined.
"Well." Shiori put her hands on her hips. "You'll just stay with us tonight."
"What?" Botan's eyes widened. "No, I couldn't. I don't—I just—I wasn't thinking—"
"We're not leaving you alone like this. She'll stay in your room, Shuichi."
"Mother!"
"Oh, I'll make up the couch for you. Don't worry. Now, you stay here and get warm. I'll let Kazuya know what's going on."
"But—"
Shiori shot her a look then walked away, prim and decided. Botan blinked.
"Wow," she said.
"Explains a lot, doesn't it?"
"So much." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go. I'll leave if you want me to."
"Too late. You heard Mother."
"Shuichi!" Speak of the devil. "Could you change the sheets on your bed, please? And ask her if she wants a shower in the morning."
"She can hear you," he called back.
"Well, what did she say?"
Exasperated, he turned to Botan and planted a fake, bland smile on his face.
"Would you like to take a shower in the morning?" he asked. "I believe she's looking for clothes if you don't want to wear your own, which will be clean by morning as well because Shiori Hatanaka is an overachiever."
She was giggling, though at him or his mother, he wasn't sure. Probably both.
"I'd like that," she said.
"Okay." He stood. "Out of respect for the neighbors, I think I'll just go tell her."
"Shuichi!"
"Yes, Mother, I'm coming."
K
A hot meal and some cold medicine later—"No sense inviting trouble if you don't have to"—Botan was safely ensconced in his room. Kokoda had been a little shocked that a Girl was in the house but after squealing that he didn't have on a shirt and his mother hollering at him to "just go get one," he got over it. Kazuya made an appearance to check on her but his wife was clearly running the show so he just volunteered to make breakfast in the morning and would French Toast be all right?
Kurama thought the ferry girl looked a bit overwhelmed by then and, at great risk of future teasing, took her up to his room himself.
"Help yourself to whatever you need," he said. He'd already straightened up when he changed the sheets but he swept his eyes over the room one more time just in case. "If anything moves, err on the side of caution and don't touch it."
"The Ojigi?"
"Well, that depends on you, doesn't it?"
She stuck out her tongue then glanced away and hugged her arms. His heart clenched. So…tiny.
"Come here." He took a step forward, holding open his arms, and she threw her arms around his waist. As soon as her cheek touched his chest, she started crying again.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."
"Shh." He rubbed her back, holding her close. The top of her head barely reached his chin but she fit, in a way. "Don't apologize. If I came to you, you'd do the same thing. Only with more chocolate."
"You don't like chocolate."
"You do."
She gave a weak laugh and lifted her head.
"Thank you, Kurama."
"You're welcome." On impulse, he dropped a light kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest."
"Okay. G'night."
"Good night." He left. When he lay down on the couch downstairs, he could still feel the heat of her hands on his back.
K
The fox woke before anyone else, like every morning. And like every morning, houseguest or no, he went outside to go through three or four katas before heading up for a shower. By the time he was clean and no longer offending himself, his parents were elbow-deep in sticky French Toast mixings and Botan and Kokoda were crowing and elbowing each other in front of the television.
"Ah, Mario Kart," Kurama said, stepping around them to the couch.
"Botan sucks," Kokoda said.
"Only because you keep zapping me!" Botan reached over and fluffed his hair to try and mess him up but the boy just leaned away and hit her with a green shell.
"Don't hate the player," he said. "Hate the game."
Kurama watched them for a few minutes. Rainbow Road, the bane of many a player's existence. Botan fell off. And again. And again. Frowning, he held up his watch. In the span of five minutes, the ferry girl with the supposed reflexes of an Angel, fell off the course twelve times.
"You are spectacularly bad at this, aren't you?" he asked.
"Shut up!"
