The two light haired strangers made their way slowly into the cave, each at the very least, wary of each other.
"But first, I've got to ask…" Trunks paused, glancing back at the blue haired woman. "Who exactly are you?"
The girl jumped. "Oh! Sorry about that! Totally slipped my mind." She stuck her tongue out in a gesture of embarrassment and responded. "I am Boton. Grim Reaper and Spirit Detective assistant and personal trainer and secretary. Well, actually Koenma doesn't trust me with that paper filing stuff anymore, or much anymore. But there's babysitter and nurse and..."
As Boton continued, the lavender haired boy felt he had just been hit by a Kamehameha wave. Had Trunks not been positive that Saiyan hearing was superb, he could have sworn that his ears had just failed him. The light blue eyes narrowed. "Excuse me. What was that again?"
Boton temporarily halted her flow of words and shrugged, "Well, I mean I only actually got to fly the shuttle once, so it probably doesn't make me a pilot or at least not a successful one, since I crashed it into one of King Yama's towers…"
Trunks shook his head vigorously, short lilac hairs whipping his forehead. "No. I mean the first one you said."
Boton placed one long fingertip on her cheek, thoughtfully looking upward. Then with a snap and a smile, she exclaimed, "Oh, of course! You mean the Grim Reaper. Yeah, not my favorite job, but it was what I was hired for, so I have to do it every now and again."
Something twitched within Trunks' heart. A pain that he was still dealing with resurfacing from out of nowhere. He suddenly wondered if it had been a person such as this that had taken Gohan to the other side. Perhaps this girl, Boton, even. Yet, it would not matter if he never got back.
Trunks shook his head once again to try and clear some of his emotions. They wouldn't do him any good right now. He began making the fire for the tea, enjoying himself slightly at mixing the herbs for himself.
Boton watched Trunks with some interest, asking, "So, how do you know Kurama?"
There was a pause in which Trunks decided what it would be safe to tell her. "He was sort of the greeting party. Or at least the only member of my greeting party without immediately apparent murderous intent." Trunks chuckled to himself.
Boton winced and shivered, Trunks' comment reminding her of what world she was in and her safety level in said realm.
The Saiyan poured two cups of tea, pleased with the minty lemon taste he had achieved with the foreign herbs.
Boton took a big gulp, licking her lips appreciatively. "So, if you don't mind my asking. What are you, Trunks? You're obviously not demon or human. At least that's not what we picked up on the spy radar."
The half-human sighed and took his time in responding, only after he had taken a few swallows of his own tea. "Well, it's hard to explain, but I am misplaced on two dimensions. Both space and t—"
A sudden surge in energy unlike any Trunks had felt, cut him off mid-word. Boton had frozen as well, her bowl of steaming tea burning her hands unnoticed.
Suddenly on the alert, Trunks had sprung to a crouch, one hand resting on his sword hilt out of reflex. The energy did not seem to be too close, but it was moving from the North. And moving right towards them if Trunks was feeling correctly.
Boton's blue eyes widened in recognition and she whispered, "Oh no. Yusuke's coming." She stood up and walked to the cave mouth, feeling the ex-detective's demon energy coming ever closer.
Trunks came up to stand beside her, looking out as two more energies flared up from the East. One of which Trunks recognized. "That's Kurama," Trunks whispered, nodding in the direction of the new energies. Yet, they were so far away. Trunks' blue gaze turned to Boton's and he said, "I'm guessing Kurama intends to meet up with Yusuke before I'm discovered, but do you think Kurama will intercept him in time?"
Boton bit off a nail and shook her head, deciding in an instant. "No. Not if we stay here. He's much closer to us than Kurama and Hiei are." She hopped onto her paddle and without any warning, grabbed Trunks' wrist, hoisting him into the air.
The Saiyan acted on reflex, ripping his hand from the Grim Reaper's grasp and floating beside her. "Wait. Kurama asked me to stay here and I'm sure he had a plan for if this happened."
Boton's light eyebrows flew upward. "Oh my. I didn't realize you could fly."
Trunks' patience was running thin. "Yes. I can fly. But we should have thought this through before I let off my energy. There's still a fire down there that needs to be put out."
The blue haired girl giggled and responded, "Oh don't worry about that. You don't know Kurama's plants. Several of his indoor ones are fire eaters for cases such as this. " Trunks went to open his mouth to retort, but Boton continued, "Besides, it's too late for that. I guess you were right about the letting off energy part. Look."
Trunks' eyes looked to the place that Boton's finger pointed to and he saw thousands if not millions of insects flying towards him and his companion. And visible through them were plenty of demons of varying sizes jockeying for a piece of him on the ground below.
There was no beating it. He was forced to go with Boton unless he wanted to fight and let off even more energy. Besides, there was still the matter of Yusuke, who had already halved the distance between them.
"I really don't like this," Trunks muttered to no one in particular as he turned and flew into the sky behind Boton's levitating paddle.