Title: Daynight Dream
Author/Artist: Vindiya
Pairing: Koenma/Ayame
Fandom: Yu Yu Hakusho
Theme: 7: superstar
Disclaimer: I own nothing Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters are property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

Reikai was a busy place all the time it did not matter if you caught the inhabitants of Reikai at the crack of dawn or when the moon was at peak there was always someone running around flapping frantically as something didn't go quite as fate had planned. But despite the flailing ogres and the rush of the forever zooming by ferry girls there were lulls, small as they may be, that even though they only lasted a short while Ayame and Botan somehow managed to make the best of them.

Normally their meetings were by accident, as the lulls almost usually never happened at the same time from day to day, but there was a single lull that happened every day. Affectionately referred to as the "quiet before the storm" by the ferry girls, it came right before the heavy rush of incoming souls. With the ferry girls barely dropping off one charge before heading back out to ferry in another. Moreover, it was in such a moment that Botan found Ayame standing on one of the palace balconies staring out into the horizon.

Curious Botan moved to join her friend at the rail the wind toying with her blue locks carrying the smells of flowers and dew drifting on its trail as they stood silently together for a moment.

"Ayame-chan?" Botan asked giving the girl a nudge when she did not respond after a few minutes.

Sighing, Ayame closed her eyes and shook her head before turning to look at Botan. If it had been anyone else they probably wouldn't have noticed the faraway look that still lingered in her eyes despite her coming back to the world of the dead. Causing Botan to tilt her head and give Ayame an expectant look.

"Botan." Her voice was soft distant almost like she wasn't all there.

Usually Ayame may appear to be out in outer space but she was usually rather sharp, so her being distant just made Botan think there was something on her mind. Somehow, she doubted that whatever was distressing Ayame was related to her work in the archives. However, she was not about to rule out Reikai related in general, considering how much more time Ayame spent in the palace than Botan did.

"What's wrong Ayame?"

Ayame turned a delicate eyebrow raised as she stared at Botan blue irises misted over and unfocused. "What do you mean?"

"You seem…out of it."

"I'm fine."

"Uh-huh. Why don't you tell me what's going on." Botan said putting a hand on her friends shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Ayame sighed after a few moments when it became clear that no other topic of conversation was going to make itself known and Botan wasn't about to let a rather obvious subject change go anyway. Turning back to the younger ferry girl Ayame paused for a moment to think about how to word what was bothering for a moment.

"Have you…have you ever had feelings for someone you weren't supposed to?" She finally asked albeit rather timidly as if even putting that single question was the greatest taboo of all things ferry girl.

Botan smiled and leaned in closer to her friend, "You've got a bit of crush. On who?"

Ayame blushed and shook her head, "It's not important. I was just curious if you had ever experienced something similar."

Botan nodded at her sagely, "Hmm true it would be rather hard to reconcile having feelings for your boss when it's not allowed."

Ayame sputtered turning a stricken look on Botan that only further proved that her light teasing had hit the mark. Only Botan returned a similar stricken look to Ayame when aforementioned boss popped up out of nowhere behind Ayame with a small pop to signify that he had changed from toddler form to adult form.

"Who has feelings for their boss?" He asked making Ayame whirl around in a flutter of kimono sleeves to bow respectfully Botan following her lead.

"N-no one Koenma-sama. We were just talking." Ayame explained mentally annoyed that she hadn't been able to say that without stuttering. She never stuttered Koenma and Botan both knew that, he was going to notice and he was going to know she was lying and that was going to be bad. He might demand to know just who the person was and then what? Botan might accidentally let it slip and she would be in a lot of trouble. Worst of all what would Koenma think of her when he found out that she had a crush on him?

Koenma raised an eyebrow at her and nodded slowly. He'd noticed alright but he wasn't about to make a big deal out it. He knew she had been under a lot of stress lately what with handling the majority of the archive work since the incident at Mushiori City. There hadn't been anything to precedent such a thing happening and there were still many demons who had gotten through that hadn't been identified and those who had she was busy helping getting many of their files out to the SDF so they could clean up the mess. Not to mention she was busy doing research on the fighters entered in the Makai tournament. He found it a wonder she was still standing making coherent sentences with all the work he had her doing.

"Well don't talk too much longer the lull is almost over." He warned turning to go back into the palace and his office that he never seemed to leave often enough anymore.

Ayame watched as he went a dreamy look in her eyes as for a brief moment she let her mind wander off into LaLa Land and dream of what it would be like if she weren't constricted by so many rules.

"Oh and Ayame?" She snapped out of it and hoped she wasn't blushing as she turned her gaze to meet Koenma's.

"Yes sir?"

"If you see the ferry girl in question again…let her know that I'm sorry but she should try to forget those feelings." He said turning to leave once more.

Ayame nodded at his back and turned back to Botan who'd been watching the whole time. She sighed, "I guess it wasn't meant to be to begin with."

Botan gave Ayame's shoulder a squeeze, "Don't say that rules change." She consoled as she looked over her shoulder in time to see Koenma rounding a corner.

'You hide it well too don't you Koenma-sama?´ She thought. If either had seen, what she had seen when they had exchanged just those few words... She shook her head they were completely blind to what the other felt. It was unfortunate, however, that did not mean she was not going to root for them to eventually figuring it out and getting on with it. It would do them some good to have a chance to actually show that they cared about each other.

"C'mon Ayame we have to get back to work." Botan said steering Ayame back inside eventually having to partway so that she could go back to Ningenkai to begin ferrying souls while Ayame returned to the Archives once more in that dreamy-faraway state that she had been in when Botan had stumbled upon her.

Ayame walked down the remaining hallways lost in her own little world, normally she wasn't one to drift into daydreams but right now she didn't want to deal with the meaning of what Koenma had just said to her. Though she probably should have paid more attention as next she knew she was being pulled into a dark corner and pinned against the wall, she struggled at first before her eyes fully adjusted to the dimness.

"Koenma-sama?" She asked after a moment.

He smiled and nodded, "Yo."

"What are you doing? We could-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence, Koenma silenced her with his lips against hers.

For a moment she stiffened, this couldn't be happening he'd just said that he didn't feel the same way. Why was he ikissing/i her? Why, he knew the rules better than she did why would he suddenly choose to break them not five minutes after saying that he wouldn't? She blinked and then it was gone he wasn't there and she was standing stock still in the middle of the hallway.

"Just daydream…" She muttered continuing on her way feeling slightly better now that she knew that.