Author's Note: Wooh! Chapter 12. The next chapter should be the actual fight...if not chapter 13 than definitely 14 because we also have the zombie chase to get through, which should be fun. xD.

Anyways, thank you so much to those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed! You guys make me want to keep writing instead of giving up. xD. So thank you. Me loves you.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

When the Sun Goes Down

Chapter Twelve

Botan leaned back in her chair, smiling pretty and patting her tummy, which made a show of bulging outwards. "That was delicious! Thank you, Ayumi!" she exclaimed. Ayumi tipped her head to the side and bit back a smile. She was glad Botan enjoyed her breakfast, but these questions were really nagging at her. The problem was that Ayumi didn't know where to start. Should she start with something easy? Or just jump right in despite how complicated the answer might be? Ayumi didn't even know the extent of Botan's knowledge of the situation. She had, after all, just shown up this morning. Maybe she didn't know anything about Ayumi or the situation, maybe she only just knew about Yusuke's condition. "Ayumi," Botan started, catching her attention. "I know you're anxious, but please try to relax. You're going to give yourself some pretty horrid premature wrinkles."

Ayumi scoffed. "I hardly think now is the time to be worrying about wrinkles."

Botan gave her a cute and girly wink. "You say that now, but just wait until they start popping up. Then you'll wish you'd listen to little old me." Ayumi stared at her, and let out a sigh as she chuckled. That did make her feel a little better. Botan smiled. "What are your questions?"

"So, as the grim reaper, you take dead souls to Koenma to be judged or something?" she asked, deciding on something simple after all.

"Bingo," Botan started, pointing a finger at her. "I ferry them. Hence the term ferry girl, which is a bit more accurate than your grim reaper image."

Ayumi nodded. "So, what happens to the souls when you're not there?"

"I'm not the only ferry girl in Spirit World. Koenma allows me to leave my duty to another girl only when there's a case that Yusuke needs assistance on," Botan explained. Ayumi was quiet as she absorbed that information and tucked it away somewhere to go over it later.

"Do you…uh…know anything about me?"

Botan smiled and pulled out a little notebook from the pocket of her jacket. She flipped through the pages and stopped, reading it over it quickly. "Sarumara, Ayumi. Age sixteen. A bright young girl who lives with her recently widowed grandmother and leads a normal teenage life. Mostly average grades, though it indicates here you've got the potential to do more. Hmm, let's see…oh! And your 'problem areas' are that you have a tendency to over think things and you have a hard time accepting things that are not in your control," she finished with a teasing giggle. Ayumi gaped at her with her eyes as wide as saucers, her mouth in a delicate 'O' shape and her face was a little blue. Botan giggled again. She leaned forward, a playful gleam in her eye now, smiling with delight as Ayumi backed up a centimeter. "And your favorite color combination is mint green, creamy brown, and baby pink."

Ayumi squealed and got out of her chair, pointing an accusing finger at Botan. "Okay, now that's just creepy!"

Botan laughed again as her face suddenly morphed into something cat-like and she rose up a paw and batted it at Ayumi, meowing. "I'm a ferry girl. I know a little something about everyone."

Ayumi's eyebrow twitched slightly, in confusion and slight annoyance. "Everyone? That notebook doesn't look that big." Botan's face returned to normal as she waved the little notebook around in the air in front of Ayumi's face.

"Oh ho! You needn't worry about such things like that," she said, quickly shoving the notebook away again, a devilish smile still present on her face. Ayumi felt…. exasperated.

"Botan, stop torturing the poor girl," Yusuke's voice rasped out. The girls looked towards Yusuke, both with concerned expressions. Yusuke had broken out into a cold sweat and his skin was starting to take on a grayish tone. His eyes were starting to become sunken in, and it sounded like it was getting harder for him to breathe.

Botan tipped her head to the side and managed to smile a little. "We'll let you get some rest. Come on Ayumi, we can talk in the bedroom." She grabbed Ayumi's hand and led her from the living room, quickly pulling her into the bedroom and shutting the door. Ayumi took a look around Yusuke's room, never really noticing the things that were in it before. For the most part, it was a pretty bare room. There was the bed, a desk, and a dresser with a small bookshelf on top of it. On the bookshelf, rather than books, were pictures. There was one of Yusuke and Keiko, one of Yusuke and the other boys, a group photo of everyone, including two women that Ayumi hadn't ever met or heard of. And there was one of Yusuke and his mother when he was a child. Ayumi turned back to face Botan, only to find the ferry girl leaning against the door with her arms crossed, a look of sadness on her face.

"Botan?" Ayumi asked, concerned.

"He's dying. I can feel it," she whispered, closing her eyes. "We have to do something."

The frustration Ayumi was feeling earlier came back. "I've been trying," she started, her fist clenching. "I don't know how." She thought about another question she wanted to ask, but she was worried of how complicated the answer might be. "How do you bring your energy out? How do you get it to work?" Botan blinked and looked at her, a little confused, making Ayumi blush a little. "You…uh, have spirit energy don't you? Yusuke said that everyone has it."

"Yes," Botan stated. "I just don't know what you mean by get it to work."

"Koenma said that I have the ability to heal Yusuke. To bring out whatever it is that's hurting him and changing him, but I can't…get it to work," Ayumi said, frustrated. "Yusuke says that he gathers all of his energy into his finger and pulls the trigger in his mind to release it. But that doesn't work for me. How do you do it?"

Botan was smiling sadly now, shaking her head. "Energy doesn't work like that, Ayumi. You can't force it, and you can't bring it out by using somebody else's method. You have to find your own way and if you try to force it, it'll be that much harder to use. Spirit energy can be a very fickle thing," she explained. "It isn't as simple as wanting to use it. I use my energy as a way of healing and guidance because that's what I feel in my heart. It's unique to me and only to me. Just as yours is unique to you and Yusuke's is unique to him."

Ayumi looked a little deflated. "I'm never going to be able to do this."

Botan chuckled a little. "Nonsense," she started. "I can tell you that spirit energy tends to be heavily based on emotions. And I believe yours are locked up tight. Remember what I said about your problem areas? You have a hard time letting go of things you can't control." Ayumi's eyes widened at this and she looked down at her hands again. "Just let go, Ayumi." There was a loud thump outside and both girls looked at each other for a split second before racing back to the living room. Yusuke was still on the couch, but he was glaring hard at the door.

"The energy barrier is starting to weaken. One of them has gotten through," Yusuke said, his voice a harsh whisper.

Botan held her hand out and Ayumi watched in awe as her hand began to glow yellow, sparks of electricity seeming to shoot off the pads of her fingers. A second later and a bat was formed out of yellow energy, which finally solidified into an aluminum bat that Botan gripped and slung over her shoulder. "Not to worry, I'll get the sucker. Stay quiet," she insisted, bending low and inching towards the window that was still missing the glass. She pressed up against the wall and got into position while Ayumi moved to sit by the edge of the couch by Yusuke's head, bending low and gripping Yusuke's shirt for support. She was a little scared. She could hear the low moaning of the zombie that had gotten through, and she could hear it trudging up slowly to the open window.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then the zombie let out a garbled yell and jumped through the window. Ayumi watched with her heart beating wildly in her chest as Botan let out her own yell and swung the bat as hard as she could. The bat hit the zombie right in the stomach, and it flew backwards and onto the walkway on its back. Botan jumped through the window herself and only allowed the zombie to halfway stand up before swinging again. The zombie stumbled back up against the railing and Botan swung one more time, this time hitting it right in the head. It flipped backwards over the railing and sailed back down towards the ground with a growl. Breathing hard, Botan quickly retreated back into the apartment.

"You've got one hell of a swing!" Ayumi yelled, staring at Botan with wide eyes. She smirked and set the bat over her shoulder.

"You have no idea," she responded with a knowing look in her eye. Yusuke scoffed.

"You're lucky that zombie had no idea you were there and lucky that you stunned it enough to pull that off. You won't be so lucky next time. You guys are wasting your time here," Yusuke growled out. Botan frowned at him.

"You're attitude is really souring, Yusuke. The more negative emotions and thoughts you let cloud your mind the faster the disease will spread," Botan explained, but Yusuke glared at her.

"Shut up. I know that," he said between clenched teeth. He was getting worse and they all knew it.

"He's right though," Botan started, turning to Ayumi. "More will break through now that the energy barrier is weakening. We have to get out of here." Ayumi gaped at her, already shaking her head before she could finish.

"Botan, I can't leave Yusuke here."

Botan laughed a little and held her hand out again as the bat disappeared. "I never said anything about leaving Yusuke here, silly girl." Yellow energy surrounded her hand again and with a quick electric spark she was now holding an oar. Ayumi was confused. Botan quickly stepped back through the window and hopped onto the oar side-saddled as it started to float. Ayumi gaped at her again. "We're going to take him to Genkai's. More than that, I'm taking you to Genkai's. You're no longer safe here. I have a plan," she explained, lowering her voice so only Ayumi could hear her. "They won't go after Yusuke, not when they know he's turning into one of them. There's no point. But he's resisting, and their orders are to take you back to Makai alive. And they'll try to do it whether Yusuke is one of them or not. So you and I will go on my oar and fly to Genkai's, which will also act as a decoy to keep them away from Yusuke, just in case."

Ayumi didn't know who Genkai was. "So how is Yusuke getting to Genkai's then?"

Botan smiled again. "Shizuru and Keiko are going to drive him there."

"Who?" Ayumi asked, lost. She knew who Keiko was at least.

"Kuwabara's older sister. I don't have time to explain everything, you just need to stay here and stick close to Yusuke. Try to keep him positive and distracted. The more the disease spread through him the fouler his attitude will get, so be patient with him." She started to drift off into the air. "And Ayumi!" she called back, smiling once more. "Don't be afraid!"

"Look, I'm not saying I'm afraid of the dark. I'm just saying it's getting really hard to see," Kuwabara said defensively. The trio had been walking for sometime within the cave, and it seemed to just keep going on and on and never end. What was worse, Kuwabara was right to be concerned. It was getting darker, and not just in the traditional sense. The air seemed thick with it, almost as if it could reach out and brush against the three fighters. It was giving Kuwabara the chills and making the two youkai very uncomfortable.

"It appears we've come across a bit of a puzzle," Kurama stated, coming to a stop. Hiei stopped beside him while Kuwabara kept walking, looking back at the two with confusion.

"What are you talking about? What puzz—" Kuwabara didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because he walked face first into a solid rock wall. "–Oomph!" he grumbled out, rubbing his face and glaring at the wall. "Who the hell put that there!?" Hiei scoffed with disbelief.

"What the hell is this, Kurama?" the hiyoukai asked, ignoring the human who was still grumbling about his face. Kuwabara may have been whining before, but he had a point. It was getting harder to see, even for the youkai's. Pretty soon even they would be walking blind. As it was, Kurama could only barely make out the rock wall in front of them, and he stared at it with a small frown. "We didn't miss a turn, did we? I swear if this cave turns out to be like the one Sensui was hiding in I'm going to be incredibly pissed off."

"No, I don't think that's it," Kurama started. "There weren't any other turns, otherwise I would have used the plant lights in order to guide us back, or at least tried to. But it's been a straight tunnel this whole time."

"Why aren't you using your light plants at all, by the way? I think they'd be a bit helpful in this darkness," Kuwabara suddenly asked, ignoring the stinging in his face. No doubt it was red, too. He smacked into that thing pretty hard.

"Apart from trying to conserve my energy, I am not actually sure those plants would grow in this place. The cave in the human world still had soil for the plant to grow. I'm not sure what we're walking on, but I'm fairly certain it is not dirt or soil."

Kuwabara could feel a few beads of sweat forming on his face as it turned a little blue, but he refused to look down at his feet. Not that it would matter since he couldn't see anyways. "Do we just destroy the wall?" Hiei suddenly asked, looking for a way around it.

Kurama shook his head, not that anyone could see it. "No, I don't think that would be wise. It's still a cave. Any serious damage to it and it could very well collapse. There has to be something we're not seeing."

Kuwabara scoffed. "Can't you just ask that guy what kind of game he's playing Hiei?" The Jagan glowed bright behind the bandana, but eventually dimmed back to nothing.

"No. He's not in a talking mood anymore. Figures." They all stood in the dark for a moment before Hiei let out a rather annoyed growl. "Fine, let's just do this." He tore his coat off and let it hit the floor, holding both of his hands in front of him with his palms up. There was a sudden heat wave washing over all three of them as Hiei gathered his youki and fire starting to crackle in thin ribbons over Hiei's arms. The fire gathered into the palm of his hands and finally erupted into full-fledged fireballs, hovering about an inch above Hiei's skin and surrounding his hand in a thin line of red heat.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes from the sudden light and squinted, looking away from Hiei. "Jeez, I guess that's one way to light the place up."

Hiei stepped in front of the wall and held his hands out, and now that Kurama was able to see, he let out a tiny noise of surprise. "I see. It's meant to ward off visitors. This must be how he's stayed hidden for so long. They reach it and think it's a dead end and turn back, if they even make it this far at all."

"Well how do we get around it?" Kuwabara asked. Kurama placed his hand on the wall and quickly began to feel the surface of it, bending low to the ground and doing the same thing. After a few moments of nothing happening, Kurama let out an impatient sigh.

"Come on," he started, beginning to flatly push against the rock wall with his hands. "There has to be a way in." He shoved his hands and attempted to push the wall. "If I could just—" he gave one last hard shove and before he could finish his sentence the wall turned like a revolving door, pulling Kurama in. He let out a startled cry and Hiei allowed the fire in his hands to disappear. He quickly grabbed onto the back of Kuwabara's collar and leapt forward, latching onto Kurama's ankle just as the rock wall turned completely, pulling all three boys into the crevice it had formed and back out the other side. All three wound up in a jumbled pile on the floor, the breath knocked out of them. It was an incredibly tight fit.

Kuwabara sat up with a groan. "Okay, that one hurt a little." He suddenly felt heat burning at his side and with a yelp he hopped up onto his feet and stumbled away, gripping his side. "What the hell was that?"

Hiei got up with a snarl, his hands still emitting a red glow. "What the hell do you think you idiot?" Kuwabara looked hurt.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For sitting on me," the hiyoukai seethed, standing up and brushing the dust off of himself. Kurama got up as well and gripped his head, groaning a little.

"That was unpleasant," he said mildly.

"Now how are we supposed to get out?" Kuwabara asked, pointedly ignoring Hiei now. Kurama gave a look back at the closed wall and narrowed his eyes at it.

"We can just blow it up for all I care," he muttered, clearly annoyed at the offending object. Hiei raised an eyebrow at him.

"What happened to the cave collapsing?" the hiyoukai asked.

"If we even make it back to this point, it won't matter. We'll be leaving. I just didn't want us trapped in here on the way in." He dusted himself off as well and with one last glare towards the wall he began to head deeper into the cave. "Let's just go."