Chapter 96
Before letting Shizuru fix their hair, the sisters had first excused themselves so they could get cleaned up, Shizuru smiling in response as she understood.
"It's not a problem, because it's better to have hair fixed up when it's clean," said Shizuru. "Besides, I need to get my hair-styling kit anyway."
The sisters nodded in response as they smiled, Shizuru leaving to hers, Botan's, Keiko's, Yukina's suite a moment later. Just when they were about to go shower, Botan had gotten their attention.
"Do you girls want anything to eat?" asked Botan. "Because you look hungry."
The sisters hesitated as their stomach felt as if they were in knots.
"You need to eat something!" Keiko snapped. "I was told that you were beaten up really bad and eating something will help you feel better!"
The sisters didn't like Keiko's naggy attitude, but decided to tolerate it.
"Maybe a little later," said Kiyoko.
"Yeah, we'd rather cleanup first before thinking about food," Etsu agreed.
"I guess that's reasonable," said Keiko.
"Maybe we can get you something to drink while you get cleaned up," Yukina suggested.
The sisters smiled as they appreciated Yukina's suggestion.
"Yeah, that sounds nice," the sisters replied.
While the sisters went into the bathrooms connected to their bedrooms to shower, Botan and Keiko debated of what drinks they should get for them as Yukina watched from the sidelines.
"Maybe we should get them some beet juice," said Keiko. "It should help their stamina!"
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Botan disagreed. "The last time someone tried to have them drink beat juice, it didn't turn out so well."
"Why- what happened?" asked Keiko.
"Well... Etsu snubbed her nose at it by "accidentally" tipping the glass of it over," started Botan.
"That's just wasteful!" Keiko exclaimed. "Not a too bad reaction, but still wasteful!"
"Kiyoko's reaction was much worse, Keiko," Botan continued. "She basically caused a natural disaster."
Yukina gasped as she placed her hands over her mouth while Keiko exclaimed.
"Over beet juice?!" Keiko exclaimed. "How entitled!"
"That was back when they were preteens so they've gotten better since then," Botan explained. "Still, nobody ever attempted to have them drink beet juice again. Especially Kiyoko."
"If that's the case, then why not give them beet juice anyway?" asked Keiko, still appalled. "Or at least get them some tomato juice?"
"I still think it would be better to get them something that they would like," Botan replied. "It's not a sin for them to refuse what they don't like and they are Spirit World royalty after all."
"I don't care if they're royalty or not!" Keiko snapped. "They shouldn't be so choosy nor should it be encouraged!"
"They're not as choosy as Koenma and nobody's encouraging them- it would be better if you tried to get to know them, because telling you how they are won't do them justice," said Botan, suddenly addressing Yukina. "Do you have an opinion to what to get for Etsu and Kiyoko, Yukina? I was thinking about getting them something other than soda."
"How about tea with some honey?" Yukina suggested.
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Etsu had turned on the shower, checked the temperature of the water to discover that it was just right, and was about to get undressed until she remembered the vial as she took it out of her jeans pocket and looked at it in her hand.
'Now seems like a right time to take this,' thought Etsu. 'I'm not planning on leaving this suite for awhile so it should be fine."
Etsu had uncorked the vial, drank the amber liquid, disposed of the vial, got undressed, and stepped into the shower. Once she was finished showering, she dried herself off, put on fresh undergarments, and got dressed into her fighting clothes instead of jeans and a t-shirt for some reason. She didn't know why, but shrugged it off without giving it a second thought as she went into the bedroom to brush her hair and put her necklace and bracelet back on before going into the other room.
'I need to call housekeeping in a little bit,' thought Etsu, looking at the dirty linens on her bed. 'I'd hate to bother them, but the sheets need to be changed.'
Etsu remembered that housekeeping usually changed the sheets when nobody was in the hotel rooms, but decided to worry about it after Shizuru had fixed hers and Kiyoko's hair.
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Kiyoko was pretty annoyed as she had gotten her shower ready. She didn't see how she and Etsu was supposed to get along with Keiko who was so naggy and judgy. Especially since she had given her chance after chance, but decided to stop thinking about the issue for the time being.
'Yusuke puts up with her so maybe I should just deal with it,' thought Kiyoko. 'Not to mention that Etsu's tolerating her the best she can.'
While Kiyoko was getting undressed, she heard a noise once her jeans hit the floor and picked it up to take out the vial in her pocket, dropping the jeans back onto the floor.
"I almost forgot all about this thing," Kiyoko said to herself. "Guess I should take it right now."
Kiyoko uncorked the vial, drank the amber liquid, tossed the vial into the wastebasket, finished getting undressed, and stepped into the shower. After showering, Kiyoko had dried herself off, put on fresh undergarments and put on her fighting clothes instead of jeans and a t-shirt without knowing why, but didn't think much about it as she went into the bedroom to brush her hair before going into the other room. She had momentarily saw the linens on her bed that was soiled with her blood from her wounds and shrugged.
'I'll worry about it later,' thought Kiyoko.
Kiyoko had proceeded to brush her hair a moment later.
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After talking it over, Botan, Keiko, and Yukina agreed on what drinks to get for the sisters. Botan was about to pick up the phone until Shizuru came back with her hair-styling kit and a bag of drinks.
"I suppose they're not done yet," Shizuru assumed.
"Not as far as I know," said Botan. "They're probably relaxing."
"I don't blame them considering what happened to them a while ago," said Shizuru, putting the bag of drinks and hair-styling kit on the table. "Anyway, I've decided to get some drinks so they can unwind."
"What kind of drinks did you get?" asked Yukina.
"A mixture of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks," Shizuru replied. "Since I didn't want to assume what they'd like, I decided to play it safe and picked out a variety of things."
"Good thing you did," said Botan, suddenly keeping herself from laughing "Because Keiko wanted to get them beet juice."
"I doubt that they'd attempt to get along with you if you went through with getting them something as disgusting as beet juice," Shizuru remarked. "Because if anyone had gotten me anything like that, I'd shove it down their throats."
"It's supposed to help with stamina!" Keiko protested. "How do you think I get through the school day without getting dragged down?!"
"Do whatever floats your boat, Keiko," said Shizuru. "But just don't get someone a drink they may not like unless you know for sure."
Keiko huffed in defeat, the sisters coming into the room a moment later.
"Are you girls feeling better after your shower?" asked Botan.
"A little, yeah," Kiyoko replied.
"Well, it is nice to be clean," Etsu agreed.
"Who wants to have their hair done first?" asked Shizuru
To decide who'd have their hair done first, the sisters played a game of rock, paper, scissors. Keiko wasn't amused as she thought that it was childish, but decided not to say anything. Etsu had won this time as she had chosen paper while Kiyoko chose rock.
"I guess Etsu goes first then," said Shizuru.
Etsu had sat down in a chair provided by Shizuru as Kiyoko sat down next to Botan. Shizuru started by brushing Etsu's hair as she wondered how to style her hair.
"You have such beautiful hair," Shizuru complimented. "It would be a shame to cut it."
"It won't bother me if you do," said Etsu. "Just chose something something that would look good on me."
Shizuru didn't respond as she pondered of how to fix Etsu's hair until she suddenly had an idea.
"I've just thought of something," Shizuru finally said. "I'm positive that it's going to look great."
Shizuru had sorted out her hair-styling kit and proceeded to work on Etsu's hair. While Etsu's hair was being cut and styled, Kiyoko had looked through the bag of assorted drinks and picked a can of strawberry lemonade.
"You're picking that?" asked Keiko.
"Yeah, so?" Kiyoko answered with a question. "What's it to you?"
"Botan said that it'd be best if you didn't drink anything sugary," said Keiko. "And that looks like it has a lot of sugar!"
Kiyoko shrugged in response as she started to drink her strawberry lemonade, ignoring Keiko's huffy attitude.
'Oh dear, Keiko's not even trying to get along with Kiyoko,' thought Botan. 'I just hope Kiyoko will be patient with her.'
"What's exactly your problem with me, Keiko?" asked Kiyoko, getting annoyed with Keiko's bad attitude. "You've been so judgy of me for whatever reason for a long time now."
Just when Keiko was about to reply, Shizuru had announced that she was finished with Etsu's hair. Etsu had taken a hand mirror that Shizuru had given to her so she could see her new hairdo. Her hair had been cut shoulder-length with bodied angled layers that had framed her face.
"What do you think?" asked Shizuru.
"It looks great!" Etsu replied.
"It looks lovely!" Botan agreed.
"Yeah, it suits you, Etsu," Kiyoko also agreed.
"Thank you," said Etsu. "And thank you for fixing my hair, Shizuru."
"No problem," said Shizuru. "It's your turn, Kiyoko."
Etsu went to sit down next to Yukina as Kiyoko went to sit down in the chair so Shizuru could fix her hair. While Kiyoko was getting her hair fixed, Etsu looked through the bag of assorted drinks and picked out a can of pineapple juice. Yukina looked at Etsu's hair as she wanted to touch it, but not without asking first.
"Etsu, do you mind if I touch your hair?" asked Yukina. "It looks so nice and soft."
Etsu was puzzled of why Yukina wanted to touch her hair all of a sudden, but decided to not overthink it as she replied.
"Sure," Etsu replied.
Yukina ran her fingers through Etsu's hair to discover that it was indeed soft and silky to boot, but withdrew her hand as she saw that it had made her uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Yukina apologized. "I just couldn't help myself."
"It's okay, Yukina," said Etsu. "I'm just not used to people making a big deal of anything about me."
"I've just noticed that your blond highlights shows more now that your hair's shorter," Keiko pointed out. "That's probably why Yukina wanted to touch your hair."
"Puu," Puu agreed.
"And it does look soft," Keiko added. "I wish my hair looked that good."
"She probably just shampoos and conditions her hair just like everyone else," said Shizuru. "Kiyoko's hair is just as soft and silky, but I sure did have to get rid a lot of split ends."
"It's not surprising that they'd have a lot of split ends, because their hair would occasionally be put through the wringer whenever they were on a case," Botan explained. "King Yama had to send them to Spirit World spa every once in awhile."
"I think that spa is the only thing I miss about Spirit World," Kiyoko recalled fondly. "They had cocoa bean mud baths."
"Me, too," Etsu agreed. "Don't forget about the massages."
"Yeah, best vacations ever," said Kiyoko, blushing. "It would have been even better if my masseuse was Kurama."
"Stay still, Kiyoko," said Shizuru. "I'm almost done."
"Are you and Kurama planning on getting married?" asked Keiko.
"Kurama and I have talked about it, but he hasn't proposed yet," Kiyoko replied. "Probably because it's not the right time yet."
"Oh, so probably after he graduates- that makes sense," said Keiko. "It must be an awkward relationship considering-"
Before Keiko could finish, Kiyoko had shot her a glare that dared her to complete her comment.
"You're going to make me mess up, Kiyoko," Shizuru complained. "I promise that it won't take much longer to finish."
"Sorry," Kiyoko apologized.
"Their relationship really isn't all that awkward if you knew how long they knew each other so it's no surprise that they'll marry someday," said Botan. "The real question you should be asking is if Etsu and Hiei plan on getting married."
"Not that it's any of your business, but we haven't talked about it," Etsu replied. "As long as we're together, it doesn't matter if we get married or not."
"No offense, but Hiei doesn't seem to be the marrying type," said Botan. "Though, who knows? Crazier things have happened and you both seem to make each other happy."
Etsu didn't say anything as she didn't know how to respond, but Kiyoko was furious at Botan for her assumption. She wanted to tell them all that Hiei had planned to propose to Etsu, but knew she had no place to spill the beans as she forced herself to keep her mouth shut, Keiko speaking up a moment later.
"You really shouldn't assume, Botan, because you'll never really know what'll happen," said Keiko. "I still remember when Yusuke had gotten hit by a car just to keep a little boy from getting hurt. Just about everybody at school had already written him off before then, but then that happened and even Mr. Takanaka was surprised."
Botan knew that Keiko had a point, because Spirit World had also written Yusuke off well before he had pushed the little boy out of the car's way. However...
"I guess you're right, Keiko," said Botan. "But the thought of Hiei considering getting married is a big pill to swallow."
"Did you not hear what I just said?" asked Etsu. "We don't need to be married to be committed to each other."
"But don't you want to get married?" asked Keiko.
Etsu was about to reply until Shizuru had announced that she was finished with Kiyoko's hair. Kiyoko had looked into the hand mirror to discover that she was given the same hair cut and style as Etsu's, feeling slightly annoyed by it.
"I thought since you're twins, I'd give you the same hair cut," Shizuru confessed. "And before you complain, it's not like you're identical or anything. People would have to be blind to not tell you two apart."
"Well, at least it'll be easier to maintain so thank you," said Kiyoko, not feeling like arguing. "And it does seem to suit me as much as it suits Etsu, too."
"I think it's cute that you were given similar hair styles," Botan gushed.
'Of course you'd think so,' thought the sisters.
"I agree with Botan," Keiko agreed. "It makes you look fiercer."
"Yes, it does," Yukina also agreed. "It also makes your eyes pop."
The sisters suddenly smiled in gratitude until they remembered that they had to call housekeeping so they could have their suite cleaned up.
"Mind if we go to your suite?" asked Kiyoko. "Because housekeeping needs calling."
"Yeah, and they can't do their job if we're in their way," Etsu added.
Botan, Keiko (holding Puu), Shizuru, and Yukina had agreed, they and the sisters leaving right after housekeeping was called.
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Hiei had caught wind of the conversation between Etsu and Botan in the sisters' suite via his Jagan eye, but didn't give Botan's remarks a second thought as he knew that she didn't know what she was talking about. However, he was bothered by Etsu's indifferent attitude towards marriage as she wasn't really indifferent about anything.
'Why am I even bothered about this for?' thought Hiei. 'They were being nosy so she obviously brushed them off.'
Despite this, he wondered if Etsu would really accept his proposal or not, but knew that it wasn't the time to think about it and continued with his training for the finals.
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Once getting to Botan's, Keiko's, Shizuru's, and Yukina's suite, the sisters had sat down as they finally started feeling the effects of the amber liquid given to them. They yawned as they started to feel tired, Botan and Yukina noticing.
"Are you two okay?" asked Yukina.
"We're okay," Kiyoko replied.
"Just tired," Etsu added.
"How can you be tired?" asked Keiko. "It's not even sunset yet."
"Well, they did go through a lot today," Botan pointed out. "So, it makes sense of why they'd be tired."
Keiko had considered Botan's assumption, but Shizuru didn't as she could barely sense the sisters' Spirit Energy. She couldn't describe it other than that it seemed their Spirit Energy was being temperately disabled for some other reason. She decided that the best thing to do was to mind her own business as she didn't really think it was anything to be concerned about.
"Oh, that reminds me," Botan recalled. "You girls didn't eat anything yet, have you?"
"No," the sisters replied.
"Why don't you girls take a little nap while I order us all something to eat," Botan suggested. "You can each sleep in one of our beds."
"You sure?" the sisters asked.
"Of course, sillies," Botan replied.
"I don't mind if one of you slept in my bed," Yukina agreed.
Keiko had pursed her lips as she thought that Botan was giving them the excuse to be rude, Kiyoko noticing her displeased expression in her peripheral vision.
"Well, if you insist," said Kiyoko, getting up. "I mean, a thirty minute to an hour nap won't hurt."
Etsu was puzzled as to why Kiyoko had a smart-ass tone in her voice until she noticed the look on Keiko's face and finally understood, forcing herself not to facepalm.
"I guess I'll sleep in Yukina's bed then," said Etsu, also getting up. "Are you sure that you don't mind, Yukina?"
"Not at all," Yukina replied. "I want you to be well."
Etsu thanked Yukina and went to Yukina's room so she could lay down and go to sleep. Satisfied that she had gotten under Keiko's skin, Kiyoko had went into Botan's room and went straight to sleep as soon as her head had hit Botan's pillow. Now that the sisters were no longer in the room, Keiko had grumbled and complained about Kiyoko's obnoxiousness.
"I just can't even with that girl!" Keiko complained. "Etsu I can manage to get along with, but Kiyoko is just plain insufferable!"
"It's just a guess, but maybe it's because you're being a little uptight," said Shizuru. "Sometimes you have to be patient with people who have certain attitudes."
"Etsu is sort of passive aggressive at times so you shouldn't write her off, either," Botan added, suddenly changing the subject. "Anyway, I'll order us something to eat after I call Koenma."
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Koenma was sitting on the sofa in his suite while he was waiting for his room service he had just ordered. George was about to tell him that Yusuke had resumed sitting in front of the cave until he noticed that he was deep in thought and wondered what he was thinking about, but decided not to ask. What Koenma was thinking about was the conversation he and his sisters had with Suzuki before he walked off in denial. He tried to forget about it, but it had stuck with him as he couldn't get it out of his mind.
'Why am I still thinking about this?' thought Koenma. 'What that joker suggested is ridiculous! Father favors the girls over me for crying out loud! And the girls are 100 percent Reikai so there's no way that we don't share the same mother.'
That's when Koenma realized that his latter thought was never verbally suggested by Suzuki. It was he himself who had came up with the allegation without realizing it. He had questioned himself if he had subconsciously always suspected as much since his sisters were different from the rest of Spirit World, suddenly brushing it off as paranoia.
'I shouldn't think such ridiculous thoughts,' Koenma scolded himself. 'My sisters possess only Spirit Energy and their it's their personality to be indifferent about certain things they deem questionable.'
The sudden ringing phone had snapped Koenma out of his thoughts and answered it to discover that it was Botan as she had spoken first while she wept.
"I don't how much more I can take this, Koenma," Botan cried. "First, Toguro killed Genkai and just a while ago-"
"Calm down, Botan," Koenma interrupted. "Are you alright?"
After Botan had sighed in an attempt to calm down, she explained the details of what happened to the sisters to Koenma, alarming him.
"Whaaaattttt?!" Koenma exclaimed. "Are they all right?!"
"They're fine now, Koenma," Botan reassured. "Yukina and I helped heal them. They're taking a short nap in mine and the other girls' suite right now."
Koenma sighted in relief and was about to snap at Botan for alarming him until she started crying again.
"You should've seen how terribly hurt Kiyoko was!" Botan cried. "If Kurama weren't there then-"
"You've got to calm down, Botan, because I doubt that my sisters had intentionally gotten themselves in such a situation," Koenma interrupted. "Not defending Toguro by a long shot, but I don't think he planned for his teammate to do such a thing to them since he does want to win them as his prize."
Botan didn't say anything as she let Koenma continue.
"Not to mention that my sisters were in gruesome situations before and survived much worse," Koenma continued. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't hear about the situation from my sisters, did you?"
"Well, Kurama told me what he knew and Kiyoko told me that Toguro's teammate had tricked both her and Etsu," Botan replied. "It was also mentioned to me that the offender has some sort of obsession on Kiyoko for the longest time and Etsu was recently targeted by his obsession."
This information didn't surprise Koenma considering that his sisters had gained countless of obsessive enemies as well as allies in their years of fighting for Spirit World or whatever else they fought for.
"You know as well as I do that the girls are going to run into trouble especially since we're on an island full of demons and corrupt humans," Koenma pointed out. "I know that you occasionally worry about their livelihood like you're doing now, but you're actually doing them a disservice as they're very much capable of getting themselves out of sticky situations whether or not they have help."
"I know, but after Genkai- I just-" stared Botan. "I guess it was too much to handle."
"All that matters is that they're all right and you shouldn't worry," said Koenma. "What matters now is getting through tomorrow's finals. I'll be going to check on Yusuke later so I'll be asking my sisters if they want to come along."
"All right, Koenma," said Botan.
"Talk to you later, Botan, because my room service just arrived," said Koenma. "Toodles!"
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After getting off the phone with Koenma, Botan remembered that she had to order room service for everyone in the suite including herself. She picked the phone back up, called room service, put in some orders, hung up a moment later, went to check up on the sisters to see that they were all right and sleeping peacefully, and went to sit back down in the living room area with Keiko (holding Puu), Shizuru, and Yukina.
"Are you all right, Botan?" asked Yukina. "I thought I heard you crying a little while ago."
"Oh, I'm just fine, sweetie," Botan cheerfully replied. "It's nothing for you to worry about."
"Did you call room service?" asked Keiko.
"I sure did," Botan replied. "I've ordered us all some of Etsu's and Kiyoko's favorites!"
"Why?" asked Keiko.
"You did say that you wanted to get to know them, right?" Botan reminded. "One of the ways to get to know someone is learning about their favorite things."
The idea didn't bother Shizuru as long as whatever Botan ordered them to eat was good while Yukina was also pleased as she liked to get to know them better.