Silver

Summary: When Kurama gets afflicted by a deadly curse, Botan is the only one capable of curing him. Forced to go back in time to save him, Botan meets THE Youko Kurama. He's cold, belligerent and cunning. The best she could hope for is to settle the mission while trying to get him to at least stop looking like he wanted to kill her.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 3

It was more than a little terrifying to be honest. While Youko had ceased the murderous intent in his glares, Botan was abruptly reminded of the gruesome scene that had transpired earlier just as she slid into the warm, somewhat soothing water of the hot spring.

The petrifying sight of Youko's blood-soaked white robes as the fox demon stood proud in the midst of immense gore and countless corpses had been more than enough to send shivers down her spine. To say that she was relieved that he had at the very least discarded the notion of mercilessly butchering her would be an understatement - even if it was only for a little while, considering his blatant interest in the pendant around her neck. She had no doubt that he was undeniably plotting her demise once he got what he wanted, therefore she ought to keep her guard up around him.

Still, he could have easily ripped off the necklace if he wanted to, and yet he didn't. He was a thousand times stronger and faster than her, so why was it that he hadn't done something as simple as that if he really wanted it that badly?

Maybe he's just curious? Whatever the pendant was, it was painfully patent that it was valuable and most probably, powerful, enough to acquire Youko's scrutiny, to the point he had even been willing enough to spare her life to obtain it. Again, Botan wasn't quite positive for how long he would allow her to live, though she would rather not dwell on the concept of her feasible death.

If anything, she should be coming up with a believable enough story once he would interrogate her - god knows what he would do if he were to find out her bluffs, especially knowing that his nose was most likely more than fully capable of sniffing out any attempts at fabricating the truth. But of course, it wasn't as if she could outrightly announce that she was from the future. He would laugh out loud and probably tear her head apart from her shoulders.

For what it was worth though, there must be something about the pendant that was preventing him from simply snatching it away if he was inclined enough to let her stay in his domain, even if it was only for the sole purpose of monitoring her every move.

Botan pursed her lips, her mind barely registering the warmth seeping through her skin from the water around her as she considered something. Now would be a perfect time to contact Koenma for more answers, as knowing Youko, he would presumably never let her out of his sight after this. This could be her one and only chance - she had to take it.

After another millisecond of contemplation, the ferry girl eventually whirled around to where her pink-colored kimono was at, the soft sound of the water splashing scarcely perceptible as it accompanied her smooth twirl. Botan reached her hand into her sash, fumbling for something before her fingers finally came into contact with a familiar circular surface. She took out her communication mirror and flipped the lid open before halting in her actions as another thought crossed her mind.

What if Youko had some sort of plant scattered somewhere around the hot spring to act as a camera device or a spy for him so that he could figure out what she was up to behind his back? Or to serve as his ever so listening ear when he was apart from her? Knowing Youko, he would most likely have considered every means he could think of to either devour any piece of information that she would divulge in or keep her in check. Or both. Perhaps she should be more careful with her surroundings.

Taking a deep breath, Botan decided against looking around for a single hint of suspicious plants laid out all over the cavern as the action would only incite more scepticism, and instead opted for the texting function on the communication mirror in her hands.

She had been berating Koenma over implementing the recently added texting function - one wouldn't blame her if they chewed over the fact that it was a distraction for the freshly recruited batch of ferry girls who had been using it to gossip over meaningless topics during their shifts; which was deemed unseemly considering their important roles as guides for spirits of the dead. But right now, she couldn't be more grateful that Koenma was drunk enough to suggest it in their annual royal meeting in the first place. Not to mention, there was also an additional barrier function that permitted only her to see the contents of the communication mirror. To outsiders, it would simply seem like she was checking herself out in the mirror.

With her heart thumping in her chest in a high-pitched, accelerated tempo, Botan disregarded her trembling fingers as she repudiated the possibility of Youko seeing through her act. She typed the words on the small keyboard added to the device, the question that resulted from it being: Okay, Koenma-sama, I know it's too late to ask this but... What do you know about the necklace? And reply fast! I don't wanna get butchered and eaten raw like some piece of meat!

Botan swore to herself that she would drag Koenma to the pits of hell herself if he were to respond even a second later, but stifled her sigh of relief when the prince followed through with her commands. "Well, it's an ancient artifact known as The Augmented Necklace. To put it simply, it boosts the user's powers to be about ten times more powerful, at least. It depends. The pendant doesn't come off without the user's consent, so rest assured that Youko isn't going to try and purloin it from you. He's been wanting that for a long time - well, the past him that you're seeing now at least. He wants to reign over Raizen and Mukuro, and rule the Demon World."

So that was the reason behind him choosing not to kill her on the spot. He wouldn't be able to acquire the pendant without her permission. Well, at least that meant she was safe from any harm for a while… given that he wasn't going to use violence and torture her into submission. Her face was completely drained of color as the nausea returned full force and puddled in her stomach. However, she tried not to dwell on the quite likely scenario and instead fixated her thoughts on something else. The last bit drew her interest.

Raizen and Mukuro… So this is around the time when he betrayed Yomi? She contemplated as she tilted her head in consideration. But a frown soon nestled on her forehead as another revelation occurred to her. Hmm, no. He met Kuronue after Yomi… so I guess this is a few years after? Kuronue passed away, but I can't believe he's still holding on to that goal of his. Then again, that was probably one of the attributes from his past that he still retained even after gaining a human vessel and merging with Shuichi Minamino. Although his goals had altered over the years of keeping his human persona intact, the one thing that remained true to his personality was that he was quite stubborn when it came to what he wanted. She was thankful at least that it allowed her the opportunity to secure herself from a possible, impending doom.

Her line of musings were forced into an abrupt halt as she felt a vibration on her hand, looking down in time to see another message appear on the blinding white screen. "Another thing, Botan. I have a few details to tell you about the Wish Mirror. Rules, in fact."

Figures he would fill me in with all the details so late inthe game! Her mind roared as her irritation flared up from underneath her skin. Although, the annoyance was almost instantly cooled down as she realized that it was partially her fault for not inquiring for further information regarding the artifacts that accompanied her journey. What with everything that was going on, there wasn't much time to explain so for now, this would do.

What about it? Her response came in a brisk manner, as nervousness began to creep into her belly. She hoped none of the guidelines were particularly onerous to abide by. It was petrifying enough that she was stuck dealing with all this time-travel mess by herself.

"There isn't much to tell you, to be perfectly frank. It's the usual. No giving away the fact that you're from the future and whatnot. So you must be extra cautious not tolet your motormouth blabber on and on about unnecessary info."

"He doesn't have to word it like that…" Botan murmured under her breath as she pursed her lips forward in a tiny pout. Her brows furrowed into a deep frown from the slightly offensive remark, though there was no amount of shock in her system as this was Koenma she was talking to, after all. He would habitually insist on being a prick, and Botan was accustomed to handling the stress from his behavior. That said, however, he could be a little bit less forward with his insults. Regardless, her exasperated posture only persisted for a few seconds as another message sounded from the communication mirror.

"You can reset a few times, Botan. I suppose it's more like a respawn though, considering that you would simply have the chance of altering the course of time from certain checkpoints. I'll check back with you when I have the exact number. But be careful not to exhaust the rewind - going beyond the limited amount would result in harm befalling you. Therefore, ensure that you don't make too many blunders, especially not until I tell you the limit."

A sheepish set of laughter bubbled from the back of her throat involuntarily as she recalled back to the previous moments where she accidentally revealed her real name to Youko. Not to mention, she proffered him pretty ridiculous excuses to his demanding questions. She hoped that none of her foolish answers had minimized her chances of success, though it most likely already had.

Youko settled his fresh kill on the grass beside him, ogling for a moment as the greenery transformed into a tainted brown from the bright crimson blood soaking into the land. He flopped against the wooden bark of a tree, one leg propped up to his chest as he placed his right arm on his bent knee. Ichor dripped from his clawed fingers, prompting him to lap it away. The metallic taste lingered on the tip of his tongue for a millisecond before he spit the gore out from his mouth. He wondered if the girl would enjoy bear meat, before deciding that her preferences were of no importance.

The fox then proceeded to retrieve a miniature mirror from his left pocket, maneuvering his thumb to give the glassy surface a couple of soft taps before the reflector wobbled for a brief period for a time. When the ripples finally came to a halt, his reflection disappeared with it, giving way to another sight. Through the glass, his gaze was pinned on the blue-haired female that he had encountered from before. He observed her stroll around and take in her surroundings before eventually dipping one foot into the hot spring, almost as if testing to see if the water was safe.

After a while though, the girl seemed to be able to eventually relax as her once stiff shoulders slouched down in some form of consolation. What did she think he was going to do, slip in poison into the same place he often cleaned himself up? What a hopeless buffoon, he scoffed in his thoughts, somewhat offended that she was unwilling to take his word that he had no intention of hurting her. Yet. At the very least not until the moment that he would soon claim the pendant as his.

A single silver eyebrow rose to disappear into his bangs as the woman began undoing the red sash that kept her pink kimono in place. Youko only managed to catch a glimpse of the flushed, porcelain white flesh of her back before he diverted his golden orbs from the sight of her undressing herself. He was far from innocent, and undeniably had his own share of sexual escapades - many of which were one night stands. It was ironic, though. He had no qualms forcing his claws into anyone's gut, and yet he was unwilling to let himself stoop as low as voyeurism. Understandably it was a fetish for some people, but it was not his kink for certain. He had no interest in feasting his eyes on an unknowing woman who had not permitted him permission to watch. It's a different story if she lets me. The somewhat scandalous musing crossed his mind before he pushed the line of thought away with a shake of his head.

She was quite a delight to look at when he thought about it. If the circumstances were slightly better, he probably would have considered relishing in the act of bedding her. Humans weren't exactly his go-to, but they were perfectly fine when he simply desired to pass the time. Then again, taking into account her noisy and maddening demeanor, Youko then changed his mind as he decided that she wasn't worth his time. Perky and slow-witted girls like her brought out an excessively high amount of frustration from him.

Despite his mind racing with negative perceptions towards her, Youko kept his attention focused enough to be able to comprehend what was going on from the other side of the mirror. He slanted his head slightly in curiosity as she fetched what seemed to be another mirror from her clothes. He observed with a miniscule shred of interest for a short duration, before boredom quickly settled in on him as the only thing that he could see was her checking her own face through the reflection of the mirror. He would admit that he had his own narcissistic streak, though if she was going to stare at herself for that long, she was either very insecure or a little bit too proud of her appearance. Not that she looked that hideous, of course.

He waited for some moments for any sort of change in her behavior, but when nothing did, he placed his little mirror-TV back into its original place in the safety of his robes. For now, there was apparently nothing suspicious about her, but that didn't necessarily mean he was going to take his eyes off of her at all.

The sound of a twig breaking resounded in an echo as it reached her ears, and the alarming and unexpected noise caused fear blended with panic to assault every fibre of her being. Caught off guard, the ferry girl nearly dropped the communication mirror into the water, only to fortunately manage to catch it just in time before shoving it back into her kimono with a rate that could rival lightning itself.

"W-who's there?" she called out in what was supposed to be a brave declaration, but the tough front collapsed due to her voice rising in higher octaves in accordance to her spiked trepidation. There was a pause as she focused her gaze on the dimly lit passage that led to the hot spring where the sound had originated from, and another longer pause lingered before Youko eventually stepped out from the shadows.

"Oh, it's you!" Perhaps it was because she was aware of the fact that he wouldn't try to land a finger on her, but a sense of overwhelming relief flooded her as the terror of an intruder was instantly banished from her thoughts. However, this momentary repose was quickly replaced with a mixture of fury and embarrassment as she remembered her state of undress. She dove herself deeper into the water until her cleavage was no longer visible to his eyes, and only up to her head was what greeted his sight.

"Why are you here?" came the question soon after she calmed the fast beating of her heart as she pointed her forefinger at his direction in an accusatory manner. "Don't tell me you were watching me bathe? Pervert."

"As if I would even want to," Youko snorted out his counter-remark, craning his head back as he held his chin up high to regard her with an affronted expression. Crossing his arms over his chest, the fox simply added, "I was checking in on you to see that you haven't passed out from all that time submerging yourself in the hot spring. Not that I give even a splinter of concern over your well-being, but the pendant-"

"-is important," she continued for him and responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I know, I know. You wish to bombard me with a million inquiries, yes? Or are you just peeved that you haven't gotten your turn in the hot spring?" she went on with the sly taunt, emphasizing her teasing act with an impertinent grin tugging at her lips as she covered her mouth with one hand to bite back a girlish giggle. Perhaps it was because she knew that he wasn't going to do anything to her, but she at least felt comfortable enough to retain a playful bearing around him. "I must say, you are quite impatient, milord."

"And my patience is running thin," came Youko's feral growl immediately. Although, his words lacked the bite and threatening malice that would accompany this sort of intimidation tactic and was merely tinted heavily with fermenting annoyance. "Now, may I ask you to leave so that I can take my time cleaning myself up?"

The command was more than authoritative enough, but it startled an amused bouts of laughter out of her. "See? You are pissy because you haven't got your turn."

The thief muttered something that sounded awfully like a string of savage curses under his breath, but shrewdly opted against humoring her attempts at provoking him. Instead, he started to tug at the waistband of his pants, on the verge of snaking them down his legs when Botan vehemently threw her pair of getas at him.

Botan shrieked bloody murder just as Youko calmly and elegantly avoided her sandals, the footwear pummeling against the cavern wall instead before tumbling down to the stony ground in a discarded manner.

"Y-you idiot! Why would you start taking your clothes off now?" Her screams rose to newer heights as her embarrassment increased as well when he ignored her attempted assault and proceeded to continue where he left off. She whirled her head around and slapped her hands to her eyes to prevent herself from eyeing his naked body, scarlet coloring her neck and up to her entire face before reaching even her ears as the blood began to rush to her head.

"How prude." His scoffed out reply was uttered in an instant heartbeat. The poised, deep baritone of his voice harbored an underlying hint of mischief as he added for emphasis, "Have you never seen a naked man before? I take it you're a virgin then."

The somewhat insulting, somewhat cheeky jibe caused her face to become a more patent hue of red as aggravation mixed with embarrassment skyrocketed through her system. She involuntarily spun her head as she stammered for some moments at the unexpected frisky behavior from the fox, her arms crossed over her chest in an effort to supply herself with a little bit of coverage and nudity. But her angered features faltered for a fraction of a second as she spared only a fleeting glance at the well-sculpted abs on his stomach before forcing herself to reroute her eyes somewhere else.

Bad Botan! You were this close to staring at him in his birthday suit! Not that he's not hot though... ugh, snap out of it! She shook her head furiously to forswear the inappropriate musings from her mind. She blamed Yusuke for rubbing his perversion off on her. The ferry girl hugged herself tighter as she massaged both of her forearms with both hands. Although, the closed off posture only seemed to amplify her defensive posture as she offered her ruffled feedback, "Huh? Excuse you, mister, but what does my sex life have anything to do with you? I'll let you know that these eyes have had the pleasure of looking at sexy men for a few instances and- hey! You tricked me into telling you that, didn't you?"

"Stop flattering yourself, woman," he snorted at her, torn between feeling offended and taken aback at the sudden change of her choice of words. This girl was going to be the death of him with all those violent and ever-altering mood swings of hers.

Even so, perhaps the wise course of action for the time being is to get in her good books. He thought as he considered her for a moment. Even throughout their banter, and in spite of her seemingly comfortable disposition around him, he could still detect remnants of her fright towards him in the air. He had contemplated torture to sink his claws into the pendant, but he could see that the method would fail to work on her. She was scared, yes, but she seemed like the type that wouldn't budge no matter what he did to her.

He could tell, because even when undertones of unease lingered in her voice as they conversed back-to-back with each other, her eyes had not lost that sparkle of determination for even a second. She might be physically weak, but he was fairly confident that she had steeled her resolve enough not to crack under his brute force. Which meant that he was forced to take the pacifist route to get close to her.

"I didn't trick you into anything," he told her as if to remind her. "You compliantly proffered me that detail about your personal life yourself. It seems you have a habit of giving out information that you're not supposed to, hm?" His ever condescending tone returned as the teasing wisecrack rippled out from the back of his throat.

He eyed her facial features swapping between shock and fury before eventually settling on its transpose of her looking utterly afraid. Botan pressed her lips together to stop herself from snapping back with her own snarky jeer, and instead attempted to pay no heed to his goading towards her.

"I'm...going to leave now. My skin will get wrinkles if I stay for too long," she tried to excuse herself. "And don't look," she continued in a warning voice, intent on throwing something else in his direction again if he even dared to try. She was careful to keep her arms over the upper half of her body that was visible as she cautiously swam to the other side of the hot spring, not forgetting to take her clothes with her.

"Rest assured that I will not even pull an endeavor to even glance your way, much less watch you get dressed. I am not that interested in seeing how you look without your kimono on," came his snippy response, even if he had considered his attraction towards her earlier. At the very least she didn't pique his fascination enough to cause him to desire a night with her.

Botan felt somewhat insulted but relieved at his reassuring reply - or at least, as reassuring as it could be with his signature snobbish baritone and equally patronizing words. Nevertheless, she felt secure enough to slip on the leafy outfit he granted her a while ago before she folded her bloodied and torn pink kimono in a neat manner. Of course, all this she did without turning her back on him. She didn't have that much faith in him.

He was wise enough to even flutter his eyes closed in order to respect her wishes to not be seen. He remained unmoving, except for the irregular twitching of the fox ears at the top of his head, the gesture as if to listen in on whatever sounds she made so that he would be aware when it was alright for him to look again.

It was not until the sound of her footsteps tapping against the cold surface of the ground reached his ears did he finally open them again.

A/N: Quite an uneventful update. I was planning to make it longer but I'm quite under the weather right now so this is the best I could do at the moment. I promise the next chapter will be longer and hopefully more interesting!