Closer
Chapter 3: Hold Pt 1
With his past as a notorious and well-skilled thief, Kurama knew the importance of the waiting game. He knew how to hold still until the moment to seize his treasure arrived and he could snatch it quickly. His patience was illustrious and almost a source of pride.
Waiting on Botan, however, had proved difficult.
The morning after their drinking spell, when he'd found the deity had left without a word, had been frustrating to say the least. He'd fought the knee-jerk reaction to rush to Reikai and speak with her, instead he'd decided to give her the space she clearly needed. Admittedly, pulling her into bed with him had not been the wisest decision, but they hadn't done anything either might regret, or so he reasoned. But he recognized that sharing a bed had indeed opened the door to more illicit actions, despite nothing actually happening, and it was not something they'd ever approached or discussed before.
So he waited to hear from her, but the week that passed by was agonizing. To distract himself and to hopefully even bump into her, Kurama began venturing out more often to visit their friends. The Kuwabaras, being the social creatures they were, had a get-together on a weekly basis at the very least. Sometimes with just Kuwabara's friends, sometimes with just Shizuru's friends, or sometimes a mix of Yusuke, Keiko, Yukina, and the Kuwabaras and that was when Kurama tried to make his appearance the most.
But after a little over a month, there had been no sign of Botan at all.
Standing in the living room of the Kuwabara apartment while Yusuke, Kuwabara, and some of his college buddies played video games, Kurama was nursing his beer. Occasionally he would glance at the front door, wondering if Botan might pass through with her sweet smile and bubbly personality. He also wondered if waiting was moot and if he should just leave. It had only been an hour and being a weekend he had very little excuse to leave seeing that he had no plans. Lying would be easy, of course, but rude.
It was mildly surprising to see Hiei there, though he was certain the koorime was only visiting because of an off-handed remark Yusuke had made regarding Yukina and Kuwabara's budding romance. But Hiei had made little attempt at conversing with Kurama and had been focusing his energy on brooding and watching over his sister. His being there was, if nothing else, at least a slight source of entertainment and a decent distraction from the thoughts of Botan.
He groaned inwardly. Now he was thinking about her again, wondering what she might be doing.
It was almost laughable now that just a few weeks prior he'd wondered if separation from the deity might be good, yet there he was tormented by her absence.
His emerald eyes snapped over to Hiei, who stood in the opposite corner of the room smirking.
"It's rude to pry, Hiei," Kurama sent telepathically, earning another snide smirk.
"You should just go see her, idiot," Hiei responded flatly. Kurama went back to ignoring him. After a few minutes had passed, Hiei continued, "You could just ask any of these other idiots if they've seen her."
"Are you saying they know something?" Kurama raised an eyebrow and glanced at his dark friend, but received no answer.
Frustrated with the situation, yet again, Kurama walked to the kitchen to discard his beer and to come with a reason to leave but paused when there was a knock on the door. His heart had skipped a beat for the briefest of moments, but had calmed when he recognized the energy on the other side of the door has Seaman's.
The sandy-haired human made his way around the room, greeting everyone pleasantly save for Hiei, for which Kurama did not blame him. When Seaman had made his way to Kurama in the kitchen, the scarlet-haired man had already come up with a short excuse to leave. Yet, the human had surprised him by asking about Botan.
"I'm surprised Botan isn't here with you," Seaman started, catching Kurama off-guard.
"I'm sorry?"
"Well," Seaman said sheepishly, "I saw you two at a café. I thought you might be dating…"
Kurama smiled, hiding his inner mini-panic attack, "No, not dating, just friends out for coffee."
Seaman's expression changed, as if relieved that the kitsune and deity were not an item. It didn't sit well with Kurama, though he couldn't say why, and he wanted very much to steer the human away somehow. Before he could even reply, Yusuke joined them.
"You guys talking about Botan?" The Mazoku said, clapping a hand on Seaman's shoulder.
Seaman blushed lightly, "Uh, yeah…actually. I was kind of confirming something…I was hoping she'd be here. I wanted to ask her something."
Yusuke raised his brows and glanced at Kurama mischievously, obviously enjoying the idea of teasing Seaman and Botan endlessly, and completely ignorant of Kurama's growing irritation. "Well, that's too bad. We haven't seen her in a while. Last I heard she was down with some Reikai flu or something."
"What?" The other two men had asked in unison, Kurama ignored the suspicious blue-eyed glance he'd received and instead looked fixedly at Yusuke.
The black-haired man was unused to seeing his friend so…disturbed. Kurama's brows were knit together and his entire demeanor had changed. "Uh, yeah," Yusuke started slowly. "I tried giving her a call on the communicator and her friend answered. Ayame? Said Botan is sick."
"When was this?" Kurama asked, doing his best to remain cool in tone.
Yusuke looked at him suspiciously, studying him before responding, "It was a week or two ago. Ayame said she's been sick for a while. Apparently those Reikai illnesses can be pretty harsh. I'm sure she'll be fine soon."
"Yes, I'm sure," Kurama replied, easing back into general aloofness. Somehow, he managed to find the patience wait another half hour before departing to waive any more suspicion because the questioning stare from Yusuke and Seaman had not gone unnoticed.
He'd claimed to be heading home but had instead traveled to Reikai to seek Botan. Getting there was easy, of course, but finding where she lived would be another task.
Since become king, Koenma no longer resided at the prince's palace where the Spirit Detectives had met so often before, where just the year prior Koenma and his employees and friends had been held hostage. While it was still occupied with ogres, ferries, and other reigen employees busy as always, Koenma's office sat empty.
Kurama rapped his knuckles gently on the vacant desk with a small sigh before taking notice of an open drawer with multiple files. A quick scan showed Ayame heading towards the office, leaving just enough time for Kurama to nose through the files. He flipped through them quickly, checking the names listed on each one. The drawer was half full and he assumed that the deity must be clearing the cabinet out.
Most of the files were of people he didn't recognize, but at the very back were George's, Ayame's, and Botan's files. The opportunity was too good to miss and as Ayame steadily approached, Kurama quietly slid the folder into the interior pocket of his dark brown coat. He collected himself quickly before stepping a few paces away from the desk to appear natural just in time for the dark-haired deity to walk into the open office.
"Oh, Mr. Kurama, how nice to see you," Ayame said pleasantly. "What brings you here? If you're looking for the King I'm afraid he is unavailable."
The fox graced her with a genial grin, "Actually, I was looking for Botan."
Ayame's face fell, "I see. Unfortunately, she's been out sick for some time now. I've taken over her duties for the time being."
Scarlet brows furrowed, Kurama looked away from the ferry girl's lovely face. "Yes, I'd heard."
The ferry girl sighed sympathetically, "I'm not sure how much you know, but the Reikai flu is intense. Botan has been out for over a month now, but it can last for years."
"Years?" Kurama repeated, receiving a nod.
"Yes," she said. "It's also highly contagious to reigens. So she's been quarantined in her apartment since she started showing symptoms." A pregnant pause passed before she asked, "Would you like me to take you to her apartment? Youkai should be immune to the illness and I am certain she would enjoy the company."
The dark-haired deity led Kurama out of the palace and across a long, ornamental bridge decorated with Chinese lanterns and gold that stretched over the width of the River Styx. The sky was deep purple and orange as the sun began to set, and oarsmen and women flitted through the air carrying souls to their last destination. It was a different part to Reikai that Kurama had never seen before, one he wished to explore more.
It wasn't long before they two had passed completely over the river and came to a more developed urban area that looked much like the nicer neighborhoods of Tokyo. The paved sidewalks were lines with trees, flowers, and shrubs outside of every high-rise apartment building, of which Kurama couldn't tell how many there were. Though winter was quickly approaching it seemed that no one had alerted the flowers as their heavenly scent carried on the wind.
They approached a stark-white stoned apartment building that was hung heavy with flowered vines. Ayame stopped and pointed to the top most floor with a stone balcony.
"That's Botan's floor, she's the only apartment there." She informed him. "The elevator is just inside. I hope you have a nice visit." They bid their farewell and Ayame mounted her oar before flying off into the distance, back towards the palace.
Kurama debated on just utilizing he vines and climbing up to the balcony, but decided the more traditional approach might be more favorable.
The elevator was quick, and the 21st floor was eerily silent and empty with only a single door in the large hallway.
He'd raised his hand to rap on the door, hesitating for the briefest of moments to scan for Botan's ki and frowned slightly when he discovered how weak it was. He knocked once, twice, and a third time before his sensitive ears heard the shuffling of her feet approaching the door. His heart was thundering against his chest harder than it ever had before even a tournament fight. It was bizarre and maddening, but he swallowed down his breaths and waited.
The door cracked open ever so slightly and Botan's voice hoarsely whispered, "Hello?"
Sorry for the cliffhanger, I wanted to get this posted before going to bed! This fic is turning into something farm more than I'd expected it to and it will be changing quite a bit of FeO if you guys are following that one as well. So sorry for the delay in the update, I will be posting the second part ASAP! Thank you for your patience!