|| * d u l c e * ||

Author Notes: Yay! I finally got Chapter 4 finished. Erm…actually…I got it done a long time ago. It's just that I've been on vacation and I've been swamped with other things to be able to post this up. Plus school just started for me. So yeah, please understand.

Anyhoo, I don't think there's really much to expect in this one. It's kind of a continuation to the previous chapter. =) Okay, my brain is fried and I have no idea really what to insert here. :P~~ So all I can say is enjoy the chapter, ne?

And would you be a sweetie and review this chapter? Suggestions would be nice. Hell, even flames would be great because then I know what it is that I'm doing wrong. Aritey. Have fun. =)

**

"Do you think you could sit down?" Botan requested. "I won't be able to do a good job if I can't see the top of your head."

"Whatever you say, Botan."

Shuuichi seated himself at the edge of the bed, crossing his legs Indian style. Botan went on her knees behind him and with her cuffed hand pressing against his head, she brought the comb in her free hand at the very top of his head and began combing his damp tresses.

Both teenagers had brushed their teeth without much difficulty except maybe fighting over who got to spit in the sink first resulting in both teenagers doing so at the same time. Botan, who wasn't about to get into another argument, made for a grab at the comb first which was positioned nicely on the bathroom counter beside the other bathroom materials.

She had an easier time combing her hair as her right hand was free of the cuffs. Shuuichi, on the other hand, had slight difficulty and Botan only stuck her tongue out at him in response. Finally deciding that it was pathetic for a boy his age to be having a hard time just combing his hair, she decided to offer him some help by combing his hair for him.

"Mm, Shuuichi, you have really nice hair," she commented with a smile as the comb glided through his red hair nicely and evenly.

"Mom used to say that to me when I was younger," he replied with a distant smile, a few memories flooding back to him.

"Hm. Do you miss her?"

"Yeah. I mean, I suppose I try not to think about the fact that I'm on my own and then I don't feel so lonely, but when I do think about it, the wave of reality that hits me is too much. I call her now and then just to have a conversation and ask how she is but most of the time, my schedule just doesn't permit me even that."

"I see," came her small voice. "But still, I consider you very lucky. I don't even get to communicate with my mother. Even if it is just now and then, that, to me, is considerably much better than not being able to talk to her at all."

"Look, B, I'm really…"

"No, don't," she cut him off, "I don't want your pity if that's what you're trying to offer me. That's really the last thing I need. …Someone's pity…" she trailed off with her last sentence, silence lingering between the two teenagers.

Shuuichi could feel that the moods had changed and he was sorry to have brought up the subject of parents.

"Are you done yet?" Shuuichi whined in an attempt to make the atmosphere lighter. "My hand's starting to spasm."

And indeed it was. His cuffed hand had been up the entire time while Botan had her hand pressed against his head.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Shuuichi. I'm almost done. Don't worry." She giggled.

Botan hurriedly ran the comb through the last strand of hair before letting out a victorious, "Done."

She leaned over his shoulder, her face only mere centimeters from his, and produced the comb.

Grinning and giggling at the same time, she asked rather mockingly, "Aww, is baby's hand still in pain?"

"Actually, it is still in some pain." He pulled his cuffed hand towards her bringing her arm around him.

"Wanna give it a kiss to make it feel better?"

She raised a brow and looked from his hand to him and back to his hand.

"Uh, right, maybe some other time."

Shuuichi closed his eyes and expelled a defeated sigh.

"Shuuichi?"

"You're right, Botan."

"Huh? I am?"

Emerald eyes coming back into view, Botan's confused lavender ones saw them flicker with a mischievous gleam as he inched his face closer to hers until the tips of their noses were touching.

"Now would be the perfect time for a kiss on the lips, right?"

To the everyday observer, it would have been quite miraculous that Shuuichi had not yet been rushed to the emergency room considering the number of times that he had been decked in the head.

Botan was huffing as her body began to twitch.

"I can't believe that I'm now in the position of being stuck to a complete pervert!"

She peered over the bed and onto the floor where Shuuichi's body lay sprawled, a big and satisfied grin smothered all over his face. At the image the boy presented Botan's features contorted into confusion rather than anger, which was what she was initially trying to impart.

"Why?"

Shuuichi looked up at her with a dumbfounded, but rather cute, expression on his face.

"Why what?"

"Why do you always try to…"

"Try to?"

He wasn't really asking; it was more an urging.

"Why do you always try to pursue what you know I won't let you have?"

Shuuichi was taken aback. He knew what she was going to ask before she had asked it but he had not anticipated the last part of her query. Sitting up and folding one knee towards him, he propped his cuffed arm on it and looked at Botan's fingers dangling lazily next to his own and looking as though he was trying to find the right words to say.

Botan fixed her gaze upon him and waited patiently for his answer. She, herself, had been quite surprised with her own question. She hadn't at all expected the words to have formed itself the way that they had. And what possibly disturbed her more than the question itself was the level of truth that it possessed.

Botan felt a slight movement and she immediately broke the recent chain of thoughts and looked at Shuuichi expectantly.

He had a goofy smile on his face as he scratched the top of his head with his free hand, the fingers of his cuffed hands lightly brushing Botan's every now and then.

"I guess I do what I do simply because…I like you."

At first she felt slightly shocked at such a calm answer but she cocked her head to one side and continued to look at him prodding him more on the subject.

"But you've only met me today."

"You're not like other girls I know that practically throw themselves at my feet in worship and that's probably why I felt some kind of attraction. And even if you do turn me away," he looked into her eyes making sure that his gaze penetrated her, his visage now serious, "I'll still try and pursue you because of the simple fact that I like you."

Botan listened with suspicion. She felt a deep skepticism for the words that he said, but deep inside, she was wishing that he meant it.

Smiling wryly as she watched Shuuichi loosely coupling his fingers with hers, she went on to add in a voice almost inaudible, "You're a sweet talker. No wonder why so many females flock to you."

Shuuichi was puzzled at her statement but didn't delve into it too greatly to realize it's simple meaning. Shrugging, he yanked his cuffed hand bringing Botan down to topple over him.

Botan blushed at their closeness and tried to wriggle free, but Shuuichi held onto her, his arm wrapped firmly but gently around her waist. He chuckled a bit, closing his eyes as Botan bit her lip, her head buried in the crook of his neck, completely and utterly scarlet.

"You really should be more careful, B. If I hadn't been down here to catch your fall, who knows what could have happened, right?"

"You're a strange one, Shuuichi," she said, her voice muffled.

She tried one more time to get off of him but his hold only tightened.

"You know, B, this position is kinda comfortable. I could get used to this."

Although she couldn't deny the fact that she, too, liked the way she was being held, she couldn't help but feel rather uncomfortable. And as if the gods had heard her silent wish, Shingo, who hadn't made so much as a whimper since they had entered the bedroom, began to bark.

"Huh?"

Shuuichi opened his eyes and looked at the pup upside down from his lying position on the carpeted floor.

"What is it, Shingo?"

The pup continued to bark and pranced about, a square case in the clutches of its teeth.

Shuuichi let go of Botan, much to her relief, and he took the case out of his pup's mouth. He grinned and showed the case to Botan.

"You up for it?"

Botan blinked.

**

"Shoot it! Get it in the head or something!" Botan shrieked as she pointed a finger maniacally at the big screen television.

Shuuichi chuckled and did as the girl beside him ordered.

After the first few minutes into the game, Botan's heart nearly stopped functioning, and Shuuichi almost thought he had to call the ambulance. She wasn't anticipating such intense graphics and zombies popping out at you at every other corner.

After the zombies brains had practically splattered and oozed on the screen, Shuuichi moved the character forward into another dark and ill-lit hallway. Botan looked at the large screen television with wide, expectant eyes half filled with terror and half filled with a thrill.

The moment another gruesome looking undead popped onto the screen, Botan clutched onto Shuuichi's arm and hid her eyes screeching at Shuuichi telling him to blow its guts out. Shingo, who was just as excited as Botan, was leaping on her lap and barking, most possibly urging Shuuichi to kill the zombies off as well.

"Chill out, Botan. It's just a game."

He smiled and looked down into her now dilated lavender eyes that had peeked up from wherever they had been hiding.

"Just a game? Have you ever seen Night of the Living Dead in color?"

She heard another gunshot go off in the speakers and she automatically hid her eyes again.

"Maybe that's what we should do, eh, B?" he started, his voice lined with a teasing. "Have a horror movie marathon?"

"What would make you believe that I'd wanna do something like that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you wanna cuddle."

"Perhaps it's you that wants to do the cuddling."

"Perhaps. I mean, it's the perfect excuse, right?"

Botan groaned but as soon as the speakers expelled a death-shattering scream of pain and terror, Botan literally flung herself onto Shuuichi, hugging onto him the best she could without twisting her cuffed wrist.

"Aww, is Botan scared of Resident Evil?" he taunted. "It's okay, babe. I'm here for you."

Botan glared at him.

"Are you mocking me?"

"No, of course not." His lips slightly turned upwards and his eyes began to glow. "Why ever would I do that?"

"Because you're Shuuichi! Isn't that reason enough?"

Shuuichi shook his head, a faint smile playing on his lips, as he cradled the girl who had miraculously gone from sitting beside him to sitting on his lap in a tenth of a second flat and reached over to turn off his Playstation.

"Had enough Resident Evil?"

"I think I've had enough of it like 2 hours ago, Shuuichi."

Shuuichi stood up with a surprised Botan still in his arms and carried her over to his bed and dropped her.

Botan bounced on the bed and looked up at the redhead who had a very broad and satiated smile on his face.

"Get comfy. This is gonna be a long night."

He raised his eyebrows suggestively as Botan looked on quite puzzled. It didn't take her long before his statement's dirty implication hit her like a rock.

"Oh! Go and crawl back into the gutter where you belong, Shuuichi!" She cried indignantly, turning her nose up in the air haughtily.

Shingo pranced towards the bed, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth goofily before hopping on the bed and into Botan's lap where he made himself comfy and lay down.

Botan smiled and began to pet the golden furred pup.

"See, now why can't you treat me as nicely as you treat my dog?"

"Because your dog's not perverted." She looked up at him with a toothy grin. "And because your dog's actually cute."

Shuuichi put his free hand to his chest and feigned hurt.

"Ouch! That hurt my feelings, Botan."

Botan giggled.

"I'm so sure that it did."

Shuuichi took a seat on the bed beside her and looked at her smiling face, perhaps trying to imprint the look of happiness into his memory. Once she stopped giggling long enough to look at him, she cocked her head to one side.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Botan's very cute."

Botan blushed and looked down.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, mister."

Shuuichi snapped his fingers.

"Damn! And I thought I had you there."

Both teenagers looked at each other before breaking into tiny laughter.

"I'm glad that I met you, B. Really. No joke this time."

"Yeah. I'm so sure."

She averted her gaze to the pup in her lap whose eyes had now drooped to a close.

"No. I'm serious." He lifted her chin slowly, bringing her eyes to meet his. "I haven't had this much fun with a girl before. Or with anyone for that matter."

"Oh yeah? What about Kitajima?" she shot.

She hadn't meant for it to trigger something in him, but unfortunately it did and for the first time during the entire time that they had been together, he frowned.

"Kitajima?"

"…Uh-huh."

He looked down at his lap, his eyes hidden behind wisps of red hair.

"She's just around, Botan. The feeling I  have with her compared to the feeling I have when I'm around you is completely different." He paused to look at her, his green eyes now glazed over.

"Maybe it was the feeling of loneliness that brought my attention to girls like her but that's it. I guess I was looking for someone to be with me because of fear of being alone. I was seeking solace within them, but they didn't have whatever it is that you have that could drive that fear away. They never meant anything except as devoted fans.

"But with you, not even lyrics, not words, can describe the way I feel. Being with you drives away the loneliness. I think ever since I've been working in the music industry, loneliness has been following me around, especially with mom not by my side. And somehow, being with you makes me forget all that.  I don't know what it is but I do know that I like you, Botan."

Botan's lips quivered a little at what he said before she abruptly turned her head away. She could feel her heart beating faster and when he had spoke, an alien but somehow familiar feeling had washed over her and she didn't like it.

I'm scared too… but I don't know what it is that I'm afraid of…

"Botan?"

"You know, Shuuichi, that was a really sweet thing to say."

She looked at him and smiled the best she could. Shuuichi thought he caught a glimpse of a sad twinkle in her eye as she spoke but shrugged it off as another one of his mind's delusions.

"I meant it, you know."

She looked at him for a moment, not saying anything, studying his eyes, looking for any signs of teasing or deceit, but she found none. Nodding, she picked up the sleeping pup and gently placed it on the side of the bed where he could sleep more comfortably.

No sooner had she done so, and she felt strong, slender arms wrap themselves about her and hoist her onto her captor's lap. Glancing over her shoulder, she was met with beautiful green eyes, the owner's face only mere centimeters from her own.

"You do believe me, don't you?" Shuuichi's voice had developed a more serious tone.

"…Believe?"

"The way I feel about you."

Emerald burned into lavender as Shuuichi's free hand began to stroke the blushing girl's cheek.

"Believe me."

It wasn't merely a stated request but an order lined with slight passion and feeling.

Minutes had ticked by before Botan's lips curved slightly into a subtle smile as she shyly turned her face away, away from his strong gaze and began to speak in a voice so soft that it was almost a whisper. But almost a whisper though it was, Shuuichi was still able to identify the tinge of singsong resonance within it indicating a delicate implication of flirtatious teasing.

 "Oh, I don't know if I should, Shuuichi. I mean…"

"You know, whenever my mom thought I was hiding something from her, she'd always have a way to get me to come out with it."

"Oh?" came her innocent response. "And you think that the same can be done to me?"

Shuuichi's serious eyes brightened with the same kind of laughter from earlier as his lips broadened into a large smile, his sharp canines very visible only enhancing the image of a predatory attack.

"Yeah, this technique never fails!"

"Oh really?" she mocked.

"Most definitely. Mom always used to…"

Shuuichi stopped short of his sentence as his own content laughter intermingled with Botan's hysteric giggling.

His deft hands had caught the blue haired girl off guard as he pinned her down and began tickling her, showing no mercy. Tears of laughter had begun to materialize in her eyes as she simultaneously struggled to squirm out of his hold and pry his hands from her stomach and side. 

"Shuuichi… st… stop…" Botan pleaded in between fits of uncontrollable laughter, "…okay… stop… please!!"

"Stop?" He asked amused still not yielding to her request to stop.

"Yes! Please!"

"Then do you believe me?"

"Uh…n…no."

"No? You sure?"

His voice was sly as he reached with one hand to attack her collarbone.

"No! I believe you…"

"What was that? Couldn't hear you there, Botan."

"Shuuichi!!"

"What? I still haven't heard what I wanna hear."

"I believe you! I believe you! Now quit, please!"

Shuuichi chuckled and halted his vigorous tickling. The panting girl beneath him was trying desperately to stop laughing and catch her breath lest she should suffocate.

Her giggling finally dying down some, she opened her eyes to look at Shuuichi who still hadn't moved from his position on all fours, his legs trapping her own, one hand on her collarbone and shoulder while his other clutched at her side.

He grinned in victory when she finally shot him her first sweet smile as she wiped the tears away from her face.

"You like that, B?"

His eyes popped open when he felt slender fingers brush against his cheek.

"Hmm?"

"…Shuuichi… you're an idiot …"

"…I'm an idiot?"

Botan shut her eyes momentarily and nodded, the small smile still playing on her tender lips.

"Yuh-huh. A really big idiot."

"Why do you say that?"

"…Because Botan says so…"

"…Alright…Shuuichi is an idiot then, right? But Shuuichi's not an idiot to see that Botan is…beautiful."

Botan's eyes fluttered open with a start as she felt warm, moist lips press against her own.

Her heart pounded rapidly within her chest and her breathing had expedited, but upon the feeling of his fleeting fingers inching their way up her neck and to her jaw line where he held it at rest for support, and perhaps as an insinuation for her to allow him entrance, she began to relax and slowly parted her lips, to her astonishment and delight.

As if her mind had lost control of her body, her free hand slowly crept to the young singer's crimson hair where it entangled itself with his now dry tresses, her restricted hand linking with Shuuichi's fingers.

Perhaps it was their own little seven minutes in heaven, the kiss gradually becoming stronger and perhaps overflowing with a passion foreign to Botan before her main functional unit suddenly retained its control over its subordinates and ordered them to pull away from Shuuichi, though her body screamed for more.

Slightly pushing him back, he looked into her now tear-stained face with genuine worry.

"What? Are you okay, Botan?"

"…Mm…no. …Shuuichi, this…this isn't right. I'm sorry."

She immediately turned her face away, biting her lip all the while as she waited for Shuuichi to release her.

No sooner wished for and it was done.

"No, it should be me that should be sorry, B. I…"

"Just forget it, Shuuichi. Please."

Shuuichi stayed silent, watching the girl beside him, who had curled herself into a tiny ball her back to him.

"It never happened, okay? It didn't happen."

Figuring that the subject should not be broached any further, Shuuichi heaved a sigh and surrendered.

"…Okay. It never happened then. Sorry." Shuuichi reached over to switch off his bedside lamp before getting back on the bed facing his back to Botan. "Night, Botan."

Minutes ticked by and he did not receive an answer from the blue haired girl beside him.

…I shouldn't have kissed her…

Yeah. You shouldn't have. But…

Am I really that desperate? …Am I really that lonely? …To go so far as to say that I'm sprung over a girl I've just met?

Perhaps…but will your heart really allow you to say that she's "only a girl you've just met"

…No…

I didn't think so.

Botan began fidgeting but the tears in her eyes continued to flow.

Why?

Why what?

Why am I crying?

Because you're afraid.

Afraid of what?

…Attachment.

And somewhere in the depths of her subconscious, a little girl sat huddled in a dark corner with the same sad lavender eyes and tear-streaked face waiting for the parents that had left her a long time ago.

Sleep finally getting the better of her, her lips were able to mumble one last thing before slumber became her escape.

"…Night…Shuuichi…"

**

Final Notes: Wowie. What do you know? Sorry the ending came out kind of dramatic. It's just well…that's just how the plot goes people. Bear with it for now. I promise that this all has a reason. =) A good reason.

As for Kurama. ^-^;; Sorry about his being forward and touchy and flirty and…well the list goes on. I'm going for a Kurama with a different personality. More of his kitsune side. Haha! It's funny like that.

And about Chapter 5. Hmm, as you all can probably tell, I end up saying one thing and it never happens. I say I'll have a chapter come this weekend but it never happens. So I won't say anything anymore. I don't have the ability to predict my schedule as well as I would like to so that I can plan when to write and post better. Otherwise, I'd actually come through. So all I can promise is that Chapter 5 will eventually come out. And I'll try, though I can't guarantee, not to make it such a long wait. Aritey. =)

Thanks for the support all of you! It makes me want to write more. Really, it does. You guys are the bestestest. Haha. Some of your constant nagging is really a big help. Seriously. ^-^

Lastly, standard disclaimers apply. Yuu Yuu Hakusho and its characters do not belong to me…although I did happen into Togashi Yoshihiro and bought Hiei off of him so now he's my property. Yup. He has my name stamped on his bootay. Joke. All the usual disclaimer "yadda yadda" goes here. You know the drill. :D