~*~*~*~*~Chapter 12~*~*~*~*~

Arisu regarded her brother gruffly; arms folded across her chest and lower lip stuck out in a disappointed pout. After a moment of forced silence she couldn't stand it any more and burst forth with her opinion, "Are you sure you want to do this one? I mean, that Chinese water torture sounded fantastic!"

Hakuma didn't bother looking at her as he answered, "Quite sure. It's perfect." With a devious smile playing across his thin lips, he lifted into view a small wooden chest, no larger than a breadbox and balanced perfectly on the tips of his fingers. The wood was a polished mahogany and shone with its deep reddish hue as the sun glistened off its surface. It's edges and corners were gilded with undulating vines of gold with tiny exquisite leaves clinging from them. Its lock, also surrounded with golden vines and leaves, was set with an emerald that sparkled with green radiance.

From his pocket, Hakuma withdrew a small delicate key. Its uneven edges were made to fit the small keyhole under the emerald.

"This box while cause more damage than that ridiculous water torture ever could," he stated, rubbing the key's teeth with a pale finger.

Arisu was far from changing her mind, "But you don't even get to watch!"

Hakuma's gray eyes flashed agitatedly, "The point is that he suffers."

His sister rolled her eyes, "If you say so..." She unfolded her arms and started digging through the bag that hung from her shoulder, "Oh, and I went and got the information you wanted. Now, where did I put that-Oh! Here we are-You were right. He's no human." Arisu flapped a small packet of papers she'd fetched from her bag in front of Hakuma's face.

"I thought so," he said, taking the packet from her and flipping through it. He stopped suddenly and his features filled with alarm at what he saw written on the page.

"Youko Kurama? The famous thief?"

Arisu nodded and withdrew a stick of gum from her bag, she unwrapped the stick and popped it in her mouth, "Yup...Mind blow, isn't it? Thought the dude was dead..."

Hakuma gulped, "As did I." He shook his head and moved on.

"So his ningen name is Shuuichi Minamino."

Arisu nodded, blowing a bubble.

"You'll have to call him by this if you want the plan to work."

"Okey-dokey, Hakuma! Would you like me to leave right away or hang loose for a sec?"

Hakuma smiled, "By all means, leave now."

~*~*~*~*~

Botan, I must confess that I have feelings for you.

Kurama picked up his pen and looked over his neat scrawl. He raised an eyebrow as he scrutinized his work.

It was pathetic. A sorry excuse for a proclamation of love. It had no feeling, no romantic sense at all.

With a sigh of disappointment Kurama scratched it out and it joined the other masses of black scribble already consuming most the page.

He tapped the pen on the table top pensively, waiting for inspiration to strike. He wanted something more on the romantic side, correct? So perhaps some heartfelt poetry was the ticket. Granted, he wasn't much of a poet, but it was a thought. He brought the pen to paper and wrote:

Botan, you are like the rose. Exquisite in every way shape and form. Every aspect of you radiates with unhindered beauty. And I must admit that I love you far more than anything else in this world.

Kurama tried to picture her reaction to this, but try as he might he could not see it. This was romantic enough, surely. But it sounded like something drawn from a romance novel, not true to life at all. He studied his words for a few seconds more and then scratched it out irritably. Why should he bother? This was useless. He crumbled the piece of scrap-paper until it was a neat ball in his hand and tossed it angrily aside.

He despairingly slouched forward and cupped his face in his hands. How was he going to do this?

~*~*~*~*~

Keiko waltzed out into the kitchen with high hopes. All her problems seemed to dissipate while she cooked. It was a calm retreat to her happy place. She selected her Breakfasts from Around the World Cookbook and flipped through it eagerly. French toast sounded nice...

She went to fetch the bread from the fridge. She was so dazed that she didn't even notice the fire demon until she nearly walked in to him.

"Ahhh!" She yelped and stepped back suddenly, "Hiei! What are you doing here?"

Hiei sneered, as though being here was below him, "I just thought I'd tell you that your idiotic little plan...thing... worked."

Keiko looked at him in a muddled trance, "What plan?"

"You know perfectly well what plan!" he snapped.

She searched her mind, but found no plan that he could possibly know of. Unless he meant Operation: Get Kurama and Botan Together. But she hadn't told anyone about that, so it was utterly ridiculous-

"It's not as ridiculous as you think, Ningen."

Keiko looked at him in horror, "YOU'VE BEEN READING MY MIND!!!"

Hiei shrugged, "So?"

Keiko was nearly boiling over with rage now, "So? SO? You've been snooping around in my private thoughts, you perverted little demon!"

Hiei smirked wryly, "There wasn't anything of interest in there anyway."

Keiko was on the verge of strangling the fire demon, luckily Botan decided to enter.

"Good morning, Keiko! Hiei? What brings you to our humble abode so early in the morning?" Botan said perkily.

Hiei looked as though he were about to reply but Keiko immediately interceded.

"Hiei just came over for some breakfast. He doesn't eat it that much after all, what with living in a tree. I mean, he probably only eats pinecones-"

"I DO NOT EAT PINECONES, BAKA!"

Keiko jumped, "I didn't say you did...I was just-"

"Woman! I've been patient with you thus far. But this is the final straw!" Hiei retorted. The spiteful look in his eyes suggested that Keiko was extremely fortunate she was Yusuke's girlfriend or she'd be receiving a much more painful punishment.

"Listen, Hiei, can't we be reasonable about this..."

Botan felt small beads of sweat form on her brow. You could cut the tension in here with a knife, "Can't we all just get along?" Botan attempted to ebb the argument between her two friends.

Then the phone rang. Immediately, the noise in the kitchen died down and fell silent.

Botan picked the phone up and answered, "Hello? Oh! Hi, Kurama!"

Keiko gaped at Botan and then turned to Hiei who was smirking at her.

I told you so, his voice rang in her head.

Keiko would have glared at him, hadn't she been so stunned that her plan actually worked.

Botan twirled the phone cord around her finger as she listened. At length Kurama seemed to have finished talking and Botan opened her mouth to reply, "All right-y then, Kurama-kun! I'll be right there."

Botan set the phone down with a click and faced the two with a smile brightening on her face, "Kurama asked me to go to the park, would you guys like to come too?"

Keiko merely stared at Botan blankly.

Hiei, being the least surprised of the two (Actually he wasn't surprised at all. He knew this was coming. But he was quite pleased the kitsune had the courage to actually go through with it.) answered her first, "Why should I go to the park?" He spoke of the park as though it were a dumpster, "It's just some idiotic past time for ignorant ningen."

This comment snapped Keiko out of her trance. She blinked a few times before what the koorime had said finally sunk in. She immediately took it to be an insult, "Why is it that you despise humans so? What have we ever done to you?"

Hiei smirked, "They breathe my air."

Keiko was visibly shaking with rage. She drew her hand back and look as though she was about to slap the short demon. Botan panicked and dived across the counter and grasped Keiko's arm before it got a chance to connect.

"Now, now. No need for violence," Botan pleaded.

Hiei was unabashed, "As I am here, I may as well have something to eat. Don't want to be eating anymore pinecones, now do I?" He threw her own words at her with the soul-purpose of getting Keiko even more livid.

Keiko tried to jar her hand lose from Botan's grip but the deity only tightened. Keiko glared at her and then turned and sent an even more seething look at Hiei. Realizing she'd lost this battle she lowered her arm with a resigned sigh, "Fine. I hope you like French Toast, Your Majesty."

Botan grinned and got off of the counter. Her ribs had been beginning to ache anyway and she lowered herself to the ground.

"Alright then! I'll just get ready!" And with that she pranced to her room.

Keiko watched after her for a moment and looked at Hiei, "So...You think Kurama'll ask her out or something?"

Hiei shrugged, "Hn."

~*~*~*~*~

Botan sighed as she tied her shoes into their usual double knot. She really wished Keiko had decided to come. She really didn't want to be alone with Kurama. Just being near him seemed intolerable. Her stomach was already turning its usual flips and flops at the thought of him. It would be worse when she was actually next to him. She knew the feeling all to well. The feeling of your abdomen going through the spin cycle. And then of course, the inevitable blush. It felt as though her cheeks were on fire.

She hated being in love.

Her knot firmly tied she went in search of a jacket.

Why was he asking to see her? Did he know? A fleeting sense of panic gripped her. What if he did! What would he say? She could already hear it, "Botan, we need to talk. I don't want this ruining our friendship."

The blue-haired deity cringed at the thought. She slid her arms in her jacket and prepared her most cheerful voice.

"Bye, guys! I'm off to the park!" And she zipped out the door before they decided to fight again.

Hiei watched her leave with a small smirk on his face. As the door slammed behind her, Hiei swiveled around and redirected his smirk at Keiko. "So, where's my breakfast, Woman?"

"Eat pinecones," Keiko muttered begrudgingly.

~*~*~*~*~

Kurama paced back and forth on the sidewalk, mumbling to himself. He cursed himself for calling her so soon. He had nothing planned, nothing thought out. He had no idea what to say. He wrung his hands as he walked, staring fixedly at his feet.

"Botan...There are no words..." There really wasn't any words. Not one in his extensive vocabulary. Why had he called her? He could have waited. He should have waited.

He sharply turned at started walking the other way. His mumbling caused a few passers-by to give him strange looks.

At some other time, perhaps Kurama would have noticed. But right now he was desperately trying to find the words that had escaped him.

"Shuuichi!"

It took him a moment to realize someone was calling for him. He looked up to see who it was.

A girl was running toward him waving her arms around franticly. Kurama looked at her blankly. He hadn't a clue who she was. Perhaps it was someone from his old high school. Whoever she was, Kurama was quite annoyed to be disturbed from his thoughts.

The girl ran up to him and greeted him warmly, "Hello! You don't remember me do you?"

Kurama shook his head truthfully, "I'm afraid not." He tried to layer his voice with a bit of reproach. But it was impossible to do so without seeming rude.

"Ah, well," the girl waved her hand forgetfully, "That's okay. I hardly recognized you either. My name's Arisu."

Kurama nodded, "Pleased to meet you." He wanted desperately for this girl to leave.

Arisu smiled, flashing every one of her white teeth. She unzipped the bag that hung at her hip and pulled something from it. "I have a gift for you."

The kitsune raised an eyebrow suspiciously. He began to think there hadn't been an Arisu at his high school.

She pulled out a small wooden chest from her bag and held it before her. Her smile took on a sudden threatening appearance.

"To Kurama, with love." Arisu snapped the lid of the chest open.

~*~*~*~*~

Botan had looked all over the park and had found neither hide nor hair of Kurama. He was gone. No where to be found.

At first she thought that perhaps she'd gotten there first. He did, after all, live a great deal farther from the park then she did. So, she simply found a comfortable park bench and waited.

But as the sun crept higher and higher in the sky, she began to get the sinking feeling that he wasn't coming.

She shook her head miserably. But it wasn't like him to just stand someone up like that. In any case, he'd been the one to invite her. Why would he neglect the meeting he, himself, had called?

He probably had a very good reason for not being here. Perhaps his mother had become ill and he had to rush to her side.

Yes, that was probably the case.

Still feeling slightly crestfallen Botan slowly got up to leave.

"Leaving so soon?"

Botan looked up hopefully but was disappointed, "Hakuma?"

The pale man nodded, "Indeed."

The blue-haired deity suddenly very much wanted to leave. It wasn't what he had done to her yesterday, she'd simply assumed he'd gotten his signals crossed. But he seemed different somehow.

Botan coughed politely, "Well, I was just going so-"

"You're not going anywhere," Hakuma said, his voice alarmingly cold.

"Pardon?" Botan asked nervously.

"Your coming with me. Now."

~*~*~*~*~

MUHAHAHA!! That would be two, count 'em, two cliffhangers! HA!

So, I updated! Three cheers for me. This lovely little chapter was sitting unfinished in my hard drive for quite sometime. Hiei was being difficult again. I swear he is the most annoying person to write dialogue for. So, you may notice he's having trouble being in character. But at least he's in this chapter. After sitting at the computer wondering for an hour on how he was going to reply I really considered editing him out all together. So instead of doing that I just put in the ever trusty "hn."

Let's see, I was asked a question in a particular review if I was going to turn this into a lemon. The answer is, of course, no. Were this going to be a lemon I would have made the rating "R" instead of the neat little "PG" I have there now.

Another question was, "Am I going to turn this into a Hiei/Keiko?" Once again the answer is no. I really could because I like the pairing and it would be really easy for me to do so, but no. Keiko is pretty much with Yusuke at this point.

Wow, that was quite a long Author's note. Good-bye all! Off to another day at the torture chamber!