Hey minna~! Thanks for all the kind reviews! My reviewers R0XXER so much!!! I really appreciate the support! And again, if you want chapter 3, reviews [or flames] are necessary!

Passionate Angel YOU RULE! Thanks so much for reviewing my YYH stuff, it makes me soo happy! It means more than you'll ever know ::huggles you::

Cricket-chan Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying it and I hope you like chapter 2!!

Gatesu Botan Glad to hear it! Hope you like this chapter as well as the last one ^___^

TR Much thanks! Hope you're sticking around to read this latest installment.

DeityofRoses Thankies! Hope this chapter is interesting enough for ya! ^_~

Kitsune16 Your wish is my command!!

Desanera Thanks for the support and I'm glad you like chapter one! Hope chapter 2 lives up to your expectations!!

Botan and Kurama lover heheh, thanks so very much!! Hope this chapter is juicy enough for ya! ^__^

Kuramas Kitsune Thanks for the nice review! I would love to read your fic, and have every intention of doing so, as soon as things quiet down around here. Thanks again! ^_^

JDfielding Thankies!! I'm glad you liked it, and while I don't know how much sense this chapter makes either, I'll continue on…. For a little while. Thanks for the review! ^__^

..:: A Few Moments Later at the Ramen Shop::..

   "Umm…*cough cough* Kuwabara, you're squishing me… and would you mind *ouch* not stroking me like an animal?!" Botan tried to wiggle out from Kuwabara's more than loving grip. He held her a couple feet in the air and had her in a huge bear hug grip. Yusuke watched the two of them and laughed incessantly while Kurama tried to pry Kuwabara loose from poor Botan's delicate form.

   "Oh Botan, I've missed you so, so so, so, so-"

   "I feel a little….constricted…umm….someone….HELP ME!"

   "So, so, so, so, so, so much!" Kuwabara buried his head in her sweet smelling hair.

   "You big oaf… I hope you don't hug your stupid cat like that. Otherwise, it'd be dead by now." Hiei stood in the corner of the shop, the shadows casting a depressing glow over his features.

   "WHAT did you say, shrimp!" Kuwabara dropped Botan altogether causing her to fall backwards and downwards. Kurama reached out and grabbed her just before she hit the linoleum floor. She turned her face up towards him and gasped at how near to her he was.

   "I called your cat stupid. It is a dumb animal after all." Hiei said frankly.

   "WHAT?"
  

   "Are you that deaf, you imbecile?"

    "Why you, why don't you come over here and fight me like a man, you stupid i-…hey, Hiei! I'm talking to you! What are you staring at?!" Hiei's eyes were widened and he looked a bit blue, as if he were suddenly very sick. He raised one finger and pointed behind Kuwabara who slowly turned around.

    "Uhh…you guys?" Kuwabara questioned. Kurama was still holding Botan only a couple of inches from the floor. They were staring deeply at each other. Kurama was smiling and Botan's face was drawn back in what appeared to be a gasp. All of the gang was gathered around them, blatantly staring. At the sound of Kuwabara's voice, Kurama shook his head vigorously and hoisted Botan back up to her feet.

    "Are you alright, Botan-San?" He painted an indecipherable, empty smile over his features. As he did this, her features fell as if in disappointment.

    "Yes…. Thank you, Kurama-Kun." She placed herself back down in a booth right next to Keiko.

   The rest of the afternoon was lighthearted and uneventful enough. The friends all sat around the Ramen shop and talked about random things: school, hobbies, and things that didn't concern Botan at all. She spent most of the afternoon staring out the ramen shop window. If only she had turned around, she would have realized that Kurama was spending most of his afternoon staring at her.

   Before the friends knew it, the afternoon had evaded them. The sun set in the sky around 8:00, and as soon as it did, Kuwabara rose out of the booth.

   "I hate to be the first one to leave, but it is getting pretty late. I gotta start heading home." He was received with agreement from all of his peers around him. Within a couple of minutes, the group had disbanded.

   "C'mon Keiko, I'll walk you home." Yusuke took off his jacket and laid it over her shoulders, trying to keep the spring chill and damp off of her. She smiled sheepishly.

   "Okay…" If it hadn't been dark, the others would have noticed the red tint working its way onto her cheeks. "Botan, how many days are you here for?"

   "Four." Botan smiled, her perfect white teeth gleaming in the twilight air. The rain had finally stopped, but it had left a considerable drop in temperature behind. She hugged her body to stop from shivering.

   "Good, guess I'll see you around then?"

   "I suppose!" She giggled. "Around."

   "Promise?" Keiko jested cutely.

   "Mmmhmm, promise!" And with that, the Reikai tantei and company disbanded for the night. Keiko and Yusuke went off towards the left, Kuwabara following some distance behind. Kurama had gone to the right, and who knows where Hiei went? Probably up, to the nearest tree.

   So that left Botan all alone on the sidewalk with a feeling of… was it…. Yes, a feeling as if she didn't really belong.

   Botan yawned and began walking in the direction of the park where she had seen Kurama earlier that day. It was a quiet spring night, and she had much to think about. When she arrived she was the only one there, so she took a seat on one of the benches and tilted her head up to the stars.

   'They aren't half as pretty at home.' She thought. A sigh escaped her throat. 'Home. That's where I need to be, something has changed here and I…I really don't like it anymore.' She stood up forcefully from the bench and raised her hand high into the air. In a few seconds, a long wooden oar appeared from the sky and drifted down towards her. With the experience of someone who has done the same action millions of times before, she mounted and the oar lifted several inches off of the ground.

   "Well, back to spirit world!" she said aloud, tilting the oar up so that it rose some more. Suddenly, her sensitive ears picked up a rustling in the bushes behind her.

   "It's not very polite to break promises, Botan-san." A gentle voice chuckled. Botan turned her body while still situated high above the ground.

   "Who's there?" in the mounting darkness, it was quite hard to see. She strained her eyes harder, leaning out over the ground, and abruptly…

   Lost her balance. She was about two stories up and knew the impact would hurt fiercely. She tried to brace her body, shut her eyes tightly, and gritted her teeth…tried not to scream, that would just make it worse. The ground would come any second now.

   Any second now…

   Any second?

   "What?" she whispered and opened her eyes a bit, only to notice that she had landed softly in a pair of strong arms. She was too busy anticipating the impact to feel the pressure on her back. Looking up, Botan sighed relief when she caught sight of the calm green eyes staring down at her.

   Kurama put her down on the ground lightly and Botan began tucking loose strands of blue hair back behind her ear. "Thanks, Kurama. That could have been really, really bad."

   His eyes laughed. "Where were you going?"

   "Umm… back home."

   "Why, Botan? I thought you had four days…"

   "I do, I just…" Botan stopped short.

   "…You just?"

   "I just feel like I'm not exactly welcome anymore. I know I've been gone a long time, and… I feel like maybe you all have grown closer without me… like I'm less of a friend because I wasn't there to experience things with you guys. I mean, everybody was talking…kind of amongst themselves, like I wasn't even there. And I realized, maybe, I overestimated my importance in your all's lives." She tried to smile, tried to keep from tearing up.

   "I…I'm not sure what you're talking about."

   "I just sense a feeling of, of…"

   Kurama cut her off. "Botan, I want you to stay. And I don't want you to feel like you don't belong, okay? That's ridiculous." He grabbed her hands in his and probed her eyes for traces of shyness. "Okay?"

   "Hmmmm."

   "Where are you staying? I'll walk you there." Kurama squeezed her hand a bit tighter.

   "Um, well… that's part of the problem. I, I really don't have anywhere to stay. I mean, Keiko's parents are out of town, so she can't have people spend the night… Yusuke would rather die than have me at his house… I would rather die than ask Hiei for a favor, and sleeping in a tree can't be terribly comfortable… Kuwabara, well, I like all my limbs where they are, thank you." She called for her oar again. "So you see, I really don't have an alternative except to go home! Toodles, Kurama!" she tried to mount again, but Kurama just held onto her hands and wouldn't let her go.

   "Botan-san, I'm a little hurt." He smiled as he said it.

   "Wha- why?"

   "You didn't even think of me!"

   "I- I did! C'mon Kurama! I'm here over your spring break, and Kami-sama knows with the size of your fan club you've probably got millions of dates!" she laughed and turned her head to the side. "The last thing I wanna do is keep you from your friends or burden you…"

   Kurama brought his hand up to her cheek and turned it back towards his. "You're a silly ferry girl…" he shook his head and smiled. "Dates? You could be a comedian. And furthermore, Botan, you have never kept me from anything!" privately, he added in his own mind, 'Mostly attributed to the fact that you are everything.' Then, he continued speaking. "Botan, we have a spare room. Why don't you just come with me?"

   "But your parents-"

   "-can't stop talking about 'what a dear' you are from your last visit."

   "A- Are you sure?"

   "As I said, silly ferry girl…" He offered his arm to her and she took it gingerly. It was strange how it fit perfectly. "You're shaking." He whispered. "Are you cold?"

   "…A little."

   Kurama smiled and gracefully took his school jacket off, laying it delicately on Botan's shoulders. "Better?" he asked.

   "Much… Thank you." She couldn't help but sigh at the beautiful smell of roses that hung heavily on the jacket.

   They walked the rest of the way in blissful silence.

*awwwwwww*
they're so cute together!!
Well, I hate to break it to ya, but if you're expecting K&B to get together in chappie 3, I'm planning something horribly evil….

wanna see what it is?

REVIEW!! Pweeeese? Otherwise, the proverbial buck stops here.

As always, flames and reviews alike are quite welcome!!
tillnextime

[larachan]