Botan stared into the refrigerator and stroked an imaginary goatee. "Where TO begin?" she mused. She spotted some hamburger meat in the far back. "Well, why the heck not?" She retrieved the meat, a pan, and some spices, then, as an afterthought, a bottle of vodka. A few minutes later, six decently sized hamburgers were sizzling on the stove. Botan winced as some of the grease spat out and landed on her shirt. "I SO should have an apron or something. This sucks."
Botan walked over and grabbed some more hamburger meat. Surely Youko didn't deserve to gorge the disgusting concoctions that she was about to whip up for Hiei. Of course he didn't. "Okay, even though I'm gonna be a mess when this is all over and done with, that STUPID koorime is gonna regret what he made me do in this hardly renovated little dump called a kitchen!!!" Botan screamed at the top of her lungs. Meanwhile, Youko and Hiei could hear what Botan was saying and in unison, they sweatdropped. "Leave it to a baka airhead to reveal her somewhat cunning little plan to us, wouldn't you agree shounen," Hiei questioned as he lightly nudged Youko, who at the time, couldn't believe that Botan could change her personality from one minute to the next. "Hey, flame guy," Youko whispered (He was actually referring to the youkai's hair do). Hiei grunted as to what he was being called by a teenager. "Is she schizophrenic?" Even Hiei didn't know the answer to that one but even he wouldn't put it past the ferry girl.
Youko spent a few moments speculating. "Hey...do you have gender issues or did I hear wrong?" "WHAT?!" Hiei yelled angrily. "WHAT the HELL is THAT supposed to mean?!" Unbeknownst to Youko, a dark aura was beginning to form around the little fire demon's right arm. "I thought she called you a 'koorime'...unless I'm mistaken, doesn't that mean 'ice maiden'?" Hiei blinked as this sudden revelation sunk in. "...You heard wrong..." he finally informed the teen sulkily. Youko blew a sigh of relief. "Oh. Good. VERY good. I got scared for a moment there. Hey, after what Botan said, do you REALLY think you should eat anything she gives you?" "The baka onna is too scared to really do anything to me," Hiei told him confidently. "And if she HAS done something, she'll pay for it later. And she knows it." Youko sweatdropped slightly. "Yeah, if YOU live that long. The girl sounded out for blood. I'D worry if I were you." "Hn. Good thing you're not, then, ne?" "Can't say I didn't warn you..."
"Okay boys!" Botan said professionally, waltzing out with two trays balanced on two flat palms. Youko arched an eyebrow, for he was aware that indigestion might be the result of her evening concoction. "Who's ready to gorge some…grub!" Hiei came forward and stared at it with his three eyes. "Onna, I am warning you…if you did anything even remotely disturbing to my meal, so help me…" "Oh relax, Hiei!" Botan said, shoving his plate in front of his face. "Enjoy it! It's not everyday that you get to have something prepared for you by death herself!" She put her free hand behind her head and started to laugh, unaware that Youko was there and taking her comment to a whole different level. "By death. You hear that, flame guy?" "It's…Hiei…" The fire youkai said in a short breath. "Right…well, you heard it yourself! She's prepared a meal of death for you!" Hiei snorted due to Youko's foolishness. He had no idea that Botan WAS in fact death. However, there was no way that even Hiei was going to absorb himself into a painfully confusing explanation to Youko. He had decided to ignore it.
Botan waltzed off again, in the direction of the kitchen. As much as she wanted to watch her moment of triumph, the boys weren't the only ones who were hungry. She'd run out of hamburger meat, so she spent a few minutes searching leisurely through the fridge, keeping her ears open for any signs that her favorite obnoxious Jaganshi had experienced a few 'side effects' from his meal. There was nothing for the moment, so she finally gave up on looking and made herself a simple BLT. She took a few bites of the sandwich to calm herself down, then walked back out to where the boys were eating. And stopped dead. "Well, maybe leaving them alone was a bad idea after all," she said to herself, eyes wide.
"Get along little doggie! Wahahahaha!" Hiei screamed as he jumped onto a lone random table, waving his meat patty in the air. Botan grinned. She knew that her plan had succeeded. "Hey pretty lady!" He screamed again, pointing directly at the fickle ferry girl herself. "Who…me?" "Who else?! This pathetic ningen over here? Come here!" Botan shrugged. How was she supposed to know what Hiei was talking about? Usually, she just barely tries to hang on for dear life whenever she gets paired up with the ferocious youkai, usually during a small errand for Koenma. "Maybe I overdid the revenge thing a little…" Botan murmured to herself as she went closer to Hiei, a part of her very afraid.
Hiei yanked her up onto the table and muttered something in gibberish, or at least something that Botan couldn't really understand in the least bit. "You know that your hair is blue right? Well…" Hiei said as he motioned for her to come closer so that he could whisper something in her ear. "I'd be careful if I were you…" Youko said as he rubbed his temples, obviously aware of the lack of sobriety in his newfound acquaintance, Hiei. "You never know what a freak like him could do with a little bit of booze." Botan gulped. She knew that Youko was absolutely correct. Yes. Hiei WAS a tad bit frightening. And this was when he was just stern and upfront. So just add an alcoholic beverage into the equation. Good…NO wait! Bad! "This'll only make him scary-obsessive, Botan so I'd watch your back if I were you!" Youko hollered again, an eyebrow skeptically raised all the while.
Throughout that little exchange, Hiei had been inching closer and closer to Botan without her knowing. In fact, by the time she finished talking to Youko, he was right up in her face. She could even smell the alcohol on his breath, and winced mentally. 'Okay, I guess that was overkill after all.' He stared almost meaningfully into her eyes. The expression on his face was so completely different from his normal behavior that it began to make her wonder...what exactly WAS he capable when drunk? "Um, Hiei? Uh...you're invading my personal space. Could you just maybe, y'know, move back a few ste--mmph!" Without further ado, the fire demon leaned in and kissed her. Botan's eyes went wide and she lost her balance, making them both fall off the table and crash rather ungracefully to the ground. 'Omgomgomgomgomg, we are BOTH sooooooo going to regret this when he sobers up. Although...nope. We are definitely both going to regret this... WAITAMINUTE!!!! Where'd Youko go?!' She shoved Hiei off her and cast around for Youko--only to be met with the lens of a video camera. Youko smirked. "I'm sorry, but you can't say I didn't warn you he'd do something...and it was just SUCH a Kodak moment."
"Give it back!" Botan screeched at the top of her lungs as she lunged forward, trying ever so desperately to grab the camera that Youko just so happened to have on him. "No way! I knew that somethin' was gonna happen once you put all that junk in Hiei's food! Now you're gonna have to pay the price for it!" Botan gave him the evil eye and prepared herself for yet another pouncing lesson. "Forget about it! There's no way that you can ever get this camera out of my iron grip!!" Youko laughed triumphantly, his ego swelling three times its normal size, Botan just watching on in sheer awe. "Come on…you know that once Hiei is back to his regular, hate-loving self, he'll kill you for it!" She announced perkily. Youko looked over at Hiei, sitting innocently on the floor behind them. "I think not…and anyway, he can't hold his alcohol very well so if I keep giving it to him, he'll never have the chance to kill me, huh?" Botan sweatdropped. She was INDEED trapped and stranded in a mall with two maniacs, no way to get out but to accept that she was partnered up with an arrogant teenager and a bad fire demon gone desperate. "You should go back and keep Hiei company, Botan…looks like I've got 2 more hours of film left!"
Botan seriously considered strangling him for a moment. (Un)Fortunately, Hiei had decided to mosey on down to where the pair of them were and announced solemnly, "Botan, I have something to tell you." Both the ferry girl and the teenager cocked an eyebrow and stared at him. "Uh...yes Hiei?" Botan said, praying that he wouldn't do anything rash...again. He stared at her blankly. "What?" Botan blinked. "You had something to tell me?" "Did I really?" Hiei asked vaguely. "Well, I don't remember what it is. Ohhhhhh well." He began to wander off again, but got no more than ten paces before tripping over his own feet and ending up on the floor. And Youko...was still filming the whole operation. "Y'know, Botan, you gotta admit--he's a LOT more entertaining this way." She just groaned. 'I am sooooo dead. Genkai's gonna kill me, Koenma's gonna kill me, Mukuro is gonna kill me, Kurama MIGHT kill me, and Hiei--' She paused a moment here. 'Maybe Youko's right. Maybe we can just keep him drunk the entire time.' It was then that she began hearing faint strains of music. "Kaze ga hashiru…ore wo yobu mugon no hariken…" 'Uhhh…is Hiei actually singing?' "Are wa sain… kessen no aizu darou…" 'Yes. I think he is. Wow. And he's even in tune. Amazing.'
"Hmm…I barely remember that song…" Youko said as he sat down at a table and rested his head on his right palm. "Oh…right…my girlfriend…erm…FRIEND bought me this CD for my birthday and that song was on it…I think it was called Wild Wind!" Botan squeaked in excitement, as she knew that Youko had nailed it. She had loved that song and suddenly had the urge to sing the next line or two… "Sou kono inochi yori aa omoi yume wo kanaeru tame no hi ga kita saa…" Botan began as she jumped to her feet, pretending that she was suddenly in a karaoke bar. Hiei glanced over at her as soon as he heard those lyrics from his blue haired comrade. "Botan, you know the song too?" He walked over to her shakily and grinned a Yusuke grin. "I KNEW that someone else knew it!" Hiei hollered as he grabbed her waist and sang the next verse, his cheeks still tinted a rosy pink. "Kokoro no mama ni tada Fighting to dream…dare ni mo jama sasenai unmei nado jibun de kimete yaru kaze no you ni tada Shooting to dream…kako no itami tachikitte kono te de ima mirai mo kimete yaru…Getta chance!" He struck a pose after singing perfectly, Youko rolling on the floor in sheer laughter. The only thing was, Botan couldn't laugh, she was stuck at Hiei's side and he had no intention of letting her go…the video camera still rolling away.
So the ferry girl just stood there, beet red, with her head hanging down as the rather wasted jaganshi continued to sing the next few verses. "Kizudarake no yume ga ore wo karitateta hieta mune ni nokoru hi wo aoru you ni..." Botan flatly refused to sing the other half of the duet, which would have ended the song--if not for Youko, who suddenly burst into song as well, an evil smirk on his face. "Sou atsui omoi ga aa mune wo tataku maru de kienai arashi no you ni..." Hiei suddenly grabbed Botan's hand and actually began to dance along with her to the chorus. "Yasei no mama de ima Fighting to dream...zetsubou nado houmuttekemono michi wo hageshiku hitabashirukaze ni natte ima Shooting to dream...hoshii mono wa jiyuu saoretachi kono kokoro wa damasenai...It's truth!" Unfortunately for the both of them, he was still offbalance, and proceeded to trip over his own feet again, landing them in a heap and stopping the singing. At least, Botan thought he tripped over his own feet, until she looked down--and found that the fire demon was now fast asleep. She sighed with relief. Well, that was one problem taken care of. Of course, there was just one slight complication... "Youko...will you help get him off me?"
"Hey come on now, he's YOUR weird friend. And you may as well let him stay there…he looks awfully cozy, doesn't he?" Youko grinned as he brushed the chestnut bangs out of his face. Quite the bishounen, actually. "Please? Youko!!! Come on! If it weren't for Hiei and I, you would still be in the video game store with absolutely nothing to do!" "Au contraire, my fine blue-haired lass, I had plenty of entertainment enclosed in those four walls. It was just a coincidence that you just happened to show up with some girl who spoke in the third person all the time." Botan agreed and shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't argue about Cabbit's third person tendency. And all Youko did was take another bite of his food, he hadn't finished it completely. "Sure, Youko…you at least had a point when you said that Hiei looked comfortable…at least he's not gonna kill me right now, huh?" Hiei was a total lead weight when he slept. You would think that his third eye was actually good for something or another but not when he was dead asleep. "I think that we ought to get going now." Botan announced, Youko rushing back only to sling the weary youkai over his broad shoulder.
A/N: Did you like? Hmm? A little bit of romance there! Please review minna-chan!
Son Christine Kinaka Capri = insanity....