A/N: Curious about the chapter title? Well...hee hee!

And about that aforementioned trio… they were wandering aimlessly around the mall, searching for Hiei, who was actually OUTSIDE the hellish prison that they called a mall. "Damn…PYRO!" Youko screeched at the top of his lungs, about to lose just about ALL of his given sanity. "Chill out, man. Once we get outta here, it'll all be worth it!" Yusuke replied, trying to be ever optimistic while simultaneously grinning his trademark grin. "Hey, I wonder where Hiei is? Ya think he got out or something?" The Reikai Tantei asked his two friends as he stopped randomly and looked around. There was no sign of their morose companion anywhere. Kurama rubbed his temples in frustration. "If Hiei is really outside of this mall…while I myself just came here for nothing…" Kurama paused and his eyes suddenly flashed amber. The freaky fox was going to emerge at any given moment. "HOLY CRAP!" Youko shrieked like a schoolgirl and hid behind Yusuke. "Save me!"

"Whoa now, Kurama," Yusuke said nervously, holding up his hands. "Calm down now. Eeeeasy. Um...chill." None of his words had an effect on the glowering kitsune, whose hair was already a stylish mix of magenta and silver. "Er...er...OSUWARI!" tried Youko from behind Yusuke. Surprisingly, that worked in his own way. Both the thief and the former detective stared at him as though he were insane. Which, at this point, he may well have been. But that's beside the point. "Osuwari?" repeated Kurama, looking rather bizarrely pretty with long silver/pink hair, kitsune ears, and golden green eyes. He had stopped mid-transformation. "What the hell do you think I am, some kind of dog?" Youko coughed nervously. "Not at all...desperate times call for desperate measures. And frankly, my mind is pretty much blank right now, considering I'm trapped in a mall at 4 AM with a juvenile delinquent and a moody sleep-deprived fox." Yusuke and Kurama exchanged a glance. "Ya know...he's got a point," Yusuke mused. Kurama nodded thoughtfully.

"Well I believe that I was getting carried away as it was," Kurama added, reverting back to his innocent-schoolboy-I'm-not-a-devilish-fox-form. While Youko and Yusuke exchanged cynical glances with Kurama, totally unsure if he was going to lash out with his youko state of mind, Botan hovered with her oar, watching everything magically from above. 'Well I can see that they've gotten absolutely nowhere. Oh, silly me, I shouldn't say something like that. Well they HAVE managed to piss Kurama off to the nth degree…which could, you know, result in Yusuke's and Youko's throats getting cut… but that really isn't the point. They won't be getting out for at least a few more hours. Now…I wonder if Hiei needs my help about now…' The ferry girl let out a moan. Of course he would. Being the psychotic half-pint that he was, there was no way that he would be able to cross the baron wasteland of snow without it caving in on him first. 'Hiei, one day you're going to thank me you know--' She stopped short once she heard the aforementioned fire demon squeal. And a girlish fire demon NEVER amounted to any good…especially in the Jaganshi's case.

While Botan went not-so-gallantly to a certain (probably doomed) hi-youkai, the trio of...well, they aren't really the trio of much. They're just a random bunch of people that happen to be trapped in a mall, each in turn the responsibility of the next. But that's really just my meaningless speculation, which has nothing to do with this woefully humorous tale. I bet you all want me to get back to the story, ne? Okay then. Where were we? Oh yes. The tri--random bunch of people that happened to be trapped in a mall together, were speculating their escape, the location of Hiei and Botan, and whether or not one could wear hot pink and still be manly. So far they had no answers, much to their chagrin. So they had taken to wandering the mall, and soon found themselves in front of...the Japanese equivalent of Hot Topic. Whatever that may be called. Hey, did you know that Hot Topic is actually an extension of Abercrombie? Sorry, back to the story. Why exactly were they in front of Hot Topic? Ah, but that is the mystery.

While the boys were indeed trying to figure the 9th wonder of the world (remember the 8th was why Kurama even decided to help his friends in the first place), with their less than limited brain capacities, Botan had decided that it would be in Hiei's best interest if she were to go and check up on him. "Hiei!" She called as she flew back down on to the ground with her trusty oar. She did not catch sight of a gothic fire youkai anywhere. And what was even stranger, where could he have gone? Surely he was easy to spot so Botan looked around a few more times. "Hiei! Where are you? Surely you couldn't have left already!" Hiei suddenly spat out telepathically …behind…you… Botan immediately whirled around and noticed something deliriously and incredibly funny. The Jaganshi's feet were sticking out of the snow and it looked as if he were upside down. And as much as she enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself, she hovered over to him and yanked him out, his immediate reaction being along the lines of, "Hn…I didn't need YOUR help." Botan scrunched up her nose, getting rather annoyed. And as Hiei tried to walk away, he sunk in again. "DAMN SNOW! CURSE IT! I SHALL KILL IT ONCE MY YOUKI RETURNS!" Hiei tried to get up by himself but couldn't. It was a sad, sad day when snow overpowered the 'mighty' A class demon. And Botan rushed by his side to grab his hand. Hiei violently pulled away again but snapped his head up. He stopped short once he realized that his face was inches away from hers. The only immediate reaction of his was that of a snort and a fierce blush.

'Well, this isn't awkward at all,' Botan thought, jerking away, her face bright red. Unfortunately, she forgot she was still holding on to Hiei's arm, and her sudden movement ended the Jaganshi up with a mouthful of snow. All in all, it wasn't exactly a Kodak moment. Or maybe it was. It all really depends on your point of view. In any case, after a bombardment of apologies, Botan dragged (a now sputtering) Hiei out of the snow, and, before he could get enough of the stuff out of his mouth in order to properly protest, dragged him back through the hole of DOOM--er, I mean, dragged him back through the skylight, and dropped him (ironically enough) back in the very same pile of pillows that he thought he had earlier annihilated. Apparently, he hadn't done a thorough enough job. But anyway, there was an awkward moment of silence, during which Botan hovered on her oar, per usual, and Hiei fought to free his windpipe of the last of the cold water. After that task was accomplished, he glared very pointedly at the ferry girl with his creepily intense crimson eyes. Y'know, frankly, any pair of eyes that happens to be blood red would probably be pretty intense. Ack! No! Off topic again! Where was I? Oh yes. Hiei and his scary hell-gaze. Of course, the effect of this was somewhat lost due to his hair, which was dripping wet and rather more disheveled than usual.

"Umm…" Botan muttered under her breath as she watched Hiei stand up and brush off his dark cloak (his windpipe now free of the snow). "Are you all right, Hiei?" Botan inquired in a small voice, almost afraid to look him in the eyes again. He shrugged and put a hand on his katana hilt lethargically. "Take me back outside. There is NO way that I want to be locked up in this prison again," the youkai demanded walking closer and closer to the frazzled ferry girl. "Please…uhh…" She stammered. "We both know that you wouldn't last out there. Why if it weren't for me coming to your rescue, I believe that you would still be stuck outside, with your head buried in all that snow!" The Jaganshi folded his arms and snorted. "The least you could do is give me your thanks. You know, being so stubborn won't get you anywhere," Botan closed her eyes while she continued to babble coherently. "What, ONNA?! I don't have to be grateful to YOU," he said as he grabbed her wrist and looked dangerously into her eyes. "I never asked for you to come and 'rescue' me so I don't feel like I should be obliged…" He paused and looked into her eyes. "What's with that look, ferry girl?" He snorted. "Oh…nothing…" She muttered as she realized that they were, AGAIN, in a compromising and not to mention gosh darn embarrassing predicament.

MEANWHILE, the three utterly random and hopelessly lost boys had finally decided on something. And that something was...to enter the aforementioned Hot Topic, and, though it was uncharacteristic for boys, shop! Well, not really shop. More like steal. But hey, they were a team made up of a kleptomaniac, a juvenile delinquent, and a high school boy who had finally snapped under the combination of stress, sleep deprivation, and general random insanity. "I'm sick of wearing the floaty, loose, and vaguely feminine clothing," Kurama decided, sorting through the rack of highly gothic clothing. Hiei would've had a field day in there. "How do you think I'd look in leather?" he asked the others casually. Yusuke was hit by the sudden mental image of Kurama in a Yami Yugi-ish outfit. While any fangirl probably would have screamed delightedly, run around, fainted, and then proceeded to draw fanart of the daydream, Yusuke felt that he would now suffer from a week of nightmares. Youko was too busy poking around in a bin of Happy Bunny to be paying attention. Kurama shrugged. "I'll take a pair and if it doesn't look horrid or cut off my circulation, I'll have a whole new look!"

Youko paused from his sudden and random speculating and glanced over at Kurama. "You're…not…wasted, man are you?" The kitsune shook his head gleefully. "Right, just mentally ill." "We're ALLLLL mentally ill!" Yusuke slurred as he walked over to the incense section, starting to take a whiff of every possible scent there was known to man…or known to goth. "Hey! Guys! Smell Bishounen #01!" Youko was vaguely intrigued by the name and hobbled over, thusly snatching the package out of his friend's hands and inhaling loudly. "Hmm…." Youko mused for a couple of seconds before placing said package back down. "This smells a lot like Kurama…" Yusuke arched an eyebrow. "Dude, are you sniffing fox boy?!" "Err, no!" came the nervous reply of the older teen in question. Kurama had heard his name and in no time at all, came prancing out, grinning a Yusuke grin while simultaneously wearing…dare I say it… SPANDEX. "MY GOD DAMN EYES!" The Reikai Tantei screamed at the top of his lungs while hiding in a shirt rack. "You don't like it then?" The kitsune pouted. Youko sighed forlornly. "Dude, stick to the femme stuff…"

Botan coughed nervously, trying to look anywhere but at Hiei's eyes...and lips... "Uh, Hiei? Personal space. Needed." Hiei ceased in his intimidation for a moment to give her a blank look. She mentally rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Did he understand any emotional implications except anger and sarcasm? Well, come to think of it, probably not. Time to BLATANTLY hint at it. "Remember what happened the last time you invaded my space? You know, the drunkenness and the ki--" "I get it, I get it!" snapped the Jaganshi nervously, backing away from her as though she had the plague. Y'know, for all we know, that could seriously be what she died from...but enough of my never-ending ramblings. Botan fidgeted for a moment or two, toying with a very cough interesting question that had suddenly popped into her head, courtesy of the rather embarrassing scene that had occurred mere minutes ago. "Um...um...um..." "Yes? Is there something you want to say?" Hiei spat impatiently. He was miserable and soaked and stuck in a pile of never-ending pillows--needless to say, he wasn't in the best of moods. Botan sighed. "Um, never mind, it's a stupid question." Hiei rolled his eyes in boredom. "Ask it anyway. It's not as though we have anything better to do while we wait for the trio of idiots and try to get dry." "No, it's too weird." "Just ask." "No." "Yes." "No." "Yes." "No." "JUST ASK THE DAMN QUESTION!!!!" "Okay, fine! Do you really kiss like that when you're not drunk?!" Silence. Then... "For once, ferry girl, you were right. You shouldn't have asked that question."

"Well you made me do it!!!" She screeched in her usual grating tone of voice. Hiei plugged up his left ear. More silence. Hiei dared not answer. "Well are you going to answer the question or not? Since you were so…EAGER to hear it in the first place and all!" Hiei winced mentally. What business of Botan's would that be? None…err…wait. On second thought, he was the one who kissed her once. Twice. Damn it! Twice!!! "Why would you even want to know that in the first place? Why would I kiss you?" "Uhh Hiei?" Hiei cursed. He HAD. "Right…" The youkai's cheeks were beet red, as were Botan's. "It's just that uhh…well…" She started, quite reluctant in continuing her train of thought. Hiei's beady red eyes looked questioningly up into her own. "Yes? A pressing question on your mind now, ferry girl?" "Um…"

The ferry girl took a deep breath. "Err, care for an experiment?" Botan asked meekly. Hiei stared at her as though she'd grown a second head. Okay, apparently there ARE certain emotional implications other than anger and sarcasm that he is able to understand. "Go jump off a cliff," he told her flatly. Which, considering what happened to HIM, is a pretty big insult. She sweatdropped. "Hey, I wasn't the one who said I was bored!" He folded his arms moodily. The effect of this was once again somewhat lost, this time due to the mass amount of pillows he was at danger of being swallowed by. "There's a difference between asking a question and what you're implying." "Yes...true..." Botan agreed thoughtfully. "But the seeds of curiosity have been sown!" "And I don't care," Hiei shot back. "Okay, fine," Botan muttered gloomily. "I TOLD you it was a stupid question..."

Silence fell upon the two for a few more seconds. "Well how come you don't want to at least try?" She muttered. He eyed her malevolently. "Do you REALIZE what you are asking of me? Oh wait…maybe you don't. After being trapped in a mall, anyone's brain must be fried at this point, mine included. So onna, I would back off if I were you." The ferry girl's oar disappeared randomly and she lethargically placed a hand on her hip. "Hiei, you know I'm REEEALLLY getting the impression that you're…well…" "Well what!?" He blurted out impatiently. "I think you're scared to do it." His blood red eyes widened "I don't fear anything, baka! Not even something as STUPID as that." "Prove it," came the reply of the blue-haired-deity. A chill suddenly settled over the heart of the fire demon. "Why should I?!" Botan smirked and that only added fuel to the Jaganshi's fire. And since he WAS a fire youkai and all… "I'm not going to believe that there isn't SOMETHING or other that you're scared of! Just admit it then!" Her eyes narrowed at him in distaste and before she knew it, he was about two…say three inches…oh the HELL with it! He was pretty much invading her space again. And before she could stammer, he used his incredible speed and suddenly pressed his lips against hers.

It was now a little late to mention that she had just been trying to get him riled up. Apparently she had succeeded...a little too well. 'Let's see...I'm being willingly kissed by a homicidal fire demon in the middle of Bed Bath and Beyond at some ungodly hour. Dreaming? Hmm. Nope, don't think so.' Hiei pulled away from her, shot her a smug look, meandered in the direction of the exit. "I told you, I'm not afraid of anything. Least of all you." Botan blinked. Then she blinked a few more times. Finally she gave up and followed him. He ignored her for the most part, until she suddenly said, "Well, if you even care, that answered my question..." "Hn." "So you don't wanna know what the answer is?" "No. But considering that you'll probably just annoy me without end and accuse me of cowardice again, just say it anyway." Botan crossed her arms. "Just for that, I'm not going to tell you what it is."

"Fine," he morosely spat out as he walked off in some random direction. But Botan kinda wanted to tell him what she thought and folded her arms. "You want to know, don't you?" She egged on, causing the demon to crack open a ruby orb. He thought for a moment, 'Why in Makai…would she even ask that idiotic question in the first place? If she hadn't, then I could have been well on my way to that party and well on my way to strangling that damned toddler who just so happened to take away ALL of my YOUKI away!' The Jaganshi paused in mid-thought. All in due time would he get his sweet revenge. "Oh come on! You definitely want to know the answer!" Hiei scoffed. "Go ahead, enlighten me," he muttered under his breath. "After all, it's not like you'll be getting used to it anyway…" She looked away for a few seconds. "Er…well, you know…oh fine! I would think that you practice in front of a mirror!" "Excuse ME!?" The temperamental Jaganshi snapped. "Well I don't think that you should show any resentment, Hiei! That was a compliment!" He smirked triumphantly about four seconds later. "So I take it I'm probably better than anyone else. Who WOULD have guessed?"

Botan folded her arms. "Before your ego swells horribly out of proportion, I think you should know that I haven't exactly kissed that many people. For some odd, unknown reason, being the anthropomorphic personification of death is a real turnoff when it comes to getting dates. Go figure." Hiei rolled his eyes. "For your sake, I hope that's sarcasm. And how the HELL can you practice kissing in front of a mirror anyway?" The ferry girl blinked blankly. "You know...that's a good point. I have absolutely no idea." "Nor I," snorted Hiei. There were a few moments of speculating silence, during which neither of them really came up with anything significant, least of all an answer. Oh well. Mark it up as the 10th wonder of the world. Wow, we're really making history today, aren't we? "Well, I've come to a conclusion," Hiei said flatly, mostly to break the silence and try to forget about the whole...'experiment' thing. "That was the stupidest thing you've ever said. It makes no sense whatsoever." Botan pouted. "Well, that's not very nice of you. All I was doing was trying to pay you a compliment...and…well, yeah..."

And suddenly, the two were interrupted by the sounds of maniacal laughter and a THUD. "Ow, ass! That was my foot!" Yusuke screamed at a certain kitsune who now rolled his eyes in distaste and went back to watching Hiei and Botan. Hiei's eyes widened in fear. "Where did you people come from?!" His blood suddenly ran cold as a certain revelation sunk into the youkai's mind. Just HOW long were they watching…and HOW long was Youko's CAMERA out!? "Tell me you didn't…" The Jaganshi stammered. "Oh but we DID!" Yusuke and Youko chorused while Kurama bit his thumb, trying his level best not to guffaw. "Ya like her! Ya like her! Man this is awesome!" Youko said, making a victory sign with his left hand. Kurama chuckled a few times. "I knew that you didn't mind her company all along but to kiss her like that, Hiei? As your best friend, even I could never predict something like this." Hiei growled in embarrassment and his cheeks turned crimson within a few given moments. "Shounen…" Hiei hissed. "Err…should I start running now?!"

"Yes," said four voices in unison, varying from amused to out for blood. The ningen boy blinked once very slowly...then turned tail and sped out of there. Hiei stood and watched. Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Self-restraint? From YOU? Maybe Botan's not such a bad influence after all." The girl in question blushed. Hiei just smirked slightly. "Oh, it's not that. I just want him to suffer a little first. And if there's one thing I've learned from you, Kurama, is that there's no greater suffering than constantly wondering when your end is going to come." Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations, Kurama. You have...somehow managed to make our dear fire demon even more of a sadist than he already was. And they said it couldn't be done..." Botan fussed around with her hair, hoping that the others would somehow magically forget the events of a mere five minutes ago. "Hey Kurama, who knew you were really being serious when you made that comment about Hiei liking Botan earlier?" No such luck. "It wasn't really a legitimate kiss," Botan defended. "We were bored and I was baiting him." Kurama raised an eyebrow. "I really hate to point this out, Botan, but we've all been quite bored and baited one another before, and nothing like this has ever happened." "And I hate to point this out to YOU, Kurama," Botan shot back, "but all four of you are GUYS."

"True," Kurama mused. "But what exactly did you say to him that made him do something like THAT?" the kitsune wondered. Surely he was very curious as to what Botan did to make Hiei's seal of emotions crack. Crack, I said? Oh I'm sorry, I meant shatter. "Probably told him that she would let him kill as many dudes as he wanted to without getting in trouble in exchange for the kiss," Yusuke snorted. Kurama chuckled. "Hn. Hardly. And even if that WERE to be the case, the damned toddler would have taken my YOUKI away for yet another reason." "Okay then, Mr. Manic…" Yusuke muttered, "why did you kiss her? I mean, I could be wasted, think this was all a really crazy dream, wake up at some random time, and beat a couple guys up tomorrow but ya know…even if I AM sober right now, I don't see how you can wiggle your way out of this one…" Hiei 'hn'ed. "Tantei, you should just keep to yourself. Whatever I did a few minutes ago probably is something that your puny brain could never register…even in a hanyou's lifetime…" Yusuke jabbed his pointer finger in the air. "Ya made out." "Looks like he got you there, Hiei," Botan muttered cynically.

"Although..." she added, folding her arms speculatively. Wow, they really are doing a lot of that, aren't they? They've had so little sleep that they've simply taken to contemplating the workings of the universe. Quite profound, isn't it? Okay, maybe not. "Y'know, it wasn't really making out. Making out would be like...frenching, right? And that kiss was about 0.25 seconds long. It barely even qualifies as a kiss." "Don't try to get me all confused with your complicated technicalities!" yelled Yusuke passionately, waving his hands around in the air. He was really getting into this conversation. "And even if I'M not the brightest bulb in the box, Kurama can explain it all to me! So HA!" Botan rolled her eyes. "And as for the bit about the baiting... Yusuke...if I said that I would forever accuse you of being a pansy if you didn't kiss me, would you be able to live it down?" The Tantei fell silent. "Dammit!" he cried, snapping his fingers in remorse. "Caught in my own web of manliness!" Hiei and Kurama, on a (very very temporary) friendly basis, exchanged a slightly worried glance.

A/N: Yes! Finally! Some romance! But even MORE humor! Hope ya liked! R&R!