Konnichipuu, minna-san, mada mi-chan desu. Hora, minna-san; ogenki desu ka? Here goes another re-edited chappie. And before that, all my gratitude goes to:
PassinoateAngel -Thank you, and sorry if I still make u confuse again. Well, I'm eventually trying out me Japanese fluency, and in order to make me story more dramatic, I used most of the common Japanese words. As if most readers would realize that I've bad English vocabulary and somehow I don't really know how to express proper sentence with proper English. I'm glad you still support me at this point! I'll try to clear up those doubts which I've caused.
KitsuneGirl - Arigatou! Hontoni ureshi desu, I still have more shortcomings on translation, hope u still bear it with me, if there's still confusion occurring. I don't think I'm fluent, but somehow I could recall part of the sentences that was used in Japanese dramas, anime, and songs. I do home studies and believe me, the very basic of Japanese starts from pronunciations such as the a.e.i.o.u. And then; I learned by listening more to Japanese songs, watching dramas and anime, (my very first Jap anime was YYH! A Japanese Version without subtitles and translations TT then I bought books like first step of learning Japanese and other useful articles).
Standard Disclaimer: All YYH characters belong to Togashi Senpai and also, some characters which I've named were all based on my own imaginations. (I wonder, is this the right way to put up SD?)
Recap of Chp3,
"Botan-san, let's keep going now" he said coldly this time.
Kurama's sudden cold shoulder makes Botan feels a little despair. A while ago; he had been totally different person. 'What's wrong with him?' she pondered. She felt as if she no longer could understand him anymore. Nevertheless, she wasn't supposed to think of such trivial matter. They still have an assignment to be carried out.
Story Title:
Chapter 4 -The Beginning of Investigation - Lost my way
Kurama and Botan had been walking for more than an hour, but they still had not reached their target's house.
"Shin no Okazawa, the most reckless gang leaders lived in the same town as the Reikai Tantei, Urameshi Yuusuke. He was involved with many of reckless killings, illegal dealings, trading and nanto ka, nanto ka…" Botan read some details she had had from Hanageshi, while they were still walking towards the target's house.
"Kurama-kun, have we reached there yet? I'm cold" she complained feebly "We've been walking non-stop for almost an hour"
"You're right; I think you'll need some rest, after all, you're ill. I would recommend you to do more physical trainings so you wouldn't get sick easily" he commented, still sounds very cold.
'Strange…he's not like what he used to be this morning' Botan mused inwardly 'Did I infuriate him? Ah, maybe I did, but, when, where, how?'
'My, I'm confused now' her thoughts become awful, her facade is equally as awful as her mind.
While Botan's still drowning in her own thoughts, Kurama had already gone far ahead of her; he assumed that Botan should be following him.
Without noticing, both of them went on their separate directions. Botan's had made a turn into a split passage; while Kurama is still going forward.
"Lemme see, turn left, and then…further right, then next junction right and then left. Botan-san, we'll be there soon." he's still concentrating on the map in his hand.
"Botan-san?" he turned back when there's no reply from the blue-haired deity. His eyes widen when he found no trace of the girl that was supposes to be with him.
"Botan…" there's a spank in his heart. He knew he had been cold earlier 'I must have enraged her" he thought.
He then think thoroughly and convince himself that Botan will be alright even if they walk separately. But then, she's sick and what if she would have fainted somewhere. "Kuso, I've should have keep an eye on her" he hissed.
Meanwhile, Botan's Situation...
'I'm cold, I'm tired, kami-sama (oh god), doushiyo?' she thought sadly. The way he treated her coldly makes her goes into depression. She dares not to lift her head to face him. She doesn't know why but she had hope that he could treat her the way that he used to be.
Her vision becomes blurred, her panting becomes heavier; she looked around and realized that Kurama was no longer with her. She got panicked. Her knees fail her and she lost her balancing, slipped and fell onto the ground, causing the snow to splash all over her body. Her head banged onto something hard causing her to lose her consciousness.
She could feel that a pair of strong and warm arms carrying her. She wanted to open up her eyes to see but she's too weak to do so 'Who's there? Kurama-kun, is that you? So warm, I'm feeling so warm now…'
"Yumi-san, please take care of this lady. She must have slipped and knocked on one of the sculpture that otousan collected recently. I could see cracks on it" a man with soft tone remarked.
"Hai, Ayame-sama!" the lady then bowed at her master.
Botan slowly opened her pair of eyes and scanned the unfamiliar place she's in. She also realized that she's now in somebody's house. The room is big and neatly decorated. The house looks very old-fashioned, she assumed that the house is even older that Genkai's temple, yet the interiors are well preserved. She sees lots of beautiful and expensive decorations in the room.
A moment later, she began to lift herself up and took a better view of the surroundings. She recalled that, earlier she had slipped and banged onto something and eventually lost her consciousness and there was a guy who carried her into this house. He must be someone from this house.
"Ara. Ojou-san (Missy), you've awaken" a middle aged woman gently opened up the shoji and carries a tray of food to serve Botan.
"Yes…" she's dumbfounded as she was unprepared to meet anyone yet. She somehow managed to thank the woman for bringing her the food "Thank you…"
"Ano…how did I get here?" she continued to ask "Where am I?"
"Our young master saw you lying unconscious at the back gate of our house. He was on his way back from school. He usually uses the back gate, it was so coincident that he spotted you and carried you here!" she explained.
"He also asked me to prepare some food for you and also some medications for fever, you can have it after meal and I think I'd talked too much, but before letting you to rest, I would like to know your name…" she said politely.
"I'm Botan"
"Botan-san…desu ne? What a lovely name, just like the owner" she complimented.
"Thank you" Botan blushed upon hearing Yumi's compliment. Somehow this also reminded her that Kurama had complimented her in such ways and after that he changed his attitudes towards her.
"Yumi-san, has the lady awaken yet?" a familiar tones coming from behind the door interrupted Botan's thought.
"Ayame-sama, wait…" she then went to open the door for the young master to come in.
To Botan's surprise, the young man had a pair of dreadful eyes, glaring at her.
"Oh no, those eyes looks scary, this is no good. Don't tell me he's the one who brought me in here. I sense a strange aura from him' Botan began to shiver as she could feel the dangerous aura releasing from the man's body.
"I…I..." she stammered 'I need to get out of here but what should I do now? I'm not good at making excuses' she turned her face away from him to avoid his glare.
"What a weirdo you are?" he smirked.
"What! Who's weird?" Botan suddenly flares up upon hearing his criticism "I just got lost and dunno when and how I came around this place" she then blushed upon hearing her own remarks.
'Huh' she sighed 'I've made myself looks more stupid. How could I blurt out words like that, moreover; I don't even know him. Baka Botan' she grumbled.
She then heard the man giggling. "How rude, how could you be so impolite" she complained "Laughing over somebody's misery"
"Sorry…but, your expression is so kawai, omoshire…" the man commented.
"Kawai? Omoshire...? Huh huh...Am I really that funny looking?" she sweat-drop upon hearing his words. All her fears and worries had suddenly vanished and were replaced with gloominess.
She took chances to observe the appearance of this man. He's indeed a good looking man, if he didn't shoot those dead glares. He has neat and short-layered violet hair that suits his beautiful face. His pair of marine blue orbs and fair complexion makes him look more charming. He had somehow reminded her of Kurama.
"Oh, right, I'm Ayame Okazawa and you?" he asked politely.
'Okazawa! Could he be the one we're going to investigate? Nah…he's much younger. Then he must be related to Shin no Okazawa. Maybe I can start to gather something from here' she then thought again. 'Moment ago, I still could sense a terrible aura coming from this guy, he's definite not an ordinary man'
"Oh...fine, you don't have to answer me" with that he walks towards where Botan's lying now "I think you must have been scared when you heard my surname, everyone does that, they're all scared of me or I should say, there all fear of my father" he then look deeply into Botan's eyes. Botan could feel an uncertain sadness and loneliness in him.
"Ano...Is your father scary? Why is everyone scared of him? What kind of man he is?" She asked hoping that she can dig out some information from this man. 'So this man is his heir'
Ayame looked at her with astonishment. "You've not heard of the name Okazawa? You must be new to this town then." his eyes stares at her with disbelieve.
"Yeah, I'm from…from, somewhere very far from here; but sometimes not that far…eh" Botan paused when she was supposed to be the one who investigate him "wait…why should I tell you so much about myself..." Realizing she had said something which she shouldn't have; she covered her mouth with both hands.
"Look here, young lady; you should at least be thankful for I've saved you and letting you staying in MY house" he retorted.
Both of them throw dead glares at each other, they acted like they've knew each other for ages despite the facts that they've just met each other not more than twelve hours.
"Ano…Ayame-sama, I think Botan-san is a little moody at this time. Would you kindly let her have more rest?" Yumi interrupted.
"Is that so? Then she shouldn't swing her mood in front of me. Do enjoy your rest BOTAN-chan!" he said teasingly before walking out of the room.
"Chan? How rude! How could he address me just like that, with a 'chan' behind!" she grumbled after Ayame had left the room.
"Botan-san, please forgive Ayame-sama for his impoliteness, actually, Ayame-sama is a kind hearted man. Only for some reasons, he just loved to tease people" she defended.
Botan looked at Yumi, she don't know why she suddenly becomes so frustrated when she talked to Ayame, probably she still couldn't get over the fact that Kurama was not there for her while she's in trouble.
'I was upset, why? My face must have been ugly when I lost my temper to someone that I've just met. I was upset because the one who saved me wasn't Kurama-kun; I wanted him to save me, to be there for me when I needed him. Where is he now? Is he still searching for me? Kurama-kun, where are you?' she thought wearily.
"Botan-san, are you thinking of Kurama-kun?" Yumi unexpectedly mentioned about Kurama that surprised Botan.
"Yumi-san, you know Kurama-kun?" She looked at Yumi as if there were thousand tons of bombs dropping down her head.
"Nope, but I heard that you've been murmuring his name when Ayame-sama carried you to me. Who's he? Koibito (Lover)?" Yumi chuckled while she brought out this matter to Botan.
"No…no! It's not that, he's not my lover. He's my friend, an important friend…" she retaliated and then sadly looks out from the window. She could still remember what had happened earlier this morning. Kurama was very kind to him, but then he suddenly gave her cold shoulder. She felt hurt. She didn't know why, she just doesn't like that kind of feelings.
"He was with me earlier but didn't know when; I've got separated from him. I'm worried, I don't know if he's still out there looking for me…but…maybe not"
"Why not?"
"I think I've somehow enraged him" she realized that she had feelings for Kurama. She understands why she's would be happy whenever Kurama is by her side, he had eased all her troubles and worries. With that, tears rolled down from Botan eyes. She could felt the discomfort from her heart "I'm sorry...I just can't help it…"
"You do care for him, don't you…" she asked Botan and at the same time she stroked Botan's back to console her.
"Don't worry dear; I'll tell Ayame-sama to arrange someone to look for Kurama-kun and bring him to see you" Yumi assured Botan.
"No…perhaps he doesn't want to see me anymore…" She murmured tearfully.
"Oh, I'm sure no one could have a heart to avoid you; you're such sweet little thing" she told her sincerely.
"Really?" Botan immediately dried off her tears.
"Of course, now don't cry; I'll get Ayame-sama to find him"
"Is it okay? I mean…"
"No problem, although Ayame-sama is a weirdo, but he's very kind hearted man" she complimented.
"Yumi-san, it's not good to talk bad about your master" Botan said but she couldn't help but chuckles upon hearing Yumi's odd comment.
"My son, Hakkumaru (translation- Blank Pills 'sounds weird'), is Ayame-sama's best friend! He always told me all those good things about Ayame-sama, he's a good man" she remarked.
"Just leave it all to me" and with that Yumi left the room and look for Ayame.
Kurama's Situations.
"What! You've lost Botan, Kurama are you sure he's not around that area" Koenma asked fearfully that Botan might be in danger. Although they were communicating with the compact intercom, Kurama noted that Koenma is very worry about her.
Kurama's concentration was no longer in the conversation, he too, was worry dead about Botan, and he blamed himself for not guarding her. He wanted to protect her but somehow was afraid that his feeling could jeopardize the whole plans. He dares not to be too close to her like what he did earlier. 'I'd actually wanted to...'
"Kurama, try to look for her again!" Koenma ordered but even if it's not an order, Kurama would still search for her.
"Kurama, I don't want you to waste too much time on this. Botan is wearing a youki detector, you can release some youki around that area, so that she could detect and it will eventually guide her to you" Koenma hinted.
"Yes; Koenma-sama" with that he shut the compact intercom.
The youki detector, one of rekai tantei's spies accessories. It reminds Kurama the time when Yusuke was being kidnapped, and they had to look for Hiei.
Flashback
"Hora, the youki-kei, a good tool for detecting youki within the areas of 500m"
"Eto; there's so many youkai, how do we know that which youki belongs to Hiei?"
"Ah..is that so? But if we could put any belongings of the target into the youki-kei, it'll lead us to the target's location, things like hair or fingernails"
"Where can we find Hiei's hair or fingernails?"
"Ara…"
'It was then; I started to lay my eyes on you. I didn't know how long I've been observing you, from that moment onwards, I wished you would had your eyes on me too'
"Botan-san, if you're having the youki-kei with you, please, switch it on, I'll now release my youki" Kurama whispered.
Back to Botan, Ayame and Hakkumaru's scene:
"Botan-chan, are you sure this is the place where you and kuruma (car) parted?" Ayame asked nonchalantly.
"KURAMA-KUN" Botan retaliated.
"Hai…hai, whatever, seems like I care and looks like I'm the one who's looking for a lost friend!" Ayame hissed.
"I didn't ask you to come" Botan again retaliated, still feeling a little drowsy.
"I told you that I'll get someone to look for him, yet you insisted to do it yourself and so…" he retorted.
"So?" Botan shot another dead glare at him
"Enough, both of you, don't fight anymore. The two of you have been doing this ever since we came out from the house" Hakkumaru interrupted.
"Hakku, look at her, she's ill, her friend abandoned her. Do you think I would allow someone I saved to get into trouble again?"
"It's not that! Kurama-kun wouldn't abandon me, he'll find me if he realized that I'm not with him anymore! I trust him" Botan immediately defended against Ayame's accusation on Kurama.
Hakkumaru then looked at Botan and then turned to Ayame. He noticed Ayame's face suddenly changed hue. "Why? Your face looks terrible? I hope those are not signs of jealousy" he teased Ayame.
"Hakku, what makes you say that! Why would I be jealous?" his tones changes and he glared at Hakku.
"That's how I feel about you" he chuckled and ignored his dead glare. "This is the first time you shot such cute glares at me, don't do it, I'll fell for it" he continued teasing Ayame.
"Ha…Hakku, I'm not in a mood to take this joke" he muttered. Ayame found it harder to throws tantrum in front of Hakkumaru.
The weather is getting colder; Botan's still having fever, although she had taken some medications. To Botan, medicines from Ningenkai are ineffectual.
"Samui…" Botan's whispered as her visions becomes blurred. She leaned against the wall and grasp for air. Ayame and Hakku noticed that and worried that her fever becomes worse.
"Enough; Botan, I'll take you back to the house now, or; you would prefer me to send you home. There's no way I'm not going to let you do the searching again. Let's stop here" Ayame exclaimed.
"No, I'm fine. We came here together and we should go back together! I'm sure Kurama-kun is still searching for me" with that she tried to run away from Ayame who planned to drag her to leave with him.
"Look at you, your fever is getting critical; do you want to die here? Stupid woman" Ayame exclaimed and with that he pushed Botan and pinned her against the wall. He's getting very impatient. His body aura changes its flow.
'Why? It's the same dangerous aura I felt earlier, ' Botan's intellect becomes more reluctant to this kind aura. It's too scary. 'This is impossible! Human shouldn't have such scary aura' her body starts trembling. His aura could be compatible with some Class A youkai.
"Let go! You're hurting me!" Botan shrugged and tried to push Ayame away, but she wasn't strong enough.
"This is the only way for you to realize that you're weak and you still think that you can continue to search; with the condition you're in now?" he prompted and still reluctant to let her go.
"Ayame-sama, please stop! You're hurting Botan-san" Hakkumaru interrupted as he saw that the situation is getting worst. He sensed that Ayame is losing his equanimity.
"It seems to me like someone is having a problem with my friend here" a familiar voice interrupted.
"Ku...Kurama-kun…" Botan body trembles with joy upon seeing her friend again.
"Botan-san, I've finally found you" he shot dead glares at the two strangers.
TBC…
Re-edited: 27-09-06 – Gosh, this would be the worst chapter I've ever written. I can't believe that I'd actually reconstruct the whole thing.