Last Chapter...

They both entered his office, ready to face whatever trials Koenma had for them. Botan silently hoped that Hiei would be able to pull it off. Sure, he might be a good actor, but how would he fare when trying to prove his fictional love for someone he hardly liked? Botan glanced at Hiei briefly, noting his unemotional expression, and silently pleaded that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Love Me, Hate Me, Just Don't Let Me Fall

Chapter 6: The First Two Tests

In Koenma's office two chairs had been placed in front of his desk, and he motioned for Hiei and Botan to sit down. Hiei glanced at his chair critically; it was a plain, wooden thing that looked like the handiwork of baby ningen armed with a pocketknife. Nevertheless, the fire demon sat down, hoping splinters couldn't breach his cloak, but not before noticing Botan's beautiful mahogany chair with velvety cushions.

Once Koenma was sure Botan was settled, not caring much about Hiei's well being, he began, "I have set up a series of tests that will allow me to assess your love for one another. The first test is this." He held up two identical papers. "You are to each answer these questions about yourselves. The result from this will tell me who you love the most."

After receiving a paper and pen from Koenma, Hiei looked at the questions. There were fifty in all, and they were all personal questions ranging from 'What's your favorite color?' to 'What's your biggest secret?' Hiei really did not want to do this, but he noticed Koenma watching him carefully, just waiting for Hiei to do something drastic and give their act away. So the reluctant fire demon spent the next half hour answering the questions, while mentally cursing in every language he knew.

Once they were done, an ogre came to take up their papers and immediately left the room. A different ogre returned moments later with a copy of their answers and handed that to Koenma.

"While we wait for the results, I am going to ask you some questions to see how well you know each other. They will be the same questions you just answered."

Botan wasn't at all prepared for this, and she highly doubted that Hiei was. She hoped that they could pull through, but it wasn't looking very good. Hiei didn't care enough about Botan to know anything about her, and the fire demon was so secretive that she didn't know much about him.

Koenma glanced at the pair, Botan looking worried and Hiei expressionless, and said, "The first question is for Botan: What is Hiei's favorite hobby?"

"Uh..." Botan had to think about this one. What was Hiei's favorite hobby? Did he even have a hobby? Botan could only guess. "Fighting and... killing... stuff?"

"Close enough." Hiei's actual answer was 'cause chaos and destruction throughout the three worlds to all who oppose me, and cause certain godlings to choke on their pacifiers while asleep.'

"Next question. Hiei: What is Botan's greatest fear?"

"Me," he answered easily. If Koenma hadn't been watching him so closely, Hiei would have smirked. This was way too easy. He knew that both Koenma and Botan had doubts, but they were underestimated him. Hiei could effortlessly answer these trivial questions with the aide of his ever-so-helpful Jagan.

Koenma nodded to indicate Hiei was correct. He had hoped that Hiei mess up horribly, but no such luck. Oh well, that was just one question. There were harder questions ahead. The next one, Koenma promised himself, Hiei would not be so lucky.

Meanwhile, Botan let out a sigh of relief, glad that Hiei had been correct. His answer was perfectly true - Hiei was Botan's greatest fear. She could easily be killed if he ever decided he was fed up with her. But that didn't keep her from loving Hiei. The fear just made it all the more exciting!

Moving on, Koenma turned to Botan and asked, "Who is Hiei's best friend?"

Oh dear, Hiei's best friend... Did he even have friends? If he had to call someone his best friend, it would probably be one of the Reikai Tantei, but which one? Definitely not Kuwabara. Probably not Yusuke. So that left...

"Uh, Kurama...?" she answered, unsure of herself. For all she knew, Hiei's best friend could be a pet rock!

The demigod glanced over at Hiei and asked him, "Hiei? You put 'baka kitsune' for your answer. I assume this means Kurama, ne?"

Hiei glared at Koenma, as if he were nothing more than a half-witted flea. "Of course it does, you moron. How many other baka kitsunes are there!"

Deciding to ignore the rude remark, Koenma continued with the questions. Hopefully, Hiei would get this next one wrong. "Hiei: What kitchen appliance is Botan most like and why?"

"A coffee maker because she likes coffee," Hiei answered.

"Correct," the god said irritably.

The questions continued for the next half hour or so. When they were finished, Hiei had gotten every single question correct, much to Koenma's dismay, and Botan had only gotten 23 questions out of 50 correct.

Koenma was sure that Hiei cheated, but he wasn't sure how. He thought of all of Hiei's demonic abilities when he finally remembered the Jagan. How stupid of him! Of course Hiei would use his Jagan on this! Well, since Koenma hadn't stated any rules beforehand, it couldn't be considered cheating. The next test he would most certainly get him...

The result surprised Botan. She hadn't expected Hiei to do so well when answering questions about her! Not even considering his Jagan, she assumed that he was just smarter than most people gave him credit for. She would have to ask him about it later...

Arriving just in time, an ogre came into Koenma's office and handed him a sheet of paper. Koenma read what was on it, and then reread it to make sure he wasn't seeing things. After looking at it several times, he cleared his throat and announced, "The results from your first test are in. Botan does indeed love Hiei, but Hiei loves... Yukina...?"

Hiei allowed himself a small smirk. Of course the result would be that he loved his sister. He had answered most of those questions somewhat truthfully, and the truth was that Hiei didn't even like Botan and loved his sister - platonically, of course. Hiei loved nobody romantically.

Eyebrows raised, Botan frowned slightly. The outcome to the first test was... strange. It wasn't that she had expected it to say Hiei loved her, but she wasn't exactly expecting it to be his sister either... Sounds like she was going to have some competition for Hiei's love!

"Your next test will be-" Koenma began. Suddenly all of the lights in Koenma's office went out, leaving them in complete darkness. Botan felt a hand clamp down on her mouth and an arm wrap around her neck. Her screams thoroughly muffled, Botan struggled to get away, but she was helpless against her captor. She did manage to bite her captor's hand, though, but it didn't do any good - by the time the lights came back on, Botan had been kidnapped.

Hiei figured this was probably his next test, so he didn't make a move to stop her from being dragged away, even though he could see it all very clearly in the darkness thanks to his excellent eyesight. This was going to be boring. He probably wouldn't even get to kill anyone!

He waited for Koenma to begin explaining, and sure enough, the god said, "Your next test is to rescue Botan."