Soooooo, someone liked the story, yay. Therefore, I've decided to continue the story since it wasn't a total failure!
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Botan felt a warm comfort being in Touya's arms, something she hadn't felt in a long time. As she cried in his arms, she listened to his soothing voice that reassured her everything was going to be okay, and it wasn't all a dream.
After a few sobs and hiccups, Botan had stopped crying and a serene quietness took over the field of peonies. It stayed like this for a while, very quiet, with Botan still in Touya's arms. Botan just stared at the field and couldn't believe he still remembered…she felt kind of guilty for smacking him on the head with her oar. She gazed from the peonies to Touya, and took in both of their beauty. The peonies were so delicate looking, as if they would break if you touched one, even ever so lightly. Then, on the other hand, Touya wasn't so delicate looking. He looked very masculine, but very gentle at the same time. His muscular, chiseled body, looked smooth and silky under the sun's gentle rays. The way the light reflected on him, he almost looked like a god, to Botan he really was one! Botan took one last look at the peonies and Touya, and then closed her eyes. 'I wish this moment could last forever.' With that one last thought Botan went limp against Touya's body, and she fell asleep right there, in his arms.
Touya carried Botan to his house and laid her down on his bed. 'Guess I'll be sleeping on the futon' he thought. As Botan slept, Touya couldn't help but watch her. She looked so vulnerable, although he already knew that wasn't true…Touya's bed was right by the window, which is on the side of the house where the moon shines through every night. The moon seemed to dance on Botan's skin, accentuating her features. "Man, today was a long day. I'm beat." Touya leaned over and kissed Botan on the forehead, "Oyasumi nasai, Botan-chan. " He lay in the dark thinking about the day's events, but soon he got too tired, gave up, and fell asleep.
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"Hey, Touya! Where were you last night?" Touya whirled around and saw a young man with a mess of orange hair, and sighed. The young man was one of Touya's best friends, Jin. He had an accent, and was pretty popular with the ladies, unfortunately, he was too into other people's business to worry about his own.
"I was seeing and old friend of mine" Touya called back. "Why?"
"Well I went over to your house yesterday, and no one was home, just curious"
"I see."
"Can I meet your friend?" Jin clasped his hands together, and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.
"I guess so, I don't see why not."
Jin flew around, creating a whirlwind, and when he stopped there was a mess of food on the floor. Jin looked around, and started to clean up his mess. Touya just laughed and watched as Jin shouted at people who kept stepping on things, making it more difficult to clean.
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The sun was shining through the windows, and the faint sound of children playing could be heard. Botan peeked open one of her eyes, only to find she was alone. She slowly made her way to the door, where she found a note. It said:
Botan,
I have gone into town to pick up some groceries, assuming you'll be staying over. Please make yourself comfortable, and I should be back shortly.
Touya
'Well, I guess I'll be staying here. After all, why make him go through so much trouble for me if I'm not going to be here. I guess I at least owe him that.' Botan walked down the hall, cleaned herself up, and started to make something to eat.
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Jin was floating beside Touya as he walked down the aisles of the store. "So. Touya, when do I get to meet your friend."
"How, about tonight. If you don't mind, would you tell everybody else to come over for dinner tonight. Then you can all get to know her."
"Her? So she's a girl. What's her name?"
"Botan."
"Botan. That's a pretty name. Well, I'll be seeing ya! Sayonara."
"Okay, bye. Don't forget to tell everyone."
"You worry too much, I won't forget." Jin soared to the sky, and went to tell his friends about the get together at Touya's house. That left Touya to figure out what he was going to make for dinner. 'What did I get myself into? I can't cook! Maybe Botan can help me.'
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Kurama was in his garden tending to his plants, when he heard a voice call out to him.
"Kurama, up here!" Kurama looked up, and there was Jin. "Guess what, Kurama?"
"What, Jin?"
"Touya is having a party at his house so we can meet his new friend. It's tonight, he's going to make dinner and everything. Isn't that exciting!"
"Did you tell anybody else?"
"Not yet. Would you like to come?"
"Sure, let me finish watering my plants…..Kay, I'm done. Let's go."
"Next stop, Yusuke's house."
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"Yusuke, are you home? Open up, we need to tell ya something." The door opened very slowly to reveal a very sleepy Yusuke.
"What do you want? I'm tired, go away…"
"It's 1:00 in the afternoon, what do you mean you're tired!"
"Exactly what I said, I'm tired. Now what do you want, so I can go back to sleep."
"We just came to tell you Touya is inviting us to dinner, so we can meet his friend, Botan."
"A PARTY!"
"Now he's awake…"
"Wait. How come Hiei was invited before me? I'm more important than him. It's not fair."
"No you're not…baka ningen. And when they were walking to your house, I joined them, and then they told me. Now, shut up, and get out of your teddy bear pajamas, so we can head for the other baka ningen's house."
"They're not teddy bears, Hiei. They're ferocious bears. So there."
"O.o…whatever…"
Soon every body was informed of the get together (Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Yukina), and they all hung out at the park until it was time to leave.
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"Botan, I'm home." Touya looked around and saw no sign of Botan. He stood by the door for a minute, then started to walk towards the kitchen, where he was pretty sure a very sweet smelling aroma was coming from. "Botan, are you there? What are you making?" Botan heard the shuffling of footsteps, and knew Touya was home.
"I'm in here" Botan shouted. "Did you find what you were looking for at the store?"
"I'm not sure." Touya had made his way into the kitchen, and was now standing by Botan. "You see, I invited some friends over for dinner so they could meet you, and I got so caught up in the moment, that I forgot I can't cook. So, I just bought a bunch of stuff that looked good, and I was hoping, maybe, you could help me make it. If it's not too much to ask."
"Of course I'll help you. I love to cook! So what time are your friends coming over?"
"In a few hours." Touya looked at Botan and expected to see a shocked reaction, but instead he met with the face that was very calm.
"That's just enough time to throw in dessert too."
"Is there any thing I can do to help?"
"Sure. Let's see what ya bought." Touya started to unload the groceries. Once everything was unpacked Botan looked at everything. "We can use the junk that you bought as snacks, incase the guests arrive early. Do you know how to use a grill?"
"What's that?"
"O.o…nevermind…ribs can also be made in the oven too. Touya, can you put the snacks in bowls, please, and then set them out on the table?"
"That I can do." Touya did as he was asked while Botan started to prepare the appetizers and dinner. She figured she'd start on the dessert after she got dinner going. A couple of hours went by, and succulent three course meal had been prepared, and dessert was coming out of the oven right now.
"Wow! Botan, when did you learn how to cook!"
"While you were studying in the states, I took up culinary arts." Botan stated matter-of-factly. Touya helped Botan set the table , and then they ran out of room to place everything.
"Heh heh heh….guess I got a little carried away with the food…"
"Not a problem. Yusuke and Kuwabara eat like pigs, I'm sure they'd eat everything if you let 'em. I have an extra table out in the back, didn't think id ever get use out of it. I'll bring it in, and set it up abreast this one, and everything should be able to fit."
"Perfect."
After the table was set Botan stood back to admire her work. Everything was presented very well. The appetizers were in the middle of the table on a humungous plate. First was the mochi and ozouni on the middle of the plate, then, surrounding that was the sushi, and on the outskirts of the plate were some gyozas. For drinks, there was sweet sake and sparkling cider. There were nine places set for nine people. On every plate there was a bowl, and inside the bowl was udon noodles. On the left side of the appetizers there were barbecue ribs, and on the other was bulgolgi. For dessert, which was sitting on a silver platter, Botan made a rather large ice cream cake. The cake was chocolate, with cookie's n' cream ice cream in side, there was a layer of thin fudge frosting on the outside of the cake, and on the top it read: Nice To Meet You! Everything was absolutely perfect. The only thing missing were the-
"They're here" Touya called from the window "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Botan said as she made her way to go stand by him at the door.
Touya opened the door, and welcomed his guests, and as they entered he introduced them to Botan. Everyone chatted for a while, and then headed for the dinner table. Yusuke stared at everything in bewilderment. "Wow, Touya, I didn't know you could cook!"
"Well, I can't"
"So then were eating take-out? It must be expensive, this food looks great!"
"No! We're not eating take-out." Touya gestured for Botan to come, "Botan made dinner." Everyone looked at Botan and then Touya.
"How rude!" Keiko stormed over to Touya and whacked him on the head. "How could make your guest cook?" Then she looked at Botan apologetically for her outburst. Botan just smiled and nodded in return.
"It's quite alright Keiko, I enjoy cooking. Touya asked me if I would help him, and I accepted." Keiko backed off Touya, but threw him a stern look.
"Let's eat, shall we!" Kurama said, hoping to release some of the created tension.
"Yes" Jin chimed in, "I'm starving." Everyone sat down and started to eat. Just like Touya said, Yusuke and Kuwabara were pigging out, and Keiko and Yukina were looking at them, embarrassed to be seen with them. Kurama, Jin, Touya, and Botan were all lost in conversation, and Hiei was just observing everything that was going on while he ate. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. Soon everyone was stuffed, and more than half of the food had been consumed.
Yusuke and Kuwabara sat back in their chairs and rubbed their tummies. " Man, we're stuffed. That was really good Botan" they said simultaneously. Hiei stared at them with a look of disgust. "You two are such gluttons, it disgusts me to no end to watch you two eat."
"What! You want to say that to my face shrimp?" Yusuke bellowed. "Wait, let me bend over so you can reach it." Hiei grew furious, picked up a gyoza and threw it at Yusuke's face. Then he burst out in laughter.
"So, shortie wants to play games? Fine." Yusuke picked up some sushi, and flung it, but he missed Hiei, and it hit Kurama. Kurama looked beside himself, and was going to say something when he got hit with another sushi. He grabbed some mochi and ozouni…not the smartest thing to throw. The rice and vegetables flew everywhere, and everyone got hit. Soon, Touya's dining room had been turned into a food war zone. Food was flying, and by the time everyone was tired, there was no more food. Keiko got up, apologized to Botan, grabbed Yusuke by the ear, and dragged him into the kitchen. Soon all you could hear was Keiko shouting, and the sound of smacking. "NOW GET UP! WE ARE GOING TO STAY AND HELP CLEAN, AFTER ALL, YOU STARTED IT!" Soon everyone heard the sink turn on, and Keiko came out to collect the dirty dishes. "Thank you Botan. Dinner was excellent, sorry for ruining it. We'll help you and Touya clean."
"Thanks," Botan said, "I appreciate it." Keiko turned with a pile of dishes, and walked into the kitchen. " START CLEANING!" Everyone, even Hiei, got up and started to clean too. When the house was straight again it was really late, so everyone said their regards and left.
Botan called out to everybody before they left, "It was nice meeting you guys." Everyone turned and waved, one by one they thanked her for dinner. Soon they were out of sight, and Botan and Touya went back into the house. "Sorry, Botan, sometimes things get a little out of hand…"
"It's okay. I had fun, nonetheless. Your friends seem like really nice people, I'd hang out with them again."
"Glad to hear."
"Hey, Touya."
"Hm?"
"I'm going to take a shower, and then turn in for the night, okay?"
"Kay." Touya stared at Botan's retreating form. Botan had taken her hair down, and as she walked away it swayed side to side, in rhythm with her hips. For a moment Touya was just staring, but then he came back to his senses. "Wait, Botan." Botan turned around, and started to walk back to him.
"Yes?"
"I forgot to say goodnight." Touya went to Botan, gave her a hug, and kissed her cheek. Botan's cheek tingled, and then she started to turn a very light shade of red.
"…G-goodnight, Touya." Touya released Botan, and she quickly went to the bathroom to take a shower. Touya watched her walk away, and smiled a devious little smile, knowing he had made her blush when he kissed her. He had intended for that to happen, she just looked so cute when she was flustered. The night was over, and Touya was tired. He turned off the light, and went to bed.
End chapter 3! Yay! Sooooo, what do ya think? You don't have to tell me, if you don't want. Any ways, I'd like to thank Evanescence's Dark Angel for reviewing! Chapter 4 should be up soon…I hope…I'm not sure yet. Happy Belated Easter, and enjoy Spring Break!
