Chapter Vierzehn

Kuwabara emerged from his room with a new look, his hair was an orange wave of red fire that was spiked up perfectly and he wore Blue jeans and a blue button up shirt, a chain hung from his belt loops and it clanged when he walked. And as a final touch a silver ring hung from the top of his ear.

"Wow, you clean up nice, Kuwabara." Botan smiled and looked at the boys as they admired her handy work. "So what do you think?" She turned to them.

"That's not Kuwabara." Yusuke spoke obnoxiously and poked him

"Hey watch it Urameshi or I will have to pound you into the ground with the worms 'cause you are one."

Yusuke's face dropped in a bored sort of way, "Nope, that's him."

Kurama and Hiei just ignored their teammates' usual childishness and watched Botan as she tried to stop them from fighting. Kurama meticulously turned to Hiei and bore his gaze down on him.

"What do you want Fox? Stop looking at me like I betrayed you or something." Hiei spoke.

"No, It's not me whom you have betrayed." He said softly with a hint of anger and annoyance in his voice. Then walked up to the other three. "So when you are in Kuwabara, you know what to do?"

"Yeah, of course I know what to do." He smiled with the notion that he was doing something for the honor of the world, "I get caught and see what happens then… um."

Botan sighed and handed him a communication mirror. " The contact us and tell us about the inner workings of his army. Don't let him find this mirror, it's the only way we will be able to save you and the rest of the humans." She warned.

Kuwabara walked around the empty city, around the death that was once a lively city, where he would engage in fighting with rival gangs and hanging out with his friends… he paused, His friends? The thought to check on his friends had never even crossed his mind. He would have to find out what happened to them; his only hope was that they hadn't been recruited into the army or worse, dead.

Memories flooded his mind, how had he lost everyone without doing a single thing to prevent it from happening? Well now was his chance to make due and redeem himself. This would be his one true test of honor. He did this for everyone.

Kuwabara sighed and began to whistle a bored song but it was quickly cut short when his throat was meet by the silvery sting of a short dagger. "What are you doing out here, Human?" A feminine voice sharply hissed. "You know what happens to lowly Humans when they wonder from their "underground" refuges don't you?" she asked pressing her dagger in a little deeper drawing a thin ooze of blood.

Kuwabara could do nothing but feel a slight shaking in his knees but he willed them to stop. Then he spoke in a soft tone, "I know what you will do. But can I see the face of my deadly assassin?" He spoke in a manner not prone to him, but then he was someone else. She turned him and Kuwabara backed up in shock his back pressed hard against the rough wall of red bricks.

"Do you think he is okay?" Botan spoke, cutting through the silence that was in the dark room of the temple.

"Yeah, don't worry Botan. Either he is okay… Or dead." Yusuke said shrugging.

"That's not funny." She pouted and Kurama stepped from the wall he had been leaning on and sat next to her.

"He'll be fine." Kurama made a head motion toward the door where Botan found Hiei standing, Looming, glaring off into the darkness as it started to rain again. "Everyone will be fine."

Yusuke arched and eyebrow and looked over at the door then back at Kurama and Botan. With a "Huh?" he shrugged and stood up. " Well that's enough moping for me, I'm going to clear my head."

Botan seemed to ignore Yusuke as she and Kurama shared a silent yet conversational glance. "Y-yeah you are right, Kurama." She stood and crossed the room to the door and stood on the porch placing her hands on the rail she looked out into the nothingness as he did. Suddenly his glare was turned from the rain to the ground.

"Onna." Hiei said in barely a whisper loud enough for her to hear. She turned and looked at him but did not find his eyes.

"Y-Yes?" Botan timidly spoke. "Are you going to be okay Hiei?"

"Hush!" he ordered harshly, "Listen to what I have to say. And do only that." He said and looked up at her with hard eyes causing her to gasp inwardly. "I don't know what you think would have happened when I remembered you, That we would fall in love all over again, or that I would become some sort of "friend" to you. But that's not going to happen. I want you to forget everything about me. Having these memories helped me see that what would have been between us…was a mistake." He said and pulled the ring from his pocket and tossed it out into the rain where it rang softly as it hit the ground repeatedly before coming to rest in a puddle. "That is where we would have ended up." He said and vanished before her very eyes.

Kurama flinched as he watched her heart literally breaking inside of her. He could do nothing about it and it hurt him. Hiei was going to pay for hurting her. Kurama looked away from the scene before him and growled lowly, leaving Botan alone on the porch.

"Well? What's wrong with you? Never seen a girl before or something?" She asked bitterly.

"You- You're…" Kuwabara stuttered.