Ha-ha yes, I've decided to get my lazy bottom up to write another story! Yay!

Chapter five.

"Finally!" Botan sighed, the tension of the pathway left behind them. Her violet eyes danced with happiness as she turned to the two boys, both who were determined to erase each other from existence. Through out the walk to their destination, Botan had to keep a very weak conversation going which always ended two or three replies later. "Where are we, Hiei?"

"At a house," Hiei replied shortly. Through the countless amount of tree was a clearing, the trees were replaced with deep green grass with a small shack to the side. The shack looked tarnished and worn down along with inhabitable even though smoke drifted from the chimney.

"Really now," Tacky said absentmindedly, "I thought it we were in the Amazon."

Botan smiled and clasped her hands together. "Now now... does this demon know you're coming?" Hiei merely grunted, touching the shack as if to look for the entrance. His hand slipped through a broken hole in the wood and he pulled it open, revealing the hidden door and the tiny room. Before Tacky or Botan could follow him, he had entered and shut the door behind him, giving them the queue they were to wait outside.

"Geez-"

"-Well, I guess we'll just have to wait right here." Botan interrupted, plopping down on a log. She wasn't going to take sides or listen if they talked bad about one another. She respected them both, even though her respect for Hiei was slightly higher. She glanced at Tacky, who said nothing more about it. It was just a few seconds later that a small crash could be heard. She exchanged questioning glances with Tacky until Hiei came out.

"He said he heard rumors. Let's go my way." He said calmly.

"What happened inside there?" asked Botan, ignoring Tacky's look of outrage.

"He needed convincing." Hiei smirked before heading towards another path with Botan at his side.

Maikai was dimly lit, the invisible sun just about to set. Streaks of white clouds drifted slowly against the red orange sky. The cracks and crinkle of the fire wood was crisp and clear. They had set up camp nearby a small river. Botan and Tacky had no idea of how close or far their destination was, Hiei had chose to keep it classified.

Botan was resting next to the fire; she wasn't use to walking so much. Riding her oar would cause too much attention. She sighed, resting one hand on her stomach. "What are we going to eat tonight?"

"I can take care of that," Tacky offered. He smiled at her warmly. "I haven't used my powers in a while."

"Great!" Botan turned to Hiei, smiling. "Hey, Hiei, now you can see what he does."

Hiei glanced up from the fire, mute. Tacky chose not to look at him, turning to the river. Swiftly, one of his hands rose. The water rumbled, and suddenly, great thick walls of water rose from the lake, high enough to be the height of a football field. The water rushed back and forth, maintaining the same amazing height, majestic in size.

His hand dropped halfway and the great wall came crashing down, loud, but not a drop splashed on them. The water returned to its calm state, as if it was untouched and as if it held nothing of great power.

Botan touched Hiei's arm and pointed to the small, smooth sphere of water still hovering over the river. Inside each of them was the faint outline of a fish, still moving around as if it was still in the river. "Amazing work, Tacky, don't you agree, Hiei?" Botan cried, very pleased.

Tacky smiled at Botan, and then for the first time since they departed, turned to Hiei, who was looking right back at him. "So?" He asked, swelling with pride.

Hiei glanced back at the fire. "So," He replied tartly, throwing a stick into the fire, "you can make water dance and fish wiggle."

Tacky replied with the same distaste, causing Botan to shake her head disappointedly. "I don't see how exhilarating making smoke is. Your big head is thick with it."

Hiei's eyes flashed right at him, his expression dangerously close to murderous. Botan stood up as well, very unsettled about the whole thing. "Not now, guys," she said. "We're on a mission!"

"Screw that," Tacky snapped. "This jerk is full of bullshit! I don't even see why he was picked to be a Reikai Tantei anyways!"

"I wasn't picked, baka," Hiei replied coldly. "I'm serving jail time. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here at all."

"Stop it!" Botan cried, running right between the middle of them. "You two…" She turned to Tacky, glaring at him, "Hiei is one of the best members we've had. He's had way more experience then you, so unless you do all that he's done, don't say a word like that!"

"Hah." Hiei said, satisfied, but Botan turned to him, her eyes now filled with hurt and more anger.

"Don't you dare say anything at all, Hiei Jaganshi!" Botan cried. "I can't believe you just said what you did! Am I just part of the package until you have finished paying back your debt? I bet if you were free to leave, you would disappear like that!" she snapped her fingers. "Honestly, you two, mostly you Hiei, are jerks!"

Speechless, both men could only watch as Botan snapped her fingers and catch a lift on the oar which has formed right in front of her. Her words were echoing all around them. The balls of water splashed noisily back into the river and the fire continued to crackle.

"…you're still an ass."

"…"

Later.

Botan quietly landed nearby the river. The fire still crackled with life, but it was pitch black all around. She had flown all around, letting some of the steam out. Although she still did not forgive either of them, she had to finish this mission. She walked towards the fire, looking around. She couldn't see either of them, but someone had left a skewered fish near the fire. It looked crisp and tasty…Botan reached for it and uprooting it from the dirt, digging her own oar into the ground and leaning on it as if it was a post. Just before she could bite into it, her communicator began beeping. Botan dug into her kimono sleeves and pulled out the communicator. She placed it on audio. "Hey, Botan," said Yusuke's voice, "we caught the first demon, it took us four flights and a bus ride, but we got it."

"Where are you now?" Botan asked thickly, she was eating and talking at the same time. "Did the demon have any information?"

"Well, the demon isn't really a dude, so we didn't really find her at a sport shop. She was masked as a human working at a hot spring inn. Genkai was the only one who noticed it first, then we fought, it took a while since Kuwabara can't hit girls-" In the background, Kuwabara has began ranting about an honor code. "-but we got her anyways. Be careful," Yusuke continued. "The demon claimed the second one we're tracking down has minions all over."

"Good job, Yusuke. We still haven't found anyone yet. Hiei and Tacky have been at each other's throats…" Botan sighed. "And Hiei's little clues aren't really getting us far. I'll talk with you later, Yusuke. Bye." She turned off the communicator, picking out the fish bones from the fish. She stiffened as a bush behind her shook, but relaxed when she heard Tacky's voice.

"There you are," With a sigh, Tacky sat down right next to her. "I knew if I left food out, you'd come running."

"Ha-ha." Botan replied dryly. Tacky turned to her, a small smile on his lips.

"Are you still mad? Come on, me and Hiei dropped it right after you left."

"I somehow find that hard to believe."

"Well, we didn't really drop it, some fishes got thrown around and some fingers got burnt… and then we split up to find you." Tacky turned to Botan, who was still busy picking out bones. "You're not listening to me, are you?"

"I am, I'm just not looking at you." Botan replied. "I'm too hungry to deal with this now."

"Do you want some more fish?"

Botan turned to him, asking innocently, "Can you get one without so many bones?"

"Maybe, but you owe me a favor."

"Just for getting me fish? That's not very…friendly of you."

"Do you want food or not?" Botan couldn't beat the odds. She nodded. "Good, then you owe me a favor."

Hoisting himself up, Tacky headed for the stream while Botan continued with her current fish. In the darkness of the trees, Hiei watched silently, seething at how close Tacky was towards "the onna". Not the onna, his onna. How can she be so blind?

"How is this one?" Tacky headed back, a large ball of water near his hand. "It's bigger then the one you have right now, so it'll have more meat."

"What about bones though?"

"I'll get rid of the bones right now." Before Tacky could start, Botan turned around. "What are you doing?"

"It's going to be gruesome, right?"

"Well…yeah. Okay, whatever." Botan covered her ears and closed her eyes until Tacky said, "Alright, there. See, it's cooking now."

The energetic fish Botan had once seen in a ball of water was now ripped open, skewered on two sticks, clean as a whistle, and now dead. "Thanks."

"Now, for that favor." Tacky said, turning towards her. Botan leaned back, suddenly afraid of what he was going to ask. "Tell me- where the hell are we going?"

"I don't know," Botan replied, relieved. "Hiei won't tell me."

Tacky snorted, leaning back causally, but he still looked a bit anxious. "Hey, Hiei, you can stop holding your sword like a spear now." He called, a smile cracking on his face. Across the fire, Hiei appeared, sheathing his sword. Botan gaped, but it was immediately replaced with a death scowl fit for Hiei himself. "Ouch, I'll leave you two alone."

Once Tacky has been eaten by the thick trees, Botan rounded on Hiei. "You were spying on us?"

"I don't trust him, he's too close." Hiei argued.

"He was only helping me with my food!" Botan pointed out.

"Did you honestly think he wanted to ask about our currently location?" Hiei snarled, his voice rising.

"If it was something else, I could have handled it!" Botan shrilly voice yelled back.

"Do you think you could have?"

"You don't trust me!" Before Hiei could answer, Botan continued. "Hiei, I can't believe you don't trust my choices! You're so stupid at times!"

"Tsubasa-sama said to shoot the man! No, you FOOL," The deep booming voice cried, causing Botan and Hiei to look around, confused. The sound of a thick string snapping, the quick rustle of the leaves right afterwards, and then the intense pain of her flesh being attacked with a giant needle…

"Botan!"

Botan uttered a small intake of sharp breath, her eyes wide, scared, and horrified, her hands shaking at she clutched the arrow deep inside her human heart. Her head pounded, the Maikai became a dizzy blur, and she felt as if she was flying…the wind causing her hair to fly… shoes were being scraped across the dirt and the next blurred image was Hiei. It was a beautiful sight to see; his face was as scared as she was on the inside, calling to her. "Botan! Damn, onna, keep breathing!"

Hiei shook her, watching in deep horror as she gave him a glimmer of a smile, as much as she could without bearing anymore pain. Then, the beating upon her heart stopped and Hiei found himself being the only spirit force detectable. "…Botan?"

End.

I'm sorry for taking so long!