Day 3: Thursday

Botan woke from the couch with a start. Last night came back to her in a flood and she blushed tremendously. Okay, so, today was a day to stay away from Hiei. Knowing Botan and her luck, it that was not something that was going to go smoothly.

Which was why it was a good thing that it was nearly noon and that Hiei was already in the training room. Man, she had gone to bed early and still slept until noon. She guessed that with the past nights and the number of times that she had awoken and the early times that she had to get up and make coffee had taken its toll on her weary body. She got up, made some of said coffee, and then shut herself in the bathroom for a long, soothing bath.

She slipped off her pajamas and slid into the water gracefully. The fact that Botan was a clutz was actually stereotypical to her personality. She was very poised and the only reason people thought that she was clutzy was because of her perky disposition.

She dunked her head under the clear water and opened her eyes. The surface above her shimmered in an eddy of a thousand different lights and colors. The tendrils of her blue hair drifted toward the surface as if reaching for it. Bubbles blossomed at her nose and traveled up to break at the surface of the water in a flurry. She sat there, under the water, for quite a while before bursting up, gasping for air and flinging water in a myriad of drops.

Sometimes, when she had been little (and alive), she had liked to pretend that she was a mermaid. It was something she had always wanted to do, but the want had gone away with age. Little had she known, mermaids were a real thing in the Makai. Actually, they were rare, but Botan had finally gotten to see one. This was why she had an unbidden pasion for the water.

She sat there, soaking, and another thought occured to her. Something that had been buried at the back of her mind for later. She was remembering what the spirit of that girl had said just before she had been locked in the room with Hiei. About how she could never know what it felt like to love. Botan had known at one point what it felt like to be loved, but for the afterlife of her she could not remember much of anything of her former life as a mortal.

It made her sad that, in a sense, the spirit girl was right. She didn't know what it felt like to love. She knew what it felt like platonically, but not anything real. These thoughts just kept whirling around in her mind as she stepped from the tub and toweled her legs dry. There was nothing else to do, so when she stepped out of the bathroom, she still thought about it.

Botan sat in her chair, only getting up to eat and got to the bathroom every once in a while. She was so caught up in her depressed musings that she failed to notice Hiei walk out of the training room. Only when he waved a clawed hand in front of her face did she snap back to attention abruptly.

"Wha...?" She stared at him rather dumbly.

"Hn," was his simple answer. He gave no reason as to why he had brought her back into the realm of the functioning. She blinked a couple of times and then decided that conversation was the only way toget rid of this sick feeling she had.

"How was training, today?" Botan asked, not really interested.

"Hn."

"Come up with any new techniques?"

"Hn."

The way that this was going seemed slightly familiar, so Botan just shut her mouth and let Hiei do his own thing, which was to sit in the chair across the room. She ignored him, but could plainly tell that he was staring.

Meanwhile, across the room, Hiei's thoughts were wandering to the ferry girl sitting and staring off into space.

He studied her intently, taking in every feature of her. Her chin was strong and curved gracefully, accentuating her soft pink lips. Her fuschia eyes were glazed from either boredom or thought process, he couldn't tell which. The blue eyebrows that adorned her forehead were made for arching, though she didn't do it much. Hiei figured that she could pull of a pouty look very well.

Oh, how good she would look if she were pouting...wait, no. Hiei berated himself. Must. Stop. Thinking. Kinky. Thoughts. Hiei was not having an easy time as his eyes grew smoky and clouded and his breathing grew ragged and erratic. He had the sudden urge to say her name.

"Botan..." He said raspily, gaining her attention. She snapped her head toward him and her expression grew fearful at his half-lidded darkened eyes. She noticed his youki flaring strangely about him and that his Jagan was glowing. Another thing was that his breathing was rapid and shallow.

She gulped and he watched the pulse of her throat as she did so, it only seeming to fuel his youkai instincts. This was really not good. Not. Good. Botan stood slowly and covered her quivering chin with her hands as Hiei advanced on her slowly. He was soon nose to nose with her, his hot breath caressing her face.

He lifted a claw and traced it all the way down from her earlobe to her chin, moving her hands out of the way. She gulped again as he moved in closer and covered her lips with her own, kissing her softly, almost gently.

She gasped in surprise and he pulled away. She had actually liked what he had just done, but she knew that this was not something she wanted or needed. He would kill her for letting him, anyway. So, it was best that she snapped him out of his trance. She looked him straight in the eye.

"Hiei. Snap. Out. Of. It." She spaced her words carefully and spoke loudly, as if to an invalid and watched as his eyes cleared. He stepped back and seemed to shake himself.

Hiei was mortified. He had lost control. Again. This was not something he needed. Furiously, he threw himself back into his chair and glared at the carpet, brooding.

Botan was currently more afraid that the carpet was going to catch fire more than anything, so she abruptly took the reins on this situation.

"Hiei, you look a little tense." That was really stating the obvious. Way to go, Botan! Hurrah! She silently berated herself inside her head.

"Gee, you think?" Typical, she was trying to help and he just pushed her away. Well, this ferry girl was not giving up.

"Would you...like a massage?" She nearly kicked herself. Where had that come from?

Hiei looked at her sharply. "What did you say, Onna?"

"Erm..." She needed a lie fast. "Nothing?"

"Wrong. I believe you asked if I would like a massage, am I correct?" He glared at her, as if challenging her to lie to him.

She gulped once more. "Yes..." Hiei almost didn't catch it. Almost.

"Yes. I would like a massage." In her shock, Botan looked up and missed his slightly clouded eyes. She sighed. How did she get herself into these situtations?

She got up and walked over to him cautiously, watching as he lowered himself onto the floor in a meditation position. She settled herself behind him and began to slowly knead the thick knots in his shoulders. Was he always this tense? No wonder the guy hated everyone, except Yukina.

He leaned back against her as she started work on a particularly large knot and she tensed a moment, stopping her ministrations. He growled irritatbly and she eeped, going back to what she was doing rather quickly.

She stopped again as she felt his body vibrate ever-so-slightly beneath her hands. Again he growled and she started back up, intrigued when the vibrations became a low hum. She wondered what it could be.

She nearly burst into giggles when she realized that he was purring. Imagine...a moody koorime like Hiei...purring! This time, she did burst into giggles and Hiei growled, turning enough so that he could peer at her from one crimson eye.

"Onna, what is so funny to have made you stop what you were doing?" He asked in a dangerous tone. She took several deep breaths and looked at him.

"You were...purring!" At this point, she burst into laughter again. He growled and she stopped.

"I was not purring. Now start again." She sighed and resumed the massage, smirking to herself when he started purring again. Ha! She knew that she was right. Score: Botan two and Hiei zero.

About fifteen minutes later, Botan's hands were growing very tired. She leaned down next to Hiei's head. "Hiei, can I stop now?"

No answer. She figured that he was being himself so she craned her neck to look at his face, in the process letting him go. He fell backward into her and she saw that his eyes were closed. He was asleep!

She guessed that even a warrior like Hiei got tired after all the physical activity that he had been doing. She slowly moved out from under the sleeping koorime, laying him down on the floor, one of his hands clutching her obi. When she tried to pry his fingers off of the bright sash though, he muttered and wrapped his arm fully around her waist so fast that she did not even have time to cry out before she was pulled right against him, one of his hands automatically going to her hair.

She sighed. He was going to kill her tomorrow. Oh, well. Might as well embrace death. She tentatively wrapped an arm around his back and placed the other in his hair. Wow, how could something that spiky be so soft? She bet he didn't even use conditioner. She would have to ask him tomorrow what his technique was. But for now, that smell of sandalwood was...so...very...heavy...on...her...senses...