Day 6: Sunday

Botan woke up and felt something nuzzling her cheek. It was warm and smooth, creating a delicious sensation on her skin. She inhaled and smelled…sandalwood. Wait…sandalwood?

Botan shot up with alarm, only to be pulled back underneath the covers by Hiei. Funny thing was, he was fast asleep…and he was nuzzling her cheek with his nose. It tickled immensely and felt so good that Botan's eyes rolled upwards a little ways and she closed her eyes, sighing contentedly. Hey, Hiei had gotten into the bed; he was the one who was going to have to get out because she sure wasn't going to.

Besides, she was finding that she kind of liked the temperamental koorime's company. Which was strange in of itself, but Botan had never been afraid of Hiei as others had. Sure, at first she was knew he had been a vicious killer and that he would probably strike her down in one blow if he had wanted to.

But he hadn't.

He had had the perfect chance on many occasions when he hadn't been part of the Tantei (And when he had) and he hadn't done it. Botan recalled one very vividly and always had.

It had been when Keiko was kidnapped. Hiei had kidnapped her and Yusuke had gone to get her, Botan, of course, going along. Yusuke had been untrained and weak, and Hiei, had it not been for his over-confidence, would most certainly have beaten him.

Hiei had taken the stolen Ghostslayer and slashed Keiko with it, effectively starting her on a one-way trip to being a mindless zombie-slave. While Yusuke had fought with Hiei, Botan had used her own psychic and healing powers to restrain the effects of Ghostslayer. She remembered her energy reaching out to lock the eyes on Keiko's forehead closed while the two fought. She also remembered glancing up occasionally when a lull in the fighting had taken place (Usually when Hiei had begun to monologue) and taking in their opponent. She remembered that he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, even then.

He was beautiful, even when he was against them.

She remembered afterwards, after he had been defeated, that she had hated herself for ever thinking of him that way. But then, when he had become a part of the team, her opinion of his beauty had not stopped. Every time she looked upon him, she had thought him more beautiful than the last time.

Botan had never been in love with Hiei or even had any sort of crush on him, but for some reason, she still always thought that he was beautiful and that she would rather spend the day just staring at him than any million-dollar painting. She had had to almost train herself to keep from staring and she was constantly fearful that he would read her mind and come in one those thoughts.

But, apparently, the master of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, Tantei member, full-time older brother, and Forbidden Child had other, more important things to do than read a Ferry Girl's mind.

Botan stopped her thoughts and turned her face to regard him once more, enjoying the feel of his naturally heated breath caressing her cheek. It soothed her and she let her eyes drift shut once again, failing to see that Hiei's had fluttered open, revealing piercing rubies.

Hiei held her close, even though he realized that he was doing it. Lately, he had begun to realize, after watching her for a while, that she was beautiful. She was as beautiful and more as her namesake, the peony.

And in many ways, she reminded him of a flower. If not tended to for a period of time, the flower would wilt and die. If not given enough attention, the flower would fade and become a part of the background. Someone needed to tend this flower and Hiei thought that…no. That would not be something advisable. He was the Forbidden Child, destined never to love and never to be loved in return. Best not to linger upon things that would never be.

But for then, all he wanted to do was rest with her in his arms.

-7-

Botan stretched and shivered, feeling a sudden temperature change. She looked to her right and saw that the space next to her was empty, devoid of any warm demons to keep her company. She had enjoyed that, which was what made it such a pity. It wasn't like Hiei had. He had probably hated it.

For some reason, Botan felt that she needed another good swim to let some energy out. She felt restless again and she needed this badly, so she hopped into the shower and out as quickly as possible and looked into the closet. This time, there was a much more conservative bathing suit.

It was a one piece and it was blue. It was darker than her hair, contrasting to bring out the lighter color better. She slipped it on in the still steamy bathroom and headed out to the pool.

As soon as she got there, Botan could feel herself become ready to swim. Not hesitating in the least, she leapt into the this time cold water and started doing fast laps around and around, cutting through the water like a knife to butter.

The cool fingers of water stroked her as she swam, cradled her like a mother to a child and she felt herself go into a stupor, not really aware of her surrounding until a voice broke into the haze that had overcome her mind.

"Onna, I cannot find the beverage that you seem to be so fond of in the mornings. Direct me to it."

Her mind cleared quickly, a chime going off in her head, and her amethyst eyes snapped open, meeting scarlet. She stood in the shallow end of the pool and lifted one blue eyebrow.

"The house normally just gives the you whatever you need. Just think about it."

Hiei sneered. "I have tried that already and it failed."

Botan mock-gasped. "Oh, my…is the Almighty Hiei-sama asking for—dare I even utter it—help?"

Hiei growled at her and began to stalk off. Botan sighed and shouted at his retreating form. "Wait, Hiei! I was only joking. I'll see what I can do." Botan began to pull herself out of the pool and onto the slick surface of lacquered wood. She heaved herself onto her feet and began to walk after Hiei, half-running to keep up with his long strides.

Then, as if in slow motion, Botan's feet hit a particularly slick patch of floor and they went out from under her in a smooth motion, causing the deity to fall backwards. She would have cracked her skull had it not been for two firm arms enveloping her and keeping her upright.

Botan slowly opened her eyes and they traveled along the length of the black-swathed arms encircling her waist. Her eyes met Hiei's and they sprang apart, Hiei breathing deeply, the oxygen flowing out of his open mouth slightly ragged. Botan watched him warily, and after about five minutes, he seemed to gain control.

It was strange, but Botan seemed to think that it had taken him much longer than before to regain his self-control. It was getting worse and she could tell. For some odd reason, she wasn't scared.

Botan wasn't in the least bit scared of what might happen to her when Hiei reached the peak of his instinctually driven habits at the end of the week. And that puzzled her.

She was puzzled because she realized that she should have been frightened, terrified even, shaking in her swimsuit, but she wasn't. She thought about the concept of a hormone-mad koorime repeatedly to gauge her own reaction and still no fear.

Botan didn't know why she was not frightened, she just wasn't.

But there was one thing that she knew and that whatever happened at the end of that week, Hiei was her friend and always would be, and she would do everything in her power to help him.

Little did Botan know, that her unspoken vow would hold much more value than she had originally anticipated.

-7-

Botan walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed the bag of hazelnut coffee that appeared for her. With a smug look, she turned to Hiei and noticed that he was glowering at the bag of coffee as if it had committed some type of offense. It was quite a funny picture actually and Botan was finding it exceedingly difficult to hold in her mirth. She promptly burst out laughing.

Hiei turned his glare in her direction and she still could not stop laughing even though his expression changed from normal glare to the 'I-Am-Going-To-Hurt-You' look. Strangely, they didn't look much different. Which happened to make the Not-So-Grim-Reaper laugh even harder.

"What, may I ask, is so funny, you baka?" He hissed, venom dripping from his words.

"I can't…too much…the look on your face…so funny!" Botan collapsed onto the floor, clutching her stomach, her face reddened. He only glowered further.

"And what look would that be, onna?" The floor was practically melting from the acid dripping off of his lips.

She gasped for breath. "Glare…Glare of Death!"

He lifted an eyebrow, no longer angry, merely bemused. "Glare of Death? Are you telling me that you pay enough attention to my expressions to have named them, onna? How much attention do you pay me?"

Botan stopped laughing and blushed. "It's not that! I just pay a lot of attention. For instance, I know every one of yours, Yusuke's, and Kurama's expressions!"

Hiei's eyebrow lifted higher. "What about the fool?"

Botan only had to think for a moment before she realized that he was talking about Kuwabara. "Eh heh…he only has a few expressions and most of them are kind of well…stupid."

Hiei smirked. Score: Hiei: 5,798,352, Kuwabara: 0. "All of them except for the fool's?"

Botan nodded. "I'll prove it!" She took a stance that looked as though she was angry. She crossed her arms over her chest and spread her feet apart about four inches and lowered her brow so that she was glaring heatedly in Hiei's direction.

In a voice that sounded remarkably like his, she said, "I am Hiei, master of the Jagan and the Dragon of Darkness Flame. Feel my wrath as I kill you before you even see what I am doing." With this, Botan unsheathed her imaginary katana and tossed her imaginary cloak aside, taking a defensive position.

"Now…you die." She pointed one finger at him and imaginarily rushed forward, stopping to look at him expectantly. He scoffed at her antics.

"I do not sound like that." He sneered at her.

"Yes, you do. And this is how Yusuke sounds." She placed her fingers in the form of a gun and spread her feet apart to look as if she was bracing herself. Then, she lifted one eyebrow and smirked in an arrogant way, one bit of her teeth showing.

"Look, now I'm tired of your cheap talk. Either fight me or sit so I can kill you faster." Botan's 'Yusuke-Smirk' grew wider, showing all of her teeth. "No? Okay, then, we can do this the hard way. REI GUN!"

Hiei sat down in a kitchen chair and looked at her expectantly. "Do the kitsune."

Botan grinned. She placed both of her feet very close together and raised her posture, making her back ramrod straight as she let her blue hair down and placed a hand in it. "Let us talk this out. There is always another way. I would rather not harm anyone. What do you say?" Her expression darkened. "Alright, then. If that is the way that you wish to handle this, so be it. ROSE WHIP!" She jumped back and flicked her wrist as if an imaginary weapon were there.

Hiei smirked. She was surprisingly good at imitating people. Not that he would ever tell her that, of course, but he had no trouble acknowledging the fact in his mind. "The toddler."

Botan didn't like the tone he was ordering her in, but she was having fun with the impressions, and if Hiei hadn't enjoyed them, he wouldn't have asked her to continue them for him to watch. He probably would have 'Hn'ed and walked out.

Botan pinched her nose and pointed at Hiei, assuming a lazy, conceited look on her face, eyes half-lidded. "Hiei, if you don't go n this mission, I will be forced to throw you in prison. OGRE! GET ME MY RUBEBR STAMPS! I HAVE BORING, INANE PAPERWORK TO TAKE CARE OF!" Her voice sounded nasally.

Again, Hiei smirked and asked for another. "The fool."

This time, Botan ran into the other room and came out with a white bandana with kanji written on it. She tied it around her forehead and spread her feet, placing one hand on her hip and one hand pointing into the air. She looked up at the sky. "I, Kazuma Kuwabara, vow to protect thee, for the POWER OF LOVE!"

Botan would have continued had it not been for a sound that puzzled her. It was low and rough, pleasing to the ears as it came in a deep baritone. It sent ripples of pleasure through her body and she shivered as she looked to the source. It was Hiei and he was…laughing.

She had never, in any of the time being around him, seen him laugh. Never. She hadn't seen him smile but twice. Sure, he smirked, but having never seen him even smile but two times, seeing laughter from Hiei almost put her into shock. Nevertheless, Botan found that she liked his laughter, and wished that he would do it more often.

When he finally stopped, he looked at her and stood, smirking. "As entertaining as this has been, I am going to train." Botan detected the attempted sarcasm in his voice and held her smile until he had gone.

-7-

Hiei, having finished training around midnight, came to see that the onna was not in the bed. She was.

He shrugged and slipped out of his cloak and shirt, placing his katana against the wall. He wriggled into the bed and unconsciously slipped an arm around Botan's waist, the other stroking her hair. The scent of peonies was…overwhelming…his…senses…