Author's note: Yet again, Koenma is the bad guy! sorry koenma fans but if somebody isgonna be the bad guy its gonna be him. he is too bratty and demanding anyway. this is of course a K/B fic but there is also a freindly (not TOO friendly)H/B part in here too.

There she was, standing in the rain, sopping wet, her oar had disappeared, and no working communicator. Under any other circumstance, she normally would have called some one but the communicator was wet and Koenma got fed up with her and threw her out of palace. She had no cloths, food, or shelter of any sort. Everything she owned was back in Reikai. She wouldn't have been in this predicament if Koenma had thrown her out while she was still in Reikai, but he had come to this decision while she was still trying to find a lost soul; in Maikai of all places! Benevolent ruler indeed!

"I hate rainy days…" she said to herself.

She really wanted to cry and scream right now, but what good would that do her? More than likely the ruckus she might cause would attract a demon and than lord knows what would happen to her. So instead she tried to take in her surroundings… there was nothing to be seen but a cave entrance in front of her. That seemed to be her only option right now. It was raining so hard that every direction was blurry and she didn't want to get eaten by something.

She entered the cave and found a semi comfortable position right in the mouth with her back facing the wall. The temperature was dropping and Botan felt herself fall asleep, since there was nothing else to do anyway.

"What!" Yusuke and Kuwabara's simultaneous screech could be heard threw out the palace.

"Where is the onna?" Hiei's hand reached for his Katana.

"I said that I don't know where she is. Botan is no longer in my services." As the young prince said this he did not notice the death glares he was getting from his detectives and there fore he continued stamping his papers in a musical fashion.

"And why exactly do you not know where she is, Koenma? Exactly what provoked you to come to this harsh decision?" The other three detectives suddenly blanched and backed away as the usually clam Shuuichi was slowly beginning to look more and more like his other half. By the time Koenma looked up to answer he was met by silver hair, fox ears, and dangerously narrowed golden eyes.

"I…I threw her out. She was being annoying again and I just go fed up. I guess it was a bit rash, but it needed to be done. I couldn't take her anymore!" Koenma was against the wall in the blink of an eye, with his feet dangling a few feet off the ground and one of Youko's clawed hands at his neck.

"Where was she sent to find her last soul?" When Youko received no answer, he tightened his grip, "Where, brat?"

"Some jungle in Maikai… I'm not quite sure which." Koenma realized that he was receiving no help from the other three boys and figured that his punishment would be swift if he told the truth. If he had known that Kurama would react so violently then he would have thought more before he kicked Botan out of the palace.

"You let her wander in the Maikai jungle all by herself!" Kurama's statement graduated from a whisper to a loud roar. He took a seed out of his hair and let it grow into a small tree. The branches wrapped around Koenma's ankles, wrist, and neck.

"Hiei, if he so much as even wiggles, stab him, but don't kill him. If Botan is harmed in any way, he will die when I come back." Youko noticed and evil glint in Hiei's eyes as the small fire Koorime advanced on Koemna.

"It will be my pleasure, Kurama."

"Yusuke, gather Botan's things from outside and bring them back to my apartment. Kuwabara, fetch your sister and make my place as Botan friendly as possible."

The two boys nodded in agreement. Kurama turned to George, who seemed to be quite happy that the small prince would be receiving his just punishment.

"George, no one goes in or out of this room, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Oh and Koenma, your father will be notified of your decision to fire your best ferry girl and resident Deity of Death." They watched as the Kitsune bounded out of the window and to Maikai.

When he reached Maikai, he found that it was fairly easy to track her. Apparently she had not gotten too far away from the portal when Koenma announced that she was fired. Although he could not smell her he knew that the farthest she could have gotten was five minutes by oar, basically a couple of miles. But a couple of miles were more than enough to get lost in this jungle. He knew the area and knew there were a few places that he should check first. One was an old cave that contained a few rare flowers. If she wasn't there then she was in a tree somewhere.

As he neared the cave he could smell her. Thank God, she was relatively safe. As he reached he mouth he saw a weak snake youkai, which was not something he normally would have bothered with, but what was a tiny fly to Youko was a monster to Botan. She was sleeping so she didn't know that she was in danger. He had to catch the snake's attention.

"Move away from the cave, vermin." The Youkai turned to face him and hissed.

"Why should I? There is a tasty morsel of a female in there and you have no claim on her. Will you kill me for her?"

"Yes." Youko stretched out his hands and ripped through the snake flesh with his claws. He did it so fast the youkai did not have time to react. He looked down at the dead youkai and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He looked down at his hands and noticed that they were covered in blood. He jumped up to the top of a tree and quickly found a leaf that still had water in it. As he started to clean his hands it began to rain again. He finished and swiftly went back to the cave. It would not do to be wet when Botan woke up. But perhaps it would be better to bring here back to Ningenkai.

She stirred slightly and realized that she was being carried bridal style. At first it startled her so she opened her eyes. Her pink eyes met gold and she recognized the face of Youko Kurama. She smiled and, and much to his surprise, brought her hand up to his cheek. She stayed like this for a few seconds before she fell back to sleep knowing she was safe with him.

The next thing she consciously noticed was the distinct smell of roses surrounding her. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was not in her room, and that was all she knew. As she sat there for a few minutes and the fogginess left her she put two and two together. If Kurama brought her here and it smelled like roses than she must be in Kurama's room. And indeed she found that the room she was in fit his style; clean, straight lines, bold colors, and a very organized desk in the corner.

She flopped back on to the bed and curled up, hugging one of his pillows to her chest. Just as she got settled the door opened and Kurama came in. but this time he was back as Shuuichi. The young man walked over to the unsuspecting deity and gently lowered himself onto the mattress so that he would not startle her. He leaned over the top of her and looked into her eyes that were looking at something else.

She was so beautiful. Obviously this was not the first time he had noticed this. Youko was the one who pointed out the attraction first, but Shuuichi had admitted to loving the Deity sooner than the Maikai thief. But then that was to be expected from a man as seemingly emotionless as Youko Kurama.

Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and he could not resist the urge to touch it and run it through his fingers. When his hand grasped one of the cerulean locks, Botan finally noticed he was there. She did not scream and she was not even startled, but instead she looked comforted and at home.

She felt grimy in her clothes, so she go up and grabbed a pair of his pajama pants and one of his tee shirts and went into his bathroom. Kurama heard the water running and assumed she was taking a shower. While he waited for her, still lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, he thought of the first moment he saw her.

He could still remember it perfectly. She had been asking Yusuke to stop being stubborn and just lean on her shoulder. She had a cute pout etched on her perfect features. He didn't want to admit it, but even then there was an attraction and a strong spiritual connection he had with this girl. But since he had never experienced this kind of love before he didn't know when it was. No, he had never loved romantically. Yes, lust was something he had felt many times in his past, but never love. That is why it took him so long to realize what he was feeling.

He felt something wrap around his waist. He looked down and saw Botan wearing, not the clothes she had brought into the bathroom, but pair of navy blue cloth shorts and a white tank top. She must have found her stuff in the living room. She rested her head on his chest and looked up at him bringing their lips very close.

"Thank you." She started in a whisper. Following her lead he did not raise his voice above what hers had been.

"Your welcome."

"It's raining again…"

"Yes it is." Kurama noticed that Botan seemed to be off in some place far away, not physically of course. But why was she so melancholy? Something was upsetting her, and it worried him, because he didn't know what it was. And if he did know what was bothering her then he could not fix it.

"I hate the rain, Kurama. It's so sad." Now he was getting somewhere.

"Why is it sad, Botan?" she looked at him and found that he had a look of true interest as he watched her.

"The rain is like humans… some can stay up a little longer than others and some don't hit the ground at first. At times they can turn into beautiful snowflakes, during the winter obviously. Sometimes they run down windows, but that is just a small detour on their journey. No matter what, rain, hail, or snowflake, in the end, they all fall to the ground and splatter or get crushed and stepped on. My job is to collect them after they make their finale, if you want to put it that way. I am death, or its incarnation for some past multitude of years… I haven't kept track. And when it rains, it reminds me of what my job really is, or was for that matter, and it makes what I have done and what I symbolize to people all the more painful."

"Not all people see you as 'Death', Botan. Some of us see other things like life, happiness, and joy in you. And you are no longer the incarnation of Death. You are not held responsible for that anymore."

"I might not be anymore, but for all of those who have died during my service I am still, and forever shall be death. Some of them did not take it badly at all and some were even grateful that I was not some hooded figure in black. But others… others screamed at me, cursed me, damned me to the pit of hell. It's hard sometimes to think that over a thousand years of souls remember you as what took them away from the people and places that they loved."

She then buried her face into his chest, just inhaling his distinct scent, which seemed to calm her. She had not been crying, but she was rather emotional. While she did this, Kurama looked at the ceiling and thought over what she had said.

"Why?" he was startled by her question. He hadn't expected it and even though he knew what she wanted to know he decided to stall, seeing s though he didn't have a definitive answer yet.

"Why, what?"

"Why did you come after me?" he looked back up at the ceiling, thinking of the best way to answer.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me…" she said looking down at his shirt. He gently lifted her chin and made her look back into his eyes.

"No, I want to tell you, but it may take a little bit of time from me to get my wits up enough to tell you." This startled Botan. A witless Kurama was not something she was used to. She spoke after a long pause.

"Okay… you know I would never reject what you have to say Kurama. I would never reject…" she stopped short. Kurama was ready to tell her now.

"I love you. That's the best, most conclusive way to say why I came and got you. There is not other explanation for what I feel. I want you to be my future mate. When Koenma told us you were in Maikai by your self I swear I saw red. I wanted to kill him on the spot for shoving you out the door like that. I was so relieved when I saw you."

"Kurama, I love you too. And I… I think I have come to love rainy days. I want you to know that, before you go on." Kurama let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, and a weight was suddenly lifted off his shoulders. He chuckled lightly at her change of heart, towards the rain of course.

"What made you change your mind?"

"Well, it was the rain that brought me to the happiest moment in my life, with the promise of many more moments like it."

For the first time in a long while he felt like dancing. He leaned down and they kissed. When they broke apart, he continued to tell here all about the day he first saw her and some stories from his thieving days.

Sometime during his rendition of the time he stole King Yama's scepter, the pair had fallen asleep. When they awoke the next morning they heard bustling in the kitchen. They went out and were met by all of their friends, minus Hiei. But that didn't bother them at first, since he usually didn't show up anyway.

If there was something Botan had come to know about Hiei, it was that he made weekly visits to everyone's house, preferably at night, where he would raid their freezer and eat their ice cream. When he was done then he would have a conversation of sorts with them and then leave. Funny guy. No that wasn't right, he was a quirky guy. What was odd was that recently on his visits, he had begun to consider Botan as a close friend. At first she chalked this up to her having his favorite flavor ice cream when ever he came, which was usually on a Saturday. But now she knew it had to do with Kurama. Kurama was like Hiei's brother and Hiei could not hate Kurama's mate. Botan blushed at that thought.

"So when are the wedding bells a ringing Kurama? Soon, cause if you hurt Botan I'll pound you." Kurama smiled. Yusuke was very protective over Botan, almost in a brotherly sort of way.

"I'm sorry to change the subject, but has anyone seen Hiei?" Botan asked.

"Hiei!" Everyone rushed out of the room leaving Kurama to retrieve a stunned and confused Botan from his kitchen.

When they reached the palace they could hear blood curdling screams coming from the room Koenma was being held prisoner. No one seemed to notice as they all had on head phones, or ear plugs.

"Shit…Kurama, Hiei's gonna kill us. We left him there all night." Yusuke seemed slightly worried and nervous about this.

"Well, might as well get it over with." When they opened the door they saw something very unexpected.

Hiei was sitting in a chair next to a screaming Koenma. Under any other circumstances the toddler would have been dead by now but it seems George had provided for the fire koorime. A pair of head phones was resting over his ears and as large freezer was stationed next to his chair. The freezer was filled with different flavored ice cream.

Suddenly Koenma stopped screaming. Every one looked over to Hiei who had taken one side of his head phones off and given it to Botan who shoved him over in his chair. He handed her a plastic spoon and a tub of ice cream. It was quite the sight

All was well until King Yama came to punish Koenma. George went and retrieved more head phones for the rest of the group.

"Why do we need these?" Kuwabara asked.

"You've never heard the brat scream for hours. It is quite hard on the ears." Hiei said. King Yama approached Botan.

"You were my Deity of Death, Botan correct?"

"Yes sir."

"I knew it! I know a keeper when I see one. I would like to give you a promotion. I want you to work for me."

"What would you have me do, sir?"

"I would like you to be my official time keeper. You will make up my schedule and make sure I keep to it. Now that I'm back from vacation I need some one who can do this. You will set up meetings and run my day in an orderly fashion. You needn't be here all the time so you may keep residence in Ningenkai, with that striking red haired young man one day. Botan, you will start tomorrow."

"Yes sir! No more ferrying souls for me!" she rushed into Kurama's awaiting embrace. King Yama cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention back to him.

"And further more, I would like to announce that the spirit detectives and their assistant will now be under my commission and responsibility. Form now on you will all report to me. Koenma," the young child looked up at hiss father, "I suggest that you hire some new people to fill I their roles. And you are due I my office in fifteen minutes for your punishment." Hiei's eyes brightened and he got this mischievous look.

"Hn. Excuse me, King Yama, but my I have the pleasure of punishing you son?"

"You are Hiei the swordsman, and the wielder of the Black Dragon, correct? Well, be my guest. Spankings are a little to childish now don't you think? Well, I'm off. Botan your desk will be waiting for you tomorrow. Have a nice day!"

Botan looked up at Kurama after the king had left the room.

"How did you do it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"a couple months ago King Yama lost his scepter and i retreived it for him. He was a very happy ruler after that. I also think that he enjoyed the thought of his son being taught a lesson. Koenma is, after all, rather bratty."

They all laughed as they watched Hiei run around the room chasing a very panicked Koenma.

End comments: so what do you think! i want to thank my reviewers, but there are now too many to mention by name see that i have like... five minutes till my next class! i really appreciate it. i am still working on a sequel to let me love you, but i am also working on some other stories form other anime's and cartoons. if you want a clue as to which shows, look on my profile and see which shows and pairings i like. hugs and kisses peeps!