This one is mostly flashback, but there are a few important points in here. Also, what happens when you mix Botan with a truckload of sugar and 190 proof Everclear:)

I own nothing.


Botan rolled over and slapped at her alarm clock. She hoped her spread fingers would catch the "Off" or "Snooze" button, anything to make it shut up. In her attempts, she found two functions, neither of which was what she was looking for. The volume knob was first, turning the mild beep into a blaring siren. Next, the night-light feature, transforming the pink, neon rim around the clock face into a blinding spotlight pointed directly at her own.

Her head hurt. In actuality, it throbbed. With each heartbeat, a new wave of bright pain shot through her skull. It was the kind of headache where one could feel their own pulse in their temples. What had caused this?

'Shizuru's punch...'

The Day Before...

Kayko had been having the worst luck. Her tension level was at it's peak. Planning a wedding is always a stressful task, but for Kayko, it was turning nightmarish.

First, the printing company that was making the invitations had ran out of the paper she'd picked out. They said they had ordered more, but it was out of stock and they couldn't possibly have it in time to get all the invites mailed. Alright, pick out different paper. A few days later, the invitations were printed, ready to be sent. That's when the call came. The new girl at the shop hadn't been exactly sure which box to put what text in when she tried to print the envelopes. The result? 79 different return addresses, one destination: Kayko's house. The owner apologized, assuring Kayko that he would personally finish all the printing so that her invitations would still be done on time. The next call. The good news? The invitations had turned out perfect and so had the envelopes. The bad news? The little RSVP cards on the inside, (the ones you mail back to say if you are coming, for those of you who haven't planned any funer- I mean, weddings) had been switched with another couples' by, you guessed it, the new girl. That was fine, she'd thought, those cards didn't have any names on them, just blanks for the guests to fill out. The only thing that would be different was the picture on the back. "Um, Miss Yukimora, I don't think you quite understand, Hokuto and Chono, they're... uh..." "It doesn't matter, as long as the invitations are in the mail in time for the wedding." "Ma'am, that's Mr. Hokuto and Mr. Chono. The graphic they chose was of a picture of two grooms..."

Birds flew from the trees 3 blocks away as Kayko "voiced" her frustration.

Then there was the dress, or the fiasco that happened as she tried it on. Kayko was getting her final fitting in the dress the she and her mother had picked out. They had seen it in a magazine and described their own personal touches to the tailor who was sure she could handle it. The tailor had been right. The gown was gorgeous! Kayko's breath had been stolen the first time she'd seen the near finished product, and that day, with the train pinned on the back, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. She was to try the dress on so that the train was sure to be perfectly centered and the tailor could remove some length if necessary. The train was secured to the back of the dress with a few simple stick pins and one safety pin at the top, center, where the bow had been placed. As she walked out of the dressing room, she looked like a princess. Her friends gasped, as did other patrons in the shop. A couple ladies were chatting with each other as their friend was trying on her prom dress right outside the dressing room door. They stepped out of the way as Kayko walked by, complimenting her on her lovely gown. As they stepped back into place, when Kayko was past, no one noticed that one of their heels had landed on the long train. One by one, the pins gave, and slid out, all except that last one: the safety pin. It's hinged, fastened jaws held tight on the back on Kayko's dress, determined not to let go. After a little more tugging, the not-entirely-stitched skirt decided to let go, taking the attached slip with it. Kayko had shrieked when she heard the RIIIIIP sound and the realization hit of what that sound meant. The full back of her skirt was lying on the floor, and worse still, there was her slip lying there in the pile of material! She turned her front side to the onlookers in the store, trying to keep the crowd from seeing her pink, "Wednesday" panties. It wasn't until Botan and Shizuru grabbed her and started to push her back toward the dressing room that she noticed she'd turned her back to a full-length mirror.

There had been problems from day one of the plans for "The Big Day". The chapel her parents had been married in was closed while they installed a new roof, her veil had been attacked by moths, the white, rhinestone covered, high-heels she'd ordered had lost most of their stones during shipping and it was too late to exchange them, and last night, her florist had left town for a family emergency. If things kept up, the girl was going to have to trade that gown and Honeymoon Suite for a straight-jacket and a rubber room.

Times like this were when good friends came in handy. Botan and Shizuru told the rest of the crew how things had been going and they all decided to take action, or, pity, on poor Kayko. They all started to help out, in their own special ways.

Kurama was, by far, the biggest help. Since his mother had her own wedding not too long ago, he asked her to let Kayko borrow a few things. Shiori had a veil that looked stunning on Kayko, and a pair of white, bridal shoes that fit her perfect. She also called the chapel where her ceremony had been performed. They said their schedule was clear and Kayko and Yusuke had the chapel for as long as they wanted that day. Kurama volunteered to solve the florist problem personally under the condition that if Kayko was asked, she had to tell everyone that she'd just found an out of town florist last minute, and couldn't really remember the name. Fine by her, she didn't much want to explain to her parents why that boy carried a rose in his hair, anyway.

Botan and Shizuru had dragged Kayko to a new dress shop on the other side of town. At their grand opening sale, Kayko found a new dress that she loved, for less than half the price she was going to pay for the other one.

Next, the invitations. Kayko and her mother had gone back to the printer to collect a refund, hoping to find another printer in time. The owner agreed to a partial refund, saying that he was out money on the wasted invitations, and he was keeping the amount "owed to him for supplies." He did a little recalculating after a visit from the soon-to-be groom, and his best man, Kuwabara. In fact, he decided that he owed them. He gave them a full pack of the paper Kayko had wanted, and blank envelopes to boot.

Kayko's mother had suggested another store that could print up the invitations, but after Kayko's ordeals, she was not going down that road again. The girls talked her into letting them help her hand make them with the paper Yusuke and Kuwabara had "graciously accepted" from the humbled print shop owner instead of buying some plain old batch from the local gift store.

They had planned to meet at Genkai's early that morning. They all gathered up various art supplies and snacks, along with a few other necessities, like makeup, hair rollers, nail polish, magazines... Kayko needed a day to relax with her best pals.

Since all the other girls were bringing their own special touches to this girls' day in, Yukina had settled on providing cookies and brownies for the group. While staying in the Human World, she was learning of human activities, such as shopping, television, sewing, cleaning, and her latest feat, cooking. She had attempted this shortly after arriving in Living World to stay, but the heat from the oven had made her feel faint. Now, after spending all this time here, she had become better acquainted with the human climate, and set her mind to giving it another try.

The 3 varieties of cookies she made turned out great! Chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and shortbread. The latter 2 kinds had been cut into the shape of little hearts and wedding bells, then decorated with colored sugar sprinkles. Text book was the only way to describe her work. Next, she had started to work on the brownies. Not being an experienced grocery shopper, she hadn't known that there was a just-add-water mix. She had grabbed the first one she saw. She tried to follow the directions, but the heat was getting to her. She felt herself getting a little dizzy, the room began to spin. She took a time out and returned to her brownies as soon as she felt able. Vision still slightly impaired, she couldn't quite make out the measurement table on the back of the box, 12 brownies, 24, 36... She squinted and tried hard to read, thinking she had chosen the right amount of sugar to add. She was fixing pans of 12 brownies a piece. Through blurred vision, she added the sugar for the 36 batch...

When the others had arrived, they started to work on the new invites. Yukina, not being sure about how many brownies they might need, had baked nearly 200! Three of the girls dug in to the massive mountain of goodies, while Shizuru went to make the beverages.

In the kitchen...

"This oughta loosen her up...," Shizuru said to no one, pouring nearly a full pint of Everclear into the huge bowl of punch. For those of you who don't know, Everclear is Pure Grain alcohol. It's 190 proof and could put an alcoholic sailor in a coma if he drank more than a few shots worth, straight. Take my word for it, it's my best friend...

She took a two cups of punch she'd poured before adding her "special ingredient," and another two cups of the finished product, out to the other girls. She gave Yukina and Botan the befores, and handed one of the afters to Kayko. That girl was way too stressed. Time to unwind...

Somehow, they'd finished the invitations, though most of it was a blur for Shizuru and Kayko. Botan had gulped down that first cup of punch and had went back for seconds before Shizuru had a chance to warn her...then, a third..and a fourth. She'd started back for her fifth, but found she just couldn't quite seem to make it. Not to the kitchen, but to her feet. 'That's the problem with Clear. You can drink all you want sitting down. It's when you stand up that it bites you,' Shizuru had thought, seeing Botan's failed attempts to rise.

Botan was sugar-high from all the brownies, and that Everclear wasn't helping matters at all. Shizuru had been pouring coffee down her, too, correcting some of the alcohol problem, though not doing much to improve the sugar situation. The finished result? Botan's creative side had come out to play.

Seeing all these decorations left over had given her an idea. Why not make cards for all her dearest friends? She started with all the girls, then Genkai. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Koenma. Even Puu and Jorge made the list. She had one last piece of paper, but who else was there? Hiei was off in the Demon World somewhere and she knew she wouldn't see him again for at least a few more months. But who else could she send a card to? All these pretty hearts and ribbons and a ton of other goodies, one more sheet of card paper.

"I know who!"

She started writing on the card, decorating it the same as all the others, with hearts and ribbons. She ran out of pink hearts, so she was stuck using red. She had actually been using the little heart sprinkles as decorations earlier, quite a clever idea, until she'd tried to fit that card into the envelope. There was only a short piece of pink ribbon left, too. She supposed this card would be red, all around. Why not? He has red hair...

She was sending a card to the demon who had saved her a while back. After Yusuke's fight with Yomi, he had been hospitalized for a few days. On her way there one day, she had become lost deep in her thoughts and had nearly been hit, head-on, by some giant form of demon bat. Jin had come to the rescue. He was also on his way to check on Yusuke when he'd spotted that creature heading straight for Botan, who was riding on her oar. She hadn't snapped out of it until she heard the words "Tornado FIST!" She had thanked him then, of course, but why not send him a card, just to show how much she appreciated him?

Back to this morning...

Botan had given up on going back to sleep, she'd taken her shower and gotten dressed. Might as well go back to Genkai's and see what she could help Kayko with today, besides her probable hangover... Looking at the clock she saw that it was only 5:11 AM! Oh well. Genkai was always an early bird anyway.

Meanwhile, at the cave...

"Wha'd'ye know? A letter for old Jin!" the wind master said to himself, seeing his name in bright red letters on the front of the little envelope he'd found placed outside the door.

"Fancy one it is, too!"

He tore open the envelope and read the "Thinking of You" card enclosed therein. And who might have sent this heart-covered sentiment?

"From... BOTAN!"

As always, thanks for the reviews, and thanks for being so patient with me while I keep rambling on.

Until the next chappie, please review!