Imouto

Amai: For authenticity (and because I'm finally learning more), I've thrown a few Japanese words into this story. -Chan and -kun are hard to translate, so just remember that they are for friends, -chan for females (and occasionally males, but only if you're being cutesy) and -kun for males. All others will be translated at the end of the chapter. Also, the names are in traditional Japanese format, last name first.

And the review responses... (Drum roll)

Tatara Rose: Hiei is my favorite character, too. But he's SO easy to torture! :)

xkuroxshinobix: Glad you like it!

Yavie Aelinel: I write this story best when I'm in a good mood. That's why I've been able to write this last chapter despite a MAJOR writer's block! :P

Sillyningengirl: This is where the Truth or Dare fun REALLY begins. Yay! But don't worry Hiei-kun, Mizuki always has plenty of ice cream.

CHAPTER FIVE: EVIL!

"I'll go first," Botan volunteered, "and we'll go clockwise around the circle." The reaper stopped to think for a moment, looking around the circle, before choosing Keiko as her first victim. Keiko wanted Truth, so Botan asked, "What's the biggest secret that you know about Yusuke-san [1]?"

"Hey, wait, that's not fair!" Yusuke protested.

"You can ask any truth, even if it's about someone else," Mizuki countered. "Go on Keiko-chan, answer!"

Keiko was silent for a moment while she thought of a suitable answer. "His biggest secret is probably that he sucked his thumb until he was in sixth grade- and still does sometimes when he's sleeping," she giggled. "It's so kawaii [2] when he does!" Yusuke looked rather disgruntled as the girls all laughed, and even Kurama couldn't help chuckling.

But it was his turn next, and Yusuke chose revenge on Botan. She picked Truth, figuring it was safer. "What really goes on between you and the toddler brat?" the Spirit Detective demanded with a smirk.

Botan seemed rather insulted by what he was suggesting. "Koenma-sama [3] tried to hit on me once, but I hit him over the head with my oar. He was a little drunk, actually," she added thoughtfully. "But that is the extent of any romance between me and Koenma-sama!"

Mizuki was rolling on the floor laughing. "I remember that! Koenma-anchan had too much sake [4] at my last birthday party!"

After getting Mizuki to calm down (not an easy feat considering she'd had the last of her Pocky less than ten minutes before), it was Keiko's turn. She chose Yukina, who was sitting quietly and observing the rest. Despite the groaned protests of Yusuke and Mizuki that things were getting boring, the ice demoness chose Truth. Keiko insisted that she had to know exactly how Yukina felt about Kuwabara.

"Kazuma-san is very kind, but his affections for me are not mutual," Yukina admitted.

"I don't blame you. He's a hentai!" Mizuki commented sourly. "That's why I didn't let him come here."

"Anyway, it's your turn Yukina-chan," Keiko reminded her.

"I will ask... Mizu-chan," Yukina decided. Mizuki was the first one brave enough to choose Dare. "I dare you to..." Yukina paused, unable to think of a suitable Dare. Botan came to the rescue, jumping up and whispering in Yukina's ear. "I dare you to sleep in Kurama-san's bed with him tonight," Yukina said, repeating what Botan had told her. Kurama immediately blushed beet red from embarrassment; Mizuki did the same in anger.

"You can refuse the Dare if you want to," Botan said mockingly.

"You know I never turn down a Dare. It's a point of honor," Mizuki replied angrily. She turned to Kurama. "You got the green and yellow room, right?" The kitsune nodded, and Mizuki looked a bit happier- just a little bit. "Well, at least you chose the guy with the king-sized bed," she grumbled. "But I still hate you, Botan-chan." The reaper just smiled.

But then it was Mizuki's turn, and she decided to invoke her Double Dare immediately. "This is for everyone. Kurama-kun, Yusuke-kun, you have to go downstairs and get Hiei-kun. Girls, we're gonna have some fun with the make-up."

"No way. No frickin' way! You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?!" Yusuke shouted.

"That depends. What do you think I'm going to do?" Mizuki asked innocently.

"You're going to give the shrimp a makeover!" Yusuke answered. Mizuki grinned evilly and nodded. "Oh Kami [5], and you're going to make us hold him down." Mizuki continued to grin and nodded once again. "And we can't refuse the Double Dare, right?" She nodded yet again. "Come on, Kurama-kun, let's get this over with." The boys headed downstairs, and while they were gone the girls all gathered up Mizuki's brightest colored makeup.

It took a while, but soon Yusuke and Kurama returned with a struggling Hiei held between them. "What the hell are you doing?!" the fire demon raged while the boys pinned him down to a chair in Mizuki's room.

"Sorry, Hiei-san, but we didn't have a choice," Kurama apologized. "It was a dare we couldn't refuse, literally."

"Stay away from me with that," Hiei warned the girls as they advanced upon him. Yukina had the foundation and blush, Keiko had lipstick and eye makeup, Botan had nail polish, and Mizuki had a bottle of something Hiei didn't recognize.

They had to work very hard to hold Hiei in place. The hardest part was the nail polish; they finally gave up on his fingers and moved on to his toes. When they were finished, Hiei had bright pink cheeks, red lips, purple eye shadow and eyeliner, lime green toenails, and yellow streaks in his black hair (the unidentified bottle Mizuki had was temporary hair dye). "Whose idea was this?!" Hiei demanded when Yusuke and Kurama were finished. Everyone pointed to a brightly smiling Mizuki. She grinned wider, causing Hiei to lung at her. But he slammed into something before reaching her; there was a shimmer in the air rippling away from his point of impact. "What did you do, onna?!" the fire demon demanded as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Protective barrier," Mizuki chirped happily.

"And why didn't you use this against the assassin?" Kurama asked.

"I can't use it unless I have a fair estimate of my opponent's strength. Not enough power, they get through. Too much, they might die," Mizuki answered. "Besides, the barrier is purely defensive and can only be activated with conscious effort. I can't attack with it and it's no good against surprise attacks."

"Sounds like a waste of Spirit Energy to me," Yusuke commented.

"It's not Spirit Energy, it's a spell," Mizuki explained. "My Spirit Energy is very low. I can't use it for anything like that. It's only good for transforming from one form to another like Koenma-anchan."

"Very interesting," Hiei drawled sarcastically. He had gotten to his feet some time ago and had been glaring hatefully at Mizuki ever since. Now she acknowledged him with a cheerful grin, making his stare colder than ever. "I'll deal with you later," the fire demon finally said before heading downstairs to wash off the offending makeup.

As soon as he was out the door, Yusuke fell to the floor laughing. "Oh Kami, Mizu-chan, that is HILARIOUS!" he managed to get out. Keiko and Yukina had been smothering their giggles in pillows all along and were now able to remove the cushions and laugh out loud. Mizuki and Botan were laughing and doing what appeared to be a strange victory dance. Even Kurama was laughing so hard that he had to sit down in the chair where Hiei had been imprisoned.

"That is probably the one thing I never thought I'd see," the kitsune admitted when everyone was a little calmer.

"If only we'd been able to get him into a dress, it would have been perfect," Botan added. With everyone so worked up from the prank there was no way they'd be sleeping for a while. It was time to get back to Truth or Dare. It was Kurama's turn, and he chose Yusuke.

"Dare me," Yusuke said cockily.

"I dare you to put on girls' clothes and go flirt with Hiei-san," Kurama said without hesitation.

"HELL NO!" Yusuke shouted. "The shrimp is already mad at us! He'd KILL me!"

"If Yusuke-kun refuses then you get to pick anything you want him to do," Mizuki told Kurama in a sing-song voice.

"Another Dare," Kurama announced. "Strip down to everything but your underwear until my next turn." Yusuke blushed slightly, but decided that Kurama's dares were dangerous and he'd better take a relatively safe one while he could. He peeled off his clothing until he was down to a pair of blue and white striped boxers. All of the girls giggled as if they'd been scandalized, except for Keiko who just rolled her eyes a little. She had apparently seen the spectacle before.

"You're pretty good at this for never playing before, Kurama-kun," Mizuki observed with a sly smirk.

"Let me remind you that I wasn't always a good guy," the kitsune replied mischievously. The glint in his eyes bordered on evil. "And a few of my old partners in crime were masters of dares."

The game went on like this for almost three hours more. After everyone stopped taking dares from Mizuki and Kurama (those two had no mercy!), they finally decided the game was worn out. "Don't forget about your Dare, Mizu-chan," Botan reminded her friend with a malicious grin. Kurama blushed again and Mizuki growled.

"I'll meet you downstairs in fifteen minutes," Mizuki told Kurama. "I'm going to kill you, Botan-chan."

"Sure, sure," Botan giggled, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, yes, Keiko, I'll need your help for a moment." Botan grabbed Keiko by the arm and dragged her into her room. Everyone else retired to their own rooms for the night.

Mizuki changed into baby blue pajama pants with yellow stars and orange moons, and a matching t-shirt with a large yellow star on the front. After grabbing her favorite pillow (lime green and super-fuzzy) and her favorite blanket (a yellow afghan with blue and orange starburst shapes), she went down the spiral stairs to Kurama's room. There she found an unexpected sight: Botan and Keiko standing outside the closed door, Botan yelling and demanding entry while holding a video camera, Keiko giggling and holding a tripod. "Do you honestly think we can trust you without evidence? You and Mizu-chan are both way too sneaky!" Botan shouted.

"A video was not part of the deal!" Kurama shouted back, his voice muffled by the door. "Either put that camera back or the dare is off!"

"What is going on here?" Mizuki demanded, stomping her foot on the floor to get Botan's attention.

"I don't trust you two to carry out your dare," Botan replied cheerily, an evil grin on her face. "So in order to prove that you actually slept in the same bed, I'm going to take a video." She held up the video camera, and Keiko brandished the tripod.

"That is SO not why you want a video. You just want blackmail," Mizuki replied. "No dice."

"But PLEASE, Mizu-chan?!" Botan begged, dropping to one knee. "I promise you it's only for evidence! You can burn the tape afterwards!"

"IIE [6]!" Mizuki shouted. "NO TAPE!"

"Then you have to sleep in the same bed as Kurama all week to be sure that you did," Botan countered. At this, the door flung open to reveal a beet-red Kurama standing in the doorway. From the expression on his face, the blush was as much from anger as embarrassment.

"You have one minute to set up your camera. If it takes any longer, I'm kicking you out of my room whether you're done or not," he said coldly. "Time starts now." Botan and Keiko rushed inside, setting up the camera in a corner of the room facing the bed. It took 57 seconds. Botan and Keiko then skittered out and ran to their own rooms, giggling uncontrollably.

"And you let them do that... WHY?!" Mizuki demanded.

"To make them shut up, of course," Kurama replied, the redness of his face fading just a bit. "Now, the sooner we get to sleep, the sooner morning will come and this will be over." He climbed into bed, making sure to stay close to one side of the bed. Mizuki climbed onto the other side of the bed, not bothering to get under the covers since she'd brought her own pillow and blanket. Soon she was snoring loudly. Kurama chuckled before rolling over and pulling a pillow over his head. It was going to be a long night.

Translations

1: -san is a term used to indicate respect, like Mr., Mrs., or Miss

2: Cute

3: -sama is a higher term of respect than -san, usually translated as "Lord" or "Sir"

4: A Japanese alcohol

5: God

6: No