Chapter One: Dreaming of You
The crowd had fallen deathly silent. Uncharacteristically silent, for this was a crowd that enjoyed nothing more than to cheer or boo for the fighters. Usually they were screaming for Team Urameshi to be torn apart, but this time, they weren't saying anything. Confused, Botan took a look around the stadium, only to find that they weren't there. The spectators were mysteriously absent, leaving the whole place empty and forgotten. "Well...that's weird..." she muttered to herself, then turned back behind her. "Keiko, Shizuru, we should–" she stopped, midsentence, to find that the girls she had come in with were gone as well. And now, she couldn't see Yusuke, Kurama, or Kuwabara. Not even Koenma was here. She was alone, and she was starting to get scared.
But no...she wasn't alone, not completely. For when she turned her attention back to the ring, there he was, standing alone in the center, his three eyes locked on her, studying her, examining her. Hiei, victorious from his match, began to walk towards her. Botan was scared at first, but as he raised his arms to her, beckoning her to come, she felt a warmth that she hadn't felt in a long time. Slowly, she started for him, but then stopped dead in her tracks when she heard that familiar howl, the one that had echoed in her nightmares since the first round of the tournament: the Black Dragon Hellfire.
Botan looked up, and there it was, the horrible, terrifying dragon, composed entirely of black fire. The creature circled in the sky, before dropping straight down behind Hiei, then rushing towards him, towards her, with its ravenous maw open to feed. "HIEI!" she screamed, but to no avail, as the dragon consumed Hiei from behind, then turned straight up, flying high into the sky, and leaving no trace of Hiei behind. There was only a blackened, charred patch on the ring where the demon had once been. Tears began to well up in Botan's eyes. She had been both afraid and intrigued by Hiei, but now he was gone, consumed by his own technique. And now, it was up there, flying ever higher, and she didn't know how long before it came back down for her.
But it never did. A brilliant flash illuminated the sky above the stadium, and the dragon exploded in a shower of glitter, which rained down and lit up the stadium like fireworks. The whole place shone white, and before Botan's eyes, where the dragon had exploded, there was now Hiei, with massive, white-feathered wings coming out of his back. This angelic Hiei smiled at her from his perch above, then slowly began to glide down to her, using his wings to angle him as he came to a landing before her. "Botan," he said with a lighter voice than she knew him to have, "There is something I've been wanting to tell you for so long."
Botan's heart skipped a beat. "What?" Her heart was fluttering in her chest, she could scarcely believe it.
This strange, angelic Hiei smiled, his wings slowly wrapping around Botan's body, and he spoke softly, like a dove. "Wake up."
Botan was confused. "Wait, what?"
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"Botan, wake up!" Botan was greeted by a familiar, somewhat annoying voice when she was pulled from the world of dreams. Ayame, one of her friends here in Reikai, had come to wake her. Ayame was the assistant to Botan's boss, Koenma. She had black hair, with dark bangs she kept brushed to the sides, out of her eyes, and a low topknot in the back. She wore a violet kimono similar to Botan's pink, and she had a frustrated look on her face at the moment as she lightly shoved Botan, who was still trying to get back to sleep. "Come on, wake up. Lord Koenma needs to see you!"
Finally, reluctantly, Botan rolled over to face Ayame. Without a word, unless a groan counts as a word, she started to push herself up into a sitting position. Wearing only a rose-colored satin nightgown, she stretched her arms, bending her right elbow so that her right hand could come back down and try to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she did. Finally, she got up the strength to speak, though her voice was still slightly broken from the sleep. "What's going on?"
Ayame shook her head. "I don't know. Lord Koenma sent me to fetch you, he said it was urgent, and that there wasn't any time to waste. He said he would explain when you were in his office, so hurry up and get dressed!" Ayame had a look of urgency on her face, one that Botan had seen before. There was only one thing Botan could be certain about, from the urgency in Ayame's voice and features: whatever it was, it involved a case for her Spirit Detective.
Ayame stood there, ushering Botan to hurry up and get dressed. Botan narrowed her eyes at Ayame's urgency, muttering, "A little privacy, please?" Ayame blushed, apologized quietly, then slipped out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Botan lowered her head and reached her right hand up to rub her forehead. The dream had come again, just like it did every night since the tournament, and she was still scraping to understand what it meant.
The tournament had been over for two weeks now. Team Urameshi had won, much to Botan's eternal relief. In the end, Koenma had wagered his life against that of the captain of Team Toguro, a silent yet insane man by the name of Sakyo, on Yusuke's final match with the champion of Team Toguro, the younger of the Toguro brothers. Everything was back to usual now, both in Reikai and down in the human world. Business as usual...except for the dreams.
Botan had not made any progress on figuring out Hiei, either. She figured that her efforts to understand him were probably the source of the dreams she was having. Sadly, he was a hard man to track and an even harder man to figure out. Any attempt she made ended with a cold shoulder. Her latest had ended with a death threat. She figured it best to leave him alone for a while after that.
It didn't take Botan too long to get dressed. Being in a hurry, she slipped her kimono on over her nightgown, then hurried to the mirror to check her hair. Her long, blue hair stuck to her face and stood up in a few places, from the night's tossing. She sprayed it down quickly, then grabbed a ponytail band and tied her hair back into the ponytail she was known for. After slipping on her socks and sandals, she was ready to go, and hurried out the door. Ayame had already left, and a part of her was somewhat thankful for that. No need to have Ayame rushing her down the hallway. After all, she could do that just fine by herself.
Putting her thoughts of the mysterious dreams aside, Botan hurried into Koenma's office. "I'm here!" she exclaimed as she jogged to Koenma's desk. She was only mildly surprised to find Kurama there and waiting. It seemed she wasn't the only one called in for this particular briefing. Kurama had stood through Koenma's briefings a couple times in the past, so it wasn't too surprising to find him here. Still, she was even more curious by his presence here. "What's going on?"
Kurama had a very serious expression on his face, which was somewhat surprising to Botan. Whenever he had that look, something big was happening. Kurama stood at 5'11", with long, ruby red hair that flowed down past his waist, and seemed to spike naturally around the sides. He was dressed in red, with a red jacket covering his upper body, rimmed by gold around the zipper in the front, and accentuated by red slacks. His green eyes seemed to sparkle like emeralds, and only served to brighten his already impressive facial structure. Kurama was frighteningly attractive, this was something Botan had noticed several times before. He was a very handsome, if a bit effeminate, man.
Kurama stood to Botan's left as she approached Koenma's desk. Sitting in his chair behind it was Koenma, princeling ruler of Reikai. Koenma had the basic appearance of a toddler, something that Yusuke had never learned not to make jokes about. He wore a blue shirt with yellow pants, and had a red sash tied around his waist. A large, blue hat completed the ensemble, with a pink rim around it emblazoned with the letters "Jr". He also had a sky blue pacifier that he was always sucking on. Koenma had the power to assume a teenager form, and had done so at the Dark Tournament. However, Botan had yet to figure out when, why, or how he did this.
Botan stared into the eyes of Kurama's sober expression, and was immediately filled with worry. Something bad was happening, that much was certain. She felt strangely comforted by those strong eyes she saw, but that didn't make her any less worried. And her fears were only realized by Kurama's words. "We have a...situation."
