AN: Oh my god, I didn't know that I put Botan's name instad of Keiko. Thank you Crystal Koneko. Cookies for you! When I saw that, I immediately went to fix it. Hope that nothing else needs fixing. And those who want Hiei and Kurama to fight, be patient. All good things will come in due time.

Botan and Hiei and Kurama

She slowly went up. Outside, the night was in its darkest hour. The wind blew softly through the open window, making a rustling sound on the curtains. She leisurely went to the window. Looking out of it, she saw nothing move but branches moving with the wind.

This would be the first time in five days since she did this. She would have done it sooner, but Hiei's training had left her body too tired and exhausted to anything else but sleep the whole night through. Even now, two days straight of training made her body hurt with almost every move she made. He was ruthless when he fought, but he fought with honor. However when teaching her how to fight, he was not what she could call the patient type.

He growled every time she made a move wrong or when she forgot a routine that she had to follow through. At least he didn't hit her during training or yell at her as much as she thought he would. He was a good teach, that much she could admit. She learned a lot about fight in two days with him than in a year knowing Yusuke.

She lifted her right hand upwards and summoned her oar. Hoping onto her oar and leaving her earthly bounds, she flew into the night.

She flew with the grace of hundreds of years of practice. She soared into the skies of the city and watched as wakeful people busied themselves with going into bars and clubs. She watched police officers arrest drug dealers and her co-workers escort recently departed humans to Reikai. The insomniac life of the modern day city always fascinated her. How someone would always be awake in the city and do something interesting no matter what time of the day.

A few moments later, she flew to the country side and watched the stars where little electricity was located. She did this for the next hour or so. She didn't know how long she stayed there, watching the stars, until the sun began to rise. With a start, she hurried back to Genkai's.

Reaching her bed, she went back to sleep for an hour or two. When she next awoke, it was nearly eight. She starched and winced when her tender muscles ached. She smelled breakfast cooking downstairs and her stomach rumbled in hunger. After taking a shower, she went downstairs for some breakfast.

"Good morning," she said happily to Genkai and Yukina.

"Good morning," Genkai greeted her.

"Good morning Botan-chan. I was about to wake you up," Yukina said with a pleasant smile.

"Well, there's no need for that since I'm here now." she sat down and ate Yukina's delicious food.

Minutes later, Kuwabara and Kurama came. Ever since Botan and Hiei started courting, Kurama would come visit everyday and she and him would talk about what she did with Hiei. He would give her tips on what to do and what not to do. For example, she wasn't supposed to talk about another male with praise. That would give Hiei the idea that he isn't good enough for her. In retaliation, Hiei would challenge that male and possibly kill him to show her that he is strong and good enough for her.

She was careful not to mention anything of admiration of any male around Hiei. That included all of their friends. She didn't want any of them killed. She also didn't want Hiei hurt if he fought them. Yusuke slacked off on fighting since retiring from being a detective, Kuwabara occasionally fought off bullies with his gang and other ruffians, and Kurama was just as strong as before. Kurama would be the only one to give Hiei a real fight in which Hiei will get badly injured. And she didn't want that.

Kuwabara would come in at random times of the day to visit Yukina almost everyday. Botan grew accustom to watching Kuwabara trying to woe the naive Yukina into liking him. She thought that Kuwabara truly did love Yukina and would never harm her. Inside she cheered him on and gave good annotations about him to Yukina when they were alone.

"I have something that would ease the tension in your muscles," Kurama said to her as he settled down and accepted breakfast from Yukina.

"Really? What is it?"

"It's a special kind of mix that I made myself. I would have given it to you sooner but some of the plants that are in it take some time to grow." He handed her a brown bag. "Just sparkle half a handful of this into the water before taking a bath and it will ease your aching muscles."

"Thank you Kurama."

"Kurama, you are very kind," Yukina said as she handed him and Kuwabara their meals.

"But I'm a kind person too! Ne, Yukina?" Kuwabara said trying to get the object of his affections' attention towards him.

Yukina looked at him in shocked. "Of course Kazuma. You're one of the kindest people I know. I would never think anything bad of you because you're not."

Kuwabara sighed in relief. Kurama chuckled. Genkai grunted. And Botan smiled.

Watching this, she noticed the similarities between demon courting and ningen courting. There weren't a lot different. Both had to get the attention and affection of the other. Both involved the "getting to know you" part. Both could result in a union between the two. Expect that a demons' way of courting was more short term and the union more permeate.

"Kurama, can you help me with my kicks? I want to try and perfect that spin kick that Hiei showed me yesterday before he comes this afternoon. I want to surprise him," she asked the kitsune after several minutes when all of them were done eating and all the dishes washed.

Kurama smiled kindly at her. "Okay."

Both of them went outside while Genkai challenged Kuwabara to a poker game without bets. Yukina stayed with Kuwabara.

"Show me the spin kick that you're working on," Kurama commended.

She nodded her head. Then she turned around while jumping into the air a little and bringing her right leg up in a kick. She didn't have her right leg stretch straight. It was curved in a crescent position since her legs still ached from the running that Hiei made her do. When she landed, she faulted but held her ground.

Kurama looked at her with an analytic stare. "That move is a little more advance for your level."

"Hai. But Hiei said that I was a fast learner. He said that he would teach me one move that wasn't on my level so I can see what to expect when he teaches me more advanced techniques."

"I see. Why is Hiei teaching you how to fight?"

"When I asked him why, he said, 'Hn. Onna, you're getting fat,'" she said in her impersonation of Hiei. "And I said, 'No I'm not!' And then he said, 'Fine. Then you're out of shape.' And then I said, 'That's just another way of saying I'm fat!' And then he grunted something that I took as a bad thing. So I asked, 'Am I fat?' He just 'Hn.' Then I sort of yelled, 'You think I'm fat!' He just had this incredulous look on his face that was so funny. Then I ranted on how I wasn't fat and asked Yukina and Genkai if I was. After that, Hiei dragged me outside and started teaching me how to fight. I think that I annoyed him saying that he thought I was fat and all."

Kurama laughed. When he calmed down he asked, "Do you like learning how to fight?"

"I guess. I mean everyone else knows know to fight on some level expect me. Yukina even has her own powers that she could use in defense. So I felt a little left out most of the time. But actually learning it… it wasn't what I expect it to be."

"You mean it's harsher than you thought?"

Her eyes lit up. "Excatly. When I saw Yusuke do it, I never thought that I might do the same thing myself. I hope that Hiei won't make me go through what Yusuke went through with Genkai."

Kurama laughed quietly. "I'm sure that he won't. Now, when you do your kick, make sure to spread you feet move apart." He move her feet away from each other. "And lift your arms away from your body to give it more momentum." He lifted her arms to her chest level.

His skin was cool to touch. Botan was instantly reminded of Hiei's touch. At first, it made her feel a little nervous. Then she started to feel comfortable with him touching her skin. Whenever he touched her to correct a pose, he gave her a slight tingle. His skin was warm. A nice warm. She wondered if it came with being a fire demon.

Hours later, Kurama was showing her how to correctly do a combination of a round house punch, face punch, and a round house kick among others when Hiei came along. She of course didn't notice him there. Kurama sensed him appear. He had his arms around her to show her how to punch someone in the face without stressing her arm when he came. What made the situation seem even worst was that Botan had rolled up her shirt so that her belly was exposed.

Kurama lingered on Botan for third of a second longer before pulling away to look at Hiei. Botan, noticing that Kurama was no longer paying attention to her, looked up to see Hiei. His eyes were dark.

"Hiei," she said surprised to see him since she didn't know that he was there already. "I wanted to surprise you." She bounced up to him.

Hiei moved closer her, all the while glaring at Kurama. Kurama got the massage and backed away from her.

"She only wanted me to help her perfect her moves to surprise you."

Hiei didn't answer and continued glaring. He stood in front of Botan.

"Hiei?" she asked, confused at what was going on between the two.

Kurama continued staring at Hiei. She supposed that they were having a silent conversation inside their heads. With Hiei's telepathy powers. After a while, Kurama smiled at her like without a care in the world.

"I'm going to take my leave now. I'll see you the next time I visit."

He gave her a little wave and left.

She looked at his retreating form at a lost. Then she looked back at Hiei.

"It's nothing onna," he grunted. "He was just testing his boundaries."

"Boundaries?"

"Do your running onna." He went to a tree and to all appearances, took a nap at the trunk.

She huffed at him before doing as he commanded. After jogging around for a while and becoming breathless, she fell down next to Hiei and glared at him.

"What onna?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

She dropped her glare. "Nothing."

He cracked open his eyes a bit to look at her. She put on her innocent kitty face. "Really. Nothing."

"Mad that you have to run around the place while I sleep?"

"No!" she said a little too quickly.

"Right. I believe you."

At a lost on what to say and a little peeved at him she folded her arms on her chest. "Mou."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on onna. Let's train."

She scurried behind him. Their training started out with warm ups followed by practice punches and kicks. After that, they'd work on her reflexes. Then, any other random thing that Hiei decided that she needed to work on. Their training ended when the sun was starting to set.

Botan collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

"My body hurts too much to move," she moaned lying on the ground.

"You're still out of shape."

"Don't start that again."

Hiei didn't reply right away. "In three days, I'm going to stop training you."

This made her pause. "Nani?"

"In three days time, the first seven days will be finished." 'And then it will be more serious,' he added silently to himself.

Then it dawned to her. The first seven days of courting. Kurama did say that the first seven days were the most fragile. And after that, gifts were exchanged. He didn't go too much in that, but was she expected to give him gifts as well? And a bond had been formed with the two of them. She trusted him. She always had. To a curtained extend before. Now, she trusted him more so. It's only been three days now since they've been courting, but she trusted him.

It wasn't enough yet to trust him with her life, or rather her very existence, but it was enough to know that he would catch her when she falls. Like the game that humans play at camps. One person would lean back and fall onto the person behind them if he/she trusted the person who would catch him/her. Years ago, it was a certainty that he would have let her fall. Now she knew that he would catch her. And besides, with all the training that they did, there was no time for talking. She didn't know a lot about him besides the obvious and visa versa. And she was not going to be stuck with a person in which she'll regret later.

Plus, he didn't know about something that she hasn't told anybody yet. And she knew about his past which put him in an unfair advantage since he didn't know hers.

But the real question was; does she want to be permanently mated to him?

"Hai," she said softly. "I didn't even realize it. Time has been going by so quickly."

"Hn."

"Soon Yusuke and Keiko will be married. And before we know it, they'll have kids. And Shizuru will marry that guy she's with. Kurama… who knows what will happen to him."

"He'll marry a ningen. Or mate a demon."

"You really think so?"

"How shall I know? I'm not a seer."

"But you do have a third eye." She pointed to his hidden eye and giggled.

"Immature baka." He rolled his eyes at her again.

"Only those with nothing to say in return fall back on name calling," she said in her most sophisticated voice.

"Who's naming calling when it's true?"

"Hey!"

"You know it's true."

"You're just a big mean bully."

"Whose name calling now onna?"

She stuck her tongue at him.

"Immature baka," he muttered.

"I heard that!"