J.J. - Another update! I've just eaten three Kashi bars and am ready to type! .. I was so happy to find there were more Kuwabara supporters among my readers. Or perhaps the correct word would be, toleraters... Heh. Enjoy this chapter, Afternoons of Our Lives makes it's return... n.n;


Chapter Four

The Bomb

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A knock sounded on her door. Botan gazed towards it in confusion, wondering who it could be. She checked herself in the mirror on the wall, wiping at her cheeks to diminish any signs that she'd been crying. "I'm coming!" she called in a cracked voice. She tried to push her suitcase closed, but because she hadn't bothered to fold anything, she succeeded in only tiring her hands trying to get the top to stop bouncing back at her.

After the third time the latch flew open, she sighed in exasperation and walked to the door, pulling it open. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw who it was. Hiei.

She hadn't thought he would come to fire her in person. Oh well, she thought dismally, might as well get it over with. Her emotional state wouldn't hold long against his commanding presence, but what did it matter? She'd never see him again.

She waited patiently for him to speak first. When he did, she thought she had heard him incorrectly.

"You're packing?"

Did his voice hold a trace of . . . apology?

"Yes." She glanced briefly behind her at her open suitcase. "I am. Just being prepared... no need to wait, I suppose..."

"You're leaving?" His voice was toneless, his eyes and expression blank. It gave no explanation as to why she felt a small sense of worry from him. It was unexplainable, but somehow she knew that he didn't like the idea of her leaving.

Which made no sense, considering he was coming to fire her.

"Uh... aren't I?"

"Why would you?"

"Because, well..." It felt weird to say it. "I'm fired." She paused, hearing the uncertainty in her own voice. "Aren't I?"

His eyebrows arched in that surprised expression of his that she knew meant he was feeling the exact opposite of surprised. "And who, pray tell, fired you?"

"I thought... you ..." she stammered helplessly. This was not going at all how she had planned. She bit her lip, narrowing her eyes at him in scrutiny. "You're not firing me?"

For the first time, an glimmer of uneasiness passed through his eyes, and he glanced away. "Actually, I thought, in light of the situation of such certain circumstances, that it might be better..."

Botan was beginning to think that this sounded suspiciously like the business man she had originally planned on in her mind when he stopped suddenly in mid-sentence and his eyes flew past her shoulder, sharpening to an almost frightening degree. She literally felt him tense, and turned quickly to see what had him in such a state.

She didn't see anything. But she only had to wait a few seconds before her window crashed as an egg-shaped looking rock came soaring into her room about the size of her fist. She shrieked in surprise. It landed on her carpet among the broken shards of glass. She didn't know what it was, but it sort of seemed like it was . . . ticking?

"Get down!" She heard Hiei yell behind her.

She barely had time to think as he suddenly came around to the other side of her, pulling her to him in a bruising crush. In the next instant, something erupted in her room. She couldn't see the flames because her face was buried in Hiei's shoulder, but she felt an intense surge of heat consume them as they were thrown into the air with the impact. She screamed and clutched the front of his shirt while feeling strong arms wrap tighter across her back.

Her mind almost seemed detached as they crashed violently to the floor, rolling a few extra feet. Still, Hiei kept his hold on her. She didn't know where they were. She could smell smoke and there was debris and ruin all around them but she couldn't get herself to focus...

But she knew... no, she could feel that Hiei was on top of her. A side of her wanted to purr in feminine appreciation at his solid, firm form, but her logical side quelled it. "Hiei?" She called, her own voice sounding like it was from a dream.

She began to panic when she got no response, but then she heard an agonized groan as he slowly lifted himself off her, his hands propping himself up at her sides. She wanted to cry at the sight of him. His eyes were glazed and worn over, making the usually vibrant red appear brown, but that didn't smolder the definite fear and confusion struck in them. A sticky line of blood ran from his forehead across the side of his left eye.

As far as her hazed mind would allow, she couldn't feel any injuries on herself beyond a few bruises. She had Hiei to thank for that. Gingerly, she reached up and touched his side. He visibly winced and she immediately regretted her action.

"Oh, you're hurt," she whispered helplessly.

He struggled to speak. "We . . . we have . . . to . . ."

"We have to help you," she interrupted, feeling her mind start to go into a frenzied panic.

He shook his head. "No, listen–"

"We need a doctor!" What was making her act so panicked? She felt like she was apart from herself, merely watching as the frenzied woman that looked like her start to hyper-ventilate.

A rough hand came harshly over her mouth, quelling any more arguments. She looked deliriously at Hiei's face, barely registering the sinister scowl across his features.

"Fumes," he snarled.

Confused, she let him haul her away from the area of disaster. He pulled on her arm and she stumbled along behind him, struggling to keep up with his fast pace. She started to recognize the surroundings of the top floor. They were almost to the doorway leading to the staircase . . . and then Hiei started to stagger.

He released her arm and went down on his knees, the effects of the bomb finally catching up to him. He was trembling and clutching his stomach.

They were so close to the door!

"Come on, Hiei," she croaked, bending down to grip the back of his shirt. She pulled, honestly believing she could drag him to their destination. Somehow they would have to be alright, if they could just get out of the hallway.

She stopped her efforts as Hiei retched all over the red carpeted floor. The sight made her dizzy and she felt the floor tipping beneath her. She tried to catch her balance, but it proved useless as her limp body collapsed to the ground. Everything was spinning, the edges of her vision slowly fuzzing with black.

"Hiei..."


"Botan? Are you up yet?"

She slowly opened her eyes, blinking until her vision cleared. Kurama's face swam into view.

"Hey there," he said. Keiko and Shizuru appeared next to him, literally crying with relief. Well, perhaps only Keiko was crying. Botan slowly sat up, absorbing her surroundings. It looked like her room, but slightly different, definitely smaller. She didn't feel anything more than slightly sore and tired, but her wrist was bandaged.

"Where am I?"

"Oh, Botan!" Keiko cried, flinging her arms around her friend's shoulders. "We were so worried about you!"

Botan laughed uneasily and gently placed her hands on Keiko's back in a subdued form of a hug. "I'm alright, really. I just don't know what's going on..."

Shizuru and Kurama's faces grew concerned. "You don't remember?"Shizuru asked.

Botan would have liked to remember, but everything seemed so fuzzy right now. She didn't even know which room she was in.

Seeing her increasingly puzzled face, Kurama sighed. "There was a bomb . . ."

With this statement, it all came back to her in a blinding rush. Everything was still fuzzy, but she knew what had happened. She could still feel the fire, still see Hiei . . . the blood . . .

"Oh my god! Hiei! What happened? Is he okay!"

Kurama took hold of her forearms, slowly easing her back down into her bed. "Calm down, Botan. He's fine. He's in his room, resting, as you should be doing."

"But . . . this isn't my room. . ."

"Yes, well, you're room was sort of blown up, wasn't it?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.

She managed a small smile, appreciating the comic relief. Her face grew sober as another question came to her mind. "Kurama . . . who put that bomb in my room?"

Kurama's face darkened. His mouth tensed into a distraught line before he answered tersely, "We're not certain. Mr. Jaganshi has a lot of enemies, so it could have been many people. This sort of thing happens a lot, Botan. Our security will increase and it won't happen again, don't worry."

Something in his eyes only made her worry more. There was much more that he wasn't telling her, but by the look on his face it didn't seem like he was going to, either. Obviously, the situation was more severe than he was letting on, but she wouldn't push it. Perhaps because she didn't want to know. Perhaps because something told her that this sort of thing was going to happen again . . . . and Kurama knew it.

She wanted to know more about what had happened to her though. She at least deserved to know that. "Kurama... when the bomb hit, I felt really weird. As if I were in a dream, and I kept freaking out, and Hiei threw up . . ."

"Yes," Kurama answered. "It was a small bomb, which is why both of you weren't killed, standing in the room. However, after it exploded, it released a series of poisonous fumes." His eyes softened. "We were lucky we got to you when we did."

A memory floated vaguely to Botan's mind. "Hiei knew about the fumes..." He had also known the bomb was coming five seconds before it crashed through her window. Traits that didn't usually accompany a suit and tie type of person. It only confirmed her suspicion that there was more to Hiei then met the eye. And not just the fact that he had a softer side. She was starting to think he might have an entirely different lifestyle as well.

"Yes..." That dark, secretive look crossed Kurama's eyes again. "I suppose he would have..."

"It's kind of romantic, you know," Keiko said, and Kurama looked glad for the interruption. "Him sort of saving you and all..."

Botan blushed.

"Yeah," Shizuru agreed. "I'd like a hot, millionaire bachelor to protect me."

Kurama laughed and Botan rolled her eyes. She glanced again at her two friends, taking hold of their hands and squeezing tightly. She sighed. "Thanks for visiting, guys."

"Oh, you're so stupid," Shizuru chided. "As if we wouldn't." The three girls shared a small round of giggles, though it was a taut, worried sort of laughter.

"I've got soup!"

All four heads turned as Yusuke and Kuwabara came into the room, Kuwabara holding a tray containing a large bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup. Botan smiled appreciatively at him as he set it before her lap. "Bon apetite!"

Chuckling, she spooned some of the rich broth into her mouth. As always, Kuwabara's cooking was heavenly. "Oooh... it's delicious. Just what I needed."

Kuwabara beamed. Yusuke sat next to her and she felt his weight on the bed. "So how's the wrist?"

"My wrist?" She glanced dumbly at the bandages. "Oh right. What's wrong with it again?"

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and placed the back of his hand to her forehead. "I think you need more sleep, sunshine."

She playfully swatted his hand away. "No really, what happened? Is it sprained?"

"Your palm and under wrist were burned," Kurama clarified for her.

"Burned?" She probed her memory. She couldn't recall ever feeling her wrist in pain, let alone burned. Although the possibility was very likely, having a bomb explode right next to her. As she recalled, she'd felt an immense amount of heat, but Hiei had been covering her...

Her eyes widened in horror. "Oh no. Is Hiei burned very badly?"

"Oh, he's . . ." Kurama started, getting a strained look across his face.

Botan grew more worried. "What?"

Yusuke cleared his throat. Botan didn't miss the sharp glance he and Kurama passed. "He's not burned very badly. The bomb's most damage was fumes and impact..."

Botan felt like arguing the point that she had thought it rivaled getting thrown through an oven, but she didn't say anything. Deciding to change the subject to something that didn't have to be so secretive, she asked casually, "So who's room is this anyway?"

"It's one of the spare servant's rooms," Shizuru explained quickly. She looked as if she wanted to ask something else, but Kurama interrupted her.

"You could have had the other guest room on the top floor, but it needs to be cleaned properly. Lots of debri got in, and the carpets burned–"

"Wasn't finished," Shizuru stated irritably with a warning finger raised at Kurama, her eyes narrowed challengingly. Much to everyone else's laughter, Kurama shut up. Shizuru smiled triumphantly before turning to give Botan a piercing look. "Now, what I wanted to know was, what is with you suddenly calling Mr. Jaganshi, Hiei?"

Each one of her friends turned identical curious glances at her. Her cheeks started turning pink. "Well, I uh . . . . I, you see . . . "

"Oooh." Yusuke caught on with a sly looking grin. "On a first name basis, hm?"

Everyone else laughed and Botan blushed all the way to her hairline. "Don't be so ridiculous," she snapped huffily. She hit Yusuke in the head with a pillow. "Now get out of my room so I can rest. You're all irritating me something terrible."

She attempted to shoot them a Hiei worthy glare, but failed miserably. Yusuke laughed and shook his head. "Don't even try, Botan. You couldn't look mean if your life depended on it."

She sighed as if horribly disappointed. "Can't blame me for trying."

"I suppose I can't." Yusuke stood to his feet and started walking out the door with Kurama and Kuwabara. He faked a large shudder. "Nobody can quite pull off the mean look like Mr. Jaganshi."

Kuwabara laughed and pointed his fingers from his eyes in semblance of lightning. "Death by fire!" he announced in a devilish hiss. Laughing, the three boys walked out of the room.

Keiko and Shizuru paused at the door. "Sure you're alright?" Keiko asked softly.

Botan nodded. "I'm fine. Just need a little rest."

"Okay." Keiko smiled. "Sweet dreams."

After they left, Botan stirred her soup amiably, pondering over her little white lie. In all honesty, she didn't feel tired in the least. On the contrary; she felt restless. She waited a good few minutes before carefully setting the tray of soup off to the side and climbing out of the bed. Only then did she realize she was in a silk nightgown that wasn't her own. With a self-conscious frown, she become aware that it barely came above her knees.

With a great sigh of relief, she saw a matching robe laid over one of the chairs in the room. She picked it up and gingerly tied it around her waist. Tip-toeing, she made her way to the door, peering into the hall to make sure the coast was clear. When she was sure no one that would recognize her was around, she walked into the hall.

It took her a good five minutes longer than it would have if she had known where she was, but she managed to find the main room. She walked up the spiral staircase, ignoring the sign on the door that forbid anyone from entering, and walked into the top floor.

She gasped at the sight. There were several police tapes that crossed over the doorframe to her old room and dust and debris littered the floor around it. Along the wall and carpet both were the ominous black stains that indicated that fire had passed through. Swallowing the nauseous feeling she got, she began to walk towards Hiei's room. Most of the mess had been cleaned up, leaving only right in front of her room as it was. She suspected it might be for evidence.

She carefully picked her way through the mess before skipping hurriedly to Hiei's door. She didn't want to hover around her room long. She paused, not sure if she wanted to knock. Knocking would give him the opportunity to turn her away, and she needed to see if he was alright, whether he liked it or not. She owed him her life.

Holding her breath, she slowly took hold of the doorknob, praying it wasn't locked. Gratitude filled her as it turned in her hand. She slowly pushed the door open, blinking against the dark atmosphere of his room.

Though she'd been in it before, the grandness of his room always took her breath away. It was twice the size of her own, with much more furnishings and decor. Decor which entirely consisted of black and deep shades of red, black gossamer curtains sluiced over his bed. Rather minatory atmosphere, to say the least, but then again... she couldn't picture Hiei living in any bright type of colors.

She gazed across the length of his room to find him sitting on his bed, sitting upright with lots of pillows to hold him up. He didn't look mortally injured, a loose black shirt on, not buttoned anywhere. Bandages were across his entire torso, as well as the length of both his arms. As far as she could tell, he hadn't noticed she'd come in, he seemed preoccupied with something.

She glanced at where he was staring, surprised to see a large televison against the wall. Her mouth opened slightly in amazement, if not a little humor.

"I don't believe you."

He finally acknowledged her presence, turning to look at her. His expression was unreadable. When he didn't say anything, she slowly sauntered towards him, a smug look on her face. "You're watching Afternoons of Our Lives," she accused.

He rolled his eyes, shrugging. "There was nothing else on."

Botan grinned. "Whatever you say."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here."

"I meant in my room, idiot."

Well somebody was in a touchy mood.

She ignored his callous remark and walked to his bed, lifting herself onto the king-sized mattress with a bit of difficulty. She scooted closer, eyeing him carefully. He was watching her as well. He seemed tensed and coiled, ready to either attack or run.

Smiling softly, she tried to find words that would prevent him from doing either. "Are you okay?"

He looked as if her words had burned him. He started to glare, but stopped, instead choosing to look away and slump farther into the pillows. "You're odd," he finally said.

"So you've told me." She gingerly reached over and touched his bandaged chest. "Are those where you were burned?"

"No." He sighed, as if admitting failure and defeat to her presence. "Broken ribs."

She winced. "Ouch. Sorry." She glanced at his roughly bandaged arms. "Are your arms burned then?"

"No." He still wouldn't meet her eye. "Just open gashes. Both your body weight and my own landed on them against broken wood and glass, if you recall."

"I do." She tried to make an attempt at humor, to lighten the tense mood. "But I'm sure it was mostly your body weight that did the damage. You could afford to lose a few pounds."

He glanced at her, snorting softly. She figured it was the best response she was going to get out of him. It bothered her that he didn't seem to be burned anywhere, and she hadan incinerated wrist. If she was remembering correctly, he was the one covering her, not the other way around. What was he... immune to fire? She mentally shrugged. Perhaps he was. Perhaps that was why Yusuke and Kurama had seemed so antsy about discussing his supposed 'burns'. It confused her, but she wasn't going to ask anyone about it just yet.

She turned her eyes to the screen and they both watched in silence for a few minutes as Tom's evil twin (Botan didn't fail to mention that she'd been right) attempted to kill Robert, because he loved Martha.

"You can have her! I love Victoria!"

"Ass-hole," Hiei said.

Botan laughed. They both began watching again, or Botan thought they were both watching, until she heard Hiei say, "So . . . are you alright?" and turned to find him looking intensely at her.

Botan's eyes softened at his concern, no matter how rough and ill presented it may have been. "Yes, I'm fine." She blushed a little. "Thanks to you. And seriously, Hiei . . . thank you."

He smirked softly. "I thought I told you to call me Mr. Jaganshi."

She felt her stomach squirm pleasantly as she noticed the lack of intimidation he usually seemed so fond of using when he gave orders, no matter how trivial. She smiled and started to answer, but her eyes were drawn to his right arm. The bandages were coming loose.

"Oh no, look . . ." She pointed.

He glanced down and frowned. "Shit . . ."

He attempted to fix it with his left hand alone, but ended up failing miserably, much to his frustration. Ignoring the colorful stream of words he began muttering, she gently grabbed his arm. "Let me do it."

He hesitated, holding his arm back, but then slowly allowed her to take hold of it and bring it near her lap. They sat in silence as she began to wrap the end back up.

Hiei didn't watch her fingers work around his own, he could feel that. He watched her face instead. She appeared so calm. Why wasn't she feeling odd little sensations in her stomach every time her fingers brushed across his own?

Aside from that though, it felt peaceful to sit next to her. Peace was something he hadn't felt since... well, since quite awhile. A side of him wanted her to stay until he fell asleep and was able to get some well needed rest. However, the more dominant side of him told him what an idiot he was being, and reminded him that she was his maid. And if he couldn't get to sleep on his own, what the hell was he doing running a world wide business?

What was she doing here anyway? She was on sick leave. She began tucking in the final part of the bandage, and he spoke quietly. "Why are you doing this?"

She glanced up in surprise. "Well . . ." She looked back down and tied the final knot in the white cloth. "Mis-ter Jaganshi, I suppose because you pay me $17.50 an hour."

He actually had the urge to laugh. It seemed to happen quite a bit around her, too. Something he very much detested.

"Ah." He gave her a mocking frown. "I forgot."

She chuckled and he had the urge to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She needed to leave.

She provoked things in him that he hadn't felt himself privileged enough to feel. No, not privileged. It certainly wasn't a privilege to be burdened down by caring and protective feelings. He groaned to himself. Although, he hadn't meant to expose her to something like this either, and he hoped Kurama hadn't let her in on too many of the details. Spare the innocents, if you could. He also tried to convince himself that surge of protectiveness that had come over him then would have occurred with anyone.

Because... he was the hero type... and everything.

She reallyneeded to leave.

"Anything else you wanted?" He made sure that his voice held a cutting edge to it. Confusion, emotion in general, were not things he liked becoming familiar with. Things she seemed to bring.

She seemed surprised by his sudden coldness. "Well . . . no . . ."

He gave her a flat, condescending look. Her eyes narrowed as she caught his intentions. "Well, I hate to burden you with my presence any longer, Hiei." The complete iciness to her tone almost made him regret his actions. She slowly began to maneuver herself off his giant bed.

Her open anger to him was unnerving, but he hardly blinked as he presented her with a cruel smile. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," he crowed in mock concern.

He might have applauded the glare she gave, if it hadn't been him that it was directed at. She huffed angrily and stormed out of his room, door slamming in her wake. He continued to look at the closed door.

What was wrong with him?

Although she was gone, she was still in his thoughts. And not thoughts of stuffing a sock in her mouth for her complete defiance to him. He was thinking about how he always noticed when she came into a room, or left it for that matter. Or how he liked the way her silken robe had shifted across her body in her enraged walk out of his room.

He gripped the sheets roughly on either side of them, horrified at his own thoughts. Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Those couldn't honestly be his thoughts, could they? Almost scared to know the answer, he mentally asked himself... could he really be attracted to this woman?

The answer came to him very clearly in a sudden image of curves, blue hair and violet eyes. He snarled viciously and promptly picked up the only hard object near him, the T.V. remote, and chucked it at the wall. It shattered into pieces of plastic and wiring.

He took a long, shuddering breath, willing his temper down before he set something on fire by accident. With a few quick swipes of the hand, he cleared away all of his pillows but one so he could lay down comfortably. He burrowed into the mattress, trying to will his tensed body to relax.

He heard the program still on.

"You don't understand. She haunts me! She plagues my mind..."

Hn. She wouldn't plague his mind. He had very near succeeded too, focusing instead on the bomb, and what it meant. He knew who had sent it, and the threat that it brought. Now, the problem remained—

He froze, his eyes opening slowly as a scent gradually made itself known.

Vanilla...

In a yell of frustration, he sat bolt upright and began to rip all the blankets and sheets from the bed. In just that tangible second where he had encountered the smell, the very distinct, very real image of him kissing her had arose in his mind. He hated her for it!

Only after he was done, panting heavily atop a bare mattress, did the intense pain of broken ribs being forced into use finally come to him. He groaned and flopped to his side, arms caressing his wounded torso. He would be free of this unsightly attraction soon enough. He had to.

Tom seemed to echo his sentiments. "This feeling will be the death of me..."


J.J. - Muha... the plot begins to show it's wee little head, and the relationship between Hiei and Botan is evolving.

(Next Chapter: The Esteemed Shopping Trip)