A/N: No disclaimer! I'm tired of it. Refer to page whatever.
LOVE IS FOR THE WEAK, BUT ONE IS WEAK WITHOUT IT
(Do You Love Me?)
By: Kiss-me-kitsune
"Thank you for the delicious food," Botan chirped happily as she gently patted her lips with a napkin. Fully satiated, she pushed her chair back and stood up with the rest of the others, and headed for the living room.
"Let's all sing karaoke!"
"Oh, not you, Yusuke! You're terrible at it!"
"Am not! Candy shouldn't be talking, 'cuz you're worse than I am. Isn't that right, Kurama? Doesn't her voice make your ears bleed?"
"Ahh... I don't know."
"Kurama, you're supposed to say, 'of course not!'"
"Ah, Candy."
"It's because you suck even more than I do!"
"Shut up, Yusuke!"
Botan watched happily, the interaction before her, and couldn't help but feel obligated to thank Koenma a thousand times and ten thousand more. She felt like she's overworked herself, and this would serve as a nice break from all the trouble she's have had to endure all years long (all 1500 of it).
Shizuru and Keiko inched on both sides of her, grab a hold of her arm, and smiled.
"We're so happy to finally have you back."
"Thanks, Shizuru." Botan laughed and continued, "Oh yes, I forgot to tell everyone. Koenma gave me a month off—as a human."
"What? Really?"
The ferry girl grinned widely. "Yes. For a month, I get to hang out with you guys, with no work to do! A nice little vacation should be good, once in a while."
"Then we can all go shopping!" Keiko giddily spat out. "It'll be so much fun!"
"Yeah, and then we can all watch the wrestling match!"
Candy interjected once again. "Yusuke, Botan and the rest of us are not interested in fake wrestling matches."
"No one asked you. You could choose to not come, I wouldn't mind."
"No one would come."
"Ah, you guys..."
Shizuru, the more reasonable out of all of them—perhaps after Kurama, who was but a bit busy stopping Candy and Yusuke from duking it out at the moment, asked Botan, "So where will you be staying?"
"Ah. I've already talked to Genkai about it. No need to worry!"
"And speaking of Koenma, why is he not here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry to not have explained to you earlier, Keiko. He's very busy with all the paperwork he's been procrastinating for. He's even got five assistants helping him, and it still looks like it'll take at least three days to finish."
"Koenma sure is a lazy bastard," Yusuke remarked.
Botan sweat dropped. "Ahh, well, can't argue with that."
--
After a few hours of doing karaoke, the gang decided to split up and do their own thing. Yusuke had asked Kuwabara for a turn on Mortal Kombat, but Kuwabara had other plans in mind, and so, Yusuke, not finding anyone else to fight against, turned to Candy. "It's as if I'm fighting against you, but you get to lose without the pain."
"Oh, Yusuke, I'm so going to beat your sorry ass."
The ever so fight-ready Yusuke then turned to Kurama and cockily announced, "After I beat her, I'll beat you. I've never had the chance to fight against you, so this would do good."
With a sheepish chuckle, Kurama agreed. "But I've never played this one before. How can this suffice as a fair match?"
"It's ok, it's easy to learn! Watch me as I beat your girlfriend."
Keiko joined in the group. She pinched Yusuke's cheek and reprimanded him of being too cocky. "Video games and fighting are all you think about."
Across the room, a blushing Kuwabara sat on the sofa, next to an oblivious Yukina, who sat next to a dangerous Hiei.
Before Kuwabara could even utter a word, Hiei interjected, "Yukina. I hear Botan calling you."
"Oh? Excuse me, then." And she trailed along to Botan, who was at that time, watching Yusuke and Candy beat up on each other, from afar. "Botan?"
"Eh? Oh, hello Yukina-chan. What is it?"
The look on Yukina's face upon hearing this, was pure confusion. "Shouldn't I be the one to ask you 'what is it'?"
"E-eh?" Botan followed the direction of Yukina's pointed finger, and caught a sight of Hiei. For some unknown reason, she understood fully. "Oh, yes, yes. I'm so sorry, Yukina-chan. I needed you to..." she paused and looked around, fishing for a reason. "Yes, I need you to help me with those pillows, please!"
"...Pillows?"
Botan could only chuckle sheepishly.
--
As the party grinded to an end, everyone felt that it was time well spent. It was nearing mid-night.
"You guys have a safe trip. I'll stay behind to help Keiko clean up."
"Oh, you don't have to, Shizuru! I've got Yusuke to help me."
Apparently, this news was new to Yusuke. "—What? When did I agree to—"
"You will help me, right, Yusuke?"
Defeated, Yusuke turned around and waved nonchalantly at the others. "While you guys get to go home and sleep, I'll be cleaning your mess up."
"It was mostly your mess, Yusuke."
"Bah!"
Kurama offered to walk Candy home, and so, together, with an air of embarrassment around (mostly on Candy's part), they left, bidding everyone a farewell. Yukina and Botan were to walk together towards Genkai's temple. Hiei was nowhere to be found.
"Yukina, would you mind if I walked you guys home?"
"Kuwabara-kun... Thank you. Please, if it's not a problem."
"Of course not!"
And instantly, Hiei was to be found on top of the tree directly above them, but he remained unnoticed by the rest of the remaining group.
Botan looked away, thinking how sweet it was for them to finally be alone together—if only she weren't around. She waved goodbye to Shizuru, Keiko, and Yusuke, and ran to catch up to the two.
She decided to lag behind as to not disturb them, whereupon deciding that lagging was not such a great idea after all, for she could still see them, and so she moved up front. "Better."
Hiei, who was following with a keen eye, grew frustrated at the ferry girl for letting things get too far. Kuwabara and Yukina were touching shoulders, for crying out loud. He yelled telepathically to the oblivious girl, "Don't let them get too close to each other, baka onna!"
Botan cringed from the sharp pain that penetrated her mind. "You don't have to talk so loud, Hiei. We're not fighting with air resistance anymore. You voice will carry, even a bare whisper!"
Not listening, he kept on commanding her to interject. Using a brand new phrase he happened to have caught from Kurama's television, he cried, "That is sexual harassment! No amount of touching should be allowed between the two of them. See how they touch at the shoulder? Your job is to ensure they pry apart and stay apart."
Botan almost burst out laughing at his absurdity. "What the hell is going on with his mind?" she thought. "You're ridiculous. Why interject? They seem to like each other."
"No!"
And just like that, Botan was forced to act against her own will, with no choice but to follow. "Uhm, Kuwabara-kun, which way was it?"
"Uhh, straight ahead. You should know."
"Oh... yes, of course." All of a sudden, it turned out to be such a long night for Botan, thanks to that hateful little fire demon, stalking them.
--
It was tough to get Kuwabara to finally leave the temple, but with the combined efforts of Genkai and Botan, they managed to pry him away from the foothold of the house, and into the street.
"Till tomorrow, Kuwabara-kun!" Botan had chirped happily.
She returned to her room, exhausted from the day's activity. It seemed so long ago when she and Hiei sat at the pond, Hiei accidentally letting a tinge of emotion slip past his icy barrier. "I wonder what he was thinking then..."
Overcome with thoughts, she slowly undressed and changed to a simple white, buttoned-up shirt, and sunk into her alluring bed. She stretched and yawned, all the while mumbling a good night for everyone.
Outside, Hiei watched with guilty and unwanted pleasure. Unwanted, but pleasure nonetheless. Her naked silhouette excited in him, emotions he never thought he possessed. Terrified at his own thoughts, he scolded himself for falling—into what? Into what, exactly?
"Falling... in love? Is that what I meant?" he thought. He cursed himself and fought hard against his urges. It was a lost battle.
Without being aware of how it happened, Hiei found himself inside the girl's room, walking towards her sleeping figure. She looked so angelic—like a person come from heaven—heck, she was. He gulped from the tension he felt, both mentally and physically, in that location of his cursed body part, south of the equator, as he reached out to touch her soft skin. Suddenly, Botan stirred.
"... Eh? I could've sworn somebody was in here..." She looked around, frightened, and stood up to bolt the window. Now feeling safer, she returned to her bed for a good night's sleep.
"What was I thinking?" Hiei chastised himself in his inner mind. It was a close call—too close. He had barely escaped through the window before Botan could see clearly from the darkness. He sat, panting, atop yet another tree, wondering in horror what could have come about if she hadn't stirred.
"I could've... I could've..." He growled in anger. "You are definitely going insane, Hiei."
Far below, a certain red head turned away, with a look of relief in his eyes.
A/N:
Oy, oy, oy! Wow, I cannot believe I've updated twice in a row! Yeah, well I'll probably end up frying my brain again. Well anyway, I took out Hiei's point of view, because it seemed so out of place in my old story.
As for Candy and Yusuke's relationship... hah. I find it truly amusing. I'll have to dedicate a chapter on Kurama and Candy's relationship, because it feels very awkward between them right now.
