Twisted Lives

Do not own.

Chapter 4 - Alone Time

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Last time - "I promise you, Koenma-sama!" She smiled. He sighed.

"Hold on and let me send Ayame to pick him up..."

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Youko dodged Yuusuke's attack and punched the boy in the stomach.

"You need more speed. Ningens are awfully slow but you can at least trace the beginning of a demon's speed." Hiei snorted. However, before any of them could even move again, a ferry girl zoomed down to them.

"Youko, we have a mission for you. Come with me to Reikai."

"Just for me?"

"Yes, come on." He got on and looked at the others.

"I'll be back sooner or later." They nodded and Ayame took off. They flew up and entered Reikai. "I have a mission? But I'm not even a Reikai detective."

"I don't know anything about it." She admitted. "Koenma-sama just told me to get you." He blinked in curiosity.

What the hell is Koenma thinking? I don't want any missions. It's Yuusuke's job, not mine.

Ayame landed on the edge and then walked him through to Koenma's office.

"Koenma-sama? I got Youko." Youko saw Botan with an envelope in her hands and dressed in her old fighting outfit.

"Thank you, Ayame." Koenma explained everything to Youko and the two left. Botan took his hand in hers. They went first to see Rumiko and Akina. They told her of the mission and she told them that she would take good care of their child.

"We would trust you with our lives, Rumiko." Botan smiled and kissed her child on the forehead then hugged Rumiko.

"And I would trust you with my life. See you when you get back!"

"Okay!" Youko watched Botan out of the corner of his eyes. He had missed her, even though they weren't apart for long.

"We will be separated after this for months, right?" He asked, frowing at her. She looked over at him and slid her hand in his again. Then she nodded mutely. "I hate being away from you." Then she smiled slightly.

"I know you by now, Youko. You just wanted to get away from Kuronue and Hiei." He sighed.

"Believe me, they get worse every day."

"Kuronue is mostly at fault. Hiei has been very patient, considering some of the heinous acts Kuronue has done to him." Botan noticed the portal come into view. "This is our stop, ne?"

"Youko? Botan?" They nodded to the ferry girl. "This is where you will go through. Someone will wait for you in that spot in Makai. You have a week to complete the mission. Any questions?"

"No." They went through and saw an demon screaming into a communicator. He was obviously a guard, meant to watch the portal. He looked highly pissed off so they merely nodded to him and intended to go on their way. But he shook his head and gave them a signal to wait. He ground out a reply to the person on the other side of the communicator then turned it off. He sighed and paused. The two kitsunes knew he was counting to ten.

"You two must be Botan and Youko." They nodded. "My name is Bairei. These idiots told me that I have let you two back in after you get done. Well, I have no problem doin' that but you have to prove that you two are the real two. We've had this happen before, where imposters got through. It wasn't on my shift but, hey, I have to follow protocol." He thought for a minute. "Imposters don't usually know a demon's human form. Come on, then, and step inside with me." They looked at each other and walked inside the office after him. "Now, those demons like to get inside and try to take over, figuring we're all stupid. It ain't happenin'." He pressed a button and the entire inside became coated in metal. "No one can see through this. Now, go ahead and transform."

"All right." They did so. Youko looked over at Botan and she looked at him. In place of her silver hair were pretty cerulean curls but her eyes remained the same. She grinned at him and peered at his red locks and emerald eyes. Then they looked at Bairei. He nodded and they went back to their demon forms.

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Youko and Botan had been traveling in silence for two hours. It was comfortable and Botan found herself feeling a little nervous about the mission. She had an anxious feeling in her stomach. They had slowed down some, hoping to catch a glimpse of food somewhere close. Then Botan's communicator went off. She took it out.

"Botan?"

"Yes, Koenma-sama?" She stopped and gave Youko silent instructions to find food. He nodded and left. "What's wrong?"

"You know where you are going?" She nodded.

"Yes, we are almost there."

"You have a week, okay?"

"Yes, the girl who let us through said that."

"If it takes less than a week, just be sure to come back on the deadline." She grinned happily.

"Thank you, Koenma-sama!" The communicator went blank and she leaned against the nearest tree, thinking about how wonderful it would be to be alone with Youko. Then she sighed and began thinking about the lord they had to see.

What will I do? The last thing we need is Youko getting pissed off at some lord. Then he will not only get in trouble but the punishment will be ten times worse.

She then froze.

Oh, wonderful. I need to fetch firewood. I can barely contain my excitement.

But a smile passed her lips and she let out a joyous laugh.

I am with him alone at last!

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Youko came back to camp about a half-hour later, soaking wet with fish in his hand. He did not look as happy as she felt. She laughed at him.

"You look marvelous, darling." He tried to blow his wet bangs out of his eyes but wound up a failure.

"Since you made fun of me, you get to cook."

"I wouldn't let you cook, anyway. You've grown terrible at it."

He gave her a sharp glare. "Right." She laughed again.

"Stop looking so gloomy. We're alone and no one that we have to split apart." He shrugged and sat down after tossing her their meal.

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Botan snuggled up to him, her head resting under his chin and her arms around him. He held her around the waist with one arm while stroking her hair.

"This is nice, ne?" He nodded and smiled. "Koenma-sama said we can stay until the deadline. But we have to be back in a week." Her silver tail swayed with anticipation. "An entire week away..."

"I can hardly wait to see what awaits us." He laughed.

"I wonder what the others are doing..."

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Kuronue was bored. This was not a good thing. There was one reason that this was not good and that reason was that he always tried to find a way to amuse himself. This was not good because he would always try to irritate someone else.

There were only two people there. One demon and one ningen. But the demon was his favorite to irritate. Always was and always will be. This was why he was the way he was. It was because this certain demon always knocked every single brain cell from his head every time he tried to amuse himself.

The other thing that was not good was that there was food in front of him that he was not eating because he had had his fill. And he opted for a food fight, which was very stupid. But that was just him.

"KURONUE!" Now, this demon was going to die. Because he happened to get the other demon extremely pissed off. The other demon was not a nice demon when he was pissed off. Well, he was never a nice demon but that wasn't the point. The point was that this demon had a short fuse. A very short fuse.

"I-I didn't mean it, Hiei!" The demon named Hiei was going kill the demon named Kuronue because the latter had started flinging mashed potatoes with gravy at the former. The ningen, whose name was Yuusuke, was too busy laughing to try and save Kuronue. Hiei's face was dripping with hot gravy and mashed potatoes. His hand was gripping his sword and he was swinging it wildly at Kuronue, attempting to decapitate him.

"Get back here, you little-" Hiei lunged at his prey and lost his sword on the ground after he began pummeling Kuronue.

"Uh...okay, you guys! You can stop now, Hiei!" Yuusuke stopped laughing and was watching the two duke it out. Every once in a while, they would need to do this. Of course, after an hour of it, Hiei won. The koorime picked up his sword and sheathed it before walking away to clean himself off. Kuronue... Let's not even go there. Yuusuke helped him up and shook his head. "You shouldn't make Hiei angry anymore. I didn't think you'd live to see tomorrow."

"Well, it was...fun in the beginning."

"You are not brave. You're stupid. Now, let's go get these cleaned up." The demon looked pretty bad. Now, as I said, let's not even go there. Kuronue sighed.

At least I'm alive...

Well, that's one way of looking at it!

After an hour of complaining that he was getting a stiff neck, Yuusuke hit him with the first aid kit metal box.

"You would think that a stiff neck is the least of your worries!" Of course, the punk had absolutely NO experience with injuries. He just got them. He never treated them. Yuusuke knew next to nothing about how to wrap them, how to apply the ointments without touching the nasty-looking injuries, or even how to follow the step-by-step instructions. He continually complained that the items used in the instructions were not in the kit. Kuronue now had a headache.

"Why don't you call someone who knows what they're doing? You might wind up feeding me disinfectant." Yuusuke hit him with the box again.

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate! Do you want me to screw up?" The demon snapped his mouth shut and quelled his next comment. Complete and utter silence filled the room for five minutes before a feminine voice called to Yuusuke from the door.

"Yuusuke! Where are you?" She found him quickly enough and saw Kuronue's poor condition and her boyfriend holding the medical kit. "Yuusuke! Don't tell me that you don't even know how to use a first aid kit!"

"I don't pay attention in health!"

"Get out!" She kicked him out of the room and concentrated on the poor demon that Yuusuke had been trying to fix.

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Botan and Youko had picked up and started walking again. Makai's conditions made them weary so they had a short rest before setting off once more.

"We just have to keep moving, right?" Botan asked with a smile. Youko nodded. He felt better, being home in Makai. Reikai and Ningenkai were far too crowded with beings that he either mistrusted or just plain despised.

"We will make it there in no time." She felt a chill run down her spine. What about that lord she heard about? She felt afraid already but how would she deliver the message to him? She hated seeing Youko angry and he would be if that lord were to try something. Despite the fact that she tried to hide her feelings from him, it was hardly working. "Calm down, Botan. Nothing will happen to you." She frowned.

"It isn't me that I am concerned for. I hate seeing you angered..." She trailed off. One never knew when Youko was short-tempered unless they tried something to tick him off. He wrapped an arm around her.

"Everything will be fine. I promise." She grinned up at him and nodded. Perhaps he was right and she was worrying for nothing.

An hour of silence. This was not her idea of fun but at least she was away from Reikai.

Speaking of Reikai, I wonder how Rumiko is doing...

Botan could imagine the demon taking complete control of those oni. She smiled at the thought of Rumiko running that stock exchange.

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Botan was just about right. Rumiko slapped an oni on the head with the file he had brought to her. He yelped and inched away from her, out of the reach of her hand.

"I told you that you have to read where these things go! This goes to Koenma, not me!" She handed it back to him with a furious glare. "Hurry up!"

"Y-Yes, Rumiko-sama!" He ran off quickly. She sighed.

"His office is the other way!" The oni stopped before running the right way, sending her a sheepish look. She noticed another oni walking toward her. He smiled.

"How are things going?" He asked, handing her clip board. She took it from him with a sigh.

"George, how do you put up with them?" Her eyes went down the list on the paper. "What's this?" George cleared his throat softly.

"A list of things that Koenma-sama needs done before tonight." She sighed. "You better get on it before too long."

"Yeah, I know." She walked away from him. The first thing on the list was to go to records and get an old book. The second thing was to fetch a file from Ayame, who had her hands too full to take it to the godling. She sighed. The third thing was paper work. She had to sort through all of the stuff that he had done and take it to where it needed to go.

How fun. I guess I'll have to see Akina later on, then. The poor thing probably misses her mother. Botan, get back sooner than a week.

The demon missed her kitsune friend severly already. She could only imagine how Akina must feel, being stuck with some ferry girl. Despite how nice the girls there were, they would never measure up to Botan. They didn't have the things that Akina needed.

This is going to be a long day. How the hell am I supposed to get all of this done in three hours? Koenma, if I don't pass out, you will meet with my wrath!

She smirked when she thought of pummeling the godling into the white tiled floor.

Too bad it'll never happen. I'd get in much too much trouble. But it was a nice thought...

She headed off to find Ayame.

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Keiko finished the last wound on Kuronue and smiled in triumph. She looked at her work with pride in her honey brown eyes.

"Do you feel a little better?" She asked. Kuronue nodded sheepishly. Then he blinked.

"Say, I've never met you before. What's your name?" She frowned before sitting down in the chair across from him.

"My name is Keiko." She answered. He nodded and inspected her work. It wasn't as good as Youko's work but she was only a ningen girl so he knew this was as good as he would get for now. "I've never seen you before, either. Who are you? How do you know Yuusuke?" He knew that telling her the truth would get extremely ugly results so he vouched for being smart for once. He didn't need any more hazards.

"My name is Kuronue and-" Yuusuke walked in, raising a brow at him.

"Boy, do you look lovely. I know Hiei would be proud to see you this bandaged up." Kuronue merely laughed and shook his head.

"Hiei's done worse before. I had a broken arm to deal with for over a week once." Then the demon thought a little more. "Or was it twice...?"

"Did he ever give you amnesia?"

"I can't remember." Yuusuke sweat-dropped and pulled a chair over to seat himself between Keiko and Kuronue.

"How many times have you got into a fight with him?"

"Too many to count, my friend." Kuronue answered with a frown. "I think I tried for a while but lost it just before reaching a hundred because I realized how pathetic it really was. I can't remember exactly what number." Keiko was staring at them both like they were insane.

"How did you two meet each other?" Yuusuke looked over at her. He had almost forgotten she was there.

"I've got a team now for missions until...how many months, Kuronue?" The demon thought a moment.

"Two months, I think." Then he stopped. "She knows about..."

"Yeah, she knows. She got chased down for the first mission because she's close to me. I have to warn her at least because she is at risk."

"Oh, I see." Keiko noticed that Kuronue relaxed visibly. Then he grinned brightly. "Let's go do something fun!" He stood up and hobbled out of the room and Yuusuke sighed.

I hope he doesn't think that fun will include Hiei... Kuronue, stay away from Hiei.

However, when he heard a scream, he knew exactly what had happened.

"While they're here, I think that we should put 911 on speed dial." He said with another sigh.

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Uh, hey there. I am so very sorry for making you wait but I've been busy with everything from some other fics to homework and to being sick. So, I want to apologize and hope to make you laugh with this...odd chapter. Thanks for those of you who've stuck with me!

Please review!