Sorry for taking so long with this one, inspiration has been a bit hard. I plan to try to wrap up the vacation in the next chapter, but for now I hope you're all enjoying the fluff.
Botan smiled as she watched Yato attempt to teach Hoku how to swim. Today they'd taken a boat out onto the lake, and people were doing various activities in the water.
Yusuke and Kuwabara were having a splash fight, Kurama was reading a book on the boat, and Hiei was refusing to enter the water. Shizuru and Yukina were chatting, and Keiko was napping on the boat. Botan was sitting on the boat as well, megs dipping into the water. She was content just watching everyone else, she wasn't exactly a good swimmer herself, to be honest.
"So Hiei, why don't you get into the water?" Botan asked, trying to make small talk with the fire demon.
"I'm not a fan of swimming," Hiei responded curtly.
"Let me guess, because you're a fire demon?" Botan questioned with a hint of a grin.
"…Maybe," Hiei admitted.
"Makes sense," Botan giggled.
"Why don't you get in the water?" Hiei asked, deflecting her own question back onto her.
"I'm not good at swimming, you know that Hiei," Botan responded.
"I don't remember unimportant things," Hiei rebuked.
"Whatever," Botan smiled to herself, "anyways, I'm bad at swimming. So that's why."
"Why don't you just ask your friend to help you, he's already helping the brat learn how to swim."
"Hey, Hoku is not a brat! And uh- well…" Botan began.
"Spit it out," Hiei ordered.
"It'd be kinda embarrassing wouldn't it?" Botan said, face heating up slightly at the thought.
"I don't know, nor do I care," Hiei sighed, "Don't ask me these questions."
"You told me to say it!" Botan argued.
"Hmph," Hiei didn't respond, and Botan knew that Hiei didn't have a response to that one.
She heard the sound of someone swimming over and saw Yato carrying Hoku over on his back.
"How're the swimming lessons going?" Botan helped Hoku onto the boat and gave him a towel.
"They're going good, he's a quick learner," Yato stayed in the water.
"That he is," Botan smiled and looked at Yato. His hair was wet and far less spiky than usual, and she had to admit that it wasn't a bad look.
"Why don't you join us in the water Botan?" Yusuke called over.
Botan knew that he was aware of her poor swimming skills, and she also knew that he must've had some ulterior motive for asking her this question. She glanced at Yato as he looked at her, awaiting an answer, unable to completely mask his interest.
"Uh well, you see…" Botan began.
"Oh c'mon Urameshi, you already know that Botan isn't very good at swimming!" Kuwabara scolded.
Yusuke laughed at Kuwabara's comment, and Botan facepalmed. Leave it to Kuwabara to miss all of Yusuke's mischievous schemes. Kuwabara seemed entirely unaware of what Yusuke thought was so funny, and the two started bickering as usual.
"What's so funny?" Yato asked, "Plenty of people are unable to swim at all."
"Yeah! It's completely normal!" Hoku exclaimed, "Besides, who needs to swim when you can fly?"
"Ironic that she flies on an oar, but is unable to swim," Hiei teased.
"Oh, you be quiet, Mr. Grumpy," Botan refuted, "Not like you're good at swimming either."
"Maybe not, but I'm more than fast enough to simply walk on the water," Hiei responded, "I do not need trivial means of transportation such as swimming."
"That is a boring excuse," Yato remarked, climbing up onto the boat, "Though, it does give me an idea."
"Unless you're challenging me to a fight, I have no interest in talking to you," Hiei stated curtly.
"Boys, no fighting…" Botan warned.
"Don't worry, it won't be an actual fight. Just a little something to keep Hiei stimulated and get him to be able to let loose a bit," Yato began, "How about we play a little game of tag? You, me, and anyone else. The only rule is we have to stay within the confines of the lake, one way or another. And also no flying, I'm not sure how many of you are able to do that, but it's more fun if we don't."
"Wait, flying is a technique?" Kuwabara asked, as apparently he and Yusuke had joined them on the boat.
"Yes," Yato began, "A technique generally used by those with at least A-class spiritual energy, and-"
"Don't bother explaining it to the oaf, he'll never remember it," Hiei cut in, "But tell me, what possible reason would I have to partake in this human game of yours?"
"Because you're competitive," Yato grinned, "You want to show off that you're stronger than me, and this could at least give you a chance to show off a speed advantage over me."
"Why are you goading him into this?" Botan asked.
"Can I play?" Hoku added.
"Because I need to allow Hiei to let out some of his aggression towards me, and no Hoku, not this time sorry," Yato answered, smiling at Botan and Hoku.
Botan sighed, she supposed that Yato was right. In that case…
"Kurama, why don't you join as well?" Botan suggested.
"What?"
"You have plenty of pent-up anger towards Yato. It's annoying me and if you can release some of it without a fight then I would very much like that," Botan stated.
"And you think that this game will become an outlet for this aggression? If anything, I am likely to get too caught up in the game and accidentally hurt Yato," Kurama reasoned.
"Well, I guess I'll just have to trust in your self-control!" Botan grinned.
"Very well," Kurama stood up, and glared at Yato, "I will partake in this game."
"Excellent! We should move the boat then, and Botan, if you could continue to keep an eye on my sword while I'm playing that would be great," Yato requested.
"Of course," Botan responded.
Yusuke found something funny about that, and as if possessing a sixth sense, Keiko woke up and glared at him.
"What?" Yusuke asked innocently.
"You were about to make some perverted joke, weren't you?" Keiko accused.
"Holy shit are you some sort of psychic?" Yusuke asked, "Oh wait. By definition, I suppose you are."
"She just knows you too well, Yusuke," Botan added, "Let's get this boat out of the lake then. And we should let Shizuru and Yukina know as well."
.
.
.
When everything was ready, Yato, Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama all stood on the pier that jutted out into the lake. Hiei and Kurama looked indifferent about the game, but Kuwabara and Yusuke seemed to be excited.
"We'll go for 10 minutes, and this should go without saying but please hold back, there's no need to use our full speed for this. That would probably damage the lake," Yato began, "I'll be the first one to start as 'it'. You'll all get a 1-second head start then I will begin chasing you all."
"Sounds good to me," Yusuke stated.
"Then begin," Yato replied, and the others disappeared in a flurry of movement. Yato waited one second, then moved as well.
Running on the water wasn't a difficult task for Yato, he was far more than fast enough to manage it, the difficult part came from the fact that he had to constantly be moving. If he stood still, he was unable to apply the force needed to stop himself from sinking. He noticed that Kurama was playing this safe, keeping a distance between them, moving in unpredictable ways. Kuwabara and Yusuke seemed to be trying to provoke him into chasing them, both of them were placing themselves far closer to him. Hiei was in the middle of the two strategies. Not keeping too much distance, but not displaying much interest in provoking Yato either.
Yato decided to indulge Yusuke and Kuwabara, chasing after the two. As they split, he decided that he would change his attention from them and quickly dashed over to Kurama, who had been caught off guard thanks to the waves created by Kuwabara and Yusuke suddenly changing directions.
Yato managed to tag Kurama, and quickly created distance between the two. He assumed that Kurama would be likely to go for him, given that he despised him, and decided that he would not allow that to happen.
In a surprising move, Kurama tagged Hiei, who had let his guard down thanks to the fact that he was so sure about Kurama wanting to go after Yato. Yato knew that this would be the best chance to let Hiei release some of his aggression towards him, and moved to challenge him. As Hiei tried to grab him, Yato feinted to the left, then dashed back before actually moving to the left.
The two continued this for a few minutes, ignoring everyone else as Hiei and Yato tried to outmaneuver each other. While Hiei could not manage to tag Yato, Yato found himself struggling to shake Hiei.
This stalemate ended when Yato got too hasty and tried to move past Hiei, underestimating the reaction speed of the demon. Hiei tagged Yato, and Yato was back to square one. Just as he was about to choose his target, Keiko called out to everyone, telling them that it had been 10 minutes. As that information was heard, the boys, apart from Hiei, all stopped moving and allowed themselves to just float in the water, swimming their way to the shore.
When Yato reached the shore, a towel was suddenly handed to him, courtesy of Botan.
"Thank you," Yato smiled at her and began to dry himself off. He noticed Botan's gaze lingering on him for a moment, but before he could question her about it she abruptly looked away as if something else had suddenly caught her interest, though Yato did not notice anything particularly interesting happening elsewhere.
Yato took the moment to look Botan up and down. She was still in her swimsuit, a modern swimsuit that he truthfully didn't know the name of. It showed a lot of skin and was certainly something that never would've been accepted when he lived in the human world in the past, though it was marginally more modest than a lot of what he'd seen in the demon world. He had to admit that he'd caught himself stealing glances at Botan all day, for some reason seeing her in that outfit was irresistible to him, and he could not seem to keep his eyes off her for long.
"So, I'm thinking that tonight we all go out on hikes in the woods, supposedly there's some haunted cave here," Yusuke suggested.
"You look for the cave every year and never find it," Hiei remarked, "If it existed, surely you would've come across it by now."
"Hey it's only been a few years, and I like to look by actually hiking, not just speeding through the forest at top speeds. What do you all say?" Yusuke responded.
"I'll pass I think-" Kuwabara began before he was cut off by Yukina.
"While I don't really care about the cave, a walk in the forest at night sounds fun."
"Upon further consideration, I will absolutely be going on this hike," Kuwabara's change of heart was not at all surprising to anyone, he was an absolute sucker for Yukina, even Yato had realized this by now.
"I'll pass," Shizuru stated, and Keiko nodded in agreement.
"That sounds fun, can I go?" Hoku looked at Botan and Yato, waiting for approval.
"Of course!" Botan responded, "And I'll go as well."
With that, Yato's mind was made up, "It sounds interesting, I'll go."
"I'll remain at the cabin," Kurama stated, "I've got to wash the dishes so I can cook tomorrow anyway."
"Hmph, this is a foolish pursuit, but I will go, only to keep an eye on you," Hiei glared at Yato.
"Fine by me."
"All right, let's all meet out here at sundown!" Yusuke exclaimed.
Everyone went their separate ways, and Yato found himself sitting next to Botan in a chair by the lakeside, watching as Hoku threw a ball for Ash.
"So, how are you enjoying the trip?" Botan asked.
"Despite the animosity from Kurama and Hiei, I am enjoying myself quite a bit," Yato's lips quirked up in a small smile, "Are you having fun?"
"Yeah!" Botan exclaimed, "And don't worry about Hiei and Kurama, they'll warm up to you eventually. I'm sure of it."
"I'm sure you're right. Besides, as long as you and Hoku are happy, I don't really care about their opinions of me," Yato stated.
"Yeah? Well- it'll make me happy if you're happy, so you should remember to take your own happiness into account as well," Botan refuted, sounding oddly stubborn on the matter.
Yato blinked at her a few times, feeling a strange emotion well up in his stomach, "Thank you."
"Hm? What for?"
"Just… thank you."
Botan smiled at him, eyes sparkling as the wind blew a few strands of hair across her face, and in that moment Yato swore that the expression on her face would be capable of bringing warmth into even the most bitter of souls.
"You're welcome."