A/N: Welcome to Anything He Doesn't
Chapter 1: Something I Want
"Okay, I've brought a multi-layered strawberry cream cake, a one-gallon urn of boiled water, a tin of green tea leaves with lemon rind, a full picnic basket with formal bowls, saucers and side plates, silver forks and teaspoons, a sealed bag of freshly sliced lemon – to sweeten the tea or to have with the water – the card we all signed yesterday, sealed in an envelope, and, of course, the presents."
Keiko sat back onto her heels and neatly tucked her hair behind one ear, glancing over her haul at the two faces watching her with what appeared to be a sense of bewilderment.
"Did both of you bring what you were meant to?" she asked.
The two women slowly turned to face each other, one turning slightly pink and the other making a small squeaking sound.
"Botan?" Keiko pressed.
Botan turned to face her again, the same squeaking once more sounding in the back of her throat as their eyes met.
"I brought all the things I was tasked to bring," Keiko said slowly. "Did you bring the one thing I asked you to bring?"
Botan held up a finger and opened her mouth, but said nothing, her mouth soon slowly closing, as her erect finger slowly wilted.
"I brought the flowers, like you asked me to, Keiko," Yukina offered quietly.
Keiko turned her attention to the ice maiden, but her face fell when she saw the bundle of flowering weeds and grass she was clutching in her tiny hands.
"The flowers in your world are so plentiful and pretty," Yukina tried.
"Those are weeds," Keiko flatly replied. "Did you at least bring a vase for them?"
Yukina's face turned slightly pinker and she pursed her lips. Keiko sighed and turned back to Botan, her frustration quickly turning to confusion when she found the ferry girl on her feet, frantically unfastening her obi.
"What are you doing, Botan?" Keiko asked her.
"Wait…" Botan said as she hastily flung aside her obi, which ended up in Yukina's lap. "Wait…"
Keiko's eyes thinned as she waited as patiently as she could to learn the details of Botan's apparent plan. A small part of her was surprised when Botan opened out her pink kimono, but a much larger part of her knew the madness was far from over, and so she waited a little longer. Botan swung her kimono out over their heads and then brought it down to the grass, laying it out flat.
"Ta-da!" she said cheerfully. "The picnic blanket!"
Keiko sighed.
"It was only one thing," she grumbled. "You couldn't even remember one thing…"
Botan knelt in front of her, stripped down to her white yukata, which was clearly lacking attire: it was a surprisingly mild day, but it was still early January, and too cold to be dressed so incompletely. Keiko started to tell Botan to forget about it and put her kimono back on, but her words trailed off as she noticed Yukina holding glowing hands over Botan's obi, which she had bundled up.
"There we are," Yukina concluded after a few seconds.
Keiko craned her neck to peer over at Yukina's handiwork, finding that she had somehow fashioned a rounded vase out of Botan's obi, and filled it with water from the urn, which she had then used her freezing powers to chill appropriately. She added her pile of weeds and grass into the makeshift vase and then lifted large red eyes to Keiko, smiling with the optimism of a young child.
"That's…" Keiko began. "Very clever. Thank you. Both of you."
She stood up and straightened out her skirt, nodding at her friends to follow her. With their little picnic setup, they moved over to the nearby rose bushes, hunching down behind their cover to spy out onto the path that ran through Sariyashiki Park. They did not have to wait there long before a figure came into view, walking towards them at a casual pace. Tall and elegant, a cigarette in one hand and the cool breeze lifting her long treacle-coloured hair off one shoulder, at first, Shizuru looked much the same way she always did. But, as she drew closer, Keiko slowly straightened up, bringing her head up above the bushes, exposing her to view.
"Keiko, what are you doing?" Botan squealed, tugging at her sleeve. "You'll spoil the surprise!"
Keiko ignored her, frowning curiously as she noticed the bulky backpack Shizuru was carrying. It was not the sort of accessory she usually toted, and the size and apparent weight, pulling at her shoulders only made it all the more out of place.
"Keiko!" Botan hissed.
"Relax, Botan, I already know you're hiding back there," Shizuru called over to them.
Botan bolted upright and Yukina straightened up at her side: though she had to stretch onto her toes to lift her head clearly over the top of the rosebushes.
"How did you know we were here?" Keiko asked.
Shizuru stopped on the path before them, dropping her cigarette and grinding her toe against it to extinguish the smoke.
"You told me yesterday," Shizuru flatly replied.
"Told you what?" Keiko asked.
"I never told you this party was a surprise, Shizuru!" Botan retorted indignantly.
Keiko groaned and rolled her eyes.
"It's fine sweetheart, don't worry about it," Shizuru assured her with a wry smile. "I'm actually glad Botan told me you were planning this. It made this a little easier."
Shizuru pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the large backpack she was carrying.
"I did wonder why you were carrying that thing," Keiko replied.
Shizuru moved towards them, walking around the rosebushes and smiling as she noticed the picnic they had laid out for her.
"What's in the bag, Shizuru?" Botan demanded.
"The last thing I expected," Shizuru replied as she slowly slid one strap from her shoulder.
"Oh, can we guess what it is?" Botan asked. "I love a good surprise!"
Keiko gritted her teeth at Botan's ironic remark and moved over to help Yukina, who had already begun arranging the bowls onto Botan's kimono for tea. Shizuru finally freed herself from her backpack and turned to open it, but Botan frantically threw herself over it.
"No, I want to guess, it's more fun!" Botan cried.
Shizuru shrugged and moved over to join the others by the picnic.
"It feels very big, and cold…" Botan mused.
Keiko sighed. Shizuru smiled and winked at her before addressing Botan.
"Feeling it is cheating, Botan. You have to just guess from looking."
Botan gasped and leapt off of the bag. She moved over to join them at the picnic, but sat down with her back to the small party, fixing her eyes onto Shizuru's bag.
"Happy birthday, Shizuru," Yukina said sweetly, handing Shizuru a bowl of tea.
"Yeah, happy birthday," Keiko added.
"Is it a hairdryer?" Botan asked.
"Yeah Botan," Shizuru replied. "It's a ten kilo hairdryer."
Keiko uncovered Shizuru's birthday cake, and the three girls exchanged pleasantries as they cut themselves a slice of the cake: but Botan remained fixated on the bag.
"Is it something mechanical?" Botan asked.
"It might be," Shizuru replied.
"Have you had a nice day so far?" Keiko asked the birthday girl.
"It's been good," she replied. "I got the day off work, my dad made me breakfast and my aunt sent me a gift card with my birthday card."
"That's nice," Keiko said.
"Kazuma was so excited about the special present he got for you," Yukina said.
Shizuru forced a smile.
"He said it was really difficult to get," Yukina continued, obviously. "He saved his money for so long."
"What did he get you?" Keiko asked.
She exchanged amused looks with Shizuru: unlike Yukina, Keiko was well-aware of Kuwabara's terrible habit of buying obscure and inappropriate gifts for his sister.
"It was a joint present," Shizuru said. "From my brother and my dad."
She sipped at her tea, her eyebrows raising as she did so. Keiko nodded her understanding before looking over at the bag Botan was still watching intently. She moved her eyes to Shizuru and nodded at the bag with a questioning frown, which Shizuru answered with a sage nod of her head.
"You have to see it to believe it," Shizuru said quietly.
Keiko quickly hid her smile behind her bowl of tea when she caught Yukina looking at her curiously. She knew poor Yukina would not understand or appreciate how ridiculous the contents of the bag were likely to be.
"It's a telescope!" Botan blurted out, pointing a finger at the bag and looking over her shoulder expectantly at Shizuru.
"No," Shizuru replied. "But you are getting closer."
Botan squeaked with delight and returned her attention to the bag, focusing on it even more intently than before.
"This is nice," Yukina said, smiling warmly.
"Yeah, it is," Keiko agreed.
"It's even better than Botan described it to me," Shizuru said through a lop-sided smirk.
Keiko sighed.
"Thank you," Shizuru assured her. "This is nice."
"A microscope!" Botan tried.
"Microscopes are small!" Keiko pointed out.
"A gyroscope!" Botan returned.
"What is a "gyroscope"?" Yukina asked.
Botan shuffled around on her knees until she was facing the group knelt around her kimono.
"I don't know, Yukina," she said, oblivious to the looks she earned herself from Keiko and Shizuru sitting either side of her. "But if we open the bag, we can find out together!"
"It's not a gyroscope, Botan," Shizuru said.
Botan sighed and slumped her shoulders dejectedly.
"I'll show you later," Shizuru assured her. "Have some cake, have some tea, relax."
Botan reluctantly accepted a bowl of tea from Yukina and let Keiko cut her a slice of cake.
"It's nice to get a break with friends, I feel like all I've been doing is reading lately," Keiko said. "It's nice to get some fresh air and let my mind rest."
"It's nice to be with friends," Yukina added. "It's so calm."
"Compared to being around my baby brother?" Shizuru asked with a smile.
"I enjoy Kazuma's enthusiasm for everything," Yukina replied.
"But sometimes he's a bit much, and it's nice to have some sane company," Shizuru said.
"Yes, absolutely."
Shizuru, Keiko and Botan all turned to Botan, who had spoken through a mouthful of cream cake.
"Lord Koenma is a bit much sometimes, and it is nice to have some sane company," she said unironically.
The others smiled and nodded, but as they all went to take a sip of their tea or bite of their cake, they heard a familiar sound that made them freeze. Botan swallowed hard and pouted before sliding a hand under her kimono and feeling around over the grass before eventually withdrawing her hand, which was clutched around her communication mirror.
"Hello Sir," she said as she flipped it open.
"Botan!" Koenma's voice urgently responded. "Where are you?"
"I was just –"
"Don't you know there's a crisis going on right now?" Koenma interrupted her. "My office, now!"
The communication mirror made a small blipping sound as the connection ended and Botan dejectedly rose to her feet.
"Sorry, Botan," Keiko said as she and Yukina began moving their picnic off of Botan's kimono.
"Is it a stethoscope?" Botan asked Shizuru.
Shizuru smiled and stood up, brushing her hands against her pants before moving over to her bag.
"I think you might be disappointed," she said as she crouched down by the bag.
Botan peered over Shizuru's shoulder as she drew back the zip, revealing a circle of glass that winked up at her in the sunlight.
"Oh wow!" Keiko gasped as she joined them with Botan's kimono. "Your dad and Kuwabara bought you a camcorder?"
Shizuru gave her an odd look.
"Is it a JVC?" Keiko asked. "Hitachi?"
"It's not Japanese," Shizuru flatly replied, opening the bag further, revealing the long side of a bulky, black, metallic camera.
"Chinese?" Keiko asked.
Shizuru shook her head.
"Taiwanese?"
Shizuru shook her head again.
"It's from Russia!" Yukina offered. "Kazuma bought it from a friend from his school!"
"Russia?" Keiko asked. "It's Russian? A Russian camcorder?"
Shizuru nodded, pulling the large camera out of her bag with some effort.
"I don't know what they were thinking," she said forlornly. "It's not something I need. It's not even something I want."
"But you could make movies!" Botan offered.
"What sort of movies can I make with a camcorder that weighs 10 kilos?" Shizuru responded.
"Kazuma worked really hard to get that special present," Yukina said sadly.
"Oh, don't worry, Yukina!" Botan assured her. "I'm sure Shizuru will find a good use for it!"
Keiko crouched down beside Shizuru, placing a hand on the camera and tilting it slightly.
"I've never heard of that brand before," she whispered. "Have you?"
"No," Shizuru whispered back. "And I don't think I'll ever need a Chekhov camcorder, do you?"
Botan dashed along the final corridor towards Koenma's office, ignoring George's frantic wails, and burst through the double doors, expecting to find her boss atop his desk, surrounded by piles of paper and ogre assistants: but instead she found him sitting neatly in his throne, his chubby little hands clasped on his desk in front of him, and with only four other figures standing before him.
"Ah, Botan!" he welcomed her, sounding drastically calmer than he had when he had called her minutes earlier to summon her back to Spirit World.
"Hey Botan," a familiar voice added. "You've been dragged into this mess too, huh?"
Botan slowed on her approach to Koenma's desk, lifting her chin to look at the person who had addressed her. Her senses befuddled momentarily by the presence of a small tuft of hair held in an elastic band at the back of his neck and a thin covering of facial hair around his chin and lips, she took a moment to realise who she was looking at.
"Did you get taller?" she asked.
He snorted in amusement, and Botan felt a little embarrassed that those had been her first words.
"It's nice to see you too, Botan," he replied.
"I suppose it's been a while," Botan conceded. "Maybe if you visited the human world and Keiko more often, I would recognise you more readily, Yusuke!"
Yusuke smirked at her but said no more. Botan turned her head to see Kuwabara looking at her. She saw him so often during her visits to her friends in the human realm that any changes he had undergone in the 2 years since the Demon World Tournament were negligible. Leaning forwards, she saw Kurama standing on his other side, who smiled and nodded an acknowledgement to her. Likewise, Botan had often seen Kurama in the living world since the end of the Demon World Tournament, and so any changes he had undergone were not surprising: though as she looked at them both, Botan could not help but think that the only changes either had undergone was to grow slightly taller.
Botan then turned back to Yusuke, who did look quite different, before leaning forwards to see who was standing on his other side, finding herself looking at a pair of red eyes that were already staring intently at her.
"Hi Hiei," she said meekly.
He, at least, looked no different than he ever had. He stared at her for a moment longer before turning his head in the direction of Koenma, though his eyes appeared to be looking at something on the wall behind the Prince of Spirit World.
"Now that I have you all together, I have some troubling news," Koenma announced.
"Cut the dramatics, Koenma," Yusuke scoffed. "We already know."
"You do?" Koenma echoed.
"Yes, we are well aware," Hiei replied, in the usual, slightly irritated tone he always seemed to use when addressing Koenma.
"Then why haven't you done something about it before now?" Koenma wailed.
"Because it's not a problem," Yusuke replied.
"What are you guys talking about?" Kuwabara asked.
"I'm surprised you don't already know," Yusuke replied. "I thought you would have sensed it already."
"Hn, unlikely," Hiei grunted.
"Hey, don't start with me, shorty!" Kuwabara warned him.
"He's not insulting you," Yusuke assured him. "The thing is so pathetically weak, you probably wouldn't be able to sense it even if it was in the same room as you."
"That much is true," Koenma conceded.
"What are you guys talking about?" Kuwabara whined.
"Apparently a demon of a low class has found its way into the human realm," Kurama suggested.
"Yeah, but it's nothing to worry about," Yusuke replied.
"Well…" Koenma said slowly.
"What sort of demon is it?" Kurama asked.
"Who cares?" Yusuke answered. "It's weak! It's not even strong enough to hurt an ordinary human!"
"Not physically, anyway."
The room fell silent after Hiei's remark, the moment only ending when Koenma audibly gulped before nodding slowly.
"That much is also true," the prince quietly admitted.
"What sort of demon is it?" Kurama asked again.
"A Lure," Koenma replied, his voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.
"What?" Kurama echoed, his body visibly tensing.
"Allure?" Kuwabara echoed. "Is that like… A lady demon that… Tries to attract men?"
"No, it's something much worse," Kurama darkly replied. "It takes the form of a human child, indistinguishable from the real thing, and preys upon the human condition to care for children, lures in victims by feigning weakness and vulnerability. It is a very physically weak demon and can do very little to most it encounters, but if it can find a weakness in its victims, it will exploit it, and in doing so, it gains power."
"Lures can only attack one victim at a time," Hiei said casually. "And they can happily survive off one victim for as long as the victim lives. At worst it may trap a single human. When it does, it will be easier to find. Then we can slay it."
"If you slay it, you will kill its prey also," Kurama sternly warned him.
"One human," Hiei flatly replied.
"That one human could be anybody!" Kuwabara argued. "And every life is precious, right?"
Hiei did not answer him, and, in fact, did not even appear to have heard him.
"Can I trust the four of you to get it out of the human world before it takes a victim?" Koenma asked.
"It will be easier to find after it does take a victim," Hiei flatly responded.
"You don't understand, Hiei," Kurama said sternly, to the surprise of everyone else in the room. "The Lure's abilities are something humans would covet. It likely already knows this, and may use a catch and release strategy in order to secure its place there."
"Catch and release?" Yusuke asked. "Is that like those guys who go fishing and don't eat the fish?"
"Yes, only worse," Kurama replied. "The abilities of a Lure are…"
"Addictive," Koenma sighed.
"Only to a fool," Hiei spat. "Only to the truly weak."
"Oh, I get it," Yusuke said.
"I don't," Kuwabara said, shaking his head.
"It's like that kid Hiro, remember him?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara.
"Hiro Nakamoto?" Kuwabara echoed. "You mean that guy who used to sell… Well, you know, around the back of the school?"
"Yeah," Yusuke confirmed. "Remember what he used to say?"
"Yeah, he said "the first one is free"."
"Right. Because he knew people would always come back for more."
"Oh…"
Kuwabara's face slowly contorted as realisation of the situation apparently dawned on him, and, watching his turmoil, and considering what she had heard, Botan thought that maybe she understood the issue too: apparently the Lure could give people something they would want to return for more of, and in doing so, it could trap them.
"And this Lure," she asked, taking a step closer to Koenma's desk. "It gives humans something good, something they would want to come back for, something they might tell their friends about, giving the Lure more victims?"
"Exactly, Botan," Koenma replied with a nod of his head. "So I'll ask again: if the two of you knew there was a Lure in the human world, why on earth have you not done something about it already?"
He turned a harsh glower to Yusuke and Hiei. Hiei remained impassive and entirely unaffected, but Yusuke looked a little offended.
"Nobody told me the Lure was basically Demon World Molly!" he said, his voice slightly raised.
"So you understand that it is imperative we act now, before the Lure takes a victim!" Kurama responded.
"Yeah, shit, let's go already!" Yusuke agreed, turning on his heels and waving a hand at his shoulder in a beckoning gesture.
He made his way out of Koenma's office, followed closely by Kurama and then Kuwabara – who, despite still looking confused, at least appeared to understand the urgency of the situation. Once they had disappeared from sight, the double doors swinging shut behind them, Botan turned her attention to Hiei, who was still standing in the same position, still looking at something slightly beyond Koenma with a general sense of disinterest but a vague sense of irritation too.
"Hiei?" Botan said quietly. "Are you going to help track down the Lure too?"
"Human affairs are not my problem," he muttered, before turning and starting for the door.
Botan tried to think desperately of a reason she could give for him to help the others, an incredible idea occurring to her as he neared the doors. She started to voice the fact that he was a guard of the border patrol, and as such, it was his responsibility to deal with humans and demons who crossed over between the two worlds: but her voice died in her throat when something unexpected happened. In her rush to stop him from departing, she had shot out a hand to grab the door-handle, intent on pressing it closed.
But instead of grabbing the door-handle, she had grabbed Hiei's hand, which was already on the door-handle, and he was glaring at her from the corner of his eyes.
"Um…" she began. "I just thought that maybe, since you are a member of the border patrol, that just maybe a demon in the human world might be–"
"Might be what?" he cut her off. "My responsibility? Hn, and I suppose the fact that your kind frequent the skies of the human world constantly it would be ridiculous to assume that any of you might have actually noticed a demon constructing a lair that would be most easily visible and detectable from above?"
Botan slowly retracted her hand.
"I didn't know the Lure would build a lair," she quietly, if a little indignantly, replied.
"Maybe if you actually paid attention to something other than the mindless things you usually concern yourself with, you might actually have noticed it," he spat back.
"Ferrying human souls is not mindless work, Hiei!" Botan argued. "It's not like I just fly around the skies of the human world looking for things to do!"
"Or people to spy on."
Botan shot a glare over her shoulder at Koenma, who instead of acknowledging his last interjection, began shuffling a large pile of papers that effectively obscured her view of him entirely.
"You do spy on others," Hiei pointed out as she met his eyes again.
"I do not!" Botan argued. "I just like to show an active interest in the lives of my friends!"
"Call it what you will, your stellar skills of observation have failed you this time."
Botan stiffened.
"Well then," she said snootily. "Let's just see about that, shall we?"
Hiei opened the door slightly before making a small growling noise and looking up at Botan, this time through slightly narrowed eyes, bearing a clearly agitated glint.
"You intend to interfere?" he asked.
"You said the Lure would be found most easily from the sky," Botan replied. "And since I, unlike you, can fly, I think I will be the first to track it down."
"Hn, ridiculous," Hiei scoffed.
"I bet I can find it before you, Hiei!"
"Bet?"
"Yes! If I find it first, you have to apologise to me for underestimating my usefulness on a mission!"
"And what do you propose to do when I find it first?"
"If you find it first!"
"When I find it first."
"If you find it first, you can have anything you want from me!"
Hiei's eyes wandered towards the opening in the door, and as his jaw visibly tightened, Botan slowly began to realise that her last remark may have set her up for something she may not want to see through.
"Think before you speak," Hiei said in a low voice.
"Well, I didn't exactly mean that I would give you absolutely anything," Botan began awkwardly. "I mean, obviously–"
"Think before you speak," Hiei said again, his tone surer and smoother. "That is what you'll do when I find the Lure before you do."
"Oh, I see!" Botan said under her breath, before quietly letting out a sigh of relief.
Hiei opened the door wider and slipped out. Botan hesitated a moment before following him, finding that he had already disappeared from sight by the time she stepped out into the hallway. As the double doors of Koenma's office softly closed behind her, Botan took a moment to consider exactly what she had expected Hiei to ask of her when she had volunteered her willingness to do anything. She had never really considered it before, but, standing alone in the hallway, she quickly came to the conclusion that Hiei probably never thought about her at all other than when she was in his company, and so he was unlikely to have suggested anything too personal.
She then wondered what she would have said if he had suggested something personal. And exactly what sort of personal thing he might have suggested.
Botan began to walk down the hallway, gradually bringing herself deeper and deeper into chaotic crowds of ogres and ferry girls: but she did not break stride and her mind remained detached from her surroundings. She was not aware of having ever consciously thought about Hiei in any great detail before, and yet, as she thought about him then, she felt as though she was not in unfamiliar territory. Maybe her previous thoughts of Hiei had just been fleeting, or maybe they had occurred to her more on a subconscious level, as she acknowledged that she had never really considered any of the finer details of his affairs, but thoughts of what he did day-to-day and how he might react if someone offered to do literally anything for him seemed like topics she had, however briefly, contemplated before.
Thinking about it harder, to the point that she barely noticed the short orange-haired ogre who bounced into her shoulder and then apologised profusely to her, she recalled discussing Hiei with Shizuru and Keiko. Often when the girls got together, part of their conversation would inevitably be about the four boys: Keiko would complain about Yusuke's absences and lack of maturity; Shizuru would hope that her little brother was behaving himself at university (always said with a repressed affection); Keiko would update them on Kurama, who she had some common classes with at university; and, if Yukina was not with them, Keiko, Shizuru and Botan would all pass comment on Hiei. Keiko usually said the same thing every time ("I don't think he and I have ever even spoken directly to each other"), Shizuru would say something about him being the most detached from the group due to him belonging more firmly in Demon World, and Botan would wonder if he ever thought about any of them.
And, as she exited the temple, squinting slightly against the bright yellow sky of Spirit World, Botan found herself wondering exactly that again: did Hiei ever think of any of his friends when he did not see them for extended periods of time? He undoubtedly thought about Yukina, his little sister he was so protective of. She imagined that he probably did also think about Yusuke, as he saw Yusuke most often, due to Yusuke spending most of his time in Demon World. Hiei probably also thought about Kurama, as they had been friends a long time, and again, Kurama was someone Hiei probably still saw on a semi-regular basis. But Hiei hardly ever had contact with Kuwabara, Keiko, Shizuru or Botan, and she imagined he probably had no real reason to think about any of them. He had no real reason to think about any of them arbitrarily, but what about when he was asked specifically to think about someone? Did he think much at all, or did he just think of nothing more than the acknowledgement that he knew who he was being asked about?
Botan had specific thoughts about everyone she knew. Drifting upwards into the air on her oar, she let her mind consider everyone outside of those she saw regularly, to try to put herself into the same mindset Hiei would start from if asked to think about someone other than Yusuke or Kurama. Most of the time, it seemed as though Hiei was not even aware (consciously or otherwise) of anyone he deemed unimportant, and Botan was reasonably confident that, almost all of the time, Hiei considered her to be unimportant. But what if he was specifically asked to think of her? Would he think anything beyond what he considered her useful for – conveying information from Spirit World or advising on the whereabouts of movements of Yusuke or Kurama – and would he afford her any more than just a brief, passing thought?
Botan wondered if Hiei even liked her. She wondered if he even thought enough of her to specifically like or dislike her, or if she was someone he remembered the name and face of purely for practicality's sake.
She reasoned that it might be only fair if Hiei never thought of her at all, as she had never really thought about him much outside of when they were working together.
Though equally, she had thought about him outside of when they worked together, though that was a fact that only really occurred to her when she really considered it.
She thought again about their interaction back in Koenma's office, and she wondered if he would think about her any more (or any better) if she did manage to find the Lure before he did. And, with that idea providing her a burst of energy and motivation, Botan sped through the portal to the human world and began her search in earnest.
Next Chapter: Everyone is searching desperately for the Lure before it takes its first victim, but when Botan reports that she has found it (relatively quickly and easily), nobody believes her. Determined to prove her point, Botan proceeds alone: and the result is a surprise to both Botan and the rest of the group. Chapter 2: Half a Chance
