Last Chapter: (Was written very particularly to set-up for the pending twist). Botan went skinny-dipping (sort of) with Hiei, she felt alienated in Spirit World and she set off for the big meeting in Demon World.
Chapter 6: I'll Give You Love
Mukuro's palace was only a fraction of the size of King Enma's temple, however it was every bit as grand, and the architecture was far more intricate, much like the temples Botan was more accustomed to seeing in the human world. King Enma's temple was quite utilitarian on the exterior, but Mukuro's temple was layered and colourful, with windchimes hanging from the edges of the overhanging roof that swung softly in the breeze, creating faint, undulating melodies. The walls around the temple were the height of a high garden wall, like the ones in the human world, rather than several storeys high like the ones in Spirit World, and, like the temples in the human world, the four corners of the walls had towers, manned by guards. One of the guards in the tower nearest Botan made a waving hand signal, and the gate began to open, to allow the guests from Spirit World passage.
As they entered the temple grounds, Botan was surprised to see a wide, clean, smooth, paved pathway leading up to a set of stone steps to the temple doors, with neatly mown lawns on either side of the path. It was so clean and neat and pretty, and once the gates had closed behind them, it was (aside from the red sky overhead) almost as though they were no longer in Demon World at all. At the top of the path, the concession stopped, and Botan had to hang on as the horse stopped beneath her. The ogre who had been guiding the horse helped Koenma down and then offered a hand to Botan, who took it a little cautiously, eying him warily, vaguely worried he might try to hoist her off the horse much the same way he had hoisted her onto it. However, the ogre simply took her hand and let her lean on him as she slipped off the horse's back. She nodded a thanks to him and moved over to Koenma's side, smiling to herself when she realised that he had waited for her, and that they were to walk in side-by-side.
King Enma barely made it through the temple doors into the temple, and once inside, his hat was brushing against the wooden beams that held up the ceiling. He was so large he was almost as wide as the distance between the wooden pillars they were passing through, but he appeared unaffected, and continued on, behind his guard of SDF officers. Either King Enma or the SDF appeared to know where they were going, as they walked briskly, through the temple to wide, high sliding doors, that led into a lush room with velvet carpets and scrolls hanging on the walls bearing artwork; one of which was a very detailed painting of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.
At the top of the room, Mukuro was sitting on a large, ornate throne, with a man standing either side of her – one of whom was Hiei.
"Enma, welcome," she greeted the king.
She made a gesture with her hand, and several demons scurried over, carrying various benches. Botan waited patiently until a low bench was brought close to her, sitting down onto it along with Koenma. Once she seated, she allowed herself to look at Hiei, and found him already looking at her. He looked away when she tried to meet his eyes, but not before she had noticed the look on his face. She smiled to herself, taking the look on his face to mean that her choice of outfit had been a universal success.
Mukuro began speaking to King Enma, but Botan did not really hear the details of what they said, her attention focused only on Hiei, despite the implications of the meeting and despite a part of her wanting to look around more, to study the rest of the artwork on the walls. As she watched him, Hiei became stone-faced, but before she could wonder why, she heard his voice inside her head, smiling in spite of herself at the realisation that he was talking to her telepathically.
"Meet me in the gardens after this."
Botan nodded her head, bit her lip, and tried to keep a level-head. She felt like he was inviting her to sneak out somewhere she was forbidden to go. She had no idea why he wanted to meet with her, but she was excited to find out. She tried looking over at him, tried to read his face to see what he might have planned, to see if he was as excited about their plans as she was: but, typical Hiei, he remained impassive and kept his eyes forward.
Before long, Koenma was standing up at her side, and Botan hurried to copy his action, turning to him questioningly.
"We're done," he told her.
She nodded and started to leave, but he put a hand on her arm.
"You and I should return to Spirit World with the others," he advised.
"Oh, yes, of course Sir," she said, stealing a glance over at Hiei, who stepped down from his position at Mukuro's side and started across the room. "But I have to just… Powder my nose, bye!"
Botan blurted out her weak excuse at the end before pulling her arm from Koenma's hand and hurriedly following the same path Hiei had taken. She expected to find him out in the gardens, still looking all sullen, and so when she started down the temple steps and noticed him standing by a stone water fountain at the edge of one of the lawns with his back to her, she began to really wonder what he was up to. She slowed as she approached him, watching him prod at the fountain as though testing its rigidity.
"What the hell is this?"
Botan stopped, a few feet short of Hiei. He was addressing her in that odd tone again, that low, intense tone, the same one he had used back when she had encountered him following her defeat of the Lure. She swallowed and clutched at her tiny clutch purse, feeling something had changed somehow, though she could not quite put her finger on exactly what it was.
"What is this?" he asked, turning to face her.
Botan was struck dumb, his question leaving her mind almost as soon as he had spoken it, her focus entirely then on the way he was looking at her. Again, just as he had done when she had encountered him after her battle against the Lure, Hiei was looking directly at her, staring almost, directly into her eyes, in a way he never usually did. She found herself taking three steps closer to him, almost as though the way he was looking at her was somehow hypnotic, drawing her in to him.
"Hiei?" she said. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," he said, still looking directly at her. "I need to tell you something, and you must listen to me very carefully."
"Okay," she agreed, nodding her head. "Should we stay here, or go somewhere more private?"
"Somewhere more private?"
Botan could not tell if Hiei was suggesting they should go somewhere more private or if he was questioning her suggestion due to the odd tone of voice he was still talking in.
"Could you show me one of your patrol vehicles?" she asked. "I'd like to see one up close."
Hiei blinked and the look in his eyes changed.
"Alright," he said gruffly, his voice once more back to normal. "Follow me."
Botan gladly followed Hiei towards the temple gates, all the while wondering what the inside of a patrol vehicle might look like, and if Hiei would show her how to drive it, or maybe even take her somewhere in the vehicle. Maybe he would take her somewhere to show her something spectacular like a scenic viewpoint. She was starting to see that some parts of Demon World could be so picturesque, she was sure there must be some romantic vistas there, and the thought of Hiei taking her to one, the thought of him being the sort of man who would think to bring a woman to such a place, gave her that rush of joy and shivers in her chest.
Outside of the temple gates they quickly found a patrol vehicle, and Hiei opened the door, walking inside ahead of Botan. She followed after him, finding that the vehicle was domed and white and pristine on the inside, with a control deck that looked exactly like the control deck she had seen inside a Spirit World armoured vehicle the SDF used. The whole interior was quite similar to how she remembered the inside of the SDF's vehicle looking, but she supposed they were basically the same thing, so that only made sense.
"Do you drive these yourself?" she asked.
"Sometimes," he replied.
"It looks so complicated…"
Botan eyed over the control deck, which, on closer inspection, was even more complex than the one she had seen in the SDF's vehicle.
"Did it take you a long time to learn how to drive one of these?" she asked. "Should I learn how to drive these vehicles too?"
Botan moved a few steps closer to the control deck, swallowing hard as she noticed that even more buttons and controls appeared as she got closer, making the very idea of attempting to drive the vehicle become increasingly daunting to her.
"I wouldn't really need to drive one of these, would I?" she mused.
She backed away one step, her eyes lifting to look out of the front window. Demon World really did look exceptionally pretty that day, prettier than she had ever remembered any part of it ever coming close to looking.
"I want to show you something."
Botan turned to Hiei upon hearing his words, a rush of excitement rising up within her chest again.
"Here," he said, opening a hatch in the side of the vehicle.
It was the same sort of hatch the armoured vehicles in Spirit World had: they were for maintenance purposes, opening out to metal rungs that allowed a person to climb up onto the roof of the vehicle. Botan moved over to the hatch and leaned out of it, looking up to see the exact same metal rungs, leading all the way up the side of the vehicle.
"Go up to the roof," Hiei said behind her.
"Okay," Botan agreed.
She climbed out of the hatch and began scaling the rungs, something she did effortlessly and without thought until she reached about the halfway mark: at which point she froze. Suddenly, she was keenly aware that, with Hiei climbing up behind her, he could probably see up her dress. It did not help that she chosen to wear a skater dress, that was so billowy and flared, and with it being quite short – hanging to only halfway down her thighs – she was sure he must be able to see all the way up to her underwear.
The thought briefly occurred to Botan that maybe it was quite sexy that he might be looking up her dress and seeing her underwear, and she was a little ashamed to find that she lingered in that position far longer than she ought to have. She made no verbal excuse for her actions, but neither did Hiei question her, and she could hear that he had stopped his ascent beneath her. She smiled to herself until she could steady herself again before carrying on, climbing to the roof of the vehicle.
The view from her new vantage point was incredible. To her left, rolling landscapes, a snaking river that stretched away from her to a distant waterfall on a mountainside; to her right, flat plains and distant Okunen Trees stretching almost up to the cloud-line. The sky was blood red, decorated with clouds that were shades of blue, purple and grey. It looked prettier than Spirit World.
"It's lovely up here," she concluded.
"I thought you might like it," Hiei replied.
Botan smiled to herself at his comment.
"Do we have time to sit down and enjoy the view for a while?" she asked.
"Of course," he replied.
Hiei sat down first as Botan tried to lower herself as gracefully as she could in heeled shoes, whilst almost being mindful of the breeze that was threatening to lift the loose folds of her dress. Hiei held up a hand to her and she accepted his offer, slipping her hand into his to steady herself as she sat down. He held onto her hand for a moment after she was settled, but when she looked directly at him and smiled he released her hand and turned to look out over their view. It was a strange thing when he held her hand. Botan had heard so much about "sparks" people felt when they touched people they were attracted to, and although she liked touching his hand, it did not give her any unique sensation. It just felt like she had put one of her hands into the other: his hand even felt like one of hers when she tried to think about exactly how it felt.
She bit her lip and looked out across the scenery, enjoying it briefly before another breeze passed over her and she was forced to scoop her arms under her thighs to hold her dress in place.
"Oopsie!" she giggled.
She glanced at Hiei and he appeared to have stolen a look at her for a moment, and again the idea went through her mind that he might have just seen a flash of her underwear.
"What?"
Botan frowned for a moment before panicking that she had spoken her last thought out loud, upon hearing Hiei respond, once more addressing her in that unusual, low tone of voice.
"Nothing!" she said awkwardly, keeping her eyes on the view ahead of her. "I was just trying to preserve my modesty."
"What?" he asked again, still in that same, unusual tone.
"I was worried when the wind took my dress, you might have been looking at my underpants."
Botan said the words before she could stop herself, cringing for a moment before turning her head to look at Hiei. She was not sure how she had expected him to respond to her words, but the perplexed look on his face and the intense way he was staring at her was neither the response nor the look she had expected from him. He made a strange growling sound, and even momentarily flashed his teeth, like a cornered animal, his confusion turning to irritation.
"I wasn't looking at your underpants, woman!" he said, his voice still in that unusual tone, though with a slight edge of irritation in it.
"I never said that you were!" she wailed.
"Is this really where you go?" he responded.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Botan cried. "Where do you think I'm going? I'm not going somewhere rude or dirty, if that's what you mean, Hiei!"
"I don't mean anything. You started this."
Botan nodded slowly.
"It was just that I thought you might have been sneaking a look up my dress," she muttered quietly.
Hiei made the strange growling sound again, this time flashing more of his teeth, his top lip wrinkling slightly with the gesture.
"Never mind about that," he said.
"I don't mind," Botan replied.
Hiei faltered slightly.
"I wasn't looking at you like that, woman," he said.
"Okay," Botan replied. "But… If you were–"
"I wasn't!"
"I wouldn't mind. If you were."
Hiei paused for a long moment, long enough that Botan started to notice that it did not feel as warm as it had when she had first arrived in Demon World. In fact, it felt quite cold, almost as though the air was slowly dropping in temperature, in the way it did when Yukina got angry about something. It also felt damp. The air felt increasingly cold, damp and heavy.
"Botan, I need you to listen to me."
Botan found that she could no longer look away from Hiei's eyes, staring at her so unwaveringly.
"This is important," he added.
"Okay, I'm listening," she said. "But – for the record – I really wouldn't mind if you did look up my dress–"
"Botan!"
Botan gasped as Hiei suddenly grabbed her hand nearest him. The first thing that struck her was how rough and hard his skin felt. The bandages he wore around his hand were frayed and coming loose, but they did not detract from the roughness of his skin. She could feel every crease, every bend in his knuckles.
And she could feel his pain.
"Let me heal that for you," she said.
She broke away from looking into his eyes to look down at his hand, turning it over in hers. It looked unharmed, looked exactly like it always did, and yet she could feel his pain. Her hand began to glow against his as she conjured her healing energy, because although she could not see any wounds, she could feel them so distinctly, she was sure he must be hiding something.
"Are you-are you doing that on instinct?"
Botan met Hiei's eyes again, finding his face looking almost childlike in wonder as he looked into her eyes.
"You're using your healing energy instinctively," he said.
"I don't want you to be in pain, Hiei," she frankly replied. "I care about you."
In that moment, looking into Hiei's eyes again, Botan felt that it had become so cold it almost felt like winter. The air felt damp and heavy, she could sense something nefarious, but it felt far off, and in an undefined direction from her. It seemed darker, her periphery vision fading, all her attention becoming focused on and filled by Hiei's eyes, looking at her so intently.
"You shouldn't be doing this right now," he said, his voice still in that low tone.
"I don't mind," she replied. "I don't mind doing this for you. I don't mind doing anything for you. Anything you want me to."
"There's just one thing I want you to do," Hiei responded.
"Anything," Botan confirmed.
"I want you to wake up."
"Wake up? But I'm not–"
Next Chapter: Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies. What's real and what's not? Botan has a question she needs answered and it seems the only one who can answer her truthfully is the Lure. #catchandrelease Chapter 7: Wake Up
A/N: We've officially reached the point where the parallels between this fic and Anything She Does become blatant. I may list some on my Tumblr account in the coming days.
