Last Chapter: Botan woke up in a strange room, where she was very much alone, save for a few odd visits from Ayame, culminating in a visit where Yusuke followed Ayame into Spirit World, and, as he was being chased out, Ayame revealed that she had smuggled Shizuru and some video tapes into Botan's room. Botan was hesitant to watch the tapes, but Shizuru insisted, as they were recordings of her encounters with the Lure.


Chapter 26: Stay with me

Shizuru opened the door ahead of her younger brother and Kurama, who slowed to a halt halfway down the garden path. Kuwabara doubled over, grasping his knees and breathing hard. Kurama was, she suspected, just as exhausted, but he did a considerably better job of hiding it.

"Shizuru, my apologies for the intrusion," he said, his voice slightly uneven as he tried to disguise his breathlessness. "Especially today, on your birthday."

Shizuru folded her arms across her chest and leaned to one side, resting her shoulder against the doorframe.

"What sort of demon is bothering us now?" she asked.

"A very ancient, rare, and dangerous one," Kurama solemnly replied. "And Kuwabara had an idea – an idea that, at first, I thought sounded absurd, but with some consideration, I believe it may well prove to be beneficial, for future learning purposes, if nothing else."

"Did you just…" Kuwabara began, talking between breaths. "Call my idea… Dumb, Kurama?"

"No," Kurama smoothly answered him, before turning back to Shizuru. "We need to borrow your camera, Shizuru."

Shizuru smiled in spite of herself, one eyebrow stretching upwards.

"I understand it sounds like a ridiculous request," Kurama said.

"You are saying it's a dumb idea, Kurama!" Kuwabara complained.

"You want to film yourselves fighting a demon?" Shizuru asked Kurama.

"Yes," Kurama replied. "I think it could be beneficial to have a record of what we find when we find the Lure."

"Sure," Shizuru said. "Let me just go get it."

Shizuru turned away from the door before rolling her eyes. She could not decide if her brother wanted to film himself to prove some sort of point about his strength to his all-demon friends (who she often suspected he felt inferior to since the Demon World Tournament) or if he was just trying to prove to her that his present to her was actually of value: whatever the case was, she was certain Kurama would soon see sense and talk Kuwabara out of continuing once the fox demon saw exactly how big and heavy the camera was.

The camera was still in the bag Shizuru had used to carry it to her picnic party, and so she collected it from the hallway and took it to the porch.

"Aw, the camera was just there?" Kuwabara asked, pointing back into the house. "You didn't take it upstairs to your bedroom?"

"Not yet, baby bro," Shizuru wryly replied. "I was just about to do some stretches and a warm-up lap before you got here."

Kuwabara looked confused, but Kurama appeared to understand as he eyed the bag over critically.

"My apologies again, Shizuru," he said. "I had thought the camera was a portable, handheld one."

"It is!" Kuwabara wailed.

Kurama gave him an awkward look before addressing him with his usual clipped diplomacy.

"I'm sure it is," he said carefully. "But it would hardly be practical for you or I to carry it and still go into battle. Holding something large and aiming it appropriately, ensuring it is in focus–"

"I'll carry it."

Kurama and Kuwabara both turned their heads abruptly to Shizuru.

"I'll carry it," she said again, removing the camera from the bag. "I know how it works, I don't need to keep my hands free to fight, and I've never met a demon that I've had to exactly worry about, so I'll film for you."

"No way, sis!" Kuwabara argued immediately. "It's too dangerous! Right, Kurama?"

"I think perhaps someone as grounded and assured as Shizuru is the most resistant of us all against a Lure," Kurama replied. "Alright Shizuru, you can film this, but first, I'm going to need you to eat this."

Kurama removed a green roll from his pocket that unfurled into what appeared to be half of the leaf of a cheese plant.

"No thanks," Shizuru replied.

"Darn it, Shizuru, eat it already!" Kuwabara yelled.

Shizuru shot him a warning glare that he cowered back from.

"Please, sis!" he whimpered. "I don't want that Lure to hurt you!"

Shizuru sighed, before reluctantly accepting Kurama's offer.

"This looks completely inedible," she commented.

"Best just to get it down quickly," Kurama advised.

Shizuru nodded and tore the leaf piece in two, balling up one piece and cramming it into her mouth. The sensation disgusted her long before the taste did, and when she did chew through the greenery and released the juices within the leaf, it took considerable effort for her not to retch. Appreciating the validity of Kurama's advice, she chewed it twice more before swallowing it down and stuffing the remainder of the leaf into her mouth. After a few more quick chews to soften it a little, she again swallowed whole, letting out an involuntary shudder.

"Not the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth, but not far off the mark," Shizuru said to Kurama with a smirk.

He let out a slightly awkward laugh and she thought his face changed colour ever-so-slightly, as though embarrassed by the implications of her joke: but before she could tease him about it, she heard a familiar sound and turned to her brother at the moment he produced a small device from his coat pocket, bearing the Spirit World logo.

"It's Botan!" he said, flipping open the communication mirror. "Hey, Botan."

His greeting was answered with static and he looked confused.

"Botan?" he said again, leaning a little closer to the mirror. "Are you there, Botan?"

The static continued for a moment longer before ending with a sharp blipping sound that left Shizuru's ears ringing. She could see that Kurama had been bothered more by the noise, as he was wincing visibly.

"That was weird," Kuwabara said, looking between Shizuru and Kurama. "The call said it was coming from Botan, but she wasn't there. It was just grey fuzz and that scratching sound."

Kurama suddenly sobered up, a rare look of alarm appearing on his face.

"I'm guessing that wasn't static," Shizuru said to him.

"What did it look like, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked Kuwabara.

"Huh?" Kuwabara echoed.

"The grey fuzz on the screen, what did it look like?"

"Like… I dunno, grey fuzz?"

"Did it look like someone was dragging a thick layer of cobwebs over the screen?"

Kuwabara slowly closed the mirror with a click.

"Oh great, a spider demon," Shizuru said with a sigh.

"It's the Lure," Kurama said breathily. "It contains its victims within a web. If that call came from Botan's communication mirror then that means–"

"The Lure's got Botan?" Kuwabara interrupted him.

"I'm afraid so," Kurama replied. "Call Yusuke and Hiei and tell them to meet us–"

Kurama stopped talking abruptly, but Shizuru barely noticed as the air around her suddenly became so heavy that she stumbled forwards, ultimately landing on her knees on the grass, her arms falling to her side, no longer able to hold up the weight of the camera. The air felt damp and cloying, and an all-consuming sense of dread was filling up inside of her. She could hear voices whispering, at first sounding something like the sound that had been coming from Kuwabara's communicator, but shortly becoming clearer. It was just one voice, talking quickly, repeating the same thing, over and over.

"Go to sleep."

Shizuru felt her head droop, but a hand on her shoulder brought her back to her senses.

"We have to go," Kurama said to her. "Give the camera to Kuwabara and climb on my back, we need to get to Botan before it ensnares her entirely."

Kuwabara clumsily took the camera from Shizuru and started running. Shizuru watched him go, noticing then that the sky was full of black tendrils, and her brother was running towards the point they appeared to be emanating from. Driven by sisterly instinct, she got to her feet and accepted Kurama's offer, knowing that he could carry her to the destination much more quickly than she could run there herself. As soon as she was on his back, Kurama began to run, as though she weighed nothing. She had to hold onto him with all her strength, her long hair streaming out behind them and Kurama's hair only held in place because of how tightly Shizuru had her arms around his shoulders. He somehow managed to catch up to Kuwabara, who himself was clearly sprinting as fast as he could. They continued together in silence, only slowing pace when they entered a large field.

Shizuru looked up as they slowed, a sickening, cold sweat breaking out over her as she saw that the entire sky had turned black. They were moving through a muddy field, that already looked bleak due to the wintry season, and they were heading towards a small clump of trees, ahead of which Shizuru could see a number of things happening. Yusuke and Hiei were apparently fighting, and behind them was a giant spider's web, glowing with a strangely misplaced positive energy.

"Put me down," Shizuru demanded, fighting her way off of Kurama's back.

Kurama and Kuwabara started to warn her not to continue, but she ignored them, stumbling to the ground and running at top speed. She ignored the increasingly damp and heavy air, she ignored the sensation of something sinister warning her away telepathically, and she ignored Hiei, punching Yusuke and telling him he was an idiot. She did not stop until she was standing directly in front of the densest clump of web, which was wrapped around a body, encasing it entirely except for the face.

Botan appeared to be dreaming, her eyes twitching and her mouth and eyebrows twitching through a variety of expressions.

"I'll get you out, Botan!" she said, reaching for the webbing.

"Don't touch that!"

Kurama grabbed his arms around Shizuru's waist and pulled her just out of reach of her goal. She moved her hands to his, locked together over her abdomen, and clawed into them to fight him off: but she hesitated when the voice spoke to her telepathically again.

"Stay out of this, Shizuru," a little girl's voice said, sounding so close and so clear, Shizuru looked about herself, expecting to see a child somewhere very close by.

"What is this thing?" she asked anyone who would answer her. "It's hurting Botan!"

"We can't just wade in and break her free!" Kurama replied. "It's too late!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Kurama?" Yusuke asked, spitting out blood as he appeared at Shizuru's side.

"The fox is right, Yusuke," Hiei snarled. "It's too late. The Lure has her now. There's nothing any of you can do."

"Shut-up, Hiei!" Yusuke snapped at him.

"You and I will continue this later," Hiei said to him darkly.

"Continue what?" Kuwabara asked.

"He's pissed off because the Lure caught someone before we got to it," Yusuke replied.

"You said we should let it catch someone!" Kuwabara argued, pouting at Hiei.

"I said we should allow it to capture a human!" Hiei argued back. "I never said we should give it a victim!"

"No-one gave Botan to the Lure, Hiei," Kurama said.

"Shut-up, Kurama," Hiei replied.

Kurama sighed softly.

"Shizuru, the best thing you could do for us is to film this," he said to Shizuru, releasing her finally.

She turned to face him, unsure that she had actually heard him correctly.

"You want me to film this?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. "If you would please."

"What exactly am I filming?" Shizuru asked, grabbing the camera from her brother and hoisting it onto her shoulder. "Because if you brought me here to film a spider demon eating my friend, I'll feed you to it next."

Kurama held up his hands, his expression suggesting that he was taking her threat entirely seriously.

"Please, I do believe it will be useful," he said. "And I promise you, we can, and we will, get Botan out of this in one piece."

"She better be in one piece, Kurama," Shizuru warned as she turned on the camera and began filming. "Or else I'll be delivering you to your mother in a thousand pieces."

Shizuru hesitated before pointing the camera at Botan as she noticed Yusuke smiling at her.

"This isn't funny," she warned him.

"I'm not laughing," he said with a shrug. "I was just thinking it was kinda hot watching you get so angry about your girlfriend like that."

"Shut-up, Urameshi!" Kuwabara cried, his voice cracking.

"All of you shut-up and get out of my way!" Hiei declared.

Shizuru pointed the camera at him, finding that he had removed the bandana from his head, exposing his Jagan Eye.

"What are you going to do, Hiei?" Kurama asked him.

"What do you think I'm going to do, Kurama?" Hiei replied sarcastically. "I'm going to draw her out of there."

"I don't recommend touching the–"

Kurama stopped short and everyone – including Shizuru – winced as Hiei grabbed the webbing around Botan's face and pulled it out of the way. Smoke hissed angrily from his hands, his skin reddening and then turning a sickening shade of purple that blossomed slowly outwards from the point of contact with the web. Fine strands of web occasionally snapped loose, every length whipping out at Hiei, cutting his arms and face, leaving small, thin lines of blood in their wake. He closed his eyes and opened his Jagan Eye: and the air changed. The oppressive, damp air around them suddenly became still and empty, as though they had all been transported into another dimension entirely, a space devoid of everything, an abyss of nothingness.

Shizuru looked into the lens of the camera, but even looking through the lens, she could see Hiei hanging onto the web around Botan. Then, to the surprise of everyone present, as expressed by a collective gasp, Botan spoke.

"Hiei," she said, her voice sounding as though she had just woken up.

"What have you done?" Hiei asked her, his voice low, his tone intense and probing.

Shizuru suspected he was partially keeping his voice so low because he did not want to be heard by those standing behind him, but the fact that he had managed to reach Botan was a reason to hope that she would soon be freed, and so Shizuru upheld her role, and continued filming their interactions.

"I caught the Lure," Botan said.

Her eyes were still closed, her head still clearly only held up by the webbing around it, but her voice was much clearer.

"You shouldn't have touched it," Hiei quietly, but firmly, answered her.

"Somebody had to catch it. I did call for help–"

"They shouldn't have let you come out here."

Yusuke groaned.

"Yeah, nice one Hiei, keep blaming me for the fact Botan was dumb enough to get caught!" he complained.

Hiei, however did not respond at all, apparently deep in the connection he had created with Botan, seemingly oblivious to the world outside of him. Botan's eyebrows twitched into a frown, her eyes still closed, and still twitching as though she was still deep in her own dream.

"But it's fine," she said. "I've caught it now and–"

"You didn't understand what it was capable of," Hiei interrupted her. "Koenma shouldn't have sent you out here like this."

"Koenma didn't specifically ask me to fight the Lure," she replied. "But I managed to–"

"You're lucky we found you as quickly as we did."

Botan remained quiet for a moment, her face twitching as though she was listening to a voice only she could hear.

"Why did you fight it on your own?" Hiei asked her, drawing her focus back to him.

She frowned, and then appeared to almost look indignant.

"None of you answered my call for help!" she said forcefully.

Shizuru swallowed down the sickening sensation that rose within her upon hearing those words: Botan had tried to call for help, she had tried to call Kuwabara, but the Lure had taken her communication mirror from her before she could talk.

"The mirror," Shizuru said to Kurama. "Botan must have been trying to call you for help. That thing took it. Didn't you say there were webs on the screen?"

"Yes, the mirror is likely somewhere in there too," Kurama agreed, nodding towards the webbing all around Botan.

"Then let's get it!" Kuwabara said, taking a step forwards.

"Idiot, didn't you see what touching that stuff did to Hiei?" Yusuke said, slapping a hand against Kuwabara's chest to halt his progress.

"Oh, yeah, right…" he muttered.

"You could have been seriously hurt," Hiei said to Botan. "You shouldn't have approached it alone."

"This thing couldn't hurt me!" Botan replied, sounding so cheerful and proud of herself, it almost brought tears to Shizuru's eyes. "It couldn't hurt a fly!"

"You're bleeding."

Shizuru frowned, adjusting the camera lens to zoom in a little, finding that, upon doing so, Botan appeared to have a bloody scuff mark on her left temple, as though she had fallen against something and scraped the skin.

"I-I'm fine," Botan said. "It's just a small scratch, I didn't even feel it happen."

"You shouldn't have fought it alone," Hiei answered her.

Kurama moved forwards, planting a hand on Hiei's shoulder, a spark of energy jolting out from Hiei's body, clearing hurting Kurama. The fox demon kept his hand in place though and addressed Hiei evenly.

"Hiei, we should focus on bringing her back," he said,

Hiei shrugged off Kurama's hand. Kurama started to reach out to him again but stopped short when Hiei suddenly released the web and turned around, all three of his eyes open.

"What is she doing here?" he asked through a hiss.

The others turned and Shizuru followed, panning the camera around: though she almost dropped it when she saw a familiar cobalt blue car slowly bumbling across the muddy field towards them, the vehicle clearly not fit for off-road purpose, but being driven by a face the zoomed in camera lens showed to be determined and a little angry.

"Damn it, is that Keiko's car?" Yusuke said. "She thinks I'm in Demon World right now, she's gonna be mad if she finds out I came to this world and didn't visit her."

"I'm sure she'll understand, Urameshi, you're helping out," Kuwabara answered. "She only came here because she cares about you, you should be grateful that your woman is risking her life – and her car – coming all the way out here just to check up on you!"

"Get her out of here, now!" Hiei shouted, marching up to Yusuke.

"I didn't ask her to come here, calm down, short-ass!" Hiei shouted back.

"He's not talking about Keiko," Kurama said quietly to Yusuke.

Although nobody asked Kurama to clarify that statement, thanks to her camera, Shizuru did not need to ask: Yukina was sitting in the front passenger seat, her hands clasped together by her chin, her eyes large and glistening with worry.

"Damn it, that's the last thing we need," Yusuke grumbled, apparently realising that Keiko was not alone.

"Get her out of here, Yusuke!" Hiei insisted. "Don't let her get any closer!"

"What's your problem with Keiko, Hiei?" Kuwabara asked. "That's what a real woman who cares about her man does! She comes out, into dangerous situations – why the heck has Keiko taken Yukina out here, doesn't she know how dangerous this is?"

Kurama sighed and Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"I'll get them out of here," Yusuke conceded. "But Hiei, you have to get Botan back."

"I don't need you to state the obvious!" Hiei snapped irritably.

"We'll stay here too," Kurama added. "Just get them to safety."

Yusuke nodded and started across the field, waving his arms above his head. Keiko kept driving, only stopping when Yusuke clattered onto the bonnet of her car. She then rolled down her window and stuck her head out, shouting at him to get out of her way. They began arguing, and Kuwabara remained distracted watching them, but Kurama nodded at Shizuru, who turned the camera back to Botan, as Hiei started towards her again.

Hiei slowed as he neared Botan, his movements looking as though his body had suddenly become much heavier, as though he was wading through a thick marsh, every step a strain. It took him some time to get close to Botan again, and this time, as he reached for the web, static flashes reached out towards him, burning his skin before he even made contact. A strand of web snapped loose and slapped him hard across the nose, leaving a noticeable bloody welt: but he persisted, once more getting hold of the web and closing his eyes.

"Hello Hiei," Botan said, sounding eerily normal amidst the abnormalities around her. "What brings you here?"

"You know why I'm here," he answered her.

A frown flickered over her face.

"Yes," she said, sounding a little unsure of herself.

"Why did you tackle it alone?" he asked.

"The Lure?" she asked.

Something dark stirred deep within the web behind Botan, and that damp, cloying sensation once more took hold of Shizuru. A hole opened up in the web above Botan's head and, to Shizuru's surprise, the head of a little girl poked out of it, peering down at Hiei.

"Well, that's your opinion, and you are of course entitled to it," Botan said. "But I think I handled the situation with aplomb: and so does Lord Koenma. In fact, he's offered me a promotion."

"A promotion?" Hiei repeated. "That's what it is?"

"Yes, that's what it is," Botan affirmed. "I suppose you think working for the Border Patrol is demeaning, somehow, but you do it too!"

The little girl above her reached out an arm, stretching out her fingertips towards Hiei. She was well short of her goal, but appeared not too concerned about it.

"Why did you tackle the Lure alone?" Hiei asked. "Did you think defeating it was a way of proving yourself somehow?"

"No!" Botan cried.

Shizuru's mouth opened soundlessly as the little girl's fingers turned black and began to extend downwards. As they grew, they took on an insect-like appearance, hard and shiny, crooked and platelike, much like the pincers of a dung beetle. Kuwabara took a step forwards but Kurama grabbed his arm and shook his head, holding him back as the pointed tips of the girl's black fingers touched Hiei's forehead.

"You are impossible," he said softly. "I can't reason with you."

The tips of the black fingers penetrated Hiei's skin, bursting into his forehead all around the edges of his Jagan Eye.

"We have to do something, Kurama!" Kuwabara protested.

"No," Kurama sternly replied. "If you move in, you risk Hiei getting hurt and you risk losing Botan entirely. We have to stay back. Only Hiei can do this now."

"Seriously?" Kuwabara wailed.

Kurama nodded and Shizuru swallowed hard as blood began to trickle down over Hiei's closed eyes: but still he held on.


"Are you still rolling?"

Shizuru nodded in answer to her brother, but her eyes were fixed on the scene ahead of her, which she was still barely managing to point the camera at. Her arms ached, her wrists, elbows and shoulders almost locked into position in their fatigue from holding up the heavy camera for so long. It was getting dark, most of the day had passed, and, being early January, the setting sun and onslaught of nightfall was causing the temperature to plummet. Kuwabara and Kurama were standing either side of Shizuru, and all three were standing facing a scene that was close to reaching them: a trickle of blood had wended its way towards them.

Hiei was hanging, limp, his clothing slick and dripping blood. The only thing keeping him upright was his tenacious grip on the webbing around Botan's face. The Lure was no longer a little human girl with long black fingers: it had reverted to what Shizuru supposed was its true form, and every one of the long black claws it had for fingers was pierced painfully into Hiei. The fingers of one hand were pierced into his torso, shoulders and upper arms, and the fingers on the other hand had been inserted under the top layers of skin on his forehead, the middle, longest finger piercing into the pupil of Hiei's Jagan Eye: which was bleeding more than any other part of his body under assault. The Lure's true form was sickening to behold. The little girl's face had changed shape, and although still essentially humanoid, it had unnatural features that were unsettling to look at. Its forehead had enlarged, swelling outwards, but its hairline had not followed, leaving it with a balding appearance. Its eyebrows had disappeared, its eyes had become round and seemed to be protruding from its face, surrounded by dark circles and with small, staring black pupils and irises. Its nose appeared to have been flattened, the nostrils appearing as long, downward slits. Its cheekbones were sharp and pronounced, sticking outwards over the top of the V-shaped mouth the creature had: a wide grimace that spread almost to its ears. It had an unnaturally long neck, its arms looked like the bony appendages of a pterodactyl, and its legs were still the same colour as the skin on its face, but they had become scaly, its feet bursting out of the shoes it had been wearing, more closely resembling the feet of a bird, the toes forming black talons as vicious as the ones it had for fingers.

"It's been quiet too long, Kurama!" Kuwabara complained. "We can't just stand here and watch this thing kill Hiei and torture Botan!"

"You must not interfere, Kuwabara!" Kurama sternly replied.

Kurama's voice had become hoarse, an unusual sound to Shizuru's ears, but she knew it was only because he had spent the entire day telling her brother to stand down. She knew her brother was impetuous, she knew it must be difficult for him not to rush in, and, the fact that she was finding it difficult not to rush in herself, was the only reason why Shizuru was not also scolding her brother every time he complained. The scene before them had been still and tense for so long, the only slight respite they had enjoyed was when Yusuke had called on Kuwabara's communication mirror and told him he was going to stay with Keiko and Yukina, to keep them safe until the Lure had been dealt with.

Kuwabara groaned and clenched and unclenched his fists, and, just when it seemed like he might have another outburst of frustrated impatience, Hiei's body lurched for no apparent reason, and the Lure tilted its ugly head as it regarded him with its enormous, exposed eyeballs.

"What the hell is this?" Hiei said, speaking for the first time in several hours.

The Lure leaned closer to him.

"What is this?" he asked.

Botan's lips, turned white now, moved, but no sound came out. Her eyes twitched beneath her closed lids and her entire body, still encased in webbing, jerked forwards. The Lure looked down at her, clearly not expecting the movement.

"Hiei?" Botan said. "You wanted to see me?"

Shizuru held her breath as she watched on, her brother and even Kurama equally spellbound at her sides.

"Yes," Hiei said. "I need to tell you something, and you must listen to me very carefully."

"Okay," Botan said, her head moving slightly as though she was trying to nod in agreement. "Should we stay here, or go somewhere more private?"

The Lure hissed and jerked its arms forwards. Hiei was forced outwards, barely hanging onto the webbing around Botan's head. The purple glow flared around his hands, which were blackened, his bandages long since disintegrated by the harmful energy the web was emitting. The trickle of blood began to move again, stretching across the ground until it came to rest against the toe of one of Shizuru's shoes, where it pooled until it had covered part of her foot. She could feel it, she could see it on the edge of her vision, but Shizuru still could not take her eyes off of what was unfolding ahead of her. Hiei appeared to have been overwhelmed by the Lure after managing to momentarily reach Botan again, but the sky overhead had changed, the air was changing: the Lure was weakening.

"What?" Hiei grunted, his voice still low and clear, but with a slight edge of confusion.

"Nothing!" Botan said, sounding almost like her usual self, the sound so sweet to Shizuru's ears her eyes blurred with tears upon hearing it. "I was just trying to preserve my modesty!"

Shizuru choked out a short laugh in spite of herself. Even under the spell of an evil demon, Botan was still her usual, wonderful, non-sensical, silly, lovely self.

"What?" Hiei said, sounding ever so slightly embarrassed then.

"I was worried when the wind took my dress, you might have been looking at my underpants."

Kuwabara made a squawking, awkward protest, and again, Kurama told him to stay back. Hiei turned his head – as much as he could with the Lure's talons embedded into him – and growled back at Kuwabara, flashing his teeth in a warning gesture. He then returned to facing Botan and addressed her directly.

"I wasn't looking at your underpants, woman!" he told her sternly.

"I never said that you were!" Botan replied with gusto.

"Is this really where you go?" Hiei asked her.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Botan responded. "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."

"It was just that I thought you might have been sneaking a look up my dress."

"Gees, what the heck is going on?" Kuwabara wailed.

Hiei turned, managing to turn his head to the point that he was almost facing Kuwabara. Although his eyes were still closed, his punctured and bloodied Jagan Eye glared at Kuwabara in a way that made Shizuru and even Kurama take a step back. Hiei snarled and bared his teeth, showing fangs Shizuru had never noticed in his mouth before.

"Never mind about that," he said as he turned back to Botan.

"I don't mind," Botan replied.

There was a short pause, and before she knew what she was doing, Shizuru found herself taking that step forwards again, somehow doing so in sync with both Kuwabara and Kurama.

"I wasn't looking at you like that, woman," Hiei eventually said.

"Okay," Botan replied. "But… If you were–"

"I wasn't!" Hiei cut her off.

"I wouldn't mind," Botan said, almost appearing to smile. "If you were."

The Lure pushed downwards, pushing Hiei down away from Botan. He finally lost his grip on the webbing by her face, but he grabbed at the webbing around her body as he fell, blinding sparks of searing demon energy blasting from every impact point. He finally steadied himself by her waist, gripping his fists around into the webbing and hanging on with everything he had.

"Botan," he said. "I need you to listen to me."

The sound of his voice made Shizuru shiver. The Lure was starting to look concerned.

"This is important," Hiei said.

"Okay, I'm listening," Botan said. "But – for the record – I really wouldn't mind if you did look up my dress–"

"Botan!" Hiei shouted, one of his fists biting through the webbing.

Kuwabara gasped and Shizuru's jaw fell open, watching as Hiei's hand and wrist disappeared into the webbing, emerging again seconds later, taking one of Botan's hands with it. The harmful demon energy that had been searing his hand vanished on that side. It continued assaulting his other hand, but died away completely as part of Botan's arm emerged from within the cocoon.

"Let me heal that for you."

The Lure hissed upon hearing Botan's words, shrieking a horrendous noise when Botan's white spirit energy flared from her hand, engulfing Hiei's wounded hand.

"Are you-are you doing that on instinct?" Hiei said incredulously. "You're using your healing energy instinctively."

"I don't want you to be in pain, Hiei," Botan said. "I care about you."

The Lure slid one hand back, its long, bony fingers sliding out of Hiei's body.

"You shouldn't be doing this right now," he said.

"I don't mind," Botan answered him. "I don't mind doing this for you. I don't mind doing anything for you. Anything you want me to."

The Lure drew back its other hand, releasing Hiei entirely.

"There's just one thing I want you to do," Hiei said.

The Lure crept backwards and upwards, up over the top of its disgusting lair.

"Anything," Botan said.

The Lure turned around, and, in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

"I want you to wake up," Hiei said.

"Wake up?" Botan asked. "But I'm not–"

Botan stopped short as the cocoon of web she was enveloped in fell to the ground. Hiei landed on top of her but quickly got to his feet, opening his eyes and closing his Jagan Eye. He staggered back from her, pressing a hand to his still bleeding third eye.

"Now, go now!" Kurama said.

Kuwabara took off in a sprint, leaping onto the Lure's lair, intent on chasing down the demon: but he was blasted with the same purple energy that had been burning into Hiei, and he was thrown back to the ground, landing on his back. Kurama hurried over to Hiei's side, but Hiei backed away from him and waved away his offer of assistance.

"Leave me alone," he growled. "Just… Take care of her-get her out of here-just don't… Just leave me alone."

Hiei stumbled about a little before turning and running. Usually, when he ran, Shizuru quickly lost sight of him, as he was simply too fast for her eyes to track, but this time, weakened by his battle with the Lure, she saw him go, watching him (and inadvertently pointing the camera at him) until he was out of sight. She then turned back to Botan and moved closer to her as Kurama grabbed the webbing around her face. The same purple energy flared violently, the heat from it so intense that Shizuru was forced to stumble back a step: but not before Kurama managed to start tearing open the cocoon, strands of webbing whipping loose, one of which bit into Shizuru's thigh, cutting her skin painfully even through her clothing.

"Kuwabara!" Kurama growled. "Use your Spirit Sword to cut this!"

Kuwabara crept over, rubbing a hand at the back of his head as he eyed Kurama's reddening hands warily.

"Cut what?" he asked.

"The web, dingus!" Shizuru snapped. "Cut it open, get Botan out of there!"

Kuwabara summoned his Spirit Sword, the green glow indicating he had formed it ready for cutting through barriers.

"Um…" he said, looking back and forth between the long glowing blade of energy on his hand and Botan.

"Idiot, make it shorter!" Shizuru barked at him. "Like a knife. Then cut her free!"

"Oh, good idea, sis!" he brightened.

The length of energy shortened and Kuwabara knelt down on one side of Botan, aiming his Spirit Sword at the webbing between Kurama's two hands. As Kurama stretched the webbing apart and away from Botan's body, Kuwabara began carefully cutting down the length of it, slowly opening it out. Shizuru, finally feeling reassured that Botan was safe, suddenly became aware of just how heavy the camera was and just how sore she was from holding it aloft so long. Her arms fell to her sides and the camera clattered to the ground. Kurama threw her a glance over his shoulder.

"You should go too, Shizuru," he said.

"You're going to get her out in one piece, right Kurama?" she asked him.

"I swear to you we will," Kurama said confidently. "Please, go. If you can, find Hiei."

Shizuru nodded and started to run in the direction Hiei had fled. She knew she had no hope of catching him, but something told her she would not need speed to catch up to him. She was cold and weary and sore and emotionally drained, and not even running at half the speed she could manage if she put any great effort into it, a pace that would look laughable to a high-speed demon like Hiei: and yet, after just a few short minutes, Shizuru caught up to Hiei.

"Hey, Hiei," she said as she slowed to a halt at his side.

"Leave me alone," he growled.

He was on his knees, his head hanging low.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Shizuru asked him.

"I'll be fine," he grumpily replied. "Something as weak as a Lure can't really hurt me."

Shizuru quirked an eyebrow at him, and even though he could not possibly have seen the gesture from the angle he was at, he responded as though he had.

"I'm not hurt!" he snapped irritably. "You just think I am because you are a human, and your standards of pain are so much lower than mine!"

"Okay big guy," Shizuru responded. "If you're still able to trash talk me, I'm gonna assume you'll be just fine."

"I will be!" Hiei grumbled.

"Okay, well, good. And, I know you don't put any stock in anything a measly human says to you, but, for what it's worth, thank you."

"Hn."

"Really, Hiei, thank you."

"I don't care what you think."

Shizuru narrowed her eyes, glaring down at the back of Hiei's head. His hair was wild and matted with blood, but he was no longer dripping blood, he was sounding a lot more like his usual self, and she was not about to feel sorry for him.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "I guess there's not even any point in me thanking you."

"No, there isn't," Hiei replied.

"Because you didn't do what you just did for me," she continued.

"Of course not," he confirmed.

"Or for Spirit World."

"Obviously not!"

"Or for my brother."

"Absolutely not!"

"Or for Yusuke, or Kurama, or even Yukina."

"Hn."

"You did it for you."

Hiei lifted his head, managing to turn it just enough to glare at Shizuru from the corner of one eye. His eyes looked especially bright as his face was still caked with blood, which had dried and darkened, a particularly thick dark line covering the side of his nose and the underside of his eye: there were even small crumbs of dried blood on his eyelashes.

"I was there," Shizuru reminded him. "I heard what you said."

He growled and flashed his teeth at her.

"I heard everything you said, Hiei," she added.

"I don't care what you think," he spat.

"Well you should care what I think," Shizuru said, forcibly suppressing a smirk. "Because Botan certainly does."

"What?"

Hiei turned his head fully towards her. He looked small and pathetic in his current state, but the look in his eyes, the sublime blend of anger and concern, was all Shizuru needed to see.

"That's what I thought," she said, allowing herself to smile.

"Shut-up, Kuwabara!" he snapped at her.

"I may be a Kuwabara," she answered him. "But at least us Kuwabaras don't have a problem telling other people how we really feel."

For a brief moment Hiei's face fell.

"Like I said Hiei," Shizuru said with a sigh. "I know you did it for you, but, as Botan's best friend, I really appreciate it anyway."

She turned around and started to head back the way she had come, all aches and pains gone from her mind, and her weariness replaced with a sense of amusement and vague satisfaction.

"Don't tell her."

Shizuru stopped walking and smiled.

"It's not your place to tell her."

Shizuru shrugged.

"Sure," she agreed. "I won't tell her."

"Hn, not that there's anything to tell," Hiei scoffed.

"Besides, it's more fun watching you try to tell her."

"Hey!"

Shizuru continued walking away, despite the rage she could feel radiating from Hiei behind her. She knew he would not come after her, and not because he was hurt, but because he simply had no comeback.


Next Chapter: Before anyone has the chance to breathe, the Lure takes Botan again, and again everyone comes to her aid – though really only Hiei can reach her. Shizuru continues to film it all, and Hiei's conversations with Botan become more and more revealing: which proves to be a little too much for emotionally stunted Hiei, who quickly reminds everyone that romance is stupid and he would never get involved in anything like that… Chapter 27: In too Deep