Last Chapter: Botan was freed and Shizuru and Ayame killed the Lure. Botan was taken to spirit world and the others all headed home to heal up their battle wounds.


Chapter 35: Give me Something

Shizuru woke up with a groan, realising that the effects of the paste Kurama had applied to her arm had worn off, the pain bringing her around a lot quicker than she would have liked. She opened her eyes and grunted, a rush of adrenaline coursing through her when she noticed there was someone standing over her.

"Oh, you're awake."

Shizuru's face fell.

"I am now, thanks sweetie," she said sarcastically as Yukina sat down onto the edge of her bed. "Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine," Yukina replied as she dug through Shizuru's sheets to expose her injured arm.

"My brother?" Shizuru asked.

Yukina placed her hands over Shizuru's wrist, the warming sensation of her healing energy feeling ridiculously good as the pain around her wounds began to fade.

"He's fine," Yukina said. "Stay still."

Shizuru hesitated, halfway through sitting up.

"I know you want to rush off, but at least let me finish this before you go," Yukina said, meeting her eyes with a hard look that defied her gentle tone.

"Sure," Shizuru agreed. "Thanks, sweetie."

They sat in silence for a moment, until Shizuru started to feel uncomfortable in the half-sitting position she had frozen into when Yukina had halted her. At which point she tried to distract herself by not thinking about it, at which point, her mind locked onto something Yukina had just said to her.

"What makes you think I want to rush off?" she asked the ice maiden.

"My brother has been loitering about outside for the last hour or so," Yukina replied with a sigh. "He doesn't think I know he's out there, but I could sense him before he even got here."

"He didn't try to hide his aura?" Shizuru asked.

"No, it's not that," Yukina said.

"Is it a twin thing? You could sense where he was because of your connection to him?"

"No, it's not that either."

"Oh… Then what is –"

"I can feel his agitation."

"Oh… Isn't that a twin thing?"

"Even the cat can feel it."

Shizuru arched her eyebrows as Eikichi slowly walked past her open bedroom door, opening her mouth in a near-silent meow, her tail raised in the air.

"Is he healed?" Shizuru asked, turning her attention back to Yukina.

"Not entirely, but he's in better condition than he has been lately," she replied.

She met Shizuru's eyes and her face scrunched up a little as though she had seen something that irritated her.

"Should I just get you a brace so you can be on your way?" she asked.

"Well," Shizuru began carefully. "How far on is the healing?"

"I've fixed the break in your bone, I can wrap it up and finish later if you want to go."

"I can wait."

"I don't think Hiei can."

"Okay, well, just wrap it up then. But thank you for your help, sweetie."

Yukina nodded and the glow around her hands faded. She reached down and retrieved a first aid bag she had apparently deposited by Shizuru's bedside, and set to work gently rolling a support bandage onto Shizuru's wrist.

"Are you okay, Yukina?" Shizuru asked her as she finished her task.

Yukina looked at her for a long, long moment, her expression unreadable.

"Yukina?" Shizuru pressed.

"You're going to bring her back," Yukina replied.

"Yeah, absolutely I am," Shizuru said, despite the fact that Yukina had phrased her words more as a statement of fact than a question that required any sort of answer.

Yukina nodded and stepped back, allowing Shizuru to get out of bed. She looked out her window, but neither saw, nor felt, any trace of Hiei. Deciding he could wait a little longer, she took some time to shower and don clean clothes, before ultimately leaving the house and going directly to the local AV equipment shop.

"I have a very strange question to ask you today," she began as she approached the man behind the counter. "I'm looking for a way to either play a foreign video cassette on a standard video player, or else purchase a foreign video player that will let me watch the cassette."

"Sure, no problem!" the man replied.

Shizuru shook her head at his enthusiasm, withdrawing the triangular video cassette she had brought with her as an example.

"Oh, you don't see these around here much!"

Shizuru's face dropped.

"Do you ever see these around here?" she asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, from time to time."

"Really?"

The man opened a drawer beneath the counter and, after some time of rifling through some rattling plastic items, he retrieved a sealed, transparent plastic back with two plastic triangles in it.

"Here we go!" he said cheerfully.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Shizuru groaned.

"Do you want me to demonstrate how to attach them to your cassette?"

"No, it's fine, I'll just take them."

Shizuru paid the man and pocketed the bag before heading back out into the street. She then took two bus rides to the nearest point to Genkai's temple that she could possibly get to. As she started to walk into the woods and regret her choice of footwear – knee high heeled boots were not really ideally suited to the arduous climb over rough terrain that led to Genkai's temple – she felt something high above her left shoulder that brought a smile to her face.

"Excellent timing, how did you know?" she asked, as she stopped walking and turned to face the ferry girl descending towards her.

"Dango told me," Ayame said.

Shizuru looked about herself, before meeting Ayame's eyes with a frown as the ferry girl finally stopped, hovering beside her.

"He's already there," Ayame said, her tone a little tight. "I was there too. We were waiting for you."

"Really?" Shizuru asked.

Ayame nodded.

"He didn't really appreciate my presence," she said. "He was glad to tell me you were on your way and send me down here to collect you."

Shizuru sighed and rolled her eyes as she hopped onto Ayame's oar at her side.

"Well, this wouldn't be any fun if he changed too much, would it?" she asked.

Ayame smiled warmly, and took them into the air, quickly crossing over the treetops, past the temple and its lawns and out beyond the end of the woods, where she finally brought them back down to the ground. Dismounting the oar and stepping onto the same ledge where the Lure had taken Botan for the last time was a feeling Shizuru had expected to dread, but before she could really give the moment any thought, she noticed something that distracted her entirely. Almost as soon as her feet touched the ground, she jogged over to the edge of the rice fields, looking down into the valley. It was a clear and crisp winter's day, the fields were blue and shimmering near the top of the hillside, and duller and set nearer the valley floor, where they were frozen over.

"It wasn't my idea," Hiei said as he joined Shizuru by the edge of the fields.

"It looks and smells lovely," Ayame gushed.

Shizuru smiled as she watched two of the many rose petals floating in the nearby fields collide with each other.

"He just gave them to me at his house," Hiei continued. "I had to carry them all up here myself."

"I helped spread them out," Ayame added.

Shizuru turned to Hiei with a smile, but he glared up at her with a grimace.

"She appeared while I was spreading them," he said. "I tried to throw them at her to shoo her away, but she thought I was involving her, and she caught them and spread them into the fields further down."

"I like it," Shizuru concluded. "We just need Botan now, right?"

She turned to Ayame.

"Botan is in prison," the ferry girl said, in an oddly upbeat tone.

"What?" Shizuru and Hiei echoed.

"But I have a plan for how we can get her out!" Ayame continued, looking unusually pleased with herself.

"Why is she in prison?" Shizuru demanded.

"King Enma insisted on it," Ayame replied, her enthusiasm finally fading. "Lord Koenma tried to fight it, but it was beyond his control."

"Botan is in prison with the demons your pathetic soldiers have abducted to spirit world?" Hiei asked.

"She was," Ayame said.

"But Koenma got her out of there?" Shizuru asked.

Ayame shook her head.

"Where is she, Ayame?" Shizuru asked.

"I know a way we can get her out," Ayame said quietly.

"Where is she, woman?" Hiei roared.

"They relocated her to the facility for… The… Criminally insane," Ayame weakly replied. "But I know a way to get her out–"

"There is no way out," Hiei interrupted her.

"How long are they holding her?" Shizuru asked.

Ayame sighed and looked down at her feet for a moment before lifting her head with a renewed look of determination on her face.

"I have a plan," she said firmly. "I have two plans, actually. I have a main, short-term plan, and I have a secondary, long-term plan."

"This is ridiculous," Hiei growled.

Shizuru held up a hand to stop him from complaining further.

"Hang on there, big guy," she said to him. "Ayame really came through for us when it came to catching the Lure. Let's hear her out."

Shizuru nodded at Ayame to continue and the ferry girl smiled.

"I'm going to use this!"

She pulled something from one of her kimono sleeves and Shizuru's face fell.

"I was wrong," Hiei said flatly. "This is beyond ridiculous."

Shizuru looked down at the object in Ayame's hand. She needed no explanation to know what it was or how Ayame intended to use it, but the very concept seemed desperate and beyond ridiculous, just as Hiei had said.

"I just need something to distract the guards," Ayame said. "Something that would really keep their attention."

Shizuru chewed on her lip as she tried to think of a diplomatic way to tell Ayame that her plan was terrible: but before she could find a way, Hiei spoke.

"Take Yusuke with you," he said. "Everyone in spirit world hates Yusuke. They panic when they see him."

Shizuru turned to him and he shrugged.

"I don't know," he muttered. "I can't explain it."

She nodded slowly.

"Okay," she conceded. "You two went with my plan to kill the Lure, so what the hell."

"I'll tell Yusuke to meet you there," Hiei said.

"Meet us where?" Shizuru asked.

Hiei nodded his head at the object in Ayame's hand. Shizuru turned to look at it again, and again her face fell.

"Oh damnit, this is insane," she muttered under her breath.


The string of videos Botan had just watched had been intense viewing, and, with Shizuru skipping past any lulls in the action, when they finally reached the end of the final video, it seemed anti-climactic. The camera recording everything had been dropped, landing on its side, and showed only feet running by and the sound of frantic voices in the background, which continued until the tape reached an end. As the screen turned dark, she could see her own reflection in it, realising then that she was kneeling on the ground close to the screen, and Shizuru was still sitting on her bed behind her.

"You okay, sweetie?" Shizuru asked her.

"I can't believe it," Botan faintly replied. "I can't believe so much of what he said was… Real!"

"And that was why I told you it was something you had to watch," Shizuru said, shuffling to the edge of the bed.

She stood up, and Botan saw her reflection in the television screen take a step forwards, but then falter, her head turning sharply to one side.

"Damn girl, you better be able to play this part better than you did your "just serving tea" character!" she said.

Botan looked back over one shoulder at Shizuru and then turned her head to look back over her other shoulder at what her friend appeared to be looking at.

"I thought it was over," she said, stumbling to her feet and backing up until her legs collided with the tea trolley Ayame had arrived with. "But it's not! The Lure still has me!"

She looked about herself frantically for a way out, only stopping when she felt Shizuru taking a firm hold of her arms just above her elbows.

"Sweetie, it's okay," Shizuru assured her. "I see it too. And I can't believe it either."

"Clever disguise and the ability to go undercover is a cornerstone of what makes an excellent ferry girl."

Botan slowly leaned to one side to look past Shizuru at the figure standing behind her who had just spoken. Her face twisted when she saw it still looked the same as it had the last time she had looked at it.

"Botan, sweetie, I know it sounds crazy," Shizuru said gently. "But… I don't know. I can't explain it… Damnit, now I understand what Dango meant…"

"What?" Botan echoed, fixing her eyes onto Shizuru.

"Look, sweetie, we didn't think she'd actually be able to stop the Lure, but she did," Shizuru began.

"You didn't think I could stop the Lure?" Ayame echoed.

"And this idea she has looks, honestly, just… Batshit insane," Shizuru continued. "But she really delivered on her last idea, so… Let's just trust her with this one, okay?"

Botan searched Shizuru's eyes for any sign that she was joking. When she found none, she leaned past her again, looking back at what appeared to be herself. She tilted her head slightly and Ayame smiled at her as she adjusted the blue wig on her head. She had changed into the same vest and underpants Botan was wearing, and, visually at least, she had done an excellent job of styling herself to look like Botan.

"Nobody will believe that you are me," Botan said to her slowly. "We have completely different energy signals and eye colour – and also, why are you doing this?"

"Because this is how you get out," Ayame answered, approaching her with a handful of something black. "I will take your place here so that you can go. This is the short-term plan to get you free."

Botan shook her head, feeling beyond confused.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Shizuru said to her. "But she says this is her short-term plan and she says she has launched a long-term plan to get you free from this place, and after everything she did for me, I do trust her. And… Weirdly… Hiei trusts her too. And she is probably your best friend here in spirit world, so I think you should trust her too."

Botan opened her mouth, but words failed her. She was still reeling from everything she had just seen in the videos Shizuru had shown her: amazingly, all the best parts of the world the Lure had shown her had in fact been real conversations she had shared with Hiei. He had suffered and humiliated himself and almost died to get her free of the Lure, and it was overwhelming to witness. In a matter of days she had been first forced to admit that she had been hiding feelings for Hiei, she had become addicted to a world where he loved her back, she had gone crazy to feed her addiction, and she had learned that everything she had chased the Lure for was real all along.

"What is all this about?" she eventually asked Shizuru.

"It's how we get you out," Shizuru replied, taking Ayame's kimono from her and holding it out to Botan. "I know you've been through a lot, but if you can just put this on, and pretend to be Ayame until we get out, then you'll be free, and everything will be okay. I promise."

"The guards will know I'm not Ayame, I can't just walk out there dressed in her clothes and expect them to believe I'm her!" Botan protested.

"The guards think we ferry girls are worthless," Ayame sadly pointed out. "They don't care enough to check. Just keep your head down and keep going and you'll be fine."

Botan frowned, but Shizuru nodded her head, and the look in her eye was one of confidence, despite the absurdity of what was happening, and so Botan accepted Ayame's kimono and numbly pulled it on, fastening it into place as Shizuru pulled a black-haired wig over her head.

"This is weirder than anything I saw when the Lure had me," she concluded once she was dressed.

"I don't doubt that," Shizuru said, gathering up the triangular video cassettes and stuffing them under the trolley. "But we've been here a long time already, and if we're gonna do this, we have to do it right now."

Shizuru tucked herself back under the trolley and Ayame wrote a seal onto it with her pen to disguise Shizuru's presence, before throwing the plain white cloth over the top to hide the seal. She then turned to Botan and wound the wig she was wearing into a bun, securing it place with her pen.

"Good luck," she said.

Botan looked back at the ferry girl, in the powder blue wig, and shook her head.

"You can do this," Ayame said, with unwavering conviction. "Just keep going. Yusuke is doing an excellent job of distracting anyone who might recognise you."

Botan moved her mouth several times, but shortly found herself pushing the trolley towards the door, which Ayame opened for her. She stepped out into the empty corridor beyond and stopped, the stillness and silence around her combined with the open space momentarily numbing her senses. When she finally came around, she turned to the door she had just exited, but found that it had disappeared behind her: Ayame had wilfully locked herself into the cell in her place.

Botan turned back to look down the corridor. She looked down at the trolley in front of her, smiling a little at the thought of Shizuru being hunched up inside it, clutching all the weird-shaped video cassettes.

"I can't believe that stupid big camera was actually useful," she concluded aloud, before pushing the trolley forwards.

She walked slowly at first, but, as she neared the end of the corridor and started to hear voices, she quickened her pace, her heart beating harder as she began to worry about being caught. It was madness to think that a change of clothes and a wig would hide her identity, she thought to herself as she rounded a corner. She passed a room full of monitors with double doors leading into it, both wide open. She slowed a little as she spotted Yusuke sitting on the console, surrounded by frantic spirit world ogre guards. He smiled as he caught her eye, but held his position, and Botan was able to pass by unnoticed.

She continued to the end of the hallway, and found herself in a part of spirit world she had only visited a handful of times in the past, finding herself forced to pass King Enma's throne room, as it would be both the quickest and quietest route to an exit from the temple. As she neared the throne room she slowed again, the sound of voices within the room drawing her attention. Again, the doors to the room were wide open, and Botan momentarily stopped entirely there when she saw Koenma, in his little, toddler form, frantically addressing his father.

"I have more character witnesses!" he said. "And they will all tell you the same thing: Botan is a good person and this was an honest mistake, and you need to pardon her!"

Botan shifted her head in the direction her boss waved one of his arms, gasping softly when she spotted Kiyoshi Mitarai, Yu Kaito, Tsukihito Amanuma and Mitsunari Yanagishiwa standing at one side of the room. When King Enma shuffled in his throne, Botan quickly and quietly moved on, to avoid being spotted, but, as she walked, she thought that she understood what Ayame's long-term plan was: she had just witnessed it in action. It was odd to think that Ayame cared enough about her to both lobby so hard for her freedom and take the risk of defying the guards to take her place in her holding cell: but if she had learned one thing from the Lure, it was that her expectations were never quite the same as her reality.

Ayame was, in fact, just as Shizuru had said, her best friend in spirit world, and Hiei had been harbouring feelings for her in exactly the same way she had for him.

As Botan passed through a portal into the living world, Yusuke stepped out behind her.

"Hey," he greeted her. "You made it."

"I can't believe it took an ugly creature like the Lure for me to realise how some of the people in my life really are," she said softly.

"Oh yeah?" he responded. "What did the Lure teach you about me?"

Botan smiled.

"Nothing," she replied honestly. "Absolutely nothing."

Yusuke shrugged.

"That's probably because I'm not repressed," he said. "I just tell it like it is. Maybe something to learn from that, right?"

"Right," Botan said.

"You better let her out."

Botan blinked and Yusuke nodded at the trolley.

"Oh, Shizuru!" Botan recovered.

She quickly pulled off the sheets, throwing them aside.

"You don't need to undo the seal?" Yusuke muttered.

"No, that was just there to hide the presence of a soul," Botan replied.

"Cool," he said, nodding his head. "Well, I'll see you on the other side."

"What?"

Yusuke ran off, leaving Botan watching him disappear with a curious frown. She remained that way until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, looking first at the hand there, her brow furrowing when she saw that it was Shizuru's left hand. She reached up and lifted her friend's hand from her shoulder, turning it over and sliding up her coat sleeve. She gasped when she saw the scarring up her arm, her eyes moving back to the support bandage around Shizuru's wrist, her mind wondering what sort of wounds it was concealing.

"It's fine," Shizuru assured her. "I didn't let anyone finish healing it for me. Don't worry about it."

"I can heal it for you," Botan said, looking up to meet her eyes.

"You need your energy for something else right now."

Botan frowned.

"I feel like you've said that before…" she said.

"Yeah, I have," Shizuru admitted. "But I need you to fly us to Genkai's place."

"Why?"

Botan felt a horrid rush of panic stab through her. She had encountered the Lure there before, and again not too far away from the temple.

"It's okay," Shizuru said, putting her hands on Botan's shoulders. "Just trust me. It's a good thing, I promise."

Botan nodded numbly and summoned her oar.

"It's just… So much has happened…" she said as she sat down onto her oar.

"I know," Shizuru said, sitting down next to her. "But it'll all be good things from here on out."

"I don't think it will be good when Lord Koenma finds out Ayame broke me out of my holding cell," Botan commented.

"Well, maybe not, but it will be real. And we will be here with you, to help you through it. All of it. No matter how bad it gets."

"We?"

"You'll see."

Botan frowned, but Shizuru merely smiled and put an arm around her. Something about her presence felt different than it had in her hallucinations, and although she knew it had to be real, a small part of her was still plagued by doubt.


Shizuru waited until Botan had banished her oar before taking hold of her shoulders to keep the ferry girl facing her.

"Okay sweetie, I know you're confused, and I know you've been through hell," she began. "And I know I reached you with the story I told you about my mom. And I know that everything Hiei said and did while you were trapped probably seems unbelievable. I showed you the videos to show you Hiei was real, and we set this up to show you that we really did all miss you."

"Set what up?" Botan asked.

Shizuru took her hands off of Botan.

"Turn around, Botan."

Shizuru had intentionally kept Botan's attention distracted and made her land in the trees before the edge of the temple grounds, so when she did turn around, she was genuinely surprised to see what was waiting for her there. Botan took a few steps forward, before stopping, her head moving as she looked about herself in disbelief. The grass around the temple was whitened by frost, which was occasionally twinkling with the sunlight overhead. The group had hung up a barrier with a message welcoming her back: the lettering had been painted on with what looked like the red wood varnish Shizuru's dad had used on the garden shed; the hand-writing looked like her brother Kuwabara's; and the banner looked worryingly as though it was made of Shizuru's bedsheets.

"Botan!" Keiko cried, breaking the silence of the moment.

She and Yukina ran across the crispy grass and threw themselves at Botan, grabbing her into a hug. Shizuru moved forwards to join them, hugging Botan from behind. Botan sighed and closed her eyes, a sense of calm and reassurance that she had not felt for so long washing over her. She could feel the fabric of her friends' clothing against her hands, cool to the touch in the winter air, and she could smell their familiar scents: she could smell the heady, alluring oceanic fragrance of Keiko's body spray; she could smell the almost obnoxious blend of strawberry shampoo and mango conditioner from Yukina; and, again, she could smell Shizuru's menthol cigarettes and violet perfume. They were minor details, things she sometimes barely noticed at all, but suddenly felt so significant, as they had been absent in the dark world the Lure had trapped her in.

It was, she thought to herself, exactly as Hiei had tried to tell her: the Lure could only create something she was actively familiar with. Small details she overlooked had, likewise, been omitted from the hallucinations the Lure generated.

Hiei was right: the Lure would never be able to give her anything that was actually better than her own reality.

"I've been such an idiot," she concluded aloud.

"No!" Keiko started, leaning back to look her in the eye. "Nobody thinks–"

"Yes, you have, but we never gave up, because we knew you would come around in the end," Yukina cut in, leaning back to look up at Botan with that weird mix of love and anger that she bore more often than most people around her cared to talk about.

"We missed you," Keiko added.

"A lot," Yukina said.

"I missed all of you too," Botan replied.

"We weren't in your dreams?" Keiko asked.

"Well, yes, you were," Botan answered. "But it wasn't the same. And it took me way, way too long to realise that."

"It's not the same without you," Keiko said.

"It's really not," Shizuru added.

Botan smiled and leaned back, resting her head against Shizuru's shoulder behind her.

"You've done so much for me," she said to her friend. "And you all stood by me, the entire time!"

"You would have done the same for us," Shizuru told her. "And it wasn't even a question. For any of us."

Keiko and Yukina nodded, and they moved in again to hold Botan close. She relaxed into them, but found herself looking between Keiko and Yukina, across the temple lawns. There were three other figures standing there, seemingly waiting for her. As though sensing her thoughts, Shizuru broke up the group hug.

"Come on, let's head over," she said, waving Keiko back and forcefully removing Yukina from Botan.

"They could have come over to us," Yukina protested.

Botan turned to Shizuru, who smiled tightly.

"Yeah, she hasn't changed," she said. "Nobody has. You haven't really missed anything outside of what you saw on those videos."

Botan smiled and nodded her head, before starting forwards. As she approached the others, she felt a small pang of disappointment to see that Hiei was not among them. In a way, she thought to herself, this was at least a good sign that she was back in the real world – the world where Hiei rarely appeared, and even then, tended to linger back from the others.

"You made it out," Yusuke greeted her as she joined them.

"Yes, and I couldn't have done it without you," Botan answered, before gladly moving into his open arms.

"How long do you reckon it's gonna take for anyone to notice Ayame is in there pretending to be you?" Yusuke asked.

"Probably a lot longer than you think," Shizuru said.

Botan released Yusuke and turned a questioning look to her friend.

"When that girl sets her mind on something, she doesn't give up," Shizuru explained.

Botan smiled.

"You know the thing I learned from the Lure is that I don't know a lot of people as well as I thought I did," she said.

"That's natural," Kurama said, moving forward to give Botan a hug. "And I'm glad you feel that way. It's a testament to your inner strength that you've been able to take a positive out of this terrible trial you've endured."

"Thank you," Botan answered him. "And it really was awful. It started out so nice, it seemed like my life was perfect, but after that first time, it just kept getting darker, and turning stranger, and scarier."

Botan stepped back from Kurama, but found him looking over at Shizuru with a strange look on his face. She turned to Shizuru, who was glaring back at him, but quickly covered her expression with a smile and put a hand on Botan's shoulder.

"That happened because the Lure couldn't get a proper hold of you again after that first time," she said. "If it had been able to get a proper hold of you, it would have taken your soul. But you had a little help to stop that from happening."

"I-I did?" Botan echoed.

"Ayame was looking out for you, Botan," Shizuru continued. "She gave you a tea that helped protect your soul from the Lure. It allowed Hiei to reach you more easily. Unfortunately, it might have warped some of your visions."

"Tea? Oh, her special blend that she kept hidden… She wouldn't share it with anyone else but me. I thought that she was trying to poison me – and oh my goodness! I attacked her because I thought she was trying to poison me!"

Shizuru looked over at Kurama again for a moment before answering Botan.

"Yes, Ayame did mention that," she said. "But she doesn't blame you. She's just glad she was able to get the tea to you. It was probably the only thing that saved your soul. Ayame's glad you took it. We all are."

Shizuru looked over at Kurama again and Botan glanced back and forth between them in confusion. The moment only ended when Kuwabara stepped forward and Botan's attention shifted to him. She put her arms around him and he gladly hugged her back.

"I know you cut me free every time," she told him. "And I know you hurt yourself to do it. Thank you so much."

"Hey, it was the right thing to do!" he replied.

Botan laughed a little and Kuwabara held her back at arms' length to look at her curiously.

"I expected you to say it was the "manly thing to do"," she said.

The others laughed a little and Kuwabara nodded, before leaning closer to her.

"So I know you've known all along that Hiei is Yukina's brother," he said.

Botan gasped.

"It's okay," Shizuru told her her. "Yukina told everyone, remember? You don't have to worry about accidentally saying it again."

"For the ninth time," Yukina muttered.

"Does this… Make us like… In-laws now?" Kuwabara asked Botan.

"Kuwabara, please," Kurama said, shaking his head with a look of disapproval.

"What?" Kuwabara asked, turning to him.

Kurama gave him a hard look, and, after a brief pause, Kuwabara made an "oh" sound and grinned awkwardly at Botan.

"So Yusuke is making us all dinner inside," Shizuru said, putting her hands on Botan's shoulders. "So we should let him get back to that."

"Yeah," Yusuke agreed. "Kuwabara, you're on vegetable chopping duty."

"I am?" Kuwabara asked.

"Shut up and get inside, Kuwabara!" Yusuke muttered at him.

Kuwabara pulled a face at him and made as though he intended to argue the point, but Yukina stepped forward and took his arm.

"I'll help you, Kazuma," she said.

"You probably better stick to the smaller vegetables, Yukina," Yusuke said with a smirk. "You couldn't even get your hand around my daikon earlier."

"Daikons are a really chunky vegetable, Urameshi, that's not fair," Kuwabara said, obliviously.

Yukina glared at Yusuke as he demonstrated gripping something with his hands in the air.

"Stop thinking that way," Yukina told him, her voice gaining that icy edge Botan had learned to fear. "You're not big enough."

Yusuke's grin widened and he nodded his head.

"You like your men really tall, huh?" he asked, pointing at Kuwabara.

"I wasn't talking about your height," Yukina flatly answered him.

"Wh-what?" Yusuke echoed, faltering slightly.

"I was talking about your daikon," Yukina replied, in the same, flat, tone. "Come on, Kazuma."

She pulled at Kuwabara's arm and he gladly let her guide him inside the temple. Yusuke blinked a few times, before turning wide eyes to Shizuru.

"I did warn you, kid," she told him.

"She really doesn't need any encouragement," Keiko added, moving over to Yusuke's side. "Come on, I'll keep you safe while you cook."

Yusuke looked perplexed still, but followed Keiko into the temple.

"I should go and help set the table," Kurama said, once they had disappeared from sight.

He turned to Shizuru for a moment and she smiled and nodded.

"I'll give you a hand," she said softly. "Go on ahead, I'll catch you up."

Kurama paused for a moment, as though he expected her to say something more.

"It's fine," she eventually added. "You did the right thing. I can see that now."

Kurama smiled and nodded.

"I feel I do still owe you an apology," he said. "My mother would certainly love to see you again if you wanted to come around one night for dinner?"

Shizuru's face hardened a little.

"So are you offering me a free dinner as an apology, or am I doing you a favour by humouring the little lie you told your mother about me?" she asked.

"I was offering you dinner primarily as an apology," he replied. "And… It doesn't have to be a lie."

Shizuru smiled.

"I'll think about it, fox boy," she said.

He nodded and turned, heading into the temple, leaving Botan and Shizuru alone on the lawn.

"What was all that about?" Botan asked, rounding on Shizuru.

"You're not the only one who saw another side of the people around you thanks to the Lure," Shizuru replied.

"What does that mean?" Botan asked. "I want to know more!"

"I'll tell you later, sweetie," Shizuru said gently. "But first, I want you to do a little something for me. I know this has been a tough day, a lot has happened, but I think an important part of your recovery is knowing that, despite how spirit world treated you, we all trust you."

Botan's face fell.

"What do you mean?" she asked warily.

"Well, I know you might think we're all suspicious of you, and we might be expecting you to run off if you're left unsupervised," Shizuru replied. "And I want you to know that's not the case. And I think it's important you reclaim your favourite place. I know the Lure lured you there and exploited that it was your favourite place, but I think you should go and see it again. On your own, like you usually do."

"A-are you talking about the old rice fields?" Botan asked. "How did you know that's my favourite place? I never told anyone."

"You spoke to Hiei about it during your last spell with the Lure. And we'd guessed the Lure would take you to your favourite place."

Botan nodded slowly.

"I just go there sometimes because it's so beautiful and peaceful there," she said. "But… I was there a lot during my… I saw a lot of strange things there."

"I know sweetie," Shizuru said. "That's why it's important you go back there and reclaim it as your safe place."

Botan looked out across the temple lawns, towards the band of trees that lead up to the hillside the rice fields lay on. Just looking in that direction brought back memories of falling into the water in the fields and drowning, falling into darkness, seeing Hiei tortured: but, as she thought about it, she realised that every time she had seen Hiei bloodied and in pain, she had been witnessing the condition he was genuinely in as he suffered to reach her into her mind and draw her out of the world the Lure trapped her in.

Eventually, she nodded her head, and summoned her oar.

"Whenever you're ready, come on back," Shizuru told her. "Any time. We'll wait for you."

Botan nodded, though she thought Shizuru's last remark was a little odd and unnecessary, as all she intended to do was to fly up the hill and take a few minutes to enjoy the view she had always loved so dearly.

"Thank you, Shizuru," she said as she sat onto her oar. "For everything. I love you, you know."

"I know," Shizuru replied. "I love you too, sweetie."

Botan nodded and then took off, flying low over the lawn before ascending up and following the treetops up the hillside. When she reached the other side, she flew out over the edge of the watery fields, smiling and drawing in a deep breath of the fresh, mountain air.

It smelled like roses.

Botan frowned, looking about herself midair before looking down at the fields themselves. She noticed then that there was something floating in many of the fields near the top of the hillside. She turned around and eased herself down to the first field at the top of the hill, peering down at the reflective water, tilting her head curiously as she watched the red rose petals dancing along the waters' surface. She started to reach down to pick one up, but hesitated as her hand neared the water, memories of falling into that same water playing out painfully in her mind.

"It wasn't my idea."

Botan swallowed hard, her eyes drifting over to the reflection of a face watching her reflection in the water.

"It was probably better without all this mess," Hiei said to her. "Just the water, plain and simple, reflecting the sky. That's why you like it here."

Botan slowly sat up onto her oar, straightening her back and staring across the field incredulously at Hiei. He was healed and looked a lot more like his usual self. The sky was bright and colourful, the air was light and fresh, and it was strangely overwhelming to be back at the rice fields under such pleasant circumstances.

"I don't like the cold, but if this helps…" Hiei grumbled, before jumping off the edge of the grass and landing in the water of the field with a splash.

Botan flinched as icy cold water sprayed onto her legs, but, seeing that the water was barely deep enough to cover Hiei's feet, she smiled.

"I didn't want that bastard to take this away from you," he said. "You thought of it so much, it's obviously important to you."

"It is," Botan agreed. "I come here almost every day."

"Alone," Hiei said.

"Yes, alone."

Hiei nodded. Botan peered down at the water again before taking a deep breath and slipping off her oar. Like Hiei, she landed with a splash, her feet hitting hard ground, the water incredibly shallow.

"Oh, I didn't think this through!" she said after a moment, when the water started to soak through her socks.

She scrambled back onto her oar and floated over to the top of the hill, dropping off her oar and kicking off her sandals before removing her socks and squeezing the bitterly cold water out of them. Hiei stepped out at her side, and together, without speaking about it or really noticing, they sat down on the grass next to each other.

"I'm surprised Boring's plan to get you out actually worked," Hiei commented as Botan pulled her socks back on.

Botan hesitated before slowly turning to face Hiei as she reached up her hands and pulled the black wig from her head.

"It was a ridiculous plan," Hiei added.

"Yes, but she was right," Botan said. "I got out unnoticed. And on my way out, I even saw that Lord Koenma had brought in witnesses to speak to King Enma about me."

"The long-term plan," Hiei said quietly; then, when he noticed the curious look Botan was giving him, he added, "Boring said she had two plans. The short-term one was that disguise, the long-term one must have been setting Koenma to work pardoning you."

Botan smiled and shook her head.

"You never thought of her in that way," Hiei answered before she could speak her thoughts. "You thought she was cold and aloof, that she considered you beneath her."

"Yes," Botan said, nodding her head. "That's exactly right."

"The Lure only knows what you do," he continued. "That's why what it shows you will never be accurate but also will never be everything you want. We all want something we've never had."

Botan smiled and wound her arms around her knees.

"I remember that conversation we had," she said, watching the petals floating on the water in front of her. "And I saw it again on the videos Shizuru showed me, so I know that much was real."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Hiei staring at her for a moment, before turning to look out across the water.

"Many of the conversations we had were real," he said quietly.

"I meant the conversation we had about things we've never done," she explained. "You said you'd never kissed anyone."

Hiei grunted, but otherwise said nothing.

"But then… We did," Botan said quietly.

"Yes," he agreed. "We did. You initiated it."

"I feel like you tried to initiate it on other occasions…" Botan carefully pointed out.

"Yes, which mostly ended with Yusuke talking about… Well, I'm sure you heard."

"I don't think he'll be talking about that for at least a little while."

"I can't imagine that."

"He spoke about it to the wrong person just before I came up here."

Hiei and Botan turned to look at each other.

"It's interesting, because you are strong and intimidating on the outside, and soft and vulnerable on the inside," Botan said. "And Yukina is the other way around."

Hiei's face dropped, but Botan could feel her confidence rising.

"Thank you, Hiei," she said. "For everything you did. I know it can't have been easy for you. I've never seen you willingly allow an opponent to assault you like that."

"It was never a question," he replied. "I did it gladly."

Botan smiled and Hiei turned to look out over the water, but not before she noticed a hint of a smile appear on his face.

"I never knew how I felt about you before the Lure showed me," she said.

"Yes," he said. "I could say the same."

Botan tilted her head curiously.

"I didn't realise how much I needed you until the Lure took you away from me," he said quietly.

Botan smiled, a warmth spreading through her despite the cold outside.

"All those times you told Yukina I was her brother, all those times you came up with ridiculous ideas, all those times you got far too excited about simple things," Hiei continued. "I got angry every time, and I told myself it was because you were irritating to me. But… Shizuru said I was someone who can only express anything as a form of anger, and I guess she was right. When the Lure took you, it was easy for me to get angry, because that made sense to me. But I realise now I was scared."

"You were scared?" Botan echoed.

"I was too proud. Too proud to admit what I was feeling and too proud to face rejection."

"Rejection?"

"I was certain you wouldn't feel the same way. Because you were the one who told Yukina I was her brother, the one who had ridiculous ideas and the one who got excited about simple little things. You shone so brightly, and I was a shadow, on the outside, looking in. I doubted it even after I saw it in your mind, saw it in your hallucinations. The way you imagined me at first, it was nothing like how I really am, and I thought that maybe you just liked something you thought I was. I doubted it until I saw you here."

Botan looked out across the rice fields, a place that had always been idyllic to her, but in her hallucinations had been a dark place of horror.

"I started to see you were more than just the ferry girl who tells everyone I'm Yukina's brother, has ridiculous ideas and gets excited about simple things," Hiei said, "I started to see another side of you. And… It didn't lessen anything I'd felt before. In fact, it only made my feelings stronger."

"Hiei, I heard what you said," Botan said softly. "And I want you to know, I love you too."

Hiei smiled, but said nothing.

"I hope, once all this passes, once spirit world forgives me," she continued. "That we can spend more time together."

"Yes," he said.

Botan nodded, moving her hands to smooth Ayame's black kimono down her shins. As she did so, she became aware of her missing finger, and held up her hand, spreading out her fingers in the air.

"I have your finger."

Botan froze.

"That's a little… Strange," she said, slowly lowering her hand and moving her eyes to one side to look at Hiei.

"I don't carry it around with me," he said, sounding a little irritated.

"Oh, okay," she said with a sigh.

"I gave it to Mukuro."

Botan froze again.

"You and Mukuro have a very strange relationship," she said stiffly.

"She put it in suspension," Hiei said. "It can be reattached in one of her healing chambers. When you are able, I will take you there."

Botan smiled, but Hiei's face turned stern and he turned to look directly at her.

"I didn't give it to Mukuro as a snack!" he snapped irritably.

"You shouldn't have read my mind!" Botan protested.

"I didn't need to…" Hiei grumbled.

Botan giggled a little and put her arms around her legs again.

"Thank you, Hiei," she said. "Again."

He nodded, and turned to look out across the fields again.

"Although there is something else you could do for me," Botan said, looking out across the fields as she spoke.

"I think by now you must know I would do anything for you," Hiei replied.

"I was thinking that I did something for you, so it's only fair that you return the favour."

"Naturally."

"I gave you your first kiss."

"Yes, you did."

"So, I think to be fair, you should give me my first–"

"Don't say that word!"

Hiei and Botan turned to each other abruptly.

"You read my mind again!" she protested.

"I didn't need to," he replied. "Again."

She sighed and then shrugged.

"Well, since you already know what I was going to say…" she said slowly.

Hiei narrowed his eyes.

"Of all the things I learned about you recently, the depths of your perversion is still the most unsettling," he said quietly.

"Is that a yes?" Botan asked.

Hiei's mouth twitched into an almost smile, which he quickly fought back off his face.

"We don't have to right now," Botan added. "But soon, I hope?"

"Okay, soon."

"Really?"

"Are you the reason my sister is the way she is?"

Botan pursed her lips and frowned as she tried to think of the best way to respond honestly to Hiei's question.

"She's the reason you are the way you are," he concluded with a sigh.

"You said sex was common in demon world!" Botan pointed out.

Hiei growled and his expression hardened.

"Maybe we could do it when we go to demon world to get my finger back!" Botan suggested.

Hiei's face twisted and Botan swallowed hard.

"That was a strange thing to say…" she said slowly.

"Yes, it was," Hiei replied. "But I'm fine with the logic of it."

Botan smiled and Hiei pretended to look irritated, but appeared to be fighting off a smile again. He turned to looked out across the fields again, but Botan suspected he was only doing so to avoid her seeing him smile. She watched him for a moment before shuffling a little closer to him and leaning over, tilting her head until it came to rest on his shoulder.

"I'm glad we made it here," she said.

Her smile widened when she felt Hiei's head tilt over to rest against hers.

"Yes," he said. "Me too."

The End