Title: Just One Night
Pairing: Hiei x Botan
Genre: Romance, hints of my attempts at humor
Warnings: OOC, implied sex Nothing graphic. And spoilers for the Dark Tournament. But if you've read this far, then you knew that already ;
Summary: One night, they'd agreed. One night, and they'd never speak of it again. But it's difficult to forget, and someone isn't very good at keeping secrets.

Notes: Two things. First, sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It was incredibly hard to push out with my first Calculus I exam hanging over my head. I hope that this satisfies at least some of your questions. Second, I am an idiot. Two things My message has only seven words as kindly pointed out. solecism needs to go back to elementary school -.-

Disclaimer: Not mine

And this chapter takes place where the previous one left off.

Ningenkai

As she flew threw the skies, Botan decided to continue the musings Koenma had interrupted with his sudden mission.

The rest of the tournament passed in a blur of anguished screams, blood spatters and more near-misses than Botan cared to remember. Looking back on it, three months later, she wondered why. She delivered death to people; brought it to them in a whirl of pink kimono, blue hair, and a smile that was too bright to be believed. Yet, when it was them, the people she loved, coming so close to feeling Death's—her—greedy fingers around them…

She smiled bitterly as the memories washed over her…

…trembling, clenching her hands into fists, impotent rage washing over her as Karasu formed more bombs in the arena below. His pretty green eyes were staring sightlessly at the sky above him. The blood was flowing again, out of swaths of previously untouched skin, green-tinged explosions reopening old scars. She shuddered in her seat and bit her lip to avoid screaming. Next to her, Shizuru was watching apathetically, her only concession to her nervousness the stiffness in her back, and her hands shaking as they held her cigarette. Yukina and Keiko were looking on in fear. They shouldn't be here.

None of them should be here.

She watched as Kurama sacrificed himself, released his last bit of energy to have the fight end in a draw. Her heart thudded in her ears as she watched him fall, her mind visually lengthening the amount of time it took him to hit the unforgiving cement of the ring.

GET UP!

GET UP!

And then…movement!

Kurama shifted, the movement just barely noticeable from the height at which they were seated. Slowly, he raised himself to his knees, breathing obviously labored, blood still dripping from the wounds on his arms and legs.

That he lost was secondary. All Botan was thinking about, was that the teams was still whole, still alive, if not all well. They would get through this together. They had to.

Hiei's fight had been next, and she remembered thinking at the end of it that he came out the most unscathed. He'd dispatched Bui with little more than a flick of his wrist…
Blocks of cement were flying at Hiei but as usual, his face reflected only a mixture of boredom and mild irritation.

"I know I'm a small target, but could you at least try to hit me next time?"(1)

Botan could only laugh, a little hysterically, as she listened to his taunting. Bui was huge, and while Hiei was no pushover, she'd feel a lot better if he started concentrating less on his witty retorts and more on his opponent.

Bui merely released a low growl and swung another piece of the ring at him.

She remembered her awe as he summoned the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. She'd seen it before, but then it was uncontrollable. Would he really tempt fate twice?

What was she thinking?

Of course he would. None of her boys knew the meaning of the word caution, except maybe Kurama and even he bent it to fit his needs as she saw in his match against Karasu.

And then there was the sight of him, reappearing in the arena like some fallen angel of retribution. She smiled ruefully at the cheesy comparison.

But really, she thought with no small amount of pride, he had been amazing.

Murmurs rushed through the crowd like wildfire.

"That bastard's still around?"

"I thought for sure he was incinerated!"

"What the hell does it take to kill one these idiots?"

"FINISH IT, BUI!"

Botan could only watch in astonished disbelief. Next to her, Shizuru had stopped shivering and Keiko had stood, mouth gaping, while Yukina had gasped and blinked to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

The Hiei that was being pummeled by Bui certainly seemed solid. The thud of flesh on flesh was deafening, despite the shouting. When Bui paused to take a breath, Hiei merely regarded him with that impassive gaze and wondered aloud whether that was all the larger man had left.

Before the count ended, Hiei had broken him, if not in body, then certainly in spirit.

And then, something happened.

Even now, Botan wondered if she'd been seeing things. She didn't quite trust her eyes to tell her the truth. Especially if they were telling her that Hiei had met her eyes and smirked a bit before falling down in a dead faint.

But that was probably just her.

Kuwabara's fight was arguably even bloodier than Kurama's. Elder Tugoro had a not-so-secret sadistic side and he used every inch of his repulsive flesh to demonstrate using Kuwabara as his model. The fight had also renewed her feelings of guilt, even though logically, she knew that she wasn't at fault. At the time, she'd been too close to the situation to know better…

But at least she'd known.

The same couldn't be said for Kuwabara, whose innocence had never been more evident than at that moment,

"…She's just sick!"

Oh, that's perfectly sad. Your teammates have been keeping secrets from you."

Then, Elder Toguro had started his puppet show and told the world what Yuusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Botan and Shizuru already knew.

"Genkai is dead."

Keiko had turned to her, eyes watery with unshed tears.

"Botan! Is this true? Talk to me. Is Genkai really gone?"

Botan was crouched on the floor of their box seat, her arms around her waist, tears falling in tandem with thudding of her heart in her ears.

Dead. Dead. Dead. She'd taken her…

Toguro'd killed her. But Botan had taken her away.

Shizuru was leaning over the railing now, her eyes streaming with tears, mouth forming words that Botan couldn't hear.

Botan hurriedly wiped the tears with her sleeves. She saw the familiar shape of Yuusuke's school. Kuwabara would be there, she knew, his body whole, his smile as crooked and genuine as always. There wouldn't be five holes around his heart and he'd be in his regulation blue uniform, not his white fighter's coat.

Yuusuke would be there.

He'd be there, joking with Kuwabara and infuriating his teachers.

Not broken and fighting for their lives.

"Yuusuke!"

Keiko's shrill shriek resonated in the air around them. The ones still alive after Toguro's initial attack were scrambling to get away. Kurama, Koenma and Hiei at Yuusuke's back, close enough to step in, but far enough to give them their room. Kuwabara was slumped over a slowly growing puddle of blood, face down. She felt Shizuru's pain in the air, mingling with what she now knew were Yuusuke's emotions. Yukina was still sobbing, her teargems clinking on the ground.

All rules were null and void at this point. The only thing that mattered was who lived and who died.

Keiko sunk down to her knees, the life sucked out of her eyes and mouth trembling as tears fell unheeded.

Below them, Toguro and Yuusuke were facing off and the latter was gathering all the energy he had left in his finger.

One way or another, he would finish this.

Botan touched down on the school roof with barely a sound and released her hold on her oar. She walked through the halls of the school, trying to keep her steps light to avoid detection. Yuusuke's school was a small one, and all the teaches had at least some vague indication of who belonged and who didn't. Botan, with her cotton-candy blue hair, and amethyst eyes, most certainly did not. The bell signaled the end of classes and she was greeted by an unusual sight.

Yuusuke Urameshi yawning, stretching out his arms over his head, popping the muscles in his back…

…and exiting a classroom.

Botan almost fainted in surprise.

The delinquent spotted her immediately, and paused mid-stretch.

"Botan? What are you doing here?"

She pulled her infamous cat-face, but Yuusuke wasn't fooled. He was right. Something had seemed off about Botan since the Dark Tournament, and if he was a gambler—which he was—he'd place all his bets on the fact that it had something to do with everyone's favorite, anti-social demon.

His assistant pulled out a nondescript, manila folder blanks except for Koenma's royal seal. Yuusuke gave her an odd look as he swiftly read through the contents. A visible tic developed in his forehead, before he relaxed and smiled at her.

"Well? Anything serious?"

"…No. But we'll probably need everyone else anyway."

Before Botan could protest, Yuusuke had grabbed her by the wrist and started running for the exit. She stumbled for a bit before regaining her balance and pulled her wrist free and smacking him.

"What was that for, you idiot?"

Yuusuke muttered something that sounded suspiciously like almost as bad as Keiko, and decided to file that particular tidbit for blackmail purposes later.

"No time to explain now, Botan! We've got to find the others."

But Botan was not about to allow that. She paused, and then tugged with all her might.

Unfortunately, Yuusuke's momentum and body mass factored in with her lack of strength only caused her to lose her footing, and fall flat on her face. Yuusuke, ever the gentleman, didn't even blink.

"Botan? What are you doing down there? This is no time to play around. We've got to find Kuwabara and the others."

She could only grit her teeth and growl at him from her position on the ground.

After a few more minutes of running, they were finally able to locate Kuwabara at the arcade. After another letter-reading and a few muttered words between the two boys, they were off to locate everyone else. Botan was beginning to wonder what Koenma had said in that letter. It seemed that everyone was allowed to know except for her because when she'd asked Kurama, he'd only given her an enigmatic smile and said that "good things come to those who wait."

"Hey Kurama…where's Hiei?"

"Now, now Kuwabara. You know as well as I do that Hiei won't be found unless he wants to be. I don't think we need him for this one anyway, do we Yuusuke?"

The Spirit Detective seemed to consider that for a moment before a thoughtful look suddenly came into his eyes.

"I don't know Kurama. We'll have to see about that."

After everyone—except the absent fire demon—had finally been assembled, they all went back to Yuusuke's apartment. Botan tapped her feet impatiently as Yuusuke went to the kitchen to get some drinks. The second he stepped back inside his living room, she rounded on him.

"Ok Yuusuke. What's this all about? What did Koenma's letter say?"

The raven-haired teen simply looked at her, as though he didn't know how to proceed. That had Botan concerned. What could be so alarming that Yuusuke would actually take the time to think about what he was going to say? Kuwabara was content to watch for once, but Kurama seemed to have noticed Yuusuke's hesitation, and began to speak in his stead.

"Botan…have you been ok, these past few months?"

The ferry girl was confused. What did that have to do with Koenma's missive?

"Um…I've been all right, I suppose. As well as could be expected."

"You're lying."

Ah. There was the Yuusuke she knew and loved. Blunt as always.

"What are you talking about, Yuusuke?"

"You know as well as I do that you've been miserable for the past three months and damned if I know why. The old bat's back and she's fine. No harm, no foul. I know you felt guilty about taking her away before, Botan—"

She raised a hand to interrupt him, but she wasn't as strong as she wanted to be because it was trembling. Yuusuke, however, wasn't having it.

"Let me finish. You felt guilty, and even though that was stupid and none of us blamed you, I can understand. But she's back now. So I know it can't be that. Then I thought, hell, maybe it's a girl thing, you know? Like one of those stupid kicks Keiko goes on once a month…"

As he rambled, Botan took mental notes to add to her blackmail file on Yuusuke.

"..I mean really! Did I deserve that kick to the nu—"

Kurama interrupted with a cough while Kuwabara merely snickered at his best friend's misadventures in love. That brought Yuusuke back to the present.

"Yeah, anyway. The point is, we've all noticed Botan. Koenma's noticed. Kuwabara's noticed. Kurama probably knows the reason…" Here, he threw a glare at said fox demon who simply smiled that same infuriating smile.

"Hell even I noticed Botan. So, this is it. We're not gonna pry, because you won't tell us anyway, not until you're ready, and even then you'd probably wanna talk to Keiko and Shizuru and Yukina about it, before any of us guys. But the point is, we've been worried about you. So here's what we're gonna do. I talked Koenma into letting you stay here for a while." Seeing her raising a fist and, ready to protest his high-handedness, Yuusuke pulled out his trump card.

"…Please Botan. Don't be upset. We've all been worried about you. We can even have a nice little party to get the relaxation started."

A sniffle.

A whimper.

Two shiny, chocolate-brown eyes, enlarged and quivering stared back at her.

"Geez Urameshi. Where's your dignity?"

Quick as can be, Yuusuke had thrown a punch that Kuwabara hastily evaded. Kurama just sighed and rubbed his temples.

Botan burst into tears.

All three men paused in their actions and stared, horrified at the crying girl.

They were the conquerors of Maze Castle, yes.

They'd stopped Tarukane's slave ring at the height of its existence, certainly.

They'd even unknowingly derailed a plot to make Ningenkai the playground for all demons.

But, no matter what their level of skill, or how many techniques they had perfected, they were, in the end, only boys.

And any boy, no matter what race went to pieces at the first sign of a hysterical female.

So as Yuusuke awkwardly comforted her by patting her back, Kurama went to find tissues and Kuwabara rushed to get her something to drink, Botan had to smile through her tears.

Some things, it seemed, would never change.

uwaaahh!

Once again, I apologize profusely for the lateness of this chapter. I have a Calculus exam on Thursday so that's been taking up a lot of my time. College is a whole new kind of evil. But indeed. So there's a party for Botan…

Who, oh who, shall they invite?

I'll leave that for you to ponder.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a bit beyond my usual length to make up for my lateness in posting it.

So you've Read. Now please, Review!

Thank you. ;