The Biography of Hiei and Botan : Mourner's Eyes

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep on leaving them. I just got my wisdom teeth out, so this might take longer than usual. I can only eat soft food, like eggs, yogurt, and pudding. Not bad... but not all that fun either. I'll stop boring you guys now. Read and Review!

I

Kurama (kitsune): I scrambled to Botan, shushing her. I reached around her, cradling her for a few short moments as I struggled to get a relaxing mix I had made myself. I pinched her cheek, slapping her lightly.

"Botan? Stay with me. I've got you. You're going to be okay."

Hiei backed up the wall, running his hands up and over his face and through his hair. He stood and walked to my side. The color wasn't back in his face yet.

"K-kurama?"

It was a fight to get the words out of her shaking lips.

"That's right. It's me. You're safe." Her arms wrapped around me, squeezing and tugging the sleeves of my shirt. I had never held such a desperate and frightened woman quite like that before. "I'm going to give you some medicine. Just open your mouth."

She parted her lips, her breaths shallow and quick.

"O-okay."

She wasn't crying anymore. Her chest heaved as she tried to gain control over herself. I used a dropper and gave her three drops.

"There." I patted her head, feeling a bit awkward at trying to comfort her. "You're alright."

I slid out of her grasp, and it seemed that she was okay with that. I turned to see Hiei staring at her from the corner of his eye. His arms were crossed, but I knew that he wasn't going to move. He wasn't done with her. I could tell that something was on his mind... that he was only going to share when I was gone.

So I left.

Notes from Botan's Journal (spirit): Kurama's solution made my adrenalin slow its flow. When he left, Hiei walked up to the table, his eyes nervous. I assumed that his palms were sweaty.

"Onna, how much do you really know about the Christmas Massacre?"

I hiccuped.

"J-just as much as you t-t-told me."

He glared at me.

"If you're lying onna I'll–"

"I'm not lying!" My voice went a bit too high pitch. "Why would I l-lie to you?"

Hiei let out a breath.

"Fine. Calm down." He was squeezing the inside of his pockets. "Souls that were killed in the Christmas Massacre never... they never went anywhere."

I didn't get it.

"What do you mean?"

The Koorime crossed his arms. His face was so pale.

"The souls were destroyed so their hidden information, pain, would ever get out." His eyes connected with mine. "You're not supposed to exist." I was rooted to the spot. "That memory... of you getting executed as a royal... it was during the Massacre. It was the King. I'm sure of it."

I had a nervous flutter growing in my stomach.

"What does it mean?"

Hiei frowned, his eyes so steely and wary. It was like I was a ticking bomb ready to go off at any second.

"It means that if Enma found out who you really were he would kill you."

Koenma (Son of God): Botan was such a great asset to us that we just assumed that she was by Nature's grace. That is why my Father gave her the gift that many nigens and demons have died trying to get.

Rekai History Expert (spirit): The Queen of the North never left the hearts of the nigen children. No matter how much their parents tried to convince them that Santa Claus was not real, the children shook their head and stuck out their lower lip.

Every year they would leave out food and trinkets, and every year the parents would throw them out in the next days trash.

The one thing that never died about her was her song.

She would sing the children a lullaby that was quite common in Makai. Her first link between nigens and demons. It was haunting yet could be set to a toy box's melody. The children never stopped singing it.

Kurama: I remember this one time that Hiei actually had a question about Botan. It was right after we had rescued his sister. Hiei and I were walking together, the long way back to Rekai. We were not all that enthusiastic to wait on Koenma until he gave us a task.

As we were walking, enjoying the silence, Hiei broke it. Something that barely ever happens.

"Fox, what is the baka ferry onna like?"

If I had been drinking, I would have spit the liquid up.

"Eh?" I remember shoving my hands in my pockets. "Why?"

Then Hiei turned defensive.

"No reason baka kitsune!" There was a long... tense... and even awkward silence. "It's just... her eyes don't match her."

I frowned.

"What do you mean, Hiei?"

He turned to me, looking at me like I was the dumbest soul to walk the planet. After a few seconds of me not responding, he shook his head.

"Baka. She's got mourner's eyes." I still said nothing. "The onna! Her eyes look sad all the time."

I almost scoffed at his ridiculousness.

"Botan is fine. She's happy and very energetic, as you have seen." Hiei looked off into the distance, pouting like a little child. "It's just your imagination."

II

Ayame (spirit): Botan became a bit more quiet at work. She would still talk to me, but the conversations were not what they used to be, you know? It was really sad actually. I felt empty inside.

George (ogre): We all tried guessing what could have happened to her. Even Koenma was concerned. But we never found out why.

Yukina (Koorime): Botan came over more often. I've always loved her as a sister. She's always been there for me, and before I knew that Hiei was my brother, she would support me. And so when she came over, crying, there was only one thing to do.

I took her in.

Notes from Botan's Journal: I soon said goodbye to Kurama and Hiei and I left together. He kept on telling me that I could never ever tell anyone in Rekai about my soul. I had never heard him talk to me so much before.

"Hiei... what if they find out? What if they kill me?"

The Koorime twitched when I said 'kill me'. We both saw my younger self being beheaded.

"They wouldn't do that."

He didn't sound convinced. His red eyes looked up into the sky and saw that it was starting to rain.

"So... I'll be seeing you?"

Hiei just crossed his arms.

"Hn."

I summoned my oar and there was this odd pull in my stomach telling me not to leave... but what else could I do?

"Um, Hiei?" He looked up. "Thank you." I ran my fingers through my blue hair. It felt dry, stiff... brittle. "I don't know... what I would have done if... if you hadn't helped me."

The fire demon found my eyes, and I still saw the fear in them. Like I said, not of me but for me.

"Don't thank me, onna." His shoulders suddenly relaxed. "Now you have to be more careful, do you understand me, baka ferry onna?"

I nodded.

"Yes." I mounted the oar. "See you around."

Genkai (nigen): Botan came over a lot and she seemed to be falling apart from the inside. She would always be with Yukina, and at night, I couldn't help but listen in on their conversations.

Yukina: At the dead of night, Botan and I were still whispering away. Her pink eyes were shimmering in the lack of moonlight.

"I'm so s-s-sorry Yukina."

I hugged her to me, knowing what a deep fear felt like.

"It's okay, Botan. You can tell me."

She sighed and trembled against me.

"I... I... Hiei h-h-helped m-me about three w-w-weeks ago." I let her take a few breaths. "I had been having these nightmares, but they didn't feel like dreams, you know?"

Flashes of the nightmares of being taken by Tarukane entered my mind.

"Yes, I understand."

Botan slackened, and she was whispering into my neck.

"My nightmares... they weren't really nightmares."

I didn't say anything.

"They were memories."

III

Kurama: Hiei came to me about two days after he had brought Botan in unconscious. He unlocked the window to my bedroom and that was where I found him. Sitting on my bed, his eyes hard and stony.

"What a pleasant surprise." I sat down next to him. "Who should I owe this appearance to?"

"The onna."

A long pause. I hadn't mentioned it to him. I didn't ask him what he saw or why Botan was so pale when she said goodbye. I was nice about it.

"What about her?"

Hiei looked around and he opened his Jagan. I didn't feel him enter my mind. Either he was keeping track of someone else or he was making sure that no one was surrounding the house.

"You can't speak a word of his to anyone, Kurama." He doesn't usually use my name. It's always 'kitsune' or 'fox'. "It's a matter of an innocent life."

I bowed my head.

"Hiei, you've always had my word with you."

The Koorime looked at me, and then away again. This really had been eating at him.

"The last time... when... when Bo-the ferry onna was here... the both of us discovered something."

Enma (God): I remember the day that I called Botan into my office. She was so flustered. This was at least a century before the Rekai Tentei were put into existence. Her pink eyes looked up into mine as she dropped to the floor and bowed.

"Enma, sir, I am honored that you requested my immediate presence!"

I got out of my chair and bent down to the floor, using my large hand to lift her head so she was looking at me.

"Botan, you are the purest soul in the Three Worlds." She said nothing as she turned bright red. "I know that Koenma and the others have said this, but all those times were not compliments. They were facts." She still said nothing. "You've been a great asset to us, you are the best ferry girl my son and I have ever seen, and I would like to give you a reward for all of your hard work."

She looked up into my eyes, those bubble-gum pink irises shining.

"I-I d-d-don't under s-stand, sir."

I knew that the first thought was a raise, but Koenma gave her that already.

"I'm speaking of immortality."

Yukina: I was worried. What kind of memories? Why was Botan so distressed over it?

"Yukina... I saw myself die." She hugged me tighter than before. "I was... I was a kid... a-a-a-and I was beheaded... by a demon."

Naturally I was concerned.

"By what demon?"

My shirt was getting wet because of her tears.

"The King of the North."

My eyes widened. I knew that name.

"That's i-impossible, Botan."

"No... it's true." She sobbed. "Yukina... I had to get if off my chest. Hiei... Hiei said that all souls from the Christmas Massacre were destroyed."

My throat was dry.

"W-what?"

She only pulled me tighter.

"If... if they find out that... I'm... a soul from the Massacre... they'll kill me."

Genkai: Even my old heart froze in my chest. I backed away from Yukina's door so fast that I almost slammed into the wall. I quickly snuck back to my bedroom and sat on the bed.

Botan... a live soul from the Christmas Massacre.

Incredible. It was like talking about the Loch Ness Monster or what really created the Stone Hedge. No one would really stand by you. It was just a story.

Well, this myth just happened to come true. In my own temple, none the less.

Kurama: I got Hiei to come downstairs before he told me and I put the tea kettle on the stove.

"What did you find out?"

He was sitting on the window sill. He knew he knew that he could trust me.

"She's... she's got... a past... that could get her killed."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Did she witness something? Like a crime or–"

"She was in the Christmas Massacre." My eyes felt like they shot out of my skull. "She was killed by the King."

For a moment, I couldn't breathe. I sat down in the chair.

"Tell me." My eyes closed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Everything."

Enma: She looked confused. She must have never heard of this gift before.

"You know the story of Adam and Eve?" Botan nodded. "They were the first people to get this reward, but as you know, they were stripped of it's title when Eve ate the apple."

She twisted a blue lock around one of her long fingers.

"B-but sir, I thought that was just a myth. A fable."

"No, it's not." I felt myself smile. "Immorality will, as everyone knows, allow you to live for all eternity." She wasn't sure if I was joking with her or not. I could tell by the way her eyebrows were down close to her eyes, making a crease in the middle. "You will work next to Koenma and I, and I'm sure that you will love it."

Botan looked around.

"I'm not sure what to say." She found my eyes again. "How many others have gotten this gift?"

"Only two others."

Adam and Eve.

There was a long silence. She smiled up and looked like the angel that she was.

"I accept."

IV

Notes from Botan's Journal: On all of my lunch breaks I would try and find Hiei. It's strange, how two people can come together. I can't say that are friends, but he actually talks to me other than his famous reply, 'Hn'.

He told me to just stay calm. That nothing was going to happen.

But we both knew that I couldn't play it cool. Not when you know that you shouldn't exist. That you were part of a Rekai coverup.

"Onna, if they didn't know then, then they don't know now."

I rubbed my arms.

"I just keep on thinking... that... somehow Enma will find out and come for me." I tried to smile at him. "My oar can't outrun God."

He didn't smile back. Not that I was expecting him to.

"Hn." Hiei didn't say anything for a long while. "If you ever really run into trouble involving Rekai and Enma... you have nothing to worry about."

"What are you talking about? The Three Worlds will be out to find my head!"

He shook his head, his eyes distant.

"No." He met my eyes again. "There are demons out there that would do anything to keep a soul like yours in existence."

Kurama: He told me. He told me about watching Botan die. He stopped after that part, catching his breath. Everything he saw, he said, was genuine memory. It was too vivid to be some mere nightmare. Besides, how would Botan be able to produce the images of the Christmas Massacre when she had only heard about it?

"Oh... oh God, Hiei this is serious."

He was wringing his hands. He wasn't losing the pitch ranges of his voice, but he was still just as worried as I was. I've been his best friend for... ages. I know when Hiei is actually feeling something other than apathetic annoyance.

"I know. I know."

I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"We need to get her out of there! She's not safe! It takes one slip up–"

"No!" He shouted at me, his Jagan still glowing. "If she just runs away, whether it's with me, or you, or both of us, then she'll definitely be found out!"

I sighed.

"We have to do something. She's too valuable to the Three Worlds to be put in jeopardy."

We both looked down out our feet. I felt so small. I had saved the Three Worlds several times with Yusuke and the Rekai Tentei. But I had the feeling that even if we got back together and took Botan away... we wouldn't have even a thirty percent chance of succeeding.

"So... so you saying that we just leave her to fend for herself?"

Hiei bristled.

"I'm not saying that I like the idea of Botan's soul being taken away from her!"

We were both silent. My eyes widened and I stared at him with an incredulous look on my face. I couldn't believe my ears. His own eyes were wide and his face... it was turning the lightest shade of pink.

Hiei actually said Botan's name.

Enma: "You have to swear your allegiance to me. To our work."

She nodded.

"Of course. Not a doubt in my mind."

She wasn't lying. I raised my hand and pressed it to her forehead.

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "By the power of my hand and the Three Worlds, I give Botan never ending life!"

Bright light flashed from his hands and I heard her scream, a mixture of euphoria and pain. There was no turning back for her now. She was bound to us.

V

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews from last time! PLEASE leave just as many! Um, did you like everything? Any OCCness? Nothing I hope. Um, yeah. If you guys like Harry Potter, than check out my new fic: The Chronicles of Severus Snape. Peace! Review!

-mia

p.s. The Adam and Eve story might be wrong, I'm not a Bible expert, so if any part bothers you, review or private message me. I can take any form of criticism.