Chapter 3: If This Isn't Torture…
"This sucks." So grumbled the bat demon as she walked down the street, kicking at anything that got in the way of her feet, with the four others that had only just set her investigation back weeks, if not months, and 'some' of whom looked about as thrilled as she did with the required grouping up as of a few hours ago.
"You don't have to tell me that one," Yusuke snarled in response, just as annoyed at the entire situation as Adrianpole was.
"Really? Could have fooled me, with your visible brain power," the demon muttered sourly.
"What was that?!" Yusuke growled in reply. It looked like the two were going to start a fistfight… again… for the sixteenth or so time. How they could remain standing with all the injuries they had given each other so far was quite the mystery to the others.
Kurama sighed and calmly stepped in between the two of them before yet another brawl broke out, "Stop it, you two. If we must work together, why don't we save this anger for the demon we're going to catch." His words and tone left no room for argument and instantly cooled the situation by several degrees. With the threat of another bloody argument gone, the group of five continued on their way. This lasted for about a few blissfully silent moments.
"Do you hear that?" Kurama suddenly asked, stopping where he was and putting his hand to his ear. Hiei and Adrianople also halted.
"Hear what?" Yusuke asked with a sigh, continuing to walk with Kuwabara for a few feet.
"Hn, shut up and pay attention, Detective," Hiei snapped. Yusuke and Kuwabara finally tried listening. Sure enough, there was the sound of a voice shouting, coming closer and closer. And it wasn't long before they recognized it.
"Adrian-chan!" the bubbly voice of the blue-haired Grim Reaper cried. The bat demon's face went completely pale and her eyes were wide with fear for her life. Botan was zooming down to the group on her oar, looking positively thrilled.
What happened next occurred in an instant. When Botan was only seconds from reaching her and pulling her into what the bat demon considered a 'deadly hug', Adrianople grabbed the closest person to her and shoved him in front of her, then forced herself out of the way. Which meant that Botan ended up crashing into not Adrianpole, but Yusuke. The two went tumbling to the ground.
"Ah, I'm safe!" the bat demon sighed happily, obviously very relieved at her escape. Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara all basically looked at her with a mixture of uncertainty and nervousness. Meanwhile, Yusuke got Botan off of him and stood up, very red in the face.
"What the hell was that for?!" he shouted. Adrianople looked at him with blinking eyes, "Oh, so you're to one I grabbed. Good, I was worried it might have accidentally been Hiei or Kurama."
"Oy, what about me?" Kuwabara asked pathetically in the background, while Yusuke seemed to be about ready to commit murder. Unfortunately, Botan would have been killed as well, since the Grim Reaper was currently in his way, hugging the attempting-to-escape bat demon tightly.
"Adrian-chan, it's been a while!" Botan smiled, "How are you and the others doing? You never write to tell me."
"Why would I write to you?" Adrianople inquired coolly. There was a short pause before Botan hit the bat demon over the head with her oar, "Adrian-chan, that's so mean!"
"Hey, that hurt, you little freak!" Adrianople groaned, rubbing the large bump on her head, "And stop calling me 'Adrian-chan', damn it!"
"Doshite?!" Botan gasped, looking crushed.
"Because I don't like it!" the bat demon replied angrily, "So stop already! Or I'll kill you!"
"Don't you threaten the Grim Reaper, Adrian-chan, you know better than that!" Botan countered, once again hitting the bat demon over the head with her oar.
"Are you trying to give me brain damage?!"
"Say you're sorry!"
"Hell no! … Ouch! Stop that!"
"Not until you apologize!"
Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke watched as the two girls fought. Yusuke was laughing his ass off as Botan hit Adrianople over the head again and again with her oar, while the other three seemed unsure of how to respond to the situation.
Finally, after being whacked about twenty times or so, Adrianople grabbed the oar from Botan, "Enough! I'm in a bad enough mood as is! I hardly need you adding to it! Now, will you kindly stop hitting me with this?!" Botan hung her head and nodded, seeming to finally understand.
The bat demon then offered the oar back to its owner, making sure to 'accidentally' bonk Yusuke in the process for laughing at her. Her reward was a hard punch to the back of the head, which caused her to fall face flat on the ground.
"Why you…" Adrianople growled as she pushed herself to her knees, but before she could say anymore, Botan quickly began a whole new conversation, "Oh, right, Adrian-chan, Koenma-sama wanted me to tell you that there's been a place set up for you to stay."
"Huh?" the bat demon blinked, "Where? And why didn't Koenma-sama tell me while I was there dragging these guys in?"
"He wanted to make sure it was all right," Botan chirped happily, "And I'm sure he knew I'd want to see you!"
"Well, at least we don't have to worry about organizing living situations for you now," Kurama smiled politely.
"Yeah, that's true," Adrianople nodded after a thought.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just tell us where she's staying so we can get rid of her for the day!" Yusuke shouted.
"Tell us quickly, Botan, I think she and Urameshi are gonna kill each other if we don't separate them soon!" Kuwabara worried.
"Baka, the answer should be obvious," Hiei snorted, before vanishing in a flash, probably off towards where Adrianople would be staying. Kuwabara started yelling after the short demon about not calling people 'baka', though Hiei was probably long gone and heard none of the human's rant. Though if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared.
"So, where are we headed?" Adrianople asked, turning her attention back to Botan. The blue-haired Grim Reaper seemed to jump in happiness, "We'll be taking you to stay with Genkai-san at her temple." Kuwabara instantly stopped his ranting towards Hiei at these words.
"We're going to go see Yukina-san?!" he shouted loudly, looking positively thrilled, before running off, "I'm coming, my love Yukina-san!" It was not long before he was out of sight.
"Um… what the hell was that?" Adrianople blinked, looking rather scared and confused.
"Yukina-san is a koorime who stays at the temple with Genkai," Kurama explained, with a soft, knowing smile, "Kuwabara has taken quite a liking to her."
"I see," the bat demon said hesitantly.
"Yeah, well, we'll wait here for a few minutes before heading there," Yusuke grumbled, "It hopefully won't take Kuwabara long to realize that he's headed in the wrong direction."
They finally arrived at Genkai's temple some time later. Upon reaching the top of the stairs and entering the yard, the group of five saw that Hiei was standing there, leaning against a tree, looking somewhat peeved.
"Took you long enough," he snorted.