CHAPTER 8

Sometime later Botan finally got out of the shower. She quickly dressed and blow dried her hair, brushing out any tangles with the brush she'd left in there the night morning before. When she was done she stepped out of the bathroom and was immediately confront by Keiko, Shizuru, and Yukina, who had been waiting for her to come out.

"All right, spill it," Shizuru ordered.

"Spill what?" Botan asked, leaning against the closed bathroom door.

"You know what I mean," the older girl said folding her arms. "Keiko told us all about how weird you and Hiei were acting when you got back . Now spill. What did you and Hiei do?"

Botan got the feeling she'd been backed into a corner and now there was no way out. She was never very good in this kind of situation. She knew she would say the wrong thing even if she tried not to. "Uh..." she stammered trying to think of something. "We didn't do anything," she finally got out as she felt her cheeks turning red. Stupid telltale face! "Hiei saved me from an avalanche. Then we sorta got lost in the storm and had to spend the night in a cave."

"A cave?" Keiko said. "Did you and Hiei do anything while you were in that cave by any chance?"

"Uh... ummm..." Botan looked down at her feet. "I don't remember..."

"You don't remember or you don't want to tell us?" Shiruru pressed.

"I don't remember," the blue haired girl said again. "All I remember is waking up and realizing it was late."

"Oh really?" Shizuru raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember falling asleep but you remember waking up the next morning?"

"Well today is the same day, you know," Botan pointed out. "and Hiei said that we'd better get going so I got dressed and-"

"Hold it!" Keiko interrupted as Yukin'as eyes grew wide. "You got dressed?"
"Well I'd taken off my jacket," Botan said groping for an explaination. "I was feeling hot."

"I bet you were," Keiko said slyly.

"Well... we did have a fire going," Botan tried to explained as she realized anything she said now would just make things worse. "What are you guys trying to make me say? That I made love to him or something?"

"You tell us," Shizuru challenged.

"Well I didn't!" Botan said. She was lying (or she thought she was. She wasn't sure) but they didn't need to know that.

"Are you sure?" Keiko wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure as I'll ever be," Botan replied, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Hey, it's lunchtime. Let's head downstaris and get something. I'm starved."

Before the others could reply or stop her, Botan dashed to the dor and rushed out of the room, slamming the door behind her as she went.

The others girls stared after her then Keiko asked, looking right at Shizuru. "What do you think?"

Shizuru lit a cigarette before she said. "That girl is defiantely hiding something."

Hiei was able to leave the boys room without the others spotting him and asking more questions. It wasn't that he was afraid of letting anything slip he just didn't want to be nagged about it. It was none of their business anyway. Besides; he had a certain onna he needed to talk to. Luckily for him she just so happened to be running down the hall toward him. He waited and when she was close enough he reached out his hand and grabbed her wrist, bringing her to a stop.

"Ouch!" she squeaked, feeling the pull on her arm. "Don't do that! It hurts!"

"How else was I going to stop you?" he asked, letting her go.

"You could have just said 'I need to talk to you'," she said, rubbing her sore limb. "You didn't need to try to pull my arm out of its socket."

"Whatever," he said.

"So what do you want?" she demanded, now in a foul mood.

"I'm making sure you're not telling anyone what happened," he replied.

"Like I'd brag about it," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips. "But incase you're wondering; No I didn't, even though Keiko and Shizuru already suspect something."

"What did you say to them?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" she answered. Holy crap, Hiei! Don't you think I can keep a secret? "I didn't say anything. All I said was that we spent the night in a cave-"

"You what?" he growled.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong with saying that?"

"Nevermind," he said, folding his arms. "You're too stupid to figure that out for yourself. I'm not even going to bother explaining."

Botan gave him a look of annoyance. He knew stuff she didn't and now he wasn't going to tell her what they were. "Fine," she said, folding her arms. "At least tell me how it could have happened."

He shook his head, his face saying 'you're really stupid. I think I explained this already'. "As you already know, my body has ben going through some changes," he explained, as slowly as possible so she would understand it. "Recently I've been starting to notice females... more than usualy. Especially certain parts."

Botan jumped right on that one. "So you're turning into a pervert?" she screeched.

"No!" he snapped, giving her a look so sharp that could cut diamonds. I didn't say that you stupid ferry girl! Let me finish before you make assumptions like that! "I'm not that fool Yusuke. I'm just saying I'm starting to feel... lonely. I feel like I need someone to be with me. Someone to be..." his voice trailed off as he looked away from her, not liking what he had to say. "Well you might call them a lover or something."

"A lover? You?" she asked, surprised by such a forward answer. "Is that why you've been acting so weird lately? Why you've been avoiding everyone?"

He still wouldn't look at her but he nodded once. "I was trying to resist certain urges by avoiding women."

Was? "So is that why you didn't want to come into Burger King?" she questioned.

Once again he nodded.

"Does Kurama know?"

"No, but he suspects it."

"What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Last night when we were in that cave you asked me to help you through this," she expalined, remembering something from the night before. "Did that mean you wanted me to... date you or something?"

"Something like that," he said still being forward.

"Okay..."

"If you want to know the rest of my problem I'll tell you in as few words as possible but get to the point so you won't ask again," he said, looking back at her. You'd better pay attention, Botan because it concerns you! "The changes in my body have also made me feel an attaction toward you."

She stared at him. "Me?" she asked, too surprised to say more.

He nodded. "That little incident last night didn't help," he went on. "It made things get out of control and we made a mistake."

"So you know what happened?" she asked, hopefully.

He shook his head. "No, I do not. After I gave you that kiss everything went black." he looked angry. "It was a mstake."

She wanted to ask him some more questions but he seemed distant now, as if he was reliving something unpleasent. Before anything else could be said by either, he turned and walked down the hall to the elevator. She watched him go, sorting out the things he said. So his mind was maturing. Only differently than most peoples.

And he feels attraction toward me, she thought. No wonder he was acting so strange. My pressence was making his hormones go out of wack. At least I think its hormones. I'm not very good with how guys mature. She felt her cheeks turning red. This isn't good. she also headed toward the elevator. I think I'll do some ice skating later to clear my head.

Unknown to either her or Hiei, Kurama had been listening in one the whole conversation, just out of sight around the corner. It all makes sense now, he thought, coming out of his hiding spot.

A/N

Yeah, I updated rather quickly this time. I didn't really have anything else to do so here's the next chapter and there's the whole stupid explaination for why Hiei was acting weird. Botan was never very good at keeping a secret. Now you know the whole story. But there's more fun to come. Just be patient. Thank you very much and thanks for all the reviews. You're all great.