Hey readers, and welcome to chapter six. I'd like to thank all who reviewed, you guys make this possible. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Is this really an issue? We all know I don't own it.
"Are you sure it was wise instructing me to give him that letter?"
Toguro looked up from a lab report. His aide, Karasu, stood in front of his desk, examining the man who sat behind the large slab of oak. In contrast to Enma/Koenma's office, the co-director's office was rather dreary. The walls and floor were as white as a dead man's skin. No pictures or various items adorned the desk. There were bookshelves, but it was safe to assume their contents had not been touched for a while. Regarding his aide behind the sunglasses he always wore, Toguro put the lab report down and laced his hands under his chin.
"Enma's time is coming to an end. Koenma has been getting far too ahead of himself. That boy needs to be put in his proper place before he takes things out of hand."
"And you're not worried about him trying to fight you for control?"
Silence lingered in the room. Karasu stood patiently in front of the desk, awaiting his superior's answer. He knew that Toguro was not searching for an answer, but rather deciding whether he should speak or not. The issue of the Phoenix Project was a sensitive one, and not just to Koenma. Everyone in the entire lab was concerned about it. Barring the fact that, to some it was controversial on more than just one subject, it was also a major liability issue. More times than one cared to count had someone been injured or nearly killed while working. After a moment, Toguro laid his hands down flat upon his desk, and looked Karasu straight in the eye. The aide did not flinch, but met his superior's gaze.
"There won't be a problem. Koenma is headstrong yes, but he yields to his father's orders."
A poisonous smile spread across his face until it flowed sickeningly from ear to ear.
"Just like a faithful dog, Koenma cannot disobey his master."
Karasu nodded. "I see sir." And with that, he turned and left the office.
Toguro leaned back in his chair. No, Koenma would not go against his dear old dad's wishes, Toguro was sure of it. And if he tried…
Well, let's just say, he'd have quite the competition going on.
Botan's stomach growled. Great, now how was she supposed to focus on the test when all she could think about was her empty stomach? Just try to bear with it Botan, lunch will be in a few minutes. You've only got a few questions left ,so just hang in there. Easier said than done. As she calculated her way down to the last question, her stomach once again made its needs known, much to her disdain. Mentally, she shushed the problematic organ and prayed that no one else around her had heard. She looked back at her test paper. Crap, how was she supposed to solve that mess of numbers? 'Find x' the directions told her. Sure, if she knew what the heck she was doing! Seriously, why did the problem even have brackets? And fractions? Really? Those weren't in the study guide packet! Darn that Kisaragi-sensei, putting things down that they had not even-
"Botan? Aren't you finished with your test?"
Pink eyes floated up to find out the owner of the voice. Kisaragi-sensei looked down at Botan, curiosity and concern marring her pretty features. The teacher's head was directly above her desk, blocking out the bright glare from the fluorescents. Botan stared back at her instructor, at a loss for words. Then, speech descended on golden little wings, sinking itself into her brain, giving back her often over-used ability.
"Oh, yeah. Just one last question to go! Sorry if I'm taking so long." She said, chuckling. Lovely, now the teacher was confronting her! Could this morning get any worse? She had already been late to school, had tripped over her own feet walking into class, in front of the whole class, and now she couldn't even finish her math test on time! God, Mondays sucked!
Kisaragi-sensei stood up, revealing the harsh light behind her (Botan had to shield her eyes from the sudden optical assault) and smiled.
"Alright, I was just getting a little worried. The bell rang a couple of minutes ago, I thought that you might want to get to lunch before it was over."
What? Lunch? Now? She missed the jump-start of the opportunity to get food? Yep, this was definitely shaping up to be a typical Monday. In a flash, Botan wrote down a random number for x, tossed the paper at her teacher, grabbed her things, and zipped out the door; her stomach cheering her on all the while.
Sounds of talking, utensils clicking, and chairs shuffling swelled and merged into a pitch-varied hum as Botan zipped into the cafeteria, obento from her locker clutched in her hand. It didn't take her long to pick out her friends, and like an experienced sea-captain churning through stormy waters, she navigated through the maze of bodies, chairs, and tables. Keiko smiled at Botan as she pulled up a seat next to Kuwabara. Yusuke quirked an eyebrow.
"Hey, what took you so long? We were getting worried about you."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Botan replied, sitting down, "I blanked on the last few minutes of my test. I didn't realize so much time had passed."
"It's okay. Lunch is only a quarter of the way over anyway."
"So," Keiko asked as Botan pulled out a chair and sat down, "how was your weekend?"
Botan paused before answering. Her weekend? Her weekend had been great, nothing bad had happened. However, it was not a lack of events that stilled her tongue, but the events themselves. Although the tests turned up no new results as of yet, she had gone after hours and talked with Kurama. The highlight of her day, she had left his cage with a beaming smile on her face. Afterward, she and Hiro had stopped by a tea house and chatted for a little while over the last week's findings of the demon binding and mutating a virus. But she couldn't tell Keiko all that; so she told her all that she could, peppy smile placed ever so carefully about her face.
"My weekend was good. Hiro and I stopped at a tea house after work and chatted for a little bit. Other than that, things were pretty quiet."
"Who's Hiro?" Kuwabara asked.
Botan waved her hand, "Oh he's just someone I work with."
"What does he do?" Yusuke asked.
"Uh…well…he does…stuff…related to the lab…" Oh joy! Now she was being questioned about the lab. About the very information she was not supposed to divulge. To anyone. Botan floundered, trying to get the subject off her co-worker and the lab. Her friends would not budge.
"What kind of stuff?" Keiko asked, chin resting on her hands. Botan sighed and hung her head.
"I can't tell you."
Silence reigned for a few minutes as three pairs of eyes stared at their friend. The room-temperature air heated up a bit as Keiko let the tiniest hint of aggravation infect her tone.
"What do you mean you can't tell us?"
Kuwabara and Yusuke remained silent, more curious than angry. Only Keiko seemed perturbed. Botan looked at her best friend as earnestly as she could. She couldn't help the shadow of guilt that passed over her heart, but what choice had she? What went on in Libra was top-secret. The fact that demons existed alone, would throw the whole public into panic. Botan loved her friends, would die for them if she had to, but she also loved her job, and would not open her mouth to lose it. She sighed.
"The things Libra does are top-secret and cannot be revealed by anyone at the lab. What I told you earlier about how Libra is the pursuit of medical science, in where we seek to improve to overall health of humanity is all I can tell you. In fact, that may even be too much. I'm sorry guys, if I could, I'd tell you all in a heartbeat, but I can't."
"So you're keeping secrets?" Keiko asked. Botan stared back, stunned.
"What? No! Well, not secrets per say, but it's information I can't tell you and-"
Keiko got up and pushed in her chair. "Never mind Botan." And with that, she turned, dumped her tray, and left the cafeteria. Botan sank down in her seat, and put her head down on the table. Now she felt worse than guilty, she felt downright rotten. She had not meant to make Keiko angry, but what could she do? Botan whimpered, she felt horrid. Yusuke put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry Botan, she's just been really worried about you for the past week, and she's just not used to you keeping her out of the loop is all. She'll come around. Don't worry."
"But Yusuke, I feel so horrible. I didn't mean to make her mad, it's just-"
"We know Botan," Kuwabara interrupted, "and Keiko does too. Like Urameshi said, she's just worried about you. In fact, we all are."
Botan looked at the orange-haired boy, perplexed. For what reason would they be worrying about her?
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."
"You've been spacey and quiet. That's not like you. Whenever we ask you, you just smile and say that your job's running you ragged. Out of the three of us, Keiko's the most worried. She knows there's something you're not telling us, and it's really getting to her."
For the longest time, Botan sat there, head down, face blank. It showed? That much? Her friends were beginning to worry? A heavy sigh heaved forth from her lungs. She needed more practice on being stoic.
"Alright then," she said, standing up. Yusuke began spluttering out words.
"No, no Botan, we're not saying this is your fault! In fact, we weren't even blaming you, we were just-"
"I know Yusuke." Botan interrupted, pushing her chair in, "but I can still go apologize to Keiko can't I? I kind of feel like she deserves it." Bidding her friends a quick goodbye, Botan turned on her heel, and raced out of the cafeteria. Her footsteps echoed in the halls, her surroundings dead silent. Left, right, left right, the only things she could spot on either side of her were classrooms that she knew for a fact Keiko would not be in. Finally, near the end of the hall, Botan came across the girls' restroom. A logical place if there was any. Botan pushed open the door and stepped in.
Water ran into an crème-colored sink, splattering the sides with tiny, clear droplets. Keiko stood at the sink, splashing water onto her face. She looked up upon hearing the entrance of another person. When she saw who it was standing before her, she didn't move for a moment. Then, as if in a trance, she slowly reached out and turned off the water. She also turned her head back to her reflection and gazed at it with a rather blank look. Not a word fell from Botan's lips; she waited for her friend to speak. After the greedy, slurping sounds of the drain had faded, Keiko took a breath.
"I'm sorry. I realize that I had no right to be angry with you. Well, as angry as I was anyway. But you're really worrying me Botan. You never talk about yourself much, and since you've started working at the lab, you haven't talked about yourself at all, or anything relating to your life for that matter. For such an open person, you seem to be keeping quite a number of skeletons in your closet. At least, it seems that way to me."
Keiko didn't look away from the mirror, and for a while, Botan remained silent. She knew Keiko was right. She was indeed keeping a surprising number of skeletons in the closet for someone with her kind of personality. She could feel her mind becoming entangled within the web of secrets and lies that had been spun out over the weeks, months, and years, and not just by her. Her mother, her co-workers, and even her boss had been telling her lies. A few days ago, she found herself thrust into the middle of the web, unintentionally breaking it apart, and had marveled at the red spider she'd seen sitting there, smiling at her. Unlike her mother, who had gotten used to the idea of working with demons in very short order, for Botan, it still delivered quite a shock to the system. However, Keiko, Yusuke, and Kuwabara weren't the only ones being kept out of the loop; Hiro was being kept from some information as well. So far, no one knew about her after-hours visits to Kurama, and hopefully, no one would.
Feeling the weight of watchful eyes upon her, she focused her vision to find Keiko now looking at her head on. While the expression on her face did not change, her eyes held a small spark of determined flame.
"It's just that I don't want you drifting away from us," Keiko continued, "you're my best friend. And to me, it feels like that lab you work at is pulling you away from me."
Botan smiled. It seemed she was not the only one feeling lonely. She walked over and laid her hand on Keiko's shoulder. Her gaze sought her friend's eyes, and Keiko had to turn her head to avoid being blinded by the warm light that flowed from Botan's face. Botan pulled Keiko into an embrace, so she could better burn the words she spoke into her best friend's mind; and so she could prevent herself from running away from the truth.
"I'm the one who should be sorry Keiko. It's just that I've had to make some pretty big adjustments lately, and I'm still reeling from them. But remember: I'm your friend first, and a lab tech at Libra second. If I have something that I need to talk to you about, and I can talk to you about it…trust me. I will come to you. That's a promise."
She let go of Keiko and stood back, observing the other girl's reaction. Keiko didn't turn to face Botan, but the bluenette thought she could detect a faint smile adorning her friend's lips. Also, the tension in the air had disappeared, leaving where they were standing an ordinary bathroom once more. The muted ticking of watch hands brought Botan back to the world, and she glanced down at her watch. She went for the door, but stopped with her hand braced against the wooden surface. Keiko had turned away from the mirror and was watching Botan, but that was all. Botan smiled.
"Since lunch is almost over, I'm going to head on to class. You're welcome to join me if you like. But judging by the look on your face, I'm thinking you're going to want to stay here for a few more minutes to think things over."
"Botan?"
The tone of Keiko's voice was different. Instead of the confident tone of someone who carried herself very well, Keiko sounded like a frightened child, alone and lost in a deep, dark forest. Botan regarded her.
"Yes?"
"If you wanted to talk to me, but it involved what you're doing at the lab…would you still talk regardless?"
At a loss for words, Botan stared at Keiko. Would she tell her? And if she did, what would Keiko say? After a few minutes of silence, Botan looked down.
"I don't know."
She walked out of the bathroom, leaving Keiko to ponder her response.
Koenma sat at his desk, head down, shoulders slumped. To the uninformed eye, the assistant director appeared to be tired. But Hiro, who had worked with Koenma for a good few years, knew better than that. He closed the door behind him and took a few quiet steps toward Koenma, afraid that just the simple noise of his footfalls would break the man in front of him. He looked down at his supervisor. This man, who held such a commanding presence within the lab, whose strength had guided many a scientist at Libra, whom many depended upon and revered, was slowly disintegrating in front of him. Hiro took another tentative step forward.
"Koenma sir?" he asked, edging closer to Koenma's desk. Koenma brought his head up. He looked ragged. Dark purple circles hung underneath his eyes, his pallor, although not deathly white, was white enough to alarm Hiro. He appeared, for all the world, as if his very soul had been sucked out of him. The corners of Koenma's lips twitched upward in a wraith-like smile.
"Yes, Hiro? What is it?"
"Well I was just….I was wondering…" Hiro trailed off. Koenma's appearance was more than alarming. It down right scared the aide. He stopped bumbling and sighed. "Koenma sir, you look awful. If I may be permitted to know, what happened to you?"
For the longest time, Hiro received no answer. Those dull, listless eyes rolled off of him to various other areas around the office before settling back on the inquirer. Koenma heaved a sigh, and pushed himself up off his desk and sat back in his chair. This action did not improve his appearance. Hiro watched what difficulty his boss had just to perform this simple action alone. Koenma ran a hand through his hair, took a breath, and let yet another sigh sail out from his parted lips. His other hand dug around in his white coat pocket. He wasn't looking at Hiro. After a few minutes of fishing, he produced a tri-folded letter. He thrust the paper at Hiro.
"Read this."
Curious, Hiro took the letter from Koenma and began to read.
Koenma,
The name was written in a very elegant script. Just from the handwriting alone, Hiro's heart froze. If Toguro was behind this, there was nothing good to come. He clenched his fist and began to read. As his eyes passed over more and more words, his heart sank deeper and deeper into the pit of his stomach.
I apologize to be sending a letter of a somber subject such as this to you, but I fear the matter cannot be avoided. We must move forward in the Phoenix Project. We cannot afford to wait for a dying man to make a miraculous recovery.
I also understand you are not privy to all the details of the Phoenix Project. In order to make up for that, I will submit to you a full summary of the objective behind the Phoenix Project. In the meantime, I request that everything be put under my jurisdiction. I.E., until you have the full information, I will be in control. If you wish to argue this matter, then converse with your father. This was his wish, should anything befall him. However, we must be swift in moving onto the second stage; as I said earlier, we cannot afford to wait for a man on his death-bed. If you have questions (which I am sure you do) consult with my aide, Karasu.
-Toguro
That slimy, weasel bastard! Hiro ground his teeth to avoid crumpling the letter in his hands. How dare he so slyly snatch control! And how could Enma do that? Why in hell would he give such a dangerous, unstable man control of an operation that the fate of the entire lab hung on? What had Enma been thinking? Hiro handed the letter back to Koenma, mind near to bursting with a thousand questions, but mouth dutifully sewn shut. After all, what good would questioning Koenma do? For all intents and purposes, Koenma knew about as much as he did as to what Toguro was thinking. Or Enma for that matter.
Koenma re-folded the letter and placed it within a desk drawer. Hiro watched Koenma as the assistant director folded his hands underneath his chin and looked off into the far corner of the room. The lifeless, blank gaze had been replaced by a wet gleam of utter hopelessness and despair. After a moment, Koenma looked down at his desk.
"What do we do now, Hiro?"
Koenma was asking him? As if he knew what to do! He was just as dumbstruck as Koenma at this point. Hiro fiddled with his collar before answering as best he could.
"To be honest sir, I'm not sure. I think the best approach for now would be to appease Toguro, then go and consult with your father. It could be that Toguro was bluffing when he said that it was your father's wish that he would gain control if something befell him. As for what to do right now…I'm at just as much of a loss as you are, sir."
Silence took over. Hiro continued to gaze at Koenma, unsure if he had heard anything his aide had been saying. Then, Koenma stood up, shoved in his chair, and rushed for the door. Hiro followed Koenma.
"Sir? Are you okay?" Hiro questioned, concern raising his voice a couple decibels. Koenma turned back to his aide, hand wrapped around the doorknob. He let go, and grabbed Hiro by the shoulders and pulled him in close. Such strange contact from his boss made the aide freeze up in a matter of seconds. Koenma's eyes glittered with a cold determination. He narrowed them as he brought Hiro in closer.
"Hiro, do you remember what I said about Botan getting near Karasu and Toguro?"
Hiro nodded, still shocked by their close proximity. Koenma continued, unfazed by the man's uncomfortable look.
"Stick to that order. If possible, don't let her out of your sight for a moment. She's relatively knew to the Phoenix Project, and mark my words, Toguro will try to use her. I'm not sure how, but I know he will. Promise me Hiro, you will not let them within a five foot radius of her. Even more if you can prevent it."
Hiro nodded again. Koenma smiled and let him go. Once Hiro had his coat straightened out, he asked Koenma,
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to see my father. I want this mess cleared up."
Without another word, Koenma turned on his heel, and strode away. Hiro wished the man luck. He would be needing it.
Toguro watched from his office window as a frazzled Koenma sped away from the lab and down the road, no doubt heading straight towards to hospital. The behemoth's mouth split into a grin so wicked, the devil himself would have turned in fright. He turned back to his desk. Sitting on the very top of a hodge-podge pile of papers was a packet with the complete details of the Phoenix Project. He hadn't been lying when he had told Koenma in the letter that his father did want him having control should anything happen to him, but Toguro had not been entirely truthful either. Enma had wanted Koenma to head the Phoenix Project in his father's stead. Enma had hoped that with a fresh pair of eyes looking at the project, Koenma would be able to lead it down new avenues. Also, Toguro had heard this from Karasu, Enma had hoped that, by giving control over to his son, he could restrict Toguro's movements. Toguro picked up the packet and widened his terrible grin.
"My sincerest apologies Enma, but with you gone, I fully intend to implement my ideals and cement them into reality. I'll show you," he slammed the packet down on the desk, "that my dream for the Phoenix Project is the right one, and was from the start."
I'm sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I just didn't want to ruin it by going further. Sometimes, you keep on going, and other times, if it's good, you leave it alone. There will be a KxB moment in the next chapter, I assure you. And Hiro gains a bigger role as well. I feel that that guy is starting to get his own fans…which is kind of weird.