Chapter 9 - Hiei's Plan.

Music recommendation: Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (beborn beton remix)

*-*-*-*-*-*

After the girls left Team Urameshi's room they headed back to their room, with the exception of Botan, who stayed behind on the elevator. Down in the lobby, she wandered to the entrance to watch the gray rain. It looked so tranquil, cold and wet as it may have been. This rain mesmerized her. It was perhaps the first time these last few days that she had actually been able to sit worry-free, and think about the situation. She was so enveloped in thought that she didn't even realize Koenma standing behind her. He must have watched her a good three minutes before he made his presence known by clearing his throat.

"Oh, Koenma! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," she smiled, making a small bow. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I am using this tournament as an excuse to get away from all of that paperwork for a couple of days," the teen with the pacifier looked very reflective. "Perhaps it's not the best idea, since I know those ogres can't get a thing done without me. It'll probably all pile up and -"he stopped when he saw Botan giving him a strange look. Clearing his throat again, he continued, "Botan I wanted to have a little talk with you." She cringed slightly, fearing something was wrong, or worse, she was in trouble for something. He was clearly in lecture mode, his eyes shut, and finger held in the air as if to make a point. "You don't get to be my age without learning a thing or two about interpersonal relationships. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, which cause us to do or feel things which we never would have expected. We call this 'fate,'" despite the pacifier in his mouth, he looked quite mature, radiating wisdom. "The best thing to do is not to try and defy fate, but rather to see where it leads us. Because we can't possibly know everything, we can't even trust ourselves to always know the best path to take." Botan blinked, but said nothing. "Well?"

"I'm sorry sir, was that directed at me?" Koenma's eyebrows knit together in slight frustration.

"Yes it was directed at you," still retaining a certain level of patience.

"I see. So you're saying that I shouldn't fight my urges to buy expensive clothes when they call to me from the store windows?" A dreamy look was in her eyes. Koenma looked even more frustrated, "I'm just kidding sir, I understand what you're saying. But how did you?"

"Let's just say Atsuko is about as good at keeping silent as Yusuke. Plus that little display at the tournament didn't exactly cover it up." Botan laughed at herself, realizing how transparent she had been, "Hiei is not the villain he once was. I must admit that he's changed considerably since he's been under Yusuke's influence." He paused for a moment, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll make the right decision." And with a tap on the shoulder, Koenma left her to her own thoughts.

"Sheesh, that was awfully creepy," she muttered under her breath through a grit-teeth smile, turning back to the window.

*-*-*-*-*-*

After being stuck inside all day, Botan had slowly but surely come to the decision that she wanted to see Hiei. She wanted to perhaps discuss what had happened the night before, and was eager to prod him for a further response. She wanted to know exactly what he planned to do about the situation, and how he felt about it. But at the same time, she didn't want to show up to the Urameshi room like a shameless hussy. At least Kuwabara had faith in her honor, and she didn't want to dash the image that her one fan had of her. Instead, she decided she would go for a walk in the rain. After all, there was not much else to do, and she was used to the freedom of flying around on her oar. Simply sitting in a hotel room wouldn't do.

Before Botan even knew what was going on, she realized Hiei kept popping up in her thoughts. No matter how serious her thoughts, be it about the tournament or something about spirit world business, it always came back to "I wonder what Hiei is doing" or "I wonder when I'm going to see Hiei." She also caught herself dissecting every thing he said to her, and every single gesture he made, trying to decipher the hidden meaning or motive behind it. Like when he pointed at her earlier; had he been reading her mind when she thought about him liking to 'play'? Does that mean he was saying he liked to 'play' with her? Did they have this kind of connection that they could communicate without speaking a word? She squealed at the thought, drawing the attention of curious onlookers in the lobby who thought perhaps she had just been possessed by a piglet. Maybe walking in the cold rain will be good for her, she thought looking out at the dark rainy night when she approached the entrance.

Despite the poor weather, it was a beautiful night. The moon still cast light which reflected off of all the puddles and rain droplets, making it seem like the forest was brimming with life and light. Under the canopy of trees, the rain became slightly more scarce. The trees acted almost as a natural umbrella, with a lot of holes in it of course. Botan had learned her lesson about wandering off in the woods at night, and tried to keep relatively close to the hotel to avoid becoming lost again. When she found a good spot, she took a seat at the base of a tree. She realized she hadn't quite thought that out as much as she should have when she felt cold, wet mud seeping through the seat of her pants. Dirty pants aside, she sat listening to the rain, the animals and insects which scurried through the night forest. It truly was a tranquil place. So tranquil, she thought, that she might just rest her eyes a bit in order to really concentrate on all the different sounds. Her head fell back against the tree, and she began to snooze.

Incoherent thoughts floated through her head for several minutes before she remembered that she was still out in the forest, and it was not entirely safe to sleep here. Her eyes jerked back open to see the same dark scene with splashes of water and blue light. She smiled at the peaceful place, but then realized she was a bit chilly. When she reach to zip up the front of her jacket, something pulled against her hands. She couldn't move them. She tugged spastically, only to find that in the few minutes she had dozed off, someone had tied her hands around the tree behind her. She tried to turn and see, but could only barely make out the rope that was knotted around her wrists. Panic set in as she tried leaning her whole body forward, pulling as hard as she could against the rope. She only succeeded in giving herself rope burn. Seeing that this wouldn't work, she looked around frantically. Whoever did this can't be far away, and certainly someone who would tie another person up in the middle of the woods cannot have good intentions. This was it, she thought. There was no way to escape, and the only person nearby to hear her was probably the psycho who tied her up.

She fought off the tears with anger. All the horrible scenarios of how this could end played out in her head, which caused her to try and fight harder against the rope. If only one of the team was nearby. Kuwabara would really show this jerk what's for. Or maybe Hiei...

"You called?" The little demon stepped from behind a nearby tree, his arms hidden in his shirt. Botan squinted in the dark, but from this distance could not make out his expression, though his tone sounded flat. Calm.

"Hiei! Untie me, some weirdo-" Hiei was crouching at her side before she could even see that he had moved.

"Why would I do that? I was having so much fun watching you struggle," his fingers pushed the hair from her face which had become matted with rain. Her jaw dropped open.

"Did you," he pressed his lips against her ear. He spoke just above a whisper.

"You make such a cute face when you're afraid," she could hear the grin in his words. Her jaw dropped even more when she realized Hiei was the one who had tied her to the tree. But despite this realization, she didn't scream or panic; her only reaction was shock.

"Why did you-" one of his hands held her head in place while he rubbed his face against her hair. She could hear him smelling her like an animal, and then releasing a sigh of satisfaction.

"I can't have you running off on me again. You won't be going anywhere this time." At this point, when most people would have started screaming regardless, Botan did not. She sat still trying to comprehend this feeling his words gave her. It's almost like she was excited by it. "You're too frigid," his mouth still very close to her ear, making his whisper sound very loud, "you'll never do the things you desire. Allow me to remedy this problem."

*-*-*-*-*-*

And that concludes this chapter. Sorry for the delay folks, but I are lazy . Hope you all are enjoying the story so far ^^