Chapter 11 - One Missing Botan.
Music recommendation: Psycho le Cemu - Roman Hikou
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Despite the rainy conditions that would ruin most hair styles, Hiei's still spiked up hair did not give away the fact he had been outside. In fact, one might not have even guessed it when he coolly waltzed into the room of Team Urameshi. The only real giveaway was his wet shirt which he promptly removed in silence. As many nights before, Kuwabara and Kurama sat idly paying Hiei little mind when he entered the room. It was not uncommon for him to go out, so Kurama and Kuwabara were none the wiser. Hiei retreated to the bathroom, presumptuously to dry off. This reminded Kurama of the previous night he had spoken to Botan, and though he was moderately suspicious of what Hiei might actually be up to, he decided not to think about it. In fact, he would have gone back to reading his magazine without a second glace if something hadn't caught his eye. There amidst the crumpled black mass of Hiei's shirt, which he had carelessly thrown on the floor, was a small spot of pink.
The color its self coming from anything of Hiei's drew Kurama's eye as a child might be attracted to a "free candy" sign. Kurama blinked a couple of extra times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Surely enough, some sort of pink material peeked out from somewhere within Hiei's shirt. The demon had a silent battle with himself about whether or not he should poke around in Hiei's business. As he stared even harder from across the room, slowly but surely the curiosity in him won. With a quick, yet cautious glance toward the bathroom door, Kurama jumped up from his seat and tip-toed over to Hiei's shirt. He crouched down over the wet garment, peering around as if he were partaking in some sort of top-secret espionage mission. To be discovered meant death. Or at least having an awkward moment with Hiei, which would probably end in death. Or at least something unpleasant.
"What are you doing, Kur-" before Kuwabara could finish his sentence, Kurama raised his finger to his lips as a gesture for silence. Kuwabara was now part of the mission. Showing the utmost caution, ready to spring back to his former seat at the drop of a dime, Agent Kurama reached for the suspicious material. With thumb and index finger, he carefully lifted the material from its hiding place. The more he pulled out the wider his eyes grew, until he held a pair of lacey, ravaged, pink panties in the air, while his jaw fell heavy to the floor. The two of them didn't know what to make of it at fist. "Woah! What is-" Once more Kurama pressed his finger to his lips and Kuwabara slapped his hands over his mouth. Once more, this time in an unsuccessful whisper, "is he," he pointed towards the bathroom, "you know... Wearing those?" Kurama smacked his forehead at this question.
"Although I normally wouldn't be so quick to dismiss any possibilities, I think we can be fairly certain he got these from someone, Kuwabara." Kuwabara's face morphed into a twisted Cheshire grin that Urameshi himself would have been proud of.
"You mean," Kuwabara trying to speak through a flood of stifled giggles, "from a girl? Hiei..." Unable to control himself, Kuwabara burst out in loud, obnoxious laughter. Kurama quickly stuffed the panties back into Hiei's shirt and resumed his seat on the couch to avoid having his mission exposed by Kuwabara's uncontrollable laughter. While Kuwabara rolled on his bed, face red from laughter, Kurama couldn't help but cast a slightly worried look towards the bathroom in which Hiei now resided. Did he hurt Botan?
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The next day, the day before the semifinals of the tournament were to take place, Kurama awoke fairly early. He had had a fitful night of sleep, because he'd been quite worried about Botan. He tried to pacify himself by convincing himself that Hiei would never harm one of Koenma's underlings, but he wasn't so sure of this himself. The human in him felt compelled to go make sure something hadn't happened to her, so one of the first things he did that morning was go to the girls' room.
"You mean you don't know where she is either?" Keiko was still groggy standing at the door in her pajamas. Perhaps, Kurama thought, he was a bit too early, "I think she was hanging around the lobby yesterday, but she didn't come back last night." Kurama grimaced at Keiko's words which she could not have possibly guessed would cause him to worry even more.
"I see. I'm sorry to have bothered you," he bowed slightly and walked away, not leaving Keiko time to question him.
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Kurama entered the Urameshi room displaying the utmost composure. If he was going to get any answers out of Hiei, he could not show any sign of weakness. Hiei was unconcerned with Kurama's return as he meditated near the window. Kurama took a seat across from him on the sofa, not unlike the seating arrangement they had been in the night this whole ordeal began. The only difference now was that Botan was missing, and instead of being an impartial observer, Kurama was not a detective. He broke Hiei's concentration by clearing his throat. Hiei opened his eyes looking slightly irritated at the red-head's disruption. "I ran into Keiko," he began with a lie, "she mentioned that she hadn't seen Botan." He analyzed Hiei's reaction very closely as he lead into an inconspicuous interrogation.
"What's your point?" Hiei was just as equally composed. Kuwabara, who listened in, was completely unaware of the subtle conversation which lurked just underneath the surface of their words. Kurama shrugged coolly.
"It's just a bit odd is all," he looked out the window so as not to give away his suspicions by staring too critically. "After all, she was just here yesterday," he paused for a second trying to pull this next line off just right, "wonder where she could be." He had just the right amount of passivity in this question. He withdrew from the clueless act temporarily.
"How should I know," a curious mixture of irritation and amusement in his withdrawn response. Kurama picked up a magazine making a noise as if he was pretending to think the situation over. Almost as if on cue, the genuinely oblivious Kuwabara chimed in.
"You mean no one's seen Miss Botan since yesterday?" Kurama was almost thankful for the big oaf, because now it gave him an avenue to stay on this topic without seeming too obvious.
"Apparently. Keiko said she never came back last night." Kurama spared a passing glance over the magazine he was pretending to read to catch a glimpse of surprise in Hiei's reaction. This in its self was a shock to Kurama, but Hiei quickly regained his composure. Then with false enlightenment, "hey Hiei, you went out yesterday. Did you see her?" Once the final word came out, Kurama internally kicked himself as if to say 'holy balls, I just ruined it.' Hiei glared at him.
"Why would I have seen her," calling the final game over on Kurama's plot.
"I don't know, just asking," Kurama was at least trying to salvage his innocent front on his involvement in the whole situation.
"I wouldn't care where that girl is, fox," Hiei got up suddenly as if in his own world, answering a question that had not been asked. Once he was out of the room and safely out of earshot, Kurama just shook his head.
"He knows something," Kuwabara suddenly shot up, the accusation and all of the evidence suddenly clicking together for him, now that the interrogation was over.
"Do you think he did something to Miss Botan!?" He was in a bit of a frenzy.
"Calm down Kuwabara. We can't jump too any conclusions." He thought earnestly about what he should do.
"Maybe we should follow him? What if he sold her to Team Toguro?" Kuwabara was half thinking aloud, letting his paranoia run amuck at this point," If he did that, there would be no reason for him to lead us to her. That bastard!" Kurama eyes him in wonder of the ridiculously nonsensical explanation for Botan's disappearance. He thought of patronizing Kuwabara by asking 'why would he sell her,' or 'how much do you think he got for her' as if he was buying into Kuwabara's nonsense. Ultimately he decided against this.
"If we want to find out where Botan is, we have to pursue other avenues." Kuwabara discontinued his ranting and plots to bust up Hiei to hear Kurama's idea. "We can't just assume Hiei had something to do with her disappearance. We should ask around first. Maybe someone else knows something."
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Sorry for the short, long-delayed update folks. Hopefully now that I have some direction with this piece, there will be another faster, longer update. ^^