Chapter 14 - A Solemn Moment.
I just thought I'd throw one of these in here at some point, so, spoiler alert to anyone who hasn't read the Dark Tournament segment of YYH. Enjoy ^^ Music recommendation: Mario - Just a Friend
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For the first time since arriving for the tournament, Botan wandered into the forest surrounding the hotel in daylight. It was definitely a different place, she thought looking around. No unseen monsters, no hazardous stumbling in the dark... No being tied to trees by sexual predators. It's truly amazing what a lack of illumination will do. Kurama had only pointed her in a general direction towards her destination, as they had apparently split up after the matches. Why exactly was she headed this way again?
The moment she cleared the brush, the small demon paused in his training. Not that she was trying to sneak up on him, but she found the difficulty of this quite remarkable. She stopped at the edge of the clearing with her arms interlocked behind her back; this was the first time she had faced him since the incident a few a nights before. There was an understandable feeling of mild embarrassment.
"I already know what they told you, but don't get too flattered." Hiei finally turned to face her only to see that she seemed to be preoccupied with ground watching.
"Don't worry, I know you don't actually care about anything," she smiled politely as she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. Red and fierce as they were, she fancied for a moment that there may have been the smallest ounce of tacit relief to finally see her unharmed. Hiei took a seat on a nearby tree stump, arms resting on his knees. He observed her very carefully. "so I guess next is the finals," she bridged the gap between them by only a few feet. Biting her bottom lip, she also observed him as he sat calmly, his skin glistened slightly in the sun, and his back and shoulder muscles were particularly pronounced in the way he sat.
"Yes," he said in a tone that mimicked hesitation or suspicion. "And?"
"Weeelll," Botan was definitely hesitant as she spoke, approaching him just a little bit more. She was distracted by how appealing he was for some reason as he rested from his training looking up at her, his body draped over, and his hands rough and bandaged as they hung from his wrists. "Uhm," Hiei got up and walked over beside her, but she hadn't even noticed because she had been too busy digging the toe of her shoe into the dirt. "I was just thinking maybe.. Eeek!" The sudden realization that he had moved when she finally looked back up gave her a start. Hiei chuckled at her as one usually does when they pull off a devious prank.
"You were thinking..." He probed. She watched her own index fingers as she pushed them together in that same timid way she had the evening this ordeal began. She could feel his eyes scanning her, but she didn't dare to ogle him at this distance.
"You mean you didn't guess it already?" She asked just barely looking over at him. Her face was burning up, and though only Hiei could see it, her face was also bright red.
"One doesn't have to be a mind reader to understand what you're implying," he moved in front of her so as to look her in the eye. Her eyes wanting to look away, yet ensnared when she saw the evil grin which distorted Hiei's face. "I just want to hear you say it." If this had been like an old fashioned cartoon, atomic explosions would have been seen in Botan's wide eyes, for this was the affect of those words. He continued carelessly, "Clearly you enjoyed the small sampling of-"
"You creep!" She hollered, waving her fists around in a mock intimidation. "I don't even know why I bothered to come talk to you," her arms now clamped across her chest as she turned around to begin the babbling tirade back to the hotel, "to think I would have expected some sort of understanding or discretion from you." An indescribably acrid grunt followed. Her eyes weren't even open at this point. Sight wasn't necessary for this particular rant. Hiei observed her with an amused grin, sustained by her humiliation.
"After the finals," Hiei said very smoothly, in a normal tone of voice, not putting out the effort to talk over her fit.
"What?" She stopped marching, but maintained her angry, upturned nose and closed-eyed march.
"After the finals," he repeated in much the same way. Botan now opened her eyes just enough to stare down a tree in front of her as if it was Hiei. "If I'm still alive that is," he said very casually. Botan turned her head enough to look back at Hiei once more. He was still watching her, his own arms crossed. The two of them looked almost like they were about to have an old west-style gun duel.
"It'll have to be a little better planned than that." The sharp edge in her voice was beginning to dull a touch. Hiei blinked a few times in confusion. She turned quickly, looking to confide in him something that would have interested him as well. "Let's just say my working relationship with Koenma will be very awkward for a long time to come because of the recklessness of last time," her voice trailed off as she tried to repress the memory of how Koenma had spotted them while trying to find her. Hiei looked to the ground beside him with a frustrated expression, quickly running through all the scenarios in which he could murder the toddler-teen in order to keep his secret. If there was anything the demon wasn't impervious to, it was that stupid face of Urameshi's when he had some sort of dirt on someone. "Don't worry," she distracted Hiei momentarily from his thoughts which revolved around triumphantly chopping down an infant, "I told him you do that to everyone," she said shrugging casually, her eyelids hung low with apathy. The face that Hiei made next cannot really be described with any language known to mankind. All that can be said about it is that there was a pause, and then Botan exploded in uproarious laughter, exacting her revenge on all of the times he had mentally antagonized her.
Hiei scoffed with relief, a single bead of sweat, either from his training or the suspense of Botan's joke, trailing down the side of his face, "I see you're not entirely without cruelty." And with a smug expression, he turned and resumed his training. Botan watched him for a moment, girlishly distracted by his feverish movements which caused the provocative tightening of all of his visible frame. When she finally shook herself free of this, she headed back to the hotel in perhaps the least horrific parting they had had yet. She wondered if she should tell the other girls about her plans, but considering Yukina was with them, and no sister wants to hear of the base escapades of her brother, she decided against this.
The blue-haired reaper didn't have much time to idle before she realized Koenma was standing up ahead on the path back to the hotel, waiting. She stopped dead in her tracks, taking a nervous gulp, before continuing on with a forced smile which more closely resembled a look someone might have if they were in a hurry to get to the toilet.
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On the day of the finals, the hotel lobby was like a ghost town. Everyone had crowded around the stadium, if they hadn't been there for a day or two before. Even the staff was conspicuously absent. A single blue-haired girl was the only sign of life that remained. She sat silently in a plush armchair, staring as if there were an invisible universe right in front of her eyes which obscured the one she was currently existing in. When the elevator finally opened, and team Urameshi emerged, she did not jump up as she would have on any other day. A great tragedy weighed on her conscious. They didn't seem to notice her as she sat in complete silence, waiting for her own group to come join her. As she watched the fighters head out toward the stadium, only one of them paused to look over at her. She sighed as the small man looked over at her, speaking to her without saying a word. She watched his eyes from a distance, looking for some sort of consolation before the man finally bowed his head solemnly, turning away to rejoin his team. She smiled faintly at him, watching him walk out of sight.
When the rest of the girls finally came down, they were all cheerful enough, and Botan tried to be cheerful with them. Only Shizuru noticed the solemnity behind Botan's facade.
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At the matches Botan tried to set aside her troubles and focus on the fights. After all, her friends' lives were on the line. She cheered, and booed along with the rest of her group when Karasu was declared winner of his match against Kurama. But she became especially involved when Hiei's match came next, unaware that she was still being observed by Shizuru. She could see, even from such a distance, that Hiei was serious now. He was prepared to kill, and no longer the furtive joker she had seen just days before when speaking of more trivial matters. And despite herself, she giggled when Hiei evaded Bui's initial and futile attempts to do any damage, and flinched distortedly when Bui removed his armor revealing a troubling face underneath.
The crowd chanted for Bui to kill Hiei, and Botan mumbled something to herself about Bui being able to kill regular people with his face alone. But she was once more filled with confidence when Hiei unwrapped his arm. She stared in awe at the ferocity of the black flames. When Bui seemed to have reflected Kokuryuha back onto Hiei, she gasped. Her eyes began to well up, and she grabbed the shoulder of Shizuru in panic. Shizuru continued to observe both Botan and the match as if she were watching a lackluster game show. And when Hiei made a showy comeback, revealing that he had eaten Kokuryuha, Botan squealed out of excitement and relief, and the tears that were once of fear started to trail down her face as she cheered for Hiei to kick Bui's butt.
When Hiei finally petered out of the ring and fainted, Botan shot up out of her seat, looking on nervously. She worried if he hadn't over done it, this fight was probably much more taxing the first round. After looking hesitantly at the other girls, she took off for the ring side as there was an announcement that the tournament would be temporarily postponed. The awkwardness between Botan and Koenma was not even a factor when she finally arrived to see Hiei laying on the ground, "is he..." She looked nervously at Kurama.
"No, just resting," he smiled at her reassuringly. She looked back over at Hiei, finally able to sigh with relief after the teeter-totter of emotions the fight had caused. So this, she thought, is what he looks like while asleep. He looks so at peace. So vulnerable, so... adorable?
"What are you doing?" She scolded suddenly, snatching a permanent marker out of Kuwabara's hand, which was on its way to Hiei's face.
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As you all may well have guessed, this story will soon be drawing to a close. But fear not, for I currently have a new fic in the making, so be on the look out for that too... if you enjoy my writing that is. ^^