Everything I'm Not
"Speech"
Thoughts
Telepathy
((My Notes))
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
Chapter 6: Arguments and Close Encounters
All the furniture was lined up against the walls surrounding his temporary room. If the word room was the right term to describe that infernal yellow hellhole. Even though it took Hiei all of ten seconds to accomplish the job, it was still a bother. Hiei never once in his life fulfilled such menial tasks, he was the wielder of the Dragon of the Darkness Flame for crying out loud! So why did he start now?
Oh yes, he remembered. The only reason he listened to her, was because it benefited him, mostly. The onna was planning to paint over his room. Hn. If she was really wanted to surprise me, she should have removed all the furniture, painted the walls, and put everything back.
He smirked at the thought of Botan hauling the rest of the furniture into the room, because he'd be damned if he did another nice thing for the onna in his lifetime. These feelings... all they were good for were pissing him off. And when he needed to let off some steam there was only one logical thing to do. Grabbing his katana from Botan's coffee table, Hiei made his way out of the apartment to train, of course.
Kurama was exhausted. School was becoming one big headache with the increasingly popular fan-club, consisting of love-sick teenage girls who all had their hearts set on Kurama. He embodied all the things a man should be, after all! Good looks, brains, civility, humility, and the list went on. "You name it, Kurama's got it!" Or that's what Kurama heard one of them chant while he was walking down the halls.
Why did these things happen to him? Was karma out to get him? Had he done something so bad in his past life that he was forced to live a life cursed with infatuated girls? Granted the boy was Youko many years ago, but he figured saving the world time and time again accounted for something!
All Kurama wanted to do was greet his mother, go up to his room, and spend the rest of the day in peace and solitude. One third of his plan was complete, that is, until he felt three distinct aura's emanating from his room.
Feeling a migraine coming on, Kurama pushed open his door, and gawked at the sight. There was an unidentified demon tied to the chair residing next to his desk. The small lamp was turned on, and focused in on the demon, much like a scene from one of those movies were the detectives were interrogating a prime suspect.
For some reason, this demon seemed familiar to him. In fact, he stuck out like a sore thumb with his tanned skin, tawny colored hair, and indeterminable eye color. Was it blue or green?
The ladies love the eyes... Kurama remembered a suave, yet cocky voice saying. But it couldn't be him! Why would he, of all the demons I could think up a logical explanation to, be here... in the human world... and more importantly in my room?!
"Haru?" Kurama asked tentatively as he set his books down on the table. The said demon looked up to see Kurama, standing in the threshold of the door, looking rather distressed. "Hey! Long time no see! Kurama, right?" He smiled helplessly at Kurama. Haru would've waved, but in his current condition... it would be futile.
Standing near the demon was Yusuke. The spirit detective's eyes glinted with mirth as he concentrated on the twitching demon before him. Kuwabara was standing on the other side of Haru, a pen and notepad in his hand. His expression was serious, and eyes focused on Haru.
"Now, tell us what we want to know, and you can go back to doing whatever it is you do at Mukuro's creepy castle," Yusuke ordered, his voice never once lacking the temerity that only he possessed.
Haru closed his eyes tight as he shook his head. "Never! I already told you. I know nothing!" He stuck his nose up in the air, haughtily.
"You know I didn't want to have to do this..." Yusuke trailed off as Kuwabara handed him a plate of food, "but desperate times call for desperate measures."
Haru, eyes still shut tight, smelled the familiar waft of food. Ningen food, to be more precise. Slowly opening his eyes, he was greeted with a steaming hot plate of breakfast foods similar to the ones Botan had cooked him before. There was even a few things that he never seen on the plate. Haru felt his resolve slipping quickly. "Cheaters..." He mumbled under his breath.
"Aw, c'mon just tell us what we want to know. We're doing this for my sweet ice-maiden, Yukina! We overheard you in Botan's apartment, you can read emotions! So tell us what we want to know!" Kuwabara pleaded, pen and notepad still in hand.
Yusuke set the plate of food down on the desk. "As soon as you tell us if our favorite three-eyed-demon has feelings for Botan, the sooner you can have this."
So this is what this whole fiasco is about... Kurama stood at his door, wondering if he should help the poor demon or not.
"Fine!" Haru sighed. Maybe they could help Hiei with this problems, seeing as Hiei had no clue how to deal with them. Maybe if they knew... they could be of some sort of help. Plus, ningen food was too good to pass up!
"Hiei does have conflicting feelings about the ferry girl. But even so, he's determined not to let them show. He doesn't want to be dragged down with these new feelings, and as you all know Hiei is very good at putting up emotional barriers to shut out the ones he cares about."
While Kuwabara was furiously quoting Haru, Yusuke freed him from the confines of the rope. Looking closer at the ropes, Kurama realized they were some sort of binding ropes that restrained spiritual energy. That explains why Haru couldn't slip out of the ropes.
"Mission accomplished!" Yusuke laughed raucously, putting up a victory sign.
Kurama sighed. "Would you mind explaining why out of all places you chose here to pester Haru?"
Kuwabara looked down at the floor. "Well, you know my sis, Kurama. She'd have a fit if I brought home any strange demons!"
Haru was too engrossed with stuffing his face that he hardly noticed the 'strange demons,' comment.
"Point taken. What about you Yusuke?" Kurama raised a brow.
Yusuke scratched his head. "Well, this was the first place that came to mind, and if anything I figured you'd be the best person to get answers out of Haru... seeing as you do that freaky eye-brow thing."
Kurama rolled his eyes. "I hope you two aren't planning on doing anything foolish. They should be able to find their way to each other on their own. I have a feeling things might not go well if you bury yourselves in matters that don't concern you."
"Honest, Kurama! We won't do anything bad! Right Urameshi?"
Yusuke who was too busy watching Haru scarf down his food, was suddenly nudged by Kuwabara. "Huh? What? Yeah! Of course we won't. Don't sweat it Kurama." Yusuke patted the red-head on the back, as he and Kuwabara made their way out of his room. Only one problem. They left him to deal with Haru.
Hiei returned home close to midnight. Botan still didn't come back from Reikai. After he showered, she still wasn't home. Even after he ate the left-overs from yesterday, she still hadn't returned. Sitting down on the couch, Hiei began flipping through the channels restlessly. He felt weighed down for some reason. Where is that damn onna?
A half and hour later, Botan finally strode through the door, carrying a can of paint and two rollers. "I'm home!" She proclaimed happily as she set her things down.
Hiei felt like that weight had been lifted off of him when he heard the familiar click of the lock being opened, and Botan's feet shuffling through the door. He was actually concerned over her well-being. And that pissed him off all the more.
"What the hell took you so long?" Hiei asked a bit irritated as he got up from the couch. She usually got home much earlier than this, and for some reason, he felt worried when she didn't arrive at the usual time. It bothered him.
Botan, who was busy fumbling in her bag for her keys, stopped as soon as she heard Hiei's voice. He almost sounded distressed.
But that was impossible! For Hiei to be distressed, he actually had to care about her. He had to have some small ounce of feelings for her deep inside, and that definitely wasn't true. Botan shook her head, she must've been hearing things.
"Onna... have you become deaf, or were you always this hard of hearing?" Hiei stood there, his ruby eyes fixed on the girl who was shaking her head and rummaging through her bag.
There it was! She could hear it in his voice. That small drop of concern he tried to hide within an insult. Looking up from her bag into his face, her eyes widened. Was Hiei actually worried... because of me? I... I don't believe it.
Hiei just stood there as Botan continued to stare at him wide-eyed. Why was she looking at him like that? It was unnerving. He felt that same, sickening feeling every time she glanced at him. And for some reason, it was hard to tear away from her gaze.
The duo stood there, staring at each other, for a moment longer until Hiei snapped. "Well?"
Botan began to blush as she realized how long she'd been openly staring at Hiei for. Shaking her head as an attempt to rid her of her thoughts, Botan began to speak. "Things have been a bit hectic in Reikai lately, so I had to stay a bit longer. Then I went and bought paint so we could get rid of that dreadful color in your room!"
She stared at him, smiling as if waiting for him to ask a question. "Well...?"
What is she so excited over? Not being able to stand the silence anymore, Hiei sighed. "What is it?"
"Don't you want to know what color I chose?" Botan asked excitedly, as she picked up the can.
Hiei 'hn'ed. "Not really." He was a bit curious, but he knew Botan would give in and tell him eventually.
"You can be such a party-pooper sometimes, Hiei. Anyway, the color I chose was," She paused for dramatic effect, "mint-green!"
"Mint-green?" Hiei spat out. Couldn't she just go for normal colors. Green, he wouldn't care so much for, but mint-green... it just reminded him of Yukina.
"Well this is still my apartment Hiei, and I'm not going to go paint it black or something. Plus, the guy who helped me out at the store said that it was a very calm and soothing color! It has a relaxing effect, so maybe it might calm you down a bit!" She jested.
"And this has absolutely nothing to do with Yukina." Hiei
Botan fiddled with her thumbs. She always wanted Hiei to tell Yukina he was in fact her brother, and in some odd and twisted way this was her subconscious way of telling him: Tell the girl. "Of course not! This color is much lighter than Yukina's hair color. I mean hers is a much deeper shade, while this is a much paler color." She laughed nervously. "I really do like this shade! And it doesn't hurt your eyes like the yellow does!"
Hiei glared. "Bullshit. Why don't you just come right out and say it."
"Say what?" Botan echoed.
"You want me to tell her I'm her brother, is that it?" His voice was low and almost cynical.
Botan sighed, she knew this wouldn't end well, but she had to say it anyway. "I do! Is that so bad? You had the poor girl go to the Dark Tournament just for a chance to find her long lost brother, and now she's in the human world hoping for just a chance to meet him! Why can't you just tell her?"
Hiei gritted his teeth in frustration, trying to restrain himself. "It's not that simple, onna."
Botan stomped her foot on the ground. "Is it really that complicated? Because I can't see why you would allow her to go blindly searching like this! She doesn't care about your past, the only thing she cares about is you! If you're afraid of her hating you because of who you were it doesn't matter, because you're not the same person you were when we first met! If you really cared about Yukina you would-"
Hiei slammed his fist down on the table. "Damn it! Shut up! You don't know anything about me or what I've done, so don't presume to understand my actions or thoughts behind them! You have no clue of who I am and what I've done in the past, so don't tell me I've changed. For all you know I haven't changed one bit!" His eyes held such a fury in them, Botan was almost afraid of what he'd do next.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Hiei cut her off. "Furthermore, what I do is my business and my business alone so stay out of it! I don't need you, or anyone else for that matter, telling me what's best for my own damn sister!" In a flash Hiei was gone, and the window was left open.
Crestfallen, Botan walked over to the window and stared up at the night sky. Instead of closing the window and locking it, she decided to leave it open. Maybe, just maybe, Hiei would come back and they could clear things up.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, wishing she could've told him that before he left. She had no clue the torment he felt about being Yukina's brother. If she did, she never would've brought it up. Sighing, Botan picked up the can of paint and walked into Hiei's room.
Botan had hoped Hiei would've been there so they could've painted the room together, but it was futile now. She had gone and ruined everything, as usual. It really didn't help to have such a big mouth sometimes. Wiping off a few tears that she didn't even realize had fallen, Botan began to paint over the room.
Hiei was speeding past buildings, not really caring in which direction he went. He just needed to get out and away from Botan. She was too bothersome. She shouldn't matter at all to him, and yet she evoked such strong feelings from him. She made his blood boil. She made his heart beat faster. She made him want to be everything he wasn't.
Trying to clear his head, Hiei continued to run. He reached the park and began racing past the trees. Running always seemed to clear his mind. He focused on the branches before him, as he leaped from tree to tree. Four more days. Just four more days, and he'd go back to being his normal self. All he had to do was wait it out.
Botan was nearly finished with Hiei's room, and it was a few hours past midnight. She was exhausted, but she didn't want to leave the room half done. "I'll just take a little break," Botan said to herself as she fixed a small snack and sat down on the couch.
Flipping through the channels, Botan yawned. There was never anything good on television anymore. She set her snack down on the table and positioned herself comfortably on the couch. "A little nap won't hurt..." Botan trailed off, feeling herself drift into slumber.
Just then, Hiei entered the apartment, through the window Botan left opened. His ears picked up a faint noise, and his head snapped in the direction of the television. A few feet away, Hiei saw Botan snuggled up to the couch, looking quite exhausted.
A pang of guilt washed over him as he saw the weary girl on the couch. He supposed he was a bit harsh towards her, but she deserved it, didn't she? Of course she did. The onna should have just kept her nose out of things that don't concern her.
But one look at Botan's fragile body curled up on the couch erased all those thoughts. She really didn't deserve it. She was just trying to be friendly after all. Too bad she was trying to be friendly to one of the worst people possible. Hiei hated pity or anything of the sort, and Botan was the most sympathetic person in the world.
Sighing, Hiei entered his room, and was surprised to find it almost completed. The color wasn't that similar to Yukina's. It was pale, just as Botan had explained. A new wave of guilt washed over him, and he fought the urge to burn down the whole house. Hiei never felt guilt! It was supposed to be one of those emotions that was locked away deep inside of him. So why the hell was it surfacing now? It just didn't make any sense!
But it did...
In the back of his mind, Hiei knew why this was happening. It was all because of Botan. Admitting it would make the situation worse, so he decided to keep it all inside. He was good at that sort of thing, after all.
...The Next Morning...
Something didn't feel right. Botan felt as if she were forgetting something very important. Dressed in her pink kimono and hair tied up in its usual ponytail, she checked her watch. It was around noon time... Saturday morning. Meaning, she was off today, and didn't need to get ready for anything! That must've been what was bugging her... but for some reason that anxious feeling in her chest hadn't dissipated.
And so, Botan was back to square one: feeling as if she were forgetting something important. Making her way back to her room to change out of her kimono, Botan stopped. She peered into Hiei's room to find it completely painted over, and all the furniture put back to its original place. Then it all clicked. Last night... Hiei's concern... their fight... and falling asleep, leaving half the room incomplete.
How could she forget such an eventful night! She was really absentminded sometimes. Botan walked into the room, mentally scolding herself for her forgetfulness. "I can't believe it. Did Hiei actually come back?" Botan asked, disbelieving.
"That's a foolish question. We had an agreement, didn't we?" Botan's head turned to the direction of the cocky voice. Hiei was residing in the threshold of the door, leaning against the frame, arms crossed.
"Hiei!" She ran up to him to give him a hug, but quickly restrained herself. She remembered Hiei wasn't too fond of hugs, and he probably wouldn't want one from her out of all people, after the fight they had last night. "Hiei, look. I'm really-"
"Don't bother," He cut her off mid-sentence. "I don't want an apology from you."
Botan took this as an insult, casting her gaze to the floor.
"You did nothing worth apologizing for." His voice pierced through the silence like a knife.
She looked up at Hiei and smiled. If he was over their fight, then so was she. There was no need to linger on the subject. She was about to say something else, but he cut her off, once more.
"Listen well, because I'm only going to say this once, onna."
She nodded.
"Yukina... she'll be better off not knowing who I am. Searching for a phantom brother is a better alternative to learning he is a mass-murderer, and a thief, at that. I would rather she go on living without the burden of my crimes haunting her. It is for the best." Hiei stated sternly, glancing up at Botan. Pressing on, Hiei continued. "You said before, that I'm hurting her by not telling her who I am... but just think how much it would kill her to know that her precious brother is nothing more than-"
"-For what it's worth Hiei..." Botan cut in, not able to hear Hiei degrade himself anymore, "in my eyes you've changed." She walked a bit closer to him. "You're a better person than you were before, and I'm glad... glad, that you're on our side now."
Hiei was taken back by her openness, but regained his composure soon enough. "That's only because you always see the good in people. If only you knew the things I've done. You probably wouldn't be so reluctant to standing so close to me."
"Is that so? Well, as a matter of fact, I do know!" Botan claimed tauntingly. "I've read your files, Hiei, and I know all about the crimes you've committed in the past." After seeing the questioning look he was giving her, Botan continued nervously, putting on her cat-face. "I-it's not like I only read yours! I read Kurama's too! I am Yusuke's assistant, and you guys are on Yusuke's team, making me your assistant as well. I had to read up on you both as a requirement of my job! So don't go getting any weird ideas!"
"If you say so," Hiei replied sarcastically, not believing Botan one bit.
"I'm serious here!" Botan yelled, beginning to blush. Why, oh why does he have to be so cute! It makes it harder for me to get angry at him!
"If you're so reluctant to tell the truth, I could just use my jagan eye." Hiei was just taunting her, he wouldn't use the Jagan for such meaningless tasks.
Botan's eyes widened. "You-you wouldn't really read my mind, would you? That's an invasion of privacy!"
He snorted, "Like I give a damn." The look on her face urged him on all the more. The concealed eye began to glow underneath his white bandanna.
Panicking, Botan clamped her hand over Hiei's forehead. "How dare you try to pry into a girls mind like that! The nerve!" She muttered, not realizing how close she was to Hiei's face.
Hiei's smirk became even cockier, if possible. "That just makes the connection stronger, onna." He pulled her closer to put emphasis on his last statement. Botan could feel her heart beating out of her chest, as she was pulled into Hiei. His arms encircled around her, and her body was pushed up against his own, rock hard one. She could feel his breath on her face, and this only caused her blush deepen. "Hiei...I-"
"Get any closer, and I'd say we were interrupting something."
Both heads snapped in the direction of the living room. To both their surprise, the whole entire gang ...minus Koenma of course, was there. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Yukina, and Shizuru, all had looks of surprise or bemusement plastered on their faces.
"I-it's not what it looks like!" Botan exclaimed hastily, eyes wide, as Hiei released her out of his grasp. "Yes, actually it is. The onna just can't keep her hands off of me these days."
Looking up at her hand, she quickly removed it, and clenched it at her sides. "He was trying to read my mind!"
"Relax, onna. I wouldn't waste my time or energy reading your mind, anyway." He crossed his arms defiantly, and heard Botan let out a small agitated growl.
Shizuru pointed at Botan. "Right, but that still doesn't explain why you were caressing his face..." Botan's eyes were as wide as saucers now, and she felt a hot blush sweep her face. "I-I wasn't! I was trying to stop him from using the jagan!"
"Sure you were," Kuwabara started as Keiko nudged him. "Guys, leave Botan alone. I believe her!" Keiko announced, sympathetically. She remembered their last get together, and how fond Botan seemed of Hiei. All this pestering couldn't be good for a growing relationship, and she'd be damned if she let the guys' taunting ruin it!
"Keiko's right, give Botan a break." Yusuke started, running a hand through his gelled hair. Everybody turned in Yusuke's direction; surprised that for once he had something productive to say.
Botan smiled. Leave it to Yusuke to say something you wouldn't expect.
"I mean, Hiei's the one who was all over her!"
She sweat-dropped. Or not...
I decided to end the chapter on a humorous note since so many emotional things happened. Don't worry, I'm not gonna totally disregard that little even that happened to Hiei and Botan. It'll come back in the next chapter. I plan to update more since it's summertime, so don't worry about late updates! And so sorry to all of you who have been keeping track of this story, and waiting for an update. Yeah, I know I suck! Haha. Please review
