Chapter 5 – My Friend
Botan snatched back her hands fearfully as Yukina started to stir. Between Botan's healing magic and Kurama's healing herbs, she seemed to finally be making a recovery. Botan backed away from the bed until her back touched the wall and at the other side of the bed she saw Keiko do the same. Yusuke, Kurama and Shizuru all moved closer, with Kurama sitting down onto the bed by Yukina's side.
"Yukina?" he said.
Botan leaned forwards slightly, peering down at Yukina expectantly.
"Yukina, can you hear me?" Kurama asked.
Yukina groaned and twitched slightly.
"Oh dear…" Botan said quietly.
"Botan?"
Yukina's voice was barely more than a faint croak but she turned her head slightly towards Botan, her eyes opened to thin slits, large, unfocused pupils looking in the ferry girl's direction.
"Oh sweetie, why did you do it?" Botan wailed, dropping to her knees to Yukina's bedside and grabbing Yukina's nearest hand into both of hers.
"Where's Kazuma?" Yukina asked.
"We don't know," Kurama answered her. "But we should be able to find him if we know how to. That's something we were hoping you could help us with. How is it that you are acquainted with the cat demons?"
"I'm not acquainted with the cat demons," Yukina faintly replied.
"Tell the truth, Yukina," Kurama warned her. "Kuwabara's life depends on your honesty."
"I-I'm not acquainted with the cat demons!" Yukina insisted, her eyes opening a little wider.
"Why did you get that operation?" Shizuru asked her.
"I heard Botan say a jagan eye could find where the cat demons were hiding and I thought I could help."
The others all turned to Botan, who shook her head.
"I never meant that one of us should get a jagan eye!" she hurriedly pointed out.
"No matter, the damage is done now," Kurama said. "And before a more drastic fate befalls any of us, we need to know why the cat demons know Yukina."
"I'm telling you the truth!" Yukina said. "I don't know anything about them!"
"You're lying," Kurama said. "I have plants that can make you tell me the truth, but the way they extract the information isn't pleasant–"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yusuke interjected. "Take it easy there, fox boy! I want answers just as much as you do, but nobody's torturing the truth out of anybody!"
Botan tightened her hold of Yukina's hand, the gesture causing the ice demon to refocus her gaze onto the ferry girl.
"Yukina, sweetie, if you do know anything, it's perfectly safe to tell us," she said gently. "We're your friends and we want to help you."
"That's right, Yukina," Shizuru said. "And we want to get Kazuma back. If you've got a secret you don't want to tell the cat demons, that's fine, but you can tell us. At least if we know what the problem is we can help figure out a solution."
"Yeah," Keiko added. "We don't like that the cat demons wrote letters to you asking you to surrender yourself to them. We want to find a way to make them stop and leave you alone."
Yukina managed a small smile.
"It's about Raspberry Sundae," she said.
"We know that," Kurama said. "We know that you knew the leader of the rebel cat demons personally."
"Yes, I did know her," Yukina admitted. "But she was the only cat demon I knew. I did briefly meet a few of the other rebels, but the leader was the only one I really knew. When I first left the ice village to search for my brother, she helped me travel to the living world. She just walked with me, making sure no demons tried to attack me or kidnap me. She did it many times. She never asked for payment or expected anything from me. She was my friend."
"What else do you know?" Kurama pressed.
"Nothing, I swear!"
"You said you knew nothing before, but now you're admitting you did have an association with the leader of the rebel cat demons. What else are you hiding?"
"Hey, come on, take it easy," Shizuru said to Kurama.
Kurama stood stiffly and gave Yusuke a hard look before leaving the room.
"I see some people are still in an awful snippy mood," Botan said with a sigh.
"I've told you all everything I know," Yukina said to Botan.
"It's alright sweetie, you don't have to justify yourself to me, I believe you," Botan assured her. "You just get some rest, I'll help you get comfortable and before long you'll be back on your feet."
"And in the mean time, we'll go get Kuwabara and Hiei back," Yusuke added.
"How?" Keiko asked.
"I've got a plan," Yusuke said.
"Really?" Keiko asked incredulously.
"Keiko!" Yusuke growled at her under his breath. "I'm trying to make her feel better!"
"Oh!"
Yusuke groaned.
"Hey, where's Koenma?" he asked. "Damnit if he's been kidnapped, I'm not gonna go rescue him!"
"He went back to spirit world," Keiko said. "He said he had to do something but that he won't be long."
"We're not supposed to be splitting up…" Yusuke grumbled as he marched out the room.
Keiko glanced at Shizuru, who shrugged.
"Everybody is just very snippy…" Botan muttered, ignoring the looks her comment earned her from Keiko and Shizuru.
"Hiei! Hey… Hey Hiei!"
Kuwabara strained against the plant holding him in place and again it painfully tightened its hold; Hiei, however, seemed to be managing to slip out of the plant holding him.
"Hiei! How are you doing that?" Kuwabara hissed.
The cat demons had built a campfire some distance away, the faint glow of it barely visible from Kuwabara's vantage point and since lighting it, they had ceased their regular visits to check on their prisoners.
"Hn, pathetic," Hiei muttered as he hopped free of the plant.
Kuwabara watched with wide eyes of disbelief as Hiei drew out his sword and started to walk away.
"Hiei!" he cried.
Hiei growled and then looked back over his shoulder.
"Help me!" Kuwabara shouted at him.
"I can't," Hiei flatly replied.
"You mean you won't!" Kuwabara complained.
"No, I mean I can't," Hiei said, turning around to fully face him. "The plant tightens its hold the more you struggle. Until you relax, it will not release you."
"It releases me if I relax?" Kuwabara asked.
"Yes."
"Like a Chinese finger trap?"
"…Whatever."
Kuwabara nodded and then drew in a deep breath, holding it for a moment before slowly sighing it out, relaxing his muscles as he did so. To his surprise, the plant's hold did lessen slightly. He repeated his actions and the binds loosened further.
"Hey Hiei!" he called out. "It's working! The plant's letting me go!"
Hiei rolled his eyes.
"Shout a little louder, I'm not sure every one of the cat demons heard you the first time," he spat sarcastically.
"I don't know what you're being so high and mighty about, Hiei," Kuwabara replied, trying to keep himself calm and relaxed as he spoke so that the plant would continue to release him. "The cats got you too."
"They got you first!" Hiei snapped irritably.
"Were you coming to rescue me?"
Kuwabara finally had one arm free and he gladly dropped it to his side.
"Hn, don't be ridiculous!" Hiei snorted. "The cats are after Yukina, I came here to slaughter them before they reached her."
Kuwabara's second arm fell free.
"So those cat demons just want Yukina's tears?" he asked.
Hiei twitched but otherwise did not respond, which was enough of a response for Kuwabara to know that the cat demons were not just after Yukina for her hiruiseki-making abilities. He stepped one leg out of the plant, watching it gradually release his other leg until he was able to leap away from the plant entirely and then take a few long strides to bring himself directly in front of Hiei.
"Thanks for waiting for me, I didn't think you would."
Hiei twitched again and Kuwabara sensed that Hiei had not actually meant to wait for him.
"Oh wait…" Kuwabara said slowly. "You need me to escape, that's why you waited, isn't it?"
"Shut-up," Hiei grumbled. "I just… Yusuke would just complain if I returned without you."
Kuwabara nodded and then looked about himself. They appeared to be standing in the remains of a sunken garden that had been long ago abandoned and gone wild, with rampant plant-life covering most of the decorative stonework that lined the walls.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" he asked, turning to Hiei again.
"We're on an island," Hiei replied. "It looks as though humans abandoned it long ago and the rebel cat demons seem to have been using it as a hide-out for some time. I don't think the one with the jagan eye – I think her name is Tora – left demon world recently. I think she and her associates have been here since before the formation of the border patrol in demon world."
"Is that really what happened or are you just saying that so you don't have to feel bad about the fact a whole clan of demons got past your guard?" Kuwabara asked.
"When I want your inane opinion, I will ask for it," Hiei snarled back. "But for the record I am speaking the truth. I came here from the mainland and I saw ample evidence that they have been living here for several seasons. They have managed to evade detection thanks to their low power levels and the fact that Tora has a jagan eye to help obscure their location from detection. I didn't understand what had brought them to the living world – other than the fact that they need to hide from those in demon world who would not hesitate to murder them – but I think they may have been drawn here by Yukina."
"Yukina drew them here?"
Hiei moved away from Kuwabara and swiftly scaled one of the walls, seeming to reach the ground above in two light-footed hops. Kuwabara clambered up after him, glancing over at the distant glow of the cat demon's campfire before continuing.
"What do they want with Yukina?" he asked.
"Tora's jagan eye drew her to Yukina," Hiei replied. "We have to get to Yukina and take her somewhere safe. Koenma won't let anyone fight the cat demons."
"You're not allowed to fight the cat demons?"
"No."
"So if you didn't come here to fight the cat demons, did you just come here to rescue me?"
Hiei gave Kuwabara a long, hard glare before turning around and sneaking off. Kuwabara quickly followed after him, unsure if he felt better or worse about the fact that it did seem as though Hiei had defied instructions and set out to save him.
"So are you gonna tell me why the cat demons are after my beloved Yukina?" he asked as they crept away through overgrown vegetation towards the sound of the ocean. "I have a right to know y'know, she is my girlfriend."
"That's debateable," Hiei grunted. "But as you will shortly find out anyway, I suppose I could tell you."
"Okay…"
Kuwabara watched the back of Hiei's head as he waited for an answer that seemed to take an eternity to come.
"It seems the former rebel leader would sometimes escort Yukina to and from the ice village when she was travelling to the living world to look for her missing brother," Hiei eventually explained. "And Yukina became attached to her. Yukina was very saddened by her death and, due to the nature of her death and the fact that none of her remains or any of her weapons were ever recovered, Yukina still holds onto the hope that she is not really dead. For a novice user of the jagan eye, Yukina's wish can be misread as fact: Tora thought her old ally was still alive and that Yukina might know where she was and so she hunted Yukina down. I would guess that she appeared when she did because Kurama had placed a raspberry sundae on the table and the plant no doubt reminded Yukina of the stupid cat demon who once used that exact flower as her primary weapon."
"So the leader of the cat demons was one of the good guys?" Kuwabara asked. "I mean, she had to be if she helped Yukina out, right?"
"The leader of the rebel cat demons was an idiot."
"You say that about everybody. Did you even know her?"
"Not personally. If I had ever met her, I would have knocked her unconscious and handed her back to the leader of the cat demon tribe, who would have paid me an enormous sum for her."
"…So she was a wanted criminal?"
"No, she was just an idiot."
"You just said you never met her."
"I didn't need to. She was famous in demon world for her idiocy. Her main weapon was the raspberry sundae, which is a defensive weapon, not an offensive one. All it does is temporarily stuns the victim to allow the user to run away. She was a frivolous idiot who cared more about "having fun" than having power or influence."
"Not everybody wants to rule the world, Hiei. And if you never met her, you can't really know she was an idiot."
"I didn't need to meet her to know what sort of idiot she was. One of my fellow former bandits once knew her very well and he told me as much about her as anyone should ever need to know. She was an idiot and now because she associated herself with Yukina, Yukina is in danger. What else do you need to know?"
"…Nothing, I guess."
"Then shut-up and get ready to swim."
"Huh?"
Kuwabara pushed through some thickets and stepped out onto the foreshore of a sweeping beach. Looking out across the ocean he could just make out the twinkling lights of Sarayashiki city in the far distance. When he saw Hiei start towards the water he let out a groan, realising then that the angry little fire demon had not been kidding about having to swim.
"Where the hell have you been?"
Koenma quietly sat down on a sofa beside Kurama, seemingly unfazed by Yusuke's outburst.
"I went to spirit world and begged my father to stand down the SDF," he smoothly lied. "He refused, but he did offer to hold them back for another 48 hours to allow us time to apprehend the cat demons and send them back to demon world ourselves."
Yusuke shrugged.
"At this point I don't really care," he said casually. "If your foot soldiers wanna pick up some pussy, let them do it."
"Yusuke, please…" Kurama groaned.
"If the SDF find that Hiei and Kuwabara have been taken prisoner by the cat demons, we will all be questioned on the matter," Koenma pointed out.
"I'm getting pretty sick of this," Yusuke growled. "Spirit world won't let us fight the cat demons, but they're willing to let the SDF fight them? What gives?"
"The SDF will not fight the cat demons, they will capture them and return them to demon world," Koenma replied. "Which is what all of you should have done at the very start of this mess."
Yusuke narrowed his eyes critically.
"If I knew where the cats were, I'd go find them and finish this," he pointed out.
"Botan said she was able to track one of them with the demon compass," Keiko offered. "Maybe we could try that?"
"Why didn't anybody tell me this sooner?" Yusuke asked, glowering at the others in the room. "Where is Botan?"
"She's still helping Yukina," Keiko replied, nodding her head towards the door.
"When Yukina regains her strength, won't she be able to tell us where they are?" Shizuru asked. "If Hiei was able to find them with his jagan eye, shouldn't Yukina be able to find them too?"
"I doubt it," Kurama said solemnly. "Hiei is a master of the jagan eye, Yukina has just impulsively had one implanted into her body with no prior knowledge of how to control it. It would take her many years of practise to have even half the control over her powers that Hiei has over his."
"Then why the hell did she get the operation?" Yusuke asked.
"Because she was desperate," Kurama replied. "Desperate to rescue her beloved Kuwabara and desperate to protect the cat demons from persecution. She got the eye implanted because she thought she could use it to seek out the rebels, convince them to free Kuwabara and Hiei and also convince them to flee before we got close to them."
"Are you saying Yukina isn't loyal to us?" Keiko asked him.
"That's a bit harsh," Shizuru added.
"Yukina's a simple little girl, she doesn't have some secret agenda," Yusuke agreed. "Spirit world are the ones keeping secrets and hiding things here, not little Yuki–"
Yusuke stopped short as Botan let out a horrified scream. After his initial shock he darted towards the spare bedroom Botan was tending to Yukina in, the others hurrying after him to find Yukina sitting up in bed with her hands gripped into Botan's arms. Yukina's eyes looked as though she had slipped into unconsciousness with them open, but her newly acquired third eye was alert and focused and it seemed to be drawing energy from Botan to function.
"This is exactly why I didn't want Botan touching her!" Koenma yelled, leaping at the bed.
Kurama grabbed the back of his tunic and yanked him back, almost throwing him into the back wall of the room.
"This might be useful," he explained when he caught the glare the spirit world prince was giving him. "We should allow it to proceed."
The others looked as confused and concerned as Koenma, but Kurama ignored them, sitting down carefully onto the bed at the opposite side Yukina was holding Botan at.
"Yukina?" he said, his voice calm and clear. "What can you see?"
"Demon plant," Yukina replied, her voice hollow and faint.
"Where is the demon plant?" Kurama asked.
"It's holding Kazuma and Mister Hiei."
"What else can you see?"
"Tora is watching. The plant is holding Kazuma and Mister Hiei, it's controlling them. Tora is watching everything with her jagan eye. They're… They think they're escaping, but it's all an illusion… The plant and Tora, they're tricking them… Oh no… No… No!"
Yukina tightened her hold of Botan, who collapsed limply in her grasp.
"End this!" Koenma demanded.
"Not yet!" Kurama said sternly. "Yukina, what is happening now?"
"Kazuma and Mister Hiei are talking too much," Yukina continued. "They're telling Tora everything… Everything… Mister Hiei thinks he's just talking to Kazuma, but Tora can hear everything he's saying, and he's saying too much! He's saying too much about Yasashi!"
"Knock her out," Koenma instructed Yusuke.
"What?" Yusuke echoed.
"Knock Yukina unconscious before she drains what little spirit energy Botan has left!" Koenma barked.
Yusuke cursed and begrudgingly slapped the back of his hand across Yukina's head, causing her to slump over beside Botan, both lying oddly peacefully after what had just occurred.
"Nobody tell Kuwabara about what I just did," Yusuke grumbled, looking around the others.
"That wasn't helpful," Kurama said, standing abruptly in front of Koenma.
"Yukina can't control that power, she could have unintentionally killed someone in this room," Koenma stiffly replied. "It was the right thing to do. We don't even know if what she saw can be reliably taken as an actual account of what is happening to Kuwabara and Hiei."
"We only needed a little longer," Kurama said. "She might have been able to tell us where the rebels are holding Kuwabara and Hiei."
"It wasn't worth the risk," Koenma plainly replied. "Look at what she's done to Botan!"
Kurama looked back over his shoulder at Botan, who had slumped to the floor.
"You should probably take her back to spirit world," Yusuke suggested.
"She can recover just as quickly here," Koenma replied.
Kurama turned back to face Koenma, staring at him through slightly thinned eyes. Koenma kept his face impassive, waiting as patiently as he could for the fox demon to give up; which he eventually did, turning his attention to Yukina.
"We should leave her be for now," he said. "Hopefully after some rest she will better be able to assist us in our search for Kuwabara and Hiei."
Shizuru gently manoeuvred Yukina back into the bed and covered her over as Keiko crouched down by Botan.
"What about Botan?" she asked, looking up at Yusuke.
"I think Botan has done enough work tonight," he said, looking over at Koenma. "If nobody else is willing to help her, I'll take her back to spirit world myself."
He started to move around the bed but Koenma stepped into his path, causing him to stumble to a halt.
"I don't think it's such a good idea that you go to spirit world, Yusuke," the prince said through a nervous grin.
"Really?" Yusuke said. "Your old man and his merry men are still holding a grudge?"
"I'll take her back," Kurama said.
"Thank you," Koenma said to him.
Kurama ignored him, moving around to the other side of the bed where Botan lay. Keiko quickly moved out of his way and he gathered Botan up into his arms. He gave Koenma one last hard look before leaving. Yusuke leaned out of the room, watching him walk out the front door before stepping back into the room and looking around the others.
"That was weird," he commented.
When nobody answered him, he continued.
"Does anybody get the feeling Kurama is taking it personally that Yukina knows something about the cat demons? No? Just me?"
When nobody answered him again, Yusuke grumbled a few choice expletives and stomped out of the room.
Botan awoke slowly, her mind lingering somewhere between her dreams and reality, her heavy eyelids struggling to open. Blurry images of her bedroom appeared before her, but she was sure she was still dreaming, as her curtains were barely holding back daylight and there was someone else in her room.
Botan was suddenly very awake.
"Oh hello."
Botan scrambled up into a sitting position as the intruder spoke, her back thumping against her headboard and her feet inadvertently pushing all the sheets off of her bed in her haste to be upright. She glanced down at herself and was relieved to see that she was fully dressed in her usual pink kimono. She looked up again in time to see Kurama replacing the lid on a decorative little trinket box she kept a necklace in.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her.
She looked about her room suspiciously, her eyes passing and then flicking back to her maneki-neko ornament, her suspicious frown deepening when she noticed that it was facing towards the door instead of towards her bed. She shuffled to the edge of her bed and leaned over, turning it back to face herself. As she retracted her hand she felt Kurama approach her and she turned her head towards him at the exact moment he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed.
"I didn't expect you to wake so soon," he said.
He was smiling, but Botan did not feel any more reassured.
"You're in my bedroom," she said.
"It was very kind of you to help Yukina the way you did," he said.
"I've never had a boy in my bedroom before," she told him. "Why are you in my bedroom? And how did I get here? Did anyone see you come in here? I'm not sure we ferry girls are allowed boys in our bedrooms…"
"Koenma asked me to take you back here to rest. You wore yourself out trying to help Yukina recover from her operation."
"Oh, Yukina! How is she?"
"She's resting. She'll be fine. Thanks to you."
Botan nodded slowly. She started to look around her room again but found herself quickly looking back at Kurama again. She frowned and ran her eyes over him.
"You're sitting very close to me," she commented.
"We're friends aren't we?" he responded.
Botan chewed at her lip, something about the tone of voice Kurama had used to ask his question not sitting well with her.
"It's very unfortunate what has happened to Kuwabara and Hiei," he continued when she did not answer him. "And Yukina, feeling obliged to get that operation… If only there was some way we could find where the cat demons are hiding."
"Well, I thought I was following one using the demon compass," Botan offered. "Maybe I should take the compass and fly around the living world, I might be able to track them down."
Botan stood up with every intention of acting out her suggestion, if only because she was starting to feel incredibly awkward sitting on her bed with Kurama, however she did not even manage to move one full step away from the bed before firm hands grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back down. She landed a little abruptly, though Kurama had not been overly rough with her, and she turned her head warily towards him.
"You should be relaxing," he told her when her eyes found his. "Running around in the blind hope of picking up a signal on your compass isn't a wise strategy, least of all in your condition."
"I feel fine," Botan weakly protested.
"And the rebel cat demons have expended a great amount of effort disguising their location, we may never find them just by looking," Kurama added. "It would be far more prudent if we could concoct a way to draw them out of their hiding place, some way of bringing them to us."
Botan glanced over at her little porcelain maneki-neko.
"Have you been touching my things?" she asked, meeting Kurama's eyes.
"The leader of the cat demon rebels was once a spy for spirit world," Kurama replied. "Did you know that, Botan?"
"When I first woke up, you were looking inside my little box," Botan pointed out.
"She relayed a lot of information to spirit world, a lot of useful information. Knowing how meticulously Koenma keeps records of events, I would imagine that he would have made a record of the information he received from the rebel leader; perhaps he kept it in some sort of file."
"I always thought you were a gentlemen but it's really not very polite to rummage around through a lady's belongings when she's unconscious."
"If Koenma did have such a file, do you know where he might keep it?"
Botan's face dropped.
"Were you searching my room for a file?" she asked. "Why were you moving my ornaments and looking in my trinket boxes? You've sabotaged the feng shui of my room!"
"Botan, I know that Koenma is very fond of you and that he holds you in very high esteem," Kurama began.
"Lord Koenma does not store files in my bedroom," Botan bluntly pointed out.
"And I imagine any information he has from demon world is top secret and he probably doesn't share the details of it with anyone. Except perhaps you, his most trusted aide."
Botan narrowed her eyes.
"Are you asking me where Lord Koenma keeps the top secret spirit world files?" she asked.
"I thought you might know where they are," Kurama softly replied. "Considering how important a figurehead you are in spirit world."
Botan narrowed her eyes further.
"Does Lord Koenma know you're in my bedroom fiddling with my private things and using flattery to try to bribe me to relinquish top secret spirit world files to you?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Oh. Well then."
Botan stood up and Kurama stood at her side.
"We should go to see Koneko," she said quietly.
"Who?" Kurama echoed, looking less than calm and endearing for the first time since Botan had awoken.
"Koneko," she said again, opening her curtains to fully illuminate her room. "She's the key keeper."
Botan looked around her room again, silently wondering if nothing else was out of place because Kurama had not touched anything else or if it was because he had been very careful to return everything else to its original place and positioning.
"What's her name?" Kurama asked as Botan opened the door.
"Koneko," she said again, stepping out into the hall beyond.
Botan lifted a hand to her face, hiding her embarrassment behind one large sleeve as she passed a group of giggling ferry girls who were all watching Kurama step out of her bedroom.
"I don't think I'm really allowed to have boys in my room," she muttered as she caught Kurama looking at her strangely.
"Oh don't worry Botan," he said cheerfully. "I'm not really a boy."
Botan lowered her arm and they started to walk down the corridor together.
"If you're not really a boy, then what are you?" she asked.
"I'm a fox demon pretending to be a boy," he replied with a smile.
"That's worse!" she wailed. "I'm definitely not allowed to have demons in my bedroom!"
Kurama chuckled softly and Botan was almost glad that he was making jokes as it did make her feel more at ease; despite the fact that she would no doubt have to deal with a gaggle of gossiping girls later that day. They carried on in silence, shortly reaching the room where the most confidential files of spirit world were kept and Botan was surprised to see George leaving the room as they approached.
"Hello George," she greeted him. "What are you doing up here?"
"Hello Botan," he replied. "I was just bringing some tea to Koneko."
"Oh dear, are you at a loss for someone to wait on with Koenma being absent?" Botan asked.
George paused, his eyes landing on Kurama, who had stopped at Botan's side.
"Are you going to see Koneko?" he asked, still looking at Kurama as he spoke.
"Yes," Botan replied.
"Botan has very kindly offered to give me a tour of the temple," Kurama added.
George gave Kurama a long hard look and Botan began to grow concerned: as it was unlike the ogre to be anything less than a humble, gibbering wreck.
"Are you alright, George?" she asked.
Before he could reply, Kurama put his hands on Botan's shoulders and pushed her through the open doorway into the file room. As he passed George, the two exchanged a few hushed words, but they had presumably not been as quiet as they thought they had, as Botan heard every word.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm aware of the effect I have on women."
Kurama did not stop pushing Botan forward until he was inside the room and had slid the door closed, blocking out George. Botan had already noticed that Koneko was at her desk as reliably as ever and she stood up to greet her visitors.
"Kurama, this is Koneko, the key keeper of spirit world," Botan told Kurama.
She turned to him to further explain what Koneko's role was in spirit world, but words failed her when she saw the look on his face. He was staring at Koneko and he actually looked oddly surprised to see her, almost as though he recognised her and thought she ought not to be where he had just found her.
"Hello," Koneko said.
"Hello," Kurama quietly replied, before awkwardly bowing his head in greeting.
"We're looking for a file," Botan said, deciding to take the initiative, as Kurama was still staring at Koneko, his face pale and his mouth slightly open.
"Certainly, which file do you require?" Koneko asked.
"The one about the cat demons," Botan replied.
"You mean the Raspberry Sundae file?"
"Yes," Kurama said, approaching her desk. "Do you know anything about it?"
"I'm afraid I can't let you access that file."
Kurama went eerily still and Botan quickly moved over to his side at the desk.
"Koneko please," she said. "This is very important. The cat demons have taken two prisoners, we can't find them and we think they are after some information that may be in that file. We don't intend to tell them what's in the file, we just need to know what it is so that we can plan a way to negotiate with them."
"Lord Koenma says we don't negotiate with terrorists," Koneko plainly replied.
"This is different," Botan said. "Lord Koenma himself said that this was an exceptional case. Isn't that right Kurama?"
"How long have you been here?" Kurama asked Koneko, ignoring Botan entirely.
"What do you mean?" the key keeper asked.
"How long have you been in spirit world?" Kurama clarified.
"Not long, I suppose."
"Do you remember your life before you came here?"
Koneko and Botan both screwed up their faces at Kurama, who blinked and appeared to regain his senses.
"My mistake, I apologise," he muttered, turning from the desk. "I should get back. Thank you for your help Botan."
"I didn't really do… Anything…"
Botan's words trailed off as Kurama darted out the room.
"That was odd," she said, turning to Koneko. "But now that he's gone, can I see the file?"
"Absolutely no way, Botan," Koneko flatly replied, before sitting back down at her desk.
Botan stuck out her tongue at the key keeper before stomping out of the room.