Chapter 22 – Eternal Sunshine
The journey from the hinterlands of Alaric to the area of Tourin Yusuke had spoken of had been a slow and laborious one thanks to most of those travelling being either weakened from battle or just slow-moving. It had taken until nightfall to reach the destination and for everyone to say goodbye to the rebels: Yusuke had chosen to stay in demon world that night and the others had returned to the living world. The journey home was especially long for Kurama, who was obliged to first walk Keiko home to ensure that her parents had recovered from the effects of the raspberry sundaes Yasashi had filled their back garden with and then onto the Kuwabara household to check on Mister Kuwabara before he could finally go back to his own house. After checking on his stepbrother and his parents he had gladly cleaned himself up as best he could and gone to bed, where he had enjoyed all of forty minutes sleep before being awoken by the sound of his stepfather's alarm clock.
And so, still feeling confused, frustrated and also incredibly tired, Kurama found himself sitting at the dining table pretending to enjoy breakfast with his family.
"Shuichi, are you alright?" his mother asked.
"I'm fine mother," he flatly lied.
"Oh honey, you don't look fine," Shiori said, touching a hand to his forehead. "I hope you're not coming down with something."
"Maybe you've been working too hard, Shuichi," his stepfather suggested. "You look miserable."
"Maybe he looks miserable because things didn't work out between him and Botan," Kokoda suggested through a mouthful of food.
"Oh dear, is that true Shuichi?" Shiori asked.
Kurama smiled patiently and picked a chunk of half-chewed chocolate cereal from his hair where his stepbrother had inadvertently spat it.
"I'm fine mother," he insisted.
"Kazuya, maybe you should take a day off work and take Shuichi fishing to relax," Shiori suggested, turning to her husband expectantly.
"That sounds like a good idea," Kazuya agreed. "What do you say, Shuichi?"
Kurama looked over at his stepfather, again forcing a smile; but before he could force out another platitude, Kokoda spoke for him.
"Well if you two aren't going to work today, why do I have to go to school?" he asked.
"Because you have exams," Kazuya flatly answered him. "And don't think I don't remember you trying to sneak out to an all-night rave the other night…"
"It wasn't a "rave", dad!" Kokoda scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It was a house party," he added, turning to Kurama. "You should come with me next time, Shuichi. Last time, there were so many fit girls there. And some of them were older, like you."
"Next time?" Kazuya echoed. "There's not going to be a next time, young man!"
"You can't have a problem with me going if Shuichi comes with me, right?" Kokoda argued back. "You know he never steps out of line and you know I can't do anything bad if he's there."
"And you would do something bad if Shuichi wasn't there to check on you?"
"I didn't say that!"
Kurama turned to his mother as Kokoda and his father continued arguing. She gave him a sympathetic smile and touched a hand to his cheek.
"Don't work yourself too hard, honey," she said gently. "And if things haven't worked out with your girlfriend, maybe she's just not the one for you."
"I'll bear that in mind, mother," he said, forcing another smile.
She smiled and nodded, rising from the table. When it appeared that the argument between Kokoda and Kazuya was only going to worsen, Kurama quietly followed his mother's lead, slipping from the table and gathering his belongings, deciding that he may as well go to work early; after all, he had missed the last several days without any decent excuse and he was bound to be in bother with the boss when he got there.
Outside the sky was clear and the sun was beating down, reminding him that it was the start of summer, something he had almost forgotten amidst the recent chaos. And, as he got into his car, he remembered that it was also Wednesday, and the office he worked at closed early on Wednesdays, so at least he would not have to work a full day.
"Hey lady, I got some good news for you!"
Kuwabara recoiled from the counter of the ice cream parlour, screwing up his face in a combination of surprise and disgust at the shop owner's sudden and uncharacteristic exuberance. He appeared to be addressing Yukina, who was standing in front of the brightly-lit display of colourful ice creams, the side of one fist pressed against her chin as she scanned over the selection pensively.
"Just for you lady, I added raspberry sundae to the menu."
Yukina's head snapped up and she stared at the man behind the counter in almost fearful disbelief.
"Hey, do you mind?" Kuwabara intervened. "That's really insensitive to talk about that right now!"
The man behind the counter slowly turned his head towards Kuwabara, his eyes thinning as he did so.
"I don't like you," he said.
"The feeling's mutual, buddy," Kuwabara growled back.
"I'd like the raspberry sundae please," Yukina interrupted them.
"Of course!" the shop owner replied cheerfully, beaming down at her. "Do you want sprinkles or a cherry on top?"
Yukina shook her head.
"Just plain, please," she said.
The man turned his attention to Kuwabara, his smile vanishing again instantaneously.
"The double-chocolate fudge chunk supreme that's meant for four people to share but you'll eat it all to yourself?" he asked.
"I'm a growing boy!" Kuwabara protested.
"Yeah, growing out the way," the man behind the counter muttered. "Enjoy those 32-inch waist pants while you still can…"
"I burn off the calories!" Kuwabara argued, brandishing a fist in the air.
"Two thousand Yen."
"What?"
Kuwabara began fishing through his wallet for money, glowering at the man behind the counter the entire time. When he eventually had two thousand Yen in his hand – something that had required him emptying his wallet of notes and coins alike to achieve with only two coins left to his name – he slammed the money down on the counter.
"It had better be the best darn raspberry sundae ever, Mister!" he grumbled.
"It's beautiful," the man behind the counter sarcastically replied. "You'll weep when you taste it."
"I don't like you," Kuwabara growled.
"The feeling's mutual, "buddy"."
Kuwabara gave the man one last glare before turning around and opening the shop door, waving a hand at Yukina, who bowed her head at him and walked out ahead. He followed her over to their usual table on the street at the edge of the awning. It was an intensely sunny day, even for the time of year, and such weather always made Kuwabara fret: he knew Yukina did not cope so well with hot, sunny weather, being more accustomed to the cold, foggy weather of her home in the glacial village of demon world.
"I don't know what that guy's problem is," he said as he pulled out Yukina's chair for her to sit into.
"It was very kind of him to add raspberry sundae to the menu, just for me," Yukina said as she sat down.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kuwabara reluctantly agreed.
He moved around the table and sat down opposite her. She looked quite contented, despite the heat and the traumas she had endured since they had last sat outside the ice cream parlour; it had been a very eventful week, Kuwabara thought to himself. But it had given him a lot to think about.
"Yukina?" he began.
"Yes Kazuma?" she responded.
"I need to ask you a very important, life-changing question," he said.
He placed his elbows on the table and leaned forwards and she corresponding leaned a little closer to him.
"I was thinking, after everything that's happened lately, and with my dad being out the house a lot and with Shizuru working for spirit world now, you must spend a lot of time alone, huh?" he said.
"I don't mind," Yukina replied.
"I was thinking maybe you could come and live with me–"
"Well, well, fancy seeing the two of you here on a Wednesday afternoon."
Kuwabara slowly looked up, finding Kurama standing over him.
"Kurama," he said. "Hey, uh, don't you have stuff to do at work? I mean, you've been away from your job for a whole week–"
"It's fine," Kurama replied.
He pulled out a seat and sat down at the table, apparently oblivious to the awkwardness of the situation he had just interrupted.
"I trust you're not too tired," he said, turning to Kuwabara. "After arriving back so late last night and having to travel to university for classes this morning and then back here for your ice cream date with Yukina."
Kuwabara decided not to bother telling Kurama that he had actually slept through his alarm that morning, missed his train and not actually gone to his classes: Shizuru had been mad enough about it, though she had not really been able to argue the point with him as both she and Yukina had been so exhausted that they had done exactly the same thing as he had.
"Yeah, it's been a crazy week," he said instead.
"Hasn't it though?" Kurama responded.
"Have you been shopping, Mister Kurama?"
Kurama looked over at Yukina almost worriedly and Kuwabara started to feel sick as a worrying sense of déjà vu washed over him.
"It's nothing," Kurama said to Yukina.
Kuwabara narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Kurama pushed the dark green plastic bag by his feet under his chair, concealing it from view behind his feet.
"Lemme guess," Kuwabara said. "Just a birthday present you picked up for your mom from a plant shop when you were looking for rogue demon plants?"
Kurama turned to Kuwabara, something slightly threatening in his eyes as he did so.
"Did you manage to acquire a birthday present for your sister yet, Kuwabara?" he asked.
"No," Kuwabara slowly replied, remembering then that he had told that lie to Kurama the week before. "Show me the plant you got your mom. Maybe I could get the same one for Shizuru."
Kurama gave Kuwabara a long, hard look before slowly retrieving the bag from under his chair and placing it onto the table between them. When he opened it out, Kuwabara and even Yukina gasped at what they saw.
"What the hell is that thing?" Kuwabara yelped.
"Why is it so ugly?" Yukina asked.
Kurama and Kuwabara both looked over at her and she looked a little flustered but made no attempt to retract her uncharacteristically blunt question.
"It's just something I felt I should get," Kurama said. "It's not something I wanted to admit to purchasing and I knew the plant shop by my office complex sold them, so I went and bought one after I finished work today."
"But why would you buy one of those things?" Kuwabara asked.
"Why would anybody manufacture something so horrible?" Yukina asked.
"It's not my taste, but I require it as a peace offering," Kurama replied.
"A peace offering?" Kuwabara echoed. "That thing is so creepy it's enough to make people go to war!"
Kurama gave Kuwabara a look that told him he was being ridiculous, but the look did not last long as something appeared to catch his attention behind Kuwabara's head. Kuwabara turned to see what the fox demon was suddenly looking at, feeling less than surprised to see Hiei suddenly standing behind his chair.
"What hell is that ugly thing?" Hiei asked, nodding at the ornament resting in the green plastic bag on the table.
"It's a gift for someone," Kurama calmly replied.
"Looks more like an urn for the ashes of somebody you hate," Hiei sneered. "Or perhaps an ornate latrine. Either way, it's incredibly ugly and I don't like it."
Hiei moved over to sit down into the remaining seat at the table, facing Kurama.
"Luckily this is not a present for anyone at this table then," Kurama said, a hint of irritation creeping into his tone.
"I don't like looking at it," Yukina said quietly. "Would you please cover it up and put it away, Mister Kurama?"
"Yes Kurama, put your crap away," Hiei added.
Kurama started to reach his hands towards the bag as though he intended to do as Yukina and Hiei had asked: but he stopped short of his goal, fixing his eyes onto Hiei. In that moment, it occurred to Kuwabara that Kurama and Hiei had not confronted each other since Hiei had killed Yasashi and collected the bounty for taking her life.
"What brings you here, Hiei?" Kurama asked in a low voice.
"My timing is coincidental, I assure you," Hiei replied. "I certainly wasn't lured here by that ugly thing."
"I don't care what you think about it," Kurama said dismissively.
"Maybe you should reconsider," Yukina suggested. "It's not a very nice gift to give to someone."
Kurama gave her an odd look and she paled noticeably before lowering her head. He then turned his attention back to Hiei, and the two proceeded to glare at each other across the table. Kuwabara did not think that he had ever seen the two so at odds – though he could understand why they now were – and he wished they had chosen to have their confrontation somewhere other than his Wednesday afternoon ice cream date with Yukina: something that was usually pleasant and easy and delightful.
Two weeks in a row it had been ruined now though, he thought bitterly. First by Kurama and Hiei arguing over a flower and a cat demon (literally) dropping in on them and now by Kurama and Hiei arguing over an ornament and a cat demon (literally) dropping in on them.
Everyone sitting at the table froze, four pairs of eyes staring unblinkingly at the figure that appeared to have dropped out of the sky to land in a crouch on their table.
After some meowing and pawing at the ugly ornament Kurama had inexplicably spent money acquiring, the cat woman lifted her head, her eyes landing on Kuwabara, much to his chagrin.
"Oh Kuwabara, it's so nice to see you safe and sound again!"
Kuwabara's face dropped as the cat face in front of him dissolved into the face of a familiar blue-haired, pink-eyed ferry girl.
"This is just lovely!" Botan added, picking up the ugly ornament from the table. "Is this yours, Kuwabara?"
"Oh God no!" Kuwabara replied.
"Hn," Hiei grunted from the other side of the table.
"I love the maneki-neko," Botan said, holding up the ugly ornament beside her face. "I collect them. They make me smile!"
She pulled her cat face again, pawing her free hand in the air; and then Kuwabara finally understood what he was looking at.
"Oh, that ugly thing is supposed to be a lucky cat ornament?" he asked.
"It's adorable!" Botan said, turning it around to look at it, her cat face fading again.
"It's yours."
Everyone – including Botan – turned to Kurama.
"I bought it for you, Botan," Kurama said. "I just wanted to… I thought it would be appropriate to give you a gift to–"
"Oh, Kurama!"
Botan leapt off the table and approached the side of Kurama's chair, throwing her arms around his shoulders. Kuwabara was mildly relieved to see Kurama looking as confused as he felt.
"You remembered!" Botan said as she finally released Kurama from her awkward and crushing embrace. "Even Yusuke and Lord Koenma forgot, but at least one person remembered!"
Yukina and Hiei exchanged strange looks, the sight of which only made Kuwabara feel even more bewildered.
"Well anyway, I just dropped by to remind you all that Lord Koenma wants everyone to meet with him tonight at Genkai's old temple," Botan said.
She looked around the table, her eyes passing over and then returning to Hiei: and again Kuwabara found the way Hiei looked up at her to be very odd.
"I'm so glad those nasty cat demons didn't hurt you when they took you prisoner, Hiei," Botan said.
"I don't have time to meet with Koenma," Hiei answered her. "And besides, I have nothing to say to him."
"Maybe he has something to say to you, Hiei," Kurama said. "Something about a bounty you recently collected."
"Hn, you don't know what you're talking about, Kurama."
Kurama stood up abruptly and Hiei copied his action.
"Oh dear!" Botan said, clutching the ugly cat ornament to her chest. "You boys aren't fighting with each other, are you?"
Kurama and Hiei glared at each other and Kuwabara stood up, readying himself to tell them both to back off: but before he got the chance to speak, his thought process was interrupted.
"Here we are, one ridiculously enormous serving of fat and sugar…"
The shop owner placed Kuwabara's enormous desert on the table.
"And one raspberry sundae for the lady."
He placed the raspberry sundae down in front of Yukina, and Hiei and Kurama both turned to look down at it.
"Enjoy!" the shop owner said, before walking away again and grumbling about "weird kids" under his breath as he went.
"Hey Botan, what does Koenma need to see me about?" Kuwabara asked Botan.
"Oh well, I don't really know," she replied.
"I thought Keiko and Shizuru were the spirit detectives now," Kuwabara complained. "What do you guys think it's all about?"
Kuwabara turned around to find himself suddenly alone at the table.
"My goodness, they left in a hurry!" Botan commented.
"Where did Yukina go?" Kuwabara asked, pointing at her untouched raspberry sundae.
"I don't know," Botan said, narrowing her eyes and planting her hands on her hips. "But it was mighty suspicious the way all three demons disappeared when I said Lord Koenma wanted to speak with them…"
"Yeah, it's like they had something to hide…" Kuwabara agreed.
"Even Yukina…" Botan said.
"What?" Kuwabara echoed.
Botan turned to him, looking far less concerned than he thought she ought to.
"Well I'm not too worried," she said with a shrug. "At least Kurama remembered that today is exactly ten years to the day that I was made assistant to the spirit detective. Even Yusuke didn't remember. And look: I got this lovely maneki-neko to boot!"
Kuwabara gave her a flat look.
"Botan, I swear that is the ugliest, nastiest, creepiest cat I've ever seen," he said. "And this last week, I've seen a whole mess of ugly, nasty and creepy cats…"
Botan pouted at him but he held his expression until she finally harrumphed and summoned her oar, flying off with her ugly little trophy as though it was something to be proud of.
Running in a formal shirt and trousers was harder than Kurama remembered it to be, but his determination kept him going, and, as soon as he was comfortably far enough away from the city streets and out of sight of any potential human witnesses, he drew out his rose whip, lashing it forwards without hesitation or restraint. He had not expected to strike his target on his first attempt, and so when Hiei grunted and fell to the forest floor, Kurama almost ran right past him in his disbelief. Stumbling to a halt just short of the fire demon as he started to rise to his feet, Kurama glared down at him expectantly.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Hiei growled, swiping a hand at the tear in the back of his clothing.
He brought his hand around to reveal a small smear of blood where his knuckles had brushed over the shallow laceration that had been opened diagonally across his back.
"I understand that you wanted an end to the war between the two factions of the cat demon tribe," Kurama replied. "But it was unnecessary for you to both slaughter Yasashi and for you to collect the bounty on her head. Explain yourself."
"You're the one who should be explaining yourself, Kurama," Hiei replied. "You let your own personal feelings cloud your judgement: you have no idea what was really going on, and you probably never will."
"This has nothing to do with personal feelings," Kurama retaliated. "This is pure logic: why did you slay the hunted and not the hunter? With Jagasame still around, do you really think the fight is over?"
"I know it's over," Hiei said. "Iruka's henchmen have moved on, and without them around to propagate the wanted posters, there are no longer any active bounties against any of the cat demons. Give it a little longer, and everyone will start to feel exactly the same way about the whole situation that I do: they won't care."
"What about the rebels that are still fleeing?"
"They're hardly fleeing: didn't Yusuke set them up with a new home in his back garden in Tourin?"
"Yusuke at least had the foresight to give help to those who needed it, and not to further the desires of a tyrannical oppressor."
Hiei gave Kurama a slightly condescending, vaguely pitying, but mostly bored look.
"If I had wanted to help the tyrant," he said slowly and borderline sarcastically. "If I had wanted to "further the desires" of the oppressor, I would have given him the girl and let him torture and abuse her for the rest of his miserable life."
"You collected the bounty on her head, Hiei," Kurama pointed out.
"Why not?" Hiei replied. "It was there to be taken after what I'd done. Money wasn't my only motivation of course: if it had been then, again, I would have handed over the girl – and the rest of her pathetic cronies – to Jagasame alive. The prize for handing over a captive alive is always higher: surely you know that better than even I do, Kurama."
Kurama slowly shook his head.
"I've never killed anyone in such a vulnerable position as Yasashi," he said. "I never would have. There was no honour in what you did."
"You're not really in any position to be calling my honour into question," Hiei coldly replied. "I suggest, before you continue this embarrassing little crusade of yours to avenge the girl, you check your facts."
Kurama returned his rose whip to its simple rose form and slid it back into his hair, his eyes never leaving Hiei as he did so.
"You might want to pay a visit to spirit world," Hiei suggested once Kurama's weapon was out of sight. "I'm not the one who owes you an explanation."
Kurama suspected that Hiei was either referencing the spirit world file of Yasashi's life that she had spoken of or Koenma himself; and, deep down, he knew that he probably did need to garner more information from spirit world to better understand Hiei's actions, as the fire demon was unlikely to ever fully explain why he acted the way he had.
And so, when Hiei ran off again, Kurama let him go.
Yusuke cursed under his breath as Puu began to descend towards the grounds outside of Enki's home and he caught sight of Kokou staggering about apparently looking for something. He had hoped to avoid seeing her that day, and when she looked up and began glaring at him on his approach, he silently wondered how Koenma had managed to get to Enki without having to deal with his crabby lush of a wife.
"Hey Mini Raizen," she greeted him as he leapt down from Puu's back.
"Hey you!" he replied, pretending to looked pleased to see her as he edged past Puu and aimed himself towards the door into Enki's home.
"You're timing's pretty good actually," Kokou said as Yusuke darted towards the door. "I was getting bored out here and felt like a workout."
She may have said more, but Yusuke had already made it indoors by then and he did not slow down until he finally located Enki, sitting on a stone bench with his feet propped up on a table piled high with magazines and papers, reading something.
"Hey Enki, how's it going?" Yusuke greeted him.
"Yusuke!" Enki said, putting down what he had been reading. "What brings you here?"
"It's not a social call, unfortunately," Yusuke replied. "Koenma asked me to come here as a favour."
"He wants his file back?" Enki asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's around here somewhere…"
Enki leaned forwards and began searching through the piles of documents on the table; which, Yusuke noticed, were not exactly carefully arranged or cared for.
"Hey Enki?" Yusuke began as he watched his friend pick a piece of melted cheese from a magazine about motorbikes. "Why did Koenma give the file to you anyway?"
"I don't know," Enki replied. "He just said he needed to keep it somewhere nobody would think to look for it and he asked me to hide it."
"Right," Yusuke said, nodding his head. "Well, I guess he wasn't so crazy, because this table covered with crap is the last place I'd go looking for a top secret spirit world file."
Enki paused his search to smile up at Yusuke.
"Who knows, maybe there's more than one top secret spirit world file buried in here!" he said.
Yusuke laughed nervously – though a part of him was certain that Enki was not joking – and he was relieved when he finally produced a relatively clean document folder with Koenma's royal seal on it.
"Here we are," he said, handing the folder to Yusuke.
Yusuke slowly accepted it, running his eyes over it carefully.
"You, uh, didn't happen to read any of it, did you?" he asked.
It looked as though the file had been opened and then hastily reassembled, as though someone had been reading the file at a time when they ought not to have been and then hurriedly shoved everything back into it when they had almost been caught in the act.
"No," Enki said with a casual shrug. "I don't really care about spirit world business. And Koenma said the file contained information about the cat demons: and they've always been more bother than they're worth."
Yusuke nodded.
"Seriously Yusuke," Enki said, standing up and actually looking serious. "Anything involving the cat demons is way more bother than it's worth. If I were you, I'd get that file back to Koenma as soon as possible, and make sure nobody knows you ever touched it."
"Thanks," Yusuke said. "I'll make sure I get it back to Koenma."
Enki gave him a slightly strange look, but Yusuke ignored him and waved his goodbye, hurrying back outside and throwing himself onto Puu's back before Kokou could reach him. She shouted at him as Puu took off and he pulled faces at her until she was out of sight, at which point he repositioned himself to sit cross-legged on Puu's back, with the file resting on his legs.
"Hold on, Puu," he said as he noticed the portal up ahead. "Just… Hover for a bit…"
Puu obediently held his position as Yusuke opened up the file and emptied out the contents. At first it looked interesting: pages and pages of secrets Yasashi had reported to spirit world. But after skimming over the first few, Yusuke realised two things that made looking through the file infinitely less enjoyable: first of all, the information was all over thirty years old, and secondly, he hated reading.
Yusuke began stuffing the reports back into the file, only briefly looking at each one, seeing that they all followed a similar format. He only stopped when he reached the very last report, which was visibly different, and seemed to be more about Yasashi herself than the secrets she had disclosed to spirit world.
"Today Yasashi was attacked and mortally wounded," Yusuke read aloud. "Blah, blah, blah, I felt obliged to act to preserve her life the only way I could under the circumstances, and so I took the decision to use the crystal of change, blah, blah, blah, told her I would probably call her Botan in her new life–"
Yusuke stopped abruptly, the sound of Puu's wings beating in the air suddenly sounding strangely loud and hypnotic.
"I told her I would probably call her Botan in her new life as a spirit of spirit world," he slowly read aloud. "Because all my ferry girls are named after flowers, and it seemed appropriate to name her after the peony she had used as a weapon. When I inserted the crystal of change, the transformation was almost instantaneous, though she was incoherent for several minutes afterwards. When she finally came to, the effects of the crystal were not as I had expected…"
Yusuke skimmed over the rest of the information before lowering the report and looking out at the portal ahead.
"So wait…" he muttered to himself. "Does that mean…? All this time it was…?"
He slowly lifted up the report again, turning the page to find a long passage preceded by a line of text that only made the situation even more bizarre.
"Even though Yasashi had always spoken only of her desire for freedom and a peaceful place for her fellow rebels to live, her final words did not concern the rebellion or indeed any of the rebels," he read aloud. "Rather her final words concerned only a fox demon bandit by the name of Yoko Kurama…"
Yusuke scanned over the surprisingly long chunk of text that apparently represented Yasashi's final words before stuffing the document into the folder and closing it over.
"Huh…" he said. "And here I thought this crap couldn't get any weirder… Puu?"
Puu called out responsively at the sound of his name.
"Take me to the living world," Yusuke said. "But don't take me to Genkai's place. Take me to Kurama."
"It's such a lovely day."
"It'd be a whole lot lovelier if you'd put away that ugly thing."
Botan turned to glower up at Kuwabara, who was already glowering back at her. After going their separate ways at the ice cream parlour earlier that day, they had ended up coming back together as they both found Yukina in the gardens of Genkai's temple.
"Some of us happen to like the maneki-neko," Botan said to Kuwabara. "You like cats, you ought to understand!"
"Not really…" Kuwabara muttered.
Botan shook her head at him and turned her attention to Yukina, who was still standing on a bridge over one of the ponds, looking strangely sad and thoughtful.
"Sweetie, are you alright?" Botan called over to her.
"I'm thinking," Yukina replied.
"What are you thinking about, baby?" Kuwabara asked her.
Yukina did not answer him, but neither Botan nor Kuwabara had expected her to, as they had already had the exact same conversation with her twice before, and she had yet to explain what she was thinking about.
"It's such a lovely day, the sun is shining and the sky is so clear, I just can't stand to see her so sad, especially on a day like this!" Botan said to Kuwabara.
"She's sad because her friend died," Kuwabara explained.
"Her friend?" Botan asked.
"Yeah, the leader of the rebel cat demons," Kuwabara replied. "She was Yukina's friend and then Hiei killed her."
Botan looked confused and Kuwabara sighed.
"Yeah, it was really harsh," he said. "You weren't there, so you don't know, but lots of crazy stuff happened."
"I always miss out on all the fun…" Botan grumbled.
"It was hardly any fun, Botan," Kuwabara replied. "Didn't you hear what I said? Hiei killed Yukina's friend."
"Yes, but wasn't Yukina's friend the leader of the group who took you hostage?"
"Well, yeah, but they were okay once they got their leader back."
"I don't know about that, Kuwabara. Lord Koenma said they were troublemakers."
"Yeah, but they didn't deserve what happened to them."
"Well, if you say so… Still, there must be something we can do to cheer Yukina up?"
Kuwabara looked over at Yukina for a long moment before shrugging.
"Yukina?" Botan called over to her. "Would you like some tea? You didn't even touch that lovely ice cream that Kuwabara bought for you."
Kuwabara's face dropped as he remembered then that he had walked away from the ice cream parlour and left both Yukina's and his own order uneaten: and it had cost him two thousand Yen.
"How about some tea?" Botan asked.
Yukina lifted her head, her eyes looking at Botan in a strange way that made Kuwabara forget all about getting ripped off by the owner of the ice cream parlour.
"I need to find something," she said. "Would you help me?"
Botan turned to Kuwabara.
"Yeah," he said, before turning to Yukina. "We can help you find it!"
"What is it you need?" Botan asked.
Yukina slowly walked across the bridge and started towards them.
"I need to find something with my jagan eye," she said. "But sometimes I lose control when I try to use the power. Will you hold my hands while I try?"
"Sure thing, my love!" Kuwabara said cheerfully.
He grinned and held out his hands, his expression only faltering when Yukina walked past him and took both of Botan's hands in hers. He turned to pout at the back of Yukina's head, but neither Yukina nor Botan acknowledged him.
"What do I need to do?" Botan asked.
"Just be there for me," Yukina replied.
"Oh I can do that, no problem, Yukina!" Botan cheerfully replied.
Yukina smiled and then released Botan's hands long enough to remove her bandana.
"I made that bandana for you, you know," Botan commented as Yukina passed it to Kuwabara.
Kuwabara awkwardly caught the bandana and Yukina took hold of Botan's hands again, closing her eyes and opening her third eye. Botan looked a little afraid, but she did not move. Kuwabara wondered what Yukina was looking for and why she thought Botan would be a better person to help her keep control of power than he was.