Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Stuck With You
Summary: AU, Kurama Minamino and Botan Fukuyama are sworn enemies. What happens when one day, they are handcuffed together and they don't have the key? Will they be able to put aside their differences and form a friendship... or something more?
Chapter 2
"So, what are we gonna do?" Botan asked and walked along Kurama as they sauntered to the school gates in the midst of hundreds of other students.
After school ended, they went straight out of class, ignoring the weird looks they got from students that passed by. It had only been half the day and Botan already felt like pulling out a rope to hang herself. Kurama, on the other hand, was bordering on losing his insanity with the questions she kept bombarded him with.
Kurama rolled his eyes in slight irritation.
"Well," he started, without even turning to look at her, "I suggest we stay at my house for awhile."
Botan's brows furrowed. "Why?"
The redhead expelled a sigh, one that sounded as if he was tired of answering her inquiries. "Because," he staŕted, but Botan could've sworn she heard him growl also. He closed his eyes, opened them again and sent her a glare, "I don't want to deal with your family if we start living with them."
A pause. "Besides, my house is basically better than yours," he finished dryly.
The girl gawked at him. Why, the nerve of the guy!
She fixed a heated stare on him, threatening to burn a hole in his head. She inwardly wished if looks could kill... Kurama would find himself losing his pretty face. At the thought of Kurama crying hysterically, Botan nearly let out a laugh.
"Well, excuse you. Are you insulting me and my family?" she asked indignantly, stopped in front of him to block his way and glared into his emerald eyes. "Answer the question," she went on, narrowing her eyes in warning.
Kurama blinked, the expression on his face blank as he stared back down at the girl. There was a long pause, as if he was thinking of something to say. Seeing him silent, Botan almost thought he felt guilty.
"Forgive me," he said after what seemed like forever.
Amethyst eyes widened in half surprise and half bewilderment. She did not expect this. She pondered for a moment if there was a good side in the redhead; maybe he wasn't really the spawn of satan (okay, maybe that was a little exaggerated over there). She didn't think he would apologize to her, his enemy, of all people.
A smile began to form on her face...
"Oh, wait. I meant, I'm sorry to your family. Not you," Kurama added meanly all of a sudden, an arrogant smirk at the corners of his mouth. "Did you get confused that I was also referring to you?"
Botan's smile felled as quickly as it came.
Scratch that about him having a good side. The guy couldn't possibly have one! He was the spawn of satan.
Kurama lightly pushed her, dismissed her with a wave like 'shoo shoo!' and started to continue in his tracks to the school gates, dragging a reluctant and annoyed Botan behind him. They exited the school, Kurama sauntering almost too swiftly for Botan's taste.
"I hate you," she mumbled under her breath.
"Good." Kurama rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that day. "I hate you too."
After what seemed like ages of Botan complaining about wanting to be at her house, and Kurama defending his point of view that his was apparently better, the duo finally reached the redhead's apartment, despite Botan's constant protests.
"Make yourself at home, I guess," the boy said lazily as he locked the door, ignoring Botan who was looking around his house with her mouth wide agape in awe.
He took off his shoes, and made to enter the hallway. He was stopped dead in his tracks however, as something pulled at his left hand, preventing him from walking. Knowing it was Botan probably sulking at the floor, Kurama heaved an exasperated sigh. He took a moment to count to ten, something he did a lot when he needed to calm himself down. He resisted the urge to yell at the girl, and went to look down at her... only to blink when he realized she was arranging their shoes in a neat way.
"Uh... what are you doing...?" Kurama questioned slowly, a frown marring his features as the girl stood up and dusted off her skirt.
"Huh?" came Botan's stupid response, as if she didn't hear him the first time. She blinked at the crease on Kurama's forehead, before shrugging off her shoulders. "It's kinda a habit, I guess. My mom used to yell at me a lot when I didn't arrange them properly, she said something about keeping things tidy... Oh whatever. Anyways, so I always do this sort of thing at home. Sometimes, it's just on instincts, you know? Like I'm used to it already."
She paused, her eyebrows furrowing as she realized she was talking too much.
"Uh, anyway, that doesn't matter," she quickly added in a nonchalant way. She stared at Kurama nodded slowly, a thoughtful look passing his features, as if he was taking in all the information.
She decided to snap him out of his thoughts. "So, I guess we're gonna have to create some rules here, huh?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow his way.
Kurama blinked stupidly at her for a moment, taken off guard by her interrupting his chain of thoughts.
"Right," he finally agreed.
"Okay." Botan placed her left hand at her hip, resisting the urge to put her cuffed one there too, lest she'd find herself lying in a coffin sooner than she'd wished. "So, the first rule is that there's no peeking while we bath."
Kurama made a weird look, before sauntering over towards his red sofa, to which Botan followed suit. He sat down, and considering their hands were handcuffed together and she was tired of standing, Botan had no choice but to follow his actions, flopping down the sofa.
"As if I would want to see your naked body," he suddenly said and pulled a disgusted scowl at the thought.
"Agreed," Botan responded grudgingly, slightly offended. "As if I would want to see yours either. I mean, like, it'll probably be my worst nightmare if I did. Like I'd probably feel like I was watching Freddy Krueger taking a bath," she said dramatically, placed her uncuffed hand on her chest and let a horrified gasp escape her.
She burst into a fit of laughter at the heated stare Kurama casted her way.
"Ha-ha," came Kurama's sarcastic reply. "Very funny."
"Hilarious," Botan 'corrected' with a mocking grin, causing Kurama's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.
"Right. And watching you would probably be like watching Frakenstein's wife. Like, do you have anything special under there?" Kurama asked, quirking an eyebrow at her as he stared up and down her body suggestively and causing Botan's jaws to fall at his words.
He pretended to scrutinize her, before a smirk slowly found its way to his face. "I doubt it."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Kill yourself, Minamino," she grumbled under her breath.
"If you go first, then I'll gladly follow suit," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he smiled a fake smile.
Botan made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a groan as she flung her arms up in the air in frustration. She made to make a smart remark, but decided against it.
"So, what about the second rule?" Botan questioned, her voice very calm, considering the mounting annoyance slowly creeping up her skin.
"Well," Kurama started, and put a finger under his chin as he tilted his head slightly. He thought about it for a while, until, "No messing up my room," he finished in a firm voice, casting her a brief warning glance.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Botan rolled her eyes. "What's next? No drawing on your face with markers when you sleep?" she continued sarcastically, giving him an equally sarcastic look.
"Oh, you think you're so funny," he shot back with another glare. He seemed to be doing that a lot whenever he was around her.
"What about crayons?" she went on, purposely trying to annoy him even more.
"Shut up."
Botan bit her lip at the frustration in the redhead's voice, a laugh nearly escaping her as she watched the usually composed expression on his face turned into one that made him seem like he wanted to kill everyone that dared to look his way.
"Alright, fine," she said, and as soon as she spoke, a giggle found its way out of her lips.
Kurama shot a death glare at her, and she swiftly placed a hand on her mouth, silencing herself. She smiled against her palm, implying that she still thought it was funny.
"Rule number 3, when we sleep, there's gotta be something blocking our bodies. Like, a wall that blocks me from you. Something like, the left side is your side and the right is mine," Kurama said curtly, successfully ignoring her occasional giggles that came here and there.
"We could use a pillow," Botan suggested helpfully as soon as she collected herself.
Kurama raised an eyebrow quizically. "As in, a body pillow?"
"I dunno," she replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
"Right, we'll use a body pillow. I think I have one in my closet, so we're good," Kurama said, despite her answer.
She made a weird face. "You keep a body pillow in your closet? Why not just use it since you apparently have one?" she asked incredulously. "Like, what are you keeping it in the closet for? For a memento or something?"
She earned a glare from the redhead in return.
"I swear, if you speak to me like that again, then I'll choke you," he told her, his voice dangerously calm.
Botan, already quite used to his threats, considering their long-term rivalry, merely shrugged her shoulders and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "yeah, whatever" under her breath.
"Why don't we just sleep separately though?" Botan questioned with an arched eyebrow.
"What do you suggest? You sleep on the floor while I sleep on the bed?" Kurama retorted with a deadpanned look.
She pursed her lips at the idea, thinking it over for a moment. "No," she started, "More like you sleep on the floor and I sleep on the bed," she suggested instead, pointing a finger at herself and Kurama back and forth for emphasis. She received a frown from Kurama in return.
"Why should I? This is my house, in case you're forgotten," he shot back.
"But, I'm a girl!" she cried out, flailing her left arm in the air. "I can't sleep on the floor!"
He rolled his eyes, before realizing there was no need for them to have this conversation. "Whatever, doesn't matter. We're sleeping on the bed anyway."
Botan let out a frustrated groan. "But, why?"
"Because, we have these things," he raised their cuffed hands to emphasize his point, "around our wrist now. And in case you haven't noticed, the chain on the handcuffs isn't long, which is the antonym for short, just in case you don't know yet," and he started to shake their joined wrists dangerously close to Botan's face, which was by the way sporting an annoyed look on it, "Thus, sleeping separately on the floor or the bed is out of the question."
"Sure. Okay." Botan paused. "Except, you didn't have to wave our hands like this in front of my face just now!" She started to indignantly roar, waving their joined wrists close to Kurama's for emphasis.
The redhead merely shrugged his shoulders, slapping her hand away when she nearly hit him with it.
She stopped waving around, and was silent for a moment. A thought occured in her mind and her eyes slowly widened in horror.
"You're not going to do anything when we sleep, are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously his way.
Kurama heaved an exasperated sigh and resisted the urge to slap a hand to his face. "As if I would!" he shot back, shooting a glare once again at her direction.
Botan frowned at his words, her mouth forming a scowl. "No, jerk. I mean, like, you won't kill me in my sleep, right?"
He paused, as if thinking it over. Then, the corners of his mouth slowly curved upwards into a smirk.
"Pray that I don't."
She visibly paled.
Kurama, noticing the loss of color on her face, held back a laugh. "I was joking, idiot," he told her, his smirk widening slightly. He then reached a hand out to retrieve a book on the table in front of them. "You're hardly worth it to dirty my hands and go to prison over," he added, to which Botan gave him a death glare that didn't went unnoticed by Kurama, but clearly was not acknowledged by the redhead either.
"Douchebag," she retorted with a huff.
"Whatever," came his nonchalant reply.
Ignoring her constant glares, Kurama proceeded to open the book in his hands. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to read my book. Quietly," he said the last word sternly, silently warning her to be silent.
Botan rolled her eyes, and grumbled something under her breath. Kurama didn't acknowledge her, and merely fixed his gaze on the words written in the book.
Moments of silence passed by between them. The only sound that could be heard was the fan spinning, and the sound that came when Kurama turned another page. After what seemed like forever, Botan broke off the silence as a thought occured in her mind.
"You know, I think what happened just now was the longest conversation we've ever had."
Kurama swiftly threw a pillow that was on the sofa at her face, in an attempt to shut her up.