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 push aside their differences and form a friendship... or something more?
Chapter 3
"You know, usually, people bath when they get home from work or school. They don't just go up and read a book," Botan suddenly spoke. She turned to look at Kurama, expecting some sort of reaction. Instead, she earned nothing and the redhead merely went on ignoring her.
The girl sighed. Getting bored of talking to herself for the past hour, Botan focused on her surroundings, looking around the house. A frown found its way to her forehead as she realized something.
"Where are your parents, Kurama?" she asked, despite knowing better, her curiosity getting the better of her.
The boy in question then regarded her with a quirked eyebrow. That was the first acknowledgement he gave her ever since he started reading his book, and Botan was more than glad that she wasn't speaking to a wall anymore.
"They live overseas," he simply answered, and averted his attention back to his book.
"Why?" Botan prodded, wanting to know more.
"You really do have a tendency to ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Kurama inquired instead, and didn't take his eyes of his book. He was telling her something he'd told her hundreds of times before, but his voice lacked the annoyance he'd usually had.
She parted her mouth to retort, but was immediately cut off.
"My step-father works overseas, and my mother got married with him a year ago. It was then that she decided that she wanted to stay with him, and asked me to go with her. But as you can see, I declined," came his explanation.
"Oh." A pause. "Why didn't you want to live overseas? I mean, if I were you, I would've. It'd be really cool," Botan said in wonder.
She didn't get a response, but merely received a shrug of his shoulders in return. Deciding that maybe Kurama's had enough of talking to her, Botan averted her gaze to the wall. She stared at it for a while, pondering something in her head. Then, after what seemed like forever, she finally said,
"I wanna take a bath."
And she fixed her gaze back on the redhead, asking for a silent permission. His eyes trailed from the book to her face, an unreadable look now plastered on his features.
A moment of silence passed, only to be broken by Kurama,
"Later," he told her dryly, before diverting his attention back to his book. He didn't manage to read the next sentence of where he left off, as a hand suddenly tugged at the sleeve of his uniform.
Heaving a sigh, Kurama turned to look at the owner with an irritated expression.
"What?"
The girl pouted. "Please?" she practically begged. "I mean, I feel so sweaty and I don't like feeling sweaty!"
He rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess you're going to have to deal with it for awhile, because I am not getting off this book."
"But, Kurama!"
"Beg all you want. I don't really care."
"Kurama!" Botan said again, and this time, she waved both her hands at him in an attempt to get him to agree.
An exasperated sigh left his lips, annoyed at the way his cuffed hand moved along with Botan's as the girl waved it. In spite of knowing it was a trick for him to grant her permission, Kurama decided to give up, already aware that Botan wasn't going to leave him alone if he didn't.
"Fine," he mumbled grudgingly, and promptly closed his book. An eyebrow twitched.
Botan ignored the twitching of Kurama's eyebrow, a victorious grin coming to rest on her lips.
"Yes!" she cheered and raised her arms in victory, forgetting that she was also raising Kurama's hand as she did so.
Her right hand was swiftly and harshly tug down by an irritated Kurama.
The bathroom door opened, and in popped Botan's head. She peeked inside, her jaws falling in awe as she took in the bathroom's appearance.
"Wow, Kurama! Your bathroom is really big. I think this is as big as my room," she said in amazement, a bright grin forming on her lips.
It felled as quickly as it came though, as a hand pushed her inside. She nearly tripped on the wet and cold floor, but managed to catch her balance before she managed to. She whipped her head around to fix a glare on Kurama who was sporting a bored expression on his face.
"What did you do that for?" she screeched.
He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Well, you weren't going inside, so I thought I might as well lend you a hand." A light smirk tugged at his lips as he said this, as if he was taunting her.
Botan's glare intensified. She wanted to wipe off that stupid arrogant smirk on Kurama's face. She stuck her tongue out at him, before turning to look away in a huff.
"Thank you very much," she sarcastically retorted.
"Your welcome," he said, the tone of his voice matching hers.
The girl felt her annoyance mounting, but decided against saying anything else, lest the situation spiralled out of control. It was still the first day, she didn't want to get into a big fight with the redhead already.
She merely let out a small sigh, and grabbed a towel that was hung on the bathroom's wall. It was probably Kurama's, but what the hell. She was willing to take on any risk by now.
Kurama arched one eyebrow at her. Usually she'd make a smart remark whenever he'd say something that would irritate her, but the blue-haired girl simply ignored him.
He inwardly brushed it off, deciding that he didn't really care.
"I'm borrowing this for awhile." Botan's voice reached his ears, snapping him out of his thoughts.
He turned to look at her and gave her a frown, as if silently saying 'No'. Botan, realizing what the look meant, raised an eyebrow quizzically at him.
"Unless you have some spare towel or something that I could use?" she offered.
The redhead was silent for a moment, racking his brain if he had one. Then, after nothing came, he shook his head.
"Well then, I guess I'm gonna have to use yours for now," Botan simply said, and shrugged her shoulders.
Kurama, realizing he had no choice but to let her, nodded his head in response, albeit reluctantly. He didn't really like sharing his things with people; even with his friends, much less Botan, his enemy, of all people.
"You can use a rag," he playfully said after a moment of silence.
He received a heated stare from the girl.
"Sure. Funny, stupid."
The redhead smirked, but didn't say anything. He watched as Botan's irritation somewhat died down, replaced by what he could assume as shyness. She fidgeted, and stared at her feet, a pink color tinting her cheeks.
"What is it?" Kurama found himself asking in curiosity.
Surely, the girl wasn't embarrassed, now was she? He told her before he didn't want to see her naked, so she didn't have anything to be worried about.
There was a long pause. "Um... can I borrow your clothes too?" Botan inquired timidly, drawing circles on her skirt with her index finger.
He blinked at her, before quirking an eyebrow. "Are you gonna borrow everything that belongs to me during your stay here?" he asked, despite already knowing she didn't bring her personal things along.
Botan scowled. "Well, sorry," she started in sarcasm, "You didn't really let me go back to my house to get my stuff, so I don't have a choice but to borrow everything, now do I?" she retorted.
She rolled her eyes, recalling that earlier the redhead had refused to go to her house, with the excuse that he didn't want to meet her family in this sort of state (what's with them being handcuffed together and all). The girl didn'r really understand why though, because the principal had explained the whole thing to her parents beforehand so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. She didn't have a choice but to agree however, as Kurama had started to drag her away.
Kurama heaved a sigh and raised his hand that wasn't cuffed in defeat. "Right. Sorry."
"... So can I?"
"Yeah. Whatever. Not like I have a spare of everything anyway."
"Thanks."
Neither said anything after that. Kurama stared at the wall beside him, while Botan fixed her gaze on the floor. They didn't know why, but they suddenly started feeling awkward around each other. Maybe it was because they had nothing to say, or maybe because they realized they were in the bathroom together and that Botan was about to take a bath with Kurama inside.
Blood immediately rushed to Botan's cheeks at the thought. Although she hated him, she couldn't deny that she was still embarrassed. After all, he was still a boy and she, a girl.
The uncomfortable silence was finally broken off by the girl as she cleared her throat, gaining Kurama's attention. He casted her a glance, noticing the red color on her cheeks, and realized that she really was embarrassed.
"You know I'm not going to peek or anything, right?" the redhead told her in assurance, before Botan managed to say anything.
"Yeah. But it's not that," she replied defensively.
He arched an eyebrow questioningly at her. "Then what is it?"
"... Nothing." Botan said after a pause, deciding that it was too embarrassing to tell him. She bit her lip, before lifting her gaze to timidly stare at him.
"But, if you don't mind, can you, um... turn away while I take off my clothes?" she asked slowly, and avoided his gaze as the words left her.
A pause. "Right," Kurama said, "Sorry, I almost forgot."
The redhead whipped around, and Botan heaved a sigh of relief. Although she knew Kurama was a gentleman and that he didn't like her enough to do anything, it couldn't hurt to be safe. She slowly started to unbutton her school vest, feeling slightly relaxed now that Kurama had his back facing her, and hummed a tune she heard somewhere.
Kurama, on the other hand, couldn't help but blush as he felt his hand moved here and there and his fingers brushed against the girl as she took off her clothes. Botan didn't seem to notice it though, as she was still humming that tune.
Although he hated her and said all those things about her, Kurama couldn't help but admit that he did find her attractive, and couldn't hold back the embarrassment that came rushing to his face. A few indecent thoughts somehow managed to conjure themselves in his head, and only served to make the red color on his cheeks turn into a darker shade.
He pushed all those thoughts away into the deepest part of his mind, hoping they'd never come back again.
Kurama felt Botan walking, and she dragged him along with him as she sauntered towards the bathtub, the towel now wrapped safely around her body, covering her private parts. The redhead was forced to walk backwards though, still trying not to look at her.
He heard a thud, signalling that Botan had entered the bathtub and bit his lip as another sound came, one that sounded like the curtains surrounding it sliding close.
The shower turned on, and he visibly tensed.
Realizing that he needed to calm down, Kurama took a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling them for a few times. He repeated the action over and over, until he decided he finally relaxed a bit.
He felt a tug, and could only assume that was Botan reaching for the soap. She used the cuffed hand to rub it around her body, and Kurama blushed as his fingers brushed against her smooth skin a few times. His thoughts started to spiral out of control, and he found himself losing his composure once again.
He tried to control himself. 'Damn hormones,' he thought grudgingly.
His hand brushed against her once again and he couldn't help but ponder if the girl was stupid enough not to notice. He cursed her inwardly for making him feel this way and for being naive as to not notice anything.
But then, all of a sudden, he felt her hand froze, as if she'd just realized what was happening. He felt another tug and wondered what the girl was doing.
. . .
Botan wanted to choke herself to death.
How could she not notice that Kurama's hand had been brushing up against her body all this time? Stupid! She cursed at herself, bordering on pulling her hair out of their roots.
She changed hands, placing the soap in her other hand that wasn't cuffed. Stupid her for not noticing that either.
She started to rub the soap all over her body again, resuming at where she left off. All the while, she pondered if she could get used to this: showering with Kurama in the bathroom.
Probably not.
. . .
Minutes passed, and Kurama began to feel bored.
"Are you done yet?" he asked impatiently. He noted to himself that it was true that girls take forever to take a shower. He also noted that he'd been staring at the floor for awhile now. Not to mention, his legs was starting to hurt from standing for a long time, but he didn't want to sit on the wet floor either, not wanting to dirty his uniform.
"Almost," came Botan's answer.
He heaved a sigh. That was the third time she told him that.
"What's taking you so long anyway?" Kurama inquired again, tapping his foot against the floor impatiently.
"Oh, will you be patient?" she shot back in annoyance.
"I am trying to be patient!" he replied defensively. "But even my patience has a limit."
He heard an exasperated groan.
"Alright, fine! I'll hurry up."
Kurama let out a sigh of relief. "Good."
A few moments passed by, before the sound of running water slowly faded, implying that Botan was turning off the shower. A grin instantly found its way to his lips at this, and he felt his hand moved around here and there as he assumed it was Botan wrapping the towel around her body.
"Um... you don't happen to have spare clothes in the bathroom, do you?" Botan asked stupidly, an awkward laugh escaping her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't manage to grab them before we entered the bathroom," came his sarcastic response. He rolled his eyes, annoyed at her for taking too long in the shower and for asking a dumb question, and at himself for forgetting such a thing.
Silence.
"... Then, I guess I'm gonna have to go out like this," he heard Botan mumble, her voice almost inaudible that he had to strain his ears to hear her.
The curtains then opened, and Kurama turned to glare at her... only to regret doing so as he realized the girl had only a towel to cover her body, and that it was clinging tightly around her, revealing her perfect curves.
His eyes widened, and a blush immediately found its way to his face. "W-what are you doing, you idiot!" he stammered, before swiftly looking away.
An image of her almost naked body crossed his mind, and the blush deepened.
"Well, not like I have a choice," Botan retorted defensively. She huffed, her face turning red in half anger and half embarrassment.
"Still, do you not have a shred of decency?" Kurama shot back, despite knowing fully well that she was forced to. He wasn't sure why, but his embarrassment got the better of him, causing him to say stupid things.
"Oh, shut up, Kurama!" Botan cried out indignantly.
He felt his hand rising up as the girl raised her arms exasperatedly, but was too caught up in his embarrassment to tug it down harshly as he usually would.
"Why are you acting like this? Are you embarrassed? I thought you said you wouldn't feel anything even if you saw me naked?" she found herself asking furiously before she managed to stop herself. Her eyes widened as she realized what she said, and she slapped a hand against her mouth.
Being too 'preoccupied' with the situation, Botan failed to notice the towel sliding off her body.
Kurama, too prideful to admit that he was embarrassed, unconsciously whipped his head around and parted his lips to deny it... only to stop himself from saying anything as he watched the towel fall off her body. His mouth fell agape, and his face turned as red as his hair. He opened and closed his mouth again and again like a stupid fish, trying to tell her that she was bare, but too surprised to utter out a word or to look away. Despite knowing better, his eyes subconsciously trailed down her body.
Botan felt the cold air hit her skin, and her eyebrows creased in confusion. She trailed her eyes downwards.
A pause.
Amethyst eyes widened in horror as she realized she was fully naked... in front of Kurama, of all people! Botan stammered, flustered, her face reddening in embarrassment. She then lifted her head to look at Kurama, wide eyed and mouth opened.
A few moments later, a loud screech sounded in the bathroom, followed by the sound of skin slapping against skin.