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 5
"Give it back," Kurama calmly said, despite the dangerous edge in his voice. He extended a hand out and narrowed his eyes in warning.
"Mmm, let me think..." Botan said, tilted her head to the side and placed one finger under her chin. After a second, "Nope," she decided teasingly, a smirk playing on her lips as she waved the book around in her hands.
"I'm serious, Botan."
The girl raised an eyebrow at the glare the boy beside her sent her, but said nothing. He reached a hand out to steal it out of her grasp, only for her to put it at a far distance from him. The duo were faintly aware of the close proximity between them, his chest almost brushing against hers.
Botan's smirk widened ever so slightly, as if taunting him. Kurama's glare intensified, and he tried to grab the book again, but Botan placed it further from him. He let out an exasperated groan but the girl simply laughed.
The third time he tried, she did it again, but he hadn't realized he had leaned in far too close, and accidentally felled on top of her. Botan shrieked, taken off guard by the action.
"O-ow..." she muttered. Although the impact of the fall wasn't supposed to hurt so much, she accidentally hit her head against something hard. Probably a rock, or a tree, she didn't bother to care because she realized there was someone on top of her.
Kurama slowly lifted his upper body, but not fully. He grumbled something under his breath, and it took him a moment for the realization to hit him like a ton of bricks. He gave the girl underneath him a blank stare, too surprised to be entirely sure how to react. Botan started to blush, and for some reason, something about the red shade coloring her cheeks made him feel all... weird inside. The blank expression disappeared, and his mouth fell agape slightly.
He couldn't help but stare at her more.
"W-wha-"
A moment of silence... which only seemed to last only seconds as it was soon broken by Yusuke and Kuwabara.
"Oh shit, what the hell happened here?" the carrot top's voice questioned.
"Hey, get a room, you guys." Yusuke snickered.
That was when Kurama realized what was going on, breaking off whatever trance he was in. He immediately got off of her, backing away from the girl as far away as possible. Botan's blush slowly began to fade away, her embarrassment dying down somewhat, only to be replaced by a look of confusion.
What in the world just happened?
She blinked at the redhead, wondered what went on his mind for awhile before brushing it off. For a moment there, she almost thought he was going to kiss her... what's with that stare and all... She shook her head, reminding herself that Kurama hated her.
Kurama, on the other hand, looked away, focusing his gaze on anywhere but Botan's face. For some odd and unknown reason, his face felt like it was heated up, and he could almost feel the blush he must've been sporting. Which served to aggravate him even more. He never used to need a reminder that they hated each other, but it felt like he needed one now.
Both ignored the teasing comments the other two gave, too absorbed in their own thoughts to bother.
"As you all know, we're going to have a science project going on," the teacher started, and tucked her black hair behind her ear, "With that said, I have assigned you with your partners. You will be working in a group of two, and remember, the presentation's next Tuesday."
She decided to ignore the bored looks she received from the majority of the students in class. Instead, she opened the brown folder she had brought with her, coughed to gain everyone's attention, and went on, "So, Urameshi-kun's going to be teamed up with Kuwabara-kun. Yukimura-san, you're with Jaganshi Yukina-san. And Shizuru, your partner is Jaganshi Hiei-kun..."
The teacher's voice drowned in the multiple groans she earned in return. Yusuke and Kuwabara grumbled a few things under her breath, but Keiko and Yukina went up and did a high five, clearly happy to be partnered together than their boyfriends. Shizuru's eyebrows furrowed, and she turned to look at Hiei, who shot her a death glare. She sweatdropped.
"Minamino-kun and Fukuyama-san... you two will be working together-"
Whatever she had to say, the teacher didn't manage to finish as she was swiftly cut short. Kurama raised one hand in question, and she tilted her head to the side. "Yes, what is it, Minamino-kun?"
"Why am I teamed up with her? I'm usually..." He spared a brief glance at his friend Kaito, who merely shrugged his shoulders. The frown on his face deepened.
"Well, Kaitou-kun is on the same group as Yanagisawa-kun, so..." she trailed off, her eyes traveling to Botan's and Kurama's joined wrists, the handcuffs trapping them together sticking out almost terribly in the class. "Um... since you have your own 'casualties', you're gonna have to..."
"Alright, fine," Kurama cut her off, his voice calm but he did not look amused. Assuming he had no choice in the matter and that a part of him agreed that it was true, Kurama relented.
The teacher nodded her head, before continuing on where she left off. "Hanayuri-san and Kimihiro-kun..."
The redhead stopped listening to what she was saying, and turned to cast a glare at Botan, who was sitting beside him. They weren't originally seated beside each other, but considering the handcuffs, the girl had to change seats.
"Don't drag me down," he said harshly, his voice deadly cold like winter.
Botan's jaw dropped at his words. Her dragging him down? More like the other way around! She matched her expression with his.
"Same goes to you, little red riding hood," she spat venomously, purposely calling him 'little red riding hood' because of his vibrant red hair.
Kurama's eyebrow visibly twitched.
"Witch," he retorted, his voice slightly rising up a notch, remembering a time when he'd overheard her telling the girls about wanting to ride a broom. He'd thought it was childish.
The two didn't notice the weird looks their classmates sent them, or maybe they just didn't care, too used to getting all sort of stares whenever they fought.
"Plant-crazed maniac," she shot back, fire raging in her usually bright and lively amethyst orbs, recalling the day before when she'd seen the various plants in his room, and all around his house. Although she'd heard about it before from her friends, it was hard to believe until she'd seen it with her own eyes. Even though it was kind of sweet, Botan didn't know anyone else who'd spent their time fending too plants so much like Kurama.
"Horror freak."
"Anti social asshole."
"Worst chef ever."
"Fucking know it all."
"Stupid."
"Idiot."
"Annoying."
"Arrogant!"
"Loser!"
Theie insults went from memories of facts they'd noticed about each other to plain stupid. Kurama and Botan glared, their eyes threatening to burn a hole in the other's head. They looked away with a 'hmph', Botan crossing her arms and Kurama furiously fixing his gaze outside class. Once again, they ignored the weird looks they gained from their classmates.
Kurama and Botan hadn't spoken since.
The redhead focused all his attention on his book, intent on blocking out everyone, especially Botan. Their English teacher was absent, so it was self study period and Kurama was determined to use all that time to finish reading the entire book.
On the other hand, Botan played nervously with her fingers, not knowing what to do or what to say. She felt the sudden urge to... a deep red blush appeared on her cheeks. She timidly cast Kurama a brief glance, bit her lip and wondered for a moment if she should say anything. She really wished she didn't have to, but... she couldn't hold it in anymore!
"Um... Kurama..." she called, albeit a little hesitantly.
The girl's call didn't went unnoticed by the redhead, but he decided not to acknowledge her. A moment later, she called again, this time louder. "Kurama!" But he ignored her for the second time.
Botan heavily sighed, and gave up on calling Kurama's name. Instead, she went and tug on his sleeve, but the boy didn't budge. She blinked, before trying again, this time tugging harder. When he was unresponsive yet again, Botan tugged harder; maybe a little too hard, as she almost tore the cloth apart. Kurama, realizing she wasn't going to live him alone until he gave a response, let out a soft yet exasperated sigh.
He turned to look at her, and glared daggers her way.
"What?" he asked harshly, his voice rough. He meant to sound composed, but the irritation got the better of him, and a growl had managed to escape him.
... Well, he was not having a good day.
Usually, Botan would spit something back; insult him or at the very least, heatedly gave him a glare back in response. But instead, she had a blush on her face which, for some reason, deepened at his question.
"Um..." the girl started nervously.
"'Um' what? What do you want? Just say it already," Kurama exclaimed exasperatedly.
"U-Um, uh, I..." Botan's voice still hesitated, and he rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to shake the girl by the shoulders and tell her to speak faster.
That was when he noticed something strange: Botan was fidgeting a lot, and her hands were gripping her skirt almost too tightly. Not to mention, she was squeezing her legs together as if she was trying to hold something in.
Kurama's brows formed a crease. He stared at her legs in confusion, pondering why she was doing that with them.
Suddenly, a cough reached his ears, snapping him out of his musings. He lifted his gaze to Botan's face, but the frown remained on his forehead. The blush on her cheeks were somewhat gone, now turning into a lighter shade of pink.
She took a deep breath, before looking at him right in the eye, and said, almost too curtly, for Kurama's comfort,
"I need to go to the bathroom."
Kurama almost felled off his chair.
Okay, sorry guys. This chapter is shorter than the others, but the next ones will be longer... I think. Haha. Anyway, review if you have the time!