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 7

Kurama pulled apart as if he had been struck by lightning. His mouth felled open for an excuse, but nothing came. He was too stunned at himself to utter out anything. What the hell possesed him to do that?

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

Botan shook her head, and raised her hand for him to stop talking, cutting short his sentence. She stared at the floor, a deep red blush coloring her cheeks. What just happened? Did they just kiss? Did she just... did she just...

She inwardly shook her head furiously. No! It was just a small brush... a small brush... that had lingered for at least a few seconds...

The girl blushed harder.

The air was suddenly very tense and awkward. Although it had always been that way when they were around each other, it felt... weird at a whole different level.

Kurama swallowed a lump in his throat. He fixed his tie nervously, and made to continue, despite the hand sign she had given him. "It was an accident... I-I acted spontaneously... When you were about to scream..."

He didn't even manage to finish his explanation, when Botan spoke. "No, forget it, Kurama," she said in a tiny voice. "Let"s just pretend it never happened, okay?"

Botan's words sounded firm as they passed her lips, but the red shade on her cheeks never faded away. Why wouldn't it go away?

Silence.

"... Okay," the redhead responded after a while. He stared at the girl when she still didn't lift her head. Emerald eyes blinked.

Botan could feel his eyes on her, watching her, gazing at her... Her heart suddenly started to beat really fast: why was he staring at her? She knew he must be waiting for her reaction, but the longer she remained quiet, the more his gaze seemed to... just stare right through her. She bit her lip, took a deep breath, and against her better judgement, raised her head to look at him.

Emeralds locked with amethyst.

Kurama's eyes widened into saucers at the blush she adorned on her face; red, flushed and... slightly cute. His brows creased when he realized he had just called her 'cute. He shook his head, reprimanding himself for letting Botan catch him off guard.

Despite that, blood immediately rushed to his cheeks.

"W-why are you looking at me like that?" Botan stuttered when the redhead's gaze lingered on her face. "And w-why on earth are you blushing?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Kurama abruptly retorted.

He looked away, his face growing hotter. "And I am not blushing... you are."

"W-what?" Botan screeched. "No, I'm not!"

Contrary to her words, the red color tinting and warming her cheeks visibly darkened, her face heating up.

"Yeah, right," he attempted to scoff at her, only to frown deeply when it came out as a small, low and timid whisper. "You know you are."

"No, I told you, I'm not," she stubbornly denied.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"For the last time, I am not blushing!"

A pause. A long... long pause.

The duo stared at each other, faces red, though the girl's was a shade darker than the boy's was. Botan grinded her teeth against her lower lip.

"I hate you..." she muttered under her breath.

That seemed to make Kurama's blush slowly fade away.

"Good, because I hate you too."

Kurama threw his bag nonchalantly and it landed somewhere in the room. He flopped down the bed, and clossed his eyes, exhausted: it had been a very tiring day at school. These last couple of days seemed like they lasted forever, and it had everything to do with the girl he was handcuffed with.

He peeked one eye open to look at her. Botan had taken a seat beside him on the bed, her eyes fixed on the wall.

"What? Don't tell me you fell in love with the wall now?" he asked sarcastically.

Botan's blue brows furrowed and she spared him a brief glance. She then rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"No, you idiot," she retorted with a huff, "I was just... thinking."

"What about?" the redhead inquired again, despite the fact he didn't really care.

She shot him a weird stare, the frown on her forehead visibly deepened. He rarely asked anything about her: why the sudden change?

Finding herself slightly disturbed by her enemy's odd display of behavior, Botan decided against answering him and instead, focused her eyes on the handcuffs. She gave the metal material a heated glare, as if trying to burn a hole in it in an attempt to free her from Kurama's "evil clutches".

"You know, first of all, glaring at it like that isn't gonna change anything," Kurama's voice stated matter of factly, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. "And second of all, you're pretty rude for someone who's staying over at my place."

"If it weren't for the stupid handcuffs," he went on, and proceeded to raise their joined hands, roughly waving them at her face, "I would"ve kicked you out a long time ago."

Botan could feel her irritation rising up a notch, especially when Kurama had tugged at her hand hard enough to hurt her wrist and make her wince. She narrowed her eyes at him.

She tugged her hand back, therefore, tugging Kurama's as well. "For your information, if it weren't for these," She started to wave their hands around, copying his actions, "I wouldn't even be here."

Botan meant to finish, but her mouth kept going before she could stop herself. "And all this messed up shit wouldn't happen! I wouldn't have to take a bath with you in the bathroom, I didn't have to ask you to accompany me to the toilet when I had to pee!... A-and that-that kiss wouldn't have happened!" She flung her arms in the air, tears stinging the back of her eyes. "None of this would've happened!"

The girl placed her face in her hands, and shook her head repeatedly. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She didn't know why she snapped like that: maybe she was just getting tired of constantly fighting with Kurama, maybe she just missed her mom and dad... maybe she just wanted things to be the way they used to be.

Or maybe she just wanted to go back through time, to prevent that kiss from happening...

Her mind was clouded in confusion ever since the whole little 'incident'.

Her heart was starting to beat really fast even though she wished it didn't, her cheeks was starting to heat up every now and then for almost no reason at all, and her stomach... she could practically feel the butterflies in her stomach.

And it was all Kurama's fault.

Why did he have to go up and do that?

Then, she wouldn't be so confused with her feelings.

Kurama, on the other hand, was speechless after her rant. He remained silent, watching with wide and slightly fearful eyes as the girl suddenly started to cry, sobs leaving her. Although they had been arguing for years, none of their arguments was ever like this. It would usually be them shooting sarcastic remarks at each other, or blaming one another for one bad thing that occured. Botan had never expressed her feelings in such a... sentimental way and she had not cried because of him. Ever.

The only time he saw her cry was when her father was sent to the hospital because of a heart attack. He'd seen her sobbing at the stairs at school, and although it had hardly been an appropriate place, she had been there, sitting there, curled up like a little girl. Just like she was right now. But, this time she was crying because of him. He was the reason behind her tears.

Kurama suddenly felt guilty.

He wrapped an arm hesitantly around her shoulders, felt her flinch at his touch, but she didn't pull away. Kurama accepted that as a good sign. He sighed, and started to pat her shoulder in a comforting way. A light shade of pink colored his cheeks; he wasn't good at comforting, the only comfort he ever gave was to his mother, and even that was a long time ago.

"Look, Botan," he started, his voice unnaturally soft, and he silently noted how she stopped crying, but still didn't make a move to remove her hands that was covering her face. "I know you think this is difficult. Heck, I'm difficult. And I'm sorry you have to go through all this... but, w-we're in this together," he said slowly, trying to choose his words carefully, lest he made the girl cry again.

Botan looked up from her hands to fix her gaze on him. "You really mean that?" she asked in a tiny, helpless voice; almost that of a small child's, and hiccuped.

Kurama gulped down a lump. His heart started thumping loudly against his chest: why did she have to look like that? Cheeks slightly pink, face tear-strickened, and eyes red and sore from crying too much... and those lips... God, those lips! Don't bite them like that! Don't... tempt... him...

Why did she have to look so adorable?

Kurama shook his head rapidly to get rid of the thoughts. But the harder he tried to push them away, the more persistent they grew: conjuring up themselves more and more in his mind. He furrowed his brows in frustration, and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

When he finally opened them, he caught sight of Botan staring at him worriedly. She would never look at him like that; was the girl slowly and gradually changing in personality? Or was she trying to drive him insane?

Something about her being concerned over him got him all excited.

He leaned in closer towards her, until their shoulders brushed, and traced his hand over her smooth cheek. He wiped away her tears, before pulling his fingers apart from her face, and licking off the salty substance from them. He lifted his gaze, searched her face for some sort of reaction and was somewhat pleased when the girl blushed beet red in embarrassment. What had gotten into the redhead?

He tucked a strand of blue hair behind her ear, brushing his fingers at the back of her head and revelled in the way she shivered against his touch. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him, it was as if he was in a trance, and couldn't get himself to stop.

Botan deliciously bit her lip. She casted her eyes downwards, lips trembling and cheeks blushing red and turning warm. She lifted her gaze then, fixed it on him and gave him a shy look; mouth slightly apart, cheeks tinted pink, and those amethyst eyes staring at him, pleading...

Kurama almost lost control of himself.

He broke out of whatever trance he was under, and after one final brush of his fingers against her warm cheek, he pulled away. "Don't look at me like that," he whispered, voice low, gentle but firm. His expression turned serious and, "Just don't, okay?" he said again, this time firmer.

Botan blinked at him, bewildered, and stared at him in confusion for a moment, before nodding her head mutely. She didn't really understand what he meant: how did she look at him? Did she do something odd? She couldn't help but wonder. But, then again, it was a good thing he stopped... He was making her feel all those weird feelings again.

Both felled silence after that.