(no subject)
Title: It's Raining
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Pairings/Characters: Hiei/Botan
Rating/Warnings: Doesn't stray above a T/PG-13 rating. Warnings for bad writing, potential fanbrattieness and a little bit of sexual violence in the later chapters.
Status: Completed.
Disclaimer: While Yu Yu Hakusho is not mine, most of the books quoted were made up by me.
Day Six:
Botan slowly spiraled out of her sleep into the waking day, her mind moving with syrupy lazy slowness. She woke up warm and peaceful, smiling gently.
Her mind was filled with delicious memories of the night before, and the kiss... Yes, the kiss. Botan blushed slightly as she thought about it, unsure why. They--her and Hiei--had kissed, a physical statement of what had only been said in words before. They loved each other... It somehow made it all much more real, more solid, more immediate.
She didn't know quite what to think. She loved him. She loved him a lot, and didn't think that would change in the near future. He loved her in return, and that seemed equally unlikely to go away. But... it was all so fast. It had only been six days since this had all started...
In six days Botan had realized she was in love, admitted to that love, had love admitted to her in return, and now kissed. All of that to Hiei, the person she would have thought least likely to ever love anyone, especially her... But that's wrong, isn't it? she thought. He does love. He loves Yukina, a lot, and... he loves me too. He loves me...
And she loved him. They had known each other for a long time, now, but she had never thought of loving him... In fact, she had feared him for a long time. Been actively scared of him. That had slowly faded as he became more a part of their group, but it had taken a while. She had never thought of him loving her...
But they did. Part of her, the cautious, shy side, wanted to wait, think over what was happening, because it was all so sudden. Another part of her didn't; they were both people who took love seriously, who loved for life. Neither of them was the sort of person to change their minds suddenly about something this important, so potentially hurtful. They loved each other, and waiting wouldn't change anything.
And what had that kiss meant, anyways? What did it really mean? What were the repercussions from the action?
What happened now?
Hiei gave a small, slight smile, gazing nearly dreamily at nothing. It was totally uncharacteristic for the generally taciturn fire demon, but love tends to do odd things to people.
They had kissed. They had kissed, and she hadn't pulled away. In fact, she had encouraged it. She had liked it. It was a hard concept for the Forbidden Child to understand; He had spent his whole life being avoided by others; he had never expected people to seek out his attentions, romantic and otherwise.
That was changing.
It was just something else he was going to have to get used to.
Sometimes change wasn't so bad.
Botan sighed, stretched, pulled herself out of bed. She would stay there all day if given half a chance, but she needed to move eventually, much as she might dislike it.
Dressing in clothes suitable for the human world, Botan got herself a bagel, smeared some still-not-quite-expired cream cheese on a bagel and bounced out the door. The night before had put her in a spectacular good mood; even if she didn't know what would happen next, sometimes you had to stop thinking about the next event and just live in the now. The current now was a very nice one indeed.
Rain, once more looking like a moonlight tabby, all smoky gray and silver stripes, attached herself firmly to Botan's pants as she left, the very tips of claws, barely prickling her, threatening pain if she tried to leave without the animal. Botan laughed lightly and picked her up, cradling her in a bended arm. Maneuvering around Rain she managed to lock the door behind her, then left.
Hiei watched Botan leave her apartment. Abandoning his perch in the tree he hurried to her side, moving fast enough that he seemed to materialize out of thin air next to her.
Botan greeted him with a warm smile, blushing slightly, no doubt remembering the night before.
Hiei gave a (very) small smile in return, cold red eyes warming as he looked at her. They fell into step together, adjusting for differences so that they held even. Botan reached out, barely brushing his hand with her own. As she moved her hand away his followed her, encouraging the contact, and they compromised, continuing to walk with their hands barely brushing.
An easy silence was between them; neither had much to say. A faint blush still stained Botan's cheeks, and a smile was still hovering on her lips. Hiei's smile had disappeared, no surprise there, and his face had returned to its traditional blankness, but, maybe, it was slightly softer, kinder, than it had been.
Botan thought that maybe the thing she loved most about Hiei's smiles was how rare they were. They meant a lot more than ones from pretty much anyone else, and that scarcity made them more precious. He looked nearly sweet when he wasn't glaring, too. She giggled slightly, inside if not out loud, knowing that this was information she was going to take to her grave. It certainly wasn't something the moody half-koorime would appreciate.
Hiei realized that he really liked Botan's smiles. There was something amazing in how she had seen so much death, continued to do so, could have so many agonies over nobody loving her, could have no memory of her past at all, and continue to smile so often. It made them more appreciationable. If you realized what she was working through her never-ending smile wasn't as annoying, as irking.
Of course, he reflected, I was the only one who ever thought that...
Their rambling walk eventually brought them to Hiei's park, where Botan sat down on a handy bench overlooking a peaceful pond, which was reflecting the slightly cloudy sky overhead. The image was interrupted by the reeds that edged the far side of the body of water, shushing slightly in the faint breeze.
Hiei opted to forgo the bench, but instead of going to 'his' tree he stood behind the bench, staying close to Botan. Their silence remained and the two stayed where they were, both absorbed in their thoughts.
I wish... I wish we would mark each other. I know there's no reason not to wait, but... I want it to be over with. I just want it to happen, now... But I can't tell Hiei that. His mating instinct might still be in play, and that's not fair to him, to encourage something that he might regret later... Thought Botan, wistful, wanting.
I want to mark her, thought Hiei. But I won't. Not for a while, no matter how much I want it... It wouldn't be fair to her. She deserves someone better than me. It would be fairer to her to let her wait, too. I don't want to pressure her into this; I don't want her to make a decision she'll regret later. To be tied to her, and to have her be unhappy...
Rain made a small noise of mild complaint and slid down Kagome's shoulder into her lap, where she turned around, faced the girl and proceeded to beg shamelessly. "Hungry?" asked Botan. "Let's go find you some cat food or something. Want some ice cream, Hiei? It just sounds good to me right now..."
The fire demon nodded in agreement. "Right, then, it's settled," said Botan. "Grocery store for cat food then the ice cream store. Though most people wait for sunny days for ice cream."
"I like the rain more," said Hiei.
"Me too."
As they stepped out onto the street holding their ice cream--vanilla for both of them--the rain started. It came without any warning, absolutely pouring down. You could see waves of it running down the streets; anybody walking crowded into the nearest open store. Hiei and Botan were the only people on the sidewalk except for a businesswoman running past, shielding herself from the rain with an already-soaking newspaper. They walked, Botan rambling on in a cheerful sort of way, eating their ice cream (the kitten would have to wait until they found a bus shelter for her food) and feeling the heavy beat of raindrops against their skin.
A head was stuck out of a bus stop up ahead. "Hey! Over here!" yelled Yusuke.
"I wonder what the odds are," muttered Botan. Hiei snorted slightly in amusement, the only indication that he had heard. She was encouraged by his reaction. He was nice to talk to, now he had stopped telling her to stop babbling whenever they were near each other. True, he didn't talk a lot, but that was okay. Not everyone did. He was just Hiei, and that was that.
"Hello!" said Botan, popping into the bus shelter. Inside, other than Yusuke, was Kurama, Kuwabara and Keiko. "Wow, this place is pretty empty considering how many people were running for shelter."
"Well, with my reputation..." began Yusuke before Keiko shot him a warning glare; that, coupled with a slight tensing of her muscles, was obviously a warning. Yusuke caught the (slightly) subtle threat and gulped, stopping the rest of his sentence. Kurama muffled a noise suspiciously close to a snigger, not that he would ever do anything so rude and inelegant, presumably at their actions. Hiei didn't even try to hide his smirk.
In the meantime Botan had been getting Rain her food. As the (not-quite) cat ate, purring happily, she reverted her attention back to the main group. Kuwabara noticed the cat and rushed over, going from his typical attitude to gushy in seconds flat. Everyone ignored him, because sometimes it just isn't worth it.
Kurama was thinking again. He noticed how Hiei and Botan stood, closer than they would normally. Actually, closer than two other people would normally, because on a 'normal' day Hiei and Botan would be on opposite sides of the room avoiding each other like they carried dangerously infectious diseases as well as the plague.
Today, though, they were nearly touching as they stood, comfortable and relaxed despite the closeness.
They really did love each other. Kurama wondered if they really knew how much the other cared for them. He doubted it; both of them were unused to both being in love and being loved in return. They were both the type to second-guess in matters of the heart...
Maybe, he thought, it's time to do a bit of meddling...
When Kurama started paying closer attention to the ongoing conversation, no longer lost in his train of thought, he noticed a remarkably shrewd look on Keiko's face. He gave a mental note to contact her as a potential ally, then excused himself, saying that now that the rain had slowed he needed to be going home. Everyone gave him their good-byes and he was gone.
Keiko left next, saying that she really needed to finish up that one paper for school. A lull in the conversation formed, and a few brief moments later Botan left. "I really need to clean my apartment; it's an absolute mess!" she explained. Hiei followed after her.
"Why's Hiei going with her if she's going home to clean?" asked Yusuke.
"I dunno..." replied Kuwabara.
Botan didn't comment on Hiei's presence as she walked down the street. "Y'know," she started as they neared her apartment, "I really am planning on cleaning. You don't have to be there or anything..."
Hiei felt a twinge of doubt shudder through him; did she want him to leave?
Botan glanced to the side to get a glimpse at his face. A few days ago she wouldn't have noticed anything different about him from his normal expression, but now... She thought she saw a glimpse of doubt in him. "I'd like the company, though..." she finished shyly, almost turning the statement into a question. She couldn't say exactly why she noticed emotions in his faces now; maybe it had something to do with knowing that there were emotions there to see.
There was something unutterably, unbelievably, undeniably sweet about Botan when she smiled like that, all nervousness, hope and innocent, thought Hiei.
"I'll stay," he said, feeling slightly awkward. Her smile was a better response than any number of words. He loved her so much it ached.
They arrived at the apartment, where Botan started a load of laundry before tackling the kitchen. Hiei watched as she loaded up the dishwasher before starting on the other dishes, scrubbing at the various non-dishwasherable items she had used in the past while. There was still no conversation, but that was fine. Hiei wasn't the type for pointless talk, and Botan accepted that. It didn't keep her from chatting continuously when other people were around, but she was content to let the silence lie otherwise. It was a good compromise, one reached by mutual, if silent, agreement.
It was very quiet, except for the clinking of dishes and Botan humming, nearly silent, under her breath. It was very quiet, but a peaceful quiet, not a heavy, uncomfortable one.
The afternoon faded into evening, and the silence remained, and everything was... perfect.
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Pairings/Characters: Hiei/Botan
Rating/Warnings: Doesn't stray above a T/PG-13 rating. Warnings for bad writing, potential fanbrattieness and a little bit of sexual violence in the later chapters.
Status: Completed.
Disclaimer: While Yu Yu Hakusho is not mine, most of the books quoted were made up by me.
Day Six:
Botan slowly spiraled out of her sleep into the waking day, her mind moving with syrupy lazy slowness. She woke up warm and peaceful, smiling gently.
Her mind was filled with delicious memories of the night before, and the kiss... Yes, the kiss. Botan blushed slightly as she thought about it, unsure why. They--her and Hiei--had kissed, a physical statement of what had only been said in words before. They loved each other... It somehow made it all much more real, more solid, more immediate.
She didn't know quite what to think. She loved him. She loved him a lot, and didn't think that would change in the near future. He loved her in return, and that seemed equally unlikely to go away. But... it was all so fast. It had only been six days since this had all started...
In six days Botan had realized she was in love, admitted to that love, had love admitted to her in return, and now kissed. All of that to Hiei, the person she would have thought least likely to ever love anyone, especially her... But that's wrong, isn't it? she thought. He does love. He loves Yukina, a lot, and... he loves me too. He loves me...
And she loved him. They had known each other for a long time, now, but she had never thought of loving him... In fact, she had feared him for a long time. Been actively scared of him. That had slowly faded as he became more a part of their group, but it had taken a while. She had never thought of him loving her...
But they did. Part of her, the cautious, shy side, wanted to wait, think over what was happening, because it was all so sudden. Another part of her didn't; they were both people who took love seriously, who loved for life. Neither of them was the sort of person to change their minds suddenly about something this important, so potentially hurtful. They loved each other, and waiting wouldn't change anything.
And what had that kiss meant, anyways? What did it really mean? What were the repercussions from the action?
What happened now?
Hiei gave a small, slight smile, gazing nearly dreamily at nothing. It was totally uncharacteristic for the generally taciturn fire demon, but love tends to do odd things to people.
They had kissed. They had kissed, and she hadn't pulled away. In fact, she had encouraged it. She had liked it. It was a hard concept for the Forbidden Child to understand; He had spent his whole life being avoided by others; he had never expected people to seek out his attentions, romantic and otherwise.
That was changing.
It was just something else he was going to have to get used to.
Sometimes change wasn't so bad.
Botan sighed, stretched, pulled herself out of bed. She would stay there all day if given half a chance, but she needed to move eventually, much as she might dislike it.
Dressing in clothes suitable for the human world, Botan got herself a bagel, smeared some still-not-quite-expired cream cheese on a bagel and bounced out the door. The night before had put her in a spectacular good mood; even if she didn't know what would happen next, sometimes you had to stop thinking about the next event and just live in the now. The current now was a very nice one indeed.
Rain, once more looking like a moonlight tabby, all smoky gray and silver stripes, attached herself firmly to Botan's pants as she left, the very tips of claws, barely prickling her, threatening pain if she tried to leave without the animal. Botan laughed lightly and picked her up, cradling her in a bended arm. Maneuvering around Rain she managed to lock the door behind her, then left.
Hiei watched Botan leave her apartment. Abandoning his perch in the tree he hurried to her side, moving fast enough that he seemed to materialize out of thin air next to her.
Botan greeted him with a warm smile, blushing slightly, no doubt remembering the night before.
Hiei gave a (very) small smile in return, cold red eyes warming as he looked at her. They fell into step together, adjusting for differences so that they held even. Botan reached out, barely brushing his hand with her own. As she moved her hand away his followed her, encouraging the contact, and they compromised, continuing to walk with their hands barely brushing.
An easy silence was between them; neither had much to say. A faint blush still stained Botan's cheeks, and a smile was still hovering on her lips. Hiei's smile had disappeared, no surprise there, and his face had returned to its traditional blankness, but, maybe, it was slightly softer, kinder, than it had been.
Botan thought that maybe the thing she loved most about Hiei's smiles was how rare they were. They meant a lot more than ones from pretty much anyone else, and that scarcity made them more precious. He looked nearly sweet when he wasn't glaring, too. She giggled slightly, inside if not out loud, knowing that this was information she was going to take to her grave. It certainly wasn't something the moody half-koorime would appreciate.
Hiei realized that he really liked Botan's smiles. There was something amazing in how she had seen so much death, continued to do so, could have so many agonies over nobody loving her, could have no memory of her past at all, and continue to smile so often. It made them more appreciationable. If you realized what she was working through her never-ending smile wasn't as annoying, as irking.
Of course, he reflected, I was the only one who ever thought that...
Their rambling walk eventually brought them to Hiei's park, where Botan sat down on a handy bench overlooking a peaceful pond, which was reflecting the slightly cloudy sky overhead. The image was interrupted by the reeds that edged the far side of the body of water, shushing slightly in the faint breeze.
Hiei opted to forgo the bench, but instead of going to 'his' tree he stood behind the bench, staying close to Botan. Their silence remained and the two stayed where they were, both absorbed in their thoughts.
I wish... I wish we would mark each other. I know there's no reason not to wait, but... I want it to be over with. I just want it to happen, now... But I can't tell Hiei that. His mating instinct might still be in play, and that's not fair to him, to encourage something that he might regret later... Thought Botan, wistful, wanting.
I want to mark her, thought Hiei. But I won't. Not for a while, no matter how much I want it... It wouldn't be fair to her. She deserves someone better than me. It would be fairer to her to let her wait, too. I don't want to pressure her into this; I don't want her to make a decision she'll regret later. To be tied to her, and to have her be unhappy...
Rain made a small noise of mild complaint and slid down Kagome's shoulder into her lap, where she turned around, faced the girl and proceeded to beg shamelessly. "Hungry?" asked Botan. "Let's go find you some cat food or something. Want some ice cream, Hiei? It just sounds good to me right now..."
The fire demon nodded in agreement. "Right, then, it's settled," said Botan. "Grocery store for cat food then the ice cream store. Though most people wait for sunny days for ice cream."
"I like the rain more," said Hiei.
"Me too."
As they stepped out onto the street holding their ice cream--vanilla for both of them--the rain started. It came without any warning, absolutely pouring down. You could see waves of it running down the streets; anybody walking crowded into the nearest open store. Hiei and Botan were the only people on the sidewalk except for a businesswoman running past, shielding herself from the rain with an already-soaking newspaper. They walked, Botan rambling on in a cheerful sort of way, eating their ice cream (the kitten would have to wait until they found a bus shelter for her food) and feeling the heavy beat of raindrops against their skin.
A head was stuck out of a bus stop up ahead. "Hey! Over here!" yelled Yusuke.
"I wonder what the odds are," muttered Botan. Hiei snorted slightly in amusement, the only indication that he had heard. She was encouraged by his reaction. He was nice to talk to, now he had stopped telling her to stop babbling whenever they were near each other. True, he didn't talk a lot, but that was okay. Not everyone did. He was just Hiei, and that was that.
"Hello!" said Botan, popping into the bus shelter. Inside, other than Yusuke, was Kurama, Kuwabara and Keiko. "Wow, this place is pretty empty considering how many people were running for shelter."
"Well, with my reputation..." began Yusuke before Keiko shot him a warning glare; that, coupled with a slight tensing of her muscles, was obviously a warning. Yusuke caught the (slightly) subtle threat and gulped, stopping the rest of his sentence. Kurama muffled a noise suspiciously close to a snigger, not that he would ever do anything so rude and inelegant, presumably at their actions. Hiei didn't even try to hide his smirk.
In the meantime Botan had been getting Rain her food. As the (not-quite) cat ate, purring happily, she reverted her attention back to the main group. Kuwabara noticed the cat and rushed over, going from his typical attitude to gushy in seconds flat. Everyone ignored him, because sometimes it just isn't worth it.
Kurama was thinking again. He noticed how Hiei and Botan stood, closer than they would normally. Actually, closer than two other people would normally, because on a 'normal' day Hiei and Botan would be on opposite sides of the room avoiding each other like they carried dangerously infectious diseases as well as the plague.
Today, though, they were nearly touching as they stood, comfortable and relaxed despite the closeness.
They really did love each other. Kurama wondered if they really knew how much the other cared for them. He doubted it; both of them were unused to both being in love and being loved in return. They were both the type to second-guess in matters of the heart...
Maybe, he thought, it's time to do a bit of meddling...
When Kurama started paying closer attention to the ongoing conversation, no longer lost in his train of thought, he noticed a remarkably shrewd look on Keiko's face. He gave a mental note to contact her as a potential ally, then excused himself, saying that now that the rain had slowed he needed to be going home. Everyone gave him their good-byes and he was gone.
Keiko left next, saying that she really needed to finish up that one paper for school. A lull in the conversation formed, and a few brief moments later Botan left. "I really need to clean my apartment; it's an absolute mess!" she explained. Hiei followed after her.
"Why's Hiei going with her if she's going home to clean?" asked Yusuke.
"I dunno..." replied Kuwabara.
Botan didn't comment on Hiei's presence as she walked down the street. "Y'know," she started as they neared her apartment, "I really am planning on cleaning. You don't have to be there or anything..."
Hiei felt a twinge of doubt shudder through him; did she want him to leave?
Botan glanced to the side to get a glimpse at his face. A few days ago she wouldn't have noticed anything different about him from his normal expression, but now... She thought she saw a glimpse of doubt in him. "I'd like the company, though..." she finished shyly, almost turning the statement into a question. She couldn't say exactly why she noticed emotions in his faces now; maybe it had something to do with knowing that there were emotions there to see.
There was something unutterably, unbelievably, undeniably sweet about Botan when she smiled like that, all nervousness, hope and innocent, thought Hiei.
"I'll stay," he said, feeling slightly awkward. Her smile was a better response than any number of words. He loved her so much it ached.
They arrived at the apartment, where Botan started a load of laundry before tackling the kitchen. Hiei watched as she loaded up the dishwasher before starting on the other dishes, scrubbing at the various non-dishwasherable items she had used in the past while. There was still no conversation, but that was fine. Hiei wasn't the type for pointless talk, and Botan accepted that. It didn't keep her from chatting continuously when other people were around, but she was content to let the silence lie otherwise. It was a good compromise, one reached by mutual, if silent, agreement.
It was very quiet, except for the clinking of dishes and Botan humming, nearly silent, under her breath. It was very quiet, but a peaceful quiet, not a heavy, uncomfortable one.
The afternoon faded into evening, and the silence remained, and everything was... perfect.