Botan listened to the high school girls' conversation with amused interest. She did feel rude for eavesdropping, but realized there was no real harm; as she was not only invisible to the lot, but that their gossip was centered around one of her current wards.

But, even with her attention still fully tuned onto the topic, she was beginning to feel unimpressed by the young girls' particular description of the subject.

After almost running into a tree, two street signs, and then loosing sight of the female students completely, Botan figured it was time she headed to her true destination.

It was time for a parole visit.

Kurama was able to spot her from a block away.

Her appearance consisting of an oversized purple tunic, sitting at a small table with a crystal ball perched atop made it fairly easy.

"Good afternoon, Botan. How is the fortune telling business going?" He asked, smiling in his usual calm and calculating fashion.

Botan looked surprised, then realized there really was no reason for her to be. This was Kurama after all, he would've figured out it was her any of the ways she could have disguised herself.

"Afternoon, Kurama. It's going fairly well, considering most of my clientele are young women looking for love." She answered in her bubbly voice.

His smile widen, causing Botan to suspect he was making fun of her. She just wasn't sure in what way.

"Well..." Botan began as she stood. "It's that time again."

She could have sworn his facial features twitched downward before returning to the familiar smile from before.

"Is it?" Kurama questioned lightly, looking at the sky in an overly innocent fashion.

The blue haired spirit nodded absentmindedly as she removed her tunic, revealing her Sarayashiki Junior High School uniform underneath.

"Afraid so." She folded her cloak neatly and placed it on the chair.

"I guess there's no way for me to avoid it." He sighed good-naturedly.

"Nope." With a quick snap of her fingers, Botan's small table, chair, and all her fortune teller items disappeared into thin air.

"Then I guess we should begin." The kitsune turned human suggested as he gestured for the two of them to move on.

Botan smiled before skipping over to his side and began accompanying him toward school.

This was an ordinary custom of the two. Because of Kurama's crimes against the Spirit Realm, he was sentenced to help Yusuke with any of the Spirit Detective business Koenma saw fit.

The pint-sized ruler also made certain that Kurama got weekly Botan visits as his acting parole officer.

There wasn't much she could do if the parolee decided to hightail it, but she had been given means to stall him.

If those failed, Botan figured she could just smack him with her oar. Hopefully, it never comes to that.

Her duties consisted of her following him to and from school at least twice a week. If there was an unusual change in spirit pressure within a mile of Kurama's immediate area, she was to follow him constantly.

She had been doing this in her spirit form for well on two weeks into the punishment before Kurama acknowledged her and requested she either walk or float next to him instead of hovering above him.

They were into the first month as walking, or sometimes in Botan's case floating, buddies.

It had been a relatively quiet trip, until Botan began giggling softly. Kurama peeked over to see her biting her lip in an attempt to silence her mirth, before she looked over at him and began to giggle more.

She was laughing at him, Kurama realized with some distain. For what, he had no clue, but that didn't stop him for disliking it.

"May I ask what I have done that's so funny?" He asked confused.

Botan seemed to squeak in objection before starting to voice it.

"N-no, I'm not laughing at you, I promise! But..." she paused before a smile broke out onto her face again. "I just remembered something funny that, well, involves you."

It would have been hard to miss the way his lips turned down this time.

"Oh?" Kurama questioned lightly. "Should I be worried?"

"Oh, no, no, it isn't anything bad, just..." She placed a finger to her lips in thought. "Well, it's just..."

She noticed him staring silently at her, neither amused or angry, just sort of neutral. It made her feel cornered and forced her words to come out in a energetic babble.

"Well, you see, I was on my way here when I saw these girls wearing your school's uniform. Now, I was going to just leave them be and go on my way, but then I heard them talking and it was very interesting because I heard your name, Kurama! Well, you know, your human name, not Kurama, Kurama." She was babbling more to herself than to him, he realized.

"Well, anyway I followed them for a while and they were saying all sorts of things about you! Like how smart you are and how gentlemanly you are and how nice. And then they started talking about your looks and-" He watched surprised as her expression changed from carefree to almost troubled. She picked up where she left off with a thoughtful frown.

"-And how pretty you are. How beautiful you are. How... feminine you look."

Kurama kept a straight face while she paused at this statement, her expression seemed strained and he didn't entirely know how he felt about that. He could guess why she was irritated by his apparent 'womanly' features. More than once he had girls look at him distastefully because they were jealous he was 'prettier' than them. He believed this be the same type of situation.

"I mean, I don't understand why they think that. You seem pretty masculine to me."

And his theory was completely blown out of the water. He guessed maybe he shouldn't have thought Botan was the same as the mortal girls he's known through the years, but he excused his assumptions as him still not knowing the Reaper for very long. But, none the less he couldn't help his surprise and slight ego boost at her comment.

His voice showed his amusement as he spoke. "I thank you for the compliment, Botan."

Her head whipped around to face him and she seemed realize what her words could imply. Her face became lightly flushed as she tried to stutter some kind of apology or explanation for her comment, he wasn't sure which, but he didn't really care as their routine walk just got more entertaining.

They talked a little more after Botan forced a change in topic, but the rest of the walk was mostly in silence.

It would be ending soon as they drew closer to the school and as per usual they walked to a secluded patch of trees so Botan could depart by flight without drawing attention to herself.

She breathed a sigh and said easily, "Well, this is where I leave you." Then with a wave of her hand she was dressed in her pink kimono. Oar at the ready to return to the Spirit Realm for the time being.

Kurama watched her silently, simple smile on his face.

"So it seems. I shall see you once school is done for the day, correct?"

Botan looked at the young man quietly. Kurama stared back evenly, wondering where her mind was off to now.

She stared for a little longer, before turning toward the school and humming in thought. She turned back to him smiling gently.

"Actually, I think I'm gonna let you off the hook today."

Kurama blinked innocently, mouth slightly opened in surprise. He was realizing she was catching him off guard at a remarkable rate today.

"...Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yep, you've been behaving pretty well, so I think you deserve a break." Her smile became brighter.

He still seemed uncertain. "What makes you so sure I won't run off?"

"Don't worry, I trust you." Her ponytail swayed as she sat sidesaddle on her oar, hovering lightly.

This made him even more unnerved, but he didn't voice it as he saw her expression turn sly.

"But," Botan started, smile turning into a playful grin. "if you do try to escape, you better be prepared to face my wrath."

He couldn't help the laugh that popped out of his mouth at her warning. She was still grinning, looking proud at making him laugh. They both knew he could overpower her easily, even though they both hoped it would never come to that.

The laughter was still apparent in his eyes, enjoying her joke.

"Hmm, I'll keep that in mind", Kurama chuckled lightly again, "although, it's hard for me to think I should feel afraid of you."

And then she smiled again, but it was completely different from her previous smile. It didn't hold the child-like quality as her usual smile or the catty features when she was having some fun. It made her look like a completely different person, mysterious and foreboding with the coy lift of her lips and the slanted look in her eyes.

And his mirth immediately died in the pit of his stomach as he seemed to comprehend something for the first time since they had met.

He was quite literally staring death in the face.

She was always so cheerful and light, that he never even connected her with the thing he ran away from years before. The thing that he seemed to always get away from by the skin of his teeth.

He was staring at death in all her glory and splendor and she was staring back in almost dark amusement at his naive thought that he could outrun her.

And then, she was Botan again. Bubbly and bright, smiling innocently at him without a worry in the world.

"I'll see you later, Kurama." She waved goodbye before flying off into the distance.

He just stared at the sky, unsure on many things.

A/N: Forgot how far I got in this oneshot and just now looked at it again. When I had last worked on it I didn't like how it sounded and now that I'm looking at it again, I absolutely love how it sounds! Hope you guys enjoy! Review if you want and let me know what you thought!