A/N: This is a fanfic I wrote in response to LadyKurama's challenge. The pairing featured is Hiei/Botan and as required it will be quite lemony. I couldn't stand to write this without having an actual plot though so it's not all one big lemon. Enjoy, reviews are appreciated, flamers will be laughed at. Just so you know, I have a tendency to use Japanese and English words interchangeably (ex: youkai/demon, ningen/human, etc.) WARNING: This fic is NOT for kiddies! It also takes place after the series.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters. All I own is this story and any characters not part of the series/manga.
Driven by Instinct, Guided to Love
Chapter One: Death is a Fickle Mistress
The clanging of swords, painful howls, and outraged screams rang through the stormy autumn night. Growling in frustration a short stature youkai clad in long black robes dug his heels into the rocky ground to keep balance after the larger swamp green youkai repelled his attack.
Across the quarry another demon slashed his horrendously large claws out at carrot topped man in a torn punk band t-shirt and baggy faded jeans. Reforming his Spirit Sword the ningen concentrated the last of his Spirit Energy into the weapon, leaving him drained yet the sword at double its size and power. It was a desperate move, but not an unusual risk.
Not far away from the two fighters stood a third lone figure amidst a ring of boulders. His ruby red hair swirled about in the raging winds of the storm. The rain would soon be falling, adding sopping mud to the already unfavorable terrain. Raising his right hand he plucked a rose from somewhere behind his ear. In one fluid motion the harmless looking flower took on the shape of a thorny whip. A small, barely visible smirk played on the man's calm visage as he lashed out at the demons hiding among the large stones.
A streak of lightning lit the sky soon followed by a loud rumble of thunder. Nature itself appeared to be setting the mood for the gruesome battle. Up ahead of the others another human stood with his arms stretched out in front of him. Both hand locked together, his index finger extended to resemble the barrel of a gun. Mahogany eyes were locked with the piercing yellow irises of his target. The youkai gave a toothy grin and chuckled in a deep tone that only a crazed monster could manage.
The glow of the creature's eyes intensified as he spoke, "So Spirit Detective, we meet at last. I see that Koenma's informants have finally managed to figure out where we've been hiding."
"Yeah and it wasn't all that hard either." the detective—Yusuke Urameshi—remarked smugly. "Heck the stench alone was enough to give the guys all the way in Spirit World your exact coordinates."
"Oh really?" the clay colored demon balled his massive hands into fists, slamming them down onto the gravel littered ground, causing the entire quarry to shake. "Then perhaps it's time my comrades and I bathed...IN A POOL OF YOUR BLOOD!!!"
The sudden earthquake was enough to sidetrack the remaining fighters, leaving them open for attack from the 'comrades' of the head demon, who were use to his method of combat.
"AAHHH!!" the carrot top screamed as the demon he'd been battling caught him in the side with one of the scythe-like blades protruding from its elbows.
"Kuwabara!" the redhead shouted as his critically wounded friend hit the ground. He would've rushed over to help had it not been for the black skinned demon that emerged from behind an unnoticed boulder. He'd hidden away, biding his time as the fox youkai in the ningen body had slashed apart his allies. Now he gripped the end of his opponent's whip between his clawed fingers. With a quick yank he disarmed the surprised man.
"Kurama you fool!" the black clad youkai shouted as he swung his katana, blocking the green demon's attack. "Don't let your guard down during a battle! If the oaf can't take care of himself then he deserves to die!"
"Thanks a lot Shorty!" Kuwabara yelled, rolling to the side to avoid the demon's killer scythe extensions.
Yusuke struggled to remain upright as the demon before him repeatedly pounded his fists into the ground. The jolts from the impact grew sharper each time, Yusuke was caught somewhere between motion sickness and whiplash. The rocky battlefield shook fiercely, slinging his body in all directions; it was getting difficult to maintain balance.
Heh, still... Yusuke grinned ...this is nothing compared to Grandma's training!
"You hold your ground well for a human," the head demon chided, "but I bet by now you're seeing double. Time to test your aim!"
Swallowing the lump in his throat Yusuke did his best to aim straight at the oversized youkai charging straight for him. Just as he got into close range the demon sprang up into the air and came crashing down just short of the confused detective.
"Huh?!" he exclaimed, "Where the heck did that jerk go?!"
Rain started pouring down now, the wind blowing it sideways, obscuring everyone's view. Fortunately this gave Kuwabara time to scramble away before the large clawed youkai got a chance to skewer him. Unfortunately, for Yusuke, it also gave the head demon cover so that when he reemerged, the detective was caught completely off guard.
A gigantic, rock hard hand shot up from the muddy ground behind the raven haired ningen. "What the-?!"
The others turned to see Yusuke caught in the demon's clutches and dragged underground.
Yusuke! Kurama worried, but Hiei was right, he HAD to stay focused. Sometimes his reluctance to ever take his Yoko form again seemed like a fatal mistake. But he'd defeated several foes before in his human form, and he would surely be able to do so again!
Dodging an attack by the black-skinned demon who now wielded his Rose Whip the redhead scooped up a handful of mud and spun around. The mud was slung right in the fierce red eyes of his adversary who had rushed forward to acquire a better shot. Cursing the dark toned demon clawed at his eyes, trying to clear his vision. In the process he'd dropped the whip.
Kurama dove for the whip and snatched it back just as the demon's eyesight was cleared. The creature reached for his weapon only to find it missing. Looking up again his scaly neck was snared by the thorny vine.
"I think it's time you were taught a lesson about taking things that don't belong to you." Kurama's evergreen eyes flashed with an unmistakable trace of gold.
The demon gulped...his last gulp.
Out of spirit energy Kuwabara staggered away from his demon pursuer, noting with panic that the rain was slacking off. "Oh great, can't I ever catch a break?!"
"You might try shutting your mouth if you don't want to be found." the youkai with scythe appendages sneered.
Startled Kuwabara stumbled backwards as the huge muscled demon stalked forward. Rain ran off the massive creature in rivers but it wasn't enough to mask the drool dripping from its exposed fangs. "I'm going to enjoy devouring your soul human."
"H-hey!" Kuwabara shouted, "Just because my spirit energy's all used up doesn't mean I'm defenseless!"
The demon only cackled at this, continuing his advance on the quaking man.
Putting up his fists Kuwabara prepared to fight. It was no big secret that he didn't stand much of a chance against the larger, stronger demon, but he couldn't let the other guys see him go down as a cowering wimp!
That runt Hiei would never let me hear the end of it if I did! the carrot top concluded.
"Bring it on Ugly!" he roared, "Kazuma Kuwabara does NOT back down from a fight!"
Leaping into the air the hulking youkai was mere inches from his prey when an enormous plant suddenly sprouted out of the muddy soil beneath him. The creature barely had time to take in what had just happened before he was engulfed by huge palm frond shaped leaves.
The leaves shook violently as the dying screams of the demon encased within overpowered the booming thunder.
Shaking like a leaf himself Kuwabara slipped while stepping backward and came splashing down in a mud puddle. A faint laugh was heard as Kurama stepped out from behind the carnivorous plant.
"Need a hand?" he offered, giving Kuwabara a hand up.
"Yeah thanks," Kuwabara said as Kurama helped him to his feet, "I could've taken him ya know?"
"Of course," Kurama sweatdropped.
Hiei had had enough of the swamp green demon brutishly assaulting him. His attacks weren't even coordinated; the creature was simply lashing out wildly in an attempt to land a crucial blow.
If it weren't for the beast's hideously bulky arms I could have slashed him apart by now! Hiei growled mentally.
He needed an opening, unleashing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame would be foolish in this enclosed location. Even though he could merge with the creature and avoid obliteration (no doubt Kurama could out maneuver it somehow) the two ningens would be swallowed whole by his bloodthirsty attack.
Speaking of ningens...
Detective, where are you?! Hiei demanded telepathically.
For a moment all he could hear was silence before...
Right under you!
Hiei's crimson eyes widened, What?!
This rock headed bastard is barreling straight up! He's gonna ram you if ya don't move quick!!! Yusuke warned.
Glancing up Hiei spotted the green demon rushing towards him again, obviously unaware of his boss's oncoming attack. Hn, I have a better idea. the fire youkai smirked.
The rock-oriented demon must have the ability to sense his opponents from underground if he knew exactly where to aim. Therefore all Hiei had to do was lure the green demon close enough, wait until the last possible second, then use his inhuman speed to dodge the attack leaving the lackey to perish.
With the spirit detective trapped in his stony clutches the clay colored youkai dug his way back to the surface at a speed nearly as fast as Hiei could muster running. His ability to morph his clawed hand into a drill-like shape was something that Koenma either hadn't known, or had foolishly neglected to mention. Either way, Yusuke was gonna give the shrimpy toddler a piece of his mind when and if he lived through this case.
I've got you now! the head demon chuckled upon breaking through the surface. An agonized scream met his ears. The large youkai emerged completely from the ground which was now a mixture of rock and mud to revel in the sight of his fallen enemy. But his evil grin faded when he saw his own comrade lying motionless a short distance away, a gaping hole in his abdomen.
"HA! Take THAT Granite Face!" Yusuke crowed.
The demon looked down scowling, preparing to crush the twerp. His mouth still agape in preparation to curse the ningen he saw that Yusuke had managed to free his arms. With his hands once again locked, index finger extended he aimed straight for the youkai's open mouth and...
"SPIRIT GUN!!!"
"Lord Koenma sir!" a rather large ogre named George shouted as he came bursting through the doors to the tiny king's office.
"What is it Ogre?" Koenma asked without looking up from his work. All this paperwork was making him rather cranky. It would help if someone else around here was qualified to take over at least half the workload but alas, until he had children of his own the judgment of departed souls was his duty alone.
"Lord Koenma," George panted, "Yusuke and the others have returned from Ningenkai, their mission was a success."
"That's good," Koenma nodded, "send them in right away."
"Yes sir," George gave a hasty bow before darting back out into the bustling hall.
An ebony haired ferry girl wearing a dark kimono phased through the wall behind Koenma's desk. "Lord Koenma."
"Yes Ayame?" this time Koenma met her gaze.
"I have some rather urgent news sir." she stated placidly.
"Well I'm afraid that it will have to wait." Koenma sighed, "I'm debriefing the detectives right now."
"Yes sir," Ayame nodded, "I will return shortly."
"Very well." Koenma dismissed her with a gentle wave as she left the way in which she'd entered.
Seconds later the doors were flung open and a rather peeved Yusuke stomped up to Koenma's desk. "WHAT THE HELL KOENMA?!?!" he exclaimed slamming his fists down for emphasis.
A few stacks of papers overturned, flying across the room. Koenma looked up at the detective from the tops of his half-lidded eyes. "I take it something unexpected took place on your mission?"
A vein in Yusuke's forehead began to throb, "I'LL SAY SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENED! THE FREAKIN' HEAD DEMON DRILLED RIGHT THROUGH THE QUARRY!!!"
Koenma took a minute to ponder this, "Hm, yes well that does seem a bit surprising. I'll have the Research Department look into the matter."
Left eye twitching Yusuke repeated, "Look into the matter? Look into the matter?! Kinda late now seeing as how I already beat the guy!"
Koenma arched an eyebrow, "Then what are you so upset about?"
"I GOT A WORM'S EYE VIEW OF ABOUT 3 MILES OF MUD AND ROCK!"
"Hm, yes and from the looks of things I say it's time for you to return to the Human World and clean yourself up. You're a mess." the toddler remarked after regarding Yusuke's muddy and blood stained appearance.
Hiei decided it was time to leave; Yusuke would burst a lung yelling a response to Koenma's last comment.
Without so much as a 'goodbye' to the others he turned and headed back out the double doors, unnoticed by anyone. He'd get back to Ningenkai on his own; he didn't need the toddler to open a portal for him. He'd made his way out of Reikai once before without his help. Hiei smirked as he recalled how easy it had been to sneak in and steal the Artifacts of Darkness.
He would've left for Makai but since leaving Mukuro's realm after her unexpected marriage to Lord Yomi he'd had no real reason to return. It was now Shura's job to patrol the border for stray humans, erasing their memory and shipping them back to Ningenkai where they belonged. Mukuro had appointed him this position after Hiei had expressed a desire to leave (feeling no longer needed) and watch over his sister who preferred to live with Genkai in the human world.
The trouble was, while he had been in Makai the oaf had grown noticeably closer to his sister. And he couldn't outright forbid her from seeing him. She still didn't know of their relation and he wasn't about to let the lovesick antics of Kuwabaka force him into revealing his true identity to her.
Now the two spent most of their time together, it was only a matter of time before this ludicrous 'courting' turned in to something more. Hiei still hadn't decided if it was worth making sweet Yukina cry just to be rid of the oaf. Kuwabara was impressive for a human, he'd give him that, but that didn't mean he wanted the loudmouthed jabbering idiot for an in-law. Rather or not Yukina or Kuwabara ever found out, he'd still know it and that was torture enough!
Lost in his thoughts he bumped into a passing ferry girl causing her to drop the mound of folders she'd been carrying.
"Hey!" a familiar voice shouted as both figures hit the floor.
Hiei was about to curse the clumsy woman for not watching where she was going until he looked up and saw a pair of all too familiar bright magenta eyes. Oh perfect, he thought, the baka ferry onna.
Botan glared at him as papers from the folders rained down around her. From her disheveled appearance he guessed she'd been working off of less than two hours sleep. Then again, she was a ferry girl, did they actually need sleep? Well, even if Botan didn't the human body Koenma had given her certainly did.
"Hn, watch where you're going onna." he muttered, pushing himself up.
"You ran into ME Hiei!" she snapped, scrambling to gather up the papers and stuff them back inside the appropriate folders. "Thanks a lot by the way, this is going to take me forever to re-file!"
Rolling his eyes the fire youkai stooped down and rapidly sorted, filed, and restacked the papers in their appropriate folders.
Botan blinked as he stood and nudged the stack over to her with the side of his foot. "There, baka ningens, always making things more difficult than they have to be."
"Uh, t-thanks Hiei." Botan stuttered. It wasn't like Hiei to do anything—well—nice.
Standing up and struggling a bit to balance the stack she eyed him suspiciously, "Are you...feeling okay?"
Hiei just snorted and moved to shove past her. He was stopped by a soft hand pressed to his forehead. He looked up to see Botan balancing the heavy stack in one arm while holding her free hand against his brow.
The white headband was pushed against his Jagan Eye but not hard enough to hurt. Grunting Botan yanked the headband off his head. Hiei snarled but was interrupted by her grumbling, "Honestly Hiei how am I supposed to tell if you have a fever when you never take off this darn headband?"
Snatching the cloth away from her he retorted, "I don't have a fever onna! I was just tired of hearing you complain!"
He wasn't just irritated by her actions. His reaction bothered him far more. The heat that had coursed through his body from the electrifying sensation of her touch to his sensitive third eye made him question if he really was coming down with something.
Botan gave him a disbelieving look. "You don't seem so healthy Hiei. Your face is flushed; you must have at least a low grade fever."
Frowning in surprise Hiei unsheathed just enough of his katana so that he could check his reflection. Sure enough his entire face was covered by a reddish tinge. But...it wasn't a feverish tinge. No, this was something unusual for him. He was...blushing?!
Fake coughing he hurriedly shoved past Botan. She slapped her free hand on top of the stack of folders to keep from dropping them again.
When she looked over her shoulder to scold him she found that he'd disappeared somewhere amongst the crowd of ferry girls and ogres. Sighing she shook her head, I'll never understand what possesses that moody fire demon to act the way he does.
A few minutes after Yusuke had finally had enough of arguing with Koenma and stormed out followed by a nervously smiling Kurama and a slightly less agitated Kuwabara the ferry girl Ayame returned to give Koenma her urgent news.
"Yes Ayame, I'm listening." the young ruler said as he surveyed the mess Yusuke had made during his little tantrum.
"Lord Koenma," Ayame took a file out from her small stack of folders and held it out for the toddler to take, "I was glancing over the files for the Spirit Detective team when I came across a most intriguing bit of information regarding the fire demon."
Arching an eyebrow Koenma took the file and started flipping through it.
"You'll find the information noted on page four under Section 7C: Reproductive Notes." the ferry girl continued. "It clearly states that while Hiei is a fire demon he is still part of the koorime race. And being so, it is quite likely that he will undergo a reproduction cycle similar to that of his sister."
Koenma's brown eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "WHAT?!"
"You see sir," Ayame explained, "the koorime are a race consisting entirely of females. Therefore they reproduce asexually."
"Yes yes I know," Koenma stated impatiently. "And I could see how this sort of thing would pertain to Yukina. But Hiei is a MALE, what does any of this have to do with him?!"
"Be that as it may Koenma he will still be driven by his koorime instincts to reproduce on his hundredth birthday. Meaning that since he is a male, he'll most likely develop an overwhelming desire to obtain a mate." the faired skinned ferry girl concluded.
Reading over the contents of the file Koenma reluctantly realized that the lunacy he was hearing was most likely true. Oh boy...
"So," he forced himself to ask the dreaded question, "how old is Hiei anyway?"
Ayame cast her eyes down, her frown twisting back in a nervous way. "Well sir, if our records are correct, he's 99 years of age."
Koenma nearly swallowed his pacifier, "WHAT?!" Digging through the file in his hands nervously he stuttered, "A-and just when is his birthday?!"
Clutching the files in her hands tighter the ferry girl replied softly, "Two days from now."
The bustling halls of the Spirit World castle were shocked to silence as the ruler's shrill cry echoed throughout the stunned building. "TWO DAYS?!?!"
Amanda/Artiste: That's the first chapter; I've decided to make this a multi-chapter fic. But I won't make it too long. Next Chapter: Hiei and Botan's paths cross again. How will he react when his instincts start to kick in? Better yet...what will the 'baka ferry onna' have to say when his odd behavior is directed towards her?! Please review, no flames! Oh and if you're wondering about how the heck Yomi and Mukuro wound up together, well...that's a story for another time!