If I Hadn't Met You

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 2

Botan stared down at the marvelous dishes set in front of her, her mouth hung slightly opened as her eyes widened in amazement. "This is amazing! Who made this?"

"Why me, of course," someone suddenly said, and she frowned.

She didn't recognize the voice and pondered who it belonged to, until the door creaked open and out poked the head of a black haired boy, his hair slick with gel and his brown eyes held pride in them as he gave her a toothy grin.

"Uh…" Botan was unsure of what to say, her amethyst orbs blinking at the unrecognizable face.

"This is Yusuke, the cook," Kuronue introduced, a hand extended at Yusuke, who was still only seen with his head.

"O-oh," she sputtered, inwardly reprimanding herself from being clueless. He had told her that he was the one who made the breakfast, so that made it obvious to who he was. Then, as if to regain what was left of her pride, Botan hid her embarrassment, and quickly added with a haughty tone, her nose up in the air, "So I see; he's one of the ones who's still willing to work for the young master, isn't he?"

She turned to look at Yusuke, whose grin widened at her choice of words. All the while, she ignored the unwavering glare Kurama sent at her direction. She spoke again, with the most polite tone ever, "I commend you for your hard work – it is obvious to me you are quite something to still be able to deal with," she paused, casting a brief glance at the redhead who was sitting in front of her, "my rather unique master over there."

Kuronue held a hand to his mouth to stifle the amused chuckle that threatened to come out of him. The girl was surprisingly brave to even insult Kurama; her words must have gotten under Kurama's skin, he knew that for sure. What more was the way she said the word 'unique' – it sounded more like a sardonic and discreet insult rather than a compliment at all.

"I like ya," Yusuke told her, a laugh coming out of him. He finally entered the room, and Botan could finally see his full body. Unlike Kuronue, who was afraid to face the wrath of the young master, he openly laughed at him. "Yer really funny."

Botan blushed slightly at the compliment, muttering a quiet, and timid 'thank you' under her breath. She looked down at her lap to avoid meeting anyone's eyes, lest they knew she was nervous.

"Anyway, Kuronue," Yusuke chimed in, though this time he sounded confused. "She's gotta be the new maid, right? I thought ya said she arrived here yesterday evening? Why just now I'm seein' her for the first time?"

"Well…" Kuronue started to explain, only to trail off when he noticed the snicker on the cook's face. "What's with that look?"

"Nothin'," Yusuke replied all too teasingly for his taste, "Just thought ya hid her somewhere."

Kuronue gave him a deadpan look, not appreciating his friend's poor sense of humor. "You're quite wrong, Yusuke. She slammed the door and hid herself in the room I've prepared for her for the whole night. I have no idea why, but I can get an idea of what happened – and I had nothing to do with it."

"So that's kinda explains why I didn't see her…" Then, Yusuke cast a knowing glance at Kurama and added in a curious tone, despite having a vague idea of what made the girl do such a thing, "Still wonderin' why she did all that though."

Botan opened her mouth to reply, only to be cut off by Kurama who spat harshly, "The stupid girl has poor manners, that's why. She is unfit to be my maid! I can't believe I even agreed to keep her here!" He then turned to Kuronue, his emerald eyes narrowed in fury. "I order you to fire her this instant."

"Now now, Kurama," Kuronue waved his hands in front of him, a grin appearing on his face. He tried to calm the redhead down, despite his half curious and half amused self – curious as to what Botan did to him, and amused to see Kurama acting in such a way. "I've only just gotten back after being a week gone. Surely, you wouldn't want me to fire her and waste all of my efforts of looking for her?"

Then, he took a sip of the green tea in front of him. Placing it down, he grabbed a fork and a knife; cutting the steak Yusuke had prepared in pieces, before sticking his fork into it. He put it into his mouth, chewing a little, before adding, "Plus, she's kinda hardworking. I think she suits your standards, Kurama."

"Suit my standards…" Kurama muttered those words grudgingly. He stared at the food in front of him – he didn't really have an appetite right now, considering the raging fire inside him.

Kuronue heard what the redhead said; everyone did, actually, despite his low tone. He covered his mouth, in an attempt to hide the amused smile that had managed to find his way to his face. "What did she do to you that made you so angry really?"

"You want me to put it as harshly or as politely as possible?" Kurama asked, his voice rough as he looked up from the food to Botan's face. She glared at him and he glared back – neither willing to back down. "Though in my opinion, I think the latter is better."

Kuronue raised an eyebrow at him, before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, put it anyhow you want to," he told him nonchalantly.

"Very well then," Kurama spoke with the utmost tact possible, but everyone in the room caught underlying irritation in his voice. "Not only did she yell at me and called me something among the lines of 'ungrateful and insufferable bastard', she also slapped me. Hard. In the face."

Botan watched as his hands gripped his cup of tea, his hold almost vice like before loosening his hold around it, and then gripping again and loosening again. He repeated it over and over, almost as if he was imagining it was her neck he was gripping. He then loosened his hold again, and Botan could tell right there and then he was trying not to break it.

In spite of noticing his obvious wrath, Botan snorted, the pride in her not letting her back down without arguing back. "I only did that because you told me I forgot to put sugar in your cup. When I came back with another one, you spat it out and said I put too much sugar. I told you you were demanding, and you got angry, spilling the tea – which I must add, for your own entertainment, since you seem to like making me go through hell; spilled all over my feet. I only did the only thing I could right then; nothing more and nothing less. Surely, you didn't expect me to bow down and say thank you, did you?"

Kurama's glare intensified – to the point it literally looked like he was trying to burn a hole into her head. He said nothing, lest he thought he would make her cry. Then, as if trying to change the subject, he averted his gaze at Kuronue, ignoring the half amused and half surprised look he was wearing and pretending not to notice the snickering Yusuke.

"Where the hell is Kuwabara? I hope he's not making a mess out of my garden again."

A knock sounded at the door. "Excuse me," came a muffled and feminine voice from the other side of the door.

"Come in," Kurama said, sounding as calm as possible. Though he was only trying to hide his annoyance, after realizing who it was.

The doorknob twisted, and the door opened, revealing Botan who had a cup of tea in her hands. He looked up from the piece of paper he had been examining, to look at her face and quickly noticed the look of repressed anger on her features. "

"I hope this tea is sweet enough for you," she started venomously, narrowing her eyes at his direction, "so you wouldn't spill it on me again – but if it isn't, then I'll stand still and gladly let you throw the tea I made myself at me again," she finished in a sarcastic tone.

Kurama raised an eyebrow at her, eyes eyeing her as she walked towards his desk and placed the cup of tea down. With that, she looked into his eyes with raging fury in them, "Is that all you need?"

He stared at her and wondered for a brief moment whether she was discreetly trying to make him apologize or was hurt enough to mention his injustice twice. Either way, it didn't matter. What did matter though, was the fact that he was uncomfortable with the tension between them right now. Things weren't going well, and they just met for two days – but he'd rather keep their relationship friendly as long as possible. Realizing he had to fix this someway, Kurama inwardly sighed. He would have to apologize, he knew that already. Usually, he wouldn't waste his breath to say 'I'm sorry' to a maid, of all people, but he would make an exception for her. Just this one time – the first time and the last time.

"Listen," he paused, clearing his throat, and then, averted his eyes, "I'm sorry for what happened yesterday – that was my fault. It was injustice to you as a master for my part."

She paused for a moment, taken by surprise by his sudden apology. But then, she smiled and let a small giggle escape her, attracting the young master's attention. He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, wondering what was funny. She collected herself, trying to sound composed as possible, but failed when her voice showed obvious amusement, "Young master, the first thing you need to do when you apologize, is look into the eyes of the one you're saying sorry to. It is obvious this is your first time, and I will accept that horrible excuse for an apology as I can tell you're not used to this kind of thing."

"Ha!" he scoffed, but smirked at her. "Don't expect another one coming in the near future. That will be the one and only time."

Her smile widened considerably. "I understand."

It wasn't much of an apology, she was aware of that. But considering who he was and how he was, Botan thought it was a huge step for the young master to do something like that – especially to her, who has been on his bad side most of the time. So she would accept it for now, but she silently noted to herself to teach him how to properly apologize sometime later – despite him saying that would be the last time he would do it.

"Anyway, where is Kuronue?" he asked, all friendliness aside and his stern side taking over. "I thought I told you to go fetch for him?"

"Yes, well, he told me he's on his way. He said he needed a break to drink some tea before discussing business with you," she told him, and after ignoring his curse at Kuronue for taking a serious matter so lightly, asked cautiously, "If you don't mind me asking, what is the business you wanted to talk about?"

His gaze focused on her for a moment, before he clasped his hands together and rested his chin on them. He heaved out a sigh, and then said in defeat, "Considering you will be working for me from now on, I suppose I should let you in on the details. You know what my company deals with, right?" At her oblivious stare, he narrowed his eyes, repeating himself again – this time sounding demanding as he spoke, "Right?"

She gave him a nervous smile, and resisted the urge to hide herself under a rock so no one would ever see her again at the look he gave her. He looked incredulous, surprised, and irritated – all at the same time.

"Um…" she started, fidgeting slightly under his unwavering stare, which only seemed to intensify the longer she paused. She glanced here and there in the work room, before clearing her throat and continuing, "I-I know Minamino company is a well known one; and that you're going to be the head of it when your father passes away. T-that's all I know," she sputtered.

He sighed, closing his eyes in annoyance at her ignorance. "Seriously," he said in a quiet voice, "how naïve can you get?"

Not paying any mind to the pout forming on the girl's face at his words, Kurama went on, unclasping his hands and leaning back in his chair for a more comfortable position, "Minamino company is a gaming company. In other words, it deals with those games you play on PSP. We mostly specialize on horror games, but that's not the point. As we make games, we get the most money out of our sales – much, much more than other companies, seeing as many parents buy them for their children. With that said," he sipped the tea she made, silently noting to himself she put the right amount of sugar in it this time, "a lot of companies want to collaborate with us. However, as one might think, there are a few people who come close to me either for the money – or simply to take over my job in the future, which is head of the company. Which is why, once in a while, someone from another company visits," she noticed the way he rolled his eyes as he spat the word out, "my house to discuss business matters with me and Kuronue – who is not only the head servant of this household but also my assistant."

"I see," Botan nodded her head in understanding, and then paused, taking the information in. After a couple of moments, she inquired curiously, "So who's the one coming over this time?"

"Mr. Fubitake," Kurama answered simply. She watched as a dangerous smirk formed on his face, the corners of his mouth curving upwards. "He's one of the few who is after my money… the stupid fat man would be a fool to think I didn't know that. I could smell a liar like him a mile away."

An amused smile reached her lips, and she jokingly added, "Really? I could hardly tell."

"Hmph," he sounded off, but the smirk was still evident on his face. If not, it seemed to widen even more as he countered, "You wouldn't know even if you went to a liar detector school."

Then, as if he was just realizing something, his smirk felled, and his eyes widened. He then lifted his head and stared at her with a surprised face. "It just came to me but… don't you have school or something? I mean, it's Monday… shouldn't you be getting ready?"

Botan, now understanding the reason behind his expression, couldn't help but smile bitterly at him. To be honest, she quit six months ago so she could work. Her family didn't have enough money to pay for both her and Nouyato's school fees, and she was forced to stop going to school so that her little brother wouldn't have to. The teachers at her previous school were reluctant at first, as she was an honor student, but knowing how things were in her family, they complied with her wishes and supported her decision.

"My… family's poor and we can't afford the school fee so I stopped going half a year ago. I felt sorry for my brother if he was the one who had to quit, so I did instead," she answered after a long pause. She stared as he gave her an incomprehensible look, almost as if he didn't expect to hear that. Then, she heard him clear his throat and saw him look away.

"… I see," he paused, and then, after a moment of silence, spoke again, "So is that why you wanted to work for me? So you could get enough money to go to school again?"

Botan opened her mouth but then closed it again, as if she was still unsure whether she wanted to tell him the truth. The truth was that she was going to pay for her mother's surgery… and when she got better, she thought she and her mother could perhaps work and earn some money to get her back to school. It was a pleasant thought, but she didn't do all this for that small reason – she did this for her mother's health. She felt bad – however, she wasn't ready to tell Kurama everything yet. So, against all of her better judgment, she lied,

"… Yes."

The minute she said that, he knew she was lying.

Her voice was hesitant and barely audible; her eyes avoided his deep gaze, and she was fidgeting a lot. From her eyes and from the way she moved, Kurama could already tell she wasn't telling him the truth. For what reason, he didn't know.

Two thing's for sure though:

One, he told her he was a lie detector and she had obviously underestimated his abilities to differ between a lie and the absolute truth.

Two, he would play along for now as he could tell whatever it was she was hiding from him, it was too personal for her to trust him enough to tell him.

"Alright then," he said after staring at her for the longest time.

The moment those words passed his lips, Botan exhaled the breath she had been holding in without realizing it. For a brief second there, she thought he was on to her. His eyes seemed to penetrate her soul, as if he was looking right through her – so much so, that Botan was wary if he believed her. Thankfully, he did.

Or so she thought.

"Okay," she agreed, nodding her head. Then, after relaxing a bit, she asked, "Do you want me to get you something?" when she noticed he was still staring at her.

He sat there, eyeing her every movements. And after a second of putting much thought into it, he said with the utmost tact he could muster, "The minute he steps in, can you tell Kuronue for me that I'm cancelling our business plans? I don't really want to deal with him right now."

Botan frowned at his command; it wasn't a question – it was an order, and she knew that. An order that held underlying strictness despite his gentle way of saying it, almost as if he was giving no choice for her to refuse – not that she could – or question him.

"If you say so," she complied, before asking quietly, "So what are your new plans for today? Sit here and do nothing?"

A chuckle escaped Kurama at her last statement. It was bordering on an insult to him, but it was amusing to hear her say that. For a moment, he noted how strange she was. He wasn't sure if she just had nerves of steel or if she was just plain stupid – but she definitely didn't hesitate to say anything she had in mind, even to him. While other maids used to be scared to death of him, and didn't dare to utter a word to him unless he said so, this girl standing in front of him was unlike them. She was blunt, insulting and impulsive; she was haughty, and she wouldn't think twice to argue back at him – and her personality, in its own unique way, was actually quite refreshing.

He got up from his chair and walked towards her, a small smirk attached to his face as he stared back at her questioning gaze.

"I'm thinking of spending today with you."

"What?" The question nearly came out as a yell, but she managed to half shriek instead. She looked at him with eyes wide as saucers, and he ignored her surprised expression, reaching a hand to grab hers and started pulling her along with him as he walked, opening the door.

"Wait," Botan tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but to no avail, so instead of trying to escape, she inquired in curiosity and slight suspicion, "Where is all this coming from?"

"You sound like you don't trust me," he remarked with a laugh.

"I don't," she retorted back with a huff.

"Well, you should," he said as they stopped at the staircase, "No worries, I have no ill intentions towards you, nor do I have an agenda," he then added in reassurance, giving her a smile to emphasize his point. "I just want to get to know you better."

"Really?" Botan was doubtful.

"Yes," he answered simply. Then, looking ahead at the end of the staircase, he caught sight of Kuronue staring at them with bewildered eyes. "So you've finally showed up."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was having treats and…" his voice trailed off when he noticed their joined hands. Looking up from their hands, he focused his gaze on Kurama's face, and gave him a suspicious stare. "… what are you up to?"

Kurama let out a loud exasperated sigh, rolling his emerald eyes. "Why is it that every goddamn person in this household thinks I'm up to something?"

"Well… you're usually not that friendly with maids…"

"Whatever," Kurama responded, before letting go of Botan's hand and tilting his head at the right, gesturing to her room, "You should go get ready. I don't have any intention to drag you around town wearing that," He ignored her quizzical look, and the way she touched the hem of her long black skirt, and finished in a stern voice, "I'll be waiting here, and you better don't make me wait."

"Wait wait," Botan was about to do what she was bidden, only to stop when Kuronue stopped her with his voice, "What are you talking about?"

"Ah, right. I can't believe I forgot," Kurama said with a laugh, before turning to look at Botan, "Go ahead, tell him."

"Ah… um… the young master has plans for him… and I… so he wants to cancel the business meeting you're about to have with Mr. Fubitake…" Botan muttered, but Kuronue seemed to hear her clearly, though he had to strain his ears to hear her.

She was frowning, Kuronue noted, making him realize she was just as bewildered as he was. But the confusion died down soon after, replaced with annoyance, as he exclaimed, "What the hell do you mean? Mr. Fubitake's going to be here any minute now! I talked to him on the phone, and he said he was on his way. There's no time to cancel anything!"

"Then you deal with him," Kurama retorted nonchalantly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he added, "by yourself."

"What? I can't deal with a man like him! He'll end up pushing me over the edge, and I'll end up killing him. If that happens, then his blood isn't on my hands – it's on yours. I'm not going to be responsible for whatever—"

"Shut up and do as I say."

"… Fine."

Turning his head to the left, this time he referred to Botan as he spoke sternly, "What are you doing, still standing here like an idiot? Go ahead and get changed already!"

Botan, who had been laughing at the funny scene between Kuronue and her young master, couldn't help but almost jump at his loud voice. Inwardly sighing, she looked at him with an exasperated look on her face, before turning on her heels to do as she was ordered.

"Impatient jerk," he distantly caught her saying.

He smirked.

"What do you mean, she went to Tokyo?!" Souta shrieked, his voice so loud it would've made the neighbors angry.

"Like I said," Keiko started, crossing her arms over her chest, "she's over there for work. She texted me yesterday and explained that she was offered a job that she would earn enough money from to pay for your mother's surgery."

"… Sounds like a trick to me," Souta retorted with a huff, copying her as he crossed his arms, "I bet she's been kidnapped."

"You don't know that," she countered as a matter of factly.

"Well," he shrugged off his shoulders, "One thing's for sure, I don't really care. If she really does get a lot of money, then this could all be solved. I'm kinda sick and tired of all this shit going on."

"Hmph," Keiko rolled her eyes, before glaring daggers at him, "Like you're the one to talk. Your little sister at Tokyo working her butt off for this family, and you've got nothing to say but just that? And where the hell were you? Nouyato told me you went on a date yesterday, but now you just got back. What were you up to?" she began to interrogate him.

He ignored her, walking over to the couch and after retrieving the TV remote, opened the television.

"You didn't sleep with your girlfriend, did you?" Keiko prodded, but he remained unresponsive, further confirming her suspicions.

She sighed, and went inside the kitchen. She opened the fridge, and after looking through what was in there, sauntered back and poked her head out of the kitchen entrance.

"What would you like to eat today, Nouyato?"

"Anything's fine, Keiko-san," Nouyato answered, lacking the usual enthusiasm he has in his voice as he said this. He exhaled a deep sigh, and Keiko couldn't help but feel sorry at the sad look on his face. She knew he missed Botan; she could tell, but they could do nothing for now.

Keiko sighed yet once again that day, and turned to look at Souta's blue head peeking from the couch. "You know, you can actually help me if you want to."

"Nah," his voice was muffled, as if he was chewing on some chips or something, "I'll pass."

Hearing his answer, the brunette glared furiously at him, not even caring if he couldn't see her. She was indignant; how could he say that? He was still planning to slack off even after what has happened? She couldn't believe it. Sighing again and shaking her head, Keiko called him in annoyance, "You're the worst brother ever."

"Yeah!" Rika, who had been sitting beside Nouyato at the table, exclaimed. "You've gotta get your lazy butt off that couch and start getting a job, Souta! If you have time to sleep around with girls, then maybe you should cut Botan some slack and help her out?!" she told him, despite the fact she was on the same level as he was.

"Oh really?" Souta replied in sarcasm. He turned around to look at his sister with a deadpan stare. "What about you then? You're just as bad as I am!"

"Huh?! What do you mean?"

"I mean what I mean! You stupid alcoholic… you go to the bar, and get drunk and come home late, and puke all over the place! You're much more of a trouble to her than I am, stupid sister!"

"What did you just call me? You wanna a piece of me or something, boy?!"

"That's fine with me!" Souta got up from the couch, the same time Rika stood up from her chair. He rolled up his sleeves, and cracked his knuckles. "Bring it!"

"Come on then! If you think you're man enough to hit me, then do it!"

Keiko couldn't believe it; they were actually bickering with each other. At a time like this, they shouldn't be fighting like this… Then, she saw Nouyato jumped off from his chair, and before she could stop him, he ran into his room with his eyes shut tight and his hands covering his ears. The next thing she heard was the sound of the door slamming shut.

She shook her head, and sighed for the umpteenth time that day before making to stop the fight between Souta and Rika. She didn't know how Botan could deal with them every day… She wasn't sure if she could do the same.

But this was the only thing she could do for her friend; and she had to do it.

Whatever she was doing and wherever she was at, Keiko just hoped Botan was alright. She prayed that things would turn out fine in the end.