Recap: Oh it was just so much porn. Hiei and Botan finally did it, after hundreds of thousands of words and countless half-assed attempts, it finally happened. And… That was about it really.

Chapter 47: The Reunion

"Knock, knock!"

Yusuke half-opened one eye, casting it in the direction of the open door. Against the glow of the rising sunlight that was spilling into the room he could see the silhouette of a slender female, one arm in the air, her fist wiggling back and forth as though she was knocking on an invisible door.

"Haven't seen you in a long time, Botan," he said, closing his eye again. "What's up?"

He heard Botan walk into the room, her feet clicking lightly against the wooden floor. She moved around him in a circle, gradually slowing as she went, as though fascinated by her surroundings and gradually becoming distracted by them.

"Botan!" he snapped, opening his eyes.

She jerked to a halt in front of him and grinned sheepishly.

"You came here by yourself?" he asked with a small frown, as the realisation dawned on him that she looked a little harried and was, unusually, on her own.

"Yes," she said, holding up one finger in the air. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, Yusuke…"

Yusuke dismissed her concerns with a wave of his hand, standing up and silently deciding that he could afford to miss meditation that morning.

"What's up?" he asked again.

"Isn't it a lovely day outside?" Botan responded. "Can you believe it was a year ago today that you were drawing lots for the demon world tournament? How times flies!"

Yusuke narrowed his eyes slightly, suspicion taking seed in the back of his mind. Botan's nonsensical statement, along with her inability to look him directly in the eye, her slightly strained tone and the slight tensing of her shoulders told him that she was there for more than just a friendly visit.

"Botan?" he said slowly, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at her in a way that warned her she needed to come to her point, and quickly.

"How are you, Yusuke?" she asked, meeting his eyes at last, but with a grin that looked almost painful.

"I'm busy, Botan," he frankly replied. "I just came here to check on things, I have to leave soon, I start work in less than an hour. Why are you here?"

"Lord Koenma sent me," she said.

Yusuke managed to keep his groan silent, but was unable to stop one eyebrow from twisting upwards.

"He has some… Big news for everyone," she continued. "It's about demon world."

"I thought the little brat was keeping his nose out of demon world affairs these days?" Yusuke asked, watching Botan carefully for her response to his words.

"You're right of course!" Botan hurriedly replied, smiling sweetly up at him. "But the problem is, this isn't just about demon world…"

Yusuke arched his eyebrows expectantly, but Botan hesitated before continuing.

"There are humans involved too," she eventually said.

"So what does Koenma expect me to do about it?" Yusuke asked bluntly.

"Well, he's asked me to gather everyone together here so that we can come up with a plan," Botan replied.

"Everyone?" Yusuke repeated.

"Yes. You know, the old team!"

Botan swung a fist through the air in a gung-ho fashion, still grinning a little too fervently for Yusuke's liking.

"It's too early in the morning for this crap…" he grumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Won't you please at least meet here with the others to hear what Lord Koenma has to say to you?" Botan pleaded.

"Sure, but I can't make it back until later," Yusuke conceded. "After eight tonight."

"Perfect!" Botan said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "I'll make sure that everybody else comes here for eight o'clock! Don't be late!"

Yusuke forced a smile as Botan waved him a goodbye and hurried back outside. Before she had reached the garden beyond the doorway she had already summoned her oar and leapt up onto it, shortly zipping off upwards and away from the temple. He was almost certain Koenma was scheming something by asking for his help, since King Enma had made it painfully clear that Yusuke was no longer to be a part of the affairs of spirit world.

But what was it this time, he thought miserably?

"Knock, knock!"

Kuwabara groaned, lifting his face up and blinking back the vestiges of sleep. He squinted around his surroundings, finding himself alone in his dorm room, his roommate unsurprisingly absent. Apparently he had fallen asleep at his study desk, something he had done more often than he cared to remember lately.

"Oh dear, working hard or hardly working, Kuwabara?"

He grunted at the overly chipper voice at his side, twitching as something peeled off the side of his face. He turned in the direction of the sensation, finding a familiar face grinning at him whilst holding up a piece of paper with only one line of handwriting decorating its surface.

"Botan?" he muttered.

He looked about himself again, confirming that he was definitely in his dorm room before eying her over sceptically.

"Have I missed something?" he asked her.

"I think you missed the point of that book…" Botan replied, reading the single line he had written onto the piece of paper he had then apparently fallen asleep on and had stuck to his face when he awoke.

"Hey!" he moaned, snatching the paper back from her. "What are you doing here? This is the boys' dorm!"

Botan grinned and rocked on her heels but remained infuriatingly silent.

"I have term finals soon, I'm busy," he added, replacing the page she had taken from him to his desk.

"Lord Koenma asked me to gather the old team, and he specifically asked for you, Kuwabara!" Botan sang.

"Koenma asked for me?" Kuwabara repeated, pointing at himself and widening his eyes in surprise.

Botan nodded.

"Does he want me to be the new spirit detective?" he asked.

She shook her head and his face fell.

"There's a little something going on, and Lord Koenma just wants to make sure it doesn't turn into a big something," she said cryptically.

"I don't like the sound of this…" he said slowly. "Is Urameshi involved?"

Botan paused, her face unreadable for a moment, before a slightly devious glint passed over her pink eyes.

"Lord Koenma asked me to gather everyone at Genkai's temple tonight at eight o'clock," she slowly replied. "Yukina will be there and so will Megumi, and if you don't show up they'll be so disappointed, especially after I promised them both that you would be there…"

Kuwabara grinned like a goof for a moment before hurriedly regaining his composure.

"I'm really busy with my studies, but since it's for Lord Koenma, I suppose I could be there," he replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Excellent!" Botan replied. "Don't be late!"

"Okay…"

Kuwabara twisted around in his chair, watching with a curious frown as Botan left his room again, almost walking directly into a male student who was exiting the shared bathroom, clad only in a towel that was tied loosely around his waist.

"Oopsie!" she said to him, grinning and hopping to one side to avoid colliding with him.

"Strange…" Kuwabara muttered to himself.

Still, he reasoned, before Botan had been sent for him, Koenma had probably already summoned Yusuke, and things were always interesting when Yusuke was around. He wondered what madness they would face this time.

"Knock, knock!"

"Goodness, Botan!"

Kurama blinked repeatedly in disbelief at the girl knocking on the desk in front of him and taking a seat next to him in the lecture theatre. Once he was certain that he was not imagining things, he glanced about himself, seeing other students slowly filing into the seats around them and the professor entering by the podium, briefcase in hand.

"Botan, what are you doing here?" he whispered, turning to her with a frown.

"Lord Koenma sent me!" she cheerfully replied.

"Lord Ko…"

Kurama's voice trailed off as he caught several passing students eying him curiously from the row behind where he sat.

"Lord Koenma?" he repeated, lowering his voice and leaning closer to her. "What does he want with me?"

"He's asked me to–"

"Botan please, lower your voice!"

"Oopsie!"

Botan clapped her fingers over her mouth and glanced about nervously.

"I'm sorry Kurama!" she hissed as her fingers slid from her lips.

"That's alright, but please tell me quickly, this class is about to start, and we can't talk once the lecture begins," Kurama replied.

Botan nodded her understanding.

"Lord Koenma wants us all to meet at Genkai's temple tonight at eight o'clock, it's very important that you come," she continued, being mindful to keep her voice to a whisper.

"I have classes until six," Kurama whispered back. "What is all this about?"

"There's a small problem he wants to discuss with the old team."

Kurama nodded, glancing down at the front of the hall, seeing that the professor was removing his coat, apparently only moments away from calling the room to attention.

"I'll be there," he whispered to Botan.

"Thanks Kurama!" she said brightly. "I knew that I could count on you!"

Kurama cringed as she blurted out her words in a raised voice again, attracting more attention in their direction.

"Oh, hey Hana!" one of Kurama's classmates said, leaning over the desk in the row behind them. "Haven't seen you in a long time!"

"Hello!" Botan replied, grinning awkwardly and waving sheepishly at the girl.

"Oh Hana!" another girl said, waving back at her. "Did you just call Shuichi "Kurama"? What's up with that? Isn't that the name of a sumo wrestler?"

"No!" another girl said. "It's like as in Mount Kurama! That famous swordsman Minamoto trained there, remember? And Shuichi's name is Minamoto, get it?"

The other girls shook their heads.

"They're kinda dorky!" a fourth girl whispered loudly. "I heard him calling her "Botan" – see, that means peony, and his speciality is peonies, remember that project he did for the botanical garden last year? It's all really complicated and super lame!"

"Oh dear…" Botan muttered, looking around the girls worriedly

"Goodbye Botan," Kurama said to her.

She tilted her head at him curiously, but he simply squared his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"Oopsie!" she said meekly. "I think the girls don't think you're as cool as they used to…"

She grinned nervously, but Kurama's expression remained unchanged.

"So…" she said, rocking on her heels awkwardly. "I'll see you at eight tonight?"

Kurama nodded and Botan waved to him before hurrying off again. Kurama watched on silently as she moved against the current of bodies entering the hall, spouting apologies as she inadvertently bumped into a few shoulders as she went. Once she was out of sight he let out a small sigh of relief and returned his attention to the front of the room, silently wondering what could possibly have happened this time to cause Lord Koenma to call together his former team of spirit detectives – again.

"Aw, fuck, no!"

Two S class demons cringed and crept from their posts guarding the gates of Mukuro's fortress. It was not long before others were joining them, dropping what they were doing to hurriedly sneak off.

"What's going on?" a young A class demon asked, approaching the guard who had cried out and started the mass exodus that was in progress.

"Do you know who Hiei is?" the guard asked.

"The three-eyed fire demon who works as Mukuro's advisor?" the younger demon asked.

"Yeah, that's the one," the guard confirmed. "His woman's on her way here. If you know what's good for you, you'll find a place to hide until she leaves again."

"Hiei's woman?" the younger demon echoed. "Wow! What sort of woman is she?"

"Stick around if you want to find out. Don't if you want to remain sane."

The younger demon tilted his head curiously, stopping in the centre of the training yard, watching as a sea of bodies drained out of it through various doorways and stairwells. Soon he was the only one left bar the two guards who had been manning the gates. He balked as he noticed that they were frantically playing rock-paper-scissors, and when they finally reached a point where there was a winner the loser let out a cry of despair that almost brought the perimeter walls of the yard down.

"Are you alright?" the young demon asked as the loser stomped past him.

"I already told you: get inside you crazy bastard," the guard grumbled back.

"…But why?"

The guard sighed heavily and the younger demon looked up to the sky as a sudden wind picked up above his head. His jaw dropped as he saw a blue-haired girl with enormous pink eyes and a huge grin on her face gliding down towards them on an oar. She was dressed in a bulky pink kimono and was emitting zero demon energy: was she an actual ferry girl?

"Knock, knock!" she said cheerfully, slipping from her oar and landing nimbly in front of them. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, I just came to speak with Hiei."

"This way," the guard grumbled, turning around and trudging towards the fortress entrance.

"Why thank you!" the girl replied, skipping after him.

The young A class trainee followed as well. This girl seemed to actually be a ferry girl, which only left him all the more curious about what was happening. First of all, how had she gotten into demon world? Why was she there? Why was she not scared? And surely the guard had been wrong: surely this pure-hearted, clear-eyed, tall, friendly and angelic representative of spirit world was not actually Hiei's "woman"?

A short walk down into the bowels of the fortress later found all three entering the dark and dingy training room Mukuro reserved for those looking to truly push themselves by both facing countless opponents and enduring the torturous environment of the room. Unsurprisingly, Hiei was in the centre of the room, shirtless, sweating, dirty, a bloody katana in one hand and his other hand clenched in a fist. His blood-red eyes flicked over in their direction, his dark and threatening scowl almost enough to make the young A class demon pass out in fear.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hiei asked them.

"I've got a message for you," the guard answered him.

Hiei turned his head slightly and spat over his shoulder before narrowing his eyes slightly and visibly tightening his grip on his weapon.

"I've warned you before about interrupting me when I'm down here," he growled.

The A class demon fell to his knees involuntarily as fear left his legs unable to support the weight of his body a moment longer.

"This just landed in the yard," the guard said, stepping aside and holding out a hand towards the ferry girl.

"Hi, Hiei!" she said brightly, waving a hand at Hiei.

The young demon watched on intently as Hiei slowly replaced his sword to his sheath. He moved over to a nearby rock and grabbed up a towel, wiping it at his face before marching over to the girl grinning at him endlessly.

"Botan…" he snarled out, sounding and looking as though he was about to eat her.

And a moment later, he practically did. The young A class demon tilted his head and watched on in confused curiosity as Hiei – the heartless man of few words who everyone in Mukuro's territory knew to fear – passionately kissed a ferry girl with enough fervour and noise to make his actions possibly illegal, even by demon world standards.

"Come on kid, it only gets worse from here," the guard muttered, grabbing up the young demon and carrying him from the room.

Left alone, Hiei continued assaulting Botan with a kiss that was making her go weak in his arms. He gripped his hands into the wonderfully smooth and cool silk of her kimono and held her up, torn between stopping to carry her off somewhere and take their little encounter much further and stopping to ask her why she had come to see him. She did sometimes randomly come to him in demon world – though typically they met up at agreed times and locations – and every time she did surprise him with a visit he was always optimistic that he would ask her why she was there and she would simply reply that she wanted sex.

"Oh Hiei," she gasped as he buried his face into her shoulder. "I've missed you."

"I saw you three days ago," he muttered into her skin.

"You just kissed me like you haven't seen me in three decades, don't pretend you didn't miss me too," she replied sulkily. "You don't need to be mister tough guy with me, remember?"

"…Come to my chambers…"

"That's not why I'm here, Hiei."

"Now who's pretending to be something they're not?"

"I'm serious Hiei, Lord Koenma sent me here."

Hiei pulled away from Botan, frowning up at her sceptically, hoping to see that irritating and saucy glint in her eye that would tell him that she was joking again. Sadly he found no trace of it.

"Hn, so what does he want?" he asked moodily.

"He wants us all to meet at Genkai's temple at eight o'clock tonight, he has something very important to tell us," Botan replied. "Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama have all already agreed to go."

"I couldn't care any less about any silly meeting in the human world," he said. "Tell Koenma I'm not at his beck and call when he needs to find a missing fairy flute or whatever other piece of crap he's just noticed missing from spirit world!"

"But Hiei," she said pleadingly. "We need your help!"

"Not interested," he said flatly.

"Are you absolutely sure that you're not interested?" she asked, trying her best to look endearing.

"Absolutely."

"…And there's nothing I can do to change your mind…?"

"That's right."

Botan sighed, one hand slowly moving towards her mouth. Hiei watched her with increasing interest and disbelief as she touched her fingers to her lips in an almost seductive fashion, her eyes looking directly at him.

"Are you sure that there is absolutely nothing I can do to change your mind, Hiei?" she asked slowly.

"I sai…"

Hiei's voice failed him as she slid the tip of one finger into her mouth, encasing it in her lips in a way that made his entire body twitch to watch. She slowly pulled her finger free again before giving him a small smile. He licked his lips and pushed back his hair with one hand, angered that she knew that she could have that effect on him and equally delighted that she understood him so well: though he would never dare admit either to her.

"Hn," he said instead. "Does Koenma know that his favourite ferry girl uses the promise of sexual favours to convince demons to do her bidding?"

"That was very wrong of me, you're quite right, Hiei," she replied. "So I'll just head back to the living world and work with the others on this case, and maybe I'll see you once I'm done? It shouldn't take us longer than three or four weeks to solve, but I'm sure you won't miss me at all. In case you do though, I'll leave you with a little something."

Hiei grinned to himself. He had no intention of running around working for Koenma and this way he got what he wanted anyway: maybe he would not see Botan for a while, but she was at least going to spend a little time with him before she went off to do spirit world's dirty work again. His grin widened as she leaned towards him again, placing a hand on each of his shoulders. She brought her lips towards his and he happily tilted his chin towards her: but the contact he had been expecting never came. He glared at her questioningly but she stayed exactly where she was, her lips almost touching his, the warmth of her breath tickling his lips in a way that was beyond infuriating.

"If you don't come back to the living world with me and help us out, I'm not going to do that thing you like ever again," she whispered.

"What?" he echoed.

"I think you know what I mean, Hiei."

She lightly touched her lips to his and he tried to push against her to complete the kiss but she turned her head from him, sticking her nose up in the air. He growled at her in frustration, his fists clenching at his sides. He could quite easily just push her over and take what he wanted anyway – and she would probably enjoy it even more than he would – but the image of what she had suggested earlier was still playing in his mind.

"Pay me up front and I'll do it," he blurted out.

Botan turned back to him with a grin that made him feel stupid and weak.

"Oh, Hiei!" she said, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him into a hug. "I knew you wouldn't let us down! You're my roasty, toasty, cuddly, wuddly, fuzzy, wuzzy, cutie pie!"

"…Damn it woman…"

"Oh no!" Keiko cried.

"Hey, what's up?" Yusuke asked her.

"This," she replied, holding up what looked like the shattered remains of a plate.

"It's no big deal," he said with a shrug. "Just be more careful next time, butterfingers!"

"No, Yusuke! This is my make-up bag! Megumi froze it again!"

"What?"

"She likes to play with my make-up, and she's learned that she can freeze things and then drop them to break them open! Look what she's done to my eye pencil!"

Yusuke moved across the room, plucking the object from Keiko's fingers and crossing his eyes to focus on it.

"Gees!" he cried. "It looks like she ate it!"

"She did!" Keiko replied. "That's what the problem is! Once she's done drawing on herself she eats the pencil!"

Yusuke lifted his eyes to Keiko, a stern look appearing on his face.

"You understand now why I was stressing out?" she asked him.

"Yes," he replied seriously. "We need to get that kid away from Kuwabara: she's picking up his bad habits."

Keiko sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Kuwabara always chewed pencils at school," Yusuke added.

"It's not Kuwabara she's copying," Keiko replied. "It's Hiei."

"What?" Yusuke echoed. "Oh come on, Hiei may be weird, but he's not pencil-eating weird!"

"…You mean you don't know what Megumi's favourite game is?"

"…What the hell are you talking about?"

Keiko smiled and moved towards the doorway, beckoning for Yusuke to follow her.

"This way," she said. "I think you'll like this…"

Yusuke followed after her, through the temple to the kitchen. The room was silent but it was not devoid of life: two figures were sat on the wide windowsill, facing each other. One had a bowl of steaming Milo in his hands the other had a kiddie cup of milk. Both had red eyes and both looked more serious than they needed to be. One was dressed in black to match his hair and the other was dressed in turquoise to match her hair. Both wore bandanas and both had black dragons on one arm.

"Holy shi–"

Keiko quickly clapped a hand over Yusuke's mouth before he could curse in front of Megumi. He groaned, pushing her hand away and moving over to the window.

"Hey, doesn't that freak you out, Hiei?" he asked his friend. "The kid is trying to look like you!"

"Hn, and she's got it wrong again," Hiei replied, his eyes still on his niece, who pulled a face of irritation at his words. "Wrong arm, idiot," he added.

She looked down at her arms before lifting her head to glare at him angrily.

"But it's the same arm when she's looking directly at you," Keiko pointed out.

"Don't make excuses for her," Hiei said sternly. "She won't learn."

Yusuke shook his head at Hiei before turning to the little girl opposite him. She was dressed in a miniature version of her mother's kimono, and her silky blue hair was tied up in pigtails on either side of her head. She almost looked cute, but for the white dishcloth she had tied around her forehead, the crudely scribbled dragon she had drawn on her left arm with Keiko's eye pencil and the abundance of black make-up around her mouth where she had eaten the remains of the pencil.

"Weird kid," he concluded. "I guess she takes after you, Hiei. And with Kuwabara around taking care of her, there's no hope of her ever growing up to be normal…"

"Yusuke!" Keiko scolded him.

Yusuke shrugged at her.

"Hey speaking of abnormal, where's Botan and Koenma?" he asked. "They called us here, and now they don't even have the decency to show up on time?"

Hiei raised his eyebrows as he caught Yusuke watching him expectantly.

"Are you asking me?" he asked. "Hn, how would I know? You're the spirit detective, spirit world affairs are your business."

"Ex-spirit detective," Yusuke reminded him. "And I thought you might know a little bit about spirit world affairs, since you're having one."

Hiei slowly narrowed his eyes threateningly but Yusuke was unaffected, grinning back at him and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Come on Hiei!" he said. "You must know where Botan went!"

"Maybe I do," Hiei replied, turning his attention back to his niece.

"So then tell me already!" Yusuke demanded.

"Maybe you don't want to know," Hiei quietly replied.

"Aw, Hiei!" Yusuke moaned. "Don't be all cryptic with me!"

"You won't like it," Hiei warned him.

Yusuke sighed, before dragging one hand slowly down his face in exasperation.

"Yo!"

Yusuke spun around at the sound of a voice behind him, the sight of Koenma standing in the doorway in his adult form, grinning far too enthusiastically only making him even more infuriated.

"Alright Junior, what's going on?" he demanded. "Why did you bring us here?"

Koenma's grin faded and he gave Yusuke an almost hurt look.

"It's nice to see you again too, Yusuke Urameshi," he grumbled.

"Just tell me what piece of crap you lost or broke this time!" Yusuke snapped back at him. "And maybe this time you could also tell us something useful, like exactly how long we have to find it or fix it and exactly what damage it might do if we don't!"

"I'm afraid it's a little bit more complicated than that," Koenma replied with a sigh. "You better gather the others together, I don't want to have to explain this more than once.

Yusuke sneered at him, one hand curling into a fist at his side.

"I'll get the others into the front room," Keiko said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Keiko!" Koenma called after her as she left the room.

Yusuke continued glowering at Koenma, watching him turn and leave until he was out of sight before turning back to Hiei.

"You better move, Hiei," he said. "I don't like the sound of this, and he won't tell us unless we're all in one room."

"I already know what's happening, Botan told me everything," Hiei flatly replied.

"Well unless you want to share what Botan told you, you have to move," Yusuke said.

"Hn."

Hiei slid off the windowsill, ignoring Megumi as she reached out for him to pick her up and take her with him.

"Do you remember Sensui?" he asked Yusuke.

"How could I forget?" Yusuke replied.

"This is almost the same thing," Hiei said.

Yusuke stiffened as Hiei smirked knowingly before darting from the room.

"Isn't this just super?" Botan said cheerfully as she steered her oar towards Genkai's temple. "I'm so excited!"

"I can tell," her passenger replied.

"Since Genkai passed away the team has been lacking some female muscle," Botan added. "It's wonderful that we've got you now. Sometimes I'm the only girl with the team on a mission, but with you there I'll at least have some pleasant girly company!"

"And you're sure Urameshi doesn't eat people?"

"Absolutely! Whatever even gave you that idea in the first place?"

"Well, that one time he came to our house, some demons came for him and they were talking about eating people. My mom said Urameshi thought it was okay to eat people. She said she heard him say that people are just food."

"…I can't imagine Yusuke saying something like that, are you sure that he wasn't just joking? He has quite a cruel sense of humour sometimes…"

"I dunno, I wasn't there, that's just what my mom said."

"I see…"

Botan started to descend as they neared the temple gate, and she felt her passenger shuffle about slightly.

"Are you nervous about meeting the team?" she asked.

"No!"

"…Okay…"

"But… I already met Urameshi, but what about the others? Are any of them cute?"

Botan hesitated to answer, a flicker of jealous possession passing over her involuntarily. She turned her head to look at the girl sat on the back of her oar – in the same position Kuwabara rode, she noted – and she ran her eyes over her.

"Aren't you a little too young to be worrying about boys?" Botan asked her.

The girl gave her a look that was somewhere between pity and confusion, which did nothing to reassure Botan's concerns. The very last thing she needed was the new spirit detective forming a crush on Hiei. It was not that she was worried about Hiei returning the sentiment, more that it would be incredibly awkward for them to function as a team.

Botan landed by the temple doors and together she and her passenger leapt down and started into the temple. Both stopped abruptly however as Yusuke's voice yelled out from a room nearby.

"Damnit, Koenma!" he said. "That's not a real mission, that's just babysitting! You called us all away from our lives for this?"

Botan sighed before continuing on, entering the room the others were gathered in.

"Now, Yusuke," she said in an admonishing tone. "Do I need to remind you that you were only 14 when you became spirit detective?"

"That's different!" Yusuke instantly replied. "First of all, I was 14, and second of all, I trained under Genkai, and last of all, I was one of the good guys!"

Koenma sighed and rolled his eyes.

"First of all Yusuke," he said. "Kaisei Sanada is 14, second of all, Kaisei has trained under Kuroko Sato, who trained under Genkai once too, and last of all, we have Fubuki Sanada on our side to help."

Yusuke pulled a face at Koenma, apparently still far from convinced.

"I met Kuroko Sato's brats," he said. "They were smaller than Hiei, and about as mature as Yukina's baby!"

"Yusuke, that was five years ago," Koenma bluntly replied. "Kaisei is now 14 – the same age you were when you became spirit detective – and his sister Fubuki is 13… And that makes her our youngest ever spirit detective."

"Ta-da!" Botan said, stepping aside and holding out her hands towards the girl she had just escorted to Genkai's temple.

Fubuki politely bowed to the others in greeting.

"Babysitting," Hiei grumbled.

"Exactly!" Yusuke cried.

"Yusuke Urameshi!" Botan snapped at him. "You shouldn't underestimate Fubuki! She's actually very strong, I'll have you know!"

"You have to say that, you're her assistant and publicist," Yusuke sarcastically replied. "And if she really is that strong, why can't she just go to demon world herself and get her brother back?"

"It's more complicated than that, Yusuke!" Koenma yelled, clearly at the end of his patience. "Kaisei willingly went to demon world after befriending some demons who had been regularly visiting this realm. Kaisei is as powerful as you were during the early rounds of the dark tournament, and I don't think I need to tell you that, teamed with the wrong sort of demon company, he could quickly become a force to be reckoned with here in the living world – he could turn into another Sensui! We have to get him back, and I'm not going to send a young human to demon world on her own! You're going with her, and you're not coming back until you're found her brother, got it?"

"You know I seem to remember you firing me and telling me it was permanent."

"Alright, let's all try to remain calm," Kurama said, stepping between Yusuke and Koenma. "The most important thing to consider here is that Enki does not condone demons kidnapping humans and taking them to demon world, so all three worlds are in agreement that this is a violation of law and trust, and as most citizens of demon world hold Enki in high regard, anyone who comes across Kaisei will either attempt to rescue him or else report it to the relevant authorities: the border patrol. I suggest we contact the border patrol as a first port of call to find out if any such reports have been logged, and also to ask for their assistance looking for Kaisei."

The others all nodded in agreement except for Fubuki, who was apparently too lost in gazing dreamily at Kurama.

"Hi," she said to him. "What's your name?"

"Hello," Kurama replied, nodding his head at her. "My name's Kurama. We should probably all introduce ourselves to Fubuki for–"

"Oh, I don't care about any of them," Fubuki cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Koenma's an idiot, Urameshi's got a bad attitude and Botan's okay, I guess."

Kurama started to say something but stopped short as Yusuke snorted unsubtly at his side. Kurama's large green eyes moved to his friend questioningly.

"Everywhere we go, it's always the same," Kuwabara grumbled. "All the girls love pretty boy Kurama best of all!"

Kurama turned his head sharply, his hair almost slapping Yusuke over the face.

"Kuwabara, she is 13 years old," he said quietly.

"It doesn't matter, they all love you best," Kuwabara replied with a shrug.

"It does matter," Kurama flatly replied. "Because as a human, I am 21."

Yusuke snorted again and Kurama turned back to him.

"Let's just get this over with already," Hiei suggested. "I'll talk to the border patrol guards."

"Right, I'll talk to Enki, let him know exactly what's going on and what we're up to, so that nobody gets suspicious," Yusuke offered.

"I'll come with you," Kuwabara offered. "I want to meet Enki."

"…Fine…" Yusuke reluctantly agreed.

"I'll go with Hiei," Botan replied.

"I'll start asking some of my contacts if they know anything," Kurama said.

"I'll go with you, Kurama!" Fubuki instantly responded.

Yusuke started sniggering into his hands and soon Kuwabara was snorting in amusement too. Kurama tried to ignore them, turning his attention to Koenma instead.

"I appreciate that you want to recruit a new spirit detective," he said. "But perhaps sending her to demon world is a little too demanding for her first mission."

"I don't mind!" Fubuki said eagerly. "I'm really strong. I like guys who are stronger than me."

Koenma started to grin a little too widely for Kurama's liking, and so he turned to Botan.

"Botan, perhaps you should take Fubuki with you?" he suggested.

"Oh, that would be lovely," Botan replied. "But I can only take one passenger on my oar, and it's probably better that we work in pairs. I'll go with Hiei and you can take Fubuki with you."

"…Botan…" Kurama growled. "I intend to do a lot of running. She might slow me down."

"Carry her on your back," Hiei suggested.

Koenma joined Yusuke and Kuwabara in their laughter and Botan began to giggle.

"We need to approach this logically," Kurama insisted.

"Yeah, logically!" Fubuki agreed. "There are six of us, and we should work in three pairs of two! Urameshi is going with that ugly guy, Botan is going with that short guy and I'll go with you, Kurama!"

Botan began laughing openly and even Hiei allowed himself to chuckle at Kurama's predicament.

"You should…" Kurama began.

He slowly looked around the others before sighing quietly.

"Alright Fubuki, you can come with me," he agreed.

Kurama turned and started to leave the room, with the young spirit detective closely at his side.

"Well at least we don't have to worry about babysitting the girl," Yusuke said to the others once Kurama was gone.

"But we still have to babysit the boy," Hiei pointed out.

"It's no big deal, he's just a kid," Yusuke replied with a shrug. "Him and his sister tried to both fight me at once that time I went to their house, and although they were tougher than most kids, I could still hold them both back with just one finger."

"That was five years ago, Yusuke," Koenma reminded him. "And, just like you, those kids have developed their strength a lot since then. There's a reason Kaisei was sought out and taken to demon world. Don't underestimate his strength or his likelihood of refusing to come back here. And remember, you can't just go in there, spirit gun blazing: we need him back here alive and as unhurt as possible."

"One punch will be more than enough to knock him out, and that won't do too much damage," Yusuke said.

Koenma pulled a face at Yusuke, but his actions were ignored.

"C'mon, Kuwabara," Yusuke said, walking from the room. "You better not slow me down."

Kuwabara hurried after him, leaving Koenma with Hiei and Botan. He turned to them with a tired smile that soon faded when he looked at Hiei.

"Would it be stupid of me to ask if you two could make sure Kaisei doesn't get badly hurt in all of this?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Sir!" Botan replied cheerfully. "As mission manager, I will not allow any harm to befall Kaisei, you have my word!"

Koenma narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at her, apparently less than convinced by her reply.

"We won't intentionally kill him," Hiei said.

"I don't want you to unintentionally kill him either," Koenma flatly answered him.

"Sometimes there's collateral damage in a battle," Hiei said.

Botan laughed nervously and shook her head.

"Don't worry Lord Koenma!" she said. "We'll have Kaisei Sanada back here safe and sound before you can say–"

"Let's go, we're wasting time," Hiei cut her off.

Botan waved at Koenma before allowing Hiei to take her hand and pull her from the room. Koenma leaned out into the hallway to watch them leave, unsure if he was glad of the silence once they were gone or not. He turned around, looking back towards the kitchen, and saw Megumi was still on the windowsill where Hiei had left her. Deciding that he had time to spare until the team reported back to him, Koenma walked into the kitchen and sat up onto the windowsill beside her. He then transformed back into his more typical toddler form, making himself almost as short as she was.

"Well Megumi, it looks like it's just you and me for now," he said.

The little ice maiden tilted her head slightly as though considering what Koenma had just said. She looked quite ridiculous, he thought, with black make-up smudged around her mouth and arm, a fake bandana around her head and her hair in pigtails.

"You're a very serious little girl, aren't you?" he commented. "…Maybe a bit too much like uncle Hiei…"

Koenma screamed and barely ducked out of harm's way as Megumi punched the fist of her dragon-decorated arm at his face.

Hiei's eyes wandered to one side, his eyebrows slowly drawing together into a frown. In the distance he could see the border patrol road, and for some reason he was suddenly moving away from it. He watched it diminish out of sight on the horizon before slowly moving his eyes to his other side, looking down at Botan. She was facing forwards, and her body language suggested that she was determined to get to her destination: even though she had just clearly turned away from their actual goal.

"Where are you taking us?" he asked her. "I know you know this is the wrong direction."

She said nothing, but he distinctly felt her speeding up, and as they rounded a rocky cliff, an open plain of okunen trees suddenly came into view.

"…Botan?" Hiei muttered.

"Yusuke isn't going anywhere fast with Kuwabara slowing him down, and Kurama won't get much work done with Fubuki fawning over him," she replied without turning around. "And it's not like Kaisei is actually in danger: he's formed an alliance and voluntarily come to this realm with the demons he met in the living world."

"…That's not very diligent of you. As "mission manager" shouldn't you be leading us into this crap?"

Botan turned her head and smiled sweetly over her shoulder at him.

"Well if you're eager to get on with the mission I'll certainly turn around," she said.

Hiei thinned his eyes but said nothing, and soon Botan was gliding down towards a familiar treetop with a waterfall. Part of him wanted to just get on with rescuing the brat so that he could get the stupid mission over and done with, but mostly he just wanted to follow through with what was being offered to him right then.

"We're not alone up here," he said.

"We're not?"

Botan began looking about herself, apparently forgetting to lower her eyes as she failed to notice the small demon approaching them until he was standing between them.

"Hey, you guys!"

Hiei's lip curled involuntarily at the sight of that annoying kid with the yo-yos, who, judging by the grin on his face, thought that they were paying him a friendly visit.

"Wanna see a neat new trick I learned?" the kid asked.

"Sure!" Botan said. "But don't point those things at me please. Face that way and show us."

Hiei stepped back, trying to keep the curiosity from his face as Botan took hold of the boy's shoulders and strategically faced him in a specific direction. She looked as though she was planning something, though he could not even begin to guess what.

"See I get two yo-yos like this…" the kid began, lining up his weapons of choice. "And then I–ah!"

Hiei grunted in shock as Botan swung her oar around in the air, swatting the kid in the back and sending him flying off the edge of the tree. She smiled and shrugged as she caught the look of horrified disbelief he was giving her and then planted the handle of her oar into the ground.

"Don't worry, the fall won't hurt him," she said. "And besides, the others won't notice if we're five minutes late."

Hiei slowly moved over to her oar, setting the blade alight.

"…Five minutes?" he asked quietly, turning to her with a sly grin.

"Or… Twenty-five minutes…" she said with a shrug.

"Twenty-five minutes?" he asked.

"Well mister smarty-pants, we would waste a lot less time if you would stop talking!"

Hiei contained a smile.

"Aren't there laws against a ferry girl talking that way?" he asked.

"Probably," she replied. "I suppose a good ferry girl would care more about completing this case as soon as possible, and I do care about the case, but… It doesn't seem as urgent as it ought to. I used to take cases more seriously than this. It's only recently I've changed… Maybe you were my downfall, Hiei."

"Hn."

Hiei rolled his eyes, walking over to Botan.

"Then I suppose before we start on another ridiculous job for spirit world, I should be your downfall once again right now…" he said.

"Okay dokay!" Botan agreed, throwing her arms around him.

Hiei growled in frustration, but the feeling of Botan's fingers in his hair soon made the sound fade from his throat.

"I love you, Hiei," she whispered into his ear.

He moved his arms around her, pulling her closer to him.

"I love you, Botan," he muttered into her shoulder.

The End (at last)