Thank you for the reviews. You’re all so cute. No, really.

Title: Playing with Fire

Summary: She thinks he reminds her of fire. He thinks she doesn't know how right she is.

Disclaimer: I don’t own them. But I play with them. A lot.

Rating: PG-13.

Cookies: Not much to say... Um, don’t freak out when that thing happens to Botan >>; You don’t know what it is yet, but don’t freak out <<;

---

“And why do you need a disguise?” Botan fidgeted, looking a bit helpless for a moment, and Genkai found herself sighing and stepping away so she could enter.

“Come in. I’ll help you.” Botan spared her a grateful smile, and walked into the cabin, turning around to explain, but Genkai shook her head.

“You’ll need a new set of clothing, and.. Your hair..” Botan sat down dumbly upon a cushion, looking expectantly up at the elder woman.

“My.. My hair?”

“Well, you won’t want to be recognized by any former enemies of the Tantei once you arrive in the Makai, now do you?”

---

“What do you mean ‘Botan’s gone missing‘? How could she have gone missing? This is the Reikai!”

Koenma sighed sorrowfully, having changed out of his toddler figure, now pacing the office in apprehension. Pf course, even though he didn’t want to admit it, Yuusuke did have some semblance of a point. There are guards, cameras, locks, passwords, blocked portals... How could someone have just barged in and taken her away? The crease in the prince’s brow was further wrinkling as his worry grew.

Yuusuke sighed, standing up and running a hand through his emerald tinted ebony hair, lowering an eyebrow in thought. It wasn’t like an intruder to simple come in and take nothing but a person- a ferry girl no less- without at least attempting to steal any of the spirit worlds infamous treasures. And who would want Botan so badly as to kidnap her? And why hadn’t anyone seen it happen?

“I don’t think this is a matter of who has kidnapped dear Botan.” Koenma stopped abruptly mid-step, catching himself before falling over. Yuusuke dropped his hand from his hair, and turned to give the Kitsune a glance of question. Kurama, having had his eyes closed, opened them slowly to lock his gaze with the prince's.

“How do you mean? Kurama, do you know something?” Koenma was now approaching the said Kitsune, suspicion for the Youko in his eyes. Kurama smiled sadly, standing up and patting his clothes down gingerly.

“I don’t know, nor am I hiding anything. But do you think it’s possible, that if Botan wanted to willingly leave the castle of her own free will, she had the capability to do so without being caught? Note.. This is only an idea. For all we know she very well could have been kidnapped.”

Koenma opened his mouth to continue, a grave expression set on his features. Yuusuke rubbed his temple, leaning against the dark oak of the Reikai prince’s desk. A piece of paper caught his attention upon Koenma’s desk, and making sure no one was looking, picked it up and thoughtfully began reading it.

Koenma, having slumped down into a large cushioned chair, looked as if he were about to go through mid-life crisis.

“But why would Botan want to leave the Spirit World? Nothing’s happened to upset her, and I haven’t assigned her any new jobs... I think it’s best to assume that someone snuck in and captured her in her sleep.. Or something..” Koenma groaned, leaning down and supporting his forehead in his hands. Kuwabara, whom had been silent until now, sighed in question, glancing over towards Kurama, who stood near the distraught Koenma’s chair.

“But who’s sneaky and experienced enough to pull that off...?” He mused the thought aloud, and almost regretted that he had.

Koenma visibly stiffened in his chair, and Kurama was now staring down at the carrot top as if he’d done something stupid. Yuusuke, having finished reading the scroll, and catching Kuwabara’s blunt statement, carefully placed the notice on the desk behind him, a nervous expression on his face. He pushed himself from against the desk, and started walking in a quick stride back towards the group, clapping his hands together nervously.

“Ah, well, No worried Koenma! We’ll figure out who took Botan, unless she did, as Kurama said, escape willingly.. But either way, she’ll be safe and sound and back in Reikai in n-”

“Yuusuke.” The leader of the Tantei paused, dreading where that proclamation of his name was leading too. Kurama sighed, turning his gaze to look out the window and towards the gardens. Kuwabara looked confused, and was probably wondering why Koenma looked so bloodthirsty all of a sudden.

“Eh.. Yeah?” He gulped as Koenma stood up, tucking his hands behind his back, and looking much more grown up than Yuusuke had seen him. The prince held his gaze though, a set look of indifference on his features, as he sighed.

“I want you to find Hiei. If.... if Botan is with him...”

He paused for a moment, turning to the door of the office as it shut. Yuusuke sighed, glancing towards the window. Kuwabara was still looking like the confused moron that he could sometimes be.

“Kurama...? Oi, why’d Kurama leave? And why are we going to go find Hiei? And why isn’t the shrimp here to begin with?”

“Oh, shut up Kuwabara.”

---

“Can I look yet, Genkai?” Botan had been sitting in a washbasin for the past three hours while the woman had been attending to her scalp. She hadn’t expected Genkai to guess what she was about to do so easily, or even accept it for that matter. And she didn’t even want to know what Koenma would do when he found out. Replace her? Probably

“Almost..” Botan frowned as she felt her hair being wrapped up in a towel. Was it over? Oh thank kami...

Pulling a towel around herself, Botan thought about how uncharacteristic this whole crazy idea was of herself. She normally didn’t do things like this, nor even think about doing things like this. She whimpered at the sudden change in her priorities, remembering Hiei. His touch, and his kiss, and his... well, His everything.

And then a small voice in the back of her head noted quietly that she didn’t know very well much about the fire Koorime. Except, in her heart, she did know him, as much sense as that made.

Botan was giving herself a headache.

“Are you listening?” Botan was hurriedly snapped out of her thoughts, and her carnation hues darted to land on the Elderly woman. Genkai was smiling, patting her head which was wrapped completely in the black haze of the towel. She couldn’t see even a single wisp of her hair.

She almost whimpered in an un-expecting sort of way. Just what exactly...?

“Um, Genkai-san...-”

“Now, Before you lift up the towel, Botan, there are some rules to getting aroun in Makai. Three rules, actually.” She’d started. Botan fingered a bit of the towel that was hanging down in front of her face.

“Uh-huh..”

“Rule number one; Keep in your head that it’s the survival of the fittest. Meaning, you have to be fittest, or someone else will be. That means you’ll die.”

“I see...” Actually, she didn’t. What she did see, though, caught her attention. Was there another towel on her head besides the black one? She could of sworn she’d seen red...

“Rule number two, child. Keep your friends close... But keep you enemies closer. Should they end up being both.. Well, watch yourself.” At this point Genkai was serious, and silently hinting at something. Botan ignored her, not out of insincerity, but out of curiosity of just what the hell was on her head.

“Of course..” She began to pull the towel off, but slow enough for Genkai to get her last words out.

“Rule number three. Not so much as a rule.. We, all of us.. Have a.. well, a secret side. And we do, on occasion let but one person see that side.. Choose carefully whom that person is. And, for the others you will so undoubtedly meet...” Genkai smiled, standing up as the towel fell out of the ferry girl’s hair.

Her face contorted in several, very unhealthy and slightly disturbing expressions of raw distress. Her mouth and hands were lifted, and also twitching rather violently.

Genkai let a smile creep to her face, folding her hands behind her back, and glancing back at her once more before she left.

“.. Well, I don’t think they would recognize you anyways.”

Botan jerked around so quickly to watch her retreating figure that she nearly flipped off the chair.

Making light of the situation, she absently began to finger her wet locks mournfully. Maybe.. Maybe this was one of those necessary things that you just couldn’t go without doing, or something.

...

Or maybe red was the new blue.

----

Yay, this chapter is done~

By the way, I need a Beta. The only requirements are that you’re online a lot o.o; So when I email you the chapter, you can get it done asap ^^; Either that, or you’re online every night o.o;

But yeah~ Love to all my reviewers!