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Part 5
At Last
by NaFiZa
mianker@tm.net.my


Tock! Tock! Tock!
Was ignored.

Tock! Tock! Tock! Tock!
Still was ignored.

TOCCKK! TOCK!! TOCK!!!! TOOCCCKK!! TOCCCCKKkK!
*That* gained the attention of the person who was sleeping like a log in room 402. Yes, she was the cute deity, Botan-chan.

She slowly opened her eyes, as if they weighed a ton.

The knocking became louder.

"Okay! Okay! I'm coming!!" she shouted angrily. Jumping out from her bed, she stroked through her messy hair with her hands and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "It must be that annoying housekeeper that keeps asking for tips!" she muttered, irritated. Opening the door, she quickly shouted, "Don't you have better things to do than-"

Pause.

Botan rubbed her eyes again. No, this guy was not that housekeeper... eh... She gasped as she recognized the familiar face in front of her.

"Gomen nasai, Botan, I thought you were up already."

"Ko... Koenma-sama!??"

======

"I bet this party is going to be a wonderful one!" Kuwabara said with joy. His companion beside him nodded. All the preparations were ready at Kuwabara's house. In front of their very own eyes sat cakes, food, candies, drinks, balloons, and even ramen made by Urameshi.

"When are they going to come? It's already 1:15!" Shizuru complained, glancing at her watch. She was followed by Urameshi and Kuwabara.

"Well, I think they'll be here any minute..." Kurama said, while bringing a tray of candies from the kitchen.

The bell rang.

"Here they are." Urameshi hurried towards the door and opened it. In front of him stood Hotaru and a *very* annoyed Hiei.

Shizuru pushed Urameshi out from the way and greeted them. "Hi Hotaru! I didn't know you were coming!" she exclaimed.

Hotaru smiled widely and replied, "Hiei needed a partner, so..."

"What partner? You were the one who begged me to take you to this baka no party and threatened to tell Yukina the truth if I didn't!"

Shizuru, Urameshi, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hotaru stared at Hiei.

The fire demon looked at each of them, annoyed. "What?!"

"Hiei-san, you... you actually shrieked." Hotaru exclaimed.

Hiei was in a rage. "I did not!" he... shrieked.

"You just did it again." Shizuru said calmly, leaving the irritated Hiei to fume.

Soon after, everyone was there except Koenma, Ayame, and Botan. The guests impatiently waited for them, especially the hotheaded Hiei, Kuwabara and Yuusuke. Overall, they had been waiting for about an hour.

The moment everyone was waiting for came at last. The bell finally rang.

Yuusuke, as the angriest person in the party, opened the door, which was not a really good thing, especially for the people behind the door.

"Welcome, welcome, our VIP.... welcome..." Yuusuke said, when he saw Koenma and Ayame in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he greeted them.

Ayame bowed slightly and apologised. Yuusuke's look changed to the one he always has when feeling shy... well... it can't actually be called as that...

He quickly turned his back to Koenma and straightened out. "I can't believe Botan's not here yet! She's the one who wanted to have this party from the start! Now she's nowhere to be found!" he yelled, causing everyone to look at him.

"Don't worry, she'll be right over, let's continue with the party." Koenma continued walking ahead of Yuusuke. Ayame paused for a while, before trailing after Koenma.

Kuwabara made his way to the middle of the room and began to cheer up the sombre atmosphere. "Koenma's right! Let's begin!" he said, posing so funny he made Yukina laugh, which was to our Mr. Kazuma's delight, and Hiei's annoyance.

"Bakayaro." the fire youkai muttered.

So the party began. Music was played, and everybody began to finish all the food served by Keiko. In the excitement, everybody except the three main characters in the party, laughed at the three for not realizing to whom the party was for.

Urameshi sat on the prepared chair, eating up some ramen. Keiko approached her childhood fiancé and settled beside him. "How is it? Compared to yours?" she asked, noticing the look on Yuusuke's face.

"Delicious! Better than mine!" he replied, without raising his face from the ramen.

Keiko was dumbfounded. "Uh?" was all she could say.

"Honestly." Yuusuke said, his head still down in the bowl of ramen.

The remark astonished Keiko. She was speechless for a moment.

::What's going on? Yuusuke never said something like that to me before!:: she thought. She also couldn't believe that she was actually worried when Yuusuke said nice things to her.

"I'm done." Yuusuke suddenly broke the silence. His bowl was sparkling clean. Keiko was again speechless.

Yuusuke grinned and said, "Really, it's tastier than mine." before setting off towards the table of food, leaving Keiko with her mouth hanging open.

While the scenario between Yuusuke and Keiko was going on, Kuwabara tried his best to please his sweetheart Yukina.

"This thing tastes nice, Kazuma-san." Yukina said, referring to the candy Kuwabara had given her.

"Really? Do you mean that? Let me get another one for you!" Kuwabara offered, and hastily bumped everyone out of his way in his hurry to the food table.

"Here you are, Yukina-san!" he said when he returned. He gave the *candies* to Yukina. The koorime was speechless.

"Kazuuummaa!!" a shout from Shizuru Kuwabara was heard. Kuwabara shivered at the thought of his sister's expression. Suddenly he felt his ear being pinched painfully. "Ouch! What the-?"

He paused. It was his sister pinching his ear.

"Bakayaro! Why did you take the whole bowl of candies? You're not the only one here, Kazuma!" she scolded her brother.

"Gomen ne, Shizuru-san! It wasn't Kazuma's fault. It was just me who wanted the candies. Gomen ne." Yukina apologized sincerely, looking so guilty that Hiei decided to butt in.

"You don't have to apologize, Yukina. It wasn't your fault. It's that carrot head's fault, he's so stupid." Hiei said slowly, trying his best to hide that he cared. Then he went away. Hotaru smiled at Yukina, and continued tailing Hiei.

Koenma settled himself near the window, looking outside, where it was raining. Ayame approached him, bringing a glass of carbonated drink.

"Koenma-sama?" she said softly, giving the drink to him.

Koenma smiled thankfully at the ferrygirl and took it. "Arigatona."

Both of them were quiet for a while.

Ayame decided to start first.

"Koenma-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Where were you before I met you?"

Silence.

Ayame already expected this so she proceeded. "You should be at least happier, Koenma-sama. We're attending a party!"

"Thank you for caring." Koenma smiled at Ayame. "Want some sausage? I'll get you some." He offered. Ayame nodded slowly.

The Reikai no ouji left his companion, closing his eyes briefly as he walked.

The bell of the clock indicated it was already 3 p.m. The time had come to reveal to whom the party was dedicated for.

"Everybody please, gather to the centre of the room." Shizuru's voice, amplified through the speaker, filled the air.

Soon everyone was there. Hiei suddenly realized that he hadn't seen Kurama for quite some time.

"Doushita, Hiei-san?" Hotaru asked.

"Kurama's not here." Hiei replied at the same time Yuusuke complained, "Where did Kurama and Botan go? The fun was about to start!"

======

Along the deserted road, a girl was walking, without an umbrella.

"I can't believe I'm walking through this rain!! It's so cold!!" Botan complained. She was about to quicken her pace when suddenly she felt there was no more rain pouring over her body. She looked up and found an umbrella above her head.

"Kurama-san!" she cried with surprise. Kurama smiled and continued walking, causing Botan to walk too. "What are-"

"You're supposed to go to the party, Botan-san. Why are you here in drenched clothes?" Kurama asked instead. Botan wasn't able to say anything for a moment.

"Koenma asked me to bring this umbrella to you."

"Koenma-sama??!!" Botan blurted out. Her mind was filled with questions.

"Well, Koenma didn't actually asked for my help, but I saw in his eyes that he intended to do this, so I am just going to fulfil his wish." Kurama explained calmly, a steady look in his eyes.

Botan looked down. There was some gloom in her eyes.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was the soft touch of Kurama's hand. Botan looked up and stared at Kurama. Then her eyes shifted to look in front of her. There were two paths, one leading to Kuwabara's house, the other one to the city.

Kurama gazed at Botan and gave her a convincing smile. The blue haired deity still was confused.

"It's up to you now to make your choice." Kurama said.

The sprinkles of water falling down Botan's cheek surprised her. She dug into her pocket in hopes of finding something to wipe the raindrops.

In her hand was a handkerchief. A new one she had never seen before.

Wait, she *had* seen this before.

Botan shut her eyes while wiping the raindrops with the handkerchief. By the time she opened them again, she had already made her decision.

She turned to her yohko friend and smiled, satisfied.

======

Shizuru proudly stood in front of the crowd. In her hand was a microphone to maximize her already loud voice.

Everybody impatiently waited for the announcement.

"What's goin' on? Yuusuke, do you know?" Keiko asked the tantei beside her. Yuusuke shrugged, trying his best to hide his wide grin.

Yukina looked at the commotion with wonder. "I wonder what's Shizuru-san going to announce..."she said, her eyes widened as our Mr. Kazuma held her hand lovingly.

"Yukina-san, you'll be happy to hear what she's going to say..."

"Ah.... Kazuma-san... why... your temperature is rising..."

Hiei sweatdropped at the sight of the scenario. He couldn't accept the fact that Kuwabara was actually seducing her sister and he couldn't stop him from doing it.

"Hiei-chan, just let it be. They match so well together.!" the black haired girl beside him interrupted. Hiei turned at Hotaru and his look was enough to explain what he felt. "Stop the -chan. I'm not a little brother that you can play with."

Hotaru ignored his glare and continued teasing him. "At least you look like one. Hehehe... ohh... your temperature is also rising, Hiei-chan!" she went on, making Hiei even more angry.

Hiei, didn't know of what to do, so he gritted his teeth and walked away, bumping into everyone in his way. He was still followed by the mischievous Hotaru who kept saying, "Sumimasen... sumimasen..."

One of the victims Hiei bumped into was Ayame. Hiei was so angry that the people he bumped into could feel his high body temperature. That's why the dark haired deity was so surprised when she felt his heat on her hand as he passed by, that she let go of her glass.

The crashing sound caught the attention of the guests.

Koenma quickly bent down to pick the broken glass. "Let me help you..."

"Oh no, Koenma-sama, let me pick it up..."

"No let me..."

"I'm the one who broke it..."

"Okay, okay you lovers, let *me * pick it up." Shizuru walked to Koenma and Ayame, holding a broom. Instead of sweeping up the mess, she gave the broom to Kuwabara. "Kazuma, you sweep this up."

Kuwabara had no choice but to do as his sister told him.

George, coming out from nowhere, came to greet Koenma and Ayame, along with Ryohi and Hinageshi.

"What's wrong with Hiei?" Ryohi wondered, rubbing his burned arm.

Hinageshi chuckled. "It must be the work of Hotaru. She's good at making him angry."

George realized that Ayame was blushing and Koenma was straightening up. He took this opportunity to tease them. "Ayame-san, you look great in that outfit! No wonder..."

"Hontou desu ka?" Ayame blushed more. Koenma shot George such a glare that George was afraid to say anything else.

"Okay! Okay! If everyone's here, let me announce this big matter of the party..." Shizuru said through the microphone.

Yuusuke put up his hand and shouted, "No! Botan's not here yet! And Kurama suddenly-"

The doorbell rang.

That interrupted Koenma's daydream.

"That must be Kurama or Botan!" Keiko said and opened the door. In front of her were *both* Kurama and Botan. Keiko stared at Botan. "Why Botan... your clothes..."

"Gomen ne! I was caught in the rain until Kurama-san offered me his umbrella. Shizuru-san! Can I use your toilet please?" Botan tugged at her wet clothes. Shizuru nodded and pointed the way to it.

Kurama walked towards an empty chair, tapping Koenma on his way. Koenma narrowed his eyes at the tantei and smiled.

His companion, Ayame, watched with an empty look on her face.

The announcement was delayed for a minute or two. While waiting, everybody started to make themselves comfortable. Botan came out after a while in a different outfit. Koenma was the first to turn, surprised at the change of Botan's look. The pink dress she wore was very simple but it was enough to reveal Botan's true natural beauty. She walked over to Keiko and Yusuke and chatted with them.

"Is it true...?" Ayame asked.

"Huh?"

"Ah... nothing... Koenma-sama..." Ayame shook her head after seeing Koenma's puzzled expression. Koenma was about to ask her not to call him 'Koenma-sama' here when he suddenly thought of something.

He was afraid. Afraid that his companion had misunderstood him. Misunderstood him as more than a friend. He didn't know what he really felt towards Ayame, but he knew that the feeling was not like his feeling towards Botan.

The feeling was not what they called 'love'.

The thoughts reminded him of a conversation... back when he was still a young lord.

"Koenma-sama, I'll put this file here. Don't forget! The third drawer, line four. Got it?"

"Yeah... whatever... leave it there... don't you have anything else to do than to remind me of my work?"

"No."

"Ohh.."

"It's my job! Enma-sama will be angry if he sees this mess..."

"Koenma!!! Botan!!"

"Enma-sama!"

"It's Father! Let's run away and hide!"

"Demo..."

"Let's go!!"


After a while of running, Koenma wheezed, "Okay... okay... stop... that's it... I can't run anymore..."

"You're the one who started to run!"

"Look, your kimono is being ruined. Didn't you stop to think about it before we ran just now?"

"I... I forgot... oh no... my poor kimono..."

"Oh please... don't cry out here in the middle of the forest!"

"Isk... isk... Koenma-sama..."

"Stop calling me Koenma-sama, at least for now, since we are not in the office."

"But... I like calling you Koenma-sama!"

"Uh? Doushite?"

"Because..."

"Koenma-sama?"

"Uh, yes... Ayame-san..." Again Koenma was drifting in his own thoughts. Suddenly he felt guilty for not talking to Ayame all the while he was being quiet and thinking. He really didn't know what to say to her.

"ATTENTION PLEASE! THE GREAT ANNOUNCEMENT IS GOING TO BE MADE BY THE OTOKO KUWABARA KAZUMA TO THE SUPRISE OF THREE LUCKY PEOPLE IN THIS PARTY..."

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