Main / Fics / 1999
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The Date
by xian-pu
peacecraft@hotmail.com


With all the Oni running in and out, colliding haphazardly and spilling papers every which way, it was truly amazing how they somehow managed to get most of the documents in the general vicinity of the already buried desk.

Flying away from the plush chair top was another steady stream of papers. But, unlike the aforementioned papers, most of this batch managed to find their way to a small corner of the room, where they mysteriously disappeared.

Botan weaved her way through the mess of Oni and flying papers. She often had to duck, jump, fly, or any other random assortment of activities, as she attempted, rather unsuccessfully, not to get buried in the melee.

The sky-haired girl finally managed to squeeze herself to her destination. Coincidentally, this also happened to be the destination of everything else living and non-living in the room and all the surrounding hallways.

She miraculously found a clear corner of the desk, managed to get herself kneeling on it, winced as she heard it groan under her weight, willed it not to break, and peeked cautiously over the steadily growing mountain of papers.

As she snatched at one of the random flying papers which just happened to be floating before her, Botan caught a glimpse of who she had come to see.

Koenma was stamping papers furiously and flinging them away from him, his tiny hands working in a blur. He barely managed to remove one paper from the monstrous pile that was threatening to fall, before yet another stack was placed in the spot so recently vacated.

He spared a nervous glance up when he heard the desk begin to make unnatural noises. When he caught a glimpse of a blue-topped stack of paper, he did a double-take and saw Botan's worried expression.

Giving an amused little half-smile, Koenma began working again, noticing, quite clearly, that his desk was loudly protesting having a ton of paper sitting on it.

Botan noticed that the room had gotten somewhat quieter. She then realized it was because fewer and fewer Oni were moving in and out, and fewer and fewer papers were floating in, in an attempt to level the desk she knelt on.

The cheerful little spirit guide turned back to peer over the huge stacks of paper, noticing that they were not, however, beginning to dwindle, even though Koenma was working at the same breakneck pace as before. She smiled, hopped off the desk, and walked around to stand behind Koenma, carefully avoiding the stream of papers flying towards the little corner.

The stream of Oni flowing through the door eventually slowed to a trickle, and Botan breathed a sigh of relief. Taking quick stock of all the papers scattered and stacked in various places, Botan raised an eyebrow, pursed her lips and made up her mind. Picking the small demigod up bodily, she ignored his surprised protests and carried him out of the room.

"O-oi! Botan! Put me down! I've got work to do!" Koenma wailed, his fuukuman staying in his mouth, as he squirmed in her arms.

Botan never glanced down. She marched her way through the Reikai with a look on her face that made any Oni who saw her, move quickly out of her way.

Turning the last corner, she set the toddler on his feet in front of a huge door, and used her body to effectively block his only other route of escape. She pointed to the door behind him and told him, quite firmly, "Go get ready Koenma-sama. We're going down to the Ningenkai and I'm going to help you get your mind off all the work up here for a while."

Koenma glared up at Botan. "You know I have to get this stuff done as quickly as possible. You know that."

She didn't even blink. "You've been working on processing this war, nearly nonstop, for over a month now. And you have no choice. I'm not moving until you've decided you're going with me." Botan crossed her arms and gave him a baleful look.

Koenma chewed on his fuukuman and contemplated arguing more. He spared one more glance at the blue-haired girl before him then quickly decided against it. He heaved a dramatic sigh, turned on his heel and proceeded through the door.

Botan beamed then called after him, "And why don't you wear jeans for a change?"

The toddler never looked back, but he mumbled something around his fuukuman. Botan just smiled, then turned to get ready.

======

Botan bounced back into the hallway dressed in jeans, a pale pink blouse whose sleeves came halfway down her forearm, and small boots that came up just over her ankles. Her beautiful blue hair was done up in it's customary ponytail, and her forelocks curled at the ends.

Koenma opened the door with a sigh. He walked out in his adult form wearing the blue-jeans Botan had suggested, along with a navy blue, long-sleeved cotton, button-down shirt, and tennis shoes. His fuukuman, for once, was nowhere in sight. He gave Botan a slightly sheepish grin as he hesitantly asked her what he should do about his forehead.

Botan thought for a minute then bounced away, only to return a few seconds later with a baseball cap which she proceeded to place backwards on the sputtering boy's head.

"There we go! Now no one will notice the "Jr." tattooed on your head," she reassured him with a grin and a wink.

Koenma gave her the best glare he could muster, but silently thanked her for dragging him away. 'She's right,' he mused. 'The paperwork will pile up, but at least I'll have gotten some rest...'

Before he could finish that thought, he was tugged, rather unceremoniously, by the friendly blue-haired whirlwind. She took her oar out of storage and sat. Koenma sat as well, then wrapped his arms around her waist and held on for dear life. Botan gave a maniacal little giggle, and headed down to the Ningenkai, where, she was sure, she could find something for them to do...

======

Sitting down to karaoke was by far one of the worst things he'd ever done, Koenma was sure. As he listened to the woman who really, really shouldn't be singing, he winced as yet another bad note was hit.

Botan caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked over at the young god by her side, and giggled. 'Actually,' she thought, 'She's not bad. Needs a bit of training... but she's otherwise okay.' Glancing sideways at her companion as he made yet another cringe, she grinned. "Okay, okay," she laughed at him, "We'll go somewhere else."

The wincing youth gave her a grateful grin, and was gone before the woman on-stage could sing another note.

Botan met him outside, laughing. She gave a small shrug as he gave her a strange look. "So... karaoke isn't the best thing in the world. We can always go to a coffee shop."

"That sounds good," he smiled.

The two took off to find a little out-of-the-way shop where they could sit and watch the world go by. They chatted, losing track of where they wanted to go, and found themselves wandering through a small park.

Smiling at something Botan had said, Koenma raised his eyes to peer at the moon through the foliage. His pace slowed and he called softly to her. She turned towards him, and walked back to where he had stopped, her head cocked ever so slightly to one side. He laid his arm on her back, and gently guided her closer to him. "Look," he whispered, pointing to the dark tree tops.

Botan tilted her head back, her eyes immediately going to where Koenma was pointing. She strained to see what he wanted her to. Not finding anything amiss right away, Botan turned her head sideways to look at her companion. "Koenma-sama?" she whispered. "What is it?"

Koenma gazed at the sky for a little while longer before turning to look at her. He looked at her for a moment, gave a tired smile, and shook his head. "Nothing much, I suppose. I don't think I've ever actually seen the moon from this angle before. I just thought it was pretty."

As he looked back at the night sky, she paused for a moment, sad look in her eyes.

Koenma gave a sudden, silly smile, and shrugged. "What say you we go get that coffee now," he asked, a little too loudly.

Botan blinked. Twice, thrice...

...then grabbed his arm and took off. She caught Koenma off guard and he stumbled, trying to regain his balance. "Whoa! Slow down, Botan," he managed.

At once she stopped and he collided with her. In that instant he shot his arms around her to steady both of them.

They almost remained standing.

But, in the end, gravity decided against it, and they ended up laughing their heads off in a heap on the ground.

The few other people in the park were giving the couple in the path a wide berth, which only made them laugh harder. Sitting up, Koenma grinned at one passerby, who quickly decided she liked walking on the grass.

Botan managed to get herself into a sitting position, as she tried to stop laughing. She noticed that it wasn't working, so abandoned her pursuit with a mental shrug.

Soon, their laughter slowed, and they removed themselves from the concrete to find the closest bench to sit on while they caught their breath.

Unable to find a bench, the two decided that the grass was as good a place as any. Botan sat, her back against a tall tree, while Koenma lounged beside her, arms crossed, hands making a pillow for his head.

Once settled, the blue-haired girl grinned down at the demigod next to her. "I think I've had enough for tonight. Will you take a rain check on the coffee?"

He sat up on his elbows and grinned back at her. "Of course. After all, we need something to do the next time we neglect our work," he told her, winking.

Botan let out a light chuckle, and stretched her body. Koenma lay back down, closed his eyes, and sighed.

The two stayed that way for a time in silence, listening to the sounds of the night. She wasn't sure if it were him or the wind, but she smiled lightly at what she thought she'd heard.

"I thank you for the wonderful night, my friend."

~ Owari ~



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