Missed

by Ryoma

He sighed, looking up from his work once again.

For once, the Reikai was silent.   Nothing much was going on in the Ningenkai, either.   This left him a bit bored, as the huge mound of papers that had once decorated his desk, was fairly well depleted.

He had caught up hundreds of years of backlog in just a week or two.  Most of the Ferry Girls were gone, and most of the other workers were as well, even George had left.

He sighed again, and grabbed the last sheet of paper, then brought his heavy seal on top of it.

Botan looked at the ceiling.

She was bored now, had been, would be.

The Reikai was silent, there were no souls to ferry.  Even her own problems were presently solved, due to the incident two weeks ago.

She smiled, remembering.

That mess with Atsuko had led to the admitting of feelings between her and Koenma.   Of course, that hadn't changed a lot of how they acted towards each other.  It was ever on the same.

Botan sighed.  That bothered her to some extent.

Things hadn't been busy.   She wanted Koenma to at least come talk to her. It would show he had an active interest in her.  Then, that wasn't his way, and she knew it.

'Two weeks isn't all that long anyways, Botan..'  She thought to herself. 'Then..I haven't talked to him in two weeks..Did I scare him returning my feelings like that?'

She blinked, remembering the hug she had given Koenma that night.  He had hugged her before he left, but there hadn't been much contact, physical or otherwise, in the past two weeks.

Botan sighed, sitting up.   "I wonder..."

She stood and moved slowly to her door.

The halls were silent, and she looked at them as she went.

The place was almost scary this way.  No onis running around with papers, fellow ferry girls doing their things.  No sound of Koenma stamping papers.

She blinked.  Even his work was silent.  Could he be finished?

She increased her step, and went to the office.  She knocked, but no response came, and she carefully peeked her head around the door.

The desk was empty of papers, and empty of Koenma.

She blinked again, and closed the door.  She frowned.  "I hope he didn't leave the Reikai without telling me..."

She started to his room.   Perhaps he was there.

Koenma looked around his room.   It was spotless.

He had been cleaning ever since he had finished his papers.  It had given him something to do.  But now, that was done.  He didn't have anything else to do.

Heck, there wasn't anyone to talk to with George gone.  The only person he knew that was still around was Botan.

'Botan!?' His eyes went wide.   'Oh, no!  I haven't even talked to her since the date with Atsuko...'  He bit his lip, and scurried out his door in toddler form.

She crossed by him, without even realizing it.  She had only missed him by a second.   She knocked on the door to his room, and waited anxiously for a reply.

When none came, she blinked again, and sighed.  She couldn't open this door, even if she wanted to, not like with the office door.  So she turned to leave.

But hope kept her there and she knocked again.

After several moments of silence, nothing.

'Oh, no...'  Botan thought, biting her lip.  'He did leave the Reikai.'  She sighed, and lowered her head to look at the floor.

Now she felt terrible.  She had screwed up her only chance of being able to care for Koenma with one hug.  One simple little hug.

She slid down against Koenma's door to cry.

"Botan!"  He shouted, banging on the door for the fourth time.

Now he was really worried.   Had she left the Reikai without telling him?  If she had, why?  Had he done it by not talking to her, like she had done something wrong?  That's what she would have thought, at least, right? That's how human nature was.

He sighed, and slowly opened the door, softly calling out an excuse me as he did.

The room was dark, and he looked around it with interest that he knew he should not have really had.

Slowly, he let himself in and gave the room a better look.  No one was there, the bed neat and orderly, and the entire room immaculate...Just as he figured Botan's room always was, and as it was that night he came to talk to her after the date.

His eyes widened a little, suprised he remembered at all what her room looked like from that night.  He was more focused on her, or at least he thought he was.

With an unwilling sigh, he gave in.  He was focused on Botan later on, after some of the tension had been broken.  But before then, he was distracting his eyes as best he could, mostly looking at the floor, but also looking around her room.

He sighed again, and moved across the room to her bed, where he sat down silently, and looked around again.

He looked at a picture that was on the night stand and smiled.  Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yukina, Genkai, him and Botan were all in it, all at Genkai's temple, enjoying themselves.

Then he blinked, and stood up.   'Maybe she went to one of their houses!'

He darted out the room, missing Botan by a few moments as she came silently back to her room.

She walked into her room and lay down silently on her bed, to look up at the ceiling.

After sitting for several moments outside Koenma's door, hoping he'd show up, she had given up and decided to come back to her room.  At least here she could do what she wanted and be alone with her thoughts.

She closed her eyes, and debated crying again.  But, what good would it do? It wouldn't prove anything, wouldn't magically make Koenma show up so she could apologize.  All it would do was upset her more and give her a worse headache than she already had.

She sighed and rolled her head to look over at her nighstand.  She reached up and turned on the small lamp sitting there, then blinked at the picture.

She smiled.  Everyone looked happy in it, well, with the exception of Hiei, but him looking happy would probably spell the world ending, or one of the three at least.

And then it dawned on her.   Maybe Koenma had gone to visit one of them, so she sat bolt upright, grabbed her oar out of thin air and quickly went on her way to the Ningenkai, not sure whose house she was going to stop by first, but knowing her oar, and her subconcious would take her there on its own.

"She hasn't been here at all?"  Koenma asked, dumbfounded.

Kurama shook his head, silently, staring at the now teenaged son of Death.

The look Kurama saw when he shook his head was pure worry and desperation. He wondered who else Koenma had visited, and stopped Koenma by grabbing his arm when he started to turn away.

"Are you two fighting?"  Kurama asked, locking eyes with his friend and boss.

Koenma blinked a bit and turned his head away, whispering.  "No...I just did something incredibly stupid and now I can't find her.  Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei (who I amazingly found), Yukina, Genkai, none of them have seen her, and I'm concerned.  You were my last idea."

"Did something wrong?"   Kurama looked confused.  "Like what?"

"Nothing."   Koenma said.  "I need to go find her."  He tried to pull away from Kurama's grip, but was as quickly dragged into Kurama's house, and up to his room.

"First, you need to calm down and tell me what you did."  Kurama said, tossing Koenma somewhat to his bed.  Koenma understood and sat down on the bed, as Kurama took his desk chair.

"Well?"  Kurama's green eyes stared calmly at Koenma.  "What did you do so wrong that she would have run away?  Botan won't typically do that type thing."

"I know..."   Koenma said, lowering his head to look at his hands.  "What I did was...Well...You see."  He sighed, unable to explain this.

Silence graced the room, and Kurama sat there, his green eyes unwavering, barely blinking, and watching his friend with concern, hoping he'd be able to tell him what was wrong.

After all, as Kurama knew, it would make Koenma feel at least a little better to have it off his chest, whatever IT was.  Also, Kurama knew from experience that sometimes one person couldn't fix something, but two could.

Koenma finally let out a ragged sigh, and looked up at Kurama, expecting to find him watching him with annoyance at no response.  But, instead, he found Kurama to still be watching him with worry and friendliness.

'I forgot...'  Koenma thought.  'How hard it is to make Kurama mad.'

"Koenma-sama."   Kurama said, quietly, trying to prod his friend on a little.

Koenma sighed again, then decided now was as good a time as any to say what he had done.  Kurama was going to keep him there till he did most likely, as is, maybe it could help, or at least, maybe Kurama could help.

"I haven't spoken to Botan in two weeks, and I think she may have taken it wrong and left."

Kurama blinked.  "Not at all in two weeks?"  Koenma shook his head.  "Why not?"

"I've been trying to catch-up my backlog because the Reikai has been silent, and I figured it would be a good time to maybe get things done."  Koenma shrugged silently.  "Even the rest have taken off to go have vacations, or whatever it is they do in their free time.  It was only me and Botan left. Now she's left."

"Backlog is no reason for her to be mad over not talking to her."  Kurama said.   "I mean, I'd be trying to do the same thing you did, and I think Botan would understand that.  There must be something more."

"Ah..."  Koenma blushed a little.  "Well...I went on that date with Atsuko two weeks ago...which is when I stopped talking to her..."   He paused, then looked up at a very startled Kurama.

With desperation in his voice, Koenma responded to a question he could see hanging in the back of Kurama's mind.  "No, I didn't stop talking to her due to that.  I didn't like Atsuko, and the only reason I went was because of Yusuke.  I was seriously just trying to catch up my backlog and became an inconsiderate oaf, and forgot to even say hi to her."

Kurama sighed, leaning back a bit.  "That does cause a small problem."

"He's not in the Reikai at all?"  Keiko blinked, staring at Botan from behind her small cup of tea.

Botan had found her in one of the parks, which Keiko had gone to in an attempt to better focus on some homework she had needed to get done. Botan's face had been worried and desperate then, and Keiko had asked her to tea, hoping it would calm her enough to see what was the matter.   After all, when she had asked before the tea offer in the park, Botan kept mumbling things that Keiko couldn't hear.

"No."  Botan shook her head wearily, and sipped her tea.  Her face showed how tired she was, and Keiko figured she had been crying some.   She knew more than she let on about Botan and Koenma.

"Hmmn.."  Keiko sipped her tea for a moment, glancing out the window, then looked back at Botan.  "Why would he leave, though, Botan?  Unless he was kidnapped..."

Botan shook her head.   "It's not that.  If I thought it was, I would have gone to Yusuke or one of the others.  But, considering what it is, I figured that you'd be better able to understand...I also had hoped that maybe Koenma-sama had stopped to see you."

"Okay."  Keiko said.  "What's happened?"

Botan sighed, and started to fidget a bit.  "Well...Yusuke set him up on a blind date a few wee...Keiko?"

Botan was now looking at a totally baffled Keiko, who had also grabbed her napkin to cover the cough she had received trying to swallow her tea down the wrong pipe.

"Yusuke..did..what?"   Keiko managed through her still remaining coughs.

"He...set Koenma-sama up on a blind date..After seeing what I thought of the girl he was setting him up with."

"Yusuke no baka."   Keiko mumbled, then looked over to Botan.  "Okay..Unusual for him, but okay.  Then what happened?"

"Well..."  Botan sighed again.  "I went along with it because I figured Koenma-sama would enjoy a date.  I like him a great deal, but he never returned the feeling, and I only wanted him to be happy.  As it ended up, after the date he visited me."

"He came to tell me that he liked me, a lot more than just as a friend, and I told him I returned the feelings.  We hugged for a few moments, and then just stared at each other.  Before he left he hugged me, but, since then, he hasn't said a word...Then he just disappeared after his work was done, not even leaving me a note, and I was the only person left in the Reikai."

Keiko blinked, processing this.   "Do you think he's scared?"

Botan nodded lightly.   "I think me returning his feelings, or the hug, scared him and now it's ruined my chances..."

Keiko giggled, and Botan looked up, confused.  After a moment, Keiko stopped her giggling and looked at Botan.  "Botan, I seriously DOUBT that's what happened."  Botan blinked, still confused.

Keiko shook her head.   "Listen..."  She sighed, and thought a moment about how to explain this, then went on.  "Koenma doesn't seem the type to go and hug someone before he leaves because he feels he has to.  If he had been afraid by anything you had done or said, he would have just left quietly. At least, that's how I think he'd act."

"But..He still left."

"Are you sure?"   Keiko said.  "The Reikai's pretty large, and no one else was around.  Maybe you just kept missing each other."

"I don't think so."   Botan frowned, and looked down.

Keiko frowned as well, tapping the side of her glass carefully, then stood, and pulled Botan up from the table.  "Come on."

"Huh?"  Botan said.  "Where are we going?"

"Kurama's."   Keiko replied, smiling lightly at Botan.  "He probably knows more about emotion than any of us."

Botan nodded, not sure that was accurate, but not wanting to really fight with Keiko on it.

Kurama finally looked at Koenma again.

Koenma was sitting there, looking at the ground worried, as if he was watching it die.

Kurama sweatdropped at that idea, then sighed a bit, causing Koenma's head to come up, and his brown eyes to focus on Kurama's face.  Kurama smiled a bit, green eyes focusing on Koenma's eyes.

"Listen, I doubt you really made her mad enough she'd leave.  At the most, you made her hurt a little, but she'll be back soon enough."   Kurama was speaking half with wisdom, half with wild guess.

"Why do you say that?"   Koenma looked baffled.

"As far as I know, girls DO get mad, but never so much that they'll stay away forever.  All you need to do is make sure to apologize when she gets back to the Reikai."

"But will she accept it?"  Koenma frowned, unsure of what Kurama was saying.

Of course, he thought it was pretty bad that Kurama was younger than him, but was keeping his head more.  Then, Koenma had never been in love before, or even head over heels for a girl, so it only made sense.

"I think so."   Kurama said, his eyes not totally sure.  "I would think she'd be the type who would forgive easily enough."

"Maybe..."   Koenma said, but couldn't say anything more.

The doorbell rang throughout the house, and Kurama stood to leave, turning to Koenma at the last minute to tell him to stay put, then left to answer the door.

Koenma sighed and frowned.   He really would like to leave, but he also knew doing that would be dumb.  Even if he was higher above Kurama in classes, Kurama still had a small temperament.  Also, he knew that Kurama was trying desperately to help him.

"Ye..." Kurama stopped and blinked when he opened the door.  "Keiko! Botan?!"

Botan looked startled, then smiled a confused smile.  "Uh..yeah.."

Kurama, not really thinking, grabbed her hands and started to drag Botan to his room, Keiko following behind as best she could.

"Kurama-san, where are we going?"  Botan asked, confused, trying not to stumble as Kurama dragged her along.  He didn't respond, merely opened his door and lightly shoved Botan inside.

"BOTAN!?!"

"KOENMA-SAMA!?!"

They said each other's name at the same time, and Kurama sat there watching the two stare at each other, while Keiko came up and blinked at this.

"He came..."   Keiko looked at Kurama, who moved her aside and took her to the kitchen to leave Botan and Koenma alone.  Once in the kitchen, Keiko finished her sentence.  "He came to you?"

"And Genkai, Hiei, Yusuke, Kuwabara...He never came to you?"  Kurama looked at Keiko.

"No..But Botan did.   Why is he here?"  Keiko was confused, and could tell Kurama was too.

Kurama picked up his end of the story.

"I'm sorry."   Botan and Koenma said the words in perfect unison, then looked at each other in shock.

This had been the first words after several tense minutes of shock.

"Why are you sorry, Botan?"  Koenma said, blinking.  "I'm the one who did something wrong."

"But you didn't."   Botan said, desperately.  "I did.  And I'm sorry."

They stared at each other a few minutes, confused, not sure what to say, and definetely not sure why the other was apologizing.

Finally, Koenma dropped the question.  "What are you apologizing for?"

"For hugging you."   Botan said, and when Koenma blinked, she blinked herself. "I had thought it upset you and made you afraid when I returned my feelings. I went to your room, too, and you weren't there and I thought you left the Reikai."

Koenma frowned.  "I thought YOU had left the Reikai because I hadn't talked to you in two weeks."

"That's what I mean."   Botan said, and Koenma looked confused.  "I thought that my returning the feelings a few weeks ago made you afraid and so you weren't talking with me."

"What?"  Koenma said, eyes almost bulging.  "That's absurd!  I was the one who admitted my feelings for you, and if you hadn't had the same feelings, then...Well..."  He sighed and shrugged.   "I don't know...I was happy when you said you liked me too."

"The only reason I haven't spoken to you in two weeks is I was trying to catch up on the backlog while things were silent."  Koenma looked up at Botan silently.  "That's why I thought you'd left...I thought I'd made you mad at me."

"But I didn't leave till I thought you had."  Botan said.

"I didn't till I thought you had.  I even tried your room...Went inside because I was worried, and when I saw the picture of everyone on your shelf, I thought maybe you'd come here to visit and weren't mad.  But when no one had seen you.."

"You went into my room?"  Botan looked at Koenma with a bit of shock, and Koenma blushed a little.

"I was concerned..."   Koenma scratched his head.

Botan's light smile made him a bit more at ease.  "I'm sorry I worried you, Koenma-sama...I wasn't ever mad at you, just mad at myself, and worried I'd done something wrong."

"That's what I thought..."  Koenma said.

Silence fell before a small laughter, and Koenma stood to hug Botan.  "See? Hugs don't affect me."

Botan smiled and returned the hug lightly, before they separated and smiled at one another.

"Should we go explain to Keiko and Kurama what happened?"  Koenma asked, and Botan nodded.  Koenma scritched at his head.  "Then I suppose I need to go do the same for Yusuke, Genkai, Hiei and Kuwabara.  And Yukina as well."

"You talked to all of them?"  Botan asked as they headed looking for Kurama and Keiko.

"I had hoped you'd visited one of them."  Koenma lightly smiled, then looked around the kitchen corner to where Keiko and Kurama sat.

The two looked up as they walked in.

"All handled?"   Keiko asked, and Koenma and Botan nodded.

"It was all one giant misunderstanding."  Koenma said.

Kurama and Keiko nodded, and Kurama got up to make Botan and Koenma some tea.

"Ne, Koenma-sama?"   Botan said, looking at the now toddler form.

He had switched back to his toddler half as soon as they arrived back in the Reikai, and he now looked up at her.

"Do you think we kept missing each other?"

"What do you mean?"   Koenma was confused.

"I went to your room, and you to mine...Then we both went looking for the other."

Koenma blinked, then hit his hand to his forehead.  "What time did you go to my room?"

"About 2."

"I went to your room then."

They stared at each other for many moments, then both let out a small sigh of aggravation, and walked off in opposite directions.  This all could have been avoided if they had only not missed each other.

Botan stopped a few moments after she had started to go to her room, and turned.   "Koenma-sama?"

He turned to her, questioningly.

"If the Reikai stays silent, can we..."  Just then, the sound of George coming down the halls was heard, and he zoomed past, shouting about how people had started to die again.

Koenma sweatdropped, as did Botan.  Then they looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged.

What could you do when fate decided to lay out a really bad hand?  But, at least the hand  had ended in good company, and in good friendship.

The two went off to their separate rooms, Koenma to get changed and head back to work, Botan, to take a short nap because of her headache, then also to get back to work.  

~*~*~