" The Orchestra "
By Ryoma
______The blue-haired girl in the pink kimono walked onto the stage gracefully, followed by a brown haired girl in a school uniform. They each carried music sheet stands, black and shiny, and laid them on the small stage.
______They had been working on those stands, and the other stuff behind the stage, which they went to retrieve, for hours. And one of them had also been plotting...
______As they finished the last of the instruments, a huge bass, the blue-haired girl turned to the other, and wiped her damp forhead with her kimono.
______"There. All done."
______"Botan..." The brown-haired girl said. "Are you sure this is really going to work? You know the guys would never go for a concert."
______Botan snickered into her kimono, then flashed evily scheming eyes at the brown-haired girl, Keiko. "Of course it will. They don't know we're having one."
______Keiko's eyes widened a little, then squinted. "Then...what do they think?"
______Botan's smile was anything but pleasant as she walked off the stage. "You'llfind out soon enough. Now, let's go get ready." Keiko had worried eyes, but, having nothing better to do, followed Botan.
She didn't know she could plot so much, though...
______Botan walked out onto the stage again, and sat down on a chair. Her blue hair now was out of its high pony, and cascaded over her shoulders in waves, two golden hair clips holding it partially back.
______Her dress was the same color as her kimono, and went to her knees. It looked pretty much like a little-girl's dress, and the shoes, white buckled ones, didn't help the appearance, but it looke nice.
______Keiko was out a moment later, in a blue colored dress, very similar to her uniform, that went down to the floor, and hugged her at the hips. She looked at Botan when she came out, and Botan looked over, and jumped up.
______"Oh! It looks great on you, Keiko."
______"Um..Thanks." Keiko said. "Why's it so form fitting though?"
______"It wasn't supposed to be." Botan said. "I guessed your measurements."
______Keiko was about to say something about what that would imply, but she was interupted by a boy's voice shouting out a greeting, and turned.
______Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei all were walking towards Botan and Keiko, dressed in nice suits.
______Yusuke looked around. "Strange place to meet for dinner." He said, glancingaround, then looked at Botan and Keiko. Keiko was, by now, looking at Botan, eyes drilling deep into her. "Where's Koenma? Shouldn't he be here, too? Or, did he cancel?"
______"Koenma, too?" Keiko said.
______Botan ignored her. "Oh, he should be here soon."
______"Botan!" A voice said, as a form appeared.
______Botan smiled. "See?"
______Everyone turned to Koenma. He was in his teenage form, and also wearing a nice suit. He didn't seem all too pleased.
______"Couldn't you have gotten the suit made for my younger form?" Koenma didn't even greet the others, but instead stared directly at Botan.
______Botan smiled back, while Yusuke turned to Kuwabara. "A talking baby in a suit? That would have been fun."
______"Yusuke..." Koenma never broke eye contact with Botan, but Yusuke shushed. Botan smiled more while moving away, much to Koenma's annoyance, and to one of the chairs on the stage. "You see, Koenma-sama, if I had done that, thisall would have looked really odd." She turned and walked over to him, then held her hands out.
______In her hands was a violin.
______Koenma's eyes bugged out.
______"What's with the violin?" Yusuke asked.
______"Hn." Hiei said and looked at the stage. "Is this a trick?"
______Botan smiled brillaintly at the four. "Now why would I trick you?"
______Everyone sweatdropped, and then Keiko cleared her throat to say something.
______Before that could happen, however, a voice rang out from the other side of the curtains. "Tonight, we have special entertainment from the Yusuke Team Orchestra. They will..."
______The voice seemed to die, while everyone stared angrily at Botan, all but Keiko, who walked to sit down and grab up her clarinet, hoping to avoid being in the middle of the upcoming onslaught.
______"Yusuke Team Orchestra?!!" Yusuke shouted, the first to recover from shock. "Botan, what the hell does that mean? I'm not going to play in front of a bunch of upper class morons!"
______Botan just smiled, and shoved Yusuke into a seat beside Keiko. She handed him a horn. "Now, behave, Urameshi-san, and just play."
______He grumbled, but knew fighting with her was useless.
______Botan whisked away and grabbed Kuwabara's arm. She sat him down at one of the chairs and handed him some cymbals, which he looked at oddly before she scurried away and grabbed Hiei.
______She sat him at the piano she had brought in (having no idea what an orchestra should own, really, just what she wanted them to play) and realized that he was way too small to play it.
______She frowned, and pulled him away, turning to Kurama. "Okay, Kurama, you play the piano."
______Kurama shrugged, going along with things, and walked over, sitting down at the piano. He looked it over before a small smirk crossed his face, and he readied himself.
______Koenma's look threatened doom. "No WAY am I gonna play."
______Botan gave him a look, and Koenma sighed. "Fine, fine." He walked over, and took his place with the violin.
______Botan sat Hiei down and handed him a bass. She scurried away as their introduction was finishing, grabbing her flute, and not noticing Hiei was having an extremely hard time holding the instrument up.
______The curtains rose. The small orchestra looked ready to die, all but Botan,
who was a little too cheerful.
______The audience clapped, until they noticed the motley crew on stage. Then, they looked baffled.
______First, you had a teenager chewing a pacifier, holding a violin, a very uncomfortably black-haired boy with a horn, a sorta dumb faced red head with cymbals, a blue haired girl with a flute, a brown haired girl with a clarinet, and a red-head at the piano.
______Well, the girls and the one at the piano looked alright...But the others were a little odd. And, to their wonder, the bass seemed to be holding itself up and wobbling all over the place.
______Finally, the blue-haired girl started to play.
______It was a nice, slow tune that was followed by the addition of the clarinet and a light piano. It was a little odd, but nice. The audience relaxed a little as a violin set in, but was as quickly jolted up as the cymbals clashed together.
______They laughed as the set on the stage all looked to the red-head, who had an apologetic look. Even the bass turned slightly, and people could almost see a form behind it.
______As it continued, the tune got louder, and nicer. But, just as soon, another mistake that caused them to roll in laughter occured.
______Kurama was a little too happy to be on stage, and he broke tune, slamming on the piano as if he were Ray Charles or something. The music stopped at this point, as everyone sweatdropped, then picked up tune, trying to keep up with Kurama. It didn't work too well, and made a horrible noise, but the audience was enjoying it at least.
______That's all that really mattered, right?
______Of course, they WEREN'T supposed to be laughing at you.
______Yusuke stood finally, aggrivated by this laughter, and left, Keiko following after.
______The audience still laughed.
______The shows closing came as Hiei let out a yell and the bass toppled on top of him.
______-SPLAT!-
______Silence...then laughter.
______The curtains fell and everyone rushed to Hiei, Botan arriving first.
______"Hiei?!" She yelled.
______"Hn." Came from below the bass, and as they lifted it, they found a well flattened Hiei underneath.
______He looked at Botan, and she blinked. He stood, slowly, then drew his katana.
______"Uh..." Botan said, wide-eyed, then dashed away to run behind Koenma.
______"Koenma-sama!! Save me!"
______Koenma sighed, and looked at Hiei, whose eyes were angered as they could be.
______"Hiei, don't even."
______"Out of my way!" Hiei said, stepping foward. A sound behind him made Hiei turn.
______Kuwabara stood there with a mocking look. "Serves you right, shrimp."
______Hiei's sword was at Kuwabara's throat before you could say Abrakadabra, and Kuwabara got a look of suprise to him, and fear.
______Botan sighed, and Koenma looked back a little...
______It was later and they all stood on the empty stage, even Yusuke and Keiko who hadn't really left, just ducked behind stage.
______"I'm sorry." Botan's normal smile was gone, and she scuffed her shoe on the floor of the stage, now in her normal kimono. "I just wanted us to do something fun together."
______"Playing in a band by trickery isn't my idea of fun." Yusuke said, glaring at Botan.
______"I know." She said.
______"And it ended a mess, besides." Yusuke said, and kept up rambling about it. Each line caused Botan to deflate little by little, until she had ears on the top of her head, laid back.
______Keiko finally grabbed Yusuke's arm, and quieted him. "She tried, Yusuke... That's what matters."
______Yusuke snarled a little, then sighed. "Yeah..." He said, and turned. He looked at Botan, and smiled faintly. "Next time, tell us, alright?"
______He walked off before he received answer, Keiko soon after, only shooting a small glance at Botan before leaving. Kuwabara and the others left, all but Kurama and Koenma, a moment later, with nothing to say. Kurama smiled. "I kind of enjoyed it, actually, Botan. I love to do new things."
______She smiled at him. "Thanks..." She said.
______He frowned, sighing, and left. Botan's smile wasn't much of one.
______Botan looked back to Koenma, who was sitting on a seat silently sucking away at his pacifier.
______"Aren't you leaving too, Koenma-sama?" Botan said. "I screwed up your night, too."
______He looked over silently, then stood, and walked off the stage.
______Botan sat down on the floor and frowned. "I only wanted to do something fun..." she said, and ran a finger on the floor. She sat with her knees to her chin for a long time, silently, thinking, then started to cry into her knees. "I didn't mean for it to be a disaster!"
______A low flute brought her head up, and she turned to the other side of the stage. Koenma stood against the curtain playing it, silently, and staring at her.
______She stood, silently, and walked to him, looking up at him. He took his lips away from the flute, and smiled at her a bit. "We know you didn't want it to be. We're not mad."
______Botan lowered her head. "You're not, maybe, but the others..." She sighed, then turned to instruments sounding off. Hiei was sitting there, staring at her with little emotion, clarinet (a much better sized instrument for him) to his mouth. Keiko had the cymbals, Yusuke the bass, Kurama again at the piano, and Kuwabara messing with the violin, and playing mighty well I might add.
______Botan was shocked, then smiled and let them play out their melody.
______When they stopped, Yusuke turned with a dumb grin on his face. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you, Botan. Next time, warn us, alright?"
______Botan nodded, and Yusuke smiled, taking up the bass and walking out playing it as best he could while walking. Keiko smiled. "It was a good concert..With practice maybe we could make it a stage show."
______She left as Botan laughed, and was carrying the cymbals, following after Yusuke.
______Hiei only looked at her, shrugged, and followed. Kuwabara smiled and did the same.
______Kurama delayed a time, then looked over. "I like the piano, thanks for letting me play." He smiled.
______Botan smiled and nodded.
______Kurama stood, and turned when Koenma yelled for him. He threw the flute to Kurama, who took it and went after the others, who, by this time, were acting quite silly and giving the people on the street one heck of a marching band.
______Inside it was silent though.
______"Better?" Koenma said after a time, looking at Botan.
______She smiled and nodded. "Next time...I'll ask before we all do something."
______Koenma didn't say anything.
______"Okay...I'll ask after I've plotted, and stop it there." She said.
______He smiled. "Good idea."
______"Did you..." She said, and stopped.
______Koenma looked at her, forcing her to finish her sentence with his unresponse.
______"Did you get them to come back?" She said.
______Koenma nodded. "Sort of. I told them you seemed depressed. Yusuke had a concious attack and dragged everyone back. I was going to come back either way myself."
______"Thanks Koenma-sama." Botan said, then pulled her oar from who knows where. "Let's get back. We've got work to do." She smiled over to him, but Koenma was already moving away.
______He sat down at the piano and played it a bit.
______Botan smiled and sat down on one of the seats on stage for a personal performance.
______-END-
Author note: I think I messed em all up. ^^;; And I'm of the belief Botan and
Koenma'd be cute together. So nya. ^_^