Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, Yoshihiro Togashi does. He wrote the story, I WRITE THE SEXUAL FAN FICTION, OKAY?

Story Information: Remember at the beginning of the series, when Yusuke was a ghost and he could enter people's dreams and manipulate them? I always wondered... wouldn't Karasu do the same? He could be with Kurama forever, without Kurama being able to reject him. The fan fiction gets a bit out of character at the end, but it's within reason -- you'll see why. I haven't watched or read Yu Yu Hakusho in many years, so please forgive me if Kurama is a bit out of character as well.

Warnings: This story contains Karasu/Kurama slash and a mild rape scene. (By mild, I mean it's not too morbid or anything).

Monster

Shuichi Minamino was going through his usual nightly routine -- he said goodnight to his mother, drank a glass of water, got into his favorite pajamas, and slipped into bed. After reading a few chapters from the latest horror novel he was in the middle of, he decided he was ready to sleep. Besides a few worrysome thoughts ("Did I forget to water the houseplants?" and "I wonder if we have a test tomorrow in English..."), Kurama fell asleep in no time at all. The night sky was black as leather or velvet, and a quiet darkness came in through the window. It was an eerie shadow that caused Kurama to shiver in his sleep.

"Kurama, my dear..."

Kurama's eyes darted around the room, startled. This wasn't his bedroom. It was a very dark, depressing chamber -- almost like a jail cell. "I must be dreaming," he figured, "but whose voice did I just hear?" It was so deeply familiar to him, but he just couldn't place it. Suddenly, he felt cold hands wrap themselves around his chest. He wasn't alone, that was for sure. The sensation of a kiss to his ear caused Kurama to let out a gentle shudder.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked, trying to pull away from the stranger. The strange man didn't respond well to this, he just pulled him in even closer. Kurama realized now that he had no clothes on his body, which made him feel awkward and embarassed. What a strange dream, to be naked with a complete stranger...

"Love," the voice sounded amused. "I'm surprised you don't remember me." Kurama tried hard to reach into his memory and find this person, but he came up blank. Suddenly, the man put his mouth right up to Kurama's ear and whispered the word, "Bang!"

Kurama's eyes grew wide.

...Karasu.

"What are you doing here?!" Kurama yelled, but he immediately realized what a stupid question this was. He was simply having a nightmare. Karasu wasn't really there.

"I thought I'd come see how my little fox boy was doing." Karasu ran his fingers through the red-head's silken strands. Kurama again tried to pull away, but failed.

"I'm just dreaming," Kurama assured himself. Karasu's sudden laughter pierced through the room, echoing in the still air.

"Yes, you are dreaming," Karasu smirked. "But I am here, and I am very real."

"What do you mean?!" A tinge of fear struck Kurama, but the crow tried his best to ease this fear by kissing his neck softly. This only made Kurama to shudder even more.

"You thought I was in Hell, didn't you?" Karasu frowned. "Sorry to spoil your fun, darling. All of the killings I have done in my life were done while I was enslaved by Toguro, so -- by technicality -- Koenma didn't have the right to send me to Hell, since all of my wrongs were Toguro's responsibility. I had also endangered the life of one of Spirit World's most prized Spirit Detectives -- that's you, my love -- and so I was not granted the right to go to heaven, either. I was offered a place in one of the lesser heavens, but I refused, and asked to remain a ghost." Kurama shook his head in disbelief. Karasu had tortured him physically and emotionally, and yet he wasn't punished for it? This was the worst thing that could possibly happen! "Koenma granted my request," Karasu finished flatly.

"But why? Why would you choose to be a ghost? The lesser heavens aren't necissarily the best afterlife there is, but it would have been a life of peace at least, without any pain or suffering. And you might have had friends or family there!"

"Oh yes," Karasu laughed. "Some of my past lovers are there, actually. But why would they want to be with me anyway? I murdered them, after all." He was beaming with a sense of pride, but Kurama was disgusted. "I wanted to be with you, Kurama. Unfortunately, I can't cause you pain in your dreams, so I can't induldge my sadistic side. At least I can--" Karasu didn't even bother finishing his sentence. He thrust his tongue deep into Kurama's mouth. Kurama screamed and pushed him away, flustered and blushing.

"No!" he yelled. "Stop, Karasu! I don't want you here. Please leave me alone!"

"Tsk, tsk. I don't appreciate hostility." Karasu grabbed both of Kurama's wrists and tried to kiss him again, but the red haired fox kicked at him and began to crawl away. "Poor baby," Karasu whispered. "You're scared, aren't you? Don't worry, I won't hurt you..."

"I don't care! I don't like you, and I certainly don't want you touching me!" Kurama hugged his naked body in defense.

"Very well..."

Kurama suddenly awoke, shaking. Karasu had backed off and allowed him to wake up from the terrible nightmare. But Kurama could still feel his presense in the room, even if he couldn't see him. "Please leave..." Kurama's heart was pounding. "I can forgive you for what you did to me, but please don't haunt me like this. Please..." He was being sincere. Although Youko Kurama was a ruthless thief, Shuichi Minamino was a kindhearted boy who didn't have a mean bone in his body. He could forgive Karasu for all of the pain he had put him through. Partly because Karasu had been forced against his will by Toguro, and partly because he could sense that Karasu was severely mentally ill. As long as he left him alone, Kurama could not hate him.

And, surprisingly, he felt the dark one's shadow left out the window. Karasu was gone.

"Thank you," Kurama said softly.

He slept well the rest of the night.

The next evening, Kurama was still a bit shaken by what had happened, but he couldn't feel Karasu's shadow in the room anymore, so he felt safe falling asleep. Karasu had obviously felt some compassion and decided to leave him alone. Unfortunately, Kurama was dead wrong.

His eyes opened and adjusted to the darkness. He was in the chamber, naked again. He wrapped his arms around himself because it was cold.

"Do you need warmth?" Karasu's voice echoed through the room. Kurama turned around quickly, only to see the crow demon smiling at him a couple of feet away. Karasu moved to wrap his arms around his love. Kurama had to admit that he did a good job of keeping him warm, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed.

"I asked you to leave me alone!"

"I know," Karasu murmured. "I appreciate your forgiveness, too, darling. It was very touching. But I decided to become a ghost so I could be with you, and I'm not leaving after just one night..."

"You may not be able to physically hurt me anymore," Kurama growled, "but you sure know how to play mind games and fuck with me."

"Ah," Karasu was, again, amused. "You're angry. Look, I'm sure you miss the feel of my explosives blowing up chunks of your body and causing blood to gush from your wounds -- believe me, I miss it, too. But sadly, all I can do now is manipulate your dreams. So I apologize, I know you have such a masochistic streak, love. I wish I could give you that satisfaction..."

"You're sick."

"So I've been told."

Kurama knew that there would be no reasoning with him -- he was stone fuck crazy and dead serious about staying with Kurama forever. As long as it was only in his dreams, what's the worst Karasu could do? Kurama decided to accept it, for now... at least until he could come up with a better idea. He decided he would let Karasu do what he wished. So he leaned into him and grasped his shirt, lacing his fingers with Karasu's. I'll give him what he wants. Kurama thought.

"Submission?" Karasu was surprised. "So soon?"

"I don't want to," Kurama hissed under his breath. "But as long as you're here, there's nothing I can do."

"Good boy," the crow smiled and moved Kurama onto the ground. Kurama shut his eyes tight and braced himself for whatever Karasu planned to do. More kissing? More touching? It was almost unbearable, but no matter how hard he tried to wake up, he couln't. Suddenly, Kurama's eyes were forced open. Karasu had entered him, with no warning, and had begun thrusting. Oh God...! It wasn't painful -- this was just a dream -- it felt good, in fact. But Kurama didn't want to feel like that. Not with Karasu.

"Please STOP!" Kurama tried to force the other man off of him, but he was too weak and helpless. Karasu kept moving, faster and faster, causing Kurama's pleasure to grow more than he could bear. "Karasu!" he was screaming his name now. "Stop!! Please... before I--"

Karasu refused to listen. He thrusted harder and harder until Kurama couldn't hold on anymore. He came, against his will, and began sobbing uncontrollably. He couldn't do this for the rest of his life.He couldn't. He would spend every single day fearing the time when he had to fall asleep, only to be forced into this terrible chamber with a demon who had no sympathy.

He awoke. The black shadow lingered in Kurama's room this time, for the rest of the night. Kurama screamed into the darkness, as tears unwillingly streamed down his face. The shadow did not leave the room, but he gave the redhead some peace and decided not to enter his dreams again that night.

"Karasu is in your dreams?" Yusuke Urameshi looked at his friend in disbelief. Kuwabara, who was sitting next to him, cringed. They were at a popular fast food restraunt in their town, enjoying a lunch of burgers and fries. Kurama, who was not a meat eater, enjoyed a salad and milkshake.

"That's creepy," Kuwabara said. "I hated that guy."

"You can't feel pain in dreams," Yusuke pointed out. "So he isn't hurting you, right?"

"Right," Kurama sipped his vanilla shake. "It's a relief that he can't torture me anymore, but he still creeps me out. He finds other ways to hurt me..."

"Like what?" Yusuke and Kuwabara were both very curious. Kurama just turned away, blushing, and he shook his head. Finally, Yusuke said, "And we can't convince Koenma to make him stop?" Even though Kurama was technically safe, he didn't like knowing that a member of the Toguro team was making him suffer like this.

"No."

Kuwabara took a huge bite out of his burger, trying to think of an intelligent solution. "You could dirnk a lot of coffee," he suggested. "You could stay up for days until that creep loses interest."

Kurama pondered this for a moment, but shook his head. "Caffene doesn't react well with my body," he explained. "Even if I could stay up for days, Karasu wouldn't lose interest. He's relentless, and he's completely obsessed with me." Just thinking about it made Kurama shiver. His long, willowy body... his eerie voice... everything about the demon scared him.

"Is there anything we can do?" Yusuke was finished with him meal, and was getting out his wallet.

"No..." Kurama looked defeated.

"I'm so sorry, Kurama."

That night, the chamber had reduced in size. Karasu had decided to make it smaller so that Kurama didn't have anywhere to run to. He spent the whole night holding Kurama and running his hands all over the boy's body. Kurama's heart pounded harder than ever -- he was anticipating another terrible rape.

"Why are you shaking?" Karasu sounded very disappointed, as if he expected Kurama to return his affection.

"I hate this," Kurama yelled. "And I hate you!" Karasu's eyes grew wide, in shock. He thought Kurama had warmed up to him in the past few days, but apparently he was wrong. Kurama didn't stop; "You force me to be close to you like this, in a dark room... are you forgetting that you blew my body apart in the Dark Tournament? You made me feel pain that I never imagined was possible! And last night you raped me! You held me down and violated me, Karasu! You expect me not to tremble?!"

"I-I thought you had forgiven me..."

"Yeah? Well I take it back! You are sadistic and I fucking hate you!"

Karasu loosened his grip on Kurama, turning away. Kurama was so wrapped up in his anger that he didn't notice the sound of sobs for quite some time.

"Karasu?" he was suddenly worried. Karasu was a powerful killer who showed no mercy on anyone. He never expected to hear Karasu cry. "Karasu... what--"

"Don't you understand?" Karasu muttered, tears staining his cheeks. "I have lost everything I have ever loved. My whole family is dead. All the boys I have ever loved have left me. I thought I would never get close to anyone again. After Toguro enslaved me, I began killing the ones I cherished. I had to keep doing it or they would leave me like they always did." He put one hand to his face, trying to stop the crying. His other hand squeezed Kurama's wasit gently. "But," he continued. "With you... I was given such a blessing... See, you can't leave me. I can haunt your dreams forever and there's nothing you can do..."

Kurama was deeply disturbed and concerned at the same time. Karasu had obviously felt such rejection before... the pain of loss. He was holding onto Kurama because he was the only person he had left. At the same time, Kurama couldn't help but wonder if Karasu was faking the tears and lying about his past because he knew Kurama had the world's biggest heart. There was no way Kurama could be angry at someone in this much pain -- maybe Karasu was using that to his advantage.

"But Karasu..." Kurama said. "What's the point in all of this? I'm not happy. Don't you care?"

Karasu didn't answer.

"I mean, I have sympathy for you, I do. But I'm also afraid of you, and I'm going to keep pushing you away. Why shoult I even pity you in the first place?"

Karasu continued to sob, before he finally choked out a final statement; "Don't you know? ...I love you, Kurama..."

The fox jerked out of sleep violently. The last thing Karasu said had been a greater shock than anything. Was it likely that he was faking it all? Yes... After all, Karasu's tears hurt Kurama more than any bomb he had ever used on him -- and God knows Karasu craved Kurama's pain and suffering.

Kurama had no way to tell if Karasu's feelings were real. He couldn't see the shadow in his bedroom anymore, he felt it -- inside of him, all the time. It was a darkness that spread from his fingertips to his heart, slowly and steadily. Kurama dreaded evening every single day, and every time he fell asleep, Karasu was there waiting for him.

Whether or not Karasu was faking his "love," Kurama didn't have the heart to reject him. He endured nights of fear, emotional suffering, and sexual torture... all because he couldn't bear to tell the demonic monster to leave him alone again.

And there wasn't a single night for the rest of Kurama's life that the Monster didn't come.

End

Author's Note: This fan fiction was actually inspired by another Karasu/Kurama fic called, "The Nightmare of Forever". The point of the ending is that an answer isn't given. Was Karasu faking his love for Kurama, or was it real? That's up for you to decide. If you enjoy Karasu being a big ball of fluffy bunnies and rainbows, then his feelings for Kurama were real. If you like the sadistic, evil Karasu... then he was just faking it to further torment Kurama.

I hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!