Title : One spell away from Moon (previously 'Love Theme')
Genre : Romance, Fantasy, Comedy and Supernatural.
Summary : In a world where witches and magical creatures exists, hidden from human's eyes, 18 years old witch Botan does not have the best reputation.
From a rich and feared wizard family, the young woman grew up to be spoiled, narcissist and selfish making her hated by most. Her only friend is Keiko Yukimura, an aspiring writer who seems to be the only human aware of her true nature.
When Botan finally gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend her idol's university, she tries to change for the best and to leave her problematic powers behind. But in the difficult journey to get rid of her princess disease, things do not look so good for the little witch as her prince charming, Kurama, not only keeps on trying to get rid of her but already seems to like another girl.
Things complicate as she starts to notice that her school and some of its students are not as normal as she first thought them to be.
And why is that weird classmate of her always successful at stealing her attention ?
Disclaimer : I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter 〇
"Once upon a time in a faraway land, a young princess lived in a shining castle. It was often said that her beauty rivaled and put to shame that of the moon, that her smile alone had the ability to turn anyone's day better so much it was radiant.
Whenever she would enter a room people would stop talking and instead admire her without ever blinking. Birds would sing her acclaiming melodies every morning, suitors would align outside of her castle all day long for a chance to talk or charm the young princess. Flowers would find back their glow once she touched them and the sun would always shine brighter once she put her feet outside. A human, worshipped and admired the way only a deity could dream to be.
Alas …
Although she had everything her heart desired... the princess was spoiled, selfsh and unkind. She looked down on people she thought inferior to her person and feared not to humiliate someone to elevate her own worth. Love was just a game for her in which she always strived for dominance. She never genuinely reached out, she only aspired to feel grander.
But then, one winter's night an old beggar man came to the castle and offered her a single rose in return for the warmth of her heart.
Repulsed by his haggard appearance, the princess sneered at the gift and turned the old man away. But he warned her not to be deceived by appearances... for beauty is found within. And when she dismissed him again, the old man's ugliness melted away... to reveal a bewitching magician. The princess, understanding her mistake tried to apologize, but it was too late for he had seen that there was no love or compassion in her heart. And as punishment, he placed a powerful spell on the young princess making anyone she ever got under her charm to reject her and transformed all of her loyal servants into bodiless creatures.
Desperate from her sad predicament, the princess concealed herself inside her castle with a magic mirror as her only window to the outside world. The rose he had offered was truly an enchanted rose which would bloom until her 19 th year.
If she could learn to put her pride away and sincerely love another... and earn his love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, she would be doomed to remain alone and hated for all time.
As the years passed, she fell into despair and lost all hope... for who could ever learn to love such a cruel princess ?
Fin."
"Wait … that's it ?"
"Yeah."
"You must be kidding right ? I though you said it was a love story … "
"I said love was the theme, not that it was a love story. Nuance Botan." the girl closed swiftly the book she was reading from and put it away on the nightstand "I used the word love and its synonyms quite a bunch of time if you haven't noticed."
Her interlocutor stood up abruptly from the bed, an expression of outrage taking over her features "But your story lacks essence ! Lacks the feels ya know ?" she lowered herself to head level with her friend before resuming "It lacks something that would keep your readers on edge ! Who cares about some hottie magician if he's just gonna fuck up the main character's beautiful life without any developpement on the side ? What if … What if he was just jealous of the attention she was getting and wanted her for himself ? He came to seduce her after all even if he was on a repulsive form."
"Huh, that is quite cliché dear, besides," she reached out for the book again before pushing it in the bluette's arms "Do you know who my inspiration was for the main character ?"
Botan looked back and forth between her brown haired friend and the book in her hands before a childish pout slowly drew itself on her lips "Me ?"
"Exactly and tell me, how far have you come in your love life sweetie ?"
The blue haired girl frowned, the discussion was ridiculous and she felt like just putting an end to it to go order some pastries and sodas but she knew the other girl would not let her off the hook so easily after she challenged the quality of her written piece.
"Keiko it's not relev-"
"Answer me now." interrupted her Keiko.
Botan sighed loudly before walking up to her desk and sitting on the chair "There's nothing in particular to say, because-"
"Because it's inexistant."
"Keiko ! I'm telling you, next time you are getting muted." the bluette warned with narrowed eyes.
The other girl let out a chuckle "And that, my dear, is further proof of how relatable that princess is to you." she paused to lay comfortably on her host's bed and looked at her again, her expression and tone slightly reprimanding this time "A princess who acted more like a tyran, wouldn't a witch suit that description just fine ?"
"Oh no you did not just assume witches were tyrans ..." Botan was basically growling. The stigma humans had against her kind was infuriating to say the least. Past tales always described witches and wizards as some malicious, humans slaying, nature killing creatures. Quite far from the truth actually but just go and try correcting their point of view. Cursed be the one who is behind those legends.
Keiko face palmed. Why was this girl so short sighed ? "I know exactly what you are thinking about and know that if Ayame and Hinageshi are nice witches it doesn't take away the fact that you are almost like what folkore legends say. My character is a spitted image of your persona."
"How exactly ?" the young entity challenged.
"Well," the brunette began "You are a very pretty girl, so pretty people would kill to look like you-"
"That much is a fact." Botan cutted her off, fabulously flipping her long and shiny hair with one slender hand.
Keiko ignored her and continued "... But ! You also are vain, narcissistic, selfish, spoiled and unkind to most." she launched a glare at her friend across the room "Your grades aren't something to boast about either … Actually, other than a good physical and maybe wealth I don't know what you can brag about."
The witch jumped to her feet flapping angrily her arms. It was crazy how much of a child she looked like at the moment "That was uncalled for !" she yelped offendedly.
"What was uncalled for ? Stating the truth or the truth in itself ?" Keiko stood up meeting the other girl half way in the room "The bit about dudes never liking you back is true as well and something tells me it's a direct consequence of your behavior."
Botan snorted and folded her arms, her eyes darting around the room to not meet the acute pair of brown pools that were studying her closely. The honest and direct confessions her friend was making today just made her mood worsen. A voice inside was telling her that the human standing in front of her was right, but an another voice was obstinate into making her believe there was absolutely no problem with her personality, and unfortunately this voice was the loudest.
The young witch shaked her head before meeting Keiko's watchful eyes with her own perplexed ones. She sighed "But despite what you are saying, you still stay by my side. You could have left if I was as bad as you are claiming, am I wrong ?"
The brunette seemed a little taken aback by the straightforwardness of the question, but her composure was not lost for long "Because you don't act that way towards me, you are so different when we're together."
"In which way ?" Botan further prodded.
Keiko turned around and straddled back to the edge of the bed. She sat cross legged before looking up to the bluette again "You tell me … Why are you always so nice to me ?" Before entering the entity's life, Keiko only heard bad rumors regarding the girl. Hoewever the first few interactions they shared confused her as the blue head acted nothing like what people told her she would be like. It made her wonder if deep down her host was not just misunderstood.
It was Botan's turn to be startled. She never thought of why her behavior towards her human friend seemed different as she never noticed she acted differently herself either. Surely she was probably one of the few, if not the only human who knew of her secret. The witch could have easily casted a spell on the Yukimura's daughter to make her forget about it but it has been two years and she has yet to do so. Was she that eager for someone else than her foster family or pet ghosts to share her life ?
She did not move for a moment, pondering on an appropriate answer before dropping her arms, a flicker of saddeness or pain crossing rapidly her big amethysts eyes. A disturbing look that the human did not fail to notice as she frowned worriedly "Botan ?"
'I don't know' "I don't know Keiko," the bluette flopped down next to the said girl "Probably because you are letting me."
"What do you m-"
"Anyway !" Botan cutted her off abruptly while standing up from the bed in a swift motion "Enough of that abstratc talk, let's get into a more concrete one."
Keiko cocked an eyebrow towards the girl, inwardly convincing herself to let the topic drop. She did not want to force an answer from an uncertain friend who seemed to have enough identity issues as of now. That long talk could wait for another day and the brunette was already starting to feel her energy drain. It was probably already past ten now.
She watched bemused as the little witch happily scurried towards her wardrobe and retrived from it a weird bunch of mis matched outfits. Botan creepily snickered and regarded her sweat dropping friend with a mischevious cat like expression "So what do you think of my fangirling-while-hiding-my-identity-mission outfit ?" she cheerfully asked.
Keiko blinked "Your what ?"
"My fangirling-while-hiding-my-identity-mission outfit." the blue head repeated.
"I heard you the first time you know." the human girl rubbed regular circles on her temples. Her friend was going to commit something problematic, she already knew it "What I mean is what is the purpose of it ? It looks … It looks ..." she failed at finding an appropriate qualifier for the outfit and instead just gestured frantically at it, a disgusted expression marrying her features.
The bunch of clothes Botan brought were the absolute opposite of what the girl wears on a daily basis. Her usual and regular style is always elegant, girly and a little bit sexy. Short and neatly cut dresses made of fine fabrics, good quality and in vogue leather jackets, ribbons, heels ... Everything but what she was holding in her hands at the moment. She laid the clothing on the empty space of the bed, being careful to not wrinkle the ensemble.
It was a plain striped red and green crop top with a little fox on the left breast sewn with white thread. Just beneath the shirt was a seemingly worn out pair of baby blue dungarees, a handful of small holes could be seen on the front pocket, probably moth's handiwork Keiko thought. Laying next to the two awful pieces of clothing was a bright yellow linen jacket, which looked as used as the dungarees.
"Oh ! I forgot something !" the brunette fell to the ground as she saw her friend hurrying back to the wardrobe.
'Is this abomination not enough ? She has more in stock ?'
"There, there." Botan held her hands to Keiko, showing her two bright red accessories matching in tone with the crop top. "This cap's head space is quite wide so it'll help me to hide my whole hair in it ! And this mask is to dissimulate the lower half of my face and for the upper half I'll just use sunglasses. So what do you think ?"
"I think that I would want to know where are you planning to go parading around in Mario Bros' outfits."
The witch scoffed "Ha Ha that was a funny one Keiko."
"I wasn't trying to make you laugh." the other girl sternly responded "So, mind giving me some explanations ?"
Botan sighed longingly before clasping her hands together, a dreamy expression illuminating her face. Keiko started to get where all of this seemed to be gearing towards "I purchased a VIP ticket for Yoko's fanmeeting that'll be held tomorrow during daytime," she fluttered her eyelids close as a blush crept on her cheeks "I had to wait for months to finally get a high class ticket, the demand is always scary but finally … I'll be reunited with my prince charming tomorrow."
The brunette face palmed and cursed with a small voice "Damn it ..."
Of course she had known of her friend's infutiation with the actor for a long time. It did not surprise or particularly bothered her, the young man was ridiculously handsome and talented and his fandom kept on growing by the minute. What truly distressed her was that her blue haired friend was unpredictable and could go to any length possible if it meant getting a handsome male's attention on her. In the two years that they hang out together she saw the witch ending up in so many catastrophic situations, especially if she started to use her powers. It was not like Botan was unskilled but she did not know how to use her unique abilities correctly.
"As a VIP I'll logically have more time to talk with him, I'll charm him, confess and then poof he'll fall deep in love with me. And after that ..." The bluette sighed again, conjuring all kind of romantic images Keiko wished to never have a preview of.
The human girl thought she would gag "Wait are you really hoping he would fall for someone dressed in these ?" she held up the old dungarees to illustrate her point "You can't be serious, fashion is a big deal for celebrities."
At that Botan huffed " 'He warned her to not be deceived by appearances for beauty is found within' that's what you wrote no ?"
Keiko rolled her eyes "Of course you'd validate that saying only when it suits you." she threw the fabric at the girl in front of her "In a more serious note, will you reveal your identity at some point ? If you are planning on having a relationship with Yoko you'll need to entertain some kind of contact with him. But then again if you are going at that event undercover it means that you don't want anyone to see you there."
The witch hurriedly caugh her clothes before it gets too crumpled and scowled at her friend "I'll eventually figure it out." she nonchalantly said.
"If your cover gets blown you'll probably end up in the news of Wizard land or something, making a fool of yourself again." Keiko was not feeling that idea at all and would have probably offered to accompany Botan at that event for the sake of not letting her end up in troubles, but as much as she was preoccupied, spending her afternoon at a three hours long fanmeeting with a bunch of squealing fangirls everywhere was too much to take on. Even for her closest friend.
"Magus Terra, Keiko." she corrected. 'Can't these humans get it right for once ?'
The brunette regarded her with an incredulous look "That's totally the same thing, just said differently."
"No it ain't it." the blue haired girl pulled a hanger out of nowhere, making her human friend widden her eyes in surprise, and hung her unique outfit on it. She smiled in satisfaction and spared it one last look before putting it away in her wardrobe. No matter what anyone could say, the plan she had in mind was perfect. The young witch's long awaited day will go just as planned and she will do everything in her power to not let anything disrupt it.
She turned towards Keiko who seemed to have been expectantly watching for the past few minutes and put her hands on her hips "Frankly speaking, I quite liked your story." she paused to take on her surprised friend's expression before resuming, her eyes solemnly closed this time "That being said, you should honestly review it to make it a little less depressing."
As much as she kept criticizing Keiko's ideas she could not deny that her friend was a talented story teller and she sincerely wished the brunette could achieve her dream of becoming a well known writer. They may have had different tastes but the human definitely did not lose in term of skills to the authors Botan loved, she might even say that the girl was probably better.
She blinked at her "But Botan, you are depressing."
The witch's mouth fell open at the statement. 'The audacity' "I-I hate you !" she impusively lifted her hand and casted a silent spell on the brunette.
Keiko looked up at her, pointing at her mouth that kept opening and closing without any sounds leaving. "I warned you earlier, that mute spell will last quite a while so you better go to sleep, Shizukeiko*." she laughed at herself for the joke she made while forcing herself to ignore her boiling victim. 'Serves you right' She then went to her window, grinning at the beautiful sight that greeted her.
"The moon is full tonight, that means something great is about to happen."
Next chapter : "Oh no ... Perhaps Keiko's worries were valid."
Author's note : I was not planning to write this story initially, I didn't even think about it. However one of my friends on this site (You know who you are ;)) requested from me a one shot, and I got thrilled so much by the idea when I started writting it that I decided to make something else instead with the same characters.
The Keiko's story telling part is kind of a remix of The Beauty and The Beast's narration intro to fit my fic.
Also I took a big part of my inspiration from the chinese drama 'My little Princess'
* Shizukeiko : Botan made a tasteless word play there (Okay more like I did). It comes from the word "Shizuka" in japanese, meaning quiet/silent/peaceful.
Don't forget to review or follow/fav my story if you like it ! I accept any form of criticism as long as it's not straight out bashing or putting down the story.