Disclaimer: I do not have the rights for Yu Yu Hakusho.

Prologue

A little more than eight years ago…

She could smell the scent of flowers around her. The sweet fragrances supposed to calm her, but, unfortunately, it worsened the feeling of tightness in her chest. Her hands were trembling slightly, her knees weak. The lovely voice of the chorus—who was practicing for the ceremony—made it difficult to breathe.

It's their wedding day, and everything seemed wrong. Maybe it could be her knowledge of his true feelings and desires that painted such special day erroneous.

She found the birds on the trees rather interesting. They were not singing, or just minding their business. Instead, they were looking straight back to where she sat by the window.

Great. Even the birds feel sorry for me.

He doesn't love her. She hoped he does.

Yet, however painful it was, she had to accept it, simply because it was the unfathomable reality.

At the other corner of the room, Keiko— who was fixing the bouquet— paid a glance on her unseemly quiet friend. "What are you looking out there?" She asked Botan, who was staring at the window for quite sometime then.

When she did not respond, "Botan, is everything alright?"

After a moment of silence, "What do you think?" Botan said indifferently, without bothering to look at her worried friend.

Keiko took a deep, calm breath. "If you're worried about what happened—"

"If you think everything is okay right now, you're clearly mistaken," Botan said sharply. "You know exactly as I, and everybody else, that he doesn't love me." She said this looking straight in her friend's eyes.

Keiko paled at what she saw. A great amount of pain in those glassy-lavender eyes that was very hard to repel. "Oh, Botan. Of course he does you. It may sound funny but I could see it in his eyes."

Botan lowered her eyes, and fell silent. "What you saw in those fucking eyes is nothing but bullshit." If it was a normal conversation, Keiko would have laughed, and then give Botan a sermon at her choice of language. It was Yusuke and Kuwabara's influence, undoubtedly.

It was almost ten and the ceremony would have to begin. Keiko and Botan sat in silence. Keiko waited for her friend. Botan, well, she just waited for the floor to swallow her alive.

"C'mon, it's your wedding day. We shouldn't be forlorn, or something." Keiko broke the silence with a rather cheerful voice.

After figuring she had no escape, Botan stood up.

Keiko handed her the bouquet, and then cupped her friend's face. "You're the most beautiful bride I've ever seen," she told Botan this, smiling. "You'll make him a good wife."

Botan managed a smile that did not reflect in her eyes. "It's a shame, really." Keiko waited. "He's just marrying me because of the baby."

"Of course that's not true," Keiko said. She felt her friend's pain.

"I'm not dreamy, like everyone thinks I am," she felt like shaking her friend. "He doesn't love me, Keiko. God, he doesn't even want me." Her raised voice stopped any response from Keiko.

Botan was absolutely stunning in her dress. Her fair hair was neatly done, secured by flowers in her head. Three months of pregnancy made her cheeks flush, and her eyes glimmer. Her growing belly was still unnoticeable. The bride was achingly beautiful, thought everyone who saw her that day.

They were walking their way to where the ceremony was held, when Keiko finally had the courage to know what her friend meant. "Why do you say so?"

"Because he's in love with someone, who's everything but me," she said. With one final glance at her friend, Botan walked towards the isle. Feet firmly on the ground.

Author's Notes

This is the revised version. I want to apologize for those who've read the first draft. I have to revise the whole chapter simply because it's all wrong,

Anyway, thank you for reading.