Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Chapter I

Adieu, with Love

The wind was cold against her skin, untouched by the sun in the afterdark. The city lights illuminated the skyline in a picturesque scene of vibrant shades while cars crowded the road and turned the corners in regular intervals. People of different stature, from public elites to mere idlers, seemed one and the same as they jadedly walked the grimy alleys and pathways. She pitied them in their heedless drifting, as they were but mere specks in an earth ran by something far beyond what they could ever comprehend. Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but envy their ignorance.

She had wanted to be just like them. She had wondered how it would be like to live oblivious to the reality outside her own, to be free to dream limitless and desire even the impossible. She had long grown to be resentful of their capacity for such emotions, for she too hungered for the passion that burned with the greatest of needs, thirsted for the obsession that brought even the strongest of men to their knees. She should have known better. Unfortunately, she had learned far too late the repercussions that came with such worldly desires.

Although a year had since passed, that one fateful night remained vividly clear in her mind. In his wake, he had marked the ending of so much, and there was nothing to be done but accept it… and hurt. And it was nights like this that it ached the most, in the company of solitude, reminding her of the painful truth. She was, and would always be, alone. She had felt so ashamed, appalled with the weakness that had held her back crippled and ruined. She found peace in her regret, but even that had not been enough.

So she forced herself to forget, increasingly spending time in the Spirit World, and taking on missions that stirred her clear of the Spirit Detectives. The last time she had seen them was four months ago, on mere seconds that seemed like hours when she announced her resignation as their guide. She had received a questioning look from Kuwabara, a knowing grunt from Hiei, and a boisterous protest from Yusuke. She had not dared to look at him, familiar with the lethality of his indifference. She had not looked back since then.

But now, as she boldly floated over his house, she was suddenly flooded with emotions too familiar. The walls, which she thought she had successfully established, began to crack and tremble, and with each passing moment, its blocks tumbled down, piece by piece, dawning in her a brutal realization that felt like a hard blow in her chest. All this time, she had believed a lie, for she clearly had not forgotten. And like a cruel joke, she was caught utterly defenseless as the wounds reopened and the pain renewed, for there, through the clear panel of his window, revealed in its overwhelming clarity the truth she had tried to deny for so long…

There he was sitting on a chair with an elbow on its arm. His eyes were closed and his head was resting comfortably on his hand. However, what shattered her all over again was the woman kneeling forward with her lips pressed against his.

…he still held her heart, and she could do nothing but watch and feel as he bled it dry. But what killed her the most was the realization that no amount of devotion would make him love her, in this lifetime, or another.

It was a simple mission that involved no hostility of any sort, a simple retrieval operation of a third-class relic in the Demon World. However, she was proven wrong when she was paired with a most unlikely partner. Koenma insisted that he should tag along, as he was quite familiar with the location they were supposed to investigate. And wanting to escape the tortures of hell, even for the short-term, he had gladly accepted the prince's demands. She, on the other hand, had no other choice, for his backing would greatly increase their chance of finding the artifact.

So here she was, in unfamiliar territory, stuck with a demon she barely knew. True to his nature, he had not wasted any opportunity to slaughter anything that breathed, and considering his unrelenting enthusiasm for violence, it would be with no surprise if she, too, were to wind up with her head blasted into scraps. There was not much she could do, for she was just a servant to Enma Daioh and nothing more, while he, a former accomplice of Taguro, was a known villain with proven history of rabid insanity.

In shorter words, he was Karasu, and she was just Botan.

"We really should be looking for a place to stay for awhile," she started with a worried frown when she felt the splatter of raindrops against her skin.

"Scared of a little shower?" he smugly asked.

"No," she trailed in a fume, "I'm tired and my feet hurt." All she needed was a few minutes of breather after miles of trudging through unfriendly ground. Was it too much to ask? Apparently so when it came to the snotty mass of arrogance that was the crow-demon, and the chance to prove her point came when he indifferently replied, "Which reminds me why weaklings bring such inconvenience."

"It's not my fault I wasn't born a freak!" she retorted, spurting incoherent words under her breath as she tried to figure how to survive the entire mission without killing herself from frustration.

The demon replied casually, "Ouch, the harsh words."

"I thought you're supposed to make this easier, but it's been two days and we still haven't got a clue." She glared at his back. "We're going nowhere when all you do is blow up the next available demon."

"Would you rather have them eat you alive?" he asked, as if the answer was not glaringly obvious.

"Of course not!" She gritted her teeth and her face turned red in anger. "But we could have taken a good amount of helpful information from all those unfortunate creatures you've just mercilessly barbecued!"

Karasu lifted a hand to flick a stray of hair from his neck. "Remind me next time to offer you as exchange for some information," he said blankly, almost cynically.

"Why you arrogant jerk!" This time he ignored her, and it made her all the more aggravated. Here she thought Hiei was a prick, but this man was so much worst. He irritated her at every glance, every turn, and every word. She could not understand her frustration when they were but strangers to each other. "Hey, are you listening to me!" she seethed, envious of his strapping confidence, and bothered at how little he thought of her that he could stay so eerily calm when she was, quite literally, steaming.

Unexpectedly, the demon came with a question, "Would it help?" he asked.

She looked at him curiously, her head cocked to the side.

"Would it help?" He threw her a glance over his shoulder. "If I listen, would you stop talking?"

She gasped at his audacity. "Absolutely not, I can talk whenever I want to!" she exclaimed, pausing for a moment in order to compose herself. "Why do you have to make things so difficult? I can't start to imagine what Koenma was thinking when he asked you of all the people."

He turned his attention to the path ahead before inserting both hands in his pockets. "You're stuck with me whether you like it or not," he spoke without looking back. "That won't change, at least not for a few days, so you'll just have to learn to deal with it."

She knew he was right, but she would never dare to admit it, and so with all her pride, she responded with no further delay, "Just the reason why I feel sorry for my self, for I could have had anyone, but here I am stuck with you. I could have asked Lord Koenma for a more sympathetic, better-looking partner." She threw him a defiant stare. "But I didn't have a choice, did I? So I ended up with the most insensitive, unappealing guy ever!" She gave a snort, a challenging smirk was written on her face. "I'm not even sure I can call you a guy with your odd obsession over pretty little boys."

He stilled.

Hah! Finally heard something that made you stop, you jerk! she thought in triumph when his arms dropped to his sides. However, it was too late when she noticed something terribly wrong about his silence when he reached up to remove his mask. She froze in her spot, the smug look on her face, gone. She gulped. The seemingly insignificant metal veil was not there for trend or style, she knew of its purpose, and that knowledge was what set off the warning bells in her head. He turned and she was rendered speechless. No, he was not attractive at all, this man—he was beautiful.

At a snail's pace, he walked towards her. In response, she withdrew until she found herself backed up against a tree. "W-what are you doing?" she asked in a stammer. Her eyes widened in anticipation. It was then when she realized that it rained harder. "Karas–" "I could pass right through all your mocking remarks, but if there's one thing I couldn't ignore…" he trailed as he closed the last of their distance, then braced his hands on the trunk on either side of her, trapping her in. In a painfully slow speed, he leaned down so he could whisper in her ear, "It's you questioning my sexuality."

She shivered when she felt his breath against her skin. His scent, a mix of lime and sandalwood, invaded her senses with a myriad of sensations that nearly overwhelmed her. "I assure you, Botan, that I'm a woman's man." His voice was deep and husky with a promise that made her knees feel unnaturally weak. "To prove my point…" Then, before she knew it, his lips were crushed against hers. She froze the second time that day. Her heart was pounding so hard that it was deafeningly loud in her ears.

She felt her resistance weaken as she slowly closed her eyes and began to respond, submitting to the insistent caress of his lips. She found herself helplessly intoxicated with the taste of him, blended with a tang of power that was uniquely his. She was both surprised and frightened by the unfamiliar heat that coursed through her body, leaving her with an aching need to sate a hunger unlike any other.

She should be angry, for he had just stolen something that was never meant for him. But at the split second when his lips met hers, it was then when she realized that she was willing and prepared to go beyond the known to discover something new.

End of Chapter One