Note: So, this is my first attempt to make something, and it's of course Kurotan, or Botan x Kurama. I do not own Yuu Yuu or any of it's characters because if I did, well I'd simply have drawn Kurotan and made millions. I do have the rights to the plot, any original characters, and the story due to them being of my creation.

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"But if you refuse, you'll be condemned-!"

"I find that as a sufferable fate."

"How could you say such a thing?"

The expression etched into his handsome features was uncanny, yet still, his carelessness seemed to drive the bubbling shinigami to ends in which only Urameshi Yusuke could only dare to attempt. Her lips pulled into a serious pout, temporarily losing her childishness as she stared intently at the stubborn youth. "Why is it that you would rather attend to such an unbearable loneliness instead of being able to finally find peace and happiness?" Her voice quivered lightly as she crossed her arms before her, trying hard to understand the melancholy attitude presented before her.

"Beg my pardon, but you of all people shouldn't be speaking to me in such a way."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

The brunette's lips pulled into a frown as his bright eyes stared down upon the blue haired woman, almost seeming as if he were trying to sympathize with her in his own way. "You are a shinigami are you not? Guiding the restless souls to their specified area, such a lonely, depressing job that would be for someone of your persona, for you're atypical of death. However, I'm in love with someone, and I simply cannot leave them behind."

Botan was lightly taken aback by his statement, tapping her temple wearily at his words. She certainly did not have the time or the will to ask about his sudden passing of judgment upon her, but still, it would be something that she would ponder heavily upon in a later time. "Regardless of how I may be perceived or why you're resisting, lingering may seem like a good idea while the one you love is alive, but what happens when they too pass? Your choice will not allow you to simply rewrite the consequences that you'll pay if you voluntarily try to escape judgment. Please-"

"It's not a matter of that. I said that I was in love with someone, not that I loved them."

Botan gave him a quizzical look, and he simply gave a sigh in response. "It would be a waste for me to speak of such, for you obliviously do not know the difference between the many acts of love," His statement seemingly set the woman in a strangely foul mood as she suddenly became impatient with him, "but regardless, I cannot go with you. The one that I love may be alive and well, but the one that I am in love with is wandering aimlessly, waiting for me. I cannot leave her behind as she did not leave me behind, so I will share her fate of damnation, and there is nothing more that you can say."

Once more, Botan's lips rose in objection, but the warmth of his large hands silenced her as they gently cradled her face. He gave her a tepid smile, melting away the light dab of disdain she had acquired for him during their small intervention. "I know you don't understand, and for that I apologize, but when you're in love –there is no waiting. If one dies, then the other must also, that has become a rule. She passed last night in a car accident, and considering I no longer had a reason to live, I gave myself enough time to say goodbye to those I loved before I too died.

"She gave up an eternity of bliss to stay by my side, so I too will do the same for her. Such an insufferable fate, as you so called it, will become sufferable because we will be together."

He removed both his stare and his hands, finding that he suddenly became overcome by a sensation of the life that he had lost twice before. "I'm sorry," He returned his attention to her, quietly lowering his voice, "but she's waiting for me, and I am only obligated to her. We won't allow you to be jeopardized because of our selfishness, but I refuse to accompany you." And with a shocking kiss to the tender of her forehead, the youth disappeared into the quiet mist of the rooftop.

To say that Botan was both baffled and caught between a tragic joy and an underlying worry was an understatement, the shinigami was rather riddled with emotions. She felt a migraine beginning to form, pressing her dainty hands to her temples as she began to rub them, letting her large, bellowing sleeves hover from the movement. What exactly was she to tell Koenma-sama when she returned to his office without the soul she was responsible for collecting? She let out a loud sigh as she gently tapped the top of her head with a balled fist.

"Ah, stupid Botan. Such a love fool you are."

Her voice had taken a quiet whine as she once again sighed in defeat. She really hadn't put up much of a fight to be honest, but only because the male just seemed so set upon the idea of love. She gave a childish pout as her eyes fluttered lightly, looking into the dark sky that was clouded over by the thick mist of the rain. It seemed rather silly for her to have fallen for such an act, but really the idea was so romantic that it made her feel so comforted despite the future talk that she would encounter with Koenma. She smiled, sometimes the most incredibly unbelievable feats were only capture by such an unpredictable force, but that simply made the world worth living.

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With barely a foot upon the scene of the event, small knees began to shiver beneath the soft of a pink kimono. The expression etched upon the face of the shinigami was indescribable as large eyes glassed over with fright and heart wrenching pain, she knew that the only things that she would find at this very point in time would be woes and brokenhearted moments. Already, the scent of death rose to her nose, making it scrunch as the light rise and fall of the wind acknowledged her deepest fears. Her friends had passed, and their souls simply lingered about as if waiting for her to ferry and guide them along to their designated paths. She breathed, trying to push aside the awkward silence that dared to overthrow her courage as she began to scout the area.

Her hearing was distracted by the loud pounding of her heart as vibrant peony eyes roamed around the isolated area unsure. Her body ached as her fingers nervously began to toy with one another, knowing that it seemed as if her nerves were shot more because of her anxiousness. She hadn't found any sign of peril thus far, which perhaps was a good thing, but not entirely knowing made her feel something stressed more so than relived. Had it not have been for Koenma's rather rigid disposition when he spoke to her earlier on she would have been a tad bit more relaxed, but that had not been the case at all. She could faintly recall the vividness of the memory, the way that the dark chocolate of his eyes were upon her as soon as she opened the door contrasted with the façade upon his older form.

It wasn't a wonder that something was terribly wrong when she was greeted with an adult Koenma, but she hadn't at first suspected that it had anything to deal with the likes of her companions. She hadn't even been able to let the prince utter a word before she was upon him, leaning dangerously over his desk with worrisome questions ruining her cheeriness that had only been present a mere two seconds before. There weren't sugar and candy cane lanes to sugarcoat the truth this time, and when he spoke, it was as if she were speaking to King Enma instead.

"Botan, something happened in the Hodikei Forest of Makai.."

That was all she needed to know before her legs sprung into action. She and Koenma had a special bond, one that went without words, much like what she shared with her smaller group of companions. She never needed explanations, but to keep up the conversation and the feeling of appreciation, she always allowed the teller to continue on with their stories or statements. Not this time, she was well aware that she was not capable of sitting still any longer than she could, she didn't have the time. The strong voice of Koenma called after her once she sprinted from his office and down the hallway, pushing unapologetically through the surprised workers lodged in the hallway. She hadn't a clue as to what Koenma was going to initially tell her, but she knew that when he was in her adult form and gave her such a glance, it was something terribly horrible.

That, and she was suppose to have accompanied Yusuke and the group to Hodikei before she decided to deal with the youth.

And that was how she ended up in some desolate area shrouded by dark wildlife and forces.

She paced herself, trying desperately to relax as she journeyed further into the clearing, having traveled for well over fifteen minutes and not spotted one thing out of place. Apparently, she had spoken too soon as her she heard the soft 'splush' sound of her sandal dipping lightly into a puddle. She peered down, almost having lost her nerve, and then realized that perhaps such hadn't been the best of ideas. Her heart sped up dramatically as she realized that the dark splatter was of blood, human blood no less, and treaded around her once she glanced to find the source. Now overcome with franticness, she began to pursue an outright run to where heavy sums of crimson rested, disturbingly connecting it as a path.

She could not make out the scenery as it blurred past her, nor anything that was outside of her own hazardous breathing and panicked heartbeats. She continued on deeper into the dark of the area, carelessly forgetting about her other senses as she was overcome with desperation and utter fright. Her friends were in trouble, had gone in over their heads, and she had been walking slowly like a domesticated kitten thrown into the wilderness! They could be in critical conditions, their lives ticking away with every precious second, and had she had been in her right mind –she'd have rushed about and found them by now. Guilt seemed to smother everything else as her head began to pound in pain, making her shutter unknowingly.

She had been so consumed with her thoughts that she failed to notice the sudden obstacle before her, stumbling over its massive frame before wildly being thrown to the ground. The impact put her into discomfort, and once she gathered herself, pain shot from her legs and through her spine. She gave out a low cry, rolling herself over swiftly to glance at the aggravating cause for her fall in the first place. Her body went into shock at the sight of a badly bruised body of Kuwabara Kazuma's. It took three minutes before she could react, instantly crying out as she struggled to flip over his body.

She pulled his head into her arms, trying to cradle him as she shook him lightly. He had a pulse, as faint as it was above all else, but he was alive. The orange 'abomination', as Botan often affectionately called it, was matted down to his face by mud and dried clumps of blood and who knows what else. He looked terrible, almost unrecognizable in the face as his jaw was shoved deeper into his skull and his cheeks swollen with blue and black inserts in the flesh. Botan could not help but acknowledge the tears that began to dribble down her cheeks and onto his face, shriveling slightly when she heard the most disturbing rumble rush his throat. It sounded as though he was choking on something, and as her fingers tried to soothe the linings of his neck, that something spurted from his lips in the vilest form ever created.

She shook strongly, trying to contain her sobs as she tried to calm herself, knowing that she would have to find the others before trying to succumb to her inner vulnerability. Grudgingly, she finally slid Kuwabara back to the ground, propping him carefully upon the bark of a nearby tree to make sure he wouldn't choke to death due to his body's position. She looked at him painfully, and quickly turned on her heel to sprint in her former direction. She had to find the others, there was a growing ache in her heart, and she needed confirmation. The strong aroma disgusted her as she furthered the forest, but soon she halted all together in distraught. In the center of her sight was the first person she had ever grown considerably close to, the first person that had ever questioned her never ending cheer and constant optimism, and the first and only person that she had ever passionately loved.

"Y-Yusuke?"

Her voice was cracked as it barely slipped from her lips, shivering like her body when her gaze had fallen upon the bare remnants of a body. Her steps were sluggish, her breath was absent, and then as if in a sudden rage, she sped with all of her might to him. He seemed so far away as she ran to him, that he was becoming a vanishing point with each step that she took, but still she made it to him. In one large moment of horror, she collapsed to his side, sweeping him up into her arms as her body unknowingly went into a seizure. "Y-Yu..Yusuke? Yusuke?" It seemed that the repetition had gone unnoticed by her brain as it refused to recognize her voice, astounding her insanity further than it had already progressed.

Beautiful eyes widened, splashed with the most outrageous levels of all gone wrong in the world. She was desperate, obsessively so as she searched for a pulse she knew was not there. Urameshi Yusuke was now nothing more than a dismembered corpse as she searched his visage for something to bare her tarnishing stability upon. She was greeted with garishly large eyes that dared to pop from their sockets and a jaw that seemed to barely be hanging on its hinges. Sharp fragments of a ribcage impaled the tender fingers that cradled the monstrosity that their owner had come to love, fidgeting as she began to convulse.

"Yusuke?! YUSUKE!"

Her voice was loud, bellowing around her in beastly echoes in a rasp that was due to the uncontrollable sobs that tried to exit her lungs at the same time. Large, bitter tears seemed relentless to beat the idea of the Nile River as they sucked away the moist of everything around the shinigami, clinging to the mutilated body of the reikai tentai before her. There was nothing left for her to mourn for physically, yet the skinned abdomen that was left was pulled into a shattering embrace. Botan cared not for the sheering pain of the sharp edges of a ribcage pulled apart embedding themselves into her own small frame, or the knowledge that his solid weight was now dispersed completely around her, leaving her with a one armed torso severed jaggedly, or for the sound of sizzling as her crocodile tears touched the somewhat charring flesh that clung sparsely upon the violated tissue and muscle left naked.

She had lost touch of reality, hearing her heart explode painfully as her bosom shifted lightly to cater to the explosion. She could not deal with the concept of his death despite her job description, especially in such a grotesquely gruesome way, feverishly holding onto him as her hand clutched clumps of hair that would remain glued sickeningly to her palms and nails until she washed them away. The world seemed nonexistent in that moment, like nothing had ever happened during her hundreds of years of existence before the present time and place. It was indescribable, the way that she felt, but that very thing could be said about the glimmering emerald orbs that watched her anguish unfold and corrupt everything around her.

In his wake, before the world became silent and calm, the last thing that he was to know was that he had been forgotten about for the likes of another by the only woman he'd ever love.

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Ending Note: So, that's the first chapter, or basically the prologue to the story. It'll get set in motion in the next chapter if it's confusing. XD Gawd, I hope you guys like it! Anyway, please review it, I'd absolutely love feedback and critics, even if it's negative. Constructive, of course, but if you can give me a good reason for being extremely rude, then hey. Go for it. XD