Oh, my! Botan created a series of events that were never supposed to happen. And this is the lead up to what the consequences are for her actions, whether everything turns out good or bad. Or maybe even a little bit of both, depending on who it's concerning.

"Yukina," Kuwabara mumbled groggily, "you don't needa see this."

The plea for her departure only drove Yukina to cling to her brother-in-law's weak wrinkled hand. She was familiar with death, she was a demoness after all. Death was the way of demons. Violence drove them to kill and they could only truly live when surrounded by death.

In his advanced age, Kuwabara was anything but frail. His skin was thinned and sagged making it easier to snag and draw blood. His eyes were clouded with cataracts, only able to stare vaguely into Yukina's hardened, sad eyes. But he was still all bulk. Muscles only just now beginning to flag in his recent inactivity.

His mind was another story. Most days he was fine, going about his day training the handful of young psychics in need of his help. On rare occasions he would wake up disorientated, a century's worth of memories and knowledge off setting whenever he would wake too suddenly. At those times Yukina would try to calm him, remind him of whom and where he was.

In the fog of his mind he would drill into her with blows meant for an unknown enemy. Always an accident, because in his confusion he flew on autopilot. Yukina never minded. How could she when one of her own was so obviously distressed. Besides, the flinches of an addled human couldn't do more than catch her off guard. Physically. Emotionally she was crushed to have to witness everything she knew and loved about her long time friend and brother slip away in those increasingly occurring moments.

Yukina had experienced the same phenomenon with Genkai right before her passing. Each blow made her cry; not with pain, but with the knowledge that soon the last of her most cherished people would be gone from her. She didn't want to be alone. Alone gave her time to fall to her nature of freezing up, of becoming a cold heartless bitch like Ice Maidens tend to do. She refused to become so embittered to the point of being capable tossing her own child from the edge of her world like her mother.

"Yukina," Kuwabara started weakly.

"No," Yukina hissed, cutting the bedridden man off. The audible grinding and protest of the bones in his hand had her backing off her tight grip.

"You didn't let me finish," he chuckled tiredly, his laughs turning into a wet coughing fit. Tears sprang to her eyes at seeing his strong body crumbling before her. She was determined to keep her gems in check even as she broke inside, wanting nothing more than to do something to ease his suffering.

"Please, could you bring me a hot cuppa tea," Kuwabara murmured distractedly, eyes and mind focused on something more than Yukina had ever been able to see. "The kind with the thing in it."

"The honey tea," Yukina stated. Years spent in the company of each other and they knew what the other was trying to say even if they themselves didn't personally.

"Yeah. With the stuff."

"The sweet creamer," Yukina said sadly, knowing Kuwabara liked to drink the overly sweet creamer because it used to be Hiei's favorite. Sometimes she would even sip a cup just to remember her brother in any small way.

Yukina leaned down a brushed her lips softly across the back of Kuwabara's slack hand. She lingered a moment longer than necessary, distracted by the scent of Death clinging to his skin. Though in this moment Yukina couldn't see her, she knew by the smell so dangerously encompassing Kuwabara that Botan was present within the room.

Botan was within her true nature; Death. Kuwabara, special, wonderful, insightful, Kuwabara could see the soul so raw. Yukina felt….nothing. Nothing but the ever dwindling life of the only person left with her. And with that erosion of life, she felt loneliness creeping in, waiting to strangle her with isolation and despair.

"I-" Yukina's voice cracked so bad she had to pause to clear out all that gravel of unspoken words lodged in her throat. "I'll be right back with your tea."

With a shakey move, she stumbled to her feet. A glance around the room showed that no one else was there. A quick glance down at Kuwabara's prone form told her senses they were dead wrong. Knowing she couldn't delay the inevitable, Yukina still spoke in a wobbly voice, hoping to buy even the slightest bit of time. Disgusted, Yukina knew it was more for her than for the man on the ground ready to move on. "I'll be…right back."

And she drifted out of the room at a fast clip, determined to return to Kuwabara's side while he was still able to be with her.