Covet

Summary: Look only at me. Want only me. Be mine only. Otherwise, I'll break you. Dark!Kurama and Botan.

Warnings: crazy Kurama, strong sexual innuendos, profanities, drug use (no, not those things you get addicted to in real life. When I mean drug, I mean like, plant drugs... if that makes sense), explicit and mostly rough smut (sorry, I just like that kind of thing), kinks, blood and possible gore, kidnapping and entrapment. And because this is a dark romance fic, a lot of insanity and psychological trauma. Not to forget obsession, of course. There's gonna be a very good dose of that.

Due to the aforementioned warnings, the relationship between the two characters in this fanfic will most likely be toxic and abusive. Note that I don't condone this in real life, nor do I support any of the things mentioned above if it's happening in reality. This is only for the sake of the story. If you don't like this, please don't read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 8

Kurama knew that he was probably taking it a little too far.

In hindsight, there were a lot of other alternatives to deal with the problem at hand. And they were a lot better compared to what he was currently planning to do.

On one hand, he could go back to the ballroom and find some way he was all too aware he would to get Hiei alone and use his plants on him to erase every bit of recollection of the encounter that had put him in this hot mess. He could do the same thing to Botan, thus resulting in his initial innocence, and making things a lot easier for him. Neither of them would have remembered a thing and he wouldn't have to do something that would undoubtedly scare her away. It would have been the ideal situation.

On the other hand, he could leave Hiei to his own devices and god knows when the irritating fire demon would land him in trouble next. It wouldn't take long for the others to notice him exhibiting such an odd behavior around him and begin to suspect that Kurama was responsible for it. Worse, he could be held into account for Shouji's disappearance and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. On Botan's part, he could abduct her and take her somewhere no one would find her, where he would have his way with her the entire night and the following days as well. He would keep her there until he was satisfied- and god knows, he never would.

Kurama opted for the third option.

He was going to erase Hiei's memories to ensure that nothing, and no one else, would be able to get in his way ever again. The fire demon was starting to become something of a nuisance after all, and it was beginning to get on his nerves. Kurama would admit, a part of him derived some sick, sadistic pleasure from birthing such a deep-rooted fear within the normally cold-blooded raven-haired Jagan user towards him- it was partially the reason why Kurama chose not to wipe away the messy interaction they shared from Hiei's head, despite knowing that it would be for the best. But he hadn't expected Hiei to manifest his feelings in public, and it was quite a bother, if he had to be honest. He didn't need any more pests that would try to stop him from sinking his claws into a certain ferry girl. Yusuke hadn't noticed before but it would only be a matter of time before he did- and his hardheadedness would surely making things very difficult for Kurama.

And regarding Botan- sweet, naive, gullible and adorably tempting Botan- he didn't have to pretend nothing was going on. He could capture her and have her all too himself, and she wouldn't be able to do anything but take everything he would have to give her. If she wasn't willing, he would make it so that she was. Oh,yes. A smirk, sinister and dangerous, began to spread on his visage, causing his eyes to glint a menacing gold in the fluorescent blue that illuminated the darkness surrounding them. No one would notice she was gone; he would take precautionary measures to ascertain that, and that alone.

Despite her prior suspicion and caution towards him, Botan was still a bit too trusting as she followed him around after he had told her previously that they should discuss the issue at a more secluded place. He wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that she wanted to believe that he wasn't the way she imagined him to be- that it was all in her head and that she had made a grave mistake in her conceptions at some point- but he was going to take advantage of it nevertheless. It was cute, per se, that she harbored so much trust in him and yet he was deserving of not even a sliver of such blind faith. Blame it on their long years of knowing each other or the fact that they had gone through countless brutal ordeals together with the rest of the gang, but Botan was all too willing- almost eagerly so- to give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him a chance to prove that she was wrong.

If only he intended to then everything would have been just fine.

But he couldn't let such an appealing opportunity to claim her as his slip out of his fingers- albeit as cruel as the idea might be, but he wouldn't have to hold anything back- wouldn't have to keep the beast inside him in check. She would learn the real him and he would make her love him. Somewhere in the depths of his mind, he realized that the chains that kept the monster within him from running loose was being broken off, one by one, and though he should be worried about it, he was, in contrary, more than pleased.

"Kurama, what's going on?" Botan's voice resonated and seemed to echo in his ears, snapping him out of his more brutal thoughts. "You're scaring me."

The fox had led her to a dark, abandoned part of the building which, Botan noted, was the same one that Yusuke had told her and teased her about beforehand. It was on the second floor, and the entire level was left deserted due to the lack of plans of renovating the place. The neglected rubble and dust around her was due to some claims of the residents staying at the hotel that there had been more than a few encounters with ghostly apparitions- the second floor was then decidedly left to rot as no one was willing to stay here. And though the whole story had scared her, she was more shrouded in fear by the nauseating feeling caught in her throat as she pondered over the various things Kurama was planning to do with her. She knew she should have listened to her gut- if she had, she wouldn't have been stupid enough to follow him all the way here.

It was too late though and the more foolish part of her hoped that the whole thing would end up as a misunderstanding, or even as a poor, ugly attempt at a prank pulled by the redhead. It was the same thing that kept her rooted on the spot, and prevented her from bolting for an escape.

Kurama was somewhat honored by the fact that she was still letting her conviction get the better of her- call it silly or whatnot, but he found it endearing that she would even shower him with such obtuse belief. If only he hadn't been on an insane rampage from the very beginning, then he would have stopped himself and try to smooth things out for their own sakes. Unfortunately, he could feel himself slowly but steadily be swallowed by the thrilling madness and welcomed it all too well. He could have erased her memories and rectify things, but he opted to utter out a muted command for the plants that he had taken his leisure time to set around the building to make sure that his plans would go off without a hitch.

"Relax, Botan." His usually gentle timbre sounded chilling in the dimly lit space. "I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured her with a smile that seemed all too sickeningly sweet for the ferry girl.

Botan let out a nervous laugh, trepidation beginning to slowly but steadily creep under her skin. "You're not making any sense," she tried to come off casual, but the effect wore off by the trembling of her voice. "Let's head back. I don't like this," she went on, this time in a tone that hinted at the panic rushing through her as Kurama's smile broadened just a little.

The blue-haired maiden whirled her feet around to flee for the lift but was promptly halted in her tracks as vines slithered through the small openings in the wall, before covering the door to the elevator to prevent her from taking flight. She went for the stairs, but a demonic plant popped out from the tiny crack on the floor, briskly spouting into an orange flower, the petals unfolding themselves to reveal a row of sharp, pointy teeth. Alarming sirens rang in her head, cold sweat beading her forehead before she flicked her wrist to summon her oar, only to stop herself as more vines glided upwards, downwards, and from the sides to block the windows, crushing any chance of escape and rapidly obstructing any source of light. However, the redhead ordered another plant to come out from behind the dark shadows surrounding the pillars around them, the flower small but radiating off a blinding shine that served to give the both of them an orange glow.

Botan couldn't help but bellow. "This isn't funny, Kurama. If this is your attempt at a joke, it's poor and badly executed!" Her hands curled into fists at either sides of her hips, shaking in what she hoped was anger and not fright.

To her horror, the tender smile on his lips was replaced by an evil grin. "This is, by no means, neither a prank nor do I have any intention to jest," he responded, taking calm but frightening steps towards her.

The ferry girl backed away with every thud of his feet against the floor. "You're-" she was cut off by the feeling of something cold and flat against the surface of her back, and swallowed down a lump as she realized she was cornered against the wall, "not acting like yourself."

His words felt like icepicks as they stabbed into her skin, cold and unforgiving. "I haven't been myself for as long as I could remember."

Botan felt the vomit that she had managed to shove down starting to crawl its way back up her throat, but suppressed the overwhelming dread that threatened to swallow her whole as she spoke,

"It was you, wasn't it? You did something to Shouji." Her voice was barely audible- she couldn't hear herself but she was uncertain whether it was due to the terror gripping her at her sides or the loud and speedy thumping tempo of her heart. "Hiei found out so you threatened him. That's why he was being weird."

Kurama removed his hands from the safety of his pockets as he placed one arm over the left side of her head, whilst the other one reached out to trail along her right cheek in a tauntingly soothing manner. Botan fought the urge to cower in fear and glared up at him as he cocked his head to the side. "Hm. Yusuke underestimates your intellect. You're actually quite smart, Botan."

She felt the color drain from her face; he didn't answer her directly, but the words were more than enough to confirm her suspicions- ones that she had prayed to the gods wouldn't end up being true. But the reality was standing right in front of her, laughing at her expense and her absolute stupidity that got her to this predicament.

"I don't understand why," she whispered, despite already having an inkling idea of what it could be. She was a fool, but she wasn't as dumb as a rocks. There could only be one reason, after all.

Nonetheless, she felt like she needed to hear it- at least to allude herself into thinking that this was probably a sick joke. She hoped he would back off and laugh at her for taking him too seriously- that it was all a terrible prank that he pulled in order to scare her. But she didn't think anyone would take such a horrible jest so far- still, she begged for Kurama to give her some sort of a hint that this was all her nerves getting the best of her. She couldn't believe someone she had known for more than five years was capable of stooping so low.

His touch was cold, almost like ice pricking into her flesh, as he proceeded to run lazy, teasing circles over the roundness of her cheek. He seemed to consider something.

"I like you," The tip of his fingers ghosted over the glossy, soft texture or her pinkish lips. Botan jumped at the contact and visibly tried to scurry away, pushing herself further into the wall, "that's why."

Truth be told, Botan would be lying to herself if she were to say that she wasn't even the least bit attracted to him. After all, Kurama was a godly good-looking man, and was even more alluring in his demon form. On top of his exterior appearance, he was also a kind and gentle soul. His efforts of making his mother happy didn't go unnoticed by her, neither did the warmth he exhibited around his peers. She could vividly recall the friendly banters they shared- could painfully remember the nights they spent talking about what books they liked to read. Kurama was the only person who treated her like an equal- the others would always poke fun at her for being a klutz and a scatterbrain, but he was the only one who assured her that she was nothing of the such. He had never judged her, nor did he ever gloss over certain details he thought she wouldn't understand. He was always so sweet and so funny, and he would always try to make her days better after exhaustion from work had flooded her. He treated her like a queen, second only to his mother and she loved that the most about him. She knew who he was. She wanted to believe that she knew who he was.

But life had always proven to be cruel, slapping her harshly across the face with the cold, ruthless truth.

"I don't want this," she murmured. The tension was foreboding. "I never asked you to do this."

The smirk plastered on his visage faltered, a slight crack in his usual unperturbed composure as malice shone through the gold peeking in his eyes. He drew apart from her, the iciness of his touch dissipating and leaving in its wake only the feeling of apprehension in her throat.

Kurama stuffed his hands into his pockets once more, another grin creeping up his face- this time a lot more tender, but ominous all the same. "You'll learn to forgive me sooner or later. I'll make sure of that."

Confusion slipped through the cracks of her terror as his words caused another question to appear in the recesses of her mind. But before Botan could utter out a word, an odd, sweet fragrance intruded her nostrils. Her eyes widened into saucers before she swiftly clamped a hand over her mouth, ensuring that her palms also occluded her nose to hinder the smell from entering.

The fox rumbled a low and amused chuckle in his chest, before the sounds quickly faded into thin air as his eyes flashed at her in a dangerous manner. "You're welcome to close your mouth and nose if you want, but this plant's objective is not achieved by scent and scent alone." He stretched out his arm to snake a hand into her blue hair, fingers running and twirling with the sky colored locks. "The smell is of no importance, it's what inside the fragrance that matters. It's capable of going through your pores, through the holes in your ears, through the slight cracks in your eyes, and then it will reach your brain and trigger sleep mode. That's about the only thing it can do, but it does assist me a lot."

His voice was wicked as he inched closer towards her and tilted his head to the side, his hot breath fanning over the shell of her ear as his timbre dropped a few octaves lower to that of a chilling whisper. "There's no escape from it, no matter how much you struggle. At some point, you're going to be forced to give in." And as if on cue, Botan could feel her energy sapping away.

The last thing she felt was Kurama's lips slamming against hers before darkness soon claimed her.