"The first match will be Kurama versus Karasu!" Juri announced.
Botan immediately felt her blood run cold.
From her view in the stadium, she could see Kurama's impassive face as he stepped towards the arena floor.
The air in the arena was palpable ever since Team Toguro arrived in the stadium.
Koenma, Genkai, Botan… They all knew the Dark Tournament would ultimately result in Team Toguro versus Team Urameshi.
It had to. For the sake of both the living and spirit world.
The way Yusuke and the others intended to match up against the foreboding opposing team was concerning, to say the least, of how the outcome would be.
The battle had begun, but neither opponent made a move.
Kurama and Karasu were both surveying the other—calculating the best plan of attack.
To everyone's surprise, Kurama took an offensive stance first, stretching one arm above his head while the other extended below his waist.
"Hanabira...Toge," Kurama declared, summoning a flurry of rose petal blades around him.
Karasu remained unphased, even seemingly disinterested or unimpressed by the spectacle.
He fearlessly approached Kurama, allowing himself to be sliced by the petals along the way. Stopping abruptly as the petals became more aggressive, Karasu reached his hands out. The petals instantly combusted and fell to the ground in ashes.
Botan swallowed thickly.
Having just taken Genkai to the spirit world, that familiar feeling of dread in her gut was pulsating.
Despite her duty as a deity of death, Botan had an overwhelming sense of humanity. The past grim reapers had not been granted the same opportunities as she: working alongside Yusuke and Kuwabara—two spiritually adept humans, as well as Hiei and Kurama—two powerful demons.
There was an unspoken bond that had already taken form between this group of misfit saviors.
And now, Botan was faced with the strong possibility of losing one...or even more of them. The thought made her stomach wretch uncomfortably.
Genkai… she mourned solemnly.
"—Besides…" Karasu spewed in his sinister voice, snapping Botan out of her spiraling thoughts. "I found there's no greater rush than taking the life of someone you care for."
Kurama's stance tensed.
And in a flash, the game of cat and mouse began.
The eyes of Shizuru and Keiko, along with that of the low-ranking demons in the audience, would not be able to keep up with their quick movements. Botan, Yukina and Puu had worry etched across their faces as they struggled to keep up, as well.
Kurama landed, skidding across the arena stage as he narrowly dodged an attack by Karasu's hand.
Botan scanned him quickly for injuries. Seeing none, she placed a hand over heart, about to sigh in relief when—
Blast.
Kurama's left arm suddenly sputtered blood from its now-gaping wound.
She'd seen nothing near Kurama that could have done that damage.
"Like I said, it isn't necessary for me to touch you—it's just one of the perks," Karasu smirked with a sadistic gleam to his eyes.
His ability to conceal his energy—practically making it invisible—and morph it into lethal explosives placed Kurama at a serious disadvantage.
Botan held her breath. She and the others visibly flinched at the sight of his injury.
Just then, Karasu hailed a barrage of explosives onto Kurama, covering him in an overwhelming cloud of smoke.
No one could have survived a direct hit like that! She panicked.
"Got him," she briefly heard Keiko mumble.
Botan could no longer withhold the tears stinging her eyes.
I've already taken one person I love to Spirit World. Please don't make me take another… she silently pleaded; the pain of losing Genkai still a fresh wound in her heart.
The crowd stirred as the cloud of smoke slowly dissipated.
"I've seen all this before," the announcer Koto spoke excitedly into the microphone from the sidelines. "This battle is in for a heart-stopping facelift!"
A silhouette emerged in the remnants of smoke.
...Y-Yoko Kurama. Botan's eyes widened in both glee and fear at the immeasurable spike of demon energy he exuded.
With both opponents sadistic in nature, introductions did not last long. The battle ensued in a blur of explosions and Yoko Kurama's demonic plants.
Silence floored the audience as Yoko summoned the plant ojigi.
Its massive size and emanating demonic energy was a sight in itself.
Karasu's normally stoic expression had even lost its composure at the gargantuan demonic Venus fly-traps littering the arena.
In a flash, Yoko was once again on the offense as Karasu played a life-or-death game of tag with the deadly plant.
An audible gasp resounded within the stadium as the plant hovered over Karasu, quickly swallowing and enveloping his entire body in a vice grip. Yoko chuckled, golden eyes deranged with power and the thrill of impending victory.
You can win this, Kurama, Botan cheered hopefully, clenching her fists on her lap. Please win this.
After moments passed with no further movement from the ojigi, Juri announced the winner as Kurama.
The crowd was stunned with everyone thinking the fight ended fairly quickly considering the tension that built-up to this fight.
However, as Yoko began his triumphant walk off the arena stage, the ojigi exploded and Karasu landed unscathed in front of Yoko.
A maskless Karasu.
Smirking, Karasu began deeply inhaling. Slowly, his sleek black hair morphed into a mass of equally long blonde curls.
Karasu's deranged laugh echoed off the stadium walls, sending chills down the girls' spines.
He disappeared, suddenly vaulting into the air before plummeting down as a physical embodiment of a bomb directly where Yoko stood.
Botan knew she needed to breathe, but the landing and subsequent explosion was devastating.
The weight and intensity of Karasu's demonic power barreling into Yoko caused Botan's chest to tighten. She tightly clutched the fabric of her pants, waiting.
The rubble of what was left of the arena stage began to move. Kurama had survived.
When the dust settled, he was able to stand. But no longer as Yoko Kurama.
The silver hair had reverted back to the familiar layers of rose red.
Kurama… No. Botan shut her eyes and shook her head, biting her lip in disbelief. He can't survive this without his full demon energy.
Shizuru glanced at Botan from the corner of her eye, noting the way the deity's hands were balled into fists and the tightness of her eyes. There were tears brimming them, balancing delicately on her long lashes.
It didn't take a sixth sense for anyone, let alone Shizuru, to know that Botan's feelings and loyalty towards Team Urameshi ran deep. There was a definite companionship that Botan had with Yusuke, that was plain to see.
...And Kurama? Shizuru pondered.
Shizuru was also the only human besides Yusuke to know that Genkai was dead. She had been Botan's shoulder to cry on, knowing why it could not be revealed that Genkai had been killed at the hands of Toguro.
The importance of Team Urameshi defeating Team Toguro, along with the fragility of knowing that any of them could die in doing so, lead Shizuru to understand the weight of death on Botan's shoulders.
But when Kurama blindly charged at Karasu, only for his leg to be caught by the thing Karasu called his "mad bomb," Shizuru knew the fight was over. Kurama could not win in his current state.
The flurry of green orbs that suddenly surrounded Kurama… everyone knew what they were.
"You're tired. You're powerless. You're pathetic," Karasu spoke in a disgusted tone, before sending the orbs into Kurama simultaneously and at every angle.
Agonizing screams resounded within the stadium as the orbs exploded onto Kurama's body. His blood splattered everywhere around him, pooling down his body all all way to his feet.
"I can't watch him suffer like this," Keiko mumbled, turning her head away and clenching her eyes.
"Karasu is such a bastard. He's clearly playing with him now," Shizuru said disdainfully, quietly adding, "I wish he would just get this over with."
Botan twitched, seething with anger and frustration at the situation and Shizuru's callous words.
"I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again," Botan spoke harshly, staring at Kurama's mutilated body with tear-ridden eyes. "Kurama will beat him. Kurama can't die. He just can't," she continued erratically, clearly in denial and speaking mostly to herself. "I've lost one person I love to Toguro's team, I won't lose another," she finished, voice shaking with emotion.
Shizuru, Yukina and Keiko remained silent at her outburst of emotion.
Juri put the microphone to her mouth, ready to declare Karasu the winner.
Then, out of thin air, Botan felt Kurama's energy. A surge of it. It was his life energy and he shouted as it burst towards Karasu in a final attempt to defeat him.
Vines emerged from the force of Kurama's energy.
Is that a—?
The rare and insidious vampire tree from Demon World shot directly into Karasu's exposed chest and instantly began soundly draining his blood through its vines.
Kurama collapsed onto the arena floor seconds before Karasu's corpse hit the floor, already nearly drained of all its blood.
Minutes of nothing but silence—save for the sickening gulping of Karasu's blood by the vampire tree—passed.
Botan stood abruptly, forcing her shaky legs to stabilize her. "Oh, Kurama, please get up!" Botan shouted, willing him to hear her plea.
"He's not moving. Do you... think he's dead?" Yukina asked quietly, tightly clutching her kimono sleeves.
Botan looked to the girls next to her with disappointed shock. "Of course he's not dead. He can't be!" she argued.
"Accept it, Botan," Shizuru cut in. There was an edge to her voice. "He sacrificed himself to kill Karasu."
"Please wake up," Keiko pleaded, leaning forward as she held Puu tighter to her chest.
Both Team Urameshi and Team Toguro silently awaited the announcement for the final verdict.
"That's…" Koto began, cutting in for a speechless and disturbed Juri. "Hard to call."
Botan sank slowly back into her seat, mouth agape and eyes glazed over with an overwhelming paradox of emotion and numbness.
Is he… she thought solemnly, heart constricting with impending grief. He can't be… He can't—
The shift in air pulled Botan out of her impending grief.
Kurama's body shifted.
Shakily pushing himself up with his forearms, he rose slowly.
Team Urameshi visibly and audibly reacted with a mixture of disbelief and relief.
Botan found renewed energy and stood proudly with tears streaming freely down her face as she cheered happily for his life.
The second Kurama made it back to Team Urameshi—limping and holding his stomach—Botan vowed to properly heal him as soon as the rest of Toguro's team was defeated.
He could rest and slowly heal himself until then.
And hopefully, the rest of them would make it out alive.