Once Upon a Razorblade

Disclaimer: I own no part of Yu Yu Hakusho. But steal my plot and you will suffer.

Interlude: Summons

Botan peers into the room, her now-somber eyes scanning the familiar form.

"Well, Koenma, sir, what was it you wanted?"

The junior Lord of the Dead sighs.

"Listen up, Botan. I'm going to let you see him."

"Wha—?"

"Kurama. But you must promise me not to speak to him or not to let him know that you're there or anything! Got it?"

Botan is at a loss for words.

"But, sir... Why?"

Koenma sighs.

"You haven't been doing your job right. Yuusuke hasn't been doing his job right. No one's been doing their job right since Kurama's gotten here. We can't afford for this to be happening. Yuusuke has a major case coming up. He can not have any distractions." Koenma sighs again.

"All I want you to do, Botan, is to see for yourself that he's okay up here and tell the others that worrying and mourning him isn't going to change the fact that he's dead. Jeez, it's not like we sent him to the seventh pit of Hell or anything like that."

"Y-yes, sir. Thank you."

"Jorge will show you the way to his room. Jorge. JORGE!"

"Yessir!"

Author's Space

The closest thing to humor you're going to get.

Bad News: Editing's a bitch and Part Three needs revamping before I even try to post it up. Count on a long wait between chapters. No, I haven't finished the story, but I'm dangerously close. At this rate, I'll be done posting it all by some time in May.

Good News: (of a sort) Angst will probably be on the way. I'm so tired I'm not quite sure how to write in the genre anymore, but I'm working on it.

No soundtrack.

Sorry if QuickEdit screwed some things up—last time they squashed words together.

Next chapter: Chapter One: Penchant for Self-Destruction

You know the drill.

Thank You-s and Responses

Especially because I didn't really expect people to send long reviews…

Aseret Kitsune

Niana Kuonji – I couldn't remember where I'd heard the word 'atavistically' before until I re-watched the end of the Chapter Black Saga, what with the Atavism of the Mazoku. Ha? Oh, yeah. I have a fetish for sharp-shinies, as well. And, well, let's just say that there's angst to come.

samuraiduck27

GreenEyedFloozy

DemonUntilDeath – (1)...I'm witty? My life's goal has just been accomplished. (3) No, there are no real pairings in this fic – though you could interpret his interactions with a certain three characters to be in an almost romantic way. (The truth? I wasn't sure about a pairing, so I left myself with three possible choices. Ha?) (4) Um… Life expectancy… Well… It's not that long. I've put a more precise number in future chapters. (5) You hit the nail on the head. Well, sorta. Yeah, his mother is one reason, but another is because his suicide attempt was a spur of the moment type of deal and not quite as scary as a terminal illness. Wow, that's a long response… Thanks so much – you gave me lots to think about…

ineXpressible – I was actually waiting to use the title in a later chapter. I like using the title in fics. It's really fun…

sakurasango – Thank you! I like suspense – it's like I'm trying to keep myself from finding out what happens next. And Kurama's a strong character. That youko pride keeps him from getting too hopeless. Hee. I love Shizuru. I'm planning on another Shizuru-Kurama romance fic either sometime before I finish this. And… Yeah. I'm trying to make this fic more than just darkness, because it's not the only component of suicide and depression. It's the struggle that sets up the stage for destiny to play out on.

And now, because so many people commented on it: The Title of Once Upon a Razorblade was thought up back when the story was still only a trio of loosely-related one-shots. Believe it or not, it's derived from the title of a play my school did—Once Upon a Mattress—which was apparently a romantic comedy. I thought this was a bit more edgy and fit the overall mood of the story.