Author's note: drafted this during a zoom class went wrong, and edited it during my lunch break lmao. I was somewhat… inspired.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Pairing: Kuronue/Botan


Of lilies and roses.

Synopsis: Uhm, some canon bending monstrosity. Still cherish it, tho. Botan's pretending to be a florist and ends up attracting a potential customer for the wrong reason. Said customer's a bit edgy. And a bloodsucker.


That was a bad idea. A terrible idea. At least that's what everyone besides the guys told Botan.

But the boys and Enki judged the demon world safe enough by now. Safe enough for a spirit to trot around alone and spark friendly conversations with passing demons. It sounded too good to be true, but taking the risk "might establish and strengthen the blossoming trust between the three realms."

They picked something simple like Kurama had suggested —flowers. Unlike what was told about demons, their courting customs and decorative sense were not so outta pocket. And they liked oddities like flowers -human flowers- that could stay still and not try munching off anything that came in a breathing distance from them. The location was trickier to decide, but doing it at the upcoming demon world tournament made sense. Human and Spirit guests had been more numerous over the years, so she probably had fewer chances of sticking out like a sore thumb among the crowd.

All things considered, that move was sure to intrigue them. And, as Kurama had said, the little project did quite well. For the most part.

"How strange."

An unfamiliar voice, deep and mysterious like the night, echoed behind her.

Botan jumped out, surprised. As she turned and got a glimpse of who sneaked behind her, her eyes widened. She hadn't felt him approach nor noticed him before now, which was strange. This demon was not the type that could go unnoticed among a crowd that, until now, had been made of what Hiei would call "greasy weaklings".

He looked like a dark hole in the colorful crowd. Somewhat discreet until your eyes found it.

His impressive height, coupled with muscular arms crossed across his chest, struck her first. Even with the couple of feet between them, she still had to crane her head to take him all on. The outfit he wore was a patchwork of ripped and rough black materials and leather —a strange choice for a warm day like that one. But, looking at the extreme whiteness of his skin and the overall atmosphere surrounding him, she almost felt cold. His skin was so much paler than hers, creating a stark contrast with his dark outfit.

A glinting crimson red pendant captured her attention. It dangled against the bare skin peaking from his top, acting almost like a third eye —the longer she stared at it, the more uncomfortable she got. Creeped out, she decided to advert her attention to his face instead. But, the colossal hat he wore cast a shadow over his features, making them barely visible. Though, she still had a feeling he would be handsome. Humanoid-looking demons mostly were in her experience.

Something shifted behind him, flicking long strands of ebony hair over his shoulder.

It looked like… wings at his back? A bird demon, perhaps?

Suddenly, she was reminded she had been staring and straightened her posture awkwardly. "H... Hi, sir. Would you like a flower?"

Botan hesitantly held out a lily out for him, her smile as friendly as she could manage. She made sure her body language was open enough not to suggest any malice on her side, but she also stayed on her guards in case he had the funny idea to harm her. Not that she thought he would. He seemed powerful and distinguished, and hopefully knew better than spill innocent blood at Enki's tournament —and incidentally trigger a political conflict. If even the scums at the entrance who used to bully her and the girls had not tried anything, she was sure he could curb his urges.

And he had been patient throughout her whole physical inspection of him. Surely he would be no danger if she kept her calm?

The unknown demon moved his head, making it possible for her to catch his eyes —narrow and of a murky blue. The same color as the ocean's depths. His gaze slowly fell on the flower before traveling back to her face. He did not answer immediately, and that almost deterred her, but she kept her arm up and smiled as genuinely as possible. He eventually spoke, voice furtive like smoke yet still commending as he nodded to the flower basket swinging at her other arm. "Where did you get these? I don't think I've ever seen such species before."

"Oh," she brought the basket up as if she needed to check to get her answer, "From the human world."

The mention of "human" seemed to pique his interest, as his expression momentarily shifted, eyes widened slightly. But his face turned contemplative once more. "Are you sure about that? As far as I know, the human species don't handle the demonic air quite well. They either end up faltering, or they mutate in not so pretty things." he said this with a light frown, but she could have sworn his eyes now glinted with amusement, especially when he noticed her tensing up.

Botan bit her lip, nervous at the sudden shift. She had not imagined he'd spare her more than three words, but it seemed like he was genuinely intrigued. Shrugging, she answered —talking was the main thing she knew how to do to soften up tension "These are slightly different… they underwent some kind of transformation to make them stronger against that demonic air and that... stuff. So, you just gotta take care of them like the good old flowers! A bit of sunlight, a bit of water, and..."

She trailed off, and sweat dropped as she noticed his judging stare. "Would you like to take one? It's free." she offered again.

"Did you grow them yourself?" he asked, still not taking the lily.

She dropped her hand and put the white flower back in her basket. "Not really. A friend of mine did. He's participating in this tournament-" she gasped and held herself from wincing at that. Maybe she said a bit too much?

The smile on his face took her by surprise. It looked almost knowing… as did the glint in his previously ruthless and calculating stare. "Kinda surprising someone with such green hands would be participating in this gorefest."

"What do you mean?"

"Killing and violence don't really go hand in hand with bringing things to life and making sure they survive, don't you think so?" he said, slowly eyeing her up and down with sudden interest. It didn't seem like a dirty, lusty look… but she could not quite shake up the feeling of dread fluttering in her stomach.

His words made her uncomfortable too. But mainly because she felt like it was calling her out as well, referring to her whole purpose as a ferry girl. It was indeed ironic she would be standing here, telling demons how to prevent things from dying.

"How is he doing so far?" his amused tone tore her off her musings. She frowned. His inquiry seemed almost challenging, and she could not let him think her friends were weak just because they valorized life or liked flowers.

Her chest swelled with pride, and her hands settled on her hips as she said. "Great. He always makes it to the semi-finals and keeps getting stronger every year. I've no doubts he'll go far this time around too! And without slaughtering anyone like a mad man."

"That sounds almost too good to be true… like a sweet little fantasy. I'm not sure I believe you."

She almost popped a vein at his smug smirk but decided to shrug instead, "You don't have to." forgetting momentarily who was in front of her, she huffed, crossed her arms, and haughtily turned her nose up. "If you're lucky, you may get to see him fight up close."

A very stretched-out and uncomfortable silence followed, during which she kept looking away for a distraction and internally cursing herself as bids of nervous sweat gathered on her forehead. Her eyes slowly slid to him, then quickly adverted. He was looking at her. Pointedly, as if she was a prey... or maybe out of curiosity? She could not tell.

The way the place started to empty made her anxious, and so did the bemused stares some demons sent their way. However, no one dared to get close. It was as if they knew that guy was bad news and that she had made a terrible mistake by engaging with him. And that should have probably been her cue to flee as well. As she was racking her brain for an excuse to take leave, his voice tore through the thick silence.

"Dangerous and beautiful."

"Huh?" she blinked at him.

"That's how I like them. If you have a flower that's as dangerous as your friend sounds to be, and…" he trailed off, giving her a smoldering stare that she was not sure how to interpret other than another red flag, "Nice to look at, just like you, I'm a taker."

"Uh," she said, raising the basket to fumble through it absentmindedly, not bothering to watch her words anymore. "I'm not sure what kind of bloody request that was, but… You may like this,"

She held out a rose —brightly red and full of thorns. Freshly cut. Kurama's ever-lasting signature. Thinking about it, dangerous and beautiful was a description that fit the fox demon more than anything or anyone. And roses were almost like a spitting image of him… just less breathtaking.

The strange demon seemed pleased as he studied the blooming flower in her left hand with an appreciative hum, "Gorgeous. Though I don't see much of you here…" as he reached for it, he abruptly stopped before his long fingers brushed past the stem and draped around her tiny wrist —his hand so big it covered even her own.

Botan yelped at the sudden contact of his icy hand on her and at how he had her tumble against his torso in a swift, stiff tug. She looked up at him, finding it hard to breathe properly. Being this close made her realize just how impossibly tall that man was… but also that he could break her like a twig if he wished to. "W…What are you doing?"

"There," he said as he plucked out the flower from her grip with his free hand and held her left one for her to examine, "You hurt yourself, little rose."

There was no time to cringe nor ponder on the sudden pet name, as the sight of her blood trickling from her fingers down her palm to her wrist made her freeze. She had not felt anything earlier thought? Were her nerves so overwhelming she wouldn't even feel the sting of thorns tearing through her flesh? But now, the pain was quite evident. She winced.

"Your blood smells great." she heard him say breathlessly as he brought her fingers towards his lips.

"W..Wait! What do you think you're doing?" she almost shrieked, trying to tug her hand from his grasp by hitting and pushing roughly against his chest, but to no avail.

"Shh, relax. I'm not going to eat you… or am I?" he teased, seemingly enjoying her panic, before she saw him dart out his tongue and felt his hold tighten. Oh no. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for a pain that never came.

Instead, something hot and wet, ticklish, started massaging her sensitive fingers, making her whimper. When she opened her eyes, she saw him licking the blood languidly away, running the tip of his tongue slowly from her fingertips to the heart of her palm.

Then, his playful eyes met hers, and the corners of his mouth quirked up as he engulfed her ring finger in his hot mouth and then released it with a barely audible popping sound.

It looked obscene and almost… sensual.

At that moment, she was sure her cheeks were on fire. And that wasn't only because of today's hot weather.

"You're lucky I don't get any kind of gratification out of eating people, or else…" he trailed off to flick his tongue on her wrist, cleaning away the smudged blood there, "I would have swallowed you all on the spot. That's some delicious blood you've got there."

"Stop it." for how agitated she was, her voice came out uncharacteristically firm. Yet, it seemed to amuse him more than anything.

"C'mon, I was just helping you clean up. Spirits rarely run in the wild here, so for a lot of lesser demons, it's a bit hard to resist the urge of spilling their blood once they get a whiff of it." he stopped his ministrations and punctuated the very disturbing statement with an inappropriately cheerful chuckle. "I was doing you a favor."

Her eyes narrowed. But he didn't drop her hand right away. Instead, his hot breath —a contrast to his touch— dangerously hovered over her pulse point. He closed his eyes, nuzzling her wrist. Then, he placed a soft kiss on her skin, so light she could have imagined it, before slowly releasing her hand.

She snatched it the moment his hold loosened and took several steps back, clutching both hands to her chest. "T... That was uncalled for!"

The outburst sounded weak and a bit dumb, but truthfully, she had no idea how to react. What happened felt almost like a fever dream, but she knew she had to say something. Show her outrage.

Aggravation took over her when he just smiled it away and mockingly bowed to her with a hand on his chest, and the other holding out the forgotten rose with more delicacy than she would have expected from him. "My bad. Next time, I'll make sure to ask before feasting."

She gritted her teeth, wishing stares could indeed burn holes in people's heads. Because, at the moment, that was the only thing that could possibly wipe that unnerving smirk off his face. "I thought you said you were 'saving my life?"

"And that I did! Enjoying the process was merely compensation since you don't seem disposed to thank me. Or would you?"

"Hell no."

"Well," still holding the rose, he reached behind his head, brushing some strands of black hair away before he tightened his ponytail. When his hands fell back at his sides, the flower had disappeared. Did he wind it around his hairdo? That reminded her vividly of someone else… "It's about time I head for the arena. To the next time, my dear-"

"Wait!" she called out, making him stop in his steps, "You're a contestant?"

A smirk, bordering on haughty and too knowing, slowly drew itself on his lips, and she wished she hadn't asked him any more questions and had let him leave instead. "Hopefully, you'll still be around, even after your friend gets eliminated. I'd quite like to see you cheer me on during the finals."

That was all it took as an answer. And she still wondered where she found the courage to call it bluff despite how cold the air started to get after he spoke.

"D… Don't even count it," she said. Of course, she would probably be at the finals. But that would be to cheer on Yusuke, Enki, and everyone else. Not him. "I don't know what miracle you're counting on, but…. "

He was gone before she could finish, leaving no trace of his passage save for a missing rose in her flower basket and the ghost of a chuckle. And the lingering feel of his tongue running up and down her hand. She tightened her fists.

Maybe she was the one bluffing. But… she still doubted he would make it. They would have all known if there were such a powerful demon around. As hidden as he kept himself, Lord Koenma or Hiei and Kurama would have known about him, right? … Right?

She should have asked him his name. Though, she had a hunch he would have misinterpreted her interest. "What a creep."

The air still felt cold. And it might have been her imagination, but Botan could have sworn the place had grown misty as well.


Author's note (2): okay… hear me out. Kuronue's a bat demon. Bats are often associated with vampires. Would make sense if the idea of sucking someone dry turns him on, right?

I was a bit inspired by the scene of Cloud getting a lily from Aerith for Tifa in FF7!

Also, I'll probably edit (finally) all the previous installments once it's Christmas break. Reading them makes me feel kind of bad

I thought of the next shot being a Kurama/Botan/Shizuru polyamorous one