[IC] Death wasn't a dream?

[Blue Demon]

Koenma wailed. It was doubly fitting because of his toddler like appearance. His young piercing voice echoed throughout the great cavernous room. And it was a vast room. Full of paperwork, that they were all ways desperately trying to keep up with. "Ogre!" Of course all the Ogres in the immediate vicinity paused and flinched. Then they all grabbed whatever paperwork that was near them and scurried off. Only a blue Ogre was left seen creeping up to his Boss' desk.

"Yes, Koenma, sir?" Ogre asked. His name was Jorge. Spelled with a 'J', pronounced with a 'G'. Koenma knew his name. Or at least Jorge thought he did, but he never used it.

"Where is file 37-C?" Koenma gestured to files 37-A and B, then to the empty space that should have contained C.

Jorge looked at the empty space then racked his brains. Where could have the file gotten to? He couldn't help but eye the other heaping piles of papers.

"Ogre!" Koenma shouted.

"I'll find it. Yes sir!" Jorge squeaked and hurried off before Koenma could really get to telling him off. It wasn't like they all weren't busy.

Koenma sighed and leaned back in his chair. He pulled some more papers towards him and stamped them all furiously. The 37 series was beginning to give him a headache. The number denoted which incident it was since the year had started. Unluckily for Koenma, 37 was in Tokyo. He tossed his stamp down onto the table and pulled the 37-A file back towards him.

His brown eyes examined the pages again. The newest incident was quickly escalating. At first it had been flagged, mainly because the children were using actual spells. After a short watch it was determined that none of them knew how to actually perform the rituals properly. Which was a good thing and it was marked as such. Thus was file 37-A.

File 37-B was when it got returned to his attention. Either the children wised up, or something else changed. Whatever it was, demonic energy jumped on the charts. Then after a short hike, it went back down. There were a few reasons for that. Most of them were not alarming. What it did mean was that nothing made it through. Or so they thought.

File 37-C was confirmation of a demon. Or it would be if it was on Koenma's desk.

"Ogre!" Koemna yelled again, throwing file 37-B at a completely different ogre. "Ogre!" He waved his feet as he yelled a second time, really getting into his tantrum.

Luckily for Jorge, he chose that moment to return with file 37-C. The aforementioned Ogre who had taken the file to the face, quietly placed that too on Koenma's desk and hurried off.

"Here Koenma sir." Jorge said passing the file over.

Koenma snatched it out of the ogre's hands. He ignored Jorge as he sucked furiously on his pacifier, reading the file.

One confirmed death, a teen there in Tokyo. Koenma shut the file and slammed it onto his desk. He did have a few agents there in Tokyo. Though the one he wanted on the case was otherwise occupied. Which left him with Yusuke. Koenma frowned and picked up on sucking his pacifier. Yusuke was throughly unsuited for being a spirit detective. He was brash, stupid and completely useless. But he was the only one he had in the area.

"Get me Boton." Koenma told Jorge, decision having been made.

"Yes sir." Jorge agreed and ran off, happy to be out of the room and away from the pending explosion.

[Genkai]

Botan enjoyed her life in The Spirit World. It was lively, never dull. The blue haired woman was glad to be working where she was, and for who she was, even if plenty of others in her shoes would shy at the task of transporting the dead from one world to the next, while answering to Lord Koenma and his father. Botan wasn't like most folks though, she was eager to see the good in people and have a laugh, rather than waste time sulking or worrying. It was that personality which made her a good match for the recently deceased people of Japan. She had a large section of people to look after but at the end of the day, she and her other Grim Reapers could sit back and know that they were helping people in their darkest hour.

Typically, she would report to the palace where she'd get her tasks for the day. She would make small talk with her friends and some of the ogres she knew before she'd set off for the Human World where she'd wait for the first task to come up. Today was a little different though. As she walked inside and helped herself to some coffee, she found Jorge bumbling toward her. Botan flashed him a smile before she went back to her preparations. She added a touch of cream and a heaping spoonful of auger. Jorge nervously said that Koenma wished to see her. "Alright, I'll go see him right away." She nodded and picked up her cup of coffee.

Most people who worked for the prince were often stressed out of their minds.

Botan however, wasn't.

Her chipper outlook couldn't be shaken by Koenma's stress inducing rants and temper tantrums. Instead, she often did her best to be the voice of reason and calmness. Botan took a drink before letting herself into the large office where she saw the man behind his desk, surrounded by the piles and piles of papers that all needed his attention. Inhaling, she stepped forward, her wooden shoes clacking against the polished tile under her. Her blue hair bobbed up and down slightly as she gave him a wave. "Good morning Koenman, sir." She greeted him before stopped in front of his desk. She had been with Yusuke during his trial to get back to his old life after he had sacrificed himself for a child who was about to be hit by a speeding car.

No one had considered Yusuke doing such a selfless thing. The high school boy could be petulant and thoughtless, so everyone had expected him to die much later in life, likely alone. But instead he shocked everyone and left those in charge with a mess to clean up. There had been no place for the boy and so it was decided that if they gave him his life back, he would owe them by becoming a Spirit Detective. It was an honorable role meant for people with high morals and promising attributes. Yusuke was not the best candidate but still, Botan believed there was good in him and that he could rise to the mighty occasion.

"What's on your mind?" Botan questioned, not sure why he would need her prior to her going off to continue her day-to-day duties. The blue haired woman never dreaded getting out of bed, not did she ever consider her routine boring. Meeting people and having the chance to look at the bustling city of Tokyo were some fun perks she was proud to have. In the back of her head though, she wondered if there would be another chapter to live, if someday she'd be able to see and do more than give lost souls rides on her oar. Either way, the woman was interested to see if today, there might be a different task given to her.

[Blue Demon]

The noise level in the room hadn't fallen at all despite Koenma's temper tantrum. The thing about working with a toddler was that all the Ogre were used to his temper. And like all things, they knew the transient nature of his anger. Once he was done yelling, he usually felt better. Plus, Jorge took the brunt of the young prince's anger. Which left the rest of the ogre free to tackle the unfathomable amounts of paperwork.

So when Botan entered the room, the noise level failed to subside. Koenma looked up from the files on his desk at the blue haired woman. He sighed loudly and looked at Jorge. When Jorge failed to anticipate what Koenma wanted the young prince grew angry once more.

"Tea Ogre! Tea!" Koenma cried as the ogre once more fled the room. Then he turned to Botan.

"You're still close with Yusuke correct? Our new spirit detective?" Koenma asked, but it really wasn't a question. His mind was already made up and whatever answer the reaper gave, wouldn't have any bearing on that decision. Yet he still asked. After all, a ruler didn't ignore his subjects. He picked up the three files he had been glaring at and passed them to Botan.

[Genkai]

Once Lord Koenma was done berating poor Jorge, Botan was hopeful that the tiny prince's attention could be fully focused on her, as well as whatever he was going to be asking of her. Botan was antsy and ready to get back to work with those back on Earth. In ther back of her mind, she knew they still needed to shepherd Yusuke Urameshi but for now, to her knowledge, he wasn't needed at yet which meant training could wait. Knowing him, the training would be a struggle since he didn't seem like the kind of boy who was interested in learning or listening to someone, even if it would save his life someday. After all, they couldn't bring him back a second time.

Yusuke's second chance was also his last.

"Ah Yusuke." Her ears perked up when Koenma brought him up. She had been keeping tabs on him but she hadn't had much immediate contact with him since they parted ways when his trial had been completed, after such haste. "Yes, what about him?" Botan asked him, hoping he wasn't going to mention some kind of case that he needed to handle. Yusuke was still adjusting to living again, not to mention his skills as Spirit Detective were still highly unpolished and thus risky to use so soon. She had things to teach him, information to pass along but she wasn't sure if it could be done under a time crunch. He then handed her some files and she took them and began to flip through them slowly, not sure what he was expecting of the boy, as well as herself.

It appeared as though there was some unrest in the human world and it seemed like Yusuke was going to be called upon to investigate. That was the deal after all. Botan licked her lips and then pressed them together. "I can't recommend using him so soon..." She tried to tell him though the blue haired reaper was aware that he was in a certain mood, one which didn't want to take 'no' for an answer. "If something is going on, I'd like to go with him so I can teach him the basics at least." She suggested, though she then realized that him summoning her may have been an inkling that she was to be tagging along on this first mission, as delicate as it was. "Oh, I suppose you may have already considered that." She laughed and scratched her neck with her free hand while her other still clutched the files.

"If that's the case," Her chuckling finally subsided. "I'd like to snag a few gadgets before I go and fill our new detective in." She smiled. There were plenty of things for her to pick and she already had a few in mind. The case presented to her though, sounded very odd and one she hadn't really been able to mull over as much as Koenma had. Even so, she'd be able to contact him while she was down on Earth with Yusuke, so that at least gave her some more comforting confidence. It would be a tricky thing to do, teach Yusuke as well as solve a tricky mystery but he had no choice but to accept, as did she.

[Blue Demon]

Koenma frowned at Botan. The blue haired Reaper was always far too happy. Of course, given that she was still relatively new* to the whole Grim Reaper job, it could just be chalked up to exuberance. As far as Reapers went Botan was the only tolerable one. Koenma pinched the bridge of his nose trying to relieve the head ache that had been building for the past several days. This case had been nothing but a pain. If only the timing had been better and he could put a more experienced detective on the case. Which would mean he wouldn't have to stick two newbies on it. Koenma was hoping at this point that there wasn't much else to make the whole situation even worse.

Koenma took a deep breath to calm his nerves especially as Botan pointed out all of his own arguments about using the teenager. Well, in Koenma's opinion what had happened with Yusuke was a terrible, terrible fluke. One that sadly didn't end with the brat getting eaten by his spirit beast. Koenma let out another sigh as the Reaper laughed. When Botan suggested she pull a few gadgets Koenma nodded sagely.

"Take what you think he'll need. Last thing I need is him to screw something up." Koenma blanched at the thought, once again sucking furiously on his pacifier. Then a thought occurred to him.

"OGRE!" Koenma shouted and looked around. Where was Jorge, and why wasn't his tea here yet?! Koenma's fickle mind already off Botan and onto the next order of business. While he didn't have the utmost trust in the Reaper. There was no sense in worrying about what hasn't occurred. He just hoped that it would all be sorted before his father heard about it. Koenma shuddered.

---

Yusuke's breath was visible in the cold chill of the air. The senior high student hated the cold. He tugged his jacket closer around him in a futile attempt to keep warm. He scowled and kicked the snow wishing he had worn more. But he hadn't because his mother had suggested it.

"Yusuke! If you go out there in just your jacket you'll freeze." His mom chided him. Yusuke didn't take that well.

"Stop worrying mom. I'm fine. It's fine. I'll be fine." He snapped and slammed the door behind him.

The school gates loomed up in front of him. Thankfully this was the last day before winter break. He was so looking forward to not having homework. Not that he did his homework of course. But it would still be nice not to have it. And the best thing would be not seeing his teacher, Mr. Iwamoto for a few weeks. The thought caused a large grin to split his face despite the chill.

"Ah yes." Yusuke sighed with pleasure. To not have to listen to Mr. Iwamoto nag and nag and harass him and badger him and even try to expel him. It's not like he showed up that often anyways. He'd pass his exit test**. His mom would throw a fit if he didn't. But he had that sorted thanks to a pretty little thing in 3A.

The bell for class rang as Yusuke stepped through the gate. The senior cussed and debated if he was actually going to try to make it to class or just turn around and leave.

"Skipping again?" A familiar voice called to as the teen turned around to leave.

Yusuke paused and turned back. "Takenaka." The teen sighed.

"That's Principle to you." The portly man stated not offended. "Did you walk all this way just to walk back home?"

"Typically what happen when you don't live at the school." Yusuke tossed back, deliberately misunderstanding.

Takenaka chuckled. "I'm just saying it's a shame you've come all this way in the cold just to turn back around. In the cold." The man's eyes practically sparkled.

Yusuke frowned and was about to make a show of it when he shivered. Which only made him frown more. "You know Iwamoto wont let me in now."

Takenaka sighed. The principle did know that.

"See you after the break." Yusuke said waving and turning back around to leave.

"At least take this." Takenaka said causing Yusuke to turn back around once more. The principle was holding out his scarf. Yusuke stared at it like it was a snake. He looked from the scarf to the principle to the scarf before a hand shot out and snagged it.

Yusuke ignored Takenaka's rumble of a laugh as he hurriedly wrapped the scarf around him and escaped from school grounds before they fenced him in.

---

*According to the manga Yusuke was really her first spirit detective case
**I know in China the test is called the GaoChao but I haven't the foggiest what the Japanese call their tests.

[Genkai]

Now that she had been given the green light, Botan quickly saw herself out and went to collect what might be useful to them.

Once she was happy with what she had, better to be safe than sorry in her mind, she was ready to cross over to the Human World. In order to do so, the process could be a little time consuming as well as tiring but Botan knew she couldn't be helpful unless she was a human. Botan had to drink a special brew which wouldn't take effect for at least an hour. During that point, things would be very painful for her but once it was over, the potion had done its job. In order for her to be granted her spirit powers when she wanted to go back, she had to drink another potion which would then allow her to summon her oar, float and whatnot. The blue haired girl was escorted down to the Human World by a co-worker and then she was dropped off near where Yusuke went to school.

Knowing Yusuke, he probably wasn't there or was in the process of making an escape. Botan put on her purple backpack which was filled with her supplies, and went off in search of the lazy teenage boy. As she wandered the sidewalk and looked around, she started to fall in love with the living all over again. Looking at them from afar had been nice but it was entirely different to do so when she was actually among them, able to get up close and hear conversations and feel them brush against her as they walked. The girl had changed into some street clothes, a pair of blue jeans and a green hooded sweatshirt. Under that was a white and black tee shirt. She had on plain sneakers and her hair was up in its usual ponytail.

Botan looked up at the sky and pocketed her hands, not having felt such a chill in many many years. She wondered if it would rain. She hadn't considered the weather when she had packed but she wished she had. Botan saw Yusuke's school up ahead and then saw the boy leaving from it, with a scarf wrapped around his neck. Funny, she would have thought he'd be too stubborn to wear such articles of clothing, even in the middle of winter. She jogged up to him, hoping not to miss him. "Yusuke!" She called out and grabbed onto his shoulder. "You should be in school." Botan lectured as she released him and stood beside him. "Don't tell me you're running off to play hooky when you've got a break coming up." She frowned, not sure why an extra day of goofing off would be so important to the boy.

{ Huh, that's interesting. I'd assume still she's been a Grim Reaper for a good amount of time but mentoring a Detective would be a new endeavor for her. I also made up the process of being able to go over to the human world. )

[Blue Demon]

Yusuke hated when Botan appeared randomly behind him. Thankfully this time she made noise first?* And grabbed him by the shoulder. Yusuke literally gaped at her. Wasn't Botan dead-ish or whatever you'd call it? But no, her breath puffed out just like his. She was even wearing a back pack. Last time he had seen the Reaper she had been able to make things appear and disappear at will, like her oar.

"Botan?" Yusuke had to ask just to be sure. It had to be her, no one else was that cavalier in his presence. "How are you...?" He trailed off.

Yusuke reached out to touch her hair and shook his head. "I'm not dead again am I?" He was completely ignoring her admonishment about being in school. "Because if I am my mom is going to be so pissed off at me again. She still hasn't forgiven me for the first time." He made a face at the thought. Atsuko had barely stopped harassing him in his sleep. Yusuke swore at the thought of being dead again. If it was because of the coat thing he was going to petition Koenma or something. Because that was just unfair.

---

*So I wanted to play with that this was his first time seeing her in the flesh as it were. Haha. If that's okay with you.

[Genkai]

His surprise was to be expected. Even so, seeing the guy speechless and rather caught off guard, was somewhat of a treat for Botan. Yusuke liked to run his mouth and make good use of his teenage attitude but right now, he was completely dumbfounded and Botan could only give a bright laugh to his question. When Yusuke then reached out and asked if he was dead again, she let out a softer chuckle. She hadn't meant to worry him with her sudden and at the moment, unexplained appearance. Still, she would have hoped he wouldn't jump to too many wild conclusions. If he gave her time to explain, she would do just that. "Oh no, you're not dead again." She cheerfully assured the black haired boy with a few flaps of her hand. Botan looked around, not very pleased with their public surroundings.

"Come along, Yusuke, we don't have much time and I'd like to tell you everything in private." She said and motioned for him to follow her. Botan led them down a half a block until they happened across a small narrow alleyway. It wasn't great but it would serve her purpose for the time being. Once away from anyone else, Botan turned to Yusuke, "I wish we could ease you into your new career as Spirit Detective, Yusuke, but there's no time, at least not anymore." She paused. "There have been frequent outbreaks of low level demons in the surrounding areas, normally they'd end up dying on their own but..." Botan sighed. "Some more dangerous ones are also getting through to this world and we're trying to keep them contained."

That was where Yusuke came in, of course.

Botan figured they had to jump right into things. Even though he should be in school, she decided they ought to make good use of the extra time he now had on his hands. "I've got some tools we can use to round them up and deal with them. I also am going to teach you a vital technique that every Spirit Detective needs to know in order to survive and ensure the others in the world are kept safe." Botan said. They clearly couldn't work in such a confining space but Botan just needed relay the basics to the boy before they found a proper training ground for them. "We need to act quick before this gets out of hand." She pointed out to him. "Now do you know of a place that's open enough to train and practice but private enough so we're not interrupted?"

[Blue Demon]

Yusuke would deny to his dying day that Botan had both surprised and scared him. Once he was sure he wasn't dead again he defaulted back into his bored and indifferent face. Not acknowledging that it wasn't as effective as usual because of the scarf wrapped around his neck. Takenaka was too sentimental. So when Botan returned her gaze to him he just jammed his hands in his pockets and yawned.

"What's with the double-oh-seven act?" Yusuke asked as Botan gestured at him to follow her. He thought about not following her for a moment, but it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. If he went home his mom would go ballistic. He couldn't go to school after he stormed off. And it wasn't that good for him to wander around town aimlessly in this weather. It really was cold, not that he'd admit that either. Not even the fact that his breath was visible could dissuade him.

When they hid in an alley Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Who are we hiding from?" He looked Botan over. She was more serious than she had ever looked, baring the time right before he came back. As the Grim Reaper spoke he found himself just staring at her. Demons. At first he considered this all a prank. A bad one. He did take the job as Spirit Detective, but he thought it'd be Spirit things. Like dead people. Not demons. Damn Koenma. And Damn himself. But he could do this. He was a Urameshi!

"Shit." Yusuke said mainly to himself. Still, Botan continued with her lecture. When she finished he racked his mind for an open, yet private area. There were plenty of canals around the area that would be frozen over and vacant, but would they be big enough? A park would probably work space wise, but at this time all the old geezers would be out practicing dancing or tai chi*. So there went privacy. If they took a bus out of the city, there would probably be some smaller parks in the outlying towns that would be deserted in this weather.

"We have two options. In town we can try the canals, mainly under the bridges. Should be private. But they might not have enough space. Or we can take a bus to a park outside of town and hope we get luck on the privacy thing." Yusuke shrugged leaving it up to her. After all she knew what she wanted and he didn't.

---

*Actually a very popular thing in asia. There's usually a large group of them. Some even take it on the move and practice as they walk around town. And they keep it up even in winter.