Chapter Eins


Walking to the park, the sky above was dark and deep blue, almost black. The laughter of Children hung in the wind, but no kids slid down the slides, No kids to hang on monkey bars, and no kids flew on the swings. The eerie wind took the place of the children. The world was empty, Death, everyone had been recruited into the army or killed.

Botan slowly walked into the playground of nothing, the grass death in the wind as the swing danced, longing for the care of a child. Botan took the chains of the swing and sat down swinging back and forth as the tears came again.

It had only taken thirty minutes to bring this fate to the world. She now was forced to live in a world of darkness, no one to talk to and no one to love, she was alone. It was all her fault, if she had only been fast enough to warn them. They would still be there. Even Koenma had gone missing, vanished in the blast with the rest of them.

As she swung Higher she heard the laughter of the ghost children and the voices of the detectives. Tears fell freely now as she remembered them. "Forgive me." She pouted as she let the swinging take her away.

"It was just a normal case… it was supposed to be a normal case!" She shouted to the sky. "Just a normal case." She cried the pain almost too hard to bear "and you said you would always be here for me." She stopped her legs from swinging as she let the swing slowly stop on its own only to sit in the dark sky as the rain fell in huge unforgiving drops.

What would she do now? Everyone she knew was gone. Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Koenma all sucked up by the light of the enemy. Keiko, Yukina, Shizuru, Genkai, all missing, probably dead. Botan survived only because she was away at the time. When she found out about the power of the Enemy…

A drop hit her face as she remembered what happened, She flew as fast as she could to warn them but she was too late, they were already gone. She went into seclusion for a while drenched in a pure hatred in herself that only the devil could hold. She had only been gone a week and the world was in ruin. Darkness covered all and no one lived, and those that did live were hidden well.

The enemy was recruiting Humans for his army for his plan was to take the whole of Demon world. Every infinite inch by force.

Botan shook her head; even now there was nothing she could do. The rain fell harder now making a wall of water and she could feel her lungs begging for air but she knew it was all in her head. She wiped the tears from her eyes and left the laughing of the spirits playing on the playground heading for one of the underground cities where the few remaining lived.

Walking through the crowd of People who now lived in fear and poverty, but they tried to get by, building houses and making money to pay others to go to the surface and get them food, Supplies, clothes. Flowers. Anything for the soul. But flowers were rare now; they would not grow in a dead world. Nothing could grow now. Botan walked to the inn she now worked in, she guessed it was so she could pass the time. Being a deity of death she would be around forever, forced to watch people suffer.

"Hey Botan, can you come here for a moment?" her boss asked, his chubby little body was pale and tattered.

"Yes sir what is it?" She asked

"I need to go to the surface to get my daughter a doll, its her birthday tomorrow." He smiled, "could you take over for me?"

"Uh yes sir." Botan smiled sadly, "Be careful, I didn't see Him up there but he could still come back."

"I will." He nodded and left the inn as two newcomers came in.

"Can I help you?" She asked without looking at them. She washed a few dishes behind the counter and waited for their answer.

"Yeah, we have come from a long way." On said, his hair was dark and careless, lack of gel in a dead world. His clothes were just as tattered as everyone else's. With him however was a boy not much older than the first, his clothes were nicely pressed save for a few frayed edges and seams he looked clean. His red hair tied back in a ponytail so as to keep it out of his face.

"Where my I ask have you come from?" The cities made by people were all connected underground so it wasn't unusual to get new people but it was unlikely. Botan finally turned around and saw their faces dropping the plate, which she held in her hands.

"Are you okay?" The red head asked noting the blood on her hand from the plate slices as it had been chipped before breaking.

"Huh, Kurama…" She shook her head and picked up the pieces

The redhead stepped back a bit. "Excuse me?" he asked,

"Oh nothing, you just look like someone I knew." She said

"Yeah, well we are new here, as we said and we have never seen anyone like you before… sorry?" the other spoke.

"Right…I know." She put on her best face smile, "what was it you said you wanted?"

"Your strongest drink, for both of us." The other said and walked back to the end of the inn to sit at a table.

Botan worked on getting their drinks all the while thinking of how closely they resembled Yusuke and Kurama. But she knew it was her mind playing tricks on her, She had seen this many times before and shook it off. But then why did she get this odd feeling from them? A feeling like she needed to explore this more?

Before her mind could register what happened the door flew open and two men rushed in. "Mak, he was taken" Botan froze, her boss had been taken, "He was forced into he army."

"No!" Botan yelled, "His daughter's birthday is tomorrow, that's not fair!" Tears fell form her eyes again. "No I am going out there and going to get free Mak." Botan called and headed for the door where the two men stopped her,

"You can't go out there, they will just make you join too." One said. The redhead and the other watched with a little interested but not much having seen this many times in many ways.

"I would rather die a thousand deaths." Botan yelled trying to push past them but they would not let her pass.

"That is what will happen if you refuse." The other said Shoving Botan back into the inn. "Just get back to work."

Botan lowered her head and turned back to getting the drinks, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help Mak now. She smiled sadly; it had only taken thirty minutes for the world to become what it was now? And there was no way to get it back to good. Back to the way it was. Thirty minutes to change everything, forever to fix it.