As if fate has anything to do with it!
A pre-series Yu Yu Hakusho story
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It was a nice room. Very luxurious, with a warm atmosphere. It wouldn't have been out of place in a magazine advertising a five-star hotel. Only if you knew the backstory behind the room in question would you start to doubt that 'Better Homes and Gardens' would picture this particular room. Like the fact that the comforter had been hand-woven by ogres. Or that the down in the pillows was actually that of a rare bird found on the spirit plane known as an Augurey.
The woman in the room actually only lived in it on her week off; she had her shift while her opposite took a week off, and vise-versa. Considering that she worked for second-in-comand of the spirit world, she had a very sunny disposition.
She pulled the brush through her hair, smiling at her reflection and humming lightly to herself. She had died once; she didn't remember her previous life, she didn't linger on the unhappiness connected to her death; it had been long ago, and she had worked her way up from a paper-pusher to the ferrywoman she was today. She was happier this way. So I've had to contend with slight changes in my appearance since my death, she thought, pulling her unique blue hair into its usual ponytail. I like the way I look.
Botan, grim reaper, angel of death, ferrier of the River Styx; she had many names. She adjusted the bow on her uniform pink kimono, looking sadly at her reflection. "Looks like things aren't looking up for us, are they?" she asked herself aloud, summoning her oar and hopping onto it, consulting her schedule to see who she would have to guide to the afterlife today.
It wasn't that she was ungrateful to have this job; she got these luxurious quarters to stay in when Ayame took over for her, as well as the perks of minimal, if any of the paperwork that her superior, Koenma always had. But how long can you keep up a chipper attitude when your job is to guide dead souls to their judgement?
Today was looking to be light with deaths, but there were always unexpected tasks to complete, as well as changes made by Kami or Koenma.
Botan, report to Master Koenma, he wishes to speak with you. The voice was that of an ogre, and Botan jumped slightly at its abruptness, but nodded, flying out the window and down the tall building to the first floor, where her superior worked. Most bosses liked the top floor, but Koenma saw no point in procuring a top-floor office when he was going in and out of the spirit plane as often as he did.
"Botan, this is Atropos. She has informed me of a change made concerning a case of yours. The accident you were to oversee?"
Atropos was a tall woman, elegant and dark-haired. She had been Greek, Botan knew, and was also called a sister of destiny, or fate. She in particular dealt with what was to come. What hadn't happened yet.
"Botan? Did you read the report?"
Botan recalled reading about the accident Koenma mentioned mere minutes before. The little boy with the miracle ball. He was going to be run over today. She nodded absently. She remembered making the appointment about this boy too. He would, in 59 percent probability, cross paths with a youth Botan wasn't particularly fond of, and thus the committee had made arrangements for this boy to be run over, but to live.
"Tyche paid us a visit today," Atropos was saying. Botan tuned in, shaking off her lingering thoughts of this boy with the miracle ball. "She wants to bestow greatness on another boy. He was destined to go to Hell in four years, but our dear sister wanted to change his luck," said Atropos sardonically, like she had expected as much.
Botan nodded. "But he will still go to Hell? I thought fate couldn't be changed." Particularly in the case of this specific boy, Botan couldn't help thinking snappishly. He was such a bully.
The woman Atropos smiled. "We make special circumstances sometimes for Tyche. She has a good eye. She can sense potential. We just need to give him circumstance to fulfill it."
Potential my foot, Botan thought, almost snorting aloud. "What does this have to do with the other boy?" she asked instead, as the thought came to her. "Will he have to die?"
"No, nothing of the sort," Atropos assured her, waving her hand good naturedly. "We've just altered the attitude of this other boy. He will be able to make a choice. Not knowing the child will survive, he must choose to either save him or let him be."
"But Koenma, we ensured the little boy's survival because this other boy was there, isn't that right?" Botan recalled the phrase 'hopeless' in this boy's file. He was the last one she expected greatness from. She wasn't surprised he was headed for Hell in four years.
"If Atropos wants to give him this choice, so be it," Koenma said evasively.
"Thank you, Koenma. I'll set things in motion at once." Bowing, Atropos winked out of sight. Botan whirled on Koenma.
"Koenma, sir, I don't see what can come of giving the boy this choice. His past experiences predict that nothing will change."
"I want you to oversee the accident, Botan," Koenma said. He sounded amused. He turned around, heading back to his chair and immersing himself in paperwork. His large hat just peeked over the top of the desk. "You never know when someone will have a change of heart," he said mysteriously.
Botan rolled her eyes, getting back on her oar and flying out and over the River Styx. Changes like the one Koenma was thinking of only happened once in a hundred years. Odds like that weren't in Botan's favor. And besides, she thought as she bridged the gap to the Mortal realm, It's not like the changed fate of one stupid boy can change anything.
It was a few years later that one Yusuke Urameshi saved the free world multiple times from demons, dirty CEOs and dirty demon CEOs. And Botan had to effectively eat her words.
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A U T H O R S N O T E
I totally blame this story on my sister, who loved Botan the best of all the characters in YYH. (A love we shared)
Ayaia