Author's Note: Here a revised chapter one. Hope you guys like it!

Edited by Panther Moon

Chapter 1

Liberation from the Darkness

Koenma shivered lightly as he entered the dungeon. He was heading towards the dungeon's deepest levels… and the darkest. As he descended the spiral staircase he could hear the screams and yowls of despair and pain grow louder the deeper he went. Finally, he reached the deepest, darkest level. Even though the stairwell had been dimly lit, on this level seemed to darken even more as the feel of ancient powered hummed thickly in the air and everything was silent. Beside the rusted door, a lit torched caused the shadows to dance ominously against the damp, moldy walls. Only the area under the stairs remained dark. Opening the iron door, he was greeted by an inky blackness, a blackness that had never seen the warmth of the sun. It was a truly terrible darkness that seemed to seep into his very being, wanting to devour him. It felt alive.

Grabbing the torch by the door, he steadied himself to enter the darkness. "My Prince, you need not enter if you do not want to." The burly guard greeted suddenly, stepping out from the shadows.

"No, I must. If someday I'm to rule this realm, I can't turn back now." Koenma replied with a deep breath. Had he been upstairs in his brightly lit clean halls, he would have intrigued by the sheer size of the ogre. In comparison to the ogres he interacted with on a day to day basis, this ogre was almost three times their size.

The guard gave him a toothy grin. "No, young Prince you should fear, especially in a place such as this. Fear creates caution, and caution wardens deeper thoughts. A place such as this, fear may be your only ally walking through these halls of evils older then even Lord Yami. Show no fear, however. But what do I know, I'm only a guard." Then he fell silent and didn't speak again.

Koenma stepped through the threshold and into the darkness. The iron door squealed horribly as it closed behind him and the sounds of the locks latching sent a hollow ringing that bounced off the cold walls. Taking another deep breath, he continued walking down the corridor. He could hear shuffling and hissing from the creatures locked behind the thick iron doors as the light from the torch seeped into their usually dark cells.

He had a 5 minute walk, but it felt like much longer as the darkness weighed heavily around him. As far as he knew, it was the deepest anyone dare go in centuries. Many weak willed beings found with even a bright torch, the combination of black, moist walls and the thick, dead, power filled air was still too over powering. The ones that were driven mad usually ran into the blackness never to be heard of again while the ones that were lucky enough to be found came out wild eyed and mumbling about creatures and shadows that had haunted them.

'No! I can't think of that right now.' Koenma wiped the sweat droplets from his head. 'One-hundred more feet and I'll be at the cell.' Just as he was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on him, he felt a sudden but small change in the air. The air seemed to freshen. The walls and even the darkness around him seemed to lighten. 'I'm getting close. I have to be.'

As he continued walking the walls began looking cleaner until they were a dull white before he reached door. This door was different from the others he had passed thus far. It looked as if someone had taken the time to oil that iron door and had managed to maintain a dull shiny shine surface. The numbers 759 were cut neatly, where the doors before had had only partial numbers, if any at all. Also the previous doors had had massive locks, wards and spells of sealing, this door had none.

This door was unlocked; even so he dare not enter without announcing himself.

Clearing his throat, he knocked softly though the noise his knuckle makes against the iron door echoed causing several hisses and grunts to sound from several nearby cells.

"Who goes there?" The voice was soft and clear, even though it should have been muffled coming from behind such a thick door.

"I am Prince Koenma, son of King Yami." He had tried to sound important and confident, but even in his own ears, his voice was unsteady and it sounded more of a question than a statement.

"Enter."

...

Botan played with the tip of her ponytail nervously as the Spirit Detectives entered Koenma's office.

"Hey guys, long time no see!" Botan greeted with a smile. It had been over a year since there had been need to assemble the team officially. Yukina had set up several gatherings but neither Botan nor Koenma had been able to attend on account of work.

They quickly greeted the cheerful reaper before Yusuke got down to business. "So, where's the toddler?"

"Well, actually I get to brief you on the case while Koenma retrieves the… object you'll need to protect." Botan paused. "I guess I can't say object… but… ah…. let me start from the beginning."

"That would probably help," Yusuke scoffed with only a touch of annoyance.

"Ok, so a couple of weeks ago a very old file appeared on Koenma's desk. After he went through it and finished deciphering the ancient text, he realized that it was an unsolved case file from over 500 years ago. There was only one witness, a human and she had been captured and brought in for questioning, but, according to King Yami's notes, she had gone mad ranting and raving. Then King Yami had her locked in solitary confinement."

"And she's been there ever since?" Kuwabara questioned with concern.

Botan sighed. "That's the thing… that's the end. There are no release forms or even death forms on her. Hell, there's isn't even paperwork saying there was any follow up questioning or a second interview. But that shouldn't be possible, we should have something."

"What floor?"

"Huh?" She quickly looked up at Hiei. "What do you mean?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Which level of the dungeon is she on?"

Botan chuckled nervously, "I was kinda afraid you'd ask that… She's on level 7, on the very edge of the shadows."

"Seventh level? I thought there were only 5 levels to the dungeon or at least that where in use?" Yusuke inquire. On more the one occasion he had helped the ogres escort an uncooperative prisoner to their cell. He had been on every level down to five. When he'd asked about where the spiraled staircase ended the ogres had only said darkness.

Botan nodded. "That's true. We are currently only using floors 1 through 5 and that because floors 6 and 7 are full."

"Hn, then she's probably nothing more than a shadow of her former self. Her mind is probably been shattered into a million pieces." Hiei turned to leave. "It would be a waste of time to try retrieving any information from her."

"Well, that's where we were hoping you could help us. We figured with your Jagan, you would assist us in putting together her mind… her story." Botan spoke before the elemental apparition could leave. "If Koenma is correct, she's been locked down there for over 500 years for no reason."

Before Hiei had a chance to leave, Koenma opened the door. He spoke in a hushed tone, "I must ask all of you of to please keep your voices down and Botan please dim the lights." Once Koenma was satisfied that everyone had heard him and that the reaper had dimmed the light as he had ordered, only then did he enter his office. On his arm, a hooded, cloaked figure rested heavily. The only thing visible of the cloaked figure were her dirty hands that had over grown nails and some dull black hair that fell from her hood.

The demons' and even Kuwabara nearly retched at the odor that drifted off the cloaked figure. It was a mixture of feces, urine, sweat, blood, dirt, and age. Aside from the smell, they were slammed with the figure's energy. It bathed everyone in the room with a cold, dull, ominous energy. The figure's energy seemed to sap the warmth. They could sense that her energy wasn't dark or evil in anyway and Kurama's curiosity was perked as he realized that the energy didn't feel like anything he'd ever felt before.

"Would you like to sit?" Koenma spoke gently as he patted the figure's discolored hand. "You've had a long walk."

The figure was silent for a long moment. "No." The voice was soft and clear and from the pitch, everyone realized that she was indeed female. "I… enjoy…" she wetted her lips as she tried finding the right words, "… enjoyed walking."

The young Prince gently stroked her hand. "Good, I'm glad. Would you like to go get cleaned up while I speak with the others? Botan is female and she can help you bathe if you like?" He motioned the blue haired reaper forward. "This is Botan, she's one my assistant and you can trust her. She'll get you some fresh clothes." Gently, he transferred the hand into Botan's.

"Remember Botan, be gentle and patient. The darkness has made her skin fragile and her mind slow to react. She understands everything you say but she has had nothing but time to think and very little interaction with others." Koenma nodded towards the reaper as she nodded in understanding. "Bring her back here once she's finished." He watched as they disappeared through the back doors that would lead to his private bath.

"Ok," He stated, turning his attention back to his team, "Questions?"

"Lord Koenma, what was she? I could felt no evil from her." Kurama inquired with a thoughtful look. "She felt rather… pure though it's rather faint. Needless to say, it's not something I would expect coming from the 7th level."

Koenma sighed. "You're right. She's not meant to be nor was she supposed to be there. According to all the records that I was able to find, she was only supposed to be in solitary for three days. But something happened, I don't know what but something did happen, and it was purged from our records. Actually, everything from that time period was destroyed." He moved to sit behind his desk, relaxing after his trip through the darkness that made up the 7th level.

"So, she's not evil then?" Kuwabara questioned.

Koenma shook his head. "As far as I can tell, no she isn't. However, the 7th level holds many evils and the very air down there is filled with a suffocating darkness. It would be a miracle if she walked away without some sort of… side effects." He leaned back in his chair.

"So why are we here? Botan said something about protecting her." Yusuke questioned. "How do we protect someone who has enough energy to sweep us away at will?" He was under no illusion about the female's power. The sheer weight of her energy that had swept through the room when she and Koenma had entered had nearly brought the demon out of him. It made him more than a little uncomfortable to think about if she had wanted to cause damage. "Is she even safe to be around?"

The prince hesitated to answer, thinking carefully. "I believe that she would not cause harm intentionally." A ghost of a smile touched his lips. Just from the little time he had spent with the female, he had a feeling she wouldn't hurt a fly unless provoked. "As for protecting her… that's not quite the right job description. It would be more you guys protecting everything from her. Also you'll share the duties of trying to reintroduce her to life outside the hideous cell. Later, once she has had a chance to settle down, we'll try figuring out more behind this case. Anymore questions?"

"This is a waste of time. She would be better off if you left her down there," Hiei growled without malice.

"I understand where you're coming from Hiei. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, in fact I'm guaranteeing this will probably be one of the hardest missions you've ever be sent on." Koenma took a deep breath. "But someone has to right this wrong, considering she was unfairly imprisoned for so long. Don't you at least agree with that Hiei?" He smirked lightly as the dark apparition turned his gaze away.

"I've made arrangements with Genkai for her to stay at the temple. She's going to need a quiet place to readjust to society."

Just as they began wrapping up the conversation, the side door opened. Botan walked through first, a large smile on her face. "We're finished! And let me be the first to say she cleans up nicely." She led the other female out. "You look wonderful. All you need now is a bit of sun for the finishing touch."

The woman that walked through the door was no longer dressed in the dark, hooded cloak but rather a deep blue, loose fitting kimono. Her skin was no longer a dirty gray color but a soft, nearly transparent white. Botan had trimmed her nails back and brushed out her black hair, leaving it almost glossy. Her skin around her face was sunken in from lack of proper nutrients and sun light and her eyes were a dull blue, though they seemed to sparkle some as she looked down at herself. Everyone was just happy that the sickly odor had been replaced by a crisp, clean smell. The only things that seem out of place on the woman were the hand and ankle cuffs and a thin collar made of rubies that glowed softly with contained power.

Koenma stood and walked towards the two women. "Ah, you look so much better. You must feel great after a good scrub." Taking the woman's hand, he guided her to stand in front of his desk. "These are the people that I spoke about on our walk." He gestured towards each person as he spoke their names, "Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei. They're the ones who'll help you readjust to the outside world. A lot has changed in so many years."

The woman stepped forward, releasing her grip on Koenma, her face empty of all emotion. "Yu…suke, Kuwa…bara, Kura…ma, Hiei… It's good… to see you." Then, she surprised everyone by bowing lightly.

Kurama moved so he was standing in front of the woman. Bowing in return, he asked "May I ask your name, Miss?"

Her dull blue eyes darkened with thought. Her stance stiffened and she didn't move for several long moments.

Kurama was beginning to wonder if she was going to answer when her eyes widened and an odd sparkle enter those dull, lifeless eyes. A small, odd smile even appeared on her lips. He smiled softly back as her attention redirected to him. "My name… I am Kagome." He watched as she slowly straightened her shoulders. Even her chin raised a degree as she remembered her name. She surprised everyone by continuing.

"I am Kagome Higurashi and I'm… I'm…" she trailed off for a moment, thinking. "I'm… a… hm… a guardian… or was?" Kagome seemed very confused, as she searched her mind for the answer. "I can't… I don't know. I am Kagome Higurashi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. Higurashi." Kurama greeted officially.

"Kagome."

"Hum?" Kurama cocked his head slightly as he stared at the woman in front of him. He watched as she pointed to herself.

"Kagome," she stated plainly, making a cutting motion with her hand. Again she pointed to herself "Kagome." she said firmly again, followed by the cutting motion.

Kurama nodded. "You just want to be called Kagome?" She nodded once. "Very well. It's a pleasure to meet you Kagome."