Author's note

Thank you for deciding to read my FanFic :)

This is actually a story I started writing in 2005, when I was still in high school. But I never finished it. So I decided to resurrect it! Chapters 6 onwards I wrote recently, so hopefully my writing style has not changed a lot.

Please review! Your likes, ideas and just encouragement are appreciated!

Thanks

X

Rose amongst the thorns

Chapter One

Her name is Amaya. Born a demon, raised in captivity, alone all her life. Until, finally, she had escaped the torturous bonds of her lifetime prison. It wasn't at all easy, but after thorough research and planning she had done it.

She was now walking through the dense overgrowth that surrounded the institute. She knew she had to keep a clear head, for they would be looking for her when she doesn't arrive at her afternoon schooling. The plan with her, as with many other female demons at the institute, was to be educated and trained to be a domestic worker for whoever is willing to pay the hefty price. Sure, it doesn't sound that bad, but imagine having to please your owner in every way he or she chose.

She had always thought the institute was a boarding school, for that's what they were told, but she soon learned different. Firstly, students were kept in cells. They were never allowed to speak to one another, and they spent their life pleasing their tutors. All Amaya's tutors were extremely pleased with her.

Secondly, there were no parents. Amaya had once made herself believe that it was a place to seek inner serene, for they meditated allot as well. And they lived according to bells. One bell for dinnertime, two for meditating, three for bathing, four for daily studies, five for physical training, six for daily chores and seven for bedtime or rousing.

Amaya had the trust of many tutors, thus she had allot of advantages. She was allowed in the library. She was allowed her own shower stall and also an extra hour before she had to retire to bed. And it was in one of these hours that she had discovered the true theme behind the institute.

She was in the library, it was dark outside and the only thing illuminating her surroundings was the computer screen. She was busy researching a certain aspect of biology chemistry she didn't fully understand. The undoubtedly famous pop-up flashed on her screen, and it promised a great spring break for student. It was then that the doubt started to flourish, for she read about these humans that live freely and wonderfully in the outside world.

The doubt and mistrust in the institute grew, and she typed in the institute's name and was soon reading all about the place she had inhabited for the pass eighteen years. There, on the webpage, it told her that all pupils were orphans or unwanted babes handed over to them. It said that they were trained to be excellent workers, from housekeepers to gardeners to courtesans. The rank you got in the domestic rubric depends on how high your rank will be when you're sold.

It was then that her intense disliking in her lifestyle flourished, and it was then that she started planning her departure. She needed to get away from the modernized slave-labour institute.

And now she was here, in the woods, the morning air still cool against her skin. She was starved and tired, and she felt something resembling hate towards the institute surface, but she quickly closed her eyes and tried to reach her centre and find peace. Violence and hate solves very little, she reminded herself.

The scent of a nearby rabbit teased her senses as many other edible things have during the night had. She ignored it and wandered on, hoping to find the portal that she knew, according to theory, was here.

She sniffed the air again and walked in the direction of a nearby bush. It had to be behind the bush, it just had to be. And it was. Relief washed over her and she didn't hesitate a second before she stepped into the black hole, better knows as a portal.

It was amazing, she was falling down the abyss, free and quite independent – things she had never felt before. And then the feeling ended as she somehow knew that the blackness was coming to an end, and her happy feelings were replaced by her feeling nauseated.

She turned her head to the side, and was shocked to see her katana floating next to her face. With a nervous chuckle she took the katana by the handle and closed her eyes for the inevitable fall at the end of the portal. She only brought the katana with in hope to scare off possible danger. She didn't really know how to use it.

She could see light through her closed lids as she fell, her hair freely waving about her face, and she laughed with merriment. She opened her eyes just in time to see herself only a few meters above the ground, and she prepared to fall onto her feet.

She landed with a thud, braced on her hunches by the impact. Her head was bent with her chin resting against her chest, and she didn't know if she should look up. She was smiling and she urged herself to lift her head slowly.

"What the…" interrupted her slow progress and Amaya quickly lifted her head to see a shirtless fire demon glaring at her with a grimace. A seemingly useless katana was loosely held in his right hand. She then stared at his sweat- and grime-covered chest, for she had never seen anyone else's, only her own bare chest.

"Who's that?" was yelled from a safe distance behind her. Amaya quickly realised that danger was underway, so she jumped up and held up her katana in what she hoped was a fighting stance. She cursed herself for letting her guard down and sensed around her…a human was standing at her side her, and the demon that had called from a distance was standing far behind her.

She started to make a slow three-hundred-and-sixty degree circuit. The human was also bare-chested and covered with dirt, but it seemed his jelled back hair was unaffected. The other demon was as neat as a pin, wearing clean clothes without a single trace of wrinkles or dirt. His mass of red hair was freely lifted by the light breeze. He started making slow progressing in her direction.

Her eyes were large and attentive as she stepped backward so that there was one on either side of her and one in front of her. She was baffled about what to do, but she knew she had to fond out their intentions.

"Friend or foe?" she called to the man with red hair. He stared at her in awe, but soon snapped out of shocked state. A small smile coloured his lips, and she didn't know why. The black-jelled-hair muttered something about her use of words, and she couldn't figure out what was wrong with them.

"That depends," the man with the red hair said.

Amaya focused on him, figuring him the leader, but she also made sure to keep the other two men at a safe distance. "On what?"

"Who sent you," the man answered calmly and took another step forward. Amaya immediately resumed her fighting stance with more intent, hoping the man would stop before he forced her to do something.

He held up his hands innocently and smiled at her like one would at a five-year-old. "We're not going to hurt you," he told her calmly.

Amaya glanced at the fire demon, he scared her, honestly. "Then drop your weapon," she told him. His eyes narrowed on her and he gripped his katana tighter, lifting it in a warning.

"Drop your weapon," redhead told her.

Amaya set her jaw and still glared at the fire fiend. This meant they were foe. Or, the voice known as her conscience quipped, they think you're foe. Amaya contemplated the idea of dropping her weapon, for she wouldn't be completely helpless with her mind-warp skill. She turned her attention back to the redhead.

"Ningenkai," she told him. Maybe they would let her go if she seemed so harmless to want to go to the human world. The redhead frowned at her.

"What's your business in Ningenkai?"

Amaya knew that his suspicion would be set aflame is she told him that it was nothing, which it was. She didn't have the faintest idea on what to do when she actually reached the human world. She had hoped to go study, but that seemed useless now.

"Hn," said the short fire demon, almost in agreement. She glared at him, and he smirked at her. Amaya's eyes widened and she realized that she wasn't as skilled as she thought herself to be, because she couldn't even remember to keep simple mind barriers in place.

"What's your business in Ningenkai?" the black-jelled hair demanded. She looked at him with an arched brow. "If you don't tell us, we'll force it out you!" he threatened. Obviously they were some kind of protectors of Ningens?

Amaya held his angry gaze for a few seconds and then glanced at the redhead and fire demon. She thought of a quick escape route, and set it into action by throwing her katana on the ground before her and holding her hands up in a surrendering manner. "My name's Amaya," she told them.

The black-haired one immediately moved to the redhead's side, making her plan much easier for her, but the fire demon stayed where he was. Oh, well, she figured she handle him last.

Amaya's hands in their innocent gesture changed when she pressed her palms slightly higher and said, "Hey," to get their attention. Both of them looked at her and Amaya easily kept them prisoner with her eyes. She firstly deformed the memory of her in them and then ordered them to sleep. They nodded their head simultaneously and fell to the ground.

She was pretty pleased with herself but when she turned to do the same with the fire demon, she was unable for there was a sharp katana imprisoning her to the spot. She gasped and, out of reflex, she held her hand above the katana and jerked her hand, sending the katana flying away and bouncing as it landed on the dirt surface.

Amaya started to gurgle. In her lapse of stupidity, she had slit her own damn throat with the katana. She coughed and chocked on her own blood as she started to fall to the ground. She futilely clasped her hands over her throat to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. She realized she was on her knees, and she still fell forward, weakly falling to the ground. She was then knocked over onto her back. The red orbs she stared into seemed to be her gateway to hell.

The demon yelled something to the other men, and she knew they would remember everything again, for she was dying. Really dying. The three of them hovered above her and stared at her. The black-haired one looked disorientated, the redhead looked tired and hapless and the fire demon's lips were pressed together and his eyes unwavering.

The pain gradually started to leave her body and she realized that she was going to be okay, for she was still there, with them. She started to get up and did so without any difficulty. She was just shocked to feel no emotions at all, but when she felt her neck, she could feel the gash there like a second mouth.

She gasped, or tried to, when she saw dried blood on her hands, and when she looked at the ground, she saw two pairs of her feet. Her gaze turned to the body and she almost fainted when she saw it was hers.

Unexceptional brown hair was gleaming with fresh blood; brown, sightless eyes were staring up at nothing. She looked from that body to the one she was occupying presently numerous times and realized she was dead and in a spirit form. But she also saw that the three men could see her. She tried to speak, but because of her massacred neck it was impossible. How could they see her?

The redhead seemed to be recovering, "We must take her to Koenma," he said calmly.

Just after his words, a girl on an oar popped out of nowhere. She had blue hair and was smiling cheerily when she saw the people. Her smile vanished as she realized that there was something wrong. And it seemed as if someone else was forcing her face in Amaya's direction. She gasped, her small hand covering her mouth, and she gagged.

The black-jelled hair man quickly went to her assistance and hugged her soothingly. He spoke to her softly, and the girl nodded. She walked over to Amaya and reached out to touch her, but her hand moved right through. She gasped and pulled her hand away as if it had been shocked. "I can't touch her! I'm a soul gatherer and I can't touch a dead person!" she screamed, almost sad about this discovery. Black-jelled came to the rescue.

The redhead came to her. "My name is Kurama," the redhead said, "Come with us," he held his hand out, and when Amaya moved towards him, climbing over her own body, she felt like she was walking on air. And when she wanted to place her hand in his, it went right through. She tried again and again and it seemed impossible for her to touch him. It should have irritated her, but it didn't.

"Botan?" he asked, not looking away from Amaya's bloodied hands.

She looked skittish and her body was sent into convulsion of shivers when Amaya looked at her. "We must take her to Koenma," Botan echoed Kurama's earlier words.

"Someone needs to take the body," black-haired man said.

Everybody was quiet.

After a while the fire demon grumbled something and picked up the body, and then he was gone in a flash.

They then told Amaya to see if she could get onto the oar. She could, and then they were off to wherever. Amaya was too shocked to be hysterical or angry, or even sad.