Okay readers. All I own are my original characters. blah blah blah. You get it. Please enjoy the prologue to my new story. Do not forget to review or PM me! Let me know what you think.
She held the light in her hands cupped as one would pick up water. This light was lime green and pure; she could tell the demon would be kind and a female. Not every soul got special attention but every now and then, she would feel an urge to reach out to the bath of growing souls and pull a particular soul out. Sometimes a century would go by before she felt the pull to reach into the vat. At times, she would gaze into her screen and follow the demon or humans her selections would grow to be. She would watch their stories, their love, and their triumph while stamping away at her amassed paperwork. She would cry with them as they experienced sorrow and heartache and laugh with them during joyful moments. Her hawk demons would swarm around her running in and out of the room with paperwork and questions and she would hardly notice them. Ozuru, the strongest and head of her hawks walked forward and eyed the soul in her hands. "What do you feel from this one?" he asked timidly. She cut him a cool glance and turned her eyes back to the lime green light. She could feel its warmth on her face. "She will not be very strong but she will be a good demon with strong loyalty. I will gift her with eyes to match her soul." Ozuru looked on with wonder as the woman before him held the soul close to her face and muttered ancient words below her breath. She pulled the soul away from her face and turned to him. "It is done. As usual I would like you to hand deliver this soul." She held out her hands to him. He picked up a horn flask at his waist and uncorked it. The soul disappeared into the flask eagerly. "Do you have any special instructions for me Lady Hatsu?" Ozuru asked as he began to flex his white wings. Lady Hatsu considered this a moment, "Make sure there is a field of green grass by this one's home." He nodded and left her office through the intricately carved hole in the ceiling.
Hatsu turned away from the vat of souls, which truly was only a window to the vast area where the souls churned. Most souls would leave on their own and travel to find a body. About 10 percent of the souls merited a delivery by her flock of hawks. Less than one-half of one percent were chosen by her and gifted with anything from abilities to physical attributes. It was not rare for her to curse an already tarnished soul with misfortune either. Just as she began to walk back to her desk she felt another pull on her to return to the vat. She walked back over and lifted the marble top and gently set it on the ground. Her hand reached in and she closed her eyes. A light glow emanated from Hatsu as she followed the pull of a soul. She felt the soul latch onto her glowing hand and she pulled it out. She mumbled a surprise as she pulled two souls out instead of one. "Twins? Well this is odd." She mumbled. One was light blue and the other was purple. "No it couldn't be." She pulled the purple soul closer to her face to examine it. It was cut in two. It had been nearly four hundred years sense she had last seen a soul divided in two. *What are the odds that I would get the urge to pick another soul in the same day and that soul would have a twin and be divided in two?* She sighed and carried the two souls to her desk. She placed them in an empty fish bowl that she kept on her desk just for holding souls. She would have to wait for Ozuru and for the divided soul to separate before she could do anything with them. She watched as the two souls swam around each other in the glass bowl.
Hatsu grabbed her remote and mentally thought about following Ozuru. She watched as he glided through the air searching with sight that only he and her flock were gifted with. None of the demons on the ground were aware of his presence as he was there only in spirit. Below bellies of demon women glowed with life energy eager to have a soul to protect. She watched as he passed over many life energy beacons and slowed to study others. Every green life energy he would pass Ozuru would slow and examine the area. He had yet to find a life energy that matched the soul near a green field as Princess Hatsu had ordered. Hatsu clicked the remote and the screen turned off.
She slouched and lay her chin on her folded arms as she watched the two souls. Another urge hit her and she lifted her head and placed her hand in the bowl to caress the purple soul. Why did this soul call out for her so much? She closed her eyes and let her spirit energy touch the purple soul. The demons would be determined, stubborn, and willful. She pulled her hand out and opened her eyes. She must see her sister. A hawk demon came into her office, his hands full of papers for her to stamp. As she ran past the young demon papers few to the ground. "Sorry! No time!" She ran out of the east wing, of the building and headed for the south wing that housed her sister. Most of the hawks in her wing were airborne as she ran through. Her whole wing had vaulted ceilings and portholes in the ceiling to accommodate her flock. Once she arrived at the south wing she slowed down. Elves stared at her and moved to let her pass. The elves were tall, thin, elegant, and beautiful. They were all light skinned and had eyes that were blue or green. Her sister employed dark elves but they worked in the field. She walked quickly through the room and pushed open her sister's office door.
Ito looked up from her desk and quickly stood when she realized it was her sister. "Hatsu!" she yelled enthusiastically as she made her way around her desk and to her older sister. "Why are you carrying a fish bowl full of souls?" Ito lifted the bowl out of her hands and set it on her own desk. "The purple one called to me Ito. The blue one is the purple's twin. Look closely Ito, the purple one is split. You know what that means." Ito reached a spirit energy laced hand into the bowl and pulled out the two souls. She looked closely at the purple one and made a sound of surprise. "Oh, how wonderful Hatsu! Soulmates. I will look forward to watching these two demon's lives!" She beamed up at her sister. "That's just it Ito. This feels different. You know the gifts I occasionally give my chosen souls. I want to ask a favor of you. Something that is in your control and not mine." Ito looked into her sister's face. Her smile disappeared and her eyes turned serious. She moved to place the souls back in the bowl but Hatsu reached out and caught her. "Please Ito, I have never asked a favor of you." Ito's eyes met Hatsu's. A silent moment passed between them and Hatsu could see she had won. "What would you have me do Hatsu?" Hatsu sighed in relief. She did not know what was coming over her. "I need you to gift the purple soul so that they find each other. I need you to gift them with many years together after they find each other. I do not know why I feel that from them but they need this Ito. If they do not find each other, something catastrophic will happen. Ito sighed. "What happened to the last soul you gifted?" she asked Hatsu. "The last soul I gifted was sent out only an hour ago with Ozuru to place." "You have already felt the pull once today?" Hatsu nodded and Ito continued, "What about the soul you gifted previous to that." Hatsu felt a content sigh pass her lips at her thought of him. The last soul she had gifted before today. "He is a famous thief in the demon world. He really sends father and Koenma in a loop. I gifted him with unparalleled beauty and deftness. He put that to his advantage." Hatsu smiled. "You don't mean to say that the great Youko Kurama is one of your special souls?" Hatsu nodded to her sister. Her smile turning into a smirk. "How exciting! I will grant you this Hatsu, if only to see how it will play out. I must warn you though. This is not the first soul I have touched. My gifts do not always go as planned. What will you do for the souls?" Hatsu considered this. She brushed her hands over the souls in her sister's hand and felt them with her spirit energy. "I gifted the soul from earlier with a particular eye color. I think I would like to gift an unusual eye color to all three of these demons. Also, the soulmates, I have something special planned for them." she smiled deviously. "Oh please tell Hatsu! It is the least you can do!" Hatsu sat in an armchair near the front of Ito's desk. "I will tell after you place your gifts." Ito rolled her eyes. "Fine" Ito brought the purple soul to the front of her face and whispered to the soul in an ancient language. Hatsu strained to hear but could only make out a few of the words. It would not matter anyways. She controlled the process of souls being brought into the world, her sister controlled them while they were in the world, and her brother controlled them when they left the world. She could not do what the other two could. "Okay it is done. Now tell me." Ito said while she slipped the two souls back into the fish bowl. Hatsu smiled a Cheshire cat grin. "I am going to make them dragon masters." Ito nearly fell over. "You are what? Are you mad Hatsu? Dragons are some of the most powerful beings in all three worlds! I doubt even father could take on a legion of them!" Adrenaline raced through Hatsu's system as she picked up the two souls. The splitting of the purple soul was almost complete.
Ito's door opened and Ozuru strolled in. His powerful torso was bare as was normal for the male white hawks. He wore white hakama pants laced at the bottom as to not become a hindrance. His tanned skin stood in stark contrast to his white wings, hair and pants. He wore a tachi from a cord at his waist that almost placed the sword horizontal on his left side. His golden eyes took in the situation and he went to stand by Hatsu as though it were his place. "I take it everything went well." she asked him quickly. He nodded in affirmation. "I want a body guard too! Juro! Come here!" The last part of Ito's childish banter was yelled loudly enough for Ozuru to wince. The two sisters were identical to each other but only a fool would not be able to tell them apart. Every mannerism was different between the two. Ozuru turned toward the still open door as the dark elf entered. He had to fight his instinct to flex into a defensive position in front of Hatsu as the aura of the dark elf invaded his senses. The only one in the room who seemed unaffected was Ito. He could sense Hatsu bristling. The warrior was clothed in dark armor that blended into gray skin so dark it was almost black. Cold violet eyes glanced over at him and dismissed him as a threat. His long white hair was tied at the nape of his neck. He wore a long sword on one side of his waist and a short sword on the other. "You called my lady" his voice was deep and dangerous. "I simply would like you to stand here. You don't mind do you Juro?" Ito asked looking up at the much taller seven-foot male. Both girls stood at exactly six feet tall so it took a tall person to dwarf them. "Not at all Lady Ito." Hatsu sighed. "Really Ito? Seriously? Why must you be so childish? Maybe you should take a toddler form like Koenma." Hatsu teased. Ito frowned at her. "Yeah right. I do not know what that idiot is thinking. Saving spirit energy or not, that form is humiliating." Ozuru cleared his throat and Hatsu looked down at the souls in her hands as though she had forgotten they were there. She brought them to her mouth and spoke hushed words in their ancient language. She was careful that the second gift did not pass onto the light blue soul but only onto the purple soul. At her last word, the soul split into two pieces. It was finally ready to be sent into the world. The blue twin soul stayed attached the male half of the purple soul. "Oh no… really Hatsu? Do you know how long it is going to take me to find a match for those twin souls? They don't even have the same shade." Ozuru complained. It could take him a year to find a match for these souls. He stepped forward and uncorked his horn flask and the twin souls flowed into the object. He grabbed a second flask and allowed the female purple halved soul to slide inside. "Any special requests?" He almost dreaded to ask. "I don't know what you are so upset about Ozuru. This is your job after all. The only thing I ask is that you put the female purple soul in a home near the soul you delivered this morning. I bet they will find each other." Ozuru let out a breath he had not known he was holding. That was a simple enough request. With a quick turn on his heel he left the room to fulfill his duty. "I hope you know what you are doing Hatsu." Hatsu looked at her sister's face, a mirror image of her own, and responded. "I hope so too Ito."
Well I hope you all caught the subtle hints I left in there. Believe me there were plenty. Please review. It motivates me. In the next chapter, you will meet the female side of the purple soul. Yay!
