Her job was far from easy. Everyday millions of people died. Some of them accepted death; others were merely confused, most held a mixture of sorrow and resentment.
This particular death could have been the repeat of the one that had led to her meeting with all of her closest friends. The car was there and had hit a little boy. Only this time there was no juvenile delinquent with a hero complex to give his life for the other. This time the boy had truly died.
Botan checked her book, Simon Caraway, Seven years old, American born, hit by a speeding car. The damage to his body was extensive, broken spine, shattered leg, internal bleeding, and other things. Yes, she was on time.
She watched as the soul separated itself from the broken body. He watched in fear and confusion as the paramedics arrived and then pronounced that nothing could be done. Being very young, he soon got bored with watching strangers load his body into an ambulance, and began to look around. He took in the fact that he was floating about sixty feet above the ground, and that there was a blue haired young woman also observing the scene.
He fixed his eyes on her, "Who are you"
"Name's Botan, nice to meet'cha, I'm a pilot on the River Styx" she felt no need to tell him that she was the Grim Reaper. He'd figure it out soon enough---if he realized that he was dead that is.
Luck was on her side, "Are you dead too?"
She smiled and nodded, "I'm here to take you to heaven"
"I see an oar but there's no boat. How can you be a pilot without a boat?"
She just giggled and motioned for him to hop on to the oar behind her. He obeyed and she began flying towards the spirit world. At first, Simon found the ride exhilarating, Botan flew fast and used motions that reminded him pleasantly of a roller coaster ride, but the novelty soon wore off. He began to cry,
"What's wrong?'
"I miss my Mommy, I want to go back"
"Come here," She gave him a hug, and let him sob into her kimono. Separating families always bothered her, but death was death and there was no turning back. Eventually he stopped sobbing, "I can't go back can I?"
"No" Botan had to remain undisturbed or he would never accept fate. She kept smiling as he asked for another ride, and she gave it to him, before they arrived at Koenma's palace. Once there she transferred the soul to the underworld authorities with slight difficulty (Simon had taken a liking to her and wouldn't let go of her hand,) before speeding off to cheer other souls to the Rekai.
Most of them were not as accepting as Simon. Eventually though, they all took comfort in her cheery attitude. If the Grim Reaper was a happy girl, then death couldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, no such comfort existed for the living, and Botan heard them curse her every single time she led a loved one to the safety of the spirit realm.
She was tired; Simon had been the fiftieth soul she'd had to ferry in a twenty-four hour time span. At least now, nineteen hours and eighty-six souls later, Rekai didn't measure time in any way she had ever been able to figure out, she had a break, her first in over a month. It had been an unusually slow day in terms of deaths, and she was grateful. She could not have handled much more.
Totally drained, Botan lay upon her bed and was just beginning to relax when the bell that demanded her presence at her other job rang. She sat up with a sigh, she loved Yusuke, she really did but the boy managed to get in more trouble than anyone she'd ever met.
After checking with Koenma, Botan knew that it was a routine mission gone wrong. Thieve had taken s device that allowed the user to shift any sort of area, granting access or lack of it as the user wished.
He hadn't said how it had gone wrong, but after being in spot the compass pointed for nearly an hour and being unable to find the team, she guessed that the thieved had used the item so that after the team found their lair, getting out of it was nearly impossible. She was worried that she would never be able to locate them when she heard a familiar battle cry.
"Spirit Gun!" Loud cursing followed it. Obviously, the Tantai's battle was not going well. The sounds of battle got louder and more desperate as Botan followed the noise and arrived at a solid mountainside. She recalled the properties of the stolen item, and walked into the cave at the very second Hiei unleashed the black dragon. That worried her, if Hiei had needed to use that attack---well one or more of her friends was probably hurt.
With a sigh, she used some of her already drained spirit energy to change back into her non-corporal form and back again once, she was inside. A quick scan of the area showed her that her friends were not in good shape.
Kuwabara was unhurt but he looked exhausted. He managed an extra burst of Ki, and took used his sword to take out his opponent. He cringed when the demon literally sizzled and then melted. He'd finished taking out the demons in his area, so he ran to help Kurama with his group. Kuwabara jumped over the puddle of demon on the ground, and Botan noticed that he wasn't as unhurt as she'd thought. His hands were covered with acid burns.
Kurama was breathing heavily; he'd taken another slash in his midsection. Even so, his whip shredded demons to pieces of oozing purple, which he avoided with his dancer's grace. Still the body has its limits and the fox was starting to falter.
Hiei's dragon vaporized the majority of the Yokai in there. This must have been the lair of a sizable clan of demons because even that did not destroy them all.
Yusuke's shot gun wiped out the last of them. The detective grinned, but all humor vanish from his face, when he saw that although the enemy was defeated, the purple acid was still splashing around, and Kurama's strength was about to give out. He grabbed the fox and placed him safely against the wall, wincing in pain as he did so.
Botan gasped when she saw the damage. The skin on Yusuke's right hand looked melted off. White bone and blood was plain to see. Knowing the spirit detective, he'd tried to punch the demons out before switching to spirit energy.
She healed it as quickly as possible, the other's injuries would heal on their own (Kurama was already healing his) but that hand, well Yusuke was lucky that his assistant was versed in the healing arts or he would have lost it. Repairing the damaged muscles and blood vessels took some time, so that by the time Botan was finished, Hiei and Kuwabara had managed to reach them.
Hiei sank back against the wall, drained from using the darkness technique. Kuwabara, being the only one left healthy had gone to retrieve the stolen artifact. He returned, holding a disk like item in one hand.
"Is this the device? It looks pathetic."
"How should I know? Toddler never tells us anything." Yusuke grumbled.
"You never listen anyway," "Master Koenma doesn't like to waste time giving you details you never remember. Yes, that's it." Botan's hands shook, but she gave the disk a harsh twist and the solid stone to her left opened up to reveal the cavern opening.
Before the Tantai could escape, the thieves ring leader showed up.
This one was humanoid in appearance. He wore tattered pants, greasy black hair that fell to his waist, and a half-moon necklace. He ignored the boys completely; instead, he fixed his ice-cold amber eyes upon Botan, who went pale.
"So Jenna" he said, "Long time, No see."
His predatory gaze remained fixed on Botan, so he didn't notice the Rei-gun streaming towards him until he took it straight to the face. The blast knocked the demon out. Job done, Yusuke turned towards Botan to ask what that had been about. The question died on his lips when she fell forward in a dead faint.
Instead, he asked, "Is She Okay?"
Kurama understood the unspoken order and immediately performed a medical check. "It seems she overexerted herself."
Chocolate eyes took in the slightly pained way the fox was standing, Kuwabara's sweating figure, and Hiei, still lethargic from using the dragon.
"She's not the only one. Can you guys even make it home?"
"You worry too much, Urameshi"
Taking that as an affirmative, Yusuke scooped Botan into his arms and began walking home. He was puzzled by his friend's reaction to the demon's few words, but chose not to dwell on it. Her immediate well-being was of more concern, and besides, thinking never had been his strong suit.