A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks for getting through the prologue and making your way here! It's a pleasure to have you all reading along! If you're new to my poor attempts at writing, please do not be scared away - if you're a returning user, well... I'm sorry I've rewritten Ayane's backstory so many times. I promise I'll get it right eventually, haha. I mean... I've been at it for a decade and a half at this point! Oof... Just stay tuned! XOXO

...I even got this posted in the timeframe I had planned! Though I did almost forget... Sigh.

Chapter One

"Are you watching the Urameshi boy again, Koenma?"

The toddler shrugged, eyeing up the dark haired woman as she approached him. "Father insists I do this. And Botan is in the field with him as well, unfortunately." Her hands reached out for him and, though he groaned, he permitted her to lift him up and place him on her lap as she sat in his high back chair. "He's troublesome."

"Everyone is troublesome to you." Her laughter had become commonplace in the castle as of late, mostly with Botan in tow, but sometimes at his expense. It was light and sweet, yet it had little capacity of reaching her eyes, they had noticed. She always seemed so lost in thought and, for someone in her situation, it made all the sense in the universe.

The two watched Botan and Yusuke sail through the town he had grown up in, almost absentmindedly. Koenma's IN stack was very slowly dwindling, and his OUT pile increasing as he skimmed the paperwork between glances at the screen. Yusuke was an odd teenager - it would be perfectly normal for anyone, let alone some who had their entire life before them, to accept without question.

Yet Yusuke had made the instant decision to stay dead. That had piqued the Spirit Realm's interest even more so than his dying for a child he had not had to. Had they truly gotten this child so wrong?

Ayane had thought so the moment it happened and Botan reported in. When asked, she only smiled and shrugged. Sometimes she just knew, is all she ever said to him. She was pleased when the boy agreed to Botan's suggestion of waiting until the wake, and she had taken every opportunity to peep on his progress alongside Koenma. The pint sized ruler was curious, but knew better than to ask - she rarely gave anything short of cryptic answers, though she had improved over the last few years.

Humming filled his ears as the wake began and people arrived. The tune was unfamiliar and sad - appropriate for the atmosphere of such an event. It took him a moment to realize the sound was not from the screen, but the woman holding him. He sent a questioning glance over his shoulder at her but found himself unwilling to break the intense gaze she had on the screen. The expression had become commonplace and he always hoped leaving her in her state of mind would remind her of something. A decade of research had gotten them all nowhere and if his father knew anything, his lips were sealed tight.

His curiosity was tangible.

He returned to his work, stamping papers after a once-over, listening to the dull chatter of the visitors mixing with the hypnotic song. The night passed as any other wake would - those only there out of obligation, those there for deeper reasons, even those to criticize - and most of the guests came as no surprise to Koenma. Sometime around Kuwabara's removal, the humming ceased, though Ayane remained riveted to the screen. Koenma chanced another peek at her and watched the tears well up in her eyes as the guidance counselor from Yusuke's school sat down to speak to the framed picture of the boy.

Then...

"YUSUUUKE!"

The cry from Yusuke's mother alarmed him less than the sudden death grip Ayane had him in. Cries such as those were normal for funerals - he was sure there would be more where that one came from - and they had been almost expected. After all, Yusuke Urameshi was very much loved and cared for by those around him... despite his proclivities.

"A-Ayane, please…!"

It took a moment of him prying at her hands, pleading for her to calm down, for her to regain herself. It took another moment for her to fully release him. Even with her arms withdrawn from him, he felt her trembling. Hesitantly, he turned to look at her, almost predicting the wild, terrified eyes that he had seen the first time the woman had entered the room. He lowered himself from her lap after muting the screen - surely a silent feed would do little to harm her.

"Ayane, shall I summon Doctor Higurashi?"

Higurashi was the first one Ayane had come to recognize as someone other than an enemy - an elderly psychic who had come under Spirit World protection within the last decade and a half. The silver haired woman spoke softly to Ayane and had encouraged her past her fear of men since her incident. There were times early on when Ayane would fall into these fits and the only one able to talk her out of them had been the woman.

He wondered briefly if she would respond at all, but she soon blinked herself out of her dazed state and smiled sadly at him. "That won't be necessary, Koenma. I'm probably just tired." She stood and curtseyed at him, respecting his title as she had from the start, despite the lack of use on her end. "Your project will be here shortly, I suspect." A nod towards the screen brought him back to the job at hand. "Don't work too hard, little one."

Koenma muttered as she walked towards the door, hoping the ogres that filed in after she left with stacks of paperwork would be unable to distinguish the embarrassment from anger. His desk filling up once again, he let out a sigh and shut off his screen, the woman retiring to her room moving just as quickly to the back of his mind.

She had proven she could take care of herself. Somehow.

In the coming weeks, she would watch Yusuke's going-ons in the Human Realm with Koenma, though she had ceased holding him. She never offered an explanation and he never asked, and so it was put behind them for the time being. He had learned it best to give women space while they mull things over.

"You won't count that against him, will you? He didn't actually speak to her…"

Koenma had not stopped frowning at the small smile that had disappeared as soon as it had appeared on the young girl's lips. Kayko Yukimura was a dear friend of Yusuke's and, if Botan's assessment was unclouded, his main love interest. The girl's reports came back positive - high respect for authority figures, eager to assist her parents and friends, terribly bright - and it was curious as to how these two came to be so close.

Stranger still was the tall boy alongside Yusuke. Kazuma Kuwabara would have ended up with a report similar to Yusuke's if not for the strict moral code thrust upon him by his older sister. As a result, the boy's only fault lay in how many street fights he would pick on any given day.

When Koenma voiced his musings about the three aloud early on, Ayane had stared at him in confusion and responded, "I think they'll all be together for a very long time, Koenma. Can't you see their lights?" He had no idea how to answer her question - knowing she would be unable to answer his - and turned back to the screen, making a mental note about her words to check up on later.

Nothing, as predicted, came up.

"Of course that doesn't count," he responded finally, irritably. "Moron doesn't even know she's awake! What a Spirit Detective I'm stuck with!"

Ayane's smile was brilliant then as she faced the screen again.

"He'll be amazing," she insisted, though if pushed, would be unable to explain her confidence. She had proven herself to be quite the intuitive creature, often spotting suspicious workers in their ranks long before they are sniffed out. Koenma had not doubted her intuition once and, in fact, respected her for it. This was no exception. If she had faith in Yusuke, then so would he.

She insisted on a celebratory party in the office once Yusuke's resurrection had come to fruition and Botan had made her temporary return. The ferry had clearly shared in her excitement, a cake box held between her hands as she walked through the doors, and Koenma found himself blowing glitter off his paperwork and glaring down anyone that attempted to join in the festivities for the next few hours.

There was so much work to do. This was no time for parties! He repeated these phrases like a mantra in his head, using it to drown out the sound of the girls giggling and carrying on behind him. It was hours before someone tried breaking through it.

"Koenma, sir, if I may…?"

The tiny ruler paused, stamp hovering over his paper, and gave his assistant a sideways glance. "What is it, George? I don't have all millenia."

"I believe the girls have fallen asleep… and isn't it past the time for Botan to return to inform the boy of his new status?"

Silence passed between them for a moment or two, each sizing up the other carefully. Then, as Koenma lowered his stamp, he shot a glance towards the girls. George knew as his boss's body tensed that he did not approve of the girls cuddled up on some cushions in the corner, circled by sweets and pop, sound asleep. Certainly not when there was so much work to be done. George also knew that his boss would explode at the nearest person to him, whether or not they were the center of his rage.

He certainly could be a child sometimes.

That was how Koenma's shouting at George awoke the two women and set them into action. They offered the ogre, who was comically being screamed at by a toddler standing on a desk, apologetic looks as they went about their business… which meant sneaking out from under Koenma's wrath.

"And clean this mess up!" Koenma, now red in the face and out of breath, collapsed in his chair. "I swear, I don't know why I pay you useless idiots!"

George began to open his mouth, wanting desperately to make the point that those under his employ were, in fact, not paid, but thought better of it when he noticed the thoughtful look on Koenma's face. "...Sir?" he ventured.

"This is going to be an interesting adventure, George… I doubt the greatest psychics would be able to tell us what's in store for us." He offered no more and the room fell silent save the sound of light stamping against wood and straw brushing against concrete.