Koenma

I extended my index finger out to the infant before me. Her tiny fingers wrapped around it and tightened with a significant amount of strength for that of a newborn. It was recognition. Ume was in there, looking up at me through the eyes of Elise Beckett. Deep, blue eyes stared wide into mine, filled with the wonder that many babies held.

And then, they turned cold, accusing. She knew what I had done to her, and I felt guilt and turmoil in the depths of my being over my selfish decision.

"You would have died, Ume," I spoke in a hushed tone, leaning over the cart she had been placed on in the nursery. There were other newborns sleeping, unattended while the nurse was on her break.

"Elise would have died from heart complications. Your generous amount of life energy is keeping her heart beating ."

I saw her tiny chest begin to heave, and I hesitated to reach for her. I wanted to, but I was afraid to touch her. She was still in a very fragile state.

And then tears formed in her eyes, and she began screeching at me. I panicked, abandoning whatever fears I had and picked her up,cradling her infant form my arms.

It felt strange, I had spent so much time in my infant form, and yet I still didn`t have the first sense of what it was like to actually be so small and lacking in motor skills.

I rocked back and forth with Ume pressed close to my chest, head resting against my shoulder. She fit so small into the long arms of my adult form.

"I couldn`t just let you die," I whispered to her, and she hiccupped into my shirt. She whined here and there, displeased. I held her for some time, just rocking, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, slowly, steadily.

She began to quiet after a few minutes, and I was able to lay her back down.

I didn`t have much time left with her, the attendant would be returning any moment. I leaned back down and planted a kiss upon the crown of her head.

"Be good, Ume. I`ll be watching."

cradle robbers
baby mine - ii

There's a ghost in my lungs and it sighs in my sleep
Wraps itself around my tongue as it softly speaks

I noticed her as she levitated atop an oar just outside of my window. A messenger from the Spirit World. The last time I`d seen a reaper was when Christina Beckett, my new mother had gotten in her accident several years before.

When she lost our new born baby brother.

I watched a silver haired reaper hold little James Jr. to her with a pained expression when she had appeared at the scene of the accident. There wasn`t much left of the car, mostly just pieces of engine scattered among the side of the road and a banged up, misshapen hunk of metal that was once a vehicle. The side Elise`s brother, my brother, had been seated on had been completely caved in. There was no way he would have survived that type of collision.

This girl had bright, pink eyes and cotton-candy, blue hair. I stopped short when I noticed a familiar looking boy floating next to her.

Yusuke Urameshi, my classmate. I looked back to where his seat was, a few rows over, and realized that he had skipped once again. To my right sat Keiko Yukimura, his childhood friend and long time crush (Though he seemed repulsed by the idea.). I watched in horror as his arrogant features looked down through the window I was seated beside.

Though I felt sad for Keiko and my now dead classmate, only one thought occurred to me;

That reaper was going to take Yusuke to the Reikai.

I locked eyes with the girl on the oar, mouthing the words "I see you" to her, and then I turned to Yusuke.

"Your classmate can see us!" She squeaked, I could read their lips from such a close distance. Yusuke`s eyebrows raised, and he stared at me, surprised. I had to find my way out there, to the rooftop.

I excused myself from the room, running and holding my stomach as if I were about to hurl. If someone wanted to accuse me of faking it, I could prove that I`d thrown up. I was a resourceful girl when I needed to be, and took advantage of the purging lesson my sister, Jillian, had given me.

I realize that bulimia is a serious mental illness, but I wasn`t going to let one of my peers make an asshole out of me. I was getting far too old for that shit.

I booked it for the stairs, heading for the roof. If I didn`t resent King Enma so much, I would have prayed that they had waited for me.

Sure enough, they had waited, and I shouted down at them from over the ledge of the building, leaning over the stone wall to look at them.

"You! Reaper!" I greeted them as they floated up to the roof.

"Botan," She corrected me, offering her name, "And yes. I am the Grim Reaper. You must have very strong awareness to be able to see me in this state."

"Hey, America." Yusuke greeted me with my usual nickname. I didn`t hate the boy, honestly, I didn`t mind him like most of our peers seemed to. He made Keiko happy, and she cared for him quite a bit.

He was alright in my book.

"Urameshi," I nodded at him in recognition, and then turned back to the business that I was personally taking interest in,

"Have you taken him to see Koenma yet?" I blurted, getting straight to the point.

"Er," I could tell this Botan was uncomfortable with the situation, as she wasn`t permitted to talk to living humans like this. The Reikai was supposed to remain secret no matter the circumstances.

"I`m afraid the Prince is very occupied at the moment-"

"I need to see him!" I interrupted her. It had been fourteen long years since I`d gotten to see him. He abandoned me in a Doll House filled with spoiled Americans and hadn`t said a word since.

Yusuke watched the two of us converse with a curious expression on his face.

"Well-" She seemed rather intimidated by my tone, as I could still stare a dagger through anyone, even with my new, softer features.

"I suppose I could make a quick run to the Spirit World, if that`s alright with Yusuke,"

"You`re just gunna leave me here?!" He piped up from beside me, and I held my hand out in front of him, halting him from going on a rant.

"Let me have this moment, Urameshi. Besides," I smiled sweetly at him as I made my way on top of the oar, sidling it with the reaper.

"You`ve got all the time in the world now that you`re dead as a doornail!" I grinned, and waved mockingly at the fuming ghoul-teenager before Botan and I sped off.

My smile never faded the entire ride back to the Spirit World. It felt like I was taking the scenic route back home. Not a thing had changed.

And Koenma was going to crap his little baby diaper when he saw me.

"I need to get back to my assignment," Botan didn`t hesitate to beat it the hell out of there after dropping me at the gate. I nodded, not really caring what her reason to leave was. I was sure that I could have gotten her into trouble just then, but hopefully her boss would understand how intimidating I could be. At least, I hoped he did.

When I was asked what my reason for seeing the Prince was, I replied with what I always had when I made my way to the office, not feeling a hair out of place.

"Ume Kimura," I called back to the gatekeeper, and there was silence for a moment, as if they didn`t quite believe their ears.

The doors opened regardless, and I hauled ass through the cubicles, maneuvering my way around the panicking ogres.

Typical Spirit World. I was surprised they hadn`t started putting nets around the perimeter to keep the office workers from throwing themselves out the windows.

Of course, if they were to die in Spirit World, wouldn`t their souls just resume their duties filing papers as they did before?

I shook the wonder from my head as I approached his office, feeling a queasiness enter my stomach. This could either go one of two ways.

I ignored my doubts and wrapped my shaking fingers around the handle anyway. I had gone too far to go back now with my tail tucked between my legs.

"Did I give you permission to come in?" His obnoxious, toddler form snapped angrily at me as he refused to look up from his paperwork. I felt my right eye involuntarily twitch out of irritation. I was surprised someone hadn`t attempted to assassinate his brat ass every once in a while.

"I was under the impression that I was allowed to bypass permission at this point, Sir." I hissed through my teeth at the toddler. How dare he treat me like this after throwing me to the sharks without a word for fourteen years.

He paused, stopping his furious stamping. He burned a hole in the center of his desk as he refused to look me in the eye.

"I knew this day would come. Come here, Ume."

Instead of obeying that order, I planted my feet in a wide stance, the way that Jillian stood with her feet parted when she played her violin, one foot slightly more forward than the other, angled open.

I felt the familiar surge of energy, the adrenalin rush wash over me as the white light materialized in the palm of my hand. I wrapped my fingers around my weapon of choice, and next reached behind my back to pull a long, slender arrow from out of thin air and took aim.

Puzzled as to why he didn`t hear my footsteps drawing near, Koenma finally looked up from his paperwork, shock phasing over his face.

In that moment, I released the sharp, narrow bit of energy from the bow and it within the blink of an eye, it had pierced through his hat and pinned it to the wall directly behind him.

In an instant, the adult form of Koenma had appeared before me, eyes narrowed,

"I could have you put to death for that kind of mutiny," He hissed from behind his mafuken. I grinned, a little giddy for a moment that I had provoked him. The spirit energy in my hands and pinned through his hat on the wall dissolved as if it had never been there to begin with.

"You think this is funny?" He snarled, spitting on me a little as he spoke. My face twisted a little, disgusted as I wiped the spray from my face before reaching out and plucking the binky from his lips.

"And I suppose you think this is funny?" I stepped back a little so that I could gesture to myself, becoming more grave as the seconds flew past us.

"I though you`d like a little change," He joked, laughing nervously now, defensive. I finally blew my stack, grabbing a fist full of his red cape, yanking it over his head before shoving him to the floor and launching his stupid, slimy pacifier at him.

"A phone call would have been nice!" I shouted, hands flying to my forehead. I grabbed fistfuls of hair and tugged at them as I always did when I was utterly flustered,

"Gah! I can`t believe you have time for punks like Yusuke Urameshi," I spat his name like it was a disease, like our classmates usually did.

I admit, looking back on those words I felt a little guilty.

"…And you can`t even—Ugh! Koenma!"

"Ume please," I looked down at the Prince as he stood from the cold, hard tiles. I crossed my arms across my chest, sticking my nose in the air. Regaining my composer, I sauntered over to his big, comfy chair and seated myself in it, facing him from behind his desk,

"I`m listening."

He sighed heavily, running a hand through his longer, brown hair.

"Ume I had to transfer your soul to another body, otherwise I would have lost you. I didn`t have a lot of time,"

"That doesn`t explain why you haven`t tried to speak to me. And after so much service,"

"Can you even begin to imagine what Sensui would do if he found out that you were still alive?" I was interrupted, and I stared at the irritated Prince with wide eyes, the thought never having occurred to me.

"I was trying to protect you by severing your ties to Spirit World. I wanted you to live in peace after everything you`ve already been through. It was the least I could do to repay you."

I stayed silent. For some reason, this truth still hurt me. I didn`t feel emancipated by his words.

"As for Yusuke Urameshi, his fate was unfortunate, but I plan on offering him a second chance at life. He can still retain his physical form, and I have a plan for him as my next Spirit Detective."

"And what makes you think he won`t end up the same as Shinobu?" My words tailed his immediately, paranoia taking over my being.

"Sensui was so hell bent on the true definition of justice. Urameshi`s brash, he couldn`t care less. He`ll be content with protecting the human race because he knows what it`s like to be a human more than most."

I leaned forward onto the desk, looking up at him with the most sincerely pleading look that I could muster.

"Please allow me to offer him my assistance." I requested, remaining as cordial as possible. That seemed to go a long way in the Reikai.

"That`d absolutely out of the question, get up." He brushed the request off as if he was turning down a cup of tea. He waved me out of his chair, and I moved to the desk, sitting directly in front of the stacks of piling paperwork that were patiently waiting to be stamped.

"Oh, Koenma, please-"

"I said no!"

I jumped at the harshness that had plagued his usual calm and delicate voice. He groaned, leaning back in the chair as I slipped off of the wooden desk. There was no point in arguing, after all, that was insubordination.

"What purpose does it serve, Ume?" He asked, staring at my back as I made my way for the door. I paused my walk of shame, and I thought about turning to look at him. I was afraid that I would be overwhelmed by my emotions, so I decided against looking him in the eyes. I knew that would seal the deal for me, as I felt weakened every time I locked stares with him.

Some sort of chemical malfunction in my brain, something like a glitch in my genetic make up.

"Why do you want to fight so badly? You must have some reason to do these missions of your own free will. I`ve never had to bribe you or order you to dive head first into danger. It`s as if you have a death wish."

I smiled a little, as I would never, ever reveal the true answer to that question, especially to his face. The last thing I wanted to do was make a mockery of myself in front of the ruler of the Reikai. So I fibbed, letting him believe that I probably was crazy after all.

"I just can`t lead a normal life after knowing about all of this." And then I added, "Besides, who can say that they work for the devastatingly handsome Lord Koenma, son of the Ruler of the Spirit World?"

Koenma flushed red, and buried his face into another stack of paper work, pretending to start back up with his endless task of stamping and signing, approving and et cetera.

I watched him work for a moment, missing more than anything the way he flew through every paper without seeming to actually care about whatever information each page bore. He rushed through it all as if he had someplace else to be.

I figured that life to be unbearably dreadful, personally. He missed out on all of the adventure that way, I was surprised they hadn`t hung nets up for him alone as well as the ogres.

"It was good to see you," I offered him these words in hopes of swaying his decision to keep our ties severed. He looked up once more, dropping his pen onto the desk. He pushed himself away from the desk a little and let his head rest on the back of the chair.

"You do realize that if I let you participate in these missions with Yusuke that you risk being found by Sensui, and that I may not be able to save you this time."

I felt my heart take flight as the words spilled out of his mouth, and I found my self leaping over the desk within milliseconds, knocking the chair over, backwards as I the Prince and I rolled onto the hard floor. His cries of pain were drowned out by my fit of giggles, and I locked my arms around his neck as he tried to wiggle free of my embrace.

I was ecstatic, truly happy for what seemed the very first time since I`d been reborn into Elise`s body.

"Wait a minute!" He finally shoved away from me, dusting himself off and scrambling back to his feet. When he had composed himself, he offered a hand to help me up as well, and I graciously accepted it.

"You will be cautious, and do your best to conceal your identity. Do I make myself clear, Miss Kimura?"

"Crystal!" I exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

Finally, something to do with my time besides grinding my nose against a text book.

"Great. Now go find someone to escort you back to the Ningenkai. You`ve gotten me off track enough already."

He started for his desk, but I caught his arm one last time before I made my exit, truly elated that I was allowed even a sliver of my previous life.

I didn`t hesitate to wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him to me as I leaned into him for a miniscule moment of affection. He didn`t move, didn`t wrap his arms around me, just stood still and let me really hold him for the first time in thirteen years. Though I was left with feelings unreciprocated, it didn`t matter.

I was just happy to be where I belonged.