"I cried for five hours straight after I found out my father died," I said. "He'd been killed in a accident at the construction site where he worked. I couldn't believe he was gone- he had told me that he'd always be there, no matter what." I took a deep breath before continuing- unlike my cousin, I could be really sensitive at times. This was one of them. "I turned into your mother, Yusuke," I continued. "Drinking all the booze I could get my hands on, even if it meant stealing it. And then there was that one night... three months after Dad died, everything changed." As I set the scene for the story, the memories came flooding back.

The apartment that I had once shared with my father had certainly seen better days, that was for sure- pizza boxes, various Coke bottles and Chinese take-out cartons were all over the place, along with something I never thought I'd see in my possession- alcohol. And we're not talking the rubbing kind; Black Velvet (goes great with diet or regular Coke), Gin (also great with regular Coke), Vanilla Vodka (excellent with Vanilla Coke), Tequila and the list went on. A half empty (or half full, however you want to look at it) bottle of Jack Daniels was open in my hand as I laid on the couch watching TV.

"You're losing it, Kaira," I thought to myself. "What would your dad say if he saw you like this?" I then closed my bottle of Daniels, got up off the couch and wobbly headed into the kitchen.

Once I managed to get there, I pulled a gallon of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer, opened it up and put a few scoops into a blender with some milk, chocolate syrup and a sizable amount of some peppermint flavored schnapps. After putting the top on the blender and pureeing it for a couple minutes I reached towards a large glass on the counter... which happened to be right next to a set of kitchen knives. "No," I thought. "That's not the way..." My hand reached towards the biggest knife, a butcher knife, although I was mentally trying to call it back. It slowly came out of it's slot, even though part of me was trying to put it back in.

"When it was fully out," I told my companions. "I looked at the blade glistening in the light... then put it up against my neck."

"Kaira," said Yusuke. "You..." He couldn't believe what I was saying- sure, he and I were both die hard, life long members of the "Hard-Luck Club:" not the world's greatest in school, lived on the streets every now and then, had the reputation of being the tough kid around town and lost a parent... well, I had lost both of my parents, but that was no reason to kill myself. Yusuke fumbled to finish his sentence, so I decided to give him a hand.

"No matter how much I told myself I didn't want to," I said. "I probably would have killed myself that night... until I heard the commotion next door." Yusuke and Kuwabara gave me questioning looks, but Botan knew exactly what I was talking about- I had already told her this story. "The family that lived next door to me consisted of a deadbeat father and his two victims: a five-year-old daughter and his wife. I heard him beating on them again- man, that little girl had a lot of guts. She was standing up to him like he was nothing... when I heard her slam into the wall that separated our apartments, that was the last straw. I instantly sobered up and headed over. When I got there, he was holding his daughter up against the wall by her neck. I told him to let her go, but he just laughed and asked what I was going to do about it." I smiled, blew on my fist and rubbed it on my shirt. "Keh, he found out exactly what I was going to do. I had him beaten to a pulp until he got one lucky shot off- he hit me with a punch that sent me flying out a large picture window." I smiled and looked at Botan. "That's when I met Botan."

"Met Botan?!" cried Yusuke. "But she's the Grim Reaper! To meet her, you have to be..." I nodded.

"I lived on the tenth floor Yusuke," I told him. "Falling out a window at that height would kill a person." Once again, I flashed back, this time to the day I realized I was dead...

When I found myself floating above the city, my hand instantly went to my neck. There were no scars there that I could feel, but if I hadn't killed myself, what had happened? I then remembered the fight I had with the son of a bitch that lived next door to me and shook my head.

"Woulda been nice to take that asshole with me," I muttered. "For that little girl's sake at least." Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me, much like someone clearing their throat. I tuned around to see a girl, who didn't look much older than myself, with blue hair, wearing a pink kimono, and riding on some sort of brown stick thing.

"In a way, Kaira," she said. "You are taking him with you- the idiot is now sitting on death row for your murder, leaving his wife and child safe from his wrath." I smiled, and gave a thankful sigh.

"Thank God," I said, then focused my attention back to the girl. "Hey, who are you? And how do you know my name? And how do you know what happened? And..."

"Please, Kaira!" she exclaimed. "One question at a time!" She giggled for a moment before continuing. "My name is Botan. I know who you are and what happened to you because I am also known as the Grim Reaper." I was surprised to say the least, but merely nodded.

"Well, I didn't expect the Grim Reaper to be so nice, but I guess like life, death has it's surprises." Now, Botan looked surprised. "What?"

"You're taking this a lot better than your cousin did- he completely freaked out when I told him I was the Grim Reaper..." I gasped in horror. I only had one cousin, so I knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Yusuke's dead?" I asked, a tear falling down my cheek. "Why didn't someone tell me? How did it happen? Is Aunt Atsuko okay? And Kayko, she must be crushed..."

"Whoa!" said Botan. "You're doing the rapid fire questions again! Yusuke was dead- he's now alive and kicking... literally." I wiped my eyes. "And Koenma thought you wouldn't care- I hope he's watching just so he can see how wrong he was."

"But... how?" I asked. "How is he alive?" Botan smiled.

"The same way you're going to get your life back- by accepting the same task Yusuke did." I raised my eyebrows. "Well, not exactly the same task," Botan continued. "Lord Koenma doesn't want to risk you being eaten by a spirit animal, especially with something of this importance." I still looked confused, prompting Botan to ask what was wrong.

"What could be so important that you would bring me back to life?" Botan smiled.

"You're cousin's life- Yusuke is now what we call a Spirit Detective- he tracks down stray demons and puts them where they belong. Lord Koenma wants you to keep Yusuke's partner from killing him. That and with the next case he'll be getting, he'll need all the help he can get." My eyebrows raised once again.

"What kind of a case?"

"So what do you think, cousin?" Back in the present, I looked at my cousin and smiled. I could tell he was really confused- although we hadn't seen each other in ten years, didn't mean we didn't talk. The two of us had exchanged letters for the longest time, even if those from Yusuke were few and far between, and in a good deal of the ones I sent, I had begged him not to kill himself. I was sure he was going to comment on that, until he shot me a look; one that said "We'll discuss this later." He then looked at Botan.

"What is this case she's talking about?" he asked. "And how can it be so dangerous that I'd need 'all the help I can get'?"

**Hi all, Kaira again! Well, Yusuke doesn't seem to be fazed by the way I became a Spirit Detective, nor by the prospect of a new case... no matter how dangerous. But is that just a way of waiting until later to chew me out? And what is this new case? We'll find out next time on Yu-Yu Hakusho!**