Satori-Sama: Hey Everybody! I'M BACK! Giggles Sorry about being absent for so long, and leaving you with such a terrible, terrible ending! Well, I can't promise this one is any better, but please accept my humblest of apologies. School, Project Greenlight, various animes, and a giant boulder of writer's block kept me from finalizing chapter twenty three. I actually wrote this chapter about two and a half times trying to get it right because every time I finished it, the dialogue sounded forced, or the ending was very cliché. Now I'm back in the groove, so I plan on writing more soon! Now to answer some reviews:
Cool peeps:
PainfulxRecovery: I'm sorry about leaving you in a lurch with Kurama! I promise that that will become resolved soon! I hope you like this chapter!
Venusgreenight: Thanks, I loved describing the Lunar Eclipse. I had that in my mind for a long time, I just never got around to using it until now.
KitsunKit: YEAH! No marky-joeness! Typos are just as bad as feedback on speaker systems, and I miss them sometime. Tell me how you like this chapter!
BlackSpell: Here's my update! And you'll just have to wait and see about Daja.
Silent Storm 2000: So, do you still like me? I haven't updated for awhile, do you forgive me?
GothicEmber: Thanks!
Baka Hanyou Rahvin: Thanks to you, too!
Into the Waking dawn: Yeah! It worked! Awesome! Daja is getting involved in the chapter after this one, just to let you know.
LivingImpared: Here's a new chappie for you!
DolphinGirl132173: Thanks!
OneNightOneDream:Thanks for your support! I'm glad you came back to this story and gave it another shot!
Destrona: Thanks for your grammar support! I still think I have horrible grammar though.
SweetKissOfChaos: Thanks! I love writing about Daja, and her misadventures with the detective crew. I know it's been awhile, but I'm back!
Chapter 23: Atrium
Botan: Silence.
Silence is a strange thing. It can be peaceful, vengeful, scorning, reverent. It can be as soft as a rose petal, or as harsh as a cold, icy wind from the north. It can be a quiet as a tranquil pond, or as loud as a roaring dragon.
Silence is what I was brought up to know; it is what I know of the afterlife, of my life. Yet that doesn't mean that I like it. It's too… empty.
I look down at my plate in a quiet way, almost wishing for Koenma to break the silence before I do. I don't know what to say if he should not come up with a topic. Should I be general with my words, or should I speak about what's on my mind. That topic that remains unspoken.
I'm awful silly, I know, since I've know Koenma since I was a mere adolescent learning how palace life really felt. I'd always known how to ferry souls. My mother and elder sisters had been reapers before I had even been born. It's in my genes, you could say. I've learned how to ride a hand-me-down oar before I even had my own. My sisters said I learned fast, my mother said I was gifted, and they were all proud of my talents. When my mother finally decided to move to the Imperial Palace so that we would all have an easier time getting to work, I was scared. My sisters told me of the King and how demanding he was. About how he could be cruel, yet somehow fair at the same time. I was scared when I sat outside he office for the first time, waiting to see what my job would be.
As it turned out, Kind Enma was on vacation and his son, the prince of Spirit World, was filling in for him. When I walked out of the office that day, I felt very relieved that I would be working for Koenma, but at the same time I was amazed. He was barely older than I, his teenage body between the boyhood and manhood types, yet he also took a toddler form for some vague energy conserving reason.
Now, in our millennia of a quite close and talkative friendship, it seems we have run out of things to say to each other. With a fork, I move around the food on my plate dejectedly, while I debate breaking the quiet.
All of a sudden, a random thought pops into my mind. What about Daja? It has been a few days since the detectives were deployed on their latest mission and since we left Daja and George in charge of the entire workings of Spirit World. I could call her up on the communicator and see how she's doing. Although I might be verbally assaulted, that sounds like a good plan. Fumbling in my kimono for the pocket communicator, I smile in a small way, and triumphantly pull out the small mirror.
"Botan?"
The world stops for a second while I look at Koenma. His face looks almost confused, but knowing at the same time.
I smile and connect to Spirit World, waiting for Daja to pick up. The screen fizzles and, with a pop, Daja's calm face appears on my small screen, her vibrant green eyes piercing yet accepting.
"Botan you didn't…" Koenma starts exasperatedly.
"Daja here."
With a look to Koenma, I start talking to Daja. "Hi Daja, it's Botan. How are you doing?"
Koenma sighs and leans back in his seat, while Daja's eyes lengthen in surprise.
"I am quite capable of handling the business you've left me with, but the rest of Spirit World is quite incapable of believing you left me in charge."
I chuckle at that, and Daja's face seems to loosen, almost become gentler. Here eyes also have dark blue streaks in them now.
"Daja, you'll be fine. How are the detectives doing?"
"I have yet to receive a message from them, so I honestly don't know at the current moment. Would you like me to call you when I am updated of their wellbeing?"
"That
would be quite thoughtful."
"I'll try to remember
to."
Suddenly, muffled voices come through the speaker, and one
sounds demanding. Daja smiles and waves.
"Ayame is accusing me of murdering you both. I must defend myself."
"Good—" the screen goes blank with a click and I feel my face fall. "Bye."
I close the mirror and stare at my plate again. Koenma is still being mute, and it's starting to tear me apart. Silence hurts.
"Botan, are you lonesome here?"
Koenma's voice sounds almost worried. I don't really want to be a raincloud on this whole vacation, but this palace seems deserted. The only other person I have seen here are the scullery maid, and she is a real mute.
Lightheartedly I answer, "I just miss the hustle and bustle of the Imperial Palace, that's all."
Koenma leans back in his chair and grins. "Perhaps you need to be introduced to someone who lives in this palace. Someone that you can talk to besides me."
I answer quizzically. "One of the scholars?"
This palace has been the citadel of all of the Spirit World's most beloved scholars and teachers for the past million years. Over the years, however, the number of our teachers has declined and only few remain within these beautiful walls. The last scholar was appointed when I had just arrived at the palace. In fact, I think his induction ceremony was the first ever palace event I attended as a ferry girl, and what a gala it was! That was so long ago, when I was a mere child. What was his name…. As much as I try, I can't recall much about him, but I remember attending this service.
Koenma smiles knowingly. "Yes, you might remember him. He was one of my good friends before I ruled Spirit World when my father was on one of his vacations."
He stands up and motions for me to follow him. I grab my mirror and walk down one of the long hallways with him, the silence a little more bearable. After what seems like miles of tiled floors and beautiful archways, the hallway opens up into a lush atrium. Scrolls upon scrolls line the far wall, while a white sunlight streams down through the skylight and around the fountain and tree. Close to the eastern windows, a young man sits hunched over a writing easel, parchments scattered across his desk. His messy, reddish-brown hair is everywhere, and the glasses on his nose only make his hazel eyes appear larger and give him a casual and vibrant appearance. His intense gaze only weakens when my sandals click clack on the tile floor.
He looks back at us, and I recognize his face from long ago. He smiles and waves lightheartedly, but suddenly the air around him seems like it's changing. The white light feels like it is melting, swirling, colors separating out of the white light, expanding, contracting, until they seem to settle down into a spectrum.
The scholar gets up, his plain robes swirling and settling around his feet as he makes his way towards where Koenma and I stand. His voice is smooth, musical, and most of all friendly.
"Good Morning! I never thought you would come and see me in my atrium. It's been too long."
Koenma steps forward shakes the scholars hand, the friendship between them reigniting. "I know. I would have come earlier, but my father left me in charge for awhile."
The scholar laughs and adjusts his glasses. "I remember when you pined to rule the afterlife."
"It's not as glamorous as I thought." Koenma admits sheepishly. They both laugh, and I feel almost left out.
Koenma regains his composure and gestures for me to come forward and meet the scholar. He puts an arm around my shoulder, and introduces me to the scholar. "This is my most trusted Reaper, Botan."
The scholar holds out his hand as the air around him shifts again. "Hi Botan. I'm so glad to meet you. Koenma talked about you a lot when we were kids. I almost feel like I know you already!"
Koenma laughs and lets me go, sitting down in one of the chairs around the writing easel. The scholar sits down next to Koenma, and taking their lead, I sit down in another one of the chairs. We sit in a comfortable silence for a second, before the scholar starts humming ending the silence and bringing a strange, wonderful feeling to the room.
He looks at Koenma expectantly, then impatiently, then feelingly, then desperately, as if his whole existence is based on what Koenma says next. It is like seeing a short play acted out in front of me, and I start to laugh, although I am very much trying to cover it up politely with my hands.. His hazel eyes plead with Koenma, until he gives up. "Oh your impossible, Koenma. Really. You haven't grown up a bit. Aren't you going to introduce me?"
Koenma starts to, but he gets cut off as the scholar gets up to his feet and melodramatically falls back into his chair, his forearm resting on his forehead almost exasperatedly. "I should have never placed trust in you!" He sighs, leans forward towards me, and almost confidentially whispers, "Koenma was always the forgetful of the bunch."
Koenma starts the defend himself, and only gets out a "Hey now, wait a minute!" when the scholar leans back, his hands on his hips. With a smack of his lips and a click of his tongue, he cuts Koenma off. "Never mind you, I'll just introduce meself, like a proper scholar should." Sticking out his hand and grabbing mine, I can't help but to laughs as he shakes my hand and stands up, his eyes joyful and full of laughter.
"Miss Botan, beloved of Koenma's ferry ladies, please allow me to introduce meself. I am the culture Sage of the Spirit World and the art major of this palace. I am a mercenary of medleys, a storyteller of wicked stories, the head of the strategic—"
Koenma snorts as he tries to stifle his laughter, but I am only vaguely aware of that.
The scholar looks peeved, but clears his throat and continues with gusto. "—he head of command on the ship Sunfire, a thief of gynormous proportions, the man behind a leading lady, and a prince of the Vaev'shaj stage. "
All of a sudden, he bows with grandiose, his forefinger touching his brow and his knees bending, the overall motion similar to a bow mixed with a…
My mind goes back to those days I spent with Daja in the human world, and the small accidents when she would let one of the secrets about her past slip out. Realization fills me as the scholar returns to an upright position. My mind starts to click into place become conscious of the answer that has been in front of me since that night so long ago when I first learnt about Daja's past, when she let it slip that she felt terrible about not telling "him" about her feelings.
He stands up and looks quite pleased with himself. He adjusts his glasses and blows a stray bang out of his eyes. Sitting back down comfortably, he says with the greatest of ease, "My name is Damien Rainwater."
Satori-Sama: Alright, I've got to go and do some homework. I'll try to update tomorrow. Leave me a review to tell me what you thought of my work after such a long bout of being dumb and not writing anything but research papers. 99 red balloons floating in the summer sky, Satori-Sama signing out for the evening.
insert ending thingy here because Satari-Sama is too stressed over class elections to think one up (she ran for president, hope she wins!)
