Botan checked and rechecked her clipboard while she flew over Spirit World on her oar. Lately, the clipboard had been confusing her. One moment, a name would appear and the next, it'd disappear. She'd have to ask Koenma for a new one if that kept up.
"Hey, Botan!" Another girl riding an oar flew up next to her.
"Oh, Lotus! I thought you were out reaping," Botan said.
The girl in the purple kimono shook her head, "That's what I thought, too. Koenma, sir, hasn't changed the new schedule he made up for us in days. And just today, Cherry... Because you know she just has to complain to him about everything... went up to his workroom to ask him what he's going to do about that young ogre, who just got promoted to head of the Wandering Spirits' Rights office, because of that party he threw last night. Koenma, sir, wouldn't even let her in! He sounded mad and tired, Botan. I don't think anyone has seen him, not even Jorge. Anyway, I've been trying to rely on my trusty clipboard, but it's a little on the fritzy side. I was in Kyoto today to collect a soul and when I got there, I didn't see any sign. I checked my clipboard and it was like the name hadn't even been on there! But I know it was... I..."
"Don't forget to breathe, Lotus," Botan said, smiling.
Lotus laughed sheepishly and nodded. Botan thought about what the other ferrygirl said. If her clipboard was acting up, too, it might not just have been an individual error. Maybe something was up.
"Things have been strange around here, haven't they?" she said.
Lotus nodded again, "Yeah. But I'll catch you, later, Botan. I should probably get to a post before someone catches me slacking."
"Goodbye, then. Have a good day," Botan said.
She slowed her flight amongst the golden clouds. Koenma's recent behavior puzzled her. He had never shut anyone out before. Usually, when he was mad he just yelled and threw a temper tantrum. She turned her oar and headed for the palace.
She stopped at Koenma's doors and dismounted her oar. She knocked and stood straight, "Koenma, sir! It's me, Botan! I'd like to..."
"Go away! I'm busy!" Koenma shouted from within.
Botan blinked. He did sound tired. She knocked again, "Koenma, sir, please. What is going on? Why won't you let anyone in?"
There was silence. Botan jumped when she heard a crash inside.
"Didn't you hear me?" Koenma's voice boomed in her ears, "I said go away! I won't see anyone! If you continue pestering me, I'll exile you to a plane of nonexistence!"
Botan held her breath. He couldn't really do that, could he? She debated on whether or not she should leave or try going right in and demanding what was going on. She bit her lip and pushed on the door. It wouldn't budge.
"I tried body-slamming it once."
Botan turned and saw Jorge approaching her with a sling for his left arm. She frowned, "Oh, dear. He won't even let you in? What is he doing in there?"
Jorge looked at the large, red double doors and sighed, "Working. Working harder than ever before."
"What is he working on?" Botan asked.
Jorge shrugged, wincing as he did so, "Hard to say, but I know it must be awfully important if he's acting like this. To think I actually miss the days when he called me a bumbling oaf. Now, all he says is go away."
Botan looked to the doors helplessly, then she puffed her chest out.
"Well, if we can't get in there. We'll just make him let us in!"
Jorge sweatdropped, "How do we do that?"
Botan's eyes flared with a firey determination and she pointed at the door with tremendous confidence.
"By being so disruptive, he'll have no choice, but to come out and face us!"
Jorge gulped, "Us? Botan, that doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Not when he is in this kind of mood. I mean, who knows what he'll do..."
"Deep down inside, he's still the same, Jorge." Botan began to knock.
"Go away!" Botan continued to knock, even adding a little musical step to it.
Jorge shook his head and cleared the area. Botan stayed put as she merrily tapped on the door with a fun little rat-a-tat-tat tune playing in her head. Crashes could be heard all over in the room, but she didn't flinch.
"WHOEVER IS MAKING THAT ANNOYING RACKET WILL PAY DEARLY!"
Botan paused for only a second. She knocked lightly a few more times. There was silence. She didn't hear the flipping of pages that she had heard before when it was silent enough. The door opened. Botan gasped.
Koenma's toddler form was hunched over, with deep, dark shadows under his tired, brown eyes. The scowl he sported could've killed someone, even with the less than intimidating appearance of his binky.
"You..." Koenma raised his arm to reach for her, then dropped it.
"Koenma, sir... You look dreadful!" Botan blinked tears out of her eyes.
Koenma tilted his head upward and sighed, "Come on in, then... Tell me what it is you want."
Botan walked in and immediately had to resort to stumbling because of the piles of papers, books, and pencils that were scattered everywhere. Koenma's desk was toppled over and had dents where it had been kicked several times.
"Get on with it. I have lots of work to do," Koenma said.
Botan gestured to the messy floor, "What is the meaning of all this?"
Koenma lifted his head to look at the mess. He picked up a paper, "Hm."
He set it down in a different pile. Then, he turned away from Botan.
"People are cheating death."
Botan's eyes widened. Koenma continued, "It has to be stopped. Get back to work, Botan. I'll call you when I need you."
Botan's concern gaze didn't leave the young prince of death, "Koenma, sir..."
"Hm?"
"Take care."
Koenma bowed his head, still not facing her, "Thank you for your concern. I'll be fine."
He said no more and returned to his work, as though she wasn't there. Botan bowed and left.
Today was the day. Today! Kuwabara neared the park, armed with a plan and a racing heart. He walked on the dirt path with every intention of explaining to Yukina what love meant. His face warmed at seeing the beautiful ice maiden on the bench feeding the birds. He avoided startling the birds and sat near Yukina. Yukina tied the bag of bird feed and smiled, "Hello, Kazuma. It's a fine day, isn't it?"
Kuwabara nodded and rolled up his sleeves, "Yeah. It's a little hot, though."
He grinned goofily, "So, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing good, thank you. How are you?" Yukina's expression softened with concern, "Is it normal for you to be that red, Kazuma?"
"Ah, uh. Yes. It's just the heat, really. I'm fine," Kuwabara said.
Yukina frowned and placed her hand on Kuwabara's. Kuwabara sweated, 'She's touching me... She's... Wow. It just got a whole lot colder for some reason.'
Yukina smiled, "Does that feel better?"
"Y-yeah," Kuwabara nodded, "Um, Yukina... There's something I want to talk to you about..."
Yukina tilted her head to the side, "Yes?"
"I..."
"Eh, sonny boy, can I ask you for some spare change?" Kuwabara blinked and looked away from Yukina to see an old man in rags shaking his arm.
"I don't have any spare change, mister," Kuwabara said.
"Some spare change? Or a sandwich?" The old man continued to shake his arm. Kuwabara shook his head, "No. I don't have anything. Could you let go of me, please?"
The old man narrowed his eyes, "You should respect your elders."
The old man squeezed Kuwabara's arm. Kuwabara winced and pushed the old man off, "What is your problem!"
The old man disappeared.
'What?' Kuwabara thought, 'Where did he go? That was...'
"Kazuma, who were you talking to?" Yukina asked.
"Huh? Oh... Uh... No one, I guess..."
"Are you all right? You're sure you're not getting sick? You're very pale..."
Kuwabara tried smiling to assure her, but the incident had shaken him up more than he thought it had.
"I'll be fine. I think I should just go home. Lie down. I'll... talk to you tomorrow, Yukina. Sorry," he said.
"Don't be sorry," Yukina said, "You go and rest, Kazuma."
Kuwabara smiled again and left the bench, trying to catch his breath. Hiei watched him go, narrowing his eyes.
'He's acting stranger than usual,' he thought.
He turned his gaze back to his sister, who was feeding the birds again. He sat back in the tree and refused to puzzle over Kuwabara's behavior any longer.
To say Cherry hated flying on an oar, was an understatement. To say Cherry hated trying to be cheerful while greeting her clients would also be seriously undermining her point of view on the entire situation. Just once she woud've loved to ride a broom and tell her clients that they should quit whining about being dead and spend the rest of their afterlife getting a makeover that would make them more appealing to look at. She grumbled to herself and brushed away some blowing strands of dark red hair to get a better look at her clipboard.
"If I'm on another wild goose chase, I don't care what the snot-nosed brat..." She paused, looking around. Remembering the last time she said a word of disrespect about her boss, she decided to play it safe.
"I mean, Koenma... sir... says. I'll march right into those doors and demand something be done. He can't brush me off forever!"
She checked her clipboard again. Sighing, she landed onto a tall mountain and glanced about for her latest client.
"Miss Nawajiri. Tsuki? Nawajiri, Tsuki. Hey, come on out!" She frowned, the fake friendly smile disappearing from her face.
'A wild goose chase! I knew it! I...'
Cherry barely had time to fly away from the area. A rope of energy winded around her feet and it suddenly became very dark. She tried struggling, but the effort exhausted her quickly and she blacked out.
"Heh. Nothing personal." A young woman smirked and picked up the large sack containing the ferry girl. She snapped the part of the spirit rope that was connected with the binds on the ferry girl's feet.
"Very good, Tsuki. You've bagged another one," a man with sandy blonde hair appeared behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.
Tsuki's face warmed and she leaned into the man. The man frowned, but said nothing and did nothing to push her away. Someone in a cloak near him sighed, "Iye, this one wasn' as hard as the last one. Why did ye make me go with ye?"
The man turned to the Irish speaker, using him as an opportunity to get away from Tsuki.
"Because I prefer keeping an eye on you. Remember that I own you and any possibility of your escape is rendered impossible because of MY presence. You'd be wise to keep your mouth shut or else..." The man held what appeared to be a mechanical wand and the cloaked boy froze at the sight of it.
The man grinned, "That's better. Come. We have a lot of work to do if we're to bag every last ferry girl."
The trio slid down the mountain and into their next plan to capture more ferry girls.