Chapter Eight: Between Life and Death

Hiei and Botan ran back through the swamp, their boots sloshing in the muck as they hurried back towards the gateway to Reikai. "We have to hurry," Botan yelled, running as fast as she could to try and make it. "They're going to attack the palace!" She couldn't even feel the mud sloshing against her boots anymore, she was in too much of a hurry. The demon had mentioned they wanted something from the palace, but what it was, she didn't know.

"We'll never make it," she yelled, she knew she wasn't fast enough and had no idea when the attack would start. But before she could say another word, she felt something lifting her into the air, scooping her up off her feet. Without a word, without a question, Hiei had lifted her with one arm beneath her legs and another supporting her back, hoisting her into his arms before taking off. He could make it faster than she could, speed was his specialty, and they would need to push for all he had to make it.

Botan was surprised by the sudden lifting, and at first thought she was being attacked by a demon. Well, it was a demon, she admitted, but it wasn't an attack. She knew that Hiei's speed was the best asset they had, and was grateful he hadn't simply left her behind. Putting her arms around his neck to brace herself and hold on, she felt him pick up speed now that he didn't have to wait for her. Trees and rocks flew past as Hiei ran, before she heard him utter the words, "Hang on. It's about to get rough." Before she had time to consider what he meant, they were up in the air.

Hiei landed on a branch, but didn't stay long. He leapt from one branch to another, with Botan clinging to him for dear life. One branch came, and then another, which he ran down in an instant and left off the edge, landing on another. This was faster now without the murky swamp water trudging them down, and–branch! Botan shrieked just before Hiei flipped up and over the branch that had blocked their path, a flip that made her feel sick to her stomach. They were going to make it, but she wasn't sure she'd still have all her cookies by the time they did.

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"Dead?" Kurama repeated, stunned by this revelation. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't know."

The Tsarakino girl raised an eyebrow at Kurama's ignorance. "Then why did you even come here?" She was starting to lose her patience.

Yusuke and Kuwabara, back by the woods, watched the whole thing from a distance. Yusuke couldn't help but smile. They couldn't hear the conversation, but it looked as though Kurama's "tact" approach wasn't working out so well.

"How did he die?" Kurama questioned, still trying to make sense of things.

"Why should I tell you!" the girl answered, before slamming the door. Well, Kurama sighed, at least they had more information on Tsarakino. He only wondered how the others would take to the news that their enemy was a spirit.

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It felt like it had taken forever, but finally, Hiei carried Botan into the palace of Reikai. Finally being set down on her own two feet, Botan went to move, then stopped. She bent down and gave Hiei a kiss on the cheek, then blushed. She wasn't sure why she'd done that. "Thank you," she said, before hurrying off towards Koenma's office to deliver her report.

This left Hiei somewhat confused. His fingers idly touched the spot where she'd kissed him, and he raised one of his eyebrows. There was definitely something strange going on with Botan.

Botan's boots squished against the tile as she ran, leaving muddy footprints on the floor. She passed Ayame in the hall and kept running, not even noticing her. Turning the corner in the hall, she blew past two of the blue ogres and kept going. She was in such a hurry she didn't even look back, which was a shame. If she had, she would have seen one of the ogres, one with strange, red pupils, grab the other by the mouth and yank him back into one of the side halls, then the both of them vanishing in a puff of Black Mist. But she didn't, instead she hurried onwards, finally knocking open the doors to Koenma's office and coming to a final stop just in front of his desk. "Lord Koenma, we have an emergency!" she shrieked.

Koenma fell forward onto his desk. He'd been teetering over one of the countless pieces of tedious paperwork when Botan knocked the door in, which caused him to lose his balance and do a face plant into the wood. Pulling himself up, somewhat frustrated, he looked up at Botan. "What's going on? ...and what is that smell!"

Botan narrowed her eyes for a moment, but skipped that. "Swamp muck. It's not important! The Tomorrow is coming here, I don't know when but the demon said it would be soon. They're launching an attack, and it sounded like they're looking for someone. And from what he said, it sounds like Tsarakino is coming. We weren't able to get much out of the demon about Tsarakino, but at least--"

Botan was cut off by the sound of the large screen that sat against the wall of Koenma's office. Yusuke had just appeared on the screen, using a pink compact that Botan had given him, one of his detective items he was more reluctant to carry around with him, to contact Koenma. "Well, we got good news and bad. Good news is, we found out what Tsarakino is. Bad news, he's a ghost."

"What?" Botan was confused. She looked back and forth between Koenma, behind his desk, and Yusuke, on the screen. "That's impossible. He can't be a ghost."

"Well, that's what his sister told us," Yusuke responded. "Her brother Yoshi's been dead for three years."

"Three years?" Botan looked at Koenma. "He definitely can't be a ghost. I mean, we know when people die. We send someone. If he had died three years ago, someone would have been sent to retrieve him. He would have been brought here and judged, and then sent to the afterlife."

Koenma nodded his head, looking back up at Yusuke. "We would know, and he definitely wouldn't be out there if he died three years ago."

"Well, that's all we got," Yusuke responded. Whether he's dead or alive, that's all we know."

Botan stopped for a moment, considering. Then an idea struck her, and she turned her attention straight to Koenma. "Lord Koenma, can I have permission to go through the records? I need to see what we have on Tsarakino."

Koenma nodded his head. "Go ahead."

Botan turned to go, then stopped and looked back at Koenma. "Um...what should we do about the attack that's coming? The Tomorrow Agent we interrogated seemed pretty confident about their chances."

Koenma laughed. "So does everyone that attacks this place, Botan. Don't worry about it, our guards will deal with them when they came."

Botan smiled, then hurried out the door, looking for the records. This guy couldn't be dead, because they would know. She knew this. She ran over it repeatedly in her head, he can't be dead. If her were dead, he wouldn't be out there, and since he's out there, he can't be dead. She was so sidetracked with this that she almost ran right into Hiei, but stopped herself just short. "Hiei!" she exclaimed.

"Where are you off to?" he asked her, his eyebrow raised.

"Something's going on, they think Tsarakino's dead but I told them that's impossible and now I'm going to check the records and–"

She was cut off by Hiei's finger. Raising his arm so that his finger would hover right in front of Botan's nose, he spoke with a stern tone. He was certainly not letting her go anywhere smelling like that. "That can wait. Shower. Now."

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One ogre, the guardians of Reikai, forced another down on the ground in the throne room of Tomorrow's Sanctuary. "I've brought you another, Lord Fjerin," the oppressing ogre smiled, his red pupils demonstrating his allegiance.

Fjerin, the master, was seated atop his throne. Atsuko stood proudly beside him, but she was not herself. Once more serving as host to the horrible Yoshi Tsarakino, the real Atsuko was shoved deep into a corner of her mind. "How many does this make for us?" Yoshi asked, with that same familiar smirk evident on Atsuko's lips.

"Twenty-five," Fjerin responded. "That should be plenty for our distraction, I believe."

Yoshi whistled, sticking out one of Atsuko's hips and resting her hand atop it. "Twenty-five. This should be fun. So, what say we get the candle guys in here and do your ceremonial mojo?"

Fjerin smiled a little. Yoshi used strange words and spoke in a weird fashion fairly often, but he had become accustomed to it in the time they had been partners. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Once we have the ceremony out of the way...I do believe it's time to begin Phase One."

"Yes!" Yoshi hoisted Atsuko's fist proudly up into the air in a moment of excitement. "Finally, it's about time! We are going to drive that Urameshi kid into the ground!" At these words, Atsuko began to resist Yoshi once more. For a moment, the body shook, her fist lowering and her left arm wrapping over her stomach. She was fighting him, but it lasted only a moment, before he was able to crush her back down and take his control back. "Well, would you look at that?" he laughed. "Seems the girl has spirit. Don't worry, mommy dearest, we'll save you his head when we're done."

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Botan had been delayed by an impromptu shower, though she was grateful to Hiei for suggesting it. She felt infinitely better after she'd washed the grime off, and the mud-caked clothes had been left out to be washed. She suspected she may have to burn them to get the horrible smell off, but that would be a last resort. After returning gratefully to her pink kimono, Botan had hurried off to the records, to find what she could on Yoshi Tsarakino. Alive or dead, the records would have contained everything about him.

However, as the record hall was massive, she had enlisted the aid of Ayame in this endeavor. She had tried to get Hiei to come with, but the guard ogres had refused to allow him into the hall. This was most likely due to the fact that he was still technically a criminal, and not many here trusted him, especially with something as valuable as the records. His greatest crime, he had stolen a demonic sword from the vault of the palace. They hadn't forgotten that.

Hiei had taken a seat by the wall, just outside the record hall. He waited for Botan, partially out of curiosity as to the enemy, and partially because he had nothing better to do. The guard ogres kept a watchful eye on him, which only made him smile. It almost felt like they were daring him to try something. As if anyone here would survive if he did.

It took some walking, but Botan and Ayame finally reached the T section of the records, under the Ningenkai section. Now, they could begin their search for Tsarakino, but that search could take forever. It was going to be long and arduous, which Botan accepted with a sigh. They could be here a while.

Hiei stood up from the wall, going to take a walk. Something was bothering him, something he couldn't quite place. His Jigan Eye felt off, like there was something it was feeling that he couldn't understand. He didn't know what it was, but something was definitely not right here. The people, the ogres, seemed...wrong, somehow.

"Found it!" Ayame exclaimed down the hall, her hands wrapped happily around a file. "Yoshi Tsarakino, age 17, last seen at...well...this can't be right."

"What?" Botan asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

Ayame looked up at Botan, equally puzzled. "The record just stops. It goes to a fire three years ago, and then it just...stops."

"What! The records don't stop, let me see that!" Botan grabbed the file from Ayame's hands, pouring over it herself. The records don't stop, she knew that. Even after someone died, the records contained a listing of their guide to the other world, their judgment, where they'd settled in, how they'd settled in...it didn't just stop. Flipping quickly through to the last page, she looked for herself, and discovered for herself, "...the record just stops."

This didn't make any sense. Whether he was alive or dead, the record would have continued on about Tsarakino. Skimming through the last page of the record, Botan noticed two things of interest. First was the fire that Ayame had mentioned. Yoshi's house had been destroyed in a fire, and while most of his family had made it out, he had been crushed under a piece of the ceiling that had fallen from the top. His last moments had been ones of pure terror, as he was roasted alive by the flaming debris that had landed on him. The second was a listing of psychic ability, one that had never actually become active: Yoshi had the ability to astral project.

Botan read over the last records, then she read them over again. She read them repeatedly, trying to understand what had happened. And then, slowly, it began to dawn on her. This...this was something unprecedented. And in a moment of clear understanding and of horror, she knew. Reading over it one last time, she knew. She understood, and this made things so much worse. She finally understood the face of the enemy, and it was one that chilled her right down to the bone.

Hiei was now pacing back and forth in the halls when Botan came stumbling out. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide. Ayame came out after her, still looking confused. "Come on, Botan, what is it? What did you see?"

Botan looked right at Hiei, ignoring Ayame. Her words came out shaky and frightened. "I know what he is," she spoke with careful words. "This is bad."

"What's going on?" Hiei's voice was direct and to the point. If Botan knew something, now was the time to hear it.

"...I know what he is...the records...they stop...they stop because we can't track him anymore. He's...he's a psychic. His power was listed as astral projection." They both knew what an astral projection was. Some psychics had the power to channel their spirit energy away from their body, in the form of an external body. This was a shapeless energy that existed in both the physical and spirit realms, but existed without form, without image, completely invisible to the eye. This astral form could be used to view things from afar, and even to plant subconscious thoughts into the minds of others. But the connection to the body was pivotal. If the body was destroyed, the astral form would die and become a spirit, which would be treated as any other dead spirit.

"His power never manifested. But if it hadn't, he wouldn't have had any power. It had to manifest, but there is no record of the manifestation. The record stops at the fire, when he was crushed under burning debris. He was in terror for his last moments. We've seen with Yusuke just how much a strong emotion can drive a spirit power, just how far it can press it. His power must have manifested there at the end, but...his body was dying. I think...I think he slipped into a crack. If his astral form was created at the same moment that his body died, there would be no body to connect a link with. He's...he's trapped somewhere between life and death. I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. An astral projection without a body, and with the amount of time and desperation he's had with it, as well as not having a body of his own with a link to hold him back...he seems to have found a way to take control over other bodies."

Botan swallowed hard. "The records keep track of everything, living or dead. But he isn't either, and I don't know what to do about that. He's not alive, so you boys can't reach him. And he's not dead, so we can't either. He's...I don't know what to do...I really don't–"

As if on cue, to make a bad time worse, there came a powerful explosion from off down the halls. The ogres standing guard by the record hall kept their stance, but a worried look crossed over them. Botan's face whitened further, because there was no time left. The attack had started, and that meant Tsarakino was here.