Erg. Strange... help? I have no idea what this fic was, or where the heck it
came from... bad? good?

When Death Waits: by Monica Shin

         "Hai, Koenma-sama. I'll get Yuusuke and the rest and-" Botan looked
up for a moment, her expression one of intense concentration. Then, she
smiled at the dimunitive administrator of the Reikai, and said,
"Koenma-sama, I'm sorry. You'll have to send someone else to do this errand-
I think that I've been neglecting my work for too long." 

        It had been a long time since she'd been called for a job, as she
had managed to shunt off most of her duties as she helped out the Detectives
and Koenma. However, for this... Koenma gave her a stern look from behind
the large desk, and nodded. "Botan, I understand. After all, your job comes
first before all else. I'll just send George to get them." He started to
page his harried aide, and motioned for her to go. 

        Botan turned and left the office, her feet guiding her automatically
toward her duty. Calling up her oar, she flew up into the sky, leaving the
bureaucratic office behind her. She concentrated for a moment, and the homed
in on where the call was coming from. Almost unnoticed, a book appeared in
her hand. 

        The slim book almost looked too thin, too light to be the Book of
the Dead. However, it truly held within it all the trangressions and good
deeds that a person had done within their lifetime- it was a record of every
fact, every decision that had had any impact on a person at all... it was
the only thing that Botan could use to try to know the person whe came for,
before she had to ferry them across to the other side.

        "Izumi Takuto... 18 years old. He was run over by a car, and is now
paralyzed..." As she read, Botan realized why the call had felt so strange.
Izumi was not dead yet, but in all probability would be soon enough, for one
reason or another. But the book couldn't decide how it would happen. The
probabilities were too disparate for a firm idea, and she was there to
witness before being called for her real duty.

        "I suppose I should get to the hospital now-" Somehow, it was
saddening to have to take this one. Botan knew that she would escort
everyone across sooner or later, but this young man seemed to have been
through so much... She shook her head a little, smiling an old, sad smile.
"I don't decide- I only guide. But it really is too bad..."

        As she floated above the hospital, Botan remembered how obnoxious
Yuusuke had been when she had been here last. As he had made sure the little
boy he had pushed out of the way was all right, his uncaring attitude had
faded away for a moment, showing a side that even the Buddha had not thought
he had had... Botan smiled as she remembered how shocked he had been...

        "No, it's not time to remember that- not when I should be doing
something no one is going to be smiling about." Moving closer to the
hospital, Botan closed her eyes and then let herself be drawn toward the
suffering young man in the hospital room. She drifted into the room, and
shook her head sadly as she saw the broken body, surrounded by tubes and the
desperate attempts of modern society to try to preserve its almost dead...

        "Do people really think that it will work?" She said it wistfully,
as if wishing that it would... but. Botan stiffened, and her face turned
masklike, remote. Buts, howevers, maybes- there were never any of those for
her. Yuusuke was the only exception she had ever made. No more, no less. She
was Death incarnate, no matter how she may seem to others. 

        Botan sighed, feeling the depression that she usually could ignore.
After the number of years that she'd put into this job, sometimes it just
wasn't easy. The silly bubble headed personality was fun, but she knew that
if she had to... Botan shook her head, and let herself drift into the
hospital room. 

        The feeling of dark heaviness- it was her constant companion in all
the places she was pulled to. Her guidance was sometimes a blessing,
sometimes a curse to most that she visited, but she, and they always knew
that it was time. It was written in the book, in the tension that she could
feel between her powers and the soul that needed to leave its housing... 

        But. This nagging feeling again- of something wrong, strange. He was
dying- there was no doubt of that. The odd thing was that she couldn't feel
the usual tension of a soul's imminent release... as if there was something
even stronger overriding death itself... She peered into the darkened room,
wondering at the strength of that thing holding him here.

        She saw another young man at the bed, apparently in shock. "Nanjou
Kouji..." Just the name brought back all that the book had said of him, and
of their rather turbulent relationship... Botan couldn't help but shake her
head, feeling very old. She'd seen it before- well, perhaps not quite this
extreme, but the same obsession-need...

        "It's sad, really. Most of those kinds..." Botan looked at the
devestated man at Izumi's side, and her eyes got infinitely sadder. "They
wish to own too much... he especially, from what I read. It won't work- it
never does. There is no balance..." Botan started as she felt the pull. Was
it now, that her duty was to begin?

        She saw Kouji stand, and sobbing, go over to the side of the bed. As
she watched, she could almost feel the life pouring out of Izumi. Just
fading away... It seemed almost a mockery of all that she had read from the
book, but she could not deny it. "So..." She moved closer to Izumi, knowing
that no interference meant none at all, and feeling almost like a buzzard,
waited for him to die.

        Except. Kouji collapsed at where Izumi's stricken body lay, and did
not move from the spot. Only a whisper came up from where his head lay, but
that whisper could rend a stone-cold heart in its pain and longing... and
Izumi, who had been giving up, suddenly raged. The stiff, unmoving body
disguised a surge of spirit that overrode all the power that had pulled
Botan here. For a moment, he seemed vital, so alive- wanting to be with, to
comfort, to love...

        "Not so similar..." Botan felt it now, the dynamic balance between
the two that made them so inter-dependent on each other. It was an exchange
of power as well as the nebulous feelings, and she shook her head in
amazement as she felt an intense transfer of force, a giving up of life that
Kouji had just facilitated for Izumi...

        "I see." Botan knew why the book was in such a flux. The duo was too
heavily connected. Even Kouji, who had seemed to be the typical
obsessor/conqueror had shown the conquered part of his own soul for the sake
of his love. And now, for now, there was no need for her to be here.

        Botan moved away, the pull having disappeared. "No death here,
today..." A small smile was on her face- she hadn't felt this guilty about
taking a life since Genkai... With a shake of her head, the oar started to
float as she went back to her duties at the Reikai, leaving the two silent,
pained lovers behind.

        But as she left, Botan knew that she would be back- it was only a
matter of time. But now, she could only wonder when the other would follow-
because it was when, not if. No way for the two to be seperate in this last
state... perhaps when she came for Izumi, she should wait for Kouji. In her
domain, at least, they would not be apart...

---Finis---
-----
Monica/Akira-chan/Heero/Hayama/Naga/Kircheis no Miko- Proud TABBE! Member
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