The sun was shining brightly, and a gentle breeze ruffled Botan's long blue hair, which was tied back in a ponytail.

It was a perfect day for a nice, relaxing break. Botan sat comfortably on the grass, and leaned back on a tree behind her.

She sighed. Yes, it did seem like a very nice day indeed, but she didn't feel very happy that moment.

Did she say something wrong awhile ago? She didn't know what made Koenma so upset at her, when all she did was enter his office, and comment about that picture on his desk.

She remembered that morning very clearly...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had knocked on the door to Koenma's office earlier that day. She was finally back from guiding another soul to her final destination, and she needed to report back to Koenma, the prince of the Rei Kai.

She waited for quite a long time, but still, no one shouted, "Come in!" with that loud and authoritative voice she knew so well. She knocked again, yet no one replied.

She opened the door quietly, and went in. Koenma was there, seated, as usual, on his chair. His back was to her, but he didn't look as if he was sleeping. She was surprised to see him in his teenaged form. Was he going to the Ningen Kai?

"Koenma-sama?" Botan said tentatively.

"WHAT?" Koenma exclaimed, and he must have jumped four feet into the air in his surprise. He turned around sharply, and finally noticed that Botan was standing there.

"Botan!" he said angrily. "What the heck are you doing here? Why didn't you even knock or something? Dammit, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry Koenma -sa-" Botan started to say automatically, then she stopped, frowning. Wait a minute, wasn't SHE the one who had the right to get mad? Koenma was such a bunch of nerves today. What was his problem?

"But Koenma-sama," she protested indignantly. "But I did knock on your door. Twice, in fact. And you didn't even notice when I opened the door! Is something wrong?"

"Uh...oh, sorry

," Koenma said, and looked away.

Silence fell between them. Botan just stood there, wondering about what Koenma had been so distracted about. Was a new enemy coming?

Koenma finally broke the silence. "So what happened to that soul you guided?"

"Well, she still seemed pretty sad to leave her family," Botan replied, returning to her old cheerfulness, "But in the end I was able to convince her-oh, goodness gracious, who's that?"

She had spotted a small painting on Koenma's desk. She then grabbed it from the table, and admired the beautiful portrait.

It was a painting of a pretty, young woman. She had long black hair, tied back into a half ponytail with a blue ribbon. She was wearing a sky blue kimono, and she had one of the most wonderful smiles Botan had ever seen.

"She's really pretty," Botan gushed. She looked up, smiling, at Koenma.

The color had drained out of Koenma's face, and he was staring at her with horrified eyes.

"Koenma-sama? Are you okay?" Botan asked worriedly.

"Who gave you the right to look at my things?" Koenma demanded angrily. "I didn't give you permission to look at that painting, right?!"

Botan wanted to say that she was sorry, but no words came out, for she was so shocked.

"GET OUT OF MY OFFICE RIGHT NOW!!!" Koenma barked.

Botan backed out of the room. Koenma then slammed the door in her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Botan sighed again, thinking of the incident. She had then gone here, to the Ningen Kai. She wanted to stay out of Koenma's way, and besides, she also wanted to have a good nice cry on Keiko's shoulder.

But, unfortunately, Keiko was at the university, studying.

She swallowed her tears, and got up. She decided to go back to the Rei Kai. Well, she couldn't go on avoiding Koenma forever.Besides, she had other duties to perform back there.

She brushed the dirt from her pink kimono, and fixed her hair a bit. She brought out her paddle.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, somebody grabbed her by the waist, and carried her swiftly away.

She screamed, terrified. She struggled to get free from the mysterious person who grabbed her, but she just couldn't get his hand away from her waist.

And all she could do was scream again for help.