At birth I was gifted the ability to determine the deaths of all living beings–humans, demons, spirits–without breaking a sweat. Just a simple gesture of my hand at close distance and their souls will reach my palms. I am the only person who can see the silhouette which mirrors their hearts, whether they are good or bad. I was naive back then, I seek justice. I viewed the world as black and white and I thought everything would be better off in white, but I was wrong. Back then when I first left Spirit World to the Demon World, I stayed in a small village, wiping out the demons with bad intentions to Nether World. How wrong I was to do so.

The demons who were innocent, they felt empowered which brought them the thoughts of the negative. The white silhouette which followed them around turned black. They became the ones to torture demons who were once on the bad side. Soon, they teamed up to kill me in fear that they will turn out like the demons who died by my hands. I did the only thing I could—run away. I have never killed; I only bestowed judgement upon them, but now I understood that white cannot exist without black. What my father–King Enma–told me about the importance of balance, I finally understood it then.

However... There's a little part in me where I believed the black will always overpower the white. When black and white mixes, it turns into grey which is categorised as a lighter shade of black. As the judge of life, I have to remain neutral. Having these thoughts will only affect my view of justice which I cannot risk.

I left Demon World to the Human World; my objective being to learn more about life. How could I learn about life when Demon World is too dangerous for me to survive? I was not a fighter and I cannot just snatch every demon's life away each time they try to kill me or harm me; at one point, it will definitely disturb the balance of the world.

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"Lady Kohaku, here is the list of demons who will die next week." My trusted white haired man said while placing a stack of paper on top of my desk.

"It isn't necessary to show me these, Yakumo. I'm sure you can handle it well."

"I simply cannot decide their fates when you are here. After all, you are the creator of Nether World."

I sighed, already hearing this from him before.

"I have long retired myself from that position, I'm not a ruler. At most I'm just an advisor. Please, the title goes to you now."

"But milady–"

"That's enough. Only concern me when there are cases where it is difficult for you to decide, understood?"

"Yes, Lady Kohaku."

He retrieved the stack of papers and gave me a deep bow. Before he left, he repeated the words he and the others have always said,"You will always be our real Queen, Lady Kohaku."

If I said I was not happy to hear those words, it is certainly a lie. I am touched, really. But I feel guilt as well because they look so highly of me when I am not their ruler. Even back then when I held the title, Yakumo did most of my duties as I am always away. I am more to someone who loves to travel around and learn how much the world has changed. From time to time when I meet someone whose silhouette is dangerously dark, I will bring him or her to Nether World personally. As for humans, he or she will be brought to Spirit World and thrown to Koenma to do his job.

Once again, I sighed. The sound reflected by the walls of my lonely room. I truly hate to be inside a tight space, let alone being in it alone; I feel claustrophobic.

"I'm leaving for the Demon World again." I said to nobody in particular and stood up.

A wooden stick in the darkest shade of brown appeared in my right hand, I sat on it and flew into the sky, piercing through the dark clouds which swirled as I got near. A bluish green portal formed in the cross section, I immediately passed through and landed on Demon City where the Four Saint Beasts were in control.

"The Queen of Nether World!" A loud, croaked voice shouted.

'Oh no! I'm discovered this quickly?!'

When I turned to the source of the voice, I saw a large tiger demon in white fur.

'He is one of the Four Saint Beasts!'

I heard another voice, an arrogant one. "She's quite pretty."

Emerging from the shadows of the forest is a young looking man with vibrant yellow hair and two orange antennas, a golden circlet wrapped around his forehead. Knowing that I lack of ability to fight, I decided to flee. Once again I summoned my wooden stick and prepared to fly, but I was immediately stopped.

"Storm of torment!" An electric-charged punch hit me as I fell onto the ground with a painful shriek. Almost instantly I fell unconscious due to the extreme pain which I have never experienced in my thousands of years of living.

When I woke up, I found myself trapped in a cage which looked as though the rods are made from electricity.

"You have woken already, milady?"

Then I knew I was in for no good. Suzaku, the leader of the Four Saint Beasts is known to be a sadist. To fall prisoner to someone like him, many would wish for death than to experience his torturous acts.

'Someone, save me!'

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It has been over eight years since I was trapped in the Maze Castle. Eight painful years stuck in his cage of torment; as though it was not enough, he attacked me with his electric-charged punches. The characteristics of a sadist I can never understand. For eight years I have battled with my own thoughts, fighting in between right or wrong, good or bad, should or should not, could or could not, just about everything. It took everything in me to keep my sane mind and keep myself in check.

As who I am, I must not let myself waver and be controlled by my emotions, by fear and most importantly by hatred.

It took everything in me.

I laid on the ground, my body and my lengthened hair sprawled out into a bloodied mess. Just then, I felt four presences; three humans and one demon. They were coming closer to Suzaku's tower and each time they come closer, a saint beast is defeated.

'Could it be.. They have come to save me..?'

But I thought not. Nobody knew where I was and I was not strong enough to release my spirit energy.

One of them–a human succeeded in infiltrating Suzaku's tower, he raced up the stairs to where Suzaku's throne is, leaving me no chance to call for help. If he did not recognise my spirit energy, he must not know of my existence. After awhile, his companions barged into the tower. At that moment, there was an earthquake which was caused by tremendous power released by Suzaku.

The patch of floor which I have laid on broke into chunks of cement and stones. I quickly summoned my stick and extended it's length; then I rushed downstairs to save the remaining team.

I caught all of them to sit behind me on my stick which gave them quite a shock.

"Whoah! Who are you?" The boy of the largest size with orange hair asked me.

"Lady Kohaku.." The feminine boy with vibrant red hair muttered in disbelief. Something about him does not seem quite human...almost demon.

"I see you have heard of me, impressive." I said in amusement. "You aren't human are you, boy?"

"I was a demon fox, milady."

'Was?' I briefly gazed at him when I repeated the past tense in my head, then I looked to the front to find the entrance to Suzaku's room.

"This weakly being is thee Lady Kohaku? Hmph. Pathetic." The kid with gravity defying black hair rudely exclaimed. I smirked when I caught a light shade of black silhouette wrapped around him.

"I can bring you to Nether World any time you wish." At my words, the demon huffed and looked away.

The clueless orange head then questioned,"What's this Nether World?"

"Similar to what the Spirit World is to the humans, Nether World is where the demons face their judgment after death." The red head answered in my place.

Before he could react to the fox demon's reply, a surge of power overwhelmed us.

"Your friend is in trouble, hold on tight!" I quickly ordered when I felt the life energy of a human explode.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The one of the largest size screamed when I accelerated to the top floor; he held onto the stick for his dear life, the colour of his face drained out of him.

When we reached, all of us hopped down from my stick and stood next to the boy who laid motionless on the ground.

"Yusuke!" Both of the taller adolescents called, leaving the shortest behind to cross his arms.

The soul of Suzaku floated in the air which I swiftly caught and kept it in my sleeves.

'I'll personally escort him to the Well of Despair.'

"You can't die, Yusuke!" The human cried, pouring his very own life energy into Yusuke's body. His body was enveloped in a white shroud which sparkled brightly, a good man for certain.

I sat next to his body and pushed the human's hands off. "Don't waste your life energy, let me."

I placed my hand on his chest, stopping his soul from escaping his body. I used my spirit energy to charge his life energy, pouring in the right amount before removing my hand. At each action, the three boys watched very closely. Whether it was amusement or suspicions, I did not bother to know.

"He'll wake up in a few days, he needs plenty of time to rest and adapt with my spirit energy in his body."

"That was so cool! My name is Kazuma Kuwabara, what about yours pretty lady?" He grinned with a creepy look on his face.

"You fool!" The short demon yelled immediately, probably warning him to not treat me so casually.

"I advise you not to act that way, Kuwabara. She's Lady Kohaku, a royalty of the Spirit World, creator of the Grim Reapers, the creator and ruler of the Nether World. If you wish to keep your life Kuwabara, do not ever get on her bad side." The red head then turned to me,"I apologise on his behalf, milady."

Kuwabara paled again, realising what he has done.

"There's no need for such formalities, I'm perfectly fine with that. However, there is one thing I must correct; I am no longer the ruler of Nether World, I have never been for the past few centuries."

"My apologies, I was not informed of that matter. Lady Kohaku, if you don't mind, I have a question to ask."

I nodded, indicating that I would hear what he has to ask.

"What are you doing here in this Maze Castle? As far as I have heard, the Lady no longer concern herself with the matters of a Spirit Detective."

"There is a new Spirit Detective?" He nodded and gestures to the boy I just saved. I watched him for a moment, staring at the white aura around him again.

"Lady Kohaku?" The red head snapped me out of my trance.

I sighed and said,"It would be very embarrassing to say that I've been kidnapped by Suzaku. For 8 years I've been trapped in his cage of torment, but I guess it's fate's doing for me to meet you here and save this kid."

Published: 13 February 2017