My blue rose: I stopped working on this story some time ago when my computer accidentally deleted all the work I had done for it. I had to take an extended leave from fan fiction because I had just started my first quarter in collage and my creative writing class demanded the creativity I usually devote to fan fiction.

I would like to thank all of you who have Revived, Favorite-d and Alerted this story and others. I love you all!

For reference sake: this story is manga-based and takes place one year after the ending of the series. This means that Enki-sama is still king of Makai. Names are said the Japanese way, Sir names first, given name second (e.g. Urameshi Yusuke). F.Y.I. School in Japan starts in January then has summer break and comes back in September.

P.S. I am looking for a Beta reader for this fic, must be good at spelling and grammar, PM me if you’re interested.

It was a perfect spring morning. The sky was bright and clear with birds chirping and singing merrily in the trees. The warm, shining sun bathed the world in its golden light. The air that wafted through the open windows of a modest two story house smelt fresh and clean. It carried the faint perfume of the roses that bloomed all around Hatanaka Shiori’s house.

Shiori’s only son, Shuichi, has asked - demanded, really, - that he plant them when he was only six years old. Shuichi had always been a precocious child, mischievous, and very strong willed, but Shiori had seen nothing wrong with allowing him to grow roses and thirteen years later they were still thriving.

It had seemed to Shiori that her boy had spent half his life outside the house tending to his roses. Every afternoon he would be out there, touching them so delicately that they might have been made of glass. He certainly had a knack for them, why, she had seen him get them to bloom even winter with three feet of snow!

She had made egg rice breakfast this morning and packed three lunches for her boy’s bento, (although none of them were really boys anymore): takana-onigiri for her husband, maguro-onigiri with matcha-manju for her son, and Umeboshi-onigiri with anpan for Shuichi-chan. Her husband and son had left for work and Shuichi-chan for school three hours ago and, as usual, she was at home alone. Shiori smiled as she went about her daily cleaning routine, going around the house picking up misplaced items and putting them back in their proper place.

Shiori honestly thought she had the best life possible. Her husband was wonderful and her son, working for his stepfather’s company had recently been promoted. Shiori was enjoying rising her stepson, Shuichi-chan, who was fourteen and in seventh grade. It was a nice change parenting a child who wasn’t perfect at everything he did!

She had a saved her son’s room for last as it was always so clean that she needn’t have bothered, but she felt that it would be neglecting her motherly duties if she didn’t at least check. She opened the door and peered inside. The bed was made, all the books were on the shelves and his desk was neat and organized. Smiling knowingly, she closed the door.

After double checking to make sure the house was clean, she put on her light brown duster, locked the front door started walking briskly towards the grocery store. The sun was warm, but the occasional gusts of wind held an icy bite and Shiori drew the warm coat around her tightly. Despite the cold, she enjoyed being outside she decided to take a shortcut through the park because it truly was a beautiful day and it was only three blocks out of her way.

The park was quite, the playground deserted; the children were at school and the adults at work. Shiori took a deep breath, the cool, fresh air smelled like cut grass and faintly, of flowers. The Sakura trees were only just starting to bloom; their pale pink flowers partially open to cerulean sky. Her footsteps echoed on the paved stone walkway past to her left and a Zen rock garden to her right and then abruptly stopped.

Where a middle aged woman had stood only a second before was now only empty space through which a cold wind blew.

Umeboshi: pickled plums

Maguro: raw tuna

Takana: pickled vegetable

Onigiri: rice ball; is a food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shape and often wrapped in nori (edible "seaweed")

Matcha: green tea

Manjū: a popular traditional Japanese confection. There are many varieties, but most have an outside made from flour, rice powder and buckwheat and a filling of red bean paste

Anpan: a Japanese sweet bun filled with red bean paste

Bento: Japanese lunch box with dividers for the food

Sakura: cherry blossom