Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho

This was written with the help of Anya Maygo He edited the chapter and then send it back to me. Now it's longer. than it once was. Since this is the first chapter I should write more but I can't think of more.

#

A male figure that no one seemed to notice, though this may have been because he was on the roofs of the nearby buildings running with incredible agility, sighed bitterly to himself.

It had been ten years since the demon known as Hiei Jaganshi had entered into the human world, and as far as the crimson-eyed man could tell, it hadn't changed at all. Well, other than the occasional demon walking amongst the humans.

Hard to believe the two races were getting along surprisingly well and beginning to co-exist together.

After choosing to remain in Makai, Hiei had made a nice living for himself and his mate Machiko there, and would have never come back to the human world if it
hadn't been for a certain detective.

#

"It's certainly been a long time, Detective. I'm guessing there's a reason why you're here?" Hiei said carelessly, leaning against a dead tree with his arms
crossed over his chest. Machiko was perched on a branch above him in what she called her 'standard' form, her long tail curled about the trunk for stability.

Hiei still looked the same, and it didn't appear like Yusuke Urameshi had changed much either with age…other than no longer keeping his black hair slicked back like he used to in the past and he had grown a few inches. Machiko hadn't changed much herself, with her black-and-white-striped hair and fur up to her waist, wickedly-clawed feet and golden eyes. She didn't take her 'demon' form very often anymore, which involved a lot more fur, claw-fingernails, slight horns and large bat wings from her shoulders; she'd told Hiei that she wanted to reserve that form for emergencies. Hiei sometimes wondered what she called an emergency.

"Can't a guy just drop by to say hello to an old ally and friend?" Yusuke chuckled with a grin. "But since you brought it up, it would be cool if you could do me a favor."

These words caused Hiei to roll his eyes, and he began to walk away. "Whatever this 'favor' is, my answer is no."

"Aw, come on, man! You haven't even heard what it is yet!" Yusuke exclaimed, running to stand in front of the shorter male. "I know you've probably been bored since things have become way more peaceful lately. That's how I feel too. So, how about you and I have a good ol' sparring match?"

"You came all this way just to ask me to fight you?" Hiei snorted. But Yusuke did have a point. While there were many strong demons in Makai that Hiei could test his strength on, it had become a bit monotonous. Only sparring with Machiko held any interest for him nowadays.

"Well, we never did get to settle our rematch. And who knows, you might actually be able to beat me this time~" Yusuke said with a teasing grin. "There's just one thing before we can go head to head…Keiko's been begging me to take her out since she claims I never do anything romantic for her, so we need someone to watch the kids…."

A small sweat drop rolled down the back of Yusuke's head since Hiei had turned on his heels and started to walk away from him once again. And he had already tried Kuwabara and Kurama; Kuwabara had flat-out said no, and nothing Yusuke had said did anything to change his mind. Yusuke had been unable to even find Kurama, though Keiko told him Machiko's sister had left a message about a honeymoon. Sure, Yusuke felt it had been about time the fox-boy proposed to the camouflaging girl, but it meant Hiei was his only option left. He just had to think of something that would convince Hiei to help him….

And then it hit him; a devious smirk formed on the brown-eyed adult's features. If this didn't work, he'd have to try to get Machiko to baby-sit; sure, if he got Hiei, he'd get Machiko anyway, but still. "Suit yourself. But I guess a washed up demon like you couldn't handle watching a couple of kids. Heck, you couldn't even beat me when I was just a newbie detective!"

Hiei paused, his body twitching as he almost felt tempted to use his blade on the cocky human. Instead, he would take on Yusuke's ridiculous task and then make him eat his words later.

"Fine. I'll do it. What time do you need me to watch the…brats?"

#

Hiei scowled to himself at the memory, knowing he had been a fool to accept this mission. For as long as he had worked with Yusuke, he should have been aware when the guy was trying to rile someone up in order to obtain what he wanted.

At least he could beat him later….

"Still complaining?" Machiko's mind-voice rang out inside his head.

Hiei glanced upwards. Machiko was flying high above him, but with his Jagan eye he could see her plainly. She and her sister were telepathic, but normally it required physical contact or eye contact, preferably both, unless it was each other. Hiei still didn't know why Machiko could mind-speak him without any effort, and her only guess was that it had happened when he'd marked her as his mate.

"I just can't believe I let Yusuke talk me into this!"

"Chill. I'll be there to help out. You might as well get the practice – with your level of passion, you might become a father yourself before too long. I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet, personally."

Hiei twitched. The possibility had occurred to him. He thought he'd been careful in prevention measures – he wasn't ready for kids!

"No matter how careful one is, sooner or later something will slip by whatever Kakai Barrier a couple attempts to erect as child-prevention. No birth control is perfect."

With those near-ominous words, Hiei reached the three-bedroom house where Yusuke lived. Hiei hesitated at approaching the door. The last time he had seen Yusuke's first born son, he had been the only one not cooing over the little diaper bag.

And he wouldn't have even considered holding the smelly thing if not for his sister Yukina bringing the tiny creature over to him with a gentle smile on her features. Nasuko was what Yusuke and his mate had chosen to call the child, and Hiei had never held something so frail and helpless before.

So the baby had been a little…cute when it stared up at him with curious dark eyes and a tiny smile on its face. Until it had spit up on his cloak….

Machiko dive-bombed down and landed next to him, took on a human form just as quickly and rang the doorbell. Then she stepped behind a bush to get a proper
shirt on – she never did wear a shirt when she intended to fly, because then her shirt would get ripped, and she had trouble sewing.

Come to think of it, Kurama said Yusuke now had a little girl called Makoto as well. This made Hiei shake his head, only to blink when the door was opened by a small girl with her brown hair done up in pigtails who was grinning at him.

"Are you the one watching us, mister?" she asked cutely.

Hiei didn't say anything, only having an apathetic look on his face when a grinning Yusuke snuck up on his daughter from behind, lifting the squealing girl up into his arms.

"What did mom and me tell you about talking to strangers, Makoto? Especially creepy red-eyed demons," Yusuke teased, making the child giggle.

"Maybe this creepy demon should just leave," Hiei snorted out, starting to turn to do so.

"Still can't take a joke even after all these years, huh? Come on in. The kids have been looking forward to their 'uncle Hiei' watching them," Yusuke chuckled wickedly, moving to the side.

Hiei almost flinched at the nickname, and stepped into the surprisingly cozy room where a young boy was sitting on the floor, eyes glued to the TV screen. When he noticed Hiei, his eyes brightened and he ran over to him.

"My dad's been telling me all about you! My name's Nasuko! Ooh! Is that your sword?! Can I hold it!" exclaimed the boy who was the spitting image of Yusuke, reaching out for it.

"Do you want to cut yourself, boy?" Hiei scolded, moving away from the child and causing Nasuko to pout.

Machiko stepped in at that moment, returning to her standard form. That pulled Nasuko's attention in an instant. "Wow!"

Keiko walked into the room, and she chewed the inside of her mouth upon seeing Hiei. She knew the fire apparition wasn't nearly as cold as he had been in the past, but she still wasn't certain if he was the right guy to look after her children. She wasn't sure how good a role model Machiko would be either, but at least the dizzying-stripes girl would keep Hiei in line.

"Hi, Hiei. It's good to see you again," Keiko greeted with a faint smile. "You too, Machiko." Then she turned her attention to her kids. "Now, you both be good
for Hiei and Machiko, and make sure you're in bed by 9 o'clock. Your daddy and I will see you in the morning."

"Aw! But I'm almost ten, mom! Can't I stay up later?" Nasuko whined out, sulking when Keiko gave him a look that clearly meant no.

Yusuke smirked faintly and handed Hiei a slip of paper.

"That's my cell number if you need to call us for anything. We'll be back around eleven, so have fun!" Yusuke said cheerfully, practically having to drag Keiko, who didn't seem to want to leave her two squirming kids she was tightly hugging, out the front door.

Hiei let out a bitter sigh and looked at the kids who were either smiling or grinning at him, knowing this was going to be an exceedingly long night.

#

The clock ticked away. Nasuko and Makoto had been pestering him with nonstop questions about himself most of the time or trying to get him to play silly
games. Machiko ended up playing with them, after telling the kids that Hiei hadn't had a childhood and so didn't know how to or want to learn how to play
games. They'd mostly left him alone except for the questions after that. Though Hiei would admit he was mildly impressed when Nasuko showed him how strong his
punches were by making a pretty large indent on a tree in the backyard. Even Makoto, who was only six, could already use the Spirit Gun, though Hiei wouldn't
allow her to shoot it or she might freak out the neighbors.

Yet as quiet and peaceful as everything seemed, Hiei had the strangest feeling that he was being watched. Yet he was unable to detect anything, so perhaps it was just a passing human or an animal.

Still, after all these years, he had learned to be cautious.

"The two of you, get inside. Now." Hiei instructed in a tone that meant "don't argue with me." He considered telling Machiko to join them, but then decided it wouldn't be good for his authority over the kids – even on a good day, Machiko rarely did what he told her. So instead, he glanced at her and gave her mental instructions. "You get out of sight."

She nodded and sprang upwards, clinging to the wall with just-barely-demonic hands.

Once the kids were gone and Machiko hidden – on the roof, no doubt – Hiei unsheathed his katana and pointed it in the direction where he believed he was being watched from. "If there's someone there, I suggest you show yourself. Otherwise, get lost."

"Your ego really is bigger than you are, Hiei," a cold male voice spoke up before a figure wearing a long dark cloak to conceal his identity appeared in front of the spiky haired demon.

Before Hiei could even react, the stranger held up his hand, using some form of energy to pin him to the wall! Is this demon energy? Spirit energy? Sacred energy? It almost feels like some combination of the three!

Then he heard a shriek from over his head, and Machiko launched herself downwards at the attacker in full demon-mode!

The figure turned towards her. He waited until she was in point-blank range, and then suddenly his other hand shot upwards and grabbed her throat!

Her shriek choked off and she started flapping her wings frantically and swiping at him with her hands and feet, trying to hit him. Hiei could see that her feet were mostly missing their targets – all she was really doing was shredding the lower edge of his cloak. But the strangest thing was her hands. She was trying to slit his wrist with her claws – either of them, the one gripping her neck or the one directing the energy holding him against the wall – and she was too close to miss, but her claws were sliding away a bare centimeter from his skin as if deflected by an invisible force field!

"How amusing. I'd heard you had a mate with more emotion than sense; I see the rumors were true." Then the hand gripping her throat pulsed with that strange energy and she was flung away from him and into the branches of the tree Nasuko was punching earlier! Then he returned his attention to Hiei, turned his outstretched hand palm-up, and closed his fingers into a fist.

"AGGGGGGGH!" Hiei screamed out in pain from having his Jagan Eye forced open and then ripped straight from his head as blood spilled down his face from the now-empty socket.

"I leave with these words, Hiei Jaganshi. Tell your friends that war is coming," the man said apathetically as he released his attack on Hiei, and turned to leave when the demon fell to his knees panting harshly.

Machiko climbed down out of the tree, still completely demonic, and crept over to him on all fours. "Ow. He really did a number on you, didn't he? We'd better get that bandaged before the kids see it, or they'll probably freak."

Hiei glared at her sullenly, but didn't argue as she ripped her already-wing-totaled shirt off outright, tore it a couple more times, and tied it about his forehead as an attempt to stem the bleeding. Then he watched her as she sat down on the ground and started plucking scraps of dark fabric off her footclaws. "You'd better go back into one of your…smaller forms. Your wings are hardly convenient when indoors, especially with human dwellings."

Machiko turned and stared him right in the eyes. "Hiei…I tried to do that before I came out of the tree. I can't! That freak jammed my morphing ability!"

Hiei stared. "I didn't think that was possible!"

"Neither did I! Probably only Kamiko can straighten this out, our twin bond can cut through a lot of problems, but that involves her being present!"

"…Damn."

#

Somewhere else in the city, a young boy of about fifteen named Dizuki was struggling to climb up a tall tree where a black and white cat sat meowing down at him.

"Don't worry, little guy. I'll get you down from there." Dizuki promised with a smile, reaching out a comforting hand to pet the cat.

He sighed, steadying himself on the much-too-thin branch where he stood, and gently took the cat into his arms only for the animal to get spooked. It let out a hiss and scratched at Dizuki's face.

"AHHHHHHH!" Dizuki screamed, falling from the tree and painfully landing on his back.

The cat was sitting on his chest, licking at its paw and acting like nothing had happened at all; then it gave a cute meow to a small girl who came running up to scoop her pet up into her arms.

"Thank you so much for saving Bonzai!" she chirped, staring down at a dazed Dizuki with a bright grin.

"N-no problem…." Dizuki replied with a weak laugh as he tried to sit up, only for his back to crack as he groaned and fell back on the pavement. Well, at least nothing seemed to be broken even if he didn't think he'd be able to move for a while.

"You're fired!" were the first words poor Dizuki heard when he stepped through the doors of the fast food restaurant where he worked.

"B-but, sir! Let me explain…I was trying to help-"

"I don't want to hear it! This is the third time you've been late. Enough is enough. You can pick up you final pay check on Monday. Now, get out of my sight!" the overweight manager snapped, turning his back on the teen.

Dizuki sighed, waving goodbye to some of the other employees who gave him pitying expressions; his shoulders slumped as he headed out the door.

Making his way home, Dizuki wondered what he was going to tell his parents. He had taken the medium-waged job to help out since his little sister was in the hospital with meningitis, and his mom was taking time out of work to be with her.

"I'm home…." Dizuki called out in a less than happy tone. He then remembered no one was here, running a hand through his hair and heading to his room to try and
relax.

He plopped down in his desk chair, spinning around in it before starting up his computer. Yet something lying on the desk caught his eye, and Dizuki gingerly picked up the disk case where a blank CD Rom was inside.

"You guys didn't have to get me anything…." Dizuki whispered out with a small smile.

The other night, his father had been apologizing since neither him nor Dizuki's mom had been around much lately to spend time with him, and his father had promised to make it up to him. Dizuki just hadn't expected for his dad to go out and buy him a computer game.

There was no picture or name on the case which Dizuki found odd, but he shrugged it off and stuck it in where the screen remained black for the longest time. It almost seemed like the disk was defective, until a voice began to speak.

"Congratulations! You have been invited to Gamer Haven, a special arcade that only a select few are allowed to attend. It would please us if you would arrive as soon as possible. Use this map to find us, but do not allow anyone else to see it. We look forward to meeting you." a computerized female voice explained.

A map near the more shady part of the city appeared on the screen and Dizuki blinked since there was a red circle around a lone building. There was definitely something fishy about the whole thing, yet his interest had been piqued as well.

Knowing he had nothing else to do today, Dizuki looked over the map a few times to memorize it before turning off his computer. And just for safety, Dizuki grabbed up a pocket knife and stuck it in his back pocket, leaving a note for his parents in case he returned home late before running out with a sense of excitement washing over him.

He couldn't remember the last time he had ever won or been invited to something, so Dizuki wasn't able to help feeling…well a little special. Not that he was a conceited person.

Still, seeing some tough-looking men and punk-dressed demons eying him made Dizuki gulp nervously. Maybe he could handle the humans, but demons were another
matter entirely – they often had far spookier "natural" ways to hurt people than just fists.

So when he saw the arcade that just looked like an abandoned building, Dizuki let out a sigh of relief. But when he went in, he wondered if someone was pulling a trick on him since most of the old arcade machines were covered in dust and spider webs, like they hadn't been used in years.

"Erm, hello?" Dizuki said wearily, slowly walking through the place and feeling just a little creeped out.

"Why, hello there!" a cheerful voice answered from behind, causing the young teen to jump and flip around with a startled expression.

An old man dressed all in white was grinning up at him. He was holding onto a cane to support himself and had an odd feather circlet around his head that made him look even more eccentric than he already did.

"So you're the one they call Dizuki, hmm? You're a lot scrawnier than I pictured you would be," the old man chuckled out, making Dizuki wince when the elderly man jabbed him in his stomach with his cane.

"I take it you're the one who invited me? But how come there's no one else here….?" Dizuki questioned, backing up some to put some distance between him and the strange man, who was obviously operating a few cards short of a deck.

"Because I have a special gift that's just for you. How would you like to gain special powers that would allow you to better protect yourself and your loved ones?"

Dizuki tilted his head at this, a laugh leaving his lips as he placed his hands behind his head, deciding to play along with the crazy person. There was no way this old man could actually give him something like that.

"Powers, huh? That does sound pretty cool, but what's the catch? I mean, people don't just get unique abilities without there being some sort of risk involved?" Dizuki spoke up casually.

When a rather twisted smile appeared on the old man's face, Dizuki couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. Why did he get the feeling he'd just said the wrong thing?