Yu Yu Hakusho

Prolouge

Today was just as boring as any other day for teen delinquent, Yusuke Urameshi. He, just as usual, fell asleep in all of his classes and made a terrible grade in everything.
He had a reputation as the toughest kid at Sarayashiki Junior High, and the toughest kid in town, in fact. He wasn't a friendly person, and he would pick a fight with anyone he darn well pleased. However, he had SOME friends.
The one friend who's stood by him the longest, since he was real little, was a girl named, Keiko. She's known Yusuke forever. If you were to ask anyone, they would say that Keiko was Yusuke's girlfriend. And any and all excuses were more than welcome to deny this.
And not only her, but someone else, Yusuke, although he would never admit it, couldn't live without, was Kazuma Kuwabara. This boy was a strange one. He also had a reputation as the second-toughest kid at Sarayashiki Junior High. Kazuma doesn't like it when people refer to him by his first name, so naturally, everybody calls him Kuwabara. He's got this weird likeness for kittens, (strange I know!), and has one in particular, called Eikichi. Even if Yusuke denied being Kuwabara's friend, it was evident, that by the way they fought, that they were very good friends.
Yusuke was throwing wads of paper at the back of Kuwabara's head, when he, for the third time that week, got called to the principle's office, (after all, it was only Wednesday!)
And, again, for the second time that semester, was told that if he didn't straighten up, he would be expelled...
again!
Yusuke's lifestyle is modeled a bit after the pattern of his life, and his life isn't an easy one. His father is nowhere to be seen, and his mother is a long time alchoholic. Yusuke would never admit to it, but he worries about his mother alot.
She isn't a perfect mother, but does everything she can to help him be more sucessful in life than she was. All though she tries so hard to straighten Yusuke up, he only seems to become more rebellious. If anyone can keep Yusuke in line, it would have to be Keiko.Yusuke isn't your average everyday kid. He has a life outside of this one. The life he leads otherwise, is twice as dangerous. He defends the human realm from demons, apparitions, and spirits of all sorts.
Yusuke is a spirit detective.
Kuwabara also has a unique lifestyle outside of this one. He is Yusuke's friend and sidekick in defeating every evil thing that comes along.
How they got that job...
is another story.
Yusuke, whom everyone at school feared, went totally against his reputation...
by saving a kid from a speeding car.
It, however, wasn't how or the time he was supposed to die. So, the judge of the dead, Koenma, gave Yusuke a second chance at life, if he would be a spirit detective.
Before he could return to his physical body, he had to undergo some other things. One of the first things that had a lasting impression on him, (and still lasting!), was the Pilot of the River Styx, named Botan. In Western mythology, she is commonly known as the Grim Reaper. She however isn't a skeleton in a black robe carrying a scythe, but a cheery, chipper, girl with blue hair, who rides an oar. (typical!) Yusuke seems to have a problem with her cheery attitude, which comes as no surprise to anyone.

Another thing, which is still lasting, is his spirit companion, Puu. In order to return to life he had to hatch an egg, which gave birth to what Kuwabara refers to as, "A blue penguin." Puu is connected to Yusuke in spirit, which means that everything that Yusuke feels, Puu feels too.
After he had returned to his body, Yusuke brought back with him, some incredible abilities. These spirit powers, were a result of spending time in the Reikai, (also known as the spirit world.)
His best known attack, called, "the spirit wave," is one of his most powerful. It was taught to him by his teacher and mentor named, Genkai.
She held a contest to see who she would pass this ability on to. Kuwabara also intered into this contest, but Yusuke won. It was here that Yusuke met one of his first demon rivals known as Rando. Kuwabara also learned a new move of his own called the "spirit sword." Kuwabara's spirit sword ability is a result of his having ESP or as we know it, a sixth sense. The spirit sword is a physical extension of his Rei, or spirit energy, in the form of a sword.

Yusuke during his duties has made other friends along the way. One of his first major jobs, was that of recovering, the Three Artifacts of Darkness. Two of the thieves ended up becoming his friends. One of them is very unique, in that he is a reformed demon. He is now in a human body. This demon used to be refered to as "the Legendary Bandit, Youko Kurama." He was injured, and had to go to the Ningankai, (the Human world) to be reborn in the body of Shuuichi Minamino. There, Kurama, as he is refered to by the others, learned the meaning of kindness, which Yusuke admired. He had stolen the Forlorn Hope, which was a mirror that granted wishes for the cost of a soul a piece. Kurama attempted to sacrifice his own human soul, to save his ill mother, but was spared by the mirror for Yusuke's good deed of offering to give up his own soul instead.

The other demon is a half fire, half ice demon known as Hiei. Hiei has had a terrible life, in that he was exiled from his kind because he was a fire demon, and given the name, "The Forbidden Child." His mother was an ice demon who had been with a fire demon. This act is a terrible thing, so his mother's best friend threw Hiei over a cliff as a baby. From there he was seperated from his sister known as Yukina. Before she threw him from the cliff, she gave to Hiei and Yukina, two gems. One each. As he grew, he lived the life of a bandit, and at a very young age was considered an A-class demon. After he had left the group, he had his third eye implanted, at the cost of his gem, which he later got back. He had stolen the sword of darkness, which he used on Keiko. Yusuke defeated him and as punishment, Hiei had to join Yusuke's team. If Hiei were to kill a human he would suffer a terrible fate or even death.
Yusuke went through the Dark Tournament, and other things which shaped the fate of the world. And no matter how many times he risked his life, he never stopped fighting anyway...