~~~The Past, The Present And The Future~~~
~~~The Past - Memories~~~
Chapter 1 - Memories, Vengeance And Dreams
"Yusuke! Yusuke!" yelled a frantic voice, just seconds after a loud crashing sound was heard throughout nearly the whole apartment in the middle of the city. The digital clock on the bedside table showed the time as 7.00 am.
The girl glared irritably at a boy sleeping on the bed soundly and tried calling a few more times, her voice getting louder and louder each time she shouted.
"Get up, Yusuke!" she said angrily, her blue ponytail shaking in anger. She tried slapping him a few times, but quickly removed her hand from the drooling face. She then took the body by the shoulders and began shaking it violently, attempting to wake the boy up.
*That pig, why doesn't he wake up?* grumbled the girl, determined not to let go until she got his attention. Right to the moment, the boy was still sleeping soundly.
Yusuke was just opening a sleepy eye when someone shook him with the force of an earthquake. Yusuke opened his brown eyes in shock to see a pair of pink eyes staring at him urgently. *Oh no...* muttered Yusuke in heart and sat up groggily on his bed.
"Huh, Botan? What are you doing here so early in..." Before Yusuke could finish the sentence, Botan interrupted him impatiently. Botan seemed very anxious and panicky. Rivulets of sweat ran down her forehead and she was panting heavily.
"Urgent stuff, Yusuke. Koenma has a very important message for you." As she said that, she threw Yusuke a briefcase bearing the character 'Rei' on a corner. Yusuke threw Botan a dirty look because this wasn't exactly the perfect idea of waking up. Now he knew that Botan could shake people like a rag doll.
With quick and deft fingers, he opened the briefcase and looked at a blank screen. "Reikai investigators don't have holidays as school gives us. I don't deserve to be treated like this, I'm still a human more or less. This had better be important or I'll never forgive you for this... You know my days off are very important to me," Yusuke grumbled loudly and glared daggers at Botan.
After a few minutes of static, still no picture.
"Hey! What is all this crap? How come there's no picture?" said Yusuke, hammering the briefcase with his fist.
"Hands away!" warned Botan, already standing straight with her oar in her hands.
"Watch it!" Yusuke had just managed to get his hand away before Botan slammed the top with the flat part of her oar. "That's dangerous!" growled Yusuke and looked at his fingers.
"That damned box needs to be treated like this sometimes," explained Botan, after knocking it. She kept her oar away with a wave of her hand and sat down on the floor.
The screen began to spit and splutter. Koenma appeared after 10 seconds of static, chewing intently on his blue pacifier, or better known as the Fuumaken. He was still dressed in his typical Koenma manner, with a pair of kungfu style pants and a bib. Over his small head drooped a huge floppy hat that was larger than his body. George, the blue oni was standing stiffly beside Koenma, as any other faithful and obedient servant might do. Koenma's desk was also in a mess with mountains and mountains of papers everywhere. Koenma himself also looked rather untidy with his hair sticking out one side.
"Yusuke, I have a very important mission for you now. This mission is more difficult than 'Mission Impossible'. Let me remind you once more, be careful and ..." As Koenma said that, Yusuke let out a sleepy yawn, showing his disinterest for Koenma's usual introduction.
"Koenma, cut the crap and let's get straight to the point, okay?" said Yusuke at Koenma tiredly, and he received a rough nudge in the ribs from Botan, reminding him not to be rude to Koenma. Yusuke shrugged off Botan easily and leaned back on one elbow.
"Okay, if that's what you want. The Reikai is very proud of you because you have finally destroyed Sensui. Now, Reikai is once again peaceful. A few days ago, we sensed a very strange and powerful energy field somewhere near the borders of Makai and Ningenkai."
"So what am I supposed to do?" interrupted Yusuke impatiently.
"Yusuke, let me explain it all first!" yelled an exasperated Koenma.
"Whoa, calm down. Getting angry is very bad for you," said George, patting Koenma on the back. Koenma relaxed and calmed down.
"This energy isn't Reiki or Youki, but a totally different power. Don't disparage it, it is every bit as powerful as Reiki or Youki. Reikai has never experienced such power and it might pose great danger to all three worlds. I'm afraid that this power could be three times more powerful than Raizen, maybe even more. Because this threatens the well being of all of us, I'll go through this mission personally with your Reikai special investigator team. According to some sources, this group of people may range from 3 to 7, each with a different ability. Please contact Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara immediately as we might need their help," said Koenma.
"Do you have any idea what is happening down there?" asked Yusuke, beginning to show interest in the assignment.
"Well, Reikai has a special prison in Makai where we kept some of the most dangerous criminals there. The castle has a reiki or youki barrier where neither side could use their power against each other in between this wall. Although it was the Reikai that erected this system, we can't see what's happening inside. Simple things such as checking their youki is also impossible, unless we free them. To tell the truth, I do not have the slightest idea what is happening inside," confessed Koenma.
"Anyway, one more question. Where are you going to meet us? You can't just simply wander around in the streets of Ningenkai like that," said Yusuke and scratched his chin, narrowing his eyes at Koenma.
"I'll meet you all at Keiko's ramen shop in two hours' time. Yusuke, all our hopes lies in you," As Koenma finished his speech, the picture spluttered and died out, leaving only static behind.
"What? Two hours? How am I going to find all of them, especially Hiei? That youkai is always disappearing. Now, I don't even know where he is, in Makai or in Ningenkai..." exclaimed Yusuke desperately scratching his already tousled hair.
"Well, you have to find him somehow. I'll help you," answered Botan enthusiastically, sitting down on a cushion on the floor.
"Duh!" came the reply as Yusuke began combing his hair.
-
After talking with Yusuke, Koenma stepped down from his ridiculously huge leather armchair and paced around. Things had been getting out of hand lately. Enma-Daiou had gone off for a holiday, again! Leaving his poor son in a midst of paperwork. Problems seemed to arise one after another. Why did demons from Makai always seem to find ways out to Ningenkai? Didn't they have anything better to do?
Koenma couldn't stand to think about this question for one more second so he quickly transformed into his teenage form. As he walked out of his office, he stopped by the wall mirror to check his hair and clothes. Of course he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the rest...
As he was priming his hair, he suddenly realized how handsome he looked without his pacifier. In fact, he belonged to the category of 'bishounen'. That reminded him what Enma had said to him a little while back. "Koenma, you are not young anymore. Before long, you are to take my place. But before that, you must find yourself a mate..."
As Koenma recalled his words, his face flushed a shade of pink. He suddenly felt a stab of pain in his heart and his eyes began to go mist over... Koenma closed his momentarily and took a deep breath. He bit back that feeling forcefully. Koenma took a final look at his outfit and went off in a huff.
-
Yusuke pulled his jeans up and put on a clean white t-shirt. He combed his hair into his usual style and began pacing about in his room, then stopped and went downstairs. Atsuko was off at her present husband's house so there was no one in the apartment.
He stopped by the phone and began punching in Kurama's phone number. A sleepy voice answered the phone. Yusuke recognized it as the voice of Shuiichi, the human body that Kurama possessed. He told him that Koenma had a new mission in hand and planned to meet them all. Kurama's sleepy voice agreed and hung up.
"Kurama as a youko sounds a lot different..." thought Yusuke to himself as he remembered the more mature voice. Yusuke shook his head as he remember the scene in that Dark Tournament with Kurama emerging as a silver youko. *It was so amazing... Who would have thought that Kurama is actually a centuries-old fox?*
Yusuke dialed Kuwabara's number. Kuwabara was not as polite as Kurama was when woken up that early in the morning. A string of bad words soon followed:-
"Urameshi! What the hell made you call that early! Tell me which f***ing asshole and I'll make that asshole eat his own shit!" cursed a very angry Kuwabara.
"Cool down, baka! Nobody forced me to phone you. The Reikai special investigation team has a new mission," shouted Yusuke, holding the phone receiver away from his ears.
"Oh yeah? Tell me what it is. I'm always ready to take up any challenge," professed Kuwabara eagerly.
Yusuke filled him in on the details, and Kuwabara agreed to see Koenma with him. *Even that stupid fool sounds excited,* thought Yusuke with a smile on his face.
"Now, we only have Hiei to find. That guy is always so weird, wandering in between Makai and Ningenkai." Yusuke then asked Botan if she knew any way to contact Hiei. Botan took out her collection of 7 Reikai Investigation special tools and selected a whistle.
Botan stuck the whistle's mouthpiece in between her lips and took a deep breath.
"Oh no, not that..." As he said that, he jammed his fingers in his ears. Kurama told him once that one of the seven Reikai investigation tools was very harmful to youkai ears. *Oh great, I'm half-toushin now and it's all Raizen's fault!* Even with his ears plugged he could still hear the loud blast of the whistle. Then, a dark shape fell past the window.
Yusuke told Botan that it must be Hiei. Both of them ran out of the apartment and took the elevator down. They reached the front of the building and saw Hiei all curled up in a pile of limbs. He apparently had been sleeping on the rooftop. Hiei quickly collected himself and dusted the debris off his black clothes. He flipped his cloak over his shoulders and gritted his teeth irritably.
"Why the hell did you blow that whistle! It hurts, stupid! This is the second time you did that!" yelled Hiei to Botan who was still holding the accursed whistle. Hiei was still rubbing his ears and glaring at the ferry-girl.
"I 'had' to because finding you using other equipment is near impossible!" shot back Botan. Hiei just looked away in his typical Hiei-ish behavior, in which he didn't care to say anything further.
"What do you think you can do by just looking away like that?" continued Botan sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
Hiei snorted but he didn't say anything. Botan glared at him, but she also didn't say anything.
"Come on, don't argue." shouted Yusuke over the noise as a heated argument broke out between Hiei and Botan. Botan stuck out her tongue at Hiei while Hiei threw her a dirty look.
"So, what's the big deal?" asked Hiei, obviously irritated.
"Well, it's about our new mission..." Yusuke began explaining. By the time Yusuke had finished, they realized that they were late for Koenma's meeting by around half an hour...
Little did they know that this would lead them to memories, vengeance and dreams that might not always be there - adventures that could only happen once in a lifetime.