Author's Note: The main pairing is pretty simple, you'll probably know it by the end of the chapter I'm sure. Probably by the time they mention their names you'll know it. There is also another pairing, but that one is going to be a surprise. They're both crossover pairings though.


Timeline/Spoilers/Explanation: Basically, this is after Yu Yu Hakusho is over. A few things go a bit Au at the end, and if you know what happens in the end you'll probably be able to pick them out. Mainly the Yusuke and Keiko stuff doesn't happen. In other words, this is after Yusuke's demon blood is awakened, which is why I usually refer to him as a demon. Once in awhile I will refer to him as majin, which is basically a human who was transformed into a demon by his demon ancestor (in Yusuke's case Raizen) but still has his human spiritual powers. Because, despite rumors, Yusuke is not a half-demon. Raizen had a human mate over a thousand years ago. Yusuke is his descendant. For more info, there are a few good sites out there. Try 'Yuu Yuu Hakusho Realms' for the full explanation on a majin.

For Inuyasha, not many spoilers, as they won't be mentioned once. Kohaku and Rin may be mentioned again past this chapter. But that will be for a specific reason. *grins*


Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Inuyasha.

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The Shikon Missions


Chapter 1 - Treacherous memories

The pebble clattered against the ground angrily for a moment, only to be kicked again by a worn shoe. The pebble struck a tree, ricocheting off and disappearing into the undergrowth. The young man who had been kicking the pebble scowled, finding another pebble on the forest floor. Picking up where he left off, he began kicking the new pebble, the movement quickly becoming mechanical as the young man lost himself in his thoughts.

He was jerked out of his thoughts when his head was an inch from a tree branch. He stumbled backwards, usually slicked back black hair falling into his eyes before he began cursing the tree. At the same time, what sounded oddly like a female giggle sounded through the shadowed forest. He turned in surprise, obviously he had been more lost in his thoughts than he should have been if he hadn't sensed someone coming up behind him.

His brown eyes met sapphire blue. The laugh that she had sounded from her was already fading from her eyes, though her face tried to keep up the amused facade. Long black hair framed her face as she met his glare with only another giggle, though he could see the flashes of suppressed pain in her eyes. He ignored in order to salvage his own pride.

"What are you laughing at?" he made his glare fiercer, and if anything the amusement flashed back into her eyes as she studied him in return. Finally her eyes returned to his face and she shifted slightly, a slight frown on her face as she studied the look in his eyes. He looked away, glaring at a far off tree.

"I've never seen a demon almost walk into a tree, that's all," she said, shocking him out of his mind. He let his sense try and read her, and jerked back in surprise when he found it masked, but the energy was pure. Not pure as in pure energy, but pure as in the opposite of corrupt. Every demon had darkness in their power, and the few humans who had been able to access theirs usually did to.

"What are you?" he asked, what sounded oddly like a growl starting in his chest. He squashed it, settling on glaring at her instead. She seemed surprised, and if he wasn't mistaken, a bit pleased.

"You don't know? What kind of demon are you? Never mind, it's better that you don't anything about me or I about you. I'll be going on my way now." She began walking, and Yusuke's eyes narrowed. He'd asked a question, and he wanted an answer! He fell into step behind her.

"What reason would I have to know? All you did was come up and laugh at me. You seem human, but your energy...it feels...pure." He took an unconscious step back as she whirled around, more emotions than he had ever seen anyone showing, human or demon, were showing on her face. Anger, sorrow, pain, and others. Pain was the one overriding the others, and he flinched from the look in her eyes. Apparently she knew how much she was showing, because she winced a second later.

"It is pure. Just... Please leave it alone? Besides, don't you have somewhere else to be?" He winced inwardly but managed to shrug nonchalantly.

"Actually, not really. I have my home and my job. At the moment, I have no pressing business." She sighed at the answer and moved toward a clearing radiating the same pure energy as he sensed around her. He frowned, eyeing the clearing with speculation clear in his chocolate brown eyes. Finally he once again fell into step behind her, not even shuddering when he stepped into the clearing at the energy crackled slightly around him. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt him.

The grass and trees seemed livelier than outside the clearing, but despite the beautiful setting, the contents of the clearing made the air seem to sing with sorrow and foreboding. In the middle of the clearing, with a cherry tree growing on each side, were two headstones. The woman he had been following kneeled down in between them, touching first one, then the other. Her body began to shake and he could see tiny droplets of moisture sliding down her cheeks to fall onto the graves themselves.

He walked over, being careful each step in case the power she held inside decided he would be a good way to get rid of her stress. He looked down at each grave, and was puzzled to find there were no dates on them. "How'd they die?"

"Demon," she answered in a shaky voice. He grimaced, that explained how she knew so about demons, if two of the people she obviously loved, if the tears were any indication, had been killed by a demon. He was surprised she hadn't struck out at him just for being what he was. He shifted awkwardly, waiting as she slowly began to stop shaking, though sobs still wracked through her small form.

"How long?" the human turned demon named Yusuke asked.

"A month? A bit more. I'm not s-sure." He ignored the stutter in her voice, and instead suddenly decided to introduce himself.

"I'm Yusuke Urameshi."

"Why are you introducing yourself?' he resisted rolling his eyes at her suspicious voice, instead smirking to himself.

"Why not?" he challenged.

"I just started talking to you a few minutes ago. Why should I introduce myself to some random demon?" she asked, the suspicion and anger clear in her snapping voice. She lifted her head, glaring at him with angry sapphire eyes. She began to stand up, the rage clear in her form, though he suspected it wasn't truly directed towards him.

He jumped up himself, practically growling as his temper grew to match her own. "Fine! I was just trying to help since you seemed to need something to distract you! Is it a crime to introduce yourself? No one ever mentioned that to me! Or are you just to good to talk to a stupid demon?"

Yusuke didn't bother waiting for her shocked expression to fade and instead stuffed his hands into his packets and began stomping away. He was stopped by a feminine voice sounding behind him.

"Kagome. My name is Kagome Higurashi," The woman said in a small, slightly ashamed voice.

He would have took time to be shocked by her mood swings but was to busy grinning in triumph as he turned around and held out a hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet you Kagome."

"You too." She took his hand, managing a smile, but after her little show, he knew she was faking. She knew it too.

-~-

Kagome had been looking for the two graves of her friends when she saw him. The land had changed in five hundred years, and she had gotten a little off track in looking for where she had put them. Fortunately, like the God Tree, the place she buried them held mystical energy, which she could track. Unlike the God Tree, this time it was her own.

It had taken her all three weeks since coming home to work up the courage to go see the graves in this time. Finally she had to get up. Those two deserved to have their graves maintained and she had to make sure they were still there. She wanted to see if the cherry trees had survived. They had fought long and hard to destroy Naraku, and the cherry trees lived in place of they themselves. Inuyasha had worked just as hard, but there was no body as far as she knew. She had left before she could find out.

When she had seen the black haired demon almost run into a tree, for an instant her bleak mood was forgotten and she had to laugh. She giggled actually, a sound her mother would have been overjoyed to hear.

He had taken offense. She had found that amusing too, even if it quickly faded. Obviously he was a young demon, though it was hard to tell. She wasn't quite sure if demons were totally immortal, but they did seem to live a long time, and aged a lot slower after their childhood. Still, young or not, she couldn't understand why he didn't know she was a miko. Were miko's that rare that they were only legends now? She certainly wasn't going to enlighten him.

When the graves had come into sight, Kagome certainly hadn't meant to break down. She'd thought she'd done all her crying in the feudal era when they died. She especially hadn't meant to break down in front of a strange demon. But she had, crying for those two simple names, and the name that wasn't on the headstones.

'Sango.' She cried for her friend whose family and life had been stolen from her. In the end, Sango had given her life protecting the newly liberated Kohaku. Though, Kohaku would have died without the shard, if not for Sesshoumaru. Then again, perhaps Rin should be the one with the credit for saving him.

'Miroku.' She shook for the man who never got the chance to live free of his curse. He had bled to death, and Sesshoumaru refused to bring them back. Though Rin may have hated death, she wasn't attached to them like she had been to Kohaku. So she had buried them, and had been glad she had been able to call them her friends.

It was the name that wasn't there that had broken her heart. He had made his wish and broken her heart. He had wished to become a full youkai and then went off to find Kikyou. She didn't wait for him to come back. When the rest of her soul joined her, she knew what he must have done. Kikyou had gone to hell, releasing the bits of her soul that she had. The unpure wish had kept the Shikon grounded to this plane of existence, keeping her guarding it. Kagome could feel at the edges what Kikyou must have felt. Unlike Kikyou, Kagome knew she didn't have to do it alone. She also knew she couldn't do it in the Warring States Period.

The memories had flashed by her and she had broken out into sobs, ignoring the young demon's presence. She remembered golden eyes, for once showing love and trust in them. The golden eyes that had meant safety for Kagome. A quick smirk with one fang, angry eyes slashing at the enemies that had dared to hurt her. All of them and more flashed by her mind as she lay there, for an instant feeling like a broken and lonely child.

Then he had begun asking questions and she felt herself coming out of it. No one besides her family had talked to her for three weeks. She found herself soaking in the unfamiliar voice. That didn't stop her from snapping at him when he introduced himself. Yet, his name had a familiar note to it that she decided to ignore. She remembered her friends saying it, and that was silly. Why would her friends know the name of a demon?

Finally, Kagome had felt guilty when he snapped at her. Shame spread through her at his questions that hit too close to home. It reminded her oddly of when people scorned Inuyasha because he was a hanyou. She was doing something similar. She cursed inwardly for blaming a seemingly nice demon for what others had done to her. Everyone deserved to be judged only for his or her own actions. She had been expected to act like Kikyou, and had struggled to show the feudal villages she was not Kikyou. She knew how wrong it was for people to carry expectations.

She had dried her eyes and pulled her anger back in. After all, it wasn't him she should be angry at, but others. Mainly Naraku for stealing her friends before they could kill him. Then she had introduced herself. "Kagome. Kagome Higurashi."

She'd smiled at him, showing cheer that she didn't feel as they exchanged small pleasantries. They had walked from the clearing, a silent promise ringing in her head that she would be back. She was walking back towards the general direction of the shrine, he just walking beside her.

"Why were you out here?" Kagome couldn't help but ask.

"Thinking," Yusuke answered with a shrug of his shoulders. She rolled her eyes in exasperation, more out of habit than anything else.

"About what?"

"My job. What it cost to keep it," he said, annoyance showing in his voice, but Kagome read the underlying pain in his voice and let them walk in silence until he lifted one hand to glance at a watch on his wrist.

"Damn. I'm late." She glanced at him, her mind connecting one thing to another as he swore at the time on his watch.

"Your job then?"

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence before Kagome spoke again. "You should go then, Yusuke."

He looked startled by her using his name before quickly smirking at her. She almost gasped at the familiar expression on his face. Fortunately, it wasn't the one fanged smirk, so instead of crying she found herself smiling back as he spoke. "Yeah, I should. See you around Kagome."

Kagome watched as he disappeared into the woods and Kagome found herself once again bothered by the familiarity of his name. She could not possibly have heard it in school, he was a demon!

Her thoughts on his name were completely swept away when she stepped onto her family shrine. Kagome's sapphire eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. What she was seeing was impossible. She knew he had promised to find her again in her time. With tears in his forest green eyes he had promised her, the only one still true to her. She hadn't expected him to keep it. No one kept their promises.

There in front of her door was a ruby colored fox. A multi-tailed, green eyed, ruby fox that lifted it's head and jumped towards her with a joyful bark that made him seem like the child she had known him as.

~-~

Yusuke was whisked off to Koenma's office the minute he stepped near the place he had been supposed to meet Botan. She appeared on her oar and after a brief and all too familiar feeling of disorientation Yusuke found himself in the Prince's office with two familiar faces besides Koenma's.

"I guess Hiei decided not to come back from the Makai," Yusuke stated as he casually glanced around. The team wasn't complete without the silent and often times sardonic fire apparition. On the other hand, he was sure he, Kurama, and Kuwabara could handle whatever was going on.

"You're late. And we need to start. Hiei chose to keep out of this. He has no debt to pay to the Rekai anymore, so he won't be here. It doesn't matter at the moment. I'm sure you've all been informed, or witnessed first hand, the recent unrest of the demons in Makai. Especially after Enki became ruler, but he soon settled things for himself. Or," Koenma paused and sent a sympathetic glance towards Yusuke, showing he knew what had happened, "with a little help from some of the demons left over from the Makai tournament."

"Yusuke had to deal with a wolf demon pack before he came back from that Makai that tried to make it through the barrier. They and their wolves would have wreaked havoc on the Ningenkai, but they didn't seem to care." Koenma paused as if expecting Yusuke to add in something. Yusuke simply shrugged and said nothing, an expression of angry bitterness appearing on his face.

"Now, you'd think since these incidents were put down and no harm came off them, that there would be nothing to worry about. However, there is reason to believe that these were not simply rebel demons, and these new demons starting to test the barrier appear to either be fleeing, or to be after something. There are too many for us not to call in the Spirit Detectives. Especially since the rumors say whatever the new danger is, that it is in Ningenkai." Koenma stopped, searching their faces to see their reaction so far.

"So you called those of us who were willing to help save the world from this new menace." The redheaded Kurama seemed puzzled why they didn't just get onto a mission and peered at the child ruler intently with his emerald green eyes.

"Yes Kurama. On the other hand, my father was getting a bit upset about having demons on the team when they weren't paying a debt to the Rekai. I was forced to find a way to keep you on the team but at the same time have a way to control you. Kuwabara couldn't do this, so your first assignment will be to find the person who will be able to. No killing on this assignment as far as I know."

Kuwabara opened his mouth, looking slightly insulted. Yusuke glared at him, a clear expression telling him to shut up as Botan began speaking. "The only thing - well, person actually- that King Enma would agree to would be to have a miko on the team. And because of your strength, he wanted it to be the strongest one we could find."

Kurama seemed a bit hurt by this, Yusuke noticed. He agreed with the hurt sentiment. They had saved Ningenkai and kept demons away countless times. Anybody with a brain could see they could be trusted. Unfortunately, Yusuke was too puzzled to work up a good rant, and instead let his curiosity take over. "What's a miko?"

Botan hesitated, looking towards Koenma with a questioning expression. Koenma shook his head, seeming a bit annoyed by the question. "Botan will explain on the mission. Now, because of the nature of mikos, they are a bit hard to find, and the strongest ones always slip through the cracks. Fortunately, there is a demon who over the five centuries he's been alive, has proven adept at finding the stronger mikos, even if he did get out of Makai illegally. Unfortunately, he has once again escaped to Ningenkai. Your mission is to find and have him lead you to the strongest miko he can find, who can be used in battle. You find him, you get to have your jobs back. You don't, we'll have to try and find another way."

As they left, Koenma leaned back in his chair, looking oddly pensive for a baby.

"They'd better find that fox. We need all the help we can get."

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Review now; ask any questions you have. Hopefully I'll get a couple more chapters out before Christmas vacation ends, but I have two other stories too.