Disclaimer: I'm not Yoshihiro Togashi! I'll never say this again, so remember it!
Author's Note: OK, this is a story with the name Hard Knock Life II. IT IS NOT A SEQUEL, IT IS A REMAKE. It has absolutely nothing to do with the 1st one except for a few things. Hard Knock Life was my first fanfic, and not a very good one, because of its numerous characters and pairings. Thus, I've narrowed it down to just YuYu Hakusho. This one will also have more violence (Maybe), different bad guys(definitely), and a better plot in general(Hell yeah!)! The beginning is sort of the same though, as is the major part the Kuwabaras play in it. So, enjoy this new version of Hard Knock Life, digitally re-mastered for your reading pleasures!
Hard Knock Life II
chapter 1
Survival is Consequential
Elly ran down the street as fast as her legs would allow her to go. The sun was setting, this was not good for her part. Her curfew was rapidly approaching, and she remembered the last time she didn't make curfew.
As she opened the door, the sun sank beneath the horizon line. She squeezed her eyes, waiting for the blow. Instead she was met with a voice.
"Where were you?" asked a menacing voice. Elly's eyes went wide in fear. She couldn't speak at all, to answer his question. "Very well, I'll just have to force it out of you." A tall man with dark hair and eyes stepped out of the shadows. His fist glowed a light yellow and as it connected with her stomach, a gust of wind picked up, causing the fist to strike with harder force and more accuracy. Elly doubled over and spat blood. Wiping her lip carefully, she tried to edge away, but found herself backed into a corner. She saw the fist coming again, and instantly let her body summon the black of unconsciousness so she could not feel the searing pain.
The next time she woke up, the lights of sun peeked through the window onto her face. Elly opened her eyes, her back aching from sleeping at such an angle on a cold stone floor. She quickly ran up to her bedroom and grabbed her uniform and school bag, which had been unceremoniously tossed inside, ran back downstairs and out the front door.
On her way to school, there were usually a few people who would make wisecracks about her appearance, or where she lived. Her home was not one for richer people. Her foster father, Jing, was unemployed, so by special permission from her school, Elly worked a part time job to not only pay the rent, but to pay tuition. School, unfortunately, was not free, unlike in the United States. She'd always envied the fact that they had so much patience and courtesy as to have free public education.
When she got to school, she saw two of her most favorite people-in some cases. Kazuma Kuwabara and Yusuke Urameshi. Sarayashiki's self proclaimed bad asses. The two of them left her alone for the most part, except when they wanted something like answers to the math homework. And she was much obliged to give it to them. They didn't threaten her for them, unlike some people, they just asked. Plus, the two of them were in all of her classes, so it was easier to get the work back to her, which they also did.
In homeroom, they took attendance. "Uoshito, Ellisandra." asked Akashi nastily. He'd always hated her.
"Here." she said quietly. And thus, the day began. By lunch time, she'd been kicked at least four times, slammed into a locker and spat on. Everyone seemed to hate her. She went to her usual place under a nice oak tree she'd found in her first year at Sarayashiki. The shade of it's branches had always been a nice one, and she enjoyed its company. There was just something about it that drew her to it. She wasn't sure what though. She tried to get through the lunch period unscathed, but it didn't work. Two jock type guys that usually liked to pick on her came up to her, grabbing her sandwich and stamping it into the ground. They smashed her brownie into the dirt and poured the milk over her head, but she didn't move, or even try to stop them. This daily torture was inevitable for her, it always had been, but, it was her last day of school for the school year. Tomorrow would start the Summer holiday.
When Elly walked in, she was relieved to see Jing asleep on the couch. She snuck up to her room, changed, then left again. She still had to get to her job. She worked at a café/coffee house type thing. People came and read their Weekly Chunen there, or came with their friends to buy coffee to 'accidentally' spill on her. At her job though, she could be someone other than that poor nerd with weird clothing. She could do what she loved to do. Play combat video games. She'd loved them since she could remember, and she'd spent one boring night there, practicing the moves which the characters in the games did. In fact, she could do all of the moves the characters did perfectly, including the jumps and ducks. But that was her little secret. While she was sure nobody was watching, she would practice, doing quick punch combos, but she never dared doing the jumps when people could see. Then she'd be an even bigger freak.
On her break, Elly went to the alley behind the café, and did the hardest jump with ease. She thought nobody saw her, but once she disappeared back into the café, two eyes peered out from behind a garbage bag.
"We found her."
Elly was closing that night, and when she locked up the shop, she went to the back where the arcade games were, then turned on her favorite one. She watched the insert coins screen flicker again and again, and she did the moves they did in succession of one another. To watch her move so quickly would make her a blur to the human eye, but to those watching her, she was going a normal rate.
After an hour in front of the arcade games, she left the café and started to walk down the street when someone slipped out of a shadow, grabbed her around the neck and dragged her back down the alley they'd slithered out of. She kicked and struggled, but they wouldn't let go of her. And they kept hissing. Finally, they dropped her and she fell to the ground. She sprung up instantly and almost screamed. There were snake things... with arms... all around her. She hated snakes.
All at once, they lunged at her. Now she did scream, and in a blind effort to escape, she did the high back-flip in the air she learned to do from the games. Three of the snake things crashed into one another and made a crunching noise. They fell to the ground and never got up. Elly was trying to think clearly about the moves she'd learned to do. One had worked, would any of the others? Another one came at her, and she punched at it, but it dodged her hasty punch and instead, punched her. She went skidding across the floor, her cheek hurting incredibly bad. She got back on her feet, and that was when the door exploded. Fragments went everywhere, cutting up her arms in the process.
"Spirit gun!" she heard a voice yell. It sounded familiar, yet, so different. There was a flash which zoomed by her head and hit a snake thing that was coming at her. When the smoke cleared, she saw exactly why the voice was so familiar.
"Are you ok?" he asked, putting out a hand for her to take. Elly took it shakily, steadying herself against the wall. She never thought it possible that Yusuke Urameshi, was different.
"I'm fine, but what was that you just did, and what the hell were those things?" she asked. Yusuke shook his head.
"I'd rather not tell you, c'mon, I'll walk you home." he said, then he walked out of the door, or in this case, what used to be the door. Elly followed uncertainly. They walked in silence, until they got to her street block.
"Thank you for walking me home. My house is right down there, don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret." she said very quickly, then walked even faster down the street and to her house. Yusuke was curious as to why she did was acting even stranger than usual, so he followed her.
"Oh man, I'm dead. Jing will slaughter me." she said quietly, praying her foster father was asleep. The blinds were open, but she couldn't see him. As she went to open the door, it swung open on its own accord, Jing standing angrily in the doorway. He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, slamming the door in his wake.
Yusuke crept out from behind the tree he was hiding in and snuck to the window. The blinds were still open. Suddenly, he saw something flying rapidly towards the wall with the window. He jumped out of the way, in case whatever it was went through the window, but it hit the wall just to the side of it. And then he saw what it was. It was Elly. An evil looking man swiftly walked over to her, slamming her into the wall. He began his assault again, using his yellow, glowing fists to make each punch another step towards death. Yusuke couldn't stand watching this girl, who had done nothing wrong, being beaten mercilessly for god knows what, and by a demon of some sort. He got his hand steady then yelled.
"Spirit gun!" The window shattered and he jumped inside. The man turned towards him angrily, but before he could do anything, Yusuke punched him hard in the jaw and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, then Yusuke turned to Elly.
Elly herself was nearly unconscious when Yusuke blasted in the window, and a few shards cut into her arm again. She just saw Jing turn away from her when she blacked out.
Yusuke picked her up carefully, trying not to hit any of the badly injured parts of her body, mainly her stomach and arms. He put her over his shoulder then quickly fled the house before anyone else could show up. He pulled out the communication device he'd gotten from Botan and made a quick call. She was on her way.
When Botan arrived, she was upset to see how bloodied up the girl was. Yusuke helped her get Elly on her oar, then was going to leave. "Yusuke I need you to go too. I can't make sure she doesn't slip off AND fly!" He nodded, then got on as well, holding Elly in place.
When Elly woke up, she was in a bed, in a white room.
"Oh my god, why am I in a hospital!" she asked out loud.
"Because that foster dad of yours kicked the crap out of you." said a new voice. She looked up and saw Kuwabara .
"You're in on this too! What the hell is going on!" she yelled angrily.
"The shrimp boat can tell you that in a second, but you have to get up and dressed first." he said. "You're clothes are over there, Botan went and got them for you." Elly got out of the bed cautiously and went over to the chair he was referring to. She quickly picked out clothes and went behind a screen that was there to change. When she was done, she went back into the room and found Kuwabara still there.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked quizzically. It was slightly unnerving to have changed in the same room that a guy was standing in.
"I have to take you to Koenma's office." he answered, "C'mon." Elly choked.
"We're going to see Lord Enma! Am I dead! Oh my god I'm going to hell!" she yelled, ranting. Kuwabara took her shoulders.
"Calm down, you're not dead, and we're going to see Koenma, his son, not THE Lord Enma." Elly breathed a sigh of relief. She took a strand of her long reddish-brown hair and tucked it back behind her ear, then caught up with Kuwabara.
When they arrived at two double doors, Kuwabara opened the door for Elly, who thanked him, then stepped inside. She was told to sit in a chair by the big desk, and she did as she was told.
"Where is Koenma?" she asked uncertainly.
"Down here." said another voice. Elly looked behind the desk and saw a toddler standing there. He hoisted himself onto the chair and Elly sat back down. "So, you are Ellisandra?" he asked. Elly nodded, she was dumbstruck by the fact that there was a baby conversing with her. "Ok then, and I'd imagine you would like to know what is going on." Elly's eyes widened.
"I want to know that more than anything! Why is this baby talking!" she said desperately. Koenma held his hand up for silence. An anger vain was clearly showing.
"Very well then. As of right now, you are sworn to secrecy or you will be killed. YES, you are in the Spirit world. NO, you aren't dead. Now, for the hard part. Every human has something called spirit energy. In some, it is stronger than it is in other people. You are one of those people with much more than average. Now you have two choices. We can either help you to release that spirit energy and you can come and work for the spirit world, OR we can suppress your memories of everything that's happened today, and you can go back to your normal life. What do you say?" asked Koenma. Elly was split. She wanted desperately to be away from Jing, but at what cost? Losing her education? "Oh yes, I did forget to tell you," started Koenma, "You would still have to go to school. I understand you go to Yusuke and Kuwabara's school, that will work nicely if you agree." Elly didn't have to be told twice.
"I want to work for Spirit World. I don't like the human world, but I will go to school there. There might be a problem though. Once, I ran away from Jing and he called the police, they found me and brought me back to his home." she said nervously. Koenma waved his hand, dismissing the issue.
"We'll just kidnap you then." he said simply, "And besides, he couldn't try and take you back anyways. You DO have family. So you obviously don't need him." Elly's eyes widened.
"That's impossible. All of my family died when I was a few months old."
"Actually, only your mother and father did, but your sister is not a minor, so she can legally adopt you. She adopted your brother." said Koenma cheerfully. Elly was getting kind of scared, but not as scared as the boy sitting next to her. "You see, your brother, your TWIN rather, is sitting right next to you." Elly looked over carefully and saw none other than a very scared looking Kazuma Kuwabara. Her eyes were now wide as saucers.
"Kuwabara can't be my TWIN! He's so much taller than me! He's like six foot something, and I'm only 5'1!" she said exhasperately, looking at him.
"You're fraternal twins. It doesn't matter if you don't look like one another, you were born one minute after he was, so you are twins." said Koenma matter-o-factly. Kuwabara pumped his fist in the air.
"YES! I'M OLDER!" he said happily. Elly's voice went flat.
"By a minute, wow, I bet you're proud." He just grinned at her stupidly. She turned to Koenma. "You said I have a sister too?" she asked. Koenma nodded.
"Yes, Kuwabara lives with her, I suppose you will too. She's already been told, she already knew who you are and all." he said. Elly nodded again.
"Now how are you going to unleash my spirit energy?" she asked. Koenma shook his head.
"We'll discuss that tomorrow. For now, you need to get settled in at the Kuwabara residence. Shizuru should be here any-" just then, there was a knock on the door, "And there she is. Have fun, you're stuff is already there. Also, you'll meet some more people tomorrow, so be prepared." Elly nodded, then bowed to Koenma and stood, facing the woman she would now know as her sister. She saw a tall lady with brown eyes and brown hair to her shoulders. She had a cigarette stuck in her mouth, but she was smiling.
"So you are Elly. I was almost expected a female Kazuma. I'm glad you're not." she said happily. Elly smiled. She would have said 'me too' but something kept her from it. The two walked out together, leaving Kuwabara where he stood. Kuwabara turned to face Koenma.
"She seriously is my twin?" he asked. Koenma nodded. Kuwabara nodded, then beckoned to Yusuke and the two left.
"You want to help me kick some ass? I'll have a lot of work if I have to do this all alone." said Kuwabara. Yusuke quirked an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?"
"Elly. All those people who made fun of her or beat her up will have to learn not to mess with the Kuwabara's." he said dangerously. Yusuke grinned devilishly.
"I'm in. Elly is pretty cool, I dunno why we waited so long in the first place!"
Author's Note: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, that's the end of chapter one! I know, it's pretty unlike the first chapter of the first series (if you read it). And definitely not as long. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'd like to know!