I haven't had to write one of these in a long time, so let's see if I can still do this. I had thought I had given up on fanction due to the fact I found it boring. But here I am now, writing this. That's because I've gotten new story plots that don't completely suck. Maybe… So bear with me, I still need to get used to this again.

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters, and whatever the hell else I'm suppose to say.

It was a bright sunny day, far too nice of a day to be spent indoors. That's what a Yusuke Urameshi thought. He figured it would e a terrible waste to be cooped up in some boring school while he slept through all of his boring classes until he was awakened by his over enthusiastic math teacher. That's not how he wanted to spend his day, nor his life. He'd rather do things that he actually enjoyed, like spending all of his money at the arcade. That was exactly what he planned on doing.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, a lesson that Mr. Urameshi was about to learn. Just as he was about to turn the corner, a familiar voice called out his name.

"Yusuke, stop!"

Yusuke looked over his shoulder to see a blue haired female running towards him. "God damn it," he swore to himself. "Koenma better not have sent her. The last ting I need right now is having to risk my butt for him." Yusuke turned the corner and carried on his way. He could hear Botan yelling after him from behind

"Yusuke!"

"Like that's going to stop me." Just as Yusuke was about to cross the street, something grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him backwards. "What the hell?" he cursed loudly. He turned around only to face a pretty pissed off looking Botan. "Oh, hey, Botan. What's up?"

Her eyebrow twitched. "What's up? What's up! Did you not hear me back there?"

"Nope, can't say I did."

"Liar! I saw you look back!"

"Must have been someone else," said Yusuke as he turned around and began to cross the street.

"Yusuke," Botan said fallowing a couple of steps behind him. "I have a message from Koenma."

"I figured. Tell him to find someone else to do his work. I've got better things to do."

"Like what?"

"Things."

"Yusuke, seriously! You would think that being a spirit detective would have made you a less self centered person."

"Yeah, you would think so."

Botan let out a frustrated sigh. "This is urgent!"

Suddenly, Yusuke stopped, causing Botan to bump into him. "How urgent?"

"I don't know! Koenma only told me that there is trouble and to get you and the others."

"Give me a sec to think about this."

"Yusuke!"

"Ok, ok," Yusuke said, waving his hands in a defensive gesture. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. I'll go."

Yusuke turned around and backtracked towards the school so that he and Botan could retrieve Kuwabara. "Hey, why are you not in school?" asked Botan.

"Didn't feel like a school."

She narrowed her eyes. "That's a stupid excuse. You're going to be in for it when Keiko finds out."

"Psh. Like I'm afraid of her. What's she going to do?"

Raising a finger, Botan said, "Well, for one-."

"Ok, right," Yusuke interrupted. "I really don't need to hear this right now. Let's go find everyone so we can get this over with and I can go back to my life."

"That's the spirit!" Botan cheered. "Let's go!"

The trio walked down the long hallways towards Koenma's office. "You know, you could do this without complaining," Botan said to Yusuke.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

Botan shook her head as she pushed the doors open. "Koenma, I've brought them!" Koenma was behind his desk, busied with papers on his desk. A figured cloaked in black stood leaning up against the wall closest to the door, waiting for the soonest escape.

"Hey, Hiei," Yusuke greeted the person cloaked in black leaning up against the wall.

Hiei peered up through black bangs. "You're late."

"Nice to see you too."

"Yo, shorty,' said Kuwabara.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Fool."

"Excuse me, children, would you mind if we could start?" Koenma asked.

"He started it," Kuwabara mumbled as he joined Kurama on the other side of the room.

Koenma coughed, clearing his throat. "Now that all of you have settled down, may I start?"

"Sure. Be my guest," Yusuke said as he picked an item up from Koenma's desk and examined it. "What the hell is this?"

"A gift. And an expensive one." Koenma snatched the object from Yusuke's hands. "One that I would rather not have people like you touching and breaking it."

"People like me?"

"Yes, people like you. Now, will you let me get to the point?" Yusuke nodded. "Anyways, I called you all here for some very important business. A couple weeks ago a demon made it through to the human world. We hardly caught it because his energy was so low."

"Then what's your problem?" Yusuke interrupted. "If he has that low of energy, you can catch him without us."

"Yusuke, please shut up. I'm trying to talk."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mam."

Either not hearing the comment or ignoring it, Koenma went on. "Since this demon has escaped, there's been an inclining number of people in the area where he was last seen have been falling into an unconscious state. He's been stealing his victim's souls and brings them back to the demon world. Some of the victim's bodies have been missing too. We believe he may have also came back and brought those to demon world as well. "

"Why would he do that?" asked Kuwabara.

"Black market, perhaps?" Kurama suggested.

"Who would want to buy a dead body or a soul?"

"We think that this demon is disguising his spirit energy because sometimes it's higher then usual, but it's defiantly the same demon. We've been able to pinpoint the change in energy around the time he kidnaps a victim. So he must need more energy to take the soul."

"Do you know what kind of class he is?" asked Kurama.

"Eh, no. We have no idea what the class is or what he's capable of."

"Oh yeah, that's going to help us," said Yusuke.

Koenma shot him a glare. "But we do have some sort of clue. This was left behind in place of every body that was taken." He dug into his pocket and pulled out something, holding it up for everyone to see.

"What is it?" Kurama asked taking a step closer. Yusuke and Kuwabara also moved in for a closer look.

"We think it's his calling card." Koenma handed it to Kurama. On the card was a picture in red ink of a cloaked mad. His features were hard to make out. Underneath the picture were the words "Candy Man" written in an old English text.

"Candy Man?" Yusuke said. "What kind of fag calls himself that?"

"Yeah, Candy Man. That's so scary," Kuwabara added.

"Would you two take this seriously?" Koenma asked.

"I'm sorry," Yusuke managed to get out between laughs. "But you can't expect us to take this guy seriously."

"You idiots. If you don't know anything about your opponent, then you have to take them seriously," Hiei said.

"But, Shorty, just look at it." Kuwabara stole the card from Kurama and held it up for Hiei to see. "Just look at him." Hiei rolled his eyes. "You have some serious problems, man."

"Would you stop touching that?" Koenma asked with a hint of annoyance, if not anger, yanking the card from Kuwabara's grasps. "This is our best piece of evidence and I can't risk one of you morons ruining it."

"Hey, that hurt! And it's bleeding too."

Kurama took Kuwabara's hand and examined the injury. "Don't worry," he said. "It's just a paper cut."

"Yeah, but those things hurt like hell."

"Stop your whining, fool," Hiei sneered.

"Shut it, Shorty! If you-."

"Kuwabara!" Koenma yelled. "Look what you did!" He held up the card for Kuwabara to see.

"Uh, what?"

"Look!" Koenma shoved his hand closer into Kuwabara's vision. He tapped his finger near the left edge. "Right there!"

"Uh, what am I suppose to be looking at?"

Koenma growled. "You've gotten blood all over it!"

"From a paper cut?" asked Kurama as he carefully grabbed the card by the sides and removed it from Koenma's hands.

"How come he can hold it, but not us?"

"Because he actually has a brain!"

"Hey, I have a brain!"

"Not a very-."

"Please stop fighting, you're starting to give me a headache," Kurma cut it. "Koenma, it's fine. It's just a." Kurama stopped in mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed in thought and he brought the card closer to his eyes.

"What? What is it?" Koenma asked. He moved behind Kurama and looked over his shoulder to see from Kurama's point of view.

"There." Kurama pointed to a black marking, which looked to be shaping out to be the half of an "O". "Was this here before?"

"No. There was nothing there. We checked it up and down and left and right many, many times." Kurama rubbed his thumb across the blood spot in an attempt to smear it further. "What are you doing?"

"That black mark did not show up until after Kuwabara had bled." Kurama dug into his hair, pulling out a rose. He pricked his finger and holding it out over the card, a couple of drops of blood fell onto the card.

"Kurama, what are you doing?" Koenma asked in a little shock.

"Shut up, Koenma," Yusuke said moving next to Kurama. "I think he's onto something."

The group all looked at he card. The blood began to sink beneath the surface, revealing black squiggles. "Just as I thought," said Kurama. "There's a message on the back."

"Really? I didn't see anything before," said Kuwabara.

"It's a secret message. It is a special sort of ink that can only be seen when it's been come in contact with blood. Koenma, do you mind if I bloody this more so we can find out what it says?"

"No, go ahead. Maybe it will help us out."

"Great," said Yusuke, "so who wants to make them self bleed enough to uncover this thing?" Everyone exchanged looks, not wanting to be the one the first who volunteers. Kuwabara, who had taken a sudden interest in his shoes, counted all the scuffmarks that his footwear wore. Yusuke hummed a random tune, a smirk painted on his lips, finding the awkward silence rather humors.

"I'll get George," Koenma said. "Botan, go bring George here. Tell him it's an emergency." Botan nodded and exited the room.

"Is that what you tell everyone?" asked Yusuke.

Botan returned a few minutes later with George at her side. "I've brought him, Lord Koenma!"

"What did you need me for, Sir?" George asked. "An emergency?"

"Yes, it's very urgent," Koenma said, jumping up from his desk and pulling George over. "We were doing a little investigating, and Kurama found something new."

"Ooo, what did he find, Sir?"

"Well, he found out that there is a message written on the back of the card that we recovered from that one girl's hospital room."

"A message?"

"Yes, a secret message. And this secret message can only be seen when it's been touched by blood."

"That is interesting, Koenma Sir! What did this message say?"

"We don't know yet. We still need to uncover it."

"How are you going to do-." The ogre paused in thought. He looked from face to face of the others, trying to understand why they were looking at him with an uncommon friendliness. Slowly the pieces started to fall together. "You-You want me to be the one?" Kurama and Koenma nodded. "You want to cut me so that you can use my blood to find out what that thing says?"

"Well, not really cut," Kurama tried to explain. "It'll be more like a small-."

"If it's small then why can't one of you do it?"

"Because," Koenma said, "only you can."

"Why only me?"

"It'll just be quick," Kurama said. "You will hardly feel a thing."

"If you guys think that I am going through with this then you're-." George's sentence was cut off by a yelp coming from him. Before the others could comprehend what had just happened, Hiei was putting his sword back in its sheath and George was holding his left wrist in his right hand, his left palm turned upward showing a fresh cut. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Way to go Hiei," Yusuke said with a smirk. "So much for not feeling a thing."

Kurama freed the wounded hand from George's grasp and took the blue hand into his own. He turned it downward and slid it across the card. "Thank you," Kurama said as he released the ogre.

"You may go and do you other work now," Koenma said dismissing George.

Whimpering, George left the room to bandage the bleeding cut.

"What does it say?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama looked down at the card. The black squiggles began to emerge from the blood. As they came into a clearer view, the scribbles started to form words. Kurama began to read out loud:

"Let's play a game

A game of hide and seek

Come down the rabbit hole

And into my world

Over the river of Acheron

Past the white woods

Down a crooked little road

This is where I dwell

In a palace of dreams

A place where everything is

And is nothing what it seems

So I will be waiting

Waiting for you to find me."

The group paused in their own thoughts, trying to think of any possible meaning to it. "Ok, so we're obviously dealing with some loser," Yusuke said.

"Yusuke, please," Koenma said with half hearted annoyance.

"I believe that they may be directions," Kurama said.

"Directions to where?"

"Where ever he is. That's just an idea."

"Do any of those things even exist?" Kuwabara asked. "I mean, crooked house? River of Acheron? Aren't all those all make believe or something?"

"Yes, those are all parts of stories," said Kurama.

"So then how the hell are we suppose to find him if none of those places even exist?" Yusuke asked.

"They could be symbolic."

Koenma sighed loudly. "I don't have time to be looking into symbols. My dad is going to kill me if I don't get this taken care of soon."

"What's the worst he can do? Spank you?" Yusuke said.

Koenma glared at Yusuke.

"White forest sounds familiar," Kurama said. "When I was young, there was a story about a forest where it was winter all year round, because everything in it is frozen in time. It was said that a phantom ice maiden named Angerona ruled over the land and its inhabitants. But I thought it was only a bedtime story."

"Did they say where we could find it?"

Kurama shook his head. "I wouldn't have clue to where it could be."

"Maybe we should look for a rabbit hole," Kuwabara suggested. "If there are even rabbits in the demon world."

"Not quite like the ones here," Kurama said with a soft smile. He skimmed over the card again. "Perhaps by rabbit hole he meant a portal."

"Portal to where?"

"Demon world, I am guessing, since the majority of us live in the human world."

"Sounds good enough for me," Yusuke said. "Now we just got to find that damned river of whatever."

"Acheron. It's a branch off of the river of Styx."

"Sounds familiar."

"Styx is the river boundary between Heaven and Earth. It's a part of Greek mythology where the god Charon would ferry the dead to their afterlife."

"Yeah, I think I heard of something like that. But why would that be in demon world? 'Cause, no offence Hiei and Kurama, demon world ain't what I would consider close to heaven."

"Again, I think it is just symbolism," Kurama said. "These all of course don't exist, it's just a riddle."

"I hate riddles," Kuwabara said.

"Botan, get that worthless ogre to check around the area where the demon's energy was last tracked to see if there is anything related to message around."

"Yes, Koenma." Botan hurried out of the room to fulfill the command.

"So we're just going to wait here until they find this guy?" Yusuke asked.

"No. You are going to go to demon world now."

After Koenma had the boys and Botan transported into demon world, Botan was digging around in a metal case while the others waited patiently. Well, some were.

"Jesus, Botan," Yusuke said. "What are you looking for that is taking so fucking long?"

"Hang on a sec," she replied. "You're going to need this." She sifted around the items. "Oh, found it!" She held four round disks above her head. "You've already used this before, Yusuke. I thought it would come in handy if you all had one with you since we don't know what you're going into. And look." Botan opened one of the compacts. "If you push this green button here, it sets up a little map showing how far you are away from one and other."

"Thank you, Botan," Kurama said taking his. "This should come to be very helpful."

"No problem," Botan said grinning. "I should be getting back now. Koenma is starting to stress and needs all the help he can get back there. Good luck!" Botan turned around and jumped back into the portal.

"Well, Ladies," Yusuke said. "How about we get this started and find this creep?"

Notes:

1. I hate first chapters. I couldn't think of a very good way to start this one. I apologize for the suckiness of this chapter.

2. I am hoping things will pick up once it gets going and I'll become more interested and put some more work into it.

3. Candy Man: stupid name. I don't remember where I got it. I'll figure that would later. I hate paper cuts.

4. Anyone want to beta for me?