DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Yu Yu Hakusho.

WARNINGS: Yaoi (a.k.a. boy/boy love)

Cynical/Sarcastic/Dark Humor

Possible character death

TIME LINES:

Harry Potter: Fifth Year – spoilers for books one through four.

Yu Yu Hakusho: After the end of the series – Spoilers for the entire series

NOTES: Hopefully this story is original enough. I know it's not as original as some of them out there, but I hope it's good enough.

– I – I – I – I –

Of Death and Wizardry

– I – I – I – I –

It had been a long day and, though Kurama was as of yet unaware, the day was going to get much longer.

The fox was making his way through the Reikai Palace, quite intent on leaving as soon as possible. He had a family to get back to (he was approximately six hours overdue and he knew his mother would be panicking) and a life to try and organize (he had an exam the next day that could mean everything to his grades.)

Kurama had been initially surprised when Koenma summoned him and Yusuke to Reikai alone. There had been "no need to involve either Hiei or Kuwabara" for the particular mission, or so Koenma had told them. It apparently needed nothing more than a good lock picker and a heavy duty fist to back him up, should they run into trouble.

Although a good friend of Yusuke's (surprisingly, considering how the origins of their friendship began,) Kurama would have much preferred to have Hiei guarding his back. It wasn't because he did not trust Yusuke, but more simply because he and the fire demon had been working together for far longer. They had built a relationship up from nothing more than the stepping stones of bleeding wounds, mistaken identities, and Reikai Vaults.

He and Hiei worked well together.

But, alas, Kurama had no say in the choice, nor did he bring it up in front of Yusuke. He didn't want to make the hanyou feel inadequate or unappreciated. And it turned out that there was no need. The mission to recover a missing artifact went smoothly (and it wasn't even all that dangerous a possession – they later found out (another cause for Kurama's long day) that the precious gem was of no more importance than the fact that King Enma found it "pretty").

So it was that the silver kitsune found himself walking briskly towards the Hall of Judgment. He could open a portal as near to his house as the network would allow. It was a bit of a hasty call and Kurama had actually thought it through before heading for the entrance of the Reikai palace.

The portal network was a rather simple system that contained stationary openings, like doorways, where anyone could enter or exit (as long as they knew how to open the portal to begin with.) They were for "public use" in a manner of speaking. However, there was a private network intertwined with the public system that could open a door anywhere – they could open a portal inside Kurama's bedroom closet if they so desired.

These portals, however, obviously presented a certain security and privacy threat and were therefore guarded by the Reikai and open only to those with specific codes and spiritual energy.

Kurama had been able to hack into the system several times (he had cracked one open in order to travel from his mother's hospital to the warehouse Hiei and Yusuke occupied on their initial introductions) but breaking open a portal took time and patience. Asking Koenma to do it for him would probably take longer – the prince would say "just one moment" and an hour later Kurama would still be standing next to his desk waiting.

And so the fox decided that opening the public portal system to deposit him in a park not to far from his house would be the quickest way. Of course, he thought this all out in several seconds, hardly wasting any time.

It was among these thoughts, just as they were ending and coming to their conclusion of a public portal to Mushitori park and his route home from there (he would first call his mother from a pay phone to assure her he was alright – he would have to think of a cover story for that next) when he was rudely interrupted.

A body collided with his lithe one and the two forms tumbled to the ground, briefly intertwined in a mess of limbs and what Kurama thought was black cloth. The thing that had hit him (he was fairly certain it was a person) struggled to get up, hissing angry words underneath his breath that sounded familiar to the fox, and yet foreign just the same.

The kitsune untangled himself first, slowly climbing to his feet. His entire body was tense, fingers itching to pull forth his rose. Something about this man was unfriendly.

Said stranger was on his feet, pushing his long, black robes hastily back to their original positions, seeing as the sleeves and hood had tangled and shifted. Red eyes glared out from a pale, almost malformed face.

A snake youkai?

Kurama frowned. No, there was no demonic energy from him, and yet he definitely had a snakelike appearance.

And then he was off. The fox didn't have time for further thought or consideration – the man was running towards the hall of judgment, headed for the outside.

"Kurama!" The fox was about to give chase, quite curious as to why a human was running from the Reikai Palace (probably terrified of the fact that he was now dead…though he hadn't had the appearance of a ghost) when he heard Yusuke's voice.

The teen had stayed behind after their mission, leaving Kurama (who was much more anxious to get home) to get to Ningenkai on his own. However, now the raven-haired hanyou was sprinting towards him, a similarly running crowd of oni and guards behind him.

"Catch him, Kurama!" Yusuke cried out and the fox held back an aggravated sigh. He was going to do that before the half demon distracted him. He took off in a sprint after the human, whose black cloak was billowing around him almost unnaturally as he ran.

The fox was faster than the human, and already gaining and, while not faster than Yusuke, he was far more nimble and had a large head start on the teen. However, the rough voice shouted out to him as he rounded a corner after the man, entering the Hall of Judgment.

"He has The Book, Fox-Boy!"

Now the situation was more than a cat and mouse game or a fun chase for curiosity's sake. Kurama ran as hard as he could, quickly following after the thief.

The Book wasn't easy to steal. Kurama had considered the idea over the Mirror of Forlorn Hope – the book doesn't take your life for its use. But it had been too heavily guarded for such a small party to take. He could have gotten into it, but he would have needed more time and more back up than Hiei was willing to supply.

Not to mention the fire demon would figure out his plan to surrender his life for his mother and would have been far less cooperative in helping him get it.

Cursing silently to himself, his fingers danced over the back of the man's cloak. He tried to grip it, yet it seemed to be alive itself and the black cloth slipped from his grasp.

And then he was stumbling over himself, his eyes blinded by a red flash that had gripped him. He almost fell to the ground but managed to catch himself. It was several seconds before the shock wore off on his system – he ears stopped ringing and his head stopped reeling.

Kurama could hear Yusuke not far behind him and the man ahead of him, pushing open the heavy, grinding doors of the Reikai Palace.

What the hell was that?

That light had seemed familiar and it teased at his mind. He knew it…what was that man?

The distant click and sudden surge of recognition told him Youko had figured it out first.

Wizard And suddenly his mind was filled with different various memories: clips of conversation both directed to him and in passing.

"This is ridiculous! Those damn humans – what do they call themselves? – wizards! How dare they try to summon us as slaves!"

Kurama started after the man again, his feet soon hitting the rocky ground of the Spirit World rather than the tiled floor of the palace.

"I'm joining up. I don't know about you, but I'm not letting those fucking ningens do what they want with us."

"Go to war with the damn wizards? Don't be ridiculous."

The memories continued: brief moments of outraged talk, hushed comments, or reports on the war of Wizards and Demons. It hadn't mattered much to Youko. The wizards had interesting things to steal, but nothing worth going into the Ningenkai.

Youko, however, seemed rather angry that it was a wizard they were chasing. Of course, demons didn't like wizards – they took up the practice of summoning youkai for components in spells, slaves, or workers.

He dodged another spell shot over the man's shoulder. Now that he knew what was coming, it was far easier to avoid. Kurama put up a kekkai around himself as he neared the man once more, this time pulling out his rose whip.

Suddenly, the man dipped down next to the Palace, both having run along the rocky edge that bordered the palace's giant walls. The wizard scooped up something that Kurama didn't quite see but…it had looked kind of like an old boot.

As the man turned to him, red eyes gleaming in hatred, his mouth moved in whispered words. The fox, acting more on instinct than on knowledge, swung his whip around.

The man screamed out in pain as pearl white thorns dug into his arm and – yes, it was – an old boot. He grabbed at the green vine that wound several times around his arm, digging into his skin.

Kurama went to pull on the rose whip - to ensure that the man was decently detained before adding more to bind him with - when something went terribly wrong.

Youko and instinct immediately told him something was off even before a sharp knot pulled at his stomach, just behind his belly button. He didn't have the chance to raise a cry or shout out as the world suddenly began spinning.

Colors bled together and the pink sky of the Reikai and the pale colors of the palace wall started fusing together, running like washed out paint. Kurama couldn't focus on it and he shut his eyes tightly, keeping down the contents of his stomach.

And then his feet slammed down on the ground and the weightless feeling he had barely acknowledged was very much gone. He collapsed, knees failing him and he tumbled to the ground beneath the sudden weight of his own form.

His breath didn't seem to want to catch and his emerald eyes remained closed, his stomach still churning with the spinning. The fox's mind was reeling with whatever had just happened to him.

He could hear the man beside him rise. The slight pull of the whip, still in his hand, warned him but Kurama couldn't get his feet beneath him, just barely managing to sit up. With braced elbows, the fox was able to lean up and open his eyes.

The man was smirking evilly so, enough to force a shiver down Kurama's back. He was a hardened demon, used to the creeps and freaks of the worlds, and even he was suddenly terrified of this man.

Glaring, he started to pull his whip, but knew he was at a huge disadvantage. He held the low ground, his attacker hovering over him. He was dazed and confused – not even sure where he was. The world they were in certainly wasn't the Reikai anymore (he was pretty sure it was Ningenkai by the forest around them.)

And he also knew the wizard wasn't going to let him get a second attack in.

Kurama barely saw the man's lips move or his hand twitch before a blinding flash of light filled his vision, turning everything green. His eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth to cry out, but the noise dwindled to almost nothing even as he tried.

His body seemed to wither on it's own as every muscle drained of energy. He barely kept himself up with his braced arms, the locked bones being all that kept him from falling to the ground as every inch of him tired and sagged.

Emerald eyes began drooping closed as his mind slowly shut down. He couldn't rationalize what was happening, he couldn't figure out why his energy levels were gone and his life energy was draining.

And then it all went almost black. It was a fuzzy aspect of the dark color – he still couldn't see anything. But he wasn't unconscious, because he knew he could hear.

Do not struggle came the whispered reply, soft for the normally cold voice.

Youko…

Golden eyes opened as his human conscience fell silent, trying meekly to stay awake. Youko turned his eyes on the pale man before him, who seemed somewhat shocked.

The fox demon couldn't tell if it was his transformation to his true self, now a shining beacon of silver beauty, or the fact that he was still alive. That draining would have killed anyone without a second soul.

Shuichi was extremely lucky he was even still alive within Kurama's conscience.

The red eyes of the man shortly stopped displaying surprise and turned in pure, gleeful malice.

"Demon," the voice hissed suddenly and a shiver went through the icy fox being. He did not want to know what this particular wizard did to demons. He knew his beauty would make him more than just a slave, one reason he took no interest in the war of wizards and demons.

The man didn't seem to have time to grant the fox demon such a fate. Before Youko could even get to his weakened feet, the green glow formed in the man's hand once more – or from the stick (what did they call them?) that the man held.

Youko braced himself, his energy immediately forming a kekkai around himself.

And then the man in front of him suddenly screamed out, grabbing at his head and giving a weak, gasping "N-No!"

The wand – that's what it was called! – suddenly dropped from his hand and the flash of green light went off, hitting Youko straight in the chest. He tried to cry out but the sound once more died on his lips as he fell back, body beginning to drain.

He couldn't see the wizard as his eyes blurred. Darkness was eating at his mind as his body drained of all energy once more, but far slower this time.

Something had obviously gone wrong with the spell, he thought to himself as his mind began to shut down. He could feel his form shift quickly. It would use up almost all of his energy, but he had a better chance surviving in his smaller fox shape. His beast form would use up less energy, giving him a chance to be found before draining completely.

Shuichi's mind had gone quiet and Youko feared what had happened to his human half. His dwindling energy wasn't going to let him find out, however, as his own consciousness dwindled out like a dying candle.

The last thing he saw was the night sky far above him, dotted with the leaves and branches of the forest he lay in.

I-I-I-I-I-I-I

End Chapter 1

Author: Well, I hope you all enjoyed it! This is the first thing I've posted under this account, so I'm a little nervous. I'm not hoping for too many reviews, because I doubt too many people will read this, but at least one would be nice.

So if you liked the story, please drop a word in for me. Thank you for reading!