Foreword: Firstly, this story is not being produced for commercial purposes and no characters are my own, but rather owned by whoever it is that happens to have the rights. Secondly, to anyone who may happen to read this story, my purpose in doing this was not only to make a crossover but also to explore the characters involved in a way that is both interesting and faithful to their natures, so don't expect a lot of non-canon pairings and the like. Thirdly, this story will be fairly AU for YYH and FMA, in that Yusuke is not yet an all-powerful Toshin and instead of ending up in 1920's-30's Germany after the creation of the Stone, Ed and his father are in HP land (FMA-verse is based off of the first anime for the purposes of this story, although Brotherhood also rocks). Fourthly, I won't be changing much of what happens in the world of HP, rather the FMA and YYH story-lines will take place kind of like sub-plots. Finally, I am planning on organizing this story by jumping from a YYH character to a FMA character to an HP character from chapter to chapter, so for example, I will begin with Kurama and probably proceed in Chapter 2 to Edward Elric; although I may change this.
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Chapter 1: Misplaced Enthusiasms
Sitting at his desk, by the window that faced east, in the bedroom of the house that belonged to his mother, the young man with long, crimson red hair and bottle green eyes appeared to be drafting an essay for his World History class. Still, there was more to him than his appearance because he was, in fact, despairing in an abyss of mental and physical stagnation. Indeed, many things within his life that had, at one point, held his interest had now lost their captivating luster. His school work, which he would tell you had never been much of a test for his rather brilliant mind, had lost all of its invigorating challenge now that Kaito, his main academic rival, could not mathematically make up their GPA difference. His younger step-brother, Shuuichi, was not going through a particularly scintillating phase or, at least, he did not feel that obsessing over a game that consisted of electronically simulated fighters engaging in a fictional tournament of skill was at all interesting. Of course, his indifference in regards to the video game might have had something to do with his having experienced the real thing on more than a few occasions. Speaking of which, his usual sparring partner and long-time friend, Hiei, was nowhere to be found lately. Apparently, he was too busy spending time in the Makai to find time for their usual amusements – both a pity and a pain if you asked him. Thus, it was that the being known alternately as Shuichi Minamino, Kurama, or Youko – a thousand-year-old demon bandit hidden away in the body of a human teenager – was in the rather embarrassing situation of being bored. And the worst part was that he could not comprehend a way to break the bonds of his boredom. He, the most intelligent creature he knew of, could not think of anything interesting to do with his time!
Given his present, humiliating state of being, it gave him an abnormal feeling of relief to glimpse in his peripheral vision a pink and blue dot floating high in the sky outside his window. A blue-haired young woman named Botan, the Chief Ferry Girl of the River Styx and Assistant to the Spirit World Detectives, was on her way to inform him of the next mission that he, probably along with one or more of his three fellow spirit detectives – Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, and Hiei Jaganshi – would undertake to enforce the laws and physical integrity of the Spirit World. Normally, these missions were distractions from his more intriguing, or at least more pertinent, personal life. At this particular juncture, however, his enthusiasm for his personal life was waning and a mission sounded preferable. Thus it was that the sight of Botan spurred him into action.
He set his paper aside and rose from his seat. He then opened the window and stepped aside, waiting for the bubbly Botan to zoom through the opening on her flying oar. She did indeed arrive with a flourish, flipping from the oar and landing gracefully in the center of the room before magically vanishing the floating maritime instrument with a dramatic puff of smoke. She waved and grinned at him prior to speaking.
"Hello, Kurama! Lovely day; isn't it?" she said.
"Indeed, Botan, the sun is good for the plants." He replied. "May I inquire as to your purpose in privileging me with your presence?"
"Say that again…"
He sighed imperceptivity, "I agree, it is lovely. What are you doing here?"
"That's what I thought you said!" she replied, grinning. "Koenma has a super secret mission for you and Yusuke, I'm here to pick you up and take you to Koenma so he can tell you about it personally."
Kurama's face was indifferent, yet inside his subconscious the fox in him was doing cartwheels. This mission would definitely be interesting. "Very well, I do not have much to occupy me presently."
"Wonderful! You're taking this much better than Yusuke!" She said with no small amount of relief.
"I would imagine – he is never enthusiastic about these missions." He replied knowingly. "So you already picked him up?"
"Oh yes, early this morning. Koenma wanted to see you two separately for some reason"
"Interesting…"
"Oh well, it's just Koenma! Shall we go?"
"Certainly." He smiled at her care free response. She had her own unique charm he supposed. "We would not want to keep him waiting."
"OK! Let's go!"
With a large puff the oar reappeared in her hand. She sat upon the oar and he joined her somewhat tepidly – Botan had a tendency to fly recklessly. With a whoosh and an out of character four letter remark from Kurama, they were off at Hermes-like speeds towards the Spirit World.
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Being steered through the stratosphere as he was, with a kind of abandon that was so blatant that it could only be alarming, he naturally felt unkind things toward his pilot, the fairy girl Botan. How she could manage to enjoy this, he knew not. He for one was nauseated and desperately worried. You see his hair was flying about in a cacophonous swirl of red that looked rather like a flickering candle, putting his precious seeds, which were both his weapons and prized possessions in danger, since he stored them in his mane. He prayed to the fox gods that it would end soon, and that he would not lose too many seeds.
Finally, as they pushed through a particularly chilling cloud bank, he spied the castle in the sky, which housed the godling he had agreed to see. The building was a truly massive structure, with stone walls covered with brilliant white stucco, few windows, and a massive, likely impregnable door. It was proof that even the gods prized function over beauty, since it rather looked like an oversized Japanese garden shed. He shuddered at the sight of it – he certainly would never live there.
"We're here, Kurama!" said Botan in her sing-song fashion.
"Indeed, Botan, it is a pleasure to have arrived," said Kurama, too polite to directly criticize the ride. He brushed his hair through with his fingers quickly, noting that he had lost no important seeds, and smiled as they landed by the entrance. "I certainly am interested to hear what Koenma's assignment is."
"Me too," she replied.
"You mean you do not know," he said with the mildest hint of credulity.
"No, he said it was so top secret I would have to find out with you," she said.
"How interesting," he said, his subconscious fox even more jittered with excitement. "After you."
Botan opened the doors magically, with a wave of her hand, and they entered the hallway that looked like a throat, journeying into the very bowels of the Spirit World.
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Koenma's office was, as usual, a case study in bureaucratic confusion. Ogres varying in color from blue to green to yellow, some with horns and some without, some in shirts and ties, others in loin cloths, were bustling about every which way with papers that needed signing, files that required reviewing, letters that awaited addressing, and all the other accoutrements of office space. At the center of this milieu was a desk at which Koenma, the Prince of the Spirit World, sat. His toddler-like form looked appropriately absurd; situated as it was in a leather chair that would have been too big for Kurama's much taller figure. Upon noticing Kurama and Botan, which took several moments, Koenma exercised one of his more petulant tools of authority – he yelled.
"OUT! George, Ogres, everyone! OUT!" barked the pint-sized Prince, in an outburst that stopped all the office monsters in their tracks. "I have urgent business with Kurama and Botan, so all of you out! Whatever you need me to sign or whatever can wait, or you can just forge my signature for all I care! Get out, now!"
The office workers, with their various papers, envelopes, and files all fled rapidly and soon enough Koenma, Botan, and Kurama were the only beings left in the large, oppressively dull room. Kurama could not help but be amused by the sheer oddity of the Spirit World.
"Koenma, I understand you have a situation that requires my unique abilities; please do tell me what it is," said Kurama.
"Yes, it's very important and requires a great deal of care," began the godling. "You see Kurama, this will be an undercover mission and will probably take quite awhile, although you'll have some time to prepare since it won't really begin until this school year has finished in about a month. It has to do with the Wizards… You are familiar with them, right?"
"I have not encountered them in several decades, but I do recall finding their 'world' useful as a hiding place back when Youko roamed free. So, yes, I am familiar with them and their ways," Kurama replied, with a very slight smirk.
"Well, that's good… And it explains a lot too," said Koenma. "But on to business. You see, it has come to our attention that a particularly troublesome wizard named Tom Riddle, his alias is Voldemort I think, has become active again. The last time he was active, he did a lot of killing and committed several other nasty crimes, although we tried to leave it to the wizards as we normally do. We were just about to send some Spirit Detectives when he was badly hurt during a raid on the home of a family called the Potters. Apparently, the mother had cast a protective spell on her child that caused Riddle's curse to backfire on him when he tried to kill the boy. In order to safeguard himself after this incident, he split his soul into pieces and attached it to various items scattered throughout the world."
"That is all rather interesting, but what exactly does it have to do with this assignment?" Kurama asked.
"I'm getting to that, hold on!" replied Koenma. "As I was saying, this splitting of his soul means that he can't be killed unless the objects that he attached the pieces to are destroyed. Now, there also happens to be a prophecy surrounding the Potter boy, the kid Riddle tried to kill. Basically, it is that one can't triumph without the other's death or something like that, I don't remember the exact wording. The wizards interpret this to mean the Potter boy has been chosen to kill Riddle, but we have a different theory, and that's what your mission will primarily be about. Our theory is that the Potter boy is actually one of the things Riddle attached his soul to, which means…"
"That, if your theory is true, killing the Potter boy is the only way to allow for Riddle's death," Kurama interjected.
"Yes, that's what it means, Kurama. But, of course, this is just a theory – the interpretation of the wizards might well be accurate as well. What I need you to do is find out whether our theory is correct or incorrect, while also watching the Potter boy while he attends school, ensuring that he isn't harmed, just in case we're wrong and all."
"And, although I'd imagine you did not tell this to Yusuke, kill the Potter boy if your theory does indeed prove to be accurate."
"Well, I was going to try to say it a little less bluntly, but yeah. If Riddle can't be killed without the boy dying first, it's just the way things are, unfortunately. And yes, I didn't tell that part to Yusuke – no way he'd accept the mission if he knew that."
"I should hope not!" Botan piped in, her eyes focused ruefully on the godling. "Koenma, you're actually ordering Kurama to kill a human boy! This is awful! There must be another way."
"I certainly hope so, but you know how many people Riddle killed the last time," Koenma replied, his voice rizing to a squeak. "This is actually a compromise with what Dad wanted to do – his idea was just to smite Potter and get it over with! At least now the kid has a chance! So… STOP LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY!"
"Indeed Botan, knowing the fallibility of Spirit World intelligence, it would not surprise me if this theory is completely absurd," said Kurama, trying to sooth the fairy girl.
"Hey! Our intelligence is top notch!" Koenma said.
"I hope not," said Botan.
"Indeed, Botan," said Kurama. "And just imagine, I was enthusiastic about this mission earlier today."
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OK, that's Chapter 1, please read and review. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please no flaming.
