Welcome Everyone to my newest story. I thought I'd at least get the first chapter posted...This is HieixKurama, and no this time it will not be a one shot. I would like to thank Shiorifoxiesmom for her stories, they have been a great inspiration for me to keep writing. also my videos, "Being Alone with me" and "Wherever you go, can I follow?" both of which can be found on Youtube.

I do not own Yu yu Hakusho...If I did...well, let's not think about that! I love the series the way it is! Please enjoy the story and reviews are always appreciated!

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Chapter 1: Darkness is falling...

It's been 12 years. That's how long it's been since Yusuke Urameshi, descendent of the late Raizen, started the worldwide Makai Tournament. That's how long it's been since all demons have been barred from entering human world. And that's how long it's been since two former partners and best friends had last spoken to each other. But now, all have gathered from all regions of Makai to witness the 4th tri-annual tournament. Demons, every three years, come to fight and fight and fight, until only one is left standing. That one is given the right to rule Makai for the next three years.

"Welcome back everyone, to the championship round! I am your hostess with the cat's meow and the play by play, Eva!"

A cheerful young demoness rose above the roaring crowd, her microphone in hand as her high voice projected across the arena. Her furry chocolate brown cat ears and tail were twitching anxiously and excitedly.

"Here we are, finally, to the final two combatants. At one end, it is the mighty Hiei, the reigning champion, and winner of the last tournament!" Voices were raised as she called out Hiei's name, however, whether they were cheers of encouragement or angered cries of disappointment; that could not be determined.

"Or, will we have a new champion rise up? Give it up for Ryuuki!" Once again, more shouts flooded the stadium, but none of them discernable.

Both warriors were out of breath, but none showed it. One single moment of weakness cost the match. Piercing gazes stared from across the already demolished arena, boring deep into their opponents' mind and soul. All was silent. No one moved, only the sand beneath their feet felt free to blow about. The next movement from the warriors would end this battle; one would lose.

Suddenly, Ryuuki's eyes widened as his muscles tensed. Knowing of his defeat, he closed his eyes and let his body fall to the dusty arena, which was splattered with so much blood…

Blood…

Red blood…

Red as a rose…

It's been 8 years…

Red ruby eyes flashed wide open as if their owner had seen a ghost. That same dream still haunted his thoughts, even when he was awake. Shaking his head, the demon lord shook his idle thoughts away. He had more important matters to think about. Just then the door creaked open and a young woman nervously poked her head around the door. Her golden fox ears were down, pressed against her chestnut brown hair. "Sir…? I did knock, is it okay to enter?"

Ruby eyes retained their infamous deadly glare once again, making the knees of the vixen tremble. However, for some reason he couldn't get mad at her for disturbing him. Something in her eyes made him keep her as his personal assistant and in his bed as his mistress, if he felt like it. Those green eyes…those captivating emeralds were like the thorns among delicate red roses. The demon shook his head again.

"It's fine Kaijin; what is it do you want?" His gruff voice softened, and her trembling soon calmed.

"It's just that, the sorceress you brought in seems to be having trouble." Even before she could finish her statement, a black blur dashed past her, leaving only the cold wind playing with her thick, short silken brown hair.

Rushing down the endless hallways, he soon came to a wide set of double doors. Pushing them open, he was faced with a large room. Intricate designs were etched on the floor, and there in the center of placement was a young girl with flowing white hair that seemed to swallow her petite body. She wore white ceremonial robes of a shrine priestess; beaded necklaces adorned her arms and neck. Her eyes and hands were closed in deep prayer; however, he knew she had sensed his presence.

"Master, it's no use…I am not strong enough. I cannot do it alone."

The demon lord nodded once, his spiked black hair swayed across his forehead. "How far can you reach?" He asked as a monotone command.

"I can only make it halfway."

"I knew it." He muttered under his breath, silently cursing each syllable. Then turning back to the priestess, he gave a rare, brief smile, "You can rest for today. Keep the passage clear though. My plan will be seen through to the end." The priestess kept silent in her prayer stance, and the demon lord left the room.

Not wanting to go back to his chambers yet, those dreams seemed more vivid within those rooms. He stepped outside to the training grounds, witnessing the demon soldiers of his army gaining more and more strength by the day. Once again, his thoughts were interrupted by an officer running toward him and dropping to his knees at his lord's feet. "My lord, I have letter from Reikai Prince." The lord, who recognized the soldiers as his right-hand man, a water dragon demon named Ryuuki. He glared coldly at the letter. Five already the pacifier breath had sent him, and every time his answer was the same. He would not give up his assault on Ningenkai. He was going to merge Ningenkai and Makai together, and no one in any of the three worlds was going to stop him. Youkai and Ningen were going to live together.

"My lord," Ryuuki asked, his head still bowed, "what message should I reply with, the Reikai prince, as usual demands it immediately."

"I know what the toddler wants!" The fire demon roared.

The fire demon burned with anger in his words. Ryuuki kept his head bowed, averting his eyes. Not but a few moments passed before he felt his lord calm again. Taking a chance, he glanced up. There was his superior, smiling, with a most evil glint shimmering within intense red eyes.

"Tell him, we are going to Ningenkai. There is something we need to pick up." The fire demon lord turned his head up to the dark skies, "Do you hear that! Try and stop me if you dare! I accept any challenge!" The dark demon yelled as though he was laughing at the gods themselves. Then with an abrupt turn of his head, he faced Ryuuki once again and announced, "Gather an elite group together. We will depart at sunset."

Meanwhile, at the gates of Reikai, Koemna stood slumped over the railing of the balcony to his office. He sighed. He did hear the mocking challenge from Makai. There was truth behind the threat. He knew that voice all too well. Something had to be done. There was no telling what kind of chaos would erupt if this plan was fulfilled.

"Koemna-sama; what are we going to do about this?" The Reikai Prince didn't need to turn around to know it was the bubbly, blue-haired ferry girl, Botan, all dressed in her pale pink kimono, who appeared behind him.

"My father is not going to like this, but there is no other choice." He sighed, biting his lower lip though; he couldn't help feel a little excited. "Botan, go to Earth." He commanded.

"--But, sir!" Botan cut in, "There is not enough time to find and train a new spirit detective. We haven't needed one for years now!"

"But we need one now, and you know who I mean Botan. Now, go. Find Yusuke." Seeing the prince abruptly turn to face her, with sternness in his eyes, made Botan jump like a quivering bunch of nerves. Quickly, she turned away, hiding the blush in her cheeks. She hopped onto her oar and flew off disappearing beyond the clouds of painted white. As her eyes saw Ningenkai land come into view, her smile became even brighter. She was excited about seeing Yusuke and getting the old team back, well, part of the team anyway.

Now of course we find our intrepid former spirit detective, enjoying the finer, quiet parts of human life. He relaxed his body against the side of the building in which he now worked at. He enjoyed life at the restaurant. People seemed to really enjoy his cooking. Who knew? His hours were flexible and the pay was decent. Though he couldn't help long for the adventure he had when he was spirit detective. As he took another puff from his cigarette, Yusuke sighed and mentally slapped himself for wishing for the impossible.

Tossing away his cigarette carelessly, Yusuke turned to head back inside and finish his shift. However, he tripped and must have hit his head, because in the next second, a familiar blue-haired, oar-riding ferry girl was floating in front of him. Yusuke gaped in shock. "Botan what the hell are you doing here?"

"Yusuke, please Reikai needs your help again!" She seemed anxious and out of breath.

Yusuke sighed, "Botan, in case you've been spending a little too much time in the clouds, I'm not the Reikai lap dog anymore. I have my own, real life now. And for once, I'm happy." Yusuke turned on his heel and walked away, but didn't get far as Botan touched his shoulder.

"Please Yusuke, this world and Makai are in danger." She just couldn't bring herself to tell her who was behind it all. "…a powerful demon is planning to merge the two worlds; demons will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the humans! You're Reikai's only choice, you and the old team."

Yusuke saw the desperation in her eyes, however what really ticked off his mind and heart was the thought of hordes of demons swarming across human world threatening innocent families. He now had Keiko and a young son to think about too. That made his fist clench just as it did when he witnessed Genkai's death during the Dark Tournament.

"Alright Botan, you win. Tell me everything you know." His eyes were hidden but filled with regret, praying he was doing the right thing.

Later that day at a nearby café, two respected gentlemen sat under one of the umbrellas. The waitress had just left two cups of iced coffee for them.

"So, Yusuke, what's so important that it can't wait, you know I'm still kind of jet-lagged."

Yusuke just rolled his brown eyes in exasperation at his carrot-top best friend. "Knock it off Kuwabara, you'll get to see Yukina and your kid soon, I just needed to talk to someone, and you're the only one I could get a hold of quickly." Raising an eyebrow, Kuwabara set down his cup and leaned back, crossing his arms, his face curved into a mocking smirk. "What is it, Urameshi, having problems with Keiko?" Yusuke's eyes darkened as he shot Kuwabara a familiar death glare. "Shut up! This has nothing to do with Keiko!" Yusuke shouted, but then turned his face away, a look of pain flashed across his eyes. Kuwabara dropped his grin. "Yusuke, what's happened?"

Yusuke couldn't look at his friend, "Do you remember Reikai, 12 years ago, Koenma and Botan?" At Kuwabara's nod, a look of intrigue in his eyes, he continued, "It seems that they want me back as Spirit Detective."

Yusuke realized things had gone too quiet and took a chance to look back at his best friend, only to see the carrot-top blanch in silent shock. "Urameshi, are you sure you should be talking about that sort of thing out in the open like this?"

With lightning reflexes, Yusuke reached across the table, slugging Kuwabara hard across the head. "Would you grow up?" Yusuke was irritated as he shouted at the carrot-top, "We're not playing hero games anymore! This is serious!"

Kazuma's eyes widened as rubbed the sore at the back of his head, "Wow Yusuke, you sure have matured over the years." Noticing Yusuke had his fist clenched tightly at his side; Kazuma knew he had to change the subject. "So, what are they sending you to do anyway?"

Letting his temper subside, Yusuke relaxed back in his chair, taking another sip from his cup. His eyes were downcast, and Kazuma sighed in relief, he obviously was now over their little argument.

"Botan told me that a group of demons are already here somewhere in the city. They're searching and going to kidnap a certain human with special power."

"Who is it?"

"Not even Koemna knew that, however what he does know is that even though this guy lives in Ningenkai; he is a demon." Yusuke narrowed his gaze in frustration and rest his elbow on the table; his glass lifted to his lips.

"So, you're supposed to find this guy and protect him before these demons kidnap him?" Kazuma tried to wrap his brain around this information. Yusuke nodded, "Reikai thinks that not even the demons know what the guy looks like?"

"Then how will they know when they have the right guy?"

"They know by sense of smell and energy level. All demons have heightened senses." Yusuke's drummed his fingers against the chilled glass. Casting a glance, Kazuma lowered his gaze as his hands cupped his glass on the table. "Well, Urameshi you know that Yukina and I will do anything we can to help right?"

Brown eyes brightened, "Thanks Kuwabara."

Kazuma went to reach for his wallet in his back pocket, and plopped down a few bills and coins on the table. He looked back up to his friend seeing the look of intensity still etched on his face. Then another thought came to him. "Hey Yusuke, are you going to ask for Kurama and Hiei's help on this as well? They are part of the team after all."

Within a blink of an eye, the intense look fell into sadness, and Yusuke's hand lowered slightly. "Don't you think I tried?! Kurama was the first person I tried contacting, and you know it's impossible to find Hiei when he doesn't want to be found!"

Kazuma nodded in agreement. The shrimp was always hard to track. "Well, what did Kurama say when you talked to him?"

"I didn't."

"What do you mean?" Kazuma asked, the concern rising in his voice.

"I haven't really spoken to Kurama for about 7 to 8 years now." Kazuma was quietly listening, so Yusuke continued, "When we returned from the Makai, and had that picnic on the beach, Kurama seemed normal, though happier than usual. No one questioned it. A happy fox was much better than an angry Kurama any day. However, almost two years later is when things started to get bad. Kurama had somehow fallen into a depression and stopped to speaking to anyone. No one even knows where he lives anymore. I can't even reach him on phone! I've tried a couple times going to his mom's house but every time she starts bawling at the slightest mention of her perfect son. The house I remember felt like the family had completely erased his existence. There wasn't a single picture or anything."

Realizing, the subject needed to be changed again, seeing the sadness in his friend's eyes over losing a friend. Kazuma reached out his strong hand and clapped it on Yusuke's shoulder making the still-young man jerk his head up. The carrot-top started laughing, "Enough of this now, we should start thinking about what we should do about these demons." Yusuke gave a wide grin as they both stood. He swung his arm around his friend, in a feign attempt to choke him. "You're right Kuwabara. I say we go to Genkai's Temple. You and Yukina still live there, and Keiko's bringing little Yuichi for dinner. I can't wait; I'm starving!"

Suddenly, the hand resting on Kazuma's shoulder started to glow. The index finger flexed and pointed. A thin blue ray of light fired. Not but a second later, across the street, a strange man in a dark cloak, trying to hide it's demon markings on his arms and legs, screamed in pain as he was ejected up and over the bus bench from which he sat. "It's seems you haven't lost you're touch, Yusuke."

"Neither have you Kuwabara, you still make a handy shield." Yusuke ducked out of range of Kazuma's mighty swing. "Come back here, Urameshi! I'm going to kill you!" Yusuke laughed as he heard the echoed grunting behind him as they ran down the street.

TBC...

Next chapter: Keiko and Yukina enter, with the new additions. And Kurama makes an appearance…awe…why look so sad Kurama? It's time for a feast! …Wait where is Hiei?

Danica Loy signing till next time!