A/N: This is my first yyh centric fic. Everyone knows the story of Genkai and Toguro, but what would happen if there was a child that resulted from that union that ended in a century long fued? This story focuses on the estranged relationship between a mother and a daughter, and choices of the past that have forged that relationship for better or for worse over the course of many years. Takes place during the Dark Tournament arc. Reviews are appreciated! This chapter is in Genkai's POV.

The sky was dreary, overcast with thick, grey clouds. It was as if it was the universe's warning, of a danger that was to come, the darkness that was slowly choking the like out of all living things. The apparitions that once called the endless acres of forest and mountains a safe haven had become scarce as of late. The withered temple that had once been full of life and youth was nothing more than a pale shadow. It had been years since I've seen it so. Visitors are few and far between, and over the past fifty years or so, I've enjoyed it that way. The ghost of a face I once knew so well showed up entirely out of the blue, and while I normally would have discouraged such things, I could not find it in my heart to turn her away.

Only a dim light cast a soft glow in the sitting room, as I fiddled with my cup of tea that had long gone cold. Choosing to sit had helped the illusion that I was calm and collected, casting glances at the figure who stood at the open screen door, listening to the coming storm brew and churn outside. The young woman before me had stopped being the child I remembered many years ago. While time had granted me with wrinkled, athritic hands and grey hair, time had been much kinder to her. When she turned to look at me, it was a startling reminder of how much time had truly passed. I remembered a time when I would spend hours staring at her as a child, trying to pick out what features of hers were mine, counting her fingers and toes, trying to decipher her personality. Now, I felt almost ashamed, knowing how much I had missed. The once fine, jet black colored hair had turned a marvelous silvery shade years ago. It grew out considerably long since last I had seen her. We shared the most similarities in facial features; the same brown eyes, the same cowlick that gave an appearance of bangs and fairness of skin. However, that was where it ended. The lean body of a woman grown had taken place of a lanky girl, toned and tall in height. She was strong, just like him. The realization of it felt like a knife twisting in my chest.

"Why did you come back?" the words sort of slipped out, biting my tongue once I realized how it may have sounded.

She seemed surprised, but never raised her voice. "Here I thought you would be happier to see me."

The skeptic in me questioned if this girl was truly who she claimed, but how could a mother not recognize her own flesh and blood?

But it's been so long, how can I be sure? My daughter used to smile and laugh all the time, this girl does neither. She looks like my Hana, but something is...different.

The spirit energy that gave life to these old walls was being overpowered by a demonic energy, and I knew exactly where it was coming from. The demonic energy was constantly playing tug of war with spirit energy, neither of which belonged to me. Neither was more potent than the other, nor was the person who harbored them more of a demon, or a human.

"Its been nearly...six years, hasn't it? When you left for Makai, I was under the impression that our paths wouldn't cross again."

"You're my mother, I would never...not come back." The words caused an uncomfortable silence, as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, gesturing for her to take a seat. I watched her do so with hesitance, catching glimses of my younger self in the way she crossed her legs, watching me with an impatience that teetered on irritation. I hid my smile by taking a sip of my tea, offering some to Hana who declined. Watching her uneasiness was like watching an animal that had forgotten how to use its legs, as she desperately tried to grasp for the fragments of her former life. It was as if the four walls around her were closing in, her past threatening to suffocate her. It made me ponder how living among demons had changed her.

"Well, passing through realms isn't exactly a cake walk. You wouldn't have come back if there wasn't a good reason, so tell me what it is; are you in some kind of trouble?" I changed the course of conversation, having no desire to waste time on pleasantries or useless chatter.

She scoffed, "No. Believe it or not, I've been able to take care of myself just fine."

"I can see that, so well that you decided to run back here?"

That was when the girl's unwaveringly calm expression turned hostile, even bitter. "You have the nerve to talk to me about running?" The words struck a nerve and while I wanted to lash out, I knew I couldn't. While I hated hearing the words, she wasn't wrong.

It was true, I spent the majority of my life running from my own past. Back then, I was nothing more than a girl, trying to prove myself as a fighter and to the man that I had grown to respect as my teammate and cherish as a lover. We used to talk about our goals, our dreams... how we could do anything as long as we were together. His decision at the tournament nearly killed me. It was the only time I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. I had no way of knowing how his decision would affect our child, or our relationship in years to come. I could still remember the strain of the spotlights, the blood of others warm on my skin and the feeling of overwhelming dread when they announced the winner, a victory that I once would have relished.

I remembered staring at him, watching his face twist into an ugly smirk and I knew right away what his decision would be, how everything would turn out. In that moment, I hated him for it, with every fiber of my being. I couldn't stop any of it; we were destined to forever stray from one another from that point forward. I never even told him that I suspected I was with child only a few months later. The damage had been done. I was content to spend the next fifty years of my life as a recluse, training students in the memory of a ghost, shutting my child out from the rest of the world because I was too weak to do otherwise.

I kept telling myself that one day I would return to help him, to try and free him from his own madness. Unfortunately, for all of the triumphs and abilities my power granted me, it was unable to do the one thing I wanted most. What an idiot I was to think anything differently.

"There is a darkness that is spreading over this world like a disease. More importantly, there is a darkness that is following you...it has been, for quite some time now. It is a malignant, angry presence. I used to think it was the apparitions that inhabited the forest, but this is something different. Its been weaving in and out if your life for months, and its only getting stronger. I could no longer ignore it, I had to return, to see for myself that you were alright," Hana told me, an unmistakable worry washing over her face like a great wave.

Does she know?

It was no secret that my apprentice Yusuke had gotten caught up with the likes of an old friend, who was forcing his hand to compete in the upcoming dark tournament. They were nothing more than a bunch of kids and if my apprentice was assembling a team, there was no question that I would have to step in, as much as I disliked it. Soon, I would have no choice to confront my past and the man that was largely apart of it. I suspected that it would end in a fight that would kill one of us, but I kept that knowledge to myself.

"That energy you sense, is Toguro. He is assembling a team to compete in the next tournament, it appears that my apprentice will be doing the same," I replied carefully. Hana's eyes narrowed in resentment at the name, but the rage didn't surface until she took a few moments to think about it, and I saw the wheels in her head turn.

"You can't honestly be thinking of going with them?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do, tell them no! If this Urameshi has a team then he doesn't need you, I won't let you."

"Last I checked, I didn't need your permission to do anything," I snapped back, giving the girl a taste of my own defiance. I knew she would fight me on the matter for as long as I would let her. It was a stubborness I was all too familiar with.

"He's only a child, and a stupid one at that! I don't trust him to keep you safe."

"I'm not afraid of any demon," I reassured her.

" I know. When I was young, I liked to watch you train the students, to see you fight. You were so beautiful and strong. I used to think there was nothing in this world you couldn't do. Even now, I don't doubt your abilities. Fuck the Makai, you would knock them all into the dust. But, you have aged since then, and that should be taken into consideration." she told me in a tone that hinted at a shred of admiration and a wiseness beyond her years.

I looked at Hana, a girl who appeared no older than my teenaged apprentice but should have been aged well enough to be his mother. My child, who was neither human nor demon, whom was supposed to inherit my legacy but couldn't, whom I wanted so many things for in life. Our relationship had never been easy, partly due to my own faults and others out of my control. It shamed me to admit in the darkest parts of my thoughts that I never was the best mother I could have been. Despite all of it, I felt some sort of maternal pull, the same all consuming warmth I felt the day she was born. Despite Toguro, I took comfort in knowing that she was mine and even now, that never changed.

Despite our differences, I could feel the weight of Hana's truest affection in her words, and unwavering loyalty. Just as she knew, despite my callousness and distance between us in recent years, that I would always be her mother, regardless of anything she could do or say.

"So what will you do?"

"You've given me no other option, I'll have to go with you. Its the only way I'll know for certain that you're safe."

"That means, you will have to see your father. You realize that, don't you?"

She nodded after a long hesitation, as if pondering what she would finally say to the man that had been nothing more than a name her entire life.

"The man I told you about once before, he isn't that man anymore. He hasn't been in a long time. If you have any kind of idiotic expectations, I expect you get rid of them quick. Can you handle that?"

"If you can, then so can I. My reasons for going is to accomplish one objective and one only. Seeing my father is not part of that plan, as interesting as it sounds. You raised me to be strong, I won't cower or cry like a little girl."

"Good. If their team needs my help, my plan is to enter the tournament under an alias. If all goes according to plan, no one will know my true identity. There are too many demons that want my head on a platter. If something goes wrong, I'll need you to take my place."

"That won't happen. I don't want to hear you speak those words again," she replied sharply, as if impatient.

"Shut up and let me speak! If it does, you need to be prepared," I nearly yelled, scolding her in a tone as I often did with Yusuke. Memories of raising a strong willed child came flooding back and I remembered when my patience ran thin. It gave me an appreciation for my own parents.

She crossed her arms over her chest in defiance and I left the room, taking the empty dishes from the room as an excuse to regain composure. When I returned, the aura in the room seemed to be much lighter.

"You just came back, do you really want to go back to demon world?" I asked out of pure curiosity.

"You're giving me no other option, mother. You're going to do what you want anyway, I certainly can't talk you out of it."

"Sounds like someone else I know," I teased.

"I wanted to belong here with you, and I tried...for so many years. I went to demon world hoping I could get stronger, and I did. I survived for a long time and for awhile I thought that maybe it was where I was supposed to be. Time went on, and the killing didn't scare me anymore, what scared me was that I started to enjoy it. I'm not like you mother; I don't fight for sport. I'm not afraid...and I will fight if I have to, I will fight for you...but I don't enjoy it purely for sport. I knew then that I couldn't stay there anymore, so I left."

I remembered the day that she left, it still pained my heart to think about it, forcing myself to stand there void of emotion while my only child left for another realm, unknowing if I would ever see her face again. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't protest it because I didn't know what else would help you come to terms with that had happened, to accept what you had become.

"You should know by now that this is your home, you always have a place here with me," I told her truthfully, moving to her side to place a reassuring hand over hers. She didn't recoil and we stayed like that for some time, as I relished in the affection from my child that had been absent in the past six years. " Well, the old lady is going to get some shut eye; its getting late," I yawned, stepping away from the girl.

"I'm going to stay up awhile, its a force of habit," she told me.

I made my way out of the room, leaving Hana with her thoughts, contemplating what I was about to put her through as I walked towards my bedroom.