A.N.: Hi guys! This shall be the first time I am taking writing seriously, sine I am normally a beta reader. It may be pretty ironic if you do find mistakes, since I'm an editor and all that, but I only wrote this on iPad and it has no autocorrect or anything like that . - . Please do tell me what you think :) Reviews are not necessary or compulsory for me updating, but it is certainly encouraged. This chapter will be Yu Yu Hakusho-centric-y? Also, nothing will actually happen until halfway through the first chapter, since almost half of it is dedicated to what happened to the closely-knit group of four ;D
Right now though, this will only be Rated T but I might consider bumping it into M later.
Title: Haunting the Hunters
Summary: 'Never trust yourself when you are bored. You can make drastic decisions.' Apparently, Yusuke has yet to test the waters on such a saying. Boredom calls, and York New city awaits a response. Just how far are they willing to let themselves fall in the darkness that is Ningenkai? (Hints of yaoi included)
Pairings: Yusuke x Keiko, Gon x Killua, Kuwabara x Yukina, Kurama x Kurapika x Kuroro (not final)
Timeframe: Yu Yu Hakusho (End of Three Kings Saga or simply put, end of the anime series); Hunter x Hunter (AU, since I'm going to bend this world a lot);
Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfictions on fangirling about something that's mine. They both belong to Togashi-sensei. All I own is this plot and this story. Please do not plagiarise.
Warnings: swearing, inappropriate content for children, sexual innuendos, Yusuke being Yusuke, sex (I should make a poll for this), OOC characters . - .
Chapter 1: Of histories and meetings
It was quite a while since the whole gang had gathered - Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara. Each had gone about their lives, taking paths very different from the other, and it resulted to spending time away from the rest.
After Yusuke came back to Ningenkai and got together with Keiko, let's just say that things weren't very exciting after. He was coerced by an unexpected team-up not even he could ever hope to defeat - his beloved fiancee and his mother. They had expected him to continue proper education, and though he wouldn't, for the life of him, technically even want to pursue the matter, he was convinced that he had already been selfish enough these past four years.
He was bored every day, save of course, for the times he got to annoy Kuwabara and the times Keiko would overreact when he actually got a passing grade. Yes, he is not stupid, at some points in time, maybe? Less as he'd like to admit it, studying was really hard, and he would much prefer the heavy training he did before compared to drowning in book pages. He was the muscle, not the brain. That was Kurama's job.
When he finished his senior year, he very well thought it was over. Well, he never expected going to university. It was a miracle he was still alive after the past four years. The cruel experience of college was like fighting Yomi, naked and with no youki at all, and he was very much sure that he would rather do the latter than the former.
He learned one thing though. He'd rather find Toguro's soulmate than find the differential of whatever x and y in his calculus class.
After five solid years of nothing but studying, he thought he was finally being let off the hook. Oh, how naive he was. A week before his graduation, he and carrot-top met in a convenience store. It was an unexpected event, and so he used it to try to catch up with his friend, who was very unexpectedly rich enough to treat him to lunch. As it turns out, he had already graduated his Medical Sciences course last year and was taking masterals this coming September.
He was honestly fazed by how someone like Kuwabara could survive such gruelling experience, whereas he was ready to quit during his first four months and wouldn't dream of prolonging it much further. It was inhumane, clear and simple. Yusuke relentlessly asked why on earth he would do that. He got his answer. 'I want to marry Yukina.'
He wouldn't admit it but it greatly shook him. What does he want to do with Keiko? He was already going to graduate. After a few weeks, he had come to a decision. He'd focus on Keiko first. Along the way, he got a decent job that pays more than the average. Keiko became a teacher(He wouldn't mind being scolded by this teacher).Things worked out just fine, and by age of 23, Yusuke finally proposed to Keiko.
The marriage and kids followed soon after.
Kuwabara Kazuma, on the other side, was doing pretty damn well. He was fired up, using Yukina as his inspiration in studying, that someday, preferrably in less than ten years, he would get the chance to marry the girl. Without Hiei slicing his body to bits, of course. Well, that and his sister was also a large part of the reason why he took studying seriously this time. If it wasn't for her persuasion, he would've jumped into Makai with Yusuke, and he wouldn't be who he is now. For all he could know, his name might be etched on a gravestone or something.
Not having participated in the Makai tournament, he graduated high school earlier than Yusuke, with him being 18, and the Spirit Gun user being 19. For the first time, he was able to receive an academic award. He was not able to place first, but through his relentless hard work through the bullying and prejudice he got, was able to land himself at fourth place. It was both unduitably embarassing and hilarious when he jumped off his seat in surprise when their sensei told them their ranks. It was horribly unexpected.
If Hiei was only here, he would show him! 'Living in a constant haze of stupidity' his ass. He would prove that he is definitely not stupid and is smart enough to deserve Yukina! He is definitely worth it.
He didn't know what made him take the Study of Medical Sciences as course. He just did. Call it instict or whatever it may be, but one of the unconcious reasons he had was that it was what Yukina did and she looked so elegant and pretty doing it. Not that he wanted to look elegant and pretty, of course. Elegant and handsome, more like.
If not head over heels, he didn't know how to describe how he felt. He'd do almost anything to impress the girl, even if it meant taking on his brother, which should be technically avoided at any given circumstance. Hiei was his rival after all, atleast that's what he thinks?
He took the course, and with really, really great difficulty, managed to survive. Like Yusuke, he wasn't made for such a trivial task that concerns intelligence and wit as a medium. He just goes with the flow, and the flow mostly requires brute strength. Nonetheless, he pushed himself to persevere, and by miracle, he got an honorable mention. His hard work paid off, and so once again, he challenged himself.
He applied for masterals, which were free for those who pass the board exam and the scholarship one. Thankfully, he had managed to scrape by. Before he graduated, he met Yusuke, ol' buddy ol' pal of his. They never did got to hang out since both were incredibly busy. The guy never changed, still the happy-go-fucking-lucky annoying guy he fought when they were fourteen. They caught up to each other and parted ways once again.
He spent a lot of time in the temple, bothering Yukina and trying to engage the shy girl in a conversation. His sentiments didn't go unappreciated, and the girl would sometimes laugh out loud at his antics, then apologize soon after. Really, she was adorable. Moreso at those little cute outbursts.
After Kuwabara finished his masterals, he asked her out. After two years of dating, Kazuma, at the age of 25, proposed to Yukina. They are due to be married next year.
Kurama, the ever sly demon fox, went to Tokyo to move in with his mother and her new beloved, Kazuya Hatanaka, because of a proposition by her editor that will ensure the future of her family. Shiori Minamino was a very gifted writer and the man thought it would be such a waste to let her talent go to waste in a rather unpopular area. Kurama, being the perfect son that he was, obeyed and encouraged his mother's decision.
After the tournament, he immediately went back to his family in the human realm, whereas Yusuke and Hiei chose to stay in Makai. Upon his arrival, he was greeted with a sobbing image of his mother, tears of joy and surprise in her eyes. He supposed she thought he had already passed to the other world. She wouldn't be entirely mistaken at that kind of train of thought though.
At that instant, he felt his heart drop a ton to his feet, his throat run dry, and a gut-wrenching pain gnaw at his insides in guilt. He couldn't bear to see his mother crying, even more with the knowledge that he was the reason for it. It wasn't pretty, and he promised himself that he wouldn't let such a thing happen again. After he assured her that he wouldn't worry her again, he continued his life as a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore.
Thankfully, with Makai under jurisdiction of Enki's heir, Koenma wasn't bothering him anymore with completely dangerous missions that would require a lot of time away from the family he has sworn he would stay beside with. The baby seemed to be in full control of everything in the Spirit World. He liked it this way, serene and peaceful, a bit boring, but he wouldn't exchange it for his selfish impulses to go into adventure once again.
His life became inecessantly hectic in the city. Growing up as a child of the country prefectures, he wasn't used to the thick black smoke, blinding multi-colored lights, and the endless honking and buzzing around of people minding their own business. It was a whole different world where everything revolved about the concept of high-technology. Even toilets were automatic! Some things were even downright insane.
It took quite a while for Kurama to get used to the brutal and vulgar liberality in the air of Tokyo, especially with the addition of some people called 'Hunters'. Apparently, they were spiritually gifted humans that could control their youki. Strangely enough, they had called their 'youki' 'nen'. Well, it was presumable, considering the fact that the term was exclusive to the few who knew of the existence of Spirit World and Makai.
Also, he quite learned his lesson when he accidentally stumbled right into the Red Light District in the outer borders of Shinjuuku. However, as mentally challenging the sudden change might be, he had still fulfilled his borne duty as the son of his dear human mother, Shuichi Minamino.
He was enrolled into a prestigious college with a high school department in moment's notice. It was apparently owned by the company his mother worked at for the sake of exclusive OJTs commanded by said company above. It was suggested by her editor by many reasons.
One reason being that it is close to her mom's workplace and they could go home together. The other being that there was a 34 percent discount provided for students with close relatives with working office experience inside the building. The other other reason being the close supervision of the main office to Kurama, which was fairly beneficial to their family if he did a great job on being a well-mannered and academically-exceptional student.
Naturally, he excelled within the terms and conditions he was given, nothing less, nothing more. What could you expect of a dimensionally competent strategist demon? Though he could admit that a good handful of the things he was learning was pretty much useless and irrevelant given the course he wanted to take. Criminology. The Studies of Criminal Justice Sciences, to be exact.
Pretty ironic coming from one of the strongest and most ruthless thieves in all of Makai. Some of the learning materials were reasonably enjoyable though, studying formulas and scientific discoveries made to aid the unmistakable weakness of humans through progressing advanced technology.
He graduated highschool as the batch valedictorian, earning a fairly huge advantage in entering the college he wishes to enroll in. His homeroom proffessor pushed him for Todai (Tokyo University) instead of persuading the boy to take his choice course within the college department of the building.
He spoke of unbridled potential that Kurama must explore for himself, and sadly, he admitted, the boy wouldn't be able to 'bloom' properly here, especially considering the fact that criminology was not a strong point the college boasts about. They had more likely focused on journalism courses along with mass communication courses. Not related to what the redhead had in mind.
He took the entrance exam, which was unmistakably challenging, but not entirely impossible concerning his mental abilities. If there was something besides strength he took pride in, it was his ability to quickly adapt to the situation with his wide span of knowledge and its correct usage according to the circumstances given. He had passed the exam, ranking third in the final results.
It would seem he had made mistakes when he tried to remember the answers in the 'knowledge' portion of the exam. He had full scores in terms of understanding and explanatory tests. The green-eyed teenager guiltlessly admitted to only trying to understand the main concepts of the study and had not focused on memorization.
Before he knew it, the four years of university had been over. Albeit starting out slow, by the second year, things had gone none too fast and the last remaining years had flitted away like the flipping pages of a thrilling book. It was painfully obvious that the entrance exam were made to filter out natural-borne genii and the incredibly hardworking. He had learned that one he got to know his classmates.
His mother and her lover, along with his brother, were the ones who was given the honor of placing the graduation medals upon their son. Not long after, he was made to take another exam which gave people the clearance that they are now allowed and are eligible to do the jobs they please.
Kurama, with a human body older than Yusuke by a year, was now 26, working as a private detective, a reminder of the blood-pumping, neck-driving, life-risking job he had in the past.
Hiei Jagan-shi, or Hiei of the evil eye, was the only one of the gang who chose to stay in Makai to live his life, which was very expectable of the fire demon, considering his temper with humans. He never did get fond with the curious creatures.
It seemed like a pain getting along with them. Some were quite tolerable, but majority were downright annoying. If it weren't for the laws regarding human murder, he swore in the name of the darkness dragon that he would've slayed a whole country's worth of them whenever he would visit Ningenkai ocasionally.
During the times when he wasn't in Ningenkai, which was most of the time, he served as Mukuro's right hand man. It was a peaceful job save for the constant noise of the demons gathering about the base. There were some of the momsters that were foolish enough to try to challenge the female Mazoku, and it was apparently his job to deal with the idiotic nuisances. Apart from that, everything else was fine.
The moment the Makai Tournament had come to an end, Hiei and Mukuro struck a deal. Hiei would obey the human-demon hybrid's orders in exchange to go wherever he wanted as he may see fit without her permission. As long as he gets the job done, she won't find it in herself to complain. His obedience for his freedom. Her orders for her ignorance. It was symbiotic relationship they had both agreed upon.
If someone was asked to list the things the fire demon does at his free time, there would be no more than five items. Four, to be exact.
The first one was sleeping. Hiei slept like a log, preferrably under the shade of a tree. When the Koorime hybrid was sleeping, no one dared wake him up, with Mukuro being the only excpetion, of course. It was the demon's time for peace and rest, to tune out the world surrounding him and drown in the satisfaction of a dreamless sleep.
After that, he excessively trains himself in a clearing of some sort. It wasn't that he was preparing for stronger enemies in the future, but it was simply a past time he did out of boredom. He would probably never bring himself to admit it, but sometimes, he still craved for the adrenaline that coursed through his veins that he could only expedience in their past adventures.
Training may be a far cry from it, but it would dimply have to do for the mean time.
The last thing he did on his spare time was spending it visiting the human world to check up on the rest of the idiots. Sometimes, he would visit Yusuke. At some moments, on Kuwabara just so he can check if the moron did anything to his beloved sister. Most of the time though, he would visit a certain rose whip-whielding demon. It irks him how the redhead could practically sense his presence from a couple of hundred of meters away when he made a huge effort to conceal his youki. How irritating.
During one of their conversations, Kurama had told him of the special humans that were capable of producing and manipulating their 'nen' as it was so called. It was about time those lousy humans got stronger. It was tiring seeing defenseless weaklings prance around the streets all day like everything is fine and that they were already strong and capable enough.
It was an interesting topic, these people called 'Hunters'. He could still slash them into tiny bits though. Strong as they may claim they were, a human will still be no match for a demon, unless of course you're spiritually gifted like Kuwabara and a Mazoku like Yusuke. The two were as rare as they could get. Kurama, on the other hand, was a demon in soul. The fox was only a demon in soul, but a human in body. He said so himself he preferred it that way. Not like he could care any less. They could do wahtever they want.
His visits to Ningenkai were short, sometimes not even lasting a full day, and then he would have to go back to Makai to carry out his obligations and responsibilities as Mukuro's aide. The woman would always give him odd jobs. Taking care of her challengers. Taking care of business with Yomi's drones. Taking care of Mukuro's reputation in Makai. Taking care of slave-trading bandits.
Apparently, when something needed to be taken care of, he was always the one who had to handle it.
Such a pain.
In the wholeness of a decade, it was everything Hiei had practically done. No subtle changes. No progression. No levelling-up. No height additions, if you count five inches in ten years much of an improvement. It was just following orders, sleeping, training, and visiting the human world. It was the same thing all over again, like the life cycle of a butterfly, in which the only difference is the creature dies while the demon doesn't. And frankly, it was getting a tad too boring.
Back in the days, whereas his life was always on the line and he had to spend it with the three most infuriating personas in all of Ningenkai, Makai, and the Spirit World, he would not even hope for a chance to get bored. Who on their right minds would have that kind of train of thought in a battle where there is a possibility to die? 'No. No. His life was not going to be over just yet.'
Who knew he was fighting for such a boring future? How incredibly stupid.
The four of them had to take different paths, and now as they reconcile the events that had happened, who's to say that fate will work its gears one again to arrange a treat for the world-saving bunch?
From the softest of pitter-patters on their roof to a full blown surge of torrential rains, Keiko Urameshi awoke with a painful start. The maried woman blinked owlishly before shifting into a comfortable sitting position on the tousled sheets. With the pressure of her eyelids drooping on her, she still could not sit up straight.
The metal-clanking noise brought by the heavy drops of rainwater kept her awake somehow and with great difficulty, stands up and looks for the digital alarm clock which fell last night during one of their precious 'night activities'.
Her tangled mahogany locks fell beside her head as numbers 3:45 changed to 3:46. 'Too early', she ruefully thought as she took her pyjama jacket and buttoned it while throwing the cotton pants that was on the floor into the hamper.
Which wasn't there. The hamper was always there. There was a soft thud as it fell to the cold floor. Did somebody break in and steal their hamper?
No. No.
The only times when the hamper wasn't there was on Saturdays, because she would have done the laundry in Friday night and she'd let them out to hang.
NO.
Panicking, Keiko grabbed the clock and found out that it was indeed Saturday.
NO.
The laundry were put out to hang.
Just no.
It was raining marvelously, lightning and thunder its company.
Dear kami-sama!
A shrill cry cut through the adamant silence of the room.
Great, Takehiro was now awake.
Just great.
"Yusuke! Wake up!" Not even a twitch.
"YUSUKE!"
Drearily, the former spirit detective opened his eyes, still very sleepy as he was forced away from his slumber.
"Huh? Whaaaaaat?"
"Our clothes!" Keiko heavily implied.
What of their clothes?
"They're out'ere to hang, right? Stop woooorrying. S'get back to bed..." the half-asleep Urameshi murmured, "Ungodly hour of 2 am, for the love of..."
"It's raining, Yusuke, and the clothes were hung out there to dry. And for the record, it's quarter to 4. Takehiro is crying and I swear I cannot handle taking care or both! Don't add to it." Currently, Keiko was fuming, holding on to her last string to control herself from screaming her husband's face off.
Daft Yusuke, on the other hand, was getting incredibly perceptive of his wife these days and he knew exactly what that tone meant. 'If you don't get out of there right now, I will fucking assure you that your hand will be your only friend this week.' Good lord, he did not want that.
Red-faced, Keiko went away to soothe the crying baby in the other room. Poor Hiro's eyes were filled with fat tears that mommy would kiss away. Back to the bedroom of husband and wife, Yusuke had quickly jumped off the bed, hurrying as fast as he could with two hours of sleep to get the soggy clothes. 'It's not like you can't dry them tommorow,' he thought.
Now he was going to get wet too. Damn is this raining heavy. Did he miss the news for something of a storm? Not that he would care or anything. He better do this fast though. He would not hear the end of it from Keiko. God help him the woman was an odd mixture of utterly sexy and fucking scary.
With an umbrella, he quickly paced to the backyard and took the soaking linens, cottons, and silks, putting them in a yellow hamper. The raindrops were big and heavy as it noisily bounced off the small transparent protection. After getting all of them, he went back to the covers of their home and plopped the bundle of clothes on the floor.
He'd have to shower again. Fucking-tastic stupid rain.
When he came back from his backyard trip, he saw Keiko with Takehiro in her arms,mthe baby's face below her shoulder sucking on a teet of a milk bottle, as she lulls him to sleep. Takehiro was currently two and a half year old with raven hair, chubby cheeks, and brown orbs.
Sighing, he closed the umbrella, dried himself with a nearby towel, and joined her. Yusuke was then hit with a wave of contentment with the joys of being with his family. He then remembered his friends. What the fuck were those bastards doing right now? He was feeling a little bit sleepy, but shower came first.
As soon as she was sure the babe was snoozing, she put him down to the white-colored crib and grinned at the sight. Yawning, she walked off to their bedroom to get some shut-eye, enclosing herself in soft sheets before finding out that she couldn't sleep. What a spoil. The bathroom's light was opened, meaning Yusuke was in there taking a shower.
Exasperated, Keiko sits up and steps off the bed to their closet, taking off her clothes, throwing them into the hamper, and changing into new ones. With renewed energy that came from an unusual source, she runs to the fluffy mattress and jumps right into it, noisy thud coming from the action.
Yusuke came out of the bathroom with messy hair later, already dressed and a wet towel hanging from the back of his neck. He joins her, seeing as she could also not sleep.
"What's on your mind?", she asks.
Both of them are bored out of their minds then.
"Soooo..." He drawled, "am I getting blue balls this week?"
"Yusuke, you perv! I didn't mean that! I'm thinking of Botan and Yukina." she said, honesty clear in her voice.
"You're not going to cheat on me, aren't you?" Yusuke lazily joked.
"Yusuke!"
"Alright! I was kinda thinking 'bout the gang. Y'know, it's been a lot of years, with Kuwabara being in this thing with Yukina, Kurama working in Tokyo, and Hiei in Makai," he confesses, "I kinda miss those bozos."
"Now who's going to cheat on who again?" she shot back, keeping herself from laughing.
"Hey! Soooo..." the raven mentions.
"What Yusuke?"
"About the blue balls thing."
Keiko lets out a hearty laugh, actually boggled that Yusuke was serious. Is he?
"Maybe yes, maybe no," she answers teasingly.
"C'mon. You can't possibly avoid this!" he gestured, waggling his eyebrows.
"In your dreams, Yusuke."
"Aww..."
"I'll let you off the hook this time. It's not even your fault," she said sincerely.
Silence.
"Hey Yusuke..."
"Do you want to meet up with the gang?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"I think I want to meet up with them too."
No answer.
"I want to meet with them at York New."
Yusuke sits up the bed confused. What where?
"It's a place with a lot of new trends, cheap stuff, and really regal dresses! There's this Poacher something going on in there too, but that should be nothing to worry about. Oh, this is so exciting! I have to call Yukina, which is obviously with Kuwabara and she could tell Botan! You can call Kurama, which in turn can somehow contact Hiei! We'll just meet there too!" She gleamed, happiness radiating over her in waves, somehow contented by her brilliant idea.
Without waiting for Yusuke to even take part of the decision, she takes off downstairs to the telephone and calls the bluenette, later arriving to the bedroom squealing and marking on March 28 as the scheduled date.
"Yukina and Kuwabara says they will come! And that she'll try to tell Botan! Hey! Call Kurama!" she scolds, obviously overly excited about the whole thing.
Yusuke was actually excited too, though he may have gotten better at hding it. With a grunt, he gets his mobile phone on the side table and dials a certain redhead. It rings for quite a while before stopping and a familiar voice speaks.
"Yusuke? To what do I owe the pleasure of your call at four in the morning?" the fox asks at the other end of the line."
Guiltily, the raven hair rubs the back of his neck. He forgot the time.
"Uhh... Keiko arranged this whole thing," he answers,eyes trailing off at his wife looking at him expectantly, "and she wants the whole gang to get together at this place called New York? Dunno. March 28 and I think we'll meet there."
"I see." Kurama hums, "You must mean York New City. March 28 sounds good. That's about three weeks from now, isn't it? There's a lot of talk about Hunters there."
"Oh!" Yusuke claps his hands in remembrance, "Do you mean the Poachers thing? Keiko mentioned it. I dunno. Haven't looked at the calendar yet. Try to ask shorty too."
"Hunters, Yusuke. He visits somehow, once a month. I'll try my best to get him to come. Don't call him that in front of his face. You may not have one when it's over." He chuckles.
"Nah. I'm strong enough to defend myself and call him whatever I want. Get him to wear human clothes too!"
"Okay, Yusuke. I'll look forward to seeing you. Good day?"
"Bye Kurama!"
The voice disappears and a loud beep resounds throughout the room.
"Done. You happy?"
"Very! I'm so excited."
"Yeah? Me too."