Chapter two! I've gotten an email about asking if this is a yaoi. The answer is no, though if ya'll want to draw your own conclusions please do. Well enough chatter from my end, please read and enjoy!

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Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posie

Ashes, Ashes…

We all fall down

That is a delightful child's poem made about something called the Black Plague. The Black Plague was some disease that killed thousands of humans in a place called Europe…filthy animals. Ashes, ashes…we all fall down…but I want make those ashes rise back up. I want to give life so I can be a God-so I am in control.

Shizuru stood over her brother's memorial stone, and smiled lightly as she pat the head stone. "Hello Kazu…happy 5th anniversary…" she said as she gently leaned down to place some flowers on his grave. She had brought him yellow carnations, he had always loved those wonderful flowers…Shizuru sighed tracing a finger over her brother's memorial and she sighed, "Yamato wanted to come, but I asked him not to. I like talking about what you used to do freely and away from him. Little Kazuma is three next week and he sends his love…Yamato and I are currently trying for another baby. I would like to have a girl this time."

"And you'd raise her to be a mean little cuss like you right?" Yusuke's voice called out.

Shizuru allowed herself a smile and stood to her full height to look over at her brother's friends. Hiei and Kurama looked the same, and Yusuke's demon appearance had become a norm. However someone had braided Yusuke's long black hair so he didn't quite stand out so much, but then again is you had weird markings on your cheeks you'd stand out too. Though it was warm Yusuke wore long sleeved clothes to further conceal his markings.

Yusuke approached Shizuru and the two embraced. The hug was stiff, filled with unspoken apologies, and a sadness that just wouldn't die. She hugged Kurama too, and then Hiei. This was the one hug Hiei wouldn't push away. Every time Hiei even thought of avoiding the hug he couldn't help but remember that because Kuwabara had gotten wrapped up in all this business with demons…that he was gone leaving Shizuru alone. So he accepted these hugs, and even awkwardly pat the woman's back sighing as she held onto him.Hiei wasn't a hugging person, but he was sure that hugs weren't supposed to leave these distinct feelings of ache in his chest.

When Shizuru was done hugging everyone she watched as Yusuke knelt before the memorial slab. "Hey you big lug," Yusuke said as traced a hand over Kuwabara's name. "How you doing?" Yusuke asked as if he honestly expected to hear Kuwabara's voice speak back to him. "It's not raining today…but it should be…" Yusuke said his voice a little shaky. He stopped talking then and Kurama placed a hand on Yusuke's shoulder squeezing it tightly. Yusuke placed his hand over Kurama's and squeezed back before whispering, "I know Kurama…this is just hard…harder then it should be."

Kurama squeezed Yusuke's shoulder and then removed a few seeds from his jacket and dropped them on the soil around Kuwabara's grave. Flowers of red, blue, yellow, and orange twisted into life as they sprung from the earth. Shizuru sighed placing a hand over her chest as she watched the flowers bloom. "Kazu always loved it when you called forth plants like this, even the dangerous ones. He always called it your special trick," Shizuru recalled eyes looking off as she thought back to Kuwabara the day he described Kurama's "special trick," to her the first time.

"He was a goon," Hiei said in his typical monotone way, but the way he said it, the softness of the tone spoke a whole other story.

Yusuke listened to his friends chitchat a little and just stared fixated with the memorial stone. In his head he was having his own conversation with Kuwabara, the same conversation he had every night after a long day of searching and coming up empty handed…

In Yusuke's mind he was himself as he was five years ago on that day. He walked his slow heavy steps up the stairs of Genkai's shrine. Standing at the top he could see Kuwabara. His hair was gelled the same, his clothes were the same, his face…all of it was the same as it had been on that terrible day. He was waiting for Yusuke to reach the top, his fists buried in his pockets. However one horrible thing stood out, and made Yusuke's steps heavy and slow.

Hanging from Kuwabara's stomach was a long strand of his intestines.

Kuwabara removed his hands from his pockets…they were bloody. He held out a hand for Yusuke who flinched slightly, Yusuke took Kuwabara's hand.

Kuwabara didn't seem to aware of his intestines hanging out from his belly, nor the bloody hand prints he left behind on Yusuke's clothes when they hugged.

"Have you gotten him yet Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked kindly, his voice not pressing or demanding.

"No…not yet, but I will get him Kuwabara," Yusuke said a lump forming in his throat.

Kuwabara smiled at Yusuke and cupped his friend's face and shook Yusuke's head a little, "Don't worry about it…no pressure Urameshi. I know you'll get him one day. You're Urameshi…the guy I admired! You're like a brother to me…I know you'll set things right…"

Yusuke swallowed hard as he felt Kuwabara's bloody, sticky hands on his face, "Yeah…we're like…brothers…" Tears welled in Yusuke's eyes as the lump got harder to swallow, "I…That's why I gotta catch this guy Kuwabara for what he did to you! You're my best friend…and I…I can't sleep at night because I see your face looking up at mine…that same face just before you died!"

Yusuke burst into a sob, and Kuwabara blinked dropping his hands. "Well that's a bastard thing of me to do. I would never try to disturb your sleep buddy," Kuwabara said as he rubbed his chin. For some reason Kuwabara never got blood on himself, but everything else he touched got stained with it. Yusuke figured that was because Kuwabara was pure…blood couldn't stain Kuwabara. Not Kazuma Kuwabara…not the honorable goof ball Yusuke had fought along side of for so long.

Kuwabara grinned kindly at Yusuke and hooked an arm around Yusuke pressing his head to the shorter man's brow, "Listen Urameshi," Kuwabara began, "I am not the type of person that would haunt you for something that couldn't be controlled. I died. It happened…you can move on…let me go."

Yusuke dropped on his knees, as he did every time he had this rendezvous with Kuwabara in his mind, and wrapped his arms firmly around Kuwabara's waist pressing his cheek against Kuwabara's bloody wound. "I can't let you go Kuwabara! Not until I find this guy that took you away from us. I have to kill him Kuwabara! I have to…or I can never feel right again!"

Kuwabara smiled down sadly at Yusuke, and placed a hand on the top of Yusuke's head, "You idiot…" Kuwabara said fondly. And as he stroked Yusuke's head in a comforting manner Yusuke closed his eyes and relished in the feel of Kuwabara's warmth that had once been a constant with Yusuke…

"Yusuke?"

It was Shizuru's voice that brought Yusuke out of that private meeting he always had in his head. He blinked and rubbed his eyes wondering when he'd last blinked. Shizuru hung a sisterly arm around Yusuke and sighed. She glanced at Yusuke and finally said, "Let's get lunch…on me. I only see you guys once a year so it'll be my treat."

Yusuke got up, Shizuru following suit. Yusuke Reached inside his jacket and pulled out a smashed flower, "Sorry buddy…it looked better before but well…I kept it in my pocket…" Yusuke said as he tossed the flower on Kuwabara's grave. Taking in one last cleansing breath Yusuke smiled at his friends, "Alright lets get some chow."

The group walked away talking, joking, and laughing, bringing up old stories and memories that had been sitting in the back of their minds collecting dust. As they approached Shizuru's car, Yusuke threw one last look back at Kuwabara's grave and stopped cold.

A figure with long yellow hair stood back at the headstone.

Yusuke heard him make a strange choking sound, felt his knees shake, and his eyes grow wide.

"It's him…" Yusuke hissed his power flaring up and eyes glowing. Everything inside Yusuke was boiling over. And then Yusuke was gone ignoring the cries of his friends and his hands were on the man's throat…and Yusuke was finally seeing the man's face. Finally after these five long years he was seeing this man's face…The last face Kuwabara had seen…the face that Kuwabara had looked up with pleading eyes before his life had been stolen away.

The man's face was handsome and young. His eyes were green, and his long blonde hair obscured his vision. He had scar over the bridge of his nose. Under his left eye there was a red swirling design that made Yusuke think of a flame. The man smiled coolly at Yusuke and in a casual average voice said, "Oh…so we meet again."

"We never had the pleasure of meeting if we had met you'd be dead!" Yusuke snarled pulling his hand back about to punch the man when something held him back. It felt as if hundreds of small hands were tugging at him, and pulling him apart. Yusuke was lifted into the air and slammed into a nearby tree and the hands the Yusuke couldn't see held him there. Yusuke screamed in pain, and the blonde headed demon laughed at Yusuke's plight.

"Yusuke!" Kurama called as he, Hiei, and Shizuru rushed towards the scene.

"Not a move…or he'll be ripped apart," The golden haired man said smoothly. And as if to prove his point Yusuke's left arm was suddenly wrenched back, and Yusuke cried out as he felt the bone slide out of socket.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Yusuke hissed eyes flashing angrily as he tried to move. "JUST KILL HIM!" Yusuke snarled, but his friends remained rooted to their spots.

"Now, now…don't you at least want to know my name?" The man asked eyes glinting, "Or how you're pinned to that tree a good four feet off the ground?" When Yusuke said nothing, the demon began pacing over Kuwabara's grave crushing his flowers and getting mud on the grave marker, "Of course you do. Well for starters…"

The demon turned with an over dramatic flourish blonde hair flying all around him. "I am Tarkome…the greatest scientist that ever lived…the first scientist to maintain and capture a soul and also recreate the soul's body."

The demon paused in mid-rant and with a wide wicked grin, "You much have been wondering why all those years ago you were attacked by demons and then your friend Kuwabara was so brutally killed…well it was for science my young friends! You all may know my father, Dr. Ichigaki-"

"That troll from the Dark tournament?" Yusuke snapped before wickedly grinning, "That troll I killed?"

Tarkome nodded, "Yes the very one and the same. He created me in a lab, called me a failed experiment…but I saw something he didn't. The moment he stepped into that ring I knew his team would lose. I knew it in my bones…but what I couldn't fathom was why that simpleton couldn't see the power Kuwabara had buried in his body!"

"Power?" Kurama asked catching the blonde's attention.

The demon held up a finger and nodded eagerly, "Yes...power. Kuwabara had it buried in him. Buried deep in him, but because he was human his power could only come out in small bursts. However I knew if he was destroyed and then remade-"

"SHUT UP!" Yusuke snarled not wanting to hear anymore of this sick man's talk, but the hands pushed Yusuke further into the tree, and Yusuke found every breath harder and harder.

"As I was saying," Tarkome said with a cruel little smirk, "I knew Kuwabara had the potential for greatness…but that he'd have one foot in the grave like that old hag Genkai before he could use it…so I decided to help him in that aspect. But first I needed a plan. How to get past you, how to help him reach that power, how to control him, and what I would do with his power…it took me years of research to get it all done…to figure out what needed to be done."

Tarkome smile up at Yusuke, "And after my research was done I knew that there was one thing I needed, and that was Kuwabara's body…though you cremating him really slowed down my plans…It took me five years to rebuild his body from those ashes you thought were in that vault of yours Yusuke…"

Yusuke was shaking all over and felt the hands loosen their grip on him. He could have broken free if he wanted but was this guy really saying that…that Kuwabara's ashes were no longer in Yusuke's possession? That he…

"Kuwabara could you come here please," Tarkome called over his shoulder.

All eyes fell where Tarkome was looking and when a figure appeared weaving through the graves; Shizuru fainted from the shock and stress of it all, Kurama having to catch her.

Kazuma Kuwabara, with his hand raised and glowing red was walking towards them.

He was the same height, same hair color, eye color, face…all of it was the same, and yet he was so different.

He wore all black, and as far anyone could tell they couldn't see where his shirt ended and his pants began. It was all like some tight little suit. Kuwabara wasn't smiling, and the golden orange aura he normally had was gone and instead replaced with a bright red. His copper hair was not gelled up in his typical fashion, but fell in a dirty mass, unclean and unkempt. Under Kuwabara's right eye was the same symbol as Tarkome, but instead this flame symbol was black. Everything about him was wrong…

"But it's Kuwabara…" Yusuke whispered as his eyes dimmed at the sight.

"Yes but unfortunately…It seems that I can't get him at his full power…I need his soul," Tarkome said drolly as he grabbed Kuwabara by his ear and yanked the taller man down to peer in his ear, as if looking for something. Kuwabara didn't react at all; he just kept his glowing hand fixated on Yusuke's body.

"He's an inch away from being at the level of an A class demon…weaker then you Yusuke, but not Kurama and Hiei…oh no if he could just reach that power level then he could be their equals! Unlike you Kuwabara won't hold back, he can't hold back because I won't allow it," Tarkome said with a grin before sighing as he ran a finger down the side of the stoic Kuwabara's face.

"I need his soul…to complete this little creation of mine…to create the ultimate weapon…a psychic who is not ruled by his heart or by law is more dangerous then any S class demon could ever be. And so I need his soul back now Yusuke," and then just like that Tarkome held out his hand as if waiting to accept a present.

"His soul…it'd be in heaven…check there…" Yusuke snarled.

Tarkome blinked once, and then twice. He suddenly burst into loud laughter and then asked, "Did they not tell you?!"

"Tell me?" Yusuke wheezed eyes glaring back at the man in hate. He avoided looking at Kuwabara…he just couldn't believe that was…Kuwabara…not his Kuwabara. Not his best friend…not his brother…not…

This shadow couldn't be Kuwabara.

"Boeton and Koenma have come explaining to do to you Yusuke…allow me to be the first to tell you that Kazuma Kuwabara's spirit hasn't moved on…" Tarkome grinned speaking each word slow and with a great sigh he continued to say, "In fact as far as they know…his spirit has always been with you…but if you can't see it then perhaps I'm mistaken…"

Tarkome turned and said casually, "Kuwabara please use that wonderful Jigen-to of yours to get us back home."

Kuwabara nodded and moved his hand over to Kurama and Hiei. At that motion Yusuke went flying into his friends, Kurama kneeling to protect the incapacitated Shizuru. Then Kuwabara's Jigen-to was in hand and he sliced through the air. As both headed inside the dimension Kuwabara had opened, Yusuke's voice rang out.

"KUWABARA! KUWABARA!" Yusuke cried scrambling to get up, holding his dislocated arm as he tried to reach them.

Kuwabara didn't even look back once.

And then just like five years ago, Kuwabara was gone.

Yusuke dropped to his knees. Tarkome's words ringing through his ears…Botan and Koenma knew something…they knew something…they were keeping something from him. Yusuke felt Kurama grab him, and the man was shouting something. He felt the wrench of pain in his arm as it was put back into place, but Yusuke couldn't make out the words his friend was spouting. Getting up quickly, Yusuke found himself running. He didn't stop running until he found himself at the vault that held all of Kuwabara's things…and supposedly his ashes.

When he opened the vault door he found everything was untouched by time, it all looked the same but the urn was not inside the vault…it was gone.

"Kuwabara…" Yusuke whispered before collapsing on his knees hanging his head into his chest.

And even though things were their darkest and the worst had happened, it still wasn't raining outside.

I've seen hunters take their kill, stuff them and pose them, and give them plastic eyes…but still manage to make the no longer living creature look alive and well.

I'd like to create a creature from death, a whole new being…a whole new living being!

But who will it hurt when I do this?

I guess it doesn't matter, someone somewhere is bound to get hurt…it's the rules of the game after all.

End of chapter 2

Ya…messes with your head don't it?

Preview: Boeton and Koenma lay some heavy information on Yusuke when they confirm what Tarkome told them. Kazuma Kuwabara's spirit never moved on, and on top of that they don't know where Kuwabara is…but Yusuke might.