Chapter 2

The Three Worlds

"Kurama?" I asked, my voice sounding extremely tired. Of course, so was the rest of me. That blast definitely used up all of my spirit energy, and I could barely move around. Derek had me propped up against a nearby wooden post, so we could talk to this man.

"Yes," he replied casually. I noticed that his voice didn't carry much emotion, "And you two are Corey and Derek, correct?" he asked, looking between the two of us.

"Yea, we are." Derek replied. "I'm Derek, that's Corey." he nodded his head towards me when mentioning my name. "But what we don't know is why you're here. You can't be too bad, seeing as you just took down Cross Blade for us." Kurama merely smirked at us and looked at the bloody corpse of the large demon. He held out his whip, and it retracted. I quickly picked up that it was using demonic energy. When it was done, it was turned into a simple red rose, which he placed in his vest pocket.

"What kind of demon power was that?" I asked quietly, still not feeling quite up to par. Kurama noticed this and walked over to me, and knelt down in front of me. He searched his pocket and held out what looked like an odd plant...kind of like a fern.

"Eat this...it rejuvenates spiritual and demonic energy. It took me 40 years to perfect it."

"Forty years?" I asked in shock. The man in front of me only looked to be in his late twenties. It was Derek who actually answered this one.

"Demons usually live longer than humans, Corey. I told you that before." He said this while looking at the fern Kurama had just handed to him. I assumed Derek was low on demonic energy as well, but not like my own loss of power. I felt as though I could trust Kurama. Something in my gut was telling me he was one of the good guys, so I took the plant and chewed it up. The effect was immediate. It felt like a wave of spiritual energy was flowing through my body, and I quickly got up, grinning,

"Wow! I feel great!" I said, excitedly. Kurama merely chuckled.

"Yes, the effect of the Spiro Leaf is very effective, but you can only use it once every week." "Why's that?" I asked, looking interested.

"Because to much spirit or demon energy running through your veins at once on to many occasions can have a bad effect on one's body. It would feel like getting hit by a bus, for lack of a better example."

"I see..." I nodded slowly, glancing over to see Derek fully recovered as well after eating the plant, "But now I'm really curious as to whom you are. Why'd you help us?" I sat down on a crate, elbows on my legs and chin in my palms, waiting for his answer. Derek remained standing. The demon continued to smile before replying.

"Well, it's because you two are the only two in this world that can help me right now. At least, that's what Koenma has told me."

"Koenma? Who the hell is that?" I asked, frowning a bit. Derek and me are the only ones who can help? What's with that?

"Koenma is the ruler of the Spirit World. Well, part ruler. His father, King Yama, is the real ruler."

"King Yama?" Derek asked, sounding intrigued.

"You know this guy, pal?" I asked my friend, glancing over at him again. He nodded,

"Yea, well, sorta. My dad told me about him. There are three worlds..."

"I thought you said there were two?" I asked, cutting him off in mid sentence.

"You only needed to know about two!" he said, sounding as though he was getting agitated.

"Well I coulda known about the third! What is it, a secret? " I yelled back.

"Yes, it is!"

"Why'd you keep it a secret??"

"Cause pathetic humans aren't supposed to know!"

"Who're you calling pathetic?!"

"Ahem!" interrupted Kurama, as Derek and I were on our feet glaring at each other. We both looked at him.

"If you two will please sit down, I will continue," he added in a derisive tone.

We sighed and nodded, me sitting down again and Derek leaning against a post. Kurama cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, yes. Koenma and King Yama rule the Spirit World, and watch over the Human World, but there is a problem. You see, as you two might know, there was once a border between this world, and the Demon World."

"Yea, Derek told me about that." I replied. Derek nodded in agreement,

"But it was taken down after Yusuke Urameshi proposed a tournament for king that Lord Enkii won."

"That is true," Kurama replied, nodding to us, "But Enkii was only king for four years, as was the tournament rules from then on. After that, Yusuke won it, and he ruled for 8 years, but after that, he left the Demon World again to live with his wife, Keiko, in the Human World. So years went by, a new leader every four years. Each obeyed the law that Enkii had set down about no messing with the Human World...until this tournament.

"You see, one of the old rulers of Demon World, Yomi, had a son named Shura. Shura trained hard by himself, and returned to fight in this year's tournament. He made it to the semi-finals, where the two matches were himself against Enkii, and the other round was Yomi and Mukuro; the other old Demon World king. Or in this case… the queen. Shura beat Enkii, and ended up actually killing him, even though there had not been a death in the tournament since the beginning."

"What a bastard! Was he disqualified?" I asked, finding myself definitely not liking this Shura character.

"No," replied Kurama, "Although it had never happened before, it was not against the rules, so he made it to the finals. Yomi and Mukuro battled hard, but in the end Yomi was the victor. So it was father against son, but Yomi had been greatly weakened by the battle with Mukuro. Shura quickly took advantage of this, and destroyed Yomi."

"He killed his own dad?!" Derek and I both yelled in unison. Kurama nodded slowly,

"Yes...so, once again it was not against the rules, Shura became the new king of the demon world. Now, for the first six months, everything went without incidents, but rumors started circulating that Shura had a plan...a big plan, to take over all three of the worlds, but there was no evidence quite yet, so there was nothing Spirit World could do...not like there would have been, Shura being an SS-Class demon."

"SS-Class? There are classes of demons? I didn't know that." Derek remarked, "hey, Kurama? What class am I?"

"Well..." he cleared his throat again, "The classes go from a lower D to SS Class. To be honest with you, Derek, you are only a C-Class demon. And you would be in that category too Corey," he said looking at me. I frowned a little because of it.

"Only a C-Class?! And what the hell does that make you?" I asked, getting a little annoyed. I didn't like being called weak, and that is exactly what Kurama was suggesting...in my mind at least. I think Derek was agreeing with me, since I noticed he had a rather annoyed look, too.

"I am an A-Class demon, and being a C-Class is nothing to be ashamed of. You have plenty of room to improve, and I will get to that but I must finish my story first, alright?" I grumbled a bit, but nodded in agreement and sat down again. Derek did the same.

"Anyway, Shura then made his move. He first re-created the barrier between this world and the demon one, but made it even stronger then ever. In the previous one, demons of a B rank and lower could only enter...with this one, a demon of only C rank can enter this realm unharmed."

"So what? Doesn't that mean that Shura can't enter, either?" I asked confused at why a barrier to keep demons out was a bad thing.

"He has the power to open it at any part, and then re-close it. He plans to make sure no demon on the Demon World can stop him." I felt my eyes widen at this.

"A SS-Class Demon...loose in our world...and you're only an A-Class, and Derek and I are C-Class?! How...how the hell are we going to stop him??" I probably sounded frantic, but I was more scared now then when I thought Cross Blade was going to kill me.

"Calm down. That is why I'm here. His plan to invade doesn't begin for another eight months, giving you both time to train."

"Wait..." Derek said, sounding unsure. "We're supposed to reach an SS-Class in only eight months?" He sounded rather calm, which didn't sound like the right type of attitude for the situation at hand. It didn't help matters much that Kurama was shaking his head.

"No. I only expect you to reach B...maybe a lower A class by the end of this time. But the point is not to beat him, but to hold him off until Koenma can lay a trap."

"A trap?" I asked, rather quietly, "What kind of trap?"

"Yes, a sealing spell if you will. It is called the Ma-fukan. Koenma will be the one to use it, but he will need us to hold off Shura while he prepares it. Normally, a Ma-fukan is given spirit energy though out centuries, and is to be used during a catastrophe against mankind. Unfortunately for us, Koenma already used his power against a man named Shinobu Sensui 75 years ago. It didn't work, but that's beside the point. The point is, is that Koenma has found a way to channel more of his spirit energy into it at once, enabling the seal to be as powerful as it should be with full spiritual power, but he needs time to do it. Thirty minutes to be precise. Our plan is to get you two into the best class you can get to in eight months, and then hold him off while Koenma seals him. Once he is sealed, the barrier over the worlds should break with it."

"Kurama..." I said, standing up and looking at him. "That sounds great and all, but why doesn't Yusuke help us? You said he was a Demon World king once, so he should be pretty strong, and you said he was living in the Human World." I quickly noticed the sad expression Kurama got on his face when I had finished.

"Yusuke...was living in the Human World, yes...but ten years ago his wife, Keiko, died of heart cancer. She was also unable to bare him a child, so Yusuke fell into a lonely despair. He came back to Demon World, but lives in solitude, unable to cope with his loss..." Kurama looked up at the ceiling, "oh how he loved that woman..." a soft sigh escaped his lips, and he returned his gaze onto me, "So he cannot help us here, Corey."

"I see..." Now I felt kind of bad for asking. It seemed as though Kurama had been good friends with both Yusuke and Keiko from how he reacted to the question. I decided it was best for a subject change, "So, Kurama, will you be training me and Derek?" I asked, smiling a little to lighten the mood. Surprisingly, he shook his head,

"No actually. Well, I will be training Derek, but you will be trained by someone else." He said, glancing at Derek then back to me, "An old monk by the name of Gero. He is very powerful in the Spiritual Arts, but unfortunately due to his old age would not be much help to us in battle, but training-wise there is no one better to go to." I glanced over at Derek. It would be weird not training with my friend, seeing as we had trained together for the last three years, but we both nodded in agreement, but at that moment something stuck me mentally.

"Kurama...Derek and I have school still, and I doubt my mother will let me just leave for eight months to go train with some old man." Something about my comment must have been funny, since Kurama started laughing. "What?" I asked, frowning again.

"Don't worry about that, Corey. Everything has been taken care of. Do not take Spirit World's influences lightly." He smiled and then put a hand on each of our shoulders. "From today forth, you two are officially the new Spirit Detectives of Earth. The position does have benefits too. You get paid, and you won't have to worry about a retirement, if you're still with it." I couldn't help but grin at the fact I had just been complaining yesterday that killing demons had no profit. I knew it wasn't about the money for me right now. We both nodded in agreement.

I always liked getting stronger, being able to take on new odds, and this was just what I needed. Plus, it was a break from school, which is always a good thing in my opinion. After all that, Kurama told us to get some rest and meet him back here in one week, where we would head off to wherever it was we were going to train. I fell asleep almost instantly as I sat down into Derek's truck.

The following Monday at school Derek and I were both called into the office, where my mother and the principle were waiting with a rather business type man. He explained to us that both Derek and I were selected to be foreign exchange students for eight months in Europe at one of the most prestige schools in England. Of course, both my mother and our principle were overjoyed for us, but Derek and I gave each other sheepish grins and nodded, saying we'd love to go. After that, we went and told our friends that we were leaving for eight months. They were rather sad, some more then others, but also excited for us. The weirdest good-bye was from Liz.

It was after school when we told her, but for some reason she didn't seem at all surprised,

"I hope you guys have a great time." she said casually.

"What? Aren't you going to miss us?" I asked her, folding my arms over my chest. She smiled,

"I know that you'll make the best of your time there. Be good, and study hard." The way she had said study made me nervous, as if she knew something she shouldn't. I shook off the thought and Derek and I went our separate ways home.

The week past without to much incident, I was already packed for the trip, and quit my job at the restaurant. For some reason I really doubted that they would allow me to have an eight-month vacation. As we had planned, we had our going away party on Friday, and then we were off to meet Kurama Saturday afternoon at the mill. All went according to plan, but the thing about Liz still had me bothered. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Oh well. I'd figure it out later. We arrived at the mill at about noon, and Kurama was already they're waiting for us.

"Hello, boys." he said, greeting us and smiling.

"Hey." I said simply, still a little tired. I was up until 4am that night from partying with all of our friends, and on Saturdays I don't normally get up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

"Well, are you ready to go?" He asked. Man, he was straight to the point, but we both nodded, "Good. Corey, come here."

"Uh, okay." I nodded, walking over to him. He smiled and handed me what looked like a root of a plant.

"Hold onto this, close your eyes, and do not let go. No matter what happens, do not let go." I looked at the plant and nodded slowly,

"Okay, but from what I see it's just a---whoa!!!!" I yelled in shock as the plant seemed to wrap around me. I quickly closed my eyes, but felt the roots tie around me. Then it seemed as though I was going 200 MPH. I grit my teeth and bore through it, holding onto the root like my life depended on it, though I'm pretty sure it did. Finally, after what seemed like ages, it stopped, and the plant retracted. I opened my eyes and found that I was not at the mill anymore...in fact I really doubted I was in my city anymore. It was dark out, and the stars were overhead, and the only sound I heard was of a few crickets in the background. The area was still a forest, but the trees were bigger, and there was a strong sense of Spiritual Energy in the air.

"Wha-?" I asked, bewildered at my new surroundings. A voice ended the silence of the area. I looked around and found an older looking man, with a white goatee similar to my own. He wore a green gi, with a blue undershirt. A cane was in his right hand, and he was smiling at me. A smile that made me feel nervous.

"Good evening, Corey Katrina. I am Gero, and for the next eight months, you will be living in Hell."