DxD Hakusho
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fanfiction. Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, Fuji TV, FUNimation Entertainment, Viz Media, and Yoshihiro Togashi. High School DxD is owned by Fujimi Shobo, TNK, AT-X, FUNimation Entertainment, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
Chapter 2: No Longer Living as a Human! The Spirit Detective is a Devil!
Yusuke still couldn't believe the events that transpired since he woke up this morning. The most popular girl at school was sitting on his bed completely naked. Her small hips, white long legs, a nicely curved ass, and enormous bust were in plain view. He tried to clear the bashful emotion from his face as he looked her in eye while trying his hardest to ignore everything below her head. His heartbeat massively sped up when he heard footsteps approaching his bedroom door.
"Yusuke is everything alright in there?" Yusuke heard his mother's voice as the door slowly opened. "I heard a loud…"
As Atsuko opened the door, she quickly found out that he wasn't the only one in his room. There was a naked crimson redheaded girl causally sitting on top of Yusuke's bed. Yusuke was sitting on his butt a few feet away facing the bed with an abashed face as he looked at her.
"Good Morning."
The naked girl named Rias greeted Atsuko with a cheerful smile not even batting an eye that she was completely nude in a boy's room. Atsuko's facial expression froze for second and she quickly closed the door in front of her.
"Sorry for interrupting you two." She said on her way out.
Yusuke covered his head with a face palm. How the hell was he going to explain this to his mother when they go downstairs when he himself doesn't know what the hell is going on? What kind of excuse can you even come up with about a naked girl being in your room in the morning? Knowing his mother, he probably won't even have to come up with an 'It's not what it looks like' excuse which oddly enough scares him.
"Your mother seems rather calm about this." Rias said.
"She's either very opened minded or just apathetic." Yusuke replied. "I can't even tell the difference anymore."
Yusuke grew tired and finally mustered enough courage to talk about the elephant in his room.
"Sorry for stating the obvious, but you do realize you're completely naked right?"
"If you want to stare at my body, go right ahead. I don't see what the big deal is." She said with a smirk on her face.
Rias stood up from the bed and slowly walked towards Yusuke's dresser. He ignored what she said and did his best not to look at her voluptuous body as she walked pass him. All of her clothes were neatly folded up and placed on top of the dresser. She slipped her black underwear underneath her legs first then clipped her matching black bra around her breasts. Yusuke felt much better and got up on his feet after she finished putting the rest of her uniform on. He was quite surprised how tall she was as they both stood nearly the exact same height.
"Is your stomach alright?" She asked him.
Yusuke had almost completely forgotten about his stab wound from yesterday. He pulled up his white t-shirt to find his abdomen was completely healed. There wasn't even a scar or any visible signs of injury. Yusuke began to wonder if it was all actually a dream to begin with. If it was then how did she know he was stabbed in his dream?
Rias stepped closer to Yusuke and carefully examined his stomach.
"It healed up more nicely than I thought." She said.
"If it wasn't dream then how the hell am I completely healed overnight?" Yusuke asked.
"I healed your wound. You were in critical condition and you would have been dead if you were an ordinary human." She answered him. "I patched you up with my power overnight."
"Magic, yeah that explains everything." Yusuke remarked sarcastically.
"We were hugging each other naked all night while I transferred some of my magic power to your body in order to heal you. I was able to do it because we're both from the same clan." She added.
Yusuke answered her with a silent awkward look on his face. He wasn't sure if Rias was being serious about the nudity part or was she just causally teasing him. Then again, that does explain why they were both naked in bed this morning. He walked back over and sat on top of his bed while Rias took a seat next to him.
"Don't worry, I'm still a virgin." She causally said.
"Yeah… that makes me feel a lot better." Yusuke snidely acknowledged her.
Rias gracefully approached Yusuke as she caressed his chin gently with her left hand. Yusuke's face started to turn red as she brought him closer to her. His eyes widened at the sight of her beautiful appearance. Her silky smooth skin was as pure as snow and her blue eyes were like an elegant pair of sapphire.
"You shouldn't make such a cynical looking face." She whispered to him. "There are still many unexplored mysteries in this world."
"Mysteries huh?" Yusuke pondered then recalled something she said. "Is it true what you said earlier about being a devil?"
She nodded. "That's right. We're both devils and I am your master. May I call you Yusuke?"
"Sure I guess." He hesitantly answered her. Everyone besides his mother calls him by his last name.
Yusuke didn't really know what to make of it. This Rias Gremory from school just openly admitted to him that she was a devil. And on top of all that, she said that she was his master. He wasn't sure if she being literal or was just using the term devil in a metaphoric sense.
"You know Yusuke, you look like a completely differently person in the morning." She complimented him.
Yusuke looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Rias took her right index finger and placed it in the middle of his temple. The bangs of his hair were let down in the morning no longer slicked and held back with water-soluble hair gel. Yusuke had forgotten that his hair becomes un-slicked when he goes to bed at night. Aside from his mother, no one else had ever seen him with the bangs of hair let down.
"You look much cuter with your hair down." Rias quietly whispered into his ear.
Yusuke crossed his arms and coldly looked away from her. "Well I like it slicked back."
"Thank you for the meal." Rias expressed her gratitude as breakfast was being served.
Yusuke continued to remain silent as he sat in the kitchen dining table with Rias sitting next to him and Atsuko across the table. His mother had prepared a western style breakfast for him and their guest much to Yusuke's surprise because she rarely ever cooks breakfast. He took a deep breath; the smells of the food on the table filled his nostrils. His platter consisted of two pieces of toasts, two eggs fried sunny side up, and few sausages. He wouldn't mind having homemade breakfast served to him instead of the prepackaged kind he nukes and eats every day. It was clearly obvious his mother was just putting on a good appearance.
"The food is very delicious, mother." She complimented Atsuko.
Atsuko herself was very impressed how my well-mannered Yusuke's friend was.
"Why thank you very much."
He didn't really like the atmosphere going around especially with the recent development between Rias and his mother. They've quickly went from being complete strangers half an hour ago to treating each other as family. Rias noticed Yusuke had been stubbornly poking one of his sausages with his fork for the last few minutes or so.
"Yusuke, you still haven't touched the food mother made. Aren't you going to eat?" She elegantly said to him.
The way Rias said it made Yusuke cringe uncomfortably. She was acting too friendly like a surrogate older sister to him. He responded nonverbally by quickly stuffing the food down his mouth like he was going to be late for school. In less than a minute, his plate was nearly completely empty. He took a swig of coffee from his mug clearing away the hiccup that had been building down his throat from eating too fast.
"You shouldn't eat too fast otherwise you're going to choke. Eat it slowly and savor the food mother made."
Rias took a piece of clean napkin on the table and wiped the coffee stains from his lips. Yusuke twitched in seat, demonstrating his displeasure as he was colored with embarrassment. Atsuko was rather amused with their display of affection.
"Could you please drop the responsible big sister act already?" Yusuke quietly whispered to her. "My mom is NOT that hard to impress."
Atusko herself had a vaguely puzzled look her face as closely observed the two. Yusuke's was being quieter than his usual self with a nervous expression on his face. His female friend meanwhile had been very courteous with a sanguine personality.
"Yusuke, aren't you going to properly introduce your lady friend?" She asked.
"And just how am I supposed that?" He muttered under his breath.
Overhearing what they said, Rias set her eating utensils down on the table. She turned facing Atsuko and tilted her head with a slightly embarassed look.
"Oh my, I knew I had forgotten something. I've very sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Rias Gremory and I'm a third year student. I attend the same school as Yusuke-kun. It's very nice to meet you ma'am."
Atsuko replied with a friendly smile. "It's very nice to meet you too Rias-san."
She carefully noted how Rias was speaking Japanese very naturally without any weird accents despite her Caucasian like appearance.
"How long have you been living in Japan? Your Japanese sounds very natural."
"I've been living in Japan since I was a little girl. It's mainly because of my father's work here."
Atsuko couldn't help but follow up with another question. This was after all the first time Yusuke has ever brought a girl home. It was like something out of a romantic soap opera or anime series. She wanted to know more about their relationship and how they ended up going steady.
"So how long have you known each other?" She curiously asked her. "He never tells me everything that goes on in his life."
Yusuke quickly interrupted her. He wanted to set the record straight before his mother's romantic delusions got out of hand.
"Mom, please don't jump to conclusions right away. There's a good explanation for this if you just hear me out."
Atsuko did not look one bit surprised at his outburst. She took a sip from her coffee and then put the mug back down on the table. As teenager with a tough exterior, it was only natural for her son to act this way especially since this was probably his first and only experience in real life relationship.
"Oh Yusuke, you don't have to be so defensive about it. I know you're at that age and it's perfectly normal."
She the ignored the angry glare Yusuke had given her and addressed Rias directly. "Rias-san."
"Yes mother?"
"Thank you for taking care of that idiot son of mine."
After the uneventful breakfast introductions at home, Yusuke remained silent as he walked to school with Rias by his side much to his dismay. He wanted them both to go leave home at different times to not cause scene in the morning before homeroom. His plan got derailed when Rias obstinately insisted that they walk to school together. His mother's enthusiastic encouragement was also not helping him.
Upon arriving at the school gates, the crowd of students gathered around the fountain fell mute. A mass of faces stared at Yusuke and Rias as they walked through the gates side by side. Their collective emotions mostly fear and jealously mixed with a dash of astonishment filled the school's atmosphere. The silence was quickly extinguished and the conversation amongst the student quickly renewed.
"Is THAT really Urameshi?"
"Rias-sempai and Urameshi are walking together?"
"Why is Rias-sempai interested in a thug like him?"
"Who knows? Maybe she can change him."
Yusuke presence amongst the crowd of students had become their focal point. As the uproar grew, he could no longer distinguish all their individual comments and remarks. It's exactly what he had predicted and wanted to avoid. It's only natural everyone at school would behave this way when the idol of Kuou Academy is seen paired together with the toughest kid at Kuou Academy.
"I knew we should have gone our separate ways." Yusuke grumbled.
"Oh don't be so negative Yusuke." Rias said to him.
They continued walking pass everyone and entered through the main entrance. Yusuke stopped promptly in front of the grand staircase a few meters in front of them. The echo from his shoes rapping against the polished ceramic tiles quickly faded away.
"You might give everyone at school the wrong idea."
"What? That we're dating?" She took a quick guess.
"No, that you're interested in delinquents, rebels, thugs, and bad boys. Half the students at school may go bad just to impress you."
Rias was rather impressed that Yusuke thought of a possible negative implication from a simple misunderstanding. "I didn't know that you cared about the school's welfare."
"I don't. I just don't want to be the scapegoat for everything."
Rias smiled then quietly whispered into Yusuke's right ear. "I'll send someone to pick you up after school."
She walked up the staircase and leaving Yusuke standing alone at the entrance. Everyone else around continued looking at him while they gossiped amongst each other. He finally got tired of the crowd of students glaring at him and stood out eyeing one of them after the other. No one could hold his gaze and everyone began to disperse heading to their respective homerooms.
"Dammit, maybe I should have stayed in bed today." Yusuke cursed.
Yusuke felt a hand placed over his shoulders. He turned his head around to see Kuwabara with a rather jubilant expression. Sawamura, Kirishima, and Okubo were all standing behind him.
"Kuwabara." Yusuke greeted him.
"I hear ya! Life's a drag." Kuwabara sympathized. He quickly leapt back a foot from Yusuke with his friendly demeanor becoming a little bit more aggressive. "But don't worry; you'll be in ghost land soon. After I put you there myself! Aha heh heh heh…"
"Kuwabara, shouldn't you be thanking him for rescuing your kitten?" Okubo whispered, reminding him what Yusuke did for him yesterday.
"I'll thank him as soon as I finish beating him up!" Kuwabara shouted back at his face.
Yusuke observed with amusement. "Well at least they're back to being their usual selves."
Ahead, Rias was on already on the balcony overlooking the academy's main entrance. Several stone white columns were placed around the hall of the entrance that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The ledges and balconies were she was standing, too had support columns that reached the top of the building.
"So is that the boy down there?" A familiar voice asked her.
Rias recognized the person addressing her. Souna Shitori, the Student Council President leaned back against a nearby column with her arms crossed. Her short black hair extended only down to her neck. A pair of red glasses covered her violet somber eyes. She was both her friend and rival.
"Good day to you, Rias." Souna said
She returned her greeting. "Good day to you as well, Sona."
Souna tilted her head down back towards the main entrance gesturing Rias to come observe with her. Below them, Yusuke was still conversing with Kuwabara and his friends.
"I'm surprised you managed to tame the Great Urameshi. He must be very special for you to hastily let into your family."
Rias fixed her gaze down at Yusuke below and smiled. "Indeed, he willfully gave his own life to save a complete stranger without a second thought. That alone was worth the gamble. I also got this feeling that he's born under an unusual star."
Souna's eyes blinked for moment. She wasn't sure what Rias meant by that.
"I see."
The last bell of the day rang echoing throughout the campus. Yusuke decided not to cut last period just in case Rias' messenger came looking for him. A few minutes went by and he heard a loud uproar coming down the hallway. The noise slowly made its way into the classroom where it was revealed to be a legion of fangirls squealing. The rest of the females in room joined in after a second year male student entered the classroom.
"Kiba-sempai."
"Welcome to our classroom."
Yusuke identified the blond haired male that walked in the classroom. From the gossip he heard around school, this second year student was none other than Yuto Kiba. Kiba was the academy's resident lady killer and the bane of every unattractive guy hoping to go steady with a girl. From his handsome good looks to his gentlemanly aesthetics, it was no coincidence that he's one of the most popular boys at school amongst female students.
"Ah there you are Urameshi-kun." Kiba politely greeted him. "I'm here on the behalf of Rias Gremory-senpai."
Yusuke looked somewhat surprised. He wasn't expecting some like him to be his escort.
"So you're the messenger she then?"
Kiba nodded. "Yes, Rias-senpai is expecting you."
Yusuke rose from the chair before his desk and followed a Kiba out of the classroom. The female students behind them began looking worried as they each began wondering what he wanted with Urameshi.
"No Kiba-senpai! Don't do it!" A girl cried out.
"Is he really going to fight Urameshi-kun?" Another said looking distressed.
The fangirls weren't the only ones to notice Kiba and Urameshi walking together down the second floor hallway. Their presence soon attracted the attention of several males whom very interested in the recent development.
"HEY EVERYONE! KIBA IS GOING TO FIGHT URAMESHI!" Some shouted across the hallway.
More and more students gathered behind them after hearing rumors that Kiba was going to face off against Urameshi. A lot of male students were eagerly waiting to see them fight especially the ones who hated Kiba for having a monopoly on all the girls at school. They were all enthusiastically waiting for him to finally get his comeuppance. There was even a student going around acting as bookie and taking bets.
"I thought Kuwabara was the only one crazy enough to fight Urameshi." A student said.
"5000 yen on Urameshi!"
"10,000 yen on Urameshi!"
Kiba sighed with a degree of exasperation over the school's misinterpretation and began walking as fast his could while Yusuke closely trailed behind him. They quickly exited the main building leading them to the back part of the campus. Pass the school's gymnasium was the ancient old school building in the midst of a small forest. Despite being old, the wooden building itself was relatively stalwart. A few parts of the wall outside were covered with green ivy. The front entrance greeted its visitors with a small stair of well paved stones. This would be Yusuke's first time setting foot inside.
"This way please." Kiba said.
The interior of the old school building was nearly identical to the newer and larger one that replaced it. Yusuke had expected the place to be somewhat covered with dust along with a few cobwebs and maybe a broken window or two. The corridors and the hallways were completely spotless. Some of the rooms containing desks and other furniture were all arranged in an orderly fashion. The whole place had probably been completely refurbished or just constantly maintained since the transition.
They ascended up to the second floor of the building and continued down the hallway. Kiba led them to a room located directly in the center of the corridor. The entrance to the room was a pair of large wooden double doors. The sign placed above the doors particularly caught Yusuke's attention which engraved the words:
Occult Research Club
The room behind the doors had an appearance of a private office and study. The walls in the back by door were lined with bookshelves made of sturdy wooden frame. Dozens of books were placed on the shelves and most were large and thick bound by fine leather covers. Various works of art such as an oil landscape painting were hung on the wall in front them. The entire clubroom itself was properly well lit, not by electricity, but by several candlesticks placed around the room. The candles themselves illuminated the room with a creepy atmosphere.
In the center of the room was large squared carpet with a knee high table seated above. The table was sandwiched between two leather couches that faced each other. A three branched lit candelabrum was placed on top of the table. A meter to the left of the couches was a large desk made of fine wood along with a leather armchair pushed behind it. From its overall appearance, Yusuke deduced that this room had probably at one point been the principal's or headmaster's office before the school changed buildings.
As Yusuke entered the expansive room, noticed someone was already sitting in one of the couches. This person was a young girl with a rather small and petite build even for a middle school student. She had short white hair that grew down to neck and a pair of yellow stern looking eyes. Judging by her short stature, Yusuke assumed she was most likely a first year student like him. She was casually eating a desert alone by herself when they stepped into the room.
"This is Koneko Tojo." Kiba introduced her to Yusuke.
"The name's Yusuke Urameshi, pleased to make your acquaintance." Yusuke politely said as he bowed his head.
Koneko simply nodded her head at Yusuke in acknowledgement and went back to eating. Yusuke noticed that she was rather apathetic with her introduction and she showed little to next to no emotions at all. Her demeanor was very similar to that of an aloof cat. He concluded that she was probably one those emotionless stoic type girls who doesn't talk much. There was little to no point of trying to get to know her.
A small squared area in the upper right hand corner of the room was walled off by a wooden room divider. The entrance to this tiny area was closed by off by a pair of black curtains. Yusuke heard splashes of running water behind the curtains that sounded like it was coming from a showerhead. A fog of steam could be seen rising above the dividers and into the exhaust fan installed in the ceiling above. Yusuke himself was mildly fascinated on they got a shower or bathtub installed in the corner of the room that was supposed to be an office. How they managed to reconnect the pipes to bring plumbing into this room was a mystery in itself.
A female student stepped into the room from behind the black curtains as the sound of the running water stopped. She wore her long jet black hair in a ponytail that reached down to her legs. Her warm violet eyes were drawn towards the guest in clubroom that the president had invited. She graciously walked over to Yusuke and greeted him.
"Oh my, you must be the new club member the president was talking about." She politely bowed at him. "My name is Akeno Himejima, I'm the vice-president of the club. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."
Yusuke bowed back, nervously returning his greeting. "Name's Yusuke Urameshi, it's nice to meet you too Himejima-senpai."
Yusuke remembered hearing about her from his classmates and through word of mouth spread across the school. Like Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima was another third year student and another one of the school's most popular idols. She's what you may call the embodiment of the ultimate soothing blossom of Japanese femininity, AKA a 'Yamato Nadeshiko.' She was very well endowed, possibly even surpassing Rias in bust size along with an extremely gorgeous looking and seductive body.
The curtains in the back right hand corner of the room opened with Rias walking out. Her hair was a bit wet and it looked like she just finished bathing. She greeted Yusuke with a smile on her face while drying her hair with a towel.
"Sorry for making you wait. I didn't get a chance to bathe last night because I stayed overnight at your place. So I took a shower now."
Putting down the towel, Rias quickly surveyed the entire room seeing all the club members plus Yusuke were all here and accounted for. Yusuke, Koneko, and Kiba were already seated on the couches facing each other while Rias stood in the middle between them. Akeno brought Yusuke a cup of recently brewed tea before taking her seat. He quietly thanked her before taking a sip.
"We, the Occult Research Club, welcome you Yusuke Urameshi." Rias properly introduced Yusuke to their club.
Yusuke looked rather unconvinced. "My gut tells me this isn't the kind of club that goes around solving supernatural mysteries."
"You are correct; the Occult Research Club is just cover for us. It's more or less a personal hobby of mine." She continued on. "I'll cut straight to the point; everyone here in this room is a devil."
Yusuke responded with rather anti-climactic look. She had already told him twice this morning, so it wasn't such a shock the third time around. Rias had taken notice to his rather unsurprising reaction.
"Your expression tells me you don't quite believe what I am saying. Well, that can't be helped. You remember the guy with black wings last night right?"
Yusuke nodded. He replayed the exchange in his head where that son of a bitch stabbed him in his abdomen and then took off running before they finished their fight.
"That man was a Fallen Angel. They used to be Angels who served God, but got cast out of heaven for having evil and corrupt intentions. They're also the sworn enemies of us Devils."
The revelation intrigued Yusuke. Supernatural beings like Angels, Devils, and God DO exist in this world.
"We Devils have been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times. We've both been fighting for control over the Underworld, also known as Hell in the human world. The Underworld is split into two faction controlled areas, one belonging to us Devils and the other to the Fallen Angels. We Devils form pacts with humans in order to increase our strength. The Fallen Angels on the other hand will sometimes manipulate humans to eliminate us. And then there are the Angels from Heaven that come to destroy both Fallen Angels and Devils under God's order. So we pretty have a three-way war between Devils VS Fallen Angels VS Angels. As it currently stands, the conflicts between the three factions have been pretty much like a cold war."
Yusuke looked like his brain was to overload from all the information that was recently fed to him.
"That's a lot of exposition for me to quickly swallow." Yusuke said scratching his head. He then recalled the fallen angel from yesterday that had disguised himself as Sakumoto in order get to Kuwabara.
"So what did the fallen angel want with Kuwabara yesterday?" He asked. "Why go through all the trouble of disguising himself as a high school gang leader and taking his cat hostage?"
Rias had already come up with a theory in her head. "It's probably because he wanted to ascertain whether or not Kuwabara possessed a 'Sacred Gear'."
"Sacred Gear?" Yusuke inquired having never heard of the term.
"A Sacred Gear is an irregular power that dwells within certain humans." Akeno explained to him. "They usually manifest themselves as a powerful artifact such as weapon or a piece of equipment. For example, many historic figures possessed this power that allowed them to perform incredible feats way above the capabilities of ordinary humans."
Rias continued explaining where Akeno left off. "However, there are even those out there that are powerful enough that they become a major threat to both devils and fallen angels."
"But what he was doing didn't make a whole lot of sense." Yusuke said. "That fallen angel had been repeatedly trying to get Kuwabara to break his honor code but failed every time. He was even going to kill his cat because he wouldn't beat up his friends before I stepped in."
"The fallen angel was probably trying to forcibly awaken his Sacred Gear by playing with his state of mind. You see, Sacred Gears are very responsive to powerful emotions. In Kuwabara's case, this would be anger and the feeling of injustice." Rias looked at Yusuke with a smirk. "Thanks to your interference, they never found out and had taken several steps backwards."
Yusuke started to look a little distressed thinking that Kuwabara may still be in danger.
"But won't the fallen angels come after him again?" He said with a tense face.
"I wouldn't worry about the fallen angels coming back." Rias calmly assured him. "To be perfectly honestly, we could have never discovered that fallen angel and what he was up to without your help. He managed to keep himself under the radar without ever alerting our attention simply by posing as a high school student. Yet, your instincts helped you to catch the criminal even before you knew the crime."
"My instincts?" Yusuke gave a look that showed he still wasn't convinced with Kuwabara's safety.
"There's also no clear evidence that Kuwabara even possesses a Sacred Gear. They also risk incurring the Gremory Clan's wrath if they reveal themselves again."
Yusuke took another sip from his tea. Knowing that they would leave Kuwabara alone allowed him to finally relax. He still had several questions in his head that he wanted to ask. Was he really a devil? If so, when and how did he become one?
"That reminds me, you said earlier that I was also a devil right?" He asked and everyone in the room responded with nod. "When and how did I become one?"
"Don't you remember?" Rias said. "You died in a traffic accident two days ago."
The memories from the last two days made its way into the depths of his mind. Yusuke recalled how he met the little boy playing on the streets that day. He remembered how the kid walked up to the middle of the road with a red sports car braking as it skidded towards him. He dove towards the boy, pushing him out of the way as the car crashed head on into him. Later, he then awoke as a ghost while attending his own wake that was held at his house with his mother and Kuwabara grieving his passing. It was all apparently not just a bad dream.
"Wait, if I died in that car accident, then how the hell I'm still alive?" He said with feeling of discontent.
"I was the one who brought you back from the dead." Rias answered him
Yusuke's eyes widened after hearing what Rias said. He was astonished to learn that devils had the ability to bring people back from the dead. Under normal circumstances, people usually stay dead when they are physically killed.
"That day, I heard a first year student from school died saving the life of a little boy in a traffic accident. Much to everyone's surprise, no one ever expected someone like you would ever selflessly sacrifice your own life to save a complete stranger. You possess the qualities I look for when I pick my servants."
Yusuke blinked. "So I'm your servant then?"
"That's right Yusuke; I attended your wake and reincarnated you as a devil. You've been reborn as a member of the house of Rias Gremory, the daughter of the Duke of Gremory, a high-ranking devil. As my devil servant."
As Rias finished with her explanation, a pair of black bat-like wing suddenly sprouted behind her back. Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko all followed Rias' lead and each of them grew a pair of the same looking wings. This visual demonstration confirmed to Yusuke when they had said that they were devils, they literally DO mean that they were devils. He felt a little intimidated by their company.
"If you brought me back to life at my wake, then how come no one remembered that I died or was even in a car accident?" Yusuke asked. As a ghost, he clearly did not remember seeing any of the Occult Research Club members at his wake.
"As devils, we have the power to alter and erase the memories of everyone who witnessed your accident and attended your wake. We even sent out a cleanup up crew to repair the damage done to the car and guardrail overnight. That's why you woke up the next morning thinking it was all a dream."
"But I was also at my own wake. Not physically, but as a ghost. I don't recall seeing any of you there when I was closely observing everything."
"I couldn't resurrect you immediately because you had been dead for a few hours where your soul had separated from your corpse. We first had to perform a ritual here in this clubroom in order to put your soul back into your body. Your body and soul had become one again by the time we arrived at your wake and you probably lost conscious at that same time."
Much of Yusuke's skepticism about being brought back to life had been quenched with Rias' rather convincing and detailed exposition. In his mind, he was still trying to piece together everything that had happened in the last few days like a puzzle. If the devils could really could alter people's memory at such a large scale, then that would explain why everyone had been acting normally the following day instead of treating him like a zombie. He was still apprehensive of this group of devils' intentions for bringing him back to life.
"Do you have any more questions Yusuke?" Rias asked him.
"No." He quietly said.
"Well then, let's have everyone reintroduce themselves properly now that you know we're all devils." Rias announced to all the club members and all their devil wings faded away.
Kiba was the first to open his mouth. "My name is Yuto Kiba. I'm a second year student here at Kuou Academy. It's nice to meet you."
"Koneko Tojo… First year… Pleased to make your acquaintance." Koneko stoically gave her introduction.
"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third year student here. I'm also the vice-president of the Occult Research Club. It's a pleasure to meet you Yusuke-kun." Akeno bowed her head very politely as with her earlier first impression.
And at last came Rias' turn. She brushed her crimson red hair gracefully and gave a very direct introduction just as she did this morning. "And I'm their master and the president of the Occult Research Club, Rias Gremory of House Gremory. My family holds the rank of a Duke. Nice to have you on our team, Yusuke Urameshi."
Yusuke still felt rather unenthusiastic about joining a group of devils that possessed extraordinary powers. The truth of the matter was he didn't want to be brought back to life in the first place. He was perfectly content to have died doing a good deed and was even memorialized for it at his wake. Since he was no longer dead and no one remembers the accident, everyone still looks at him as Yusuke Urameshi the ultra-juvenile delinquent and a no good scoundrel.
"Thanks but, I kind of wished you haven't brought me back to life even if it's just to be your servant." Everyone in the room expressed a bit of bewilderment to what he said. He was becoming a little more flushed "My whole life sucked and my entire existence was completely devoid of any meaning or purpose. At least my death would have left some lasting impression on the world before you guys came and changed everything."
"Then why don't you try living your new life as devil then?" Rias said with a wink in her eye. "Stick with me and I promise you that your life and your future will become a lot more interesting."
Rias had taken a liking to him, though Yusuke wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she had become interested in him for performing a heroic sacrifice; maybe she felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a second chance at life. Whatever her reasons where, there was still a standing arrangement between the two: Yusuke was now her servant after she reincarnated him as a devil, and he would have to live like that for the rest of his life. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea nor did his face express such enthusiasm, even if she was hot looking.
"For starters, there is a ranking system amongst us Devils. It's called Peerage. I have one and the place where you were born and the family you were born into plays a big role in it. But there are Devils like you who can rise up. Everyone starts off as a novice first."
Yusuke quickly interrupted Rias. She was starting to sound like a recruiter to him. "That's nice information and all, but could you just stick with the gist please?"
Rias noted Yusuke's uninterested attitude and continued with just the need to know information.
"Remember what said earlier about the three-way wars between Devils, Fallen Angels, and God's Angel? Well, majority of us pure devils were killed in the previous wars several hundred years ago and we also lost a lot of our power. Our armies and legions aren't as big as they once were. Even so, we still needed to keep our numbers up. And just like with humans, devils are split between two genders: male and female and we are able to reproduce naturally. The main problem with us devils is that we have an extremely long lifespan, but an extremely low birth rate compared to humans. Having a long lifespan is pointless if we don't have the numbers to stand up against our enemies who wishes to see us dead. So we find humans who have good qualities in them and make them into devils. As our servants, that is."
Yusuke's only reply was a bored expression along with a slight yawn. It's as if he wasn't interested in the whole devil world politics business. However, he still continued to patiently listen to Rias for whatever else she has to say.
"Oh, don't make a face like that. Fine, I'll get to the point. Since this only increases the number of servants and not the number of powerful devils, we made a few alterations to our social ranking system. If a reincarnated devil becomes powerful enough, he or she is then granted Peerage. Because of this, there are now lots of devils living in the human world like myself. If you grow strong enough Yusuke, you can even have the power to influence the Underworld."
"Alright, I'm in." Yusuke agreed.
Everyone in the clubroom smiled happily at Yusuke's quick decision. The Occult Research Club may have just gotten another addition added on to their team.
"So you're alright with being my servant, Yusuke?" Rias asked hopefully just to be sure.
Yusuke answered her with a heartily smile. "You've gone through all the trouble of bringing back to life right? Well I'm guessing I can at least do something to earn my keep. I'm at your disposal my mistress."
"No, that won't do." Rias corrected him. "You will have to call me 'President' or 'Prez' for short. I am the Occult Research Club's President don't forget."
"Okay, Prez it is then."
More than a week had quickly gone by since Yusuke joined the Occult Research Club and began living his new life as a devil. One of the many new things he learned about himself was his devil physiology. As a devil, his body was now more physically stronger and faster than he was as a human. His sense of sight and hearing had also vastly improved. He could now clearly see in dark during night time like he was constantly wearing a pair of night vision goggles. His hearing had improved to where he can even eavesdrop in on other people's conversations from their houses.
There were a few minor drawbacks for being a devil. Rias had explained to him that devils are naturally weak to light. The stronger the power of light is, the more lethal it becomes to thier bodies. Light is very poisonous to devils and it's one of their Achilles' Heels. This is why fallen angels and the angels from heaven are the devils' greatest enemies thanks to their ability to project light as weapons. Rias also explained that as a recently resurrected fledging devil, it was perfectly normal for Yusuke's to naturally feel weak in morning since that period of day encompasses light. His devil body will eventually adapt and get used to the daylight just like when he was a human.
Yusuke also became quickly acquainted with the workings of the devils living in the human world and the work the Occult Research Club does after school. During times of desperation in the past, there were certain humans with the knowledge and resource to be able to call upon other supernatural forces when God wouldn't listen. In the human world, devils are seen as supernatural creatures and conventional wisdom commonly pans them as evil malevolent spirit and usually a red goat horned dude carrying a pointy pitchfork. The most common depiction is a human wishing for something like power, wealth, or physical and mental ability in exchange for their soul. That used to be the case however; there have been several changes in the Contract System in the Underworld.
Humans in the living world are still continuing to summon and make contracts with devils to this very day. The leaflet with the weirdly drawn circle with the message "We Will Grant You Your Wish" that Yusuke received when he was at the business district was coincidentally given to him by Rias' familiar who took a human form. Those leaflets where conveniently mass produced for people wishing to make a contract with a devil but do not possess the knowledge or resources to manually summon one by themselves. The magic circle that was drawn on the leaflet acts a summoning circle, allowing the summoned devil to teleport to the location where the circle is activated. The leaflets themselves are commonly handed out around town and are delivered to the mailboxes of certain households.
A powerful devil residing in the human world is given an area of territory that they control. It is also the only area where they are allowed to do their job. The main goal of humans making a deal with a devil is to obtain some kind of a favor that the human could not possibly obtain by normal means (or if they're just too lazy). Some of the most common things that have been contracted are for example: finding a lost pet, cleaning out person's storage room, used as a model, free counseling, etc. The contracts that most devils take today now have a 'No Soul & No Life Policy' which are commonly associated with wishes such as asking to be rich, powerful, or famous mainly because it's bad for business if their regular customers are dead and it would pretty much destroy the human world's economy and society if everyone made wishes like that. Also, most devils do not accept assassination requests or engage in any sexual favors.
The devils in the Occult Research Club are tasked with helping the people who summoned them fulfill their wishes with the best of their own abilities and obtaining a contract at the end. The devils' motives for helping the person who summoned them isn't entirely altruistic or an act of selflessness. Their main objective is to get a signature from that person that signifies they made a contract with an individual. Devils need humans to sign contracts with them, which increases their power and social standing in the Underworld based on how they many they've completed. The contracts are based on the idea that the more worshipers a god or demon has the more powerful they become.
Yusuke's first duty as new devil was to deliver stacks of those summoning leaflets to specific houses around town. The leaflets themselves are one time use only. If a human wishes to summon them again, they will need to use a new one and they will continue do so as long as they are constantly supplied with new leaflets. Normally this job was done by Rias' familiar, but she wanted Yusuke to know what kind of job devils have to do from the beginning as they begin learning all the ropes. The rest of the Occult Research Club members all had to do this when they each joined. Yusuke thought of it as pretty much his initiation phase.
The job had been a lot easier than he thought. Aside from the stacks of leaflets in his backpack, he was even given his own new bicycle as a gift from the club to begin his work. A GPS looking device marked the locations where the leaflets needed to be delivered. From what he was told, the locations that were marked on the GPS were usually households with a lot of greed and desires or they're regular customers who summoned them on a daily basis. The idea is to basically keep handing out the summoning leaflets to people with lots of greed and their regular customers who summons them every day to perform easy and menial tasks allowing them to easily farm contracts from them.
He'd felt a like a newspaper delivery boy as he made his rounds on his bike. The only difference was he wasn't making his deliveries before dawn, but in the middle of the night with the moon out and illuminating in the sky. Even if had been cloudy that night, Yusuke could still travel with no problems even areas without any lights thanks to his devil physiology that allows him to see clearly in the dark. He told his mother he'd gotten a night time delivery job which she reacted rather surprised but didn't question what he was really doing. Hopefully he wouldn't be doing this forever and move on to something new soon.
On a typical day after school, Yusuke had expected he would be making his usual nightly runs as he walked into the old school building that evening. The Occult Research Club members have already gathered inside and they were eagerly waiting for his arrival as soon as he stepped through the doors. As usual, all of the windows in the room had been covered with curtains to prevent any light from seeping in. The only light source where several lit up candlesticks scattered throughout the room.
"Ah you've arrived." Rias greeted Yusuke as soon he walked through the door.
She then turned her attention towards Akeno who was standing in an open area of the room. Akeno returned with nod and began her invocation. Yusuke couldn't understand any of the words she was saying and took a guess that she was probably trying to cast a spell or something. A large magic circle with various geometric shapes appeared on the floor and was glowing with a red hue below Akeno's feet.
"Prez, the summoning circle will be ready shortly." Akeno said. "Yusuke-kun, all you need to do is stand here in the middle of the magic circle when it's complete."
Yusuke gave a rather confused look that showed him trying to say he didn't know what was going on.
"Yusuke, your days of handing out leaflets are now complete." Rias congratulated him with a smile. "You can now start your job as a devil professionally."
He looked at her excitedly. "So I've finally graduated from demon delivery boy?"
Rias acknowledged him with a silent gesture which further raised his spirits. Going around town in middle of the night making mailbox deliveries had gotten very stale and tedious to him. He'd more than welcomed the idea of having a new job assigned to him.
"Yes, for now on you'll be making contracts. Since this is your first time, I'll start you off with something simple. Akeno has found a client who specifically requested your presence. "
Yusuke's eyes suddenly widened. Usually when a client summons a devil, the summoner can ask for a specific devil to appear by calling out that devil's name. Devils in the Occult Research Club like Koneko and Akeno were quite popular with clients and are highly requested. Both Yusuke and Rias' found it odd that a client would suddenly ask for him when he hadn't even been two weeks old nor has he even made a name for himself yet.
"I guess the word about you becoming a devil travels fast in the Underworld if people are already looking for." Rias said with a suspicious expression. "Maybe your reputation as a human particularly caught this individual's attention."
Yusuke himself knew that no one in town would even be remotely shocked if they found out he was literally a devil. Even before he died, his reputation for being the toughest kid in town was almost seen as being supernatural. Ironically, his classmates from his junior high years had gone around town spreading rumors that he sold his soul to the Devil for his immense fighting ability.
"I bet this guy is a person who's constantly bullied every day and knows me by my reputation on the streets. He probably wants to summon the Great Urameshi to teach him how to fight or act his bodyguard." Yusuke shrugged after making his quick conjecture. "I'll set him straight."
Akeno had finished with her invocations and the circle began glowing brighter with the red light becoming even more intense.
"So what's Akeno doing?" Yusuke asked as he observed her.
"She's engraving your inscription onto that summoning circle." Rias explained. "This establishes a link allowing you to instantly teleport from here to the client's location. I also need your left palm."
Yusuke extended his left hand toward Rias. With her right index finger, she slowly drew a circle in his left palm. The insignia of the Gremory Clan radiated itself onto Yusuke's hand with a crimson red glow.
"This magic seal represents the Gremory Family and is used transport you to your destination. When the contract is finished, it lets you return to this room." Rias then turned back toward the center of magic circle. "Akeno, are you ready?"
"Yes, Prez." Akeno said as she stepped out of the magic circle.
"Now stand in the middle of it." Rias directed him.
Yusuke slowly moved and positioned himself until was in the exact position where Akeno had previously been standing. The summoning circle itself began to glow strongly in a hue of blue light. He could easily feel the warm, radiated heat from the circle's projected power. The energy and light were flowing through and around his entire body. Yusuke felt a bit of anxiety throughout the whole process.
"The magic circle is responding with the client. Now you are going to be transported to that location. Remember that as a summoned devil, you represent the Gremory Clan. Your appearance and performance affects us all."
"I've give it my best then, Prez!" Yusuke confidently said.
"That's what I like to hear. Now get going!"
Yusuke's entire body felt tense and he anxiously waited for the circle to transport him to his destination. For his first assignment, he wouldn't be just interacting with a client, but also as an unfamiliar individual to another individual. He would have to quickly get used to talking to people politely outside of his comfort zone if ever wants to make a contract with them. The circle started to glow even brighter as the light changed from blue to white. In one big bright flash, Yusuke's body disappeared from the Occult Research Club. Both Rias and Akeno hoped that he safely made his jump.
Rias herself was still little curious about one minor little detail regarding to Yusuke's client. "Akeno, what was the name of the client that specifically requested Yusuke to be summoned?"
Akeno looked through her notes before quickly pulling out the client's information. This person had never made any previous contracts with the Occult Research Club and this would be his first if all goes well.
"I think he may be new customer." Akeno said not recognizing the name. "The client's name is: Kou Emma."
Yusuke opened his eyes, expecting to be in room of a house or apartment building of the person who summoned him. His jaws dramatically dropped completely opened and his eyes were widened with extreme astonishment. He wondered if he had been sent to a completely wrong location because this was most definitely not even someone's living space.
There were dozens of what appeared to be ogres in office clothes scattered throughout entire room performing various tasks. Some of them were running around carrying stacks of office paper back and forth. Others sat and worked on the many rows of office desks either on the phone, working on a computer terminal, or doing both. There were also several electronic visual display boards that were hanging down from the center of the room and mounted on the side of the walls. From Yusuke's own perspective, it looked like he was sent to a stock exchange run by ogres.
"MR. GEN JUST KICKED THE BUCKET! WE NEED HIS FILES PREPPED ASAP!"
"FORGET ABOUT MR. GEN! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO ABOUT ARTIFACTS STOLEN FROM GODDAMN VAULT?"
"THE BOSS IS GOING TO HAVE OUR ASSES FOR THIS!"
Yusuke continued to look awestruck as a he traveled down the large expansive office. Hopefully he could find an information desk or someone to point him in the right direction. He overheard many of the office ogres discussing their work mainly pertaining to how they were going to deal with today's influx of deceased souls. A bunch of others were lamenting how the vault had recently been broken into and the treasures inside were stolen. Yusuke had no idea nor did he care what they were mumbling about.
"Excuse me," Yusuke asked a red ogre who was typing away at a computer terminal. "Can you tell me where I am?"
"Yeah, you're in the Spirit World kid," the office ogre answered him impassively. "This building here is the Gates of Judgment. You got an appointment with Lord Koenma?"
Yusuke seemed completely puzzled to what the ogre was talking about. First of all, he had never heard of the Spirit World before which made him wonder if he was even still on Earth. He didn't particularly like the sound of this place being called the 'Gates of Judgment' thinking he may have stumbled upon the afterlife.
"I think there's been some kind of mistake." He abashedly confessed. "My name is Yusuke Urameshi, and I'm a devil sent by the Gremory Clan. I think they may have accidently sent me to the wrong place."
His name quickly caught the ogre's attention. "Did you say Urameshi as in Yusuke Urameshi?"
"Yeah that's what I said."
"Lord Koenma has been expecting you. He's the big guy in charge of this place." The office ogre pointed his right index finger towards a pair of double doors that was located at the far end of the room. "His office is that away."
"Thanks, I guess."
After getting some guidance, Yusuke started to head towards Koenma's office. The doors were passed several rows of open office desks each manned by a white-collared ogre. However, Yusuke still wasn't sure if he was really at the right place or not. Could this Lord Koenma fellow have been the one who summoned him?
Yusuke shortly arrived at Koenma's office door which was that of a sliding design. The double doors automatically slid open as if to invite him inside. As he stepped into of the office, Yusuke looked around the room to find no one inside.
In the center of the room was a simple desk made of mahogany. On top of the desk was a computer workstation along with stacks paper on the sides, several rewritable DVDs on top, a file cabinet underneath the disk, and a laser printer in the back left corner of the room. A brown leather swivel chair was set behind desk. In the front of the desk were two black leather single seat couches presumably for the guests.
"Hello?" Yusuke announced his presence that echoed through the room. "I'm Yusuke Urameshi and I'm with the Gremory Devils."
"I'm down here!" Yusuke heard a voice below him.
Yusuke tilted his below to see what appears to be a three or four year old toddler waving at him. The child was wearing what appears to be a blue robe with a red sash around his waist. He wore a blue oval hat on his head that had the Japanese kanji of the word 'King' displayed in the middle and the letters 'Jr' below presumably short for junior. The toddler also had a pacifier in his mouth and he was only about one fourth of Yusuke's height.
"It's finally nice to meet in person Yusuke Urameshi." He politely greeted him. "My name is Koenma and I'm currently in charge of the Spirit World."
For the first few seconds, Yusuke only eyed him with an extremely dumbstruck expression. "You're the BIG guy that's in charge of this place? And just what the hell is this place?"
Koenma lead Yusuke to back where he sat in his leather swivel chair behind his desk. Yusuke took a seat in one of the couches in front of him.
"You're in the Spirit World, also commonly referred to as the afterlife." Koenma explained. "When people die, they're souls are brought to the Spirit World where they then judged based on their good and bad deeds whether we should send them to Heaven or Hell."
Yusuke tried very hard to keep a straight looking face while Koenma finished his exposition. He quickly gave in and burst out laughing making Koenma feel rather annoyed and mildly angry.
"Hahahahahah….! That's a good one kid! But seriously, who's really the guy in charge around here?" Yusuke asked.
"I am, for the time being." Koenema calmly said while giving Yusuke a fiery glare.
Yusuke continued on laughing as grasped his stomach. Teardrops caused by his laughter came pouring down his eyes. "Hahahahaha…! Why kind of an idiot would put a toddler in charge of the afterlife?"
"That would be my father, King Yama. He's the one who decides who goes to heaven and who gets to spend 10,000 year in purgatory. I'm more of an overseer of what's going on in the Spirit World. Even though I appear to be a child, I'm at least fifty times older than you. So watch your mouth when you speak to me."
"So it takes hundreds of years for you to move past diapers? Hehehehe… Hahahahahaha...!"
Koenma ignored Yusuke's cracked-up laughing and pulled his files up on his computer. "Now I'm beginning to understand what kind of person you are. Yusuke Urameshi, age 15. Personality is impulsive and ill-mannered with a violent temper. You have little respect for authority and you're a very lazy student."
Yusuke stopped laughing and his cheerful mood immediately took an about-face. "Hey, how do know all everything about me?"
"This is afterlife Yusuke, so it's natural that we have a dossier of everyone in the living world on file." Konenma said. "Also you previously died saving the life of a little in boy in a car accident. A very noble deed that not even God himself could have seen this coming."
"Is there a point to all this?" Yusuke said pretending to look uninterested. "Cause that happened like well over a week ago."
"No one had expected that you would selflessly risk your own life to save that little boy and especially not someone like you with a selfish delinquent background. When you died that day, there wasn't even place in the afterlife prepared for you yet."
"Oh give me a freaking break!" Yusuke agitatedly clamored. "Are you telling me that you guys were expecting that little boy to die that day if I hadn't thrown myself in front that car?"
"Well I wasn't going to tell you this because it'll only piss you off even more. Are you sure you want to hear the rest of this?" Koenma asked him.
"Yes!" Yusuke immediately replied.
"Without the confusion you caused by you running into the street, the car would have actually missed the boy and he would have escaped with one less scrape on his left shoulder."
Yusuke couldn't believe what he had just heard. "What? But the car was heading right towards him."
"Yes, well the driver would have veered to left if you hadn't dived in front of the car. So in other words, what a senseless waste of a human life."
The shock of the revelation hit Yusuke so hard that it sent the couch he was sitting on to teeter over edge and collapse flat on his back. He was silently laid there for a few minutes and regained his composure. In his head, he realized that now he owed Rias Gremory even more for bringing him back to life especially since it had all been a useless sacrifice.
"So did you call me all the way here to take my soul back to afterlife?" Yusuke asked after sitting back up on his couch.
"Of course not. I just told you that we weren't prepared for you to die yet. Even if the Gremory Clan hadn't brought you back to life as a devil, I had an ordeal already planned out for you to see if you were truly worthy of being brought back to life. You having been resurrected by an outside party actually saved us a lot time and a ton of paperwork."
Yusuke leaned back in seat with a sigh of relief. "So why did you call me all the here to the Spirit World anyways?"
Koenma pulled one of his side desk drawers open and toke out a piece of paper about twice the size of his tiny hands. He placed the piece of paper face flat on the desk with the words and images facing up before sliding it towards Yusuke.
"Does this piece of paper look familiar to you?" Koenma asked.
The piece of paper itself was the same summoning leaflet distributed by the Occult Research Club and bears the same summoning circle with the Gremory Clan's Seal in the center. Yusuke had a near photographic memory of what the leaflet looks like after handing out hundreds of not thousands them around town during his first week.
"So you're the one that summoned me?" Yusuke asked him.
"That's right Yusuke; both the Human World and Spirit World need your help."
Koenma's response threw him off. "My help?"
The young overseer of the Spirit World nodded. He leaned forward putting both of his elbows on the desk. He looked Yusuke straight in the eye with a very serious expression. This gave Yusuke the impression that he was in for a long dialogue of exposition.
"Less than twelve hours ago, three unknown criminals broke into the Spirit World's vault made out with the three Artifacts of Darkness and escaped into the living world. If these stolen artifacts are used to their full potential, the entire Living World could be in a state of chaos and suffering. We're talking about lots of lost lives, people's souls being captured, and a bunch of other unpleasant things I'd rather not think about."
"Wait a minute," Yusuke interrupted him. He didn't like where this was going and found the situation rather suspicious that the afterlife was looking for outside help rather than having their security force handle it. "You're telling me that the Spirit World doesn't have its own paramilitary force or a security team to help track down those stolen items?"
"We do Yusuke, but SDF only answers directly to my father and he's not here. In fact, they're only even called in when there's literally going to be an 'End of the World' crisis."
"So what's wrong with waiting for your old man to come home and having him send his own troops to look for them? Surely those criminals can't cause that much damage while we wait. I mean your dad's not gone for an entire year is he?"
Yusuke noticed the toddler's serious and authoritative demeanor had quickly fallen at the mere mention of his dad coming home. With his hands, he was clutching both sides of his head while it shook uncontrollably. Drops of sweat where dripping down from his face.
"The crooks aren't the problem."Koenma nervously spoke. "One week starting tomorrow, my dad comes home from vacation."
"So that's good news isn't it?"
"Not in the slightest. The one thing he always tells me is to protect the King's Vault. But I didn't think that someone would actually break in."
"So you're going to get chewed out for this." Yusuke said in a rather depreciating tone. He was used to being constantly cussed out by adults like his mom and his teachers. He never toke any of it personal and neither should he. "I don't see what the big deal is."
"Mine will only be a minor issue." Koenma's voice shook vibrantly.
He imagined the image of his father appearing before him in his head. From his own perspective, the mighty King Yama had the face of a red demon. He had a full blown black beard, a pair of brown nasty looking eyes, and set of carnivorous teeth. He wore an oriental judge's cap with the Japanese kanji of the word 'King' displayed in the middle, signifying his position as King of the Spirit World.
"My dad King Yama is the god of death and judgment. Whenever he gets angry, the entire human world will suffer just from the side effects of his temper. We're talking about natural disasters being generated randomly on Earth."
The powers and abilities that Koenma was described about his father send chills down Yusuke's entire body. When he was little, he thought the deity from Buddhist Mythology was just a fictional folktale used to scare bad children and keep them in line. Not only does King Yama exist in reality, but he can also potentially destroy the world just by throwing an angry tantrum.
"Well can't you just explain it to him so he doesn't blow a gasket?" Yusuke anxiously said.
"These three Artifacts of Darkness that were stolen from the vault happen to be his most prized and favorite treasures. He practically treats them like priceless antiques and always kept them in mint condition. When he finds out that they've been stolen, everything's going to be fire and brimstones with him. He might even sink an entire continent to get those artifacts back!"
The situation seemed almost hopeless to Yusuke especially when the guy in charge of the Spirit World has to ask for outside help. All the ogres working in the building were all just white-collared workers and salarymen like the ones back on Earth. They're own security force can't even be deployed without King Yama's approval. There's also no way of telling how powerful those three thieves really are. He may be a devil now, but he was still far from being powerful.
"Look, I know that the whole world is at stake here, but I'm just a rookie reincarnated devil that's less than two weeks old. I got this feeling in my got that tells me those thieves may be a lot stronger than that fallen angel I fought over a week ago. Aside from my increase in physical strength, speed, and senses, I don't even know how to access the rest my devil powers yet."
Koenma's cool returned as he calmly sized Yusuke up with his slant looking eyes.
"You greatly underestimate your own abilities, Yusuke. What makes you different from a full blooded devil is that you have a physical body of a devil and a human soul. This allows you to retain and use whatever special powers and abilities you have as if you were a human."
Yusuke didn't know what he was getting at. Aside from being a genius in street fighting without any martial arts training, he wasn't psychic nor did have any super powers when he was growing up.
"Look, I wasn't born with any supernatural powers before I died. So there's really no point to what you just said."
"That's because no one has ever showed you how to harness and use your Spirit Energy when you were still human."
The words quickly drew is attention. "My Spirit Energy?"
Koenma made a pistol with his right hand. His right index finger acted as the gun's barrel.
"Focus your right index finger and picture energy from your entire body concentrating there."
Yusuke felt stupid, but did what Koenma demonstrated and shaped his right hand into a pistol. In his mind, he concentrated all the energy had within his body that he may or may not possess all into his right index finger. A second later, a bright blue aura started glowing and covered his entire right fingertip.
"Hey, it's glowing… and getting warm."
"Good. Now all you have to do is aim and shoot. Imagine the trigger in your mind and then pull it tight." Koenma instructed."
He moved his glowing index finger several meters to the left of Koenma's desk and aimed it at the back wall. After making sure the area was clear, Yusuke imagined himself squeezing off the trigger of a loaded firearm. A wide beam of blue energy shot out from his fingertip and blasted straight through the wall leaving chunks of rumble and dust behind. After the smoke cleared, Yusuke and Konema were both amazed to see that the energy blast had created a large roundish hole about two-thirds the size of Yusuke's total height in diameter. Smoke was rising from his right fingertip just like the barrel of a recently fired gun.
"Woah! That some serious firepower!" Yusuke said while gaping in awe at the chunk of wall he just destroyed.
"It's your Spirit Gun." Koenma informed him.
"Spirit Gun?"
"Ordinary human beings normally just emit Life Energy from their body. However, some humans have an aura within their bodies called Spirit Energy, also known as Reiki. You concentrated your Spirit Energy from within your body and shot it out of your fingertip. Hence the name: Spirit Gun."
"My Spirit Energy did all that damage? I thought Devils normally use Magical Energy?"
"As I explained before, you still retained your human soul when you were reincarnated back to life as a devil. It is your human soul that has allowed you to keep a constant aura of Spirit Energy in your devil body like you were still human. And thanks to your stronger devil body, your aura and your Spirit Power are both much more powerful than if you were back in your human body."
Yusuke attempted to gather the Spirit Energy from within his body again into his right index finger. This time however, his finger wasn't glowing at all and there wasn't any feeling of warmth coming from his finger.
"That's odd, it's not working now."
"If you fire your Spirit Gun at full power like you did just now, it's deadly enough to kill a low-class devil and maybe even a mid-class if you're lucky. But doing so will consume all of your Spirit Energy for the entire day. Until you increase your spirit muscles so to speak, I recommend that you hold back your power if you plan on firing your Spirit Gun more than once a day. And especially if you're using it on a normal human."
"Sweet, this oughta even the odds for me." Yusuke said with a smile.
"So Yusuke, I can count on appointing you as Spirit Detective of Earth then?" Koenma asked.
He replied with a baffle look on face. "A Spirit Detective? What do they do?"
"The Spirit Detective is a seeker of justice, a righter of wrongs, and the stalwart defender of the Human World... or something along the lines like that. As the Detective of the Spirit World, you'll be working on cases to help maintain peace and balance throughout the various coexisting worlds."
In Yusuke's head, it sounded like Koenma was trying to recruit him over to the Spirit World. He was very reluctant to accept Koenma's proposal because he has no idea if the Spirit and the Gremory Clan were at odds with each other or not. He had already pledged his adherence to Rias Gremory for saving his life. He would never backstab the people who had helped him.
"Woah! I thought I was contracted here to help fix your vault heist problem, not pledge my allegiance to the Spirit World. And from what I was told, aren't devils and heavenly beings technically supposed to be enemies?"
Koenma shook his head. "The Spirit World is from Buddhist Mythology, not Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. We pretty much remained neutral in the whole Devils versus Angels versus Fallen Angels Battle Royal. Our agenda is more focused on keeping the human world safe."
"So Spirit World isn't prejudiced against devils?"
"The universe isn't as black and white as you think Yusuke. They're not the same evil monsters the media portrays them to be, at least not anymore. In fact, it was all just the Christian propaganda machine at work. Devils like your mistress for example, had been living peacefully among humans for a long time. Occasionally, you get one or several bad apples here and there. But, they do a very good job policing themselves and the territories that they control. This is also partially the reason why the Spirit World has never needed to commission another Spirit Detective in the last ten years."
Yusuke was surprised to learn that he wouldn't be the first should he accept. "So there were others before me then? What happened to them?"
"Both previous Spirit Detectives were humans who displayed tremendous amounts of Spirit Power. Our first detective has long since retired and has started a family. We have a policy of not calling people out of retirement unless it's absolutely necessary."
Koenma let out a depreciating sigh before he continued speaking.
"Our second one went AWOL ten years ago after completing a case. We haven't seen him since then and probably never will."
In Yusuke's head, he was still wondering out of all the people in the world, why Koenma decided to pick him as his main candidate. If there were humans out there in this world that were as strong as or even stronger devils, why not choose any of them?
"If your previous detectives were human, then why did you choose a devil this time?" He curiously asked.
Koenma pointed his right index at Yusuke's chest. "You have all that's required to become Detective of the Spirit World. You risked putting your own life danger when you saved that child. That showed both courage and selfless service. The Gremory Clan is one of the more honorable and pragmatic devil families. They have a stake in protecting the Human world just as you do. You're also the closest candidate I can find within the area that the thieves escaped to. And as a Spiritually-endowed devil, you're the best link we have in the living world at the moment."
"I'm not going to be executed as a traitor if I agree and go back as a Spirit Detective am I?" Yusuke asked again to make sure.
"It is in your best interest actually. Even though you have Spirit Energy flowing through your body, physically you're still a devil. You still possess many of their weaknesses like to light-based powers, holy and divine weapons, and cannot go near or touch anything that has to do with the God from the Bible like a crucifix or holy water. As a Spirit Detective, you would receive the Blessings of the Spirit World which would negate your devil body's impurities. Physically you'll still be a devil and you'll be recognized as an Avatar of the Spirit World."
What Konenma said did make sense about devils possessing many weaknesses. That skirmish he had the other day with the fallen angel was very unpleasant. The spear of light that was stabbed through his stomach had a very painful effect on his entire body. It felt like his energy was slowly being sapped away and he probably would have been completely drained if he hadn't pried it from his body. It would be very troublesome if he had to fight not just one but many of them at once.
"Not only that," Koenma continued on. "A Spirit Detective is comparable to a cop with badge and a warrant. This will allow a devil like yourself to enter territories normally forbidden to you like a church without being instantly attacked by a Heavenly Angel or an Exorcist should you have to investigate those areas. You'll be seen as a representative of the Spirit World. Keep in mind though; some of the more hostile factions like the Fallen Angels and other wanted criminals will see you as fair game if you enter their turf."
"Okay," Yusuke exclaimed. "I'll accept that fancy title and track down those three magical toys. Now let's hurry before your dad comes home and blows the world up."
Koenma bowed his head gratefully to Yusuke. "Then I hear by proclaim you: Yusuke Urameshi of House Gremory as the Detective of the Spirit World."
With the formalities out the way, Koenma started to give his briefing on the three stolen artifacts. A widescreen monitor lowered itself to the right of Koenma's head stopping just a few inches above his cap. The monitor turned on displaying three items on three separate screens.
"Your chief concern will be recovering the items." Konema explained.
The monitor flashed and displayed a double-edged long with a brown demonic hilt. The pommel itself had a face of a demon. "The Shadow Sword can subjugate and transform whoever it cuts into a monster."
Next on the monitor came the image of small round mirror. The mirror had a bronze frame with a small chain tied on the top. "The Forlorn Hope is a mirror that emits its cryptic power when there's full moon.
The last item was an orb about the size of a large grapefruit. The orb had a black and green honeycomb design. "The Orb of Baast can capture living souls, especially those of children."
"Cheery, who the hell came up with that one?" Yusuke sarcastically mused.
"Understand Yusuke that these Artifacts were forged by darkness and pray on the weak and desperate. They were created eons ago by the universe itself and serve as a vital role in balancing life. But in the wrong hands, the consequences will be catastrophic."
Yusuke thought of a hypothetical question in his head. "So what's to stop devils like the Gremory Clan from keeping the artifacts to themselves to boost their own power if I'm able to track them all down?"
"Then I'll let you be the judge whether or not to devolve any of this information to them if you don't think they can be trusted. But just remember, if we don't have those three artifacts back when my father returns, I'm not sure I can even use words to describe the devastation. You can't stop my old man once he's angry and he's perfectly fine with acceptable losses on Earth." Koenma then remembered the punishment he'd be getting. "And for the love of all that is good in this universe, DON'T SCREW THIS ONE UP!"
"Okay, on the case then." Yusuke calmly responded knowing that he might have to go through this alone.
Closing Thoughts:
Sorry if this chapter lacks any combat action. It's mainly to the get the exposition out of the first as we're introduced to both the world of the Devils and the Spirit World. If you enjoyed reading this chapter, please give it a review. This helps us authors stay motivated and continue writing if we see that people are interested in the work that we produce. Thanks again for reading.