Summary: Youko Kurama had just recently gotten acquainted with the Toguro brothers and he's a mystery case that even the infamous Urameshi team won't be able to solve...until too late. KxH. Implies YxK, maybe KxK.

Riding Deception: Chapter 1 – Elegance

A dark room
A dirty well
A bottomless pit
An empty shell
All is right
A reflection-less mirror
A terrifying abyss
Golden eyes
Who've seen anything but bliss
All will be revealed

A lonely figure turns around in the darkness, eyes gleaming with murderous intent, yet the mouth is set in a frown, face expressionless, posture stiff, cold. All makes one wonder, where was the joy in this one's life?

And as if he heard our words, he replies:

"There is no such thing as joy."

A lonely figure stands in the darkness, slowly, ever so slowly, drowning.

~-Kurama-~

Beautiful green eyes, so droopy yet so eerily wondrous, were open. Staring fixedly at the ceiling in remembrance of a long forgotten dream. 'Everything will be alright soon.' A voice had uttered, causing black wings to flutter, warm arms to encircle, and words to comfort. All is illusion. Kurama's lips curved into a bittersweet smile.

Throughout all the years with Kuronue, he had never doubted the demon, so young, and so, soo naïve. The bat was as attached to the fox as a baby was to its bottle; so trusting and oh so gullible. Of course, had it been any other demon he'd have disposed of him as soon as he lost interest, but Kuronue was just too amusing.

However, throughout the years spent with Kuronue, Kurama had found himself more and more protective of the bat, tearing any demon that crossed him limb from limb, not that Kuronue was complaining. He had enjoyed such possessiveness.

Remembering such times with the bat brought back memories repressed.

'Everything will be alright.' Kurama smirked. Indeed it will.

Kurama looked out the window of his current residence. Seeing many fields of souls, the dark, the light, the fiery, the timid, the forever condemned, and the forever restless. He chuckled. Koenma was such a fool. Separating souls was just a waste of time. Without the proper balance, the world would be in chaos, so what made the Rekai any different? Perhaps, that was one of the reasons, why he had the Reikai Tantei.

Getting out of bed Kurama changed into his normal training clothes despite the fact that there was absolutely nothing normal about them. A demon's wardrobe, black silk and a forgotten language inscribed on the hems of the soft yet durable robes. It should've sparked suspicion, but the fools were just that...fools.

Kurama glanced at the mirror, eyes slightly unfocused, tentatively reaching out to touch the smooth surface. Nothing, it was always nothing. Nothing worth looking at was ever reflected in those ever reflecting walls. Empty green eyes, dull red hair, and a scrawny, disgusting little figure, who was this person?

Definitely not him.

A blank mirror.
A hollow shell.
All is illusion.

Kurama abruptly moved away from the mirror as if he'd been shocked. He turned away eyes focused once more. He was here on a mission, and it was time he got going. He didn't want to be late. After all, he still needed to bring the tantei around to his side.

~-?-~

"Oi ya big baby! What'd you want from me now?" Yusuke Urameshi, new spirit detective of the Reikai arrived with a 'bang' as the door slammed open.

"I suggest you shut-up detective, I'm not in the best of moods." A short figure could be seen leaning against the far wall twitching slightly.

"Since when are you ever?" A growl. A wince.

"Settle down Yusuke! I have important news for you both and Kuwabara. Where is Kuwabara anyway?" Yusuke turned to see the diaper-bags in his big comfy red chair.

"O, well, he's-"

"I'M HERE!" Kuwabara was panting heavily, hands on his knees to keep from falling face forward.

"Well it's about time the baka got here."

"Shut up shrimp! I just got detention today so I-" Yusuke just couldn't help a sweatdrop. He wondered if Kuwabara knew he had just set himself up for a snide comment.

"O great, just when I thought the baka couldn't sink any lower then the dirt under his feet, he goes and digs himself a hole." I guess not.

"Why you-" Yusuke snickered, it was sooo much fun watching the little guy get the best of the big guy.

"Hmm, I wonder who I should send to jail first, Kuwabara or Hiei."

Silence. 'Well that shut them up good.'

"I'm serious, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei. I have some very important news for you!"

"Ok, whatever diaper-bags, just get on with it already." He'd better not be giving us another mission. We just got done beating the crap outa Suzaku and his gang a few weeks ago, we don't need another one this soon. He could see Hiei twitching still. Wonder what crawled up his ass and died.

"Well let's see, how to start this, a few weeks ago, we spotted a breach in the kekkai barrier, but we thought nothing of it since it was so small. However, soon after, a human was reported to have been on demon grounds and-"

Hiei's eyes narrowed. He had been having visions lately, all were unclear, but he was sure that those visions were meant to warn him of an oncoming danger, and this little piece of information was becoming a little too suspicious. How could a ningen get through the Makai barrier? Other than that, the youkai would have sensed him and he'd be dead in a matter of seconds.

"-miraculously, the human survived an entire two weeks before we brought him here."

"Koenma, you do realize what you're saying right? It's impossible for ningens to cross into the Makai much less survive that long." Koenma sighed. He knew Hiei was going to say that, the other two blockheads on the other hand were sagging to the floor wondering what it had to do with them.

"Precisely why we brought him here, there is absolutely nothing normal about him. We questioned him, but it had seemed like he didn't know he could get in until he walked right through the ripped barrier. We also inspected him, and just to say, he's a pretty peculiar case. Instead of having the normal human ki necessary to begin a life, he was born with youki instead. How? We don't know." By now, Yusuke's interest was finally peaked.

"So you think he's a demon?"

"No, not necessarily. We found no traces of demon heritage in his ancestors or current family. That's what makes him so peculiar, we don't know anything about him except for the normal everyday facts of his life."

"So what's this got to do with us again?" Kuwabara of course, being the slow one, he had no clue whatsoever.

"Great, another stupid question from the oversized monkey. Should've expected it." Before another fight could start, Koenma pulled out a fan and whapped them both over the head. Needless to say, he was soon directed with the most murderous and ugly glare imaginable. He winced.

"Touch me again and I'll cut your fingers off!"

Reminder: Never EVER hit Hiei over the head. No rephrase. DO NOT TOUCH HIEI.

"Now now Hiei…you're still on parole y'know… " Koenma began nervously, praying to the gods he'd be able to keep his head. The demon had come into his employ after failing to steal the three artifacts of darkness, and he was no less terrifying now as he was then. "Ahem…As I said before, we don't know how he has youki, but it doesn't really matter right now anyways, but what has me stumped is that he knows how to manipulate and control his youki."

"So what do you want us to do?" Yusuke was now officially bored. All Koenma did the entire time was yap yap yap and yap. It really was annoying, he just wished Koenma would get straight to the point for once.

"Well, actually, I don't want you to do anything, but what I was trying to say is that since he can use his youki and is pretty fair in combat, he's going to be joining your team Yusuke." Hiei glared.

"What team."

"Just go and check him out." Hiei scowled at being ignored. He HATED being ignored.

Well anyway, he's in the Reikai training room…or at least he was…" Koenma pulled out his big screen to search for the attractive redhead, not finding him within the castle walls, he turned to say, " Well, he's not in here, so that means he's probably outdoors, he seems to like being outdoors the most. Well? What are you waiting for! GET TO IT!" A few grumbles and grave curses later, the trio found themselves out on the terrains of Reikai.

They stopped before what seemed like a battlefield, eyes wide. They expected some scrawny little boy tripping over his own feet trying to throw a 'fair' punch. What they got, however, was the understatement of the year. Koenma really liked to be vague on details didn't he?

Kurama smiled slightly as he danced around the many vines trying to strike him. Graceful as ever, he jumped over a root snaking towards him as it shot up, doing a front flip and twist he landed behind the large man-eater.

Kurama was blindfolded, eyebrows scrunched slightly in concentration. Moving when he sensed a motion close by, he continued to dodge only when necessary. Training oneself how to battle without the sense of sight was a truly difficult thing to do. However, being as old as he was, sensing the slight ki it takes to move was easy enough.

Kurama had long ago sensed the presences of the trio approach. He knew the meeting with Koenma earlier in the week had proven useful. The manipulation he had used had helped him greatly to gain the prince's respect.

~-Flashback-~

"…Who are you?" Baka Koenma…to think you're the prince of Reikai.

Pathetic.

"My name is Minamino Shuichi. However, I would rather be called Kurama, if you will." He hated it when he had to put on the polite charade, it was degrading and he wanted nothing to do with such acts, but he didn't have much of a choice anyhow.

Lying to humans was never much trouble, lying to the prince of Reikai was even easier. After all, that's what he gets for spending so much time on the nasty little creatures.

Humans were such simple-minded things. Believing everything a decent looking person tells them. All of them, blinded. Never looking beyond the mask or shield they all call a body.

How simpleminded.

"How are you able to survive so long in the demon world, how did you even manage to come across it? How do you even know about it?" So many questions, and so little answers. Tsk, tsk.

Being the slightly suspicious 'human' that he was, he had been dragged to the prince's office, as previously planned, after a spike in energy during a 'fight' with a rank D youkai. The yellow tiles vaguely made him want to puke.

"I happened to stumble across a rip or so it appears, and I decided to investigate. I was rather curious where it lead and if it was even real. Of course, I had come across them before. This was many years ago, Koenma-sama." Playing the innocent little ningen was hardly fun, but watching the prince's face as he spoke was very amusing. It was obvious he didn't get much respect from his detectives.

"I discovered my affinity with plants then, and have been using them since then. That, of course, explains how I know of the world's existence…as well as yours, and I didn't see a problem with going back when I got the chance since I obviously wasn't caught the last few times."

Koenma flushed at that statement. How could he have not known? Well, he pretty much knew how that could've happened. Damn onis. It was embarrassing talking to such an intelligent specimen.

"Ahem, yes, er, that is all for now, why don't we stop here. You're welcome to stay here for a while if you'd like, I just have to have some paperwork done on you first." Koenma, you are too predictable. Hopefully, I'll have more fun with your detectives. Speaking of which…he still needed to proceed with the plan.

"Koenma-sama, I hear you have detectives?"

~-End Flashback-~

Kurama smirked. This was too easy. Being a thief had its advantages. One would need the skills of deception when faced with an investigation. Frowning again Kurama was once again reminded of his bargain.

With a slight scowl, Kurama did several back flips to avoid the spitting poison being directed at him. This mission required the mask of Shuichi Minamino, and he wasn't sure if he could act that way for long. He had given up that mask the day his ningen mother had died, he at least owed her that much.

He did hate being so nice after all.

~-Hiei-~

Hiei was impressed.

Wow, Hiei impressed? Since when did a ningen EVER impress him?

Never.

Hiei didn't think a single ningen on the face of the earth could be so skilled in the art of combat. The kid was dodging vines left and right, snapping jaws up and down, and razor sharp leaves everywhere else, and with her eyes closed!

Hiei narrowed his eyes, how could a ningen perform such a complicated technique? How did she acquire such skill? Not even the detective would be able to perform those stunts.

'But then again, he's a rather reckless fool.' Hiei looked to the gaping ape and cringed. 'And he's just an idiot.'

Focusing once again on the girl as she flipped back a number of times, he continued to analyze the female. It seems there's more to the ningen race then just their pathetic existence. Aside from the skills, the female was very attractive. A slim figure, crimson red hair, and…emerald green eyes?

Hiei was suddenly very aware of the eyes staring back at him. The female had stopped her performance, uncovered her eyes, and was just…staring. She was standing under the many plants that had tried to practically murder or eat her, and they weren't in any way harming her. Instead, they seemed to have slowly started creeping towards them. Maybe they're trying to say hi?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Maybe not.

~-Yusuke-~

Yusuke gawked at the attractive redhead. He was undeniably shocked at the level of skill the redhead was displaying. She was amazing! Wish Keiko could be like that. Yusuke could feel himself falling, and hard. Hey, Keiko is cute, but man, she's hot!

Yusuke continued to stare. The redhead moved with the grace of a feline. The loose clothing were clinging desperately to the long limbs as the dancing figure whipped through the air. Taking a glance at Kuwabara, Yusuke could see that his love for Yukina was short-lived. Drool was very much visible and he wanted to smack his orange haired friend.

'Not this time Kuwabara, it's my turn.'

The next thing he knew, Kuwabara was rushing towards the redheaded female. He was about to chase after the boy but stopped as he saw a green vine shoot up from the ground, aiming directly for Kuwabara's heart.

'OOO Shit.'

Kurama could sense the intense gazes of all three of his targets. 'The Baka ningens, they just don't get it do they? Never put blind faith in someone you don't know.' Kurama laughed inwardly, snickering in mirth as he took off his blindfold.

'They have absolutely no idea what's in store for them. They'll pay for the trust they put in me.' Kurama jumped off the head of a giant death tree he was currently standing on and stopped moving, simply observing.

The one in black must be Hiei, they weren't joking about him being a difficult case. I can just sense it. The orange haired baka must be Kuwabara. Kurama twitched.

'He look's like an orangutan.' That left only one person. Yusuke Urameshi. Kurama smirked.

It was just too easy.

Kurama was suddenly cut off from his current musings as the orange haired baka rushed towards him. The vines on the ground, which were tuned to motion, came up to strike him. Kurama sighed.

Baka ningen.

TBC

ENGLISH/JAPANESE DICTIONARY:

Ningen/human

Ningenkai/human world

Youkai/demon

Makai/demon world

Reikai/Spirit world

Aniki/older brother

Otouto/little brother

Baka/idiot, fool, jerk, etc.

Oi/hey

A/N: This entire story is being revamped a little bit. Minor things are being edited to fit the storyline better. New reviews would really help encourage me to continue (I mean really), it's been so long you guys probably thought I gave up huh? Well I hope you all enjoy it still!