Why Them?

DISCLAIMER!

I do not own Yu-Yu-Hakusho, nor do I own their characters, just my OC's.

Please, people Review! I want to know what you think of this story!

Chapter Four

Hope ran as fast as she could towards the hospital. She had a deep feeling in her heart, that this demon won't put up much of a fight, but she shook it off. Most of the demons she ran into, only had one purpose in their mind. Getting human souls. Shaking her head, Hope continued running to the hospital. "I gotta hurry!" she muttered to herself. "Given what I know about the Forlorn Hope, on the night of a full moon, you can ask the mirror for one wish, at the cost of something. And tonight's a full moon! DAMMIT!" Hope cursed, running as fast as she possibly could to the hospital.

In a matter of seconds she reached the hospital and seen a boy about her brother, Adam's age who reeked of the demon scent. His hair was a good length, passed his shoulders anyways, and forest green eyes that would make almost anyone melt, but that didn't include Hope. He was also dressed in a school uniform.

The boy looked up at her, and giving her a pleasant smile. "Hi. You must be the Spirit Detective after this, I presume," the character said to her, holding up the Forlorn Hope.

Smirking, Hope crossed her arms. "Well, my, my! I got myself a junior detective on my hands!"

"I am Kurama, and I will gladly hand over the Forlorn Hope, but with one request."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "A request?"

The boy, Kurama, nodded. "Yes, I'd like you to meet someone." And with that, Kurama walked into the hospital.

"Damn, just my luck. I get a demon and he wants a friendly chat!" Hope growled to herself, but found herself following none-the-less. "Here goes nothing."

Once entering the hospital, Kurama led her to an elevator and took her straight up to the fifth floor. Once the doors open, he dashed to room 501. Inside the room was a sickly looking dark haired woman. She looked up, and at the sight of Kurama, her face gave off a glow of happiness, not something Hope expected to see.

While grinned widely at Kurama, the woman glanced over to see Hope standing in the door way. "Oh... It's so rare to see you bring a friend over," she stated, smiling slightly at Hope. Hope hesitantly smiled back.

"She's human" Hope thought to herself. "So why would Kurama want to deal with her?"

"You should just lie down, mom," Kurama suddenly states, shocking the hell out of Hope.

"D-Did he just say mom? This is going to be a bit more difficult."

"Hm... I'm feeling better today," the woman stated.

It was then that Hope glanced down, trying to sense what was wrong with this woman, until she seen her hands. They were covered with markings. A disease, maybe?

"I'll help you peel some apples," Kurama offered, picking up an apple and a knife to go with it.

Before Hope could even get defensive by the fact that Kurama was holding a blade, the woman looked up at Kurama. "Don't bother. I have no appetite today."

"If you don't eat something healthy, you'll never recover!" Kurama strictly stated.

"Okay, okay! You are so strict, Suichi," the woman commented.

That perked Hope's interest. "Suichi? Wait, I thought his name was Kurama..."

After peeling the apple for the woman, she laid down for a quick nap to regain some of her strength. "Please, follow me and allow me to explain," Kurama asked, leading her to the roof of the hospital. Once on the roof, Kurama started explaining the whole ordeal to her. "'Suichi' is my alias in the human world. And that woman you seen is my foster mother, my foster father died not too long ago." Kurama looked off into the distance. "They've been taking care of me for fifteen years, yet I've been hiding the truth..."

Hope was actually starting to feel sorry for the young lad, err, demon. "My true form is a Yoko, and my profession is to disarm wards and disengage locks to steal ancient treasures and weapons."

"So in short, you're a thief?" Hope cut in, her eyebrow raised.

Kurama sighed. "Yes. Fifteen years ago, I was pursued by a highly skilled hunter and seriously injured. I then escaped into the human work with a spirit body." Kurama looked back up into the sky. "Being helpless then, I was unable to transform or possess anybody, so I was forced to lay dormant in a woman's still forming fetus."

Hope's eyes widened. "Whoa..."

"If I could bear it for another ten years, I would recover and my flesh would completely become that of a demon's. I decided when that happened, I would simply vanish from this woman's sight forever."

That right there stunned Hope. "But if that was your plan, then why did you..."

Before she could finish the sentence, Kurama cut her off. "Did you see the wounds on her hands?"

Hope flinched and looked to the side. "Yeah. They look like scars." Knowing all too well to what they looked like, Hope grabbed her left shoulder without thinking. Shaking off the feeling, she looked back up at Kurama. "But that doesn't explain—"

"It was because of those scars!" Kurama exclaimed. "Six years ago... I came home from school and was looking for some container. Mother told me where to find the container, and I tried to get it myself, only to have the chair I was standing on, fall out from under me." Kurama looked off to the side. "Mother lunged after me, not knowing that I could've escaped the fall unscathed, and caught my head before it could land in the shattered remains of a plate. The stench of blood was everywhere, and her arms were sliced up badly," he explained, sighting greatly. "After the bandages were removed, the scars still remained. I tried so many times to leave home, but... her smile, and the scars, kept hounding me... I was unable to leave! As a demon myself, it is unthinkable to have fostered such emotions, but it was when she fell ill that I realized... that I had always considered her my mother."

Hope was honestly starting to feel sorry for this demon, her eyes screaming of sympathy. "He truly cares..."

"She won't last another month." Hope gasped at the sudden news. Kurama then turned to look at her. "And I want to use this mirror to save her, that's my only wish now. Once my wish is fulfilled, I'll return the mirror to you."

"Wait, but that completely contradicts what you want! If you give yourself up to me, won't your mother be very lonely?" Hope asked.

"It matters not..." Kurama stated. "She has a loving boyfriend with her now. He's the president of the little business she's working for." A faint smile appeared on his face. "If she recovers, she'll be happier without me around."

"Hey, wait! You don't know that, Kurama!"

Kurama turned to look at Hope and chuckled. "You seem to know about this. You smell of a demon as well, almost similar to me. So you must understand."

Hope shook her head. "I know. I have the ability to transform into a demon using a cretin spell I learned long ago, making me one too, but that doesn't mean I understand!"

Smiling, lightly again, Kurama looked deeply into Hope's eyes, giving her light blush that was seen by the demon. "You know, you work for Koenma, but I never learned your name, detective."

Hope looked up at Kurama and chuckled. "Hope. Hope Urameshi."

"And what kind of demon do transform into?" he asked politely

Hope, turning back into herself slightly, grinned widely at him. "That's a question for another day!" That made Kurama chuckle lightly.

"He's kinda cute, but not my type"Hope stated inside her head.

Suddenly, a man came bursting out of the door leading to the roof. "Ah! Suichi, there you are! Hurry! Ms. Shiori is...!"

"Mother!" Kurama shouted out, running down to his mom's hospital room, with Hope right on his heels.

"The illness suddenly got worse..." the doctor explained. "Frankly speaking, she's in an unstable state right now. Tonight will be critical... I've tried my best."

At that tiny piece of information, Kurama turned and raced back to the roof. "I have to do it now!"

"You're going to use the mirror?" Kurama didn't answer. "I heard that you'll need to give something to it in exchange for its fulfilling your wish... Do you know what it is?" Hope asked, keeping up with Kurama.

"Yes," Kurama answered in a grim voice. "It's 'Life'."

Hope gasped as memory of a sensei of hers states, "A life for a life...", when Kurama said that.

The two of them finally reaches the roof and Kurama set the Forlorn Hope on the ground. "This is a mirror which fulfills your wish but at the same time, takes away your life. Therefore, it's known as the Forlorn Hope, and the owner of the mirror often changes hands." Kurama then looks down at the mirror he placed on the ground. "Forlorn Hope, please accept the moonlight and awaken! Reveal your strength that will fulfill my wish reflected on your surface!"

Suddenly the Forlorn Hope began glowing brightly, and a grim voice came from the mirror. "The happiness of this woman... Is really your wish?" the voice asked, reflecting a picture of Kurama's human mother and her boyfriend.

"Yes," Kurama answered, without a single hesitation.

"Whoa!" Hope yelled out. "Are you absolutely sure about this? If she lives and you die, won't it be just as meaningless?"

Kurama's eyes never wavered from the Forlorn Hope. "There's no other way."

The voice from the mirror spoke up again. "Is this really your wish? Sacrificing your life for somebody else's happiness?"

A faint smile appeared on Kurama's face again. "I've been deceiving her for fifteen years. If I can slightly pardon myself by doing this..."

The voice rose from the mirror again. "Very well! I shall do as told and grant your wish!"

The mirror glowed again and Kurama placed his hand over the glow. Suddenly, his body was engulfed in what seemed like electricity, pulsating around him, draining him from his life source, causing him to cry out in pain.

Without thinking, Hope lunged down and shoved her hand beside Kurama's. "What are you doing?" Kurama shouted out.

"HEY MIRROR!" Hope shouted, ignoring Kurama. "Take my fuckin' life instead of his! This way, you can still fulfill his Godblessit wish without entirely taking his fuckin' life!"

"Are you fucking crazy?" Kurama yelled at Hope, earning just a smirk from her.

"Probably!" Then her face grew serious. "Have you ever seen a mother crying over about leaving her child just to save their life from slavery? Or have you ever seen a mother crying over the death of her child? That latter one would be the ultimate fuckin' unpardonable act!"

'What dose the former mean then?' Kurama ponder.

Suddenly a bright light engulfed the two, before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared, leaving both Kurama and Hope laying on the ground, neither moving.

Kurama's eyes quickly snapped open and raised up. "I'm still alive... Then my mom... MOTHER!" he shouted, running off, but just before he entered the door, he turned to see Hope's body slowly rise up. "She's alive..." he commented, smiling lightly. And with that, he left in search of his mother.

Raising up to sit on her butt, Hope rubbed at her face. "SHIT! Well, since I can still feel pain, must mean that I'm still alive." Glancing to her right, Hope sees the Forlorn Hope. Carefully, she picked up the mirror and looked at the door leading downstairs into the hospital. "I guess that means I got the fuckin' mirror back, but what about his mom?"

As if hearing her, the mirror spoke. "Hey, girl! I never seen such a reckless person before, let alone known they existed! But if every wisher were like you, I would have no need to be called the Forlorn Hope anymore..."

Taking that as a good sign, Hope walked down the stairs, and was able to see Kurama with his human mother. Smiling she walked on, the Forlorn Hope in hand.

Once outside, she opens her communicator and called Koenma, who answered immediately. "Hope!"

Grinning, she held up the Forlorn Hope. "Got it!"

Sighing greatly, Koenma looked at her. "That's two items obtained. Yusuke got the Orb of Baas back, and tomorrow will go after the Sword of Darkness."

"In that case, I'll take this to him and go with him tomorrow to obtain the last artifact," Hope stated, closing the communicator and walked on to Yusuke's home.

Eventually she got to Yusuke's place and gave him the Forlorn Hope and simply told him that she would be going with him after the last artifact and bonked him in the head when he made a rude comment about her name and compared it to the artifact she gave him before leaving and heading home.

To be continued...

Next time...

Hope remembers how she got another set of scars that are on the blow the one she received nine years praider to them on lower left side of her shoulder. she meets a forbidden demon but is fire and ice.