He knew he was being watched. That much was certain. The question was, by who and why? Did they suspect his true identity, or did they just pick the wrong person?
Before Shuichi Minamoto could figure that out, someone knocked him out with an item specifically for demons of a certain rank.
He woke up in a warehouse with a 'child' smirking at him with a devil-may-care grin.
"You know, you're actually a pain in the ass to find. If I hadn't know what to look for, it would have taken longer to track you down."
Shuichi...or rather Yoko Kurama...threw a thinly veiled glare at his captor. He smelled human, but his spiritual power was leagues above what most humans were.
"I'm afraid you have me confused with someone else."
"Nope," said the boy, popping the "p" sound. "I think I found exactly who I'm looking for."
Kurama inwardly tensed and readied for a fight. He didn't have to wait long...the boy clearly had some skill with his spiritual energy, though his attacks were a bit sloppy.
The red head still didn't see the leg sweep or the haymaker that flattened him on the ground, and he inwardly braced for the attack that might cost him everything.
The boy instead grinned.
"I've been looking forward to a decent fight for months now!"
Kurama stared at him.
"You stalked me down, kidnapped me and then did all this...for a fight?" he said incredulous.
"Well yeah, where else am I going to find a decent sparring partner? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent fight around here, especially since I know perfectly well what a pain in the ass you are to fight when properly prepared first?" he said as if it were obvious.
Kurama had to admit, it was a fun fight. Especially since it was becoming increasingly obvious the boy had only sought him out to relieve his boredom. Still...
"Did you have to kidnap me though?"
The boy rolled his eyes at that.
"Yeah, like I could get the infamous Yoko Kurama to agree to a proper fight in the middle of the street without being looked at like an idiot. Or worse, give you ample opportunity to load up on your more tricky seeds to kick my ass with," he deadpanned.
Kurama inwardly preened at that.
"You're not going to report me to the Spirit World are you?"
"Hell no," said the other boy. "Koenma can kiss my ass if he thinks I'm going to do his work for him for free! And Enma is a dick anyway. Besides, compared to the dumber youkai you're relatively harmless... the last thing I'd want on my conscience is to know I upset your ma by exposing who you are too early."
Kurama felt a shiver of alarm, mostly at the open admittance the boy knew he was close to his human mother and that she was not aware of what he truly was.
"Who are you?" said Kurama.
The boy blinked, as if the question genuinely surprised him.
"Urameshi Yusuke," he replied.
Which said nothing at all. As the boy went to leave, he paused for a moment before he turned the door knob to the outside.
"Oh yeah, before I forget... you need to get your ma checked out as soon as possible if she starts coughing weirdly or is under the weather. If I remember right her office has asbestos or something bad it in it that will make her seriously sick, considering her immune system was indirectly compromised by an outside party," said Yusuke.
That was highly alarming... and Kurama had to wonder where the other boy got his information.
Several months later, Kurama found himself very thankful that he ran into Yusuke...his warning had given them ample time for his mother to reach the doctor and get treatment before the condition progressed to something far more serious and deadly. It solidified his alliance...and later friendship...with the odd teen.
On an unrelated note, Kurama became Yusuke's new sparring partner. The two of them would fight until they were both exhausted allowing themselves to push the limits of their spirit energy considering the pro heroes would be on their ass if they did it in public. Which meant they just had to get...creative...about how they used the limited warehouse space.
Yusuke was a loud, crass, arrogant boy who had a very uncanny way of thinking outside the box and a hidden degree of intelligence Kurama found himself appreciating. His scholastic grades aside, Yusuke was actually highly intelligent and even more observant than he let on.
He also had a high degree of well hidden empathy towards others, but he hid it under a rough exterior. Kurama also found the boy to have a deep well of loyalty...once you earned his trust he would move heaven and hell to help you, as long as you didn't betray him. Add in his hidden potential that they were drawing out at a steady rate, and he was the sort of friend Kurama would have quite literally killed to have around when he was still robbing people blind.
As it was, Kurama found himself liking the tsundere-tempered boy...even if Yusuke would loudly and vehemently denied such accusations.
Some time later...
Hiei glared at the other boy Kurama insisted on introducing him to. Yusuke grinned back with his usual devil-may-care smirk. Kurama found himself mentally comparing the two and finding odd similarities for some reason.
"Why should we trust a human to help us?" demanded Hiei.
"Yusuke is a strong fighter, and he knows when to be discreet."
"I'll judge that for myself," sneered Hiei. The casual familiarity the boy displayed towards him irked the fire demon to no end. He refused to acknowledge any sort of 'friendship' with a mere human.
"Bring it on, three-eyes!" snarked Yusuke, causing Hiei to almost trip from his shock. How did the other boy know of his Jagan eye already? He didn't bring it out very often to keep it quiet.
The fight was intense, but at the same time rather gratifying. Yusuke fought dirty, but he took Hiei seriously as a fighter and the fire demon found himself appreciating the boy's stamina and fighting skills. Didn't mean he acknowledged him as worth his time though.
However what Yusuke did next would give both demons a headache and more than one reason to be entirely cross with the idiot.
He charged up his spirit energy, causing Hiei to prepare to use the limited space to outrun it... then he let off a rather odd wave that hit not only Hiei, but Kurama as well.
The second it hit, both demons had a migraine worse than any they had ever had in their lives.
"Urameshi, you idiot," snarled Hiei, recovering first.
"Really Yusuke, did you have to use that technique so forcefully?" complained Kurama, rubbing his poor head. His eyes were slitted and golden, and his aura changed from 'human' to 'demon'.
"Sorry... couldn't think of anything better to try and bring my Kurama and Hiei back," said Yusuke apologetically.
He mentally sent a 'thank you' to the old crone Genkai for teaching him that trick, even if he was still hopelessly sloppy at it.
"I need a drink," said Hiei.
"Agreed," said Kurama.
"We better split before the pro heroes show up. Someone would have almost certainly noticed it," said Yusuke. "Besides, not like Aunt Atsuko would notice a few missed bottles."
Kurama blinked at that, mostly because as far as he had known Yusuke, he had always called Atsuko his mother.
Hiei didn't care to get to the bottom of the mystery, he just wanted some liquor.
The three of them disappeared before the pro heroes busted the warehouse and found signs of illegal quirk use.
The trio would have to find another place to spar, because the pro heroes would be watching the place like hawks for weeks.
"Atsuko is your aunt?" said Kurama.
"My birth ma Inko had an undiagnosis tumor in her brain. The doctors mistook her symptoms for something else and when they finally found out what caused her death, it was far too late," said Yusuke bitterly. "Atsuko took me in initially because her sister was sick, but adopted me shortly after."
"So what was your original name?" asked Hiei. Atsuko's taste in beer left much to be desired, but it was better than nothing.
"...Midoriya Izuku," admitted Yusuke. He trusted Kurama and Hiei with his life. "Atsuko had me change my name in an attempt to put my reputation as quirkless behind me and blackmailed the schools I attended into not asking what my quirk was to avoid a repeat. After a while they were more interested in my reputation as a delinquent than asking about what it was for their records."
"And the fact you've been hiding your actual intelligence from them and us this whole time?" said Kurama dryly. He had seen the books in Yusuke's room...there was no way they were Atsuko's and they looked too well thumbed from hands that were far too small to be hers.
Yusuke looked sheepish.
"I was bored and there's no way I'm subjecting myself to the books the school hands out. Besides, it would piss off those farts immensely learning the 'delinquent' was smarter than them this whole time."
"Why are there copious statues of that annoying pro hero All Might in your room?" asked Hiei.
Yusuke paled, and Kurama smirked. He smelled blackmail.
"What?" he squawked.
"Your room is filled with junk regarding that annoying Hero All Might," said Hiei, staring at him. "A rather absurd amount actually."
Yusuke thought back, before swearing. He had forgotten his collection burned up during the incident that caused Puu to hatch too early, and he had been too busy (and broke) to replace any of it. Besides, he had more important things on his mind than gushing over the latest All Might video after he was brought back.
"It's okay Yusuke, we promise not to bring up your apparent crush on All Might to Keiko," teased Kurama.
"Shut up! It's not a damn crush!" said Yusuke, face flaming red. He slumped down defeated slightly. "I always had a fascination for the way All Might helps people when I was a kid, alright? Not like I could become a pro hero with a rep like mine, and no quirk."
"Wait, you wanted to become a pro hero?" said Kurama, surprised. This was news to him.
Yusuke couldn't look either of them in the face. Besides he might as well come clean now.
"I used to dream of being a hero like All Might...then I got diagnosed as Quirkless and I had to move in with my aunt, so I had to let it die. I figured if I couldn't help people the way he did, I could at least keep the worst of the bullies in line by being a bigger bastard than them. And well...you saw how that turned out."
Kurama felt a pang of sympathy for Yusuke. He often forgot that even Yusuke must have had a dream at some point. He just never thought to ask.
Hiei cut through the tension like a knife with his next words.
"Enough of this human dreams crap. I want to know how we're getting Yukina out of that place," said Hiei irate and slightly buzzed.
"Well we can't exactly storm the place right now," said Yusuke, getting into mission mode. "Never mind the fact that the fat bastard is heavily guarded, our bodies aren't ready to handle that sort of fight."
"Yet," said Kurama.
"And I have no doubt there will be casualties out of all this...if we do go in there, we have to make it look like a villain or vigilante attack, not the work of demons retrieving one of their own. And you better tell Yukina you're the brother she went looking for, or I'm kicking your ass hard," said Yusuke looking at Hiei. The firey demon grumbled under his breath uncomplementary.
"A plan would be useful," agreed Kurama. "As would supplies."
"I don't know about you, but I want to rob that fat prick this time around. Last time we didn't get a proper chance because we were too exhausted," said Yusuke. Kurama smirked at him, more than happy to get behind that plan.
"What do you have in mind?" said Kurama. He would be more than willing to fine tune any half-assed plan of Urameshi's, as the other boy did come up with some brilliant ideas.
Yusuke smirk spoke of dark deeds and darker plans.