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The Past, The Present And The Future

The Past - Memories

Chapter 1 - Memories, Vengeance And Dreams

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"Yusuke! Yusuke!" yelled a frantic voice, just seconds after a

loud crashing sound was heard throughout nearly the whole apartment

in the middle of the city. The digital clock on the bedside table

showed the time as 7.00 am.

The girl glared irritably at a boy sleeping on the bed soundly

and tried calling a few more times, her voice getting louder and

louder each time she shouted.

"Get up, Yusuke!" she said angrily, her blue ponytail shaking

in anger. She tried slapping him a few times, but quickly removed her

hand from the drooling face. She then took the body by the shoulders

and began shaking it violently, attempting to wake the boy up.

That pig, why doesn't he wake up? grumbled the girl,

determined not to let go until she got his attention. Right to the

moment, the boy was still sleeping soundly.

Yusuke was just opening a sleepy eye when someone shook him

with the force of an earthquake. Yusuke opened his brown eyes in

shock to see a pair of pink eyes staring at him urgently. Oh no...

muttered Yusuke in heart and sat up groggily on his bed.

"Huh, Botan? What are you doing here so early in..." Before

Yusuke could finish the sentence, Botan interrupted him impatiently.

Botan seemed very anxious and panicky. Rivulets of sweat ran down her

forehead and she was panting heavily.

"Urgent stuff, Yusuke. Koenma has a very important message for

you." As she said that, she threw Yusuke a briefcase bearing the

character 'Rei' on a corner. Yusuke threw Botan a dirty look because

this wasn't exactly the perfect idea of waking up. Now he knew that

Botan could shake people like a rag doll.

With quick and deft fingers, he opened the briefcase and looked

at a blank screen. "Reikai investigators don't have holidays as

school gives us. I don't deserve to be treated like this, I'm still a

human more or less. This had better be important or I'll never

forgive you for this... You know my days off are very important to

me," Yusuke grumbled loudly and glared daggers at Botan.

After a few minutes of static, still no picture.

"Hey! What is all this crap? How come there's no picture?" said

Yusuke, hammering the briefcase with his fist.

"Hands away!" warned Botan, already standing straight with her

oar in her hands.

"Watch it!" Yusuke had just managed to get his hand away before

Botan slammed the top with the flat part of her oar. "That's

dangerous!" growled Yusuke and looked at his fingers.

"That damned box needs to be treated like this sometimes,"

explained Botan, after knocking it. She kept her oar away with a wave

of her hand and sat down on the floor.

The screen began to spit and splutter. Koenma appeared after 10

seconds of static, chewing intently on his blue pacifier, or better

known as the Fuumaken. He was still dressed in his typical Koenma

manner, with a pair of kungfu style pants and a bib. Over his small

head drooped a huge floppy hat that was larger than his body. George,

the blue oni was standing stiffly beside Koenma, as any other

faithful and obedient servant might do. Koenma's desk was also in a

mess with mountains and mountains of papers everywhere. Koenma

himself also looked rather untidy with his hair sticking out one

side.

"Yusuke, I have a very important mission for you now. This

mission is more difficult than 'Mission Impossible'. Let me remind

you once more, be careful and ..." As Koenma said that, Yusuke let

out a sleepy yawn, showing his disinterest for Koenma's usual

introduction.

"Koenma, cut the crap and let's get straight to the point,

okay?" said Yusuke at Koenma tiredly, and he received a rough nudge

in the ribs from Botan, reminding him not to be rude to Koenma.

Yusuke shrugged off Botan easily and leaned back on one elbow.

"Okay, if that's what you want. The Reikai is very proud of you

because you have finally destroyed Sensui. Now, Reikai is once again

peaceful. A few days ago, we sensed a very strange and powerful

energy field somewhere near the borders of Makai and Ningenkai."

"So what am I supposed to do?" interrupted Yusuke impatiently.

"Yusuke, let me explain it all first!" yelled an exasperated

Koenma.

"Whoa, calm down. Getting angry is very bad for you," said

George, patting Koenma on the back. Koenma relaxed and calmed down.

"This energy isn't Reiki or Youki, but a totally different

power. Don't disparage it, it is every bit as powerful as Reiki or

Youki. Reikai has never experienced such power and it might pose

great danger to all three worlds. I'm afraid that this power could be

three times more powerful than Raizen, maybe even more. Because this

threatens the well being of all of us, I'll go through this mission

personally with your Reikai special investigator team. According to

some sources, this group of people may range from 3 to 7, each with a

different ability. Please contact Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara

immediately as we might need their help," said Koenma.

"Do you have any idea what is happening down there?" asked

Yusuke, beginning to show interest in the assignment.

"Well, Reikai has a special prison in Makai where we kept some

of the most dangerous criminals there. The castle has a reiki or

youki barrier where neither side could use their power against each

other in between this wall. Although it was the Reikai that erected

this system, we can't see what's happening inside. Simple things such

as checking their youki is also impossible, unless we free them. To

tell the truth, I do not have the slightest idea what is happening

inside," confessed Koenma.

"Anyway, one more question. Where are you going to meet us? You

can't just simply wander around in the streets of Ningenkai like

that," said Yusuke and scratched his chin, narrowing his eyes at

Koenma.

"I'll meet you all at Keiko's ramen shop in two hours' time.

Yusuke, all our hopes lies in you," As Koenma finished his speech,

the picture spluttered and died out, leaving only static behind.

"What? Two hours? How am I going to find all of them,

especially Hiei? That youkai is always disappearing. Now, I don't

even know where he is, in Makai or in Ningenkai..." exclaimed Yusuke

desperately scratching his already tousled hair.

"Well, you have to find him somehow. I'll help you," answered

Botan enthusiastically, sitting down on a cushion on the floor.

"Duh!" came the reply as Yusuke began combing his hair.

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After talking with Yusuke, Koenma stepped down from his

ridiculously huge leather armchair and paced around. Things had been

getting out of hand lately. Enma-Daiou had gone off for a holiday,

again! Leaving his poor son in a midst of paperwork. Problems seemed

to arise one after another. Why did demons from Makai always seem to

find ways out to Ningenkai? Didn't they have anything better to do?

Koenma couldn't stand to think about this question for one more

second so he quickly transformed into his teenage form. As he walked

out of his office, he stopped by the wall mirror to check his hair

and clothes. Of course he didn't want to embarrass himself in front

of the rest...

As he was priming his hair, he suddenly realized how handsome

he looked without his pacifier. In fact, he belonged to the category

of 'bishounen'. That reminded him what Enma had said to him a little

while back. "Koenma, you are not young anymore. Before long, you are

to take my place. But before that, you must find yourself a mate..."

As Koenma recalled his words, his face flushed a shade of pink.

He suddenly felt a stab of pain in his heart and his eyes began to go

mist over... Koenma closed his momentarily and took a deep breath. He

bit back that feeling forcefully. Koenma took a final look at his

outfit and went off in a huff.

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Yusuke pulled his jeans up and put on a clean white t-shirt. He

combed his hair into his usual style and began pacing about in his

room, then stopped and went downstairs. Atsuko was off at her present

husband's house so there was no one in the apartment.

He stopped by the phone and began punching in Kurama's phone

number. A sleepy voice answered the phone. Yusuke recognized it as

the voice of Shuiichi, the human body that Kurama possessed. He told

him that Koenma had a new mission in hand and planned to meet them

all. Kurama's sleepy voice agreed and hung up.

"Kurama as a youko sounds a lot different..." thought Yusuke to

himself as he remembered the more mature voice. Yusuke shook his head

as he remember the scene in that Dark Tournament with Kurama emerging

as a silver youko. It was so amazing... Who would have thought that

Kurama is actually a centuries-old fox?

Yusuke dialed Kuwabara's number. Kuwabara was not as polite as

Kurama was when woken up that early in the morning. A string of bad

words soon followed:-

"Urameshi! What the hell made you call that early! Tell me

which fing asshole and I'll make that asshole eat his own shit!"

cursed a very angry Kuwabara.

"Cool down, baka! Nobody forced me to phone you. The Reikai

special investigation team has a new mission," shouted Yusuke,

holding the phone receiver away from his ears.

"Oh yeah? Tell me what it is. I'm always ready to take up any

challenge," professed Kuwabara eagerly.

Yusuke filled him in on the details, and Kuwabara agreed to see

Koenma with him. Even that stupid fool sounds excited, thought

Yusuke with a smile on his face.

"Now, we only have Hiei to find. That guy is always so weird,

wandering in between Makai and Ningenkai." Yusuke then asked Botan if

she knew any way to contact Hiei. Botan took out her collection of 7

Reikai Investigation special tools and selected a whistle.

Botan stuck the whistle's mouthpiece in between her lips and

took a deep breath.

"Oh no, not that..." As he said that, he jammed his fingers in

his ears. Kurama told him once that one of the seven Reikai

investigation tools was very harmful to youkai ears. Oh great, I'm

half-toushin now and it's all Raizen's fault! Even with his ears

plugged he could still hear the loud blast of the whistle. Then, a

dark shape fell past the window.

Yusuke told Botan that it must be Hiei. Both of them ran out of

the apartment and took the elevator down. They reached the front of

the building and saw Hiei all curled up in a pile of limbs. He

apparently had been sleeping on the rooftop. Hiei quickly collected

himself and dusted the debris off his black clothes. He flipped his

cloak over his shoulders and gritted his teeth irritably.

"Why the hell did you blow that whistle! It hurts, stupid! This

is the second time you did that!" yelled Hiei to Botan who was still

holding the accursed whistle. Hiei was still rubbing his ears and

glaring at the ferry-girl.

"I 'had' to because finding you using other equipment is near

impossible!" shot back Botan. Hiei just looked away in his typical

Hiei-ish behavior, in which he didn't care to say anything further.

"What do you think you can do by just looking away like that?"

continued Botan sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

Hiei snorted but he didn't say anything. Botan glared at him,

but she also didn't say anything.

"Come on, don't argue." shouted Yusuke over the noise as a

heated argument broke out between Hiei and Botan. Botan stuck out her

tongue at Hiei while Hiei threw her a dirty look.

"So, what's the big deal?" asked Hiei, obviously irritated.

"Well, it's about our new mission..." Yusuke began explaining.

By the time Yusuke had finished, they realized that they were late

for Koenma's meeting by around half an hour...

Little did they know that this would lead them to memories,

vengeance and dreams that might not always be there - adventures that

could only happen once in a lifetime.

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Copyright reserved 1998, 1999 W. Siew Lee

All standard YYH disclaimers apply to this fanfic.

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