Alrighty, this is my first YYH fic so please forgive me for any mistakes. Sorry about the spelling. My computer at the moment only has Word Pad, which doesn't have spell check. Apart from that I was typing it while watching Little Women, which is a really good movie. I recomend it. Anyway here's chapter one.

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon and the sky was gray and gloomy. Droplets fell onto the sand on the shore, dappling the stretch of beach, only for the waves to rush up and wipe the spotted design away, leaving fresh sand and pebbles in its place. A crowd of people was gathered there today. They were all dressed in black and a dark pall of sadness lay draped over there shoulders even heavier than the rain. Amongst them was a teenage boy- Yusuke Urameshi. He had slicked his black hair back that morning like he usually did but now it lay in a wet heap around his face. He didn't bother to fix it. His appearence was the least of his worries today.

Yusuke stood alone at the edge of the ocean, the waves lapping over his feet and soaking them through his shoes. A yard or so in front of him, bobbing up and down in the water, was a wooden raft engulfed in flames. The fire crackled and snapped and smoke lingered where he stood. He was glad of the smoke; it gave him an excuse to wipe half shed tears from his eyes. The last thing Yusuke wanted was for everyone at the cremation to see him, the toughest kid in his school who kicked demon ass on a regular basis, crying. Even though he tried not to think about who was burning on that raft, he couldn't look at it any longer and he turned away to see someone he knew approaching.

It was a tall male with firey red hair that extened below his shoulders. He too was dressed, if casually, in black and had the same depressed mein about him as everyone else. In his left hand he held a single red rose.

Yusuke was suprised to see the demon here. He hadn't invited him or Hiei because if someone somehow found out that otherworldly beings were attending, they might freak. But he was glad he came anyway.

"Kurama" he began slowly. For the past few days Yusuke hadn't bothered to put much effort into his actions, but he still meant what he said wholeheartedly. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Thanks for showing up."

Kurama toyed with the rose in his hand. "I'm not going to stay long, but I thought I should be here. If it weren't for you, I would be dead and my mother would be living her life, if healthily, in sorrow. I know what my mother means to me and for you to loose yours must unbearable. Coming here is the least I can do." Bringing the flower to his nose he inhaled deeply and as he exhaled, he threw the rose into the fire before the raft drifted out of reach.

Yusuke stared for a moment into the flames, fresh tears welling up in his eyes, deeply touched by his friend's gesture. "Thanks" he murmered, but Kurama had already left. He hadn't planned on staying long.

Wading further out until he was about shin deep in the water, Yusuke placed his hands on a part of the raft that hadn't been singed by the flames yet and pushed it until it was caught by an outgoing wave and the pull of the ocean took it away from him. He watched the buring raft drift away as it got smaller and smaller and finally disapeared. Despite his efforts, tears ran down his cheeks with the rain. Atsuko had always been a better partier than a parent (dieing in an alcohal related car accident coming home from one of her wild outings had proved that point) but that didn't make her death any easier. He still loved his mother even with all of her flaws.

"Hey."

Yusuke jumped as a hand touched his shoulder. He hadn't seen Kayko come to stand next to him. She had taken her shoes off and the bottom hem of her black dress coiled around her legs in the water. Like him, she had cast her umbrella aside despite the scoldings she recieved from the elder people saying that she would catch a cold.

"Are you okay" she asked unneccessarily. She already knew the answer but she figured that maybe if she get him to talk about it he might feel a little better.

Yusuke pretended not to hear her and didn't respond. he had went back to trying to trying to hold his tears back, a battle he was quickly loosing. When Kayko reached for his hand and squeezed reassuringly, he finally snapped and began sobbing uncontrollably as she wrapped her arms around him. It took Yusuke a moment realize that she was crying too. She had been close to his mother and the cremation was almost as hard for her as it was for him.

Yusuke didn't know how long they were crying but the rain had both him and Kayko thouoghly soaked and their clothes clung to them in the wet. Then a voice from behind him said"Are you done yet"

Kayko let go of him and he saw a most hideous sight. Standing on the beach was the ugliest woman he had ever seen. She was huge and the white blouse she wore was too tight for any woman of her size to wear. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun that probably cut off all connections to her brain and her dinosaur ankles and thunder theighs seemed to come out of nowhere. The rolls of fat under her chin quivered as she spoke in her deep, almost masculine, throaty voice. "Well? Are you done"

Kayko glared at the woman but didn't say anything.

At the sight of the horrifying woman, Yusuke wanted to do one of three things: run and hide, laugh, or start crying again. But he ignored each impulse as she continued, not giving him a chance to respond.

"Good. Come with me, Urameshi. My name is Miss Diazo, as you probably know, as you should know, and you'll be coming with me. Now" Grabbing Yusuke's arm, she dragged him from the water and across the beach to a gray stationwagon. She tried to shove him in the back seat as he protested.

"You stupid bitch! I'll beat the crap out of you! Hey! No! Don't close the door! Kayko, help" He was cut off as Miss Diazo slammed the door shut, almost catching his ankle in it.

Yusuke watched forlornly out the window at Kayko as the car lurched into motion. Through the shaded windows, she couldn't see him but she waved anyway, watching as the car dissapeared down the road.

It was a long car ride to the orphanage, and silent and awkward. Here he was, in a vehicle with the ugliest woman he had ever seen and didn't know, going to a place he had hardly heard of, to do who knows what for the rest of his sorry life. Yusuke wondered what he was going to do with himself. The orphanage had all sorts of chores for him to do, no doubt, and he had every intention of giving them a hard time about it. And what about his missions? Koenma would find a way to get them to him hopefully. How he would get to school didn't even cross his mind; he didn't go that often anyway. And when would he see Kayko again? Would he see Kayko again?

After what seemed like forever, the car stopped in front of huge mansion with Roman style columns holding up its second floor. Its white paint was blinding against the gloomy, rainy sky yet even its new and fresh look didn't hide the building's lonely essance. Yusuke knew immediately that he wouldn't like it here as he was lead up the front steps and through the front door.

He found himself in a lobby of sorts and only one word could describe it: old. Exactly opposite from the outside, paint was flaking off of the walls and the floorboards creaked noisily under his feet. The place smelled dank and moldy. Yusuke got the impression that the building was neglected.

Miss Diazo proded him in the back with a jabbing finger towards a staircase in the next room. "Upstairs you go, Urameshi. Your bed is in the boy's dormatories."

"But what about my clothes and stuff"

"We've been to your home and everything you need will be in the dormatory. Settle in quick. Dinner is in an hour and you have kitchen duty afterwards." Miss Diazo laughed to herself and left Yusuke at the bottom of the stairs.

That woman had went into his house! He had kitchen duty on his first night there! What kind of bull is this? he thought as he climbed the creaky stairs, hating the woman more and more.

At the top, he followed a little wooden door hanging that read:

BOY'S DORMATORIES RIGHT

and found himself in front of a closed door. He hesitated to open it. From the other side, he could hear happy yelling and laughter. It sounded kinda scary in there and he wondered if he really wanted to go in. Well, his stuff was in there and he planned on changing out of his soaking wet clothes before dinner so he turned the doorknob and walked in.

The little room was in complete chaos. Ten other boys, ages ranging from five to fifteen, were either laughing, or screaming, or yelling, or jumpimg on the beds that looked like they would break any minute. For a moment, no one seemed to notice Yusuke as he stepped into the room but then a little boy with a high pitched girly voice yelled"Hey, look! It's the new boy"

The room fell completely silent and every eye was on Yusuke. He immediately regretted entering the room that was really made for three people instead of the ten -eleven including himself- that it occupied. They kept staring at him like thay had never seen another human being besides themselves in thier lives. Were they expecting a human sacrifice or something before they accepted him into their clan?

"Ummm..." he began"I'm Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi. I'm new here so, um, which bed is mine? And could you tell me where my stuff is"

A boy about ten years old pointed to a bed near one of the few windows on the opposite side of the room. It had a dark blue dufflebag at its end that Yusuke recongnized as his. "Thanks" he said, trying to sound cheerful.

As he walked across the room, the rest of the boys went back to thier previous activities and the noise level became deafening once again. Yusuke heaved a sigh and sat, back slouched, on his bed. To his dismay, he saw that it had pink and white frills around the edges of the bed skirt. Out of the eight beds that were in the room he got the girly one! At least he didn't have to share a bed like some of the others did.

Despite the rain and the cold, Yusuke opened the window and retrieved a cigarette from his dufflebag. He half sat on the windowsil and lit it up with the lighter from his pocket, not caring if it was allowed or not.

"Hey" said the voice of a boy about Yusuke's age from behind him. "What's up"

Yusuke took a look at him as the boy sat on the end of his bed. He looked normal enough if a little weird- long coarse dark hair tied back in a pony tail at the nape of his neck and glasses that seemed a bit too big for him. But what struck Yusuke was the chill he felt as he approached. A demon? Here? He figured he might as well be polite. This demon boy hadn't tried anything. Yet. "Not much" he replied, not trying to sound suspicious of him. Holding out the box of cigarttes, he asked"Want a smoke"

The boy looked almost relieved as he accepted. He must have been the only other smoker here and didn't do it out of repect for the young children. "My name's Leo by the way" he said, using Yusuke's lighter. "I would say, 'glad to have you here, Yusuke,' but the truth is, this place is living hell."

"I figured as much."

"Mmmm. So you have kitchen duty, I hear. It's a big job and Miss Diazo gives it to every newcomer on their first night." At Yusuke's overwhelmed sigh, Leo laughed and offered"Don't worry about it. I'll give you a hand."

"Thanks, man. I owe you."

"Naw, don't mention it." Leo hesitated before continuing"I wouldn't usually ask you this so soon, but I was wondering. What brings you here? You're not like some of the wierdos we get here."

Yusuke took a deep breath and said"My mother...she..."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry."

"She was cremated today." Yusuke held back tears.

"You wanna talk about it"

Yusuke shook his head and avoided Leo's gaze. He killed his cigarette butt on the sil, leaving a charred spot, and threw it out the window. He stood up and said"I'd better get changed before dinner." Picking up the dufflebag, he headed into the bathroom and didn't come out until he heard Miss Diazo calling them all down for dinner.

On the bottom floor of the orphanage was the diningroom. The long table was older than everything else, if that was possible. When Yusuke took his seat next to Leo, he thought his chair would collapse under his weight. Spaced across the table that sat the thirty other boys and girls was a skimpy amount of food to feed all of them. Not only that but it looked as though it had been sitting out in the rain all afternoon. He usually wasn't a picky eater but this was just gross, in both taste and smell. But no one else seemed to be complaining so Yusuke kept his mouth shut too.

Dinner was suprisingly quick with little conversation. Probably because they were tyring to choke down all this garbage, Yusuke figured. But Leo had whispered to him, telling all about the orphanage and what its rules were (not that too many people followed them). He told him all about the staff that worked there and how mercilessly crewel they were and about the "survival of the fittest" philosophy everyone there lived by. Like Leo said, it was a living hell.

Afterwards, Miss Diazo approached him with a dishtowel over her shoulder. Whipping it at him, she sneered and laughed"Kitchen duty."

Yusuke and Leo went into the kitchen and found a mountain of dishes to wash, all caked in grime and soaked with the sloshy juices from the sorry excuse for meat they had eaten. The stench made them both want to puke but Yusuke said"Alright. Let's get to it. The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll be finished.

The two boys leaned over the double sink and, sleeves rolled up, they tackled the mass of dirty porcelin, one dish at a time. Now that Yusuke was alone with Leo, his demonic aura seemed more oppressing and it was making him uneasy. The boy was powerful, no doubt about that, but he didn't give Yusuke the impression that he was going to attack anytime soon. Leo had so far been friendly and was probably harmless. Ignoring the aura, he tried to make conversation.

"So, Leo, how did you end up here if you don't mind my asking."

Turning on the faucett to rinse a dish, Leo replied"It's a long story, and it's really complicated. I don't think you would understand. All I can tell you is that I've been here almost my whole life and I don't know who my real parents are. Maybe I'll tell you someday."

Yusuke found that a little odd, but replied"Okay"

Yusuke lived his life day by day at the orphanage. Of coarse, that wasn't without a fight. Him and Leo would do everything from skipping their chores and stealing things to see how long it took Miss Diazo to notice to even runing off for a few days to give everybody a scare. The pair had become notorious for what they considered "fun." Actually they had become good friends.

That would all change one day when Miss Diazo caught them hiding in the closet from her. "Urameshi" she screamed. "I'm not even going to ask why you're in there but there's someone waiting to see you downstairs. Aparently it's someone you know. So please! Freshen up and get yourself looking descent. Wouldn't wasnt to make me look bad now would you"

Leo looked to Yusuke urgently. No one besides your family ever came to see you here unless it was important. But he had only been here a little over a week. Who could've found a reason to want to see him? The first thing that entered Yusuke's mind was adoption. But those chances were so slim and no one he knew would even think of adopting him of all people. That would mean thier life becoming miserable. Yet someone was down there who wanted to see him, so, running a hand through his hair to make it look a little better than it did, he went to see the person downstairs.

Well that was it. Please read and review!