Author Note: All right, this chapter is merely a pilot chapter, although the entire story is written out. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and please review to let me know if I should continue or dispose of the story. Thank you.

Disclaimer: As I'm sure you know, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, however the plot and original characters do.

Resurrecting Time

Chapter One: Digging Through Time

Far away from the sounds of cars or freeways, distanced from homes and towns, lies a land where time holds no meaning, a place virtually untouched, undisturbed by any human form…until now…

"Hey! Pick up the slack over there!" A man's voice echoed against the towering Cliffside, giving the tone a more frightening sound. One of the workers ran quickly to secure the loose rope.

A team of ten men had been sent into the unexplored jungles of Brazil to excavate a skeleton found in a streambed at the base of a large cliff. The man who found the strange skeleton hired the men.

The man stood on a lookout tower; created so he could keep watch over his men and site. He turned back to the young man sitting at one end of the table placed in the center of the room.

"What id you think of it, lad?" The older man asked, his accent showed his British nationality. He had traveled to Brazil in search of a new excavation site.

The young boy sitting at his table was his apprentice. Thought the boy was very smart, he was shy and somewhat skittish.

"W-well, sir, I-"

"Please, Nathan, I've asked you several times to simply call me Roman." The older man cut him off quickly. His sharp green eyes bore into the boy.

Roman Brady was his full name; he stood tall, around six feet with a straight posture. He had been born and raised in Britain and graduated top of his class in the best college. He had wanted to be an archeologist/paleontologist. He had wanted to discover lost worlds and excavate things the likes of which the world had never seen. He searched his entire life and found nothing of what he desired.

Now, he was in his late sixties, his hair graying but his eyes remained as sharp as ever. Green eyes that had skewered the world for lost civilizations and creatures. It was those piercing eyes that led him to Brazil, to the deepest jungles.

Roman searched those jungles with his apprentice, Nathan Kelser, for three months before finding this skeleton. And even that had been by accident, as most things found often are.

"Right, sorry, s-I mean Roman." The boy corrected himself, looking to the older British man for approval, seeing the old man's green eyes dancing with delight, he continued. "There is nothing even remotely similar to what you have discovered here in ant of our archives. The markings found on and around the skeleton are not in our database either." Nathan told the man, who nodded as he sat down at the remaining chair.

Silence filled the room, each man lost in their own thoughts. The only sound that could be heard in the early evening was that of the shouts of the workers and the sound of shovels breaking the soil.

Nathan Kelser was only sixteen when Roman had hand picked him to be his apprentice. He was naturally shy and didn't expect to be chosen. But, he knew a good deal about civilizations lost in time and about the fossils often unearthed. So, Roman had picked him. They traveled to Brazil the next year, after the digs in South Africa came up dry.

The excavation had begun only a week ago, the skeleton had been found two weeks before the team they went for arrived. The team had been waiting for word and came as quickly as they could.

As the skeleton was uncovered, strange markings appeared on the bones and the surrounding rock. There were symbols, and perhaps what could be seen as pictures, but there was still too much dirt to clearly tell.

Nathan thought back to when they had first arrived in Brazil. The locals had been edgy about them when they found out they were heading into the jungle. Apparently, there had been legends about attacks and murders, people going in, but don't come back, basically all of the usual legends and stories that had been told in every other place.

Roman had easily dismissed the warning given to the about the dangers that lurked deep in the jungle. The old woman had told them that if they followed through with the journey, disastrous things would happen. Roman laughed off the warning, but Nathan could not so easily dismiss such a warning. But they traveled on nonetheless. So far, nothing had happened.

However, the markings and symbols depicted on the skeleton and stone unnerved him, but he kept quiet. Hs gaze shifted to the dig below, where the men were currently cleaning up for the night. They were covering the site so the dirt they had uncovered would not be blown back over the exposed skeleton.

"Those markings aren't like anything I've seen before." Roman commented after the long silence, his eyes were slightly clouded, a sign that he was thinking of something.

"No, nothing has been found that we can compare it too." Nathan added. The older man turned to him, he seemed bothered by something, but Nathan didn't ask, deciding it wasn't his place.

"Well, the skeleton should be uncovered enough to study it more by tomorrow. Maybe that will reveal a similarity to another creature, give us something to go on." Roman replied, grinning at the thought. This had been what he wanted, to find something no one else had.

"That would help." Nathan said, agreeing with his teacher.

"You should get some sleep, Nathan." The British man suggested, though it was more of a command.

Nathan nodded, is had been a long day. He headed for the door that led to the stairs, but he turned around and addressed Roman.

"Something about those markings is unsettling, sir." He didn't wait for Roman's reaction, instead he preceded out the door and down the winding flight of stairs and to his tent.

Roman watched from the tower as the young boy made his way to his sleeping quarters. His sighed as he ran his wrinkled hand through his graying hair. The boy was right, something in the dense jungle wasn't right, something about what he had found was not right. He thought back to the old woman's warning, but, they had been traveling in this jungle for over three months and nothing had happened. He and the boy had not run into any of the local tribes, not much wild life, it had all been a safe trip, he reasoned.

Roman turned away from the railing as the last of his men turned out the remaining lights and the last of the sun's rays died and darkness consumed the dense jungle.

He went to one side of the room and quickly changed into his nightclothes before shutting off the light and laid down for the night.

The night wore on silently, uneventfully. There weren't many sounds coming from the deep jungle as the full moon rose steadily higher into the midnight sky. It was a full moon; it's pure rays casting eerie shadows as it penetrated through the canopy.

The only light left burning in the camp was that inside a tent. The occupant laid wide-awake, sleep unwilling to carry him into a work of dreams. The boy had tousled brown hair and was currently lying on his cot staring at the ceiling with deep brown eyes.

Since he could not fall asleep, he decided that he would enjoy the silence, for in the morning, the shouting would begin again and the sound of digging and a little blasting would again fill the eerie silence. The boy sighed, wondering why a jungle, supposed to be teaming with wild animals would hold so much silence. He wondered why there weren't any tribes of those who lived here.

His train of thought was shattered, however, as a piercing and menacing growl filled the night's air. Nathan ran out of his tent, and looked around. Lights were being thrown on, illuminating the open area. The growls continued to grow louder, the sound of twigs and vegetation being crushed filled the air as men turned on the spotlights and brought out guns.

Nathan glanced around, listening to the ferocity the growls held. Judging from the sounds and from the many different directions it seemed to be coming from, he concluded that there was clearly more than one of whatever it was that had now surrounded them.

The men were all shouting, saying it was over there, or to the left. The floodlights lit up the dig site but did little to penetrate the darkness surrounding them. Suddenly, the floodlights went out and everything turned deadly silent. No one made a move and no one spoke. But the silence was shattered by a loud growl, the sound of an attack, one gun shot and the ear piercing scream of a man being torn apart by a creature none of them could even begin to fathom.

All hell broke loose in that instant. There was the sound of rushed footsteps; screams and gunshots filled the calm night.

Amidst all of the chaos, Nathan glanced up at the lookout tower; he could see the silhouette he knew to be Roman. The man appeared to be looking at something; Nathan followed the man's gaze to the tarp that had been placed over the skeleton they had unearthed.

His eyes widened at what he saw. Below the tarp he could see the skeleton was glowing from the light that was seeping from the edges. What was going on…?

Roman had awoken with a start as he heard a gun shot followed by a scream. He threw on the lights so he could see and rushed to the railing. He couldn't see much below, but the dig site immediately caught his eye. It was glowing, though the light was white, eh could tell that there was a darkness to it.

The screams and gunshots fell on deaf ears, as the old man seemed hypnotized by the light. As the light started to fade, he was snapped from his reverie as something passed by the far side of the railing. His eyes turned quickly to catch sight of a figure quickly jump from the tree by the tower. The figure looked human, but they had not seen any form of human life since they arrived.

The cries died out and the gunshots faded as the light emanating from the skeleton beneath the tarp faded. Once again, the night gave way and welcomed the silence once again; as though nothing had ever happened, no blood had been shed and no screams had pierced the night air.

The morning light did little to bring comfort to the men. They came out of their tents, some armed with guns, others with tools used to dig and break apart rock.

As the men took in the sight before them, they saw the campground was all but destroyed, equipment was everywhere, and the lights were lying in pieces. But, what shocked them most of all was the carcass of what was their workmate just a day ago.

Not far from the body was a large jaguar, seemingly normal from the distance. But as the men drew closer they could easily tell that it was far from being ordinary.

For one, the cat was much larger than a normal sized jaguar. It's spots seemed odd and there was a symbol on its forehead. Nathan stepped foreword, examining the creature. The claws were large, sharp like a knife.

He turned his attention to the marking on the forehead. Realization dawned on him as he recognized the symbol as one of those on the skeleton.

He jumped when Roman appeared at his side. Nathan glanced over at the older man. His green eyes scanned the creature that seemed to have a demonic appearance. His eyes held fear, unsure of what to do he went to the dig and ripped the tarp off the skeleton, fearing the sight he may see.

The other men watched as he revealed the site. The designs on and around the bones were colored with hues of every color and much more detailed.

"All of you get to work!" Roman shouted. He was spooked, and that thought angered him. He turned his sharp eyes to Nathan, "Let's go to my office, bring your laptop." He commanded, all friendliness gone.

Nathan nodded and quickly turned on his heel and ran to his tent. His brown eyes immediately flew to the computer at his makeshift desk. He shut the computer and ran back out.

Roman was already sitting at the table with books open to various pages. The old man's head snapped up as Nathan shut the door behind him, he quickly went to the table and set up his laptop, opening the archives and waiting for Roman to give him a command to search for something.

"Nathan, find out what tribes live in or around this area." The British man ordered. His voice was tight, strained. Nathan typed in what was desired and the search quickly found a match.

"There are a few tribes a few miles from here." Nathan answered after a moment. Roman nodded.

"You are to go to the closest of those tribes. Maybe they know something…" The older man sighed, showing for only a moment his age and fatigue of his travels, worry and unease were evident on his aged face.

"The closest is about two miles away. I can be back within two days." Nathan said. Roman nodded again, saying he approved of the younger boy's estimate.

"All right, it's still early in the morning, if you leave now, you can probably be there by sunset." He reasoned.

Nathan nodded and closed his laptop and went to the door. Before he reached the door, the British man stopped him.

"Wait." He said as he stood from his seat. He moved to a wall where he kept his firearms and took one off the rack. "Take this, you'll need it." Roman handed Nathan the gun, which in turn stared blankly at the weapon in his hand.

"What do I…?" He trailed off as he thought about it. He nodded to the older man and went out the door to his tent, packing what he needed to bring within a few minutes.

He set his course and headed out shortly before eight in the morning.