Title: Flawed

Rating: PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system. (Anyone know why they bothered with that?)

Summary: Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

Disclaimer: I forgot this last time, so... I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. If I did, Kurama would have transformed permanently into Youko during his premier episode. Nor do I own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd have sued the movie companies for the people they cast to play Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Pairings: The readers have voted, and it's a hearty dose of NO ROMANCE all around.

Warnings: Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

Author Notes: I'm glad that there are so many nice readers out there who don't scream and rant and yell when authors take unexpected literary side trips like this. Thanks for all the support, and enjoy the chapter!

Also, for clarification: readers seem a bit divided on the point that Yuusuke seemed so vulnerable to magic. Some think it's an interesting and unique idea, and others have no idea where in HFIL (only Dragonball/Z/GT people will get that reference) I'm going with it. Trust me, as with most of my seemingly random plot twists, there is a reason behind it. You just have to read on to find out what it is!

Someone also asked about Yuusuke's age. For this story, he is twenty-seven years old, closing in on twenty-eight. If his life followed the tone set by the series up until this story, that means that he has got to have been through a lot of weird experiences. It kind of boggles the mind.

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)) Chapter Two: Open Season ((

Yuusuke's first thought upon regaining consciousness was simple and to the point. That thought was that there were seven humans currently living in Ningenkai who were about to become swiftly, rudely, and painfully acquainted with Reikai.

Yuusuke's second thought upon awakening was that his plan might have to be put on hold until further notice, because at the moment, everything really hurt.

He opened his eyes slowly, noting irritably that even his eyeballs seemed to ache in the aftermath of that strange attack, but as his pupils adjusted to the dim light, he realized with relief that he had not been captured and thrown into a dungeon.

Rather, he was on a futon. A very familiar futon.

It was easy for the demon to recognize his old bedroom in Genkai's temple --there was a uniquely shaped scorch-mark gouged into the boards overhead from when one of his teacher's more violent wake-up calls had worked a little too well; he had come to consciousness with the cry of "REI GUN!" on his lips and had nearly burned a hold straight through the roof.

It was lucky it had happened when he was still (relatively) weak. If the same incident were repeated any time soon, it would not be just the roof damaged; the whole temple would probably go up in smoke.

Muffled voices could be heard through the thin screens that acted as walls within the temple, and Yuusuke's enhanced demon hearing tracked the conversation automatically while his mind tried to pick up the scattered pieces of the puzzle titled What The Hell Happened?

"Just how long is that sociopath planning to camp out in that tree?"

His mouth twitched in a smirk as he recognized the speaker. The temple would not be the same without the hag around to keep everyone in line... It was her special ability. Even Hiei deferred to the martial artist on her home ground, and that was saying something.

"I'm not certain. He did mention something about Koenma... well, he didn't say 'Koenma,' but I know who he meant. What he said wasn't very polite."

And there was Yukina, the polite, caring Yin to Genkai's bitchy, violent Yang.

"Of course it has to do with Koenma. Whenever the Dimwit is in mortal peril, it always has to do with Koenma."

"That's not very kind, Genkai."

"It's the truth. Truth doesn't need to be 'kind.'"

His thoughts meandered leisurely from one side of his head to the other, and he prodded them slowly, insistently into focus. Were he anywhere else but at the temple --a place that had been a haven for him for years-- he might have been more rushed, but knowing that he was within the temple wards with Genkai (and Hiei, if his teacher's comments were anything to go by) near made what should have been an urgent situation seem distant, and he could not summon up any guilt for taking his sweet time trying to piece things together.

The first major mystery on his To Solve list was easy: how had he gotten from a relatively deserted national park to a temple nearly fifty miles away?

If his internal clock was anything to go by, he had been unconscious for nearly two hours. A minor, ignorable ache encompassed his entire body, and he made a mental note to find out just what made that particular attack so effective. He had thought that his youki would have shielded him somewhat, but it appeared that was not the case.

Yuusuke felt off-balance at the realization that his defenses had been so easily overcome.

It stung for him to think that it had been humans who had done the 'overcoming.'

Genkai was never going to let him live this down.

Neither was Hiei.

Nor Kuwabara.

Not even Kurama, for that matter.

... well, damn.

He sat up slowly, the blanket covering him sliding down to pool in his lap. His shirt was gone --he noticed the lack of any lingering physical injuries and realized that Yukina must have healed him-- and he grimaced sardonically to think that not only had someone partially undressed him, he had also been tucked in.

He had a sinking feeling that this incident would be one of those embarassing stories that one's friends told at parties over and over again: "Hey, remember that time when Yuusuke got his ass kicked by a bunch of guys with sticks?"

He hoped that he was wrong.

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He had found a clean T-shirt waiting for him just beside the futon, and upon trying it on and feeling it pull across the shoulders and chest, he had suspected that it was left over from his early days of training at the temple. Still, it was better than going around shirtless. He was irritated that he still had yet to find a hair tie, but he resigned himself to waiting until he cleared up the present mess before he could go back to his apartment and pull the damnably annoying tangle of hair out of his face once and for all.

The various mysteries that had pushed themselves rudely into his life that afternoon still lurked in the back of his mind, but at least he knew the first step to finding out the answers, which was to speak with Genkai...

... who was, incidentally, waiting just outside of his room, an expression upon her face reminiscent of that worn by a mother who has just been told by a teacher that little Jimmy is having trouble with bullies, has problems making friends, is failing math, has trouble spelling his own name, and has contracted head lice from the little girl in the desk behind him who insists on braiding his hair.

Genkai didn't say anything, but her expression told him everything. He had spent too much time in her company to not be able to read her. A particular slant to her eyes said she was stressed, the twist of her mouth said she was annoyed...

... and the Look she was giving him stated, 'If I hadn't spent so much time training your sorry ass already and if I weren't too old to take on another successor, you'd be bouncing down the temple steps right now, Dimwit, and serve you right for all the trouble you put me through.'

Yuusuke surpressed a sigh. "I don't guess you're going to tell me what the hell's going on, are you?"

"From what I've been told, you ran afoul of a group of gifted humans." Yuusuke decided that he did not like the way her mouth twisted strangely when she said 'gifted.' He decided that there was something more there that she was not telling him. "The Forbidden One brought you in, and Yukina and I had to put you back together."

Yuusuke reflected that if Hiei had been the one to stumble across him, then it was unlikely that he would be able to carry out his earlier plans involving the humans after all since it was now very doubtful that there were any of the humans left alive to carry out his plans on.

Shame.

Then it struck him, what Genkai had said about putting him 'back together.'

Yuusuke bristled. "I wasn't that bad off," he said, indignant.

"Want to bet on that?" she asked archly.

Yuusuke blinked, took a long look at the deadly serious expression on his mentor's face, and decided that no, he did not.

The old martial artist turned abruptly and marched down the hall toward the front of the shrine. "Keep up, Dimwit. There's a lot you need to know, and we don't have much time before Botan gets here."

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Genkai decided that their 'talk' was going to take place outside on the front patio area of the temple. Yuusuke had wondered at this until he realized that Hiei was also outside; Genkai probably wanted to be near enough so that the fire demon could add whatever comments were pertinent to the discussion. Yuusuke still really wanted to know how it had come about that Hiei had been near enough to do away with the seven humans and bring Yuusuke to the temple, and he made a note to have a discussion with the Jaganshi soon, hopefully within the day.

They passed Yukina as she was entering the temple, probably from asking Hiei about her lost brother, and she greeted Yuusuke kindly. When she began worriedly asking him about his injuries, he had to reassure her that her care of his various cuts and bruises had been more than effective and very much appreciated. She had seemed pleased at that and had continued inside, and now Yuusuke found himself kneeling outside facing his teacher and obediently recounting his afternoon when she ordered him to do so. Her look was so intense that he did not even bother with a sarcastic retort and instead kept entirely to the facts.

The entire situation had him off-balance. It was a sad day when he could not bring himself to say something smart-aleck when presented with the perfect opportunity.

The story took several minutes to tell.

When Yuusuke recounted the leader of the humans mentioning his 'lord', Genkai's eyes narrowed so much that Yuusuke thought she might develop a permanent squint.

Feeling something akin to embarassment uncurling in his stomach, he skimmed over the part where the attack had induced a hallucination/dream/memory that had made him relive his early training during his first Dark Tournament. There were some things that the old lady just did not need to know.

He finished his narration, and Genkai looked thoroughly put-out about something.

"You certainly never do anything by halves," she groused.

"Are you going to fill me in, now?" asked Yuusuke, feeling irritable and confused and still achy deep in his chest. "What is all this about?"

Genkai frowned. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "But you've caught his attention pretty well if he's sending his followers after you, so you're up to your neck in problems already."

"Who's 'he'?"

Yuusuke's teacher glared at nothing in particular. "He calls himself Voldemort." Her lips quirked into a sardonic grin. "Voldemort-sama. Everyone else seems to call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, though, the idiots."

The young demon was digesting the information, feeling put-out that he had never heard of this Voldemort person before. "Is he a demon?"

"Close enough. Actually, worse for you, he's a wizard."

Yuusuke blinked. "... Wizard?"

"A rather dark one, yes."

"As in wands and witches and brooms and spells and all that?"

"Yes."

Yuusuke started to laugh, noticed that his teacher did not look in the least amused, and stopped himself. He reconsidered. "You're actually serious."

"Deadly serious. I've had dealings with their kind before. Bunch of secretive nuts, even more so than most demons I've met. They've got a whole society running right under the noses of almost every government worldwide, and none of the normal humans have a clue." She paused, looking pensive. "Those men you met were wizards. They sound like his followers, called Death Eaters. The sociopathic tree-hugger out there verified it for me."

Yuusuke was almost positive that he heard something growl out near the edge of the trees, but he ignored it with the ease of long practice.

"Verified how?"

The old woman tapped her forearm. "They each had a tattoo, here. A skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. They call it the Dark Mark. It's Voldemort's symbol."

Yuusuke scoffed. "Well, that's severely stupid. Why would you brand your underlings like cattle? Makes it kind of hard for them to do undercover work, doesn't it?"

Genkai arched an eyebrow. "Yes, it is 'severely stupid,' but then, he's never been famous for his common sense."

The young demon spent several moments pondering the conversation. The revelation of wizards, while unexpected, was something he could live with. Hell, he was a twice-resurrected human-turned-demon who worked for the God of the Dead as a detective. Magic really was not that weird.

Abruptly, his forehead creased with a frown, and he glanced over at Genkai. "You said it was worse for me that he's a wizard. Why would it be worse? He can't be stronger than Sensui or the lords of the Makai."

Genkai nodded once. "True, and technically you're right. He isn't stronger than Sensui or the demon lords --in terms of energy levels, anyway-- but you're at a disadvantage."

Oh, he did not like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

"It's one of the weaknesses of demonkind as a whole," she said, her mouth twisted again in that strange way that said she was both annoyed and trying to carefully think something through at the same time. "It's a flaw in their evolution. Youki is a very physical sort of energy; it boosts the body's abilities and can create attacks with very physical effects, like your own youki blasts, the Fox's plants, or the Forbidden One's black dragon attack. Reiki is very similar, but on a more subtle level, with less possibilities, and it's not quite as potent.

"Magic, as wizards use it, is different." She frowned. "I once heard someone describe it as an evolutionary anomaly, a mutation. It's reiki that's been... twisted, energy on a completely different wavelength than youki, and the wizard's have found ways to mold it in ways that I would never believe possible.

"But that's the problem." She looked grim, and Yuusuke had long ago learned that if she thought something was grim, then things were very, very bad. "Their magic is too different. Wizards are highly resistant to the effects of magic due to the fact that they have that same energy within them. Normal humans are somewhat resistant due to their reiki, which is similar. Youki is no defense against it whatsover; magic can pass through it as though it weren't even there."

"But I have reiki, too!" he objected. "What---"

"And it helped," she interrupted firmly. "You were in better condition than a purebred demon could hope to have been. That particular curse, the cruciatus, is a nasty piece of business. It can kill a high-level demon in under five minutes." She eyed him appraisingly. "You probably could have lasted eight."

"I---" He floundered, but he could find nothing to say. He wanted to yell that he was not that weak, that he had survived worse than a stupid attack from a mis-evolved human, but Genkai spoke again, her eyes strangely kind.

"I'm not trying to be cruel, Yuusuke, but I have to know that you understand the danger." She caught and held his gaze as though she were trying to make certain that her words would stay imprinted in his mind. "The Makai was not sealed just to protect the humans from the demons. It was to save the demons from being completely wiped out."

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)) To Be Continued... ((

A/N: Next chapter will bring in more of the Harry Potter universe, explain more about Hiei's rescue of Yuusuke, and feature Koenma's Big Plan.

)) Kurome Shiretsu ((