Another one that has been on my abstract plate for a while. And yet, WHY haven't I finished my other stories? Don't worry. I work on everything just a little bit at a time. This one happened to finish itself, and has started its own second installment.

I just wanted something twisted. And it came from a conversation with Agent Dark Moose. This first one is for her.

Yu Yu Hakusho © Yoshihiro Togashi.

Psychosis
By Zelia Theb

Psychosis...the unbearable torture of this insomnia feeds me right into its hands. At first I denied its cruel fangs; but the teeth continued to tear at me; pillaging my skin and bones to wear as its garments.

I always came back to this conclusion; that I was purely an insane man due to the poison of the demonic blood that coursed through me. That I was lust driven by some unknown mating ritual of my kind, and that I was meant to learn what I was through the trials of Hellfire.

But he; he who captured me within his forceful chains of aura so long ago; he has captured me again. My mind is always racing - never stopping never breathing never resting never never never; it keeps me going to that fantasy; that silly idea that I could be his.

I could not believe it when I saw it; my spiritual feet never slowed their pace; not even for a second. But Koenma...that damned bastard...he showed me every second. He forced me to run in place; to watch as the one I loved claimed the life of royalty.

"And Yusuke," his adolescent voice had said to me, "My father is demanding immediate retribution."

Naively I had agreed to this mission; having been temporarily unemployed for a year.

"Just tell me what you want me to do, okay?" I remarked, smug and impatient as usual; all the while thankful that something had come along. Keiko, my...wife-to-be...was getting on my nerves. Everything that I had known would have happened...everything that used to happen...it exploded exponentially into one big torrent of fighting, miscommunication, and nagging.

Anything to get out of doing housework. I had sworn that; and was fed up with hearing about how living together before marriage was bad enough as it was.

And my wish was granted.

"He wants you to capture the perpetrator; dead or alive; and then bring him back here..."

"Dead or alive?" What the hell? Was I supposed to carry some dead body around? No...I wouldn't. But at the time...at the time...

"Yes, Yusuke. By whatever means necessary."

At the time, I didn't know. How could I have known? I could have never known, I would have never imagined that the next time I would see the source of my insanity that I would see him like this.

"Sure," I had answered with indifference, "Whatever. Easy enough."

I wouldn't know, I couldn't know, I could never, ever know.

It would never be easy enough. I could never let it be easy enough.

"Here," he said to me, pointing to the monitor that was his eyes and ears on the world.

How could I know? Never never never. But he, that damned Koenma! He should have known! He can see what my life is like. Why didn't he care enough to watch me? Why didn't he know?

"You see, Yusuke," he said, ignoring my eyes metaphorically bleeding. I silently wished that flies would consume that which lay in those deep and now horrible dark circled eye sockets. I wished that something could take it all away.

Damn eternity! Damn this blood within me! Damn it!

"Yusuke, are you even paying attention?

"Look there. In the corner. Do you see him."

Slowly I nodded as I kept my stomach in the pits of my tarnished soul. I saw what I wished I was not seeing. His black cloak wrapped around him, tight at the shoulders that he always kept covered with his white scarf.

"You can see his spiky hair sticking out into the light. Follow that hair, Yusuke, because the rest is going to be fast and hard to keep up with."

That hair...beautiful silken strands of snowflakes in midnight... It flew like a streak of lightning...flashed like it had never existed...

My heart skipped a beat and in that instant...

The blood of the Royal Family was spilled...that hair...that wild hair...

"It's Hiei, you know. We believe Mukuro might be involved, and next to her, the only one who can stop him is you."

My insides bled from the missing rhythm.

"It's not Hiei, Koenma," I said, trying my damnedest to maintain my composure. My thoughts had stopped...I didn't want them to stop. I didn't know I couldn't know I didn't...no I couldn't...

"It is, Yusuke," he "assured" me, as if I were going to believe him...

"I'll stop him, but I'll prove to you that it's an imposter." They came back...momentarily. My thoughts. They were there again. I was Yusuke. I was the human. I was Yusuke.

And he wanted to say something to me. He wanted to argue with me because that is what he likes to do. He likes to think that he is always right...because some divine being conceived him he acts like he's a prince.

"Fine. But do it quick, Yusuke," he warned me, "Because when my father gets impatient, he might revoke the "alive" portion of his order..."

No no no! I vowed then, I vowed...no, King Yama...he would kill me before he would kill Hiei...

I'm going to live for an eternity. I'm going to survive longer than Keiko...

I need Hiei.

"God damn it! Kuwabara!" I yell, "Get your ass to this door and let me in!" I chuck another rock at his window. I should have had rocks then...I should have smashed the screen to pieces.

The door briskly opens. "DAMN IT, URAMESHI!" my friend screams at me, "Some people are tryin' to sleep! They have shit they need to study for!"

"I need to talk to you, right now," I say sternly, pushing past him and marching upstairs into his room. A pillow and some sheets lay on the floor, probably tossed off in anger. But he couldn't possibly be pissed at me after this.

He comes in and closes the door quietly behind him, as if trying to not awaken his sister. She's up, I can feel her heartbeat in my head...

"What the hell is it? Don't you have a stand to set up?"

His bronze curls are messy. His slanted eyes stare straight into me. I know what he is thinking; he is thinking that he can read my mind. He is thinking that it is just so important that I won't even tell him. He is thinking that I don't have the balls to.

"Hiei. Koenma is after Hiei."

His left eyebrow perks up. "Huh?" he asks, suddenly intrigued and forgetting about sleep already.

"I trust you, Kuwabara," I tell him.

"Urameshi...I don't like this feeling..." he remarks. His damn psychic abilities are picking up on something again. I just know it.

"I don't either," I reply, stretching my hands behind my back. He sits on his disorganized bed, and I sit next to him.

Never...would anyone believe that a demon would sit with a human...

That a human...

I'm human.

"He showed me a video..." I trail off, beginning to stutter a bit, "H-he...thinks it's Hiei. He thinks that Hiei killed his cousin. I mean...his...his father. King Yama...K-King Yama..."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara exclaims, "Hiei wouldn't do that! Not without a good reason!"

"I-I know..."

"Did he ask you to capture him?"

"Yeah..." My face begins to show it; my fear. My anxiety. I cover it up with my ambitions. I'll prove Hiei innocent. I'll prove that there is an imposter!

"Yusuke..."

"He wants him dead or alive! Dead! Dead! Kuwabara, don't you see what that means?"

"I...I know, man. You need to prove that it wasn't him...or help him out. I guess it depends what you think."

"What I think? I agreed to it before I knew who it was. I couldn't know...I wouldn't even know how to guess!"

He shushes me. I've gotten way too loud. I should have said something...I should have hit him! Koenma!

"Hey man...just...hey!" He takes me by the shoulders, and my head is jerked up to meet his vision. I guess I must have fallen...I fell a long time ago.

"I want you to tell me exactly what is going on in your head, Yusuke. I want to know why this is upsetting you. I want to know why you didn't punch out Koenma the second he gave you this mission. That's not you, man."

"I can't kill Hiei."

"Neither can I. He might be a twerp, but he's got a good head on his shoulders, ya know?"

"He's not a twerp!" I cry out, shoving Kuwabara in the chest, leaving him to brace himself against his bedroom wall.

"What the hell!" he retorts in protest of my attack...my attack...my pain onto another friend...

"Please, Kuwabara..." I plead, "Please help me protect him."

He nods in agreement; it's a promise among men. Human. Demon. Men. "I'll help ya. I've never seen you act this way, man." He stares at me directly again, forgetting my earlier aggression, and asks, "When did you fall in love with Hiei?"

I look at him blankly, as if to say forever.

Forever forever forever... It echoes in my brain. Resonating reverberating re-

"I can't believe I didn't know. I didn't know." He shakes his head in his palms, obviously upset that his abilities have failed him.

"Listen, Yusuke. I'm gonna help you. And when this is all over, we are gonna talk about you and Keiko, okay? But before we leave to where ever, we have a few things to do..."

"Thanks man," I sigh in relief.

"First off, tell her what you want to tell her. But don't leave her hanging. Don't leave her worrying about ya, okay?" I nod, it seems only right...it won't take my life. I'll come back. She won't be dead by then, I'll be back.

Kuwabara is pleased. "Go home and pack. I'm gonna make a phone-call and then we can eat somethin' before we leave. Just meet me back here."

To Be Continued...

I promised something twisted. At least this first chapter is.

If something is confusing, it's most likely because that is how I intended it to be. I want consistency...but no consistency. And as usual, I like to stay true to my titles.

I hope you like it. Please leave me a review, especially now that I can reply them. )

Zelia