Koenma decided then and there that he hated kids. Sweet innocent little babies and toddlers were one thing (One of his favorite Henge's was actually the form of a toddler. He liked the looks on enemy faces when their Jounin opponent suddenly became a kid, as much as he'd been told the tactic was underhanded. What did he care, anyway, if he was still breathing?) but kids he hated. This was due in part of having been Yuusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara's sensei in their first year as Genin, before they had caught the eye of Master Genkai at that disastrous Chunin exam. (Even though they hadn't made it past the first half, which was due entirely to extremely bad luck and a freakishly strong Sandnin.)

The other reason had just made its self known in the form of three brats and their Kyuubi ringleader. He hated prankers. This was compounded by the fact that the one year Genkai wrestled him into instructing a team, he gets two. And kids were notorious for being pranksters.

"Hey! Let me down!" Koenma watched the small boy in his grasp wiggle and struggle in the air.

"Yeah, you let him go!" One of the kids on the ground demanded.

"Alright, but on one condition. You never play a prank on me again. Otherwise I'll kidnap one of you and torture you. I'll do it too, I'm a Jounin." All three kids gasped in awe, and the one dangling from his left hand ceased his struggling. "Is it a deal?"

"Hey, what kind of deal is that?" The blonde Chunin demanded.

"One that will keep me from killing annoying little brats who prank top ranking Jounin of ally villages." The boy in his grasp went cross-eyed as he tried to riddle out what he'd said and the boy and the girl on the ground blinked. Koenma set him on the ground at arm's length away. "Now, Naruto, why don't you introduce me to your followers?"

"Ah! How do you know my name?" The blonde demanded loudly and pointed. Koenma's eye twitched, and he had to forcibly keep himself from sucking on his bottom lip (a very annoying habit that he just couldn't seem to break) in irritation.

"Look." He said, pointing to his village headband and the mark inscribed there. "What does this look like?"

"Like the headbands those Spirit ninja's are wearing." Was the immediate reply, then: "Oh! You were that guy sulking in the corner of the old hag's office!" Koenma couldn't help it. His teeth found themselves over his bottom lip and sucking. That had sounded far too much like Yuusuke for comfort.

Koenma knew then that he was going to hate this year.

Keiko Yukimura sighed as she dropped her bag on the futon she'd claimed as hers. The Hokage had provided the eight Spirit ninjas with rooms in an apartment building near the center of town. Her, Botan, Shizuru and Master Genkai were to be sharing this one, while the boys were connected to them next door. The place was actually quite nice, but it just wasn't the same. It wasn't home.

Sighing again, Keiko followed her bag's path and dropped down onto her bed. She missed her parents. The Yukimura's hadn't been ninja in four generations; she'd been raised as a simple restaurant owner's daughter. And she'd never been away from home, not like this. Not for a whole year. And worse, Haruko wasn't with her. Sure she had her sensei, and Botan who she'd gotten acquainted with through Shizuru, and Yuusuke who she'd practically grown up with, but they weren't her family. They weren't blood.

Keiko sighed.

Yuusuke hissed, exhaling sharply through his teeth, and jumped backward, landing hard on his right ankle and barely managing not to twist it. Pushing himself upright with a sharp motion, Yuusuke re-assessed his opponent. Then he smirked.

"Not bad. You remind me of someone I know back home. But unfortunately for you, he's a lot stronger." Yuusuke brought his hands together with a grin, but was interrupted before he could form the first sign.

"Come now Yuusuke, fighting the Leaf ninja already?"

"I don't see why you're surprised, Kurama. That's just like the idiot." Yuusuke's grin lost its challenging edge, and he looked over his shoulder at the Chounin behind him.

"Would you rather give it another go, Hiei? I can always beat you into the ground a second time."

"I would hardly say you 'beat him into the ground' as you put it. You barely scraped out of that fight, and you had help." Kurama's voice was void of any malice; it held only solid fact and a light teasing tone. Yuusuke huffed and put his hands on his hips, turning fully to face the two. He said nothing, unable to argue with Kurama's knowing words.

"You! Are we going to fight, or are you going to give up?" Yuusuke blinked in confusion, before turning back around to face the boy he'd been fighting.

"Oh, right. I forgot you were there. Hey guys, meet – um, I didn't get your name."

"My name is Rock Lee. I also do not know your name."

"Yuusuke Urameshi. Why were we fighting again?"

"You are worse than Naruto. Very well, we will leave on good terms." Rock Lee then turned and sprinted off to the side.

"Hiei?"

"He wasn't."

"That's creepy. I still can't figure out how you two can do that." Kurama smiled at the Genin.

"You'll learn to be able to communicate with Kuwabara like Hiei and I do."

"Kami help me, I hope that never happens." Yuusuke shuttered. Him, able to understand how Kuwabara thinks? No way.

He made his way through the trees swiftly. His surroundings were unfamiliar, uncomfortable; he was used to open spaces. But that didn't matter, couldn't matter, because they had to be warned. He had to get back and tell them that they had been betrayed. Their friends were no friends at all, but in fact their enemies.

Veering suddenly and sharply to the right, he avoided the kunai barely. The fight following was short, but bloody. The man lay dead on the ground. He turned again, much more injured this time, but even more determined to reveal the plot to them. He took two running steps before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and everything tilted and went fuzzy. As he struggled to get breath through his punctured esophagus, he looked to the figure that had thrown the lethal senbon.

"Why?" He managed to rasp out.

"Power." His murderer answered. Then everything went dark.