Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Title: Transcension

Rating: T for action/violence and some (fairly mild) language. Remember- it IS Yuusuke I'm writing, here.

Warnings: Possible OOCness in Hiei's case- the situations he's gonna be in are just really different……not that I'll MEAN to make him OOC. If I do, just tell me, and I'll edit it. As for any others . . . There's gonna be some romantic fluffiness in certain parts of the story, but none of those hot make-out scenes or whatever. And yes, I do have theme songs for each chapter. I feel like music inspires me when I write, so I think you should know exactly what was in my head when I was writing.

Chapter One: Recurring Nightmares

Chapter Theme Song: "Remember When It Rained", Josh Groban

The night was moonless and the forest seemed endless. The few stars in the late sky were hidden behind the thick clouds, warning residents below of the storm approaching from the western horizon. To the east, turrets of the imperial palace rose to imposing heights, piercing the low-hanging clouds and then disappearing into the dark mist. The ivory roof of the main house reflected what little light could be seen through the night, though every window was dark and empty. An icy breeze shrieked like a siren through the branches of the age-old trees, and a few dry leaves were shaken loose from their holds.

Through the darkness, a lone girl stumbled frantically through the dense forest, as if running for her very life. Her simple white satin dress was torn in many places and covered in smudges of dirt. Her long hair was wildly tangled and thrown about her pale face, and a small twig had wound itself in one of her dark locks. The girl's face was young, and decidedly pretty, with high cheekbones and large, almond-shaped eyes; though her features were now marred by the haunting expression of utter terror.

She ran blindly between the uniform tree trunks, the end of her gown snagging on raised roots and stones in her path. Every other step, she glanced fearfully behind her, eyes searching in panic for her unseen hunter. Running passed a small, straggly white tree bare of leaves, one piece of brown hair caught on a branch. It wrapped itself tightly around the thin limb and yanked the girl's head back sharply. She paid no notice, however, and kept sprinting ahead, the lock of hair tearing out of the branch's grasp ruthlessly.

Not two steps past the lone white tree, however, a thick tangle of vine-like weeds ensnared her bare foot, and the girl fell towards the ground face first. Her arms shot out in front of her, breaking her fall and averting her descent to land on her side. In horror, she sat up quickly and felt her stomach gently, feeling for the faint heartbeat of her unborn child. There it was- tiny, but strong, and still very much alive within her. She sighed softly; her heart's worry put to rest for a brief time.

In her one moment of relief, however, the young woman's happiness was forgotten as her worst fear was realized and a massive pair of deformed, clawlike hands wrapped around her dirt-smudged arms and yanked her roughly to her feet. The girl thrashed desperately, kicking the unnaturally tall being's legs and clawing at its fingers in vain. She twisted violently, thrashing about as best she could while not endangering her baby. Finally, realizing her defeat as the lightning cracked in the sky and raindrops began to fall, the captured girl did the last thing she could- she screamed.

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In a small room of a dojo located just outside Tokyo, Japan, a sword-wielding fire demon woke with a start. His face was set in its usual stoic expression, but his ruby eyes were wide. His entire body was covered in a nightmarish sweat, and the knuckles of his hands were white from gripping the hilt of the sword resting on his lap. His breathing was ragged, and his chest heaved with every intake of air.

Silently, he sat, back straight and muscles tense, for almost an entire minute, before he slowly began to relax. His head dropped and his shoulders started to sag slightly. With one hand he reached up and pressed his fingers to his brow, closing his eyes in frustration.

This demon's name was Jaganshi Hiei, and his sleep had not been uninterrupted for the last fortnight. Every single night it was the same dream, and every single night he awoke feeling like his life had just been sucked violently away from him. Heaving a sigh, Hiei fell back against the trunk of the tree he had been sleeping under and turned his eyes upward to stare at the cloud-choked sky above him.

He suddenly felt a drop of rain fall onto his forehead. Hiei did not move as the water slid slowly down his face and dripped off the edge of his chin. Why? He asked himself angrily, Why now? Why should these memories arise now?

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"Come on, Nikko, there's nuthin' here. Let's go."

"No, no, I swear I saw someone run this way just now, just gimme another minute, Hishiro!"

Hishiro sighed in exasperation. Sometimes his friend's imagination ran away with him a little too far.

Hishiro and Nikko were on assignment in Makai from Koenma, their first from the Prince himself, and Hishiro really didn't want to screw it. Wasting time chasing after another one of Nikko's hallucinations was, in his mind, most definitely on the way to screwing it up. Prince Koenma rarely gave out assignments personally, with the exception of his Reikai Tantei of course. So, on the occasion that he did, it was meant to be executed with the utmost care. And, seeing as how this was Hishiro and Nikko's very first 'Assignment from the Boss', Hishiro had planned on carrying it out swiftly, with the exact surgical precision needed to show Prince Koenma the obvious benefit he would have on Spirit World if he was a member of the Reikai Tantei.

But no. Nikko had to pull another 'I saw someone suspicious, let's go check it out and leave our assignment for later'. Sometimes Hishiro wondered whether or not Nikko ever planned on using his seventy-pound battle axe for anything other than waving it menacingly at criminals that weren't actually there.

Hishiro sighed again.

It was gonna be a long day. If only he had requested a different partner . . . but of course, he could never do that, Nikko was practically his brother. Ever since Reikai Guard training at the academy 76 years ago . . . Man, he knew he should never have spotted Nikko that dollar for lunch—

Hishiro's regrets were suddenly interrupted by the strangled scream tearing out of the nearby woods. With a start, Hishiro was jerked back into reality, nearly falling off his comfortable perch upon a broken wall of limestone. Never slow to recover, however, he came to a landing on his feet, one hand on the hilt of the sword hanging loosely from his belt. He adopted a classic form of a defensive, crouched form; muscles tensed and prepared to fight. His eyes darted from tree to tree in the thick forest ahead of him; the forest Nikko had recently disappeared into. Hishiro's head tilted ever-so-slightly to the side as he searched the trees for any sign of his friend. Finding none and hearing no sound that could be called suspicious, Hishiro cautiously moved as quickly as possible to the nearest tree, crouching behind it.

"Nikko?" he called out again. "Are you there?"

Silence reigned for a split second before it was overthrown by a sharp yell, a massive burst of red-gold light, and, finally, a harsh onslaught of thick smoke billowing from the direction of all the tumult.

"Nikko!"

Abandoning caution entirely, Hishiro took off right through the smoke, squinting his eyes and thanking the Heavens he was born with filtering lung chambers.

After a full minute of running blindly through smoke and various tree parts, Hishiro came to an abrupt halt in a large clearing. Possessing no sense of grace whatsoever, he very nearly fell on his face as he did so.

'What the . . .' Hishiro thought to himself, eyes widening briefly in utter confusion. It looked like the field had just gone up in flames that had disappeared just as quickly as they had come.

The grass (which Hishiro was fairly sure was once long due to the very few patches of hardy grasses still remaining) was shriveled to the root, completely black, and, for the most part, utterly gone. The unfortunate trees nearest him were charred and broken. Even the large boulders next to Hishiro were blackened on the surfaces facing the inner part of the clearing. But the smoke was still so thick, Hishiro could see nothing more than a few feet from him, let alone the whereabouts of his friend.

Slowly, as the smoke cleared, Hishiro could make out a lone figure standing in front of and slightly to the left of him. A brief flash of relief shot through him, as clearly his friend had come out the better in whatever fight had gone on. As the smoke dwindled away, however, Hishiro realized that the figure was very short; far too short to be Nikko, and its form was most definitely not that of the stocky Earth demon that was Hishiro's long-time companion. Hishiro felt the smile that had been forming on his lips and the relief sparking in his eyes fade.

In a very short time, the smoke had dissipated enough for Hishiro to fully make out the mysterious figure standing in the field. Hishiro's breath hissed in anger as he saw the demon's faces.

Standing about 5'3" of 5'4", the first unidentified youkai, most certainly a female,had long, dark hair that reached the middle of her back, with wild bangs swept partially across one eye. Her build was small and slender, but not quite petite, so to speak. It was very clear that she was rather strong, despite her meager build. Her skin was slightly tan and somewhat dirty, as was her loose-fitting, long-sleeved white top wrapped around her entire middle with a green sash and her baggy white pants. Her forearms appeared to be wrapped in protective bandaging underneath the sleeves of her shirt. Her face, which looked as one born of a fine lineage with highly-set cheekbones and a strong jawline, was set in a determined glare aimed across the field some ways at a small object sitting on the charred grass.

It was a blackish chunk of what appeared to be metal. Its shape vaguely resembled that of a triangle . . . Or an axe. One edge of the ruined blade was driven into the ground, but not forcefully it seemed. It was most likely simply dropped from the hands the unlucky wielder.

Hishiro growled not-so-quietly, his shoulders shaking slightly and every muscle tightened with fury.

And while Hishiro's fury was justly caused, his growl was most definitely not working for his own personal welfare. The low sound attracted the attention of the unknown demon, and she immediately turned to face the livid water demon, locking onto his pale blue eyes and holding his gaze.

Hishiro's expression showed no small amount of fear, yet he stood steady and bent slightly, his right hand replaced upon the embroidered hilt of his sword. The Reikai Guard knew he was more than skilled enough at swordplay to outmatch this female; he had easily overrun the competition back in the training academy, so there was no reason he shouldn't do the same now. Especially considering the fact that the stranger was unarmed.

. . . presumably.

Stooped, and prepared to draw his newly-polished Kentai sword, Hishiro made to spring, but before he even got the chance to set one foot in front of the other, the demoness smirked in slight amusement- and vanished.

Forget being able to set one foot in front of the other, Hishiro barely had time to alter his expression from set and determined to utterly baffled at the demoness's disappearance before he was hit from behind with such force that the youkai went positively sailing across the clearing, through the little smoke that lingered in the air, and met an abrupt, rather rough stop crashing against a particularly tall, burnt tree.

And there he laid, at the foot of a massive tree in the midst of Makai, the elite of Reikai's Guard- completely overcome by some shrimpy, unknown demoness with a glare like fire.

Great, Hishiro managed one small thought before the blackness of unconsciousness sunk fully into his brain; Now I'll never be a Tantei member . . . And I lost my best friend. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Nikko. Maybe if I hadn't, you'd be okay . . .

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"BOTAN! GET YOUR FANNIE IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" came a shrill yell from the Prince's office in Reikai. The command echoed through the room, and the noise of the reverberation was quickly followed by the equally loud crash of a pair of large doors swinging open thunderously, coupled with the cries of several startled ogre secretaries as a certain blue-haired, purple-eyed ferry girl came sprinting into the large, white room.

"Botan here Koenma, sir!" the pink-clad girl exclaimed, poised quite ready at the edge of Koenma's desk. The toddler Prince in question was currently seated rather stiffly at his too-large-for-his-somewhat-minor-size desk, clutching in one hand a remote and in the other a now crinkled sheet of paper. His eyes were quite large, eyebrows bordering on his hairline, and his small mouth pursed into a strained frown.

"We have a problem, Botan. A very large problem." He stated.

"Oh!" Botan exclaimed worriedly, her hands shooting up to clutch each other at her chin. "What exactly is the matter, Koenma-sama?"

"The demon I sent Hishiro and Nikko after has not been subdued."

"No! Really? But they were among the best of your Guards!"

"Yes, I realize that Botan, thank you." Koenma said shortly. "But that's not the entire problem."

Botan's eyes widened to rival the size of teacup saucers as she listened in rapture to the story of how the mystery demon had so easily overcome the Guard duo, displaying rather impressive firepower and speed.

"Oh . . . my." She said, finally, after several moments of stunned silence.

"Botan."

"Yes, Koenma Sir?"

"Get me Yuusuke."

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Well, tell me what you all think! Good? Terrible? Horrendous? Lost? Remember, reviewing is good for the soul!

Peace out!