PART ONE: RETURN TO LIFE

Chapter One: The Mistake

Yusuke Urameshi, dead at age fourteen. After a long life of kicking the tar out of any thug or gang that made the mistake of crossing him, he found his brutal, thug-oriented life cut drastically short by the most unexpected of means. After diving across the street to shove a small child out of the way of an oncoming car, Yusuke was struck in the child's stead, his body smashed as he flew over the car. He was dead before his corpse even hit the ground.

Yusuke was one of the worst punks at Sarayashiki Junior High, and it would not have been difficult to discern a proper judgment for him, if not for the unusual circumstances surrounding his death. Yusuke's self-sacrifice had been determined to be extremely uncharacteristic of him; he was never meant to die there, at that point in time.

After meeting the surprisingly attractive Grim Reaper, a young woman by the name of Botan, with a long, blue ponytail, dressed in a flowing pink kimono and riding atop a flying oar, Yusuke was offered the opportunity of a lifetime, so to speak. It was a chance to return to life, by enduring an ordeal that her boss had in store for him. Yusuke had been reluctant at first, but after a surprisingly emotional wake by people he'd been certain couldn't care less for him, highlighted strongest by a frighteningly emotional outburst by his longtime rival Kuwabara, and his alcoholic mother breaking down in tears, Yusuke had agreed to undergo this ordeal.

Yusuke had been given an egg, belonging to a creature called a Spirit Beast. That was his ordeal; the creature inside had been feeding off his spirit, growing off the energy he put out, positive or negative. It was becoming stronger with every action, becoming more and more oriented towards the direction he indirectly nudged it in. The test was simple; when it hatched, if it were good, Yusuke would be allowed to return to life. If not, it would devour him and that would be that.

While the ordeal was happening, Yusuke had returned to the human world. He had spent most of his time floating in the air, although he had seized upon one opportunity not long after his return. In order to prevent his body from being cremated, so that he'd have a place to return to, he had taken control of Kuwabara's body for an hour, using him to send a message to his childhood friend, Keiko Yukimura.

It was not long after that, Yusuke found himself following Kuwabara around. The worst teacher ever to teach at Sarayashiki Junior High, Mr. Akashi, had taken an opportunity to spear Kuwabara and his friends, by forcing them to not fight for an entire week, even with numerous gangs around town looking to get back at them. The stake was the job of one of Kuwabara's friends. Yusuke didn't know the guy's name until he heard him called Okubo; he had never paid too much attention to the people that followed Kuwabara around.

When Mr. Akashi added a new rule, however, that's when Yusuke was really ticked off. They had to all score higher on an upcoming test than half, 50, or Kuwabara's buddy would lose his job even without them fighting. Yusuke had spent the week watching Kuwabara get creamed over and over, while punks beat every ounce of pain out of his body they could just for their own vindictive sense of retribution, and while he refused to fight back in order to protect his friend. He had called it "a promise between men", displaying a sense of honor Yusuke had never noticed in him before.

It was here where the horrible mistake began, when Botan left Yusuke alone while she spoke with Koenma. He had spent the night haunting Kuwabara's dreams, helping him to study for the test. He had never known Kuwabara beyond another face to be beaten, and he had never realized how much the man cared for his friends. Kuwabara would never let them down, and Yusuke had decided that he couldn't either. He had to help.

-------------------------------------------------

"Do you really think he's ready, Botan?" The toddler prince, Koenma, was seated behind his desk filling out paperwork. This had been his ordeal to put in place, but a recent file had brought a sense of urgency to it. "If we miss this, we may not get another chance for another fifty-two years. Maybe that would be good for him. It would give him time to think about how not to act like a complete jerk."

"You can't be serious!" Botan slammed her hands down on Koenma's desk, an incredulous look on her face. "Yusuke's been doing good, but if he misses this, there will be no reasoning with him." She'd only known him a few days, but his personality was strong. It didn't take long to come to understand him.

Koenma, however, just wasn't getting it. "Maybe he won't mind. He seems to be enjoying floating around as a ghost. He could use the time." Yusuke simply hadn't had enough time as a ghost, but there wasn't any time left.

"I know it's earlier than we expected," Botan insisted, "but Yusuke won't want to wait around for fifty years!" Yusuke's energy wavelengths had stabilized faster than had been estimated. It was almost as if something was trying to pull him back, some unseen force working to prepare his body for Yusuke to return to.

"This doesn't seem right, Botan. His wavelengths should have taken a few more days to properly align themselves. I don't want to throw him into something he's not prepared for." In the months to come, these words would seem ridiculous. However, at the time, the toddler prince was very serious. He had a look of urgency on his young, infantile eyes that worried Botan. "There's something else happening here. Something we can't see."

Botan backed down a bit. Biting the bottom of her lip out of worry, she looked down at Koenma behind the desk. "If we don't let him take this chance, what will happen to him? He's not going to float around like this forever."

Koenma sighed, resting his forehead on his desk to think. "I don't know, Botan. I really don't know."

-------------------------------------------------

Yusuke had done some proud, fine work. As he watched Kuwabara stroll down the street towards the school building, his nose in a book still studying for that test for his buddy Okubo, Yusuke couldn't help but smile a little. Something inside him felt better for helping someone, even someone as annoying and often idiotic as Kuwabara. But fate, it seemed, was not on Kuwabara's side.

"Hey, look, there goes Kuwabara!" a punk from a nearby alley grinned.

"I heard he doesn't try to fight back anymore when people attack him."

"I say we go have some fun with him."

Three idiots, one stocky and brown-haired, the second decently built with brown curls, and the third lanky and tall, with blond, ruffled hair, grinned a predatory grin from the alleyway. More of the punks taking advantage of Akashi's ordeal for Kuwabara, and at the worst possible time. The blond man grinned, "Buddy, you're speaking my language!" before all three ran out of the alley, racing for Kuwabara.

Laughing and grinning, the three ran until they could see Kuwabara clearly ahead of them. The blond man, clearly the leader of the group, called out to him. "Hey, you! Kuwabara!" When Kuwabara kept walking, the man got angry. "We wanna have a word with you!" The three raced forward, ready to jump him while he walked on, oblivious.

"Oh, great," Yusuke snarled. This couldn't have come at a worse time. "There's no way I'm wasting that whole night of questions and answers because of these lame-o's making him miss the test!" Quickly, Yusuke dropped from his vantage in the sky, standing on the ground and calling out to the men, "ANYONE WHO TOUCHES HIM IS DEAD MEAT!"

This would have meant something if he could be seen or heard. Either would have been good, but as a ghost, he was completely unnoticeable, at least for the two brown-haired men. The blond, possibly a mild spirit-sensitive like Kuwabara, stopped and started to sweat a little out of nervous fear. "Hey," the short, thinner brown man stopped, "Why the hell are you stopping?"

"I don't know man," the blond man uttered. "I got a bad feeling. Why don't we turn back?"

The lanky, brown-haired man growled. "What are you, psychic? Let's go!" Not even waiting for the blond, he ran forward towards the intended ambush, completely disregarding Yusuke's vain attempts to stop him.

"I warned you!" Yusuke, growled as the men came near. Drawing his fist back for a powerful blow, he struck just as soon as the first was in range. He then watched helplessly as his fist flew through the man, and the three boys raced right through him. He had always been rather slow on the uptake, and moving on instinct, he had completely forgotten that he could not touch or affect anything in this ghostly state. As the boys ran onward, Yusuke snarled. "I keep forgetting." Taking back to the air, he flew after them. He had to do something!

As Kuwabara walked, he passed two young girls, walking back from their own class. Dressed in the school uniform, the blue skirts and blouses with yellow ribbons tying them together and carrying their bags, he didn't even notice them when he walked past, too busy with his book.

The three thugs quickly passed, shoving the two girls out of the way. It was here that everything began to fall apart for Yusuke. It had all started here, when the brown-haired girl with brown hair running down past her shoulders fell, striking her head against the wall behind her and losing consciousness. Yusuke had no way of knowing, but a horrible mistake was about to take place.

-------------------------------------------------

"Botan, I don't know about this." Koenma sighed, knowing he was backed into a corner. As much as he wanted to test Yusuke further, there was just no time left. He knew he had to act now, looking down at Yusuke's papers on his desk. There were simply no other options.

"Neither do I," Botan looked down. "But it's the only way, isn't it?"

"Okay," Koenma finally coalesced. "I'll go prepare his body for his return. You find Yusuke and tell him what's happening. Make sure nothing happens to him; something is definitely not right about all this." Taking his pen, Koenma signed his name along Yusuke's paperwork, verifying his return to life. It was time to bring him back, even if it was ahead of schedule.

-------------------------------------------------

"I'll get you, you jerks!" Yusuke dropped back to the ground, running after the three punks. Relentless in his pursuit, he absolutely refused to let them go. As he followed them past the two girls, however, an idea formed in his mind.

"Misako, are you okay?" The dark-haired girl crouched beside her friend, nudging her in the hopes that she'd wake up. In her unconscious state, the brown-haired girl was completely unresponsive.

"Hey," Yusuke pondered, "I know her from school." Botan had told him that people get closer to the spirit world when they were asleep, and Misako had just fainted. This gave Yusuke a perfect opportunity. Latching onto the only chance he could see to help Kuwabara, Yusuke allowed his spirit to drift into the girl's body, and after a moment of adjustment, he opened her eyes.

-------------------------------------------------

"Koenma, sir!" Botan had already left on her oar to find Yusuke, and Koenma was just about to leave for the body when he was interrupted. His faithful blue ogre, whom he just called Ogre, hurried after him down the hall. "Something's wrong with Yusuke!"

"What are you blabbering about now, Ogre?" Koenma narrowed his eyes, obviously peeved at being interrupted. "If this is about Yusuke's wavelengths, I already know."

"It's not that, sir! Come look!" The blue ogre ran back to Koenma's office, with Koenma trailing behind. He could only hope that Koenma would know what to do when he saw it.

"Okay," Koenma hopped up onto his desk, "I'm here. Now, what did you want to–what the?" On the screen across from Koenma's desk, which the young child used to keep tabs on the human world, was an image he couldn't explain. Yusuke's body, resting in the Urameshi household, was glowing with a strange, blue energy. "That isn't my..." Koenma knew he had to prepare the body with an infusion of energy, so that Yusuke could make his return. But this...this energy was not his, and it certainly hadn't come from his people. It looked almost like spirit energy, but...he didn't know of any psychics in the area, and the spirits in his employ had no reason or even ability to do something like this.

"Yusuke!" Koenma realized suddenly, just before a burst of energy tore through the apartment. A massive rush of power, before the screen went to static. Koenma could feel a chill running through his small form; he didn't know what had happened, but to interrupt his surveillance, it had to have been both powerful and directed. Even with power, it would have needed to be deliberately trying to interrupt him; as if it already knew that he was watching it, and it wanted to be alone.

-------------------------------------------------

"Where are you going!" The dark-haired girl called after Misato, with Yusuke at the reigns. Yusuke ran towards the three thugs, intent on interrupting their ambush on Kuwabara, relentlessly pursuing their attempt.

"Just wait 'til I catch you!" Yusuke yelled with a voice higher than his usual. It was a strange and awkward voice, but he knew he'd be free of it soon enough. Leaping into the air, he brought the girl's bag down hard, smashing it against the back of the blond thug's head. A powerful enough blow made stronger by the weight of the bag, and the heavy textbooks inside it.

Yusuke was awkward in this body, not accustomed to its weaker muscles and lighter movements. However, he was not one to allow a minor setback prevent him from doing what he needed. "You should have listened," the young girl's voice spoke, the danger inherent in her voice completely lost on the other two thugs.

"And you should go to school, girl!" Curly growled, not one to be intimidated.

"As soon as I knock you out!" Taking advantage of the speed he could get with the lighter form, Yusuke ran his new body forward, slamming the bag against each of the boys. With an aim that he had perfected over a lifetime, he struck each in the side of the head, losing his grip on the bag in the process. As the two boys fell, he grabbed Curly by the scruff of his jacket, finally venting his frustration over their attempts to stop Kuwabara. "Don't you know there's a test today, moron!" She drove her fist into Curly's face three times, before grabbing the stocky boy and smashing his head through the wooden fence on her left.

A couple more shots while the three boys were down helped vent Yusuke's frustration, and he smiled with the girl's mouth. "Ah, I feel better." It was then, standing in pride, that he was struck. A strange energy wave, unnoticeable to most, washed silently over the area. Kuwabara stopped, finally interrupted from his studying, when he felt the energy move silently through him, completely disregarding him but putting his psychic senses on overdrive.

Yusuke didn't even notice until it was too late, as the energy washed over him inside Misako's body. If he had noticed, maybe there would have been time to escape. As it was, he was caught completely off-guard, until something dark and menacing lingered in the air above him. "What the–"

Before he could finish his sentence, it began to take form, a black, monstrous creature with glowing, red eyes. A horrible black cloud lingered in the air above him, and when it laughed, he heard his own voice echoing back at him. When the horrible, shapeless cloud opened a mouth just beneath the eyes, a row of sharp, terrifying teeth could be seen. He didn't know what this horrible thing wanted, but he wasn't going to let it take it without a fight.

Raising Misako's fists, Yusuke backed up a step, watching the horrible cloud. He had never seen anything like this, but–

"I am not here to fight you."

"What are you?" Yusuke whispered with the young girl's voice.

"There is no need to fight you now. I only wanted to see you. What a nice form you've chosen for yourself, Urameshi. I hope you enjoy it."

"What the hell are you talking about!" Yusuke snarled, but the cloud dissipated before he could get any answers. "Hey! I'm not done with you!" Yusuke yelled, but only the voice lingered in the air.

"Perhaps not, stupid boy. But I am done with you. AT LAST, I am DONE with YOU!"

As soon as these words passed Misato's ears, Yusuke found himself gripped by a powerful, dark energy. Her body began to glow blue, as something began to tear its way through it, some strange spiritual power tearing at him. As he struggled to make sense of the creature's words, not understanding what it meant when it said 'at last', he found his head wracked with pain from the creature's assault.

And then, just as quickly as it had started, it was over. The energy faded, and the voice lingered in the air no longer. He didn't know where it went, but he wasn't about to let it go. This thing had come after him, and he was going to hunt it down and beat it into submission for what it had done here...whatever it had done here. He didn't know what this thing had been doing, but he was about to find out.

All he had to do was let go of the body, and he would hunt this thing down and kill it. All he had to do was let go, just let go, and he could go after it. Just let go, remove himself from this body...it was simple enough, he'd done it enough times before. He just had to let go, just let go...just let go...let go...let go...uh-oh.

"This is bad."