Chapter 6: Welcome Back

It was a dark night in spirit world. By the death of their savior, and the return of immortal evil, no one was the same. A black cloud hung over the kingdom, which hadn't been seen in over a century. And that particular black cloud only meant one thing; death.

Word quickly spread over the three worlds, there were some demons who could just tell something was wrong. Yusuke is deceased, and the Grim Reaper is afoot. Panic spread from the vegetated forests of north Makai to the high mountains of the rigid south. Every demon that could comprehend knew the danger they were in. Many demons had heard of Zlyana and her many man and demon slaughters, some stories were exaggerated to be told as tall tales, others were personal experiences that scarred them for life. Either way, there was a certain level of fear embedded into every demon that day. The deepest fear was if she killed a strong fighter such as Yusuke, who couldn't she kill? Who would be next? When?

Something was falling through the sky at incredible force. It seemed nothing more than possibly a dead bird, shot by an arrow perhaps, but as it fell closer and closer to the world known as Makai, it became very clear what it was.

A dead body flew down from the sky head first; half covered in a black cloth, and collided with the calm surface of a small lake in the middle of nowhere. Animals and small demons in the trees jumped a little and started to yell, scream and disrupt the others. The wake slowly rippled away from the center of the water until it nearly smoothed out, letting the sounds of the forest be calm again. That was how it went, till the silence was broken again by a scythe spinning through the air and sticking in the ground. Nothing happened for the next few seconds, until the glassy surface of the water was broken again.

A black figure rose out of the water, seemingly floating without the help from its legs. A black cloth rose behind it, coming off after the collision. As the figure rose higher, its body became clearer and clearer to see. Rubbery patches of skin scarcely covered it all. Pure white bones showed through as well as slowly decomposing ones. Long, straight black hair clung to the body and within her open ribs that cased no organs but simply a black hole of a soul.

The body floated forward, keeping the very tips of its toes touching the water and creating a small wake as it moved. When it reached the ground, it grabbed its scythe and held it firmly in its hand. Shifting, it moved its wet clothes around so it covered the inhuman skeleton showing under it. Still hovering over the forest floor, the body lowered itself and touched the grass with its rubbery soles and started to walk.

Elsewhere

Silence. There was nothing in the room besides it. Whether eyes were wide or watery, no one had missed the scene that just occurred. All of those eyes were on the floor, staring at an ashy gray stain that was the only thing left of Yusuke Uremeshi. A clank was heard as something dense hit the floor. The golden cross that ogre had in his hand slipped out, broken into three pieces before it hit. No one had noticed it though, their stares still resided on where their friend had just been. His death seemed surreal, unable to be true. How could they believe that Yusuke Uremeshi; Spirit Detective, wielder of the Spirit Orb, one of the strongest fighters the three worlds had ever seen, just died? The only thing it took was the touch of death to send Yusuke away. And if she could do that to him, there was no telling who else she would do it to.

"Ko- Ko- Koenma? Is there any way we can bri- bring him back?" Botan was the first to speak. Her words formed through scattered breath and quiet sobs of despair. She felt woozy and swayed in anxiety till her hand found Koenma's desk. She gave all of her weight to the desk, and sank to the floor. Koenma didn't seem to hear, but he responded.

"N- No. At least, I don't—think we can." Koenma sounded despondent. Though he looked like thought had risen from his mind and he couldn't focus, ideas and theories were running through his head to try and see if they could bring him back. Finally, as if just realizing it, he tore his eyes away from the floor and looked up. "Yusuke? Are you here? Are you here Yusuke?"

At the attempt, it seemed everyone else took notice of the fact that they were in Spirit World. Yusuke's soul should be floating somewhere around in the room. Botan's eyes had widened, realizing what exactly she could do. After seeing the death of her friend, all her thoughts completely left her mind. She looked up as well, hoping she would see him. But he wasn't there. Just as Koenma had suspected.

"Koenma? Where is he? Why isn't he here!" Botan had become hysterical by now. Nothing made sense to her anymore. Just a while ago she was here in Koenma's office with the others and they were awaiting the arrival of this strange girl who she had only heard about in stories. As a child, she was more sensible than the others, and told herself that no one like that could truly exist. But now, she had seen those horror stories firsthand, and she knew the truth now.

"He's not here, because he's with Zlyana."

At the words, everyone looked up from the ashes to Koenma, still in his stoic state.

"Why would Yusuke be with her? Isn't his soul free to wander?" Kurama had found the voice to speak. He was still utterly surprised and devastated, however. Hiei stood as quiet as he always was, though he feared what would come out of his mouth if he tried to speak. Instead, he just closed his eyes. Kuwabara, on the other hand, was trembling. Watching him, Koenma doubted he had comprehended anything that was said after Yusuke's death.

"Souls cannot wander if she is the one to kill you. She takes hold of them, depositing them in Spirit world whenever she likes. Although, before we would tell her when to, but now—she has the upper hand."

"Shut up! All of you just shut up!"

The seemingly calm conversation was interrupted by the emotional outburst of Kuwabara. He was on his knees now, tears staining the dry ashes of Yusuke's remains. He continued to sob as everyone else looked to him in sympathy and waited to see if he would continue.

"Kuwabara?" Kurama moved to him and tried to comfort him. He placed his hand lightly on Kuwabara's shaking shoulders but he tore away from Kurama's touch. Kurama sighed, and stood back.

"He's not gone, he's not! He can come back!" Kuwabara continued his cries of denial. Standing up, he reached out and grabbed Koenma by the collar, and pulled him to his face, tears still rolling down his cheeks. He was breathing heavily, eyes trembling in their sockets as he looked down at the somber deity. He looked about on the edge of truly breaking down, but he wanted to get words out before that. His breathing was heavy, and his breath made Koenma's hair move. The others in the room reacted quickly to Kuwabara. However, they only moved their eyes to the two of them, surprised at Kuwabara's burst of despair.

"Kuwa—?"

"Tell me," Kuwabara spoke, interrupting Koenma. "Can he come back?" He was still breathing heavily, and Koenma was still in slight shock. Several seconds went by with Koenma just staring at Kuwabara's wet and determined eyes. "Can he!" Kuwabara's strong voice snapped him out of his reverie and he spoke.

"Yes." His voice was quiet, but still caught the attention of everyone in the room. Kuwabara started to loosen his grip in surprise. Something in the back of his head was telling him that Yusuke was gone forever, just like he thought before when he was hit by the car. But he fought that belief. He fought against it and finally convinced himself it wasn't over after hearing Koenma's answer.

"How?" Botan had regained some sort of composure and had propped herself up against the desk. She stared at Koenma waiting for an answer.

"Zlyana has killed people she wasn't supposed to before. Since we aren't prepared for them, she keeps them for herself to torture. But we always made her bring them back to life, and she always obliged. Though she was never happy about it." By now, Kuwabara had let go of Koenma and stood back to listen. "I don't exactly know how she does it, but she has the power to bring those who aren't supposed to be dead back to life. We need to find her, and get her to do it."

"How do you expect that to ever happen?" Eyes shifted again, this time to Hiei. This being his first time speaking, the others were slightly startled. "She is clearly out of her mind. After what she went through in Limbo, it looks like there's no way she would answer to you anymore. How can you get her to agree to bring him back? Hm? How can you convince death itself to follow your orders?" Hiei's pessimistic views were putting an even bigger downer on them, more than they needed.

"I—I don't know." Koenma dropped his head in anxiety. He let his bangs cover his eyes and he closed them in anger and sadness.

"We have to try! We have to find her before she goes and destroys everything! We need Yusuke back!" Botan had found some sort of confidence after hearing there was a way to get Yusuke back. Though her voice still wavered, she still had hope. Koenma looked at her solemnly.

"We have nothing to defend ourselves. The angels don't work like they used too. She's built up some sort of immunity to them, but they can catch her by surprise. And the cross," Koenma spoke in confidence that he acquired from Botan and looked at the cross that Zlyana had broken, his confidence suddenly dropped.

"Can we fix it? That thing worked! It blew her out of the frickin' room! We can fix it! We need to!" Kuwabara became hysterical once again and sprinted over to the pieces of the cross that were on the floor, next to Ogre's feet.

"Kuwabara no!"

But it was too late. Kuwabara's fingers rounded the bottom of the cross and he was sent flying. He exploded from his position and fly back into the wall, hitting it with a bang and falling back down to the floor. It was quiet after that. Kurama and Botan ran to his side to see if he was fine, and Hiei stared at the pieces of the cross that lay lonely on the floor. He started to walk over to them but he was stopped by the arm of Koenma. Looking up, he saw Koenma's razor sharp eyes.

"This is not fit for demons to touch either, Hiei. I would explain, but it's too complex. Right now, we need to fix it."

"If it did that to the human with the sixth sense wouldn't it still be sufficient for her?"

"No. It would only push her back a few steps as it is. Its effect is stronger as one. She can't even be near it. Ogre, take these and work on fixing them, soak it Holy Water for seven hours."

"Koenma—"

"Do it." Koenma's voice was stern, and Ogre understood. He just nodded and picked up the broken cross and walked out of the room.

Elsewhere

Zlyana sat smiling. Though she still felt the effects of that damn cross, she was happy where she had landed. Her body instinctively went to demon world. How nice. She was positioned against a tree, her scythe running across her lap. She was trying to regain her energy to continue on. Trying to rest up, there was an upset feeling in the place where her stomach would be. She tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't stop. Its incessant annoyance wouldn't letup, so she decided to free herself of it.

"Well come on out, then."

At the words, a white cloud looking thing came out of her ribs and floated in front of her. She looked at it and concentrated to make it take form. Slowly, as she hadn't done this in a while, the form began to take shape and it looked just like Yusuke.

"What the hell?" Yusuke's spirit had formed with his back toward Zlyana, as she wanted. He looked around and saw he was in the forest.

"Almost." At the sound of the voice, Yusuke whipped around in surprise and yelled as his spirit flew back. He stared wide eyed at her and patted his chest. Or as well as a spirit with no physical body could.

"You're—you're!" Yusuke couldn't finish his sentence as he looked into the hollowed out sockets of the true Grim Reaper. It was just then that he noticed he was floating. "What the hell!" He started to flip around in midair and scream at the same time. Zlyana cocked on eyebrow at him as she watched him. Part of her wondered if she had truly killed one of the most feared fighters in all the three worlds. As doubt ran through her, she decided to stop this crazy boy's antics.

"You've already said that." She started to stand up now, her energy high enough that she was fine now. Yusuke stopped and looked at her. He floated in a crisscross position and was level with Zlyana. He stared at her in confusion, but didn't hesitate to do what he did next.

"Spirit gun!" Yusuke had pointed his index finger at Zlyana and tried to put his spirit energy into it. But nothing happened.

"You can't really be Yusuke Uremeshi can you?" She started to walk forward. Instinctively, he floated backwards, and he freaked out as he felt himself floating once again.

"What's going on? What happened!" Yusuke kept floating back but then he stopped quickly, against his will. Zlyana walked up to him, putting her face mere inches from his own, so he could stare into the back of her skull.

"You're dead. I killed you."

Yusuke's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it.

"But—"

"Shut up. You're irritating me." Instantly, Yusuke's mouth shut closed. He looked down at his mouth and tried to pry it open with his hands. Zlyana just grinned. "You may be wondering why you can't back talk. Easy answer, I control you. Now, if you would be so kind as to stop fidgeting—" Zlyana planned on controlling the rest of Yusuke's body to do as she wanted, but something she didn't expect happened.

"Screw you bitch!"

'He got out of my control?'

"Well, well, you seem to be a strong one. That's good, that's very good." Zlyana began laughing under her breath, which made the pit of Yusuke's whatever he may have now as a spirit, just churn. For a second, he thought that life itself was going to be over.

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Shade- Reeeeaaaallly choppy and not like the other chapters but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. Sorry for those who didn't like waiting, it's just I wasn't watching YYH so I wasn't inspired. But now I've discovered anime on the internet. However, my school starts really soon so don't expect any burst of updates. But honestly, reviews do inspire writers to continue. So if you want more, let me know.