I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. This is fan fiction only.
All the items were returned to the vault without King Yama becoming aware that they had been stolen. Koenma was quite happy that the case did not take so long because he knew the punishment his father would give him for letting these items be stolen. "Yusuke Urameshi, On behalf of the human world, spirit world, and my poor behind I thank you for your efficient retrieval of these items."
Koenma decided to tell them about Yusuke's next mission. "As you see that proper training is not possible with only Botan's help I am sending you to a tournament of sorts for two purposes. The first is to capture a deadly demon Assassin that will more than likely try and kill a very good friend of mine. The second reason is for you to win a chance to train with my dad's friend Master Genkai."
Koenma waited to hear Yusuke complain about not wanting to train with an old hag. When the supposed complaint did not come he took it as a clear sign of approval of the idea. "Master Genkai is rather eccentric and will only train the strongest of applicants. That is the reason why you must win that tournament it is our belief that Rando will try to learn everything he can from her and then kill her."
That is when the first series of complaints came not from Yusuke but from Shizuru. "Ok, my husband is going off on your own typical long training trip, but let me ask you two things if you would be so kind to answer?" Koenma nodded his head and waited to hear the questions, he would be surprised enough to fall out of his chair when he heard them.
"My husband is risking his life here so when do we get his salary and his hazard pay? Last but not least I want a report on how he is doing. I don't want to be a widow anytime in the future. " Koenma was sure he actually never expected Shizuru to be so down to earth about the potential salary.
" If my husband is risking his life I expect him to be paid accordingly. I am not putting his or my happiness at risk for free, we don't run a charity here. " Botan could see that she was going to be quite the firm hand in dealing with her family's finances.
"You will of course receive detailed reports from his assigned liaison. That is Botan if you are wondering who your liaison is. As to payment, you do not need to worry, I happen to pay my people quite well and I even have a retirement plan for them. You will get your pay every 15 days the same as in the human world. "
She walked over to Yusuke and kissed him passionately on his lips."Well, I happen to know quite a bit about Master Genkai, so I plan to go there with you, maybe I can earn the right to train with you, chances are you will start training immediately and if I don't go with you, I will not be able to sleep well at night since I would be missing your company."
She got up and began to walk over to the door, "You however will need all the energy you can get, so I think I will prepare some food to help you recover and increase your spirit energy. I do hope you have a healthy appetite." She began to sing a song as she walked into the kitchen as prepared the food. Too bad for them they did not know the lyrics were probably some of the most gruesome music lyrics ever heard by man or spirit world. It was an old lullaby his father taught his mother in his dreams and she learned it from her.
Botan was wondering what Yusuke would do when he finally met Master Genkai, it was no secret that the master was no better than an old hermit when it came to social graces. If anything the reason she has had no students up until now was largely due to her lack of social skills and her pushy personality.
She hoped if not prayed that Yusuke have enough patience to endure the tournament without actually killing one or more of his fellow applicants out of sheer anxiety. For some odd reason ever since she knew him she knew somehow Yusuke had absolutely no problem killing be it a demon or monster he simply looked like it was as natural to him as breathing.
She, of course, had no clue that it was in fact the effect of his demon blood slowly changing him, as it were he was making good progress towards the transformation that most of his kind underwent at the moment of their supposed first death.
The path up to wear the supposed master lived was lined with seals and other things that made Yusuke feel sick but Shizuru was walking up the path like it was nothing at all, the higher he went the worse he felt. When he final finally made it to the top where the massive mansion was he suddenly felt better. Shizuru practically was waiting with people as he finally made it to the mansion garden.
"I guess the path was the first test. If this is her introductory test I am almost afraid to see what is coming next. " Yusuke heard a young-looking monk say this as he sat down. Yusuke realized that his suspicions were right. Botan came down from the air and looked at him. " So think you will win this thing? Or have you found Rando already?"
"Both actually, I think Rando is the young monk sitting over there. He is trying to look innocent and weak to make himself not a major threat. I can see that it is just an act, I will let him think that till the finals, and then he is going to get the surprise of a lifetime. " Botan knew that he would waste no time in finding his target.
" By the way Botan whatever happened to your kimono? You usually were that instead, you are wearing these tight jeans and shirt? " Botan stepped a little closer," Two reasons actually first I want to be able to see this tournament without some jerk touching me in a way he shouldn't, Second I am also paying a visit to Master Genkai. "
Yusuke looked at her and tried to look at the nice cleavage she was showing." Hey, I won't touch you without your permission, you know full well how much I respect you. " Botan hit him on his shoulder," I know, but I was talking about your competition."
A short, old-looking woman came out of the house. Everyone looked at her and waited to learn what she had to say. "Can't you fools read or must I waste my time writing something that you can just ignore. If you can't even see the sign then get out. I have no time for weaklings."
Yusuke saw that next to the door where she was true there was a sign, awful handwriting mind you but there was a sign. He walked over and picked up a piece of paper he then looked at her. "I guess they would have done so if this thing did not look like a toddler wrote it." Master Genkai looked at him with a stern look.
Yusuke saw many of the crowd leave as they realized their paper was white and they lost the supposed lottery. 'Fools, they do not realize they actually are the ones to turn the paper red with their spiritual energy. It is a great way to weed out the weak.' Master Genkai told herself as he looked at the guy who pretty much insulted her sign and saw his paper.
Unlike most of them, the paper was bright golden. 'There is no way he made it up here with that much spirit energy. This kid might be a hitman I guess he is not as worthless as I first thought. Don't tell me this is the brat Koenma told me he was sending.'
"Ok, those with the colored paper follow me inside to the next phase, those that still have the white paper take a hint and get out. " They followed inside and found that it was more of an arcade than a living room. " Alright, you can play as much as you want the ones on the left and right. Stay clear of the ones in the center since they are my favorites and therefore only for me. "
Some of them started to look for the token machine, " They are free so put back your money in your pockets before someone here tries to steal it. " Yusuke went up to the punching bag game as they saw some guy brag about his high score."Ok, let me give this puppy a try, excuse me, fellas."
Yusuke put on his glove and punched it really hard. The machine gave a score that made the previous guy look angry."You just love to rub it in don't you Urameshi. One place I figured you would not show up and here you are. You didn't even say hello to your dear brother-in-law."
Yusuke looked at Kuwabara and told him that he didn't notice his sister was also playing the games in the room like everyone else, and he didn't seem to want to offer her any help or even bother to greet his own sister, so he has no right to try and shame him.
Kuwabara looked rather upset that he was being completely ignored. "Well, I have things to do dummy I can't stop and greet you since it would pretty much tell these fools who I am, speaking of fools what the hell are you doing here Kuwabara. Does your sister know you skipped class to come here?"
You are on to talk, You are in the same class as I am. " Kazuma looking at his score took the glove next and punched the bag and had a pretty close score." No, this machine is definitely not broken. Race you to the street fighter game." Yusuke walked calmly towards the game and knew Genkai was not letting them play for just the fun of it, she was secretly keeping an eye on them and making notes on their progress. The were a few in the bunch that had her interest. The young monk and the punk with the black hair that was beating the tar out of the others in the street fighter game.
"So mind telling me what my dearest brother in law doing here?" Kazuma began to laugh as he heard Urameshi say that to him. "Same thing as you Urameshi wanting to win a chance to train with Master Genkai is it not for the free games. She is famous for her energy manipulation techniques. Why are you here Urameshi?"
He looked at the young monk playing the poker game. "For two things to train and because of my job. There is a demon assassin in this group and I am to find and capture that thing before he can get the chance to kill the nice old lady."
Little did they know of the many microphones and cameras in the room. 'So that is why the punk is here, no wonder Koenma knew him and had a such high opinion of him. He is one of his spirit detectives. So he is heard to capture a demon to protect the nice old lady. I guess I could have been a little prejudiced with the way he acts. '
The game session was over and he told them what each game was for. They measured different things and in the end, only fifty people made it out of that particular phase of the tests. These twenty would go on to the next phase of the tournament. This time it would involve something far more dangerous and still far more exciting than just playing some games.
As she guided the fifty people to the back of her house, Yuzuke noticed the line that acted as a barrier, and so did Shizuru, these seals were definitely there to keep something away from Genkai's home. As Kuwabara was about to walk into the forest, Yusuke grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back, "Hey idiot, stay on this side of the fence if you don't want to fucking die."
" Idiot I would stay over this side of the banner if you want to live. " Yusuke told Kuwabara as he walked over to look at the banner closely." And why is that Urameshi? " Yusuke decided to grab him pull him back and point a few inches from where he was looking and on the ground, there was a small pile of bones and not all of them looked like they came from an animal.
" So it's the old demon-infested woods we have to go? What do we have to do in there to find your favorite flowers? Kill a particular kind of demon or just survive for more than half an hour?" Yusuke said that earned him a glare from three of the participants. "Nothing so difficult. I just want you to make it to that tree over there as fast as you can. You only have sixty minutes to reach it. Although I wouldn't exactly say no to the flowers that grow near it." Genkai said as she saw the three that had been glaring at him look surprised.
That was when she gave them the signal to start. Yusuke did not care about looking for dangerous routes like Kuwabara, he just walked straight forward. The simple way to look at it was that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. But he had one complication as he soon found out.
On this path, he would go through the territory of a man-eating bat demon who could hide in the shadows of people. "So you are going to be Kujo's next meal. Got to say Kujo finds you looking quite tasty." Yusuke kept on walking and he kept ignoring him. "What is the matter? Is Kujo making his prey too scared to talk? Is the young human too afraid to talk to Kujo?"
Yusuke was about sick and the freak talked about himself in the third person. " Actually I am really busy and don't have time to chat. How about this when I get my task done then we can talk when I walk back through here?" He heard some laughing. "No that would not work for Kujo, cause Kujo is really hungry. People avoid Kujo so he has not had a meal in a long time."
Yusuke kept on going till he felt something behind him. He instinctively grabbed something behind him. Kujo was shocked to find himself caught so easily. "Well, you can't blame me for giving you a chance. Say Good night Kujo." Kujo did not understand what he was talking about it was just noon at the moment and that was when he realized his mistake. He had no shadow big enough to hide him.
Yusuke beat him till he was unconscious and ran towards the tree. He in fact found the flowers on the way and he picked them up on the way back. Genkai was about to call him over the time limit when he heard someone say. "Hey, old lady, did you know your watch is five minutes fast? And while we are on the subject those roses were a pain to cut bare-handed."
Yusuke threw the rose bouquet at her and she caught it. "Now hold on a minute, there is only one place these roses grow and that was where a bat demon lives. There is no way you could walk straight through his territory to the tree and back again in only 10 minutes."
Yusuke hopped over the fence. "You mean Kujo? Yeah, he was really chatty that one. Always talking about himself in the third person. Don't worry about him, I helped him take a nice nap. He might have a few broken bones but a tough demon like him will recover."
Genkai had to go and check this out, there was no way a human beat Kujo up as she had done so many years ago. When she got to where someone was crying and moaning. "Kujo, hey are you there? Come one talk me to me." Kujo came out like he was hit by a truck and backed up the truck and hit him again only to repeat it a few times before leaving him alone.
"Genkai, Kujo got the beating of a lifetime that does it. Kujo thinks that Kujo should give up eating meat. Yes, Kujo is going to switch to a nice peaceful salad from now on. No more meat or blood for Kujo just salads, nuts, roots, some juice, and maybe a cup of tea, Kujo not touching meat ever again."
Genji just had to ask if there was a young guy with spiky black hair coming through his territory. "Don't speak of that monster to Kujo, that is no human he beat Kujo like he is now. Kujo should have listened to the offer the black-haired monster made, but no Kujo was foolish, and Kujo prideful. I should have listened to the black-haired monster yes I should."
Genkai could not help but feel sorry for the bat demon so she told him to get well and if he stuck to his new diet maybe then he could pay her a visit sometime. "Kujo might like that, does Genkai like a mint cactus salad that is what Kujo is having for dinner." Genkai thanked him for the offer but she had to give a stern lecture to the black-haired monster.
"Yes, teach the black-haired monster the meaning of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. The black-haired monster was so brutal to poor Kujo. " Genkai left the territory but she could still hear the sobs and cries of Kujo as he ate his salad.
'It is official that Urameshi kid is not a human. There is no way a human could beat Kujo like that. Even I didn't do as much damage to him when I fought him. ' Rando was sitting next to Urameshi and he was still looking like the young monk. "Found anything worthwhile in the forest Urameshi?" Rando asked him.
"No, not really I found a bat that would not leave me alone. I gave him a chance to do that but he tried to take a bite out of me. So I decided to beat him for trying. I did find these lovely roses. I do hope the old lady like them. Cutting these things was a pain, have you ever seen a rose bush that likes blood?"
Rando laughed and told him that he indeed had once seen such a bush but he corrected him and told him it was not a bush it was a tree. What he found was simply a very young example of the species. "You should be careful Urameshi some female demons consider being given a bouquet of those roses a marriage proposal."
Yusuke laughed as he heard him say it. "Too bad for them I am already married. I pity the poor home wrecker that tries to seduce me. My wife will make what I did to the bat look merciful by comparison."
"And if don't believe me go ahead and as that guy. " He pointed towards Kuwabara." No, no that is quite alright I have no reason to not believe your word. " Genkai made it back and looked at him with an almost surprised look on her face.
" It seems Kujo is in so much pain and suffering that he actually is becoming a vegetarian and calls you the black-haired monster. " Yusuke got up and was about to go back towards the forest. " And where do you think you are going? " Yusuke told her to see Kujo and reintroduce himself and give him a new beating for insulting him as he did by calling a nice guy like him a monster.
" That will not be necessary. If you haven't figured it out Kujo is not the smartest of demons or the most sociable. He even called me names when I first met him. He only remembers my name because I lived here for over thirty years. " Genkai did pick up the roses then and told him to thank you and walked inside her home and told the Kuwabara, him, and the other young man to follow her.
"Where are we going? " Yusuke asked. " For starters, I am putting these flowers in a vase and second to the next location of this tournament. Is that ok with you your highness? " Even Rando began to laugh as he heard that answer.
As they reached the next area it was a large room that was so dark that it made Yusuke think that most would have difficulty fighting in this place and others would find it nearly impossible to watch the others fight. "As you can tell this place is designed to test spirit awareness, in our last test speed and decision-making were tested, and out of the fifty that entered the forest only sixteen succeeded in passing to the next round. You will need to use your spiritual awareness to see and fight here, you will each fight two times, and the ones that win the most of your fights will move on to the next phase."
As she said these several arrows were shot on the floor, "Now pick the arrow that you think is pretty, this will determine the order that you will be fighting in."