Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Junior ❯ Torn apart ( Chapter 1 )

Junior

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

A/N: This story takes place after the first couple of chapters of Change of Pace, my YYH fusion with Ranma. On the names- Zoutou means 'gift' and Ketsui means 'determination'. I thought them appropriate.

Prologue:

The tiny barn was out on the very fringes of the shogun's property, nearly abandoned and forgotten, but a perfect spot for youngsters to escape for a tryst on a warm night.

Laughter and hoarse breathing were all that was heard from the small shed as two boys explored each other, kissing, shedding clothing, gentle jibes and terms of endearment occasionally being spoken. Then the breathing became deeper, moaning, as their bodies joined. So caught up in each other they didn't hear the gathering mob, didn't notice someone enter, as they both screamed their pleasure. Then it was too late.

"Zoutou!" Ketsui whispered in horror, not believing as he watched them take his delicate lover and started to beat him, using flails and clubs, making his pale flesh bleed and break. He was their lord's son! What were they doing?

He couldn't think straight- someone had hit him over the head and nothing would hold still. Then a new, harsher cry went up and his focus was back on the boy he loved, as he was stripped and the men of the village began to… to-

"NO! ZOUTOU!" Ketsui roared, getting to his feet, throwing off his captors with a demon's strength to try to free his lover. He almost made it- until he was cut down by one of the men of his regiment.

Betrayal filled his eyes with horror as he fell, raining blood over the grass as his guts spilled out in front of him, and Zoutou reached out to him with a cry that would echo in his ears for eternity. He knew that his Zoutou's own father had let them do this…

Then blackness.

If only it had been that quick for Zoutou.

The beatings had gone on, it seemed, for hours. Bones shattered, organs crushed and the act of love he'd made with Ketsui perverted into humiliation. All the young lord could do was cry.

Then they'd left, and Zoutou crawled to his lover's body, in agony, clutching his cold body, shivering as he bled out, too exhausted and hurt to mourn his own death. In fact he welcomed it- he would see Ketsui then.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Koenma, junior lord of the Reikai, Paper Shuffler of the Dead and general pain in Yuusuke Urameshi's ass, sucked on his pacifier as he mindlessly reviewed forms, stamped papers, and tried to fix the mess his father, Enma Daioh, liked to heap into his lap. The elder Enma tended to leave his job to his son, saying he was attending to more important matters, but Koenma had learned those more important matters tended to take place in very pleasant parts of the Ningenkai.

Maybe it was for the best. While his father was far more powerful than he was, he wielded it like a bludgeon, accepting death and destruction that would make demons blanch as 'acceptable losses'. Not only was this a horrible increase in paperwork- it was just plain cruel. Koenma knew that he was hard on his subordinates, but it spared continents from sinking. While Atlantis was before his time, well, there was no way he was going to let it happen again.

Then his eyes fell on the date on his latest batch of forms- and the pacifier plunked from his mouth as his jaw dropped. The toddler-formed god that ran the afterlife stared for a long time, golden eyes blank.

"Koenma-sama?" George finally asked, bringing up a new stack of forms. There was no answer, and he waved a hand in front of the tiny god's face to see if he was okay. Nothing happened.

He tried poking the small god. Again, there was no response.

"Koenma-sama?"

Something seemed to snap inside his head, and with a sudden transformation, the young god was in his teenage form and charging out the door.

"Screw this," he yelled, the gates slamming behind them- leaving everyone in a state of shock.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where am I?" the newly dead spirit asked, looking around as he floated over his body. He couldn't remember much except for pain and sorrow, and cold, horrible cold…

"You're on your way to the Reikai!" chirped a nearby voice- that would have made the boy whirl around and yelp had he still been in a body to do that in. Zoutou stared at the chipper young woman with blue hair in a very pink kimono, sitting on a wooden oar appeared beside him.

"The land of the dead? I'm dead?" A sudden, desperate hope lit the young man's golden eyes like suns. "Where's Ketsui? Is he here? Can I see him?"

Her lovely magenta eyes saddened. "I'm afraid not- he was taken to the Reikai before you, and since your case is so much different than his, I think you'll not be seeing each other again."

"WHY?" Zoutou screamed, starting to sob at the unfairness of what had happened. He just wanted Ketsui…

Pink clad arms wrapped around him, soothing him like a mother as he cried his eyes out.

"Maybe you can take it up with your father?" she suggested gently.

"My father," Zoutou said bitterly, "is the one that let us get killed."

"No- your father is Enma Daioh, Lord of the Reikai."

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a warm afternoon. Perfect for napping out under a tree.

This was the most complex thought going through the head of Yuusuke Urameshi, Reikai Tentai. He had just finished his lunch, leaving his bento out, hands behind his head, eyes closed, and soaked in the warm sun. It was Golden Week, meaning four days out of school, and Yuusuke was living it up- and enjoying some time alone.

No missions-

"YUUSUKE!" wailed a familiar voice-

Or not.

"What is it now, Botan?" Yuusuke whined, not opening his eyes, annoyed at having his afternoon interrupted. "Evil artifacts of spiritual toilet paper? Demonic chickens trying to hold the Ningenkai for ransom?"

"Koenma walked out on the job and disappeared!"

"WHAT?" Yuusuke's jaw promptly tried to smack the dirt. Of all the things he'd expected- this was NOT one of them. "You mean Diaper Man just up and left?"

"Uh huh!" Botan said, wringing her hands in worry, pacing. "I haven't seen him like this in ages! He's usually so responsible about his work! I'm so worried!"

Yuusuke watched her keep pacing, ever so often flapping her hands, utterly baffled. "What do you need me for? I don't know how to find him."

Botan kept right on pacing. "PLEASE help me find him Yuusuke! His father will do much worse to him than a spanking if he finds out about this!"

"He'll send him to his room?"

"NO! He'll kill you and the other Reikai Tentai because you mean so much to Koenma!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Yuusuke screamed, getting to his feet and running off. Yuusuke did NOT want to die again.

"Dammit, Koenma- what kind of trouble are you getting me into now?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

//"Who the hell are you?" Ketsui growled, as the slighter boy watched him and his friends play tag in an unused field.

Zoutou didn't answer, eyes widening as he tried to climb up higher into the tree he'd been watching them in.

"Hey, you gonna answer me girly?" sneered Ketsui, who had gone up to the bottom of the tree to smirk at the almost sickly looking child.

This comment earned him a frown. "I am NOT a girl you, you, fat head!"

"Oh yeah? Then come down here and prove it!"

"I don't have to fight you!" Zoutou said, getting nervous. He had always lost fights with his big brothers and this boy looked strong.

"Yeah you do! Come down here!"

Zoutou gulped- there was no other way out of the tree- and he went down, shimmying carefully. The skinny boy looked at the burlier one, trying to muster his courage, gulping.

"Who are you?" Ketsui asked, arms crossed like he'd seen the soldiers do.

"I- I'm Zou."

"All right Zou… Tag, you're it!"

"HEY!"

The chase was on- and so was their friendship.//

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yuusuke was really loath to leave the park- the cheery trees were in full bloom and it was absolutely gorgeous that afternoon. When he got hold of the little god, he was SO gonna rag on his diapered rear end…

Charging off around the lake in the middle of the park, Yuusuke growled to himself, because he couldn't sense the godling. Plus, there was this really annoying crying coming from nearby…

The crowds were lightening up, and he had caught occasional glimpses of Hiei, Kuwabara and Kurama as they also searched around. Considering how frustrated they looked, their luck was the same as his. Meaning nil.

Dammit- why wouldn't that crying stop? He couldn't think with all that wailing!

Whipping around, Yuusuke charged off, trying to find the source of the noise, but it seemed to both run from him and get closer the more he looked. Finally, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, turned around-

And there, sitting on a large boulder, head on his knees, just out of sight, was the object of his search. Judging by the number of empty sake bottles at the base… He'd been there for some time.

"What the hell? Koenma?"

The crying paused.

"Leave me alone," came the soft, hiccupping reply, slurred and cut off from the godling gulping more of the contents of his latest bottle.

"No way- not when Botan has everyone out looking for you and she said that your dad is likely to kill us because YOU slacked off on the job!"

Silence was his answer, before drunken laughter mixed with dry sobs bubbled up. Yuusuke looked at the stinking demi-god like he'd lost his mind. Maybe he had. He'd never seen Koenma act like this, even when he was angry.

"He, he wouldn'. Might spank ya, but he wouldn't kill ya. He knows I'd stop working completely if he hurt ya…"

"KOENMA-SAMA!" yelled a voice, as Botan suddenly materialized, causing the Prince of the Afterlife to look up at her- and both she and Yuusuke gasped, reeling back from the tapestry of bruises and cuts that adorned the usually beautiful teenage face.

"What the FUCK-"

"Koenma-sama, your face-"

"What's the date, Botan?"

"Huh?" exclaimed Botan and Yuusuke at the same time, confused as all hell- then Botan paled.

"Oh."

"What's the date got to do with anything? Why do you look like someone dragged you from the back of his car? Why did you leave in the first place and why are you getting drunk? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" interrupted Yuusuke, screaming and nearly pulling his hair out.

Botan grabbed Yuusuke's arm to pull him away, her large eyes welling up with tears. She whispered softly into his ear. "It's the anniversary of Koenma and I meeting for the first time."

"Great way to celebrate," the dark haired boy said, looking up at the beaten face and the blood seeping through the god's cloths. There were no holes, nothing to indicate he had gotten into a fight. This was just too damned weird.

A soft sigh echoed like a breeze, and Koenma's clouded eyes fixed on Yuusuke. "What Botan means is that it's been exactly seven hundred years since she took me from the Ningenkai to the Reikai. In other words, since I died."

Botan refused to look at either boy. "When a person dies, and they have a great deal of emotional trauma, their spirits reflect that. On the anniversary of his death, Koenma-sama's wounds reopen. Neither I, nor even Enma-sama, have ever been able to stop it…" The ferry girl sniffled. With a sudden wail, she hopped on her oar and flew off, not looking back and disappearing. Yuusuke was left staring at where she had been- then at the pain in the ass godling.

Then horror hit him. His own death had been relatively quick- he'd been shocked to discover himself dead. The Reikai Tentai had been injured often enough to recognize what had to have happened to cause some of those wounds- and that meant Koenma had not had a quick or easy passing. Then he blinked- because it hit him that Koenma had died at all.

"I thought you were a god?"

Koenma nodded, eyeing his bottle because it was empty and he was out of them. "I'm half god, like you're part demon. Dad apparently had a weakness for married women at that point in time."

This left Yuusuke crossing his eyes in confusion. What was Koenma saying?

"I thought I was human until I got killed and Dad decided to finally acknowledge his mistake and gave me a job in the Reikai…"

Yuusuke blinked, realizing that Koenma wasn't nearly as drunk as he looked- the red-rimmed eyes had come from tears.

"You look like shit man."

Koenma laughed hollowly. "No kidding?"

"I," Yuusuke swallowed. This really sucked. He knew what it was like to be an unwanted child. "I'm sorry Koenma."

"Zoutou."

"Excuse me?"

"My name," the slender teenage appearing god growled fiercely," is Zoutou."

Yuusuke just blinked.

"My father renamed me when I got to the Reikai. He didn't think the name I was born with would command enough respect. So I was called Koenma."

Understanding dawned, and walked over to the boulder that Koe- that Zoutou was perched on. "Can you walk?"

"I'm not going back," Zoutou answered petulantly. "I'm playing hooky."

"Well, you're doing it wrong. If you're going to play hooky, screw up the Afterlife and generally make everyone else miserable, you should do it right."

This time it was Zoutou's turn to blink, and Yuusuke dragged him off the boulder, then caught him as the slighter boy started to tremble in pain. Yuusuke's eyes nearly bugged out with blood soaked his hand just from touching his shirt.

"Damn," he whispered- and picked Zoutou up as he passed out.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Is that Yuusuke?" asked a particularly elegant redhead reincarnated kitsune. The two other searchers, namely Hiei and Kuwabara, looked over in surprise.

"I think so," Kuwabara muttered. "It feels like him."

Hiei disappeared, flitting over to get a good look at the dark haired teen. The person he was carrying smelled of cheap sake, pain and blood, but it was old blood, even though the red on him was fresh. Raising an eyebrow, he grimaced before Yuusuke could get a look at him.

The koorime didn't say anything, but Yuusuke smiled at him like his teeth hurt.

"Yeah, its Koenma. I won't take him back to the Reikai yet. I think he needs to either sleep off all the shit he drank or just… I think he needs some time off. I'll take him to my place. If anyone looks for him, don't tell where he is, okay? Unless its an emergency."

Hiei stayed silent, nodding faintly, frowning.

"Do… do you know anything about spiritual wounds?" Yuusuke asked softly, rearranging his grip on the Prince. Hiei blinked.

"Usually they only affect the newly dead, and only those that died very horrible deaths, or saw loved ones die in front of them. Humans that badly wounded tend to stay ghosts, refusing to move on to be judged or reincarnated. They usually end up sticking around people like Kuwabara because they have business they need to finish."

Yuusuke shuddered, wondering what it would be like to have to live seven hundred years without finishing something, something so bad that it made you bleed like Koe- like Zoutou was.

"I'll talk to you later when I've got him cleaned up, okay?" Yuusuke muttered, sighing and turning away. Koenma, no, Zoutou was crying even in his sleep, his lips forming words he couldn't hear.

It was just as well that Yuusuke had left when he did… because there was a sudden cloudburst and-

"Nyao…"

To be continued.