Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Midnight at the Lost and Found ❯ Gathering the Team ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters thus associated with it. The title for this story is from a Meat Loaf song, all right? I know, not original, but it suited my rough plans for this fic.

Chapter One: Gathering the Team

"Yusuke! Yusuke!" an irritatingly cheerful voice rang out across the empty lot. Well, mostly empty at least. Yusuke was there, slouched against a convenient wall and surveying the fallen men before him with mild satisfaction. Apparently, these guys were very new to this area and had not yet heard of Yusuke Urameshi. When he entered the lot, they took offense and jumped him. The raven-haired teen made quick work of them. After all, ningens were weak compared to the youkai he fought almost daily.

Sighing, Yusuke turned to face the resident Grim Reaper. "What's up, Botan? We got another case?" he asked guardedly. Normally, Yusuke was all up for a fight, but when messing with the demons, caution was seldom ill-advised. Not to mention that in the last battle he had led his team into, they almost lost one of their team members, so Yusuke wasn't exactly anxious to try his luck again so soon.

Botan mentally shrugged; Yusuke was normally very enthusiastic about new cases. She'd never understand the teenage delinquent, no matter how fond she was of him. Out loud, she replied, "Yeah. Could you get Kuwabara and Kurama? And Hiei if you can find him," she added as an afterthought. When Yusuke nodded in assent, she grinned at him and turned her oar around, heading back to the Reikei and Koenma.

Figuring he should probably get moving as well, Yusuke headed out of the lot and toward Kuwabara's home. He'd pick up the big oaf first, then they'd go to Kurama's home and get him as well.

It didn't take long to get Kuwabara. He simply told Shizuru that another case had come up, and Kazuma was needed. The older woman had the same spiritual awareness as her younger brother, although she wasn't nearly as powerful, and she already knew plenty about the spirit world and the youkai, so they never bothered to prevaricate around her.

Getting Kurama was a little more difficult. Before Yusuke could stop himself, he asked, "Ms. Minamino? Is Kurama here?" When Shiori's eyes narrowed in confusion, he rethought his sentence and realized what he said. "I mean Shuichi, Ms. Minamino. Kurama's just our nickname for him. Gomen nasai."

At his hastily given explanation, Shiori smiled and beckoned them inside, gesturing towards the stairs and Kurama's room. "He's up in his room at the moment, boys. Go ahead and get him. Will he be leaving?" she asked curiously.

Yusuke gave her his most charming smile. "Yes, Ms. Minamino. We wanted to take him out for the day. He spends so much time studying that he doesn't go anywhere else just to relax, so we've decided that we'll do it for him." Shiori just smiled back gently, her eyes glowing with amusement, and gestured again towards the stairs, which Yusuke immediately headed up.

When he reached Kurama's room, he paused to knock and waited for the answering, "Come in," before entering the room. He knew better than to simply walk in on Kurama. If the kitsune didn't attack them, then the little firebaby surely would. He grinned as he strolled into the room and spoke immediately. "We've got another case of some sort from the little Death God, and Botan told me to get you and Kuwabara, and Hiei if I could find him," he added, smirking at the youkai who was simply glaring at him from his perch on Kurama's bed, eyes narrowed in menace.

Yusuke ignored his look, watching Kurama instead. He knew that Hiei and the fox were involved in an intimate relationship-which is why he always knocked-and normally he wouldn't interrupt, but if the stress in Botan's voice had been anything to go by, this was serious. Apparently Kurama realized this as well, because he simply nodded and asked quietly, "What did you tell my mother?"

The raven-haired man gave Kurama a quick rundown of what he had told his mother, so that the other boy would have a matching, and equally convincing, story. Hiei, in the meantime, had slipped out the window and would either be waiting for them or already in the Reikei, hunting down Koenma.

Once they had left Kurama's house, Yusuke called Botan, and she came flying in on her oar to bring them to Lord Koenma for their new assignment. Sensing the tension crackling along the hallways, and the oddly subdued messenger demons wandering around, the Reikei Tantei remained silent until they reached the large oak doors that led to Koenma's office.

Once inside, Yusuke quietly shut the door behind him and waited for the little God to acknowledge them. Normally, he'd be boisterous and noisy, demanding to know what was happening and who they got to beat up next, but this stressed silence was affecting him rather badly. He hated it when things were quiet, which is why he was usually as loud as possible.

Five minutes later, Koenma looked up from the file folder he had been staring at and looked the team over tiredly. "All right, you four, I normally wouldn't have you do something like this, since it's not technically in your job description, nor are you truly qualified to take care of it, but everyone else who went has been fatally injured or sent back already dead. You're the best and the strongest we've got, so this is going to fall on your heads."

The four team members just nodded silently, waiting for him to continue. "Have you ever heard of the place known as The Lost and Found?" he asked slowly. Yusuke and Kuwabara shook their heads, but Kurama let out a small gasp and took a step backwards, and Hiei straightened stiff as a board, staring incredulously at Koenma with those large crimson eyes of his.

Yusuke was the first to venture speaking into the silence, aware that if he startled any of them, he may very well be injured-or in Hiei's case-dead before he had time to explain anything. "Umm………I have a question for you all," he began tentatively. When the others turned to stare at him, he continued, "What exactly is the Lost and Found, why are we going there, and what are you two afraid of?"

Surprisingly, it was Hiei who answered first. "The Lost and Found is just that-a place in the Makai for lost souls to go until they are either reborn, sent to the Spirit World, or obliterated. Only the dead are allowed there, or the Chosen, who care for the spirits until they move on. As to why we're going there, you'll have to ask the complete baka over there," he summarized, gesturing over towards Koenma.

Koenma cringed when Yusuke turned his eloquent glare on the young demi-god. "I need you to go there and find out who's destroying souls when they shouldn't be destroyed, and why. Whatever, or whoever, it is, must be destroyed, or else there won't be any souls to sort."

Urameshi continued to glare at the infant god, demanding, "How the hell are we supposed to go there if it's only for the dead, unless you're a Chosen?" Koenma simply stared back at him, not saying anything, letting Yusuke come to his own conclusions. It was obvious when the teenager figured it out, because his expressive brown eyes widened in shock and his glare increased tenfold, all of it directed on the hapless Koenma.

However, Yusuke restrained himself from beating up the midget until he had one more answer. "Are you planning on killing us then? Or are we the new chosen? And you haven't told us what's happened to the Chosen, if anything."

Koenma gulped and murmured, "Well, you see, Urameshi-san, that's the problem. The Chosen have all disappeared, so there's no one to tend to the souls. We don't know where they are, or what happens to them. For all we know, they're dead or in some random torture chamber. That's why we're sending you in as the new Chosen. All four of you will keep an eye on those souls and see what happens until the danger passes and the perpetrator is destroyed."

Hiei growled low in his throat, fangs bared as he snarled in silent fury. Kurama's own anger had heightened to the point where he shifted into his silver youko form without visibly concentrating on it. Kuwabara shifted in place nervously, picking up on the emotions of his comrades. Yusuke's own fury was raging, seeking an outlet, and right now, the demi-god was looking like the perfect target.

Even Koenma wasn't stupid enough to not realize just how angry his Reikei Tantei was, and he beseeched Yusuke. "Urameshi-san, please calm down some. I know that you'll have to leave Ningenkai for an unknown period of time, and that you're walking into extreme danger, but it's nothing you haven't done before."

Yusuke snarled at him, then caught himself. His eyes widened as he realized that the amount of anger he was feeling wasn't normal, even when he was pissed off. Something was very seriously wrong here. Normally he'd be jumping in place, itching to start doing whatever it was that needed doing. The rage was quickly replaced by a queasy churning in his stomach, and he calmed himself down.

He was astonished to notice that as he calmed down, so did Kurama and Hiei. The fire demon's low growl ceased to reverberate throughout the room, and Kurama was able to concentrate enough to shift back into his ningen form. They both paled as they realized that their own feelings had mirrored Yusuke's, and they turned to him in shock. "What the hell was that?" Kurama asked shakily.

Koenma looked puzzled, so Kuwabara gave them a rundown of what had just happened, and how Yusuke's mood appeared to have affected the other two directly as well. Koenma's eyes widened, then he smiled in glee. "This'll be much easier now," he stated.

When the others just stared at him, confused, he explained that they had somehow managed to bond, and that since both Hiei and Kurama had apparently accepted Yusuke as their leader, and therefore their dominant, his emotions were linked directly to theirs. He had picked up on Hiei's anger, and had escalated it, bringing Kurama along for the ride. Apparently Kuwabara had not done the same thing, but then again, he was a ningen, and didn't have a pack structure like Kurama or a hierarchy like Hiei had while he'd been a thief.

This meant that they'd all increase in power exponentially, and that should one of them be in trouble, Yusuke would automatically know. Of course, that left the question of what happened if the raven-haired teen got himself into trouble. He could call out to Hiei and Kurama, but everyone present knew that he was too stubborn to do that unless he was really, really hurt or dying and couldn't help himself.

Koenma pointed out that Kuwabara wouldn't have that kind of protection either, which really didn't seem to bother Hiei much, but disturbed Yusuke. "Is there any way to join him into the bond thingy?" he asked curiously.

Koenma just shook his head. "Not unless he accepts your dominance, which he won't do. That's just as well, though. It's different for demons, but you ningens tend to eschew that kind of thing."

Yusuke just rolled his eyes skyward and nodded, then grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "All right-y, then, we'll figure this out as we go, I'm sure. So how `bout we get started?" Koenma just nodded in acquiescence and summoned Botan to take them to the Lost and Found.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All right, yes, I've started another story, even though I probably shouldn't, but anyhow, here's the first chapter. Please, feel free to distribute reviews and constructive criticism, but no flames. If you don't like the story, don't read it. Everyone else, thank you!