Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Midnight at the Lost and Found ❯ Three Tests ( Chapter 3 )

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.

Author's Note: If anybody's watched the whole series, they know that Yusuke is essentially a Hanyou (a half-youkai) on his father's side, and is one of the three lords of the Makai, so I'm using that information in reference to him sometimes. Also, I mention Sensui in here at one point. He was the new enemy after the Black Tournament. He killed Yusuke, which is when his demon nuclear (heart) started beating and everyone realized he was a hanyou. Just thought a bit of an explanation might be in order.

<………> = mind speak

*………* = written word

"………" = speaking out loud

Chapter Three: Three Tests

Yusuke growled silently to himself as he moved further into the mass of souls, separating himself from the other members of the Reikei Tantei. He knew that if whatever had taken him didn't want the others, they wouldn't be able to get in.

But why him? Surely he wasn't the most powerful? Well, okay, maybe he was, but Hiei and Kurama were also powerful in their own rights and could hold their own against almost any opponent. He didn't even bother wondering about Kuwabara-the oaf was simply a ningen with acute spiritual awareness-nothing threatening to whatever this was-unless, of course, it underestimated him.

Sighing in silent resignation, he went along with the flow of souls, figuring he might as well see what was happening to them. He couldn't do much without the others here other than try to stay alive long enough to either escape on his own, or have his friends rescue him. He'd much rather get out of this on his own, but knew that doing so was very unlikely.

The souls all appeared to be congregating to one point about two miles from where Yusuke was standing, so he picked up the pace and headed in that direction. As he got closer, he saw half a dozen solid cloaked figures. One in silver, one in emerald green, and the rest in black. The silver and green were at the point of the group, with two blacks on either side and a bit behind them.

As he approached them, slowing down considerably and shifting into a defensive position, cautious of an attack, the hooded figures glanced up at him, and the silver one spoke, a slight tint of excitement coloring its tone.

"Ah, another Chosen has arrived. Perhaps this is the one we've been searching for. Do you think he's strong enough?" The green one shrugged its shoulders and murmurs, "We won't know for sure until we test him."

The silver one didn't reply, but instead lifted a hand and snapped slim fingers. Yusuke didn't feel any different, but the landscape around him was changed. The mysterious-and creepy-robed people were gone, as were all the souls.

Narrowing his eyes, the raven-haired fighter glanced around, taking in his surroundings and warily eyeing the geography. The emerald individual-he didn't know names, so he designated the two important ones with colors, while the rest were just `those people'-had said something about testing him. Testing him for what, though? And why him? Because he was a Chosen? A hanyou? A Spirit Detective?

Growling in frustration, he remained in his crouched position. Normally, he was all for running out in the open and challenging anything that happened to cross his path, but time with Kurama and Hiei had taught him to be more cautious. Not to mention that Genkai had a nasty habit of sneaking up on him and attacking at random, the old hag.

Once he was sure that nothing was going to jump out at him, he slowly extricated himself from his crouched position and began moving forward. He had no idea where he was, and no idea how to get out, so it's not like it really mattered which direction he chose.

Apparently, it did matter, and he had chosen wrong. Fifteen minutes into his journey, just as he was beginning to relax from the tense state he had been in-you can only remain tense for so long before it wears you out-silvery ropes shot out from the ground and bound him, yanking his arms behind his back and tying his wrists to his ankles.

Growling, but unable to use his Rei Gun, Yusuke twisted in the bonds, trying to wriggle at least on of his hands free. Apparently, the Lady Fate was laughing at him, as the ropes simply cut into his wrists, drawing blood. Once he realized that struggling only made it worse, Yusuke stilled himself with a sigh of resignation.

Glancing around, he noticed that the ends of the ropes that bound him were set in the ground………like plants! That was it! These ropes weren't really ropes, but instead a type of vine that had been used to capture him. Now how to break free? If he was Kurama, he'd simply order the plants to let him go. But he wasn't the kitsune, and the fox wasn't here to rescue him.

Snarling in frustration, Yusuke tried to order his mind to think. He could try and uproot them, but if all his struggling hadn't done that, then it probably wouldn't work. As Yusuke fought to think clearly, he felt the soothing presence of Youko Kurama in his mind and remembered the bond.

Grinning, the teenage warrior decided to see if he could use the bond to his benefit, since he was the dominant one, after all. <Kurama? Can you hear me?> he tried, praying that it would work. He sensed surprise and confusion coming through the bond, then a reply sounded in his mind. <Yusuke?>

All right! Success at last. Yusuke sent a mental smirk of triumph through the link and felt the amusement from both Kurama and Hiei. <Great. It worked. Before you ask any questions, I need to know something.> When he felt the answering nod to continue, he explained briefly what had happened and about the thin silver vine-ropes that bound him.

<Is there a way for you to transfer your ability to manipulate plants to me? Or for you to talk to them through the link? Pulling does nothing but cut me up, and I can't uproot them, so I was hoping that maybe you could help.> He could feel Kurama's uncertainty, but also his willingness to try, so he pulled the link wide open and let Youko Kurama's mind fill him.

Once the silver fox was settled firmly in his mind, the kitsune began communicating with the plants. It took a bit more effort, since Kurama had to use Yusuke's ki to accomplish anything, but eventually the vines loosened up, then fell off of him altogether. Free at last, Yusuke leapt to his feet and darted away from the vines. He wasn't sure if they'd stay down once Kurama had retreated. <This is pretty cool. Maybe I have a chance of getting out of here after all.>

Laughter filled his mind and his eyes widened. Oh, shit! He had forgotten to tighten the bond, so that he was once again in complete control. Concentrating, he quickly brought the link to a small trickle, leaving it open so he could still communicate with the two youkai.

He had been focusing so much on tightening the mind-link that he didn't even realize the land around him had changed once again, or that a note was laying at his feet. Blinking in surprise, then in aggravation, he quickly grabbed the note. *Congratulations. You have past the first test. Two more yet remain. Perhaps you are the true Chosen after all.*

Confused, he repeated the contents of the notes to Kurama and Hiei, who also conveyed it to Kuwabara, and they all tried to figure out what these people were referring to. The true Chosen? What did that mean? And what did stealing souls have to do with finding a Chosen? Too many questions, not enough answers.

Knowing that they wouldn't get anywhere with just the note, Yusuke informed the others that he was going to move forward and see if he couldn't find out what the next test was. Kurama was alarmed at this, and told him to wait until they had a plan, or until they could reach him, but Yusuke pointed out that if they hadn't reached him yet, they probably weren't going to reach him any time soon. Besides, it appeared that the only way out of this place was to pass the three tests.

Grudgingly, Kurama agreed, and both could feel the approval radiating from Hiei. The fire demon didn't have much patience when it came to the unknown either, so it was no surprise that he'd approve of their leaders' moving on to face the next challenge.

As he crested a hill, Yusuke froze in his tracks and just stared. The creature at the bottom of the hill gazed up at him and laughed harshly. "Come, now, Urameshi-san, don't you want to come down and play? You aren't as pretty as Kurama-kun, but you'll do nicely for a fight. Come on down."

Kurama and Hiei could both feel Yusuke's panic, and they tried to ascertain what was wrong with their friends. He wasn't answering them, and they couldn't see through his eyes, so they had no idea what he facing, only that it terrified him.

Hiei did the only thing he could think of and pulled off his Jagan, sending the equivalent of an electric shock through the mind link and jolting Yusuke back to the present, where he realized that his opponent was still taunting him while his friends were trying desperately to find out what was wrong.

Moving slowly down the hill to face this new challenge, he answered his teammates with one word, and one word only. <Karasu.> His friends froze immediately, and Yusuke could feel the shock. Growling, he severed the link completely. It was obvious that Kurama, at least, would be of no help here, and he couldn't deal with both their emotions right now.

Karasu was smirking at him now, confident in his abilities to beat this pathetic ningen. Yusuke was determined to prove him wrong. After all, he had beaten Toguru, hadn't he? And that guy was stronger than Karasu, or else the vampire-looking creep wouldn't have been fighting under him.

Yusuke realized that there was no way Karasu was going to make the first move, and to be honest, he didn't have the patience for it anyhow. Crying out in anger, he attacked in a whirl of flying limbs, trying to land a blow on Karasu while keeping him from planting miniature bombs on him.

Through prior experience and Karasu's own words, Yusuke knew that his opponent wouldn't simply launch one massive explosive attack and obliterate him. He was a sadistic bastard and would try and draw out Yusuke's death for as long as possible. Of course, he also apparently felt that the raven-haired ningen was at least worthy of his attention, or else he would have simply tried to destroy him and be done with it, rather than play around with him. His arrogance was going to be his undoing-for the second time.

Yusuke grinned to himself as he came up behind Karasu and aimed his Spirit Gun point blank. At the last second Karasu dodged the strike, and Urameshi's attack burned a crater in the ground. Sensing the danger he was in, Yusuke immediately twisted and leapt backwards, away from Karasu, just as a large explosion went off where he had been just moments before. The force of the blast still knocked him back several feet, where he landed painfully on his shoulder and wrist.

The pain from the rope burns only increased as he levered himself up, but Yusuke ignored it. That pain was only a minor distraction that he could ignore. Paying it any attention might very well end up leading to his untimely demise.

Rolling his eyes as his sudden dramatic flair, Yusuke snarled, baring his teeth at Karasu and waiting for the next attack. He wasn't disappointed, and within moments he was dodging a dozen small bombs scattered around him. One hit his leg and he went down, crying out in pain. He had never before felt anything like this, not even when Sensui had shot him. Damn, that hurt! How the hell had Kurama managed it.

Oh, yeah, he hadn't, and had almost died as a result. Well, there was no way that was going to happen to him. Snarling, Yusuke dragged himself to his feet and called upon his own demon ki. He had both the Spirit energy of a ningen, being one of Koenma's detectives, as well as demon ki which he had inherited from his father. It would come in handy now to have two different kinds of energy on top of his own life energy. It gave him more to work with.

Pulling the demon ki tightly around him, the Spirit Detective erected a translucent barrier around him, one that would allow his own attacks to get out, but should keep Karasu's bombs out. Now all he had to do was to cripple Karasu and get him to remain still long enough for Yusuke to hit him with his Rei Gun.

Karasu was unaware of what Yusuke had just done, and that suited him just fine. After all, it wasn't common knowledge that he was a hanyou, and he liked to keep it that way. Of course the other Lords knew, as did his friends and advisors, but the majority of the Makai was kept oblivious and just thought him to be an exceptionally powerful ningen boy.

Grinning, Yusuke once again launched himself at his opponent, no longer worried about the bombs that went off all around him. His shields held strong and he used Karasu's attacks against him, forcing him into a smaller and smaller area as he avoided his own explosives. Since Yusuke didn't have to worry about them hitting him, he could force Karasu into a corner through the bastard's own attacks.

Triumphantly, Yusuke backed Karasu against a tree and leveled his Rei Gun right at him. Not bothering to brag, or even to speak at all, he released his battle cry, "Rei Gun!" at point blank, instantly killing Karasu.

Smirking he backed away from the fight and opened the link back up, filling his companions in on what had happened. His leg was still bloody and weak, as were his wrists, but all things considered, he was relatively unharmed.

He felt relief flow through the bond, and Hiei conveyed to him, with no small amount of irritation, that Kuwabara was currently reaming Yusuke out, yelling to the air that he was an idiot and was going to get himself killed. Yusuke in turn pointed out that he was going to die if he couldn't get out of this place anyhow, and Hiei repeated this to the tall ningen, immensely satisfied when the big oaf shut his mouth mid-rant with an audible click.

Rolling his eyes, Yusuke waited, figuring that he'd be taken to the third test. He wasn't disappointed. He ended up back at the spot where the souls had been taken from earlier, with another note on the ground at his feet. Picking up the note, he glanced outside the bubble and saw his three companions sitting together, apparently waiting for him to communicate with them or to come back out.

Skimming over the note, his eyebrows rose as he realized that this test didn't truly concern him at all, but his companions instead. *Two tests have been passed. For the third, a test of loyalty from those you call friends.*

Glancing up, he quickly called down the link. <Heads up, everyone. The next test is all yours. By the way, I'm right here, at the same spot where I disappeared. If you pass the test, I just might get to come out.> The others looked up in surprise, and stared straight at him, still not seeing him, but knowing he was there. Standing, they moved closer, and Yusuke took comfort in this.

Suddenly, they all stopped and their eyes glazed over, staring at nothing in particular. Yusuke had no idea what was going on, but figured it must be the third test the note had mentioned. Well, he hoped they passed it, otherwise he might be trapped here for a very long time.

Eventually, their eyes came back into focus and Yusuke felt a tingling travel throughout his body, and a voice echo in his head. <You are truly the Chosen One, Protector and Guardian of our people. Through the loyalty of those you call friends, you have gained your freedom. When the time comes, you will know what you must do. Now go!> With that, the tingling abruptly stopped and he glanced up, into the eyes of his companions, who were staring directly at him, Kurama reaching out to touch him as if not sure he was real. He was back.

Author's Note: All right, people, this chapter is about 2 or 3 pages longer than my other two chapters. Anyhow, please review. I've only had 2 reviews so far, and it's driving me up the wall. I don't know if this story is good enough to be continued, or so bad that I should just scrap the whole thing. Please let me know. Constructive criticism is welcome, but no flaming. If you don't like the story, you shouldn't be reading or reviewing. Everyone else, thank you!