Authors: Sam & Merrianna

Story: Little Fighter: 2 of ?

Series: n/a

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.oocities.org/samwise_baggins/index.html

Yusuke stood panting, more surprised than he'd been ever before, even after he'd died at the age of fourteen. There was his enemy, dead at his feet. Killed by the Spirit Gun blast he'd used. Here he was, totally unharmed... feeling more alive than he'd normally feel after such a battle. And the end of the battle still confused him.

What had happened? He'd been fighting, angry, and all together having fun. The creature had seemed to rip right through the Spirit Energy and aim directly for his torso. In fact, Yusuke could even remember feeling the beast's claws tearing through flesh and bone.

Shock filled the young man and he started patting himself down. Torn clothing, covered in blood attested to the fact that he'd been ripped open. But there was no injury on his body, no pain at all. Desperately looking around, Yusuke Uremeshi tried to see if either his dead corpse lie there or Botan had come for him again. He saw neither.

He looked down at himself, moving bits of torn cloth away, but discovered no sign of injury. He wasn't dead, or even hurt, and he certainly wasn't floating about as a ghost. The Spirit Detective frowned, trying to puzzle out how he'd managed to come away from that last attack.

Slowly, he became aware of something else, however. His Spirit Energy was drained. It was as if he'd been hit head on by his own blast. Instead of killing him, it drained him. That was odd... it'd never happened before.

The teen squatted down to flip over the large beast, putting great energy into the effort and discovering he was more tired than he'd thought. There, across the chest and pelvis of the great monster, were horrendous slash marks. The demon had been cut severely, internal organs leaking out in a destroyed mush.

"Whoa!" Yusuke jumped back, heart hammering and eyes wide. "What the hell?"

The monster before him had been torn open by his own claws!

The Blue Ogre stared at the screen in shock. It couldn't be! He slowly turned, as if the entire world were moving in slow motion, to verify that Lord Koenma had, indeed, used that forbidden black seal. It was there, resting on the file in front of the toddler-sized ruler.

The look on the prince's face told an even greater tale. He'd broken the laws. Not the rules, the laws. He'd used the Seal of the Soul, and he knew he'd pay for it very shortly.

As if in response to some inner signal, the prince stiffened in his chair as the door to his private office burst open. There stood his father, King Yama, ruler of the Spirit World. He didn't say a word, merely taking in the sight of his son and the ogre along with that black seal. Finally, when the tension was at its highest, Prince Koenma cringed as his father's voice broke the silence.

"What have you done." Yama's tone was serious, sad, and very controlled. It was apparent he was angry by the spark in his eyes. But he didn't appear angry in any other way. He sounded more... disappointed... than anything else.

Blue Ogre cringed as much as his young master.

Stepping slowly through the large office, the mighty King of the Spirit World seemed to dwarf his surroundings. He stopped right in front of his only child and reached out to grasp that most forbidden of seals. Lifting it, he could see the black mark it had left on the file, sealing the fate of the human it belonged to. "Who was it, Junior?"

Koenma looked up at his father, so very small in his over-sized chair. He gulped, started absently feeling around for his dropped pacifier, and froze after only a moment. Finally, eyes locked with his sire's, he whispered "the Spirit Detective, sir."

Yusuke had given up trying to puzzle out how he'd switched injuries with his enemy. He'd ask Botan when he saw her next time. For the moment, he merely wanted to be around his friends. It was terrifying to know he'd nearly died again, even though it seemed that it was starting to become a habit.

Grinning cockily at the nineteen-year-old woman who answered the door, the Spirit Detective merely walked in, without even asking permission. Shizuru let him, gesturing with her cigarette towards her little brother's room. "He's in the shower, but you can wait in there if you want."

With a nod, Yusuke walked into the now familiar room of his best friend, Kazuma Kuwabara. Figuring he'd have time to kill, the sixteen-year-old flung himself onto the bed and flicked on the television. It was an odd sort of old Fifties show, and soon the teen was dozing peacefully.

The halls were dark, the palace quite silent. All of the servants and ogres had been sent home for the night. King Yama, himself, was in bed. In fact, not a soul was around... except one.

With a sigh, the prince placed the last favored personal item into the duffel bag. He reached up to flip his brown hair from lighter brown eyes. Rather than the spoiled, immature toddler he used to be, Koenma was now a troubled sixteen-year-old. It was a transformation, which normally left him quite drained. This time, his father had changed him.

Right before he'd left without explanations to his only child.

Koenma didn't need explanations. He knew what was happening, and why. He'd been well versed in the laws of Spirit World during the first centuries of his life. He'd also been drilled in the repercussions of ignoring or disobeying these strict laws. Spirit World administration had been the young prince's entire life.

With a sigh, the teenaged prince shut his bag and slung it over a shoulder. He pushed back his hair once more, feeling odd. He wasn't in his normal appearance, his normal clothes, or anything familiar. Even the pacifier he cherished so much was taken from him. There was no one to cater to him, to guide or aid him. Now, the young prince was on his own. Even Blue Ogre had been sent home early.

Koenma shook his head and headed out the door of the darkened office. His slow footsteps echoed in the overly quiet building. Shadows danced around him, making him wonder if he were possibly afraid of the dark after centuries of having well lit rooms and numerous servants around him. He pushed that thought away, determined to handle the consequence of his decision like the teenager his father had suddenly forced him to become. He wouldn't be a baby any more.

"Move over, Uremeshi."

The deep voice of Kazuma Kuwabara awoke the sleeping sixteen-year-old. He looked up at his extremely large red-haired friend. With a grunt, he shifted so the other teen could sit on the bed and put his socks on.

"What are you doing here, any way? I thought you had that..." Suddenly, the mundane complaint stopped as Kazuma became aware of his friend's state of disarray. He whistled low and reached out to finger the bloody shreds of Yusuke's clothes. "Hey, Sis didn't mention you'd been hurt." There was genuine worry in the bigger teen's voice.

Yusuke shrugged and grinned a bit. "Nope. I'm not hurt. Just my favorite outfit." He sat up completely, stretching from his nap. Flicking his gaze over to the television set, the Spirit Detective frowned. "But I shoulda been dead."

Kazuma stiffened and stopped again with his sock chore. "Dead? Yeah, by the looks of it. So, what happened? Or ain't you allowed to tell me?" He was still upset that he'd been forbidden to go along on Yusuke's most recent mission.

With a yawn, the dark-haired teen stood and started restlessly prowling the room. "I found the guy, blasted him with my Spirit Gun, and woke up alive. He was dead with claw marks all over him, but I wasn't hurt at all." He turned, seeing if any of that had sunk through his friend's normally slow brain.

For once, the other teen didn't disappoint. In fact, he eerily seemed to know exactly what Yusuke was talking about. With a slow nod, eyes narrowed in concentration, Kazuma slowly said, "Yeah. I had a dream that would happen. But I thought it wasn't one of those dreams because it ended funny."

The Spirit Detective straightened noticeably. "Oh?" He leaned forward and nearly whispered, "In your dream, did Lord Koenma get kicked out?"

The redhead blinked in wonder, meeting his brunette friend's eyes. "Uh... yeah. He was fired and sent to live somewhere else. But I can't remember where, and I sure don't know why."

Yusuke stood and nodded, knowingly. "He was fired because he saved my life. Again."