In the Dark of the Night

Author: Katzztar

Summary: Kuwabara has a difficult time with ghosts. It seems that the darker aspects of haunting plague him; just what does Kazuma goes through? What was his childhood like?

I am coining the term Spectral rape.

Rating: R for violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Characters: From the anime/manga Kuwabara Kazuma, Kuwabara Shizuru, Yukina (all three missing in action but mentions throughout the story) Genkai, Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, Keiko, Botan and Koenma were created by Yoshiro Togashi.

The following characters are of my own creation and I own them.

The Kuwabara family-

Akira - father of Shoda, father-in-law to Amanda, grandfather to Kazuma and his sisters

Shoda - husband to Amanda, father of Kazuma

Amanda - daughter of Adam Holmes, wife of Akira, mother of Kazuma and his sisters

Jun - first daughter of Shoda and Amanda, sister to Shizuru and Kazuma

Yoshiko - third daughter of Shoda and Amanda, sister to Shizuru and Kazuma

Misao - fourth daughter of Shoda and Amanda, sister to Shizuru and Kazuma.

note- Shizuru is the second daughter, Kazuma is the fifth child and first son.

Others I have created

Adam Holmes - father of Amanda, owner of Bogy House, father-in-law to Shoda

Father Browning - Catholic priest that is discriminatory to foreigners and other faiths.

Shino - A Shinto priest

Kohaku - A Buddhist monk

Father MacGavin - the priest that replaced Browning, he's more tolerant to others

Brother James - A ghost of a 7th century monk

Author's notes:

This is what we know about Kazuma's powers and his growing up (depending on where the excerpt came from)

From the subtitled Japanese Version (JV) show "It's true, when I'm assaulted by these chills--I see the spirits of the dead, and become paralyzed; and I get chased by the ghosts of nasty old women and stuff. Anyhow, bad things happen to me."

From the Dubbed English Version (EV) show "It's true, I've had the tickle ever since kindergarten--voices chasing me home at night--scary old women whisper things to me in my dreams, sometimes there nice, usually they're not." (Tickle? Tickle verses chills -- now you can see why most of the time I prefer the subbed over the dubbed --)

From the EV graphic novel #1 "I feel a chill.—Yeah, nothing good ever happens when I feel like this. Like I saw the will-o'-the-wisp, or got hit by sleep paralysis, or was chased by a grisly ghost."

- Prologue

Entry 432- age 14 - fall

Return of the Chills

Well, Urameshi is now back among the living. No temporary 'soul charge' for a day but honest to goodness official one of the living. I have mixed feelings about it. Yeah I know it's funny, I wanted him to return to life. But now that he has, well I miss his spirit hovering around. He doesn't realize it but I could see him and a vague image of a girl that sometimes was with him. Even in death, Urameshi has these vibes to him, the kind that says he's a fighter and it's best not to mess with him. There's something more ... Whatever it was that I could feel from him before, something that feels not normal it's stronger now. It's hard to put into words but I've never felt that type of energy before. It's like something's sleeping inside of him and now it's stirring as if it wants to wake up. Ah, I better get back to I was saying. His spirit coming over to my place, well it kept most of the other ghosts off my back, the weaker ones anyway. They didn't want to mess with him. It's that strange vibes that's not awake that's scaring them.

It's funny in a way since he's not that powerful as a ghost, only a category 1, barely 2 when he got really angry, but his potential ... that what's scary. As a ghost, his potential shines brighter than it did in life and that's one reason why the other ghosts don't want to mess with him. The second reason is the aggression, even in death Urameshi is really aggressive. This potential isn't a high amount of psychic powers. It's hard to pin down but the closest I can describe it is a raw strength of spirit. It's like his insane strength of his physical form is mimicked in a ghostly form. It's hard to pin down. I think those odd vibes are part of it.

But now that Urameshi is gone, they're returning. That has me scared. Yeah, I said it. I, Kuwabara Kazuma, am scared. I once told Urameshi that nothing he can do would make me scared of him. I spoke the truth, why should I fear the living when it's the dead that has caused me the most grief. They're the ones who hold the greatest power over me.

When you think of your childhood, what's your earliest memory? Do you think of the time you learned how to ride bicycle, your mother or father at your side after you fell? How about playing hide and seek with the other kids, did you hide behind a tree? Ah, the touch of a mother's sweet lips as she kisses the top of your head, telling you there's nothing to fear.

Such innocent and fond memories are not for me. Oh no, I agree with that western song, although for different reasons than what the song was written about.

Hell is for children.

It truly was hell for me.

For in the dark of the night, they came and made my childhood hell.

In the dark of the night, they return once again.

Oh damn it all, they're her

The sound of grass crunching alerted him that he had a visitor; still he had no time to hide the journal that he was reading.

"Yo, Kurama, what are you reading?" Urameshi Yusuke tried to smile but worry twisted it into a grimace. No one could get Yusuke to smile this past week, not even Keiko.

Marking the page, Kurama closed the plain red-bound book. "I am searching for clues." He saw by the raised eyebrow that Yusuke wanted to know more. With a sigh, Kurama made sure to protect the book from any outburst that may happen. "This book is one of three journals that Kuwabara-kun and his family has written in for years it seems."

"Give it here!" Yusuke demanded with an out stretched hand.

With a quick side-step, Kurama was out of reach. "Ah, don't be too hasty Yusuke. We don't want a repeat of what happened with that drawing."

"Hell, that picture needed to be destroyed! You saw how fucked up it was! What twisted bastard would draw something like that?" Yusuke exploded, his blood boiling as he thought of the drawing's subject matter.

Even the ancient Kistune's soul was chilled by the grisly art. "As disturbing as it was, that drawing could have contained some clues. This journal may also reveal hidden clues. I suggest that you do not destroy it." Kurama said in a cold voice as he re-opened the book to the marked page.

At Kurama's reprimand, Yusuke shrank some. "Geash okay! I won't blast it to bits this time." Noticing Kurama's gaze at the page, Yusuke began to read the entry. "This must have been right after I returned to life the first time. What the hell is this 'odd vibes' he goes on about? Do you think…no way. He couldn't be describing my youkai heritage. What do you make of the last line? What did he mean by 'They're her'?"

"Actually, I think he meant to write 'they're here'. See the slash line at the end? It may have been that he was interrupted while writing." Marking the page, Kurama closed the book and held it up to show Yusuke. "That entry was numbered 432, and is in the last third portion of the book. There are many other entries before this."

"So?" Staring hard at his friend, Yusuke tried to grab the journal back. "What about after that? Are there entries during the time we were in Makai and not in contact with Kuwabara? That's what we need to know!"

"There are entries afterwards and including the time we were gone, Yusuke. However I couldn't really make sense of them. That is why I'm going through all the entries. We need to understand the full situation." Refusing to wilt from the former detective's glare, Kurama pointed to the entry they just read. "Kuwabara-kun clearly states that he has had trouble with ghosts throughout his childhood. We should start at the beginning to find any clues to what happened."

"We need to find the demon responsible before it's too late!" Yusuke was at his wit's end. He knew they needed clues to what happened but he had no patience while a friend is in need. "We have to find him before ... before ..." His voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence of 'before it's too late'.

With a deep breath, Kurama turned to face his long time friend. Having Yusuke in panic mode while searching for clues is not helpful. "Yusuke, I'm not certain that a demon is responsible for this. These journals are making me think that it there's a strong possibility that it was ghosts that did that."

Both boys looked to where Kurama was pointing. The lot where the Kuwabara residence once stood was now in total rubble.

TBC..

This may sound choppy but the present activity is not the main focus of the story, the journal is the main focus in the first part, as they discover the true power of ghosts and find out what sort of childhood Kazuma Kuwabara really had. They will start to read the journal from the beginning, which was started by his mother, then there are entries by his father, once Kazu is old enough to write he will be making his own entries.

This is not as easy as it sounds. I will in effect be writing mainly in four perspectives; Mother, father, Kazuma as a child and then the teen Kazuma. There may 'guest' writers at times, someone filling in for the family. I picture his mother as using 'proper speech' heh, and the father is more relaxed in speech. I will be jumping from journal entry to entry, there's no way I'll write over 400 entries! But I can go from 12 to 43 etc.