I hereby declare that I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho


The sun on her face was what woke her, just as it had the day before, and the day before that. Keiko Yukimura's life was pretty routine. She didn't mind. Any big change in that routine could spell disaster for her or her village. Still, she always felt that her life was missing something. She pushed such thoughts from her mind as she got up, best to focus on doing her best in the reality of here and now. She met Shizuru in the kitchen, in order to help her hostess in preparing breakfast.

"You know, you don't have to help," Shizuru told her. "I'm letting you stay here because you're my friend, not because I want a servant."

"I know. I just think it's courteous to help those nice enough to let me stay with them, friends or not." It was harvesting season, so that meant that instead of staying with her parents, farmers who lived on the outskirts of the village, she stayed with her good friends, the siblings Shizuru and Kazuma Kuwabara. Why would a farmer's daughter be living away from the farm? Simple, she had the potential to one day find work that would make her rich, relatively speaking that is. Besides, she could always go back and decide to be a farmer in the end. A loud ruckus seized her attention. Stumbling down from the Loft above them came Kazuma, orange-red hair a mess, grumbling about who-knows-what.

Shizuru took one look at him and smirked. "Well, look who's up before noon. I hope you're ready to work your ass off Kazuma." His response was to grunt and inquire about the status of his breakfast. "Relax little brother, you'll get it soon enough. Besides, is that any way to act around our guest?"

It would seem that only then did Kuwabara, only his older sister called him by his given name, notice that Keiko was up and helping in the kitchen. "Oh Keiko! I'm sorry; I didn't know you were in here." While he was a bit clumsy in both speech and actions, Kuwabara was one of the village's three strongest fighters. Both he and his sister possessed high spiritual awareness, that is, the ability to sense the presence of other spiritually-strong humans, demons, and even ghosts. The difference between the two siblings was that Kuwabara had trained under master Genkai, the village elder, in order to learn how to use his spirit energy in battle.

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it."

"No really, I should be more courteous."

Shizuru sighed. "Well, here's your breakfast. Eat up and get to work little brother."


The spring breeze was cool and comforting. Keiko walked through the village, on her way to master Genkai's estate. The estate lied just outside the village, with a small pass lined with talismans that would keep out all but the strongest demons, and they'd never bother with such a small, out-of-the-wall village as hers. Her world was quite a strange one. While the humans were supposedly ruled by other humans, everyone knew that the demons held the true power in this country. King Raizen had come into power about 700 years ago, and had remained on the demonic throne ever since. While it was true that Raizen had reigned in most demons, in such far-removed villages as hers, demon raids were still a danger.

The sight of Genkai's estate snapped her out of such thoughts. As she entered, she was immediately greeted by her best friend, Botan, who sprung into a flurry of speech when she caught sight of Keiko. Botan was Genkai's adopted granddaughter. Genkai hand found her as an orphan in some village far from Keiko's and took her in once she learned that Botan had an unusually strong connection to the spirits of the deceased. Ever since, Genkai had been training her as a psychic, and often had her help lost spirits, both those of the village or those that wondered into the village, find peace and pass on to the afterlife.

"…and I tell you, Keiko have you been listening to me?" Botan pulled Keiko out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry Botan, I guess I kinda zoned out. What were you saying?"

"I was asking you, why did you turn him down? That boy's the handsomest in the entire village, smart too, and you just flat-out said no! You didn't even give him a chance!"

"He just wasn't the one Botan."

"Oh give me a break Keiko. You've said that about every guy you've ever met except… Wait, could it be that you like Kuwabara?"

"What? No! Botan, he's a friend, but trust me, I don't think about him that way."

"Well, if not him then who? Wait, are you a-"

"No Botan, I'm not a lesbian. How many times are we going to go over this? No one I've met is right for me. I just know."

"Oh really? Well I just know that if you keep turning down everyone who even remotely shows interest in you, you'll never get to know anyone well enough to know whether they're Mr. Right."

"Botan-"

"Enough!" The two friends turned to see Genkai enter the room. A short, old woman with faded pink hair, Genkai was far more than her stature suggested. She was still one of the most powerful psychics in the entire world. In her prime, before she had moved to the village, she had been the greatest demon hunter in the entire country. "Botan, can't you leave Keiko's love life alone for one minute? She'll take a husband when she finds a man she loves. Besides, shouldn't you be practicing? As for you," she turned to Keiko, "I won't be continuing your education today. I need you to go down and check on Atsuko. She's on one of her streaks."

Keiko sighed. Atsuko was the local drunk. While Most of the time she was pleasant to be around, she could get out of hand if somebody didn't keep an eye on her. Keiko remembered when Atsuko first arrived in the village; she did nothing but drink sake for a whole week straight. When she ran out she went around asking everyone for their sake. Though no one could really find it in their heart to blame he. Atsuko was the only survivor of a village that was massacred by demons a mere four years ago. She even lost her son in the attack. But even if Keiko felt sorry for her, it was still a chore to have to check up on the drunk. If Atsuko was on a drinking streak, it meant that she was probably so drowned in sorrow about the past that she could get drunk enough to hurt anyone or anything that happened to cross her path. Keiko's thoughts were interrupted as the door behind her creaked open. She turned to see a boy her own age with long red hair walk through.

The boy greeted them. "Oh, hello Keiko, Botan, Master Genkai. I do hope I'm not interrupting."

Shuichi Minamino. Well, that's how most of the village knew him. But Keiko, Botan, Genkai, Kuwabara, and Shizuru knew that he was really the fox demon Yoko Kurama. Or rather, he used to be. Upon being mortally wounded by a demon hunter sixteen years ago, he projected his spirit and sent it into the body of a newborn child before the child had fully developed a soul. He admitted to initially planning to kill his human mother once he grew strong enough to survive on his own.

While he initially planed to kill his human mother once he grew strong enough to survive on his own, as a human he learned what love and kindness truly are, something he had forgotten as a demon thief. He took this lesson to heart. Now he was a dedicated member of the village, serving along with Kuwabara and Genkai as its protectors. Though, truth be told, he feared what his fate would be if the other villagers ever learn the truth of his past, which is why his friends swore to carry his secret to their deaths.

Genkai answered him. "Not at all Kurama. Keiko was just on her way out and Botan was about to resume practicing."

"Well, in that case I have a message from my mother."

Keiko left. She knew this conversation wasn't one she had any right to eavesdrop on, though Botan would probably tell her all about it later. The check-up on Atsuko was droll. She was just lying in her house, practically drowning herself in sake. The only eventful part of the day was when she began muttering about her son. It was rare for her to ever talk about him, so whenever she did, everyone within earshot tried to listen in, despite the fact that she only ever talked about him while crying.

"Why? He was such a good boy," she sobbed. "He didn't deserve to be killed like that. Why couldn't they have just left him alone? Why? Sure, he may have had a mischievous streak, but it's not like he killed anybody. Why, damn it why?"

Keiko sighed. She had been hoping for something new, but she just got the same story she usually got whenever she got the opportunity to listen to Atsuko's cries. At least, she thought it was the same, but at the very end Atsuko muttered something Keiko had never heard before.

"Yusuke, why couldn't you stay with me?"

Yusuke? Could that be it? Could Yusuke be the name of her son? This was big. No one had even gotten Atsuko's family name out of her, let alone the name of her son. She knew she really shouldn't, but she decided to borrow a page from Botan's book and ask anyway. "Um Atsuko, was Yusuke your son? The one that was killed in the attack?"

Atsuko startled, seeming to only just realize that she had an audience. "Yeah. He was a good kid. How old is he now? Yeah, he's about your age."

Keiko didn't usually get sad about anything. But at the sight of Atsuko, poor, drunk Atsuko, talking about her son like he was still alive, her vision became so blurry; she had to wipe away the tears just to see straight.

"You know Keiko, it may just be the alcohol talking, but I swear I met you before I came to this village. Did you ever visit the old battlefield?"

Keiko stiffened. The old battlefield was the sight of the last battle between two ancient clans. It's said that the two clans wiped each other out, and that their spirits still haunted the battlefield, forever perpetuating their ancient struggle. The weird thing was Keiko had visited it.

"Yeah, I did. About nine years ago. Why?"

"I remember, I let Yusuke run off to go play, and I saw him meet a little girl his same age. They ran around chasing each other until her parents called her away. Was that you?"

Any response Keiko might have given was busy choking her. She covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. It all came back. That had been her. She remembered asking her parents if she could play with him again someday. She remembered wondering what became of him. Though thoughts of the boy had drifted out of her mind as the years passed, but now, after so many years, now she remembered, though she would have rather remained blissfully ignorant to this truth. The boy, Yusuke, was dead, murdered by those monsters. Cool and wet, the tears trickled down her face.