Chapter One – Passing Tests

This is very likely going to be a three chapter story only. Please point out any spelling or grammatical errors that you may see.

Disclaimer: Rated T for Violence. I do not own any of the characters or locations stated in this story. They are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi.

Having known Yusuke for as long as she has, it wasn't a surprise that he skipped morning class again. She gripped her pencil tighter in anger. It wasn't even as if he had left the school, he was probably just sitting on the roof like usual. She tapped her foot through the rest of the class, waiting for the time to end. She was out of the door as soon as the bell rang and bee lined toward the stairs. As class representative she had a responsibility and he was a part of it. She clenched her jaw as she stomped up the steps. The principal was even calling for him from the loudspeaker. Taking a deep breath, Keiko pushed open the door to the roof. There he was, like the lazy jerk he was.

"Hey. Nice skirt," was the only thing to come out of his mouth.

"All of the girls have to wear these," Keiko said, stomping over and snatching the snack he was about to eat from his hands. "Just like all the boys have to wear blue jumpsuits: Which I notice you're not."

"Oh just give me a break, Keiko. I look better in green."

"Maybe I would be more tolerant if I could see you in school more than once every ten days," she could feel herself get louder in anger. Turning from him with crossed arms she said, "You give our class a horrible attendance average, which gets me in trouble as class representative and plus you won't even be able to graduate middle school. Sometimes I think you don't care about anyone but yourself. And then you don't even do that right." There was no response from him. "Do you hear me?" She quickly turned back to where he was sitting, but the spot was empty.

"Nice uniform, it's lacy," Yusuke's voice came from behind her and she could feel a breeze up her skirt.

It took her less than a second to turn and slap him as hard as she could. "Yusuke! You perv! People like you should be strung up in the street." He stumbled with a red cheek down the stairs laughing to himself. "Dumb boy hasn't grown up a bit since he was four years old."

Keiko started back down the stairs silently. Urameshi had always known just how to get under her skin to avoid taking responsibility for himself. It wasn't worth holding a grudge over, it was just who he was.

The sound of her name drew her from her thoughts. Looking at the floor she was approaching she saw Natsuko and Yuri watching her from around the corner. Once they were sure she noticed them, Natsuko asked", Is he gone?"

"Why are you ducking around the corner," Keiko asked.

"Because we are scared of The Great Urameshi ," this time it was Yuri who had spoken. "I don't see how you can actually talk to him."

"Aren't you just terrified of what he might do to you," Natsuko always had to throw in her two cents," or worse what people might say of it?"

It was hard to not scoff at the idea. "Not really. He just wants you to think that he's dangerous. On the inside he's more like a lamb."

Yuri reeled back in horror, "Yeah, but you haven't heard the latest news about him, Keiko. He's super tough and he kills for fun!"

"Yeah and if you cross him, he'll whistle for two thousand bad guys with guns," continued Natsuko.

That's when Keiko actually started to laugh. "Come on, Yusuke doesn't even know how to whistle."

"What?"

"Besides, Yusuke couldn't order around two people let alone two thousand. He doesn't have many friends." It seemed like the rumors just got more outrageous every day. How anyone could believe them was beyond her understanding.

"Not what I heard." Yuri and Natsuko turned to each other. "Yeah, I think we would know." And with those words the two walked off. Keiko sighed in exasperation. It seemed Yusuke got what he wanted out of life, people fearing him.

She had almost made it back to the classroom when the loudspeaker came on again. "Urameshi, I know that you're here today. Come to my office. Immediately." She doubted that he would go when called and briefly wondered if he would even show back up to class for the rest of the day.

The school day had ended and she made it back home without seeing Yusuke. The boy was going to fail out of middle school at the rate he was going. She had her homework in front of her and chewed on her pencil in frustration. There was just no talking sense into him. When the phone rang it pulled her from her thoughts. Glancing at the clock on her desk she realized she had stared at her assignment for half an hour without getting anything done. God, Urameshi was going to make them both fail.

Racing down the hall she managed to grab the phone on the fourth ring. Her greeting barely left her mouth when Atsuko Urameshi's sobs reached her ears. Whatever came out of her mouth next would be bad news.

"Oh god, Keiko. Yusuke has been hit by a car, he won't wake up. What if he leaves me?" The words continued in a mumbled, hysteric mess, but the meaning came across. Yusuke was in the hospital and in a coma.

"Don't leave me! Don't you dare leave me!" The woman's yells lead her down the hall and the small group of medical personnel hovering around the room let her know exactly where to find her friend and his mother.

Atsuko was a strong woman; there was just no denying that fact. So when Keiko arrived at the hospital seeing her crying and screaming at Yusuke's unconscious form had hurt. She quickly pried Atsuko away from him with whispered words of comfort. Rocking back and forth with the older woman holding onto her like a lifeline, Keiko took a moment to watch Yusuke's prone form. He had some bruises forming, his hair was a mess, and dirt covered his expressionless face. He was so still that if he wasn't on a heart monitor she would have sworn he was dead. "Yusuke," she whimpered blinking away tears. "He'll wake up Atsuko. He has to."

Hours had gone by before she had calmed Atsuko down. Both of them had red eyes and sore throats. A kind nurse had given them a few cans of soda after changing the I.V. drip. They sat together talking about anything they could think of, occasionally greeting what few visitors Yusuke had. The reason he had been injured walked into the room in the form of a child and his mother. The young boy talked about how he had made funny faces and pushed him out of the road. The boy's mother kept thanking Atsuko and Yusuke and then led her son out of the room. Their tears started again when the boy's words echoed from the hall asking when he could play with Yusuke again.

When the light had faded from the sky, Keiko decided it was time to fetch them some food and check in with her parents. It took a few nurses and several wrong turns to find the pay phone; even more to find the cafeteria. Not knowing when the last time Atsuko had eaten anything that could be considered real food, she bought a variety of things to eat. In the halls she passed a number of her school mates. Some she knew, others she didn't. More would probably visit in the next few days as word spread. It seemed everyone whether they liked Yusuke or not had made it a point to visit him. It would be a wonder if any of them actually knew him.

She could have sworn that she heard whispers of disappointment at Yusuke's survival as Mr. Iwamoto and Mr. Akashi passed her. Holding her tongue, she quickened her pace to reach his room before she said something she would regret. Not stopping until she was nearly outside of his door, she bowed to Mr. Takenaka as he exited Yusuke's room.

"Ms. Yukimura. I trust that you will take good care of the Urameshi's." With those few words, he nodded and walked away. Once she sat down, Keiko handed half of her haul to the older woman. Despite their earlier hunger, neither had much appetite left. Small bites of food were had in between words.

"You know it was the strangest thing. While you were gone, one group of your classmates came in trying to stop some ugly kid with orange hair. He kept yelling that Yusuke was being a coward and just trying to avoid fighting him. Said that he was supposed to be here, was crying and everything. He nearly punched Yusuke in the face before getting dragged out by his friends. I didn't' realize that he had another friend aside from you." Atsuko did not turn from her son as she spoke to Keiko.

"I didn't either," was her muttered reply. She tried searching back in her memory. There were a few times where she saw him near a boy with orange hair, but that boy always seemed to be on the ground. She had never seen them interact, at least not that she could remember. If they truly were friends, she was glad. Yusuke needed more people in his life who cared about him. Not that it would do him much good while he was in a coma.

The past few days flew by in a blur. In between going to school, helping at her parents diner, doing her homework, checking on Yusuke, and helping Atsuko with chores, Keiko was exhausted. So when she was told that Yusuke could be moved in with Atsuko she was relieved. Maybe she could even do her homework aloud and have it sink into his brain. The only thought that spoiled her good mood was how his mother was currently acting. She had started going on a drinking binge, bottles and beer cans were filling the house and nearly burying Yusuke alive. Being prepared she had brought some trash bags to take to his house. She was going to do everything she could to keep him clean, goodness knows she won't be able to do so when he wakes up.

Her eyes were trained on the ground, her lip between her teeth. She had recurring dreams about Yusuke and couldn't stay focused. She couldn't stand the silence of walking home alone when he had always been there to keep her company. She was so distracted that she almost missed the large dark figures that surrounded her.

The small gang of older boys laughed at the panic on her face. There was no way she could run past and she had no hope of fighting them off. It was like she could hear Yusuke's voice in her head, "Run, stupid!"

"Think of it as a toll road missy," one of them said while advancing toward her. "See, if you give us five hundred dollars we'll let you pass by."

The masked man grabbed onto her arm locking her into place. "Or I'm sure we could find other ways for you to pay."

Struggling against his grip she yelled," Don't you touch me!"

"Maybe I'll even let you see what's under my mask."

"That's easy; bad breath." She sneered as another man grabbed onto her other arm.

A new voice added to the mix," Hands off!" The group fell silent, quickly releasing her arm and stepping back. Turning to the newcomers, she saw a group of students from her school. They all appeared to be her age. One of them had orange hair and it made Keiko wonder if this was Yusuke's friend from the hospital.

"I take it you guys are from Kazanaga Jr. High, cause that's where all of the idiots go to school." The orange hair guy turned toward her, face softening, and nodded. "It's okay. Just go on home now."

"But I don't even-"

"Don't worry about it."

With a quick thank you, Keiko ran the rest of the way to Yusuke's house. The place was quiet, Atsuko must have been out drinking again. Looking at the mess around her, she sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon.

She knew that the gang that had helped her the other day went to her school. But trying to find them was proving to be difficult. Yesterday she had seen them talking with Mr. Akashi, something about no more fighting for a week. But when she had tried to get close Mr. Iwamoto had pulled her aside to discuss her choice of friends.

So when she noticed the orange haired leader in the library, she thanked her luck. Heading straight for him, she couldn't help but hear him muttering to himself. He would seem like a lunatic if what he was muttering wasn't the material that was being taught.

"Thank you for helping me," his head shot up at the sound of her voice. "My name is Keiko."

"Hi pretty lady. I'm Kuwabara, the warrior of love," he shoved his chair back and clasped onto her hands. "Don't worry about it; it's my duty to protect ladies like you."

Pulling her hands away Keiko stepped back. "I just wanted to thank you and see if I could make it up to you somehow."

"How about going on a date with me?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no to that." He had been so excited it almost hurt to turn him down, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm used to it." He sat back down in his chair. He stared down at his book dejectedly. "I need to study for the upcoming test anyway."

"I could help you study. I want to pay you back anyway. We can also go to my parents restaurant after school to continue."

"You'd do that?" Keiko just nodded in response. She pulled out the chair across the table from Kuwabara. Settling herself in the chair she couldn't help but start asking questions.

"Kuwabara, were you friends with Yusuke Urameshi?"

Kuwabara and his gang waited for her by the gate of the school. When she approached he introduced her one by one to the members: Kirishima, Okubo, Sawamura, and Komada. All were far more polite than she had thought they would be. It was an odd feeling being surrounded by so many guys on her way back home, and her parents certainly gave her an odd look when they arrived. They took a booth in towards the back and pulled out their textbooks. Leaning forward Keiko started the study session," Photosynthesis is caused by…."

After a few days the friendship that they formed was a very comfortable one. Walking together to and from school, studying as they go, Kuwabara was so upbeat that it was hard to be in a bad mood. And his gang, nearly as cheerful, was loyal to a fault. When they weren't studying at her parent's restaurant they were doing chores at Yusuke's. The silences that they experienced were never strained and only lasted for a small amount of time. She got to hear about Kuwabara's sister, the tickle, and his love of cats and pet Eikichi. She learned about Okubo's part time job and how Mr. Akashi was threatening to take it away.

It was strange to think that Keiko had more delinquent friends; a fact that bothered Mr. Iwamoto greatly. "Cockroaches, the lot of them; you should know better than to hang out with their crowd!" had become his conversation starter. But the odd stares and lectures didn't matter. Her new friends were showing progress in their studying and she no longer had to walk alone. She had quickly formed an attachment to her group, so when she and Kuwabara were being followed the morning of the test she told Kuwabara to go ahead. She held back long enough for the older students to catch up to her then quickly slammed her briefcase into one's face. His companions skidded to a stop when his body hit the pavement.

Their faces turned uglier and one of the two still conscious men sneered. "You should go to school, girl."

"Don't you know there's a test today?" Keiko opened her hands, exposing her palms. She had spent years perfecting her slap on Yusuke's rock like head. The one who had spoken charged first but was slow enough that she was able to slap him from a full swing. The other, slightly faster, got there in moments. She used quick but ineffective slaps to slow him and leave him distracted. She slammed her foot onto his and reeled back for a powerful slap to drop him too.

Looking at the unconscious bodies around her, Keiko sighed. "I feel better." She turned back and continued on to school. She could only hope that Kuwabara scored higher than a fifty.

Keiko chewed her lower lip in worry; she was the first to reach the school gate after school. When Okubo ran up with tears in his eyes her heart sank. He hugged her tightly enough to bruise. "I get to keep my job. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She wanted to start crying too, all of their hard work for the past week had paid off and her new friend could continue to support his family. The rest of the gang wasn't far behind Okubo; all had smiles on their faces. It was quickly decided that they would go to her parent's restaurant to celebrate.

She had only neglected Yusuke's house for one day, but the amount of cans and trash that filled the house was ridiculous. There were no trash bags in the house, everything smelled like cigarettes and alcohol and there was nothing in the fridge. Knowing that Kuwabara wasn't going to show up for another half hour, Keiko took refuge in the nearest store. Grabbing cleaning supplies and food to stock the house with, she formulated a plan to tackle the house with. Hearing sirens she hurried back, only to stop at the sight of the Urameshi home burning.

All of the neighbors were attempting to douse the flames with small buckets of water. Sirens could be heard faintly above the crackling of the flames. Everything she was holding fell to the ground. Her feet crushed the bags as she rushed forward. Yusuke was still in the blazing inferno! Grabbing the closest bucket of water and pouring it on herself, she ignored all of the people screaming at her and ran into the building. The fire licked at her limbs and smoke was stinging her eyes. She wasn't sure when she had reached Yusuke or when she had grabbed him; her awareness only seemed to come back when Kuwabara arrived. He pulled one of Yusuke's limp arms over his shoulder, grabbed her, and started to drag them both toward the exit. The roar of the fire was so loud she couldn't hear anything else, not even when Kuwabara started to yell. The roof caved in and she was forcefully shoved out of the way and toward the outside light. A collection of hands grasped at her and she was greeted by deliciously clean and cool air. Looking around her, she saw Yusuke being tended to by the emergency staff that had arrived. He had just been declared uninjured when they carried Kuwabara's body from the wreckage.

"Poor bastard was caught under debris." He was pronounced dead on the scene.