Title: Talking to Ghosts

(Virtual cookies to anyone who can identify the episode the title comes from!)

Author: Scarby

Disclaimer: Not mine, never has been, isn't, never will be.

WARNING: You know the routine if you've read any of my stuff before. Love transcends gender in this story.

Couples, whether you want them or not!: Kuwabara/Yusuke

Spoilers: First 25 episodes

Summary: Keiko never makes it to Yusuke for The Kiss, but Kuwabara's there. Then, there must be consequences, right?

Notes: The first is an AU of "Requirements for Lovers", and the second is AU for after the Saint Beasts arc. The first point of view's Kuwabara, and the second's Yusuke's. And they're both probably very OOC, but oh well.

Talking to Ghosts (1/2)

I sit next to him and just stare.

Long and hard, I stare at his placid face as he sleeps there, peaceful and serene and so very unlike his usual demeanor. It's so strange seeing him lying so quietly when I've always seen him moving. Even the times that I caught him sleeping on the roof, he would talk in his sleep or just move around or even fight. Always fighting.

Now, I stare at him motionless form.

And I think.

I shouldn't do that. Thinking and all.

I think about him. Everything we've been through: the fights, the rivalry, the fights, the arguments, and the...more fights.

But something's changed.

It's only happened since he almost died. These weird dreams are plaguing me, all of them about him. Like the night before the science test. I swear, I dreamed him quizzing me of all things. *Quizzing* me! And then, when I was about to hit the buck-toothed prick of a professor, I thought I heard his voice or something. Whatever it was, it was him.

Even before that, when I kinda met Keiko. Before my fuzzy memories began, I had gotten the Tickle again, and then I felt something slide into me. It was the most joyous feeling I'd ever felt. Tingly. Then, I had the distinct impression that my body was moving, I was talking and fighting, and then I talked to Keiko. I think I squeezed her breasts, in fact. (*1) Very strange. Then, I sorta woke up, but, before I fully understood that my body was mine again, honest to God, I felt a warm hand brush along mine up to my arm, as if he was ascending.

Later that night, I thought about the strange encounter and realized that he was saying goodbye in a way. Just in case he couldn't come back, I suppose. I don't really understand it.

That's why I'm here, watching him sleep, all too aware of the clock ticking impatiently throughout the otherwise silent apartment. Every second, I am reminded that time is running out.

How the hell did this happen?

How the hell could I ever dream about him?

How the bloody hell could I dream about kissing him?!

Last night's dream rushes over me once more, and I blush hotly again. My face must be permanently red now. Every time I think about it, I can't help but blush. Cradling his head, leaning forward, those warm lips –

"Argh! Shit!" Jumping up, I begin pacing the room. "Goddammit, what the hell was that anyway?!"

I look down at him again. Like the dream, he glows golden.

But why me? Shouldn't Keiko be here to wake him with a kiss? Like that English fairy tale Snow White. I'm no Prince Charming here, and he deserves better. He deserves Keiko, and, in her own way, she deserves him as well.

I'm waiting for Keiko to show up and wake him up. It shouldn't be me.

Silence.

Tick tock, tick tock.

The minutes ticked down as I stare at him and wait for his Princess Charming to show up, wake him up.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Keiko isn't coming.

11:59 P.M.

Silence.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Twenty more seconds.

No frantic footsteps, no key against the door, no frantic Keiko.

Kneeling next to his bed, I nervously lick my trembling lips and lean forward.

Now or never.

The first chime rings as I press my lips lightly to his.

No response.

I only pull slightly away as the chimes end.

The glow fades, and I stand, desperate for him to awaken, to be alive once more.

Tentatively, his eyelids flicker.

And I bolt.

Let him never know I was there.

Let him have his own happily ever after with his own Princess Charming.

*1: For those who've only seen the English version, Yusuke doesn't say, "Nice skirt" to annoy her: the first time, on the roof, he lifts her skirt and complains that she's wearing boring white panties; the second time, when Yusuke-in-Kuwabara needs to prove it's him, he goes up behind her and squeezes her breasts. So, basically, he's normal, horny teenage boy.

~Clamat, sed ubi asinus est?~