Author's note: this is a revision of a chapter posted October 15th, 2003. Minor revisions throughout, but mostly unchanged. Revised November 4th, 2007
Disclaimer: I don't own nothin'!
Warnings: mentioned KurmaxBotan, takes place after the end of the manga, so may contain spoilers for those who have yet to finish the series
Yusuke was home for good. Since his loss at the Makai tournament and subsequent return to Ningenkai, his life had lacked a certain thrill. There was no one to fight - in fact, it bothered him that he had returned at all. There really was nothing for him in the human world, was there? He earned cash here and there in underground prize fights, but had had no real responsibilities. He still lived with his mother, but they rarely saw each other; he made no effort to keep in touch with Hiei, and encounters with Kurama and Kewabara were limited to chance meetings on the street. He was all of nineteen years old, but had no direction, no real friends. He ached at times for companionship, but he'd search through his mind for any potential squeezes and turn up empty. He simply had never forged any more than a superficial friendship with any girl in his entire life. At times he would stretch out on the couch, letting the garbled voices on TV fade away into background noise and think of a girl who sometimes appeared in his dreams. She was plain, unremarkable, yet so...distant. Just when it would seem that he'd get a firm picture of her face in his mind, it would disappear again into the depths of his unconscious mind.
On this particular day of aimless wondering, he considered for a moment calling Kurama for a brawl, but the idea left a sour flavor in his mouth. Kurama wouldn't agree to it, or if he did, he wouldn't put up a good fight anyway. There was always Kewabara, but he was no challenge. Besides, he was probably too busy studying for his university classes. Yusuke's eyes came to rest on the television. It was off now, and he could clearly see his own reflection in it. He looked far too innocent than he really was. If he wasn't in such a melancholy mood, he might have laughed. The VCR's timer blinked 00:00. Yusuke hazarded a guess that it was around seven in the evening on a friday night. Most kids would go to school the next day, most adults would go to work. Yusuke had no obligation to attend either. As he imagined these dreary people trudging off to their respective prisons, his mind wandered back to the girl. He could almost see her now. Short, in the cute sort of way, soft brown hair he could run his fingers through, and large, brown eyes. What could her name be? Kimiko, Kanon, Kazuko...?
His progress on the puzzle of the mystery girl was shattered by a loud rap at the door. For a moment he thought of answering, and ran his hand over his slicked hair to make sure there were no stupid-looking strays sticking up. He changed his mind immediately. He felt a mighty lethargy pulling him down, and a certain bitterness that made him loathe to speak with anyone. Another knock sounded through the apartment. The noise was curiously much more resonant than before, and it almost seemed to reverberate through Yusuke's very being. He felt compelled to move. Someone significant was at the door. Yusuke got up and then reeled and fell back onto the couch as be felt the presence of an enormous source of yoki. He quickly pulled himself upright, gave his shirt a tug, and lurched towards the door. With the feeling that something very important was about to happen, he placed his calloused hands on the doorknob and turned. Light streamed into the darkened house, unnaturally bright, as though an atomic bomb had imploded on the doorstep. And then after half a second it was gone. Yusuke wondered it had even happened at all. Then she was there.
"Hello there, Yuusuke! I'm so very pleased to meet you at last!" Her sugary sweet voice filled the air and hung for a moment, like a lingering smell. Every syllable stressed evenly, every word flawlessly sang out. This was the first thing Yuusuke noticed. Then came her appearance. A fair caucasian girl, with sparkling green eyes and perfect auburn hair, shoulder length, every lock in perfect place. Her outfit was surprisingly simple. All of the horrible feelings of foreboding Yuusuke had felt previously had evaporated. Yuusuke's mouth felt dry and distasteful. Before he could speak, the girl with the powerful yoki spoke again. "I am a yokai in search of companionship, and I want to help you. My name is Jennifer, and I've been touring Ningenkai while looking for my destiny. I think I have found it."
"Yes, Jennifer, that's correct." Yuusuke murmured, as though drugged. Ignoring the absolute absurdity of a white girl named Jennifer with an enormous yoki, Yusuke invited her in.
"Oh yes! I do love martial arts dearly as well! It seems we have nearly everything in common, Yuuuke!" Jennifer chirped after speaking for many minutes with Yusuke, who was held captivated by her gaze. "It's as if we were searching for each other all of these years without knowing it, and now we have found each other."
"You're probably right," Yuusuke agreed woodenly.
"Do you have other friends, you know, friends like us, who are also very very handsome?" Jennifer draped her arm across Yuusuke's shoulder and fiddled with the collar of his shirt. Yusuke's skin had become a rather pale shade. He shivered, although he was not cold. "Let's go to them, instead."
"An excellent idea!" Jennifer agreed, clapping her hands.
Moments later they hit the pavement. The sun was setting, and the streets were teeming with people. Quite by chance, they were discovered by Kazuma Kewabara.
"Eh, Urameshi, who's that, a new girlfriend?"
"Yeah, in a manner of speaking. It's not like you'll ever have one with your looks, eh Kewabara." Yuusuke teased, although somewhat halfheartedly.
"What happened to Keiko? You're not cheating, are you? I'll kill you if you are!" Kazuma narrowed his eyes. Yuusuke looked puzzled.
"Who the hell is that?" Kazuma gasped and grew pale.
"You-you broke up? Ah, I see. I won't press it then." There was a slight pause. "What happened then? Did she find a more worthy man?" Before Yusuke could speak, Jennifer's intoxicating voice preempted his thoughts.
"Do you find me to be extraordinarily attractive?" Jennifer asked Kazuma playfully.
"No, not really. You look really normal to me." Kazuma found Yusuke's fist on him after that remark. Jennifer waved him down, and Yusuke, surprisingly, was complacent.
"You. You are not a yokai." She put a long finger out at Kazuma. "No," Kazuma looked around somewhat confused.
"Come Yusuke, let's find your other friends." Jennifer herded Yusuke in another direction. Like a dog, Yuusuke followed. They were soon gone.
"Ugguu...I got a bad vibe from that lady," Kazuma shivered, but walked on, putting the issue out of his mind.
"Oi! You, Oni, clear this up! This place is a psycho ward! A total loony bin!" Koenma gesticulated violently at a purple Oni named Bob who was pushing papers around. With the holiday season coming around in much of the world, people were drinking while intoxicated, committing suicide, holding up banks, bombing large buildings, and other such activities that involved large mortality rates. With Enma in custody and the population of the Ningenkai at record highs, things were simply getting out of hand. Hiei had been doing a good job patrolling the border, but youkai were always escaping and slipping in to the Ningenkai, people were always being stupid and stumbling into the Makai, and everything was just a hair's breadth away from just falling apart. Of course, that would describe a typical morning anyway. George, head honcho of all paper pushers, just fed up, but that was normal too.
"George, what's this morning's work eh? Bring it on! I feel like I could fight ten of Sensui today, and actually win. Also, have they fixed the coffee machine yet?" George sighed as his boss went about business as usual and made a mental note about the coffee machine. A typical day included millions of requests for higher placement in death, mortality confirmations, death sentences, life sentences, excommunications, and other such things. All of which required paperwork. Stacks and stacks of paperwork to be done by one irate boss with an attitude problem.
"George, have you seen Ayame about?" the voice of Koenma came from behind a large stack of paper.
"Yes. She does the bookkeeping too, that's where I saw her."
"So that means that Bingo night is over, yes?"
"Yeah, so why do you ask?" George scratched his head and pushed another wheelbarrow full of paper closer to Koenma's desk and then began to mindlessly finger the single horn on his head.
"If Ayame is back from Bingo Night, then how come Botan isn't? Don't tell me she's galavanting off with Kurama during work hours...I'll have her head for this! I'll show her what's what! I'll just..." the diminutive lord of the underworld began another tirade about all of the horrid things he'd do to Botan when he saw her next, but of course he would never do them. George sighed. Ever since Botan and Kurama had begun a romantic relationship, the abuse he received had only doubled. So life at the universe's most insane office continued.
"Oh, Kurama, you are absolutely charming!" Jennifer tittered over a pickle from a local deli. Yusuke had led Jennifer straight to Shuichi's house, and they had hit off. Secrets were told freely, and Kurama accepted the newcomer freely without any suspicions or qualms. In fact, he was very nearly in love with her, and yet he felt a sense of foreboding, just as Yuusuke had in the beginning, only more profound. The yokai side of him was urging him to accept this Yokai girl at face value, welcome her, and fall in love, but the part that was Minamino Shuichi was very nervous and even more suspicious. Kurama pushed the Shuichi part of his mind away as he let Jennifer's sugary words fill him with an overwhelming desire to continue to be in the presence of this person. The kitsune never even noticed that Yuusuke held a blank gaze and said almost nothing. Yusuke's hands slowly turned white as he grew more and more cold.
Kazuma's sixth sense was really flaring up. He had a terrible feeling about that girl Yusuke was with. She presented herself as a youkai, but Kazuma sensed no yoki in her body at all. To top everything off, he hadn't heard from Keiko or Botan for days. Suddenly Kazuma stopped, right in the middle of the sidewalk, letting irate pedestrians pass him by. Yusuke didn't even talk about Keiko. She wasn't in town, so was there a connection? Kazuma rubbed his temples. He wasn't cut out for sleuthing, that was for sure. Hands in pockets, hunched over, Kazuma began to wander back home.
End, Chapter One
