Yu Yu Hakusho: Broken and Mended

WARNING: This story contains hints of SHONEN-AI. Boy/boy relationship. If you are homophobic, please press the back button.

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Keiko and I were always an item. She stood by me whenever I was in trouble. We even started dating. But then we broke up. Or rather, she broke up with me. I guess that, sometimes, I was a little insensitive. But stillI know she loves me. And I love herright?

I saw Keiko walking down the street, and wondered why she was late for our date. She had never been late before.

She stopped right in front of me, and before I could talk, she said, "I'm sorry Yusuke. I can't be with you anymore. I don't belong in your world, and as it is there's no place for you in mine."

I was shocked, my mouth opening and closing like a fish a few times before I said, "But, Keiko--" She didn't let me get any farther than that.

With her eyes averted, but her face emotionless and voice calm, she told me, "I'm sorry Yusuke. I really am. But I can't keep worrying about you, whether you'll live or die, every day! I have school, and my grades are suffering because of you."

I didn't understand. I really didn't. "Keiko--"

"Goodbye, Yusuke." Then she turned and ran the way she had come.

God, that seems like so long ago. It was only two days, though. I've fallen into a funk since then, rarely eating or doing anything but staring at my ceiling.

Kuwabara has come by to try to cheer me uptwice. Both times I turned him down. I don't really feel like seeing anyone right now.

A knock at makes my eyes shift from the ceiling to my door. "Yusuke, a friend of yours has come to talk to you!" my mom calls.

"Who?" I ask tiredly.

There's a pause. Then, "Minamino Suuichi."

Kurama? What's he doing here? Curious, I say, "Let him in." My eyes shift back to the ceiling, not moving when Kurama enters.

"Yusuke, are you all right?" he asks.

"No," I answer crisply.

"Mind telling me what the problem is?"

"Yes."

"Is it about Keiko breaking up with you?"

My breath hitches at the mention of her. Slowly, my eyes move to Kurama's questioningly.

"Kuwabara hasn't stopped talking about it," he explains apologetically. My eyes move back to the ceiling.

"Typical," I whisper contemptuously. "Did he ask you to come here?"

"No. You are my friend, Yusuke. I came to see if there's anything I could do," Kurama answered. "I'm concerned. We all are."

I nod, a slight inclination of my head that is barely noticeable. But Kurama's sharp eyes catch it.

"Please Yusuke, tell me about it. Talking might help."

I turn my eyes to him again, searching his bright green orbs and finding truth. He really wants to help me. "Keiko said that I had no place in her world, and she had no place in mine."

"Is it true?"

"No!" I shout, sitting up and glaring. Kurama remains cool and collected. Then I slump. "But she seems to think so."

"Do you think there is any way to change her mind?"

"No," I say, almost chuckling. But the sound doesn't come out right, sounding like a sob. "When she has her mind made up there's nothing you can do to change it."

I pause. "Rather like you, actually."

Kurama ignores the last sentence. "Did it ever occur to you that this may have been painful for Keiko as well?"

"No," I say. Kurama raises an eyebrow. "She didn't seem like it upset her."

"Appearances can be deceiving," he says. Then he seems to hesitate. "Keiko came to me the day she broke up with you," he says finally. I know that Kurama is a good confidant, but I didn't think that Keiko would go to him too. "In tears," he adds.

My eyebrows knit in thought. "Why in tears?"

"She broke up with you because she thought you didn't care about her."

I was taken aback by the directness in Kurama's voice. "Whywhy would she think that?"

"Think about it, Yusuke," he urges, running a hand through his hair, as if to calm himself. He's got very pretty red hair, I realize. "Have you ever once told her you care about her?"

"No," I admit slowly. And a nice, melodic voice.

"Maybe, if you wish to be a couple again, you should tell her how much you care," he suggests. Kurama's really very beautifulno, NO! I did not just think that! I'm straight, really I am!

Then why is Kurama making me feel so strange? It feels like I'm with Keiko, but ten times stronger.

"But what if I don't want to get together with her again?" I ask, and blink. Did I just say that aloud?

Kurama looks at me strangely, but I can see something light up his eyes. "Why wouldn't you want to?"

"I--I don't know"

"Think about it, Yusuke," Kurama says, getting up. I can see the muscles rippling under his shirt, and a small shiver runs down my spine.

"I will," I reply.

Kurama walks out.

~*~

But what if I don't want to get together with her again?

Had Yusuke meant that? And what exactly had he meant by it? I'd find out later, when I came to see if he had thought about what I had said.

~*~

A week later, I stopped by Yusuke's house again. Kuwabara said he'd gone to school a few times, more than normal, and avoided Keiko as much as he could. I'd seem him once or twice myself. But when I knocked on the door of the Urameshi residence, I didn't expect to hear that Yusuke was out. Atsuko told me that he was out eating with an old woman, whose name, she recalled, was Genkai. I had shaken my head and followed Yusuke's and Genkai's ki signatures to a fast-food restaurant.

Now here I am, waiting for Yusuke and Genkai to come out of the restaurant. I wonder why I didn't just come back another timefor some reason, I'm drawn to the head-strong Reikai Tantei, and seeing him depressed makes me want to do all in my power to cheer him up. Then again, I would do that for any of my friends, butthere's just something about Yusuke, something I can't decipher.

He walks out, arguing vividly with his sensei, but stops dead when he sees me. He blinks--twice--and then runs to me. I stand up politely.

"Kurama! I didn't know you were here!" he says. Genkai snorts.

"I knew he was here the moment he arrived. He's been waiting for over an hour," she deadpans.

"Why didn't you come in and join us?" Yusuke asks.

"I was thinking," I replied. "Time escaped me."

"Oh," he says with a shrug. "Okay."

"Yusuke, about that talk last week" I leave the sentence hanging, knowing he knows what I'm referring to.

"Oh" He also derails, looking away self consciously. Genkai looks from him to me and shrugs, turning.

"I'll leave you to talk, then," she says.

"No, it's alright! We can talk later," I reply quickly.

"Yeah, Obaa-san, it isn't that important," Yusuke adds.

"I can get back to the temple on my own," she says. "Or do you think I'm too old?" At this she looks back at us; Yusuke sticks his tongue out at her, while I just shake my head.

"If you wish it, Genkai, you may go," I say. She nods, then leaves. I gesture to where I was previously sitting. "Shall we talk?"

"Sure" Yusuke seems hesitant, so I sit and he follows.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?" I ask.

"Yeah" he trails.

"And?" I prod. He looks away.

"Keiko dumped me, not the other way around. If she thinks this is better, who am I to argue?" he starts.

"But you can always make time for her, and then she would see that she was wrong," I point out.

"Time?" he snorts. "Between school and missions, how much time do you think I have?"

"I get it all done," I point out. And it's not like you *go* to school every day

"You're also the perfect student," he retorts. I hold my silence. He continues, "And besides, Keiko's right, in a way. The only good I'm doing her is dropping her grades."

"But she cares about you Yusuke! And she won't stop caring, even if you're no longer a couple!"

"Kurama, we do live in different worlds. I live in one where it's either fight or die. The worst thing she has to worry about is getting her reports done on-time."

"She still worries for you, Yusuke. That is the worst thing."

Yusuke sighs. "She's gotten into trouble because of me; she can barely defend herself and she's faced numerous life-or-death incidents!"

"And lived through them all," I point out. "Don't you think you're giving her too little credit?"

Yusuke again looks to the side, and when he speaks his voice is soft. "She wouldn't have had to go through so much pain if she just didn't carelike the rest of the damn world."

I shake my head. Is there any way to get sense into that boy's head? "That's why she's so special! You should treasure someone like her, Yusuke! She cares about you, really cares. That's something you don't find in everybody."

This time, he looks straight at me. "Do you care?"

I'm caught off-guard by the question. "Wh-what?"

"Do you care about me?" he asks.

"Of course I do!" I say. "You're my friend, my ally, my comrade! I trust you with my life and at the same time I'd give my life for you. I respect and honor you, as a friend and as an equal."

"Okay, just wondering," he says, averting his eyes. He sighs, his gaze shifting to the cloudless skies. "You know, Kurama, I respect you too. You're always so calm, you've never once lost your cool. Even when your mother's life, or your life, or a friends' life is in danger, you never show any distress, just full confidence in said friend or your own skills. You're strong both physically and mentally, and yet you're gentle. I admire you; sometimes I even wish I could be you, if just for one day."

I chuckle darkly. "No you don't. You'd have to deal with rabid fangirls everyday, writing you sickly-sweet love notes and poems, drooling every time they hear your voice or see even a strand of your hair, place you above the highest god and then faint when you say their name or even bat an eyelash in their direction."

This time he laughs. "It'd be nice to get some positive attention once in a while."

"But that's only the tip of the iceberg," I say. My voice becomes a hoarse whisper. "You'd also have to deal with the painful memories that one thousand years of womanizing, stealing and murdering will bring, the regret that follows, and the sickening truth that you found it all entertaining once upon a time."

He looks at me, shaken. I know he had heard something along those lines from Botan, Koenma or Hiei before, but I could tell by his facial expression that he never thought I would admit to it. "You--you couldn't have been that bad."

"No," I say dryly. "I was worse."

Yusuke stares at me for a couple minutes, shocked. Then, seeming to shake out of his reverie, he stands up. "Thanks for talking, Kurama. You've helped a lot. I'm glad to see I'm not totally neglected in this world." He pauses to look back at me. "I just want to let you know that you're my unreachable idol, and that I care about you too, past or no past. You're not Youko any more. I'd give my life for you, Kurama. And I'd give it gladly."

Then he walks away. Was I imagining it, or was there something more than caring and comradeship shining in those eyes?

"I admire you as well, Yusuke," I whisper. "You're funny, and you never lose hope. Even if the cost is your life, you would do everything within your power to save a friend."

Then I shake my head, realizing I'm talking to thin air. I get up, and begin to walk home. After all, there's homework to do, plants to take care of, and people to puzzle out.

Though I doubt anyone would ever be able solve the riddle that is Yusuke.

~*OWARI*~

A/N: Well, peeps, that's my third one-shot. Not the most orthodox of couples, but it was an interesting idea and played outwell, interestingly. *sweatdrops* *muttering* Must find thesaurus

This was in response to a challenge posted on AoiHyou's bio page.

So, until we meet again, adieu!

Yami no Ryu