Yusuke let out a loud sigh as he kicked off his shoes at the door to his apartment. "I'm home," he called out, searching to see who was home. Yusuke picked up extra energy in the kitchen and tensed. Seemed he had company. He made his way down the hall to their little kitchen, hoping in the back of his mind that it was the girl that hung around with his— "Of course not."
"Rude," Keiko scolded when Yusuke walked in. "He came all this way to see you." She turned back to the stove with a huff. "Who knows why."
Yusuke fell down into the chair across from his guest, who sat with his legs crossed chuckling nervously. "So what brings you here, today, Kurama? Something good, I hope."
"Well, it depends on how you see it," Kurama began, crossing his arms. "There's going to be another tournament in demon world."
"But the last one was only two years ago." Yusuke's brow furrowed. He saw Keiko's shoulders tense out of the corner of his eye. "And I haven't been participating for a while."
"The king died of natural causes it seems," he explained. "There's going to be another tournament held to replace him. But there's something else."
"Always is," Yusuke groaned.
"I'm home," a young voice called into the apartment, silencing the kitchen. A young boy of 13 appeared in the doorway, school bag slung over his shoulder. "Hi, Uncle Kurama." He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and offered up a small smile.
"Hey, Kai, can you go to your room for a bit?" Yusuke asked gently.
Kai's arm dropped like his smile, his bag bouncing off his leg. "What? Why?" he demanded. He knew when his any of his uncles showed up, something was going on.
"Kai," Keiko pressed, a stern look on her face. "I'll call you when dinner is ready."
He rolled his head back and groaned, but headed down the hall grumbling to himself. Yusuke waited until he heard the click of his son's door before he looked to Kurama. "As you were saying?"
"Yes, well, it seems that Youmi and his son Shura are going to enter," Kurama explained. "And Youmi's calling you out to compete as well."
Yusuke leaned back in his chair. "Even if I did compete, there's no guarantee we'd be matched up before one of us is knocked out."
"True," Kurama agreed.
"And I haven't exactly been keeping up with my training."
"Oh that's a blatant lie," Keiko said. "You go up to the temple at least twice a month."
"Yeah but he didn't need to know that," Yusuke spat between his teeth in irritation, glaring at her.
"You're not hiding that fact as well as you may have hoped, Yusuke," Kurama laughed. "But in any case. The tournament will be a year from now, so you have time to decide." Kurama stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Let me know what you choose."
"Thanks, Kurama," Yusuke said honestly as his friend took his leave.
"Bye, Uncle Kurama!" Kai called from his bedroom. Kurama only responded with a laugh.
"You can come out now, Kai," Yusuke yelled, earning a glare from Keiko. "So how was your day?"
"Yusuke," she sighed, filling out three plates of food.
"What was Uncle Kurama here for?" Kai asked, slightly keyed up, as he sat at the table.
"To talk to your father about some business."
"Spirit world business?" Kai pressed.
"None of your business," Yusuke joked, flicking him in the forehead. "Eat the wonderful dinner your mother made."
"Aw, come on, her cooking's not as good as yours," Kai whined quietly, poking his pork with a chopstick.
Yusuke held back a laughed. "Just eat it," Keiko demanded. "Or you can start cooking for dinner."
"I cook all day, sport," Yusuke told him. "'M not gonna come home and cook, too. Besides, I like your mother's cooking."
Yusuke had tried to hold up the light conversation at dinner, but now, as he sat in the dark of the bedroom, back up against the headboard, he watched the shard of light that cut across the darkness from the bathroom door. Every once in a while Keiko's shadow would block it out.
If he wanted to enter, he'd have to start training now or he'd never make it past the second or third round. Sure, he had been going to Genkai's temple to train twice a month, but it wasn't nearly what he should be doing.
He'd participated in the first two tournaments, but then he and Keiko got married and had Kai and he knew there was no way he could part from them. After that, Kurama simply stopped announcing the tournaments to him. He guessed it was to take away the temptation. Kurama understood.
But why come back now? Because of the odd tournament? Because of Youmi? But why Youmi, out of all of his opponents? Dozens of his old friends still demanded rematches. Deep down, Yusuke knew he already knew the answer.
Because Youmi was the only opponent he hadn't beaten.
But there was no reason. There was no end gain. For Toguro, there had been the satisfaction. He had been fighting for something all his life up until the first demon world tournament. The first time he fought had simply just been for fun. Since then, he hadn't had anything to fight for.
"Do you want to compete?" Keiko's quiet voice cut him out of his thoughts. The bathroom light was off, the room in complete darkness now. She was sitting on her knees less than a foot away from him on the bed. "You want to compete, don't you?"
Yusuke looked away and slouched down into his pillow. "I dunno."
"How long would you be gone?"
"A year."
"So you have been thinking about it."
"Of course I have—why does it matter?"
"Because you want to compete."
"I never said that."
Keiko shifted closer to him. "You didn't have to, Yusuke. I've known you all my life. I know you. And I know you want to go."
Yusuke hated when she did that. "Yeah, but—"
"I can take care of Kai as long as you promise not to die." Keiko told him. "I waited three years for you, another year won't kill me."
"Keiko," Yusuke breathed. "I can't."
"Why not?" She poked him in the chest and he caught her hand before she could do it again.
"Because I promised myself I'd never do that to you again," he explained, slightly embarrassed. All these years and the mushy lovey-dovey crap still embarrassed him a bit. The out-loud stuff anyways.
"Well you know what?" Keiko began.
"What?" he asked hesitantly.
"I promised you that I'd make you happy. Till death do us part." Yusuke just blinked at her, surprised. "And I know you need this. You live to fight and I came to terms with that so many years ago. So go. Train. Come back before the tournament and pick me and Kai up. I'm sure he'd love to see you fight."
"I know I don't say it enough, but dammit—I love you, Keiko."
She giggled as he grabbed her and flipped her onto her back roughly, lips at her throat, and fingers at the hem of her night shirt. "I know—you don't have to say it. I know."
"Hey, it's your dad, Kai."
Kai looked up as he swung his bag over his shoulder, his eyes landing on the tall, dark haired man leaning against the wall just off the school's property.
"Hey, Kai. Saiyuki," Yusuke greeted with a wave. He pushed off the wall and waited until the two young teens were stopped in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Kai all but demanded. Typically if a parent was there to walk him home, Kai was in trouble. But it had always been his mother since his father was busy with his restaurant. "Nothing good I'm guessing."
"I should probably—" Saiyuki started.
"Stay," Kai insisted.
"Kai, I just need to talk with you," Yusuke pressed, not really wanting to involve the girl.
Kai shook his head. "No. We have plans. Can we talk later?"
"There won't be a later, Kai. I'm leaving for Demon World tonight and I won't be back for a while."
Kai was used to his father's bluntness sometimes, but after the meaning of those words clicked in his head, he felt his blood run cold. "So, what, you just came here to tell me that and you were just gonna leave?"
Yusuke scratched the back of his neck and let out a puff of air. Fatherhood had not come easy for him—he'd never had a role model in his life to teach him. But Keiko—Keiko understood and helped. Mostly in the disciplinary department.
"That's not what I was gonna do," Yusuke told him, dropping and arm across his shoulders and steering him down the street, motioning for Saiyuki to follow them. "I need you to promise me a few things."
He looked up at his dad, curious. "Like what?"
"You gotta help your mother out a little bit. I have to leave the restaurant for a bit so money is gonna be a bit tighter. The small things make her happy—keep the apartment clean, make dinner every once in a while. Try not to fight with her."
"How long are you gonna be gone?" Kai asking in an embarrassingly small voice.
Yusuke hesitated and pulled his arm away as they crossed the street. "'Bout a year," he muttered, continuing down the street.
Kai exchanged a panicked look with Saiyuki as they quickened their pace to catch up. He knew the roads and where his father was leading them. Kai tugged on Yusuke's arm to get him to stop walking. "What the hell, old man, you can't just dump that on me and take off."
"Woah, who're you calling Old Man?" Yusuke nearly yelled. "I'm not even half as old as that old hag was when I was your—"
"Mr. Urameshi, what exactly are you going to Demon World for?" Saiyuki asked suddenly. "My dad says you don't compete in the tournament anymore. He says you're not up to it."
Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Of course he would say that—but yeah, I haven't competed in a while, which is why I'm leaving now so that in a year from now I'll be ready." He turned back to his son who suddenly looked like the 13-year-old kid that he really was. "I need you to help your mother out, protect her while I'm gone."
"I haven't—I can't—"
Yusuke slapped his hands on his son's shoulders and bent down to his level. Keiko swears by the "be on the same eye-level and he'll understand" method. "You can because I've seen you protect Saiyuki here. I've trained you myself. You know enough for now."
Kai nodded his head slowly. "I'll do my best."
Yusuke laughed. Such a Keiko thing to say. He steered the kids into the Yukimura restaurant.
"Kai!" an older voice called out.
"Hi grandpa," Kai smiled, the seriousness of everything else still weighing down his mood.
"And if you ever need me for anything, if you ever get into trouble," Yusuke muttered inconspicuously into his ear from behind him, "Just let Uncle Kurama know and he'll know where to find me."
Kai was whisked away by his grandmother, and Yusuke couldn't find his wife in the immediate area, so he followed Saiyuki back to her parents.
"I give you six months," Kuwabara declared as he walked up.
"Six months to what?" Yusuke demanded, his tone warning his old friend to choose his words wisely.
Which he clearly did not.
"Six months to decide you're too old for this and you're way too out of shape," Kuwabara laughed.
"Dad," Saiyuki gasped.
"No, Saiyuki, it's fine," Yusuke began smugly. "He's just warning me about something he learned about himself when he was fifteen."
"Oh—!" Kuwabara began yelling and wrestling with Yusuke.
"Kazuma, I really don't think you should be this rough indoors," Yukina suggested calmly, causing the redhead to freeze.
"Alright, come on, Urameshi," Kuwabara demanded loudly. "You and me, out back, right now."
"Kazuma, that's not what I—"
"It's alright, Yukina," Yusuke laughed. "I'll try not to beat him up too bad." He led the way towards the back of the Yukimura household, passing Keiko on the way.
"What are you up to?" she asked, suspicious. He just grinned and she felt compelled to follow him.
"Alright, Kuwabara. You sure you wanna do this? I mean, have you even fought anything since the dark tournament?" Yusuke teased as their friends all made themselves a place in the backyard out of the way. Keiko, Kai, Yukina, and Saiyuki all stood against the side of the building, watching the two men prepare to fight. While Yusuke took a familiar stance, Kuwabara looked uncomfortable.
"Just shut up, Urameshi, I can kick your ass no matter how old we are."
Yusuke let out a loud laugh. "Is that right? Come to think of it, I can't think of a single time you've beaten me."
Kuwabara scowled and charged at Yusuke, who simply ducked and let the other man stumble, arms swinging wildly. Again, Kuwabara attempted to land a punch, but Yusuke was always widely out of range. Punch after punch. Attack after attack. Kuwabara was quickly growing irritated. It was no longer a joke anymore.
Kuwabara jumped back a few steps and stood still.
"Giving up?" Yusuke asked, but jumped when a beam of light appeared in Kuwabara's hand. Oh, so it was gonna be like that? He took aim with his hand, fingertip glowing.
"Alright, that's where I draw the line," Keiko interrupted, stepping in front of Yusuke who quickly put his hand down.
"You are so whipped," Kuwabara muttered, putting his own sword away.
"Bro, you are the definition of whipped," a new voice interjected.
"Aunt Shizuru!" Saiyuki exclaimed, running to hug her aunt.
"How's it going, Kiddo?" She looked up at the adults. "Sorry I'm late. Ready to get the parting party started?"
Keiko looked up at Yusuke, a small smile on her face. Kai rolled his eyes at the expression. It didn't look like much, but he'd learned that that look meant his mother and father had already had their own going away party.
Yusuke watched his son follow Kuwabara and his family back into the house before following Keiko in.
"Hey, where's your other spawn?" Yusuke asked Kuwabara once they were back inside, sitting around a couple of tables the Yukimura's had pulled together.
"With his uncle in Demon World," Kuwabara gave out a weak laugh.
"Uncle Hiei. God, I love that," Yusuke chuckled, content to enjoy the rest of the evening with his family before he left later that night.
Yusuke dropped his bag next to him in the dirt and grinned, his arms crossed over his chest. "Told you I'd be back, Dad."
"Still with that stupid look on your face. How was that trip?"
"Still going. We've got a kid now—a boy, Kai."
"Not surprising. Like you said—the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"No, I'm finding out it really doesn't," Yusuke grumbled.
"Are you competing this year?"
"I'm gonna try. Yomi wants a rematch."
The spirit of his ancestral dad let out a hearty laugh. "But is this son of yours going to compete."
Yusuke shook his head. "Not this year. But one day, if he wants to."
"Is he a fighter?"
Yusuke pursed his lips and stared at his feet in thought, remembering all the brawls he used to get into when he was little, stopping just barely when he reached middle school. "Yeah. I've been trying to teach him some of the stuff I know, but until he asks, I'm just gonna leave it at that."
Kai rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles. His dad had been gone for about three months already, so it had been three months since he had been in a good fight. And this kid was doing nothing to fulfill his thirst for a fight.
After getting into an argument with a few of his teachers that morning, he'd decided it was a good day to try out skipping class. So he'd just walked out of the school during lunch. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the schedule for every delinquent in the area.
"All five of you might want to come at me at once if you want to have a good chance—I'm not warmed up and I'm a little rusty," he taunted.
The five boys grit their teeth and ran at him. But it was a short fight. Minutes after it began, only Kai stood there, feeling smug that he had, in fact, taken out 5 other kids at once. But as it sunk in, regret pooled in his stomach. His father preached endlessly against senseless fighting.
But he couldn't deny it filled a need inside himself, and other than knowing he was doing something his father told him time and again not to do, he felt happy for the first time since he left to train.
So when he got home later that night and got in trouble for skipping school, he felt good that he had gotten away with the fights. His mother had asked about the few scrapes, but he just brushed it off as a friendly scuffle during the morning gym class he had actually attended.
He was able to keep this up for months. He found himself rarely attending classes at all. He'd show up for the important tests he knew about—the smart side of him knew he would be beyond in trouble if his father came back to find he flunked out of school. On days he fought, he found himself happier, and more willing to do the make-up work Saiyuki brought by sometimes.
The two had more or less stopped hanging out. She would swing by the apartment a few times a week to bring by his work when she knew his mother was not there. She had stopped lecturing him a long time ago. Nothing got through to him and she wasn't willing to try physical force.
She was more afraid of what Kai would do if she told her parents let alone his mother what was going on. She didn't want him to run away. Then he would be completely out of her reach. All she could do was continue bringing him his work—a way she would secretly check in on him. He seemed alright, other than the occasional scratch or two.
It was a rare day when Kai stayed at school until the end. He and Saiyuki were headed simply going to go to the Yukimura restaurant because Saiyuki had begged him to hang out. But somehow, she found herself watching a scene play out in front of her, and shock held her in place by the entrance to the school.
Two high schoolers stood in front of Kai, laughing at him. It had been nearly a full year since Yusuke had left, and Saiyuki was praying he would come back soon. She knew he was the only one she could talk to that would be able to handle Kai. From what her parents had said to one another after talking to Keiko about Kai, Kai was heading down a path similar to his father.
"Apologize to her," he demanded of them. "This is the last time I'm going to ask before I make you."
The boys exchanged surprised looks between them and Kai's eyes darted over to the classmate standing not too far off looking frightened.
"We were only paying her a compliment—"
"Bullshit," Kai spat, taking a small step towards them.
"Kai, don't," Saiyuki snapped. "You know what your dad said—"
"Dad isn't here, and these guys are really starting to piss. Me. Off," Kai responded slowly and loudly.
"Aw, I think the little man wants to fight," one said the other.
"Won't be much of a fight," Kai grumbled as the two ran at him. "But it'll do."
"Kai, stop," Saiyuki yelled as he flipped one the guys onto his back on the ground. Kai dodged the other's fist, grabbed his arm, and flipped him so that he was lying face down on the ground next to his buddy.
He placed a foot on the boy's back and pulled at his arm, eliciting a scream from him. "Apologize to her," he growled.
"I—it's okay, really," the girl piped up.
"No, it's not," Kai told her angrily. "If he doesn't learn, he'll keep harassing girls." He pulled harder. "Apologize." He heard a pop and the boy screamed in agony, the crowd around them jumping, surprised.
"Mr. Urameshi." Suddenly Kai was jerked off of the boys and pulled away. A couple of teachers swarmed the two students lying on the ground, one confirming that one of the boy's arms was broken. Kai looked up at the man whose arm was wrapped tightly around his chest and felt all of the adrenaline leave his body in a single moment, replaced only by that familiar "oh shit" feeling.
"Principal Takanaka," Saiyuki sighed in relief.
"I was hoping that after your dad shaped up, I wouldn't have a problem with you," the older man sighed, dragging Kai back towards the school building. "But I guess you just need to follow the same path he did."
"Let me go," Kai grunted as they walked down the halls.
"Gladly." Principal Takanaka pushed the young boy into his office and shut the door loudly. Kai took a seat in front of the desk, knowing he was here so the principal could call his mother. Takanaka dropped into his own seat on the other side of the desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did you know I was principal at this school when your father attended here?"
"Yeah, I think he mentioned it once or twice," Kai muttered, wishing he would just call his mother and get the yelling over with. "What's your point?"
"My point is that I know what kind of home life you have, and I don't understand. What happened?" Takanaka sat back, arms on the armrests of the chair.
Kai shrugged, staring out the window. "They pissed me off."
The principal's eyes narrowed and Kai didn't need to look at him to know he wasn't being believed. But the truth was, at the mention of his father and his home life, he really didn't feel like his reasoning would hold up. Because he knew better.
"We both know that there's more to it than that, and if you don't tell me what went on that caused you to break another boy's arm, then I'm going to have to get your father involved."
"Tough shit, Dad went away for a while," Kai muttered. He glanced over when Takanaka let out a sigh but otherwise didn't move. "What?"
"You know, your father never graduated this school," he said lightly.
Kai blinked in surprise. His father had never graduated middle school? He knew a lot about his father, about what he'd done and who he was, but his educational background had never come up, other than the fact that Kai was now attending the middle school his parents had gone to.
"My father is still a great man," Kai said defiantly.
"I'm not saying he's not. But he didn't have the high marks you have now. He wasn't throwing much away by quitting. Your father rarely came to school. I'd hate to see you throw everything away now. You're a year from graduation. Don't quit now."
"I'm not going to quit. Just call my mom already, I'm gonna get an earful from her, too."
Takanaka let out one more sigh and picked up the phone.
Keiko threw her keys and her purse onto the counter and then gripped it for support. "Kai." She called when she heard her son retreating to his room. He stopped in the hallway and walked backwards until he was standing in the doorway with his back to her. "Look at me." He turned around and the look on his face was so familiar, she had to force herself from throwing a tantrum. "What happened?"
"I got in a fight." His sarcasm struck a nerve in her and she crossed her arms. A good slap across the face always set Yusuke straight, but it was a much less appropriate thing to do to her 13 year-old son.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that. What. Happened?"
Kai's face went a little red and he let out a puff of air. "I just got mad. They pissed me off. Can I go now?"
Keiko pointed at the kitchen table. She handled Kai's discipline but Yusuke always handled the fighting. "Sit."
"No," he said, voice even. "I wanna go to my room."
"Sit," she nearly yelled. When he didn't move, she felt her temper flare to new levels and lost control of herself, her voice rising to where she knew it wasn't helpful. "Why can't you tell me what happened, Kai? What happened to cause you to break his arm? Was Saiyuki with you? Did they do something to Saiyuki?"
Kai was taken aback by his mother's anger. "No, they didn't touch Saiyuki—"
"Then what, Kai?"
"If they had touched Saiyuki, would it change anything? I'd still be in trouble right now."
"No, it's wouldn't have changed anything, and I'm still angry. Just tell me what happened." She sighed angrily and paced around the kitchen. "I wish your father were here—he knows how to handle senseless fighting better than I do."
Kai felt himself just shaking his head, his own anger rising. He wanted to punch something—anything. Why did all of these adults just assume that if he fought, it was just to fight? Why did they all assume he was just becoming a punk ass teen who just wanted to fight to hurt people?
He threw his school bag down the hall and stormed back towards the front door, hearing a satisfying thud as it hit the wall at the end of the hall and shook the floor.
"Where are you going?" he heard his mother demand.
"Out," he screamed, slamming the door behind him and taking off into a sprint, not really intending to go anywhere.
Kai's temper didn't settle as he hoped it would. As soon as he got home later that night, he got in more trouble. His mother threw around threats of grounding and having his things taken away. He just let her yell at him. He'd been in the forests that surrounded the park in town just letting off steam. After hours of wailing on the trees, he walked away with bloodied knuckles and a broken wrist.
He was supposed to do extra chores and go straight home after school. But the next day when he went back, word had spread of his fight and he found his classmates looking down on him. Their stuck up faces began to piss him off as their all gossiped during lunch.
Fed up, he silently packed up his stuff and left the classroom.
"Kai, wait."
He rolled his eyes but stopped. "Whaddya want, Saiyuki?"
"Are you okay?" she asked timidly. "You've seemed a bit…off all day."
"I'm fine."
"What's wrong?" She looked down at his swollen hand that he was trying to hide in his jacket sleeve. "Are you hurt?"
"Why does everyone seem to think there's something wrong with me?" he snapped at her. "I regret helping that girl yesterday."
"You shouldn't," Saiyuki gasped. "Sure, maybe you didn't have to go as far as you did, but you should never regret saving someone."
"Yeah, well everyone is making me feel absolutely stupendous over my decision." He turned around and continued down the hallway. "Go back to class."
Keiko bit her lip as she knocked on the door and hoped with all her heart that he was here, the rational part of her mind telling her he wasn't.
The door opened and a stunned Kuwabara blinked at her. "Oh, hey, Keiko. What's up?"
She saw Yukina and Saiyuki watching from the sitting room behind him. But no Kai. "Have you seen Kai?" she asked anyways, her voice shaking. "He stormed out of the apartment yesterday and he hasn't been home since. The school called and said he went to his morning classes but I—"
Kuwabara pushed her inside and towards Yukina. "We haven't seen him. Saiyuki?"
"I—uh—he was at school until lunch, he left. I tried to stop him but he just yelled at me and left," Saiyuki explained in a hurry. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault—I should have told you sooner, but he's been skipping a lot and not coming to school and fighting—"
"Why didn't you tell someone?" Kuwabara asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. This wasn't like either of them.
"He told me he would do this," she whispered.
"It's okay, Saiyuki," Keiko assured her. "We both didn't know how to handle him. The one time I really need Yusuke to be here."
"When does he return?" Yukina asked, pulling Keiko down onto the couch with her.
"Not for a few more weeks at the least," she said. "This was the first place I could think to look."
"Have you tried to get Kurama to contact Yusuke?" Kuwabara asked, pulling on his jacket.
"No, I really don't want to drag him away from this. Not because I can't even handle taking care of Kai," Keiko explained.
"His family is more important to him than some fight, Keiko." Kuwabara pulled on his shoes. "You know this by now."
"Where are you going?" Yukina asked, though she already knew.
"First, I'm gonna go find Kurama, then I'm gonna go find that punk ass kid and beat the shit out of him for making his mother worry." He slammed the front door before Keiko could protest.
Kuwabara quickly found Kurama and asked him to let Yusuke know what was going on—that his demon spawn of a son was causing problem—and set off to search the darkened city. There weren't many places open this late at night but still, Kuwabara couldn't find him anywhere.
Reluctantly, he quit searching and returned back to his apartment to find Keiko asleep on the couch and Yukina reading a book in the arm chair.
"You didn't find him?" she asked him quietly. He shook his head.
"Kurama said he'll have Yusuke here by morning. Says he's been working hard and should take some time to rest his body before the tournament anyways. They both looked at the sleeping woman on the couch.
"I hope for her sake he gets here soon," Yukina sighed.
"Yeah, well, I hope for the kid's sake he gets here soon." Kuwabara paused on their way back to their bedroom. "You know what? No, I hope for the kid's sake he doesn't because Yusuke is gonna kill 'im."
"Don't say that!"
Keiko yawned as she unlocked her front door. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on her friends' couch, but she hadn't been getting much sleep lately as it was and she just kind of crashed. Yukina had told her when she woke up that Kuwabara had gotten Kurama to go find Yusuke, so she wasn't surprised to come home to find the man sitting in her kitchen.
"You look like crap."
"I'm sorry," Keiko breathed, frozen at the door, unwilling to rise to his bait and fight with him.
He froze, fork halfway to his mouth. "Hey, what for?"
She walked over to the sink and poured herself some water just to keep her hands busy. "For pulling you away from Demon World. I really didn't want to do this to you. You've probably been working so hard the past several months and I just—"
"Hey, Keiko, Stop," Yusuke murmured, dropping his fork onto his plate and standing up. "It's alright. I was gonna come home soon anyways, see if you guys wanted to come watch the tournament, rest a bit. Besides—I know exactly where he is."
Keiko spun around to find him right behind her, his hands finding her hips automatically. "What? Then why are you still here?"
Yusuke's face dropped to that angry, scheming face of his. "Because I'm giving the little shit time to get his ass home so I don't have to take the stupid train all the way out there."
Keiko's eyebrows pulled together for a minute before it dawned on her. "You think he's at Genkai's temple?"
"I know he's there," Yusuke said. He gave her a quick kiss and pulled his jacket on. "I'll be gone a while, but don't worry about anything, alright? I'll take care of him and dinner."
"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Keiko offered as he gathered his things.
"Yeah, just take it easy today, go to work, relax. For once, I will deal with Kai," he assured her. "Kuwabara and Saiyuki told me everything this morning."
"Do I want to know what you're going to do to him?" she asked flatly.
"Use your imagination," he grinned.
"Puu," the big blue bird cooed as Kai ran his good hand down his neck. He seemed off all morning. That should have been his first clue. The fist came out of nowhere, and it was so fast and so hard that he didn't even know he'd been hit until he stopped sliding across the ground.
"Get up," a voice snarled. "I heard you want to fight, so let's fight."
Kai looked up to see his father as he had never in his life seen him—seriously angry and ready to take it out on someone.
Without a word, Kai shot up off the ground. This was perfect—all his pent up frustrations, all his pent up anger—and finally someone he could take it out on without worrying he might break something or someone.
This was a surprise to Yusuke—the kid wasn't holding back. He couldn't wait for the kid to explain to him what had been going on for almost a year. But he quickly noted the punches from Kai's left were slower and less effective. He might as well have been slapping with that, mangled hand for all the good it was doing. But the pain didn't seem to be phasing the boy one bit.
"I gave you one job, Kai," Yusuke growled, throwing his son into a nearby tree a little more roughly than he'd intended. Good thing he left Keiko at home. "I told you not to make it harder for your mother. I told you."
"I know," he coughed, standing up shakily, but quickly rebounding.
Yusuke dodged everything the smaller boy threw at him. He could feel the progress he'd made in his own training and found himself pleased. It was like fighting a toddler.
Yusuke flipped his son onto his back and held him down with his knee on his chest. "She's your mother and you need to listen to her," he began his lecture. "Regardless of what happened, what she says goes." He released him and stood up. "Get up."
Kai was frightened. Never had his father ever been so rough with him before. And he was almost positive he had a bruised rib among other things. Subconsciously he held his broken hand to his chest protectively.
"Yeah, I've heard what you've been up to," Yusuke drawled with a scowl on his face that Kai was unaccustomed to. "Fighting, skipping school, same shit I was into around your age. But I didn't have what you have—a mother who pays attention to you, who notices when you do that shit. Who cares that you do that shit."
"Yeah, well—"
"Well, what?" Yusuke snapped.
"Then you know what it feels like," Kai began. "This, this thing in the back of my head. It's like, this nagging feeling this—this pure boredom and unhappiness. I just—" Kai started pacing slowly in front of his father. "When I'm fighting, it's like, I feel like I dunno. Like life is just evening out. Like I'm happy."
"Breaking other kid's arms?" Yusuke asked sarcastically.
"No, that was different!"
"How?"
"Those guys—one of them had…had…been…doing things…to the girl," he tried to explain in a way that didn't make him seem so pathetic. "She kept telling him to stop but…his hands were…up her shirt…and stuff…"
"Go on," Yusuke urged, anger not letting up, his piercing glare fixed on the kid before him.
"And then after that, everyone treated me different. All the kids in class—they didn't understand! They kept calling me thug and delinquent and saying things like I would drop out and—"
"Over one fight?" Yusuke snapped, not quite believing him.
"Well, no, there had been one or two before then that mom never heard about. But these guys were high schoolers, so the whole school kinda found out that I broke a guys arm that was three grades ahead of us," he explained, moving a hand subconsciously to his throbbing rib. "And then the teachers changed around me and they were rude and would say things to each other in the halls when they didn't think I was near and I just—"
"Why didn't you go to Principal Takanaka, or your mother?" Yusuke snapped, crossing his arms. His son visibly shrunk into himself. "You have no excuse that justifies your actions."
"I didn't think Takanaka would believe me, and Mom just doesn't understand."
"Your mother understands you more than you think she does. Sometimes you're more like me than she's willing to admit. You just need an outlet. Something healthy to get all of this out of you. Fighting me—it helped, didn't it?"
Kai was silent for a second before he finally let out a small, "Yeah."
"Takanaka might not understand exactly what you're going through, but he wants you to succeed. He's not there to make your life horrible," Yusuke explained. "I was your age when I started learning the Spirit Wave technique. But until you prove to me that you can handle it, that you won't misuse it, I refuse to consider you the next heir."
"What?" Kai took a step away from his father. "Really?"
Yusuke's scowl intensified. "Just because you are my son does not give you any right to anything I know, Kai. I don't even have to pass on the Spirit Wave if I don't find someone fit to have it. Get your shit and let's go. We're making dinner tonight." Yusuke turned on his head and headed for the stairs away from the temple.
"What?" Kai breathed, but quickly ran inside to grab his bags before racing down the steps to catch up with his father. It was going to be a long night and he knew that, as soon as he got home, he was in for round two.
"Gimme your hand."
Kai looked away from the window of the train and held out his broken hand, gritting his teeth as his father poked and prodded it. He deserved the pain. He was right—his dad had asked one thing of him. Take care of his mother. But he hadn't. He had done the exact opposite.
"I knew you wouldn't be able to," Yusuke muttered as he wrapped his son's hand and wrist tightly with a medical wrap. "You're thirteen, I was only hoping to lessen the trouble you'd cause."
"What?"
Yusuke smiled deviously, reminding Kai of the kind-hearted, snarky father he was used to. "I may not be father of the year, but I'm still your dad and I know you, Kai," he explained. "You might be more like me than your mother would ever like to admit and you fight a lot more than you'd ever admit."
"How do you know?" Kai asked quietly, taking his hand back and inspecting the bandages.
"Because you're my son, and my son does not bruise as easily as he claims he does."
"Yeah, well, sometimes I'm Mom's son, too," he grumbled, agitated that he wasn't a slick as he thought he had been.
Yusuke sat back and crossed his arms, "Yeah, well, that's where school comes in. I was never good at that junk."
"Principal Takanaka said you never graduated middle school."
"Nope. That's why your mother is so set on pushing you. She always thought the best of me, thought I could do something amazing with myself if only I'd stayed in school."
"Why didn't you finish school?" Kai asked curiously.
Yusuke hesitated, wondering how much of his personal heritage he should tell him. He had grown up knowing all about spirit world and demons, but Keiko and he had agreed to keep his ancestral father to themselves for now. "I left on my fifteenth birthday to live in Demon World."
Kai's eyebrows shot up and satisfaction tingled inside Yusuke. "You lived in Demon World?"
"Yeah. Came back shortly after my eighteenth birthday."
"Why?"
"I was training for the first Demon Tournament," he murmured, vaguely wondering if he should take Kai to visit the only father figure he'd ever known.
"The one you're training for now?"
"Yeah. I came back to see if you and your mom wanted to go and watch." He watched Kai's eyes light up out of the corner of his eye, but quickly deflate.
"I can't compete, can I?"
"Not this year, sport," Yusuke smiled.
"Is it…Is it because I didn't—"
"No, it's not because of that," Yusuke interjected firmly. "Your mom and I decided a long time ago that when you're ready, if you want to compete, you can compete. But you're not ready."
"How will you know when I'm ready?" Kai mused. "How will I know?"
Yusuke propped his legs up on the seat across from him and sunk down into his seat, mimicking his son's posture. "You'll know. There's still a lot you don't understand yet, and when the time comes, you will. Demon World is still a very unstable place."
Kai was silent for a few seconds biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to gather the nerve to ask his next question. "Dad?"
"Hm?"
"Why do you fight?"
Yusuke looked at his song carefully. His dark hair, big brown eyes. Keiko popped into his mind's eye and he smiled. "When I was about your age, your mom used to have to drag me to school. I'd rather go to the arcade and beat up kids from neighboring schools. Back then, I fought because I was angry."
"Angry at what?" Kai asked quietly.
"Everything. My mom for not paying attention to me, my teachers for treating me like crap, the kids from the other school for trying to start fights all the time, my dad for never being there—and when he was, for being an ass. But then something happened—"
"The car accident Mom told me about?"
"Yeah," Yusuke laughed at his son's casualness about it. "And after that directional change in my life, I fought in the Dark Tournament with your Uncles and Grandma. That time, I was fighting for a reason. But it wasn't for my own reasons. It was for my opponent's. Same with my fight with Sensui, the detective before me."
"You and Mom have told me about those fights," Kai said.
"Right, but we haven't told you about after that, because if I'm being honest with myself I'm not ready to tell you all of it yet." Kai flinched, but Yusuke continued. "What I can tell you, is that in my last year, there was the first Demon Tournament. After two years training under one of the three rulers, he died and I convinced the other two to have what we now call the Demon World Tournament to see who would rule over all of Demon World."
"Why?" Kai asked brow furrowed. "Why did you have to drag the other two rulers into a fight over the land?"
Yusuke let out a puff of air at just how complicated the circumstance was. "Not everyone in Demon World is as nice as Aunt Yukina is—they're a lot more like Uncle Hiei. But taller. The other two rulers were waiting for Raizen to die so that they could fight over his territory. I knew that would happen and having either one of them rule over all of Demon World would have been bad news for this world."
"They would have eaten the people," Kai realized with little disturbance, which actually disturbed Yusuke a tad. He had been nonchalant about the eating of humans because he either didn't have a soul like everyone claimed, or—being part demon—he just understood that particular food chain. But his son, at thirteen and human, should not be so understanding.
"Yeah."
"So you were fighting to keep the peace during that tournament?" Kai guessed.
Yusuke shook his head. "Nope. It wasn't until well into the tournament that I realized that I didn't know what I was fighting for. I didn't want to be king."
Kai looked confused, shaking his head at his father. "So, what were you fighting for then?"
"As one of the kings was beating the crap out of me, I remembered what it was. Your mom."
"Mom? But I thought she's never been to Demon World."
"She has been, but not then," Yusuke clarified. "Before I left three years before the tournament, I made her a promise. I told her I'd be back by my eighteenth birthday and that we'd get married."
"Oh yeah, I remember Mom telling me that." Kai smiled down at his wrist.
"Yeah, so I remembered that promise and if I didn't finish fighting, I couldn't get back to her."
Again, Kai fell to silence. "So what are you fighting for this time?"
Yusuke sighed as the train came to a stop at their station. "I dunno," he said, standing and offering his hand to the young boy. "Fun, maybe? More likely to keep Youmi from taking power, though. But that'll still be fun."
Kai ran his good hand down his face as they exited the station and headed for home. "Ah, Mom is gonna kill me," he muttered to himself, the dreadful lecture looming over him. He gasped as Yusuke pulled him into his side, arm wrapped around his shoulders.
"Listen, just let her vent and yell at you, don't do that thing you do where you argue with her—just agree that you were wrong and promise to never do it again," Yusuke muttered down to him. "And if you promise to keep your anger in check—well, I'll figure something out. Just get your crap together. If you need to fight, come to the shop or something and we'll spar. But don't beat up other kids, got it?"
"Yes, dad."
The feared "lecture" was really more just a simple whack on the back of the head, a small scolding, and a hug. Keiko knew the minute she saw the two cooking in the kitchen, the look on Yusuke's face, Yusuke had said more to the boy to straighten him out than she could have.
Yusuke was a better father than he gave himself credit for. And she told him as much as they prepared for bed that night, Yusuke already sprawled across the bed in flannel pants and a loose tee shirt.
"Nah, I just told him what I woulda needed to hear," he muttered against the side of the bed as he watched Keiko change into pajamas.
"That's what he needed to hear, Yusuke," Keiko giggled. "Ever heard 'like father like son' expression?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he groaned, righting himself on the bed so that she could lie down on her side. "You really think I'm doing alright?"
She looked at him from her pillow. "He's already thirteen. And he's not half as bad as you were at his age—the training on the weekends helps, I think. And having Saiyuki and all of our friends, too."
"Hn. That's more than I had, lucky kid," Yusuke muttered, falling back into his own pillow, not moving when Keiko slid closer and rested her head on his chest. His heart still beat slower, but he was still aging, as they had feared he wouldn't. "You gonna come to the tournament? Can you get off work?"
"I can work something out, I'm sure. I haven't taken a sick day in a while."
"Good," Yusuke breathed, allowing himself to slip into unconsciousness. "Need my inspiration there."