Hello, everyone! Thank you for choosing to read Last Wish. This story is AU!Business (kinda), but please know that I know little to nothing about business so everything here is BS-ed by yours truly. If you want to correct any misconception I may have, by all means go ahead, but I doubt I'm going to fix the misconceptions since that may affect the plot.
Another thing is that Last Wish is going to contain both het and yaoi. There's no ifs or buts. Also, there is going to a huge age gap (7 years or so) between Yusuke and his romantic interest. Another thing is there'll be character death right from the beginning (only one). If you don't like any of that or if you don't wish to read any of that, it's okay. We all know where the back button/exit button is.
If you don't mind, then please enjoy the first of three chapters of Last Wish.
Yusuke propped his body against the bed, bringing a leg up to his chest and leaned his head back onto the bed until all he could see was his ceiling. He took a deep breath in, closing his eyes in the process. It didn't help.
Yusuke sighed heavily and laid his head on top of his propped knee, his mind a mess in turmoil.
"What should I do," the twenty-three years old teen asked, recalling the phone call that he had just received, "Keiko."
xxx
Yusuke went to the lawyer the next day, signing all the necessary stuff to get what Keiko willed to him.
Which came with considerably more responsibility than he had ever wanted.
But the Keiko he knew –beautiful, older, strict and wise – was never the type to set someone up for the fall, so he would just have to believe in her decision once more.
Besides, it was considered rude to disrespect the will of the dead.
xxx
There were incredulous looks, shocked mouths dropping open and blazing red eyes speaking of deep fury and indignation. It was going exactly how Yusuke thought would end up.
Not for the first time, Yusuke considered calling quits.
Keiko was dead. She wasn't going to be there any more, nagging him to do shit, getting him out of his funks and motivating him because I know you can be better than this.
Yusuke's gaze snapped off to his side, to the left of him where Keiko always stood.
(He always stood on her right. Always.)
The spot was empty, but the room was not.
The shouting match had started between the vultures which Keiko had called her trusted employees of her company.
Yusuke slammed an open palm against the table and said, "I'm the boss now. Anyone got a problem, speak now or forever hold your peace." Yusuke could hear Keiko say beside him. He didn't look again, knowing she wasn't there.
Instead, he looked at each one of the person in the room, staring down at them until they all looked away.
Yusuke waited for a beat-Keiko used to do this-before he spoke. "No?" he asked, his tone sardonic. He stood, straightening his suit. "Good."
xxx
Yusuke left the room and immediately, the chaos started back up again.
Yusuke grimaced. You left a pile of shit for me to take care of, Keiko.
He could almost pretend the indulgent smile he felt directed back at him in response was real.
xxx
The company was a mess, its employees were a mess, and the shareholders were twice as bad, which was something to say. Yusuke was getting a headache from everything.
Most of all, he was getting annoyed at the amount of proposition he received to just toss Keiko's company to the nearest hand, because he was so young and he wouldn't want to singlehandedly bring Keiko-san's company to a downfall, would he?
He glared at the telephone at rang for the umpteenth time of the day and went on ignoring it until it settled down.
Yusuke concentrated on the pile of paperwork on his desk and resigned to the second all-nighter of the week.
He took a moment to look out the window, spying the buildings below and the dot-like people walking about. He glanced up towards heavens, his eyes unwittingly softening and thought, Watch me, Keiko. I'll do this right.
xxx
Yusuke dreamed at night, at times when he did have time to sleep. He dreamed of Keiko and her wonderful long hair, her beautiful smile and soft eyes. The way she would look at him and see through all his bullshit; her non-existence way around the kitchen. The workaholic side of her, her amused exasperation for whatever trouble Yusuke once again managed to get in.
On those days, Yusuke would wake up with tears brimming his eyes and an opened hand grasping for what was already not there.
xxx
Yusuke fucked up once, big time, early in the beginning when he just took over the company and didn't know neither the heads nor tails of the company's inner working nor anyone in the company who he could trust to work with him at the time when he needed someone the most.
Instead of doing the smart thing, the thing Keiko would have wanted him to do, Yusuke gritted his teeth, squared his shoulders and tried to do everything himself.
It was sloppy, it was careless and it was undeniable that he could have done better.
Yusuke stumbled out of the meeting room, dejected and tired as the others in the room lingered around to talk. His proposal was outvoted 4:3.
He walked away, acid burning at him inwardly, eating him from inside out where his arm unconsciously curled around his stomach. He hadn't been eating or sleeping properly, tight on time constraint as he was. Stress gnawed at him, hollowing Yusuke's cheekbone and making his skin stretch thin over his bones.
All for what? Yusuke thought, stopping and slamming his fist against the wall. "Goddamnit!" he shouted, helpless fury evident in his voice.
His binder, the one which contained his proposal, fell to the ground and the paper within scattered out.
Yusuke's eyes dropped to it and then his other hand curled, nails digging into his palm. He forced himself to take a deep breath and closed his eyes, but his fist wouldn't –couldn't – let go. Not when he could see, behind his eyelids, the looks of the people as the result came out.
A mixture of pity and satisfaction, mocking and patronage that conveyed better luck next time, when they all knew that that was the first and only time to prove his worth, before they throw him into a position where he was only boss in name.
It was disgusting, the feeling of helpless fury.
His hand nearly offed the next person who hesitantly touched him. The person pulled back with a yelp and Yusuke saw that it was a woman with bright blue hair.
She hesitantly stepped forward again. "Sir, are you alright?"
"Do I look alright?" Yusuke asked, scorn in his voice. He could already hear Keiko scolding him to be more polite. She is only trying to help. Yusuke's eyes darted to the other woman's face, about to apologize, but stopped. "You..." Yusuke said haltingly, eyes searching the other's countenance while his mind struggling to place the face. "You were at Keiko's funeral, weren't you?"
xxx
It was a sober affair, but quite impersonal as well. Keiko was a single child and her mother had unfortunately passed some time ago. A month after her mother's passing, her father soon followed. People said he died of grief.
Keiko died of an illness, one that sapped away her energy little by little, day by day. Yusuke stood by her side and watched as his beloved grew thinner and thinner, growing sicklier with each passing day. Yusuke felt a part of him died and went with Keiko as her coffin was lowered into the ground. He felt something within him snap, when he heard people discussing about business right after.
Cool, impersonal and utterly for business purposes only, using Keiko's funeral ground. Yusuke surged forward; the only thought in his mind was that Keiko didn't deserve this, this mockery of a funeral.
"Who are you to her, boy?" the other man had asked as his companion stumbled back up to a stand after the force of the punch. Yusuke sure hoped it hurt like hell. "Why are you here even?" and Yusuke didn't need to be a business genius like Keiko to know the other guy was questioning his right to be there. And indeed, Yusuke was the only one who was not above the age of twenty-five there, the minimum age range of Keiko's acquaintance/business partners.
Attending my woman's funeral, he wanted to spit out. But that would cause too much commotion, even by his standard. There was no need to stir things up anymore. Yusuke ignored him and turned to walk away. Another hand grabbed him and he instinctively threw it off, baring his teeth.
The men shifted, surrounding him in a semi-circle, trapping him. Yusuke felt his lips curl, as he was reminded of a fateful night in an alleyway where a four-to-one street fight had occurred with a woman at his back to protect. It was the start of everything. "Gentlemen of the business world, aren't cha?" he asked drolly, eyeing at the men, considering. He brought up an arm.
There was a scream, followed by a long, heart wrenching wail. "No more!" a blue haired girl cried, her face shining with streaks of tears. Tears that had been long drained from Yusuke. Staring at the distraught girl, it was clear that Keiko meant something to her. "Keiko-chan was my friend. Please don't dishonor her memory by fighting at her funeral." Her eyes dropped and fresh tears followed the path on the woman's countenance. Her voice lowered, but everyone present heard the quiver at the end of her voice. "Please."
Yusuke clenched his jaws shut, eyes growing moist at the heartfelt display of the woman's agony of losing a friend. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. The semi-circle parted. No one stopped him as he walked off, the woman's cry reverberating in his mind as a drop of tear slid down his face.
xxx
His mind flashed, back to before everything had gone downhill; before Keiko's symptoms of illness became apparent. When they were just a pair of carefree couple with no life-threatening sickness to worry about.
"Who's this?" he asked, picking up the picture frame with his hand. He eyed at the girl in the photo who had her arms around a younger version of Keiko with short hair. Both of them were smiling brightly at the camera.
Keiko finished typing the last words of whatever she was typing, and then pulled her glasses below the bridge of her nose and look at him. There was this urge to kiss her, knowing that once upon a time when she realized that her vision was deteriorating and that she had to wear glasses, she was embarrassed and tried to hide the fact. When he found out and asked why, her answer was surprisingly cute.
"I feel old," he recalled her saying, pink dusting her cheeks. She nervously fingered the glasses that she was caught trying to take off in a rush when he got home early and nearly dropped them on the ground.
Yusuke swept her up in his arms just as he did last time and pressed his lips to hers, marveling how well they fit. He would never get tired of it.
They parted after a moment and Keiko giving him a rebuking look. "I hope you didn't bother me just for that, young man," she said sternly, despite the small, upward curve that remained on her lips. "I told you not to bother me when I'm working."
"You didn't seem to mind last time," Yusuke said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He leaned closer to Keiko.
Keiko pushed his head away with a laugh and Yusuke pouted. "You don't love me anymore!"
She giggled some more, before finally saying, "I wouldn't put up with you if I don't. Now, what's wrong?"
Recalling why he got Keiko's attention in the first place, Yusuke held out the picture frame in his hand to Keiko. "Who's this?"
Keiko's eyes brightened as her gaze landed on the girl in the photo. "Botan. She's classmate from university and currently one of my employees. She's a nice girl, if not a little too insecure and lacking some confidence. She's a good worker and a nice person to go to for some girl time."
"Give me her whole life story while you're at it, would cha?" Yusuke said teasingly.
Keiko looked at him, before shaking her head with a laugh. "Yes, yes. Go on being a lazy bum now. I still have work to do."
xxx
Yusuke let out a breath, as his eyes refocused on Botan. Keiko said she was a good worker. Could she help me? Yusuke wondered.
Botan glanced back at him, before letting her head incline to a nod. "Yes," she and Keiko said. Botan was answering to his question before: "You were at Keiko's funeral, weren't you?" Keiko was answering his inward musing.
For the first time since Keiko died, Yusuke let a smile slide across his face.
"Good," he said, picking up the binder on the ground and the scattered papers. He handed them to Botan. "Take care of these for me, would cha?"
Then, he turned and ran.
xxx
Botan stood there, stunned as her young boss ran off, leaving behind his binder and "Thank you."
xxx
Yusuke raced through the company, not caring about maintaining his boss-ly outer appearance or whatever they called it. He only had one goal in mind and he'd be damn if he didn't reach it.
Yusuke arrived at the company building's front door in a record of time, hands on his knees and panting as the board members stepped out of the elevator with a ding. Who would have thought he would be thankful for their gossipy personalities for once and whatever that possessed them to always stay behind, taking their sweet time with leaving after meetings. God knows Keiko complained about it often enough.
They all stopped walking and talking once they spotted him and boy, Yusuke was sure he was quite a sight. His suit, one of the ones that Keiko bought him, was all rumpled and his hair was flying everywhere from his running. Yusuke would have bothered to smooth it out, except his hair -as stubborn as a mule, Keiko used to say, looking straight at him, just like you - wouldn't stay down without gel.
"Three days," he said, not wasting any time. "Give me three days and I'll create a proposal that all of you would accept."
One of the board members stepped out, eyebrows raised mockingly and oh how Yusuke hate his face. Yusuke blanked his expression instead. "You had your chance, boy. It's done and over with. If you had something better, you should have presented that instead."
Yusuke gritted his teeth inwardly and forced himself to incline his head in acknowledgement. For Keiko. "That was my fault, yes, as a result of my inexperience. I would like to rectify the mistake, if only you would give me the chance to do so."
"Honest and logical. Not bad of an argument," an elderly woman said. She was one of the people that voted for his proposal. Yusuke thought of her as the type to give the younger generation a chance. "What do you think?" she asked, looking at the rest of the group.
"No," another snapped. "I've said he was too young since the beginning, and he had proved it today. What more can he do besides waste our time?"
"I agree," another stepped in.
"I say give him a chance," someone spoke up. Yusuke looked towards the guy who spoke and was surprised to find him to be the final guy who voted against his proposal. He turned to him. "Two days, kid," he said, and Yusuke's vein inwardly throbbed at being called 'kid' and 'boy'. "Can you do it?"
Their eyes met and there was definitely a challenge in the other's eyes. Yusuke straightened and met to gaze head on. "Yes," he said, confident.
The man nodded after a moment. "I look forward to it then," he said and walked away. The rest of the board members, after a beat of hesitation, followed.
The matter was settled.
xxx
Two days of hard work later with Botan, their revised proposal was presented. It passed with flying colors, with a mark of 7:0 in favor of him.
xxx
People had taken a habit of stopping whatever they were doing to surreptitiously or not-so-surreptitiously stare at him as he passed and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why.
"Did you know what they thought of you when it was announced that you were to replace Keiko-chan?" Botan asked, smiling at him in amusement at his question. The woman had lost her tenseness around him as they worked together on the proposal.
"No," Yusuke said, swirling his chair around to face her. "What did they think?"
"Nothing," she said simply. "They didn't know anything about you," she explained. "And so they just watched and see. You didn't do much in those first few weeks of taking over, so they didn't think much of you. They didn't know how you landed this spot and neither did me. We thought you were only going to be a boss in name and cash in all the profits you get from us."
Botan smiled happily at him as she continued. "But then, on that day, you were seen running through the company."
Yusuke snorted in reply, recalling. "What? Were they like, ugh, how I wish I have a dignified boss instead? Because I'm telling you, I gave up on that after the first three weeks. Didn't work out that well for me. So stifling."
Botan shook her head at his response. "No. You gained respect on that day, Yusuke, without realizing."
Yusuke sat up in his seat, confused. "Why respect?"
"Because you are willing to do so much for the company. You are just like us. You work your ass- opps," Botan giggled. "That wasn't such a lady-like word, now, was it? You do so much for the company, willing to start from the scratch and work with no name employees like me."
"You do good work," Yusuke said with a shrug. "That's all I care about."
"That's exactly what they like about you, Yusuke," Botan said, crossing her legs. "You give them a chance. Keiko-chan tries, but to be a boss of a company at the age of twenty-six and continue on..." for only four years, remained unspoken. Botan shrugged, tugging the smile that faded slightly back on. "She had to give up some control, even if she gets to decide major decisions, and the board members are all rich enough to support the company. But they are also old fashion in the sense that they only look at people's resume to decide who gets chosen for project. Lots of people who have the mind but not enough of a pretty resume get passed over then. It's different with you, mostly because..." She smiled sheepishly when she realized what she was implying.
It was Yusuke's turn to shrug then. "I know I don't have the best education, but Keiko taught me stuff, ya know?" The corner of his lips lifted. It was a little fond, a little reminiscence as he continued, "'specially since I'm usually the one who mess up her carefully planned schedule."
"About that..." Botan leaned in conspiratorially. "Just what was your relationship with Keiko-chan? No one to this day knows why she willed the company to you."
The light in Yusuke's eyes faded a little and Botan regretted ever asking, wondering if she crossed the line. It had been five months, after all.
But then Yusuke looked up, to something - or someone, a part of Botan whispered, and a nostalgic voice drifted to her ears after a beat as he answered, "She was my lover."
xxx
He supposed it was impossible to keep their status a secret for long, considering the fact that Keiko had also willed her apartment to him and a little asking around their neighbors would tell people he had lived there long before Keiko's demise. After that, it wasn't hard to put one and one together.
"What was your relationship with Yukimaru-san?"
"Why were you living together with Yukimaru-san?"
"Is it true that you were Yukimaru-san's lover?"
"How long have you been together?"
"Was your status as her lover the reason why she willed her company to you?"
The media went crazy when Keiko, one of the youngest business women on the playing field, 'suddenly' died and it was crazier when it was announced that Yusuke would take over the company.
This 'scandal,' as that was how many people saw it, took the cake. They were having a fucking blast, because oh ho, Thirty years old Yukimaru Keiko, recently deceased famed businesswoman, had a scandalous relationship with Urameshi Yusuke, successor of her company and a boy seven years her junior?!
The media went wild, even more than when Keiko passed away. For that, Yusuke hated them, although...
It's human nature, isn't it?
Yusuke watched the Yusuke on the screen calmly got off his motorcycle in front of his company and nonchalantly walked away from the mass that was shoving microphones at his face, not responding to any of the questions. The last thing he saw was the company's security guards rushing forward to prevent them from mobbing him and his motorcycle, before Yusuke turned off the TV with a press of a button.
Fuck them, Yusuke thought, falling chest down against the coach in his office. He hugged the pillow to his chest and closed his eyes.
xxx
Yusuke picked up his personal cell phone as it went off. "Hello?" he said, inwardly wondering who it was. A familiar voice that he hadn't heard in a while echoed back to him. His eyes widen slightly, stopping all his attempt at making pasta. "Kurama?"
"Yusuke," Kurama greeted, his voice still as warm as ever. "How are you?"
"Fine, considering everything that had happened," Yusuke said, going for casual and succeeding half-way. "How 'bout you?" he asked, before Kurama could give him the half-hearted consolation that everyone gave.
There was a pause, probably since Yusuke thwarted the consolation that Kurama was about to give. But bless Kurama, being the mind reader that he always was, thankfully understood and backed off.
"I'm well, thank you for asking," Kurama said. "I just returned to Japan yesterday. Would you like to meet with me tonight?"
"Meeting another man behind Hiei's back, Kurama?" Yusuke said with a fake gasp of horror. "Didn't know you had it in you."
Kurama chuckled slightly. "Nice to hear your humor is still with you, Yusuke. So, your answer?"
"Sure," Yusuke said. "Come up to my apartment. I just started making pasta. I have enough to make an extra serving."
"Alright. I'll see you in an hour."
xxx
"So," Yusuke said as he set the two bowls of pasta onto the table. He flopped down onto the couch and deftly reached for the remote. Flipping through the channels, he finally settled on one playing a drama with an actress he could vaguely recognize. "What's up, good 'ol friend?"
Kurama chuckled as he sat beside Yusuke with his usual grace and reached for his bowl of pasta. Yusuke muttered a thanks as Kurama passed him one of the two pairs of chopsticks he was holding on to. "Can't I visit you without anything being 'up'?"
Yusuke crossed his legs and answered in that blunt way of his. "Sure, but that's not the case this time, is it?"
Kurama smiled in amusement. His friend had too great of an instinct sometimes. That doesn't mean he needed to cave just yet, however. "Don't you think it's interesting how we are conversing with questions only?"
Yusuke stopped shoveling food in his mouth for a moment and chewed thoughtfully, no doubt recalling their conversation again. He grinned as he realized what Kurama noted was true. "It is interesting, isn't it?" he said, carefully biting on his words to make it a question.
Kurama's smile widened. The game was on. "Surely, you experienced more interesting things than this?" he said, hinting at the fact that Yusuke unwittingly became the boss of one of the most successful company in Japan.
Yusuke paused at those words, before his lips shifted to a pout. He opened his mouth to speak, before scrunching up his face in concentration to form whatever he wanted to say into a question. Kurama couldn't help but be a little disappointed, yet amused by Yusuke's response.
"Don't you think that was cheap, to use a sentence that could be both a statement and a question depending on the tone?"
"No?" Kurama said in reply, purposely emphasizing on the questioning tone at the end. He wanted information regarding business, yet he enjoyed this friendly competition. Kurama was unable to stop smiling as he watched Yusuke scowl at that fact that he said something that could be taken as a statement or a question again.
"Do you know that sometimes you are so infuriating?" Yusuke asked, the question coming along more smoothly since it was rather blunt. It was more of his style.
"No?" Kurama chuckled, before saying in a little more serious manner, "Do you realize that you are avoiding my questions?" regarding business?
Yusuke smirked. "Do you think I'm doing that on purpose?"
"Why don't you answer that question for me?"
"Answering would require me to say a statement instead of a question, don't you think?" Yusuke's sparkling eyes met Kurama's and conveyed what was left unspoken.
If you purposely lose this game, I would answer your questions.
Kurama would have felt annoyance at the face of this wit, especially since this concerned his work, if Yusuke wasn't only being playful. He had a feeling Yusuke hadn't had much fun in a while, not since his lover Yukimaru's death. And Kurama knew for a fact that he was her lover, since he had people verify the information with various sources.
There was a sense of guilt gnawing at him now, since he hadn't been there to support his friend in his time of need. Yes, he didn't know that Yusuke had lost a lover at the time of Yukimaru's death, but it didn't change the truth that he had left Yusuke to struggle alone to recover from the death of a loved one. And now that he knew, he came not to comfort Yusuke as a friend, but to meet Yusuke as a businessman.
Yusuke knew. Kurama had no doubt about it as his eyes fell onto Yusuke, and yet Yusuke smiled genuinely as he greeted Kurama at the door.
"You are one of a kind, Yusuke..." Kurama said, and he watched as Yusuke raised an eyebrow at his statement.
Ditching the game for work already? it seemed to ask.
"...did you know?" Kurama finished with a chuckle. Yusuke never wanted him to forfeit the game. Not like that.
Yusuke let out a frustrated noise, even as a happy smile spread across his face. "Why would you ever think I don't know, Kurama?" he said, purposely sounding arrogant.
Kurama smiled and for once in a long time decided to hold off work for a while. There's little we wouldn't do for you, did you know, Yusuke? he thought as he looked at his friend. However much of a troublemaker, anyone who bothered to look beneath his delinquent surface would see how rare of a loyal friend Yusuke was.
"What have you been doing lately?" Kurama asked, and he knew Yusuke was surprised that he gave up on business so quickly.
"Do you realize how surprise I am?" Yusuke asked bluntly with the brief shake of his head and a small laugh. He ate a mouthful of pasta, before saying, "Since you are so keen to know about my life, Kurama," Kurama rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at Yusuke's theatric, and he grinned in reply, before pointing at Kurama with his chopsticks dramatically, "should I tell you about what I've been through?"
"Why not?" Kurama said smoothly. He could win this game, Kurama knew. Yusuke was faring okay so far, but Kurama had always been better at words games. If Kurama left it like that, Yusuke would be hard-pressed to continue conversing with questions. Then Yusuke would lose the game and Kurama would then be free to ask business related questions, with Yusuke answering properly. Yet as Kurama's eyes met Yusuke's, there was something in his brown eyes that prompted him to say, "tell me."
Surprise flashed across Yusuke's face. Then a brilliant smile, wider than any other that Yusuke had so far shown him, curved his lips.
In face of the smile, Kurama knew he didn't make a mistake.
As Yusuke told Kurama about the troubles he had with the company he had inherited from Keiko without prompting, thereby giving Kurama what he wanted to know even though Yusuke knew Kurama wasn't pushing him to give up the information anymore, Kurama felt like he passed some kind of test.
xxx
"So," Yusuke said after he was pretty much done relaying what happened from inheriting Keiko's company to the present time, glancing over at Kurama. "What do you think?"
"I think," Kurama said slowly as his gaze fell onto Yusuke, "you are an incredibly lucky and determined man with a surprisingly amount of business potential. If you choose to nurture that potential like you have been doing now, I think you would be marvelous businessman in the future." He paused for a moment, before saying, "I think Yukimaru-san has chosen her successor wisely."
Yusuke stared at Kurama blankly, stunned, like he hadn't quite registered what Kurama has said. Then his head dropped so his face was shielded from view and in a shaky voice, so unlike the normally confident Yusuke, he joked with an equally shaky laugh, "Damn, Kurama. Flattery gets you nowhere, you know."
Kurama politely looked away, out of respect when a small area of the couch's surface in front of Yusuke darkened with each silent plop of falling tears. "Fuck," Yusuke said, his voice choked with emotions. "Kurama," he called.
Kurama's body turned back towards Yusuke of its own accord at sound of the pain and hope in his friend's voice. Yusuke's head was up and Kurama could see the trial the tears paved down Yusuke's countenance. "Do you...do you really think I did good?" he asked. "That I-" Yusuke choked on his words and seemed to be unable to finish.
At that point, he could no longer remain up straight. He folded into himself, and with his arms wrapped around his own waist, forehead and knee against the couch and body facing Kurama, it looked as though he was begging Kurama to give him the answer that he sought. His voice rose along with his emotional state as he finished, "...didn't fail Keiko?"
"Oh Yusuke." Kurama moved at once and embraced his sobbing friend. Yusuke's body was shaking terribly hard and Kurama wondered with dread how long had that question been on Yusuke's mind, plaguing him as he acted as the boss of Yukimaru-san's company? Did he fear he was doing something wrong, that he was failing his lover with every action he took, bringing down the company that his loved one put so much care into with his own two hands?
Kurama's heart ached for his friend's sake at the thought, before turning his berating thoughts inward. How could he have not visited sooner, when his friend was struggling so much? Yusuke was laughing as he retold his story and recounted his mistakes, but at the time of the event, did he punch the wall in frustration when there were things he did not understand and needed someone to guide him? Did he shed tears of helplessness as he struggled to take care of the company his lover left to him with no result?
Yes, Kurama knew the answer was.
"No," he said aloud, answering Yusuke's question. "You didn't fail Yukimaru-san." His arms tightened around his shaking friend. "You didn't."
Upon hearing that, Yusuke let out a final sob and an unseen tension was released.
xxx
Yusuke let out a breath as his eyes finally fell on to the slab of stone. "Hey, Keiko," Yusuke said softly as he slowly brought his hand to the grave. It was cool to the touch, not at all like the warmth living humans emit. "Did cha miss me?"
There was no response.
Yusuke laughed softly, hollowly. He bent down so one of his knees was against the moist soil from last night's rain, not caring if it was going to dirty his expensive suit. He paid it no mind. "I missed you," he admitted, eyes on the characters of her name, unseeing. "Sorry for not coming sooner. Busy recently, with your company and everything."
There was a beat of silence.
"Sorry," Yusuke said, like there was actually a response to his former statement. "I lied. I could have come to see you sooner. You know better than anyone that if I really wanted to, I would have done it." He paused. "I didn't."
Silence.
"I didn't want to come, Keiko," Yusuke spilled, his voice monotone throughout like he was speaking of someone else's life. "I don't want to be reminded that you're dead. Kurama said it'll do me some good if I came though, so here I am. Are you pissed at me?"
There was no reply.
"I forgot to bring you flowers," Yusuke said. "I'll bring some next time, alright?"
Yusuke took a deep breath, before forging on. "Your company is fine, I think. I think you taught me well and stuff. I screwed up a little, but that was fixed."
Yusuke's gaze focused on Keiko's name again and his fingers gently brushed over them. His tone softened to something warm while hardening with determination. "I'll keep it going, Keiko," he said. Conviction filled his eyes. "That's my promise to you."
He leaned forward, slowly, and pressed his lips lightly to the first character of Keiko's name. His eyes fluttered closed and as the rain fell lightly around him, he could feel a slight, familiar pressure against his forehead.
Yusuke let out a sigh of content, not willing to move just yet. When he did and opened his eyes, a sad smile crossed his face as he was faced with reality.
There was no one there.
xxx
Yusuke stepped through the cemetery gates, not exactly paying attention until he nearly bumped into another person.
"S'rry," Yusuke murmured, narrowly dodging the other last second. Yusuke made a move to walk away when he felt a tug at his arm.
Yusuke's eyes darted up, following the appendage to its origin. It belonged to a man with long hair. The older man smiled kindly at him. "Are you alright?" he asked. He stepped forward into Yusuke's space bubble, and Yusuke would have minded except the other man was only trying to shield him from the rain with his umbrella.
Yusuke gazed at the other man's face for a moment, uncomprehendingly, until he finally shook his head. He tugged his own arm back. "'m fine," he said. "Don't mind me."
Yusuke stumbled a step as he tried to walk away. The other man caught him. "You're drenched," the man said.
"'m fine," Yusuke murmured again.
"I think not," the other man said. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" When Yusuke didn't reply, he added. "I know a coffee shop in the area."
At the mention, Yusuke finally beginning to feel the cold settling in and noticed the goose bumps on his flesh. He hesitated for a moment, considering. Finally, he nodded warily. "If it's not too much trouble," he said politely.
The long haired man smiled.
Anyone can guess who this long haired man is? Huge hint: he's definitely canon.
Thank you for reading and I'm excited to hear what you think about this. Anyone reading my other stories (Tangled Strings of Red and Stranger with a Gun), know that I'm still writing the chapters for them and that they'll be posted soon.
P.S. If you like Yusuke/Keiko, would you please consider looking at another story of mine called A Day at Yoshiwara? It's been up for a while and it's not getting sort of feedback.