With Eikichi safely back at home and batting at a piece of yarn Kuwabara tied to his doorknob, the teenager flopped back down on his bed. His mind was a jumbled mess of everything and nothing all at once.
Urameshi had done it. Somehow, the upstart jerk had defied the odds and sucker punched death. While Kuwabara knew perfectly well that it was completely and utterly insane for someone to come back from the dead, he found himself unsurprised, after thinking about it. If anyone could defeat death, of course it was Yusuke Urameshi. The cocky side of Kuwabara said 'Well, of course, he beats ME!' to that statement, but the sensible side acknowledged that it was just Urameshi's style.
He had disappeared after chasing down Sakamoto; Kuwabara had looked around for him. Part of him meant to thank his rival (Friend? he wondered with a slight shudder), part of him meant to sock him once (or twice... if not more...) for dying on him in the first place.
Kuwabara never delivered that well-deserved shot, though, as before he could blink he was overcome by a series of massive, painful migraines, sleep paralysis, anything a ghost could inflict... it came down on him, bashed him on the head, and made him feel generally like pulling a pillow over his head and never getting up out of bed.
His sister finally took pity on him, and gave him the name and address of the famous (according to her, anyway) Genkai, a spiritualist. "Vacation starts tomorrow, kid, you can play hooky and I won't tell Mom."
But something, the familiar something that led him to Urameshi's burning house, made him decide to go the next day instead.
And lo and behold, once Kuwabara ascended those obscene stairs, there was Urameshi, looking similarly miffed at the large crowd. Rotten luck, thought Kuwabara. By postponing his little excursion, he had to get through a stupid contest to even speak to the famous (well, now he knew Shizuru wasn't lying) master.
Being out and away from the city cleared Kuwabara's head. At least that's how he preferred to think of it—in actuality, he acknowledged to himself, the annoyance at the ghosts was replaced by the annoyance at old Yusuke Urameshi. What began as a bid to rid himself of the constant plight of the dead and suffering became a bid to make Yusuke dead and suffering.
But then, as always, Kuwabara was doubled over by Yusuke's sucker punch to the gut. Not in so many words did he say it, but the gist of Urameshi's explanation had been "Here to fight a demon, wow, you've got bad luck, sorry you were almost killed, gotta deal with this hag, bye!"
And then that cute girl, Botan, had given him the tickets to the match at the Tokyo Dome, and nothing more was said until the upstart made his grand return from Genkai's training. But what happened then? Another blow to Kuwabara's still-reeling sense of logic and routine. More demons, some to fight, some to fight alongside.
And it didn't end.
And always, every time, Urameshi would bounce back from the brink of certain death to soundly deck and scold and destroy everyone who dared to think he was defeated. Kurama, Hiei, and every opponent learned of, as Kuwabara had, the force, the power, the sheer awe-inspiring feeling of that famous sucker punch. No one could kill him, no one defeated him, no one took him down.
And so Kuwabara blocked Urameshi's mouth and nose, aching for the ache of that sock to the gut he once wished to deliver. And he rested his head against Yusuke's chest, hoping to hear the hammering of that never still, always excited heart.
The body did not feel dead, but feelings, perceptions are deceiving. The roar of power thrumming through his veins was unimportant, useless. Who was this power for, who could he hope to use it against, if not Urameshi? What was the point of having this strength if he couldn't achieve that ever elusive, though often forgotten goal?
Kuwabara stayed with Urameshi as long as he could handle, but as Kurama and Hiei got the lead on following Sensui towards the demon realm, the shock began to flow into anger, and with a final promise to Urameshi, Kuwabara decided he was going to have to deliver his friend's final sucker punch himself.