Sora: The first installment of the redone 'original' chapters.

I'm also making Yusuke and Kagome and all the others their age 17 (because I can, so there!) And because of my limited understanding of Japanese High school I will be using the American version. Sorry. Football will mean soccer in this as well. (Because in pretty much every where but America football is soccer.)

Note: The events of the actual Dark Tournament will not be shown, everyone basically knows what happens. I'll instead show other events that happen at the same time.

Due to my beliefs I will not swear, no matter the fact that the actual character swears. You'll just have to bear with me and my 'substitute' words.

Criticism: see musings in profile.

Standard disclaimer applies to all chapters of this fanfiction.

Quote: "To be free of pain is to be numb with death." Unknown
One reason Yusuke hated school (other than his obnoxious teachers) was that the hours seemed to drag on far longer than should be possible. On days like these it seemed twice as bad. That fact was made no better by Kuwabara surpassing the limits in his ability to annoy Yusuke to his breaking point. Already today he had to pound Kuwabara into the pavement five times; it was only second period.

Sighing, Yusuke made his way through the overcrowded hallways to his next class. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't that day, the worst day of the year. Once it was the best day, the day that their fathers had always made good, but than the accident happened and all the joy had vanished, like mist in the morning.

It was thirteen years ago to the exact date, the day they celebrated their birthdays. Yusuke had already turned four and Kagome, his dear friend, would turn four in two more days. Their fathers were best friends and thought it would be a great idea to celebrate their birthdays on the same day, since they were so close together.

The week before the party both of their fathers had to take a business trip; they owned their own company and had to work hard to keep it running. They where supposed to return early in the morning of the day of the party; however it was not to be. Their plane crashed, engine failure was the stated cause, but Yusuke, as the child he had been, had believed it to be something else. Because their fathers were the best, nothing could harm them; nothing could beat them, not even a plane collapsing in a fiery deathtrap.

Yet that was what happened. And on a day that should have held joy, a day for celebration, there was only sadness. It was because of that that his mother became who she was today; a woman who smoked and drank too much, a woman who had forgotten that her child even existed until that fateful day of his death.

Soon after the funeral the Urameshi's moved and the Higurashi's returned to their family shrine. They moved to escape that place of happy memories; to escape all those reminders of what had been. Time passed and he began to fade into a shadow of who he had once been. It was Keiko who had finally broken through his shell. Ironic that it would be Keiko who would once again construct that shell, making it even more impenetrable then it had ever been before.

-

Isn't it strange that when you watch a movie, or a show, that the weather always reflects the characters feelings perfectly and yet in life it is not so? On a day that should be dark clouds and silver rain; there was only bright sunshine and gentle clouds drifting across thee azure sky. The reason for such thinking was walking away, walking away in this brilliant blaze, this all too cheerful atmosphere. Keiko finally broke. She had finally given up. There was only so much any person could handle. Some people handle it better, others have more trouble, but in the end it doesn't matter because their limit will be reached.

Keiko was one of those people who where in the middle; the ones that could bear a good amount of strife before breaking. But she had finally reached her own limit. She wouldn't…she couldn't wait for Yusuke any more. She needed someone who could be there for her now; someone she didn't have to worry about all the time. A someone that he was not.

He spent far too much of his time saving the world; too much time protecting her from his enemies. If he was no longer in her life all that fear would leave. There would no need to protect her, because she would no longer mean any thing to the person those monsters targeted. She would be free, and so would he. He wouldn't be burdened with her weight any more, he would be free from worry. That is what she told herself; what she convinced herself to believe, so she could choose a different path to travel.

And so, as she had once shattered the wall that had sheltered him, she now shattered the soul that had been protected leaving only fragments in its place. In the empty space left behind the wall was once more erected, better, stronger than before. And as he watched her walk away, that cursed sun fading away with her, he shut himself away.

Funny, this was real life, not some movie. It wasn't supposed to rain, not when the sun had been so jubilant only moments before. Maybe it was because he was different, because normal rules never applied to him. Maybe it was simply the sky crying because he could not, because the tears that he would have shed no longer existed in the shattered remains of his soul. And cry the heavens did.

-

Time was an annoyingly vengeful thing. It always won, no matter how you tried to beat it you would always lose. And Kagome was no exception to this particular rule. No, not even she; time-traveler extraordinaire, could escape Time's labyrinth. It truly wasn't fair that she should be forced into the past and then suddenly thrust back into her own world when she had fallen in love with the other.

All that time trying to balance her life had led Kagome to think of one thing and one thing only. Time truly sucked. If there wasn't enough time there was always too much time. There never seemed to be a happy medium. And then there was that whole time paradox thing.

Maybe someday she would be able to understand that cursed thing.

But for the mean time she was home and planned to enjoy those precious few moments with her family…or at least that was the plan.

Kagome stood in front of the fridge, glaring at an innocent peace of paper. Honestly, how could one little inanimate object be so offensive? Easily. It really wasn't the paper; it was more like the tiny black lines that made letters, which made words, that was truly offensive.

Well there went her weekend, no thanks to Souta. For on that ridiculously offensive piece of pressed wood was a note that told her Souta was at the hospital with a broken arm. Gee, way to go. The stupid bozu just had to play goalie in football and catch the dang ball wrong, leading to the untimely demise of his unbroken arm. There was also a scribbled note saying her grandfather was at a priest convention and wouldn't be back all week.

Sighing, Kagome shook her head. Well there wasn't much she could do about that. Humming quietly to herself she went about her 'I just got home from the feudal era' routine. Namely unpacking and getting cleaned.

Once complete she glanced through the mail, slightly hopefully for an actual letter rather than just the regular batch of bills and junk mail. Shifting through the small stack of letters set aside for just her, she tossed several non-important envelopes into the near-by garbage. The rest were letters from the demon friends that had survived to the present day…and nestled among those regular correspondences was a simple letter that made Kagome grin from ear to ear. It had been far too long since she had last heard from her old childhood friend.

Grabbing the letter she plopped down onto the couch and ripped it open. Quickly scanning the crisp white sheet she soon came to realize it wasn't from Yusuke, but rather from his mother, Atsuko. It seemed Yusuke was in need of a good whacking and Atsuko thought she was the best choice to knock some sense into her idiotic boy.

Grinning brightly, Kagome jumped up and grabbed the phone. It had been a year since she had last seen Yusuke, and it was time again to visit their graves.

The gentle ringing continued to viberate in her ear as she waited for someone to answer. Soon a women's ruff voice barked out a gruff 'hello.' Kagome shook her head at her 'aunt's' antics. "Hello, Auntie. I'm just replying to your letter," she waited until the voice on the other lined 'awed' in agreement, "And I think it's a perfect idea. Just detain Yusuke 'till I get there."

That's it for this chapter; the next should hopefully be out soon. Sorry, not much dialogue, but this was more of a build up chapter so you can know backgrounds and stuff.

For those who are wondering. Yusuke's and Kagome's dad's deaths are important. Naraku does play a part in this fanfic, but he is not the main bady. It will all tie in eventually.

sorry to those who already read this. . i'm afraid i forgot to check for errors before i posted it. Those should be all fixed now, please tell me if i missed anything.