I was randomly inspirited to write this the other night, and finally got around to doing it now. I wanted to play with the scene where Shizuru encountered Genkai's spirit before she moved on to the spirit world during the Dark Tournament.

And yes, I have seen the series all the way through, so I know how it all works out in the end…but yeah.

Reviews are appreciated.


Shizuru crossed her arms, looking out the window of her hotel room. A cigarette dangled from between her lips. The tip bobbed up and down as she grit her teeth back and forth, making an odd, rhythmic, methodic movement that reminded her of the moving dial on a grandfather clock that rocked back and forth, tick-tocking time and life away, measuring down to the very seconds even.

A cold chill passed through her body all of a sudden, and although she was not surprised by it…and although she knew who it was, Shizuru was slightly hesitant to turn her gaze around to the center of the room. …

… Sometimes a person never really adjusted to being spiritually aware.

There was really nothing to see at first. Only the sense of an individual's energy, a presence that was not fully there, that was the first thing Shizuru felt. It wasn't enough to make her turn her head, or even cock it to the side in slight consideration. It was about as powerful of a message as a soft breeze on a midsummer's evening: not even enough to pull the zipper up on one's coat a few extra notches.

She could sense it though. Shifting, dissipating and then reemerging from another corner. It were as though it were struggling to get a hold on a corporeal form long enough to make contact, but failing miserably. It was like a faint shimmer of light seeping through the blackest of shades; a little here, a little there, just enough to see…almost enough to feel…but still not whole.

It was sad…that someone would make such an effort…just to say goodbye.

"He's not here," Shizuru said at last, her words slightly muffled by the cigarette that was still planted firmly in her mouth. "Yusuke is gone."

The energy was motionless for a period in time, and then it began to dwindle, but as it did so, Shizuru could sense the spirit coming closer to her. It shifted from this corner, to that, like a dance in which the performer knew all the right moves, but was uncertain and hesitated after each step.

"Not that kind of gone. He's just…not here."

The shapeless aura shimmered slightly, and trembled as a breeze from the sea came in, whispering through the curtains, but as Shizuru stopped, and listened, she could hear more than fluttering draperies, and shrill seagull cries…there was more on the wind…and if she hadn't known better…she might have dismissed it entirely…

"……………………………t-ell ……………………………yu ……….-suke………..tell them…………goodbye………………………….for me……….."

When the breeze had died, and the sun had finally reached the point where she was just beginning to nestle down behind the ocean's reach, Shizuru felt nothing of the energy that had once possessed her room.

At once, the young woman sighed as a single tear onto her cheek.

"….sure."

Shizuru took the cigarette out of her mouth and tossed it to the ground. All of a sudden she didn't feel like smoking anymore.