AN: I'm alive! I can't believe it, but I'm alive! I'm terribly sorry about not writing/posting anything. I've been going through a lot of things lately - mom in the hospital, moving twice, changing churches, and personal things as well. It's all been very rough. I also haven't been in much of Yu Yu Hakusho mode due to my obsession with Fullmetal Alchemist. Also, I have a live journal account by my same username soI hope you'll check me out!

This is a oneshot and it is about Toushin Yusuke and there needs to be more fics written on him. Most of the inspiration from this came from a fellow fanfic writer, Kurome Shiretsu and if your haven't checked out those works, I highly recommend them!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Mists of Time

He sits and gazes out over the crawling ocean that crashes onto the boulders in the darkness below. Tired eyes make out the white tips of the waves illuminated by the moonlight. The long mane of hair on his head is swept into a ponytail the once thick and raven black mass now only a thin white line down the middle of his back.

The slate colored markings on his arms began to fade long ago and are now barely visible. The once strong arms and body are now limbs that hang limply at his side. His eyes used to burn with a fierce, burning passion for living but his dark brown orbs are empty, dull and mournful. His skin is gray and barely covers his bones; his body is weak – he can't go on. His energy is low; it can barely be felt. He is old and age has finally taken its toll as he realizes that he is finally going to die.

The once powerful Yusuke Urameshi is nothing more than a walking corpse long ago destined for death. He doesn't remember hardly anything from thousands of years ago – only some scraps here and there. He reaches in his shirt and pulls out a photo crinkled and yellowed with age and stares at it once more his searching eyes trying to find something of his first life when he was strong and able.

He sees himself – is it him or someone else? – with an arm around a beautiful human girl. Yusuke shakes his head in annoyance and aggravation because he can't remember anything but the love they shared so deeply for each other – her name won't even come to him. She had died after a short time and he remembers that he had tried to forget her but that was never possible.

There was a red-haired boy in the picture as well – who was he? A friend? A foe, maybe? Snippets of memories came floating back but Yusuke's old mind couldn't put them together.

Now the last two he remembers quite clearly – they were Hiei and Kurama two of his friends who went with him to help keep the Makai in order. But even they were much older than he and eventually died of natural causes a few hundred years before or so. I've been the only one left for so long the Toushin thought to himself. I used to want nothing but time. I've had it for so long, I've grown weary of it. Why couldn't Prince… prince… prince… whatever-his-name-used-to-be and that girl who used to be with him have taken me, too?

He begins to whisper and talk to himself as had been his fashion for so long.

"Why? How much longer? I'm not going to live much longer and I know that. When will it end?" His voice is desperate as it is filled with a void of loneliness he's felt for so long.

He stands and walks along the pathway into the dark forest and reflects. Early morning mist rolls in from the sea enshrouding the figure in a blanket of white fog. Mystical was the word he used to call these occurrences. From far away in the east he sees the sleeping sun waking itself from the sea. Dew drops shimmer in the early rays, the touch of light sending splashes of color all around. Newness of morning never became old to him – it was a chance to start over fresh.

He stands allowing the sweet warmth of the sun to bathe him followed by a cool breeze to clear the deepest recesses of his mind. Wrinkled leaves are caught in the wind's wake scattering along the ground, crystalline drops of water fall from the branches dampening his wrinkled, cracked skin.

How long had it been since he truly watched the Makai come alive? Even though murderous eyes hid in every shadow and the land reeked with the stench of death of blood, the morning was the start of it all. Living organisms could accept the beauty and work to preserve it or they could let their selfish beings out to destroy. There was still beauty left.

Beauty was one thing that never faded – as the mists of time carried on, beauty always remained. He inhaled the scent of the wet earth mixed with the fragrance of the flowers allowing the cobwebs of his mind to be cleaned out and fragments of memories piece themselves together.

His eyelids closed and pieces of his life before began to make their way back to him. Against the absence of light, he could see himself as a child running around perfectly innocent and naive of the horrors of life. That girl was there as well… her name… her name… her name was Keiko. And the other boy – that was Kuwabara.

Time tried to destroy them but it wouldn't happen. People lived everyday with the dream of living forever but if you weren't by the one you loved, then what was the point? He wanted to live on with the people he knew and cared for.

Yusuke exhaled emptying his chest of all air. He felt his strength leaving him but before he passed away, there was one thing left to do. Using a gnarled tree beside him for support and balance, he stood on his own two feet. A new, unnatural strength possessed him giving him energy that flowed through every fiber of his being electrifying him. His eyes closed tightly as he pointed his finger into air. His other hand grasped his wrist and his eyes opened revealing a ruby-red flare in the deepest portions of his eyes. He stood strong, sure, proud and confident as he did in his younger days. His shoulders, straightened and gathering everything inside, he opened his mouth and let out a war cry.

The cry of "Spirit Gun!" echoed across the plains so forcefully, creatures stopped and listened for miles around. They looked into the sky and saw the legendary Yusuke Urameshi emptying his blue energy in an expansive blanket across the sky.

The glow left Yusuke as he lowered his arms. His energy was gone, his life was no more. As allowed his body to fall forward onto the ground, he felt his spirit rise into the air. He was floating, but his body lay in a shriveled heap. He looked at himself and realized that he was different. He was the schoolboy dressed in a green uniform with his hair slicked back. He was young again and with all his memories again.

"Yusuke!" a cheerful voice cried out.

He spun around and in the distance he saw an all-too-familiar head of blue hair flying through the air towards him.

"Botan!" he murmured under his breath not willing to believe that he was around her again.

"We've all been waiting for many years to see you again, Yusuke. Would you like to see them now?"

Yusuke grinned and leapt deftly onto the oar. They flew through the sky but gradually the air turned white and they were alone. In the distance stood Keiko, Yukina, Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara and Koenma. Keiko held her hand out to Yusuke and he grasped it.

Time had kept them apart but always brought them together again. A soft grin formed on his lips as he realized an important truth.

The mists of time will go on, the sleeping sun will wake and you will find your way home again.


AN: Well, what did you think? I'd like to think my description and vocabulary are improving but who knows? Anyway, please leave me a review! I'd really appreciate it!