(KAI) So this was fun. Sort of the kind of project I've really been wanting to do. So far, two parts are done, and the third (and final) part is creeping toward completion. And OhForTheLoveOfGod, alert me of typos! They drive me crazy!
...Don't mind me. XP

---

CATALYSTIC

---

The Story Of Hiei, And The Story Of Kurama;
The Story Of Yukina And Of Kuwabara;
The Story of Botan, Keiko, Shizuru-
The Story Of Yuusuke...
And The Story Of A Very, Very Confused Old Woman.

---

FIRST CATALYST

---

She woke up without much of the usual aching pain which accompanied her mornings; rather, she found herself feeling quite refreshed and totally energetic. Or, 'alive'. In fact, far more alive than she had felt in decades (or, in point of fact, weeks, given the past few moments of total aliveness she'd experienced during the course of Toguro's dark tournament). After these brief moments of contemplation, which took place while she sat up- a task in the space of maybe two seconds- it did not take very much longer to discover she was no longer quite as sallow, quite as un-smooth, quite as limp in the hair, or quite as aged at all.

In fact... she was fifteen years old.

---

Yukina and Kuwabara arrived to a meeting held by Genkai, that night, together, rather suspiciously, given that Yukina's presence had not been requested since her leave to the ice worlds. More suspicious was Kuwabara's redder-than-normal face, wider-than-normal grin, and closer-than-normal distance to the young girl. Yukina to this, seemed very calm, collected, and simple- very pretty and quiet- and not at all, in any way, different than normal, save that her usual attire of a blue-hued and feminine flower kimonowas replaced gorgeously with a simple white kimono, speckled with the palest of violet hydrangea petals; but this was not the most surprising event.

Kurama had arrived to the meeting first, and was drinking tea calmly as the other callers came. Although his hair was not as bright or clean-looking as usual, nor as luscious, and although his clothes looked as though they'd gone through multiple days' wear and his body through multiple days' sleeplessness, and although his green eyes watched and absorbed as usual, though with their usual sharp interest, a particular glimmer seemed missing- a missing glimmer which went unnoticed almost entirely, but in point of fact was noticeable. However, Kurama's listless, reserved, and even unapproachable demeanor was not the most surprising event.

Second to arrive had been Yuusuke and Keiko, between whom was a spackling aura of electric animosity. For that it was summer, Keiko wore a pleated skirt and blouse, which might have drawn attention to her skinned knees and elbows, but circumstances did not permit. Yuusuke's attire was no different than usual, nor was the scowl on his face, and in point of fact nothing was apparently any different from average, every-day Yuusuke versus Yuusuke-at-Genkai's-Emergency-Meeting (a very sad-looking penguin-esque soul-beast perched nervously atop his head), except, perhaps, for the dark, auric knives being shot resentfully at the girl with whom he'd come. They did not sit together at the table after their first reactions, rather, Keiko found a place near Genkai, and Yuusuke found a place near Kurama; Genkai and Kurama being at opposite ends of the long, silent table. But this was not the most surprising event.

Third and fourth to arrive were Hiei and Botan, perhaps two minutes apart. Hiei seemed, of them all, the absolute most every-day, if more curt and short-tempered. And Botan the rower, apparently having no real agenda in the spirit world where her occupation existed, arrived in- though it has little bearing on the unfolding plot, other than to service as a note of normalcy in her- a fluttering yellow summer dress (which did wonders for her legs but very little for her waist). There was nothing surprising here; given that in the circle or people which are being spoken of, it is perfectly normal to equip an oar as a vehicle. Hiei, still, seemed the most normal; arriving on foot, without terrible adieu, but with no small amount of dark agitation. He had sensed long before the call to this meeting had come to him that something wretchedly evil, unnatural, or simply wrong was afoot. But in no event was there anything surprising with that.

Much like Kurama, he had taken his reaction swiftly, with snap-judgement and assimilation and little call for theatrics; he settled himself at the table (here, the slightest un-usuality, however slight) in such a way that perhaps he was a part of the group and perhaps he was not.

So last to arrive was Kuwabara, in his ecstatic face, and Yukina, in her pretty loveliness (however childlike and simple). The reaction to their joint arrival was perhaps more mixed than the general reaction upon arrival at the meeting, for different reasons, of course. Kuwabara ushered Yukina in proudly, handsomely, and settled beside her after his moment or so of shock and disbelief at discovering the 'event' which had called the meeting together, and Yukina, smiling thoughtfully at the change, folded herself primly at the table and proceeded to fill a cup of tea for Kuwabara, herself, and Kurama, who had laid his empty cup nearby, and who smiled a thanks at her domestic thoughtfulness. A pretty wife she'd make, he thought wryly, perhaps more aware of the new situation than anyone else in the room at that precise moment.

But the most surprising thing about that meeting was what had actually called the meeting, that is, Genkai herself. Genkai herself was drinking tea at the head of the table- a deadpan expression in her clean, pretty face, set by contemplative but troubled brown eyes. Her light pink-toned hair was drawn back in a pony-tail, where it spilled with a bouncy life the detectives, demons, apparitions, humans, and reaper had seen only a few times, and had not expected to see again. And this was the most surprising event of the day; the fresh-faced Genkai sipping tea over her thoughts with hands softer than they'd been in years, features lovelier than they'd been in years, and presence more attractive and intriguing than ever before.

But the questions which arose over this event were to wait for the time being, because one of the members of the group, unable to get his mind off of the one most incredible thing which had been on his mind for days, weeks, now, was about to reveal news which was almost as, or perhaps more, surprising as Genkai's mysterious new appearance.

Unable to keep his glorious news to himself, and with little regard for Genkai's plight after his initial reaction, Kuwabara slugged down his tea, slammed the little cup down- and a credit to it for not breaking- and bellowed as though the force of the sea carried his words forth, frothing and masterful, "I'm going to marry Yukina!"

The reactions to Genkai had been mostly astonishment, disbelief, and confusion, and to this piece of news there was little difference. Yuusuke's expression of concentration on the oh-so-hot Genkai was broken by a wide, congratulatory grin, which reached into masculine hugging with Kuwabara and whoops of approval. Keiko's atmosphere of antagonism dissipated with the words, and a delighted look spread across her features. This was to last for a good hour or so, before her fury with Yuusuke returned with a force which would prove to be catalytic in the coming events. Botan swung into a full-on happy-Botan mode, changing her outward appearance as easily as though it were merely a stringed mask, as was her habit. Kurama smiled, sipped his tea, and let himself feel a warmth of sanction for the couple, which he could predict lasting comfortably for ages to come, just as easily as he had predicted the could-be future earlier.

There was a cold aura then; a dark, wretching, shrieking and violent aura which whipped through the room with little regard for who it could damage. It felt palpably to the skin, and was as a dragon may be, were it as intangible as spirit energy could be. Genkai was on her feet- petite and adorned in clean, white socks- quite instantly. Defensive spells rolled off her tongue with an ease her memory had threatened to take from her as the years marched on. Kurama whipped up as well, knocking the table and its teas over as his shin knocked up. In his haste to turn, he managed to catch a glimpse of Hiei's face- a sharp child's face- overwhelmed by an expression of the most perfect and pure rage and most total devastated grieving. It was a face which sent a shiver up the red-headed demon's spine; a shiver which left his heart freezing.

And then Hiei vanished- less vanished than ran so quickly away as to appear to vanish- and the wrathful, mourning aura left with him, leaving in its wake a selection of knocked over furnishings and odds-and-ends which had been in the room Genkai had chosen. Although nothing too terrible had been exacted, Kurama saw, turning around, Yukina, her demure impression shattered in tears. She knelt by the remains of the tea pot weeping piteously, somehow attempting to pick up the shattered pieces of ceramic while trying to scrub and squeeze the spreading brown tea stain out of her kimono as jewels formed and fell heavily from her cheeks.

"Oh," she sobbed, Kuwabara leaning over her protectively while Botan rushed over to help, though it was too late- the young girl had cut her finger on a shard already. "Oh, no..."

Genkai and Yuusuke took the outsiding track, and stayed out of the way, neither of them suited to the situation, and Keiko, unable to help by being in the room, left- most probably to procure towels, and a trash bin. Kurama watched, teeth almost chattering from the remnants of Hiei still in the room, still screaming in fury and pain, and set his jaw determinedly. There was a feeling here, he saw, not only of disapproval. Yukina went on sobbing, finally collapsing against Kuwabara's chest, and cried out quietly, "Oh, brother, why are you...?"

An upstart in Botan, perhaps in fear of the wrath which she theorized might fall down from Hiei should he think Yukina's knowledge of his relationship to her have come from the reaper, herself- "Yukina! H-How did you know?"

The apparition shook her head miserably, "I just knew, Botan..." Her little voice carried quietly through the room, a testament to her pretty and clever innocence, "He... he felt right..." trailing off into weeping, and she was swept up by Kuwabara as though the lightest and most delicate of flowers, to be carried to a bathroom, where she might conceivably be helped. Botan shot a look of worriedness at Genkai, whose own expression had not changed, and began following after, low to the ground, to pick up the scattering jewels, that they might not fall into the wrong hands.

A whistle of empty air swept through the room, and Genkai grumbled to herself, under the breath, and irritably. Yuusuke, in passing her to the further reaches of the temple, rested a hand on her shoulder (managing this feat only by leaning slightly). "Genkai."

In the word, the name, the promise to help, by all possible means. Yuusuke's honest face smiled at the formerly old woman, now scarcely more than a little girl, and the heart of the little girl Genkai had once been warmed at her pupil gently. Then his hand was gone, and his self had left the room, and Genkai stared at Kurama openly for a moment. "You know there's trouble, don't you?"

He nodded; the tiniest incline, and the shortest of looks. Her voice was back to its soft, tinny way, and had lost the gruff coughing voice of a woman aging quickly, from stress and bargaining with death. "I sense the workings of things above us."

"And beside," Genkai replied quietly, turning her gaze to the spaces once occupied by Yuusuke and Keiko, "there are traces of them in here, along with Hiei's."

"Malice," murmured the fox spirit, crossing his arms and wandering the perimeter of the table's original location. "What do you think is happening?"

A derisive snort, "Children fighting and someone in the spirit world fucking with me."

Kurama almost did not snap his head in Genkai's direction, from a slight jolt of surprise. "I thought maybe I'd been poisoned," went on the pretty young girl who had replaced the haggard old woman, "and would die from the reversal of time. But if I was going to die, I would have by now."

She smirked at her joke and Kurama smiled back, coming to a stop where Kuwabara and Yukina had sat. "I like it," he said, moving a few pieces of Genkai's forgotten chinery into a little pile with the toe of his shoe, a silk slip-on, black and white. "I see good things for them," Genkai agreed, and then snorted derisively, "You know, I think my attempt to come to some conclusion by bringing you all here to 'brainstorm' backfired."

Kurama nodded, catching the barest and most quiet note of dejection and disappoinment in her voice, "I'm sorry." She nodded back at him, a small smile on her face, before looking away again at the carnage in her spoiled tea room, and they were silent as the only other event of their circle went un-contemplated.

Finally, as they met face to face across the disaster area. "He will kill tonight if no one stops him."

Kurama nodded, heart quickening at the thought of the person who had been his only friend in some pit of his own, as an animal trapped, where only death and misery and hatred grew. "It appears I will be going on a trip. Tonight." Genkai uncrossed her arms and spotted Kurama's eyes with an intensity he had seen only a few times in his life time, "Go after him; stop him if you can. If you can't, you know what will happen."

Kurama thought back the jails of the spirit world (where Hiei would end up were his contract violated), and to the monsters and demons, goblins and spirits, whish resided there, against their wills, and against each other. He nodded at Genkai, who had moved to the threshold of another room and was looking back at him, small hand resting on the frame, "And... if you can..." she said, walking away from him into the dark of that next room, "keep an eye on Yuusuke for me."

---

She found Botan in the bathroom, comforting a distraught Yukina, with an even more distraught Kuwabara. It was odd and tender to see him worked so gently up over it, his giant hands holding the crying girl's little hands, and muttering a peculiar mixture of curses and pretty helpful things. Botan sat beside the girl on the edge of the high-stood bath-tub, cooing and petting her shoulder. Genkai felt removed from the situation and could not help the different currents of emotion running through her, against her will. Slinging her bag from one shoulder to the next- a fluid motion that did not hurt her back as it might have the day before- and tried to ignore the helpless anger at the group. The anger that raged against them and at Yukina for drawing from her the attention she should have received for her plight. An engaged girl! bah! Who needed comforting? But she was able to ignore the angry voice, because she knew, then, that not only had the outside of her body been reversed, but the inside, as well- where the strong currents of changing hormones swam. Still, she coughed with an edge of agitation and called Botan from the group without mercy.

Out of the corner of her eye- the sink; full of gems.

"What is it, Genkai?" the wide-eyed young woman questioned, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. What isn't it? Genkai sighed, let the thought pass, and gestured vaguely upward in exhaustion. "We're going to the spirit world. Now."

---

Botan tensed when she saw Genkai young-and-beautiful enter the room; a brief flash of jealousy, and a strange, un-place-able anger washed over her quickly and then was gone, but were it voice it may have sounded like, "Now there's even more competition." She had been acutely aware of how relieved she'd been when Yukina's engagement had been announced; it had been one less lovely, eligible girl in their group- Keiko had been less of a threat, what with Yuusuke's obvious attachment to her, and her obvious attachment to him, and Shizuru had never struck her as real competition, for some reason... but Yukina. Yukina was perfect. Hours had been seethed over Yukina's perfect, docile domestication- how wonderful a wife she would be! Oh, and Kurama deserved a wonderful wife. But did he, Botan had cried more than once, notice her? So Genkai's sudden, perfect prettiness had jarred her greatly, though Yukina's engagement to dear Kuwabara had lessened that jarring. Still, she thought, upset, What else can I do to make him see me, now that she's so... so...

Oh, I hate this!

An inner turmoil. But Botan's face showed no sign of it, ever, or now, as she blithely comforted Yukina. A cough; "Botan, come here." Botan cringed at Genkai's words, but obeyed regardless. Oh, her voice was so soft and pretty! Just like Yukina's, save more stern and cold- but wouldn't Kurama seek to be paired with someone as strong as Genkai, if not someone as perfect as Yukina? Wouldn't he ever look her way? Wasn't she pretty? Wasn't she fun and cute and happy? Wasn't she happy...?

She understood her role in Genkai's next statement; an order to take her to spirit world to consult with Koenma, or perhaps Enma... likely first to follow through the hoops of bureaucracy which governed spirit world like angry wardens at a wolf's den. She nodded silently, manifested the oar, and led the way from the bathroom, hiding her confusing resentment and admiration of Genkai expertly.

Once outside, she leveled the oar to herself and her passenger-to-be, and saw Kurama leaning against a tree in the yard, staring at the water of Genkai's reflection pool, where three little fishes swam comfortably. He looked up at the arrival, a mere passing confirmation of their identities, and Botan caught his eyes. A chance- and she smiled prettily. Perhaps normally, he would have smiled back, but she did not receive even a half-moon smirk from him, not the slightest expression warmer than a scowl.

On the way to the spirit world, she did not speak to Genkai; she did not look back at her. She only stared ahead, and let the tears pool and flow.

---

Running, flitting, crying, raging, treetops, shrines, rocks, streams, animals, wind, fire, darkness, the moon- sister-brother-mother-father, lover-hater, bringer-taker, here and gone, there and wrong, someone hurting...! Hurts me...!

---

Kurama watched the blue-haired and pink-haired girls settle to oar to the spirit world, only half-interested as he mulled over his next moves- how to find and catch the wild Hiei. To be truthful, he wanted nothing to do with this mission- it was too tampered and volatile, and made him very deeply afraid. For that he might get killed by a demon who felt as though his heart was being ripped apart and destroyed, he had a right. And Botan the rower smiled at him, the hint of coquett and lovely in it, but he could not bring himself to smile back. He felt somehow, suddenly, from the hurt look in her smiling eyes, that this had been in one way the worst and in another way the best thing he could have done. Destroy a fragile young girl's heart? Fine. So long as she didn't hold it against him later when she found out where his heart lay. So as the girls took off from the ground, leaving behind a scatter of dust and leaves, he turned away, into the forest, and chose to disregard the animosity he felt brewing in the house- he knew it had nothing to do with him, and nothing to do with a real threat. He knew the first real fight of the night was about to begin here- as a thought he'd shared with Genkai would in no wasted time confirm.

A ribbon in his pocket; up into his hair to draw it all back, and he shed his long-sleeved over-shirt. Underneath, a plain t-shirt, blue with a white stripe. Simple summer attire- but an outfit he knew he would not miss were it ripped to shreds by a sword, or bare hands. Or by the sheer force of another's pain itself.

---

After she had found the towels and a salve for Yukina, she had felt superfluous. All commotion moved around her, ignored her unless she may have stuck her foot or nose in it, and she did not 'feel' like intruding, when for all intents and purposes, it looked as though Botan and Kuwabara had the crisis covered. She had gone to wait in the kitchen, also unsure of whether or not to go back to the tea room. Part of her wanted to; it was the part that longed for Yuusuke's presence. Yuusuke was still in there- with... Kurama and Genkai. More concernedly, Genkai. Frowning, she pondered on Genkai's strange transformation at first; how strange for her to be so young- younger than herself, actually- for seemingly no reason; after all, the only times she had been so transformed was while fighting, and though Keiko was not sure of all of the details, she was almost positive it was impossible for Genkai to transform any longer. Impossible.

She suddenly called for him- waited- and there was no answer. A new agitation with the frustrating boy went through her, made her clench her teeth in anger. What was his problem, anyway? Did he care or didn't he! For the past couple of months it had been impossible to tell. Since the tournament, nothing had been the same; and since seeing him in his perfection and glory at fight, she had tried a new angle to assert herself in his life. But he had disapproved, and had berated her. Jerk! Nothing had ever held his attention- yelling and hitting him hadn't worked... But no matter... not really... right?

She leaned against the counter and rubbed her new skinned elbow. She had gotten it while picking a fight with a neighboring school, one which Yuusuke's gang had frequently had to tussle back out of their territory. She had thought, Maybe I can really be a part of him and his life like this.

Being a part of his life had been exceptionally difficult over that summer; all of his time had been spent at the temple with Genkai, learning and excluding her. She had tried valiantly to drag him on various excursions, but to no avail- he remained adamant in his path to drive her absolutely batty. To his credit, he didn't realize it- at least, this is what Keiko believed- and she gave him as much patience as she could afford, but... A strange feeling nagged at her.

She called again, a whine edging on her voice; and she was not answered.

Keiko leaned against the counter, frustrated and not about to back down. But maybe... maybe the strange feeling was resentment.

---

Genkai... His thoughts raced on as he moved from the broken tea room, his hand still hot from touching her shoulder. She'd been... very soft. Through the cloth, through the cool ice of her voice, and the toughness of her reputation... through these things, she had been very soft. So his hand still tingled with the surprise of this feeling, and his mind had not been able to shake her.

A new mystery. A new puzzle piece in a jigsaw which only grew, and never ended- he followed the sound of tears to the bathroom, gave a short glance to ascertain everything was 'all right', and continued on to the back of the house, catawampus from the tea room. Leaning against a tree, he shoved his hands into his pocket- a flash memory of Genkai destroying the boulder, saying, with her pretty face and eyes, "There was a time when that blast would have went for miles." A sad voice, and he wondered, Did she really not mind growing old as much as she said she did?

Puu, silent and hardly noticeable, suddenly let out a low hum, to assert his presence, and from there remained about as contemplative and thoughtful as the soul he reflected.

It seemed silly, but he looked at the moon and the moon looked at him and suddenly it didn't really seem so. He sighed and began whistling absent-mindedly; his summer had been slow but had progressed quickly, and he did not look forward to the inevitable turf wars with the T high school, which Keiko had apparently half-instigated herself. Scowled- why was she acting out so much? She had begun starting fights, and acting 'tough', on and off, some time after the dark tournament, and it had been supremely bizarre. Half the time she was normal goody-goody Keiko, and the other half of the time, she... she was just... aggravating.

He had grown used to her clinging until it reached this new level; he had grown used to the whining, and nagging, and the lectures and even the occasion crying or slapping- but this fake want-to-be Keiko was supremely disgusting, in ways which went on and on in counting. It was sick. So Yuusuke did not know what to do with himself when he realized he wanted nothing to do with her until she went back to being herself, and when the want to just hang out and train with Genkai- without Keiko- became extreme.

He also was not sure of what to do with himself now that Genkai was... hot... and still amazingly cool. Somehow, he mused, a half-smile on his lips, I don't think it word work to call her 'Grandma' anymore.

And he was about to go back inside when he saw the swing and whoosh of Botan's oar rocket from the other side of the house to the moon's face and then out of the stratospheres entirely. Botan had had a passenger, and that passenger had had pink hair, and probably the most wide, beautiful brown eyes...

"So you're going to the spirit world, hunh, Genkai?" he whistled, and turned back into the temple to get a snack while she wasn't around to be looking. (With... those brown, brown, brown eyes...)

---

I... I can't feel anything... I can't see... I can't hear... I can't think... I can't... hurt... Can't...

...Hurt...

---

When he walked in, her mood had been fired up by her own thoughts, and she immediately narrowed her eyes and glared at him with the full force of a confused young girl, who did not know why she was angry, and did not know what to do about it. Yuusuke frowned, moved into the kitchen at a slower gait, and asked her why she looked so upset.

"Well, I called you maybe three times and you didn't answer me," she growled, her arms crossed. The sight of him... oh, he looked different- older, more capable- what would she do now that he seemed perfectly capable of taking care of himself? If only he would ever turn around and take care of her, once in a while, rather than ignoring her unless her life was in danger?

"I was outside, didn't hear you," he replied absentmindedly, brushing past her to the refrigerator. The girl pushed angrily away from the counter in Genkai's thoroughly modern kitchen, her light brown hair swinging in tufts of metaphor. "Is that it!" she cried, her fists shaking.

Yuusuke turned back to look at her in perplexion; "What is wrong with you, Keiko?"

She bit her lip in frustration, turned to huff in the opposite direction because she did not know. "N-No 'I'm sorry', or anything? No apology? Just a careless 'I didn't hear you'?"

Yuusuke had pulled out a jar of jam- he'd procured bread, and was looking for peanut-butter- and he turned again to look at the girl who faced away from him angrily. "Well I didn't," he proclaimed in confusion. Keiko shifted and leaned against the counter unhappily, brushing her elbow against a stray sliver.

"Ouch!" she cried out, grasping the offended elbow in pain, where the reddening of a skin burned a little hotly. Yuusuke put down his butter knife and walked to his childhood friend, whose life he had saved more times than he knew, and examined the elbow critically. "You should stop picking fights with those T high school girls; they're a lot tougher than you."

Keiko ripped her elbow from his grasp, almost snarled in her agitation and stepped away, "Who asked you!" The young man's eyes widened in surprise and he balked, "What?"

"Just leave me alone," she muttered, rubbing the sore spot tenderly, "You don't care."

"Of course I care!" Yuusuke shouted, his temper flaring in a familiar way, "What's that shit you're trying to pull, anyway? I tell you to stop fighting because I care, don't I? That's not who you are!"

"So?" she countered, eyes going shiny with wetness, "How can you tell me who I am when you're never with me? You only pay attention to me when I'm in trouble anyway!"

Yuusuke's eyebrows shot up, and his tone changed, "Is that... is that why you've been getting into fights? to get my attention?" The girl slowed, her eyes wide with a strange realization, but she shook her head adamantly, and perhaps in that, damned herself.

"No, no," she glared at him, trying to win the argument, "I just wanted..." -for you to take care of me. "I..." -without having to use an excuse like 'because you were in danger' or 'demons'... "I can't stand that you're always here, always training with Genkai- I, I wanted to get stronger so I could be with you."

His eyes darkened, as the aggravation of her will swept over him, "Since when are you-- That's still trying to distract my attention to you."

"No," she whimpered, nearly crying, "Just..."

"Just what? Just quit while you're ahead- clearly this isn't going anywhere." He returned to his sandwich, Puu nervously worrying his little flippers together in distraught distraction. Swiftly, Yuusuke finished his sandwich, and bit into it hotly. "You know, I grew up with a real sweet girl; she could be really annoying sometimes, but at least she was always honest with herself."

She could only stare with crying eyes at the boy she had been in love with for years, as he berated and destroyed her, and as the will to fight back was crushed away. "I'm not psychic- you have to let me know what you want out of me."

Perhaps she could have salvaged everything then- maybe by nodding and wiping the tears from her eyes, but her hurt feelings and confusion clouded her senses, and left her without much reason. Perhaps if she hadn't blurted out the first thing that had been bothering her for the past few months, and perhaps if it hadn't involved the underlying accusation that it held...

"You want me to stop training with Genkai?" he stared at her incredulously, and her cheeks flushed angrily. "Well I can't and I won't," he finished, tearing into the last of his sandwich. He felt like waving his hand in an obvious way and calling out sarcastically, 'Hel-lo, spirit detective- duh.'

It was the second broken heart of the night. She stared at him for a long moment, felt the anguish and the rage build together, and let it out in a wrathful, searing lash, "So she's more important, is she? So you'd rather spend all of your time here with her and not have anything to do with me? You probably 'didn't hear me' because you were with her! Is that it!"

And Yuusuke's anger had reached its boiling point as well; "You don't know what you're talking about! This isn't what you're mad about at all! Why can't you just say what you're really thinking!"

A duel- a draw- the fire, the guns- and the dust clearing at their feet. Because I don't know what I'm really thinking, she thought miserably. "Why don't you just answer me?" she said acidly, crossing her arms, if only to hold in the beating of her palpitating heart.

"Is that what you want to hear?" he demanded, face red with anger and a peculiar sort of shame, thinking of the softness of Genkai's shoulder under the shirt as he had passed her, of the cuteness of her face, and of the beauty of her presence and self. "Forget it!" he seethed at her, seeing only the simplicity and fakeness of a foolish little girl, and seeing everything he despised in the image she'd clung to.

She bit her lip, frustrated and losing her battle- what would she do now? Her anger and agitation with Yuusuke was greater now than it had ever been in all her lifetime- some unsaid reason, some strange motive in her, or perhaps some other frightening grounds on which she stood- a basis which startled her and left her lost for words- that is, words which made sense to her. There were now words for this pain he gave her, this invidious, jealous ache for him, from him- with or without him. Loving of a high, unreachable order. Unattainable; a love destined to be destroyed by the lover herself- her self which would never know. Poetic and self-destructive- Keiko closed her eyes, and felt the tears spill like burning, "So you won't? You ask me to tell you what I want- but you refuse?"

"Why do you say it like that?" Yuusuke growled, setting his jaw determinedly- toward whatever end he at once knew and did not know- to say with the utmost calmness, "This is my life. It's what I do. You can't expect me to give it up for a girl."

"Then I'll stay out of your way," the girl replied coldly, her spine straight and shoulders squared in what would have been considered a pose of self-sufficient strength, "I don't need to be a part of your dumb life anyway."

Why won't you stand behind me and back me up, like you used to? asked the boy.

Why won't you stay with me and take care of me anymore? asked the girl.

And they meant 'Goodbye'.