It was the talk of the entire school. The useless walking catastrophe Tsunami Sawada had somehow gotten in with the number one "free" delinquent of Namimori to the point he openly let her call him "big brother" to his face. And he didn't even deny her claim! He patted her on the head for it!
Needless to say there was now a wide berth between the other students and her, and to the annoyance of the gossip mongers she didn't even react as if she noticed it!
Takeshi was not one of the bland, boring people who walked around and saw nothing. Far from it.
He saw too much.
He could see that she had been desperate enough for a friend who wouldn't torment her that she willingly attached herself to Urameshi, and that he apparently did have a soft side because he went out of his way to clean up the few weaklings Hibari ignored because they weren't worth his time.
He was like a trained attack dog, more than happy to bite anyone who bothered his "little sister".
The thing that struck him most was the fact that Tsunami didn't seem bothered by the whole situation. Far from it...she looked rather happy about it. Like she was finally throwing off the lies that had surrounded her and given up on making friends with their classmates.
People who had openly belittled and tormented her for years.
Takeshi could partially relate. People "liked" him because he was so good at baseball and "popular", but he held no illusions about what would happen if he suddenly couldn't play. No one bothered to get to know the real him, and they only liked him because they were eager to siphon off his "popularity".
And then the worst happened. A single careless moment of not paying attention and suddenly his batting arm was out of commission for two months.
His 'friends' were all sympathetic, but he wanted to seethe. He couldn't stand these people, and he didn't want their fake sympathy!
Anger and annoyance quickly turned to depression. What did he have to live for now? His skills would only atrophy from disuse now that his arm was out of commission, and he had no idea what to do without baseball.
There was a dark rain cloud over his head, and he had no idea of how to dispel it.
Tsunami observed her classmates. For the most part they were all idiots, but there were one or to exceptions.
One such exception was the baseball star, Yamamoto Takeshi.
Out of all of the idiots who inhabited her class, he was one of the rare, rare people who hadn't joined in on the mocking comments or snide remarks. In fact he seemed to be drifting, as if he had no idea what to do with his life.
So when she found out he had injured his arm in a way that he wouldn't be able to play baseball for at least two months, and the way his 'friends' didn't even notice or care how much he was hurting, it made her blood boil.
Couldn't they see he was in pain? That he was totally lost without his favorite sport?
Yusuke would later attribute it to her being too kind to the "strays" she kept picking up, even while he cheerfully declared her the "Spirit Detective Mascot". Even Hiei couldn't fight against her puppy dog eyes when she was pouting.
She went to the vending machines and got two drinks... one of which was for Yamamoto.
Seeing him alone and miserable, she calmly walked up behind him and pressed the cold can to the back of his neck. Seeing him jump in surprise, she grinned.
"Mind if I eat my lunch with you?" she asked. Everyone was already going off to eat in their little groupings, ignoring them completely.
Hibari was right... they were annoying herbivores.
"Ahaha... sure!" he said, not really paying attention.
They ate in silence in their little alcove. It wasn't surprising Yamamoto had found one of her favorite hiding spots.
"They're all idiots, aren't they? Our classmates."
Yamamoto was silent, though she had the feeling he agreed with her.
"They walk around thinking they know everything and don't really see the truth. Like the fact you're clearly hurting more than just from your arm," she said, matter of fact.
He put down his chopsticks and Looked at her. He felt quite a bit of shock when he realized she didn't see him as "Takeshi Yamamoto, baseball star". She just saw him.
He laughed nervously.
"You don't have to smile."
Takeshi blinked.
"It's just... what am I supposed to do?"
Tsunami put her own chopsticks down.
"Well... you could come with me. I'm sure Yusuke-nii would have ideas," said Tsunami.
Takeshi didn't have anything better to do. So after school, he followed her to the bad side of town, at least according to the adults.
"So who's this?" asked Yusuke from where he was.
"Yamamoto Takeshi, he's from my class."
Yusuke stared.
"What happened to your arm?"
"Accident with a baseball machine. Clean break," said Takeshi dully.
"He needed something to take his mind off his broken arm, so I thought you might have some ideas."
Yusuke looked at Takeshi. There was something of an...emptiness...in him. One well hidden by a practiced mask. However under that emptiness was the sort of well forged steel you might find in a proper samurai blade. One that was absolutely loyal to whomever they chose to serve.
Even if this Takeshi guy felt a lot like the yakuza men he avoided like the plague. The natural killers that went through anything and everything in their path when ordered.
Yusuke grinned. Trust Tsunami to find a well honed killer hiding in her school. One that had yet to realize his real self. He'd be a good bodyguard.
"Urameshi Yusuke," he said, grinning.
"Yamamoto Takeshi," said the other boy, his fake smile firmly in place.
"So what exactly do you like to do?"
"He's the baseball star of our school. Lousy bunch of sycophants..." muttered Tsunami darkly.
"He's not one of those idiots who bothered you, is he?"
"Actually he's one of the extremely rare people who never joined in."
"Well if nothing else we can hit the arcade. I think they have some games for you can play with one hand," said Yusuke.
"Which one? I've gotten really good at pachinko lately," said Tsunami cheerfully.
"Yeah, I know. I think I heard the owner comment on how you have the devil's own luck. You might end up invited to the black games," said Yusuke dryly. It took him forever to get into those!
"What are the black games?" asked Takeshi, with a small sign of life in his voice.
"Where the real gambling takes place. I've earned a cool hundred thousand betting in those, and they do all sorts of things like cage fighting," said Yusuke. Which was where he earned most of his disposable income. More reliable than stealing, and it had less risk of drawing the attention of the demon prefect.
Takeshi had never been in a pachinko parlor...mostly because the few in town had immediately moved to this side of the city out of fear of Hibari coming after them. It didn't take long for him to get hooked, though his luck was rather poor.
Still, it was more fun than moping and Tsunami helpfully gave him advice with Yusuke chirping in every so often.
For the first time in a very long time, Takeshi was grinning for real. He was having fun with people who actually saw him, not the baseball star. In fact they couldn't care less, outside of asking his opinion on the betting rings for games.
Yusuke was in a very good mood, especially when he saw Yamamoto... no, he insisted they call him Takeshi, actually smiling for real. Those losers in Namimori didn't know a good thing when it was right in front of them.
"You know I think you should really introduce him to Ryohei," said Takeshi laughing.
"...You mean that insane captain of the boxing team that's always yelling 'Extreme'? Sasegawa's older brother? That Ryohei?" asked Tsunami.
"Well if he likes fighting so much I'm sure Ryohei-san would love to meet him. And I don't think even Hibari would complain if Yusuke happened to come over to 'play' with him...if only to calm that guy down."
Tsunami snickered.
"You might have a point. He should be there tomorrow, I think," said Tsunami.
"Who's Ryohei?" asked Yusuke.
"A guy in our school who's obsessed with boxing and is always using the word 'Extreme'. I heard he had this insane work out regimen and that he's been almost busted a few times going to the underground pit fights because none of the other teams can keep up with him. He's always accepting challengers," said Takeshi.
Seeing the grin on Yusuke's face, he knew he definitely scored some points with the rough teen.
Takeshi found himself still smiling when he went home, even if he did get a lecture from his dad about gambling.
Oddly enough, it didn't really faze him much because the next day, Tsunami went straight to him again and shared lunch.
It was hard to believe that the loneliest girl in his class saw right through him and was brave enough to get past all the pain their class put her through long enough to break through the mask he hadn't realized he had built up around himself.
Even when his arm healed and his "friends" suddenly came running back now that he was popular again, he barely spent any time with them.
He much preferred hanging with Tsunami and Yusuke.
"EXTREME!"
Yusuke winced at the volume level. He had held off on meeting this "Ryohei" until Takeshi was healed up enough to become Tsunami's unofficial bodyguard. The guy was alright, if a bit odd in the head.
At least Yusuke felt vindicated about the feeling he had about Takeshi when less than a month after his arm was properly healed, he started walking around with a shinai and a sudden aptitude in a sword style he had never seen before. The guy might be a bit weird, but Tsunami had earned his loyalty by breaking his mask and actually being there when he needed someone to notice him. And to a lesser extent, that went to Yusuke himself.
"I heard from a reliable source you know how to fight. Care to have a bit of fun?" asked Yusuke with a cocky grin.
Ryohei's smile was like looking right into the sun. It was that blinding.
"I'll extremely fight with you!" he said with enough enthusiasm that Yusuke had no doubt the guy would fit right in with his friends.
He narrowly won, mostly through a dirty trick, but that didn't dampen Ryohei's spirit. Far from it.
"You're an extreme guy, Urameshi! Join my team!"
"I don't think I could keep up the grade average and I'm pretty sure that Hibari would get pissed if I started encroaching on his turf. But I wouldn't mind coming to visit for a good old fashioned fist fight," said Yusuke.
"Extreme!"
Yusuke thought Ryohei was a good guy, almost like a slightly more straight laced Kuwabara. Especially when he found out that Ryohei went to 'extreme' lengths to keep his younger sister from worrying.
It didn't take long for the white-haired boxing nut to start joining the little group. Or for him to join Yusuke in the real pit fights to earn cash.
He did feel a little sorry for Suekichi, introducing his old friend to Ryohei. The boxing nut took the kid under his wing, and now the guy had to participate in his insane work out regimen every morning. And he did mean every morning. Who the hell woke up at six to run around like an idiot every day?!
On the plus side, the kid's boxing ability did improve while training with Ryohei, so that was a good thing.
"It... it can't be."
Tsunami had gone to the other side of town to see Yusuke... only to find out from Keiko that he had been hit by a car and wasn't expected to make it.
Atsuko, Yusuke's mother, was in denial and a total wreck.
Tsunami would have broken down, seeing Yusuke like that, had it not been for Yamamoto and Ryohei beside her. He had come as soon as he heard the news, running at...extreme... speeds to get there.
Seeing him lying in that hospital bed with the cloth over his face, it was like something out of a nightmare.
It took a few seconds before Atsuko registered the girl crying, especially since she had no idea who they were. However a quick explanation (and the proof that she was telling the truth by providing an identical key to the mystery one Yusuke had around his neck) and Atsuko found herself barely hanging on to her son's "little sister".
A girl who had trusted Yusuke enough to welcome to her home, and a family who saw past his delinquent side enough to actually give him a copy of their house key, despite living on the good side of town.
It broke her heart that she had no idea this girl existed until her son died doing something heroic. That there were people other than Keiko-chan or that idiot Kazuma who treated her son like a treasured friend.
Seeing that tiny girl come with the taller boy with the feel of a natural hit man (Atsuko was around the yakuza types often enough that she recognized what he was pretty quick) and then borrow his bat long enough to hit the two asshole "teachers" who bad mouthed her son... it made her feel a measure of pride that her son had found someone so loyal that was willing to work past their meek exterior to defend her son's honor. Even if it was an adult.
Unseen by the crowd of people at the wake, the ghost of Yusuke was cheering on Tsunami who was putting the odd lesson he gave her on how to throw a proper punch or knee someone in the balls to good use on the two teachers he hated the most. They totally deserved it!
Botan, on the other hand, was staring at the tiny girl with the now bloody bat.
What in the name of Enma-sama was that girl doing here? And why were her Flames sealed?!
Behind her was the ghost of a man long dead. He was untouchable because he was outside of Enma-sama's jurisdiction. All Children of the Sky were, especially from that family. Like Yusuke, he was cheering the girl to further violence.
"I'll take whatever test you want. I'm not leaving her like that," said Yusuke.
Seeing the look on Tsunami's face when she found out he had died... it was too painful for him to bear.
