Blue Shine

Chapter 03:

"Meet and Greet"


I stepped through the glass door of the Yukimura restaurant, ignoring the 'Closed' sign on the front panel. The bell above the frame rung out and the door shut with a soft clink as I stepped inside. I looked around at the empty room as I adjusted the cloth guitar case on my back.

Taking a few tentative steps forward, "Um, hello?" I called out, "You here Keiko?"

"Just a second!" came the muffled yell from the upper apartment.

Turning, I looked out of the front window into the busy street. There were a few cars passing by every now and then on the street, and people marching along the sidewalk. I swiveled back around when I heard footsteps moving down the stairs and two people came into view.

"Hey, Saki. Oh, you brought your guitar, that's great!" Keiko smiled at me and walked over to me. I hugged her briefly and stepped back.

"You know I don't go anywhere without it." I smiled politely and looked over her shoulder.

Keiko moved aside and introduced us, "Yusuke this is Saki, the one from high school. Saki this is Yusuke."

I took his extended hand and gave it a firm shake, "Nice to finally meet the infamous Yusuke Urameshi." I laughed and he gave a confused look. I could see a light touch of pink dusting Keiko's cheeks as she hurried us out the door.

We all walked along down the road toward the train station. I kept close to the curb while Keiko walked between myself and Yusuke. We chatted idly as we maneuvered past the park and more toward the countryside. Buildings became scarce as more homes and farms appeared. Once seated on the train with my guitar neatly tucked in the overhead compartment, we continued our conversation.

"So she really told you about how I flipped her skirt all the time?" Yusuke laughed outright and I chuckled. Keiko sat nearest the window with me on her left and Yusuke in front of us, she was trying her best to hide her blush and I just laughed harder.

"She also told me how she saved your supposedly dead body from a burning building. That's where the 'infamous Yusuke Urameshi' bit came from earlier." I crossed my legs right over left and rested my hands in my lap.

"Jeeze, Keiko! You're going to have the town thinking you're crazy if you keep telling everyone these stories!" He teased, a grin threatening to split his face.

She turned her nose up at him and looked back out the window, "Well maybe if you knew how to take care of yourself I wouldn't have to save your butt all the time."

"Are you saying you'd let me burn if I got caught in another fire?" His tone was filled with mock hurt, his eyes wide as he leaned forward toward her.

"That's right." She snipped, a smirk pulling at the corners of her lips.

I shook my head as I patted his shoulder, "I'll make sure you get a nice headstone, alright?"

Yusuke sighed in defeat and I laughed, "You really are going to be the death of me Keiko."

Keiko gave and innocent look and shrugged her shoulders while he just threw his hands up in exasperation. I could only laugh at them.


"It's so nice out here." I said, taking a deep breath of the clean country air.

"Oh, not you too. Why is everyone in love with freaking nature?" Yusuke whined as we began making our trek up the stone steps.

"Don't mind him, Saki. You're going to love it, an old friend of ours owns this place. It has a lot of space so we chose to have the party here." Keiko ignored her fiance's grumbling as she trailed behind me.

I nodded and jogged the rest of the steps with the couple in tow. When I reached the top I stopped and drank in large puffs of air. What was that, the stairway to heaven? I straightened from my bent position and adjusted my guitar so the strap wasn't digging into my shoulder.

The temple was huge with a old traditional look to each of its matching buildings. If it was any larger I would assume it to be a castle. An old woman was sitting on the front porch drinking tea. Our group approached her and Yusuke greeted her with something along the lines of, "Nice to see you're still alive, Grandma."

I stopped on the bottom step after Keiko's greeting and bowed, my hair sweeping over my shoulders and back again as I straightened. "It's nice to meet you, Master Genkai."

The graying woman smirked at me before turning a glare onto the boy, "See dimwit, at least some people have respect, unlike your dumb-ass self." Yusuke flipped her the bird and disappeared in the house.

Keiko was following him when she called for me to come with her. I nodded to the old master and jogged after her. I could feel the old woman's stare boring a hole into my back as I trotted away. Feeling a shiver move up my spine, I continued moving, though much faster.

The brunette led me to the left courtyard where there were paper lanterns strewn about and picnic tables set up. I spied a couple of coolers around the tables vicinity and a grill where Yusuke was chatting rather loudly with a orange haired man. A brunette came into my sight, a cigarette between her lips.

"Hey," she called out removing the stick from her mouth and reaching out with her free hand, "I'm Shizuru Kuwabara."

I grasped her hand and shook before letting go, my hand returning to my guitars strap, "I'm Saki Yoshimori, nice to meet you." I replied politely.

I felt my eyebrow twitch when I heard a rather loud yell and saw the two boys wrestling on the ground. "Oh, that's my little brother, the orange top. I'm sure you'll meet him eventually." I smiled a little and turned my head toward the house a few seconds before I heard Keiko calling for me.

Blinking, I laughed, "I'd better go see what she wants before she comes looking for me. Excuse me, and it was nice meeting you, Shizuru." I turned when she nodded.

The room I wandered into was the kitchen. Keiko came toward me with a large pan full of uncooked meats. I blinked as she dumped her burden into my arms and smiled sweetly at me. "Do you mind taking this out to Kuwabara? He should be outside with Yusuke."

"Sure," I replied before turning back around and leaving the way I came. Shizuru wasn't on the porch anymore when I walked by and out to where the grills were. Stopping when I reached the boys I cleared my throat, catching their attention and halting the argument for the time being.

"Keiko asked me to bring these out to you guys," I said handing the larger man the tray. His hair was orange and he had an angular face with high cheekbones. He grinned at me before turning back to the grill.

"No problem...uh.." he faltered, not knowing my name.

I chuckled, "Saki, I'm assuming you're Kuwabara?"

He brightened and nodded, "That's me!" He then stopped and gave an odd look. "How do you know my name?"

I turned and started walking away when I heard Keiko yelling for me again, "Keiko told me!" I replied over my shoulder when I started jogging back into the house, Keiko's calls getting more insistent.

The next thing I had handed to me was a stack of clean white plates. The stack hid my face as she set a cup with chopsticks on top. "Can you set the picnic table for me, Saki?" She asked after adding a stack of napkins to the pile. She put them under the chopstick cup and I looked at her around my arm load.

"How many places am I setting?" I questioned, then she began to count on her fingers.

"Let's see..." She counted off silently, her mouth moving as she tapped each finger pad against her other hand. "There should be nine places." She smiled and sent me off on my new mission.

Once I carefully set the tower of things onto the table I moved away and back to the porch where I sat my guitar against the temple wall across from the steps. Jumping down, I walked back across the grass to the tables, the fresh grass crunching under my feet. The plates were set easily. I left one at the head for Genkai and set four on each side of the long table.

Sitting myself down, I straddling the bench seat as I folded the napkins into fancy triangles. I was getting up to place them around the table when I heard Yusuke's loud tenor greeting a person I did not know. I turned and a red head was making his way toward me.

The man was dressed in dark blue jeans with a white polo tucked in, the collar unbuttoned. I bowed at the waist slightly and he returned it, smiling. He introduced himself with a pleasant tone and his dark green eyes sparkled in the light of the setting sun.

He reminded me of Christmas with his eye and hair color combination. "It's nice to meet you, Kurama. I'm Saki." He hadn't mentioned a last name and I didn't offer mine.

He excused himself and I returned to my work, that's when I noticed a shorter man with my guitar case in his hands. I felt my eyebrow rise and started walking toward him. His hair was blue-black with a puff of white in the front. The way it grew reminded me of a man graying from age, but that wasn't the case for this person. He looked to be my age, and he stood about an inch taller than my five foot two inch self.

He must not have noticed me until I spoke because he whipped around with a start when I addressed him. "It's a guitar," I said to him from the bottom step.

He looked at me curiously, his eyes narrowed, before he scoffed and sat my instrument back down. His back was to me when he vanished into the house. I blinked, startled slightly by his gaze. His eyes were bright red, much like a firetruck after a fresh paint job. I shrugged and wandered back into the kitchen to see if Keiko had anymore chores for me.


Not many things had been needing to be done in the kitchen. I had met a mint haired girl by the name of Yukina. She was sweet with a soft voice and wide red velvet eyes. She was the third person I had met with an odd appearance. I kept any intrusive questions to myself, not wanting to seem nosy after just meeting these new people. I had left everyone in the busy kitchen and settled myself on the edge of the rail-less porch. My legs dangled over the side and my guitar laid in my lap. I strummed it before picking up a regular beat of a song. This time my voice cut in loud and clear.

"Elevator straight into my skull. The escalator rises as it falls. I swear our jet is crashin' in my mind. You can hold on but I wouldn't waste your time." My eyes were shut as the first stanza rolled off my tongue. I went through the song once this way before I felt someone sit on my right, and begin to clap a peculiar rhythm that fit perfectly with the song.

I smiled when I caught sight of Keiko, she blushed as people started walking over. "Go on," I urged, "Keep that beat and tempo. Okay?" She nodded.

I smiled at her. "Okay. One, two..." I didn't make it to three when I started up again, her clapping mixing perfectly with the notes coming from my guitar. I went through the first stanza again.

"Elevator straight into my skull. The escalator rises as it falls. I swear our jet is crashin' in my mind. You can hold on but I wouldn't waste your time." I sung out, my eyes on my hands as I changed cords.

"Farewell my black balloon. Farewell my black balloon." Keiko kept on clapping while I continued to move my fingers over the strings.

"I've stood in a thousand street scenes, just around the corner from you, on the edge of a dream that you have." I smiled at Keiko as I sung to her. She smiled slightly, her nerves gone. "Has anybody ever told you it's not coming true?" I finished and she gave a mock pout and I frowned in the same way. Her clapping ceased.

"Farewell my black balloon." I sang sadly, letting the emotion of the song carry through my voice. "Farewell my black balloon, the weather had it's way with you." I looked at our audience. Some were out in the yard, like Genkai and the boy my height. They were both seated at the table. But the duo was looking this way, clearly listening.

"Farewell my black balloon, the weather had it's way with you." My tone softened and I noticed Shizuru standing to my left with another cigarette in her mouth. The smoke swirling through the air. Kurama was in the grass in front of us a ways, his hands in his jean pockets. "Farewell my black balloon."

I ended the song and Keiko stood up, she smiled down at me before leaving for the yard. "Saki, that song was too sad. Couldn't you play something happy?"

Resting my guitar back against the wall, I sighed, "Does nothing please you, woman?" I grouched as I moved down the steps to the table.

She waved me off and left to take a seat at the table. Genkai sat at the head nearest the steps, then Kurama sat at her right. Yukina already had her seat on his right, and Kuwabara plopped down next to her, a grin on his face. I sat next to him. Shizuru sat next to Genkai on the opposite side while Keiko was next to her. Yusuke sat across from the orange top. That left me being face to face with Mr. Cherry-eyes.

The food consisted of things you would find at an American barbeque. "I wanted to try something different." Keiko had said. None of us were arguing. The hamburgers were delicious, I decided, as I took my second bite of the meat patty.

"So, Saki," I heard a gentle voice and I looked down the table at Kurama, "you're a friend of Keiko's?"

"I swallowed what food was in my mouth and wiped my face with my napkin before nodding. "We both attended Dai-ichi's School for Girls. We met during our first year in our shared algebra class."

"I'm surprised you remember," Keiko teased, "you always used that class as your nap time."

I felt myself flush and I looked away from her, "Way to put my business out there, Keiko." I muttered, feeling embarrassed at her comment.

There were chuckles shared around the table and everyone broke into their own conversations. When everyone was finished eating I helped the girls clean up the plates and garbage while Genkai left to go have a cup of tea in her sitting room and the guys hung out around in the courtyard. Yukina, to my dismay, shooed me out of the kitchen, claiming I was a guest and she didn't want to be impolite. I tried to sway her in her decision, but she stood firm and I left to go sit back outside.

When I went to go sit on the porch lip, Yusuke beckoned me to join him and his friends. Halfway down the steps, he asked me to bring my guitar. I felt my eyebrow twitch in annoyance when I finally sat down in the chair Genkai had been using.

I kept quiet mostly, listening as they told jokes. The only person who wasn't with us was the one who's name I didn't know. I turned in my seat and glanced back at the porch. He was leaning idly against the temple wall, his legs crossed ahead of him and his arms over his chest. He appeared to be sleeping, which I thought to be impossible for anyone with the girls coming back to us nosily. Shizuru was missing from the group with the excuse of spending some time with Genkai.

They all sat around or stood before Keiko suggested a game of badminton. I politely excused myself from their game, opting to watch instead. Kurama did the same, but agreed to be the referee. When Yusuke called over to a person named Hiei, I immediately put two and two together and realized it was red eyes.

"Hey! Saki!" Keiko called over from her side of the net with Yusuke.

"What is it?" I yelled back, my head turning to her. I had a perfect view of the game area and her holding onto her racket.

"If you're not going to participate, at least be useful and play us something." She replied while moving to her spot on the back side of the net.

I rolled my eyes and propped my feet up on the seat of the picnic table. "Your wish is my command." I called out sarcastically and saluted her. She, in a blaze of maturity, stuck her tongue out at me and went back to setting up.

I busied myself with fixing my guitars six strings. The tune went back in line and I moved the pick into my hand. Smirking to myself as I thought of the perfect song, I began to play.

"I used to love her, but I had to kill her. I used to love her, ohh yeah, but I had to kill her."I sang loudly and Keiko burst out in sputtering laughter while the others gave me odd looks. My smirk only grew as my eyes danced with mirth.

"I had to put her, six feet under." My eyes closed and I let my head rest back against the chair. "And I can still hear her complain."

"I used to love her, but I had to kill her. I used to love her, ohhh yeah, but I had to kill her." I sang out and locked eyes with my friend. "I knew I'd miss her, so I had to keep her." I heard a random shout of "What the fuck?" The laugh following said statement was obviously Yusuke's.

"Where is she, Saki?" I heard Keiko ask me in a yell that was thrown out through a crack of giggles.

A broad grin crossed my face, "She's buried right here in my back yard!" I held out the last syllable as I went into a little guitar solo, my foot tapping against the wood of the picnic table.

"I used to love her, but I had to kill her. I used to love her, but I had to kill her." I repeated, a smile on my face as I played and sang.

"She bitched so much. She drove me nuts. Now I'm happier this way-ay-ay-ay-ay!" I could hear Yusuke and Kuwabara cracking up and Kurama's laughter was covered by the sounds my guitar was throwing out. "Woah, yeah." Another solo started when my words faded.

"I used to love her, but I had to kill her. I used to love her, oh yeah, but I had to kill her." This was the final stanza of the song and I poured my heart into it. "I had to put her, six feet under." I paused and let my fingers move over the strings, "And I can still hear her complain!"

Keiko was still laughing when I finished, her hand wiping away tears as she sighed and told her friends to get ready for the game. I chuckled and closed my eyes, letting my fingers glide with ease as I relaxed.


Disclaimer & Author Notes:

The songs used in this chapter were Black balloon by The Kills and Used to Love Her by Guns 'N' Roses. I do not own these songs or anything of the sort.

The characters from the Yu Yu Hakusho cannon belong to Yoshihiro Togashi.

Last but not least, Saki belongs to me. She is my original character that was produced straight from my over active imagination.

I know, I know. This chapter wasn't very forthcoming with information either. Have faith though guys, the light at the end of this dim tunnel is near and you'll learn more about Saki and her upcoming...predicament. Ehehe.

I'd like to thank my only reviewer DreamsinShinto for the helpful advice.

And thanks to those of you who have fav'd or added this story to their watch list. I'm glad to know some people like it, at least a little.