A/N:

This is a disclaimer. I own nothing except for my characters! All other characters belong to the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho! Please do not repost this story without my permission.

Any constructive criticism is welcome. Tell me what you think.


Chapter 7: Saying Goodbye

I felt like I was laying on something soft and extremely comfy when I regained consciousness. It was completely different than the hard cold floor I had grown accustomed to. I was also warm since something soft was covering my body.

"When do you think she'll wake up Kurama?" I heard Kazuma ask as he broke the silence.

"I've been wondering the same thing. She's been out for four days." I heard Yusuke say.

"Her body went through a great deal of stress while she was poisoned. It will take her some time to recover after everything that has happened. She's lucky to be alive. If we hadn't shown up when we did, she wouldn't have made it. The poison, no matter how stubborn she is, was ready to kill her. It was in its final stages." Minamino said.

"How long is some time?"

"It depends on how much damage she sustained. The poison has probably done quite a bit of internal damage and according to Yukina-san she was also tortured extensively while at Tarukane's mansion. That's why her body was completely covered in bruises. A regular person would have died if they had been forced to go through what she has over the last five months."

Apparently, Kazuma must not have heard about it because he spoke out in disbelief.

"What?"

"They tortured her in order to make me cry..." Yukina said softly with guilt in her voice as I felt someone gently grab my right hand.

Yukina...

Kazuma wasn't the only one who didn't know. Yusuke suddenly spoke out with annoyance in his voice.

"Those bastards!"

"Yukina-san's healing abilities have helped tremendously but she'll still need some rest before she can make a complete recovery." Minamino said.

The room went silent again and I spoke softly as I slowly opened my eyes.

"There's no need for you to feel guilty Yukina. None of this was your fault."

I was in a fairly comfortable bed inside of a well lit bedroom. I turned my head a little and looked at Yukina as she stared at me with a surprised expression on her face. She was sitting on a wooden chair next to the bed I was laying on while holding my hand in both of hers. A gentle smile appeared on her lips as I gave one of her hands a reassuring squeeze.

"(Name)-san." she said with relief in her voice.

"Yo." I said with a tired smile on my lips.

To be honest, I half expected to see that I was still in the windowless room inside of Tarukane's mansion. It wasn't like I had been feeling well before this. The voices I was hearing and the warmth and comfort I was feeling could have been some figment of my imagination. However, now that my eyes were open I could see that all of it was real. The events that happened weren't just some dream I had thought up while I was asleep. Yukina and I really did make it out of there in one piece.

My eyes moved around the room and I caught sight of Yusuke and Kazuma while they stared up at me with relieved expressions on their faces. They were sitting on the floor in the center of the bedroom with playing cards in their hands. Minamino was leaning against the wall on the opposite end of the room near the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. There was also a look of relief on his face and a small smile on his lips while he looked at me. Hiei was also in the room but he wasn't next to anyone. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the side wall of the room. His facial expression didn't change and he simply looked at me with a neutral expression on his face.

"It's about time you woke up!" Yusuke said loudly.

I still felt a little tired after everything that has happened but compared to how I felt before, I was almost a hundred percent better. The bruises I previously had were nowhere to be seen and the pain I felt when I had fallen unconscious was nonexistent.

When I looked down at what I was wearing, I noticed that I had on a red sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of jean short shorts. I could feel that I had on a bra as well as panties and a blush appeared on my cheeks.

"All right, I want answers before I start kicking someone's ass! Who in the hell changed my clothes while I was asleep?!" I asked annoyed.

"Huh?" Yusuke and Kazuma asked as they blinked at me in confusion.

"It wasn't one of you two perverts was it?" I asked them as I cracked my knuckles.

"Perverts?!" Yusuke shouted.

"Yes." I said bluntly.

"Don't lump me in with this guy!" Kazuma shouted a little annoyed by the insult as he pointed at Yusuke.

"What was that?!" Yusuke shouted at him annoyed.

"No, it wasn't them. It was me (Name)-san." Yukina said softly.

I looked over at her and nodded my head before I sighed as I calmed back down. In a way, I wished that no one would have changed my clothes but if someone had to I was happy that it was Yukina. She wasn't the type to ask too many questions. The scars on my back would raise red flags for Atsuko, Yusuke, or Kazuma.

"So where are we?" I asked as I looked over at Yusuke.

"You're at my apartment, in my room." he said.

"Your apartment? You moved?" I asked.

"She finally woke up?" I heard the familiar voice of a woman ask as she walked into the room.

"Hello Urameshi-san." I said to her with a wave.

Atsuko Urameshi was a woman with chocolate brown eyes like Yusuke's and long medium brown hair that reached down to the middle of her back. She had bangs which were just above her eyebrows that were parted down the middle. Her outfit was a loose fitting orange three-fourths sleeved t-shirt, blue jeans, and white socks. She was twenty eight years old, around five foot eight, and she was also Yusuke's mother.

"You don't need to be so formal, just call me Atsuko like you did when you were younger." she said with a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" Kazuma asked.

"I'm fine, just a little tired that's all." I said as I looked over at him.

"We talked to your mother and told her that you were here." Yusuke said.

"What?" I asked him with a little surprise in my voice.

Great, the last thing I wanted was for them to talk to my mother.

"Kurama led us over to your apartment and we told her that you ended up in a situation."

"What kind of situation?" I asked wearily.

There's no way that she'd believe what really happened.

"We decided to leave that up to you." Minamino said.

"She didn't ask any questions?" I asked with an incredulous expression on my face.

"No. We just asked her if we could grab some clothes for you and she told us that we could." Kazuma said.

"She did seem like she was pretty angry though." Yusuke said.

I let out a groan and lied back down onto the bed.

"I'm sure she was." I said.

My mother is definitely going to kill me...

I spent the next few days inside of Yusuke's apartment recovering while he, Kazuma, Minamino, Hiei, Yukina, and Atsuko watched over me. It felt strange to be around so many people since I was used to being alone most of the time, with the exception of Yukina. Almost all of my time was spent sleeping, eating, or worrying about what was going to happen when I made it back to the apartment. I really didn't know how my mother was going to react and I hated to find out.

The strangest and most uncomfortable thing about the situation though was the fact I was around Yusuke, Kazuma, and Atsuko after such a long time. However, since I was recovering, I was forced to stay at Yusuke's place so I didn't really have much of a choice. I wasn't sure how to act around them. If they talked to me, I spoke but I kept my answers extremely short and gave very little information about my current life. The less they know the better. I wasn't exactly proud of the way I turned out.

Luckily, they didn't really ask too much about me. Yusuke and Kazuma were too busy rough housing and playing games or, in Kazuma's case, trying to impress Yukina. I had no idea when Kazuma and Yusuke actually became friends but, to be honest, it was a welcome change. When we were kids Kazuma would always try to pick a fight with Yusuke which would result in Yusuke easily beating the living crap out of him.

"(Name)-san?" Yukina asked me while I stared out of the window next to the bed I was in.

"Hm?" I asked as I looked over at her.

"I've decided to go back home now that you're all better."

"Back home?" I asked with a little surprise in my voice.

For some reason the thought of her going home never actually occurred to me.

"Yes. I haven't been home for five years."

"Where do you live?"

"I live in the Demon Realm on the Land of Glaciers."

"The Demon Realm?" I asked in confusion.

"It's not something you need to concern yourself with." Hiei said as he walked into the room along with the others.

It was the first time he had spoken to me since I woke up.

If it wasn't for Yukina I was pretty sure he wouldn't be here. There was no other reason why he would stay here to watch over me other than that, if he was even watching over me. It was possible he was only here to watch over Yukina. I was still a little curious about why he didn't want her to know who he was but whenever I would question it I would push the thought aside. It was something I knew I would never get the answer to. When Yukina left I knew I would never see him again.

His personality was quite different than his sisters. He kept his distance from the others most of the time. However, I could tell that he and Minamino had some sort of friendship. It seemed like it was the same with Yusuke as well. As for Kazuma, those two didn't really get along. It was a little ironic since Kazuma seemed to be extremely interested in his sister.

When no one else in the room offered an explanation about the Demon Realm, I nodded my head and didn't ask about it again. It didn't seem like any of them wanted me to know too much about it.

Deep down, I hated to see Yukina go but I didn't want to keep her. If she hadn't been home for five years I'm sure that she was probably missing it. There was no reason why she needed to stay here now that Tarukane wasn't after her. She was finally free to live her life.

"You guys don't mind if I come with you to see her off do you?" I asked.

Yukina and I looked at Yusuke, Kazuma, Minamino, and Hiei and I could tell that they were hesitant to let me come.

"Please?" Yukina asked them.

"...Fine." Yusuke said after a few moments.

"Thanks." I said to Yusuke with a grateful expression on my face.

The next day Yusuke, Kazuma, Hiei, Yukina, and I left the apartment to take her back home. When we reached our destination, I knew without a benefit of a doubt that I would never see her again. Just to get here we had to go through some strange entrance in the floor of a nearby building.

Snow came down from the dark clouds in the sky as we stood inside of a large clearing in the middle of a thick forest near the base of a mountain. The wind blew my hair around and I was grateful that Atsuko let me borrow a black long sleeved t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Have a safe trip Yukina." I said to her as we hugged each other.

"Yes. Thank you for everything." she said softly.

We let go of each other and I nodded my head with a gentle look on my face as I gave her a soft smile.

"Goodbye (Name)-san." she said as she bowed to me.

"Goodbye Yukina." I said softly.

I watched her with a heavy heart as she turned around and then she took her first step forward. Each step she took made my urge to try to stop her stronger but I resisted it. If she wanted to go home I couldn't stop her. I didn't have the right to especially not after everything she's done for me. She unknowingly made my life have some sort of meaning.

Kazuma suddenly ran forward and I looked at him in surprise.

"Wait!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he called out to her.

Yukina stopped walking but didn't turn around to face him. When he was only a little ways away from her, he stopped running and took a single step forward before he spoke.

"You're going no matter what?" he asked sounding almost heartbroken.

"The Ice Maidens have a practice of not living outside of the Land of Glaciers." she said.

So I really won't be seeing her again after all... I already knew it but she only just confirmed it.

She turned around and looked at him with a sad smile on her face.

"Thank you, Kazuma-san. Really..."

She turned her head to the side and looked down at the snow covered ground in sadness as all of us watched her. After a few moments, she turned her back to us and began to walk towards the mountain once again. Kazuma took a final step forward and reached out to her in one last attempt to stop her as all of us watched her walk away.

Somehow I was already starting to feel lonely even though I could still see her.

"Are you going to let her go like this? You're sure you're okay with not telling her you're her brother?" Yusuke asked Hiei softly.

"Yukina doesn't know me. There's no need for her to know me from here on, either. We had different mothers in the first place." Hiei said softly.

"Still, you searched so long for her, right?" Yusuke asked as we looked over at Hiei.

"I'm a man who was once on the Spirit Realm's wanted list. Do you think she would be delighted to know that she had a brother like that? I'll be fine just watching over her from the shadows."

I see. So that's why he doesn't want her to know...

He closed his eyes and bowed his head a little before I noticed something glow red at the center of his forehead underneath his headband.

"Did you, by any chance, get that Jagan just to find her?" Yusuke asked.

"Nonsense." he said before he turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction as Yukina.

As I watched Hiei walk away from us, I spoke softly.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he did. If there's one thing I can tell, it's that he cares for her and he probably would have done anything to find her. That's the way siblings are. However, I don't know why he would lie about it if he really did get this Jagan thing to find her."

Yusuke looked over at me and then spoke.

"Speaking of siblings, what about Sora? Where is he? I'm surprised that he didn't visit you."

My eyes widened in surprise due to the sudden mention of my brother before I quickly masked it with a neutral expression. I just shrugged and then decided to follow after Hiei without responding.

"Hey!" Yusuke said.

I knew he wouldn't be satisfied unless I gave him an answer and stopped walking as I spoke without looking at him.

"He hasn't been around."

Kazuma seemed like he was in a daze as we headed back to the Human Realm. It was obvious that he was heartbroken by the fact Yukina left. I couldn't say that I blamed him, I wasn't affected in quite the same way as him but it definitely hurt to see her go.

We were all completely silent as we walked on the snow covered ground until we reached the Human Realm. Hiei quickly parted ways with us now that Yukina was safe and back where she belonged. When Yusuke, Kazuma, and I made it back to Yusuke's place I changed into my jean short shorts and purple sleeveless t-shirt before I decided that it was time for me to part ways with Yusuke and Kazuma as well. The mere mention of Sora was more than enough reason to leave. Besides, I was better now. There was no reason for me to stay here.

"This time try to keep in touch will you?" Yusuke said as I put on my sneakers when I was ready to leave his apartment.

"Yeah. If you don't, we'll go to your apartment and bang on the door until you let us in. Thanks to Kurama we know where you live now." Kazuma said seriously.

I cracked a fake smile and turned around to face them with my right hand behind my back as I crossed my fingers.

"I'll see what I can do. This place isn't exactly close to Mushiyori City you know." I said.

"Try." Yusuke said.

"The same goes for Sora. He also better make sure to talk to us." Kazuma said.

"I'll see what I can do." I lied again with my fingers still crossed behind my back.

As I uncrossed my fingers, I turned my back to the two boys and then gave them a final wave.

"Bye." I said as I opened the door and walked out of the apartment.

I had no intention of ever seeing them again. It wasn't that I had a problem with them. In fact, they were both pretty likeable just like they were when we were kids. I just didn't feel comfortable being around them for various reasons.

I looked around on my way to the train station and a feeling of nostalgia took over me. The area was one where I had grown up as a child with Yusuke, Kazuma, and my brother Sora. It was bittersweet and left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't bother to stop anywhere and headed to the train station as fast as I could to get away from the area.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon and the sky had turned dark by the time I finally made it back to Mushiyori City. There were still bug demons flying around all over the place and I made sure not to be bitten by any of them as I walked down the sidewalk. I didn't need to be poisoned again.

A part of me felt apprehensive about going to the apartment so I wandered around town for a little while until I was sure my mother wouldn't be there. I had no doubt in my mind she would talk to me if we bumped into each other. That's something I wanted to avoid at all costs. If I could, I would never go back there but unfortunately I didn't have that option. There wasn't a good enough reason to substantiate not going back now that Yukina was safe.

The door was shut like it was supposed to be when I made it to the apartment. I noticed that the bullet holes were missing and the door was new. Even the bullet holes in the opposite wall had been patched. It was as if the incident never happened.

I stared at the door in apprehension hoping that my mother hadn't decided to stay longer than usual. She usually never stayed this late. It was already eleven.

With that thought in mind, I went to grab my keys before I realized that I didn't have them.

"Son of a...!" I shouted out in annoyance.

When the older Toguro destroyed my clothes I had also lost my keys in the process.

A groan escaped my lips before I headed down to the bottom floor and made my way over to the apartment manager's room. I knocked on his door a few times before an older man opened the door.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't have a key to the apartment my mother and I are living in."

"Which apartment are you?"

I answered his question before I followed him to his office. He took the key off of the hook and then we headed up the stairs. We have been living here for a long time so I was lucky enough that he knew who I was.

After he unlocked it and opened the door for me, I thanked him profusely and he headed back to his room for the night. When I walked into the dark apartment, I turned on the light and looked around. The living room was completely empty and the apartment was silent. A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I realized I was the only one here. The thought also made a frown appear on my lips as I shut the door. Yukina also wasn't here. I was back to my usual life once again...