Mashin: Hey Yo! This is an update, and something you would probably call a filler…. The Kag/Deidara is coming soon, I swear! I just want another break from Naruto for a while. Hey, a Naruto fan can take a break too!
Naruto: That's what you said before.
Mashin: Naruto, get your butt moving before I kick it.
Yusuke: …..Okay. Who are you pairing up this time?
Mashin: You and Kagome.
Hikaru: This is something I've gotta see.
Sakura: …I'll start the chapter:
Title: Fight to Preserve
Pairing: Yusuke and Kagome
Summary: After being stuck in Modern Tokyo for a year, Kagome decides to get some training in hand-to-hand combat. But after an unlikely saviour saves her from a gang attack, she wonders if this just might be the guy to help her move on.
Song:None.
Notes: Any complaints about me tweaking Kagome's personality like this, and I swear Ibiki will get one more scar on his head. One more complaint about crossovers and I'm gonna rip out someone's throat. One more comment about Kagome or characters used and I'm gonna kill something. One more sexist comment from a guy, and I will castrate them and send them to Hell.
Yusuke will talk in Underline/Italic and Kagome will talk in Italic.
Ibiki: Mashin owns nothing. Kagome belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and Yusuke belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Anything else mentioned belongs to their respective owners. Please don't castrate me.
Many thought that Street fighting wasn't hard. You just kick, punch, and attack.
WRONG!
For Yusuke, it was like a dance. A dance of violence and dodging hidden weapons your opponent has. But a dance, notherless. It looked simple and non-effective, but it was the polar opposite of that. It was like a dance imprinted into your memory on your day of birth. Everyone knew a little of it, but never took the chance to improve on it.
Dodging a roundhouse kick aimed at his head, he elbowed the offender in the neck as he fell unconscious. His usually gelled-up hair was down and floppy from the rain, and his white muscle shirt was soaked to the bone with the water from the heavens. Cleaning the dust off his wet jeans that hugged his legs, he turned toward the young girl on the ground hear a garbage can, his feet a few centimeters away from her head, her head that he could easily crush.
Her face was scrunched together in pain as the blood fell from the wound on her head, along with the others on her. Her school uniform was torn from pocketknives and the flimsy dagger that she had picked up from a fallen thug was broken, split in half.
Sighing, he picked up the unconscious girl-watching the wounds she had- and took her to his place. For some reason, his instincts were telling him to not tell anyone about her-not even Hiei.
It had been 2 weeks. 2 weeks of living hell.
When the girl had woken up, she had just stared at him weirdly, and then opened the window and look like she was trying to fall out the window. He had started panicking, until he realized the screen on the window was still on. Then he had mentally smacked his head for being a dimwit.
When his beating heart had finally calmed down enough for him to ask her what she was doing, her head was already out the window with the screen gone. Apparently, she was looking for something/one. Giving up, she had looked at him again and told him 'You saw nothing'. Then disappear! Disappear, for Kami's sake! Disappear!
He had traced her energy to a shrine, apparently her family shrine. He had heard people call her 'Kagome', so that's what he had thought her name was. He had hidden in the leaves of a giant tree on the shrine grounds and watched as Kagome had raced into the house and picked up another dagger from her room, changed into fighting clothes-and mind you, he had turned around-, and raced back out, only to pick up a bow and shoot it at him, only missing his head by centimeters! Centimeters!
Then she had the nerve to order him to come out, still pointing an arrow at him! Well, of course he had come out. He still wanted to live, and he would rather live with all his limbs and appendages, thank you very much.
After seeing that he wasn't a threat, she had lowered the bow and thanked him. God, it's been around 2 hours after she wakes up, and she decides to thank him then?! She was pretty twisted.
And right after he was going to ask why thugs had attacked her, a demon decides to come along. A SLUG DEMON!
Kagome had hidden behind him and shot an arrow at it. And poof! It turned to dust!
I was pretty shocked at this. 1) How'd she do that? And 2) Why the hell had she used him as a shield from a low-level slug demon?
Then she told me she was scared of bugs and insects…but she hated worms and slugs the most. And she had told me that she was a miko. I had to ask Kurama about that later.
And you know what Kurama had said? That mikos were people TRAINED TO KILL DEMONS! And when I told him about her, he was just pure silent! In shock! What the hell shocks Kurama?
And here he was, 2 weeks later, and watching over Kagome as she played with little kids around the Goshibinki, as he later learned. It seemed to calm and soothe the souls of people around it. And that girl seemed to have a connection to it.
Kagome was someone who puzzled him to no end.
It was Saturday, and Yusuke and Kagome were resting in the God tree's shade, finished with around 2 hours of practicing street fighting. Yusuke was holding a can of pop, while Kagome was chugging down her bottle of water.
"Ne, Yusuke-kun?"
"Yes Kagome-chan?"
It took a while for Kagome to start talking. Her eyes were focused on the ground in front of her feet, and her smile had turned into a slight frown. Something was bothering her. "H-have you ever… fell in love?"
Yusuke's startled eyes had looked at her. He was expecting something about his job as a Reikai Tantei, but not a question about his love life.
It still hurt for him to say it, but she had asked, so he would answer.
"I did. I-I once fell in love. But that love wasn't what I thought it was."
Noticing Kagome's curiosity in her eyes, he managed to continue without breaking down. After all, it had only been about a month, and he didn't have time to cope with it.
"I…fell in love with my childhood friend… She was really special to me…she's the one who helped bring me to life…"
He noticed another unasked question in her eyes, but decided to ignore it and instead go on with talking about her. The one who had ripped out his heart and stepped on it.
"She was always in danger… telling me to stop fighting demons… so she and me could live peacefully and wonderful…but something happened."
Kagome's hand had brushed against Yusuke's, and again, he had felt the sudden jolt of electricity. It sent butterflies down his stomach, and he paused for a minute to let the feeling pass. It was the same feeling he had felt when she was near him. Did this mean that he was moving on already?
"She slowly grew out of love with me… and I left her for about 3 years…. to train and control the demon blood in me…so I wouldn't hurt anyone close to me… But she took that the wrong way."
Squeezing his hand, Kagome's frown turned deeper, and her eyes seemed to tell what he mouth couldn't. 'Continue, I'm listening. Don't worry, you can get through this.'
Swallowing the lump growing in his suddenly dry throat, he licked his lips and continued.
"I came back after 3 years…and she was there, waiting for me. It was really wonderful. For the first month, we were inseparable. Then, little by little…I found that love disappearing…
"Over the next 3 months… she became distant, like I was barely there. Most of our anger turned into arguments, even though they had nothing to do with each other. I don't know what was going on… It felt like the love I felt for her was quickly evaporating. Like she wasn't who I thought she was."
Kagome had leaned closer to Yusuke, and wrapped her arms around him. "It felt like nothing happened anymore between you two, didn't it? Like she was just a friend, or less maybe… You didn't know what was going on, did you? You kept convincing yourself you were in love, but you didn't feel that way…am I right?"
"Yeah. You're right." That was the only think he had said as he looked at her, clear salty tears threatening to fall down his cheeks and leave a blazing trail of warm water.
"Go on, don't worry. Nobody else is going to hear, and you can stop if you want."
But he needed this. He needed to tell someone, release all the pent-up frustration and emotions raging inside him. You don't need miko powers to see that he was struggling with coming to terms with whatever happened. A blind man could see that.
"About 4 months after I noticed that things were breaking about, she came up to me right after a mission for my job. She…she had come up and given me back my engagement ring…said she didn't love me as she thought she had, and walked off. I went in her direction to the park…I saw her kissing another guy, someone who … God, I felt like shit."
The tears came freely, and he held his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with every breath he inhaled and exhaled. Kagome merely tightened her grip on him and made soothing circles on his back, feeling his tightened muscles under her hands. He was crying, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
"She left me for a normal human… I should have seen it coming, she was always asking me to skip a mission just once for her…and I never listened…God that sucks. The guy had attacked me, saying I was a disgrace to the school… It hurt, that she was going out with him behind me…when I went through all that for nothing… It made me feel that I was nothing, that if I died, nobody would mind…
But I had been through that before, I didn't want to go through it again, I was going to have to feel the guilt and pain everyone felt… and it would have hurt even more, because I have more comrades and friends than when I died the first time. And I'm pretty sure Koenma would have just revived me again so the gang could kill me themselves."
Slightly smiling at how he had managed to slip in a joke at a sad story, her grip loosened a little as she hugged him again. "Do you feel better now?"
Pretending to think for a while, he put a finger on his chin. His eyes were still red with tears, and the lines of tears had lessened, but they were still there. They clashed with the goofy smile he was wearing. "To tell the truth, yes. Did you know this would happen?"
Kagome had smiled, and laughed as she had thrown her head back and released him for a second to cover her mouth. "Yes. I had found that you need to release pent-up emotions before they really cloud your judgment and make you do something regrettable and stupid."
Chuckling, Yusuke had slung an arm around her shoulders. In a moment, his expression turned to seriousness and sorrow again. "What about you? Did you tell anybody about you?"
He slightly scowled when she had put on an innocent look. "Don't look at me like that. There's a reason why you were able to sympathize with me, and it wasn't instincts. It was experience."
Kagome gave a hollow laugh as she snuggled into Yusuke's arm. "You're sharp. Yes, I have told somebody. But I didn't tell them all of it. That's what bugs me."
"Then tell me, say the whole thing. I bet you I won't shun you, and I'll listen through the whole thing."
She had not sensed a bit of humor in that, even though it seemed like that. So she started telling him her life story, the story on why she was still here in Modern Tokyo instead of in Feudal Japan.
"I had fallen in love…ever since I started time-traveling. He was brash, yet nice at the same time. Like you, but you're more extreme on both the brashness and the kindness."
Yusuke scoffed at the comment. "No more fake comments 'bout me."
"Who said I was faking it?"
Coughing on imaginary water, he thumped his chest with his fist until his coughing died down. "You didn't mean that, did you Kagome-chan?"
"I did. Now are you going to keep interrupting me? As happy as that sounds, I want to get this over with."
"Err, carry on 'Oh Mighty lady of the lands'."
Kagome threw back her head and laughed again. "Now you're joking."
"Who said I was joking?"
She turned around to see Yusuke giving her the innocent look. You know, the ones your younger sibling/child gives when they know they've done something bad.
"Nice try. That look doesn't suit you."
"Aw, Kagome-chan! Are you saying that I'm not innocent and nice?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Yusuke faked a pout, and instantly got on his feet and faced the well house, his shoulders straight and standing in front of Kagome.
"What's going on?"
"Something's coming out of the well."
Upon hearing this, Kagome got herself up and stood right behind Yusuke, putting a hand on his shoulder, which was stiff as hell. She straightened her back and they waited for whatever was in there to come out.
And speak of the devil, it did.
The first thing Yusuke saw was red and white. After a second glance, he was dog-ears, but they looked like cat ears. The next thing he saw were amber eyes and a scowl on the demon's face. Well, half demon, since he could sense the human in him.
Kagome's hand tightened on his shoulder as she pressed herself closer to Yusuke, as if she could somehow merge with him and not be there.
"Wench!"
Kagome hid her face in between Yusuke's shoulder blades, and he felt the tears through the muscle shirt. She was crying, and he was the cause of it. That was enough information for him.
Stepping forward, but still keeping Kagome out of sight, Yusuke decided that he would confront the half-demon before he started any fights on Kagome's shrine.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Yup, confrontation instead of fighting.
"I got business with the girl behind you. So step aside, and I won't beat the crap out of your skull."
His aura flared at the way the half-demon insulted him, and Kagome. He should probably just beat him there. But then again, this was Kagome's shine.
"I'm not moving."
The hanyou flexed his claws. "Then I'll make you."
Suddenly, his feet left the ground, and Yusuke quickly looked up to see the hanyou coming towards him with his claws raised and ready to slice right through him.
"Osuwari!"
A bang was heard as the hanyou fell face-first into the ground right in front of Yusuke, said boy taking a step back to avoid touching him.
It took a few moments for the hanyou to get himself up and off the ground. "Wench, what was that for?!"
"Osuwari!"
Again, the hanyou met ground.
Turning around, Yusuke saw Kagome glaring at the hanyou, her face red with anger and her eyes puffy with tears. Her hair was a little messed up from hiding herself in his back, and her anger and sorrow was rolling off her in waves.
"What was that for?!"
Yusuke was ready to bash the guy's skull to Makai and back, but was shoved aside as Kagome rushed forward and enveloped the hanyou in a bone-crushing hug.
"Baka! Baka, baka, baka!"
To say the least, the two men were stunned. What was she doing, face planting the guy, and then hugging him the next moment?
"K-Kagome-chan?"
"Baka! Why didn't you come earlier?! What happened to you all? I hear nothing from you all for a year, and you decide to come now?!"
Instantly realizing it was about her time-traveling, Yusuke slowly and quietly moved away so the two could talk, but he left with a slightly saddened frown on his face and slouched shoulders.
Yusuke Urameshi had fallen in love, and he wasn't even sure if the one he loved loved him back.
20 minutes after the hanyou had shown up, Yusuke felt someone wrap his or her arms around his wait, holding onto him like he was a lifeline.
Turning around, he put his glass of water on the counter and hugged Kagome back. "What's wrong Kagome-chan?"
All he got back was a muffled 'Nothing'.
Sighing and plopping down on the couch right behind him, he put his legs on the armrest while Kagome took his head into her lap, stroking his hair while the two watched the news.
"So who was he?"
"Old friend. Remember what I was trying to tell you before you interrupted with your nice comments?"
"Yes. Your first love. Let me guess, that was him?"
"Right on the dot Yusuke."
"He is nothing like me-"
"Except for the fact he cares deeply for friends, has been betrayed by a former love, and has gone through adventures that would normally kill a human being."
"…"
"Got you there."
"How are you so easy to talk about him now?"
Kagome sighed, and stopped running her fingers through his hair, which he inwardly groaned at. She got into the same position as Yusuke, except on the opposite side, which made them face each other when talking.
"You've had about less than a year, I've had 2 years to think this over. Well, 3 because of the year they were away. And most of that was spent with distractions and some peace. And I've felt it repeatedly, so that's why I'm practically immune to it. Besides, about last year, I realized that he wouldn't return it, so I stopped."
Yusuke looked at her life she had just announced that she was pregnant with Toguro's son. "…How the hell does someone get immune to that? That's inhuman!"
Kagome just shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know. It just happened so much, I stopped felling sad about it. Besides, I had my friends Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo to help me. Not to mention Kaede!"
Yusuke just continued to look at her. "Wow. You had a lot of friends to help you out."
"Yeah, but you've got friends too, remember?"
Yusuke nodded. He did have friends, and they were trustworthy with their lives. They could also sympathize, with what every member went through.
"Yeah. Yeah, I got friends."
"Then you must know how hard yet easy it was for you to cope with it. And even if you are still coping with it, it's easier that it would be if you didn't have friends."
Again, Yusuke nodded, memories flashing for a moment for two in his mind's eye. Flashes of Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara and him fighting as a team. Yeah, it was easier.
"Yeah."
"Glad to see you can relate to me."
"But that doesn't explain about the hanyou."
"Inuyasha… I loved him, loved him like a lovesick puppy. But when my incarnation was revived as a living dead… he stopped paying attention to me as much and snuck off with Kikyou behind my back. It really hurt in the first few times… But when he told me straight out that we couldn't be together, because his heart still remained with Kikyou, no matter what… It made me feel at peace, like I had nothing to worry about. My heart was finally able to rest…"
Yusuke looked at her through half-closed eyelids. He had never felt like that, but he wondered what it felt like. It sounded wonderful, a escape from reality. Something he needed.
Getting up, Kagome brushed her fingers through Yusuke's hair again, earning a soft purr. Wow. Who knew he could purr.
"You must be tired. I'll set up a bed, just call Atsuko-san before you go to sleep."
Mumbling a 'Kay', Yusuke got up slightly and picked up the portable phone while Kagome left to get an extra blanket and pillow from her room.
Opening the door to her room, she quickly rushed in and slammed the door shut as if someone was behind it. She leaned against it for support as she held the bridge of her nose softly. Her heart started pounding in her chest and her legs were about to give way until she threw herself on the bed in the corner.
She fairly opened her foggy eyes, and closed them a moment later. Her hand reached up above her to pick up a picture frame.
Holding it above her head, her eyes skimmed quickly over every figure in the photo, finally landing on Inuyasha in the center.
"Mou, I miss them…"
The well had stopped working for her last year, so she accepted it and moved on. But she never knew that Inuyasha could get through.
But what was this feeling? The feeling she usually got from Inuyasha, she got from Yusuke. It made her feel wanted, and warm. But it made her feel safe.
Clenching her heart again, she got up and picked up the spare blanket and a pillow from her bed. Opening the door, she looked back to the window before shaking her head and leaving, closing the door as if closing the door on her past.
Am I falling in love? Again?
Yusuke smiled as he took the blanket and pillow from Kagome's hands, letting their fingers briefly touch as he moved away. He didn't miss the slight blush on Kagome's face, or the way her fingers trembled after that.
"Ano, will you be okay Yusuke-kun?"
"I'll be fine Kagome-chan. G'night."
Nodding, Kagome smiled and patted his head, turning around and walking up to the stairs. But she stopped as Yusuke's voice called out into the silent air between them.
"Ne, Kagome-chan?"
Turning around, she looked at Yusuke, holding the blanket and putting the pillow on the couch. Their eyes met as she slightly gasped. Electricity coursed through her veins as her heartbeat increased.
"Yes, Yusuke-kun?"
"Do you love that guy, Inuyasha?"
Instead of the normal reaction, which would have been asking Yusuke why he asked that, Kagome merely smiled softly to him. A smile only he could see.
"No Yusuke-kun. I love someone else. But do you still love her, Keiko-chan?"
Yusuke looked at Kagome, offering a similar smile. A smile of heartbreak and love.
"No Kagome-chan, I love someone else."
Satisfied with the answer, the two stared at each other once more before Kagome cleared her throat, her face pure red and her legs ready to turn to jelly. "Ano, I should be going to sleep. Good night Yusuke-kun."
Startled, Yusuke got jumbled with his words. "Err, Good night Kagome-chan."
Smiling again, Kagome turned around and started going up the stairs, until she was interrupted again. She turned around to see Yusuke facing the window with his face pure red.
"Err, if you won't mind…do ya want to go out with me tomorrow? For lunch?"
She giggled at the sight Yusuke made. Yusuke –plus- ruffled hair –plus- blushing face -equaled- cute and kawaii.
"Sure Yusuke-kun. I'd like that."
And with that, she went up the stairs and into her room, but not without hearing Yusuke do a victory dance.
"Men."
Mashin: There was originally going to be a song added, but I thought that would take away…probably like the other one shots I write.
This is posted for Christmas, but it's not a Christmas-based one shot…weird.
Anyways, I'll get working on the Kagome/Deidara soon… Just gotta pick up from where I left off…. All my ideas are for future chapters…DAMN YOU SCIENCE!
Well, review and tell me what you think. Requests will be open around chapter 10 or so….
-Mashin.
