JJ - Good point. If you read back a couple of chapters, you see that when Keitaro rewinds time, he backtracks where he has walked, talked, eaten etc. So when he has travelled back in time, you see that he has just followed his footsteps all the way back to then, as well as bringing back his knowledge of everything along with his Ki abilities. Then you will probably ask why Yoko and Keitaro didn't move in reverse while they were together. I guess that bringing back Yoko as well meant that they were spared the annoyance of doing everything in reverse lol I didn't really put that much thought into that part. Anyway, just clearing up things.

Before everyone starts sending me alert emails, I know the characters may be OOC. Not to worry. I will fix it during the story. I.E. They will go back to their normal, aggressive, assertive selves. Just read with an open mind I guess.

My own nothing.

Chapter 9

He saw the fist aiming for his best friend. He knew that Yoko would not be able to survive a hit like that. Eyes blazing, he jumped the gap of a metre and a half in under a second. Just in time too. He felt the fist connect with his jaw bone. A snap echoed through his ears as he felt his jaw loosen off dew to the joint disintegrating. He felt his face fold slightly around the knuckles, cheek bone and upper jaw cracking under the pressure. And then it was gone as he shot towards the roof. At only halfway there, the gashes and compound fractures all across the left side of his face had healed. He looked up as the roof quickly came closer. Closing his eyes, he waited to smash through it. But something different happened this time. A blistering pain exploded outwards from his heart just before everything turned black.

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A large piece of wood stuck out at an odd angle. A viscous red liquid lazily dripped off its splintered end. The stud creaked under the weight that was hanging off it. A dead weight to be frank. This was because this large piece of wood was protruding from the left side of Keitaro's chest, just slightly off centre, more or less where his heart is located. His head hung forward limply, no life apparent in his flaccid body.

'…What have I done…'

Naru did nothing but stare. The huge splinter that stuck out of Keitaro's chest was more like something you find in horrible nightmares. But this time everyone was awake.

Everything seemed to slow down as Keitaro's blood lubed up the beam. With less resistance holding his body there, it began sliding forward slowly. Disgusting sounds of splinters breaking off inside the wound sounded out quietly while with his broken ribs scraped along the wood. As his body neared the end of the stud, it began leaning forward as the centre of gravity shifted. In one final sickly pop, Keitaro's body detached itself from the wood. He fell the four or so meters to the ground, landing heavily on his neck. A deathly snap sounded out, filling the room with its echo. And for a few seconds after that, no one moved.

"What have you done…"

Yoko moved first. Hesitantly, he crawled towards Keitaro's fallen body. Looking into his blank eyes, Yoko waved a hand in front of them.

Nothing.

He took his wrist up in two fingers.

No pulse.

Laying the limp arm back down by Keitaro's side, Yoko began to clench and unclench his hands.

"Why did you do that?"

Yoko waited a bit. Hearing nothing, he turned to face the attacker, eyes hidden under his bangs.

"Well?"

Naru's eyes were glazed over as she stared up at the spot where her manager had been hanging. Hearing Yoko's voice, she looked down.

"Huh?"

He stood up quickly. His eyes flashed and his knuckles popped under the strain of his grip. Storming up to Naru, he glared at her in the eye, tears running free.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT? HUH? WHAT DID HE DO TO DESERVE THAT? WHAT DID EITHER OF US DO TO WARRANT THAT?"

Naru backed up a few steps. "I…I didn't mean to…it was that you and him were being perve…"

Normally Motoko stepped in at times like this but the shear brutality of what had just happened even had her staring off into space. Not even the dull thud of fist meeting stomach made her flinch. Naru on the other hand doubled up in pain, clutching her abdomen. Yoko's eyes flashed in rage as the girl before him dropped to her knees coughing. Grabbing her shirt, he pulled the fearful girl up to look him in the eyes. Raising another fist, Yoko whispered something only Naru could hear.

"We did nothing to you. I don't even know you and you try to kill me. You succeeded in killing something but I guess he wasn't on your list…at the moment anyway. Well, I hope you can feel his pain because if you weren't a girl, I'd have you as close as possible now. So you'll just have to do with a reminder to keep you going on without him."

Raising the fist higher, he began to bring it down into the terrified girl's stomach.

His ears twitched and the fist stopped a mere inch from its target. Turning slowly, Yoko looked over his shoulder in a mixture of horror and hope. And then he heard it again. A sickly wet voice sounding like it was speaking through syrup.

"StopitYoko…"

Dropping his quarry, he left the girl slumped down on her knees as he made his way back to Keitaro's corpse. Kneeling down beside it he lowered an ear to Keitaro's mouth. A soft gush tickled his ear.

"Impossible…"

Again the little breath of air traced its way over the sensitive skin. Kneeling back, Yoko stared at his dead friend for a second in amazement. Taking his wrist up again, he felt for something. Anything. And he found it.

Turning around quickly, he looked up at the three girls. "OI! Keitaro's not dead! I don't know how but he is alive! Quickly, get the emergency services here! PLEASE!"

When no one moved, Yoko clicked his fingers a few times. The young foreigner looked down at him.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? KEITARO NEEDS AN MEDICAL ASSISTANCE NOW! GET THEM HERE NOW!"

Nodding once, the girl took a few slow steps and a lingering glance at Keitaro before running into the opposite room. Turning away from her retreating form, Yoko turned his attention back to the young man in front of him. Not sure of what to do, Yoko just looked on helplessly as more blood seeped out of the puncture wound.

Naru charged up beside Yoko. She gave him a hefty shove and knocked him out of the road. Looking down into Keitaro's pale face, small tears landed on his cheeks.

'Please come back Keitaro! I never meant to hurt you like that…please forgive me…'

Yoko looked over at the distraught girl. As much as he detested her being as close to his wounded friend, he severely doubted he could shift her at the moment.

Motoko walked up behind Yoko. Though she had been a swordswoman all her life, she had never seen a dead person. Heard the stories of how people had died, seen them in her dreams but never had actually seen one in reality. But now before her lay her manager and if stretched far enough, friend, apparently dead.

The tiny flutter of a pulse under Keitaro's skin was still there. And it was getting stronger. Sitting back, Yoko watched on in wonder as colour returned to his friends face. His back nudged against a strong leg. Looking up, he saw the crazy girl attacking him before. But this time, she looked like Keitaro had when he had completely lost all hope, back in his original time. Sympathising with her, he motioned for her to sit. She did so and then just sat, staring at the body before her. Turning back to the body, they just sat, watching. And it was then that the miracle began.

Keitaro let out a deep sigh as something inside him clicked. Through the hole in his chest, Motoko and Yoko could see a completely wrecked lung begin to breath again. Its torn edges quickly began to sue up together until it was back to pristine condition. Muscles and tendons began streaking across the gap as ribs began to crack and seal, restoring themselves back to normal. Motoko's jaw dropped as she watched this. Looking up to Yoko, she saw him just as gob smacked as her. Looking back down to Keitaro, she covered her mouth in a soft gasp.

His chest was now whole again, save for there being absolutely no skin covering the pulsating red muscle lying underneath. Keitaro twitched and spasmed like his body was rebooting. In a final intake of breath, long tendrils of skin darted across the muscle, covering the wound in seconds. Motoko and Yoko stared on, gaping as the now fully recovered manager lay there sleeping soundly. Yoko fell back, mentally exhausted. Staring up at the roof, he heard a soft voice begin to whisper.

"This…this is incredible. In all my short years as a samurai I have never heard of someone actually recovering from death. I had thought it could have been a demon but there is no taints in his Ki. My sister has never said anything about something like this. Neither have my parents. I…I have absolutely no idea how he has accomplished this. It is truly a miracle."

Yoko nodded. "Ya ha. He told me his was immortal but I never actually thought he could survive something like this…"

In an instant Motoko was up, shaking in fear, sword drawn. She eyed up Yoko down her blades edge, clearly shaken. Yoko scooted back up against the wall in fear.

"Y-you entered my mind. How did you do it?"

Yoko held up his hands as the blade came ever closer to his neck. "I-it's the 6th s-sense! I sware!"

Motoko snorted, clearly unbelieving. "No, this is some sort of demon work. You must have been trying to gain entrance into my mind! You nearly succeeded but now I will send you back to hell!"

Yoko screamed and curled up in a ball. Motoko's eyes gleamed and she swung down. A loud crack echoed out and Yoko twitched. 'I didn't feel anything…am I dead this time?'

Looking up, he saw Motoko's sword quivering in the air, like it was being pushed against something. Looking up past that, Yoko's eyebrows raised as he saw her face. Motoko was looking absolutely horrified. Her pupils were massively dilated and her face twitched from time to time in fear. It almost looked like she was hearing a voice…Yoko looked over at Keitaro. The boys eyes were shut but he was tensed up. Looking back up at Motoko, he could more or less guess what Keitaro was doing.

"He speaks the truth Motoko. This is the 6th sense."

The young girls eyes drooped. Her poor mind had been exposed to too much information in too short a time. Dropping to her knees, she wobbled around a bit. Her eyes fully clouded over and she went down. Nearing the floor, her limp form was caught by Naru. Looking up, she glared the boy in front of her with fear and anger. Not yet ready to tackle him again just yet, she lifted Motoko up and began dragging her towards the stairs. As she pulled the samurai up the stairs a soft voice wafted down to Yoko's ears.

"Watch your back pervert. I will be back for Keitaro soon."

Sitting up, Yoko watched them go. Shaking his head, he ignored what she said and ran over to Keitaro. Kneeling down beside his friend, he pushed him.

"Yo man, you can open your eyes now. Their all gone."

Keitaro's eyes twitched a bit before opening. Looking up, he saw Yoko's relieved eyes looking back down.

"You gave us all quite a scare there mate."

Keitaro just nodded and pulled himself up. He rested his back against the wall and breathed deeply. Sighing he turned to Yoko.

"Yea. But this time I was actually unconscious for the whole healing thing. Thankful for that too because just before I blacked out, the most exquisite pain erupted through my chest."

Yoko nodded sarcastically. "Yea, you'd get that when you get impaled on a support beam in the ceiling."

"Huh?"

Looking up behind him, Keitaro glanced at the roof. Thankfully there wasn't a complete hole through the roof. Just a few splintered supports and…blood? Squinting, Keitaro took a closer look. The main support beam had been broken in half and was soaked with blood. He raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, now I'm really glad I passed out. That would have been agony!"

Just then Su came bounding in, a mixture of concern and excitement. Seeing her most favouritist manager in the whole wide world sitting up apparently all healed up, she attacked.

"KEITAROS!"

She hit the ronin with considerable force, enough so to knock him across the floor. But this time she came with him, latched onto his chest in a bare hug. She nuzzled his chest while muttering contently. Yoko was left sitting stunned at the young girls unexpected response.

'Glad she hit him and not me…'

Keitaro struggled to get his breath under the incredible grip of the seemingly fragile girl. While being crushed, he remembered something. Shinobu had been in the room the whole time! And if she saw what had happened…

"Where's Shinobu?"

Yoko looked at him in confusion. "Who?"

Keitaro struggled to get up. "The young blue head girl. Where is she?"

Yoko looked round. A small blue spot clashed with the lounges brown and the carpets dull grey.

"There she is!"

Running over to her, Keitaro lifted her onto the chair. Looking down into her face, he brushed a few stray hair strands away. The touch brought a hiccup and a breath. Slowly her eyes opened. They wandered a bit before focusing on the kind face looking down at her.

"You ok?"

Those two caring words brought tears afresh as the young girl latched onto her crush.

"OH KEITARO I HAD THE MOST HORRIBLE DREAM NARU PUNCHED YOU AND YOU HIT THE ROOF AND GOT STUCK ON A BIG CHUNK OF WOOD AND DIED I SWARE IT WAS THE WORST THING I HAD EVER SEEN!!!"

Drawing a huge breath, the small girl began crying over the horrible images. Keitaro shakily put his arms around her. He wasn't to sure what to do now, or what to do with the hole in the roof. Surely if she saw it she would want to murder…damn it. Still can't remember her name. Anyway, poor Shinobu wouldn't be able to take it. Thinking for a bit, a smile crept onto Keitaro's lips. Pushing off her gently, he stood back. She looked up, emotions a mixture of confusion and disappointment. The gently smile that was on her loves face did calm her a little though.

"Don't worry Shinobu. In a second, you won't remember a thing."

"Huh?"

She tried to speak but was stopped cold as for a split second, she swore she saw Keitaro become engulfed in a brilliant white light. Before she could actually comprehend it, she stopped breathing.

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Keitaro took a breath and looked around. Yoko was shuffling through a stack of papers and he had a couple of papers in his hands. A twig in his neck told him the girls were close. Jumping to a completely different stack, he reached out and grabbed the registration book. Not thinking to say anything, he flicked through the book supernaturally fast. Dropping it, he grabbed Yoko and ran over to the lounge. A wave of his hand sent all the papers and notes fluttering back to their rightful place. Throwing Yoko into the couch, he dropped down beside him just as the door opened revealing four curious girls.

"Ah, Narusegawa, Motoko-chan! There you are. Shinobu, Su-chan."

Motoko stepped forward. "Do not play coy with me Urashima. I felt a massive power spike unlike anything ever before. I feel that you have something to do with it. Reveal yourself!"

Blade close to the vital arteries that carried the precious blood to his very important brain, Keitaro swallowed.

"W-what are you talking about Motoko-chan? Heh, there's nothing unusual about me. Just your normal, under achiever Keitaro."

He tried to smile but it was so fake it looked like it hurt.

Motoko's scowl deepened. "You lie. Your perversion never ends. And now you bring another male into the house? Prepare for your daily discipline!"

Jumping high, the samurai screamed out and unleashed a wave of Ki at them. Keitaro's eyes flashed softly as in one swift movement, he jumped over Yoko, grabbing his shirt along the way. He flipped high in the air before landing solidly, catching a startled Yoko easily. A split second later the couch they were sitting on exploded in a puff of foam and excess energy. He dropped Yoko and saw Motoko looking at him smugly. Sheathing her sword, she turned and headed up the stairs.

"The roof. I will supply the swords. Meet me there in one hour. Do not be late."

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A/N - Seemed like a good spot to finish up. Sorry if the Naru/fist thing made you unhappy. But as you can see I changed it so it never happened. I'll try to make the next chapter bigger to make up for this one.

Keep reading if you want. I'll just keep writing. :D