Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho is copyrighted and belongs to its creator, Togashi Yoshihiro.

Author's Note: …What to say, what to say… Well, this story is finally alive again… That, and things are taking a turn from here. Things are going to come out as well as change. Stay tuned and you'll see.

Genre: Supernatural, fantasy, humor, horror, and not so much general. It is also an AU, an "alternate Universe" for the setting.

Rating: Mature…for obvious reasons.

REBOUNDS AND BLISTERS: PART ONE

[ANOTHER ASININE ANECDOTE]

"I'd run away but I'm not allowed so I suffer through it
Out of your sight
Are you out of your mind?
In my absence your heart never grew fonder
…
Enough love for the family
Just nothing left for me, ya see?
It's just like Cinderella
Locked up and hid away, you've no idea
What you've created
Wanted to take a look and see through a hole without a key
See where I've been missing
God damn you for what I am"

-Mudvayne; "A Cinderella Story"

#1#2#3

They were doing it again! Over and over again, they had the ill will to beat him over the head with the mallet of that which was the derivation of something he abhorred…

Oh, but it didn't stop there...

Stabbing with knives, cutting with razors, and pulling the triggers on their guns.

They didn't miss him, not one teeny tiny bit. No, they missed having someone to push around. And since he was no longer willing to play the character who's role was the obnoxious yet scarcely loveable fool, they were exceptionally sore at him.

"Who does he think he is, treating us like that? …He might appear to be beautiful on the outside, but his insides are hideous! Having a pretty face now has surely gone to his head. Does he think he's better than us?"

"Kazuma doesn't like me anymore… That's fine, because I don't like him either. Not anymore. He's not the same person I knew or who I thought I did. And did he have to go so low to replace us with that scary man? …Even so far as to replace me?"

"He's a bastard! A no good bully with the ambitions of a dictator! Why he even claims to have an honor code is beyond me!"

"King Yama must have had a few screws loose when he had chosen Kuwabara to take charge of this whole operation. Clearly, he doesn't know what he's doing, not to mention that he's disregarding the values of teamwork. …Not that he was ever well equipped to handle a situation, never mind his lacking in the upstairs department. It does not take a brain surgeon to recognize that he lacks certain qualities; like ingenuity. Clearly, Reikai must be desperate."

"…That idiot…when I get my hands on him… Honestly, he doesn't know how good he's got it..."

"Kuwabara needs to have some sense, preferably smacked into him. I'm not going to put up with his sour attitude for much longer. If I refuse to take Yusuke's bullshit, then why must I take his? …Boohoo. So he's had a hard time. Big deal. Well, I have some news for that jerk, the world does not revolve around him!"

…People's faces change so quickly…when having to face the truth…and the consequences of their own mistakes…

…But were their actions merely blunders?

Were their intentions pure or merely hidden motives?

They plagued him night and day, now to return with the same fucked up pleasures… Infiltrating, looking down upon him with their thalidomide robot faces… Whilst he was wrapped in glass and soaking in lime juice, their intent like acid coursing in his blood, and their words charring the synapses in his brain. They were on helium, overrated and arrogant, shamelessly splurging on his pain as though it was the greatest high of the century.

Consoling, joking and hoping, loathing, controlling, revolting and revolving.

Must he elaborate endlessly about the everyday bullshit they put him through?

He felt as though they were here to merely play with his head; their conspiracy that was pitted against him in hopes to break him down upon impact.

It was the suspense that gets him, though, because he had not other choice but to sit and wait until their next attack. Not that he was going to take it lying down, but he was sick of playing this game with them. All of this sordidness was draining, let alone corrosion upon the senses.

These so called "friends" of his bared the same similarities of the countless enemies whom he had contested against, the only difference between the two was far from being obscured.

If it's true that everyone has their own personal demons, then his "demons" were them.

What else was he to think?

He felt as though he was the one to blame. All to blame for everything between them.

But none of which they thought about him was true, just falsely made accusations.

Surprisingly, only three did not think nor say anything horribly about him…

Koenma, Botan, and…Hiei.

The latter individual was the most least expected.

And these were the people who were not the closest to him.

oOo

His day had been hard, yet he had an inkling that this day's hardships was far from being over, lasting even into the wee hours of the night. Gloom was a tall glass to drink, the negativity laying heavy, boggling his senses as foreign emotions futilely bombarded his mind. Though the place had quieted down exceptionally, he found no peace within his inner self. The silence was similar to that of one hears at a graveyard, however, his mind was not so fortunate. Riddled with unbridled torments and his heart goaded by anguish, he was restless.

To paint a clearer picture, he'd rather be laying in a bed of thorns than to endure these insufferable torments.

Perhaps he had been wrong to tell them off. And perhaps he deserved every ounce of distress from the ordeal, believing that he had asked for this; AKA he had it coming. Sometimes, we ask for a little bit too much, receiving a hefty price after the process is finished.

As The Rede States:

"Mind ye threefold law ye should, three times bad and three times good."

Which means: Whatever you put out – both good or bad, will be returned to you multiplied by three. In other words, "one reaps what they sow". All actions have a consequence or dividend.

But he was not perfect and he was only human, so keeping positive all the time was a very impossible thing to do.

Their thoughts concerning his person were more or less disheartening, causing his heart to twinge from the bitterness and resentment that he had no doubt caused. They may seem placid on the outside, but their concealed emotions told him otherwise.

…What did they expect of him?

What did they think he was? A saint? A fool?

It was snuff, but not a breath or a substance that one sniffs. They gave him no any air supply, zapping the oxygen from out of his lungs, causing his soul to choke.

Moreover, the air around him still felt like a cage. He was locked up inside of it, while they went away with their innocence and left him with his sins.

Again, it seemed he was forced to play this role… This beyond the pale character, with no life-support, as every feeling leaves his body.

His love being a camouflage for what resembles rage again, a fury that is incomprehensible.

If they still loved him, it would be of their best interest to just let him go. …And run away before he'll know, not that he wouldn't. He just didn't care, nor did he want to. Because if they were gone, he can't destroy what isn't there, and if he was alone he could not hate.

As though right on cue, he heard the sounds of wheels rolling against the hardwood floors, chugging along with the voices of three individuals gathering into the main room; the women folk to be precise. He did not need to go investigate to know what was happening, he knew the sound of luggage all too well. That, and he was in the room right next to them, his room, busy with making something for Irei to wear; sowing by hand with a needle, thread, and some spare fabric that the Apish Master had handed to him.

[And still, he had yet to repair the tears and holes in his own clothes, responsibly taking care of the child's needs first. You'd think one of the women would of kindly offer some assistance, but no.]

The girls were leaving, with their belongings in tow, though they had brought with them only a few of their necessities. From what he could make from the utterances echoing through the walls, they were departing from here tonight, Keiko and Yukina speaking to Shizuru and each other in unreserved tones about how they hated being here. Worst of all, all three of the girls felt sorry for him, but were not willing to do anything to alleviate the issues that had been revealed here today.

"…So they still manage to speak shit about me…talking behind my back while I'm not present…dogging me around…" He thought acrimoniously to himself, his brow furrowing in disdain upon hearing their discord. "No doubt, they prolly wonder why I don't fall for their sugarcoated acts anymore. I swear, their sick sweet makes me so ill I could chunk and hurl all over the goddamn place!"

Silently, he took back the prior feelings of remorse and guilt. They deserved what came to them. Actually, in his own opinion, he had been way too gentle with them. Perhaps what they really needed, was a good screaming in their ears and beating of a lifetime! …Too bad he couldn't bring himself to do it, though, since it went against his honor code to hit a lady.

"Go on and leave! Leave! All of you! And don't let the door hit ya where it should'a bit'chya!"

However, the reason as to why they had yet to walk out that door was because of one reason and one reason only, they were solely waiting upon Kurama. Being that they were hitching a ride with him, apparently meant that he had agreed to head back to their hometown, dropping Keiko off at his sister's before Yukina and he venture off to their destination. Quite plainly, he was their one way ticket out of here.

"Deliver me into my fate… I don't deserve to have them." He whispered numbly to himself, somehow feeling a great loss in all of this.

"What's been said is said." That familiar inner voice spoke up, it's tone brusque and pitiless. "If the Half-breed Mazoku had been the one to have spoken in such begotten contempt against them, if he had been the one to have told them how he felt, running them down with a ferocious passion…everything would have been different. They would have forgiven him and would have chose to remain instead of choosing to heed your words and leave this place. As I've told you, they don't regret having hurt you…because if their compunction was genuine, they would do everything at their own power to make matters right…. Even the staturely challenged three eyed youkai knows this."

Kazuma hung his head low, trying his best to concentrate upon the task at hand, monotonously weaving the needle through the fabric, sowing together the seams of what was going to be a simple covering.

That smile he once had, it had been taken away long ago.

Moments passed, not realizing that he was already coping by turning a deaf ear upon their words, tuning them completely out. They could say all that they wanted to say now, because he was no longer listening.

The self-affliction began to fade, but only so slightly.

Suffice to say, they couldn't hate enough to love. Not that anything that they were willing to give to him was enough, anyway. They even refused to fight, to come up to him and tell him how wrong he was for his assumptions. No, instead, they were running away.

And his love for them had only given him the shit end of the stick, as if the universe was punishing him for caring about them.

It was their own undoing for coming here, their fault for smashing themselves against his stones. …But did they have to go and spit their pity in his soul?

He was not sorry for having left five years ago, and if he could, he would leave them far behind…in the dust. Never to be heard from nor seen again.

And he did not want to change, and if he could, he hoped he would never know.

"It took the death of hope to let you go… All of you go. If you still love me, ...if any of you ever love me...don't ever let me know. Don't ever let me know. ...I'll bury you in the graves that you all so deserve to be in."

#4#5#6

"You walked in here, was it like a dream?
You got in here, was it like it seemed?"

-Deftones; "Rats, Rats, Rats!"

…TBC…

Author's Commentary:

Note: This is Part One of the next chapter. And the next chapter will be Part Two.

I know this day seems to continue on and on. …But it is drawing to a close. And once it has, a new day will begin. …Ever have one of those days that's just so terribly long? Well, Kazuma is having one of THOSE.

I told you this story had a long way to go…and I meant what I said, too.

To be quite clear, this is really my take on a Spin-off that should have happened.

Dark: Yes, you'd think he had made his point clear… But apparently, as you see… People can be…quite cruel. And thank you for your support.

KM17: Thanks! And will do!

Thank you all for reading and please review.