Disclaimer: I . . . don't own Yu Yu Hakusho . . . seriously, I'm not that smart, or that lucky. I'm just obsessed with the characters, and I have a tendency to stalk them as well as offer sacrifices to . . . uh . . . perhaps I've said to much. Ya know what? Nevermind. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, forget everything else I told you, okay? Okay. Eheh . . . ^_^,
Author's Note: (Sighs) My oh me oh my! This chapter is short, and somewhat useless. Now, believe it or not, when I started writing this story, I fully intended upon making it go somewhere, but I seem to have forgotten what my initial main idea for the story was . . . eheh, so yeah, go figure. I'm sorry about this everyone. I'll finish this story, but it might take me a bit to rethink the plot and then make everything work, so if you would, bare with me. Man, I feel like an idiot, prolly 'cause I am, but anyway, read this and please enjoy. In the meantime I'll start trying to give this story a reason for being written. Thanks!
Chapter: 5
"All right Yusuke, this poem is by Edgar Allan Poe. It is called Annabel Lee. You take the first stanza and I will take the next, okay?"
Ms. Yugumai cleared her throat and motioned for him to begin. Yusuke stared at the words on the pages in the book, and he sighed.
"It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea . . ."
The hour passed quickly, which surprised Yusuke. At first, he had merely read the poem in a lilting, sort of monotone, the picture of boredom. At this, Ms. Yugumai had stopped him. She had crossed her slender arms at the waist and eyed him. "Yusuke." She had said. "Literature is only boring if you make it that way. Loosen up, have some fun! You don't have to appreciate the words here, nor do you have to appreciate their author. The most important thing is to understand the words, and the author's point of view. Now then, how can you understand anything if you're reading like you just had a stroke, hm?"
Yusuke had shrugged. He hadn't been aware that there was another way of reading. Ms. Yugumai had then read her stanza and, if he dared say, over acted it. However, because of this, he found himself compelled to listen to her. Eventually, he got into being over dramatic as well, and by the end of the hour, he realized that indeed, he'd enjoyed the session.
Things worked out strangely sometimes he supposed. He'd wait till his next session with her to pry into her personal life, thereby guaranteeing his passing grade in gym class.
He looked at the clock on the wall in the empty school hallway. It was 4:00. Keiko had said that she would meet him at 3:30 so they could go talk to the Math teacher. He sighed. Okay, so she was a little late, she was only human. He'd give her a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, however, Keiko was elsewhere than school, frantic about something other than Yusuke.
"Sakura, run these off, will you?" Keiko asked.
She handed a bunch of papers to her friend who saluted her playfully and dashed off.
Caitlin bounced up with a huge grin.
"Erica and I are done. What now?"
Keiko blinked.
"All ready? You are?"
The girl nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, um . . . Oh! I don't know!" She exclaimed, and she collapsed into a nearby chair.
Her friends gathered around her, all worried. Keiko covered her eyes.
"You guys, what am I going to do? Amissa has nearly half of the stupid class on her side!" She groaned.
"Keiko, honey, look. If that stupid . . . bitch has half the class on her side, that can only mean that you have the other half." Said one.
"The better half, I might add." Erica said.
There were a number of excited agreements. Keiko gave her friends a weak looking smile. They were right. Most of the people who weren't on her side were just like Amissa. Amissa. She couldn't let that stupid girl get to her! After all, the school was HERS! It had been since the first day that she started attending. She was the most popular girl in school, and that had made her pretty happy. She wasn't used to competition, and that's why she had let all of Amissa's other attacks get to her. That wouldn't happen anymore . . . she hoped, for sometimes it was difficult for her to suppress her anger and its action.
Keiko looked around at the many familiar faces. Yes, she would win, she had to. So, with a new light in her eyes, and a new confidence, Keiko clenched her fists.
"You guys are right. How can I lose with all of you backing me up? Let's take that prissy slut down!"
The girls cheered, and things started moving much faster. Before Keiko even knew it, hours had gone by and the sun was setting low in the sky. They had made progress in her little campaign. She didn't know what Amissa would come up with, but whatever it was, she'd top her no problem.
Quite by chance, Keiko glanced over at the clock. She examined it, and discovered that it was 6:00. Her eyebrows knitted together in thought. There was something she was supposed to do, but for the life of her she couldn't remember-
"Oh my God!"
*******
The phone rang at Yusuke's house several times before someone finally picked it up.
"Hello?" Came a somewhat slurred greeting.
"Uh, hi . . . Atsuko, is Yusuke there?" Keiko asked.
There was a pause. Keiko imagined that Atsuko was trying to gain her composure enough to remember if her son was there or not. A minute later she heard the young mother call clumsily, her son's name. She heard footsteps, and muffled talking, and finally Yusuke's voice came on.
"Yeah, what is it?" He asked.
Keiko gulped.
"Hey Yusuke." She said somewhat skittishly.
There was another pause, only more brief that the previous.
"Keiko. Hey."
"God, Yusuke, I'm sorry for missing the meeting. I was caught up, and lost track of time, and all of this stuff happened and I--"
"Hey, hey, settle down. It's okay Keiko. We'll try for tomorrow. Don't worry . . . really, it's not a big deal." Yusuke interrupted her frantic explanations.
Keiko sighed. She still felt terrible. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten him! It was just unheard of, and it was all that stupid Amissa's fault!
Keiko let her head fall back lightly against the wall in her bedroom. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She was the one always telling Yusuke how important it was to get good grades and be at school, and there she was forgetting all about their appointment. She frowned.
'Way to contradict yourself Keiko.' She scoffed to herself.
"Oh, well, Yusuke, let's get together right now and work on your report we only have three more days."
Yusuke sighed.
"Sure, okay. Where do you wanna meet?"
She thought about this for a moment. Outside, it was already beginning to get dark, and they needed a place where it wasn't cramped, and stuffy, but open, and still well lit. She smiled when the answer came to her.
"The park, in 15." She said.
Yusuke complied, and 15 minutes later they met up outside of the park and walked to a bench that over-looked the shimmering lake. Yusuke got out the notebook and pen, and he took out his books and other various notes, including those that Kurama had scrounged up for him. Keiko took out a three ring binder with tons of lined paper and a pencil. Directly behind them was a glowing park lamp.
"So, what do you have?" She asked, looking at Yusuke.
He shrugged, handing her the notebook.
"Here, take a look for yourself."
Keiko received the offered and scanned the messy writing. Her trained eyes expertly highlighted the most important facts. When this was done, she gave the notebook back to Yusuke, who looked at her with expectant eyes.
"So what now?" He questioned.
She gave him the binder and pencil.
"Now, we string all of this stuff together." She replied.
He frowned as he took the binder and pencil.
"Why do I have to write it?"
Keiko rolled her eyes.
"Reason #1: It's YOUR report, and Reason #2: My wrist is broken."
He grinned.
"Sorry. I forgot about that."
Keiko merely shrugged. She had too. For many it's hard not to notice that you have a cast weighing down your arm, but for Keiko it was as though it wasn't even there, or at least, it had been. Her wrist was aching now because of the excessive work she'd done with it: making posters, phone calls, speeches. All of it had involved the use of her right hand, thereby obligating her injured wrist. She apologized to the poor body part mentally, and that seemed to help, because she noticed that right afterwards, the ache had lessened in strength.
"Keiko?" Yusuke asked.
His voice invaded her thoughts, yanking her back to the present task at hand. She smiled at him.
"Hm?"
"What do I start with?"
She thought a moment.
"Mythology. It's a fascinating opening, likely to catch the reader's attention."
Yusuke sighed, but he nodded. He had the words in his head, but often times he couldn't get them on paper.
Meanwhile, Keiko collapsed back into her own fury of thoughts. Amissa. How could she beat Amissa? The blonde girl probably had a very good campaign for herself going. Keiko did to though. She hadn't planned on having anyone run against her for the position of the dance coordinator. Very few people ever ran against her. She supposed it had been somewhat of a lost cause, for she had had about 97% of her class on her side. But things were different now. Amissa had made herself very popular, very quickly. Amissa was intelligent, and pretty, although, Keiko had the better attitude toward things.
She sighed. Tomorrow she would begin hanging up posters and then the student counsel would host an assembly where both she and Amissa would speeches to attempt to sway the voters. Yes, she'd beat her . . . she needed to.