Family Ties
by the Rurouni Idoru

Rurouni's Note: I know Mama Kuwabara's injury might not be medically possible, but it's the story of a family who can see ghosts. What do you want from me? Ah, and ramune is a Japanese soda that comes in a very distinct bottle. The mouth is covered by a marble,pressure sealed in place. It comes with a little plastic opener. You push the opener down on the marble, and it shoots down into the bottle, and there's a little dent in the neck where it sits. It's yummy.

I intended for this to be a one-shot, but the story sorta ran away from me. It's mostly flashbacks in this chapter, but I'm gonna change that. Eventually. Anyways, review in any way you wish!

Disclaimer: If I owned YYH, I could technically make this part of the real story, now couldn't I?

The scene replayed in Kuwabara's mind like it was yesterday. The rain came down as if it were poured from buckets. He could hear their frantic voices in his head even to this day.

"Sweetheart, pull over."

"I can't even see where 'over' is."

"So then stop!"

"And let some idiot doing eighty hit me? If we just keep going straight, we'll find something. It's a highway. Or it was the last time I checked."

"Please, dear...." A fifteen-year-old Shizuru was sitting in the backseat with him. He was ten at the time. Shizuru flipped her hair defiantly. At that age, Shizuru was very rebellious. She was known to cut class, sneak out of the house, and generally disobey authority.

"This is retarded. Let me out of the car, and I'll find civilization. Then you two will shut up about driving, and the runt'll stop looking like he's gonna wet himself."

"I'm not gonna wet myself, Shizuru! And stop calling me a runt!"

"Runt! Runt! Runt!"

"Mooooooooom!"

"Kids, stop fighting. Shizuru, just stay back there. Sweetie, please, pull over."

"Relax, we'll be fine." But they weren't fine. Poor little Kazuma wasn't sure what happened. There was a sudden lurch forward, glass flew from all directions. He hit his head on his father's head cushion and bounced back. He could hear his father grunt and his mother scream. Shizuru's head smacked against the wall of the car. He looked at her, and found that she was unconscious, and blood was seeping in through her hairline.

"Shizu-chan! Shizu-chan, wake up, we gotta help Mama and Papa!" He shook her roughly by the shoulders, but her head just flopped around. "Well, fine! If you won't wake up I guess I gotta do it myself!" He unbuckled his seat belt, and hopped out of the car into the pouring rain. "HELP!" Tears formed in his eyes. He didn't want to be an orphan. "SOMEBODY!" He screamed for about ten minutes until someone stopped. Even in the pouring rain, his loud screams and flaming red hair were hard to miss. The stranger took the Kuwabaras to the hospital, and even comforted Kazuma in the waiting room. The young child appreciated that, and regretted that he had never learned the stranger's name. Shizuru was the first one he was allowed to see.

Yukina's sad story of an occurrence during her own childhood reminded Kuwabara of that day. He seemed close to tears. Yukon, scared that she had upset him too much, touched him on the arm in concern.

"Kazuma-san, are you alright? I mean, it's been a few decades since--"

"It's not that, Yukina-san. It just made me think about something that makes me sad." Yukina nodded.

"I see." Yukina paused. "So what we supposed to do on this 'date?'" Kuwabara blushed profusely.

"Well, it's...uh, it's not really a date...."

"That's what everyone else called it. Bara said her that little dishwasher was growing up very fast. I wasn't sure what she meant, but I told her that I wasn't a dishwasher, like her cousin has."

"They're all just teasin'. They think it's funny, you know?" Yukina's face lit up.

"Oh, I understand. Like when you and Yusuke call each other girls." Kuwabara grinned with delight. She understood! They were hitting it off! Finally!

"Just like that, Yukina-san!" The two smiled. Kuwabara could have sworn they were both glowing with the light of true love. Of course, Kuwabara thought they were tied by a red string of destiny before they had even met, so his judgment may have been a bit clouded. "Do you want something to drink?" Yukina nodded sprightly.

"Yes, please." Kuwabara's smile widened as he ran to the kitchen to get her a bottle of Ramune. He had just opened the strange bottle for her when Shizuru walked into the room and to the door, clutching her purse.

"Kazuma, time to go. We gotta take Yukina home." Kuwabara was stunned.

"What?! But she just got here! Why does she hafta go?" Shizuru rolled her eyes.

"Did you forget it's Wednesday? We have to go." Kuwabara seemed to deflate.

"Oh yeah. Wednesday." Yukina put down her bottle of soda and looked concernedly at Kuwabara.

"Kazuma-san...?" Kuwabara seemed to have a bright idea.

"Yukina-san, would you like to meet my parents?" Yukina nodded in confusion. Kuwabara was plunged once again into memories of that day five years ago.

When he came into Shizuru's room, she was sitting in a bed, looking dazed.

"Kazuma...?" She had a large bandage on her head, and other scrapes and bruises on her face. "Are you alright?" Kuwabara sniffled.

"I got a cut behind my ear, and it really really hurts, but I didn't think that would matter. You and Mama and Papa wouldn't wake up. I was scared." Shizuru delicately wrapped her arms around him.

"Where are Mom and Dad?" He sniffled again.

"They didn't say. Shizuru, what if we're orphans? Then they're gonna send us to the orphanage and no one's gonna want me, they'll just want you 'cause you're cuter and older...." Shizuru bit her lip, and tears started to well in her own eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere without my baby brother. No one's gonna take me away from you, okay? No one."

"Shizuru...I don't want Mama and Papa to die." Tears were, once again, streaming down little Kuwabara's face. Shizuru held him to her chest, slightly ashamed to let him see her cry. She could say nothing, only try to soothe him.

"Shh. Shh." When she finally found her voice again, she told her brother her new decision. "I'm gonna be good. I'll stop sneaking outta the house, and I'll go to class, and I'll even get good grades. I owe it to Mom and Dad. I don't want them to be ghosts and see their daughter being a little delinquent forever."

"I wanna see Mama."

"We'll see Mama." Oh, they would see Mama alright.

"Kazuma-san, what are your parents like?" Kuwabara bit his bottom lip in thought. How was he supposed to respond to this? There was no easy way to tell her the exact situation. What should he do, he wondered? Should he lie to her? No, that would confuse her when they got there. And besides that, Kuwabara couldn't fathom telling Yukina something that wasn't true.

"Er, they're, uh.... Well, my mom is, um.... Uh, I don't know how to explain it...." Shizuru glanced up at the two of them in the rear view mirror.

"You'll like them." She brought her gaze to her brother, who was in the backseat with Yukina.

"You're wearing your seat belt?" He seemed quite offended by the question.

"Of course I am! Mama would be mad if I didn't wear it. 'Specially since we're goin' to see her." His hand flew to his left ear. There was still a scar behind it because he had never had it treated. Luckily, his hair grew long enough to cover it, so no one knew about it. But he knew it was there. It was a constant reminder that he needed to pay attention to his safety. Yukina looked up.

"Why are you touching your ear, Kazuma-san?" He immediately, nervously dropped his hands into his lap.

"Um, well...I dunno." The scar was also a constant reminder of that day. He hadn't dreamed it. But sometimes, he really wished he had.

Kuwabara and Shizuru slowly walked through the hospital. The young boy bit his lip nervously. Were his parents in as good condition as Shizuru? Were they even alive? He looked up at Shizuru. She just stared blankly ahead. Kuwabara decided that clearly, she too was lost in thought. A young nurse stopped the two.

"Kuwabara-san, should you be up and about?" Shizuru did not even look up.

"I'm fine. Where're my parents?"

"You're not allowed to see them yet." She balled her hands into tight fists, which shook with anger. Kuwabara, in a state of semi-shock, could only think that it must hurt her hand to hold her fists so tightly. Her nails were so long, after all.

"My brother and I want to know about our parents." Her eyes were getting teary again. Kuwabara, still not thinking clearly, noted that they looked like polished gems in her head when they were so wet.

"We can't give you information on their statuses at this stage." The ten-year-old decided that the nurse's dress looked like a big napkin with pockets. Shizuru released one of her hands to make an angry gesture somewhat like a violent shrug. Shizuru's leather jacket, it looked like it was made of licorice. Kuwabara liked licorice, but Shizuru's jacket probably wouldn't taste very good.

"So, what, we're not allowed to know if our parents are dead or alive?"

"It could go either way at this stage."

"I wanna know how it is at this stage! Are you people so incompetent that...." Shizuru used a lot of big words. She was really smart, and Kuwabara knew she would get good grades if she went to class. But she liked to stay in the bathroom all day and smoke cigarettes. Cigarettes smelled bad. But he didn't mind the way Shizuru smelled. She was arguing with the nurse. She liked to argue. She was really good at winning, too. If somebody could make a career out of arguing, Shizuru would be the best out of all of the other arguers. Weren't there people like that, though? Yes, lawyers, they were on Mama's favorite show. Shizuru was taking her cigarettes out.

"You can't smoke in here, miss, you'll need to go outside. And you're too young to smoke anyway." That made sense. All the people in the hospital were sick. It made Kuwabara cough when Shizuru smoked near him, so it couldn't be any good for people who were already sick. And Shizuru was only five years older than he was, so she shouldn't be allowed to smoke. Now that he thought about it, when she promised to be good, she never promised to stop smoking, which was pretty sneaky of her. He would have to talk about it. But obviously not now, because she had grabbed his hand and started to pull him along while she went outside to smoke. He heard her sniffling. She must have been going so fast because she hated letting anyone see her cry. The two stood under the awning above the Emergency Room doors. It was still raining. Even the sky was crying, the child thought. Shizuru angrily puffed on her cigarette, wiping her eyes every few seconds. Kuwabara, worried that she was too upset, tugged on her jacket.

"Shizuru...." Upon hearing her name, she tossed her cigarette aside and bent down to hug her brother. She sobbed with her face resting on his shoulder. "Are we gonna be okay?"

"We'll be fine." He gently grabbed on to a lock of her long brown hair.

"What about Mama and Papa? Will they be okay?" She held him tighter.

"I hope so."