Chapter 20: Epilogue: It's a Date

…Kurama…

I didn't understand how Karasu had become so careless, but he was dead again. I hoped that he would be intelligent and remain that way. Yusuke, Gunner, and Kuwabara caught up with me, now on the docks outside of the Field. I could feel Bri's presence not far away. Gun Wa was with her.

"They're in the forest." I nodded away from the Field, in the general direction I sensed Bri. "If we hurry, we can catch them."

"Hold it!"

"Shizuru, what are you doing here?" Kuwabara turned to face his sister.

"It isn't Gun Wa you have to worry about!" she shouted. "Stupid! He's been protecting her from the start!"

What?

"What do you mean?"

"The real Gun Wa is dead!" Shizuru said. "It's Matsu and Une, they're the ones who wanted to make the tunnel!"

"How do you know all of this?" I demanded. In my calm voice, the one I knew well. The one that the old Youko's voice made all the more menacing. Shizuru, however, was unaffected by it.

"You don't have time, just go. Get going, you idiots!"

Whatever. I raced down the pier and plunged into the forest depths. I was barely aware that Yusuke and Kuwabara were at my side, and Gunner and Shizuru weren't too far behind. We broke into a clearing, where Bri and a stranger who smelled suspiciously of Gun Wa stood. Matsu and Une weren't very far away.

"The gig's up, Sakyo," Matsu growled. "We know what you've been doing."

"Kurama, so good of you to join us." Une grinned. "Gunner, is that who I spy back there? Are you the traitor who led to Sakyo's betrayal?"

"Sakyo?" I glanced at the stranger. Was it a coincidence?

For a moment, no one moved.

Suddenly, Matsu and Une collapsed to the ground. Their heads rolled up against a nearby tree. In the shock of a single moment, it dawned on me what had happened.

They were dead.

Hiei stood behind the two, sniffing at the blood on his sword.

"Hn. Low-level scum." Bri blinked at him, at me, and at Shizuru. Finally, her gaze rested on the stranger.

"Thank you for your help," the stranger said softly. "Shizuru."

"What is this?" Yusuke growled.

"Let's find somewhere more comfortable to discuss this," said the stranger. "It will take some time to go through it all again."

When next I glanced at where the bodies of Matsu and Une had been, they were gone.

…Bri…

I think Sakyo was the only one who knew the entire truth of what had happened. It seems all a bit too anticlimactic, though, doesn't it? After all that time, it was Sakyo and Shizuru who really put everything back together again. Granted, it was my uncle Gun Wa who really started the mess, but his mind was dead as long as Sakyo possessed him.

It was well into the early morning hours when the story was finished, with all who'd been involved present. The only person I really didn't understand her connection with all this was Gina. I asked her about it as everyone was getting up.

"Oh, I'm just a friend of Gunner's," she smiled. "I was Marion, Gunner, and Gun Wa's friend since I was real small. Full cat demon, me. I'm a weak, weak Empathe. Marion taught me how to turn myself off." She turned to Sakyo. "So, Sakyo, Toguro, Gun Wa, whichever you want to call yourself—what are we going to do about the school?"

"I've been thinking about that myself quite a bit," he nodded. "We will close the school for a few weeks, and reopen once we've found enough teachers to replace those we've lost. I rather like teaching science."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Gunner grinned. "I don't care if you took my brother's body, I like you."

That had to be one of the weirdest comments I've heard since I first was told who the suave teenage Koenma really was.

Everyone boarded the train to go home. Kurama and I got off at Nemoi and made our way slowly down the street. For some reason, the trolley wasn't running. Even if it was, I doubted we would have gotten on it.

Most of the shops were closed, with the exception of the McDonald's. Kurama guided me into the restaurant by my shoulder. It was then that I realized just how hungry I was. It was nearly five in the morning, and I hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. We ordered some new thing that McDonald's was doing (chicken-something) and sat at a table way in the far corner.

"I'm sorry." We both blurted out at once. I laughed softly. "Why are you sorry?"

He sighed. "I promised you an official date, and it was completely ruined…"

"I liked the first part, but next time, skip the kidnapped-Bri-then-torture-her-to-an-undeath part," I laughed, but it really wasn't funny. "I'm sorry for getting you mixed up in this in the first place. By the way, how's Karasu?"

Kurama chuckled. "If he somehow manages to come back to life after being eaten alive by my Death plant, I might have to reconsider my strategy with him."

"Speaking of dates, Kurama, what do you call what we're doing now?" We were in a restaurant at an ungodly hour of the morning, completely alone. Even the workers seemed to have disappeared. My clothes were covered in my blood and he was covered in Karasu's.

"An improv date," he smiled.

"Okay, I'll go with that. Now it's official. Um…what on Earth are we going to tell Kaasan?"

"I sort of told her that we were spending the night at Hiei's…"

"Um, Kurama? Where does Hiei live, exactly?"

He shrugged. "No one really knows. He has a tree that I usually meet him at in the forest, but that's all I know."

"Weird. A fire demon who lives in a tree?"

"Yes, it does sound a bit strange."

"Coming from this group, that's tame," I rolled my eyes. "Since when did I start hanging out with such weird people?"

"Hey!"

"You doth protest?"

"I doth indeed!"

I laughed at our Shakespearean attempts. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm pro'l'ly the weirdest of the bunch."

"I don't think that's true."

I shrugged. By then, I'd finished my meal. Kurama had finished long before I did.

Neither of us really wanted to get up and move, though.

"Hey, I just remembered something," Kurama said, leaning back in his chair. "Before we went to that ship to rescue you, Gina said something about getting someone else. She went deeper into Spirit World to do it…"

The bell of the McDonald's rang shrilly in the air. The sound of two footsteps on the floor met my ears. Kurama's eyes went slightly wider.

"Gina, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Who's this?"

I turned around to see who was with her.

My heart started beating again.

"K-Keiko?" I whispered.

"Hey, Neko. Ya miss me?"

"Koenma brought her back," Gina said. I didn't quite believe my ears. "Tsuki Sawaguchi has been charged with murder by Enma's decree. So…We thought it might be proper to request Shuichi's mother if she could take on another student. Still gotta find the half demon, though. Could be anytime…"

"I'm so sorry, Neko, I wanted to tell you... Mom and my dad were plotting to kill you! But dad…he didn't want—"

"Slow down, you're a little behind," Gina grinned, her hands on Keiko's shaking shoulders. Keiko had never shook like that before.

I stood slowly from the table. I wasn't quite sure if this was real. Maybe I'd wake up in my bed back in Kansas, and I'd tell Keiko all about this weird dream. Somehow, though, I knew it was true. Keiko had been murdered, so had I, and Koenma was gracious enough to bring us both back.

"Keiko!" I threw my arms around her neck. "Of all the stupid things, why did you get caught?"

"Same ol' Neko," she grinned. "Now come on, we've got to go home."

My heart stopped beating again after a while. It did that a lot. It would start up again for a while, then stop. On graduation day from Meikou High School, it beat all day long. It stopped again that night, after all the partying was over.

But for right now, I was happy to be with my best friend, my now-official boyfriend, and all of my weird-but-wonderful friends. I guess it just goes to show that the strongest of us all isn't the one you thought it would be.

Shoot, I figured that Kurama would be the one to beat 'em up and save the day. And he did, to a point. But it was me, Keiko, Shizuru, Gunner, and Gina that really did it all. Hiei who dealt the killing blows. With a little help from the boys, of course. But, eh, I was heartsick. I wanted nothing more than death itself. I got it—a few too many times, if you ask me. I'm not completely healed, but I'm not dead.

I'm happy.

No one else has died yet.

And to me, that's all that matters.

Heal me

I'm heartsick
I'm hungry and

I'm broken

I'm haunted, and weeping
Blood of heaven

Flowing like a river tonight

Tears I can't fight on my own

I'm a haunted, weeping

I'm hung and barely breathing
The drowning ocean, start the sun in motion.
There's a pill on my tongue

A shot from a gun of my own

I'm lonely as a star

(Chorus)
So heal me

I'm heart sick
Hungry

But I can survive on you
Heal my heartsick hungry cries
I'm heartsick

Father, free me. Mama, hold and feed me.
Child of fury

Lost his way but don't worry.

I won't stop til the dawn,
Though I've been too long on the run

I grow strong and restless as a storm

Yea! I'm done! Heal Me, I'm Heartsick is a single by No Vacancy and I think it's old, but it really helped me get through a lot of junk that got tossed my way. Keiko Sawaguchi is the character of a good friend of mine who did indeed kill herself. I changed the name to protect her. She's watching me right now, I think. This story is dedicated to her.

Domo arigatou gozaimasu!

Now, I'm going to go start the sequel. Wolf's Last Cry. I want to let you know one last thing before I start thanking all the cool people who read this.

Keiko Sawaguchi is a little…different from what Bri perceived her to be.

Now, here are my thank you notes!

SilverDragon: Thank you for the Youko thing, I totally forgot about it. I rewrote nineteen to include your idea. Arigatou!

Saori: Um…I kinda figured that the "freeze" thing would wear off after a few minutes…I dunno exactly where I got the idea. But just that Gun Wa and a few others knew it.

Kurayamihikari: Thank you, I try to be as evil as possible. Yes, this part of the story will end…now. Yeah. But Sequel is up! Sequel! Wolf's Last Cry!

Sillylittlenothing: Um…You know what? I kinda had nothing more for Karasu to do than to walk in, intimidate Bri, get killed again by Kurama, and walk back off. I'm thinking that might not have been such a great idea…I'll see in the reviews, ne? And thank you again for unblocking me!

Suntiger: Sweetcakes, you know computers are sacred havens, right? I can't write unless I'm on the computer in my room (which doesn't have internet…it's a 94 model with ONLY Word on it.). So, I know how your dad feels about his comp. But doesn't mean he should take advantage of it and keep you from updating Varia's story! . That's just mean!

Here is a list of all the people's who have lovingly followed the first part of Bri's tale. I hope to see ya'll at the sequel! I will check the reviews against the list! Note: I'm listing all the peeps who reviewed, period. I see you multiple times, I'll put numbers there. I love ya'll!

Special thanks to: Suntiger, sillylittlenothing, Saori Aki Orimi, and Angel of the Dragon (not listed).

omasuoniwabanshi

TelexDarkRyuu

Suntiger12345678

Arano Honou

crazy-lil-nae-nae

kurayamihikari123456

sillylittlenothing123456

Nikoru1

tsuki no sakura

stuck-in-a-tree12

Crimson-Juno

chaos tenshi

Saori Aki Orimi12345

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ShadowDragon394

SallyWalker

Kurama's Megami

SilverDragon63

Princess Kandra12

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