Hey yall. Sorry for the delayed update. I've been really busy lately...school here starts up in a few weeks (damn it!), my cousin's wedding is coming up in a week, I get to give a sermon in church tomorrow (!), and I still haven't gotten any of my friends b-day gifts yet! (don't kill me you guys). Anywho, in lighter news, I've started drawing again, my newest passion: ed and winry from full metal alchemist! I've finally gotten the hang of them...but the coloring...ed's hair is a pain. Geeze.

DiScLaImEr:
me: i'll get this over w/ quickly so you can read...I don't own yu yu hakusho.
yusuke: finally! shedoes something smart for once!
me: well that makes one of us

Seven Days

Chapter 6: (Friday) Wish Upon a Star

Keiko sighed and drummed her fingers on the desk, staring down at the massive pile of papers before her. The wedding was tomorrow and she still had so much to work out. To add to her frustration, something had popped up and Rokuro had to leave town for the day, meaning she had all the paper work to do by herself. Keiko leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

A slight knock on her window startled her, sending her tumbling back, hitting the ground hard. Groaning, Keiko stood and rubbed her head. Another knock came from her window. Keiko cautiously walked over and pulled back the curtains. Yusuke stood smiling up at her, his hand full of tiny pebbles. Keiko smiled faintly back and motioned him to come up.

Instead of using the front door like everybody else, Yusuke began climbing up the vines on the side of the building toward her window. Keiko watched in amusement as Yusuke cursed as he fell several times before eventually getting a good foothold and making his way up. Keiko swung the window open and grabbed Yusuke's hand and hauled him in the room.

"You...are an idiot Yusuke."

"Gee, thanks," Yusuke said dryly, brushing himself off. "I thought that way would be faster."

Keiko snorted before turned back to the disaster on her desk. Yusuke followed her, his eyes widening at the sight of the mountain of papers.

"All this is for the wedding?"

"Yes."

"Where's Rokuro? Shouldn't he be helping you?" Yusuke asked, firmly placing his arms across his chest.

"Um...he had some stuff to do...he had to leave town today," Keiko answered, most of her attention on a swaying stack of guest invitations.

"Well it looks like marrying you isn't top priority," Yusuke spat. He eyed the invitations. "You haven't sent those off yet?"

"N-no...but these are, uh...well, most people know about the wedding so I didn't bother to send them off..." Keiko trailed off weakly, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.

Yusuke noticed and quickly softened his voice. "It's ok Keiko–"

"No its not!" she hollered at him. Without warning, she burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. "E-every..thing is a...a d-disaster! I haven't s-sent off the i-invitations, my d-dress hasn't even c-come in yet! I'm s-screwing everything u-up!"

Yusuke calming kneeled down, wrapping his arms around her. "It's all right," he soothed her softly. "Everything will be fine Keiko. You're stressed...you need a break."

"A break!" Keiko squeaked at him. She opened her mouth again, but Yusuke gently placed his finger over it.

"Yes, a break. I can have Kurama and the others take care of all this paper work for you."

Keiko sniffed a few times as she stared up at him. "R-really?"

Yusuke smiled at her, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Really."

"Wow! This sure brings back memories!"

Yusuke walked around the roof of Sarayashiki Junior High. Keiko smiled and nodded, walking up slowly beside him.

"Not many memories for you, seeing as you skipped so many times."

"Ha ha," Yusuke said, rolling his eyes. Then a mischievous grin snuck on his face. "The stuff that happened on the roof I remember though."

It was Keiko's turn to roll her eyes. "Puh-leese. The only thing you every did was smoke and flip my skirt..."

"Exactly," Yusuke smirked, his hand on the hem of her skirt.

Keiko's face immediately lit up bright red. As a reflex, she kicked her foot up under Yusuke's chin screaming, "YOU PERVERT!"

Yusuke flew back and hit the ground hard. Keiko quickly rushed to his side, sputtering apologies. Yusuke laughed as his sat up, rubbing his sore chin.

"Yeah...that definitely brings back some memories..."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Keiko!" Yusuke said, throwing his hands up and nearly dropping his ice cream cone. "I've spent years fighting demons! I think I'll live after your kick."

Keiko stuck her nose in the air. "Fine. Whatever. Excuse me for caring!"

Yusuke shrugged casually. "You're excused."

Keiko chose to ignore that comment, and instead licked her vanilla ice cream cone.

"Hey look!"

Keiko's head immediately snapped up, her eyes following Yusuke's pointing finger. In the distance she saw a river slowly come into view. She shrugged and continued down the dirt road.

"Don't you recognize this place?" Yusuke asked as they walked by the grassy slope that led down to the water's edge.

"Of course I do," Keiko snapped. She eyed the water as it sparkled in the fading light. The dazzling surface danced with the reds and pinks of the setting sun, and Keiko hated to admit it was a beautiful sight. How could such a horrible place be so gorgeous? This was the exact spot where Yusuke had told her he was leaving three years before. The memories tugged at her heart, leaving her chest aching.

"Geeze, it's been awhile," Yusuke said, happily trotting down the slope, oblivious to the horrid memories the spot brought back. He glanced back up at her, smiled, and signaled her to come down with him.

Keiko sighed and carefully made her way down to join him by the water's edge. Within inches of reaching Yusuke, Keiko tripped slightly, sending her ice cream smashing against her shirt.

"Dang it!" She muttered, staring down at the blob on her shirt. She looked up at Yusuke, who seemed about to burst out laughing. "Do you have a napkin?"

Yusuke, obviously thinking it not safe to speak for fear of laughing, merely shook his head. He took a few deep breaths before replying. "You had vanilla ice cream. Your shirt is white. You can't see it."

Keiko stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't see it? He was a guy after all; they weren't exactly the cleanest of people. But he honestly couldn't see it? She glanced down at her shirt, the spot of melted vanilla ice cream standing out as if it were chocolate. She opened her mouth, but Yusuke cut her off.

"I don't have a napkin...but I can help you."

Keiko's instincts told her to run, but her feet were glued to the spot. She knew exactly what Yusuke was up to, but the ice cream stain seemed to have frozen her mind. Her body didn't react until after Yusuke had reached over and gave her a gentle shove, sending her tumbling back into the river.

Keiko immediately jumped up, the icy water seeping into her clothes, chilling her to the bone. As she climbed back onto the slope, she was met with Yusuke practically rolling on the ground laughing so hard. She shivered, her teeth chattering loudly as she kicked Yusuke several times, too frozen to do much else. It didn't help that the sun had now disappeared from the sky, taking with it all the light and warm Keiko needed.

She collapsed to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest, visibly shaking. Yusuke finally stopped laughing as he sat beside her, draping his jacket around her shoulders. The warm, dry coat helped somewhat, but Keiko couldn't stop shaking. Yusuke noticed, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body close to his.

"Y-yusuke!" she managed to sputter. "W-we s-s-shouldn't–"

"Shh," Yusuke whispered in her ear. "You're cold and it's my fault."

Keiko couldn't object to that. Reluctantly relaxed against him, resting her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. I wish we could stay like this forever... Keiko knew the thought was wrong, and as a woman engaged to another man, she shouldn't be having thoughts like that, let alone snuggling against another man as she was. But at the same time, the thought was a comfort and seemed to warm her body. As the night slowly went by, Keiko felt an emotional tug-of-war going on in her heart. Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes as her mind rased with thoughts of things that could have been.

Yusuke...why did you have to leave?

Tiny golden stars glittered above in the dark sky, the moonlight shining down on the slope. A light breeze blew, the grass on the slope swaying against the two laying down and gazing up at the dark heavens above them. Suddenly, a bright blur streaked across the sky, lighting up the night like a firecracker.

Keiko immediately sat up, her eyes following the golden blur. "A shooting star," she murmured softly. She turned to Yusuke beside her. "Make a wish."

"Huh?"

Keiko rolled her eyes as she stood up. "When you see a shooting star, you make a wish."

Yusuke silently sat up and stared at his feet, deep in thought. "What about your wish?"

"I asked you first!"

Yusuke paused. "Keiko?"

"Yeah."

"I can have any wish I want, right?"

Keiko looked thoughtful. "Uh...yeah. It's a wish right?" She smiled at him. "You're my best friend. I'll help you make it come true."

Without another word, Yusuke got to his feet and stood in front of Keiko. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders, his heart beating wildly in his chest. He was amazed Keiko couldn't hear it pounding. "You will?"

Keiko blinked at him. "Y-yeah. You'd do the same for me, right? Aren't you my best friend?"

Yusuke didn't answer. Friend? Was that all he truly was to her? Didn't she know how he felt? Did she not feel the same? Yusuke shook the thoughts out of his head as he gazed down at Keiko, his eyes locked with hers. He took a deep breath.

"I wish...I wish you'd let me kiss you."

Keiko's face seemed to burst into flames. She struggled to find her tongue. "I-I can't–"

"I know!" Yusuke interrupted. "I know you can't...I know I'm just your...friend. But I really wish you'd let me. Just this once."

Keiko opened her mouth to tell him no, but she found her it dry. Why couldn't she say it? He had just said they were only friends, so why did he want to kiss her? Her – a woman engaged to someone else. Instead of rejecting him like she planned, she felt her head nod slightly.

Yusuke's hands slid down from her shoulders to her waist, wrapping her up and drawing her nearer to him. As his face drew closer to hers, her head was spinning. She knew she should pull away, run far away, away from all this confusion. But at the same time, she wanted to stay, knowing this is what she wanted. Before she could think anymore, Yusuke's lips pressed softly against her, scattering all thoughts out of her mind.

Keiko felt a soft, sweet pain in her heart when Yusuke kissed her. She wanted to push him away, but her body didn't obey her. She didn't want to let him kiss her. She didn't want to wrap her arms around his neck. She didn't want to kiss him back.

But she did.

The pain inside her grew, coursing through her body. The longer this kiss went on, the more it hurt, the more it spread through her. Her mind screamed at her to stop and cursed at her for forgetting her fiancee, but her body refused to acknowledge her mind's wishes, instead taking on a mind of its own, causing pain and pleasure at the same time. Was it possible that her body knew something she didn't? Could her body possibly be doing what she very deeply wanted to do?

No.

Her mind finally won over her body, and Keiko gently pushed Yusuke away from her. She stepped back away from him, but the pain in her chest didn't go away. Instead, it pulsed harder, bringing tears to her eyes. Why did it hurt so? She looked over at Yusuke, who seemed to be having an emotional struggle of his own. Carefully, she drew a shaky breath.

"Yusuke. I...I have a wish too."

Yusuke looked over at her, feeling a pang of guilt at the tear that slowly rolled down her cheek.

"I...I wish for you to tell me how you feel."

Yusuke's eyes widened. Opening his mouth, he found the words caught in his throat. Why couldn't he say it? Three words. That's all it took. But...why were they so hard to say?

Keiko took another deep breath. "What am I to you?"

Yusuke's gaze met hers, a sinking feeling rising in him as he felt the words rising up in his throat. "I...you're my...my friend. My best friend."

His body was frozen to the spot and could only watch as the tears began to stream down her face as she turned and ran from him, leaving him in the dark night, the stars glittering down mockingly at him.

please dont hate me. remember, there's still one chapter left! Ok, this was kinda sad, but I was in an emotional whirlwind myself when I wrote this...my mood kinda reflects my writing...I guess you could say I kinda depressed. Please review and I'll try and update the last chapter as soon as I can. I really want it to be perfect, so I have to be in the perfect mood to write it...I dunno how long it'll take. I'll try to finish before the end of this week! hope you enjoyed.