Author's Note: Hey everyone! Well, I just finished watching the final Yu-Yu Hakusho episodes, and I'm glad that Here to Eternity was fairly consistent with the final episodes of the series, since I started writing that story after I finished watching the DVD Tempting Fate.
Two other important points to point out, first, this chapter is the longest so far. So I hope that it doesn't bore you. Second, I hope that my explanation on Freud's theory on dreams is correct. I am drawing from a psychology class I took five years ago. So if I'm wrong, please forgive me. Anyway, on with the story!

Howling winds keep screaming 'round.
And the rain keeps pouring down.
Doors are locked and bolted now.
As the thing crawls into town.
Straight out of Hell, one of a kind,
stalking his victim.
Don't look behind you, night crawler.
Beware the beast in black, night crawler.
You know he's coming back, night crawler—
"Night Crawler"—Judas Priest

Shadows of the Past

Chapter V

While Yusuke and Chu walked through the cold city streets, Yusuke called Kuwabara and Kurama and informed them of the events spoken to him by Kayko. He asked both of them to meet Chu and himself at the base of the temple stairs.

When Kuwabara and Kurama arrived at the base of the temple stairs, snow was heavily descending to the earth.

"Hey guys," Yusuke began in a somber tone; "thanks for coming out."

"How's it going?" added Chu, in an equally somber tone.

"I suppose we could say that we've all been better," responded Kurama.

"I tried to call Yukina after I got off the phone with you Urameshi (as he often addressed Yusuke), but I couldn't reach her. She must've turned her cell phone off."

"That'd make sense," replied Chu. "If this situation is as bad as Mrs. Urameshi describes it, I probably wouldn't want to talk to anybody either for a while."

"Well, I suppose that we should look," Yusuke said. "That snow's coming down hard, and soon it'll be dark, which'll make it harder for us to go home. By the time we reach the temple, we'll probably be walking through at least five centimeters of snow."

Yusuke and his companions marched up the long flight of stairs until they reached the temple summit. When they arrived they noticed that lights were on inside the temple.

"That's not something I expected," replied Yusuke.

"I wonder why there're so many lights inside the temple?" asked Kuwabara.

His question was quickly answered when he noticed his sister open the main door of the temple. Shizuru, however, was not her normal self. She un-characteristically did not have a cigarette dangling from her mouth.

"Hey everyone," she replied in an equally somber tone that reflected the attitude of Yusuke and his companions.

"Sis?"

"What're you doing here, Shizuru?" began Yusuke. "I told Kayko that I thought it'd be best if all of you guys went home."

"Yeah, I know. I got the message, Yusuke. But I'm also not pregnant, and I don't have a baby already. Plus, I thought that somebody should stay and keep a vigil over Genkai's body."

"…So…it's really true, huh?"

"Yeah…even though it's hard to accept."

"What exactly happened to her?"

"Well…"

"That's all right. I don't need you to explain it to me. Just please take me to where she's at."

Shizuru nodded, and directed Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Chu to the master bedroom. There, resting on the bed, lay Master Genkai. Genkai was dressed in her night gown with her hands folded across her chest.

Yusuke's lower lip began to quiver. So for that matter did the lower lips of everybody else in the room, including Shizuru; although her emotion was from the sadness that everyone else felt more than seeing Genkai's body again.

Yusuke, with his eyes slowly giving in to tears, stepped forward. He gently ran his fingers through his teacher's hair and touched her hands, but as he did so he touched some dry blood. Then he noticed some dry blood just below her hands.

"What the hell…"

"What is it, Yusuke?" asked Kurama.

Yusuke did not respond to his friend's question. Instead he removed Genkai's hands to reveal a sight that made him gasp.

"My god!" he replied, almost in a whisper.

"What's wrong, Urameshi?" asked Chu when he stepped forward.

And when Chu saw what Yusuke saw he was shocked as well. There was a large hole in Genkai's chest.

"My god!" Kuwabara echoed, when he stepped forward as well. "Now I can see how my sister had a hard time trying to explain what happened."

But then Yusuke noticed something else. A large puddle of dried blood was next to Genkai's body, at the edge of her bed. The left side of her bed sheets was stained with blood as well. Leaving a trail that landed on the floor and under her bed.

Yusuke followed the trail that ended with some kind of shape. Yusuke grabbed the object, which had a squishy and slimy feel to it.

"What do you have Urameshi?" asked Kuwabara, while he watched Yusuke pull something from underneath Genkai's bed.

"I'm not sure…" Yusuke began, until he removed the object. Yusuke's hand was slightly covered with fresh blood. In his hand was a heart—Genkai's heart.

Yusuke immediately tossed his fallen master's vital organ to the ground and vomited. And when Yusuke's companions watched their friend regurgitate they followed suit, all but one that is.

Kurama—the man with the strongest constitution—examined the open wound of Genkai. "It appears as though somebody just plucked the heart out of Genkai."

Yusuke, who had regained his composure from vomiting, gasped at Kurama's words. "'Plucked the heart out of Genkai.'" It caused him to remember his dream about the elder Toguro. For when the elder Toguro fought Kuwabara in the Dark Tournament he informed him, while he pierced his fingers into Kuwabara's chest cavity, 'a couple more inches and I can pick out your heart.' "It can't be." These words were supposed to be a thought, but came out orally.

"It can't be what Urameshi?"

"When Kurama said the words, 'plucked the heart out of Genkai' it made me think of the elder Toguro."

"Oh, yeah. Now that you mention it that's something he did say during my fight with him. But what does that have to do with your 'can't be' statement? The last time I checked the elder Toguro was still tied up to Kurama's Sinning Tree."

"He is?" responded Chu. "I thought that his brother killed him just before the last match in the Dark Tournament."

"No," replied Kurama. "The elder Toguro survived that attack from his brother, though his body was horribly damaged. Elder Toguro rested in sea around Hanging Neck Island, but eventually he found his way into the services of Shinobu Sensui, a former spirit detective who planned to create a tunnel between the Human and Demon Worlds. In Sensui's service were seven psychics, who were using their power to help Sensui accomplish his goal. One of those psychics was a man named Gourmet, who had the ability to steal a person's powers by devouring them. Through the trickery of Sensui and the elder Toguro, Gourmet devoured Elder Toguro; but instead of Gourmet absorbing the elder Toguro's power, the elder Toguro took over. Elder Toguro then intended to use Gourmet's body as his new body, but when Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I were battling Sensui I placed a seed inside Gourmet's body that would bloom into the Sinning Tree. The elder Toguro was snared in the Sinning Tree's branches, and so he remains to this day.

I'm actually surprised Chu that you didn't notice Elder Toguro screaming in agony when you crossed over from Demon World to Human World."

"Sorry mate, I didn't see him. I guess that I must've entered Human World through another place from where you guys fought this Sensui character."

"Well, everything Kurama said was pretty much true," began Kuwabara; "but why all this talk about Elder Toguro? I still don't understand how he relates to anything Urameshi was saying?"

"Well…I had this dream that involved the elder Toguro. And when Kurama said what he said…"

"No kidding!"

"What the hell're you freaking out about a dream Yusuke had?" asked Shizuru. "It was just a dream, nothing more."

"Yeah, but…it's just weird…I had a dream about Elder Toguro as well. It was in that cave where Urameshi fought Sensui."

"Blimey! That's unique!"

"Yes, it is," added Kurama. "And what makes it even more unique is that I had a similar dream myself."

"Now this is getting really weird! Sis, did you have a dream last night too?"

"No."

"Then I wonder why the three of us did? Hey Kurama! You're smart. Is it possible for three people to dream about the exact same person in a similar setting?"

"…Yes, it is."

"Whoa, really!"

"Damn, I'd love to hear the explanation on that one," responded Yusuke.

"You're not the only one mate."

"Same here," added Shizuru.

"In the late 19th century an Austrian psychologist named Sigmund Freud proposed theories on why people dream or have nightmares. Freud believed that dreams or nightmares were linked to an individual's wants or fears. They can also be linked by something that an individual sees or thinks that recalls a past memory. All of us could've had a memory about seeing the elder Toguro in the Demon's Door Cave, because all of us experienced it one way or another."

The rest of the party was silent. It appeared as though they were trying to digest Kurama's words.

"Wait a sec," began Yusuke. "I can understand some of that, but at the same time there're a lot things I don't understand. For example, I'm sure as hell not wanting to see the elder Toguro; and why should I be afraid of him since I know he's trapped in that Sinning Tree thing?"

"Yeah, same here," replied Kuwabara.

"The same goes for me too. But perhaps we all saw something that caused us to remember Elder Toguro…even though I can't think of anything."

"Neither can I," responded Yusuke.

"I can't think of anything either," remarked Kuwabara.

"Plus," added Yusuke, "what he said to me makes no sense either."

Kuwabara and Kurama gasped on that comment.

"Let me guess…he spoke to you guys as well?"

Kuwabara and Kurama nodded before Kuwabara said, "Yeah, he gave me that freakish red-eye trick. You know, similar to that one he gave me during the Dark Tournament? And then he said, 'Death awaits you!'"

The expressions on Yusuke and Kurama's faces altered to a person who believed that they had seen a ghost.

"No freaking way…" replied Yusuke.

"Wait!" began Shizuru. "Are you two trying to say that Elder Toguro said the exact same thing to you as well?"

Yusuke and Kurama nodded.

"Blimey, now this is fucking weird."

"Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself," replied Shizuru. "Hey Kurama…is that possible as well?"

"…I don't know. But the chances are probably not."

"Well, what the hell does that mean then?" asked Yusuke.

"It means that perhaps what we experienced wasn't a dream."

"Then what was it then?"

"…I don't know."

For a few moments the party remained silent, until Yusuke spoke after he had seen a clock on the wall.

"I guess it's not something we should worry about too much. Plus, I need to be heading home. It's getting late, and I'll be walking through at least thirty centimeters of snow."

"Should we contact the authorities about Genkai's body?" asked Shizuru.

"Yeah, I guess…"

"I'd prefer not to," interrupted Kurama. "I know it's late now, but tomorrow I'm going to visit Demon's Door Cave. I want to see this for myself."

"I'm coming with you," responded Kuwabara.

"Yeah, count me in as well," replied Yusuke.

"I'm up for the journey too, mate," added Chu.

"Well, until then," began Shizuru; "do you think we can wrap Genkai's body in a burial shroud?"

"…Yeah," Yusuke reluctantly answered.

Each of the five had tears in their eyes as they watched Yusuke return Genkai's heart to her chest. Then the five of them reluctantly wrapped Genkai's body in a funeral shroud that she had always kept in her temple, and instructed Yusuke and Kayko that she would like to be placed in it at the hour of her death.

Genkai's body continued to rest on her bed, and the five of them presented her body with a goodbye gesture of veneration before they departed from the temple.

While Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Shizuru, and Chu departed from Genkai's temple, Yusuke turned to the drunken fighter.

"Where're you staying tonight, Chu?"

"Oh, I'll find some place."

"Why don't you stay at me and Kayko's place? We have a spare room, and I think Kosuke'd love you!"

Chu chuckled. "Well, perhaps that might help brighten up my day!"

Yusuke smiled. "Good. I'll call Kayko and have it arranged."

Almost a minute after Yusuke entered his apartment he was quickly embraced by Kayko.

"I'm sorry Yusuke."

Yusuke smiled, and kissed his wife. "Thanks, I needed that. But…lets try not to talk about it too much. When you talk too much about things that're sad you become sad too. All it does is bring you down."

Kayko nodded.

"Well put, Yusuke," replied Chu.

Kayko gasped at Chu's voice. Although he had been standing behind Yusuke for a few minutes she had not yet introduced herself to him.

"I'm sorry. I feel so rude for not saying hello to you."

"Don't worry, Love. I understand the circumstances."

Kayko smiled. "Thanks. I'm Kayko, and I take it that you're Chu, right?"

The demon smiled. "You guessed it!"

"Although this happened a few years ago, I want to thank you for what you and your friends did for me and Yusuke that day outside the stadium."

"Aw, think nothing of that Miss. I'm always happy to help a sheela in need. Though I have to tell you, I think that engaging in a naughty outside the stadium during the Dark Tournament wasn't a very wise decision."

"We were NOT having sex!"

Chu roared, and so did Yusuke. But Yusuke was quick to shut up when his wife gave him a look that he was just one more laugh away from receiving a hard slap in the face.

Chu, however, was not frightened by Kayko's expression. "Well even if you weren't having sex on that day, it didn't stop you from having sex on another day, because you got that boy Yusuke showed me in the picture."

Kayko relaxed her face of thunder, and smiled. "Yes, that's our baby boy."

"Well, let's see the little mate! I told Yusuke that I thought he was the spittin' image of him."

"Yeah, although some people think he looks more like his mother," replied Yusuke.

Kayko continued to smile, and directed Chu to the sitting room where Kosuke was busy playing with his toys. When the toddler noticed his parents he became very excited and exclaimed their names. But when he noticed an unfamiliar face in Chu, he became slightly nervous.

"You'll have to excuse Kosuke a bit Chu," began Yusuke. "He becomes a little shy when he meets new people. I think he tries to observe them so he can understand if they're safe or not."

Chu laughed, while Kayko lifted Kosuke from the floor.

Chu extended his hand to the two-year-old and said, "Put 'er there, mate!"

Kosuke looked at Chu's hand with suspicion, while he continued to suck on his thumb. But with his parents encouragement he wrapped his tiny hand around one of Chu's fingers.

Chu responded by tickling the child's tummy—causing him to giggle—and Kayko returned him to the ground.

"Chu," Yusuke began, "I need to talk to my wife for a few minutes. We'll be back real quick."

"All right, Urameshi. But if the kid starts shitting in his britches, I ain't changing his diaper."

Yusuke motioned Kayko into the kitchen where he prepared a drink of brandy, water, and ice.

"So," he said, after taking a sip; "you weren't able to tell me exactly what happened to Genkai, huh?"

"I never actually saw it," she replied. "Shizuru told me it'd be best if I didn't come in, especially since I had Kosuke with me."

Yusuke nodded. "It's probably for the best then."

"So what happened?"

"…Somebody…somebody plucked out Genkai's heart."

Kayko gasped.

Yusuke was motionless as well, before he took another sip of brandy. "I need to talk to Botan."

"Botan?"

"Yeah. I'm sure she's seen Genkai, and can rule out any idea that I had."

"What ideas were those?"

"…I'll tell you later."