The Memory Arc
Disclaimer: I only own Yuku right now.

Pairings so far: Zeon x Koruru, Gash Bell x Tio, Kiyomaro x Megumi
Minor/Possible Pairings: Aruberu x Reira

Chapter 7: Yuku-Part 3-Mystery in the City

Gash Bell's eyes snapped open. He jumped off the end of the hospital bed, looking left and right, and sighed when he saw nothing but Kiyomaro sleeping soundly in his bed.

He smelt something. Gash had an excellent sense of smell. He smelled his favorite smell, well, besides Buri anyway. The scent reminded Gash of tulips, newly rained on grass, fresh bread, and very very faint make up. The smell of Tio.

'She probably smelled that way back home…' thought Gash as he took a deep breath. 'Except the other stuff. That's from being in Megumi-dono's dressing room a lot.'

Gash looked out the window sadly. Tio's memories were gone, he hadn't been there to stop that. Kiyomaro's arm was ruined, he hadn't been strong enough to prevent it. What would happen next? Would someone actually die?

Gash looked over at Kiyomaro, who was in the process of rolling over. Gash moved to stop him, but Kiyomaro fell right on top of his injured arm, letting out a horrible yell, that would have woken him, but Gash pushed him back on his side. Gash went back to the window afterwards.

"Why…?" whispered Gash, he voice full of pain and anguish. Tears began to fall.

"Gash..." Gash's head snapped up, and standing before him was Dr. Guess.

"NazoNazo Hakase..." murmured Gash, as he hastily wiped his tears away.

"Gash, you shouldn't cry." advised Dr. Guess. Gash frowned.

"Why not? This is all my fault! Kiyomaro got hurt because of me! And because I was too weak to stop Kiyomaro from getting hurt, I couldn't protect Tio!" yelled Gash as more tears fell from his eyes.

"Gash, you cannot feel guilty. What's done is done, at least you are able to fix things..." Dr. Guess looked away and sighed.

"Dr. Guess... Daijoubu?" questioned Gash slowly, seeing the distress in the doctor's eyes.

"... Gash, years ago, I was a regular doctor, a very good one at that." started Dr. Guess, sitting back down on his chair next to Kiyomaro's bed. Kiyomaro, surprisingly, was still sleeping. "I had a grandson. He needed surgery, I attempted the surgery, and..."

"But he's okay now, right?" asked Gash.

"He died." said Dr. Guess, his tone filled with sadness and regret. "Gash, you got your memories back. You can surely get Tio's back. And as for Kiyomaro, after the surgery, he'll be fine..."

"Dr. Guess... Arigato..." Gash smiled brightly at Dr. Guess, who grinned back at the small demon. Gash looked over at Kiyomaro. "Say, Dr. Guess... Why don't you do the surgery on Kiyomaro?"

"..." Dr. Guess did not reply, but his eyes held a strange spark as he looked out the window.


A small, blue skinned and purple robed creature fell off a boat and on to the docks. It's large hat which barely covered his pointy ears and completely covered it's third eye, had rolled away. It snatched the hat back and returned it to it's place on the creature's head. Looking around, the creature smiled darkly.

"So, I was right… It was open… Heh… Gash Bell… Kiyomaro… Shion… I'll have my revenge…"

With sick laughter echoing in his throat, Gelisa ran towards the house of a once lonely girl who wore a hat with pink cat ears on her head, his head filled with thoughts of revenge.


Sanbiimu sighed as he set down his luggage. He had slept through the whole flight, and hadn't even glanced at a single one of the magazines he had brought. He glanced out the

window of his hotel room. The sun was about to rise, and Saniimu smiled slightly.

"I'll go down to breakfast after I read a magazine…" Sanbiimu nodded to himself.

'Groovy!'

Sanbiimu sat down on the couch and opened up the bag which had been his carry on. His eyes widened, but he had no time to speak as a small, tan furred, horse demon leapt frm the bag, landed on his shoulder, and began licking his face, tongue moving much faster than any mere dog's.

"Meru meru meru meru mei, meru meru!" sang Umagon happily, licking Sanbiimu's face.

"U-Umagon…" stammered Sanbiimu, pulling Umagon off and setting him on his lap. Sanbiimu then looked Umagon in the eye. "So you managed to follow me?"

"Meru meru!" After jumping onto the floor, Umagon grinned and patted a hoof to his chest.

"I see…" Sanbiimu sighed and looked out the window. He had missed the sunrise.


Much later, Umagon was clopping happily next to Sanbiimu, who was walking down a city street. It was nearly empty, but it was early and a less popular part of the city. But there were still cars going by and many people doing their daily business.

"Umagon, first, I will get us some breakfast. Then, I will take you back to the hotel and go to my work." Said Sanbiimu. Frowning, Umagon stared up at his partner.

"Meru meru?" asked the small horse demon.

"…" Sanbiimu closed his eyes and concentrated. "Gomen, Umagon. I must be tired, I cannot understand you."

"Meru!" Umagon scowled angrily and looked away from Sanbiimu.

"Ano…" Sanbiimu frowned, thinking hard for a solution. Finally, he reached one. "You can eat whatever you want at the restaurant. Okay?"

"Meru meru meriii!" exclaimed Umagon happily. Sanbiimu nodded at his partner, and the two continued on their way. Sanbiimu nodded when a fairly nice looking restaurant came into view.

"Shall we go Umagon?" questioned the man.

"Meru!" Umagon nodded and galloped ahead of Sanbiimu.


After eating their breakfast, Umagon and Sanbiimu headed out. Some of the things they had passed included a recently abandoned carnival, a swimming pool, and a playground. After passing the playground, Sanbiimu and Umagon noticed a crowd gathered around something.

"Should we see what it is? Either way, I won't be late to work." Sanbiimu looked down at Umagon, who was already running in childish curiosity. "Well, I suppose there's my answer."

Sanbiimu couldn't get into the crowd, because he was too tall. Umagon, however, maneuvered through the feet of the crowd and got to the front fast.

"Meru..." Sanbiimu heard Umagon say something from the front, but Sanbiimu couldn't read what Umagon was thinking. Or was it shock? EIther way, Sanbiimu actually wanted to see what the comotion was about now. "Excuse me, excuse me, can I get by please?"

And Sanbiimu froze when he got to the front.


Reikom had been spending a lot of time in the city, bringing Hosokawa with him. He told Zeon that he could accomplish more in the city than training in the forest. Zeon had merely shrugged as he easily dodged a tree root coming out of the ground, courtosey of Sugina.

In reality, he was searching. Searching for his new partner, but he had to be careful about it. Bumping into people, accidentaly pushing the book out of Hosokawa's arms in the view of many.

However, he was unsuccessful. Meeting Hosokawa had been pure luck. The fact that he could read the book was the same.

"Reikom, any luck today?" questioned Hosokawa. Reikom shook his head. They turned down a street. It was empty.

"I doubt I'll find my new partner now..." Reikom sighed and looked up at Hosokawa. "We'll have to try again tommorow, Hosowaka."

"Get back here! We aren't through yet! Cowards!"

Reikom looked over at the end of the empty street. Four thugs ran into the street from an alley, all looking fairly beaten up. They ran past Reikom and Hosokawa. They looked scared, and Reikom could only wonder what caused the fear. His answer came from the alley.

From the alley, came a red-headed teenage girl. Her hair was long and held in a ponytail with a peach colored ribbon. She was wearing a sweatshirt and in her hands was a black pole. A kendo weapon. She looked both ways frantically, before running towards Reikom and Hosokawa.

"Excuse me, but did you see some guys run outa that alley?" asked the girl, jabbing her thumb back at said alley. Her purple eyes flashed confusion when Reikom answer, instead of the tall man next to him.

"They went that way." Reikom pointed in the direction the thugs had gone. The girl grinned wolfishly and ran past Reikom, waving her dark hand as she ran.

"You're not safe yet, you wimps!" yelled the girl towards the direction that Reikom had pointed. Soon, she was out of sight, as the thugs were. Screams of the thugs were heard afterwards.

"Interesting girl..." said Hosokawa finally.

"Yes... Interesting..." Reikom nodded and continued down the street, Hosokawa in tow.


There, in the center of the boundaries stopping the crowd from entering, were two children and a woman who probably was their mother. The woman's face was torn in worry for her children, and her own pain, but she still held the two sobbing children close.

There was an ambulance pulling up a few yards away. But none of this was what had shocked Sanbiimu, no, it was something else.

Their legs were completely slashed. What was strange was that it looked like the muscles were okay, yet the skin looked like it had been torn apart by a knife. There wasn't even

any blood.

"Minna-san, please leave, please!" yelled one of the people in the ambulance.

"What could have done this..." wondered Sanbiimu as he walked away, Umagon in the lead.

"Meru meru..." added Umagon. Sanbiimu raised an eyebrow.

"Did you say 'Me too', Umagon?" questioned Sanbiimu. Umagon shook his head and pointed. They were at the hotel. "... Oh."

"Meru meru!" Umagon cheered as they walked past the lobby and Sanbiimu took two complementary cookies. He passed one down and munched on one himself. They walked past the front desk, and entered the elevator. "Meru meru!"

Sanbiimu laughed inwardly for exactly 0.02345 seconds. Umagon was jumping up and down, attemting to reach the elevator's buttons.

"Umagon, do not jump on an elevator." Before Umagon could whimper, Sanbiimu leaned down and picked Umagon up, holding him in front of the buttons. "Second floor, Umagon."

"Meru!" Umagon's hoof came into contact with the button as soon as the words left Sanbiimu's mouth.


Reira trotted out of the hotel room, pulling Aruberu with her, a smile gracing her face.

The two partners were heading to different places all over town, so Reira could truly see the changes between the present and 1000 years ago. Toys and blocks Zofius had given her had been fascinating, but when Reira heard someone talk about a roller coaster, her eyes had lit up and Aruberu simply said "Let's go."

Right now, they were heading towards the amusement park. Unknown to them, Kiyomaro, Megumi, Gash, and Tio had all gone to the same one long ago, where their only worries were if Gash would get food poisoning.

Reira turned around and smiled.

"Come on Aru, we're almost there!" laughed the girl happily.


Sanbiimu opened the door to the hotel room and walked inside, Umagon following him.

"All right Umagon, stay here, okay?"

Umagon sighed but nodded loyally.

"Meru meru!" exclaimed the horse demon, patting his chest. Sanbiimu smiled.

"Good, I'll bring you some carrots on my way back." Sanbiimu missed the horrified and disgusted look on Umagon's face as he left the room.


A smirk graced his face as he leapt back from the punch. After that, he charged forward, his fist clenched.

His opponent grinned, her dark skin clean. He was sweating like a pig and she was fine.

"Time to pay, little bit-." he started, when the girl punched him in the stomach. He collapsed.

"Taking away my sword. Woop-dee-friggin' doo." said the girl casually, tossing her red hair behind her as she left the alley, grabbing the kendo blade off of the dumpster and walked off, whistling.

Two ice blue eyes stared above the ceiling, a man standing behind their owner.

"I want to see if she can read it."


"Meru meru mei…" groaned Umagon as he looked out the window. The poor demon was quite bored. It had been a few hours since Sanbiimu had left, and Umagon had been staring out the window for over half an hour now.

However, Umagon's boredom was about to end. A change for the worse.

Umagon's eyes widened when he saw a woman scream as her body was slashed up by a small creature. The creature laughed and ran away, and the woman collapsed.

"Meru!" Umagon ran back and stared at the window. He clased his eyes and snapped them open, his gaze.

He took a step back and gave a snort, like a bull did.

"MERU MERU MEIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Umagon charged.

End Chapter 7