I don't own YYH or any of it's characters. I just own Mikai, and Sotto.

00000000-shows a flashback.

Enjoy

"What?" Rinku, Touya, Jin, and Suzuki said as they looked at Chuu.

"Mikai used to like Yusuke a great deal," Chuu said as he looked towards the screen. He had just told them that Mikai had told him along time ago that she used to like Yusuke. Somewhere inside he felt as if it were the right time for everyone to know. "She told me somethin' once, and it told me everythin' that happened between them."

"What?" Suzuki asked as he stepped forward. This was the kind of thing Suzuki lived for besides fighting, gossip and love.

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Chuu and Mikai's faces were a bright red. In both of their hands was a large bottle of beer that Chuu had been saving for a special occasion and he figured that the night before the tournament was the prefect time to break it out.

"Goddamn it's good to see everyone again," Mikai said happily as she looked at the list of fighters. "I haven't seen Yusuke in forever!"

"I know love!" Chuu laughed.

"Though," Mikai said becoming a bit serious. "I do get a bit jealous when I see him."

"Why's that?" Chuu asked, noticing Mikai's serious tone on the subject.

"Well ya see…" Mikai sighed. "I want him to hook up with my pal back in America, Yuzu and for some reason thinking about that still gets me a bit jealous."

"Why do you think this Yuzu friend of yours belongs with Urameshi?"

"Yuzu's everything I'm not. I liked Yusuke a lot once and he didn't like me back or even hint at liking me…so maybe Yuzu will fit better for him," Mikai explained. "Everything I don't have she does…so maybe that's what I was missing."

Chuu wrapped his arm around Mikai and squeezed her tightly to him. "Don't worry about him now! You've got the red head to look after your heart now!"

"Yeah!" Mikai cheered as she rose her beer bottle once more. "Forget him let's drink!"

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"I think that really hurt Mikai…sayin' that," Chuu said. "I can see that the two of them really care about each other…and right now…I really think that Yusuke is beginin' to see that he likes Mikai."

"Why do you say that?" Touya asked.

"It's a little heads up I got from Mikai that's all," Chuu answered.

"So what are you?" Suzuki teased. "A Kurama and Mikai fan, or a Yusuke and Mikai fan?"

"Kurama and Mikai of course!" Chuu said as he looked at Suzuki. "The red head has been with her for so long now! Besides I doubt Mikai would chose Yusuke over Kurama!"

"Me too," Rinku said with a smile.

"I think I am too," Suzuki said, answering his own question.

"I like Yusuke and Mikai," Touya answered only to have everything turn around and shoot death glares at him. "What?"

"Father?" Shura asked as he looked up at his blind father. "Is Mother going to win?"

"I don't know," Yomi answered. I never thought of Mikai and Yusuke's past. I didn't know that something as simple as a fight would cause so much emotion to run through her. He thought.

Shura was surprised. He didn't think that his father would ever look nervous about something. He looked so nervous and was shaking a bit as Shura watched. He took a small gulp and thought of something else.

"Father, what will happen if you win this tournament?" the young one asked.

Yomi didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer. He knew that he was going to rule the Makai and place all three worlds together, the Makai, Ningenkai, and Reikai, but he didn't know what he was going to do on his personal life. Mikai didn't want him so his plan of ruling with her was over with. But then again he could force her to be with him but that wasn't what he wanted. He had no idea what was going to happen, and he hated that fact.

"What if you get paired up to fight with Mother?" Shura asked as he looked up at his father. He never wanted to think of his mother and father fighting but he knew that they wouldn't hold anything back if they did fight and that idea scared him.

"I…don't know," Yomi answered.

He hadn't decided what he was going to do on that fact either. The idea of the ball inside of Mikai holding her down was still placed in his mind and he couldn't get past the fact that it was no longer in her which meant she could do whatever she wanted without the burden of the cursed blood inside of her hurting her.

"But…" He began once more. "I will fight her just as any normal fighter. I've trained her the best I can and I will be willing to fight her to the best of my abilities."

Mother… Shura thought as he looked back towards the screen. Please win and be careful. I know you can do it.

Yusuke charged Mikai and pushed her back towards a large open area with nothing but sand around them. Mikai's feet dug into the ground as she stopped herself from flying backwards, and Yusuke watched as she slowly stopped.

"You're such a pain in the ass," Mikai hissed as she looked over towards the black haired boy.

"It's not like you're the easiest person to get along with," Yusuke answered back as he pushed his hair back behind him.

This was the only fight he had fought so far where his hair was falling out of place. He was putting his effort into the battle but something was holding him back, and that something was the one thing Yusuke couldn't figure out.

"Mikai!" Yusuke yelled as he thought of something. "What are you going to do after you win this fight?"

"Fight Yomi of course!" Mikai answered.

"And then what?"

"Keep fighting until I win!"

Yusuke looked away laughing. Mikai puffed up her cheeks and glared at him as he looked back at her. "Sorry." He laughed. "It's just that…" Yusuke pointed his finger out towards her. "What will Kurama do once you rule the Makai?"

"Whatever the hell he wants too!" Mikai yelled back.

"But if you're ruling the Makai, you'll be stuck here, and then what does Kurama do? Does he go home to his mother? Or does he stay here with you?"

"Damn…" Mikai bit her lip and looked away. That was the one flaw in her plan that she hadn't thought out yet. She had made plans for if she won, and if she lost but she had been looking towards winning a bit more then losing.

"We'll see what happens," Mikai answered after finding a decent answer in her head. "But until then my choices are only my own! And I'll deal with what happens if my plans ago astray!"

"Fine with me," Yusuke said with a smile as he charged Mikai once more. As he charged her, he noticed that she didn't move at all. He kept charging though, and soon met Mikai's knee in his stomach.

"Damn," he muttered as Mikai kicked him off of her leg and onto the floor a few feet away. He held his stomach as he stood up and shot a glare at her.

"You leave yourself too open," Mikai said as she shot another glare at him.

"Don't start that…" Yusuke groaned as he stood up. "Again…"

"Mikai…isn't going to make it through this battle," Mukuro said as she looked on, catching the attention of the kitten.

"What?" Sotto asked in surprise. "Why not?"

"She's tried…releasing all of that built up emotion and finally saying what she's been meaning to say for years took effort from her…and now she's tired…emotionally. Not to mention her wound must be hurting her," Mukuro answered, not bothering to take her eyes off of the screen.

"Mikai." Sotto looked at the screen. "She doesn't look tried at all…"

How much longer can you keep this up Mikai? Mukuro thought as she looked on. How much longer until your emotions get the better of you?

Yusuke and Mikai charged one another once more with nothing but fists. They began hitting each other over and over again and both of them lost themselves within the fight. The thoughts running through their heads got the better of them, and soon they each began to think everything over.

Yusuke thought back, back to when he and Mikai kept the fact that they were Spirit detectives a secret from each other. So much had happened back then and Yusuke loved it. He remembered how their sleepovers went and how those two moments which made Yusuke question his relationship made him feel. He thought of the first one, the night after a fight in the streets and he had brought Mikai home for the first time. It was that night that he had the dream which made him think of Mikai over a friend, the first time he had ever thought of her as a lover instead. He could remember everything from that night, the way she smelled, to the way she looked, to the most important, the way she made him feel. Back then he felt as if the world could fall apart around him and he wouldn't care. He was so content and happy that nothing could touch him, nothing at all.

The second one took place a few months after and the two of them were once more at Yusuke's place because Mikai's aunt had gotten mad at Mikai because of her poor grades and had kicked her out of the house. With nowhere to go, Mikai came to Yusuke's place and spent a week there but the last night there he remembered having another dream or whatever it was about her being with him in the shower. Again the emotion of being content came over him and it was stronger this time since Yusuke had felt it once before and could now recognize it fully and somewhat understand it. He still didn't know whether those two incidents were dreams or something that really happened but Yusuke didn't care, he just cared about the feeling which came with it and how it changed both him and Mikai.

Damn! Yusuke thought through it all. Why now? Dammit! Why the hell is everything hitting me this hard now?

Between Yusuke and Mikai, everything had been great. But there were, as in every relationship, downfalls and moments of loss. Nothing could explain in words what Yusuke felt when he watched Mikai get shot through the stomach back when Seme was around and Kurama was trying to keep away from Mikai for her own safety. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Yusuke watched Mikai bleed because of him. But even worse then that was what he thought at the hospital when Kurama showed up. He thought in those moments that he cared for Mikai more then Kurama ever did or ever could in his or Youko's lifetime.

And that was it.

In that moment in time, Yusuke felt something shot through him and he stopped punching Mikai, allowing her to hit him. The impact from the hit caused him to go flying backwards once more and his body skidded to a stop.

"Damn Yusuke!" Mikai yelled. "Fight me dammit! What the hell are you thinking about?"

Yusuke stood up and wiped the small trail of blood coming from his mouth away with his right hand. He looked at Mikai in wonder and felt a feeling rushing through him that he had felt twice before only this time words came to his mind.

I like her…I like Mikai… Yusuke thought. More then a friend…He shook his head. I can't! She's my sister dammit! Besides she belongs with Kurama!

"Stop fucking around!" Mikai yelled as she charged Yusuke once more. "Just fight you ass!"

Yusuke blocked Mikai's punches as he began to think everything over. Being here in the Makai, he had been isolated from everyone else. He hadn't seen any of his friends or anyone he held close to his heart in so long and the only one who had ever come to see him or check up on him was Mikai.

It's just like when I was sick…She was the only one who was there for me. Yusuke thought as he began to remember a time so long ago.

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"Damn."

Yusuke sneezed and rolled over onto his left side. He had gotten some kid of cold from Kuwabara only Kuwabara had gotten over it rather quickly but Yusuke had been sick for three straight days and he didn't feel as if he were getting any better.

He pushed off his white blankets only to find that he was cold and he wanted them back on so he pulled them back up but then found that it was too hot so he pushed them back off. He sat up to open the window to let some cool air in to hopefully balance everything out but when he opened the window he heard kids yelling and screaming down below.

"Damn kids." He sniffled as he slammed his window shut.

"Hey!" a cheery female voice said from behind. Yusuke looked to see Mikai standing in the doorway with a black backpack over her shoulder.

"What?" Yusuke asked before he sneezed.

"Bless you." Mikai walked over to him and placed her right hand on his forehead and her left hand on her forehead. "Damn you're hot!"

"How did you get in? Is my mom home yet?"

"No. I picked the lock." Mikai grinned as she pulled away from him. She turned her backpack around so that it was in front of her and she reached down inside and pulled out a small bottle of medicine. "Just take this to bring your fever down."

"I don't like medicine," Yusuke said as he fell back down onto his pillow. "You know that."

"You gotta bring that fever down." Mikai sighed as she walked into Yusuke's bathroom and filled a cup with cold water. She brought it over to Yusuke and held it out to him. "Hurry up and take it before I make you take it."

"Damn…" Yusuke sat back up and took the pill and swallowed it down with the water. He coughed a bit and then laid back down.

Mikai walked back into the bathroom and came back out with a small purple washcloth which was dark now and dripping a bit of water onto the floor. She walked over to Yusuke and placed it on his forehead.

"Get some sleep okay?" she said gently. "You have to beat that fever before you can start to get any better."

"Whatever," Yusuke said as he closed his eyes and began to fall asleep. Within minutes of telling himself that he wasn't going to fall asleep, Yusuke fell into a deep sleep and his body began to recover.

Yusuke opened his eyes only to see that the light in his room was now on and darkness touched the edges of the room where the light couldn't reach. He sat up and the washcloth fell off of his forehead as he looked around to see Mikai in the corner of the room working on something.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he sniffled.

"Workin' on needlepoint," Mikai answered as she put her work down and looked over at Yusuke. "How are you feeling?"

"Well…" Yusuke placed the back of his hand on his forehead. "My fever is gone but I still feel sick."

"It's good that your fever's gone." Mikai stood up. "What do you want to eat?"

"You'll make me something?" Yusuke asked blinking. "I thought you couldn't cook."

"Well I'll try," Mikai said with a gentle laugh. "Don't worry it'll be fine! Just tell me what you want!"

She was willing to make him something no matter what and Yusuke found it funny. He began to laugh a bit as he looked over at her and then Mikai began to laugh because Yusuke's laugh was plagued by his stuffed up nose. The two laughed for a while before Yusuke gave her and answer and she went off to go and cook it. But laughing wasn't the thing that made Yusuke feel good. It was the fact that Mikai had come out of her way to come and see him to make sure that he was okay, which was more then his mother was doing at the moment. And that was something that Yusuke would never forget.

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She had always been the one to come and make sure that he was okay because she knew how he got if he was left alone for a long period of time. She knew how he acted and why he acted certain ways. Only she knew.

So do I or don't I? Yusuke thought. Do I like Mikai?

Mikai dodged one of Yusuke's punches and jumped upwards. She pushed herself to fall behind Yusuke were she stood not moving at all. Yusuke froze as he felt something hit his back; it was Mikai's hand, right at the base of his spine.

"I could kill you now Yusuke," Mikai said gently. "But that's not what I'm here to do. I can't kill you…simply because it would be like killing a part of myself and because of Senkai…there isn't much for me to lose right now. Yusuke…Senkai has begun to take over my body here in the Makai and I don't want that to happen but I'm afraid that if I leave Senkai just like Kurama left Youko…that I won't love Kurama anymore and if that happens…please tell me that you'll still be there."

"Come on people let's see some blood!" Koto yelled. "Can Mikai rip out Yusuke's spine or will she chicken out of it?"

"Don't be stupid," Yusuke said with a slight laugh. "I'd never let Senkai take over your body. Even if I were in Raizen's kingdom and you were in Yomi's I'd come and give your body back to you even if I had to fight Senkai over and over. Trust me, as long as I'm here and breathing I'm not going to let you get up and leave."

"Yusuke," Mikai whimpered. She took her hand off of Yusuke's back and replaced it with her body. She buried her head in Yusuke's back and folded her left arm into his back as well and let her right arm fall down by his side.

"I'm not going to let you go anywhere so don't worry about anything," Yusuke said gently. His right hand grabbed Mikai's hand and wrapped his pinky around hers. "I promise."

"You're such…a pain in my ass," Mikai said gently.

"I know." Yusuke smiled. "But for now let's get back to the fight."

"Right." Mikai pulled away from Yusuke, and possibly her one and only chance left in the world to be with him. She broke their hands apart and hopped backwards. She got herself back into a fighting position and smiled. "Come on Yusuke!"

Yusuke turned around to face Mikai and smiled. "I'm coming."

It's my fault. Yomi thought as he felt everything unfold in front of him. It's my fault that Mikai was losing the fight to Senkai…All the training, and everything was forcing on her, Mikai almost lost herself.

"Is Mother alright?" Shura asked as he looked up at his father. "I mean…she's going to stay Mikai right?"

"Yes Shura…I think she is." Yomi sighed.

A part of him wanted to keep Senkai around and yet another part of him knew that it was hurting Mikai too much to keep going back and forth so he figured that it would be best for Mikai to give up Senkai altogether and become who she wanted to be, just as Kurama did. This was something only Mikai could do for herself.

Yusuke and Mikai ran towards each other and began another fist fight only this time; everything was out on the table, save for Yusuke's mind. Did he or didn't he like Mikai? There were so many emotions there and he couldn't figure everything out. He knew that something inside of him was telling him that he liked Mikai but what about Kurama?

She's the only one besides Kuwabara who's always been there for me no matter what and she wanted to be there. Yusuke thought. She cares about me and she used to like me…before she met Kurama…

I have to end this. Mikai thought. This fight has to end…I'm not going to last much longer.

The two fought for minutes on end, and through Yusuke's punches he could tell that Mikai was growing weaker and weaker by the moment. He knew what was going to happen if he let Mikai win, she would go on and fight and then if she won both her and Kurama would be separated once more and Yusuke knew that, that wasn't healthy for the two of them.

I have to beat Mikai. Her being in the Makai to rule everything isn't right…even though… Yusuke thought before he took a punch to the face. Her and Kurama need time together…so I can't let her win.

Yusuke reached down and landed an uppercut into Mikai's stomach and she fell over his arm and blood slowly fell out of her mouth. She couldn't pull herself back up because of the pain shooting through her. Yusuke took his hand back and Mikai looked up at Yusuke only to see him look sorry.

"Yusuke," Mikai whimpered.

Yusuke rose his leg and kicked Mikai to the side. She rolled to a stop and a few moments passed before she moved. Her upper body came up first but then faltered as she coughed up blood coming from her stomach. She pushed herself up and stood weakly as she looked back at Yusuke.

"Damn you." She said with a slight smile.

The dust around them blew up causing Mikai's hair to flow in front of her and her clothes to blow towards Yusuke. The wind blew past Yusuke pushing his hair backwards almost telling the both of them that it wasn't meant to be for just as the wind blew them, they would always be going the opposite way from each other.

"Y-You won…again." Mikai held her stomach as she fell forward, landing in the dust below her.

"And that's it!" Koto yelled as she looked on. "Yusuke has beaten Mikai in their fight which means Yusuke moves on!"

"Mikai…" Yusuke ran towards Mikai's body and shook her gently. She groaned as she tried to get up but failed. "Here." Yusuke picked up her body and wrapped his arm around her, and she did the same only to get a look from Yusuke.

"What?" she asked. "I know I hurt you so don't even pretend. I can see your bleeding leg."

"I can't keep anything from you can I?" Yusuke laughed.

"Never have and never will." Mikai laughed before she coughed. "Come on…we've got to get you ready for your next fight."

Both of the fighters walked away from the battlefield arm in arm once more. They both held each other and promised one another that they wouldn't fall or drop the other. They carried one another back to the tournament stadium before Mikai faltered a bit but Yusuke caught her. He brought her back to the room where Chuu and the others were only to discover that Kurama was now conscious.

"Mikai!" Kurama said gently as he walked over to her.

"I'm fine." Mikai said as Yusuke passed Mikai over to Kurama, letting his hand slip away hers with the knowledge that he was doing what was right.

Mikai and Kurama belonged together and he was going to make sure that they would be together because he couldn't be with her. Yusuke felt good knowing that Mikai was with someone that he could trust and he figured that it was what Mikai deserved…and yet something still tore at him inside.

That day, years ago when Mikai took an energy beam for him right outside of Kurama's school, Meiou High. When Kurama had come to the hospital while Mikai was still recovering and unable to speak or see anything, Kurama had asked Yusuke to tell Mikai that he loved her once she had awoken. Kurama had placed the burden of telling Mikai that he loved her while in that moment Yusuke felt as if Kurama wasn't capable of loving Mikai the way he could.

Another feeling shot through Yusuke once more and he could only think of it as betrayal. Was he betraying Kurama in thinking that he could love Mikai better? Or was he betraying Mikai's feelings by saying that she had chosen the wrong man? He knew that everything looked right and seemed to be right but Yusuke's heart was tearing away inside of his chest.

"She just doesn't match you ya know? There's someone else out there for you and I know it."

Those words…Mikai's words about him and Keiko. She was the one who told Yusuke that Keiko wasn't right for him and at the time, Yusuke thought that she was just telling him that because she hated Keiko but now that Yusuke looked back on it, did Mikai want Yusuke and Keiko apart because she wanted Yusuke? Did that mean that Mikai had liked Yusuke even when she was with Kurama? That in the days she was growing to know Kurama better, that Mikai still had a soft spot for Yusuke in her heart?

I like her. Yusuke thought as he looked at the two. I really like Mikai…but it's too late for me to say anything now.

R&R please!