Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Chapter 7
Kuwabara shuffled his feet, he had to see his parents off to dinner, he hoped he could persuade Shizuru to let him out of the house, if he couldn't then he'd just have to run. He needed some fast cash and a gun. He knew where to get the gun now. To Kuwabara's convenience it came out in a conversation without him even prompting it. He was just hanging around with his group, skipping the fourth class of the day. They were skeptical at Kuwabara's injuries but didn't say anything. Kuwabara took it as a sign when one of them mentioned a guy who'd gave them trouble. A drug-dealer who also sold other merchandise. Anything you could think of he could get his hands on.
Well Kuwabara was in the hospital the guy started going around to elementary schools on their turf. According to Okuba and other members they 'smashed' his face in. Kuwabara didn't know what he was going to do but he had to see this guy, at least to figure out how much it cost. His name was Sachiha? Or maybe it was Hachisa.
Kuwabara oomphed as he painfully bumped into someone and in his weakened state almost fell over. He needed to pay more attention. He looked over to see Keiko, he had to stop meeting people this way!
"Oh, it's you, you should apologize you know, you could have hurt me." Keiko said in what seemed fake indigence "Oh gee, sorry."
"I thought so. Yusuke told me you were in the hospital, Yukina was really worried about you. You could have at least went by and seen her. Anyway, how are you? What happened?"
Kuwabara stood a little dazed, didn't she need to breath between sentences?
"Nothing happened, I just fell...."
Keiko looked doubtful and a little suspicious.
"Fell?"
"...from a tree."
"From a tree." She echoed.
"Yeah, well I should be going now. Go find Yusuke or something."
"Excuse me?! I'm not with him ALL the time." Her voice assaulted him the next few minutes and he compared her to a screaming banshee in his mind. Although she did scream at him quite gracefully. Then she finally calmed down.
".....and anyway, Yukina wants to see you. I'm going over there right now and you're coming. You shouldn't make her worry like that!"
He opened his mouth to protest before Keiko grabbed his wrist and dragged him off to see Yukina. She talked the whole way there and upon seeing the temple Kuwabara sobered.
"Wait- I have things to do. Can't you just say Hi for me?"
"No! She's been worried about you, I can't believe you never came to see her right away."
Keiko knocked once they got up the steps. No one answered. Keiko seemed to be thinking, when a light bulb finally went off.
"Of course, oops, I guess I was supposed to meet her tomorrow. Well never mind then, I think we'll go to a tea house or something then."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, I need something to occupy my time with and you happen to be convenient besides I'm curious about your predicament."
"Huh?"
"Yusuke said it was kind of suspicious how you cam over to his house the night before and then ended up in the hospital and he told me about that creepy guy who you said was your dad-" Keiko stopped and a pink flushed her cheek. "Err- I mean, not creepy...just...um, sorry."
"Hmph. That's what you get for trying to drag me to a tea house."
"Fine, we'll go to some more open place."
"What?! No, I can't-"
"I know! Let's go to the park and buy some drinks from the vending machine."
Kuwabara and Keiko bickered all the way to the park, Kazuma finally relented. Now they were sitting on a park bench in a deserted park. Kazuma had a mango drink, Keiko had Lychee.
"So?"
"What?" Kazuma flushed. He wished Yusuke was around to occupy this girl.
"Why don't you tell me what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on!" Kazuma sniffed. Keiko rolled her eyes.
"Tell me about your father then."
"Tell you what? He's my father." Kuwabara shifted under her steady gaze, man that girl was persistent!
"I promise I won't tell." She sobered and looked dead serious.
"There's really nothing to tell."
"Even I noticed something was off with you, due to some prompting from Yukina of course, but never mind that. Everything smells fishy to me."
"It's your girly little brain that's wrong this time." And suddenly the wrath of Keiko had struck Kazuma and he nursed his cheek, unaffected.
"Hey! You're at least supposed to say ow or something! Even Yusuke hates when I slap."
"Are you kidding? That didn't hurt."
"Did so, I bet you're 'manly pride' is just getting the better of you."
"Whatever."
"You must be immune to pain or something."
"Not immune, pain's just common and easy to come by."
"Yusuke fights all the time and I still get a response from him."
Kuwabara didn't answer. Keiko suddenly got sympathetic.
"So where were you going before this?"
"Just to.....meet someone."
"Well, gee that sure gives me a load of information."
"To much for your brain?"
"I'm warning you. At least now tell me what happened at the hospital. I swear I wont tell a soul."
Kuwabara fidgeted.
"It was........nevermind."
"I promise." Kuwabara never said anything. She decided to tell him some about her and maybe loosen him up. "Fine then, I'll tell you about one of my most horrifying experiences."
She glanced over at him. Good, he was listening. "Quite awhile ago back when Yusuke was still dead.....well, kinda, anyway you know that guy Dai? Well anyway he practically kidnapped me. He knocked me out when I refused to lift my skirt. I was so horrified I thought they were going to rape me, they probably were. I was willing to do almost anything to get away but before I could one of them knocked me out. When I woke up and saw Yusuke I thought it was a dream since he was still in his apartment. I saw a fire behind him and put it out, I was so tired I just kind of dropped off to sleep and woke up in time to hear part of Yusuke's story. And that was the most horrifying experience ever! Honestly, I couldn't live with myself if I'd let them rape me!"
Keiko looked over to Kazuma. She hadn't been looking at him during her story, it was personal after all and awkward. Kuwabara looked lost, staring in the space in front of him. He looked like a person who had lost their heart and Keiko briefly wondered why when her own words hit her.
"Kuwabara....." She didn't know what to say. Rape? No, Kuwabara was strong, he was getting close to Yusuke's strength in her opinion. She was going to mention and give her thanks for him coming to try and save her, even though Yusuke got there first, but didn't want to give Kuwabara a big head. She wish she wouldn't of said that last part.
"...did?"
Kazuma finally let a few tears roll down his cheeks.
"No."
"You can tell me." Her words were so heartfelt that Kazuma felt a strange mixture of shame and hope run through him. He wanted to tell her. Tell someone. Tell anyone.
"It was a long time ago." Kazuma managed to choke out. Keiko looked sad and about to cry with him. Girls were so emotional. "My father left when I was little. I still have nightmares. No one knows. I..I-he came back."
Keiko looked horrified. She seemed hesitant to ask.
"You can....defend yourself right?"
Kuwabara shook his head.
"He hasn't touched me anyway."
"But what if he..? Aren't you stronger with your spirit energy?"
"He can mute spirit energy, he's physically stronger than me."
"Then how will you be able to save yourself? You need to get help. Maybe you should talk to Yusuke and he'll take care of him."
"I was planning on a way of saving myself when you came. I don't need help anyway, he hasn't done anything. Yusuke's busy anyway, he can't save the world you know. He can't save everyone."
Keiko held her tongue, Kuwabara was so stubborn if only he's listen!
"How were you going to save yourself?"
Kazuma got this unhealthily happy look on his face.
"He may be stronger and can mute spirit energy, but he isn't invincible."
"What were you going to do?"
"I'm going to buy a gun, and if he ever- I .....I'll kill him."
Keiko was going to protest, but why? If it was the only defense he had against his father......in Keiko's the man deserved it even if he left Kazuma alone, poor Kuwabara! He must of only been little. No wonder he was so obsessed with strength and winning, he never wanted to be another victim and here he was......
Keiko broke into a fresh round of tears and Kazuma sat solemnly beside her.
"Why are you crying? It's not that important. I probably just remembered wrong."
It broke Keiko's heart to see one of her friends to be so hopeless and she vowed she would help him. She finally regained composure.
"You still have to come with me tomorrow to see Yukina. You need to tell her."
"I can't."
"you need to tell someone."
"I did. Besides I can't go out tomorrow, I'm not supposed to be out right now, my parents are probably looking for me, I'm grounded you know and not only that I still need to find a gun to buy."
Kuwabara looked nervous.
"You won't tell? Will you?"
"I promised I wouldn't and I won't unless he......" She took a deep breath. "I can't just do nothing, we haven't been very close but....I need to do something, I can't believe it, I just....I want to do something. Visit you, kill him, either's fine."
Kazuma let out a small smile. "I thought it'd be harder to talk, I feel so ashamed. I'd die if anyone else knew."
Keiko grabbed a pen from her bookbag.
"Give me your address. If I can't kill him I want to at least check up on you. I still have lots of questions but I'll save them for later."
Kazuma grabbed the pen and wrote his address on a scrap of paper in his pocket, knowing Keiko wouldn't stop until she got it anyway. If she asked Yusuke for his address that would be kind of.......people would wonder.
He was surprised. Talking felt good, yet horribly bad. He felt so ashamed and having someone know, it terrified him. No one knew, and now.......he never dreamed of telling anyone let alone Keiko. He was glad to get it off his chest and he felt guilty, it was his fault it happened in the first place. He was glad Keiko wasn't digusted and that she actually cared. He wanted her to visit though he'd never admit it.
He really did want to visit Yukina too, he hadn't really thought much about her since his father got back. Everything was pushed to the back of his mind. He waved to Keiko as he left the park in the opposite direction wiping his eyes. His wrist hurt.
He'd bet anything next time he went to see Yukina, Keiko and Botan would be there too. Keiko would try and get him to tell. Yukina would go immediately to his team and Botan to Koenma. He wasn't about to let that happen though. Keiko knowing was bad enough.
He saw a gang near an alley way. He was relieved when they started walking to the corner of the street to cross. He wasn't about to go into any dark alleyways unless he knew for certain the gun guy was there. He walked up to the gang.
"Hey, any of you know a Sachiha?"
AN: Sorry, I can't believe it took this long. I could apologize for week. So Sorry, writers block mixed with school is bad. Sorry if Keiko's out of character, this chapter isn't so well. I've never really seen Keiko and Kuwabara interact because I've never seen the show, I only read the manga in Shonen Jump. Poor me, no cartoon network. Anyway I myself thought the were a little out of character, sorry. Oh and Keiko's experience was a reference from the comic, I forget which chapter, I'm pretty sure his name was Dai, it was when Yusuke got resurrected for a day. Sorry about the shortness.