Chapter two
The mistake
"How would you like a third chance at life?" Yuusuke mouth fell open in shock.
"You can't be serious. Wait, how can I, I don't even have a body to go back to?" It seems that the normal reaction to being told something good is to deny it, and that was exactly what Yuusuke was doing. Koenma's grin widened and turned even more vulpine that Yuusuke was surprised that he was staring at the demi-god and not the silver-haired Youko.
"I can, but there is a slight catch."
"You said no strings attached," Yuusuke pointed out suspiciously.
"Well, I meant you didn't have to repay me, or anything like that," Koenma was quick to explain. "But sense you don't have a body, you'll have to put up with a Temporary Resurrection Body Trial."
"I don't like the sound of that."
"And why is that?" By the gods, Yuusuke hated it when Koenma talked to him like that, it always meant trouble.
"Why the hell would I like it?" He glared, just waiting to be contradicted—he was.
"Well, here's how it works….
The clouds rumbled threateningly as people shuffled around the Urameshi household purposelessly. It was the day of Yuusuke's wake; all of his friends including his Makai friends disguised as humans, his aging mother, and other acquaintances of the former detective were gathered there to pay their respects. The remains of his body had been burned and the ashes tossed in both Ningenkai and Makai, completely taking the meaning away from the wake, but they held it anyways, if only to give everyone a chance to pay their respects.
"My boy, oh my boy," Atsuko moaned pitifully. Keiko knelt limply beside the broken woman, herself in such a state of sorrow she was unable to cry. In one corner of the room Hiei stood with his head bowed in respect, but that was all he allowed of his sorrow to show through. Kurama stood close to him, his eyes red with tears, but at that moment his eyes held none, only a sort of resigned defeat. Everyone knew there wasn't a chance for Yuusuke to come back, for that he needed a body, and that had been mutilated, burned and scattered every which way.
It was a sad day indeed and Mother Nature herself showed her sorrow in the only way she could.
The clouds cracked and rain poured down thickly, the tears of the gods drenched the earth, and forks of lightning lit the sky.
It was still raining when a young American female woke up in the middle of a park in Japan with a book of spells in her hand. Her strawberry blonde bangs were plastered to her face from the rain, and dirty blonde to her neck. Confused hazel eyes took in her surroundings and soon she began to talk to herself, in fluent Japanese.
"Where am I?" she looked down at herself her palm outstretched in front of her, "Who am I? Do I have a name? And damn it, what am I doing in a park, especially in this rain?" She stood up wobbly and brushed the debris that stuck to her soaked blue jeans and black hoody.
As her balance returned to her she decided to find a nice dry area to think over her predicament. It didn't take her long to find a road, it felt as if her body knew just where to go without her mind knowing at all. Across the street an apartment complex caught her attention and she rushed across the street and through the parking lot to get a closer look.
People, lots of people, were gathered on the third balcony of the first building. They all looked so sad, it made the girl's heart clench painfully. Something pulled at her, willed her to join the group and see what was making everyone so unhappy, as if it had something, everything, to do with her. She trotted to the iron staircase and trotted up it three steps at a time, her long legs straining to reach each step, but refusing to move any slower.
As she reached the top, several people looked over at her. The looked startled, confused… familiar… why did they look so familiar? She shook her head to get the feeling to go away, if only for a moment, but it just grew stronger. She moved through the crowd to the front door, even more unhappy figures met her gaze. She tentatively made her way into the room shyly looking around at the other people.
"Excuse me miss, do I know you?" A tall carrot toped man asked her as she passed him.
"I-I don't think so, do you?" She stuttered with a start. He gave her an odd look and she smiled in a confused manner.
"Do you know where you are?" He asked bringing a hand up to his eye to wipe away a stray tear.
"No, but I felt like I needed to be here, like I belonged here." She didn't expect him to understand but by the look he gave her, he did.
"This is the wake for Urameshi Yuusuke, many people felt that kind of odd attachment to him. Over there is Urameshi Keiko, his wife and Urameshi Atsuko, his ma, if you want to pay respects there the people to go to." He said all of this while pointing towards two sobbing brunette women.
"Thank you…?"
"Kuwabara," he replied with a bow.
"Thank you Kuwabara." She bowed back before moving over to the women and getting down on her knees she bowed to each. "I'm sorry for your loses Urameshi-san, he seems like he was a good man."
They looked at her quizzically before the younger brunette chose to speak: "Did you know him?"
"No ma'am, I just felt the need to pay my respects is all," she replied softly.
"What is your name?" The other asked hoarsely.
"I…I don't know, I don't think I have one."
"Thank you anyways." The bi-blonde headed girl bowed again then rose to her feet. As she was getting up she noticed a picture surrounded by white roses. She looked closely at it and gasped as a million images hit her at once. "Oh shit," she managed to curse before falling backwards from a strong case of vertigo. Strong hands caught her around the waist and she glanced up to see Kuwabara looking at her worriedly.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine just a little dizzy spell is all." She smiled before squirming free. "It was nice to meet you, but I have to go." Before Kuwabara could protest she was sprinting out of the room and down the stairs at a speed far to fast for a human.
"KOENMA! GET YOU PUNY ASS OUT HERE!" The blonde American girl from Yuusuke's wake screamed as she banged roughly on the double doors marking the demi-god's office.
"What the hell is going on here?" Koenma demanded pulling open the doors. He jumped out of the way when one of those pounding fists nearly came into contact with his face. He was in his teenage form, probably on his way to do some Ningenkai work. "Who the hell are you?"
"What do you mean 'who the hell' am I? Think hard about all the things you did today, and all the things that could go wrong and you will know who I was!" She screeched. Koenma's eyes widened in realization, and his face broke out into a large smile.
"Don't you dare laugh you fucking pacifier junky!" She hissed pushing roughly on his shoulders, too bad that just pushed him over the edge of control.
"Jeez Yuusuke, you turn out well as a girl," he snickered completely ignoring the nasty glare he was getting from the girl.
"Shut up, this is all your damn fault!" She hissed.
"I did tell you there was a chance that something could go wrong," Koenma looked as if he was greatly enjoying the torment he was putting the girl through.
"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THIS COULD HAPPEN!"
"Don't flip out, it's only temporary."
"How the hell is this temporary? She demanded gesticulating wildly at her body.
"You really need to pay more attention when I explain things to you. Remember, you're going through a Temporary Resurrection Body Trial, so the body's temporary."
"How can that be? My body's gone and my soul is in an American's body–a girl's nonetheless!"
"Can't you ever listen to me when I talk?" Koenma asked exasperatedly. "Look, since you have all of your memories and your soul is aged and familiar with you old body, the body you are in will begin to mold into your original form. It's as simple as that. There is however, one thing you should know."
"Spit it out, toddler."
"It could take one to three years for the whole transformation to take place, and during that time no one can know who you are—"
"And why not?" The girl demanded angrily.
"Do you know how confused it would make everyone? It's just better they don't know—I know what I'm talking about so don't argue," Koenma added before the girl could argue. "Hiei will eventually find out if he stays in Ningenkai for awhile, so you might as well tell him and hope he doesn't tell anyone else."
"The only person he'd ever tell is Kurama. So what am I going to do, just roam around Japan for three years, then suddenly pop up on everyone's doorstep and yell 'surprise! I'm back from hell guys'?"
"No, of course not. You'll be living at the temple as a refugee from Makai, hope you have fun."
And here ends another lovely chapter! I didn't get nearly as many reviews as I hoped, but that's okay. I would like to thank Cherry-Lipz09 and SnakeDude100 for dropping one off, it means a lot.
Oh, well, please C&C, and I will see you next week!
-Catie-brie