Here we are, sorry about missing the update I planned last Saturday, I got busy and caught up with work and honestly? Ended up going to the bar to meet with a couple of friends anyway. So really, I have no real excuse other than wanting to get drunk. Buut! I do have a few chapters written out in advance, so hopefully I do manage to remember and post a new chapter next week at the right time, maybe Tuesdays instead of Saturdays?
Anyway! I just wanted to apologize and say hello to a few new followers on this story and hope you all enjoy the journey I'm taking you on. As I'm sure you noticed from the last couple of chapters that this story is a bit of a darker tone than the others I've written. The jokes I normally make are of course there, but I plan on making this more of an introspection of the character and how they would feel out of place in a story they already know how it works and ends.
I haven't quite decided on if there will be any actual romance in it or not, so please don't ask. I really don't know yet, I originally planned on it being romantic, but now that I've gotten into the thick of things, I'm not entirely sure at all. So, for now, I ask your paitence and see where things go as the story moves on under it's own power.
Once again, thank you so much for reading and I sincerely hope you enjoy the newest chapter I've written.
I do NOT own YYH or it's characters.
I DO own Shohei/Nick and the plot(most of it, some of it)
Please review!
~TL Say0
When I thought about training, I pictured meditation beside calm water features and learning to flex my spiritual muscle, maybe learning how to use sutra like Daisuke said I could. What I wasn't expecting was a constant game of violent tag. "Focus on where my energy is and calculate where I will land." Was the only warning I had received before getting a sharp slap to the back of my head. What was it with the Yu Yu Hakusho reality that gave old people the ability to run at the speed of sound? First I spent an hour with a dust rag, running up and down the shrine floors dusting them, and now I have to play Duck and Dodge with a guy I should have been able to pass at a casual walking pace!
"I thought I was learning to use my spirit energy! Not how to dodge someone trying to slap me into next week?" I grouched when training ended the first time, wincing where I sat at the table, not entirely sure I could lift my arm to drink my tea due to the exhaustion making them tremble. Daisuke clicked his tongue and eyed me over the rim of his mug with a smug expression on his face. "The faster you learn to tap into your awareness, the easier it will be to manipulate your energy. Now drink your tea, you'll need the energy to focus during class."
I settled into a rhythm after a few weeks, first thing in the morning, I would jog to the shrine and spend an hour cleaning with him. For another hour, he would teach me what he could in his own unique way. Afterwards, I would rinse off in his bathroom, scrubbing a hot, damp rag over my face and neck before changing into my uniform and rushing off to school before the bell rang.
It wasn't until after several months of this that Daisuke saw fit to teach me the art of sutra making. Apparently using ones already made by someone else limits my abilities, I need to make my own according to the Taskmaster. Using special ink with a few drops of my blood mixed in. "Your spirit energy is tied to your blood, making the connection to your sutra much easier to achieve this way." My back hurt, my feet hurt, everything hurt at this point. Nearly a year of training and I couldn't tell any differences in anything I could do. Kurama had been asking questions but I dodged them easily enough by turning them around on him, making my twin avoid conversation completely after a while.
My schoolwork didn't suffer despite everything, Daisuke refused to let my grades drop because of training. Insisting I spend an hour after school with him at the table, drinking tea and doing any classwork that needed finishing. He found my grasp of the English language fascinating and insisted on hearing me read portions of various English translation books he found around the shrine. In fact, if anything, my grades improved with his gentle coaxing and help. Granted most of the work was simple enough for me, math however, was always a weak point for me even in my past life.
It was due to my constant reading to Daisuke that placed me at the very top of my English class, my score at a near perfect every test I took. And it was because of this that the one free day I had to myself during the week- Fridays, was taken over by being an English tutor to students from both my school and others that wanted to bring their grades up.
And this was how I came across familiar faces once again.
The doorbell ran just as I finished setting out snacks on the kitchen table, alerting me to the new students I was meant to tutor. Casting a quick glance around the table, I mentally checked off all the items and nodded to myself, stopping to grab a few pairs of new slippers to hand out and opened the door, a tired greeting dying on my tongue as I stared at a familiar pair of brown eyes that smiled politely up into my surprised expression.
"Yukimura?" I finally managed to force past numb lips as I stared down at the young girl standing on my porch. Panic momentarily set in before I remembered Kurama would be out of the house for the day and relaxed again. It was too early for them to meet, much too early from what I could figure out. "Oh!" She fumbled in confusion, my recognition catching her off guard. "I'm sorry, I don't think I remember you..." Apology spilling over her lips as she fiddled with the strap of her bag nervously. Blinking a couple of times, I forced out a chuckle and rubbed a hand over my head. "Sorry! I just... My name is Suichi Shohei... We met when we were children at a park... Remember?" I asked hesitantly, studying her eyes as they turned inward a moment then brightened with sudden recognition. "Oh! I remember now, you were that boy Yusuke kicked sand into his eyes!" She bowed suddenly, a faint blush decorating her cheeks.
Waving a hand in front of me, I offered a bow in return and moved aside so she could step in. "It's alright, I'm not all that memorable." I chuckled again, offering a pair of slippers to her and moved towards the kitchen table, showing her where she could sit. "I was under the impression there would be two of you though..."
"Oh, that was supposed to be Yusuke. But he refused to come with me." She sighed and shook her head, settling down in her seat with a frown. "I'm sorry if it's a problem..." I smiled wryly as I took my seat across from her and shuffled some things in front of me for something to do with my nervous hands. "No, it's no trouble. It'll be easier to tutor one person anyhow." I offered a smile at her once more, trying to put Keiko at ease when she shot me a worried look. "I still wish he had come with me."
"Well, when you see him next maybe you can tell him who the tutor is. Maybe that will make him want to come to the next session." Her eyes brightened at that, a smile quickly following when I laughed softly. "I'm really glad you're the tutor, Miniamino. When I asked for one, I wasn't expecting someone from another school to offer up their services to be honest. Not to mention one of the best schools in the city." Leaning forward on the table, she eyed me suddenly, making me lean back slightly at her sudden focus, brown eyes practically lasers at this point. "Why did you decide to take this anyway? I'm sure you have more schoolwork than any of us do right now."
"I uh..." I fumbled for an excuse, trying to figure out exactly how to explain I needed extracurriculars that worked with my busy training schedule without actually saying any of that. "I just want to make sure people learn English and understand it properly." I finally settled on with a wry smile, relaxing once she settled back in her seat with a satisfied look. "I know how hard English is to understand with it's backwards way of forming sentences and awkward spelling of words. I was lucky to have a natural talent for it. The least I can do is help anyone that asks."
"Not to mention it would look good on your school records." She added slyly, smiling at the embarrassed flush on my cheeks. "I don't blame you, I thought about tutoring people in Math classes myself." Rubbing a hand through my hair, I looked down at the paper in front of me, I let slip a wry chuckle. "I certainly know how that goes. I tend to have trouble with Math. Thankfully my brother is fairly good at it, so he helps by looking over my assignments when I finish them to make sure I understand them." Picking up a small stack of papers, I held them out to Keiko with a grin. "We can all use a little help somewhere I think. And personally, I'm just glad my first tutoring session is with someone I at least know a little bit. Gets past the awkward phase."
Keiko smiled back and accepted the pages, looking them over curiously. "That's true, it really does make things easier." I leaned my chin on one of my hands, watching as she flipped through them then looked back up with a light smile. "So where do we start?"
"Well, I thought I should get a better idea of your grasp on the language before we really dig into the lessons. I just want to see where you're at, how much you know and understand and where your problem areas are first." Reaching over, I tapped the papers in front of her with a finger lightly. "This, as you've most likely noticed, is a practice test in basic translation. All I need you to do is translate the phrases on here into English to the best of your ability. Don't worry about messing up or anything. I need an honest assessment of what you can do right now so we can work where you need it most."
Keiko hummed thoughtfully and dug out a pencil from her bag, eyes already scanning the paper in front of her with a light smile before beginning to write. For the next fifteen minutes the only sounds at the kitchen table were of the scratching of her pencil and the occasional sip as one of us took a drink from our cups. Taking the time, I focused on my own English homework, advanced placement was a tad annoying, but it had it's perks. Yet another good mark for my school transcripts.
"Alright..." Keiko finally sighed, sliding the papers to me with a small frown decorating her face, arms folding on the table in front of her as I picked them up and clicked the button on my red pen with a hum. "How bad is it?"
"Well..." I scanned her answers, scribbling out a couple of marks and writing basic explanations beside them for her to understand. "You aren't bad at translating them. I think, from what I can tell..." I trailed off, looking over another translation with a frown. "Your main issue is verb and adjective placement. Your spelling is spot-on though, so congratulations on that. Not many people can spell as well as you do in English." Tossing up a smile at her worried look, I waved a hand at the practice test in front of me. "You just need a few pointers and guiding and I honestly think you'll have this in the bag, Yukimura."
She perked up at that, a smile breaking across her worried expression like a sun through a storm cloud. "You think so?" Looking back down at the test, I slid it back over to her so she could look it over eagerly, a tug to my lips curling up into a gentle smile. "I really do. You already have the basics grasped firmly. You just need to remember how English is a bit backward is all. No worries, with my help, you'll have this down in absolutely no time at all. You'll most likely only need my Tutoring help for a month at most."
Keiko giggled softly, a happy gleam in her eyes as she scanned over what I had written on her test. "That's so good to hear." Looking back up at me, she bowed slightly from her seat. "I really appreciate your help, Miniamino. With your tutoring, I'm sure I can pass the next English exam easily."
Bowing back out of a knee-jerk politeness ingrained deeply into me by my Mother, I smiled lightly. "Of course, now, shall we get started?"
An hour later Keiko was packing her things away in her bag with a happy expression on her face, eyes alight with determination. "Thank you so much for this, Minamino, I really do understand it a little bit better." Flashing a smile over to me, I ducked my head in a flash of embarrassment, picking up the trash and dirty cups. "It's nothing, I promise. You're easy to teach-"
The sound of the front door cut us off, a frown tugging at my lips. "Suichi, is that you?" Keiko looked up from her bag as my brother stepped into the dining room, sharp green eyes taking stock of the situation before a polite smile appeared on his face and bowed to Keiko. "Sorry for the intrusion. I had no idea my brother had company over, apologies for interrupting."
"Oh! It's nothing at all." Keiko flushed a deep red, bowing back to Kurama nervously. "I'm sorry for intruding on your home like this!"
"You aren't intruding, Yukimura. I'm tutoring you, don't mind my brother. He's a bit prickly when people come over is all." I hastened to reassure the young woman, shooting my twin a sharp look which he returned when she wasn't looking, a mask of shallow politeness returning when she looked back up, a shy smile playing around her lips. "Well, either way, sorry for intruding like this. I'll be leaving now, thank you again, Minamino." Bowing once more to me and my brother, she straightened back up and followed me to the door, exchanging her slippers for her shoes.
"I'll see you next week then?" I asked lightly, smiling when she straightened back up, flashing me another smile herself. "Of course, I have an exam coming up, there's no way I'll pass up the chance to work on myself if I can get better!" She tapped her head with a laugh. "See you next Friday then!" With a cheerful wave, she stepped outside and headed down the sidewalk. Looking after her a moment longer, I closed the door quietly and rested my forehead against it with a sigh. "Why do you do that?" I finally asked, the faint sounds of footsteps coming to a stop behind where I stood.
"Do what?" Once again, that insufferable polite tone laced his words, making me clench a fist at my side before turning around to face Kurama with a frown. "Make her feel like she wasn't welcome? Anytime I tried to bring over a friend or anything in the past you did this. Why?"
"We are adults, Shohei, no matter what our physical bodies boast. Do you really want to make friends with children?" He fired back, a gleam in his green eyes making me choke on my words for a moment out of anger.
"That-" I pointed at the door behind me with a scowl. "That was a young woman that came to me for help with her English classes. I am a tutor to her, and you come stumbling in acting like an asshole."
"I was polite to her like I am anyone else we meet." Turning away, Kurama headed back towards the dining room, deft hands gathering papers together and stacking them in a neat pile as I followed him with a scowl. "I said nothing like you are suggesting."
"Don't-"I cut myself off, rubbing a hand over my face and breathing out a long sigh, trying to calm down before I continued. "Stop doing that, it's just us right now. Why do you even try?" Kurama paused in his movements, red hair glinting under the overhead light as he turned to look over his shoulder at me with a frown. "I hate it when you use that stupid polite act with me when we're alone. It makes me feel like you don't want me around anymore than you want anyone else around us."
He was silent a moment, studying my stiff posture, arms crossed in front of my chest and shoulder leaning against the doorway and let out a soft sigh himself, running a hand through his short hair with a hum. "Sorry... I just spend so many hours like this around everyone else-"
"It's second nature, I get it. But with me, stop doing that. I know you hate the idea of me making friends-" His eyes flashed dangerously at that, locking onto my frustrated expression with laser precision. "But you gotta stop being like this. I get that they're way younger than us, more so you than me. But for my sake and Mother's, can't you just... I don't know, put it aside, make your own friends? You can't just... It can't always be just us you know."
"Why?" He asked silkily, stalking over to where I stood, stopping in front of me with his own arms folding in front of him, mirroring my stance with a frown. "I am the only one who could ever possibly hope to understand you or your problems." Taking a small step forward, he leaned into my space and frowned when I looked away from him. "What could you possibly get from making friends with children?"
"Because you never know when you might need a listening ear." I muttered, refusing to look at him as I shifted in place, debating on just walking away from this entire conversation like one of us normally would or hash this all out and leave it in the open. "And lately you haven't been around for me to even talk to, now have you?" I finally spat out, looking up into his surprised eyes with a sharp glare. "Constantly being gone, avoiding me when you get the chance and you're rarely home at night either. But the second I bring someone home to help them, maybe make a new friend, you're here, all up in arms about it and act like you're surprised I reached out to someone else when I had no one!" Reaching out, I pushed against his chest, making the demon take a surprised step back with my sudden anger.
"Shohei-"
"And that's another thing!" I snapped, pointing in his face with a scowl. "When did you start calling me that name when it was just us? You used to call me Nick all the time, but not now. What happened? Why do you hate the fact that you're not the only person I need in my life anymore? Why are you so upset when I have a life that doesn't revolve around you and your abandoning ass?"
Mouth open around words he either couldn't, or wouldn't say, Kurama's wide eyes watched as I dropped my hand back to my side and hung my head, staring down at the carpet between our feet with a sudden sigh, all the fight leaving my body and causing me to slump against the door behind me, hands coming up to rub at my tired eyes. "I spend all night up waiting for you every goddamned night, Kurama. And you can't even... I don't know, show up, talk to me, be my brother for fucks sake."
"Nick..." He reached out, hesitating a moment before resting his hand on my bowed head. "I... I didn't realize what I had been doing affected you so strongly... I just assumed you wouldn't mind being alone..."
"Yeah, you did." I brushed his hand aside and looked up with a weak glare. "Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean I want to be alone, Kurama. Not during any of this. Mother is important to me too you know, and dealing with all of this, despite what I may or may not know doesn't change anything. I am human, as you constantly remind me, and I need contact with other people. I crave to be listened to, to listen to others."
"Nick-" He started then stopped, a hand passing through his hair as he gazed off to the side, silently debating something before nodding to himself and looking back at me. "I should have known and recognized all of this. I-" He trailed off, realizing just what he was doing the second I crossed my arms and leaned away from him with a frown and let out a wry laugh. "I'm doing it again..."
"Yes you are. If it's so hard to talk to me, don't bother, Kurama. I know where I rank in the list of important people to you."
"Now hold on-" He grabbed my arm and stopped me from leaving the room when I turned away, a scowl tugging at his lips. "I admit I haven't been the best brother or friend to you in recent months, but you must know you are one of the most important people in my life." He nearly growled, his frustration leaking through his normally poised way of speaking. "If you would calm down for one second-"
"I have been calm and patent and understanding for the better half of six months, Kurama." I tugged out of his grip and tugged at my shirt to straighten it with a low sigh. "I've tried, and you just... You haven't done anything but disappear and ignore me."
"I'm trying to expl- Nick, would you be silent for two minutes?" He snapped, passing a hand over his face and shooting me a sharp look, cowing me into reluctant silence. Taking a moment to gather himself, Kurama gestured to the table and chairs, silently urging me to sit down so he could join me, turning his seat to face me as I dropped into my chair with a small scowl pointed in his direction. "I've admitted I haven't been around as much lately. And I admit I should have offered you support during all of this. I forget frequently that despite being an adult you are human and need someone to lean on during harder times." He explained slowly, looking down at his hands folded between his knees, speaking instead to them.
"You tend to keep to yourself on most days. You don't interact with the children at school, and I foolishly assumed you would be fine on your own." Finally looking up at me, his eyes held a look of apology that I couldn't ignore. "I admit many times we have gotten to speak to one another, it was mostly while around other people and I may have gotten used to calling you Shohei instead..." Running a hand through his hair, he tugged one lock idly, looking back down at our feet. "I've been trying to regain my powers quicker, perhaps with them I could engineer a cure for Mother. But in doing so I've been gathering... Some attention from weaker demons in the area. Most of the time while I'm gone I've mostly been attempting to clear them out."
I furrowed my eyebrows at that, studying the tired set of his shoulders as he slumped them forward slightly, head leaning into his hands as he let out a long breath. "How much sleep have you gotten the last couple of weeks?" I finally asked, making him lift his head to look at me in confusion. "What?"
"How much have you slept? Just in the last week?" I leaned back in my chair and rested my ankle on my knee with a frown. "Because from what I can see, you haven't gotten any." Kurama blinked and leaned back himself, eyes drifting up towards the ceiling in thought. "I..."
"Thought so." Slapping my hands on my knees, I let out a long sigh and got to my feet, holding out a hand to my brother with a grimace. "Come on, we're getting you into bed. We can't have this argument with you barely aware of what you're even saying." Kurama opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off with a sharp shake of the head. "No, you aren't going anywhere, you aren't doing anything, you're taking a shower and you're going to bed. Don't argue with me because I will carry you up the stairs."
At his quizzical expression, I shook my head and grabbed his wrist, tugging him to his feet and pushing him gently in the direction of the bathroom. "Just shut up and do what you're told for once." With a sigh, Kurama let me push him into the bathroom and looked over at me with a frown. "We aren't finished speaking about this."
"Of course not. But it isn't any fun arguing with someone that can only use half of their brain right now. So shut up." I shut the door in his face and moved towards our room, intent on gathering clean clothes for him once he got out only for his quiet voice to drift through the door and stop me. "Nick, for what it's worth. I am sorry for how I've acted. And I will do better in the future."
"I know you will." Resuming the climb up the stairs, I silently packed all my issues and negative thoughts into a box. There was no point in being upset at the moment, no point in drawing his attention considering what he's been doing. I was human, yes, but I was an adult and didn't need to be reassured every five minutes that I was important. Stopping just inside our bedroom door, I rested a hand on the frame and leaned against it, blinking back tears angerly. He didn't need me piling things on him anymore than I already have. I shouldn't have said a damn thing to begin with, but it's already said and done. Closing my eyes, I forced those thoughts away too, blanking out everything and leaving myself with nothing more than a vague sense of upset. Better, much better. A deep breath followed a small smile and I set about gathering clean bedclothes for Kurama once more.
My wildly out-of-control feelings weren't important right now. Safely tucked away in a box they wouldn't bother anyone.