Chapter Five- Recovery
Yusuke was aware of something soft under her: A bed. Her body was exposed, but it didn't hurt: She was being healed. Was I rescued or is one of Colaban's servants taking pity on me? She opened her eyes blearily and blinked to see a familiar face looking concerned. "Botan?" she said hoarsely.
"Yusuke! Oh, thank goodness! No, don't try to move," she said, gently putting a hand on Yusuke's shoulder. "It's just us here."
"Wouldn't have mattered if everyone was here," she murmured. "What happened?" she asked a little louder.
"Hiei and the others rescued you and caught Colaban who's being sentenced right now. Trust me, Koenma will give him a harsh sentence; life in prison or death, I say."
"I'm with you there. Botan, I just went through the three longest, hellish days of my life."
"I believe it, considering how bad you looked when I walked in. I did my best to heal your injuries. It'll take several times for me to heal them before they fade, but maybe the Spirit Wave will take care of them when I'm not healing."
"I doubt it. Botan, I can't use any spirit attacks because my energy is demon right now. I tried to fight back by using my ice powers but it just made him angrier."
"Well, it's over now and once you've rested up, we'll have you back to your old self."
"Thanks, but I could use a bath right now."
"I think all we can do is a sponge bath. Would that be okay?"
"Yeah, anything. Please, Botan."
"Coming right up."
Soon, Yusuke was sitting up and sighing happily as warm water moved over her body thanks to a sponge in Botan's hand. The water felt so good and hoped that some soap would be added to the sponge. Her hopes were answered and the soap added to the good feeling. Soon, Botan was drying her off and handing her women's pants and a shirt before cleaning her hair with some dry shampoo.
"There! That should feel better," Botan commented.
"Physically, yeah. But not completely better."
The despondent tone in Yusuke's voice caught Botan's attention. Sitting next to her friend, she said, "Yusuke, do you want to talk about it? It might help." She knew Yusuke was a typical guy who hated to talk about his feelings as well as display them, but perhaps the three days she had spent as a girl had broken down her walls.
Yusuke was silent for a moment before her face contorted into a look of anguish. "How could he do all that?" she howled. "Why would he want to hurt someone like that? I tried to fight back, but he was stronger! He abused me and raped me every chance he got! The worst was when I cried and at times like that, I felt like less of a person!"
Yusuke seemed to be on the verge of tears, but she blinked them away. Botan felt her heart break at seeing Yusuke looking so vulnerable, an unusual thing for both of them. She pulled Yusuke into a comforting hug. "Shh. It's all right now. Don't think about it anymore. Get some rest and then you'll be guy again."
"Thanks, Botan. Talking did help," Yusuke said as she laid down and fell asleep.
Botan left and headed to Koenma's office where everyone was gathered. Everyone had either a grim face or a worried one; Koenma was one of the worried faces. "Botan, how is she?"
"She's emotionally scarred. What he did to her seems to have broken her spirit. The sooner she's back to normal, the better."
"Yes, that's what rape does to the victim," Kurama said. "Yusuke will need every bit of support we can give."
"More than you know, Kurama," Hiei said, looking and sounding grim.
"What do you mean?" Botan asked.
"I took a look at her with my Jagan on the way here. It would appear that she's pregnant."
"What!?" Kuwabara exclaimed angrily. "She's pregnant with that bastard's child!?"
"Well, it shouldn't be a problem," Botan said. "Yusuke will be a guy again and that'll solve the problem."
Hiei shook his head. "It's not that easy. You try to change her back now, the sample will be wasted and she'll never change back. The only solution is to let the pregnancy proceed and a few hours after birth will be the ideal time to change him back."
"You're saying that either the child or Yusuke's body will stop the human blood from working?" Kurama asked.
"It's an ice apparition's way of protecting the child from harm."
"How do you know all that?" Kuwabara asked. "I get that you're half ice apparition, but still."
"I asked Yukina about ice apparitions. When I learned that half of me was ice, I wanted to know more about them and Yukina was willing to share a lot of information. One thing she didn't share was how long a pregnancy could last. We should be sure to ask when we get back to Genkai's."
"Yusuke needs to know," Koenma said.
"She's sleeping right now," Botan protested. "She needs to sleep in order to heal a little and when she awakes then we tell her."
"Very well. Botan, you and Hiei will tell her."
Yusuke opened her eyes and lay there. Her body was still sore but at least it and her hair were clean. If only she could have her mind washed clean as well. I'm a guy, but I've been acting like a girl, most likely because my body is female and probably influenced my thoughts and actions. I always considered rape as a sick thing before I experienced it. Now, I know how humiliating and breaking it is. That's what's happened to me: I've been broken and I don't know how to move past it. Even when I change back, I'll still have problems dealing with it.
She heard footsteps approach her room and the door opened to reveal Hiei and Botan. The ferry girl went to Yusuke's side and started healing again. "So, I'm going to change back after this?" she asked. She saw Botan bite her lip and Yusuke looked at Hiei.
"It's not that simple," Hiei said. "I used my Jagan to look over your injuries and I discovered that you're pregnant."
"What?" she whispered.
"An ice apparition that's pregnant will destroy any attempt to harm the baby. If we tried to change you back, the blood sample will be destroyed and you'll be stuck as a girl. We'll change you back after you've given birth; it's the only solution."
"No!" Yusuke screamed. "I will not have that monster's kid! No, no, no!"
"You don't have a choice!" Hiei snapped.
"The hell I don't! I could kill myself and that would solve the problem!"
Hiei sighed and used his Jagan to put Yusuke to sleep. As he and Botan left, he said, "You might want someone to watch Yusuke to make sure she doesn't commit suicide."
"I didn't expect her to overreact like that, but then again, I do understand why."
Three pairs of eyes widened at Botan and Hiei's report. "Suicide?" Kuwabara finally said. "She's seriously considering suicide, just to avoid having the baby?"
"That was the last thing she said before I used my Jagan to put her to sleep," Hiei said.
"Well, we will not let that happen," Koenma stated. "I will definitely have Yusuke put on suicide watch to make sure she doesn't succeed."
"I recommend that the team be the ones on this suicide watch," Kurama suggested.
Koenma nodded. "Agreed. Any volunteers for the first watch?"
Kuwabara stepped forward. "I'll take the first watch."
"And I'll take the second," Botan added.
"All right. Kuwabara, go ahead and start now. Botan will relief you in say, half an hour?"
Kuwabara nodded and left the office. A second or even a third watch won't be necessary, cause I'm gonna talk Urameshi out of contemplating suicide. Kuwabara walked into the room to see Yusuke awake and staring at the ceiling. He knew she was still alive as she was blinking every few seconds. He cleared this throat and Yusuke struggled to a sitting position, wincing slightly. He found it hard to believe that this girl was his close friend; she seemed so fragile and weak; like Yukina. Well, Urameshi is an ice apparition like Yukina, so it makes sense. But fragile and weak are not what Urameshi is and I'll make sure she gets her fighting spirit back.
"I would have thought that Botan had healed all those bruises," Kuwabara said, sitting in a chair by the bed.
"Most are gone. It's just stiff muscles."
"Botan and Hiei told us how you reacted when they told you you're pregnant."
"Yeah. I keep re-living every rape and then the bombshell that I'm…pregnant." She laid back down again.
"You shouldn't torture yourself like that, Urameshi." He saw tears prickling at the edges of Yusuke's eyes. The idea of Yusuke crying was too much for him; this was not how his friend should be acting. "Hey, it'll be all right."
"No, it's not all right!" Yusuke exclaimed, sitting up suddenly which sent the tears flying from her eyes and clattering to the floor as they turned to stones. "It'll never be all right! I've been abused, raped, broken, and now pregnant on top of it! You have no idea how terrible it was! He was a real monster!" She took a shaky breath, wrapped her arms around herself, and lowered her head.
"Urameshi, listen to me. Yes, I have no idea how terrible it was, but you need to get over it. The demon's in jail and been sentenced to death. I heard he's been told you're pregnant and he just laughed."
"Of course he did. He got away with raping Spirit World's Spirit Detective."
"Damn it, Urameshi! Don't you get it!? He can't hurt you anymore! This self-pity state isn't you! It's not the person I know you are! And as for the baby, if you don't want it, you could give it to someone else who'll raise it. But, I'll bet you'll want to keep it because you'll grow attached to it as it grows."
"You think so?" Yusuke asked, sounding interested instead of sad or angry.
"Course I do. Think of this, if you raise the child, you can make sure it won't grow up to be anything like its dad."
"My god, you're right. I can raise it right. Maybe Keiko would like to help once I explain and we get married." Her voice held hope and sounded cheerful.
"That's the spirit, Urameshi. See, everything will be fine." At that point, Botan walked in; half an hour had passed and it was time for the second watch. Kuwabara left, pleased that he brought his friend out of her depression and that she would raise the baby to be a kind demon.