Yu Yu Hakusho: New Dreams, Old Nightmares
Thank you for telling me that I have really good character development. This is my first fanfic I've written where I've added an original character, and I'm trying very hard not to fall into the trap of the Mary Sue.
New Dreams, Old Nightmares
Chapter Ten – The Morning After
"Oh, my friggen head," Kuwabara said, cradling his face as if it was made out of glass. It was the morning after the party, and he was definitely feeling the effects of a hangover. He had just woke up, the sunlight streaming through the window acting as daggers to his eyes.
"Wow, I didn't think it would hurt this much," he said. "What about you, Urameshi?" he asked, turning towards the other bed in the room. It was empty.
"Urameshi?"
He looked around the room. He was indeed the only occupant.
"That weasel!" Kuwabara said as he stood up from the bed. "I bet he snuck off to another room of the house with Keiko!" A grin spread across his face. He burst out of the room and into the hall, intent on catching his friend in a very embarrassing and compromising condition.
He reached the door to the other guest room and slid it open. "Caught you, you punk!"
Yukina looked up from where she was lying in bed, clutching the covers around her and screaming, her face red. "Kazuma! What are you doing?"
"Get out of here, you jerk!" Keiko yelled from the other bed, before picking up her bookbag and flinging it at him. It caught him directly in the face, knocking him back onto the floor.
Keiko jumped out of the bed and slammed the door shut, leaving a twitching Kuwabara laid out in the hall, a trickle of blood coming out his nose.
"Jeez, what the heck was that for?" he said, springing to his feet. "It's not like I knew Yukina was going to be there wrapped in just her covers…"
"Good morning, chicken legs," Genkai said from the other end of the hall. Kuwabara turned to look at her, saw where her gaze was locked, and then looked down at himself.
He had been in such a rush to get to Yusuke, he hadn't put any clothes on. He was clothed only in his white undershirt and striped boxors.
"Aw, damnit!" he yelled, running back into his own room to get dressed.
Genkai sighed, and knocked on the door Keiko just slammed.
"Don't come in here!"
"You two don't have anything I don't," Genkai said with a smirk. A second later, the door slid open a crack, Yukina's eyes framed by the wood.
"Oh, good morning, Master Genkai!" she said, opening the door fully, letting the old woman step inside.
"Where's the third one?" she asked, referring to Botan.
"Here I am!" she said, coming out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth, hairbrush in her hand.
"I take it you all slept well?"
"Yes, we did!" Yukina said. "You're up early, Master Genkai."
"I'm always up at this hour."
"Was Kuwabara looking for Yusuke, just now?" Keiko asked, still in the bed, sitting up with the covers around legs.
"Where is the dimwit?"
"I don't know. He wasn't here when we woke up?"
"I…see." Keiko said in a low voice, her voice barely a whisper as she hung her head.
"Are you okay, Keiko?" Yukina said, sensing the change in her friend's mood.
"Me?" she exclaimed, flashing a large smile. "Of course, never better!"
"You can't use that trick on us. Botan uses it way too much to have us not notice it," the older woman said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You heard me."
"I guess he wasn't…"
"Keiko, I didn't even here you come in. I mean, you went outside with Yusuke…"
"We had a fight. A really bad one," Keiko said harshly. "He's being an idiot and I don't really want to talk about it right now, okay?"
Kuwabara reappeared at the doorframe, this time wearing clothes. "Where did he go?"
"He's not here, we don't know where he went."
"Well, I sure didn't hear him when he came in last night or when he left this morning!"
"I'm amazed you can even stand up this morning, Kuwabara, after how much you put away last night," Genkai said as she walked past them, out of the room. "The aspirin is in the third cabinet to the left of the sink in the kitchen."
"It doesn't hurt that bad. Besides, Yukina can just use her healing powers on me!"
"No, she won't," Genkai retorted as she slipped down the hall and out of sight.
"Why not?" Kuwabara demanded to know.
"Because you won't learn anything if she does," the now distant voice sounded.
"Geez, she's used her powers on me for stuff far less than this," Kuwabara said under his breath. His thoughts were interrupted by another heavy object colliding with his skull. He thought it was the alarm clock, but he wasn't sure.
"Get out, Kuwabara!"
"What the hell did I do wrong? I put on clothes, didn't I?"
"But we haven't yet!"
"Kazuma, did you want two eggs or three?" Yukina said, looking over her shoulder. She was in front of the stove, cooking up a light breakfast with Keiko's help for the few of them that remained. Botan left for Reikai after she got dressed, saying Koenma-sama needed her for something or other, so the group was a little less noisy.
"Three sounds good! I'm hungry!" Kuwabara said, readjusting the ice pack against the side of his head.
"How's the hangover?" Genkai said, sipping her coffee.
"Getting better. So, does anyone know where Urameshi went?"
Keiko, her back to Kuwabara, visibly stiffened when she heard his name. It wasn't unnoticed by Genkai, who made a mental note to talk to the young teen later.
"No, I don't think so," Yukina responded, moving the pan off of the heat.
"Keiko, you were with him last, any idea why he took off?"
Keiko lowered her head, turning her palm towards her face. There were a few scabs there, the aftermath of her clutching the thorny rose in her hurt.
"We…we got into a huge fight," she said in a low voice. "He probably left after I went inside."
"It's not like him to just take off like that," Kuwabara mentioned.
Keiko let out a short bitter laugh that came out more like a bark. "That's because you were always with him."
"Well yeah, but-" he started, before an elbow in the ribs from Genkai shut him up.
"So, everyone, what are the plans for today?" the older woman asked, hoping the subject would be changed so easily.
It was. "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the beach today Yukina, now that it's warmer and in the middle of the day!" Kuwabara said.
"I'd love to, Kazuma!" Yukina said enthusiastically, moving the pan over toward the table and scooping the eggs onto his plate. Kuwabara was practically beaming. "What should I wear? I don't want to get all wet again, should I go like I do at the hot springs?"
Kuwabara's blush started at his toes and rapidly rose the rest of the way through his body as all rational thought left him. The thought of Yukina, wearing just a towel or nothing at all in the hot springs…
"Actually," Genkai said, smacking Kuwabara in the back of the head, "there are special clothes designed for swimming in. It's not a good idea to swim around men with nothing on."
"That one especially," Keiko said, glad for the break in the conversation.
"I gotta get out of here," Kuwabara said, slumping. "There's too much estrogen."
"Yukina, would you like to go into town and find a bathing suit?" Keiko asked as she sat at the table.
"I thought we weren't going to be bathing in the ocean?" she said, confused.
"Well, no…but it's called a bathing suit. It's pretty much used anytime you're dealing with water and you aren't bathing."
"Okay then, if you say so," she said, brightening. She was an innocent girl, but she was one who was always eager to learn new things about the world she was in.
"One piece or two piece?" Keiko thought aloud to herself.
Two, please, Kuwabara thought to himself while trying not to grin like an idiot.
"Can we figure this out later, children?" Genkai said. "I'm hungry."
Yusuke had indeed gone home after the talk with Keiko.
Because…I can't say it back.
He was now walking downtown, looking for something, anything to take his mind off of what happened. Everything just seemed so…empty.
He was angry. He was frustrated. He was upset because for the first time in his life, this was something he couldn't overcome with strength. Every time there had been an obstacle, he always had something that pulled him through it. Hidden powers, yokai blood, some sort of insight or inspiration at the exact moment. He always had faith that somehow, things would turn out okay.
Not this time.
Keiko had told him that she didn't love him anymore.
Anymore. That word hurt so much worse than any other one to describe it. If she hadn't used that word, it would be easier. He could convince himself that she never really loved him, that it was all just an infatuation the two had had since they were little. That they never really branched out to show interest in others, and that was the only reason they were drawn to each other. They didn't know any better.
But anymore cut him. She did love him. Had loved him. And he had lost it. He had the most precious thing in the world to him after searching for it, but it was too late. He had taken too long. It's not like that was new.
He had always taken too long. Too long to save the young boy, thus ending his own life. Too long to prevent Keiko from getting hurt by Suzaku's minions. Too long to reach his own power during the final confrontation with Toguro. Too long to take back his body before he fired the blast that killed Sensui.
And now, too long to save the one thing that mattered to him more than anything else.
He pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, bringing one to his lips before lighting it.
I can't say it back.
Yesterday, after Keiko went back in the house, Yusuke didn't know what to feel. It was a mixture of so many emotions hitting him so fast he didn't have time to experience any of them. He ended up riding Puu out of the compound and back outside the city where the beast had dropped him off. The whole ordeal was just now starting to sink in, and he hated the feeling. There was a sense of loss clawing from deep within him, threatening to undermine everything he was.
"So what now, Yusuke?" he said to himself, taking a drag, the smoke filling his lungs. He had dropped smoking a while ago, but now, what was really the point?
A woman and man passed by him heading the other way, giving him a disapproving look as the acrid smell reached their nostrils. So what?
Kurama was the only one who wasn't back at the compound. No, wait, that wasn't right. He had to attend a council meeting today called by Enki. Yusuke had been invited, but he thought he wouldn't have a reason or a need to show up.
What time was it? Maybe he could still make it…
Although the Kakai barrier had been dissolved, there was still no easy way to open a portal between the two worlds. A few of the higher class apparitions were able to do it, but that was the reason for the barrier in the first place. The only ones in Ningenkai that could open a portal were Enma's Spirit Defense Forces. They were more than happy to be rid of him when he went to Makai, since none of them could even think of taking him on.
He threw the cigarette down and crushed it. He felt so useless here. Junior High had its challenges – they were solved with fists. So it came naturally to him to fight others. But in this world, the one he was growing into, the one he was born in…this world did things differently when you grew up. You couldn't settle things with might.
He had grown up some, but it wasn't enough. It never seemed to be enough.
I can't…"Damnit!" he shouted in frustration, punching a vending machine next to him hard enough to rock it. The few bystanders noticed, and shied away from the troubled youth.
Fine. If that was the way it was, he would go back, for a while at least. He needed to blow off steam, and there was no way to do it in Ningenkai. He felt like seeing Jin, and Touya, and Link, and Chu. It had been awhile since they all seen each other. Maybe a sparring match was just what he needed to lift his spirits. Maybe Yomi would be willing to have that rematch.
That decision made, he headed off in the direction of the park, lighting up another cigarette. If nothing has been able to kill me so far, there's no way that these would.
Sorry it took so long for this chapter to get up. I'm training for a new job in sales and even the training is a full time position. I've been so busy passing a few tests and basically, if I don't pass, I'm fired. So far so good, but updates won't be nearly as frequent (but hopefully more frequent than this!)
See you later! I'm going to get Chapter 11 started, so that should be up a lot sooner than this short one was.