"Start All Over"
By ss10009
Disclaimer:
YuYu Hakusho does not belong to the author of this story. Those rights go to Yoshihiro Togashi. This fanfiction is created for purposes not associated with profit. Meaning that, if you paid to read this story, well, you're a damn fool.
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CHAPTER 3 - The Train to Tokyo
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The train felt more hushed than usual. Yusuke could hear every motion of the train clearly in the cabin, and there didn't seem to be much, if any, conversation.
The silence was starting to bug him. He'd spent the majority of yesterday alone, and, as of now, he was taking the latest rail available out to Tokyo. He was used to being a loner, but that didn't mean he was used to silence. It was good he'd had some money in his pocket, though. Otherwise, his plans might've had to include backtracking to the compound and begging Grandma for some.
Correction. Not Grandma. Apparently, adopted mother.
Yusuke put his hands behind his head, leaning upwards to stare at the ceiling of the train car.
With nothing to do for the remaining duration of the trip, Yusuke was pretty damn close to giving in to the urge to... make a plan. His style primarily involved winging it or getting struck by a spare bolt of dumb luck at the final moment. But now, with nothing else to occupy his mind...
Go to Tokyo, Yusuke thought, find Kuwabara or Kurama or somebody and ask what the hell is going on.
This was the extent of Yusuke's planning.
It would probably be about eleven at night or so by the time Yusuke got into the city. That wasn't a proper visiting hour or anything... It would be a lot more sensible to just go back to his own apartment and give them a phone call first. But then, he might just be able to crawl underneath the covers, close his eyes, and wake up to the realization that he'd been dreaming.
Or was the last one too much wishful thinking?
Yusuke closed his eyes, yawning. He didn't really want to go to sleep here, on the train, the eerie train of silence, but it was quickly becoming a temptation. Yusuke resisted however, as he refocused on the situation.
So this Warudo guy screws with my universe, Yusuke thought, and it's my job to fix it. But it's not just my job. What was it that he said? Assemble each key player? Does he mean re-create the battle? Me, him, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and about a thousand lackeys. Well, the lackeys probably aren't key players. That's kind of the definition of a lackey. But then I've got to find and defeat him. So he must be hiding somewhere. And how the hell do I defeat him? I thought I got the job done last time, but...
Yusuke saw himself, firing his spirit gun. He'd hit Warudo dead on, seen him fall to the ground, seen the life leave his eyes. And yet Warudo hadn't truly died.
"Soon I'll be quite dead to this world. This world. But you haven't really won, Yusuke Urameshi."
God, he hated it when the bad guy didn't actually die. They could be like zombie bop bag hybrids sometimes. Just coming back from the grave for more. And then coming again back for a little bit more. And a little bit more.
Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it when it came to defeating those guys. It reminded him of the fact that, although Older Toguro was suffering forever, he wasn't really dead either. It made him wonder how many other guys he'd thought he'd killed that might just come back to taunt him. Any day now, Suzaku would be sending lightning bolts at him all over again.
With his fists clenched, sudden annoyance overcoming him, Yusuke didn't think much about sleep anymore.
Maybe it'll be like in all those animes, where you've got to chop the bad guy into seven pieces and put each piece in random spots all over the world. Is that how you defeat a dimension-altering demon? Yusuke wondered. Or maybe the whole point of me gathering up everybody is so that we can all kill him together? Is that what you're supposed to do? Like, my spirit gun, plus Kuwabara's spirit sword, Kurama's rose whip, and then Hiei's dragon? All at once? Or is that overkill? Is there any kind of "overkill" in terms of this guy?
And just why had Warudo told Yusuke how to kill him anyway? Well, not exactly how to kill him. The man was like elusive embodied. But he'd given him a hint. Was it because he was just arrogant? Like the average bad guy? Or was he trying to lead Yusuke into a trap? Like your slightly above average bad guy?
His mind drove him around in circles, with answers escaping him at every possible turn. By the time Yusuke's frustration had neared its peak, the train had halted, arriving at the station in Tokyo.
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Step one, Yusuke decided, was to find Kuwabara. Not only was Kuwabara a key player, probably, but he was also the closest to the station, by Yusuke's estimation.
Kuwabara could give him a place to crash at, too. Seeing as Yusuke's mom had taken flakey to a whole new level in this dimension, his own place would be out of the question.
Walking from the station to the Kuwabara residence felt unbearably creepy. There was nothing out there in the darkness that Yusuke couldn't handle, especially in Human World, but he still felt uneasy. The stars didn't register in the city, and they were replaced, instead, by streetlights. The usual night sounds—crickets, sirens, and drunks, were still present. But it didn't feel right. There was something off color about all of it.
Warudo couldn't have penetrated the Human World already, right? It was his goal to dominate it, but if a demon were to take over Human World, it would be a lot more evident than just a bad feeling. There would be death and destruction, violence and vice. He probably just wasn't used to this new dimension. Everything about it felt wrong, dark or light.
He was overthinking, that was all.
Yusuke scoffed. Him? Overthink? Wouldn't Keiko and Kurama love to see that day.
Sounds began to fade as he left the vicinity of the train station. Just feet on the pavement, the gentle thud of sneakers hitting sidewalk. Yusuke passed a park, seeing empty swing sets and merry-go-rounds. Monkey bars, he thought idly. He'd been the King of the Monkey Bars. An unofficial king, of course, and it had been a self-coronation, with Keiko present as the only witness.
Keiko...
It wasn't two days since he'd last seen her, but he missed her.
She'd have been pleased to know that, he thought. That he did think about her. That she was important to him, but stuff just kept getting in the way. It was a matter of prioritizing, not importance. Kill bad guy now, get a chance to snuggle later.
He wasn't always sure that she knew that.
And then it was feet on the pavement again. The playground had passed, giving way to apartments and empty sidewalks. Another block and he'd be at Kuwabara's place. He could almost see the apartment complex in the distance.
Yusuke's gait lengthened as he drew closer. A funny feeling welled itself inside of Yusuke's stomach. Was he anxious? Didn't he just want a way to get back to his own time and take his friends with him? But Yusuke knew that wasn't it. Exactly what he was feeling, he couldn't figure out. But that wasn't unusual for him. Hadn't Genkai mentioned there was a "wall of crap" between him and his emotions?
Tonight just wasn't the night to start digging.
Yusuke ascended the stairs, finding that he was tempted to take them in sets of two as opposed to one. He resisted though, and climbed them relatively normally. The fourth floor felt a lot farther than usual.
It had a creepy vibe, like in a post-apocalyptic movie or something. Everyone's gone except for one guy, which was him. But Yusuke knew that was stupid; there had been people on the train. It was just how this dimension felt. Evil demons naturally make evil dimensions; it's practically the way of life.
When he reached the door to the Kuwabara household, he knew he wasn't just imagining anymore. It was silent, a given considering that it was going on midnight. But the way his knock resounded on the door made him feel that the apartment was empty, too. He twisted the knob.
Unlocked.
Yusuke entered, absent mindedly searching for the light switch he knew was a few inches away from the door. The apartment was just as empty as Yusuke had surmised. Perhaps even more empty.
The apartment more than lacked all of the Kuwabara's furniture and decor. In certain areas, the place was covered in an inch of dust. The only area that looked as though it had seen human life any time recently was the kitchen, which was gutted, probably for remodeling.
Was that the funny feeling in the pit of his gut? Was it trying to tell him that things were going to be harder than he thought?
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The first thing he did, after leaving the complex, was kick a can. Kick this can instead of picking a fight. It was in his way, Point of Reasoning 'A.' And, Point of Reasoning 'B,' if Yusuke didn't kick something, he'd be forced into admitting that he wasn't as close to getting back to his own dimension as he wanted to be.
The can led him into an alley, dark and vacated, like the alley archetype. He stopped kicking the can when he realized that he was somewhat lost. He took a look around, trying to figure out where he was. The funny thing, however, was that in the dark, pretty much everything looked alike. And even in broad daylight a hell of a lot of alleys looked the same.
He groaned and took an alley at random, hoping it would lead to somewhere vaguely familiar.
In a way, it did.
Yusuke had grown somewhat accustomed to walking in on gang meetings, after all. Special clubs, where you joined together to beat the shit out of people, Yusuke had always thought of them as. He'd never joined one, though. Unless you counted Team Urameshi; they'd been special and frequently put in work in the ass kicking department.
A gravelly-looking thug, with a serious case of midnight shadow, turned to face him. "Get lost kid," he said. His voice, low and threatening, would have sent the average human running.
Thankfully, Yusuke wasn't the average human. He wasn't even entirely human.
"Already am lost," Yusuke said. "But I'm looking for somebody."
"What the hell do I look like? Information? I told ya to get the hell outta here!"
It was probably a long shot, Yusuke thought, Kuwabara wasn't in to this kind of thing anymore. Ever since he'd started high school, he'd gotten way more serious. With one more year before college, the last thing Kuwabara would be doing was fighting for turf. But this was an alternate dimension, so...
"Do any of you know if Kazuma Kuwabara stays around here?"
The thug growled. "I don' got a damn clue."
"Okay..." Yusuke said, ignoring the thug's growing anger. "Anybody seen him? Heard of him? Vaguely remember anything related to him?"
"I told you, kid, ain't never heard of no damn Kuwabara. Keep asking, and I'll tell you what I have heard of though." The thug flipped a switchblade open. Yusuke hesitated. Was he even allowed to fight normal humans? It was like an automatic death sentence for them. He hadn't had to fight off thugs for years now, which was pretty damn fortunate for them.
In the end, his decision was made for him. The thug put his switchblade up. "Nah, you remin' me of myself a couple years ago. Young and stupid. Now go home to your ma 'fore I show you the sharp en' of that."
Yusuke didn't argue with the guy. Why bother? In the end, useless thugs were useless thugs. They weren't good for much of anything. Not for staying out of trouble, not for showering, not for knowing where your best friend was...
Yusuke turned, navigating himself through the alleys, wondering what his next choice should be. He could try his own place, though that was slim. He didn't have a place out here, after all. Or he could try Kurama's, perhaps? Kurama, as a successful member of society, had his own place, his own apartment, unlike the rest of them. But this dimension could mean he was still living with Shiori.
Yusuke shrugged. Kurama's place and Shiori's were both a ways from here. It would be in his best interest to catch a train or a subway to get there. He didn't see either of those, though. No big deal. He'd taken a much longer run, without stopping, to get to Toranin.
Yusuke turned, finally finding himself on a street he knew. And then it was feet on pavement, sneakers on asphalt, just trying to get to Kurama's.
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He tried the apartment first. A high rise that primarily housed young business executives. Kurama, as a quickly climbing worker of his stepfather's company, fit in here quite well, at least theoretically. But did anyone really make perfect housing for ex-fox demon thieves who'd turned into Mama's Boys?
Yusuke couldn't get the past gate, though. He needed a key card or a pass code; he had neither. Kurama had probably given it to him earlier. Yeah. He could see that. Kurama told him the number, Yusuke wrote it down, and then he put it in his wallet. So, in the real dimension, Yusuke might not be faced with the dilemma of not being able to get inside Kurama's apartment complex to visit.
In this dimension, he was.
Yusuke groaned, wishing that he'd visited Kurama more often. Then he might've memorized it. Dammit. Some close friend he was.
Kurama lived on the third floor, and Yusuke snuck a peak at it through the complex's high iron bars. He couldn't see any lights from the front, but Kurama's apartment was in the back. There was a view of a garden on that side, which Yusuke was pretty sure Kurama liked.
I guess it's time for a break in, Yusuke thought. A camera to his left stared at him, asking if he'd really be so defiant as to commit breaking and entering with it watching. A normal human might've backed away from the challenge.
But again, Yusuke wasn't a normal human.
A few moments later, he was on the other side of the gate. Kurama might be pissed at him. If he was even in his apartment, that was. And if he wasn't. Well... He didn't plan sticking around long enough to deal with the possibilities of the law.
It didn't take him too long to get to the other side of the building. He took a few steps back and looked up at the third floor. He didn't see the blinds Kurama had hung up. Yusuke only saw an empty, dark window.
Failed pursuit.
He swore. Probably because he couldn't find a can to kick. There wasn't an ounce of litter around this place. Environmentally aware bastards, Yusuke thought.
Jumping back over the fence felt harder than jumping out. There wasn't much hope on the other side, after all.
Then again, he did have Kurama's mom's place. This dimension was batshit crazy, so Kurama could still be living at home. It was probably past one in the morning, the hour when reasonable people likely figured it was quitting time.
Yusuke was as much a reasonable person as he was an average human.
On the bright side, the distance from here to Kurama's old place was shorter than his apartment to Kuwabara's. It'd be a little less walking on his part.
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By the time Yusuke reached the house, he'd walked enough, in total, to make him feel like he deserved something, anything. It had to have been two hours since Yusuke got off the subway, yet he hadn't accomplished anything tangible.
Yusuke strode up the front walk, though he was already beginning to feel like something was missing.
I should probably try his window, Yusuke thought. If he's not here, I'm going to wake up his family. Then again, they could always tell me where he is. Yusuke glanced towards Kurama's window. It was on the front side of the house, fairly close to the door. He winced as he realized that he couldn't sense Kurama here.
He rang the doorbell and allowed the sound to reverberate through the house several times before he pressed his finger to it again. He could hear the faint rustling sounds of someone coming towards the door. Likely Kurama's stepfather, coming to find out who the hell would be at the house at one in the morning.
Wrong guess.
The door opened, revealing a teenaged boy in pajamas, tousled hair, and bunny slippers. A thousand yen note was in his outstretched hand.
Shuichi, Yusuke recognized him as. Just not the right Shuichi. This one was Kurama's younger step-brother.
"You're not the pizza guy," Shuichi said stupidly.
"I'm not," Yusuke said. "Look, I wanted to see if you know where someone was. Someone that was... supposed to live here."
"You're looking for my parents?" he asked, his dumbstruck shock quickly wearing off. "They're at the hospital right now."
"No, not your parents. Have you ever heard of Shuichi Minamino?" Yusuke asked.
Shuichi looked confused. "I'm Shuichi Hatanaka," he said. "Minamino is my mom's maiden name. Well, not maiden name. She's my stepmom, and she's been married before, so it's the name of her old husband. Shuichi Minamino could be a relative in her ex-husband's family, I guess, but I've never heard of him."
"Never?" Yusuke asked, looking for a confirmation that he didn't really need.
"Never. But when my mom gets back from the hospital, I can ask her. She's not, um... doing so well right now. Or I could call her, if it's really urgent. The doctors don't know really know when," Shuichi paused here. Yusuke could tell that, in the back of his mind, he was thinking about if Shiori would ever get to leave the hospital. (She wasn't going to though, Yusuke surmised, seeing as no one in this dimension was going to be around to save her. Fucking Warudo.) "When she'll be better."
Shuichi paused, contemplating something quickly. "Hold on a sec," he said, racing away from the door only to barrel back a few seconds later. He was now holding a yellow tablet and a pencil. Meiou High School was written on the pencil's side. "Just write down your name and number and I'll call you when she finds out."
"It's not that big of a deal," Yusuke said, beginning to back away. There was nothing Shiori could tell him about Shuichi Minamino. Except, maybe she'd mention how, if she had a son with her previous husband, she'd have named him Shuichi.
"You're here at one in the morning. Sure it's not a big deal?" Shuichi called after him.
"I'm sure. Thanks, though."
There was the sound of a slamming car door, signaling the arrival of the pizza guy. Any further protest Shuichi might've had about him leaving were forgotten.
Upon retreat, Yusuke figured out what was missing from the house. The tree that Kurama slyly kept filled with cherry blossoms, even during winter months, was gone. Its presence, its fragrance, its petals... Just like Kurama.
Gone.
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He was walking around aimlessly now. He wasn't unfamiliar with the concept, of course. As a juvenile delinquent it was kind of his default setting. Walking aimlessly was legal, standing aimlessly was loitering. And it was stupid to get another notch on your rap sheet for something like loitering.
He'd left Kurama's neighborhood, safe and family-friendly, for downtown. This was one part of Tokyo that wasn't so empty. The sounds of humanity pleased him slightly. Drunken laughter and crude cat calls. When he was a little kid, it had been like a lullaby for him. The stranger aspects of the dimension were beginning to fade a little. As long as the nightlife was still on the rise, everything couldn't be all that different? His mom, Atsuko, not Genkai, was probably out there partying and damn near passing out wasted. A horny drunk couple would be off to a love hotel. Someone was out there taking shots en masse to commemorate their twentieth birthday…
And people were still following him.
"So who the hell are you, and why'd you take it upon yourself to track me down?" Yusuke asked. "Because honestly, I'm not in the mood."
He turned, only to look into a face that he'd seen before. Tall, lanky, long black hair...
"Kuroko Sanada?" Yusuke asked, squinting slightly in the face of the first Spirit Detective. He was unsure of what to do next. In the normal dimension, she had been a friendly face. Until he'd proven that he wasn't exactly sure how much of him was demon and how much was human. What was she to him in this new dimension? Should he take fighting stance or give her a "long time no see?" Had it been a long time?
"Your mother said you'd probably be out here somewhere," she said. Friend, not foe, Yusuke decided. Kuroko paused. "And that's Auntie Kuroko to you, you know that. Now come on."
Kuroko, Auntie Kuroko, apparently, left the alley, indicating that Yusuke should follow her.
"And exactly where are we going... Auntie Kuroko?"
"Back to my place. Do you know anyone else in Tokyo who'd take you in at," Kuroko paused, glancing at a glowing digital watch on her wrist, "nearly one in the morning?"
"Apparently not," Yusuke muttered. Especially considering the lack of mother, lack of apartment problem, he thought.
The pair walked along in silence, with Kuroko leading the way. "Do you know how irresponsible it is for you to be out this late, running the streets in an unfamiliar city?"
"It's not that unfamiliar," Yusuke argued.
"Because the handful of times you've been here were sufficient in really knowing the city? Knowing where all the trouble spots are? And then being able to tell where they are in the dark?" Kuroko sighed. "Yusuke, I don't want to see you get killed. I know eighteen is two years away from being an adult, but if you're not careful, you might not make it. Even if you are prodigal in respects to your power, you're not ready for this."
Yusuke remained silent. It was a good idea, in this new dimension, to just let everyone else do the talking. What did she mean, he wasn't ready for this? He didn't feel like he'd taken any drastic cuts in terms of his strength or spirit energy. But then again, she seemed to know that. The threat against Tokyo must've been humongous.
It took little time to make it back to Kuroko's place. Her apartment was located in a dangerously tall skyscraper complex. The building seemed to extend past the low hanging clouds and straight to the moon.
"Surprised you're not talking about how tall it is. You used to go on about it for at least a few minutes before we got inside. I guess you really have grown up." Kuroko gave him a sentimental look, clearly remembering little boy Yusuke, maybe even the one from the VHS tape.
"Yeah, I guess so," Yusuke replied.
"Nothing's changed since the last time you were here," Kuroko said as they entered the lobby. "I had a brief affair with danger and unpredictability and considered moving to the fourth floor, but it passed. I'm still on the second."
She guided him over to the elevator. There was virtually no wait for the car to arrive, and, once inside of the elevator, Kuroko swiftly pushed the button labeled "2."
There were at least fifty other buttons on the panel.
"You've been quiet," she said, stepping out of the elevator and taking a turn towards the right. "I know that... Well, Master Genkai called me, and she's informed me of the situation. If you want to talk about it, then-."
"I don't want to talk about it," Yusuke said. It came out a lot more harshly than he had intended. But he would much rather prefer talking about finding his absentee friends, defeating Warudo, and getting back into his own dimension instead of angsting about being adopted. "I... The train ride was long, and I didn't get any sleep on it. I'm just tired, sorry."
"No problem, of course," she replied. They had reached her apartment now, and she had unlocked the door. "I made you a bed in the living room, and you left a pair of sweats here the last time you visited. So those should still fit you, I hope. Bathroom is on the left, if you need it. Hungry?"
"Not really," Yusuke said. "I'm just tired," he emphasized again.
"Alright then," Kuroko said, walking towards another room, probably her bedroom. "I'll see you in the morning, Yusuke."
"Night," he called lamely.
The sweats were on top of couch, which was folded out and covered in blankets, sheets, and a pillow. It didn't look all that uncomfortable. After a quick sojourn to the bathroom, where he put on the comfortable, only slightly-to-small sweats, he discovered that the couch was downright soft. Thoughts of Warudo, Earth's possible peril, and his relocated friends all left his mind.
Within minutes, Yusuke eased himself into a round of sleep. Which, he soon discovered, held the same satisfaction despite the dimension.
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Notes:
1 - Trains and Tokyo
I don't know how long it takes for a train ride to get from Genkai's to Tokyo. Also, I'm not totally sure that Yusuke lives in Tokyo. Did it ever say something specifically? Can we just assume that all unnamed cities in anime are Tokyo?