Ride like the Wind
Chapter 27
"Hey. I think I finally figured out the answer to that question you asked me earlier. You know the one about who I am?" Yusuke said.
"Okay. But that one's already been answered. I wanted to know why you wanted to be a demon slayer," Raizen replied.
"I'll tell if you tell me why you stopped eating. Equal exchange. So tell me."
"You tell me first. I asked you first."
"Fine... So... I was born when my mom was fifteen and I never saw my dad. I'm just assuming he's dead. Anyway... I used to live on the other side of town next to my friend. Then we went to Mexico when I was almost eight... When I was ten something happened..."
"Hold on. Is that friend the girl who pissed you off?"
"Don't ask. We'll just not go into that. Anyway... When I was ten... I found a reason to become a demon slayer..."
Flashback
"What's wrong with Keiko?" ten year old Yusuke asked.
"She's really sick and needs to stay in bed. Why don't you play with your other friends?" Keiko's mom suggested, forgetting Keiko was Yusuke's only friend.
Yusuke frowned and opened the door to Keiko's room. Probably just a cold... "I'm seeing Keiko anyway!"
"Wait! You might...!"
Yusuke stared at the creature in his friend's room. That's not her getting sick... That's a demon!
It was black like a shadow. Its golden, catlike eyes shifted between Yusuke and Keiko. Its claw was placed on her forehead. He's sucking her life out!
"So young... So full of life..." it hissed.
"Yusuke get out and close the door! We don't want you catching her flu!" Keiko's mom scolded him. "You might wake her up, too! She needs rest to get better!"
Yusuke's blood went cold. She can't see it? She doesn't know? No! Keiko!
"Go away!" Yusuke threw what he thought was a rock at the demon. "Leave Keiko alone!"
"She runs low on life now... You'll suffice..." the shadow hissed.
"No!" He threw something else at the demon again but it was only swallowed in its body.
"Simple tactics like that won't hurt me you foolish child! You'll just be..." It suddenly disappeared in a soundless explosion. Keiko shot up in bed, her eyes wide.
What the... Was that... Holy water? Who randomly carries holy water?! Yusuke thought.
"What's going on?" Keiko finally asked.
"Praise the Lord! She's okay! It's a miracle!" Keiko's mom ran into the room, tears of joy running down her cheeks.
"Keiko! I just remembered I had something to tell you! I decided I wanna be a demon slayer so you won't get hurt or anything!" Yusuke said cheerfully.
"O... Okay!" Keiko replied looking surprised.
End flashback
"So you did it because of her?" Raizen asked.
"Hey, at least it gave me something better to do than to kick people's asses. At least I don't need good grades for it either. Never went to school," Yusuke replied.
"...What's a grade?"
"It has to do with school. You don't need to know."
"...What's a school?"
"...You don't get out much do you?"
Long silence.
"Anyway..." Yusuke continued.
Flashback
"Come on! It's only a dumb lizard!" a boy teased twelve year old Keiko, holding a lizard to her face.
"Just get it away from me! That's gross!" Keiko tried to push his hand away from her.
"Hey, stop picking on Keiko!" Yusuke growled.
"Shut up, squirt! What're you gonna do about it anyway?" the other boy jeered.
"You're gonna have to say hi to Old Bobby and the Fire Avengers!" Yusuke held his fists up.
"He named his fists?!' the boy with the lizard raised an eyebrow.
"Let's go! He's weird!" the other boy ran away, his friend following.
"You named your fists?" Keiko laughed at him.
"Hey, it got them away, didn't it?" Yusuke said.
"I thought you wanted to be a demon slayer not a bully slayer."
"But it's almost the same thing almost. Demons and bullies basically use the same tactics. They both wanna bring you down so they can do what they want with you. But bullies just wanna see you cry."
He's still into that junk "Wow! That's really cool!"
"Yeah!"
End flashback
"I found out that she was just lying about the whole thing. She should have just said so, though. 'Cause now I'm just so..." Yusuke sighed. "Anyway... I met Kurama... A Few months ago. Didn't keep track. He's a nice guy. When I found out he was really Youko Kurama in a human body, I thought for sure he was gonna kill me but he accepted me even though I was a demon slayer. We need more people like that... And demons.
"Hiei... Hiei's a real interesting guy. I guess he accepts me for being a demon slayer since has hasn't done anything passed throwing death threats at me. That or he just got used to people like me. Can't say much about the guy. He's way too secretive. I think he might be gay... I think he likes Kurama... But then again... I think he told me he was bi... Whatever.
"Kuwabara's an exorcist I met a week after Kurama and Hiei. He's nice when he's not trying to exorcize something. I wonder what gets his panties in a bunch when he gets ready to work. I mean, it's like he's trying to work too hard to accomplish some goal... He loves Hiei's sister... Man, Hiei and Kuwabara would be crazy in-laws...
"Koenma's a priest. I got started doing demon slayer work with him. It was on my fourteenth birthday and well...
Flashback
Man, I need to get away from Keiko! I mean everyday it's "Why don't you do your chores, Yusuke!" and "Why are you running away from your chores, Yusuke?" God, doesn't she know what all work and no play does to a guy?!
"And this is what you get for sleeping with my wife!" a voice broke into Yusuke's thoughts.
Oh, crap! I think I just walked in the middle of a...! Yusuke got shot.
"Oh, hell! I just shot a kid! Wrong guy!" someone stood in the gunner's way so he couldn't get away.
"I suppose I just saw something a priest normally shouldn't see?" Koenma replied.
"He... But... I..." He turned to find the guy he was going to kill. No, he's gone...
"It's bad enough what he did to you but I doubt killing him would fix it. Let the last judgement take him." He turned to Yusuke. His eyes widened when he saw him get onto his feet.
"...Whoa. That was... Weird..." Yusuke said to himself as he got to his feet. He looked at the gunner and Koenma. "Oh, crap! I just ran into the middle of the gun fight!"
He should be dead but he isn't... Way... That energy he has... It's not human... It's demonic... Koenma thought.
"Hey, have you considered being a demon slayer or an exorcist?" Koenma asked.
Yusuke's face lit up. "You can help me be one?!"
"Jumpy one, aren't you? Yeah. I'll help you do your training so you can do your job right..."
"Cool!" I'm not sure why but I think there might be more to it...
End flashback
"So I ended up being a demon slayer and met the guys and fought Sensui... But now we might never see each other again and the only way we can in through remembering..." Yusuke mumbled. "What if we didn't see each other until we forget about everything. It's just that...
"If I lose that... I'll lose everybody I love... Then it'll be back to the way it was before. Until I met those guys I never realized how long I've wasted my time. There's all those people that I should have met a long time ago but I wouldn't have known they existed without that bounty on Kurama... They gave me a reason to risk my life. But if I woke up one morning and my memories we all gone then I'll have nothing..." Yusuke sighed.
He turned to Raizen. "So what's your story old man? And furthermore, how'd I get your blood?"
"Killing to birds with one stone..." Raizen thought back. "I used to come and go between Demon World. At the time I decided to go to Japan because a friend of mine told me that the people there treated us like gods and actually allowed us to eat their enemies unlike here in America where they get scared no matter what you do. I just used them all as food regardless. I gained a reputation as a terror of Japan.
"I got through raiding a village. Apparently the people there were more prepared to face me than I gave them credit for. I stopped at some random place just to stay for the night but things didn't go as planned..."
Flashback
"Who's there?" a voice called from inside the temple.
Raizen looked for the source of the voice and found a woman staring at him. He hissed at her to intimidate her.
"You don't scare me, demon. Why are you here? Are you hurt?"
He was suddenly more aware of his wounds.
She smirked. "Are you hungry? Is that it?" She started to remove her kimono. "Go ahead."
He backed away.
"So it's the demon who fears the human, now is it? I guess you're just not monster enough..."
End Flashback
"Then what?" Yusuke asked.
"We made love," Raizen answered as if that was his greatest accomplishment in his life.
"Gross."
"You asked."
"...Should've figured... Next you'll tell me you were in an orgy..."
"What is with you and orgies?"
"They make me laugh! Quit asking! What's that have to do with you not eating?"
"...I couldn't. I couldn't do it knowing that she could have saved the life I was ending. I left because I knew it would never work. She saved lives and I ended them... I thought I would find a way out of starvation once I saw her again but I knew that it was a false hope. She would never be reincarnated; she was too enlightened... I heard she died in birth."
"And that girl in Botson? How'd you meet her?"
"...Honestly, I have no idea. Apparently I got into a fight at a bar because some guy made a dirty comment about me and she arrested me..."
Yusuke sighed and fell on the ground.
"I'm going back to Boston. Where are you going?" Raizen asked.
"I'll stay here in the NYC," Yusuke replied sleepily.
The white haired demon nodded and walked away.
It doesn't... "Hey, wait up!" Yusuke ran after him. "You know what? I'm coming, too! The stretchy guy might come and put me in and orgy!"
"...You and your orgies..."
End chapter 27
Notes:
1. Yeah, I ended up changing some stuff about Raizen and... Lover. (I wish she at least had a name...) When I watched it in the anime, I wanted to skip to the less disturbing part... I dunno why but that creeped me out...
Extra 10... I think...
"Then what?" Yusuke asked.
"We..." Raizen started hacking and then coughed up a hair ball. "Sorry. Hair ball."
"Enough with the hair ball jokes!"
I tried to make Raizen in-character but I really didn't get much of his personality... So I tried... Sorry to Raizen fans who were disappointed... If there are any out there. Next is Kuwabara! Cheers? Anyone? Anyone? (Crickets chirp) That's cold.