A/N: Sadly, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Spirit Detective Saga
Interlude - The Temporary Resurrection

Keiko twitched as she awoke for the first time in weeks. Her whole body felt wonderfully awful. Wires and tubes wrapped around her limbs. The one that plunged into her stomach through her abdomen she could do without despite the little matter of it providing the nutrients she needed to survive. To her surprise, however, she didn't feel as weak as she should. If she focused properly, her muscles responded to her commands.

"You all right in there?"

Keiko groaned but nodded.

"You can still hear me? Good. Can you see me too?"

With effort, Keiko cracked her eyes open. The room was blindingly bright at first, but soon, she made out a hazy outline. It slowly resolved into a woman and then to Botan proper.

Keiko's mouth felt dry and her throat cracked. After a failed attempt to speak, she nodded again ever so slightly.

"Well, good news, then," Botan said. "Your soul melded well with your body. Better yet, your spirit energy is flowing. It can compensate for, well, a lot" — Botan gestured at Keiko's whole form — "but you don't want to overdo it. Especially since your body isn't used to channeling more than a trickle of power."

For once, Botan's good news actually was. Keiko had worried returning to life would rob her of everything she'd gained over her time as a ghost, but it appeared she'd wake up in the end with the coveted ability to see the unliving.

Now she just needed to play comatose for the rest of the day. She had a friend to keep her company, and she could enjoy the sweet agony of life. What fun she would have!

But maybe Keiko would revisit Botan's offer at some point to help her sleep through this.

"Well, I'll be," Yūsuke said to himself. The rumors floating around had reached his ear, but he'd needed to see it for himself to believe it. And here the proof was playing out before his eyes on some nowhere street between houses.

A bunch of Kasanegafuchi punks had gathered together to gang up on Kuwabara. Ordinarily, 'Kuwabara gets his ass handed to him' would be about as surprising as the sun rising in the morning. This time, however, the blockhead just stood there and endured every blow without fighting back. If Yūsuke had to give the guy a compliment, it'd be that he really knew how to take a punch. But then he'd have to to still be walking around after how many times Yūsuke had put him down.

At any rate, Yūsuke supposed he shouldn't let this continue. It was one thing to punch the lug's face in on a normal day. But this? Well, it just wasn't sporting. He tucked his hands into his pockets, stuck his elbows out, and made his approach.

"You know, I'm happy to share my punching bag, but didn't your mothers ever teach you to treat other people's property with respect?"

From the ground, his face swollen, Kuwabara bit out, "I'm not your damn punching bag, Urameshi."

Yūsuke continued his casual advance while the Kasanegafuchi punks took nervous steps back. It seemed they'd come for some sport but didn't have the guts to stick around and take their own medicine. The cowards bolted just as he passed Kuwabara's prone form before he could get into their personal space.

"Che. Worthless lowlifes." They couldn't even give Yūsuke a bit of light exercise. But with that settled, he glanced down at the idiot on the ground. "You wanna tell me what the hell that was?"

Kuwabara spit a wad of blood from his mouth as he hobbled to his feet. "Not that it's any of your business, but Mr Akashi is holding Ōkubo's job hostage."

Well, that explained everything. That weasel of a teacher pissed Yūsuke off.

"We can't fight for a week and have to score fifty percent on tomorrow's science exam. His family really needs the money, so I'll kick your ass another time." Kuwabara turned his back on Yūsuke (that more than anything said how serious he was about this), and scanned the area. He mumbled, "Now where's my textbook?" When he didn't immediately find it, he set about searching for it in every nook and cranny.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yūsuke picked out where the book in question had landed at the start of things, buried in the branches of a bush. He considered his options for about half a second before deciding, To hell with it. He despised Mr Akashi more than he hated school. It might even get Keiko off his back when she woke up if he learned something.

Yūsuke retrieved the textbook and called out, "Hey, Kuwabara!" He held the book up, not out, and asked, "Need someone to quiz you?"

Before Kuwabara could answer, a third voice interrupted. "Might I offer my services as well?"

Yūsuke and Kuwabara, both caught off guard, turned as one to the newcomer. It was a girl. Yūsuke didn't recognize the red uniform, nor could he place the face, but she looked like a high schooler. She was way too cute to be one of Kuwabara's friends, and when he glanced at his wanna-be rival, he saw his own confusion mirrored there.

Catching the general mood, the girl said, "Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Kitajima Maya, a friend of Keiko's."

"Uh-huh…" Not that Yūsuke was Keiko's keeper or anything, but he'd never seen this girl around before. Besides, he knew all of her girl friends were scared of him for stupid reasons. Why would one suddenly find her courage?

"She's mentioned both of you to me." Kitajima sent a significant glance Yūsuke's way alongside a knowing smirk and added, "One of you more than the other." Without missing a beat, she then turned to Kuwabara. "She said you're spiritually sensitive?"

Now this was getting weird.

"Hey, hold up," Kuwabara said. "There's no way she could know that. I've barely spoken two words to Yukimura."

Kitajima smiled wide. "Ah, but you're forgetting how you react to the presence of ghosts. She's not blind, you know. One little swipe" — she mimed a clawing motion with a hand — "through the body makes it pretty obvious."

"You're talking like she's a ghost or something." Kuwabara sounded uncertain as though there were any truth to the girl's claim. "The school told us she survived, right, Urameshi?"

This was venturing uncomfortably close to that weird story Keiko's parents had told Yūsuke about her having to undergo a test to come back to life. He'd humored them, because he knew he had no right to do otherwise, but he'd assumed it'd just been a strange coincidence. Ghosts weren't real.

But he wanted them to be. Kitajima had one shot.

"All right, I'll bite." Yūsuke only had to ask the obvious hard question. "Keiko is alive, so explain why she's also a ghost." Let's see if her story matches Keiko's parents'.

"Well, I don't know the exact mechanics of it, but even though Keiko's ferrygirl, Botan, healed her body, she still needs to hatch a spirit beast egg to properly guide her soul back into it."

In his shock, Yūsuke felt light, almost like the wind would carry him away on a stiff breeze. That was the same ridiculous story the Yukimura had told him. He knew damn well they wouldn't have shared it with anyone else, so what else could that mean but that Kitajima was on the level?

Then Keiko was a ghost. And making new friends. And probably attending school, knowing her. And living her life even in death.

Yūsuke snapped his jaw closed.

Kuwabara, easily reading the truth from Yūsuke's reaction, moved first. "No fooling?" he said as he moved toward Kitajima. "You can see ghosts? Do voices chase you home at night? Do old women whisper to you in your dreams? Are they nice? They're usually not for me." He stepped closer with each question until he ended up right in her face with his hands clasped around hers.

The enthusiasm was obviously overwhelming Kitajima, given her nervous laughter and half-step away from the idiot. So Yūsuke pounded the back of Kuwabara's head to get him to back off. "Personal space, lame brain."

Kuwabara recovered quickly from the love tap and grasped the collar of Yūsuke's modified uniform. "What was that, you punk?"

"What're you gonna do?" Yūsuke replied with a cocky smirk. "Hit me?" This was simultaneously both hilarious and unsatisfying, but mostly the former.

Over Kuwabara's grousing as he realized he couldn't, Kitajima laughed. Actually, genuinely laughed. Well, it was more of a giggle, but girls giggled. It still caught Yūsuke's attention. He hadn't met many who shrugged off that kind of stuff and none his own age outside of Keiko.

"Why don't we take this somewhere more comfortable?" Kitajima suggested. "A cafe, perhaps? I can answer your questions and then help you study."

The boys eyed each other for a moment before shrugging and agreeing. Kuwabara gathered his things and led them to The Far Cry nearby, a cozy little hole in the wall that didn't mind serving the rowdier crowds. At the same time, they made it clear that shit gets taken outside and weren't afraid to enforce that. It wasn't exactly a place Yūsuke would take Keiko, but he wouldn't worry if she'd get into trouble there either, so it served well enough for Kitajima.

They settled into a booth at the back away from prying ears. They placed orders for some drinks, and Kitajima bought a few snacks for them to share despite the fuss Kuwabara made about paying. Yūsuke managed to shut that down by reminding him, "You're not on a freaking date or something. Relax." The awkward embarrassment got him to shut up.

Kuwabara was too easy.

"So," Yūsuke led, "Keiko? She's doing all right? She's not here right now, is she?"

For a few moments, Kitajima nibbled on a Pocky stick in silence. "Right. That." She cleared her throat. "Right, right. Let's just get this out of the way so you don't get mad at me for hiding it."

Yūsuke arched his brow.

"You know Keiko isn't allowed to talk to you while she's undergoing her test, right?"

Skepticism bled into a slow nod. Her parents had mentioned something about that.

"That's actually one of the reasons why I'm here. She won't ask me to talk to people for her or even imply I should, because rules are rules—"

"Sounds like her," Yūsuke muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"—but she won't tell me not to, either." Kitajima paused to reconsider that. "Or, well, she would if she found out, but she won't get mad when I then proceed to ignore her. So, just to be clear, you can't talk to her directly right now. Got it?"

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Yūsuke said, "Yeah, yeah. You didn't answer my question. What's she up to?"

Kitajima held Yūsuke's gaze for a few moments, weighing something internally, before answering. "All sorts of things. Attending class. Traveling the world. Visiting museums. Watching plays. Helping her ferrygirl help other ghosts move on. Learning spirit magic."

Now that last part sounded interesting. Kuwabara beat Yūsuke to the punch for once and asked first, but Kitajima pushed the subject aside for another time. There may also have been a pointed glance at their science textbook, a reminder that Kuwabara should be studying while he waited, but fat chance of that happening when a far more interesting conversation was taking place at the same table.

"Anyway," Kitajima continued, "Keiko took the day off from school. Her body needs some maintenance only she can give it. And remember that you can't see her—"

Cutting through the bullshit, Yūsuke said, "She's awake, isn't she?"

"Yes, technically."

Damn, I swear, when I die, I'm gonna grab whoever makes the stupid rules by the balls and beat him senseless. See how he likes it.

"Hey, Urameshi," Kuwabara broke in, "don't do anything stupid, you hear?"

Yūsuke relaxed the crushing grip he unknowingly had on his drink before he could shatter the glass.

"From what I've heard, Yukimura is a nice girl. Way better than your sorry ass deserves. Don't go ruining things for her."

With a force of will worthy of legend, Yūsuke avoided muttering, "Again." He got the point. "Sheesh, I get it. I'm not gonna go anywhere. Lay off already." A harsh sigh escaped him. He then turned his gaze onto Kitajima. "So she's doing all right? She's going to come back?"

Kitajima nodded to both questions.

Yūsuke laughed to himself. "You almost make it sound like a holiday. Except the going to school part." But that was Keiko. Even death couldn't slow her down. Damn feisty girl probably told off whoever's in charge for letting her die when she wasn't supposed to and kept nagging him until he let her come back. He could picture that scene vividly.

"Fine then," Yūsuke said. "That's all I needed to know. Kitajima, you tell Keiko that—" He paused, considering if he wanted to tread dangerous territory, before deciding to just go for it. "—that she better come back with a different story for every night of the rest of our lives." Keiko would know what that meant and see the apology for what it was. It'd always worked when they'd argued as children.

Of course, without context, Kuwabara said, "Hey, Urameshi, that sounds a little like a proposal. You sure about that?"

"Idiot," Yūsuke retorted, dodging the question. "You don't have time to worry about me. You've got an exam to study for. We can save the talk about ghosts and stuff for later."

While Kitajima said, "Yes, we should get on that!" the sappy smile pasted onto her face as she stared at Yūsuke never left. It made him wish he'd never offered to help with this in the first place, but he wouldn't weasel out now, especially not when he had the chance to help stick it to Mr Akashi without getting into trouble.

More importantly, Yūsuke wondered how on Earth he was going to tell any of this to Keiko's parents without sounding crazy.

Keiko sighed as the day slowly crawled on. To pass the time, Botan's ability to chatter incessantly had been a godsend. She certainly couldn't hold her own in a conversation right now, much less do anything else.

The hour grew late when, frustratingly, a knock came at the door. She had a visitor. Hooray. Now she had to—

Wait. Who knocks on a coma patient's door?

The answer, of course, turned out to be someone who knew the resident was awake. Maya entered, still in her school uniform with her schoolbag in hand. This presented a complication. She'd known Botan would be here. Keiko had told her. Unless she intended to earn an Academy Award for best actress, there'd be no avoiding an introduction now.

As soon as Maya's eyes found Botan, she tilted her head to the side. She hummed as she examined her first ferrygirl, lingering on the oar Botan sat upon for a little while longer. Then at last, she spoke. "Botan, right? I'm Kitajima Maya. I've been thinking about asking Keiko to introduce us for a while now. It's nice to meet you."

It took only a second for Botan to overcome her surprise. "Likewise," she said. "Keiko mentioned running into someone who could see her, but she didn't tell me it was a classmate."

Before Keiko could work up the energy to croak something out through her parched throat, Maya grinned and apologized. "That's my fault. I asked her not to. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be on Spirit World's radar before death."

Botan allowed that that was 'fair enough'.

Meanwhile, Maya rummaged around inside her bag until, with a cry of victory, she withdrew a piece of scrap paper from it. "I went to meet Urameshi today," she said.

Keiko's eyes immediately widened.

"Nothing happened that could reasonably count as you talking to him, but I let him know how you've been. He asked me to give you a message, if that's okay?" At the end, she addressed the question to Botan.

In turn, Botan shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't technically count. I'll allow it."

And now Keiko was all ears and maybe the slightest hint of tears. It'd been so long, and these words would be fully meant for her to hear, not just something she'd overheard.

Maya cleared her throat. In a poor but sweet imitation of Yūsuke's voice and probably his delivery as well, she read, "You better come back with a different story for every night of the rest of our lives."

A moment passed.

That's it?

But then Keiko thought about it more.

It sounds a little…

She tried not to blush, but she couldn't help it. Her hard-earned resistance had faded over the years. The last time Yūsuke had tried this was after they'd fought over—

Oh. Oh, Yūsuke…

She realized now that this was meant as an apology for getting her killed.

Stupid boy.

But all she could really do right now was accept it with a smile.

"On another note," Maya said, "once you're done here, Kuwabara could use some help and extra time studying tonight, if you're willing. I mentioned I'd ask but made no promises."

Kuwabara? There had to be a lot more to the story that Keiko still needed to hear. She had no problem with helping him review, however. She should know the material well enough. Moreover, if he gave her a rundown of what specific topics class had covered while she'd been gone, she could probably guess what would be on the test. A bit of focused cramming, she was sure, would do wonders.

But Botan, Keiko noticed, had frowned. Upon seeing Keiko's own questioning look, she folded her arms into the sleeves of her kimono. "You can go if you want," she said, though with visible reluctance. "Just…be careful pushing boundaries, Keiko."

She would.