Part Two


Chapter Twenty

The problem with traveling with Teruhashi-san is that she attracts a ridiculous amount of attention. The problem with traveling with Yuuta is that he is very excitable and likes to ask questions, which attracts a lot of attention. The problem with traveling with Teruhashi-san and Yuuta together is that they play off each other, which attracts more than double the attention of just one of them alone.

And just in case you forgot, even without my powers, I hate attention.

Yare, yare.

Are we there yet?


Trouble

"Look at that, Peach-T Girl! Oh! And over there! OH! What's that?" Yuuta was on Teruhashi's lap, his palms and nose pressed flat against the oversized bullet train window as the darkening world sped past. Teruhashi smiled indulgently, only bothering to answer his questions when he paused to breathe as there was no other way to get a word in edgewise.

As expected, all the other passengers were either turned around or leaning forward in their seats to watch Teruhashi, Yuuta, and unfortunately, Kusuo, who had a quad of seats to themselves. Not that it felt like they were by themselves. He could actually feel the guy on the bench behind him breathing down his neck as Teruhashi laughed daintily at Yuuta's starry-eyed enthusiasm. Kusuo also felt more than one glare leveled his way, and he sighed, sinking down just a bit in his seat as if that would somehow help. If he still had his powers, he could turn himself invisible or, better yet, teleport himself and the other two directly to the hotel. Not only would it spare him the murderous looks of the surrounding passengers, but it would also get him to the hotel infinitely faster.

Looking down at the empty seat to his right, Kusuo focused his whole attention on the colorful flyer announcing a new, limited-edition coffee kakigori topped with sliced strawberries and two tri-flavored chocolate straws. It practically glittered—though that could be the overhead lights reflecting off the flyer's glossy finish—and looked tempting enough to eat the paper itself. The flyer had been Teruhashi's trump card when Kusuo took one look at the crowded train platform and announced he wasn't going after all.

Kusuo gritted his teeth and looked away from the flyer with folded arms, slumping lower in his seat. Damn sweet tooth.

"Oh! Look, look, look, Cyborg Cider-man #2!"

Kusuo perked up; were they in Osaka already?

Yuuta turned around, his eyes glittering as he grinned toothily. "I saw Cyborg Yakult on a billboard, Cyborg Cider-man #2!"

Kusuo sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He really, really didn't want a reminder of the actual reason for this trip. Makoto was a big enough pain without being the center of Yuuta's attention and adoration.

"Um, Cyborg Cider-man #2?" A small hand touched the back of Kusuo's clenched fist, and he opened his eyes, peering over his still pinching fingers to catch Yuuta's suddenly nervous expression as he stood beside Kusuo's knees and shifted his slight weight from foot to foot. "Cyborg Yakult is cool, Cyborg Cider-man #2, but you know you're still my favorite, right?"

The tension melted from Kusuo's shoulders, and he dropped his hand from the bridge of his nose onto the top of Yuuta's head with a barely-there smile. "I know. I'm not upset that you're excited."

"We're almost there, Saiki-kun." Teruhashi reached across the gap between the front and rear facing benches they each occupied, and rested her hand atop Yuuta's, which was still atop Kusuo's clenched fist. His skin tingled in the few places where her fingertips barely brushed the back of his hand and wrist. "It should only be a half-hour more."

Considering the dramatic up-tick in murderous glares Kusuo got from Teruhashi's should-be-minor show of concern, Kusuo didn't doubt those next thirty-minutes would be hell on earth.

Resisting the urge to glower, Kusuo pulled his hand out from under Yuuta and Teruhashi's and leaned against the window to watch the world fly by.

Just a few months ago, I could run faster than this.

"Um, um, Cyborg Cider-man #2?" Yuuta tugged at Kusuo's fingers since he couldn't reach the short sleeve of Kusuo's polo. Kusuo looked down at him.

"What is it, Yuuta?"

Yuuta blushed, cut a glance at Teruhashi, waved Kusuo down. Curious, Kusuo shared a brief glance with Teruhashi before leaning forward. Yuuta put up a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered so loudly there was no way anyone in their car couldn't hear it.

"I have to go potty."

Teruhashi stifled a giggle behind her fist, her eyes shining in adoration at Yuuta, who was glowing a bright, almost neon red. Kusuo shot her a warning look, and she mimed locking her lips with a key.

If only.

"Come on, then." Kusuo stood and held out his arms. "Let's go find a toilet."

"Cyborg Cider-man #2!" Yuuta said, obviously feeling betrayed by Kusuo's casual mention of his delicate situation in front of Teruhashi. Kusuo smirked at his indignant scowl, which was so exaggerated Kusuo couldn't help but find it adorable.

"Sorry, Yuuta." Kusuo scooped the boy into his arms and pinned Teruhashi with a stern frown. "We'll be right back. Try not to get into trouble."

"Trouble? Me?" Teruhashi fluttered her lashes at him. "Honestly, Saiki-kun, what a thing to say!"

Yare, yare.

More glares followed Kusuo on his way down the aisle as bystanders took Teruhashi's indignant statement at face-value rather than for the sarcastic denial of truth that it was. That girl was always getting herself into trouble.

And usually dragging me along behind her.

The nearest bathroom was at the opposite end of the next compartment over in the space between cars and was, of course, already occupied. Kusuo debated going to find another one, but there was no guarantee that one wouldn't be occupied too. Besides, by the time he found one, this one would be free anyway.

"Hey, hey, hey, Cyborg Cider-man #2?"

"Hn?"

"When we get to Universal Studios Japan, we can go to the park before bed, right? Daddy said they have fireworks, and I want to see fireworks! Can we see the fireworks before bed, Cyborg Cider-man #2?"

"Yeah," Kusuo said. "Our hotel is right beside the park, so we'll see them from our room."

"No way! Really? Really, really, really?"

He should find Yuuta's overexcitement irritating, but instead, Kusuo had to fight down a smile as Yuuta's eyes dripped stars and he clutched his little hands together until his tiny knuckles turned white.

"Yeah," Kusuo said again. "Really."

"Yay!" Yuuta threw his hands up, nearly flinging himself out of Kusuo's arms with his exuberance. Kusuo stumbled forward, his heart jumping to his throat as he brought one hand up to cradle the back of Yuuta's head at the same moment he twisted, his shoulder driving into the wall instead of Yuuta's skull.

"Yuuta." Kusuo frowned down at the suddenly contrite boy. "Be more careful."

"Yes. Sorry, Cyborg Cider-man #2."

Kusuo blew out a breath and rubbed Yuuta's hat covered head. "Yare, yare."

The bathroom door opened, and a young businessman in an unbuttoned suit coat with slicked-back hair stepped out. Kusuo reacted on instinct, twisting around to set Yuuta on the floor before facing the man with raised fists while wishing he'd thought to ask Urameshi or Kuwabara or even Yamato—awful as she was—how to channel spirit energy—

"What's with you, man?" the stranger said, quirking a dark purple eyebrow as the overhead lights reflected off his equally purple hair. "You wanna start something?"

"Sorry." Kusuo stepped out of his fighting stance, his heart thrumming against his ribs. "I thought you were someone else."

The man tucked a hand in his pocket and looked Kusuo up and down, sizing him up, before his eyes landed on Yuuta, who clung to the back of Kusuo's leg, peeking up at the man with his large, curious eyes. The man looked away with a dismissive 'tch.' "Wouldn't be much of a fight anyway, scrawny as you are."

I'd kick your ass from here back to Tokyo.

Forcing his clenched fists to relaxed, Kusuo shooed Yuuta into the now empty restroom. "Better hurry or Teruhashi-san will start to worry."

Yuuta saluted. "Aye, aye, Cyborg Cider-man #2, sir."

Kusuo's lips twitched toward a smile. Cute.

Yuuta slipped into the restroom and closed the door; the vacant sign flipping to occupied. Sighing, Kusuo leaned back against the wall to wait, crossing his arms and closing his eyes as he willed his heart to stop pounding. It had been almost a full week since Yuuta's party with no signs of anyone else from Dark Reunion trying to get at Yuuta. In fact, Kusuo was ready to dismiss the entire thing as a tasteless prank, and probably would have done if Yamato and Natsuko hadn't shown up out of nowhere. Now he had crazy thoughts about different energy types, apparitions, ghosts, and demons running through his head. Not to mention gods and demigods.

And all of them must hate me; why else would my life be so disastrous?

Something prickled the hair at the base of Kusuo's neck, and he stiffened; his eyes shot open as he tried to pinpoint the origin of his unease. The between-cars compartment was still empty, both doors closed now that Purple-haired Suit was gone. Yuuta was still in the bathroom, too, Kusuo could hear him humming the Cyborg Cider-man theme song through the door. So what was it that had him so on edge?

Did someone just open their territory?

As brief and overpacked as their visit to the Kuwabara temple had been, Kusuo and the others had received only a passing explanation of territories, what they were, how they manifested, and the like. He knew for sure that, in order to use their powers, most psychics had to open up a mental zone within which their powers could exist. It was almost like stepping into an alternate dimension where normal laws of science and reality could be warped, bent, or entirely broken according to the strength and manifestation of that psychic's power, except instead of the psychic going to that other world, they brought that other world to this one.

Unfortunately, Kusuo didn't know what it was like to be inside one of those psychic territories as the only active psychics he knew (including himself) either had internal territories like Toritsuka and Aiura, or they didn't know how to turn them off, like Teruhashi. The only thing Kusuo knew about the feel of manifested territories was Yamato's profession that the sensation of stepping into another psychic's territory was "crazy as shit and impossible to mistake." This current sensation Kusuo felt was neither "crazy as shit" nor "impossible to mistake," which meant it probably wasn't a psychic thing.

So what was it?

The toilet flushed, jolting Kusuo out of his thoughts, and the bathroom door slid open with Yuuta looking up at Kusuo with a self-satisfied grin. "All done, Cyborg Cider-man #2!"

Kusuo quirked an eyebrow. "Did you wash your hands?"

Yuuta blinked mutely, as if the idea had never occurred to him. He slid the bathroom door closed again, and the sound of running water filtered through the door. Kusuo rolled his eyes; this happened every single time.

The next time the door slid open, Yuuta sent Kusuo a sheepish smile while drying his dripping hands on the front of his shirt. Kusuo swallowed a snort—he didn't want to seem like he was encouraging such deviant behavior—and held out his hand. Yuuta took it, his little hand still damp but not enough to be discomforting.

"Peach-T Girl said Cyborg Yakult is doing two shows, Cyborg Cider-man #2. Did you know? Are we gonna see both of Cyborg Yakult's shows, Cyborg Cider-man #2?"

Over my cold, dead, rotting corpse.

"We'll see," Kusuo said.

"Yay!" Yuuta continued chattering as they crossed the full compartment to the next car where Teruhashi was still waiting. A few kids caught Yuuta's use of Cyborg Cider-man #2, and Kusuo found himself in an impromptu autograph session as kids shoved whatever scrap of paper they had on hand into his face for him to sign. One lucky kid actually had a Cyborg Cider-man DVD, and Kusuo stifled his habitual 'yare, yare' as he signed it with a black sharpie.

Why did I agree to come again? The image of a rare, sparkly dessert drifted through Kusuo's eidetic memory, and he sighed. Oh, right. That better be the best damn kakigori I've ever had in my life.

A girl about Kusuo's age appeared in the mob of children with a Cyborg Cider-man comic book in hand and a blush on her face. "Do you mind?" She held it out. "It's for my kid brother, Jun."

Kusuo shrugged and took the comic to scrawl his much-perfected Cyborg Cider-man #2 signature across the glossy cover. The girl watched him as he wrote, her brown eyes the exact shade as her hair.

"My name's Honda Tsubasa, by the way. What's yours?" Her lips quirked in amusement. "I'm guessing it's not actually Cyborg Cider-man #2."

Kusuo did his best to hide his annoyance. Why was she talking to him?

"Saiki," he said, not caring enough to offer his given name.

"Saiki-kun, huh?" She grinned and leaned over the book he was signing, putting her face right in front of his. Kusuo flinched back, surprised, and accidentally drew a black line across the front of the book.

Yare, yare.

"You must be a pretty good big brother if you're willing to pretend like that all the time." She fluttered her lashes at him. "It's pretty rare to find guys who don't mind having younger siblings around."

"He's not my brother," Kusuo snapped, capping his borrowed sharpie and shoving the book into her hands. Her eyes widened.

"But…If not your brother then…?"

"Yuuta." Kusuo turned, dismissing the girl to pinpoint Yuuta amidst his crowd of young admirers who wanted to know everything about Cyborg Cider-man and his adventures and his life and did his house really use soda everywhere?

Yuuta snapped to attention with a salute. "Yes, Cyborg Cider-man #2, sir!"

"Teruhashi-san will get worried if we're any longer."

"Yes, sir, Cyborg Cider-man #2, sir!" Yuuta shot a grin at his disappointed groupies and waved. "Sorry, but Peach-T Girl is waiting for us."

That, naturally, ignited the children's excitement even further. Kusuo stifled a groan and reached down to pluck Yuuta out of the crowd. Disappointed cries followed them as Kusuo settled Yuuta on his hip and waded through the last stretch of horded children to reach the door. Parents called out thanks or told their kids to say thank you or just called their children back to their seats like they hadn't just been crowding around a stranger for the last five minutes.

Yare, yare; haven't these people ever heard of 'stranger danger'? Which, of course, brought Kusuo back to that moment at Yuuta's birthday party when Amamiya had grabbed Yuuta with obvious intent to kidnap him. He couldn't imagine being okay with Yuuta running off to talk to some stranger on a train. He had a hard enough time with the thought of Yuuta being around Teruhashi's brother.

But then, the guy is a sick pervert. Who knows what he's capable of?

The car door closed behind them, leaving Kusuo and Yuuta alone in the space between cars for a moment of welcome silence. Kusuo relaxed just a bit in relief but knew the peace wouldn't last. No doubt Teruhashi had formed a crowd around their seats and was entertaining the lot by shaking hands and memorizing birthdates and blood types.

For some reason, that image almost made Kusuo smile.

"Cyborg Cider-man #2?" Yuuta said, pulling Kusuo from his thoughts.

"It's nothing." Kusuo slid the door open before Yuuta could say anything else and found himself faced with the backs of what looked like the entire car's occupants gathered around something at their center.

Teruhashi-san, of course. Kusuo rolled his eyes.

"I told you, I'm traveling with someone," Teruhashi's feminine voice drifted through the car, but it sounded wrong. A bit higher, a bit sharper. Almost…frightened?

"And I'm telling you, you shouldn't be such a tease if you're not willing to deliver. Figuring out my blood type? My birthday? Wanting to know about my family? Try and tell me again how you weren't trying to lead me on?"

Kusuo's heart rate ticked upward as a jolt of uncertainty shot through him. In all the years he'd known her, Kusuo had never heard anyone talk to Teruhashi the way this man was now. People liked that she knew their birthdays and blood types. They liked when she asked about their families. Guys and girls alike flocked to her because she was so nice and—at least outwardly—genuine. They liked that she made them feel important; they liked that she treated them like people from the homeliest of the homely to the handsomest of the handsome. So why was this guy suddenly talking to her so roughly?

"I was just being nice!"

And why was everyone else just watching.

"Excuse me," Kusuo said, pushing his way through the crowd. Many people, especially the men, pushed back until they looked around and saw who was forcing his way through the crowd. Some looked eager, others concerned. One man clapped Kusuo on the shoulder with a dry chuckle and said, "You've got it rough, guy. Your chick's a tease."

Kusuo gaped at him. The hell?

This entire situation was more than just unthinkable; it was unfathomable. From the moment Kusuo first saw her at freshman orientation all those years ago, he knew Teruhashi was a cut above the rest. He may not have been able to see her clearly thanks to his x-ray vision, but he could hardly miss everyone's reactions to her, both mental and physical. They 'offu-ed' over her a million times a minute and flooded Kusuo's mind with mental images so astoundingly perfect that Kusuo had been sure they were exaggerations—side note: they weren't—and all he could think was that a woman so obviously blessed in grace, beauty, and charm could only be blessed by God. And how would one treat a woman touched by God himself if not as an angel…?

Oh…A thought half formed in Kusuo's mind, just vivid enough to send a jolt down his spine, but he couldn't dwell on it now; Teruhashi's assailant was not backing down in the least. He had Teruhashi by the wrist, holding her arm over her head to drag her closer even as she pushed against his chest with her free hand. She looked as panicked as Kusuo had ever seen her, and something dark and heavy smoldered in his stomach at the sight of her so close to tears. Gritting his teeth, Kusuo shoved aside the rest of the onlookers, not caring about the shouts of annoyance or pain that followed as he broke through the wall of bodies.

"Hey!" Yuuta shouted from Kusuo's arms, his green eyes wide now that his vision wasn't blocked by the crowd. "What are you doing to Peach-T Girl you…you…villain?!"

"Yuu-chan!" Teruhashi's teary indigo eyes landed first on Yuuta then jumped to Kusuo's face with a look of profound relief. "Saiki-kun!"

Yuuta tried to wriggle out of Kusuo's arms, clearly ready and willing to scrap for his darling Peach-T Girl, but Kusuo held him tight. "Cyborg Cider-man #2! Let me down! That guy's hurting Peach-T Girl!"

Kusuo's body flashed hot and cold at that, his glare leveled on the young salary man dressed in an unbuttoned suitcoat over a rumpled white shirt. It was the same guy he'd almost scrapped with back by the bathrooms.

Kusuo stifled a growl. Should have knocked his damn head off back then.

"You again." The salary man eyed Kusuo with contempt, never relaxing his grip on Teruhashi, though she continued to try and fight him. "The hell do you want?"

"Let her go." Kusuo spoke as evenly as he could manage with his blood boiling so hot beneath his skin, he'd almost swear he could see red steam rising from his bare arms. "Now."

"Screw that, kid. This chick's been asking for it since I sat down."

"I was being nice, you jerk!" Teruhashi tried to wrench her arm back as she pounded the guy's chest. "You're the one who sat by me, anyway! And I told you I was traveling with someone!"

"Shut up, bitch. This doesn't concern you."

Teruhashi gaped, thoroughly aghast. "Excuse you, but I'm pretty sure this is all about me!"

"Let. Her. Go."

The man shot Kusuo an amused smirk and dragged Teruhashi closer, his free hand banding around her waist to settle his palm on her skirt-clad bottom. "Or what, tough guy?"

Teruhashi squeaked, her face going bright red in mortification before draining pale with fear. Taking half-a-step back, Kusuo settled Yuuta on an empty bench seat and pinned him with a sharp glare. "Don't you move."

"Aye, aye!" Yuuta saluted with a grin. "Kick his butt, Cyborg Cider-man #2."

Kusuo straightened up and stepped in line with the man, flexing his itching hands as he glared. "Yeah."


Kaliea: Okay, so, here's the thing. With all the stories I've written over the years-some of which are really, truly, legitimately bad-I have never received the kind of bizarre backlash I've been getting for this story. Considering the very sparse number of reviews I've gotten (which I think is somewhere around 40?) there has been a disproportionate amount of people getting upset at me for the direction I'm taking my story. I've been told that I've "ruined" the story by not giving Kusuo his powers back or that people don't like the direction I'm going or that they've just decided to stop reading because, clearly, I don't know what I'm doing because I haven't made any mention whatsoever of the sequel manga being printed in Giga. And my response to all of this?

So what?

I don't mean to be condescending or confrontational - really, I don't - but, guys, this is a fanfiction. I'm not the author of the original story, I don't have to take the sequel into account if I don't want to (especially when you consider I'd never heard of it before people started getting mad at me for not following it). I've chosen to write a very specific story with an already determined ending, and everything I've written so far, and will continue to write, will be toward reaching that ending.

I'm perfectly aware that the story I'm writing isn't for everyone. Hell, there may not be anyone out there who likes it but me, but why should that matter? It's perfectly fine if you don't agree, you don't have to. You don't have to like the direction I'm going or the choices I've made or anything else; again, this is a fanfiction. I'm writing it because I want to. For fun. If you don't want to read it, you certainly don't have to.

There are hundreds of thousands of fanfiction stories on this website (not to mention other websites out there), why on earth would you waste time reading something you don't enjoy? If you want a story where Kusuo gets his powers back, I have at least half-a-dozen I would happily recommend to you as I quite enjoy them myself, but that's not the point of this story. I wanted to take a more "realistic" approach (or as realistic as one can get when writing a story about an all-powerful psychic with the worst case of first-world-problems), and that means there will be consequences to the decision Kusuo made to get rid of his powers. People he cares about will find themselves in trouble and Kusuo will have to find a way to help them without his psychic powers, but that doesn't mean he's powerless, just less powerful.

Again, and I can't stress this enough, you don't have to like my story, and you certainly don't have to keep telling me how much you don't like it. Because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'm just a grad student using my writing to blow off some steam and have a little fun.

That said, my great thanks to all of you who do actually enjoy my story. It has been a lot of fun and a wild ride, but it's not over yet! As always, thanks for reading :)