Eat My Shorts 990: So, I have been on a major Yu Yu Hakusho binge, I guess would be the term, for the last month or so and I wanted to write a fanfic of my own. I was inspired by Rosentic and her Yu Yu Hakusho books to try and write my own (Though I am not the most confident in it since it's my first time trying to write a fanfic for this fandom). It has been a long time since I've written a fanfic, so I am very rusty. Also, I wanted to say that I own nothing other than the characters you don't recognize and any plot lines that do not follow the anime or the manga.
Chapter 1: Black Horse
The sun shone across a room and gently crawled over a light blue blanket, before the ray sat on the lightly tanned skin of Yusuke Urameshi. As Yusuke slept, his room door creaked open and a head full of black tight curls poked into the room. Pushing the door open fully, stood Yusuke's god sister Yuki and her lips twisted into a scowl as she looked at the boy still sleeping.
"You have got to be kidding me. I purposely took longer this morning with the twins, so that he could at least wake up on his own. Jesus, what a pain," Yuki grumbled as she stalked over to the unaware boy.
Leaning over him, Yuki started to gently shake him and she hoped that it would be enough to rouse the male from his heavy sleep. Unfortunately, the black haired male refused to wake up, soft snores instead leaving his mouth as Yuki pinched his cheeks.
"Yusuke, wake up! You're going to school today!" She growled, twisting and pulling the skin in her fingertips.
Yusuke only responded by swatting her hands away and burrowing deeper into his blankets. Letting out a scoff, Yuki walked away from the bed and stood by the door, bouncing in place as she let out a deep breath.
'You know the penalty for not listening to me.' Yuki thought as she took two steps before flipping into the air.
"GOOD MORNING YUSUKE!" She screamed, her body landing on his.
Yusuke sat up quickly, causing the laughing girl to roll towards the foot of his bed as his eyes bulged out with spit flying from his mouth. Coughing roughly, Yusuke tried to catch his breath as Yuki laughed loudly with fat tears falling down her brown cheeks. Once Yusuke could catch his breath, he turned an annoyed glare onto the girl that was slowly starting to calm down.
"That hurt, you damn bitch!" Yusuke snarled, his glared growing as Yuki waved his words off.
"Well, I cannot afford to be late again waiting for you and you cannot afford to flunk out of junior high. Auntie Atsuko can't always be there to help you, ya know?" Yuki grinned, making her red eyes seem to shine in the sunlight.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Yusuke turned his head from the girl and threw his blanket at her. Yuki squealed out in annoyance as she tried to pull the cloth from her head as Yusuke crawled out of bed and towards his dresser. No matter how much he wanted the girl to leave him alone so that he could sleep, he couldn't truly be upset with her. Once Yuki had freed herself from the blanket, Yusuke walked out of the room in order to change and brush his teeth and hair. Smiling softly to herself, Yuki jumped up and fixed Yusuke's sheets and blanket before walking out of the room. Once she made it to the living room, she gathered her bag and stood by the front door, waiting for the sour boy to join her. Yusuke finally stumbled towards the door and they both put on their shoes before leaving the apartment.
"Where are the twins?" Yusuke asked, trying to fight the yawn that wanted to escape his lips.
"They got on the van because their school has a field trip to the zoo today," Yuki answered as she pulled her hair into a low ponytail. "They were really excited to go and see the tigers and lions."
The boy just nodded his head as the pair walked to school, each enjoying the silence as they did. Yusuke let his eyes scan over his god sister, his eyes scanning over her form. He looked across her light brown complexion, to the ruby red eyes that sat over deep bags. Moving from her face, Yusuke's eyes picked up the handprint shaped bruise that peeked out from underneath her left cuff of the dark purple sailor uniform and he clenched hid fist tightly. He wanted to say something but he knew that she wouldn't talk about it, instead she would brush it off and change the subject.
"Hurry it up, little rabbit." Yusuke joked, ruffling the girl's black hair before he took off running.
"Yusuke! You are so dead!" Yuki yelled, her black curls trailing behind her as she chased after the laughing boy.
TWEET!
As the pair neared the gates of their junior high, Yusuke sighed heavily as he rubbed his face. It wasn't uncommon that the loud whistle was the signal of the 'Yuki fan club' or as he considered them, the rabid nutcases. He never understood how his god sister could take the attention in stride, not seeming to be bothered by the fact that she had an army of boys and a handful of girls that would do anything for her. Yusuke's eyes quickly zeroed in on the three boys who dubbed themselves the 'Elites' of the club and he sighed as the trio approached, bowing to the smaller girl.
"Third chair Elite, Kiyoshi, wishes Lady Yuki a good morning!" The smallest of the three boys cheered.
Kiyoshi possessed dark red hair that touched the nape of his neck and the top of his hair spiked out a bit before the rest fell in a messy fashion to the right of his head. He also had lightly tanned pale skin with grey eyes that seemed to sparkle as he smiled brightly, making his face seem childlike.
"Second chair Elite, Jiro, good morning my lady." Jiro spoke.
Jiro had natural blonde hair that, like Kiyoshi, touched the nape of his neck but instead of falling to the right, his hair fell to the left. He also had a lightly tanned complexion with big brown eyes, that reminded many people of a puppy's eyes.
Yusuke didn't care about those two, as he deemed them harmless. His issue resided with the one who had yet to say his good mornings to the girl.
"First chair Elite, Sana. Good morning milady." Sana said, his voice gravely.
Sana was the second tallest boy at their school, standing at six foot even. He had coal black hair that fell over his forehead and gently wafted against his eyelashes. Sitting underneath thick curly lashes, were a pair of ice blue eyes and unlike the previous two, his facial features were sharp and rugged. Which should be expected as Sana was meant to be in his second year of high school, but due to him being a delinquent was held back. The shorter male didn't like Sana as something about the taller male rubbed him the wrong way, he just never knew what it was.
"Good morning everyone! How are you all?" Yuki asked, a large grin on her lips.
The trio of boys split so that Yuki could walk through them, before they followed after her as they approached two long lines of boys with a few girls standing as they waited to get a glimpse of the girl. Slinking out of sight, Yusuke watched as Yuki moved through the lines with a bright smile on her face as the trio of boys kept the others away from her.
"Seriously, people are weird." Yusuke muttered as he walked towards the roof.
After entering the school, Yuki and the trio of boys walked until they were out of earshot of other students and Yuki turned towards the three boys. Her red eyes that typically sparkled bright with happiness and sweetness like a shiny piece of rock candy, had darkened and held no light. They were almost like a ruby that had been tainted.
"Is there anything to report to me?" Yuki asked, her voice deeper as she looked at them.
"I managed to figure out who vandalized the kendo building. It was Daiki out of revenge for you taking over the captain position from him." Kiyoshi said as Yuki nodded her head.
"I figured that he had something to do with it, but I didn't want to make an assumption." Yuki sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Daiki is also joining the kendo team at Karakura junior high." Jiro said. "It's more than likely, he's planning on exposing the weaknesses of the members of the Sarayashiki team in order to make sure that they win the kendo match that is nearing."
Yuki placed her thumbnail in between her teeth, starting to gnaw on it as she cursed under her breath. Jiro reached out and gently pulled the nail from her mouth before returning his hand to his side.
"I'll have to create a new training regiment, find a way to decrease any flaws in their stances and fighting styles. Not to mention, that I need to create a new rotation in order to throw off Daiki. This is becoming such a pain," Yuki growled, running her hands through her hair. "We need to hurry and get to our classes. We should all meet later before I go to work with Ms. Kikyo and finish talking about this. I am far from happy."
Yuki stormed off from the three boys, unaware of the longing gazes that trailed after her form as she disappeared around the corner. Walking to her classroom, Yuki sat in her spot by the window and she pulled out her notebook and pencil, trying to pull her emotions together and put her mask back on. Only Yusuke knew about the girl's dark side, the anger and rage that she kept bottled up inside of her would at times leak out in the form of outbursts and she did her best to keep it buried and locked away. As the rest of her classmates arrived and took their seats, Yuki picked up her pencil and waited for Mr. Akashi to start writing equations on the board before allowing her mind to wander. As the morning progressed, Mr. Akashi was about to write a new equation on the board when the door slid open, Mr. Takenaka walking into the room. The heavyset man looked around the room before sighing heavily.
"Yusuke Urameshi?" Takenaka questioned the rat-faced man.
"He's not here, typical behavior. His god sister is here though." Akashi snorted, sending a disgusted sneer towards the girl. "So, you have half of the set."
"I would expect nothing less from a student like Yuki," Takenaka smiled as Yuki turned her gaze to the man. "Ms. Yamamoto, where is your god brother?"
"He came to school with me, but where he is? I cannot say." Yuki said, acting embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well, go find the useless layabout!" Akashi snapped at the girl as she turned her gaze onto the older male. "Honestly, between the pair of you I don't know who's worse."
"I can go and find him, but I would like it if you keep the rude comments regarding us to yourself," Yuki said, her smile never leaving her face.
"I'll go, sir, I'm class rep and it's my duty," Kekio said, jumping to her feet as Yuki stood up as well.
Takenaka had left the room at this point, thinking that he could use the intercom system to find the boy as Akashi glared at the two girls.
"I don't care if you or the mongrel does it!" Akashi hissed, his beady eyes gleaming with malice. "Just find that insufferable brat and drag him to the principal's office by his ear if you have to."
Kekio looked at Yuki from the corner of her eye and she noticed the smaller girl had balled her fist up, her knuckles turning white from the force that she was using to clench her fist. Though looking at the girl's face you wouldn't be able to tell the rage she felt hearing the words from the man, since the bright smile never left her face. Grabbing the girl's arm, Kekio began to lead her out of the room to go and find Yusuke. Though as they past by Akashi, he sneered at Yuki.
"It doesn't matter how smart you are, you are nothing more than a half caste mutt." Akashi scoffed, making sure that only Yuki could hear his words.
The two girls left the room and moved towards the stairs as Yuki's eyes stung with tears of rage as she stopped walking. Keiko hadn't noticed the girl had stopped following her as she ran up the stairs and Yuki looked towards her hand. She gently opened her hand, a low hiss leaving her mouth as she looked at the bloody crescents that punctured her palm. Walking towards the stairs, Yuki slowly scaled them before she stopped at the ones one floor beneath the roof and she sat at the top of the stairs.
"I should be used to those words, but they still sting." Yuki mumbled as she pulled her knees into her chest. "Mongrel, half-caste, mutt..."
"Yusuke Urameshi, report to Mr. Takenaka's office immediately! Urameshi! Can you hear me?!"
Sighing heavily, Yuki leaned her body out along the stairs and threw her head backwards, looking at the ceiling. Her red eyes focused on the tile above her before she jumped to her feet, walking down the stairs.
"Guess I'm skipping the rest of the day." Yuki mumbled to herself as she kept moving, knowing that Keiko would grab her stuff.
The black haired girl wanted nothing more than to forget the day and she knew that skipping in moderation is completely healthy. With her mind made up, the girl dashed towards the front of the school. She made sure to avoid any teacher before approaching the main gate and she took a deep breath, jumping up and grabbing the edge of the wall. She pulled herself onto the top of the wall and quickly jumped down, making sure that no one saw her escape before she started running down the sidewalk until she reached the end of the street.
"It figures that the one day I feel like going to school everyone wants to push on me and give me their stupid lectures!" Yusuke snapped, as he stormed down the sidewalk. "Yuki! What are you doing out of school?"
Yusuke looked at the girl and she only shrugged, walking over to him and linking arms before she dragged him with her. "Skipping is healthy if you use moderation Yusuke. Wanna come with me to Ms. Kikyo's bakery?"
"No thanks, Yu-Yu. I think I'm gonna go home." Yusuke said, pulling his arm from hers as he turned towards their apartment complex.
"Okay, Yusuke. I'll bring you some cupcakes later!" Yuki yelled, waving to the boy who had started mumbling to himself.
Yuki's POV
I was humming to myself as I walked down the street, my uniform skirt blowing around my legs as I entered the shopping district and I looked around at the people shopping and walking around. As I neared the bakery, I saw Ms. Kikyo standing outside of the shop with a cigarette in between her French tipped nails. Kikyo was a buxom black-haired woman that came from a small village near the mountains. The brown-eyed woman was standing with one arm wrapped around her stomach, the diamond bracelet shining in the sunlight. She was wearing a short-sleeved blue mesh shirt that was underneath her staple opened purple haori with a pair of high waisted blue jeans. The outfit was finished off with a pair of three inch strappy open-toed high heals.
"Oh, there's my little Yuki!" Kikyo cheered, putting out her cigarette before she rushed towards me.
I raised my hand to wave at her, a small smile on my face as she neared me. She threw her arms around me, pulling me into a large hug and smothering me in her bosom as I tried to wiggle my face away from her chest in order to breathe.
"It's so good to see you, my ruby eyed doll." She squealed, her arms getting tighter around me.
I managed to wiggle my head to the side, my cheek scrunched up against her chest as I took in a few gasps of air.
"Choking...not...breathing..." I wheezed before she let me go with one final squeeze.
"How is my curly cutie pie today?" She cooed as she pinched my cheeks.
I reached up to grab her hands to pull them from my face as she cooed over me. Though, my hands froze in their place before I lowered them, deciding to let her fawn over me. It was a bit of a selfish desire to have an adult act like she does over me, but every now and then I could indulge in it.
"I'm fine," I started, before Kikyo pinched my cheeks harder.
A hiss left my mouth as I looked at her face, her brown eyes holding annoyance for the lie that I was about to tell. Releasing my cheeks, she grabbed my left wrist gently and tugged the sleeve down slightly. Standing out against my skin, was dark bruises in the shape of my father's hand and she cast me a look of pity mixed with anger. Pulling my arm back, I tugged the sleeve back down over the bruise and I smiled tightly at her.
"He deserves such punishment," Kikyo mumbled to me before she took my hand, leading me into the bakery. "How can a father, let alone a parent, be like that?"
"I'm fine." I lied, keeping a bright smile on my face as she stopped walking.
"You can sell that story to someone else, I know that you aren't. You look as thin as a wraith and I know that you aren't having any better luck at school either. With those two bastards harassing you on a daily basis and then dealing with your home situation. It's a wonder that you can still smile like you do." Kikyo spoke, as I walked around her and towards the back of the shop.
"When your life is tough, your problems don't go away easily. All the cruelty that you can experience...can tear you apart after a while." I said, looking at her over my shoulder. "Even if I know that you, Yusuke, and I wouldn't even treat myself this shitty because I can't relate to people like that. Even if they way they treat me, should make me cold and filled with anger...I can't do it. It's embarrassing and it hurts my pride. I won't talk bad about people because all it will do is make me feel bad and waste my time. So, if I can make my own life worth something by making others happy, isn't that better?"
As I talked, I ran my fingers over the display case and let my eyes run over the cakes and other deserts that I helped create. A small smile crossed my lips as I thought about how they things that I created made people happy. Looking up to Kikyo, she had tears building in her eyes as she turned her head away from me.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." I told her, before I walked towards the back of the bakery.
I quickly found my locker and I opened it, quickly shedding my school uniform as I grabbed my work uniform. Pulling on the long-sleeved maroon and black button-down shirt, I tried to calm down my emotions as I robotically got dressed in the black skirt, maroon half apron and a pair of non-slip shoes. Closing the locker, I pulled my hair into a high ponytail before I stopped at the sink near the back and washed my hands.
"What's the first thing to do?" I mumbled to myself, trying to ignore Kikyo's gaze as I started rotating the desserts and mentally making notes of what needed to be refilled.
Once I was done, people starting walking into the bakery and I threw on my customer service smile. I took orders, gave samples, and worked as hard as I could. My body was on autopilot as my mind raced with my worries and responsibilities. It was bad enough that I had to deal with Daki and his retaliation, but the twins needed new shoes, I needed to go grocery shopping and my father's gambling debts had grown significantly. Sadly, any and all money that I made went towards keeping my brothers fed and clothed, while also making sure that the house was running.
"Is Yuki Yamamoto here?" A voice asked, rousing me from my inner musings.
My eyes lifted up and I saw a group of four men standing at the doorway. The leader was a short and stocky man wearing a red button down shirt underneath a black blazer. He wore sunglasses that covered his eyes and his lips were pulled in an annoyed sneer. The three men standing behind him were dressed in matching attire to him and only their button down shirt colors varied. The men all had black hair and scars across their visible skin and I felt my heart start to sink.
"May I ask why you're looking for her?" Kikyo asked, standing next to me.
"She owes us quite a bit of money and we've come to collect on it." The short man said, walking forward and dragging his finger against a table top. "It's nice, this place. Be a shame if something happened to it."
"What would a fourteen year old girl be doing owing a group of thugs like you money or did her father use her as collateral?" Kikyo fired back, her eyes narrowing.
"Smart woman. He said that his daughter would pay off his debt to us...one way or another." He spoke and I felt my skin crawl at what he was insinuating.
"You took the words of an alcoholic and drug addict and now you want to harass a child. You should spend your time looking for him and not her." Kikyo growled.
He glared at her before he nodded his head and the three men behind him walked forward and started throwing chairs around the bakery. A scream left my mouth as Kikyo pulled me into her chest, trying to shield me from the sight. My eyes watched in fear as glass was shattered, tables and chairs were broken, the desserts were thrown around the shop and the leader sat in the only chair that wasn't broken as his henchmen destroyed the shop. Kikyo pushed me behind her as one of the men walked towards her, grabbing her by her upper arms.
"Let her go! She has nothing to do with this!" I yelled as I tried to pull her away from him.
He only chuckled and shoved me to the ground, before he threw Kikyo to the floor. Though as Kikyo fell, her head connected to the edge of the counter and she fell against the glass covered floor. I tried to crawl towards her and I was lifted off the ground, before I was dragged to the leader. Once I was in front of him, he grabbed my face in between his fingers and held my face still.
"This is what will happen if we don't get our money. You have a month to pay off your father's 29,282,600 yen debt. If not, we'll find other ways to make you pay us back." He said, tossing my face to the side before I was dropped to the ground.
The man and his thugs left the shop and I felt tears bubble in my eyes, before I rushed towards Kikyo. I slid over broken glass and tripped over the broken bits of the tables and chairs before I reached her. Gently, I rolled her onto her back and I saw the long gash that rested across her temple. Standing up, I grabbed the phone and napkins, before rushing back to her. Holding the napkins to her head, I dialed for an ambulance and the police.
"H-h-hello? Please, I need help. The bakery was vandalized and the owner has been hurt. Please send someone." I begged into the phone, not waiting for a response as I dropped the phone to the floor.
I sat on the floor, wrapped in a thick blanket as a paramedic tended to the cuts on my hands and knees. Kikyo was sitting up and arguing with the paramedics that surrounded her, insisting that her wound looked worse than it actually was and that the police needed to do something about the thugs that had threatened me and destroyed her shop. The police had taken a statement from both of us and after our wounds had been tended to, they and the paramedics left.
"Yuki...I don't want you to worry about anything. I know that this incident wasn't your fault and I promise that I'm going to help you." Kikyo spoke, walking over to me as I looked at her with tears filling my eyes.
"But...It feels like this is all my fault. I couldn't even protect you and I pride myself on being the captain of the kendo team...Yusuke even taught me how to fight and I just...froze." I whimpered, looking at her.
"You were in shock and I can't blame you for freezing like you did. You are still a kid and as a kid, you shouldn't be dealing with this." She sighed, hugging me tightly. "Go back home and stay with your god brother and god mother for the time being. Don't stay at your apartment with your brothers."
I nodded my head and she got up, walking to the back and coming back with my school uniform. Taking it from her, I stood up and she kissed the top of my head before I walked out of the bakery. My hands clenched the fabric in my hands tightly as I walked down the sidewalk, my head down as I scolded myself on the walk home. I knew that my brothers would be at Yusuke's apartment but that I would have to gather clothes for all of us. As I neared the apartment complex, I was planning on walking towards my apartment when I heard someone calling my name. Looking over my shoulder, I saw my younger brothers rushing towards me and they had tears falling down their faces.
"Kisuke, Renji. What's going on?" I asked as Renji cried into my stomach.
"Big Brother Yusuke...He's not home. Auntie Atsuko said that he's never coming back. That he went somewhere we can't go." Kisuke said, his words wavering as he talked to me. "What does that mean?"
I looked at him in confusion as I grabbed his shoulder gently and looked at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Yusuke's not coming back! Auntie said that he passed away." Renji cried, tears falling down his face.
As the words the twins said fully registered with me, I felt my knees shake before I dropped to the ground. My tears fell down my face without any warning as I felt my breath coming out in short pants as I tried to catch my breath. It felt like everything was crashing on me all at once, seeing Kikyo thrown to the ground and getting hurt, the bakery being destroyed, finding out my father has thrown his debt onto me and having loan sharks after me and now finding out that Yusuke is dead. A shaky cry left my mouth as I felt my tears falling faster and my face burning as I sobbed heavily. My breathing got faster as blurry forms of Kisuke and Renji tried to help me calm down but then, everything went black.