AN: Hello! It's been a while. During my retreat, I had an idea on a Yu Yu Hakusho story. Since Kurama/Yoko is still my favorite male character in the series, I wanted to write a story about him first. However, Hiei's story came into my mind before Kurama's, so, I have decided to post Hiei's story first. I am combining the anime and manga with my own setting and plot. I hope you guys enjoy it! ^^
Sincerely,
UniversalGoddess
This story is rated M for violence, explicit language, and scenes.
Disclaimer: I don't owe Yu Yu Hakusho. All copyrights to the manga and anime go to Yoshihiro Togashi. I only have rights to my plot and OCs.
Updated: 12/14/16
The Saito shrine was located on the east side of the flourishing city of Osaka. The shrine was tucked safely away in the valley. Waterfall maple trees towered towards the sky, filling up the east side of the valley with sounds of wildlife. Many years ago, the Saito Shrine was built at the bottom of a mountain, where fresh water now flowed out towards a small lake filled with colorful koi sun was slowly rising over the horizon, bringing first light to the sleeping world.
Among those who were awake was a 14-year-old girl who was diligently doing her morning chores. She was 5'2 of height, with long straight raven hair that went past her shoulders. She had a pale complexion, greatly emphasized by the contrast in her darker hair color. She had light brown eyes that reflected the morning sunrise, making her eyes appear even lighter than they were. She was wearing her traditional Japanese Miko clothes; a white undershirt and kimono tied firmly around her upper body, a white underskirt, and long red pants were wrapped tightly around her waist, and long white socks that kept her feet warm as she wore her sandals.
Her morning routine included cleaning the rooms, sweeping the stone stairs, and preparing breakfast for herself, her grandfather, and the altar. She was about to sweep the last stone when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Tsuki!" An old familiar voice yelled out.
Tsuki gave out a big sighed as she continued on sweeping. Now, what does this old man want?
"Tsuki!" The voice was getting closer with the sound of approaching footsteps.
I swear, this better not be a long ass speech.
She felt a presence behind her. "Tsuki! I know you can hear me!"
Tsuki stopped her sweeping and turned around, glaring at her grandfather as she did so.
"What old man?!"
Before she knew it, her grandfather's large white fan reached over her shoulder to hit the back of her head. Tsuki staggered back and winced in pain.
Her grandfather gave her a cold and frightening stare.
"Who are you calling an old man?! Is that any way to treat your grandfather?"
"Ow! That hurt!" Tsuki exclaimed as she rubbed her head. "You are an old man!" Tsuki straightened up, looking her grandfather straight in the eyes. "And besides, you are always bothering me like I'm sort of child! My fifteenth birthday is not until another three months!"
"That's right! And do you know what that means?"
Tsuki began sweeping faster than normal. "It is the day of the new moon. The day that I truly accept myself as a priestess."
Grandfather Saito waved his white fan frantically. "Correct! On this day, you will carry on the Saito's name. You will rise and accept your responsibilities, just like your mother and grandmother."
Tsuki stopped her sweeping. "Grandfather, I have already told you countless times. I'm not going to do the ceremony. As an apprentice, I'm okay with doing part-time shrine duties. However, I want to live a normal life as well."
Grandfather Saito brushed her comment off as he gracefully went up the stone stairs. "Nonsense my dear. You just need more time to think about it. No one ignores their fate. Now hurry up and finish! You still need to make breakfast and get ready for school."
Tsuki clenched the broomstick as her grandfather continued his rant from the top of stairs. Her face was mixed with sadness and anger. But I have already chosen my fate. Why can't grandfather see that?
She looked up at the orange hue sky. It's not fair. It's not fair at all!
"Tsuki!"
Tsuki had been lost in her thoughts about fate and responsibilities when she was pulled back to reality by a shout from a familiar voice. She was at Sarayashiki Junior High aimlessly about to enter the main building when a young girl with two small pigtails called her name.
"Oh, hey Keiko. What's up?" She had known Keiko Yukimura for a very long time, having been close knit friends since primary school.
Keiko walked towards her friend and gave her a tight hug.
"Nothing." Keiko noticed the conflicted look on Tsuki's face, the way she kept biting her lower lip and how her eyes narrowed each time she stared off into space.
"What's wrong with you? You seemed stressed out."
Tsuki sighed as she entered the building. Nothing could get pass Keiko.
"My grandfather was giving me his whole 'family tradition' speech again."
Keiko gave her friend an understanding look.
"Don't worry. Once he sees that you are unhappy with this whole family tradition shenanigan fiasco, he will surely come around."
I doubt it, but a girl can hope. Tsuki could always count on Keiko to try and cheer her up from a dreary predicament.
"How's Yusuke? It's been awhile since I last saw him at school," Tsuki asked wanting to shift from the depressing topic. She honestly didn't want to talk about her grandfather anymore.
Keiko scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, that guy? It's been ten days since he came to school. Gah, I'm just wanna kick him where the sun doesn't shine!" Keiko mimed pulling out her hair to further prove how annoyed she was with Yusuke.
Tsuki gave her friend a knowing smile.
"Looks like you are just worried about him. How about you check up on him after school?"
"Maybe I will. I wouldn't mind dropping by his place and giving him a piece of my mind."
Yeah, you definitely will. Even though Yusuke greatly annoyed Keiko, she still had a soft spot for him.
The bell rung, signifying that class was going to start soon, and both girls hurried on to their homeroom.
The girls sat in their assigned seats as they entered their classroom. Keiko's desk was in front of the classroom. Luckily for Tsuki, her desk was by the window in the back corner.
Takenaka-sensei called out the students' names. Predictably, everyone was here except for Yusuke.
"Urameshi?"
No answer.
"Urameshi?" Takenaka-sensei looked around the class. There was no sign of Yusuke in his assigned seat.
Takenaka-sensei sighed and shook his head.
"I swear that boy is going to be the death of me." Tsuki could hear the whole class snickering over Takenaka-sensei's dilemma over his troublesome student. "Alright class, today we are going to start learning about WW2. Everyone turn to page 115. Yukimura, I want you to start reading the first paragraph."
Tsuki was hardly paying any attention to class, seeing as her mind was completely occupied with the impending doom of her fate. She kept looking out the window, thinking about the talk with her grandfather. The old man usually wasn't this persistent. However, ever since the approach of her fifteenth birthday was quickly coming up, his speeches and rants had been more oncoming and consistent.
As she kept looking out the window, she noticed a certain someone was entering the school gate.
Tsuki smirked. Hm, I guess Yusuke decided to come to school today after all.
After three hours of schoolwork, it was break time. Tsuki decided to go up the roof to get some fresh air. As she entered the door, she noticed Yusuke sitting by the side wall, smoking a cigarette.
"Yo Yusuke! I see that you decided to come to school finally!" Tsuki greeted.
Yusuke narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "Tsuki, are you here to annoy me?"
Tsuki leaned in and gave Yusuke a cheesy smile. "Nope, I'll leave that to sensei and Keiko. Besides, I just came here to chill."
She sat down next to him with her legs cross and took a deep exaggerated breath.
Yusuke raised an eyebrow at her. "Stressed out?"
"It's my grandfather. He keeps blabbing about how I should continue on the Saito family tradition. I mean, I'm already helping out at the shrine. I do not need this extra stress on me!" Tsuki yelled. Her body began to relax as she took another deep breathe. Ranting to a friend was always helpful.
"I just want to have a normal life. I want to graduate from junior high and go to high school and college. I want to get married and have a beautiful wedding. Unfortunately, that's impossible to have if I'm going to pursue this damn family tradition."
Yusuke shrugged. "Well, we can't always have what we want. Life doesn't work that way. Our fate is already determined before we are born. We just decide on how can we cope it. "
Tsuki gave Yusuke a knowing look. She knew Yusuke wasn't raised in a normal household. His bad reputation caused a lot of people to be afraid or hate him. Once you got to know him as a person, you realized he was the kindest soul you could meet.
Yusuke puffed his cigarette and blew out some more smoke. "What is your family tradition anyway?"
If only I could tell you. Tsuki got up and stretch her arms. "It's nothing to be concerned about, Yusuke. It's just a stupid family tradition. Anyways, I need to get back to class. Break time is almost over. Keiko might be-"
"Yusuke!"
Too late. Tsuki waved at her friend.
"Hey, Keiko!"
Keiko ignored her and stood in front of Yusuke, her hands on her hip fuming. "There you are. I have been looking all over for you. You need to see Takenaka-sensei this instant!"
"Hello to you too, Keiko," Yusuke said smoothly as he kept smoking his cigarette.
"Are you smoking again? Smoking is bad for your health you know. Ah! You haven't even changed into your school uniform! What's wrong with you?!"
Tsuki slowly walked away towards the door that led back downstairs to the classrooms. There was no need to stay and watch them argue.
"Takenaka-sensei has been looking for you. If you don't go, I'll be scolded as the class representative!"
"Alright! I'll go! Jeez, you nag too much!"
"Nag too much?! If you keep missing school you'll-"
Tsuki closed the door and went downstairs. She spotted her classmates hiding in the corner.
"Oh hey, uh why are you guys hiding?"
The girl with short hair and glasses spoke, "Because Urameshi is scary. He looks like he's going to kill somebody."
Tsuki waved her hand at them, disregarding her classmate's comment.
"You're exaggerating, Yusuke is not at all a bad person. He's just rebellious."
Just like me. Tsuki remembered what Yusuke said to her. If they decided their own fate, would they have a normal life like everyone else?
"Besides, Keiko is straightening him up right now," Tsuki said as she walked passed the two girls.
"I'm going back to class. I'll see you guys there."
"Tsuki, dinner is ready!"
Tsuki came into the dining room dress in a plain white t-shirt and black sweatpants. She had just finished taking a shower, and a white towel was wrapped around her damp black hair.
After her tough training with her grandfather, Tsuki decided that a nice hot shower would help relieve her sore muscles.
Tsuki sat down, prayed, and held her wooden chopsticks. Tonight they were having chicken ramen for dinner.
"Itadakimasu!" Both of them exclaimed.
"So, have you given it any more thought?" Grandfather Saito asked as he sipped his green tea.
Tsuki slurped her noodles.
"Yes, I did."
"And?"
"My answer is still no."
Grandfather Saito slammed his tea cup down on the wooden table, causing some of the liquid to spill out of the cup.
"What?! If your mother and grandmother were hearing this, they would be rolling in their graves right now!"
Tsuki sighed, rolling her eyes as she did so. Her grandfather never failed to repeat himself with the same threats. She was tired and needed to study for her upcoming exams. She was not ready to have a full fledged argument with her grandfather.
She was about to cut him off when her cell phone began to vibrate. Tsuki took the phone out of her pocket and checked the caller I.D. It was Keiko.
"Grandfather, hang on a second. I need to take this," Tsuki said as she stood up, glad for a reason to leave the dinner table.
"Come back here you ungra-" Tsuki closed the shoji and went outside into the backyard. The moon was shining brightly in the dark sky.
She quickly answered her phone. "Hello? Keiko?"
"T-tsuki, it's Y-yusuke. He...he's dead!"
"Wait, what how?!" Millions of things raced through Tsuki's mind. Was he killed by a gang? Police? Mafia?
After five minutes of crying, sniffling and incoherent babbling, Keiko finally was able to muster a comprehensive answer, "He...he..d-died in a car accident, saving a little b-boy...His...his mother is having a memorial tomorrow...at her a-apartment. Tsuki...would you come with me?"
Tsuki began wiping away tears. "Of course I'll come with you, Keiko. Yusuke was my friend too. Get some rest. I'll come by your house so we can walk to school together."
Keiko sniffled some more. "T-thank you...T-tsuki. I'll...I'll see you t-tomorrow."
Tsuki hung up the phone as more tears began to fall from her eyes. Even though Yusuke had a bad reputation, deep down inside, he was still a good person, especially towards people that he cared for.
Damn, Yusuke. Why did you have to die?
Most of Yusuke's schoolmates and some teachers attended his memorial. Tsuki and Keiko bowed to an absent-minded Astuko Urameshi as they entered her apartment. It appeared she was still in shock over the sudden death of her only son.
"I am sorry for your lost. Yusuke was a good friend," Tsuki said. It was always a sad occasion to see a mother bury her own child.
Astuko nodded at the girls.
"Thanks for coming, it definitely means a lot to him."
The girls stood by the memorial. Tsuki held back her tears as she examined Yusuke's picture. She remembered the times when she, Yusuke, and Keiko went to eat ramen at Yukimura's diner after school. How she laughed when Keiko hit Yusuke for doing something stupid, which was quite often. How she always came with Keiko to check up on him when didn't attend school. Now, he was gone. Just like that.
She could hardly believe that yesterday they were having a talk about fate on the school roof, and how fate had cruelly cut off his young life so quickly.
Tsuki closed her eyes and prayed. Rest in peace, Yusuke. May your next life be filled with joy, love, and happiness.
As they finished praying, they began exiting out of the apartment as others waited for their turn.
They were out the door when Keiko stopped walking.
Tsuki gave Keiko a worried look. Between the both of them, Keiko was taking Yusuke's death extremely hard. After all, she met and played with him first.
Tsuki put a hand on Keiko's shoulder. "Keiko?"
Keiko began to shake, tears streaming down her brown eyes. "Yusuke, I can't believe it. He's really gone. I shouldn't have yelled at him. I shouldn't-"
Tsuki gave her friend a tight hug as Keiko continued to cry. "It's okay, Keiko. I'm here."
A woman and her son began to enter the apartment. The boy had a patch on top of his forehead.
That must be the little boy he saved. Tsuki gave out a somber smile. At least Yusuke died as a hero and will be remembered as one.
She tapped Keiko's shoulder. "Hey Keiko, lets-" Tsuki paused mid sentence when she noticed a familiar face.
Tsuki eyes widened. Wait, what Yusuke?!
Yusuke Urameshi was floating in midair, looking at his memorial. There was a lot of confusion, hurt, and sadness across his face.
Tsuki was in disbelief. Isn't he suppose to be in the Spirit World? Don't tell me he's a lost soul!
Yusuke turned his head, making eye contact with Tsuki.
Tsuki quickly look away, feeling very uneasy. I hope he didn't see me staring at him. This is bad.