AN: Thank you KuramaShadowFox and Oria-sama for reviewing chapter 1. I appreciate the comments. I am glad the first chapter was a good starter for guys ^^
A few notes: I couldn't find Keiko's mother and father name. So I have made both of their names up.
Once again, 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.
Enjoy everyone!
Sincerely,
UniversalGoddess
"How are you coping with Yusuke's death?" Keiko's mom, Asako, asked as she poured Tsuki some White tea.
They were in the living room, sitting on a large sofa as they waited for Keiko to come downstairs. Keiko's father, Akio, had already left to open their family restaurant.
"I am okay," Tsuki said as she sipped her tea. "It just hurts losing a friend. But I know Yusuke doesn't want me or Keiko to grieve too much. How's Keiko doing?"
Asako sighed.
"She barely said a word to us. Last night I asked if she wanted anything to eat. She declined and said she was going to bed. "
"Well, I am still here. I don't know if we can ever get over this, but we will pull through this together."
Asako smiled.
"Thank you, Tsuki. I am glad she has a friend like you."
"Tsuki, I am ready!" Keiko said as she came downstairs. "Sorry that I took so long."
She kissed her mother's cheek.
"Mom, I'll see you later."
"Okay, sweetie. You girls be safe."
As they headed towards Atsuko's, Tsuki could see dark black circles under Keiko's eyes.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Tsuki asked.
Keiko shrugged. "Only a few hours. Yusuke's death was so...sudden, you know? It's still hard to believe that he is gone when I was just arguing with him to go see Takenaka-sensei."
Tsuki couldn't blame her. For Keiko, it seemed like the world was turned upside down. She was shocked and angry that through all he had been through, he died a tragic death.
For Tsuki, It felt like a piece of her heart was torn away and burn into ashes.
When she told her grandfather about Yusuke's sudden death, all she could do was be pessimistic. Yusuke's death reminded Tsuki too much of her own mother's death.
Tsuki will never forget how her grandfather gave her a hard stare and simply said;
"As priests, we must understand how life works. Human beings cannot escape from death. No matter if their karma outweighs the good and bad. Just like birth, death is casual and sometimes unexpected, however, we must let it flow. Yusuke chose to save that kid. If he didn't save the boy, he probably wouldn't have died that day. But what about tomorrow? Or the next day? Think and act on the time now than worrying about the future and the past."
In a sense, Tsuki understood what her grandfather was saying. Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
Yusuke's death would definitely be one of her saddest memories, especially after seeing his lost expression at the memorial.
Tsuki thought long and hard of telling Keiko on what she saw. However, she decided to keep it a secret. She didn't want to Keiko to think that she was crazy with her ability to see spirits.
After ten minutes of walking, they made it to Atsuko's apartment. It was oddly quiet with no one else on the street. The girls could only hear the sounds of birds chirping as they flew through the morning sky.
Keiko knocked on the door.
"Hey, Atsuko. It's me, Keiko. Tsuki is here with me too," Keiko called out, hoping she was awake inside.
Silence.
Keiko knocked on the door again.
"Atsuko, please wake up!"
There was still no answer.
Keiko turned on the knob. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. The girls looked at each other with a worried expression before entering the apartment.
The living room was messy. The brown table was flipped over. Garbage and different brands of sake bottles were scattered everywhere as Atsuko laid drunkenly by Yusuke's coffin.
Keiko closed the door as Tsuki touched Atsuko's shoulder.
"Hey Atsuko, it's me, Tsuki. Please, wake up."
After a few slow and sloppy movements, Atsuko finally opened her eyes. She touched her forehead as she looked around the living room.
"Hi Keiko and Tsuki."
Atsuko lazily got up and brushed away her messy hair from eyes. Her green sweater and blue jeans that she wore from yesterday had become dirty from her sweat and liquor.
"I just had the strangest dream that Yusuke was here. He was yelling and calling me a drunk fool," Atsuko said as she chuckled. Tears began to form under her red eyes. "Sounds just like my Yusuke."
Tsuki gave her a sad look.
"How are you?"
"I'll live. How are you girls doing?"
"We are fine," Keiko said as she stepped forward. "We just wanted to check up on you."
Atsuko nodded as she looked at the clock.
"I appreciate you girls coming to see me, but you should be heading to school. Yusuke is not going to be cremated until Friday. You can say your final goodbyes then."
Tsuki and Keiko bowed.
"We will be back soon. Call us if you need anything," Keiko said.
Atsuko nodded and grabbed an open sake bottom from Yusuke's coffin. Without thinking of getting a cup, she put the bottle into her mouth and began chugging the liquor.
Not wanting to see her drink her depression away, Tsuki and Keiko quietly exited out of the apartment.
Today's class was really slow. Takenaka-sensei seemed dazed and unmotivated to teach the class. Yusuke's unforeseen death was too distracting for him.
Takenaka-sensei spoke, "Alright class, I know we had to say goodbye to Urameshi yesterday."
Tsuki looked around the room. From what she noticed, no one seemed to really care about Yusuke's death except for herself, sensei, and Keiko.
"It was a sad day. However, we have to get back to our studies. Lee, please read the last paragraph of page 211 in our history book."
"Yukimura and Saito, may I speak with you?" Takenaka-sensei asked after he dismissed the class from break.
The girls sat in front row desks as Takenaka-sensei began to speak.
"Now, I know you two were really close with Urameshi. If you guys need to speak with a counselor, take a break from class, anything. Please, let me know."
"Thank you, Takenaka-sensei. We appreciate your words."
"Urameshi was very courageous for saving that little boy. He was not the best student but he had potential. All I wanted was the best for him. "
Before Tsuki could speak, she spotted a person outside the classroom's window. She was going to brush it off until she realized that her classroom was on the third floor.
Tsuki looked out the window again and gasped. Yusuke was staring at them with a curious expression on his face.
Yusuke?! What are you doing here?!
They made eye contact again. This time, Tsuki didn't look away.
"Is there something wrong, Miss Saito?" Takenaka-sensei asked. He and Keiko were staring at her curiously.
Tsuki broke eye contact and looked at her teacher.
"Nothing, sensei."
Takenaka-sensei stared at her for a few seconds, unconvinced but let it go.
"Good, now you girls enjoy your break. Take a longer one if you need to."
Tsuki looked at the window as she got up. Yusuke wasn't outside anymore.
"What was that all about?" Keiko whispered as they left the classroom.
"Nothing," Tsuki said. She needed to figure this situation out for herself.
Tsuki lit up two sage incenses and placed them on top of the golden holder. The earthy and tangy smoke was helping her clear the negative thoughts and feelings stemming from Yusuke's death. After finishing up her chores, Tsuki decided to enter the Saito's honden.
The honden was the most sacred building in the Saito shrine. The building was located at the rear end of the shrine with large wooden doors that were usually kept closed and sealed. Only priests entered the honden to perform rituals for the guardian spirit.
Usually, her grandfather performed rituals to receive protection, spiritual messages, and blessings. Today, however, Tsuki needed to ask the spirit for some much-needed help.
After the memorial and school, she couldn't stop thinking about seeing Yusuke's spirit form. Theoretically, when a person dies, they are supposed to enter the Spirit World. There Koenma determines their fate into the afterlife.
Judging from Yusuke's earlier sighting at his own funeral, Yusuke didn't make it to the Spirit World. In fact, Tsuki believed that Yusuke was a lost soul, which was a whole other headache she had to deal with.
The reasoning behind lost souls is that they did not find peace within themselves, they will stay in their predicament forever. Going by this logic, Tsuki assumed due to the sudden death of Yusuke, and at such an early age, he could not come to terms with his death.
Tsuki took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke as it went inside her body. She began to relax as her body started to harmonize with her mind and spirit.
In front of her, there was a black small table that was filled with white and red candles. In the middle of the table, was an offering of a handball. The handball was garnished with a sakura flower.
Behind the table stood a large earth green stone of a two-tail fox. The fox was in a sitting position, peering straight down at the altar.
Tsuki picked up her divine bells from the wooden floor. The golden bells were structured as a three-tier set, dangled by a coiled brass upon a red rod.
She began to shake it from side to side, causing the bells to jingle.
"Spirit guardian of the Saito tribe, I call upon you to assist me with my troubles. Spirit, please come forth and grant me my wish."
The stone fox's stone eyes began to glow bright white. Tsuki could see the stone structure starting to shake.
She steadied herself.
"Spirit, I release you!"
A large white ghostly orb flew out of the stone and landed right in front of Tsuki. Slowly, the orb began to transform into its fox form.
The fox spirit stood about 6 ft tall. She had beautiful ivory fur with two gray spots coated at the end of her two long and fluffy tails. Golden bright eyes pierced through Tsuki's brown eyes, looking through her soul.
Tsuki bowed down towards the spirit.
"Welcome, Inari."
The fox leaned in and sniff her. After a few sniffs, the fox playfully growled and licked Tsuki's face.
Tsuki laughed and hugged her friend.
"It's been a while Inari. Did you miss me?"
Inari growled. The handball rose from the table and levitated right in front of Inari's head.
The fox spirit rolled over, moving side to side. The handball bouncing up and down.
Tsuki laid her hands on top of Inari's stomach, rubbing the spirit's belly up and down.
"I will play with you later," Tsuki said as she continued to massage Inari's stomach. "But I need your help. My friend is in trouble."
Inari nodded and rolled back to a sitting position.
"My friend Yusuke died yesterday. I saw his soul floating about at the funeral. Would he be able to make it to the Spirit World?"
The fox knelt down and touched Tsuki's forehead. All of Tsuki's past memories flooded into the spirit's mind.
After a few seconds, the fox shook her head.
Tsuki gave her spirit a confused look.
"What? Why? It shouldn't be that hard to bring him to the Spirit World."
The fox leaned in and touched Tsuki's forehead again. The spirit's soft words filled her mind.
Not possible. Different destiny. You'll be part of it soon.
The fox licked Tsuki's face one last time before turning back into a ghostly form. She slowly floated up and went back inside her stone. The stone eyes stopped glowing.
Tsuki stood in place. Unsure of what the spirit had told her.
I am going to be part of what? What does that mean?
Tsuki was in her room getting ready for school. She was about to put on her white socks on when she heard her phone ring.
"Hello?" Tsuki said after she pressed the answer button.
"Hi, Tsuki! This is Keiko's mother. Keiko is not feeling well today. Would you mind dropping off her homework?"
Tsuki sighed. She did notice Keiko's cheeks were crimson and hot when they were walking to her place from Yusuke's memorial. Keiko also told her that she had a major headache and just needed to get some rest.
"Yes, I can do that. I will drop it off right after school."
"Thank you, my dear. I'll see you soon."
Tsuki hung up and flopped down on her bed. She took a deep breath and counted to five as she stared at the white ceiling.
First, Yusuke died in a car accident, then her spirit guardian told her that she's going to be part of some sort of adventure, and now Keiko was sick.
Could things get any worse?
Tsuki was just three blocks away from her junior high school. Knowing that the bell was going to ring soon, she picked up the pace.
When she turned the corner, she didn't expect to see Yusuke floating in front of the main school entrance.
Tsuki stopped walking. This couldn't be happening right now. Other Sarayashiki students were easily passing him to go to their classrooms. They were laughing, talking, and gossiping. No one but her seemed to notice Yusuke.
Yusuke turned around and made eye contact with Tsuki. He flew above the students and landed right in front of her.
They both stared at each other for a few seconds before Yusuke spoke.
"Tsuki?"
Tsuki ignored Yusuke and walked passed him as if he was nothing but air. Friend or not, she was not ready to speak to a ghost right now.
Yusuke quickly appeared right into her face.
"Hey! I know you can hear me! I saw you watching me at the memorial and inside the classroom!"
Tsuki picked up her pace as she entered the school grounds. Damn it, he did see me!
Yusuke frantically moved his arms up and down as Tsuki walked pass him again.
"Tsuki! Tsuki!"
Tsuki Saito, just ignore him. He'll go away if you just keep ignoring him.
To her dismay, he didn't go away. Yusuke followed her all the way inside the school and into the classroom. Tsuki quickly sat down in her seat as the final bell rang.
In the beginning, she could handle Yusuke. All he was doing was talking to her. After that, however, he started to yell directly into her ears. Now, he had proclaimed he was about to start singing which might just push her over the edge.
"Alright Tsuki, I'm going to start singing caramelldansen," Yusuke said with a smirk. "I'll even do the dance."
After the first few notes, she couldn't take it anymore. Her ears were practically begging him to stop.
Before he could even start dancing, Tsuki suddenly got up and slammed her hands on the desk. The class stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on Tsuki.
Takenaka-sensei cleared his throat to fill in the awkward silence that had suddenly befallen the classroom.
"Miss Saito, do you have something to say to the class?"
Tsuki rubbed the back of her head, her cheeks red as a rose.
"Sorry sensei. I just need to go to the bathroom," She explained rather lamely and quickly dashed out.
"Hurry back!" Tsuki heard him call after her. She could hear the class whispering and snicker as she left. Yusuke happily hovered right beside her as she tried to recollect herself.
After a long awkward silence of not saying anything to one another, Tsuki and Yusuke finally made it to the roof.
Tsuki closed the door and turned towards Yusuke.
"Okay! I can see you. Ever since we made eye contact at the memorial. Why are you here? Why are you not in the Spirit World?" She finally broke.
Before he can answer, a girl flying on an oar landed on the roof.
"Yusuke! There you are! I've been looking for you! Who's your friend?"
The girl had long blue hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail, wearing a light pink kimono with a white sash around her waist. She was 5'8 with purple eyes staring curiously at Tsuki.
"Botan, this is Tsuki. Apparently, she can see me."
Botan gave Tsuki a surprised look.
"You must have a strong sixth sense. Not a lot of people can see the dead."
Tsuki shrugged, seeing spirits since she was born was the norm for her.
"It's not only that. I am part of the Saito tribe."
Botan eyes widened impressed.
"The Saito tribe?!"
She got off from her oar and immediately shook Tsuki's hand.
"Oh my goodness. It's very nice to meet you! I haven't met your grandfather yet, but I have heard very good things about him."
Yusuke gave Tsuki a confused look.
"Explain?"
Tsuki sighed. Due to all that happened in the past few days, she couldn't keep it a secret anymore.
"Yusuke, remember when I told you about my family tradition? For generations, my family were spiritual warriors helping Koenma and his father keep balance to the Demon, Human, and Spirit World."
She paused, making sure that Yusuke was paying attention.
"Ever since I was a child, I have always seen the world different. I could see ghosts, demons, spirits, and human auras. I was scared at first, but my grandfather told me that I was gifted. I had the power to protect, to bless, and to curse."
"Oh, I see. So you are actually a priestess?"
Tsuki crossed her arms.
"In a sense, yes. But I only do shrine duties. I refuse to do anything else. Anyways, what's going with you? What's your situation?"
As Yusuke told her his situation, Tsuki finally realized the reason why he couldn't go to Spirit World. Inari was right. Yusuke had a different destiny.
Tsuki couldn't help but smile at the good news. Her close friend was coming back to the Human World.
"Ah, I see. That's great! Keiko is going to be really happy."
Yusuke took a white egg from out of his pocket.
"Yeah, but I don't know when will this egg hatch. That's why I need to tell my mother to not cremate my body. However, she's too drunk at the moment. If no one knew that my heart was still moving, then my body will be thoroughly cremated by tomorrow!"
Tsuki thought for a moment.
"Yusuke, I'll be happy to help you. But, I think you need to speak to Keiko. Your death has been hard on her. She even got sick today. I'm dropping off her homework after class. Why don't you come with me?"
Yusuke looked at Botan.
"Would that be okay, Botan?"
Botan nodded.
"It shouldn't be a problem as long as he uses the dream passage to convey the message."
"Alright, we will go to Keiko's house after class."
"Thank you for bringing her homework, Tsuki. It means a lot to her," Asako said as she hugged Tsuki.
"No worries. How is she?" Tsuki asked as she entered the Yukimura household. She took off her shoes and place them on the shoe rack.
"Well, her fever has gone down. But we will see if she wants to go to school tomorrow."
Tsuki smiled happily. She was glad Keiko's was feeling better.
"Would it be alright if I go check up on her?"
Asako nodded.
"Sure, she's probably sleeping but I'm sure she'll love to see you. I have to get ready to help my husband at the restaurant. If I'm not here when you leave, please lock the door behind you."
Tsuki went upstairs and entered Keiko's room.
The room was tidy and clean. Keiko was laying down in her head, sleeping quietly.
Yusuke stood by the door.
"Is there something wrong, Yusuke?" Botan asked, watching Yusuke as he slowly observed Keiko's room.
"It's nothing. It has just been a while since I have seen her room," Yusuke said as he blushed. "Her room has gotten cute."
He went over to Keiko's bedside. "Hey Keiko, can you hear me?"
Keiko eyes were furrowed, frowning as a single tear fell down her eye.
Yusuke dropped his smile. He looked at Tsuki, his eyes filled with worry.
Tsuki walked over.
"I've told you. Your death has been really hard on her."
"Yusuke."
Yusuke, Tsuki, and Botan stood silently.
"Why did you have to die?" Keiko murmured in her sleep. She stirred in her bed as more tears slid down her cheeks. "Yusuke, I'm sorry. Please, don't leave."
Yusuke hands clenched.
"Fool, it's not your fault."
He took a deep breath and touched Keiko's forehead.
"Keiko, can you hear me? This is Yusuke. I need you to get it together. I am coming back. It's hard to explain but I am a ghost right now, and I have to take care of this egg."
Keiko stopped moving. She began to breathe calmly as she continued to listen to Yusuke.
"I need you and Tsuki to take care of my body until I come back. Please tell my drunk mother that I am still alive and not to cremate me!"
Keiko nodded.
"Okay, Yusuke."
"Well, I guess that's it for now," Yusuke said as he wiped Keiko's tears away. "Now, stop crying. I don't want to see you cry anymore."
Keiko lifted herself up from her bed. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were sweaty from her sick body. She looked around her room until she came face to face with Tsuki.
She rubbed her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"Tsuki?"
Tsuki lightly waved at her friend.
"Hey, Keiko."
Keiko looked at Tsuki. Not sure what to say.
"I just had a dream. Yusuke...he's-"
Tsuki nodded her head, understanding what Keiko was saying. "He's alive."
Now knowing her dream was real, Keiko got off of her bed and put on her slippers and robe.
"Let's go."
The girls jogged to Atsuko's apartment. The sun was slowly going down as the night started to spread throughout the sky.
Keiko pounded at the door.
"Excuse me, Atsuko! Please open up!"
After a few curse words and glass bottles being broken, a drunk Atsuko opened the door.
"Keiko…Tsuki...what are you girls doing here?"
Keiko grabbed her shoulders.
"Atsuko, listen to me. Yusuke is still alive. He came into my dreams and told me-"
She stopped her sentence when she became aware that Atsuko was sobbing.
"I know. I opened up his coffin, to give him a final punch. I notice his cheeks were red." Atsuko fell onto her knees and began to wail.
"His heart is still beating. Yusuke, my son. He's still alive."
Tsuki and Keiko hugged Atsuko as she continued to weep. Tears of happiness crept over them. Yusuke was coming home.