Scared

Chapter 3: Just That Lucky

Rating: M


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Yusuke laughed as he pulled up to his mom’s apartment building. Kurama was clinging to his waist as though if he let go he would fall off. The dark haired young man parked his motorcycle and sat up straight. His passenger also sat up and took the helmet off.

“Alright, ride’s over.” Yusuke said with a smile. Kurama slipped off the motorcycle and put the helmet down in front of Yusuke with a smile. The former detective raised an eyebrow. “What’s with the smile?”

The fox stood up straight as Yusuke got off the transport also. “I was just thinking that it has been three years since I last saw you Yusuke. You appear at Keiko’s party, which was crashed by some thugs who almost kill you.” Kurama explained as they headed to the elevator. Yusuke pushed the button as he continued. “You always seem to be where the action is.”

The elevators dinged as the doors slid open. Yusuke stepped into with Kurama following. He punched the floor number for his mother’s as he replied. “Yeah, lucky me.”

“That’s a very optimistic way to look at it.” Kurama answered. Yusuke shrugged and got off the elevator when it stopped on the sixth floor. They quickly got to door that held Yusuke’s last name on it. “Is your mother even home?” The fox asked.

“She should be,” Yusuke said as he raised a hand and knocked loudly on the door. “Mom! Open up!”

There was silence before something crashing to the floor. Kurama sent Yusuke a worried look as the door opened.

Atsuko blinked up at her son and his friend. Her son frowned at her and reached out cupping her cheek. She narrowed her eyes and swatted his hand away and crossed her arms. “You know pounding on my door and jolting me out of a dead sleep isn’t going to put me in a good mood.”

Yusuke grinned at her, dropping his hand. “Yeah, but it amuses the hell out of me.” He replied. “What broke?”

“I knocked over the vase Lin got me for my birthday last year.” Atsuko said as she moved out of the way to allow the two men in. Yusuke walked over to the broken vase and looked down on it. “I liked that one too…”

“I’m sure I can get her to get you a new one.” Yusuke said as he turned his back on them to head toward the kitchen.

“Yusuke!” The woman gasped as she quickly walked to her son. She put a hand on his back. “You’re bleeding!”

The young man tried to shrug but flinched a bit in his effort. Kurama quickly crossed the room and prodded Yusuke’s back. The former detective jumped away and spun away keeping his back away from his mother and Kurama. “Hey! Sensitive!”

“Yusuke, there’s a lot of blood.” The red haired man said.

“Weren’t you wearing your Kevlar?” Atsuko asked as she took a step forward.

“I had other things on my mind when I was getting dressed.” Yusuke said taking a step back. Atsuko frowned and straighten. “I’ll go to my room and take off my shirt so you guys can see the damage, but you have to wait here.”

His mother was about to say something, but Kurama cut her off. “Sure Yusuke.” He said calmly.

Yusuke eyed Kurama for a moment before turning and slowly heading to his room. He didn’t see Kurama turn toward his mom or hear the supplies he asked her for.

Once in his old room, Yusuke let his breath become ragged with the pain that came with the bullets. His adrenalin had him numb until he was reminded of what happened a few minutes ago. He hissed as he took off his blazer and green button up, letting them slid down his arms to the ground. Now here comes the tricky part, he thought as he slowly pulled his white tank top from his pants. He hissed as he raised his arms to pull it off his head, but was stopped by a gentle hand. Turning his head, he saw Kurama with a bowl of supplies over his right shoulder.

“I thought I said wait out there?” Yusuke groused as he let his arms fall back down.

“Really Yusuke?” Kurama questioned softly as he lead Yusuke to the bed and put down the bowl. “Do you think I would listen to you after everything’s that happened tonight?”

“A guy can hope…” Yusuke murmured as Kurama ripped off his tank top. He felt the fox poke and prod the two gunshot wounds he had, one above his left shoulder blade and one under his right.

“I can’t tell if the bullets moved or…”

“They are still in there in the same spot.” Yusuke said as though it was a daily occurrence. He turned to the side table in the room and dug out a scalpel. He handed it to Kurama. “You’ll need to cut into me to get to them. They are in pretty deep.”

“An expert I take,” Kurama said after a pause.

“I’ve been known to take a stroll around the neighborhood.” The younger man replied back with a hint of a smirk in his voice. “But the pay out on the corners now-a-days, Che…” He shrugged a bit causing Kurama to slap him gentle in the side of the head. “It’s all in lead and not cash.”

Kurama chuckled and guided Yusuke to lie on his bed. “And I’m guessing you don’t like being paid in lead?”

“I prefer cash…” Yusuke answered. He paused and turned to glance at Kurama from out of the corner of his eye. “Or sex….a lot of sex.”

The fox shook his head, not commenting on the sex remark. “I can give you a few herbs to numb you…”

“Just do it Kurama, I’ve had worse.” The former detective answered not really caring. He wanted those bullets out.

Kurama nodded and set to work cutting into Yusuke to dig out the bullets. Since the tweezers weren’t working as well as he hoped he was forced to use his plants. He warned Yusuke, but the young man didn’t care. Kurama found it disconcerting that Yusuke could feel nothing for the amount of pain he was going through right now. The only sign of pain he would see was the fact Yusuke was sweating. Not only that, but the young man had a death grip on the sheets turning his fists white.

Yusuke emitted no sound other than his harsh breathing. Kurama pulled out the second bullet. He grabbed the disinfectant and a small rag. Looking at the pale man, Kurama couldn’t help but feel pity for him. He soaked the rag and placed it as carefully as he could on the first bullet wound. The injured man’s eyes were closed, hissing as his grip on the sheets caused them to tear. The red head could see that Yusuke’s nails had bitten into his skin through the sheets as a small bit of the cloth turned red. Kurama took the rag away from the wound and did the same for the second. This time Yusuke gasped and tried to arch away from the rag.

“Shh…” Kurama soothed as he ran his hand through Yusuke’s sweat soaked haired. “I’ve got you.” He murmured as he pulled away the soaked rag that now had traces of Yusuke’s blood on it. The detective panted as he let his body relax and sag into his bed. Kurama watched as Yusuke’s eyes became heavy and much to his concern, didn’t move a muscle after that. Reaching over, he folded up some gauze and taped it to the younger man’s wounds.

“You can stay here until morning…” Atsuko said from the door. Kurama sat up and turned toward her.

“But Yusuke….”

“Is exhausted,” She said. “He’ll rest until morning, you should too.”

Kurama stared at Atsuko as she looked at her son. How could she be so sure unless this has happened before? “Atsuko…”

“I’ll see you in the morning Kurama.” She said turning away from him and leaving the fox with her half conscious son.

The demon in disguise turned back to the young man and sighed. “I guess I’m not getting my answers tonight.” He murmured as he pulled the blanket over Yusuke’s body gentle before heading out of the room to commandeer the couch for the night.


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The morning sun woke Kurama up the next day. He sat up slowly as he heard movement in the kitchen.

“Atsuko?” Kurama called as he got up and walked into the small kitchen. The older woman was pouring a cup of coffee for herself as he came in. Green eyes scanned the breakfast that was set out for them as well as the note with his name on it.

“He left that for you when he made breakfast.” The Urameshi woman said.

“How did he get by me without waking me? I’m normally a light sleeper.” The fox told her.

Atsuko smiled as she sipped at her coffee. She, of course, knew how her son got by the young man. After all, she did relock the door after Yusuke left this morning.

“Do you know where he went?” Kurama asked.

“He went to work Kurama,” She answered. “Remember, Yusuke is human and he needs to pay his bills somehow.”

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The chair squeaked as Yusuke leaned back and let his head hang down behind the back of his seat. As soon as he got out of his exhaustion rest, Yusuke could not find a means to stay asleep. So in using the talents he was taught by an old friend, he had silently made his way around his mother’s home making sure not to wake up Kurama. He had made breakfast for them and left early so he wouldn’t have to answer any of the red-head’s questions. But now…sitting in the stiff chair is making him realize why he never hung around his desk in the first place. Shifting, Yusuke winced as he felt a bit of pain slice through his shoulder blades.

“I hope you got that bullet pulled out.” Lin said as she jumped on Yusuke’s desk.

“I went to my mother’s.” Yusuke offered as a reply.

The woman grinned. “With the pretty red headed man…” The former spirit detective looked up at her in annoyance. “So…spill did anything happen?”

Shrugging, Yusuke replied in a bored tone. “We had freaky sex all over my mom’s apartment. Kinky freaky sex, I’m talking about leather and everything…the whole works.”

Lin’s grin turned into a pout. “You never give me the details!”

“You don’t deserve them.” He shrugged again and looked up her, letting his chair return to its normal position. “So what do you want?”

“A spar,” Lin said. Yusuke raised an eyebrow and noticed she was in her precinct gym clothes. “Everyone else is afraid.”

“That’s because you kick everyone’s ass.” Yusuke said. “They can’t help it if they have no balls.”

“Then they should have a sex change to match their attitudes!” She said exasperatedly. “No one will listen to me though.”

“Having a penis is so much more fun though.” He replied. “You get to put it in things…”

Lin rolled her eyes. “You game?”

Yusuke rolled his shoulders, testing the wound. It hurt sure, but it was an ache compared to some of the other pains he endured. Standing up, he nodded. “Lead the way babe.”

Lin jumped off the desk with a happy noise. She began to lead Yusuke to the second floor where they have their gym. The honey haired woman shooed Yusuke off into the men’s lockers to change as she stretched to limber herself up again. She watched from the corner of her eye as the other officers began to linger and wait. They knew a show was about to happen when they saw one. Shrugging, she went about making sure she wasn’t going to get a cramp.

When the crowd that gathered began to whisper Lin looked up. Yusuke walked back into the room wearing his gym gear, which consisted of long formfitting but loose dark blue pants and a long sleeve dark green hooded shirt. He adjusted the sleeves to be pushed back to his forearms as he stopped a few feet in front of Lin.

“Why is it that there is always a crowd when we spar?” He asked nonchalant tone.

The honey haired woman grinned at her partner. “Because they want to loose their money.”

“Has the betting started?” Yusuke asked pulling out a roll of cash.

“It’s starting now sir!” A young officer said as he rushed out to collect Yusuke’s money. “What is your bet?”

Yusuke looked at Lin and then rocked his shoulder a bit testing the wound.

“Under seven,” He said he began his warm up. Lin snorted and pulled a wad of cash out from the waist band of her pants. “Not hiding anything in your tits this time?”

“Oh har, har!” She glared briefly before slapping her money into the rookie’s hand. “Under five.”

“The Betting has started!” The rookie said, going back to the other officers and gather the money and odds.

Yusuke stood up and grinned at Lin. “Ready?”

Lin simply charged at Yusuke with a smile. The young man shuffled backwards, blocking her attacks. Yusuke ducked and swiped his leg out toward Lin. She stepped back raised the leg up to avoid it. As Yusuke got up, Lin threw a left hook at him. The former spirit detective spun away from her as the crowd made a collective sound.

“Damn girl, what the fuck are you trying to do? Knock my teeth out?” Yusuke said as he rubbed his jaw.

“Oh come on, don’t be a pussy.” Lin said as she cocked her hip out and put her hands on her hips. “Seriously, sometimes I wonder about your gender Urameshi with all the whining you do.”

Yusuke smirked. “You finished?”

“If you are ready to continue,” Lin grinned back.

The former delinquent decided he was going to take this up a notch. He got into his stance and started to circle around Lin with a hawk gaze stabbing into her. Moving quickly, he suddenly attacked her with refined speed and grace that was not normally associated with him.

Lin was startled and stumbled back to avoid his punch. It seemed Yusuke wanted to bring this fight up a few notches. She grinned as she got her groove back and began to fight back. Well, so could she. She stepped back away from Yusuke, making him step forward. She grinned and quickly spun around, in a reverse high-kick. Yusuke raised his arm blocking it. Going low, he sent a jab at the back of her knee. Lin squeaked as she fell to her knee, her other leg still stretched out. Despite being caught off guard, she rolled forward, narrowly dodging the kick that was aimed toward her. She got back on her feet and turned to Yusuke.

“Not bad,” She grinned as he didn’t say anything onto advanced on her. Lin cursed as she fell for Yusuke right feint. She fell to the ground from a punch from the left and looked up quickly as he went in front the kill. As he reached down to grab her, she grabbed his hand and around her legs around him in an armbar position.

Yusuke hissed as her heel pressed into his shoulder. He felt Lin shift and the next thing he knew he was on his back with Lin still on his arm. She had forced him to fall and switched the armbar into a pinning move. The movement causes Yusuke to pull a few muscles around his wound and he knew he was down. He tapped Lin’s leg silent telling her he gives into her.

She disentangled herself from him and looked down at him. “Guess I win.”

“A minor technicality I assure you,” He said as the men who betted on him groaned. Money was collected and gained between everyone as Yusuke sat up, putting a hand to his shoulder. “Damn…” He murmured.

“Should I get a medic?” Lin asked with a frown.

“I just pulled a few muscles…” He stood up and grinned at her. “Nothing to be afraid of.”

“Who said anything about being afraid?” She grinned. “Though you might want to change, you’re bleeding a bit and you’re sweaty. Not a good mix for that.”

Yusuke shrugged. “Suppose not,” He looked at Lin and grin lecherously as the crowd thinned out. “How about joining me in the men’s shower…”

“Do I look like I have a dick?” Lin raised an eyebrow. “That is your preference isn’t it?”

“Gender’s got nothing to do with it babe,” Yusuke replied as they started to head to the showers. “It’s all about how to handle the equipment you are given, no matter what they are.”

After taking a hot shower and getting changed into his spare clothes, Yusuke found himself back at his desk. The jeans that he wore were a bit baggy and look, but he had a white belt that held them up. His shirt was a long sleeve v-neck shirt that dipped a bit low on his chest to show the white tank top underneath it. And he was bored. He could go to the shooting range…but he didn’t want to jerk the muscles in his shoulder from the recoil. He frowned. It’s too bad that they were confined to the office until…

“Urameshi! Chong! You’re on!” A higher officer called into the room. Lin and Yusuke immediately stood up, grabbing their badges and guns. “Here’s the address, you’re going to consult and try to figure out what happened.” He said as he handed the paper to Lin.

“Sweet,” Yusuke said as he finished belting on his holsters. “I was getting bored.”

“Might take us a while…” Lin said. “Even if we break the speed, it’s still a ways out.”

“Well then we better get moving,” He said with a grin as he held up his motorcycle’s keys. “I’ll drive.”

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About an hour later, Lin scrambled off the motorcycle and hissed at Yusuke like a cat. He laughed and turned off the engine while pulling off his helmet.

“I’m driving back!” She glared. The man weaved in and out of traffic like he had a death sentence! She counted the extremely close calls they had; it was in the double digits! She looked around to see that they were almost at the woods. Officers were milling around doing various work.

“Whatever you say…”

“Officer Urameshi, Officer Chong, you made good time.” The Senior officer at the scene said.

Yusuke and Lin calmed their banter and became serious. “We weren’t briefed on what happened, mind telling us?” The Chinese woman said.

“We got a few DBs, we can’t tell if it was a homicide or suicide cult.” The officer said as he led them through the thicket. “Just a warning for you, it’s bloody as fuck.” He said as he pushed away a few branches.

"Just our luck," Yusuke murmured.

“Oh god…” Lin murmured bringing a hand to her mouth. Behind her Yusuke froze. There were bodies, naked and maimed, littering the entire area of the clearing. Some where pinned or hanging from trees others were on top of each other, like they were having sex before they were killed.

“Lin…” Yusuke’s voice was distant and huskier than normal. She turned to him to see him with a blank expression.

“How can you not…”

“We have a job.” He replied curtly. “If you need a few, go talk with the officers that were on the scene first.” She nodded quickly and rushed away. Her partner’s eyes were cold and blank…she had never seen him like that. Never…whatever made Yusuke shut down like that, it meant it was bad.

Yusuke pulled out some white rubber gloves from inside his jacket as he walked onto the scene. Crouching down on his hunches he looked at one of the random dead bodies in the clearing. He gently grabbed a hold of the chin of the young male and used his open hand to open his eye. Brown eyes, dark hair…defensive bruises on his hands and fingers nails. Turning the head toward him he let his fingers gently glide down behind the neck. Not feeling anything Yusuke stood up and moved to the next victim cataloging the injuries in his mind as he did so. They got worse as he went around the clearing and head into the center. He stopped at the two victims in the middle. They were still on stop of each other, having died while amidst sex. A knot of dead lodged itself into his stomach as he looked over at the coroner.

“You check these two yet?” Yusuke asked.

“Yeah I did,” The man said. “Sad…you can move them if you want.”

“Thanks,” Yusuke said as he grabbed the shoulders of the man on top and rolled him off the woman. He noted the face that the wounds on the man were mostly on his back, as though he was still being wounded while in the act. Moving back to the woman he checked her wounds, he found it odd that she had less than her male counterpart. Going to the woman, he carefully flipped her over and froze. Yusuke slowly stood up staring in horror at the woman’s front as well as her arms.

A few, very particular wounds were identical to what Yusuke had. These wounds were created years ago when he was younger in the days that he wished he forgotten. He knew there was a chance, but the evidence and the crash all pointed to the man being dead. There was absolutely no way that the person who did these acts could be anyone else but him. With the realization, Yusuke’s eyes widened as he snapped his head around the clearing. He spun around, his eyes darting from victim to victim.

“No…” He murmured memories of a time when he was in a seemingly similar situation appeared. His vision immediately darkened as day turned night. Yusuke was watching his younger being handle by unknown men in a clearing just like the one of the crime. Only difference was, Yusuke was the only victim and the clearing was filled with offenders.

“Yusuke?” Lin’s voice snapped Yusuke out of his memories. “What’s wrong?”

“I think that it’s safe to say whoever did this, will attack again. Because we are just that fucking lucky!” Yusuke growled as he walked past her pulling off his gloves angrily and tossing them toward the coroner assistant angrily.

“What?” She blinked and turned back toward the body. Her eyes widened as she gasped. Carved on the woman’s face and chest were cruel words and a note.

‘To the meek house-bitch, you won’t be able to hide from me. Not this time.’