Brides

Hi, b here. Still in need of a beta is anyone's intereted. I might be done with a new chapter of Meikai War, haven't decided if it's long enough yet. I definatly want someone else to look over it before it's posted. So if anyone's interested please e-mail me and I'll send you what I've got.
Anyway enjoy
b-chan AKA saiyanb

Kurama, Kori, Hiei, Jouki and the other two ferry girl guards all met together in a grand hall with a long wooden table piled with several Ningenkai, Reikai, and Makai dishes.

"Hiei, whyss don’tss we just stayesss for the resssst of our livessss," said Kurama looking more then a little sloshed and smelling quite nicely of some herbal scent. She and Kori were helping each other walk, rather poorly might I add.

"I really wish you could," laughed Jouki hooking her arms around Hiei’s. "It’ll be so lonely when you’re gone," she said resting her cheek on Hiei’s shoulder and looking rather upset with the idea.

"It’s okay, we’ll be here for a whole week and maybe we can come back someday," said Hiei patting her head.

"Really?!" chirped the girl. "I would looooovvve that!" she said hugging Hiei’s arm tighter.

"Weress Yu-yu…" Kurama scratched her chin trying to remember how to say the name.

"Yusuki?" asked Kori nearly taking them to the ground as she swayed dangerous.

"Yu…Sake?" said Kurama, both youko looked at each other and bust out laughing.

"Is that how Youko’s purify themselves?" asked Jouki.

"Baka Kitsunes," said Hiei watching the two waltz around the room. "Where is Yusuke?" she asked looking at Jouki.

"I don’t know," said the water demoness shrugging her shoulder.

"Baba-san, Magami, and Yusuke-san won’t be joining us for dinner," said one of the ferry girls.

"Why not?" asked Jouki.

"They said the lady Yusuke needs some time to herself."

"Hn?" said Hiei lifting an eyebrow at the news.

"Come on Hiei-san," said Jouki glumping her arm. "Let’s go eat ne?" she said dragging Hiei towards the table before the ex-demon could utter a word.


Yusuke sat in the corner of the neat structure inside her sectioned off spring, looking darkly forward as Magami and Baba ate their meal both still chatting like old friends.

"Yusuke-san," said Magami. You really should eat something."

"Huh!" said Yusuke snapping her head to the side. "Not hungry."

"Are you still sulking?" asked Baba.

"I’m not sulking!" snapped Yusuke. "I know what I heard, why won’t you two listen to me?!" she demanded slapping a hand down on the floor.

"Because," said Baba drawing out the word as if she’d done it a thousand times. "Kori and Jouki know better. I’ve been training them for almost 100 years now and not once have they disappointed me. Kori takes her youko needs outside of the shrine and purify her body after, Jouki has no interest in such things, she’s too sweet for your kind of behavior."

"I hate to tell you people this, but that girl is not as innocent as you make her sound! I just know she’d hanging all over Hiei as we speak!"


In the dinning hall

"Achoo!" sniffed Hiei blinking her eyes, strange maybe that northern Makai spicy chicken is more powerful when you’re a human?

"Open wide!" said Jouki holding up a piece of grilled fish between her chopsticks. Hiei shrugged and decided there was no harm in letting the girl feed her so did as she was requested.

"Good?" asked Jouki.

"Hmm," said Hiei chewing and nodding her head.

"Wha! I’m soooo happy, I cooked it myself!" shouted the blond demoness jumping on Hiei and wrapping her arms around her to rub her cheek against Hiei’s chest.

Back with Yusuke and co.

"And that silver youko of yours! I’ll bet she’s just as bad as Kurama. Sure she may look proper enough, but stick her alone with Kurama for a few minutes and I’ll bet they’re up to no good in no time!"

Back in the dinning hall

"Heyss Kori… You wanna blow this placess and go on a heist or somethang? I’z steal you somethang purrday."

"Hellss yaahhh."

In a flash the two disappeared, only to be replaced by two silver foxes, one with six tails another with three. But before they could get far the two ferry girls grabbed them by the back of the necks.

"You two can’t leave," said the one holding up Kurama.

The silver fox gave her a foxy grin and licked her face with an alcohol soaked tongue before twisting in her hand, breaking her hold, leaping off her, landing on the other ferry girl holding Kori, and freeing the other fox. The two shook their bushy tails and darted away.

"Ah no! Come on!" said one ferry girl summoning her oar. The two followed in hot pursuit of the foxes so drunk they were literally running in circles, chasing their tails, yet still moving away from them.

Back with Yusuke.

"Why can’t you people see this?! What’s wrong with you?!"

"Nothing wrong with us," said Magami.

"We just don’t think about sex all the time like you," said Baba taking another bite of her meal.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" screamed Yusuke in frustration flopping backward onto the floor.

* * * * * * * * * * *

After their meal everyone went back to their designated rooms.

Kurama and Kori had to be carried back since they were too drunk to walk two feet without falling over. The two ferry girls tucked them in and kept watch on them, just to make sure that they didn’t try anything else.

"Jouki happily lead her lady to their sleeping chambers and helped Hiei dress into a loose robe, even thought Hiei had protested that she could do it herself.

After settling down Hiei was awaken in the middle of the night by Jouki who meekly said she was cold and asked if it would be all right to share a bed just till she warmed up.

Too tired to protest and still thinking Jouki was a ‘innocent’ girl, she ‘hn-ed’ a yes and let the girl cuddle up to her side. Needless to say Jouki never left the ex-demon’s bed, seemed quite content to plaster herself to Hiei’s side, use her bust as a pillow, and stick her hand into Hiei’s robes to ‘warm them’.

Yusuke on the other hand… The poor raven-haired teen vowed she would go on a massive killing spree when she got out of there. She was hiding her head under a pillow trying to block out the snores of the old hag who could have been Enma for all the noise she was making.

"Oh… oh… someone please… please! Shoot me and put me out of my misery," groaned Yusuke rolling on her futon.

Needless to say the next morning they had two youkos with hangovers, one exhausted Yusuke with dark circles under her eyes, and two well-rested koorime hybrids.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Three more days passed in relatively the same fashion.

Yusuke had found a pure thing to think about, escape! Either to one of the other pools where gorgeous women could be heard doing kinky things or to the outside world, any place so long as it wasn’t there would do. Yusuke had tried several attempts; some of them had been better then others. Like using one of the gravity defying waterfalls to water slide into another section was far more effective then stealing Magami’s oar and trying to use it to fly to freedom; running into that large boulder sure had hurt. Unfortunately, she’d been caught by Magami during the waterfall escape two seconds before she would have landed on a shocked Kurama. Life just wasn’t fair.

Kurama on the other hand was still having the time of her life. She and Kori drank, smoke various Makai plants, gambled with each other, stole the ferry girls’ underclothing after they went to sleep one night, and played various pranks on everyone. Basically they committed every sin they could, except to Yusuke’s disappointment, sex. At least that’s what Yusuke thought, she couldn’t be sure, some times some pretty strange things could be heard from Kurama’s side of the pool.

Hiei on the other hand seemed to be the only one actually attempting to get pure; although, Yusuke doubted she’d be considered all that pure with the amount of flirting and groping she’d been unknowingly doing with Jouki. That girl was good Yusuke would give her that. She had some how figured out Hiei’s weakness and was ruthlessly using it to her advantage. It was always the quite, unsuspecting ones that were the biggest perverts. This had lead her to wonder if Yukina was at all like that, she’d been unable to picture the Koorime in such terms, but you never know. For all Yusuke knew Yukina could be a sadistic bondage queen in the sack, this thought had gotten her several whacks over the head for impure thoughts by Magami.

"So Kurama, your husband the Reikai prince, Koenma? What’s he like?" asked Kori sunning herself on the grass next to the pool Kurama was soaking in who was smoking a pipe with greenish smoke drifting out of it.

"Koenma, he’s great. He’s tall, dark, and hung like a draft horse," grinned Kurama blowing some smoke though her nose.

"Really?" said Kori looking up at her.

"Yup, you should have seen some of the stuff we’ve done together, add Yusuke and Hiei and oh mama, it’s party time," said Kurama.

"Details," said Kori sitting up.

Kurama gave her a foxy grin and knocked the contents of her pipe into the water were they fizzled dark blue flames, then went out in a small explosion of smoke, she calmly put down the pipe. "Well there was this one time we-"

Yusuke was once again sitting in a miserable fashion by the spring when the sound of Kurama and Kori’s voices drifted to him through the wall.

"Oi! They’re doing it again!" shouted Yusuke to the two sitting inside. They ignored her as they had every other time.

Yusuke sighed in defeat no point in wasting her energy they never believed her. What were those two talking about his time?

"Really she- I mean he, can bend like that?"

"Yup, just like a pretzel. It’s really quite amazing to watch."

"And?"

"Well as I said he was all bent over like that and-"

Yusuke clamped her hands over her ears. Oh god, Kurama was telling her about that time! You know that they all, you know! If Yusuke listened to those two talk no doubt hundreds of flash backs would pop into her head and Magami would beat her into unconsciousness for all the impure thoughts.

"La, la, la, la, I can’t hear you," said Yusuke shaking her head. Unable to resist she winced and lifted one hand off her ear.

"And he was ‘this’ big!"

"My god! Are you joking?"

"Nope, I could barely see straight let alone move when he was done."

"So you did his with the little one, then that with the big one, and the other? What did you do to him?"

"Oh I just ate him all up."

Yusuke’s eyes rolled back in her head as Magami slammed the oar on the back of her head. The raven-haired teen let the darkness have her; at least it was safer.

Hiei was sitting crossed legged by the hot spring, just relaxing and mediating, when She heard a shaking sound and than a long hiss and felt something cool run across her skin. Hiei opened one of her eyes and looked down to see some kind of white foamy cream smeared across her front, she opened her other eye and looked up at the smiling Jouki.

"I think it’d be fun to give you a deep pore treatment," said Jouki innocently.

Hiei frown in confusion. "Aren’t you suppose to do that with mud or something?" asked Hiei. She dipped a finger into the white cream and tasted; Whip Cream?

"Well we don’t have any mud around here it’s too clean. But I think this should work just as well," she shook up the can again. "Let’s make your skin as soft as silk for your wedding day ne?" she said not letting Hiei answer as she began squirting more whip cream all over the shocked ex-demon.

"You know I really don’t think this will work," said Hiei.
"Sure it will!" beamed the girl.

"I’ve never heard of people using whip cream to-"

"Oh please let me try it," said Jouki with big eyes. "You can take it off in a couple minutes."

Hiei tried to resist, but that girl looked like she would cry if she said no. Hiei sighed deeply, "okay."

"Yah! You’ll see Hiei-san, this will do wonders for you."

Yusuke was scratching a check mark into one of the fences, marking the number of days she’d been in this prison, when she heard a strange hissing sound. It was familiar, on the edge of her memory. She leaned in to hear better.

"I’ve never heard of people using whip cream to-"

"Oh please let me try it. You can take it off in a couple minutes."
(sigh) "Okay."

"Yah! You’ll see Hiei-san, this will do wonders for you."

"Whip cream?" whispered Yusuke. What in hell were they doing with whip cream?! They’re probably eating it, don’t think kinky thoughts, you know what will happen if you do. Yusuke glanced at Magami who had her oar in hand. She gulped.

"I think it’s starting to melt…."

"Whoops, I guess it is."

"Can I take it off then?"

"Yah, maybe we should.

‘Gasp!’ "What are you doing?!"

"Well it’s too yummy to rinse off. Just let me lick it off you ne?"

"W-wait! I’m- heehehehe- oh stop- hehehe- that-gasp-that tickles! Heheheheh!"

"Hmmm! Yummy!"

"N-no! Hahahhaha! Stop! (gasp) Don’t touch me ‘there’!"

"Hmmmm…."

"Hheheheheh…. Oh! Watch you’re fingers!"

Magami looked down at the twitching form of Yusuke, a large bump sticking out on top of her head. "When will you ever learn?" she asked shaking her head.

* * * * * * * * * * *
They were now on the sixth day of their visit at the Mashimizu Shrine, only two days left counting that day. It was time to start the real cleansing.

By this time Kurama couldn’t have passed any drug tests if her life depended on it, Hiei was the most molested pure woman to ever live, and Yusuke was seriously starting to think she was hearing voices or suffering from brain damaged, she couldn’t be sure which. She was overjoyed beyond words when she was finally allowed to see Hiei and Kurama again; although, Magami and the others made sure she didn’t get too close not trusting her not to mess up all Kori’s and Jouki’s hard work ‘purifying’ them.

"Okay silence everyone," said Baba walking back and forth in front of the three like a drill sergeant. "You’ve had it easy till now."

Yusuke snorted loudly at that causing Baba to turn and glare at her.

"But now the fun ends. You will be going through several steps to cleanse first your bodies, your minds, and last your souls." She looked pointy at Yusuke, "Some of you will need more cleansing them others."

Yusuke stuck her tongue out at her.

"First purification of the body!"

The three found themselves sitting under a waterfall freezing their butts off.

"bbbrbrbrbrbrbrbbrbrrb," chatter Yusuke. "How is this suppose to cleanse our bodies again," she managed through the clacking of her teeth.

"It’s suppose to give you positive kinetic energy,” said Kurama softly by her side.

"What? That doesn’t make any sense!” Yusuke yelled over the roar of the water.”

"No talking!" shouted Baba. "You’re supposed to be cleansing yourself!"

"Huh!" said Yusuke, her whole body was starting to feel numb. She turned her head to look at Kurama to her side, but unfortunately the move made the water pouring down on her head redirect down her body and whoosh! She fell forward into the pool below.

"Positive kinetics my ass! That’s it! I can’t take any more!" shouted Yusuke having a tantrum in the water, flailing her hands and kicking her legs.

"Very well, you could have stopped any time you wanted to," said Baba.

"What?! Why didn’t you tell us that sooner?!" she screamed.

"This is a exercise of discipline," said the old hag. "Hiei and Kurama apparently have more of this then you."

"Huh! I don’t care if they do." Yusuke crawled out of the water and sat down with a wet sound on one boulder. She began trying to squeeze the water out of her clothes.

Two hours passed and Kurama finally gave in, wobbling weakly over to shore, she couldn’t feel anything any more she was that numb. Kori was waiting for her with a warm dry robe and hot tea, which she gratefully took, then sat down with Yusuke to wait for Hiei to give in.

Two more hours passed and Hiei didn’t moved, three hours and Hiei remained under the freezing water.

"I can’t take this any more. Hiei! You’re killing me just watching you! Stop standing under that ice water and come over here!" When Hiei didn’t move Yusuke marched over to her and shook her.

"Oi Hiei! Stop this-!" She caught the stiff ex-demon as she fell foreword, posture still ramrod straight.

"Ahhh! Old hag you turned Hiei into a Popsicle!" shouted Yusuke lightly slapping Hiei’s face, she was ice cold.

"She was just standing under there like a frozen fish," said Kurama with wide eyes.

"Why didn’t she stop sooner then?" asked Kori to her side.
"Hmmm," Kurama paled. "Oops…"

"What do you mean oops?!" said Jouki looking panicked as Yusuke dragged the frozen ex-demon to shore.

"Well," said Kurama rubbing the back of her head. "Hiei’s use to being a fire demon/ Koorime mix. This made her impervious to all temperatures, I don’t think Hiei’s ever been hot or cold before in her entire life before becoming a human so…."

"So she didn’t know she was slowly freezing to death?!" shouted Kori.
"Bingo!" said Kurama.

"Ahhhhh! Hiei-san!" shouted Jouki flinging herself on the ex-demon once Yusuke got her on land. "Ahh, you’re like ice! You’re must have hypothermia!"

"I’m just a little numb," stuttered Hiei between blue lips. "I’ll be okay once I can feel… something."

"Non-sense!" shouted Jouki and clothes started flying from the two.
"See!" shouted Yusuke pointing at the two as Jouki laid her naked form on top of Hiei. "She’s doing it again!"

"Yusuke don’t you know that you’re suppose to warm someone with hypothermia up with body heat?" said Kurama to her side.

"…Oh…I want to help!" shouted Yusuke pulling at her clothes.

Wham!

Yusuke was on her face again, Magami standing over her. "There’s no hope for you," said the ferry girl looking down at the raven-haired female.


Once Hiei was defrosted they moved on to the next ritual.

"Fire walking?" said Yusuke with question marks all around her head.

"Fire is perhaps the most purifying of the elements, but with it comes destruction."

"Hn," said Hiei. "I’ll go first," she said moving toward the hot coals. Unfortunately Hiei still didn’t seem to understand that she wasn’t a fire demon any more and once she stepped onto the coals she just stood there a few seconds before her face cracked and she started hopping around with little ouches and uches. She jumped right into Jouki’s arms once she got to the other side and kicked her feet blowing on them.

Yusuke and Kurama sweat dropped.

"Hiei you’re not a fire demon at the moment!" shouted Yusuke. "You play with fire you get burned!"

"I figured that out!" shouted Hiei. "First I’m frozen then I’m cooked," sighed Hiei. "What next?"

"Next!" said Baba.

Kurama and Yusuke exchanged looks.

"I’ll go," said Yusuke. She moved over to the fire and took a deep breath.

"Ouchouchouchouchouch," she said as she quickly walked over the coals and stood next to Jouki who still held Hiei in her arms.

"That was more like fire running then walking," said Hiei.

"Bite me," said Yusuke.

Hiei bared her sharp fangs at her. "You sure?"

Yusuke sweat dropped.

Kurama tossed her hair and calmly walked out on the coals not uttering so much as a grunt as she strutted toward them with long graceful strides.

"Kurama," said Yusuke mouth hanging open. "You never cease to amaze me," said Yusuke in awe as the red head stepped off the coals and stood next to her.

"The trick is to walk on the cooler parts that aren’t glowing and to not stand too long in any one place," winked the fox.

"Okay the last ritually before we move to work on your minds is a full body spa treatment."

"Huh?" said all three blinking their eyes.

"You heard me," said Baba. "You’re getting married in two days, you’ll need a little preparations."

Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama exchanged looks.

"Ouch!…. Ouch!…. OUCH! Could you be a little more careful!" snapped Yusuke to the old hag who had some how convince her to sit still long enough for her to wax her legs, who was now ripping the long strips of wax off her. Kori was giving her a manicure, painting her nails a pale cream green. She wonder why she was letting them do this to her. Yusuke glanced over her shoulder at Magami and her two troops, oh yah, that’s way. She looked over at Hiei as Jouki finished ripping out all her leg hairs and let the ex-demon stood up. Yusuke had to admit there was something more appealing about Hiei’s legs now, they looked touchable smooth. God, now I’m turning into a freaking advertisement for shaving cream thought Yusuke. Jouki tugged on Hiei sleeve gesturing for her to follow her. Yusuke frowned slightly as Hiei walked away with the water demoness. "Didn’t we already go through this torture?" thought Yusuke out loud.

"Not really," said Kurama. "Remember we demanded to see Enma and settled that we’d wear tuxes and not dresses," said Kurama who was laying down with a seaweed wrap around her and zucchini slices over her eyes, some kind of green stuff smeared on her face, her hair tied up in a messy bun.

"Oh ya-ouch!" said Yusuke glaring at the old woman as she ripped he last strip off. "Say where did Hiei and Jouki go anyway," demanded Yusuke envisioning the blond water demoness doing all kind of perverted things to her Hiei. Baba gave her a dirty look and was about to single Magami when just then a loud scream ripped though the air. Kurama sat up so fast her Zucchini slices fell off.

A minute later a limping Hiei came walking around the corner followed by a wildly apologizing Jouki.

"What happened?" asked Yusuke in confusion.

Hiei limped over to Kurama. "You’re right, I didn’t want to know what a bikini wax was," she said before limping away.

Kurama and Yusuke watched her go with wide eyes.

"Okay done with the legs," said Baba. "You’re next."

"Next?" said Yusuke. "Next for what?"

Baba pointed in the direction Hiei had come from.

A long pause filled the air followed by a blow of wind that scattered a few dead leaves.

"NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

Two hours later all three had prefect finger and toenails, clean pours, and were hairless from the neck down; not to mention a wee bit sore.

"Okay you’re all now physically ready, now we need to clean out those head of yours," said Baba. She glared at Yusuke. "Specially you."

"Grrrrrr," growled Yusuke.

"This only requires that you mediate the whole night without a thought going though your head," said Baba. "While we chants some spells and burn a few incenses."
"What kind of spell?" asked Hiei.

"One that will better prepare you for when Enma marks you and fixes your souls. Don’t worry you won’t feel any pain, but it’s important you think about nothing while we do it."

"What happens if you think about something while you’re doing the spells?" asked Kurama.

"Let’s say you think for an instant, about food, you’ll think you’re starving afterwards and gorge yourself to death. If you think bird, you may think you are one. Get it?"

"That would be bad," said Yusuke.

"It is," said Baba. "That is why you must have a clear mind while we do it."
Yusuke swallowed hard, she didn’t think she could do that all night, what was she going to do?!

The night passed, the three priestesses chanted their spells, and Hiei, Yusuke, and Kurama sat trying not to think about anything.

Unfortunately Yusuke was right she couldn’t go so long without a thought running through her head, so she thought about something she truly believed she already did believe in.

The next morning…

"So Hiei what’s the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you how you feel?" asked Jouki.

Hiei had a blank look on her face, which scrunched up in confusion. "Nothing, nothing comes to mind, it’s like my head is… empty."

"Great!" cheered Jouki hugging her. "That’s how you should feel. You’ll be able to think more like yourself soon, but your mind will still be clean on a subconscious level for probably a week. More then enough time for Enma to successfully mark you," smiled Jouki.

"Kurama," said Kori. "What about you?" she asked looking a little concerned. "How do you feel?"

"I don’t know…" frowned Kurama. "I don’t feel like anything, it’s a really strange detached sensation."

Kori flashed Jouki the thumbs up sign and a smiled brightly. "Complete successes."

Just then Yusuke came into the room with Magami and Baba, once she saw Hiei and Kurama a bright smile light up her face.

"Hiei! Kurama!" she shouted going over to crush the two against her, the sound of the air in their lungs forcefully leaving their bodies was heard.

"Yu-Yusuke," gasped Kurama.

"Oh no!" said Kori. “Did she think about something during the spell?!"
"This is terrible!" said Jouki.

Baba shrugged. "It’s not as bad I as thought it would be for her. Apparently she thought about how much she loved Hiei, Kurama, Koenma, and their kids. I never expected such pure feelings from her, I don’t think it will be a problem when Enma marks her. If anything it will insure she always feels that way."

"Oh…" said both shrine priestesses looking at Yusuke who was warmly embracing Hiei and Kurama, saying how much she loved them. Hiei looked flabbergasts, as Yusuke proclaimed her undying love to her, she mumbled in a low tone that she felt the same.

Kurama looked flattered and amused, openly returned Yusuke affections. Both were practically sitting on Yusuke’s lap and for once Magami and the others didn’t have to worry about Yusuke’s intense sex drive. Her thoughts had been pure and thus were her responses to her feeling towards the two. Although, when Yusuke started to think more like herself, she went over to a wall and banged her head on it for having passed up a chance for some action.

The last trial was the trial of the soul. Out of all the other his was the most serious and dangerous. Yusuke and the others would have to take a good look at themselves, and not everyone liked how they’d lived their lives. They would have to face their past, what they had done in life, what could never be undone. They’d have to deal with matters they’d refused to acknowledge, and bad memories they’d buried deep in their minds. Needless to say most that went thought such a trial said it was the most emotional, saddest, happiest moment of their life.

All three were nervous about it, afraid of what they’d see, although Kurama and Hiei were hiding it better then Yusuke was.

"This will be a very intense realistic experience for you. It may be sad, it may be wonderful, but when it is over I promise you will feel more at peace with yourselves then you ever have. This could very well change the way you look at everything, are you prepared?"

"Hai," said Kurama firmly.

"I guess," said Yusuke looking jittery.

"Hn," said Hiei with no emotion.

"All right then, you’ll go one at a time. Yusuke, you will go first."

"Me?!" protested Yusuke. "But I don’t want to go first."

"Get in there!" said Baba kicking her into the room.

"Old hag!" shouted Yusuke as the doors closed and the room went dark. Yusuke blinked her eyes several times trying to adjust. A soft glow appeared around her, she raised up a hand looking at it. "What is this…"

"Can you imagine?"

"I know!"

"Having a child at her age, that Atsuko has no shame."

Yusuke looked up to see an image of his mother, she looked about 14, her hair was shorter, her features softer. She was walking down the street with a little Yusuke in her arms, a sad look on her face as she passed old friends who now wanted nothing to do with her.

"Mother…" whispered Yusuke.

Another image appeared of Atsuko bent over crying, her long black hair swirled all over the kitchen table she wept on.

A loud cry filled the air and Atsuko lifted her tear-streaked face to looking in the direction of a room branching off from the living room. Slowly she got up and walked toward the noise till she stood in front of a baby Yusuke in a crib.

"Shhhh," said Atsuko ever so softly brushing her fingers across the boy’s cheek, quieting its whimpers down to small hiccups. "Shhhh, it’s okay, daddy will be home soon," she said Leaning over to pick him up cradling him to her breast, patting his little back. "Daddy will be home soon, so you mustn’t cry Yu-chan," she whispered.

It wasn’t long till the little Yusuke was sound asleep as Atsuko rocked him softly humming a low lullaby.

She gently put him back down and smiled softly at him running her fingers once again over his chubby cheeks. "Your Oka-san loves you Yu-chan so don’t cry."

She straightened and left the room to sit back down at the kitchen table. Minutes passed without her even moving. Then the door banged open and in stumbled a drunken man Yusuke didn’t know.

"Woman," he greeted clumsy kicking off his shoes and stumbling into the room. "What’s for dinner?"

"Nothing," said Atsuko softly.

"Nothing!" roared the man marching over to her. Atsuko backed away from him.

"We haven’t got any money for food, didn’t you get paid this week?" she asked.

The man took another drink of the brown bottle he was holding. "Don’t need to work," he grumbled.

"If you don’t work what are we going to do about our bills, what are we going to do about clothing and food, what are we going to do?" she cried fisting her hands into his shirt.

The man smacked her away, making her slam hard into the wall, clutching her face.

"Don’t bother me with your problems woman!" he yelled taking another drink.

"It’s our problems!" she shouted back.

"Don’t you raise your voice to me you bitch!" he shouted going over to her and fisting a hand in her hair yanking her around. "You hear me!" he screamed in her face.

"Yusuke will wake up, don’t yell, please," she whispered.

"I’ll do what I want!" shouted the man swinging her around to slam her into the wall, pressing up against her in a sexual fashion.

"No," said Atsuko trying to push him off. "No!"

He grabbed her chin and kissed her roughly. She bit his tongue.

"You god damn whore!" shouted the man, back handing her across the face, blood spattered from her nose, he hit her again, and again, and…

"Oh God… Stop. Stop it!" screamed Yusuke. "Leave my mother alone!" she shouted running at the man and punching at him, tears streaming down her face as she watched helplessly as her fists went through the image, and the man continued to beat on her mother.

Finally the man stopped after Atsuko was a bloody mess. She slid down to her knees sobbing softly and pressing her hands to her bruised face. In the background her young self could be heard crying quite loudly.

"Stop up!" shouted the man.

The crying only got louder.

"Little brat," growled the man heading toward the room Yusuke was in.

"NO!" shouted Atsuko jumping forward on her knees to wrap her arms around his legs. "Don’t you dare touch him!"

"Let go bitch!" shouted the man kicking his leg to try and shake her off. When she won’t he kicked at her.

Atsuko yipped in pain as the blow landed on her ribs. She hissed and bared her teeth sinking them into the flesh of his calf.

The man howled and thrashed pulling out handful of her hair as he tried to get her off him. Atsuko finally let go and scrambled up to run over to the counter grabbing a large knife from the table.

The man stopped as she pointed it at him.

"Get out!" screamed Atsuko.

The man grinned and stepped towards her. "You don’t have what it takes," he said.

Atsuko slashed the knife at him cutting him across the cheek. "Get out," she repeated in a deadly serious voice pressing the knife to his throat. The man seemed to sober as the cold metal touch his throat. He backed up and Atsuko moved with him till they were at the door. She fumbled with the doorknob and pushed it open, then shoved him backwards.

"Don’t you ever come back here you bastard!" she shouted.

The man went crashing to the paved ground outside and Atsuko slammed the door shut locking it. She backed away from the door looking beaten and broken as the man roared outside and beat on the door demanding to be let in.

Atsuko dropped the knife to the floor and backed up against a wall, silent tears making their ways down her bloody cheeks, in the background the wail of the young Yusuke could still be heard.

"Yu…suke…" she whispered looking in the direction of the child. She walked towards the room and entered to stand over the crib that held the crying baby. She picked it up and sank to the floor with it. "Shhhh, don’t cry little Yu-chan," she whispered voice raw with emotion. "Oka-san loves you… so don’t cry," she sobs rocking herself and her baby.

Yusuke watched as the image of her mother faded slowly, she stood in the darkness feeling cold, lonely, and deeply wounded by the display she’d just witnessed for she knew that that man had been her… father. The memories had been long buried; she hadn’t wanted to remember them, wished she still didn’t know.

The same glow reappeared again and the black surroundings slowly bleed colors till she was home once again.

"I’m home," mumbled a seven-year old Yusuke. A nasty looking purple and blue bruise marred the side of his young face."

"What happened to you?" asked Atsuko a beer in her hand as she went over to the little Yusuke and touched the side of his face with light fingers.

Yusuke winced at the soft touch. "Nothing," he snapped turning his head to the side.

Atsuko frowned then grinned and grabbed Yusuke to pin and sitting on him. The little Yusuke flailed his arms and kicked his feet, laughing uncontrollably as Atsuko dropped her beer to start tickling her son.

"Hahahah! Stop! Stop it!" laughed the boy helplessly.

The real Yusuke slapped a hand over her face and blushed. "It’s been years since she’s done that to me," she muttered peeking though her fingers at the silly scene. She smiled despite herself, she wasn’t a little boy any more- hell she wasn’t even a boy- her mother couldn’t do such things to her any more… she couldn’t force her to tell her all her problems nor would she fix them like she use to.

The image of Atsuko let up on the tickling and smiled down at the panting Yusuke reaching down to rough his shiny black hair. "Now you tell me what happened," said Atsuko looking around for her beer. She spotted it leaking out all over the kitchen floor and sighed turning her attention back to her son.

"It was nothing," said Yusuke from under her.

"Oh nothing ne?" said Atsuko leaning over to poke the bruise making Yusuke wince. "Doesn’t look like nothing to me."

Yusuke was silent a long time. "Some boys teased me and then beat me up," he whispered softly.

Atsuko was silent a long time then she rolled off her son, Yusuke slowly climbed to his knees not looking at his mother, too ashamed.

"Well," said Atsuko. "Next time someone tries to beat you up, make sure you beat them up first."

"What?" said Yusuke turning to look at her.

"You heard me," said Atsuko slapping his back. "Knock their lights out."

"But won’t I get in trouble?" asked Yusuke.

"Psshh," said Atsuko waving her hand at him. "Life’s nothing but trouble Yu-chan. You’ve got to live it to the fullest before it bites you in the ass. You’re going to get in trouble no matter what you do, might as well make it worth you’re discipliner's time. Just don’t go around looking for trouble okay? Don’t worry your oka-san?" she said giving him a mock punch.

The corners of the little Yusuke’s lips twitched up and he nodded.

Atsuko smiled as well and stood up. She grabbed Yusuke around the waist and hosted him up to support him on her hip. "Now then lest get that cleaned up, no point in you walking around looking ugly."

"Ah mom!" protested the boy trying to pry her hand off him as she walked towards the bathroom for some Band-Aids and what not. "Put me down! I’m too old for you to keep doing this!" he shouted kicking his feet uselessly. "I’m a man, stop treating me like a baby!"

"Some man," said Atsuko. "You can’t even defend yourself from a girl," she said grinning and pinching his cheek.

"Mom!"

"Maybe I’ll consider you a man when you’ve won your first fight or get a job… both don’t look like their going to happen any time soon."

"Put me down! Mom! I can walk-!"

The image faded just as slowly as it had come into focus. Yusuke didn’t know weather to be embarrassed or amused. "I was never that weak!" she protested out loud glaring around the room looking for someone to protest to.

The black began to sprout color once again and Yusuke was at school this time, elementary. She wasn’t much older from the last version she’d seen of herself, maybe eight or nine. He was walking all by himself kicking a rock that skipped and bounced in front of him and stop for him to kick it again. The small rock rolled and hit against a small foot. Yusuke slowly follow the legs up the girl’s body to her face. She was a plain looking girl, brown hair and eyes, dressed like everyone else in the standard school uniform. She smiled softly at him.

The young Yusuke snorted and moved to walk around her.

"What are you doing?" asked the girl moving to follow him.

"Nothing," said Yusuke in a very unfriendly voice.

"Well then you won’t mind some company. What’s your name?"

"Yusuke," he said turning and glaring at her as if expecting her to run in fear, which she should very well have. At that young point in his life he’d already built up quite the reputation for himself, which was probably why he was all alone kicking a rock for company.

"Yusuke," smiled the girl brightly. "I’m Keiko," she said pointing to herself.
Yusuke got a puzzled look on his face.

"Ne, I’ve seen you walking around by my papa and mama’s ramen shop do you live around here?" she asked.

"Yah," said Yusuke.

"Great then we can walk home together, not many kids from our school live around there, so it was always lonely walking home. I’ll meet you out front after school!" she called running forward. "Don’t be late!" she waved and ran off.

"Hey!" shouted Yusuke at her retreating form. "I never agreed to nothing," he grumbled to himself, kicking another stone in his path. He stopped and looked at the stone he’d kicked then back up at the girl’s retreating form. A very small smile touched his lips and he cursed softly under his breath. "Oh well," he muttered.

The real Yusuke smiled softly. "Keiko." Before her first death Keiko had truly been her only friend, she never understood why the girl had chosen to befriend her. She was always being a rude jerk around her, but she just put up with it. Maybe, she saw something no one else had in her, maybe she was just too stubborn, or maybe she was just a really caring person. She didn’t know why, but they’d stayed close to this very day. It was a friendship Yusuke truly cherished with all her heart.

More scenes projected themselves around her and Yusuke watched as their friendship was cemented in time, how she had gradually allowed Keiko to worm her way into her heart. She hadn’t even realized it at the time but watching it happen all at once left little doubt to the two’s true feeling for each other.

She had gradually turned into a young reckless man, Keiko a smart high school student always looking out for his well being, and her mother… she watched sadly as she began to drink more and more, withdrawing from life and all it’s problems.

Yusuke laughed out loud as her first meeting with Kuwabara played before her. The tall carrot-top’s proud words, the look on his face right before he’d shut him up with his fist, how he’d lay twitching on the ground afterward, muttering that he was a demon. Yusuke was roaring with laughter at that late remark. "Kuwabara my friend, you don’t know how right you were back then," she smiled fondly at the image of her good friend as he pulled his bloody and bruised body up and watched her past self walk off.

Yusuke’s breath all but stopped in her throat as she began to watch a familiar scene that had haunted her for years after. The little kid laughing at the funny face he made, the rubber ball bouncing on the street, the car slamming into his body.

As the car hit the real Yusuke winced watch her body land hard on the pavement, it all seemed in slow motion.

"Yes… that was the being… the old Yusuke really did die that day." Said Yusuke softly. "Afterward…" she whispered looking at her trembling hands, "I changed. Not just physically, or spiritually, I really changed. The way I thought and felt… it had all changed. Dying made me realize I had so much to live for… so much to look forward to…," She looked up as short scenes flashed around her. Her first mission, Saving Kuwabara’s cat, meeting Kurama, fighting Hiei, becoming Genkai’s student, going off to fight the four beasts, Hiei and Kurama becoming part of his team, saving Yukina, the Dark Combat tournament, Genkai’s death, Kurama’s fight again Kurasu, Hiei’s against Bui, Kuwabara’s against Toguro anki, he against his brother, their wish to have Genkai returned to them. And, then after the tournament, the almost comical unity of Kurama, Hiei, Koenma, and herself. She didn’t know weather she should be embrace, aroused, or to fall on her ass laughing as their relationship fell together. Even thought it had started out very oddly it had worked for them, they’d all been content with the way their lives were going. They had each other, a hidden bond of friendship, loyalty, passion, and love toward each other that had never wavered. Was she ready? She wondered. Ready to finally grow up and take her responsibilities seriously, rule a 1/3 of the Makai as well as the Reikai? Raise Sake, Raiko, and the rest of the litter like a good father, the father he’d never had? Be a good husband er- wife -er whatever to Kurama, Hiei, and Koenma? Was she biting off more then she could chew? Fighting demons that want to take over the world is one thing, but living a satisfying life is another. It requires more thought and actions then simply lifting your finger and firing a Rei Gun.

Yusuke lifted her head and the images blinked out around her. "I’m ready," she said turning back toward the door that magically appeared for her. "I’m ready for whatever life has to give," she said pushing the door open.

"Yusuke," greeted Kurama with a bright relieved smile, to her side the barest of smiles also touched Hiei’s face.

Yusuke smiled brightly then closed her eyes. Yes and I have a lot to give back to life she thought opening her eyes to look at the two.

"I see you came out in relatively good shape," said Baba off to the side.

"Of course," said Yusuke turning toward the old hag. "I don’t regret doing anything in my life," she said crossing her arms.


TBC