Yukimura Keiko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
niceskirts) wrote2017-03-20 07:25 am
niceskirts) wrote2017-03-20 07:25 am
Ruby City Inbox
"Hello. You've reached Keiko Yukimura. I'm not available right now, so please leave your name and a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"
voice;
Here he is.
Here he is, getting ready to call Keiko for the first time here in Ruby City and feeling like he's about to vibrate right out of his skin and into the astral plane. It isn't dread that consumes him as he stares, mouth pursed, down at the screen of his watch with his thumb hovering over the 'Call' button – not entirely, anyway. It's dread; it's excitement to talk to her after having gone months without hearing her voice outside of a crowded stadium (he still doesn't know why she hadn't come to see him after chasing him all that way out to Hanging Neck Island - probably she was pissed at him or she thought it'd be inappropriate to visit him in his room, both seemed equally likely); it's the same sick feeling of guilt and frustration and anger that's been dogging him ever since he and Kurama started. . .
. . . doing what they'd been doing. Or what they're no longer doing, as of the day he was brought back from the island. Yet another thing for him to feel like a jerk about.
In short, Yusuke is experiencing way more feelings than he would like. It occurs to him that he doesn't have to call her now: he could always, you know, put it off 'til later. Give himself more time to figure out what he's going to say to her and how. But he's been putting it off, he's been putting it off for days now, and the longer he goes without letting her know he's here, the worse he feels. Besides, he wants to see her. Probably that doesn't make sense, considering the very real possibility she's going to tell him to take a long walk off a short pier by the time they're done seeing each other, but – well.
She's Keiko. He cares about her, way more than he could say, so. . .
So.
All right. Time to suck it up and stop being a wimp and face the music. This is the number Kurama gave him: he should be able to get a hold of her once he works up the nerve to actually hit that button. God, it's weird as hell having to be given Keiko's number when he's had her number at home memorized since he was six. At any rate, he sucks in a breath, steels himself, and presses 'Call'. He does his best to keep the apprehension out of his voice when he speaks. This is gonna be hard enough without him sounding stupid and awkward right out of the gate.]
Hey, uh - Keiko?
It's me.
voice;
What she's not expecting is for a call to come in. What she's not expecting is to open the watch and hear a voice she knows as well as her own--or better.
'Hey. Nice kiss.']
Yusuke.
[The stuffed animal slips from her suddenly nerveless arms with a soft paff. She breathes in sharply as the truth sinks in.]
Yusuke! You're--
[You're back, you're all right. Keiko's mouth is open, but there are so many things she wants to say all at once they get stuck in the space above her tongue and fill her head with cottony blankness. It's Yusuke. He sounds like he always does, short and awkward as he is when there's nothing to be angry about, when there's no fight to be had. When the world he's in is her world, the one the never quite fits around his hunched shoulders.
Immediately, she turns on her heel, runs out her door and down the stairs in her stocking feet, forgetting for the moment the racket she must be making. Sorry, Dr. and Dr. Lutece. She keeps the watch to her ear, as if the second she stops hearing his voice, she might lose him again, might lose this lifeline to her best, dearest friend.]
Where have you been? We were worried about you!
voice;
You know how it is. You chug a couple cans from a mystery sixer, then you wake up the next morning in a different dimension.
[She's running. He can hear it: the steady thunk-thunk-thunk of her feet against wooden flooring. It makes the knowledge that she's here seem all the more real, and without even truly thinking about it, Yusuke begins walking at a brisk pace towards the northern part of town, where he knows all the big fancy houses are. He doesn't know which one belongs to the doc and her "brother" (who, apparently, had also arrived here while he was AWOL; trust this place to get interesting while he's not here to enjoy it), but it doesn't make a difference: in a place as small as this, they're bound to find each other soon enough.]
voice;
You jerk.
[She pauses only to slip her shoes on in the foyer, as hurried as she kicked them off once when golden light was flickering out of his body--like the Western story of Cinderella, clock striking twelve. As soon as they're on her feet, she's off again, flinging the door open but then closing it behind her, not so giddy and overcome that she's entirely inconsiderate.
And she runs, blinking something back in her eyes.]
That'll teach you. Maybe next time you'll think twice before drinking things in strange places...!
voice;
[Is she crying? She sounds like she's crying, he thinks, and feels it hit him right in the tenderest parts of his chest. If he wasn't filled with a sense of urgency before, he sure as hell is now. C'mon, where is she, where is she --
He pauses when he reaches the corner of a street with stately mansions and glances around, his pulse pounding in his ears. Which way should he go? He deliberates for half a second, then decides just to try staying put for now. Whichever direction she takes, he should be able to spot her from here if he keeps an eye out.]
voice;
[But it's a nothing-threat, a free ball and not a spike just to keep the game going as she rushes from the door down to the street and turns in the direction of the flower shop, and when she looks around and sees him it's like the first gasp of air she's taken since she was born.
That's him. That's Yusuke. She doesn't need the watch anymore.]
Yusuke!
[Nyoooom.]
ACTION;
There she is. Brown-haired, brown-eyed, and as pretty as ever. Her name is out of his mouth before he thinks to bite it back. Later on, he'll likely think back to this and be struck by how reminiscent it was of another time when he'd been desperate to reach her - a time when reaching her didn't just feel like a matter of life and death, but was.]
Keiko!
[Yusuke's sneaker squeaks on the cobblestone pavement as he turns on his heel and dashes towards her with his watch clenched tightly in his closed fist. It takes little time at all for them to meet in the middle at the speed they're going, and when at last they do, he doesn't reach for her, but he does look at her with his pupils blown and his mouth parted and something rare and soft and open in his eyes, like he's seeing her for the first time in decades.
THERE you are, finally, he thinks; looking good, he thinks; I missed you, he thinks. Can he smell her shampoo from here, or is he just imagining it? He doesn't know. His skull is buzzing with thoughts, and almost all of them are soaked in the same sentiment that's swelling up tight in his chest and throat. At first, it's simply staggering how overcome he is right now by seeing Keiko so bright and present and real in front of him; then, it's embarrassing, because all of the sudden he becomes keenly aware of how stupidly he's gaping at her, and so, accordingly, he forces his expression into something more becoming of a COOL DELINQUENT WHO IS ABSOLUTELY NOT BEING EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED RIGHT NOW.]
Hey.
[I missed you, he thinks again, and flashes her a cheeky grin as he remarks:]
Not bad running like that in those pants. You buy 'em in a smaller size, or are your chicken legs finally starting to fill out?
ACTION;
Kurama said they'd been there for months, hadn't he? Yusuke's the one who's been waiting for her, this time. He's the one looking at her like she's the Christmas Day he thought would never come.
So when he inevitably decides to ruin it, Keiko's smile wobbles as she tries--and mostly fails--to block a laugh. She can't manage to be indignant when he was looking at her like that. Mock-annoyed, she swallows her previously-welling emotions, balls her hand into a fist, and bonks the crown of his head with the gentle force of a wet sock. Just so he knows he won't get away with a line like that next time.]
Wow. Maybe whoever fished you out should throw you back, so you have some time to come up with new material.
[It's real. He's real. His skull's as hard as it ever was and his hair as stupid (and he's warm and alive, alive alive alive, she'll never forget), and Keiko blinks quickly to get rid of the last of the almost-tears as she looks him over. Her joy turns quickly to concern.]
Are you okay? Yusuke, what happened to you?
ACTION;
Uh -
[Yusuke blinks and looks down at himself. He doesn't appear nearly as rough as he did when he'd first returned a few days previously, thanks to a shower and several hours' worth of sleep, but he's... yeah, he's still covered in scrapes and bandages, so it's no wonder Keiko's alarmed. He hesitates. He doesn't want to go too heavy on the details here, since it might freak her out, but. . .]
... not much. Turns out the only way back to this place is through these tunnels in the park. Anyway, I'm fine.
ACTION;
[She says it as doubtfully as she feels, which, for the record, is fairly. She is currently experiencing reasonable doubt. But the fact remains: He's conscious, he's not actively bleeding, he doesn't look half-dead or all-dead, and that's so many worlds better than other states she's seen him in, she decides to let it go.
If he can laugh it off, that's good enough. For now. And oh, it's good to hear that little snicker of his. It hasn't even been that long, from her perspective, but when she feels like she and Kurama both have been holding their breaths since she got here--Kurama.]
You spoke to Kurama already, right? You let him know you're all right? He was worried about you, too, you know.
ACTION;
Yusuke's spine stiffens. His throat feels like it's been sealed shut. He stares at her, his gaze blank and guarded, as guilt and nervousness and self-loathing anger re-emerge with a vengeance from the corners of his head to dig barbed claws into his organs. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Look at her, she has no clue––]
... Yeah, we talked.
[Among other things. Yusuke grunts and turns his eyes skyward as he nudges past her to begin leading them down the street. Where he's planning on going, he doesn't know, but it's better than just standing here. He doesn't need any help feeling conspicuous right now.]
So, uh - I heard you're staying with the doc. Dr. Lutece?
[Look at how deft that topic change was. How natural. How TOTALLY UNSUSPICIOUS. This is completely fine.]
ACTION;
Keiko stares at the back of Yusuke's head like she'd bore holes through his skull just to scan his brain. What's his problem? He couldn't be more obvious if he stuck a Post-it Note to his own back saying interrogate me; not to her.
They did more than talk, Yusuke and Kurama. That has to be it, because nothing else she said could draw a reaction like that. Or maybe they talked, but something they talked about went beyond a simple, "Hey, bro, I'm back." And it's something Yusuke wants to keep from her. Again. Again, he's drawing a line between his world and hers--no. He's building a wall, starting right here with the hunch of his shoulders and the line of his back.
Keiko's mouth forms a line as she considers the best way to get around it.]
Yes. Both of them. I'm still trying to come up with a way to thank them properly, but...
[Sometimes, the best way around a wall is over it. She releases a huff of a breath, then darts in front of him again so she can turn and look him in the face. Don't even try to give her such a weak runaround, boy.]
Did you two get in a fight? You and Kurama. Don't play dumb with me, Yusuke.
ACTION;
Don't play dumb with me, Yusuke, she says, and it sounds like an accusation. He hasn't even said anything yet, and he already feels like she's staring at him as if he's done something wrong! Which he... has, but she doesn't know that, not yet, and fuck, why does his mouth taste weird? Why do his hands always have to sweat so damn much when he feels like this?
It's been a long time since he and Keiko were small and his fears and insecurities showed plainly on his face like a glowing red-lettered “kick me” sign; a long, long time since anger wasn't his first defense against feeling trapped and helpless and desperate. So of course he glares at her and looks irritable and exasperated even though she hasn't done anything wrong; of course he snaps at her like a cornered animal instead of just talking to her. It doesn't feel good, but it feels safe.]
Already you're nagging me! What is it, you can't go an hour without barking up my ass about something? No, we're fine.
[It isn't a lie. It isn't a lie. The decision he and Kurama made about their... thing, it was mutual, so they're fine.]
ACTION;
I wouldn't have to nag if for once you'd just--ugh!
[Keiko whips around again and keeps walking, anger coiled tight in the space between her shoulders, the dead center of her eyes. She does it out of disgust and frustration--she's no martyr, she has no higher calling to cool down--but the second Yusuke's out of her line of sight, she remembers: every hit that monster landed on him, tossing him about like a rag doll, and Yusuke wasn't a man, he was just a boy. He was just a kid. Just Yusuke.
Her hands tighten on her elbows. She wrestles her voice into submission.]
Fine. You're fine. I get it. I just wish you'd...
[That was the whole problem back then, wasn't it? The reason Toguro had to kill--had to make Yusuke think he'd killed Kuwabara. Keiko couldn't take anything more, then, couldn't absorb what was happening, but that doesn't mean she couldn't see. Couldn't hear. Wouldn't have those memories to rewind and play through later, staring at the ceiling of a hotel room on a strange, deadly island, or the wall of a guest bedroom at the Luteces'.]
Forget it. I'm just glad you're back in one piece.
ACTION;
He has to tell her. He knows he does, because she deserves to know and he promised her, didn't he, that he would be honest with her about what was going on with him, but then she's saying I'm just glad you're back in one piece and he's. . .
Shit. His hands curl into fists as the sentiment tugs at some small, desperate part of him. He can't do it. He can't tell her, not right now, not after that. It's selfish and cowardly, but it wasn't so long ago that he thought she didn't care. He remembers how badly that sucked, caring so much about her and being so certain that she didn't feel the same, and that was when he was too far up his own ass to see that she really did give a damn. Now he knows there's a chance she really will want him out of her hair for good after he tells her what he did, and he just–
He wants to hold onto this. Just for a little while longer, dammit. He realizes, dimly, that this must've been how Kurama felt the day he came back. Wanting to feel wanted before the other shoe was dropped.]
… Kurama told me you've been to the tournament.
[He says gruffly as he falls into step beside her. It didn't take terribly long for him to catch up to her: just enough time for him to tell himself that if he's going to punk out, he should at least try to salvage some of his dignity by not letting on that he's all fucked up about it. And to his credit, he's managing, albeit only because the sullenness in his expression can easily be interpreted as him sulking about their argument.]
ACTION;
Still, it's a moment before she answers.]
Yeah.
[Her tone is serious--she's not the one who needs to make light of a situation to get through it--but she tries not to let it come out foreboding, either. After all, in the end, Yusuke won. She doesn't want him to think he can't do it. That he can't pull through. So Keiko speaks seriously, but she's not so serious she can't hold onto her ire, either.
Breathe in. She holds her head up and continues, still petulantly not looking at him.]
He told me... [No. Man up, Yukimura. Just because you're too weak for Yusuke to ever tell you anything doesn't mean you have to admit it. She releases a breath.] We decided that I shouldn't tell you guys about it in case it messes things up. So don't even ask.