Ruby City Inbox

[niceskirts]

"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!"

Comments

voice;

[originallutece]

Hello, Miss Yukimura. This is Rosalind Lutece. Have you come to a decision yet about your lodgings?

voice;

[niceskirts]

Hello, Dr. Lutece.

[A little fox-boy birdie corrected her on her titles.]

Yeah, I've given it a lot of thought. If you're still sure you don't mind having me, I'd be grateful to take you up on your offer to let me stay with you.

[originallutece]

[Oh, well. That's nice to hear, isn't it? She would have happily accepted Madam, but this is lovely.]

Of course. We've a few rooms left untouched and unclaimed; if you'd like to come over and pick one, I'm free all afternoon.

. . . frankly, if you'd like to start moving in, you're welcome to whenever you'd like.

[niceskirts]

All right. You know, I think I will. It shouldn't take very long. [She laughs, a little awkwardly.] It's not like I had a chance to pack my things before I was here.

[originallutece]

You know the address? The door's unlocked.

[Things are still in the process of being renovated, actually. Rosalind is in the midst of painting what will eventually become their library: a large room that's destined to be painted an emerald green, but right now is mostly an unfortunate shade of pastel pink.]

[niceskirts]

Yeah! I just need a little time to collect what I have, and I'll be right there.

Thanks again, Dr. Lutece.

[originallutece]

Of course.

[. . .]

Yukimura. When you arrive, there are a few things I need to address. Nothing particularly worrying, but still, I'd prefer to speak with you in person about them before you settle in.

[niceskirts]

Like house rules, and things?

[originallutece]

[. . . mmmmmm not really but--]

Yes, along those lines.

voice;

[asskicks]

[Well.

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;

[niceskirts]

[Keiko is, at this very moment, about to put the finishing personal touches on her new room at the Lutece residence. The move didn't take much; she doesn't have that many belongings to her name, so she hasn't even needed to ask for help. It's let her make this space that's all her own, and if that's a little lonely after the strange, wild coziness of Kurama's flower shop, it's also a relief. She's had time to settle in, and is currently allowing herself one small, childish indulgence in the form of a roly-poly stuffed bird from the toy shop back in town.

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;

[asskicks]

[Yusuke's heart thuds. That's Keiko, all right: there's no mistaking her. Certainly there isn't for Yusuke, who hears his name spoken in her voice and immediately thinks of home and waking up in a dark bedroom to what felt like the weight of 8-ton blocks of concrete in his body and the soft, lingering pressure of lips salty with tears on his mouth. For a moment, he forgets to feel anxious and miserable at the thought of how she'll look at him when he tells her what's been happening here in her absence; for a moment, the syrupy warmth of familiarity and affection overtakes him, and Yusuke, feeling a crooked grin beginning to tug across his stinging face despite himself, huffs a laugh into his watch and replies, in that same blithe tone he uses when he's trying to effect easy nonchalance in a situation when he's feeling anything but:]

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;

[niceskirts]

[Her laugh is a wet, hushed thing, more a strangled gasp than anything else. She's full of joy and relief and of course he's joking about this, could she expect anything less?]

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;

[asskicks]

What, and be as much of a boring fun sponge as you?

[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;

[niceskirts]

Oh, yeah? I'll show you who's a fun sponge...!

[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;

[asskicks]

[Yusuke whips his head around so fast that in retrospect, he's surprised he doesn't snap his neck in half.

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;

[niceskirts]

[For a breathless moment, she's spellbound, caught by the look in his eyes as he takes her in. She can't remember the last time he looked at her like that, completely open, like the child she'll always remember no matter how many times the young man he is now picks himself back up before the ten-count. The tightness in her chest, the building wetness in her eyes all stills at the rarity, the precious pricelessness of him, right now.

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?

4/14

[roseblooms]

I owe you no end of apologies, it seems.

If you're willing — and I fully understand if you're not, and respect that — may we talk? Even just over these pocketwatches would do. I won't ask for anything more than that.

[niceskirts]

[Keiko doesn't answer right away. Then again, she's not used to email--that's what this is, isn't it?--being such a common mode of communication. It makes it so easy to just put the watch aside and spend some time gathering her thoughts before she responds.]

You didn't do anything wrong, Kurama.

[roseblooms]

I've done a great many things wrong, I'm afraid. Many of them Youko's, some of them my own. Whether or not they're held against me, however, isn't something for me to decide — only to accept.

That was his name. Youko, the Spirit Fox. Me, but...not precisely the me you know.

[niceskirts]

Youko.

I'm not going to pry, Kurama. Your past is your own and it isn't any of my business to dig into it. So if it's something you don't want to talk about, you don't have to force yourself to for me. You don't owe me anything.

[roseblooms]

No...I do, I think. If for no other reason than that there are a few things I'd like to ask you, as well, and it's only fair to answer a question for a question.

You mentioned you'd seen him before. I know we had an agreement not to share much about the future you remember, but...in this case, I'd like to make an exception, if you're willing. You saw Youko Kurama at the Dark Tournament?

[niceskirts]

[Oh. That didn't go somewhere she was expecting.]

...Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?

[roseblooms]

I'm simply curious how that came about, is all. The circumstances...and the reason, if there was one.

[niceskirts]

It was hard to tell what was really happening from so far up in the stands, but...

You were fighting a man on Team - um, the team you all were matched with in the finals. He was attacking you with some kind of invisible bomb, and you were having trouble until...you just changed. Maybe because you were in danger?