niceskirts | Ruby City Inbox

The Toguro brothers tortured someone very important to him. And he's not someone inclined toward forgiving — or forgetting, for that matter.

So yes, I would imagine that any opportunity that arose for him to address that, he would immediately seek to take.

I see. Yeah, I don't think I'd forgive something like that, either.

But it was personal for Yusuke, too. Looking back on it... I'm not sure anyone else could have claimed that fight.

It's not that I don't believe in him, you know. It's nothing to do with that.

...I suppose I'm just concerned what a fight like that might do to him, and coming to the grim realization that I honestly don't have an answer.

No, I
I know.

Watching that fight, helplessly, from the back of the stands...that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And I still couldn't even do that. I wasn't strong enough to watch him...get hurt like that without going completely numb.

And even when it was like that, he still...he still won. Yusuke got back up and defeated him, for good.

Then I'm only going to ask one more question — one more thing I need to know — and then I'll consider my curiosity sated.

Is Kuwabara alive?

Yeah, he's fine.

You, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke all make it out okay.

[She's lying, he thinks at first. It's impulsive, even a touch irrational; he has no reason to think she'd lie, and yet there's something that still isn't adding up in a way that he can't precisely make fit.

Four fights in the finals of the Dark Tournament. Someone had to have lost. Yusuke won, which rules him out, and the younger Toguro would have gone last anyway, so it's only natural that the loss must have preceded him.

(Who was their fifth fighter? Yusuke said it was a girl...strange. She must have been in the fifth slot, then. Risky, but...)

No. If they make it out fine, if Yusuke manages to defeat Toguro, then they must win the tournament. Yet to go to four matches, someone must have lost. And to have never made it to the fifth, then Team Urameshi must have suffered one loss and three wins.

The obvious loss, of course, would be Kuwabara against the elder Toguro. And yet Keiko confirmed that he is alive — and no one who fought a Toguro brother would be able to suffer a loss that didn't also end in a death. Implausible as it is, if Kuwabara is alive, then he must also have won...

So. Hiei, or himself? Who could have lost?

To have made a transformation like that with no apparent catalyst — I suppose it would suggest that I was in some extreme form of danger.

She'd stammered.

He was attacking you. You were having trouble.

There are no draws, no stalemates, no mercy to be had in the finals of the Dark Tournament. So it only follows, logically, that if he were the one being pushed around, if he somehow managed to access Youko's latent abilities, then he must've —

And yet she hadn't looked surprised to see him alive when she'd arrived. Would she have even thought to hide that, so early on? Likely not.

Nngh. Something here isn't adding up. He's missing something, and he's asked too much already; he shouldn't have even pushed her as far as he did. That was his own error. He's going to have to live with that now.

He can tell already that this is going to bother him for a long, long time.]

That's good to hear.

[She wouldn't lie to him about her friends being okay. If nothing else, he's certain of that.]

I appreciate it, Keiko. And if there's something you want to ask me in return, I'll answer it. Please don't hesitate to; after all this, you're certainly entitled to that much.

['Ask him what he became, and why he stole the Forlorn Hope.'

It's not that she's curious--no, that's not true, she is. She's curious, but it's more that this seems to be important to Kurama, not to her, and she wants to know why. Kurama isn't Yusuke, shelving secrets out of view so he can look tough, so no one can even graze his vulnerable points except by accident; and it doesn't seem to be the other kind of secret Yusuke keeps, the ones about present danger, the ones to keep her from worrying.

On the other hand, she has her pride. '...curiosity will get the better of you eventually, I expect.' Whatever, fox man. He doesn't know her, he doesn't know her life.

She rests her chin in her hand and looks out the window for a while until she lands on something she is curious about.]

How did you and Yusuke meet?

Ah. Now THAT is...an interesting story.

I hate to answer a question with a question, but I'm afraid it's relevant to your understanding. I assume you're familiar with Yusuke's...work as a detective, let's call it?

More or less. He and Botan tried to sell me some story about an internship at first, but after the tournament, well. You could say I've got a better sense of the whole picture now.

Yes, well. That may not have been entirely his fault; his employer has a fairly strict policy about keeping those activities secret from the human world at large. Presumably what he told you was simply..."the official corporate statement", if you will.

It's good, though, that you're aware of that much. It'll make more sense when I explain that our first meeting was when he was sent to apprehend me for a crime I'd committed.

Really?! But you're so...

I hope you don't take this the wrong way regarding either of you, but it almost makes more sense the other way around.

I'm flattered, believe me. But no, I'm afraid it's the truth — Yusuke is the hero of this particular story, whereas I'm...well. I suppose that would make me the "villain", then.

Rest assured, I was absolutely responsible for the transgression he came after me for. But rather than simply taking me captive and bringing me to justice, Yusuke took the time to listen to my reasons for why I'd done what I'd done. It was more than I deserved, that much is for certain.

...I feel like maybe we've talked about that before. About how that's how he is under that tough guy act. But, more than that...

What makes you say hearing you out was more than what you deserved?

It's not often the duty of a law enforcement officer to hear out and even empathize with the criminal he's pursuing.

I do need to be very clear about that — not for the sake of soliciting pity, but because I want to be honest with you. It may not seem that way on the surface, but Yusuke wasn't sent against me mistakenly or in error. I was a criminal; to some degree, I still am, as I've not yet worked off my pardon.

The reason why it's so significant to me to make that clear...is because it means that the ONLY reason Yusuke could have shown me the mercy he did is because of his personal character. There was no outside incentive. And other people in his position certainly wouldn't have, but he did.

Okay. I think I understand why you're saying that, then.

[Keiko has to type for a long time before she sends her message.]

But that's just how he is. Maybe other people wouldn't have, but Yusuke doesn't care about "other people." He always goes his own way no matter what; and it gets him in a lot of trouble, but that's what so admirable about him, too. That he never stops fighting to make sure SOMEONE does the right thing for the little guy.

Can I ask you something else, to clarify what I'm trying to say? It might be a little personal.

You're right. He really is that way, isn't he?

You're welcome to ask me anything you like, Keiko. Personal or not.

Are you a demon?

...Oh. Yes, I am. Half of one, at least, at present.

It's a little complicated to explain, but — the demon you met, who called himself Youko, is who I was when I was a full demon. You could say that in a sense, I'm a "reincarnation" of that demon...except that he never actually died, but rather fused his soul with that of the human Shuichi Minamino to form...me.

[Is that normal? Keiko has no idea whether or not that's normal. Okay, Kurama, you do you.]

Oh, I see. If you're part human, too, then maybe this won't be so hard for you to understand.

I realize it might be kind of weird to call a demon criminal "the little guy," but I don't mean it like I think you're weak or that you had to be in a position of weakness to deserve his time of day. But...well, let's say Yusuke's work really is something like a student internship. If what he was doing felt like teachers or bosses yelling orders down at him, he'd already want to tell them to shove it. He hasn't had too many good experiences with people trying to tell him what to do.

So then, if his bosses are already the bad guys, what would that make you? Dangerous criminal or not, I think...Yusuke probably saw the two of you on the same side against them. Two people getting put down by "the man," if you know what I mean - just placed in opposing roles by happenstance.

A lot of our teachers treat Yusuke like a criminal, you know, because he mouths off and cuts class and gets in fights all the time. And the other students think he's scary, even though they've never even talked to him. They look down on him and tell stories behind his back. And...even I assume the worst sometimes, though I of all people should know better.

That's why...I think he really wanted to give you the chance to talk. Because he knows what it's like when people don't listen.

Edited (I'm so sorry Alex these are all cosmetic edits. Cosmedits. Oh my GOD I SWEAR I'M DONE.) 2017-04-20 20:39 (UTC)

...

His bosses are not the saints they make themselves out to be, I can certainly tell you that much. I'm hardly one to talk about sainthood myself, of course, but...

Well. Regardless of all that, I recall telling Yusuke recently that it didn't surprise me to hear that I'd ended up fighting in the Dark Tournament on his team, because I'd follow him into hell without hesitation. But the truth of the matter is, I'd just as soon run through hell alone, barefoot and blindfolded, if it meant that he wouldn't have to. Because I believe that I've seen who he is beyond all those easy assumptions, and the person he is beneath them...is worth that depth of devotion.

It infuriates me to hear that so many people in his life have treated him in the way you're describing. But I'm not the only one, am I? It bothers you, too — more than you let on.

Heh. I should probably let on more, then.

People were still saying horrible things about him at his WAKE, Kurama. While his mother was in there, crying.

Edited (You'd think a religious professional would remember the difference between a funeral and a wake) 2017-04-20 21:05 (UTC)

...I don't suppose you have names.

And possibly last known locations.

Um. You're joking, right? Ha ha.

Yes, of course.

[NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST]

That's terrible to hear, though. What did his mother say about it? Did she overhear them?

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