Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kokori ❯ Kokori ( One-Shot )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or any of it's characters.
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What she wanted more than anything…she could never have. And what she always had…she had never wanted. It was a twisted game, life. It could make you so full of happiness that you could choke, but then you threw it up like an anorexic that had had a Subway sandwich.

She smiled at that strange analogy as she weeded the backyard. Weeding was a dangerous thing. You let your guard down as you pulled the dreadful creatures by the roots out of their adopted homes. A huge and boring chore, but it had to be done, or else weeds would ruin her prized roses. Why was it that so many people acknowledge their favorite flowers as roses? Most people didn't even know a thing about them! There were many different species of roses for them to favor, so why didn't they say the exact type? The answer was obvious.

Kokori sighed. Why did she care? She couldn't stop people from being so predictable. "…"

She had not been careful. A thorn had pierced the skin of her thumb. Ugh…It was too humid to be weeding in the afternoon. It wasn't fair. Her mother was the one who had taken an interest in gardening. Why did Kokori have to sacrifice a Saturday to kill the enemies that threatened her beloved earth children?

As she mentally complained, the small prick that she had barely felt was bleeding. The blood left a thin trail as it streaked down her hand, then her arm. It reminded her of the time that she had cut herself with a shard of beer bottle glass. The cut had made her hurt a lot more than it had her high.

A rough hand covered the bleeding thumb with a cloth. Kokori's eyes widened. "Ah…"

"Why do you continue to do this to yourself?"

"Because I simply wish to."

"I doubt that you pricked yourself with a thorn on purpose."

"I didn't."

"Than why didn't you try to stop the bleeding?"

"...Why does it matter to you, Shuichi-san?"

Kokori stood up and pulled her hand away from the boy that came everyday around this time and watched her from the family's woods. He had never really spoken to her before. She had greeted him one day and he had lingered by her side ever since.

"I thought that was the case." He smiled slightly.

Kokori winced. Smiling meant that you were friends. She preferred not to have friends. Friends only broke your spirit and your wallet. Not that she even owned a wallet, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she didn't need or want friendship from anybody.

He used a couple fingers to reach up and brush a lock of her lightly colored hair out of her face. He acted so casual, you would've thought that he did it everyday. "…Why do you have white hair?" he asked softly.

She didn't dare make eye contact. Eye contact meant that you cared. And she didn't. Not a bit. "I could ask the same about your flaming red curls." Oh, what an angry reply.

His piercing ethereal eyes seemed to be laughing at her. She wanted them to stop. She wanted them and their owner to go away. "…I see…Kokori-san, may I ask you a question?" She was stunned. He actually knew her name? Popular boys such as him didn't know outcasts like her. They didn't know their names either.

He didn't bother to wait for an answer. "…Do you honestly feel the way you insinuate you do? Meaning, are you actually this depressed?" His face was so serious…she assumed that he wanted a reply.

Kokori managed to think of something. "…Well, what you see is what I am."

"I don't believe that for a second."

She froze up and tried not to chew on her inner cheek. It seemed that she had problems with doing that when she became angsty. What did this guy know about her? She barely knew anything about herself. " Uh…" Fantastic. Now things were awkward between them.

He finally stood up and stared into her eyes. He looked so…gentle. His long red hair framed his beautiful face that showed every emotion at once. She felt the urge to run. To run away from this place…this person. "Why are you so afraid?" he whispered.

"I don't…know…" she answered in a whisper. "P-please…leave my property Shuichi-san. And…do us both a favor and don't come back."

He frowned, and she suddenly missed the smile. "A-all right Kokori-san. Good afternoon to you." He slowly made his way out of their yard and onto the sidewalk. She quickly turned her back on him.

The roses were her "friends." They did not question her, nor did they criticize. She stared at them. They were beautiful, in their own natural way. Sort of like... Kokori wanted to cry. But what was the point? Crying wouldn't weed this yard. It wouldn't apologize to Shuichi-san. It wouldn't even…Her vision was blurred, and the hot tears rolled down her cheeks. There. It was happening. She couldn't see, the tears made her face even hotter than it all
ready was, and she felt worse. Like it mattered.

"I would say to `cry all you want on my shoulder,' but it appears that you don't appreciate the tears one bit."

Hands boxed her face. Those same hands that had covered her bleeding thumb. Those same hands that had brushed hair out of her face. Those same hands…that picked a rose and offered it to her. "You seem to enjoy roses as much as I do."

She buried herself in his open arms. He wrapped his arms around her, and it felt so…right. "Y-you…" she rubbed her face in his chest, getting the tears away. "You came back?"

He shrugged. "I sensed that you needed me."

Kokori closed her eyes, and knew that his face was getting closer and closer. "You don't even know me."

"I know you well enough to know that…I want to know you better."

And we leave this couple to do what they will, seeing the rose clutched in Shuichi's hand, knowing that Kokori has finally received what she wanted all along. Or maybe she has always had it.
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