Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Venom ❯ Proposals ( Chapter 7 )

Venom

by: Sakura and Badiyannu

A/N: Sakura- This chapter might get a bit confusing- it's going to start in 3rd person, and is constantly going to be changing to 1st person POV.

Badi- Yay! Last chappie! I am glad to get that over with! No one wants to read this story anyways... So, yeah- what Sakura said! Also, the ages may be a little screwed up. ^.^

~*~*~*~*~

"Why did you bring me out here, Yusuke?"

Yukina looked around at their surroundings- just forest, forest, and forest. Although, the funeral was not far away at all. Once again she glanced around before looking back at Yusuke.

"Why'd you bring me here?"

Yusuke winced at her girlish-innocence and flinched, painfully, at what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry...Yukina."

He swiftly implanted the ruby dagger into her heart.

~*~*~*~*~

What had he just done? Was stabbing Yukina supposed to be a good thing? If so, it didn't feel that way for Yusuke. He sank to his knees, the beautifully decorated dagger clutched in his hand; the Koorime girl lying in the soft grass. Kurama looked up, then put his hand on the ningen's shoulder- the others were coming their way.

Kuwabara got there first, and for the time in his life, was speechless. There laid his small friend, right under his nose, but she was unconscious. That's when he saw the silver dagger in his rival's hand. Kuwabara tried his hardest to put two and two together, and came out with an answer. Yusuke had stabbed Yukina!

Kuwabara was filled with a mixture of emotions- anger, betrayal, and most of all, hatred. "What- what did you do?!" Yusuke turned to Kuwabara, tears threatening to spill out. The smaller boy placed the dagger down besides Hiei's sibling, and stood.

Figuring he wasn't going to answer, Kurama did for him. "He had to do it. For Yukina's sake."

"We should probably finish this conversation elsewhere," Koenma said, breaking the silence.

~*~*~*~*~

"Hiei told me to stab Yukina, so that's what I did!" In the past half hour, Yusuke had become furious with Kuwabara. That stupid carrot-top didn't know what the hell he was thinking. Kurama had given up on trying to resolve any differences between the two.

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to listen to what the short guy had to say." Kuwabara pouted.

"Then you would've wanted her to die?!" Yusuke retorted. "Listen," Yusuke's voice softened, making it almost a whisper. "Hiei asked me to do this. He said that if I didn't, Yukina would die."

"She looks pretty dead from here, Urameshi." Kuwabara turned to his lover sadly.

"But she's not," Kurama interrupted. "Once she awakens, she'll forget everything about today, and Hiei being her brother."

"Stupid sanjiyan. He should've told us this stuff before!" Kuwabara's face reddened. "I don't think even he knew. I guess it was just...instinct." Kurama.

~*~*~*~*~

~KURAMA'S POV~

Back when I first met Hiei, that's all he used was instinct. He had heard of my not-so- pleasant reputation of being the most ruthless and skilled thief in Makai, and he needed my assistance. I was to help him and a demon named Gouki, break into King Enma's vault. Once, the new detective Yusuke Urameshi had cornered Hiei, the youkai had no choice, but to stab him- not that it was a hard choice to make; back then, Hiei wasn't nearly as kind as he had grown over these last months. That's when I stepped in to save Yusuke. Hiei had been overly shocked when he saw that he had sunk the Shadow Sword between my ribs. But then, he decided that if I was "betraying" him, that he would have to kill me, following Yusuke's death.

Instinct was also used when Yukina had been kidnapped; Hiei had been furious once he found out. It was supposed to be a secret mission, which only Hiei didn't know about, but just as Koenma had said, you couldn't keep anything from him for very long- eventually he was going to get suspicious. And using that brotherly instinct, he wound up at Tarukane's mansion. He managed to slip pass security, and was close to killing Tarukane for doing harm to his sister. It was Yukina who had talked Hiei into *not* killing him.

~*~*~*~*~

Yusuke sighed deeply, stood, and began walking outside into the garden. They had already made a small shrine dedicated to the fire youkai. It was decorated with small flowers and colorful paper cranes. His katana was laid in front of the shrine. Yusuke walked up, and knelt beside it.

~*~*~*~*~

~YUSUKE'S POV~

Hiei, why'd you make me do this? Couldn't you have gotten Kurama, or someone else? Do you know how hard it was for me to stab your sister? She's so innocent and well...it was hard. I can tell you that much.

"I swear Hiei, if you ever make me do anything like that again..." I looked up towards the sky. "You even made me keep it a secret from Kuwabara. You know that he loves Yukina, probably almost as much as you do. As you can already guess, he's pissed at me for not telling him sooner.

"And damn, you were strong! Yukina's a strong girl too, I wouldn't doubt it if she got her strength from you. Hiei, it's still hard to believe that you two have an allergy to the poison of a spider demon. You seemed too strong to die from that."

Before I got up to go back inside, I pulled a red flower from my jacket pocket, placing it beside Hiei's katana. "Oh wait...!" Then I pulled out three small, crystal spheres. "These gems are from Yukina."

I walked back inside, letting a few tears slide down my cheek.

~*~*~*~*~

~KUWABARA'S POV~

Damn Urameshi! I still couldn't believe that he didn't tell me he was going to stab Yukina. It would've been nice to know when my 'girlfriend' was going to die! Even though they had said that she was fine, I could tell. They were wrong and they didn't want to admit it.

I bet Botan knew about it too. Well, duh, she's Koenma's ferry girl. She always knew this kinda stuff. But I mean she could have told me- she always told me things meant to be secret... even though she never told me about Urameshi being a Spirit Detective, and the fact that she didn't say that Yukina and the shrimp were related.

It just wasn't fair! I was a Spirit guy too; I had the right to know. I'm the coolest detective too- I have a sword! And my pink bandana of love.

But then...wait. Yukina was still breathing, so could it be that... "My darling's still alive!?"

Bashfully, I turned to Kurama, the only one left in the room. "Hey, be more respectful, Kuwabara," he scolded. I heard the sliding door open, so I turned to see who it was.

It was Urameshi.

~*~*~*~*~

Keiko brushed her skirt down as she glanced at herself in the mirror. She didn't look any different. Still not gaining any pounds, thankfully.

Slowly, she reached up to the pristine bun she had tied her hair in for the funeral. She pulled off the black ribbon, gradually letting her hair fall to her shoulders. But it went just a little further. Her hair was growing out quite a bit and she wished it would grow faster. She felt boyish with her short hair.

Keiko suddenly scolded herself.

~*~*~*~*~

~KEIKO'S POV~

What was I thinking? Here I was, just back from a funeral, worrying about how I look! I frowned at myself in the mirror. The funeral was very sad and, dare I say, eventful. I have no clue whatsoever why Yusuke "stabbed" Yukina. It frightened me. Maybe he had gone mad with depression.

But I later found out the whole reason from Botan. Thank goodness for Botan. I was rather disappointed in Yusuke- why didn't he tell me this? Did he think I couldn't be trusted? Or this was one of those "Spirit Detective" things I didn't understand?

Poor Yukina. I had only spoken to her a few times, but she was a very sweet girl. She looked about my age but Yusuke told me that she was probably hundreds of years older. Although, I knew there was something between her and Hiei the whole time. I asked everyone and they shrugged me off with a "No, Keiko."

~*~*~*~*~

Yukina barely managed to crack her eyes open but she smiled, nonetheless.

"Kazuma..."

The carrot top jumped to his feet from the chair he was sitting on, next to the bed. Grinning, he took her hand gently in his.

"Yukina! You're okay! You're okay!"

"Yes," the ice apparition rasped, "I'm very fine." Then she smiled. "Although, I could use a glass of water," she added playfully.

Kuwabara was beaming with joy and he nodded, quickly. "I'll get you whatever you want!"

He dashed out of the room and Yukina could hear his faint cries of, "She's awake! She's talking! She wants some water! Get some water!"

Yukina smiled warmly. How lucky she was to have such caring friends. And family. Yusuke had told her earlier, when she had woken only for a while, that Hiei was her long-lost brother. The one she'd been looking for all this time. She was devastated that she never knew he was right here the whole while, but, deep inside, she felt happy that she'd just found out now. It was what he wanted. And if he wanted it, so did she.

Kuwabara and the others bounded into the room just in time to see Yukina daze off into unconsciousness once more, feeling happy.

~*~*~*~*~

ONE MONTH LATER~~~

~*~*~*~*~

~KEIKO'S POV~

Ding dong!

I jumped and gasped with surprise before I realized it was the doorbell. Then, I sighed deeply. I really hoped it wasn't Yusuke- I didn't feel like seeing him and I had important stuff to do.

Hurriedly, I flung open the door to my room and dashed downstairs, glancing at the kitchen for the shop on my way down. I was glad my parents weren't home.

I opened the door and smiled, relieved.

"Hello, Seisa. Come in."

"Hey, Keiko."

Seisa stepped in politely and wiped her shoes on the mat before taking them off and setting them next to the door. I smiled again- she was so courteous all the time.

She followed me up to my room and I closed the door behind us.

"Well," I glanced around nervously for no apparent reason, "what did your parents say about..."

"Umm, the test you had done?"

I thanked Seisa in my mind. I didn't want to say it. Both her parents were doctors. Not my doctors; I couldn't risk the chance of my folks finding out. Being only 17, I couldn't go choose any doctor I pleased without my parents' consult. So I turned to Seisa's mom and dad; Seisa was one of my closest friends and I knew I could trust her parents.

I nodded, unsure if I wanted to hear what she had to say. "Yes. That's what I want to know."

She averted her gaze from mine and looked down at her shoes- always a bad sign. Then she sighed, clasping her hands together, still not looking at me.

"It was positive."

~*~*~*~*~

~YUSUKE'S POV~

Hmm... Where had that bird come from? There was none around here before. I shrugged and strolled along the sidewalk towards my apartment. Yup, I said MY apartment. I was 18 now. Just turned it a week ago. But that's not the only reason it was my apartment. My mother has gotten sick. With lung cancer. I couldn't always be there to take care of her- for obvious reasons- so I talked her into staying at the hospital. She reluctantly agreed after about two hours of fighting.

So, I had to move out of the apartment, because there was no guardian there, until I turned 18. I stayed with Keiko's family but she seemed awfully distant from me. Sometimes, I'd try to sneak in a kiss when her parents weren't watching, but she'd pull away saying, "No, Yusuke, not now." This time, I stayed in the guest room. Really.

Then, a few days later, I turned 18 and I made sure my butt was outta there. For one, I was finally living on my own. Secondly, I couldn't take Keiko's rejection of me any longer. I really didn't know what in Yemma's name was wrong with her! I mean, I would think she'd be closer to me after we had... *ahem*. And she was- for awhile. But then, she just tried to avoid me. Was there something she wasn't telling me?

Hastily, my thought reverted to Yukina. She had seemed to be doing much better and she'd woken up again. Even for Kuwabara. Man, you shoulda seen his face. I was happy for him. Really.

However, a week ago, just after my birthday, she fell into a coma. Or what we think is one. We can't take her to a doctor, you know. Genkai's tending to her at the temple now.

I hope with all my heart that she gets better and wakes up. I know that sounds real sappy and all, but I mean it.

~*~*~*~*~

"...she'll go through the symptoms, you know."

"What symptoms? What are you talking about?"

"Calm yourself, Kuwabara. Just minor details to all this."

"...is she sick?"

"For awhile, it might seem like she is. In reality, she's not."

"'For awhile'? How long's that?"

"...she'll first go through a coma for 3 years, I suspect."

"3 years?! Genkai, isn't there anything you can do?!"

"...No. There's nothing I can do."

A solitary tear fell to the floor of the temple.

~*~*~*~*~

3 YEARS LATER~~~

~*~*~*~*~

YUSUKE'S POV

It's that day again. That day that three years ago, one of my closest friends passed away. I remember it clearly. I don't want to- it's just there. Every year on this day, I think about him. I wish he was here insulting Kuwabara. But even Kuwabara could no longer be his cheery, idiotic self. He's too wrapped up over Yukina. She's still in that coma. That stupid, goddamned coma. I want to help her. I want her to wake up. I want to wake up from this dream that isn't a dream.

Only one thing pulls me through- her name is Keiko. After she turned 18, she moved in with me at my apartment. Her parents supported her decision greatly and have been helping us out a lot. Keiko is there every morning when I open my eyes and every night when I close them. Right next to me. I get great comfort out of this. I love her so much. I know she feels the same 'cause she tells me everyday. The only words I need to hear to make my day: "I love you, Yusuke."

My mom's still in the hospital. I visit her everyday and bring her gifts. She keeps telling me to bring her some cigarettes and a beer, but I just chuckle. She's still stubborn ol' Mom... However, as stubborn as she may be, the doctors tell me; they tell me she's not gonna make it. From last I heard, she's only got a few days. I try to keep my head up but it's hard. When she's gone, Keiko'll only love me. I'll have no other family. Except him...

A hand rest around my waist. It's her. I pull her into my half-embrace, still staring at Hiei's grave.

"Yusuke," she whispers, "as much as I hate to say this, we have to go. He's getting restless."

I finally smile for once in that day and glance over at the littlest but one of most important people in my life.

~*~*~*~*~

Yusuke set down the flowers upon Hiei's grave and stopped to read the inscription as Keiko went off to collect her belonging.

It read:

Hiei.

Wonderful companion and ever greater brother.

May he fight on in Heaven.

????-2000

"Yusuke!" Keiko's voice broke him from his reverie and he turned to find her looking frustrated. "I can't find him! Help me, please."

Yusuke chuckled lightly and shook his head. He did this all the time- went off and hide. It made Keiko a frantic mess.

Suddenly, a little boy with shaggy, chestnut brown hair and dark brown eyes popped out from behind a tree. He giggled and Yusuke winked at him.

Keiko came back, panting slightly. "I can't find him anywhere! And you're no help, Yusuke!"

The boy came running out from behind the tree and grabbed onto Keiko's leg. He looked up at her innocently.

"Mommy!"

It was one of the few words he could say but the angry brunette did not find this amusing.

"Eelii! Don't you do that again? You hear me?" She picked the child up and fixed his clothes, "When we get home, you are gonna go straight to your room until dinner."

"Eh, Keiko," Yusuke said, cleaning out his ear with one finger, "I doubt he knows what that meant."

"Oh hush!" But her face softened as she looked down at the little boy's chubby face. "Aww, I guess you don't have to go to your room. But how about we send your daddy to his room, instead?"

Yusuke's ears perked up and he glanced at Keiko. She was smirking. He smirked back as he moved closer to her, sauntering with every step. He was now pressed up against her and his son giggled.

"Yes," Keiko breathed out, looking up at Yusuke, "he needs to be punished..."

"Yup. I've been a bad boy..." He tilted his head down and sought out her lips with his. When he found them, he kissed her passionately. Eelii laughed and giggled loudly, accidentally smacking Yusuke on the head with a baby fist.

Yusuke recoiled and rubbed his head, "Man, Eelii, you sure know how to ruin the moment."

Keiko laughed and set Eelii down. He roamed around, touching Hiei's grave. He seemed to settle down and sat next to the gravestone, fondling with the flowers.

Yusuke grinned at his son. 'He's going to grow up to be big and strong like me', he thought proudly, 'and wise beyond his years like his mother...'

Speaking of Keiko, Yusuke turned to her and fumbled through his coat pocket, nervously. There was something he'd been meaning to ask her for a long time.

"Keiko," he said firmly. She looked at him and smiled. He loved that smile. She looked beautiful.

"What is it, Yusuke?"

He took one last gulp of air and pulled out the item from his pocket, kneeling.

"Will you marry me?"

~*~*~*~*~

a/n: Badi- WAI! Hope she says yes! ^. ~ *is secretly glad the story's finally over* Well, Venom is no more! Time to celebrate the completion of a story! REVIEW!!! (want a sequel?)

Sakura- I would just like to thanks all of our reviewers. You guys have been great and so patient too! We love you all!