There was a light somewhere, there always was.  This time it was framed in the end of a tunnel, a beacon of light calling out to him, seducing him with it's lumiscent glow.  It was like a ball of liquid, alive and throbbing beneath his hands, it's watery film reacting to his presence.

        His hands passed the surface, probing deeper and deeper, reaching in for that entity.  An overwhelming sense of pain washed over him, pushing him into the light, passing empty hallways and corridors of emotions, all the while caught in a whirlwind of confusion, forcing him to it's core.  But in the b\cebter of it all, he found only silence.

        ...Silence...
            ...utter...profound...encompassing...
                ...a solitude...a retreat...an escape...
                    ...yet he had never felt more alone...

        Eugene's eyes flew open, immediately searching for the light.  Instead his eyes met darkness, and the imposing figures of an unfammilair room.  He longed for another's touch, but when he turned he saw the space next to him vacated, leaving only a warmth he had long since come to value.

        "Keiko?"

        His voice sliced through the silence of the night, making the alarm in his voice more pronounced.

        "I'm here, Eugene"

        A slight, billowing form stood from across the room, illuminated by the street light outside the window.

        "What are you doing up?" he yawned, sitting upright "Come back to bed"

        Her back was towards him, revealing only parts of her delicate features.  Her hair was drawn up at the nape, showing the graceful curve of her neck, gliding all the way down to the slim body hidden underneaththe ethereal pink night shirt.

        For a moment he thought he had beeb staring at a ghost, a spirit that had come to haunt him...  There was something about that pose, that structure of elegance and strength that drew a certain emotion from within him, something too great for words, yet so fragile that he seemed threatened by it's vulnerability.

        "I...I couldn't sleep" she murmured, not facing him

        The street beneath her apartment window was deserted, devoid of life.  It had rained that day, and the wet cobblestones shone underneath the lamp.  She lifted her gaze from the street and came face to face with her reflection on the window glass.

        It was a day very much like this one, when he chose to say goodbye a second time.  She remembered that it had also rained that day, large tears falling from the gray heavens.  Perhaps it had been for her, for her own tears, and for the grief that soon followed.

        A pair of arms suddenly came up behind her, fingers locking on her waist.  She laid her head back on Yusuke's chest, feeling his heart pulse in a series of irregular beats.

        "What are you thiningof?" he asked, resting his chinon top if her head

        "I don't know, something"  avoiding the subject that had been playing in her mind "A lot of things"

        There was a slight pause, then Eugene heard the throb of her laughter.

        "Maybe the time whete you fell in the pond?  Or when our senior math teacher during senior year made you stand on top of your desk!"

        It had been a nice try, but the wieght of unresolved feelings hung in the room,  making it impossible for him to ignore.

        The years of separation had been hard for them both, but more so for her.  The mere month he had spent on Makai amounted to nearly three years in their time.  They had been 17 when they last met, and now they were adults of 20, with experiences enpugh to last more than one usual lifetime.

        "It's no use, feeling sorry for leaving" she said suddenly

        He looked at her, suprised, then remembered that she knew him well enough to sense his thoughts.  His hands tightened around her, the only apology that he could offer to his life.

        "It's all in the wind, the years" she breathed "it's still around us, filling us, but we can never take it back.  We can never catch the moment, nor relive an experience.  They're all gone, existing only in our memories."

        It didn't seem fair, not right that they had to suffer that way.  Seeing her sad was the last thing that he wanted for her, and deep down he knew that she felt the suffering that dwelled inside him.

        "I wish I could promise something, promise that I'll be here, that I'll never go, but I can't.  NOw when I'm not sure" he reasoned "I don't want to hurt you"

        She was silent for a whilem letting the hurt flow through her, rage dimming her senses.  But the feel of his reassuring arms crumbled her resolve and she slowly turned around to meet his expectant eyes.

        "There's no denying that I'm hurt"she said softly "But you're here now.  You promised me tonight, and that's enough for me."

        Her eyes misted when she saw the grief mirrored in his eyes.  It was useless to stay angry at him, such a waste.  She had logned so much for him, for his presence, and now that he was here her anger and disappointment was clouded by the love that she felt.

        "It doesn't matter whether you go tomorrow, or in a few hours.  It's painful for me to see you leave, but knowing that you'll come back makes things more bearable."

        "Keiko..." he stood therem staring at her.  He didn't know what to say, he was so ixed up that it scared him to leave her.

        He had powers and gifts that raised him from the dead and supreme control over his enemies, adventures and jpurneys that could never measure up to any explorer.  Yet in the end seemed helpless,   clinging to the thing that he valued.

        He didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't very much stay.

        Because for all the power that he had, it wasn't enough to make Keiko stay.  He knew that she loved him, but for how long could she put up with this?  He feared thatone day he would come back and fine Keiko gone, lost to him, and he couldn't live with that.

        "It doesn't really matter anymore, today, or tomorrow"she murmured, laying her head against his chest.  She felt her pulse race, catching up to his own,

        And he held her, felt her, memorized her, savoring er touch and the heat she brought up to him.  Maybe tomorrow didn't matter with her, but it did with him.  Because he would always come back, always return to the light that held his very life, the only connection that he had to his soul.

        His lips grazed her forehead, then kissed away the tears in her eyes.  He wanted to take away the suffering, the grief that he might be causing her.  He knew that though he will always come back, she might never be there.

        Keiko raised her head and met his lips, trying to make every moment count and at the same time tried to ease his pain.

        Sh broke away from his embrace and stared at his.  He was crying.  The tears she felt were no longer from her own eyes, but from his grief.  And she realized for the first time how important she was to him, and she felt a sudden surge of love and admiration for Yusuke.

        Her hands reached up to trace the face of her lover, every curve, line; the feeling of his smooth skin beneath the pads of her fingers.  She brushed the oain from his eyes, soothing him, comforting him with herself.

        "Why won't you believe me"she smiled, then planted a kiss onhis lips.  A promise. "I will never leave you."

        She felt him move, felt the happiness, relief, and hope.

        "Keiko, I--"

        "Shhh"she hushed, silencing him with another kiss, then laid her head on the crook of his neck.  There seemed no need for him to say it.  It was enough, everything was enough.

        The streets were still deserted, moorning stood hours away.

        He was here,  she was here,  and they were together,  Would always be together.  No barier, port, or world could tear them apart.  Not even the fear of death, it seemed.

        "It doesn't matter"she whispered to him "It doesn't really matter"
 
 
 
 
 
 

Disclaimer!

    Yuyu Hakusho is not mine.  I didn't make the characters, and I'm not getting paid for this, so please don't sue.