All For the Love of You
chapter 6
by Manille
Saikaku loves me?
I asked that myself over and over, but I knew the answer. It was definite.
Or maybe he just scrawled it as a joke?
But thinking about the events…the way Ryutaro told us that we’re like a couple…what if Saikaku had told Ryutaro that he likes me? And does that mean Saikaku hated Ryutaro because he was…what, jealous?
When can I tell you this? the note had said.
Maybe when I’m over my crush?
Was that why Saikaku was so happy?
I heard the phone ring. After three rings, it stopped.
That could mean one thing: my parents were home. Either Kaasan or Toosan had answered the phone.
I glanced at the wall clock. Six. I was home early, and I had done nothing but think about Saikaku.
Home again, school again, home again. It seemed as if my life was very monotonous.
"Misako-chan! Saikaku’s on the line!"
I buried myself under my blanket. Should Kaasan find me here, she’ll tell Saikaku that I’m asleep.
I heard a few knocks on my door. Then it clicked open.
A while later, "Saikaku, she’s asleep. I’ll tell her to call you up later, okay? Bye."
A few minutes later, I got out of bed and headed downstairs. I found Kaasan lying on the sofa, her legs propped up on Toosan’s lap. He was massaging her calves.
"Konban wa, Misako," Kaasan greeted. "Saikaku called just a while ago."
"Oh?" I asked nonchalantly. "What did he say?"
She shrugged. "He just wanted to talk to you."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Nope."
Good.
I looked at Toosan. "So…why massage Kaasan’s calves?"
"It helps in the blood flow," he replied. Kaasan rolled her eyes and trained them on Toosan.
How sweet.
The doorbell rang. Half-afraid that it would be Saikaku, I answered he door.
A tall, handsome man stood on the doorway. But strangely, a headband covered his forehead, like Hiei-san’s. (Hiei-san is one of Toosan’s old friends—he’s short and most of the time wears black or white, but he sure is solemn.) The man’s eyes—they were hazel—reminded me of Ryutaro’s. Actually, he looked a lot like Ryutaro, but he was more…sophisticated.
But I haven’t seen this man before.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Is this the home of Urameshi Yusuke?" he said. His high-pitched voice surprised me, for such a dignified look.
"Um, yes…I’ll call him. Please come in." I stepped back, bowing politely.
"Thank you." He removed his shoes and went in. "You must be Misako, his daughter."
"Yes, I’m Misako," I told him.
"Wow. He must be a very proud father."
I smiled. "Wait till Kaasan delivers her baby."
"Oh, your mother is pregnant…I almost forgot."
Wait. Almost forgot. So he knew.
How?
When he got closer to me, I felt strange. About this man. It was as if he gave off an aura or something.
"Toosan! Someone wants to see you," I told him when we got to the den. My parents had stood up.
Their eyes widened in recognition. "Koenma? Is that really you?" Toosan exclaimed.
"Why, Urameshi Yusuke, you baka!"
My mouth agape, I stared onto these two men shaking hands and slapping backs. Koenma? Nope, hadn’t heard of the name before. But even Kaasan seemed delighted.
"Oh, your daughter seems disoriented," Koenma told Yusuke.
Yusuke snickered, walking up to me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "Sorry, Misako-chan. Koenma, this is Misako. Misako, Koenma, an old friend. We haven’t seen him for some time."
"Some time? It’s been more than ten years!"
More than ten years? How strange! How did he know that Kaasan was pregnant?
Now they were whispering to each other. Kaasan leaned over to me. "Misako-chan, I think you should go upstairs now. We have something important to discuss."
"Oh, okay." Trying to comprehend who the man really was, or what was going on, I walked upstairs.
"Your daughter is very lovely, Keiko," I heard Koenma-san say. I flushed, thankful that no one could see.
"She’s very much like Yusuke."
The three laughed. "As rowdy as Yusuke?" Koenma-san asked.
"Sometimes."
I heard Koenma-san chuckle. "Actually, Yusuke, she’s a lot more like you than you can imagine."
The conversation sounded interesting enough.
I continued to ascend the stairs, but I stopped at the top. I strained my ear to hear what they were saying.
They sounded serious now.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying. All I could make out were: "Rei…home…Misako…fainted…Saikaku…home…."
That was enough to know what Koenma-san was trying to tell them.
Though I didn’t know how ‘rei’ got into the conversation, I knew.
He was talking about the fireball.
How the hell did he know? And what would my parents say? What did Koenma know about the fireball?
"Koenma…what are you trying to imply here?" It was Toosan.
"It was just to warn you, Yusuke. Don’t let her use the rei gan except on special circumstances. She fainted when she first tried it, although it was accidental. She didn’t know—she was fooling around."
"But…how did she get it?"
"You have the rei ki too, Yusuke. And your children can inherit it, too, much like the youkai inheritance. Remember what Raizen had told you?"
"So…my daughter has a youkai blood, too?"
"Well…yes, actually. But it wouldn’t show until many generations afterwards, like what happened to you."
"But what about the rei gan? It is rei gan, isn’t it?"
"Yes."
"How did she get it?"
"Inheritance."
"But…Genkai-baasan’s rei-kou-hadou-ken…it’s inside me. Misako can’t inherit that."
"But your power is not only Genkai’s. When I first taught you how to manipulate the rei gan, no one gave you the ki. It was yours."
What in the world are they talking about?! Rei gan? Youkai? What inheritance?
"Koenma…you want her to be a Reikai tantei, don’t you?"
Silence.
"Don’t you?!"
"Yusuke!" It was Kaasan. "Please! Calm down!"
"Yusuke…Keiko…i-if you don’t want to, then of course not. Well…yes, I wanted to ask, but…with your permission."
Reikai tantei. It didn’t give a ring.
"Of course I wouldn’t let her, Koenma!"
"Yusuke, calm down!"
"Why? You want our daughter to get killed, too?"
"No, Yusuke! You know I don’t want to!" Kaasan’s voice was tearful. "I almost lost you many times…all those times I’ve spent worrying about you! It had affected me very much! Now do you think I’d want my daughter to put her life in danger? I love both of you!"
My legs wanted me to carry myself downstairs, but my head prevented me too. I knew those three would explode if I do.
I’d just pretend that I didn’t hear anything.
But this was serious. Toosan and Kaasan were shouting at each other.
Not exactly like the picture on their album.
"Maybe…maybe we should ask her first."
"Even if she agrees, I wouldn’t let her," Toosan said firmly.
"Don’t you want to ask her, Yusuke?"
Silence again.
"Damn it, Koenma. If it wasn’t for this damned Reikai tantei thing, I’d be living a fairly normal life with my family."
This was downright spooky. I was supposed to get killed. All because of the fireball. No, the rei gan. Spiritual gun. Ki that I inherited from Toosan.
I looked at my index finger, the one where the fireball came out.
"Misako?" A deep voice.
Uh-oh.
"So you heard everything, huh?"
Toosan’s hair was tousled, like he had been worrying over something. Worrying about me.
"Well…yeah, I have."
"Hmm."
He sat on the uppermost step of the stairs, motioning for me to sit down with him. I did.
We were silent for a while.
I longed to ask so many questions…about his past. What was it about and acquiring the rei gan and being a youkai?
"Toosan…what is this all about?"
Toosan looked at me. His brown eyes were intense, almost boring a hole through my head. They scared the hell out of me.
Then he sighed. "Misako…I don’t want to lose you."
I felt tears shot up my eyes. "Toosan…I know that."
"Misako-chan, I was a Reikai tantei when I was your age," he explained softly. He looked far away, a lot like Kaasan’s look just yesterday. "And yes, your mother almost lost me…lots of times. I fought off all kinds of monsters, demons and spirits, I sealed a hole that connected the Ningenkai and the Makai, I went to the Makai to find my ancestors, and I went through two exhausting tournaments. And I died twice, you know."
"Died…twice?"
"Yes. One was when I saved a little boy from being hit by a car. Koenma—he reincarnated me—"
"Wait, Toosan. Who is Koenma-san, anyway?"
"Koenma Daiou is the Crown Prince of the Reikai," Toosan explained matter-of-factly.
"What?!"
"Prince of Reikai," Toosan repeated. "My death was just an accident, and it was never expected, not even by Koenma himself. So he reincarnated me. I lived again, thanks to your mother for kissing me. Then he made me into a Reikai tantei. And there, it started a very long adventure to me."
"But…when was the second time you died?"
"It was fighting against a man named Sensui. He was very powerful…he killed me. Then I revived again. It’s because I have another heart…a youkai heart." He put a hand over his chest. "I’m not fully human," he said solemnly.
I kept quiet. I ached to ask for more questions, but I kept quiet.
"I never thought you’d inherit the rei gan, Misako. I knew you’d inherit the youkai blood, but you would never be a youkai. Maybe one of your great grandchildren will, someday, God forbid. Your mother and I had talked about it. But I didn’t know about the rei gan."
"So…like me, you can fire a rei gan right now?"
Toosan shook his head. "No, Misako-chan. I’ve never used my rei gan for…what, fifteen years? Sixteen? When I came back from the Makai after three years, I reunited with your mother again…and from then on, I resolved to live a normal human life. And I haven’t used my rei gan since. The power is still inside me, but…when I use it now, it could mean the end of my life."
"What…what do you mean?"
"My powers have been dormant for years. And if I suddenly use them, I’ll be getting all the energy there is in me…and I’ll die." He took my hand and squeezed it. "You almost died, Misako, you know that?"
"I…I did?" I choked out.
"Yes. When you blasted that wall. I saw that wall—but I never thought you were the culprit."
"How…why did I almost die?"
"You almost consumed all your energy. You concentrated too much. That rei gan was too big for a first timer. It takes time to create a rei gan as big as that."
I exhaled. I almost died. I thought I had just fainted, for it wasn’t a big deal…was it? I felt dizzy for one day, that was all. I had tried to forget about it. But I didn’t know that it was a matter of life and death.
Then Koenma, the Crown Prince of Reikai, just comes and tells us that I have spiritual powers, like my Toosan’s. And he asks us if I can be a Reikai tantei.
"Toosan, what does a Reikai tantei do…particularly?"
"Solve missions…save the weak…save the world…help restore the peace in the three worlds," he replied. "Okay, I admit, it feels great to save others, but it’s too dangerous and many ideas will come into you that just might drive you nuts." He squeezed my hand tighter. "And you’re a girl. A woman, I mean. A young woman."
I kept quiet, too absorbed in my thoughts.
I wanted to try, I realized.
But Toosan had died…twice.
And I couldn’t reincarnate if I die. There’s no guarantee that Koenma-san would reincarnate me. And I don’t have the youkai heart.
If I die, it would be…forever. I would die because being a Reikai tantei was my choice.
I understood Toosan and Kaasan for not letting me go. And besides….
Saikaku’s image appeared in my mind.