All For the Love of You
chapter 14
by Manille
A flashback. During the time when Misako still wasn’t born.
A shorthaired Keiko stands along the sidewalks of Tokyo, waiting for Yusuke to come out of a glass-encased telephone booth. She glances at her wristwatch. "Hurry up, Yusuke," she mutters to herself as if Yusuke can hear her. "Hurry up!"
A woman, black hair and all, approaches her. "You’re Yukimura Keiko, aren’t you?" she asks.
Keiko looks up at the woman. She is gorgeous, in a sly, cunning way. Her green eyes seem to flash as she sees Keiko.
"Yes, I’m Yukimura Keiko," Keiko replies softly. But still, she feels suspicious about this character. She doesn’t know her, and she doubts that Yusuke does, either. "May I help you with anything?"
"Yes, of course." The woman smiles, showing off a perfect set of white teeth. Keiko feels strange about this woman. She is beautiful—too beautiful that Keiko feels intimidated by the stare of those eyes.
Keiko smiles back, although shyly.
"Do you happen to know a certain Urameshi Yusuke?"
Keiko feels her heart pound harder against her chest. She steps back. Now she really does feel strange. She and Yusuke have just gone from the Ankoku Bujutsukai, and this sounds as if Yusuke has another mission. But where is Botan, that blue-haired guardian of the dead? Isn’t she the one who is supposed to tell Yusuke about a mission?
No, maybe it is just a passing feeling. Seeing Yusuke almost lose his life in those matches makes her feel edgy when someone asks about him—even her girl friends.
"Y-yes, I do know him—very well." She glances uncertainly at the phone booth. The people in line are obviously feeling impatient with the time consumed by this young boy of fourteen inside the booth. Yusuke is having a heated argument with someone—probably with his mother, Atsuko, probably drunk again. "He’s that boy inside the phone booth," Keiko finishes.
The woman trains her eyes on the boy. She gazes at him for a few moments. Keiko throws a glance at her. There are those eyes again—intense, unwavering—scary, actually. They are like those of a cat’s. They’re innocent creatures, yet they stare at you as if they are is trying to take your soul out of you.
And it does look like the woman is trying to take the soul out of Yusuke’s body.
The thought makes Keiko clear her throat. "Pardon me, but may I ask if there’s anything you want from him? I can relay your message to him. I’m his best friend."
The last sentence makes the woman avert her gaze from Yusuke and turn back to Keiko. "Oh? You are?" she asks, as if it is the silliest thing in the world.
"Yes," Keiko replies, nodding.
The woman gives a laugh—one taunting laugh, more like a "Hn." She crosses her arms across her chest and walks elegantly, sexily, away, her back on Keiko. Keiko keeps her eyes fixed on the woman. "Has he…proposed to you?"
Keiko’s eyes widen. Why does this woman have to be so curious? "Well, no," she says, her voice now louder. "Why do you ask?"
"Hah! Nothing, little girl. Nothing."
What does she want? Keiko asks herself.
"Keiko? Yoo-hoo."
Keiko twists around towards Yusuke, who seems to look for her. He finds her and walks to her. "There she was again. Drunk again." He rolls his eyes and imitates his mother who was on the phone. "‘Yusuke, clean the house, will you? I have some friends to entertain in the bar….’ "
He stops when he sees the black-haired woman, her gaze fixed on him. She also makes him feel quite nervous. He looks back and forth Keiko and the woman. "Er…Keiko?"
"Yusuke…." Keiko looks back at the woman. "There seems to be…someone who wants to talk to you."
The woman’s gaze doesn’t change. She bores a hole through Yusuke with those incredible green eyes, and even Yusuke feels anxious about that gaze. "Uh…is there anything…?"
The woman does not move.
Yusuke slips his hand over Keiko’s and drags her away wordlessly.
Keiko does not stop him "Yusuke, who was that woman?" Keiko asks.
"No idea, Keiko," Yusuke says, slowing down. "She makes me feel…jittery."
"Me too," Keiko agrees. "Those eyes of hers…they look as if she’d just claw all over you."
"Yeah. Strange woman." Yusuke chuckles a bit. "But I have to say—she was one hot babe."
"Baka!" Yusuke receives a ringing slap from Keiko.
And they never thought about it again, even Keiko, who still hadn’t figured out how the woman knew about Yusuke.
"Do I know you?" Yusuke asks one month later.
"Why, of course not, Yusuke," the woman before him says. "But let me introduce myself. You can call me Ashiga."
"Ashiga," Yusuke echoes. "Ashiga-san—"
"Yusuke, you’re so silly!" Ashiga tells him, her voice dripping honey. "Don’t call me Ashiga-san. I don’t need respect…from you."
Yusuke raises an eyebrow and shoves his hands in his pockets. He looks around the dark alley, the one where Ashiga has pulled him in. "Ashiga. What are we doing here, anyway?"
Ashiga sighs dramatically, walking towards Yusuke. She bends down at the young boy, peering into his chocolate-brown eyes. "You know…you’ve got the most beautiful pair of eyes I’ve ever seen."
Yusuke’s eyebrows are raised even higher. Isn’t this woman—okay, so she is lovely and looks like a stylish teenager—a few years older than he is? This is downright weird. In her voice, she sounds like a cradle snatcher or something.
Suddenly, a pair of lips presses into his. Ashiga holds him tightly. "Kuso!" Yusuke curses, pushing the woman away before she could do anything with her tongue. "What the hell’s wrong with you?" he spits, wiping his mouth with his uniform sleeve. "Ack…please, I’ve got a girlfriend."
"Who?!" Ashiga’s voice suddenly rises. "It’s with that Yukimura Keiko, isn’t it? That silly girl whom she calls herself your best friend?!"
Yusuke’s eyes widen with surprise—and with recognition. It is the same eerie woman near the phone booth! "H-how did you know…?"
"Hah. I’ve been watching you since that idiot of a Koenma turned you into a Reikai tantei." Her voice lowers, sweet again. Sweet and sickening. "I’m so proud of you, Urameshi Yusuke."
Yusuke rolls his eyes. "Look, Ashiga-san. I don’t know what you’re after—if it’s really me or my powers or whatever. But I can’t hurt a woman, you know. So don’t tempt me into using my rei gan against you."
Ashiga-san’s eyes narrow, darkening into what resemble a cat’s eyes. They harden, they almost give Yusuke chills because of the coldness they give. They do not tear away from Yusuke.
Then, in a blink, in a flutter of her long, thick eyelashes, the cold stare disappears, clouded by a sweet smile. "Well, Yusuke. I don’t really want to tell you this since I want to see how you’d react after, but you’ve tempted me. Looks like you have to see how Keiko’s doing now with the poison I put in her glass…."
Yusuke sucks in his breath. Keiko. No. Not again!
"Damn it, Ashiga!" Yusuke flees off, leaving a laughing, cold-blooded Ashiga.
Keiko chews the end of her pencil, trying to fathom the Algebra problem laid down before her. Suddenly, she pushes the books out of her way. "I can’t understand!" she cries aloud.
Why? She always understands Algebra. But lately, all she ever thinks about is that one guy who always makes her feel this way. That hentai, baka, handsome, sweet, thoughtful guy. Urameshi Yusuke.
She reaches for the glass of water she had left on her windowsill. "How could I have left it here?" she asks herself. "Looks like I am going insane."
She lifts the rim of the glass of water up on her lips and takes a sip.
"KEIKO!!!"
The glass shatters on the floor. But Keiko doesn’t hear it. Her eyes wide with fright, she gazes at the boy who stands in her doorway, his eyes fierce.
"Y-Yusuke?"
"Damn it, did you drink from that glass?!"
"Y-yes…."
"Kuso!" Yusuke says through gritted teeth. He steps on the broken glass without any hesitation and takes her body, to keep her from stepping on any glass, carrying her towards the bathroom.
"Yusuke no baka, what the heck’s the matter with you?!"
"You’ve been poisoned, Keiko!" Yusuke shouts at her.
"What?!"
As soon as they are before the sink, Yusuke sets Keiko down. "Open your mouth!" he demands.
Keiko promptly opens her mouth.
Yusuke puts a finger inside her mouth and irritates the back of her throat. "Throw it all up, Keiko!" he tells her commandingly.
What used to be inside Keiko’s stomach suddenly goes up to her mouth. She barfs, throwing up all the food in the sink. Yusuke rubs her back roughly. Again, Keiko gives out a belching sound and vomits.
Keiko inhales and exhales, her breath coming in and out in short gasps. Yusuke turns the faucet on. Keiko scoops the water with her hands, sips it, and spits it out. Yusuke encourages her to do it again. He now calms down a little.
He wheezes. "Keiko…don’t you feel anything wrong?"
"I…" Keiko splashes water on her sweaty face. "I’m okay…thank you."
"Keiko…."
Keiko turns to him. Tears are in her eyes now. "Yusuke…." She gasps and hugs him tightly. Yusuke embraces her back, closing his eyes, letting Keiko cry it all out to him.
"Keiko, it’s okay…we’re going to forget about all this," he consoles her.
Little do they know that a black-haired woman is watching them from a distance.
"You’ll have a time with me, Urameshi Yusuke and Yukimura Keiko," she declares.