All For the Love of You
prologue
by Manille
The night sky was enchanting, magical. A full moon hung over the starry glory of the heavens. The stars were like a million eyes winking down on earth, sending a smile on the lips of the man gazing at them by his window.
"A lovely night, isn’t it?"
Urameshi Yusuke turned around to look at the woman sitting on the king-size bed. "Hai. Care to join me?" he asked.
The woman, brown-eyed and beautiful, stood up and walked towards Yusuke, twisting her long hair and coiling it into a bun at the back of her head. She held it with a hair claw. She stood beside him, her back turned towards him, and watched the stars as well.
Yusuke wrapped his arms around his wife and buried his face in her shoulder. Inhaling deeply, he asked, "So how is it?"
"What?"
"The baby, Keiko." Slowly, Yusuke ran a hand across Keiko’s bulging belly.
Keiko chuckled a little, holding Yusuke’s hand. "It’s kicking real hard," she breathed.
"A boy or a girl?" he asked teasingly.
"A girl," Keiko replied, smiling.
"I wish it’s a boy. We already have a girl."
"But I want another."
"Keiko…."
Keiko giggled softly. She kissed Yusuke on the cheek. "Let’s just wait, okay? Whatever it is, we should be glad."
"Of course. Four months," Yusuke whispered huskily, planting a kiss on her neck. "Four months, sweetheart."
"Yes."
Yusuke turned Keiko around, putting his hands on either side of her head. He looked into her wide eyes, the color of chestnut, but the shine of a million diamonds. They were the very same eyes that had stared back at him for so many years now.
But everytime he looked at them, they brought a new sensation down his heart, feeling as if it were the first time she looked back at him.
Slowly, carefully, he closed his eyes and brought his lips closer to hers.
"O-TOOSAN!!!"
Yusuke and Keiko sprang apart, eyes wide, just in time to see the door to their bedroom fly open. A girl in her early teens stood on the doorway, her hand still on the doorknob, the other inefficiently carrying a pile of clothing.
The couple looked at each other and grinned. "What is it, Misako-chan?" Keiko asked softly.
"O-kaasan, you put Toosan’s clothes in my closet again!" Misako whined.
"Oh." Keiko chuckled, sauntering over to her daughter of fourteen. She took the clothes from her. "I’m sorry."
"It’s okay," Misako assured her, smiling. "I just got a bit…disturbed lately because Toosan’s undergarments are included in that pile."
Keiko’s already-wide eyes widened even more. She flushed, turning her head towards Yusuke. Yusuke looked back at her, his eyes questioning as well.
"Well, I guess I’d better hurry off to bed now," Misako said politely. "Good night."
"Um, yes, good night, honey," Keiko said, leading Misako out of the room. With a last smile, she closed the door.
"Wow," Yusuke mumbled. He took off his wire-rimmed spectacles—yes, he wore eyeglasses now—and wiped it on the sleeve of his robe. "So are my underwear that upsetting?"
"Baka," Keiko joked, but her eyes were…somewhat wistful? "Yusuke, our child…she’s growing up."
"Yeah…I’ve noticed," he replied, pushing his glasses back on his nose.
Keiko sighed dramatically. "Oh, don’t you get it, Yusuke? She’s fourteen now. She’s a teenager."
"I know."
"And…she’s really…."
"Maturing?"
"No, more than that."
"What can be more than that?"
Keiko rolled her eyes. "Dear, Misako had been an adolescent for about two years now. But…take a look at her…now. It’s like…."
Yusuke looked at her, waiting for an answer.
"It’s like…."
"She’s…slowly moving away from us…?"
Keiko raised his eyes towards her husband’s. They gazed at each other for a long moment.
Keiko broke the silence with another sigh. "Is it like that, Yusuke?"
Yusuke shook his head. "I know Misako won’t just be independent all of a sudden."
"But…she will go away sometime, won’t she?"
"Well…that’s a fact of life, isn’t it?"
Keiko looked away.
Yusuke walked towards her. "Keiko…look at me."
Keiko didn’t move.
"Keiko, please?"
Yusuke saw her eyes shimmering with tears as she gazed at him. Pity filled his heart. He stretched his arms put and embraced her tightly.
Keiko began to cry in his arms. She held him tightly.
"Yusuke…."
"Keiko, it’s all right," Yusuke whispered in her ear. "Come on, dear. This is bound to happen."
"But she’s all…so grown-up now."
"Aren’t you proud?"
She chuckled bitterly. "Of course I’m proud of her, Yusuke. You…you and I have taken care of her ever since time knows."
"But you can’t bear that thought that she’d someday move away."
"Yes…you read me very well, Yusuke."
"Of course I do. You’re my wife."
Another tear fell from Keiko’s eyes and into Yusuke’s robe.
"Keiko…someday, you’ll understand. We will understand."
Keiko closed her eyes. Behind them, she saw the tall, lithesome figure of the girl Misako, her beautiful daughter. Misako looked very much like her, except that her hair was jet black, like that of Yusuke. She loved studying—in fact, she was a consistent honor student in the junior high school where she studied—yet she got her father’s fieriness and passion. She barely hung out with girls—"They brush their hair too much", she often says—and her best friend is a boy, her childhood friend.
But still, she grew up…to be a girl.
"Keiko, honey, it was just my stupid underwear."
A smile touched Keiko’s lips slowly.
"Don’t break your heart about it."
Keiko giggled, a sweet sound coming from her throat, like that of the spring breeze.
"She’s only fourteen. Look, I understand how you feel, but Misako’s still going to be with us for so many years." He caressed her belly again. "Besides, we have another one."
"Oh, Yusuke…."
She felt Yusuke’s lips on the back of her ear. "We’re going to be okay."
Keiko leaned away from Yusuke. He always loved to kiss her ear, but it was her most ticklish spot. "Stop it, Yusuke," she chided.
She heard Yusuke snicker. "I love you, Keiko."
"Yusuke…."