More Than Friends 
chapter 10
Manille

"YUSUKE!!!"

"No, no, no, no!" Keiko screamed. "Yusuke, wake up! You’re not dead! You won the Ankoku Bujutsukai! You defeated Toguro Ototo! You’re not the type who gets killed by someone like Okada!"

The feel of Yusuke’s lips grazing hers still crept on her lips. Would she ever feel it again? Will she ever…?

"Yusuke, you couldn’t die! You can’t! What…what about me?"

"I’ll tell you what’s going to happen to you!" Okada’s voice suddenly boomed over Keiko.

She looked up, inflamed more than ever. This man…he killed Yusuke. Trembling with anger, she lay Yusuke down carefully on the ground and stood up.

"How could you!" Keiko threw her fists forcefully on Okada’s chest. "How could you do this to me? To Yusuke?"

"How? You broke the pact, Keiko! You swore to leave Yusuke forever!" Okada’s voice was challenging, more overpowering than Keiko’s.

"You know that I can’t do that…I love Yusuke…why are you doing this? Why? Why?"

Okada didn’t answer.

"WHY?!" Keiko screamed at the top of her lungs, tears falling from her eyes once more. She grabbed hold of Okada’s white shirt and shook him with all her might. Yusuke’s blood stained their clothes.

Still, Okada kept his face as hard as a rock.

"This is a joke, a complete joke, Takashi!" Keiko hollered. "Whatever you do to me, you can’t change my feelings! I love Yusuke and I always will!"

A sharp pain sprang on Keiko’s sensitive cheeks as she received a hit from Okada. She fell backwards, landing on her bottom.

The pain from Okada’s heavy hands was unbearable. She could barely stand up.

"Repeat that again, Keiko!" Okada shouted challengingly.

"I love Yusuke!" Keiko reiterated. And she believed in what she said completely and wholeheartedly. "And I don’t love you!"

Okada reached out and pulled her short brown hair upwards. Keiko yelped in pain. Yet she couldn’t stand up to prevent Okada from hurting her scalp.

Okada pushed her backwards. Keiko landed on her elbows. She gritted in pain as she felt fresh wounds open on the skin of her arms.

Yet despite the pain, only one name remained in her mind. Yusuke. He’s dead now.

Right then and there, she wanted to die with Yusuke. She couldn’t move a joint. Slowly, she felt herself lie on the ground and close her eyes.

She saw Yusuke’s hand over her, telling her to come with him. His dark eyes was shining, he was smiling ever so sweetly and lovingly to her. Keiko reached upward to reach for his hand, but she felt nothing but air.

Keiko squinted and opened her eyes once again.

"Yusuke…" she mouthed.

But he wasn’t there.

Then Keiko seemed to regain her strength. A new kind of energy surged through her body. It seemed that she herself had spiritual powers. Could it be Yusuke?

Keiko pulled herself up.

"You are not going to get away from me, Yukimura Keiko!" Okada shouted. "You are mine!"

I’ve got to be strong, Keiko told herself. I’ve got to be strong for Yusuke. It was the most coherent thought she had for the past few minutes. He’s helping me…right now…

She crawled on her back, backwards. She eyed Okada, who was following her very slowly and slyly.

Then she stopped. Her hands searched the ground for something.

Come closer, Okada, she thought, smiling to herself. Just a little more…

Okada was about a meter close to her.

With a scream, Keiko reached for the thing behind her and hurled her arms towards Okada. A rock size of half of a hollow block came flying from her hands. It hit Okada squarely on the left cheek.

Okada cried out in pain as blood came out flowing from his face. Keiko herself couldn’t believe she had done it.

She looked at her shaking bloodstained hands.

She held her breath as she waited for Okada’s reaction.

Okada smiled and looked at her. "That was a pretty nice hit, Keiko."

Keiko almost fainted.

Okada stepped closer and grabbed hold of Keiko’s hair again. "Do you really think you could kill me with that? Remember, Keiko, I killed Urameshi Yusuke! And I could always kill another person easily!"

"Then do it to me!" Keiko challenged. "Kill me! What are you waiting for?"

Bam! A loud blast a few meters away from them distracted them both. Part of the dark alley near Keiko’s house was blasted to bits.

Alarmed, Keiko looked at Yusuke’s direction.

He stood there, ready to fire his rei gan.

"Yusuke…!"

"You’re alive?!" Okada exclaimed, very flabbergasted as well. "I’ve killed you!"

"Whatever you say, Okada," Yusuke shouted, smiling triumphantly and puffing out his chest. "You can’t defeat me! I’m the great Urameshi Yusuke, champion of the Ankoku Bujutsukai!"

Keiko found herself standing up on her feet, which were numb a few minutes ago, and ran towards Yusuke. Shouting with glee exaggeratedly, she threw her arms around his shoulders blissfully and hugged him closely.

"Yusuke, I don’t know what I’d do without you…" she whispered on his chest.

Keiko felt Yusuke embrace her back. "Do you really think I had died?" Yusuke asked.

"I was so scared…"

"Keiko, I’ll never leave you," he murmured, burying his lips on her hair. Keiko felt him inhale deeply.

"What happened to your back?"

"Well, nothing much, really," Yusuke assured her. "Narrowly hit my spine, I guess."

Keiko pulled Yusuke more closely.

"Wait, Keiko." Yusuke pulled away. "There’s a battle I have to finish."

Keiko looked at him. Yusuke was looking straight at Okada. She had completely forgotten about him.

"Stay back."

Keiko followed Yusuke’s order.

She watched Yusuke advance towards Okada. "How could you do that to her?" he said gravely. "Didn’t I tell you you’re going to pay?"

"If you can make me," Okada replied coolly.

Keiko swallowed. Seeing that a fight was about to take place, she hid in an alley. Pu flew towards her.

"Pu, where have you been?" she asked, but her mind was completely on Yusuke and Takashi.

Keiko looked around her. Then she realized that it was the place where it all started. Where Okada’s very threat started echoing in her mind over and over again: I’ll just have to kill Urameshi.

Yusuke…don’t disappoint me, she whispered in her heart as her hands traveled on the stinging wounds on her arms. I’m not asking you to kill him…I just want you and I to be together again.

"I saw what you did to Keiko, you baka," Yusuke said in a huff. "How could you hurt her…?"

Yusuke eyed Okada fiercely. He seemed to be not bothered at all by the gravity of the fight that was sure to happen.

"Okay, okay, Urameshi," Okada mumbled, rolling his eyes. "So I hurt my girlfriend. You don’t have to press it over and over again."

"Keiko’s not your girlfriend, damn it!" Yusuke spat angrily. His whole body shook. Out of anger that suddenly burned inside him, he sped towards Okada, his fist raised high in the air.

Okada guardedly watched Yusuke run in a very high speed to him. When Yusuke was dangerously close, he leapt up to the air.

Yusuke stopped all of a sudden. His eyes traveled around the street, concentrating.

He felt a huge amount of spiritual energy behind him. Immediately, he jumped up and avoided the spiritual energy.

As he stayed on the air, he looked down on the ground. A big ball of light exploded on the ground. Keiko’s piercing scream was heard all over the place.

Is she hurt? Yusuke asked himself, his heart beating so hard that he could hear it hammering in his ear. But he noticed the familiar brown hair inside the alley. He knew that she would be all right, God forbid.

His attention was drawn to Okada’s rei ki. It was…a rei gan. Just like his own rei ki.

But the rei gan was too powerful.

As Yusuke’s feet landed on the ground, he felt a twinge of apprehension touch his chest.

Okada used his rei gan to shoot me, Yusuke realized for the first time. But…a rei gan can’t wound!

He was too preoccupied in his thoughts that he didn’t keep an eye on his opponent. Another rei gan was coming his way—way too fast. Yusuke, alarmed, wasn’t able to evade it on time. He howled in pain as he felt a stabbing pain on his right shoulder.

He glanced at it. It was bleeding.

It can’t be, he thought.

"Well, Urameshi, have you decided to call it quits?"

"What the heck, it’s only a small wound," Yusuke replied as if he wasn’t hurt at all. But the truth was, he was hurt.

"Where the hell did you get that rei gan?" Yusuke asked Okada.

Okada laughed evilly and disturbingly. "You want to know?" he asked sarcastically.

"That’s why I’m asking," Yusuke said impatiently.

"All right," Okada said, smiling sagaciously.

Yusuke scowled, eager to learn about Okada’s powers.

"Simple. I just discovered it when I was a kid. I was just fooling around with my finger and then, light shot out of it."

Yusuke shook his head impetuously. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

Okada laughed once again. "No, of course not. Of course you won’t. But the thing is, you won’t ever believe."

"Get to the point, Okada."

Okada looked at him strangely for a second. Then in a nanosecond, Okada disappeared.

Yusuke froze. He knew that Okada was ready to attack him again. He balled his hands into fists and waited…

A slight fleeting sound to his left. Yusuke’s eyes followed a faint shadow running around him. This guy is another lightning-fast creature, Yusuke thought mindfully.

"Hai!" Yusuke suddenly leapt up and disappeared out of nowhere. Where he had stood suddenly exploded. Yusuke breathed a sigh of relief.

"Urameshi, where are you?!"

Hah! I’m right above you! Yusuke thought triumphantly. He lowered his index finger towards Okada’s figure on the ground and fired.

He was right on target. His rei gan hit Okada squarely on the abdomen. Okada slid uncontrollably towards Keiko’s house and collided with a wall amidst a cloud of dust.

Yusuke went down on the ground. Then a menacing thought occurred to him:

He couldn’t kill a human.

He can kill a human, but his conscience forbids him.

He is a human too, after all.

For the first time during the fight, Yusuke felt fear grab his throat. No. You couldn’t have killed him, he told himself. He looked at his hands.

The hands that killed a human.

"Okada!" Yusuke suddenly yelled nervously. "Takashi—where are you?"

There was no answer.

Yusuke gulped. Will he be thrown into prison for killing a fellow ningen? He didn’t want to kill anybody! Never!

Out of nowhere, Yusuke felt another strong spiritual power coming towards him. But it was too late again. The force on his back threw him forward, flying on air. He tumbled many times as he reached the ground.

His strength suddenly seemed drained from inside of him because of the impact of Okada’s rei gan. He lay on the ground on his back, breathing hard. He gritted in pain as blood spat out of his mouth. Okada was just like Toguro! Even more powerful!

"I got you again, Urameshi!" Okada shouted and guffawed wickedly.

Yusuke raised his head up, but it fell back down. I couldn’t stand up, he realized. After another attempt to stand up, he closed his eyes…and waited…as if he had lost all hope.

It was too quiet except for the rustling of the wind.

Yusuke heard Okada say something, but he was too enervated to hear him. A bunch of incoherent words jumbled inside his brain.

He heard Okada’s evil laughter once more.

Then he heard a scream. A woman’s long, frightened shriek.

"K-Keiko." The words formed on his lips but no sound came out.

She was screaming, as if she was in the other end of a long, dark tunnel. He couldn’t make out the words. There was an echo inside his head, another…

"Yusuke…Yusuke!"

Slowly, painfully, Yusuke forced his legs to cooperate. His feet set down firmly on the ground and his legs straightened up. He limped towards the alley where Keiko was.

"Okada!" he shouted, though his vision was still blurry. "Okada—what are you doing to Keiko?!"

"Don’t worry, she’s having fun!"

Another scream was heard in the air.

Almost immediately, Yusuke’s vision cleared. Okada was holding Keiko by the shoulders.

Yusuke saw Okada grab Keiko’s neck and bite it. Yusuke was paralyzed in shock.

Keiko screamed as Okada tried to open her periwinkle vest. She was in a trap; she couldn’t make a move to stop him. It bore a hole through Yusuke’s mind, to his heart. His mind froze.

Okada was on the verge of molesting her.

"NOOO!!!" Yusuke clamored, his body gaining energy all of a sudden. He ran towards Okada and Keiko. With all his might, Yusuke pulled an overwhelmed Okada off Keiko and swung him midair.

"Aaahhh!" With a bellow, Yusuke threw Okada forcefully. Okada landed on the street. Yusuke followed him.

"You are going to pay, Okada!" Yusuke yelled, his eyes glowing. Light radiated from his fist as he did his best to control his powers.

Okada was too weak to stand up. That amount of physical energy was too much for him.

"Urameshi!" Yusuke heard a voice from behind. A short creature in black was racing towards him. Behind Hiei were Kuwabara and Kurama.

"Stay away from this, you three!" Yusuke yelled. "This fight is mine!"

"You’re overly confident, Urameshi."

Yusuke looked down on Okada. He was slowly standing up.

"What are you saying?"

"Hah." Okada sneered. "You can’t defeat me, you know. I’m much more powerful than you think."

Yusuke raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I’m a descendant of a powerful youko, Urameshi," Okada finally explained as Yusuke listened intently.

"Really," Yusuke said coldly.

"I know you wouldn’t believe me," Okada continued. "You’ve heard about the barrier between the Ningenkai and the Makai, haven’t you?"

Yusuke nodded.

"This being once attempted to go through the barrier. Unfortunately for him, as he was about to cross it, all of his youki escaped from him because of the energy emitted by the barrier. But fortunately for me"—Okada laughed at this point—"his youki entered my body. I was just a kid then, so I didn’t know until I discovered it. That’s the reason why you can’t feel any reiki nor youki from me—get the point?"

"The barrier managed to make it unfelt by those who have spiritual tendencies," Yusuke stated.

"Good!"

"So why are you telling me this?"

Okada was now standing straight with eyes throwing daggers at Yusuke’s. "So that you’ll know before you die."

Yusuke walked around him. Okada followed.

"You think you could kill me, huh?" Yusuke asked.

Okada kept his gaze at him.

Another round was on.

Yusuke advanced towards Okada and tried to punch him. Okada easily avoided it. Breathing hard, Yusuke did an uppercut. His fist hit Okada squarely on the chin. Okada was thrown back.

Okada raised his finger up and fired at Yusuke. Yusuke mindfully fired his own rei gan towards the incoming one. The two powerful balls of energy collided in midair.

Another loud explosion shook the place. Invisible forces sent light, unfastened things flying on air. Even Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei and Keiko had to hold fast to each other to prevent themselves from being pushed away. With tears of fear streaming down her face, Keiko screamed, hugging Pu protectively.

Okada remained standing on the ground, dust swirling around him. His eyes traveled around the place. Yusuke was nowhere to be seen.

"Urameshi! Where are you?! Come here and fight with me!"

Silence.

"Urameshi!!!"

"W-where is he?" mumbled Kuwabara worriedly. He scowled, trying to make out Yusuke’s figure in the middle of the cloud of dust that surrounded them.

"I’m trying to look for him," Kurama said. "But if he’s not all right, then we all know what to do."

Hiei’s third eye on his forehead, or his jagan, glowed behind his white headband as he searched for Yusuke.

"Hiei?" Keiko asked timidly.

"Yusuke…" Hiei muttered. "He is—"

"Aaahhh!!!" Yusuke came out of Okada’s side, his fist glowing and his eyes wide and frightening. With another bellow, and with all his might, he prepared to box a startled Okada on his gut.

"Yusuke! Don’t kill him!!!"

Yusuke’s intended punch suddenly loosened, but his fist hit Okada. The strength sent Okada propelling through the air headfirst towards the wall of Keiko’s house.

A loud crash. Debris lay on where Okada should have been.

Yusuke exhaled sharply. Is it over? he thought.

He knew that he didn’t kill Okada. He could have, but when Keiko squealed, he didn’t punch as hard as he intended to. He gained control of the fact that Okada is still a human, despite his youki.

But was it over?

Minutes passed like years. Then, slowly, the rumble near Keiko’s house began to move.

"U-Urameshi…" Yusuke heard Okada’s tight, defeated voice. Okada raised his head up and clawed through the air as if Yusuke was right above him. "You…won…."

Then, after a breathless second, Okada sighed and fell back down.

Yusuke’s lips curved upwards. He stumbled towards Okada, who lay down among rocks.

"You’re lucky I didn’t kill you," Yusuke said hoarsely. "But if you do anything to Keiko again, I swear I’m not going to let you get away."

Yusuke turned around and looked for the others.

"Yusuke…"

Yusuke turned to Keiko’s soft voice. She stood there in front of Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama, with Pu hovering above her.

Her slender body was trembling slightly. A hand covered her chest. Wisps of her short brown hair flew with the breeze. She looked at him quizzically, anxiously.

Yusuke smiled at her weakly, but his brown eyes shone with assurance.

Then his knees gave way. He fell to the ground with a thud. But even as he closed his tired eyes, images of Yukimura Keiko remained on his mind

 
 
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