[FFML] [yyh][ry][rewrite] Youtou Shinnoken Chapter 18: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 6)

[Abdiel]

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there
to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the
brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly
enough."

(Randy Pausch, "The Last Lecture")


_______________________________________________________________________


Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
Original concept by Chad Yang
chadjill at ms3.hinet.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel

So I bet you're wondering what has happened to Keiko Yukimura, eh? Well
then, just read on to find out.

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 18: To Protect Loved Ones (Part 6)
________________________________________________________________________



Back to the relative present, on the snowy cliff where the comatose
Keiko lay...

"Granny! I thought you said that you can't...!" Yusuke protested
halfheartedly, but his own desperate hopefulness and Genkai's assertion
of "I know what I said. But I didn't say I won't help," silenced him
just as soon as he mentioned the issue. 

Nevertheless, Kenshin objected with, "Madam, the Demon Sword has
different effects on different people. With Yusuke, it's our special
bond and my appearance as a tangible entity. With certain demons, it
increases their base power to a hundredfold or so. With Botan, it's...
complicated. Depending on who touches the sword, the consequences can
become beneficial, disastrous, or worthless to Keiko-dono's--"

But Genkai, following suit to Urameshi's precedent, had already taken
Kenshin's sword before the swordsman even realized it, throwing caution
to the wind this one time. Without so much as an "Oro?" of surprise,
the ex-rurouni winked out of existence as the old woman held up the
magic sword and started to charge up her dwindling energy using the most
basic purpose of the Youtou Shinnoken--to increase the power of its user
to unbelievable heights by any means necessary.

The power that the Demon Sword magnified inside Genkai felt like raw
lightning in her veins. Her very bones trembled as if they were pulsing
with light. She felt her body gradually change to its twenty-five-year-
old peak, the brilliant flame of her reiki bursting through every
muscle, every nerve, and every cell. 

The Spirit Wave Master let out a howl somewhere between rapture and
torment--it felt like she'd explode with her incredible power. She now
had more power than she could ever hope to contain for any length of
time without burning out, or perhaps exploding like a human bomb.

"She's going to do it! She must! There's no way we can let Keiko-chan
just die! No way!" Kuwabara cheered hoarsely as he crawled forward
military-style to get a better look at Genkai's gambit, rubbing his
hands together in solemn prayer. He'd already given up most of his
remaining strength in their earlier effort to revive the dead girl, so a
prayer to the gods was all the help he could offer now.

"You... we... all of us... didn't waste our energies in vain. At least,
I don't want it to be in vain. All we need is to focus these energies
into Keiko's dead body. There's only one way I know how that can do just
that: FIVE DAIKEN PURIFICATION!" Genkai announced as she willed the
blade of the Demon Sword to turn into a crescent light and stabbed it
straight into five different pressure points in Keiko's body.

To everyone's relief, Genkai's efforts to calm the raging ki-flow inside
Keiko's body seemed to work; the schoolgirl's complexion eventually
became rosier and livelier, and her chest starting to rise and fall in
cadence with the pulse of the Demon Sword. On the other hand, to
everyone's horror, Genkai herself started to age rapidly as she spent
all her strength to save Keiko. And it wasn't even her normal de-aging
process; she was going beyond her actual age of seventy-something, her
body becoming more wrinkled and frail as mere seconds passed.

"Don't look so shocked, everyone. Yusuke's right; I shouldn't even be
alive now. It was the Spirit World's capriciousness and need for help
and guidance that brought me back from the grave. As such, I'm going to
offer my life, this stolen youth, every last bit of my power, to
Keiko-chan!"

"What... NO! Don't do this, Genkai-baasan!" Yusuke suddenly cried out,
unsure of whether or not he should let the quickly aging martial artist
give up her second chance in life in order to save another important
person in his life.

"I told you not to act so spoiled, Yusuke!" Genkai reproved huskily as
her age suddenly doubled, her body looking more like it was more than a
century old rather than just about seventy years old. "For every action,
there's an equal and opposite reaction. You cannot gain anything without
first giving something in return. You want Keiko to live? Fine. But you
have to pay a steep price for it."

Yusuke was about to put a stop to Genkai's reckless, suicidal plan when,
out of the blue, Keiko's body itself reacted negatively to the blade of
light embedded in its chest, pushing it and Genkai away before the old
woman turned into dust and bones right then and there. The life energy
was still inside the corpse, but it... or perhaps Keiko herself...
seemed to say that, "I will not allow myself to be resurrected at the
cost of another's life. It's immoral, and I will not stand for it!"

Botan wiped the tears she couldn't help but shed off of her eyes. Was
there really no way to save Keiko Yukimura at that point? Couldn't the
ferry-girl give a good word to Koenma to somehow spare a person who, in
the Spirit World's eyes, was nothing more than collateral damage? A
victim of circumstance? This was so unfair. Keiko was just visiting
Genkai after her date with Yusuke; she had nothing to do with this
sudden attack from the Chojin's forces! She'd survived countless
encounters with demons before, so why did she have to die now?

But just as the shinigami entertained thoughts of using Spirit World
bureaucracy to help her friend out, a voice inside her mind that wasn't
Kaoru reminded, 'This is how death truly works. Out of every Yusuke,
Genkai, Toguro, and Sensui, there are thousands more who die for the
most pitiful of reasons. No amount of determination, magic, life force
manipulation, or willpower could ever save them, and now Keiko is among
their number. You of all people should know that truth, right?'

With a defeated sigh, Botan summoned her flying oar and wordlessly
prepared to make her trip down the limbo of the Dream World, intending
to finally accomplish her foremost duty as a shinigami of the Reikai.
"That's enough, Yusuke. You've... had your chance." 

"No... NO! I can't... I won't... Please. Dammit, please."

"Yusuke..."

Yusuke perked up, thinking he'd heard Keiko say his name, a vision of 
her with shimmering eyes and a lonely face haunting his subconscious. He
must be going crazy. "I'm so sorry, Yusuke." There it was again.

"No. Don't be. It's not your fault that you died. I don't want to give
up, but I have nothing to back up my determination. There's nothing more
I can do but this," Yusuke despondently murmured to Keiko's unmoving
body as he knelt down and moved his face closer to hers.

Genkai and Kuwabara tried to pry Yusuke away from Keiko's slumbering
form, thinking that the half-demon had already jumped the slippery
slope and was now driven stark raving mad with grief and loss, but they
were both too weak and exhausted to do so. Meanwhile, Kenshin winked
into existence, the presence of Yusuke's power awakening him once more.

'Yusuke-dono... I can feel your emotions. What are you trying to do?'
Kenshin thought as his ghostly cheeks grew warm for some reason. 'The
origin for your sadness, I can understand, but why are you feeling so...
embarrassed all of a sudden?'

At the back of Yusuke's mind, Rando's Kugai tried to take advantage of
his despair, but bigger, greater feelings overwhelmed his hopelessness
as the boy leaned forward, whispered, "Good-bye," to Keiko's
heartbreakingly beautiful face, and kissed her on the lips.

If Keiko's unmoving body could blush, then it would've done so by then.
Keiko's ghost certainly would've, if it were there, or if it could.

Yusuke could only taste bittersweet coldness from Keiko's icy lips, but
he gave it no mind as he released all his pent-up frustrations and
energy into what he hoped was a life-giving kiss. Because after this, he
had nothing more left to give, and he wasn't sure if he could face the
reality of loss just yet.

Sadly, this was only their third kiss to date since they first became a
couple. The first was when Keiko helped him resurrect his body, the
second was when he finally came back from his shortened trip in the
Demon World. Hopefully, it was three times the charm, and not three
strikes and they were out.

Just then, the immobile Keiko's eyelids started to flutter...


***


Three weeks later, in the Urameshi residence, early in the evening...

Yusuke and Keiko sat close together, closer than they ordinarily would,
for they had the apartment to themselves that night, with Atsuko out for
a session of drinking and partying with her friends. A romantic film
played out on the television, and Keiko seemed absorbed by it, swooning
now and then at the movie's admittedly shallow but altogether sweet and 
endearing story. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, contemplated suicide,
just to cut short his inevitable death from sheer tedium.

Their unacknowledged pink elephant in the room was, of course, the
regrettable crisis at Genkai's temple. The memory of Rando and the
Shisejyu's sudden assault was fresh in both their minds. But for now,
they pushed those memories aside and enjoyed themselves. Or rather, one
of them did.

Obviously, Yusuke paid the movie but shallow heed, with most of his
interest focused on Keiko... on her firm bosom, in particular. Her
breasts... warm, cozy, inviting, and familiar... were making his head
dizzy with all sorts of thoughts and ideas. It also made him briefly
wonder why he was thinking such crazy things, unaware of his
subconscious's memory of his head resting on those very breasts during
the semifinals of the Ankoku Bujutsukai.

Of course, there were other things of interest to Yusuke near the
vicinity of Keiko's thighs... or rather, what was in between them.
Thankfully, when his girlfriend finally noticed his stare--and where
he was staring--she didn't think of the perverted thoughts that must've
been running through his head, instead remembering the same thing his
subconscious recalled: that of her chest pillowing his napping head, the
spiky tips of his disheveled but rather becoming hairstyle puncturing
through the fabric of her shirt and prickling her bare skin. 

Yusuke was also thinking of Keiko's chest, bare skin, and slender form
as he did more than just tickle her fancy, but bringing up his lewd
thoughts to a girl who was merely being wistfully romantic wasn't very
prudent at all, so he wisely kept his mouth shut, averted Keiko's gaze,
and glanced at her lips out of the corner of his eye. 

The urge to kiss her pulsed in his still heart like a renewed heartbeat
as his body stiffened in more ways than one. However, he couldn't follow
through his overwhelming feelings right now. Not after what had happened
to them earlier on. He tried to stifle it, but it refused to relent,
springing back up stronger after each attempt.

He shifted restlessly, turning his head away when Keiko looked at him
quizzically. He was afraid she would guess what was on his mind and
correctly call him a pervert, slap him around like a rag doll, or much,
much worse, but she said nothing and returned her attention to her
boring old chick flick.

Fuck this shit. Yusuke wasn't like the protagonist of the movie Keiko
was watching: a yellow-bellied loser who filled his head with thoughts
of sap or bawdiness but was too much of a wimp to act on his emotions.
To be more specific, he wasn't someone who couldn't man up enough to do
something about the mounting sexual tension between him and the object
of his affections. At that point, he decisively decided that this wasn't
the time or place to be indecisive.

As his last mission demonstrated, life was too short to dawdle and
dither over the important things in life. Besides, he was just with
_Keiko_--not some stranger in a club or a knockout beauty down the
street--Keiko, his lone childhood playmate and friend whom he was always 
comfortable talking to and being with. She eventually became his honest-
to-goodness girlfriend, for Koenma's sake! What was wrong with him? He
should talk to her!

The fact of the matter was that Yusuke was far too familiar with Keiko
to be intimidated by her. There was no reason for him to feel awkward
around her; absolutely no reason at all. As such, nodding resolutely to
himself, Yusuke purposefully turned and addressed her with what he
thought was a cool and suave, "Hey."

"What?" Keiko unthinkingly asked, not even bothering to turn towards
her boyfriend, most of her attention focused on the movie.

"Nothing." Dammit.

Keiko rolled her eyes and drolly asked, "So are you done ogling my
chest?"

Yusuke thought for all of five seconds. "...No." Well, at least he was
being honest with her.

"Har, har. Very funny," Keiko stated with a smirk, then warned, "And
don't you dare follow up that line with something dirty, or I'll make 
you regret it."

"Yes'm," Yusuke assented, then digressed, "So are we going to hold hands
and do mushy stuff now or are we going to play wet leapfrog?" Whoops.

An empty popcorn bowl flew onto Yusuke's noggin, the cheap plastic
cracking in half upon the Class-S demon spawn's adamantine skull. With
the grace and carelessness of Keiko's bowl hurl, it seemed to annihilate
a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though the blissfully
unaware society of the living and the poignant community of the dead and
damned could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement
of her throwing arm. Either that, or the force of Keiko's throw had made
Yusuke uncharacteristically contemplative for a second.

Alas, the half-demon's brief reprieve of poetic wisdom didn't last. "Aw,
come on, Keiko! You were asking for it! If you tell me not to say
something dirty, it's like warning a kid not to touch the cookie jar
before he even realized that the jar had been restocked--you were the
one who gave me the idea to do the dirty deed in the first place!"

Keiko harrumphed in disdain. "U-huh. That's just peachy, Yusuke. Real
peachy. Do you really think it's such a good idea to be condescending to
your _ex_-girlfriend? That is, unless you've already found a new
girlfriend and you now feel confident enough to make our break up
official."

Yusuke scrunched up his face as though he just ate a box of lemons.
"Wait a goddamn minute... _ex_-girlfriend? Can you care to explain to me
how that happened again? I think I must have missed something."

"You think?" Keiko shot back with a flippant toss of her brown tresses.
She then gave Yusuke "The Look"--the same look she gave him when he
first told her that he'd become Demon Royalty and had to go back to the
Demon World to know more about his ancestry and some such nonsense. She
only made that blank, flat look on her face when she was _really_ pissed
off.

"Aw, come on, Keiko! You know I love you, right?" Yusuke confessed with
a goofy grin on his face--the only way he could say such things without
gagging at the sheer sap those three words induced in him.

Keiko shrugged. "Sure, sure. And so do I. That's not the point, though.
Just because you've waltzed back in my life doesn't mean that we're
automatically 'good', or anything. Remember, I never said that we were
back together or anything."

"What? We were just on a date three weeks ago! We're even watching yet
another lame movie right this very instant! What do you mean we're still
not together? You're seriously giving me some mixed signals here,
missy," Yusuke complained, but Keiko would not be swayed. 

"Don't you remember that, before you went to the Demon World and
promised to come back three years later, I dumped you? Oh sure, you
swore that you'd marry me once you came back, but what did you do once
you did? First, you got here in one and a half years instead of three
years, so that's one promise broken--"

"I said I'll be back in _about_ three years," Yusuke fibbed, doing
everything that he could to keep Keiko from riding that dangerous train 
of thought--at least, it was dangerous for _him_. "I only swore that it
won't go beyond a day longer! I didn't say that I won't come back in
_less_ than three years! Besides, it's not my fault that I lost the
Third Round of the Makai Tournament and had to come back earlier than
expected. Aren't you glad that I did? Have a heart, Keiko!"

Keiko cleared her throat primly and resumed, "Second, once you were
here, you... didn't follow through with your marriage proposal. No ring.
No engagement. No nothing. Of course, proposing just after you got
dumped is a moronic thing to do anyway, so I probably shouldn't have
bothered taking your word for it." She also didn't bother mentioning her
disappointment, but the way she worded things, she might as well not
have.

This time, Yusuke waited for Keiko to finish. Then, while carefully
making sure his tone of voice didn't come off as flippant or rude, he
ventured, "So I got here in half the time. That only means I'll marry
you in one and a half year's time! I also have a freelance spirit
detective job that's been in the dumps, so I get all my income from a
_ramen stand_! I don't have the kind of money to buy you a ring... yet.
Be reasonable!" Okay, he still needed to work on his "non-flippant and
definitely not rude" _words_, but he was trying, at least.

Needless to say, Keiko was less than enthused by Yusuke's excuses. "On
that note, you _did_ set up a ramen stand as a front for your freelance
work as a Spirit Detective--instead of following through with _any_ of
your promises. Dad was right; when you proposed to me the night before
your trip to the Demon World, you were only doing that to appease my
anger. Like when we were kids, whenever we fought the really big fights,
you always flashed the 'marriage card' on me. Well, now that we're all
grown up, it won't work this time around, buddy. All you have is lip
service. So yes, as far as I'm concerned, you're not really my boyfriend
anymore."

Keiko stopped her rant short once Yusuke began giving her his own
version of "The Look". His eyes were so sharp, focused, and earnest
that it was hard for his alleged former flame to avert her gaze. "W-What
now?" she asked, gulping in anticipation.

"I'm going to start dating Botan, then," Yusuke proclaimed, sticking his
tongue out at her churlishly. A fruit bowl flew to his head this time;
he deftly caught it before it shattered on his thick skull.

"Yeah, right. Nice bluff. Botan's obviously too in love with Koenma to
date a numbskull like you," Keiko retorted in a manner that resembled
coy backtalk once she'd calmed down a bit... except her words didn't
resemble coy backtalk in the least.

"Yeah, I've heard the rumors, but Koenma is actually hooked up with
another shinigami named Ayame," Yusuke clarified; he figured that the
least Keiko could do when making a rebuttal during their lover's quarrel
was to get her facts straight.

"Well, um, how about Kenshin, then? They seemed pretty close after that
Shisejyu debacle," Keiko suggested as she started to forget the topic
that she and her not-boyfriend were discussing. 

"That's a lot more complicated, but from what I've heard, Botan has the
soul of Kenshin's ex-girlfriend inside her body or something. So...
yeah," Yusuke replied, scratching his head. He could have left things at
that, derailing Keiko's idle considerations of breaking up with him, but
once he began talking unthinkingly, he really had a tendency to keep on
going. "Hey, did you know that I once dreamed Botan was my wife, and
Kurama and Hiei were my office mates or something like that? It was kind
of freaky."

"...." Keiko threatened with a deadpan glare, her hands already clenched
on the edges of a nearby table.

Backpedaling quickly, Yusuke blurted out, "I had an even freakier dream
about a naked Genkai statue crumbling in front of me, cycling back to
me accidentally groping her at an elevator. Seriously, Keiko! Naked
Genkai Statue. Accidental Elevator Grope. Looping Dream. What more can I
say?"

Keiko and Yusuke looked at each other for a full minute before bursting
out in laughter at that last statement. Yusuke's dream about Genkai was
just so unreal and ridiculous that they couldn't help but laugh at the
absurdity of its entire premise.

From there, after a passing glance at the clock, Keiko offhandedly
reminded, "Oh yeah. Before you forget... it's going to be your turn to
go to the hospital now, at about 9:00 PM. My parents should be back home
by then. You did remember, right?"

"Oh yeah. I keep forgetting. What's your room number again?" Yusuke
casually mentioned as he expressionlessly stared back at the television
screen. The plot-less romantic drivel--er, _movie_ had ended by then,
and the credits were already rolling.

"Room 210, on the second floor. Jeez, do I have to remind you every
time?"

Keiko got up, her feet not quite touching the ground as she floated a
few meters up to the ceiling in wistful melancholy. Well, not really
_melancholy_, but more of resignation and a touch of ruefulness. For an
earthbound ghost, she was pretty well-adjusted, actually.

And just like that, the two woke up from their pretend lover's quarrel
and their faux argument. Their exchange of invectives, long and involved
relationship debates, verbal inventiveness, and "Will they? Won't they?"
sexual tension was largely manufactured by their own boredom and, sadly,
an overlapping web of unfortunate events that made their circumstances
one where they had to laugh or else they'd cry.

Sure, the combination of Yusuke, Kenshin, Kuwabara, Botan, Puu, and
Genkai's life forces, the Demon Sword's magic, Genkai's Five Daiken
Purification, and Yusuke's Kiss of Life was able to save Keiko from the
brink of lifelessness nearly a month ago, but it was barely enough
to get her back from certain death to uncertain death. Her body had now
returned to its original state of half-alive, half-dead coma--the
Schrodinger's Cat Dilemma--simply because the obstacles they faced were
far more difficult to overcome than they'd anticipated. Real life had
struck again.

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there
to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the
brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly
enough," was the quote Yusuke was trying to recall during the time he
and his comrades were attempting to revive the dead Keiko.

Depending on Keiko's ultimate fate, he might soon find out that some
brick walls were never meant to be scaled, such that no matter how hard
he tried, how many tears he shed, how much energy he charged up, how
unfair the situation was, how many worse situations he'd survived, or
how badly he wanted something, he could not always get what he wanted.

In about one and half a years or less, Yusuke would eventually find out
whether Keiko's dreamless death was just another brick wall for him to
scale through or a past-due life lesson for him to learn from.


***


Three weeks earlier, while Botan was busy keeping Keiko from passing on
in the Spirit World...

The ferry-girl's astral projection had finally reached its intended
destination; the place where she spent much of her spiritual life in.
Level 10 Block 1 of the Purgatorial Sector: The Elysian Fields.

It took her a long time to get there, and for a quite a while, she had
gotten lost and somehow ended up in Level 17 Block 8 of the Corporeal
Punishments Sector. She shuddered. Indeed, she had heard enough wailing
and gnashing of teeth in that one awkward moment to last her a human
lifetime.

Being there in the Elysian Fields brought back lots of memories for the
ferry-girl. Actually, the exact opposite was instead true; being there
in the Elysian Fields made Botan forget a lot of her memories...
especially the memories of her past life.

Her past life. Huh. She must have been hard up on forgetting all about
her past life to have willingly come there in the Elysian Fields--or so
"Ayame-sempai" had her believe. In any case, something deep inside her
gut told her that her senior was telling the truth: her past life as a
human was something that she had _desperately_ wanted to forget, so much
so that even now in her state of willful amnesia, she still remembered
not wanting to remember a single thing about her past.

She shook her troubled mind clear of such thoughts as she focused on the
thing that somehow caught her attention: a pristine white lotus petal on
the ground. That lone petal had the fragrance of a thousand roses, yet
its scent was as subtle as a gentle summer breeze. However, its aroma
couldn't possibly compare to its oh-so-scrumptious taste and the effects
it had on a wandering spirit's general, um, wellbeing. 'But of course.
Why else would it be called the 'Flower of Eden'?'

She simply couldn't describe the feeling. Even though at the time she'd
already forgotten everything about her life, she couldn't possibly
forget the overwhelming emotions she got from ingesting the delicious
flower. Every time she ate one, everything around her became intense and
exaggerated. Her surroundings also became very animated; in touch,
color, sharpness, sound, and smell, they all acquired vivacity beyond
compare. It was as if she were alive again, feeling all of the above
sensations simultaneously with more exuberance and feeling than she
could ever imagine. The lotus petals made her feel as though she could
never be sad again so long as she kept on eating them.

The ferry-girl remembered many a day in her stay in the Elysian Fields
where she would sit idly, munching on the petals of the nearest lotus
blossom in sweet bliss, forgetting all about her bitter past and not
having a care in the world. She simply could not describe the feeling
she felt every time she consumed the satisfying blossom. The sheer
thrill she experienced from eating it was indescribable. It felt as
though she were drunkenly infatuated with someone, or maybe it felt more
like she were climaxing during love-making. No, it felt even better than
that. Every fiber of her being exuded freedom. She underwent complete
and total abandonment of herself. The lotus blossoms made her feel like
Buddha after he reached enlightenment.

'But I digress,' Botan remarked to herself, spewing the lotus petal that
somehow ended up in her mouth and blowing it into the misty waters.
'Boy, that was close. Eating those things is dangerous! Sure, they taste
so good and give you such a high that you'd want more and more, but...
but... what was so bad about them again?'

Botan pinched her cheeks in frustration. 'Ugh, Botan! Focus! I can't eat
any of that stuff! They'll make me fat--no, I mean, forget about my
mission--and everything else, while we're at it--and turn me into a
lotus-eating junkie... again. Though there are worse things that could
happen to a person--and I can easily see myself staying here and eating
lotus blossoms for the rest of my spiritual life--priorities _are_
PRIORITIES! I need to find KEIKO-CHAN, and I need to find her NOW!'

Botan pointlessly breathed in and out, calming her frayed--and mostly
imaginary, since she was in spirit form--nerves. 'Wow. It's been so long
since I first came here, hasn't it? It's been fifty-something years
since I first entered this place. I think.'

After an eternity of searching through thousands of lotus-eating
junkies, Botan's heart got caught in her throat as she found a trail of
rocks leading straight to the person she was looking for; she'd finally 
reached her intended target just in the nick of time.

"Keiko-chan! KEIKO-CHAN! It's me, Botan! I've come to get you out of
here!" She excitedly landed on the nearby patch of land, relieved to see
that the ghost of Yusuke's childhood friend was all right.

Her heart subsequently plunged into her stomach as she saw the bits of
lotus petals on the side of her dear friend's chin; Keiko Yukimura was
now one of _them_: one of the lotophagi.

Munching idly on a lotus blossom, Keiko deadpanned, "Hello there, miss.
And you are...?"

"Uh, um, it's me... Botan." The ferry-girl tentatively reintroduced
herself as she bowed, then scratched her chin in consternation. 'Oh
great. It's like I'm talking to a senile old granny. I guess I'd better
humor her for now.' "Uh, nice to meet you. Anyway, I've actually come
here for you, Yukimura Keiko! Today, we need to--"

"Um..." Keiko stared at Botan blankly. "Who's Yukimura Keiko?"

Botan nearly facefaulted, but caught herself in the middle of her fall.
'No good. She's eaten enough lotus blossoms to forget her own name!
Hmmm. Come to think of it, so did I once upon a time, BUT THAT'S NOT
IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!'

"KeikowereallyneedtogetoutofhereorelseyouwillbecomealotusdruggieandI--!"
Botan explained in one breath, teary-eyed and terrified beyond words at
her friend's present condition.

"What are you going on about? Slow down. Deep breaths," Keiko berated in
level-headed calm and composure, her eyes half-lidded in indifference.

Botan slowed down, took deep breaths, then resumed her bout of panic.
"C'mon, Keiko! Don't tell me that you've forgotten your own name!"
'You'd have to be plenty wasted to do that,' the aqua-haired shinigami
said and thought respectively, concern marring her beautiful features.
"You remember who I am, right? I'm Botan!" 

Keiko tilted her head, then shrugged. "Humph. Names. Who needs them? A
rose by any other name smells just as sweet and fragrant. You can call
me Master Jericho for all I care. I'm perfectly happy just the way I am
now."

"J-Jericho...?" Botan blinked soundly. 'Yep. She's wasted.'

Jericho, er, Keiko ate more of the delectable lotus blossoms at hand
before offering one to Botan. "Want some? They're practically growing
everywhere for easy pickings, and they taste oh-so-magnificent--like a
piece of paradise in your mouth. You should give it a try."

"N-N-No. I really shouldn't, b-but thanks anyway," Botan stuttered as
she hastily wiped the cold sweat off of her brow. 'Break the habit,
Botan. Break the HABIT!'

Keiko shrugged once again. "Suit yourself." She afterwards focused her
full attention on picking up more blossoms for her hearty consumption.
"Well, it was nice meeting you... whoever you are. See you whenever.
Ciao."

"Ciao?" Botan did an impressive double-to-triple-take at Keiko's
declaration. "H-Hey! Wait! You can't let things end this way! You still
have your whole life ahead of you. Just because Seiryu killed you
doesn't mean that you'll have to spend the rest of your spiritual life
in purgatory, stuck in a state of blissful ignorance of who you really
are!"

But Keiko had already consumed three whole helpings of lotus blossoms
during the course of Botan's impassioned speech. The schoolgirl then
blinked, looked up at the ferry-girl, then cheerfully greeted, "Hello!
And who might you be?"

"...." Botan detailed. 'I think I'm going to cry. How can I make you
remember, Keiko-chan? What must I do so that I can remind you of who you
really are?' 
"So you don't know your own name too, huh? I've met lots of people here
who are like that." Keiko gave Botan a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
"But that's all right. As long as everybody has a steady supply of lotus
blossoms to eat, then everything will be a-okay! Right?" She afterwards
winked and did a thumb's up sign.

"Ah..." Botan started, boggling at Keiko's sudden shift of moods. 'Did I
act this wasted when I was lotophagi? Jeez, Keiko-chan is becoming the
poster child of a public service announcement on drugs right before my
very eyes!'

Like a small child, Keiko again shifted her attention to other matters
of great importance: matters involving lotus blossoms and lotus blossom 
consumption, no doubt. "Well, I guess that's that. I better get going,
um--" The young ghost girl seemed to ponder something for a little bit
before smacking her palm with a closed fist. Realization had apparently
struck her at the back of her amnesiac mind. "Wait! I know who you are!"

Botan suddenly brightened like a halogen lamp as she elatedly jumped at
her forgetful friend with uncontainable excitement. "Do you remember who
I am? Who you are? Why you have to get out of here?"

But Keiko wasn't even listening to the Angel of Death. "Jeremiah! No,
Michaela! Wait, no, Charlene! You're Charlene! I should call you
Charlene, because you look like a Charlene to me!" the young girl
chirpily assessed. "Well, anyway... Good-bye, Charlene! I hope you have
a happy life! Try one of these lotus blossoms sometime, they taste
fantastic."

Botan's mouth went agape as she reflexively bowed down and waved good-
bye at Keiko in a dazed and confused manner. Once she regained control
of her psychomotor functions, the blue-haired ferry-girl of death cried
out, "Now just hold on a minute, Keiko-chan!"

"...Jenny. I like the name Jenny. Call me Jenny," _Jenny_ helpfully
supplied as she crouched down and picked up a fresh stash of lotus
blossoms, putting them inside the folded hem of her uniform's skirt.

"Fine, Jenny-chan..." Botan blinked several times. "N-No. Just... no.
Keiko. You're not a darn foreigner, you're Keiko-chan! And stop
distracting me, your name is beside the point! You couldn't possibly
forget everything about your life just like that, not after everything
you've gone through!" Growling like a feral hellcat, Botan charged
forward, startling the young girl and making her drop her prized lotus
blossoms on the ground. Several lotophagi suddenly appeared out of
nowhere and quickly snatched away the delightful, mind-altering plants.

The absentminded female was further taken aback when the ferry-girl
grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her at arm's length. "Snap out of
it, Keiko! You've got to remember who you are and where you came from,
damn it! I won't allow you to become a lotophagi junkie! No way! You are
not a lemming! We have to get out of here before this whole damn place
swallows you whole!"

"Hey, let go! Stop shaking me, Charlene!" Keiko shrieked as she resisted
the distressed girl's grip. Feeling ashamed for her sudden outburst,
Keiko quickly got her breath back. Controlled herself. Forced herself to
calm down and relax. Whatever it was that the crazy lady was ranting
about, it didn't apply to her. So... she had nothing to worry about.

"Look, I barely know you, and I have better things to do. I couldn't
care less why you're here, why you're calling me strange names, and why
you'd actually _think_ that I'd willingly come with you and leave this
wonderful, magical place behind. So stop wasting my time if you have
nothing better to say, okay?" Keiko admonished, laying down her
ultimatum on the upset shinigami.

And with that, Keiko made her way out of the area, leaving Botan there
like a child asked to think about what she'd done wrong. And the Goddess
of Bereavement indeed had a lot to think about.

Feeling like she had little to lose at that point, Botan fumbled through
the inside flaps of her kimono and took out the standard issue guidebook
of all shinigami that detailed everything they needed to know about the
lives of millions of humans: the Book of Fate. She hastily flipped
through its pages before stopping on a particular profile. "Do you
remember," she winced at the characters, "Daiichi All-Girls Academy? In
that school, you're the class representative of your section, aren't
you?"

Keiko didn't even miss a beat as she, in turn, rummaged through a nearby
bushel of pre-picked lotus blossoms that a slumbering lotophagi
carelessly left unguarded. "Yes! I've hit pay dirt. Sorry, mister. You
snooze, you lose."

"And what about your best friends what's-her-face and the other girl?"
Botan tried to find the names of Keiko's closest acquaintances in the
book, but then decided that she had very little time to waste. "Don't
tell me that you've forgotten their names the same way as I did! You're
way nicer than that! Also, what about your parents who run the Yukimura 
Diner? Have you forgotten about them too?"

Keiko continued to ignore Botan as she added even more lotus flowers to
her current supply while keeping a wary eye out for any wily lotus
blossom thieves like herself.

"And I bet it's impossible for you to forget all about Urameshi Yusuke,
right?" That got Keiko's attention. Botan prodded, "How can you _not_
remember? He is, after all, a disgusting, irresponsible, and annoying
brat who always teased you and caused you trouble. You were his only
friend from way back when. Also, you were always there for him, even
when his mother wasn't."

Botan laughed; she didn't care if it was an appropriate time for her to
do so, she just did. "Who would have thought that a juvenile delinquent
like him would end up with a straight-A student like you? I guess
opposites really do attract."

"Shut up, Charlene. I'm not listening to you or any more of your weird
stories," Keiko pointed out without looking up from her crouched
position. She was about ready to eat yet another lotus blossom when she
heard Botan's next lines, stopping her short of taking a bite out of
flowery bliss.

"Most importantly, Yusuke's the most important person in your life, so
of course you'd remember him! You brought him back to life with a kiss,
he nearly died for you once or twice trying to save your life, and you
waited for him oh-so-patiently for one and a half years while he was in
the Demon World. A blind person can see how important you two are to
each other. Even in your state of amnesia, your feelings for him should
overcome your forgetfulness!"

Keiko threw the flower bud at Botan's face in frustration. "No! Stop it!
SHUT UP! I don't _want_ to REMEMBER! I don't want to dredge up the past!
I don't care who Kyosuke or Eugene or Tetsuo is! I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT
ALONE! Can't you just leave me in peace?" She proceeded to break down
and cry in the middle of the lotus fields.

Botan bit her lip as she cautiously approached the sobbing Keiko. 'I'm
so sorry about this, Keiko... but I had to say it! I can't stand the
thought of losing you to this place.' She wistfully looked up at the
foggy skies. 'Come to think of it, nearly the same thing happened when
Ayame-sempai tried to get me out of the Purgatorial Sector. I couldn't
stop myself from crying. I didn't want to leave.'

Botan's pensive gaze turned resolute. 'But I still have to do this. Even
if... even if Enma Daio himself ordered Ayame to get Keiko in here for
the sake of turning her into a ferry-girl just like me, I won't allow
it. She still has Yusuke to take care of, after all.' She put a gentle,
comforting hand on the bawling girl's shoulder.

The Death Goddess flinched as Keiko slapped her hand away. 'Boy, she's
really angry now. I don't blame her. The shock of her death may have
sealed the deal for her, causing her to drown all her problems with
these lotus blossoms. At this point, she's too afraid to remember who
she really was simply because it'd reveal to her everything she had lost
by dying in Seiryu's hands. In short, she's in total denial.'

Botan let out a vaporous breath of resolution. 'I _knew_ that it'd come
to this. It looks like there's no other way. I have to give it to her
now.' She fumbled through her sleeves again before getting a hold of
what looked like, for all intents and purposes, a shiny apple.

"Look, I'm really sorry for all the trouble I've caused. Don't worry, I
won't push the issue any further." The ferry-girl smiled friendlily at
her contemplative friend. "Let me make it up to you. Are you hungry,
Kei--I mean, Jenny-chan? I have something that tastes even _better_ than
all those yucky lotus blossoms you've been eating. It's a delicious
apple," Botan lied through her teeth.

Keiko raised an eyebrow as she cautiously and suspiciously eyed the
blood-red fruit. 

"Oh, come on. Take a bite! It's just a harmless apple. And you know what
they say, 'An apple a day...'" Botan insisted.

Keiko examined the fruit carefully, noticed its pear-like shape and
multilayered skin, and declared, "That's not an apple. You can't fool
me. There's no way you're making me eat that fruit. I've heard of it; it
came from the Tree of Knowledge. People say that eating it will cause
certain death, and I don't want to die!" Keiko hastily backed away from
the ferry-girl, prompting several lotophagi, upon overhearing the
conversation, to retreat into the fields of white and pink as well, away
from the cursed fruit.

'That's a lot different from what _I_ heard. Besides, of all the things
she could remember, why did she recall that particular tidbit?' Botan
snorted. "Get real, Keiko-chan. You're already dead. Eating this fruit
won't kill you. Besides, if it really was supposed to kill you, then it
should have been called, 'The Fruit from the Tree of Death', right?"

"Stop it. I told you to stop calling me Keiko-chan. And for the last
time, stop telling me all these lies! I'm not dead. In fact, I've never
felt more alive in all my life!" The obstinate Keiko slapped the apple-
like fruit from Botan's hand. "Keep that thing away from me."

'You're as stubborn as ever, Keiko-chan,' Botan thought as she picked up
the faux-apple off of the ground. She took great pains to obtain the
forbidden fruit before getting to the Elysian Fields, so she'd damn well
find a way to get Keiko to eat it even if it kills her. She afterwards
developed another plan. Its consequences might just be too much for her
to handle, but she was willing to take the risk.

"I don't see what you're getting all worked up about. This thing's
delicious! Watch." As Botan said the words, she cleaned the fruit with
her left sleeve and took a large bite out of it with no hesitation or
contestation. 'This is all for your sake, Keiko-chan. So you better eat
this damn fruit, or else!' After that, she did her best to conceal her
displeasure over the bitter aftertaste. "Yummy!"

After Keiko saw the stranger eat the fruit with no ill effects, she
reconsidered her first assessment. Truth be told, she would rather eat
more of the delicious, ecstasy-inducing lotus flowers, but her curiosity
quickly got the better of her. The schoolgirl saw that the fruit was
good to eat and pleasant to the eyes; little did she know that it was
also ideal for getting lost knowledge about one's self as well. With no
signs of reluctance, she took a bite out of the contentious fruit.

Botan gulped, hastily wiping the tears that formed in her eyes. She
didn't want to think about the consequences of her eating the fruit as
of yet. 'If eating that damn fruit will cause me to remember a little bit
of my past, then so be it. Jenny's worth it. Er, I mean, Keiko's worth
it. Yeah.'

Keiko at first balked at the bitterness of the fruit, then her mind's
eyes opened and saw her unlocked memories burst into her head like water
from a broken dam. In that brief instant, Keiko indeed saw her life pass
before her very eyes.

Keiko suddenly slapped Botan hard on the cheek, leaving a stinging red
mark on the ferry-girl's face. That gave Botan her second greatest shock
of the day; the first one was Keiko's death.

"Why did you make me remember? Why didn't you just let me forget,
knowing the reality of the situation? Why now, after I've successfully
forgotten everything? How dare you. How dare you let me suffer like
this!" came the livid Keiko's tirade.

"Keiko-chan, I... I..." Botan started, searching for the right words to
say; her search was futile.

"Actually, I've been thinking. Ever since I left that trail of rocks for
you to follow, I've been thinking. I said to myself, 'What's the point
of all this? What am I doing this for? Am I really that confident that
I'll be found? That I'll survive?' These questions echoed in my mind
over and over. I thought I was going completely insane..."

"But you can't give up now!" Botan interrupted, not liking the direction
the conversation was going. "I'm sure there's a way for you to come back
to life. There always is. No, there definitely is!" 

"What a nice sentiment." Keiko chuckled somberly. "If there really is a
chance for me to come back to life, then what am I doing here in this
lonely, godforsaken land in the first place? Why am I a ghost now? What
was I doing in the River Styx, floating towards 'where I'm supposed to
be'? Why wasn't Genkai-baasan able to save me? Why wasn't Yusuke...?"
Her lips trembled as her eyes moistened. "Just let me be. I'm tired.
I've had enough."

After a fair amount of quiet contemplation and deliberation, Botan
retorted with, "Resigning yourself to spend two human lifetimes here
in purgatory isn't the answer, Keiko-chan! Please, don't run away from
your past. I beg you, have more faith in Yusuke!" 

"Then tell me, can Yusuke find a way to return me to my body? Can Koenma
Daio? Can you?" Poignant tranquility reigned supreme as Keiko waited
ever so patiently for Botan's answer. "I thought so," the ghost-girl
stated with resolute conclusiveness.

Botan had just about enough of Keiko's angst-ridden cheekiness. "You
want the truth? Fine. I don't know. I don't know whether or not I, or
Yusuke, or Koenma Daio can save your life, seeing the permanent damage
Seiryu did to your body." The shinigami's passionate avowal prompted a
pained wince from Keiko. "I came here on a whim, with only a faint hope
that Koenma-sama can somehow find a loophole or something to revive you
the same way he did Yusuke. But that's probably just a delusion of mine,
knowing the situation."

Botan sighed forlornly. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it was stupid of me
to go here in the Elysian Fields to pick you up. Maybe this was all a
big mistake, and ignorance truly is bliss. But you know what? I don't
give a damn. I'm not only trying to save your butt for your own sake,
but for Yusuke's as well. So what if there's little to no chance of you 
recovering? We'll find a way. We'll do whatever it takes to get you
back. If that's still not enough, then tough luck; it's time to let go.
But not right now. Not while you still have a shadow of a chance left.
Never let go while that small spark of hope is still there!"

There was another pregnant pause. "B-But what if...?" Keiko sputtered in
fear and apprehension.

"No more buts. No more buts, ifs, and whys. No more questions, please.
We'll simply cross that bridge when we get there. For now, what's
important is that we get out of here." Botan summoned her mystic oar and
motioned Keiko to hop on. "We have to go, Keiko-chan. We still have some
unfinished business to take care of."

Her eyes downcast, Keiko nodded in agreement as she made her way towards
the ferry-girl's unusual mode of transportation.


***


Three weeks later, at the Gates of Judgment...

Yusuke comically boggled at what Botan had just revealed for thirty
minutes straight. "Really? You did all that while Kenshin and I were
fighting a whole gauntlet of baddies? You're pulling my leg."

Kenshin scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Actually, I was the one who was
fighting the gauntlet of baddies, Yusuke-dono."

"Shut up! Rando was a hundred and one enemies in one, so... shut up!"
Yusuke barked at Kenshin, unaccustomed to the swordsman's more caustic
nature as of late. "Can you back Botan's bizarre story up, Jenny?"

Keiko coughed primly before making Yusuke's spine literally tingle with
her ghostly touch. "Don't call me that."

Botan smilingly sighed, saddened over the fact that the forbidden fruit
would eventually unlock her hidden past sooner or later.


***


To be Continued...

Next (for Demon Sword): The demon fox and the evil-eyed madman.

Next (for Youtou Shinnoken): Sano and Yahiko's day out.

On a more important note, you might be wondering about the two 
'next' previews above. There's a reason for that, actually. Now
that the first major arc of Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword is--oh
dear Lord God in Heaven--finally, _finally_ over, I'm now trying
out something different to keep things interesting (for me and,
hopefully, the readers), and the thing that inspired me to do this
was... well, wrestling. Yeah.

In more specific terms, Demon Sword will now focus mostly (but
not exclusively) on Yuyu Hakusho protagonists and Rurouni Kenshin
antagonists, while Youtou Shinnoken will focus mostly (but not
exclusively) on Rurouni Kenshin protagonists and Yuyu Hakusho
antagonists. Instead of two plot lines running together on one
fic, the other plot line has a separate story of its own, a la
side story (but not quite). For sure, it'll be an interesting
experience. Ergo, let my little Experiment with Prose begin!

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the
rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. This disclaimer
also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too
many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

Hajime!
Abdiel