Overprotective

fluorescentpinkfairies

Rated: K+
Warnings: Slight cursing. Shounen-ai; YuusukexKurama.
Spoilers: From just before the Dark Tournament Finals round and beyond (meaning, the Chapter Black Saga).
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, I merely borrow the characters for my own sick amusement.

--

It's so weird, you know?

Love, I mean.

Sometimes, you think you've just fallen HARD and there's no way that you're going to back out of it. Like me and Keiko. I swear, that girl... she just knocked me out.

Literally and figuratively, man.

And sometimes she still does.

Once again, literally and figuratively.

But it's not the kind of knock-out that it used to be. It's not that 'I've-gone-gaga-and-I-fight-only-for-her' type of deal. Well, it never was, but you catch my drift. Now it's more of a 'man-that-is-one-helluva-tough-girl' type of knock-out. It's like she's my sister, and we watch each other's backs.

I know she understands. Heck, she's probably the one who made me realize that I've got other people on my mind. Well, let me revise that. Another person.

I know, actually, that she was probably the one who cracked first. All of the pressure with me, er, dying all of the time. Yeah. It's not a very good relationship when you're constantly worrying, 'I wonder if my boyfriend got killed on that last mission... And I wonder if he's going to be resurrected again...'

It's bad enough worrying, 'I wonder if any of those psychopath demons we're facing happened to find out about my girlfriend and sent one of his evil minions to go kill her...'

Botan tells me that even though it was really sweet of us to keep hanging on like that, our relationship was doomed to be puppy love. Not me and Botan, you idiot, me and Keiko. Like HELL would I date Botan.

No. It's really, really... ironic? Is that the word? Yeah, I guess so. You think you're just friends and then WHAM! It hits you like one of Grandma's training techniques. And that means: HARD. It hits you that—Hell, maybe we're not just friends. Maybe I hate your friggin' guts. Or maybe I'm in love.

And sometimes it's the same damn thing.

I mean, look at Grandma and Toguro. Love, hate, what the Hell was that relationship, anyway? I never got that. I only know that they were in love at one point in time. Dunno if it completely disappeared, dunno anything, really.

I'm just the dimwit, after all.

I ran into Kido a week or two ago. Told me that things in Mushiyori were pretty good, him and Yana and Kaitou were all fine. But in any case, we were talking for a while and went for a soda and stuff, met up with Kaitou and Mr. Purple Pencil Hair (how in HELL does he get it to do that?).

For some reason, seeing that really hideous fuchsia uniform that Kaitou's school makes them wear, it just set off this thing in my head, like, 'Hmm, I wonder if Kurama's home.'

The obvious answer to that would be, uh, duh. Kaitou's out of school, why wouldn't fox-boy?

I don't have any common sense, if you hadn't noticed.

So, after that Outing with the Guys, I ambled around for a while, just thinking. Yeah, I know, you can't believe it. Like, 'Yuusuke, actually thinking? I'm going to faint!' Yeah, well shove it. A guy can do something weird once in a while, okay?

Damn, I can't believe I said that.

Ah, I'm off-track. As I was walking home, who do I bump into but Kurama? Ironic, right?

Wrong.

Yeah. They say that you can't amble around aimlessly because your subconscious mind takes over and takes you to the place you wanna be. I mean realistically. Just because I want to go to Hawaii doesn't mean that I'll get there if I stop focusing for a while and just walk.

Holy Hell, did I just make sense out of that!

Anyway.

So, once again, we're just talking and stuff, just doing what I did with Kido and them. But this time, it's not an Outing with the Guys. It's an Outing with Kurama. Somehow, it's different.

And what the Hell happens?

An ambush. How frickin' cliché, man.

We beat them off really quick, out of plain view of humans, and with the most perfect teamwork EVER. I swear, not even Kuwabara is as perfect a partner as Kurama is, and I've known that oaf for a lot longer. Heck, I've known Kurama for a really short time, in comparison.

It's funny, though. Like, the moment that I hear those demons yell 'Get them!' or 'I want the left leg!' I step in front of Kurama. Yeah. Like that's gonna help when there are demons behind us, too.

Absolutely no common sense, I swear.

But you know, the more that I think about it, the more that I realize, I'm so damn protective of him. All of the time, it's like, 'Who does Yuusuke need to protect the most?' and the answer is always, 'Kurama!' even when the answer is probably, 'Kuwabara!' or 'Himself!'

Seriously.

Like, remembering the Dark Tournament, who was I most concerned with?

Him. Why? The hell if I know.

Maybe it's because he likes to fight with wits and not with brute strength. But that... doesn't feel quite right. So maybe it's because he looks like a girl and I don't like the idea of someone who looks like a girl getting beat up even if it's not a girl but a guy... Aheh. Wrong answer again. So it's 'cause he's my teammate.

Man, I just keep getting them wrong, don't I?

Naw, I know the truth.

But back on to the Dark Tournament.

I remember that fight that he had with Touya. And I wonder: What is he beating himself up over? Why does he feel the need to show that bastard that it's never too late to grasp the light or some crap like that? And why the Hell am I so jealous that son of a frickin' iceberg has captured Kurama's attention?

And after that, when Bakken beat the livingheck out of a not even conscious Kurama—need I say how scary that was? But—when he tossed Kurama out of the ring and I took fox-boy in my arms and carried him over to the side... why did I feel thankful? It's true, and I'm a really bad, bad friend, but... can I help it? Can I help getting the feeling that maybe, just maybe, Kurama feels kinda nice just there, just letting me carry him to safety?

In that final battle with Karasu... That was one of the scariest things in the whole tournament. One of them. The bombs, the reeeally freaky plants that I've only seen in nightmares, and Youko.

Youko.

Now that's a really amazing sight. To see that—that amazing (damn, I need a new vocabulary) being and then getting told that it's Kurama...

Though, seriously, I like the regular Kurama better.

Of course, that doesn't help when it's the regular Kurama who looks like he's dead on the floor in a nice old puddle of blood. That was a reeeeally nice stunt, Kurama. Reeeeally nice. Pull a Genkai on me right before my match with Toguro. Keep me niiice and unfocused.

That's what I think now. During the match, I just went:

Yeah. I pulled a blank.

And then, when he got up, I just kept on thinking, 'That was close. I- We almost lost him...'

And there was that time with Amanuma—Game Master, I mean. It's disturbing when you see one of your best friends in a position where they can't do anything except for something that might completely alter how you think about them. I mean, there's no other way for you to rationalize it other than to go: Okay. He just killed a kid. Sure, the kid wasn't exactly defenseless and it was for the best of the team (and the world, too), but still... It was a kid.

You have to wonder about that person when his eyes just go cold and he goes on walking like nothing's wrong. Then, the even more distressing news is, 'Hey, he's killed other kids, too!'

But then that image of him standing there, in the middle of Game Master's Territory surfaces on the borders of your mind and... you just can't deny the guilt so thinly veiled in his eyes.

Kurama... he's always fighting by my side. No matter which way I turn, he's always there for me.

Oh, yeah, you're thinking, 'Stalker!' right now, aren't you.

Reeeeal nice.

But seriously. He's never let me down. He never will. And I will never forget that. I will never forget him. He tells me that I've done enough, that I owe him nothing, that we're teammates.

Huh.

He gives me something to live for, I think. After all, someone like Kurama just can't stay out of trouble, can he? And I have to protect him, even though he's capable of taking care of himself, as he's proved, time and time and time again. Half of the time he has to bail all the rest of us out 'cause we're too stupid (coughHieiinKaitou'sTerritorycough).

Screw that. He can't take care of himself at all! Sowing Death Plant Seeds into his body and almost dying in just about every case we go on... Dammit, he needs me! He won't say it and I'll be damned if he even knows it, but he needs me! Who else could keep him from killing himself? Heck, Hiei just lets him do whatever! And knowing Kurama, at the first sign of danger, he'll do something stupid and get hurt really badly and, like, die!

And I can't let that happen. So, no matter what, I will protect Kurama.

After all, that's what you do when you love a person.

--

Author's Space:

I liked this fic.

With Yuusuke as my eyes, I feel so free. With other characters, it's so much harder, but Yuusuke just rambles.

I tend to ramble, too.

Drake: She does. A lot. Most of the time I have to listen to it.

Be sure to review, tell me before you use this in a C2, etc., etc.. I'll either respond to your review on my profile or I'll e-mail you.

(revamped on 6/30/05)

Note: This fic was translated into Spanish by a certain reviewer of mine. Link is on my profile.