Decoding You [YusukexOC sequel]

I no own you no sue.

Decoding You

Seafoam green eyes, the color of the ocean, stared at the ice pieces in a glass of clear, fruity liquid. The owner of these pretty eyes quietly contemplated what had happened to her and where she stood at now in her life. It's been a year. Kaolin thought to herself silently.

A year. A full year since she had received courage from an unexpected best friend to escape from the abuse she was getting from her now ex-boyfriend. She used to live with him, before the day she ran away after she realized how bad it was and how far she had fallen in life. And now she was out of high school, eighteen years old[1] and drinking away her money. Yusuke somehow always had money to pay for the bills of their new house and take care of his alcoholic mother.

Kaolin, nicknamed Kao by her new friends, sat alone in a bar swirling a glass of some fruity vodka drink. Yusuke, her new boyfriend and best friend as well as savior, had stranded her again and so once more she was at the local bar drinking the same drink she had for every night he was gone. It was almost worse than being with Koishi, her abusive ex. Almost, not quite. It pained her to not know where he disappeared off to with his crew of friends.

She smiled bitterly and named them off in her head, giving their description to go with. Let's see; there was Kuwabara Kazuma. An orange headed idiot who never took anything seriously and, when he did, no one took him seriously. There was Minamino Shuichi, nicknamed Kurama for some reason, who was redheaded and the sweetest gentleman you could ever find with a passion for gardens. And last, but not least, was Jaganshi Hiei. He was the most mysterious out of all of them. He was cold, short with black hair and crimson red eyes.

Hiei would probably forever frighten her, even when he didn't try. There was the rare occasion that she felt safe with him, but otherwise he terrified her. There was just something that lurked behind his guarded eyes that seemed not right and not human either.

Yusuke. His name and his face always strayed into her thoughts. He was constantly there, invading her thoughts and clouding her mind with his voice. Even when she was upset with him, she couldn't stay mad. A few gentle brushes from his hands on her sides and neck as well as a few perfect kisses and she was fine once more.

Not this time.

No. She wanted the truth when he got back from where ever it was he and his friends went.

How can I decide what's right?
When you're clouding up my mind
Can't win your losing fight all the time
Not gonna ever own what's mine
When you're always taking sides
You wont take away my pride
No not this time
Not this time

It was later that night, when Yusuke came in the door around midnight that she felt enough quiet courage to question him. She had had only one and a half drinks at the bar before taking a taxi home to relax there so she wasn't out of her mind drunk and was very sober.

"Yusuke." She spoke softly as she always had; she never raised her voice or yelled. Yusuke had admitted to his friends that it was something he wasn't used to but that he found that he liked.

The boy, not really boy anymore, turned at the sound of his name as he closed the door behind him. He smiled when he saw his girlfriend and slipped off his shoes at the entrance before rushing toward her to wrap her up in his arms. "Kao, I missed you!" He nuzzled into her hair and continued smiling until he realized she wasn't greeting back with her usual happiness.

"What's wrong Kao?" He pulled away and frowned, noticing that her eyes were slightly tearing up. "Please tell me."

"Yusuke." She whispered softly, looking away from his eyes and not directly at him. "Why don't you ever tell me where you are going? How do you expect me to trust you if you won't even tell me that?"

He looked taken aback for a moment, not having expected to hear that of all things from Kaolin. Yusuke closed his eyes to think to himself without the distraction of her tears to make him spill his guts. He couldn't exactly tell her everything since she was 100 percent pure human mortal, as far as he knew anyway. After a few seconds of debating with his self, he shook his head, he couldn't tell her or she'd be in even more danger than she was just by dating him and living with him.

"I'm sorry Kao. I can't." Yusuke looked at her face as he said it, but he didn't give her an explanation or anything to go with it. He stared at her as she looked at him until he looked away first. He wasn't able to bear the tears trickling down her slowly reddening cheeks.

"Why Yusuke? Why do you have to keep secrets from me?" Kaolin questioned in an even voice, louder than normal as she tried her best to contain the tears that fell at a steady pace. Finally she pulled away from his hold and backed up slightly. "Don't ever speak to me again if you can't tell me the truth! I've lived lies my whole life, I won't let you add to them."

She began to hysterically get louder until she rushed into the spare room they had and began to cry softly into her arms. It was so hard to deal with more lies after just escaping the previous ones that had hurt so much. Her scars still remained on her legs and abdomen from a particularly mean beating.

"Kao. Please babe open the door." Yusuke called softly from the other side seeing as there was no keyhole for him to try and pick open. And he wasn't about to bust it down and frighten her even more.

"I'm not talking to you. You're a liar like the rest of them. How can I trust you?" She yelled at the door before blocking out his voice and burying herself under the thick covers of the bed.

How did we get here?
I use to know you so well
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know

Two weeks went by with not a word spoken between Kaolin and Yusuke. They saw each other at home of course, but merely brushed by one another. Whenever Yusuke would attempt to communicate, Kaolin would walk away as if she hadn't heard.

"Kao, what's wrong? You seem so down lately." The comment came from one of her co-workers, who she had actually become quite friendly with.

"Just boy problems." She tried to brush off her co-workers simply like she did everyone else and it managed to work. Kaolin finished up her duties for the day and hung up her apron on the rack before picking up her stuff from the lockers and setting out to go home.

As usual she walked, trying to save her money for other things like clothing instead of taking a taxi home. A third of the way she caught sight of a tall man with a black hood pulled up over his head that looked as if he had no intention of stopping any time soon or turning at all. Kao turned at a corner and he followed, picking up speed a little bit. She soon realized that he was following her and attempted to duck into a shortcut home when he appeared behind her swiftly and pinned her arms to her sides with one strong arm.

"You're the Reikai Tentei's woman." Her eyes widened but she couldn't make a sound as his hand covered her mouth from screaming. The hand covering her mouth felt odd and not like human skin, to add to that, his voice didn't sound human but almost like a snake attempting to speak.

"This is her?" Another figure appeared out of the shadows with his hood drawn up and glowing eyes coming from within the confinements. She could feel her capturer nod in reply before everything went black.

The sounds of yelling and battle-like noises woke her up some time after her knockout. What confused her even more, was that she could hear Yusuke's loud voice. When her eyes flickered slowly open, she only saw a rush of dizzying things and the world felt upside down. It didn't take long to realize she had a bad case of vertigo. It had happened sometimes when her ex hit her head too many times before she learned to block or protect her face. Finally her vision cleared up enough for her to see the creatures that had cornered her in an alleyway fighting her boyfriend and his strange friends.

"This can't be real." Kaolin murmured as she watched on with wide, fearful eyes. She tried to move, tried to wake herself up but found that she had restraints on her wrists. She was strapped down to a throne-like chair on a small platform with stairs leading up to it. Now this really had to be a dream. She shut her eyes tightly and pulled hard at the leather in an attempt to lift her arms off of the chair arms. It didn't work. Of course it didn't work.

"Oh god it's real." She whimpered to herself. "Why is this happening?"

Suddenly one of the forms on the floor stopped fighting as their target fell to the floor in a bloody mess. Her tearful seafoam green eyes quickly recognized the person as the redheaded Kurama and she closed her eyes tightly again as she whimpered.

"Yusuke! You get Kaolin." He shouted across the room before slashing a thorned green whip toward the opponent that Yusuke had been facing off against. Yusuke nodded and bounded over to his girlfriend's battered form swiftly. He broke the straps easily and called out her name as she shrunk into the golden chair.

"Kaolin. Baby, it's me. Please open your eyes. We're going to leave now." He reached out to scoop her up into his arms bridal-style as she loved but she shrank away from his arms with another whimper, her eyes still firmly shut as if to block out the image of Yusuke beating a lizardman to death.

"Don't touch me." She whispered softly, practically crying as an image of Koishi lurked behind her eyelids with his sadistical smirk.

Yusuke's chocolate eyes widened for a moment before hardening, of course she wouldn't accept him now. He was a monster to her. He moved down the stairs, passing one of the girls that accompanied their team. "Kaida, can you please take her the the temple?" He shoved past Kurama and Kuwabara before heading out.

"What happened?" A figure equally small as Hiei doused the flames that coated her hands and had the wings extending from her back vanish. She stared up the stairs at the shivering, huddling human figure that was curled up on the throne.

"I think...Kaolin just rejected Yusuke." Kaida murmured before moving gracefully, almost dancer-like up the stairs to reach the frightened human. "Ugh, why do I have to do it?" She looked down at her friends who all just looked back at her before she wrinkled her nose and scooped the unwilling girl in her arms. Immediately Kaolin clung to Kaida's slender form as she began to move. "...Why did Yusuke have to pick a normal human?"

"Hey what's wrong with humans?!" Kirei protested with her female demon friend. "I used to be one!"

"Exactly Kirei. You're not normal." The other woman stuck her tongue out before disappearing in the portal that was set up for them.

"Damn right I'm not." The elemental maiden muttered as she gently held Hiei's hand.

It was the last of the conversation that the fearful Kaolin heard. She had fainted.

The truth is hiding in your eyes
And its hanging on your tongue
Just boiling in my blood,
But you think that I can't see
What kind of man that you are
If you're a man at all
Well, I will figure this one out on my own
(I'm screaming "I love you so..." But my thoughts you can't decode)

"Wha?" A small figure underneath a single blanket stirred and a now cold cloth fell off of her forehead. The girl known as Kaolin slowly sat up in the futon she was laid out in. She used one arm to prop herself up and carefully peered around her room. She remembered everything. What was Yusuke? Her forehead furrowed as she thought. She was normally quite a rational person who was only scared of fights.

But now it was completely different. Creatures, no it was Demons, had kidnapped her and held her hostage for someone... And that person couldn't have been entirely human either.

"Yusuke..." Kaolin murmured as she held a single hand to her forehead. She sat up fully and buried her face into her hands, hiding the tears that threatened to leak from her eyes until they began to drip between her fingers.

The sound of a door sliding across a wooden floor startled her into looking up with the tears dripping down her cheeks. An unknown face greeted her sight with a smile. The female figure standing there was shorter than herself with short pixie-like hair and a set of friendly eyes. "Hello." The girl greeted, "I'm Kirei."

Kaolin took the cloth that had been on her forehead and rubbed it over her face to wipe away the traces of tears. She had it beaten into her that tears were weakness and deserved punishment. "Um...I'm Kao-"

"Kaolin. I know. You're Yusuke's girl." Kirei finished her sentence and manuvered herself to plop down on the floor next to Kaolin's futon. "You gave us a scare back there."

The girl shrunk slightly away from the very friendly woman before relaxing as she realized she meant no harm. "Um...sorry?..." She looked down at her blanket and fiddled with it between her fingers. She had no idea what to say. She remembered that this one had wings coming from her back during the fight. Was she a demon too?

Kirei pursed her lips as she looked over the female in front of her. She could never remember a time when she had been so afraid of people, demons or humans. She opened her mouth to start explaining things when a voice called out her name. The maiden blinked and looked up at the door, "I'm in with the new girl." Suddenly a familiar faerie nymph poked her head into the doorway. Well, she was familiar to Kirei.

"Oh...the human girl. You know, I never really had to deal with humans before you, your friend, Yusuke, Kuwabaka and those few others..." Kaida muttered before sighing and entering the room as well. "I'll deal."

"Sorry Kaolin. She's generally really friendly. Like overbearing friendly and sweet. But..." Kirei shot a look at Kaida who just shrugged and folded her legs next to her elemental friend.

"But I may be PMSing for some unknown reason."

"I thought PMS was mostly for humans."

"Bite me."

"Okay."

"Um...can you please tell me what's going on?" Kaolin's small voice broke the playful glaring match going on between the centuries-old nymph and the few-year-old maiden. She found she could draw strength from both women and the friendliness and happiness that radiated off of them. She hadn't had female friends in a very long time.

Kaida turned her eyes to acknowledge the newest addition to the wack-o family that had no name. She raised an eyebrow first at Kaolin than made a face. She hated explaining things.

"It's called the family of pure strangeness and win..or FPS...by the way Kaida." Kirei absently said as she looked at Kaolin as well. "Anyway, Kao, can I call you that?, we are demons. Well...not me and not Kaida. But most of us...Not Kuwabara though. And technically Kurama is just a host of a demon and Yusuke is-" Her voice became muffled as her friend covered the flow of information.

"Since when can you read minds? And slow down for the poor girl."

"Since Hiei's talking -invading our privacy- to me and questioned your thinking." Kirei mumbled behind the fae's hand before sighing and keeping quiet for the moment.

"...I don't get it." Kaolin's face was completely blank, not understanding a word that either of the women were saying. "I don't suppose you can get any clearer?"

Kaida gave Kaolin an equally blank face before grinning at her. "Actually I can. Kirei can't. I'll start from the beginning." She held up her right index finger and released the elemental maiden's mouth as she was silent. "There are three realms. The Ningenkai, human world. The Makai, the demon world. And the Reikai, the spirit world. Obviously you realize demons are real now, and so are almost every single fairytale creature out there except maybe leprechauns...or the toothfairy or santa...Anyway you get it." She paused a moment to wait for the nod of acknowledgement before continuing.

"Me. I am a faerie nymph. Don't ask cause I won't tell, I'm a secret. Then there is Kirei. She is what you call an elemental maiden. Don't ask because it takes forever, like a whole chapter of a story to explain. After Kirei is Hiei. You've met Hiei already but you didn't know that he was a demon. He is a fire apparition with a third eye. Don't ask to see it because he won't let you and if he does he'll become a goblin on you. Eep!" Kaida squeaked like unlike her because Kirei had elbowed her in the side although both girls were smiling about it.

"Um...Kurama is...not really complicated. He used to be this uber fox demon thief but got shot and put his soul in an unborn baby who also kept his soul and they merged but didn't...it's weird but sexy...And Kuwabaka is human. 100 percent like you but he can see spirits and crap like that." She rolled her eyes before forcing a smile at the girl with swirls going through her eyes. "And Yusuke is...well it would be better if you asked him."

Kirei finally came out of her quietness and laid a gentle hand on Kaolin's shoulder. She gave a smile that she would to a frightened child and even brushed some of the other girl's hair out of her eyes in a sisterly way. "I know it's a lot to take in at once. But I'm positive you'll be okay. You'll learn...by the way...did you want to talk to Yusuke? You made him very upset when you told him to go away." She continued smiling even when the human girl frowned and looked back down at her bandaged hands. They had been all scraped up and so they got the white cloth bandages.

"No. Not yet...I'm...scared..." She murmured as tears filled her eyes once more. She turned her face away from the other girls and tried to hold back the waterworks.

"That's understandable I guess." Kirei rubbed her back soothingly and smiled softly. "Would you like to eat with the rest of the group? Or would you like to eat in here? If you eat in here, we will too."

She brought her knees up to her chest and hid her face in them just after she mumbled out the acceptance to the latter option. She didn't want to see anyone else. Hiei frightened her and she didn't know how she would react to Kurama anymore. She used to love his assistance for things like cooking for Yusuke because he was as nice as her boyfriend.

"Uh...okay? Kaida, didn't Kurama ask for your help in making supper?" Kirei asked before the nymph shot up and rushed out the door.

"Yes. Be back soon with food!"

How did we get here?
I use to know you so well
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know

Only a day had gone by and already Kaolin had warmed up to both of the female residents of the temple in the middle of nowhere. She had found out that Kirei was dating Hiei, and now found her strange but still very much a friend, and that Kaida was with Kurama. The first couple was frightening because it was Hiei, but sweet at the same time. And the second couple was just adorable for her to be with. Kaida wasn't one for showing much affection in public, but she did at certain times and it was the cutest thing ever. Think of a basket of puppies playing together or a pair of lovebirds and you get Kurama and Kaida.

On top of it all, Kaolin had still not talked to Yusuke and had only seen a glimpse of his ungelled head.

"Kao...You should really talk to Yusuke." Kaida sat across from said girl with a hand of cards in one hand and a glass of water in the other. The three close friends sat on the wooden floor and played all sorts of card games from old maiden (which Kirei scoffed at) to go fish to texas hold 'em. Kirei nodded her agreement before passing the card that Kaolin had requested. They were currently playing Go Fish.

"But...what if he gets mad?" She murmured back before asking Kirei for another card. She received a scowl and the card before she turned her eyes back to Kaida.

"He loves you doesn't he? He'll get over it. Plus you still don't know if he's human or not."

"Not."

"Pardon?"

"I know he's not." Kaolin accepted yet another card from Kirei before turning her good luck to take from Kaida's hand. She laid down yet another pair before finally getting a 'Go Fish'.

"Damn. I hate playing cards with you Kao." Kirei grumbled, "You cheat. And how do you know he's not?"

She stuck her tongue out childishly before grinning and giving Kaida a card to make a pair. "I'm really good at all sorts besides slapjack and war. And I know he's not because...I just do. Okay? I don't know how, I just keep finding myself aware of things that I shouldn't be aware of and knowing things that I shouldn't. Don't make me into some sort of psychic. It's just sort of like how I know that something really exciting is going to happen for Kaida[2] and then same for you Kirei. Maybe I'm like an empath? I really don't care."

"Whatever. I'm not pushing it. But if Koenma finds out, he'll push it." Kaida shrugged and gave Kirei a card before picking up one more herself from the middle of the pile. "Well I still say you should go talk to him. Oh look! There he is, go now!" She pointed behind Kaolin and swipped the girl's cards and shoo'd her to go talk.

"Fine. I'm going. But if he yells, you get to hit him." Kaolin mumbled and slowly got to her feet before making her way to her boyfriend.

Kirei stared at the girl's back and then looked at Kaida, "I can always ask Hiei to check her mind..." She shrugged then looked back at her cards, "Not worth it."

Yusuke shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up from his sulking when he heard a familiar set of footsteps rushing towards him across the wooden floor. His mellowed out gaze caught sight of his favorite woman in the every realm and they darkened very slightly. "Aren't you scared of me?"

The girl halted when she got close enough to speak to him and was even almost within arm reach. "Kinda. But that isn't going to stop me from talking to you anymore." She gave a shy, almost timid smile upwards to her boyfriend.

"...I'm part-demon Kao. My father was a demon. My mother is a human. Aren't you afraid?" Yusuke's gaze became darker, he didn't know how she would react. But she had been spending a lot of time with two very high class demons.

Kaolin shook her head, it didn't matter to her anymore. She felt like an idiot for being so afraid at first of the man who saved her not only once, but twice now. "I'm not scared." She winced slightly as he reached out to grab both of her arms in his hands. He squeezed enough to let her know that he had so much more strength in his body than she knew. "I'm not scared. I was dumb and I'm sorry. I was mad at you for not telling me but I know now that you couldn't."

He released her arms and rested his hands on her shoulders as he stared dumbfoundedly at her for a moment before crushing her in a hug. "I love you. I'm sorry for not telling you. I am a fool. You are a little fool. We are both fools."

Do you see what we've done?
We're gonna make such fools of ourselves
Do you see what we've done?
We're gonna make such fools of ourselves

How did we get here?
I use to know you so well
How did we get here?
Well, I use to know you so well

"So that's how it happened." Kaolin finished lamely as she stood in front of a desk with a toddler sitting behind it. Everyone figured it would come sooner or later, Yusuke would have preferred much much later but he couldn't complain. Koenma promised she wouldn't have to be sent of for training anywhere because her ability was very human and very basic.

"Can I go home now?" The girl intertwinned her fingers with her boyfriend's and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was tired and happy at the same time. It was time to rest though.

"Yes I suppose so. There is a portal waiting to take you to the house Yusuke bought, or if you would prefer the temple...?" Koenma's higher pitched baby voice spoke out almost unsurely. He hadn't dealt with any human quite like Kaolin in some time.

Yusuke looked down at his girlfriend then at his friends before answering. "My house please. It's not like we can't visit later..." He smiled at Kaolin as she beamed up at him. They hadn't spent any time together just the two of them since before their fight.

"Have a nice vacation Yusuke." Koenma waved his hand as the couple stepped into the portal to arrive at their home.

Upon arriving, Kaolin elbowed Yusuke in the ribs and grinned before squeaking and rushing to the bedroom with a laugh. "Catch me if you can oh mighty Yusuke."

"Oh I will Kao."

I think I know
I think I know
There is something that I see in you
It might kill me I want it to be true

The End

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[1]eighteen years old, drinking - Where I am from, that's legal...so bite me :]
[2]happy things - yeah...take it how you want. Marriage, babies...whatever.

You didn't think it was over, did you? Oh there is much more to come in this story. Will Kaolin accept Yusuke for who he is when she finds out that he may not be entirely human? Well you have to read to find out~!