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A Little Laughter	By : UKImouto Category: Yuyu Hakusho > General Views: 2397 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Note: In this chapter, I
use a couple of Japanese phrases. They�re basically what you say when meeting
someone for the first time, and no English translation exists for them (hence
this note). According to Japanese for Dummies, yoroshiku basically is one
person begging the other to be kind to them. Kochirakoso, the answer, is the
other person basically begging the other to say, no, I should be the one saying
that.

Note: I really have no
idea if a visitor is allowed during the actual patient-doctor process, though
my research suggests that if patients and doctors agree on it, they can. My
brother�s doctor allowed me to go in and sit with my brother (which is how this
whole nasty �you�re schizo� business began in the first place) but I don�t know
if it�s a common occurrence. I think the only reason my bro�s doc allowed it
was because my bro said I was more crazy than he was. XD

I think I should have
waited and called this chapter pitchfork red�

Disclaimer: I do not own
Yu Yu Hakusho. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to join Kamiya-san for a
little bit of coffee�

Chapter 8: Dying Sun

Kamiya-san was waiting the
next afternoon when Shuichi and I arrived at his office, a few minutes early on
Shuichi�s insistence. Kamiya-san didn�t have an appointment before me.
Therefore, that meant I had a whole three minutes and some seconds to add to
the Hour from Hell. Kamiya smiled upon seeing the red-haired Shuichi, and shook
his hand in a friendly, open way.
�Hello, I�m Kamiya Daichi,
you must be Rei-san�s new friend. Am I correct?�
�Yes, I�m Minamino
Shuichi. Yoroshiku,� Shuichi bowed as he said the polite phrase.
�Kochirakoso,
Minamino-san!� Kamiya-san said. I rolled my eyes and sat in the familiar black
patient�s chair. At least the questions hadn�t started yet. Kamiya�s secretary
dragged one of the comfortable seats from the sitting room outside into the
room so that Shuichi could sit down.
�Rei, I thought we might
try to see into your first experiences with the dream-demons again,� Kamiya-san
said, opening with yet another dreaded question. �You�ve told me again and
again that Xanatos was the first and he came when you were eight. And you�ve
said that he enjoyed having sex��
�No, I didn�t,� I
interrupted. I didn�t like everything I said being thrown back in my face over
and over. �I said he fucked me.�
Kamiya-san winced at my
terms. �Yes, of course. But my question is, Rei, what exactly do you think prompted
him to �find� you when he did? You were eight years old, barely old enough to
even wonder where babies came from, let alone having a knowledge of what sex
was.�
I smirked. So we were
going over that again. �Before Xanatos came, yes, of course, Kamiya-san, I was
unaware of what the implications of what fucking was.�
He visibly winced again.
Well, damn, if he hadn�t wanted to hear it, he should never have taken me on as
a patient. �Do you think you did something, Rei? Or did something happen to
you?�
I paused, the smart remark
caught in my throat as the words sank in. Shuichi�s presence urged me to think,
to really think of what I was going to say. I wanted no lies to tell to
Shuichi. He was the first one to be honest with me. To perhaps even believe what
I had to say. I stared at Shuichi off to the side, so like Michael in his calm
exterior. But inwardly, was he just as torn up as I was?
Was he beginning to feel
the fear of Dirken�s wrath?
�When I was seven�Michael
and Sevon and I had just met,� I murmured, almost inaudibly. I half-smirked,
seeing Kamiya-san lean in. Shuichi curiously remained sitting back, as if he
could hear perfectly. �We were playing with some cards that we�d found in
Michael�s attic. There were only about thirteen cards, each as strange as the
last. I never found out what they were, really.�
�A bunch of cards?�
Kamiya-san blinked, his face blank as limo�s shadowed windows, reflecting back
whatever came near. �Continue, Rei.�
I glared at him, angry
that he�d interrupted. My memories of Mike and Von were special to me, special
in ways he could never understand. It wasn�t until Jirkle had triggered the
memories that I even recalled the good times Mike and Von and I had had
together. I wondered often why Dirken didn�t repeat Von�s death for my mind
over and over, even though I really hadn�t been there to see the original
�suicide� myself.
Maybe�Sevon really had
killed himself?
Maybe it wasn�t my demons?
�Rei?� Kamiya-san
prompted.
�Sorry,� I shook my head.
�The cards�when we were playing, they suddenly dealt out on the floor on their
own. Some were right side up and some were down, and the one in the middle�� I
paused, trying to recall what that card had been.
�The card at the heart of
everything?� Kamiya-san asked gently.
�It�you know that Christmas
Carol story? The way the Ghost of the Future was described in the book.
That�s what it looked like.�
�And the others?�
Kamiya-san asked again.
�I�I don�t remember,� I
lied. Of course I remembered. I recalled very clearly, each of those cards, laid
out so deliberately. That night, when Mike and Von and I had gone to sleep, was
the night Xanatos had appeared.
Kamiya-san sighed. �Very
well, then. Tell me, did you feel as if you had brought any of this on
yourself, Rei?�
I shrugged. �I befriended
a couple of guys, I had brothers, and I had a father who always fought with my
mother. I never understood people until I was far enough out of them to
actually watch them. Observe.�
�You feel you understand
people better now that you�re basically not a part of society?� Kamiya-san
asked.
I half-shrugged, staring
at the white walls. �You still need to get some art on the walls in here,
Kamiya-san.�

Kamiya-san waited a few moments, as if waiting for me to say something else.
�Rei, what happened yesterday? The school called to say you had to leave
early.�
I smirked, glaring
straight at his silver hair. �Some kid made a comment about me being a
murderer. Minamino-san brought me home. End of story.�
�A boy named Fujiita
Mamoru,� Shuichi spoke up for the first time since Kamiya-san and he had
introduced themselves. �He�s been suspended.�
�They all wanted to say
it,� I said, bringing my legs up on the seat with me. �Not like I wasn�t
expecting it to happen again. Just not quite this soon.�
�Do you want us to move
you to a different school ag��
�Fuck, no,� I growled. �I
like this one. It�ll be the same at any damn school I go to.�
�Very well, Rei, our
session is over for the day,� Kamiya-san said. �Minamino-san, I�d like to speak
with you alone for a few minutes, if you don�t mind.�
�Of course, sir,� Shuichi
said.
I grabbed Shuichi�s chair
and dragged it back out into the sitting room. The woman after me was just
sitting there, reading the month-old magazines. She glanced up at me and smiled
no less than three times before speaking.
�Hello, Galis-san, how are
you?�
I shrugged. �Damned and
down, you?�
�You shouldn�t say such
things, you know. I�m doing fine, thank you. Kamiya-sensei said that I am doing
much better now.�
She opened her magazine
with trembling hands. When I�d first seen her, she refused to do anything less
than three times. To see her opening a magazine page, only once, was proof that
she was, in fact, getting �better�.
But what did �better�
really mean?
So what if she had to wash
her hands three times in the bathroom or brush her hair in strokes of three? So
damn what? What was so appealing about being �normal� that you had to force a
woman like her to come to therapy just to stop doing things three times over?
Shuichi emerged from
Kamiya-san�s office looking disgruntled and a little upset, though he was doing
a bang-up job hiding it. It was all there, in his acid-green eyes, though. The
way he smiled politely to the woman who was carefully turning the magazine
pages as though they�d bite her as soon as move with her hands.
�Galis-san, are you ready
to leave?�
I all but shoved him out
the door, and straight into the hall. Almost as soon as I�d done so, I realized
what I�d done and snatched my hands back. �S-Sorry�I��
�There�s no need to
apologize,� Shuichi smiled. �I wouldn�t want to stay in that place any longer
than need be. It truly is an hour from hell.�
I nodded, scowling.
�Kamiya just doesn�t get it. He forces answers from me, and then he makes these
assumptions that just make no sense to me, and then when I am being honest
toward him, he passes it off as �just another fantasy�. He can�t even begin to
imagine that my dreams are real.�
Shuichi paused at the
elevator, not pressing the down button just yet. �The demon that Kamiya-san
mentioned. Xanatos, I believe. Was that all true?�
I bit my lip. �Yeah.
Xanatos was the first demon to appear, the night that Von, Mike, and I found
those weird cards. When Mike�s mom saw them, she screamed really loud and hit
Mike on the head. Then she shredded them. All of them. Little tiny pieces of
paper.� I glanced over my shoulder, at the small publishing firm. The manga
place that I always walked past without ever going in.
I desperately wanted to go
inside, right now, with Shuichi.
��Untamed Spirit Manga,
Inc.� I have read a few of the manga they print,� Shuichi said, sounding
slightly surprised. �I didn�t know they had a place in town.�
I smiled sadly. �I go by
this place every other weekday, and I�ve never gone in.�
�Do you want to?�
I yearned to, I wanted to
tell him. I wanted to tell him, yes, oh, yes, I want to go inside, and find out
just what they do all day long. I wanted to talk to the president, or an
editor, and find out just what it took to be a manga-ka. But I didn�t say
anything at all. I just shrugged and pressed the elevator button myself.
And we went out of the
building, my feet yelling at me to go back, go back. �I guess we�d better go
home, then. We both have homework due in the morning.�
Shuichi nodded slowly. And
then he spoke. �Maybe I can come over tonight and we can work together on it.
It�ll go faster that way. Would your mother mind?�
�My mother doesn�t get
home until later,� I said wryly. �And she eats dinner and goes to bed. Hardly
ever even acknowledges the fact that I�m awake except to say hello. The only
time she ever even says anything else is when I�ve done something wrong. But
no, I don�t think she�d mind.�
In fact, she�d probably be
ecstatic that I�d brought someone home with me. I hadn�t done that since
Michael was still alive. Six years was a long time.
Maybe it was time I
stopped being scared of the demons. Maybe Shuichi was right, maybe he could help. What he�d said before, about being able to
hear my demons� Maybe he had really heard them. Maybe he wasn�t lying.
I clutched onto that thought
as if my life depended on it.
Someone finally believed
me.
Mom would be happy for me,
although I definitely wouldn�t be telling her that Shuichi believed me about
the demons. She would think he was nuts, too, and probably tell Shiori-san to
have him put in the Hour of Hell. I smirked at the thought. Kamiya-san would
love to fill the hour before me.
~Er�Kitten�?~
~*~Jirkle! Where have you
been, you�ve been real quiet la�~*~
~Kitten, listen to me.~
I blinked several times in shock, coming to a stop a few paces from the bus
stop. Shuichi paused and glanced back at me, questioning.
~*~What is it, Jirk?
What�s going on?~*~
I�d never in my life heard
Jirkle sound so serious. For a moment I thought it might be another demon,
impersonating him. But it was his voice, and I could hear the agitated slashing
noise of his fire tail jerking about behind him.
~Do not go home,
Kitten. Don�t go home.~
~*~What? Why? What�s
happened, Jirk?~*~
He was silent. I stomped
in frustration, crossing my arms stubbornly in front of me as I joined Shuichi
at the bus stop. �I hate it when he does that.�
�I heard. Would you like
to come to my house instead?�
Shuichi�s kind green eyes
were worried, and I let a breath of relief fall from my lungs even if just for
a moment. He wasn�t lying. He really could
hear what Jirkle had said. I frowned as the bus came upon us, and I flashed my
bus card at the driver before taking the seat beside the window.
�No. I�m going to go home.
Jirkle�s done this before, and when he does, it�s never anything good.�
�Then why not listen to
his warning?�
I let a crooked smirk
cross my face. �Because I�m always morbidly curious, and he�s piqued that
curiosity yet again.�
Shuichi chuckled as the
bus roared to life. We were silent on the crowded, noisy bus as it roared past
stop after stop. Finally, I couldn�t take it any more. I asked the burning
question in the back of my throat.
�How can you hear my
demons, Minamino-san?�
Shuichi sighed, and
glanced past me out the window. We were passing by the same park full of
innocent children I�d seen the last time I had taken this route home. Morana
had controlled my eyes that time, and the children were almost all the same. I
saw one little girl sitting off by herself, playing in the sand. She obviously
had no friends, and was as alone as I�d been around her age.
�Kitsune are by nature
secretive, Galis-san. You will have to understand if I wish to remain in the
shadows.�
I chuckled darkly,
glancing at him, my eyes half-lidded in mirth. �Well, then, I must be part
kitsune myself. Of course, that hasn�t held me back from telling you a lot of
things I haven�t even told my mother, let alone Kamiya.�
The words were there, even
though I hadn�t spoken them.
I trust you.
I hadn�t trusted anyone
since Michael, and now seemed like the worst time to start trusting anyone. But
I did. I trusted Shuichi, and I trusted him even though he had so many secrets
that he still hadn�t told me. I trusted him to tell me, one day, maybe later
than sooner, but I did.
I trusted him.
It scared me more than
anything else, even Dirken.
Shuichi chuckled softly.
�If you are part kitsune, that would be, at the very least, quite interesting,
Galis-san.�
I laughed. �Nah, if I was
part kitsune, I�d pro�l�ly have a lot more demons swarmin� around me. Halflings
are so looked down upon, at least that�s what Jirkle said.�
Shuichi smiled. �Then
obviously Jirkle has not been to the Makai in a long time. It�s almost run by a
halfling at the moment. Two, if you count the half fire, half ice apparition
who is his underling.�
He spoke so much as if he
knew it to be true, I felt a shiver run up my spine. Shuichi Minamino obviously
had never been a normal human being. But still, knowing he had those
connections and having them revealed so starkly was a little unnerving.
The bus pulled to a stop
about three blocks from my house. I knew it was my house almost instantly,
because there were five police cars all around it and several unmarked white
cars, too. I climbed off the bus and ran toward them, and it wasn�t until I
reached the yellow �DO NOT CROSS: CRIME SCENE� tape that I realized Shuichi was
right on my heels.
�You didn�t have to come
with me,� I said, ducking under the tape.
�I wouldn�t be much of a
friend if I didn�t.�
I smiled, even as a tall
police officer made to stop me. �Sorry, miss, but you can�t come in��
�This is my house,� I
said, irritated. �Even if there�s blood all over the walls or whatever, it�s
still my right to enter my house and see what state it�s in.�
I shook my arm out of his
grip and grabbed Shuichi�s arm instead, pulling him up the grass lawn. The
officer barely had enough time to start to protest when I swung open the door,
the always unlocked door. The front hall was a mess, all of the photographs of
my brothers and I strewn everywhere, glass broken. I almost knelt to take the
photos out of the frames when I recalled that the police wouldn�t be too happy
that I�d messed with any evidence that might be there.
I tiptoed carefully over
broken trinkets and smashed porcelain dolls�my mother�s collection, her pride
and joy. The little waving Chinese cat that had sat on the table, which neither
of us had bothered to change from �Happy Birthday, Matsu�, was now in three
pieces about the hall. Another officer stood in the entrance to the hall, but I
shoved past him. I wanted to see what everyone was trying to prevent me from
seeing.
Shuichi politely explained
to the officer that I lived here, and that I was upset. I noted with a wry
smile he hadn�t used the excuse that I was �mentally unstable�. In the hall, my
amateur paintings of tulips and a cherry tree in bloom had been slashed with a
butcher knife, the blade itself embedded into the red setting sun I�d painted
there.
�Miss, you can�t be here��
Tried another officer at the front of my mother�s bedroom doorway. I shoved him
out of the way and then my hand slackened against his shoulder, suddenly
digging into the material of his officer�s uniform instead.
To anyone who perhaps was
color blind, it would look merely as if she was sleeping, the blood in her printed
sheets melding with the design. They wouldn�t see the fact that she wasn�t
breathing, perhaps, or that her eyes were wide open, her mouth open, too, in a
silent scream. I stared and stared, and yet not a sound came to my lips.
I couldn�t scream.
I couldn�t scream.
All I could do was stare,
stare, stare at the mangled corpse that had been my mother. The officer whose
shoulder I still clutched in my white knuckles gently took my hand and led me
out of the room.
�I take by the look on
your face that you�re her daughter, young lady.�
I swallowed hard, and
nodded.
�Are you going to be
okay?�
I shook my head, faintly.
�Galis-san, what is it?�
Shuichi asked, his hands gentle on either of my shoulders. He could see it in
my eyes, I could tell, but still, he wanted to hear it from me. I took a deep
shuddering breath.
�Minamino-san, is it
possible that I could stay with you for a few days?� I asked, faintly, as
though I were dreaming. I had to be dreaming. Had to be. �I don�t know who�s
done it, but I swear, I swear they are going to pay in spades.�
Shuichi caught my wrist in
his, gently prying my fist from the officer�s shoulder. �I think she�s in
shock.�
�I�m not surprised,� said
the officer. �You her boyfriend?�
Shuichi chuckled darkly.
�No, no, just a friend. I think I just might be the only one she has.�
The officer nodded. �Take
good care of her, then.�
I shook my head quickly.
�Can I�get some things? From my room?�
The officer looked into
the bedroom opposing my mother�s, and, finding it untouched, he nodded. I knew
it wouldn�t be touched. Whoever did this�whoever killed her would not harm my
room, knowing that it would anger me. The things that were thrown haphazardly
all across the house were my things, but they were my mother�s things, too. I
knew that they knew that it would turn the knife in my gut to know they
wouldn�t touch the things that were mine and only mine.
Shuichi stood in the
doorway of my room as I slowly kicked my shoes off. I hadn�t bothered removing
them before entering the house, but with all the glass, no one really did pay
attention to such trivialities. I set the shoes, battered as they were, neatly
side by side next to my dressing table.
�Are you going to come in
or not, Minamino-san,� I said, not even bothering to raise my voice into the
tone the question needed. He removed his shoes as I brought my old tattered
suitcase down from the top of my closet. When he�d finished and placed his own
shoes reverently beside mine, I tossed the case on my bed. �Shut the door.�
He obeyed, wordlessly.
I set about the arduous
task of grabbing clothes, any clothes. I rarely cared what I wore, and I hadn�t
even before I�d been admitted to the hospital years ago. I smirked wryly in
remembrance. The suitcase I now packed was only in my closet because it had been
where I�d packed all of my clothes to go home from the hospital four years ago.
�Galis-san, are you��
Shuichi�s voice trailed off.
�No, Minamino-san, I�m not
okay,� I said quietly. I kept my eyes stubbornly on my dresser as I removed
jeans, shirts, socks, bras, and underwear from it and placed it all neatly in
the suitcase. I didn�t even have the grace to blush as Shuichi was seeing the
boy short underwear I always wore. �It isn�t going to be okay. I�m not okay.�
Shuichi touched my
shoulder, gently. �It will be, eventually.�
I sighed and glared at the
suitcase, wishing it would erupt in flame. Shuichi didn�t understand, he
couldn�t possibly understand. �You say that like you know me.�
�Galis-san, I do not
pretend to know you, nor do I pretend to know your relationship with your
mother,� Shuichi said calmly, reaching over and folding the t-shirts I�d
grabbed. �I know what it�s like to lose someone close to me, however, and that
is what I am saying.�
I laughed harshly. �Easy
for you to say. Damn it. I�I just realized.� I laughed again, the noise foreign
in my ears. �I�m an orphan. Damn. I didn�t realize I would be one so soon.�
~Kitten, don�t. He�s
only trying to help.~
�What�s the use in help if
it won�t bring them back?!� I shouted out loud. I kicked the suitcase to the
floor and collapsed to my knees, hugging myself so hard, I felt my back and
knuckles crack. �They�re dead, okay?! Every last one of them! And they won�t
come back, they aren�t coming back! I�m not okay, I�m not okay, I�m
not o-fucking-kay!!�
I sobbed dryly. Why
wouldn�t the tears come? Dirken always made my dreams of Michael out as if I�d
cried and cried for weeks, for months. I screamed, too. I screamed as loud as
the bullet flew. I didn�t even feel the touch of wetness in my eyes, a dry heat
so flaming in my face that I thought for a moment I was dreaming again, and
Jirkle�s tail was in my face.
But then I saw those
acid-green eyes of Shuichi�s, and suddenly I knew.
�It�s you,� I growled.
�I�m sorry?� he blinked.
�You. You�re the reason they killed my mother!� I
whispered loud. �They saw me being your friend and decided that my mother was
expendable. They did the same thing when my father was around, when my brothers
were still here�it�s you they�re after!
They want me to hurt you by being your friend!�
Shuichi blinked at the
accusation, and somewhere in the rational part of my mind, I didn�t blame him
for being confused. But my irrational mind was in charge now. Not even Morana
could have calmed me, though Jirkle tried again.
~Kitten. It isn�t his
fault and it isn�t yours. Now stop this fool--~
I jumped up to my feet and
dove back into the hall, feeling the glass of the frames slicing into my feet
as I ran. The officers from before yelled at me as I shot past, and the nearest
reached out to grab my arm. I yanked my arm out of his reach and grabbed the
butcher knife still embedded in the painted sun.
RED.
I needed it, craved it
like nothing else. Jirkle was shouting, Mishu and the twins had joined him, and
Kuronue in his red pendant had joined the fray. Faint spirit�s arms had grasped
my arms, and to the officers it probably looked as if I was fighting myself. I
pulled the knife, pulled and pulled and still it wouldn�t budge. I dug my
profusely bleeding heels into the slippery glass-and-blood coated floor and
jerked the knife out of the sheetrock. In my triumph, I managed to nick my
fingers on the blade.
I planned to do much more
than that.
But more than that, I
planned to end it. I planned to see the red, see the blood, taste the coppery
strawberries and dance on the open beaches again. I planned to dance with
Michael and Sevon and my mother and my father and my brother and dance and
dance and dance under the suicide Limbo�s hellish red skies.
I planned to end it all.
The knife slipped from my
hands, and it wasn�t until everything was going black that I cried out at all.
�No! No! Just let me go,
let me go after her!�
�I�m sorry, Rei.�
And I was out.
***
A few more notes and I�ll
be gone. ^^; The woman that Rei talks to after the end of her session with
Kamiya-san has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and that basically means that the
person does not feel safe unless they certain things every time they do certain
things. For more info on that, go watch the movie �As Good As It Gets�.

When Jirkle warned Rei not
to go home, that was almost word-for-word the conversation I had with him the
day Sevon died. Sevon was a good friend of mine at the same time I knew
Michael. I discovered Sevon with slashed wrists. The �out loud� conversation
that Rei has with Kurama is the same one I had with another, not-quite-as-close
friend, Stephen. Well, except for the fact that I had to tell Stephen what Jirk
was saying.

And the crack that Rei
makes about her being part-kitsune? Just a crack, nothing more. ^^; She�s not gonna
end up bein� half demon or something stupid like that.

I�d like to think I�ve
trusted a few more people since Mike and Von died. Although, if anyone knows
this painful little tidbit, sometimes trust comes to bite you in the ass. The
boy with whom I had the out loud convo, Stephen, was the only other person to
know that I witnessed Michael�s death. And he used that very painful fact to
play a practical joke on me during my junior year of high school. He pretended
he�d killed himself in order to distance himself from me. Prick. Hmph.
- 7
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A Little Laughter