Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Come Back ❯ One-Shot

Author's notes: As requested, a continuation of my first story about Yusuke's first day of school. I now plan to do a little something for each boy's childhood memories. This one is for Kuwabara. YYH belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi/Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, and so on.

Warnings: Implied domestic violence and alcoholism, angst.

Come Back
A Yu Yu Hakusho Memory Fic by Kitsuneko

Kazuma looked up from his breakfast to see his sister slowly making her way down the stairs. She was already dressed, with her pin-straight hair brushed, but her steps fell heavily; she had just woken up. A livid bruise stood out against her cheek, the size of a man's closed hand.

"Hey, baby brother. Mom's not feeling well today, so I'm gonna take you to school." Kazuma just muttered an "oh" and went back to his food.

He believed that his mother way dying, though no one but his sister was honest enough to confirm that anything was wrong. She did not get up in the morning; she did not talk to the children when they got home; she went back to her room as soon as the evening meal was finished. And his father's anger only confirmed his fears. He brought back medicine in brown paper bags each night, some of which he had taken for himself before getting home. He would disappear into another room, were Kazuma believed he was nursing his mother. He was certain they were both dying of some horrible, slow disease and knew his mother would be the first to go.

He was too young to have yet lost a pet dog, a goldfish, even a houseplant, and the notion of death was so foreign that he could attach no emotion to it. It only left him with a vaguely uncomfortable feeling, like sand in his tennis shoes. Even Shizuru said nothing, but she had honest eyes, which turned their attention from lies. Shizuru seemed unafraid, as if both their parents had died long ago. And Kazuma began to feel the same way. The detachment that comes with anticipated loss.

She helped him pull on his small backpack, adjusting the straps for him. They walked out onto the street with confidence, Shizuru holding his hand, in defiance of the world. She was teaching Kazuma, even know, to challenge the world and throw the first punch, because she knew the blow was on its way.

At the gates of the school, they stopped, Shizuru kneeling to straighten her brother's collar. She started to stand, when they heard the faint noises of conflict. An older boy had a new student by the front of his shirt, taunting him loudly. As they watched, the smaller boy punched his attacker, nailing him in the nose. And Shizuru smiled.

"Look at that boy, Kazu-chan. You have to be like him. Don't let anyone keep you down. You fight, okay?"

"But sis, I'll get in trouble, won't I?"

"That'll happen anyway. It doesn't matter if you get in trouble, or lose, or get hurt. You just keep coming back. If you never stay down, they never win, right?" Kazuma only nodded. "Okay, kid. Have a good day. I'll be here to pick you up after school." She watched until he disappeared through he front doors, even though she knew she was already going to be late for her own classes.

He would get hit a few times before he learned to hit back. She would make sure to stop at the drug store, on the way back that afternoon, for bandages to patch him up. Her lunch money would be just enough. And she knew, as she walked to school alone, that she would be mother and father to him, from now on.