Death of the Forbidden Child
by Morgan
D.
|
Yu Yu Hakusho and
its characters belong to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Studio Pierrot,
Fuji TV and Jump Comics. Shounen Ai, Lemon. |
 |
Prologue
The Slip
Takamura-san bashfully remembered the last time he had run away from a pretty girl. He was nine years old, and this lovely classmate with huge black eyes and dainty dimples had simply thrown her chubby arms around his neck and tried to kiss him. In sheer panic, he did the only thing he could think of: he pointed to an imaginary point at her back and yelled, "Look! The Ness Lake Monster!" and when the credulous girl turned to look he ran for his life.
Soon after he had learnt that associating with girls was not as socially diminishing as he had thought, and that kissing wasn't all that gross too, although it had been too late to regain the dimple-girl's respect. He spent most of the next six decades willingly surrendering to the pretty girls' assaults, and even chasing madly for the prettiest ones. So if anyone in the last sixty years had told him that at seventy-three he would be caught crossing the whole town fleeing in terror of a beautiful young girl calling out his name and begging that he would accompany her, he could only have laughed.
But that girl wasn't the sort of female company he was used to. She was frightening. Oh, she had an exquisite, affectionate face. It wasn't for her blue hair - the youngsters would dye their hair with the most unusual colors these days. And it wasn't her pink eyes either, for colored contact lenses were now very popular. Western bad influence, he mused.
And it wasn't the oar itself. Takamura-san had owned several boats in his life, and the girl's oar seemed just as ordinary as any other he had seen. Except for the fact that it was flying. And that it was carrying a blue-haired pink-eyed girl in a wild dive in the air to try to snatch him. That was the scary part.
"Takamura-san, wait onegai!" she kept screaming.
"Sorry, angel!" he yelled back. "Can't go with you! I forgot my flying duster!"
To be honest, he was quite amazed at how long and fast he had managed so far. He kept himself in excellent shape of course, and no one would give him more than fifty-five unless they paid too much attention to the wrinkles around his eyes. But when the oar-girl appeared he suddenly felt so light, as if after losing sixty pounds. He didn't remember of ever feeling that strong and nimble, not even as a teenager. He jumped easily over fences, climbed walls, slid down the steep roofs, and none of this would bring him out of breath.
Whereas the main situation was already kind of whimsical, what really added a dream quality to the whole thing was the passivity of the people he passed by in the streets. No one seemed to care a single bit about their weird pursuit, not a single alarmed shout of "Look, a flying oar!" would be heard. That sure gave another dimension to the concept of alienated population...
He leaped over a large mud puddle, his left foot brushing the edge. He looked down disgustedly, expecting to find a dirty stain in his beloved white pants, but to his surprise his misstep didn't splash the mud around.
"Takamura-san, please come with me!" the girl appealed once more.
He turned quickly to see her plummeting towards him one more time. "Angel, don't think I'm not flattered. It's just that I'm a little too old for you." Not that that had ever stopped me, he grinned to himself, resuming his escape.
"Takamura-san!" Her voice hinted she was running out of her patience. "I can't be late, I have several others to fetch yet."
"Others?" He was insulted. "And I thought you liked me. Only interested in my body, huh?"
"Your body is lying flat on the sidewalk in the other side of the town," she retorted wearily. "Come with me, please! I promise you'll be fine!"
And now the blue-haired pink-eyed oar-flier girl was going nuts on him. Legs, don't fail me now! Turning left at the next corner, the old man sped into an nearly deserted alley, where only a tall boy in a white jacket strolled tranquilly coming his way, but like all others he gave no sign of noticing him. His house was right at the end of that alley, and he hoped that once locked inside his bedroom the Twilight Zone would leave him alone...
"Oi, jiisan," called the boy. "What are you running from?"
Takamura-san was so surprised by being finally noticed he tripped and fell right at the boy's feet.
"Easy, jiisan," the carrot-haired boy - What is it with youth and hair dye these days? helped him to stand. "Are you hurt?" Then the boy frowned, studying him closely, until a comprehending look took over his face. "Of course you aren't," he muttered. "What happened? No one came to get you?"
"KUWABARA-KUN!!!!!" The girl's clamor thundered at the old man's back. "Hold him PLEASE! I've been trying to catch him for two hours!"
"Botan?"
Takamura-san tried to tiptoe away, but the lad rested a heavy hand over his shoulder.
"Not so fast, jiisan. Wait to meet my friend Botan here."
The girl landed beside them, her oar immediately dematerializing in plain air. "Arigatou, Kuwabara-kun," she bowed, looking immensely relieved. "I was beginning to think I'd lose him. Takamura-san, you come with me now."
"To which planet?" the old man stammered.
Sweatdrops ran down her cheeks. The sturdy boy giggled. "Don't worry, jiisan," he soothed. "Botan's gonna explain all to you during the trip. Just hang on tight on that oar. She's the wildest flier of all Reikai ferrygirls."
Reikai ferrygirls? "I'm not flying on that thing!" he protested. But the girl had already summoned the oar again, and the boy easily lifted him from the ground and placed him sitting on it.
"You'll be fine," he assured him. "You'll love the view of the Styx River at this time of the year."
"Thanks again, Kuwabara-kun," the girl said, mounting the oar as well. "Koenma-sama would shred me to pieces if I lost him."
"Oh come on, Botan," the lad objected. "Koenma would never be angry at you for more than two seconds."
She shook her head in dismay. "He's been reproaching everyone about stray souls. Especially since we found out about Hiei's..." She faltered, covering her lips with a hand.
The boy frowned deeply. "Hiei? What about him?"
But the girl was stuttering frantically, waving her hands in front of her. "No-no-no-nothing! Nothing! Did I say Hiei? Silly me, I meant Hi... hi... hi... hee-how!" Then, more enthusiastically, "Hee-how! Hee-how! Hee-how!"
Blue-haired pink-eyed oar-flier Reikai ferrygirl impersonating a donkey, Takamura-san mused. I sure didn't expect death to be like that... At least this time the carrot-haired boy looked as stupefied as he felt. But before any of them could come with an intelligible reply, she pulled the oar up to the sky.
"Arigatou, Kuwabara-kun! Dewa mata!"
The flabbergasted boy quickly became nothing but a dark point beneath them.
"Oi, angel?" he gulped. "Would you mind going back for a second? I think I left my stomach back there..."
~*~
May 20th, 2000