Flaming Hearts ~Fire with Fire ~Book 2 {OLDER VERSION}

CH42 - Overcoming Grief - Part 3

Outside the cave, Yusuke remained there, sitting in front of the entrance with his head down and legs crossed. Suddenly a person approached him from behind.

"What do you want Koenma?" The Urameshi boy asked rudely, startling the prince of Spirit World and make him jump back.

"Hey, I always surprise you!" Koenma complained but sounded more like a whine.

"I'm not in the mood for your stupid gags." The male Spirit Detective said gloomily. 

"Yes, neither is Botan. . ." The brunette teen said with a defeated sigh. "Makes it very hard to function these days. Actually, it's a real pity. Botan is just too depressed to perform the duties that are expected from her. I'm sure if Genkai was still here, she'd call Botan a big whiny baby and give her a much-needed slap in the face." Hearing the name of the deceased Psychic made Yusuke lower his head down in shame while his eyes shut tight.

"I should've woken up, right when she left the hotel. . ." Yusuke said under his breath, his guilt eating him slowly and painfully. Koenma turned to his detective with a hard expression. "I know I could have stopped her."

"How did she picked such a moron apprentice?" The prince asked in disbelief. Hearing this Yusuke shot up from his spot and grabbed Koenma by his shirt and red scarf, his eyes shooting daggers. 

"WHO YOU CALLING MORON, PACIFIER JUNKIE?!" The Urameshi boy screamed into his boss's face, who was calm the entire outburst.

"They spent the majority of their lives consuming with each other." Koenma began, calmly. "A young fighter and a role model. To teammates to bitter enemies. Whatever terms happened to be on, they were always opposite magnets on a life long life-course. Genkai came here knowing she would die, and Toguro came knowing he would kill her. How were you, a kid, whose mother wasn't even born when this conflict began, planning the interfere with this dispute?" The entire time Yusuke kept himself silent while he let the information slowly shank into his mind. "So, you gonna let go? Or we're just gonna stand there and do the tango?" After some time, the male Spirit Detective shoved Koenma away harshly before going back to his previous spot and sat down, continuing to mourn over his teacher's death.

"Why did you go. . . ?" He asked through gritted teeth as he shut his eyes tight preventing the tear to fall from them while the prince of Spirit World just looked at his detective with sadness. . .

On the empty grass field, Kurama poured a small amount of the red-ish substance out of the bottle's lid. The water-bender girl used her hand to twirl it around in the mid-air while examining it with her energy.

"Find anything suspicious?" The redhead asked Ruby.

"Nothing that I can recall. . ." The bender replied in a murmur as she made the liquid flew back into that small cup. "But still Kurama, are you absolutely sure?" She asked, her worry never dropping down one bit.

"I have to try." The redhead replied solemnly before handing his watch to his friend. "I may be able to come up with strategies, but Karasu is far greater in strength and everything else. If I want to outwit him, I need to transform back to my demon form."