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It had to be love.
That was what everyone said, after all! Surely they were destined for each other, were they not? Always dancing around the other, casting glances in the hallways and chasing after the other. The other children in the school constantly whispered rumors about it, the straight A’s honor student flirting about with the worst delinquent the school had to offer.
Yusuke didn’t mind what the others were saying, though, contrary to the way they’d shut up around him, fearful he’d knock their lights out just for speaking.
A glance in the hallway was enough.
It had to be love.
Botan said it was. That weird little girl Koenma sent to check on him seemed to think so, as well. Personally, Yusuke can’t see it. Keiko, in love with him? Nah, couldn’t be. He knows that she cares for him, dearly, deeper than he thought - but as the two other girls converse, leaving him with no way to get a word of protest in edgewise, he decides they have to be right. They’d know best, after all, right?
He doesn’t know why Keiko trying to kiss his body gives him such jolts of panic and anxiety. Perhaps it’s because that’s how everyone reacts to first kisses - but something deeper in him wants her away, away from his currently lifeless body.
Yusuke is, in all truth, never more thankful than he is when the neighborhood watch rolls by, and she remembers everything else she must do.
Of course, when she returns, it’s to save him from fire. Of course, he won’t let her die for him, so he throws his egg into the fire. Of course, that proves that it’s true love, because it is for nothing and no one other than the one he loves most that he’d sacrifice himself, right?
Of course, it’s true love, because like in all fairy tales, it's her kiss that awakens him from the sleep of death, a few days later.
(When later, he finds himself willing to sacrifice his life for Kuwabara, for Hiei, for Kurama and Koenma and Yukina and Botan and Genkai and all living world, he finds himself wondering.)
The Dark Tournament sees them caring for each other all the more. After his trial with Genkai, he is left in Keiko’s arms; it’s Keiko who calls out to him and makes him draw on his strength (It must be her, over all, over every single other one of his friends and his team, because that’s what love means, right? They’re all a step below).
It’s Keiko who calls to him in his fight with Toguro, crying out for them to return home.
Home? What is home? The home she wants is peaceful, quiet. He’s back to his normal delinquency, but he follows some rules. He listens. He does things in school. They smile and talk of marriage, and he beats people up but never gets his life in danger, not once.
As he fights Toguro, and later Sensui, he finds that this is not the home he wants. He is only at home when fighting, when doing something; he can’t function in peace like he used to, not anymore, not now.
The home she wants for him is nothing more than a phantom; a false reality. He feeds into it, anyway, with a promise to return to her in three years so they can be married. They would both be eighteen by then.
There are things you have to compromise on for love.
(Raizen confirms that, in his mind. He starved himself to death on a promise made to the one he loved!
And yet, somehow, Yusuke doesn’t want to follow his example. Not when the aftermath of that tore a hole through his heart, even if it ended with the best solution for all three worlds.
Raizen doesn’t tell him exactly what to do, next time they meet; he can only provide advice. “Tell her how you feel,” he says, leaving it to Yusuke to take his words however he needed to. It doesn’t have to mean you love her.)
The apartment is nice, at least. He didn’t have any alcoholic mother to nag him, just… Keiko.
The atmosphere between them had changed since the beach. They hadn’t laughed or had that much fun since; the dynamic felt wrong, and tensions only crackled.
But they were dating. They were in love. Old married couples argued all the time, right?
He’s laying back on the couch when she brings it up. “Yusuke… Do you… Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
She sounds sad, yet cautious at the same time - almost worried. He’s known Keiko their whole lives, though, and dumbass though he may be, even he can tell what she’s thinking. “Yeah. We’ve always been in sync that far, at least.”
He squirms until he’s sitting up, back resting against the couch’s arm. “Back to best of friends for us, then?” he asks, mustering up a grin for the first time since the beach, and Keiko responds in kind.
“Best of friends,” she agrees, and just like that, the tension dissolves into nothingness, and they both feel as calm and carefree around the other as they always had.
“Sorry to put you through these couple months of bullshit, Keiko,” he says, and Keiko shrugs, looking to the side.
“I think we both kind of needed it, though,” she admits. “We needed to see for ourselves that we don’t work well romantically, or else-”
“We’d always be wondering, because everyone and their mother was always pushing on us to get together,” Yusuke finishes for her. “But I guess we always kind of knew, deep down, didn’t we? We knew who we were, and what we wanted. We were just too afraid to try and get it, because everyone always acted like they knew better, like they knew exactly what we needed. And, like blind fools, we decided to listen to their authority, and nearly fucked up god-damn everything in an effort to make something work when it wouldn’t.”
“Like banging two different puzzle pieces together,” Keiko says, nodding. “I’ve known you forever, Yusuke. You’ve grown and changed a lot, especially in those three years you spent in Makai, but…” she smiles, laughs, “You’re still a no-good delinquent deep down.”
“With a heart of gold!” Yusuke protests; Keiko only laughs, and the battle is, like all the rest of theirs, settled squarely in her favor. “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing, for you. Fighting for people you care about is part of who you are, and it can’t change - it won’t change - and I shouldn’t force you to bottle it all up inside of you because I’ll always worry, otherwise.”
Yusuke frowns. “And I shouldn’t always make you worry,” he says. “You need someone who can be there for you, more constantly than I ever can. Both physically and emotionally. Someone who’s smart, and can work with you, y’know?”
Keiko nods. “I know.”
For a moment, silence hangs between them, as they think over everything said. Then, Yusuke, as always, with all the tact in the world, interrupts. “So, who’s the lucky person for you? Is it Botan? I know we just got over all this ‘don’t tell people who they should be with’ crap, but Botan seems like a pretty good bet for you.”
For a moment, Keiko is caught off guard, but then she smiles, laughs. “Actually, you’re right. I’d been thinking about her myself, but…”
Yusuke smiles. “Go for it. Never know unless you try, like we just found out, right?”
He’s hit in the face with a pillow for his snark, but he just laughs, and continues. “Who knows, maybe you’ll even end up with a gig as a grim reaper after you die, and you’ll get a long life together!”
“Don’t be morbid!” Keiko scolds, but after a moment pretending to be cross, she leans back in. “So, what about you? Who’s your perfect person?”
Yusuke humans, leans back, shrugs. “I dunno. Someone who can keep up with me in a fight, probably. Someone who can challenge my flame, not try and contain it - no offense to you, just don’t want any burn victims here.”
“I suffered worse burns trying to rescue you from your old house,” Keiko tells him, and Yusuke almost chokes with laughter.
“Okay, but, seriously though. I’m a demon, you’re not - and that lifespan difference would be a killer! Even for poor ol’ Kuwabara… Not to mention, even though the Makai Tournament in place, and the relationships between worlds are patching up, I’m probably gonna be spending a lot more time in Makai, or between worlds. Maybe someone like Hiei, or Jin. Someone like that.”
“We both seem to be rather gay in our suggestions for perfect people.”
“Hey, you were the one to start it!”
They squabbled the rest of the day away over things without any real importance or significance, but the air between them remained as calm and relaxed as ever.
“So I guess it’s not love then, huh?”
“Oh, Yusuke, it is love - just not the kind everyone thinks of.”