At Least We Have Forever 35 - Bearing The Loneliness

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and its characters. I do own the plot, Riya and other OC's of this story, though. I only write for pleasure and fun—but a few reviews would surely pay off all my hard work on this one.

Warning: The characters might not be in their usual selves. In other words, possible OOC.

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AT LEAST WE HAVE FOREVER—Chapter 35: Bearing The Loneliness

It has been a week that passed since Keiko told the truth to the gang and it was quite obvious to see a lot of changes not just to Kurama but to Riya and the rest of the gang, as well. And of course, the whole school could see that with which the fangirls, particularly Reina, took as an opportunity to be with Kurama and steal him away from Riya. Though she didn't know about Riya not being able to remember the one man she loved, Reina knew that something happened for the couple not to talk or even glance at each other for the whole week. And she just thought that Riya and Kurama broke up or something.

Fortunately, the whole Class 2-C and Class 2-D were all "geared up" to stop Reina from doing anything surely sinister for their favorite couple. Yumi allowed Ayako to tell the altered version (without the battle and others) of the truth about Riya not being able to remember Kurama exclusively to Class 2-C and Class 2-D only. They wanted to feel sorry but it would only make matters worst. So instead, they wanted to do what they could to bring Riya and Kurama together once again though they knew they had to wait until one of those two dared to talk to the other. In other words, either Riya or Kurama should make the first move to renew what they had lost.

But would that be even possible if Kurama refused to have just a glimpse of Riya?

No one knew how Kurama bear the tormenting pain in his heart for a week now. He even forced himself not to talk to or look at Riya in order not to intensify that pain even more just because the love of his life couldn't remember him at all. And probably, she would never be able to remember him at all no what he would do.

He didn't know how long would he have to go on like this. He never knew how did he manage to endure this torture without losing his sanity in this painstaking process. He probably needed to thank Ayako and Soujiro for doing what they thought they could to divert his attention to something else. Keiko came to talk to him twice and said the same thing: I'm sorry.

But Kurama could never blame Keiko for what happened to Riya. She didn't do anything bad in the first place. She just obeyed her mistress' orders and allowed Riya to do what was necessary to shield the latter's heart from any more pain. And he understood that now, more than ever.

I recall when you said

That you would never leave me

You told me more

So much more like when the time

You whispered in my ear

There was heaven in my heart

I remember when you said

That you'd be here forever

Though he said to himself that he understood, Kurama couldn't still deny the fact that it hurt him to the core. Waking up feeling the pain intensify, it was too much. And each night that passed, memories of his love for Riya appeared in his dreams over and over.

It was like a movie of his life played non-stop. Unfortunately, this movie didn't have a happy ending… unlike how he wanted it to end for him and Riya—all because she left him for his sake.

Then you left

Without even saying that you're leaving

I was hurt

And it really won't be easy

To forget yesterday

And I pray that you would stay

But then you're gone

And oh, so far away

Riya left him. Not in a physical sense, though. Her heart was the one that left and it took a part of his life along. Now he couldn't figure out a way on how to live his life the same way again without remembering the most precious memories that he ever had.

And at the same time, without feeling the pain it could cause to his heart…

It was hard, nevertheless, he has to deal with it. A lot of people were willing to do what they could to help him recover, though that would surely take him a long time to do so.

I was afraid this time would time

I wasn't prepared to face

This kind of hurting from within

I had learned to live my life beside you

Kurama hadn't anticipated any of these tormenting events to happen. And surely, he didn't prepare himself for that kind of possibility at all. This was what he had feared all this time. But in the end, he failed to overcome his fear.

More than ever, he hated himself because of it.

Maybe I'll just dream of you tonight

And if into my dreams

You'd come and touch me once again

I'll just keep on dreaming

Till my heartaches end

Tears fell from his eyes as he remembered the words written on Riya's note. It was the note she had written the night before the battle that made everything turned out like this. His heart ached even more as he remembered them as if it was just spoken to him personally by Riya.

All of them feared for the same future. But none had anticipated of losing Riya this way. Kurama got the note from Miss Ryuuzaki since she was the one who kept it even without reading all the notes that they hanged on the maple tree. The teacher thought that it would be best if he had an idea about Riya's thoughts even though Yumi stated that only the writer of that note should read it.

But never did he realize that reading it would only make him love Riya more than ever.

He was at the school's rooftop staring blankly at the clear blue sky—or that was how it looked like to other people, particularly to humans with no powers. But to those who could sense the dark energy slowly engulfing the whole city, the clear blue sky was merely an illusion.

It was a high-level illusion created by the wielders' combined powers upon realizing that Erithea's powers were continuously growing. But without the mistress' powers as a deity and the Elements of the Silver Dragon Gem, they have their doubts if they could face the enemy heads on, especially now that Riya couldn't remember anything with regards to the weapons and the ongoing battle.

Kurama's death—as they further analyzed the passage from the Book of Ancients he borrowed from Koenma—did become a trigger for Riya's unknown control over the barrier protecting the Human World to loosen because of her grief. It was a separate type and level of barrier cast by the deity in order to close off the portal to the dimension where Erithea's remaining powers were sealed. And since it was starting to get weak, that sealed powers were slowly leaking and now also slowly but steadily engulfing the whole city.

For the past week, no demon shinobi made an appearance and cause a disturbance. At the very least, he was thankful with that since he really didn't have the will to fight as for now. Hiei, Yumi, and Ren were the fox demon and the wielder's mistress' secret bodyguards as the three of them watched over the progression of their enemies' powers and they were also trying to devise a plan to defeat them on the second part of the final battle all at the same time.

It was the middle of the lunch break when Kurama decided to leave the rooftop and head back to the classroom to study for their quiz for that afternoon's last period. He still needed to maintain his grades despite what happened.

He already reached the botton of the stairs when he saw a group of giggling girls appraoched him from out of nowhere. At the same time, Ayako and her friends Kirika and Miwako were about to come near him when those girls saw Reina's group started flirting with Kurama.

"Hey, Minamino-kun, we were wondering if you could join to have lunch with us. You don't have anything to do right now, do you?" Reina queried as she moved closer and cling to Kurama's arm as she ran her finger to his chest, much to his annoyance.

Kurama wanted nothing more than to push Reina away from him and probably slap her if things got worse but he knew he couldn't do that. Even if the whole class would help him deal with this fangirl predicament of his, he didn't want to do something that might ruin his good reputation and image in a worst way. If he could still keep his cool, then he would do so.

When Reina and her flirtatious friends were approaching him like this, he doubted if he could really keep his head cool.

"Sheesh! Why does this world never ran out of flirts and bitches?" Kirika interrupted in an obviously annoyed tone that made Kurama smile inwardly.

"You again?" Reina remarked, irritated. "When will you even decide to give me a break with your annoying side comments?"

"Yes, it's me again. And seriously, I should be the one asking you that question. Besides, it's not annoying. I'm only saying the truth," Kirika stated with folded arms over her chest.

Reina faced Kurama as she placed some hair strands that covered her face behind her ear.

What an obvious flirt!

"Minamino-kun, tell me you don't agree with what that girl said to me. I'm sure she's just referring to your slutty ex-girlfriend who really forgot about you after you two became a couple for two weeks. Right?" Reina said and smiled seductively.

Ayako's eyes twitched in anger while Kurama's eyes hardened and looked at the girl with disgust as he tried not to lose his self-control and literally hit Reina right on the face.

"Riya's not my ex-girlfriend and she's not a slut. And for the record, I have to agree with what Kirika-san said. I'm sure she's referring to you and your friend. So let me go before I do something to you that you'll definitely regret because of messing with my girl."

Reina stiffened in fear when she heard those stern and cold words from Kurama. "Y-you don't mean that, do you? Right, Minamino-kun?"

Kurama wasn't glaring but the look on his face was grave and serious. The frustration was there and it was the kind that would make anyone who looked at the fox demon nervous and anxious about what was looming ahead. His serious expression as he glanced at the annoying girls was enough to send down an icy chill to Reina's spine.

"Get your hands off me," Kurama ordered icily.

That did it.

Reina immediately release her hold on Kurama's arm and walked away along with her friends who had gotten scared with his unusually cold attitude. It was when the group had completely went away that Kurama heaved a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe I did that…" he murmured before he heard the three girls laugh. He then looked at them strangely. "What's wrong?"

Ayako was the first to stop from laughing and took a deep breath before she faced him.

"Nothing, really. We just… found it unusual for you to be that cold," the Light Wielder said with a smile.

"But I could say that it's understandable, given the fact that Reina really pushed your control almost to the limit," Miwako added.

"Well, I guess Reina won't be able to do her flirting for the time being after that," Kirika said.

"But seriously, why are you here?" he asked.

That was when Ayako remembered something. "Ah… That? Someone actually needs a little help with her Biology subject since she's cramming a bit because of it. So we thought that maybe you could at least give her some assistance and offer her your expertise since that subject is your specialty. Will it be okay? Biology's not exactly our forte so we recommended you to her."

Kurama didn't say anything for a while regarding that. But since he needed to at least divert his attention to something else, he might as well accept it.

"Alright. Where will I do the tutoring?"

"Class 2-C. She said she's comfortable staying there for the duration of the tutoring session rather than doing it in the Biology Room," Kirika answered.

He nodded and proceeded to the said room. Ayako smiled inwardly before turning around and headed to the opposite direction as Miwako followed her.

"Ayako-chan, do you really thing it's a good idea not telling him about two of our afternoon periods being cancelled and turned into free periods?" Miwako asked in a whisper.

But Ayako just smiled. "He'll be able to figure it out soon. It's a good thing the class knew what to do when we agreed to bring someone to help her with her Biology subject crisis."

"I feel kind of bad, though," Kirika muttered before laughing weakly.

"What do you mean?" asked Ayako quizzically.

"I feel kind of bad for not telling her that it's Minamino-kun whom we were going to ask to solve her cramming issue. Isn't it that she's avoiding him for some reasons?"

The brunette Light Wielder just sighed before answering. "Whatever the reasons, Minamino -kun might be able to find that out soon. All we can do right now is to help them be together again." That way, we might be able to see Kurama smile once again, Ayako added in her thought with a wistful smile.

The two other girls smiled before nodding.

"You're right. It would be nice if they find themselves together as couple again… though right now, I know we can't rush them. What had happened to Riya is still painful to Minamino-kun. But there's still hope, right?"

"As long as we do our part to help and not distract them."

Let's just hope he wouldn't be too surprised when he will open the door and see her in there, Ayako thought to herself.

As for the unknowing Kurama, he reached the classroom in minutes and noticed that there was only a few students that scattered outside the rooms though he didn't find that unusual. But there was something that he definitely found unusual.

Class 2-C was quiet. Too quiet, as a matter of fact, for a lunch break period. But then he sensed that there was someone inside the room.

That must be the student who needed tutoring, he thought and slightly sighed before he slid the door open.

"Thank goodness. I thought no one would come to help me with this," said the student inside the room before raising her head from the stack of papers whe was reading and faced him with a warm and welcoming smile.