A Love Across Worlds (Yu Yu Hakusho)

Chapter 4: Remembered and Red

Since Tsukiko rushed home, she had been locked in her room. Her meager possessions were tossed over the old, worn floor carelessly, something she did the moment she reached her bedroom. The only thing left sitting nearly was a faded picture she kept hidden in the bottom drawer, under clothes in her small nightstand. The photo was of a man and a woman together. The woman had long, midnight-colored hair, an angelic face displaying a wide, gentle smile, and delicate hands resting on her large, round belly. The man stood behind her, towering over her, with dark chocolate, slicked-back hair, thick glasses, and a wide closed-eyed grin. His arms wrapped around the woman, his large hands placed under the female's hands on her belly. Those were her parents of this world, a thrilled couple expecting their first and only bundle of joy. Although, their expectations didn't live up to reality when the woman passed during childbirth. She never got to know her mother in this world, nor the man smiling in the picture; however, she didn't try to dwell on it and kept those facts to herself. It wasn't their problem anyway.

She paused, looking at the scattered remains of the small closet she had just gutted while trying to think. Her hazel orbs lit up as she ran over to her bed, lifting the mattress and feeling along the tattered fitted sheet until her she shouted in delight. She pulled out an old, dingy-looking notebook no larger than her hand. She dropped the mattress, sloppily flopping onto the bed frame as her large eyes never left the item in her hand. Her hues shimmered with a sliver of hope shining in them. She knew this didn't mean anything and could dash her little hope, but it could bring her more, too.

She hesitantly opened the notebook with trembling hands and looked at the sloppy writing and drawing that looked like they were done by a child. In fact, they were done by her when she was a child. She did need to redevelop fine motor skills after all. When she found where she had been reborn, she created this book and hid it away, naming it Before and after. It was her world and everything significant she could still remember. Then it moved on to what she thought she remembered from this world. Most were labeled as possibly in this area because there wasn't much she remembered without a doubt. However, even the possibility was something at this point. She had to know, even if she promised not to put much trust in this part of the book.

Her best friend was dead, it was all she had left, and she thought sadly, 'I just need something...No matter how small.'

She turned the pages until the short female found the page she needed and read, 'Yusuke dies then becomes the spirit detective in the afterlife...or come back to life then becomes the spirit detective after.'

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she read. There was hope it could come back to them. It wasn't much, but it was something after all. She hides the book before fixing the mattress, letting the silent tears fall. She wouldn't call them happy tears because the truth was she had been hoping for more. She placed everything back in order in her room before reaching up to her chest. Her eyes widened when she felt her chest like something was missing.

"Oh no, it's gone! My necklace is gone!" She said in a panic but knew it wasn't in the room.

She cursed herself for her stupidity with a defeated look in her hazel orbs. The necklace was a crystal with a silver chain, nothing special to most; however, it looked like the one from her world. When she found it in her mother's items, she always kept it for those two reasons. She let out a sigh before changing into a dingy grey nightshirt. The sleeves reached down to her elbows, and the length stopped mid-thigh on her. She flipped the lits then heard a light tap and a tiny meow. She looked over to her window seeing two cats, one black and the other white, at her window.

She pulled out a small bag of food and water from the hiding spot in her closet and the needed bowls. She filled one with food and the other with water before opening her window. The pair jumped in and ran to the offerings. She had found them when they were small and could barely walk. She took them home a nursed them to health until they could take care of themselves, but they came to visit her sometimes still. She watched them eat when her body tensed, and her head snapped over to the tree outside her window; the cats used to climb up to her room. It felt like someone was watching her, and she leaned out the window, studying the tree closely, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.