#yyhtag

Keiko stood opposite Yusuke in his hotel room, arms crossed and face stern. They’d been like that for a long moment now, Yusuke eyeing her warily as her expression only grew stormier. His patience broke first.

“So how was the —”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” The question exploded out of her as she swung her arms wide open, making him flinch.

“Would you have believed me?” he countered.

“You died,” she reminded him. “And then you came back. Do you think anything weirds me out these days?”

“I was trying to —“

“If that sentence ends with ‘protect you’, I will slap you.” He fell silent, mouth curling downwards in a frustrated frown. “I’ve put up with a lot of shit from you, Yusuke.” He blinked.

“When did you start swearing?”

“When you started disappearing for six months at a time!” She threw her hands up. “Which is what I’m talking about! No, even before that — the drinking, the smoking, the skipping class —“ She was counting on her fingers and looked up at him on the last item. “The sexual harassment —“

“Okay, okay.” He cut her off, hands raised in surrender. “I’m a piece of shit, you’ve always known that. But this is...this is different, Keiko. This is big different. You don’t und —“

“Then explain it to me.” Her arms were back at her sides, her anger draining out of her and leaving behind exhaustion. He was frowning again, and most people would take that for anger but she could read him like no one else could — could see the wrinkle between his eyes, and the way his lips were pursed. He wasn’t angry, he was worried.

“It’s a lot.” It was almost a whisper, and she stepped closer.

“I’m here,” she replied. “Everything I’ve seen just today, and I’m still here.” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “I’ve been here, through all of it, and if you don’t realize by now that I want to be a part of your life no matter what happens...I don’t know what to do with you.”

He snorted. “That’s always been true.”

She smiled, despite herself. “It has. But I’m still trying.” She bit her lip. “Talk to me, Yusuke.”

The furrow in his brow deepened but he said nothing, and Keiko felt her frustration come rushing back.

“Alright,” she said, stepping away and tossing her hands up. “Fine. You don’t want me to know things, fine. I’ll make it easy on you.” She spun on her heel and marched towards the door, tears stinging her eyes more fully now. “Goodnight, Yusuke.”

She had one hand on the knob when she felt something close around her other. She spun around, fully prepared to smack him away, but stopped when she saw his face. The worry was still there, clearer than it had been before. Fear, too, and she wondered not for the first time what he had been through that replaced permanent cockiness with that kind of fright.

“Nobody expected me to die saving a little kid,” he told her. His voice was rough, like he had to force the words out. “They didn’t know what to do with me, either. So I was just a ghost.”