Thank You For Waking Me Up (Princess Pittooey and I)

"I don't know how long these things are gonna take, Keiko," Yusuke murmured, shrugging. "All depends on them, not me. They'll be finished when they're finished, you know? You can't really put a timeline on this without ruining something."
 
"Fine," Keiko shrugged. "Let's just get back to the house, okay? You can resume training tomorrow...or later today actually." She was tired, but she wouldn't admit that she couldn't sleep a wink because she was worried about Yusuke being alone with some high school girl.
 
"...Sure," Yusuke said curiously, looking at Keiko up and down a moment. "...Did you sleep?" he asked dryly. She didn't, did she? Ugh, now what was her deal?
 
"No, because I was waiting for you two to get back. You know I have trouble sleeping in strange places without you..." She answered as Tsubaki got to her feet. Well, at least her legs felt fine for the most part, it was her arm that was killing her. She was ready to get out of these clothes though and get some rest, she felt exhausted in more ways than just not sleeping.
 
"Yeah yeah...I know," Yusuke sighed, arm around Keiko's shoulder. "C'mon, Tsubaki. Not bad for your first training exercise," he smirked. "You got a lot of work ahead of you, though."
 
Despite seeming upset, Keiko only leaned into his body more as they made their way out of the cave. Maybe she had just missed him, maybe that's why she was so cranky. Or maybe she was just tired.

Tsubaki only nodded to aknowledge Yusuke. Truth be told she was shaken up still by his words. Did her sister really think she was just trying to boss her around? Maybe she should back off. Maybe she'd just leave her alone for now...it was probably better that way.
 
It was going to be a long couple of days, Yusuke decided...especially since Jinji was the one that showed more promise. He was no trainer, honestly...he didn't even really know if he was doing the right thing. Exposing more people to the kind of hot mess he got into? Was it really worth it? Well, if that Boss Baby thought things were getting bad enough to recruit more people, maybe it was. With the way to the demon and earth realms clear, it meant more people and more problems. But...not every demon was a horrible creature wanting to murder everything, as he could attest himself to.

But that was the rub, wasn't it? They couldn't just assume every demon was a nice guy wanting to chill out in the human world. And with all of this extra spirit energy in the air, people were getting a little more curious, and a little more aware of things. So...maybe it was a good thing to get help, but dammit, he didn't want to do shit anymore. He had done his part and now he was back in it, he rubbed his neck faintly with a wide yawn as he woke up, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

Morning came and went, and Jinji was already up with Botan. Keiko was currently latched to his side like a tick. Girl had a grip like iron...ugh, maybe he should be training her for a change?
--

Jinji had never seen Tsubaki so exhausted in ever, honestly. She looked just completely and utterly wiped out, which made her more than a little nervous when Yusuke woke up and tried to carefully unhinge Keiko's iron grip from his waist.

"She's a cuddler," Botan whispered to Jinji, not quietly.

"Thank you, Botan," Yusuke said flatly, squirming carefully out of her grip with a faint sigh. "Jinji, you're up next, your sister is going to be out like a light."

"Um, okay," she murmured, shifting carefully as she watched her sleep. Well, she made it, that...that was good, at least.
 
Keiko could feel Yusuke squirming out of her arms, but she only woke up for a second. "Be back before lunch.." She mumbled before rolling over and going back to sleep. Honestly, she was wiped out too from staying up all night.
***

It seemed like forever, maybe it was...she felt like she was dead. Tsubaki always dreamed when she was asleep, but there was nothing but black and she was consciously aware of it. She wanted to wake up, but she couldn't. It had only been one day and she felt like she was better off going home, but refused. Even if it was better to just leave Jinji alone, and do her own thing..she wanted to be there if something actually happened. Not miles away with no communication to her sister. She still cared about her, but maybe it was better if she did just back off.

She finally woke up to the sound of something sizzling. Her body felt like lead and she could barely tilt her head to see Keiko making something on the portable hotplates she had brought along with her for the trip. She really came prepared, didn't she? She had to wonder how someone like Yusuke ended up with her. They didn't even seem to get along, honestly...
 
"You're awake!" Botan said cheerfully, nursing a cup of tea. "Good morning, Tsubaki! How are you feeling?" Well, she looked like the bad side of a bar fight, but Botan would keep that part to herself. Still, she made it! That meant she had passed the first test! Botan always knew she had a good eye for potential candidates, why else would Yusuke be teaching anyone? Ignoring, of course...the fact that Yusuke becoming what he was now was purely out of the fact he used to be such a horrible human being so much that they didn't think he could do something nice for anyone else.

But, semantics, right?
 
"Yeah...I guess." Tsubaki muttered as she sat up slowly. She needed to move around, she felt like rigormortis was setting in. After a quick glance around the room, she realized Jinji and Yusuke were gone. She sighed, but said nothing. Today she would try to stay out of her business.

"Are you hungry, Tsubaki? We kind of slept in late." Keiko smiled, although truthfully she had been up since before noon. It was nearly four now.

"Sure, but I need to study..." Tsubaki mumbled as she got up and tried to stretch a little. Pain, pain, pain...
 
"Study?" Botan mused faintly. "Such a smart girl! You'd think with all these girls hanging around Yusuke talking about studying, he would have taken his own seriously!" she sighed. "He's never going to go to college, is he?"
 
"Of course he isn't..." Keiko said with a shake of her head. "He barely passed High School...with all the fighting he had to do. It would be a miracle if any College would accept him at all."

"Do you go to college, Keiko?" Tsubaki asked as she pulled out her books. Her grades were important to her, and she wouldn't let anything ruin them. She could do both at the same time if she had to.

"Yes, we're on break right now though. That's why I was able to come up here with you all, but I might have to leave before your training is up. If it's really going to take three months." Keiko sighed. Why couldn't life be normal for a few more years?
 
"If Genkai's training is anything to go by, probably," Botan smiled. "You didn't have to come, Keiko, you know that right? I can take good care of Yusuke! He's used to women bossing him around anyway!" she laughed.

...Slightly evil at that.
 
"I wanted to come and see for myself what kind of training he went through," Keiko admitted, truthfully with a smile. "I was always curious. I remember the first time I saw him after he trained with Genkai, he seemed so different. Now I see why. Kuwabara too. I can't believe humans can really go through stuff like that."

"That's spirit energy for you." Tsubaki commented with a shrug. "I've been smacked around by demons before, when you have an unusually high amount of spirit energy you become more durable than normal humans. At least that's what I think."
 
"Correct!" Botan said, slipping on a pair of glasses from a place unknown. "That is your reiki, Tsubaki. It is every inch of your own personal life force! What you are using is in fact an excess of this energy! It is impressive that the both of you are already capable of this without much urging, but this is simply a side effect of the kekai barrier coming down, it's really quite fascinating!"
 
"If I may ask, Botan...was it necessary for this barrier to come down? Did you know it would affect humans so adversely?" Tsubaki asked idly as she pulled out her schoolwork. It technically wasn't a negative thing, but if the wrong person suddenly became stronger than a normal human, that would mean chaos for everyone, wouldn't it? Law breaking demons was only one side of the coin, humans would become problematic too....and that wasn't good. She still didn't understand the reasoning behind all this...
 
"Well, we kind of had a number of theories," she mused. "But it was impossible to tell, we knew that an increase of spirit energy would cause a higher percentage of humans with spiritual sensitivity to occur, but we wasn't expecting it so soon," she admitted. "We were thinking that it'd be at least two or three generations from now when we'd start to see it, but here we are! Barely a year or so since then and we're already getting reports of it!"
 
"Wonderful." Tsubaki rolled her eyes. "So if demons are free to come and go to our world, would that not mean we can travel to theirs?"
 
"You could, yes, assuming you could find the entrance, and then deal with the demons," she said cheerfully. "Not every demon is bloodthirsty, but not every demon enjoys humans either. You'd be better off staying up here, Tsubaki. Most demons enjoy eating humans, after all."
 
"I wasn't saying I'd do it, but what if someone stumbled upon an entrance on accident? No matter how I try to spin it in my head, this just doesn't make sense to me. Demons and humans should just live separately." She sighed and then opened up her book. She needed to study, thinking about this was a waste of time. Maybe she would understand later.
 
"You'll understand when you're older," Botan smiled. "And when you understand how things work, Tsubaki. You don't need to worry about all that!" she laughed, waving it off. "What's important is that you're learning how to handle yourself as a spirit detective! You probably won't even see the portal, let alone go anywhere near it! Yusuke made sure that it'd never be an issue, he knows all kinds of people, even if he doesn't act like it."

Which is probably the only reason it worked at all...
 
"He must be bestfriends with the demons." Tsubaki muttered sarcastically. Keiko laughed a little, she couldn't help it. If only she knew the truth behind her word, but she'd eventually learn.

Once she was done with breakfast, she couldn't help but want to find Yusuke again and watch him with Jinji. This time she wouldn't interfere, she was just...curious is all. Besides, Tsubaki seemed really busy with her school work and talking to Botan kind of just made her even more apprehensive. "Well, I'm going to go for a walk, I'll see you girls later!" Keiko knew Botan wouldn't just let her sneak off...that would be even more suspicious.
 
"Mm? Keiko?" Botan said, glancing at her suspiciously. "Just where are you going?" she asked with a sly smirk. "You making sure Yusuke is behaving?" Oh Keiko...who knew she was so violently jealous of girls around her Yusuke?
 
Keiko sighed a bit and shook her head. "Maybe, I just want to know what he's got Jinji doing. Tsubaki is probably worried." Keiko muttered.

"No," Tsubaki answered passively. "Jinji will be fine with whatever she's doing." After all, she was probably better at harnessing her spirit energy than she was.
 
"Ooh, so you are jealous," Botan leered playfully. "Well, Jinji is very...well equipped," she giggled. "I bet she can handle Yusuke juuuust fine."
 
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