YusukexKeiko
If you've watched Yu Yu Hakusho, you'd probably have seen them together at one time or another. But first, let me give the lowdown --- a short one, don't worry --- on the two characters Togashi (the creator) and animanga fans have been "forcefully" getting together (because, you know, the two idiots both refused to admit they liked each other from the very beginning) since the start of the series.
Urameshi Yusuke
A proud juvenile delinquent, Yusuke is the main protagonist of Yu Yu Hakusho. He smokes, he gambles, he drinks, he shoplifts, he has grades and attendance records that can make anyone cringe, he doesn't have any respect for authority, and...he's partly a demon. Of course, we pretend not to know that at first, because that fact wouldn't be revealed until later on in the series.
The story starts off with his untimely death at the tender age of 14, in a car accident which he rashly involved himself in...like an idiot. However, this death is actually all for nothing, for the kid he has so bravely saved wasn't supposed to die anyway. Thus, he has been given a chance to live again, and that's the start of his new life, both literally and figuratively.
Profile
Name: Urameshi Yusuke
Birthdate: April 03
Age: 14 - 18
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Bloodtype: B
Height: 5'8" / 173cm
Weight: 120lbs / 54kg
Occupation: Middle school student delinquent, Spirit World Detective
Relations: Atsuko (mother), Raizen (ancestor), Kuda Kusushi (ancestor, Raizen's human wife)
Seiyuu/Voice Actors: Sasaki Nozomu, Justin Cook, Jonathan Fahn, Rik Nagel
Yukimura Keiko
Keiko is a straight A student, very polite and sweet, pretty, athletic, smart, responsible, and almost everything Yusuke is not. Despite this, she's quite a brave young woman, and a very stubborn one too.
She's a very good friend who always looks after the well-being of others. Supposedly, she has quite a hard and heavy hand, given that Yusuke always looks dazed after she gives him a mean slap on the face for being a nuisance and for doing something stupid. Her family owns a ramen restaurant, Yukimura Shokudō, where she helps out.
Profile
Name: Yukimura Keiko
Birthdate: January 31
Age: 14 - 18
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Bloodtype: A
Height: 5'4" / 163cm
Occupation: Middle school student
Relations: Mother, father
Seiyuu/Voice Actors: Amano Yuri, Laura Bailey
Yusuke x Keiko Moments
Despite the fact that I'm a "crack pairings all the way" type of person, YusukexKeiko may very well be my most favorite canon pairing in the animé world. It's one of the two canon pairings in YYH, the seemingly one-sided yaoi relationship between Sensui and Itsuki (from Season 3: Chapter Black Saga) being the only other one. In other words, yes, they are "official," if I may use that word.
Ahem. This is going to be long, so I suggest you go get some popcorn and soda ready. ;)
Got them? Good. Now let's go to a trip down memory lane, shall we?
Note: The storyline I use is mostly from the manga itself. ^_^
Childhood Friends
Yusuke and Keiko have known each other since they were kids. To say that Keiko knows Yusuke the best is definitely not stretching the truth for even a bit. She knows him well enough not to be afraid of him like the other people are. She yells at him a lot, and, while they are more useful for youkai butt-kicking, her mean slaps always make a very painful landing on Yusuke's hard face.
Back when they were still children, Yusuke slipped and fell into the river trying to run away from Keiko (hint: Perversion. Go figure!). It didn't help that it was winter, so Yusuke easily became sick. Keiko dutifully stayed by his side, feeling guilty for having chased him around for flipping her skirt up. The next day, even if Yusuke wasn't feeling well enough, he still tried to go to school. He said Keiko would come visit him again if he didn't leave, and he didn't want to see that [pained] expression on her face again.
Keiko the Nagger
Keiko always nags Yusuke to straighten up his act. Most of the time, she catches him on the rooftop to smoke or hang out as he skips his classes. In fact, that particular day isn't any different. She manages to list down all Yusuke's annoying traits, yelling at him, while Yusuke promptly tunes her out. Most of the time, these scenes end up with Yusuke pulling her skirt up (yeah, he never changed at all), and Keiko slapping the wits out of him. Little did she know that it's the last time she's gonna be able to do that...in Yusuke's first lifetime anyway.
Yusuke's Untimely Death
Keiko was heartbroken when Yusuke died. Yusuke saw her sobbing loudly on his wake, almost inconsolable, and realized that there were actually people who cared for him a lot and wanted to see him, which then led to his decision to take the trial of resurrection and come back to life. Keiko dropped by his house every day. Atsuko remembered what Yusuke said about not wanting to see that expression on Keiko's face again, and noted that Keiko's expression was worse than before.
The day before Yusuke's body was about to be cremated, he visited Keiko and passed on a message through dreams. He was surprised when he saw he crying on her sleep, mumbling apologies for him being dead. He, well, yelled at her that his heart was still beating and that he's coming back. Before he left, he wiped Keiko's tears away, telling her not to cry, willing the girl not to give him that hurt expression which he didn't like at all. Keiko woke up. She realized that her dream wasn't just a dream. She went to Yusuke's house the following day, and Atsuko informed her that Yusuke was still alive.
Have Faith
Weeks passed by, and Keiko was losing confidence. She thought that maybe it was a dream after all. He was itching to give Keiko a word or two, but Botan (the bluenette not-so-Grim Reaper) said that it was the last day that he could talk with both Keiko and his mother before his revival. In turn, Yusuke possessed the body of Kuwabara Kazuma (the 2nd most notorious delinquent in their area) for 30 minutes. Many bruises and bumps later, when at last he found her, he didn't quite know how to approach her, being in another's body. He did something perverted and got slapped in the process, Keiko screaming, "Baka Yusuke!" She was shocked, however, when she turned around and saw a different guy. But the way the guy talked reminded her so much of Yusuke that she believed it was him. Yusuke told her to have faith, and wait for him because he really was coming back. Keiko held on to Yusuke tearfully as the latter slipped from Kuwabara's body.
Yusuke To the Rescue
Keiko was firm on her stand that Yusuke's coming back despite her friends telling her to move on. Meanwhile, Yusuke was granted one day to come back to life to "exercise" his half-dead body and renew its energy (this'd happen once a month), otherwise he'd surely die. Botan reminded him not to talk with Keiko and his mother. To pass time, he went out, unsuccessfully keeping himself out of trouble when Keiko was found by it when an enemy from another school took her.
However, he was conflicted on just how to save the girl since he couldn't talk with her. He slipped on two different masks (just to be sure). When he saw Keiko out cold, he removed both and kicked the bad guys' sorry arse. Keiko regained consciousness but didn't recognize Yusuke at all when she saw a fire behind him. As soon as she put out the fire, she passed out again. Then, as Yusuke was about to take Keiko home, Kuwabara arrived (ahh, a late hero...he was supposed to save Keiko, heh), and Yusuke explained his situation to him. He also told Kuwabara not to tell Keiko about everything, to just pretend that he (Kuwabara) was the one who saved her, not knowing that Keiko actually overheard everything.
Sayaka's Approval
Sayaka, a soul that Yusuke encountered from a previous case (as a ghost) who had grown attached to him, learned of Keiko (in the anime, she's the so-called investigator) and became a little bit jealous. She set out to "investigate" if Keiko was a suitable lover for Yusuke. During that time, someone asked Keiko out, but she declined and said she already had another. When it became evident that the "love" between Yusuke and Keiko was mutual, Sayaka wondered how deep it was. Meanwhile, Keiko went to Yusuke's house and saw him buried with garbage. A pile of books nearby fell on Yusuke, and Keiko quickly threw them away. She was wiping dirt off Yusuke's face when she suddenly felt funny and leaned in to kiss him, much to Yusuke's soul's chagrin. A community service van passed by, blaring about the arson cases around their community, and Keiko was brought out from her trance.
As soon as she left to run some errands, someone set fire to Yusuke's house. When she heard about it, she immediately went there and tried to save Yusuke's body. But the house was burning down fast, and there was no room for escape. Yusuke was screaming blood at Keiko for being stupid enough to brave the roaring flames. Sayaka reminded Yusuke that if Yusuke's body was to be burned, then he wouldn't be able to go back. Yusuke responded that there was no point in him returning to life if Keiko would end up dead. He pleaded Botan to do something, but the latter was powerless. Koenma appeared, saying that there was a way to save Keiko. However, this would come with a price. Yusuke didn't care, and said he'd agree to whatever it was; he just wanted Koenma to save his friend as soon as possible.
Botan explained that all the good deeds Yusuke had done in order to be brought back to life were used by Koenma to save Keiko. This would cause Yusuke's ressurection to take longer. Sayaka suddenly blurted out that Keiko and Yusuke passed her test, and that they had her approval to see each other. Later on, Koenma told Yusuke that what he wanted in return was a part of Keiko's body. Yusuke was so worried, he rushed to where Keiko was, but what Koenma took was actually only her hair. ^_^ The day after, with Keiko's new hairstyle courtesy of Shizuru (Kuwabara's older sister), she ran into her "hairstylist." Shizuru mentioned that she always saw some boy looking after Keiko, then half-commented, half-asked that/if Keiko liked him back. Keiko replied in affirmative.
Kiss: The Power of Life
Yusuke got the word that he'd be allowed to revive again, and this time for real. However, he needed to find an energy source, a person, to blow life into him within 24 hours. He must persuade, through dreams, at least one out of three people close to him to kiss him. When Keiko visited Yusuke, she noticed that his body wasn't glowing like in her dream, so she dismissed it. But her mother fainted from fatigue, and she resolved to stay in the hospital beside her mom. But with Botan's help, she realized that the dream about Yusuke was true, and she rushed to the apartment Atsuko rented (with pimp money). Five minutes to the deadline, Keiko arrived, ran up the stairs, fumbled for the apartment keys, and, just as the clock struck midnight, kissed Yusuke. She waited for something to happen, but when Yusuke didn't even so much as stir, tears welled up her eyes. But suddenly, Yusuke got up, grinned sheepishly, then greeted her. Keiko lunged into Yusuke's arms, relieved beyond words.
Smells Like Jealousy
Atsuko "sweet-talked" the principal into letting Yusuke go to school again, and the latter relented. Yusuke was getting spooked looks from his schoolmates, who thought they were seeing a ghost (or, most likely, they were more terrified of the person in flesh). When he saw Keiko, he remembered the kiss (ohohoho). This was the time when he received his first case. After the deal with Kurama, Keiko caught him on the rooftop (as always), but this time, he was with Botan. Keiko seemed a wee bit jealous, but don't just take my word for it.
Keiko Demon
Hiei had been watching and "investigating" Yusuke that day with the help of his demonic bearer. He decided to get to Yusuke through Keiko, demanding that the detective give him the 2 stolen artifacts he had retrieved from Gouki and Kurama in exchange for Keiko's freedom. However, unbeknown to Yusuke, Hiei had "demonized" Keiko using the sword in his possession by giving her an eye that resembled Hiei's. Botan was able enough to stop the eye from opening, but she wouldn't be able to hold on for long and might even die in the process. With the help of Kurama, Yusuke was able to defeat Hiei and stop the transformation of Keiko.
Always under construction. This is being added to frequently, as I'm only about halfway through the couple's "moments." Thought of something in between that should be included? Yell! :)
Omoide wo Tsubasa ni Shite
This is a very cute song performed by Urameshi Yusuke (Sasaki Nozomu) and Yukimura Keiko (Amano Yuri), ripped from the Yu Yu Hakusho Collective Rare Trax CD. The title means "Turning Memories into Wings" (now you have an idea how I got the name for the fanlisting, and now you think I'm very unimaginative, eh?) when transliterated to English.
Download
You may download the song, but please delete it after 24 hours (at the back of my mind: yeah, right). If you choose not to, please don't get caught. Buy the original to show your support. ;) I've also made available a lyrics file (.lrc), in case you want to get a little bit of that karaoke feeling.
Yusuke & Keiko - Omoide o Tsubasa ni Shite.zip
Track #: 12
Duration: 0:04:58
File Size: 4.49MB | MP3 File Size: 4.66MB
Yusuke & Keiko - Omoide o Tsubasa ni Shite.lrc
File Size: 1.29KB
Note: Normally, for this to work, you'd have to save it in the same directory, and name it exactly the same, as your music file.
Lyrics
(Lyrics from Anime Lyrics dot com. Visit the page for English translation)
Lyricist: Hamada Rie
Composer: Matsuo Kiyonori
Arranger: Yamamoto Kenji
Tameratte 'ru kimi no hitomi
Konna ni mo suki na no ni
Koi wa itsu mo koware yasui no
Yume miru yo ni dakishimete
Kotoba nante iro aseru kurai
Shiri-sugite 'ru hikare au kokoro
Tatta hitotsu no taisetsu na koto
Itsu ka meguriau tame ni
Umarete kita
Kitto futari de sagashi ni yukeru yo
Omoide wo tsubasa ni shite
Hiroi senaka fuyu no kooto
Hoho yosete umi wo miru
Tsutaetai yo takanaru mune wo
Toomawari wa mou matenai
Kazoekirenai kenka to yubikiri
Tokimeku tabi sunao ni narezu ni
Tatta hitori no daiji na hito to
Itsu ka ai shiau tame ni
Koko ni iru no
Kitto futari de aruite yukeru yo
Omoide wo tsubasa ni shite
I love you, I need you, I want you
Tatta hitotsu no taisetsu na koto
Itsu ka meguriau tame ni
Umarete kita
Kitto futari de sagashi ni yukeru yo
Omoide wo tsubasa ni shite
Tatta hitori no daiji na hito to
Itsu ka ai shiau tame ni
Koko ni iru no
Kitto futari de aruite yukeru yo
Omoide wo tsubasa ni shite
Omoide wo tsubasa ni shite