. . . means availability.

I hereby disclaim Yu Yu Hakusho, all of its characters, and the countless Alice in Wonderland references that are sure to follow.

Proceed with caution.

"An author[ess] doesn't necessarily understand the meaning of [her] own story better than anyone else."

-Lewis Caroll

Whenever Kuwabara left with his comrades to fight the imminent forces of evil, he fretted over what to do with his kitten.

Eikichi, his precious fawn-coloured feline, required love and attention that Shizuru hadn't the patience or the time to give him.

As he expressed this concern to his human friends one fateful lunch break in that Sarayashiki Junior High class room (referring to his extra-natural affairs as "trips out of town"), he was interrupted by the wall paper.

"I could watch your kitten if you needed it," Saika offered nonchalantly, disproving a theory or two that her voice sounded like a frog's.

Saika Ota was the sort of person that you wouldn't notice until you bumped into her. One would look at her just about as long a closed window or a tile in a restroom, so to hear her speak was shocking.

After staring wide-eyed, the boys exchanged some looks and Kuwabara asked slowly, "You would do that?"

"I like cats," she stated blankly, turning from his inquiring eyes to her book.

"Uh-" Kuwabara took a few moments to think. Keiko was allergic to cats, so she wasn't able to help either, but could he really trust a girl he barely knew?

Saika blinked blankly, waiting for his response. Kuwabara chuckled a bit; obviously she was shy. And he knew he was desperate.

"Uhhh- okay!" Kuwabara pulled his chair up next to the girl's desk, surprising both she and the boys.

"Are you sure about that, Kuwabara?" Kirishima asked reluctantly, skeptical as to whether a lamp could be trusted.

"I could watch your cat. It's the least I could do," Okubo offered, referencing the time Kuwabara virtually sacrificed himself to help Okubo keep his after-school job.

"No offense you guys, but only a girl could give Eikichi all the care he needs," Kuwabara waved off their help, and it went noticed by all but he that he was Eikichi's main caretaker.

Kuwabara began to fill Saika in on Eikichi's care requirements and the unpredictable nature of his trips, though she didn't ask why. She almost knew, anyway.

The Night Before.

Teeth gnashing, swords clinking, demons chanting all around: Saika could smell the darkness around her.

Her senses came to her strangely in her dreams.

It was less of a blessing in her nightmares.

For countless months, she was haunted horribly by nightmares, but this was a different darkness.

It was real, too real, and hot like a down-parka in the summer, as though every monster in the open top stadium stood close enough to breath down her neck, to slit open her throat.

She looked out from the outer confusion into a worse chaos in the center of the fighting ring, like a cinderblock pedestal for the damned.

In the middle of the ring appeared something that filled Saika with more terror than anything else.

There it sat: a little fawn-colored kitten, and she shot up in bed, reaching out to protect the precious, innocent kitty, but waking before she could.

Often times before she had dreams that seemed vaguely prophetic for the following day. That always bothered her.

Saika knew that she wasn't quite normal, but she didn't want to believe that she was crazy. Weird. Abnormal.

As her frustration climaxed, the window across from her bed shattered.

"Not again," she groaned.