A/n: Here it is… The nicely revised version of Rose Petals!! It took me a while to think about how this was going to go down… But after some typing, and finally got the newly revised first chapter done!!!
Anyone who read the old version will notice that the beginning is considerably changed…. So, whatever… It's a new story, and it's more tied together…
Disclaimer: If I owned Yuyu Hakusho, then I probably wouldn't be writing fan fiction about it…
Chapter 1: Only a Dream
Nothing….
There was vast nothingness as far as one could see… Everything was a gray color; not black darkness and not white light either…All it was a bland, gray color…
The area, wherever the "area" was, held an empty feeling… A figure stood there… A girl to be exact, and stared off into the pool of grayness, and felt hollow inside… She felt empty; devoid of any kind of emotion… She just felt…surreal, kind of like an out-of-body experience…
It was a thrill for the girl… She sucked in a tight breath, and shivers were sent down her spine… A cool, icy kind of feeling overwhelmed her completely bare body… She hugged her arms across her torso, trying to warm herself…But she still felt cold, and it seemed to continue chilling as each long second passed by…
It was unusual… Did time really exist? Or was this just a realm where time stopped, and everything is just at a standstill?
Or…?
A groan escaped his mouth…
Suichi Minamino's hand reached over to the alarm clock, shutting off the incessant ringing that broke him from his sleep… His eyes were unfocused, and his vision cloudy… He sat up, rubbing his eyes… His vision was regained after a few second of rubbing, and he sighed…
As calm and collected as he was, Suichi still had days where he didn't want to wake up at all… He would think why is school so early? And then he'd shake off the question and go anyway… He had to like school after all…
He was the top student there…
But even geniuses have a right to hate waking up, right?
Standing up, Suichi ran a hand through his hair… After walking around a bit, he changed into his school uniform, grabbed his bags, and walked downstairs…
"Hello Suichi!" his mother, Shiori, said, smiling at him…
"Hello mother…" Suichi managed a smile…
"Are you going to eat?" Shiori looked at her son, lifting an eyebrow as he headed to the door…
"No thank you…" Suichi turned to his mother, smiling in reassurance… "I'm not that hungry, so I'll just head off now…"
"Alright then…" Shiori sighed at her son's stubbornness… "I'll see you later…"
"Yes, mother!" Suichi lifted a hand, smiling as he exited the house…
Somewhere else….
"What was that?" Kiara Mizuki sprung up in her bed… Rubbing her eyes, and her head, she looked up at the window…
What in the hell was that?
Kiara hated dreams sometimes… Especially ones that leave an after-effect… This particular dream left Kiara with a chilly, eerie, impending-doom kind of feeling…
Not that she felt that way a lot…
"Whatever…" Kiara stood up and began to scramble out of her pajamas, and into her school uniform… What was with the gray? And the chilliness…? And the girl…? What was with any of that?
Pulling her hair back loosely, Kiara scrambled out of the room, book bag in tow…
"Damn… She's already gone…" Kiara's eye twitched a bit… Her "guardian" had left for work already… "Leave early on my first day to a new school, why doncha Kyoko?"
She then jumped about five feet in the air when the phone rang… Her eye twitched again, and she picked up the phone…
"Kiara!!" a perky voice said on the other line…
"Kyoko…Hi…" Kiara said, making her best attempt at sounding fine…
"Sorry I had to leave so early… Have fun at school today!" Kyoko practically sang…
"I will have so much fun that when I get home you'll have to duct tape me to the wall because I will be so excited…"Kiara remarked, her voice dripping in sarcasm…
"Not a morning person, are you?" Kyoko said her voice equally sarcastic.
"What makes you think that?" Kiara asked.
"Let me make a list…" Kyoko started.
"Let's not go into it…" Kiara then laughed.
"Yup…So…Bye!" Kyoko then hung up, in a bit of a hurry…
"…" Kiara sighed… She loved Kyoko, as a guardian and all, just not in the mornings…
With that morning conversation branded in her mind, Kiara ran out the door…
Back to Suichi (or Kurama…)
…What was with that dream…? It almost felt real… I saw the girl, and I felt what she was feeling… And…
Having difficulties this morning, fox boy?
Suichi sighed, recognizing the sharp voice that entered his head…
What do you need, Hiei?
Hn… I just sensed some tension is all…
It's nothing, Hiei, just a dream…
Just a dream…
Yes… I'm just a bit…flustered…over a dream I had last night…
I won't ask any farther… (A/n: I am making Hiei more open in this conversation, as you can imagine, he isn't so mean when he is talking to Kurama…Who is Suichi…)
Good idea, Hiei…
Hn… Whatever, Kurama...
Suichi sighed at the use of his real name… There was something about hearing it when he was in a school setting, telepathically or not, that kind of felt weird to him…
But…It made sense…
Suichi, or Kurama, hoped that Hiei wouldn't contact him again for the rest of the day… It wasn't helpful for concentration when he was in his head… But, then again, Suichi could block him off just as easily as he could talk to him…
But doing that gave him a headache when he was trying to do tedious schoolwork at the same time…
To Kiara now…
Kiara entered the school, Meiou High School… It was bigger than her last high school, and almost intimidating… She was amazed that she even made it in, considering it was a very well liked, high rated high school…
She collected her schedule and locker number, and after going to said locker, she set off to find her class… Gripping her binder in one arm, she glanced at her school map as she tried to make her way down the hall… She could feel eyes on her as she walked down…
And she had to admit, she probably looked like a total, uncoordinated dork walking down the halls like this…
After more bumping into people, glancing at maps, tripping on a stair, and more people staring at her, Kiara made it to her first class…
She walked in… The room wasn't chaos…The room was talkative until she walked in… She froze, staring at the students before her… She shook her head a bit, and turned to the teacher, a short, plump old woman…
"Um…I'm new…" Kiara mumbled to the teacher as talking reformed in the room…
"I can tell…" the teacher said jokingly, making Kiara blush a bit… She tucked away her map, and smiled a bit. "Kiara Mizuki, is it?"
"Yeah…And you are…" She looked at her schedule, her face flushed… "Mrs. Takahashi?"
"That is me…" Mrs. Takahashi smiled. "Okay, miss…You will sit next to…Suichi…"
"Who?" Kiara lifted a finger.
"He's the hardest one to miss in this room…" Mrs. Takahashi smiled a bit… Kiara turned and looked amongst a collection of students… Only one stood out the most…
And Kiara froze…
The one who stood out the most was sitting in a corner at a desk, reading a book… He had long, bright red hair and forest green eyes… He seemed tall and nicely built for someone their age… In short…He was just really hot…
"Him?" Kiara pointed.
"Yes…" Mrs. Takahashi smirked a bit in sheer amusement…
Kiara asked no more questions and just walked over, standing next to her desk… She set her stuff down and the boy, Suichi, looked up at her…
And a chilly, eerie feeling swept over her… A stronger one than when she woke up… And it sent full-body shivers that nearly made her jump out of her skin…
Kurama…
Suichi looked up at the girl in front of him, the "hot, new girl" that he had heard a group of jocks talking about a few desks away… He hadn't bothered to look up… But since she was apparently sitting in front of him, he looked up…
She was definitely an attractive girl… She had long, long shiny black hair that was loosely tied back and the base of her neck… And she had bright, unusual sapphire-colored eyes that, right now, held a look of shock and surprise… She was tall, but shorted than him, and had a curvy kind of figure…
The two locked eyes; sapphire met emerald…
And the strangest feeling suddenly swept over him… He set his book down the minute he felt it…
It was cold, eerie feeling that sent shivers through his body… He nearly jumped, but kept his composure as it happened… After the feeling left him, he just stared at the girl…
Who is this girl? She isn't normal at all…
Kiara…
Who is this guy? There is something unusual about him…
Kiara couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she felt there was something oddly familiar about his guy… She had seen him jolt a bit too, at the same time as she did…
Did he feel the same thing?
She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something told her that he did.
Kurama…
Suichi stared; kind of curious as to why she jolted as she did… Strange how he jolted too…
Was there a connection?
Suichi knew something was up… He could just tell… But was that "something?"
"Hello…" Suichi finally broke the unusual silence between the two.
"Um…" Suichi saw her face grow a bright pink-red color, and grew a bit flustered… "Hi! Sorry about the staring…I-I…I-I um… Yeah… Sorry…"
"Don't worry about anything…" he responded, chuckling a bit at her flustered, but cute expression.
"Um…I'm Kiara…Kiara Mizuki…" Kiara said, finally realizing she was standing, and sat down.
"I am Suichi Minamino…" Suichi said, smiling…
Silence…
Awkward silence…
"Okay class!! Time to begin!!" Mrs. Takahashi belted out…
And so it began…
Later, after school…
Suichi fumbled a bit with a book as he put it in his bag… Sighing as he finally got it; Suichi shut his locker and headed off… He walked down the crowded hallways; he dodged groups of people standing there and a group migrating to buses and couples making out in the hallways, as if saying a final goodbye before the guy goes off to war of 20 years…
He groaned a bit in mild annoyance, but kept his composure, as usual…
He stopped after making out the doors, and turned his head…
There was Kiara, the new girl… She walked slowly, as if wasting time and her eyes stared off… She seemed lost in thoughts; daydreaming…
Suichi decided to catch up with her…
There was something about her; many things about her, and he wanted to find out what those "things" were…
"Kiara…" Suichi walked up next to the girl, and she jumped a bit to the side in surprise…
"Oh, Suichi!" Kiara laughed a bit… "You startled me…"
"Sorry…" he laughed.
"Mind if I walk with you?" Suichi said in his usual, cool voice.
"Nope…" Kiara shrugged and they headed out of the school and onto the streets…
There was an awkward silence…Again…
They had talked before this moment…As it turned out, the two had many classes together, so they had made small conversation throughout the day… At lunch, he had helped her a bit in trying to navigate, telling her where certain areas were…
But they still encountered the strange silences…
"So…" Kiara turned… "Who do you live with?"
"I live with my mother…My father passed on quite some time ago…" Suichi smiled. (A/n: I don't know the step-father or brother enough to use them yet…I might use them in the sequel or something, so go with it…)
"Oh… My parents died a while ago…" Kiara said. "When I was 10…So, I live with a lady named Kyoko Yamata, who was a friend of my mom's…"
"I'm sorry about that…" Suichi said, sounding truly sympathetic.
"Don't worry… I got over it six years ago…" Kiara laughed a bit…
And so came another silence…
"You know, I felt something odd when I first saw you…" Kiara started.
"You did?" Suichi turned.
"Yeah… And it isn't just because you were the most noticeable in the room, no offense…" she rubbed the back of her head, a blush trailing across her face.
"None taken…I get that quite a bit…" he laughed it off.
"Well…It probably had to do with the fact that I was freaked out by last night's dream… I just felt kind of shivery when I met you… When we locked eyes, I felt jumpy…" Kiara trailed off, and then slapped herself… "That wasn't straightforward and blunt, now was it Kiara? Go ahead and tell him everything else on your mind while you're at it!" Kiara had her hand on her head, and seemed to be punishing herself…
"You shouldn't worry about it…" Suichi found her antics rather funny… "If you wish to know the truth, I myself felt the same way…"
"Whoa…Maybe I'm not as insane as I thought I was…" Kiara stared, almost shocked at that.
"It's odd isn't it?" Suichi turned and looked down (It turned out that he really was as tall as Kiara thought) and smiled at her… "I was perturbed by a dream I had last night as well…"
"Well… That isn't weird, is it?" Kiara had sarcasm in her voice… "I wouldn't call what I had an actual dream… It really was just this figure, a girl I presume, standing a void of gray…Weird, huh?"
"…" Suichi stared down at her, his green eyes kind of wide in surprise… "How odd…"
"What?" Kiara turned.
"That was my dream… How odd…" He rubbed his head…
"Um…" Kiara stopped in her tracks… "You had the same dream, or are you messing with me because it is easy to do?"
"Of course not!" Suichi put his hands in front of him in a defense of sorts… He laughed a bit… "I'm telling the truth… I did have such dreams last night…"
"Okay…" Kiara dropped her bags, putting both hands on her head… "I'm…kind of freaked out right now..."
"I'm a bit troubled myself…" Suichi sighed.
"You think there's a reason for this or do you think it was just a coincidence?" she looked up at the redhead.
"I can't really say…" Suichi sighed… I would like to say yes to that, but…
Fox boy…
Hiei…
Who is the girl you're with?
How does that concern you, Hiei?
I sense something odd…. She has a half-demonic aura, Kurama…
I am fully aware of this…Actually; I think there is more to it than that…
What do you mean?
I won't go into what I mean just yet, Hiei… I will wait until I look further into this…
Do I wish to know, fox?
No, actually, you don't…. It doesn't concern you, right now anyway…
It will concern me and the other two idiots once that fool Koenma gets word that a half-demon girl goes to your school…
I am aware of this too, Hiei… I can sense some strange things from this girl, and I will repeat, that I think there is more beyond that…
Hn… Whatever, Kurama…
Take it as you will, Hiei…
Hn…
You can go now, Hiei…
Hn…
He sighed… His conversations with Hiei always ended like that…
"Suichi?" Kiara finally said… "What's going on? You got quiet…"
"Oh…It's nothing… Just spacing out a bit is all…" Suichi smiled… The two picked up their bags and continued down the streets…
"You know, you're the only student that talked to me today?" Kiara looked up.
"Oh… I would imagine that others would have talked to you…" Suichi stared down…
"Nope… Maybe it's because I didn't talk…" Kiara shrugged. "I just thought I'd tell you…"
"Well…At least you've made one friend…" he remarked.
"…" Kiara blushed a bit at that.
"You'll make more tomorrow…" Suichi shrugged.
"Um…Yeah…" Kiara laughed and stopped abruptly.
"Yes?" Suichi turned, and noticed she was in front of a house… Kiara slapped herself again, and turned back to Suichi… He turned to the house, and on the porch was a tall, slender woman… She had short, orange-ish hair and brown eyes… She was dressed casually, and held a cup of tea in her hands… The woman held a smirk on her face…
"Hey, you're home!" the woman laughed at Kiara.
"Yes…" Kiara had a bit of pink on her cheeks…Kiara walked up the porch, while Suichi just stood where he was, on the other side of the small yard.
"Hello Kyoko..." Kiara stared.
"Who is your handsome friend here?" Kyoko turned to Kiara, sipping from her tea…
"…" Kiara's face turned a red color, and Suichi's did a bit too. "This is Suichi…He helped me out a lot today… Suichi, this is Kyoko, the lady I told you about…"
"Pleased to meet you, ma'am…" he lifted a hand.
"The pleasure's mine…" Kyoko waved.
"I will see you tomorrow then, Kiara…" Suichi lifted a hand…
"Bye!" Kiara called… Suichi walked off, towards the streets again… He could hear Kiara yelling at Kyoko about "embarrassing him" as he walked away…
And he smiled a bit at it in amusement…
This is going to be very…interesting…
At least he finally had a friend who went to his school…