Disclaimer= Don't own, if I did… Why would I have to say this in hopes of not being pwned by lawyers?

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Jack breathed in deep, rolling over in his warm, squishy bed, feeling like never getting up again. But, in the end, he heaved a deep sigh, and forced himself into a sitting position, flipping his blankets off his lap. He gave a heavy groan as his feet fell onto the cold wood floor and the bruises littering his form ached from his movements.

He shuffled across the floor, rubbing his arms with his hands, and felt his too large pants drag on the ground. He soon reached his closet, and, opening it, pulled a black, ripped tee shirt and a pair of dark jeans out. He paused, looking down at his bare, bruised, scratched up chest, before exiting the room. He knew, that had his parents been home, they wouldn't bother asking about how he acquired the injuries.

He soon was in the bathroom, taking a cold shower. Too many close calls with Kimiko's flames and Omi's heated water attacks had made him appreciate the feeling of freezing water on his flesh. He was out quickly, and brushed his teeth before stepping into his outfit.

Down stairs he went, wondering what it was like to have a mother over the oven, but shaking away the thought, walked into the kitchen. He waltzed up to a cabinet to find it disappointingly empty of anything but a nutty-nut bar, which he nabbed and munched upon.

Distractedly, he glanced around the kitchen, passing his eyes over a bright pink note without his notice. After a moment, he froze, his mouth in a thin line. Only a few times before had his parents left him a note on the counter in that garish shade, and one of those times, it was to tell him that his old uncle Joe had died.

He slowly turned his head to lock his eyes on it, and, after a moment of contemplation, moved cautiously foreword. He swallowed down the bite of nut bar he had taken not a moment before, and then picked up the bright pink thing from the granite counter. He stopped breathing for a moment, closing his eyes, before deciding himself prepared, and reading.

Dear Jacky-kins, Your cousin, Shuichi, will be coming to stay over for a bit, So please pick him up at the airport at one on Monday, He' coming all the way from Japan! Love, Mom Ps. He'll be bringing a few friends over too Pps. I love you XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The bar of nutty-nut goodness slipped from his fingers, falling to the floor, as he stared, wide eyed, a few moments longer. He took a deep breath, fighting the urge to panic as he glanced at the mechanical calendar he had installed in the wall, just in case he was in need of the date. It was Monday. He then looked to the clock.

It was twelve.

The drive to the airport took two hours.

Jack fought not to hyperventilate as he came to the conclusion that he had to leave, now. He dashed down to the basement, and dove into the car that he had recently created.

As he began to drive, he decided that, while his mom was and amazing cook and model (for those were her jobs that kept her away), she was not all that smart. He loved her, but she really didn't think things out very well. Now that he brought light on the fact, he realized that his dad, although he ran a business, didn't either.

-=-=-1-=-=-

Kurama sighed, wondering when it was that his cousin was going to arrive. They had been in the parking lot outside for quite a while now, and the two rowdier parts of the group were getting bored. It had not been a bad trip, despite Hiei's complaining so far, and he didn't want anything to ruin it this quickly.

Going to China had been something new and unexpected.

Koenma had said that there were some sort of ancient artifacts that could cause great danger for them and the world at large. Apparently, they were being wielded bye a group of children, who sought to gain more. The whole thing, needless to say, had been something to worry about the whole way there.

He had sent them off as quickly as he could, giving them pendants that were meant to help them speak the language. He said that the situation was rather urgent, and if they couldn't retrieve the artifacts by some twist of fate, to at least make sure the children were well trained, and knew what they were dealing with.

A bright red color broke him out of his thoughts, and he noticed a ruffled looking boy who had that bright red on his head. He seemed jittery, upset, and completely unsure of what it was he was supposed to be doing. Kurama stood, waiting for the boy to take notice of him, in order to see if this was his cousin who happened to live here.

Eventually, the boy took a glance their way, and a victorious smile took his face at seeing them. He stepped around the car he had been behind, and walked towards them. At the sight of him, Kurama felt his eyes widen. There was something wrong here.

His cousin had on a black, ripped shirt on and some jeans, which was unsurprising. What did pose a problem was the state of his body.

One of his arms was almost completely covered in black and blue, with a large cut going down it, dark and red. His other arm was much the same with the bruises, but part of it was burned deeply and his wrist had cut going all around it. Now that his cousin was closer, he saw a fading bruise on his chin, and cuts on his cheek. Kurama bit back some large amount of worry, not sure at all how these injuries came to be.

His cousin soon stood before them with a sheepish smile on his face, and Kurama realized that he was shorter then Hiei.

"Umm… Sorry I'm late, I didn't even- well, I guess first, I should ask if any of you are named Shuichi."

Kurama blinked, surprised by the fact that he spoke Japanese, but then spoke himself.

"Yes, I am Shuichi," He nodded.

"Uh- Okay then, but… yeah, sorry I was late. Mom didn't bother to leave a note earlier, so I didn't even know you were coming until it was twelve. Umm… I'm Jack. Who're you other guys?"

"I'm Kuwabara!"

Yusuke didn't look as enthusiastic as his teammate, but said, all the same, "I'm Yusuke."

Hiei made no move to speak, so Kuwabara did, "Short stuff over there is Hiei."

Jack observed them, and nodded his head when each name was said.

"We should all get in the car, I guess." He said plainly, and then began to weave his way through the parking lot, expecting them to follow.

They soon reached a sinister, black and red van that seemed to be designed to have a dark aura. Jack seemed to smile at being near it, and patted its hood before going to open the trunk. He helped them get their bags and trunks in it, and then got them all seated.

As he began to drive, they couldn't help but stare at him with odd looks on their faces, until he asked them what was wrong.

"Jack, aren't you a bit- I dunno- young to be driving?" asked Yusuke. The boy looked hardly older then fourteen, after all.

"I made this thing, I think I can drive it." He said, sounding offended. They didn't reply, not wanting to bring up a sore subject. Jack had only just met them, and they didn't want to make a bad impression on the first day of knowing him.

When they had been in the car for what was sure to have been over and hour, Jack pulled into a grocery store parking lot. At their odd looks, he provided an explanation.

"I kinda ran out of food, and I thought that you might want to help me pick out what you were going to be eating for however long you're going to be here."

So, they went in, looking with some curiosity at the foods that they didn't recognize. Jack's face slowly reddened, and he muttered "Sorry, this is a store with mostly American foods. I don't know what you guys want, and I'm not sure how to cook a lot of foreign dishes."

He nabbed an abandoned cart that happened to be nearby, and began dumping in ingredients and foods they were unused to.

"You guys can grab stuff you want to try or just things you already like,"

Yusuke and Kuwabara found all sorts of sweets that looked nice, so they began to pile things in. Kurama observed his cousins behavior with a carefully indifferent face, Hiei doing his best to ignore the entire ordeal.

Kurama watched his cousin's fluid motions, and how he treated his wounds like they weren't there. He watched how Jack seemed to almost give off an aura of fear, resentment (not aimed towards them), and awful disappointment. He saw the way the tiny redhead flinched ever so slightly at any swift movement made on their part.

All of these things were not leading to a pretty conclusion.

But Kurama held his judgment for a time when he had more information. He decided, looking at the tight expression on the edges of Yusuke's face, that he would confront his teammates on the situation later. He turned his gaze back to his cousin, much flying around in his brain.

They eventually made it to the checkout with a full cart and some now hungry boys. They pilled everything into the car; Jack once again took the wheel, and began the drive anew. This time around in the car, it took them only a half hour to reach their destination. They carried everything in, helping Jack get things put away, hiding their curiosity about the large house they were now in.

Jack hummed thoughtfully, before coming to some sort of conclusion, and speaking.

"I'll give you guys a tour of the house, and get your rooms sorted out, then go make dinner. Does that sound alright to you?"

The older boys agreed easily, finding this to be a good plan. They just hoped that they could eat soon, seeing as they hadn't for a while. So, Jack began showing them around.

He took care to show them where all the bathrooms were in the large building, as well as anything that he preferred left alone. They were shocked at the miniature arcade, game room, and vast back yard. Yusuke couldn't help his low whistle of admiration at the things Jack didn't even seem to care about.

"Man, you must have cool parents!"

Jack merely scoffed, before saying, "Dad just didn't want to deal with his little mistake; he made this house to keep me out of his way."

The group became silent at this chunk of uncomfortable information. After walking around for a few more minutes, Jack threw a look over his shoulder, full of irritation.

"It's not a touchy subject if that's what you're so quiet about. I've come to terms with not having ever been wanted." He growled, before adding in a murmur, "Lord knows I've been told enough times."

He soon led them upstairs, and showed them the bedrooms they were aloud to pick from and telling to figure out amongst themselves who would go where. With this, he left them, off to make them all some late lunch (that should really be called dinner, bye now it was a bit past five).

Hiei picked the plainest room with the wood floor, stiff bed, dark walls, and somewhat large window. Kurama's room had green walls, a cushy bed, and fluffy white carpet. Kuwabara's room was pale blue, had a big bed, and had a wood floor. Yusuke's pick had wooden walls, a wooden floor, and comfy bed.

They all ended up in Kurama's room after a while, and became somewhat serious. They had all come to the same conclusion.

"Something is really wrong with your cousin," Yusuke said plainly,

-=-2-=-

Jack, meanwhile, had begun to cook, pleased with his mad cooking skills. His Mother liked him enough to help him learn how to cook quite masterfully before she began to ignore him at the age of seven. Ever since he had turned seven, his relatives had completely ignored his existence, as he was big enough to take proper care of himself.

He sighed happily as he stirred the soup. It had been too long since he had cooked. He had been living on snack foods after he discovered shen-gong-wu, seeing as he didn't have enough time to make hid own food. But, since he now had a group of boys needing food, he saw no reason why he shouldn't cook for them.

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A/N: I hope this is all right; I did my best on it. If you didn't know, this is a rewrite of my messily written fic Bright Grass, but this time, I have a planned plot to follow, so I'm hoping that it'll be better this time around! =D

Thank you so much for reading this! If you should feel like it, I'd appreciate reviews =P

Again, Thank you!