Really? They aren't here again! I thought angrily, as I looked at the two empty desks that sat side by side next to me. I swear that those two are going to lose their rankings if they don't start showing up at school.

Not paying attention to what time it was, I was startled out of my thoughts when the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Though, I wouldn't be going home right away because I had to help clean the classroom today.

Wondering which of my other classmates I would be cleaning with, I walked to the back of the classroom to look at the cleaning schedule.

Ichigari, Kore… That's me.

Kono, Yuzuru… He's tolerable.

Asagai, Kimi… She's okay.

I was pretty apathetic about the group I was working with. That is until my eyes fell upon the last two names on the list.

Minamino, Shuichi

Tatsuyoshi, Misha

"God damn it!" I whispered angrily under my breathe. "Of all days why the hell did they have to be on the list today?"

Normally I wouldn't mind seeing Shuichi and Misha's name on the cleaning list (because they were my best friends at Meiou High), however; I did mind when they didn't show up to class and left me to pick up their slack!

I guess there's no point in complaining about something you can't control. I thought as tied my long brown hair back into a ponytail. I might as well just get started so that I can leave sooner.

With that, I grabbed a broom and began sweeping in silence. The other two followed suit without a word and started taking on other tasks. One thing that was very similar for all of us though were that we were silently fuming to ourselves about our missing comrades.

I sat quietly in my room at my desk finishing up my physics homework. We had finished cleaning the classroom nearly four hours ago and the sun had set only twenty minutes ago. I was listening to some music as I studied, so that I could drown out my parents' bickering. When suddenly, I heard a light tapping at my window.

Looking up from my work, I got up, walked over to my window, opened it up, and peered out into the dark.

My eyes widened at the sight I saw. On a branch of the oak tree right outside my window sat a girl roughly my age. She had short brown hair that reached her shoulders (which was she kept half-up-half-down), mischievous chocolate brown eyes, pale pasty skin, and had a grin pasted on her face that would make even the bravest of men cry.

"Misha what the hell are you doing?" I whispered loudly and angrily to her.

Misha put on a fake pout, while saying, "I just came to see my most beautiful friend. I thought you would have missed me since I've been gone for so long. Now move out of the way so I can come in!"

I did as Misha said, and moved from the window. I watched silently as she climbed through it.

Once she was in and had righted herself, she looked up at me and flung herself at me saying in a sing song voice, "Gl~omp!"

"Misha, what the hell!" I shouted angrily, as the two of us fell over.

"Aw, why are you so mad at me krasavitsa? It's not like I haven't showed up at your window out of nowhere before." Misha said, cocking her head to the side, as she got up into a sitting position.

It was true, this was not the first time that Misha had come through my window at night after she had finished her disappearing act. In fact this sort of thing happened at east once a month.

When I myself was sitting up, I stared blankly at the half Russian half Japanese girl in front of me, gently lifted my left hand, and cuffed her along side the head.

"Aiya! What was that for Kore-Chan?" Misha wailed, as she held her head between her hands.

"That was for missing school again, and leaving me to do your share of cleaning duty, while you and Minamino have been doing who knows what for the past week!" I yelled at the girl.

Misha made an 'o' with her mouth, as she stared at me guiltily. "I'm sorry krasavitsa! It is just…" Misha trailed off as she looked at the floor.

"It's just…" I said urging her to continue.

"… Something came up." Misha said after a moment.

Anger burned behind my blue-green eyes as I yelled, "Something came up! That's always your excuse Misha! You always say that and when I ask about it you never explain to me what it is that happened! I just don't get it! Do you not trust me? Does our friendship really not mean anything to you if you can't tell me what happened?"

"Don't yell at me!" Misha shouted, stopping my ranting. An expression of shock crossed her face, as I saw tears well up in her eyes. "You think I don't want to tell you what I've been doing for the past few months? You think that it hasn't eaten away at me knowing that I have to lie to you? You're my best friend Kore-Chan! I've cried many a day thinking you would get angry at me and stop being my friend! Kurama doesn't like lying to you either! It's not easy for us krasavitsa! "

By this point Misha stopped talking, and let the tears flow down her face. Her sobs racked her body.

Looking at the poor girl, I felt guilt and sorrow fill me and I moved to her side, embracing her while saying, "Misha, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. I was just sad, angry, and bitter. I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you. Please don't cry anymore. I don't want to see you cry."

Misha looked up at me, tears still dripping lightly down her face, but somehow got the notion to say, "Krasavitsa, you have pretty eyes!"

I almost fell over at Misha's words. It was very typical of her to try and defuse a stressful situation by saying something completely random like that. But she wasn't crying anymore and the two of us started giggling almost automatically.

Through the giggles, something Misha said flipped a switch in my head, and I said, "Misha, who's Kurama?"

Misha froze then very softly whispered, "Shit!" As she combed her hand through her hair.

I took a hint, realizing it must be something to do with her disappearances, and said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to-"

"No!" Misha said interrupting me. "I am sick and tired of lying to you and it's about time you learn the truth!"

"Last time I asked you said you'd get in trouble." I said reminding her. I didn't want to take advantage of Misha by having her tell me something that would bring her repercussions.

"To hell with what I said last time I say this time you should know!" Misha said firmly. "Kurama is Shuichi."

"Like a nickname right?" I questioned.

"Yes and no," Misha said softly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's easier if I start at the beginning, but please do not interrupt me."

Misha began explaining everything that she thought would help me understand why she had been leaving, and why Shuichi was called Kurama. She spoke of how she was born in a place called Makai, which is a world where demons live. How her brother ran off with some bandit named Youko Kurama. When she learned of her brother's death. She explained trying to find Youko in Makai, and then not being able to find him there. So she joined a demon named Hiei who said he knew where Youko was.

So Misha came to Ningenkai with Hiei and another demon named Gouki. They met with Kurama, and planned on stealing demon artifacts… well all except Misha. She confronted Kurama about her brother and pretty much told him to fuck off and give his pendant back to her. Kurama didn't have it though and Misha was distraught.

Eventually through some misunderstanding, she ended up getting captured by someone named Yusuke Urameshi and was taken to Reikai otherwise known as spirit world, and even though she hadn't stolen the artifacts she was still punished for coming to Ningenkai.

She told me of all the battles the Reikai Tantei went through and briefly explained a bit about the others on her team. Like how Shuichi was actually a demon named Youko Kurama. She told me recently that the group was training for something called the Dark Tournament in which they would have to defeat the Toguro Brothers to save the world.

Once she was done, I stared at Misha until finally I just burst out laughing.

"That was a great story Misha… but I didn't think… you would go that far… into detail!" I said through the laughter.

"You don't believe me?" Misha asked, cocking her head to the side as her face became a bit shocked.

"Oh come on Misha, you can't be serious!" I exclaimed with a smile, finally over my laughing fit.

Misha puffed out her cheeks before saying, "But krasavitsa I'm not lying!"

"Oh yeah, then prove it!" I challenged.

"Fine!" Misha yelled, "Get me a glass of water!"

Doing as she said, I stood up, and walked over to the bathroom that was attached to my room. I grabbed a cup I used to swish water when brushing my teeth, filled it with water, and then came back sitting in front of Misha. I placed the cup in front of her before I watched to see what she would do.

Misha looked at the cup of water and smirked wickedly. Placing her left hand over the glass, she moved her fingers as if she were enticing someone, and I almost fell over at what happened.

The water actually moved out of the glass!

I watched bewildered, as Misha made the water dance about in the air. A smile was plastered on her face the entire time, until she put the water back in the cup.

"Do you doubt me now krasavitsa?" Misha asked.

I shook my head as I stared bewildered at the cup, not quite sure what to say.

It's a good thing I didn't really say anything though, because my mother came in at that moment, saying, "Kore, enough studying for the night you need to get some… Oh, hello Misha-Kun."

"Hello Ichigari-San!" Misha piped up.

"I didn't know you were here. Are you going to stay the night again?" My mother asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Misha started, "mother is rather upset with me right now, and I think it is best that I stay away from home tonight."

"Alright dear, you two just don't stay up to long." My mother said.

My parents were pretty used to Misha popping in randomly and staying the night. You see Misha didn't actually have parents per say. She had a roommate in her apartment named Botan. From what it sounded like Misha did something to really piss her off, so she normally stayed here when Botan needed to cool down. My parents, however; thought Misha lived with her mother in an apartment by themselves.

"Alright mother." I replied with a smile.

My mother left after I said that and I turned back to Misha.

"So what's going to happen now that I know everything?" I asked curiously.

"I'm going to have hell to pay from Kurama and Yusuke, Hiei will probably try to kill me, Kuwabara is going to be confused about everything, and Koenma is probably going to kill me literally." Misha said with a smile.

"Baka! How can you smile about that?" I yelled as I cuffed her on the side of the head.

"I can smile because tomorrow I am taking you to meet Koenma and the Team after school krasavitsa." Misha said excitedly.

"Whatever, just get to sleep Misha." I said, as I crawled into my queen sized bed.

"Okie dokie!" Misha said, as she curled up silently on the floor. She never used a blanket or pillow, and I never asked why.

"Night krasavitsa." Misha whispered.

"Night Misha." I said, as I drifted off into a sleep filled with dreams about all I had heard that night.

So hey I re wrote this story just a tad bit...

krasavitsa means pretty lady...

Thanks,

Akemi