Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi. Shinzui and all original characters belong to me.
Author's Notes: This is Aoitsuki Yurai version 2.0... Well... More like 4.0 since I've gone through a lot of revamps. XD Either way, this is the final version of this fanfic. Shinzui just wouldn't leave me alone until I've properly told her story and I didn't want to continue the saga until I got everything squared away in this fanfic. There will be some things that are the same, but I've altered the writing a lot. However, the basic plot, plot points, and pairings are the same. I've merely refined what I've already written. =D I hope the rewrite will make more sense and have better flow.
Also just to clarify, I've finally read the entire manga, so I'm going with what happened in there (plus it's easier to get references). I've had to give the first two chapters a complete overhaul because of that, but I want to be as accurate as possible. The story takes place AFTER the series ends. It's a little vague about what month it is, so I'm going to take a few artistic liberties... Well, writer liberties I guess. I'm also making up the colors of Keiko's uniform because the manga is black and white and there is not a colored version of her uniform. This story will give away things that happen at the end of the manga, so there are spoilers.
I am well aware that it is very rare for someone to skip a grade in the Japanese school system, but I don't want to change Shinzui's age because that would mean changing the timeline I've made as well as a lot of information, so it's staying the way it is. Besides, this is based off of a manga, normal rules and logic of reality don't always apply.
Please enjoy!
# # # # # # # # # #
The peaceful quiet of the early morning was broken as a loud, blaring voice of a singer woke a dreamer from their comfortable sleep. An arm slid out from the depths of a pile of blankets, the hand searching for a way to silence the disturbance. It finally succeeded by hitting the snooze button before withdrawing into the folds of the blankets and a form shifted underneath them to fall back into sleep. Five minutes later, a new voice that was even worse burst forth from the speakers and the hand came back, but only succeeded in knocking the clock off the desk instead of turning it off and the racket raged on.
"Freakin' hell," growled a groggy voice from the mass of blankets, "I hate this song. Nails on a chalkboard would more appealing than this singer."
The blankets were cast aside as a girl slowly sat up in the bed with a bleary look in her bright blue eyes. She gave a great yawn and rubbed her eyes to remove the sleep before sliding out of the bed. She stood up and stretched her arms up high, raising up on her toes a bit to extend the stretch to the rest of her slender, well-toned body. She scratched her head a bit, ruffling the burgundy hair that fell in a tangled mass to her waist. She finally stopped the terrible music when she picked up the clock and shut the radio alarm off.
"I hope my new school is worth the bother of getting up this early," muttered the redhead, setting the clock down and wandering to her door, "why did dad choose the school that starts earlier than my old one."
After grabbing a robe from the back of the door, the girl left the room in search of a shower. As she passed a room across from hers, a baritone voice came from behind the door:
"Shinzui, is that you?" it asked in a sharp tone.
The girl stopped and glared at the door with annoyance as she reluctantly replied. "Yes, dad, it's me. I'm going to take a shower now, so I can't talk."
There was shuffling in the room and when the knob jiggled, Shinzui fled into the bathroom, closing the door behind her as she heard the other open. Footsteps stopped by the door and her father's voice came from the other side, speaking in a firm tone.
"Shinzui. I need to talk to you before you leave."
"Haven't you done enough damage by transferring me to a new school?" snorted Shinzui, discarding her dirty clothes into a basket, "I appreciate that you're concerned about keeping me safe, but you should've talked to me first."
"I'm only thinking about what that delinquent would do to you," said her father in tense tone, "he's been getting too violent in past months. I thought that it would be good for you if-" He never finished the sentence.
"Stop while you're ahead, dad," interrupted Shinzui, glaring at the door, "I know you don't care if he hurts me because you've done it before. The only reason I never ended up in foster care is the fact that you made a promise to mom to take care of me." She went silent and stared at the mirror, running her hands over the pair of scars that curved along her cheekbones. With a sigh, she thought, Maybe I should use make up on these this time so people don't ask questions.
"Your mother wanted me to make sure no one hurt you," said her father shortly, but there was no masking the sadness in his voice.
"You say that all the time," sighed Shinzui, examining the faint scars scattered across her palms as if something had savagely torn bits of flesh away from the area, "yet you've hurt me so much." She shook her head and turned on the water. "Go away. I need to shower."
The girl heard footsteps retreat from the door and head downstairs. She stepped into the warm water and began to scrub her body clean, muttering:
"Mom, I still don't know what you saw in that man when you married him."
Shinzui hummed to herself as she rinsed the soap off her skin and then worked on her long hair. Once her shower had finished, she wrapped her hair up in a towel and dried herself off. The girl worked through a quick routine to take care of her skin and pulled on a robe, securing it shut with the belt as she left for her room. She closed and locked the door before going to her closet to find clean clothing. As she stood in front of it in her undergarments, Shinzui realized that she didn't have her new uniform.
"Damn," she muttered to herself with an exasperated sigh as she shook her head, "I'll have to wear my old one and get a stupid note from the office."
Shinzui fished out the black and red uniform of her old school and looked at it in disgust. The skirt was knife-pleated, ending a few inches below her knees and the long sleeved top had a sailor middy collar. The part of the uniform that annoyed her the most were the two bows that were on the front of the top and the back of the skirt. She glared at her reflection in disgust as she smoothed the shape of the fixed skirt bow.
This uniform is way too girly, she thought, tying the other bow, Why can't they keep these things simple? The company needs a better designer... She fought with the ribbon of the bow to shape it properly. That won't use these damn bows. The inventor of this style should be damned to an eternity of wearing one...covered in bows.
Shinzui picked up a brush to begin the challenge of taming the mass of tangled strands. After several minutes of brushing, combing, and a lot of wincing, she managed to smooth the tangles into her straight hair. She tied her hair up into a ponytail with a black ribbon and braided it, finishing with a black rubber band. She tucked a partially bloomed white rose, which had some blue on the bottom half of the petals, in her hair bow, so it was barely visible and then looked at her reflection with satisfaction.
"Shinzui!" yelled her father's voice, "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" she answered with a shout, rolling her eyes, "Sheesh." She pulled on some dark red socks and slipped her feet into some slippers before grabbing her bag and running downstairs.
As the girl came clattering down the steps, a man with short, finely combed, dark auburn hair looked up at her and spoke:
"Amazing transformation. From a bed head to a fine young woman."
"Your unusual amount of flattery is creeping me out, dad," said Shinzui, sending a cold gaze at the man. "What are you up to now?"
Her father's dark gray eyes flashed with annoyance, but he maintained a pleasant expression.
"Am I not allowed to occasionally flatter my precious daughter?" he asked, giving her an odd smile.
"That's even creepier, dad," remarked Shinzui, sitting down to eat her breakfast, "I've seen this act before. Something's up and I want to know what you're plotting."
"Nothing," said her father, loftily and he paused a bit before continuing, "You know that rose you-"
Shinzui choked on her juice at these words. "Forget it!" She finished her piece of toast and stood up, "I'm not letting you get your hands on it! It's barely bloomed and I know you and your damn colleagues want to know how it lives like this, but it just does. Let it be. You told me yourself that mom had all sorts of weird plants, so how could this thing be unusual to you." Her words were more of a statement than a question.
The redhead snatched up her bag and turned to walk towards the door when her father grabbed her arm.
"They just want a small look at it," he said, smiling strangely, "If you'd just lend it to me for the day...I'd give it back to you tonight." He couldn't hide the stress in his eyes.
What's with him? thought Shinzui, seeing the look in his eyes, but she pulled her arm away and said spoke aloud: "In your dreams, old man. I don't trust you with it!" She walked to the door and sat down to switch from her slippers to her black shoes. "See you later." She turned slightly to glare at her father. "Oh yeah, I'll say this again since you didn't get the message last week. Don't you dare send one of your lackeys to drag me home after school! Do you want me to send more of them to the hospital?" She stood up, pulled the door open, and slammed it behind her as she left.
"She really doesn't like you, Shoushiko," said a young man, walking out from a different room and looking at the man with his green eyes.
The speaker had long, dark brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail that fell to the end of his shoulder blades and looked to be a few years older than Shinzui. He was dressed in a black uniform with a white shirt and dark green tie. Shinzui's father looked at him before sitting down at the table and gesturing for the young man to sit.
"Let's talk about what I called you here for, Toraeru," said Shoushiko as the young man sat down.
"Yes, let's," said Toraeru, smirking a bit, "I'm very curious."
Shoushiko kept a steady expression, but his eyes narrowed slightly in dislike when he heard the tone in Toraeru's voice.
While the two men started their discussion, Shinzui was wandering down a sidewalk in the direction of her new school, looking bored with her eyes cast to the dull sky. I wonder what the Daiichi Girls Academy is like, she thought with a sigh, I hope my new classmates won't be a bunch of brats. She shrugged a bit. Well, one good thing about transferring schools is that I can finally get away from Tenma. Her musings were suddenly interrupted when a door opened and hit her in the face, knocking her backwards to the ground.
"What was that?" she heard a male voice say from the doorway.
Shinzui sat up a bit, rubbing her chin, which had taken the brunt of the impact, and looked up to see a pair of brown eyes peering at her from the door. The eyes belonged to a girl wearing a brown and white uniform that looked very familiar. The redhead got up, brushed herself off, and shoved her braid over her shoulder. She was a bit confused because she had clearly heard a male's voice, yet a female was standing before her.
"I'm sorry," said the girl at the door, pushing some short brown hair behind her ear, "We didn't know anyone was there."
"That's okay," answered Shinzui, smiling instead of unleashing her temper. I don't want to make a scene this early in the morning, she thought silently as she looked at the girl, but aloud she said, "Your uniform looks familiar. What school do you go to?"
"Daiichi Girl's Academy," replied the girl, smiling at her, "I'm Keiko Yukimora." She held out a hand to Shinzui.
Well, here's one person who I may like, thought Shinzui, smiling, "I'm Shinzui Ookami. Nice to meet you." She put her hand out as well.
The girls shook hands, smiling, but then Shinzui noticed the back of Keiko's skirt being lifted up. The redhead suddenly moved forward and smacked the perpetrator in the head with her school bag just as Keiko whirled around with her now free hand raised, shouting angrily:
"Yusuke Urameshi! You should be apologizing to her not flipping my skirt!"
Shinzui looked down at her school bag victim and saw that it was a teenage boy wearing jeans and a white shirt. His jet black hair was slicked back and his dark brown eyes were looking up at Shinzui with surprise as he rubbed his head. He laughed as he got up and brushed his clothes off. Then he moved forward to get a closer look at the girl's face, causing her to take a step back.
"You beat Keiko to hitting me," he said, laughing, "I'm surprised you noticed before she did."
Both girls glared at Yusuke and he backed away with his hands raised in defense. He paused and glanced around when he caught a whiff of a rose scent because there weren't any flowers nearby. The boy saw the source immediately when Shinzui turned to talk to Keiko because the flower had shifted from it's hidden position during the girl's fall.
What a weird thing to have in your hair, thought Yusuke, staring at the flower, It feels kind of weird. While absorbed in his thoughts he completely missed the fact that Shinzui was now addressing him. It's almost like an energy of some sort. Well, it's not doing anything, so I guess it's just a strange plant. He gave a shrug.
"Was that a yes or a no?" asked Shinzui, raising an eyebrow.
"To what?" said the boy in reply, frowning in confusion as he finally realized she was speaking to him.
The redhead looked annoyed. "Were you even listening to my question?"
"Question?" repeated Yusuke. I guess I missed it, he thought.
Shinzui sighed and shook her head. "I asked if you went to the Daiichi Boys Academy." Is this guy dumb or just weird? mused the girl.
"No," replied Yusuke, shaking his head, "I own a ramen stand."
"Where do you go to school?" asked Keiko, looking at Shinzui's uniform, "I don't recognize your uniform."
"I used to go to a school further away from here," answered Shinzui, "but I transferred to Daiichi and they have yet to send me the new uniform that my dad said he ordered last month." She rolled her eyes at the sky and sighed in exasperation. "The place must be run by monkeys."
"I bet it is," laughed Yusuke, walking over to Keiko, "What's with the rose in your hair?"
"Rose?" repeated Shinzui, feigning confusion. How'd he see it? she thought, I thought I tucked it down far enough.
"The one that's falling out of your hair," replied the boy, pointing at it.
"Falling out?" said Shinzui, feeling in her hair and found that the flower had shifted. Ah, from the fall, she thought as she pushed it back into place, making sure it was secure. "This is just something I like to keep around. Good luck charm. It's fake."
Right, as if I couldn't tell a fake flower from a real one after being around Kurama for so long, thought Yusuke, raising an eyebrow. What a weird thing to hide.
"Do you know where the school is?" asked Keiko with a friendly smile, "Because you could walk there with us if you don't."
"I know the way," answered Shinzui, thankful for the girl's question, "But walking there with someone would be nice." Besides, she thought to herself, Tenma is less likely to bother me if I'm with people. No doubt he's already noticed I'm not at school.
"Well," said Yusuke, walking down the sidewalk with Keiko, "Let's go. I'll walk you ladies to school before I go to work."
"All right," said the redhead, following Yusuke and Keiko in the direction of the school.
The trio chatted as they made their way to the school and Yusuke said goodbye and left once they reached the gates. Shinzui took a deep breath and followed Keiko toward the building, glancing around at the students that were milling around the entrance grounds. Slowly, the girls were starting to hone in on the unfamiliar face and uniform, which made the redhead feel uneasy.
Now I'm getting nervous, thought Shinzui, eyeing the students, I hope they stop staring soon. Not that I blame them. A transfer student in January is really unusual.
Keiko led Shinzui through the school and bid her farewell when they reached the main office. The girl sighed and went in to talk to the secretary. Getting the information took so long that the students had dispersed to their classrooms and the gates were closed once she was finished.
"Here's your locker and classroom information," said the woman at the desk, "sorry it took so long. Your file was misplaced." She handed the girl a map. "Your classroom is marked on the map and the teacher in there right now is Ms. Gentaru. Have a nice day."
Just smile and nod at her, thought Shinzui, but aloud she said, "Thank you."
The girl bowed a bit, taking a mental note that the office staff had already made a bad impression. She left the office and glanced down at the map in her hand that had her classroom circled on it. Shinzui wandered down the hallway, up some stairs, and finally reached her classroom. With a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" asked a feminine voice as the door slid open to reveal a woman with black hair pulled into a meticulous bun, "Oh, new student I presume?" Her brown eyes looked annoyed and she didn't even let Shinzui respond. "Well, come in already so class can resume."
The girl did so and stood by the teacher's desk, looking out at the rest of the class. Dear lord I hate this, she thought.
"Class, this is a new student to our school," said the teacher, "how about introducing yourself?"
All the girls were staring at her with curiosity, which made Shinzui's nervousness even worse.
"Um... Right," said Shinzui, her cheeks turning a bit red as she stared at the large class in front of her, "My name's Shinzui Ookami and I recently transferred here from Yokogiru High." Why me, she thought to herself as all eyes were fixed on her, Being in the spotlight is fine when I'm on stage, but I hate it in the real world.
"Anything else you'd like to say?" asked the teacher, looking bored.
"Not really," replied Shinzui, shrugging, "If people want to get to know me then we can just chat during breaks." She smiled in a friendly way, thinking, All I want to do is sit down and catch up with the subjects.
"Now that we've had an introduction," said Gentaru, "let's get back to our lesson. Miss Ookami, you may take the empty seat next to Miss Yukimora." She gestured to a seat in the fourth row next to a window.
Thank god, thought Shinzui, walking to the desk and sitting down. It'll be good to be by someone I already know. She pulled out her notebook and began to write down the notes on the board.
The rest of the morning classes passed slowly and Shinzui avidly worked to catch up, but soon found herself getting bored during Mrs. Hagetaka's class. The teacher was a hook-nosed, gray haired older woman who inspired dislike among the majority of students because she had little patience with anything she believed frivolous. The redhead stared at the woman with a dull look in her eyes, writing down everything she was saying, but also drawing on the other page of her notebook. Her attention slowly drifted from Hagetaka's lecture to the pictures she was drawing in her notebook. As she finished the final dark lines of the picture, a shadow fell across her desk and she looked up into the angry, dark brown eyes of Hagetaka.
Uh oh, thought Shinzui, Now, I'm in trouble.
"Is my lecture not interesting enough for you, Miss Ookami?" asked Hagetaka, glaring down her nose at the girl and then at the picture, "This is not art class, it's science." She snatched the page out of her notebook and held it up a bit. "Please enlighten the class about Darwin's Theory of Evolution." Her lips curled slightly into a smirk at the girl's blank face.
I shall take up your challenge, madam, thought Shinzui, suppressing a grin, My school already went over this and I know it quite well. She cleared her throat and stood up, keeping a nonchalant expression. Then she took a deep breath and spoke aloud in a clear voice:
"Darwin theorized that evolution happened by means of natural selection. His intertwined ideas were that there was variation in every population, organisms compete for limited resources, organisms produce more offspring than can survive," Her eyes were fixed on Hagetaka. "Organisms pass genetic traits on to their offspring, and those organisms with the most beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce." She paused to take a breath and clear her throat a bit. "In simple terms, it means that the weak die while the strong live. Survival of the fittest. Isn't that basically what you said?" There was no point where the girl had looked down at her notes, which surprised her classmates.
The whole class was staring at Shinzui as she sat down and smiled innocently up at a stunned and clearly irritated Hagetaka. The teacher reluctantly gave the notebook page back and retreated to the front of the room, making a mental note to herself that the new girl was bound to be a trouble maker. Shinzui chuckled and placed the picture carefully in her bag as the woman regained her composure. Everyone returned to their notes as Hagetaka began to lecture again, but there was a faint flush in her cheeks from anger and embarrassment. Shinzui glanced at Keiko, who flashed a grin at her, and the redhead noticed several pleased looks from the other girls sitting nearby.
I think I might like this school, thought Shinzui with a smile. Then she went back to taking notes on the lecture, looking forward to the lunch break.
# # # # # # # # # #
Voilá. The first rewritten chapter. Very different, no? I hope I got it to flow better than the original one. Please let me know what you think. =D Thank you!