BLUE IS SKI AND BRANDON TALKING. EACH CHARACTER TALKS ON THEIR OWN.
INTRODUCTIONS
It was your average day in the quiet old Mishi town. The kids were getting ready to return to school. Ski moved there just as the school year was beginning. Ski moved there with his mom, her new husband Lee, his brother Anthony, and step siblings Cassondra and Shin. As usual Ski and his brother Tony were arguing loudly. It had gathered the attention of most of the town. Even Kenji and Kida took a moment to take a look and it seemed like nothing ever fazed them. Even the residential evil Jaui and Lucrezia dared a look. I stopped my moped and removed my helmet to get a better glance at the chaos going on before me.
"Hey lard butt, get out of the truck." The scrawny kid standing in front of the truck.
He had short brown hair, light tan skin, and wore a sweat outfit and tennis shoes. A fat kid dress in a goofy outfit came out of the truck. He had what I think a book once call a cowboy outfit on, including the cowboy hat and boots with stirrups. He made more noise than the gong up at the temple during the summer festival. I almost choked on myself laughing. I had never seen anything like this before. He had bushy black hair stuffed under that ridiculous hat and pale skin. The neighbors either stared or snickered. Suddenly out of nowhere the familiar red head and skunk combo stepped forward to address the scrawny boy and a brown haired woman in doctor's scrubs. Kida was dressed in her blue kimono and Kenji at her side was dressed in his martial arts outfit. They bowed and introduced themselves to the woman and boy. The younger boy pushed the fat kid down trying to show respect for the temple priestess and dojo warrior. It was quiet under the mutter of the crowd until the loud mouth of the fat kid erupted over the murmur of the crowd.
"It is just Ski, not Yusuke." He stormed into the house.
Kida and Kenji gazed at each other and laughed. The woman apologized for the brat and they just waved it off. I have never felt uneasy around the two of them but something about the look they gave me as they passed me walking up the hill to their homes. Kenji had the shopping basket that Hojo usually carried. My brutish step father and my ditzy step sister came to my side.
"Finish you deliveries, Colby?" He looked at me.
"Yeah, I did." I sighed as he shoved both me and my sister forward.
A tall average built man came out and saluted my step father. They shook hands. My stepdad overshadowed this guy nearly 2-1. My stepdad had army cut black hair, more muscles than a body builder, and wore jeans, a tank top, and boots. My stepsister was a complete opposite of her father. She had a dainty figure, long brown hair, and wore a summer dress and sandals. They both had tan skin from the long summer. I had styled red/orange hair, was moderately muscular from years of soccer, and wore the blue jumpsuit I did deliveries in. My sister and I were only noticed after the man and my stepdad had finished their conversations. The fat kid had been pulled from the house by a large college age boy.
"Lee, you remember my daughter Sana and this is my stepson Colby."
"Pleased to meet you." He shook my hand. "Kaito, you remember Shin and Cassy. These are Keiko's sons Yusuke and Anthony."
"It is just Ski." The fat kid belted his comment out so loud the dead probably jumped. Lee just blushed and apologized for the fat idiot.
"Well, perhaps Colby could teach your stepson some manners. He is the co-captain of the Mishi Middle School Soccer team." My stepdad just signed my death warrant. "Who knows perhaps they could end up being an unstoppable team."
"That would be great. Would he mind walking Ski to school tomorrow?" The woman I presumed was Keiko greeted us.
"He'd love to, right Colby?" My stepdad gazed at me with a look that could scare even the toughest of demons.
"Sure, whatever." I sighed and walked home.
The next day I arrived to escort the brat and his brother to school. Tony wore the blue school uniform and had a traditional backpack. Ski on the other hand wore a pair of jeans and a shirt that said "Captain Moo-Moo #1 Fan". I almost died as Kida and Kenji walked by snickering at my horrific day.
"Looks like you met your match, Detective." Kenji hollered back at us with a wave. "I hope you and your new boyfriend have a good day."
Ski looked at them with amusement as they walked away practically trying not to fall over from laughing. Ski picked up a Sailor Moon backpack that nearly killed me a second time. I had died once when I had fallen in an open manhole because I wasn't watching where I was going on my bike. Koenma had made me a spirit detective and I was charged with saving the world from renegade demons.
"Wait so Colby was the detective before you?" Brandon gazed at me shocked.
"Yeah, he had the job first and I was dragged in later." I nearly choked on my soda.
On the way to school I kept trying to figure out how I would ditch him and explain to Saito why I was with him in the first place. I could feel my rep hit the toilet with every step. It was only then I noticed that Tony didn't stop at the elementary school. I hadn't noticed before but his uniform was the same as mine. As the school yard came into view my heart dropped. As we entered the yard it became deathly silent and all eyes were focused on us. I almost wished that I would just curl up and die. To make things worse, Saito came up to me and cleared his throat.
"I really hope you have a good explanation for being with this retard Kuwabara." He folded his arms and stared right in my eyes.
"Yeah it is called I had to do it by orders of the old man." I blew some loose hair out of my face. "The little one is cool though. The fat one is an idiot and I really don't want anything to do with him."
It was then that Kida walked up and smiled at Tony.
"Well, a new prodigy has arrived. Greetings, why don't I show you to the office so you can get your room number and paperwork done." She offered her hand to him and smiled a wicked smile at me. "Don't lie to your captain Kuwabara. Tell him that you and Ski are now lovers. Wouldn't that be more appropriate?"
I glared at her as she left with Tony while I stood before Saito and beside the world's biggest baby. I nearly flipped out of my skin as Saito took a deep breath.
"For your sake I hope she was kidding." He motioned for me to join the rest of the team.
I was thankful to have any excuse to leave that bastard on his own. I didn't want to be lumped in with him. I really hoped that he had nothing to build himself up. Things got even worse when class began. Ms. Takani led both of the Urameshi boys forward to the front of the room. They stood facing the class.
"Ok, ladies and gentlemen, we have 2 new students joining our class this year." She turned to them. "Please introduce yourselves."
"My name is Anthony Urameshi; it is an honor to meet you." Tony bowed with a cheerful smile. "I look forward to a great year with you all."
The class seemed to accept Tony with no problem. I doubted they would do the same with the bastard. At least they had put him in uniform without much trouble (or so I thought).
"I'm Ski, what up." He held up his hand in a dorky wave.
The class snickered and most of the boys began whispering to each other. The teacher looked at him as if he had been born in a toilet. I had to admit his manners were nauseating.
"Tony why don't you sit beside Makida." She looked onto the class seeing where to place Ski. "Makida, please raise your hand so Tony can find you."
Kida was more than happy to oblige. Tony went into the back with the "brains" and the teacher talked to the boy beside me. He got up and went to a seat by the wall and the teacher pointed to the seat next to me for Ski to sit. She looked as annoyed as I was. He got out Sailor Moon pens and a Captain Moo-Moo notebook. The entire class broke out laughing. The teacher handed each of us a test packet and Ski looked at it stupidly. The teacher almost choked on her water.
"Mr. Urameshi, may I ask what the problem is." She walked up to him agitated.
"I don't know Japanese." The teacher and the class almost lost their composure.
"You don't know Japanese?" She almost started laughing. "How pray tell did you get into the school may I ask?"
"I just enrolled. They didn't say I had to know Japanese." He began to play with his Sailor Moon pencil top. "I did pass all of my classes in America."
Tony began to snicker and the teacher looked at him wide eyed. She excused herself and walked into the hall, leaving Kenji in charge. She returned 15 minutes later with Mr. Herazaki. Mr. Herazaki ran the "slow class". She told him something; he motioned for Ski to gather his things and follow him. He never returned to the class. In fact I didn't see him until after school when he approached the soccer team during practice. He came over to us dress for American football with all of his pads and helmet. I was surprised that he fit in it with all of his lard. He smiled a large grin as he approached and Saito gathered the team behind him. Saito looked about ready to draw a gun. In the distance I could see Kida's red hair and I knew where Kida was so was Kenji. The weird thing was even a couple of high school kids stopped on the way home to look. Lucrezia was among them, already laughing her head off. Saito glared at him annoyed.
"I hope you have a good excuse for being on my field?" Saito folded his arms and huffed. "If not I suggest you leave now."
"I do." Ski smiled and just noticed we weren't dressed the same as him. "I wanted to join the football team."
"You do know that football in all but America is really soccer right?" Saito looked even more annoyed. "We don't have an American football team here."
"Soccer! Soccer is for gay guys." Ski looked down at his helmet. "Now football is a real man's sport.
Saito nearly leapt out of his skin. You could have boiled water with the steam coming from his ears. He grabbed Ski and hurled him across the field into the goal.
"You bastard, don't you ever come on my field again. In fact, don't ever come within 100 meters of my team." Saito had fire in his eyes. He turned to the rest of us. "Anyone caught with that kid is off the team for good." He turned to me. "I will make one exception for you Kuwabara. I had Yana look into your stepdad claim and you were right. Since he's forcing you to be around him I will not throw you off. But if you befriend him I will make sure you never play again."
It was on the walk home things got worse. First Ski had caught up to me and chatted like we were friends and second a demon stood in our path. I looked nervously at Ski who at the time began to flip out.
"Oh my god, what is that?" He almost jumped on a trash can like a woman who had seen a mouse.
"You can see it." I looked up at him in amazement. I thought you had to die or be psychic to see demons.
"Yeah and it freaks me out." He almost squealed like a girl too.
"Alright demon, hand over your card and I won't hurt you." I walked right up to the demon hand outstretched.
"I don't think so detective." The demon hissed a cold response. "You see I don't have one. I doubt you could do me much harm when there are others more lethal than you here."
"More lethal than me? What do you mean?" I had my spirit sword in my hand ready to chop this illegal demon down to size. "Talk now and I won't slice you into bits."
"Well, that depends on you what I tell you." The demon said matter of factly. "All I want is a couple of sweet lollipops and I'll tell you everything."
I almost gave in when a green blur hit in front of me. The demon was thrashed in ways I had never imagined. I saw a large blur leap out of my sight range and I almost could have sworn I sensed something or someone dangerous. I looked at the demon body as it disintegrated before me. I knew that there were things I still needed to know. I left Ski at his house and contemplated all the way home. What hadn't Koenma covered with me and why.
