Hello again! Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. Hope you liked it!

Enjoy~

October 29th

If you had asked Claire what she thought she would be doing that morning, it wouldn't have been this.

"No, it goes over there!" Yusuke complained as he leaned against the ladder, sighing fitfully.

Claire blinked, repositioning the lightbulb. "Here?" she asked, and saw the teen frown.

"No, more to the left," Yusuke shifted his head along with the instructions, moving along with Claire as she moved the lightbulb. "Almost...not quite...keep going, and...your there!"

Claire sighed, screwing the lightbulb into the socket. "Well, glad thats over," she said, looking down at Yusuke. "Now…" her face paled as she stared at the ground, which might have been three feet away. "How to get down…"

"That's easy," Kuwabara was the one to speak this time, sitting backwards in a chair. "Just walk down the stairs. Even I could have figured that one out."

Claire saw Yusuke grin. "Amazing…" he said, and Kuwabara glared at him, punching him in the arm.

"Shut up, Urameshi!"

"Make me, Kuwabara!"

"I might just--"

Claire stopped listening to the shouts, now holding onto the top of the ladder, panicking.

She probably would have asked Yusuke or Kuwabara to change the lightbulb in the inn's "recreation room", if it hadn't been that she'd seen it first. Claire had already been up on the ladder when the two goofy friends had walked in, throwing insults at one another as normal. Kuwabara had nearly knocked over the ladder as he'd put Yusuke in a headlock, and that's when they'd noticed her…

But they weren't noticing her now.

"Um...guys…?" Claire tried pathetically, suddenly feeling woozy, the ground starting to spin as she looked down at it. "Could you…?" she lost her ability to speak as she gripped the top of the ladder harder, starting to sweat now.

Claire saw now how stupid it had been of her to climb onto the ladder, even if she was just trying to help by fixing the lightbulb. She felt a scream build in her throat as she shut her eyes, hearing a grunt as Yusuke wrestled out of Kuwabara's grip.

It was then that the boys noticed her.

"Um...hey...are you okay?" Claire opened her eyes upon hearing Yusuke's voice. "Don't tell me…" he trailed off, sighing as he grimaced.

Claire tried to nod. "Yes," she said. "I'll admit it.…" she looked down again, paling even more. "Now can you please help me off of here! This ladder is wobbly!"

Claire let out a squeak a moment later as she felt Yusuke pick her up, setting her down on the floor. She collapsed onto the nearby couch as she tried to breathe, shakes wracking her whole body. She tried to smile as Kuwabara and Yusuke watched her worriedly (well, Yusuke looked more annoyed than worried), brushing her long hair from her face.

"Thanks.." Claire managed after a moment. "I'm sure glad you guys are here…"

And she was. More than she could have possibly said. Sure, things weren't like she thought they would be--not like they were in the fanfiction stories--but that was alright, because she had a feeling that reality was better than fiction…

When Yusuke and his friends had suddenly showed up in front of the inn, Claire had started hyperventalating immediately, shock overcoming her. It had taken everything she had to not faint, and even then Sophie had had to help her into the house, glaring at their newfound guests as if Claire's anxiety attack was their fault...which it sort of had been.

While Sophie had been outside with her mother, trying to sort everything out (as well as trying to figure out how everyone had gotten there), Claire had stared out the window, getting a up close and personal look at the characters she'd known for so long, all without really being near them.

It amazed her how someone could be so different than you thought they were, and how you could learn a lot about the person from simply watching them, as long as they didn't know you were doing it.

"So…" Yusuke's voice brought Claire forth from her thoughts as he plopped onto the couch next to her, Kuwabara pulling up his chair. "I guess we can add 'fear of heights' to your list of weirdity."

Claire laughed as she nodded. "Yes," she replied, scratching the back of her head. "And Yusuke?"

"Yeah?"

"'Weirdity' isn't a word."

Claire felt her mood lighten as she heard Kuwabara laugh loudly, Yusuke immediately protesting. Her world was changing, and things were strange for now, but…

But she had a feeling that with time, they would become normal again--if "normal" even existed anymore.

Looks like these are all going to be short chapters. So here we have Claire, our other main OC. More on her later...

Please review!!! It makes the chapters write themselves faster. Critical analysis is welcome, but please be nice.