**Curtains Rise, Enters Stage Left, This Time Holding A Microphone With A Whole Cast Of Stage Players Behind Her Frozen In Place**

Well now that they've fixed the sound system I don't need that pesky megaphone anymore. Now it's time to introduce you to our wonderful cast of characters. Also I would like to give a shout out to those people that are helping to keep everyone in character as much as possible.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to spell it out for all of you??? Fine, if I must, I must. I do not at present, or past have any rights to Yu Yu Hakusho, but a girl can hope for the future right??

Story: The Yu Yu Girls Take Center Stage

Chapter 2: Encounters

Characters: Touya/Keiko

Oh good, now that the formalities are over with, it's on with the show….

'Well, it looks like everyone is here now.' Genkai thought as she spied Keiko and then Shizuru come through the front door.

She slid her gaze away from the girls to survey the rest of the room. First she noticed Kurama sitting next to her, tea cup in hand. Genkai gave the kitsune a polite nod before taking a sip from her own clay cup.

"This is very good." She complimented him quietly.

She took another sip of the fox's special blend and let its robust and slightly spicy flavor enliven her senses. The former spirit merely murmured a quite thank you. Then they resumed their mutual contemplation of the room.

Next her eyes fell on the increasingly familiar scene that Kuwabara, Hiei and Yukina were making in the center of the room. The pint-sized fire youkai had placed one hand threateningly on his katana, while the oblivious boy got down in his face shouting insults. Of course, not to be shown-up by the human, Hiei was shouting right back with a vein visible in his forehead. The ice apparition was caught between the two as she tried in vain to diffuse the situation. Yukina shot Kurama a pleading look hoping he would take their spiky haired friend off her hands.

Genkai saw the fox set his cup down and move to stand. Satisfied that he would handle the situation, she let her aged eyes wander before settling on an unlikely group. Their resident blue haired grim reaper was huddled down with a small youkai boy by the name of Rinku. On the other side of the monkey child was the red haired ferry girl Hinageshi.

The energetic girl had been known to hang around the compound from time to time since the nasty incident concerning the Netherworld. She was usually a big help around the compound. That is until Botan puts in an appearance, then things tend to go slightly awry. Add in an immature demon child, well when that happens, Genkai makes sure to stock up on the Advil.

The three of them had been thick as thieves since the boy arrived, causing mischief and pulling pranks. Why, just the other night the three had laced everybody's bedding with itching powder; though Genkai managed to escape this prank, due to her sleeping with a barrier around her. No one had gotten any sleep that night, well…..expect for Genkai of course. Currently the "Terrible Trio," as Genkai had dubbed them, were snickering and whispering as they looked towards the last group of people in the room.

'Troublemakers…' Genkai thought as she rolled her eyes in the direction of their amusement.

In fact; towards the back of the room, where the terrible trio was looking, was none other than Chuu, Jin the Wind Master, and Yusuke; smack dab between the two. It seemed they were mercilessly teasing him about something. She could only assume that it had something to do with his nasty break up with Keiko. You see, for a male demon to have a prospective mate walk out on him is a rather embarrassing thing indeed.

'Dimwit….' Genkai thought as she observed them.

Genkai's eyes found the form of the latest demonic addition to her compound. Touya the Ice Master of the shinobi had arrived just this morning with Jin, asking her for sanctuary in the human world. Knowing how helpful the two had been in the past, Genkai had readily agreed. Currently he sat cross legged in the very back of the large room. He was obviously mediating, but how he could do so amidst the clamoring ruckus of this room was amazing to her.

'Impressive…' She thought, as she turned her attention back to her tea.

***

Keiko stopped short as she took in the number of people in the room; eyes widening as she counted.

'1, 2, 3………14!!' Keiko gasped, 'I thought that this was supposed to be a small gathering'

Keiko couldn't help but giggle softly at the sight of Kurama dragging an indignant looking Hiei away from Kuwabara, who was being held back by Yukina with a light hand on his chest. She sighed in relief, her shoulders sagging briefly, seeing that the danger had passed. Kuwabara quickly forgot about Hiei as he dropped to his knee, taking Yukina's hands in his.

"Yukina, my love, I will protect you from his foul temper." his eyes shone like pools of sincerity.

Yukina blushed in a brilliant scarlet color. 'Kuwabara; your sweet, but I believe Kurama was protecting you.' The ice maiden thought to herself.

Keiko shook her head at the couple, wondering how much longer it would take for them to be together officially. Next she took in the state of the room. It was a mess; food was everywhere, crumbs littered the floor, whole pieces of pizza, chop sticks and other party debris covered the floor. She shook her head and sighed as she started to clean the room.

She'd made her way around the room twice and had filled two 30 gallon trash bags full of garbage. She'd started a load of miscellaneous laundry she'd found in the hallway. She also had served everyone in the room either snacks or tea. No one really seemed to even notice she was there; in fact the only people to even acknowledge her were Genkai and Yukina. She sighed, as this is the way that it had been since her separation from Yusuke; she seemed to have become….invisible. This feeling is one of many reasons why she had resolved to speak with the girls and then possibly Genkai.

A round of boisterous male laughter drew Keiko from her dark musings. Keiko turned her head and found herself lost in a pair of dark brown eyes; she felt as if a gaping hole had opened in her chest at the sight of him. Jin and Chuu were both laughing as they shoved the former spirit detective towards the unsuspecting Keiko.

"Go on mate, there be ur' sheila," Chuu called. "Aye boyou, get er' back" Jin chimed in; both were loud enough for the whole room to hear.

"…Um, hey…Keiko," Yusuke said, as he raked his fingers through his hair. "How are ya?"

Keiko hadn't spoken to him in months, his voice seemed to break the trance she was in, and she felt a pain blossom in her, pouring from the emptiness in her chest. She opened and closed her mouth trying to form a response, but her mouth had run dry. She finally managed to force her voice past the lump in her throat.

"Okay…I guess." She managed to keep her eyes from tearing as she spoke.

"Oh...Uh, that's good to hear." Keiko tugged nervously on the hem of her skirt.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments. Yusuke was nervously shuffling his feet as he tried to think of something to say.

"Ya know, well, I was thinking that maybe we could…"

Yusuke didn't get a chance to finish his thought but was cut off by the shrill ringing of the washer, signaling the end of its cycle. Keiko used this to escape as she bowed politely, excusing herself and she rushed off.

Keiko breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned against the washer. She unloaded the clothes, switching it over to the dryer. Keiko slid to the floor, leaning against the dryer as her body soaked in the warmth provided by the machine. Her eyes had just slipped closed when a voice suddenly intruded on her solitude.

"Miss Keiko…?" a soft bell-like voice called to her.

Keiko looked up, startled but visibly relaxed as she found herself staring into Yukina's bright crimson eyes. For a split second she felt as if she was looking into Hiei's eyes. It was the depth of concern in Yukina's eyes that made it easy to tell them from the hard ruby eyes of the fire demon.

'Is that a common eye color in the Makai….I wonder' Keiko shook her head ruefully as the ice apparition spoke.

"Miss Keiko," Yukina spoke more firmly as she kneeled next to the ningen girl, "Are you alright? You left the room so quickly."

"I'm fine Yukina, thank you for asking," Keiko gave Yukina a forced smile, trying to appear reassuring.

Yukina tentatively reached her hand out to the other girl's arm, unsure of how she would be received. When Keiko didn't flinch or pull away, Yukina settled herself down next to her. Not knowing what to say, she just sat next to Keiko leaning her head on her shoulder, giving her the quiet comfort of another person. Keiko leaned a bit into Yukina, taking what was silently offered gratefully. The ningen girl slowly drifted off to sleep like that.

***

She woke several hours later in a spare room at Genkai's. Her eyes slowly blinked open as she took in her surroundings. The room was sparse, to say the least; in the corner was a small wardrobe and she was laying on a twin sized futon. Keiko turned her head looking into the harsh glare of the clock next to the small lamp; the clock read 10:09. Keiko sat bolt upright.

'Oh dear, I fell asleep' Keiko hurriedly threw her covers off standing up to look around the room.

She walked over to the sliding door and carefully opened it to look in the hall. The hallway itself was dark and oddly silent. Stepping through the door she took in the almost eerily quiet hallway, causing a shiver to race down her spine.

'There's no way everyone's in bed by now; and even if they were, there's no way it'd be this quiet. I must just be in a different part of Genkai's home.' Keiko nodded briefly, satisfied that her logic was sound.

She went back into her little room and sat in the middle of the futon and attempted to organize her thoughts. Of course the second she tried, Yusuke managed to muscle his way to the fore front of her mind. First she tripped over their odd conversation from a few hours ago, which caused a pained tightening in her chest. Those few moments seemed to open the floodgates of her memory. Keiko found herself suddenly overwhelmed with images of the good times with Yusuke, even though most of those ended in a slap; some choice words from her and abject apologies from him. Keiko stood suddenly, and firmly pushed those thoughts from her mind.

'No Keiko, that's a closed chapter in your life. All Yusuke can ever be now is a friend.' The brunette squared her shoulders, 'A good, dear friend, but a friend nonetheless and nothing more.'

She decided to go for a walk, hoping some fresh air would help her to clear her head. Keiko went over to the wardrobe, opening it hoping to find her winter coat. She let out an 'Eep' of surprise as she caught sight of herself in the mirror on the inside of the door. She was no longer wearing her clothes from earlier, but was wrapped securely in a flannel sleeping yukata. She fervently hoped one of the other girls had been the one who changed her clothes. Although, judging from the look of the floral patterned traditional robe, she was willing to bet money it had been Yukina.

Keiko sighed and resigned herself to not changing her clothes after eyeing the complicated looking knot holding the robe closed. She grabbed her winter coat, sliding it on without another thought. She also took her shoes, carrying them with her while stepping into the house slippers she found by the sliding door. Now that she was ready, she left the room and silently padded down the hallway, looking for a door that would lead her outside. Once she found one she quickly traded her slippers for sneakers, tucking the discarded footwear into a jacket pocket.

Keiko breathed the frigid air deeply into her lungs, her body shuddering with the effort and temperature shock. Once she adjusted to her new surroundings she started walking forward. Despite the lack of snow the ground was frozen and unyielding beneath her feet.

She let her feet blindly carry her across the grounds as she tried to organize the chaos her thoughts had become. Since this was impossible, she forced herself to focus on what she would say to the girls later tonight. She put all her energy into this for quite a while. So much so, that by the time she took in her surroundings, Keiko found herself to be far from the compounds main buildings.

In fact, with the buildings to her back, she found herself standing before a decent sized lake that was fed by a small river connected to the beach. It was cozily nestled up against a grove of lifeless trees. It was an eerie sight; the still glassy waters of the lake combined with the barren trees. What caught and held Keiko's attention the most was what appeared to be a weeping willow that hugged the lakes shore. Entranced, she walked forward till she was beneath the swaying whip like branches. It was such a contrast; this tree was lush, full of life, while everything else around her had been twisted and killed by the winters chill.

'So beautiful,' was all Keiko could think as her eyes drank in the tranquility of nature in an otherwise perilous world.

She couldn't make out much of the tree in the dark of night, but she squinted, her eyes trying to take in as much as possible. She could see that each slender vine had almond shaped leaves marching up and down either side and every few feet or so on the vines was punctuated by white flowers with dark, almost inked tips that formed tightly closed buds. She gingerly ran her fingers over one of the buds, finding them to be soft as silk. Breathing a sigh of contentment, Keiko moved from the shelter of the tree to sit shore side and watch the waters.

With a quiet sort of idleness, she ran the tips of her fingers just beneath the frigid water's surface, humming softly. At that moment a bone chilling wind swirled around her, causing Keiko to shiver violently. She quickly brought her arms to her chest, burrowing down in the warmth of her coat. So intent was she on regaining warmth that she failed to notice the surface of the lake beginning to bubble and swell just a mere few feet from her. It wasn't until water began to soak through the soles of her shoes that she even looked up.

Looming above her, dripping, was a huge wall of running water. It was moving towards her as it sprouted arms with vicious looking claws for hands on either side, flinging water droplets through the air that peppered her face and neck, burning like acid when they hit her skin, causing her to cry out. Keiko tried to scramble backwards as the water in the lake began to slip away to reveal shiny blue scales underneath.

She managed to barely get out of the way as she dodged one of the clawed hands, but couldn't move fast enough as the second one side swiped her. The serrated tip catching her and ripping her clothes and skin, leaving her with a deep free flowing bloody gash down her side. The force of the blow sent her skidding back to the frozen ground, surely bruising her. At this point, she was too weak with blood loss to move. Keiko let out an earsplitting scream as the scaled beast loomed over her, once more preparing to strike her down.

'I'm going to die,' was all she could think, as she looked up to witness not only the instrument of her death but also the very first snowfall of winter; the fat, white flakes were a sharp contrast to her coming demise.

**Grins Evilly** Yes, this is where I'm leaving off. If you want more you'll have to just wait patiently. Please read and review.

**Bows Respectfully As She Exits Stage Right; The Curtain Closing Until Next Time**