"Vogue"
By A.J. Flint

Chapter 2

Not having a mirror for three days seems like a blessing as I peer at my reflection through squinted eyes. The girl that looks back at me hardly seems even close to what I'm used to. Her blonde hair is matted with blood and bile, her skin greasy and littered with huge welts and bruises, and the cut on her cheek is well on its way to becoming a nice, infected accessory to the giant, indigo shiner around her left eye.

"Somewhere under all this mess," I sigh, picking up the bar of soap and hand towel, "is the beautiful girl that half the boys in Japan drool over on a daily basis."

Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I cringe pressing the wet washcloth against the cut on my face. Tears find their way to my eyes again, and they mix with blood as they run down my cheek, cutting tracks through the caked on muck. The soap stings terribly, but it must be done. I can't have a scar on my cheek. It would ruin the entirely flawless complexion I have worked so hard to maintain over the years. I run the washcloth over the rest of my face, trying in vain to scrub and exfoliate the rest of the dirt out of their relentless stronghold on my perfect pores.

Throwing the washcloth into the sink, I scream while pulling on my hair. I need a bath, not a momentary powder trip in a dingy bathroom in the middle of nowhere. I need a new outfit, not the jacket of my would-be rescuer.

A rapping knock on the thin door interrupts my bought of helplessness, "Yurina? Are you okay?"

I stare at the door, confused as the tears momentarily stop in their well-worn tracks.

"Oh, God! You haven't been kidnapped again, have you!?" The rusty door handle jiggles as Yusuke makes a halfhearted attempt at breaking in to the rustic bathroom. "That would really be annoying—" he knocks again, harder this time, "—Yurina!"

My voice cracks as I stand up. "I'm-I'm still here."

The door handle stops clicking, and the fact that the lock stayed in place is amazing.

"Well, hurry it up. I've got a deadline with the Baby."

Picking up the washcloth I do my best at cleaning the grime off my cheeks, though I can't really tell the difference. Turning the lock over, I open the door and step outside. The mud beneath my feet makes a sickening slosh of a noise under my open toe sandals. Setting my teeth, I grimace to keep from biting my horrendously chapped lips, and it takes me a second to realize that Yusuke is leaning against the decrepit shack, muscular arms crossed with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth all while staring at me in what I consider in quite an intuitive fashion.

"Deadline?" I ask, pulling my matted hair back with a piece of ribbon from my completely ruined shirt. That was brand new piece from one of Tokyo's hottest designers too. A tragic death for the fashion world.

"Our ride should be here any minute," he frowns looking towards the sky. "I'm not surprised that she's late."

"Who?" I ask, becoming slightly frustrated with the enigmas that are his answers. All of a sudden a flash of light from the sky, a woman dressed in an old-fashioned, cherry blossom pink kimono zooms towards the ground and smiles radiantly as she descends.

I press my hands against my mouth to keep from screaming as she screeches to a halt only a few feet above the ground. A long stick in her hand, she laughs giddily and rushes up to Yusuke, joyfully throwing a hug on him.

"Oh, Yusuke! You survived!"

"Erm—Botan!" Yusuke said, peeling the girl off of him. Her blue hair makes me cringe—no girl in her right mind of take the chance of bleaching her hair and then dye it to such a color. Such a gamble I would never, ever make with my golden locks. Blah. But I do admit that it sort of fits her out of the ordinary entrance.

"You're both alright then?" She asks, brushing off her kimono before turning to me. As she takes in my rag tag appearance, her face contorts into quite a mix of concern and what I interpret as sisterly instinct and she launches herself at me with a clean handkerchief. "Oh, your beautiful face! Does it hurt?"

I dodge her attack, throwing up my hands in surrender, "Really I'm fine. All I want to do is go home and sleep for a week and a half."

"Are you sure?" She whines, trying to assess my black eye.

"Aw, Botan, leave her alone. She's been locked in a dungeon with trolls for the past couple of days, geeze." Yusuke scowls, throwing his toothpick on the ground.

Botan smiles and takes a quick breath, "Right, well. I'm Botan." She waves quickly. "And you're… Yurina, right?"

I nod, "Yurina Watanabe. Pleasure I'm sure."

"Bingo, exactly. Now." She claps her hands and out of the corner my eyes I see Yusuke roll his own. "We'll be off, I suppose. So gather round, take a piece of oar, and we'll get out of this musty old forest."

Yusuke puts his hand on Botan's shoulder and motions for me to follow his lead..

Timidly I step forward and for a moment forget the insanity of this whole thing. Blindly, I reach for Yusuke's hand and intertwine my fingers with his. He looks at me again, this time, something in his eyes that I can't understand. An emotion, an emotion foreign to me…What is it?

All of a sudden, we're off, soaring through the sky, towards the moon and the atmosphere presses against my body and making me feel like self implosion is imminent. The external pressure builds and builds, and I cling to Yusuke's arm harder, as if it's my last chance at survival of this life.

I bury my head in his shoulder, nestled in my blonde waves and choking back the sobs of terror, when at last there is a giant pop in the air an the pressure around us dissipates. My feet hit grass, and my legs collapse under me.

"Oh god…" I whisper, grasping at the grass with my free hand in a vain attempt to stabilize myself.

"Yurina?" Yusuke says, and I can't tell if it's amusement or worry in his voice. "You alright?"

"What… What just happened? Are we in outer space or something?" I gasp, pulling myself to my feet.

Botan laughs, "In a way! We're in the Spirit World silly! Haven't you ever been?"

Giving her a weak smile, I shake my head no. Always the demon plane…I say to myself.

"Oh goodness!" She giggles, her blue curls flailing against her shoulders. "I guess that it would make you little weak in the knees if it's your first time here. Now, there is no time to waste!" She grins radiantly, and points towards the castle behind us. "Koenma wants to see you, my dear, and he's not a very patient man."

She gives me a little push on the shoulders towards the palace, and it's only then that I realize I'm still holding tightly on to Yusuke's hand. Pulling away, I feel a soft blush creep into my cheeks. "Sorry Yusuke," I mutter, a moment of sheer stupidity somehow entering my body.

He shruggs, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his green trousers and falling into step behind Botan, leaving me no other choice but to fall into step behind him in the small game of follow-the-leader we have started.

Spirit World, eh… I tuck a piece of flyaway hair behind my ear and sigh quietly. Staring at Yusuke's back, I lose all trains of thought and my mind blanks, until one lone locomotive of a notion enters my head and a smile graces my swollen, broken lips for the first time in days...

Maybe he isn't that bad of a guy after all…

Please review! I need all the feedback and constructive criticism I can get.

lessthanthree, AJ.