A/N: So.

Apparently, when I said "I'll be editing this story as I go along", what I really meant was "I will be doing an entire upheaval in order to have some semblance of pride by the time the story has been posted from beginning to end". Sorry about the wait, yes yes yes, I shall give you a whole list of excuses if you want it, but I'm sure you've heard them all before (laughs nervously).

Also!! Kisuke is a new character, for those of you who had read the "original" Matchbox. I thought I'd tell you now to avoid confusion, since I got a couple reviewers noting Kisuke's prescence in the story. I hope you will come to find him as awesome as I do.

Also!! I am changing the rating of this story to "M" for Mature. There will be lemon(s). I am of age to post/write/read lemons, and I am giving you fair warning now. If you're underage, please don't read the lemony content. I will warn readers at the beginning of chapters with lemons/citrusy content.

Read on, comrades, the First Meeting!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho.

PS - Please ignore my weird chapter titles. I've been watching Gintama. (Which I don't own either).

Good Samaritans Should Stick to Helping Old Ladies Cross Roads

"Ne, Kisuke," Lupin began slowly. "I know you're tall and everything…but could you stop using my head as an armrest?"

"Hmm?" Kisuke, walking next to her down the street, glanced at her, his mouth turning downwards into the slightest pout. His arm sat lazily on the crown of her head, much like it would on the arm of a couch. "You're the perfect height."

"That's nice and everything but I think you're missing the point here."

"You're right. I'm sorry, short-half-grown-cousin. Were you waiting for some other guy to come up and put his arm here? Maa, but that's not very romantic-,"

"You baka, that's not right at all! You are so ridiculously off-the-mark, how can you look yourself in the mirror in the morning?!"

"I don't own a mirror."

Lupin pointed a finger at him accusingly. "Don't tell me such blatant stories so matter-of-factly! Who would fall for such a line when you look like that?!"

Kisuke blinked at her, a fresh breeze blowing his shaggy black hair away from his face. On the other side of the street, a passing middle-aged woman fainted. "Ah? Look like what?"

Lupin stared at him with a deadpanned expression. "You disgust me," the black-haired girl said plainly, before continuing down the sidewalk.

"If I was ugly, you'd tell me, right?"

"Shut up-," Lupin hugged her book to her chest tightly, eyebrow ticking slightly. "Anyways, we have to get to Meiou in time for the presentation. Why is it taking so long? I thought it only took ten minutes to get to Meiou from our school."

"About that," Kisuke, still standing where Lupin had left him, face blank. "We passed the school five minutes ago."

"What?"


"You just looked so deep in thought when you were walking, I didn't want to disturb you."

"I've closed my ears to your blasphemy," Lupin said placidly as they walked through the doors of Meiou Private School. Kisuke snorted softly, and looked away quickly when Lupin glanced sharply at him. Together they walked into the Office just inside the school and Kisuke allowed her to step forward to speak with the secretary. After a moment at her computer, the young woman looked up and smiled in greeting. "Hello there. May I help you?"

"Aa, we're students from Seishou Highschool," Lupin motioned to herself and Kisuke. "A number of us are supposed to be doing a presentation for the second year students to introduce the new Music program here at Meiou, which stemmed from Seishou's success with music students."

"Ah, yes! A few of your peers have already arrived." The woman smiled. "The presentation will be taking place in the auditorium, please just follow the signs in the hallways."

Lupin nodded her thanks and turned away, cutting Kisuke a cold glare when he sidled up next to her and took her elbow. "Now, keep close, my poor cousin. You see that large sign with the arrow over there? That's pointing us in the direction we're going to go-,"

Lupin's fist connected with the side of his head. "Stop treating me like an invalid, you bastard."

Kisuke blinked innocently at her. "That hurt," he mumbled in a wounded voice.

"I can make it there fine on my own." Lupin turned a blind eye to the watery gaze he pinned her with. "Besides. You're not even performing with the rest of the music program."

"Being in front of people makes me nervous," Kisuke intoned with a straight face. Lupin scoffed slightly but didn't move away when Kisuke looped his arm through hers, and managed to suffer through another ruffle of her hair. "I like hearing you play too."

"I'm not at your level, though," Lupin responded. "If these Meiou kids were to be really impressed, it'd be by you."

"You're fine," Kisuke waved a hand dismissively. "And I'm not in the school music program, you know that. I take private lessons – that wouldn't properly represent the school talent, right?"

"Whatever."

"Right."

They entered the auditorium a few moments later; Kisuke released an impressed whistle at the polished wood floors and state-of-the-art digital scoreboard. Not to mention the huge stage at the far end of the gymnasium, taking up the entire wall with heavy plum-coloured curtains drawn across the impressive stage. Rows upon rows of collapsible chairs had been assembled in meticulous lines across the room, all of them facing the massive stage. Even as the cousins stood at the back of the gym, second year students were filing into the room from an entrance closer to the stage, quietly and obediently. In their standard magenta uniforms, they were almost indeterminable from one another.

"Japanese and their uniforms," Kisuke sighed in aloft remorse.

"You think the others are backstage?" Lupin inquired, uninterested in the students.

"Probably." Kisuke's gaze drifted to the scoreboard clock. "We're five minutes early. Need a drink or anything?"

"I should probably use the washroom," Lupin nodded to the door they'd come through. "There was one on the way here."

Kisuke nodded and followed her back out. He leant against the wall outside the women's washroom as she went in. When Lupin was inside, she checked the stalls for other students, but there were none. Assured she was alone, Lupin returned to the large, push-open door and slid the lock into place before she moved to the closest sink and leant against it, staring at her reflection.

"Stage fright is for grade schoolers," Lupin told her reflection frankly. Safely out of Kisuke's sight, Lupin's breathing became a little uneven as she struggled not to give in to hyperventilating. Her eyes narrowed at the mirror image. "Grade schoolers. Stage fright – is for – grade schoolers."

What she was feeling was not stage fright, Lupin fought to convince herself. It was more a…light apprehension. Lupin's face felt warm; as she watched her reflection, she could see her cheeks flooding with colour. Her stomach churned unpleasantly, and Lupin scowled at herself. Out of habit, her hand lifted to curl around the fang pendant she wore for a necklace. It made her feel marginally better.

"You're not in grade school, Kouyuu Lupin," she pointed a finger at her reflection in a chastising manner. "You're a grown woman. Shape up!"

Lupin had performed this woman-to-mirror pep talk enough times to know her stomach ache and redness would subside as a result, but the real problem was her hands. They shook, just like they always did, and no amount of sheer will on her part would get them to subside. Holding the pendant helped her calm down, like it always did, and Lupin focused on taking deep breaths for a long moment.

Sneering at the girl in the mirror, Lupin almost turned away when she froze a step from the sink. Quickly, she whirled back to it and stared, wide-eyed, at her reflection. She cursed loudly. "The contacts!" Quickly, Lupin searched her pockets and produced from within their depths a small contact case. How had she forgotten to put them on this morning?! Had people noticed? No, Lupin was quick to assure herself, studying her own violet-coloured gaze in the mirror, people rarely made eye contact with her at school. They were all too busy being nervous of her. The only exception was Kisuke and Mukashi-san, but Kisuke already knew about her strange eye colour and Mukashi-san – well, she hadn't mentioned anything this morning. Perhaps she hadn't noticed?

"How could she not notice," Lupin muttered angrily to herself, carefully popping in one coloured contact, then the other. Lupin glared at her newly brown-eyed reflection. "She was probably only being polite. Fuck."

A glance at her wristwatch told Lupin she didn't have the time to be freaking out over this. Lupin stuck the empty contact case back in her pocket and unlocked the bathroom door, heading out into the hallway and turning to where she'd left Kisuke leaning against the wall –

He wasn't there.

Stupid, unreliable blood relation, Lupin grumbled to herself, glancing up and down the hall. There was nobody around. No matter, Lupin assured herself stubbornly. She could just follow the conveniently placed arrows. Look, there was one on the wall right across from the washrooms, how convenient! This wasn't so hard!

Lupin followed the arrow's suggestion and turned left from the washrooms to follow a long hallway all the way down. She was feeling pretty smug about herself, and was inwardly preparing a little gloating speech about Kisuke's lack of faith in her when she hit a roadblock.

Lupin stared dumbly at the dilemma before her.

There was a fork in the hallway, with one corridor slanting to the left from where she stood, and the other, to the right, creating a "v". The arrow which she had been expecting to guide her down the correct path had been posted on the wall directly between these two hallways, taped to the wall so that it pointed towards the ceiling. In any other situation, the picture would clearly be signifying that she continue straight - but here and now, it gave no indication of which of the two hallways Lupin was meant to follow.

"Uh oh."

What kind of sick joke was this?! Stupid private school!

Lupin tried to recall the way she had taken with Kisuke when they found the gymnasium the first time. Was it the right corridor? Neither hallway seemed to have any distinctive features that would help to jog her memory. Damn it, if she hadn't been bickering with Kisuke then she definitely would have remembered and dear kami this is not helping her nerves –

A second before the man behind her rested his hand on her shoulder, she whipped her head around to stare at him, instinctively obeying that little tingle up her spine. The redheaded man – a student, Lupin noted, unable to ignore that loud magenta uniform – looked momentarily surprised, his eyebrow rising slightly at her quick glance before he lowered his hand. His violently red hair surprised her, even as she spun to face him and took a step back, maintaining a healthy distance. She wondered just what cause he was rebelling against to dye his hair such a vibrant shade.

"You look lost," the Rebel said, his pleasant expression alarmingly artificial, "Are you in need of assistance, miss?"

Getting over the shock of his hair colour, Lupin locked eyes with the young man for the first time. They were beautifully green, almond shaped, deeply set on his face and surprisingly well-matched with his outlandish hair. They were also calm, rather impenetrable, and, beneath that pleasant sheen, absolutely indifferent to her.

She'd seen this person, she realized with a jolt. She'd seen him this morning.

"Nothankyou," the words flew from her mouth in one quick breath as Lupin turned abruptly and squared her shoulders as she marched toward the right corridor. She had a good feeling about the right corridor. She didn't need some dumb redhead to –

"The auditorium," the man's voice sounded behind her, just as pleasant as before, and it was giving her the creeps, "Is not that way."

Lupin froze, but didn't turn back. She mouthed wordlessly for a second, aghast. Finally, she turned to him in shock. "How-,"

"I figured from your lack of uniform that you're a visitor to our school," he smiled at her, and Lupin could only be amazed at the flawlessness of the feigned expression. "You must be one of today's performers, correct? Therefore, you would be looking for the auditorium."

Lupin paused, and narrowed eyes at him warily. Damn him, his logic held no fault. Setting her jaw, she turned from him and started down the left corridor.

"Not that way, either." he sounded slightly amused now, but no less polite.

The dark-haired girl was quickly losing her patience with this redheaded stranger. She whipped around yet again, rather exasperated. Was he trying to trick her or something? She gestured to the large arrow tape to the wall, glaring at him, shoving her uneasiness to the back of her mind with practiced ease. "The sign says-,"

"Ah, about those," The redhead lifted his hand, and Lupin noticed for the first time the pile of posters he held, all of them printed with arrows identical to the one she was pointing at. "It appears one of the younger students recently took it upon himself to rearrange the directional markers." his hand fell gracefully back to his side; he regarded her kindly through those sharp eyes.

Abruptly, music began to filter through the hallway, reaching Lupin's ears. She was late. Damn. Huffing softly, her hands curled into fists as she frowned and started past the redhead, going back the way she came. Fine, she would just follow the music to her destination, she thought with simmering ire. Her nerves, mingled with her unpleasant exchange with this stupid Meiou overachiever was driving her to -

Lupin realized she was being followed half a second before the man spoke again. "I can escort you to the gym-,"

She was getting really tired of turning to face this man. He was like the Good Samaritan from Hell. She brought her hand up and pointed a finger directly at his chest, hand poised like a gun. Lupin was almost surprised by how suddenly the man stopped. He glanced down at her finger "aimed" at him, his expression hardening for the briefest of moments before it softened into a look of unflappable calm. His eyes met hers.

"Whoever you are," Lupin said slowly and deliberately, getting caught up in her anger. Just like always, a snide voice in the back of her head jeered. "Leave me alone."

The man's expression didn't falter. He looked completely unafraid of her, something that Lupin might have found refreshing if that hadn't been the reaction she was going for. With one last strained glare, Lupin whipped around and followed the music coming form the auditorium to find her destination.

She could feel his eyes on her back as she disappeared around the corner.

The music concert went well, arguably. No one chewed Lupin out for being late - in fact, a couple of her musically-talented peers seemed rather surprised that she'd shown up at all instead of skipping the event. Lupin was calm by the time she went on-stage, but that wasn't any real surprise. Lupin had never known herself to hold onto her anger for very long. She knew her own temper well - her anger was brief, but violent and unstoppable. The piece she played was fairly complicated, which only helped Lupin to focus by forcing her attention to the sheet music laid on the piano stand. Still, Lupin made sure she didn't glance at the crowd even before or after playing her piece. They applauded accordingly and Lupin was all too ready to go home as she walked down the stairs backstage towards the rear exit. She was half-surprised, half-relieved to see Kisuke standing next to the doorway, his short black hair taking on a red sheen in the light of the "exit" sign over the threshold.

"Where did you disappear to?" Lupin asked idly.

"Sorry," Kisuke said, not looking even slightly repentant - but then again, Kisuke rarely looked anything other than bored. "I got accosted by some senior girls."

Unsurprised, Lupin merely shrugged at his apology and decided not to comment when Kisuke, falling in step next to her, rested a hand on the crown of her head with a fond ruffle of her hair. "Sounded good," he noted, voice softening a little.

"Hm," Lupin was just glad she could breathe properly again. Already, she could feel herself relaxing into her own skin. Kisuke wordlessly led her out of the private school. Once they in a familiar part of the neighbourhood, Lupin turned to look at her cousin. "I have to get groceries. Are you heading home?"

"Aa." Kisuke watched her pull her mp3 player from her pocket and carefully place her earbuds into their respective places. He cocked his head about, eyebrows rising slightly at her. "Your eyes were different earlier."

Lupin froze, her finger inches away from the "On" button. She looked up at Kisuke, faking nonchalance. "I forgot to put contacts on this morning."

"You look better without them," her cousin sighed. He paused. "You're beautiful," he added with a slight wince at how motherly it sounded.

"My self-confidence is fine," Lupin remarked dryly. "Relax."

Kisuke sighed again, this time in long-suffering. He turned down a residential street, waving offhandedly. "Dinner's at six," he called back to her, "Dad says he's got something for you."

Lupin perked up instantly. "A present," she crooned to herself as her cousin disappeared down the bend. Wondering what it could be, Lupin turned her mp3 player on and continued down the street towards the grocery store.

Baka: idiot, stupid

Aa: yes, sure, uh huh

BTW, I have taken Japanese in school before, so you can invest confidence in the translations I provide at the bottom of pages. I try not to use Japanese too much, but I want to keep it a bit manga-like in that way. If at any time you think I'm starting to lay it on too thick with the foreign languages, lemme know, and this otaku will ease up!!

Please review! I read all the reviews for the previous chapter before I post my next one, and they usually spur me to add more.

TBC.