Disclaimer: Isn't it self-explanatory. Well, anyways, I DON'T OWN YU YU HAKUSHO or its characters, although I may hope it were otherwise.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with no further ado, I must present…

CHAPTER 2: Demon's Don't Get Rabies

Haru's POV

I got up really early the next morning since I went to bed early. Trekking in the woods for that length of time with all that crap made me sleep sound, even more so than I usually do. I woke up at about five o'clock. It was a good thing, because I had never gotten the chance to take a shower last night. Funny thing was I couldn't find the shower or tub. All they had in their bathrooms was a toilet and a sink. Well, it was a shrine. Perhaps, there were some hot springs around here some place. So I wandered around in my pajamas until I found my clothing, a towel and the hot springs. They were down by the way I had come up the stairs the other day. I had walked by it yesterday, but I had been too exasperated to notice. I wasn't really worried about anyone being down here considering how early in the morning it was, and it didn't seem as if anyone had gotten up yet when I had left the temple. I washed myself quickly and then put on my modified version of the school uniform. I was wearing pants instead of a skirt. If anyone had a problem with that they would be taking it up with me, and it would get resolved one way or another. I'm not going to adhere to stupid gender stereotypes.

I returned to finish my normal daily routine to find everyone up and dressed. They seemed surprised by my entry. I guess they thought I was still in bed. After I was finished upstairs, I came back down and asked, "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Cereal. Pick one," Genkai said in a manner that suggested she wasn't a morning person. Not feeling in the mood to argue with the scary woman due to my so far peaceful morning, I picked out Life cereal and ate quietly, except for the small conversation I held with Kurama and Hiei. At least I think Hiei was participating. I'm guessing he's a guy who doesn't talk very much, and getting an occasional "Hn" out of him counts as him participating in a conversation. Either that or he plain just doesn't like me. If he doesn't like me, that doesn't bother me much. I'm used to it so I'm not going to dwell on it. A lot of the time I don't get along with people, even though I try. Let's just say I'm not into the compromising side of a friendship. It's my way or the highway, most of the time. He seems to be that way, too, which will probably cause greater tensions between me and him sooner or later.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Kurama inquired carefully and courteously as always.

"Huh? Oh, you mean the pants. I think forcing girls to wear skirts is stupid, and I feel like expressing my opinion of the matter."

"Hn,"said Hiei, who seemed slightly amused by this.

"He's laughing at me, isn't he? You know what, I'm sorry, but I don't take to playing the damsel in distress, and that's all I'd be able to do in that stupid skirt. If I'm in trouble, I'm gonna do something about it, not just sit there and cry."

"Hn. I didn't realize this school is such a dangerous place," the spiky-haired, katana-owning Goth actually spoke a whole sentence.

"Not so much dangerous, I'm just not giving anyone the chance to flip up my skirt. In any case, it doesn't hurt to be prepared especially if I were to get into a fight with someone or something," I replied in light of my new knowledge of the existence of demons.

It didn't look like I was going to get a more substantial response from the guy. He had an unreadable look on his face. He looked angry, but he always looked angry so that didn't really mean anything unless he looked more angry than usual. Hm, I have another thing I want to do before I die. I want to see Hiei laugh. He doesn't come across to me as one who has actually wholeheartedly laughed his head off in a long time. Me and my weird life goals. (AN: This is not a HieixOC fanfic. This character can't stand it when people don't talk or display emotion.).

Kurama and I walked to the bus station. I was a little disappointed when I found out that he was going to a different school than me. Great, now I'm not going to know anyone there. (AN: Not a KuramaxOC fic either).

"So, which school do you go to? I can tell you don't go to the same school as I do. Your uniform is different," I observed.

He nodded and replied, "I go to Meiou, and I take it from what you're wearing that you are going to Sariayashiki."

"Yep. Pity I won't know anyone there."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured me.

"We'll see." I said, not quite convinced. "Sometimes school and I just don't mix."

He gave me a curious glance. "You seem dedicated enough to do your homework."

"It's not that. Well, it is, and it isn't. The only reason I do this stuff is to make mom happy. Usually, I don't get along well with people, either." I explained, and then offered hope. "Maybe things are different in Japan. I usually don't have too many problems with the teachers, except a couple. However, I don't usually get along with the other students, especially the girls."

Wishing me well, he said. "Well, good luck, then."

With that he got off the bus and began to walk the rest of the distance to school. My school was after the next stop. Good luck, he had said. Good luck I was going to need. I decided to try and be optimistic about the whole thing. If I was already convinced that it would go horribly, it would probably not disappoint me. At least, that's what all those psychological shows say.

What was I thinking? All I did was set myself up for a fall. The moment I walked off the bus, I passed a group of girls, who judging by their uniforms were going to the same destination as me. A couple of them were looking at me funny. If the looks I was receiving weren't bad enough, a guy had to come by and open his big fat yap and piss me off.

"Ah! Is that a girl or a guy?" he said in a snide tone.

As I said earlier, if anyone had a problem with my uniform, the problem would get settled. I smiled in a sarcastic way, and remarked, "I guess there still are chauvinists in this era."

He obviously didn't know what the hell a chauvinist was, and I honestly didn't care. It did shut him up for a while, thankfully. The statement didn't exactly fit with the situation, but one big word I knew would be enough to leave him confused and a little embarrassed.

Maybe it was an overly critical comment, but I wanted to make sure I said something he wouldn't understand, as well as those other people who were looking at me in a disagreeable way. I glared at a lot of them, which made some look away, others get mad, and others just stare at me all the more. I was glad when I finally got to the office. Then, all I had to deal with were the teachers. In the office, I still received strange looks, but they were craftier at hiding them. They had experience. I asked one of the secretaries where Mr. Takenaka was, and she promptly told me that he was in his office, and that it was okay to enter. I knocked on the door before entering. He had been respectful towards me the other day, so I would be respectful to him.

"You may come in," he called from inside the room.

I walked in and shut the door to get the discreet stares off my back.

"Ah, I see, Ms. Urameshi. You need your schedule, am I correct?" he inquired pleasantly.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, here you are. Today, you will miss part of first period, because I will have someone escort you around the school. Let's go get Ms. Yukimura."

I followed him out of the office where the stares followed me until my departure into the hall behind him. The principal led me to a room where he asked a teacher for this Ms. Yukimura. She seemed a little upset about missing part of her class. He didn't seem to notice, though.

"Now, don't take too long to show the new student around. I don't want her missing too much of her first lesson," he advised.

She assured him. "Don't worry, sir, I won't."

She then turned to me. "Hello, my name is Keiko and yours is?"

"Haruko, but PLEASE call me just Haru. I hate being called by my full name."

"Okay."

She showed me where all of my classes were, and I took note of how to get to all of them. Hopefully, I wouldn't forget. After we were done, we went back to my first period class, and she dropped me off there.

"See ya later," she told me.

"You too," I responded in an effort to be friendly. We hadn't really talked much, but unlike most people she didn't judge me by what I was wearing. You could see it in her eyes. It was nice to know there were some accepting people out there. If only the same could be said of my new teacher. When I showed him my schedule and he looked it over, I swear I could of saw a look of shock cross his face before he looked at me with contempt. Dude. It's a schedule. What the hell? How the hell…could that have upset him? Sometimes I really just don't understand people.

"You will sit over there Ms. Urameshi," he spat out the last part. Okay, rat man's getting on my nerves now. I tried to be nice and not discriminate against him, because of his rat-like features, but I didn't really care now. Yes, I know I'm kinda being a little hypocritical, but he started it. Who the hell has buck teeth this day and age? Seriously, the guy must have either been a rat or a bunny in a past life. I'm betting on a rat, because he was too ugly to be a rabbit. I listened to rat man's voice for the rest of the period. Jeez, the guy even sounded like a rat. It's creepy. I think I'll bring in a carrot tomorrow and leave it on his desk. I wonder if he would get the joke. (AN: For those of you who are slower or haven't seen the beginning, this is Mr. Akashi.)

The rest of the day wasn't so bad, if you took away the classmates that stared at me in an annoying way. Oh, and let's not forget that jerk of a teacher named Iwamoto. I'd like to show that guy a thing or two. Apparently, there is this kid in the same class who has the same last name as me, and he was indirectly commenting on likenesses I had to this person. He acted as if I had already done something wrong. He called me stupid in front of the class, because I had started brooding about how much I disliked the guy and missed his question, because he, just like rat-man, looked at my schedule and then started acting like a prick. They should get married. Oh, the horror. They'd tag team me.

I'll show him when we have that stupid test he was talking about. I'll show him by getting the highest grade in the damn class, as long as I don't get too distracted by lingering thoughts of how much I hate him.

On my way out of school, I saw Keiko, and tried to get her attention, but she didn't hear me. She seemed very intent upon whatever it was that she was doing. I followed her up the stairs and onto the roof. What the hell had she come up here for?

Now, she was yelling at a guy who was sitting against the wall and chewing a piece of gum. They were in the middle of a minor spat, when he stopped arguing at the sight of me.

"Who's that?" he asked. Keiko was about to yell at him, but then turned and saw me. She blushed lightly in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that.Yusuke and I were just having an argument. That's all. He barely ever goes to class."

I really didn't care all that much. "That's okay. Wait. You're that guy that stupid Iwamoto guy was on about, aren't you?"

"Probably. That jerk never has anything nice to say to anyone," the greasy-haired teen concluded.

"Tell me about it." I remarked, chuckling about his comment's truthfulness. "I'm already on his shit list just for having the same last name as you. I'd wager he thinks we're related, which is pretty stupid when you think about it, since I come from the States."

"What a moron. I don't have any cousins. Though, I do have to admit, you remind of my mother. Whatever. He probably thinks you're a delinquent like me. Then again you are being kind of insubordinate by wearing a variation of the uniform," he replied.

"Yeah. He and Rat man are already upset about that. As far as I'm concerned, though, they can shove their sexist opinions right up their ass."

"Rat man? Are you talking about Akashi?" he snickered.

"Who else?" I snorted.

He started laughing. Keiko seemed a little surprised, and she kept looking from me to Yusuke. "So, who is this girl, Keiko? She seems pretty cool."

"She's a new student from America."

"Call me Haru." I interrupted. "Well…I better get going. The lady I'm staying with will probably have a fit if I'm late, and I don't want to worry Suichi by not showing up on the bus. Later!"

I left then, missing Yusuke's facial expression switch to one of curiosity.

"You don't think she meant Kurama Suichi, do you?" he asked, turning to Keiko.

Keiko shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not, she said she was staying with an old lady. His mother's not that old, is she?"

"Nah… That reminds me, I'm supposed to go up to Grandma's today," he groaned.

On the bus Kurama and I were quiet. We weren't sitting anywhere near each other due to the sheer volume of people crammed into the bus. Once we got off we started talking, though.

"So, how was your first day?" he asked politely.

"It was okay." I replied trying to give a neutral assessment. "It's the same as any other school, except I think I have more teachers who don't like me here. Jeez, I didn't even do anything."

"Make any friends?"

"I'm not sure if you could say that. I just met some people." I answered honestly. "They seemed nice, though. The first one was the girl who escorted me around the school. Her name was Keiko, and the second was this guy named Yusuke Urameshi. She was yelling at him for not going to class. I can't really blame him. The teachers talked so much crap about him."

"Interesting. You met both Yusuke and Keiko."

This caught my interest. "You know them?"

"Yes, actually I do," he replied, peering at the ground while thinking.

"They were the only ones I seem to be able to talk to for now."

Quickly thinking over the coincidence, the redhead spoke, "Well, maybe you and Yusuke are related and actually have a lot in common and that's why you get along. Keiko, on the other hand, unless you're truly an ill-natured person, you can get along with her."

"I might as well be related to Yusuke the way everyone's been treating me." I responded. "It would be nice to know that we were just so I know that people aren't making a fuss when we're not even related. I can relate to both of them pretty well. They reflect the different aspects of my personality. Yusuke I can relate to because he's misunderstood by most of the student body, and is very argumentative and sarcastic. Keiko on the other hand I can relate to because she's like the side of me that wants to do everything well to make my mother happy."

At this, he simply nodded understandingly.

Once we got back to the shrine, the old lady was sitting out there seemingly waiting for us to return. For what reason I didn't know and I didn't want to know once I found out what that reason was. Kurama, on the other hand, didn't complain at all.

"I've been waiting for you two," she started. Somehow I knew I wasn't going to be happy about this. "You are to meet me on the other side of those woods. Kurama, as you already know, this exercise is not meant for you."

Now I knew why he didn't have a problem with this, because this wasn't his chore. Why the hell was the old hag picking on me? Not that it really mattered much, but I just didn't like jumping through hoops for anyone. I mean, how hard could it be to walk through the stupid woods to that stupid hill? What? Maybe thirty minutes out of my day at most. This didn't stop me from asking, "Might I ask why?"

"Did you even read the contract you signed with the school?" she asked, irritation clearly in her voice.

"Well, I, uh, started to. I got to the second page and I said the hell with it. I was really tired that night. Why? Was there something important I should know about on the third page? What has that got to do with this?" I explained and began to wonder if I'd agreed to some form of indentured servitude throughout my stay. I didn't mind working around the house, but there seemed to be more to this.

"Dimwit. On the third page it said you would be staying here and were required to undertake training under me," she told me, her exasperation still evident in her voice.

I demanded. "What? I want to see this."

Dude, was she expecting me to ask that question? She pulled it out from behind her back. For people that just met each other we can predict what each other are going to do pretty easily or at least she can. She turned to the third page, and I found that she'd even highlighted the part she had just mentioned. The old hag must get pretty bored up here.

"Fine. How hard can it be to walk through the stupid forest anyway?" I said, partly to myself, partly to her. "That can't take anymore than thirty minutes and that's if I walk really slowly. What am I training for? The special Olympics or something…"

Grandma continued," There's one more thing. If you're not there in two hours, you have to do it all over again, and so on."

"What about my homework?" I half-yelled.

"I guess you better do it fast enough the first time, then." Then, she fixed on me a steady, I-mean-business stare.

"This is stupid. Walking through a forest is easy. Hell, I don't even have to lug around by bags this time," I confidently assured myself.

She looked at me; seeming the most amused I had seen her throughout the entire conversation. Twenty minutes later I found myself cursing loudly at every little thing. Apparently, this wasn't as easy as the old hag had made it out to be. She had neglected to tell me I'd be getting attacked by evil demented creatures that I'm sure even National Geographic doesn't know about. At first, I thought I was losing my sanity. Now I was somewhere between thinking this was all in my head and actually believing the thing that I was fighting was real.

Genkai's POV

There is where I left her at it. She was expecting it to be an easy task, and I was amused that she was gullible enough to think that there wouldn't be a catch. Even if she had suspected one, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one she thought it was. I laughed at her silently as she left. She was much like Yusuke. While this did provoke humor it also provoked irritation. He had taken the path that he thought had been the easiest instead of following his instinct to stay away from certain areas. She was doing the same thing. Granted, she had less of a clue as to what was going. I would have to teach her to trust her instincts as I had taught Yusuke. She was moving rapidly through the forest until she came upon Baldoc's territory just as the Dimwit had. I was a bit worried, because I knew that when Yusuke had taken on Baldoc, although he had still been a novice spirit detective, he had had problems beating the demon bat. She had no experience, and wasn't even aware of her spirit energy, which seemed to be hidden in her as Yusuke's had been before his death. As strange as Yusuke's energy had been, hers was even more so, because it was even more well hidden than Yusuke's almost as if that had been done so on purpose. It was probably, because of Yusuke's experience as a ghost that his energy had been easier to sense. She and others had been able to sense Yusuke even when it was undeveloped. It had made him seem a lot weaker than he was. This girl's energy, however, was so well hidden that if I hadn't had the experience with and knowledge of spiritual energy that I had, I was sure I wouldn't have been able to have sensed it at all. If things went for the worse, I could always go in there and help the girl out. I knew I couldn't really do that, though. I had to ensure the girl knew that if she wanted to survive my training she would have no help in doing so. She still had a little less than an hour to finish.

Yusuke's POV

"So, Kurama, where's Grandma? Don't tell me she made me come all the way here and she left to go somewhere," Yusuke asked.

"Yusuke, you know Genkai's not one to forget an appointment. I do believe she is waiting for you over there on the hill," replied Kurama.

"It's a good thing I know the way around the forest now. I don't have to be slowed down by the stupid trees and weakling demons."

I took the shortcut, and Grandma looked at me expectantly, glancing up from her watch and after a quick glance to the forest. "So… what's the deal?"

"You'll see when she gets here," Grandma answered. "Assuming she beats Baldoc sometime soon, it shouldn't take too long."

"What? Did you get a new apprentice or something? Am I really that annoying? Or is this your long lost grandkid that you never told us about?" I asked sarcastically as I assessed the energy. "I don't sense anything, but pitiful demons."

Grandma explained. "She doesn't know how to utilize her spirit energy, yet, Yusuke. Besides, it's cloaked somehow, Dimwit. If it weren't for my extensive experience and experimentation with spirit energy, I myself wouldn't be able to sense it."

Haru's POV

Ow…ouch….ow…ow! Oww!!! This Baldoc thing is so dead once I get my hands around its scrawny neck. The problem, though, still remains in determining how in hell I'm going to do that. Granted, it's not nearly as fast as that oversized, weird bird I caught sight of yesterday morning, but the bugger is still very fast. Touching the thing at all is proving to be extremely difficult. I'm sure, however, that once I get my hands on him he's a goner. Now, a plan began to formulate in my mind. The thing seemed obsessed with killing me and eating me so I would take advantage of this. It was better than the status at the moment. There seemed to be a pattern to his attack. What a moronic creature. It attacks in the same pattern. The reason it took me so long to figure that out was because of my frustration and anger at not being able to do more than block the stupid talking bats' attacks. What made it more annoying was the fact that it liked to toy with its food by pissing it off through speech with its overly annoying voice. It's a good thing that I started using my brain, because I'm pretty sure I'm getting thin on that time limit that the old hag had me on. If I've got this right then in about two seconds he should be striking at my side on the left. My clothes were torn. It's a good thing I had changed out of my uniform. On top of that, I had claw marks just about everywhere. All of them were bleeding, but only a few of them were deep. This thing was really into tormenting its prey. Seeing as I was obviously nowhere near giving up, he hadn't decided to deliver the killing blow. It's a good thing that it's a complete and utter moron, or I might not have won. As it went by this time I jumped back just in time then jumped up and kicked the bat thing into a tree HARD. It was whimpering. The little bastard was whimpering. As frustrated as I was I took its neck in my hands and threw it into the tree. That'll teach the thing not to play with its food. Now to add to my list of odd occurrences I have now been attacked by a super fast talking bat thing. While I did think this was perhaps the strangest thing I had ever encountered in my life I had a feeling that my life was about to get a great deal stranger. I better hurry if I intend to make the hag's damn time limit.

Genkai's POV

She was coming up the hill now. I could sense it. Apparently, the Dimwit could hear her, too. When I looked over at him, a look of confusion and recognition had crossed his face. Yusuke called out to her, "Haru? What are you doing here?!"

Concern was evident in his voice to someone who had spent as much time around the kid as I had. She was covered in slashes from her encounter with Baldoc. She looked a bit peeved.

"Because I signed a contract with my school that brought me here," she started muttering, but her voice began to rise a bit. "Why? What's it to you?"

"You know Genkai. All things considered that's kind of weird." Yusuke commented a little perplexed by the odd coincidence.

She looked at him quizzically. "Explain."

Yusuke began. "You're the only person other than my mother that I've ever met in my entire life with the same last name as me, and you're also from America, and coincidentally you just happen to be going to my school and know Grandma."

"Yeah, I guess that is kind of…weird." I replied, somewhat unsure of how that was relevant, but seeing the connection.

"Somehow, I don't think its mere coincidence," he continued casting a demanding look towards the old woman. "By the way, Genkai, I never asked what she was doing in the forest."

He then turned back to me, directing the question at me.

"So…why were you in there?" he inquired, rather than implying a question this time.

"Someone made me," she said in a voice that clearly conveyed she was very annoyed with me. Not that I cared. She also glared at me as she finished her brief statement.

Deciding to move on, Haru started to appraise my "pest problem" still not allowing her frustration to leave her voice.

"You really need to get animal control out here and take care of that bat thing in there. I know you might think I'm crazy, but that thing was actually talking."

"Suck it up. You beat him, didn't you?" I returned in an equally irate voice. I hated listening to whining, and I wasn't in the mood to explain demons to her, yet. The Dimwit was looking at me expectantly. Apparently, he had been expecting me to tell her.

Her jaw dropped, eyes dilated, and eyebrows were nearly knit together in consternation. "What? Do you mean…YOU MEANT for that to happen?!"

I didn't plan on denying it.

"HELLO! That thing could have torn me to shreds! Are you crazy sending someone into that place! You've gone completely senile! That thing probably gave me rabies or worse!" she began to rant, remaining wide-eyed and emphasizing her alarm with arm gestures.

"The Dimwit," I replied flicking my cigarette bud in Yusuke's general direction. "went in there as well. I'd say he came out of it better for it. So, stop your whining. Demons don't get rabies."

The whining comment almost made a vein pop out of her head. "Well, EXCUSE ME if I don't think it's normal to be attacked by a talking bat that moves faster than most airplanes!"

Then slightly more calm she asked. "What did you mean by 'demons don't get rabies.'?"

"You're training her too, then," Yusuke commented randomly.

I decided to ignore her and answer Yusuke's question.

"As you have already suspected, Yusuke, her being here is not mere coincidence. King Enma has been doing background research on your family. She is the only one that he felt he had to worry about. Koenma's been protecting her for a while now. Don't ask now. I'll give you the details later. Coincidentally enough, she has an interest in Japan and has been taking Japanese for several years. He set up the study abroad program, hoping that she would go, and she did. From there we set it up so that she would come here. I am training her. Even though, I'm not as sure as Koenma is that this is such a good idea."

The girl had gone quiet, interested apparently in what I was saying. However, she did seem somewhat annoyed that I had ignored her question.

She began seriously and cautiously, "Yusuke, you aren't a spy for the government or something, are you? Is this Koenma person trying to make me one, too?"

I quirked an eyebrow. Given what I had said, I guess I could see how she had come to such a conclusion. Yusuke on the other hand had reacted by nearly face faulting.

"Okay, Grandma, you gotta tell her now, or she'll think I'm an ex-assassin for the government and completely freak out."

I let out an annoyed sigh. I knew I was going to have to explain it, but I had been putting it off, because I wasn't sure how his cousin would react.

"Okay well, since I was obviously way off the mark, can someone please tell me WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Yeah, another chapter done! Is anyone out there reading? Please R&R. It'll at least make me feel like I'm not doing this for nothing. Hope you liked it. Next chapter enters baby ruler of Spirit World, the one, the only…KOENMA! Look forward to the next chapter entitled You Work for Jesus???