Must-Read Note: Ichi is not very familiar with the REAL Kitajima Maya, based on the manga, therefore, he decided to play around a little, since this is after all, a fanfiction. In this story, Ichi chose to sketch Maya as having waist-length dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. With regards to her character, the following scenes show Ichi's speculations only. Please be informed that Ichi makes no reference with the real Maya in the manga and has therefore, wrote according to his own style, recreating the whole Maya-character. She is, after all, the best near realistic rival available in the YYH world for Botan.

A.N. Thank you to the following people who took their time to let me know their appreciation for this fanfic: Chibi Botan, dela490, DWatts1027, Fire in the hole, santi lestari. And to the recent reviewers:

santi lestari(Ichi feels happy to have another new person review my story. Sorry it took long for me to update though, due to internet connection problems.)

TopazDragon(Thanks for your suggestion. To make up for it, I'll just insert the flashback in this chapter.)

kiitanHakusho(Thanks for your continuous support and interest. Well, here is the next chapter!)

dela490(Hee hee, Ichi wishes to thank you as well, please continue to support this poor ragdoll.)

Fire in the hole(Ichi loves your energy. Thanks also for the Maya info but since I haven't seen the manga yet and probably never will, I'll just invent my own Maya image.)

DISCLAIMER: ICHI HAVE NO CLAIMS WHATSOEVER IN YYH EXCEPT FOR THIS FANFIC!

Chapter 4: "Vertigo"

"Botan is not home yet? But mother, a classmate said she went home an hour ago. She should've reached home by now. Are you certain she is not just hiding in her room?"

"Yes Suuichi-kun, I've checked every corner of this house. The only people I saw were Yusuke and that adorable little brother of his who likes to stay perched on a tree."

Kurama chuckled inwardly at his mother's description of Hiei. To even mistake him as Yusuke's little brother, the Fire Demon will surely explode once he hears this.

"That's Hiei, mother. Anyway, did they leave any message for me?"

"Ah yes, Suuichi-kun, they said you need to see Genkai at once, if I recall the name correctly."

"Yes, Genkai it is. Is there anything else Okaa-san?"

"That was all Yusuke said, seemed as though they were quite in a hurry. Suuichi-kun, will you be heading home now?"

"I think not yet Okaa-san. I need to find Botan first and make sure she is safe. I was specifically instructed to look out for her and—I wouldn't wish to disobey them in any way I can."

'Is that really the reason? Or maybe there is something else? And more so, what's with the formality, Suuichi? Instructed, don't you have a nicer term for that? Like, say, bossed around? You ARE Koenma's servant now after all.'

He was startled, that overly familiar voice, that paradoxically sophisticated intonation, that haughty and rough attitude, it had been so long. Was it Youko, starting to resurface again from deep within him? If so, what could have possibly triggered his awakening?

'What's the matter Suuichi? Afraid of your own DEMON self? Come now, that beautiful bluntly frightened face of yours is not the kind of reaction I would expect from someone as intellectually inclined as you, don't you ever disappoint me Minamino. '

The predominant personality of Youko Kurama remained speechless, at a loss for words, he was, for lack of a better term and to say the least, surprised, for the unexpected visit from the being he thought was long lost and locked up within the recesses of his mind. Yet once again, he was proven wrong.

'It was a truly certified rude move to keep me sealed up inside of you, Minamino Suuichi, especially knowing the fact that you owe me a LOT. Indeed, where would you be without me and MY power? If it weren't for my strength and youkai abilities, you wouldn't be standing here perfectly alive and breathing, and even—shall we say, flirting? It's such a disgrace for you to fall for such lowly creatures, Suuichi, oh I forgot you're one of them, at least, HALF of Youko Kurama is now tainted with the impurity of Humanity.'

'Don't talk as if you're not part of the HUMANITY, Youko. And allow me to correct you, I never flirt, contrary to what you would like to believe. Also, this is my mother I am talking to right now. If you would please excuse me…'

'Same as always, I see you haven't changed one bit, still the same old submissive and polite Minamino Suuichi who could and would do no WRONG. The perfect angel with a rusty halo on his head of bloody locks, the perfect picture of irony, wouldn't you say? Everything about you is just so PERFECT. Hence, someone like me, a troublesome parasite, living inside of someone like you, an abundant host, is unacceptable, is it not?'

'You misunderstand my meaning, Youko. I would gladly explain it to you some other time, but now, I would rather you leave me alone to speak with my mother first.'

'Do you still refuse me? Deny me? Why won't you just accept me, Suuichi? Rest assured I've changed now, I am no longer the bloodthirsty, merciless demon thief that you're so disgusted of. I am a part of you Minamino Suuichi. Without me, you will not exist. You cannot live alone. Your humanity is merely your skin, and underneath is, is I, Youko Kurama.'

'Yes I see you haven't changed ONE bit at all Youko, despite your claims. Alright then, let this be quick. How may I be of service to you, my sentimental half?'

'You might as well call yourself my slave if you keep on acting like that, sarcastic fool.'

'Don't call me a fool Youko, it's tantamount to calling yourself one as well. You wouldn't like that, would you?'

'If you want me to stop calling you a fool, then be the first to cease giving me unworthy lowly nicknames and poor inaccurate descriptions.'

'I am actually arguing with myself, this is entirely ridiculous.'

'It is proof of your high intelligence, only geniuses argue with themselves. Be proud human.'

'Have we suddenly become estranged with each other, Youko? Or did my human name taste more bitter now than ever that you cannot bear to let it slip pass your lips? Anyhow, believe what you want to believe. I will no longer tolerate your unwanted presence in my mind. Until then, Youko my sentimental half.'

'You fool—'

"Suuichi-kun? Daijoubu? Are you still there? Suuichi-kun? Is something wrong?"

"H-hai, Okaa-san, I'm sorry I seemed to have spaced out a bit. I will call you back later then, once I find Botan."

"Alright, Suuichi-kun, just don't tire yourself."

"Yes I won't Okaa-san."

He sighed as he clicked his phone shut, hands somewhat shaking a bit due to his inner conflicts in the form of a stubborn millennium old sycophantic narcissist fox spirit, grandmaster of thievery, also known as Youko Kurama, or more popularly called Minamino Suuichi with his frequent residence in the Ningenkai. In other words, he was having inner conflicts with himself.

Directing his gaze upwards fighting the glare of the sun's hot rays, the redhead shielded his emerald eyes from the fierce, fervent beams as he prepared himself for the worst, now that Youko has awakened. With his tornado of an ego, coupled with a hurricane of pride and a tsunami of superiority complex, no doubt catastrophes will follow his highness' trail in the once pacified ocean surface.

--

Yusuke walked silently heading for Genkai's temple. One would think he's walking alone and talking to himself for there is no one there to be seen walking with him, at least, with his feet on the ground.

"Something's definitely not right, I can smell it miles away from those two. It's starting to feel unnerving. What's up with Kurama anyway?"

There was more silence, the only thing to be heard was Yusuke's crunching footsteps as he began to walk faster, the heels of his shoes coming in rough contact with the pavement littered with dried leaves and twigs brought there by the wind, which was in turn, called forth by the speed of Hiei's leaps from tree to tree.

While his invisible companion restrained himself from strangling the clueless one to death and so has only contented himself by giving out venomous glares and lots of scowls directed below him, Yusuke remained oblivious of the former's increasing annoyance of him. Really, the raven-haired detective had done nothing but ask Hiei of the same question 3600 seconds straight for the horse-knows-how-many-times. And does the horse even know how to count? Not that he is insulting the poor animal.

An unwanted image of Kuwabara Kazuma instantly invaded the Fire Demon's mind following that thought. That was uncalled for, now why did that buffoon show up in his mind upon thinking of a horse? Paltry, Hiei has got absolutely no time to concern himself with such trivial, infinitesimal thoughts, if you could even consider them as 'thoughts' at all. Technically, thoughts, also known as opinion, judgment, belief etc., requires the aid of brain cells to be generated. And anything relating to that carrot-top will require not even the smallest particle of cell to be thought of. Amusing himself by further torturing and criticizing his mortal enemy in his mind, Hiei momentarily forgot his annoyance with Yusuke and it somehow made him realize the purpose of Kuwabara's continuous pathetic existence.

Diversion. Amusement. Distraction.

So, he did have his use after all.

"Need I remind you this is your idea, spirit detective?", came Hiei's forced reply from somewhere by the trees, his speed neither increasing nor decreasing.

Yusuke snorted in response as he placed his hands on the pockets of his pants. "You know, walking beside me would be nice. At least people won't mistake me talking to an imaginary friend if you show your butt in public. This isn't Makai you know. These pavements were actually built for people to walk on, not for you to just ignore. Really man! Give the poor trees a break!"

"It is clearly proven an imaginary friend of yours do exist, spirit detective. Therefore, why should I listen to a mentally challenged person such as you? Like suggesting I go bare and butt-naked on public, who in their right mind would do that?"

"Excuse me, three-eyed-midget, who in their right mind would take that statement LITERALLY anyway? 'Any thinking living being can see that', as you've said to me before, now back at you, freak."

"That isn't the most intelligent response at all, would you like to hear an example of an intelligent, striking response, Urameshi?"

"Coming from you, midget freak? Thanks but no thanks. Besides, who cares about intelligent responses when we're three feet away from Genkai Ba-san? Knowing that a certain set of hellish sadistic tortures known as training awaits me within that short distance does not delight me at all. It's even tiresome to think of myself bound to eat dirt and lie on my head with my butt stuck to the ground and my arms twisted in various directions as if my bones are bendable, for the whole afternoon! What else is there, tell me if I miss anything more. I'd love to anticipate what more wonderful, lovable ideas Master Genkai has in store for me." Yusuke said his last statement in a flat tone as he tilted his head in Hiei's direction, the latter, finally setting his feet on the ground as they reached the top of the seemingly endless flight of stairs leading to the psychic's temple.

However, Yusuke was met once again with pure, thick, insurmountable silence coming from his practically MUTE, or perhaps, just disinterested companion, as expected. The blank expression on Hiei's face, depicting his boredom and just plain save-it-because-I-don't-care-to-hear-it kind of attitude, made Yusuke realize that he's actually talking to a brick wall. 'Remind me never to confide in that guy ever again, I mean, complain, rather.'

"That's right slacker, I will personally see to it that you will no longer need something or someone to remind you of that, once we get through with our training for today. That is, if you survive and emerge out of it alive and live to spread the tale of my greatness for the whole world to hear, not that I would want you to."

Yusuke jumped from the person sneaking behind him as he was caught off guard with Genkai's sudden appearance. Masking one's energy is truly one of Genkai's many specialties, something he is yet to learn as he always unwillingly unleash them without him knowing about it, one of HIS many acts of recklessness, lack of control with his overflowing spirit energy.

On the other hand, Hiei snickered before giving the elder a slight bow as a form of greeting. "A pleasant afternoon to you too, Hiei. I'm not surprised to see you though, unlike someone here." Clearing her throat, she once again turned her attention on her favorite student, long curly strands of pale cherry blossoms hair bouncing gently as she shook her head in an attempt to reinforce her banter even more. "Yusuke, how nice of you to show up, chickens these days sure are getting feisty."

"Hey old hag! Whoever said I'm a chicken?" Yusuke immediately retorted while Hiei continued to smirk in amusement, without even trying to hide it.

"That's right, whoever said you ARE a chicken Yusuke?"

Cursing under his breath, Yusuke turned his heated gaze to Hiei instead and decided it's his turn to make fun of someone. "You might want to fix your scary face Hiei, before Yukina sees you and mistakes you for a werewolf."

"Werewolf, that's the lamest I've ever heard slacker. Is that all you've got there? You might as well just challenge him on a fist fight rather than spar verbally with someone your level of intelligence is not on par with."

"Stay out of this Genkai! This isn't any of your damn business! Let's begin training shall we? After all, that's what I came in here for anyway, unlike SOME people here."

Ignoring the raven-haired youth's disguised provocation, Hiei disappeared in a black blur without even bothering to retaliate in any way, as he went to take care of his own affairs. He has his own priority after all.

And this left the Master and Student alone to begin training, the latter still not letting the opportunity pass to say something morbid to his teammate once the Fire Demon was out of earshot.

"You're the chicken, using your sister as an excuse to escape."

Yet he on his own, still can't escape his strict sensei's ears, despite her old age. "Yusuke!"

"Alright, alright I got it! Geez…old people…"

"I heard that perfectly, lazy ass…Let's take this inside, shall we?"

"Sure sure old hag, finally, some FUN."

Without any more word, the two headed straight inside the temple to vent their own frustrations of the day.

--

'She is a weakness to you Suuichi, a troublesome, helpless wench who constantly bombards your peaceful life. It will be better to lose her this way. If the others were to inquire for her, you can safely say she went away on her own accord without even informing you of the location and that was when she met an unfortunate end. That will leave your conscience free and undisturbed.'

Kurama could not help but scowl to himself as he fought the urge to retaliate with curses and insults out loud, lest he'd want the people around him to think he has lost his marbles. As ridiculous as his situation may appear to be, having ambivalence within his very own self, he could do nothing but let his alter ego talk and spill unnecessary comments.

'As if that would change anything…', the Kitsune thought darkly as he quickly made his way out of the school gates.

Upon reaching the outside, he suddenly felt at a loss of direction. Kurama has absolutely no clue of where the Deity might have gone to.

'As I've told you, you weakling, forsake the thought of finding that wench and just—'

'You are contradicting yourself Youko, for if I recall it quite clearly, you were the one to insinuate I have other reasons in worriedly inquiring for Botan's whereabouts to mother to begin with. Yet now, why do you want me to desert her completely?'

'Preposterous, I insinuate nothing Suuichi. Your decisions are exclusively yours to make. I merely act as your voice of reason, I state both sides of the story, nothing more, nothing less. I keep my biases to myself. You mistake my suggestions for opinions, which are clearly not. This is to say, I am neutral, whether you believe it or not.'

'Are you certain those are not your opinions, but rather, only suggestions? Calling Botan a wench falls under the former, Youko.'

'Don't get smart with me Suuichi. Besides, don't you act as if you don't know me. For the longest time we've been together, haven't you gotten accustomed to me and my tendency to be prolific and authentic with my descriptions?'

'Arguing with you will be pointless Youko, as I still cannot decipher your way of thinking. Whatever your motives are, I hope it's for the better of all us.'

'Of course, I would expect such kind of hostility coming from you Suuichi. Let me warn you though, bearing grudges is never healthy, more so if you're holding it against your very own self.'

'I would rather not know what put you in such a loquacious mood Youko. But not to be rude or anything, may I ask you to return to your slumber now? If you don't mind, I need a few minutes alone.'

'Not too chatty now, are we? Fine then. Suit yourself. I can always come back later. It's not as if I'll be leaving you permanently. Suuichi, you will just have to learn that, like it or not, you are stuck with me, and I, am stuck with you as well, for ETERNITY.'

'You've distracted me enough, now vanish from my mind if you would please.'

From inside his pounding head, Kurama faintly heard a low chuckle before finally losing all remnants of his demon self's presence in his mind. Relieved, he went on with his mission.

'There are weak traces of Botan's spirit signature I can pick up from here. It appears she had passed by our home somehow.'

While silently and mentally dueling with Youko a while ago, Kurama was not given the opportunity to be aware enough of where his feet had carried him to. And now that he's back to himself again did he only recognize his familiar surroundings. He was now standing in front of their home. And he could be certain the Deity he was looking for also passed by this place not too long ago.

'I must hurry before I lose the chance to track her. She's had an approximate 15 minutes head start. I can still catch up if I make haste with my search.'

Glancing forward, he abruptly felt a huge amount of demon energy gathered somewhere nearby. And along with it was Botan's own spiritual energy being raised tenfold, signaling her being in some form of distress. Without even bothering to greet his mother who now came out to meet him, he ran full speed towards the forest, anxious of what predicament he might find the Deity in.

"Suuichi-kun, is that you?" Shiori called out, carefully opening the gates and glancing precariously outside, searching for any signs of her red-haired son, yet she found none.

"Strange, I thought I just saw him standing there for a second."

--

3 hours ago…

After receiving the anonymous note, Botan made up her mind to first ask Kurama about it before making any drastic decisions on her own.

However, Botan felt lost, she could feel herself blushing madly right now as unfamiliar eyes continued to stare openly at her. Rude. Weren't these people taught with good manners at all? Really, they weren't helping in the least. Their fixated gazes only bothered her even more. What, it's their first time to see a blue-haired Japanese high school girl with large panicking amethyst eyes who looks obviously lost on her first day in a new school, that they somehow had to make it more difficult for her by staring candidly without even exerting an effort to hide it? Was she that much of a spectacle? Or did she just stand out too much due to her hair's peculiar shade?

It's five in the afternoon, Botan's class was finally dismissed. She felt eager to go home and rest. Of why she's feeling so dead tired, she has absolutely got no idea of the reason. But one thing she is sure of, she wants to locate Kurama as soon as possible so she could go home with him with the assurance of not losing her way. After all, the Ferry Girl, despite her long existence and vast experience with her job of ferrying souls, has an undeniably poor sense of direction, especially if it involves land transportation.

'If only I have my oar with me…' Indeed, being a human is fraught with plenty of disadvantages.

Shaking her head to no one in particular, she began to ascend the backstairs leading to the ground floor of the school building. Yes, she prefers to use the back exit since it appears quite deserted during these times compared to the front stairs which are always crowded by jostling students rushing to get out of the stressful school place. Yet before she could even begin to ascend the stairs, she heard faint voices of two familiar people conversing and it made her stop.

Kurama, and, Maya?

With a frown on her face, she carefully and soundlessly glanced below her and from her position above, she could clearly make out Kurama's familiar long feathery crimson locks and Maya's rich waist-length dark brown strands as they appear to be engaged in a serious conversation. Botan can't help but be curious that she strained her ears to understand the words being exchanged between the two.

"Suuichi, you know you can always open up to me. There is no need to be afraid. I truly accept you for who you are, no matter how hard you try to hide your true self fearing you will be rejected, please know that your past is not important to me at all. What matters is the present you, Minamino Suuichi."

"Maya…You see…You are worrying in vain. I assure you I am free of problems right now. I just…feel a bit exhausted with the duties of being a Student Council member, and the fact that our family is dealing with a huge adjustment for the time being, I hope you understand if I choose not to elaborate further about that. As you can see, it's something private, something to do with family matters. And as a good friend as you have always been to me, I am sure you will understand, won't you Maya?"

Instead of facing Kurama with tearful eyes, as what an ordinary high school girl would do in this situation, Maya proved to be different as she only gave a slight smile, indicating her understanding, and gracefully lifted her chin up to lock eyes with Kurama's expressionless ones. "I have a plethora of patience which will never be used up no matter the times of unsuccessful attempts such as this. You know how persistent I am, Suuichi. I will wait for you though."

From the next floor, Botan squirmed in her position as she heard Maya's words said with true pride and carefully-crafted poise, elegantly spoken indeed. And then the Deity sighed. Was that a confession to Kurama just now? And next, she wondered how the Kitsune would react.

"Maya…You truly are different…I like that about you…" Gazing intensely with each other, the two maintained close distance, far too close for Botan's liking, while neither seemed to notice.

'That's it, I've seen enough, show's over, time for you to go home Botan-chan! This isn't any of your damn business anyway. Romantic entanglements, who are you kidding? More like romantic screw-ups.'

But just as she was about to turn and go, Maya's giggle compelled the Deity to return on her watch, and the sight that soon greeted her practically knocked the air out of her lungs. From her view, she could perfectly make out the two with their faces TOO close to each other as if they were about to kiss.

'I'm out of here…' was Botan's last thought as she fled from the scene without looking back.

'Forget it. I shouldn't have felt guilty at all. Who am I kidding? Why do I still need to seek that jerk's advice? I can think and decide on my own, FOR myself. And this time, I have decided to GO. So GO I will.'

Abandoning her plans of consulting with Kurama for the ambiguous note she had received a while ago, Botan once again made up her mind, and this time, there is no changing it.

--

He was thinking about her, all throughout the day, Kurama's mind kept drifting back on Botan as he tried to devise a plan on how to keep things in balance, without his Ningen life colliding with his 'other' life as Koenma's spirit detective, especially since his duties had now been brought into his very own home. Talk about overtime, not to mention overwork. Well, it's not as if they're being paid for their services anyway, so complaining is just useless.

"Suuichi-kun! Over here!" Maya's usual cool voice rang in his sensitive ears, breaking his train of thoughts as he saw his childhood friend heading straight for him. Nice timing. Is this another of Kami's ways in testing his patience and concentration? If it is, he has a slim chance to pass this time as he admitted to himself how things are starting to get out of hand gradually.

Setting aside his grim, stressing thoughts, he flashed Maya a perfectly disguised smile brimming with energy and pleasure as the girl finally caught up to him. And the test starts. From the worried look on his childhood friend's face, he could tell she was anxious over him for his weird display of absent-mindedness today. And he's bound to be questioned about it. Time to start thinking of the right believable excuses to disperse Maya's suspicions.

And so their conversation began. Until it progressed to something dangerous, on Kurama's part, since he obviously didn't like where the conversation is going.

They were now standing on a deserted hall way, near the backstairs, their feet unintentionally bringing them to a secluded area, out of every single gossiper's earshot, at least, that was what he thought of.

Until the Kitsune felt faint traces of Botan's spirit energy somewhere near, but then it disappeared as quickly as it came, and it mitigated the red-haired fox spirit somehow.

"…not important to me at all. What matters is the present you, Minamino Suuichi." The thoroughly-immersed-with-his-thoughts Kurama vaguely heard his companion say as he finally returned to his presence of mind enough to notice the current alarming situation he was in. The last thing he'll ever want is to receive another heartfelt confession even if it is coming from an unlikely person such as Kitajima Maya, Queen of the Seniors, someone of a high status in this school, someone with the same standing such as him.

Sighing, he forced himself to answer in a kinder tone. "Maya…You see…You are worrying in vain. I assure you I am free of problems right now. I just…feel a bit exhausted with the duties of being a Student Council member…" He began to explain reasons to serve as alibis hoping to somehow divert the girl's attention from her anxieties over him once and for all. "I am sure you will understand, won't you Maya?" He finished with a rhetorical question while the other only looked back at him with pure determination and refusal to surrender, outwardly written all over her face.

"I have a plethora of patience which will never be used up no matter the times of unsuccessful attempts such as this. You know how persistent I am, Suuichi. I will wait for you though."

Kurama was not aware that he was actually staring straight through Maya's blue-green eyes as he momentarily lost himself once again in his thoughts while the latter was clueless of her companion's absence of awareness.

"Maya…You truly are different…I like that about you…" As if spoken by another being inside of him, the words automatically came out of his lips, covering his momentary lapse of consciousness. Maya on the other hand, took it as a compliment that she leaned forward and rested her chin on Kurama's shoulder, inhaling the scent of his scarlet locks.

That was when she felt him tense under her touch that she immediately withdrew and took a few steps back to allow the latter his personal space back.

She covered her mouth with her hands as she began giggling uncontrollably. "Was I too forward Suuichi-kun? Don't worry, I wasn't trying to do something bold or aggressive, I just feel somewhat drawn and fascinated to your hair's scent, that's why. I hope you didn't find it quite offending."

"Not at all, Maya-san. But if you don't mind, I have to be going now, my—cousin awaits me and is probably screaming mad by now that I've taken this long to come fetch her. You see, she's not very good with directions and would probably get lost once left on her own to go home. So if you don't mind, I'd best be on my way now."

Without waiting for a response, Kurama gave a slight bow before turning and leaving the girl alone.

"Your cousin huh…" Maya murmured to herself as she watched Kurama go.

--