~I do not own any part of Yu Yu Hakusho. The characters are created and owned by Yoshihiro Togashi. My characters are entirely fictional and belong to me. ~

Chapter 4: Finishing Business

Keomi stared off into space as she knelt on the grass in the small town park a few blocks away from the grocery store where she had been headed after school before she had been side tracked. Once school was over and she had left the premises thoughts burst into her mind crowding each other and about driving Keomi completely insane. She had been headed to the store but her mind was in such turmoil that she had just completely wandered off and when she had come to her senses she found herself in the park. Giving up on making to the store in her current state Keomi had sunk to the ground to left herself sort through all her thoughts surrounded by the peacefulness of nature. She now knew what had happened to her the past night but now she had to figure out why she had been given these powers? For what reason did the man give her his powers? Keomi studied her memory and the man's voice came to her mind retelling her that he had made the right choice before he died in front of her very eyes.

Keomi sighed and her hands started to fiddle with each other in her frustration. She had no idea why she had been given these powers and now it was really starting to bug her. But before Keomi could let her anger get the better of her she took one deep breath and let the air wash her nerves clean. As she released the air she had been holding within her chest Keomi decided that why wasn't important any more. The significant and very vital part right now was what she was going to do with these powers granted to her.

Keomi's eyes snapped open as she the smell in the air around her changed and the rank smell of many men appeared. She slowly got to her feet and waited patiently as Tanaka and his friends in her class came looking for her. They might have even followed her and where just waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Tanaka, not surprisingly, was the one leading the group as he wanted his revenge on

Keomi for making him look like a complete fool in front of the entire class. He was surprised to see a calm and levelheaded Keomi waiting for him and his sleazy group of followers. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back as her legs were spread apart. Her school bag lay on the ground near her feet a few feet away as she stared straight at the men with an undaunting intimidation fiercely reflected in her eyes.

"I knew you would come," Keomi stated plainly as Tanaka halted a few short paces away from her.

Tanaka smirked at her, he had her right where he wanted her. She wasn't going to get away with insulting him then making him into a laughing stock at school. Keomi was going to pay dearly. "So it's a date then?"

Keomi stared at him with no emotion crossing her face as she stared at him. "No it's not and I'm not sleeping with you. That was your original plan wasn't it. You wanted me to take your 'gift' and then I would owe you something and that is what you wanted, isn't it?" Keomi replied in a cold steely voice. "But I am sorry that I made the better choice to not take it so we have nothing more to discuss."

Tanaka let out a rough bark that was supposed to be a laugh. "You have more common sense than your grades reflect but you will not get away with making me into laughing stock at school."

"The only thing you will be laughed about now is how badly I am going to hurt you if you touch me again." Keomi replied before Tanaka could finish.

Tanaka's mouth turned up into a sneer and with a yell he lunged forward at her in sheer anger. "You will regret that bitch!"

Keomi easily sidestepped Tanaka and boxed his ears as he passed her. She stood ready as he flipped around and ran at her again, ready for her next dodging attempt. Keomi saw right through his plan and before he could reach her she lunged forward and delivered one solid punch to his chest cavity. She smirked as Tanaka halted on her fist and she heard the satisfying crunch of some bones before he fell backwards with a groan. He landed on his behind with a thud as his hands encircled his rib cage. Keomi turned to look at the other boys as they all stared at her with wide eyes. "You should all know your opponent before you attack, just some advice for you unless you want to get yourself beat up even more."

Tanaka gasped out as he held himself tightly, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you should have at least known that I have learned to defend myself and know how so you will be the one hurting more than me." Keomi replied as she turned her head to look down upon the shriveling little man. She was so tempted to finish him off but the pleasant and very familiar smell of roses with the hint of demon blood was all around her as Shuichi stayed just out of sight watching the skirmish. "I don't ever want you bothering me again, do I make myself clear?"

Tanaka looked up at her as she glared down upon him. That's when he decided it would be better for his health to leave Keomi Shikiharu alone unless he wanted to die. He could see malevolence lurking back in the mists of her purpleish plum iris and then an evil aura surrounded her entire being. Tanaka knew that she was totally and deadly serious in her threat. "I get it."

Keomi nodded sharply before she turned, picked up her book bag with one swoop, and was walking away from the boys as they all watched her go. Keomi hurried away from the group of boys and as she quickly went away she could still smell the roses coming from Shuichi. She wondered if he had followed her just in case the boys were going to try something, apparently he cared more than she thought but then again maybe he didn't care about her as much as she thought. It was all a mystery to her. Keomi made it to the grocery store and went straight to the bags of rice where she stopped as she dove into her thoughts once again. There were men like Tanaka out there and then there were men like Shuichi who protected her even though she didn't mean much to him. She was just a fellow student, but to Keomi Shuichi was more. She respected him and admired him. Keomi leaned down to pick up a bag of rice, because she had hardly any left at home so she needed more if she wanted to keep on eating, and it hit her. She had been given these powers to protect herself and in doing that she could protect the ones that meant the most to her and the person on the top of the list just happened to be Shuichi Minamino. Usually her family would be at the top of the list but since they weren't around it didn't matter. Keomi had no one, she was all but alone in the world. She had no friends except for the old couple who were her landlords and the girl who lived next to her. Rieko Nishizawa was sort of like an older sister to Keomi and watched over her whenever she could. But Keomi wasn't a child anymore, she never had had much of a childhood anyways. But the one person who stuck out the most to Keomi was Shuichi. He had cared about her safety that night she had been granted these powers and all this began.

"That's it," Keomi muttered to herself before she slid out a bag of rice and held it over her arm as she straightened. Shuichi was the best student in the school, he was always considered the prodigy. He was the best at everything he did but even a top student like him might have other problems out of school. Keomi had never seen Shuichi fight even though he was also very good at athletics, even then he had followed Tanaka to make sure that he wouldn't try anything. Keomi smiled to herself as she made up her mind, she would protect Shuichi with this powers she had gotten. She would protect him with all she had.

~Please give me feedback on what you think of my stories. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading. ~