Chapter 4

The Calm Before the Storm: Settling In

I felt myself falling through time and space. The pressure was enormous, and I felt my dinner coming back up. Just when I thought I would pass out from the strain, I felt myself falling, but from actual gravity this time. A serious pain filled my body as I hit the stone step with a loud thud. 'At least I landed on my butt and not my head,' I thought, even though I didn't feel very grateful just then. I groaned loudly and said "Owwww," giving the word several syllables. Looking up, I saw the moon and was thankful that it was still night even here.

I realized that Natalie would be falling right here in a few seconds. Looking around, I noticed that everyone else had already gotten there, and none were sitting. All were somewhat smirking at me. Noticing Kurama, an idea popped into my head. Getting up (and rubbing my behind for it still hurt like heck) I walked up to Kurama, took him by the shirt, and led him over to where I'd landed (he didn't seem to be resisting and when I looked back I saw a confused look on his and everyone else's face. I stopped him when we got there, and just as I said "Stay there," the portal opened again and Natalie fell through. Without thinking, Kurama held out his arms and caught her. I grinned wickedly as understanding dawned on everyone's faces save Natalie's, which just looked sick and confused. Kurama set her down on her feet, but she fell to the ground and vomited. Twice. No one was surprised though, including me.

Bending down, I helped Natalie up and rubbed her back.

"Don't feel bad Natalie," Kurama comforted, also bending down beside her, being careful not to step in or touch the sick. "Everyone gets sick their first few times going through the portals."

"Except for her." Yusuke pointed at me.

I shrugged. "I've been through worse. Although I will admit that I felt like I would puke when I was actually in the portal….WOW!" I had finally taken look at my surroundings and realized that I had landed on the bottom step of a HUGE crooked stone stairway, and at the top, there was an even bigger Japanese-style temple. I looked at the stairway again with dread, and saw the same look on Natalie's face, which had regained most of its color.

"There is no way I'm doin' that," Natalie announced. "I still feel sick and don't feel like moving."

"At least you didn't land on the stone stair on your butt," I stated.

"Oh yeah, thank you for catching me Kurama!" she yelled, grinning up at him.

"You're welcome."

"And as for the stairs, perhaps Kurama would be kind enough to carry you up," I suggested.

"Of course," Kurama said with a smile, turning around and motioning for Natalie to climb onto his back. Natalie obliged happily. I grinned and winked at her. Understanding, she grinned back and blew me a kiss, which I pretended to catch and throw it at Kurama. She laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked the subject of our little exchange.

"Nothing, Kurama, just a private joke." And with that, he took off at a remarkable speed. Hiei was already at the top, and Yusuke and Kuwabara had stayed down and offered to carry me up. I declined and said that this would be a good work-out. And I really was kind of excited about it. Pathetic, I know, but challenges like this tend to have that effect on me. The two boys shrugged and darted off, soon catching up with Kurama. I sighed and started myself.

A few minutes later, I reached the top, breathing heavily and with a stitch in my side. I knew what came next. I started wheezing and gasping. Natalie recognized the situation immediately.

"She's having an asthma attack!" The guys (save Hiei) started to panic, but I waved it off.

"It's okay, (gasp), it's just (gasp) a small one (gasp). It'll (gasp) calm down (gasp) in a few minutes (gasp)." Still, the boys looked doubtful and concerned, but trusted my judgment and waited for it to do so. Like I had said, it calmed down in only about half of a minute.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked once I was breathing normally again.

"Now, we go pick out our room," said Kurama. "Despite how large this building is, there are only four rooms. Yusuke and Kuwabara will share one, Hiei and I will share one, and you and Natalie will occupy the third."

"Who's the fourth room for?" asked Natalie.

"Oh! I didn't know you guys were coming!" The voice came from behind me and made me jump and yelp, but I recognized it immediately.

"YUKINA!" me and Kuwabara yelled at the same time . Kuwabara got to her before me, but I managed to get a handshake.

"Umm…hello. I don't believe we've met before," she said once Kuwabara had put her down.

"Oh, right! My name is Sarah, and this-" I took Natalie by the arm and pulled her over "-is Natalie."

"Hey." Natalie smiled and waved.

"Nice to meet you. But…how do you know me?"

"Oh, right!" I said again. "I'll explain later. But I know more than just you're name. Yukina, an ice demon, born of the Ice Maidens, your tears are small pearl-like gems. You live with Genkai for now – which I forgot – and are currently 'with' Kuwabara."

"Wow! You do know a lot…" she looked thoughtful for a moment, and I knew what she would ask next "…do you know who my brother is?"

I looked around again, and everyone (minus Kuwabara, still unconscious) looked as though they were holding their breath, especially Hiei.

"…No. I'm sorry. I don't." Everyone let a slight look of relief cross their faces before hiding it immediately after.

Yukina just looked sad, but only for a moment before smiling at me again. "That's alright. I just thought I'd ask. So, why are you two here?"

"I'll let them explain. I've talked way too much today."

"Sure, I'll take you to your rooms. You can tell me while we walk."

"It's a long story," stated Natalie.

"It's a long walk."

Everyone began to walk inside, telling Yukina about their day. I was about to follow when I was rammed into a wall and pinned there. Crimson eyes stared up at me.

"What do you know, onna?"

"About what?" I asked, ticked that he would actually pin me to a wall, but not really struggling against it either.

"You know perfectly well what, baka onna."

"I'd suggest you don't call me things like that."

"You don't even know what that means," he smirked, thinking he'd won the argument.

"Let me rephrase that; I'd suggest you don't call me an idiot. And my name's Sarah, not Girl." It was my turn to smirk.

Hiei snarled. "Just answer the question. What do you know about Yukina?"

"I know that she's your sister, but you don't want her or Kuwabara to know. You told Yusuke and he let it slip to Kurama. You have nothing to worry about, 'cause I won't tell her, even though I think it's wrong to keep something like that from her."

"You don't understand the situation, onna."

"My name is SARAH! And YES I DO understand the situation. You're afraid that she will be ashamed of you, afraid of you, even hate you. You're too blind to see how much you're hurting her by NOT telling her. Now if you'd excuse me-" I brought my legs up and kicked him hard in the gut, causing him to release me in shock (not pain, I'm nowhere near strong enough to actually hurt him yet) "-I'd like to settle into my new room and go to sleep. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted." I started into the building, and without turning to look at him, I said "See ya later, Bajito." (For those who don't know, this means Shorty in Spanish)

"What did you just call me?"

I ignored him, and caught up to Natalie and the others. They had informed Yukina on the situation, and were currently telling Natalie everything she'd need to know about this universe. We arrived at our rooms, and it turned out that there were two on each side of the hallway and the neighboring rooms had a connecting door. To no one's surprise, Kuwabara chose to take the one next to Yukina's, forcing Yusuke to do the same. So (to Natalie's great joy) Kurama and Hiei, who had caught up only a moment after I had, took the one next to mine and Natalie's.

Once we had said our good nights and closed the door, we both took showers and brushed our teeth with the utensils already set out for us.

When we were in bed (it was a bunk, and I took the top), Natalie knocked on the bottom of my bed. Hanging my head over the side so I was upside-down, she said-

"Some day, huh?"

"Tell me about it."

"I think I know everything about this place by now, but I still feel like a stranger here."

"Tell me about it." I repeated.

"Although, Kurama is cute...Think I have a chance at him?"

"Absolutely! Want me to play Matchmaker?" She blushed.

"Only if you make it subtle." Her face had lightened up.

"Wow, you seem to be really serious about this one," I teased.

"Yeah. He seems so…different from the guys in our universe. He seems…ya know…perfect."

"Most of these guys are. Different…not perfect." A scary thought occurred to me. "And they did tell you about Youko, right?"

"Yeah."

"So just…be careful with him, alright?"

"Haha. Will do."

"I'm serious."

"Yeah…I know. But still, the idea…intrigues me."

"Oooh, a fancy word. He's had an effect on you already. Hmhm."

She hit me with a pillow. "Shut up and go to sleep."

I yawned. "Will do. 'Night."

"'Night."

Hours passed, and I couldn't sleep. Something was coming and I didn't like it. I started to get light-headed again, but this time it was different. I knew what was coming next.

I had to get out of here, or everyone would wake to my screaming.