So Far: Yusuke has at long last been freed from the man-eating plants room, and to top it all off, he's finally caught up with Kurama! Now Kurama's explained quite a few things to Yusuke...and Yusuke's left to mull it over.

This Chapter: Yusuke mulls it over.


Chapter Six:
Traditional Worries

He was dreaming, he decided. Yes, that's it; this was all a dream. Now all he had to do was wake up...

He opened his eyes.

He was lying on a bed, which after a moment's thought, he remembered it as Kurama's. Yusuke hadn't wanted to take his bed, but Kurama had insisted. The other boy was curled up in a corner across the room, the nearby plants reaching out and gently intertwining around his slumbering form. Yusuke wondered how he could possibly be comfortable, but then remembered how soft the floor was. And it wasn't too hot, or too cold, so he was probably fine.

Yusuke sat up, running a hand through his hair as he thought back over the course of the day. So much had happened to him--it was hard to believe it wasn't a dream.

First of all, he'd destroyed a major part of Suzaku's crop, then literally flown to another plantation, escaping certain death at Suzaku's hands. Next, he'd been granted with a meeting with the second Toguro and received a...what had Botan called it? A restraint. Yes, that was it, something to restrain powers he didn't even know he had. After that, he'd met the hyperactive Jin, been locked in multiple rooms, broke a toilet, and nearly died thanks to the man-eating plants. He'd killed them instead, met with an old friend, and then had had a long talk about things.

It was that talk that came back to him now.

Powers, they'd said. Yusuke had grown up believing that such things weren't real; they were only in myths and legends. People couldn't make things levitate by just using their minds; things didn't set on fire with the snap of someone's fingers. The temperature in a room didn't drop when someone thought about it, and people couldn't fly through the air on nothing. It was magic, and magic wasn't real.

True, Kurama had said. Magic wasn't real. Spirit energy, on the other hand, was, and practically all the things that could be done with "magic" could be done with spirit energy, depending on the user.

Yusuke hadn't understood a word he'd said.

Kurama had simplified it, explaining to Yusuke that each person possessed a certain amount of power—"Spirit Energy." It was very difficult for a human to access this power. You had to have a certain "oneness" with body and spirit, a oneness that Yusuke apparently had.

Yusuke had denied this until Kurama pointed out that he'd destroyed a whole field of Suzaku's plants by himself, and later done the same thing to Kurama's plants, both in the space of about two seconds. That, Kurama had said, was courtesy of the oneness of Yusuke's body and spirit. Yusuke had, unknowingly, harnessed his Spirit Energy and used it to destroy.

No, Yusuke had said. There can't be such a thing as that. It isn't possible.

Kurama had let him rant in denial for a few moments before silencing him. A moment later, Yusuke'd felt a dramatic increase of...something in the room. He didn't know how to explain it, and hours later, he still couldn't grasp it. Something had been about to happen, and how Yusuke had known it he had no idea.

After all the plants in the room withered and died, however, Yusuke wasn't exactly in denial anymore. Especially after Kurama grew back all the plants, just as they had been five minutes ago.

If anything, Yusuke was more confused now then ever. Ok, so he'd gotten that supernatural things could be done, and that he'd witnessed and performed some of these "tricks" himself, but...why? Why could he do this, and not someone else, say Kuwabara? And what did this have to do with being taken to Toguro's? Kurama then re-emphasized the "oneness" bit until Yusuke had finally gotten it and understood that not everyone had it.

But the redhead hadn't answered the second question, and Yusuke had stated that.

He didn't answer right away, and when he did, Yusuke got the feeling Kurama was hiding something.

So he'd cut him off and asked again.

It had been an even longer while before Kurama had answered, and his words still rang in Yusuke's head.

"We're here because we can all use our Spirit Energy like you can. Toguro recognizes this ability, and has us all live here where we can get proper training and learn to use our powers to their maximum."

And that was it. But instead of comforting Yusuke, it'd only opened up a new batch of questions and suspicions.

Teachers? Training? Yusuke honestly had no idea what that was about, but he wasn't worried. The only teachers he'd ever encountered were those that came to train Suzaku's warriors, and from what Yusuke had witnessed, that training was rather lenient. The soldiers had never broken into a sweat, and at the end of the lesson, they were doing intricate dances with their weapons that Yusuke was sure they hadn't been able to do beforehand. So if those big, clumsy oafs could learn something that fast, Yusuke wasn't worried. He was positive he'd do just fine.

But then there was that whole "to their maximum" thing. For some reason that was beyond him, the way Kurama had said it sent chills down Yusuke's back. Why? Yusuke didn't know, but he guessed there was some hidden meaning behind those words. But what?

Minutes passed, and Yusuke still hadn't figured it out. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he should lie down and try to sleep. Yes. Sleep sounded like a good idea. Besides, he was tired. He laid down again and tried to push Kurama's words out of his head. It was nothing.

But if it was nothing, why did he have a really bad feeling about it?

..::--::..

Splash.

Yusuke sat up with a yelp, now wide awake. Ice-cold water dripped off his hair and ran down his face, soaking the bed beneath him and his clothes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Kurama exclaimed cheerfully, and Yusuke saw he was holding an empty bucket, "It's about time you woke up!"

"Kurama, you..." Yusuke lunged at him and hit the floor as Kurama nimbly stepped to the side.

"Now, Yusuke," Kurama said, "I only woke you up because I thought you'd like to eat breakfast. It's in five minutes, after all."

"Breakfast?" Now Yusuke wasn't so mad at him. He leapt up from his position on the floor and made to smooth out his clothes. Only then did he realize he'd worn the same outfit for at least 24 hours straight. A fine impression he was going to make.

"Here." Yusuke barely caught the clothes Kurama threw at him. Startled, he looked up into the other's amused green eyes (Kurama was taller then him by a few inches). "Go in there—" Kurama pointed to a door Yusuke hadn't noticed before, "—and wash up. Be quick." He gave him a playful push towards the door, and Yusuke walked numbly towards it. Only after he had entered the bathroom and closed the door did he look at the clothes he held in his arms.

They were simple; just a pair of blue pants and a plain white t-shirt. But even that was better then what he was wearing now; his current clothes were scratchy and annoying. Quickly he donned the new garments, wet his hands in the sink and slicked his hair back and went out again.

Kurama had changed into fresh clothes as well, and he was waiting at the door.

"Shall we go?" Yusuke nodded enthusiastically and followed him out.

"So," Kurama asked, as they walked, "Did you sleep all right?" Yusuke nodded after a moment's hesitation. No sense bothering Kurama with what were probably childish fears. His friend raised an eyebrow.

"Really."

"Yes, really! What, you don't believe me?" Kurama shrugged and didn't reply. There was silence for a while until he spoke again.

"You should get your own room today. It's a tradition—the new people always sleep in somebody else's room the first night."

"Why?" He smiled.

"That's for you to figure out."

"Tradition?" He nodded.

"We have plenty of them. Don't worry, you'll catch on soon enough."

"I don't like the sound of that," Yusuke muttered. Kurama ignored that, but Yusuke was almost positive he was hiding a smile.

Yusuke followed Kurama absently, thinking again. This was all so strange...traditions? He knew about traditions, but didn't traditions usually exist in families? Not...

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Yusuke jumped three feet in the air and screamed. Jin laughed.

"Jin," Botan scolded, "How many times do we have to tell you? NO FOG HORNS IN THE MORNING."

"Botan's cranky in the morning," Kurama whispered to Yusuke.

"I AM NOT." After Yusuke calmed down from the foghorn, he realized they were in the kitchen. Botan and Jin were there, Jin with...something...in his hand, plus a bunch of other people. Yusuke recognized Touya, Hiei (who still had toilet paper stuck to his back) and Yukina. Was it just him or did the two of them look alike?

"Hey," he said, looking from Hiei to Yukina, "Are you two—"

You finish that sentence, you die. Yusuke ended his sentence abruptly as he heard a voice in his head. Startled, he turned to look at Hiei, who was glaring at him. If looks could kill, Yusuke would be dead. Very dead. Yusuke then remembered Botan saying something about "telepathic" and "Hiei"...in the same sentence. Oh, great.

"So this is the new one," said a voice, and Yusuke turned to see...a toddler?

"I am Koenma," said the toddler, his pacifier bobbing up and down as he spoke. Yusuke noticed that he was wearing a very, VERY large hat. It looked rather comical, especially with the words "Jr" that were tattooed on his forehead.

"You're a toddler!" was all he could say. That was the wrong thing to say.

"I AM NOT A TODDLER!" Koenma yelled, "I'm older then you and I've been here longer then you, so there! Hmph." He turned away.

"Don't mind him," Kurama whispered, "Everybody has the same reaction."

"I heard that."

"Touchy subject," Kurama finished.

"Ah." was all Yusuke could say. His stomach gave a loud rumble. "Uh, what's for breakfast?" Almost at once, everybody (except Hiei) smiled.

"What?" Yusuke asked, bewildered, "All I did was ask what's for breakfast!"

"Whatever you make," Kurama said calmly, "You're cooking." Yusuke's jaw dropped open in disbelief.

"Here," Touya stood up and grabbed a frying pan, handing it to Yusuke, who took it numbly. "Use this." Yusuke's mouth worked furiously for a moment before a stream of words flowed out of it, all along the lines of "I can't cook" and "You can't be serious". He continued on this train of thought for some time before realizing something—nobody was looking at him. His mouth closed as he looked at everybody strangely.

"What's with you? You act like you're hiding something or—" It was Botan who cracked first. The girl burst into hysterical giggles, which quickly turned into full-blown laughter. Laughter is contagious, and soon everybody was laughing—except for Hiei, who only smiled and said "hn." Yusuke couldn't believe this...they were laughing at him! What had he done? Confused, he turned to Kurama, who was struggling to contain his own laughter.

"What's going on?" Yusuke demanded. Kurama tried to give him an answer and failed miserably as he burst into laughter. Yusuke didn't think it was very funny—why couldn't somebody fill him in?

"It's all right," Kurama said, after he'd regained himself, "You don't have to cook breakfast, Yusuke. It's just a joke we play on the new people. Don't worry about it." Yusuke's eye twitched. " His arm, still holding the frying pan, worked by itself. It swung upwards and hit him in the face with it.

The girls gasped. Jin laughed. Touya and Kurama looked astonished. Hiei smirked.

Yusuke blinked once, then twice.

"Ow...that was stupid." Laughter exploded around the island again, and Yusuke strongly resisted the urge to hit somebody else with the frying pan.

"I'm sorry, Yusuke," Kurama said, grinning widely and not sounding sorry at all.

"I bet," Yusuke muttered, now in a foul mood.

"It's just a tradition," Touya explained, as he headed back to his stool, "You should have seen Botan when we did it to her!" Botan coughed and got up in a hurry.

"I think Yukina and I will cook breakfast," she said quickly, "Come on, Yukina, let's go." Yukina nodded agreement and stood up as well. The two of them began gathering food stuffs and things to cook with. Botan grabbed the frying pan that Yusuke was still holding and threw some eggs in it.

"Breakfast will be ready in a jiffy," she said, and turned back to cooking.

"So, Yusuke, let me introduce you," Kurama said, as he took a seat and gestured for Yusuke to do the same, "You already know Jin—"

"And I wish I didn't," Yusuke muttered. Jin grinned widely and his ears twitched.

"—Botan—" Botan waved a hand absentmindedly, "—Yukina—" Yukina turned from her cooking to smile gently at him, "—Touya—" Touya nodded, "—Hiei—" Hiei looked away, "—and Koenma." Koenma nodded sagelike. Kurama paused and looked around the table.

"Where's Jorge? And Genkai?"

"They're preparing for your lessons," Koenma said, "It's one of those days." Almost everybody groaned. "Don't give me that attitude! Let's see, you have Training with Genkai in the morning, lunch, then Education with Jorge until 3. All right?" Everybody mumbled agreement sullenly. Yukina and Botan placed platters of toast, eggs, and bacon on the table, as well as pitchers of milk, orange, and apple juice. Conversation broke off as people took what they wanted and began eating. Yusuke dug in happily.

"Don't fill up too much," Koenma advised, as Yusuke finished one plate and reached for seconds, "You can't Train on a full stomach!" He left the table; Yusuke paused with a second piece of toast halfway to his mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"He's right," Touya said, "Training on a full stomach gives you cramps. If I were you, I'd finish that piece of toast, take a bit more bacon or eggs and be done with it." Yusuke shrugged and followed his advice.

"Lessons," Jin muttered, stabbing ferociously at his eggs with his fork, "What a way to ruin the day."

"Well, at least it's not the full day this time," Botan pointed out, "Remember last time, when Genkai kept us for Training all day?" There were moans as people remembered. Yusuke looked from one person to the other, confused.

" 'Lessons'?" He asked, when he couldn't stand it any more.

"Remember what I said about learning last night?" Kurama asked. Yusuke nodded. "Well, Genkai and Jorge are our teachers. Genkai helps makes us stronger physically, and Jorge improves our minds, knowledge, and common sense."

"Oh."

"Well," Botan said, as she finished eating, "Who's turn is it to do the dishes?"

"Our turn," Touya said, nudging Jin and standing up. Jin crammed bacon in his mouth and began clearing the table.

"We have a chores rotation," Kurama explained, at Yusuke's blank look, "Every day, different people cook different meals or clean up from them. You don't have to do any chores today, because it's your second day, but at dinner when we're all together, we'll work out something that involves you."

"Great." Kurama grinned and pretended he hadn't heard that.

"You only do them because you can do them," Yukina pointed out.

"When Kurama first came here, he couldn't help because he was too small," Hiei added. Kurama coughed and stood up.

"Let's...get to Training early," he suggested, "Perhaps Genkai will let us out that much sooner." His suggestion was greeted with agreement as the others stood up and left, Yusuke trailing along behind like a lost puppy dog.

"By the way, Hiei," Yusuke heard Kurama say, "You've still got toilet paper stuck to your back." The fire demon paused to rip it off viciously, crunch it into a wad, and chuck it at the back of Kurama's head. Kurama ducked at the last second, and the wad hit Yukina instead!

Hiei's eyes widened in shock, but Yukina apparently didn't feel a thing. She kept walking, chatting with Botan. Kurama said something to Hiei that caused Hiei to swing angrily at him, but Kurama side-stepped, still teasing Hiei about something that Yusuke couldn't hear.

"Hey, Yusuke! Wait up!" Distracted, Yusuke paused and turned to see Touya and Jin pelting down the hallway towards him. It wasn't long before they caught up.

"Thought we'd walk with you," Touya said, "So you don't have to feel like you're following everywhere."

"I wasn't feeling like that!" Yusuke said, denying it.

"Suuuure you weren't," Jin said, his tone implying he didn't believe Yusuke one bit, "Come on, Urameshi, I had the same feeling when I first got here! Then Touya befriended me and everything's been better."

"So...how long have you been here?" Yusuke asked.

"Five years!" Jin responded, "That's two less then Touya."

"FIVE?"

"That's nothing," Touya said casually, "Kurama's been here for ten, and Hiei almost his whole life!"

" 'Almost'?"

"He'd kill us if we told you," Jin said pleasantly, "You'll have to ask him."

Touya stopped at a door.

"Are you ready?" He asked, placing one hand on the doorknob.

"Quit asking me stuff like that and just open the stupid door!" Yusuke growled. Touya shrugged.

"As you wish." He pushed open the door and the three of them entered, the door shutting behind them.

It was by far the biggest room Yusuke had ever seen. The opposing wall seemed to be miles and miles away, but it was just as long as the adjacent walls. The walls were bare, but looked to be sturdy wood, while the floor was solid cement. Yusuke couldn't even see the ceiling. Was there a ceiling?

"The ceiling is made of glass," Touya explained, "That's why it's so bright in here."

"I knew that!" Yusuke said. Jin rolled his eyes.

"Morning, students," said a voice, and all of them turned. Yusuke's eyes widened. This was their teacher? But...but...

She was a girl. And short. And...old.

"I see we have a new student," said the person Yusuke could only assume was Genkai, "What's your name, boy?"

"Yusuke Urameshi." She came up to him, and stared at him intently before snorting and turning away.

"Hmph. Your Spirit Energy is pathetic. Are you sure Toguro chose the right person?"

"He destroyed a whole field of plants and most of the ones in my room," Kurama said.

"What was he doing in there?"

"Jin locked him in," Touya offered helpfully. Jin gave him a look.

"Some friend you are."

"Hm." Genkai turned back to Yusuke and surveyed him with a critical eye. "Perhaps you'll do. Enough time wasted; let's start the lesson."