*Note* Thanks a bunch everyone for the lovely reviews and just for the views in general :D I'm glad to see that people are liking Faith and the story so far! I'll keep trying to update as often as I possibly can. Here's chapter nine for those who've continued reading thus far. Enjoy! ^_^

Overcrowded, that's the word I would use for this lobby. There were people everywhere, it was almost impossible to move without stepping on toes or hitting someone's arm. What the heck is going on? An overweight man stepped back and let out a laugh as he blocked my way. Come on, I just want to get to the lounge area, that's it. I let out an irritated sigh before changing my course. It seemed like I had been making some good progress until an older grey haired lady turned and jabbed me in the ribs with her sharp elbow.

"Son of a…" I groan as I rub my ribs.

The lady glared down her thin pointy nose at me before she let out a quiet 'humph' and left. Oh sure make room for the old lady in the too short and too revealing dress, but god forbid someone should move when I politely try to get by.

I incoherently grumble some more as I tried my best to get over to my target area. I think this may have been a terrible idea after all, where is a cow catcher when you need one? I chuckled at the thought. During the challenge of getting to where I wanted to go, I glanced about the room and marveled at some of the clothing people wore. Over by the far left wall a few inches higher than the patrons, was a strange… hat? I think it's a hat; it looked like a peacock train but in a multitude of colors, and in between each feather a long blade of grass. Hm, now who would wear that to a place like this? And I could only imagine what the rest of the outfit looked like. The rest of the crowd was a sea of colors, fabrics and jewelry; I wonder what it would be like to have the kind of money these people have.

With one last shove through a group of robust men I finally managed to break out into the lounge area I've been aiming for.

"Oh man, finally!"

What I wouldn't give to have Moses' ability to part the red sea… but use it on this room. I glanced about the small sitting area and spotted a marble, or what looked to be marble coffee table. My sight honed in on the decent sized pile of magazines, just waiting there for someone to root through them. I would gladly rummage through those and have a look see at what they offered. Nonchalantly I strolled over to the magazines and began to look through them; there were ones about make-up, fashion, cars, business and alike. Every one of the magazines looked pristine and unread, there wasn't a scuff mark on them; talk about being unused. I had almost given up hope for finding a cooking magazine, when miraculously the last two issues I found at the bottom of the pile was one on kitchen staff recipes.

"Bingo!" I laughed, "Now I'm starting to sound like Botan."

I flipped through the magazine and dog eared some of the pages that had some tasty looking dishes, I can't wait to get back upstairs and start making some.

Excitedly I grab the two issues of The Kitchen Staff and headed back to the swarm of people, something I wasn't all that thrilled about doing again.

"Just keep going, just keep going, going" it was my version of the 'just keep swimming' song Dori sang on Finding Nemo, I sang to myself as I carefully and gently tried to push my way through the throng of people.

As I was slowly making my way back over to the elevators, or at least where I assumed they were, I began to notice some of the other patrons staring at me. Why are they staring at me? What could I have done now?

I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of a woman pointing at me, when I made eye contact with her she leaned in closer to her companion and whisper something. Oh what I wouldn't give right now to be able to read lips. More and more people were starting to look at me and whisper; ugh I hate it when people whisper and you know it's about you.

"Never mind it Faith, just get to the elevator and go back to the room, we don't have time for this." I mumbled to myself as I kept pressing forward.

As I trudged forward I managed to catch a nearby woman whispering about me, "Do you see what that girl is wearing? How on earth did she manage to get accepted into this hotel? She looks like a peasant."

I look like a peasant? I curiously looked down at my attire, it was nothing as fancy as what the other ladies were wearing, but it was still nice looking. All my outfit consisted of was a pair of blue denim jeans, a long pale yellow spaghetti strapped tank-top and the black flats Genkai gave to me. You know what, who cares what they're saying; I happen to like what I'm wearing –if I didn't I wouldn't have worn it- and it doesn't matter what others say about my clothes, if they don't like them then they can look the other way.

Ignoring what the other people in the lobby were doing or saying, I continued on my path to the elevators and from there back up to the room where the others were waiting. Step by step I grew closer, just a bit more… I could see an opening just up ahead past this group of men. With one last push I had emerged triumphantly just a few feet away from those shiny, boring music playing elevators!

"Ugh, it's about time."

Before heading over to the elevators I had to give myself a shake, I'm not claustrophobic but man it was a real tight squeeze back there. How is it that all of these people can just spend their time down here, don't they have anything better to do?

Being out where it was less crowded felt wonderful; it felt like I was in a compressor of some sort and started to get agitated, but now I'm feeling much better with a smile on my face, it's time to head back to the room and get cracking on the meals. Quickly I glanced over to where I wanted to go, and luckily found one of the compartments empty. It was when I went to take a step forward that I felt someone push up against me from behind. The shove from behind caused me to drop the magazines and stumble forward. What now? Once I caught my balance I spun around to see what was going on. There stood a woman who –for a lack of a better term- looked completely one hundred percent fake. She looked to be in her late thirties, her shoulder length hair would have been a wonderful shade of blond had she not put so much product in it. Her blue eyes appeared sharp with her expression set at a permanent scowl, and the outfit she wore reminded me of a posh manager at a high end boutique. She did not look like a happy camper.

"What are you staring at? You should run along peasant," she snapped before turning away.

I felt my eye begin to twitch. I've had it with this group of people.

"I'm looking at a lady that apparently doesn't have any manners." I retorted before bending down and retrieving the forgotten magazines.

"Excuse me!" she looked appalled as she turned to face me.

"Well that's the first time I've heard that word spoken out loud down here. It's amazing that you know of it."

"How dare you, do you know who I am?!" she exclaimed in utter disbelief as her face began to redden.

"No I don't, and I don't really care. Now if you'll excuse me I have decent people waiting for me to return. And trust me I can't wait to get back to them; at least they know how to behave like human beings rather than giant pricks like most of you down here."

I didn't wait for a reply. I walked away from the open-mouthed and more than likely steaming mad woman.

"Do you know who I am?" I mocked, "God I hate it when people use that line."

During the standoff of hostility, a middle-aged couple had taken occupancy of the elevator that had been previously unoccupied. If I hurried I could catch it before it closed.

Just as I drew near a hotel employee stepped in the way of the open door, effectively blocking the compartment from me. Ugh enough already, I just want to get upstairs.

"Is there something wrong sir?" I asked as nicely as I could, my patience nearing its peak.

The man glanced down at me with a sneer, "I'm sorry but you cannot use this elevator."

I was taken aback, "You're joking right?" I hoped this is some kind of a joke or prank.

The high-class looking employee seemed to be getting bored with this situation, "No I'm not joking. This hotel does not allow riffraff to use its elevators."

It felt like I was slapped in the face. Did he seriously just call me riffraff? To hell I am!

"Excuse me! But I'm in the company of Lord Koenma ruler of Spirit world." It didn't even look like it had fazed him.

"Like I had said earlier, riffraff cannot use the elevators." With that he turned and stepped into the elevator that held the awaiting, snickering couple.

The couple went from snickering to flat out pointing and laughing.

I snapped.

"Fine I'll take the fucking stairs!" I pointed to the lady, "Oh and lady, stop using so much fucking make up you look like you're supposed to be in the red light district. And you sir, lay off the Twinkies, they've made you ruin your figure and now you look like a piece of crap in that ghastly brown getup you're wearing."

No more being nice with these people.

Fuming I turned towards the stairwell door and left the occupants of the elevator speechless. I heard the ting followed by the sounds of the doors closing. God I'm so furious right now.

"Keep it together Faith, Keep it together." I felt like I was about to let loose on the whole lobby.

I need to get upstairs.

Fast.

The whole entire march up the stairs consisted of me grumbling on about what I'd like to do to people down in the lobby. Oh what I would love to do.

Before I knew it I had reached the hotel room, I opened the door and tried my best not to bang it shut. I can't remember the last time I was so angry. With my irritation at a high I kicked off my shoes and strode over to the coffee table. Once there I slammed the magazines down. The slamming of the magazines startled both Koenma and Kuwabara; their eyes were wide with alarm as they glance about the room. Yusuke stood frozen in place in the kitchen with a glass of lemonade raised part way to his lips, while Kurama stood by the sink with a brow raised in inquiry.

Not a single word was spoken as I left the sitting area and headed for one of the bedrooms.

"Faith, what's the matter?" Koenma asked as he suspiciously eyed the magazines.

"Nothing, you wouldn't want this riffraff to tarnish your repute." I blurt out before disappearing into a bedroom.

"Riffraff?" I heard Koenma call out in question.

I didn't bother answering Koenma. I made my way over to the bed closest to the adjoined bathroom and knelt down, as gently as I could I ran my hand along the floor. Once my fingers brushed up against the sleek hard surface I knew I found it, I had found my iPod. I had hid my iPod under the bed here once I started to leave the suite, I didn't want to chance someone from the cleaning staff coming in and stumbling upon it. Now that would be fun to explain again.

With my iPod in hand I stood up and went to leave the room, I have a lot of cooking still to do. I began to maneuver over to the door when Yusuke entered the room.

He looked worried, "Faith what's the matter?"

Still irritated and angry over the incident I pushed past Yusuke, "It's nothing."

"Clearly it isn't 'nothing' if you're this upset," Koenma stated as I past him on my way to the kitchen.

Both Koenma and Yusuke followed after me. I had almost made it to the kitchen when Kurama and Kuwabara planted themselves firmly in my path.

God they're persistent.

"Faith, something must have happened to have you; someone who has been nothing but cheerful, excluding some painful incidences, become this rattled and annoyed," Kurama pushed as he too tried to discover what had happened while I was downstairs in the lobby.

"Ya and what's this about riffraff? And don't say 'nothing'" Kuwabara urged as he crossed his arms over his chest. Is he trying to be intimidating?

Exasperated I blew out some air, fine I'll tell them, it'll probably be the quickest way to get them to leave me alone for a little while. I need my space right now.

"Apparently I'm not up to the establishments' standards. An employee stopped me from using the elevator and told me I wasn't allowed to use it. And I quote 'this hotel doesn't allow riffraff to use its elevators' unquote, is what he told me. So I had to use the stairs instead…" I paused a moment and took a deep breath, "but before I did I let some of the patrons have a few choice words."

Three of the four boys' eyes darkened.

"That's outrageous!" Koenma bellowed.

"Choice words?" Kuwabara asked confused.

"I insulted them and… swore at them too" I clarified for him and continued, "I thought so too Koenma, but since 'I' a low standard patron who shouldn't be here in the first place, can't do anything about it, I'm going to put on my iPod and start preparing tonight's picnic food."

"Faith you are anything but low. You should say something to the manager," Yusuke said as he placed a hand gently on my shoulder.

Again I let out a deep breath.

"I would, but when I told him who I was with it didn't faze him."

"Faith…" Kurama began, but I stopped him.

"This is just like being back at home, I guess I've gotten used to being treated differently here and that's why this has rattled me so much. Now I'm going to do what I normally do; I'm going to drown myself in music and distract myself with cooking."

"Well I won't stand for this!" Koenma declared as he stormed out of the room.

Tiredly I let out a weary sigh, this is just like being back home alright, the only difference here is that someone cares about how I'm being treated. I looked back over to where Kurama and Kuwabara stood in front of me.

"May I please get through? I have a lot of cooking to do for tonight's picnic and I really want to get started before it gets any later in the day."

Kuwabara looked sympathetic and moved to the right out of the way, "Would you like any help? I may not be the best at cooking, but maybe it'll help take some of the stress off your shoulders,"

"Perhaps in a little bit you can Kuwabara, but thank you for offering."

He nodded and sat down on the smaller couch.

Out of the blue Hiei came out of the bedroom and stared right at me, "You should have taught them a lesson, why didn't you do anything? All you did was come up here and try to distract yourself with cooking"

I straightened my posture before replying, "Well not everyone is skilled enough to take on a whole lobby of people Hiei, and the best I can do as a sort of vengeance is quietly plot an imaginary punishment, that's it."

Hiei scoffed, "What kind of punishment could you think of? Giving them a hard slap on the backside? Or a swift kick to the leg?"

"No, I…" I trailed off into silence as I debated whether or not to actually tell him what I've imagined doing to some of the people from down stairs.

"You would what?"

Okay fine, guess it's time to show them that I'm not always an innocent good little girl and that sometimes, just sometimes, my mind goes to a slightly darker place.

"On the way up here while I stewed about what had happened… I… I imagined skinning some of the people and incasing them in a container filled with salt and barb wire." I stopped and looked around at some of the shocked faces in the room.

Kuwabara looked mortified, Hiei… looked like Hiei, Kurama had his look of shock and Yusuke did as well… that was until he smiled and laughed.

"Well look at that, Faith can have a dark side too. If you were to actually have any kind of power that could trump mine, I might actually fear getting on your bad side."

"I never said I was a perfect innocent little girl Yusuke, I just sometimes let the imagination slip when I get to such a high point of aggravation."

I wandered over to the coffee table to retrieve the magazines from earlier. As soon as they were in my hands, I walked over to the kitchen counter and set them down. It's time I got started on making the meals.

Quietly I looked over my shoulder and watched as Hiei shook his head and left the hotel room. Where is he going? Will he be back for the picnic? Is he even going to attend the picnic? I have no clue; I guess I should've asked him earlier. Turning my attention back to the magazines I opened both up to the first dog eared pages. It's time to get to work.

"Hey Hope, if you need a taste-tester you know who to call," Yusuke called over.

"Will do," I've kind of just accepted the fact that Yusuke will accidentally switch between my name and Hope, I'll just consider it a nickname from him.

Quickly I glanced about the room and found Kurama standing almost in the kitchen area, he looked like he was about to say something. He must have thought better of it and walked off in the direction of the bedrooms. I wonder what he was going to say, if anything at all. Well no time to dwell on that, it's time to start pulling out ingredients and getting to work.

I pulled out my iPod from my pant pocket, put in the earpuds, turned it on and selected Bittersweet by Apocalyptica and drowned myself in music and cooking.