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"Quiet down, everyone!" Mr. Takano announced. "We have an important announcement today." He paused to let that information sink in on the group of eight-year-olds. When each student realized something exciting was about to happen, they bit their tongues and wiggled in their seats.

The teacher, enjoying his rare authority and the stretch of silence, paused dramatically to clear his throat.

"Please tell us, Sensei!" a boy impatiently blurted. His friends laughed.

"We have a new student joining us today," he relented. Excitement bloomed in their chubby, little faces.

"Boy or girl?" several whispered, hoping for either a new friend or a new crush. Mr. Takano - or rather, Takano-sensei - used this time to signal for me to enter. I walked to the front of the class languidly, completely over any nerves I would have had in my old life, hidden or otherwise. But my gait didn't have its old confident swagger, and it was slightly uneven due to a limp. My ankle had healed more quickly than my arm had, but it was taking longer to get back to speed in the long run. Whenever I was on it for a while, I felt a shadow of an ache. That being said, I was walking on it faster than any normal human would have been able to.

Another perk of being an anima, I'd discovered. I actually was beginning to think any pain was a figment of my imagination, that I only thought I felt it because I knew I was supposed to. My limp was also probably pointless. It wasn't that I couldn't put weight on it, it was that I subconsciously lacked the confidence in its condition to use it to its full ability. For instance, Genkai gave me rigorous drills to build my strength and speed, and they actually made my leg feel better, albeit tired. It was like physical therapy. But walking for half an hour? My steps were uneven ten minutes in.

It wasn't just my leg, either; when I thought about it too much, my arm could barely handle five kilograms, but I'd often carry heavy laundry baskets and books that were much heavier with ease.

Even my heart liked to beat too loudly, or too aggressively. It was a little hard to explain, since it wasn't something I was used to feeling. It felt wrong, but not necessarily painful. Not that it beat too quickly or too slowly, but it felt… heavy. Sometimes it was all I could hear, the blood rushing to my head and ears. But only if I really thought about it. I didn't notice a peep from it when Genkai made me do heavy running.

I wondered, would this always happen to me? If I knew the truth now and nothing changed, was there anything I could do about it? I felt like a stranger in my own body.

Though that's exactly what I was, wasn't it?

Either way, I was still in much better shape than any human would have been, so it hardly mattered.

Genkai, though I was positive she knew something was strange about me and my injuries, only mentioned the abnormally speedy recovery once, offhandedly. She was probably trying to gage my reaction, but I'd become quite the little actress during my nine months in this world. I didn't give her much to work with. An infuriating shrug, a few extra complaints the next day. I didn't let her see the ouroboros, but she didn't need to analyze it to know I didn't have a human's aura. Not that I cared if she figured it out, but Charon had warned me against it, and I still trusted her, just not her boss. But I guess trust didn't really matter, when Pluto had ten years and my family hanging over my head.

Nine months done, three since I'd gone to live with Genkai. I had to admit, they had passed by quickly. Though, only if I didn't think about it. Like my injuries.

While Takano-sensei, when I'd first been introduced to him, had immediately recognized me as the girl in the recent tragedy, I could tell that none of the kids knew who I was. They probably were too young to watch the news.

I wonder if they would be scared of me, knowing my father had murdered two people, himself included?

My heart throbbed and I shoved Jeremiah's face out of my mind. I didn't need to break down in front of thirty plus eight-year-olds.

I fiddled with a frayed end of one of the bandages on my arm. Both were wrapped at the moment and were the reasons I wore a long-sleeved shirt in the sweltering summer of Japan. I wouldn't have to worry about summer uniforms until middle school, so I would wear them until then. I didn't wrap my hands along with it, as is usually done to secure the bandages in place, so no one would see them if I was careful. That meant fewer questions to answer, which was always a good policy.

I wrote my name on the board in katakana, chalk dust rubbing off on my fingers. Japanese came to me easily now, if not a little slow. But I didn't have to manually force myself to remember Mrs. Himura's lessons.

That was another face I had to shove out of my head.

Translating English names into katakana was a little tricky - there were certain sounds you had to avoid, since Japanese was syllabic, and there were no characters for T and H, or S and C, among others. G and W were uncommon even in English (because it really wasn't even that - it was Welsh). So 'Gwen' was bad, but 'Gwyneth' was an utter nightmare.

I didn't feel like explaining that myself, especially since I didn't expect my audience to understand for a few years yet, so the board read 'Guuen' in katakana. That was how Mrs. Himura had always pronounced it, even when she knew English fairly well.

Still, I wrote 'Gwen' underneath it in English. Though Takano-sensei was probably the only one who knew even a bit of it.

It just didn't feel like my name, you know? And I wanted them to know it. Gwyneth, too. Though I'd hold that off, for now. A compromise. And while 'Black' wasn't really my name either, it was the surname I had to go by.

And it just occurred to me they would call me 'Black-san'.

I looked back to the board. I had written 'Gwen' first. Oops. Might as well roll with it.

I turned and faced the class as Takano-sensei read off my work, just to answer any possible questions on pronunciation. I wasn't the only person in the world with the name to come to Japan, but even the forty-something completely butchered it.

I decided to help him out. "My name is…Gwen Black. But I speak English, so I prefer just Gwen, if you don't mind. I wouldn't remember to respond to anything else. I know it can be difficult to say, so I really appreciate the effort."

"Alright, Gwen-chan," Takano-sensei agreed. Nope, didn't do any better. "Would you please share something you like or dislike?"

I nodded, pausing for a moment to think. "I like basketball and warm weather, and I dislike natto." There. Safe answer. I gave a polite bow. "Douzo Yoroshiku."

The class chanted the phrase back at me. I straightened.

And then I saw Yusuke, and my heart swelled.

I'd only spent time with the kid maybe thirty minutes a day for a week or two, but I hadn't realized how familiar he'd become until that moment.

His eyes were wide and glassy, his mouth open in shock, and maybe a little bit of hope. Hope that he wouldn't be alone, I would bet.

I gave him a smile. It was unforced, and genuine. He looked down, his lips in a frown, and I realized that he must have been hurt. I had left him, abandoned him. Not on purpose, of course, and I had warned him the last time I saw him that I wouldn't be around for a while, but that probably didn't matter to an eight-year-old. We had bonded, and then I had left. For three months. It could take a while for me to make up for that.

"Gwen-chan, there's a seat right in front that's open. Why don't you sit there?"

Rats. Yusuke was way in the back, in the corner. Reluctantly, I semi-limped to my new desk.

The day went by with me observing the class schedule. I was a little slow to pick things up, since I had to do some translating in my head, but it was simple subjects. Simple math, simple reading. Though the others knew a lot more Kanji than I did, so that wasn't fun to muddle through - a girl next to me leaned over and whispered their meanings when she saw I was struggling, so that helped quite a lot.

Then they did a little English, during which I could relax. Sensei, in a way that seemed both unexpected and counter intuitive, practically refused to ask for my help with pronunciation. It was a little frustrating, but I got through it.

Overall, I didn't feel smart, but I didn't feel stupid, either.

Recess was outside, in a very familiar field. I went to take the kickball from the basket Sensei had set out after the bell rang, but I found myself swarmed by a group of children.

They asked me a lot of questions that I could barely follow, and frankly were quite annoying. They didn't get the hint, that I didn't want to talk at the moment. Or ever, maybe. Not to them, at least. I saw Yusuke walk right by, grab the kickball, and disappear. I tried to call out to him, but he moved too quickly. My semi-good mood hit the dumps, and I was still stuck with an unneeded entourage.

"Where are you from?"

I almost said England. "America."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No."

"How long are you staying?"

"For the rest of my life, probably." Which was a relatively short time, in the grand theme of things.

"Can you read kanji?" asked a boy with glasses.

"Only a little."

"Do you want to be my friend?" Five of them asked that. I sighed, exhausted at that point. And Genkai still promised (threatened) to train me when I got back to the temple.

After the final class of the day, I again tried to approach Yusuke. He tried his damn hardest not to look at me as I hopped to the back of the room.

Only to be intercepted again.

"Black-chan, do you want to walk home with us?" It was three girls, their hair up and off their necks in similar fashion.

I shook my head, trying not to to frown at the sound of a name that wasn't mine. And one I'd asked them not to call me. But they probably just forgot because they weren't used to first name basis upon first acquaintance. Which was something I could totally relate to. I didn't want to be mean about it. But I side-stepped them as soon as I was able, only to see that Yusuke wasn't at his desk anymore.

I glanced around the small classroom, which was both similar and different from the ones I was used to back in England. I just barely caught a glimpse of a boy turning down the hall through the open door. Grabbing my things haphazardly, I sped up to catch him. It was Yusuke scurrying away, walking quickly for the door outside. I followed, his name on my tongue.

"Goon-chan!" a boy blocked my path. I schooled my expression, trying not to wince at his interference, or what he thought my name was. I faintly recognized him, but I couldn't quite put my finger on where I'd seen him before. "I was wondering if you remembered me?"

I stood on my toes to look past him, watching Yusuke vanish outside the door. I sighed. "Sorry, I don't."

He visibly deflated, his face flushing red. "O-oh, that's okay." I noticed how his eyes flitted about, landing on just about everything in the hall except for me. "A few months ago, I saw you on the school grounds when I was playing kickball…"

"Ah," I said. The boy I'd asked for Yusuke. The one who'd led me to him.

I glanced over his body, confused. When I'd last seen him, when he'd asked me to pass him the ball instead of getting it himself, he'd been thicker, chubbier. Now he was half that width. Not skinny, but I'd never heard of a little kid losing so much weight before. That must have been unhealthy, in its own right.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway… I just wanted to welcome you!" he bowed so quickly that I flinched, half-expecting him to tackle me. Then he scurried off, keeping his head low. I forgot about him right after, jogging outside.

Yusuke was a decent distance away, but there wasn't much as far as buildings that could hide him. Finally free of the confines of walls, I dashed down the steps of the school.

When I'd closed some of the distance, I cupped my hands over my mouth. "Oi, Urameshi."

He froze, his shoulders tense, and turned slowly. Almost like he was scared. I noticed for the first time then that he didn't have a back-pack. I closed the distance between us, an easy task now that he'd stopped walking.

He wasn't watching me approach, I noticed, but behind my shoulder at the children spilling out the doors of the school. His eyes were weary, angry, his gaze heavy and defiant.

I cocked my head to the side. "Are you headed home?"

His eyes flicked over to me. "What's it to you?"

Taken aback, I frowned and furrowed my brow. "Uh, didn't we decide to go that ramen place last time I was here?" I asked, thinking quick. I had a couple hundred yen in my pocket. Genkai had amended an allowance for bus fares and emergencies. I didn't think Yusuke's attitude problem fell into either of those two categories, but I didn't want him to be cross with me. As far as training, I would probably have to pay for that, too. Just not with money.

He was looking behind me again.

"Are you looking for somebody?" I asked, turning and scanning the crowd with him. Some of the kids were getting closer to us, but they were preoccupied with walking without toppling over (such is the life of little, uncoordinated children) or they were messing around with their friends. Yusuke shook his head vigorously, turning on his heel and walking quickly down the sidewalk. I jogged to catch up. "Okay, so we on, or what?"

He stopped, and I copied. He was looking down at his toes as if he was reading a book in a foreign language.

"Look," he started, kicking a small pebble to the fence we'd just barely cleared. I waited patiently for him to continue. "You don't have to talk to me."

"You're right, I don't."

His scowl deepened, and he didn't seem to appreciate my wit. "The other kids seem to like you, you know. They think you're cool."

"Do you?" I asked, weary. Maybe cool wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I wanted to be someone this boy respected.

Maybe it was because I knew who he would become. But that didn't settle well with me. Because as many lies as Pluto was forcing me to tell, I didn't want my feelings to be disingenuous too. I didn't want to be fake with Yusuke. He didn't deserve that, and neither did I.

And to be honest, looking at this lanky, short, temperamental kid, I wasn't thinking of the powerful spirit detective I knew of in the anime. That wasn't him. Right now he was a kid, and he was lonely and injured and he wouldn't ask for help. And right now, it wasn't because of his pride. It was because he didn't think anyone would listen. Because he'd already asked for help, and he'd been ignored.

Suddenly, I was really angry with Takano-sensei. Other than his drunkard mum, who else would he have gone to?

The other kids, maybe, but they all thought he'd grow up to be a punk. And they were all making sure he did.

Not that there was anything wrong with being a punk. That's what I had been, in my own way. Alison, too. And Gian.

They were the best kind people, if you asked me.

But this boy standing, closed off, beside me? He wasn't a punk, he was a kid.

I sighed. "They may like me, but I don't like them."

He blinked, craning his neck to look over at me incredulously. "Huh?"

"I like you much, much, much better." I smiled, the same smile that had graced me when I'd first seen him the morning. "So let's go get some ramen. I'm starving. And I haven't had any real Japanese ramen yet, because I was waiting for you."

He swallowed the catch in his throat. "Fine. You can't be a Japanese citizen until you've had real ramen."

I nodded as if I was in class and taking notes. And then we were walking together, laughing when I cracked a lame joke and he a cynical response. I didn't bother asking if he needed his parents' permission before we left - you know, two eight-year-olds alone? Under normal circumstances, that wasn't such a great idea. But both of our parents were gone, though in different ways. Not that Yusuke knew anything about mine, but he wouldn't know what it was like to have a responsible parent who liked to know their child's whereabouts. His mum was the polar opposite of Jeremiah, I thought.

We were about one block away from the school when I heard a soft, "How come?"

"Huh?"

He cleared his throat, as if he'd swallowed a bug and that was the only reason he'd sounded timid. "How come… you like me better than all the other kids?"

I shrugged. "It kind of felt like they weren't even trying to get to know me. They wouldn't leave me alone, sure, and they asked me maybe a million questions, but it wasn't because they really wanted to know. They just wanted to see if I was like them enough for them to like me."

I understood that, too. I really did. I was on that end of the spectrum just over nine months ago. They weren't bad people. They just didn't have the confidence to be their own person. And that was absolutely fine, because they could be that way with each other.

But those of us who had it figured out? We could do the same. No one was really alone, it just takes time to find those other people. And sometimes you get them mixed up, but that was part of life. Eventually, you figure it out.

"Oh. And probably because they all got my name wrong. That really pissed me off."

Yusuke laughed.

What can I say? My name meant the world to me - it had been a gift, from my mom. It was the only thing that I'd brought here from my old life. It was the only thing I was one hundred percent sure wasn't Heidi's. Or Pluto's.

And it wasn't perfect, or the best, but Yusuke said my name. And the effort that he put into it - that's how I could tell he was one of my people.

"Jeez, Gwen. You might have to wash your mouth out with soap."

"I was going to use ramen, actually. I heard it works better."

"It's nice to meet you, dear," Mrs. Yukimura smiled at me from across the counter. "Don't worry about paying - this one's on the house."

The ramen place Yusuke had been talking about? It was a small, house sized restaurant packed near a residential part of the city. It's atmosphere was welcoming and homey, and the air was warm and steamy from the stoves and pots. I sucked in a breath, in love with the scent that danced on my taste buds. I was suddenly starving.

"Ah, you're the best!" Yusuke exclaimed, crawling up onto one of the tall stools at the counter. After introducing me to Mrs. Yukimura, he told her I was his friend from school. The slender woman had placed her hand over her breast and sighed contentedly.

"A friend, eh?"

It took a few minutes for Mr. Yukimura, who was on shift in the kitchen at the moment, to deliver the bowls, but I almost drooled on my shirt when the steam hit my face.

"A friend, huh Yusuke-kun?"

Mr. Yukimura chuckled. I picked up my chopsticks, breaking them apart and nearly forgetting to say the customary words spoken before meals.

"Itadakimasu." I slipped the stream of noodles in my watery mouth and slurped. It tasted as heavenly as it smelled. I briefly glanced up to see three eager faces watching me take my first bite of authentic Japanese cuisine and laughed. "It's delicious!" Yusuke's shit-eating grin was worth the wait.

Mr. Yukimura smiled, leaning on the counter and smiling. Yusuke and I were the only customers on account of it being a little past four, well before most jobs would be getting off, so it looked like he was taking a short break to talk to us. He was sweaty under his arms and around his neck, and Yusuke must have been a regular customer.

I wondered how many time he'd wondered here, hungry and money-less. I wondered how many free meals they'd given him.

I decided I liked these people.

Mr. Yukimura was obviously a goofy man, and his wife was lovely and motherly. And they acted like Yusuke was their son. I frowned, worried; if they were so kind to Yusuke, why hadn't I seen them in the anime? Had something happened to them between now and when we'd be fourteen? Did they eventually reject Yusuke?

Then Yusuke asked, "shouldn't Keiko be home by now?"

I froze, mid slurp. Ah. Keiko's surname had been Yukimura, hadn't it? I should have figured.

Mr. Yukimura leaned closer. "What, do you miss your girlfriend?"

"Gross, old man!" Yusuke made a sour face and stuck out his tongue while Mr. Yukimura laughed vigorously. He was one of those people who threw their heads back and bellowed. He reminded me of a younger version of my grandpa, my mum's dad. He was squarish and hairy and thick.

"Don't tease him, dear," Mrs. Yukimura scolded, patting his shoulder with a small smile. "They're too young, yet. All they see is cooties." She turned to look across the counter. "To answer your question, Keiko's running errands for her grandmother today. Which is such a shame, Gwen-chan. She would have loved to have met you." She gave me a look, like she was sharing a secret with me. "You have to come for another visit, then."

I nodded. "Keiko-san is our age?" I knew she was, but they didn't know that. "Is she Yusuke's friend?"

Mr. Yukimura answered me. "Yep, she's the same age as you two. She met Yusuke at preschool. But now she goes to a different elementary school."

"Oh, she'll be so glad to hear you stopped by, Yusuke-kun!" Mrs. Yukimura exclaimed joyously. "She was so worried you'd forget her!"

Liked how I'd forgotten her. Or something important of hers. Which, considering it was just her surname, wouldn't have been too strange under normal circumstances.

I thanked Keiko's parents for the food profusely after telling them I needed to get home to my grandma. They hugged me and packed a box of dumplings for her. I was glad, since they could potentially fix one of Genkai's sour moods. Which I knew I would be facing the moment I took a step on temple grounds.

Yusuke offered to walk me to the bus station, which I took him up on. I tried to contribute to the conversation, but it was difficult when my mind was whirling, so I didn't know how invested I seemed.

Alone on the bus, tucked up in a seat, my feet dangling over the floor and the warm box of dumplings pressed in my lap, I allowed myself to frown and chew on the nail of my thumb.

Any other time, forgetting someone's name wouldn't really have been that big a deal...

But in my case, I was supposed to have a perfectly clear image of Yu Yu Hakusho in my head. Because of Pluto's spell on my memory.

Don't tell me...

"You. Little. Twerp."

Was Genkai mad?

"How dare you skip my training! You're the one who begged and begged and begged me to take you on as a disciple!"

Nope.

'Mad' was an understatement.

I hadn't even reached the last step of the mile long stairway, but there she was, waiting for me outside. And her eyes were burning with anger.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you I'd come home late," I said. I wasn't embarrassed, or even sorry that I'd gone out with Yusuke - just that I hadn't told her - and I wasn't acting like it. Lying to Genkai, I'd learned quickly during the last three months, was an even greater offense.

"I should just kick you out of the temple! It doesn't seem like you want to be here, anyway!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on. It was the first day of school."

"If I wanted lame-ass excuses, I'd marry a politician!"

I extended my arms. "I brought dumplings."

There was a stretch of charged silence, in which I was sure I was about to have my neck wrung. In fact, I actually braced for it. Instead, with a smirk - a smirk! - Genkai said, "well, no use crying over spilled milk. Or time lost. Since you're here now, we can finally begin our session for today!"

I gulped, watching her warily as she turned on her heel, her hands folded behind her back. She led me to the clearing on the other side of her gardens, which was where I usually trained.

I dropped my things in the dirt haphazardly, though I was a little nicer to the dumplings, and walked to the center of the field to meet my fate.

She doubled everything. Everything.

I was a quarter into the routine, which usually would have been half-way in, and I was already cursing that spitfire of a woman. Genkai was settled on her usual perch, a large stone that was taller than I was in my old body. She was sipping tea and generally enjoying my punishment.

"Stop worrying about what I'm doing and focus on sprinting," she ordered, infuriatingly calm. She must have felt the weight of my death glare, because her eyes had been closed.

I would have stuck my tongue out at her, it I wasn't afraid I might accidentally bite it off.

But to be honest, I had kind of been expecting something a lot worse. This wasn't so terribly bad - at least, I'd live.

Ba-bump.

My steps wavered. I blinked, stunned and confused.

Ba-Bump.

My fingers twitched, and I sucked in a breath. It was desperate and loud. Something was wrong.

BA-Bump.

My knees hit the ground, jarring my system. I hadn't even felt myself fall.

BA-BumP.

"Oi!"

BA-BUMP.

"Keep it together, kid, just for a little longer."

I saw Genkai's face above mine, but all I could think about was how I couldn't remember falling onto my back like this. I blinked. I cried out.

"I've just called an ambulance. Stay awake until they get here."

BA-BUMP.

"Mum?" I mewled.

Her face was all I could see, all I knew and remembered. I could practically smell her.

Black was crawling into my vision, just like when Jeremiah had his hands around my throat.

I passed out, clutching my chest, clutching my heart.

So, Gwen finally gets to school, and thanks to Genkai, it's actually the right one! And she patches things up with Yusuke, so that's good. But we leave off when Gwen's in a pickle. Let me know what you think will happened next! I love hearing your theories!

Guys - MMM is officially my longest fic! Word wise. We managed to get through 60 thousand words last chapter. It's just so strange, this fic was stuck at 10 thousand words and three chapters for the longest time, and now…! :)

To the friend who left the review as a guest: Yes, Gwen's experience as a ghost reflects Yusuke's at the start of Yu Yu Hakusho. And yes, this was on purpose. :)

Also, in case you're curious, this is what Gwen wrote on the board:

グゥエン ブラｸ

(Guuen Buraku)

Gwen Black

(vertically, as well)

Though she should have written them the other way around. I focused a lot on her name this chapter, because I wanted certain things to be clear early on. When I picked the name Gwen, I knew there would be certain issues for her in Japan, and I wanted it to be as realistic as possible.

Guys, I'm so excited for what's to come. I couldn't have done it without your support. I'm just so grateful.

As always, thanks so much for the love, guys! You're all so amazing! And thanks for reading! Please leave a review, while you're here!

~Mao

じゃ、また！