CHAPTER 25: DEPARTURE

'This is stupid, there's no reason to feel like this, it's not like I'm leaving my home world, I already did that and breezed through it.' Of course that could have been because a part of her hadn't actually believed it would happen, in other words, she'd been an idiot. 'It's different this time, I'm just leaving one country and it's not like I'm doing it on my own.' Fay still hesitated in getting on the escalator. She didn't know why but it felt so…final this time.

A part of her felt like turning around and running…where? It wasn't like she could go back home, her home didn't even exist in this world. 'Come on Fay, don't be dumb.' She stayed still, looking down at the ground until a pair of black shoes appeared in her vision.

"You are nervous, it is understandable."

Fay looked up, her gaze caught on Kurama's. "Everything will be far different than what you are used to, even if this is a different world, this city still held its similarities to the one you come from."

She nodded, unable to speak.

"Where we're going nothing will be familiar."

She nodded again, silently screaming at herself to stop acting like an idiot and get on the damn escalator before she embarrassed herself further.

"It will be alright." He held out a hand to her. "You will not be alone, I will be there and so will everyone else. There is no need to fear." He smiled reassuringly, his hand still held out to her.

'That's right…even if everything else around me changes, Kurama will still be there.' Fay reached out a hand and placed it in his. He wrapped her smaller hand in his and led her onto the escalator. In that moment, her hand in his, she felt inexplicably happy.

Until Yusuke's voice popped her bubble. "You guys done flirting down there? We're gonna be late," He called down.

'Yusuke you idiot!' she thought her cheeks reddening. "We were not flirting, we were having a conversation!" she snapped up at him.

"If that's what you wanna call it, just hurry up. I don't wanna have to listen to a lecture from pacifier breath about being late." He turned to catch up with the others.

"Pacifier breath?" Fay asked confused. Yusuke glanced over his shoulder at her. "Koenma, and once you meet him you'll see why my nickname describes him so well."

Fay sweat dropped. 'Okaay.' She was not touching that one.

He suddenly smirked, turning around and walking backward. "So…something you haven't told me?" his tone was teasing.

Fay frowned in confusion once more. "What are you talking about?"

"Yusuke,' Kurama interrupted before Yusuke could speak. "Perhaps you should walk correctly."

Yusuke glanced over his shoulder, stopping in time to avoid colliding with a couple. "I think that's a good idea." He turned, handing his ticket over as they approached the gate.

Fay reached for her jacket pocket, felt a tug and looked down. "Sorry!" she apologized, snatching her hand from Kurama's. She'd completely forgotten that she still held his hand; obviously that's what Yusuke had noticed and misinterpreted. For a second it looked as if he would say something but in the end Kurama simply nodded and handed his ticket over, then waited until she did the same.

They boarded the plane and although Fay would have tried to keep a distance from Kurama, the isle didn't give her that option though finding their seats was easy enough, courtesy of Botan waving them over from where she sat...in Fay's seat.

"I do hope you don't mind my taking your place, Fay, but I just can't stand the window view seat."

"No…problem," Fay managed in a forcibly pleasant voice. She shot Botan a glare to which the grim reaper responded with a grin. Fay had been counting on not sitting close to Kurama so she could compose herself and not act like an idiot again, so of course she would end up sitting right next to him…for a little over nine hours.

He stepped aside to let her through then took his seat while she silently wondered if it was too late to turn and bolt, the voice over the intercom said that yes, yes it was. It wasn't like she hated the thought of sitting next to him; it made her happy and nervous at the same time. In other words, a wreck.

Fay didn't know what she should say to him, should she apologize for keeping a hold of his hand…was it too late and she shouldn't bother…what was he going to say before…was he mad at her or was she making a mountain out of a molehill?

It was either the butterflies in her stomach acting up a storm or she shouldn't have had that last bag of peanuts because her stomach was tying itself in knots and her heart was beating way too fast. 'Come on, Fay. Don't do anything stupid.' This meant she'd sit there like a statue for the next nine hours. Yeah…he would definitely not notice that.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Fay silently applauded herself for not jumping off the seat like a spooked cat. "No, I'm fine." She managed in a barely normal tone.

"There is no reason to be nervous; surely you have been on a plane before?" He asked gently.

She nodded, "Yeah, I have…just not this last year,but I'm sure I'll be fine, once we're in the air." 'Liar.' She added to herself silently. Why couldn't Botan just have let her sit next to Kuwabara, or better yet why couldn't she have gotten the seat next to Hiei, maybe she could have convinced him to finally let her see his Jagan eye, once they got to their destination of course. And it wasn't like Kurama wouldn't have switched seats with Botan if she had asked him. Which meant Botan was plotting again.

Resigning herself, Fay leaned back against the backrest and tried to relax as the plane finally took off. Trying to think of a topic for conversation it wasn't until the third time that Fay realized she'd been nodding off. 'That's weird.' She really didn't feel tired or at least not tired enough that she should be nodding of like that.

"If you're tired rest," Kurama said noticing her nodding off. Fay jerked herself awake for the fourth time and turned to Kurama as he spoke. "It will be quite some time before we arrive and you still need to recuperate your strength."

'Well that's one way of avoiding conversation,' Fay thought wryly. She rubbed her eyes. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought." She stifled a yawn, leaned back and promptly fell asleep.

They hit some turbulence not long after she'd fallen asleep, it caused her sleeping form to slide and Kurama caught her, pulling up the arm rest between them and settling her head on his lap.

"Well, isn't she a regular sleeping beauty." Yusuke peeked over Kurama's seat once the turbulence had passed.

"Apparently she still needs rest." Kurama said.

"Well yeah, I can see that." What Yusuke wanted to know is if she'd go on sleeping like before until she regained all the energy her body had lost in fixing itself. It'd be really annoying if she suddenly dropped in the middle of say…the street.

He sat back down and thought. 'We should just get her an energy drink and that'll fix it.' Although he doubted that a normal one would do. 'Maybe Mary Anne knows about something like that.' It would definitely fix the problem. He'd try calling her now but he doubted the people here would appreciate a pint size college student showing up with her lunch out of nowhere. 'Guess it'll have to wait.'

'Oh no, Fay! This isn't part of the plan!' Botan fumed when she caught sight of Fay sleeping. This was supposed to have given them nine hours to get to know each other, surely they would have gotten somewhere in that amount of time. 'Well…I guess if she's still tired there's no help for it, but even if she does sleep for one or two hours, that still leaves a few hours left over.' Satisfied with her reorganized plan, Botan sat back and opened the magazine she'd been looking through. After all nothing of interest would happen until Fay woke up.

Unfortunately for her, three hours later she was wondering if anyone would notice if she threw the magazine at Fay…maybe it'd wake her up. 'She can't sleep for much longer…right?'

Four hours later Botan heard a rip and realized her magazine was now in pieces. 'Oh for the love- Why isn't she waking up!?' Even the flight attendant had passed by, giving Fay a worried look. Later on she walked by again and asked Kurama if her friend needed a doctor.

Kurama turned it down politely of course, but Botan would think the loud sound of a kid making a racket would wake Fay up. It didn't. Instead she continued sleeping…like a rock. She didn't even move or make a sound!

It wasn't until the plane landed that Fay finally stirred, blinking sleep from her eyes and sitting up.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake, you were garnering some…unwanted attention."

Still half asleep Fay looked up at Kurama and blinked, wondering why he looked so close…

"Gah!" She pulled back, hit her head on the back of the seat and would have fallen if Kurama hadn't pulled her forward, which ended with her on his lap and blinking like an idiot.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned. "That's the second time you've hit your head."

"Look who's finally awake." Yusuke rested his arms on the backrest and looked down at her. "Had a nice nap?"

"Umm…yeah, what time is it?" she asked frowning. She was still just a little groggy but she couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or so.

"It's eight p.m. on Sunday since we left on a Saturday, and as you can see, we have arrived." Kurama informed her.

Fay finally realized that people were gathering their things and leaving the plane. 'I slept through the whole thing? Great, now he must think I'm lazy!'

"I never knew someone could sleep so long without at least waking up once." Kuwabara added as he stood. Fay shot Botan, Hiei, and Yusuke a look that said 'anyone want to add more, do it at your own risk.' About to speak, Botan snapped her mouth shut, rethought her words and spoke. "The point is that we're here, so let's get going. Koenma said that Keiko and Shizuru would be here to welcome us."

"You might also want to get off Kurama, he needs his legs." Hiei smirked over his shoulder at Fay as headed down the aisle.

Fay jumped up, scooting out into the aisle. "I'm sorry!" she apologized, wondering how low she'd sunk in his eyes…then decided she didn't want to find out.

"It's alright, no harm done." He assured her calmly as he stood.

Yusuke snorted. "You sure about that? You did act as her pillow for the flight."

She needed to start carrying with her a mini size wall, then she wouldn't have to wonder where one was when it was needed. "Come on, we're the last ones of the flight." Yusuke grabbed her jacket as he passed and dragged her along.

"He did?" she whispered embarrassed. Yusuke grinned down at her. "Yeah but since your head's full of water-" He jerked his head away as she tried to connect her fist with it. 'One of these days, right in the-'

"We hope you enjoyed your flight." The airline attendant bowed as they passed her, interrupting Fay's thoughts. She smiled and followed Yusuke out as the attendant turned to the others.

As soon as they were out, a woman walked up to them, handing Fay a card. "What's this?" Fay frowned reading it.

"You may want to give it a try dear." The woman patted her on the arm before moving away.

"Center for Sleep Disorders." Yusuke read over her shoulder and burst out laughing.

"I do not have a sleeping disorder!" Fay shouted after the woman. "Who do you think I am, an Elm street kid?!" For her troubles Fay received a warning look from a passing security guard.

Fay decided she could do without knowing if Kurama was laughing, but since everyone else was… She huffed and stomped off to claim her luggage, until she realized she had no idea which way to head. 'Okay so I'll just follow the signs…as soon as I find them.' She started looking around wondering where they'd put them.

"In case you were wondering, it's over this way." Botan caught up with her and led her back to the others.

"Wait…how do you know?" Fay asked.

Kuwabara pointed, "The sign says so."

Fay looked up, yup that was the sign. "Well I'm not seven feet tall! How am I supposed to know where it is?" she defended herself.

"You could try looking up," Hiei smirked.

Yusuke laughed, "Yeah, even Hiei can do that."

Hiei's smirk turned into a scowl. "Exactly what do you mean by that, Yusuke, and I suggest you think over your answer carefully."

"Yeah, you tell him Hiei! Stick up for the little people!" Fay cheered.

He turned his glare on her while beside her Botan covered her mouth, she definitely heard Kurama cough and a glance at him told her he'd turned away. Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't bother trying, they burst into loud laughter.

Hiei glowered at her, his crimson gaze clearly stating this was all her fault.

"Oh look, we're almost there." Fay said cheerfully, turning and heading to the escalators while her friends got a hold of themselves behind her.

Fay stepped on first, followed by Botan who clapped her hands in delight as she spotted someone. "There they are I told you they'd be waiting." She said cheerfully to the others then turned to Fay. "Now you get to meet them. I just know you'll get along great."

Fay was still trying to figure out who Botan was talking about when Kuwabara rushed past them.

"Yukina!" he shouted happily. "I'm back my love! Did you miss me?" Arms open wide he raced toward a smiling girl with light green hair tied in a ponytail, and wearing a light blue kimono tied with a dark blue sash.

The girl waved, "Hello, Kazuma."

Kuwabara never made it to the girl however, a tall young woman with brown hair and a slim figure stopped him cold by grabbing the back of his shirt. "And where are you going?" she asked.

"Oh! Shizuru! I didn't see you there." Kuwabara laughed nervously, his hand behind his head.

"You didn't see me? That's not the greeting I was expecting after you've been away so long!" Kuwabara backed away or tried, Shizuru still held him by the scruff of his shirt. "I taught you to be more polite than that!"

"Uhh…that's his sister?" Fay asked pointing at the girl bullying Kuwabara around.

Botan nodded, "The one and only," She led Fay over to Yukina while a dark brown hair girl walked over to Yusuke, carrying what looked like a blue stuffed animal with long ears.

'So that's his girlfriend?' Fay glanced their way before Botan recalled her attention. "Fay, this is Yukina, she's Hi-" She suddenly stopped cold, nervously glancing over at Hiei for a second before turning back. "I mean, she's a friend and staying with Yusuke's teacher, Genkai."

Fay shot Botan a suspicious glance but bowed as the shorter girl did. "It is very nice to meet you." Yukina greeted.

"Nice to meet you too, Yukina." Fay said smiling.

"Oh, Shizuru, come here." Botan waved the taller girl over, who dragged Kuwabara by the ear with her. "This is Fay, the one I told you about on the phone a while back."

"Shizuru, could you let go of my ear, now." Kuwabara whined.

"Fine, but go get the luggage. I'm expecting a present from you."

Muttering under his breath, Kuwabara walked away while Shizuru turned to study Fay.

"So you're the one…all those factions are after." She said her tone pensive.

"Unfortunately I haven't convinced them to drop it, but I'm hopeful." Fay suddenly realized she'd held her hand out and was about to retract it and bow when Shizuru took a hold of it. "No need to-" Shizuru suddenly jerked her hand away, taking a step back.

Puzzled, Fay looked down at her hand wondering at Shizuru's reaction.

"Is something wrong?" Kurama asked as he joined them. Fay shook her head, not really knowing what to say.

"What, she shock you or something?" Yusuke wondered over to them with Keiko at his side.

"No…it's just…" Frowning, Shizuru looked down at the hand that had held Fay's. "There's an ocean inside you, for a moment I felt like I was drowning in it."

Fay blinked in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

Shizuru scratched her head, sliding her hair back as she looked from Yusuke to Hiei, then Kurama. "You can't feel it?"

Yusuke shook his head. "No, I mean if you're talking about that vibe she gives off, we already talked about it. Some kind of light or something but definitely not an ocean."

"Yusuke's right, I've never felt what you just described," Kurama added.

"No, it's not a light," Shizuru said. "It was definitely an ocean but…" she looked pensively at Fay who tried not to squirm under her gaze. "It's so much power, how can you live with all of it inside you?"

'Ah, so that's it,' Fay thought. She'd never actually met anyone who could sense the full stretch of her power…actually even she couldn't sense it. Fay knew there was power trapped inside her but; well it was part of her so she never gave it any thought.

"I guess…the same way a glass holds water inside it without spilling; I was created to hold it without it giving me any bother." At least that's as close an explanation as Fay could give. Wizard, she was not.

Shizuru smiled, "Guess you're right."

"Hold it, are you saying she holds that much power inside her?" Yusuke leaned in closer to Fay, studying her. Fay stepped back getting annoyed. "I'm not a bug under a microscope so move it Yusuke."

"Yusuke!" The brown hair girl Fay was assuming was Keiko, snapped. He straightened, backing a few steps from Fay. "Uh, right. Fay, this is Keiko." He presented her.

Keiko turned a smile on her and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Fay. Yusuke and Botan have told me all about you, I'm glad we're finally meeting."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." Fay hesitantly grasped Keiko's hand but when Keiko merely shook it she relaxed. 'So, I guess it's just Shizuru.'

Now, if she could just get Hiei to stop starring at her like that. She shot him an inquiring look but as soon as she did he turned away. Fay turned back to Keiko, about to ask her about the stuffed animal when Yusuke spoke.

"Fay holding an ocean aside, I think we might want to help Kuwabara." He suggested, pointing to where Kuwabara struggled with all their luggage.

"That would help!" Kuwabara exclaimed trying to stop their baggage from spilling all over the floor.

"Oops, I'll just go get that." Botan said as one of the suitcases hit the floor.

"I can carry my stuff," Fay added walking over to help.

"Don't bother. Kuwabara can take care of that," Shizuru said.

"Hey!" Kuwabara protested.

"Besides,' Shizuru continued. "We have three taxis waiting outside, which reminds me, we better hurry up." They walked over to Kuwabara, unaware of the silent discussion two of their group members were having.

~What are you thinking, Hiei?~

~That that's an interesting way of putting it, especially when we've seen little proof of her power~

~True, but remember she just found about this not long ago. Fay has little to no recollection of her past, and even if she did, she is still unable to use that power. Remember what she said, she is merely the vessel~

~A vessel that many covet. According to their own words, her power would give them the ability to completely change worlds~

Kurama turned sharply in his direction. ~You are not seriously thinking of…~

Hiei gave Kurama an annoyed look. ~No, I'm not. I have little use for a power that is not mine, but I was beginning to wonder exactly how great her power is when she can't even defend herself~

Kurama smiled, turning his gaze to her. ~From what Shizuru said, it is great. If it feels like an ocean to her…~ His gaze turned worried yet determined. ~It is imperative we let no one take her. The words of the faction members we have met lead me to believe that they will not stop at one world and it is very probable that they will destroy many worlds in their conquest~

Hiei shot him an inquiring look. ~And this determination of yours not to let anyone take her has nothing to do with your feelings for her?~ His tone was unbelieving.

Kurama glanced at Hiei then away. ~What I feel matters little; after all she seems to prefer your company to mine. At least from you, she does not flinch as if afraid to be struck~

Hiei snorted in disbelief. ~I never pegged you for someone dense, Kurama~

Kurama turned back to Hiei. ~What exactly do you mean by that?~

"Kurama, Hiei! We're going to leave you behind if you don't hurry up!" Yusuke called.

Their conversation interrupted, the two headed for the group near the doors.

"Not to sound rude or anything but…why are you carrying that stuffed…bunny/penguin around with you?" Fay asked Keiko.

On Shizuru's other side Kuwabara burst out laughing. "You hear that, Yusuke? A bunny!"

Looking miffed, Yusuke glared over at him. "Let's see how funny you find it when your head's stuck through a wall!"

Confused, Fay looked from Kuwabara to Yusuke then to Keiko when she started to explain. "Oh, Puu's not a stuffed animal; he's just trying to act that way because there are so many people around. He's actually Yusuke's spirit beast."

"What's a spirit beast?" Fay asked.

"I can explain that," Botan cut in from Keiko's other side. Grumbling, Yusuke stomped ahead to where the taxis waited.

Botan explained to Fay about the first time she'd met Yusuke and about him getting the egg and feeding it his spirit energy, then using that energy to save Keiko and later on in something called the Dark Tournament, it had finally hatched, reflecting Yusuke's inner self.

Fay burst into laughter patting Yusuke on the head. "Why Yusuke, a bunny penguin, I never knew you were so cute inside. Maybe we should get you a t-shirt," she covered her mouth trying to muffle her laughter when Yusuke threatened her with a fist. "That says I'm with furry."

"Anyone else starts laughing again they're gonna get a black eye!" Yusuke snapped before all, but Kuwabara, could start laughing. They didn't listen but Yusuke took out his annoyance on Kuwabara.

"Hey, I'm not the one that started this again! It was Fay." He pointed at her with one hand while the other rubbed his bruised cheek.

"Yusuke already owed me from before," Fay said smugly. "This makes us even for laughing at the squirrels."

Keiko looked from her to Yusuke. "What squirrels?" she asked.

Yusuke smirked turning to Fay. "Yeah, Fay. Why don't you explain to them about the squirrels? Or maybe I should just tell them about the granny incident."

Her eyes narrowed and she glared. "You wouldn't dare."

He grinned. "Watch me."

"Oh, the taxis, we better get on." Keiko moved past them heading for one of the taxis.

'Safe!' Fay thought in relief. She stuck out her tongue at Yusuke and ran for the third taxi before he could get close enough to bonk her on the head.

Of course, had Fay given it any thought, she would have followed to whichever taxi Botan climbed into but as it turned out, she ended up sharing the taxi with Kurama and Hiei.

She would have started calling herself three different types of stupid, at least inside her mind, but since Hiei was there and he could read her mind, Fay decided to keep her thoughts as blank as possible. It wasn't like she minded Hiei, Kurama…okay she didn't mind being in his company either, on the contrary, it was just that it came back to her that she'd used him as a pillow for a whole nine hour flight…she was trying to avoid those thoughts.

"How are you feeling now?"

Kurama's question startled her out of her thoughts. "Oh…I'm fine."

"I'm glad to see you're no longer nervous." Kurama added.

"Yeah…I mean no. I mean I couldn't be nervous, not when everyone's been so nice, and umm…you…were right. There wasn't any reason for me to feel so unsure before." She needed to watch her mouth a little more closely, she'd almost slipped there.

He smiled. "I'm glad."

Silence descended and it was starting to feel awkward so Fay fished around for something to say when she remembered something. "Hiei?"

He glanced her way. "What?"

"Where's your sibling?" she asked. His eyes narrowed. "I thought I told you that I don't have any."

"I remember you saying that but I thought you just didn't want to talk about it at that moment, but I'm pretty sure you were…" Fay trailed off. Why did she feel like she was missing something? 'It has to do with that day…but what is it?' If she could just pinpoint it.

"Perhaps you should tell her, Hiei," Kurama suggested. "It already appears that Fay has her suspicions, what if she was to figure it out and…speak it out loud in front of her?"

Narrowed eyed, Hiei turned to look at Kurama, not buying that innocent expression for one moment, then turned to Fay. 'He has a point.' He'd spend enough time with Fay to know that she sometimes tended to blurt out what she was thinking…or not thinking for that matter.

Then again, Fay couldn't be worse than Botan. The detective's assistant had managed to keep the secret so far. "Fine, tell her, I don't care." He turned to look out the window, wishing he'd decided to meet them at their destination; of course the problem was that he wasn't sure what their destination was.

Puzzled, Fay turned from Hiei to Kurama and back to him. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want too, Hiei. I don't need to-"

"You've already met her. Yukina is Hiei's sister. She is an ice apparition from Ice World which floats above Demon World. Although she does know that she has a brother and has come to the human world to seek him, she does not know it is Hiei, and he prefers it that way."

Fay turned back to Hiei. "But…why? If she's your sister shouldn't she know that you're-"

"No," he interrupted her. "This is my choice; I don't need you or anyone else giving me pointers on how I should handle my affairs, and by the way stay out of them and keep your mouth shut." He turned away ending the conversation in his mind.

"I'm sorry; I just think that's sad for the both of you," Fay whispered.

"Hn!"

"It is his choice; there is little we can do about it." Kurama answered quietly.

Kurama was right, and she knew how stubborn Hiei could be so there was little she could do about it, especially if everyone else knew and he hadn't listened to them… "Wait…I'm taking a guess here and saying that Kuwabara doesn't know…and you're okay with your sister being his girlfriend?"

Hiei snapped around to look at her, a glare in his eyes. "He is not Yukina's boyfriend; the fool's merely too blind to see when he's not wanted!"

Fay thought back to the airport and frowned. "You sure about that, she was really nice to him."

"Yukina's nice to just about everyone, it's her nature. You insist on being nice to me, that doesn't necessarily mean you like me." Hiei scoffed, then his eyes widened in surprised as Fay hugged him. "Of course it means I like you, Hiei. We already went over this, remember? You're my cuddly little teddy bear!" She teased.

"Remove your hands from around me before I make you regret it!" He snapped.

"Aaah is Hiei feeling a little shy now?"

Hiei gritted his teeth, glancing at Kurama. "This is your last warning I-"

"Perhaps you should do as Hiei says, Fay."

At his tone, Fay released Hiei and turned to look at Kurama. "Kurama…is something wrong?"

AN: R&R See you next chapter ^^

NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW

"Fine guilt trip me…"

"Is something wrong?"

"Don't you see? If I don't intervene…"

"I must know Fay…"