Chapter Ten

A Different World

Ashley couldn't quite tell why, exactly, she was feeling so nervous as her Tuesday late class approached. The feeling that twisted her stomach into butterflies didn't even start until Tuesday morning, but at the day slipped by, she realized she hadn't felt quite this nervous for her late class since the very first time they met.

She knew it had everything to do with the exchange that had occurred between her students, Ren and Tetsuya, and her friends at the festival on Saturday, but why it was making her nervous was a mystery.

Since meeting them, she'd learned that neither Ren nor Tetsuya would ever hurt another person, let alone a fly, purposefully. Ren was the type of person to always be smiling about something, usually whatever mischief she'd caused. She enjoyed making people laugh, even at her own expense. Tetsuya, as intimidating as he was, was merely a very large, very muscular, teddy bear. After her talk with Oliver the night after the trip to Nikko, she'd mostly forgotten his hateful words until she realized who she would get to see that Tuesday night. Even as they were walking in, Ashley was watching Ren, Tetsuya, and even Mako joke around in the back of the class - where they sat every class - and wondered if people ever said the things her brother had said to their faces. They certainly didn't deserve that hate from anyone.

Tetsuya had picked up on it immediately. "Miss Ashley, are you feeling alright?"

A blush had risen immediately to be caught pondering her thoughts so easily, and she replied casually, remarking on how tired she was. Tetsuya's expression immediately told her he didn't buy it and he subsequently had stayed until after the class had left at the end; Ren and Mako waited for him outside.

"I know you're the teacher, and we're different," he had begun sheepishly and not looking directly at her, "But I can tell something is bothering you something fierce. If you ever want to talk, I'll listen."

His gesture had touched her so much that she almost told him what was on her mind, but thought better of it. If he did have to deal with such hatred, even on a daily basis, it wouldn't come from her, even if she was only expressing her worries. Isla could help with that.

Still, her eyes had teared up just the slightest bit and she'd smiled, but unable to keep her worries out of her smile completely, it had been a half of a thing.

Tetsuya, somehow, had an affinity to read people.

Whatever stress had caused their interaction on Saturday to go south was important, and although she was curious to ask, she also didn't want to put them in a bad position. Any of them.

Nobuyuki was the first in class that evening, an hour before it was scheduled to start. Headphones shoved in his ears, he headed to the far back corner - a change from his usual first or second row seat in front of her desk - dropped his backpack, and fell into the seat as if he was on his very last leg. Judging from the bags under his eyes, he could definitely use sleep.

Ashley, sitting at her desk, was about to greet the young man when two of her three demons shuffled into the classroom. Like Nobuyuki, they both went straight to their seats at the back of the classroom, talking in low voices.

There was no mention on the strange conversation they had had on Saturday.

Knowing she wasn't going to sleep at night if she didn't ask after it, Ashley directed her question towards Ren. Mako always had a very closed-off sort of personality. She tried specifically not to ask him questions unless she realized she hadn't called on him in awhile. When she did, he would stay quiet for a moment and stare at her as if he was sizing her up, before answering.

It was completely unnerving.

"Ren!" Ashley called the demoness' name, gaining her attention. The girl lifted a brow, turning back to Ashley for a moment. It was a general rule that unless they wanted to specifically practice their English skills before or after class they were welcome to speak Japanese. So, Ashley spoke in Japanese. "I'm sorry we didn't get to talk more at the festival, but it was good to see you and Tetsuya!"

Ren smiled, but it was painfully stiff. "We didn't realize you knew those people," she replied, glancing back at Mako for a brief moment before turning around fully in her chair. "Do you know them well?"

The question was on the probing side, which struck Ashley as very odd, but she didn't linger on it. "Not very," she responded, picking up her pen and fiddling with it absentmindedly. Ren took a deep breath, straightening in her chair, as if she was convincing herself of something. Continuing, Ashley said, "Yukina, uh, the teal-haired girl, she was my guide here when I first arrived. She introduced me to her husband and their friends. That's all, really."

The conversation died awkwardly. She noticed that Nobuyuki looked like he was paying attention, watching their exchange. At some point in the time that he'd been in the classroom he'd put away his earbuds.

"It looked like you and Tetsuya knew them, though." Ashley worded her question very carefully, very aware of Ren sitting on the edge of her seat looking as if she was trying not to bolt. "Do you?"

Honestly, she looked pained. "It's not really for me to say," she replied finally, as if she had been holding in the words.

Ren glanced up at Ashley, meeting her gaze. Worry painted through her irises.

Understanding that this conversation was physically uncomfortable for Ren, just as the anticipation of the conversation had been for Ashley, Ashley changed the subject to the weather and didn't mention the festival or how Ren had known her friends again.

It was only after she'd gotten home that she realized Tetsuya had never shown up, and she'd never asked after him.

Ashley decided, as Knox completed his business, that she would ask after the demon if he didn't show up again on Thursday.

Surely he would be there, though.

Tetsuya was, in fact, absent again on Thursday.

Ren and Mako slipped into their desks over an hour before class was supposed to begin for the second time that week. Nobuyuki wasn't far behind them. It was so early, in fact, that Ashley did a double take at the clock. Usually she was out of her classroom this early, still at the student center preparing for her class. It was luck of the draw that she had prepared completely both days and didn't need to go over last minute preparations.

Without preamble, all three slipped into their own studies. Nobuyuki appeared to be listening to something with his head on his desk, earbuds in his ears once more. Ren had her English textbook open, and Mako had a textbook of his own as well as earbuds.

Four people were in her classroom and no one was speaking to each other.

That was probably the strangest thing about it: her classroom, since day one, had been an open and inviting place. It was the type of place that her students always felt welcome to include her on conversations, and someone was always talking, even before class started.

The room, however, was dead-quiet. It was as if someone had died.

Ashley perched on the edge of her desk, quickly taking a peek at her cell phone in hope that a text from Hiei might be there. All week she'd been trying to refrain from checking her phone too often. Again, as usual, there was nothing. She told herself that she shouldn't care this much, but she did.

For a moment, she just watched her students study. Ren, feeling the gaze of her teacher, glanced up hesitantly from beneath her lashes, not daring to move. "Ren," Ashley spoke Japanese, catching the girl's eye. "Where is Tetsuya? I never see you two without the other."

Ashley could have sworn every person in the room stopped breathing.

Ren tensed, which was incredible, because she was already like a live wire.

"What did I miss?" Ashley asked, knowing that must be the only answer. She must have missed something or said something? But why would they be here so early if she'd offended them somehow? Surely this wasn't still from their run-in on Saturday.

Ren watched her, her head tilted to the side and her eyes critical. "You didn't hear, did you?"

She wasn't being critical, or rude, or angry, but her voice held a disappointment that Ashley wasn't sure quite where it came from.

"Didn't hear what?"

Mako had sat up a little straighter, and was already looking at something on his phone. Ren never broke eye contact with Ashley, mouth slightly agape as the wheels in her mind turned.

After a moment, Mako handed his phone to Ren, tapping her on the shoulder with it. Taking it, she double checked something and then held it out to Ashley.

Ashley slipped off her desk and stepped closer, taking the phone when she was finally within reach.

"Oh!" Her stomach dropped and churned and for a split second, she lost feeling in her legs while her vision became star-filled.

The photo that greeted her was a disturbing image of a demon, it's skin purple from bruising, limbs twisted and at wrong angles. It's face was beaten so far in that the demon was no longer recognizable. Parts of its body was burned away, leaving nothing but bone, muscle, and innards.

There was no gender that was left on this body. Whomever they were, they were now indistinguishable as anyone but a demon. The demon had had wings, which were ripped off, torn, and broken against the grass, the blood a stark crimson against the green trees and bushes.

"That happened in Northern Japan. Up by Sendai." Ren explained, her voice disembodied as Ashley's mind was caught up in the photos.

Photo after photo after photo of the crime scene, or maybe it was photos that the person responsible had taken as a trophy and posted? Who knew. But it was disturbing.

When Ashley could no longer handle the images for any longer, she handed the phone back to Ren. Ren, however, when she took it, didn't break eye contact. "They found him Monday morning."

"Tetsuya cannot pass as well as we can," Mako finally spoke, taking his phone back from Ren and pocketing it. "He didn't feel safe enough to come to school this week. He thought it would be better if he disappeared for a bit."

The thought just about broke her heart. Ashley couldn't move, couldn't bring her feet to walk away. These two demons before her felt safe enough to come, but they still came early before class. Was it to avoid potential conflict?

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't know." The words felt hollow and flimsy as wet paper. What were her words weighted against something as terrible as this? A disappointment filled her, but still, it felt as if it was a million worlds away. She of course knew someone it affected, but it didn't feel real.

"I FINALLY CAUGHT YOU." Isla screeched through the phone as soon as Ashley picked up the line.

Still thinking about her last class and what she'd seen on Mako's phone, Ashley replied with a soft, "Mmm." Knox had been super happy to see her, dancing in a circle and bringing her a toy again and again so that Ashley could throw it for him.

Isla caught on to Ashley's mood immediately. "Tired?"

Ashley paused, thinking about how Isla would react if she told her dearest friend what she'd learned today about the death of that demon. Likely, she would say an, "Oh, that's terrible," or something along those lines and move on to the next subject. It wasn't anything against Isla, but really, it didn't affect her, and really, it didn't affect Ashley, either. It was terrible, but really, what could she do about it? No point in bringing up an empty subject.

"Something like that," Ashley replied instead and avoided the subject completely. "Anyway, how have you been?" She tried to inject some energy in her voice to try to sound at least halfway attentive, but even to her it sounded flat.

The two of them caught up for nearly an hour, talking back and forth and trading stories about their own lives and the events that had been filling them. Eventually, Isla pulled out the details about Ashley's "breakup" with Hiei, even though she wasn't entirely sure that was the correct term for what had transpired between them. The long and short of it was that Hiei wanted absolutely nothing to do with her anymore.

"Maybe that's for the best though, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked. For the last hour since she'd been home she'd had this overwhelming feeling like she was being watched. The blinds on her window were open, but night had fallen and covered the world beyond with darkness. It had felt like someone had been watching her for several days, which, as she realized that the blinds were open, made her immediately stand. With the darkness outside, and light inside, anyone would be able to see inside her flat.

With that thought, Ashley twisted the rod for the blinds to close.

"Oh, you don't know, do you?" Isla asked. Somehow that phrase seemed to be the phrase of the day. Don't know, didn't hear... For the second time that day Ashley felt horribly out of the loop. The phone clunked hard and Ashley yanked the phone away from her ear.

Nothing happened on Isla's side; Ashley pulled the phone closer to her ear again. "Isla?"

Isla's voice came through the receiver like she was at the end of a tunnel. "I've got you on speaker phone."

There was another clunk through the receiver, and a moment later Ashley's phone chimed with the arrival of a new message. Before she could even pull her phone away to look at what Isla had just sent her, Isla came back on the phone. "I've just sent it to you," she said, stating the obvious. "But I'll explain it: essentially, Hiei is a demon."

Silence reigned on the phone. Ashley could have sworn she forgot how to breathe. Isla, however, seemed to be expecting something a bit more dramatic. "Did you hear me?"

Hiei… a demon.

"How do you- How do you know?" Ashley stuttered, having frozen in the middle of her flat.

"Well," Isla began with a huff. "If you follow the link I've sent you, not only has he been captured in several photos that deal directly with what's going on with the demons-" For a brief moment Ashley wondered how Isla knew what Hiei looked like, and then remembered the two photos she'd snuck of him at Nikko National Park to send to Isla so she would at least know what the guy she was spending so much time with looked like. Isla insisted, in case Ashley disappeared. You can never be too careful, her text had said. "But he's actually labeled as one of the go-betweens with demon world. I mean, he's carrying a sword and is right in the middle of all this stuff. They don't let just anyone carry a sword if I'm remembering Japanese culture right."

Ashley didn't say a word for what felt like several minutes. Isla finally sighed. "If he's not a demon, he's a very talented human. Besides… red eyes? Ashley, don't tell me you've been oblivious this whole time."

That shook her out of her reverie. "I haven't been oblivious," she replied with an edge. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess from his stand-off-ish-ness to wondering where he disappeared to for weeks on end, and then to Nikko National Park and his speed; his ability to catch her and pull her back from the cliff.

"Uh-huh," Isla obviously didn't believe Ashley's defense at all. "Are you going to ask him about it? Obviously he hasn't told you or I think you'd be reacting differently."

The memory of the demon's mangled body tore through her thoughts, silencing them. It was this memory, as well as Tetsuya's continued absence in fear of his safety, that convinced her of what she spoke aloud to Isla: "If Hiei didn't tell me, there must be a reason."

"So you're not going to confront him about it? I mean, you guys were practically in a relationship."

"Except we weren't," Ashley cut her off right there. "The whole thing was a joke to get his friend back for some shit." Ashley drew a deep breath, steadying her emotions. "I'd like to think he would tell me about something like that, but it's his choice. I'll wait to bring it up until he brings it up."

"You're being so mature about all this. If it was me, I'd be all over that."

Ashley didn't reply and instead took the opportunity to change the subject, "So you've been wanting to tell me something about the House?" Once more, she sat on her futon, Knox scurrying up to her ready to play fetch again with his toy hanging out of his mouth like something that was dead.

It was like a light bulb went off. "Oh yeah, that! What did I tell you last time?"

"Not much, honestly. You just mentioned you needed to tell me something about it."

There was another pause. Knowing Isla and her connection to the house through her brother, and therefore Ashley's sister, Sophia, she was wondering how to proceed. "There's been some… activity there."

It only took Ashley a half second to realize what she was talking about. "Activity, like… the spirits?"

"Yeah," Isla trailed off.

"And?"

"And I'm wondering how to explain it to you Miss 'I take the supernatural with a grain of salt'." Ashley quietened for her. "There's been more abnormal activity. The clocks keep resetting themselves. One of them is drawing letters on the walls. Random words keep showing up in the newspaper being circled…. Sophia can't figure it out."

Ashley rolled her eyes so hard she would have lost her balance had she been standing. "This again? Really? And let me guess, someone's been whispering, 'We've been here before.' This has been going on for three years, Isla. It's not new."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Isla chided, shushing Ashley. "I'm not done. The lights keep flickering. And the power keeps going out. Every time Sophia goes down to the box to reset it, it causes a massive surge. Tell me that's not some weird shit?"

Isla wasn't playing with this subject like she'd been with Hiei's subject. With Hiei it'd been like she was sharing some gossip that she'd heard. With this, with the spirits in the House, she'd turned serious like she often had been when a midterm was coming up and she needed the grade.

It honestly sounded like the spirits were pissed about something. Really, the House always had had hauntings because, honestly, her mother's side of the family had had the house in their family for over one hundred and seventy years. It had to have electricity and indoor plumbing installed back in the fifties just so it would keep up with the century. Most of her family on the Evans side had lived in that house and many had died there. About five still kept up residence in the house, even after death, including the old family dog from the early 1920s, Ruth.

But the hauntings had always been little things. Feeling a presence in a room. Doors and shutters slamming without effort. Words whispered into unsuspecting ears. Sounds of people moving about when there was no one else in the house. Sightings here and there. However, the first strange occurrence had been three years ago when Ashley's mum had walked downstairs one morning to find Walter's hourglass had been smashed. It was especially weird because it was kept in an old china cabinet at the very back, behind the heirloom plates and dining ware. Even crystal wine glasses stood in front of the hourglass - Mum needed to organize it - but nothing else in the china cabinet had been touched even a hair out of place. Only the hourglass had ended up demolished. After finding it, it was only a few months later that the next overly-strange incident had occurred.

"Isla," Ashley finally began when she realized Isla was not going to move on from this subject until she said something. "All of it is 'weird shit'. Who the hell else do you know still keeps a rickety old house in their family when the entire house needs to be cleansed? It's all weird! Every day is weird. Hell, I was pushed down the stairs as a child by one of them." The memory was clear as a bell. She and Sophia had been playing hide and go seek. Ashley passed by the stairs and a pair of hands, icy cold, gripped her arm and pushed her. She'd ended up in a cast with a broken arm and a minor concussion. "Honestly, it sounds like someone's looking for attention." That someone being cousin Annabelle, who'd died at ten from scarlet fever in the late 1800s. She never liked it when you didn't play with her.

"Well it's not Annabelle," Isla defended. "She's barely tall enough to reach the electrical box. And you can't blame the writing on her either. She never finished her lessons. Have you seen her writing? It looks like scratch. No, these letters are perfectly formed, nearly cursive. I'd say it's one of the older ones. Either Emma or Walter." Isla was adamant. Emma, being Annabelle's mother and Walter the first owner of the home; the patriarch of the Evans family. Neither ever really did anything noteworthy.

"And," Isla hissed, "They would be tall enough to reach the electrical box, too."

"Neither of them were around when the House had electricity put in. Neither would know how to work the box. None of them would, for that matter."

"Margaret-"

"Margaret stayed in the kitchen and helped my great grandmother dress when she got old. I highly doubt electricity would be something that would interest the woman." Ashley didn't need to tack on, "If this is really happening." Isla was smart enough and knew Ashley well enough she would add that on her own.

When she was met with hard silence on the other end, Ashley heaved a sigh. "Okay, so what's Sophia say about it?" Next to their mother, who almost never visited the House anymore with dad needing help with the company, Sophia was the most spiritually-inclined. Technically, Ashley should be, since the inclination to clairvoyance ran in the youngest Evans girls, but after the incident with Annabelle and the stairs, Ashley had steered clear of the House when she could. It wasn't like she had clairvoyance on the same level as Sophia, anyway. She could never tell when the spirits were close. Sophia could actually hold conversations with them.

"She thinks something is up, too. She's not really sure what, though, because no one is talking to her. It's like, they're communicating with us physically, but actual communication isn't happening. She thinks Walter is the one doing the whispering bit, but he's the only one saying anything, and that's the only thing he's saying. Which, of course, has been the same thing for years."

Ashley didn't say anything, not quite sure why Isla had been so adamant to tell her all this to begin with. "So," she finally began when the line went quiet. "What do you want me to do?" And why wasn't Sophia telling her all this? It wasn't like they were estranged or anything.

"Just… keep an eye out? If you see anything, let Sophia or I know, I guess? Sophia's trying to piece all of it together."

Ashley nodded. "That I can do. Although, even if a spirit passes in front of me you know I won't even feel it."

That comment got Isla to break her serious streak and laugh. "Isn't that the truth though? Anyway, I know it's late for you over there; I'll let you go. Love you to pieces."

Ashley returned the sentiment and hung up her phone, effectively locking it. However, rather than pocketing it and reaching for the leash to let Knox out once more before bed, she unlocked it and changed apps over to her Messenger app. Curiosity over the article that Isla had sent to her got the better of her.

Ashley nearly dropped her phone.

It was the same article regarding the dismembered demon that Ren and Mako had shown her in class. The same one that Ashley had purposefully not mentioned to Isla.

And Isla had shared it to Ashley without comment or acknowledgment on its subject.

Steeling herself against the graphic photos, Ashley scrolled through the article, looking at the backgrounds of the photos.

She hadn't noticed it earlier, but Hiei was definitely standing in the background in a few of the photos, clutching a sword in his right hand, left shoved deep into the pockets of his cloak.

She'd know those sharp crimson eyes and mess of black hair anywhere.

Once she saw what Isla had been talking about, however, she locked her phone, pushed the images and coincidence from her mind, and reached for Knox's leash.

It had been what felt like centuries since she had last laced up her running shoes. University. The last time had been in university, right after her last finals before graduation. Barely five months previously, but it felt like years.

Running had always been her favorite way to clear her head, so, once again, she donned her running shoes and took off, leaving Knox behind to wait for her. As much as she would have loved a running companion, she had her doubts that Knox's short little stubby legs could keep up with her pace.

Which, if she was being honest with herself, wasn't much of a pace. Within minutes, before the second song on her phone was even over, she realized how much she was out of shape, and had to slow to a walk. And it didn't help things that whatever springtime weather Tokyo had had up until that point had dissipated completely. Now, even in the early hours of the morning the warm humid air pressed close, drawing sweat along her body easily.

Still, Ashley kept a pattern: one song to run, one song to walk. Keeping to the sidewalks and out of the way, she earned few odd looks from people starting their day since nearly everyone hadn't quite woken up for work yet. The sun had barely begun to appear over the horizon.

Again, the same as the night before, she felt a presence following her. She stopped abruptly and turned, eyeing the stretch of street she had just come from, but no one was there.

She pulled the earbuds from her ears and placed them in her waist pocket. If someone was, in fact, following her, she couldn't afford to be distracted.

It was the same feeling she had had at the park nearly a week prior. The same day that Hiei…

Ashley broke into a run again, passing by a middle school on her right. It was a fairly large junior high, with multiple levels, a clock on it's front, and a solid wall surrounding the school. "Sarayashiki Junior High" read the sign out front.

All afternoon that day she'd been feeling like a set of eyes had been watching her. Her refreshing trip to the park to read had turned into a battle with her intuition. Finally having enough of it, Ashley had escaped to the bathroom for a few minutes only to come out and find her book on a different page than she'd left it, and in a different position. She might have attributed it to a breeze if there had been one. Still, even her blanket had showed indents from where someone had stood on it.

As she ran a chill ran up her spine, the same that had when she'd found her book.

Intuition seemed to be right. She wasn't just being paranoid.

Same as this morning.

Her feet pounding the pavement, she passed a middle school on her right. It was a fairly large junior high, with multiple levels, a clock on it's front, and a solid wall surrounding the school. "Sarayashiki Junior High" read the sign out front.

Well that was a weird sense of deja vu. Ashley could have sworn she'd been running in front of a middle school just the same as this one right before sunrise sometime previously. Surely? Because that was an awfully familiar middle school.

Jogging to a stop, Ashely stood in front of the school. A few lights had been left on throughout the night, but it was still too early for anyone to be there. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The feeling of deja vu passed as quickly as it set in. Turning, she set off at a quick pace again, her thoughts wandering back to Hiei and his declaration that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. "No Contact" was clear enough. And he hadn't caved either. She had heard nothing from him since the day at the festival.

Still, it wasn't as if that should surprise her. Very rarely, even when they had been "seeing" each other, was he the first one to contact her.

That thought pulled irritation into her pace, pushing her harder. She was always the one contacting him when she was the one helping him out. She'd been the one to offer her aid to him. Why did he never contact her? She'd been doing all the work, trying to make sure the prank worked for him.

But he never once had even thanked her.

Fuck it all. Anger spilled over and Ashley had to stop her run, instead transitioning to pacing with her hands linked behind her head. She had to get her head clear if she was going to enjoy this run at all. Nothing about it so far had been as relaxing as she hoped it would be.

Still, at least she'd been able to come to a conclusion to herself: if Hiei didn't want her to contact him so badly, she would stick to it. If he ever wanted to contact her again he could be the one to do it, dammit, not her. She'd worked at it enough, and it wasn't even her problem.

Screw him.

- End of Chapter Ten -

This was a hard chapter for me to write, personally. There were several instances in this chapter where I had to take apart things that I had done in the past and examine them so that I could write Isla and Ashley properly.

Thank you to Oddity Empress, WistfulSin, and ZeroDarkNex14 for reviewing on Chapter Nine! If you like what you read, please review!

I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, or ideas of the Yu Yu Hakusho universe created by Yoshihiro Togashi. I only own my own characters and plot.