"Kaira? Kaira is that really you?" Those were the first words to leave my Aunt Atsuko's mouth as she rushed over to my side and wrapped me in a tight hug. It was a welcomed gesture, but after I few moments I tapped her on the shoulder- I couldn't breathe and was turning a shade of purple. "Oh Kaira," she said. "I'm so sorry! It's just that after I heard about your dad..."
"Wait a second!" yelled Yusuke. "You knew about Uncle Rick and you never even told me? Why not?" Atsuko gave Yusuke a guilty look.
"I'm sorry, Yusuke," she said. "But Kaira disappeared after Rick's death and I knew how close you two were... I didn't want you to go after her and find her dead- I knew it would break your heart." There was something Yusuke wasn't used to- his mom was trying to protect him? That was new. He was about to comment, when I cut in.
"Forgive me, Aunt Atsuko," I said. "I needed some time to cope with what had happened- so I did some traveling to collect my thoughts..."
"And she's come home now," said Yusuke, flashing me a smile. "Isn't that right, Kay?" Well, apparently lying to his mother wasn't anything new for Yusuke. I returned his smile and gave a nod.
"If you and your mother will have me..."
"Of course we'll have you!" cried Atsuko. "Turn away my best friend's daughter? Never!" I smile widened. I had almost forgotten how close Aunt Atsuko had been with my mother, Sarafu. "Come along, Kaira- I'll show you to your room."
About an hour later I had finally escaped my Aunt's grasp and retreated to the rooftop. High places had always been a place of sanctuary for Yusuke and I, the higher the better. And as I expected, Yusuke was right there waiting for me, sitting on the ledge as he had always done. I closed the door that led to the stairs behind me and walked over to him. He looked at me shook his head.
"You remember the last time we did this, Kay?" he asked me, a very sly smile curling his lips.
"Remember?" I asked. "Yusuke, how could I forget?" As he chuckled to his little heart's content, I thought back to the last time I saw Yusuke and Aunt Atsuko, six years ago. Dad and I lived closer to the two of them, meaning Yusuke and I saw each other everyday. My hair was much longer then, but Yusuke hadn't changed a bit.
"Yusuke," I said as calmly as I could manage. "There's five of them and two of us... and it doesn't help matters any that the smallest guy is twice my size." Back then, Yusuke and I didn't pick fights at random- they usually picked us. Seriously, Yusuke and I would be walking along, minding our own business when someone would pop out at us, demanding a fight- our reputation of getting out of these sort of scraps had greatly surpassed us, which meant people older than us would come looking for a fight. These particular fellows, who were persistent enough to chase us to the top of a ten story building, were five or so years our senior. Me and my longhaired self should have been scared out of my mind- instead, I was grinning my head off and chuckling under my breath. Yusuke looked over at me and smiled.
"I know," he replied. "The odds are way against them." One of the guys, clearly the leader, let out a low growl.
"Get 'em!" Yusuke and I stood our ground as they charged at us- their biggest mistake was taking one at a time- you know, one would go down and another would step up. If they would have jumped us all at once, they might have lasted longer. But, as there always seems to be, one thing went wrong. I made a rookie mistake of letting myself become trapped between the guy I was fighting and the edge of the roof. Don't get me wrong, I was holding my own very well... until I saw Yusuke taken down by a lucky shot.
"Yusuke!" I was so worried about him, I forgot what I was doing, only to have the guy I was sparing with landed a shot on me, not only knocking me backwards, but off of the roof as well. Yusuke looked up just as I let out a second cry and fell out of sight.
"KAIRA!" As soon as our aggressors heard Yusuke call my name and saw what had happened, they spilt as fast as they possibly could and Yusuke rushed to where he had seen me fall off, expecting to see me characterized as a human pancake on the sidewalk below. Instead he saw me using my left hand to hang onto a small ledge about a yard below the top of the roof. I looked up at him, my confidant glower had been replaced with one of complete anger.
"What the hell are you waiting for?!" I yelled. "Get me the fuck out of here, Yusuke- now!" Yusuke gave me a puzzled look but then reached his arm out.
"Come on Kay," he said, urgently. "Take my hand, quick!" I slowly reached my right hand up and managed to take Yusuke's. He smiled. "Thata girl."
He then began to pull me and got me back onto the roof, just as the police showed up. We gave them our statements and after about an hour, they left us alone. The two of us just sat there, staring out over the city.
"How'd you do that, Kay?" he asked me. I looked over at him, a confused expression on my scratched face, which had come as a result of slamming my face against the side of the building. My left wrist was slightly sprained, but that was nothing to the cussing out I would receive from my father when I got home.
"Do what?" I replied finally. Yusuke shook his head.
"It's probably about a one in a million chance that you grabbed that ledge- if you hadn't, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. How did you pull that off?" I let out a sigh and shook my head.
"Cuz," I said. "I haven't got the slightest idea of how I did that. All I can say is that someone up there must really like me." I let out a soft chuckle and looked up at the sky. "Thanks, Mom."
"Yeah, that was a pretty good time," said Yusuke, shaking me from my memory. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.
"A pretty good time?!" I cried. "Man, that was the fuckin' rush of my life- I was dangling by one hand, ten stories in the air! There ain't a feeling in the world that can compare to that."
"Too bad it wasn't your cousin- with his luck, he may have died." I instantly spun around, ready to cuss out whoever just made that statement. I found myself looking at two boys, around my and Yusuke's age- one was a short boy with spiky black hair and dark purple eyes... and the icy glare he was sporting kinda gave me the creeps. But the one who really caught my attention was his companion- his fiery red hair was just below his shoulders and his neon green eyes took my breath away. I could feel my heart beating a mile a minute as his eyes locked with mine and he gave me a smile... Lord, what a smile.
"Hello," he said. "My name is Kurama- you must be Kaira." Due to a lack of the ability to speak, I just nodded. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," I said softly. The other boy just stood there, staring at me. "What are you lookin' at?"
"Ignore him Kay," Yusuke told me. "That's just Hiei- he doesn't like me very much. I kinda ruined his plans for world domination." I looked at Yusuke and smiled.
"Thanks for the explanation," I said. "But I asked Hiei a question." My gaze shifted back to Hiei. "What were you lookin' at?"
"Nothing," he replied. "Absolutely nothing..." I figured he would leave it at that, but he had something else in mind. "I just never thought that I'd see two utterly useless people in one place." My eyes narrowed.
"Boy, are you gonna regret that." Hiei never knew what hit him at first. Seconds later, he realized that I was beating the living hell out of him. Suddenly, I launched him up into the air. "Spirit Bow!" I shot an arrow right at his right shoulder, which ended up pinning him up against the same billboard I had used as target practice earlier that night, trapping Hiei. He looked at me and scowled.
"Why you little bitch..." I fired another arrow, piercing his left shoulder. My eyes narrowed even more.
"Listen up, Hiei," I said. "Because I'm only gonna say this once. My name is Kaira- it means "she who fights without fear." So if you ever call me bitch again, I'll personally show you how fearless I can get." I then started to walk back inside.
"Are you just gonna leave me here?" yelled Hiei. I stopped, turned around and flashed him a smile.
"You're damn right I am." With that, I continued to walk back inside. Yusuke shook his head and looked at Hiei.
"You're lucky," he said. "You managed to catch her in a good mood." He then turned to Kurama, who was staring at the doorway I had just departed through. "Hey, what are you two doing here? Botan just got through telling me that they brought in Kaira because you two had cases of your own." Kurama was still staring at the door, causing Yusuke to wave his hand in front of his eyes. "Hello? Anyone in there?" Kurama suddenly shook his head.
"Hmm?" he asked. "Oh, sorry, Yusuke- did you say something?"
"I was asking why you and Hiei were here."
"Helping you with Kaira- Koenma regrets starting her on such a dangerous case and thought we might be of some help." He then looked back at the door. "But after what I just saw, I think she'll do just fine."
"Excuse me!" yelled an irritated Hiei. "Would one of you mind getting me down from here so I can go kick that bitch's ass?" Yusuke shot him an angered look.
"You lay a hand on my cousin and I'll tear you limb from limb. Remember that."
Meanwhile, on a rooftop across the street, a black haired, violet eyed, light skinned man was watching the proceedings very carefully. He had began to smile when he saw my stunt with Hiei, even more so when I laid out my threat.
"Well, Tsuki," he said. "It would seem that you have chosen a real fighter this time." He began to chuckle. "Just as well- the chase is half the fun."