Kirei na Kanjou

~ Beautiful Feeling ~

by feifu

01/14/2002

homepage: www.freewebs.com/killersrant

email: domain_of_fire@yahoo.com

Disclaimers: (Can't make a fanfic without putting this) Yuyu Hakusho, and all its characters and plot, is the original creation of Yoshiro Togashi. I do not claim to own any of the characters in this story except for Faith Phillipp and Annette Barton, who are my own creations and are inspired by people I know in real life. Any similarities to real life people/events or if you by chance know anybody whose names are similar to the two characters, I avow that these are mere coincidences. I don't profit from writing this fanfiction so please don't sue.

2

"Hurry up! We're already late as it is," Annette hollered from outside. Faith was still collecting her things and it was already 9 in the morning. Their test was supposed to start at 9:30.

"Daijobu da yo," Faith calmly walked out.

"Mou," Annette complained, "You didn't even lock the door!"

"EH?! That's right! Matte ne." She justly as slowly went back to the front door and casually locked the door. "There!"

"Are you sure you put all the lights off, and the appliances and-"

"Hai hai, Okaa~san," Faith walked past her grinning. "You better quit nagging me or Minamino-san'll hear you and he'll never want to court you knowing you're a nag."

Annette's mouth hanged open.

"Come on, slow poke! Let's go! Ike ike!" She saw a flash of red ahead of her and her grin widened. "Lucky!" She grabbed Annette's hand and started running, dragging her friend behind her. "Yo! Minamino-san! Matte kudasai!!"

Annette's brain required a few seconds to process that. Faith was calling… "Faith…! no!!!" Annette was staring daggers at her friend. "Have you no shame at all?"

"Eh?"

"Never mind…" she mumbled as she saw Minamino Shuuichi stop and wait for them with a curious look on his face.

"Ohayo!" Faith exclaimed as they reached him. "Ara… Ne, Minamino-san, you do remember me, don't you?"

He smiled slightly. "Un. Anata wa Phillipp-san desu yo?"

"Hai! Hai! Wow, you do remember me! Ah! Matte ne," Faith fished for something inside her backpack. "Kore!" she handed him a small textbook on political science while bowing, "Domo arigatou gozaimashita!"

"Don't mention it," Kurama said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Ara! Don't say that! Lending me that book saved my life!" Faith informed him enthusiastically. "How can I not be thankful? I swear Murato-sensei was gonna eat me when I couldn't find my book… How should I know that it wasn't inside my bag, and that I left it at the café? You know how he looks down his nose at everyone? It was so scary when he did that and he was standing right beside my desk… Ara! I'm babbling again, aren't I? Gomen! Mou… Ann-chan, why didn't you stop me?" she asked with an elbow to her friend's ribs.

"Murato-sensei isn't that bad," Annette said weakly. "Anou… Ohayo, Minamino-san. Please excuse my friend for being a ditz."

"Humph!" Faith made a face. "Who're you calling a ditz?!"

"Ohayo, Barton-san," Kurama greeted back.

"Wow! Now I'm really impressed! You know Ann-chan's name too?! I really can't remember people's names too well, you know."

"Unless they leave a very strong first impression, right?"

"Eh?! Un! Sou desu ne." Faith looked at her roommate. "How'd you know that?"

"You told me."

"Oh. Eh heh heh heh… suman ne, I don't remember telling you that."

"You did. After you asked my name for the twelfth time!"

"Oh! Yeah, that's right!"

The three started walking towards the train station together.

"Anyway," Faith asked Kurama after a few meters, "have you studied for the Philosophy test we have today?" She hit her forehead with her palm. "Ara! What am I saying? Of course you have, haven't you? You won't be at the top of the class if you haven't. I don't know how you guys can stand it. I HATE studying! It's so boring, reading and rereading everything the teacher already discussed and said in class. You know, Minamino-san, you and Ann-chan here would be great together! All I ever see you two do is study, study, and study. Don't you guys ever do anything fun?"

"Your definition of fun is not the same as mine, roommate mine," said roommate replied wryly.

"How do you exactly define fun, then, Barton-san?" asked Kurama.

"I uhm…"

"Bird watching," Faith interrupted. "She likes to bird watch, if you know what I mean. Ne, Ann-chan?" She winked at her friend.

"So you like birds?"

Annette didn't know a wit about birds. Nor did she care a wit about them. "Actually, I like plants better."

"Really?" For some reason, Faith thought Minamino-san suddenly sounded interested for once. "What kind of plants?"

"Flowering ones mostly."

"Which one's your favorite?"

"Favorite what?"

"Flower."

"Oh," Annette smiled, "white tea roses. I love those. They smell so good."

"I like those wild daisies," Faith said from ahead of them. "They're so pretty and natural looking. And they manage to look so happy all the time, unlike any other flowers. The sakura's cool too! Ne, Ann-chan, you don't have them in your home country too, right?"

"No."

"What country is that?" Kurama asked.

"England."

"I'm from France. Me and Ann-chan's countries are neighbors!" She ran on ahead with her arms held up her sides, careening into the sidewalk like a runaway airplane.

"You barely have an accent."

"Um, thanks," said Annette.

"So how is it you're in Japan?"

"My Papa's business," Annette explained. "He's the co-owner of a tech industry back home in England. I think they're trying to open a branch here in Japan."

"Phillipp-san wa?"

"Wakaranai," Annette shrugged. "I met her at the University for the first time last month; I didn't even know she was in most of my classes. We were both at the Administration building asking about rooms for rent. When she learned I was also looking for a place to stay, she suggested the apartment we're living in now. So we became roommates."

"Hontou? I thought the two of you knew each other longer than that," Kurama looked surprised. "You behave like you've known each other all your life."

"It's funny how you mentioned that," Annette said, looking at her roommate who was still careening around the sidewalk like a kid.

"Naze?"

"Well, Faith's really easy to get along with," Annette tried to explain. "She's…"

"Full of energy," Kurama smiled as he also watched the other female now running up the stairs leading to the train terminal.

"Exactly!" Annette sighed. "Sometimes I really don't understand her thinking. You know, I never see her study for anything, and she even seems to hate going to our classes at times."

"But she's doing alright in school isn't she?" Kurama asked as he and Annette hurried after Faith up the stairs.

"More than alright! I heard that little happy-go-lucky's a dean's lister! I don't know if it's true though. When I ask her about her grades, all she does is smirk and say she's passing her subjects well enough. And she doesn't even seem to work for it!"

"Work for what?" Faith's eyes were glittering as she stood waiting for them at the top of the stairs. "Ne, what were you guys talking about?"

"Nan demo nai," Kurama said, smiling down at her.

"Oh… ok! Here," Faith took her purse out, "I'll treat you guys for train fare, k?" She ran ahead to the ticket counter not even waiting for them to answer.

"So, besides white roses, any other flowers you like?" Kurama asked Annette later while they stood waiting for the train to arrive.

"I like most white colored flowers."

"But white isn't a color!" Faith complained, obviously eavesdropping. "It's all the colors put together… Um, three tickets please!"

"What about you, Minamino-san? You like plants?"

"You can say that," Kurama smiled that small secretive smile of his again.

"Hmmm. Lemme guess. You like red roses. Well," Faith beamed, "at least you remind me of a red rose," Faith peered up at him as she waited for her change. "Did you know you're prettier than the two of us, Minamino-san? Really! It's terribly unfair on the female species for a guy to be more beautiful than two genuine girls put together! Mou…I even thought at first that you were a girl!"

Kurama grimaced. "I get that a lot."

"Which one, that you're prettier than most girls or that I thought you're female?"

"The second one," he said, sweatdropping.

"Hmmmm…? Hontou?" Faith elbowed him. "I think you also get a lot of admirers at school, don't you? Ne, Minamino-san, have guys ever asked you out, thinking you were a girl?"

"Faith! Stop asking him such silly things."

"What's wrong in asking? Ne, ne, Minamino-san, you aren't getting pissed off at me for asking, are you? Anyway, there's nothing wrong in asking. I was just curious. Jeez whiz, Ann-chan… if I didn't know any better, I'd rather think you'd want to ask him the same thing."

Then she suddenly pointed at something, "Look! That man! He looks really out of it! AH!! He's just grabbed that old lady's bag!" Without any further warning, Faith ran after the man she had just pointed to them and was shouting for him to give back the bag to the lady or else. She was going to think of a proper punishment later, but it was going to be really bad for him.

"Faith! Stop! You shouldn't get involved-" Annette closed her mouth with a snap when she realized that Faith was already out of earshot. "Mou!"

"Phillipp-san! Come back," their redhead companion yelled after the running girl and went after her. Annette had no other choice but to follow.

Kurama couldn't believe his eyes when he suddenly saw a blue glow surround the man his gaijin classmate was running after. The man looked back and snarled something at Faith and him, and then speeded up. Faith came to a running halt as she watched the man run and bowl someone over at an impossible speed. She had her mouth slightly open in sheer amazement and the fact that she was also breathing hard having run so hard.

"Didja see that?!" Faith asked him, her voice incredulous, when he came up to her. "Hayai desu ne! Ehh! No one could run as fast as that! It's physically impossible!"

Kurama just nodded agreement. He knew he could easily overtake the man had he not had people around watching him. "Well, he's gone," he told the still amazed girl.

"Ah! We didn't get the purse back!!"

He took hold of her arm before Faith could start running again. "Let's just report the incident to the police. They'll handle it."

"Do you think they could? I mean, considering how unnatural his speed was; he'd just as easily evade the authorities, won't he? Dang! He makes me mad! The poor lady…" Faith asked after him as he started walking back to the train station. They met Annette on the way back.

"Faith! Why'd you have to go running after that man?! Jeez," Annette complained, breathing hard after having run after them like that. "We'll be really late for the test now."

"Oh! That's right! Well," Faith started running towards the train station, shouting, "Let's go!!"

"Mou… Wait up!"

Kurama stayed at the tired pace Annette set, letting the more energetic girl go on alone. When they reached the train station, Faith handed them their tickets and was bouncing up and down, impatiently waiting for the train to arrive.

"I hope sensei doesn't kick us out," Faith said. She looked at the wristwatch on Annette's hand, lacking one of her own, and complained about the train being late, seemingly having already forgotten the incident.

Kurama couldn't do the same. Maybe the man had nothing to do with the new case the Reikai had assigned to him and Hiei, but his preternatural senses demanded that he investigate. It wasn't everyday that one encounters humans who have abilities like his or his companions. It usually was a rather rare occurrence. And as is frequently the case, whenever they encountered people like that man, it almost always spelled trouble. Big trouble. He decided to try finding that man tonight, with or without Hiei's help. He could handle himself, easily defend himself at that too.

With that in mind, he boarded the train with Faith and Annette, thanking the gods that the two were so busy talking, or make that Faith blabbing, that they didn't notice how quiet he suddenly became.