Ok, I see I need to make something clear: Ace is no Mary Sue…Ace could kick my ass, and she's not too bright either. I'm actually kind of nerdy and weak and really pathetic. Believe me, Ace does have faults, and plenty of them, but like most characters you don't see them until later on, meaning be patient. I trust that you WILL see Ace getting her ass kicked soon.
Kurama was calmly on his way to his third period class when a noise caught his sensitive ears. He turned the corner of lockers to see a small crowd gathered around someone who was too short for him to get a look at. The boys were all talking and leering very loudly. "Who on earth are they bothering now?" he thought to himself as he stepped closer still keeping out of their sight should the rowdy boys decide to attack him.
"Aw come on sweetie, we know you're new and we're just trying to make you welcome," their ringleader cooed slickly stepping in towards their victim. "Aren't we boys?" His lackeys all laughed in amusement at their sick joke.
"Bite me ass!" a girl who must have been in the center snapped. Kurama could hear a muffled cry as she was struck by the ringleader. Kurama was becoming even more infuriated by this treatment, but found it best to stay back a few moments longer.
"Now that you seem to be less of a pain when it comes to struggling, I think you could answer a few questions for us." As he crept closer, he could see the girl was being held back by two of the larger demented and sick boys. He still however, could not see the girl in question. "Like for example, what's your name sweetie?"
She hissed at them and Kurama could see the two lackeys give a sharp tug to hold her back. "What for so you can send me Valentine's?" He scarcely recognized the sarcastic tone, but he moved closer trying to get a better look. He could see her legs, clad in the typical school's uniform skirt, and could also see her captor's hand run up her leg trying to lift the skirt higher.
That was the last straw for Kurama. He stepped out from his hiding place, "I think you should stop tormenting that girl now. Unless you wish to be expelled from this school along with receiving some extreme embarrassment." The boys parted ways letting Kurama finally get a good look at the girl and her assailant.
"Get the hell out of here! I can take care of myself!" she snapped flinging dark green bangs away from her face.
"Ace?" he asked a bit shocked.
"Enough with the reunions!" the boy in the lead snapped. He flicked his wrist unleashing a small, concealed dagger from his shirt sleeve. He pulled Ace closer by the wrist still having the others holding her back. She could barely wriggle in their grasp, so it was hopeless for her escape alone. "Ace is it? Well I think your friend ought to keep his distance Ace, unless he wants your blood spread across the halls!" He gripped her arm even harder causing her and Kurama to twitch in fear of what he planned on next. He brought the blade to her arm and slowly drug it down her arm causing a few pearls of deep red blood to appear.
"You're sick," Kurama spat realizing stepping forward would cause her more damage. A thought crossed his mind making his emerald eyes flicker to Ace's face. "She's a Spirit Detective, and she obvously is quite brave and skilled in fighting. I wouldn't be surprised if she's killed someone before, a demon of course, but death has crossed her path nonetheless," he pondered. "So seeing a few drops of blood should only enrage her. Then why is she frozen?!?" It was true, Ace had frozen solid staring at the blood that dripped onto the floor from her arm. Her eyes were wide in fear, her breathing (when she finally began breathing again) was staggered, and sweat beaded on her temples. A deathly awakening hit him, "She's afraid of her own blood!"
Ace's eyes were frozen and fixated in the one spot. He captor and his friends were all laughing in her plight. "What's wrong sweetie? Blood making the tough girl a bit squeamish?"
"Ace snap out of it!" Kurama guided trying to get her attention. She blinked a few times and took a few glances towards him. "Ace!"
She shook her head slowly fixated on the blood again, "Go. I-I'll be-just-"
"Enough of these games," the leader laughed. "Why don't you run along to class huh buddy? We'll take good care of Ace, won't we boys?" As they all laughed, Kurama was loosing his last ounce of patience. A few of the boys crossed to hall to meet him, and probably to 'take care of him' as well. The moment they reached him he broke out with a few swift moves and they fell to the ground. "What the fuck?"
"You shouldn't use language like that," Kurama hissed, "nor sould you treat a young girl like that."
The leader of the rowdy group only smirked, "You mean like this?" He brought the part of Ace's arm where it was cut and licked the blood off staring at Kurama the whole time.
Apparently, by removing the blood and treating Ace so vilely, she was perfectly able to get control over herself. "Asshole," she growled before bringing her knee into his groin and knocking the knife away from his hand. She towered over him showing him her arm, "See idiot? When you take away the cause of person's fear, there's nothing to be afraid of!" One of his friends crept up and hit her in the back of the head knocking her to her knees. Kurama lept forward knocking out the rest of them without her seeing, or anyone else who was still conscious. As he tossed the last of them away, he began helping Ace to her feet. She shook his arms off, "I'm fine."
"Your head probably isn't. I'll take you to the nurse."
"I'm fine dammit!" she snapped hurling his arms away. She spun around glaring at him, and he understood as to why she was being so harsh. Being taken advantage of and having to be rescued by someone you hardly knew was not something any Spirit Detective was proud of. If she was the only female Spirit Detective that pretty much anyone knew of, then she had a lot to fight against. Boys, criticism, demons, and whoever it was that she was after. "Just leave me alone Fox Boy."
As she stormed off he sighed, "Sorry Ace. I didn't mean to injure your pride. I understand." He turned back and went into his class as the final bell rang.
"You joining us for lunch Ace?" Keiko asked as the two walked out from their PE class. Both had changed into their normal uniforms, which Ace was still uncomfortable in, so Keiko hadn't seen the scratches from her earlier mix with the boys.
"Yeah, not like I know anyone else to hang with," she laughed tossing her lunch bag over her shoulder. "Man I wish Grams would lighten up on the food. She's trying to get me to lift weights and fatten up at the same time!"
keiko giggled at the joke as they reached the other boys, "So you're staying with your grandma while you're here?"
"Yup!" Ace hopped onto the table opening up her lunch. She peeked over at Kuwabura, who was giving her an odd look. "What? You forget how to blink?"
"I've been wondering," he muttered staring at her again. Now Yusuke and Kurama had joined the group, Botan was running over as he spoke. "I know you're from America and all, so it's been bugging me. How come you can speak the language so well?" Yusuke, Botan, Kurama, and Keiko all stared actually agreeing with him.
Ace just cracked a smile and nearly fell off the table laughing. "You guys! My parents are from around here, so I was raised up speaking the damn language! I just grew up in America is all, my parents moved out after my sister was born, but they still raised us up right. You people are so weird, I think I've been in America too long," she added with another laugh.
"So what are we doing after school?" Yusuke asked after they all stopped feeling embarrassed.
"Homework," Botan, Keiko, and Kurama all answered. Yusuke and Ace nearly fell over in shock. Before they could start complaining, Botan piped up, "What's the matter Ace? Didn't you like school back in America?"
She only rolled her eyes before puffing her bangs from her eyes, "Please. School is just as dumb here as it is back home. Not like I was a model student there anyways."
Kurama smirked a bit; from what Botan had told him, Yusuke was the same in mind when it came to school. He was standing next to her watching her pop a piece of food into her mouth the same time that Yusuke did. "Are you sure you and Yusuke aren't related Ace?"
"What are you talking about?" they both asked. Botan and Keiko giggled seeing the similarities: the same attitude, the same position in school, and the same hate of uniforms. Their kickback attitude even matched one another. Ace huffed again, "Puh-leaze. You people sure are weird. We don't look anything alike in the first place. Like I would be related to anyone that dumb."
"What do you mean dumb?" Yusuke snapped jumping up.
"Well how did you die?" she asked smirking at him. Kurama stepped back in shock, for she was being quite bold. He wouldn't answer her, so instead Botan stepped forward for him.
"It was very noble," she explained, "he had jumped in front of a car to save a young boy! And may I ask how it was you died, for that obviously seems to be no exception to you."
Ace sat forward resting her elbows on her knees. The others all gathered around her to listen, since it might seem a little odd for kids to be talking about their death when they were clearly still alive. "My sister."
"Your sister killed you?" Kuwabura asked in shock. Yusuke smacked him in the head to shut him up.
Ace closed her eyes in thought "As you know, America has some pretty rough spots. Now I'll admit I don't live anywhere near them, but demons seem to bleed through fairly easy. A demon had possessed one of the sheriffs in town, and for some reason decided to pick off a few of the more spiritually aware kids. Apparently my sister was one of them, even though none of us knew it. We were coming home from school and I could sense that something was wrong. The sheriff came out of nowhere and started firing. I knocked my sister out of the way ad took it right in the heart," she tapped her chest for emphasis. "Oh wow.
"Didn't realize it was a tear jerker," she muttered looking ashamed. Keiko, Botan, and even Kuwabura had started tearing up. "Guys come on! Did you cry this much when he died?" Yusuke nodded feeling sympathy for her.
"How did you become a detective?" Kurama asked.
"My superiors talked a bit with Koenma, and decided they need a new Detective since they were running kind of low. After the attack they also realized that my area of the world was a bit dangerous when it came to demons. So they gave me an egg, said hang on, and the next day I hopped back in my body."
Yusuke glared down Botan before asking, "Didn't they have to watch the egg's growth and save your body and have someone kiss you and have you posses people?" She shook her head not quite understanding the question. "BOTAN!"
"You have to understand Yusuke, some people so things differently," she explained hiding behind Kuwabura.
Kurama patted his shoulder chuckling mildly, "She is from another sector of the Spirit World authority. For different beliefs there are different types of the Spirit World, different leaders, and even different rules for their detectives. Maybe she had other trials, or perhaps she had more potential and was trustworthier for such a position. Maybe she showed more maturity as a child and only grew into her," he took a side-glance at the glaring teen, "attitude."
"Thank you Kurama," she laughed sticking her tongue out at him. He snickered to himself as Yusuke and Botan started arguing, which led to Keiko and Kuwabura into joining the fray. "Hey Kurama, want to go someplace where we can actually eat our lunch?"
"Sounds like a nice plan," he laughed as they got up.