~Easier To Run~
 

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Chapter One: Mare Goes To School
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AN: Kay. Um, this is my second 'actual' Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic, one that isn't a crossover or self-inserted or anything like that. I called it "Easier To Run" cuz I think that Linkin Park's song ("Easier To Run") describes my character pretty good. Also, this isn't just a story about my new character, but about everyone on the Yu Yu Hakusho team as well. Happy reading! ...If anyone reads my stories *sniff*

. . .


"Hmm...Art class...room 205..." Mare paused in the middle of the empty hallway and looked down to examine her class schedule, just to be sure she was in the right place. Her first day of highschool wasn't exactly going smoothly, and now she was at least five minutes late for her fourth period class. The day was dragging on and on without end, it seemed. Mare had begun to wonder whether or not coming here was a mistake...

She sighed and slipped the schedule back into her pocket. According to it, the classroom was just down the hall and to the left. Shifting her backpack onto her right shoulder, Mare hurried down the hall and swung open the door of room 205. To her relief, however, most of the students in the room didn't even notice her as they were all engaged in conversation and various activities having to do with throwing around the art supplies. In the midst of the uproar was the teacher herself, dodging paper airplanes and wayward paint globs, trying to keep the students under control and her crisp brown business suit clean at the same time.

Mare stood in the doorway for a minute, searching for an empty seat. She spotted one beside a girl with shoulder-length brown hair, and made her way discreetly to the table, ducking a series of spitballs and popsicle stick missiles on the way.

"Oh man," she said as she dropped her backpack on the floor and sat down in the chair. "Looks like World War Three in here."

"You're telling me," the girl next to her agreed. "It's like this whenever we have a substitute teacher." She shook her head disapprovingly. "The upper classmen always wage some silly war with the freshmen and the classroom ends up looking like a tornado swept through it."

"Oh." Mare nodded, trying to resist the temptation to jump into the 'silly war'. She really wanted to make a good impression on her first day.

"Are you a freshman? I don't think I've seen you before."

"No," Mare answered. "I'm a sophomore. It's my first day here," she added.

"Oh. Well, I'm Kayko, nice to meet you," the girl said, offering Mare her hand to shake.

"My name is Mare, nice to meet you as well," Mare answered as they shook hands.

"That's a pretty name. So how has your first day been going?"

"Ah," Mare replied, shrugging a shoulder. "It could be worse, I suppose. All day long I've been late, tripping over everything, dropping things, forgetting things...at lunch I just know I'm going to spill something too. Probably on myself," she added with a laugh. It was true, all she had been doing was acting like a klutz. On top of that, on the way to her first class a teacher had stopped her in the hall to inform her that she was violating the dress code; her jeans came down too low, and her t-shirt 'showed her midriff' too much. But how was she supposed to know there was a dress code? Which was why she got out of detention... "I hope my other classes go better."

"Can I see your schedule?" Kayko asked. "Maybe we have other classes together."

"Yeah, sure." Mare dug around in her pocket and handed her the folded, crumpled and creased schedule, which had a coffee ring in the center of it. "Eh-heh...I guess it's kinda messy..."

Kayko studied the schedule for a minute before handing the schedule back to Mare. "We've got fifth and seventh together," she said.

"Great! I don't know many people here. I, um, just moved here."

"Oh, really? From where?"

"Oh, uh--" Mare paused and bit her lower lip. She couldn't tell her where she was REALLY from. Kayko wouldn't believe her anyway. So she just said off the top of her head, "the Yukon." Damn! What a stupid answer! Mare mentally scolded herself for giving such a ridiculous response. But she did manage to make it sound legitimate.

"Wow. The weather must take some getting used to, then."

"Right. And there are a whole lot more people here," Mare added. She suddenly had to duck as a lump of wet clay went whizzing by.

Kayko stood up, looking angrily at a boy dressed in a green uniform who was chucking the clay. "Yusuke Urameshi! You'd better cut that out right now!" She sighed and sat back down. "That's my boyfriend, Yusuke. You won't see HIM in any of your other classes. Honestly, I don't even know how he managed to pass junior high. Most of the time he just skips school."

"Hey, I'm getting better, Kayko," came Yusuke's retort. He had suddenly appeared from behind them--when did he get there, Mare wondered. She should have been able to see him, but then again, her gaurd was down. "I've been at school all week!"

"It's Monday!" Kayko reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, I plan to come to school all week, okay?"

"That's what you said last week." She turned to Mare. "Yusuke, this is Mare--you know, the girl you almost clobbered with that ball of clay."

"Oh, no, he wouldn't have hit me, don't worry," Mare said quickly. "Anyway, hi."

"Hi," he answered. "Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm in the middle of something. See ya later." He picked up the lump of clay that had landed behind Mare and hurled it at a boy across the room, then he ran back into the middle of it all.

"He's so immature," Kayko commented. "Sometimes I wonder why I put up with him." Mare laughed, because she could tell Kayko was only kidding. She only hoped that the rest of the day would go better.

. . .


"Ah, lunch at last!" Mare exclaimed to herself as she and Kayko left fifth period together. "I'm STARVING. I think I could eat...oh, man, I bet I could out-eat a sumo wrestler at an all-you-can-eat buffet!"

Kayko laughed. "I'm hungry too, but not THAT hungry. Come on, you probably don't know where the cafeteria is, right?"

"Lead the way," Mare gestured. She followed Kayko to the cafeteria, in deep thought. The day had certainly picked up after fourth period. It helped a lot when somebody was there to show you around and explain things. There were a lot of things in this world that Mare didn't understand. Humans were such strange creatures. Most of the ones she'd met, like Kayko, were very nice people. Still, it took a lot of getting used to. The 'Yukon' was nothing like this place.

Mare snapped out of these thoughts as Kayko was leading the way down the stairs. She looked up just in time to trip over her other foot, lose her balance, and tumble down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.

"Oh, no!" Kayko cried out as she ran down the remaining steps and knelt down beside Mare. "Are you okay?"

Mare sat up, aware that every student in the hall below was now staring at her, and most were laughing. "Oh, man, I'm such a klutz. I really should watch where I'm going." She stood up, feeling her face grow hot. "I'm all right, Kayko. Only thing hurt is my dignity."

"Okay," she said. "The cafeteria is right at the end of the hall." They walked past all the other students, who were still staring and snickering at Mare. "Oh, don't act like it never happened to you!" Kayko snapped at them. They finally made it to the cafeteria--or rather the line to the cafeteria.

"Just two more classes to go," Mare told herself. "Two more and the day is all over." She sighed, realizing that she would be back tomorrow for another nightmare. The line moved forward slowly, and Mare contemplated whether or not she SHOULD come back. So far, all she had accomplished here was humiliate herself. She was not proving to be very coordinated--she knew she should have practiced walking for a day before going straight to school.

She suddenly felt somebody poke her shoulder and turned around. "What?"

"The line is moving," explained the boy who had poked her.

"Oh yeah." Mare caught up to Kayko, who was right ahead of her, inside the cafeteria. She picked up a lunch tray and waited to recieve her food from the lunch lady. "What's for lunch?" She asked.

"Meatball Surprise!" Cackled the gray-haired, long-nosed old woman as she grabbed a plate, slopped big glob of mushy brown substance onto it and placed it onto Mare's tray.

"Eh...heh-heh..." Mare gingerly took her tray and headed for a table.

"Hey Mare, over here!" Kayko called from a table nearby. Mare glanced up to acknowledge her, and in doing so, tipped her tray forward so that some of the Meatball Surprise spilled onto the floor.

"Oops!" Mare noticed this and was quick to right her tray. 'I knew something like this would happen,' she thought to herself as she stepped towards the table Kayko and a couple of her friends were occupying. However, the second she brought her foot down to create the first step, she slipped on the spilled Surprise and her leg, along with the rest of her including the lunch tray, flew up into the air. She hung there for a moment, as if suspended in time, before she crashed onto the floor. She sat up, noticing that once again, she had the attention of everyone in the room. That's when the lunch tray landed on her head.

. . .



"I really want to scream into a pillow," Mare grumbled to herself as she headed towards her fifth period class. "This day could not possibly get any worse. What was I thinking? I should NEVER have come here, this was a BAD idea." She carefully walked up the stairs, on her way to the third floor, room 309. She had spent the rest of the lunch period in the girls' bathroom, trying to get the Meatball Surprise out of her hair. Every time somebody walked by her, they would smirk at her or grin as if to say 'I heard what happened to you, and I laughed my ass off.'

"Oh well. At least they know who I am," she muttered as she opened the door to her sixth period class, Driver's Ed. Everyone looked up at her as she walked into the room, and some of them snickered. "Don't tell me I'm late again!"

"No, you aren't late," the teacher assured her. "Go ahead and take a seat, I'm just starting to take attendance."

"Okay." Mare spied an empty seat at the back of the room and made a beeline for it, unfortunately in her hurry she neglected to keep her balance, so when she was halfway to the seat she pitched forward and fell face-first onto the floor. Mare stood up slowly as giggles erupted throughout the classroom. Shaking her head, she walked the rest of the way to her desk and sat down with a 'thud'.

"All right then," began the teacher. "I'll start taking attendance...oh, Mare there was something I need to discuss with you." He squinted down to row to her.

"Yes?" What now? She hoped this didn't involve getting up and walking somewhere...

"Mare, I don't see a last name here. Just tell me what it is and I'll write it down."

"Uh...a last name?" Last name? She didn't have a last name! What was she going to do? "...Um...well, I forgot it, sir." She grinned sheepishly, feeling even more foolish knowing that everyone would laugh again. They did; everyone except the teacher, of course. He was very unimpressed.

"This is no time for jokes. If you insist on being the comedian, you can march yourself down to the headmaster's office. Now tell me your last name please."

Mare's mouth hung open. "But--" It was no use. She couldn't tell him that she didn't have a last name. He wouldn't believe her. Think...she had used the address of the family she was staying with, so maybe she could use their last name as well. It couldn't hurt. "...it's Makino," she reluctantly replied.

"Good," the teacher commented as he wrote down the name. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Mare sighed heavily and let her head fall onto the desk with a hollow 'thunk', not caring that it would probably cause a headache. She just wanted the day to be over and done with. She paid no attention as the teacher continued to take attendance, and eventually drifted off into her thoughts. She had wanted to experience the type of lives that humans led. She had been so curious as to what school was like that she signed up for classes without thinking that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. And she should have practiced walking on her human legs before coming, as it had been years since she'd had to use only two legs. She had to hand it to those humans though--having a pair of arms certainly was useful.

"Miss Makino!"

Mare's head snapped up. "Yes? I'm sorry, what is it?"

The teacher crossed his arms and leaned on his desk. "That's the third time I've had to call your name, Miss Makino. Are you ready to answer this time?"

"Sure, and would you please not call me that? I prefer to be called by my first name if you don't mind," she said.

"Well as a matter of fact, I DO mind, Miss Makino. And as I was explaining to the rest of the class, I am going to pair you up for your driving lessons, IF that's all right with you, that is." He glared at her.

"That's fine with me, sir, but I really have no idea why you wish to have my approval." She stared back at him, confused. He seemed a bit taken aback by the genuineness of her answer.

"Well--anyway, you'll be working with Shuuichi today."

"Oh. Um...which one is he?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't have another nasty response to the question.

"He's sitting in the seat beside you, Miss Makino." She held her breath, waiting for him to say something else, but he said nothing more. Instead he turned to the blackboard and began writing.

Mare let out her breath and turned her head towards the one sitting in the desk beside hers. She guessed that one really couldn't miss a guy like Shuuichi, considering his long red hair and the color of his clothing--pink.

She said, "Hello."

"Hello," he answered politely.

There was definitely something strange about him, but Mare wasn't quite sure what. She shook it from thought, though. Now wasn't the time to be thinking these things over, as the teacher had quite kindly reminded her.

"Nice fellow, that teacher," Mare commented. "It's really quite amazing that he's able to walk with such a long pole up his fat butt." She made the last two words sound as nasty as possible.

"Well said," Shuuichi replied. "Although I'm afraid things will get worse before they get better. He doesn't take kindly to new students."

"That's not fair!" Mare said a little too loudly.

The teacher turned from the blackboard. "Excuse me!"

Mare straightened up in her chair. "Oops." This day was neverending.

. . .



"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!" Mare moaned while lying on the ground. She had hit the dirt face-first after tripping over the volleyball net while trying to spike the ball, and had overdone the jump just a tad. "Oh please, just make this day stop!"

"Are you okay, Mare?" Kayko knelt down beside her.

"Oh, I'll be fine when the day is over Kayko," Mare sighed as she sat up.

"Well hang in there, you've got fifteen minutes until the school day is over."

"Really? Fifteen minutes?" Mare stood up and dusted herself off. "Okay, I can handle that. Yeah. Fifteen minutes is no problem. Hey Kayko, is my face bleeding?"

"No," she shook her head. "It's a little red, but other than that you look fine."

"Alright girls, let's keep this game going," the Phys. Ed. teacher called as she blew her whistle. "Do you need to sit out for a few minutes, Makino?"

"No, I'm fine," Mare said as she took her place again. As she spoke the words, she could feel a lump forming on her forehead and also could tell she would develope a black eye by the next day. She played the rest of the game very carefully, being very cautious not to give anyone a reason to be suspicious of her. The fifteen minutes seemed to drag on, but when the bell rang Mare couldn't get to the locker room fast enough.

She changed out of her P.E. clothes and put her regular ones back on. She met Kayko as she was walking out the door.

"Hey Mare, wait for me okay? I'll only be a few minutes," Kayko said as she disappeared into the locker room.

"Kay," answered Mare. She sat down on the bench outside the locker room. She couldn't wait to get home. She was just itching to get back to the Makinos' field--HER field--where she could run free without a care in the world. As a human she was starting to feel a little cramped. It was probably because she wasn't quite used to being in this body yet; it had been a very long time since she had been in her human form this long.

A few minutes later, as promised, Kayko emerged from the locker room. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Mare said as she stood up. She noticed that she was a few inches taller than Kayko.

"I was going to meet Yusuke and his friends," Kayko explained. "I thought you could come and meet them, you know, to get to know some people."

"Okay, that sounds nice." Mare nodded. The two of them made their way out to the front of the school, where they found Yusuke with two other boys. One of them Mare had already met, and the other was very tall with short red hair. The tall one noticed the girls first.

"Oh hey Kayko, who's your friend?" He wondered, blushing slightly.

"Get a grip, Kuwabara," Yusuke told him. "Whatever happened to Yukina?"

Kuwabara glared at Yusuke. "Nothing happened, Yukina is my one true love!"

"Anyway guys, this is my new friend, Mare Makino," Kayko said.

"Hello," Mare said, not sure what else to say.

"So how do you like it here so far?" Yusuke asked as he leaned against one of the trees that lined the sidewalks.

"...Well, the people are nice," she shrugged. "Some of them."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Yusuke grinned and turned to the other red-haired boy. "How was Driver's Ed, Kurama?"

"It could have been worse, I suppose..." He answered.

Mare was a little confused. "Wait a sec--aren't you in that class with me?" She asked Kurama.

"Yes," he answered.

"Okay, but I thought your name was Shuuichi."

"It is," he replied. "...It's a bit complicated, but you can call me Kurama."

"Okay." Mare went to set down her backpack by the tree Yusuke was leaning on and tripped over a clump of grass. She barely managed to catch herself before she fell down. "Whew."

. . .

"Not so graceful when you're only on two legs, are you?" Teilen smirked as she watched the small group of teenagers from her place high up in a tree where they wouldn't notice her. "I wonder if Kurama suspects anything..."

"What do you mean?"

Teilen glanced up as Hiei landed on the limb beside her. She had gotten used to him dropping in like that, and usually she could tell whenever he was around. It didn't bother her. She would never admit it to him, but she had a lot of respect for Hiei and she got the feeling that it was the same the other way around. It was hard to believe that at one time they had hated each other with the burning of a thousand fires.

"The new girl down there with Yusuke and the others," Teilen said. "Does she look familiar to you?"

Hiei gave her a look. "Hn. How would I know?"

"I have a feeling you'll understand soon enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Teilen didn't answer. She stared down at the group with growing interest. 'Why have you come back, Phedra?' She thought to herself. 'What do you want this time?' She watched Mare say goodbye to her new friends and leave the schoolyard. Part of Teilen wanted to follow her, to find out where she was living and how she could be going to school. But she remembered that she and Hiei were supposed to spar that afternoon, which was probably why he had come to find her.

"Are you coming or what?" Hiei asked, as if reading her mind.

She looked at him. "Let's go."

Without another word, he jumped off the tree limb and she followed, pushing aside her doubts of the newcomer for the time being.

. . .

AN: Aaaaand the first chapter is done! Sheesh, it was pretty long too. Not every chapter will be quite this long, I can promise that. So what did you think? Please review my story! Please?