*blowing lots of bubbles with the funny little wand-thingy* Yeah! Bubble bubbly bubbles…*notices people standing and staring at her* Oh…hi there…heh…Let's get on with the story then!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, Digimon, or anything else of all that official stuff. *sniffs the air* Coooookiiieees…*runs after hot-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies, bounding like Hiei*

Digimon Hakusho

Chapter 2: Rival Encounter

"Kari…Hey, Kari?"

"Hm?"

Kari looked up. Yolei was tapping her on the shoulder, and the other girls around them were staring at her strangely. "What's with you?" Yolei asked worriedly. "You've been staring at the school flag for the past ten minutes."

"Sorry…" Kari giggled a bit, brushing her bangs back. "Just letting my mind wander, you know?"

"Your mind usually isn't the type to wander off." Miko noted, pushing her lunch away. "What's up? Not feeling good or something?"

"Oh no, nothing like that." Kari flushed a bit red, enjoying the attention.

Cona got a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, I know that look." she snickered. "So where'd you meet him?"

"Who?" Kari coughed a bit, making it difficult.

"You know who!" Cona laughed. "The boy you've obviously got on your mind!"

"Ooo, a boy?!" Miko leaned over the table, and soon the whole group huddled up. "Details, Kari, details!"

"I bet I know." Yolei dropped her voice down. "It's T.K., isn't it? Come on, please tell me it's T.K.!"

"T.K.?" Cona asked. "As in, Takaishai? Oooh, he is hot!"

"No!" Kari snapped, completely serious. "T.K. is a friend, nothing more."

"So who is it?" Yolei asked, sitting back down.

Kari turned red with blush, putting a hand to her cheek in a dreamy expression. "His name is Kurama." she sighed. "He goes to that big private school half-way 'cross town, and he's absolutely gorgeous…"

"Kurama?" Miko said outloud. "What a strange name…what's his last name?"

"It's a nickname." Kari smiled. "His real name's Shuuichi. Shuuichi Minamino."

"I've heard of him!" Cona laughed. "My sister goes to his school, and she says every chick in the place is after him, the ones with boyfriends included!"

"What's he like?" Yolei asked, excited again.

"Well, he's got this beautiful, long red hair…" Kari went into a long and detailed explanation of her crush's looks and personality, but none of the girls noticed that there was someone eavesdropping on their conversation.

T.K. put his fork down on his tray, suddenly lacking the appetite. He could hear the girls at the next table, and hear Kari gushing over that red-haired boy from earlier. It made his blood boil just to think about it, even as he dumped his tray in the trash and started outside.

"What the heck does she see in that pretty-boy?" he muttered bitterly to himself as he wandered onto the schoolyard. "She's hardly met him, I'm sure, and she's hanging all over him! What is the deal?"

"Jealous, jealous." the stupid voice in his head taunted. "Tee-Kay is jealous. Jealous, jealous…"

"I'm not jealous." he told himself. "I'm just worried…What if this guy tries something funny?"

Right then and there he made up his mind. It wouldn't be much to check up on that red-haired freak, just following him a bit after school. If there was any funny business happening, it wasn't beyond him to punch the dude's lights out.

~ * ~ * ~

Kurama walked down the street, heading for the team's scheduled rendezvous place in an ally behind these apartment buildings. The girl, Kari, had not been able to 'run into' him today, he'd left school much later than usual and she'd been forced to go home. It was a bit of a break for him, she'd met him there every

"There you are, Kurama!" Yusuke sighed as he came around the last dumpster to the dead-end side street. He was leaning against the wall with one leg up. "It's about time! Keiko's gonna murder me…"

"Why would there be any trouble with Keiko?" Kurama asked, smiling.

"I had to stand her up to get here…" Yusuke muttered. "There'll be hell to pay the next time I see her…"

"Well, it serves you right!" Kuwabara grunted from where he was sitting with his back against the brick wall. "You should be ashamed of yourself, just blowing her off like that!"

"Oh, shut up…" Yusuke muttered.

"Hn." Hiei took a few steps forward, looking up at his red-haired companion. "I would like to know the point of gathering us all here in this disgusting place. Let's hear it, Kurama."

Kurama brushed his hair away from his eyes, contemplating what he would say before answering. "Well, you see…There's this girl now, who's been following me around for the past week."

"So?" Yusuke shook his head back and forth. "You've got a whole fan club, Kurama, we'd all be so lucky as to have your problems."

"That's not it." Kurama sighed. "This girl is…different."

"Wait." Hiei widened his eyes slightly. "Is this the brown-haired girl you met before? The one you said had a very unique energy pattern?"

"Indeed." Kurama nodded. "Her energy has a very distinct wavelength to it…"

T.K. was watching them from his place sitting behind a near-by dumpster. "They're talking about Kari!" he exclaimed in his mind, eyes wide. "Energy pattern? Who are…These guys?"

"In fact, there's only one other being that I know of with anything remotely similar to it." Kurama continued, smiling a bit.

"Really?" Yusuke asked. "Who?"

"There's a boy I've seen with he before." Kurama said, brushing back his long hair. "His energy has a rather similar pattern, but a different wave-length, so I believe they have something special in common."

"Sort've like how you and Hiei feel kinda the same as Yukina?" Kuwabara asked gruffly. "That's 'cause you're all demons, right?"

"True, though these two are obviously pure human." Kurama nodded. "Perhaps they share some special power or other human characteristic."

"So what's the big deal about that?" Yusuke sighed.

"It's rare to find two humans with a unique matching pattern." Hiei muttered. "The patterns are like finger prints, no two humans or demons has exactly the same time, and most are wildly different. If energies are similar, than so are the human's destinies."

"Indeed." Kurama nodded. "And I get the feeling that there might be many more with this particular type."

"How do you know that?" Kuwabara wondered.

"When humans come in contact , they rub off a bit of their energy on one another." Kurama explained. T.K. looked down at his hands. He didn't see anything. "If it's similar, they blend in slightly, but in this case the different layers of wavelength are definite."

"So this is probably a team…" Hiei nodded. "Do you think they're a threat?"

"They are something to make note of…But I do not believe that they mean us or any one else any harm, so I don't believe they are a threat." then he broke into a smile, laughing a bit at the thought. "However, I believe that young man doesn't think quite the same. I believe he feels quite threatened by me."

T.K. stiffened. Now they were talking about him. "What makes you say that?" Yusuke asked.

"He's been shadowing me for the past five blocks…"

"Hello there."

T.K. let out a cry, looking up into the ugly face of the tall orange-haired boy. Before he could run, the other one had grabbed him in a sort of head lock with one arm and lifted him up three inches from the ground, dragging him over to the others in the group.

"Lookie what I found." he grunted, dragging him over to the middle of the group. "Looks like somebody's been eavesdropping."

"H-Hey you big oaf! Put me down!" T.K. shouted, kicking the guy in the knees though he was aiming for something a little higher. "Leggo 'a me!"

"Kuwabara, you idiot, put him down!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"He does deserve and explanation." Kurama said with his usual gentle, even-tempered tone. "We must seam very rude, talking about himself and his friends behind their backs."

Kuwabara released his lock and T.K. dropped to the ground. He was off-balance and fell back on his knees when he first re-connected. "Jeez…big gorilla…"

A hand suddenly appeared above him, about to help him up. T.K. looked up to find the long-haired red head Kari had been talking to, and found his jealousy sprouting again. "I apologize." Kurama smiled. "Please, allow me to help you up."

"I don't need your help." T.K. muttered, brushing the hand away and standing on his own.

"Stubborn, are you?" Kurama laughed a bit.

"This the boy you were talkin' 'bout, Kurama?" Yusuke asked, examining T.K.'s face so closely it made him nervous.

"He's the one, all right." Kurama nodded.

"I see what you mean about his energy having a unique pattern." Hiei muttered. "Interesting…"

T.K. glanced between them, measuring his chances against each of them. He didn't stand a chance in a fist-fight against the curly-haired idiot who'd grabbed him in the first place, he was pure muscle. The shrimpy one didn't look like he would be trouble, until you noticed the long, sharp katana at his right side. Not to mention, his eyes had a sort of blood thirst in them, so rule out going in that way.

That left the green-suited boy with the black gang hairstyle, and the red-haired guy he's followed here in the first place. The guy in the green uniform was a definite street punk, it was possible he could take him if he needed to, and this Kurama guy looked like a bookworm. The pretty-boy intellectual type. If he needed to run for it, going his way was probably the best choice, but he got the feeling that these guys weren't your normal street gang, so he'd better be careful…

He glared at them, untrusting. "Who are you guys?" he demanded. "And what do you want with Kari?"

Kurama smiled a bit. "Heard the whole thing, did you?" he laughed. "Well, don't worry. We're not some cult, and we're not after her."

The glare in T.K.'s eyes might as well have said, "I don't believe you, you freak of nature."

Yusuke gave the blonde boy a lop-sided grin. "You think you're pretty tough, don'cha, kid?" he laughed. "But I see what's going on…You've got a crush on that girl, don't you?"

"That's none of your business!" T.K. shouted, blushing furiously.

"That's enough." Kurama silenced his friends, then turned with a smile to T.K., addressing the younger boy rather formally. "Whether or not we are a threat to you is not truly the question. We as a group have no need to be interested in your friendship or team as it may seam. However…" he smiled a mischievous smile. "I believe the girl would be rather disappointed if I broke contact with her…"

"You stay away from Kari!" T.K. exclaimed.

Kurama smiled at him, then the group turned and seamed to disappear into the darkness of twilight. T.K. was left standing there, upset and angry, and swearing to himself that, no matter what it took, he would save Kari from them.

He swore.