Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not have the privilege of owning Yu Yu Hakusho...oh well! Life goes on! However, I do own Lebiri Tatsami and Tai Masikusa.

Chapter 6

Opinions Of Masikusa

Lebiri walked slowly down the trodden upon path. Things were not good. Even though she pretended to be happy and cheerful around others, she was totally worried for her adoptive family. 'The Hideko are not to be trusted,' she thought grimly. Maybe I should have stayed home. Trained there and watched over them...'

Lebiri's family was the Makishiras. They consisted of a mother and father, two boys and three girls. Lebiri made the fourth girl. None of her other siblings were adopted, however, but they all were connected to and loved her like one of the family. She was the eldest of the girls, being fourteen in their years. She had a very special connection with each – what with doing each other's hair, dressing up, and girl talking. The two boys were both older than her; one being a year ahead, and the other three. They treated her exactly like their other sisters. Her parents were kind and understanding, much like her true mother and father.

The difference, of course, was that the Makishiras now needed protecting, and Lebiri wasn't there to see to that...

Lost in her thoughts, Lebiri continued mindlessly down the path, oblivious to the outside world. Before she knew it, she had bumped into a tree and fallen back onto the ground.

"Oooohhh," she moaned, rubbing her forehead and blinking to clear her vision. She continued to grumble about the 'stupid tree' when she heard a pained voice in front of her. That was no tree!

"Ouch...I'm so sorry." It was a male voice. "Are you alright?"

Lebiri blinked away the last of the blurriness in her eyes. She took in the young man's appearance before answering.

He looked to be 15 or so with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a simple blue t-shirt and tan khakis. Quite handsome...

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, a bit embarrassed.

He stood and held out a hand to her.

Lebiri blushed and took it. He helped her up. She brushed off her kimono and said quietly, "Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize!" he said kindly. "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Lebiri felt relaxed at his bright attitude and kind smile. And his eyes reminded her of a sparkling ocean... "Neither was I," she said apologetically, berating herself for thinking like that.

He held out his hand again. "I'm Tai, Tai Masikusa."

She shook it. "Lebiri Tatsami. Pleased to meet you." They released hands.

"The pleasure's all mine."

Lebiri smiled. Tai thought she was beautiful! For some reason unknown to him, he wanted to get to know her.

"May I accompany you somewhere?..." he asked politely. That was odd. He normally flirted and gave girls looks and made their boyfriends mad. Now all that suddenly seemed childish and disgraceful. This girl had a luring aura about her. He guessed it could change any guy.

"Um...if you're not busy, that'd be great...Masikusa-san," Lebiri said slowly. 'I guess this guy just wants to show that he's sorry...'

"Call me Tai, and I'd be honored to," he said sincerely.

"Alright Tai-san." She began walking. "Lebiri's fine with me!"

Tai, after wondering why she wouldn't just drop the 'san', walked next to her in their slow descent around the park and back to the group Lebiri had arrived with.

On the way there, the two chatted about various things. Lebiri found out that Tai was 16, single ('As if I wanted to know that,' she thought. 'I already have my eye on someone. But I'll give this guy a chance...'), and worked at a popular restaurant called Romini's Local. Tai discovered she was 14 (soon to be fifteen in a month), single ('Hallelujah!'), and came from Osaka to stay with her cousin for a while.

When the two reached Lebiri's destination, Kurama looked up questioningly.

Lebiri walked over to him, Tai following and feeling quite out of place. "Tai-san, this is my cousin...Suuichi," she said carefully. "Suuichi, this is Tai Masikusa."

They shook hands.

Lebiri chuckled. "We...bumped into each other." She sat down beside him, Tai following suit after he and Kurama greeted kindly. She looked over at Yusuke and Keiko. Yusuke was squinting at Tai as Keiko stared biting her nails and nervously looking away. "What's up with you guys?" She shrugged it off and said, "Yusuke and Keiko, this is Tai."

Yusuke stood up. "Tai huh?..." he mumbled.

Tai recognized him. He gulped.

"You guys...know each other or something?" a confused Lebiri wondered aloud.

Yusuke's eyes lit with realization, then anger. "You!" he exclaimed. "You're that waiter!"

Tai's eyes widened. He had been hoping this guy would have short-term memory or something. "Terribly sorry sir! I..." He wanted to make a good impression on Lebiri. "...didn't know that was your girlfriend! I-I thought you were brother and sister! You two look made for each other!" he recovered.

Yusuke sat down in a huff at Keiko's urging. She leaned lightly against him and sighed in relief and exhaustion.

Kurama raised an eyebrow and shrugged, meditating again. Just then, Kuwabara came back from the port-o-potty and stared at Tai, confused. Then Lebiri spoke up.

"Um...ok..."she said. "Well I guess it's not my business, so anyway...oh hey Kuwabara!" She waved him over. "This is Tai Masikusa!"

Kuwabara gave him a nod and leaned against the tree Hiei was in.

Hiei watched the scene below in silence. He wasn't jealous. However, he didn't like this Masikusa guy. Then again, he never liked new comers anyway. His thoughts were interrupted when Lebiri said his name.

"Where's Hiei?" she asked Kurama quietly.

He opened his eyes lazily. "Up there." He made no gestures, but Lebiri knew what he was talking about. She looked up to see him looking angrily into the distance.

"Oh Hiei!" she called innocently.

He glanced at her, then looked into the distance again.

Lebiri continued. "Hiei! In case you weren't listening, this is Tai Masi-"

Hiei was gone. Lebiri blinked. "Well that was rude! Didn't even say goodbye!"

"Hiei's like that," Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama said in unison. Keiko nodded tiredly.

Lebiri shook her head and turned to Tai. "Well sorry about that!" Then, seeing him smile uncomfortably and fidget, she asked, "Do you need to go or something?..."

He looked at her. "Actually yeah," he said. "I have to get home." He stood up. "I hope to see you again soon Lebiri?..."

"Yeah," she said, taking out a pad of paper and a pen. She scribbled her number on it. "My cell."

"Great. Thanks." Tai bid everyone goodbye and took his leave.

"Do you like him?" Kurama asked softly after a relaxing silence settled.

"Well obviously," Lebiri said, rolling her eyes. "But I only just met the guy."

Yusuke sighed. He pushed a few strands of hair out of Keiko's eyes. She blinked lazily and closed her eyes. "I wouldn't trust him..." he mumbled.

Lebiri stood, yawning. She stretched and said, "I better go find a hotel or something." It was 8:00. "See you guys later-"

"Nonsense," Kurama interrupted. "You can stay with my mother and me at our house. There are a good number of extra rooms as it is." He smiled as she grinned happily.

"I can't wait to see Aunt Shiori!"

"Jeeze!" Yusuke exclaimed. "It's kind of surprising that you still live with your mom, Kurama. Mr. Three Hundred Some years old."

Kurama stood slowly and stared at him. "Why of course I still live her," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I can't leave her side. And I surely don't sleep in a tree."

"Although Hiei might..." Yusuke piped up.

Lebiri giggled.

"No, really," he said to her.

Yusuke smirked and Lebiri abruptly stopped. But then she just cracked up. Kurama rolled his eyes.

"I gotta go guys," Kuwabara put in. "The guys want to meet in a half hour. See ya."

Lebiri, Yusuke, and Kurama bid him farewell.

"Goodnight!" Lebiri called cheerfully after him as Yusuke picked up the sleeping Keiko and stood carefully with her.

Kurama looked over at him. "Would you like some assistance home, Yusuke?" he asked in his normal calm and kind voice.

Yusuke gave him a grin, and a thumbs-up from under Keiko. "Nah, it'll be fun waking her up." Waving goodbye, he smirked and walked out of the park and in the direction of Keiko's home.

When he was out of sight, Lebiri hooked her arm through Kurama's and asked, "So where's this house of yours? I'm beat."

He smiled down at her. "Let's go," he said gently.

And there went the Yusuke Gang.

>>

Hiei, relaxing on a park bench, crossed his arms, put his head down, and closed his eyes. 'Women,' he thought, rather calmly. 'That Masikusa is a total ningen fool.'

(A/N: Whoop whoop! I finally got this typed! Whoo, sorry for the long wait. My brother installed some stuff that gave the computor some terrible mess ups and we had to erase the WHOLE THING! The next chapter will be up sooner though, because I had SO MUCH time to write it. I think you'll all like it. This chapter wasn't really funny at all was it? Hmm...well the next chapter will be. (I'll give you a hint: you will find out where Hiei sleeps at night...) )