Chapter Two

"What is with her, Jake?" Yusuke wanted to know as he plopped down on the couch, crossing his arms. He was tempted to pull out a cigarette, but the thought of an angry Tonya kept him from doing so. He didn't want to go flying like Jake and Hiei had. It had looked painful. "I know that you told us she spoke in other languages when she was ticked, but you didn't tell us about her attitude problem."

"Yes, I believe you left that fact out," Kurama added in a soft voice. He had never met anyone quite like Tonya, although he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

"That girl can be scary," Kuwabara stated, putting his two cents in. "She's about as scary as Keiko-san when she's mad."

Jake sighed as Kuwabara stopped paying attention, his mind suddenly on Yukina. "She's normally not this bad, but she's had a big shock. We just turned her world upside down. There's a television show called Yu Yu Hakusho, and it stars all of you. She watched it pretty faithfully until they started playing reruns."

"Actually, she watched it pretty faithfully even after they started playing reruns," Botan stated as she appeared. "Her parents didn't catch her watching it until much later, so they couldn't stop her until after the damage had been done."

"Hey, Botan," Yusuke greeted her. "What's going on?"

"Koenma-sama wanted to know how things are going with Tonya-san," the ferry girl replied. "And I need to talk to her adoptive parents." She looked around the room. "By the way, where are Hiei and Tonya-san?"

"In her room, listening to music. She went postal on us," Genkai's student answered.

"I sent Hiei-san in to keep an eye on her," Jake said. "She's not very happy with any of us, but she did let him in. The rest of us are locked out."

Botan sighed. "I wish her parents had stopped her before she had watched the show. Things would have been much easier if they had."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that Koenma-sama knew that this might happen?" Kuwabara looked slightly dumbstruck. Of course, he usually looked dumbstruck.

"Well, yes," she replied hesitantly as she half-listened to the music that was floating through the room. She immediately dubbed the song as disturbing. "He knows that there's a show, and that it would discredit you guys in her eyes if she ever saw it."

"But she saw it," Yusuke stated.

She nodded, a sad look on her face. "And that's going to make things harder for you guys."

"It doesn't help that she refuses to believe in demons," Kurama commented, partially lost in thought. He needed to come up with some way to make the girl believe, but he had run out of ideas. His proof-his rose whip-hadn't even worked all that well.

Botan turned around. "I'm going to talk to her parents now." She went up the stairs, leaving the men alone.

Tonya growled, slamming her book shut. "Stupid math." She looked at Hiei. "Do you know anything about calculus?"

He shook his head. "Hn. No. Your silly schools mean nothing to me."

Rolling her eyes, she stood up and left the room with her book, calculator, paper, and pencil in hand.

"Kurama-dono, do you know how to do calculus problems?" she asked the redhead as she placed her things on the small table.

"Yes. I took a calculus class last year," the redhead answered.

Blue eyes lit up with happiness. "Do you think you could help me with this problem? I can't figure out what to do."

"Let me see," he ordered as the other males stared. The girl was talking to them civilly. She hadn't snapped, nor had she given a single one of them a dirty look. It was possible that she was no longer angry, which the men really hoped was the truth.

Kurama began explaining what to do, and Tonya listened closely, taking in every word as she scribbled down notes.

"I'm sorry," Botan told the two adults, giving a small sigh. "But she's in danger, and as soon as a demon discovers that she has adoptive parents, both of you will be in danger as well. She has to go to the safe house."

Tonya's mother looked down at the ground as her eyes filled with tears. "I can't believe it. It's so soon."

The ferry-girl patted the grown woman on the shoulder. "I'm sure that when everything settles down, you'll be able to see her again. But... right now, we need you to tell your daughter to get her butt in gear and pack. Last I checked, she was refusing to go anywhere with the guys."

The father nodded in understanding. "I'll tell her." Then, he went downstairs.

After a long argument between Tonya and her father, she ended up giving in and packing her bags. An hour after that, Botan took her to the fully furnished safe house, the boys in tow. Tonya pouted a little most of the way, refusing to talk to anyone. She hated how her life had been turned topsy-turvy all in one day, how in one day her entire life had been ruined. She couldn't go back to school or even contact any of her friends and family until Botan or one of the others said she could. It just wasn't fair!

At the safe house, Jake avoided her, and the other boys followed his example. Botan headed back to the spirit world, leaving them to deal with her on their own. She didn't want to mess with an angry teenage girl either.

Once Tonya was done unpacking, she went into the living room and plopped down on the couch, picking up the remote and turning on the television set a moment later. She channel surfed for a while, finally coming to rest on her favorite show-Yu Yu Hakusho.

Jake came in during the middle of the episode, sitting down in a nearby chair. He didn't say a word, knowing that she would bite his head off if he did. He silently watched the anime with her, not quite able to see why she liked it. He had never really marked her as the type of girl who enjoyed fighting shows or martial arts movies. Chick flicks and Disney movies seemed more her style, but then, she had always enjoyed surprising him.

When she turned off the television set, he turned his head to look at her, waiting to see if she would say anything. She did.

"Jake-kun..." Tonya gave him a shy smile. "Ummm... Do you think that you could... transform into your demon form again?"

"Yeah," Jake replied, feeling a little surprised. He hadn't expected her to say anything like that. "Why?"

She shrugged slightly, not looking angry in the least. "I guess that... I just kinda wanna see you like that again. You looked pretty interesting."

He chuckled, slightly shaking his head. "Alright then." He summoned his spirit energy, using it so he could transform. Soon, he was sitting in the chair with ears and a tail.

"Kawaii! Cute!" Tonya clapped her hands, crawling to the edge of the couch so she could reach over and touch his ears. "I can see why Kagome found Inuyasha's ears so fascinating."

She began to rub his ears like she would a cat's, quickly finding out that Jake could purr. It wasn't a normal feline sound though; it sounded more sensual, like it wasn't supposed to be made outside of the bedroom.

Blushing slightly, she drew away, placing her hands in her lap. "Thank you," she said softly. "I appreciate it."

"Are you going to ask Hiei-san to change into his majin form?" Jake asked, grinning mischievously.

Tonya shuddered, violently shaking her head. "Nah. I don't think so. The green skin and eyes all over bother me a little. I like him better in his... more human form." She paused. "However, I would love to see Kurama-dono in his Youko form." She smiled, easily picturing the fox demon with the perfect silver hair and beautiful golden eyes she loved so much.

"I bet you would," he mumbled, sounding a little annoyed.

She just shrugged off his response. "Well, I'm gonna go draw. The TV's all yours." Tonya handed him the remote. "Bye!" With a slight wave, she stood up and left.

Jake just sighed and shook his head. "I'll never understand her." Smiling slightly, he turned on the television set and began channel surfing.

A few hours later, Tonya came back to the living room to find Jake, Yusuke, and Kuwabara watching television. It appeared to be some kind of action-comedy, which really didn't surprise her.

"Where're Kurama-dono and Hiei-sama?" she inquired, sitting down on the couch next to Yusuke. Jake and Kuwabara were in arm chairs.

"Kurama went home and Hiei is..." Yusuke drifted off. "Actually, I don't know where he is." His tone held no form of concern, which meant that either he trusted the fire demon or he just didn't care. The latter one seemed more likely, considering Yusuke's personality.

Tonya shrugged. "He's probably sitting in a tree somewhere." She paused. "So... why aren't they here? Are you guys gonna go home too?"

Kuwabara shook his head. "Nope. At least two people have to be here to protect you at all times."

"Okay... so that gives Yusuke-san and Jake-kun an excuse for being here," she responded. "What's yours?"

The carrot top flexed his muscles. "I, the Great Kuwabara, am here to protect you."

Tonya just laughed, almost falling to the floor as she clutched at her sides. "Great? Spfft. God, that's a good one. The Great Kuwabara..." Chuckling, she shook her head. "I'm going now before you drag me down to your level of stupidity."

"Hey! You take that back!" Kuwabara retorted as she left the room. He didn't receive a response; Tonya was gone.

Yusuke grinned. "I think she has you pegged pretty accurately."

"Oh, shut up."

The first week went by slowly, especially for Tonya. She missed her friends, particularly Sari, and her family, of course. She wanted to go back home; however, she was constantly reminded that she couldn't. Of course, she took her anger and depression out on the guys. They still tried to convince her that she was a demon, and she refused to believe them. She got along best with Jake and Kurama, perhaps because Jake was an old friend and Kurama helped her with her homework. For some strange reason or another, she insisted on doing her homework so she could still go to college. The guys didn't quite understand, but they didn't want to debate with her on the subject. She was irritable enough already.

It was the start of the second week that things started to go downhill. Saturday afternoon, Kurama was in the kitchen, preparing lunch (he had found out that Tonya really couldn't cook all that well).

Tonya walked in, watched him for a few minutes, and decided that she was in a good enough mood to offer her assistance. "Would you like some help?" she inquired.

"Yes, that would be very nice," Kurama replied as Tonya walked over, eyeing the objects he had cooking on the stove. While she poked a few steaming food items with a spatula, he noticed something about her. Her scent had changed drastically, and he even knew why.

"So... wha'da ya want me to do?" she asked, setting down the spatula and looking up at the redhead. He didn't respond. "Hello? Is anyone home?" She didn't like him staring at her; it made her uncomfortable. "KURAMA-DONO! Wake up!"

He shook his head, as if banishing whatever thoughts he had been thinking. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

Tonya rolled her eyes and sighed. "Grande Dios sobre. What happened to you?" she inquired. "You zoned out on me."

Kurama instantly realized that she didn't know what was going on. "It was nothing," he replied softly, waving his hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay..." She frowned slightly at him but decided not to press the matter further. She wasn't quite sure how to act around one of her favorite anime characters come to life. Sure, he was polite and was a good cook. He was amazing when it came to helping with her homework or around the house (which was really nice since she hated cleaning the safe house all by herself). Despite all that, she now knew that Sari had described Kurama correctly; he was a bit like a stuffed-shirt.

"I just realized that I don't really need your help at the moment," he stated with an apologetic smile. "Perhaps you wouldn't mind going off and finding something else to do... at least until lunch is ready."

"Fine." Silently grumbling about males who couldn't make up their minds, she wandered back to her room and turned on the radio. She listened for a while, and when one of her favorite songs came on, she smiled. Turning up her boombox as high as it could go, she began to dance.

Kurama set all the food on the table, sighing as he glanced down the hallway. He could easily hear the music blaring all through the house. Shaking his head, he turned to Hiei who had just walked inside. They were the only two in the safe house at the moment guarding the girl. "Hiei, do you think you could tell Tonya that lunch is ready?"

"Hn." Nodding once, the fire demon followed the music back to the girl's room. He knocked a few times, but she didn't answer. Finally, growling and fed up, he opened the door, not caring if it was rude or not. He had a good idea about what to do with the loud, annoying boombox. Taking his sword to it sounded pretty good to him at the moment.

When Tonya's scent hit him, his thoughts stopped dead, and when he saw what she was doing, they restarted, but they were incredibly different. She was dancing, and quite sexually, her eyes closed as she sang along. Actually, Hiei couldn't hear her, as the music was too loud, but he could see her mouth moving.

Not thinking clearly, he walked up to her and put his hands on her waist. She stopped dancing, surprised at the touch, and then he kissed her.

Tonya took a step back, her heel hitting the wall, unsure of what was going on. Hiei was... kissing her? It just didn't seem right... didn't seem like him. She wanted to talk to him to figure out what was going on, but he didn't give her the chance. He stepped with her, firmly pressing her against the wall. She could feel his entire body from his chest down... his entire body.

That action had pushed her too far. He had no right to do things like that to her. So, when he briefly broke away, Tonya took the time to take a deep breath and fully summon her anger.

A split second after his lips touched hers once again, he was gone, flying across the room and into a nearby wall.

Tonya hit the off button on her radio. "Wha... what the fuck was that?" she sputtered, glaring at him. Who did he think she was, forcing himself upon her like that? She wasn't some stupid slut. Hell, she had actually thought they could become friends... eventually. He was a jerk, but at least he had an honor code to go with his attitude problem.

Hiei shook his head, as if he was trying to clear his thoughts. "Go away," he ordered gruffly.

Startled, she stared at him. "What?" 'This is my room,' she thought, mentally frowning. 'Who is he to order me out of my room?'

"Go away," the fire demon repeated, a strange look in his red eyes.

Not liking how he was looking at her, she left.

Lunch passed quickly enough, although Hiei didn't show back up. Tonya assumed that he had snuck out through her bedroom window so he wouldn't have to explain his actions. Just in case he was still in her room, she helped Kurama clean up, noticing that he seemed to be concentrating hard on something the entire time. Against her better judgment, she shrugged it off, going out into the living room to watch some television.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, as was dinner, although Kurama still acted a little strange. Hiei didn't reappear, which worried Tonya a little. What had happened with him? Had he gone temporarily insane? Had that been a shape shifter in Hiei's form? Did shape shifters exist?

Tonya shook her head to ward off those thoughts. 'I'm being stupid. Hiei-sama just probably went temporarily insane. That, or it was a dare. I could see one of the guys daring him to kiss me or something. If they invoked his anger or pride, he'd do just about anything.'

Around eight at night, Jake and Kuwabara appeared with bags. They were her nighttime guards, although Yusuke was usually with them.

"Yo, where's the worst punk in ningenkai?" Tonya asked Jake and the carrot top. The worst punk in ningenkai was her nickname for Yusuke.

"His father wanted him for something. He should be here tomorrow morning," Kuwabara answered.

"Oh." She shrugged. "Raizen, right?"

"Huh?" Kuwabara stared at her.

"That's his father's name, right? It's Raizen?" she clarified, slightly leaning over the back of the couch so she could talk to the guys.

He nodded. "Yeah, but how'd you know?"

Tonya smiled evilly. "My secret." 'Does he not know that I watched a show that starred him and all the other members of the Reikai Tantei? Of course, I didn't get to see the episodes that went past the Sensui saga, but that's okay.'

"Sure. Whatever." Kuwabara shrugged. "So, where's the shorty? Did he skip out early?"

Kurama walked into the living room. "No. He's nearby. I can sense his energy."

Without warning, Tonya stood up and hit the carrot top on the head. "Don't call him short. I'm the nearly same height as him." She paused. "I'm almost the same height as Hiei-sama... Shit. How fucking short am I?"

Kuwabara laughed, and Kurama chuckled. "I do not know," the redhead replied, smiling in amusement.

It was then she noticed that Jake hadn't said a word yet. She turned to look at him, finding him staring at her, a heated look in his eyes. 'Ooookay. This is turning out to be the strangest day I have ever had.'

"Since you two are here, I am going to leave. I have some things to get done at home," Kurama stated. "I will see you tomorrow afternoon, Tonya-san."

"Bye, Kurama-dono!" Smiling, she waved at him, forgetting about Jake for a brief moment.

Kurama returned the gesture and left.

Kuwabara dropped his bag into a chair. "I'm starved."

"There are leftovers in the kitchen. Since Hiei-sama didn't eat with us, we have plenty of food left," Tonya informed him. "Help yourself." One of the good things about being in a safe house was she didn't have to buy food or pay the bills. Koenma was kindly doing all of that for her. Once a week, one of the guys would bring in a couple sacks of groceries, which she enjoyed, since they usually brought her chocolate.

"Great." Grinning, he left, obviously heading for the kitchen.

With no one left to distract her, Tonya went up to Jake, who hadn't moved more than two feet away from the front door. "Are you okay?" she asked, stopping just two feet away from him.

The words were barely out of her mouth before she found his lips on hers, his arms wrapping around her. She relaxed a little in his grasp, kissing him back. Hiei's kiss had been unexpected, just like Jake's, but she had known Jake longer. Also, she had liked him during camp, and she still liked him... maybe even loved him. She didn't know what her feelings were exactly, but she knew that she enjoyed the kissing.

Jake was a pretty good kisser too, but when she felt his hands move to her stomach and attempt to unbutton her pants, her anger level soared. An instant later, Jake went flying into the closed front door, the loud bang bringing Kuwabara into the room.

The carrot top found a seething Tonya standing a few feet away from Jake, who was on the ground and rubbing his head.

"What just happened?"

Tonya continued to glare at Jake as she answered Kuwabara. "Jake-kun overstepped his boundaries. He invaded my bubble."

"He did what?" The bearer of the spirit sword frowned at the other male. "What do you think you're doing, Jake, taking advantage of a girl? What kind of man are you?"

When Jake didn't respond, the auburn-haired female shook her head in disgust and walked off. He had merely stared at her, which had royally ticked her off.

As soon as Tonya was gone, Jake shook his head and sat down in a chair, sighing in relief. "I don't know what happened," he stated, rubbing his temples. "It was so strange... She smelled different."

Kuwabara raised his eyebrows at that. "Huh?"

Grande Dios sobre - Great God above

Kawaii - Cute