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Chapter 3: A New Life

Jeff halfway awakens the next morning to the feeling of something cold being placed in his ear. He sleepily waves a hand around it, in an attempt to make it go away, which it does, for a moment before coming back again. He groans and tries to turn over, only to find he can't. This mildly alarms him enough to nudge him a little closer to consciousness, but not enough to really wake him up, so he just tries to swat it again. He finds that he can't move his arm. His face twitches momentarily, rolling his head away from the offending cold object while once again trying to move his arm.

The result is the thing being then jammed into his ear and he feels his arms forcefully being held down while someone says "Hold still, dammit!" That was enough to snap him awake and his eyes snap open to reveal Yusuke on top of him, holding him down before he shuts them again against the offending sunlight that was pouring in the room.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" he asks, knowing full well that Yusuke can't understand.

Botan's voice comes through instead, which kind of surprises him "Hold still, I'm trying to put your translator in."

The words register in Jeff's mind and he relaxes, tipping his head to give her better access and Yusuke hops off, muttering something or other to himself. Finally Botan's done and steps back to inspect her work "Alright, it looks like it's good and in."

Jeff sits up and rubs his head, yawning a bit before looking over at Botan, a bit annoyed "Is there any reason why you couldn't wait until I was awake to put that in?"

Botan laughs nervously and puts a hand behind her head before saying "Yes, I could've, but I was so excited about you getting it that I thought it might be a nice surprise to find that you could understand what people where saying when you woke up."

Jeff turns to Yusuke "So, you were the one that told me to stay still?" he asks but all he gets is a blank stare.

Botan explains "Yes, he was, but he can't understand you yet, that requires this." she says, holding up a button that looks like any other button.

Jeff takes it and looks at Botan confusedly "Ookay, what do I do with this?" Botan snatches it back and carefully pins it to his shirt, making him blush a bit "Hey, get off, would ya'?"

Finally Botan sits back and smiles "There you go, one communicator all good and done."

Jeff goes over to the window and uses the reflection off of it to look. There, barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it, was the button on the inside lip of his shirt collar. "Thanks."

He mutters before turning to Yusuke once again "So, you can understand me now?"

Yusuke nodded, smiling and giving him the thumbs up, "Yep, every word finally. To be honest it was getting kinda annoying to not be able to understand you."

Jeff laughs "Yeah, the same to you buddy. So where do we go from here? I rather not impose on you guys by staying here longer then necessary, does that Hiei guy have a place? I figure since he brought me here that he should deal with taking care of me until I can get a job or something and make it on my own."

Yusuke scoffs "Feh, I doubt that Hiei has ever had a place to live that wasn't a tree or cave or something, and even if he did, he's not the sort of guy that takes care of anyone but himself."

Jeff frowns "Well, could you at least tell me where I could find him? I've got a bone or two to pick with him as you can imagine."

Yusuke waves his hands in front of him "Woah, woah, woah there buddy. No offense but you wouldn't last five minutes against Hiei. Come on, don't let him get ya' down! Let's go around town, get you introduced to the local folk and such. Guys can be pretty rough around here so we'll just make sure that they know you're with me."

Jeff blinks "Uh, thanks, I guess. Out of curiosity, why are you doing all this for me? No offense, but you don't seem like the charitable type either"

Yusuke just smirks "What can I say, I like who I like and you I like. Besides, I'm more charitable then you give me credit for, I once gave my life to save a little kid."

Jeff cocks an eyebrow "You what?"

Yusuke looks confused but Botan recovers first "He meant he ALMOST gave his life to save a little boy. That's where we met, I helped him get back into the real world. Isn't that right, Yusuke?"

Yusuke winces before nodding "Yeah, that's right. She even helped me get an after school job, though it's more like an internship 'cause I don't get paid a dime for doing it." He says, muttering near the end.

Jeff brightens, "An after school job? Hey Botan, you think you could hook me up? But something that pays, I can't make it on my own without cash."

Botan looks a little nervous before saying "I'll do my best, but before that happens you should get acquainted with the town. You can stay here for a few days, considering that Yusuke's mom's going to be out for at least another 3 days. Well, I'll see you two boys later, you've got a town to look over and I've got business to attend to. Well, ta-ta for now boys. See you later!" All the while pushing the two out of the room and out the door before slamming it in their faces.

Jeff just stares while Yusuke pounds on the door "Botan! Open the door! This is my freaking house for crying out loud!" he does that for about five minutes before finally giving up and turning to Jeff "Well, I guess that means we're going to walk around town. Come on, I'll show you all the favorite hang spots and the places where not even my name'll protect ya'"

Jeff nods and starts to follow him, walking beside him and chatting about this and that, talking about the life he'd been forced to leave behind and Yusuke talked about his life a bit and his half-brother that he'd met in some kind of fighting tournament. (A.N. I'm making this after Yusuke finds out about his dad. I haven't actually seen that far in the series, but I know about it. He and the gang are around 16 or 17 now)

After an hour or two of walking around they meet up with Kuwabara and his flunkies and start looking for something to keep their interest "Man," Kuwabara complains "everything is so damn boring now. Can't even get a decent fight anymore, even with the college punks! Makes me wish we weren't so damn strong."

Jeff cocks his head "You mean you guys actually used to go around LOOKING for fights? Back home I'd spend a good deal of my day AVOIDING them."

The others look at him like he just dropped down from some distant planet or something "Why would you avoid fights?" asked Kuwabara.

Jeff just shrugs, "I used to fight whenever someone would get on my nerves, but then I started getting in trouble with the principal, and I got thrown off the track team. That combined with my mom crying and wondering where she went wrong was enough to get me to stop. 'Course, there were still a lot of people that wanted to take advantage of my turning over a new leaf, but I couldn't kick their butts without having my mom get worried or Johnny breathin' down my neck about messin' up my life."

Yusuke and the others nod, as if they at least buy the story and don't push the subject anymore. After some more walking they are suddenly stopped by Kurama, who drops out of a tree. Jeff yelps in surprise a little but Yusuke and Kuwabara just start forward like they were going off alone to talk about something with Kurama. They stop when Kurama holds up a hand "No, don't worry, we can talk about this here, it has to do with our new friend here."

Jeff cocks an eyebrow "Me? What has to do with me?"

Kurama just shakes his head "Botan asked me just to find you and tell you to head to Yusuke's place. She, Hiei, Koenma and I will be waiting for your arrival." he says before disappearing again.

Jeff nearly bolts back to the house "Finally! I'll be able to ask the guy some questions!" But Yusuke grabs his wrist.

"Woah buddy, no rush. They're not going anywhere. Besides, if you fly off the handle again he's just gonna leave, trust me." He looks over his shoulder at Kuwabara's flunkies "Hey you guys, see you later." To which they just wave and watch as the three make their way back to Yusuke's.

When they get there they're greeted by the sight of Botan sitting in a chair to the right of the room, facing the opposite wall, Hiei and Kurama leaning against different walls and right in front of them a boy no older then himself sitting in a chair, brown eyes looking at him through short wavy hair like his, only brown. The thing that really throws Jeff off is the light blue pacifier in the teen's mouth, the abbreviation of Jr. that seems tattooed on his forehead and his peculiar outfit that consists of baggy white pants and shirt, a purplish blue thing that Jeff could only identify as looking like a sleeveless dress, a red scarf around his neck and strange brown shoes.

"Greetings." the boy says before motioning for the boys to take a seat, Jeff directly in front of him and the other where ever they feel like it.

"So," the boy that Jeff assumes is the 'Koenma' guy that Kurama had mentioned starts "I see that we have a new friend here. Let me just say welcome abroad and my sincerest apologies for you're unceremonious jerk from your life. I'm sure that if I'd known earlier, I'd have made Hiei be a bit more gentle about it." This got a 'Feh' from the said occupant of the room.

Koenma spared a glance at him before moving on. "Nevertheless, what's done is done and can't be undone, we can only make due with what we have. Botan has informed me that you want a job and considering that in a way I am responsible for Hiei I feel obligated to give you one. It's the least that I can do, along with provide you with shelter and food until you can start standing on your own feet. I've taken the liberty of transferring you to Yusuke's school and sent a letter to your mother and brother informing them that you were chosen for a new exchange program but due to some bad timing on the program's part you had to leave immediately. I figured you wouldn't want them to know you'd pretty much been kidnapped." He says with a twinkle in his eye.

Jeff blinks "Uh, I really don't know what to say sir. Thank you of course but, everything's coming and changing so quickly I...." He clears his throat, trying to think of what to say before simply asking "So, what will my job be?"

Koenma nods and Jeff couldn't be sure but he thought he saw Hiei smirk out of the corner of his eye, but that didn't make any sense. Why would Hiei care a flip about how he reacted? He shook his head at the thought as Koenma speaks "Yes, you will be my personal assistant, setting up appointments, doing paperwork that I'm to busy to do and such."

Jeff nods "Okay, that sounds straight forward enough. So, where do you work anyways? It's gonna be kinda hard to show up for work if I don't know where to go" he laughs.

Koenma chuckles and hands him a slip of paper "Here's the address, considering that tomorrow's Saturday I'll expect to see you at nine sharp. Alright...?" saying it in a way that makes it clear that he's asking for what to call him.

Jeff takes the slip and replies "Jeff."

Which only serves to make Koenma frown. "Hmm...that won't do. Let's see, I didn't know your name so I had one of my other assistants pick one out for you. Let's see here, where did those transfer papers go? Ah yes, here we go, you're new name is Kei. Well that's nice and simple. Well, I fear I must get going, I've got many other pressing matters to deal with. Good day and see you in the morning. Botan, if you would please come with me I believe you have a job to do as well."

With this Botan quickly gets up and follows him as he walks out of the door, Koenma only sparing one last glance at Jeff while Botan waves "Well, see you guys later." before both leave the group's sight.

Jeff absently waves good-bye to her before looking at the address that was neatly written on the piece of paper in his hands. The only real material thing that signals his start of an entirely new life. One that didn't seem to be turning out to badly, but was forced upon him all the same. Forced by the short man that was now staring at him once again, like he's examining him or something, waiting to see how he reacts to each new experience. Frankly, it's kinda getting on his nerves. He tossed a glare Hiei's way and spits out "What?"

Hiei just glares back and throws out a 'Feh' before looking out the window. Kurama sighs and says "Well, as it seems that everything's been taken care of, I'll be going. Mother will be worried if I'm not home before sunset and I live across town."

Jeff nods as acknowledgement of the boy's leaving and barely registers the disappearance of Hiei soon after. Kuwabara looks at him before turning to Yusuke "What's up with him Urameshi?" Yusuke shrugs before going over to him and walking behind him. A few moments of nothing before a fist is brought down on top of Jeff's head.

Or at least that's where it was going. Jeff heard the wind flapping against Yusuke's sleeve and dodges the blow, rolling over the side of the chair and coming to a crouch facing Yusuke, who hadn't expected the dodge, so lost his balance and is now toppled over the chair, "What the hell were you trying to do, give me a concussion?" he yells at the topsy-turvy boy who is just now righting himself.

Yusuke ignores the question and simply stares at him before saying "How'd you do that?"

Jeff cocks an eyebrow "Do what?"

Yusuke regains his composure before asking "How'd you dodge that, I barely saw my own fist and you dodged it like it was going in slow motion."

Jeff shrugs "I don't know I just did. What I want to know is why the hell you were trying to break my skull open!"

This time it's Yusuke's turn to shrug, "It looked like you were in some kind of weird trance or something, so I figured that a good knock to the head would get you out of it."

Jeff frowns and then just sighs before getting up and sitting down again in a nearby chair. "Yeah, well next time think of a gentler way alright?"

Yusuke shrugs "Whatever. I ain't promisin' nothing. So, 'Kei'," he says, putting Jeff's new name to use "you gonna just sulk there in that chair or are you gonna do something?"

Jeff cocks an eyebrow and looks at him "You got any ideas?"

Yusuke smirks and nods "I might. Though if you're to chicken, I'll understand. You don't like fighting after all."

Jeff leans forward a bit, sitting a bit straighter and still having his eyebrow cocked. "Is that a challenge?"

Yusuke continues to smirk "Maybe. Why, momma's little boy still a sucker for danger?"

Jeff snorts "I'm not a sucker for anything, and I'm NOT a momma's boy. What you have in mind?" he asks, his testosterone flowing through his veins as strongly as it would any other teenage guy, making him just as easy to sway as well.

Yusuke smiles mischievously "I knew that'd get you. Come on, I'll show you. Kuwabara, you comin' or not?" he says, causing the other boy to snap out of whatever stupor he'd been in and nod, getting up and following the two out.

Before they leave, Jeff glances back into the house that had become his temporary home. It seems so strange that, moreso then the fact that everything he believed about how he thought his life was always going to be was obviously being rearranged, is that deep down he didn't think it was that strange. It was like some part of him had always expected this, or at least was ready for it. 'Oh well,' he thinks 'no time for weirdo thoughts like that. Right now I guess it's better to just ride the waves rather then fight them.' With that he closes the door and catches up with two of the only souls that he knew in the least that were within a thousand of him, deciding silently to immerse himself in this new life of his until he can sit and make sense of everything.