Still I own nothing... (cries)
Chapter One-
High school was anything but exciting. At least, as of late. After the dark tournament, things just seemed to be...slow. Without Toguro menacing anyone, things in Spirit World were rather peaceful. So, Kurama was stuck with his life as Shuuichi Minamino, a highschooler with an annoying mass of fangirls chasing him around constantly, and a few friends he saw here and there.
Today, however, he wasn't exactly in the mood for anything. He'd already death-glared the fangirls off, cocked an eyebrow at Hiei and waved at him instead of saying hello to the demon, who stood often in the tree to watch his friends in school, brushed by Yusuke, Keiko, Botan, and Kuwabara with a simple 'Good morning', and went straight to his locker, avoiding any conversations between himself and any teachers or someone who needed help with their homework. He didn't feel all too sociable today. He was tired, irritable, and confused. He didn't want to talk or be talked to.
Unfortunately, there was one entity that would not allow his ignorance toward her presence. His friend, Asa Ichazuki, was a few years younger than he---but she was even more patient, which was surprising.
She saw him from across the hall when he reached his locker, and knew from Botan and Keiko, who were both friends of hers as well, that he wasn't being the brightest optimist in the world, and also knew that she was going to help him. Her baby blue eyes brightened at the prospect, for it had long since been known, by the two girls and Yusuke, at least, that she was rather...fond of Kurama. Of course, she didn't know his 'secret', nor did she know that of Yusuke and the others. But the bright girl, they all knew, would probably figure it out shortly---there was no hiding anything from her.
As she made her way across the hall to him, while he crouched to fumble around in the bottom of his locker, trying to arrange things so he could easily reach something he was obviously looking for, she caught a few glares from the fangirls, and rolled her eyes. Finally, she skipped up to his shoulder, and tapped it lightly. She would not be ignored, he already knew that, when he turned his eyes up to meet hers. Her raven wing hair was pulled into a pony tail at the nape of her neck, except for a few shorter strands by her face that were off to the right side, hanging against her pale skin like a frame for a picture. He smiled lightly, though grimaced on the inside.
"Good morning, Asa," he said, trying to hide the contempt in his voice. He knew as well as she did that her resolve was like a mountain--- it would take one very powerful stick of dynamite to blow it up. And she'd obviously resolved to talk to him, despite his wants not to speak with anyone. "How are you?" he asked, trying to push this conversation along quicker than need be.
"Fine, but that's besides the point. What's wrong, Shuuichi-kun?" she asked, brow furrowing in concern.
"Nothing," he lied, closing his locker with more force than was necessary. The slam made the din in the hallway quiet for a moment, while everyone glanced at Kurama like he was insane, but then the fray started back up, and morning routines were continued. Asa, however, was unmoved by Kurama's display, and merely cocked an eyebrow at him, tilting her head to the side slightly, as if to say, "Are you quite finished?" He glared at that look; she made him feel like he was a young child who'd just thrown a tantrum.
"Okay," she sighed, "So you're not going to tell me what's wrong. Let me deduce it for myself..." Kurama nearly groaned---nearly. If it weren't for Asa's lack of spirit energy, and Yusuke's already taking the position, Kurama would have elected Asa herself for Spirit Detective. That was how good her skills were at solving riddles, riddles like him. She watched as he stood, towering over her by a good head and a half, but was unfazed by it, as she observed him closely. "Well, you're carrying some baggage under your eyes, and you're irritable...you've obviously had a lack of sleep. Maybe due to something traumatic, like...nightmares? Dreams of something that happened a long time ago that you don't want to remember...?"
His wince told her she'd hit the nail on the head. Her lips curled upward in a small smile of knowing and she simply nodded once, "Ah, I see."
"It's nothing, really, Asa...please just drop it," he asked, emerald eyes pleading with her. Her smile faded slowly, and again, he found himself almost groaning, this time in annoyance with himself for the look of worry that was on her face and in her eyes. He hated making her worry. For some reason, the look of sadness that went with her concern made him cringe on the inside. It didn't suit her, that look. Happiness suited her, a lot better.
"Fine," she mumbled, though he knew from her tone, and from experience, that he'd be telling her something about the dreams leaving him restless and cranky shortly. He gave her a small, grateful smile, and offered her his arm.
At her questioning glance, he explained, "Can't have the only friend whose head I haven't bitten off yet walking to class herself, can I?" She smiled and shook her head in agreement, taking his arm and allowing him to lead her away.
From down the hall, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, and Keiko all watched the scene with something close to amusement. "Why is it she always knows how to cheer him up?" Yusuke asked, his tone suggesting he already knew the answer. Although he claimed the relationship to be almost sibling-esque, any one of his friends could see that Asa's crush wasn't one-sided...exactly. Kurama was just too thick to realize it himself, and that, coming from Yusuke, was saying something.
Yusuke glanced sidelong out the window, quirking an eyebrow as if to ask if Hiei agreed. The demon, who saw the glance and heard the mental question, fled away in a blur, annoyed that Yusuke had spotted him. But a simple, Hn, could almost be heard in his wake. It seems Hiei agrees, Yusuke thought with a smirk.
A tug on his hand distracted his attention, and he turned to Keiko with a snap, "What?!"
"Don't you talk to me like that, Yusuke Urameshi! It's time for class!" Keiko scolded, grabbing onto his ear and pulling him so hard he flew practically the whole way down the hall with his legs flailing about behind him. Kuwabara chuckled, only to turn and see Botan glaring at him evenly, as if to say, "What're you laughing at? You need to get going, too." His laughter turned into a wince and a whelp, and he hurried down the hall toward his own class, Botan following calmly behind him, her arms folded behind her head. When she joined them in class, Keiko commented quietly to Yusuke, "Botan's been spending too much time around you..."
- - -
Hiei always, at Kurama's request, kept a close eye on Asa during classes, since she was in the freshman classes, while Kurama in Junior, and the others in the sophomore class. ((a/n: Are they really? I ain't sure. Just bear with me, peeplz.)) He figured that, since his mother had already been endangered once during the Dark Tournament, Asa, being one of the human friends of the gang, could be in danger---and was also the only one not protected, seeing as Keiko, Shizuru, and Shiori were both either with the detectives or closely watched by other agents from Koenma's office. So, Hiei was often finding himself lounging in a tree outside of the classroom window of one of young Asa's classes, wondering how any onna could deal with such nonsense for seven hours every weekday.
Today, being a Friday, he found himself watching the young girl, who reminded him of Yukina, in a way, calmly making a sculpture in her art class. He couldn't help but admire her work---the clay fox that she was making reminded him a lot of Kurama's fox form, which was both amusing, and astounding, because no one quite knew the difficulty of the task of getting each and every line in the sly, hard-to-catch fox; the difficulty deriving from the speed of said sly, hard-to-catch fox. ((a/n: In other words, thanks to my stupid, over verbose brain, he was too fast to actually get a good mental picture of...))
The statuette of the fox was gathered up, as if ready to leap, his tail spread out behind him, his feet set close together and his legs bent so that he was hunched closely to the ground. As she added more shape to the eyes, Hiei almost chuckled---almost. The sly, characteristic smirk that hid in those eyes was perfected by Asa's hand---it was as if Youko Kurama actually lived in that little statue. Asa, though hardly talented at much else, was a very good artist. She loved drawing, and she loved making sculptures.
It was soon discovered shortly after they had all met and befriended Asa, that she wasn't very good at...much. Her body wasn't made for running, so she was the slowest student in her class, her short stature made her very vulnerable when it came to jumping or climbing something that was really tall, her somewhat frail form just couldn't handle too much physical exertion, and she was almost constantly ill. She wasn't good at music---the girl could sing, yes, but she was too shy to do it in public. She could probably grow a garden if she wanted, but since that was more Kurama's thing, she didn't bother trying. But art, art was hers. All hers. She could express herself freely when given a piece of paper or a wad of clay. And she did.
So, while he watched his young friend (not that he'd admit that she was a friend), he raised an eyebrow, his Jigan eye checking on the others quite discreetly. Asa knew about him not going to school, and figured that he was too old or something, anyway. He certainly acted old, she'd commented, snickering. He'd merely offered an annoyed, "Hn."
She must have felt someone watching her, for she paused, and he could sense her tension as she looked around the classroom, but met no eyes. Hn, gomen, Asa-chan...I suppose I shouldn't watch you as closely as the fox asks... he thought with the touch of a smirk. Obviously unsettled, though satisfied she'd caught no eyes in her classroom, she returned to her work, studying the fox as if considering something. She sighed heavily, and waved her teacher over. Hiei raised an eyebrow, as she spoke to her teacher, words he couldn't hear for the soundproof glass separating him from the classroom. She gestured at the fox, and the teacher leaned close to it, eyes widening slightly at the work before her.
After a few seconds, during which Hiei could tell Asa was chewing the corner of her lip, her teacher stood up, and nodded her head, smiling in approval. Asa breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder the fox admires her so, Hiei mused. It seems she idolizes him...or, at least, she idolizes Youko...
Asa took her artwork to a shelf to let it dry, and the final bell rang in the school, causing a stream of 'ningens' to rush out of the classroom. Hiei stood, arms crossed over his chest, and disappeared in a blur to meet the others at the door when they exited the school. Yusuke and Kuwabara, unsurprisingly, were the first two outside, and Yusuke was the first to spot Hiei, who was leaning against the wall of the building. "Hey, Hiei, what's up?"
"Definitely not him; he's too short to be anything but down," Kuwabara commented lamely.
"If you want to meet the ground, baka, you'll continue talking," Hiei growled, narrowing his eyes at the teenager, then looking to Yusuke, "How can you stand to surround yourself with stupidity, detective?"
Yusuke shrugged, as Kuwabara opened his mouth to say something, but Keiko and Botan rushed out of the building, causing him to turn his attentions to the two of them. "Hey, you two!" he said, almost too kindly.
Hiei and Yusuke exchanged a glance, and rolled their eyes in unison. No matter who the girl or what the location, even in the midst of her boyfriend, Kuwabara would flirt shamelessly with her, just so long as she had a pretty face. Yusuke immediately strung an arm around Keiko's shoulders, signaling a sort-of territorial boundary. Kuwabara gaped at him annoyedly, and turned to Botan with bright eyes.
"So, Botan..." He was already taking off with rambling, and Botan sighed ((mushroom sigh!!)) heavily, a sweat drop appearing on the back of her head as she eyed the tall boy wearily.
Kurama was the next to join the group, with a simple wave and a small smile. It didn't go unnoticed that, since his talk with Asa that morning, he was in a better mood. At least he was smiling again, and actually spoke to them, "Hey, everyone...where's Asa?"
Of course you'd ask about the ningen, Hiei commented mentally to Kurama, causing the emerald eyes to meet the blood red ones, only slightly narrowed with annoyance. Don't worry about the onna, she's on her way.
Almost as if on cue, Asa came bounding from the building, carrying an armful of books, and was looking at one of them so diligently that she walked right into Kurama's back.
An "Oomph!" was heard as Asa started to fall backwards, but Kurama, being the sly fox that he is ((wink wink)) spun around, grabbing her wrist, to hold her on her feet. She did, however, have to sacrifice her books to the fall that would have been hers. She was blushing crimson from her stupidity, and stammered, "S-sumimasen, Shuuichi-kun..." She kneeled down immediately to gather up all her books again, and the entire group eyed her in slight amusement, until Kurama, being the gentleman that he also is, stooped down as well to help her.
"In a hurry, Asa-chan?" Yusuke finally commented, when she and Kurama stood up again, Kurama carrying a few of her books under his arm. She turned to look at her friend, a lock of raven wing hair falling down into her eyes that she kept trying to blow out of her face as she balanced her books in her arms, and her eyes narrowed slightly at him.
"A little bit of one, yes. I have to hurry up and get home so I can, a) get all this crapload of work done, b) hurry up and help Ota-kun with house chores, c) get back here and turn in four reports to my after-school teachers, and d) finish my sculpture! Argh," she said, hanging her head low as she started to follow the others, who started walking, still eyeing her in amusement.
"Ah, cheer up, Asa-chan!" Botan said, patting her a little roughly on the back. Asa's eyes widened, and she almost fell over again, but caught her footing, and shot Botan a look, only to see the deity with her eyes closed, and a silly grin on her face---obviously she really had spent too much time around Yusuke, for her bat was swung behind her head, and her hands held it at each end. Wait...a bat? Asa wondered, Where'd that come from?
Just as she was about to open up her mouth to ask Botan that very question, Hiei spoke, "Asa-chan, you'd better take the shortcut home if you're planning on doing all that tonight." His tone was cold, as usual, but when she looked at him, he offered her a small, brotherly smile. Her eyebrow rose slowly, but he glanced away just as quickly, eyeing the forest across the street.
Catching his glance at the woods and noting his sudden tense poise, Kurama agreed, "Yes, Asa-chan. Please, take the shortcut so you do not have to rush. And if you need any help with your math, you can call later."
Asa grinned at him, "How do you always know what subject I'm having trouble in?" She didn't notice Kurama exchange a glance with Hiei, who immediately stopped and looked again across the street at the park, but shook her head, and said, "Okay, then, I'll see you guys later." She skipped off, her pile of books swaying to and fro in her arms, toward home.
"What was that all about, you two?" Kuwabara asked stupidly.
"Duh, baka, you didn't sense the demon over that way?" Yusuke grumbled under his breath, so as not to attract any more attention from the other students walking home. He stared at them all like they were nuts, since he, the Great Kazuma Kuwabara, hadn't sensed a thing, until Botan grabbed his arm and hauled him after the others, who'd started to go toward the woods. ((A/N: remember the books of Asa's that Kurama was carrying...? Remember that he didn't give them back...? Pay attention, younguns.))
Wouldn't Koenma be surprised when he found out they took out a demon all by themselves? Botan thought in amusement.
- - - - -
I got a review, I got a review!
Thank you, Kei-san! I finished this chapter in a rush just for you ! Yay, even though I only got one review, I didn't get a flame yet! Oh, poo, no smores...
Hiei- ... Must you be such a baka?
But of course!
Kurama- ...Well, at least she's candid.
Oh, right, and before I go. A quick few lessons in Japanese (by the way, I italicized all Japanese words...so they'd be easier to catch when I did this).
Onna- girl
Gomen- sorry
Ningen- human
Baka- idiot, stupid...
Sumimasen- excuse me
Ota-kun- a nickname, meaning 'daddy' or 'dad' something paternal
'Chan' means 'little' but is usually used for girls as a proper name, and 'kun' is used for proper names for boys...'dono' may be in here a few times, that's like when you say Mr. or Ms. Just a clarification, so's people like my brother don't go asking 'what's THIS mean??', because I know it's confusing...
