Okay…I just decided to update this one, too. Um…I don't think the transition between this chapter and 9 were all that great… In fact, I think 9 stunk. I'll rewrite it later…

Chapter 10: Volume Control

Bri

After Kurama finally dragged me away from the forest, I began to feel a little weird. I don't know how or why all of the sudden I can sense what everyone's thinking and feeling so clearly. It used to be like little happenings, like I got "feelings" about what others were feeling. Now the emotions and thoughts were so clear, the sheer volume overwhelmed me.

Yusuke was radiating strange thoughts, especially about Keiko. So was Kuwabara (about Yukina), but his were a little more muddled and confusing. For some reason, he kept picturing her in a bunny suit (believe me, I am mortified). Hiei was a little different. His thoughts were just about everywhere, but for some reason leveled a lot with something he called "sweet snow", though I think it was really ice cream. He also cared for Yukina, but didn't have her in his thoughts constantly like Kuwabara-the-Rock-King did.

And then there was Genki, Keiko, and Shuichi. Genki's focused a lot on some tall guy who was currently in "limbo" (what was he doing playing that stupid game?). Keiko focused a lot on trying to get Yusuke out of trouble.

Shuichi, however, seemed to have two different trains of thought. One settled on guilt and gave me even more for myself because it was about me. The second seemed to focus more on this fight with the blond guy and another one with long black hair and a silver facemask that I remembered from samurai days. I tried my best to block it out, but I couldn't block it any more than I could the others.

I couldn't take it all at once. My head was throbbing at two hundred miles an hour and didn't feel like it would stop anytime soon. I was aware that my knees hit the floor, and then the headache went away for a second before returning full blast on one issue—What had happened to me?

Then someone strayed from that pattern.

"Bri, did you meet anyone out there?" Genki asked.

"Yeah…one of our teachers, Gunner," I growled out. "Jeez, can you guys just stop thinking for a minute!"

"Bri, Kurama, follow me," Genki said. "The rest of you stay here. Kurama, this may sound difficult, but clear your mind. Bri can't handle it much longer."

"What is going on?" Shuichi asked. I could feel his emotions thinning, fading away. His breathing smoothed, and then the only thoughts I could feel at full power were my own and Genki's, who was also clearing her mind slowly.

"I think that woman may have just, in a matter of speaking, turned Bri's powers up to full blast," Genki said. "She can sense what everyone is thinking all at once, and it's tearing her apart from the inside out. Does that sound correct?"

"Besides the fact that my brain felt about to explode, yeah," I said. "Are you saying Gunner is part of Vacant Lot?"

"I can almost guarantee it."

I sighed. I'd liked Gunner a lot. "So what do we do now? I can't exactly go back to school tomorrow like this. I couldn't even handle this crew, how am I going to handle a bunch of high school kids?"

"You can't," Genki said. "They'd rip you to pieces before you even got into the room."

"I realize that. What do I do about it?"

"You've got to control your powers. Be able to channel them, turn them down and up yourself, without help. Kurama, I think you would be well-suited to it."

"Me?" Shuichi's head suddenly screamed a thousand questions. I tried not to wince. I didn't succeed. "Genki, I hardly know anything of this power, how am I to—"

"It has a great deal to do with the way you manipulate plants," Genki explained. "You channel Spirit Energy through seeds to make them grow and shrink. It is essentially the same with Bri's Empathe abilities. You've got to teach her control over her powers. They come from a different source than yours, but Spirit energy and Dream energy are very similar."

"Dream energy?" I asked. "You mean my 'powers' come from dreams?"

"Yes. That is why you cannot sleep when you are, as you say, empathizing with another."

"I get it. It's energy of the mind, not energy of the body."

"Precisely."

"But how can we do this without attracting attention from anyone else?" Shuichi asked the logical question. "Kaasan won't take it if we just decide to stay home from school and the school would get suspicious if we're not there."

"Let me handle it. I'll handle the dimwit and the others, Bri. You can sleep in the guest room tonight. Kurama, I expect you to protect her in case this Gunner woman returns."

Okay, that's not good.

I mean, I trust Shuichi and everything, but a guy and a girl in one room does not bode well with me. I know now why I sleep like a rock, but still. Would I be able to with a guy in the room with me? Of course, I might just have to get used to it, with whatever circumstances Genki puts us in for this training business.

Shuichi led the way to the guest room, his mind a total white blank. Every once in a while, a thought would flutter across his mind. But some force would crush it down. A force I wasn't quite sure was all Shuichi.

"How come they call you Kurama?" I asked. "Out of curiosity."

An avalanche fell from the top of his head. At the top of the heap was one question, one that boggled my mind.

'Should I tell her?'

'Can she take it?'

Most curious of all was strange.

'Will I be able to forgive myself if she goes through this all without the truth?'

"Shuichi, I can hear your thoughts, remember?" I sighed. "If you don't want to tell me just yet, I don't care. Everyone has their secrets."

He sighed.

'Why do I even bother?'

I laughed.

"Shuichi, if I don't figure out how to turn this off, I'm going to have a big problem."

"I am a reborn demon. My name in the past was Kurama Youko."

I blinked. "I knew you were a demon, but I didn't think you were a reborn demon. Is that really possible?"

"Yes. I am here with you, am I not?"

A smiled crossed my lips. "How old are you, then?"

He smiled, too. "Around five hundred and fifteen."

I thought of Keiko. "Then you must…have seen someone you love die. In all your long years, I mean. Pathetic. I've only lived fifteen."

One word crossed his mind, fast as a roach.

It was quickly squashed.

'Kuronue.'

Genki's guest room was a simple enough place. It had two beds, a window, and a desk. That was it. Not even a closet. Not that we needed it. Shuichi, or, well, I guess, Kurama, claimed the bed near the window.

'If Gunner does return, I can protect her from here.'

"Thanks, that's a comforting thought," I said sarcastically. "Jeez. You think you can really help me squelch this 'power' of mine?"

"Not 'squelch'. Control. I honestly don't know how complicated it is. We will see. Go to sleep, it has been a long night."

"Okay. Just no more bloody battle dreams, okay, Youko?" I chuckled softly. "Don't worry about it, seriously. I'm good."

'She's like Yusuke and Hiei rolled into one. How can one person be—'

"Don't finish that thought," I growled and rolled into my bed. I didn't even hear his response. I was already asleep.

I guess when I woke up the next morning, I expected it all to be a huge bloody dream or something. But when I saw the plain guest room and Shu—Kurama's—sleeping form in the other bed, I knew it wasn't. My bloody, ripped clothes were the secondary sign. I sighed. And nearly fell out of bed when Kurama sat up like a shot.

'What was that!'

"Relax, it's only me," I said. "Were you ever actually asleep?"

"Yes."

'In truth, no, but…'

Kurama didn't want to make me feel guilty. I smiled and got out of bed.

"I wonder what time it is?" I sighed. The sun was high in the sky outside the single window.

"A little past eight," Genki said from the door. Her mind was blank, save what she was going to say. She really needn't have bothered, except for Kurama's sake. "Botan, Keiko, and the Dimwit have gone to your house to collect some clothes for you. Bri, stay here. Follow me, Kurama."

That was a little strange. After a moment, Genki and Kurama re-entered the little guest room. Trailing behind them was the bouncy art teacher, Gina. I blinked in shock.

"Howdy," she said in rough English. 'Jeez, she prolly thinks I'm a fruitcake now.' "Er, how do I put this? I'm going to, ah, turn you off." She reached over and closed her fingers around dead air somewhere between my forehead and my nose and twisted.

Suddenly, I couldn't feel but the normal reading-like emotions again. My headache slowly faded away. I shook my head roughly and smiled at them.

"What'd you do, Gina?" I asked. "Whatever it was, it worked!"

"Gina is a spy of Koenma's," Genki explained.

"Gunner and me go way back," Gina said grimly. "She's changed a lot, but she's still a pretty decent person. Joined the Vacant Lot because her brother's the top gun behind the whole thing."

"So do you have a clue why they're after me?"

"The plan's pretty complex, but the basic idea is as always, as usual for Gun Wa," Gina rolled her eyes. "He wants to take over the human world and allow demons full run of it, of course. The reason they want you, in particular, is your Dream energy."

"I thought Empathes only took their energy from their own dreams," Genki said. "Does Gun Wa know nothing?"

"Well, the thing is, this chick is special," Gina answered.

"Don't call me chick."

"Sorry. Anyway, it's something to do with her dad, if I remember right. If you turn her up full blast, she is basically connected to every person within about five thousand miles if they're asleep. Not only that, but you hurt her…you hurt everyone else."

"Hurt me?" I squeaked. My voice sounded pathetic, even in my ears. "You mean… They'd, I dunno, slit my wrists, turn me down, heal me, and let all those people…die?"

"That's the basis of it," Gina sighed. "Gun Wa has been planning this for years. Before you were even born. Everyone knew you'd be special, because of who your father was. They even enlisted Kurama Youko to swipe your birth database, just before he died. I think that may even have been the one that got him killed."

I stared at Kurama. He stared right back, fear and worry etched in his face. Then, without even knowing the reason why, I smiled at him. It wasn't his fault. As a demon, he probably hadn't even known why he was stealing a birth database. Now, all he was to me was Kurama. He returned the smile tentatively.

"This Gun Wa fellow, which teacher is he?" I asked.

"Oh, he thought it'd be a clever joke to be called the same name as the man who almost killed Yusuke Urameshi," Gina rolled her eyes again. "Toguro."

"Well, that explains biology," I muttered.

"I've got to get back to the school before they catch on to this," Gina said, throwing a smile back at me. "I know where you're going. I'll bring your assignments to you, okay?"

"And my painting?" For some reason, it didn't feel right not to finish it.

"Of course. You'd better show it to me when it gets done."

She turned to leave the room, then stopped short.

"Oh, and Mr. Youko? I expect you to take good care of our artist here. She's right special, that one."

And she left.

Special? Me?

What the heck has she been smoking? Whatever it is, I want it.

Okay! Plot has thickened! We now know why Toguro (now aka Gun Wa) wants Bri's powers and what makes her so special. We also know one of the teachers that didn't have nothing to do with the plans. Why, oh, why did it have to be Gina? Because I love her so much, I guess. Can ya'll tell my biases when it comes to classes?