"Obligation and Duty"

Chapter 4.49.2 .oO{Ugh, everyone is out of character}
{Author sighs again: I'm going to stop apologizing for sucky chapters. Just expect them all to bite. Anyways, since I'm not following the storyline really, it's going to take me a little longer with the chapters}

When Hiei followed Rei into the house, his last thought started to seem very tempting. The others were all awake, and the guys were in the kitchen arguing. Botan was throwing up in the bathroom, so Rei went to check on her.
"Hey, it's the Shrimp. Didn't see you much last night," Kuwabara said. He still seemed a little wasted but Hiei didn't let the comment pass, "That's because you were too busy looking like an idiot."
Kuwabara jumped up, "Wanna fight?"
Hiei sat down on a barstool, away from the table where they were sitting. "You're not worth it," he said and grabbed an orange.
"I swear, you become more and more a punk each day," Kuwabara spat just as Rei walked in. "Oh good gosh. At it again already, hm?" she asked.
"He started it," Hiei and Kuwabara blamed the other at the same time. Rei crossed her arms over her chest and Hiei smirked. He mumbled something under his breath and walked to his room. After he was out of the room, Yusuke asked, "What's his problem?"
The others shrugged and Kurama said, "Isn't he always like this?"
Yusuke snapped his finger, "Good point."
Rei gave the two a look that said 'stop being jerks' as Botan walked in, looking very tired.
"Remind me to never drink more than two glasses of mimosa," she groaned as she sat down on the stool Hiei had vacated.
"Mimosa?" Kurama asked, looking up from his cereal.
"Yeah, it's a drink made out of champagne and orange juice. Not your plant," Botan said and eyed an orange with disgust. Rei pulled out some sausage and potatoes and made Botan some breakfast as the guys talked about what they were going to do today.
Since it was saturday, Yusuke and Kuwabara left to make some trouble in town. Botan left not long afterwards, simply because she wasn't feeling good. Kurama decided to sit in his garden all day; but first he had a mission to accomplish.
"Are you going to school monday?" he asked as Rei cleaned the dishes. She shook her head. "No, the teachers will see me coming and lock to doors."
Kurama chuckled, "Why don't you transfer, then?"
Rei stopped drying a plate and looked at him, "I don't have a choice, do I?"
He shook his head. "Fine," Rei said. "Just as long as I don't have to go to Sarayashiki or your school."

Saturday passed and so did Sunday. Everyone just hung about; practically bored out of their minds. Hiei kept his distance from everyone and didn't even talk to Kurama or Yusuke, but when he did say something, it was to Rei or putting Kuwabara down. Kurama and Rei had spent a few hours saturday walking around to the different schools, but couldn't make up their minds so in the end they chose by lot.
"Hey Rei," Yusuke called from the living room sunday. He and Kuwabara were watching daytime television.
"Yeah," she answered from her room. She was trying on the uniform of her new school. It was mainly slate grey; the blouse was white and longer than the grey jacket that went over it. The skirt was pleated like all the other school uniforms and, if anything, longer.
"Why didn't you come to my school?" Yusuke finished asking.
Rei thought for a moment then called back, "Because one delinquent is enough for those poor teachers."
"What about me?" Kuwabara called from the living room, too. Rei rolled her eyes, "Yeah, two delinquents."
She straightened her jacket and brushed her skirt as she checked her reflection. Turning to the side, she looked in the mirror and saw Kurama standing in the doorway watching her.
"Looks good on you," he smiled and leaned against the doorframe. He was only wearing a pair of straight jeans and his hair was mussed.
"Just come back from a make-out session?" Rei asked, turning back to the mirror. Kurama shook his head, "Nope. I took a run. It's getting pretty warm outside."
He ran his hand through his hair and with one last look at Rei, he walked out of the room. Rei saw it all from the mirror and turned when he was gone.
.oO{What was that about?} she asked herself. Rei scrunched her eyebrows together and walked from her room. She checked the living room and kitchen first for Kurama; drawing lewd comments from both Kuwabara and Yusuke about her skirt, but she didn't find Kurama. Right when she was going to check his room, Hiei said, "He's not here."
"Where'd he go?" she asked, stopping momentarily. They were standing in the bedroom hallway, and Hiei had just come from his room. He shrugged, "I dunno. I'm not talking to him."
Rei was taken aback, "Not talking to him?"
"That's exactly what I said," Hiei said gruffly and went back into his room, leaving Rei standing in the hallway.
.oO{Damn. Damn damn damn.} Hiei thought as he dropped onto his bed. He rubbed his face and stared at the wall between his fingers. .oO{I haven't seen Kurama this depressed since his mom was dying. Except for those other few times, but they weren't this deep....} Hiei thought and then remembered when the other times were. Each one was a time when Rei wasn't around.
Hiei growled and flopped backwards onto his back to stare at the ceiling. .oO{Those stupid humans should figure out what they feel for this girl before someone takes her from them}
He rolled on his side and tuned out the question spinning in his head: "What about you?"

"Whhhhyyyy am I hereeee?" Rei moaned as her chin slid off her palm. She was sitting at the lunch table at her new school. It figured that Kurama would sign her up for the school that started early. She looked around as she reached for a carrot; not many cute guys, and most of the girls were kogals. Even the ones in Middle School. Rei counted atleast 15 Middle School girls with bleached hair and bad tans and even more Junior High girls.
She looked down at her sparse lunch and stuck out her tongue. "Gosh, I wanna go home... Maybe I can skip?" she whispered to herself. She had stood up and was walking towards the trashcan when she bumped into someone.
"Hey, watch it," he said, his accent making him sound like an East-coasting American. She looked up at him and saw only narrow eyes and short blonde hair. .oO{Punk} she figured. He was the only guy who didn't tuck in his white shirt. He looked down and noticed Rei's untucked shirt and said, "Copy-cat, eh? Find your own style."
Rei's eyebrow quirked. She hadn't tucked in her shirt earlier today simply because it was uncomfortable; she hadn't even seen this guy until now. "WhatEVER. It's not like you own this 'style'. I'm allowed to keep my shirt untucked; there's no law against it," she crossed her arms over her chest.
A few of the other students were watching them. The blonde's eyes narrowed more and he said, "You must be new here. The name's Asato Kito and I'M the law here."
Rei gave him a 'like-I-care?' look and walked from the cafeteria. Asato followed, "Trying to be a punk-chick, huh?"
"I'm not trying: I already am," Rei smirked. .oO{There goes my chance at having a fight-less day at school}
Asato snorted. "You're a wuss."
"And you're an asshole. Leave me be," Rei shot back, turning to her locker. Asato stood there for a few minutes with a blank look on his face, and then he smirked.
"You're alright," he said and gave a little tug on Rei's skirt. Without another word, he walked down the hall. Rei stopped searching through her locker and watched him with a thoughtful look. .oO{Ughhk,} she thought and turned back to the locker.
It just so happened that the next three classes had Asato in them. And even better: Rei had to sit next to him each time.
.oO{Someone is out to get me; I swear...} she thought as she rested her head on her desk.
"Ms. Amerasu!" the teacher called. Rei's head came straight up, "Yeah, sir?"
"YES, sir, if you please. Try to stay awake on your first day," he said and went back to explaining integers. Rei glared at his back and wondered how hard it'd be for her to land a spit-ball in the shiny bald spot on his head. Kito-- who was sitting on her right-- seemed to know what she was thinking.
"It's pretty hard, with the updraft and everything in here," he whispered as he leaned close. Rei gave him a glance and tried to play innocent, "What are you talking about?"
Kito put his hand on hers and she looked down to see that she had been tearing off pieces of paper and rolling them into little balls. "Damn," she muttered, dropping the sphere she had been rolling. She moved her hands out of Kito's grasp and set them on her lap to listen to atleast one example the teacher was doing.
Okay, maybe not. Somebody pulled the fire alarm only a few minutes later, so everyone rushed out of the building. And she was still next to Kito. His hand was around her wrist and as he started walking away, she had no choice but to follow. They walked out of the crowd of students and teachers and into the small crowd of onlookers that were gathering. Rei yanked her arm away from him right there, though.
"What are you doing?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Asato raised his eyebrow and look slightly mad at being questioned.
"I figured since you're such a punk-girl, you wouldn't mind taking a break from school for a day," he answered, looking smug.
Rei opened her mouth to say, "But it's only my first day!" but he cut her off with, "They were just going to dismiss anyways. See, there are a few others walking off."
Rei looked to where he pointed and saw it was true before he grabbed her arm again. She was about ready to fight with him when he pulled her inside an arcade.
"Let's see how good you are at Space Invaders," Kito thrust her into the smelly, padded chair. She stared at the black screen for a moment before sticking in a quarter.
.oO{Fine, if he wants to see, I'll show him}

Rei showed Kito alright. Showed him how bad she stunk at that game. He even laughed at her-- making Rei vow to never talk to him again. .oO{He is pure evil,} she thought on her way home. She walked up the steps to her house and at the torii she looked up.
Only to scream.
"HOLY FUCK!? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!"
Kurama was standing only a few feet from her, staring at the exact same thing she was: a whole new addition seemed to be in the process of being built on her house. Kurama shook his head slowly, "I'm... afraid to ask."
"I have nothing to do with it!" Rei started to freak out. "Who? What? Why? YUSUKE!!!"
"DON'T BLAME ME!!!" was the yell from inside the house and then Yusuke came out onto the porch. "I have no freakin clue what's happening."
They all stood there and thought for a few minutes before saying at the same time, "Botan."
"I had a feeling you'd all blame it on me," Botan's disembodied voice came to them. "I'm in Spirit World right now, and NO, it wasn't me."
"Then who was it?" Rei asked the voice. Botan appeared in front of them with her oar and shrugged, "I was going to ask Koenma, but it slipped my mind."
Rei threw up her hands, "Go back and ask!"
Botan mumbled some things and disappeared again. Rei walked into the house and looked around, almost expecting something to be out of place. Nothing was, so she walked to her room and sighed as she started taking off her uniform. She heard something drop as she let her skirt fall and turned around. Suzuki was standing there with his jaw open, watching her through the open door.
"Augh!" Rei cried and grabbed a blanket to wrap around herself. .oO{I KNEW I closed the door!!!!} she thought frantically. "What're you doing here?!" she asked, trying to catch her breath.
Suzuki blinked a few times then bent down to pick up the box he had dropped. "I came to Human World because I needed a vacation."
Rei had moved to her closet and closed the door a little so she could get dressed and talk to him at the same time, "Yeah, but why are you HERE."
There was a few seconds pause and Suzuki answered, "Because you're the only human I know."
Rei came out in a pair of clamdiggers and a T-shirt and answered, "Well, I don't know how much of a vacation you're going to get here."