"Wake…UP!" Yusuke was rudely awoken by a sudden shouting in his ear, causing him to tumble over and land in a comical mess a couple of feet from where he had been napping comfortably moments ago. "Do you really need to be so loud all the time?" Yusuke snaps, and then blinks, having thought it was someone else who woke him. "Oh, hey Amara…I thought you were Kuwa…uh, someone else." The blonde was balancing on her toes in front of him, her knees bent and her arms between her legs in typical "delinquent position", directly in Yusuke's formerly sleeping face. "Someone more annoying than me?" She asks innocently, pretending to pout as though hurt by this. Yusuke grins goofily as he answers. "No way. That's not possible, Amara!" They both laugh, then after a few seconds she stops and blinks, suddenly getting it. "Hey!" She jabs his shoulder with her fist, nudging him a bit and causing him to fall over again. She laughs, and once he gets up he chuckles a bit himself. They slowly stop after a moment of enjoying the humor shared between them, looking at each other as their laughter slowly fades. They blink in at the same time, then blush slightly and turn their gazes away quickly, also in unison. Unable to stand awkward silences, Amara stands and throws her arms up in the air in excitement. "Come on! I want to see this great arcade of yours!" Yusuke nods and stands up, following her as she waits for him to lead the way.
As they walk out of the school gates together, Amara with her bag casually held in her left hand, and Yusuke with his slung casually over his shoulder, Yusuke was the one to break the silence this time. "…So—" He stops, having been about to ask her about the sudden business that caused her family to move; but he didn't want to ruin what would be their first good time together in years, so he decides to save that for later. He still had to ask her something though, because this time she had heard him and she was now staring at her dark haired friend questioningly. "So, uh, were there any punks where you lived? They didn't give you any trouble? I mean, being a girl and all." Amara blinks, and then glares at him, slightly offended. "Yusuke, are you asking if I was bullied by some stupid thugs, or are you asking if I got any 'practice'? Because I know you're not trying to say I can't handle some brainless apes." Her male friend laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "Yeah, that's what I said! Eh-heh…Practice. I was talking about practicing on the weak ones where you were." She turns her head away from him so he couldn't see the smile on her lips brought on from his silliness. She clears her throat before looking forward again. "Yep, I got plenty. Well, at first anyway. It didn't take long to get all of the 'big ones' out of the way, and after that there wasn't much to practice on, so…" She trails off, and Yusuke waits, but when she doesn't finish he prods her questioningly. "So…?" "Eh, never mind. It's really not that…interesting." She finishes, looking around for a change of subject. "So, how far is this place? I haven't eaten anything since lunch, and if there are any restaurants nearby, I can call this place Paradise." She giggles, and Yusuke laughs a bit. "I don't know about Paradise, but there's a burger place just across the street. And it's not much further. See that light up there?" He points ahead of them as they continue to walk, indicating a traffic light less than a block away. "Yeah…" "Well, it's just past that." "Yes!" Amara cheers, jumping up into the air, and then coming back down and running on ahead. "Come on then! The sooner we get there the better—I gotta eat!" Yusuke laughs, then runs after her, slowing to a walk as soon as he had caught up. "…Hey Amara, you know about me dying, right?" He asks in a hushed voice, looking at the pavement in a serious way. "Yep." She answers casually, causing him to trip and fall to the ground, a sweatdrop forming over his head. She laughs nervously as he leaps up. "How the Hell did you know?" "Keiko told me at lunch! Or weren't you listening?" She flicks his nose gently, then continues watching, sighing quietly. "I swear…you're more air-headed and spacey than I am…" She murmurs, rolling her eyes.
After grabbing a bite to eat from the burger joint across the street from the arcade, Amara and Yusuke pay for their food and head over to the arcade. She was excited, and couldn't wait to see this place that Yusuke always seemed to go to ditch, according to what she heard. Upon stepping through the doors, Amara looks around and smiles, finding something rather familiar about this place. "Hm…nice. It kind of looks like any other arcade though…Why this one?" She turns and looks behind her at Yusuke, but he was gone. "Huh? What?" She looks around, spotting him a few feet away in front of a game with the name "Goblin City" flashing above the machine. "Come on, what's taking you so long?" He calls, laughing childishly. Amara can't help but follow his example, laughing childishly herself. "Coming!" She calls as she runs over to him, dodging slot machines and kids here and there to reach him. He shows her the controls, which combos could launch which attacks, and so on. After only a few minutes she managed to get the hang of it. "Holy crap, Amara!" Yusuke exclaims. "You're doing better at this on your first try than I have with my best score! Are you sure you've never played…?" He gives her a suspicious look and she giggles, knowing what he was doing without even taking her eyes off the screen, able to tell by how he spoke. "I promise I've never played this game before now, Yusuke." He growls and folds his arms across his chest as though pouting. "Not fair!" "Don't be such a whiner, Urameshi." A gruff voice muttered from behind them, causing Amara to jump and almost lose. "Damn! Distracted and still kicking ass!" Yusuke cries, turning to face the newcomer. "So, Kuwabara, what brings you here? I thought you had studying to do." "I do, but my sis let me off the hook just for tonight. Maybe she's dying or something…" Kazuma Kuwabara trails off into muttering, and Yusuke laughs and slaps him on the back roughly. "Well it's good to see you again, man! It's been way too long!" "Ouch!" Kuwabara exclaims as Yusuke pats him on the back, but he soon gets over it and laughs along with his friend. They talk for a moment, but Amara soon lost track as she becomes totally focused on the game, until finally… "Dah! I lost!" She sighs with a bit of relief, then turns to look at the two boys talking to one another. Noticing her fully, Kuwabara frowns at Yusuke. "How rude, Urameshi! You didn't even introduce us. So who's he?" The instant he uttered the word, Amara could have sworn that she had felt a nerve snap, and Yusuke steps back, laughing nervously. "Uh, Kuwabara…Amara is a—" "—girl." Amara interrupts, her expression one of anger and her body absolutely pulsating with the need to injure someone…and that someone might end up being the unlucky red-head before her, Kuwabara. "Oh, I uh, I meant she!" He explains quickly as she pulls her braid around and over her shoulder as proof. She lets out a breath, controlling herself. "…That's alright." "It's just hard to tell with the bad lighting in here, but…whoa, you're really pretty!" Amara blinks and Yusuke almost falls over in a comical manner once more, but quickly straightens himself and gives Kuwabara a good punch in the back of the head. "You idiot, what about Yukina!" "Of course I haven't forgotten my sweet love Yukina! I just said she was pretty, that's all!" Amara sighs and allows her palm to hold her forehead in something of a stupor. "Morons…I'm surrounded by 'em…" She mutters, watching Yusuke and Kuwabara get into (yet another) fistfight over who was "asking for it" the most. After a moment of listening to them barking at each other, Amara finally breaks in. "Are you DONE YET?" They both freeze, then jump apart, grumbling about who started it. "Well tough luck, because I just finished it." Amara says with a scowl, folding her arms across her chest. She glances at them out of the corner of her eye and suddenly slaps her hand over her mouth to contain a sudden fit of giggles that threatened to burst from her mouth. "Y-you…" She couldn't contain it. She bursts into a fit of laughter, and it wasn't long before she was clutching her stomach in pain and wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "You guys…! You look like such idiots!" She continues to giggle a while longer as the two boys stare at each other in confusion. The blonde finally manages to wipe the last tear from her eye and cease her laughter. "Sorry, you just looked so…ha…dumb…" She lets out a final snort of laughter, and then coughs to stop herself from starting all over again. "Anyway, I'm about ready to hit the hay. I'll see you guys tomorrow." She giggles once more as she waves good-bye, then turns and walks out of the arcade. She turns around to stare at the sign now flashing in the twilight, which read, "Arcade", marking it in her memory. She knew the way well enough now to come without needing Yusuke's assistance, so she could surprise him by ditching now and then… She swings her bag casually over her shoulder after a minute or so of walking, staring up at the stars dimly shining just past the final day's rays of sunlight. She smiles softly to herself; she had missed it here, and coming back felt great…Incomplete, but it was better than life had been during her ten-year disappearing act. She lets out a relaxed sigh. "Hey…" She jumps about a foot in the air, surprised, letting out a shrill scream. "YUSUKE, YOU BASTARD, YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA ME!" "Really? Let me check…" He slowly leans back, staring at the seat of her pants. She whirls around and kicks at him, missing on purpose. He sticks his tongue out at her, laughing like a fool, as he dances out of the way of her foot. "Ha-ha! You missed!" She shakes her head as she sighs, but can't help but laugh. "You're such a weirdo, Yusuke…" He grins as he nudges her with his elbow. "Ah, but you like 'em weird, don't you?" Amara blushes, then quickly turns and swings her bag at his head. "Oh, leave me alone!" He ducks and laughs again, then backs up and moves to the other side of her, where she couldn't smack him with her bag without switching hands. "So, where are you living now?" The second his question enters her ears, it felt as though her insides froze and her stomach filled to the breaking point with fluttering butterflies. "I, uh…I live around here…by the school…why?" He shrugs, and then grins at her once more. "I don't know, I was just wondering how far I would have to go to walk you home today." She stops walking and turns to face him, waving her hands in front of his face and shaking her head. "No, you don't have to! I'll be fine! I can get there myself!" He blinks as he stops walking in order to look at her. "Yeah, but I want to. Or don't you want me to walk you home? Besides, I'd like to see your folks again! It's been a while, and I remember that your mom always made the best cookies…" He gets that infamous cheesy grin on his face as he rubs his hands together and then licks his lips. "…" He stops as he realizes something. "Oh, you don't have plans or anything do you?" "Plans?" Amara blinks, and then nods vigorously as she gets an idea. "Yes, yes, I'm afraid we do. Sorry, I guess you can't really stop by tonight. So, um, 'bye!" She calls before taking off towards her house. "Hey, Amara, wait!" He calls. She tries to stop herself in the middle of a step and ends up tripping herself instead, falling with a thud onto the concrete. "Ow…" She mumbles, as Yusuke hurries over to her. Now it was his turn to burst into a fit of laughter. "Now who looks dumb!" He too was soon clutching his sides in pain and wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. Once he recovered himself, he looked up to apologize with that grin…only to find that she was halfway down the street already. "HEY!" He yells, chasing after her. Catching up to her rather quickly, he catches her by the elbow and pulls her gently to a stop. "What, no 'how about Saturday?'?" Amara glances quickly towards the pavement, before she looks at Yusuke again, though she wasn't even making eye contact. "Uh…well…We're…busy the rest of the year! Yeah. That's all; we're busy the rest of the year. Er—sorry." He blinks, his eyes a bit wide. "The REST of the YEAR? Amara, are you serious?" She nods rapidly. "Yes, very busy. So I should go and um…do…stuff…" She turns to go, but he had yet to let go of her arm. "Do you really think I'm that dumb? What's wrong Amara?" She looks up at him quickly, shaking her head. "No, I—" "…Something happened, didn't it…?" She stops, staring at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "…" He maintains eye contact for a moment, then slowly drops his gaze to the ground. "…Wow. I thought you knew that you could tell me anything. Hell, I'm the most messed up punk I know! It's not going to phase me, whatever happened." He laughs a bit as he looks at her face again, then stops, realizing that this wasn't the time for his lame jokes. "Amara, just tell me…" He coaxes her gently, slowly releasing his grip on her arm. "…I can't." She responds at length, lowering her own gaze to the concrete sidewalk. She slowly turns to walk home in solitude, clutching her school bag to her chest, keeping her gaze cast to the ground. These plans are delayed however as she feels Yusuke's arms wrap around her shoulders in a strong embrace, and soon after she can feel him hold her close to his warm body. "…Amara…" He murmurs into her ear.
Aaaaaaand…I'm stopping it there for now. I know, sad, sad! So mean of me! Stop whining. NOW. I'll have the next chapter available for your reading pleasure soon enough! Have patience. Or I'll beat you with a banana peel. A rotten one. Ooh, I bet you're scared now! Anyway…I think I'm going to do what my dear friend Orange-sama did and have a preview! Maybe. Next time, but not this time. Sorry! Ah, cruelty is fun…