YYH Road Trip!

Solaris: I don't own YYH. If I did, you'd see Kurama a lot more often. And he'd have appeared a lot sooner. And it would have been about him, not Yusuke. -Bopped by Foxglove to get her back on track- Ah, yes. Well, read on, peeps!

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It was early twilight when the rain began. It was the 4th day away from home, and Hiei was considering jumping out of the car window and running home. Well, if he survived the jump, which he didn't put past himself, but still didn't want to try it, just in case. Solaris was driving again, Kurama sat in the front seat, and Foxglove was sitting by the other window. Suddenly, a flash of lighting could be seen, followed by a loud rumble. Foxglove tried to hide under Hiei's cloak.

"I'm afraid of STORMS!" she cried. Solaris flicked the windshield wipers to high.

"Hiei, do something to comfort her. I'm looking for the nearest hotel as we speak." she said, repressing a sigh. Hiei, new to this comforting business, tried an unorthodox tack.

"Nothing to be afraid of, a little rain can't hurt you..." he said. Foxglove just tried to burrow deeper into his cloak at the next sound of thunder.

"IF LIGHTNING HITS YOU, IT CAN!" she shouted.

"Uh, Hiei? Just so you know, that's not comforting." Solaris said. Hiei opened a telepathic channel to Kurama's mind.

-Uh, Kurama? How in the Makai do I go about comforting someone?-

-You mean you don't know how? Well, just hold her. Don't say anything about how irrational you think her fear of storms is.- replied Kurama. -That's what works with Solaris. At least, it did last night.-

Hiei closed off the channel and smiled. So that was why they had been sleeping so close together. Hiei uneasily put an arm around Foxglove and patted her back gently. She buried her face into his cloak and just then, he noticed Solaris's smiling eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Awwww, how cute! Hiei's blushing." she smiled. Kurama put a hand on her arm, calling her attention back to the road. And so the rain kept pouring down. Pretty soon it was so bad that Solaris couldn't see to drive anymore. "Guys, we're going to have to stop here for the night. Good thing I picked a few pockets during lunch." she said. They had a grand total of 200 bucks, half from a guy who had hit on Solaris, and then moved on to Kurama. He had gotten pounded by Solaris and Kurama, both screaming that the guy was an idiot. Solaris had then robbed him.

They entered the small inn. "So sorry, ladies and gents, we're out of rooms." the man at the desk said.

"Oh, Grampa, there is a room, and you know it! These poor people probably need rest, I mean, I can see how tired the auburn haired girl is!" a teenaged girl, not older than 14, said. Solaris didn't even dispute the tired thing.

"Granddaughter, you know that's the haunted room. And tonight's the anniversary of the haunting. We can't let them stay there!" an old lady said. "You know how the murderer's ghost gets on the anniversary of his death."

"Lady, I ain't afraid of ghosts. I won't say don't believe in them, but I'm not afraid of them. Please. We need somewhere to stay. We'll pay you." Solaris pleaded. The old man sighed.

"Sometimes I hate being so soft hearted. Okay. You can stay there tonight. And if you survive, no charge." the man said. "Delilah, lead them to the room, please." he said, and his granddaughter smiled.

"Follow me. It's on the third floor, and we haven't gotten around to getting an elevator installed yet." Delilah smiled as she led them to the staircase.

"Say, what's with this 'murderer's ghost'? What happened?" Hiei asked. Delilah began to ascend the stairs.

"It's said that back when my grandfather was a boy, a man came to spend the night. He was a murderer, but no one knew it at the time. All they knew was that he would pay handsomely. Pretty soon another man drove up, demanding to know if they had seen a certain man. The man was covered in blood and the man he described had fit the visitor's description, so they led him inside." Delilah explained as they reached the second floor.

"And?" Solaris asked.

"Well, the guy stormed up to the room the man was staying in. He confronted him with the murder of his wife and children. The other man grabbed my grandfather's sister by the wrist, and threatened to kill her. She was 15, and my grandfather was very protective of his sister, so he kicked the man's shins. The man had to release his hold on her and the guy pulled out a gun and shot the man dead." Delilah said. "To this day, she has a small scar on her arm where he held the knife to her."

"That still doesn't explain the haunting and the fear." Kurama said. The group ascended the stairs and reached the third floor landing.

"Well, with his dying breath, the murderer vowed not to ever leave the room until his soul was revenged. Since then, every year on the date of his death, he has dragged some poor soul into death with him. Usually a pretty girl. Here's the room. Please be careful." Delilah said, sounding worried.

"Pretty girls, eh? We have nothing to worry about." Hiei said. Somehow Solaris and Foxglove pulled out metal baseball bats from nowhere and began to pummel Hiei.

"Oh we'll show you not pretty!" they shouted. Pretty soon Kurama dragged Hiei into the room and the girls followed. Solaris turned on the light to look at the room. She suddenly shivered. "Ugh... I just got this feeling... like something dragged it's finger up my spine. But it's probably just nerves!" she cried, giving them a nervous smile.

"Yeah, you have been driving since this morning. Come on, let's get some sleep." Kurama smiled as he pulled a pair of pajamas out of the small overnight bag he had carried in with him and headed to the bathroom in the room.

"Hiei and I will take the bed closest to the door." Foxglove said, holding on to Hiei's arm.

"Yeah, so you can bail any time the ghost shows up." Solaris said as she pulled her pajamas out of her small suitcase. "Since it appears that the bathroom is taken, I call the screen." Solaris said, tapping gently behind the screen.

"Uh, Solaris? That screen is right in front of the window. I doubt that anyone can see in this blinding rain, but just have some patience." Foxglove said.

"Heh, easy for you to say. You were hiding under Hiei's cloak when he ran to the door, so you hardly got wet. Kurama and I had to lug out the overnight bags and we got soaked. I'm getting ready for bed and that's that." Solaris said, peeking out from behind the screen. Soon she came out from behind the screen, her soaking clothes draped over it to dry. Kurama was sitting on the bed by that time, and had a towel for her hair ready. She flopped down on the end of the bed, grabbed the towel and began drying her hair.

"So do you put any faith in this ghost story stuff?" she asked Kurama.

"I don't know. I mean, we work with ghosts, and you felt a shiver when you came in here, but maybe it was nerves and cold." Kurama shrugged. Solaris finished drying her hair.

"Yeah, same here. But who really cares? Let's just get some sleep." Solaris said as she draped the towels with her clothes. Hiei got off the bed and turned off the light. Pretty soon all four teens were asleep. A little later, Solaris woke up to feel like someone was dragging a finger up her spine. Sleepily, she turned over and mumbled "Foxglove, that's not a very funny joke." This woke Kurama up, and he looked to see the auburn foxgirl, face buried in the shoulder of his pajamas, trying to get warm again. He looked over her to see that Foxglove was still the closest to the door, and still asleep.

"Solaris, Foxglove is still asleep. You're feeling things." he said drowsily. Then he noticed a slight silver glow. "Uh, Solaris... never mind. Hiei!" he hissed. Hiei woke up and looked over.

"Oh, damn..." Hiei whispered. Foxglove, sensing the slight shift of Hiei's weight, woke up and turned over.

"Whassa matter, Hiei-Sama? Oh..." she said, trailing off. Solaris sat up.

"Okay, why do I get the feeling that I'm being left out of something?" she said in a half-asleep stupor. She turned her head to see the shape, and then looked at Kurama. "Oh. AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she screamed. Kurama blinked at how loud she was, and just when he thought that she'd wake someone up, she fainted. Foxglove had passed out long ago.

"At last... The most beautiful girl to ever enter this room... My revenge... IS NOW!" the ghost said in a hollow voice. Kurama and Hiei jumped out of their beds.

"Not if I can help it!" Kurama said. Hiei drew his katana and glared at the ghost. "Hey, wait. How are we supposed to fight this thing?" Kurama asked. Just then the door burst open. Delilah stood there.

"You aren't. I will!" she cried, then began mumbling some words in a different language. The ghost began to vanish, crying 'noooo..." as it did. Delilah stood in the doorway, smiling. "This happens often. He's easily banished with an exorcism spell. See ya!" she called jauntily. Hiei shut the door in shock.

"Okay, what just happened here?" he asked.

"It would seem that our host's granddaughter came and saved us all." Kurama said, in shock as well. The two gave up trying to figure out what had happened, and just went back to sleep.

The next day, the group left the hotel to see the shining sun. True to his word, the old man had let them stay for free. She stretched and smiled, soaking up the sun like a cat would. "Hm..." she practically purred. Just then, Delilah ran from the hotel.

"Miss! You dropped your hair brush!" she cried, running after Solaris. "Oh, and the ear and tail thing, I'll be quiet about it." she smiled. Solaris smiled back, and the group left the haunted hotel.

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Solaris: Read and review, such on such forth. Ja Ne!