Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Rumiko and Rika. Any names for parks or places that happen to belong to actual locations are accidental. So I apologize if I used someone's name or whatever. Yoshihiro Togashi owns all characters, places, and attacks familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho.
After a few hours Rika is standing outside the door to her hotel room. Yusuke insisted on being the one to open the door, in case those creeps were waiting, and he now stands with the card in hand.
"Everyone ready?" he asks glancing at the group.
He is answered by a nod and proceeds to unlock and open the door. He pushes the door open quickly so that it slams into the wall and bounces back. Before it could get halfway closed though, the boys were all in the room and Rika stands in the doorway. They had already been here, it would seem. Rika's belongings and Rumi's things were thrown about the room; every bag had been opened and gone through. Luckily they had not done anything to the room itself, though everyone could smell Rumiko's cologne.
"Man, looks like a hurricane hit this place," Kuwabara said in awe.
"You ain't kiddin'!" Yusuke exclaims, "Hey Rika! You actually wear these?"
Rika looks over to see Yusuke holding up a purple thong. Sensing that he only wanted to embarrass her, she replies, "Well, Yusuke, that is generally why people buy such things. After all, it isn't as though I can use them as decoration."
Yusuke gets a wicked grin on his face, "You wearin' a pair now?"
The woman raises an eyebrow, "How incredibly immature. You will likely never find the answer to that question, Yusuke."
He mocks disappointment, "Ah well, maybe I can get Keiko a pair, think she'd go for that?"
Rika laughs quietly, "I would not suggest it. You should count yourself lucky that she isn't here at the moment. Although I'm sure it will make an interesting story for her later."
She starts picking up her belongings, ignoring the look she's getting from Yusuke.
"You aren't actually going to tell her about this, are you?" he asks.
Rika simply smiles at him and continue to collect her things. After a few moments, the boys help pack things into bags. No one is separating Rika's from Rumi's. There simply isn't the time. So after throwing everything into what bags are still intact, they stand, admiring the work. Only four out of the seven bags (this excludes the camera pack) were intact, but the group managed to get everything into the remaining duffels. Everyone (except Hiei) picked up a bag and walked out the door. Rika checks out at the front desk and they catch another bus back to Tokyo.
"I still don't know why I am going along with this. I should be on my way back home."
Shuichi smiles politely, "Yes, but you do not have a choice. You must come with us."
Again Rika has the sense that he is planning something, though she doesn't know what. She knows that everyone else was in on it as well, and she knows that if she did try to run now, it would be pointless; especially with two non-humans after her.
"And if Hiei has the third eye," Rika thinks to herself, "then he is probably capable of finding me with it. Isn't he supposed to be able to read minds with that thing?"
She glances over at Hiei to see him glaring out a window. He is sitting next to Shuichi and obviously hates being on the bus. Rika sighs and notices Shuichi watching her carefully. Smiling at him, she tries to ignore the feeling that he knows more about her than he should. The bus comes up to another stop, and the boys stand. Sighing, she follows suit and gets off the bus with them.
"So I'm staying in a hotel?" Rika asks, already knowing the answer.
"No, you are going to stay with one of us," Yusuke answers, "But which one?"
Everyone glances at one another. Finally Kuwabara answers, "Well she could stay with me. I'm sure my sis wouldn't mind, and we have a pretty comfy couch."
Rika nods; wondering why she is glad that he was the one that took the responsibility. Everyone else seems to accept it, and Yusuke pipes up.
"Hey, Kuwabara, I think I should stay at your house too. My mom won't care, and if these guys are after her, then I should be there."
Rika smirks, wondering what was really going on in Yusuke's head. Kurama smiles as well, "If Shizuru is alright with it then I would like to stay the night as well."
Rika looks over to the red head and frowns slightly, "What about your family? Sure they wouldn't be upset?"
Somehow she knew she had hit a nerve. Shuichi didn't show any signs of being upset with her comment, but the way Hiei tensed and the flash of gold the crossed Shuichi's eyes gave it away. Rika had been looking for these tell-tale signs. Hiei would do anything to protect his friend, and Shuichi would do the same for his family. She gives them a disarming smile, hoping to relax them some.
"My mother should be fine with it. I often spend the night with my friends." Shuichi sounds as though he is telling the truth, and for the most part, Rika's sixth tells her that he is. But there is an underlying lie there somewhere, she just can't pin point it. Frowning slightly she agrees, reluctantly, to the plans of spending the night at Kuwabara's until Hiei starts walking with them.
"You know, you don't have to come too. I'm sure three body guards are plenty," Rika remarks dryly.
"Hn. What I do is none of your business."
"Oh, of course, how silly of me to think that I could have any influence on your decisions."
Hiei glares at her: while Yusuke chuckles and casually throws his arm around her shoulder, "You know, I'm really starting to like you!"
Rika smiles at Yusuke and allows his arm to stay around her shoulder, as long as it is a friendly gesture. She is surprised when he doesn't remove his arm (after all, PDA is a rarity no matter what the form) but she says nothing. After a short period of time, the small group arrives at what Rika guesses is Kuwabara's house. It is surprisingly clean inside, and the woman that's there seems amiable enough.
"Hey bro. Who's this?" she asked gesturing toward Rika.
Yusuke removes his arm and grins, "This is Rika. Can we spend the night?"
The woman blinks for a moment, "Yeah I guess. I'm goin' out tonight though Kazuma. So no stupid stunts, ok?"
Kuwabara nods his head and waves as she walks out the door, "Wow, what are the odds huh?"
Rika shakes her head disbelievingly, "Too true Kuwabara, too true."
Shuichi studies Rika for a moment, and she turns to him, "Am I some sort of puzzle to you Shuichi? You act as though I am an enigma."
He smiles, "You are just a strange sort of woman Rika. You handle everything so well. It seems most amazing to me that you are as happy as you are, considering the events of the day."
Rika nods, not trusting herself to speak at the moment. She suddenly realizes that she's been staring into this young man's green eyes and directs her attention to Kuwabara, "Is there a place where I can sort this stuff?"
Kuwabara looks at her for a moment, "Yeah I guess you can use my sister's room. She wouldn't mind."
Rika nods and gathers a couple bags, waiting for Kuwabara to show her to the right room. He grabs a bag as well and leads Rika to a door. After Kuwabara opens it, he walks inside and casually drops the bag to the floor. She enters the room, surprised that there is a large amount of floor space, which she will need. Rika then turns to fetch the last remaining bag, only to find the red haired teen in the doorway holding it.
"Thank you, Shuichi," Rika says as casually as she can.
He smiles charmingly, "Not a problem Rika. Would you like some help?"
She starts to say no, but realizes that he probably won't take no for an answer. Rika glances to Kuwabara for help, only to see that he's left the room. She looks back over to Shuichi and finds that he has already closed the door and set the back gently on the floor. Rika sighs and decides the best thing to do would be to simply not say anything. She opens one of the bags and begins to sort through it. After a few moments she glances over to Shuichi to see that he has two piles beside him.
"How do you know which is mine and which is Rumiko's?" Rika asks.
He smiles without looking at her, placing a blue bra in the pile that must be yours, "It is easy to tell Rika. One only has to know what they are looking for."
She blinks for a moment as he carefully puts a matching pair of panties on "her" pile. "How can he be so at ease going through my personal belongings?" she wonders silently. She knows he's looking for something, but doesn't know what it could be. The camera pack is still carefully strapped to her back. She hasn't put it down this whole time. Rika isn't even sure why she's being so possessive of it; certainly these people wouldn't try to take it from her. But she's not about to put it down, not for an instant.
Rika starts sorting through her things again, and between the two of them, the work is rather fast. Soon they are packing things into the duffle bags, as neatly as possible. The over powering smell of Rumi's cologne hangs in the air and Rika finds the clothes that it spilled on.
"Do you think they would mind if I washed these?" she asks.
Shuichi looks at her for a moment, "No, I doubt they would. But why do you want to do that?"
She smirks slightly, "I don't know about you but the smell of this crap is about to drive me crazy. It's bad enough that he wore it, but I don't want to smell like it too."
Kurama chuckles as he stands and stretches. Suddenly Rika are aware that he is much older than 15 or 16. She knows he is older than her, but she doesn't know how this could be. Rika sighs slightly and picks up a necklace that had been found in one of the bags. This was the necklace she had given Rumi. It was a silver Japanese dragon threaded onto a strand of leather that had a silver clasp. He never wore it, but he always kept it with him. He said it brought him luck.
"I suppose it isn't lucky enough," Rika thinks as she shakes her head. After a moment of looking at it, she puts it on and stands up. She walks to the door and turns back to see if Shuichi is coming or not. She really doesn't want him alone with her stuff, despite the fact that he just sifted through half of it. Only she discovers him right behind her, surprised she jumps back slightly, bumping into the door.
"Don't do that Shuichi!" Rika breathes. Usually something like that wouldn't bother her, but with him it did. She finds herself breathless, her heart racing. She doesn't understand why, this has never happened to her before; Rika simply doesn't know how to respond to it.
Shuichi smiles a small, apologetic smile, "Forgive me Rika. I did not mean to frighten you."
She senses that he only half meant what he said. He is testing her somehow, and she isn't sure if she appreciates that or not. Rika finds herself wondering if she passed his little test or not, but then frown slightly, "Why should I care?" she wonders.
They walk out into the living area where the other three boys are and take a seat on the floor. Shuichi sits in the chair behind Rika. This makes her slightly uncomfortable, but she doesn't want to give that away. Casually she leans back onto her elbows so she can keep an eye on the sneaky youth without having to lose sight of Yusuke or Kuwabara. Hiei is at the window, but it wouldn't matter if she kept him in her range of sight anyway. Rika knows that if he wanted to harm her he would. She can only hope that he doesn't intend to kill her. She still has too much to figure out about herself.
AN: I want to thank all of you for being patient with me. We are nearly caught up now, and it won't be too long before you're getting a new chapter. Ya know, instead of the rehashed stuff. Stick with me! Please! And I want to say a quick thank you to those of you who review. It's appreciated! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!