Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters of which, nor do I own the real person Katrina Kon. This Katrina is a fictional character, and I only claim onto the storyline. Are you happy now?

Chapter 39: My Ears Are Pointing Up

MY GOD! Now the fog is getting in my eyes, and it won't-come-out…GODDAMMIT!

My eyes are now starting to tear. This fog is a major irritant to my eyes. Maybe I'm allergic. I can just imagine it all over the news 'GIRL KILLED BY MYSTERIOUS ICKY POISONOUS ODD SPIRITUAL GREEN FOG!'

I can't concentrate anymore. I sit down on the ground hopelessly, still scrubbing at my eyes. Why didn't this happen before? Is it only now because of my fear? Or is it something else?

I stop rubbing, and lay down in the ground. Just shoot me, anybody is welcome to.

I stew in my rage and frustration.

I stare.

…

…

…

Oh man. This had better be a hallucination. A little red-haired elf has flown in front of me, and hovers over top of me. It looks so stupid I decide not to give it the privilege of my speech. It's probably a spy, anyway. He drifts in and out of focus, because my eyes have given up just like me.

"Hello." It speaks with an Irish accent. Strange. Someone I knew talked like that…

"H-h-hiiiii."

"Something wrong? Your ears are pointing down."

Now what the hell does that have to do with anything?

"My ears are pointing up, so that means I'm content. Yours are very, very down."

Who is this guy and what does he want? My sanity, maybe?

"You there?"

"Yeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss."

"A little cranky, I see. What be your name?"

Grrrrrrrrrrr. "Kat."

"Well, Kat, don't you want to sit up? I can mend the eyes."

Now that is an offer I can't refuse at this point, no matter how much I don't trust him. I sit up quickly. He waves his hands in front of my face, which by the way are glowing reddish like his hair, and suddenly, I can see fine.

"Wow."

"Why is a youngling like you here?"

"I'm not young," I answer crossly. "I work for…" I wonder how much I dare say. Oh well. "Koenma."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Katrina."

"You know me? Am I like, a celeb today?"

"Mie's told me all about you."

"You know who Mie is too?"

A sad look crosses that pointed face. "Alas, I should say so."

I don't pursue the subject. "Well then, first off, thanks. And second, who's side are you on?"

He looks puzzled.

"Do-you-work-for-Sensu-or-Koenma?" I ask, slowly and clearly.

"Ohhhh. I am Koenma's spy, yes I am."

But I have no proof, dammit! "What's your name?"

"Jin. Jin of the wind."

Not kidding. He's a total lunatic! Wait, wind demon… "How do you know Mie?"

"Mie. My little Mie. Precious thing."

"Are you, like, her dad?"

"No, no," He laughs freakishly. "Her cousin."

"Wow. She never told me about you. How come I've never seen you before?"

"I only came to help the war effort when I found out Sensu took her. As a member of the Shin obi, I have other matters to attend to."

I don't ask. "Well, thanks then. I'll be going now."

"Where to?"

"Sensu's place of living." I would ask him for directions, but I don't want to accompany this oddity more than I have to.

"I can show you where to go, yes I can." Crap! Scratch that idea!

"NO NEED AT ALL."

"But you need someone to protect you!"

You are an imbecile is on the tip of my tongue, but I bite it back. "All right." Now why oh why did I say that?

He grins, reminding me of Botan's perkiness. They'd be excellent together. "Then let's be off!" He grabs my hand, ignoring my cries of protest, and flies me through the fog. "Ground is not safe, Katrina. If someone were to get in the ground too deep, their ears would be pointing down, very down."

My god! Does this guy ever shut up about the ears?

I must admit, flying feels good, though. The only time I ever rode in a plane was to get here in the first place, and I loved it despite my puking periods. Also, the fog is exponentially thinner up here. Flying like this would be almost perfect if I could only hear myself think. Jin obviously doesn't talk to anyone often. And I'm really starting to see why.

"-and also, Katrina, once my little cousin ate too many bran muffins, and so one day, she hurled-"

"JIN!" I say quickly. "Let's enjoy the…er…beautiful scenery, okay?" He grins in response and says okay. Only he would be so dense as to fall for that one. There's frickin' nothing to see but poison!

We fly on for some time, when Jin asks, "Permission to speak and break the beautiful scenery?"

I sigh. "Go on."

"I'm hungry."

I grit my teeth in frustration. "You're hungry."

"Sure am. May I eat something?"

I groan, and reach into my pack and pull out a watercress sandwich because I hate it. "Here."

With one hand, he opens it and looks at the contents. Then he smiles in delight. "Watercress?"

"Uh…um…uh…yes?"

"I LOVE watercress! You are too kind!"

"Don't…mention…it…" Have I ever, ever, ever been this annoyed?

"Thank you so very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very-"

"OKAY! YOU'RE WELCOME ALREADY!"

He winks. If he asks me to marry him, he'll never know what hit him. I'm this close to doing it as it is.

He chews noisily, still watching me intently. Stay away from me!

"Permission to speak? Again?"

"Yeah?"

"What kinds of sandwiches do you like?"

"All kinds. NO more talking please, Jin."

He sighs disappointedly, and we go back to flying. Why is this taking so long?

"Jin, how long have we been flying?"

"About 5 minutes."

"That's it? How fast are we going?"

"UUUH, I'd hafta say around 35 m.p.h."

"That's not fast at all!"

"I can't go faster!"

"Why not?"

"I fly using my own Spirit Energy. Going any faster, I wouldn't have enough power to get us both there safely, Better to dole it out a little bit at a time."

"How much longer?"

"I dunno, an hour maybe."

"AN HOUR? IT WOULD TAKE ME LESS THAN HALF THAT TIME ON FOOT!"

"Well, you had wandered far off course before I met up with you."

Oh no. This has got to be a dream. This isn't happening now. I can't be stuck in the fog with this partially insane wind demon. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….

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A/N Jin was always one of my favorites in the Yu Yu Hakusho world, just for his personality. I like the way his and Katrina's personalities clash so. Tell me if you agree in reviews! And I hate watercress too. And I keep forgetting to thank reviewers. People like nameless, my friends, and stealthassassin, thank you all very much!