Draco and I are back again!
"Well, at least you remembered the disclaimer last time." Draco said.
"Even if Hiei tried to kill me afterward." I said brightly. "Hiei doesn't like Shannon."
"Who's going to do the disclaimer today?" Draco asked.
"Let's have… Shannon do it!" Shannon appears out of nowhere.
"Eh? What's going on?" she asked, confused.
"Just tell people the disclaimer." Draco said.
"Cuthien doesn't own YYH." Shannon said. She disappeared again.
"Now, the reviews!"
Okane-Tsuki: I'm updating! Don't hurt me!
Yuki Amida: I try to make serious things funny. This story will have games later.
"Do it." Youko said in Kurama's mind.
"No." Kurama replied. "I will not. She's a defenseless human."
"So? Make her ours." Youko said.
"I said no." Kurama replied.
"Do it!" Youko said.
"NO!" Kurama yelled.
All of this went on in Kurama's mind as he watched Crystal sleep. Youko was a fox demon with no idea of morals. Kurama kept him in mind.
Youko shut up for a while, until he got bored. "Please do it?" he asked.
"No. Get in your box." Kurama shoved Youko into a mental box playing Yu Yu Hakusho songs.
"Ah! Not again!" Youko yelled. Kurama chuckled.
The box was designed to keep Youko completely out of control. Kurama generally used it when passing by jewelry stores, but he had to gain Crystal's trust, and Youko just wasn't helping.
Crystal was stuck in a world between real and fantasy. She saw all kinds of unreal creatures, but she was still on Earth. Faces came passing by swiftly. One kept returning. The man who had raped her. She screamed.
Kurama dashed to stand next to the bed. "Crystal, wake up." He shook her, but she wouldn't wake. She kept screaming. Finally she woke up. She saw Kurama standing over her and almost screamed again. "Shh. What's wrong?" Kurama asked. Crystal shook her head and ran. She found a kitchen and grabbed a knife. She sank down to sit on the floor, sobbing.
She placed the knife on her wrist and was about to slice the skin when Kurama found her. He took the knife from her.
"What's wrong? What happened to you?" Kurama asked.
Crystal pulled her legs up and crossed her arms over them. She laid her head there and cried. She cried for quite a while, with Kurama sitting there, comforting her, the whole time.
Finally she sat up. "What do you what?" she asked.
"What's happened to you?" Kurama asked. He took Crystal's left arm to look at her wrist.
"Nothing." Crystal jerked her arm away. Kurama took it again.
"I know something's wrong. Why else would you have tried this several times?" Kurama said. He let go and stood up to put the knife away.
"My life's been horrible, alright? I don't want to talk about it." Crystal said.
"Talking will help." Kurama said. He went to the fridge and pulled some food out. "Hungry?"
"I won't talk. And yes." Crystal sat on the edge of the counter and watched Kurama make sandwiches.
"Why won't you talk about it?" Kurama asked, not looking up from what he was doing.
"It's too horrible. You wouldn't want to talk if you had been through it." Crystal swung her feet back and forth. "What kind of meat is that?"
"It's a special meat, only found here." Kurama said. "And I really think you should talk about it."
"I said no, and that's final." Crystal said. "Can we talk about something else now?"
"Hiei told me about your tattoo." Kurama said. He handed a sandwich to Crystal and put everything away, then leaned against the counter, eating his own.
"He did? What did he say?" Crystal asked.
"Just that from one point, it looked like a chicken. From another, it was a dragon holding a rose." Kurama took a bite from his own sandwich as Crystal swallowed.
"It's supposed to be a dragon carrying a rose. People have told me it's all kinds of things." Crystal said. "This is really good. Thanks."
"Can I see it?" Kurama asked.
"My tattoo?" Kurama nodded. "I guess. It's on my right shoulder." Crystal pulled her shirt off her shoulder so he could see it.
Kurama touched the dragon. Crystal flinched slightly, but tried not to show it. Kurama noticed, however. "Why did you flinch?" he asked.
"I was startled." Crystal said.
"I think it's more than that." Kurama touched the small of her back, and Crystal flinched again. "Why do you flinch?"
"I was startled." Crystal said again. Kurama touched her left shoulder and she flinched a third time. "Will you stop it!"
"What happened?" Kurama asked.
"Nothing!" Crystal jumped off the counter and ran out of the room.
"Don't worry Kurama. I don't even know what's wrong with her, and I'm her best friend." Shiara said, coming in the kitchen.
"I just wish she would talk to me. I could help her." Kurama said sadly.
"My advice: wait until she wants to talk. In the meantime, show her the gardens." Shiara said.
"What's her favorite type of flower?" Kurama asked.
"Some Elvish flower. A goldenrod, if you ask me." Shiara shrugged. "I would plant all kinds."
Kurama went to work in the garden. Crystal was in her room, looking at a picture she kept with her at all times. It was her with her parents, when they were still around.
Everyone else was in the living room, laughing and joking around, except Hiei of course. Shiara stood up. "I've got a game we could play. We need Crystal and Kurama, though. Who wants to go get them?"
"I'll do it." said Yusuke. He left for Crystal's room.
When he knocked, Crystal looked up, startled. She shoved the picture under her pillow and said "Come in."
"I can't. The door automatically locks, remember?" Yusuke said.
Crystal got up and opened the door. "What do you need?" she asked.
"Why don't you come down and play a game with us? You haven't even been properly introduced yet." Yusuke said.
"Alright, um…" Crystal said. "I don't know your name, sorry."
"Yusuke Urameshi, number one thug in the Saraikaishi school district." Yusuke said, bowing. (How do you actually spell his school district?)
"Crystal Gardner, um, student in America." Crystal said. Yusuke laughed.
"Come on. I have to go get Kurama as well." Yusuke took her to the living room, then dashed off to get Kurama.
When they returned, Shiara stood up again. "We're going to play a game. Anyone who wants to play, sit in a circle." Shiara got a bottle of soda from the fridge, and they took turns finishing it. They would say their name, then take a sip and pass it on. That was partly to finish the soda and partly to introduce everyone.
Yukina, Botan, Crystal, and Shiara were sitting with Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kurama, and, after some convincing, Hiei. They sat boy, girl, boy, girl.
Once the soda was gone, Shiara placed the bottle in the middle of the circle. Crystal groaned.
"Is this what I think it is?" Crystal asked.
"Yep." Shiara grinned evilly. "We are going to play Spin the Bottle."
"We're not in ninth grade anymore." Crystal said.
"Would you rather play Strip Truth or Dare?" Shiara asked. Crystal shook her head. "Alrighty then. Now, I spin the bottle." She spun it. "If it lands on a boy, I kiss him. If it lands on a girl, I spin again. It's vice-versa for boys."
The bottle landed on Yusuke and they kissed. "Now you spin the bottle." Shiara instructed. It landed on Yukina. They kissed and Hiei's hands formed into fists.
Yukina spun the bottle; it landed on Botan. She spun again and it landed on Kurama. Hiei straightened.
Kurama kissed Yukina lightly, then spun the bottle. It landed on…
Ha! Cliffy! And I know it this time, too. See you guys next weekend…
Cuthien