There was this twitch of his eyebrow that just felt dangerous. Then, Shinobu Sensui tilted his head and smiled at me. I sucked in a breath as all his attention fell onto Tsukihito trying to cajole me into hanging out longer, whining a bit at my answer. My automatic no. Something that I was rethinking as time went on.

"He's not some stranger, I know him dummy, he's cool, he's a good guy, I swear, and it won't take long. I promise. Come with us." Tsukihito bounced on his toes in front of me, vibrant eyes wide and pleading with me eagerly.

"Now, now. If she doesn't want to come with, that's her decision." A long arm wrapped around Tsukihito's disappointed shoulders.

And I panicked.

A thousand things and questions shot through my head, wondering if this was a politely phrased kidnapping or was this the life-threatening place in the story for Tsukihito or that it couldn't be because I wasn't there or if this was a trap for me or Yuu. But I looked at Tsukihito, who turned to fit under Sensui's arm, peering back at me with imploring eyes. The older man tugged gently, his smile from above Tsukihito, where Tsukihito couldn't see the truth and lie and danger.

"Let's go."

And their backs turned on me, walking away.

"No!"

The effect was immediate. Tsukihito spun, smile wide and beaming. "You're coming? Yes!" With a leap, he bounded back and grasped my wrist, tugging excitedly. "She's coming Sensui, she's coming with!"

I tugged back, ducking in beside Tsukihito's skipping steps and Sensui's long legs, putting as much distance between myself and him without it coming off as rude and possibly commented on. My brain felt like it was overdrive. But not in that good way where you figured out all the answers and put everything together. This was too much.

Sensui's lips quirked, eyes flickering between the bit of area separating us with a note of confusion and then amusement as they moved across to Tsukihito, who was still chattering on with that skip in his step close beside me. Inching closer to Tsukihito, I frowned up at Sensui. Was it good I confused him? Like Yuu, not expecting me to be protective?

Whatever he had planned for Tsukihito today, I certainly was going to try my best to ruin it. I couldn't stand by. I was here. I could do something. I couldn't not. Not when I had some sort of idea where this relationship could lead. I swallowed, straightening. Who cared about me? There…there was something going on with Yuu…or me…but it would fail. Right? There was nothing coming up in my head, from anywhere, that concerned Yuu. Nothing in the story, nothing striking a cord with my former life. But with Tsukihito…

I was going to do my utmost to keep him safe.

"This won't take long, right?" I asked.

Limited time, equals less time to really allow this guy to do something. And Tsukihito said—

"Right," he piped up the answer quickly. There was still a bounce in his step. "We usually play video games, eat, talk…" His nose wrinkled, then grinned and teased me with a nudge. "Worried about the big dummy? We'll be back well before dark. Just like the times we are at the playg—"

"Actually," Sensui's voice floated down toward us. My shoulders stiffened, directing my attention back up to him. So much for chatting up the cheerful Tsukihito and eating up any time he could get involved during this outing. "It appears we're running ahead of schedule."

There was a pause, his face merely looking down at us, waiting for the connection to hit, a polite smile on his face. I had no idea what he meant by schedule. Anything Tsukihito had been set on rambling on about as per usual about the guy and his time with him didn't scream schedule. It was just…hanging out. Innocent. Unless you thought too much about an older stranger hanging out with a kid for extended periods of time like a buddy. Or knew what this relationship led up to. Rather than something truly innocent like a teacher or coach type relationship between an elder and younger.

Yet my fingers tingled at his words.

I quickly thrust my hands behind me, dread flushing through me as I remembered the times my energy had done so before and words of how it acting up could be it reacting to danger. My mouth went dry.

"Wha…?" Eyebrows furrowed down, they suddenly shot back up and Tsukihito perked up completely, excitement building in him again. "It's time? It's time, isn't it? Oh! Dummy! This is the best timing! You get to come along and oh, um… Uh. Hey, Sensui?"

The gaze settled on Tsukihito. But there wasn't much relief for me in the attention not focused on me. Wasn't…wasn't there mutterings with the searches Yuu was helping with about the tunnel running ahead of schedule? No…

I tightened my hands, trying to get the tingling feeling of my spirit energy to disperse, not wanting Sensui to know and his polite smile declared no outward hint of anything to me. Didn't mean much. Hide it, hide it, hide it! My fingernails burned marks into my palms as I stared at Sensui, looking for anything, any give-away to anything.

"Well, if it's time," Tsukihito dragged out his words slowly. Vaguely, I noticed his fingers twisting around each other and his gaze dropping nervously to me. I tried to pay attention. I tried. But I saw Sensui's gaze shifting up ahead and I followed it. "Then, about her older brother, if he would be…"

My feet stuttered to a stop. I stopped. Staring.

Words washed over me, uncomprehendingly.

"I mean, I don't really, but dummy here is…"

Right there. Up ahead. Sat a pickup truck. Turquoise.

"And maybe my cousin Mitsu. It's just they're friends and she's just a kid, not really like the others, at least, I don't think so… So, would they be…?"

A man with short cropped hair and crinkling eyes stuck up a hand, waving at us.

Long fingers wrapped around a loudly vocal and thrashing Kuwabara flashed through my head.

Everything screamed at me.

And I stood there.

Staring.

No.

It can't be.

Nonononono.

"You have nothing to worry about for them."

Voice calm. But the words… Not a reassurance. Because there's nothing for you to worry about if there's no you to be there to—

"What do you say to the real thing?"

A distraction.

"Really? I get to drive that? For real on the street like you promised? Yes! Let's go!"

Other images flashed, warnings raring up inside of my head to run away and stay safe as I turned slowly from the turquoise pickup truck to look up at Shinobu Sensui.

It was a polite smile on his face. So fake. Shadows from the evening sun ruined the smile. Or was it him ruining the polite veneer? The smile wasn't just a show. There was some relaxed sign of indulgence on his face, satisfaction and gratification and delight that all hit horrible clanging notes in my head with the images flashing through it.

Calmly watching a movie, arms relaxed as stones fell all around him, the darkening yaw of snarling demonic faces and arms lashing outward growing and growing.

A distressed blond boy directing water falling to the ground before Kuwabara.

A demented doctor pushing for death from Yusuke, jumping for it.

A gleeful face, spinning a lever for more games. A pitiful cry out to Kurama. A small body collapsing.

So small.

Sharp face lined in with utter DON'T FUCK WITH ME striding forward mercilessly.

And still, Sensui sat lounging, watching a movie, without a goddamn care to any of that as the world tore on itself around him.

I barely heard the huff of amusement. "He may be a bit reckless and think it a game, but he's done fine practicing with it before. There's at least two other adults in the vehicle to do something about it." His lips quirked up at me. "If you don't count the third adult due to height issues at the moment. You can still talk pointers. He appears to be taken with you after all."

I went still.

What?

Third adult?

There was only…

He merely smiled wider, head nodding down the faintest of fractions as though saying 'yes'.

"After you," Shinobu Sensui gestured with a long arm.

I looked desperately at the truck, hoping he wasn't there, or the other adult—ignore the finger image!—or that its color magically changed or that it was really a car instead.

Fixing an extra piece onto his foot to reach the pedals easier, Tsukihito grinned widely over at me. I nearly went faint at the pure enthusiasm in his face. No idea. The kid had no idea. Forcing my breathing down, I sped after Tsukihito into the truck, scrambling inside and rushing to figure out some way to keep him from dying today. There wasn't supposed to be a girl sitting here. But here I was. Maybe…maybe it would make a difference. That I could talk Tsukihito out of it, keep him safe, use my spirit energy for something useful, be there for him when he found the only person he called a friend was…was planning on him dying just to get some extra time to make sure the world would get destroyed!

There was a deep-seated terror. I shouldn't be here. I barely felt the tear rolling down my face, before I set it into determination. The terror remained the same. I shouldn't be here. The same since I got that piece of paper delivered via Tsukihito.

I wasn't supposed to be alive, here, anything. And how I was here…

What the hell did Sensui have planned for Yuu?

I gripped at my seat and clung on for dear life. And clung onto the faint hope that Yuu wasn't about to be dragged through the shitter because of my life.

Fight. Heading right into the thick of it. Right to where I had a very good idea that bad things will happen and I should listen to Yuu, to Yuu, my older brother. Or I'm just stubborn. There's too much in me that needs to help.

Flight. I'll run away from danger all day long. But if I see danger for others, I run toward the danger. For them.

I probably should have listened to Yuu. Taken more solace in how I didn't see myself in that cave, stayed out of the whole thing.

But it's Yuu.

And I'm…I'm me. Rin and yet… I'm me.

I can't help but think that I was supposed to die then. And no matter what, since I was around, Sensui would have said something about me to Yuu with or without me physically there. Or that he would have done more than a polite kidnapping. He proved his point, one way or the other, didn't he? With Yuu.

That's okay. Being there…I proved my point too.

Run, run, run. Sprint, dodge, weave, jump. Run, run, run.

Memories of quickly maneuvering through a crowd came to me and I pulled from them, taking advantage of a knack of focusing on odd things. Rather than my eyes latching onto the movement of everyone, I suddenly started quickly zeroing in on the holes without too much problem. Like a snap focus to the court before flicking a volleyball down into an open spot since I didn't have any flashy speed to back up my skills. There was a small smattering of pride at the ability and a careful extension out, so I inwardly reached further in and sped up.

Run, run, run.

Almost there.

I weaved through an opening between two passing people, jumped over the bicycle rack, and dashed into a less-traveled area to search near the clock. Their meeting place for after school. I hopped up and down, trying to see around better. Giving up, I scampered over and hoisted myself halfway up the clock before I spotted the group.

"Yuu!"

His head spun, panicked, but quickly pinpointing where I was in the crowd. I scooted up a little and waved widely with a hand. Disbelief and resignation crossed his face. I grinned over at him. "I made it! Hi, Yana! Asato!" Next to him, they'd turned to look at me too. Asato's nose wrinkled, scowling and muttering off to the side. But Yana's mouth quirked up and he saluted lazily up in my direction. The rest shuffled about to stare as well, Kuwabara screeching in alarm. "Hi. Kuwabara!"

With making myself known so they wouldn't leave without me by accident, I slid down and scampered through the crowd, most noticing and parting for me. "Yuu! I'm here! I'm ready! Let's go!" The entire group with him goggled at me, then swiveled their heads up to him. Anticipating the venture of a game of hide and seek with Yuu and others his age instead of the other way around, I beamed up at him.

Breathing out heavily, Yuu pinched at the bridge of his nose, then pushed his glasses back up. "Rin, this isn't…isn't like normal."

"I know," I said. "You play things with us, this time I get to play something with you."

"Rin."

I cut him off before he continued with that look on his face. "I know, I know. This isn't really a game of hide and seek, even though it kind of actually is, just not really…gamey."

"That's right, this isn't a game. It could wind up becoming dangerous when we finally find who we're looking for."

"That's why I'm coming too," I declared. "I won't let them hurt you, not if I can do something about it."

Yuu's jaw went slack, eyes startlingly wide as he gaped at me, speechless.

There was a loud crack and Yusuke smashed face first into the cement. Gasping, I stepped forward to see if he was okay, but was tugged back. Then I noticed Master Genkai staring unamused down at his twitching body. Oh. Right. That'd explain that. I fought at a smile, trying to hide my amusement of the apparently usual exchange between them.

"Focus. You're going to focus on the task at hand, dimwit." Then her steady gaze went up to the rest. Hurriedly, Kuwabara and Botan straightened up, pasting on unconvincing and nervous smiles at her severe look aimed at them. "Hmph! All of you need to put your minds to the task at hand."

"I'm with Yuu's group!"

Everyone's eyes swiveled to me.

"I'm going with. Yuu always lets me."

Multiple eyes stared, silently staring. I pursed my lips and stood my ground. Suddenly, Asato snorted and shook his head. Then Yana broke the silence. "Little Kaito, you know this isn't the same as always."

I huffed up at him, glaring. There was no way I wasn't going to try to weasel my way into the group search. Not when they were looking for a man who had some odd and inexplicable interest with Yuu. Searching my mind wound up in zero answers. I mean, Yuu is amazing and awesome, but I didn't get or like the comments from Tsukihito or how saving me lined up a bit too close to Minamino's circumstances.

"Aw! And you must always tag along with him, that's adorable," Botan cooed. Her hand suddenly flew up, fingers spread delicately across the bottom of her face, gasping. "Oh! Wait, um, that's probably not the best way to… Whoopsies."

Wary, Kuwabara glanced at me, apparently thought better when I glared at him to dare talk me out of going with, and he turned to Yuu. "Uh…Kaito?"

"Let's go," Genkai barked. "Enough standing about wasting time. Get going. Not our problem to worry about clinger-ons. But I highly suggest you figure out how to stop beating around the bush and tell her no. Ditch her. And you." The aged face turned to me, her tough expression not changing one iota in how she dealt with teenagers to a child. I straightened, pulling my shoulders back and lifting my chin. "You had no idea you had energy until last night, quit making yourself a nuisance. Skedaddle kid. Go home."

She turned, Yana and Asato giving a glance back to Yuu and me before hurrying after. With a snapping insult back, Yusuke spun too, speeding up to shoot insults right back at her. Sticking my tongue out at her back, I looked up to Yuu. And bypassed the issue I knew he wanted to get into with the deliberating look on his face. "Where to first?"

"You three don't mind if we make a pit-stop before searching," he said in a manner more statement than question. Then gazed back to me, regret, but resolve in his face. "Rin. You know what I'm going to say. You don't need to hear it or make me say it."

My shoulders slumped. "But," I spoke up hopefully. "You said it yourself, this isn't like normal. I can help. I just have to make my hands tingle and…and they do something. I could do something with them. Like you with making sure there's no violence with your thing."

Clenching my fists tight, one on top the other, I squeezed. Tiny minute sunlight-bands of color sparked out and around both my fists. Slowly, I drew them apart. For a bit, it created a connection between my fists, like I was forming a magic wand to present from out of nowhere. Then, it splintered, and it looked like I was holding up two separate, minute suns.

"See, Yuu?"

He gazed down at me for a moment, a long moment, then crouched next to me. Slowly, he reached up with a large hand toward mine. Curiosity and something heartbreaking on his face shone, nearly washed out by the brightness of my small hands. Both points of energy blinked out, disappearing from my hands. I gaped at him as his eyes stayed steady upon mine. My fight to stay was dwindling. Quickly. Yuu's eyes kept on me, uneasy and anxious and fearful. "Use it how, Rin?"

"I…I don't know," I said quietly. The fight to stay left me and I looked down at my feet.

"How about," he began. Then swallowed. Audibly. I peered back to him. Like it was eating at him and hurt to say, Yuu continued. "You practice at home. When I get back, you can show me and we'll figure it out. After this has finished up, I can take you to Master Genkai's temple to…to get you expert help for getting a handle on it. Okay?"

As far as I could find in the searching of my mind, Yuu should be fine. It's just… I am worried at the attention, the extra attention, shown on him from Sensui. That he'd saved me…for what? I don't know, but I don't like it and I want to make sure Yuu is okay. He should be fine, but…

"Fine," I muttered.

Eyebrows going up in surprise and concern, Yuu pushed his eyeglasses back up. "Rin? What is the problem? What's bothering you?"

I looked right at him, jaw quivering. "You said it'd be dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Kuwabara straightened and puffed up his chest, jabbing a thumb at it as he put on a confident smile. A smile far more convincing than the one he gave to Genkai minutes previous. "I'll have you know that your brother here will be traveling with the number one punk at Sarayashiki Junior High! And not one, but two of the Dark Tournament champions! There's no need to worry over this guy here, even if he does avoid fighting. We got 'em covered!"

And then he began posing and flexing his muscles in front of me.

Startled, I giggled. And he beamed brightly at me. Then made a mock tough guy face with his next pose, relaxing after, smiling.

Relief etched into Yuu's features and he canted his head in the direction of home, the direction he began moving in. Botan and Kurama followed his lead. With a startled bray, Kuwabara leapt to follow, motioning widely for me to do so too.

"See? Nothing to worry about." His face lit up. "Oh! You should try to make it fun, make it into shapes, like hearts or kittens."

"I suggest not overdoing it," Kurama spoke up. Kuwabara laughed nervously and agreed quickly. Which I noticed made Kurama's mouth quirk up in amusement. I swiveled my head between them. It seemed like there was a story there.

"That…that almost looked like when I summon my oar."

"Yeah! It kind of did for a second. You should give her a look Botan!" He faltered, fidgeting as he scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, uh, Kaito. You don't mind if… I mean, she's gunna have to practice to get some control rather than getting out of hand and it's a few pointers is all so that she doesn't get into too much trouble doing this while we're uh, yeah…"

"Can they, Yuu?"

I bounced, hopeful. If anything, I'd be playing around and experimenting with it later. Like Yuu did with his to figure it out. Oh! I should ask him questions about the specifics later. Or at least try getting him to open up about it. It'd help. Also, if Sensui was going for some sort of emotional thing with Yuu, I was going to try to nip it and get him feeling better about what happened. Which reminds me of what Botan might know… Then again, she didn't mention it this morning when I kept stressing about me being fine and the opposite of what was apparently supposed to happen to me.

"Fine," Yuu reluctantly acquiesced.

And as I watched her, Botan sprung forward, an oar materializing from nearly out of thin air. I went wide eyed. There. For a second I spotted the flash of color, the white of her energy before the oar formed.

"Oooh." I leaned closer. "It's white, but…shiny."

"Iridescent," Kurama supplied me.

"Eh?" Kuwabara's head spun to him. "I always thought it was like a rainbow. Ya' know, like the ones you see in bubbles or somethin'."

"That's iridescent."

Amused, Kurama looked over at Yuu, who looked the opposite. Annoyed. Apparently, Kuwabara shared this feeling and rolled his eyes at both of them for chorusing the correction of the fancy word on him. "Bubble rainbows, iridescent, same thing, we all know what I meant by it."

"Mine kind of does that," I stated. "But more like the icy crystal of sun dogs. Maybe because mine kind of looks like miniature suns though…"

"Sun dogs?"

I quickly look up at Yuu hearing that. "Yep!" Then directed my gaze back to Botan's oar. This was both handy for me and got her attention away from my older brother with anything she might let slip. "So, you think maybe I could make something physical like that?"

"Er, um," she laughed nervously. "Maybe at some point, physical manifestations tend to…take a while to get to for some. Like with Sayaka. Or others find it easier to have something real and tangible out of it. But it's probably best to leave it at practice calling up your energy and the amount, building up the use of it."

"Okay," Kuwabara interjected. "I feel like we're specifically calling me out now. S'cuse me that I only began using my spirit energy like this just a few months ago, unlike you two."

Kurama's mouth twitched. "Apologies, Kuwabara."

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, Kuwabara!" Botan's fingers flew up over her mouth, head slightly ducking in her guilt of unknowingly using his error of overdoing it. "I didn't mean to! It's just, I tend to forget you developed your spirit energy after Yusuke since your spiritual awareness has always been so strong."

I giggled up at the flabbergasted face. It was extremely obvious he was torn about how to take Botan's blurted apology. He went from irritated, a deep scowl, puffing himself up, pausing to confusion, then a startled gaping as his high cheekbones suddenly developed a flush of redness to them.

There was a clearing of the throat and a sly suggestion. "How about you give her a look at yours and how to go about building up reserves, laying a good foundation?"

"Yeah!" Kuwabara immediately perked up and a wide grin overtook his face, beaming and posturing at me. I giggled again, giving him my full attention. If goofy with a capital 'G' hadn't already been taken, I'd give the title to him. Silly, cheerful, the never-give-up attitude with a brilliant heart of gold…I'd be sold on calling him the real goof. "Okay, Rin, check this out right here! I've got…"

Slowing to a stop, he went slack jawed, then screeched at the top of his lungs, pointing wildly in the air at Kurama who had made the suggestion for him to show me his spirit energy. Drawing in a big breath of air, he returned to standing at full height, completely ignoring the people who suddenly noticed our group and were giving us a wide berth. He huffed. "Why do I keep forgetting you do that after all the time we spent training before the Dark Tournament?"

The resulting smile on Kurama's face was sharp and filled with mirth and amusement. "I'm not sure. Why do we keep forgetting how amusing Yusuke's reactions are when we act like something terrible happened?"

The wide grin returned to Kuwabara's face. "Heh. Right." He swiveled back around to me, looking decidedly sheepish as he reached back to scratch at the back of his neck, hunching himself down a bit. "Sorry. I'd show you mine, but I'm uh, kind of out of commission right now. Which…" Scrunching his face at that, he craned his head back up from his hunched position to look at the others. "Kind of sucks. I tend to use straight spirit energy instead of using it for making an actual object like you, Botan. Or you using yours to amplify plants already there, Kurama. She's not doing either one of those."

"Wonderful," Yuu said in a very dry voice. "After you got my sister all keyed up about it."

Flinching, Kuwabara turned slowly and tried to smile Yuu's ire away. I glanced between the pair of them and caught Botan biting at her lip. Kurama looked the least bothered by anything this all caused. Scrunching my nose at him, I went back to the discord between the two hearts of gold.

"I can try," I piped up. "And I was already going to practice anyway, Yuu. Experiment."

Sighing heavily, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, Rin. Could we focus more on tips of how not to overdo it before we reach our apartment? That would be splendid."

Already shifting toward him at seeing him sigh and pinch, I caught the grit with the last word and I heard him mutter under his breath. "Since I can't look after her." And everything in me leapt out for him. My arms wrapped as far as they could around Yuu's middle, burrowing my face against him. To keep me safe. To help me. To be there for me. To do what he can to not let me down.

I had to.

I needed to do something.

I would do anything to keep Yuu safe too.

I didn't trust and was in utter fear of what exactly Sensui wanted.

But Yuu…

He was my older brother.

He would do anything to keep me safe.

He felt the blame for what happened and letting me down.

He stressed about working hard and taking care of so many things, especially time he always gave to me.

I couldn't help but feel I was at fault for the pain in his voice, the physical ticks of stress he was doing, the worry and blame and calculations of how to make the best of the situation to be able to take care of everything. The way he'd already given up the option of remaining with me. He had already promised them. I could go to Master Genkai after this was handled. Because if Mushiyori City was unsafe, if demons were going to overrun the place, that came first in a lineup. What would be the point of leaving the group without a guide to the city for concern of what was going on with me, when that would mean greater chances of them losing, and have me and him and us all being dead in a short timeframe?

Muffled, I breathed into him. "Sorry."

The air left his chest. A long arm wrapped around me. And then my hair was ruffled. "Don't worry about it, Rin. Just listen close to them. I assume they know what they are doing and talking about."

"Course we do!" The sheer amount of offense at the insult and defensive tone in that shout sent me into giggles again. "Why you gotta be talkin' like we ain't knowledgeable about stuff? Weren't you listenin' when I said we were the Dark Tournament champs?"

Looking up, I saw Yuu giving him that look. That look that spoke volumes of how much value he was giving that claim. There was a clearing of the throat and Yuu's eyes flickered across to Kurama.

"He is not incorrect in the claim, Kaito. Merely…enthusiastic." Kurama's eyes crinkled. I turned in Yuu's loose one armed grasp, trying to figure out if that was amusement or fondness. Then Kurama's gaze zeroed in on me. I stilled. What? "There are a few good basic rules of thumb to go by, no matter how your own energy comes to present itself as."

Oh! I straightened, listening intently as the group began moving again. As we went, Kurama explained.

"Pay attention to the feeling of calling it up. This helps create awareness and familiarity. Awareness to when you are and are not actively using it, cutting back on accidently bringing it forward. It'll also help you become aware when it may be acting up, to either an issue of an outside danger it is reacting to or one more internal."

His eyes flickered momentarily up to Yuu, then back to me.

"That is probably a time to not actively pull your energy forward and to search for help. Paying attention leads to awareness to using and familiarity with the feel of it. Gaining a feel for it later helps give you a mold to how you'll go about using it. We're not focusing on that one quite yet." His lips quirked up in definite amusement, eyes raised up. "There's that look again, Kaito."

"Forgive my lack of excitement, Minamino," Yuu replied in his dry tone. "But do not forget I am listening closely and am not a fan."

"Of Kurama," Kuwabara asked in surprise. "Still? I swear this is all spot on with my messing with it and what he informed me of when we were training."

"No, silly," Botan disagreed quickly. "Because it's Rin. His little sister. He's probably worried. Not to mention, he's more than just an older brother since their…ah! That is, I mean, since it's just them and their mother and he's much older in age for a sibling…"

"Oh, yeah! That makes sense!"

"May I put forward my guess of it being a bit of both for you, Kaito?" At the 'obviously' stare directed at him, Kurama's mouth quirked up in amusement and continued on, not the least bit of unease at ruffling Yuu. Ignoring what he did. What he kept doing. Botan may have a big mouth that she keeps putting a foot in it, but he was clearly doing this to Yuu on purpose. "We haven't had much chance to build a good rapport, but all of this is…"

Pausing, he cracked out a chuckle when his attention focused back on me. Annoyed, I pinched my face, glaring and scowling up at him for all I was worth. All it got was a goofy grin out of Kuwabara and Botan cooing down at me. I growled.

"I am not cute. You're intentionally upsetting Yuu when he's stressed." I drew my lip up, mad. "Because you think it's funny. It is not."

Behind me, I heard Yuu's startled intake of air. "Rin."

But I didn't turn, standing my ground in front of him, keeping my gaze up at the others. All the humor left their faces, becoming more serious. Even if there was more than one set of eyes going a bit wide at me. I was just satisfied at seeing Kurama looking abashed after my telling off and I nodded, pointing up at him.

"Don't do it anymore."

Blinking at my small finger in his face, he smiled. And for once, it looked soft on his sharp features. "I won't."

"Good. You can continue now. No funny business."

The world went quiet enough for a moment for Kuwabara's whisper to carry. "Did she just Mom off to Kurama? And it worked?" Eyes wide, he turned his head to Botan. "I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that or laugh at Kurama behaving like he was a little kid to a kid."

"We've arrived," Yuu broke in tensely before Kuwabara could decide his reaction.

Except he did.

"I'm totally telling Urameshi about this," he declared.

Ignoring that, Kurama's eyes moved up and down from Yuu to me, then did as ordered. Continued. I refocused, knowing they would be leaving soon, without me. And I wanted to do all I could with what I had if Yuu had any chance of being dragged into Sensui's plotting and planning going on.

"Leaving the focus off any specific uses," he began. It was a part I actually ignored. Not fully, but I ignored that one as meant for easing Yuu's worries. I certainly wasn't going to speak up and worry him again, but that line was clearly meant for Yuu. Practicing and experimenting already meant I was using it. "Once you call it up, Kuwabara's previous suggestion of making it into 'fun shapes' is worth following. Make it small, create squares, and try to make it a long oar shape if you wish, but simply play around with it. Slowly. If there is a timer, use it or count up to ten before dispersing it. Take breaks. It would not go awry to have some sort of snack or water nearby if you start feeling dizzy and light headed. Once you begin feeling that, take a longer break or stop. That is how you overdo it."

There was a nervous laugh, yet my face almost cracked at noticing Kuwabara doing a spectacular rendition of a bobble head.

"That's pretty much the basics and the start to a foundation. Exploring and paying attention to it. Mostly common sense." He shrugged a shoulder up and looked to Yuu behind me. "It'll hold until this is over and one of us or Master Genkai can devote time to her…fairly significant spirit energy."

"Fantastic." I looked down, swallowing. Yuu was using that same tone far too many times for my liking. Or even for his own liking probably. He was not happy about this. Any of this.

His larger hand gently prodded me toward our apartment building and stepped along behind me. Then…nothing. A long stretch of awkward silence followed. Shoes scuffed and throats cleared. Someone began humming. Curious, I craned my head around to look. It was then Yuu spoke again, his tone touchier. "No, I don't mind the lingering or blatant staring when I've clearly edged us away to speak before I leave her here."

Botan eeped, Kuwabara went reddishly flustered, Kurama gave pardon, and they all moved quickly away.

Yuu's shoulders slumped in relief and crouched to eye level with me. "What is it, Yuu? I promise I won't overdo it. I'll even show you what I did when you get back so you know."

There was a clear moment of Yuu gathering himself up, glancing away for a second as he breathed in, then straight at me, his round, little eyes guarded. Concerned and on edge, I grasped a hold of his sleeve. "You're acting…off." I felt my jaw drop and heard a noise, but didn't have time to take this in. "Where is this sudden surge of protectiveness coming from, Rin?"

Panicked and stunned and reluctant to tell him I was supposed to die and a person supposed to be the villain saved me, allegedly, was the reason why I did not die and a child taken in by him has very much hinted the interest the villain has in Yuu and I really, really did not trust there to be some plan to hurt or break my older brother down in some way even though my former life's memories didn't show much interaction between them, it only caused me more concern on what would happen and what this villain had already done besides what I knew and what he had planned to do with it because he wasn't going to have any consternations about whatever he did to anyone because I'm pretty sure his end goal was all humans dead so what did it matter if Yuu—

"Woah, woah, steady, Rin. Breathe." I tried, taking big breaths and to slow down, clutching a hand to my chest. If anything, I panicked more at the sight of Yuu's eyes quickly taking this all in and the concern deepening on his face. "What is it?"

I gulped, fighting back the tears. "I…I don't want anything… I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Wrapping my arms around myself, I looked away from him and I found the words somewhere in my mind. "I mean, I know I'm not much, I'm just one person. I'm just a kid now, but you're the best and I don't want to lose you, Yuu, you deserve the best, not all…this with me and…and I just want to help so you're okay and get the best and—umpf!"

"Quit worrying so much," was murmured beside my ear. Yuu's arms tightened around me, comfortingly tight and safe and protecting. A large hand slipped up to the back of my head, pressing me against him so my tears soaked into his uniform top. He attempted joking. "That's my job. Tall, distinguished, serious. I've always been the worrier over you and Mom. Right?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. "It's just… I'm worried. I worry too, Yuu. And I just have this feeling, this bad feeling. Worse than Botan slapping her mouth shut when she says stuff. You promise you're just helping them find wherever it is and you won't be anywhere near when they're fighting? You won't hang around Yusuke and get dragged into it?"

He pulled me back so we could look at each other again. The lines of his face pinched at this particular person brought up. At this particular avoidance being brought up. But I stared up at him, waiting. I needed to hear it. To hear him say it. "I certainly do not plan spending more time around Urameshi than necessary. Physical altercations are not something I seek out, you know this. Does hearing it help?" I nodded. "You look a lot calmer, that's good. I'm sorry to worry you about this. There's nothing to worry about. Not over me."

Sometime later, I watched him go. In a flash of iridescent white, Botan whipped out a flyswatter to deal with any pesky bugs and Kurama took the lead while speaking with Yuu. Kuwabara swung his arm over his head and declared they'd keep Yuu safe for me. Just before they were all out of sight, Yuu looked back to me and I waved.

And then I was left alone. Wondering upon the real reason of the noted emergence to my protectiveness over Yuu. Was it just me? Or a change due to former me? The known situation? The unknown pieces? A combination? That I knew vaguely of Sensui, his goals, the group standing against him, a fight with Yusuke. Yet knew nothing of me, nothing about me in this or any focus there appeared to be on Yuu. Was it a failed plan left out? A plan that never got off its feet and went anywhere?

I hope so.

I'll try not to worry about it. Focusing on practicing my spirit energy appeared like a good way to put it out of my mind. And also a way to prepare if I was wrong.