A/N: Aww, the end of this chapter just makes me happy. But there's more Youko "action" here, so… enjoy! Please review!

27. A New Romance and Youko's First Day of School

The alarm in Suichi's bedroom went off at six o'clock, its persistent buzzing noise bringing Youko from his happy dream of ripping demons to pieces. He opened his eyes and stared at the alarm clock. How do you make it shut up…? he wondered, staring at all of the buttons on it. The buzzing noise grew louder.

Youko's eye twitched as he stared at the clock with extreme dislike. He picked it up and shook it, but that didn't stop its infernal buzzing. He slapped it, but that didn't do anything either. He growled and bared his teeth at it, but the clock wasn't intimidated by that either. It was as if it was mocking him…

Finally, Youko got fed up with the alarm and chucked it out the window where it fell to the ground and busted open, innumerable little clock pieces flying out everywhere. Satisfied, Youko crawled back into bed.

Just as he was about to pull the covers up to his neck, Luna came into the room, still in her pajamas and her hair all messed up. "That wasn't Suichi's alarm clock that I just saw fly out the window, was it?" she asked sternly.

"I don't know what that thing was," Youko said grumpily. "Go away…"

"It's a school day!" Luna said. "You have to keep up Suichi's perfect attendance record and go to school!"

"Why should I have to go if it's Suichi's attendance record we're talking about? I'm not Suichi," Youko said.

Luna didn't appreciate his sarcasm. Instead she grabbed his shoulders and dragged him up out of bed. "Put the uniform on," she said. "And… take a shower, please, you smell like a drunk."

Since Youko had no idea where Black Panda High School was, he rode the bus instead of walking like Suichi normally did. The bus was crowded and packed with younger high school students who couldn't drive yet and a few commuting adults. None of the students on the bus paid much attention to him; maybe they couldn't recognize him in the horrible costume and badly-dyed hair…

Finally, they had reached the school, and Youko stepped onto the front yard of the large high school. He stared around at all of the people outside, chatting animatedly with all their friends. Youko wasn't sure who Suichi hung out with, so he just walked into the building and stood around the hallways, watching the plump principal strut by and the other ugly teachers walk around with their lesson planners in hand. A small, greasy-looking kid ran past with his arms full of papers and a wide grin on his face. Is this some kind of freak school…? Youko wondered. Where are all the sexy ladies?

As if to answer his question, a group of senior girls walked by. They were skinny, had long hair, and were very beautiful in their miniskirts and tight T-shirts. Youko wondered vaguely for a moment why Suichi wore a uniform in a public school, but the thought left his mind as he saw one of the girls wink and smile at him. Suichi must be popular… he thought. Good…

Youko had gotten through the morning classes without too much trouble. He was glad he had some obsessed young sophomore with large glasses happily escort him to all of his classes; he didn't know where the science lab or the music room, or any of the other rooms in the school were. He did find it odd, though, that nobody saw through his disguise. Luna was right; some of the students at Black Panda High were pretty dumb…

The only people who could see through his disguise were Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, he was sure that Keiko and Botan could see through it as well, but they weren't around at lunch when he met up with his Spirit Detective and Spirit Detective Sidekick friends.

"What's with the crappy disguise, Youko?" Yusuke asked as soon as Youko had sat down. "Why are you Youko anyway?"

Youko sighed and explained to them how Hiei had given him the age-reducing potion, and how that's what Genkai had used to become Spritzy.

"So that's what the old hag was up to…" Yusuke said, rubbing his chin. "Still doesn't explain why she so eagerly made out with me in the movie theater… Gross"

"Maybe she likes you," Youko teased.

"I'm just glad she didn't kiss me," Kuwabara said, digging in to his lunch.

"Nobody in their right mind would ever kiss you," Yusuke said dryly. "No offense, buddy, but… you're no Prince Charming."

"Who says?" said Kuwabara, flexing his muscles. "This is 100 pure beefcake muscle, and it's sexy! Girls love me…" He gloated for a while, letting his ego get the best of him while Yusuke and Youko just stared at him.

It turned out, however, that Yusuke and Kuwabara were not the only ones who could see through Youko's pitiful disguise. As Youko was packing Suichi's books into his bookbag, somebody approached him from behind.

"Hey," she said, causing Youko to quickly turn around.

"Oh. It's you again," he said, recognizing Suichi's stalker girl from last night. "What do you want?"

The girl got right to the point. "You're not Suichi," she said.

Youko didn't say anything. He wasn't sure whether he should contradict her or agree with her.

"Why are you Youko Kurama?" she asked quietly, making sure nobody could hear her. "When is Suichi going to be back?"

Youko's eyes darted around the empty hallway and saw nobody in sight. "Hiei gave me a potion the other day that would make me younger. Of course I didn't know what it did – stupid thing, really – so I drank it, and it turned me into Youko. And to answer your second question, I'm sure your precious Suichi will be back soon enough." He turned back to his locker and slammed it shut.

"I hope that he'll be bak tomorrow," the girl said, her sad brown eyes staring at the floor. "I miss him…" She turned away and left.

"Uh… Yusuke…?" Botan said timidly, approaching the Spirit Detective in the empty hallway on the first floor.

"Yeah?" he said, trying to shove something into his already overstuffed locker. Botan looked down and noticed that his bookbag was completely empty; he must never do any schoolwork.

"Um… I've got a question…"

"Shoot."

"What… what do you think of me?" she asked, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

Yusuke stared at her. "What do I think of you?" he repeated. "What kind of question is that?"

"I mean like… do you… do you… like me?" she asked. "Not like, LIKE me… maybe… but… you know… LIKE me?"

Yusuke blinked, confused. "Huh?"

"Wh-what I mean to say, is… Do you think… Would you ever consider… um… liking me… um… a lot?"

"I do like you a lot," Yusuke said blankly. "I mean, you're annoying sometimes, but you're cool."

Botan's heart jumped. He thinks I'm cool! she thought happily. That's a start… right? "Well…" she said. "Would you ever… want to like me… more than a lot?"

"What do you mean?"

Boy, he's hard to get through to… Botan thought with frustration. "I mean like… like… boyfriend and girlfriend…" she said quietly.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that…"

Botan clenched his fists together and grit her teeth. "Would… you… like to be…" her voice trailed off. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Will you go out with me?"

Yusuke looked taken aback. "Is that what you were trying to say?" he asked. "You just want to be my girlfriend?"

Botan nodded, her face turning bright red.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Yusuke said. "See, that's what I don't like about girls. They take forever to get to their point!"

Botan looked down, her eyes sad. "So… it's no, then?"

"Woah, woah, no, I didn't say that!" Yusuke said as a tear slid down Botan's cheek. "No, no, I'll go out with you!"

"Really?" said Botan, wiping her tear away.

"Sure," Yusuke said. "I mean, you're a nice girl… a cute girl…" he added with a smile.

Botan smiled as well. "Oh, Yusuke," she said, flinging her arms around his neck and giving him a tight hug. "Thank you…"

NEXT TIME: BACK TO NORMAL AND YUKINA'S DEPARTURE!

--crazykitsune17--