Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or any of it's characters. I do own Katrina, Lisa, Serena, Marissa, and Alex.

AN: I don't know much about Japanese so I'll just stick with the Ningenkai/Reikai/Makai, Kekai, ningen/youkai, reiki, youki and that's about it. By the way, does anyone know the diff between apparitions and youkai? I don't know what stor Kurama's dad has so I'm making it a bakery. Someone correct me if I'm wrong so I'll know what it is if I do another story. I won't be able to change it in this one though, sorry.

Revised Note: Oh Hell...I got the tenses soo screwed up! They're fixed now! Thanks to Schitz's reviews I thought to go over the story again and found the tense screw ups! Thanks! I never would have caught them! Also, if you prefered the other format, let me know and I'll change it back. I'm also thinking of rewriting Waking Angel, Bleeding Angel and Rising Star into this format. RS will be easier since it isn't done, but I'm afraid to do WA and BA since they're done and set.

Bewitching Ties

Legend

-Thought-

-Telepathy-

Noise

Chapter Two: Japan

"Ack! Its its its yyou!" a tall blonde man squeaked as he stared at the short man with the dark blue, almost black hair with a white starburst around his bangs. He looked pretty normal, a man in a navy blue long sleeved shirt, tan slacks, and sunglasses. The only thing odd about him was the black bandana around his forehead. Yet the sight of this man, teen actually, had the blonde man shaking in his black tank top, skin tight black pants and leather boots. The blonde man took a deep breath, then bolted down the ally to his left.

The blonde man ran to the end of the ally, jumped over the tall fence that divided it from another ally, ran down that one, took an offshoot ally, turned right at a three-way intersection of allies, took the sharp left and ran smack into the dark haired teen. The teen didn't even budge in the slightest, but the blonde man was thrown back by the force of the impact, it was as if he had run into a brick wall.

The dark haired teen smirked. "I'm who again?" Hiei asked quietly, enjoying toying with this weak youkai.

The youkai squeaked, then did the oddest thing. He laid prostrate, arms spread towards Hiei. "My master! I am yours to command. Just don't kill me!" he begged, crying.

Hiei rolled his eyes behind the glasses. He stepped closer to the blonde man, saying, "Fine, I order you to guide me to Japan."

The blonde man's head popped up a little. -The great and terrible Hiei lost?- he thought, deciding that this info would be good gossip.

Suddenly he found a silver edge of a katana at his throat. "If you so much as think again of telling this to anyone, I shall kill you, painfully," Hiei said quite calmly and coldly.

The blonde man sweated and stuttered out, "Uhh...Yyes Sir!"

Hiei nodded. "Now, get to work." he said, sheathing his sword.

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"Flight 324 now departing for Japan," the announcer said. "Flight 324 now departing."

Katrina looked at the line of people getting on the plane. She turned back to her four best friends, tears in her eyes. Serena was bawling, despite the fact that she was supposed to be 'strong' like her element, Marissa wasn't too far behind, and Alex was standing between the two, an arm around each. Lisa stood close to Katrina.

Lisa smiled at her small friend and ruffled her hair. "Hey, Trina-Kat, don't look so glum. You know you can always come visit." She leaned down and whispered, "I mean, you can always run away and live with us." She stood up and grinned.

Katrina grinned too and mouthed, 'Tempting thought.' Lisa laughed.

Katrina's dad, a middle aged man with light blonde hair and brown eyes, patted Katrina on the shoulder, "It's time to go, sweet heart."

Her mother, a cherry haired woman with indigo eyes leaned down and picked up Katrina's carry-on bag. "We'll give you a minute, so make the goodbyes fast," she said. Katrina nodded as her parents left.

Katrina turned back to her friends to be swamped by hugs from them all. When they seperated, Lisa bent down and picked up a medium sized box and handed it to Katrina. "It's passed inspection," she said. Katrina looked at her questioningly. "It's a bunch of compiled cd's of all the songs you really love. Not to mention a few oddments to help train with." Lisa didn't need to mentiong what Katrina was training in. "And some books and movies that I know you've been trying to get your hands on," she continued.

Katrina smiled. "Thanks you guys," she said through her tears.

"Last call for flight 324, last call," the announcement said.

Katrina looked at the few people in line. She sighed, "Well I guess I should go." She turned back to her friends. "I'll email you when we get the internet up, 'kay?" The other girls nodded.

They watched her get in line behind a tall blonde man and a short dark haired man. Just before Katrina walked inside the tunnel to the plane, she turned around and waved with her free hand and they waved back. When she disappeared into the tunnel they raced to the window to see the plane off.

Marissa looked around. "Where's Jack?" she asked.

"Not here." Lisa replied coldly. "The bastard broke it off the moment he found out it was going to turn into a long distance relationship and that he wasn't going to ever get any from her."

Marissa nodded, saying, "I never liked him."

The other girls nodded in agreement. "Poor Kat, she never had good taste in men, and without us around, who's gonna steer her right and who's shoulder is she gonna cry on when her heart is broken?" Serena sniffed. The girls didn't answer as they watched the plane lift off.

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"Ah, do you think that sign is for us?" Katrina's father asked jokingly, pointing to the sign a tall man was holding. 'Lee Family' was written in red paint.

Katirna's father walked towards the man, speaking in fluent japanese, with just a hint of accent. Katrina looked at her father suspiciously. -He speaks it as if he'd been preparing to move to Japan for a long time...- She thought. Then she remembered how her dad had been pushing her to take Japanese as a language in high school. She hadn't been too interested in the language class, which had just started thanks to the craze of anything japanese, especially mangas and animes, among teens, but since she wasn't really interested in the other languages, french, spanish and german, unfortunately no latin, and since some of her friends were taking japanese, she had decided, 'why not'. Now as she looked at it, it seemed almost as if her dad had already known they would eventually move to Japan. Katrina glared at his back, thinking, -That bastard!-

A dark haired young man bumped into her. She turned around. "Oh, excuse me!" She said, apologizing automaticaly, even though it wasn't her fault. The young man narrowed his eyes as he looked her up and down while he walked by, followed by a blonde man with a black leather fetish. Katrina stared at the two as they walked away. -Strange, the young man looked familiar...Where have I seen him?-

Her mother brought her attention back to the present, saying, "Katrina, dear. It's time we get going."

Katrina nodded and bent down to pick up her carry-on bag while balancing her box of presents on her hip. Her mother laughed and helped her daughter by picking up the bag. "Why don't I get that before you tumble over," she said more than asked.

Katrina smiled her thanks as she held the box safely with both arms. She turned in the direction the young man went but he was nowhere around. She shivered her shoulders as the tenseness went out of them. She hadn't noticed how her psychic 'hackles' had raised when she had bumped into him until after the fact. She thought, -Weird...- She shook her head and followed her parents and the guide.

Hiei watched the brassy blonde hurry after her parents. He shook his head. -Well, well. The young ningen may yet get to see 'demons'.- He turned back to the blonde youkai. The blonde man looked nervous. "You remember, one word or thought and I'll inflict a painful death on you," he glared, speaking softly so that no one else but the keen eared rabbit youkai could hear him.

The rabbit youkai nodded and split, practicaly leaping for the escalators and nearly going down the 'up' escalator. Hiei smirked. He calmly walked out of the airport and disappeared into the crowd.

xxxxxxxxx

Hiei looked at the large shrine at the top of a long flight of stairs in the middle of a forest. He shrugged. -Hn. It had been 'home' for close to two years before. It will do for now.- He started to walk into the large training room but paused, hearing a loud racket behind the sliding doors.

"Yusuke! You jerk!" KERWHAK A thud followed after the loud sound of someone being violently slapped. Hiei smirked, guessing what Yusuke had done to make his fiancee slap him, judging by the sound of the slap.

He slid the door open to find a tall dark haired man in a green jacket and jeans sitting on the floor rubbing his swelling cheek. A few feet away from him stood an irrate young woman with long chestnut brown hair wearing a short skirt and white blouse. Beyond her stood a smiling young woman with light blue hair wearing a light blue kimono and an old lady wearing a purple robe.

The old woman rolled her eyes, saying "Dimwit, just because she said yes to the proposal doesn't mean you have the permission to reach up her skirt. She can still say no at the wedding."

She looked beyond the feuding couple and at the figure wearing a black cloak with a white scarf. "Hello dimwit number two. What are you doing in the Ningenkai?" Genkai asked, brutally getting to the point as always.

Hiei shrugged. "Hn, my own business," was his curt reply.

Genkai nodded. Yukina stepped forward as Yusuke tried to apologize to Keiko. "Mr. Hiei? Have you found my brother?" she asked politely.

Hiei froze slightly. "No, I have not," was his reply, not so near as curt as his reply to Genkai. Yukina nodded.

Yusuke turned to Hiei, arm around Keiko's shoulders, having managed to successfully apologize to her and calm her down. "So Short-Stack? How's life? Any chance of a marriage anytime soon?" Yusuke joked.

Hiei gave him a level gaze and replied sarcastically, "Yusuke, if I had any romance in my life, why would I tell you? Besides, I wouldn't want any love advice from you. You're a great example of how one shouldn't act in a relationship."

Yukina giggled, Genkai snorted, Yusuke gave a sheepish grin and Keiko gave a 'for-once-someone-realizes-it' look to Hiei, who just smirked and walked out a side door and jumped into one of the trees next to the pond on that side of the shrine.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Wow..." a group of Meiou High school students said, awed at the test scores posted on the board in the hallway. One pointed to the top score. "It's almost perfect! We haven't had a score like that since Shuichi and Kito left."

One of the girls in the group looked around and spotted the brassy blonde American girl walking down the hall. She ran to catch up with the foreign student. "Hey! You're Katrina, aren't you?" the girl said, stumbling over 'Katrina'. Katrina nodded. "You must know, you've made the highest score on the test! We haven't had a score like that since our two best students left last year. Shuichi Minamino was our best student we have ever had, perfect scores on everything, he even had a fan club, and not just with the girls, though he was the dreamiest guy you will ever meet, but with all of the clubs and practically everyone else," the girl continued to chat and walk with Katrina as the American tried to leave school, wanting to get home and check to see if the 'net was up so she could email her friends. "It's sad though, he didn't go to college, instead he went to work at his father's bakery. Kito went to college though..." the girl went on.

Katrina, thinking fast, managed to halt the girl's prattling by looking at her watch. "Oh my! I'm sorry but I'm late. I should have been home a few minutes ago," she said as she rushed to change her shoes and get her things, leaving the girl in the middle of the hallway.

She sighed as she jogged away from the school, irritated by all the people. For the past two weeks she had been nothing but a spectacle, like some exoctic animal at the zoo. Students constantly babbled at her, wanting to know what America was like, girls asked if the boys there were cute, boys asked if she would go out with them, and if not, if she had a sister that would go out with them. -Now they probably won't leave me alone because of my grades! I can't help it if I learned all that stuff in my freshman and sophomore years!- She gritted her teeth, remembering what the girl said about the last boy who had perfect scores. "I really don't care about this Shuichi Minamino, I don't care if I'm taking his place as the one with the best scores. I just better not get the fan club!" She griped to no one in particular.

Unfortunately, fate plays her games. A laugh sounded beside her. She stopped, frozen at the thought that someone had noticed she was talking to herself. She turned her head to see a tall man with long Loriel red hair and brilliant green eyes wearing a white apron covered in flower over a white shirt and tan slacks. "Did I hear that someone doesn't care about me?" he said lightly, a smile in his green eyes.

Katrina froze even more, a blush staining her cheeks. She hadn't known someone could understand her in english and hadn't expected to find that the one person that could happened to be the person she was griping to herself about.

"Uh...Hi..." she said after a few seconds, then she remembered the lessons of politeness her parents had been giving to her in preparation for the move. She faced forward to him and bowed. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to be rude," she apologized in heavily accented japanese.

A flowery hand was flapped at her. "No, don't be. I was at Meiou once and I know the pressure. If I was having to fill someone's shoes I would be griping about them too," he said pleasantly and smoothly. He bowed to her. "Let me introduce myself properly. I am Shuich Minamino."

Katrina nodded, bowing again. "I'm Katrina Lee. It's nice to meet you. And I mean it," she then held out her hand.

Shuichi smiled and shook it. "Nice to meet you too. You're American aren't you?"

Katrina nodded. "Yeah, but my dad works for a big retail company and was given reign on the branch here so here we are." She said, half cheerily, then she grumbled. "He acts like it was a sudden thing but I suspect he had been planning it for most of my high school career. He could have waited until I had graduated." Shuichi laughed. Katrina noticed that his laugh was quite pleasant and quite contagious for she too started to laugh.

She looked at her watch and blanched. "Agh! I have to go! I'm late!" This time she was telling the truth. She bowed her goodbye. "I'm sorry but I have to go. Maybe I'll see you again," she said as she turned to go.

Shuichi nodded, "Just maybe, goodbye Ms. Lee."

Katrina blushed. "No, just call me Katrina, or Kat. Thank you Mr. Minamino."

Shuichi laughed again, "Now I must ask you to just call me Shuichi."

Katrina smiled, her face lighting up beautifully. "Thank you Shuichi, and bye." She turned around and hurried down the street, leaving the red head to wonder at what just happened.

He didn't need to hear, smell or feel anything to know that he had been joined by somebody to his left. "Well, Hiei, is that one of the witchlings that were powerfull enough to 'summon' you in full youkai form into the Ningenkai?" he teased lightly. He recieved a 'Hn'. "But there's something about her that..." Shuichi fell silent.

"So you can sense it too Kurama." Hiei stated more than questioned.

Shuichi, Kurama, nodded, saying "I believe it would be best if someone would watch her. With all of the youkai running around here, a 'witchling' like her will be a prime target."

"Hn," was Hiei's usual reply.

Kurama smiled, turning to his short companion. "Then that's settled!"

Hiei gave him a questioning glance. "What's settled?"

"Who will be watching over Katrina, that's what's settled." Kurama said cheerfuly.

Hiei's glance turned suspicious. "No. I had enough of babysitting three years ago," he said firmly.

Kurama became serious. "I'm not saying the whole time. I'll find a way to introduce her to Yusuke and he can watch out for her for some of the time, but in cases where Yusuke can't be, like at her school, at her home, ect, you'll step in and watch from the shadows."

Hiei growled out "That still means I'll be babysitting. I have every intention to go back to Makai once there's a chance."

Kurama smiled. "So just think of it as a temp job."

Hiei continued to growl as he blurred out of sight. Kurama continued to smile as he went back to work in his father's store, the wheels in his head spinning at full speed.