Millefiori

Chapter 5

"Hey Yumiko!"

She turned. "Yusuke! Twice in a day! It must be karma." She grinned.

"Whatever you say. What're you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"Ha! She's right Urameshi!" Only just now she saw the tall form of Kuwabara behind Yusuke. "You never come to school!"

"Hey Kuwabara, how are you?" She smiled, albeit nervously.

"Good, good. What're you doing here?" His face took on a puzzled expression.

Yusuke elbowed him in the gut. "That's just what I asked her, idiot!"

She cut off Kuwabara before he could start another fight. "Then I guess I have no choice to answer, do I? Keiko asked me to get her textbook for her because she forgot to bring it home with her. She called me on my cell…

"Okay."

"…But I'm stuck wandering the hallways, trying to guess which one is her locker."

"Oh."

"Isn't her number 149?"

"I don't know."

"One of you has to know."

"I'm sure it's 149!"

"Ha, as if you're right."

"What'd you say Urameshi!"

"You heard me!"

"Guys, we can't let the principle find us yelling in the hall like this."

"Who cares, you can always skip detention if someone catches you."

"It's number 385." The three turned to find Shuichi standing behind the two boys. "On the second floor."

"Thanks-"

"YUMI!" A blur tackled her.

"JIN!" She hugged him back, down on the ground. "How was your day my Irish lad!"

"Oi! Hey Urameshi!" Jin released her to pound Yusuke on the back with his fists, the gesture of affection being returned with equal strength and enthusiasm. Touya appeared behind, nodding to Shuiichi and ruffling Yumiko's hair.

Kuwabara stared. "Aren't you two from the Dark-?"

He was interrupted with a nudge from Shuichi. "What a pleasant surprise Touya. Do you three know each other?"

"Yup!" Yumiko hugged Touya. "They're two of my best friends!" They sweat-dropped as said ice apparition tried to get away from the younger girl's clutches.

"Yumiko-"

"What Aoi?" She released him so he could speak.

"When were you planning on coming home?"

"Eh…" 'Whoops. These two are worse than parents.' "Well, you- I told you that I would be late today!"

"You never mentioned anything." They exchanged annoyed glances, much to the amusement of Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Shuiichi.

"Whatever! You guys came anyway, so there's no big deal!" She rolled her eyes.

"That's not the point-"

She cut him off. "Oh well, you know what, Keiko asked me to pick up some textbook she forgot. So I'm going to go get it."

"Number 385!" Shuichi called after her. She waved to show that she heard, or remembered at least, heading up the stairs.

"So, Touya, Jin, why are you two here?" the redhead questioned.

"We're not going to report you, but we just want to know," Yusuke added.

"We just wanted to see Yumiko. And besides, we were given permission by Koenma to stay in the Ningenkai for at most two weeks," Touya said.

"Is she our new case?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yes." Shuichi glanced at the Shinobi. "Is that why you two are here? To protect her?"

"Yup!" Jin gave the thumbs up.

"Mm." Touya nodded in assent.

"Why?"

"All Jin was doing was getting drunk at bars in the Makai-"

"-We were trying to get Touya out of his sober spell-"

"-What? Is that why you and Chu kept on dragging me to the bars-!"

"-Well, we did need a round or two on our own eventually-"

"-So that's why I saw Chu trying to flush the disposable camera down the toilet to avoid having me see it-"

"-We didn't mean to have it explode-"

"-But it's still your fault that Rinku got a concussion when he tried to flush it next-"

"-Well, ShiShi wasn't the one yelling about how we disturbed him-"

"So," Yusuke cut in "basically, you guys were bored, and decided to come protect her?"

"There's also the factor that she's our friend."

"I'm still curious about the subject on how you two know her," commented the redhead.

"We met her in Makai," the Jin replied.

: End Chapter

14thShrineMaiden: fifth chapter that's edited! I'm going to keep at it until I have them all edited! But that's that for now.