Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N

This one took me a couple of days to work out. Part of me wants to write this on the fly with no plan as to where it's going whatsoever, the other wants me to do subtle things like foreshadowing and hinting at the end. Don't worry, though, I have an outline, no matter how fuzzy.

And I've arrived at a compromise for the kimono situation. I'm going to skip over most of the process of putting the robe on. Saves me undue stress and my readers won't get bored...hopefully.

And thank you to those who do review. Feedback is much appreciated.

--------------------------------------

Niino Yukimatsuri

If one were to walk in to the room five young woman occupied just then, they would find a mess of unusable silks and linens littering the floor, pins in a random assortment at the bottom of two stools, and a certain fussing shinobi.

"Hey Shizuru, watch it with those needles, eh? I don't particularly want to go to this festival, but I want to go to even less as a pincushion."

The petite brown haired girl that had joined them—to a surprised, "How many of you are there!"—along with Yukina, shortly after Asha's torture session began, giggled at the shinobi's dry humor.

"Asha, you really do remind me so much of Yusuke. I wonder if you have any relation."

"I highly doubt it, darling Keiko. Besides, you can control him, granted only to an extent, but you can. You will, however, never be able to control me. I guarantee you that."

An ominous silence filled the room at Asha's unexpected words. Shizuru came to the rescue by presenting Asha with her kimono.

"Okay, Asha, close your eyes." The assassin gave her a slight glare. "Alright, then, don't close your eyes. Here it is."

The older woman crossed the room holding the over robe in front of her, while Asha admired it with awe. It was a deep emerald, akin to the gem being viewed in candle-light. Stitched into the garment was yet another pond scene, this one a thousand times more breathtaking.

"Wow," Asha could only breathe the word. She reached out a hand to delicately trace the patterns. "The Dragonfly—illusion and truth. The Falcon—freedom. The Swan, for his silence and grace."

She looked up, her silver eyes wide. "I can't take this. I can't possibly wear this. I'm an assassin. What the hell am I thinking dressing up in this restricting robe thing to go to a festival that I don't even want to go to! What in the name of the Seven Hells am I thinking? What shit got knocked into my brain when fox-boy drugged me? The hell!"

"I'm glad you like it," Shizuru said mockingly.

"Don't you start in on me too, seamstress woman."

"Hold out your arms." Asha's eyes looked like they could have thrown daggers if at all possible. "Hold out your arms." Shizuru ordered it this time.

"What are you staring at?" Asha snapped at Yukina and Keiko, glancing over at Botan.

"You don't like it?" Keiko whispered.

"Don't worry, hun. Swearing and refusing is Asha's way of saying she really, really likes something. She's like Yusuke that way. And most other men I know..."

"Very funny, Shizuru. We're all laughing." In reality, everyone but her was laughing, as Kuwabara's sister started in on the obi, smirking.

---------------------------------------

Meanwhile, outside, three young men stood waiting, two of them very impatient.

"Where are they?"

"Yeah. How long can it take to put on a couple of dresses? It's like three o'clock!" (A/N: note that it's winter and the sun will set earlier, around 4:30pm)

"Yusuke, Kuwabara, the kimono is a very complex thing. Even the most skilled woman needs assistance putting it on. And there are five of them."

"You forgot the most important thing, Kurama!" called a cheery voice from the open doors of the dojo. "Make-up!"

The three boys heard a very 'un-ladylike' snort.

Kurama smiled. "All five of you look slendid. Well, all four of you that I can see."

"And no more of me shall you see, red-head. I absolutely refuse to be gazed at with silly looks."

It was obvious she spoke about Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were staring at Keiko and Yukina, respectively. And truly they were a sight to see. Keiko was in an amber gold kimono, a phoenix rising in red stitching from the hem of the outer robe. Her obi was a simple maroon. Yukina, in contrast, wore a pretty silver obi, a traditional Japanese winter scene detailed on her skirt; her obi was tied in a difficult butterfly knot, in a teal to match her hair.

Keiko and Yukina were looking back at their young men—Yukina glancing only for moments at Kuwabara, then looking away as she blushed—who had both cleaned up very well. Yusuke was in a golden-rod colored haori, with a simple white hakama. He also opted to leave his hair free of gel. Kuwabara wore a red haori, wearing black for his hakama. They had indeed cleaned up very well.

Kurama, unlike his two friends, did not have a girlfriend among their small group. He saw both Keiko and Yukina, and thought them beautiful, but not his. He saw Shizuru, who was wearing a deep blue kimono, with a winter countryside scene, and a plain white obi. Botan was wearing pale yellow, with a vision of a river stitched in blue. Kurama could not help but think how appropriate that was for the Guide of the River Styx. She wore a more decorative obi, a shade of light blue with a band of the same pale yellow as her kimono running through her obi's center. They were indeed very pretty. But he waited for a glimpse of the shinobi. She seemed very obstinate to stay out of sight.

That plan quickly evaporated when the ferry girl took to her oar and Shizuru pushed Asha out from the shadows.

She swore, nearly tripping over her zouri (A/N: sandals).

The assassin stood awkwardly, fidgeting with her hands, as she had clearly become the center of attention. Kurama scrutinized her, as he assumed his friends were. The kitsune nearly had his breath taken away, Asha was so beautiful. He hadn't noticed before. He had been distracted by her flashy words, and a thin scar that ran from her left eyebrow, disappearing into her shirt. She was always so sure of herself, radiating confidence so powerful it seemed to eat away at the people around her. He had seen small wrinkles at the corner of, and under her eyes; at the edge of her mouth, also, tell-tale signs of the hard life she made herself live. Kurama had never had time to notice her beauty before.

Now, the scar and wrinkles were covered with powder. Her hair was piled elegantly at the back of her head, though wisps of hair escaped to frame her face. The paleness of her eyes was contrasted by the deep green of her kimono—it even matched his haori, he thought, as he raised an eyebrow at Botan, and saw her blush. Kurama saw the dragonfly, the falcon, and the swan on her kimono, and remembered Genkai looking at Asha's discarded duvet that morning at breakfast. The same color, and it had a swan. Asha's obi was silver, like her eyes, black thread creating a weaving of what seemed to be plant life. Again, Kurama looked at Botan. Matchmaking? 'Definitely Botan's game,' he thought, 'but not one I'll succumb to.'

Asha coughed uncomfortably as she descended into the yard below.

"Where's Hiei?" Yukina asked.

"He'll most likely be at the festival, just watching," Kurama replied kindly.

"Where's Genkai?" Asha wanted to know.

"Oh, the old hag doesn't like social events. She'll stay at the dojo."

"Whoa no! If Genkai's staying, I'm staying too!"

Asha lunged for the steps, but Yusuke deftly caught her.

"No fair! Foul!" she cried. "You get to wear a hakama!"

Yusuke held her tightly by her upper arms trying not to mussy the kimono, not letting her go as he, Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, and Kuwabara laughed wildly. Kurama let out a grin. Yukina, also highly amused, was just a little too polite to show it.

"Fiends!" Asha yelled. But she as well was coming under the influence of mirth.

Finally able to bring her breathing under control, she stood without Yusuke's help. She straightened her robes slightly, then said to Kurama, "Well, Wizard. Lead us to Oz."

All she received were confused looks.

"Must be an American thing," she muttered, setting their congregation into fits of laughter once again.

-----------------------------------

Tokyo

When they reached the city, Asha's eyes widened in surprise. The blast of colors, smells, sounds—the effervescent energy emitted by the people was something the shinobi had never felt before.

"Man, I've been in Boston and Washington D.C., Paris, Madrid, London, Beijing even, but none of them are like this." She waved a silk gloved hand at the surroundings.

"You'd think that as a shinobi you'd be just a little more subtle in your facial expressions."

"Yusuke, I'm not on the job right now. Think of this as a little vacation."

Kurama frowned. Asha had just hinted at two things: she was a good actress, and she intended to finish her job. Very useful, but he couldn't help but wonder, was she purposefully dropping hints?

"Oh! Look!" Keiko cried. "Dengaku! Let's go watch."

Yusuke got dragged along by Keiko, Yukina by Kuwabara, and Botan followed. Asha hang back by Kurama and Shizuru.

"Dengaku?" she said slowly.

"It's a version of Noh." Shizuru said as she walked away, looking over another festive booth.

Kurama took one look at Asha's blank look, and tried to explain. "Noh is a traditional form of acting in Japan. Essentially, it was the equivalent to Hollywood in the days before the Tokugawa Shogunate."

"Bet you it didn't have all the scandals Hollywood has."

Kurama chuckled. "Come, let's go watch the story."

Asha spent her day looking at all the vendors, listening with one ear to the Noh actors, the other to the translation Kurama was giving her.

After one such act, Asha asked a question that had been lingering on her mind. "All of you know English, I presume?"

"Yes. Botan knows it because she is a Reikai ferry girl, Yukina because demons and apparitions speak many tongues. The others all know the language because we learned it in school."

"Even Yusuke?"

"Yes. Though he skips many of his classes, Keiko always made sure he learned his English lessons. Her reasonings were, if I remember correctly what Yusuke told me, 'You'll learn English if it kills you! You never know if you're going to need it to talk with in business.'"

"Yusuke, in business? What a riot!"

"It was decidedly better than facing Keiko's wrath."

"The more I hear about that girl, the more I like her."

Hours later, after having seen dengaku, watching saiko-- "The traditional purifying of rice seeds, for a good harvest."--and wandering the streets looking at vendors, listening to conversations in Japanese, seeing the colors and feeling the energy, Asha noticed it had gotten dark.

"Wow. Time flies when you learn new things, eh?"

"Indeed," Kurama murmured. Though, for him, he had not learned many things new about the slippery assassin. Except for the two things she had either let slip or dropped intentionally when they arrived in the city, he knew nothing more about Asha. This was beginning to annoy him. He paused. He was actually becoming rather uncharacteristically annoyed with her. She was a mystery. She was humorous but cold, beautiful but had scars; dangerous, if she was a shinobi, but she didn't seem dangerous. He knew practically nothing about her! Okay, maybe he was a little more frustrated then annoyed, but it made little difference.

"Kurama...hey, fox-boy!" Asha snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Hm?"

"How long does the festival go on? I'm getting cold and this kimono is getting uncomfortable. More so than it already was, that is."

"Oh! The festival goes far into the night, Asha-chan!" said Botan, sneaking in on their conversation.

"I do happen to know what that lovely suffix means, Botan. I hardly appreciate being called 'darling Asha' you know."

"Um, well...if you want we can go back to the dojo."

"I don't want to ruin their fun," said the assassin, pointing at Keiko, Yukina, Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Don't worry, they can stay here while we take you back."

"I'm afraid you'll have to take her Botan. I promised Shiori I would be back before midnight."

Asha was sure she saw the ferry girl's smile falter a fraction.

"Oh, alright Kurama. Say good bye to the girl's for me."

"Of course."

"Come on, Asha. We have to get out of sight for me to use my oar to transport you."

They moved into an alleyway (A/N: cities in Japan are pretty safe places to be at night.) where Botan materialized her oar. The two women got on, and Botan zoomed over the rooftops back to Genkai's dojo.

-----------------------

"Did you learn anything, Kurama?"

"No, Hiei. Absolutely nothing, unless you count two things I think she wanted me to know."

"It's a start," and he disappeared.

"Asha," Kurama muttered, "What secrets are you hiding from us?"

-----------------------

"Never again," Asha exclaimed as she stumbled off of Botan's oar. "Don't you ever ask me to go with you on that bloody piece of wood again."

"Straighten up. It wasn't that bad."

"Ferry-girl, I've been on better roller coasters than that. You're a mad-woman on that oar."

Asha began to walk away.

"Two things," she said as she turned back. "One: stop trying to play matchmaker between Kurama and me. I'm an assassin. I don't love, I don't have ties. While I'm here I am your prisoner. Kurama didn't ask me to that festival because he's developed feelings for me. He is irritated by my presence. You seem to be the only one who enjoys being around me. Know this, Reaper. I don't give a damn about you or Koenma, or the Reikai Tantei and their girlfriends. If it comes down to them or me, I will choose me. That's all I look out for. The name I use, Asha, is a joke. The persona I put on, is a ruse. That isn't me. Far from, in fact. So stop playing around. I'm going to get out of here, and I'm going to finish my job, whether your boss likes it or not."

Asha's gaze was steely as she locked eyes with Botan. She knew that the assassin meant every word.

"You said there were two things?" she fought to control a squeak.

Asha laughed. "Can you help me get this blasted kimono off?"

Botan didn't know what scared her more. Asha's promise, or the way her moods changed. Only then did she realize that the Tantei were treading dangerous grounds.

----------------------

A/N

Well, Asha certainly had a mood swing there. This one was a bugger to write. Classes start next week on the 9th, so I'll try to write as much as I can by then. When school begins I'll be hard pressed for time, if it's going to be anything like last year. But I promise I won't let the story die. It may take time to update though. Just wanted to give everyone fair warning. So, how'd you like it?