Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or the characters
The boys followed Tsukiko and Eiko up the stairs to her apartment. It was no surprise that the girl was okay with Genkai's stairs. She lived pretty high up, though not as high as Genkai's temple was from the bottom of the mountain. Still, it was clear that she really wouldn't be deterred by stairs, demons, or late hours. Just what was this human?
"So, this is it," Tsukiko said as she opened up her apartment. She motioned to the room with one arm, the other carrying the stuff she threw out the window. The guys took the opportunity to look around.
The place was slightly messy, but it wasn't too bad. The kitchen area was a bit small, but that was expected for studio apartments. There were a few stairs that led up into a medium sized bedroom. It was obvious this girl lived alone, so they were surprised by the fact that another girl was there.
"Okay, now that you've all seen the place," Eiko stated with her arms crossed, "what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"Hn," Hiei scoffed. "We could as you the same thing. This one needs to get used to our hours."
"It's fine," Tsukiko chimed, ignoring her friend's skepticism. "Oh, by the way, this is my friend, Eiko. Eiko, in order those guys are-"
"Stalkers." Tsukiko looked to her friend and glared slightly.
"Ha…ha…very funny," Tsukiko murmured. "And no, that's Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and the last guy is Shuichi, the one who found me."
"Right," Eiko muttered. "Nice to meet you all, I guess…"
Yusuke looked over at the television and realized the horror movie was still playing. "Look, I know we came to talk business, but can we watch this. It looks like it's getting good."
Eiko's eye twitched considering what happened moments ago, but to save face she returned to her seat and wrapped her arms around her bowl of popcorn. "Oh, I love this movie!" Kuwabara exclaimed as he took a seat besides Eiko and reached to take a handful of popcorn.
"Uh, Kuwabara," Tsukiko tried to say, reaching out her arm to stop the human. "I wouldn't-"
"Huh?" the redhead replied before he felt someone smack his hand away pretty hard. He glared over to Eiko. "What was that for?" he demanded.
"I don't share my popcorn with stalkers," Eiko stated, her eyes shining with determined fire.
"You called me a stalker," Kuwabara replied in shock. "And it's just popcorn." To prove his point, he got his hand around hers and stole some of the pieces. He regretted it seconds later when Eiko jumped to attack him, knocking him off the couch.
Tsukiko sweat-dropped as her friend apprehended the human for stealing her precious popcorn. "I tried to warn him."
Yusuke was too busy laughing at the scene, but Kurama was the one who made a suggestion. "Shouldn't we try to stop this?"
"I did try to stop this…" Tsukiko pointed out. "It's too late, now."
"Hn, ningens," Hiei grumbled. "Such bizarre creatures."
Tsukiko flashed the fire demon a glare. "Hey, I don't know what that word means, but by your tone, it sounds like an insult."
"It's the demon word for humans," Kurama informed her. "Nothing to be insulted by."
His attitude seemed to be a lot better from that last time she had seen him. She wondered if it had anything to do with why they were there. It seemed like she would be receiving good news that night…once her friend was done exacting her revenge.
Of course, her friend hadn't known what she was getting into. Though the scene had been amusing for both the former detective and the fire demon, it ended when Kuwabara got his bearings and wrapped his arms around the girl, preventing her from hitting him more. He stood up and lifted the struggling girl from the floor. "Let me go!" Eiko snapped. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"
"I'll let you go," Kuwabara told her, "once you're done throwing your tantrum."
Eiko didn't like being manhandled, so her response was to elbow him right in the solar plexus, causing him to release her. She got out of his grip before he grabbed his stomach and smirked. "Sometimes it pays to be pre-med," Eiko stated as she arrogantly walked past her victim.
Beside himself, Hiei smirked and snorted a laugh, "Interesting ningen, but this is getting pointless. There is a reason why we're here, and I would prefer not to waste more time here than necessary."
"Okay," Tsukiko responded happily. "We can go to my room."
In Tsukiko's room, Eiko took a seat at her computer and started working on some of her paper while also taking down some notes as to what was being discussed.
"So, this Koenma person said I can help?" Tsukiko asked in attempts to clarify what she was being told. "That's great! When do we start?"
The former spirit detectives looked over to Eiko warily. As if feeling their eyes, Eiko sighed and shook her head. "I'm not leaving."
"You don't have a choice in the matter, I'm afraid," Kurama replied.
Eiko instantly looked at him. "And I'm afraid that I don't trust you people with my friend's life. I'm staying. I already know everything going on, so I'm not just going to sit idly by and let you freaks hurt my friend."
"Now, Eiko," Tsukiko chided. "Why are you resorting to name calling? You can get your point across better if you don't insult them."
Eiko frowned at her friend. "Look," she continued, "what I'm trying to say is that I don't know you all, and the fact that demons have been after my friend doesn't make me feel any better. Besides, you guys don't know how to handle her episodes. I do. I'm staying."
"Episodes?" all four boys asked in different ways.
"Oh dang it," Eiko muttered before Tsukiko started analyzing.
"That's so cool!" Tsukiko exclaimed while running over to Eiko. "Did you hear that, Eiko? They all asked in a different tone. Kuwabara seems genuinely curious as to what you mean, but at the same time Yusuke, whose tone is only slightly different, is treating it like a joke. And Hiei scoffed at the idea, sounding completely uninterested, but with enough of a bite to sound like he actually believes there's a problem to watch out for, and Kurama just wants to know what episodes so he can figure out how to deal with it."
Tsukiko then breathed heavily after she hurriedly dissected everyone's mental intentions…very well, Kurama would add. His mouth dropped open and he looked to Eiko. The human only sighed. "Where's the chocolate when you need it?"
"I'm sorry?" Kurama questioned.
"Nothing," Eiko replied. "But yeah, there was one of her episodes. It's hard for her not to analyze people speaking. It just comes natural to her. She can tell tone and recite just exactly how the wording comes off. It's only part of her power, and there's very few things you can do to snap her out of it."
"What does she do about crowds?" Kuwabara asked. "Having a power like that would make me dizzy."
"That's what the IPod is for!" Tsukiko informed him. "If it's crowded, I have my music to focus on instead. Either that or food."
"So, being distracted is normal for you," Kurama settled. Now, her episodes at the restaurant made sense to him. "Well, regardless, you're a human and have no spiritual awareness. We can't include you in this."
"I'm just going to tell her later, anyway," Tsukiko. "She already knows I've been helping you guys."
"Stalking," Eiko replied in a sing-song voice.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Kuwabara snapped. "You called us stalkers earlier when we got here and when I took the popcorn. Why does she get special treatment?"
Eiko looked to Kuwabara and monotonously said, "Because she's my friend."
"Haha, I'm special," Tsukiko beamed happily. "Anyway, you might as well just tell me, now, what's going on. Eiko will just be my soundboard later." Kurama and Hiei exchanged irritated glances. "You know, it's better that I tell her instead of some unsuspecting random human that doesn't know anything about Spirit World affairs."
"She has a point," Yusuke reluctantly admitted. "Okay, fine then. Sit down, girls. We've got a lot to talk about, starting with what the heck happened at Genkai's forest."
A few hours later, everything had been explained to Tsukiko and Eiko, as far as the spirit detectives have known. "So," Tsukiko pondered, "this Koenma guy said one of the demons I apprehended said they were working for someone else."
"Yes," Kurama replied. "It was that one that just showed up and attacked you. The one you had tied to the tree." Eiko looked to Tsukiko and just shrugged it off. It surprised Kurama that her human friend wasn't more surprised of her abilities. How much did this girl know? This was starting to become problematic. "Koenma informed us that, where the demon refused to expose the one who hired him, the boss in question is a powerful demon that specifically wants you. Care to enlighten us on why that might be?"
"Do I care to enlighten you?" Tsukiko retorted with a laughed. "Um, maybe. I know we're all on the same side now, but I still don't know what you'd do with the knowledge of the full extent of my powers. I don't mind training with you guys or anything, but I can't expose my power until the right moment. Don't worry…we'll get there."
That wasn't the answer that any of the spirit detectives wanted to hear, but not much could be done. They couldn't force the girl to reveal her secret. Maybe is wasn't so bad that they didn't know what her power entailed. According to the apprehended demon, his boss did not pay him enough to deal with this woman. Clearly, her power had rattled him. As long as she was on their side and not on the opposing side, they didn't need to worry.
Koenma had agreed for them to include her. She was clearly confident in her abilities regardless of the fact that she didn't appear to be a fighter. Clearly, she could handle herself against strong demons. They figured they needed to trust her to expose herself when she was ready. With this other human, Eiko, clearly with no spiritual awareness except for maybe the tiniest twinge from being around her friend, Tsukiko wouldn't turn on them. She probably wouldn't want to put her friend's in harm's way, either. Besides, Tsukiko continued to say she was helping them while Eiko constantly revealed her distaste. No, these humans wouldn't turn on them. "We'll respect your wishes, for now," Kurama told her. He then looked over to Eiko. "We still aren't thrilled about you involving youself."
"Feeling is very mutual," Eiko emphasized. "Don't worry. I don't plan on running to the papers about anything. Who would believe me? Besides, I'm not putting Tsukiko in the limelight. Do you know what that would do?"
"Well, now that business is out of the way," Yusuke interjected, "last one down to the TV is a rotten egg."
Yusuke and Kuwabara both took off for the living room, leaving the other four to sweat-drop. "Are they always like this?" Tsukiko asked.
"Yes."
"Unfortunately."
"Oh no," Eiko muttered as Kurama and Hiei said something both at the same time. "Come on, Tsuki. Let's get you downstairs. Maybe you still have some chocolate."
Before Tsukiko could go off in a rant, her eyes lit up. "I love chocolate!"
"This ningen is odd," Hiei stated, watching the two women strangely as they descended the few stairs.
"Indeed."
Later, everyone had fallen asleep to the scary movie except for Tsukiko. It was late and the apartment was quiet. She didn't necessarily want to wake everyone up. Kurama had left earlier to return home, and Tsukiko didn't even want to guess where Hiei was. She unfortunately got her answer when she found Hiei in her room with the last, final, chocolate-covered strawberry that she apparently missed. She watched in horror as the demon ate the magical morsel and her face fell. Hiei looked over to her and smirked. "You…you ate it?"
The demon scoffed. "I did."
"NOOOOOO! You ate it? W-Why would you do that?"
"Hn, consider it repayment for knocking me out the window. I could have beheaded you instead. Feel grateful I decided on this."
And with that, he disappeared out her open bedroom window.
Tsukiko looked outside of it and then mentally asked herself when she even unlocked the window while closing it and securing the lock. Now that she knew someone was after her, she needed to be a bit more cautious. But, with her power, it wasn't like anything bad would happen, right?