"Wow, you suck cous."

"I passed, didn't I?" I blushed, taking off the glove and ducking my head. He laughed, moving to take the glove from me.

"Let me show you how it's done."

"You had your turn playing these games." Genkai glared his way. Kazuma immediately dropped the glove, stepping away and laughing nervously. I had to learn how she did that; unnerving someone at a glance was impressive. "You'll play this one next."

Jenken. Kazuma was an expert at this game, never lost. It was like witchcraft or magic. I, on the other hand, lost almost every game I had ever played. I really didn't understand what any of this was about, but I sucked it up and stuck a quarter in the game, biting my lip as the lights began to flash, warning me that it was about to start. I was relieved when the lights started off slowly, moving my hand quickly to become accustomed to the movement. Scissors, rock, scissors, paper, paper, rock scissors paper...

I shook my hand off when the game dinged, flashing a score of 176 across the screen. Yes! I whipped around to grin at Kazuma, only to see he was across the room talking to Genkai. I didn't have long to debate going over to them, as she pointed at the microphone sitting next to a small television.

Karaoke.

Fuck.

I glanced to it, then to her, but she was focused on my cousin and I really didn't want to make her irritated or challenge her again. Something told me that she wouldn't tolerate two outbursts in one day, and honestly I needed to make up for my childish behavior. Again, I sucked it up and walked over to my nemesis, eyeing the small song book in front of me. "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics caught my eye, followed by confusion why she would have an American song on her karaoke machine.

'I won't question a lucky break when I get it.' I sighed, pushing in my quarter and taking the mic in my hand. The music started after only a few seconds and I swallowed hard. I hated karaoke.

I started the song with my nerves wound tight, trying not to sing through gritted teeth or too far from the mic. Why would she put anyone through this kind of torture? Was she secretly a sadist that Kazuma brought me to to punish me for giving him all of those hugs?

The music was soothing, despite my awful rendition, which was a relief. I'd sing a slower song before a fast paced poppy song any day. At least a slower song was understandable and I could take my time getting my nerves worked out instead of butchering it quickly with no chance.

The song couldn't end quickly enough. Actually, I sped off the small stage when the last lyric was sung and the music was going out, needing to get out of the imaginary spotlight that was burning me up. Dancing in front of thousands of people? No problem. Singing? Good joke.

Kazuma turned to look at me, glancing at my score and dropping his jaw. I rolled my eyes, then noticed Genkai's eyebrows raise at my score. I glanced back to see a solid 197 on the screen, feeling my cheeks flush. The machine must have been broken; I can't hold a tune to save my life.

"Even Urameshi didn't get that high of a score!" Kazuma gaped, looking from the machine to me and back. I blushed, playing with my bracelet for what must have been the thousandth time since I'd come back home. Why did he have to make such a big deal out of this?

Genkai folded her arms behind her back, looking up at me with that stern look I was growing more and more accustomed to. "I'll tell you what girl; I'll give you the answers you are looking for, I'll help you understand this power you have inside of you, but first you'll undergo my training. I want to know what you're capable of."

This day was not going like I expected.

"I thought you said that you wouldn't train anyone." I crossed my arms in return, needing to do anything but stand still. Kazuma nudged me, and the force of it sent me sideways a little. I glared at him, looking to Genkai again. "I don't mean that to sound rude, I'm just-"

"I would be more surprised if you weren't confused. I don't usually do this, so take a moment to consider. This is a one time offer, kiddo."

"I'll do it." I didn't skip a beat, surprising myself with the confidence and finality that my voice held despite my nerves and my confusion. She didn't look surprised at all, offering a smirk that made me leery.

"Go home and grab something more appropriate for training here, get a good night's sleep, and come immediately after you are finished with school. You'll need to get your affairs in order before you commit to this."

"Wait, I'm going to be living here?" I glanced to Kazuma and back to her. "I'm not sure if I can do that. I have other commitments that I need to hold up, obligations I can't just turn away from... I want to train, but I can't just give up the life I'm making to do so."

"I'm sorry kiddo, but that's the deal. Take it or leave it."

I stared at her back as she wandered out into another room connected to the game room, closing the door behind her. I took it as our cue to leave, but I still had so many questions.

"You're lucky, Ella. Master Genkai doesn't train just anyone, you know." Kazuma grinned at me, obviously excited. I wished I could match his enthusiasm, but stress was starting to kick in.

"Kazuma, I have no idea how I'm going to get out of school. Or dance rehearsals. Mrs. Tanaka is going to kill me, and my principal is never going to agree to let me just start missing out when I've only been here a little over a month." I ran my fingers over my shoulders, squeezing them to try and relieve some tension. "And I can't imagine Shizuru is going to take this well either."

"Shizuru will be fine. Just tell her when we get home, and don't worry about the rest until tomorrow. You're a good student; you'll be fine."

'Somehow I doubt that.' I thought, picking up my backpack and following him to the door. I pulled my shoes on and hopped after him, staring down the stairs. Comfortability or practicality... the choice was always a hard one.

"You really think I could do this?" I wondered, having decided on practicality and tripping most of the way down the long steps to the compound. Walking forward was really hard.

"Sure. If Master Genkai wants to train you, I think you could even be better than Urameshi! She hasn't offered to train me, or anyone for that matter, really. She only trained Urameshi because he won her tournament a couple months back, and that was because she wanted to pass on her abilities." He nodded. I nodded in return, slipping again and sucking up my pride, grabbing his sleeve to keep myself upright. Practicality wasn't turning out to be so practical after all.

"What is it that she can do, anyway? You said she was a psychic, but what is it she's known for?"

"Honestly I don't really know. She's not afraid of demons or anything, and she can use her spiritual power for healing and throwing people across rooms and sensing other things. She's really private, and Urameshi said her training is really intense."

"Demons? You've gotta be kidding." I lifted my eyebrow, trying not to laugh. "You succeeded in making me smile, Kazuma. Thanks, I needed that."

"I'm not kidding."

I glanced up at him, and stopped. He was staring down at me and stopped with me, turning to face me. It wasn't often I saw him looking so serious, and it was a tossup if he was going to say something ridiculously stupid or unusually insightful.

"Demons are real? You're telling me that creatures with horns and tails are walking amongst us unseen and causing mischief and mayhem?" I crossed my arms.

"Of course not, that's silly." He scoffed and rolled his eyes, resting his hands on his hips. "Demons can look like humans too, and they have their own world they live in. They just cross over sometimes, though they're usually pretty weak. The teachers that attacked you guys a week ago were under control of a demon in demon world that Urameshi and I helped defeat. Well I mean, I did most of the work, but Urameshi helped I guess."

"You helped defeat a demon?" I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, trying to wrap my head around this. "Are you going to tell me next that Yusuke is a demon too? That would be fitting."

"Nah, you don't gotta worry about him." He offered his arm before walking down again, me in tow.

"So you don't actually KNOW any demons, you just help humanity fight them." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, the sass to a minimum. It was ridiculous; spirit awareness I knew, things from beyond I could accept, but DEMONS? That was pushing the bounds of my open mindedness.

"I happen to know TWO demons, thank you. You know one too, you know, so stop making it seem like it's not true." He was getting defensive, which made the child in me want to bait him. I resisted, which made me more irritated, but it was better than starting a fight on a staircase in the middle of nowhere.

"And this demon is?"

"Kurama."

I stared at him. Kurama... Kurama... I'd heard that name...

"Shuichi?"

"Who?"

"The redhead who was checking in on you and Yusuke? The one walking me home from dance practice? Tall, slender, wicked smart with a calm demeanor? You're saying he's a demon?"

"Didn't know his name was 'Shuichi', we just call him 'Kurama'. Yeah, he can control plants and stuff. Pretty neat to watch him fight." He tugged a bit on my arm to make me speed up a bit. I obliged, but my mind was moving far too fast for my feet to keep up.

"Why are you telling me this?" I decided on ,my safest question, the one that would make the most sense to me right now. Everything that was going on was just not going in the direction I expected today. I'm getting trained by an old woman up in the mountains, virtually dropping out of school to do so, and the boy that had simultaneously excited and frightened me at the same time turned out to be a demon? I felt like I was going to wake up any minute and get called downstairs because I overslept and have to leave with Kazuma to school.

"Because if you're going to train your spirit energy to be strong and aware, you need to know as much as possible before you go up to Master Genkai's unprepared like I did. It was really intense to learn about it like that, and I want you to be at least a little prepared for whatever she's going to teach you."

I bumped his shoulder, smiling a little, but was lost in thought. My cousin could be thoughtful when he wanted to be, but I really was concerned about the situation I was putting myself into. How was I going to get away with skipping school and dance to train up in the mountains? And Shuichi was Kurama, who was also a demon, but he didn't want me to know for obvious reasons. How was I going to act when I saw him at school? Was that why it felt cold to touch him? I might just have to take a nap today.

I might just have to take a nap today. Every bone in my body was starting to hurt, which made my head throb.

Just a reminder: Karoake detects energy's ability to adapt and grow stronger, the punching game detects the spirit's strength, and Jenken detects spirit awareness.