DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the original Yu Yu Hakusho characters, or Evelyn Hunter. The latter is the sole property of Gina Leone, and the former belonging to Yoshihiro Togashi. Also, Kumiko Yenma belongs to Nicole Summers Thanks for reading!

Chapter Seven:

"Right before your eyes, I am changing…Changing"

After Team Urameshi had their breakfast, and Fuko had her tea (much to the team's bewilderment, they discovered that Fuko didn't eat breakfast), they all headed back to Koenma's office. Well, once they had changed out of their nightclothes. Fuko was quite disturbed that she now knew that everyone on the team wore boxers. Yeah, she'd have to instate a pants-at-all-times rule VERY soon. Like, before she pulled an Oedipus and gouged her eyes out. She snickered, pulling black tank top on over her head, thinking of the girls at the Academy who would have killed to be in her current situation. She put on a drawn on, very abused pair of jeans. After she nearly killed herself by getting her foot caught in one of the many holes, she got them successfully on and put on her silver pendant under her shirt, and then a silver pendant over it. The pendant Eve had given her; with a black heart and a white one. She slipped rose studs into her ears, and swept her hair up into a bun, tying it tightly with a red scrunchie. Then, she used some Morbid Makeup red eye smudge on her eyes, giving her slate eyes almost a green tinge. She slipped her six rings onto her fingers, and put on silver bracelets that chimed musically when she moved her wrist. She threw on a pair of abused pink sandals with chibi rabbit heads on them and stood in front of the mirror.

"Horrible as usual." She said with a sigh, surveying herself. She trudged out of the room and went to meet the others.

†◊†

The team stood around the office, while Fuko decided to sink into one of the plush chairs that stood in front of Koenma's desk.

"You guys really ought to try one of these chairs." Fuko sank back with a sigh of contentment.

"You are an easily pleased being." Hiei stated.

"Ooh, I got a sentence out of Hiei. I feel all special." Fuko retorted, flashing a grin. He scowled and rolled his ruby eyes. Koenma entered and hopped up into his own large chair. He turned to the team and folded his hands.

"Today is the day that we start Fuko's training. I've assigned each of you certain skills you are to teach her. I've contacted others too, to come teach her, but it'll be a while before they arrive." Koenma debriefed them and they all paid the utmost attention quietly. Fuko blinked. Jeeze, they were so serious….!
"So baby-cakes, what's my schedule?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood. She heard the telltale giggle from Kumi in the corner. Fuko flashed another grin in her direction. Koenma, who turned red from the "baby-cakes" comment scowled.

"One, don't call me baby-cakes. Two, I was just getting to that." He cleared his throat.

"This is the schedule for your training." A strange expression flickered across Fuko's face as he mentioned 'training'…a memory came to mind…

†

The rain pelted the windowpane of Fuko's room at The Academy. It was a week since she had arrived there…a week since she was abandoned by her family. She sat close to the window, hugging her knees. Lightening lit up the otherwise pitch-black landscape outside in loud bursts of white. She continued to gaze outside. Only this time, when the lightening illuminated the scenery, she could spot a figure in a tree, making its way closer and closer to her window. Fuko held in a gasp. She closed her eyes, calmed herself down, and then surveyed her room for anything that could be used as a weapon. A mirror could supply broken glass…a lamp could be used as a club….anything can be a suitable weapon if a situation calls for it. The lightening flashed again, and the figure was closer. Fuko bit her lip and cast a glance at her roommate Eve, and thought about whether or not to wake her up. After all, she could just be hallucinating. Though if it was a hallucination when the windows flew open and the man who had framed her stood there, it was a damn good one. Fuko staggered back, groping for anything as a weapon. Her hand found a bottle.

"Get back I have…" She brought the bottle forward in front of her, "…A plastic bottle of passion-fruit body spray." She twitched. Okay, not the best weapon, but if he got close enough it could double as mace.

"I am not here to harm you." The man said calmly.

"Bullshit." Fuko said, still wielding the bottle of body spray.
"I promise. I simply wish to tell you why I did what I did." He took a step forward. Fuko squeezed the top of the bottle, but the mist fell quite short of his eyes and the scent of passion fruit lingered in the air.

"…Alright. You can talk. But stay there." Fuko said, sounding as threatening as one brandishing a bottle of body-spray can possibly sound.

"My name is Karasu. I did what I did to rescue you." The man, Karasu, said.

"Tch. Care explaining that one buddy?" Fuko spat, finger still on the plastic pink trigger.

"I was rescuing you from a monotonous life of boredom and tedium. You, my dear, are special." He told her.

"Special? Like, don't eat the paste special?" She retorted.

"Ha ha. You have powers. Powers like you can only dream of… I can train you…You could be one of the strongest…and I can help it happen."

†

Yusuke snapped his fingers in front of his sister's face.

"Yo, Fuko, wake up…." He said. Fuko shook her head wildly to clear the cobwebs of the bad memory that still lingered.

"Er...sorry. I guess I just spaced out now, eh? She laughed.

"Air-head." Hiei muttered. Fuko shot him a glare.

"Feh. Anyway, what were my 'classes' again?" She asked Koenma, who sighed irritably.

"You're schedule, as I said, is as follows. First, you are woken up at 6…" Fuko cut him off, jumping to her feet.

"Six…AM?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Like…the one in the morning?"

"That's typically what 'AM' means."
"Um…this isn't gonna' work for me."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're expecting me to wake up BEFORE NOON!?!"

"I'm sorry Fuko, but you'll have to deal with it. That's when the others get up." Fuko, now looking at them all as if they were mad, surveyed the room.

"Are you all psychotic!??!" She exclaimed.

"Let Koenma finish so we can get on with our lives." Hiei sighed crossly. Fuko sunk back into the plush chair, still screaming and ranting on the inside.

"As I was saying, you wake up at six for training with Kurama until ten. Then, from ten to twelve you're with Kuwabara. Then a lunch break, followed by lessons with Yusuke from one to three, and then you wind up with Hiei from four to five." Koenma finished. Fuko groaned.

"Great, not only do I have to be up at six, I have to spend four hours with my current arch-foe."
"Why, exactly, do I have to spend so much time with Kurama?" She inquired.

"Because seeing as you're part fox, he has more to teach you than usual…but Fuko, there is one more thing." Koenma told her, a serious tone to his immature voice.

"And that would be?"

"We need to know that we can trust you." The room grew quiet as all eyes were on Fuko.

"…" She was silent, and then she sighed. Another song was stuck in her head. The verse echoed around her head;

"When the door shuts,
Don't worry about me.
It's not attention that I want from you.
I need you to trust who I'm gonna be
And in everything I'm going to do…"

After a moment of silence, she looked up.

"You can trust me." And for once her heart felt as though it had cracked, wishing that she actually meant it.

◊†◊

It was decided that since it was nine, Fuko would be training with Kurama for an hour. She grumbled, as she went deep into the forest, where he said he'd meet her. Sure enough, he stood there, dressed in Chinese garb.

"Alright. You have fox blood in you, so there must be physical characteristics that you haven't discovered yet." Fuko shrugged.

"Well let's find out then." Kurama walked over to her, and put his hands on her face. Fuko blushed and twitched.

"What are you doing??" She demanded.

"Be quiet, I'm trying to focus." Was his reply. He closed his eyes.

◊

A fox demon with topaz-gold eyes clothed in white walked through a meadow in Fuko's mind. His task was to find the manifestation of her fox demon blood, and bring it out. He sighed and ran a clawed hand through his long silver hair. He surveyed the meadow, a soft green bejeweled here and there with splashes of color in the forms of fragile fragrant flowers.

"Odd," He thought, "This place seems very familiar…" He continued to walk, the plush grass making soft swishing sounds as he moved through it. A willow tree stood before him, and under it, a figure. He approached it to get a better look.

◊

Fuko scowled, but closed her eyes too, figuring it may help. Behind her eyes though, lingered the continuation of her earlier memory with Karasu…

†

"Ha ha. You have powers. Powers like you can only dream of… I can train you…You could be one of the strongest…and I can help it happen." Karasu said, putting his hand out.

"Do tell…Karasu…was it? Why in the seven hells should I trust you." Fuko asked, eyes full of distrust.

"I did not have you put here my dearest Fuko." Fuko opened her mouth to tell him to never call her "his dearest" when she stopped.

"How the hell do you know my name?!" She demanded.

†

◊

The fox demon approached the figure under the willow tree. He reached out a lean muscular arm and pushed the reeds out of his way to see the phantom person better. He blinked as the figure looked right at him with gold eyes that sparkled with mischief. It was a fox half-demon girl. She wore a white kimono with a red sash. She looked at him and smiled, smoothing the dark brown hair that lay in waves over her shoulders and chest. The fox demon watched her in awe…he knew her. She chuckled to herself as her pale yellow tail flicked in boredom.

"Hello Yoko."

◊

†

"How did I know all those things I knew about you? I will reveal all of that to you…but only if you come with me." Fuko scowled at him, knowing not to trust him.

"…I'll tell you how I knew about your lighter, your name, the dead-beat mother you never saw appear in court….and the brother that abandoned you in your time of need." Fuko flinched.

"He did Fuko. He abandoned you. But myself? I would never abandon you…." He reached out and stroked her cheek with a ghostly white hand before running it through her hair.

"You could be something amazing…and I can help, if you'll let me." He put his hand out. Fuko looked at his hand, reached forward, and—

†

There was a sharp pain in Fuko's head as well as a dull ache all over her body.

"Uggh…what the hell are you doing to me?!" She shouted at Kurama.

"You'll see soon enough." He replied calmly, hands still on her face. The pain was unbearable. Fuko could feel her ears moving up her head, settling at the top and folding, bending, twisting, the strange sensation of something sprouting from them. Her fingertips stung. She glanced down at them to see that her nails were becoming pointed and slightly longer, She gave a gasp; not a wise idea due to a pain now in her gums. She could feel her canine incisors growing, also becoming much sharper. Finally, the coup de grace; a thudding ache in her lower back. She reached her now clawed hands behind her back to touch the sore spot, only to feel…fur! Her eyes shot wide open. She had a tail! A big bushy tail!! Her senses had gotten noticeably sharper…well, except for her eyesight, which still sucked.

"Mirror!! I need a mirror dammit!!!" She exclaimed. Almost as though he assumed that she'd need one, Kurama took a small round one out from his pocket and held it up. Fuko looked into it and gave a shriek. Her ears were now pointed, on the top of her head, and covered in a yellowish fur. Her eyes were now the color of molten gold. She had fangs and claws as well.

"What…the…hell??" She asked, now thoroughly freaked out.

"This is how you really look, with your fox blood tapped into."

"Well un-tap it dammit!!!"

"Why? I think you look quite nice."

"Well I—." Fuko stopped, blinking. Why did she want to go back to normal…? Then it hit her. Her blood ran cold as she dove into her messenger bag and retrieved her pair of headphones, She tried desperately to put them on, but she couldn't, and no headphones meant no music.

"Aaahh!! Like this I can't listen to music!!!!!!" She shouted. If she was freaked out before, she was now at a whole new level.

"Relax Urameshi-chan. I'm sure—."

"This is HORRIBLE!!!" She grabbed Kurama's shoulders and shook him violently.

"TURN ME BACK!!!!!!!!!" Kurama shoved her away, and she fell back onto her bum.

"No." He retorted simply. Fuko scowled at Kurama, eyes burning with anger and hurt. He had no idea…! She got up and dusted herself.

"Life without music on a CD player? Thanks but no thanks, screw you, I'm out." She whirled around and stormed back inside, leaving a bothered, and contemplative Kurama. He sighed.

"It would appear that you've kept your promise to come back to me, Kazehime Moriko. It's just a shame you had to be so different, and not remember a shred of what we had…."

†◊†

Fuko sat in her room, trying everything in her power to fix her headphones on her now-fox-ears. She played Hoobastank on her CD player; the same song that had echoed in her mind earlier; "Right Before Your Eyes". The first verse echoed in her head again. She gave an anguished yell as she threw the headphones down. Nothing seemed to be working. There was a knock on her door. She scowled.
"Who is it?" She asked, not without irritation in her tone.

"Me." Kurama's voice came through the door.

"Go away unless you're going to change me back." Fuko stated.

"I have something for you."

"Don't want it."

"Actually, I think you do."

"Then you are mistaken."

"Would you please open the door?"

"No!"

"You're being childish." Kurama's usually cool and serene tone had picked up Fuko's tone of agitation.

"And you're being a stubborn jerk."

"I come bearing a gift, and I'm the stubborn jerk?"

"You can't buy me."

"I can certainly try."

"GET LOST."

"…" Kurama was silent. There was then the sound of something scraping and sliding into the door-jam. Fuko stopped. Oh, she knew exactly what he was doing, seeing as she herself had done it quite often growing up. She ran to put her weight against the door but it was to no avail. He had used a credit card to open her door. Fuko tried to push the door closed, but Kurama had slipped in and she only succeeded in shutting herself in with him. She crossed her arms.

"…What is it?" She grumbled quietly. He tossed her a white box the size of her palm. Fuko wrinkled her nose. She hoped it wasn't jewelry. She loved jewelry, but if that's what he was giving her, it'd be a bit creepy. She opened the box, but was most surprised at what she saw. Inside the box were two ear-buds; dark blue in color with a red crescent moon on each. The black wire curled around the sides of the box. Fuko blinked.

"Ear-buds?" She inquired.

"Try them on." Kurama replied. Fuko obeyed, and blinked in shock. The ear-buds, though normally would have fit horribly, worked perfectly with her fox-ears. She could keep using her CD player!!! She gave a shout of excitement as she threw her arms around Kurama.

"Thanks so much!!!" She exclaimed. He blinked and looked away, the faintest trace of a blush on his face.

"It's nothing." He mumbled. Fuko let go, suddenly aware of the awkward tension in the room.

"So yeah. Right. Thanks again…" Another awkward silence followed until Fuko broke it,

"…But I still don't like you."

◊†◊

Yusuke and Koenma stood back on the bleachers, watching Fuko train with Hiei. Hiei was handing her butt to her, quite mercilessly. Fuko kept laughing and striking back when she could though, having fun. Yusuke hummed something. Koenma looked at him.

"What are you humming?" He inquired. Yusuke shrugged.

"Just something from Fuko's CD collection…it kinda suits the situation."

"What is it?"

"And I know there will be mistakes that I will make
But I know they're not worse than chances I don't take, take
Right before your eyes I am changing, changing
New life on the inside I am changing, changing…"

Yusuke sang, surprisingly on key.

"Hmm…I suppose that would be appropriate…she does seem to be changing." Koenma mused, watching as Fuko once again, was flung back onto her ass. Fuko laughed once again, still determined to win.

"Yeah…" Yusuke said, also gazing intently at his sister, as though he himself could see the metamorphosis she was undergoing. He was certain that she was changing right before their very eyes.

†◊†

Fuko walked back to her room. Training wasn't so bad…but it was breaking her heart. They all had complemented her, praised her…they made comments on how she seemed to be improving, changing…. She sang softly,

"And I know there will be mistakes that I will make
But I know they're not worse than chances I don't take, take
Right before your eyes I am changing, changing
New life on the inside I am changing, changing…"

She sighed heavily. It was truly a shame that she wasn't changing…she was the same scum she always was. Her apparent alteration in demeanor was truly accidental; she was happy with them, but by no means was there a transformation occurring. For the apparent change was all an act…and she had them all eating out of the palm of her hand; though as her footsteps echoed on the marble floor as she made her way back to the Phoenix Room, she wished that she didn't…. She hummed the same stanza she had just sung. "Right before your eyes I am changing" it said…she sighed She couldn't help but notice that she wasn't changing; she was just staying the same.

◊†◊

Japanese format; Last name and then first name.