Rei says: Kyaa!
Welcome to the tenth chapter! I'm relieved I got to update so quickly...and the chapter made six pages this time, wewt. I feel so accomplished, to finally reach the tenth chapter. This is magical for me. -sparkle- Anyways. For this chapter I introduced some new characters, and yes, they are there fora reason, but for what reason? I have yet to figure it out. But never fear. ;) They'll come in handy.

Oh my gosh! It's snowing outside. I had to shovel outside for two hours today. But then, I came right back in and started typing with cold fingers. Heh heh. I'm so dedicated. -loves-

Aaanyways. I had fun with this name thing I found on the internet, where it translates Japanese names. For instance, 'Rei' means 'gratitude'. o.o;; I played around with some characters from FtIO too! Aki means 'born in autumn', Kana means 'beatiful Nara (which is a city in Japan), and Nadeshiko means 'pink' (the flower, not the color)

Enjoy this chapter. Until next time!

Chapter 10

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was wrong with her?

Kana groaned silently, tossing the covers over her head. She couldn't sleep…or rather, she wouldn't sleep. And she knew exactly why.

He was in the other room.

He was probably sleeping soundly, perfectly. Of course. 'Cause he's flipping perfect. He can do anything. She, on the other hand…she was the exact opposite.

Kana flicked her gaze over to the alarm clock, rolling her eyes in exasperation when she saw the numbers blink midnight. It's midnight, she can't sleep. There was no way she was going to be able to get up early enough for school. And it was all his fault.

Why'd she let him sleep here anyways? She sighed, turning over on her side, clutching a pillow. It was simple enough…she couldn't say no. Not to those eyes. But now she was clearly regretting the decision, seeing as she was unable to sleep. God, she was going to be a zombie tomorrow…

She flipped herself over onto her stomach, shoving her face into the pillow and squeezing her eyes shut. She was going to sleep, no matter what.

A few minutes passed. Kana suddenly jumped out of her bed, going through her drawers to produce her CD player.

"Ah," she said, smiling. This will get her to sleep. She put the headphones in her ears, putting the music on to top volume. Already she could feel her eyelids getting heavier.

Finally.

Kurama opened his eyes. Why was he on a couch? He gently shoved the blanket off of him, sitting up slowly. It all came back to him. Now it all made sense. He was on Kana's couch, in Kana's apartment…

But what was that noise?

It was a dull, pulsing sound, coming from a room behind him. He rubbed his eyes, barely noticing the clock on the wall read six in the morning. He got up, hearing the sound come from inside her bedroom. The door was wide open, so he peeked in cautiously, not sure of what to expect.

Kana was sleeping, curled up in ball, the covers on her bed strewn all over. He saw the source of the noise – the headphones she had in her ears. Since he was closer, he could just make out the sound of electric guitars and a screaming voice. How could she sleep listening to that?

With a thin smile, he retreated back to the couch, sighing. He had to leave, didn't he? To get his bag, his items for school…to change. Maybe staying the night wasn't the most brilliant idea without thinking through everything first. Fortunately, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary – there were no unwanted visits.

He heard the ringing of an alarm clock from Kana's room, and shortly after, the sound of a thud against the wall, the ringing ceasing suddenly. His eyes widened, and he turned slowly. Kana was walking out of the room, her hair rumpled from sleep, seeming dazed.

"Stupid clock…" She muttered to herself. Kurama raised his eyebrows, and Kana seemed to notice him then. "Hey Kurama," she said sleepily. She turned to head into the bathroom, then stopped short. "Kurama? When did I let you in?"

"I stayed the night," he explained softly. He got up. "And I must leave now, if I wish to get to school on time with all my things and a fresh change of clothes." He looked down at the clothes he had slept in, not the magenta uniform he always wore, but jeans and a black hoodie he had changed into after school yesterday.

"Oh, well, okay." She said, rubbing her eyes. Poor thing, she must be so tired. "I'll see you around school or something, 'kay?"

Kurama nodded. "Of course." He smiled, bidding his goodbyes to her, then opened the door to the apartment and left.

School wasn't something of pleasure today, for Kana was tired and pissed off. Somehow she made it into science, and took her seat at the back of the room. But today Mr. Kertai wanted something different – everyone had to get into pairs of threes for a lab. Kana groaned on the inside.

As everyone else got up and walked over to assemble their groups, Kana stayed in her seat, watching them. Suddenly she noticed two girls approaching her.

"You have a partner?" The girl said, and Kana shook her head. "Good. We'll be your partners!" She jerked her thumb to herself. "I'm Isuzu, and that's Nadeshiko. We just call her Shiko, though."

The one called Isuzu was tall, boyish-looking. Her hair was short, but her face was pretty. Her eyes were a stunning blue-gray. Nadeshiko – or, Shiko – was smaller, and she looked shy. She had extremely long brown hair that ran in one long braid down her back. Her eyes were a light shade of jade. She smiled sweetly.

Mr. Kertai wrote down all the groups, explained the directions, and turned to his desk to grade some papers. Isuzu, Shiko, and Kana started to do some work, but it was mainly the other two who did most of it – Kana was too tired to concentrate and wrote down most of the wrong answers.

"You're Kana, right? The Kana everyone's talking about?" Shiko asked, cocking her head to one side. Kana looked at her in surprise.

"What?"

Isuzu looked up, her mouth dropped open. "You poor girl, you have no idea, do you?" She rapped her hands on the desk. "Let me see if I can explain this…okay." Isuzu leaned over the desk, careful not to be too loud. "Is it true you're in with Urameshi and all?" Kana nodded, and she continued: "You do know that he's--,"

Kana nodded. "I've heard the stories." Isuzu flapped her hands in the air.

"Well then, good. Anyways. He's basically the school bully, although he's really only a sophomore like us. Naturally, everyone stays away from him. Get it?" Isuzu tried to explain. "Even I do, and that's saying a lot. So when you show up at this school, you're hanging out with him and Kazuma." She grinned. "People are getting the wrong impression of you, but at the same time think you've got a lot of guts for being with them at the same time."

"That sounds so stupid," Kana said when she finished. Isuzu laughed and clapped her on the back.

"Exactly." Isuzu said, giving her the thumbs-up sign. "Rumors started flying after some girls saw you with them at the movie theater one day, also with Keiko and Shuichi." Her eyes widened. "I'd never really thought that someone like Shuichi would be hanging around the likes of Urameshi. Doesn't it seem odd?" She trailed off, tapping her chin with a finger. "Strange." She shrugged. "You're friends with Shuichi too, right?"

Kana nodded, and Shiko interjected in their conversation. "Shuichi? You mean Shuichi Minamino?" Isuzu nodded.

"The one and only, Shiko," Isuzu said, turning to back to Kana again. "Kana, you've got some strange friends." Isuzu laughed. "You've got the high school delinquent, the most popular guy in school, the all-around nice girl, and…Kazuma. I don't really know where he fits in." She said, rubbing the back of her head with her hands awkwardly, giggling.

"Nina's been all in a frenzy lately…" Shiko said. "You know, the president of the Shuichi fan club."

Kana shuddered. "I know her. She chased me down in the hallway a few days ago when she thought I spent the day at Kur – I mean, Shuichi's house."

Isuzu all-out laughed, thinking it to be the funniest thing she ever heard. "That's just like Nina!" She cocked her head. "Did you escape? Or did Nina and her evil minions tear you apart?"

"I managed to get away from them. I haven't seen any of them since." Kana said, sighing. That was a relief. She didn't know what she'd do if she ran into Nina again. Oh, the possibilities…

"Next topic." Isuzu said, leaning back in her chair. "So, what did you do last night that you're so overly tired anyways?" Isuzu asked suddenly. Kana looked up from writing an answer Shiko had given, and paused. To say that Kurama – er, Shuichi – had stayed over her apartment for the night probably wasn't the best idea. So, the best thing to do now was to lie.

"Stayed up too late," she said simply, and crossed out a misspelling.

Isuzu raised her eyebrows. "Ah," she said. "I do that a lot, but I never end up like a zombie the next day as you are," she said, laughing and poking Kana's side. "You could pass off as a corpse if you tried."

Kana suddenly slumped forward, and Isuzu jumped. "Hey! I didn't mean it literally!" She cried, jumping up. Kana slowly lifted up her head, laughing.

"Got you," she grinned. Isuzu glared, and Shiko's eyes were wide.

"Jeez, you gave me a heart attack," she said at last, sitting back into her seat. Then all at once, they started laughing, which drew attention to themselves. Mr. Kertai cleared his throat.

"You three, keep your voices down a little bit. Some people are trying to work." His tone was firm, but they saw the amused smile on his face. Shaking his head, he returned to grading papers, and Kana, Isuzu, and Shiko tried their best to stay quiet.

The day seemed to pass quickly after that. Or, at least the next few periods did, anyways. Kana didn't see Isuzu or Shiko again until after lunch.

The bell rang, and Kana left the cafeteria with Yusuke and Kuwabara with her.

"I'm telling you guys, I don't snore." Yusuke whined, putting his hands behind his head as they exited the cafeteria.

Kana scoffed. "You do so! I heard you. Ask Kuwabara." Yusuke and Kana both whirled on Kuwabara, who put his hands in the air.

"Hey, I fell asleep before he did." He said. Kana sighed.

"Well, that's no help." Kana said, and saw someone in the crowd waving at her.

"Kana!" The voice was Isuzu's. Kana turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"I'll see you guys later." Kana said, and before she left, Yusuke stopped her.

"Can we finish watching Halloween?" He pouted uncharacteristically. "I'll bring Keiko and Kurama, too."

Kana rolled her eyes. "As long as you don't sleep through it again," she agreed, then made her way through the crowd to get to Isuzu.

"Hey Kana!" Isuzu cried, raising her hand in the air for a high-five. "Still hanging with the strangers, eh?" She grinned, shaking her head. "Kidding, kidding." Isuzu started walking down the hallway, Kana following her. "Where you headed?"

"Gym," Kana said, and Isuzu groaned.

"Lucky. I've got English." She jerked her thumb to a door a little ways down. "Anyways, I guess I'll see you later." Isuzu waved, and opened the door and went inside. Kana hurried down the hallway to get to gym. This has been such a day…and it was only going to get crazier.

School ended a while ago, and now Kana sat on the couch, yet again, with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and, this time, Keiko.

"Yusuke, I don't really want to watch this movie," Keiko said.

"I never got to watch the end of it," Yusuke whined. Kana patted Keiko on the back.

"Don't worry; it's only got another half hour anyways, if we start from where Yusuke fell asleep." Kana said, smiling. Keiko sighed, and settled into the couch in silent agreement.

Outside, the wolf demon paced angrily. "With all of them here, it would be impossible for me to reach her." His eyes flashed with malice.

"Just leave her alone. She doesn't have anything you need." Aki's voice resounded in his head clearly.

"You know very well she does," he spat into the silence. "I still don't see why you protect her so. You do know she has what we need. Why are you delaying?" He chuckled when he received no answer. "Just be patient. I have everything figured out." A thin smile played upon his lips.

"It will besoon," he murmured. "Very soon." He studied his fingers in the moonlight, slowly forming a fist."We will take back what we have lost."

Rei says: Reviews make the world go round.
See you in Chapter 11!