7 Creepy is as Creepy Does

(A/N): Stupid pagebreak button won't work for me today, ack. The unpacking is insane, but I managed to write this inbetween ripping apart boxes and finding random spots to stick all my stuff. Less than a week till school, I'm so excited! Woot College!

But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll;
Chill penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

"Ah Hana-chan, it's nice to see you again," Shiori said as the girl walked into the kitchen behind Kurama.

"Hello," the demoness chirped back.

"Hana asked me if I could give her Japanese lessons Mom, and I thought that it would be a good idea."

"Oh how wonderful Shuichi! You're such a kind boy." His mother smiled fondly at him while fiddling with the rice cooker.

"I also invited Yusuke over for dinner, that way he can walk Hana home afterwards. I hope it's not too much trouble."

"Oh no, it's lovely that you're having friends over dear."

"Is there anything I can do to help you prepare dinner?'

"No, I'm fine. Why don't you two run along and do something fun for a study break? I mean like play a game," she said quickly. Kurama rubbed his forehead and Hana jabbed him in the back.

"Hana would you like to see our garden out back?"

"Oh the garden is a lovely idea Shuichi. Go show her the nice plants that you worked so hard on!"

"Show, show me!" Hana grinned as she tugged at his sleeve.

"Please be so kind as to—" He began to correct her but she rolled her eyes and pulled on his sleeve. "You're the one who said you'd like to speak with some fluency," he chided as he led her outside. He walked her around the yard, pointing out all the plant species and naming them for her. He realized that she didn't know how he fought as he was showing her the roses and briefly contemplated telling her. But he did not yet trust Hana, and saw no reason to go out of his way to inform her of potentially dangerous information.

"You smell of this," she said as she squatted by a small shrub. "Of the earth and things that grow. Do you make things grow?"

"I can, sometimes," he said with a smile. If Hana had been an opponent, if she had been a fighter, she would have been dangerous. He was slightly amused by this, the fact that her mind was in some ways being wasted. She would have been a master at analyzing her opponents and a wonderful strategist. She was obviously clever and quick. It would be a few more days until he discovered that she could still be dangerous even if she avoided fighting.

(page break button not working)

Yusuke showed up right on time for dinner and was surprisingly polite to the adults. He also managed to avoid mentioning his frequent ditching of school and street fighting ways in front of Shiori. But as soon as the adults had left the room he looked at Shuichi and said "Scram kid, time for the big kids to talk."

"Yusuke, I'd appreciate it if you were a bit more delicate in addressing my step-brother," Kurama sighed as the younger boy stomped out of the room.

"Aw come on man, you can't pamper him or you'll have a brat on your hands. Now tomorrow's Saturday, my holy day of rest—"

"Yusuke, there's school on Saturday."

"Yeah, but I haven't gone on a Saturday in too many years to count. You know in other countries they have Saturday and Sunday off every week? Now you do go to school, coughteacher'spetcough, but whatdaya say you come over afterwards and hang out for a while? Then Sunday's our day at the arcade, right Hana?"

"Yusuke teach me kill alien!" the girl said brightly.

"Yusuke, you do know she can't read Japanese yet, right?"

"Well I thought that's why you were tutoring her!"

"There's only so much she can learn in two days!"

"Well she's smart, I'm sure you can have her reading game commands by Sunday, you'll just need an extra long lesson tomorrow or something. Hell, it'll give you something interesting to do in your English class at least." Yusuke smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"Yusuke." The redhead looked at his friend, seeming suddenly very tired. His perfect posture sagged slightly and he let out a long breath.

"Chi-chan!" Kurama jumped as the girl threw her arms around his middle and squeezed. But it was the jolt of youki accompanying the hug that made his hair stand on end and his muscles contract. It was just a jolt though, hardly any energy was actually transferred, but it was done in such a manner as to put him suddenly on high alert. He could feel the adrenaline now pumping through his veins as she let go and turned a mischievous smile on Yusuke.

"Hana, what was that?" he couldn't help asking as he tried to smooth down his hair and force his overactive sense to calm.

"You looked tired, but you must remain alert! Constant vigilance when predators are about! You can never let yourself wear down like that, so I woke you up again."

"Constant vigilance?" he muttered, feeling his fingers itching for his rose whip at the slightest sound. "Are you always this strung-up?"

"Strung-up?" she said slowly, repeating the words with no comprehension. "Whenever someone is on lookout they must be alert to the slightest unexpected movement, they must always be aware of the positions of all predators within sight and smell, and they must know where the herd is and how they are spread out. They must also know several good escape routes. You are on lookout now!" she wagged a finger at him. "I watch at school."

He rubbed his temples and thought about how nice a vacation would be. "Come on, you come over tomorrow and hang out and you can give Hana her little lesson at my place. That way I won't have to come pick her up, and you won't have to worry about me traumatizing the kid." Yusuke slapped him on the back, nearly making him yelp. With his heightened senses that had been a shock to his system.

"Yusuke, alright, that sounds like a good idea. I'll tell my mother later."

"Cool. Alright Hana, you ready to go home?"

"Yes, your mom home now?"

"Who knows, kid?"

Kurama led them to the door and watched as they walked down the street, Hana tugging at Yusuke's sleeve and skipping along while the boy stuffed his hands into his pockets and shook his head. The demon smiled slightly and went up to his room to finish his homework.

The next day Hana showed up to school alone. She told Kurama that Yusuke had walked her half way then she'd told him he could go to school instead of walking in the complete opposite direction of his destination to get her to Meiou. But she suspected that he had gone back to bed instead of class. She had yet to meet his mom.

"What have you got there?" the boy asked when he noticed that she was walking with her hands behind her back. She gave him a sheepish smile and pulled her hand forward, revealing a spiral notebook.

"Yusuke give me, no use."

Kurama smiled as they entered his classroom and he led the way to their seats. "That was nice of him to think of it, though it does worry me when he starts giving away his school supplies. Do you two get along well?"

"Yes," she replied with an extra wide smile. "Very much like."

"You do understand that he has a girlfriend?" Kurama said quickly as he tried to interpret her expression.

She puffed out her cheeks and waved her hand back and forth. "Girlfriend silly, what it mean? I don't care about your human customs. He seems to be the most suitable male I have encountered so far."

"It's no wonder antelopes are not noted for their intelligence," Kurama muttered as the class began to settle down. "You're only going to cause trouble if you pursue him."

She snorted and gave him a scandalized glare. "I? Pursue a male? Are you mad?" She let out a tinkling laugh and shook her head. "Poor Chi-chan, so silly!" The teacher entered the room and silence fell before the class greeted him.

(still not working --"")

For lunch they once more retreated to the roof, narrowly escaping the hordes of fangirls stalking the halls. Kurama feared the Hana was developing a completely negative view of human females based on the actions of the girls at his school. Hana insisted that they sit in the middle of the roof so that there were plenty of escape routes and so she could see any approaching 'predators.' Kurama had given up trying to reassure her that he was the most dangerous predator in the area and just let her be paranoid.

"Ah, I've found you at last Minamino." Hana was watching the approaching male carefully. She had shifted into a squatting position that allowed her to get to her feet in an instant.

"It's alright Hana," Kurama sighed and patted her arm before he looked up at the boy. "Hello Kaito," he said to the boy with thick glasses and a mass of wavy black hair.

"Are you importing demons now?" the other boy asked as he eyed Hana. She pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side. "I doubt she is actually your cousin."

"You're right, she isn't. But she isn't dangerous either. Was there something you wanted?" He meant to be polite, but the other boy seemed to take this as something of a dismissal.

"In a bad mood Minamino? You may be the top student still but you don't actually own the school."

"Excuse me Kaito, I didn't mean to—mumf." His eyes shifted to Hana, who had clamped a hand over his mouth. She was staring at Kaito and her expression betrayed some confusion in her dark eyes.

She pointed at Kaito and said "Creepy."

Kaito's bag slipped from his hand and he grasped for words while Kurama flopped backwards, covering his own mouth now. "Hana, I thought I told you not to repeat any of the words Yusuke taught you!" he reprimanded her and she gave him an indignant glare before bursting into a spate of her demonic tongue.

"From what Yusuke said when he was trying to teach me the word I took it to mean something that differs from the norm of human existence. I know it can be insulting, but he is not the same as the other humans!" She gestured rapidly at the now glaring boy. "He smells different, not like Yusuke, more like Shizuru, but not the same either!"

"Kaito, you must forgive her, her grasp of Japanese, and common decency, is not very great," Kurama said from his prone position. "What she was trying to say is that your aura is different from other students'. Yusuke has been teaching her to constantly insult people. Hana, 'creepy' always means 'different' in a bad way; it is always an insult, not just sometimes."

"Ohh," she drawled. "But he say creepy is 'odd kid in the corner with thick glasses.'" She looked at Kaito again as if confirming that this description fit him.

"Hana!" Kurama pushed himself up on an elbow to glare at her. "You're doing it on purpose, I know you are. You know damn well what you're saying." She smiled innocently and went back to eating her lunch. "I swear I should have listened to Hiei," Kurama muttered as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"And what was his sage advice?" Kaito asked, his tone proof that he was still annoyed.

"He said to throw her back through the first portal we could find."

Kaito snorted but restrained his laughter. "So she is an accidental visitor to our world?"

"Yes, she happened to step in a portal, not knowing what it was, and ended up here. I'm trying to teach her about the human world but she's rather mischievous."

"But Chi-chan," she whined, tugging at his sleeve. "I very good! No change form in class, I wear clothes, no tell teacher shut up." She caught his stern look and rolled her black eyes. "What do you expect? I'm a demon, as are you. Well, you were, Kurama."

"So have you contacted Spirit World yet?" Kaito pushed his glasses up his nose as he sat down.

"No, and I wasn't really planning on it," Kurama answered. "I can only foresee negative consequences from their interference."

"Not afraid she might decide she doesn't like you much and go for the kill?"

"Hana doesn't fight," the fox demon replied evenly. "She prefers running away."

"It's smarter," Hana snapped, jabbing him in the side. "You only have to outrun one person to survive. Of course it's better if everyone can outrun the predator."

"What did she say?"

"She said if she runs it's more likely her attacker will settle for someone slower."

Kaito snorted. "So what exactly are you planning for the long term? Going to take her to college with you next year or send her back to Makai?"

"Sorry I be mean," Hana said, cutting into their conversation. She held out a hand to Kaito and he stared at it for a second before taking it. Hana shook hands very solemnly, the serious expression looking out of place on her normally smiling face.

'Why am I worried?' Kurama wondered as he watched the pair. Hana let go of Kaito's hand and went back to her bento while the young man watched her with some confusion. He shrugged and resigned himself to never understanding the oddities of the fair sex and began his lunch. Kurama was just happy the girl had quieted down for now, but food always seemed to have that effect on her.