Chapter 3

Old Friends

As Yusuke had predicted, Gabi's foster father did not question where she had been last night. The three teens, Yusuke, Gabi, and Keiko were reminiscing about old times in the restaurant her family owned. "So, how many different countries have you been to this time?" Keiko asked, sipping a cup of tea.

Gabi turned her cup around and around on its saucer, thinking hard. "The last time I left Japan, I went to Hawaii, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Madagascar, south Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, India, China, the Polynesian islands, and dozens of other smaller countries before we came back here."

"You have an amazing memory!" Keiko said with a shocked expression.

"The weird thing is, we normally come to Japan at least once a year, but its like we've avoided it all together for the past six years. Its one of the countries we always visit on our trek through the year, along with a new place we've never been, but we just stopped coming."

"I wonder why?"

Yusuke was busy eating ramen and couldn't talk. A pair of small, bird-like feet graced his skull. "Puu!" chirped a small creature with blue fur and long floppy ears. A patch of black hair topped its head, contrasting its big eyes and beak. "What the hell is that!" Gabi pointed, then snatched the creature up and began inspecting it. "Never seen a bird like this before…" Yusuke dislodged a wad of ramen from his throat. "Hey, you're supposed to stay hidden where people can't see you!" he yelled, causing several people in the restaurant to stare.

"Yusuke, be quite, you're making a scene!" Keiko chided.

"Yusuke, what is this?" Gabi found the creature's ticklish spot, causing it to chirp happily in a way that mimicked laughter. "It's name is Puu, he's my spirit beast," the boy sighed. "Spirit beast…" she repeated, remembering tales of such things told to her by a Chinese priestess. Puu fluttered back to his spot on Yusuke's head and pecked his forehead gently, trying to get his attention. "What do you want, you freak penguin?" Puu pointed with his ear/wing towards the door and began to fly away. "Lets follow the birdie!" Gabi bounced happily after the blue beast. Sighing, Yusuke paid for his ramen and left the restaurant, promising to meet up with Keiko later.

The spirit beast made a beeline down the sidewalk, with the curly haired girl in check. Puu kept fluttering just out of Gabi's reach each time she made a grab for him. He flew around the corner of a brick wall that surrounded a grassy area. Also in this area was a wooden bench. Jumping on the bench, Gabi jumped onto the wall and snatched Puu out of the air. Unfortunately, someone else had made a grab for the beast at the same time and ended up pulling Gabi off the wall. She crashed into the person headfirst. The person cushioned her face with their stomach, but she ripped her pants and scraped her knees on the cement despite her attempt not to. Scrambling around to release pressure from the wounds, she sucked air through her teeth and held her knees. "Pain!"

"Excuse me! Are you alright?" the person said. Gabi pressed her hands onto the wounds to stop the bleeding, "I've had worse, but man that smarts!" Puu landed in front of her, purring in a birdlike way. A hand extended in her direction, she took it and stood. The hand was connected to a white sleeve, and the sleeve was attached to the body of a peppermint-green haired teen. The green haired girl looked apologetically at Gabi with ruby eyes, "Please, allow me to help." She said. Kneeling, her pale, slender hands hovered over the bleeding scrapes. A faint golden aura surrounded her hands; spots of light peppered her skin, and instantly, the bleeding was stopped and the skin reformed; not even the blood on her skin was left. Gabi rubbed her knees, "Thank you, miss…"

"Please, just call me Yukina, no need for 'miss', I'm really not that old."

"Hey, Yukina," Yusuke waved from the end of the block; he had followed Gabi and just caught up. "Yukina, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Puu flew away from the temple, and I followed him." Said spirit beast allowed him self to be cradled in the arms of Yukina.

"Is any one else with you?"

"Why no, I'm here all alone. Do you know this girl here?"

"My name's Gabi, I should have introduced myself first." She blushed sheepishly. "I've been Yusuke's friend for several years."

"Hey, Gabi, would you mind if I talked with Yukina privately?" Yusuke put his hand behind his head in an awkward way. Gabi put her hands in her jean pockets, "No problem, Yusuke. I have something I need to take care of. I'll see you on Monday."

"Take care," he said, and she disappeared around the corner. Yukina continued to hold Puu, and started to walk alongside the Spirit Detective. "What is it you wish to talk about?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

"I need to talk to Genkai about something; is she busy?"

"No, why?"

"I wanted to know if she could take another student. Gabi has the powers of a shaman, but she needs help controlling them. Koenma wants to make her a part of the Tantei."

"Ah, I see. Genkai has been rather idle lately, I'm sure she would be pleased to have something to do. Why did you want to discuss this privately?"

"Well… Gabi is not too trusting of strangers; I mean, she travels all over the world year round, she doesn't get to be attached to people."

"How is it that she became your friend then?" Yusuke stared up at the sky, remembering.

A seven-year-old Yusuke raced around the park with a seven-year-old Keiko. He passed under the monkey bars that served as a finish line. "Ha! I win! I win! In your face Keiko!" he shouted victoriously.

"Lets go on the merry-go-round!" the tiny version of Keiko said. They took turns pushing and riding on the old rusty merry-go-round, laughing and screaming. A little girl watched them from the top of the slide nearby. "Hey," Keiko shouted to the other girl, "Wanna come play? The merry-go-round goes faster with two people." The girl rode down the slide, blonde curls billowing, "Sure!" approaching the spinning piece of metal, she grabbed the handles around the sides. "My name's Gabi."

"I'm Yusuke, and this is Keiko." The boy jabbed his thumb in Keiko's direction. "I bet I can make the merry-go-round go faster than you can!"

"Oh, yeah? Well see about that!" Gabi grinned and began to run with her hand on the metal bar, Keiko in the center of the disk, and Yusuke on the other side with his hand on the bar. They ran faster and faster, trying to outrun the other. Keiko giggled, her brown hair flying around her head. Gabi suddenly stopped and yanked on the bar, jerking the wheel out of Yusuke's grasp. He stumbled forward and released the bar. Gabi jumped onto the merry-go-round and rode around the circle, grabbing Yusuke's arm and pulling him on. They all shrieked and laughed until the wheel finally slowed to a stop. A pair of boys approached the three; they were at least eleven or twelve.

Keiko gasped, "Yusuke, its those bullies from the fourth grade!" the boys approached the merry-go-round. "Hey, Urameshi, hangin', around with your girlfriend?" the one with a blue hat said.

"Shut up, she's not my girlfriend!" he growled.

"Then you won't mind if she's my girlfriend. How about it, girl?" the other one with red shoes said, grabbing Keiko's arm.

"Leggo, you bully!" she yelled, trying to get away.

"Let 'er go, you pig-head!" Gabi said, approaching Red Shoes. "Or what?" he mocked, "Gonna give me cooties?"

Thock! Gabi kicked him in the nose; he released Keiko's arm and started to cry. "Hey!" Blue Hat said, "You stupid girl!" she jumped onto the merry-go-round and ran towards him, yelling like an Indian brave. He squealed and turned to run, but was Clotheslined by the irate Yusuke. The boys ran away, crying and nursing their wounds like the children they were.

"You were awesome!" Yusuke said and high-fived the curly-haired blonde. Gabi blushed, "That Clothesline was cool too. You okay, Keiko?" the girl was still on the merry-go-round. "I'm fine; thanks for stopping that boy."

"We girls got to stick together against pig-headed boys like them!"

"Hey," Yusuke said, "You wanna play something else?" Gabi shook her short curls, "I have to leave now."

"Will we see you tomorrow?" Keiko asked hopefully. Gabi shook her head again; "I travel all over the world with my foster dad. We've already been here two weeks, and we're leaving tonight."

"Do we have to say good-bye forever?" Yusuke looked sad with his large childish eyes. Gabi dug in the pockets of her little jumpsuit and pulled out two carefully carved wooden figures. One was a dog; the other was a pony. "We'll be back here on winter solstice; take this pony Keiko, it's for strength, and this dog, Yusuke, means loyalty. I got them from a Native American shop."

"Cool, thanks, Gabi!" they said. A man with dark hair approached the park, "Time to go, now." He called. Gabi walked toward him; calling back to her new friends, "Don't forget me! I won't forget you!"