Disclaimer: Oh, come on! Why would I bother to write fanfiction if I owned the series?
A/N: Whoa... This is long overdue, now isn't it? (sweatdrops) Well, I didnt die if thas what you're all thinking. I just got really side-tracked (coughlazycough), and got a serious case of writer's block with most of this chapter. I finally seemed to kinda beat it yesterday, and BAM! I got the chapter done. You all probably wanna read instead of listening to me ramble on with my excuses, so I'll shut up now.
As always, enjoy!
Awakening Spirits
By Lisa Bako (AKA "Pegacorn")
Chapter 4: Mystery of the New Student
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The constant thrumming of his pencil against the wooden desk was all that was keeping him from drifting off into dreamland. Kuwabara knew he should be paying attention to the lesson, but it was just so boring. And confusing!
The teacher's voice was like a monotone hum as he explained the notes on the board. Something about the quad-rat formula, or something like that…
Head held up only by a fist against his cheek, the red-head looked on in a dazed state, close to entering cloud nine. His eyes were halfway shut as the world began to fade out, his pencil's movement slowly coming to a halt…
Knock-knock!
Kuwabara's head shot up so fast that the world did a flip-flop in front of his eyes. He ended up having to blink a few times before everything came back into focus. That was when he noticed the classroom door slide open, before someone stepped into view…
He blinked. 'Kurama?' What was he doing here?
The room had gotten noticeably noisier at the red-head's entrance. Many whispers and murmurs went around the room—predominantly by the female half. Some went even farther than that—waving to get his attention, smiling seductively, and blinking in what they thought to be a flirtatious manner. All this was much to the annoyance of the male students in the room.
And yet Kurama paid them no mind as he conversed briefly with the teacher before turning back to the door, signaling for someone out in the hall to enter.
If Kuwabara thought the volume level was high now, then it was nothing compared to how it was to be in the next second…
---
The tension was growing again. He could feel it. Every nerve in his body was at its most taught—even worse than when he'd been sitting in the principal's office, because Takenaka had been able to lighten the mood before it had gotten unbearable. But now…
His nerves felt stiffer than a bokken. And that was really stiff! Kendo swords were made of wood, slightly bent to mimic the curve of a katana. Speaking of kendo…
Reiki couldn't even recall feeling this way at his first kendo match. Sure, he'd been nervous, but he'd known most of the people there! He didn't have to show them who he was, so it was no big deal if he'd messed up, miss-stepped, or ended up looking like a fool, because they knew he wasn't one.
…But now…
Hazel eyes caught the motion Shuichi sent his way, signaling for him to enter the room.
…would be different…
Every move would be judged…
Every word would be used to determine his personality…
Every single aspect of Reiki's first impression would determine if he would fit in in this school…
In his mind, at least.
He took a breath in attempt to gain a sense of calm—to no avail—before finally taking the steps that would, in his mind, either lead to the path of new friends and fitting in, or…cause this year to become a living hell.
Going home only to have to tolerate a devilish cat and an irksome younger brother were actually starting to look good right now…
---
Walking swiftly through the halls after showing the blonde the layout of the school, Kurama headed to his own class, allowing his mind to remain on this interesting new puzzle…
The new student.
First off, he was from America, but had been able to speak perfect Japanese. That in itself was quite an impressive accomplishment, seeing as Japanese was one of the more difficult languages to learn.
Then, there was his appearance… His flaxen locks were so long that, even in a ponytail, they had gone down to his waist. That was even longer than the red-head's hair reached—stopping at mid-back. Another thing…his eye color; it was quite startling, that hazel-green. Almost seemed unnatural for them to be that shade, it was so uncommon. But then…it wasn't like Kurama was very normal-looking either, with his emerald eyes and blood-red tresses.
The most unusual thing about the exchange student, by far, had to be his name… Reiki. It meant "aura"…"spirit energy"… Why would someone name their child as such?
'Good question, Fox.'
The familiar low voice that resounded through his head caught him by surprise, though he didn't show it as he came to a halt. Kurama looked out the window to his left, up in the branches of a tree where he could see that a dark shadow had taken residence. He recognized its energy signature almost immediately.
'Greetings, Hiei.'
'Hn.' Was the telepathic response he received; typical for the unsociable fire demon.
'What brings up your unexpected arrival, if I may ask?'
'Haven't you noticed anything strange going on?'
The red-head's brow crinkled in thought. 'Such as…?'
He heard the voorime's mental scoff. 'Don't tell me you haven't noticed the strange energy readings that started appearing recently?'
He frowned. 'You're referring to the spikes of demon energy that have been occurring, I assume.' It was more of a statement than a question, really.
'Hn.'
He took that as a yes. 'What would you propose we should do, then?'
A pause indicated Hiei was mulling it over, before…
'If this really is a threat, then sooner or later, those fools in Spirit World will catch wind of it, and eventually call on the Detective to take care of it.'
'So, in other words…'
'We wait.' There was a bitter note lacing those words, indicating just how little he enjoyed the thought of doing so, which amused Kurama somewhat. The kitsune-turned-human was about to point this out, when a sudden "ripple" was felt resonating through the air, cutting his thoughts away from their path, towards this new occurrence.
He narrowed his green gaze slightly, allowing it to drift upwards in the direction of the disturbance.. 'Speak of the devil…' the fox thought to himself before directing his thoughts back at the fire demon. 'Did you sense that, Hiei?'
'Hn…' The dark demon also let his eyes travel upwards. '…it's the Spirit World Brat,' he confirmed in a tone that indicated his disgust.
Kurama's tone turned thoughtful. 'Must be here with our latest assignment…'
'Hn. Most likely—the Detective's with him.' With that, he disappeared in a blur of black, too quick to see with the human eye.
'With Yusuke, is he? His class this period is history. They'll be on the roof, then…' Starting forward again so it wouldn't appear as if he were loitering in the halls, he headed towards the stairs.
---
Glad to have survived the first half of the day, Reiki thought back to some of the more interesting moments of his classes as he looked for a suitable spot outside to eat his lunch in peace…
After introducing himself, he had earned some surprised stares; most were after he'd said he had moved here from America, but there had also been a few strange looks at the mention of his name. Especially from the orange-haired guy he was now sitting next to—he could literally feel his beady eyes on him occasionally, in fact. It was a bit unnerving, really…
'Is the name "Reiki" really that strange?' he thought in annoyance. 'I'll admit it's not common, but still, I wish this guy would find something more interesting to stare at, 'cause he's starting to get on my nerves!' Feeling his eyebrow begin to twitch, he resisted the urge to ask the big oaf what his problem was, instead trying to concentrate more on the current lesson their teacher was lecturing about. 'The quadratic formula, eh?' He sighed quietly. 'Way too easy.' Finding that this proved to be a failing distraction, Reiki decided to turn his gaze out the window instead, all the while ignoring the gaze he could still feel boring into him.
Of course, his teacher had caught him not paying attention, and had called upon him to answer the problem on the board. He then, in turn, wound up nearly giving the poor guy a heart attack when he briefly glanced at the equation, quickly wrote something down in his notebook, and turned out the right answer—all within five seconds.
Math always was one of his strong subjects.
Too bad he sometimes tended to be lazy when it came to homework.
…Oh, well…
The rest of the day proved to go smoothly enough. He had been happy to learn that he shared biology class with Keiko. He found out from her that Yusuke was in that class as well, but he seemed be absent at the moment, which greatly annoyed Keiko as he sensed from the tone of her voice. The blonde added that to his earlier reminder to himself of not to aggravate her. After that, he was surprised to find himself in the same English class as Minamino. It appeared Reiki had ended up in the advanced class! It must've been because he was from America and already knew English…
Focusing once more on his surroundings, he was displeased to find that there weren't many good spots available. To make matters worse, a lot of feminine eyes were pointed in his direction, watching his every move like he was a choice piece of meat for the picking. Reiki did his best to ignore them— which wasn't easy— as he continued his search.
Aha! There was a place! Right in the shade of that tree over there. And most of the students were at a tolerable distance away.
He mentally smiled to himself.
Perfect.
---
Leaning back against the tree with his hands folded behind his head, Reiki decided to spend the rest of his lunch period enjoying the relief from the sunlight the shade offered. He'd been pretty much undisturbed, if he didn't include that one girl who came up to him and introduced herself— Shina, he believed she said her name was— , obviously flirting with him. Not wanting to be rude— though he was somewhat annoyed (for good reason, if he might add)— he told her his own name, being sure to act politely uninterested. After a few minutes of boredly chatting with her, she seemed to finally get the message that he wasn't in the mood for her company. Rather than admitting this, she got this fake cheerful expression on her face— he could tell she was hiding her anger— and said she'd just remembered she had something she had to go deal with, before walking off in a poorly concealed huff. Reiki had blinked after her form, but then shrugged and turned back to his lunch.
He hoped that'd be the last he'd have to hear from that girl. She really wasn't his type.
'Besides…' he thought to himself with a nostalgic smile, letting his fingers rest on the blue ribbon securing his hair, 'I'm already taken…'
It was then that he felt it. A sudden tingle at the back of his mind. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it was enough to cause him to sit straight up in surprise, hazel eyes looking around in confusion to try to decipher where this strange feeling was coming from. It was almost as if someone was watching him. Not like those girls from earlier had been— thankfully, most of the other students had gone off somewhere.
No. This feeling was much stronger.
…Piercing…
That was the only way he could describe it. It was as if something were trying to intrude his mind, invade his thoughts, to see right through to his very being. He didn't know what it was. He just knew that he didn't like it.
Then he sensed it.
There was a presence nearby… Someone, or something, that was watching him… And it seemed to be somewhere…above him…
He stiffened.
Steeling his courage, he slowly turned his head to aim his hazel-green at the branches above, only to see…
…absolutely nothing.
He blinked.
Strange thing was, that feeling that had come over him was gone. Just like that, as suddenly as it came.
Vanished. Just like what he was sure had been above him, watching him.
"Um…" he gaped, unsure of what just happened. Had he been imagining things? Must've been, since there was no other logical explanation…
A bell rang, knocking him out of his stupor.
He looked at his watch. "Oh, shit!" That had been the warning bell, signaling the end of free period. "I'm gonna be late!"
---
From their owner's perch atop the school roof, a pair of red orbs watched the figure of Reiki Kaze grab his bag and run off in a hurry. A dark brow covered with a white bandana lowered in thought.
How had he been able to sense him reading his mind? He'd done it so stealthily, too— waiting for just the right moment, when he'd been deep in thought, completely off guard.
Another thing…
How had the boy noticed he'd been in the branches above?
Had he somehow been careless in hiding his youki? He frowned. Impossible! He was never careless. Carelessness cost one's life. And besides, if that had been the case, most humans couldn't sense demonic energy, unless they were freaks like Kuwabara, which was a rare thing.
Hiei had to wonder…
Just what was it with this boy named "spirit energy"…?
---
Sorry, no review responses this time, minna-san. It's not allowed. I can only respond directly to signed reviews (sorry anonymous people! I'd respond to you, too, if I could).
Ok, so...it's past 5am, I'm freakin' tired, so I'm gonna go pass out now (so glad the semester ended 2 weeks ago... X.x). I'll start on the next chapter as soon as I can, cuz I actually know exactly how I wanna start it this time.
'Til next time!
-Peg-