Author's notes: Kannia is a reoccurring O.C. BUT! SHE IS NOT GOING TO BE PAIRED WITH ANY OF THE ORIGNIAL CHARACTERS ROMANTICALLY! SHE IS JUST ALONG FOR THE RIDE AT THIS POINT IN TIME, HER LOVE INTREST WILL BE REVIELED IN BOOK 5. AND THIS IS STILL BOOK 1, BE PATIENT.

~Now on the show~

Climbing up the stairs of the bus that would take him home, Yusuke surveyed the bus for a seat that would keep the Kannia out of trouble. He started to make his way towards the back of the bus with Kannia on his heels; the seats in the back row were vacant so it would be the perfect place for them to sit. "You slide in first, if you start for feel fidgety let me know and we can get off and walk for a while." Yusuke said as the silver haired girl sat down on the seat and slipped up to the window. Around the top of her head was a black scarf to hide her fox ears from the human world.
Yusuke sat down leaving a bit of space between him and the girl as he started to think back on the past few days. After Kurama and Kuwabara left for college, Yusuke had spent a few days helping Genkai clean up the temple as well as trying to get something out of his latest charge. She hadn't talked much, a few words here and there, and from what he had seen, she hadn't been sleeping for more than five minutes at a time. Glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye he saw her staring out at the passing cars and scenery, in a way he saw Kurama in her, but he couldn't help but think there was something missing.

~!~

They had ridden the bus for an hour and a half before Yusuke stood up getting off with Kannia, they were still a good mile and a half from his apartment, but Yusuke wasn't one to sit still for too long unless he was sleeping. After walking for a few minutes he saw that Kannia looked a bit confused by their surroundings.
"What's on your mind squirt?" Yusuke said poking the side of her head lightly. She blinked a few times before looking up at him.
"Squirt?" she asked.
"Yea, you. What are you thinking about?" he asked slipping his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. Kannia seemed perplexed by the nickname, but she responded after a few moments.
"Why are there no fireflies?" she asked looking around as they walked.
"Fireflies don't survive well in the city."
"I see…" she said slowly before looking up at the sky. "Does a 'city' also kill the stars?"
"No, it's just hard to see them here." Yusuke said as he saw the apartment in sight. Glancing up the a few flights he saw the lights were on, signaling that his mother was going to be home as well. He knew it was going to be hard to explain who Kannia was and why she was staying with him. Letting a sigh out he made his way towards the stairs that led up to the apartment.

Yusuke walked through the door and found his mother sitting in the living room a cigarette in hand.
It wasn't long before the Spirit Detective found himself in an embrace by her. "I'm so happy you're home." She said before holding Yusuke at arm's length as if inspecting him.
"Jeeze Mom, I was only gone for two weeks, and I even told you where I was." He said with an exhausted sigh.
"Hey, isn't a mother allowed to worry about her son!" she said after finding he wasn't hurt and that he was real. He knew after he came back from the dead, his mother had feared that he was an alcohol induced dream.
"Yea, but most Mother's don't freak out every time their eighteen year old son goes off for a few weeks." He stated. It was then that Yusuke noticed his mother looking over his shoulder at the doorway, turning he saw that his mother was staring at Kannia. "Oh yea, this is Kannia… I picked up a babysitting job to help bring in some extra money."
Kannia timidly entered the apartment her gaze shifting between Yusuke and his mother. Yusuke turned to look at his mother who looked stunned that he had brought home a teenage girl.
"Hello Kannia. I'm Atsuko Urameshi… nice to meet you." She said taking a step closer holding her hand out to her. Kannia gave one last glance to Yusuke before she took the woman's hand and shook it.
"N-Nice to meet you." The teen said quietly.
"Yusuke where did you find her… she's in bad shape," His mother said stepping closer to Kannia looking at the girl's hair. In honesty Yusuke had noticed it, the girl had silver hair down to the back of her knees and it was in a permanent knot, her clothes were dirty.
"She … uh… She is from one of those troubled teens shelters. One of my regulars asked if I wanted to be a 'Big Brother,' so I agreed." Yusuke lied.
"Come with me Kannia… let's fix your hair first." The older woman said as she started to lead Kannia towards the kitchen. The girl looked back at Yusuke confused and he nodded silently telling her that it would be all right. The spirit detective smiled to himself as the two women disappeared into the kitchen. That went better than expected, he thought. "I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to check inventory on the cart." He called before leaving the apartment.

~!~

Yusuke had returned to the apartment after taking full inventory of his cart and making a shopping list of what he would need before business hours. The state of the apartment had been a bit chaotic. Kannia had been sitting in the middle of the kitchen with his mother behind her, cutting her hair. After that was finished Yusuke had started to clean the kitchen while his mother showed Kannia how to use the shower. The hurricane that his mother was at this point was almost entertaining to watch, she was running around the apartment looking for a box of her old clothes so Kannia would have something to wear other than the 'rags' as his mother had called them.

It wasn't until eleven o'clock that Yusuke went to go check on his mother and Kannia. After stepping into his mother's room he found the woman passed out a smile on her face. Pulling the blankets over the woman he turned to leave from the room in search for the demon. He found her sitting in the spare bedroom staring out the window up at the moon. She was sitting next to the bed, her silver hair braided with a pink ribbon tied in it. She was dressed in a pair of hot pink pajamas that were decorated with rabbits. Her ears twitched signaling she had heard his arrival.
"Hey look you survived." He said with a chuckle as he went to stand next to her, looking down at her he noticed that she was fighting off sleep staring up at the moon. A faint smirk crossed his lips as he sat down on the floor next to her. "What's on your mind?"
"It's…. Weird." She muttered.
"What is?"
"No one is trying to kill each other…" she said looking down from the moon and to the Spirit Detective.
"That's how humans are, well most of them." He muttered.
Taking the braid of hair into her hand she looked at the ends of it. "That woman… she doesn't even know me… but she treated me nicely."
"Yea, my mom's like that." He said. "But she's asleep right now, why don't you get some rest?"
"It's not safe…" she muttered.
"Yea it is." Yusuke stated earning a confused look from the girl. He turned to look up at the moon once more before speaking. "We aren't in the demon world… no one will come anywhere near this area. It's my territory, so I'll keep you safe."
"R-Really?" she asked quietly.
"I promise." He said turning to look at her; he chuckled to himself as he saw that she had already fallen asleep, her upper body being the only part of her that was on the bed. Standing up he reached over spreading the blanket over her body. "G'Night Squirt." He said quietly before he walked out of the room closing the door behind him.
Instead of going to his own room to sleep, Yusuke's bad habits started to kick in once more. Slipping on his coat he left the apartment starting to walk around the block.

~!~

It had been a few days before Kannia woke up from her sleep; from how she looked when she woke up she needed it. The bags under her eyes had vanished and she looked to be in a better mood. Yusuke decided that he would take her with him for the day and give his mother a break. His only real errand was to stop at the store and pick up ingredients for the cart. Walking into the grocery store he grabbed a basket continuing on to the produce section. Kannia was walking next to him her hair was still tied in to a braid with a hot pink bandanna to hide her ears; she was wearing a pair of jeans and a pink t-shirt.
Crossing the aisle to the vegetables he started to browse the fresh produce. Kannia walked to stand a few items down from him staring at the food.
"So… Humans come here to gather food?" she asked looking at all the vegetation.
"Yep. They pick up what they need and then proceed to checkout to pay for the goods." Yusuke explained grabbing a few onions.
"And you pay with money." She said as if recalling an earlier conversation.
"Correct." Yusuke stated as he started to move down the row. Kannia quickly moved to keep up with him, she paused for a moment her attention focused on something before she wandered a little ways away. Yusuke paused and started to follow her wondering what she was up to. When he approached Kannia, she had been picking something up off the ground.
"What is this?" she asked holding up the silver coin.
"That is money… good eye." He said smiling as he looked at the coin closely. "It's a five hundred yen coin, so you should be able to get a can of soda and a candy bar with that."
"Huh?" she asked tilting her head to the side.
Yusuke laughed. "I'll show ya." He said before leading her on to finish their grocery shopping.

After the shopping was finished Yusuke led Kannia to the park with his noodle cart. It wasn't long after their arrival that Yusuke had started letting the food in the pots warm up to be served during the lunch hour. Kannia was sitting on the edge of a planter box her hair hanging over her shoulder as she looked down at the coin that she had found, twisting and tilting it watching the sunlight bounce off of it. Yusuke soon joined her on the ledge holding up two items he had bought. "One can of Coke and a chocolate bar." He stated before Kannia took them from him. Yusuke had pulled out a can of Coke for himself as he looked over at her smirking at the confused look on her face. "Watch." He stated simply as he took his own can of soda and popped the top open, taking a sip he looked at her.
Fascinated by the act Kannia looked down at her own can and attempted to do it, it took her a minute to get it and once she did she squeaked as a small portion of the carbonated liquid shot back at her. It wasn't enough for them to need a rag, but it was still funny to watch the girl get scared by a can of soda.
"Don't worry… the candy bar won't bite back like the soda." He laughed taking her candy bar and opening it for her. She took it from him looking at the pattern that had been melted into the confection; setting the can of soda down on the ledge next to her she took a bite of the chocolate. A smile soon danced across her lips. "It's good." She said before taking another bite.
"Knew you'd like it." He said opening his own candy bar and taking a bite. It was then that Kannia had tried to take a drink of the soda, she crinkled her nose.
"It's bubbling on my tongue." She said with a giggle.
Yusuke grinned resting his hand on her head; he chalked it up to being a good day. She was starting to open up little by little. But he got her to laugh, even if it was a little bit. "That's the carbonation, Squirt. You'll get used to it." He said standing up to tend to a customer.

~!~

It has been a six months since Yusuke brought Kannia to his apartment. They were walking home from a long day of work the sun slowly setting behind the buildings giving them enough light to walk home. Yusuke smiled as the girl spoke.
"I can't believe that guy earlier accused you of dropping his ramen on purpose." She said laughing.
"Even though I did, it's not like he could have proven it." Yusuke grinned.
"It was funny watching him stand there like a dying lizard when you convinced him it was his fault." She said smiling, reaching up she pushed her long silver hair behind her shoulders, she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a beanie on instead of the bandanna.
"He had been acting like a real ass the last few days, so it was time for some payback. Bonus was convincing him he had to pay for the second bowl." Yusuke laughed as he pushed the cart into the store room of the apartment complex and locking the door behind him. At the start he didn't know how he was going to take to Kannia… But once he really got her going, she was nothing compared to Kurama. She was a bundle of energy, she was easily distracted by anything shiny… but she was good kid and she had grown on him. And his mother, it had taken Kannia a few weeks to fully open up to her, but after three months she was calling her 'Mom' and it made Atsuko happy. Kannia had been the daughter his mother had always wanted.
"So what should we eat for dinner?" he asked as they climbed the stairs to the apartment.
"I dunno… Everything I've eaten in the human world so far has been good." She said as they reached the floor the apartment was on. Yusuke shook his head.
"Then we shall figure it out." He said opening the door and paused seeing the dining room table lined with food. It was an odd sight to see, he stepped inside letting Kannia in before closing the door and slipping out of his shoes. His mother was in the kitchen bringing out one last dish to set on the table.
"Welcome home!" she said smiling as she placed the bowl of rice down on the table. Yusuke had seen weird in his life time, but this was taking the cake. His mother had been acting odd for the last year, and now this.
"Thanks… what's the occasion?" he asked as he walked towards the table.
"Well I thought we would celebrate you're business. I mean up until now you haven't been able to hold down a steady job." She explained.
"Looks great, Mom!" Kannia said smiling as she looked down at the table.
"Yea." Yusuke said as he started to sit down with Kannia. "Thanks."

Yusuke sat at the table with his mother while Kannia was washing the dishes. The sun had fully disappeared from the sky and the lights were on in the living room and the kitchen. His mother had a cigarette in hand and a glass of wine in front of her, she seemed lost in thought staring down at the red liquid. Yusuke looked down at his beer trying to think of what to say.

"So how goes the business?" the older woman spoke looking up from her wine.
Yusuke blinked looking at his mother. "Fine, how is work?"
"Good." She said before taking a drag of her cigarette. Yusuke looked at his mother, it was then that he started to notice how dark the bags under her eyes were getting. She seemed to slouch a bit more in her seat as she stared down at the ash tray.
"How's Kannia been behaving?" she asked.
"Great… she's acting almost like a normal human girl." He said swishing around his beer. The mood of the conversation seemed to be dragging down the mood left over from dinner. It set something off in Yusuke's head. "You okay, Mom?" Yusuke muttered looking at her.
"Of course." She said smiling. "I've just been putting in some overtime at work." She seemed fine, but Yusuke didn't let his guard down.
"Course…" Yusuke said smiling to reassure his mother that he did believe her. Soon Kannia walked out of the kitchen a wet towel wrapped around her hands. "All done, Squirt?"
"Yep… I'm gonna go shower and then head to bed." She said reaching up to remove her hat her ears flicking. "Is there anything else I need to do?"
"Nope. You're good." He said smiling.

~!~

It had been one of the few nights that Yusuke had slept. His mother and him had stayed up late talking about nothing. Rolling over in bed he started to wake up. Opening his eyes he jumped seeing Kannia sitting on the floor in his room her ears drooped low.
"Squirt…" he said quietly as he started to sit up. "What's wrong?"
"It smells bad." She muttered.
"Wha-?" he asked as his mind started to wake up, as his senses caught up with his mind he could smell what she was. His eyes narrowed as he stood up, glancing at Kannia he saw that she was already dressed. "How long you been up?"
"Four hours or so." She said looking up at him.
Yusuke walked out of his room and into the hall the smell getting stronger the further down the hall he got. He stopped outside a closed door his hands starting to shake a bit. "Kannia… go to Genkai's, now."
Kannia peaked out of the room at him and nodded before grabbing her hat and hurrying out the front door.

This can't be happening… She had turned her life around god damn it! The spirit detective thought as he pushed the door open to his mother's bed room. The stench of death was soaked into the room. He scanned the room looking for any other source for the smell. His eyes landed on the bed, urging him to step closer. Soon standing at the edge of the bed he could see the older woman laying as if she were asleep, a smile on her face. Touching her shoulder carefully he tensed, her body was ice cold. Letting his hand slip off her body he tried to think of how this had happened. Turning to the nightstand he pulled open the drawer, in his mind he was secretly hoping find something to blame. What he found was a stash of medical letters and bills. "Mom… what did you do?" he muttered as he started flipping through the papers.

An hour had passed and Yusuke was sitting next to the bed the letters spread out around him. In his hand was a cigarette. "Heh, sobered up and straightened out, and in the end… the alcohol still killed you." He said his voice barely a whisper. After reading every letter from the doctor he had learned that his mother's liver had been failing for the last year. "Wish you would have told me…" he said letting his head rest against the bed where his mother's body was.

~!~

Why does it feel like I'm walking through quicksand… Kannia thought as she made her way up the stairs to Genkai's temple. There had been times when Yusuke told her to do things in the same voice he used this morning; it meant he was not in a good mood to argue about the subject. Finally reaching the top step she blinked seeing Genkai standing there looking puzzled.
"Where's the dimwit?" she asked walking towards Kannia.
"He's at the apartment still…" she responded as she sat down on the stairs staring back at the way she came. As she tried to think of the morning that passed, she couldn't think straight. Only about last night, and every night after she and Yusuke got home when they spent time with Mom. Pulling her hat off she rubbed her ears.
"Why?" Genkai asked now standing next to Kannia looking down the stairs with her.
"Mom's room smelt like death…" she said wondering why her voice cracked as she said it.

Genkai stared down at the young demon as she stated why Yusuke hadn't accompanied her on the bus to the temple. Digging into her robes she pulled out a cigarette and put it between her lips. "He'll be here soon… Don't worry." Genkai said after lighting the cigarette, resting her hand on Kannia's head.
"Kay…" she the girl muttered.