Summary: For Mika, life is a constant struggle for survival. After some very unfortunate situations, she has isolated herself and is dangerously close to losing her sanity. That is, until she meets Kurama who turns her life upside down. But things begin to get out of control when it is discovered that she could have some strange connection to a mysterious legendary force that could be plotting a major takeover of all three worlds! Could her misery be nothing more that a cruel twist of fate or is this all connected to something even bigger?

Disclaimer: C'mon, you know the drill. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I do own all OCs.

Angel's Cry

Chapter 6

"One of the Guys"

"Bye, Kurama." Mika frowned as she watched the said redhead shrug on a light coat and kneel to tie his black dress shoes.

Kurama glanced up at her from under long eyelashes, one eyebrow perked in curiosity. He hurriedly tied the other shoe and crouched slightly so that his eyes were level with her's.

Mika's face flushed a bright pink in embarrassment as he leaned closer to her, the corner of his mouth twitching in a smile.

"What?" She squeaked, as her face turned a deeper shade of red.

"You're not scared, are you?" He chuckled in slight amusement.

"N-No!" She frowned as she turned her face away from him.

Truthfully, she was. Even though Kurama had spent all morning reassuring her and attempting to soothe her, she still couldn't seem to completely shake her fears.

Kurama's lips curved into a slight smile, "Mika, it is quite unnecessary to lie. Why are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid," she said as she twirled a long lock of hair around her finger. "It's more like I'm...worried."

"About what?"

"I don't know..."

"Mika," Kurama sighed as he shook his head, "You have nothing to fear. Would I let anything happen to you?"

Although she hadn't known Kurama very long, she trusted him. Fully.

"No," she shook her head.

"Then what have you to fear?"

"Nothing." Her lips twisted into a slight frown.

"Exactly," he smiled at her, "Both Yusuke and Kuwabara have their cell phones. I will be running errands for the day. If you need me, you only need to call. Now, please, try to enjoy yourself."

"Okay," she sighed as she watched him turn on his heel. He turned again and gave her a warm smile and a soft "goodbye," before closing the door behind him.

Mika let out another sigh as she heard the engine of a car roar to life. She shook her head as she turned and ventured down the hall into the living room.

~.~.~.~.~

"Koenma, sir. Kurama is here to see you."

"Can't you see that I'm busy right now?"

A young baby sat in a large chair behind a desk overflowing with paperwork. He was shuffling through enormous piles of papers furiously, only taking a few seconds to scan each one's contents before he stamped it or scrawled his signature on the line.

"But, Koenma, sir... he says that it's very important."

A blue ogre stood in front of the large wooden double doors that led out to the corridor. He scratched his head nervously when the child looked up at him with a deadly glare.

"Fine," the baby sighed around the binky in his mouth and slammed his fist against the desk irritably. "Send him in."

The ogre nodded and turned from the room. Koenma set his stamp down, leaned back in his seat, and rubbed his temples in frustration. He opened his eyes when a pair of light footsteps approached him.

"Hello, Koenma," the redheaded fox greeted politely, "I understand that you're very busy. But this is very important and I am not sure if it can wait."

Koenma took Kurama's serious expression in with incredulous eyes before he sighed and gestured for him to sit down. "Alright. This better be good, Kurama."

"Of course," the redhead said as he pulled the chair from the corner of the room to the front of Koenma's desk. He took a seat before he began his story.

~.~.~.~.~

"Where do you want to go first?" Yusuke questioned as he watched Mika with amusement. Her brown eyes were wide with awe as she took in all the flashing lights and neon signs as they walked through the crowded streets of Tokyo.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "You can choose."

"You do realize that I'm a guy right?" Yusuke grinned widely.

"Well, that's what I thought," she paused and turned to stare at Yusuke with wide and confused eyes, "You are a guy, aren't you?"

Kuwabara let out a loud roar of laughter. "She got you, Urameshi." Kuwabara smirked. "Good one, Mika!"

She watched as Kuwabara extended his fist and she tilted her head to the side in confusion. Not really understanding, she extended her own hand which was clenched into a tight fist and touched her knuckles with his. Kuwabara smiled widely.

"I'll be nice and let that one slide, Mika. Next time will be different. You've been warned." Yusuke frowned, "But what I meant was that we're not doing anything girly. I draw the line at shoe shopping, okay?"

Mika's lips twisted into a smile; they were hilarious. "Well, you don't have to worry about me. I don't like shopping. I'm pretty sure that I have everything that I need for the rest of my life. Botan pretty much brought the whole mall."

"Hallelujah!"

"Good," Kuwabara said as he made a face, "Last thing we need is another Botan to drag us around shopping."

"I had to go through it too," she reminded him, "Keiko went too."

"So you understand our pain." Yusuke said, as they ran across the street when the crossing sign changed. "C'mon, I know where I want to go."

~.~.~.~.~

"Go, Mika! Go, go, go!"

Mika stood in front of a large machine, her hands wrapped around a bright red joystick. Her dark eyes were glued to the screen in concentration as she leaned into the machine, immersed in the game.

Yusuke and Kuwabara stood behind her, whooping and hollering. A small crowd of curious gamers were beginning to form behind them.

"C'mon!" Kuwabara called out as he beat his hand again the side of the machine in anticipation. "You're doin' good! You can do this!"

"Be the game!" Yusuke shouted, "Don't forget your training, Mika! Be the game!" [1]

Mika bit her lip in concentration as her eyes darted from side to side as she moved the joystick along and tapped the button furiously.

She was on the final level of the game. There was only one last enemy ship left and she was down to her very last life. On the final level. With her final token. Was she feeling the pressure?

Pretty much.

They had been playing videogames for at least three hours now. Yusuke and Kuwabara had insisted that she play every game in the arcade at least ten times. They had blown off at least twenty dollars, but at the rate that they were going, they could have very easily played a hundred dollars' worth of tokens.

"No!" All three yelled as the red enemy ship on the screen dropped a bomb that came dangerously close to her ship. She quickly yanked the joystick to the left in an attempt to avoid the bomb---

BOOM!

"Damn it!" Yusuke shouted.

GAME OVER.

"That's not fair!" Mika frowned as she folded her arms across her chest tightly. "And that was my last token too!"

"At least you got a high score," Kuwabara said thoughtfully.

"But I wanted to win!"

"Don't feel bad, Mika," Yusuke muttered as he kicked the side of the machine, "This game's pretty hard. I've only beat it once. You were really close though. You'll get it next time."

"I guess," she frowned.

"You guys hungry?" Yusuke questioned as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. They turned to walk out of the arcade. "We can grab something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Mika said.

Both boys turned to stare at her incredulously.

"You're not?" Kuwabara questioned as he eyed her carefully, "You didn't eat anything this morning."

Mika flushed a light pink, "I wasn't hungry."

"You sure?" Yusuke questioned as he stared at her; his brown eyes were filled with suspicion and curiosity.

"Yes," she murmured as she bowed her head in embarrassment.

"Alright, I guess. You hungry, Yusuke?" Kuwabara said as he turned from the silver haired woman.

"Starving. Let's go to that American-style restaurant down the street. I'm craving a burger big time."

~.~.~.~.~

"Are you sure you're not hungry, Mika?" Kuwabara asked for the thirtieth time that afternoon. He took the black folder that the waiter handed to him and shoved some money in it. He tossed it back carelessly without removing his eyes from the girl in front of him.

"Yes," Mika swirled her glass of water around in front of her, causing the ice to clink as it hit the sides. "I'm sure."

To be honest, she was hungry. She was starving! She had stolen a couple of french-fries off of Yusuke's plate when she was sure that they weren't paying attention. But, that was it. And she could still hear the voice in her head yelling at her and calling her weak. She had given in to her hunger. And she failed.

She had to turn away when Yusuke began to eat his burger though. She was sure that if she pushed her self-control too much that she would snap. And she would jump over the table and onto Yusuke in order to get to his food. And she was planning on retaining what little dignity she had.

But it had smelled oh so good! She couldn't resist! She just had to have a small taste...

She began to eye a woman sitting in a booth beside them. She was talking and not paying any attention to the food on her plate. It would only take a minute for Mika to grab it and run out the door... She sighed and squashed the fantasy before it could become a reality.

Yusuke burped loudly as he stretched and let out a yawn. "Where to next?"

Mika shrugged as she took another sip from her glass.

"Let's go to the pet store," Kuwabara suggested, "Shizuru says she needs some more food for Eikichi. She can't get it herself until she gets her paycheck next week."

"Eikichi?" Mika questioned with interest.

"His cat." Yusuke muttered.

"I've never seen a cat in the house before. Where do you keep it?"

"Eikichi stays with my sister at my house, Shizuru. You'll meet her tonight. Right now we're staying together in Kurama's old house. [2] He lived there before his mom got remarried." Kuwabara explained.

"Yeah, Koenma wants us to stay together in one place while he works on this 'supposed' problem. Luckily, its summer or Keiko would be on my ass right now about skippin'." Yusuke added.

"What happens when school starts back up?" Mika asked quietly.

"Well, we'll probably all go back home. But if there's still trouble Koenma can get us out of school for a while. No biggie."

"Oh... when does school start?"

"Well," Kuwabara said as he leaned back in his seat and chewed on his straw thoughtfully, "summer break started a week before we met you so we've got about two more months left."

"Oh..."

Mika's lips twisted into a small frown. She knew that staying with them would only be temporary---of course---but she had grown to like the company. It was hard to think that in just about two month's time they would leave her to return to their normal lives.

She was just an oddity. A one-time thing. Something that didn't fit in their regular lives.

It hurt to think that pretty soon... it could go back to the way it had been. All by herself. No friends. No jokes. No laughter...

No more Kurama. No more gentle smiles. There would be no more of that soothing voice to whisper in her ear that "everything will be ok." Her own personal sun---gone, never to brighten her day again.

Kuwabara and Yusuke didn't seem to notice the blank stare that glazed across Mika's amber eyes as they continued to their argument.

"Kuwabara, we're not going into some pet store just so you can cuddle with every goddamn thing there!"

"Shut up, Urameshi! You're just upset because the cats scratched you up last time. It's not my fault that they don't like you!" Kuwabara yelled back.

"Nobody wants to go to the pet store, Kuwabara. Just shut the fudge up so we can go home!"

"How do you know? Maybe Mika wants to go."

"No she doesn't!"

"Well let's ask her! Hey, Mika!"

The young woman snapped out of her daze and stared at the two boys that were leaning across the table towards her. Her eyes were as wide as a frightened rabbit's. "Y-Yes?"

"You want to go to the pet store?"

"Oh, ummm... okay?"

"YES!"

"Damn it!"

~.~.~.~.~

Mika giggled as she, Yusuke, and Kuwabara slipped silently through the quickly darkening streets of Tokyo.

"I liked the orange cat the best," she said, "It was so cute."

Yusuke let out a groan and rolled his eyes before he shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim jeans. He withdrew a cigarette and a lighter. In less than a minute the cream colored roll was between his lips, the end flickering to life.

"Don't worry, Mika." Kuwabara said, "Urameshi's just mad 'cuz the cats don't like him."

"Dumbass..."

"What was that, Urameshi?"

Mika shook her head as her lips twitched into a tiny smile. After a few well aimed punches, kicks, and threats, they calmed down again. She was beginning to get used to their constant fighting which was, at times, irritating but funny.

"Well," Yusuke said as he threw his cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of his shoe, "We should probably head back. It's around what? Six? The party's gonna start in a little bit."

"Yeah. Let's go. I can't wait for you to meet Yukina."

"Yukina?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side as she examined the dazed look that began to form on the redhead's face.

"The love of my life," Kuwabara sighed, "She's the most beautiful thing in the world. More beautiful than any angel. She's so amazing."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Yusuke snorted as he shoved the distracted buffoon out of his way. "He's nuts about her. I'm surprised that Hiei hasn't slit his throat yet."

"Why would Hiei do that?" Mika questioned as she turned to stare at Yusuke who let out a loud "oops," before he was suddenly muttering a rush of cuss words under his breath.

"Never mind. It's nothing."

"It's because Hiei's trying to steal my love away from me!" Kuwabara roared, "He knows that he's in love with Yukina! But he can't have her. She's mine!"

"If only that idiot had a clue," Yusuke snickered under his breath.

Mika looked at the brunette before her head whipped back in Kuwabara's direction. She didn't understand what was going on at all. She was curious. Just who was this Yukina? And did Hiei like her?

Yusuke tapped her on the shoulder and she turned. "Unlike that idiot," he pointed ahead to Kuwabara who had run ahead yelling something incoherent, "I'm convinced you're smart. You'll figure it out in no time."

"Ummm... okay?"

The two were quiet for a moment while they strolled along at a lazy pace behind Kuwabara who was beginning to fade from sight.

"You know?" Yusuke said as he turned to the silver haired woman who gave him a questioning look. "You're pretty quiet. You're different from other girls..."

"Oh..."

"I've never met a girl that doesn't like to shop. You like video games---and you were pretty good too. I guess you're just another one of the guys, eh? You're alright in my book," he concluded with a smile, "You ever need something, you come to me, okay?"

Mika's lips curled up into a smile. "Thank you, Yusuke."

"Hey, no problem." He flashed her a cheesy grin.

"Hey, stop lollygagging!" Kuwabara called out, "I need to get home to Yukina before Hiei can get to her!"

"Alright, let's go," Yusuke let out a loud laugh before they ran to catch up with Kuwabara.

~.~.~.~.~

Author's Notes

[1] -I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. I just had to. :)

[2] - Shiori is one of the coolest moms ever. She lets Kurama live on his own during the summer (in my story). She thinks that it's good practice for when he goes away for college.