TheHeartsPath: Hello again everyone! Chapter 9 has arrived! Part of me still can't believe that I'm the one actually writing this. LOL Anyone else ever felt like that about a story they're writing? Please read and reivew! Hope you like the chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its' characters. They are owned by Yoshihiro Togashi. I own only Ayla, her family, and any other characters that do not show up in the series.

"Talking" Thoughts ~Telepathy or mind-reading~

Chapter 9: Glimpse Of The Past

FLASHBACK: 9 YEARS AGO

We were eight years old when we first met. She had just transferred to my school. I was already sat down at my desk when I sensed her energy and looked at the classroom door.

Standing there in the doorway, looking at me with surprise on her face was Fiona. Though I didn't know her name at that time. She had obviously sensed me as well. She was a beautiful girl from Ireland with white-blond hair and dark blue eyes. She looked like some fragile porcelain doll, that would break if you dropped it.

Later that same day though I found out Fiona was anything but fragile.

Like usual during recess the other kids started bullying me about being different. I had ignored them as best I could until I had to go inside to use the bathroom. As I was heading back outside one of them shoved me into an empty classroom and they started hitting me. Getting beat up every now and then was nothing new to me.

But it was the first time there had been more than two people hitting me at once. I could get away when there were only two, but not when there was five of them like that day. Malcolm and Jane were the ones that beat me up occasionally, but today they had brought help. This time William, Paul, and Debbie were there. All five of them were in my class and hated me.

Scared because I couldn't get away, I had curled up into a ball to try and protect my stomach and head as best I could. Telepathically, I called to Gwen and Sinclair to come and save me.

I didn't know that someone else had also heard my plea for help.

The next thing I knew one of the people who had been beating me cried out in pain. The rest stopped what they were doing to see what had caused their friend to cry out. I lifted my head enough to try and see as well. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw Fiona. She was standing next to the kid that had cried out. It was Paul and he had a bloody nose from Fiona punching him.

"Leave 'er alone." Fiona said.

"Why should we? She's nothing but a freak." Malcolm said.

"Yeah, you're new here so you don't know. Ayla here is a monster. She says she hears peoples' thoughts and emotions. A monster like her doesn't know her place so she has to be taught a lesson." said Jane with a sneer.

Fiona then spoke in a voice that was whisper soft, yet rather frightening, "Ye say she be a monster. But do ye know wot? Th' only monsters I be seein' 'ere be ye scum. Only monsters gang up on a person an' beat 'em up. Th' lot of ye make me sick." As she spoke objects around the room started shaking, then floating. Not just small objects either, all the desks started to float as well.

The five who had been beating on me got really scared and started screaming.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Debbie screeched.

"Th' lot of ye scum bet'er get out of 'ere b'fore I really lose me temper an' start sendin' these 'ere objects in yer direction." Fiona said glaring at them.

"Oh my god! She's a monster too!" William yelled.

"Tha's right. I not be tha' much differ'nt from Ayla. NOW GET OUT AND LEAVE AYLA ALONE!" Fiona shouted.

Needless to say they didn't need to be told twice.

Once they were gone, everything that was floating landed back where it had been before. Fiona then came over to me and asked, "Are ye alright?"

Nodding my head, I started crying and hugged her. "You helped me. Thank you so much Fiona!"

She hugged me back, then pushed me away from her enough so that she could see my face and smiled. "Well now ye know," she started, "us freaks 'ave got ta stick toget'er and help one 'nother out. Right?"

I smiled back at her and answered, "Right!"

A moment later both Gwen and Sinclair came with a teacher hot on their heels. "AYLA!" they yelled, running to my side.

"What'd you do to our sister?!" Sinclair yelled at Fiona while Gwen was checking to see how bad I was hurt.

"Leave her alone Sinclair! She didn't do this!" I yelled at him.

The teacher asked, "Alright, what happened and who did it?"

I tried to stand up but fell when pain shot up my back. Fiona caught me, "Whoa Ayla! Dinna try ta stand up! They got ye pretty badly ye know."

"They?" Gwen asked, "It was Malcolm and Jane again wasn't it?"

Nodding I answered, "Yeah, but this time they had William, Paul, and Debbie with them."

Sinclair was pissed and started to leave the room. Probably to go and beat the crap out of all of them for beating on his baby sister. The teacher stopped him, telling him that he needed Sinclair to help Gwen and Fiona take me to the nurse's office.

To this day I still have no idea if Malcolm, Jane, and their friends told the teacher about the floating objects. But Fiona and I told my parents and siblings and her mother the truth about what had happened. My family happily accepted Fiona and her mother happily accepted me as well.

After that day we were practically inseparable. Not only did we think of each other as best friends, we thought of each other as sisters. We may not have been blood sisters, but we were sisters where it mattered the most, in our hearts.

We told each other what our abilities were and thought it was really cool that both of us were telepathic. Anything that we could think of to do together we did. It didn't matter if it was hanging out, eating lunch, doing homework, training our abilities with Grandma Genkai when she visited, or whatever. There were even times where we would have telepathic conversations when the other was across town.

For two years we looked out for, protected, confided, and comforted each other.

It was during this time that Gwen had said my eye color made her think of a forest nymph. Fiona had been the first to call me Nymph. I started calling her Fairy after that. She didn't like it at first but she got used to it. Kira asked us to give her a nickname when she turned three, so we came up with Pixie.

In our pasts both of us had people stab us in the back after saying they were our friends. We made a promise to each other to never abandon nor ever betray the other. The trust we had in each other was absolute.

But then it happened. The accident.

She had gotten on the train with her mom to visit her grandparents during spring break. Somehow the train got derailed and a lot of people died. The compartment that Fiona and her mother had been in had not only rolled down a cliff, but had also had boulders land on it. Their bodies had been crushed beyond recognition according to the authorities.

When my parents told me what had happened I was devastated. My friend, my first friend, my best friend, my heart's sister...was dead and gone forever. Never again would we see, hug, laugh, cry, confide, comfort each other, or do anything together. There was no one outside of my family that I would give my trust to again.

It was then that I stopped trusting in people.

END FLASHBACK

Ayla's POV

I came out of my reverie of the past and looked at Shuichi and Kazuma.

"You said you found me to be a trustworthy person. But from what you said a moment ago, about not having trusted someone outside your family in a very long time. It's obviously going to take time for you to truly trust us." Shuichi said in a soft voice.

I think he was trying to make me feel at ease by speaking softly. It was working, albeit only a little. "Yes. It will take time for me to trust you, Kazuma, and Yusuke." I conceded.

"How come you didn't mention the shrimp?" Kazuma asked.

I blinked at him, "Who?"

"That's what Kuwabara refers to Hiei as sometimes I'm afraid." Shuichi answered with a sigh.

"I see." He must call Hiei that cause of how short he is. "Last I checked Hiei wasn't a crustacean. So don't refer to him as one." I said, frowning at Kazuma, "Besides, I'm not that much taller than he is so I find so-called jokes or puns about height annoying."

Shuichi smiled, looking like he was trying not to laugh. Apparently he found part or all of what I just said amusing.

"I'll call him a shrimp if I want to." Kazuma responded.

I rolled my eyes and smirked, "You sounded like a little kid just now. Don't you know that you should act your age and not your shoe size Kazuma?"

A chuckle escaped from Shuichi before he made it into a coughing noise as Kazuma glared at him. Clearing his throat, Shuichi looked at me. His eyes were sparkling with amusement when he asked, "Aren't you going to answer Kuwabara's question?"

"Uh...I would if I remembered what the question was." I said quietly, slightly embarrassed that I had actually forgotten the question.

"He asked you why you didn't mention Hiei when you said it would take time to trust me, himself, and Yusuke. I must admit, I'm rather curious about it as well." Shuichi informed me.

"Oh...um well, you see...uh," I stuttered. What the hell is wrong with me? It's nothing more than a simple question. No need to stutter. So dammit Ayla, pull yourself together!

Shuichi had raised an eyebrow at my stuttering, but said nothing.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried once more to answer the question. And this time NO stuttering. "The reason I didn't mention Hiei's name is because for some damn reason that eludes me, I trust him. Trust him wholeheartedly to be exact." Now that wasn't so hard now was it?

Opening my eyes I saw that Shuichi had a thoughtful look, while Kazuma looked like his eyes were going to pop right out of his head. "You trust the shrimp?" Kazuma yelped. Amazingly enough he wasn't loud.

I growled, stood up, and walked around the table. Once I was beside Kazuma I stopped and glared at him with my arms crossed. With him sitting down our eyes met without either of us having to tilt our heads. That was totally not fair. I wanted to glare down at him.

But alas, when you're short you can't glare down at someone unless you are on a hill, a few stairs higher, on another floor up, or the most humiliating one of all...standing on a box. Since we were inside there were no hills. Here in the dining room there were no stairs, meaning no other floor either. So both of those were out too. And if there was a box in this house, there was no way in hell I'd humiliate myself by standing on it.

We who are short do have our pride after all.

"What did I say about referring to Hiei as a crustacean?" I asked through slightly, clenched teeth.

Blinking at me in confusion he answered, "Uh, you said not to. But I said..."

I cut him off, "I know what you said Kazuma. And I think you are acting like an idiot. Now because you're acting like an idiot, I'm going to do something I do to those who act like idiots."

"I'm not an idiot!" he retorted loudly. Though not quite loud enough to bring Shiori from the living room.

Raising an eyebrow I said, "I never said you were an idiot. I only said that you were acting like one."

He grumbled saying, "Whatever." Then he asked, "And what the heck did you mean you were gonna do something that you do to idiots?"

"Do to those that act like idiots." I corrected him shrugging, "And just this." I then smacked him in the back of the head. Not hard enough to make his face meet the table, but hard enough that his head would be sore for at least five minutes, if not more.

"Hey!" Kazuma yelped. He rubbed the area that I had smacked and glared at me.

I'm seriously beginning to think that Kazuma should be in the 'nice person, but also an idiot' category.

I noticed that Shuichi looked like he was torn between amusement and exasperation. Both were probably caused by the way Kazuma and I were acting. Smiling sheepishly at him I went back to my seat and started trying to work on my math again.

"Are the two of you quite finished?" Shuichi asked politely, though there was definitely a bit of a strain in his voice.

"Guess so." Kazuma answered.

I stayed silent.

"Well Ayla?" Shuichi asked.

I looked at him, "Hm?"

"I asked are you quite finished?"

"No, I'm not finished. I've still got a ton of math to do." I responded, knowing very well that he wasn't asking about math.

Sighing he said, "Ayla..."

"What? It's the truth."

"You know that wasn't what he meant." Kazuma said with a frown.

"I know." I chirped while smirking.

Shuichi shook his head, "Then why did you answer as you did?"

"I plead the fifth." I answered, looking back at the vile thing called math.

There was a couple seconds of silence before Shuichi spoke again. "You aren't ever going to say that you're done are you?" he asked.

"Nope." I responded cheerfully, still smirking.

He chuckled at my response.

"What does she mean by 'plead the fifth'?" Kazuma asked.

"It refers to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Which was ratified in 1791, guaranteeing due process of law and that no person "shall be forced to testify against himself"." I answered.

"Huh?"

I sighed and let my forehead land on the table with a thump. I was not going to repeat myself.

"It's a way for a person to say that they won't answer a question that goes against them." Shuichi supplied.

I had lifted my head up to watch Shuichi explain to Kazuma what 'pleading the fifth' meant in simpler terms. And here I had thought giving a dictionary like answer had been simple terms. Apparently answers like that aren't quite simple enough for Kazuma.

"Oh...But if it's from the U.S. Constitution then it doesn't work here right?" Kazuma asked.

"I have no idea if it would work for a legal situation here, I wouldn't think so though. But it's also used as a figure of speech in normal conversations that have no legal connections." Shuichi answered.

"Oh."

Hearing Kazuma's response of 'Oh' again made me exasperated enough that I let my head once again hit the table with a thump.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that dear." Shiori said from behind me.

I yelped, jumping in surprise at her speaking. Because of my reaction I sent my chair backwards with me still in it. Needless to say it wasn't a quiet landing, nor was it dignified. I ended up with my feet in the air and the back of my head painfully making its acquaintance with the floor.

"My goodness! Are you alright Ayla?" Shiori asked me as she came and knelt beside me. She had that worried look that all mothers get when they see a child, regardless of the child being their own or not, hurt.

I'd hit my head hard enough to become disoriented. Blinking up at Shiori I started to say the first thing that came to mind, "That hurt like he-...uh I mean...Ow?" Thankfully I had stopped myself from cursing. For some reason cursing in Shiori's presence just didn't feel right. "I'm alright Shiori. Just gonna have a nasty headache for a while." I said, answering her question.

She still looked worried, not that I could blame her.

Heavy footsteps were coming from my right, behind Shiori. Which meant it was probably my siblings and Kokoda coming from the study to see what the noise was.

"What happened?" Kokoda asked.

Wow, what do you know I was right. I must be psychic. I blinked and mentally slapped myself. Just great, I'm making puns about myself. Must have hit my head hard enough to knock some sense out of myself.

Gwen came and stood near my head, looking down at me. Then looking at Shiori she asked, "I'm gonna guess someone startled her and she flipped her chair in surprise. Am I right?"

"Yes. All I did was speak from the doorway and she jumped in surprise." Shiori answered.

Looking at me again, Gwen said, "You really need to learn to control yourself when someone surprises you."

I glared at her and retorted, "Well excuse me for being more focused on a conversation than on my surroundings. I was just trying to be polite."

Sinclair came into view and asked, "Didn't Grams teach you to be aware of your surroundings no matter what you were doing?"

My eye twitched at his question. "Oh hush up." Since no one was standing to my left I swung my legs in that direction. I rolled to my feet and stood up all in one motion.

Unfortunately my equilibrium had other ideas and decided to have me fall flat on my ass. Okay...no standing up for a few minutes. Head does not like that at the moment. The entire room was trying to spin and tilt all at once. Damn I didn't think I hit my head that hard.

"It would probably be best if you didn't stand up so quickly Ayla. After all, you did just hit your head and rather hard at that." Shuichi said, concern evident in his voice.

"No, you think? I just figured that the room spun and tilted because it meant I was perfectly fine." I sarcastically replied.

"Ayla!" Gwen fussed at me.

I looked at Shuichi and saw that his eyes weren't showing the slight hurt that I heard in his Heart's Song. Sighing I apologized, "I'm sorry Shuichi. It's just that whenever I get hurt I sometimes get sarcastic. This is one of those times and you just happened to be the one I ended up being a jerk to."

"Yeah don't let it get to you dude. Just be glad she only got plain sarcastic instead of pissed off sarcastic. That's when you should worry about what she says." Sinclair said.

"Apology accepted Ayla." Shuichi said with a small smile.

"Sinclair? Did you just call my brother 'dude'?" Kokoda asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Sinclair answered.

"I've never heard anyone call him that before." Kokoda responded with a laugh.

"I don't believe anyone has ever called me that before." Shuichi said.

"Well now you have." Sinclair said smirking.

Holding my aching head in both my hands I said, "If y'all are done with your 'who has called who what before' conversation, could someone help me up? Cause I don't really trust my equilibrium at this point in time."

"I'll help you up." Kazuma said as he came around the table. Putting his hands under my arms, he lifted me up easily.

Too easily. My feet weren't even touching the ground. Glancing down I saw that my feet were a good foot and a half to two feet from the ground. It was kinda hard to tell. There are times I hate weighing barely over a hundred pounds. This was one of those times.

"You barely weigh anything!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide.

I just looked at him and found myself looking him right in the eye. Kazuma was holding me at frigging eye level. "Yeah, uh huh, that's great. Could you please put me down now? I'd like to sit down in a chair instead of hanging here in the air, like a piece of laundry on a clothesline." I said, trying my hardest not to glare at him. However, I couldn't keep my right eye from twitching in annoyance.

He blinked and grinned sheepishly, "Right. Sorry bout that." Gently he lowered me to the ground, like he was afraid I was going to break or something.

Someone had righted my chair, no idea who. I sat down and Shiori checked the back of my head to see how bad I'd hit it. When she touched the area I'd hit, I winced. "Kokoda could you please get the ice bag, fill it, and give it to Ayla?" Shiori asked him.

"Sure thing Mom." Kokoda answered and left the room.

"Now Ayla, when Kokoda gives the ice bag to you, I want you to put it on the back of your head alright? You've got a lump about the size of a golf ball." she told me.

"Alright." I agreed with a small grimace. Putting the ice on my head was gonna make it hurt worse before it made it feel better. Oh well.

"Well I best get to work on fixing that snack I said I'd make." Shiori said.

"I'll help you Ms. Shiori." Gwen offered.

Shiori smiled, "Thank you Gwen. I'd love the help. And please, just call me Shiori."

"Okay Shiori." Gwen said with a smile of her own.

They went into the kitchen and started working. Kokoda came back a moment later with the ice bag and handed it to me. I thanked him and held it to the area of my head that had the lump. Once the snack, which was a delicious mixed fruit dish, had been made and eaten, we all went back to our homework. Shuichi, Kazuma, and I didn't talk about anything but math after that. Kazuma left right after we finished.

Shuichi had asked me if I had spoken to Hiei at all today. I told him I had spoken to him and that I was upset with him. He was going to say something else but I told him I didn't want to talk about it. Shuichi nodded, said he was going to work on something in the garden, and went outside. Though I had a feeling he was also going to ask Hiei what the hell he'd done to upset me.

I went into the living room and saw that Gwen, Sinclair, and Kokoda had moved there from the study. We worked on the rest of our homework without any interruptions. Once everything was finished, we all agreed that this had gone really well and decided to continue to do this throughout the school year. Having done that we all said our goodbyes and headed to our house.

Dad was home and both he and Mom wanted to know how it had gone. I left Gwen and Sinclair to tell them how it went and headed for my room to lay down until dinner. It had been long enough after I hit my head that it was safe for me to do so.

I was about to open the door that lead to the small winding stairway that went to my bedroom door, when the door to the room that Kira and Gwen shared opened. Kira came out and took my hand. Smiling at her, I continued to my room and we went in. Earlier when I had told the Minamino's and Kazuma that Kira was going to be sleeping in my bed for the rest of the week I wasn't lying. She went and laid on my bed while I put my book bag on my desk and turned my stereo on.

The music was Celtic, something that I found to be very soothing on days like this. Days that seemed to almost come from hell itself. First day at a new school with teachers and students giving me hell, my senses going crazy, Hiei being an asshole, finding out that my baby sister is an empath, dealing with math, having people I'd just met ask about me trusting them, remembering Fiona, whacking the hell out of my head, and having my weight (or lack there of) commented on.

Worse than one of my typical days...though not by much.

Well here's hoping that the rest of the week isn't as insane as today was. I thought as I laid down next to Kira. Call it intuition, but I knew hoping for that was in vain. Something told me that soon things were only going to get more insane.

Only question was, how much more insane?