Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Can't You Hear Me? ❯ Chapter 2: First Day's The Worst Day ( Chapter 2 )

First Day's The Worst Day

Drof: Ain't it true. Anyway, here's the second chappie o' CYHM. Unless you're stupid, you already know that. Oh, and in case anyone who's read PC, and noticed a small difference between schools…It'll all be cleared up later on, I swear. And, as for the age…..Saisheiki is a combination middle, high school, and college school. Just so ya know.

Karasu: Wow, you actually said something USEFUL at the beginning of a chapter.

Drof: SHADDUP!!! Anyway, let the ficcy continue!!! I realized something….Kurama can't have the same classes as her, so I'm gonna change that.

Disclaimer: Drof owns nothing but the OCs, and a teacup. Actually, Riddick owns the teacup, but she's borrowing it. *If you've seen Chronicles of Riddick, you'll get it.*

***

Chapter 2: First Day's The Worst Day

"Might I ask what a girl who speaks primarily English is doing here?" Suichii asked.

"I have nowhere else to go," BHS said cautiously, shrugging. `Don't give too much away,' she thought. Suddenly, a cold voice sounded through her head, one with a faintly Irish-British accent overlaid by coldness. The voice was distant, and rimmed with frost. Unbidden to BHS's mind sprang the image of hard blue eyes, as cold as the glaciers from which they took their hue, and glaring suspiciously.

<He suspects something,> the voice said. <He knows that you're hiding something. Give something away….> the voice became faintly amused here. <Give something away….Let him think he's won the game…But don't give away what you can't afford to.>

"What the hell….?" She muttered, putting a hand to her head.

"Something wrong?" Suichii asked.

"My head hurts, that's all," BSH replied, not really knowing why.

<Oh, but you do,> the voice whispered in her head. And BHS did know. Something told her that the voice was something to be kept secret, something only she should know. Something that, like so many other things in her life, couldn't be told to anyone else.

`Plus,' she thought wryly, `if I tell him I'm hearing voices, he'll think I'm insane.'

"Do you need to go see the nurse?" Suichii asked, and she saw genuine concern in the red-head's eyes.

"Nah, my head always hurts," she said, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture. Suichii nodded, but still seemed suspicious. "It's pro'lly jus' stress."

"Probably," he said. "Well, here's your class. You should go talk to your teacher."

"Um, I can't speak the language," BHS reminded him.

"Don't worry, the teachers speak English. It's a job-requirement here," Suichii said.

"Well then, I guess that'll be okay, won't it?" she said. "Thanks for the help," she added over her shoulder, as she walked into the room. She looked around a bit nervously, falling into her old habit of noting any and all escape-ways. `The windows,' she thought, `this is the first floor. I think he keeps them open, so they'll be good.'

"Um," she said, her voice small and meek. "Hello?" she added quietly, walking up to the teacher's desk. The man looked up at her, a bit irritated that his work was being interrupted. He had a kind face, with black eyes and short, blue-black hair.

"Hello," he said in rather accented English. "May I help you?"

"Um, I'm BHS….New student? I'm supposed to be in this class….I think…"

"You think?" the teacher asked.

"Well, I can't read Japanese…" she said sheepishly.

"My," the teacher said. "That could cause problems. Can you speak Japanese?"

"Not much," she said.

"This won't do at all!" the teacher said. "I'm Mr. Akado, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"Same here," BHS said. She found she was dry-washing her hands, and tried to stop.

"We'll have to do something about that….I know!! I'll have Shiato help you out. She's your age, and it appears she has the same classes as you. I'll tell her to help you around. Also, she can help you learn Japanese!" Mr. Akado said.

"Really?" BHS asked. "Thanks!"

"She's usually here at this time…Follow me!" And with that, Mr. Akado got up, and, gesturing for BHS to follow, exited the room.

***

"Shiato?" a girl asked. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go check out the new kid," Shiato told the blue-eyed blonde who asked. She herself had silky shoulder-length black hair, which she kept in a pony-tail. Her eyes were odd-colored, one green and the other grey-blue. Her skin was smooth, and lightly tanned. She had long, slender fingers with perfectly manicured nails.

"Um, Shiato…" the girl said.

"What?"

"I think that's her." The blonde pointed to two people walking down the hall, the first a teacher. The second was so short that Shiato looked right over her, and then, on the double-take, noticed her.

"She's a runt!" Shiato exclaimed.

"Shiato," the teacher, who Shiato recognized as Mr. Akado, said, "you know that it's rather unkind to call people names like that."

"Sorry," Shiato said. "Heat of the moment." BHS, who couldn't understand Japanese, was lost.

"Um…?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mr. Akado exclaimed, in English. He turned to Shiato, and said, "She doesn't understand much Japanese."

"Then why is she at a Japanese school?" Shiato asked, in English.

"I, um, had nowhere else to go, really," BHS said, her voice gradually fading to quietness.

"Really?" Shiato asked. She found herself becoming more and more curious about this strange girl.

"BHS, this is Shiato," Mr. Akado said. "Shiato, BHS is in all your classes, so I'm going to have you help her find her way around, okay? And, could you help her with her Japanese?"

"Sure, Akado-san," Shiato said, smiling. Suichii had smiled the same way, BHS noted, but he'd actually wanted to help, whereas Shiato was merely putting on a show. BHS noted this, and stored it for later consideration, which was another habit of hers.

"Thank you," Mr. Akado said. "I have some work to do before school starts, so I'll have to go now." And with that, he turned and left.

After he was gone, Shiato and the blonde girl turned to BHS.

"So," Shiato said casually, "you're the new kid?"

`See anyone else here?' BHS thought. Out loud, she merely said, "Um, yeah."

"You seem pretty short for being in the sixth grade," Shiato said.

"I prefer to think of myself as `vertically-challenged'," BHS said.

"Whatever," the black-haired girl said. "Anyway, since I'm gonna be helpin' you out, I guess I'd better start now. Follow me, and I'll show you around."

"More following…" BHS muttered. The entire day seemed to consist of following people, following some more people, and, surprise, following people.

<Good chance to find out about this place. I wouldn't trust her if I was you, but she could be a useful pawn…Though if she learns of the game, then she'll retaliate with her own moves,> the voice in BHS's head said. BHS barely resisted jumping at the sudden, unexpected words.

`I'm going crazy,' she thought. Then… `Game? What game…?'

<You'll see,> the voice, which BHS was coming to think of as The Voice, capital `T', capital `V', said, amused.

`Who are you?' BHS thought, but there was no response.

"Hello?" the blonde girl said. "Earth to…what did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," BHS said.

"Well, what is it?"

"BHS." She pronounced it `Bee-yay-jus'.

"I'm Tanako. Nice to meet you," the girl, now known as Tanako, said.

"BHS…" Shiato said, pronouncing the letters.

"Hm?"

"Does that stand for something?"

<Baka-Human-Side,> The Voice said, almost affectionately.

"Yeah, but I'm not tellin'," BHS said.

"Is it something embarrassing?" Tanako asked.

"Yeah."

"Hey!" Shiato said.

"Wha-?" BHS asked.

"Here's the cafeteria," Shiato said, pointing to the room. For the next thirty or so minutes, she gave BHS a tour of the building, or at least the parts of it that she, as a sixth grader, would be using. Meanwhile, let us go back to a certain red-head.

***

~She is certainly interesting,~ the Yoko thought.

"So she is," Suichii said, both aloud and in his mind.

~Did you notice the way she examined you? It was hard to notice what she was doing. She's rather cautious, that one.~

`Oddly so,' Suichii thought.

~Indeed. Most humans are so trusting and gullible. But her, on the other hand….~ Yoko trailed off.

`There's something different about her.'

~I wonder what it is that makes her different…~ Yoko mused. ~I'd like to study this one. I believe that this could become a very interesting game, if we play our hand very carefully.~

`Do you never tire of `playing', as you call it?'

~In the Makai, every step, every thought, every breath is a movement in a great game, a deadly game, and you must become quite adept at playing it, or you're dead. Such is daily life,~ Yoko reminded him. ~I didn't live to the age I did, and become known as I was, by being stupid. I did it by outwitting my enemies, and stacking the odds in my favor. Of course, since I'm no longer there, there is no such game to play. However, I can come close. She is an interesting human. This game will be very fun, indeed.~

Suichii shook his head. `Yoko, we must be careful. You know what Koenma said…'

~Yes, yes,~ Yoko half-growled, ~I know. `Be on the look-out, all of you. This is serious. And, Kurama….Try to keep the Yoko under more control. If our worst fears are confirmed, then the creature could easily expose you for what you are, which would be a disaster at this time, when we must be secretive above all else',~ he quoted, in a good imitation of Koenma's voice.

`So, none of your games!' Suichii told him.

~I can be quite secretive. That brat Koenma isn't going to keep me from having my fun. And don't worry, I won't do anything stupid.~

`When you start to reassure me like that, it just makes me worried,' Suichii thought.

~Hm,~ Yoko responded, and then abruptly cut off the mental conversation. Suichii sighed, and shook his head. Yoko was an enigma, that was for sure. `And so is this girl,' he thought. There had been something else about her, something strange, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

~I'm sure it'll come to you.~ Suichii nodded at that. It would, eventually. In the meantime…

"I have a while….Perhaps I should tell Koenma," he said to himself. Koenma had told them to report anything unusual, and this girl was certainly unusual. She had the body and voice of a twelve-year-old, albeit a rather meek one, but her height was more suited to a child of nine, and a short one at that. And there was that cautious look she had…She was clearly a highly mistrustful individual.

Suichii wondered what had made her like that. He also wondered what she was doing in Japan, when she barely spoke a word of Japanese and couldn't read it at all. Yes, he decided, he should tell Koenma.

"Of course," he said, "I couldn't possibly get to Spirit World and back before school starts. In the meantime, what should I do?" He racked his brain for things to do in the time before school started, and couldn't come up with anything. He sighed, and sighed again when he realized he'd been sighing a lot lately.

~Go see Shiato,~ Yoko suggested eagerly.

`I thought you were off plotting?' Suichii thought back, a bit irritated. `And no.'

~Why not?~

`I don't like Shiato,' Suichii informed the kitsune.

~Who cares if you like her?~ Yoko wondered.

`Yoko!' Suichii yelled mentally.

~What?~ the fox replied innocently.

`Stop thinking like that!'

~Oh, all right,~ Yoko pouted. ~You're no fun.~

***

Thirty Minutes Later

"Okay, that's all," Shiato said.

"Well, I've gotten my exercise for the day," BHS said.

"It's a big school," Tanako said.

"Can I ask you two something?" BHS asked.

"Sure," Shiato said.

"Where did you learn to speak English?"

"My mom's American, so she taught me," Shiato said, "and I taught Tanako."

"Okay then. Just wondering."

"Well, school's about to start, so we'd better get going. Mr. Akado's first," Tanako said.

"Let's go!" Shiato said. "Don't want to be late."

"I'm always late…" BHS muttered. But, she hurried along behind Shiato and Tanako as they headed at a fast pace towards the class.

"I have to go get something," BHS said when they came near the front door.

"What?" Shiato asked.

"My stuff," the brunette replied. She went out the door, and came back a moment later, carrying a purple binder with her, draped over one shoulder by the cords, and a large book in the other hand. "Okay!" she said. As she was walking towards the classroom, she tripped over a non-existent crack in the floor, and went down face first. She got up, and then took her glasses off and polished them with her shirt, trying to clean them a bit.

After she put them back on, she had to hurry to the classroom, and just barely managed to make it to an empty seat next to Shiato before the bell rang. As she thumped her binder down on her desk, she looked around at the room. She sighed, and sat back in her chair.

`It's gonna be a looong day,' she thought.

"Good morning, students!" Mr. Akado said. "As you may have noticed, we have a new student." In English, he said, "BHS, come up here."

BHS stood up, and walked hesitantly to the front of the room, and stood there, dry-washing her hands and staring nervously at the ground.

"This is BHS," Mr. Akado said in Japanese. "She's American, and doesn't speak much Japanese, so it'll be a bit hard to talk to her. However, Shiato and Tanako will be helping her get used to the school, as well as learn Japanese, and they'll act as translators. Isn't that right, girls?" he asked.

"Of course," Shiato and Tanako said.

"Well, you can sit down now," Mr. Akado said to BHS. *Do I really needa say it was in English? That's just a given.* BHS walked back to her seat, and sat down. As Mr. Akado began the lesson, BHS listened intently to Shiato, who was translating for her. As she took notes, she thought about the incidents that had led her here. The never-ending string of unfortunate coincidences and events, the accidents and bad luck that had her constantly on the move.

***

Several Hours Later

"Phew!" BHS said. "Lunchtime at last!! I'm starving!!"

"I hope you don't plan on eating the school lunch," Tanako warned.

"And why not?"

"It'll take years off your life."

"I'll take a chance," the girl replied. When she walked into the lunchroom, the first thing she noticed was the noise.

Or rather, it's absence.

She'd become so used to noisy lunchrooms that she immediately noticed that this lunchroom was rather quiet. She was wondering about that as she got her trey, got her lunch, and went to sit down. She followed Shiato to a table, and sat down. Shiato sat on her left, Tanako on her right. Across from them sat three boys, two whom BHS didn't know, and one she did.

"Suichii!" she said.

"Hm…?" Suichii asked. "Oh, BHS. Hello."

"You know him?" Shiato hissed to BHS.

"I met him this morning," BHS said back, a bit confused. "Why?"

"Nothing much," Tanako said. "Only that he's the smartest, most popular and good-looking boy in the school."

"Really?" BHS asked. "I didn't know that."

"Hey, Suichii, who's your friend?" one of the other boys, a blue-eyes brunette, asked.

"Her name is BHS," Suichii said, "and she's not really a friend, per se."

"Ah, I see," said the other boy. He had black hair, and green eyes, and bore a striking resemblance to Shiato. "Hey sis," he said to her, "what's up?"

"Nothing much," Shiato replied.

"Why are ya hangin' out with the new girl?" the brunette asked.

"I have to show her around the school, help her out. She can't speak Japanese," Shiato told them.

"Hm, I see," Shiato's brother said.

"Who are they?" BHS asked Tanako hesitantly.

"The black-haired one is Akido, Shiato's brother," Tanako said, "and the brown-haired one is Jiro."

"Thanks," BHS said. Lunch continued without incident for about ten minutes more, and then disaster struck.

It came in the form of a slender, tall boy, with short black hair and brown eyes. A surly attitude surrounded him, and he positively oozed contempt as he sauntered towards the table.

"Hey," he said.

"What do you want, Hoto?" Shiato asked.

"Who's da new kid?" he asked.

"Say it in English, so she can understand, sleaze ball," Tanako said.

"Kay then," Hoto said. In poor English, he said, "So, wha's your name?"

"BHS," she said.

"What kinda name is that?" Hoto asked scornfully.

"The one I have," BHS said.

"Pretty stupid."

"I'm a victim of circumstance," BHS said mournfully. "Aren't we all?"

"What does that mean?" Hoto asked.

"Hm," BHS said, "I'm obviously speaking to a being of inferior intelligence."

"Are you sayin' I'm stupid?" Hoto demanded.

"No, I'm saying you're a stupid, low, gutter-crawling punk who doesn't deserve anyone's time," BHS said. Shiato, Tanako giggled at that, and Suichii bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh.

"You-!" Hoto said in a strangled voice.

"Me what?" BHS asked. Hoto glared at her. "You should just leave now," BHS suggested. "No one's on your side."

"Ya got somethin' on yer face," Hoto growled. He grabbed BHS's trey, and slammed it up into her face. Everyone in the lunchroom turned to look as the trey clattered down onto the table. BHS just sat there for a moment, then took off her glasses and set them down. Then she got up, and faced Hoto.

"Now, now," she said, "was that necessary?"

"Sure as hell was," Hoto growled.

"Hm…" BHS said. "I fail to see the necessity. However, I'll take your word for it. Now, would you please leave?"

"Hey, I ain't just gonna leave `cause you say so!" Hoto declared.

"I'm not telling you to leave, I'm asking you to leave," BHS said pleasantly.

"Well, Miss Midget, I ain't list'nin'," Hoto informed her.

"Hoto, go away!" Tanako said.

"No way," he said. He reached around BHS and grabbed the book she'd been reading. "What's this?" He flipped through it.

"Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King," BHS said.

"What a geek!" Hoto said. "Who reads this crap?"

"Actually, he's quite a well-known author," BHS said dryly.

"This is just gibberish!"

"It's English."

"Well, since no one can read it, I guess it's no use," Hoto said. "I better throw it away." He walked towards the nearest trashcan, the book held out in front of him. BHS's eyes widened, and for a moment she didn't do anything. Then, she ran at him, quickly getting ahead of him.

"Give it back!" she cried.

"Ya want it?" Hoto asked, holding it just out of her reach. "Jump for it."

"Give it back, you creep!" BHS yelled.

"What'll you do if I don't?" Hoto asked.

"Give it back or I'll hurt you!!" BHS said.

"I'm soo scared," Hoto laughed. BHS glared at him.

"Give! It! Back!" she yelled.

"No way. Take it from me," Hoto said.

"Fine then," the infuriated girl said. She held up her fists in a clumsy boxing stance, leaving herself wide open for attack. Hoto smirked, and punched at her with his free hand, sure he was going to get her. Quickly, she went down, nearly parallel to the ground, one leg bent and both hands on the floor, and swept her other leg forward, hooking it around the backs of Hotos knees. Before he knew what was happening, he went down, the book flying out of his hand. BHS stood up, picked her book up, and walked back to her table.

"Shiato, could you show me the bathroom, so I can wash off?" she asked.

"Man, you just whipped Hoto!" Tanako.

"Did you hurt him very badly?" Suichii asked.

"Nah, just his pride," BHS said.

"Here, I'll take you to the bathroom," Shiato said.

***

<That was stupid,> The Voice said. <You just revealed a lot.>

"Don't worry," BHS said aloud, "I know what I'm doing. Besides, he was about to hurt my book!"

<Who cares about the book?!> The Voice growled. <That boy, Suichii…There's something about him that I don't like. You need to be careful around him! An' now ya go an' do somethin' like this! Oi'm startin' ta think that you haven't got a bit o' sense!> The Voice's Irish accent was very prominent now.

"Who cares?" BHS asked. "You're not real. I just haven't gotten enough sleep lately." She refused to listen to the voice, even though it started talking. She shut it out. It sensed her attempt, and stopped.

***

"Hey, where did you learn to do that?" Suichii asked BHS after she got back from cleaning herself up.

"Wha-?" she asked.

"The way you tripped Hoto," Suichii said. "Where did you learn that?"

"Um, I've never really learned anything like that," BHS said sheepishly. "It was just a lucky shot, really. Actually, it was a complete fluke! I fell, and caught myself, and….I tried to get up and my leg slipped. I only changed it to a kick instead of a slip because I was worried about my book."

"All that for a book?" Tanako asked.

"It's…my dad's," BHS said. "And I don't see him anymore."

"I see. Well, class time's almost here! Last class of the day!" Shiato said.

"Gym class…." BHS muttered. She felt a sudden sense of doom fall over her. "Great…"

***

Drof: How d'ya like it? Pretty long, I know, but…The next one'll be shorter, I think. Anyway, IN THE NAME OF FIERY BURNING TEACUPS OF PAIN, REVIEW OR I SHALL SIC GERG, THE GIANT EVIL RUBBER GLOVE, ON YOU!!!