Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Chains of time ❯ A Free Afternoon ( Chapter 2 )

Hey, it's me. Sorry it took so long to get CH2 up. But the point is that it's here. Before I go any further, I want to thank Korume Shiretsu. If I hadn't read her wonderful story (Mission X on FFN), I wouldn't have gotten the courage to write my own YYH fic. So go check out her story as well. It is very, very good!!

Anyway, you know the drill…Read, Review, and Come back for more!!

~…~ is thoughts

"…" is spoken (Japanese usually)

*…* is random Spanish phrases. Used later when Kaen cusses….

: Blah stuff: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, or much of anything else I mention in here. Except for my Shippô plushie that shows up every now and then….

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Chapter Two: A Free Afternoon

It was a beautiful late autumn day, with a warm sun and clear skies. The wind was blowing with a cool breeze, so anyone basking in the warmth of the sun could find that perfect temperature to doze off in. Most schools were just letting out for the weekend, the onslaught of trapped students racing out into the sunshine.

Shuichi Minamino crossed the schoolyard, heading for his favorite tree. His long red hair caught the sunlight, giving it fire tones as the wind blew it along behind him. The smells of autumn were thick in the air and gave the world a feeling of anticipation for the winter months to come. For Shuichi, autumn was his second favorite season, with spring as his favorite because of all the flowers springing into bloom, releasing their fragrances.

~Although I could smell those anytime of the year, ~ he thought to himself as he sat down at the base of his tree. Shuichi pulled his book out of his backpack, and settled back to read.

"Hey, Minamino!!" Shuichi looked up to see a brown-haired boy he recognized from his classes striding towards him, dressed out in the school's soccer uniform.

"Good afternoon, Sigara," Shuichi said, placing his book down on his legs.

"Hey, were you gonna go to the game to night? We're playing Hitsuyukan."

"Sorry, I already have plans for this afternoon. I'm meeting with some friends."

"Oh, okay. The guys were hoping you'd be able to draw some of the girls to the game. We need some of them to come once in a while," Sigara stated, nodding his head towards the rest of the soccer team who were still putting on their cleats.

Shuichi sweat-dropped at the response. "Well, I would help if I could. Good luck at the game, though."

"Yeah, well. Thanks anyway!" Sigara said, turning and running towards the team. "Have a good weekend!!" he said, waving at Shuichi. The redhead waved back at his friend, then stood and brushed grass off his pants. ~Sarayashiki should be out by now….~ Shuichi thought looking at his wristwatch. He gathered up his book and backpack, and waving to several students along the way, Shuichi Minamino made his way towards the center of town.

**Phoenix: Scene switch!! (Claps hands)**

"Kurama should be here by now…" Botan sighed, glancing at the clock behind her. "It's not like him to be late."

The black-haired boy across from her laughed. "What's wrong, Botan? You worried he might not show up?" he grinned, teasing the lavender-haired girl. Yusuke Urameshi had begun to believe that Botan secretly had a thing for their red-haired friend, but still enjoyed teasing the poor girl to no end about it.

"He's probably having to chase off some of the girls from his school," a tall, orange-haired boy said, pulling up a chair next to the booth his friends were sitting in.

The boys started laughing.

"At least he goes to school," the brown-haired girl sitting next to Yusuke said. Her comment was greeted by an eye-roll from Yusuke and a giggle from Botan. Keiko Yukimura had always had to hound Yusuke about his lack of interest in school, although the others had begun to realize that it was Keiko's way of showing she worried about what would happen to Yusuke during those days he wasn't at school. Thankfully, Yusuke had gotten into the habit of getting together with Keiko during the weekend or whatever days off the school gave them.

It was Friday afternoon, the beginning of a two-day weekend. Yusuke had called up Keiko, Botan, Kuwabara, and Kurama to have just a relaxing afternoon. Besides, he had told them, this was the first time in a long while in which they really had nothing to do. No school, Reiki Tantei work, ferry work, training. Nothing. Just a day to wander about the city and have fun. Of course, what definition of fun, he hadn't specified, but who were they to turn down a chance of momentary freedom?

Therefore, they had all agreed to meet at the Little Picnic Café, and decide what to do from there. All they had to do was wait for Kurama to show up, and they could take off.

"Hey, what does Kurama look like?" Keiko asked, taking a sip of her tea. She had a faint memory of what he looked like, but just wanted to be sure.

"Tall, long red hair, blue eyes…"Yusuke answered.

"Green. His eyes are green, Yusuke," Botan corrected shaking a half-eaten cookie at the boy sitting across form her. "A Spirit Detective like you should remember this sort of thing."

"Tsh, like guys TRY to pay attention to what other guys look like. The red hair's a dead give away though," Yusuke said, leaning back in the booth seat and putting an arm across the back of the seat, behind Keiko.

"But he really should have been here about ten minutes ago…" Botan said quietly. All four turned at the sound of the bell on the door ringing. A tall red-head, perfectly fitting Yusuke's imperfect description, had walked in the door and was looking around.

"Oi! Kurama! Over here!" Yusuke yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. Shuichi Minamino, known as Kurama to a very select few, turned towards the source of the yell and smiled. Weaving through the other tables and café patrons, he made his way over to the booth and sat down next to Botan.

"Sorry, I'm late. One of my classmates asked me if I was going to their game tonight," he apologized, glancing at the menu on the table.

"It's alright," Keiko said, before Yusuke or Kuwabara could say anything. "We were just about to order a snack. Do you want anything?"

~*~ Thirty minutes later, just down the street ~*~

"Hey, Reia, what are we gonna do today?" Suki asked, pulling the elastic band back onto her long, blonde braid.

Reia shrugged. "I have no clue. Maybe we could all go over to my house and start on our homework…" The three girls following her stopped dead in their tracks, staring at Reia.

"D-did our Reia, who procrastinates to no end, just say what I think she said?!" Isashi stammered, staring wide-eyed at Narisuki and Tomoko. Both girls nodded.

"Oh, come on! You guys know me better than that. I'd rather be squashed by munchkins than work on homework," the redhead said, waving her hand in the air, then pushing her pony-tailed hair back behind her shoulder.

"Hey, Suki, weren't you telling me earlier that Reia-chan was squashed a few days ago by the kids at the orphanage?" Tomoko asked, turning towards the small blonde.

"Yeah! Aaron and the others were playing Tag and voted Reia to be the base," Suki answered laughing. "Remember, Reia?...Eeeyah!!" Suki was interrupted by Reia starting to chase her. Tomoko and Isashi simply watched the two girls and sighed.

"Um, Reia? About the original question?" Isashi asked, as Reia finally caught hold of Suki's braid.

"Oh right. Well," she said, releasing Suki's hair and counting off on her fingers. "We went shopping yesterday, we're going to the movies tomorrow…how about the arcade?" She looked back at her three friends. "Uh, girls?"

All three stopped their squeals that had started when Reia said `movies.' You would think two seventeen year olds and a fifteen year old wouldn't squeal when a movie is mentioned.

~I guess THAT rule doesn't apply when the movie has a hot elf-boy…~ Reia thought shaking her head. She sighed as a vision of the elf-boy popped into her head, and then shook her head. "Hey! I can go by myself, ya know…I am the one with the tickets…."

"Arcade sounds good." Isashi said, looking at Reia with puppy-eyes, mentally begging her not to take away the tickets.

Still shaking her head, Reia Hawagashi led the three girls to the arcade. Their school had just led out for the day, with most of the upper classmen going to the soccer game taking place that afternoon. And, although the four of then typically liked watching the guys run around the field in short shorts, Reia was in too restless a mood, particularly after what had happened way too early that same morning.

~That dream…why did I have that dream anyway? I mean, sure some strange stuff ahs been happening lately, but still…~ Reia suddenly snapped out of her mental drifting as she realized Isashi had been trying to get her attention.

"As I was saying, -Reia-, we are here," Isashi said, waving at the arcade. Taking a step closer to Reia, she stared hard at her face. "What wrong with you today? You look really drained."

"Yeah, and you were out of it during school too. What's going on?" Tomoko asked, ever the worried member of the group.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I just…didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Reia said, putting a hand behind her neck. "Really, I'm fine. Now, let's go ruin some game-junkie's scores, ni?" The red-haired girl practically ran inside, tailed closely be the light-brown haired Isashi and black-haired Tomoko. Only Narisuki stayed outside.

~Reia, what's wrong with you? It is because of whatever happened to you last night? ~ Narisuki wondered.

"Hey, Suk!! You comin'?" Reia yelled, poking her head out of the door.

"Yeah, sorry!!" Narisuki said hurriedly, running towards the door.

**Phoenix: Scene switch again! Back to the Reiki Tantei!! And guess where they are? The arcade!!(Clap!) Oh, quick note: Kurama and Kaen don't know that the other is in Ningenkai. Kurama thinks Kaen's in Makai, and Kaen thinks Kurama is dead. Back to story (Clap!!)**

"There is no way you're gonna win this, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled triumphantly as he blasted past all the other motorcycles, approaching the finish line. The two boys were playing a motorcycle racing game in which the drivers could attack the other drivers with various weapons of pain. Kuwabara's character had effectively used double katanas to slash through the other characters, while Yusuke would attack in less subtle ways with his character's weapon and cycle.

"Oh really? Well, how about this!" Yusuke yelled back, smacking Kuwabara's driver upside the head with his character's staff, and hitting the final speed booster, crossing the finish almost immediately.

"Aaarg! Damn you Urameshi!!" Kuwabara sulked, as the others applauded the two players. Yusuke simply grinned.

"What game are the two of you going to play next?" Kurama asked from his position on one of the unused motorcycle units.

"Why don't you play one with them, Kurama?" Botan asked.

"Yeah, play one of the shooting games with us," Yusuke said, standing up and stretching. "They have a bunch of multiple player ones."

"Hmmm…I don't see why not," Kurama said, following the boys, as they argued over which game to play. Finally, they decided on a game in which you had to shoot various undead characters. Botan and Keiko excused themselves, heading towards the bathrooms.

"This should be good for us," Yusuke said, picking up one of the gun controllers and inserting money to the machine. Kurama and Kuwabara followed his lead, and inserted their money and shooting their guns.

"Ah, man! Somebody's already using it!!" A female voice said from behind them. Since the game was just going through the introduction part, all three boys turned around to see a group of four girls.

**Phoenix: I jump back and forth quickly here. Sorry!**

The four girls were an odd enough mix, almost as strange as the boys' own mix. They were all still wearing their school uniforms and carried their book bags with them. The uniform top was a white long sleeve, collared shirt with a gray sweater vest. Their school ties were strange, long strips of fabric, tied into a bow a little above the waist. All four girls wore Blackwatch plaid pleated skirts that were just short of their knees. The shoes were typical for girls' uniforms: white or grey knee-high sox with black loafers. The uniforms were what one could call cute, with the girls all wearing different number and styles of pins on their ties. Kurama immediately recognized it as the Hitsuyukan Preparatory Academy uniform.

The tallest girl, who looked to be the leader, had shoulder-length red hair that was pulled back into a ponytail with a weird white stripe of hair on her right side. Her jade eyes were glaring at the boys, and her stance was one of someone who knew how to fight. The girl standing just to her right was not much shorter, with light brown hair that hung a little longer and was mostly straight. Her brown eyes stayed locked on the boys, particularly Yusuke.

The other two girls looked faintly frightened, especially the tiny, black haired one. Her dark chocolate colored eyes were as wide as they could be with her pure Japanese heritage. The fourth girl, who was definitely the youngest, stayed close to the redhead, keeping her between herself and the boys. Her hair was a dark blonde that was trapped in a tight braid, and her hazel eyes kept flicking between the redhead and Kurama. She snaked her arm forward to slip her arm around her friend's.

"Reia, it's not worth it. It's just a game. Besides, the dinosaur one's open," she whispered, fear dripping from her words.

"Yeah, it's not worth a fight with the toughest punks of Sarayashiki Junior High," the black haired boy sneered. Reia didn't like his attitude one bit, and shifted her focus to him.

"Oh really? Sarayashiki? And I thought you were a threat," Reia purred, shifting her position to where Narisuki lost her grip on Reia's arm. "I happen to be the only girl who can effectively and consistently keep the boys in line at Hitsuyukan."

"That's because most of the guys there are a bunch of wimps! They always run away from any other gangs!" Kuwabara said, clenching his hand into a fist.

"Technically, they can't run away from other gangs. The guys are usually to busy with athletic training to worry about fighting," Isashi said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Before either Yusuke or Kuwabara could say anything, Kurama cut in. "It's very true. Hitsuyukan has a very good athletic department, one of the best in Japan," he said, trying to calm down the situation.

Reia looked at the tall red-haired boy. He was only a few inches taller than she was, maybe 5'8". His hair was red, like hers, but much longer. His green eyes were the darkest and yet brightest she had ever seen. She has been told her eyes were a bright jade, but compared to this boy's, she doubted hers were bright. However, it wasn't just his appearance that Reia noticed; the way her carried himself was almost regal, and his scent was very familiar….

Kurama noticed the way the redhead was looking at him, Reia as her friend had called her. She seemed very familiar to him, yet somehow could not see why.

~Maybe I've seen her at some of the games against Hitsuyukan…~ he thought to himself.

~but her scent is too familiar…~ Kurama tried sifting through the different smells of the room, focusing solely on this girl standing in front of him. ~Spices…like…burnt sweet ash…and…lavender….~ Kurama tried thinking were he had smelt that before, but no matter how far back he reached, he couldn't quite make out where he remembered it from.

"Reia, we gotta go…" pleaded the small black-haired girl, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Slowly, Reia looked at the girl and made the slightest of nods. "Yeah, let's go," she said turning away from the boys. She mentally relaxed herself, releasing all the reiki that had been building inside her and letting it flow softly from her body.

As the girls walked off, Yusuke grinned to himself. ~Even if she is the toughest girl from her school, she probably wouldn't have beaten me anyways,~ he thought turning back to the game, which was just finishing the opening sequence.

Kurama shook his head, and looked at Kuwabara. The orange-haired punk was watching the four girls walk away with a somewhat worried look on his face. Noticing that no one had joined him in facing down the game zombies, Yusuke turned back around to look at his friends.

"Hey, Kuwabara, what's up?" the black-haired boy said, recognizing the look on Kuwabara's face as the one he makes when his sixth sense kicks in.

"I dunno. I just got this weird feeling that one of those girls wasn't human…" Kuwabara stated as the said girls started playing at one of the Skee ball machines. Green eyes and brown eyes locked, then glanced at the black-eyed boy.

"YUSUKE!!" Botan's cry brought the boys back to the world of the arcade as the blue-haired Botan and brown-haired Keiko run up to them. "Yusuke! We need to go now!"

"What's wrong Botan?" Kurama asked. He could both smell and hear the panic in Botan's voice and demeanor.

"We need to get to Reikai!! Koenma just told me that something has happened!!" Botan said, dropping her voice so that only the Reiki Tantei and Keiko could hear her. Onlookers were giving her a dirty look for interrupting their gaming concentration. "One of the Reikai agents came across a dead demon here in Ningenkai! One not authorized to even be here!"

"Well, there goes our afternoon…" Yusuke mumbled. "Alright, let's go." Yusuke and company walked quickly out of the arcade, abandoning their game.

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Well, what do you think? Not much of a cliffhanger, but eh. Oh well. At least it was a kinda long chapter. Chapter three: A meeting with His Royal Shortness, Prince Enma, Jr. I'll get it done as quickly as possible, since I'm having to take care of my mom, who broke a part of her foot, and I only get to type when she doesn't need me.

A/N (Also known as `Phoenix, what were you thinking?'):

Hitsuyukan is an actual school in Japan. My friend was over there for six months, and this was the name she suggested to me for the story. However, the uniform is the one of the many styles worn at my private high school. They give all sorts of different stuff we can wear and still be in uniform, although some parts are annoying. Stupid ties…

Yes, the movie Reia's gang was gonna see is Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. That part I wrote the day the movie came out since I was gonna see it that day.

The three girls in Reia's gang are based on three of my friends. Narisuki is my adopted sophomore and mini-twin (long story), Lex. Tomoko is based on a Japanese exchange student from my junior year with the same name. Isashi is my `sis' Esa. Just to letcha know!

The whole arcade thing came out instead of the comic shop I was originally gonna use because it would have been easier for the Reia versus Yusuke and Kuwabara verbal battle to be sorta loud, and two, because I am an arcade gamer. And I have played all three of the games I mentioned. If you think you know which one's they are, put your guess in your review!!