Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Spirit Cords ❯ Production ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Hakumei rushed around a small but efficient kitchen, balancing three dishes in her hands. Everything was a mess; pots and pans littered the counters and the water was still running in the sink. The steam from the stove was cloying and salty, smelling of the home-cooked meals their father paid her to make his kids.

The four Watanabe children sat around a decidedly Western table, dressed for school and eagerly awaiting their breakfast. Each of them was TV commercial adorable, with wide brown eyes and black hair—good looks they had received from their late mother, whose picture was hanging over a small shrine in the living room.

Two of the nine year-old triplets giggled loudly with each other about a boy in their class who had glued his ear to the chalkboard yesterday. The youngest of the three swung her legs back and forth in her chair as she counted patterns on the ceiling, mumbling to no one in particular. Their eight year-old brother remained silent, propping his head in his hand, watching Hakumei scramble to get them fed and out the door on time with the faintest of smiles on his face.

"All right," Hakumei said, handing a bowl to Ayame, the middle triplet with low pig tails and a gap-toothed smile. "Natto with soy sauce —no rice, Ai's got omurice, and here's broiled fish for Hana."

Ai, the oldest, whose long hair Hakumei had painstakingly pleated into a fishtail braid an hour earlier, glanced mischievously at Ayame. She returned an equally devious grin, licking the space between her front teeth as Hakumei set down plate after plate of food.

Daisuke had already gotten himself some rice out of the cooker and was eating it plain. Hakumei patted his head when her hands were free, ruffling his black hair. He pouted, but didn't brush her away as she walked back into the kitchen.

Hakumei was about to make her own meal when Ai called for her attention, "Sis! Sis!" She spat out the nickname like she had taken a bite out of Snow White's poisoned apple. "I wanted daikon with it."

Of course she did. Ai was always trying to pull some stunt, something that would make Hakumei's life just a tintsy bit harder. Hakumei sighed and started packing up her ingredients. Once this whole song and dance started she would never have time to make herself breakfast.

"Ai, dear, there is daikon with it," she said as she put the bread back in the fridge.

Ai crinkled her nose and checked under her omelet, but she pulled on it too hard, tearing the egg. Sticky, red ketchup and rice dripped all down Ai's hands. She ignored it and popped a piece of daikon in her mouth. Smug little thing—something she picked up from her father.

"Don't you know daikon doesn't go with omurice?" Ai licked her fingers and held out her food with the smirk of the devil. "I want tamagoyaki instead, and remember the daikon goes on the side."

Brat.

Hakumei nodded, jaw tense, and took a wet paper towel to Ai's sticky fingers before turning sharply on her heel to take the plate back to the kitchen.

As she was starting the stove back up, Ayame pecked at the natto with her chopsticks, stirring the fermented soy beans around with no real purpose. She sighed, as if Hakumei had disappointed her once again. "Sis, you forgot to give me rice."

"You said you didn't want rice," Hakumei said over her shoulder, working on Ai's tamagoyaki.

"No I didn't," Ayame whined, thick and syrupy.

Liar.

Hakumei's grip on the frying pan tightened. "Sorry sweetie, where's my head today?" She turned off the stove and quickly added rice to Ayame's natto.

Ayame checked over the next bowl and waited for Hakumei to get settled in the kitchen before calling her back over to the table. "This is soy sauce, Sis."

"And?" Hakumei knew where this was going, and she was already headed toward the rice cooker to make a new bowl.

"I want sour plum."

Hakumei's nostrils flared with an aggravated breath through the nose. "All right, sour plum natto with rice coming up."

"Sis?"

Hakumei sighed and turned to see Ai, out for blood. "I'm thirsty. Get me juice."

"Of course." Hakumei handed a third bowl to Ayame before trekking to the fridge and grabbing the first thing of juice she could find. She poured a glass and gave it to Ai. "There you go, love."

Ai took the glass and huffed. "I want melon."

"Sorry, dear. Let me take care of that for you…" Before she wasted anymore food or effort, Hakumei turned to the table. "Does anyone else want juice?"

Ayame raised her hand. "Make mine tea."

"Sure thing." It takes forever to make, but sure, why not?

Hakumei dumped Ai's glass of peach juice back into the carton just as Hana lifted her head. She had been staring at her plate from behind the choppy fringes of her short hair. "I'll take a glass of peach juice, please." At least she was polite.

Hakumei dropped her head back and took a deep breath. All three girls got their respective drinks. She even fixed Ai's tamagoyaki with daikon before the next complaint was made, but it was too good to be true. Hana had finished her juice, but still hadn't touched her meal. She looked up blankly. "I don't like mackerel…"

Hakumei ground her teeth as she made Hana salted salmon instead. Hana took a slow bite and put her chopsticks down. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"All right, breakfast's over. Let's go before we miss the metro." She heaved a sigh of relief as the triplets scurried out of the kitchen to grab their backpacks, leaving her to clean up the mess. Only Daisuke stayed behind to clear the table. Hakumei used the opportunity to put the rejected breakfasts in her lunch box. Somebody had to eat them.

"You shouldn't let them walk all over you like that. You know it only encourages their behavior," Daisuke said from behind a stack of dishes. He stood on his tip-toes and carefully slid a stack of dirty dishes onto the kitchen counter.

Hakumei took a bowl from the top and started rinsing it out. "And you know that at the first complaint to your dad I will be out on the street living in a box until I can find a new job." She put the bowl in the dish rack by the sink.

Daisuke bit his lip and handed her some chopsticks. "You could always live with your parents," he mumbled.

"Too far away. Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"N-no, I was just saying-"

"Look my little prince, watching you guys is a pretty cushy job." Daisuke slumped over the kitchen sink as she interrupted him, squeezing and releasing the sponge in his hand and watching the soap bubbles fall across his fingers. "I wouldn't want to ruin it for myself, especially while I'm still in school."

He frowned and rinsed off his hands before walking to the door to pull on his shoes. Hakumei was quick to catch on. "Dai," Hakumei came up behind him and kneeled down to his level. "The payoff here wouldn't be worth it if it weren't for you. You know I just adore you."

"It would be the same," he said, clutching the straps on his back pack too tight.

"Oh don't be like that." She smiled and tapped her cheek. "Come on, give us a kiss."

He pecked her on the cheek and ran out the door to hide how red his face was, cute as a freaking button. Hakumei locked the door behind her and joined the kids. Her own school was a couple of blocks away from theirs, though hers was public. They took the same train to get there. Like every other day it was a struggle to sit together, but today Ai, Ayame, and Hana were just a few seats away from them when they boarded the metro.

Location was one of the reasons she had chosen to take this job, besides having a lot of patience and being good with children… and the free accommodations. Despite the terrible threesome, the job description was actually pretty good, even if it was a little difficult to get all her homework done sometimes.

Once they reached their stop Hakumei had to rein the girls in before they ran off too far without her, but she ended up letting them walk a few feet ahead as long as she could keep an eye on them.

Daisuke kept close to her, and she put her arm around him. He didn't complain. He didn't say much of anything, but she could practically feel the steam rising from his flushed ears.

As they weaved in and out of the busy foot traffic, Hakumei sensed something coming through the throng of people. She wasn't expecting anything really, just a notion in her gut that told her to pay more attention to the people around her.

So of course she didn't. Daisuke looked up just as she walked into someone. She dropped her bag, but left it lying on the pavement. A passerby stepped on it by accident and looked at them apologetically as he went on his way.

"You're so clumsy Sis," Ai said.

Ayame snickered. Hana didn't notice everyone else had stopped and kept going until Ai roughly pulled on her hand to bring her back to the group.

"Oh shut up, Ai. What do you know?"

She stuck her tongue out at Daisuke. "More than you, dummy, I'm the oldest."

Ayame looked affronted. "By like, two minutes."

Hakumei looked down at them, "Behave, all of you, you know better."

The person she had bumped into was about a head taller than she was, but she recognized his uniform. He was already in high school, a good high school at that.

She was about to say sorry, but he beat her to it. "Excuse me, I didn't see you."

It was his voice that struck her, like fingers on a charged sweater- quiet, unexpected, and surprisingly painful. She was taken aback by the power in it, the ruthless wisdom… It was unnatural.

In the midst of Hakumei's static aftershock the stranger paused, sharp, regarding her. He slowly leaned down to get her bag. "Are you all right?" he asked, not taking his eyes off her.

She noticed his voice was not the only striking thing about him. Red hair, long and healthy, if not clashing horribly with his uniform. Deep green eyes. No Japanese person had those features, and he didn't look like a delinquent. Then again, she had gone through the long process of bleaching her own wavy, mid-length hair, now a pale honey-blonde, and she wasn't a punk either. She even pulled her hair back into a severe bun while she was in school to make herself look more respectable in class.

The thought occurred to Hakumei that he might be half Caucasian, but somehow she knew that wasn't right… Daisuke rushed to pick up her school bag before the redheaded stranger could, breaking through the haze she had been lost in. He made a face at the man before snatching the bag out from under his fingers.

"Hakumei, here. We're going to be late." He handed her the bag and clung defensively to her skirt, glaring at the stranger.

Hakumei shook her head, clearing away the rest of the fog that had settled over her. "Sorry Dai, I'm fine." She looked back toward the stranger as she wrapped her arm around the back of Daisuke's head, twirling her fingers in his hair absently. "I apologize, but I have to get them to school. I hope you're okay."

The stranger nodded, "No harm done," and watched her turn, collect her siblings, and head toward Narau Elementary, a gossamer ribbon of spirit energy trailing out of both her ears.

"Curious," he said as he put his hands in his pockets. "I wonder if Yusuke knows."

"That guy was weird-looking," Daisuke said, cheeks puffed into a scowl as they approached the school.

"Are you kidding?" Ayame snapped, "He was absolutely gorgeous! So tall, he had to have been a foreigner. Exotic…"

Daisuke and Ai rolled their eyes. "Yeah, yeah. What a dreamboat. We get it," Ai said.

Hakumei laughed unsteadily. "Well, he was definitely interesting to say the least. Go on now and be good—" She stopped to pull Hana away from a piece of dried squid that missed the trash, "Hana, don't touch that. It's unsanitary."

"But he's lonely…"

Hakumei was still thinking about the feeling that man had given her as she watched the siblings walk inside the school gates, pushing each other and racing to see who would get inside first.

The stranger had stunned her, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she should have been more afraid. Under that pretty face he was hiding an instinct, an animalism she couldn't hope to understand. She was suddenly glad she had bumped into him in a crowded place.

She shuddered and looked at her watch. 8:26 am... Hm, four minutes until class starts.

"I'm gonna be late!" she shrieked and raced down the block. "Mr. Fujiwara's going to mutilate me!"

She forced her way through the crowd, knocking a couple of people over as she sprinted toward her school. She could see it coming up around the corner and she grabbed hold of a lamp post and swung around it to keep up her speed as she turned. The gates were just ahead. The grounds were deserted save for one kid in a green uniform who was waltzing off campus like he owned the place. Hakumei didn't have time to slow down before she collided into him.

Luckily he had more coordination than she did and managed to keep them both on their feet, "Hey, Issei. You oughta watch where you're going eh? You might hurt somebody."

She winced at the twinge of… different… in his voice. It hadn't always been there, not since his creepy accident. Yusuke Urameshi back from the grave; the rumors were endless. She didn't want to think about it.

"Sorry Yusuke, I was in a hurry," she struggled out of his grasp as the tardy bell sounded. "Ah! I'm dead!"

She left him in her dust, disappearing through the front doors. "It ain't all that bad…" Yusuke lightly scratched the side of his face, confused. "Whatever." He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, whistling as he headed toward the arcade. "Time for some of that good ol' R and R."

Hakumei tripped over herself trying to run and put her school shoes on at the same time. The bell stopped ringing as she hopped up the steps two at a time. When she finally burst down through the door, Mr. Fujiwara was just unpacking his own bag.

"Ms. Issei, glad to see you could join us. You do realize that this is the third time you've been late this week?"

"I'm sorry sir…" Hakumei said, bowing quickly and taking her seat in the middle right, by the wall. She really blew it this time. "I have to drop my siblings off before I get here."

"We'll talk after class."

Hakumei slumped into her chair, sliding as low as she could without falling. The other students were whispering about it. This late in the year everyone in her class had already figured out she wasn't some blonde rebel without a cause, but sometimes they still wondered, especially when she was late all the time and didn't show up to morning club meetings.

"Quiet down now. Today we're going to be discussing your next project, and you want to listen because it's worth twenty percent of your grade. It'll be a group effort, so-"

The classroom was buzzing—people giving each other knowing looks, pointing, "You're with me, right?" and other similar questions. Some flirting was involved. Hakumei would just wait and pair up with one of the other kids who didn't particularly care who he was with. She didn't really have a lot of time for a social life outside of school. There was no one in her class that she was dying to partner with… although Koji Tanaka had a really good grade in this class. It'd be nice to not have to do all of the work.

She was about to lean forward to get his attention when Mr. Fujiwara turned away from the chalkboard. "PRODUCTION" now printed in white behind him.

"I said quiet, and don't bother cozying up to your besties. I've already picked the groups." He took a list off his desk and straightened his glasses. They were too big for his slender face, and slipped down his flat nose more often than the usual pair. "You'll be sitting by your partner from now on, so everybody stand up and be ready to move."

The usual groaning ensued as everyone packed up their stuff and moved to the back of the room. When Mr. Fujiwara started calling out names Koji was one of the first to go. Hakumei blew her bangs out of her face. Typical.

Students trickled back to their seats two at a time. The number of acceptable partners was dwindling fast. Hakumei was sure to get stuck with the brunt of the work on this. That was just what she needed.

"Ms. Issei. Mr. Kuwabara. Please take the third row seats by the window."

Kazuma Kuwabara, the only other person in class who bleached his hair. Figures Mr. Fujiwara would pair the two of them up together, not that he seemed to mind or even notice the obvious similarity between them. At least she got a window seat.

"All right, Hakumei! You ready to get your learn on with the amazing Kuwabara?"

He had one of those strange voices too, besides what most people heard, it simmered with a quiet intensity, just underneath the surface, but unlike Yusuke, Kuwabara had always sounded this way. Hakumei was used to it by now.

"Sure Kazuma," she said, putting her books in her new desk.

"You should call me Kuwabara," he laughed, "Makes me sound tougher."

"Oh sorry," she smiled. "I think you've told me that before."

He grinned as Mr. Fujiwara called out the last group and began explaining the project.

"Since this class is all about studying the art of theater, I will be counting on all of you to produce another class talent show, hopefully better than the dismal effort you put forth last time."

Everyone cringed.

"Don't freak out just yet," he said quickly, noting the panic, and in some cases nausea, on his students' faces.

"I realized not all of you are taking this elective because of your creative genius." He glanced at Natsuko Nakamura in the third row and she hid her face behind her open textbook. The entire class remembered the fiasco that was her last project, which ended up evacuating the entire school for the day. "This will be encompassing everything involved in putting on a production. Lights, sound, costumes, and of course, the show."

This didn't make anyone feel better, and Mr. Fujiwara could tell. He sighed.

"If you're not good at any of the things I just mentioned, then why you're taking this class is beyond me. However, part of management, another important aspect of production, is finding someone who is good at what you're not. In other words…" He crossed his arms and leaned against the front of his desk. "I'm giving you license to cheat. If you can't do it, then find someone who can make your vision a reality. That's what showbiz is essentially about. I will of course, require an original plan before you start 'hiring'. It still has to be your idea."

Hakumei glanced at Kuwabara out of the corner of her eye. He was scribbling down everything Mr. Fujiwara said word for word, looking very pleased with himself for being such a good student and all. She got the feeling he was trying to impress her with his avid note-taking, since it wasn't something she'd seen him do often. At least she knew he was going to do his part, if only for the fact that he thought she was cute.

Based on his reputation she knew he could probably beat people up with Eye of the Tiger playing in the background, though she doubted that would be appropriate, or if he even knew that song. Based on his last project she knew he was capable of a few slick dance moves, but not enough to do an entire performance. A comedy act might be suited to him, the big friendly dope. She had done imitations for the last show, but she doubted Mr. Fujiwara would let her do the same act twice. This was already a second chance for the people who failed last time. Students who did well, like Hakumei, would be excused from the final by preforming again.

"All right, the spotlight's on you, so to speak," said Mr. Fujiwara. "You have the hour to discuss ideas. I'll be walking around if anyone has questions."

Kuwabara sat sideways in his seat and leaned forward with his notebook, apparently Hakumei's desk was the scheming area. She leaned away from him, but he didn't notice.

"Yeah I'm not so good with the artsy fartsy stuff so I was hoping you could be on stage and I could be in charge of making you look pretty, heh heh. I'm not the best with lights and junk, either. Maybe you could sing and I'd just have a spotlight on you, nothing too fancy. You know what I'm saying?"

She could sing, maybe. If she had time to rehearse. She wasn't really a victim of stage fright. It's not like her classmates haven't heard her sing before. That is why she took this elective. Well, music was full, but the Fine Arts Club that met before and after class consisted of chorus, drama, and band students. Hakumei always went after class because she was too busy in the morning.

"If we wanted to do something like that we could do one of those old, slow songs... You know, like Jessica Rabbit type stuff."

"Minimal movement for you, minimal technical work for me. I like it—it's sexy."

"Emhm," Hakumei said, more enthusiastic because Kuwabara knew what she was talking about. "We could just get a karaoke version, hook it up to some speakers, and call it a night."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You and I make a pretty good team, Hakumei. We should go out to celebrate."

"I think it might be a little too early to celebrate, Kuwabara..." He was really in her face now, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows like a doofus. Hakumei leaned back until she was up against the window, looking at everyone and everything thing in the room that wasn't Kuwabara. "But we could go to a karaoke box after school and pick out a song."

"It's a date!"

"It's not a date."

Hakumei spent the next hour working on homework from other classes. There really wasn't much else they could plan without picking a song first. Kuwabara played Tetris on his Game Boy under the desk. She peaked in on his progress from time to time. He was way too good at it. Hakumei was terrible at video games. She couldn't even keep her tamagotchi alive for more than a couple of days. She pouted at the lavender, egg-shaped key chain dangling from the shoulder strap of her bag. Poor Jean-Pierre. He never had a chance.

When everyone was getting up to go to gym, Kuwabara gave her a peace sign and winked. "See ya later, baby." Hakumei just waved, smiling awkwardly and hoping he called every girl that.

Mr. Fujiwara was waiting for her after everyone else had left. He folded his fingers together over his desk. "You have to take care of your siblings, eh?"

Hakumei chewed the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I have four of them. They're a… They're a handful."

"That's funny, because your listed address is the Watanabe residence, and they have four children who are currently elementary school students. Coincidentally, their nanny's name is Hakumei Issei. Why do you think that is?"

Hakumei sat on the desk across from his and looked at her feet. "You said it was a coincidence."

"Well I have another idea. Would you like to hear it?" Hakumei shook her head. He continued anyway. "I think it's because taking care of your 'siblings', as you call them, is your job. Am I right?"

Her shoulders slumped. "Yes sir."

"You know it's against the rules to have a job while you attend this institution. You have to quit. You're late all the time and you skip all your morning club meetings. It hasn't affected your grades as of yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Her head shot up. "That's not fair. Mr. Watanabe doesn't even pay me. He just lets me live in his house so it's more convenient for me to watch his kids. I'm more like his oldest daughter than his nanny. I do everything an older sister would do and be pardoned for."

"That may be, but the fact remains that—"

Hakumei stood up. "Please, if I quit, I'll have to move back in with my parents on the other side of the city. This school has a really good fine arts program."

"Isn't there someone else you could stay with? A friend?"

"Mr. Fujiwara." She raised her eyebrows at him. "You know me. I don't have any friends."

Mr. Fujiwara couldn't deny that. She was by herself more often than not. He coughed lightly, "… A relative perhaps?"

"Don't you think I would already be staying with a relative if I had the option? Please don't do this to me."

Mr. Fujiwara took his glasses off and massaged the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to have to give this more thought. Go to gym. We'll talk later on this week after I figure out what to do with you."

"Okay, okay just… really think about what you're doing here. Please?" Hakumei took a panicked breath, squinting away the coming tears. "I've never been more than ten minutes late, and lots of kids skip morning club meetings for less. At least I go to the ones after class, and—"

"That's enough Ms. Issei," he sighed, "I need to think."

Hakumei left the room just as a girl with short brown hair was about to open the door. Keiko Yukimura jumped and nearly dropped her papers, undoubtedly forms for the talent show from the student council. She was their class representative after all.

"You scared me," she said, holding a hand over her pounding heart.

Hakumei managed a smile, "Sorry."

Keiko paused in the door way to really get a good look at her. "What's wrong?" she asked, noting Hakumei's glossy hazel eyes and slumped posture. "You don't look so good."

Hakumei snorted, "Gee thanks."

"That's not what I meant. Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah, it's just been one of those days, but I have to go to gym now." Hakumei motioned down the hall and turned away, heading toward the stairs. "See you around, Keiko," she said over her shoulder.

Hakumei left her standing in the hall, clutching her stack of papers to her chest and unsure of what to do. "Okay, uh… Feel better."