Chapter 1 - "What will Tomorrow Bring?"

Everyone stared. She walked proudly through the halls, but inside she had no idea what to expect, how'd she'd be treated or who she would make friends with. She made eye contact with a few, but made her way to her first class without speaking a word to anyone. She plopped down into her chair, receiving a few stares from the other girls in the room, who were naturally gossiping.
"Hello!" one girl said, approaching her desk. The new girl smirked and leaned back on her chair, putting her foot on her desk.
"'Sup?" she replied nodding her head back slightly. The girl smiled at her mannerisms, but she was used to that behavior from other friends.
"My name is Keiko Yukimura! Welcome to our Jr. High!" she said, with a bow. The new girl laughed lightly and nodded back.
"I'm Toyoko Asakura!" she replied. Some of the girls shot glances over at her, then whispered to each other. Toyoko leaned forward whispering, "What's the matter with them?" Keiko nervously smiled and waved her hand.
"Oh, they're just...they um..." she started, then she noticed Toyoko cracking her knuckles and grinding her teeth. "OH! They're harmless! They just like to talk! Mind if I sit with you?" she asked politely. Toyoko patted the desk top next to her and smiled.
"Be my guest!" she said. Toyoko was a lot different then the other girls. She had long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, nothing too special, with blue-grey eyes and a dark tan. She wasn't Japanese, but had lived there for several years. She wore her uniform a bit differently than the other girls, kind of torn and ragged, and a bit short in some areas. But the part that stood out the most was her unusual build. She was built big, with toned arms and huge legs. Most people thought she was some secret fighting weapon, like in some manga they had read, while others knew her name, since she was a reigning delinquite at her former Jr. High school. Always sporting band-aids, scars, and her giant loop earrings, not to mention her earth tone lip liner and gloss, she was definatly the talk of the school for the week.
At lunch, she followed Keiko around while taking the grand tour of the Jr. High. Keiko was being very kind, almost a bit boring, but Toyoko wasn't rude, she laughed with her and talked and asked plenty of questions. They finally sat down and opened their lunches.
"A burger!" Keiko giggled. "That's different from mine!" Toyoko was getting tired of this goody goody thing, and just shrugged while she took a bite of her hamburger. Keiko quietly ate her sushi rolls next to her, wondering when they'd run into Yusuke. Almost on que, Yusuke turned the corner slumped over with his hands jammed into his pockets and a smug look on his face. Kuwabara was glancing around, walking by his side. Both look redicioulous while putting on their tough guy acts. Keiko sat up happily and tapped Toyoko's shoulder. "Here comes Yusuke! The one I told you about!" Toyoko looked up and nearly choked on her burger. Keiko hit her back hard, helping her cough it out. Toyoko looked back with wide dazed eyes, and a smile slowly creeping across her face. Keiko looked at her strangely then went to Yusuke. "Hi, Yusuke!" He grabbed her and forced a kiss on her lips. "Yusuke!! We aren't aloud to do that!" she said blushing madly, and lightly slapping him. Yusuke chuckled and then laid eyes on Toyoko who still sat staring.
"Who's your new friend, Keiko?" Yusuke asked looking her over curiously.
"Oh, this is Toyoko Asakura! She transfered here and today is her first day!" Yusuke somehow recognized the name, but thought nothing of it. Yusuke nodded, slightly, (he was forced to learn a few manners now that he and Keiko were official.) Toyoko suddenly snapped out of her trance and bowed to Yusuke.
"Um...a pleasure!" she said quietly. Then looked back up straight into Kuwabara's eyes. Kuwabara locked eye contact with her, then coughed and bowed slowly.
"I'm Kazuma Kuwabara," he said, then stood up straight. Yusuke looked strangely at him. 'A bow?' he thought. "Jus' call me Kuwabara!" he said, getting that goofy smile on his face and pointing to himself. She blushed a bit and then twisted her finger in her hair.
"Alright," she said, then punched him slightly on the arm. He smiled at her and laughed. Yusuke stood there dumbfounded.
"Well, why don't we meet each other after school?" Keiko said happily. "We could go to Yummy Tummy Bakery!" Yusuke sighed. He knew being with Keiko would be a challenge, but Yummy Tummy Bakery?! He grabbed her hand and then kissed her cheek. "Alright see you after school!" he said. He looked at Kuwabara who was still looking at Toyoko. He hit him on the head and then dragged him off.

Keiko and Toyoko walked to the edge of campus together. Toyoko grew a liking for Keiko, she was spunky, innocent, but packed a wallop when she needed to. "So what do you think?" she asked, hugging her briefcase.
"Oh, it's cool! I think I'll like it here!" Toyoko answered, smiling at her.
"No I meant of Yusuke and Kuwabara?" she giggled.
"Oh...uh...they're...yeah...they're....cool too! Heh...heh...*ahem*" she nervously said, her face going red. "Yeah, we'll all have fun together!" She started whistling when she heard footsteps come towards them.
"Yukimura!" a male's voice yelled angrily. A tall boy and a few lackys came straight up to them, in their face, trying to look tough. "Where's your boy, Urameshi!?" they rudely stated. She angrily glared back at them.
"Why should you care?" she said.
"We have a few questions for him, but I guess he can wait," he said licking his lips. Keiko stepped back, ready to hit him with her briefcase. He stepped towards her with his hand out, when suddenly a fist collided with his face, sending him flying into the pavement. Keiko glanced overr and saw Toyoko standing their, her fist clenched.
"NOBODY TOUCHES HER!" she yelled. She turned towards the group and growled. "ANYONE ELSE WANT SOME?!" she yelled, raising her fist. The guys all took off in a flash, not wanting to deal with her. Keiko stood wide-eyed at her and dropped her case. Toyoko laughed and picked up her case. "You dropped this!"
"WOW!" she heard a familiar voice say. She turned and saw Kuwabara and Yusuke approaching. She suddenly blushed and folded her hands, trying to look innocent. Kuwabara had strange stars in his eyes at her amazing strength.
"I knew your name sounded familiar!" Yusuke said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Toyoko nicely removed it, then looked to the ground. "Your Toyoko, the kenka-girl! I've known about you for a while!" Keiko kind of blushed jealously. Yusuke laugehd and rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah. They forced me to move districts, it was gettign a little out of hand. I don't always pick fights, I only..."
"Protect the weak and needy?" Kuwabara interrupted, stars still in his eyes. Toyoko blushed deeply and nodded.
"It's my honor code," they said simultamiously. Kuwabara practically passed out. Yusuke made sure he wouldn't fall over by placing a hand on his back. Toyoko giggled outwardly, but then covered her mouth, she hated giggling. Sounded too girlish to her.
"Well, well, the world is full of 'em now, huh?" Yusuke said, shaking his head. "Let's get htis Tummy Bummy Bakery thing over, huh?"

The four of them walked together to the Yummy Tummy Bakery, where they ordered what they wanted and sat down at the small wire legged tables. They small talked mainly about fow Toyoko's first day went, when they heard the door bell ring and saw two familiar figures walk in.
"Kurama, Hiei! Glad you could join us!" Kurama smiled and waved, while Hiei just glared around. Cute, pastel bakery palces weren't really his style. "This is Toyoko, she's knew at our Jr. High and she tagged along with us today."
"Hello, Toyoko, a pleasure to meet you," Kurama said sitting down. Hiei just sat quietly next to him, not really awknowledging her existance as well as her company. Toyoko smiled and took a bite of her coconut cream cheese pastry. (only $0.75!) (wow) "Hiei and I have something for you Yusuke," Kurama pulled out a video tape, and Yusuke frowned. "This one isn't too hard, don't worry!" Kurama said. He then noticed the astrange look on Toyoko's face wonderign what wouldn't be "too hard" on a video tape. Kurama laughed and told her it was a recording of his math class to help tutor Yusuke. She just shrugged and took another bite. She could see Kuwabara out of the corner of her eye watchign her as she ate her pastry. She didn't know what to say or do, so she pretended she didn't see him. After a bit of small talk and watching the sun set from the window of the shop, they all decided it was time to go home.
"Well, I've got a lot of sleeping to do, plus dinner is probably waiting at home," Yusuke said, he was glad his mother was finally seeing someone who knew how to cook.
"Don't forget the studying!" Keiko added.
"And the miss-I mean the math tutorial!" Kurama blushed. Toyoko just stared blankly at him.
"Good night, everyone!" they said walking away. Everyone left but Toyoko and Kuwabara. Toyoko smiled at Kuwabara and turned to leave, btu Kuwabara grabbed her hand.
"Wait!" he said, "Maybe...I could walk you...home," Kuwabara could feel the sweat pouring off his forehead. Ever since he had come to realize Yukina would never return his love, it was harder for him to ask girls out or even to talk to them. But something about Toyoko was different from the other girls.
"Um...sure," she said, waving her hand to show her where she lived. She wasn't too familiar with this area of town, so she was hoping he'd help her. Boy was she mistaken. After an hour and a half, they came to the conclusion that neither of them knew where they were going.
"Sorry, Toyoko, I'm not too good at giving directions," he said, feeling awful for making her walk in circles for over an hour. She was a bit ticked, but she swallowed her anger and let it go. One thing, Toyoko has no patience, but tries her hardest not to explode at people when they aren't being serious.
" I 'sokay, I kind of enjoy just walking around after sunset. Helps me take my mind off things. Like a meditation or prayer time for me. I'm pretty intense, so I gotta have some time to loosen up, you know?" Kuwabara smiled and blushed nodding his head. He liked the sound of Toyoko's voice, it was a tad deeper in tone than most girls and very mature sounding. He sighed and looked up to his apartment building.
"That's where I live, up there, with my older sister. Do you want to use the phone to call your parents?" he asked, hoping to God she'd say yes. She laughed and pointed at him.
"You're not luring me into your apartment, are you?" she giggled when he blushed a deep red, and said no a hundred times. "Sure, I'm sure they're worried anyway. I'll just call them and have them pick me up, my dad's pretty good about that!" They made their way up to Kuwabara's apartment. When they walked in the door, he found a note from Shizuru.
"Dear Baby Brother, (Toyoko laughed)
I'm out with my guy friend Tomo and I probably won't be home for a while
I made dinner for you, but you may need to warm it up!
DON'T MAKE A MESS!
Love, Oneesan
"How nice!" Toyoko teased, pinching his cheek. She walked over to the couch and plopped down, stretching out and yawning.
"Want some dinner?" he asked, walking into the kitchen.
"I'd love some!" she said, one thing she never turned down was food. He was bringing her a plate, when he suddenly tripped and fell right into the floor, hitting his head on the coffee table. Toyoko knelt down next to him, he was fine, but very embarrassed. He always managed to do that sort of thing when trying to be impressive.
"You okay?" she asked gently touching his face.
"I'm fine," he groaned, still embarrassed.
"Here, lemme get you some ice," she went into the kitchen and got him an ice pack. "Don't worry about it, I'll clean the food up and we'll just take it easy! You sure you're okay?" she asked again, cleanign up the food. He nodded.
"This is nothing compared to fighting demons," he said, not realizing what he said. Toyoko looked at him, but wasn't surprised. He then suddenly realized what he had said and slapped his hand to his head. "Oh, man, they'e gonna kill me!"
"I figured there was something special about the four of you," she began, not even acting surpirsed. Kuwabara sat up and looked at her confused. "I have this thing...where I have these dreams and, then they happen within the next month. I also could sense your spirit energy, and Yusuke's. And that Kurama guy and Hiei, was it? They're different." She spoke as if it was all normal. Kuwabara then knew he wasn't alone with the sixth sense thing. He could sense a strong spirit from Toyoko, but not very heightened. He didn't want to say anything to the others, but he sensed it from the beginning.
"So, you have a sixth sense, too?" Kuwabara asked joining her on the floor and helping pick up the food. She nodded, and then looked up at him. "Wow, do you any abilities to form spirit energy?"
"No," she said simply.
"Oh." Kuwabara just was curious to see if she had any type of ability at all.
"You know, Kuwabara, you're very kind," Toyoko said smiling. "Thank you for inviting me here, but I really should call my parents," she laughed, wondering what they would say to ther being at a boy's house this late on a school night. "I usually don't get invited very much, I kind of got a bad rap for my fighting...fight...fi...ACHOO!" she sneezed loudly covering her face. "Oh doh, do you hab a cad?" Kuwabara burst out laughing.
"A cat? Yeah, Eikichi," he said. "Sorry are you allergic?" She nodded and then sneezed again. He laughed and helped her off the floor, she lost her balance while sneezing and fell into Kuwabara. She looked up into his eyes again, being just a breath away from him. His strong arms held her tight to him, and he did the unthinkable. He closed his eyes and quickly planted his lips on hers, the first time he ever dared to outwardly kiss a girl. Toyoko was surprised and just stood there, soaking in the sensation of her first kiss as well. She then broke the kiss, leaning back and staring into his eyes. Both blushed and laughed lightly. He let her go gently, and slouched down, not sure what to say for himself. "Guess, I..." Toyoko laughed and leaned forward kissing him again.
"I gotta go," she said smiling. She walked to the phone and began explaining herself ove the phone to her father, who was okay with it, he understood not knowing the way around. He said he'd be there in ten minutes. "Guess I'll wait a little longer," she said, sitting on the couch. Kuwabara walked over and sat down next to her, then put one of his arms around her, hoping she'd be okay with it. He was so afraid of rejection. It was bad enough he had to deal with the things the others constantly said about him, though he acted as if it didn't hurt him, it was killing him on the inside (you should read "One Shot" by bakabahamut) She snuggled her head into his chest, feelign comfortable for the first time with someone. Not many opened up with her, her toughness, notorious fighting streak, and they way she looked drew people away from her never allowing her to be near to anyone. But Kuwabara gave her the one chance. They sat there with each other for a few minutes, until her dad arrived and the phone rang. "Guess I'll get going," she said softly, he embraced her warmly, loving the feel of her strong arms wrapped around his body. She lightly touched his cheek and kissed him again. As they drove off Kuwabara smiled and continuelly looked back as the car drove out of sight.
'What will tomorrow bring?' he thought, then went to bed.

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