Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi

NOTE! Kitajima Maya is a canon character in the manga. She appears in a bonus episode telling how Kurama and Hiei met. Maya is in Kurama's class at school, and has a crush on him. After seeing him scare off a demon, she confesses her love for him. Kurama turns her down, although it's very possible that he returns her feelings, and at that point Hiei attacks them. Hiei believes Kurama is working for a demon who might have killed Yukina, and as Kurama leads the battle away, the demon from earlier kidnaps Maya for her sixth sense. Kurama takes this as a personal insult, and together he and Hiei defeat the demon. Kurama uses pollen from a flower to erase Maya's memory of the evening, as well as the memory of her love.

Credit where credit is due… Maya's friend is not given a name in the manga. However, Anomura the Padawan uses the name Ayumi for her in a story, and I thought it sounded good.

Fall Out

"Is it really necessary to sneak out of lunch and do this? Everyone else is eating and having fun. Can't it wait until after school?"

Maya waved the captive bento boxes in one hand as she continued down the deserted halls. "We're not actually missing lunch; we can eat while we survey the area. Besides," she turned to give a reproving glance at her friend, "after school you'll complain that we're staying too late. And tomorrow morning you won't want to get up that early. And by lunch, we'll just do this all over again."

"Wow…" Ayumi commented thoughtfully, "you really do know me too well."

Kitajima Maya, amateur paranormal investigator. Anything and everything unusual or "unexplainable" fascinated her. Everyone assumed she would grow out of it soon enough, being in junior high and on the verge of discovering the mysterious power of boys. But fairly certain that one could not outgrow a sixth sense, she was determined to take advantage of it instead.

Life had been pretty exciting for a while, with people in the area disappearing. But it had not occurred again since the day she had nearly vanished herself, earlier in the week. Disappointingly typical, the one time she managed an alien abduction, Maya had been unconscious and without a camera.

They might have left a consolation though. A rather fuzzy dream, but she vaguely remembered something strange in one of the school's empty hallways. It was definitely worth investigation, this mystery of ghosts in the school… a mystery to be solved by spirit detective Maya and her assistant Ayumi!

Unfortunately, said curly-haired partner seemed more interested in her lunch than searching their destination. Scouring the shadowed corners and cracked floor tiles with her camera, Maya at least knew she had her priorities straight.

"Suppose ghosts don't show up on pictures?" Ayumi tapped the chopsticks against her lips. "I mean, vampires don't show up in mirrors, right?"

"After all the work I had to do to get my dad to let me borrow his camera for school? That would be cruel," she wailed. Her face set in stubborn determination and she continued, "Well, I'll keep the negatives. There must be some chemical to develop spirits on film."

"Just don't steal from the chemistry lab, 'kay?"

Maya sighed, glancing up and down the hall again. It would not matter whether ghosts appeared on photographic film if they did not bother to materialize in the first place.

Leaning back against the wall, the other girl patted the ground beside her. "C'mon and eat your lunch while we wait. I bet the creepies will come out if we sit back and play it cool." She giggled and waved her chopsticks authoritatively. "Incognito, you see?"

"Figures that the one who can't take this seriously comes up with all the good ideas," Maya mumbled around a mouthful of rice.

Ayumi brushed the crumbs off her skirt and repacked the now-empty lunchbox. "You want a cookie? Tasaka said he was bringing some. I could nip over there and sneak us each one, and be back really quick."

"You really didn't want to come with me, did you?" sighed Maya.

"Well, it's not exactly like that," she fidgeted, twirling one of her curls. "It's just, you usually con Minamino into joining you for this stuff. Why not this time? Did you two fight?"

"Fight?"

Ayumi tapped her foot, and the sound echoed in the empty hall. "You've been like this all week, ever since you left school together. Is that why you didn't go home, because you were so upset?"

"I didn't run off! If anything, I'd be mad he didn't have the sense to get evidence of the aliens. You'd think someone that sensible would be useful in a situation like that."

"See! You were the first one in our class to go boy-crazy, fawning all over Minamino, and now all of a sudden you've just stopped crushing on him. I just don't understand it." She began walking away and called behind her, "But don't worry, cookies are good for heartbreak."

"But I don't… like Shuuichi…" Maya trailed off in the silence. "Not like that."

She fumbled with the camera, tinkering with the settings. She probably did not need the flash in such a brightly lit corridor. Besides, getting photographic proof of apparitions was more important than silly boys anyway.

Crushing on Minamino… Ayumi was right, though. Maya did remember showering her male classmate with affection, always seeking him and his attention. But she could not remember why. And she felt no inclination to do so now. Television and books were full of stories where people magically, instantly fell in love at a moment's notice. Was it possible to fall out of love like that, too?

Somehow, that revelation was much scarier than any spooky stories of demons.

"Just a dumb first crush… not like it was so special, anyway," she mumbled. So why did she feel like she was missing something?

At least she had not lost true love, she consoled herself. After all, what was there to love about Shuuichi? There was plenty to like, sure. Cute Minamino, sensible, responsible, kind, and he never let anyone push him around. But love? He showed little interest in the paranormal—he always disagreed with her, in fact, although he did it gently. And he hardly acted as if he had a personality. What a boring husband he would make!

So it was perfectly natural for such a stupid little infatuation to end. It would be better for everyone. Maya nodded decisively, even though no one was around to see it. Of course she never regretted a love that had not existed.

Minamino Shuuichi was perfectly likeable, but completely unlovable. She snapped a picture of a fractured tile with strange green stains in one corner. No point in worrying over that boy any longer.

Except that he was different.

He felt different, special. He did not belong in this dull little town in Japan. He radiated something intangible, intoxicating… he fairly glowed.

No one else was like that, no one else had his sparkle. Nobody else saw it, the way that Maya did. Was that love?

She had really thought he would understand…

Maya wanted to ask him. Wanted to know. But would a little crush be worth it, if it was so easy to simply fall out of love?

Our little secret, like ghosts and demons and things that go bump in dark corners when no one is looking. Like spirits that do not appear on film. Just our little secret, she whispered, Shuuichi will never have to know.

Ayumi was wrong. The cookie did not help.

…
Owari
…

-Windswift