Catharsis

- Yuu Yuu Hakusho; Inuyasha; Kuwabara Kazuma, Kurama, Yukina

- By some quirk, the Inuyasha gang crashes a modern day festival. Kuwabara is Not Amused.

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"Wait," Kuwabara held up a hand, whether to forestall further explanations from the group of five trussed up in front of him, or a headache, was anyone's guess, "let me get this straight...

"You," he said while pointing to one of the two girls, "are the reincarnation of some miko who was the guardian of that," now pointing to the sparkling jewels held in Kurama's hand, "which is apparently not only powerful, but then you went and broke it, around the time when you met him," the boy with golden eyes snarled again and tried to break the vines. (Off to the side, Kurama poured more energy into them. Honestly. This was the third time...) "And then it turns out that there's some other youkai--" ("Actually, he's a hanyou..." the first girl said, weakly. She was duly ignored.) "--after the thing, and you pick up these other people who've got beef with him, and you're all on some kinda quest to defeat him. Oh yeah, wait, what was that other thing...?"

"The time-portal posing as a well?" Kurama piped up helpfully. It wasn't the way he had imagined they all would be spending the festival, but he could admit that it was much more entertaining.

"Oh, yeah, how could I forget that all of this had been happening in the Sengoku Jidai until some dried well magic went crazy and pulled you all here." Kuwabara's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched, and then he started to explain, loudly, clearly, and with small words as though the group were a bunch of five-year olds, exactly why it was Not Okay to chase your Demonic Enemy through a heavily populated festival grounds, even if it does have something that you want and can more than double it's power. There are people there, ignorant people, who probably wouldn't know a demon if it ate them, and definitely wouldn't be able to defend themselves from said demon. Why didn't they try to redirect it to, oh, the other side of town, you know, without all the lights and stalls and kids running around in masks and yukata?...

"How long do you think he'll continue with this?" Kurama absently asked the others, disinterestedly poking a shard.

"I'm guessing right about when Ear Boy hits the color puce."

Keiko cast a quick look at Shizuru, then at the unfamiliar demon (What had that girl said he was? A dog hanyou?), and started fiddling with her fan. "Oh dear..."

"Well, I'm not going to let this ruin my night. C'mon girls. I want to see if that comb is still there..." Shizuru grabbed Keiko's arm and began leading her away, but Yukina lingered, casting an... appraising? look towards the (still) ranting Kuwabara.

"Something wrong, Yukina?" Kurama asked, pocketing the shards. He would deal with them later. As it was, Yukina had been even quieter than usual, fading into the background so well that even he had forgotten about her for a few moments.

"Oh," she said, looking at him with wide eyes, "I was just wondering how long it would take for him to start repeating himself. Kazuma has been going for quite some time..." trailing off, she checked to see where the other girls were, then continued observing.

"This was not exactly how I'd envisioned spending Momo Sekku. This was supposed to be relaxing..." He eyed Kuwabara again. He didn't look very relaxed, and yet...

"Well..." Yukina got an odd look on her face. "You must admit, this must be very cathartic for him."

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Momo Sekku -- the Peach Festival; held in early March
Cannon: Kuwabara really wants to get into Gai Tech High School
HeadCannon: Kuwabara burns himself out studying for the entrance exams
Real Life Fact: Japanese school systems start the year in April

Title: Hobby

-Harry Potter / Yu Yu Hakusho fanfiction, Harry Potter and Botan

-The Japanese are notoriously polite, you know

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"An oar?" he asked as he recovered from nearly spraying tea everywhere. "You fly on an oar?"

He watched her pout and murmur darkly, but then she said, "Look, you're a wizard, right? I'm a psychic. Just because our energy, magic, whatever you want to call it," she waved her hand vaguely, "comes from the same place, doesn't mean its used the same way!"

"I know that!" Anyone who'd spent time around Hermione in the last few weeks knew that. He loved her, he really did; she was one of his best friends -- but Merlin, that girl could talk. She had near talked everyone's ears off when they had set the vacation plans. The sheer number of differences between the East and the West was just so very vast -- and that wasn't even counting the magical populations! "Versatility versus Specialization, I know! Believe me," he muttered in remembered pain, "I know."

"Yes, well, just remember, you're stuck riding a broom of all things!" she huffed, only slightly mollified.

"At least it's somewhat expected!" Even he had to wince at the weak defense.

She merely raised an eyebrow. "And that's... a good thing?"

He rolled his eyes resignedly. "Well..." Time for a strategic retreat. "Off subject, but could you tell me of any other magical sites near here? My group's been going spare trying to find any." He had only stumbled across The Semiguise by accident, after all.

"'Magical sites'? Oh, they're everywhere!" She told him with wide pink eyes. "Don't tell me you haven't seen them." She blinked, then made a silent 'oh'. "We hide things in plain sight over here," came the start of the explanation. "The wizard to psychic ratio is, oh, about even really. But, there are discrepancies. What a wizard would be able to spot out without thinking, some psychics would just pass over like normal people until it's pointed out to them if the right wards aren't applied. So! Most any magical place will serve both gifted and non-gifted people, so that psychics are included."

"Really? But, what about..." Psychics were mostly muggle-born, if he remembered right, and, well...

"Discrimination?" She smiles wryly. "The Japanese are notoriously polite, you know," she said as if imparting an inside joke. "In any case, my student is almost here--" Student? She looks barely fifteen! "--so I'm afraid you'll have to find someone else to discuss the latest flying techniques with... ah..."

Oh! They hadn't really introduced themselves, had they? "Potter Harry." It is surname first, right? Stupid translation charms... though at least Voldemort was primarily European; he'd not had to deal with people calling him anything hyphenated while here...

"Potter-san." She nods to herself, gathering her flying magazine (which she had been snorting over before their conversation) and laying the check on her table. "You may call me--"

"BOTAN-SAN!"

"--Hakagishi Botan."

A small girl that could have been a Weasly with hair that red came babbling apologies up to Botan, not even noticing the foreigner the table over watching with amusement. Botan made an exasperated face at him, gave a nod and a smile for a goodbye, then led the girl away, neatly cutting off the babbling as she went with what appeared to be the ease of long practice.

He watched bemusedly until they got lost in the crowd, then went back to trying to eat his lunch. He would get the hang of chopsticks...