Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi

Beware the scene jumps—it's not in chronological order.

For the Sake of Science

"It's your turn." Kaitou turned away from the screen, waving the game controller in Shuuichi's direction.

"Mm." The other boy lay on his stomach, recording the round's questions and answers in a notebook. Barely perceptible, his pencil slowed. "I'm almost done here, go ahead and pick the next game for me."

Kaitou pressed the button. On the television, the shuffling of the slot machines made a counterpoint to the dull scratching of Shuuichi's pencil. The perky animated announcer called out the category, name, and level of the game. The redhead did not look up, simply drawing a slow and deliberate circle around the correct answer.

He stood up, but made no move to take the game controller from Kaitou. Instead, smiling, he gestured to the empty water bottle lying near the notebook. "Sorry, would you mind if I take a quick bathroom break? There's no need for you to wait for me to return."

"Of course." Under the sudden burst of music, Kaitou heard the door open and close and Shuuichi politely speaking to his mother as they passed in the hall.

So perfectly normal, if it weren't for that fact that Kaitou knew the other boy had no pressing need to use the bathroom. It was slightly surprising, though not unexpected, that Shuuichi still shied away from this particular game.

3-7. Lining up the blocks, Kaitou wondered for a minute if it weren't a bit cruel, and just when intellectual curiosity had overcome his morals.

"Well, Shuuichi, what are your plans for the holiday? Booked solid with dates already?"

He half turned and paused to let Kaitou catch up. Like any other student facing an impending long weekend, he hadn't spent a moment longer than necessary in the school building. "Actually, I haven't quite planned anything yet…"

"What a shame. You know," Kaitou replied seriously, "we've a whole day free from school to waste, and there's no better way to waste it than by playing video games."

Shuuichi chuckled quietly. "There are times that you and Yusuke sound so alike it frightens me."

"You mean because we both sound human?" His tone was offhand, carrying on the innocent and good-humored joke. In anyone else's case, the sting of the comment would have been a slip of the tongue. But they both knew Kaitou always chose his words with utmost care.

Surreptitiously, he gauged the demon's reaction from the corner of his eye, but Shuuichi gave no outward sign of being disturbed. He smiled and hummed a noncommittal, amused response, seemingly more concerned with enjoying the nice weather on his walk home.

But, of course, such composure was only to be expected from the former Youko Kurama.

Kaitou rather liked Shuuichi, and certainly welcomed the challenge he presented to an otherwise monotonous school life. So he was not quite sure when scientific curiosity had driven him to test the limits of Shuuichi's complex human façade. Curiosity had killed the proverbial cat, and it seemed to have done away with his ethics as well.

"In our case," he continued, "you could think of it less as a mindless video game and more as a math project."

He was pleased when Shuuichi quickly caught on to the reference. "Goblin City?"

Kaitou nodded. "If that child could find such a complex pattern to the questions of the game, there's no doubt that I can do it as well. But I need to amass enough data to piece it together."

"And so you need volunteers to help you play and record the answers," Shuuichi finished. "I suppose in the face of such a noble endeavor, I have no choice but to agree to assist you."

It would have passed for an innocent and well-intended get-together between two friends, assuming that the Goblin City incident had not previously scarred Shuuichi. Was he really so delicate that this amounted to flaunting his weaknesses in his face?

Perhaps a part of Kaitou had enjoyed the cold, ruthless power he lorded over the other boy during Genkai's test. And perhaps, lingering somewhere still, a part of Shuuichi admired that amoral callousness.

He returned to the bedroom just as Kaitou was finishing the round of 3-7. He did not look like someone who had killed a child in cold blood after cruelly justifying the death. He looked happy and normal, as if he enjoyed the inane routines of daily, human life.

Which was a hypothesis too ridiculous to give more than a passing thought.

Minamino Shuuichi was an anomaly, an enigma, a curiosity to be studied. Just when had a thirst for knowledge allowed the desire to watch that pretty face fall apart?

Kaitou took all the 3-7 games without a single comment after that.

…
Owari
…

-Windswift