Bewitched Chapter 1

Emerald green eyes stared out of the window at a bright blue sky, he could see the wind blowing through the trees he could almost feel it blowing through his hair. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and sighed. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice say "Mr. Minamino would you care to be a part of this discussion?"

Kurama shifted his gaze to the front of the room and quickly apologized, he heard a few snickers from some of the others students but ignored them. For the rest of the class he tried to pay attention to the lecture but he couldn't focus, finally he ended up watching the clock until the final bell rang. Kurama was the first one out the door; as soon as he was outside he breathed a sigh of relief and thought 'finally!' He started to walk home slowly and was so lost in thought that he didn't even sense Hiei until the dark haired demon appeared in front of him. Kurama was slightly startled by his friend's appearance and quite irritated with himself for not sensing him before. Hiei walked alongside Kurama but did not speak. He could sense the kitsune's attention was elsewhere. After they had been walking for about ten minutes Hiei finally spoke "Koenma has requested our present." Kurama looked at the koorime and nodded his acknowledgment Hiei disappeared in a flash of black. Kurama continued on his way home, he decided to leave his school bag at home; he also wanted to change clothes.

He shifted his book bag to his other shoulder and blew his hair out of his face as his house came into view. Relief flashed in his eyes briefly when he opened the door, he was glad no one was home he didn't really feel like answering his mother's questions about school right now. He made his way upstairs and threw his bag into the corner and fell face down on his bed. Kurama lay there for a few minutes trying to clear his head; he hadn't been feeling like himself lately and couldn't shake this feeling that he was distracted. He was finding it very hard to concentrate on his schoolwork, even his duties as a spirit detective had suffered. He thought back to last week when the four detectives had been trying to recover an artifact from Makai, he remembered the moment very clearly. . .

Flashback

He and Hiei had been appointed to recover the artifact in question from the ruined castle while Yusuke and Kuwabara had been tasked with being the lookouts. He and Hiei had located the item in question and were about to take possession when the doors suddenly slammed and the lights flickered out. Hiei quickly uncovered his Jagan and saw that they weren't alone, the dark haired demon unsheathed his sword and began to fight off the attackers, Kurama who had reached the artifact first and had it in hand was about to unfurl his rose whip when a light blinded him momentarily, before he could recover and attack he saw the red eyes of a demon raise a weapon and almost strike him, before Kurama could comprehend what was happening he saw the demons eyes roll back in his head as he fell to the floor. Kurama got up off the floor and dusted himself off; he looked at the fire demon and nodded his thanks. Hiei nodded in return, with a quick moment of eye contact they reached an agreement to never speak of this to anyone. Kurama gently wrapped their prize and placed it in a bag as they left to meet back up with the others and return to Spirit world.

End of flashback

Kurama turned himself over and got off the bed, he went to his closet and changed his clothes quickly so he could join up with the other detectives in Spirit World. He quickly made his way to the Rekai entrance, once he found the palace he was ushered in without hesitation. As he wound his way through the hallways he found himself beginning to daydream, he was not able to focus on finding Koenma's office. Before he knew it he had run into something he shook his head and started to apologize when he heard a familiar voice say his name. He turned to see the bubbly blue haired deity of death.

"Hello Botan" he said. He turned around to apologize to the ogre he had bumped into and the ogre walked away muttering under his breath. Kurama spun around again to look at Botan and was surprised to see her smiling at him.

"What brings you here Kurama?"

"Koenma" was all he said.

"Oh" she replied, the two stood in silence for a moment until he said "I really must be going I'm late as it is" she nodded and waved to his back as he walked away. Botan stood in the hallway and continued to watch his retreat until he was no longer in sight. She was a little dejected; normally Kurama was more upbeat and polite. She had noticed that he had seemed distracted lately. She stayed there thinking until she heard a voice over the loudspeaker "Botan please report to Lord Koenma immediately" she gathered her thoughts and hurried in the direction of the prince's office.

When she arrived she saw the four detectives exiting the ruler's chambers, she noticed Yusuke and Kuwabara chatting about their mission, Yusuke nodded to her and Kuwabara turned and said hello. Hiei walked past her and slid a glance in her direction but said nothing. She smiled at him and he grimaced. Kurama was the last to leave; she was excited to see him again but he didn't seem to notice her. Her shoulder slumped slightly; it wasn't like him to ignore her. Before she could open her mouth to say something to Kurama, Koenma snapped out her name, she had no choice but to turn her attention to her boss. She looked one last time at the fox before the door shut.

She turned back to Koenma and listened quietly. Later on that evening in her quarters she lay on her bed thinking about the red headed fox. She couldn't help but wonder about his strange behavior, she thought back and something in her head clicked, he had been acting like this for a few weeks, she was sure that she was not the only one to notice. She decided that she would go see Yusuke first thing in the morning and ask him if he knew what was bothering Kurama.