Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who will be celebrating on Thursday. For those of you who aren't, happy Tuesday ;-)

Also, a quick thank you to Quercy, since one of your comments helped inspire one of the scenes in this chapter.

Quotes:

"There should be a rule against your own inner monologue throwing around that much sarcasm."
—Jim Butcher, Ghost Story

"There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort."
—Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Friday morning, when her first class was unexpectedly canceled due to the professor being sick, Kagome found herself with some time to kill. Finding a quiet corner of the library—perhaps Natsumi was right about her living there—she allowed herself a momentary reprieve from schoolwork and hopped onto the Kiyojūji paranormal investigation website.

It was the busiest she'd seen it. Tons of supposed sightings, hauntings, and other paranormal encounter reports had poured in, starting late Thursday night she noted. Holy hell! It was too many to assume they were all fake, plus she knew better than most that yokai and other supernatural creatures actually did exist. Just what on earth is going on?

The chat was so packed it was glitchy, so she began browsing the new forum posts instead.

Footsteps following me
Night parade of a hundred demons
Potential Hitotsume kozō sighting
Vampire rumors?
Pyschic premunition
House smelled like nattō
Felt icy wind inside – no windows open!
Umbrella sprouted a leg?
Seeing tings—am I gonig crazy?!
Haunting – ghost with no head
Yokai – help!
Hearing voices but home alone
Something drank all my sake! WTF

Kagome pressed her hand to her mouth, stifling laughter. So far, those she'd read that seemed legitimate were all fairly innocuous. She speculated one culprit was a natto kozō and the umbrella a karakasa kozō, and perhaps the footsteps could be attributed to a Betobeto-san, a spooky yet harmless apparition according to the book she consulted. Some of the others she was a little unsure of or felt like more than one mischievous demon could have possibly been behind the occurrence. A couple posts about the night parade described a glimpse of the legendary hyakki yakō in the pitch-black sky, led by the yokai supreme commander atop some kind of snake, the ghastly creatures gathered illuminated by blue-white onibi. (1)

Of all the nights to not have any nightmares and sleep soundly! She'd be lying if she said she wasn't jealous of all these yokai sightings. Sure, she could probably go locate any number of them in Ukiyoe Town, but it wasn't like she would stumble upon a hyakki yakō so easily—this was the night parade they were talking about!

Which, of course, reminded her of Ryūji's comment about the Lord of Pandemonium, the leader of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, and the paranormal site fangirl's description of the supreme commander…which led back to her bizarre first encounter with Rikuo. Was there a connection there? Surely not…but…

Kagome blew out a breath loudly. All right, girl, let's nip that in the bud before you even start going down that rabbit's hole. Enough procrastinating. That independent study isn't going to write itself.

She really wanted to use the Keikain materials somehow, since she knew they were not run-of-the-mill sources and she'd gone to some effort to obtain them. The question was how…especially considering every other paragraph it seemed like the bastards were qualifying the claims being made or commenting about how whatever they'd just stated was "unsubstantiated." Kagome snorted. Seriously, where did a bunch of onmyoji for kami's sake get off being skeptical when they believed in the supernatural and used freaky-ass shikigami like Ryūji?

Must be nice to cherry-pick what you believe in… Wait a sec!

An idea forming, Kagome snatched a book out of her backpack and flipped to the small story about the shikon no tama. Then, fingers flying over the keys, she logged into the Keikain archives and pulled up their database entry on the shikon no tama. She grinned. It could work.

It all depends on if Saito-sensei approves it or not…but I could analyze the rhetoric of those who believe—or partially believe in the case of these assholes—in a topic versus those who don't. Discuss word choice, apparent bias, audience… I can use what I've found on the shikon no tama as my primary topic, perhaps interview jii-chan as a source, and then I can compare it with some secondary stories, like some of the vampire stuff I've been looking at for my class, or maybe exorcists… Hmm…

Kagome typed up a quick email for her advisor, requesting a meeting the following week. Then she hit the library catalog to find some books she'd need. Time to remind my professor why I always got excellent grades in his class…

Going to bed after sunrise and then waking four and a half hours later was not at the top of Rikuo's "favorite things" list, especially since he'd never really been a morning person. However, as much as he enjoyed needling the onmyoji, he decided it probably wasn't wise to do so today, since they'd likely be spending an extended amount of time together given the sheer number of case files Ryūji was liable to have. He hoped to keep the irascible onmyoji in a half-decent mood as long as possible. So rather than crawling out of bed and showing up whenever he damn well pleased, Rikuo got up a little before noon Friday, giving him ample time to awaken fully and grab something to eat before meeting Ryūji at one o'clock.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans, regarding both Ryūji's good mood as well as punctuality, for Rikuo received a text around 12:30 p.m. from Ryūji saying that the materials were not quite ready.

Ryūji: They promise everything will be ready by 1:30. I'm not optimistic. Text you when I have them in hand.

At your beck and call today, am I? Rikuo fought the urge to reply with something sarcastic and simply said "okay." Then, since he had time to kill, but couldn't go back to sleep as he didn't know how much time, he opted to find Shouei and Zen and catch up with his sworn brothers.

As it turned out, Ryūji didn't text him back until two thirty, and they met up at the hotel at three.

"That stack's yours." Ryūji motioned toward what would've been better termed a mountain than a stack. Oh fuck me, I'm going to be trapped here for hours. Days, even.

Rikuo had anticipated a hefty workload for the two of them, but this far exceeded his expectations. Not to mention… He voiced his question out loud. "How the hell are there so many? The last article I read indicated the 'rash of missing persons cases' totaled ten."

"Well, for starters, if you're referring to the same article I read, that was ten days ago. Also, my best guess is that one, that count of ten only included November, and two, the police may be trying to minimize the situation in order to prevent idiots from panicking." Ryūji shrugged. "Plus, did you forget this is three months' worth? Not just two weeks?"

Well, that was one question answered. However, there was another matter he wanted to address as well. "Oi, Ryūji, before we get started…" Rikuo began, hoping he could finagle some real answers out of the man, rather than the convoluted half-truths or evasions he usually received.

Ryūji exhaled loudly, brows pinched. "What?"

"In the spirit of collaboration since we're going to be…errr…enjoying one another's company till this case is resolved, shoot straight with me. You knew Kagome had youki, didn't you?"

A slow smirk spread across Ryūji's face. "Ho? Figured it out, did ya? Or did someone have to clue you in?"

Rikuo ignored the frustratingly accurate dig and continued. "Does she know she has it? For that matter, does she even know she's got miko powers?"

For a split second, Ryūji looked startled. Then he erupted in mocking laugher. "'Does she know?' Oh, she definitely knows she's a miko. Not half bad either, though she could use some training… Hmm…" His expression went pensive for a moment before going back to its typical smirk. "As far as the youki, yeah, she's aware of it. Claims it's a curse… I'm not entirely convinced, but someone interrupted our meeting at the coffee shop before I could get any further details out of her."

"Considering you looked like you were contemplating jabbing bamboo skewers under her fingernails, you won't get an apology out of me. Okay, so she's aware of her youki, and I'm guessing if she calls it a curse, she doesn't use it."

"Not from what I saw, but that was an isolated instance." Ryūji shrugged and then glanced at his watch. "All right, lover boy, you done yet?"

"No," Rikuo said flatly. "Yokai… I saw her encounter Oitekebori, so obviously she knows about them, but how much do you think she knows about them?"

"How much?" Ryūji scoffed. "Rikuo, the woman isn't just knowledgeable…she's a full-fledged, card-carrying yokai fangirl. If the research materials she requested and the poking around she tried to do in the archives are anything to go by, then there are some onmyoji—not Keikain, of course—who probably don't know as much as she does."

Rikuo felt his jaw drop. "Seriously?" he said incredulously. "I knew she was researching folklore and mythology, but…damn. Guess it's good that I'm pretty good at masking my Fear then, though it's not quite as much of an issue when I'm like this." He motioned to his human appearance.

"Tch. I suspect it's less that and more that the foolish miko hasn't tried… Perhaps she's distracted and too busy flirting to consider that the Lord of Pandemonium himself is right in front of her face," Ryūji said, rolling his eyes. Then he drummed his fingers on the small hotel room table. "Still. There's something off about her, beyond just that youki-curse-whatever. If only Yura…" He trailed off.

"If only Yura what?" Rikuo asked.

"Never mind," Ryūji replied quickly. Too quickly in Rikuo's opinion, but before he had a chance to press him, Ryūji said, "Look, I've got better things to do than gossip about your little miko girlfriend. Those badge-bearing banes of my existence didn't keep the cases in chronological order, but I suppose at this point that's not a huge priority."

Rikuo nodded. "I'd rather utilize the time we would spend reordering them actually reviewing them."

"For once I agree with you. Surprisingly, the idiots did manage to put both stacks in the same order."

"Yet evidently paying attention to the dates was too difficult?" Rikuo said, tone scathing. "I'm beginning to think your complaints of their stupidity aren't merely standard Ryūji hyperbole."

Ryūji snorted. "You have no idea."

Surveying the rather daunting piles before them, Rikuo grimaced. "So…how're we doing this?"

"Just look for anything seemingly related to those three bodies discovered earlier this month. Okay, see those on top"—Ryūji pointed to some files set askew atop the others—"those are cases of unidentified remains and a handful of unresolved homicides, including the three we're already aware of."

Rikuo picked up the small stack Ryūji referred to and then gestured with it. "There's not very many compared to the missing persons reports—knock these out first?"

Ryūji shrugged his agreement, and they each set to work reviewing the files.

After simply reading the first case—unrecognizable putrefying remains, adult male, discovered at rear of a business by company employees—it became readily apparent that these would not be as mild, albeit depressing, as the missing persons reports were likely to be.

The second case was partial skeletal remains, female, found outside a vacant house in Kohinata. According to the medical examiner findings, the bones showed possible perimortem trauma, though postmortem fracturing and splintering, due to extensive carnivore damage, made it difficult to determine.

"Oi, Ryūji." When the onmyoji glanced up, Rikuo said, "The female found in Kohinata… It's one hell of a stretch, but the bone damage…"

Ryūji nodded slowly. "No harm adding it to a 'maybe' pile." He paused for a moment, eyes scanning over the page in front of him. "Hey, look at the next one, the one in the abandoned dormitory in Shibuya. 'Young male, body found in advanced stages of decomposition, visceral organs absent'."

Rikuo grimaced. "Again, it's an assumption, but…" He shrugged and tossed it aside to form his "maybe" stack.

And so they continued, through partial skeletons, unrecognizable remains, decomposing corpses, and, in one case, just a skull. The reports contained locations and GPS coordinates for each, though going to the sites would likely prove of no use at this point.

Once Rikuo set down the last unknown persons case, he began the homicides, giving the three Ryūji had previously given him copies of only a quick once-over before placing them in their own spot and reviewing the new ones.

Initially thought to be a suicide, then ruled homicide—cause of death was asphyxia due to manual strangulation. He cleared his throat, and Ryūji lifted his gaze to meet Rikuo's.

"The faked suicide—Sasagawa Sakura. The forged suicide note cited bullying as the reason, but none of the statements seem to support that, and of course, neither does the ME's cause of death. According to statements from her friends, she'd been very into vampires, claiming she wanted to fall in love with one or find one who would 'turn' her so she could become one herself. Then a few weeks prior to her death, accounts state she was 'back to normal,' saying the vampire stuff was a silly, immature phase."

Ryūji curled his lip in disgust. "That vampire bullshit again… I suppose—and I'm going way the fuck out on a limb—it's possible that she could have gotten mixed up with whoever is committing these crimes and was killed because of whatever knowledge she had."

He was right—the speculation was going out on a limb, but at this point, they'd do better to start broad and narrow down than omit something that could be beneficial. There was still the vampire angle to explain, but at present, that wasn't a huge priority. Rikuo said as much and put Sasagawa's case with the other maybes.

Only one other unresolved death seemed even remotely applicable—an expatriate in his late twenties named Colin Lethbridge, working in Tokyo, who was found nearly two and a half weeks following his death after a neighbor repeatedly complained about a putrid odor to the landlord. Lethbridge had apparently been of the superstitious variety, if the various talismans, wards, and paraphernalia to protect against evil in his apartment were anything to go by. The cause of death was exsanguination, due to lacerations on his neck that severed both the internal jugular vein and external carotid artery, and he had gashes on his hands and forearms, defensive wounds per the medical examiner. He also had been disemboweled at the time of death, and several internal organs were missing—including his liver. Despite the file being with the homicides, the official manner of death remained undetermined since it was unclear whether the man's injuries were the result of homicide or animal attack. Even if you ignored the missing liver, Rikuo personally thought it was a bit unlikely an animal capable of those injuries could come and go in an apartment complex without leaving any trace of evidence.

The entire report, especially the ME's findings, was rather gruesome, and combined with the other macabre files they'd already gone through, memories of the ordeal with Kyōsai and his kusozu—the stench, the agonizing pain of both his body and his Fear rotting from the inside out—flooded over Rikuo. He shuddered and shoved them back into their neat and tidy mental compartment as best possible, but he had little doubt that nightmares were in store for him in the not-so-distant future. Oh joy.

Reminding himself that dwelling on it served no purpose, Rikuo returned to work.

By eight o'clock that night, they were only a few cases into the missing persons stack, and already Rikuo was wishing for Ryūji's death.

By the wee hours of Saturday morning, he was envisioning murder-suicide.

"How the fuck are we going to find anything useful in all this? Whose stupid idea was this?"

"That's at least the seventh time you've asked that," Rikuo replied dryly. "And I believe it was yours, onmyoji."

Ryūji's scowl deepened. "Fuck you, yokai."

Rikuo grinned. "Not my type, but thanks. And I was merely answering your question." The look Ryūji shot him made his grin widen. "Hey, much as I am loath to admit it, you have the right idea. It just sucks that we've got over two hundred cases to scrutinize."

Ryūji massaged the bridge of his nose, deep lines marring his forehead as he scowled. "More working, less talking."

Rikuo bit back a laugh and shook his head. This guy… Prickly even when you try to meet him halfway.

Neither of them were fools—they'd known the work would be tedious and that there might be precious little of use among the myriad cases. Rikuo rolled his tense shoulders and rubbed his burning eyes as the words on the pages began to blur.

The content of the files was an added drain—unlike the homicides and unidentified bodies, they weren't gory, and both he and Ryūji had seen their fair share of horrific things that far surpassed mere missing persons reports. Nevertheless, portions of what they read began to weigh heavily on them, especially the missing children, despite them anticipating such cases. They weren't more than halfway through yet, and at least a fifth of those missing were children, including five infants already, plus the decomposed remains of another that had been found two months prior.

When they reached the case file of Nakayama Hana, that weight combined with the grisly files they'd started with, long hours, and lack of sleep, and it was too much.

Hana was the infant daughter of a Shinto priest. Goddamnit. Another baby?

Blood feeling unbearably hot, Rikuo flung the file to the floor with a curse.

Disgust, anger, and exhaustion warred on Ryūji's face before exhaustion won out. "Go home, yokai."

The tenuous leash Rikuo'd had on his temper snapped, and he snarled at the onmyoji. "Don't you dare lump the Nura clan in with these assholes—and there's no guarantee yokai are even responsible. We're making a hell of a lot of assumptions."

For once, Ryūji didn't react with some snarky comeback, simply wearily blew out a sigh. "I…didn't mean it like that. Just…habit." He scrubbed a hand down his face. "We're both fucking dead-tired. Go home, get some sleep—we'll start fresh later tonight."

Rikuo's anger faded, and he nodded, reaching for his massive stack of files, but Ryūji waved his hand dismissively.

"Leave 'em. You'll be back later. No need to haul them back and forth."

"Appreciate it," he said, and then added, "Text you when I wake up."

He left the hotel, squinting against the midmorning sun, and headed toward Ukiyoe Town. However, Rikuo had no intentions of going straight home.

No, he needed something to remind him of the beautiful things in this world after spending so many, many hours buried in its ugliness.

The way her eyes widened and she jumped up out of her chair when he stepped through the door to the cat sanctuary told him just how rough he must look.

"Rikuo? Are you okay?" Kagome asked, concern lacing her tone.

He was too tired to come up with a reasonable excuse, so he just shrugged and said instead, "You mentioned kittens? Sorry I forgot the dango…"

His redirection didn't seem to work as well as he'd hoped, for her eyebrows scrunched together as her sapphire-colored eyes searched his face.

Rikuo forced his lips into a facsimile of his usual smile. "You're doing that staring thing again."

His quip had the desired effect—Kagome gave him a tiny smile in return and shook her head. "C'mon."

She opened the door behind the counter and waved at him to precede her. Then, he followed her into another room where shrill mewls met his ears. She pulled the three squalling kittens out of their cage and pointed for him to sit. When he did, she plunked all three down into his lap.

"I just fed them, so they're not hungry; they're just fussing. Here, hang on to them, and I'll go warm up some towels."

It only took a moment before she returned, and she placed a warm towel in each of their laps before she snagged the little Siamese from him.

The two remaining kittens squirmed and stomped around in his lap as he gently stroked them before finally curling up together, kneading his legs and purring. There was something so oddly comforting about a cat's purr.

A quiet voice interrupted his musings. "Wanna talk about it?"

Rikuo gave a humorless laugh. "I probably should, but I can't." He felt certain she wasn't a threat to the Nura clan, and likely never had been, but where did that leave things now? A topic better left explored when I'm not so fucking exhausted… He raised his gaze to meet hers. "But…thank you."

Kagome nodded, her worried expression lessening some. "I understand. Really." And for some reason, somehow, he knew that she actually did understand, truly did know how he felt.

He'd made the right decision coming here.

Before he knew it, someone was giving his shoulder a gentle shake, and his hand shot out, gripping the wrist tightly.

"Rikuo?" Kagome. And evidently he'd startled her, if the raised pitch and teeny sizzle of reiki were anything to go by.

He released her wrist and blinked, groggy and faintly disoriented.

"You fell asleep," Kagome said cautiously. When he nodded slowly in understanding, her apprehension fell away and her lips curved upward. "I called Natsumi, and she said Kuro would come pick you up."

He stood and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Gomen, Kagome. I've been up since…" He paused. "Yesterday morning?"

"What?!" She fisted her hands on her hips. "Okay, you, get your ass out of here and into bed. Sheesh. What were you thinking?"

That I wanted to see you, he thought. Outwardly, he said nothing, just spread his hands in a "no clue" gesture before attempting to stifle a yawn. He failed.

Kagome rolled her eyes and pointed toward the door. "Move it, mister."

He laughed. "I'm having a hard time remembering who's the boss of whom here."

The look she gave him was fierce, eyes flashing. "Save it for when you're not passing out from sheer exhaustion with a lap full of kittens, Rikuo-sama," she said, mimicking the tone she'd heard his subordinates use around him.

"Hai, hai, blue eyes," he said tiredly. When her eyebrows raised at the spontaneous nickname, he groaned internally. Fuck, what are you saying, moron? You're dead on your feet—now is not the time to be dropping sweet little pet names. And just what is she to you that you're giving her a pet name? After chastising himself mentally, he added, "I'll let this bit of insubordination slide since you're new and all."

Kagome's expression conveyed just how unimpressed she was by his "letting it slide," and she jerked a thumb toward the entrance of the building.

At the same time they reentered the reception area, Kurotabō was walking in the front door. His eyes alighted on Rikuo, and the monk shook his head in exasperation. Then he addressed Kagome.

"I hope Rikuo-sama has not inconvenienced you overly much, Higurashi-san."

She waved a hand in front of her face, smiling. "Not at all. Besides, too little sleep and a warm pile of purring kittens'll do that to just about anyone."

Kuro nodded slightly. "Perhaps." Shifting his gaze, he looked at Rikuo expectantly.

Rikuo gave him a sleepy grin in response. "Well, guess we ought to let Kagome get back to work, huh, Kuro?" Then he turned to Kagome. "Hey…thanks."

She nodded. "See you Monday, late afternoon?"

"Wouldn't miss it." He gave her a quick wave as they left the sanctuary.

On their way, in between yawns, he filled Kurotabō in on what he and Ryūji had discovered, which was not a whole lot, but added that hopefully he'd have more after they continued work on the cases tonight. Kurotabō was kind enough to refrain from asking how he'd wound up at the cat sanctuary after meeting with Ryūji.

Back at the Nuragumi main house, Rikuo made a beeline for his bedroom, only to be halted on the way by his grandfather.

"Late night, huh?" Nurarihyon nudged him with an elbow, smirking. "You spend it with that miko?"

"Uh, not last night—I was with Ryūji."

His grandfather gave him a bland look. "Hmm…can't say I saw that coming, but whatever makes you happy. Though I would've expected you to have better taste… Zen perhaps, or Itaku…"

What the hell is he… It took a moment for Rikuo's sleep-deprived brain to catch up. "No…not like that. Seriously, old man? You know I was working on that case with Ryūji."

"And this morning?"

There was no telling what his grandfather's end game was, and at present, he was far too tired, and lacking in patience, to indulge his whims. "Yes…this morning I was with Kagome. Again, no, not like that," he said quickly, hoping to end that line of questioning. Then, before his grandfather could continue the conversation further, he added, "Now, if it's all the same to you, I'm going to get some rest."

Rikuo stalked off before the old man could respond, the siren song of sleep too enticing to delay any longer.

Kagome had managed to maintain her composure while Rikuo was there, but once he'd left with Kuro, her mind reeled.

When Rikuo had dozed off for a moment, Kagome jumped on the opportunity and extended her powers, concentrating on the energy of the man before her.

And felt nothing.

What the hell?

To her mind's eye, from purely an energy signature standpoint, it was as if Rikuo wasn't even in the room. Wait…

She focused harder, ignoring the psychic version of eye strain. Nothing wasn't quite accurate. There was the faintest shimmer of an unidentifiable energy, like the slight distortion from heat seen above a candle flame. She speculated that were she not able to see him, literally, with her own two eyes, that glimmering trace would go unnoticed. Is he somehow masking his presence? Even in his sleep?

She'd caught a whiff of youki, but it was so fleeting and nondescript, she attributed it to the ambient youki of Ukiyoe Town, or a remnant from one of the neko girls she worked with.

She'd stopped after that and called Natsumi, since Kagome was surprisingly more worried about Rikuo's apparent exhaustion than her discovery. Or non-discovery as it were.

Now, in the quiet of the sanctuary, the morning thankfully slow thus far and Momo and Miki gone to run some errands, she puzzled over just what it meant.

What is he? Yokai? Hanyō? Onmyoji? Human with reiki? She sighed loudly, frustrated.

The thought of onmyoji brought Ryūji to mind. They did know one another… Would Ryūji tell her if she asked?

Probably. For a price. Asshole onmyoji. If for no other reason than her association with them was less than stellar, she found herself sort of hoping Rikuo wasn't one.

No…that wasn't entirely true. If Kagome were being honest with herself, an unpleasant task she had gotten into the bad habit of avoiding, her aversion to onmyoji was not the only reason she didn't want Rikuo to be one. Because she equally hoped he wasn't a human with reiki, and she had no prejudices against them.

Deep down, the real reason she yearned for Rikuo to be something other than human stemmed from the source of so many of her issues. The shikon no tama and its damnable curse. If she decided to pursue a romantic relationship and if he were a hanyō or yokai, she might not outlive him and have to watch him die. Might not have to lose someone…and be alone, yet again.

That's a lot of ifs, Kagome. Sure, she knew he found her physically attractive, as she did him, but did either of them feel anything beyond that? For all she knew, he could have coffee or go out with lots of women. She gave herself a light smack on the forehead. There was absolutely no point continuing that particular train of thought.

Restless, Kagome got up and paced the reception area, brainstorming out loud to herself. "Okay, so, I didn't sense anything. Or much of anything at any rate. Not your average run-of-the-mill human ki, or reiki, or youki…which indicates he's adept at hiding himself, but why? And what is he?"

He appeared human, but she knew better than to take things at face value. And then there was that weird double image she had seen when she first met him… How did that factor in, if at all?

"Ughhhh! Instead of answers, all I have now are more questions."

Hanyō could explain the human appearance, though so would kitsune. Or any number of other things as you well know. She hummed a little as she mused. "Leaving the onmyoji aside for now, if he's a yokai, or some similar supernatural entity, how the fuck do I go about asking him without giving myself away? What if he's not friendly?"

Now you're just being stupid. Has he given you any indication that he's an enemy?

True, but he wouldn't be the first nonhuman creature to convincingly con an unsuspecting individual.

The image of Rikuo snoozing with a lap full of kittens rose in her mind. On second thought, if he were unfriendly, there's no way he'd have let himself fall asleep and be vulnerable around me. And the way he snagged my wrist when I woke him…a hostile type likely would've gone for my throat. Especially since I accidentally shocked him with my reiki…which he didn't seem to notice. Again.

Non-hostile it was then, she decided. Which…brought her right back around to her initial question. What kind? However, assuming she was correct, did it really matter?

She did another lap around the room as she contemplated the question.

No, it didn't matter. Refusing to revisit her earlier line of thinking, she looked at it another way—if anything, the prospect of Rikuo potentially being a yokai, or a hanyō, meant she could finally tell someone about herself and her history. Well… Probably. Time travel was a farfetched concept even in paranormal circles. And if he were an onmyoji… Kagome scrunched up her nose. Her impressions from the Keikain indicated they weren't especially fond of yokai and might not understand her affection for them. Though, on the other hand, a human with reiki or an onmyoji would likely be more receptive to her being a miko, whereas a yokai might consider her a threat.

Hmm… Unless she was completely off base, Rikuo didn't seem to think she was dangerous. Of course, it was possible an overly optimistic yokai might not feel threatened. Her lips curved in a self-satisfied smirk. Neither did some yokai in the Sengoku era, and look where it got them…

She sat back down at the reception desk and rested her chin in her hand. Her thoughts ran in circles, twists, and turns, leading nowhere and confounding her further.

This is foolish, she told herself, slamming on the brakes of her thoughts' joyride. You have no means by which to answer your questions now, and your arguments for him being a hanyō or yokai are edging closer and closer to wishful thinking and clouding rational judgment. You want him to not be human, but we don't always get what we want.

Kagome sat up straight and gave her cheeks a light slap with her palms. At the same time, the sounds of Momo and Miki entering in the back of the building met her ears, a welcome reminder for her to get her head on straight and refocus on work.

As she headed to give them a hand putting away the supplies they'd gone to purchase, Kagome came to a decision. This weekend and through Tuesday, she needed to concentrate on her schoolwork. She had an independent study that was in desperate need of work, a paper to write, and a math test to study for. Investigating what Rikuo was or asking him pointblank would only serve to derail that much-needed concentration.

Instead, she'd dangle that potential knowledge as a carrot, motivation to get what she needed to do done. Though in theory she should make herself wait until the semester was over, she decided Tuesday night after her math test was more realistic. Until then, she'd put the matter under mental lock and key, and when she saw him on Monday, in addition to studying, she would let herself enjoy his company, but nothing more.

Now cram any burning questions or unbridled curiosity into a mental compartment and mark it "Do Not Open Until Nov. 17."

When she got to the back of the building, Miki's snarky "Took ya long enough" and Momo's gentle admonishment of her sister served to brighten Kagome's mood, and though she knew it was a calculated risk, she thinned her shields just a smidge as she worked, allowing her to bask in the neko girls' youki, bringing a little peace to her troubled spirit.

Footnote:
1. onibi – Per the site yokai dot com (lord this site is pissy about urls), this is a yokai phenomenon whose "name means 'demon fire,' and it certainly earns that moniker. It looks like a small ball of flame, usually blue or blue-white."

Author's notes:
1. So, now Rikuo is a bit more aware of Kagome and her powers, as well as her knowledge about yokai—good job Ryūji for spilling the beans—and Kagome has some suspicions about Rikuo. The question is…will she be able to wait to ask/confront him like she plans?
2. I hope you all enjoyed chapter 13! As always, I am so grateful to all of my readers. Your support, reviews, questions… they all mean so much to me!