CHAPTER 09: "Jeepers, It's the Reefer!"

Daphne sighed. "Oh, Shaggy."

"It's really no wonder why you two are so hungry all the time," Fred said.

"You try to hide it," said Velma, "but we all know what goes into your special homemade Scooby Snacks."

Daphne leaned toward Yusuke, hand cupped around her mouth as she whispered. "It used to be brownies, but then he met Scooby. Chocolate is bad for dogs, so into the Scooby Snacks it goes."

Kuwabara was still staring open-mouthed at Shaggy, oblivious to the rest of the conversation. Soon he shook his head, though, and stammered, "W-wait. Are you saying you were high when you first met Scooby?"

"Like. Yeah." Shaggy scratched the back of his neck, eyes on the floor. "Like, really, really high."

"And that's… supposed to explain… how Scooby can… talk?" Kuwabara ground out, gears ticking and clicking behind his eyes.

"Yes." Velma pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Don't you see? That explains everything."

"Shaggy thought Scooby could talk because he was blazed out of his mind!" Fred added with a triumphant grin. "Mystery solved!"

Kuwabara, however, was not convinced. He looked between Velma and Fred, and Scooby and Shaggy, and Yusuke and Kurama in turns, putting together all the pieces—and coming up short, if Yusuke had to take a guess, because Yusuke wasn't sure what was going on, either. "… but what's that got to do with today?" Kuwabara eventually asked. "What does Shaggy getting high have to do with now?"

Velma frowned. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"I mean, what's that go to do with today?" Kuwabara insisted. "With what's going on right now?"

"Kuwabara is right," Kurama said, voice cool and collected and calm but cracking at the edges with irritation. "I fail to see how Shaggy's past drug use explains our current situation regarding your talking companion."

Daphne shifted on her feet, uncertain. "What do you mean?"

"It explains everything about Scooby—namely why he can't be a demon," Fred said.

"He's a normal dog, and we hallucinate his speech," said Velma. "You get it now, right?"

"No," said Yusuke, "we don't."

Kurama had gone back to pinching the bridge of his nose, but he paused long enough to clear his throat and say, "Ask yourself this: Shaggy was high when he first met Scooby, and yes. That might be why Shaggy heard Scooby speaking upon their first encounter." His eyes flashed emerald green, luminous in the dim interior of Onigumo Manor. "But it does nothing to explain why Scooby is still talking today."

Fred said, "What are you—?"

"Are all of us, myself and my friends included, high right now?"

Shaggy opened his mouth.

Kurama eyed him askance. "You shouldn't answer that, I suspect."

Shaggy closed his mouth again.

Fred, meanwhile, opened his, as did Daphne and Velma, but Kuwabara beat them all to the punch. "And before any of you tries to argue about how long a marijuana high lasts, trust me." He looped an arm around Kurama's neck, grinning. "Kurama here knows his plants."

"It's true." Yusuke grinned. "Say. You ever grow any good strains of Demon World weed we should know about, huh?"

Kurama looked very pointedly in another direction. "I'd prefer to leave my past in my past, thank you," he said, shoulders stiffening under Kuwabara's friendly arm. "Can we return to the matter at hand?"

"Oh my god." Kuwabara blanched. "That's a yes!"

Yusuke cackled while Kurama flushed. "420-blaze-it, eh, Kurama?"

His eyes flashed again. "I will end you both—but later." As Kuwabara and Yusuke took a hasty step backward, well aware of the trauma Kurama could inflict when sufficiently pissed off, Kurama's cool green gaze slid to the dog crouched before them on the floor. "Something tells me there's more afoot here than we've assumed… and I have a feeling it's all to do with Scooby Doo."

NOTES: 420 BLAZE IT, EH, KURAMA? Also yes Velma is being illogical as heck but there's a reason for it. You'll see…