In light of the recent events occurring in and around Wichita, Kansas, I would like to take this time to dedicate this chapter of Heal Me, I'm Heartsick (and ALL the others) to the Wichita Police Department and their capture of Dennis Rader, the first suspect in thirty years for the BTK killings! THANK YOU, WPD! Nola, lady, you need to figure out how to speak in front of a camera in front of the entire US, sweetcakes.

Chapter 6: Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Kurama

"Can you tell Kaasan that I won't be home until sometime around six?" I asked Bri softly. "I'm going to Hiei's…house." I hoped she didn't catch my hesitation.

For a minute, she cocked her head at me, quite like a cat. In fact, Bri's entire being echoed feline. The way she moved, the way she acted and reacted, the way her blue orbs glittered in the sunlight. They almost seemed to reflect the sun. She even smiled like a cat. Her dark brown hair was cropped short above her ears, falling similar to what a cat's would, if it had hair on its head.

I don't know why she paused, too, but I hoped it wasn't because she detected the little white lie. I hated to lie; even to people I really didn't trust. Bri, however, waited only a second.

"Sure, Shuichi, I can do that. I'm going to do my homework, then go to the arcade. I'm sure Yusuke's going to practice for a rematch against me, too. Keiko says he doesn't like to lose."

I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks. See you later!"

"Yeah, sure."

She left, racing for the train station. I sighed and walked slowly toward the station myself. The one she was on left as I stood there. Ten minutes ticked by, then I stepped onto the next.

I wish that these uniforms were a little less noticeable. Why had I gone to Meikou? I still wasn't sure. The uniforms were even redder than Meio's had been, and a little bit more on the business side. Lucky for me, I had a change of clothes at Genki's temple.

"Hey, Kurama, glad you could make it!" Yusuke shouted from the top landing as I ascended the steps. I hardly noticed them anymore, other than that I had to climb them each time we visited Genki's temple.

I gave him a humoring wave and followed the rowdy duo inside. Kuwabara and Yusuke were both sporting their new high school uniforms, though I doubted Yusuke would wear his for very long. The black bottoms and conservative white shirts were so ordinary of normal schools that they would hardly be noticed.

The three of us went into the "den", if you will. It was a simple room, with only one thing in mind: Entertainment. It was Genki's game room, where all the normal arcade games measured things like spirit energy and growth potential. In the far corner of the room was a large TV. Genki herself was already seated in one of the couches.

That was where we would receive our next assignment. Hiei appeared beside us as though he'd been there all along. A scowl was on his face. It was obvious what had made him so upset. He didn't like having to actually be in the same room as Kuwabara and then have to have Koenma spouting on about what our newest assignment was.

It was moments like these that I wondered when the four of us had suddenly become friends. I knew it hadn't happened all at once, but I still wondered when Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei had stopped being my partners and had become my friends. After Kuronue, I hadn't wanted any more of either.

Yet here I was.

Koenma's image flickered and then cleared on the screen.

"Hello, I see you've all recovered from your last mission well enough," Koenma began. I sometimes wondered how a boy so young had become so full of himself. "Kurama, I know that the fire at your home struck your family hard. But I'm afraid it has something to do with your new mission."

What did he mean? The fire that had destroyed my home had been merely a group of punks trying to get at the house next door to us by mistake. At least, that's what the group said. They hadn't meant to. They even apologized.

"The group of teenagers that allegedly set fire to your home were not the true culprits," Koenma continued. "They were brainwashed into believing that they were. The people who really set fire to your house were trying to get this girl into your home." A picture of Bri Wolf appeared on the screen.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted her," Hiei murmured, so quietly that only I heard.

"Bridget really has no idea that she is causing all of this, of course. The Vacant Lot is a team of demons that want something she has. We haven't a clue why. Our source is the spirit of Keiko Sawaguchi, a friend of hers, who recently died. I think it's safe to say the Vacant Lot has been planning this for at least three years."

Why does he say that? I was already a bit dazed to find out that I had been mistrusting of a mostly-innocent girl.

"The Vacant Lot is the entire staff of Meikou Academy. It seems to have been working until we got Keiko's information. She found it out by eavesdropping on her mother. Her mother discovered her and murdered her, then made the scene appear as if it had been a suicide.

"As I get more information, I will relay it. Until then, keep Bridget Wolf safe."

The screen blinked out.

For a moment, everyone was silent. I couldn't believe how wrong I'd been. Why had I mistrusted Bri? She'd only ever been friendly to me, and yet I hadn't trusted her. What was it about her that made me feel uneasy?

"Okay, well, that sounds interesting," Yusuke said. Sarcasm dripped from him like too much wasabi. "She's a nice person, who would want to go after her?"

"Something to do with power," Kuwabara said. He scratched his head. "She's got a lot of it."

"Power?" I glanced at him. "I haven't sensed any spirit energy coming from her."

"Not spirit energy, exactly," Kuwabara said. "I don't know what it is, but it isn't spirit power. She's got something else. A power."

"Like netherworld?" Yusuke murmured softly. I couldn't stop the shudder that ripped through me.

"No, nothing bad. Just…power. I dunno."

"Well, you're just about as helpful as a pincushion without any pins." Yusuke and Kuwabara began to quarrel again about whatever they did. I had learned quickly to tune their petty fights out.

"What do you think, Hiei?"

"The idiot is right. I am not sure, either." The scowl was set deeper in his features.

"How is it that I cannot feel her power?"

"You can't?" Hiei looked at me in mild shock. For him, I knew that this meant he was very surprised.

"No." I had nothing more to say.

The others stared at me.

I glanced down.

My watch read five forty-five. I waved at the others and then ran as though my life depended on it.

Bri

"How did I get so much homework on day one?" I moaned to myself. "Shuichi better get home soon if he's going to do it all."

That's when I remembered that he'd missed one of the classes. History class. I glanced at the clock (five forty-five), then at my written assignments in my little organizer. I hoped that I could keep up with it; I hadn't always been very good at keeping stuff in one place. I had math and biology yet to do. History, all we had to do was read the first chapter and summarize it, and I'd done that already.

I hated math, and I hadn't even heard the assignment in biology. I hoped Shuichi had it, because that darned Toguro had gone so fast that I hadn't even gotten that. Oh, well, I had the history assignment. At least now I could ask why he'd left.

Begrudgingly, I worked my way through ten problems and set down my pencil again. The door upstairs had finally sounded open and shut. I glanced at the clock. Six oh-seven. Hmm, not bad. He was almost on time. I heard a hurried apology to Kaasan. So, he usually wasn't late. Poor guy. I wonder what kept him?

"Bri, did you get the history assignment?" he asked, knocking softly on my door as he spoke.

"Yes, I did," I smiled. "Did you get the biology assignment?"

"Yes. You were there, why didn't you?"

I smiled grimly. "Toguro-sensei spoke so fast that I couldn't get any of what he said to begin with."

"Anything?" he blinked.

"Nothing except the first ten minutes, and it's broken between English and katakana," I said, holding up my scribbled notes. "I gave up."

He stood for a few minutes, thinking, and then disappeared into his own room. He reappeared seconds later with his biology notebook.

"You help me with English and history, and I'll help you with biology," he said. "A tradeoff."

"Sounds good to me. Why weren't you there during history?"

"I had to leave," Shuichi said, a little too fast. "An emergency."

I didn't believe one word of it, but I was too desperate for help in biology to argue. He taught me the entire lesson from biology today, and I taught him the history lesson. I found biology actually a pretty interesting subject. I guess when someone else presented the material, it made more sense.

"Bri, the others wanted to know if you'd like to go with us tomorrow," Shuichi said as we finished up biology. "At Genki's temple, that's where we're going. You remember her, right?"

"Uh, sure," I smiled. Something told me that it wasn't an arbitrary invitation. "What are we going to do?"

"She owns a lot of video games, I thought you'd like to…" His voice trailed off. Hmm. Strange.

"Okay, sure. Why not?"

Why not, indeed. Something wasn't right here.

"Shuichi, Bri, dinner's ready!" Kaasan's voice broke through my musing.

I guess I'd have to wait until tomorrow.

Is anyone catching that Bri is either very observant or she notices things about people a little too much? It's a plot point, that's why I ask. Did I make it too obvious or not obvious enough? VV I'm hopeless. The hopeless, ugly little kitten…