Quote of the week: "If all else fails, smile - it confuses your enemies." -random T-shirt

Eep... Sorry about the long wait. I died. ;; Yeah, right.... that's it.

With a groan, he turned over, burying his face deeper in the pillows. It took only a few seconds for his mind to recognize the sensation of ice-cold water trickling down the back of his neck, and with a shudder, his eyes jerked open. Still, all he could see was darkness - black; although, there was a slight pink tint around the edges where light filtered in.

One hand untangled itself from cotton sheets and pulled off the damp pink hand towel that had been draped over his forehead and eyes, and Rogerik slowly sat up, confusedly staring around the room. It was unfamiliar... utterly plain, save for a book propped up on the shelf in the corner and a picture that had been left on the nightstand. The thief picked up the photo, set in an inexpensive frame, and realized that he could place some of the faces with names; Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, even Hiei was visible in the far corner.

"Oh, you're awake." A girl, probably not much older than himself, stepped into the room with a tray of soup and glass of ice water. "Here, this is breakfast. But, take your temp before you eat." She took the hand towel from Rogerik and handed him a slim white case - which turned out to hold an electric thermometer. He dutifully stuck it in his mouth.

"I'm surprised you managed to find your way here... you were burning up last night when you stumbled in." The girl chatted on, and Rogerik found her to be vaguely familiar... wait, this was Keiko, right? She was supposed to be Yusuke's girlfriend, or so he'd heard, despite protests and denies from the spirit detective. "Guess I must've gotten worse when I was outside. Sorry about that; I should have called a cab, but I was broke at the time..."

"Yeah, well you're lucky I didn't just kick you back out." the drawl came from the opposite room, and Yusuke, his hair free of the grease that normally slicked it back, poked his head in. "Ma and I don't have the money for you to be staying here for long."

"...I missed you too, Yusuke." The complaint was answered with wry humor, and both boys were fine to leave it at that. Keiko, however, turned on the former delinquent. "Yusuke, behave for once! There might have been a reason he came here, you know!"

"I doubt it." there was a loud 'bing!' from the other room, which Rogerik supposed was the kitchen, and Yusuke left, appearing in the doorway after a few seconds, a piece of toast half-crammed in his mouth. Keiko went to mouth off, but looked at her watch and her eyes widened. "Oh, I should call my parents! They were expecting me home in a few minutes." She stood up, taking the face cloth with her, and inclined her head to Rogerik. "I'll be back in a second."

Yusuke swallowed, and before taking another bite, asked, "So, why did you decide to just wander around the middle of town during a thunderstorm, anyways?"

"No reason in particular. Things were just a little rough around home."

"Uh-huh..." He finished his toast and disappeared into the kitchen. "Whatever... just make yourself at home."

"Uh, thanks..." he heard something fall on the couch, and heard the TV go on. With a sigh, Rogerik swung his feet over to the side of the bed and cautiously got to his feet, unsure whether or not he felt well enough to chance walking. To his chagrin, Keiko suddenly appeared in the doorway and gave him a stern look.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

"Er..."

"Get back to bed, Rogerik! You're probably still sick!" Before he could budge, she had swooped down on him and gently pushed him back down on the bed, taking the thermometer from him at the same time. Her brown eyes read the digital display, and she gave him a motherly look. "Ninety-nine point seven... back to sleep, you." She swept back out the door, and when Rogerik was about to curl up to sleep, he heard her shout back: "And don't forget to eat your soup!"

"Yes, ma'am." It was a half joke, really, but Keiko shut the door with surprising force.

"Hey, Yusuke?"

"Hm?" Yusuke didn't bother to turn away from the TV, now munching on a second piece of toast. "What is it, Keiko?"

"Don't you think Rogerik's parents will get worried that he suddenly ran off?"

Yusuke swallowed and shook his head. "Nah, he told me he lives with his older sister, and she ain't too fond of him."

"Oh... that's kind of upsetting." Keiko sat down next to Yusuke, flipping through her Trigonometry textbook. "I mean, Kuwabara lives in kind of the same circumstances, but I know Shizuru would have called by now, at least."

"Yeah, well, like I said-"

The phone rang from it's hook, cutting off what Yusuke was about to say, and Keiko ran over. She picked it up off the hook, and the spirit detective could hear snatches of a conversation. With a grumble, Yusuke turned down the volume of the TV and watched it with narrowed eyes, eating his toast as if to dispel the frustration of never being able to get out a complete sentence.

"Oh, hello... er, um, yes, he's here? May I ask who's calling? Hikaru Lewis? Oh, you must be Rogerik's sis- well, yes he's fine. He has a bit of a fever, but he's sleeping now. I can tell him you called... nooo... he's getting plenty of fluids. No, I don't know why he was out last night, either; he said he couldn't afford a cab, so he walked here... there weren't any police either... a-alright, I'll tell him to all you back as soon as he wakes up." Keiko hung the receiver back up and looked over at Yusuke, who was focused on the TV, and only the TV.

"Yusuke, why would the police possibly be following Rogerik?" her tone was uneven, but Yusuke shrugged. "I dunno; haven't heard form him all summer. He didn't leave a phone number, and... I don't remember giving him my address." Now his voice was thoughtful, and he looked over at Keiko. "Look, just don't worry. His sister is prob'ly exaggerating."

"Yeah, but it's kinda weird, huh?"

The voice came from the balcony of the high-rise apartment, and Keiko stifled a yelp as the doors to the balcony burst open, vines curling around the doorframe. Yusuke, however, instantly jumped up, toast falling to the floor, ready to let loose a spirit gun at the familiar tone. He nervously walked over, finger at ready, and peeked out the door - then facefaulted.

There, in all his might and glory, sat Lionel; the neko was wearing fairly normal clothes, except for the overly large corduroy cap that was supposed to cover his furry golden cat ears, but was now tilted at a rakish angle, one ear poking out. His tail twitched behind him, and his pants, which were ragged and frayed at the hem, were barely long enough to cover his tawny cat's paws. Of course, if that wasn't strange enough, the twin was sitting in a giant gnarled tree - something that shouldn't suddenly be poking up over the balcony of an apartment on the twenty-something-ish floor.

"W-w-wha..?"

"Oh, uh, sorry about the tree." Lionel flicked at a large leaf in emphasis and shrugged. "Besides the no-animal rule, the elevator wasn't working, and I was too lazy, sooo..."

"B-but the tree..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I know." The cat jumped down, nimbly leaping from one branch to the next, then gracefully balancing on the railing as if he were an Olympic gold-medallist (although Yusuke doubted any human could perform such a feat). He dropped down from the railing, and inclined his head towards Keiko, sweeping the hat off with a flourish. "Lionel Aurata, nice to meet you."

"Well, I..." Keiko stepped back, a little lost for words, then bowed back. "A pleasure to meet you. I'm Keiko Yukimura." Lionel cocked his head at her, his left ear twitching, then glanced over at Yusuke.

"Hey, dude, isn't she your "girlfriend" that you were complaining about? The one that kept nagging you to keep up in class?"

"Ah, no, no! I never meant that!" Yusuke's hands shot up in the classic harmless pose, but it was a little too late for that. Within milliseconds, the damage was done and Yusuke was sitting on the floor with a red handprint on his cheek. Keiko huffed, and left the balcony, telling the two boys that she was going to check on Rogerik and, if he wasn't asleep, tell him that his sister called.

Seeing as Yusuke looked unconscious, Lionel bent down and poked him cautiously with a claw. "Are you okay..?" The cat's hair and fur bristled as the spirit detective sat up, and jumped away with a hiss.

"No, I'm just fine and dandy! What do you think?"

"Sorry..." Lionel crammed his hat back on, and mumbled something to the tree, which suddenly started to shrink away. When Yusuke looked down, he was shocked to see the behemoth plant try to fit it's way back into what was left of the little pot that had sheltered it - from it's humble beginnings as a bonsai.

The cat paid no mind, and wandered inside, curiously looking around the kitchen, then hopping on top of the counter and making himself comfortable. "Hey, I wanted to make sure you knew when the bus to pick you up was coming."

"What bus?" As far as the spirit detective knew, it was Koenma that had arranged for a ride for him and his companions - public transportation might have proved to be too dangerous. The cat sighed and stretched his arms, yawning widely.

"Chys wanted me to make sure you got on the bus tomorrow morning. I'm guessing right that you had no idea."

"Yeah... but isn't it kind of late for the year to start?" Yusuke doubtfully looked over at the calendar that hung on the kitchen wall, and Lionel shrugged. "They were busy over the summer - what with Givanni suddenly up and missing like that."

'So he still doesn't have a clue about what happened...' Well, Yusuke wasn't so surprised at that, seeing as the topic hadn't been mentioned outside of the teachers' lounge, if even that. To suddenly learn that your former headmaster had gotten it into his head to dismantle the academy from the inside-out, putting hundreds of students in danger, including yourself; it would send some people over the edge, and generally cause panic and turmoil all over.

"But," the cat was oblivious to Yusuke's sudden thinking session, and raised a claw in emphasis. "I heard that Rogerik showed up, too. That wasn't supposed to happen, you see."

"Uh-huh... So, do you have any letters or anything?" the spirit detective pulled a chair out and sat down, propping his feet up on the kitchen table.

"Right! Just give me... a minute..." Lionel reached into his pants pocket, then something between a look of pained realization and dread crept across his features as he checked his other pockets. "Damn... Must've lost it... Chrys is gonna kill me." He shrugged and nervously chuckled. "Sorry, man."

"Nah, it's no problem. I'll just call Kuwabara."

"Oh? What about Kurama? He's sure to have been on it for nearly two weeks now."

Yusuke waved a hand, rolling his eyes. "Personally, I don't know where that guy is. Called his house, but his ma only told me that he went on a trip for the international youth-league ambassadors association - or some other high-and-mighty group."

"He never gets a rest."

Yusuke shrugged and balanced the chair on its back two legs. 'Well, truth is, it's probably a cover-up for Koenma..' The idea tossed itself back and forth in his head, since the two boys were in the middle of a most awkward silence. It was so quiet that, when Keiko stepped out of Yusuke's room with a tray and empty bowl, he almost fell off his teetering chair as she shut the door behind her.

"Ah, so he's awake, then." Keiko ignored him for the most part, making a beeline for the sink and leaving the bowl to soak. "Yes, he's awake. He didn't like the idea of his sister finding out where he was, though."

"Like I said, they aren't close-"

"No, he said he was planning on leaving if his sister called again. He didn't want to bother us anymore than he had to - in his own words, mind you. But he went back asleep before I left."

This time the chair did tip, but it wasn't from what Keiko had said. In fact, when she looked over at the former delinquent, he wasn't even aware of his own slip; his eyes, as well as those of the cat demon who was seated on the counter-top, were riveted upon the TV. Yusuke got up, scrambled over to the couch for the remote, and turned up the volume.

"Authorities managed to rescue what little footage on the security cameras as they could last night; they seemed to have been scrambled by a sudden surge of electromagnetic waves, at the same time a heist was pulled off, leaving the Mushimori Art museum short one scroll that is dated back to the chinese Ming Dynasty. The exhibit, which was scheduled to open today, was on loan from the Hong Kong Museum of Fine Arts..."

The reporter was of no concern; however, since a small window in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, most likely taken from the security tapes themselves, showed a slender, almost lanky, figure in silhouette. The news reporter droned on, and Keiko even looked up, not realizing what the problem was until the reporter stated, "This footage, with permission from the police, was taken just last night, at roughly one AM..."

Now she could recognize the fluid movements of the thief onscreen, despite the static; he was dressed in everyday clothes - no mask or attempt to hide his identity at all - and since it was so dark, nothing could really be made out when it came to his features.

But, one stray beam of moonlight managed to catch him in the eyes, just as he had looked up at the camera, with a look oddly reminiscent of pride and smugness. In that look, there was no way, in his mind or knowledge, that anyone would catch him. After all it was his livelihood, and he had excelled top in his class -- never mind the natural knack he had for getting past locks.

The room was utterly silent, and none of them bothered to look as the door to Yusuke's bedroom door swung open slightly, and those same eyes, albeit bloodshot and with an air of tiredness, stared out at their reactions. He hadn't fallen asleep right after, as Keiko had thought, and the faint din of the TV had wormed its way through the crack in the door.

Still without a response from Yusuke, Keiko, or Lionel, Rogerik gently shut the door and sat against the windowsill, toying with the strings binding together a yellowed scroll.

"Heh, uh, Yusuke?" Lionel managed to snap out of the TV-induced shock and, without breaking his gaze from the screen, allowed probably the most ill timed request to come forth from him.

"D'ya mind if I just kinda... y'know, crash here for the night?"

Ne, and who's been a bad boy? But, anywho, Lyonell is back, and that's all I care about. Hee-hee... crud, I'm giddy over a freakin' cat...

But I don't care 'cause he's coolio. XD

Review if you wish, and the plot may pick up sooner.