Riku sat, leaning his back against the cold, brick wall of an alleyway, hugging his knees to his chest and shivering violently. What was happening to him? Why was he here? Anger bubbled up within him, but he swallowed it down, unwilling to finger someone else with the blame.

I should go back…Keiko is probably worried…

He felt a little guilty about it; after all, Keiko had helped him when she didn't even know him. Closing his eyes, he whispered softly, "I just want to go back to the island…I just want things to go back to the way they were…"

He felt like crying, his eyes were burning and his throat was so dry it felt raw. He took a deep, wavering breath and then reopened his eyes. The colors around him were blurred and he frowned in confusion until he rubbed at his eyes; wetness met his touch and he sniffed irritably.

"God, Riku, stop it! This is pathetic!" he told himself, wiping his eyes quickly and standing up.

His cheeks were still blotchy and his breaths still uneven, but he shrugged it off and walked out into the crowd. 'Japan' as Keiko called it was swarming with people; so many that he felt almost claustrophobic moving amongst them.

It was difficult to retrace his steps, as he had been nearly hysterical when he'd run away, but he managed to; just enough to reach the sushi restaurant. The others weren't outside anymore, but his stomach growled and he wandered hungrily inside. He was 'pleasantly' surprised to find them all sitting at a table eating.

"Riku!" Keiko exclaimed, here eyes lighting up at the sight of him, "You're back!"

Yusuke smacked his forehead and did a sarcastic imitation of Keiko's enthusiasm, making his voice shrill and girlish, "Ohhh, Riiikuuu! I missed you soooo much!" he waved his hands above his head and fluttered his eyelashes.

Riku rolled his eyes and sat down next to Kurama, "Yusuke. You'd make a bad woman. Not that you make a good man, either, but…" he snickered, "just thought I'd tell you."

Hiei grinned maliciously and said, "Well, I do like this kid; Even if he is crazy."

Riku scowled at him and took a piece of sushi from the big plate in the middle, not even bothering to use chopsticks. He dipped it in Yusuke's small bowl of soy sauce and then stuck it in his mouth. It was delicious—salmon, if he was right. The rice was still sort of cold, and pretty sticky but not so much that it clumped up in his mouth. Perfectly rolled, if he did say so himself. Even the seaweed didn't seem as tough.

"That's good," Riku said, with his mouth full, losing a few grains of rice to the table, although it sounded more like, 'vaff oo'.

"Ewww!" Yusuke said loudly, making a face, "keep it in your mouth, weirdo!"

Riku snickered, swallowing the whole mouthful, "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, I just haven't eaten anything that I deemed 'edible' in a while. No offense, Keiko."

Keiko flushed, "Oh, none taken, I know I'm not a great cook," she gave them all a weak smile, "although it's not from lack of trying."

Yusuke didn't say anything further, possibly from past experience with Keiko's cooking. Kurama also blanched, as if remembering something. Hiei laughed, making everyone else feel awkward. He'd obviously heard of both Yusuke and Kurama's incidents with Keiko's food.

"Well, sorry I ran off so fast earlier, it's just…" Riku put out his lower lip so that he looked heartbreakingly sad, "I thought of someone and…Keiko, you have her eyes."

Yusuke snorted then started choking because he'd been chewing a piece of sushi. He managed to get most of his mouthful down and a minimal amount on the table. Kurama had moved the plate from the center, protecting it, and now reset it seeing as Yusuke was done.

"Dude, you're corny and psychotic," Yusuke sniggered, pointing at Riku.

Riku threw a piece of sushi at him, clearly frustrated, "I'm not corny, you retard, I'm serious," he dodged Yusuke's retaliation of throwing one back and continued, "look, I had a bit of a breakdown, okay? Now, before I left, I remember you saying something about a case. You though I was a demon, genius, remember?"

Hiei spoke up for Yusuke before the boy could argue, "We got a case about a demon who disguised himself as a human and Urameshi, here, was dumb enough to ignore us and go after you."

Riku nodded understandingly and said, carefully and deliberately, "So, while we're eating sushi there's a demon out there who could be preying on innocent people."

Kurama, who had been unnaturally silent said worriedly, "and all we can really do is wait for him to strike."