I extend my thanks to all the anonymous reviewers (heartluv, mariangeli, bloodredroseindarkblackflames, Lanie N., and GB) that I couldn't thank personally. : ) :hugs all of you:

Chapter 2: Routine

There were a few moments of flabbergasted silence in which Yuusuke and Botan just goggled at Kurama and Kurama simply grinned at them. Yuusuke finally broke the silence. "Kurama, please tell me you're kidding," he demanded, appalled.

Kurama darted a quick grin at Yuusuke before starting to speak. "I had told you that officer Nakahara had come to see me some days ago, right?" he asked Yuusuke and Botan. At their affirmative nods, he continued, "I was rather distracted then, since I'd just been to the Makai to see Yomi the day before. The officer didn't seem to have too many questions, so we didn't talk all that much."

"But still, while talking to him, I did notice that Nakahara had a slightly higher than average Reiki," he admitted. "For a human," he amended, glancing at Yuusuke's raised eyebrow. "Not half as much as Shizuru-san, but even so, I suppose that bit of psychic ability would be rather useful in his chosen profession," he mused.

"Well, that 'little bit of psychic ability'," interrupted Yuusuke snidely, "was definitely no help in this case, was it?" Yuusuke asked, scowling.

"True," admitted Kurama. "However, I don't suppose I can blame him," Kurama looked on in some amusement as Yuusuke's scowl darkened. "He must have realized, at least subconsciously, that there was something different about me." The amusement staining Kurama's gaze sharpened.

"Kaitou told me that during their conversations, he got the distinct impression that Nakahara didn't like me much." Kurama thought back to what Kaitou had told him.

"...I got the feeling, Minamino-san, that even he didn't seem to know the exact reason behind his apparent antipathy towards you..."

Kurama shook himself out of his thoughts to look back at Yuusuke and Botan. "Apparently, Nakahara had discovered that we were academic rivals in high school and went to Kaitou to try to unearth more about me." Kurama's gaze turned reflective. "He eventually told Kaitou about some of the evidence against me, and prepared the playing field some before asking him some pointed questions. He even went so far as to ask Kaitou whether he thought that I could ever be inclined to kill." Kurama broke off at Botan's dismayed gasp.

"And what did he say?" asked Yuusuke, sharply.

"Kaitou...," Kurama smiled enigmatically before continuing. "He replied that he held true to his belief that I wouldn't kill a human being."

Botan, to her credit, took only a few moments to get it while Yuusuke still looked puzzled before glaring dolefully back at Kurama. "Kurama, translation for the less wordy among us, please?" he asked, snarkily.

Kurama laughed softly. "Yuusuke, he never said that I couldn't kill humans; only that he believed I wouldn't..." Kurama glanced back at them, voice lowering. "Nor," he continued, eyes slanted and hooded, "...did he admit to my having killed any humans in the past."

Kurama felt a small stirring of respect for the human boy. By putting forth his beliefs, he had gotten out of admitting actual facts. Kurama had a brief flashback to the last human he had killed, the murder that Kaitou had witnessed. The child Amanuma with his fatal games, unwittingly manipulated by Sensui. He gave himself a mental shake and looked over at his companions to see Yuusuke blinking in realization while Botan stifled a small laugh, shaking her head. "He does like to play around with words, doesn't he, Kurama-kun?" she asked with a small smile on her face.

Kurama half smiled at her. "Nearly almost as much as I do, I presume."

Yuusuke let out a snort before fixing his gaze back on Kurama. "So have you thought about what you're gonna do now?"

Kurama let out a chuckle. "No, I'm afraid I haven't decided that yet. After all, I only learnt about all this a couple of hours ago. It wasn't very conducive to focussing on my classes, though..." he trailed off, musing.

Yuusuke snickered. Botan, on the other hand, didn't crack a smile. She was frowning, brows tightly knit together, biting her lip. "Kurama-kun, this is awful! I just hope there's some way of clearing this up before Koenma-sama hears of this..."

"Ah, but Botan," Kurama interrupted her, emerald eyes sparkling in inexplicable amusement. "I haven't told you the real news yet," he responded, voice showing more than a hint of suppressed merriment.

Yuusuke stopped and stared. "You mean there's more?" eyes widening at Kurama's answering grin.

Kurama smiled mischeviously at the startled Spirit Detective before he turned his eyes to the sky and started explaining. "Yomi had called me to Makai for a few meetings this past month. Between those and schoolwork, I suppose I've been a bit distracted," he admitted, a ghost of a grin curving his lips.

"But then again, not nearly as distracted not to observe something strange," Kurama continued, eyes flashing with rememberance, "There's someone following me around... I first noticed about two weeks ago."

Yuusuke shot him a quick look. "Demon?" he asked, voice sharp.

Kurama shook his head briefly in the negative. "No, no, a human, I assure you." Kurama narrowed his eyes slightly in recollection for a moment before reaffirming the statement. "Yes, quite human... a man."

"Hey, it's not like that's anything new," Yuusuke interrupted, scoffing. "You've got people following you around like puppy dogs all the time here, don't you?" he grinned at Kurama.

Kurama chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that's true... and that's probably another reason why I didn't notice him around at first. But now that I've thought about it a bit, he's very quiet and unobstrusive... and he's so discreet that sometimes I have a bit of trouble locating him unless I'm actively looking for him," he murmured, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

Yuusuke glanced once at Botan's similarly baffled expression before responding to the meditative kitsune. "Kurama, while I understand that you've got a problem in regards to being stalked by determined fangirls - "

"And fanboys," interjected Botan.

"And fanboys," Yuusuke agreed, grinning. "I have no clue why you're telling us this when we were talking about your oncoming jail time," he finished, eyebrow quirking.

Kurama glanced at them, flashing a quick smile. "I promise there's a point, Yuusuke."

Yuusuke rolled his eyes but nodded back . "If you say so," he muttered, unconvinced.

Kurama returned his gaze to the road in front of him and continued where he had left off.

"After I had talked to Kaitou today, I paid a bit more attention to my surroundings both when I was in school and out. I recognized this man several times today... he even followed me home partway before I met up with you two."

Botan traded a puzzled glance with Yuusuke, but Kurama hadn't taken his eyes off the road.

"What I found interesting was his ki," Kurama continued, a strange half-smile on his face. "It was cloudy... a sort of dimmed dark-grey, a bit like it was lacking any vitality..." Kurama nodded to himself, eyes thoughtfully scanning the horizon. "Yes, a bit strange by itself, but that wasn't all," he affirmed.

"He never came too close to me, but still, there was no mistake about it," Kurama stated, looking at the curiosity evident on his friends' faces. "He had a very distinctive smell, actually," he commented, face settling into an inscrutable expression. "He reeked," Kurama stated, voice devoid of any feeling before turning back deliberately to look at Yuusuke and Botan. "...of blood."

There was a few seconds of silence in which Kurama looked back at the dumbfounded expressions of Yuusuke and Botan before Botan shook herself out of the mental fog that Kurama's unexpected words had driven her into.

"Kurama-kun," she whispered, deadpan expression clashing with the somewhat desperate edge to her voice. "Don't tell me..." she trailed off, temporarily berefit of words before she bravely started again. "You... you're not telling me that the real killer seems to have your name in his latest hit list," she paused once, apprehension building up in her. "Are you, Kurama-kun?" she pleaded, panic fluttering through her. Botan took one look at Kurama's wicked smirk and felt an instant headache form. She closed her eyes in dread.

"All right." Botan snapped her eyes open at the amused murmur to look at the kitsune. "Since you asked me so nicely... I won't." Kurama smiled toothily at her and a stupefied Yuusuke. "However," he continued, green eyes dancing. "That wouldn't make it any less true."

Botan sighed heavily as she massaged her forehead with her fingers, trying to ward off her rising alarm. She could just feel her headache intensifying by the minute. Oh, why oh why couldn't she just have a normal day off, for once? Would that really be too much to ask? Apparently so. And, of course, she'd have to inform Koenma-sama about all this. Who seemed to have no understanding of the saying, 'don't take it out on the messenger'. She whimpered and mentally groaned in deep despair.

This was so not fair.

--- End Chapter. ---

Hmm. I didn't like the way this chapter came out as much as the first one. Or is it just me?

R&R, please! Reviews make for a happy lilmatchgirl. :D