A.N.: Sorry for the wait! Work has been pulling me in all directions and I've been trying to get a new job, one that is hopefully less stressful! This one's a little short, but I needed to get it out of the way to get into the good stuff. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Oh no. Tears! Wait-! Keiko tackled me to the bed, giving me the strongest spine-cracking squeeze of all time. Matsu and Kuwabara laughed from the next room. "Do you guys need us to leave?"

"Hey, if you can't handle being jealous…"

We spent the rest of the day at my apartment, with me telling the others about the blackmail I had on Akashi and Iwamoto. Kuwabara ground his teeth in frustration ("Those bastards! No honor, what-so-ever!") and Keiko sighed ("Now now, we only have one semester after this one, then we'll never have to see them again."). Everyone wanted to know what being dead was like, but Botan screamed at me from the window. ("You can't tell them! Living humans can't know about the Underworld! It could tear the universe apart!")

Wait.

I'm in my body. Alive. And I could see her clearly. Not like when I was trapped in Matsu's body, where I could only see her aura. I could see her as clearly as my friends, who were looking at me weirdly for stopping in the middle of my sentence and staring at the window. What the Hell?

"Yusuke?"

Keiko put her hand on my forehead, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Hmm, you don't feel warm. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought."

"Ah, so that's why I could smell smoke." Kuwabara could not pull off the 'wise sage' expression to save his soul, but I was grateful for the change in topic.

"Shut up, bonehead!"

It was later that evening, after Keiko and Matsu had gone home, that Kuwabara asked me for a favor. Since I'd been dead for over a month, the punks from Kasanegafuchi thought it was safe to move in on my territory. And Kuwabara needed my help to get rid of one particular group that had him by the proverbial balls.

The next morning, bright and early, I got up and made my way to the café Kuwabara needed to meet the thugs at. Halfway there, I passed Botan trying to disguise herself as a fortune teller. She tried to beckon me closer, but I pretended I didn't see her. I mean really, the cloak was a nice touch, but her aura was still the same shade of purple. And those pink eyes were very distinctive.

Just outside the café I slipped on my sunglasses, since most Kasane punks knew what I looked like. I had left my hair down as well, adding little changes to my appearance. It also helped that they thought I was still dead, but no use springing the trap early.

There they were, taking up the large booth by the bar. Since I'm not Kuwabara, they ignored me and kept talking about how cool their leader, Sakamoto, was. Apparently, this was the guy with glasses and a red aura. A quick glance showed all guys in that booth. Where was this Eikichi girl?

The fuck-! Sakamoto had horns coming outta his head! And again, I was the only one who noticed something was wrong! What was going on here?

"Eikichi! Where is she?" Kuwabara, right on time, with his friends right behind him.

"Not so fast. Did you bring the manga?"

The package hit the table, narrowly missing their drinks. "There. I didn't know what you liked, so I got you different kinds. Now where is Eikichi?"

"Funny. I didn't know they gave receipts for stealing." Idiot! Kuwabara had said that he was supposed to steal some manga on the way here, but his honor code wouldn't let him. I told him to just buy it and keep the receipt in his pocket. Obviously he forgot that detail.

"What's the difference? I did as you asked, now give her back!"

"The difference is, I wanted you to experience the thrill of shoplifting. But you've gone back on your word. Now apologize."

"What?"

"You heard me. On your knees, sleeze."

And he did. Kuwabara dropped to his knees, apologizing at the top of his lungs while the others laughed. One even spoke up.

"I can't believe all this over a retarded fuzz-ball!" and pulled a kitten out of a bag on the seat next to him.

"EIKICHI!"

My head hit the table. Eikichi was a cat! Okay, slight change of plans. First, I help Kuwabara. Then, I kick his ass.

Decision made, I sat up and looked around. They had gone, which is good. I don't like property damage, and this is one of my favorite haunts.

I caught up with them two blocks down in a vacant lot, just in time to rescue the cat from losing an eye. The Kasane punks freaked out ("Greetings from Hell, guys.") and in the confusion I handed the idiot his kitten.

Sakamoto bolted, and I took after him, catching up less than a block away. One hit, and he was down. Wuss.

Then something crawled out of his mouth. Crawled out of his mouth! It was disgusting! All red skin and horns and mismatched eyes and a light coating of saliva. It looked up at me and said "Uh oh! I gotta get outta here!"

What ever that thing was, it was fast. So was I. It tried to jump past my ear, but I reached out and grabbed it, ignoring the lights crackling around my hand.

"Hey! You can't just grab me like that? Don't you know you can't see me?"

"I can see you just fine, and I gotta say, you're one ugly parasite."

"Parasite? I'm not a parasite! And who taught you to speak my language?"

Footsteps came behind me, and I thought it was Sakamoto getting up. No, just Botan, trying to be mysterious as she told me about the demon I had caught with my bare hands. She grabbed him and hopped on her oar, saying I was to be the next Spirit Detective and she would bring me cases as they came up. Then she was gone, leaving me with more questions than answers.

Demon, huh? Guess I found out what the red aura means.