A/N: ...yea...I should really be apologizing for how long this chapter took to write, but I know you won't buy it/won't care what reasons I give/just wanna read, so I won't bother this time. (sweatdrop) Enjoy the chapter, minna-san!

...though it seems kinda more like filler to me...

Awakening Spirits

By Lisa Bako (AKA "Pegacorn")

Chapter 5: I Thought Saturdays Were Supposed to Be Good…

It was Saturday.

Those three words had to be the greatest for any student to think of after waking up in the morning.

If Reiki had been 9 years old, he would've been jumping up and down while chanting "Saturday! Saturday! Saturday!" over and over again.

…much like a certain younger brother was doing a little ways down the hall.

That would probably also explain why the blond was awake right now.

At 8am.

Reiki groaned, pulling the covers over his head to try to muffle out his otouto's seemingly unending yelling.

Someone had to teach that boy about the concept of sleeping in! Maybe hitting him over the head with his own pillow would do the trick…

…Wait a sec…

His eyes snapped open as he remembered something. If it was 8am here, then that would mean…

Flinging himself out of bed, all thoughts of sleep forgotten, he quickly turned on his computer, waiting for it to boot up before launching his instant messenger program. He smiled to himself at seeing the familiar names listed in his buddy window, the smile turning into a smirk as another window popped up in the middle of the screen.

K00lGuy862: well look what the cat dragged in

He grinned at the greeting. That was so like Chris. He was about to type a response when he received another message.

K00lGuy862: wouldn't think you'd be on now. it's like, what, morning over there, right? surprised you're not out cold (laugh)

He rolled his eyes in amusement before typing.

BlondShinimori: Haha, very funny. For your information, I WOULD be sleeping right now, but you know how Mike is when it comes to Saturdays… (sighs)

K00lGuy862: heh, this is why I'm glad I'm an only child (smirk)

A blond brow rose.

BlondShinimori: …I'm about to block you…

K00lGuy862: dude! you know I was just kidding, right?

BlondShinimori: (smirks) So was I.

K00lGuy862: …I knew that.

BlondShinimori: Uh-huh. Sure you did.

He snickered quietly to himself. It was always so easy to tease Chris. But then…

K00lGuy862: well 'least I don't have to worry about getting up early on a Saturday

…Chris always seemed to find it easy to tease Reiki, too.

That was just the kind of friendship they had—full of jibes and insults that would make anyone wonder how they were friends in the first place. But they both knew that neither meant it when they poked fun at each other; it was just how they made conversation. Truth was…

…Chris was one of the few people Reiki could call a best friend. He had made three best friends during his time in America, the other two of which were currently not online. Understandable, considering it was Friday night on the east coast of the US. Which got him wondering…

BlondShinimori: Hey, Chris?

K00lGuy862: yea, dude?

BlondShinimori: It's 7 there, right? I would think you'd be out somewhere, y'know?

K00lGuy862: (smirk) who says I'm not?

BlondShinimori: (browraise) That's why you're online now. Right. Makes sense.

K00lGuy862: oh, shut up. and for your information I AM going out soon, in an hour in fact

BlondShinimori: Ah, going on a date with Meg I take it.

K00lGuy862: (grin) damn straight

Thinking of what to respond with, Reiki's fingers paused above the keyboard as the reason for his being up now decided to noisily run past his door, chanting what sounded like "Cartoons cartoons cartoons" over and over again. The blond blinked at said door for a second, contemplating something.

"Heck's he get all that energy from?" he thought out loud.

His attention got brought back to the glowing computer screen at receiving another message.

K00lGuy862: listen, I should go now, gotta get ready and head over to Meg's house to pick her up

BlondShinimori: Alright. I was thinking about getting revenge on Mike now anyway…

K00lGuy862: (laughs) ok, seeya dude

BlondShinimore: Later.

"K00lGuy862 signed off." appeared in the IM box at the same time as the sound of a door slamming.

"Ex-ing" out the window, Reiki put up his away message before pushing back from his computer desk and exiting the room with the deliberate stride of a hunter stalking its prey.

On the screen, in a small window to the left were the words "Killing the little brother. (If anyone asks, I was sleeping!) Be back later."

---

Panic.

That was the best word to describe how life at the Kaze residence currently was.

Katherine Kaze was in an uproar. That was the only way Reiki could think to put it. Normally his mother was a very kind-hearted and understanding woman, one who could make anyone feel welcome in their home.

But right now the blond wished he didn't live here.

"—one dust the tables! Still need to polish the silverware. Now where'd I put that vacuum?—"

Apparently, Reiki and Mike's grandparents were due to show up that night—a fact that a certain son of said grandparents had just found out when he answered the phone that Saturday morning.

They had done this on purpose to catch them off-guard; he was sure of it…

"Are you even listening to me?!"

The male members that made up the rest of the household—including the cat Bandit (who had taken up his usual spot on Reiki's head, but now seemed to be regretting it for once)—flinched.

"Uhh—yes dear!"

"H-hai, 'kaa-san."

"Er, yea, mom!"

"Meraow!"

"Good," Mrs. Kaze responded, looking at them all expectantly for a few moments, before continuing, "Well?!" making them all jump again. "What are you waiting for?! Move out, boys! Chop chop!" before turning to start her attack on the kitchen and make it spotless.

May grime beg for mercy…

Michael peeked out from his hiding place halfway behind his brother with wide eyes, not daring to speak until his mother—whom he was suspecting might be related to Mr. Hyde—was out of sight behind the kitchen door. "Mom's really scary…"

Shigoto Kaze laughed nervously, adjusting his glasses. "Er, well…you know how your mother gets when relatives visit."

"She wasn't this bad last time," Reiki pointed out, raising a blond brow.

That earned him his father's trademark "dead serious" look. "Because last time she found out a week in advance."

The boys—along with Bandit—blinked. "…ah/maow."

Shigoto sighed. "Yea…seems my parents found out we were here already and decided it'd been too long since they last saw us and had to come by as soon as possible. Something about how the 'little darlings' grow up so fast," he finished with some amusement tingeing his voice.

Reiki cringed after a moment. "They're going to say something about my hair again, aren't they?"

The older man rubbed his chin with a "hmm," giving his son an appraising look. "Well…you know Rei, perhaps you should—"

He sighed in annoyance, cutting his father off before he ended up having to hear the "haircut speech" for the third time that week. "Please don't start with that again, 'tou-san."

His father chuckled. "Alright, but you know what they're going to say… Anyway…" He glanced at the closed kitchen door, listening to the telltale signs of his wife imposing war against all things filth. Sure she wasn't listening, he lowered his voice to a whisper, talking behind his hand, "Run for it, boys…"

All three blinked at him again, this time in confusion. "Eh?"

He continued to speak in subdued tones. "I'm serious. You know how bad your mother gets, right?" At their nods, he continued. "Well, just think about it. Normally she has a week or more to get the place up to her 'guest-welcoming standards,' but this time, with her needing to cram all that work into one day…" He let his sentence break off, seeing that they finally got it, if their eyes getting twice as big weren't sign enough. Hearing the water start running as a signal that Katherine had chosen the dishes as her next victim, he brought his voice back to a normal volume. "You better go while you've got some noise pollution to mask your escapes, you know."

Reiki and Mike looked at their dad, then looked at each other—Bandit briefly glancing at all of them—before racing up the stairs at a speed that would make Hiei—if they knew who he was—envious.

They had to hurry.

---

The slightly disheveled form of Yusuke Urameshi stomped down the sidewalk, fuming and muttering to himself. "Stupid Koenma…sending us off on some stupid mission…have better things to do on a Saturday morning…like sleeping in!" The last part was yelled out loud, startling some birds from a nearby tree.

It also caused Kuwabara to jump in surprise when he'd been falling asleep on his feet—practically sleepwalking—and Kurama to shake his head in amusement. He was used to getting up early, so this was no big deal for him. As for Hiei…well, he wasn't there at the moment. No one had been able to find him. Not surprising, really, and he'd show when he wanted to, so no one was concerned about that.

They'd been sent off on a mission right away. Apparently, the random readings of demon energy were becoming more frequent, something the Spirit World Prince was becoming increasingly worried about, and with good reason. They needed to figure out what was causing these readings, so he'd sent—or at least tried to send—the whole team out to check out the latest location where the youki had appeared.

Perhaps there would be some sort of clue…

Yusuke continued to rant and rave to himself about "stupid toddlers", "how pointless this was", and how they "hadn't even found anything".

…but obviously there hadn't been any clues, if Yusuke's muttered words were anything to go by.

"Yusuke," Kurama's calm voice of reason broke into Yusuke's fuming "Perhaps we should try the compass again," he suggested as more of a way to distract the detective from his incessant raving.

They'd been given the Spirit Detective Item to aid in their search, just in case a situation such as this came up. Unfortunately…

"Don't know what good it's gonna do. Damn thing didn't pick up on anything the last time I looked at it…" Despite his words, Yusuke pulled back the left sleeve of his jacket to look at the watch-like device.

Gazing at the compass with an expression bordering on apathetic, the detective pushed the button on the side to activate it…

He blinked, stopping in his tracks. "What the hell?!"

Kuwabara seemed to come more awake, stopping also to look at his friend expectantly. "What? It find something?"

"The thing's going crazy!"

"What?!"

"See for yourself!" He held the compass out towards his spirit sword-wielding companion. Kurama peered at it also.

The thing indeed did seem to be going crazy. Currently the hand was spinning around so fast they were surprised it wasn't smoking. But what did that mean?

"…surprised 'tou-san let us go like that…"

"Yea…wonder why…"

The three of them looked up, hearing voices coming from up ahead. Voices that seemed to be coming from around the corner. A corner that looked very familiar to Yusuke. And that first voice…

"Eh," they seemed to say with a shrug, "oh well. Let's just hope things calm down later."

…where had they all heard it before?

---

Okers. Thas it for now. Oh, and the next chapter picks up right from where this one ends. I actually originally had it as part of this one, but then I couldn't figure out how I'd end it if it were included, so I just said "Screw it!" and made it the beginning of chapter 6. Also means you get this a little sooner than planned, which is always a good thing, ne? (grin)

Alright then. You know what to do. (coughs and points with head towards review button) Heh. X)

-Pega (Leowolf with an identiy crisis)
End 4:00am (yesh I'm insane)