Okay you guys are not going to believe this but I forgot a chapter! Chapter 5 is supposed to be Pistachio! It should be fixed now.

So... GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER 5

IT'S A NEW CHAPTER

5. PISTACHIO

THAT IS ALL.

Kagome paused in the act of putting away her clean laundry and plucked a silver silk tie from her underwear drawer. It wasn't the first piece of a man's clothing she'd discovered. Two weeks before she'd uncovered a silk handkerchief that definitely belonged to a man discreetly tucked in her shoe rack.

What the hell? She frowned at the offending garment.

Less unnerving but no less odd was the mystery smell in the apartment. She'd first noticed when she came home from class three weeks previous and there was a lingering scent in her room. Her nose had always been sharper than most but she couldn't detect more than a whiff of the tantalizing scent before it faded.

All she knew was that it had been dark and rich with the subtle saltiness she associated with masculinity. It reminded her of salted caramel and made her mouth water. She asked Miroku if he'd switched colognes when she smelled it again, intending to compliment him on his new choice, but he'd just frowned. When she explained her reason for asking he'd strangely chuckled and shaken his head, muttering something about scent-marking territory.

At the time Kagome just assumed he was drunk but now she was beginning to wonder.

"All right this is just weird." She sat down at their kitchen table where Miroku was working on his laptop.

"Hmm?"

"Am I being stalked?" She stared at the bouquet of lotus blossoms that were the most recent in the seemingly endless parade of gifts.

"We know your pursuer is youkai, or has youki, so stalking in a sense may be perceived as him as a type of courtship. What do we know about his personality so far?"

Kagome pursed her lips in thought. "He's presumptuous but sorta shy, or doesn't want me to know who he is which is weird because if he didn't want me to know him he shouldn't have sent me gifts in the first place."

"Hmm." Miroku hummed non-commitally.

"Honestly I'm not that impressed with all this distance-wooeing. I'd rather him be honest with me."

"Perhaps he is being honest in his… culture." Miroku looked up at her. "He has declared his intentions, and left part of his power behind that only someone with reiki could identify."

"Do you think we could track it?" Kagome pulled a bottle of taro milk out of the refrigerator and poured herself a glass. "I guess that's a dumb idea… We're not bloodhounds."

"No but… perhaps an inu youkai would be just as good." He smiled secretively. "You have Shippo's number right? His nose wouldn't be as good as Professor Saiga's but he'd probably be more willing to help."

"I think Saiga would run away again if I asked him for help." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Honestly, for a youkai lord he sure is a wuss."

Miroku's eyebrows shot up and he smirked. "I'd love to see you say that to his face. Or not, I like you alive."

She nodded, pulling out her phone and debating briefly before dialing Shippo's number. From what she knew about kitsune they loved tricks and mystery so as long as she pitched the situation right he'd probably be more than willing to help out.

When he answered she put on her best excited voice and told her about the mystery gifts with youki and asked if he wanted to play private investigator. Naturally he was thrilled at the idea and promised to be over as soon as possible.

Kagome put the electric kettle on for tea and pulled out snacks for their guest. While she worked Miroku kept up his work on the laptop, though his eyes seemed to not focus on the screen and he only typed occasionally.

"What's up?" She finally asked.

"Nothing." He responded automatically.

"Miro-kun. Don't lie to me." She used the nickname she'd had for him since they were children.

"I…" He met her eyes and had to look away. "I'm just worried about you."

"It's okay. I'm okay. I haven't even really been coughing lately, the new medication is helping and I have a secret admirer." She smiled. "Life is good."

"Yeah." He reached for her hand. "As long as you're around life is good Ni-chan."

A knock on the door made Kagome give Miroku's hand a quick squeeze before skipping down the hallway.

Miroku watched her go, debating whether or not to tell her that he already knew who her secret admirer was. Though it wasn't as good as having Professor Saiga as a potential mate—and he'd been so sure that it had been him after their classroom incident—a hanyou of Saiga-sensei's bloodline was still quite powerful. He'd been ecstatic when he found out about the sharing of life-force between mates. It would be the perfect solution but he'd have to act quickly. If Shippo couldn't track Inuyasha then Miroku resolved to invite Kagome to his bojutsu class and have them 'coincidentally' meet.

"Hi Miroku!" Shippo greeted cheerfully.

Miroku saved the research project he'd been drafting and closed his laptop, intending to give his best friend and his TA his full attention.

"Good afternoon Shippo." He smiled. "You certainly got here quickly."

"I was at school today." He grinned, showing fangs. "Professor Saiga is a slave driver! He had me drafting a pop quiz on-WOOPS!" He opened his eyes wide in mock-surprise and covered his mouth. "Guess the fox's out of the bag now!" He winked at Kagome. "You still gotta act surprised okay?"

"How can I act surprised? I won't even be in class!"

"I'll be doubly surprised for both of us." Miroku volunteered with a chuckle.

"Good! Now onto my little stint as Sherlock Holmes." Shippo rubbed his hands together gleefully and his eyes fell on the floral arrangement on the table. "Are those a gift from your mystery guy?"

"Yup. They got here this morning and we've been careful to contain our reiki so the youki will be preserved. Can you-?"

Shippo was already examining the bouquet, but his brow furrowed in confusion as he looked at them, then smelled them. His expression of perplexion cleared and he looked almost admiring.

"That clever devil." He murmured, so quietly that Miroku almost missed it. "All right! I know who it is!"

Kagome's jaw dropped. "Really?"

"Sure, there's only a handful of people around powerful enough to leave this kind of signature laying around. You wanna go meet him?"

"Hell yes!" Kagome turned off the electric kettle and marched down the hall to where her shoes were waiting. "Come on boys! We've got a stalker to catch!"