Sorry for the wait! Being snowbound is a real pain! Hope you enjoy this chapter. By the way, I don't own anything except Dr. Shino and nurse Nagusami

{} means flashback

Chapter 6 - Denials

Nov. 15: Just when I thought he's calming down, his condition took a turn for the worst. Weeks after Yukina-san's visit, my trusted nurse, Nagusami, came into his room and found Kazuma lying on the floor with his eyes open. She thought he's up, but it turns out he is asleep. She tries to get him up, but it was no use. It's as if he's in a deep coma. I tried everything: holding a lighter to his eyes, clapped a pair of blocks near his ears, nothing. We done a checkup and there's no damage in the ears or eyes. Even so, there's still no reaction.

In Wonderland:

"Damn it!" Kuwabara swore out loud as he finds himself at another dead end inside the tunnels. He's been looking for that rabbit for what feels like two hours and four times he lost sight of him! He thought this would be easy because of his ability: he was wrong. He found that out the first time he lost the rabbit. He tries to feel for its energy, but he didn't sense anything. 'Funny,' he pondered, 'I feel… normal...' He then tries to make a spirit sword. Nothing came out of his hand. He kept on trying until he calls it quits. He began to wander around hoping that he will catch it and so far, he got lucky. Unfortunately, like for so many accounts before, his luck ran out. He leans on a twisted, bare tree as he tries to trace his steps from when he came here as a little kid. He's so deep into his thoughts that he never notices a mysterious figure up on the branches. "Lost are we?" a deep voice purrs.

Kuwabara jumps and gets into a defensive position. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he demands. He's not sure how much or how bad things gotten here, so he's not putting his guard down.

"Up here, child." The same voice calls out. He looks around until he lifts his head towards the branches. There is a smiling mouth with fanged teeth by itself at first. Gradually, a black head appears; first the ears with a hoop earring, next comes a pair golden cat's eyes, a nose and finally the whole thing. "It took you long enough to reach here." It grins, "Surely, you have forgotten me after all this time?"

{A little boy was petting a purple striped cat, both smiling as they sat underneath a cherry blossom tree. He cries out as the cat fades from his lap. He gets up and starts to run around the base of the tree for it. He looks up after three times and climbs up towards the reappeared figure until he reached out and touched the ears. He soon picks it up, gotten comfortable on the branches and picked up where he left off.}

"Cheshire Cat, I presume?" he said, greeting his favorite creature. "Glad to see that you still remember me." The cat continues to show his entire body. When he is at last visible, Kuwabara once again stares long and hard. Like for the white rabbit, the cat is very skinny. The only difference is that he could see the bones showing from the skin right to the tail. Its colors have changed from purple to black and white dirty stripes. After absorbing the details, he said, "You look well."

"I wish I could say the same thing for you." The cat replies as he looks closely into Kuwabara's eyes. "So in the end, you finally went and lost your mind."

Kuwabara blinks, "No, I didn't."

The Cheshire cat continues, as if he didn't hear that statement, "Unlike you, I manage to keep at least my sense of directions. You barely here for a minute and already you got yourself lost."

"You gotten cocky and mangy, cat…" Kuwabara sourly said then adds with a grumble, "Your grin's a comfort though." "And you've picked up a dark attitude. I hope you're still curious to learn." The cat said.

Kuwabara looks around trying to find at least a familiar sign, but there's none. "So much has changed since I last been here. How can anyone find their way?" "The same way you always do; ask the rabbit." The cat replies.

"Nice. Now how about you telling me which way did it go? I'm going crazy with this wild goose chase!"

"Too little, too late."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Kuwabara asks suspiciously.

"It means what I said." Cheshire cat answers with a much further grin. Kuwabara thought over that when he discovers what the cat is calling him. "Are you callin' me crazy!?"

"What else except nuts, cracked, off your rocker; I prefer insane personally."

Kuwabara stutters indignity as he starts to think of a good combat with a defense. "Look, I am not insane!" he cries out afterwards, "I'm just… just…" "Mad?" the cat finishes smugly.

"…Temporarily out of place!" he growls out, "That does not make me mad!"

Cheshire cat makes an unconvincing noise then continues, "While this chat is amusing, we are getting off the subject. Rabbit knows a trick or two about directions and I, myself, had no need for a compass to tell me which way it points." "What about me? I lost my spiritual awareness for some reason." Kuwabara said.

"You never lost it; it only changed into a different form: your need. Let it guide your behavior; suppress your instinct to lead. Pursue rabbit." On that note, he vanishes from the tail to the head. Kuwabara stares at the empty spot where his cat friend was, then in sarcasm, "You're so helpful as usual." Still, in some way that's not a bad advice. But, something is better than nothing. 'What does he mean by 'my need' though?' he ponders as he picks a direction that looks about right and walk deeper into the caves.

Unknown Location

Two: Okay, let's see if I got this right. You guys go on detective cases for an interim,

Four: Right.

Two: The short fella is on parole and his friend was out of juvenile hall early for good behavior,

Five: Correct.

Two: And now you guys have stumble across someone who's supernatural which you had no idea how dangerous he is.

(Six nods)

Three: And the short guy is very good at track n' field, so that is why he's so fast?

Four: Right!

(Silence came as One, Two and Three ponders on their explanation)

One dryly: …Why do I have problems believing that?

Four: It's true! You see my mom is pestering me about straighten up and fly right lately, so I thought 'Hey, maybe she's on to something.' I picked close to the next best thing for a job and went from there. Keiko helped me get started.

Two: Then what's the deal with talk about Youki and Reiki?

Four: They're secret codes for how we approach him.

One: So the weapons are…?

Four: Our boss modifies them to fool the criminals.

Three: …Okay, that is the worst lie I have ever heard.

Five: You think that we are lying.

Six: Yes, please enlighten us.

Three: Fine. While parts of your story might have some truths in it, there still others that is not possible.

Five: Such as?

Two: You say that your boss modifies your weapons, but I can't see anyone who can make plants let alone a flower into one unless they are phony.

(Four starts to look nervous)

Two: Plus, I never heard of an interim that involves in detective work handing out at school, unless you met an actual detective. But then knowing you, that wouldn't be possible.

One butts in: The part about your friend being fast from track n' field? Nobody that I heard or seen came out so quick that they're gone in a blink of an eye. And incase you thinking that the whole Youki and Reiki code will fool us, you thought wrong.

Three: Even I know what Reiki is all about; Kuwabara had them. Able to see ghosts, right? Also for what we all saw before, the guy you said about being a juvie is too nice and polite to be from any jail, no offense.

Five smiles: None taken and I thank you for the complement.

Six: Heh, you'd be surprised.

Four: ...So, it's all a waste of time and breath.

Three: Yeah, pretty much.

Four: ...Crap.

Six: Come on. You really think they will fall for it. Even I'm not convinced.

Four: Okay, I get it. It's stupid.

Two: Hey, if you're not going to tell us, that's fine.

One: Just tell us what's really going on here.

Three: And about Kuwabara too. Is he okay?

Five worriedly: It depends on how you define 'okay'.