Disclaimer: All fandom-based and real-life entities, including other art and literary works mentioned in this piece do not belong to the author with the exception of original characters, plot, and subplots. The views and opinions of the characters do not necessarily reflect that of the author. Inspiration for the chapter is taken from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Zwischenzug

by four-eyed 0-0

Part II

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."

– Samuel Johnson

o-o

Maneuver

Upon exiting the once again rowdy pub, Kurama and Aoshi started for the general direction of the train station. The professor was three steps behind him, her better hand clutching at the strap of her satchel, walking closer to the traffic. It was natural for her to choose a position where she could escape immediately; she was wary and fidgety, even as she took up the offer to come with him.

It occurred to Kurama that she was more than surprised to see him. She was definitely unprepared and would have gone to seek them for later even after she acquired the details of their whereabouts, as much as he could tell.

He was right. She didn't think this through.

But it should come from the fact that she held valuable information on the incident of a certain researcher's death. Botan had been adamant that Yamamoto wasn't scheduled to die yesterday, upset that something like this should happen, and following that they didn't know anything else beyond that, it had remained a mystery.

Aoshi was ready to ask why they'd looked like they did when she mentioned his name, but he was able to halt her automatic string of questions, saying they'd better discuss it in private. She was naturally curious, as he'd observed, and it didn't strike him as odd.

"Professor," he said, turning his head to look at her. She was awfully behind, inching farther away from him and closer to the traffic every passing minute.

She slightly jumped and stopped walking altogether. "Yes?"

He also stopped in his tracks. "I hope you know by now that you can trust me," he said.

Aoshi blinked up at him before she released a breath noisily. "I'm trying."

Kurama pressed his lips together. "You're with me. If anything happens to you, I'd be the one to take the blame. Walking with me should attract the attention of several dangerous demons, but if you'd do so without putting this much distance between us," he said, gesturing to indicate the two yards, "and without being equally dangerously close to the traffic, then maybe I wouldn't."

Aoshi blinked again and shrugged, covering the rest of the space in only three seconds. She settled a foot next to him, putting him closer to the traffic. Then looking up, she cocked an eyebrow.

"Happy now?"

Kurama smiled despite himself. She was reasonable. "Yes. Thank you very much."

She rolled her eyes and started ambling again. "Don't sweat it."

He took it as a sign that he'd been successful. After watching her walk away with his back to him, completely unguarded and vulnerable, he followed her.

"It's awfully cold tonight. I wouldn't."

"You're freaking hilarious."

"I'm trying. It's difficult with present company."

She cast him a seething glare. "Look who's talking. This setup is only out of necessity. I need you and you need me."

"How do you know we do?" asked Kurama, raising his eyebrows at her. She was being obnoxious, but this was better than the silent tread he'd endured the first few blocks from the pub.

She shrugged again. "Simple. You looked like I hit the jackpot when I mentioned my boss's name. That should mean I have valuable information to share."

The professor didn't miss a thing. "But aren't you being presumptive? We can only tell if it is valuable once you present it to us."

"I don't do presumptions. They're messy and erroneous most of the time. I rely on observations."

Right, since she was a scientist. "You make it sound like a study."

"All things in life are scientific."

"Even the existence of demons?" Kurama challenged.

Her lips seemed to curl to a smile, but when she looked up at him, a smirk was in place, her eyes anything but amused. "Yes, even the existence of demons."

The words escaped her stronger than was necessary, and Kurama felt his stomach heave as the seriousness and complete lack of malice in her voice registered. Aoshi did know something, and he was now interested to hear about it more than ever.

They lapsed into silence once more. Kurama didn't have to say anything else, as the professor adopted a morose stance after that proclamation, closing herself from him, lost in her own thoughts. She was upset, and Kurama wasn't sure he could offer her anything to help her out of it.

She only spoke again when they were sitting next to each other on the train, after she'd smiled at a small child cradled in his mother's arms. The boy grinned widely at her, his tapering eyes reduced to mere slits as he showed his gap teeth.

"I've been wondering," she said, taking him by surprise as she turned to him, her voice low in a whisper. "Why did you decide not to use the pollen on me?"

The back of Kurama's neck felt suddenly hotter at the memory. She'd outsmarted them. He remembered the look of discomfort Hiei held after he'd mentally projected the image for Kurama to see what the professor did, prompting laughter to escape from him. Hiei was brash and aggressive, but he wasn't perverted. It was Kurama who enjoyed putting people on the spot, but the only method of retrieving the journal entry would put them in trouble. Yusuke would get many a spanking from Keiko if he did. Kuwabara was out of the question.

Now that the police had secured themselves in the positions to watch over them, they couldn't afford to be reckless.

"We figured it would be pointless," Kurama said, settling for a safe answer. It was one of the reasons, after all.

"Why?"

Kurama cast her a sidelong glance. "You didn't seem the type of person to run into trouble if you can avoid it."

"Oh." She looked at her hands, clasped on the satchel on her lap. She didn't sound convinced, but said nothing else.

Kurama briefly wondered if he'd said it with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

When they got off the train and were out in the darkened street towards the diner, she began talking again. Kurama concluded she was just as naturally glib as she was inquisitive.

"Are you really a demon?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You don't look like one. Hiei, too."

"How can you say that? Have you encountered other demons before us?"

"I…" she automatically said, but faltered. "It's just that you look human to me."

She wasn't mistaken, so Kurama decided to tell her so. "You're correct to presume I'm human since I'm one."

"But you said—"

"That I'm a demon? That, too, is correct."

He kept up with the appearances. If he were to earn her full trust, he'd have to find ways to appease her without giving away too much. The professor was easy to please, as she hungered for knowledge. He could always lie to her if the need arose or use the pollen if ever she proved to be a threat.

But as far as he could tell from the look on her face, confused but engaged, she was innocent.

"How can that be?"

"That's another story for another day."

Aoshi's jaw dropped and closed immediately, disbelieving. "You're nasty."

"It takes one to know one," Kurama said simply, smiling at her.

Her eye twitched and narrowed before she started walking again, back turned to him as though to show she didn't need his telling her. That she could find out on her own. Which, Kurama'd surmised, was very possible as she was capable of getting her hands on information she needed and she didn't. The stunt she pulled at the café and pub were evidences enough.

Aoshi Chiaki was both threatening and lucky that way.

o-o

Surprisingly, Kurama the demon didn't attempt to do anything untoward throughout their journey to the diner that Chiaki had come to liken as the secret headquarters to the Reikai Tantei. He'd been companionable and accommodating to her queries, and he tried to answer them when he could.

But of course she wasn't able to extract information from him as she wanted to. He danced around the subject of his identity, and even if it made her feel less secure, she understood where he was coming from. People didn't go prattling away what could potentially be their darkest secrets to strangers. Maybe she'd find out later on.

Maybe not.

Tonight she just really needed them to shed light on the matter of Yamamoto's death, his text, and the whole laboratory fiasco. Three attacks and nobody in the whole freaking universe could put two and two together and broadcast it on national TV. The media could be really useless; sensationalizing trivial matters and neglecting the ones that are of consequence.

Or perhaps…

"There'd been three attacks to research facilities, all covered up as fire incidents. Don't you find it suspicious?" she asked the redhead who looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "I don't understand why the media didn't pick up on it and start the conspiracy shit they always broadcast. You know, those heavily opinionated mock commentaries? Do you have anything to do with that? Did you… alter their memories or something?"

He shrugged, his free hand slipping inside his coat's pocket. "We've done our part to keep anyone from knowing about the true nature of the attacks."

She couldn't have just that. "How?"

"We kept the media out, mostly. It took aggressive measures from the police force, but it's their business to keep humans from knowing."

That was valuable information. Chiaki's heart fluttered in her chest, feeling relieved and somehow guilty now that she knew it wasn't the media's fault the rest of the human populace were unaware.

"You mean to say you're working with the human police force?" It was a radical alliance, and although Chiaki felt it was underhanded, she couldn't argue the fact that it had kept most of the world safe. And oblivious.

"Yes," said Kurama as they turned a last corner. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to have those badges and police IDs, would we?"

Chiaki hummed under her breath for lack of anything else to say. It would take some time for her to digest this, but for now, she concluded that it was a lesser evil.

Ahead of them, Chiaki could see the dimly-lit diner, one that was traditional in almost every sense. An apartment took up the second story, and on the overhang of the tiled roof, bold letters only visible from the streetlamp, was the sign reading, "Yukimura".

"Who's Yukimura?" she said as they brushed past the white noren curtains and stepped in front of the door. It bore the sign, "Closed", the window blinds shut, and Chiaki silently wondered if she'd been the reason the diner was not running so early into the night.

Kurama pushed the glass door open, the bell tinkling overhead, and was greeted with the customary welcome before he replied, "Yusuke's girlfriend."

Chiaki ambled after him, taking in the general appearance of the diner. About a dozen square tables occupied most of the space, only one of which was taken, while the open kitchen was adjacent to the counter. Behind the counter was a grinning Urameshi and a woman Chiaki presumed was Yukimura. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail, a small smile on her face as she looked at the new arrivals.

"Kurama, Professor Aoshi!" said Botan who occupied one of the tables nearest the counter, with the orange-haired boy named Kuwabara and Hiei. "Have a seat!"

"That's my line, Botan," Urameshi said, adjusting the headband atop his head which kept his bangs out of his face.

Chiaki and Kurama went to take their seats, bowing to everyone as they did, and Botan pulled her to sit across from her and next to Kurama. Her stomach lurched at the touch, shocked that the messenger could touch her with a warm hand. As if the change in her attire—sweater and jeans—wasn't odd enough.

Urameshi stood in front of her, grinning. "Yo, Professor, what would you like to eat?"

She'd have said she didn't feel like eating, but she remembered her last meal had been seven hours ago. "Ramen," she replied.

"Nice. I cook the best ramen around," he said with an air of satisfaction. "And you, Kurama?"

"The usual."

"Okay, then. Give me three minutes." He went away without another word, taking five bowls for his customers.

"Would you like a drink?" a soft, feminine voice echoed from her right. She looked up to see Yukimura who was still smiling.

"Um, what do you recommend?"

"Chamomile tea," said Yukimura.

"I'll take that," Chiaki said, smiling stiffly.

She nodded, and turned wordlessly to Kurama.

"Just water, Keiko. Thank you." Kurama then stilled, and added, reaching over for his hair and holding out his hand a moment later, "And could you please brew some tea with this seed? One cup should be ready in five minutes."

Yukimura eyed the yellow seed just as Chiaki did, and took it without second thought. "Who's it for?" she asked, her tone ridden of wonder, as though Kurama'd been asking her to boil random plant parts every day.

Chiaki wished this was the last time her handicaps would be ever mentioned this day.

"Professor Aoshi injured her wrists."

She turned to her, eyes lit with unnecessary worrying. "I'm sorry to hear that. You'll be okay, don't worry. Kurama has the best remedies."

Chiaki offered her a smile. "Yeah, he tells me."

Yukimura smiled and excused herself, joining Urameshi in the open kitchen. Botan then twisted in her seat and grinned at her. Chiaki had to blink twice upon seeing that she had very oddly-colored eyes—pink—as if her hair wasn't weird enough. Good thing she wasn't wearing her kimono. Otherwise, Chiaki'd have had a major headache from the bubble gum colors.

"Professor Aoshi, I believe you haven't met Kuwabara yet," she said, holding up her hand to gesture to the boy next to her.

"I haven't spoken to him, more like," said Chiaki, nodding to acknowledge him.

Kuwabara smiled at her, making his cheekbones look more pronounced as he did. "It's nice to meet you, Professor."

"Pleasure," said Chiaki, returning his warm smile.

"It's such a surprise. How did you find us?" Botan asked, genuinely curious.

Chiaki eyed Kurama. "Actually, it was he who found me."

"Kurama did?"

"Yeah, he's such a stalker. I didn't know he was a fan."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "I'm not."

Chiaki ignored him. "I was talking to this enchantress and he listened in on the conversation then decided to follow me. Voila! I'm here."

The redhead only shook his head.

"Who's the enchantress you're referring to?" asked Kuwabara.

"I don't know, but she's from somewhere in Shibuya. She knows you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"That figures," said the orange-haired boy, scratching at his nose. "You sure know how to pick them. Hiei and Kurama'd told us a lot about you."

Her lips curled to a smirk. "I have my ways," she echoed, turning to look at the redhead next to her. "Though I wonder, what was it that they told you about?"

Two trays containing six, steaming bowls of ramen were placed in front of them, and Urameshi decanted the contents after he freed his hand.

He answered for Kuwabara. "That you were able to get the upper hand," he said, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows at her. "We know what you did."

Chiaki found the statement very suggestive and was about to say so when Yukimura chose the moment to appear and place their drinks on the table, taking the trays from her boyfriend who touched her elbow before she could turn away to whisper his apologies, his face solemn. She only smiled at him and shook her head, patting him on the shoulder to dismiss his worrying.

"Take your rest, babe. You've had a long day. I'll clean up when we finish."

Yukimura wrinkled her nose. "I'm going to wash the dishes."

"But—"

"Then I'm going to bed and you're going to clean up the rest." She cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge Urameshi.

"Uh, okay. Whatever floats your boat."

"Good," she said, turning to them. "Excuse me." She bowed and sauntered away, the trays hugged to her chest.

Chiaki found herself smiling at the exchange, and the moment she realized this, her cheeks burned red. Boy, did she just swoon over a lovers' semi-spat?

In an attempt to regain mastery of herself, she turned to her ramen and inhaled the steam rising from the bowl. She then turned to the two cups in front of her, peering through the yellow liquids.

"The one with the paler color should be the ash tea," said Kurama.

Urameshi snorted next to him. "Just now, that sounded so gross."

Chiaki could only agree with him. "Do I take it before or after the meal?"

"Either way should be fine," said Kurama.

"Uh… later, then." She turned to her food and took hold of her chopsticks. Heaven knows if she'd feel like eating after she had drunk the weird concoction.

"Thank you for the food!" said Botan cheerily, and they all echoed the phrase before digging in.

Chiaki chewed the tasty noodles. Urameshi wasn't bluffing. He cooked the best ramen she'd ever tasted.

"Wow, this is really good," she said, smiling up to him.

"You think so? It's on the house then!"

Before Chiaki could protest, Kuwabara beat her to it. "What's this, Urameshi? You've never treated me to free ramen!"

The cook rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "The professor's a new friend. You're an old pal. Sorry."

"What kind of logic is that?"

Yeah, what kind? Chiaki wasn't even sure she ever consented to being labeled as a friend this early.

"I don't know. Do you?"

Kuwabara growled over his bowl. Mirth rose up in Chiaki's chest, and she all but coughed up the laugh she tried to help from escaping her. Then the unthinkable happened. Everyone turned to her as she was pounding on her chest, choking on a mouthful of ramen.

"Professor!" Botan exclaimed, rising from her seat. "What's happening?"

Chiaki was unable to breathe, automatically clutching at her throat. Goddammit, I am choking.

Death by the most delicious ramen she'd ever had. What a way to go for a ride to River Styx. She knew meeting Death was ominous in every sense of the word.

Pure bliss.

Kurama was quick to move. He pulled her up by the shoulders, dragging her carefully to the side and stood behind her, pressing his chest to her back. His arms wrapped around her, thumb below her ribcage, and he began administering the Heimlich maneuver with quick, upward and inward thrusts to her abdomen.

For one precious moment, she couldn't care less whose arms had wrapped around her. When the traitorous noodle finally dislodged itself from her wind pipe, sailing through and landing on the tiled floors, air finally whooshed into her lungs. Her knees buckled up and she unconsciously sagged against the redhead, gasping for much missed air.

Then it hit her. It was the redhead holding her.

She stumbled away from him and grappled for the table, Botan reaching for her. Chiaki welcomed the support and leaned on her for a moment as she tried catching her breath.

What a day.

When she finally got back on her feet, Kurama was looking at her, his calm demeanor gone and replaced with one of exasperation and disbelief.

"You're a walking disaster, Professor," he said with a shake of his red head, hand swiping his bangs away from his porcelain face.

Oddly enough, Chiaki could only marvel at the fact that she'd escaped death again because he was there. Again.

She silently cursed. Too many favors would seriously cost her.

o-o

After everyone had settled down from the spectacle that was Aoshi and Kurama, they were able to finish the meal without further incident except for the occasional quips Yusuke and Kuwabara took at each other or Hiei. The professor was silent, not even bothering to thank him for saving her life from a wayward bit of noodle she swept up before going back to the rest of her ramen less enthusiastically. He wasn't sure if his sniping at her bad luck for this particular day had anything to do with her sudden change in temperament, but he'd expected her to retaliate.

She didn't, and Kurama was wondering why. He might have made the wrong impression of the professor's ability to take jabs. He might have overestimated her.

But it could have been an admission to her magnetism to bad luck.

A portion of the ice between them thawed when Aoshi was making appalled faces as she downed the Yggdrasil ash tea.

"What is this gunk?" she asked, sticking out her tongue, her gills turning green for an instant.

Kurama figured he didn't need to respond with one of his more clever snipes.

When the table was cleared and everyone was full, Yusuke finally spoke.

"So, shall we start?"

Aoshi didn't need anyone else's cue. She cleared her throat and straightened from turning her already healed wrists every which way as she examined them and stared at them in awe.

"You should know that I came here because of two things. One, I don't like being kept in the dark, and two, I received this mysterious parcel from a certain person with the initials, 'Y. K.' yesterday."

Unsurprisingly, everyone else turned to Kurama. He tilted his head and said, "She meant Yamamoto Koji."

Aoshi paused, eyebrows colliding. "Why are they staring at you?"

She didn't miss a thing. "It's a long story, but let's just say I was once known as Youko Kurama."

Her eyes widened. "Youko? As in a fox demon?"

He knew she'd pick up on it easily. "Yes, but we're digressing."

"Oh," was all she muttered before she reached to open her satchel, taking out a thin paperback, its celluloid-wrapped cover glinting off from the diner's incandescent lighting. She held it with one hand.

Dark, brushstroke letters adorned the cover, reading, "Youkai: A Biological Perspective. Y. K."

"I found this sitting in front of my doorstep after someone rang the doorbell. When I opened the door, nobody was there. I had half the mind to open the package after making sure it wasn't a bomb or a trigger and I was so paranoid I had to douse the package with alcohol lest I contracted anthrax or something else entirely."

She thought things through most of the time, then.

The professor opened the book to a random page, showing a sketch of… a mazoku? It was littered with handwritten text describing the figure, a diagram so detailed it made Kurama's skin crawl. How did a human manage to come up with such an accurate depiction of a demon?

More importantly, if the professor had been carrying something this demonic all the time she was with them, why didn't he sense anything off from it?

"Holy shit," said Yusuke.

"I know, right? Holy freaking shit," the professor agreed with a nervous gesture of her hand. "I could recognize Yamamoto's scribbles anywhere—he loved to write me notes on how stupid a junior I was whenever he got the chance—and the next thing I knew he was found dead in his apartment. Yesterday. Merely an hour after I got the book written by someone with his initials. Merely half an hour after another lab attack happened. Tell me, what's an adult to do? I had to find you."

Her voice rose with every single statement that came out of her mouth and she slammed the book on the table. She visibly shook, clamping a hand over her mouth as she tried to control herself.

So this was what she meant when she said that all things in life were scientific.

They didn't attempt to say anything. She had to finish her story.

"I never liked to presume things without substantiation, but all the jackshit that's happened wouldn't make sense to me if I don't," she continued, gnawing at her lip. "What baffles me most is why I had to get involved. Why me, of all people, should receive this book. Why Yamamoto should die and why everyone should be in this mess. I had to know, and that's why I came to you even when I didn't know if I'd come out of it unharmed. Even when I was so afraid you'd try to erase my memory of everything again. Else it would launch me off my rocker for good. Because all of this is happening for a reason. I'm certain of it, at least ninety percent."

She wiped her face with her hand, breathing heavily.

"I'd have delivered this less dramatically, but I haven't had the chance to think this through," she said, red in the face. "It kills me more that Yamamoto's family didn't know anything about this shit and what he must have gone through to drive him to commit suicide."

Aoshi rubbed at her temple, turning to them silently, eyes set.

"I know it's a bit of a stretch but I was hoping you'd know what exactly happened. You should know," said the professor, frowning. "It's not as if you didn't make it obvious when you set foot in front of my door."

Kurama glanced toward his companions who didn't look at the professor challenging them to deny any of it. By confiding in them the things that she'd gone through, she'd secured her position in this elaborate scheme that they had yet to crack. While the book she received was still a mystery, he couldn't dismiss the fact that it was too convenient a coincidence given everything that had transpired in so short a time.

"Well?" she prompted, raising her eyebrows, finally taking control. "I've had my piece. Should I just forget about it?"

Yusuke was quick to assuage her spite. "Professor, I know you're upset about everything that's happened, but you should know you've stepped into dangerous territory. It wasn't meant for you to find out any of this."

Kuwabara was nodding his head. "We only actually let you off that one time because we thought you'd know better to stay out of trouble."

Aoshi inhaled sharply. "Look, I didn't sign up for this. In fact, after you scared me shitless with the powder fiasco, I was bent on staying out of any sort of trouble. But I received a book and the author wound up dead. What was I supposed to do?" she asked again.

Hiei growled, growing tired of the professor's persistence, as Yusuke released a breath. Kurama held up a hand before any of them could speak.

"The professor has a point, Yusuke," he said, crossing his arms along his chest. "We can only take this as a welcome development. Yamamoto, a scientist from the second facility that was attacked, died off-schedule, and that was suspicious enough without her receiving his journal."

Aoshi must have cracked a bone or two as she whipped her head to look at him. "What do you mean? Off-schedule?" the dark-haired woman next to him said with a gasp, her frown deepening.

Botan cleared her throat and she turned to her. "He wasn't scheduled to die yesterday, according to our records," she explained, voice low.

Aoshi's face fell, mouth dropping open in surprise. "What the hell?"

"We didn't know how he died, either," Botan finished, closing her eyes as she bowed her head, shoulders dropping.

"How's that possible?"

"That's the question now, isn't it?" said the ferry girl, offering a wan smile as the professor clutched at her collar, as though choking again. From lack of oxygen and from incredulity.

Even Kurama could feel their frustration. It was awful enough that the scientist died without preamble, even more so that they couldn't wrap their heads around the circumstances of his untimely death.

"But that makes it all the more obvious, right? That this should have to do something with the attacks and the book?"

"Of course," said Kurama. "Although, we must warn you, Professor. By gaining information we know and by being part of the investigation, you will have to abide by our terms."

Aoshi looked at him and was silent for a minute. Then, "Pray tell."

"Is this really necessary?" said Hiei, distrusting. "Are we going to risk everything we've been working for by letting her into this?"

The professor almost choked again as she grappled for the right words. "Excuse me? Remember how I just told you everything I know? Remember how I didn't tell on the police about your assault?"

Hiei smirked. "It didn't take much for you to do that. Your fear drove you not to."

She was out of her seat in a second, towering over them as she pounded her fists on the table, risking to injure herself again. "H-how dare you! Just who do you think you are?"

The fire demon laughed darkly, mirthlessly. Kurama didn't like the sound if it. Not one bit. "I spared you."

"Spared me from what, exactly?"

"If I hadn't taken a dip in that empty head of yours, I wouldn't have found out that you've preserved your memories."

Aoshi looked livid and she bared her teeth. For what reason, Kurama was unsure. "Y-you can read minds?"

"Right now, you're thinking of crushing me to bits. I'm certain you wouldn't be able to do that even if you tried."

The professor bristled in shock and turned to Kurama. "Tell me he's lying," she said, eyes severe.

Kurama shot a look towards the fire demon who was still smirking. This was part of his test… of course. "He isn't."

When it occurred to her that he wasn't going to say anything else, her hands reached up to hold her head, the picture of conflict.

"How would you trust us now, human?"

She cringed at Hiei's way of addressing her and glowered at him with equal venom for quite a length of time, unable to meet him head-on. But then her eyes lit up—in realization, in understanding—and she grinned manically, satisfactorily, at the fire demon.

When she opened her mouth, Kurama knew.

"You're right. How can I trust someone as corrupted as you are? I can't and I wouldn't. But I trust that you thought this schmuck of a human was actually two steps ahead of you. Would I have been spared by you, Lord Hiei, if I hadn't been? No. You let me go because you thought it would be pointless. Because in reality you were too scared to get the journal entry I purposefully hid inside my bra so you couldn't get rid of evidence I know I would trust, should my memory fail me when I woke up. Because just how freaking cool and clever was that?"

Kurama couldn't believe it. The professor had figured it out on her own. Hiei was shooting daggers her way, his smirk faltering as she laid everything down for them.

"Because in reality, you couldn't get your hands on me, a supposed airhead, and just get away with it. Let's face it. I spared myself. You just had to see it and you went running with your tail between your legs. And if you think I'd follow through with that act of cowardice, you're mistaken. I may have been unsure, but now I'm more confident you're not the person you'd like me to think you are. I'm more confident that you wouldn't pull anything dirty, not now, not ever. Because you can't and you will not."

The table was silent for a full minute, the professor and fire demon still staring each other down. The words that came from Aoshi's mouth were a backwards way of stating her confidence in their little party, but it was as good an admission as any. Kurama's lips twitched as he fought down a smile, a feeling of elation bubbling in his chest.

They could count on her, and she showed them that.

Kurama cleared his throat, letting the smile take over his face. "I think that settles it," he said, turning to both of them. "Shall we proceed?"

Hiei's smirk never left his lips as he nodded, leaning on his chair less stiffly.

Aoshi sank back to her seat, calm and collected.

It seemed like the two of them had silently decided it was a stalemate. Which was good enough for Kurama.

"Very well then," he said, holding up his hand to Botan. The Reaper took out a small envelope from the pocket of her coat hung at the back of her seat, and she slid this on the table.

Kurama took the manila envelope with Koenma's wax seal and opened it, taking the heap of papers out. He placed them on the table and smoothened out the creases where they had been folded, letting the professor see for herself.

"As associating with us will cast unnecessary danger on you, you will have to listen when we tell you what to do. You will be part of the Civilian Intelligence Program and that means while we keep you safe, you'll be giving more effort to say imperceptible to possible suspects," he continued, and she turned to him once more.

"What do I have to do?"

"You will always listen to us and abide by our wishes," he said, sliding the papers to her so she would know he wasn't bluffing, his finger pointing to the first item she was already reading. "You will accept measures taken by the team as done to preserve you as a valuable witness and asset to the investigation. You will not lie to us, disclosing only the truth and nothing but the truth. If you accept these conditions, as mandated by the Reikai and its King, then we will proceed with your oath."

She held up a finger. "One question. I don't have a say to anything you ask me to do?"

"No."

She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, fists clenched, drumming on the table. "All right, I accept," she said, looking at all of them.

Kurama could only raise an eyebrow at her defiant attitude. "Please raise your right hand, Professor," he said.

She gave him a funny look, amused by the sudden change in atmosphere as he spoke like they were in a courtroom. But it was protocol. She did as he wished.

"Do you, Aoshi Chiaki, twenty-seven years of age and a citizen of Japan, voluntarily take part in the Civilian Intelligence Program of the Reikai Criminal Investigation Bureau, henceforth accepting all of its terms of agreement?"

"Uh… yes, I do."

"Do you, as witnessed by all here present, swear that all the information you have disclosed are true and correct?"

"I do."

"Do you swear that through the course of the investigation you will only disclose information that is true and correct?"

"I do."

"Do you swear that you will not disclose any information—past, present, and future—pertaining to the case to anyone, whether they be your friends, colleagues, or family?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to put your allegiance to only the Reikai and not to any other body?"

She hesitated. Then, "I do."

Kurama reached for a pen in his briefcase and handed it to the professor. "Please sign the contract whenever you're ready."

Aoshi wasn't one to take the opportunity for granted. She took the three-page document and read it silently, ignoring all of them for a good five minutes. After her third reading, she affixed her sweeping signature on the last page. Kurama passed the paper around for everyone to sign, and Botan tucked the resealed envelop inside her coat.

"Now, what?" the professor asked, crossing her arms along her chest.

"You will listen to us. You've had your say. We'll now have ours."

"Shoot," she said, straightening her back once more.

o-o

She held up a hand as Kurama paused in his explanation, halting further spouting of alien language from the redhead's mouth. This prompted the demon to turn to her, eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.

"Wait a minute," she said, reaching for the satchel on her lap.

When she took out a notepad and pen, Hiei was quick to say, "Put that away."

"Excuse me?" Her mouth hung agape, incredulous. "I need to take down notes."

"That's unnecessary and risky."

Chiaki narrowed her eyes at the demon. He was right, but that didn't mean she couldn't turn the odds in her favor. "Fine. You can dispose of it however you want to after I sort out my thoughts. Shred it or burn it, whatever."

To her surprise, everyone was laughing as she finished her tirade. Before she could voice out her confusion, she realized it was some other private joke. "Did I just say something funny again?"

"Yeah, you did," said Urameshi, hand on his mouth. "Hiei will take care of the burning, dontcha worry."

Narrowing her eyes once more, she only shrugged. "I don't understand but… whatever."

She opened her notebook to a blank page and started scribbling down the details. "The first lab attack occurred in Keidai about three weeks ago, the second at Stella-Bio, and the third at Sodai."

She listed this down and drew a vertical line next to the entries. Across each of the facilities, she wrote, "half-demons", "half-demons with reiki", and "half-demons with youki." Drawing a huge bracket next to the symbols, she wrote, "triggers?", underlining it for emphasis.

Next, she constructed a time table of the events, ignoring her companions altogether as she wrote hurriedly.

June 2 – attack at Keio University

June 16 – attack at Stella-Bio

June 22 – receives book on demons, death of Yamamoto, attack at Waseda University

Tapping her pen on her cheek, she stared at the scribbles again. The humanoids that attacked were all half-demons, as Kurama'd explained. They all looked the same—almost human save for heads that would pass as hydrocephalic. But that was where the similarities ended. As far as they were concerned, they didn't seem to manifest the full potential of half-demons, with their being deficient of these "sacred energies". Unless they had to be triggered, like he'd briefly explained as the case of Urameshi's atavism.

Chiaki had to remind herself once more that everything could be explained by science even as the primordial signs of a headache were coming.

"Okay, let me get this really straight," she said, turning to Kurama. "You said Urameshi here is the spawn of a demon forefather from forty-four generations past."

"Hey, that's kinda harsh," said Urameshi, crossing his arms.

Chiaki rolled her eyes. "Let's deal with the scientific and technical use of the word, shall we?"

"Yes, Professor," said Kurama, face impassive.

"And that genetic atavism triggered his dormant youki and general demon-ness." She cringed at the awkward word she had to voice out.

"That's correct."

"But this atavism was turned on by choice of his forefather, because apparently, he had the control to."

Kurama only nodded.

"Codswallop," said Chiaki under her breath. How would someone be able to wrap their head around the idea of someone having control over someone else's genetic make-up? But it was the supernatural. She'd have to look at it from a different angle. "You do understand that atavism should develop before Urameshi could've been born?"

"Actually, he was reborn," said Kurama. Urameshi was nodding his head, a smug look on his face.

Chiaki's jaw fell open. "You're joking."

"I'm not, Professor. He died twice and rose twice."

"How in the world—?"

"To cut the long story short, I died off-schedule and was given the chance to come back to life 'cause my last deed had been 'altruistic' and totally unexpected. They took me in as a Spirit Detective and I got stronger. The second time I died, well, I was already ripe for the genes ol' Raizen passed down. I woke up, and yeah, the rest was history."

How this person could talk about his demise with an air of nonchalance was beyond her, but she didn't try saying anything more, as the headache had finally come. An overwhelming desire to do something weird coupled the headache, as an answer to all the weird in the world.

But she had to take control of it. She'd already agreed to this. She had to take the weird. Hook, line, and sinker.

Even if it made her feel like choking all over again.

She closed her eyes and released a rattling breath. "Okay, I get it. Somehow. It makes sense so, I can deal with that. Hmm, well then, since these humanoids are half-demons, they're supposed to have reiki and youki as well, right?"

"Yes."

"But they didn't."

"Yes."

"And the humanoids didn't have souls. None left their bodies and none could be sensed from the carcasses."

"Yes."

"That doesn't make sense at all." Why would something alive, breathing and kicking some ass, not have a soul? Were they plants or something else entirely?

Hiei grunted, rolling his eyes at her. Chiaki retaliated by wrinkling her nose.

"Anyway, since that's still a mystery, let's move on to another concern," she said, looking down on her notes once more, pen tapping against the material. "It's obvious that the targets had been research facilities. From what I've heard from the news, Keio and Waseda's cellular and molecular bio labs were the source of the fire that was supposed to have happened. Same goes for Stella-Bio. That's a common."

Next to "triggers?", she wrote, "cell-mol". Now, what else did they have in common?

"Uh, Professor?"

"Hmm?" she said absently, looking up at Kuwabara.

"What are you thinking?"

"Oh." She straightened. "I was wondering if there's any other similarity between the three facilities."

"Why would you want that?"

Chiaki scratched at her temple with the pen. "There has to be a pattern, a common ground. Sherlock Holmes once said that there is nothing so unnatural than the commonplace, that big-scale crimes usually are most discernible from patterns. There has to be something…" she trailed off, reading her notes again.

Botan had leaned in to see for herself, and Chiaki internally scoffed at her invading her personal space. They weren't even friends just yet and Chiaki would rather not be disturbed from her private musings till she'd drawn up something concrete and—

Eureka!

"Oh my god, that's it!" she exclaimed, making everyone in the table jump. A crash of metalwork on wood resounded from the kitchen, and they all turned as Yukimura picked up a fallen pan. "Sorry, Yukimura!" Chiaki yelled to her.

The girl only smiled and waved her apologies. They turned to her again.

"What was it?" asked Kurama, eyes smiling.

"Keio, Stella-Bio, and Waseda are all private institutions!"

Chiaki didn't know what reaction she'd expected, but when they didn't burst into a chorus of approval, she felt her stomach become heavy.

"So what if they're private?" asked Urameshi.

Guess she'd been too excited. Way to go, Chiaki. "Uh… a common ground?"

"Ground…" murmured Kurama all of a sudden, thumb pressing against his chin. They all waited for him to say something else before he looked at Urameshi. "Yusuke, do you have a map of Tokyo?"

"Uh, I don't know…" Urameshi craned his neck and called out to his girlfriend, "Keiko, do we have a map of Tokyo?"

"I have one upstairs," she said, leaning on the counter so they could hear. "It's in the third drawer of my study table."

"Thanks, babe," Urameshi said, and he jogged away, vaulting the counter and disappearing behind the door next to the kitchen. It must be the stairwell, as Chiaki heard his footfalls ascending to a story above them.

Kurama then turned to her once more. "Professor, are you familiar with all the research facilities within Tokyo?"

Chiaki tilted her head. "Of course, I make it my business to know. What of them?"

"Do you know where they are located?"

"Sure…" said Chiaki uncertainly. "Why do you ask?"

Urameshi came dashing back, the rolled map in hand. "Here ya go, fox boy," he said, tossing it for Kurama to catch before he took his seat again.

Not answering her, Kurama unrolled the paper map and placed it on the center of the table. "Is it all right to mark the map, Yusuke?"

"Keiko wouldn't mind, I guess."

Kurama nodded. "Do you have a pencil, Professor?" he said, still not answering her previous question.

Chiaki dismissed her worry-warting and opened her satchel, extracting a pencil stashed in one of the pockets. When she handed it to him, he held up his hand to stop her.

"Could you please mark the locations of Keio, Stella-Bio, and Waseda on the map?" he said.

Briefly wondering what the redhead was thinking, she only muttered her ascent before she leaned in, dragging the rubber end of the pencil on the brown map as she sought Keio first. She paused at Minato-ku, drawing a circle at the approximate location of the university. Then, going west, she found Shinjuku, drawing another circle for Waseda. Lastly, she went up north, pausing at Arakawa-ku and encircling the location of Stella-Bio.

"There's Keio, Waseda, and Stella-Bio," she said, tapping at the points.

"Thank you," said Kurama, smiling at her. He then looked up at everybody else. "The professor is correct. There is a pattern."

"Say what?" asked Urameshi, practically sticking his nose in the small map. Chiaki could only agree with him.

Kurama was still smiling as he handed the pencil to Urameshi. "Why don't we play connect the dots? Connect Keio to Waseda, then Waseda to Keio."

Wearing his confusion on his face as he took the proffered pencil, Urameshi drew less-than-straight lines across the map. When he finished, Chiaki only saw a lopsided half of a square… no… a diamond, one with not a right angle, as much as she could tell. Her head automatically turned this way and that, trying to spot something special about it.

It was an unfinished half… Her eyes roved the entirety of the map, and they landed on the unmarked spot across the gaping intersection of the two diagonal lines.

Before she could word it in her head, Kurama was speaking again. "It looks like an incomplete diamond, doesn't it?"

Chiaki looked at him, silently imploring him to continue.

"Professor, do you know any other private research facility on biological sciences across Waseda, about as far as Keio is from Stella-Bio?"

The gears in her head started turning again and looked up at him, fear bubbling up in her chest. "Is that what you're driving at?"

"It's a mere guess, but an educated one," Kurama replied as he handed her the pencil.

"There's G&P," she said, locating the laboratory easily at Sumida-ku. "I can go further east, but the figure wouldn't look like a diamond if I did."

"No, we can do with this," said the redhead. "Do the honor of tracing the rest of the puzzle."

Chiaki didn't have to be told twice. She swept with the lead the other half of the virtual diamond.

"Now what?" said Kuwabara, leaning in with the rest (except for Hiei).

Kurama took the pencil and connected the opposite corners of the diamond, letting the angle bisectors intersect at the center of the diamond. Chiaki blinked as she read the label of the map at the point of intersection.

"Todai?" she said, mouth hanging agape. "What—?" she said, covering her mouth.

If Todai was the center of the pattern they'd drawn up, and G&P was the last corner…

"What's happening?" asked Botan, looking back and forth at the two of them.

"Todai could be a target, next to G&P," said Kurama, not taking his eyes off Chiaki. "But there's a break in the pattern, Professor."

He broke eye contact with her and she looked back at her notes, adding G&P and Todai to her list. Keio, Waseda, Stella-Bio, G&P, Todai. Pick the odd man out. The letters seemed to bleed into the material of paper, washed out with the tide of her thoughts, less focused, astray.

Then it clicked.

"Todai isn't private."

Kurama's smile faltered as she considered him with a look of dread. "Right you are, Professor. You're always very perceptive."

A break in the pattern, the center of the pattern…

"Wait a sec," said Kuwabara. "You meant to say G&P is a possible target and Todai isn't?"

"It's not a certainty, but it's a possibility," said Kurama, cocking his head to the side as the back of his hand connected with his cheek. "And there's something else interesting about all this."

No…

"What are you really driving at, Kurama?" Chiaki said, picking up on the underlying intent in his statement.

When he looked at her, she felt like having a tantrum as he confirmed the idea that was taking shape in her hazy head. "One name, Professor. Yamamoto Koji."

While everyone else broke out with their confusion, Kurama and Chiaki were sizing each other up. There was another piece of the puzzle that was unspoken of, one idea which they knew was both far-fetched and too convenient.

Chiaki couldn't take it any longer. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Aren't you being too presumptive, Professor?"

"Aren't you?"

Kurama adopted a solemn look. "I have several questions for you to answer. Where did Yamamoto teach?"

"At Todai."

"Where do you teach?"

Chiaki gritted her teeth as she repressed the urge to flip something. This couldn't be happening. "At Todai."

"What research facility are you targeting for re-employment after Stella-Bio closed down?"

Her eyes widened. She hadn't thought it out yet, being too preoccupied with all the things that had been happening in her once sedentary life, but…

"I was hoping to get into the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences."

His lips turned into a whole new version of a smirk. It was smug, ecstatic, and triumphant. "Where's that?"

"At Todai."

Everything fell into place. Her stomach felt heavy, like lemon juice was poured into it, mixing with the mass of lead churning inside her. The laboratory attacks were meant to drive every single scientist in Tokyo to its heart… to Todai. Of course.

While this was an interesting development in the case, Chiaki couldn't help but wonder why the masterminds had made it too obvious for the investigators to see the pattern.

"But Kurama, why does everything seem so easy to tell?"

He smiled at her—genuine, appreciative. "You never miss a thing. But I remember Sherlock Holmes saying that it's a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. We need more evidence to back this assumption."

Her eyebrow twitched at his quoting Sherlock Holmes like she did. "Are you seeing everything, Kurama? Or are you reasoning from what you see?"

"I'd like to think that it's the latter."

Chiaki's stomach churned again. Not out of discomfort, but from the fact that they were on the same page. "You're no Watson, then."

For a last time, he smiled at her.

"Now that settles it," said Kurama, nodding his head at her before he turned to everyone. "We need to prepare for a possible attack at G&P anytime, but we can't make it obvious that we've figured the puzzle out or the enemies are going to get past us. As for Todai, Professor Aoshi and I are going to infiltrate."

Her head whipped up to look at Kurama. "Excuse me?"

His smile widened. "I remember someone saying a long time ago that if you want to hide a tree, you must place it in a forest."

When everybody else laughed but her, Chiaki's face fell.

She wasn't going to get them soon enough.

A/N:

* Noren curtains are practically room dividers. They're those that you see hanging in the front doors of a Japanese shop.

* Keio (a.k.a. Keidai), Waseda (a.k.a. Sodai), and all the wards mentioned here do exist. I don't own them. I don't own Japan. I don't own anything save for Chiaki and the other OCs and the ideas. Additionally, I don't own Sherlock Holmes. Can't. Ever.

* Stella-Bio and G&P are taken from a brand name and a Japanese drama. Free virtual cookies to the person who could guess which is which.

I enjoyed writing this chapter so much that it ended up being almost 9,000 words in length. This is an all-time high for me, and I'm so happy about it. I didn't want to cut it anywhere since it would then have felt lacking.

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Life has been very hectic; I am already undertaking my undergraduate thesis (in plant physiology and developmental biology) and I am preoccupied with organizational duties (being a secretary isn't all that easy). Because of these, updates will be every two weeks (or three weeks). I have to do this; otherwise, I'll end up uploading 3,000-word chapters that are very awkwardly cut in the middle. Writing takes up so much time, and revising, too. I have exams coming, deadlines of paperwork, and reportings. It's not very manageable. But don't worry! I am so happy about this story and I've got everything planned out already. I WILL NOT ABANDON IT. Sorry about this change of plans, but it's a must.

Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter and those who added this story to their faves and alerts! You make my heart swell so much and inspire me to write more of it.

Thoughts on the chapter? Love it? Hate it? Tell me! Please leave a review!

See you next chapter! :)