The Beginning, bit 12

[sakon76]

"Well, I'm off!" Kazuma declared cheerfully, standing up.

Urameshi, though, seemed to have other ideas and grabbed his arm across the counter, forcing him back into his seat. "If I gotta stay and watch, so do you!" the demon-lord-cum-ramen-stall-owner hissed at his friend.

Glaring back at Urameshi, Kazuma delicately removed his arm from Urameshi's grasp and sat back down.

"A kitsune ramen, please," Sumeragi requested, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Kurama. "I like kitsune ramen," the onmyouji defended himself from his ancestor's amusement.

"So do I," Kurama mildly replied. "It's not a fault."

"One ramen, coming right up!" Yuusuke said, turning to his equipment but keeping an open ear pointed toward the two.

Sumeragi watched him. "Have I wandered into some area of Tokyo where demons congregate without knowing I was doing so?"

Yuusuke laughed. "Long story. I used to be human, until I died twice. Kurama's gt no such excuse."

"And at that, neither Hiei nor Yukina-chan are here," Kurama agreed. "It's only you and I here who've got demon blood tonight."

"We all work part-time as investigators for the Reikai," Kazuma informed the onmyouji.

"Ah." The man stared at his hands for a long moment. "I never thought it was real," he finally said, voice quiet. "I never thought that Seimei's mother really was a kitsune."

"Myobu," Kurama corrected. Three pairs of eyes fixed on the redhead. He smiled at them all and drank from his soda. "Inari-sama's service is still important, after a thousand years. At least this explains why you bolted after dinner last night."