Disclaimer: I do not own Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro or Inuyasha. They belong to their rightful creators and distributors.

AN: I’d like to thank everyone who had stayed loyal to this story. And I’m sorry that I’ve been gone so long. But really, without Internet of my own (even though I’ve used my aunt’s, as well as my Dad’s nephew’s, I can only check for updates and my emails), I’ve been kind of busy and trying to get my official Driver’s License so that way I won’t have to move in with my mother to the big city (Austin, TX).

Lord knows that I’ll get lost without a map or a GPS Finder.

Anyways, again thank you for the reviews and I’m glad you all wished to read more.

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Eight

Going out to a small restaurant or food vendor became an almost ritualistic thing whenever Kagome hung out with Yako and her friend, Kagohara Kanae. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy it but she was still a little on edge after solving the case at Supreme S.

So now here she was, sitting in one of the many booths with Yako and Kanae at a small Udon restaurant called “Sanuki Udon” watching Yako have her third bowl of Udon. Kagome still couldn’t believe how much the girl could eat… she almost ate more than a lower class demon from the Sengoku Era.

And that was saying something considering demons had a higher metabolism than humans.

While Yako and Kanae talked about Yako getting a new phone because of what Neuro did (which Kanae thought was just a joke), Kagome was sipping her tea as her cell phone rang. Taking it out she saw that it was a text message from the demon. Opening the message, she read “Look up.”

She did without Kanae’s notice… and saw Neuro in the ceiling, next to one of the wooden beams, grinning like a maniac. After a blink, she tugged Yako’s sweater sleeve to get her attention. Yako then turned to the miko with a mouthful of Udon.

“It’s for you…” Kagome said softly, passing her phone to her ‘employer’ before taking another sip of her tea.

After Yako read the text message on Kagome’s cell, she looked up to find the same demon that sent it. Her shock and surprise made her spit out the contents that she still had in her mouth. The said Udon noodles landed in Kanae’s face.

‘You think that by now, Yako would be used to Neuro popping up out of nowhere… then again, I was the same way too for about a month when I started traveling in the Sengoku era…’ Kagome thought, looking on with a straight face as Neuro made a ‘Let’s go’ motion of his thumb. Yako then excused them and they left but not before they paid for their drinks and food.

The two met Neuro not too far from the Udon shop.

“So! My mental hunger has been bothering me today as well. Let’s go look for mysteries!” The demon said as he basically ordered them to leave with him.

Not really happy with how Neuro was going at this, Yako spoke, “Neuro! Geeze, you’re being careless!” When Neuro turned his attention to her, she continued, “If you’re going to jump at us from wherever, don’t do it when I’m eating udon!”

After a while, Neuro looked like he was thinking before muttering to himself, “Hmm… it’s such a bother, going to look for you every time… even when Kagome has her phone with her. The two of you should be in one place at all times… so I don’t have to look for you for so long.”

“No, I don’t think I can do that…” Yako said, trying to be polite but had an angry mark on the side of her head.

‘… Well, it would give him less trouble of him finding us… and he won’t have to waste his energy doing so. Not to mention we could most likely meet up with Neuro wherever before searching for mysteries.’ Kagome thought as she looked off to one side but still listened to what Neuro was saying.

The said demon then started muttering about something concerning where he came from… Kagome just stopped listening then until he spoke with something that sounded akin to excitement, “I think we have an agreement, Yako! We’re going to open a detective office!” The look on the demon’s face looked almost human when he snapped his fingers as the idea of opening a Private Eye office came to him.

Yako only muttered, “You’re not thinking of something nasty, are you?”

“Sometimes, Yako-san… it’s best not ask questions like that to Neuro… because even I can’t see what he thinks about when it concerns his home world.” Kagome suggested while trying to muffle a yawn. Yako seemed to understand what she was telling her but at the same time, looked worried for her.

The shorthaired girl noticed that ever since this morning before class, Kagome looked really tired- like she hadn’t had enough sleep the night before. Yako also noticed that Kagome worked extra hard on finishing her math test.

Neuro seemed to also notice that his miko wasn’t looking like her usual self. Walking up to Kagome, he gently grasped her chin and lifted her gaze to meet him before stating, “You’re almost falling asleep on your own feet.”

Kagome just gave a rueful smile explaining, “I stayed up almost all night studying for a math test we had today. I wanted to at least make a ‘B’ on it to pass.” After seeing a look on Neuro’s face that said ‘why’, Kagome elaborated, “Math’s not my most strongest of points.”

Neuro was silent as he watched her try staying awake. It was obvious to him that his miko servant was a hard worker and looked like she did what she could to keep up in her schoolwork- even at the cost of her sleeping hours.

Thinking it wouldn’t do him any good to have a sleep-deprived miko on his hands, Neuro said, “Once we find a decent office space that has a mystery for me to consume… go to sleep. It won’t do any of us good if you’re tired on the job.”

“Ordering me to take a nap, once we find an office with a mystery…. I’ve got no complaints.” Kagome said with a smirk, which Neuro returned before he said to get going on their search for an office space.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

After a while of walking around, Yako bought her self something to drink from a vendor while Kagome got something that had some caffeine to help her stay awake a bit longer.

The thing was… staying up most of the night studying wasn’t the only reason why she was feeling so tired.

Shippó, for some reason kept getting nightmares. Nightmares of what… her kit never told her but he did mumble something about red boxes and about them being filled with a person…

Kagome didn’t understand but she had a feeling that it had to do with one of Shippó’s many gifts that was awakening. The miko was told by many allied Kitsune clans that very few red kitsune, like Shippó, could sometimes foretell something foreboding through their nightmares… like a murderer that has yet to show him or herself.

It was possible that her son was one of the few red kitsune that could foretell the future… but Shippó’s new power was just awakening.

Either that, or he was watching a Horror/slasher splatter movie without her knowledge…

It was only one night, so Kagome wasn’t really going to immediately think something was wrong. But if Shippó had similar nightmares for more than two nights, she was going to take her son’s nightmares as a warning and do what she can to search for her old demon friends and asked them if anything was wrong…

Anyways, Yako, while sipping her drink through a straw, was saying to Neuro something about how opening an office wasn’t easy and how the rules of the human world weren’t like those of the demon world. Again, Kagome wasn’t really paying attention until she heard Yako spitting out her drink.

When she found out the reason, her eyes widened as she saw Neuro’s drooling true form started to show. Kagome felt a cold sweat coming as she looked around to see if anyone noticed while Yako did the same in a very paranoid way, yelling, “Hey! Why are you showing your true form!! You aren’t even disguising your appearance!!”

Kagome faintly heard Neuro say ‘oops’ as he hunched over a little and his gloved hands went over his face as if to mold his face back its human form.

Once Neuro’s human face was set again, one of strands of dark colored hair with its triangular clip rose like a tentacle as he spoke, “We’ll talk later, Yako. I sense the presence of a mystery in this building. I was so happy that I unconsciously reverted…”

The demon was referring to the building they were in front of. It was a few stories high and looked a bit old but looked suitable for small business offices.

Yako’s expression changed, no longer angry or anything about Neuro’s identity being known, as she asked, “Eh? So there’s going to be an incident here?” Neuro then grabbed her head before heading inside, dragging the shorthaired girl with him, saying, “Yes. It isn’t fresh, so… it was rather hard to sense.

As Kagome was going to follow, she looked up to see someone at one of the windows of the fourth floor. She couldn’t really see them but someone clothed in black and they were looking straight at her. After furrowing her eyes a bit, she quickly made her way inside and to the elevator where Neuro and Yako were waiting as Yako asked the demon, “Fresh?”

Once Kagome was inside, Neuro pressed one of the buttons while answering, “It means some time has passed since the incident occurred.” As they came closer to the fourth floor, Neuro spoke mostly to himself, “Could this be the entrance to a labyrinthine mystery, or…” the ‘ding’ sound of the elevator sounded, telling them they had reached the fourth floor, “has it not yet come to light?”

Yako and Kagome followed Neuro to one of the many doors on the floor. The sign on it read “Your friendly city’s quality money- Saotome Finance Company.” Just from looking at the hall with how dirty and rundown it looked, Kagome could tell that this place wasn’t really ideal for a Financial Company.

‘It has “underground” written all over it…’ she thought while absently wondering why the name ‘Saotome’ sounded familiar to her. While turning the name over in her head, Kagome heard Yako speak in a hesitant voice, “Neuro… let’s not open this door, ok? Doesn’t it seem like a kind of… shady… company?”

Neuro then grabbed her head again and almost smothered her face against the door saying with false innocent love; “You don’t have to open it… by your head will smash through it if you don’t.”

Kagome just sighed before telling Neuro that she would open the door. She opened the door slightly and peeked inside to see… three guys that would fit the description of yakuza members.

Well… two of them fit the description while the third, which looked to be on the chubby side with slightly thick-framed glasses, looked like he could work at a movie/animation production company. They were on their company phones… practically threatening their clients.

“Um… like seriously, return the money by tomorrow… if I wasn’t gonna go retrieve it I’d kill you.” The one with a male’s leopard pattern shirt spoke. (Finance Company Employee: Hayami Yukitoshi)

“Hello?! It’s me, me, me! Mom, I need money!! Eh? I said it’s me, I’ll friggin’ kill you!!” The second one who wore light-tinted shades more like yelled. And what he had said to his own mother made Kagome’s eyes widen and stiffen, shocked that someone would actually threaten their own mother with death… (Finance Company Employee: Gouda Yoshiharu)

“This hologram is pretty badly made. This won’t even go through an ATM. If you don’t make another, I’ll kill you.” The third which Kagome described could work at a movie company spoke at he looked at what was probably a counterfeit bill of fifty yen. (Finance Company Employee: Nishimura Daiki)

‘Shit, talk about pushy… and murderous…’ Kagome thought was cut off when she heard someone almost demand while opening the door wide open, “Who the fuck are you?” Turning her attention sharply to the guy who spoke, only to feel her blood run cold at the murderous look he was giving her while asking in a deadly tone, “Haven’t you come to the wrong place?”

Kagome mentally cursed her self for not sensing the guy.

He had really short blond hair and wore a leaf patterned long-sleeved shirt. But what set him aside from the other guys was this face and ear piercings; two small hoop rings adorned the left side of his bottom lip and had four studs on each ear. If he didn’t have such a crazy murderous look in his eye, Kagome would’ve thought would be good looking in a bad-boy way (if he got rid of the lip rings and relaxed his face). (Finance Company Acting Vice-President: Godai Shinobu)

(YAY! Godai appears! XD)

“We’re busy answering calls so move your ass out of here!” When the guy gave the order, Yako immediately followed it and made a run for the elevator but was stopped when Neuro grabbed the scarf around her neck, saying with his ‘human’ tone, “We would really love to but Sensei insisted. She wants to help all of you.” Neuro’s voice caught everyone’s attention.

Kagome glanced at Yako and saw that she was very nervous. Not that she could blame her. These guys weren’t your bunch who you should tread lightly with.

Neuro then asked once he had everyone’s attention, grinning madly while still sounded human, “Your hiding it aren’t you? The incident that happened in this room!”

The guys of the company froze, obviously shocked that Neuro knew that something happened in their office. Kagome could seem them break into a cold sweat as the demon continued, “And most likely considering the nature of your business, you can’t go to the police. Is that the problem?”

“You pretentious ass…” the guy with the piercings looked he was going to try ripping Neuro a new one but someone stopped him before he could even take a step toward the demon, “Shut up, Godai!!”

‘Godai, huh… So that’s his name…’ Kagome thought before turning her attention to the one who called out his name. Again she cursed herself for missing yet another occupant in the room. ‘I’m getting really rusty…’ she sorely thought to herself.

The last guy in the room was… strangely looking in appearance. With how his nose and eyes were shaped and his hair was combed, Kagome would’ve thought he was some sort of bird or a pterodactyl. (Finance Company Acting President: Washio Masakatsu)

The bird guy then started to speak, “Who are you people? Where did you get that information?” He, like the other guys, was sweating bullets.

Neuro then pushed Yako in front of him, resting a hand on her shoulder while wrapping an arm around Kagome’s waist, answering with his same human tone and smile, “Not only thanks to Higurashi Kagome-chan’s senses to see and feel spirits, but also to the intuition of the famous detective, Katsuragi Yako! They’re both simply infallible!” Yako looked like she had tears running down her cheeks while shaking her head, as if silently saying, ‘No, not me.’

Yeah, every since the mystery at that restaurant, Neuro took to heart that Kagome could see and feel the presence of deceased spirits

“See and feel ghosts…? Intuition? Famous detective, eh?”

“Yes! Sensei’s been very popular lately! And Kagome-chan and I are her assistants!” Neuro then turned slightly serious while what sounded like egging to the bird guy, “How about we introduce you to the long arm of the law? We happen to be quite familiar with certain authorities… if Yako-sensei’s intuition is correct with Kagome-chan really seeing and feeling a spirit in this place, we would surely find traces of this incident.”

“W-wait!” Bird guy spoke before admitting that something really did happen recently and they haven’t found the culprit yet.

Noticing that the spirit behind the bird guy, Kagome spoke up, “And judging by your expression… it’s not a trivial case, is it?”

Godai stared at her for a moment, wondering why she seemed familiar to him before turning his attention to Washio as he answered, looking like he was shrouded in shadow, “… It’s a murder. The president of this company was killed three days ago. It’s an underground business and there are a lot of people who might have done this. We’re trying to figure it out by ourselves. So?
Now that we’ve told you this… what do you want?”

Neuro set his hands on Yako’s head, letting his form tower over her as he gave Washio and the rest over the guys a wink. “Isn’t it obvious? Yako-sensei is going to solve this case for you right away!”

While this shocked Hayami, Gouda, and Nishimura.

As Nishimura asked, “What did you just say…” he was cut off by Godai as the said person grinned madly, speaking as he brought out his knife, “Ahh, so you basically wanna die.” A vain was practically popping out over his left brow.

At the sight of the blade, Yako gave such a high-pitched frightened ‘eek!’ that Kagome almost barely heard it.

“Keep out of this! This is our problem, not yours!”

“Put that away, Godai!!”

“Keep your mouth shut, Washio-san!!” Godai yelled back before turning his attention back to Kagome, Neuro, and Yako. “I hate these kinds of… oblivious people.” He then rested his knife against Yako’s cheek. The shorthaired girl was in a cold sweat while slightly shaking from fear. “Dunno what you’re playing at with this detective crap, but…” Gogai’s tongue then slipped out of his mouth. Combined with the murderous glint in his eyes, he looked like a true killer, “Do you know how dangerous… the people are in front of you are? Heh, heh, heh!”

Kagome tried to muffled a yawn but couldn’t… the caffeine was probably not kicking in.

Her yawn caught Godai’s attention as she spoke in a soft but monotone voice, “You and your colleagues… dangerous? Yes but not as dangerous as my brothers who could be mistaken for bloodthirsty animals or monsters when crossed. Not to with how merciless they can be when they kill.” And Kagome was right, these men here were puppies compared to her sensei and Aniki, Sesshoumaru and so many others of her demon friends. Hell, even Neuro was more dangerous than these guys.

Godai growled before threatening to slice Kagome’s face with the same knife he scared Yako with, saying in a threatening way, “What was that!? I should kill you right now!!”

Kagome then looked straight into his eyes, not at all afraid that the blade that was very close to cutting the skin on her face. She faced worse than this guy who looked like he could use some anger management classes and unlike most girls her age, she wasn’t afraid to get hurt or mar her face.

In the background, she could faintly hear an almost familiar voice threaten, “Godai! If you huirt her, I’ll haunt you ‘til the end of your days! I swear it!” And the voice was coming from the spirit that was standing behind Washio.

Neuro grinned at her fearlessness; his sharp teeth making him look terrifying. “… I see. Shall we make you understand then?”

The miko took this as a sign to start showing her skills. She gripped Godai’s wrist hard enough to make him drop his knife and give a pained cry while moving the wrist away from her. Kagome then moved Godai’s wrist to her right while pulling him to her before she gave a high kick at Godai’s head- hitting him from the back of the skull before bringing her leg back, hitting him in the face. The force of her kick nearly made Godai fall back. But Kagome didn’t miss a beat and kicked with the same leg and into Godai’s back hard enough to where he was sent flying across the room; bouncing off the walls twice before landing on the ground, outcold and his eyes pure white.

“Yeah! That’s my girl!” The spirit of the victim yelled out with pride… although Kagome didn’t really know why.

Washio and the other guys were shocked speechless that a simple looking girl kicked Godai’s ass without breaking a sweat. Even Yako couldn’t believe that her friend and classmate had such strength in her toned but lithe limbs. Not to mention the raven-haired girl didn’t show any fear at all.

‘But then again… Neuro may have helped her increase strength by controlling her arms and legs…’ Yako thought.

Neuro then spoke with his same grin, “See… despite her appearance… Kagome-chan is a fighting machine!!” Kagome slowly set her leg down and picked up Godai’s knife as Neuro continued, “She makes a terrifying enemy… but the most reliable ally combined with Sensei’s knowledge.”

To make a point, Kagome bent Godai’s knife in half before breaking it without cutting her hands.

“How is this? Why not give Yako-sensei a chance at this case? She, with Kagome-chan’s help… will definitely solve it for you.”

The silence among the office stretched before Washio spoke, “… I understand.” The raven-haired girl Kagome was strong- stronger than Godai, and he didn’t doubt that the shorthaired girl, Yako wasn’t stupid. “To start with, the one who wanted to solve this case within the company was Godai over there.” Washio motioned his thumb toward Godai’s unconscious form- feet sticking up in the air while on his head. “I don’t care what methods are used as long as we catch the culprit.” Washio then stood, staring at them seriously, “So, fine. We’ll let you do it. And? What do you want in return? Money?”

As Yako was about to say something, Neuro made both her and Kagome bow while speaking to his two servants, “We could acquire not only a mystery but a nest as well! This is perfect, you two.” He lit the two girls stand straight again as he spoke to the underground office guys, “Of course we don’t need money. Instead, if we manage to solve the case…” the demon then lifted his hands- one open palm facing him while the other faced the guys, forming a rectangle with his hands as he winked at the Washio and the others, “This place… this office is ours.”

Kagome felt a sweatdrop on her head as she thought, ‘they’re not gonna take that kind of deal seriously. They’ll most likely take it as a joke… and I doubt they’ll tell Godai-san when he was wakes up.’

And sure enough, they didn’t take the deal seriously. In reply to Neuro, they all just laughed making themselves look more ugly than before. Especially Washio.

While still laughing, Washio spoke, “You solve this case and we let you have this office? Interesting! You intend to take over an office like this?” He and the other then started to calm down as Washio continued, “Okay, I get it. I’m thinking about it. However, there’s the matter if you can even solve it… and…” he and the others (minus the unconscious Godai) started to look intimidating as Washio continued, “If you can even take over the place without getting hurt.”

It was then Neuro’s turn to look malicious, as he spoke, “Feh those points aren’t even worth mentioning.”

Gouda, the one with the light-tinted shades, spoke, “However… putting our office on the line like this, not to mention knocking out one of our workers… you do realize that when you can’t solve the case… you’ll have to make suitable reparations.”

Neuro just smiled in a way that made Kagome narrowed her eyes at him… getting a damned gut feeling that he was going to say something that she and Yako weren’t going to like. ‘If he does offer anything that will be beyond me and Yako’s liking… it’s my shoe combined with my miko powers three feet up his skinny ass.’ She thought in a ticked but very scary malicious way.

The demon made a small sneeze before continuing, “Of course!” He then set his hands on Kagome and Yako’s shoulders, “Well then… in that case, how about we say…” Kagome was dreading what he would say next. “Sensei and Kagome-chan will provide free labor in whatever area you desire.”

Oooh, you know Kagome’s gonna be pissed.

Hey people, sorry for the long wait but I finally got the Internet back. We now have DSL and it works just as well as Cable- and at a better price.

July 4th, I found out my sister was pregnant… again. She and her boyfriend (who’s a year younger than I am) don’t know the gender yet but they are hoping for a boy.

And the night I had finished this chapter, I got to see the movie, “Bandidas”. OMG! It was so HILARIOUS! My father and I thought it wouldn’t be such a good movie! I definitely recommend watching it. It has such good comedy in it! And don’t worry, English speakers, the movie is in English with only bits of common Spanish phrases (Like Hasta Mañana, adios, and such).

Anyways, Hope you like the chapter and be prepared to get a glimpse at my new Crossover that is also co-authored by my friend and favorite writer, DeathNoteMaker.

Reviews are really appreciated. Suggestions and ideas are welcome. And Flamers with their flames can get lost.

(Finished: July 17, 2008)