A SEQUAL sequence to 'Mister Notsoknowitall.' Naturally I'd recommend readers finishing that story first if they haven't. I can't force you obviously...but this does follow up on everything there, so it would just make more sense to go in chronological order.

Thanks.

It was long after midnight and the air was thick and humid when Yako woke to the sound of rustling footsteps entering their bedroom.

Alerted, she sat up quickly, shaking off the fatigue, adrenaline pulsing.

The sudden blaze of heavy green eyes soothed her somewhat.

"Neuro?"

He merely stood leaning in the doorway, highlighted under the pale moonlight, still dressed in his new red and black suit, which was now torn in various places. Soon, Yako could make out those certain kind of stains, dark and slick, and dripping.

It clicked. Something was wrong.

It had been a long time indeed since she'd seen him this bad, so physically defeated, with his magic drained and his skin cracking and chipping at the edges like fractured glass.

She threw the covers back and leaped out of bed, approaching him swiftly, although, stopped dead in her tracks, rethinking her next move. Yako lingered there for a moment longer, observing him from a safer distance, honestly unsure if he was even currently aware of her presence or not. If she touched him, would he recoil and snap his teeth at her? He was no caged animal, but, she knew demons were still unpredictable creatures whenever on they were on the verge of death.

"Neuro."

Finally. Yako received a glimmer of acknowledgement from him as she called out to him again.

She took it step by step until she was close enough to cup her hands around his neck, forcing him to keep his head up while she glanced down at the rest of him, scanning the damage. His entire torso was riddled with bullet holes, and Yako had to remind herself that nights like these would arise eventually...sometimes. It was the job. That's it. It was detective's way.

(Plus, everyone had their limits, even Neuro.)

Neuro and Kazue had recently traveled to Osaka two weeks ago, in order to track down a notorious duo of serial killers that were already dropping bodies like flies across modern Asia. The Hands of Serpents. That was what they were supposedly called. Besides that, Yako had come to realize that the more Neuro worked on one set case, the harder he'd fall if he somehow miscalculated his opponent. Hence, that could possibly explain tonight.

On their behalf, while they were away, Godai had taken the liberty to check in with Yako at the house a few times since then. Because Neuro and Kazue were so genuinely busy with their mission that Yako had hardly learned anything regarding these Hands of Serpents men personally. She had to gather bits and pieces from the local newspapers like the rest of common Japan. However, Neuro evidently wanted it that way. He texted her himself only once before, urging her to keep their phone activity extremely short just in case the enemy would trace the call back to her or Godai. The last thing they needed was to become exposed and counter-targeted. That certainly would've helped anything.

Yako sighed and silently swallowed down her fears of that.

Whatever really happened in Osaka, and whatever wreck Neuro had to crawl out of, it clearly did not end on good terms.

There was also too much blood on him to be all his. It left Yako pondering Kazue's own state of health.

No. No.

She could not let her worry for anyone else blind her now. She had to face one problem at a time, and presently, her demon was slumping into her chest from his discomfort and dizziness; he had to be her first priority. So with that in mind, Yako pushed against him, took him by the hand, trying to guide him as quietly as possible down the dim hallway as they aimed for the private washroom. Neuro followed her a bit gracelessly and uncharacteristically slow, though thankfully, it wasn't a far distance.

Yako turned on the light and ushered Neuro inside before her, and, she was just in the process of shutting the door close as a younger voice cut right through the tension. "...Okaa-san?"

She glanced over her shoulder to see their son peering back her, poking his head out of his room nearby. Yako instantly rotated herself to face him, so that her body blocked the gap in the doorway where Neuro stood weak and huffing. "Katsuo, go back to bed," she pleaded softly. Katsuo was hesitant to do so at first—granted that he was amazingly clever at thirteen, understandably—and he narrowed his eyes somewhat in deeper suspicion, sensing she must be hiding something. But she wouldn't have any of that right now, no debates. She hardened her tone down a notch as she added, "Everything's going to be fine, baby. Just go back to sleep."

"...Alright," he said, sliding his door shut once more.

Free from further interruptions, Yako started by carefully peeling off Neuro's tie, vest, undershirt, layer after layer, until she reached bare skin.

"I bought this suit for you as a gift, for our anniversary," she muttered, mostly to herself. "...Now it's ruined."

Lulling him with a gentler touch, she coaxed him backwards four more paces, shoving him into the shower stall. Neuro was yet having difficulty fully absorbing the bullets to cough them out later. She lathered up soap and shampoo in between her hands, and she scrubbed at him, rinsing the blood, dirt, and other grime off him. She raked her nails through his hair, noticing that it was lighter in color, the darker streaks were almost faded completely.

Meanwhile, Neuro was basically a ragdoll in her grasp and it frankly made this whole cleaning process a little more challenging than it should've been otherwise. Yako did it anyway. Tugging the faucet back off, she maneuvered him out along with her so that she could run a fresh dry towel over him.

In the end, both of them returned to their main bedroom for the night.

And once Yako had resettled within the sheet beside him, she watched him drift off into a meditative sleep almost instantly.

By first light, Yako roused again and quietly hovered over Neuro's restful form, reaching out to press her palm to his forehead—not that Neuro was ever that prone to getting high fevers in the first place—still, the gesture was more-so out of maternal habit.

Though fortunately the rest of him was restoring to its normal state, after all. The shot wounds were nearly gone, and the natural colors of his hair were vibrant and sleek as always. The batteries beaded at the ends hummed with a light energy under her thumb when she touched them. She breathed in, satisfied.

"...Yako?" The low purring of his voice alarmed her and her hand retreated.

"Oh. Did I wake you?"

"No." Neuro had then cracked his eyes open to focus on her directly. "I've been conscious for the past twenty minutes or two."

Yako deemed this as a sign to continue. "What...happened in Osaka, Neuro?"

"Our attack backfired and turned into an ambush, and the whole encounter ended in a mass shooting. And a fire."

A cold and strange sense of irony rushed through Yako's blood, leaving googsebumps. She bit her lip. The outcome of his Hands of Serpents mission wasn't that much different than it was with her working that deadly kidnapping case with Officer Christian Wilkins all those years ago. Or Sicks, for that matter. Neither of them had the happiest of endings.

Was history starting to repeat itself? Yako tried to keep her voice level, but now it was just above a whisper. "And Kazue, how's she?"

"She's in the hospital. She blacked out from the smoke intake to her lungs. Two additional officers were shot dead, one took three bullets to the leg, and five other hostages were injured by the last explosion. After that...I just left and hauled myself home."

That was his way of telling her: I took most of the blow.

"I'll take this afternoon off," Yako replied simply, "so I can go with you to see her."

Without another word, Neuro nodded. His better hand now lifted between them and he seized her grown curls, momentarily stroking them back across her cheek. There was not any real heavy romantic undertone in this; it actually was more like a silent gratitude for what she'd had for him last night and she how well handled the situation. Then, eventually, he pulled himself into a sitting position next to her releasing another grunt. "...How were things around here while I was away?"

"We were fine." Yako leaned in quickly, kissing his jaw. "You didn't really miss anything out of the ordinary."

"Good."