Author's Notes: I can't seem to stop writing MTNN drabbles, can I? XD I'm sorry, but they relieve stress for me (wow, both me and Neuro find torturing Yako a vent for frustration... lol) and I've been under a lot of stress lately. Also, it gives me something to do while I wait for the final manga volume to be translated. So you can expect many more of these. XD

And sorry the next chapters for "Tag" and "Tea Time in Ba Sing Se" are taking forever. I've hit a bit of writer's block on both of them... -_-"

Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

You Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone

"Pardon?"

Yako knew by the blank, innocent look on her demon boss's face that repeating her question was a very bad idea. But the girl was curious, and her curiosity overwhelmed her common sense in the end.

"If I got killed on a case, would you… miss me?"

"What sort of stupid question is that, slave?" Neuro demanded with amusement, flicking another bit of rolled up paper at Yako's head. It hit her temple in the exact same place the last fifty had, and she was sitting on the couch on the other side of the office. The girl didn't seem to notice.

"Well… I guess… I was just curious…" she muttered. Another bit of paper hit her in the head; that spot on her temple was starting to sting. Did he hit that one harder than the others? Another bulls-eye shot, and Yako winced. Yup, he was putting more force into them now.

"It's ridiculous to even suggest you being killed at all, dishrag," the demon countered. "Just who do you think I am?" Was she doubting his ability to keep her safe? How preposterous!!

"Yeah yeah, I know you're an all powerful demon and everything!" Yako said, getting annoyed with his belittling tone. She put up a book to defend herself from the paper bullets, but somehow, Neuro flicked the next one so that it curved around the book and smacked her right between the eyes. Moaning, she massaged the sore spot. "I just wanted to know if-"

Opening her eyes, Yako jumped a little to find Neuro standing right in front of her, bent down so that his face was only inches from hers. His emerald eyes glowed, and he had that dangerously sadistic grin plastered on his face. Obviously he had been greatly irked by her question. Yako felt her heart beat quicken. The demon was so close she could feel his warm breath on her forehead.

"Only a mindless human like you could believe something so impossible," he said, his deep voice dripping with something like exasperation. "But since you were wondering, then no, I wouldn't miss you."

He said it with such finality and so mockingly that Yako almost felt like crying. No, of course not. She'd been stupid to even imagine it, just like he said. It was such a human thing, of course he wouldn't. Suddenly the plain white floor tiles seemed endlessly interesting.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, dishrag," Neuro ordered. He put his middle finger under her chin and forcibly lifted her face so she was looking at his. "Before you so insolently began to ignore me, I was going to say that I would, however, be sure to punish whoever killed you so brutally that they would wish they were dead instead of you. You are my property, and any creature stupid enough to damage my property doesn't deserve to exist." There was a pause, when their eyes met and Yako could feel the honesty of his words sinking in. Then suddenly Neuro's face blanked and he added, "And then I would be sure to scribble on your grave every year on your anniversary of death!"

With that, he grabbed her head and slammed her face down on the coffee table, probably to force her previous thoughts from her head. "Go home, louse," he said, picking her up by her head and setting her on her feet. "And don't be late tomorrow."

Yako was not going to come to work the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Neuro really didn't know what to think. Hadn't he just told her mere hours before that it was impossible for her to die on his watch? Hadn't he just punished her for even suggesting such a thing? And yet, it seemed so long ago. So long ago indeed…

Though he could hardly admit it, even to himself, the demon felt physically ill as he looked down on the body. The poor human girl had been shot numerous times. How wasteful. Surely only one bullet would have been enough to snuff out her fragile life. What a waste to even kill her in the first place.

It was the worst kind of irony, Neuro thought, that now he should be the one asking "why." That was Yako's job. She was the one who asked the criminals why, who pried under their shell to the soft skin underneath, where they were vulnerable, to understand their reasons for committing crime. Neuro couldn't care less why, all he cared about was the how. The how was the mystery. That was the edible, delicious center of crime.

What was ironic was that he should finally ask why when the "why" person lay dead at his feet. Why did they kill her? Why did they do it so brutally? Why had he not been able to save her?

And why, why oh why oh why, did he feel so completely empty inside?

It hurt; it was truly painful. Just looking at the broken body caused a pain in his heart and his gut that he didn't understand. He wanted it to stop. Just to stop…

Neuro's eyes opened to the morning light streaming in through the blinds. He'd fallen asleep again, how annoying. But from the weakness of the light surrounding him, it was still very early in the morning. Good, he could prepare Yako's punishment ahead of time for when she showed up late.

Wait. Yako…

It was only a dream, Neuro thought, but he felt distinctly uncomfortable. Worse than uncomfortable. Had it really been a dream? It had seemed so real. He remember walking away from the bloody scene and back to the office in the closest thing to a daze he'd ever experienced, and sitting down in the exact chair. Had it really happened, or were his dreams becoming more and more vivid as he became more and more human?

Rising from his desk, Neuro moved purposefully towards the door. There was only one way to find out. Then why did he feel so wary of discovering the answer?! There was no way he could make a slip up that would cost Yako her life. There was no way he could ever be that careless, least of all with her. She was his number one slave, after all. It just wasn't possible.

Exiting the office building, Neuro walked swiftly to the apartment building where Yako lived. Honestly, he didn't see how it could take her so long to get to the office when they were only 43 blocks apart. Did she stop by every café on the way there for a "light" snack? Knowing his dishrag, that was most likely the case.

Without even realizing it, Neuro stood for a long time outside the apartment building, just staring up at it. He could see Yako's window, but couldn't see inside because heavy curtains were blocking his view. That was strange. He'd been here a million times before (unbeknownst to Yako) to spy on and torture her, and the curtains in her room were almost always left open to let in the sunlight every morning. His apprehension grew.

This was stupid. What was this painful, sickening, twisting feeling in his stomach? It most certainly wasn't hunger. It must be one of those bizarre, annoying, human emotions. But which one?

First of all he was angry. If Yako really had died, and what he saw last night was not a dream, then he was murderously angry with whoever had killed her, but he was also angry at Yako for being so weak to have died in the first place. It was irrational, but true.

The second emotion was a bit sketchy. It wasn't sorrow – he refused to believe that was it – so it must be disappointment. Of course he would be vastly disappointed if Yako died on him. What a waste that would be, not only of his time, but of his strength too! It had taken a great deal of both to make the dishrag what she was now, and for her to die would be more cruel for Neuro than for her – in his mind at least.

The third and final emotion was lost to him completely. All he knew was that this emotion was what was twisting his stomach and causing the dim throbbing pain in his heart.

He said he wouldn't miss her, and Neuro had believed that. Why should he miss a scrawny, mindless, pathetic, useless little human girl? All she was useful for was to help him devour mysteries; even though she was beginning to evolve into a creature that could solve things on her own, she was not quite there yet.

This is absurd, Neuro finally decided, and without another moment's hesitation, he leapt up the stairs to the second story of the apartment complex, making it to the top in one easy jump, and placed a hand on the doorknob. It was locked, of course, but that didn't stop the demon. With one easy turn, the door swung open.

The apartment was dark and quiet. Perhaps the dishrag was still sleeping. Moving out of the kitchen and through the dining room, Neuro not-so-silently opened the bedroom door, half expecting Yako to still be in bed. No, she was not there, but her scent was everywhere, as strong as it ever was. That was encouraging, though it was true that if she'd just died the night before, the scent would still be strong.

Leaving the apartment behind, and more frustrated than ever, Neuro walked back to the office. Perhaps the newspaper had arrived yet, or the news would be coming on soon. Surely the death of the famous Schoolgirl Detective Katsuragi Yako would be headline news. He would know for certain then. But what really troubled him was, if she wasn't dead, then where was his slave?!

Neuro entered the office building and took his first step up the stairs when he heard it, that rhythm that he could never mistake for anything other than what it was. Though there were still five stories between him and the office, the noise was loud. It filled his ears, and though it was somewhat rushed and erratic, he still found it to be a grudgingly pleasant sound. For the first time that he could remember, something like relief flooded through him.

The demon was up the stairs in seconds. With much greater force than necessary, he flung the office door open so that it slammed into the wall. Yako, who had been sitting at her desk, jumped twenty feet in the air, her eyes bugging out of her head.

"N-N-Neuro!!" she stuttered in shock, "where have you been??"

"I should be asking you the same thing, louse," Neuro replied, striding over to her, grabbing her head with his now revealed claws and giving it a powerful squeeze. She whimpered in protest, but he wasn't listening. The demon was truly annoyed now.

"It's 8 in the morning, Neuro!" Yako whined. "I'm not late!!"

"How did you get to the office so quickly?" her boss demanded, ignoring her again.

"I took a different route! There were too many restaurants on my usual way here, and well… you know…" She flushed with embarrassment and shame, and Neuro released her, letting her fall back into her chair. "But why do you ask anyway, Neuro? I told you I'm not late."

Neuro paused for a moment, wondering if he should explain, but quickly decided against it. "Forget it, dishrag," he said instead, returning to sit behind his desk. All of the earlier confusion he'd been feeling was gone now. If anything, he felt at peace, perhaps even a little – just a little – content. Yako was fine, there was nothing to be upset about, and even better, she was on time for once. Everything was in order. Everything was all right.

But there was still one thing that bothered Neuro, though he was hardly willing to admit that it was that big of a deal. When he compared his thoughts and feelings this morning to what they were now, he realized what had been causing that pain in his chest, a pain which was, of course, now gone.

"I would…" he said, very quietly.

Yako looked up from her computer. "Eh? Did you say something, Neuro?"

"Nothing your microscopic brain need wonder about, louse," the demon replied, shoving his polished shoe into her face and knocking her backwards in her chair. "Just be certain not to die anytime soon, understand?"

Moaning, Yako righted herself again. Then, suddenly, the pained look on her face melted away, and she seemed to understand the last thing he said. To Neuro's great surprise, she smiled at him, blushing ever so slightly.

"Okay, I won't," she agreed happily.

Author's Notes: For a while I thought of making it that Yako really did die, but I was pretty depressed when I wrote this, so making it even more depressing would not help, so I gave up on that. THEN I was gonna make the ending fluffy, but for some reason, it is next to IMPOSSIBLE for me to write fluff with these two. I want to so bad, but... it just doesn't happen. -_-"

I guess I'll just have to try harder... lol

And on a side note, the song that this fic was named for, "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" by Cinderella... Yes, I DO love that song. XD *listens*

Please please review... pretty please? 8D It makes my day, it really does...