Author Notes: I really need to go write the next chapter for my other fic, but I've got this stuck in my head for so long it's driving me crazy! This is a songfic inspired by UVERworld's Koishikute, but I decided not to put the lyrics in since the song itself doesn't exactly describe NeuYako. I think I wanted to write about Neuro's gentler side rather than his possessive nature although we all love a possessive Neuro lol. Excuse me if Neuro goes a bit OOC here!

Disclaimer: I don't own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro or anything related to it.

"…For the following days, the heavy rainfall will continue. Temperatures will drop to…"

Seated behind Troy, Neuro impatiently flipped his phone open then flicked it shut again. Over and over again. The intense light from the phone's screen illuminated his eyes for a moment in the pitch black room then went out before the light reflected off his pupils again. The pitter pattering of the rain slamming against the closed windows behind him only got heavier by the minute. He had sent the water flea a dozen messages and the ungrateful slave has still yet to respond to her dutiful master's call. Although the demon had officially recognized Katsuragi Yako as his partner during their previous farewell, Neuro had just decided to demote the girl back to a water flea for being very late and making him wait for an entire day. He had a wide choice of options in order to find the girl but with the pouring rain outside and the constant irking of an empty stomach, Neuro decided to simply stay passive for the time being. He had devoured a few snacks previously to keep his stomach settled for the moment, but those mysteries did nothing to satiate his ravenous appetite and without his cover, he cannot go and feed on the larger aromatic mysteries alone.

Amongst the steady drumming of rain pelting against the windows behind him, the sound of Akane typing away on the keyboard and the television's weather report which was faint in comparison, the machine in Neuro's gloved hand vibrated violently and the screen lit up. Pushing a button, the demon raised the phone to his ear and said into it, "Have you found the flea yet, Slave Number Two?"

"For the millionth time, I'm not your slave!" The voice on the other end screamed as Neuro held the phone away from his ear, his signature blank expression evident on his face. When he was sure his slave had calmed down, Neuro held the phone close again. "I've contacted everyone she has links with – seems that she hasn't contacted them since yesterday at all, not even her friend Kanae. Her mum isn't in Japan at the moment either."

"Oho? Playing hide and seek are we?" Neuro mused to himself, "That's enough slave, you're dismissed."

With that, the mystery eating demon clicked his phone shut. Akane stopped working on the computer and scribbled on the whiteboard with a marker: Is Miss Detective still missing?

"Yes. Even though we have such a broad network at our disposal, it seems Yako's pulled her disappearance trick off quite well this time for a person of her caliber," Neuro swiveled his chair around to face the windows and sat in silence for a moment before he stood and announced, "I'm going out for a bit, Akane."

The braid planted in the wall waved him goodbye.

For the rest of the day, Neuro spent his time aimlessly wandering the streets, not caring that he was soaked through by the rain. He had no idea where his legs were bringing him; neither did he have any idea as to where he was at the moment. Like this, he roamed the hustling and bustling city streets until his legs brought him to the area near the train station at midnight just as the last train of the day was about to depart. The strong lights of the train interior contrasted against the surrounding darkness as Neuro suddenly found the lights captivating. Inside the train packed with late night workers, there were many couples as well, accompanied by their lovers and cherishing each other's presences. At this moment, there was a knot tied in his throat and a certain something tugging in his chest, something churning uncomfortably inside him. During his absence on Earth, Neuro had readapted to hell and returned to his original demonic state but upon return to the human world, the process of becoming human had started all over again. Even now, his body was experiencing changes and morphing to acclimatize to this world. Having experienced these alterations before, Neuro knew full well about these things bothering him – the feeling of loneliness and longing.

"Tch," Neuro narrowed his eyes and resumed his strolling, "What useless feelings humans possess."

The next destination formed in Neuro's mind when his legs took him on a journey once again until he noticed the familiar neighborhood. His next stop was Katsuragi Yako's apartment.

With an effortless jump, he was over the outer wall surrounding the residence and by simply marching up the wall when he was sure no one was within sight, Neuro easily found his way up to the nineteen year old's bedroom and with a flick of a finger, the lock on the window clicked open without trouble. The multi hair coloured demon slipped inside, paying no attention to the water droplets dripping onto the floorboards. Neuro noted the uncanny tidiness of the room as his eyes skimmed over the unlit room, the newly developed unpleasant emotions only thickened to the point it felt suffocating. Eager to leave this place behind, Neuro turned to leave through the window again, but a small glimmer of light caught his eye.

Crossing the room to Yako's desk where he had seen the light flash, Neuro discovered the girl's abandoned phone which seemed to be carelessly left on. Reading the notification on the screen, the demon let out an irritated growl. All his messages were unread along with a load of others from various people; there were hundreds of missed calls too. Leaving the phone back on the desk, Neuro noticed yesterday circled with a red pen on the calendar, next Thursday was also circled.

"How befitting of a dishrag to leave obvious hints behind." The tall man huffed and departed into the pouring rain again, this time swiftly leaping from building to building.

..::::..

Is it really alright not to look for Miss Detective anymore?

"She'll return eventually; there's no need to fret, Akane."

Do you know where she's gone to?

"No."

Although the braid was unsatisfied with the answers, Akane returned to her work. Neuro had returned from his outing a week ago dripping wet through the window but with his usual expression. He then proceeded to ask her for torture suggestions as if nothing was out of place. Just when people think they've understood that demon, he does something surprising and you'll feel like you're back to square one.

Reclining leisurely on the couch with half lidded eyes, Neuro yawned. "My, my, the clouds still won't clear? The sound of rain is starting to become a tedious nuisance…" Unable to hold back his desire to sleep, the demon drifted off into a slumber.

This time Neuro didn't dream about torturing his slaves or about his monotonous days in Hell where everyone bowed down at his feet. It was a rather simple dream; a vision of a petite flower appeared. He felt that the flower was something very significant and he treasured it greatly, often watering it in hopes of it blooming and protecting it from harm. Somehow at the end though, the flower had wilted and died.

With a jolt, Neuro's eyes flickered open when the feeling of yearning and solitude tore at his insides again. Even when he knew Yako was returning, he somehow missed her. Rubbing his eye drowsily, Neuro sat up and was confronted with a loud apology. Not the least surprised, the demon turned to look down at the blonde girl who had her forehead inches from the tiled floor, prostrating herself before the sadistic man. The emotions tossing and turning inside him vanished.

"Decided to come back early did you, dishrag? I didn't think you were due back until Thursday." Neuro crossed his long legs calmly and stepped on the girl's head firmly so that her face was now crushed on the floor.

Noticing her drastic demotion from partner to dishrag, Yako managed to utter, "Yeah…" She had been mentally and physically prepared for the torture that was going to ensue today as soon as she had set her foot back down on Japan.

Keeping his foot unyieldingly set on the blonde's head, Neuro saw the suitcase standing nearby with tags hanging off. Reading the information on the tags, the demon returned to his unhappy state of looking haughtily down at his slave. "Went to South Africa did we? I don't recall ever giving my slave permission for a vacation. Thanks to her selfishness and naïve assumptions, her master is now evidently starving to death. "

"You look completely fine to me…" The nineteen year old with her trampled head mumbled.

Neuro removed his foot and bent down low so his face was level with the girl's head, "Did you say something?"

Yako squeaked, "No, nothing at all."

Unclipping the detective's single hairclip that she kept in her blonde hair and stealing it, Neuro straightened himself and settled back on the couch, throwing the red hairclip up and down in his palm mind-numbingly, his expression unimpressed. "Did you enjoy yourself on your vacation?"

Seeing this as a sign that he had partially forgiven her, Yako was stunned at the lack of torture at first but then quickly got up and sat herself on the coffee table and considered herself fortunate today. "How do you put it…? It was like I was bitter from the sweet."

"Oh? You left your master on your own accord without any notification whatsoever and you return saying you didn't enjoy your time away?" The demon's face twisted into a vicious smile, revealing his sharp teeth. He then narrowed his eerily glowing eyes, "Or was it because your beloved master was occupying your mind every second of your vacation that you couldn't focus on enjoying yourself?"

"Umm… I suppose it's the latter…" Yako said hesitantly.

Neuro hummed in interest. "I'll hear the whole story."

"I'd rather not…" The girl's voice trailed off nervously. If she told him the entire truth, she probably won't live to see the clouds clear and the rain stop. Hell, she probably won't even be able to get home in one piece!

Suddenly, her boss' face zoomed up close, his bottomless green eyes boring into her own. "Spit it out."

When Yako continued to hesitate and refuse to talk, the demon asked if she needed her master to repeat himself. The blonde haired girl shook her head confidently. Feeling like a child who's just been caught stealing chocolate chips from the cookie jar, Yako fiddled with the hem of her dark green knee length skirt. "I guess I've become a coward again along the way."

Neuro listened silently, his expression unchanged.

"You might not have noticed yourself Neuro, but ever since you came back, I've barely had enough time to myself – it's like you've tied me up so tightly I can hardly breathe. So I thought I might sneak away and just have a week to myself."

Suddenly, the visualization of the flower from his dream came back to him. He wanted to laugh out loud at the comparison of the dishrag to a flower, but then reflected on how he had treated the flower – he had given the flower so much water that it wilted, protected it so much that he had deprived it of sunlight. He had become the honey that was hated because of its sweetness. The realization of this sent a pang of pain throughout his body. Neuro snatched the hairclip out of the air with distaste as he experienced yet another worthless human sentiment course through his entire being.

Watching her hairclip get violently ripped out of the air, Yako perked up and said, "Just as I thought, I shouldn't say anymore!"

"No, keep going," Neuro's unforgiving glare silenced the girl, "So why did you come back early? It's only been five days."

Unsettled by the conversation that was now going downhill much faster than she had anticipated, the nineteen year old continued, "But while I was there, I couldn't help but miss going to the office everyday the entire time. I tried to forget work for just a week, but I couldn't deceive myself any longer. I wanted to unravel mysteries with you, see things with you, encounter things with you… So I came back."

There, she spilt the beans. Now she was going to die from torment, verbal abuse and embarrassment.

"In other words; you missed me did you not, dishrag?"

There, he said it. Nice and straightforward without beating about the bush.

Neuro stood and stepped closer towards her. Yako averted her eyes and cast them onto the ground, unexpectedly finding the never ending tiles more fascinating and important than life itself as she awaited her fast approaching death, "…I did."

"My, my; you've truly become a coward." Neuro spoke soothingly as he pressed Yako's head against his stomach in a half embrace.

Was that mystery eating monster of a demonic boss feeling guilty? Was he forgiving her for her unannounced departure because it was his fault to begin with? Similar questions zapped through Yako's mind at a thousand miles per hour, confusion ringing in her head.

Unbeknownst to his slave, Neuro had slipped her grinning red hairclip back into her locks of golden hair. "But pathetic-brainless-little-simpleton," Neuro addressed the girl in his innocent sugary sweet voice, "You know that along with awards come punishments."

Yako looked up with fear written across her face, "Eh?"

Neuro gave her an angelic smile and smacked the girl on her head hard, securing the scarlet hairclip back in her hair. Outside, the rain had come to a halt and the rain clouds were finally drifting away, allowing shafts of sunlight to filter in and cast its warmth onto the city.