((Author's Note: This takes place the next day after the cleaning lady introduction. At this time, Yosuke is still alone in the box, and Mitsuo was taken away.))
The Inaba police station. Day 4 in the Human world...
Traffic needed to pick up the pace. The little cat demon could hardly contain her excitement as she bounced on the balls of her bare feet inside the open pet carry bag seat belted against the front passenger seat of her mother's car. Her hands rested against the fabric fold, and her tiny pointed ears pulled forward. Her tail swished as if the act of leaning against the rim of the bag would urge the giant metal machine to move faster. She wanted to be there now. Were it not for the bag itself, she'd be sitting on the dashboard. A mew of anticipation left her before she could stop it. Then again, why would she want to? This time, she would be a guest of the station's instead of on the run in fear and confusion. She tried to ask if they would ever get there.
"We're almost there," Mrs. Shirogane could easily guess the nature of the little creature's eager tone. Moments later, she smoothly parked the car along side the other detectives, and shut the engine off. She held her hand out to stop the little cat from climbing out of the bag. "Ah ah. You gotta stay in there until we're in the office, ok? This place is huge for a little thing like you. I don't want you to get lost."
Naoto plopped to her butt in a pout. The zipper pulled closed over her head. She heard the seat belt unclick, and held on to the mesh siding as her mother lifted the bag. All four sides were comprised of see-through netting material strong enough to contain a small animal, but thin enough to allow an unhindered view to the right, left, and forward. Naoto sat cross-legged and watched the world change from the parking lot to the lobby of the police station. She tried to look at everything at once.
"Good morning, Sgt. Saito" Her mother cheerfully greeted the officer at the front desk.
"Good morning, Detective Shirogane." His baritone voice answer smoothly as he hung up the phone. "Bringing your dog in today?"
She chuckled. "This isn't a dog." She set the bag on the counter. "
The officer looked closely. "Oh, hey, it's that little cat-girl that was running around here a couple of days ago."
"Her name is Naoto. She's currently in my care."
Naoto peered up at the officer through the mesh and studied his face. He held an honest look about himself, but the bags gathered under his eyes suggested he hadn't slept much the night before. She asked him what had kept him up so late, but all he did was blink in confusion. She sighed. Right—these Humans couldn't understand her for some reason, even if the silver-haired man could. It was definitely frustrating to have a language barrier. Her friends from the box must be going through the same thing. If only she could find them...
"A guy's name for a girl? Interesting choice."
"She's an interesting creature. That's why I suggested it." She waved lightly as she picked up the bag and moved into the main area of the station. "Don't worry if you see her around," she called back. "She's allowed to be here."
He nodded to her as she walked into the heart of the station.
The bustling buzz of a morning police station had Naoto's complete and utter focus. Phones jingled to be answered, papers and files were being shuffled on desks, and a light lazy murmuring of the detectives speaking to each other filled the room. Sunlight cast its rays across the floor, trying to wake up those still half asleep. There was so much to see, so many places to explore, and so much to do that she didn't know where to begin. Her tail swished back and forth quickly as she pressed her nose against the fabric, curling her fingers into the mesh in excitement and awe. This place was the best in Inaba. Ever.
Kaori made her way to the back office where she closed the door and set the carrier on her husband's desk. Naoto leaped out as soon as the zipper was pulled back enough. She immediately ran across the desk looking at everything: the stapler, the files stacked to the side, the phone, the computer, the keyboard, the pencil holder - and jumped down to the swivel chair. It spun in a slow lazy circle that mad her laugh.
"Nice to see you're making yourself at home." She found it interesting that the little cat girl did the same thing at their home, exploring as much as she could. It was a mark of a truth seeker –a detective. She made a 'come here' motion with her hand.
Naoto jumped to the floor and ran bare feet to her mom, where she stopped and looked up.
"I'm going to trust you today, ok?" She knelt down so Naoto could climb up onto her knee, and rested her hand against the cat-demon's back for support. "You can go anywhere in this room that you want. This office will be your safety zone. Just stay away from the interrogation rooms, and don't wander to any other floors just yet. We'll get to that in time. For today, I want you to stay in the detectives office, ok?"
Naoto nodded.
"You can explore, and you can watch, but don't get in the way of their work. Is that clear?"
She nodded again.
"Good girl," Kaori waited for her to jump down before she stood.
Naoto's ears perked up with her eager smile. She pushed the sleeves of her dark blue shirt up to her elbows like she'd watched her father do, and ran to the door.
"I'll need your keen eye for something in a few minutes, but for now, knock yourself out, little one." Kaori cracked it open.
Naoto became a blur of blue hair and tail as she shot out of the room.
This place as enormous. First thing she needed to do was get a beat on where she was, which meant getting a birds eye view. The last time she was here, she'd scaled a bookcase. That should suffice to satisfy her needs. Fixing her target at a desk near a window, she darted across the floor and jumped, catching her claws into the seat cushion of a chair. It spun as she launched herself to the desk, and up onto the bookcase. She climbed to the top and held onto the bulb of an Atlas book end supporting his bronze world on his bronze shoulders, and leaned over. Her tail helped keep her balance. Her eyes locked on the door as a tired-looking man walked in carrying a large take-out cup of coffee. His red tie was slightly askew, and his black suit wasn't ironed. He must have thrown his wardrobe together after waking up late. She recognized him immediately. This was-
"Adachi, finally." Dojima accepted the hot beverage from his subordinate. "You're late."
"Sorry, boss. Guess I over slept." He grinned.
It was an empty grin meant to please the world with an expected response.
"You have an alarm, right?" Dojima set the coffee on his desk right next to the bookcase and the window, and sat in the chair without looking up. He didn't even know the cat demon was there.
"Yes sir,"
"Use it."
Adachi's breath hitched in his throat, ready with a come back but he choked it back. "Yes, sir." He let a pause live for a second. "You seem a little out of it this morning, more than usual. Late night?"
He took a long sip from the coffee. "My nephew showed up two days ago. My sister seems to think I can watch him, but I don't even have enough time for my own daughter, let alone her son."
"Taking care of someone elses-" Adachi wanted to say 'brat,' but quickly switched up words, "-kid can't be easy."
Dojima slid him a judgmental stare. "You don't have children, do you?"
"Um, no, sir, I don't." He smiled slightly to try to lift the humor in this conversation. "I don't have any family here, actually."
The older man exhaled a quick, staccato 'hm'. "Then you should just keep worrying about yourself."
Adachi's smile faded. He didn't know what to say to that that wouldn't get him in trouble, so he bit back his tongue and the snap retort along with it.
Naoto's ears drooped slightly. That young detective's situation was actually quite...sad. Oddly, she felt bad that he seemed to be completely alone.
Adachi took that second to glance up in frustration to either calm down, or to stretch, who knew. But he spotted the small cat demon perched on the bookshelf blinking down at them. "Huh? Hey, what are you doing back here?"
Curious, Dojima looked up just as Naoto climbed down and dropped down to his desk.
"Don't worry, sir. I'll handle this." Adachi lunged at her, forcing her to knock over the newly placed coffee cup. Brown liquid spilled all over the desk and dripped to the floor.
It splashed on her arm, burning her skin. She yelped in pain and clamped her hand over the wound. That stuff was boiling hot. What the hell was it, and why would these giants want to drink something that caused injuries and smelled? Unfortunately, it distracted her long enough for Adachi to snatch her up.
"Gotchya! You're not going to get away from me this time." He raised her to eye level. It was the first time he was truly able to get a good look at her. Her shaggy blue hair pointed downward over her nose, and her ears were flattened above narrowed, cleared pissed-off eyes. His smile of victory faded to one of curiosity, not just at what she was -which was strange enough to begin with-but that her eyes held a very thin yellow band around the inside edge of her iris. "What's with your eyes? What are you?"
She tried to tell him to let her go or he'd be sorry, but he continued to stare at her like she was a strange, exotic toy. Her words were merely sounds to him. Fine, if he wasn't going to listen, she'd make him listen. She hissed, flexed her claws, and scratched her nails across his right thumb.
"Ah!" He dropped her and clutched at the new wound. "Stupid little rat!"
It was a long drop -Adachi was taller than she'd thought- but she managed to land smoothly. She held up both hands as she backstepped away, claws out, and hissed again. How dare he call her a rat! She scowled, bared her teeth in ready to show him she would not take that insult lightly, and stilled her tail. Her eyes locked with his again, but this time her feet wouldn't move. The aura exuding from the tall, skinny detective as he clutched his injured hand bled black and red with anger. At that moment, he seemed very capable of causing her harm.
Before now, he'd seemed harmless, even kind of likeable in a goofy way, but that sense gave way to an emotion she hadn't felt strongly before from these giants.
She was afraid.
Naoto stepped back. There was something different about him...
"Detective Adachi," her mother stepped out of the office, her voice halting his advance. Naoto moved behind her leg. "I see you've met the newest member of the Shirogane family."
"Huh?" All anger disappeared, and he again returned to his non-threatening self. "Newest member? Wait, you weren't kidding before? She's allowed here?"
"I never kid." She bent down to rub her hand across the cat-demon's ears. "This is Naoto." She locked her steely gaze on her subordinate as she straightened. "You'll treat her as you would treat me. She's here to assist me today, and to learn."
"She'll get under foot. Literally." Dojima said flatly, dropping a handful of coffee-soaked tissues in the waste basket under his desk.
"If she gets in your way, come tell me. Other than that, she has free reign of this office only. She's not to leave this room."
Adachi rolled his eyes. "Great, now we get o play 'babysitter,' too."
Naoto growled slightly. She wasn't a baby. Of course, she didn't know her own age, but she was sure the word 'baby' wasn't involved.
"I think she's adorable." Detective Fujiwara leaned forward on her desk. Why wouldn't she? The whole room had its attention tuned in on the chief's wife and the two detectives.
"What is she, anyway?" One of the other guys spoke up.
"Maybe she's some kind of science experiment." Another detective said as he placed files back on a shelf near his desk.
Naoto mewed to them. She wasn't a science experiment, she was a cat. Wasn't it obvious?
"Awe," Fujiwara's grin stretched from ear to ear. "She's so little. She can't be very old."
"Ok, everybody, I get it," Kaori chuckled. "I'm assigning you all a task, then. Whoever figures out what she is gets an extra vacation day." She was in a room filled with detectives and policemen. It was a solid fact that issuing a challenge to find the truth was like dangling a chocolate bar in front of a dieter.
"I'm on the case!" Fujiwara tightened the tie holding back her hair, and dove into internet research.
Naoto blinked and bit her lip. She could understand the words, but forming them seemed impossible. She tried anyway, because the shear determination in that one phrase was too powerful to ignore. "Em en da kee."
Dojima tossed the coffee cup in the trash, noting the cat-girl's eyes stayed on him the whole time. "We should have a say in this."
"When did this office become a democracy?" Kaori folded her arms. "Besides," her voice softened. "You'll be surprised at how smart she is. She's already surprised me." She handed the photo of the man by the car to the senior detective.
He looked it over in a squint. "A reflection. She found this?"
"Yes. I think you have a new lead, Detective." She said knowingly.
"Hmph." He set the photo down, glanced to the cat-girl. "I'll look into it."
"Good. I'll be back shortly." Her heels clicked on the hard wood floor as she headed for the hallway. "
Adachi sighed at the small creature standing on the floor. He pointed a finger at her. "I am not cleaning any litter box."
Naoto giggled, feeling relieved, and ran to see what Detective Fujiwara had found. Maybe she could somehow convince one of these large creatures to help her find her friends.
The phone on Dojima's desk rang, causing Naoto's ears to perk up that direction. She jumped up the bookshelf to the desk and listened when he picked up the receiver. He spoke into it like he was addressing someone in the room with him. Giants had the weirdest stuff.
"Dojima. ...Yeah. Ok, I'll be down in a minute." He hung up, then stood. "It's that witness to the robbery at Daidara's. She's in room 4."
"I got this one, boss," Adachi headed for the door, setting the safety on his gun. He didn't have to bring it to something as simple as an interrogation, but he'd become accustomed to the weight of it in his shoulder holster.
"Keep your head, rookie." Dojima said. "And try not to wimp out like last time."
"It's just questioning. It's not like she murdered anyone or anything. I'll be civil." Adachi shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked away from the office room. There was something about that cat-girl that sparked his interest. He'd do his own investigating later. No doubt there was a reason she'd appeared in his car the other day, and he would find out why.
Naoto watched him spin the gun in one hand and holster it easily. Her eyes sparkled. That was amazing.
"You," Dojima pointed at her with an unlit cigaret between his fingers, "don't touch anything. I'll be back." He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and walked out.
Still curious of how that worked with that strange instrument Adachi spun around, she picked up a large paperclip and tried to mimic the motion. It slipped out of her grip each time she spun it. Undaunted, she kept trying. Paperclips dropped one by one to the floor to clutter around the detective's chair. Finally, she just flipped the small desk supply around her finger and hooked it into a belt loop on her pants. Though small, the young cat demon now had another personal goal: she would find her friends, and perfect the ultimate holstering technique.