A/N: For some reason hanging out and working on fanfics at ungodly hours with Risu reminds me that I should post another chapter of this fic... So here it is. Please review!
Kurama's sense of doom had not vanished at all by the next morning. Petenshi and Sagishi were clearly intelligent girls, since they had brilliantly argued with all of Kurama's strategies for defending Hiei. However they had been utterly unhelpful in actually coming up with a real strategy and had spent most of the evening challenging Yusuke and Kuwabara to drinking games. Kurama and Hiei had barely slept the entire night what with the noise of drunken people, and it was lucky for them that Nesemono woke them up and gave them half a chance to make it to the trial on time. It didn't take long for Kurama and Hiei to discover that the rest of their team was passed out drunk, so the decision was made to leave them behind to recover, and they headed for the courthouse.
DA McCoy stood outside the courtroom with his assistant DA, Abby. "You're missing your associates, Mr. Minamino," he observed dryly.
"Yes, those young law students your office recommended find considerably more joy in the bottom of a bottle than in the pages of a text book," Kurama retorted dryly.
They all went into the courtroom and Judge Saibannin directed McCoy to call his first witness. He called Detective Briscoe, who described being called to the mansion because of a missing girl, and how he and Detective Green had quickly determined that there was no way that anyone but Hiei would have had time to harm the girl and cause her to disappear in the short time before her absence was discovered. In fact, since Hiei had been the only one to see Ryouko for almost two full hours, he clearly had plenty of time to kill her, hide her body, and steal her artifacts.
"Objection, calls for speculation!" Kurama exclaimed.
"Your Honor, Detective Briscoe's job calls for him to rationally analyze the scenes he is confronted with. It may be speculation, but it certainly seems to be the most reasonable explanation, unless the defense is proposing that aliens came along and abducted the young lady."
"Your Honor!" Kurama spluttered. "Mr. McCoy isn't even letting me present a defense, he's apparently decided that any other explanation would be absurd and the jury is being unfairly prejudiced against my client!"
"Mr. Minamino, you will have your turn to defend your client. Mr. McCoy, please keep your opinions to yourself and continue questioning your witness," Judge Saibannin exclaimed. Ms. Furui shook her head sadly as she continued tapping away on her machine.
Detective Green was called to the stand as well and his testimony mirrored his partner's. Then several evidence technicians were called, testifying that there was no evidence that anyone had been in the room recently besides Ryouko and Hiei. Kurama did his best to emphasize the fact that the tests on the red stain from the floor had not been conclusively proved to be blood at all, much less Ryouko's blood, but it was clear that the pictures of the large dark stain on the floor contrasting with the otherwise pleasant looking bedroom of a young lady in the prime of her life were incredibly damning in their own right.
Kurama leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to fear that he would fail his friend. The physical evidence was very incriminating, and even though he accepted that Hiei hadn't done anything to harm Ryouko, he had no way of convincing the judge or jury of this fact.
"Your Honor, for my final pieces of evidence, I ask the court to be allowed to play taped statements from the two primary witnesses in this case," McCoy said.
"Objection, why can't the witnesses come to the courtroom to give their statements so that I have the opportunity to question them myself?" Kurama demanded, a sinking feeling developing in the pit of his stomach. There were only two people he could think of outside Hiei and their sad excuse for a legal team that could be considered primary witnesses, and knowing them, this wasn't going to be pretty.
"Who are the witnesses Mr. McCoy and why can't they appear?" Judge Saibannin asked.
"They are Himizu and Risu, and they decline to come out in public for reasons this court has acknowledged in the past, plus they are mourning the loss of their dearest friend."
"Dearest friend my ass… wouldn't half surprise me if those idiots managed to kill Ryouko themselves…" Hiei muttered under his breath. Officer Yakuin glared at him, oversized moustache twitching comically, from his post next to the defense table.
Despite Kurama's protests, the taped statements were allowed into evidence and played before the jury. The first one was Risu. The tape showed the girl sitting in a large armchair. They could hear McCoy off camera asking her questions.
"Okay Miss Risu, I realize this is difficult for you after your recent loss, but I need to ask you about some things. First, what was Hiei's relationship with Ryouko?"
"Oh I don't know… I never paid much attention to it… I just went along with all the jokes that Himizu made…" Risu said, tears appearing in her eyes. "It was just so easy to make fun of them since they were together all the time…"
"Is Hiei capable of violence?"
"Oh, absolutely! He's crazy! He's tried to kill Himizu about a hundred times already, but Ryouko always stopped him."
"Is he capable of violence towards Ryouko?"
Now Risu hesitated. "Anything's possible I guess… I don't know though… I've never seen him try to hurt her… they argued all the time though."
"These fights never turned violent?"
"No more so than any arguments between anyone else living here."
"According to a statement you gave at the scene, you chased Hiei down the stairs before you discovered Ryouko missing. What time did this occur?"
"It was just a minute or two after 7:00."
"Was anyone else upstairs to your knowledge?"
"No… the only other person in the house was Himizu and she was downstairs letting Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara inside."
"Did you see or hear Ryouko during that time?"
"No."
"So you have no proof that she was alive at that time?"
Risu bit her lip and shook her head, then turned away from the camera to wipe tears from her eyes.
"And how long between the time you went downstairs and the time it took you to go back upstairs and discover your friend missing?"
"It wasn't long… Less than ten minutes."
"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"
"Well I suppose it's just possible that someone could have come in and hurt Ryouko… it was awfully loud… Himizu had been crashing around and was being a nut as usual…"
"But you didn't see anyone?"
"No."
"That will be all then."
Risu nodded miserably and got up and left. After a few moments, Himizu walked in and sat down. Unlike Risu, she was actually wearing a mourning outfit, but it was an old-fashioned one with a large black hat with a small veil on it. Hiei snorted softly when he saw her exaggerated display of grief. Kurama sighed. Risu's testimony hadn't been particularly damning, which had surprised him a little. Himizu was a whole different kettle of fish. Between her flair for the dramatic, the fact that she and Ryouko were closer than sisters (contrary to all the times they'd fought and tried to kill each other), and her general batshit insanity, she was an unpredictable wild card and it was impossible to say what shenanigans she would try to pull.
"Himizu, I appreciate you agreeing to speak to me. What time did Hiei arrive at your home?"
"It was around 5 I believe… I let him in and he met up with Ryouko. I saw them together for a minute, then… that was the last time I saw her…" She let out a soft whimper.
"Did you see anything that gave you any indication that Hiei planned to use violence against Ryouko?"
"Not then, no. I know she said she was going to show him some artifacts, but for all I know, that was just a ruse to get him in her bedroom… not that she needed a ruse of course."
"Could you clarify that statement please?" McCoy asked.
"I would be happy to. You see, Ryouko and Hiei have been involved in a relationship for quite some time."
There was a bang behind them, and Hiei didn't even have to turn around to know what had happened. Of course Yusuke and Kuwabara would decide to show up just as Himizu made that declaration.
"And did Ryouko or Hiei tell you this directly?"
"Well no, but Ryouko was my best friend. I could always tell when something was up. She was crazy about Hiei for reasons that I could never comprehend, and they spent so much time together… seriously, he was at our house all the time and the two of them were always closeted away somewhere… I'd have to be a complete idiot not to connect the dots…"
"No, you're a complete idiot for imagining dots that aren't even there, baka ningen onna…" Hiei grumbled under his breath. Kurama was so surprised that he had continued with Himizu's metaphor that he didn't even try to stop Hiei's quiet protest.
"And then there was that time that Hiei spent the night in Ryouko's bedroom…" Himizu continued.
Hiei jumped to his feet. "I can't believe you're letting these lies be played!"
"Mr. Jaganshi, you will have your chance to defend yourself. Kindly allow your attorney to register protests on your behalf!" Judge Saibannin scolded him. Kurama gently tugged on the back of Hiei's cloak to make him sit down.
On camera, Himizu hesitated. It was as though she's known exactly what sort of uproar her remarks would cause. Then she continued speaking. "Actually, he's spent at least a couple of nights in Ryouko's bedroom… and those are just the ones I know about. They couldn't keep their hands off each other."
"LIES!" Hiei exclaimed, jumping to his feet once again. Judge Saibannin banged his gavel repeatedly.
"ORDER! Order in my courtroom! Mr. Minamino, put a leash on your client."
"We tried Your Honor, but he chewed them all up," Kurama deadpanned as he stood up and gently pushed Hiei down into his seat again. "I know she's doing nothing but lying through her teeth, and I wish I could cross-examine her… but let's face it, she'd probably run rings around me if I tried, and you'll get to tell your side of the story soon, so just relax before you end up in even more trouble," Kurama hissed in Hiei's ear.
"Miss Himizu, did you see Ryouko and Hiei together at all after you let him in?"
"Yes, briefly. She came into my room to ask me to turn my music down because she and Hiei couldn't hear themselves think. I realized I was ruining the mood for them, so I did turn my music down and I left them alone. I didn't see either of them again until around 7 when Risu chased Hiei downstairs and it wasn't long after that that we discovered Ryouko was missing."
"Do you have anything else you would like to add?" McCoy asked.
"Yes I do… Ryouko was a wonderful person and my closest friend. I don't know what happened that night, whether it was a lover's quarrel or whether Hiei just decided that he was tired of her, or whether his affections were just a ruse to steal from her… but I do know that if Hiei's guilty, I want him punished for taking my best friend in the world away from me." Himizu began to sob softly, but Kurama found it odd that her cheeks remained dry. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on with this case that he was missing.
McCoy stood up at the prosecutor's table. "Your Honor, the prosecution rests."
"Very well. Mr. Minamino, you may call your first witness."