"Tell him that he's batshit crazy." Izumo demands Kotetsu. "Go on, tell him; he's not listening to me."

At one of the tables in Little Blue Dolphin, Kotetsu freezes with a piece of fudge halfway to his mouth. He looks between Izumo and Iruka.

The street is nearly deserted this early in the morning, and the shimmering front lining the green outside is a reminder that colder weather is around the corner. Iruka knows he won't have the heart to keep Reef outside during the winter but if the shop is going to get an inventory retrieval specialist than it probably shouldn't be a dog. At the same time, Iruka doesn't think keeping Reef in the upstairs apartment is fair either.

"I'm telling you, Reef knows something," he tells them. "I don't know what, but he knows something."

Kotetsu shrugs, "They do say that dogs are intelligent."

He's the only agreeable person at the moment. Izumo looks at Iruka with a sour expression, "Not that smart. You want to get excited that a dog went for a run last night? Really?"

"No, I want you to get excited because he knows something."

"And what do you think he knows?"

"I don't know, maybe the person who killed Midori. Maybe he picked up the scent of someone he recognized."

"But maybe he saw a squirrel." Kotetsu suggests.

Iruka shoots it down. "That wasn't it."

"You're positive?" Izumo asks.

"Positive."

"You came to the conclusion that he knows a vital piece of information because he ran a few blocks last night?"

Izumo is testing Iruka's patience today, and Iruka taught children before, "It wasn't that he ran. It was the way he ran."

"Like he was chasing something." Kotetsu adds.

Izumo glares at his partner briefly before focusing back on Iruka. "He's a dog, it's his job description to chase things."

"Not his." Iruka jerks his head toward who lays on his stomach and his head in his paws. The sorrowing look had return to Reef's eyes and he's despondent. "Does that look like he chases things for a living?"

"He's resting."

"He's depressed. He barely eats or drinks, spends all day waiting by the door. The only life I've seen in him was last night. I think he knows something about Midori's murder."

Izumo sips on his coffee and reaches back to the shelfs with wicker baskets filled with salt water taffies. "Hypothetically, let's say Reef was chasing the murderer, then that means that they're still in Konoha. What are you going to do? Line everyone up and have Reef sniff all of them?"

"That's not helping," Iruka growls. "My point is that Reef might be able to identify the killer. The next time he starts getting weird I need to pay closer attention."

"You do that," Izumo said unwrapping a few more taffies. "Do we even know why someone would want to kill Midori anyway?"

"I think that depends on the person who killed him," Kotetsu said thoughtfully. "You have a theory on that?"

"Sort of… Maybe…" Iruka thinks he probably shouldn't state in suspicions out loud but, right now, Kotetsu appears to be his strongest ally. "I think its Hayase or someone he knows. I'm wondering if that's why Reef was anxious."

"Why would Hayase want to get rid of Midori?" Kotetsu asks. "If they were together, he'd probably want to keep Midori around, right?"

"Maybe he was the jealous type." Izumo said picking at peppermints now. "We all know Midori isn't the most faithful guy."

"So, you think Hayase wanted the dog out because he could find the killer? Why not just give him to the pound?"

"He was going to; I took Reef instead." Iruka rolls his eyes at Izumo's look. "Look, I never said all the details ironed out."

"There are no details ironed out. Your main source of information is a dog. And you can't have the police arrest Hayase because the dog decided to go on a run." Izumo blurts out.

Iruka is frustrated. He understands that Izumo is being the devil's advocate, but it doesn't help that he's so good at it. "Maybe Reef knew something about the murderer. Midori knew he was endangered and that's why he sent Reef with Hayase."

At the moment of finishing this, I'm not even sure I'm posting this. I'm wondering if the story can continue without this. If it can, I probably post it afterword… We'll see, but I guess if you're reading this than I did.