WSJ: Bleh... Oh sure, leave the opening of the new case to me... *mock-glares* I'm not good at this sort of thing!!!

Brood: You seem to be doing fine so far...

Zutsokaki: Easy for you to say!

Brood: ZUTSO!

Zutsokaki: ^o^v

Continuity alert: As with Gundam W these last few chapters, this is MAJOR AU. Thus the reason that the Generals are still alive. The Senshi are also not the Senshi, nor are they magical girls in any way. And they're good friends with the Generals. Very good friends, in some cases. ^^v (WSJ: Kunzite/Venus forever!!!)

()()()()()

The name's the same as last time folks....I'm Detective Jounochi Katsuya. It's been ten days since them White Fang Gang members went to the slammer, and I've been gettin' calls left and right for my services. In this time, I've solved two crappy cases that don't even deserve a DIShonorable Mention here. Dang, I swear there's no trust in couples these days. But then again, any business that doesn't go to Seto Kaiba is good business, as I always say.

Anyway, I've been takin' it easy, and so has Ryou. That kid can recover pretty well. He's been at the mercy of my little sister's "care," and I'm surprised he hasn't keeled over from the over attention.

Just awhile ago though, my takin' it easy was interrupted by a knock at my door. I put on my best grin and put away the Cowboy Bebop manga I'd been reading under my gun in my drawer. I was really hopin' for one of the dames. No such luck for this lady's man. It was a guy with some really long reddish brown hair and violet blue eyes. He had this pretty snazzy diamond stud in his left ear. He obviously had nice digs, that I could tell just by the way he was dressed. His black pants looked real expensive, maybe made just for him, and black leather boots with one of those really fancy angora red sweaters. He looked really upset for a rich mug though.

I told him to take a seat, and he just sorta stared at his feet for awhile, sniffling. This guy must be some kind of upset. Then suddenly, he surprised me by boltin' his head up at me and burst out,

"Oh please Detective Jounochi! There's been a murder!"

~*~

There was a knock, really more of a discreet pounding, on the front door, causing Ryou to look up from his book. He glanced around, almost furtively, and started to sit up. Out of no where Shizuka appeared, standing over him like a hawk. "Ryou Jeskan Hiroki, don't tell me you were about to get up to get the door!?"

Ryou chuckled and lay back against the couch. "No Okaa-san." he said cheerily.

Shizuka made a face at him, winked, and then went to get the door.

Ryou had no idea how she'd learned that his middle name was Jeskan, but every time he'd tried to get up or move or breathe this last week she'd come down on him like a harpie and started yelling at him not to strain himself. She'd been rather chagrined when he'd pointed out that he had to get to the bathroom somehow.

Chuckling again, Ryou shook his head and picked up his book. He'd only gotten through a paragraph, however, when Shizuka came back in, grinning. "Visitors for you Ryou-kun."

"Hiya!" Gwen popped up from behind Shizuka, Hiro and Amoura behind her. Gwen and Amoura were both carrying large boquets of flowers, and Shizuka headed for the kitchen to find some vases to put them in.

"Konnichiwa!" Ryou said, brightening up considerably and setting his book aside. "What are you three doing here?"

"We came to visit the invalid, of course." Hiro said, poking him in the arm. "Nice digs... This where you staying?" Ryou nodded, and Hiro's grin widened. "Who's the hot chic who opened the door?"

Gwen glared and whacked her husband, and Ryou laughed, turning it into a coughing fit halfway because laughing hurt his stitches. "That's Shizuka, Jounochi-sama's little sister. She's really nice, and has been taking care of me while I'm stuck in bed."

Shizuka came back into the room in time to hear Ryou's comment, and grinned. "Yes, just call me Little Nurse. I swear, if it wasn't for me Ryou'd be up with Jou in the office already, attempting to chase down criminals in his condition. I'm Shizuka." she introduced herself more formally, bowing to the three visitors.

"I'm Hiro, and this is my wife, Gwen." Hiro said, bowing back. Gwen made to stick out her hand for a hand shake, and then remembered and bowed.

"Sorry, I'm used to shaking hands... Jeez, seven years and counting in Japan and still running by American traditions..." Gwen grinned, and the others chuckled.

"I'm Amoura," said Amoura. "Vhat are you reading R'ou?" The French maiden pronounced his name "reh-hou".

"A book Jou-sama loaned me." Ryou said, handing it to her for inspection.

Gwen looked over her friend's shoulder, scratching her head. "'The Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne'. Well, whatever floats your boat Ryou."

Amoura descretely leaned towards Shizuka. "Did you uze ze middle name of R'ou's?"

Shizuka grinned. "Thanks for telling me, I think I've got him confused on where I learned it... Wait a second, how'd you learn it?"

Amoura sweatdropped slightly. "Ummmm..."

All five jumped when the door at the top of the stairs banged open. "Shizuka!" Jounochi bellowed. "Is Ryou well enough to help me solve a murder?"

"Hell no!" Shizuka yelled back, dispite Ryou's protests. "Maybe next week!"

"Shimatta." There was the sound of the door slamming shut once more, and Gwen, Hiro, and Amoura sweatdropped.

"I take it that was Detective Jounochi?" Hiro asked, receiving nods from Shizuka and Ryou. He chuckled. "Ah well. We'd better go. Anzu doesn't know we're here."

Ryou snorted. "Oh Anzu... Gah, does she still hate me?"

The three actors exchanged glances. "Yup." Well, two "yups" and a "oui."

Amoura smiled. "But no matter R'ou. You 'ave a good job 'ere. Just do not get jjot anymore, oui?"

"Oui." Ryou agreed, chuckling. "I'll try my hardest Amoura-chan."

The three actors took their leave, and Shizuka looked at Ryou curiously. "So who's Anzu?"

Ryou looked embarrassed. "Another actor on our - their - troupe. We had a misunderstanding a few years ago, which is why I left."

"Really? What kind of misunderstanding?"

"I'd... rather not talk about it Shizuka-chan..." Ryou mumbled, picking up his book again. Shizuka looked at him in amusement for a moment, and then shrugged and went into the kitchen to see about supper.

~*~

"So what sort of murder are we talking about here?" Jou asked his new client, leaning back in his chair. "The jealous boyfriend/girlfriend type? The revenge type? Just all-out rage that led to killing?"

The man, who named himself as Ogino Nephrite, looked Jounochi in the eye. "That's the problem Jounochi-san, I don't know. I called my girlfriend from work, and got no answer. That's unusual, since she works at home. I dropped by later to see her and let myself in, since I have my own key, and found her on the livingroom floor." He looked down, as if he was afraid Jou would see him cry. "She was dead, and there was blood all over the place..."

Jou frowned, pausing in his note-taking. "How?"

"What?"

"How was she dead?"

Nephrite looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

Jou sighed. "Shot? Slit wrists? Drug overdose?"

"Oh," Nephrite looked down again. "Knifing. It was still stuck in her when I got there. Look, I loved Naru-chan with all my heart! I'm willing to pay anything! Just find the kissima who killed her so I can give him a peice of my mind!"

Jou raised an eyebrow. "I'll do my best. Anyone who might have done this?"

Nephrite shook his head. "Not that I can think of, no. But Naru's best friend, Usagi, might know something." Jou handed him a paper, and Nephrite scribbled down Chiba Usagi's full name and address for the detective. Jou glanced at it, nodded, and then put it in his pocket. "You reported all this to the Domino Police?"

"Of course."

"Good." Jou nodded again, standing up to usher Nephrite to the door. "Looks like I get to pay a visit to Liutenant Bakura, crime scene investigator..."

~*~

"What've you got?" Jou asked as soon as he strode into the Domino Police Station. Yuugi was behind the desk, eating donuts with his feet on the desk and a manga propped up on his knees. Yami was over near one wall, interrogating a witness to some sort of robbery. Bakura was the only one who paid attention to Jou, but he was the one Jou needed to see.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bakura growled as he walked through a door that led toward the offices, a stack of papers under one arm.

"Like hell you don't." Jou growled, following after him. "An innocent girl's been knifed to death, and her grieving boyfriend came to me to find out who killed her. You always investigate crime scenes, and you know I need that report!"

"What report?" Bakura asked innocently. "And how do you know Ms. Osaka's boyfriend didn't kill her himself?"

"That's why I need the report." Jou said, exhasperated. "The report under your arm!" he added as Bakura opened his mouth to say something.

The policemen shot him a hard look as he turned a corner in the hallway and came to a stop in front of his office. "As a matter of fact, I already promised to show this report to someone else. I suppose you could sit in if Chiba-san says he doesn't mind." Bakura opened the door to his office and gestured for Jounochi to proceed him in.

Sitting in a chair in front of Bakura's desk, attempting to read the paperwork sitting on it while it was upside-down, was a tall, muscular man with a short crop of blue-black hair and midnight blue eyes. He was wearing a suit, but it was of the informal style that Jou himself wore. When Jou stepped in, Bakura behind him, he stood and bowed. "Chiba Mamoru, Juuban Police."

"Jounochi Katsuya, Private Eye," Jou said, bowing back.

"And I'm Tamiya Bakura, Domino Police," Bakura said impatiently, setting the stack of papers down on his desk and waving impatiently for them to take their seats. Bakura smiled politely at Jou and turned to Mamoru. "Jou-san is the PI that Nephrite hired to help us out. And he's good. He's the one that cracked the Winner scheme last week." Mamoru looked surprised, and then nodded in recognition of Jou's skills. Now Bakura was looking at Jou. "Chiba-san is the one your client, Nephrite, called to the scene of the crime first, even though it was committed here in Domino."

Jou blinked. "Why? Why call in the Juuban Police if we're right here?"

"Because I'm a good friend of Naru-chan and Nephrite's." Mamoru said.

"Wait a sec," Jou snapped his fingers and pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket. "Are you related to anyone by the name of Chiba Usagi?"

Mamoru blinked. "My wife and/or daughter, depending on which you want. Why?"

"Probably wife." Jou said. "Nephrite said she was a good friend of Naru's?"

"Yes," Mamoru said, nodding. "You'll want to talk to her then?"

"Definately." Jou affirmed. "And anyone else who may know something about the murder, or why anyone would want to hurt Naru, or anything else that may be helpful."

Mamoru pursed his lips, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well obviously there's Nephrite, and Zoicite-kun might know something too. And you should probably talk to all the girls, except maybe Minako-chan, since she didn't know Naru-chan very well."

Jou looked up from scribbling away in his notebook. "Full names and addresses, if you've got them, please?"

"Hawachi Zoicite, 336 High Street, Domino City. The rest of the addresses you'd have to get from my wife, but the names are Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, Kino Makoto, and I guess you might as well put down Aino Minako too."

Jou nodded and flipped to a clean page in his notebook, turning expectantly to Bakura. "So what've you got on the scene?" Bakura handed Jou a sheif of photographs as Mamoru began to narrate.

"I got there approx. 7:24PM to find Nephrite in a fit of hysterics outside the door to Osaka Naru's appartment. I had one other man, my partner, Inimo Jadite, with me. We went inside to find Naru like this." He pointed to the first picture, in which a slim red-head was spralled out on her back, her sea green eyes wide and glassy and the handle of a knife sticking out of her stomach. "Jadite did an improptu autopsy and determined that she had, indeed, died of knife wounds and loss of blood" here Mamoru rolled his eyes "At approx. 6:50PM. We received the call from Nephrite at 7:11PM."

Jou nodded. "The knife?"

"Right here." Bakura pulled a plastic bag from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Jou for inspection. It was about seven inches in length, with an elaborate carved desighn on the wooden helt. Jou nodded. "Fingerprints?"

"Mine, since I handled it, and Nephrite's, since it's his knife." Mamoru said, sighing. "He'd givin it to Naru as a Christmas present, and she kept it mounted over the fire place, and apparently the killer pulled it off the wall and stabbed her. But he must have been wearing gloves, because there's no other fingerprints on it. Naru's weren't even on it, because after Nephrite mounted it for her she apparently never touched it except to dust it occasionally."

Jou narrowed his eyes. "Unless Nephrite killed her."

Mamoru blinked. "I've known him for a long time, and he really loves Naru. I don't think he'd kill her over anything. And besides, if he killed her, why would he then turn around and hire you to find her killer?"

Jou shrugged, trying his best to look humble. He couldn't quite pull it off though, and smirked a little. "Oh, well, ya' see, in the Winner case his wife came to me for help, but was actually one of the conspirators. If ya' don't believe me, you can always go ask her. She's in the county jail right now."

"I believe you." Mamoru said, shaking his head slowly. "But I still don't think Nephrite would do something like that." He sighed and looked at Bakura. "Anything else Liutenant?" Bakura shook his head, and Mamoru stood up. "Okay detective, ready to go meet my wife?"

()()()()()

Brood: Enjoy, minna-san?

Zutsokaki: Crap. It was crap.

Brood: NO IT WASN'T!! *kicks him firmly in the rear*

WSJ: *gags* Yes it was. Boring chapter! ;__; Sorry... Hopefully Brood can do better with the next one... *smiles sweetly at her oneesan*

God bless minna-san!