Brood: Sorry for the delay, July's been one heck of a month, and so has August, so far!

Zutsokaki: For who? You left me alone with the chibis for a whole week!

Brood: *clinging to Chibi Joey* Yeah yeah, stop your bickering....

WSJ: ^o^ I for one am thankful for you "help", such as it was, Zutso. I got an entire, RELAXING week on the lake with no muses to hound me.

Zutsokaki: *pouts* Oh yeah? You didn't see how many times Harmony threatened me with that scythe o' hers...

WSJ: She did? Good for her! ^~

Zutsokaki: *mutters about stupid onnas and how they shouldn't own their own computers*

~*~

Jou called home on his cell phone to Shizuka, so she'd know where he was heading.

"JUUBAN!? Why are you going to Juuban, nii-san!? The girl was killed in Domino!!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, but I gotta go where the leads take me. Talk to ya later....... and make sure the kid stays in bed," he added as a quick afterthought.

He could almost hear the wicked grin appearing on his sister's face. "You know I will, nii-san......"

Ryou must have guessed what the conversation was about, because he could hear Ryou yell in the background, "Any more of her care, and I'll check MYSELF into the hospital again!"

Jounouchi smiled as he heard Ryou laugh and Shizuka let out a mocking, "Hey!" to Ryou's statement. Yeah, they'd get along just fine without him around.

Jou put down the phone and leaned back in the passenger seat of Chiba Mamoru's car.



"Ryou? Did you mean Ryou Hiroki, your partner that was wounded in the Winner scandal?" Jou looked up at Mamoru, and he nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be him. He's at home restin' right now. He should be okay to start workin' again next week."

"That's good....has he had much training?" Mamoru went up an exit ramp and twiddled the brakes a bit, slowing down enough to take the curving ramp safely.

"Not much. The Winner case was the first real field work case we got after I got him. Not exactly the most friendly case to start a rookie off on, eh?" Jou cracked a smile at the older officer, and Mamoru gave him a small smile back.

"Nope, I'd sure agree with you there....ooh look, we're here...." Mamoru nodded towards where the city of Juuban was appearing in the distance. "We'll be seeing my wife in about five minutes, Jounochi-san."

Jou nodded and looked forward. Not another word was said until they pulled up in front of the Chiba residence, and a very distraught blonde woman came bounding outside.

"MAMO-CHAN! I heard! I got the call from Nephrite earlier today! Why didn't you tell me!!" Jou correctly guessed that this gorgeous blonde was Mrs. Chiba Usagi. She burst out into tears as she fell onto Mamoru's chest. "How could this happen!!! Not her.....Oh Lord, why her!? She was my best...*hiccup*...FRIEND MAMORU!!"

Mamoru clung to his wife while trying to comfort her. "Usako-chan...it'll be alright...we'll find out who did this to her..."

He held her as she sobbed for a moment, Jou looking away politely until they were ready to address him.



He didn't have to wait long, since Mamoru's wife hiccuped again and looked up with bleary eyes. "We, Mamoru?....Oh! You brought another officer!"

Mamoru looked down at her lightly. "A detective, Usagi....he's going to try and help us out. He's from Domino City."

".....Please, Detective-sama, find out who killed my best friend....please?"

Jou looked at the woman and smiled. He noticed that she had her hair done up in two pigtails, and at the top of each was a ball shaped mound of hair. Sort of like...spaghetti and meatballs, Jou thought with a small inward smile.

"Mrs. Chiba, I'm Jounochi Katsuya, Private Eye. I sure will try to find out who killed her. If you have a moment, I'm gonna need to ask you a few things about Miss Naru."

She nodded lightly and pulled away from her husband with an affectionate glance. She wiped a few tears from her cheeks and eyes and motioned towards the door. "Let's go inside please...."

The three people walked inside, and Usagi showed them to the living room. "Do you need anything to drink, Jounochi-sama?"

Jou shook his head no and sat down. "I'm fine, thank you."

Usagi nodded and got a pot of hot tea and a large plate of small cakes and put them on the table. She poured two cups and placed one in front of Mamoru, and the other in front of herself.

"Mrs. Chiba..."

"Usagi, please, Detective-sama." She wiped another tear threatening to fall from her face.

"..........Usagi, then.....when was the last time you had contact with Miss Osaka?"

"Umm...about two days ago. She called me from Nephrite's home and we just talked, really. She wanted to come up to Juuban tomorrow to see me and Chibi-Usa and we were going to spend the day together....." Usagi had to stop to get a tissue from the table and blew her nose rather loudly. "In fact, I have a picture of the three of us here....from an amusement park we went to about three months ago...."

She opened up her purse and fished out her wallet, opening it up to the middle of a whole slew of pictures stuffed in there. The picture she held out to Jou was of Usagi and a very alive and happy looking Naru, her red hair tied into two short pigtails just behind her ears. On Usagi's lap was a girl who looked about four or five years old, with cotton-candy pink hair and bright red eyes. He took that to be Usagi and Mamoru's daughter, Chibi-Usa, as her mother called her.

He cast a look up at the girl's parents, wondering where in their gene pool was pink hair and red eyes. He shrugged it off and continued his questioning, handing the photograph back to Usagi.

"Were there any suggestions that there was anythin' wrong? Like maybe someone was after her? Worried at all about anythin'?" Jou leaned back in the comfortable chair, readying his pen over his notepad.

Usagi sniffled lightly and replied putting away her wallet, "No, she had no enemies that I would know of. We tell each other everything....Why, I called her the morning after......" She glanced over at Mamoru, suddenly blushing. Mamoru's eyes widened.

"You did WHAT!?"

Jou sweatdropped once again and pretended to ignore the outburst. Mamoru regained his composure after a moment, obviously used to any kind of ditzy behavior on his wife's part. Usagi, after a moment of a half smile, turned back to Jou.

"Was there anything else?"

"Y-yes, Mrs. Usagi....are you sure that she didn't make any enemies? Like anyone she'd have an arguement with or anythin' like that?" He leaned forward again.

Usagi's eyes lit up with a form of sudden thought. Jou scooted to the edge of his seat as Usagi took a breath and began to speak again.

"Now that you mention it.....there was one person...." Her blonde spaghetti and meatballs bobbed softly as she gave a small nod. "His name is Umino. He was Naru's boyfriend before Nephrite. When Naru told Umino that it was over between them about a year and a half ago, they got into this huge arguement. I never thought Umino was capable of something like yelling at Naru for anything. He was always a little....well....a LOT dorky, but he was a good guy." She caught Jou's suggestive glance at her story, and she started.

"Detective-sama, Umino would NEVER EVER do a thing like that to Naru! He was always so good to her! And they haven't talked in at least six months either!"

"Just in case, Mrs. Usagi, tell me whatcha can about this Umino guy. Like, what about the last time that they talked?"

Usagi put her surprise away and thought. "Well, Umino was visiting Domino on business. He ran into Naru at....a gas station, I think she told me. She said that he simply asked her how she was doing lately and how Nephrite was. She said that he was the picture of perfect calm and friendliness. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was happy to hear that it seemed like Umino was over her and the arguement...."

Mamoru was very interested in this by now also. He leaned forward towards his wife and touched her knee, causing her to jump. She looked up at her husband and smiled at him.

"And what does this Umino do for a livin'? You said he visited Domino on business."

Usagi thought for a moment, obviously confused. "Well....he works in Kyoto as some kind of scientist....works with chemicals and plants and animals and stuff...lots of tubes..."

This time, both Mamoru and Jou sweatdropped. Mamoru squeezed his wife's knee and said, "I think that's a biochemist, Usako-chan...."

Her face brightened and she nodded quickly. "Yeah! That sounds about right! Umino is a biochemistry guy!"

Jou was beginning to feel that his sweatdrop was permanent.

"Mrs. Chiba, I have the names and phone numbers of your four other friends, contacts of Naru. If you'll excuse me, I have only one more question before I hafta go and contact 'em."

Usagi nodded slowly.



"Was Nephrite a good person to Naru? Did they have a good relationship?"

Jou was almost certain that he knew the answer to this already, but as he already knew, sometimes the person that came in with the case was the last to be trusted.

"OF COURSE! Nephrite loved and practially worshipped Naru with all of his heart! Naru loved him back just as much! In fact, that's why she broke up with Umino, was because she met Nephrite! They have had as happy as a relationship as Mamo-chan and I have!"



Mamoru flushed lightly and gave his wife a tiny smile. "Detective Jounochi, may I accompany you with speaking to the other girls? I've known them all for years, and I might be able to help you out."

Jou nodded and stood up. He took his hat from the table and nodded to Mrs. Chiba. "Thank you for your time Mrs. Chiba. I really am sorry for the loss of your friend."

Usagi nodded, but as Jou went to the door, she grabbed Mamoru. "Mamo-chan......" Her eyes seemed to get watery and she sniffled a bit. Mamoru suddenly sweatdropped again and he looked up to Jou.

"On second thought Detective....I think my wife needs me right now....."

Jou smiled and nodded. "I getcha. Hey, I'll write down my cell phone number for ya just in case anythin' comes up, okay?" Jou scribbled the number down on his notepad and handed the paper to Mamoru, and Mamoru gave Jou his cell phone number as well. "I'll give ya a call after I get done talking to the first couple of contacts, right?"

Mamoru nodded and Jou turned to go out the door. Usagi though looked Jou up and down quickly, then tugged Mamoru down so she could whisper in his ear. Mamoru's eyes widened and he grinned impishly.

"Usagi says to watch out for Makoto. She likes good looking guys. Umm....don't let her get you alone, okay?"

Jou nearly facefaulted. "Heh, sure I'll watch out for that one.......is she good lookin'?" Jou added with an equally impish grin and a wink to match.

Both Usagi and Mamoru grinned at him as he left, taking out his cell phone. He looked at the first name on his list, Ami Mizuno.

Jou walked down the street and hailed a taxi cab as he dialed the number, listening to it ring at least seven times before deciding that she wasn't home. Next was Makoto Kino, but she wasn't home either.

He crossed his fingers as he dialed Hino Rei's home, and it rang three times before the phone was picked up.

"Hello, Yuuchiro speaking." Jou let out a small sigh of relief and spoke.

"Hello, this is Detective Jounochi Katsuya and I'm looking for a Miss Hino Rei. Is she in right now?"

There was a short silence, as this Yuuchiro was obviously confused why a detective was calling for Rei. "Uhh, yeah, you just nearly missed her, she's heading out the door right now...." Jou heard the phone get held down away from the mouth and then heard the yell of "YO!! REI!! PHONE FOR YOU!!!!!"

Jou then heard a yell just as loud as Yuuchiro's, even though the speaker was obviously MUCH farther away from the phone than Yuuchiro was.

"YUUCHIRO!! I WAS ABOUT TO HEAD OUT THE DOOR! WHOEVER IT WAS CAN JUST WAIT!!!!"

"BUT IT'S SOME DETECTIVE JOUPOCHI FOR YA!!!!"

Jou really needed to keep track of how many times he'd sweatdropped today. Maybe he'd break some kind of record.....

"A DETECTIVE!? GIMME THAT!!!!" Jou heard stomping and then the phone getting snatched with a "Hey!" from Yuuchiro.

A female voice of perfect poise and decorum answered with a sweet, "Hello?"

Jou had to stifle back a small laugh as he spoke. "Yes, is this Miss Hino Rei?"

"Speaking."

"This is Detective Jounochi Katsuya from Domino City. I was called in on a case regarding Miss Naru Osaka. You may already know of her death?"

There was a pause. "Yes. I had heard. And you're trying to find out who killed her?"

"Yes, and if you don't mind, there are a few questions I'd like to ask you regarding Miss Osaka."

"Well Detective, I was just headed out the door to meet up with three other friends, then after that, we were going to go see Chiba Usagi together."

"Those three friends wouldn't happen to be Ami Mizuno, Makoto Kino, and Minako Aino, would they?"

"Why....yes Detective...they are....hey, I have an idea. Why don't you come to the coffee shop we were all heading to, and you can question us all at the same time?"

Jou brightened up. This certainly made things easier on him....... "That sounds like a good idea, Miss Hino. Where is this place?"

After getting the address from Rei, he hung up his cell phone.

"Hey, cabbie? I changed my mind about lunch at the deli up there. Why don't you take me to this coffee place instead?"

~*~

Brood: GAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! *drop kicks her computer*

Zutsokaki: *watching* AND IT'S GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *throws up his arms*

WSJ: *eating popcorn and holding a pennant*

Brood: *does a victory dance* Hey... I actually feel better...

WSJ: *snick* Good for you... You know, too bad they're in Juuban and not Domino, otherwise we could have them all drop in on Malik and Otogi... *snicker*

Brood: *sweatdrop* Oh yes, I can see it all now... Minako flirting with Malik, Otogi flirting with Minako, Malik flirting with Makoto, Makoto all out hitting on Jou...

Zutsokaki: *shudders* The horror...

WSJ: *sweatdrop*