WSJ: *cackling evilly*

Brood: *sweatdrop* Don't mind her, she's just happy she gets to add in her favorite Sailor Moon couple...

WSJ: Mwaha! *waves a little flag with a chibi-Kunzite face on it* Minako/Kunzite forever! ^o^

Brood & Zutsokaki: v_v;

Brood: She's GOTTA have that Minako/Kunzite in there.....

Zutsokaki: HA! I'd like to see her squirm it into "Home Sweet Home!" Kunzite is DEAD in that storyline! HA!

Disclaimer: Did we forget disclaimer last chapter? 0.o;; *Brood flings out Jou in Detective Mode to do the Disclamer*

Jou: *sweatdrop* Anyway, they don't own YGO. Gwen and Hiro are SJ's, Amoura belongs to Brood. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.

Brood: AND YOU BELONG TO ME!!! RoAR! *glomp*

WSJ: O.O;; Brood...

()()()()()

The cab pulled up in front of a small resturant, classy but not overly expensive. Jou got out and paid the driver and thanked him, and then headed inside. He stood for a moment by the door, just surveying the scene. The cafe was of about medium size, and had about ten or twelve customers scattered around the various tables. In one corner was a long bar with stools, behind which a man about Jou's age with short blond hair was cleaning glasses. A girl of about eighteen with bright red hair was leaning against the counter and talking with him. Jou thought she might be the waitress from the clothes she wore and the way she kept glancing around the room to see if anyone needed anything.

Seeing Jou, the red haired girl excused herself from the bar and hurried over. "Konnichiwa," she said, smiling at him. "May I help you?"

"Yes," Jou said, smiling back. Dang but that skirt was short, and she had good-looking legs! "I'm meeting some... friends here."

"Ah," the girl said, brightening up. "Rei-san said there would be someone else coming. Right this way." She led Jou back to a secluded corner of the Crown Arcade/Juice Bar, where three women were sitting around a large table and chatting idly. When Jou and the waitress walked up, the woman with long black hair stood up to greet them.

"Arigatou Una," she said, nodding at the waitress.

"Should I take your orders?" the red-headed Una asked. "Motoki and I could whip them up in a snap."

The raven-haired woman shook her head. "There're still a couple more people coming."

"Okay," Una said, and wandered off to take more people's orders. Jou took the seat that was indicated to him and shrugged out of his trench coat, taking a good, long look at each of the girls.

The raven-haired one who'd greeted him had long hair that was pulled back neatly into a braid and serious violet eyes. She was wearing a no-nonsense white, button-down blouse and a loose black skirt with black boots. She smiled a little as Jou took his seat, and then she sat down as well. "Konnichiwa. I assume you're Detective Jounochi?" Jou nodded, and her smile widened a little. "I'm Hino Rei."

"My name is Mizuno Ami," said the second, nodding at Jou as well. She had short, dark blue hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in a yellow and blue plaid jumper.

The third had long brown hair pulled up into a high pony-tail and mischeivious green eyes. She held out her hand for Jou to shake, and gave him a flirtacious smile. Jou had already guessed before she introduced herself that she was Kino Makoto.

"Well," he said once the introductions were done. "As you already know, my name is Jounochi Katsuya, and I'm a PI. A private investigater."

Before he could say more, he was interrupted by a small comotion at the front door. All four of them turned in their seats to see a woman with long blond hair entering the cafe. She tripped over the rug coming in, and the man behind her quickly caught her before she could hit the floor. The two dusted themselves off and then made their way toward the table where Jou sat with the three women. The blond was giggling now, and holding on to the arm of her silver-haired male companion. "Oh Kunzite, thank you. I'm such a klutz."

The man chuckled as he tucked a strand of silver hair behind one ear. "It's okay Minako, that's why I love you and you know it."

"Here they go again..." Rei sighed as Minako and Kunzite took seats with them. "You two are so syrupy I don't know how you keep from getting cavities."

Jou frowned a little as he eyed these two new additions. The blond was pretty enough, but the man, Kunzite, looked more like he could have had a boyfriend then a girlfriend. Long silver hair and a hoop through one ear, along with a ruffled shirt and tailor-made pants... Jou almost shook his head in sympathy. No way would Jou ever let himself look like that unless he had no choice.

"Kanakari Kunzite," Kunzite said, leaning across the table a little to shake hands with Jou. "And this is my fiancee, Aino Minako."

Jou sweatdropped a little. Okay fine, maybe he'd pegged Kunzite a bit wrong. But it was in his job description to judge people on first sight, right? "As I was saying, I'm Detective Jounochi Katsuya. I was hired by Ogino Nephrite to handle the murder of Osaka Naru in cooperation with both the Domino and Juuban police forces, specificly with Bakura Tamiya and Chiba Mamoru." He dug his notebook out of his pocket and flipped to a clean page. "Is there anything at all you can tell me that might be helpful?"

Minako looked thoughtful and glanced at Kunzite. "Do you remember...?"

Kunzite was nodding. "I do. When did you say she was murdered Jounochi-san?"

"Uh..." Jou glanced at his watch. "Approximately 48 hours ago, why?"

"Because day-before-yesterday Kunzite and I were going to visit a friend of mine who lives near Naru-chan's apartment building." Minako explained. "It was starting to get dark, and we were walking by when someone ran out of the building like the hounds of hell were after him! We thought it was a little strange, but nothing more."

"Can you decribe this person?" Jou asked, scribbling furiously.

"He was a lot shorter then me," Kunzite said. "About... this tall." He held his hand off the ground.

"About five feet..." Jou murmered to himself as he made a note. "All right, go on. It was definately a male?"

Minako and Kunzite both nodded. "Hai, and he had spikey hair, though it was too dark to tell what colour."

Jou frowned as he mentally reviewed the decription. "So what you're telling me," he said carefully, "Is that you saw someone run out of Osaka Naru's apartment building. He was about five feet tall with spikey hair." Both nodded. "Did it look like anyone you know?"

Kunzite looked a little angry. "Look Jounochi-san, we've all heard about the Winner scandal. No, the person we saw running was not Nephrite. He was too short, and the hair was too short as well."

"All right, all right," Jou said, holding up his hands in defence. "I just wanted to make sure. What about the rest of you," he asked, looking over at Makoto, Ami, and Rei. "Anything else to add?"

Ami looked startled. "The person Minako and Kunzite described sounds a lot like Unimo," she said. "But Umino's been going to see Naru a lot lately, so maybe he just found her dead and got scared and ran off, instead of staying to call the police like Nephrite did. He couldn't have murdered her... Could he?"

"That," Jou said grimly. "Is what I'm here to find out."

~*~

"Must I?" Ryou asked, looking up at Shizuka with a plaintive expression on his face.

Shizuka laughed and pushed the bowl of soup closer. "You must! Look, I made it just for you Ryou-san, now eat."

Ryou made a face, but not at the soup. "Must you call me Ryou-san? We're friends, right?"

"I suppose," Shizuka said, blinking in surprise.

Ryou flashed a winning smile at her. "Then it's 'Ryou' or 'Ryou-kun', hai?"

"H-hai." Shizuka said. Quickly she turned away under the pretence of getting herself a bowl of soup. How was it that her face was burning, and that her heart did flips every time Ryou looked her way? It must be that thing she'd heard about, where nurses ended up falling in love with their patients. First she'd nursed Ryou back when he was so sick, and now she was helping him recover from his wounds. That was it, it had to be. That was all.

Now back in control of herself, she turned back around to face her charge, only to find him gobbling up his soup like there would never be any more. She sweatdropped slightly as she observed, and wondered if all men had the same table manners or if Ryou had just picked his up from Jou.

Glancing up and noticing Shizuka looking at him, Ryou smiled sheepishly and wiped a few drops of soup off his chin. "Shizuka, would you go get me my book, if it isn't too much trouble? I think it's on my desk."

"Hai," Shizuka said, heading for the small den that had been converted into Ryou's bedroom. Immediately upon entering she noticed how clean and neat it was, and wondered absently why Ryou's cleanliness couldn't rub off a bit more on Jou if Jou's manners were going back the other way. She went over to the desk and found it to be the only messy part of the room.

Books of all sorts were stacked at the corners, and the desk itself was strewn with papers. A notebook of some sort rested open with a pen stuck in it. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Shizuka picked up some of the loose papers and flipped through them. It startled her to realize that they were drawings, good ones! Here was one of Jou as he looked just when he found out about a new case, his eyes wide in anticipation and an excited little smile on his face. This one was of a girl Shizuka didn't know, with long white-blond hair and gentle brown eyes.

And... Shizuka stared in shock. This drawing was of her, bent over the book she was reading, her long ginger hair falling into her face and her forehead crinkled in concentration. All around her were sketches of angels, their wings fanned out around her, as if to protect her.

Her hands trembling, Shizuka dropped the drawings back onto the desk and picked up the notebook. Her concious told her it was a bad idea, but she had to know. At the top of the page the book was opened to was a date, yesterday's. Hands still trembling and her heart feeling like it would jump out of her chest, Shizuka quickly scanned the page.

Dear Amane,
Too bad you'll probably never get to meet Shizuka-chan. She's nice, and very pretty, and the sweetest girl I've ever met (besides you, of course). I don't know why, imouto-chan, but every time she walks into the room, every time she smiles at me, every time we joke or laugh or talk together... I don't know, but I feel something special, something I've never felt before with anyone else, not even you. I've never been in love before, is this what it feels like?

"Shizuka?"

Shizuka squeaked in surprise and jumped a little, whirling around. Ryou was leaning up against the doorway, one hand against his side. She gulped and looked gultily down at the book in her hands, which she now realized was Ryou's journal. Quickly she replaced it on the desk and tried to make her voice and hands steady. "Ryou Jeskan Hiroki, what are you doing up? You should be in bed!"

"Shizuka Amanda Jounochi," he said in the same tone, coming to stand in front of her. "What are you doing in my things?"

Shizuka didn't notice the playful glint in his eyes, and looked down in shame. "I-I'm sorry Ryou-san, I didn't mean to! But-"

"Now wait," Ryou said softly, cocking his head at her. This made his bangs fall into his eyes in such a way that it caused shivers to go up Shizuka's spine. "Didn't I ask you to just call me Ryou?"

"H-hai Ryou..." Shizuka said weakly, staring down at her feet. She was afraid to meet his eyes, afraid of what she would see there, what he would see in her own eyes.

" 'H-hai Ryou'," he mocked her, taking her chin in his hands and tilting her face upward. "Is that all you can say to me?"

But he didn't give her the chance to say anything at all.

()()()()()

WSJ: ^o^!! *dies of happiness*

Zutsokaki: V_V;; Terrific...

Brood: Fluff!! WAAAAIIIII!!!!! *glomps CJ in happiness*

CJ: Gaahh!!....can't.....breathe........

WSJ: *giggling happily to herself* Mwha! Yes this is late, but hopefully the next will come sooner! *semi-glares at Brood* Hurry up! I wanna get to our bomb threat... *startled cough* ^^; Did I say that? I mean...

God bless minna-san!