Note: AU PEOPLE!

Chapter 1: The Evidence Is Everywhere

"What the hell, shrimp?" Kuwabara yelled over the phone. Hiei could hear the barking of dogs and the mews of cats in the background.

"I said, a dead body's been found and we're-as in you, Botan, Kurama, and me-are going to investigate!" Hiei replied loudly. For years Kuwabara had hated Hiei to the point of near getting-fired-from-the-CSI; Hiei likewise.

"Grrrr…I'm comin'. What's the address?" Kuwabara asked. Hiei told him and then hung up gratefully.

"The oaf should be there a little later than us. And I seriously doubt Shizuru and Keiko will come; Yusuke's got an excuse." Hiei told his comrades.

"What about Sniper?" Kurama asked as he tugged on his heavy brown coat.

"Dunno." Hiei replied and then called Botan to his attention. "You were the last to see him, last night, right? Where'd he go?" he asked.

"Let's see, after he dropped me off at home, he went to his house." Botan answered, secretly treasuring the angry look that momentarily flashed on Hiei's face. She had had a crush on him ever since she joined the CSI last year. So, trying to make him jealous, she always accepted Sniper's invitations to dinner and a movie.

"Hn. Well, that answers your question, Kurama." Hiei said and turned sharply on his heel and headed towards the door, bidding goodbye to Yukina on the way.

"Ugg, it stinks."

"Hn. Deal with it."

"Hiei, be nice to Botan. She just got over a cold."

"Thanks, Kurama."

"No problem. Oh, and after about three minutes, your senses should get used to the smell."

"Thanks again!"

Kurama smiled at her. He liked her for as long as she had liked Hiei, and he knew that. But he knew she was trying to ignore it by going out with Sniper…or, was she trying to make him, Hiei, je-

"Kurama! C'mon!" Hiei barked. Kurama had been zoning out…again.

"Oh, yes! Coming! Sorry." Kurama apologized as he trotted up to his friends. Hiei rolled his eyes and Botan giggled. Ah, that sound was music to both Kurama's and Hiei's ears (they'd never admit it though).

"Yusuke, you have to take this medicine or else you won't get any better!" Keiko tried to reason with her boyfriend.

"Nuh-uh!" Yusuke refused childishly. Keiko sighed exasperatedly at his immature-ness.

"Yusuke, you have to or else you won't get better and you won't be able to go to work!" Keiko pleaded again.

"That's a worser hell-hole than school was!" Yusuke shouted and instantly sneezed loudly.

" "Worse," Yusuke, "worse." Please, at least use good grammar."

"Make me!"

"Let's try this: if you don't go to work, you won't get paid."

"And?"

"And if you don't get paid, you can't buy anything."

"What do I need to b-" Yusuke started to argue but remembered what he was saving up for.

An engagement ring.

Ah yes, a nice one with diamonds and gold and little rubies and a sapphire smack-dab in the middle. Yeah, that was the perfect ring for Keiko.

"Perfect." Yusuke accidentally muttered.

"What's "perfect"?" Keiko asked.

"Uhhh…nothing!" Yusuke shouted and sneezed around ten times in a row. If he was in the mood at the present moment, he would've answered by saying, "You, my love," in a very suave tone. But, NOPE!

I'm too ding-dong sick and I'm sneezin' like there's no tomorrow! Not the time to go all "romanticy," nope, not at all. Yusuke thought.

"I'm hungry." Botan squeaked suddenly.

"Well, I'm sure there's a McDonalds around here." Hiei said, voice dripping with natural sarcasm. Botan gave him the "evil-eye," and received a worse one from Hiei.

"Hiei." Kurama warned once he noticed the glares flashing.

"She started it." Hiei argued in a monotone.

"No I didn't!" Botan argured.

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes."

"You just admitted it." Hiei said victoriously. Botan thought about that and instantly cried,

"That's not fair, Hiei! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you can pick on me!"

"Hn." Hiei retorted.

"Hiei, let's get back to what we came here to do." Kurama offered. Hiei only gave him a questioning look. "As in, "leave Botan alone," Hiei."

"Hn. The girl had it coming." Hiei replied.

"Name's Botan, Hiei! God, why can't you be more like Sniper!" Botan snapped. Hiei glared at her and hurried his pace down the smelly alley.

Sniper this, Sniper that! Good lord, doesn't she ever shut up about him! he thought angrily.

The body was rotting and you couldn't even tell the victim was a female at all. Kurama scrunched up his face in disgust and Botan flinched. Hiei didn't respond at all; he just began taking pictures and etching quick notes in his notebook with a mechanical pencil. He had a hard past and he could've been a fantastic mortician because of it.

"I don't see how you can be so emotionless around dead people, Hiei." Botan admitted, envying her crush.

"I was raised differently." Hiei retorted and started rough sketching the crime scene in the other section of his notebook.

"I don't exactly see any evidence. The killer must be quite experienced…" Kurama noted.

"There's always evidence, Kurama. You just have to find the right places to look." Hiei clarified in a monotone.

"Where's the "right place," Hiei?" Botan asked. Hiei spared her a glance.

"Everywhere." he answered. Botan and Kurama gave him a questioning look and continued to take notes and measurements.