"Ballistics don't match."

"Shit." Normally Kaede preferred to keep her cursing to a minimum, but she'd really been hoping that the trail she'd been following would turn out to be fruitful.

"How's their cover?" the chief asked, leaning against her desk.

"Still intact. Taisho wanted them out by Christmas, but if we can't get a match, we've got no grounds to seize Hakudoshi's finances."

It was Kagura's turn to curse. "He's not going to like that."

"He doesn't like anything." The two women looked at each other with a knowing smirk on their faces. "Except Kagome," they chorused.

"He can't argue the fact that she's the best at what she does," Kaede said, adjusting the badge clipped to her holster.

"No, but if your spouse was the one having to sidle up to a narcissistic psychopath like Hakudoshi—"

"This is why mine is safe in the basement," Kaede retorted, checking her watch. "Which reminds me, I need to get another unmarked weapon for Kagome. Her last message stated her spare had been found by housekeeping."

Kagura waved her off. "Give her two if it's needed. How she manages to play it off that she's only got two brain cells while still having a Glock strapped to her thigh is beyond me." Kaede was already out the door, wishing she could take the stairs two at a time like she used to but knowing she'd regret it tomorrow if she did.

"I already told ya, they don't match." The old, tawny chair didn't even turn around, machines buzzing and whirring around the desk.

"Not even for me?"

Her husband clicked his tongue, then grabbed his microscope. "Especially not for you. Don't want the higher-ups coming down on me about showin' favouritism."

"Even though you do," Kaede said, walking up beside the chair. "I only gave you those bullets an hour ago."

The top of Totosai's head turned red as he looked at his current sample.

She patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Ya didn't come all the way down here just to give me grief."

Kaede snorted. "No. I'm not Taisho."

His large eyes narrowed, and he turned back to his microscope. "That young pup thinks throwing money around will speed up the process."

"He's worried about Kagome. We all are."

"She'll get him. She got the last one."

"After being shot. Twice." Kaede sighed. The young detective had somehow kept her name and picture out of the papers during the shoot-out with Naraku's cronies and had now been undercover for over six months. Her recovery time had been long, giving the young CEO time to woo and marry her.

"He probably regrets providing the connections to Hakudoshi in the first place."

Kaede shrugged. "What's done is done. And Kagome would've volunteered for the job regardless."

"Which is why he beat her to it." Totosai reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and opened a secret compartment, handing her an unmarked gun. "He's got his own eyes on the inside too."

The investigator scowled but accepted the weapon. "As long as he doesn't get her in trouble."

He snorted, then went back to his sample. "The eyes are there to keep her out of trouble."

Kaede inspected the gun, making sure there were no discernable markings but knowing that there wouldn't be anyway. She kissed the barrel, then the top of her husband's head. "You're the best."

He turned pink again, then waved her off. "Just wipe it down before you give it to her."

"Of course. See you at dinner?" A nod was his only response, and she headed back towards the door.

"Be safe," he said over his shoulder.

A smile tugged at her lips. "Always."