Jadeite wrapped his arm around Rei. His full pack, the vampires, Hatori, Yamato, Artemis, Luna, and his super-witch were all at Usagi's and Mamorou's massive penthouse. The wolf in him loved the floor-to-ceiling windows on nights like tonight when the moon was full, and he could see what felt like all of Tokyo.
He lamented that he hadn't let his wolf out to run in a long time –none of them had. Wolves became extinct in Japan in 1905. Rabies, canine distemper, and policies enacted during the Meiji restoration period put an end to them. There were some still supposed sightings even in the present century, but he suspected they weren't a Japanese wolf, but rather one of his kind. Authorities explained them away as escaped wolves from zoos or feral dogs.
Sightings of wolves always stirred up curiosity, even in rural areas. In a large city like Tokyo, going around as a full-size wolf of the werewolf variety would get noticed –and that would be bad. That was how hunts began in the past since humans being afraid of the unknown resulted in death for their kind.
He looked down at the amazing woman he was holding and considered a weekend vacation with her. One where she could see his other form and he could run in seclusion and experience the world as only a werewolf could.
Rei was snuggled up to him and obviously thinking hard about their current problem. The problem was the brick wall everyone kept hitting when it came to investigating the death of Mamoru's parents.
Luna was typing away at her computer with Hatori trying to pretend he didn't know she was hacking government entities. Shingo was chuckling and enjoying the sight of his grandson being uncomfortable. After all, he thought he had been a more corrupting influence on him, and then he became a police chief. When he entered the police academy, Shingo had realized his days of rule-breaking with his grandson were over. The boy's mother was thrilled that her father-in-law, who she did love, hadn't caused him to live a life of breaking into the residence of the supernatural in an attempt to gather more information.
Luna said, "what about…. Damn! Another dead end."
They had been at their brainstorming session for quite a long time and hadn't come up with anything.
Before this meeting even happened, Hatori had been to the basement of the central office, where they kept the old cold case files in hard copy. Nothing was in the system, so he was hoping it was just a filing error when everything was moved over to digital copies. He looked through every drawer in that dingy, musty, dusty place. It had taken him four full days and an inventive story to his supervisor to allow him to spend so much time there. In the end, all he had to show for it was a massive allergy headache and eight paper cuts.
Yamato had searched the coroner records again and published papers in his field for a coroner by the last name of Miran. He searched diligently even though the meaning of the name was "illusion." He felt that couldn't be a good sign. He even reached out to old and new contacts he made at various conventions to find out if they knew anything. In the end, he, too, found nothing.
"Dammit!" Luna hissed. "I got in again, but nothing is here either!"
Jadeite almost burst out laughing, watching Artemis. It was obvious the man was afraid of his pregnant, hormonal wife. Well, he assumed she was hormonal. It was that, or Artemis was going to have to walk on eggshells his whole life around her. It was times like this he remember that Artemis and Luna were the reincarnation of Rei's great-great-grandparents.
Still, it was Shingo who ended up changing the mood of the room.
"Aunt," Shingo started. "I've heard rumors that the grim reaper is real. Have you heard the rumors about him? If he exists and he ushered Mamoru's parents into the afterlife maybe he would know something."
Usagi froze like a statue. She didn't have a heartbeat and no air stirred around her. She was just perfectly still. She said, "surely that would be…"
Blinking Mamoru said, "how can I feel an intense wave of nerves rolling off of you?"
She shot him an unimpressed look. "Great! Now you come into that sense." She frowned at the floor. "He does exist…."
Nephrite said, "I feel a 'but' coming on. Is he impossible to find if you aren't dying?"
She shook her head. "No, I…."
"Dated him. I know that look," said Mina, proud of herself for figuring it out.
Usagi looked over at a now obviously uncomfortable Mamoru. He growled out, "Mine."
"Yours," Usagi vowed.
"But did you date him?" Hatori asked awed.
"For like two weeks in 1864," she replied. "It was the novelty of it more than anything. It was so long ago."
"Ha!" Jadeite said, completely amused. "You literally had a date with Death! How funny is that!?"
"Way to read the room wrong, Jadeite you doofus," Rei grumbled.
"How do you remember the year so well?" Artemis asked.
Usagi said, "because he was fascinated with this new game in America that he made me go to."
"What game?" Kunzite asked.
"Football," Zoisite answered automatically, knowing that was the year it was invented. "You were at the Princeton vs. Rutgers game?!" He asked, awed.