Other Fan Fiction ❯ A Push in the Right Direction ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

She was convinced they were in love, so she had to provide a troublesome little push in the right direction. NeuroxYako

A Push in the Right Direction: Case I

Mystery 01: When Push Comes to Shove

The world was full of mysteries, but the synonyms of the term 'clumsy' were no mystery to her; especially the least polite ones. Honestly, Yako didn't know what was going on, and that was a true mystery, though oddly enough, Neuro was apparently unconcerned.

Time and again it came to pass, from a gentle push at first, to a harsh shove when Yako decided that it was time to stand her ground against whatever force kept pushing her into Neuro. The mysterious and supernatural situation gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'when push comes to shove.'

"Kya!"

"Clutz!"

Yako sighed in defeat as she crossed the doorway to her room after falling into Neuro's arms yet again. "Sorry about that, thanks for catching me for the millionth time today, Neuro," she recited automatically. "What is going on? I keep feeling something pushing me over and over."

"It's becoming a problem," Neuro had already been fed a mystery for the day, though he stayed with Yako, following her and observing how the odd scenario played out. His appetite for mysteries wished to know what the explanation behind the series of strange occurrences was; he knew the cause but not the reason.

"So what is it, a ghost?" Yako paled at the thought. At first she had assumed it was all due to Neuro being difficult, though in a stranger way then usual.

"The mystery, my simple minded slave, is not what is causing this, but why." Neuro explained.

Yako could only blink, "you mean you already know what the cause is, just not why it's happening?" Then she felt something collide with her back, much harder then before, and fell towards Neuro again.

The mystery eater stepped back a little. Ready to catch the human once more, but his foot unexpectedly caught on a round jar, conveniently set on its side behind him so it would roll under his foot and catch him off guard. Neuro fell backwards on to the fluffy pillows of Yako's bed and his eyes glowed in anger.

"Sorry Neuro, something pushed me again and-" before Yako could further excuse the accident, Neuro reached out and grabbed something behind her back, thus locking her in place.

"You've gone too far, pixie. How dare you set up that trap? You'll pay with your life!" Curious about what Neuro was talking about, Yako turned her head, while still trapped in her position on top of him.

"A light? No, it's a fairy, a shiny fairy!" That tiny creature was to blame for Yako's numerous falls on that day, though she was caught by Neuro on each one.

"I'm a pixie, your boyfriend just said it, so don't call me a fairy!" The little creature screeched. "Besides, you should be thanking me. I'm helping the two of you become closer as a couple by performing the human ritual of a 'push in the right direction' and obviously that direction would have to be each other. Plus I finally accomplished making you both 'fall' for each other. You have nothing to complain about; I even set things up so you would fall on something soft. Do you have any idea how heavy that cookie jar was for me, and having to focus my energy in staying invisible the entire time?" The pixie then addressed Neuro, "I've watching you two for a while, it's really entertaining so I wanted to thank you both for amusing me. You knew, didn't you?"

Neuro had indeed decided to ignore the pixie whose invisibility skills did not work on him. He just didn't think it was anything worth his concern; then when she started pushing Yako for a reason at the time unknown, it sparked both his curiosity and amusement. "Of course I would know," the mystery eater did not loosen his grip on the pixie, still holding her behind Yako's back, while the human girl remained trapped in the middle. In his annoyance, he forgot to deny being her boyfriend. "I only let you live because I thought the lowly human deserved a little punishment for being late to the office. I let you push her around, but challenging me is going too far!"

Before the pixie could say anything in her defense, Yako's laughter was heard. "She took it literally!" The cuisine loving girl could no longer hold back the fit of giggles she had been trying to contain. Not only did the pixie interpret two human saying literally, but she managed to knock Neuro down despite being so small; and against her better judgment, Yako did not intend to let him live it down.

"You dare to make fun of your master?" While Neuro was shocked with Yako's giggle fit reaction, as she continued to lie on top of him, the pixie slipped out of his grasp.

"Ingrate!" The small shiny creature produced a sound that made it clear she was blowing raspberries, even if it was hard to see due to her size and the light that surrounded her. The little pixie then hurried away and flew out the window, making her escape after flapping her wings and sprinkling sleeping dust on Yako and Neuro to buy some time, just in case they decided to give chase.

"Get up and go after her you stupid lowly creature!" Neuro growled, but Yako did not get up, leave it to a human to be sensitive to pixie sleeping dust.

Yako tightened her grip around Neuro and muttered something about a "comfy pillow."

The troublesome pixie was gone, having escaped her punishment, and Yako would be out of commission for a while since pixie induced sleep was too deep to be broken by noise. The only choice was to let the effect ware off in a few hours.

Thus Neuro decided that, since he was having such a terrible day, he would simply stay still until Yako woke up. That way there would be less of a chance of something going wrong; it had nothing to do with being surprisingly comfortable...

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Mystery 02: Trapped in a Corner

Never before had Neuro felt so trapped in a corner. After that dreadful incident with the horrid pixie that Neuro would love to crush in his hands, deep fry, and make Yako eat, he had dozed off on Yako's bed, with the aforementioned girl in his arms.

The effect of the pixie sleeping dust wore off and Yako woke up to find her head resting on Neuro's chest. She swallowed a little yelp of surprise and tried to get up before he woke up and got mad. Sure she was comfortable, but her survival instincts wouldn't stop screaming in her head. Nevertheless, freeing herself became impossible because of Neuro's arm firmly wrapped around her waist.

Yako sighed and gave up on prying Neuro off, she was still a little drowsy from the unexpected nap courtesy of a mischievous pixie. Either way, Neuro would be upset about the entire pixie ordeal, and Yako knew that somehow he would blame her for it. Thus she decided to ignore her better judgment and lay her head down again, where it was before. At least she would enjoy this before Neuro woke up, even if she didn't know why being close to her torturer felt so pleasant. It made no sense, but at that time, she didn't care.

Time passed and Neuro woke up. He was not planning to fall asleep; he was supposed to slip away before Yako woke up. He didn't want her to think he was going soft or anything. Luckily, she was still sleeping. However, the rhythm of her breaths and heartbeats was different; this was not a deep sleep induced by a pixie.

Neuro went over the possibilities, the effect of the pixie dust could have worn off; allowing Yako to wake up while Neuro slept, then she went to sleep again. Or she could have gone from deep sleep into normal sleep without waking up, which was what Neuro hoped for. Yes, that must have been it, otherwise, she would have gotten up.

The fluffy white pillows were still the same, the silky baby blue sheets still remained and the dull white of the walls was unchanged, yet it felt like it had been a long time since Neuro took a moment to observe Yako's room. But of course, he didn't know for sure about the walls, he could not see them and only assumed they were still just as white as before.

Yako's room was covered in so many posters of food, that Neuro only assumed the walls were white because he saw them while she was still unpacking, having recently moved in some time ago. Everything from the most elaborate to the simplest dishes, were there, on display on her walls. There were a variety of cakes, she really liked those, some sort of fruit salad where the fruits were carved into all sorts of shapes, a kind of shake with a creamy substance and a cherry on top, some type of meat decorated with various vegetables; the collection was endless.

"Neuro..." Neuro mentally kicked himself for not getting up right away, but he relaxed when he realized that Yako was not awake, she was only talking in her sleep. "Neuro..."

Neuro would have grinned victoriously if Yako was having a nightmare about him, but her expression and tone of voice told him she was having a pleasant dream, and that was unacceptable. In fact, she had a look on her face similar to how she looked when she was eating; Neuro could not allow that.

The mystery eater sat up with the slumbering girl on his lap. He reached for Yako's cheek to squeeze it with all his might and give her the painful awakening she deserved. As his hand got closer to her face, Yako's head slipped forward with her mouth touching Neuro's hand. Of course, if you put something in Yako's mouth while she's asleep, she will subconsciously try to eat it. "Ah! You dare to attack your master?!"

"Eep!" Yako fell on her bedroom floor. She knew she should have listened to her survival instincts before. Her eyes opened wide in horror as she recognized her own bite marks on his hand. "Sorry Neuro!" After the hasty apology, Yako ran for dear life and Neuro dashed after her, screaming insults and threats.

Yako had reached the door in hopes of escaping and spending some time away from Neuro until he cooled off. Her hand wrapped around the golden colored door knob, but before she could turn it, Neuro's hand yanked hers away. He turned her to face him and slammed her back against the smooth polished wood of the closed door. "You lowly animal! Did you really think you could rebel and attack your master without being punished?"

"It was an accident! I already said I was sorry, it's all the pixie's fault, she made us fall asleep!" Yako continued trying to talk her way out of this. Maybe if Neuro was reminded of his anger towards the pixie, he would run off to find her, and Yako would live to eat another day.

"She made you fall asleep; such a weak creature could not affect me!" Neuro's eyes glowed brightly, his fangs were showing and his glare was deadly.

However, Neuro's positively terrifying rage did not produce the desired reaction from Yako. Instead she blinked in confusion. "Then how come you were sleeping when I woke up? You wouldn't let go of me so I ended up falling asleep again."

Neuro did not like the turn the conversation as taking, "you were dreaming."

"I was on your lap when I woke up, that proves that what I saw wasn't a dream," Yako reasoned.

Great, the useless idiot had to develop deductive skills at the worse time possible. Neuro could either say the a weak pixie's sleeping dust affected him, so even if he wanted to get up and get away from Yako he could not; or he could admit that he stayed with her and allowed her to use him as a pillow by choice. Both alternatives were absolutely unacceptable. Never before had Neuro felt so trapped in a corner.

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Mystery 03: The Day Hell Froze

A few days ago, Neuro had a short but interesting conversation at the office before Yako arrived.

"Why don't you just tell her you love her?" The nerve of slave number two, suggesting such a preposterous thing, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Of course, Neuro had the perfect reply full of absolute confidence. "The day I say such a thing to the louse pig, will be the day hell freezes over."

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Present day, Neuro had decided that he had enough of troublesome slaves for the time being and disappeared off to his place of origin for a while. This gave Yako some time to rest, relax and eat.

An hour later, the scent of freshly baked cookies filled the white kitchen, along with the sound of Yako's soft and cheerful humming. She placed the chocolate chip cookies in a crimson bowl, admiring their well defined star shapes and taking in their delicious scent. Deciding that she wanted a glass of milk to accompany the cookies, Yako grasped the silver handle of the white refrigerator, which much like her room's walls, was hard to identify as being white, unless it had been seen before she personalized it.

The magnetic surface was covered in various clippings depicting delicious meals and her favorite recipes for easy access, though by now she had memorized most of them. A variety of fruit and candy shaped magnets held the clippings in place.

Once she had retrieved her milk in a tall clear glass, Yako turned towards her precious cookies. Their scent was calling her like a mystery would attract Neuro, urging her to indulge in the pleasurable snack, and making her mouth water with anticipation.

Then she saw him, Neuro had returned, he stood at the kitchen's entrance shivering, with a blue tint on his paled face. "Neuro!" Yako set her milk aside and rushed to his side. "You look so cold, what happened?"

"Slave, I demand you surrender all your body heat to me!" He locked her in a tight embrace, rubbing against her in an attempt to warm up.

"Neuro!" Yako blushed brightly.

"There was a blizzard in hell..." Neuro's mind returned to the conversation he had with slave number two a few days ago. The unlikely irony was too much and Neuro couldn't help it but to say, "I love you, useless idiot."

Never before had Yako's face burned so red and bright, but at least it helped provide extra warmth for Neuro.

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Mystery 04: I Just Want to Eat You Up

For the next few days, Yako had a silly and happy grin plastered on her face all the time, which Neuro had trouble explaining. But what unnerved him the most, was that she kept looking at him adoringly, as if he was a delicious treat, waiting to be eaten. "Don't get any ideas, slave," Neuro warned while they sat at the office, waiting for the arrival of their client, who was running late.

The other members of the team decided it was best to ignore the pair's unusual behavior, since they knew nothing about the series of events that led up to that point.

"What do you mean?" Yako curiously inquired, blinking her chocolate eyes and leaning towards Neuro, who sat on the soft scarlet colored couch next to her.

Neuro considered the possibility of harshly pushing Yako's head into the polished wood edge on top of the backrest, but instead he glared intensively. "If anyone will eat someone else, I will be eating you, worthless animal."

Yako only looked more confused; she paused and gave Neuro's words some thought. He always insulted her, though he had professed his love a few days ago, even if he did not bring up the subject again after that. It had come to Yako's attention that she never replied to Neuro's declaration; she was too shocked to find her voice when it happened.

Maybe Neuro was so used to being mean, that he didn't know how to give normal compliments without adding insults. Perhaps this was his way of saying he liked her, and with that conclusion, her blood rushed to Yako's face again. The voice of logic told her Neuro wouldn't speak of his love, if he even felt it; but Neuro's own voice had proven logic wrong, so Yako had no choice but to believe him.

"Weakling idiot, why is your face red? Are you sick?" Neuro did not claim to be an expert in human health, but he knew such a deep red color on one's face was not normal.

"Neuro... The truth is I love you too!" Yako shouted at the top of her lungs.

Akane waived around in surprise and Godai spit his hot coffee all over his important paperwork, perhaps more so because of the 'too' rather than the confession itself. For Yako to word it that way, it hinted that Neuro had been the first to profess his love and Yako was corresponding.

"Since we love each other," Yako continued, "will you be my boyfriend?"

The office was left in total silence, Yako kept blushing and Neuro muttered something along the lines of "I have to wonder how it's possible for one lowly human to come up with such an impressive amount of stupidity."

While Akane continued to flail in frantic excitement, Godai's once white, now brown, papers continued absorbing more coffee from the navy blue mug that slipped out of his hand and spilled its contents on the once immaculate, polished wood desk.

Neuro calmly opened the plastic bag Yako had brought, containing a variety of snacks to eat while they spoke with their client. He opened the wrapping of a cupcake and Yako's sensitive nose immediately caught the irresistible scent of chocolate, fueling her insatiable appetite. She imagined the soft brown baked delight melting in her mouth, until she reached the creamy white center of the little piece of heaven.

Though it was not like Neuro at all, Yako imagined him taking her away on a romantic vacation. She pictured herself in a far away tropical island. In Yako's imagination, the sandy beach was warm and the sun shone brightly but gently, as it slowly sank in the horizon, tinting the ocean in beautiful shades of orange. The clear waves washed softly against the shore, fading from blue, to orange in the distance, and the calm ocean sparkled as far as the eye could see.

It was a truly beautiful and romantic sunset that Yako had imagined in a split second. She was with Neuro in that paradise, surrounded by a variety of culinary delicacies, their aroma invading her senses with an indescribable pleasure. Neuro smiled in Yako's daydream and she cuddled closer to him. He gently caressed her and fed her from the endless supply of tasty meals.

Then she was rudely awakened when the cake Neuro held, harshly collided with her face. "Neuro!" The action was repeated with each of the treats, until one by one they were all smashed on Yako's face. "Stop it!" She pleaded.

"Neuro-" before Godai could protest further, Neuro was shaking Yako in the air so hard, that one of her shoes slipped off and collided with Godai's face, leaving him with a pained expression, clutching his nose.

"Sorry I'm late!" The client they were expecting arrived and hurriedly opened the door. He was met with a blur of brown heading towards him, and a split second later, Yako's second shoe had crashed with his face, the poor unfortunate man biting the black sole. "Ah!" He spat out the shoe and ran for dear life.

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The office was a mess, the furniture was thrown over, with the desk somehow ending up being upside-down, surrounded by coffee stained torn papers. A table was in pieces, chairs were cut in half, and the couch sat on it's side, it's plush covers tattered, spilling the cottony filling all around. The deal with the client was obviously lost, and no one could stop Neuro's rampage.

In the middle of the chaos, Yako passed out. By the time she woke up, she had been abandoned in the deserted office, tossed aside like a broken ragdoll. She had no idea where Neuro, Godai or Akane had disappeared to, but faintly remembered Neuro yelling something along the lines of "you have no rights to try to give my worthless property the help she does not deserve." Yako sighed and went home, she longed for some scrumptious food and a warm shower to numb her aches and pains.

Upon returning to her house, Yako raided the refrigerator, and ate a pint of strawberry ice-cream, carrying the cold pink substance to her mouth with a large silver spoon and savoring the pieces of strawberries included. After that, she went to the bathroom. The cold of the pale blue tiles went right through her worn and dirty socks, she never recovered her shoes.

Yako removed the tattered socks and stepped into the fluffy indigo bath rug in front of the smooth white sink. She reached for the silver handle to turn on the water and splash some in her face before taking her shower. The girl paused upon seeing her reflection in the silver framed, rectangular bathroom mirror. She had scribbles of black marker all over her face. Though the ink was mostly shaped as gibberish, there was one legible word that stood out among the nonsense.

It was on her right cheek, written backwards to be displayed correctly in a mirror. "Yes," the reply written on Yako's face was signed with a bite mark on her neck to certify Neuro's answer.

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Mystery 05: The Scent of Mystery

The soft typing of Akane filled the air of the office; it was a miracle the computer had survived Neuro's rampage the previous day. The tool had become a necessity for storing and finding information, so maybe, in the mist of his apparent rage, Neuro was at least reasonable enough to remember that.

Yako sighed and observed Neuro from the corner of her eyes; he was sitting near the window, with the shining rays of the sun all around him, amplified by the clear glass. The silvery frame of the window threw the rays of the Saturday midday sun at Neuro's head, almost forming a hallo, and Yako found it to be hilariously ironic.

The famous high school detective stifled a giggle and continued sweeping the cottony white filling of the now unusable couch, while Godai picked up the remains of said couch, to see if it could be fixed. "You really messed up the office Neuro," Godai glared at the seemingly indifferent Neuro, then glanced at Yako and noticed the laughter forcibly contained in her face. "I fail to see what's so amusing about this."

Yako wanted to reply, but she feared that if she spoke, her hardly restricted laughter would explode. Instead she tilted her heard towards Neuro, who felt all eyes on him, and inquisitively looked at his two slaves. "You are not done cleaning, slaves one and two!" How dare they slack off? "Hurry up and clean, you filthy slowpokes!"

Godai cursed under his breath and Yako forced herself to nod her head. Her laughter miraculously remained withheld, but she had a big silly, smile on her face. Neuro assumed it was due to Yako's overwhelming happiness upon discovering his answer, and eventually her expression would return to normal when her feeble human brain allowed the fact to sink in. But she better not expect him to be any nicer.

Godai let out a tired breath and tossed another piece of broken wood into the pile of debris in a corner of the office. "You went too far, Neuro!"

"Don't complain slave number two," Neuro left his previous spot near the window and waked towards Yako. "Stupid animal, you missed a spot right there." He pushed her into the pile of cottony filling, holding her head down, while she flailed her arms helplessly.

Godai couldn't understand why Yako continued working, cleaning the mess left behind by the tortures she received the previous day, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The answer eluded him just as much as the explanation about why in the world Yako would wear that silly little pink scarf, tied around her neck, even if it was a hot summer day and it didn't match her yellow tanktop and jeans in the least.

"Don't make yourself look any uglier, idiot." Neuro harshly ripped the small pink scarf off Yako's neck and tore it to shreds.

"Neuro!" Yako tried to brush the white fluff out of her hair and cover her neck all at once. She considered the possibility of wearing a turtleneck to hide the large pointy bite mark, but it was simply too hot.

"Is that a..." Godai stared at Yako's neck with wide eyes.

"No it's not!" Yako tried to cover it with her hands.

This caused Neuro to give Yako a hard pat on the back, which made her fall to the floor. "Be proud, louse."

Godai nodded, "yeah, I'll have to commend you if you still have the energy to go on dates after all this guy puts you through."

Just as Neuro expected, slave number two was oblivious. But by the way Akane was flailing around, she must somehow know, not that she would tell anyone. In truth, Neuro would rather keep it all a secret, but that silly pink scarf covering a mark Yako should wear proudly was simply too much.

As for Yako, she wasn't sure if she should feel relived that Godai couldn't tell who the bite on her neck was from, or if she should simply bask in pride as Neuro said, more so because of his lack of insistence in her hiding it. It might be a while before Godai finally realized what was really going on, and aside from that, it seemed their antics were the same of everyday.

Yako's stomach protested loudly and with her face still red she pleaded, "I'm hungry."

"You're not done cleaning, lazy maggot, I want this office to be spotless!" Before Neuro's tortures could continue, an explosion took place in the far reaches of the city and a strong scent of mystery emanated from that spot. "I smell a mystery!" Thus Neuro rushed towards the source of the smell and dragged Yako along.

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Mystery 06: One Hell of a Kisser

The explosion had taken place in a building at a considerable distance, to which Neuro rushed, running wildly through the streets towards the edge of the city. The entire time, he pulled Yako along ignoring her protests to slow down. "Neuro! You're going to pull my arm off!" The plea fell upon deaf ears, as Neuro continued running towards the peculiar scent of mystery.

The scent intrigued him far more than any other mystery he had ever sensed, and he truly thought he was a few steps away from finding the ultimate mystery. He dashed down the busy streets, pushing people aside and many times causing Yako to bump into them as well. Some got angry and others recognized the famous duo of detective and assistant, assuming they were rushing to an important case.

Neuro's eyes glowed and all sounds, be it Yako's complaints, the protests of those he pushed aside, or the noise of the city, were lost on him. His smile was large and twisted, his fangs were showing and those who passed by and had the chance to glimpse at his face would most likely have nightmares of being devoured by a similar beast.

Suddenly, Neuro stopped on the hot black pavement, a few steps away from the sidewalk, where people backed off and stepped aside to put some distance between them and the crazed man, but remained within sight, curious about what he would do. The humans muttered and whispered among themselves, some claiming that it was the heat affecting the tall man with glowing green eyes and a crazed expression, few recognizing him anymore, in such a deranged state.

A horn was heard and just as suddenly as Neuro stopped, he moved on, not because of the noise he didn't even notice, but because the scent of mystery had been disturbed. The trail vanished momentarily and then reappeared, awakening his instincts once again.

Yako saw her life flash before her eyes as Neuro unknowingly pulled her out of the way of the speeding truck just on time. Fearing he may hit the pair, the truck driver had harshly stepped on the breaks and the large gray cargo box collided with the red truck that pulled it. The impact shook the cargo box violently and caused it to fall to the side, pulling the truck with it and crushing a passing car on the lane beside it.

"Mystery! Mystery! I can't let it escape!" It was as if Neuro was truly crazed. He didn't notice the large accident, he didn't hear the terrified screams, and he didn't realize that for a portion of the way, he had been literally dragging Yako along and her jeans were torn and ripped all over, one of her sandals lost in the mayhem.

Neuro finally arrived at the building where the explosion took place, only to hear another one occur, this time in mid air above the same building with the many glass windows. It was strange, but whatever the phenomenon was, it had caused the tall white office building to be emptied, with a multitude of people in black and navy business suits pouring out of all the exits in a panic.

When Neuro stopped at the foot of the building for a moment, Yako tried to catch her breath. Neuro still grasped her wrist with such a force it was beginning to swell and her hand was pale from the obstructed blood flow. "Neuro!"

"It's here! It's here!" Neuro finally released Yako's wrist, but before she could recover, he picked her up by the waist and threw her over his shoulder, then started climbing the building, attaching himself to the wall with his claws.

Most people were more concerned with escaping and paid little attention to the claws, some assuming they were special gloves and shoes, while others didn't notice Neuro at all. Yako was panicked, holding on to Neuro for dear life, and trying not to look down. Nothing she would say would make him respond, she had never seen him in such a state before.

Another explosion took place, shaking the building to its foundation. The multitude of clear glass windows shattered and the sharp pieces of glass rained down, but Neuro did not desist in his climb. Far from being discouraged by the impending danger, Neuro sped up as a series of additional smaller explosions happened in random floors, the latest one on the top floor, the twentieth.

Neuro entered the twentieth floor from one of the broken windows and frantically looked around after tossing Yako aside. He took almost desperate deep breaths as if he was losing the scent of the mystery that led him there. Then he dashed out of the room and down the hall.

"Neuro!" Yako ran after Neuro, sincerely worried for him. By then the building had been completely evacuated and the security department's explosive specialists had not yet moved in. The girl caught a glimpse of Neuro heading down the emergency stairs and followed as fast as she could.

Neuro stopped at the seventeenth floor, on time for another series of explosions to start, quite different from the last few. Instead of simply blowing things apart with a loud noise, those final few explosions were sparks coming out of thin air, and rather quiet in comparison. This consequently happened all over the building until it was ablaze.

"Neuro, we have to get out of here!" Yako finally caught up with him. The desks around them were in flames, causing the room to fill up with smoke. Yako was already having difficulty breathing. "Neuro!"

Neuro stood still for a moment, as if he was waking from whatever took over him. "What was that? What was that power? What was that scent? Where did it go?" It puzzled him to no end.

"Neuro!" Yako yelled in his face and shook him as hard as she could. "We have to get out of here!"

The situation sunk in all at once for Neuro, like a ton of bricks thrown on his head. He jeopardized his disguise, and he endangered Yako; in fact, she was still in danger. What were that strange power he sensed and that irresistible scent? This wasn't like any other mystery.

"Neuro..." Everything was taking its toll on Yako, the stress, the worry, the strain, the pain, the ache, the heat, the lack of oxygen. She felt herself losing consciousness, unable to breathe.

"Yako?" Neuro set the rest of his concerns aside for the time being. Yako was suffocating and he had to do something about it. He held her close and kissed her, breathing life into her body.

Yako was immediately alert as her senses registered what was going on. Somehow, against all logic, she didn't feel like she was suffocating anymore, and she found the will and energy to wrap her arms around Neuro and respond to the kiss. The building continued to burn and fall apart, but Yako didn't care anymore.

Though Yako was in the middle of a blazing inferno, she felt like she was in Heaven, and it all gave a new meaning to the phrase one hell of a kisser.

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Mystery 07: Heaven and Hell, All on Earth

Yako felt like she was in Heaven, even if there was a blazing hell around her; but she was soon brought back to Earth when Neuro ended their kiss and jumped out a broken window. "Neuro!"

The wind was strong and the smoke abundant; the building was falling apart rapidly, while the fire department tried desperately to put out the flames. But the ground wasn't getting any closer after Neuro jumped, it was moving further away. That's when Yako realized that Neuro was flying.

His altitude was enough to go unnoticed by the people below, which was a relief, since Neuro's disguise had been risked enough already. Yako clung to him and tried to relax, the worse was over; everything should be safer from that point on, even if she was still very confused about the strange occurrences.

Regardless of all that happened so suddenly, Yako felt safe. She observed Neuro's thoughtful expression, almost as if he was a mere step away from understanding what was going on, yet he couldn't quite grasp it. She admired his violet wings and remembered that Neuro was not human, which oddly enough, Yako sometimes forgot, despite the array of constant reminders. Perhaps she was simply used to all of that, but flying with Neuro was something new.

Neuro's wings were on his back this time, since he had his hands busy carrying Yako, and he could vary his other form. Yako thought he looked almost angelic, but she knew he would kill her immediately if she ever did as much as hint at something like that.

"Side effect," Neuro muttered.

"Huh?" Yako brought herself back from her wandering thoughts and tried to focus on understanding what Neuro was trying to communicate.

"A side effect, a reflection, that wasn't the source of the power, just a consequence, a recoil." More explosions followed in several locations around the city, and the scent of mystery was strong on each one, it was almost impossible to resist. However, Neuro stayed firm, he would not chase a mirage again. He did observe the location of each explosion, which left several other parts of the city, from commerce, to houses, to highways, and various places, in terrible conditions.

"Neuro, what's happening?" Yako didn't like this one bit.

Neuro merely clasped his hand over Yako's mouth tightly. "Be quiet, fool." A few minutes passed and he grinned victoriously, the explosions all followed a certain pattern forming a circle. If lines were to be drawn from each disaster location towards the center of the circle, where the lines met, that is where the source of the mysterious power would be, and that is where Neuro landed so fast that he went unnoticed.

If not for Neuro's hand over her mouth, Yako would have let out a frightened yelp when Neuro bolted down with such speed that she thought the fall would kill her. But just as suddenly as it happened, everything ended. The fall had not been straight down, but at an angle, allowing Neuro to enter a room through a window and gracefully land inside.

As soon as Yako opened her eyes she recognized the various posters of food covering every inch of the walls, this was her own room. Finally Neuro put her down, none too gently, and peered over the bed, examining the suspicious movement under the covers.

"Ow," Yako got to her feet with a pained expression and peeked over at whatever Neuro was looking at. "What-"

The question remained unfinished when Neuro covered Yako's mouth again. With his other hand, Neuro lifted the light blue bed covers to reveal a small blond child wearing purple pajamas crawling under them. The little boy giggled with a carefree look in his deep green eyes, and extended his small arms towards the pair, as if wanting to be picked up.

Neuro observed the baby with curious glowing eyes. "Slave, this cub smells of mystery, you will take care of it until I find out why." Truthfully, Neuro didn't understand the full extent of the situation, he knew there was a very strong power at work, and the power did not belong to this child; but the boy was found right at the source, so there had to be a connection.

By now Neuro had released Yako, who gently picked up the baby. "It's a baby Neuro, not a cub or an it. Just how did he get here? Did someone break in and abandon him?" Yako's mother was away traveling and no one else had the key to her home.

"Don't you dare argue with me you lowly animal, you will tend to the cub and you will not let it out of your sight. The scent of mystery is too strong in it, mixed with the scent of... something unknown." This new development bothered Neuro, yet at the same time it excited him. No matter what this mystery may be, he would consume it.

"We can't just kidnap him," Yako insisted with worry and alarm.

"You dare to defy me?" Neuro showed his claws, each finger of his hands turning into a sharp knife, the skin around them purple.

Yako instinctively backed away, more so because of the child than herself. She held the boy close and tried to make him look away, but the baby looked right at Neuro and laughed amused.

Yako knew it was useless to argue with Neuro, if he had decided that this child was a vital part of the mystery at hand and needed to be kept close by, he would find a way to get him back, even if Yako took him to the police. She sighed, "alright, but taking care of a baby is no easy task. We'll need to get a lot of things."

"You mean you will need to get a lot of things. If you're too useless to handle this on your own, you can ask slave number two to help you." Though still quite puzzled by the recent events, Neuro's ever present confidence and attitude remained.

Yako sighed again and muttered under her breath, "one second he's kissing me and the next he's abandoning me with a child." It could have been the memory of the kiss, or the play on the words, but Yako's face turned crimson soon after the involuntary whisper escaped her.

"That repulsive event was not a kiss," Neuro felt the need to explain. "You're so weak you would have died without your precious oxygen. I was keeping you alive, giving you the chance to try to serve a greater purpose; that was all there was to it."

Yako nodded, she knew it was useless to try to argue with Neuro. Besides, the fact still remained that his answer to being her boyfriend had been yes, she certainly didn't expect Neuro to change. In fact, he had made more progress than Yako would have thought possible for a long time. However, with the mysterious new events and the task of caring for a child, the road in front of Yako was not looking easy; then again, it never was.

xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox xox xoxox

Mystery 08: Don't Cry, Baby!

A few minutes of uncertain silence passed as Yako contemplated her possible course of action. The baby seemed content enough, and he was quite calm; however, that did not last for too long.

The little boy suddenly got a painful look on his adorable face and his emerald eyes watered. "Oh, oh..." Neuro covered his ears, an action that disconcerted Yako, though she would soon regret having her arms busy holding the child.

The baby took a deep breath and started wailing at the top of his lungs, he was certainly loud for someone so small. "Oh, no! What's wrong? Are you hungry? Do you need a new diaper? Does something hurt? What is it?"

"Make it quiet down, you incompetent fool!" Neuro raised his voice to be heard over the boy's loud cries.

"I don't know how!" Yako tried to rock the baby in her arms, but it wasn't having any effect. The child had started crying very suddenly and it unsettled her. "Calm down, it's okay, you'll be alright!" It was hard to tell if Yako was saying those things to the baby or herself.

"Slave!" Neuro urged; his head was in a pain he didn't know he could feel.

"I'm trying!" Yako continued to uselessly try to calm the baby for several minutes, then for no apparent reason, the child stopped crying. His bright green eyes were still teary and he held a look of discomfort on his little face. "Are you alright now? Aw, it's okay, you're safe with me."

"That's questionable," Neuro commented.

Yako pouted in response, "I think he cried because you scared him!"

"I'm sure it was your ugly face." Neuro curiously extended his black gloved index finger towards the baby Yako held. The child wasted no time and reached for it, but Neuro quickly withheld, paused, then poked the boy on the forehead. The baby pouted and waved his little arms at Neuro, fingers outstretched, in scratching motions.

Yako frowned, "Neuro, don't pick on him, you'll make him cry again."

"You're the one who made the cub cry in the first place." The scent of mystery was still strongly clinging to the boy and it made Neuro want to poke him, if only to be amused by his reaction.

The poking continued despite Yako's complaints, until in a surprisingly fast motion, the baby victoriously caught Neuro's finger and bit it. "Ah! No, don't!" Yako frantically begged the baby to let Neuro go, she feared for the child's safety.

Neuro stared at the boy biting into his finger in disbelief, his left eye twitching slightly, both glowing brightly. "You want your life to end so soon, little one?" Yanking the child out of Yako's arms, Neuro held up his hand with the boy still attached to his finger. He then tried to shake the baby off.

"Neuro, stop! You'll hurt him!" In her panic, Yako overlooked the fact that a baby shouldn't have such a strong hold to his bite in the first place. Finally, the boy's grip gave out, and he went flying in the air to be caught by a frantic Yako. "Neuro!" She scolded as she clutched the baby protectively.

Neuro ignored Yako and examined the small hole on his glove. "The cub's fangs are growing in."

"You mean his teeth?" Yako blinked, she observed the baby, who fortunately appeared to be unharmed. "He'll need a teething ring."

"Whatever it needs, I already told you to get it," Neuro reminded, and sighing helplessly, Yako prepared to go to the store.

xoxox xox xoxox

Aside from the strange event with the sudden cries, the child had been quiet enough as Yako gathered the necessary supplies in a silver shopping cart with red plastic details. The boy sat in the little baby basket, kicking his feet cheerfully. Neuro had refused to accompany Yako in the shopping trip, but maybe that was for the best.

The floor of the store consisted of plain white tiles, the ceiling was quite high, and the cream painted metal shelves were abundant everywhere. Although it was a risk to walk around in public with the child, a part of Yako wanted the baby to be found, so that he could be safely returned to his parents before Neuro endangered him further.

It was true that Neuro could just steal the baby back if he wanted to, but there was the possibility that he might decide it was too troublesome and not worth it. "Let's see," Yako went over her hastily prepared list as she strolled down an aisle filled with everything from baby food, to diapers, to baby toys. "We have diapers, baby food, some extra baby clothes, a few toys and we still need to find a teething ring, it should be somewhere in this area."

While Yako searched through the baby aisle, the child began to get impatient and his little face twisted to an inhuman expression, but Yako was too preoccupied with her search for a teething ring to notice. Nevertheless, when the boy's earsplitting cries started again, Yako had to notice something was wrong.

The other people in the long aisle all stared at the source of the noise, some hastily tossing the products they were examining into their shopping carts to free up their hands and cover their ears. Unfortunately the store was very full and even more curious people were arriving at the baby aisle. Yako rushed to the child's side, but before she could pick him up, Neuro did.

Yako had no idea when Neuro got there, or for how long he had been standing there. She only hoped his entrance wasn't too sudden, given that they were in a crowded public place. While Yako chewed on her own words, unable to speak them, Neuro offered the child his finger, much to Yako's surprise. He would probably get back at her for having to do that to quiet him down and avoid further unwanted attention.

The baby gladly accepted the offer and chewed Neuro's finger happily, instantly returning to a blissful silence. "Yako?" Neuro had addressed her by name, instead of 'sensei', as he usually called her when they were in public, possibly due to the urgency of the situation he was in, or maybe because he thought calling her 'sensei' would make the already curious people more curious.

"Oh, right, the teething ring!" Yako's frozen body finally responded and she moved to continue her search for a teething ring.

"Over here," a brunette woman in her late twenties waved at Yako.

"Thank you," Yako sincerely expressed her gratitude, she was in such a shocked rush that she would have probably missed the teething rings altogether if left to search for them without help.

"You're welcome," the woman sighed with a dreamy look in her deep blue eyes. "Your husband is so sweet to help you shop for your baby. I know my husband wouldn't come shopping with me and let our child chew on his finger while I tried to find a teething ring."

Yako was about to correct the false assumption of Neuro being her husband and the baby their child, but before she could, Neuro was at her side. "Don't blow our cover," he whispered threateningly. "I'm happy to help my beloved take care of our darling baby!" Yako forced herself to smile at Neuro's acted words and keep up the charade, but she knew that Neuro would get back at her for this.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Private Evileye Nogami Neuro. Thanks to Crystalgardian for the advice on how to improve the story and for an idea used in Mystery 04. Thanks to Unknown D Flamerose for the main concept used in Mystery 06 and ideas used on Mystery 07.