Yako had been disappointed when it was announced that the fireworks display was canceled due to the slight drizzle of rain, although her spirits perked right up again when Hana offered to treat her to ice cream in thanks for solving their case.

"It's the least I can do," Hana insisted, finally no longer crying. "Please allow me to do this."

Yako agreed, and Meri seemed quite excited and joyful about spending more time with her idol. After ordering quite a few several-scoop ice cream cones for herself (of course not without asking if it was really fine for Hana to pay for it all,) Yako was subjected to a bombardment of questions from the over-eager Meri, who seemed to have made a fast recovery. Yako could tell, of course, that this was not entirely true, but she knew that the little girl was trying her best to be positive. Yako answered Meri's questions to the best of her ability, while being as honest as possible, and the little girl seemed to take every word that the detective said as some sort of God's law. A half an hour and several more ice cream cones later, however, and Neuro was growing impatient.

Just as with Higuchi, these people had stolen away his servant without so much as asking him about it. The case was over; they were useless to him now. The demon had to remind himself, however, that these were the people who had granted him his meal with their mystery in the first place, and thus he had to be patient; it would not do to destroy his façade of a reputation in front of these people, the younger of which was likely to blab her mouth off about how she met "that famous piggish detective." Nevertheless, his patience was growing short, however, and when the crowds of the festival began to thin, he clamped a hand over his servant's shoulder and pulled her to her feet roughly.

"Now, Sensei, we'd best be going now, shouldn't we?" asked Neuro innocently, and only Yako could know that threats were laced neatly underneath his harmless mask. "It's getting rather late, and we wouldn't want to disturb little Meri-chan's bedtime, now would we?"

Although she had been having fun, Yako sighed, realizing her defeat. She stood up.

"I guess you're right, but…" She mumbled. Truth be told, she was feeling a bit sleepy herself.

"Well then, Miss Hana, Meri-chan," The demon nodded to the two of them. "Have a good night."

"Ah, yeah, it was nice talking to you!" Yako called; Neuro was already literally dragging her away by the collar of her yukata. "See you around!"

Both Meri and Hana waved cheerily, and by the time the two were out of sight, Neuro spoke, tightening his hold on Yako's shoulder to the point where she believed her bones would crack. When she winced in pain, he grinned.

"Insolent little worm," He began, "What did you think you were doing? Wasting time like that."

"What? You got your mystery already, right?" Yako protested, trying to squirm away.

"Indeed, however, although it might have been flavorful comparing to the mysteries I have encountered in Hell, it was anything but filling." Neuro continued. "There is nothing left here to solve, and thus we are wasting time by staying here."

Yako considered asking why the demon went through all the trouble of coming here if it was such a weak mystery, but for her own safety she decided against it and instead pondered it on her own. 

Finally she came to the conclusion that perhaps Neuro had been curious about the festival. She smiled as she remembered him telling her that all beings, humans and demons alike, were curious about new things. At least we have some similarities, Yako found herself thinking.

When the remaining sounds of music and beating drums were starting to fade from the distance they had walked thus far, Yako remembered something. She could not, strictly speaking, stop in her tracks—Neuro was still dragging her along—although she would have if it had been possible at the time.

"Neuro, wait!" The girl called suddenly. "I mean…please stop for a moment."

The demon continued to walk, not even considering complying with his servant's ridiculous request. Nevertheless, he spoke.

"What is it, Servant Number One?" He spared a glance over his shoulder at the girl.

"We forgot Godai." Yako answered pathetically.

Neuro grinned, exposing his demonic fanged smile now that they were out of sight from the general public (the streets were rather lonely that night, due to the gloomy night drizzle.)

"Forgot?" asked the demon. "No, no, Yako. That substandard bag of sopping dirt should be capable of finding his own way back. If not, he is even more miserable than I have imagined, and we are best off without his insignificant existence."

It was rather harsh, Yako thought, falling silent, but that was Neuro. She didn't dare tell him that Godai would be happy to be disowned by the demon, if that were really the case. Although she doubted either of them would ever be let off the hook that easily. She sighed depressingly to herself, although a part of her knew that if she was given the opportunity or offer to be forgotten by Neuro, she would not take it.

With a light shrug, Yako pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and decided to make conversation; after all, it was rather uneventful to be dragged along without even the luxury of being able to use your own two feet.

"So, Neuro…" She began, thinking of something to say or ask—casual conversation was not common between the two of them. "Did you have any fun at all? Besides the mystery, I mean."

Neuro could not know that the girl was truly curious. He gave an answer regardless.

"Of course." He stated, smiling blankly to himself as he walked. "I rather enjoy koi ponds, don't you?"

"I thought so…" mumbled Yako, feeling stupid that she had expected an answer different from the one she'd received.

Both she and Neuro were silent the rest of the way back to the office, although Neuro had switched his grip to Yako's head, and while dragging her he had not spared her the occasional swing into a trash bin or lamp post. Needless to say, by the time they had arrived back at the office, Yako felt she had several bruises, some in places she'd rather not mention.

Yako opened the office door; it swung inward on its hinges to reveal a darkened office, the only light coming in from the windows, dim orange city lights reflecting through raindrops. They'd left the lights off when they had left, but now Yako was struggling to find the light switch, blinking her eyes to try and adjust them to the minimal light. She heard Neuro cackle somewhere to her right; the girl knew that he found it amusing that she was stumbling at such a simple task. As a demon, of course, his eyes had no problem seeing in the darkness.

"Hey, instead of laughing at me, you could help me out," whined Yako. A few seconds of silence from her demon companion, and she spoke again. "Neuro? Can't you just help me out here?"

"Like this, you mean?" The demon smirked, and Yako was not fast enough to get out of the way; Neuro tripped her just as he had earlier that day, and again she fell flat on the floor.

Yako rolled over and rubbed her nose.

"That's not helping!" She was about to retort further when she noticed something odd.

Neuro was kneeling on the floor, palms flat on the cold ground as he looked at her with the same grin that almost always signaled injury or abuse. But that was not strange. The thing that Yako noticed was the fact that he was, at least in some way, down on her level. What was with that? Usually, Yako reminded herself, with the demon's need for superiority he'd prefer to stand over her, as to look down on her existence as much as possible. Perhaps he'd utilize the ceiling to position himself even higher. But that was not the case here. Neuro was kneeling, actually kneeling, and what scared Yako the most was that the demon's glowing eyes, another source of light in the room now, seemed to be displaying something startling close to interest. But that couldn't be. I'm only a dishrag to him, Yako reminded herself.

After a few silent moments, however, the demon's gaze was beginning to make Yako feel uncomfortable.

"What?" She asked disconcertedly.

For perhaps the first time in his life, Neuro was torn between two initiatives. Something compelled him to touch the lowly servant before him, to have her closer to him. Perhaps he did not fully understand what this compulsion was, but it was there. He could not deny it; he had to admit that he had not known that he possessed these desires, but he was not one to linger over such matters. That is to say, if he wanted it, he wanted it, and that was that, he would get what he wanted; one could call him stubborn or arrogant, but he would not agree. Simply, he did not ask himself why these desires existed, for that was not a concern of his, but what they were. The only way to find out, he figured, was to act upon them. All beings, humans and demons alike, were curious about new things. However, somehow, it did not seem easy. Somehow, to do something like this, just on a whim…he could not explain it properly, but it almost seemed despicable. For a moment, he could not decide, but he then dismissed his hesitance (hesitance was for the weak, after all.) Yako, after all, was his. She was his servant, and his toy. His grin widened considerably to expose his needle-sharp rows of teeth.

Looking at Neuro oddly, Yako suppressed a shudder as the demon's sadistic grin turned into a predatory leer.

"Jeez, Neuro…w-what?" She asked again. "It feels weird when you stare at me like that. What is it?"

It was then that Yako realized she was still on the floor, but if she was going to get up, it was too late, because in a quick movement, Neuro had pinned her to the floor, all four limbs, his hands over her wrists.

"I am hungry." He stated simply. It might have been a laughable statement, but the demon had no other way of putting it. That is what it felt like to him; hunger.

Yako may have been naïve, but she was not an imbecile. Comprehension dawned quickly on her face; she knew what was going on here. At least somewhat. She felt her heart rate increase. But it was too fast, she had no time to think. From her experiences with Neuro, her first instincts simply told her to get out of this situation. Somehow.

"H-Hey," She said, keeping her voice as steady as possibly with a demon literally looming above her. "You said you only ate mysteries. I…really don't think there are any mysteries on the floor here. So, if you can please…let me up."

"I am not going to eat you, Yako."

"W-What….exactly are you getting at?"

"Hmph. Those goldfish really would have been offended." commented Neuro. He began to snap playfully at the ends of Yako's hair, much like a puppy would bite at the heels of a small child.

Yako could feel the demon's breath at her neck. She knew her face had turned red.

"Hey, w-wait!" The girl spluttered, instinctively struggling to get free. This was, of course, a futile effort, but she was not thinking. "St-Stop. We're…I mean…you…this…this is the floor, you know! B-Besides…the door…it's open…stop. What if someone—"

"Silence, servant." The demon commanded. "You may be a despicable little worm, but you are my despicable little worm, and thus you have no right to refuse anything I decree. I may do with you what I please, Yako. I own you."

Yako had no retort, and while she struggled to think of one, squirming all the while, Neuro turned his attentions to her neck. He nipped her on the muscle at the base of her neck, and although in truth the demon hardly knew what he was doing, a shudder went down Yako's spine; it was not from displeasure or pain. Neuro's tongue flicked out, and as he licked at Yako's neck, she nearly fainted. Still, she struggled on instinct—this was odd, this was strange, Neuro wasn't even human—but Neuro seemed to be having no trouble preventing her escape.

And then Neuro slid his mouth over hers, and took Katsuragi Yako's first kiss. It felt natural, it felt good. The demon felt the girl's body slacken and his eyes shone in triumph.

Yako had given up her struggles; when the initial shock faded, she relaxed in Neuro's grip. She couldn't tell herself she wasn't enjoying this. And now the demon's tongue explored her mouth curiously and freely, not expressing any caution, and although she had loosened up and ceased her squirming, his grip remained firm on her wrists. Yako wanted to close her eyes; enjoyment or not, this was too much, too fast. And yet, she found herself captivated in Neuro's green eyes as if they were enchanting. Then again, she figured as she reminded herself once again of what he was, perhaps they really were.

Still, she could see the sadistic desire to torture her in those eyes, and though she expected something like it, Yako could not stop herself from flinching when Neuro bit down on the soft flesh of her inner lip with his needle-sharp fangs, drawing a slight trickle of blood. Neuro only smirked in amusement as the girl squeaked in pain; he ran his tongue over the wound as if tasting the red liquid that flowed into her mouth.

Not long after that moment, however, footsteps could be heard running up towards the office. With the door already wide open, the little boy from Thursday skipped into the office cheerily, wearing a yukata; evidently he was on his way back from the festival with his parents.

"Katsuragi-sensei! I found my kit—" He called out, and when he looked down in front of him, it took him a few seconds for realization to settle over him. "Oh," he said softly.

With a slight mischievous smile, he placed a hand in front of his eyes as if to say "I didn't see anything," and then he skipped from the office again, trampling down the stairs.

In the moment of confusion, Neuro had slackened his grip on Yako, and she chose that moment to squirm away in embarrassment. She rose to her feet, as did Neuro. She backed up several paces, out of his reach.

"He saw us!" She fretted nervously, mostly to herself. "He saw us!"

Neuro grinned in sheer amusement. What an entertaining twist of events.

"Interesting." He commented.

Yako was unsure of just what the demon was referring to.

--

Author's Note: Ok, it's finished! I really hope you like it. I also hope that they are not out of character. I tried my best, but as I see it Neuro's never been one for gentleness, so it would seem weird to me if he was. That, and in his inexperience with such type of things, I always assumed he would rush into it, as always with a lot of initiative. I don't know though, that is just my opinion, so please tell me what you think about what I've written!

In the future, there may be a sequel to this (if you guys like it) but for now I'll be working on a shorter NeuYako fanfiction.

Oh, and I just want to say…thank you guys SO MUCH for all the positive support you've given me. Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and story alerts and everything! You guys are the best!