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Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

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Misfortune of a Demon

Day One Part One

Yako really could not count how many times she had left the Katsuragi Yako's Demon World Detective Office with her boss, Neuro Nougami, grinning sadistically. This time was no exception. For some reason, she feels more freaked out at the grin that she should. Maybe it is because the blank, oval eyes are bigger than usual? Heck if I know, she thinks with much fatigue. The best part is that Kanae had asked her to see a movie later this day. If she did not come, she would be dubbed the worst friend ever. Knowing how exaggerated and outrageous her friend could be, Yako forces herself down the stairs. Determination makes her run out the door and for the theater.

Knowing the 'louse' will be out for a few hours-if not the rest of the night-, Neuro springs up and grabs what seems like pieces to a torture contraption of sorts. He hops to the ceiling and starts setting it up at the door, smiling with sadistic pleasure. As he works, he slips a vial out of his pocket. This is labeled 'Evil Question'. Neuro does not exactly know what this tool will do, hence its name. Jamming it into a small circle formed by the togetherness of the parts, the demon falls on his feet onto the ground, smiling at his handy-work. A silver axe gleams as a string is attached to the door, just ready to dig itself into the next face that enters.

Neuro gives a curt nod at his handy work, crossing his arms triumphantly. He feels something drip onto his head and touches the dampened spot to a slightly green colored substance. The vial is cracked, much to his disappointment. Well, as long as it does not drain out before the next day, it should still work well to hold the thing together until Yako inevitably comes and triggers it. With a content yawn, Neuro walks up the wall and rests against the ceiling, shutting his eyes and allowing himself to enter the land of dreams.

The odd part is that all he has are memories during his slumber. What is even odder is that all are him as a fledging, merely a child with a parrot head-much to his denial-and tiny wings with various colored feathers. It would be a lie to say he had no difference between his younger self and his current state. At what humans would consider the age of eight, he was fairly short. Little Neuro could only reach up to about Yako's waist. He was also very scrawny and thin, pale to accompany such appearance of starvation and weakness. When the little demon had walked back then, he was always wobbling as if his legs could not support a mere torso alone. This reminder makes him shudder in gratitude of that recovery.

Bored of the constant stream of memories, Neuro yawns and rubs his dark turquoise eyes. He winces when his talon cuts his cheekbone. Even demon's do not care much for anything once half-asleep, so he lets the manner die and drops onto the ground. This action hurts the lower section of his body. Grumbles soon follow as he struggles to push himself up. Neuro's eyes see that his arms seem fairly thin and paler than usual. Perhaps that vial last night made him sick somehow? Highly unlikely, but it is something to put out onto the suggestion table. He tries to turn to face the door, but is only met with the cloth of his own suit jacket. The demon shoves that off and pouts at the axe that still remains.

"She didn't even come back," he observes. Neuro's eyes bug out of his skull at the higher pitch and smoother tone in his voice. "Ugh, when the louse comes back, I am demanding her to swallow that gunk!" Rapid swaying is noted and he turns to the black braid in the wall, now awake and animated. "Ah, Akane," he smiles. "Perhaps you can tell me what is wrong?"

Akane grabs the pen closest to her and writes: LOOK IN A MIRROR.

I will choose not to take offense by this. After all, Neuro does not need the loss of his only secretary due to mere scolding. That, and she is the only other useful one! He knows there is a little buzz of annoyance that helps out rarely, but he cannot seem to place the name. Hmm…I'm pretty sure it started with 'S'…Meh. He waddles to the desk, gripping the surface as his legs seem to wobble uncontrollably. Hopping onto the surface, he searches the drawers. Man, it is FREEZING in here! Neuro pauses to think about that particular thought, but ignores it. It is the same concept as burning in the lava pits once the temperature climax has hit, just colder.

One drawer eventually shows the back of a hand-mirror. Simple, yet useful. Neuro snatches it and smirks in triumph. "Haha! Now to see…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" His butt slams into the ground and he scrambles for the door, opening it quickly. The moving of gears makes him freeze and mutter a curse. Down swings the axe. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

"Sorry I'm late, Neuro!" Yako dashes into the office. She is slightly stunned at the mass of metal parts with some slot of sorts that seems to be missing something. "Um…What is that?"

As a response, a strange voice mumbles, "Nothing. Go away louse…" A few sniffles follow.

Confused even further, Yako glances around. For one, Neuro's clothes are on the floor. This alarms her to a great extent and she turns to Akane the braid for some assistance. All she gets is an arrow pointed to the desk. Figuring this is where Neuro is, she tip-toes over and walks around. The chair is empty, but a small shadow comes from under the desk itself. Yako kneels down while gripping the edge of the desk. She is frankly glad she is, however, due to the shock from the new sight.

Under the desk is an eight-year-old boy. His bare skin is pale and most of his bones show. Both arms and legs are fairly scrawny, just like the rest of his body. Even if he is rolled up into a ball, Yako can see the dark-turquoise eyes bigger than his stomach-even though that is likely to be fairly microscopic-. His hair is mostly blonde, like Neuro's, with the front portion being a purple-brown color. On every stand is a golden triangle holding the strands together. When he lifts his head to glare at her, she can see the sullen cheeks, short face, and slight bags under the eyes.

"I told you to go away," the boy snaps, sniffling again. His cheeks glisten as if damp.

Yako tilts her head to the side and blinks. In all honesty, she is mostly confused on why a seemingly human boy, normal hands and all, looks identical to Neuro. "Um…Sorry, but who are you?" Akane whips around as if trying to warn Yako. "What? I'm just asking…"

The boy lets out a drawn sigh and curls up tighter. Another sniffle is produced. "Just leave me alone…"

MR. NOUGAMI! MR. NOUGAMI! Akane writes worriedly. Yako nods at this and pats little Neuro's head. "Neuro, I'm not sure what happened, but it doesn't matter if you're…small?"

Neuro glares again, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Says you!" he snaps. "And just so your amoeba-sized brain can understand this in the future, I'm younger, not just smaller. I mean jeez, you'd think I would at least look like myself as a smaller version!"

A bit confused, Yako laughs nervously. She can name several similarities right now, but she bit those back. It is never a good idea to be 'smart' to Neuro. "Of course," she holds up her hands in fraud defeat. "So, um…What happened, exactly?"

Standing, he wobbles over to the door and points up at the gizmo. Although, she is more focused on the axe blade in his lower back and the fact he is naked. "See the green vial? That is Evil Question. I didn't know what it did; I just hoped it was a special acid that would seep through that thick skull of yours…" The same, innocent look on his face came as he grasped his hands behind his back. "I mean, you need a few extra holes for some actual intelligence to come through, right?"

Yako sighs and stands, grabbing his suit jacket and draping it over his shoulders. "Ah. Well, we should get you some clothes seeing as we have actual money now and you're…" She motions to his body.

With one raised brow, Neuro reaches for his back to start prying the axe blade out of his spine. "How would a wood louse like you know our budget?" Yako points to Akane's board while nervously laughing. On the board is a set amount of money and 'The budget. GET MR. NOUGAMI CLOTHES.' "That explains a lot…"

"Wah!" Neuro whines, kicking even if it hurts. "I don't wanna!"

Yako struggles to pull him along. She is surprised she can even pull him, but she guesses by his winces that there is something wrong with his legs. Besides that, she keeps taking the advantage. "Why are you so against getting clothes?!" she snaps. "Are you a nudist or something?!"

"What? NO!" he roars, kicking harder. "I know you, louse, and you're going to make me dress up in something awful!"

"How? You're you!"

Neuro stops for a second before frowning, giving up all resistance for the time it takes him to talk. "As a child, I was fairly weak…I could eat any human food my mom brought back from her visits to the above world. Also, I couldn't fly. My childhood sucked, just to dumb it down for your feeble brain." It makes her happy to see his blank face had remained the same.

She sighs and stops to shift her arms out from underneath his armpits. Instead, she grabs his hand and tugs him up off the ground. "Neuro, we're not getting much, just clothes you can walk around in." Something then clicks inside her often insulted noggin. "Wait, above world? Mom?"

Returning back to his normal state, Neuro smirks up at her. "If you do not dress me in anything silly, I might explain it later."

Yako nods in agreement and successfully leads him into the clothing store. A cashier behind a counter glances up at the sound of the bell and raises a brow at Neuro's starved appearance. Both ignore the aging woman, however, and make way to the boys' section. Because Neuro looks pained, Yako picks him up and holds him in burping position, letting him pull away a bit and stare at her oddly. All she does is smile kindly and let him stay leaning back so he can look around. After a while she lets him down to further inspect some navy shorts with suspenders.

"Slave Number One!" Neuro calls over, his voice still high and smooth. "Help me with this!" She is about to ask why before she remembers how he only went up to her waist in this state. Obviously he would not be able to reach some things. So she walks over in the direction of his voice with a fairly small pair of suspender shorts. When she arrives, however, her jaw drops. "Oh good, you're not deaf. Anyways, give me a lift." Yako shakes her head slowly. "…I'm not sure if I saw that correctly. Did you just nod?"

Her finger is stiff as it points to the shelf with white polo shirts. "N-Neuro…That is pretty high up…"

His eyes roll as if she missed something obvious. "Did you not hear what I just said?" He wobbles over like his legs are made of giggling gelatin and grabs her shirt, pulling himself up a little. Getting the message, she leans down as well only to have her hair painfully grabbed and his mouth next to her ear. "GIVE ME A LIFT!"

Pop! Yako winces at the reaction of her eardrums and jerks away from Neuro, resulting in only her shirt to become tucked out of her shirt. He is not as weak as a child as he depicts himself to be. "Okay! Okay! Don't make me go deaf!" she whines.

"Apparently it is far too late for that…" he mutters irritably. After much strain, Yako has Neuro on her shoulders-doing her very best not to accidentally look up-as he reaches for the shirt. Several grunts make her uneasy and the wobbling does nothing to lower the amount of nausea she feels. A little hop sends her stumbling. "Got it!" he cheers victoriously. Unfortunately, they are sent backwards by the sudden shift of weight. "Ah!" Neuro gulps as he is knocked off completely.

The poor girl hears a crash and a sickening crack. Feeling her body cease movements as well as Neuro, she lets go of his legs and whirls around to cover her eyes. Quickly stepping diagonally next to a shoe-shelf, Yako peeks out of her soiled eyes that had spotted what she is trying so hard to avoid. The demon's head is seemingly cracked open, but even so he breathes. "…Neuro?" she whispers.

He pushes his upper body up and glares at her harshly, his eyes moist. "Just get the clothes already so we can get out of here, louse," he strains. Even Yako can hear the pain in his voice. "Well? GO!"

With a quick nod, Yako looks for a quick pair of shoes and rapidly makes her way for the counter as Neuro recovers. As the monotonous beeping of the price-tag scanner goes, Yako ponders. One, how long is Neuro going to stay like this? Two, was he really weak compared to the present day?

-Author's Note-

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