★ I THINK HE KNOWS ★
DOG-LIKE BEAST

              yunai knew that falling in love was going to be hard for her. Not only because she was a little shy and her voice so quiet like she was afraid to talk. She was not a human. Not really. She had fox like ears who matches her hair really good, but she also had a big, fluffy fox tail. It wasn't that she hated the fox side of her. It was just that she had never learned how to deal with the glances from the normal people.

She could still remember how other children had teased her back then. And even as ridiculous as it was, she still had to think about it sometimes. So you can say that her self-esteem and her self-confidence were almost non-existent. She thought the way she looked no one could ever fall in love with her. But that was just problem number one.

Problem number two was probably much worse. Yunai worked for Sango from the Bantan Sango detective agency. She liked her job there, even though she was much more of an assistant than a detective. And this is where we come to problem number two. Shikanoin Heizou. He was, so to speak, Sango's archenemy, but he was exactly what made Yunai's heart beat so fast.

She knew he was full of himself. She knew that he thought he could do everything better than anyone else. She knew he was a little asshole, but his smile made her forget all that. Besides, these were all things that Sango claimed about him. Maybe he was actually completely different. Maybe he could be completely different around people he liked. But even if not. Even if he was sarcastic and a bit of an asshole to the people he liked, she still liked him.

It wasn't just his smile that she liked. Yunai definitely had a weakness for his dark red hair. She would love to run her fingers through it. She also liked his eyes. Every time she saw him while he was talking about his case and came to a new realization, they lit up pretty.

And then there is his voice. Yunai couldn't describe it, but she loved listening to him! Even if they had only exchanged a few sentences. Firstly because Yunai ran away when he was close, which in turn had several reasons. And on the one hand because she often sat right here behind the counter.

Yunai was sitting behind the counter sorting through the new cases when the door opened and a light breeze blew in. It was definitely another new, potential customer.

»I'm sorry, Sango isn't here yet, but I'll be happy to note your request.« She raised her head and stopped breathing. She couldn't run away. She couldn't hide. She had to endure being around him. What was he doing here? He was never here!

A grin crossed his lips. He leaned against the counter. And Yunai couldn't help but find his pose attractive. »Don't you feel bored?« She had no idea what to say. Her first reaction was to look around frantically. »Relax, your boss is not around. Do you really think I would come in here if she were around?«

No. As already said, the two were sworn enemies. Which made his appearance even stranger. »I have no idea why you would even come in here.«

»Well, because of you my dear sweetflower.« Sweetflower. Yes, she felt herself getting warm and her cheeks coloring. Her fox ears tilted downward, like a shy dog. And of course, like every time, a flower popped up in her hair. That was one of the biggest reasons why she always ran away from him.

It wasn't enough that she was shy. That you could see how she felt by her ears and fox tail. No! Her vision also had to be going crazy and constantly sprouting flowers.

»I have a few questions for you.«

»Q-questions, for me?«

Heizou was still grinning. He nodded and pulled out a picture. »You know this person, don't you?«

Yes. Yunai had only written down her request yesterday and Sango had only started working on the case yesterday afternoon. »I'm not allowed to talk about our customers.«

»See, that's why I asked if you bored.« Heizou put the picture back in his pocket. »You're not allowed to talk about Sango's customers, you're not working on the cases. All you do is sit here and charm everyone with your pretty face.« Pretty face. Her face was sure bright red. And another flower popped up. It sprouted straight from the counters as if it had always been there.

Heizou smiled. He plowed the flower and smelled it. »I mean, I'm as happy as probably everyone else to see you here, but I think you can do a lot more.«

»Well, I do feel bored sometimes,« Yunai muttered as she realized what Heizou was trying to do here. He flirted with her to get information! »But you still don't get any information from me.«

»And I was so close!« Heizou chuckled a little. »You were even blushing, what by the way was pretty cute.«

Yunai felt her heart start to beat. Always faster. She had to pull herself together. He had certainly done this to many others. »So if you'll excuse me, I'm busy.«

She stood up from her chair and picked up the stack of new cases. She turned away from him and walked towards the door that led to Sango's office. She was about to step in, but she still noticed his presence. Yunai turned to him and caught him looking at her. She felt uncomfortable. She hated it when people examined her fox side like that. Her cheeks turned red again and her foxtail bowed shyly to the ground.

Heizou responded immediately. He smirked. »Just tell me one thing, sweetflower, please.« She knew that he was just trying to get to his goal with his nicknames, his grins and his talk, but it was difficult for her not to help him. »Did Sango take this woman's case?«

Yunai nodded. But from his reaction, she knew immediately that this was exactly the information he needed. Heizou smiled. He even bowed slightly. »Thanks.«

And then he left. Yunai was so confused, she didn't even notice when she turned away to go into Sango's office that Heizou stopped in the doorway and looked after her. That he smelled the flower again and a smile appeared on his lips. She had no idea exactly how much she had helped him. She could only hope it wasn't too much. Sango would then surely terminate her and then Yunai would have a new problem.

»My day has already started terribly, so please don't have bad news for me too.« Sango. She came through the door and Yunai could only hope that Heizou wasn't around anymore.

She came out of the office and pointed to the new cases she had just placed on Sango's table. »Just a few new cases.«

»Good! His stupid grin was enough.« Yunai raised her brow. So she had seen him. And he had grinned. Yunai had the urge to tell Sango that she had probably helped him, but then she continued talking. »It had nothing to do with a case, then he grins differently,« she said. »It seemed like he was really... happy, almost like he was in his own world, weird.«

»Happy?«

Sango crossed her arms. »You know! The way you look when you've talked to someone you like or something like that.«

Yunai knew that Sango was a good judge of people. But Heizou? He might as well have faked it. »You could tell by his smile?«

»I'm a good detective, but I didn't think he'd like anyone other than himself.«

Yunai was sure that Sango only thought so badly of him because they were both detectives and therefore competitors. And she was sure that Heizou also liked someone who wasn't himself. But that he liked her? No. He hardly knew her. He must have been grinning so much because she had helped him.

And again she had the urge to confess to Sango, but then the woman from Heizou's photo came running in frantically. »It was a dog-like beast!« was the first thing she said.

»You mean half-human half-animal, like Yunai.«

»I'm not a dog beast,« Yunai murmured. »I-i'm a fox.«

The woman shook her head. »I did some research, talked to a few others and their men feel the same way. They said they saw a dog-like beast!«

Yunai had already found her new customer strange yesterday, but today... today she was even stranger. First she told them that her husband had changed after training in a secret military base. Then she babbled something about things only he saw and now about a dog-like beast.

»These men were in the same unit as yours?« Sango asked.

The woman nodded. »Under the leadership of Kujou Sara! You have to talk to her, she probably saw something too!« Sango just sighed. »What?«

»She won't talk to us, the Tenryou Commission has its own detective agency,« Yunai explained. »If Kujou Sara saw something, she will talk to... that's why he was here!«

Sango quickly glanced at her. »He was here?«

»He showed me a picture of her and asked if I knew her, I nodded and that was it! I didn't say anything else, well I said a few other things, but nothing related to the case!«

»When he was here, Kujou Sara already talked to him. He's working on the same case as us.« That made sense. »She won't allow us to go into that military base.«

The woman looked disappointed. She looked like she was hoping they would all work together now. »But I need to know what's going on with my husband.«

»I understand that and we will do our best. We can work with the information, but you should go home now and take care of your husband,« Sango said understandingly. »We'll let you know when we know more.«

Her customer nodded. She didn't look completely at peace, but she went anyway, hoping that Sango would have gained new insights in the morning. »A dog-like beast,« she murmured. »Ever heard of something like that?«

»No, but maybe it's just Itto having fun.«

»If it was just Itto, Kujou Sara would hardly have told Shikanoin about it.« She crossed her arms. Sango always did that when she thought. »Men see things that no one else sees, a secret military base, Kujou Sara talked to a detective and a dog-like beast... sounds pretty absurd.«

»Sounds like some kind of poison.«

     »Poison?«

Yunai shrugged. »Well, only the men from Sara's unit see this creature and she herself seems to have seen something too. Maybe there is some kind of poison in the old military base.«

Sango began to nod slowly. »Or gas. If we knew what kind of poison it was we could help the men.«

»But we can't get into the base.«

»But you can find out more about what poisons cause something like that.« She glanced at the clock and then looked back at Yunai. »You like reading, you can go to the little library and look for information in peace.«

»Since when did you let me work on the case?«

Sango snorted. »The case isn't particularly exciting, but I have to solve it. So, as my assistant, you can take on the task that I'm too good for.«

Yunai was happy to have a job, really! But basically Sango only gave her this task because she didn't feel like looking for poisons in old books. She was too lazy to spend days with books and dust. Great. But Yunai nodded anyway. After all, Sango was her boss.