The investigation continues and we get a view into an adverse amount of perspectives. 

A/N: P.O.V's between Makomo and Sabito will shift every chapter, you'll be able to tell easily though. Mostly because Sabito is so much fun to write.

-linebreak-

Maybe he knew that would happen, maybe he knew that he would get kidnapped and he didn't tell her. That's why he made that grand gesture before he left, he knew this would happen.

Or maybe he knew in advance, that's why he wanted me to get off the case so it wouldn't happen.

Maybe she's just assuming things, she's always had a tendency to overthink things. Or maybe he knew, maybe he just wanted her not to suffer through this and if she had quit the case none of this would happen and once again, it's all her fault. "Please... Come back..." But no matter how hard she cries, she knows that it won't be enough to bring him back.

-linebreak-

Uzui looked at both of us then shifted his weight onto one foot, placing a hand on his hip opposite to the side the weight was distributed to. He raised his brows at us. "So you're Tomioka's friends?" Makomo just glared at him, it was very tempting honestly but I didn't. "Can't say I'm surprised,"

"Can say I'm surprised they have someone as flashy as you working here," I extended my hand out to him with what I'm sure was a charming grin. "Name's Sabito, that's my girlfriend Makomo, you gotta hook me up with your tailor sometime, honestly,"

His even flashier grin grew bigger, reaching his eyes, he nodded in some form of acknowledgment. "I see you got some taste man, names Uzui Tengen,"

"Got anything to share about the case you're currently on?" He leans down to meet both of us because my god, he's tall. 

"What's it to you?" Makomo glowered at him and I watched with amusement cause this is going to be beautiful if he says the wrong thing.

"As one of his childhood best friends, ALONG WITH someone who was OFFERED his position before him and as someone who CURRENTLY works here with someone who was also OFFERED his current position I think we're more qualified than you, yeah?" Oh, fuck yes. 

 My main man Tengen holds up his hands in what is probably false surrender and looks at her wide-eyed. "Alright alright, I'm not trying to offend you, just making sure, this case is a high confidential one y'know?"

"What about his intern?" Makomo presses on, ignoring what he said, I look down at her and raise a brow. "What about his interns?" She looks back up at me. "Surely they'll have some interesting input in it," I nodded back, y'see, this is why you date smart people, because when you have no fucking idea what you're doing, then they'll probably have a better one and if they don't then you can make fun of them for it.

"What about his wife?"

"I uh- don't think she's taking questions right now," Makomo crossed her arms, lips pressed into a thin line, another good thing is that she knows when to get straight to the point, or cut in because although yes, buttering up a witness is good which is where I come it, knowing when it's enough is also as important, and I love her for it. My own angle.

Typo included.

"I think I'll be deciding that."

God, I love her.

-linebreak-

It turns out, finding the connection between a spork and a murder case is much harder than one would expect, Shinobu was currently learning that while working together with Muichiro about it. 

"Well is there anything of note either or you said or mentioned when talking with one of the victims or suspects?"

"Well, Giyuu-san did mention something when we were talking to one of the victims," The teen leaned into the palm of his hand which was covered by his fabric sleeve. "Who were you interviewing?"

"The seventh victim, I'm sure of it, that's the last person he interviewed with me before he quit the case," Muichiro braced himself against the table with his hands and leaned forward, tilting his head to the side. "Tell me about it then,"

"Well, I'll start when we first introduced ourselves to her,"

The two were stood outside of an apartment on the third floor of a complex of apartments, it had taken a while to find this specific one with getting confused with the directions but luckily, since they had left early they had made it there on time, now comes time for the introductions. "I'm Shinobu and this is Giyuu, my ex-boyfriend,"

"You've got to stop introducing me like that." He leans forward, and not so quietly says, "I'm her husband,"

"Oh, congratulations,"

"Do you really introduce you two like that?" Muichiro stared at her with a deadpan expression, Shinobu shrugged. "It's a fun way to start a conversation."

"It's a miserable way,"

"Oh, what do you know about being in a relationship? You're a child!" And said child just looked at her with an expression of utter disappointment and said: 

"Enough to know that you aren't as funny as you say you are," Shinobu spluttered, and with a face slightly flushed and practically radiating anger she turned away and crossed her arms, frowning.

"Anyway, back onto the story."

The lady, the victim's wife let them into her apartment, it was a... Nice apartment, although the neighbors were slightly loud there was nothing much of note at it. She led them to the dining table which was shared with the kitchen and brought them two a bottle of water which they both declined, they had some water in the bag she was carrying after all.

"So," Shinobu started off. "I'm sure you already know why we're here, so to cut to the chase can you tell us where this all started?"

"Well, none of this started until he went gambling-"

"He went gambling?" Giyuu intercut raising a brow at her, stiffly she nodded. "Yes yes, me and him tend to go gambling, we take some of the money from both of our checks from our jobs, and every few months we go out and have fun."

"And why didn't you go with him this time?"

"Well-"

"Better question," Giyuu raised a finger. "why would you even waste your money on gambling, it's not like your going to win, donate it to a charity or something actually worth it."  She props up her head on the palm of her hand, quirking an eyebrow at him. "Got a problem with that hon?"

Her husband just leans back in his seat with a sneer, arms folded over his chest. "Many," She waves her hand in a flittering gesture, leaning on both of her hands towards their client. "Ignore him," She said, and with her curiosity not satiated, she pushed on with the conversation. "I assume you either ate on the way there or at the place you gambled at." Their client nodded. 

"More or less, it depends on the weather,"

"So did you eat out that night or what?" Giyuu cut in and the lady glowered at him slightly before turning towards her, expression softening a bit. "Well, as I was trying to say," She gave her husband the stink eye, and Shinobu couldn't help but giggle a bit. "I don't know because his phone was off while he did it, all I know is that I woke up to a call of hearing my husband was murdered, is that satisfactory to you?"

"So it's right to assume that there is no correlation whatsoever between the victims, along with where they were found and sporks?" Giyuu prompted, ignoring the venomous tone the suspect was giving them. In an unintentional gesture, she cups her cheek with her hand, leaning into it as almost starts to tap her lip with her finger. "Maybe they're his signature possibly? I've seen some use branding or carving as one," And her husband just shook his head, lip pursing. 

"No, it's... It's not that," He braced himself against the desk with his elbow, the other fist placed underneath his chin as he stared intently down at the table. "I have this strange feeling it's something else but..." He paused for a few seconds as if the right words would appear on the table and he could pick them up and arrange them to his liking. "I'm not sure what it is, maybe I'll try to think more about and if I somehow figure it out I'll be sure to tell you."

"Not that you have much of a choice in that matter,"

"Um, hello, did you forget about someone?"

"Do you think that the sporks just... Don't matter? And it's there to just throw us off?" Shinobu shrugged at the young boy and then she remembered something... The placement of the sporks was typically odd, scattered around with no real purpose, even missing the hands half the time, leaving indents in the wall as if someone had thrown them...

As if someone had thrown them...

HOLY FUCK-

"Tokito I solved this part of the case!" FUCK YEAH! She thought.

-linebreak-

When Tanjiro searched for his partner, he found him crying. To say he was concerned was an understatement. Quick on his feet, he sat next to his boyfriend and grabbed his hand, he sniffled, squeezing his hand back, he brought him into a hug which feebly, his boyfriend returned. 

"R-right when we were g-going to tell everyone something ba-bad happens... It always happens!" Tanjiro stared at him with confusion swirling in his eye as he braced his hand on his shoulder, frowning. "What do you mean Zen?"

The blonde peaks up at him, shly, "M-maybe we shouldn't be together," then, breaking out of the hug he moves away leaving the redhead shocked. "Wha-no!" Tanjiro moves and grabs his wrist and pulls his back, catching his partner's attention. "No... What would make you think that?" The blonde shy's his eyes away from his. "B...Because!"

"Because what?"

"Because a-anytime we try to tell remotely a-anyone about our relationship so-something bad happens a-and I'm starting to think were causing this, I- !"

"Zen, your panicking, breathe love," Tanjiro instructed kindly, squeezing his hands with an exaggerated movement.

"Right right, breathe, breathe,"

"That's right, just like that, follow me," In a few minutes or so until Zenitsu's breathing promptly slowed down to the rate it was supposed to be and Tanjiro squeezed his hands, giving him a soft smile, though lines of worry dug into his skin nonetheless. "Now you're saying this was caused by us wanting to tell everyone about our relationship?"

Fevrently, Zenitsu nods, "Yes! Anytime we try s-something bad happens!"

"So what?" Tanjiro says while tucking a strand of hair behind his boyfriend's ear. "Maybe our timing is just bad,"

"But... But what if it isn't that?"

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't give up,  I won't let something like that tear us apart,"

Tanjiro presses a kiss between the blonde's brows, pulling back and leaning his forehead against the others. "It's going to be okay," He moves to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. "It'll be okay..." The words are heavy on his tongue, wording the reassurance is hard especially when he doesn't know whether or not it's true.

The reassurance is mostly for himself if anything, he isn't sure what'll happen next, he isn't quite sure if he's even right, they won't tell him anything about it, let alone allow him near his mentor's office, they've taken his computer to see if there's anything of interest to look through and completely cut him off from his own account completely, the same with everyone else.

He angles the blonde to rest his head on his chest, directly where his heart would be, resting his head on his boyfriend's chin he started to rock the two back and forth, Zenitsu acquiesced the gesture and nuzzled into it, hearing the comforting sound of his boyfriend's heartbeat thrum in his ears.

"I... I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight... Can... Can I sleep with you tonight?" Tanjiro just nods at him, tears glimmering in the corner of his eyes, catching onto his eyelashes.

"Happily,"

-linebreak-

"You lay even one finger on Kazanburo and I will personally-" This was not the way to deal with being kidnapped, Giyuu was very aware of that, he was also aware that he had just come dangerously close to getting a spork in his throat but instead ended up in his shoulder, thankfully, he likes having his voice despite how much he doesn't use it sometimes, thank you very much.  

"For someone in your situation, you sure are making some threats you probably won't be able to keep,"

"Besides it's just a bird-"

"Crow," Giyuu corrected and his kidnapper rolled his eyes. "Crow, an old one at that, it's bound to croak eventually,"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!"

"I see why you decorated that bird fountain of yours so prettily."

"You... Liked it?"

"Credit is where credit is do, I'm horrible but not horrible enough to not recognize nice designs and gardening when I see it. You really outdid yourself, pal,"

"I..." Giyuu was actually speechless, what in the world was this interaction he was having? "...Thank you?"

"You're welcome,"

"look, just because I kidnapped you doesn't mean we can't be civil."

Giyuu can only raise a brow, then shrugged. "It doesn't mean I like you, you kidnapped me for god sake,"

His captor swirls in their hands until they move it and catch it underneath his chin, pressing it against the skin yet at the same time not piercing it, then, he moves aground to his side, their breath ghosting his cheek as they grin widely ."Would you rather I do what I plan to do to you to Koko instead?"

He felt something in him snap, hitting his head against his captor as he snarled at them. "Don't you fucking dare!"

His captor just widely grinned at him with naturally white teeth. "Ooooo, I struck I nerve. Exciting~" He clapped his hands together walking around in a circle a few feet away from the chair he was in, rubbing them together, ironically enough how a villain would. "Speaking of Koko, it's been about a day or two since I took you, and I'm getting really impatient so I think I'm going to have to break my terms a little- or change them up a little bit already."

"W..." What the FUCK is he talking about?! "What do you mean terms? I-I was not aware there were terms when you get kidnapped??...."

His kidnapped looked at him with their bright eyes, standing directly towards him, and clasped his hands together in front of him. "Yes, yes there are if not I would have killed you by now," That statement alone shocked Giyuu into silence and he just blinked at them wide-eyed.

"Basically, the terms are every week she stays on the case I break off a finger, but they got changed- WELL, I changed them to every day so you're about to lose like... Three fingers??... Sucks to be you man, honestly... I'm not gonna lie..."

Then his captor left the room, leaving Giyuu alone with his thoughts not for long, however, soon came back with a hammer and a large grin across their face.

"Now let's ACTUALLY see how high your pain tolerance is, the spork was just a jest after all! If you don't pass out from the pain I'll be sure you give you some pain killers if you do, then you don't get any."