This fanfic is based on the awesome novel In Too Deep by Ronica Black. I highly recommend it! It's a great crime mystery/lesbian romance story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mai-Otome characters and I certainly don't own the novel that this fanfic draws from.
Oh, and a word of warning: In this fic, Chie isn't quite the good-natured, laid-back woman she usually is portrayed as…
A ten year old girl stood impatiently with one hand on her hip. "Hurry up, Onee-chan!" she playfully nagged. With the other hand, she bounced a basketball up and down on the pavement as she waited. The sound of the ball hitting the ground was the only noise in the empty parking lot behind the abandoned set of warehouses.
Another girl, slightly older than the first, was intently focused on the pair of glasses held in her hands. Her agile fingers twisted the wire-rimmed spectacles carefully, trying to re-align the lenses that had been bumped from their frames during the two girls' outdoor game.
Finally fixing the stubborn glasses, the elder girl held them up triumphantly for her green-haired sister to admire her handiwork, smiling as they glinted in the late afternoon sunlight. Then, with an elaborate flourish and a very self-satisfied grin, she put them back on over her own soft chocolate eyes.
Flicking a stray lock of charcoal hair out of her face, the twelve year old motioned for her younger sister to pass the basketball and continue their game. The buildings on the outskirts of the small town had been unused for most of their lives, and almost no one ever came to the remote parking lot. It was a great place for the two girls to come and play when they just needed to get out of the house they'd been living in with their aunt ever since the death of their parents.
As they played, shooting the large orange ball at the makeshift hoop they'd constructed, a lone truck pulled into the empty lot. The old, dirt-stained vehicle stopped a short distance from the two girls who had stopped their game and now stared at it curiously.
The driver's side door opened and out stepped a middle-aged man with greasy dark hair wearing faded jeans, stained wifebeaters, and a very oily smirk.
"Well well, what do we have here?" His voice carried an annoying singsong tone as he addressed the two girls. "You girls shouldn't be out here all alone so far from town, where no one can hear you scream. Someone dangerous might show up…" The man slid a hand into his back pocket and his smirk slowly widened.
The twelve year old with glasses stepped protectively in front of her younger sister. "Are you lost?" she asked the stranger, trying her best to sound confident and unafraid, although a mounting sense of alarm was building in her gut. A cold feeling gripped her heart.
He ignored her and took a few steps closer, bringing his hand up to brush at the cheek of the green-haired girl hiding behind her Onee-chan. "Well, ain't you a pretty little thing."
Suddenly very frightened, the girl with short black hair yelled, "Get away from her!" She shoved him back with her hands, though her frail, childish body was not strong enough to topple him over.
The man's twisted grin vanished and was replaced with a snarl once he regained his balance. He hissed angrily. "Fine then! I was going to play nice but it looks like you want it rough!"
With that, he backhanded the dark-haired girl across face, sending her to the ground with a cry. Then he grabbed the now terrified ten year old, who screamed and flailed wildly at her attacker.
Her head still spinning from the blow, the older sister pulled herself to her feet again and dove at the man, pummeling him with her fists and feet in a desperate attempt to fend him off.
She was no match for the much larger person, though, and he shoved her roughly to the ground once more. Before she could get up again, his booted foot made contact with her head in a vicious kick.
The man dragged the still shrieking green-haired girl over to his truck, tossing her into the car like a sack and slamming the door. Spitting at the dark-haired girl lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, he climbed into the truck and drove off, the truck's wheels kicking up a gust of dry dirt fragments.
"Tomoe…" the twelve year old groaned weakly. Blood from her injury matted her short black locks and started coursing down her face. Darkness closed in around her as she passed out, her glasses falling to the pavement and shattering.
...Fifteen years later...
One might not think that a young woman walking into a morgue would have much reason to be excited, yet Detective Aoi Senou was definitely excited. She was nervous and apprehensive, too, but mostly eager.
The twenty-five year old detective had just been assigned to a new case, one outside her usual field of expertise. She normally worked in the Narcotics department of her home city's police force, devoting her time to gathering the evidence needed to bring drug dealers to court. However, this assignment involved a very different crime.
Murder.
Three murders, actually. Aoi was unclear on most of the particulars of the case, but she knew that three similar men had been murdered in the exact same fashion within a few weeks of each other. After being transferred to the Homicide department, her first order had been to meet up with the other two detectives who would be working this case with her. She had been called down to the morgue to get a glimpse of the most recent victim.
The pretty young woman flipped her brown hair over her shoulder, the long braid falling almost to the small of her back. She progressed down the building's empty hallway, glancing at the signs outside each door along the corridor. Once she reached the room she had been told to come to, the blue-eyed woman pulled open the heavy door and stepped in.
Her two colleagues were already waiting for her, standing beside one of the metal tables used for autopsies and displaying corpses for the coroners to inspect. At the moment, a white cloth covered what Aoi assumed to be the body of the third victim in the string of killings.
Both women glanced up as the brunette entered the room. Another reason Aoi had been excited to work on this case was that it would reunite her with her former classmates from the academy. Juliet Nao Zhang and Mai Tokiha had graduated top of their class along with Aoi, and the latter had been roommates with the blue-eyed woman.
She greeted them happily. "Heya, Mai-chan, Nao-chan!" Mai returned her smile and the other short-haired redhead standing next to her gave a nod of recognition. Although the three worked in different departments, they had still met up fairly regularly for karaoke parties during the past three years and kept in touch through emails and phone calls. It seemed somewhat macabre that such a pleasant meeting be brought about by the deaths of innocent people.
"Glad to see you," Mai said, "But maybe we can save the catching up until we're somewhere more comfortable."
Aoi nodded in agreement; she wanted to hear all the information about the case and get straight to business as soon as possible.
Nao gestured to the body atop the table. "This is victim number three. Name is Sergei Wong, fifty-two year old businessman native to the city." The green-eyed detective pulled back the white cloth covering the corpse, and Aoi involuntarily let loose a gasp of horror.
The man was covered in dried blood from his waist to his knees, and his genitals had been mutilated, presumably with some sort of blade. His wrists bore purple welts from being tightly bound. Even in death, his face seemed twisted in agony.
Her blue eyes dropped to the bloody shreds that had once been the man's groin and she had to look away, feeling bile rise in her throat. Aoi had seen some truly violent acts during her previous undercover cases, but never anything like this. Such a murder seemed so brutal and vicious… not to mention that the killer had done this to two other men already – that the police knew about, at least.
Nao continued her flow of information as if Aoi had remained silent. "His naked body was dumped near the edge of the woods outside town. Some hiker found him while out for a morning walk yesterday. He was completely bare, but the killer had deliberately stuffed the guy's wallet with his driver's license into his mouth after he died. He or she was obviously trying to flaunt the victim's identity rather than conceal it, and robbery is out of the question since no cash or credit cards were removed."
"The coroner tells us the guy was injected with some form of horse tranquilizer and then tied up with nylon cords around his wrists and ankles," Mai put in, "Then he was stabbed and slashed repeatedly in the groin. The tranquilizer would have rendered him immobile but there wasn't enough to knock him out, so he was probably conscious during the mutilation."
Well, that explained the agony on the man's face, Aoi realized with a wince.
Nao finished off the gruesome tale. "Eventually he bled to death and then the body was dumped. The gals down at Forensics tell us they can't find a single hair, skin particle, or even a clothing fiber that could indicate who is responsible. Whoever did this knew what they were doing and went to great lengths to ensure they wouldn't be caught."
Aoi's brow furrowed. "But if the killer didn't want to be found out, why dump the body so carelessly and leave the man with nothing but identification? Are they trying to make it easier for us? Or maybe just gloat?"
"We have no idea yet," Mai said ruefully. "All three men were murdered in the same way, and none had any clues on them that could point to a culprit."
Aoi's other former classmate eyed her up and down with appraisal. "Why exactly are you here? I thought you worked in Narcotics, busting drug dealers or something."
"They told me I was assigned to this case to go undercover..." Aoi shifted her stance uncertainly. That little tidbit was all her superior officers told her. They had been extremely sparing with details, but gave assurances that she would receive a full briefing on the case and its suspects from the other detectives once she was transferred to Homicide.
"Undercover?" Nao arched a slender eyebrow, glancing at Mai after a moment of contemplation. "Hallard?"
Mai nodded grimly and the green-eyed detective crowed with cruel laughter. "Shit, Hallard will eat this pretty little girl alive before she even knows she's on the menu."
"Who's Hallard?" Aoi asked Nao with a frown, wondering what could possibly be so funny about a criminal investigation involving serial murders.
It was the other redhead next to her who answered. "Chie Hallard. She's our main suspect – our only suspect, actually – in these murders."
Now it was Aoi's turn to lift her eyebrows. A woman was responsible for these grisly homicides? She was not so innocent that she believed women were not capable of the same violence men were, but still… This killing seemed like an act of such extreme rage and personal hatred toward the victim. And if the other two murders had been conducted in the same fashion, it meant they were dealing with a very disturbed individual. She had never seen anything like it on her other cases.
Nao elaborated on the busty detective's explanation, though a corner of her mouth was still quirked upwards. "We can't think of anyone else with a motive or the guts to murder these guys, but we haven't found all the evidence necessary to put Hallard on trial yet."
"So I'm going undercover to find some incriminating evidence? Or even to just befriend Hallard-san and trick her into a confession?" That didn't sound too different from what Aoi usually did on Narcotics assignments, though admittedly she'd never dealt with criminals of this type before.
Despite the fact that she only graduated from the academy three years ago along with the other two women, Aoi had already proven herself to be a skilled police officer. She specialized in undercover missions, assuming a fake identity and getting close to the high-profile criminals suspected of drug trafficking. Truth be told though, the supposedly terrifying street lords were nothing more than coke-addled idiots willing to brag openly about their deeds in exchange for some flirty behavior or a few kisses. It had been easy to inveigle a confession from them while wearing a concealed wire – thereby obtaining the evidence necessary to put the bastards behind bars.
At least on this case she would not have to seduce the suspect, though. Aoi was a dedicated cop, willing to do almost anything if it meant that truly heinous criminals were brought to justice, but thankfully she never had to take it further than kissing on any of her previous assignments. She was glad that for once she would be more than just a piece of eye candy wearing a tiny microphone; she wanted a difficult case that would truly test her ability as a detective.
Nao started laughing again. "Befriend her? Damn, they really didn't tell you anything about this case, did they?" Her catlike smirk had returned in full.
Finally getting frustrated, Aoi snapped at her. "Would you quit being an ass and just tell me what's going on, Nao-chan?" The redhead only kept snickering.
Mai cleared her throat nervously, cheeks slightly pink. "Well…Chie Hallard is, uh…"
"She's a lesbian," Nao supplied. "A real player, too. Her conquests must be in the triple digits by now."
Aoi's blue eyes widened. Not in surprise at the revelation of the suspect's sexuality – she had met and worked alongside many gay people during her life, although she herself was not so inclined – but rather in embarrassment at her own naivety.
The brunette felt like slapping her forehead as she mentally berated herself. How could she have been stupid enough to let herself believe that this assignment would be different from all the others? She had fooled herself into thinking that she would actually be needed on a case for more than just her pretty face and her ability to bat her eyelashes at scumbags. But no, again she was to be used as a juicy piece of bait for the suspect to drool over.
She sighed. "Well, I guess that's what I'm good at… Besides, it cannot be very different from flirting with drug dealers, although I've never had to get close to a female suspect before."
Mai rubbed the back of her head slowly. "Chie-chan is not your usual run-of-the-mill criminal. And if we are correct in thinking that she's been murdering people… well, that makes her even more dangerous. Don't underestimate her."
Aoi's ears perked up in curiosity despite her friend's somber warning. "'Chie-chan'? Do you know her personally, Mai-chan?"
The lavender-eyed woman blushed again when she realized her slip. Nao's lips twitched as though she was about to burst into laughter again.
"Uh… let's head back to headquarters and give you a full briefing," Mai said quickly. "I think we've seen enough here." With a last grimace at the corpse on the table, the fiery-haired detective carefully replaced the white cloth that covered the body.
Aoi stared at the cloth-draped mound, the sickening image of the mutilated victim still burned onto her mind's eye. She gulped nervously. All her previous excitement about the case was now completely gone. Seducing another woman, one possibly capable of extremely brutal acts of violence, not to mention trying to find evidence without said dangerous woman catching on to her game…she had never been involved in anything like this before.
Was she getting in over her head?
Please drop me a line and let me know how the story's sounding so far, even if it's just: "Yay, Tomoe got abducted. I hate that psycho bitch!" (lol Tomoe gets so much hate from the fans, seriously.)
Updates will probably be sporadic and interspersed with a couple of oneshots that I have in the making.
