Hey guys, I've edited this chapter and the following ones with the amazing help of Sasusakui. So, I hope you like them better.
Bleach characters are property of Tite Kubo.
The Panther
Chapter 1: One more case.
Karakura city had been bewildered by a series of murdered women. The victims had no apparent relation, except that they all lived in the same area. That certainly narrowed the chances of finding the culprit, but it was like searching inside of a dark room.
Within two months, six women had been killed. Their disappearance was reported from home, school or work, and the next day they had been found in different parts of the city with three cuts on the throat from ear to ear. The wound seemed to be made by an animal with sharp claws, and since the police received calls where they had seen the suspect dressed in all black, the media had nicknamed him "The Panther".
"I understand perfectly, sir…yes…of course…I'll call you back." Isshin hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair after loosening up his tie.
Captain Kurosaki was on the verge of desperation. For a while now, they hadn't gotten any leads that could bring them closer to the Panther. They couldn't figure out the connection between the victims nor the reason for being chosen by the killer. The mayor of the city was pressuring him for results or he would be forced to get the FBI involved.
Isshin sighed then dialed a number and waited on the line.
"Yes, detective? I have a case I need to resolve and I need your immediate assistance…yes…please come by my office as soon as you can, we'll discuss the terms later. I appreciate it, see you then." He hung up.
Ichigo walked in with a pile of expedients under his arm. He had heard his father's brief conversation.
"So you called her after all."
"Desperate times require desperate measures." Isshin replied.
"Are you sure she can handle it this time?"
"She's my best choice and the best detective I know. She'll be helpful even if she can't solve it."
Grimmjow walked in a cafe and asked the barista for a black coffee. The day was cold and rainy so a hot cup of coffee suited the weather fine. He had to constantly adjust the collar of his leather jacket to protect himself from the harsh air. Outside, people walked by without even noticing their surroundings. They looked like programmed machines.
His eyes swept over the establishment and eventually landed on a brunette. Her face was buried in books and notes, which made Grimmjow guess that she was a student. He couldn't guess her age though. The girl was beautiful. She was wearing a long sleeved blouse and jeans, nothing too showy, but girly enough. She put her hair in a bun and looked up the moment she felt observed.
Their gazes crossed for a millisecond before Grimmjow looked away and out the window. That was close.
The waitress offered him a wide smile while she refilled his cup. She leaned forward more than necessary and then walked away, swaying her hips.
Slut.
Grimmjow's appearance always caused him troubles and nuisances of that kind. Women turned to stare at him from head to toe blatantly. Some even winked or moved like that waitress to get his attention. They were all the same. That's why he would kill them all, one at a time till the city was clean of the scum.
The girl with the glasses finished her orange juice and put her things in her bag. The waiter approached her to remove the dishes and Grimmjow saw she left a generous tip.
"See you later, Hanataro."
"See you later, Nanao." the boy replied.
Nanao walked out the cafe and ran to the bus stop. Grimmjow slowly finished his coffee and walked home after paying.
Inoue ran to her car while protecting herself from the cold rain. It was barely noon and the streets were flooded. People went from one side to the other with umbrellas or raincoats in hand. She was headed to a nearby police station herself, as was asked of her.
It had been a few months since Captain Kurosaki had called for her help. She knew that only happened when the case showed no progress and the mayor was involved.
From all the murder cases she had taken so far, there were none that she hadn't resolved. Some with more victims than others, but all of them ended with the capture or death of the killer.
From what she had seen in the media, they would surely assign her The Panther case. She had read that morning that the sixth victim had been found in a cellar underneath a store the outskirts of the city. The owner, Urahara Kisuke, had been interrogated, but in vain. He was innocent. In the cellar he kept boxes of deliveries and merchandise and discovered the body around ten at night. There were no more details about the girl's death and that meant the police had nothing else.
She parked on the sidewalk across the street and then walked in the police station and headed to the captain's office.
"Detective Inoue." Isshin greeted her when she walked in.
"Hello, captain Kurosaki."
"You already know my son, Ichigo, and Ishida."
"Good afternoon, gentlemen." Inoue said.
Ichigo and Uryuu greeted her back as she closed the door.
"I assume you know what the case is." Isshin stated, looking for the files on his desk.
"The Panther case." Orihime replied, sitting on the front chair.
"As much as we check the files and the crime scene, we didn't find anything." Ichigo said.
Orihime stared at him from head to toe. He was leaning on the door, arms crossed.
"Your tone of voice denotes mediocrity and nothing else." she replied looking back at the files Isshin handed her.
Ichigo blushed and Isshin shook his head in disapproval. Sometimes his son didn't know when to keep quiet.
Ichigo was embarrassed over Inoue's comment. It was true they hadn't her cleverness, but it seemed unfair she said something like that, implying that they were a bunch of useless people who hadn't been able to solve a case she'd close weeks ago.
Since the moment he met Orihime a year ago, he felt that she was an amazing woman and had witnessed it after seeing her in action. However, next to her, Ichigo was only a noob. They both were the same age, but experience was what mattered. She had learned in the streets and experienced several cases at first hand regardless of the consequences, while he only pushed paperwork without getting his hands dirty. He decided that he would put an end to that. His involvement in the near future would garner Inoue's and his father's approval.
Orihime read over the files in silence, only interrupting her analysis to make one or two comments.
"It's one of those cases where the killer seemingly doesn't have a pattern to choose his victims." She said.
"So it's going to be really hard to protect people since we don't know how he chooses them." Ishida exclaimed.
"I said 'apparently'. They all follow a pattern, although some do it unawares. It's obvious that the victims are all women and live in the same area. It's hard to know who and why. Hair color? Body type? Age? Until now we only know that the youngest one was fifteen and the oldest was twenty-five. The rest are different, the next victim could be older or younger, we don't know."
"Damn it, if only we had a clue." Ichigo said.
"Here's what we know, the time of disappearance of all the victims were between three in the afternoon and nine at night," Orihime looked at the autopsies results, "and the death time varies from five to ten at night, which tells us…"
The three of them remained quiet. They didn't know what to say. Orihime sighed.
"That our killer has all afternoon free."
The three of them nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, even if they didn't notice it before.
"What about the killer's profile? Do you have an idea?" Ishida asked.
"It's a complicated process. With the information I have now, the results will be very basic. I still need more time." Orihime replied.
"My god," Isshin covered his face in despair, "it doesn't seem we're getting any closer to catching the bastard."
"Well, that's why you called me, isn't it?" Orihime replied with a smirk.
"Anything else?" Ichigo asked.
"I'm just starting, agent. I'm gonna need more time to read and organize all of this."
She stood up and headed to the exit with the files. However she turned to Isshin beforehand.
"I'll call you as soon as I get something. We can meet at your house or mine. I wouldn't wait until tomorrow, we can't waste any time."
"Alright. My place at seven." Isshin said.
"I'll be there. Have a good afternoon."
Orihime walked out leaving them with more questions than answers, but with a hint of hope they hadn't felt in several weeks.
Grimmjow arrived at the building where he lived and he was soaking wet. He liked rainy days, it was as if the sky was crying for no reason.
He took a newspaper from the stand outside of the building and read the headline.
"The Panther attacks again."
The Panther…it seemed like the nickname fit him just fine. He liked it, as that was what he was precisely: a predator stalking his next victim.
"It seems like that miserable lot can't get enough." The old man in the stand said, staring at him.
Grimmjow hastened to hide his smile.
"So it seems." He answered dryly.
He paid for the newspaper so he could read it later. He felt like a celebrity. If only he could shout to the four winds that he was the killer. He wondered what the reactions of the old man and the people passing by at that moment would be.
No. Not yet.
He walked in the building and went upstairs to the fourth floor, delving in his murders. A woman walked out of her apartment just two doors ahead and approached him.
"Grimmjow, good afternoon." She greeted him with a smile.
It was Tatsuki Arisawa, a teacher of a karate dojo. Grimmjow surmised she was going to the training right now. She had lived there over a year or so and Grimmjow never liked her. He knew she was a strong woman who knew how to defend herself. If he tried to kill her, it would cost him a lot of work. And he didn't like that. He liked to subdue women to make clear who was stronger and in charge, but he had to admit that watching them resisting was also exciting. Always groaning and screaming for help till their last breath, or till the knife cut their vocal cords and they were unable to utter another sound other than a drowned gurgle.
Someday, he thought. Someday I'll cut your fucking throat just like I did with the other bitches.
But he replied "Good afternoon" instead.
He entered his apartment and locked the door. It was always better not to take the risk, after all, it was time to plan his next murder.
Orihime had completely forgotten to take a lunch break. Since she came back home to the police station, she had concentrated on reading the files. There were a lot of interesting things about them that the police had overlooked. She took a pen and a notebook and began to enumerate all that seemed relevant. Firstly, dates and characteristics of the disappearances of the victims. It was crucial as a start.
First victim: Momo Hinamori. Eighteen years old, brunette, thin, beautiful. Missing on a Monday afternoon on her way home from school. Next day she was found dead around eight at night in an industrial park.
Second victim: Isane Kotetsu. Twenty-two years old, silver hair, tall, thin and beautiful. Missing outside of the cafe where she worked on a Thursday night. She was found next day at ten at night near an elementary school in the area.
Third victim: Soi Fong. Twenty years old, black hair, thin. Missing on a Tuesday on her way home from her ballet class around nine at night. She was found next day at seven under the river's bridge.
Fourth victim: Rangiku Matsumoto. Twenty-five years, blonde, beautiful, school teacher. Missing on a Monday at six in the parking lot of the school. She was found next day at eleven at night in the parking lot of the mall.
Fifth victim: Yachiru Kusajishi. Fifteen years old, pink hair, thin and pretty. Missing on a Friday on her way home around nine at night. She was coming back from the city fair after meeting her friends. She was found behind the junkyard next day at ten.
Sixth victim: Rukia Kuchiki. Twenty-one years old, black short hair, beautiful and thin. She was coming back from the university on a Wednesday at three. She was found the next day in the store of Urahara Kisuke at ten o'clock.
Once Orihime analyzed this more thoroughly, she stood up and looked around her apartment. She was stuck and had no idea where to start.
Calm down, she thought. It's only the first day and you've already made some progress.
She took the notebook again and began to compare the cases. The first thing she noticed was that the disappearances were from Monday to Friday, until now there were no missing reports during the weekends, and that was important. Then she saw that among the victims there were three students, a waitress, a ballet dancer and a school teacher. All the girls had different features regarding their hair color, height and body type, but the common denominator was beauty and thinness.
If he only chose beautiful girls it might lead one to believe it was about sexual desire, but none of the victims were sexually abused. So what drove him to act? Or maybe he is a she? Orihime thought.
The fact that all of the victims were thin supported this theory. Women tend to have less strength than men, so it would be normal that her target would be easy to carry and handle.
She sighed and leaned on her couch. It was pointless to keep running through the matter without the fundamentals. Her sixth sense told her that he was a young man, but she couldn't solve this case based on a hunch. She had to check every detail in order to work on the profile and find the killer.
To be continued…