Okay, so... uhm... well, I guess that it would be a good thing to introduce myself first, right?
I'm Alexys88 and I'm an italian girl (yeah, english isn't my first language) recently a friend of mine kinda "forced" me to watch Free! and I've fell immediately in love with it! My absolute and favourite pairing is RinHaru/HaruRin.
The idea for this story came to my mind after watching two entire seasons of "The Following", the entire story of the rivarly between Ryan Hardy and Joe Carroll totally intrigued me and gave me the inspiration for this.
While you'll read you'll find a phrase like this one: There's no redemption without blood
This phrase will be the line that points to a slight change of scene, nothing to worry about, you'll find out what I mean while you read!
As I said before, english isn't my first language so please try to bare possible (or maybe "certain", that would be probably the right word *sighs*) mistakes or grammar slips.
Well... what else could I say? I hope that you'll like it! I'll try to be quick in updates! For now enjoy the prologue!
Prologue.
Wrong.
Everything was so damn wrong for both of them.
When they both agreed to join the special department of their police forces they really didn't think that they were going to witness such a terrible show for all these times.
But now both Haruka Nanase and Rin Matsuoka were watching the completely mutilated body of a kid lying on the floor at the center of the living room.
Rin growled lightly in anger while Haru remained completely still, not breaking his usual blank mask as he slowly walked near the little body and knelt near it to check every detail.
The little one was a pure mess. Cuts provoked probably by an hunting knife were tearing his body, showing his organs and his eye sockets were completely empty.
The raven sighed barely at the bitter show and slowly rose himself on his feet. It's been two years now since they both joined the special department, and seven months ago everything started. A series of murders involving children, one every week, and every kid was reduced a total mess like this one.
-This is... not something that someone could do for simple fun, Rin... this looks like... some sort of ritual.-
Rin, at the raven's words, growled lightly in annoyance and quickly looked away from all the blood and flesh mess in front of him.
-I really don't fucking care why he or she's doing that... they were children...- The redhead growled before shaking his head one more time.
Haru, at his words, nodded and slowly moved his hand on the redhead's shoulder, sighing one more time in agreement.
-I know... and this is why we have to arrest him or her as soon as possible... there has to be some kind of clue that helps us, Rin... the least that we could do for these children is find whoever did this to them... and give them the justice that they deserve...-
Rin sighed, Haru was so damn right... but at the same time his words were hurting him, he knew what he had to, he knew that he had to focus to help the raven in their work, but watching all these little bodies was making him burn in pure anger, an anger that he could barely control.
-Don't you agree with me, Rin?-
He flinched at the sound of his boyfriend's voice and quickly turned his head to look at his blue eyes, the eyes that he loved more than his own life, the eyes that always helped him to find some light in what he thought was a sick and dark world.
He nodded weakly and gripped gently the hand on his shoulder before sighing lightly and starting to do what his job wanted him to, together with the raven who quickly knelt near him and started to check every detail of the scene around them.
-The... cuts are always the same... same lenght, at the same places...- Rin noticed, frowning lightly.
-And all of them had their eyes ripped off... almost like if he or she didn't want them to see...-
-Yeah but... what was he or she trying to hide from their sight?-
The raven shook his head, moving lightly to get some blood samples, fingerprints and everything that to him looked strange or something.
-I really don't know, Rin... but for now call the Forensic to do all the exams that we'll need...-
Rin sighed and nodded, getting up and quickly taking his cellphone, this was surely going to be a very long day.
There's no redemption without blood
Haru sighed heavily as he opened the door of his house together with his boyfriend, he put calmly the papers from the forensic on his desk, before slowly walking with him inside their bedroom to get changed.
He calmly removed his suit and quickly changed in only a pair of sleep pants. He watched silently his boyfriend when he sighed heavily and changed in his sleep pants too, he knew for a fact that right now Rin, after today, wanted nothing more than sleep.
It was always like this anytime that they've found the body of a child. He knew what was running right now in Rin's mind, the same feeling that was in his own but he was capable of controlling it more: frustration.
He was tired. Tired of seeing all those little bodies completely destroyed, tired of accepting the fact that the life of those children was completely interrupted so brutally and most of all so early. He really couldn't stand it anymore.
He was going to find this killer, he really couldn't take it anymore.
-I'm going to bed, Haru... are you joining me?-
The redhead's voice took him back to reality, making him blink and look at the sad red eyes of his boyfriend, and shook lightly his head.
-I'm going to check the papers that the forensic gave to us...- He said only while Rin nodded.
He looked away from his boyfriend and walked out from their bedroom. These days were surely the worst for both of them, anytime that they've found a kid they always acted cold and distant with each other, but mostly because they were both completely lost in their thoughts.
Their wish was the same, they wanted to stop all of this.
There's no redemption without blood
4 AM in the morning.
Haru sighed heavily, checking over and over the page, reading every detail, searching with his laptop the files of the old murders, noticing that all of them were mostly the same.
Same time, same method, same massacre.
-You surely can't be perfect... there has to be something that could help us find you...-
If he was talking to himself or the killer in his head he didn't know, but he stubbornly turned his attention back to the pages in front of him and on his laptop.
He wanted to find that bastard, if he or she was really following some sort of ritual then that meant that he had a really little amount of time to find the killer.
According to the forensic report the last kid, the one that he and Rin found today, was killed five days ago, and that was going to mean that he had to find that clue in two days, since every kid was killed in a very short distance of time. One every week.
-Your method is always the same... every week you kill a child... you've reached the number of 29... what does that mean? What is your goal?-
He whispered one more time while he kept looking at the pictures of the crime scene, every detail could have been important to him.
His eyes fell on the picture that showed the phrase written in blood near the child's body.
"There's no redemption without blood"
Always the same phrase, always written in blood, and always written near the children's bodies.
He knew for a fact that the solution of everything was hidden inside this damn phrase, he just needed to focus more on that, to try everything that came in his mind.
He growled barely in frustration and took one more time his laptop, he quickly started to type the words "blood", "redemption" and "ritual" on a web search, trying to find something that could help.
Suddenly a particular link captured his attention and he quickly clicked on it, he read silently what was written inside it. His eyes started to widen slowly while he suddenly gasped in shock. Everything was slowly making sense now, everything seemed almost to go back at his place, fitting perfectly like the pieces of a puzzle.
Everything seemed more than perfect in this way, but before jumping to conclusion he needed to be sure about it, he quickly got up from his chair and started to check every paper, taking even out his map and quickly searching for what he needed.
There's no redemption without blood
-Rin... Rin, wake up...-
He whined barely when the kind voice reached his ears, he moved lightly from the hand that was shaking him and buried his face more into the pillow, trying one more time to fall in that quiet slumber but the hand came back and started to shook him slightly harder.
-Rin... come on open your eyes...-
-Nh... what...?- He whined again, slowly forcing himself to open his eyes and watch tiredly the blue sea that was his boyfriend's ones.
He frowned confused when he saw Haru smile and stroke gently his cheek.
-Haru... I swear to God if you woke me up only to cuddle me I'll kick your ass... you could've done that while I was sleeping...-
He didn't know what was saying right now, but he was more than tired, and when he was tired he was grumpy, and being woken up in the middle of the night surely didn't help.
He sighed lightly when Haru, at his words, chuckled barely and shook his head.
-If I got it right we could save the next child, Rin...-
That phrase alone was enough to make him spread his eyes and sit up immediately. Did he hear right? Haru really found something that could help them catch this damn killer?
-If this is a joke it's not funny, Haru...-
The raven at his words shook his head and got up, smiling lightly at him.
-It's not a joke, come on, follow me...-
There's no redemption without blood
-Okay... we always thought that all of these murders were simply random acts from a sick man or girl, right?- Haru started while Rin followed him and nodded silently at his words, when they reached the livingroom the redhead sit calmly at Haru's desk, waiting calmly for him to continue.
-They weren't random acts, Rin... there IS a scheme in all of this...-
-Haru... you know too damn well how it works between us in our job... my part is "kick their ass and arrest them", yours is "help your boyfriend understand what the fuck is going on"...-
He heard Haru laugh lightly at his sad choice of words, but he really couldn't help it, he was waiting for some kind of explanation and hearing his boyfriend stall like this was even more frustrating than not having a clue of what was happening.
-Okay, try to follow what I'm about to say. Everything started seven months ago, and since everything started every week a child was killed, we foud 29 corpses, so this means that we have two days to find the child before he or she gets killed, right?-
-No shit, Sherlock... I already knew that, you're not helping me now...-
A light slap on his head made him whine and rub the hurt part while he glared at the raven who snorted lightly in return.
-Let me finish before talking... I checked every picture of every crime scene since everything started, and in all of them there was a phrase written in blood near the corpses. "There's no redemption without blood".
He was aboout to talk back again but he bit his own tongue, not really wanting to gain another slap on his head so he forced himself to stay silent to let Haru continue.
-I searched on internet and I've found a ritual that is about an old cult. And this ritual talks about purifying the corrupted souls with unoncorrupted ones.-
He sighed at Haru's words, this was getting harder and harder to understand. He shook barely his head before looking straight in your boyfriend's eyes.
-You're... really not helping me, Haru...-
He watched silently the raven getting up and pointing to a map that was attached to the wall in front of his desk, 29 red circles on it.
-I mean the victims, Rin. The children killed were all children of ex criminals that spent some days, months or even years in prison and that after that were trying to get again their lives. I circled all the houses and checked every family, and in all of them the mother, father or even both were all ex criminals.-
The redhead at Haru's words frowned lightly and tilted a little his head, trying to make the pieces fit together just like Haru did before.
-So... the parents were... the corrupted souls... and their children were... the uncorrupted ones?-
Haru's nod confirmed his question. -An uncorrupted soul connected by blood to the corrupted one, just like the ritual asked...-
-Okay, but this doesn't help us in trying to guess where his next murder will happen...-
He watched the blue eyes shine lightly at his words while again a little chuckle appeared on Haru's lips.
-It does... look at the map.-
-I looked at it, but other than seeing red circles around the houses where the children's bodies were found I didn't find anything else...-
-It looks like that, but... if you connect all the houses... look what happens.-
He watched silently when his boyfriend took a red marker and started to connect all the circles together and slowly, little by little, everything was making sense to him, forcing him to widen his eyes in pure shock.
-No way...- He whispered, not really believing his eyes.
In front of him now, on the map, Haru drew a star, a perfect and shaped star that connected all the houses together.
-And guess what lies at the center of it?- Haru asked at him, still with that little smile on his lips.
-Don't tell me...-
The raven nodded, blocking his boyfriend's words. -I've checked, and at the center of it there is only one house where lives a man who was in prison for robbery but now is living a normal life and is a father.-
At the sudden realization of what his boyfriend succeeded in doing an excited grin appeared on his lip, finally, finally they came to a damn conclusion.
He quickly got up from the chair and hugged his boyfriend so tightly that Haru huffed lightly in discomfort in feeling his own air being cutted off for a second.
-You're a fucking genious, Haru... you're amazing!-
The raven at his words blushed barely and looked away from that grin, huffing barely again.
-It... was nothing, really... only simple logic...-
Rin laughed happily at his words and nuzzled against his boyfriend's cheek, not succeeding in controlling his happiness.
-Don't be like that! It's thanks to you if in two days we can catch this damn bastard!-
Haru sighed lightly, he really wasn't used in receiving all these compliments from Rin. The blush on his cheeks become a little redder while he snorted and pushed weakly his boyfriend away, earning only a light chuckle coming from the redhead.
-Well now... since you finally found out a way that will help us catch that bastard... why don't we celebrate?- He whispered, the sensual tone made Haru's body shudder as he felt the sensual whisper brush his ear.
The blush on his cheek now deepened even more as he tried harder to push his boyfriend away, whining a little in pure embarassment.
-R-Rin! It's... almost five in the morning!-
His boyfriend, at his words, smirked and shrugged, starting to run slowly his lips on his jaw and neck, making him shiver even harder than before.
-So what? You woke me up, and gave me this amazing news... I'm so excited to know that we have a chance to arrest this bastard that surely I couldn't sleep right now... I need to get tired again to be able to sleep... come on... you know you want it too, after all it's been a while, don't you agree, Haru?-
He really couldn't deny that, watching all those corpses and feeling everyday this damn anger and frustration towards a killer it surely wasn't a turn on for neither of them, and right now the excitement of knowing that they could be finally able to arrest him was turning his body ten times more sensitive than before.
He groaned when he felt a light lick to his pulse from the redhead's tongue, this damn seducer, he surely knew how to drive him insane in need in few moves.
-Bedroom then... with all these papers there's enough mess in the living room already.-
Rin grinned and nodded at his boyfriend's words, walking quickly with him inside their bedroom.
He couldn't wait for the next day to come.
And that's the end for now! I hope that you liked it! I'm sorry for anyone who was hoping for some sex scene but right now the M rating is for future chapters, so... well, see you soon! I'm looking forward in reading your reviews! :)