A/N: Remember how I said I was going back to work on all of my old stories, well, that wasn't just me saying that with my thumb up my rear, the only thing was, I didn't want to start posting things up until I plenty of chapters for different things ready. That's why there's been this huge wait on updates for so many things. Finally some stuff is in completion and just needs to be posted up, others, like this story, have over a 40k lead.
Now this story was started back in 2012. It story fell on the backburner because and I felt kind of intimidated it by it. I wasn't good with action type fan fiction. I'm still not very good with it. Now, in 2014, I'm much more willing to look back on this, and work with it again, and I have. Chapters 1 and 2 before totaled over 20k in words alone, and I felt as if that was very messy, due to the way in which the story was told. At the time, it had POV segments and flashback segments mixed in with present time.
I just didn't like the over all look.
With the rewrite, I cleaned that up immensely, but that means that this story underwent several huge changes because of that. The chapter lengths are much shorter, and thusly, more manageable. They're split up appropriately in the mindset of just what type of chapters they are. Don't expect any heavy lemons due to the timeline of this story, but there will be highly suggestive themes through the entire story, crass language, a bit of violence, and plenty of Shiz/Nat standalone scenes.
I don't own Mai HiME/Mai Otome.
Mission Start: Cold Case pt1
"-it's time to grab the towels and picnic baskets. The weather's perfect for the beach. The high today will hover around twenty-nine degrees Celsius, with the sun shining brightly. We're expecting heavy precipitation tonight when showers roll in at around ten this tonight-"
A sweaty figure cursed under her breath as she turned off the car radio. Dressed inconspicuously, she gulped as she gulped as unbuttoned the top few buttons on her white blouse, praying to attract a breeze. Her shirt was sticking to every inch of her, and the smell of her own stench was permeating the very air that she sat in. Stagnate and humid, this was a horrible day for a stakeout.
The blond in question could only curse her luck, as she pulled her curly hair into a bun. She didn't have the luxury to move. Instead, she took a bottle of water, uncapped it, and dumped the entire thing over her head, hating herself for letting the last pack of ice melt over an hour ago.
"How long to I have to sit here in this god damn hell hole?" She hissed through her microphone, as she watched her friend through a set of binoculars, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. It wasn't the most luxurious job, but, she wasn't about to deny the assignment.
"As long as it takes." Her friend's voice returned. "At least you've got shade."
"I'd rather have the breeze." The young woman said, the air was turning sour. "Can't we switch places, Natsuki? I'm dying here."
"Haruka, you really will be dead if I let you up here. We both know you don't have the balance for this." Natsuki was teetering on a narrow tree branch, one wrong move, and she'd fall into the back yard of a place she didn't want to be. "HQ, what's going on?" She murmured quietly, her rifle was equipped with tranquilizer darts. The sedative was heavy enough to last for hours, her orders were simple. Shoot to detain the target, but not to kill him.
"The feds are on their way." Miyu replied from her station back at the safe house. "Keep point until they arrive."
"I'm getting movement on your sixth." Haruka said quickly.
"What is it?" Natsuki didn't move, so as not to lift suspicion.
"I'm not sure." Haruka said. "The grass by the tree is moving, but I don't see anyone from this angle. Might want to adjust your position."
"I hear ya." Natsuki glanced above her. She could climb one branch up, and go over to the left a little and get a view of the kitchen instead of watching the living room. "I'm changing location, see if I'm being followed." She lowered her gun slowly, hoisting herself up, but by the time she did, she regretted it. "Shit. I lost the mark."
"Better find him, pup." Nao replied, having been listening in on the conversation the whole time.
Natsuki's emerald eyes were like that of a hawk, searching mercilessly for her intended mark, and finally she found him. "I've been spotted, target is hiding, but I think I can make the shot." She slowly locked her lips. "Permission to fire?"
"Is the target a risk?" Nao asked quickly, as if contemplating that very idea.
"Unarmed, I think." Natsuki replied. "I've got my laser trained onto his nearest exit, he's backed into the wall."
"Intimidation tactics, Natsuki?" Haruka grumbled. "How low can you stoop?"
"You don't want to know." Natsuki said with a small laugh, her sigh trained on the man. "Really though, who known when he's going to try to pull something over on us." She let a puff of hair out from between her lips. Her black lathers were attracting the sun, and it beat down hard on top off her. "Your call, Nao. What do you want me to do."
Nao sighed. She didn't want to risk the man in question getting away, not when he was a vital suspect. "Take him."
"Rodger that." Natsuki said, taking aim.
A moment later, Nao heard the quiet shot of the tranquilizer gun going off. "Report in…"
"The target has been subdued." Natsuki spoke into her small wiretap that rested at the base of her neck. "No innocents were harmed." She used the sleeve of her leather suit to wick away the sweat collecting on her brow as she remained crouched in the tree. "He's sleeping in the study at the back of the house. There shouldn't be any other interferences."
"The police are just arriving now." Haruka cut in, watching as one of the squad cars pulled up behind her.
"Okay, Haruka. I'll take it from here." Natsuki replied, knowing there was no point for both of them to be miserable. "I'll leave after I sign over custody."
"Affirmative." A monotone voice spoke out. "With all threats neutralized, you may now return back to base at will. We shall be eagerly awaiting your safe arrival. Please see to it that you have a written report on Nao's desk within the week."
"You got it." Haruka said, all too willingly, not feeling any guilt for abandoning Natsuki to finish things on her own.
Natsuki greeted the police, accepting an envelope of bills, and signing over the man she'd shot, giving a brief account of what had happened. It would be written off on the paper work as self defense. Even if that wasn't the case, Natsuki didn't think much about it. As far as she was concerned, it was another piece of scum off the street.
An hour later, and Natsuki was free from her latest mission, and she could consider it a success. "On my way, everything's done on our end." Natsuki said into her microphone while walking to her car. Another job was complete, and she was thankful for that at least. It was one less thing to do. "Tell Shizuru I'll be home in about an hour." Her case load was always full to the brim it seemed.
"As you wish, Kuga." There was a small buzz, and then the line cut out completely.
Natsuki was positive Miyu had nearly bowed her head to the computer screen, but she didn't say anything about it. Instead, with a grimace she turned on her car and let her side of the line go dead as well. The passenger side seat was covered with papers already, and the back seats were covered in empty food containers from lunches. Reaching behind her back, she produced a handgun that she'd hidden under her jacket and sighed, hiding it in the glove box.
"Jesus Christ, I hate stakeouts." It was a total sty, but she didn't let that bother her as she drove through the empty streets. She'd let the car go to hell in a hand basket, as long as it kept her cover from being blown.
When she arrived home, pulling into the several car garage, she found herself resisting the urge to pamper her own transport. She would be most assured to give her own car a proper wash and wax during the weekend when there would be time...then, if she happened to be lucky, she could take her motorcycle out for a joyride...for now though, she entered the apartment building that she had long since called home. It was only a few stories tall, but it had enough living space for most of Nao's team, Natsuki own place one of the largest, and it sat on the top floor of the building.
Natsuki grabbed the metal door handle, and tried to open it. "Huh?" It wouldn't budge. Natsuki rattled the double reinforced door again. Nothing happened. "What gives?!"
"What's the password?" A voice asked as it came through the loudspeaker. It was clear that the woman's humor was barely continued, as she suppressed a snicker between her teeth.
"Let me in, you asshole." Natsuki growled, as she rattled the door again. "I have gasoline in here, don't make me blow the door to hell."
"Hey, it was just a joke, don't get all pissed off." The voice replied, and then the door beeped, indicating it had been unlocked.
"About damn time." The red light changed to green, and Natsuki pushed it open. "Lock me out like that again, and I'll slash your tires."
The safe house looked grungy, but inside really wasn't so bad. In fact it was normal. The first floor had been renovated into offices, and that was her first stop as she dumped all of her paperwork, most of it unfinished for the time being, onto Nao's desk. She needed approval before she could continue with most of it. There was one case however, that Natsuki had been reassigned recently.
It was both a fond memory, and a total headache. Just as a distant smile began to spread across her face, her momentary reflection got thwarted.
"Moolah?" Nao asked, rubbing her hands together.
"Right here." Natsuki said, flipping the thick envelope onto Nao's desk.
"Hey Natsuki." Chie greeted, coming in with a huge mug of hot chocolate, her attire fit for the slums, meaning, she had stayed in house today. In one of her hands she had a small stack of floppy disks, the outdated means of data transfer something both ironic, and startling. The fact that her slippers had a hole in the toe only added insult to the already depressing sight. "Working hard, or hardly working?"
"A bit of both I guess." Natsuki answered, though her eyes were still scanning a few of the pages in the file that she held in her hands.
"Where's Haruka?" Nao asked, as she doled out the payments into equal parts on the desk.
"She was down in the basement..." Chis said with a shrug. The shooting range they had was down there. "Shizuru actually had free time today, so she came down to file away some stuff that we hadn't finished yet. I think she's down in the range too now, something about needing to practice."
"Oh sweet Jesus." Nao shook her head. "I hope Yukino's with them."
"Afraid of a little friendly competition, Nao?" Chie laughed.
"When it involves Shizuru and Haruka, yes..." Nao nodded, as she passed Chie her small sum of money. "It always seems to cause me a headache."
"Shizuru needs to blow off a little steam." Natsuki shrugged. "I think she's not too fond of being cooped up here all day." A glance at Shizuru's desk, neat, and without even a speck of dirt, told Natsuki that her wife had actually been down on the first floor, instead of upstairs. Nothing seemed to be askew, but then again, she knew her wife well. The woman was a perfectionist on all accounts when it came to her job.
Shizuru was a wonderful mother, and a great wife, but she wasn't exactly known for being happy with just that alone. She hated the fact she couldn't be at Natsuki's side for work, and the walls of the safe house became mundane day after day. "If she's in the basement though, where's my daughter?" The basement was one place that was strictly off limits for the toddler.
Chie shrugged. "You know how it is around here...there's only three places she could possibly be, if she isn't with Shizuru." That was the truth too...in many, many ways. Shizuru's protective streak was the cause of many headaches. There were only a small handful of people besides Natsuki that Shizuru actually trusted with their daughter with. Mai and Aoi were at the front of that list. "Though, last I heard, Aoi was in the lounge with Mikoto."
"Please tell me they aren't loading her up on sugar..." Natsuki's mind immediately shuttered at that. "Shizuru will kill me if she catches us awake at three in the morning two times in a row."
"No...I think Mai's with them." The passing remark made them both sigh in relief. "You know how she is."
"Got to love the resident health freak." Natsuki's grouse was in a light, slightly pleasant tone, but the underlying current said everything. "Though, now she's not going to eat dinner either, knowing Mai like I do." Either way, it was better than letting Aoi or Mikoto go on a sugar rampage. "I'm going to take this with me and do the follow up on it...but, the question I have, is why are we reopening this thing?"
"Nao didn't tell you?" Chie spluttered at that, getting up from her chair and sifting through a large pile of memos that had been crumpled in a corner nearby. "Shit, we got a call the other day...the bastard finally talked."
"Reito?" Natsuki asked, now suddenly interested. "What did he say?" She asked turning to Nao.
"Not much." Nao admitted. "We have a full name now, but still not a face." She gave Natsuki her share of the money, and it was much thicker than Chie's portion.
Chie had found the paperwork, and gave it to Natsuki. "Reito gave the name of one of his little friends. Nagi Homura...Reito says that if we want to know how everything really went down, we have to find the guy."
"What about Tomoe?" Natsuki said then.
"We still haven't tracked her down." Nao shook her head with a sigh.
"I'm trying to think positively." Chile explained. "I was hoping if we found one, we might find the other."
"Does Mikoto know about him?" Natsuki asked. "She is Reito's little sister after all, you think she'd know something."
"Half-sister." Chie corrected, slapping another, thicker file into Natsuki's chest. "She knows of Nagi, but she really doesn't know much about how he got involved. She knows his name, and the stuff he dabbles in, but Mikoto has no idea what he looks like, or even if he's worth chasing down. Nao got called from her contact because we're the ones that caught Kanzaki...if we can do that, then they figure we can figure out where Nagi's hiding. They want him behind bars as fast as possible."
The thick case file that had been shoved into her arms was the total compilation of everything from the Kanzaki case...everything she and the others had collected, and built up to formulate one of their best undercover captures in the history of their existence. "You think this will actually be an open and shut type of situation?"
"You get clobbered in the head by someone?" Nao groused back, knowing well that such a thing wasn't even possible. This will probably be just as much trouble as before, if not more so. "Here just take this to the post office, and then we'll be finished with everything today...then you can deal with your happy little family."
Yeah, ands I can actually have my wife for five minutes without all hell breaking loose." Chie agreed.
"Are you kidding, the post office closes in ten minutes!" Natsuki all but bellowed. "I know I'm a speed demon, but that's just a bit much, even for me."
"That's why I'm having you do it." Nao pressed with exasperation. "You're the only one who can get there on time without getting killed." That at least, was true.
Natsuki snatched the tightly wrapped package that she knew was meant to have been taken out earlier. They would have to decrypt the message when they got it, Nao ordered everything to be sent out in very difficult code, and that was why the post office was safe in the first place. Still, dropping her files on her desk and dashing out the door left Chie to straighten the pile, the top paper one of the one most noteworthy.
Case File: Reito Kanzaki.
Age: 25
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 67 kg
Blood Type: B
B/W/H: 85/57/82
Chie didn't bother to read the lengthy report on his arrest. It spanned well over twelve pages, and half of it was nearly common knowledge. Her eyes narrowed at the folder, and she knew there would be no way to reopen this case without the full team there, and that meant putting Shizuru and Natsuki back together in action. Chie sighed, she knew that would be only a little pipe dream, and nothing more. Somehow though, that truth made her stomach turn just a little tighter than she intended.
She closed the file, and left it for Natsuki to deal with, coughing as she did so. "The Kanzaki case…talk about old memories."
"Something making you edgy, Chie?" Nao asked as leaned back in her chair.
"Tomoe…and Nagi…" Chie said sadly, her eyes seeing something faintly in the distance that wasn't really there. "I never exactly put things into perspective, back then. Until my life flashed before my eyes, I was just so interested in every little detail about him. Now I don't even want to think about him." Chie swallowed hard, sipping on the coco in her mug. "Natsuki and Shizuru are made of sterner stuff than I realized."
"I wouldn't say that." Nao laughed, going over to Natsuki's desk. Picking up the old, dusty file. It still plagued their minds like an everlasting poison, one that they simply could lance from within their hearts. "They were pissing themselves too, you know. Hell, we were so dumb, I shouldn't have taken the case."
"Do we really have to open this back up?" Chie asked, thinking it best to leave demons in the shadows.
Lime green eyes hardened at that question, and Nao took the time to blow her red bangs out of her sight, with an upward puff of air. "No." It still boiled her blood though, it made her itchy and restless. "We don't have to do it, but, I want to."
"Why's that?" Chie asked, she could feel the unsettling feeling within the pit of her gut. Nothing good could come from this.
"The bastards got away." Nao growled from low in her throat. "That alone is enough of a reason to go after them."
"What is it with you guys?" Chie said then, leaning heavily on the desk, regarding Nao with a worried expression. "Why can't you leave things well enough alone?"
"Someone like you, Chie, would never understand." Nao said, licking her lips. If she thought hard enough about it, she could still taste the grime of the streets, the sweat that poured from her in heated gunfights, and even the scent of blood and burn of a gun barrel pressing into the nape of her neck. "We're like bloodhounds, after we get a taste, we're rabid…always after more."
They were like rabid dogs, strays, degenerates. Nao took all kinds, all sorts of people from all walks of life. and that was the kind of thing that made them so successful. They weren't do-gooders by default, but they didn't tolerate scum clogging their home. It was filth like Reito that Nao hated, and Nagi was climbing the ladder quickly, as the new public enemy. Tomoe was merely the icing on the cake.
Nao thought about that, and grabbed one of the radio's off the charging station.
...
"Natsuki, this is Nao." The snarky woman came in over the radio, a slight static masking her voice. "Respond."
"What the hell do you want now?" Natsuki said, pulling the microphone off the dash and clipping it to her shirt collar while she drove. "I just dropped the stuff off at the post office. I'm on my way back." She could hear garbled talking in the background, and smirked.
"I got a question, but hold on a sec." Nao said then, as she shushed the other people in the room, threatening them with life and limb. "Damn it, I could murder Mai sometimes." Natsuki could hear papers being sifted, and then, Nao cursed her breath. "Okay, this is about the guy I had you and Haruka pull in, Wataru Ishigami. You said it went off without a hitch."
"Okay, so what's the big deal?" Natsuki answered back, making a left onto the boulevard she came to.
"Something happened, pup. A local LEO called me, told me that he owed me big, so, he was going to send me a present. He gave me an audio file" Nao began slowly. "Said that the guy was scared shitless during one of his earlier interrogations. He name dropped Tomoe as an affiliate. If that's the case, Wataru was part of that cold case we let go of."
"I thought we cleaned up all of that riffraff." Natsuki grumbled. "This shit just never ends, does it?"
"I guess not, but I think this could be a break in the old case." Nao said coolly. "I think this guy may be a ticket to hell."
"Okay…" Natsuki replied, confused by Nao's cryptic statement. "So, what did you want to ask me?"
"Oh come on, you saw his behavior for the last few weeks. The way he was pulled in and out of police custody. How they couldn't land evidence on him, even though he reeked of foul play." Nao said pointedly. "Did it seem familiar at all…like anything from the past?"
Natsuki sighed, hearing the edge in Nao's voice made her nervous. "If you're talking about the Kanzaki case, the answer's no." Natsuki replied darkly. "That doesn't mean it's not completely unrelated though. We've seen enough substitutes and proxies in the past to know that not all of them were working directly for Kanzaki."
That's right." Nao hissed in a dangerous glee. "Hell, most of them were just doing their own thing, playing along, waiting for their cash settlement."
Natsuki found an empty lot, and pulled the car over. "Just what are you getting at, Nao?"
"Nagi and Tomoe are hiding in plain sight." Nao said casually. "Nagi isn't stupid, he knows covering his tracks alone just isn't enough. We'd sniff them out. They're someplace, right under our nose, he's got to be."
"You do realize that our car radios aren't secure enough lines, right?" Natsuki muttered the obvious. "This kind of conversation shouldn't be done over anything traceable."
"I don't give a damn." Nao laughed. "Let the bastards hear, if they've got little birdies, let them chirp."
"Think we're bugged?" Natsuki asked, as Nao made an obscene noise.
"I don't think so…but, what if we are?" Nao said then, a lingering threat in her voice. "It might be fun to flush them out…"
Natsuki shrugged, going with the flow. Nao had a reason for everything she did, even if it wasn't conventional. She thought about the notes she'd taken and about the cold case Nao was talking about. "For a money laundering scheme, I'd say Wataru was pretty average."
"Yeah, the jackass left paper trails everywhere." Nao laughed. "In fact, that's the part I just don't get."
Emerald eyes narrowed at that. "Come to think of it, maybe it was too average…"
"Think that Nagi and Tomoe are up to their old tricks?" Nao asked then.
"I don't know." Natsuki felt a bead of sweat begin to form at the top of her brow just by thinking about it. "I can always check around the usual haunts, if you think that I need to."
"Maybe, but that would be a ballsy move." Nao sighed heavily through the speaker. "I wouldn't put it past them, to expect us to look into it."
"You're right." Natsuki relented. "They're probably counting on it."
"Shit." Nao growled. "If that's true, then this entire thing just doesn't make any sense. I wouldn't go snooping just yet if I were you." Finally coming to grips with what she suspected all along, she digressed from the matter. "Once you get here, come to the office and chill, you've earned yourself a beer."
"Nao…wait…" Natsuki murmured slowly, chewing the inside of her cheek. "If he name dropped Tomoe as a contact, we're playing with fire here."
"What's your damn point, pup?" Nao groused.
"I wouldn't just sleep on this Intel." Natsuki pointed out, a heated aggravation in her voice. "We may miss an opportunity."
"If you want to get a new asshole implanted by a bullet, go right ahead, but I think it's a bad idea." Nao laughed. "I don't intend to sit on my hands for very long, I hope you can take the heat when the time comes."
"Yeah." Natsuki said then, swallowing hard. "Me too." She had to agree when Nao put things that way. "Alright then, I'll be home soon."