Deathly Games

Deathly Games

Author's Note:

Title: Deathly Games

Author: Kanata Saionji.

Genre: Mystery/Romance/Family/Thriller

Story Line: Shaoran Li, the most famous as well as the youngest Private Eye is assigned the job of protecting the would-be heiress to a vast fortune—Sakura Kinamoto. A sense of foredoom befalls our young detective as he undertakes a deathly vacation to the Hill house of maiden home of Sakura's mother, which is surrounded by something more than the beautiful climate and nature.

Disclaimer: The Author does not own the characters. Everything is the sole property of whomsoever it was created by. However the story, in the general version, belongs to the Author.

Author's words: Enjoy the story to its extreme and please, the readers can make any sort of comment. Anonymous reviews are welcomed.

Story…

The brunette heaved a deep sigh and returned to his papers. He had been working all month on a case and it had finally ended up with the usual—the butler being the criminal. He despised these cases so much. They always ended up with the butler killing the mistress.

He frowned while he looked at another set of requests from a wide variety of people. He shoved them all into a dustbin and cleaned away his desk with only one thought in his mind—not to accept another case for atleast another month. He really needed a vacation.

Just as he was about to call the travel agency, he heard the unmistakable ring of his doorbell. He sighed and his auburn eyes were contorted with rage. After all, Private eyes as talented as Shaoran Li will never have a vacation.

Episode 1

The New Case

'Why do they keep doing this to me?' the seventeen-year-old detective, Shaoran Li, sighed as he got up from his seat.

He moved along the narrow corridor which led to the main door. He had only one thought in his mind—to reject the case. 'I'm sorry but I'm in the middle of a vacation… can't help you' practiced Shaoran as he extended his hand to open the door.

He opened the door and there stood a man in his mid-forties with a perturbed look in his eyes. The new arrival had bright hair and warm eyes which had a dash of worry in them. It was evident that he was nervous.

'Mr. Shaoran Li?' asked the new arrival—he had a heart warming voice, like that of an affectionate father.

'Yes,' replied Shaoran with a cool voice.

'Hello,' he said with a strained smile and an outstretched hand, 'I'm Fujitaka Kinamoto; I cover the archaeology department in the Tokyo University'.

'Well… C'mon in,' invited Shaoran while his inner mind said, 'here we go again…'

'Thank you,' replied Kinamoto with a small smile and the two entered the house and Shaoran took him to his small office—which was actually the second bedroom in the first floor in the penthouse.

The house was fully covered by azure wallpapers—which was Shaoran's favorite color. The office was an ordinary room with a working desk—which was only recently disposed off of papers. A small hearth was glowing in the end of the room—which was pretty unusual. After all, detectives were up to unusual stuff. Shaoran had a pile of cupboards filled by his old cases which he often took out for references.

Kinamoto took a seat before the working desk while Shaoran took his usual—behind it. Shaoran gave him a calculating look and said, with a regretful face on, his practiced lines, 'I'm really sorry but I don't think I can take your case… I'm on vacation…'

'You can't say that,' retorted Kinamoto at once with a bewildered look on his face.

'But sir…' started Shaoran but he was cut across by Kinamoto.

'You have to take my case…' he protested, 'it's really important and you might just be able to help me…'

'Just calm down and I'll listen to your case… if it's a simple one, I'll have someone look into it…' said Shaoran reassuringly but Kinamoto wasn't ready to take a rejection.

'I want you to take it,' he said, 'I've heard all about you and you'll be perfect to help my daughter'.

That's another reason Shaoran now has against Kinamoto's case. He hates working for women. They really piss him off. But he decided to hear out the poor old guy. So, he said, 'alright, tell me…'

'I'll have to tell you from the start then,' said Kinamoto, 'do you have time now?'

'Just give me the summary,' said Shaoran and pulled out chewing gum from his pocket and started to munch it.

'Nadeshiko, my dead wife, belongs to one of the richest families in Japan,' he started, 'she was just sixteen with her parents dead; she was cared by her grandpa when I married her much against the old man's will… he was really disappointed and he threatened to disinherit her if she persisted on living with me in my poor household'

Shaoran thought, 'Where is this going?'

Kinamoto continued, 'but we chose to live a poor life with rich love than a rich life with no love,' Shaoran could make out a drop of tear forming in Kinamoto's eyes, 'we lived a happy life and Nadeshiko gave birth to two amazing children—Touya and Sakura'

'Sakura is the one you want me to help?' interrupted Shaoran.

'Yes,' replied Kinamoto.

'Go on,' urged Shaoran.

'Sakura's great grandpa, that is Nadeshiko's grandpa, forgave us and he started to accept that Nadeshiko had had a lovely family even when she died…' said Kinamoto, 'He took a liking to Sakura, seeing that she looks a lot like her mother—who was his favorite; he always invited her up to his hill side home for vacation on her birthday'.

'Which is?' asked Shaoran.

'The first of April' replied Kinamoto.

'That's just ten days from now,' said Shaoran.

'Yes, and this year, the old man is getting greyer and the doctors suspect that he won't be around much,' said Kinamoto.

'Which brings us to his will, right?' asked Shaoran wittingly.

'Yes, that's the problem,' said Kinamoto, 'almost everybody in his family suspects that he's going to pass the entire fortune to the daughter of his favorite granddaughter who eloped'.

'Sakura…' answered Shaoran.

Kinamoto nodded and Shaoran asked, 'isn't that a good thing or is there some problem with her having the fortune?'

'Yes, her cousins…' replied Kinamoto, 'sadly, the old man does not have any grandsons… all he had were granddaughters and five of them at that… out of them only one is alive—Sonomi Daidouji'.

'Daidouji,' thought Shaoran for a while and said, 'isn't that the famous toy company?'

'Yes,' replied Kinamoto with a small smile, 'Sonomi also has a daughter but no sons. Like wise there are two more great grand daughters and two more great grandsons for the old man… this year, on Sakura's birthday, the will would be written and sealed and Sakura would be found a suitor within the family—that's his plan anyway. He also is thinking of engaging her to one of her cousins'.

'Isn't that good?' asked Shaoran.

'Sakura had been receiving death threats as soon as everybody in family received an invitation to the vacation house this year' said Kinamoto, 'and more worrying is the fact that she was sent poisoned cookies'.

'Poisoned?' asked Shaoran.

'Yes,' replied Kinamoto, 'but it was instead consumed by her brother, Touya… He's hospitalized and the poison was found to be something that paralyzes the entire body rendering slow death… but he was admitted soon and the doctors say that he would be fine within a few weeks'.

'Oh my god,' gasped Shaoran and thought, 'killing for fortune… another usual case…'

'If he had been fine, I'd have sent Sakura with him,' said Kinamoto, 'but as the situation is, I want someone trustworthy to go with her to protect her'.

'Can't you go instead?' asked Shaoran.

'I would if I could,' said Kinamoto, 'I have this huge project for my university and though I insist on canceling it to come with her, Sakura is stubborn that she'd not let me do it… but I'm very much worried, I can't let her go alone…'

Shaoran popped a balloon with the gum and asked, 'you could have easily accessed for private body guarding agency…'

'Yes, but I want to find out who would have the coldest heart to hurt my children…' said the worried father.

There was silence between the two. Shaoran was deep in thought. He didn't know what to say to this guy. So finally he decided.

'But what would I answer to your family if I do decided to go with your daughter?' asked Shaoran.

'You could always say you're her close friend,' replied Kinamoto and asked after a second, 'you mean you accept my request?'

'I think it'll be a nice vacation,' said Shaoran smiling.

Kinamoto returned the smile heartily and said, 'you drop by my house and you can take Sakura with you to the vacation house tomorrow…'

'Sure,' replied Shaoran while he noted down the address to the Kinamoto Residence.

'What about your fee?' asked Kinamoto.

'I'll give you my bill if I solve your case to your fullest satisfaction,' replied Shaoran informally.

Kinamoto smiled back and knew that Sakura would definitely be safe. Shaoran didn't seem like a stranger to him. He felt like he was family as well—atleast a better family than the one he has now… a member of which is trying to hurt is little children.

End Episode 1

Author's Note:

Dedication: To Shaoran who inspired me to be determined in whatever I do and to Sakura who helped me in seeing the good things in life.

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