Shadows In The Darkest Corners

by TaiynaHara

Taiyna works for a special police force. When she is pulled into a case where a psychotic killer murders randomly, what will she do when she is next on his list? R&R please!

Taiyna Zaito- Leading Officer of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances.

Martega Hoshiko- Second in command of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances

Kurogawa Shizuki- Commanding Officer of the Makoto Police Force

Taji Reizo- Promoting officer of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances.

Rashida Minau- Case giving officer. Also attends important case searching's.

Jounouchi Katsuya- Autopsy reporter. Also educated in unusual animal findings. (I know he doesn't seem like a very hospital like guy, but I had to find a place for him in the story.)

Seto Kaiba- Funding source of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances. (Once again, I had to find a place for him in the story, otherwise, it just wouldn't be complete without his jack-ass attitude! .)

Anzu Mazaki- Officer of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances. (I don't know if that is her last name or not. I don't really follow their last names in series or anything. Mazaki just seemed to fit her somehow.)

Mai Valentine- Officer of the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances.

TaiynaHara: Hi there readers! I know your probably thinking that TaiynaHara and the girl in the story, Taiyna is based on me, but it's not. Because Taiyna in the story is smart, pretty, brave. And I am completely opposite. But anyways, I want to thank you for reading my story. I'm a first timer and if you have any tips that I could use, I would be eternally grateful. And now, before the story starts, a word from our sponsor.

KarinUyra: TaiynaHara regrettably does not own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters, although she deeply wishes she did. She only owns Taiyna Zaito, Martega Hoshiko, Kurogawa Shizuki, Taji Reizo, and Rashida Minau. I know that the names suck.

TaiynaHara- hits KarinUyra over the head Thank you for your comfort! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story! bows

Chapter 1: A Case Unfolds

Taiyna couldn't hear anything but the annoying beeping of the disgusting devil that sat on her nightstand, the alarm clock. Reaching out from under the covers, she was only able to feel the vibration of the clock before it was swept off the nightstand, clattering to the floor. She groaned, bringing her hand back under the covers and rolled over to go back to sleep. It was only then that she realized the alarm clock had stopped its devilish ring. She pushed the fluffed up pillows off her and pulled the warm 100 Egyptian Silk blankets off of her. (I love anything Egyptian....) She rolled off the bed, placing her feet on the ground, and sat there. She wiggled her toes and she had just than begun to realize the darkness that shrouded her room. She than thought that perhaps she had woken up more than a few hours early. Walking over to her blinds that were covered by pitch-black Egyptian silk curtains, she drew them open. The sky was a dark, dark gray, if not a light black and she could see the black clouds for as far as she could see. Rain spattered on the window hard enough that it made her happy. 'Now I have an excuse for not going to work today.' Taiyna thought to herself. But she knew that she couldn't stay home. With herself being the commanding officer of a very important part of the Makoto Police Force she couldn't desert the others that were eagerly waiting for her.

Drawing the curtains closed once more, she turned from the window and walked over to the fallen alarm clock. She picked it up and was only shocked to realize the time that it said. "8:45!" She yelled in shock. She placed the clock on the stand and ran into her bathroom. Taking the fastest shower she could she entered her room, still soaking wet from her shower. She practically ran into the closet as she dressed quickly into a pair of black boot-cut jeans and a thick, finely made black turtleneck sweater. She placed a long, heavy black trench coat over herself and quickly, yet somehow nicely, did her still wet hair up into a black clip. She grabbed a black scarf, wrapping it tightly around her neck before grabbing her purse, a breakfast bar to go, and her car keys. She entered the garage, getting into her small, freshly painted, black 2001 Saleen S7. She wasn't poor, but she wasn't a millionaire. It had silver rims around the windows, headlights and rear lights. She had bought new tires a week ago with polished silver plates. She opened the garage door, driving out into the rain and started driving for five minutes until she flipped around, entering the garage once more...she had forgotten her shoes. After returning with them on her feet, she maneuvered out back into the rain, taking a right on her way to work.

9:15 A.M.

Taiyna cursed loudly to herself, sitting in her car, the rain splattering continually on her windshield as she sat in a long line of traffic. She sighed, her arm holding her head up and the other hand resting on the steering wheel. All she could hear were the annoying honking of the people around her and their yells of anger. It seemed they were 15 minutes late for work also. Taiyna cursed once more, rubbing her temples continuously. 'Curse that damned alarm clock.' Taiyna growled to herself. When she looked at the clock in the car she had found that for some reason when she pushed the alarm clock off the nightstand it had stopped working at the time it had been. Than the 5 minutes she spent staring out the window looking at the rain had made it 8:50 and than the 10 minutes she spent on a shower and dressing made it 9:00 and than the 5 minutes it had taken her to come back and get her shoes had made it 9:05. Than the 10 minutes that she had spent sitting in traffic made it 9:15, 15 minutes late for work. 'Curse this rain.' Taiyna thought. Since the rain had been so heavy many of the roads had been closed because they had been too watery to risk accidents. So everyone on their way to work had to take a detour with two lanes and now they were all crowded up. 'Curse this damn construction.' Taiyna added. Since the ground had become wet enough to dig easily through it, construction had been going on. Nothing to severe because of the rain, but they wanted to dig up the ground before their chance passed. 'Curse this traffic!' Taiyna yelled into her mind, her hand slamming onto the trunk of the horn, the sound blaring out the rain and even the other horns honking. When she was finished, she released her hand off the horn and it was like her cursing the traffic and made it go, for it slowly began to move inches at a time. Within a few minutes they were moving a foot at a time, and within 10 minutes she was back on her way to work, but it was now 9:35. She knew that she couldn't go any faster than she was, for fear that she might die in an accident before she got to work.

9:45 A.M.

Taiyna almost jumped out of the roof in her car in a hurry. She scrambled from the car, slamming the door shut and locking the car up. In these few minutes she had already become soaking, but her hair had never really dried up. She ran from the parking lot into the building. The halls were made of fine, dark brown carpet and the walls were painted a soft tan. Plants were placed in corners with a few pictures on the walls. She ran down the halls, pulling off her jacket just in time as she came to a room with big black letter spelling out: MPF of USD CF. It spelled out: Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances Conference Room. Taiyna entered the room, finding nothing surprising. There was a long, dark wood conference table with black leather seats tucked closely under the table. At the far end, across from where Taiyna was standing was the head of the table, and two large file cabinets sitting in each corner behind it. The file cabinets were pretty filled up with cases that were given specially to the Makoto Police Force of Unusual and Supernatural Disturbances. In this organization, Taiyna and the others who worked specially for MPF of USD, were given cases that the natural police force weren't given. These cases included, satanic religions, mutilated sacrifices, possession, and not the kind of possession that church people take care of. These were all far to gruesome for the regular police force so when these cases became more regular and many of their police officers were losing their insides over looking at the bodies, they created the MPF of USD to take care of these sickening cases. And of course most of the cases had been finished. Taiyna didn't like it when she was unable to finish. Of course when you first sign up for MPF of USD you must go through a very short training session. Basically they hand you a picture that was taken of the most gruesome case yet, and if you can't deal with that, then you don't get the job. Guaranteed. Yet when Taiyna entered the room at that moment, and the whole idea of a new case was presented to her mind, she had a certain feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. It was as if she knew what coming and boy did she not like it. She walked into the room, closing the door behind her and throwing her wet trench coat on the back of a chair. Moments later two woman came bursting from a door on the right.

"Taiyna! I'm so glad you got here before 10:00. Even though I asked you to be here at 9:00." An older woman asked. She had soft red hair with streaks of black and honey colored eyes. She was dressed in a deep scarlet red sweater with matching boot-cut jeans. She looked somewhere in her late 20's. "I'm sorry Rashida. Of all the days, my clock broke this morning, so I lost track of time. Plus the rain closed down my normal freeway road and the traffic was outrageous." Taiyna said. "I don't have time for your explanations. I've already been talking to Martega about it and she doesn't seem to enthused about it." Rashida said. "What's up that MARTEGA doesn't seem to enthused about it?" Taiyna asked. She thought this because Martega was naturally one who didn't give up. She wasn't disgusted by anything because she had done some disgusting things in her life also, but not nearly as bad as some of the cases they found. When Taiyna looked at her, she realized Rashida was right. Martega didn't look enthused at all; in fact it looked as those she was about to throw up right there on the floor. "Maybe you should go to the bathroom." Taiyna said wearily. As this Martega sprinted form the room and down the hall, her mid-back length, pitch black hair billowing out behind her as her shiny, midnight blue eyes clenched shut. "What's wrong with her?" Taiyna asked. "I'm glad you got here before the others. There is a new case today that I'm going to be entering. And it seems that it's much worse than the others we've done." Rashida said quietly. "What do you mean?" Taiyna asked. "Follow me." Rashida entered the room that they had come from. It was light, a large window on the right that showing the rain splattering on the window. There was a light wood desk with stacks of paper on it and a file cabinet behind it. Two seats with light wood table between them faced the front of the desk. Rashida wearily picked up a thick folder from the end of her table. "You might want to take a seat." Rashida said. Taiyna following her words and sat in one of the comfortable chairs. Her stomach fluttered drastically as she held the folder in her hands. Wearily opening it, she found it consisted of nothing but photos; a few pages were placed between them. "What is this?" Taiyna asked, grasping a handle of pictures and flipped her hands through them. "That is your new case." Rashida said quietly. Taiyna found that the ones sitting on the top of the folder were normally what she saw. But as she reached the end, her eyes widened in horror.

Her hand clenched on a certain picture that sent shivers down her spine and caused her insides to flip in different directions. She could feel herself start to choke as she examined the picture. It was of a man, but Taiyna could barely tell. The ground that the man laid on was covered in his own blood, so badly she didn't know the color of the carpet before it was stained with blood. The man was lying on his back, splayed in horrific position. Looking at just his face, she saw him clearly. His eyes had somehow been removed; blood seeped from the empty holes down onto his cheeks. Chunks of his hair had been cut out and pasted to the side of his face, in which Taiyna was sure there were no ears. The sides of his cheeks had been cut open, fully revealing his mouth like some monster that she had seen from a sci-fi horror movie. His tongue had been removed but it was nowhere in sight. Blood had covered his face so badly that none of his skin color shone. His shirt was bloodied and it had the marks of knifes of some sort. Taiyna saw beneath the marks on his shirt, the deep gashes on his chest dug deep enough that the blood spilled from his chest to the floor around him. A large, long, deep gash across his stomach spilled his intestines out over his bloodied form. Down his legs were carvings, nothing important just things to sketch into the man's legs. Oh his feet, the top layer of skin was removed enough that she could clearly see the bone. His toes had been cut off every other one, as were his fingers. The picture fell from Taiyna's hands as she could feel herself inhale deeply. Rashida came and rubbed her back, clearly feeling her shock. "Are you okay?" Rashida asked quietly. Taiyna continued her inhaling, closing the folder and plopping it on Rashida's desk before clasping her hands so hard that her nails cut into them. "I've looked at them many times. That was just a picture of one of the killings." Rashida said. "That is unbelievable. I've never seen anything so disgusting in my life." Taiyna said quietly. "Why didn't the police give us this case earlier?" "Well, they did a while ago. But I found that it would be best if we got the smaller cases before we started this one. This one is going to take a while." Rashida said. "Why didn't you give this one to us earlier!? These are the cases that need to be taken care of, IMMEDIATELY!" Taiyna exclaimed, standing from the chair. "I understand that, but I knew this one would take a long time, and the others are just as important!" Rashida answered. "No they aren't!" Taiyna said, grabbing the folder that contained all the pictures. "Do you see how full this is!? These are enough killings to last a year!"

Before Rashida could answer, they could hear the door open and close. "It's 10:00. We can talk later." Rashida said. She exited the office and went to greet the person that had just arrived. Taiyna sighed, pacing in the room as she could hear the talking of Rashida and another person. She rubbed her temples, her mind scanning over the picture. She stopped, bending down and picking up the picture of the mutilated body, she scanned it. After a few moments, she mindlessly stuffed it into her back pocket. She brushed away her unsteadiness and walked into the room. It seemed more people had arrived than she thought. Jou sat on the opposite side of the table from where she was and was sitting next to Mai who glared at every joke her made. When Mai saw her, she jumped from her chair, waving her hand at Taiyna. "Good morning, Taiyna!" She exclaimed. "Good morning, Mai. Glad to see you so chipper." Taiyna said. "She's been that way since early this morning." Jou said, laughing when she hit him over the head. Jou and Mai were roommates, and it was obvious that something was going on between them, but they never mentioned it. Anzu was sitting on the side Taiyna was at, sitting with Taji who was joking with her and causing her laugh, almost choking on the apple she was eating. Rashida was nowhere in site, most likely she went to get Martega. She grabbed her trench coat and laid it on the back of a chair close to Mai. She took a seat and sighed, no one noticing her restlessness. As she listened to them chattering happily, she placed her head in her hands thinking of what Rashida had told her. How she hated the bitch. Rashida was the case giver. She gave all the cases that they did. Kurogawa Shizuki was the captain of the Makoto Police Force and he gave her all the cases, and then she gave us all the cases. Taiyna hated the way Rashida did things in the MPF of USD. She would give us all the small cases as she hid away the big cases that mattered most. This morning was an example of her idiocy. Taiyna's mind fell into dream. Her mind drifted from her hating for Rashida to the picture of the mutilated man. Oh, how she knew that picture would haunt her memory. Her mind then drifted from that to the urgent calling of her name somewhere else. She shook her head clear of thoughts as she could see Mai sitting directly left of her, Jou was behind, his hands on her shoulders, and Anzu and Taji were staring intently at her, faces filled with worry. "What?" Taiyna asked. "Are you okay? We kept calling you and you weren't answering." Mai said. "I'm fine. My mind if elsewhere at the moment." Taiyna said. "Probably thinking of the boys." Taji joked as they burst into laughter. Taiyna also, her mind straying form her thoughts for a moment before Rashida came back in, Martega behind her. Martega no longer had that scared look on her face and the green tint that flushed her was gone, leaving her soft tan skin clear. "Hey there Martega!" Taji said. "Hi." Martega said quietly.

Rashida made her way to the file cabinets, pulling out a huge stack of 8 folders together. She began passing them out, the thickness the same as the one Taiyna had seen in Rashida's office. She feared the worst. When Rashida finished, she took a seat at the head of the table, flipping open the folder she said, "As you can see, this case is quite unlike any we've done before." 'No shit, Einstein.' Taiyna thought to herself as she glared at Rashida, before averting her gaze to the folder. Anzu flipped open her folder only to gasp as she took in the horrific pictures before her. Taiyna could hear Mai's breath catch in her throat; even Jou seemed a little speechless. The one who looked the most normal was Taji. Surprisingly, since he was the one who usually exited the room to take a trip to the bathroom. Taiyna wondered how he got the job, but she passed it, knowing he was a good officer to be in work with. She opened the folder herself, and still, even after the horrific picture of the mutilated man, these looked as all the others that didn't disturb her did. She looked through the pictures, even the ones all the way in the back. But none of them disturbed Taiyna the way that one picture did. It was than that Rashida said, "As you can see, there are white papers between each stack of pictures. Each stack represents a month and all the killings that were found in that month." Taiyna didn't know this as she went searching through the pictures, and after the first month there was a white paper that separated it, and on it, it told the way the killings were. After the first month, the paper said that the killings were about a week apart, and the locations were spread widely apart. 'So it seems that when the killings first started, they were farther apart as were the locations. So maybe they were spread farther apart so they could have time to get to the locations and plan their next kill.' Taiyna planned into her mind. As she checked the other months, she found that the killings were much more frequent, only about 5 days apart, and the locations were beginning to close in. When Taiyna looked at the most recent month, she found that the killings were only around 2 days apart normally, and the locations practically on the same block. 'Two days isn't enough to travel somewhere farther away and have time to plan their next moves.' Taiyna thought to herself. She began examining the changes between each month. She was flabbergasted to find that as the months became more recent, the killings more frequent and the locations closer. It was as if the more people this person killed; the more he or she wanted to kill. It was like this murderer was addicted to it. This only scared Taiyna, thinking that she would have to go and find some psychotic killer who mutated it's victims until you can barely find out it's gender. But than another thought her. 'Perhaps this person isn't working alone. Maybe this person has a companion that helps in its murder, and that accomplice became addicted to killing, and now they go from building to building, mutilating bodies for sheer enjoyment.' Taiyna thought. This sent shivers down her spine as she snapped from her thoughts to find that Rashida had started to talk about something. A map was drawn from where Rashida was and she was pointing out all the locations in which the killings had taken place. There was a different color for each month. Taiyna saw that sometimes the killing locations were fairly close, only a building or two apart. No more thought entered her head and she placed her mind on the task at hand.

"As you can see, the places of the murders are extremely close depending on the month. The police have offered an explanation that says these murders are saying something. Obviously, we know that the police know nothing, so we'll push that explanation into the file cabinet and begin from scratch." Rashida said, pulling out a different map of the city. This map located all the killings placed much more closely. "Now...any ideas are free to be passed around." Rashida said. The silence of the room was uneasy until Taiyna spoke. "How do you know these killings are done by the same people?" Taiyna asked. "Good strategy!" Rashida said. "From your words, you think that maybe the killings are done by a group of two or more." Rashida said. "That's not what I asked." Taiyna said, her anger for the woman growing brighter. "Well, on many of the photos taken, we've found three letters on each murders body." Rashida said. "Three letters. Maybe they're the murders initials." Mai said questionably. "It's possible, but the killers name would be the least of his worries." Taji said. "Maybe he or she wants to be recognized. Known for what they've done." Anzu said. "I'm gonna you all right now that this psycho isn't getting shit on TV." Taiyna said. "But those aren't his name initials." "So now you're calling the killer a him?" Mai asked. "Yes. Most likely he is a man, woman wouldn't have the heart to do something as gruesome as this. Look at Anzu. The first case she did was the easiest we've done and she was out the door in seconds." Taiyna said. Anzu blushed, bowing her head. "That doesn't mean anything!" Mai said. "Anzu may have a weak heart but if this killer is as psycho as we think, it could be a woman." "All I'm saying is that a man wouldn't be stupid enough to put all three of his initials. We could easily find names that have the same initials and look up every guy that has them. If this guy was stupid enough to have done that than we should've caught him already." Taiyna said. Silence filled the room once more. "Well, then. Thank you for your ideas. I suggest you don't eat before we leave. We're going to go look at a body that the police found early this morning when they were called in for a disturbance call. The police said the call came from someone underneath the apartment the body was found in. He said that their was very disturbing noises upstairs and he went to go check on his neighbor. When he came out of his room, he said he saw a darkened figure coming down the stairs." Rashida said. "Did he get even a glimpse of it?" Taiyna said. "Unfortunately not. He said the figure didn't even glimpse at him. He moved fast too, almost like he wasn't on his feet." Rashida said. "Great. Now we're after someone that floats." Taji said. They slightly laughed but the uneasiness that fled through them wasn't enough to silence even the few words that were spoken. "I've given you all the location. I'll meet you there in a few minutes." Rashida said. Everyone packed up his or her things. Even Martega had been silent, herself usually being the excited one. Taiyna hadn't asked her why she was so blue when she came from Rashida's office, but she didn't bother asking, already knowing the pictures had gotten to her. As Taiyna pulled on her black trench coat, she could only hope for the best.

TaiynaHara: I know it sucks and all but any reviews on what my problems are welcome with open arms! .

KarinUyra: Oh come on! I thought it was......gruesome...

TaiynaHara: Wasn't it though!? I hope Taiyna's going to be okay!

KarinUyra: You're the author! You can do whatever you want.

TaiynaHara: Maybe I don't want Taiyna to be alright...

KarinUyra: Then why did you ask if she was going to okay?

TaiynaHara: Oh please! Of course she's not going to be okay! Otherwise this wouldn't be a good story. Not that it'll be good either way. sniffles

KarinUyra: Uh oh! I made TaiynaHara feel bad! Maybe if you send a review she'll feel better! . Chow! Please read back for Chapter 2: Living in Darkness!

Sincerely,

TaiynaHara and KarinUyra