Chapter 2: Highwind

-x-

Several hours passed by and Kairi sat at her desk finishing the paperwork she had left to do to close the case. She looked up at the tim: 7:59PM. She smiled as she stood up and stretched her limbs. 'It's been a long day', she mentally thought to herself.

She heard footsteps coming closer to her cubicle and soon an excited voice called out, "hey Kai!"

"What's up?" She replied, not bothering to look up at owner of the voice. She knew that tone all too well.

"Wha- do I even need to ask?" Roxas gave her a questioning look as he saw her kneeling with her head on the ground in a worshiping position. As he saw her peering up and shooting him a deathly glare, he continued to talking. "Anyway, a few of the guys are going out for drinks after work. Wanna come?"

"Hmm... maybe." She replied as she jumped back up to a normal stance and rolled her neck around. Roxas winced as he heard the loud crack it made. "Is the captain going?"

"Um, I haven't asked yet." Roxas grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'll do it now-"

"No, let me!" Kairi chirped in quickly. Her cheeks heated up as she saw Roxas raising his eyebrows. "I mean, I haven't seen him all day. I need to report to him anyway."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Kai." Roxas laughed and started to leave. "Go get your Romeo. I'll meet you outside."

Kairi brushed off his comment and made her way to the closed office at the end of the station, saying her greetings to her co-workers that was on the night duty. Walking towards his office always gave her goosebumps. A sign saying 'Vanitas Strife' was printed on the glass door and she rapped her knuckles against the door several times while waited patiently outside. The door opened, revealing a black spiky haired man dressed in a well-fitting suit. Even though it has been over a year since he started working at the station, she still couldn't control her unsteady heart at the mere sight of him. The glance of his golden eyes on her own took her breath away. She could not deny that he was an attractive man. He had a stern look on his face as he asked in a bored voice, "what can I do for you, detective?"

She coughed softly and quickly composed herself. "Just wanted to report that the paperwork for the Hope Estheim case has been completed and I will put it on your desk tomorrow morning. Are-" she looked over his shoulder and saw another figure in his office. It was an older male with a grey goatee in a dark suit. She couldn't identify specific features of his face but he also shared the same golden eyes as the captain. His eyes focused on her and she could tell that he was smiling. A chill ran down her spine as she turned her attention back towards her captain. "Are you busy at the moment?"

"I am." He followed her gaze to his guest in his office and stepped out of his office, closing the door behind him. "Let's continue our discussion out here. What else do you have to report to me?"

"I, er," she bit her lip, "was wondering if you would like to go out for a drink? I mean, Roxas and the other guys are going too so it won't just be us. And it's a Friday night so it's good to have knockoffs every now and again." She started to ramble as she did not want to make her intention obvious. Her cheeks were tinted with a pink hue as she waited for his response.

His serious demeanor instantly vanished as he laughed softly. "Sorry, detective. I'll be in a meeting with my visitor for a very long time. I'm afraid I will have to turn down your offer."

Kairi's heart instantly fell but she quickly regained her prior cheery attitude. "That's alright. Maybe next time, okay?" She started to walk away.

"Detective Hart, wait."

She turned around at the mention of her name. "What is it?"

"Roxas explained to me the details about your success earlier. Good work today, detective." The Captain smiled, revealing his perfect set of white teeth. He reached out and patted her head, messing up her hair in the mean time. "Don't forget about the meeting tomorrow. Have a good night."

Kairi felt her insides warm and her lips curved upwards on reflex. "See you in the morning, Vanitas."

Once he returned inside, she walked back to the entrance of the station where Roxas was. He was leaning against the wall, laughing with two other officers. His head perked up as he saw her figure descending down the stairs. "Ready to go, Kai?"

"Sorry boys, but I'm going to sit out tonight." Kairi smiled, still dazed by the encounter before.

Roxas' jaw dropped. "What! Why? Is it because of the captain?"

"What? No!" Kairi waved her hand in front of her as if the accusation was a physical fly. "I'm just tired."

"Bull crap, Kairi!" Hayner, the short wavy dirty blonde haired office, smirked. "The captain is not going so that's why you're not going. We all know you have the hots for him."

"Oi, shut up, Hayner!" She slapped his shoulder before pouting and narrowing her eyes into slits. "I do not."

The guys laughed loudly, obviously knowing that it was a lie. Hayner placed his arm around her shoulders and winked. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"For now." She rolled her eyes.

"Are you seriously not coming?" Roxas asked, his eyes pleaded with hers silently. She shot him back a stern look and he got the message.

"Yeah, Kairi, come onnn~" the other officer, Pence, persisted. "It'll be fun! We need to video Hayner drinking out of a toilet this time!"

"What?!"

Kairi frowned. "No thanks, I'm totally okay with missing out on that."

"Don't be a hater!"

"But Kairi-"

"Knock it off you two!" The blonde slapped the back of the officers heads. "If Kairi doesn't want to come she doesn't have to. Stop annoying her and let's just go." He gave her a cheery smile as he waved her off. "See you tomorrow, Kai."

"Bye, Kairi!"

"Remember; no regrets! It's your own fault on missing out!" Hayner called out before running to catch up with the other two ahead of him.

"Have a good time, guys." She yelled at them before walking away herself. She could hear them arguing in the distance and grinned to herself. It wasn't like the captain had that much of an influence on her decision at all. Okay, that was a total lie. He had made a huge impact on her. But she knew it was more fun if the captain had joined in and his rejection affected her deeply. She only hoped that her disappointment didn't show on her face when she heard his response.

Kairi finally got back home and her apartment welcomed her with silence. She flicked the lights on and instantly made her way towards the lounge, flopping herself on the couch as she found herself turning on the television. A news report was broadcasting on the screen but she didn't pay attention to it as she checked out her emails on her phone.

'Breaking news: a 600 year old golden artifact has just been stolen from the National Museum. It was a necklace belonging to Cleopatra herself with several golden jewels attached to it. The alarms has been disengaged and the culprit had drawn a circle in the glass to get the golden necklace. Security cameras are being reviewed at the moment as there had been no eye witnesses to the crime. The culprit has not been identified but police believe it to be a mysterious organization that had been stealing several other expensive artifacts from the other Worlds, and now our own hometown. If you see anything suspicious please help report it by dialing...'

'Whoosh!'

Kairi popped open her eyes suddenly and sat up. She had fallen asleep on the couch and the only light on was coming from the television screen. Her eyes scanned the room for any signs of movement but there was none. She was alone in her apartment. 'What was that noise?' she thought. Slowly, her head turned towards the balcony window. Her curtains were normally drawn but not today. She must have forgotten.

Not liking to take any risks, Kairi grabbed the metal baseball bat besides her door and made her way towards the balcony. Confidently, she opened the door and stepped one foot out. Then the other. Her whole body was soon embracing the night's shadow. It was still. She looked left, right, up and down. Hold on, she had to do a retake. She looked towards the ground again and saw something shining up at her. It was a tiny golden jewel. She picked it up and held it at eye level, closely examining it. 'I don't have anything as expensive as this, where did it come from?' she thought to herself. She looked back up to her neighbor. 'Maybe Mr. Phil dropped it? Or maybe one of his lovers didn't like the jewelry he gave her and threw it over the balcony? She laughed at the thought. 'Nah that can't be.'

The red-wine hair detective glanced across the edge of the balcony to the big eucalyptus tree growing opposite her. Her lilac eyes focused to one of the branches, waiting for the worst as she clenched the metal bat harder. She knew that this was the part where the murderer would come out in horror movies once she turned her back towards the tree they would attack. A movement from the branch alerted her as she held the bat up and took a defensive stance, only to find a squirrel scurrying out of the branch and running down the tree. Kairi let out a sigh of relief as her muscles relaxed. She laughed at herself for being silly and went back inside her apartment, making sure to draw the curtains this time.

"Good morning everyone!" Kairi exclaimed loudly as she made her way into the precinct. She was carrying a folder in one hand and a large cup of coffee in the other.

At the meeting table a few co-workers greeted her back. Her blonde hair partner looked up and groan. So did the officer next to him. He shot her a dirty look before cradling his head on the table. "Be quiet, Kairi. Your voice is way too annoying in the morning."

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that, Hayner." The detective grinned as she sat next to him. "Maybe you should SPEAK UP." She yelled the last part.

"Ah, no! Stop it!" He swatted his hands at her but she dodged it easily.

"Wakey wakey, big boy." Kairi smiled and tapped his head. Only when he was hungover she had an advantage over him. "We have a big day in front of us."

"Kairi! If you annoy me one more time I swear I will-"

"Stop it, you two! The meeting will start in a minute." A deep voice boomed over them.

They both looked up and saw their captain glaring sternly down at them. They let go of each other and sat back down, a guilty looked plastered on their faces. "Sorry, sir." They replied in unison.

"Sorry I'm late!" Pence came rushing in, slamming his folder on the table and fell into his chair. He wiped off the sweat from his brow and "The meeting hasn't started yet, right?"

"Fortunate for you, it hasn't." Vanitas replied. He looked over the table and saw that all members were present. "All members are counted and present? Olette, can you please on the projector for me?"

"It's already on, sir." A young woman with glasses and brunette locks replied cheerily.

"Oh, good. Let's make a start shall we?" A few responses in agreement were heard and the captain proceeded. "Good morning team. The crime rate has been slowly decreasing since the start of the year. Theft seems to be the flavor of the month but that is as serious as it has been. Keep up the good work everyone." Cheers went around the room, apart from the groans coming from the three men. Vanitas cleared his throat and waited for the noise to die down. "Before I proceed to the next item on the list, I'd like to introduce everyone to Xehanort."

An elderly figure from the back of the room slowly walked to where Vanitas was standing. His back was hunched over and a smirk was playing over his lips. 'No doubt this was the ''visitor" in Vanitas' office last night', Kairi thought to herself as she leaned back in her chair. She couldn't mistake those golden eyes anywhere. Vanitas placed a hand on his shoulder and turned to the members of the meeting. "He is one of the best federal agents in the world. He has solved several well known cases such as the Lost Empire and the Secondborn."

A few 'ooh's' and 'ahh's' echoed across the room.

"As some of you may have heard on the news, there has been many priceless items that has been stolen across several worlds. Unfortunately last night our town was struck. Xehanort is the senior agent following this case since the beginning and that's why he is here to brief all of you on the case."

"Thank you, Captain." Xehanort took the center as well as the clicker from Vanitas and pushed it to reveal the next slide, showing a golden necklace with several jewels attached to it. Kairi gasped as she recalled the jewel she found the night before at her apartment. "This is the golden necklace worn by Cleopatra herself. An artifact that was stolen last night from the National Museum. Officer Fuu who was at the scene last night believes that the culprits who did it had bugged all of the alarms, thus none of it went off when they took the necklace and it went undetected by the security guards. The culprit has cleaned up after themselves as the crime scene was left with no evidence. But by following the patterns from the reports, we believe that the culprits are from a secret organisation called 'Highwind'. They were first detected in Radiant Gardens, then Traverse Town, and now, Destiny Islands."

"Normally, the case is assigned to the federal agents as Highwind is an international case. However, we would like you all to keep a look out for them." The elderly man clicked for the next slide, showing a black coat with silver zippers and a hood. "The members of this organisation all wear a black coat specifically similar to the one on screen. They would normally wear the hood on, hiding their identity from the public. If you see anyone wearing this coat please bring them in for questioning. It is not a big organisation but there is a leader. The only witness who have seen him has told us that he can be easily identified by a silver crown necklace around his neck. They are known to be armed and are very dangerous. On one of their crimes in Radiant Garden, all the guards were left unconscious and some are still recovering from their injuries. And on another occasion, all the security guards were missing from the scene. No one knew where they went and are still missing to this day. We believe the organisation had personally kidnapped and dealt with them in another location. It is fortunate that no one was hurt last night. Therefore, we cannot take any chances that could possibly harm the people of Destiny Islands. Any questions?"

Silence.

His golden eyes lit up. "Excellent. My team will be arriving in a few days to scope out the location for any leading evidence and will be here until we believe that the organisation has moved locations again."

"I know that every single member here will do their best to help the agents on this case." Vanitas added as he looked towards the police congregation, his own golden eyes filled with determination. "And with everyone's help, I believe that we will see the organisation ending their crimes here on Destiny Islands and be locked up behind bars."

Author's note:

I couldn't think of any other name for the organisation. Please forgive me. :P

Thanks for reading guys :)